Lace Harding - Blog Posts

I know it’s been talked about before but can you imagine being Lucanis(or any love interest) hearing Rook cry out your name as they vanish into the Fade Prison?

You see Rook dragged into the Fade, disappearing into thin air, with a look of terror on their face.

For Lucanis, you see the first person to show you kindness in at least a year, the person who loves you unconditionally, disappear as they scream your name. Imagine Spite’s reaction, him a whirlwind of emotion, so angry and confused. Where’s Rook? Are they alive? How will we get them home? And burning anger at Solas for doing this. All while clinging to the things Rook left behind because even though the smell is fading over the weeks, it still smells like them.

For Davrin, you’re a protector, it’s your job, the one thing you’re good at. And you fail. Imagine Assan cawing softly, sniffing and scratching in Rook’s room and across the lighthouse, searching for Rook. You start a carving depicting them both to honor them in case they never return and to ensure you never forget their face.

For Emmrich, you’re an expert on the Fade, but you’ve never even heard of something like this. Imagine Manfred, confused and searching for Rook, asking you constantly “where Rook?” You know that if they can’t be found, you won’t have a body to bury/entomb. You won’t have a place to go and visit them. You constantly reach out to the spirits, but none of them can find Rook either.

For Neve, you’re a detective, you should have seen the signs that Solas was going to betray you. But you didn’t. Even the wisps that follow you seem upset, constantly nudging you and moving things that belonged to Rook, trying to ask you what happened to them.

For Harding, you feel powerless despite your new abilities because you couldn’t protect Rook. You pour over every detail, contacting old friends from the Inquisition, but you turn up nothing. Solas has time and time again hurt those you love, has taken those you love from you. You won’t let him get away with it.

For Bellara, you once again lost someone you loved, and once again you feel it’s your fault. You throw yourself into your work on ancient artifacts, you demand answers from the Nadas Dirthalan, but find nothing.

For Taash, you finally find someone who truly sees you for who you are. But in an instant, they’re gone. All your strength, your skill, your fire, you couldn’t stop Solas from dragging Rook away from you. Your fist slams into the punching bag again and again, as you imagine punching Solas, but it doesn’t help. It doesn’t ease the pain.

Here's a Harding portrait! Figured it was about time I drew her!

had to get these out of my system...

Veiltober - day 1, Veilguard

I'm back with a variation on Inktober, this time, Dragon Age the Veilguard themed. I'm sooo excited for this game to come out, I've been waiting almost a decade for this and I can't believe it's finally happening!

I'm going to be following the prompts from @harkonnin shown in this post.

Please follow along, as I'll be trying to make a piece for every single day! I decided to go with a personal tarot style (this is for Dragon Age, after all!!) and I do hope yall will enjoy!

Veilguard Spoilers (Harding)

So, I’ve decided I’m always gonna take Lucanis on Harding’s personal quest, because she says this little line:

“We will thrive, in spite of you.”

Which reminds me of the Hebrew proverb:

“Living well is the best revenge.”

And to me? In my mind? As my Rook and Lucanis both embrace her as she’s having this revelation and in saying that? It feels like Spite was there, too. Giving her the little nudge she needed to power through the bulwark of her grief, as Lace Harding. Not just a Child of the Stone. To live her life as a wholly free Dwarf that no longer requires the presence of the Titans in order to be “enough.”

To become her own person and truly be.

Because it’s hinted/shown in the art book that the Dwarves already existed when the Titans were walking around, but solely served as the caretakers of their giant bodies. Sort of swarming out of them like ants to clean up the hive after a storm.

So, maybe the sundering of the Titans granted them freedom? Free will, even if it came without dreams or magic? Certainly something to think about.

*Veilguard Thought*

So, not really a spoiler. More of a headcannon related to a banter. Lucanis tells Taash he has a pet snake. One that, one would assume, was kept by the Crows while he was trapped in the Ossuary.

No idea what kind, but did he bring it with him to the Lighthouse?

And if so, does it live in Harding’s greenhouse???

Cause she’s the only other dedicated Rogue (Belara is a mage who happens to use a bow) and she’s used to animals, right? I just picture her working in there at the beginning, pulling out all the dead stuff/planting new sprouts and a little corn or king snake just slithers up and she has a heart attack, cause she doesn’t know it’s a real (because they’re in the Fade).

And Lucanis (freshly recruited and very tired) just spends the next several days apologizing, cause it’s the only place warm enough and he can’t rightly keep it in the pantry with him. So, they end up compromising.

He buys a tank for her to put the snake in at night and she lets it wander the garden during the day to eat bugs and mice that might wanna nibble on her plants.

Sooooo I've finally played and finished Dragon Age: Veilguard (I cried so much it's actually not funny). Anyway I've seen a lot of hate towards the game, except for the obvious (Fuck you BioWare), and I wanted to put my two piece in that nobody asked for because I absolutely love Dragon Age and I have put so much time and effort into the games over the years.

I have a lot of pro and cons for the game but some seem nitpicky and just my personal opinion but I am only going to talk about a few things that I feel are important (For my anyway.)

So first things first, the thing that I loved about the game is the fighting style. It did take me a good minute to get use to it because I was so used to playing Inquisition, the thing I liked about the fighting style is:

1: I like that you can switch between 2 weapons which you can't do in the other Dragon Age games (unless you chose rouge) and I like that you can switch between them instantly

2: The fighting style itself. It made me actually feel like I was doing something instead of just holding down one button (Like Inquisition)

Now onto the next thing I love. Making your character. See I'm covered in lots of tattoos and piercings and apart from Cyberpunk I haven't found a game that lets you have facial and body tattoos so when I saw I could cover my Rook in tattoos it made me happy because I could make her look like me. Another thing that I found super important was the pronouns and the option to add top surgery scars. It doesn't apply to me, I'm a woman BUT quiet a few of my friends are Nonbinary or Trans, they like to game but as you know, most games don't have that option so the fact they finally feel. I want to say included (I'm not sure that's the right way to put it) to be able to make their Rook look like them

CLIMBING. ACTUAL FUCKING CLIMBING. In Inquisition there's a quest where you go and find shards and goddamn the amount of times I've tried to climb and fail to get these fucking shards pissed me off (lovingly) so to see you can actually climb makes me happy (Seems stupid I know)

Decisions. You're decisions actually matter!!!! SLIGHT SPOILER!!!!! So on my first playthrough I chose to be a Warden and you go to D'meta's Crossing do what you do and find the Mayor. I chose to save him and send him off to help the Wardens, that was that, didn't think about it much. Fast forward to Lavendel and you have to go and find some missing Wardens, because I chose to save the Mayor he was there to save said missing Wardens

Lastly the thing that just that made me happy was the companion quests. I don't know about anyone else but I did wish they were slightly longer but I love that every companion (In my opinion) got a well thought, decent companion quest. I found that it helped me get to know my companions a bit better

But. And hear me out.

WHY IS THERE NO SMOOTCHIE UPDATE!?!?!?!?!? I want to be able to go to my lover (Emmrich my love) and give them kisses but also I wish that there were more romance scenes.

Anyway that is quick rundown of what I thought about the game.