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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 2 years

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Have you finished eod yet?

I have not finished EoD, unfortunately. I've maybe gotten halfway? Real life and higher priorities keep getting in the way. And I guess I'm not as... thrilled by this expac as the others?

Perhaps it's because the game lore has diverged so sharply from my own understanding of it from core through HoT. I am fully aware that the game is about challenging preconceived notions of what magic and the world and dragons themselves are and how they work and interconnect, but I sort of liked my interpretation better. (That dragons are forces of nature, unable to be reasoned with, and unstoppable except by unity. I would have been fine with the fallout being huger than imagined, with having to replace the dragons with something better, and the replacement might have to be a personal being, an ally, and that's why the replacement is better, but having the dragons themselves be personal creatures to begin with, creatures we can interact with on a relational level? I'm slightly disappointed.)

Or maybe (because I don't think my disappointment is big enough to warrant disinterest) it's because the game has stopped focusing much on peripheral elements; as the world ages past 1325, and changes of major historical import occur (quite apart from dragons dying, I mean things like Balthazar's death, the charr civil war, and, as several of my reblogs recently have been about, the norn and their reaction to IBS), I want to see a lot more effort put into ambient worldbuilding, updating old maps and dialogue or at least creating new ones that address wider issues and not just the map conflict/meta. Instead, the new expac has moved us to, not just a new continent, country and culture, but a place that has been completely isolated from our home continent for so long that it has completely different history.

In addition, the ending of IBS was unsatisfactory, both because 1. the defeat of two Elder Dragons should be more of a climactic win, and 2. because our main story antagonist, Bangar, goes without justice entirely. In that light, moving on to EoD basically means skipping the resolution of some huge major story points and trying to introduce new things without resolving all the emotional tension that's still tied up in the IBS arc.

Combining that with the problem of not updating old worldbuilding and introducing a completely new continent with different lore, and further building upon lore changes that I've been resistant to already, and EoD just feels like something different altogether, maybe even as different as a Guild Wars 3 would be.

And, of course, there's the idea that maybe this is just going to far for me to take, as someone who still likes writing PS-era fic, obsessing over the ending of HoT, and angsting over S3. PoF and further are still interesting stories with characters I know and love, but the further things go the more I've had to rush and cobble things together to understand how my Commander fits into it all, and eventually it's going to stretch too far, and maybe that's what's happening.

Also, I'm not invested in Cantha. I'm not a GW1 player, so it doesn't have any appeal to me as a player, and as for my Commander, Cantha has been off the radar for her. Everyone fights for a reason, and Commander's reason has been "some must fight so that all may be free" for some time now. Well, Cantha is free. They have a nice Elder Dragon and haven't had to deal with a hostile one in centuries. It honestly feels like my Commander is interfering in otherwise-peaceful Canthan operations without much knowledge of what's going on, simply because she can, and she feels like her experience (and fame?) give her a say. This level of pride doesn't feel in-character for me, although I could probably retroactively make it so, but I can't change the fact that her motivations are all centered on making the world a better place, and Cantha is the last place that needs it. She washed up on their shores basically an illegal alien, and I don't know (or don't recall) why they let her hang around - they could have deported her and Kasmeer and there's nothing anyone could have done about it.

It could be one of these problems or all of them. However, I rather think even all of these problems couldn't keep me away from my babies Taimi and Gorrik, and my eternal love for magic and dragon lore even if it isn't quite to my taste. More likely, I'm just busy, and all of these reasons have raised the barrier of entry to EoD just enough that I don't feel a burning passion to get through it, and therefore am capable of focusing on real life for now.

This theory is supported by the fact that I also have not played the new S1 re-releases, and I'll usually obsess over any fragment of S1 lore I can get, much less a full playable version.

However, when I do get around to finishing EoD... well, I've had a sneaking suspicion since IBS that my Commander was killed by Bangar's arrow, and one of my other OCs took over. All my problems with IBS - and several of the issues with EoD - would be much less significant if there was a less experienced Commander involved. (Although, Bangar getting off easy probably wouldn't have happened if he'd successfully killed the Commander.)

Anet's been focusing on new players quite a lot in Cantha, so having a brand-new Commander and telling a new and different story with her feels most accurate. (My Commander, like me, has been resistant to the new dragon lore, but I can see a fresh face having a more "progressive" take on it.)

Well, this turned into quite a detour and broad examination of myself and GW2 without getting bogged down by too many details, but I'm happy with it. Thanks for the ask!

To answer more specifically, I have (spoilers ahead) completed up to where Ankka kills Mai Trin and "releases" (?) Soo-Won, and the subsequent interrogation of my Commander by various different factions. (I do feel that this should have spiked my interest considerably, because stakes are going up - but again, only for my Commander personally and there is no real reason for her to hang around! Except Aurene, I guess, but still.)

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 2 years

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Fashion wars on MY blog? Likelier than you think

I'm finally getting around to playing EoD (which I'll detail in another post), so have Commander Tiffany's new and updated outfit!

Those gloves are the Leystone Vambraces, which have a soft ley-line-magic aura... which matches Aurene. I consider that to be traces of Aurene's magic due to the Champion bond.

See how much she looks like a half-sylvari?? She can't actually grow leaves on herself (sadly), but the Twilight Arbor dungeon armors aren't race-limited so I assume they canonically can be worn by other races. Oh and I believe those shoulderpads are a Soulbeast thing? I forgot to check.

Commander here just likes attuning to her heritage. And confusing people. Don't forget that (not shown in this image) she has lines in her would-be sylvari pattern all across her face (and hands... and any other visible skin, which is none in this case. Old habits die hard.)

Also notice her gloves! (again) Her left hand is more covered... this is because, since every character in-game ever is right-handed, her left hand is what holds the shaft of her longbow in place while her right hand draws the string to shoot. When she lets go, the string can snap back and hurt her off-hand... hence the protection.

However, since I'm a lefty and I generally imagine Tiffany Commander as a lefty (although I like my headcanon that lefthandedness Does Not Exist in Tyria) I can also pretend that means her left hand is more protected so it can be in on the action. Like, you know, punching someone in the face. Even though that's not how she fights. Oh well. A girl can dream.

(Initial concept of EoD outfit below)

Now, this was not originally the outfit I intended for EoD! My above-all-and-preferred outfit would have been this (...perhaps without the cape):

Because those are very Aurene-like headpiece and hands, and a rather vague vibe of Aurene through the whole outfit, what with the crystals, AND this outfit still looks sylvan. (But the Aurene pieces (and cape, I think) take gems and for the rest of the outfit I... haven't done the necessary work.

But! I prefer the new version. For now at least.

#fashion wars #fashion wars 2 #aurene #sylvari #human #tiffanycommander #gw2

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 3 years

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Ok so - it always slightly bugs me whenever people write about sylvari getting married? Just because

- they had no contact with other races until Malomedies was captured by asura

- their first human contact was Waine, who by all accounts was still a teenager

- in Caithe's memories from S2 the sylvari are still really isolated and the Secondborn had been awakening for months at that point

It is not inconceivable - in fact it is highly likely - that the sylvari developed their own cultural flavor for things like falling in love and getting married before they really encountered the human way of doing it. I think Caithe and Faolain, being the oldest canonical sylvari couple we know of (until Wynnet died), would have set the tone of the cultural romance of the sylvari.

The tradition of marriage in real-life human culture has its roots in the Jewish/Christian practice of a lifelong pledge of oneness to each other. Sylvari have no tradition or precedent like that, and their love works differently to begin with.

Sylvari don't fall in love with a person so much as a concept or ideal that two sylvari fall in love with together; so they're kind of pursuing this concept or ideal together and bonding over it. This is why, for a sylvari player, Trammander is not just a fan-pairing, it's almost lore canon. But anyway - ideals and concepts change and you change and your partner changes, so a breakup for sylvari is less brokenhearted - like if your partner changes and you don't you're just kind of like - I thought I knew you? and you know them of course but they're just not your type anymore and you have to find someone else with your ideal or concept, or maybe you also change because of the breakup, or something.

But anyway; so I don't think sylvari 'get married' in any traditional human sense where you pledge faithfulness and the law recognizes you as one entity and divorce is long and painful and often traumatizing and interactions with that person later are just kinda awkward at best. I think when a sylvari says 'I love you' to another sylvari and they say 'I love you' back, that's the sylvari equivalent of marriage, and it can and does end peacefully at any time more often than someone gets angsty over it.

I'm not saying sylvari don't form interpersonal ties; I'm not saying if your partner leaves you just have to find another one to be happy, because it's clearly not. See Tiachren and Ysvelta, from sylvari level 10, and when Ysvelta changed, either Tiachren tries to bring her back from Nightmare because this isn't the person he knew (and Nightmare adds a whole other dimension of complexity) and eventually has to kill her because he still loves who she was and Nightmare kinda cheated and stole her mind, or else he joins her in Nightmare because - I think she still had whatever concept or ideal it was that they fell in love with together, and doing it in Nightmare is the negative side of it was better than abandoning that concept or ideal.

I also don't think sylvari use words like 'husband' or 'wife' - the sylvari term is the gender-neutral 'dearheart.' The words 'wife' and 'husband' just feel wrong when we're talking about sylvari because those are human terms.

Now, if there was a romance between a sylvari and a human and the sylvari was like 'sure we can get married your way' - then that would be cool and interesting.

But like - making sylvari just planty humans culturally is lazy when there's so much potential. And I'm aware I didn't do anything special in this post, I'm just being picky about words.

But hey, it's a concrete system for romance that doesn't feel like humans that happened to be born as plants!

For example, I don't ship Trammander. He's always been a friend/brother to me. My Commander specifically sees him as a father figure. Eveanin, my kinda-sorta 'backup Commander' - it's complicated - is head over heels for Trahearne (she's a sylvari player! her Wyld Hunt and Trahearne's are intertwined!) but he only has eyes for the Commander, but the Commander - who is sylvari enough to fall in the love the way sylvari do - sees him as a father figure and Eveanin lowkey resents her for not seeing how amazing Trahearne is and tying up his affections like that without even realizing. Eveanin knows she has no chance with Trahearne and is just kinda pining watching him stare at Commander while she (and actually Ridhais too!) are just left on the side. And so it's this massive love-square-thing and Commander just doesn't get it and it's tragic because then the Mordremoth Disaster happens and all three of them are devastated.

#gw2 #heart of thorns #trahearne #tiffanycommander #eveanin #tiachren #ysvelta #ridhais #malomedies #trammander #sylvari #firstborn #secondborn

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 3 years

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I envy y'all putting your characters in costumes and keeping your characters so perfectly up-to-date and relevant to present day that you can write miniscule social interactions given each character's state of mind that day.

Me? I'm sitting at roughly post-HoT, pre-S3. (OFC I know what's been up since then, and a general sense of what she's been through and how she feels about most major story beats, but - ) I don't even know what my Commander thinks of Caithe. I don't know if she's ever thought about how much she relied on Taimi in S3. How well did she know Blish? How much hope did she put in Aurene? What IS her present understanding of the dragons? Does she or does she not want to lie down and rest already? Does she want to hug Braham and cry in relief that he's alright, or is she mad at him for endangering himself, lots of innocents, and perhaps even their chance at victory? How has she been affected by Jormag? What subtle things are going on in her mind? What was her real opinion of the temporary truce?

But it's not just recent stuff! How did she feel about Braham in S3? Did she explore the nuances of her resentment of Logan? How did she react to finding out she was going up against one of the Six? What about the secrets of the Shining Blade? What about dying - how does she feel about that, aftermath aside? How does she feel about fighting Elder Dragons anymore given Taimi's discoveries? Is she annoyed or worried by Joko's rant? Confident or concerned about Aurene eating him? What about the free Awakened? Does she feel uncomfortable around them simply because they're undead, or does she pity them, or does she desperately wish Joko could have helpfully Awakened some of her dead companions before he died, or did she have that thought and find it revolting? How does she feel about Kralkatorrik after that strange talk by his heart? How does she feel about Aurene's feelings about Kralkatorrik?

I wish I could stay caught up, but I'm just getting further behind. I don't know how y'all do it.

#angst #tiffanycommander #there's a meme for this #but I'm awful at memes #stay up-to-date in my writing? nope #instead write PS-era AU fic? YES PLS #gw2 #writing #halloween

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 3 years

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More Eveanin

From @kerra-and-company:

Oh? You want more? I'LL GIVE YOU MORE!

- guardian magic, 10/10 about protecting people

- sylvari sapling, 10/10 about respecting the Firstborn

- Trahearne or - "YES"

- Dusk bloom

- Wyld Hunt Valiant, this impossible Wyld Hunt shall be completed IDC what you say (Caithe and Trahearne: -shakes head- 'oh the poor little sapling' but Eveanin ignores them)

- Pale Tree's golden child in sylvari PS

- Vigil girl! 15/10 some must fight so that all may be free

- NOT the Commander, and irritated about it (sylvari sapling is too young for this job)

and, last but not least:

- love square where Trahearne is in love with the Commander; Eveanin, the Commander's direct subordinate, is in love with Trahearne; and Ridhais, Trahearne's bodyguard, is also in love with Trahearne. Oh, and the Commander is completely oblivious.

-----

Total: 9

Verdict: the personification of my loyalty to Trahearne, my star-crossed heart will remember you always, you were the light of my life and I will protect you until I die, if the dragons were stars you would outshine them all

#eveanin #trahearne #ridhais #tiffanycommander #pale tree #vigil #some must fight so that all may be free #guardian #sylvari #love square #stars #caithe #gw2

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 3 years

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Notebook asks: Tiffany on Taimi?

Thanks for the ask!!

Tiffany on Taimi, set in S3:

~oOoOo~

Taimi showed up to help fight Balthazar. And Primordus. She

She prepared for this. Scruffy 2.0 was heat-shielded and everything. She said it was her fault Balthazar was a problem in the first place.

Balthazar isn't her fault. The machine isn't her fault. How can she blame herself for something like that when

I've made -

I -

But she was there.

Nobody else was there.

I was up against a god and an Elder Dragon and nobody else was there.

Not even

Taimi shouldn't have been there either it was dangerous she's too young she isn't

She can't even fi

Scruffy wasn't battle-ready. He wasn't ready. If he'd broken or the heat shielding wasn't enough or if Balthazar targeted her or Primordus -

She almost

But if she hadn't been there I wouldn't have been able to stop the machine or Balthazar. Well maybe

maybe I could have but

I don't think I woul could have. I don't think I could - I don't think

Nobody else was there. Nobody else is here.

If she wasn't there -

It's dangerous around me. I have to go. I hear Balthazar's in Elona. Taimi will want to stay in Rata Novus.

And nobody else will come.

Nobody else

Taimi will stay. I don't have to worry about her.

Well - maybe I do. She gets into a lot of trouble.

But not real trouble.

She'll be safe.

#tiffanycommander #she does notebooks the way I do lol #doesn't quite want to say right out what she's feeling #even though she completely knows what it is #afraid someone else might read it ;P #gw2 #taimi #s3 #balthazar #primordus #elona

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 2 years

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My Commander with her baby skyscale, sometime after Kralkatorrik's defeat. She's tired from a long day hunting treats for the skyscale, and resting against her lifelong companion, Beorn. In the corner, Gorrik is absorbed in his datapad. The skyscale chitters away happily, but Commander is just resting. At peace. For now, there is a lull in the storm; she is not fighting and killing, and instead she can take care of a baby skyscale. Healing and growing. Life things, not death things. Peace, happiness. Quiet.

#uh also the Trahearne mini XD #tiffanycommander #beorn #gorrik #skyscale #now really I took this screenshot just now #ye I'm only on Skyscale Treats #I am bad at collections and achievements of every sort #but in my commander's canon the whole skyscale thing happened between S4 and IBS #gw2

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 2 years

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I'm also kinda curious about how you characterize Ridhais in your stories since iirc she plays a bigger role? You don't need to answer this if you don't want though, just curious 😃

Ooh, Ridhais! Thanks for the ask!

I haven't quite gotten to Ridhais yet, I just know she does play a bigger role - in my current main fic which is about to go into the Orrian campaign, I'm going to include Ridhais because canonically she was there. Since I'm going to get into sylvari lore/headcanonry that also centers around Caladbolg, which will be a significant part of the story, yeah I'll be drawing on her expertise some, although I'm not currently sure how else she'll contribute to the story.

However, in the story of my Commander - I've spoken about Eveanin before and mentioned that she and Ridhais both have crushes on Trahearne (who is blind to that and has eyes only for the Commander). So that's a thing, and I don't think that'll exactly change when I get there with my main fic? It'll definitely be offscreen though because I have no idea how to write romance or anything.

But the major way I'm planning on characterizing her is probably going to be a mix of the two things we know about her: she's ridiculously young (younger than the sylvari Commander, imagine that) and has a Wyld Hunt relevant to Caladbolg.

Ridhais post-HoT gave me distinct 'tired veteran' vibes, like - she's only three years old at that point, she didn't even have early-PS buildup like the Commander had - she's still young and you can tell, but she's learned a lot and she's older.

One thing that's always puzzled me about Ridhais is how she knew all the stuff about Caladbolg that she knew; did she learn it in her Dream? I feel like it's not common knowledge, but it's definitely portrayed a lot like 'her Wyld Hunt magically granted her this knowledge' - almost as if they were trying to give her a similar role to Trahearne, but forgetting that Trahearne paid in decades for the knowledge he has and that Wyld Hunt does not equate to knowledge just by itself.

I mean, Trahearne's not the sort to say 'you are too young, go home and get some experience' because a) he didn't say that to the Commander, probably because b) it's her Wyld Hunt and Trahearne of all people would not deny someone the ability to get close to their Wyld Hunt.

I really hate how they added Ridhais in to the PS by word-alone retcon (they didn't actually go back and even just add her model in the background of the instances) and so they didn't even think about what would have been impacted by that. For example, the cleansing of Orr. If I were Ridhais I would have wanted to be there - quite apart from hero-worshipping Trahearne and being his literal bodyguard, this is a significant milestone for Caladbolg and she should've been there? But canonically she hardcore was not there and Trahearne even says that he and the Commander are alone!

Now, for my Commander's timeline, she and Ridhais have a stiff rivalry with regards to protecting Trahearne, so all the times Commander was there and Ridhais was not can be waved away with "Commander won the argument that time," and Ridhais won all the off-screen arguments where Trahearne was leading armies and doing map metas (which he absolutely did, you cannot change my mind) while the Commander was doing missions Trahearne didn't accompany them on.

But that only works for my Commander, so what about everyone else? I need to understand Trahearne's view of Ridhais during the PS so that I know how he would approach her as a character, because I work with systems; Trahearne has this system of thought regarding Ridhais that he had in canon (or that I made up for headcanon) and that system of thought then interacts with his systems of thought for my other characters and with the interactions of other characters, and that creates dynamic stories. All my characters have systems like this that then must interact with the unpredictability of life and other people.

Now, in greater scale than that, my Commander isn't in the main fic - I have a multi-Commander story and none of them are my actual Commander - and events are going to play out wildly differently from canon, so at that point I can pretty much make a case for Ridhais being anywhere at any time, regardless of where she was in canon.

But it's just really frustrating when a million tiny details about the PS and about my understanding of Trahearne's overall mindset (taking into account people he knows, places he's been to, information he has, and his opinions on those) change without, apparently, Anet putting in any thought whatsoever to what would change.

I've said it before and I'll say it now: there is a lot of information that maybe couldn't make it into the game for one reason or another, but they should have put it in a blog post or a Guild Chat or a livestream of any sort, especially something as major as adding in a whole new character to a pre-existing storyline.

Anyway... this devolved into me being frustrated at the lack of information, which is par for the course while I'm inventing new headcanons lol.

Wasn't quite what you asked, but that's all my thoughts on Ridhais haha. It's not much, but then, I haven't actually written the thing yet. It'll get better then lol.

#ridhais #trahearne #tiffanycommander #PS #HoT #Caladbolg #gw2 #sylvari #Wyld Hunt

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 2 years

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Timeline reference

I have four different timelines (so far). And I sort of mix-and-match my characters for it. (Eveanin is a prime example.)

Timelines:

One is my Commander's timeline. This is Eveanin's native timeline (and Pharlt's.) I tend to take most of the minor characters from Timeline Four and work them into this one somehow. Vriré is a prime example: I can think of one time where she ran into my Commander, and that's all.

Two is the same as my Commander's timeline, except she's never the Commander - Pharlt is the Commander. She was besties with Pharlt and Eveanin before they went off to Orr, though, and she did still meet Trahearne at Claw Island. (She just didn't like him!)

The third is the timeline that came when Dad decided to have three characters instead of one, and I decided to give each of his three one of my alts to be a friend, so there's six of them. This may or may not be the same as Timeline Two, since Pharlt and Eveanin are two of the six. But also perhaps not, since there will be six commanders-to-be already at Claw Island and I don't want to overload our poor introverted Trahearne.

The fourth timeline is the story I've been hinting about for ages but haven't posted yet. (This is Vriré's native timeline!) It is pretty solidly AU by this point. Eveanin is in this one, too, except she's basically a stock background Vigil NPC. This timeline is the reason I like talking about Vriré so much, and also why she's so incredibly boring, because this is the timeline where she gets all her development but I don't want to give you spoilers as;ldkjf. This is, FYI, the timeline that eats up all my time and the reason why all my characters are stuck in the PS. I'll post it someday I promise a;sdlkfjasdf

#eveanin #tiffanycommander #pharlt #vriré #gw2

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 2 years

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For the latest ask game, may I ask for what would be Tiffany's opinion on Warmaster Nohsi, and Vriré's opinion on Lightbringer Viilhelm? (I decided to ask for Order specific time period thinking it'd be most plausible. Thank you for your time!) ~ @thoseofuswhoblossom

Oo, Lightbringers and Warmasters! Thanks for the ask (and the timeperiod XD)!

Warmaster Tiffany on Nohsi (I couldn't find much about him, but here goes! Different timelines because Forgal XD)

At this point in time, Tiffany would have greatly envied Nohsi for a reason that Nohsi would find shocking: she wishes with her whole heart that she did not have a Wyld Hunt. She doesn't have to ask why Nohsi joined the Vigil, however: that's what she did, after all, when she realized she couldn't complete her Hunt. The Vigil is a good place to be - it gives you purpose and a reason to fight. She would respect Nohsi for this reason and feel a sort of kinship with him that goes slightly beyond the fact that they are both Vigil; they both joined the Vigil in search of something more - not led by a Wyld Hunt, but rather driven by the search for meaning - and the fact that Nohsi found it in the Vigil (and not, say, the Priory or or the Order of Whispers) says something about him that Tiffany can appreciate.

(I'm not sure when Nohsi and Forgal got together, but Tiffany would be at first shocked - she's never pictured Forgal as the type to get married or have kids - and then mightily intrigued. She's happy for Forgal, of course, but she feels a sort of detachment because of the timeline difference and a strong curiosity: her parents were a sylvari and a human, so she's interested to see what comes of this sylvari/norn union.)

Lightbringer Vriré on Viilhelm (I scrolled through your tag on Viil because I don't know him super well, but here!)

Vriré tends to keep to herself and she is not a social butterfly by any means of the word, but she heard Doern had a student. She professionally never commented on the rumors about them, and personally she thinks that rumors is all they are, just bored agents with overactive imaginations.

Viil is "one of those Order agents" - the ones who make a lot of loud noise and draw attention to themselves, so that the quieter agents (like Vriré) can sneak around without being noticed. She respects his job, and she assumes he's doing important things under Doern, but she doesn't envy it.

Viil has given Vriré some thoughts on corruption: specifically, the Order's corruption-sensing mechanism at the Chantry's entrance was turned off in the early 1300s due to a myriad of false alarms, and given that Viil has a mist-corruption-spike thing in his back, Vriré wonders if someone else might have a little hidden corruption as well that accidentally triggered the Chantry's alarm, and this worries her - Viil seems to be lucky in that the corruption isn't spreading, but Vriré believes this is an exception (a very, very, very lucky exception, possibly due to the Mists thing) and not the rule, and if there are any other partially-corrupted agents, that should be a thing the Order is aware of.

#tiffanycommander #vriré #vigil #order of whispers #warmaster forgal kernsson #gw2

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 3 years

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Headcanon Time: Ranger Pets feat. Tiffany Commander

Now that new ranger spec is out, I want to talk about my ranger main, Tiffany Commander!

Growing up she never really had much magic of her own, but her companion, a brown bear named Beorn, does, and I headcanon that the shout skill "We Heal As One!" can be fueled by the magic of either the ranger or the animal companion.

I also believe that ranger/animal bonds are magical; it's a two-way mental/spiritual bond. It does have a boundary, though; if you get too far away, you can't sense your companion anymore, but the connection re-activates once you get in range. Through the bond there is limited mental communication (the three ranger hotkeys, for example; attack, return, defend, etc.) and you can get a sense of the other's physical state; are they injured, etc. If your companion has been killed, though, you'll only know because of the signals through the bond that they were injured and then dying and then dead. After that, though, you only get a jumbled, confused signal - no matter how out of range you are. Your connection's been broken, but you're not attuned to anything else. Maybe you'll get glimpses of other ranger signals, but not enough to know really who it is - so if you didn't know your companion was dead you might not know it until you found their body.

Anyway, this hasn't happened to Commander yet, but if it did, she'd be without any magical source of healing. She'd have to carry engi elixirs or something.

For a long time, Tiffany only wielded a greatsword, but she didn't really use the ranger's greatsword skills; in fact, if she were an NPC, the only way you'd be able to tell she was a ranger would be Beorn, because she just uses basic, generic NPC-with-a-sword skills. After her sister, Deborah, died (for realz; not the lost-sister storyline dead, but after that) Tiffany Solestrider began wielding her sister's sword.

When she met Trahearne and changed her last name to Commander, though, she started wielding a longbow, and it quickly became her favored weapon.

After Zhaitan's defeat, Trahearne gave her a Pact longbow and told her it was a symbol of their partnership; Commander wielded it loyally all through Maguuma.

There she encountered druid magic, but Commander couldn't wield it because she had almost no magic of her own. Something within her was responsive to the druid magic, but it wasn't anything she could use or channel.

After the Mordremoth Disaster, Commander couldn't stand the sight of the bow Trahearne had given her and she left it in Fort Trinity. She returned to wielding Deborah's sword until Ridhais approached her about healing Caladbolg.

As a weapon, Caladbolg was more than simply a greatsword; with it came the ranger's more magical greatsword skills; Tiffany Commander, with an affinity for sylvari magic, was capable of limitedly harnessing some of Caladbolg's magic in a fight. Since the bond with Caladbolg was also linked to the Commander's mind/spirit, it was also bonded to Beorn. Same for the bond with Aurene. This triple-bond is what allowed them, after the proper training, to assume Beastmode and merge with each other, despite the Commander's lack of native magic.

But the triple bond was useful for more than just becoming a practicing Soulbeast; Balthazar also didn't just kill the Commander; he also killed Beorn, because why wouldn't he? But it was the companion bond, plus the Caladbolg bond, plus the bond with Aurene that allowed the Commander to bring Beorn back, too. (I've believe that, after the Commander killed the Eater of Souls, she held more than enough magic to revive just herself.)

The bond with Beorn - and the practice Commander had had differentiating herself from Beorn all her life - is also part of what helped her resist Mordremoth. She was more easily able to differentiate between Mordremoth and herself, and of course, later on, the same was true of Jormag. And also, Aurene: we know Aurene can project herself at the Commander and also show the Commander what she's seeing, and probably a few other things besides.

After Balthazar was defeated and Taimi was on her way up to Elona, the Commander told Taimi to please and thank you stop by Fort Trinity and pick up her old bow.

Commander now has her two full weapon sets, greatsword/longbow, and there's no room for more. If she switches to Untamed when the expac drops, that doesn't mean she'll use a hammer (though she might try it out to see what it's like). More than likely, if she switches, it'll mean more lore-thoughts about how she wields Untamed magic. Possibly even a retcon of her Soulbeast status, but I kinda doubt it.

But I like making magic headcanons, so that'll be fun! And please can it have more ranger/pet lore. (But also, I've built up a pretty solid and extensive headcanon - more than what you see here, per the meme - about rangers and I don't want to have to rethink half of that for no reason XD.) I really want more info on Untamed, because it sounds genuinely interesting. We have a healing/support spec and a DPS spec, I'm interested to find out more about this new one.

#We Heal As One!#ranger #druid #soulbeast #tiffanycommander #trahearne #gw2 #aurene #jormag #balthazar #deborah #sylvari #caladbolg #zhaitan #maguuma #elona

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 3 years

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Tiffany Commander's hatchling

All the Commanders who spend time loving on baby Aurene in this utterly wholesome, beautiful way...

And my grouchy traumatized lonely girl just... being busy. Barely ever there, and when she is, worry is rolling off of her in waves.

Aurene got a heavy-handed glimpse of Tiffany Commander's emotional profile right after she hatched; Commander was in panic mode with the Destroyers and then Lazarus showing up, panic and concern and worry based on protecting the egg. Aurene couldn't really tell the nuances that Commander was more worried about the egg getting into Primordus' or Lazarus' hands than about protecting Aurene as a person.

But then Marjory wanted to go with Lazarus and Aurene got a full look at Commander's I'm concerned about you and I don't want you to be hurt and THEN she got a faceful of worry, a sort of hurt betrayal-like feeling when Marjory left, and then a whole maelstrom of feels at Caithe that I haven't quite worked out the details of yet.

That's a lot to stew on for one hatchling, but this is also the dragonet that showed Commander a vision of what Mordremoth was up to with Logan, Zojja and Trahearne back in HoT, so she seems pretty smart.

Aurene kept projecting herself at Tiffany Commander for a while, and then later they had their training instance, and Commander kept having feelings during that too, and so Aurene got a more balanced picture of Who Her Champion Was - a desperate sort of lonely individual who didn't have friends, more like allies, except for Taimi who called at the end.

And there was Caithe. I like to think Caithe would tell stories of Commander's exploits and, maybe when she heard about them, what she was up to, and why Commander was too busy to be there.

And so Aurene grew to love Tiffany Commander fiercely, and then when she went away to Elona and could only talk through the communicator - we have a few moments where we know Taimi is with Aurene, seemingly in her lab, so I bet Aurene bullied Caithe into taking her to Commander's only friend.

Vlast died and Aurene was - well. I think she could sense him, too. And so now she knows what death and loss is like.

When Commander was dying in PoF, Aurene couldn't lose her Champion.

Commander had never been close to Aurene - in fact, until now I don't think Commander ever really saw Aurene as more than a dragon who happened to be small and cute. She didn't have the time or the emotional capacity to invest in raising a child. But Aurene loved her sad lonely Champion with her whole big heart, because this was a person who fought for her in far-off lands, who defended her from Destroyers, who came back from the dead to chase after the God of War and rescue her.

It's rather sad, because Aurene was really a footnote, a side concern, a thing that had to have an eye kept on it, during all these things. Commander came back from the dead for unrelated reasons, and was fighting Balthazar for unrelated reasons, but that was the start of the blossoming of their relationship which occurred in S4.

Aurene is a beautiful crystal flower, and Commander could have benefitted greatly from taking some time out of her busy life to spend quietly with her hatchling, had some downtime, some de-stressing, but she didn't. But Aurene still loved her.

#aurene #s3 spoilers #pof spoilers #s4 #s3 #pof #caithe #taimi #vlast #tiffanycommander #gw2

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 3 years

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Acceptance

Taimi started it. Nobody noticed for a long time - it is a hard thing to notice. Kasmeer noticed it first and followed suit. Marjory picked it up within days. Blish had been doing it for ages but he noticed when they did. Rox had to ask straight-out what that slight pause meant, but after it was explained to her she did it too, and after explaining it to Braham, he joined the club.

Canach noticed it ages ago but he delighted in doing the opposite. He says it was just to be contrary, of course, but really it was to highlight what everyone else was doing.

Rytlock said it one day and everyone suppressed a sort of wince - the Commander noticed that but didn't think much of it. Over the next few days, Rytlock played with that phrasing a bit trying to figure it out, but when he did he clammed up.

The Commander had never really done it in the first place - she wasn't the type to sit around and complain about things. But until she noticed, the phrase was still liable to slip out.

It wasn't until Blish died and the Commander and Gorrik had a heart-to-heart outside of Sun's Refuge that she became more aware of such things. But she still didn't notice until later, when Caithe was complaining about the lack of security and pestering some of the Sunspears to set up something better.

Canach finally snapped at her, "would you calm down? It really bugs me how obsessive people can get over nothing."

It was, truly, a double statement, one honest and one an act. And the Commander joined the show. Logan and Caithe weren't really part of the group that much, but they got a stern talking-to from the Commander the next time either of them said it.

And ever since, the only member of Dragon's Watch who, in annoyance, utters the phrase "that bugs me" has been Canach.

Because Gorrik loves bugs. And we don't want to make him feel like he's an annoyance or an irritation.

#gorrik #canach #taimi #kasmeer #marjory #blish #rox #braham #rytlock #caithe #dragon's watch #bugs #tiffanycommander #gw2 #s4

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 3 years

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heya! :) from the headcanon ask game, maybe 20 and/or 22? if you have thoughts on either of those! -kerra-and-company

Thank you for asking! These are tough questions because I haven't thought about them a whole ton, but let's see what happens!

20: How far has Orr been restored at this point?

I actually haven't thought about this much. When Trahearne cleansed the Source of Orr, the chamber where we found the Artesian Waters bloomed like new spring; given the slow progression we later see in Siren's Landing, I am of the opinion that was a magically-fueled sort of celebration. Trahearne mentioned Orr's heartbeat before, and the ghost of King Reza mentioned the spirit of Orr, and Snaff has theorized that there cannot be magic without mind, so I imagine Orr has some primal sort of understanding that it's been cleansed, even if that barely makes any sense. I think Orr has many mysteries that have yet to be uncovered, all lost to time.

But I think that, as Trahearne said, the cleansing magic has been carried throughout Orr by the time we see Siren's Landing - the corruption is gone. That doesn't necessarily mean things are growing there yet. Plants need nutrients from the soil to grow, and I imagine that the supply of that was severely depleted during Zhaitan's rule, so that's why growth in Orr is so patchy. All the battles the Pact fought in Orr won't help because, while bodies are great fertilizer (even Risen ones, I imagine), we burned all the bodies to prevent them from rising again. That might be what we were actually doing in Siren's Landing at that one heart, finding skelk scavenger organs or whatever and cleansing. I haven't thought about that much, but yeah - but the things that DO grow are all young, eight-year-old saplings at best.

22: Humans are canonically aliens. What weird differences are there between humans and native Tyrian beings?

I have only one pre-existing headcanon for this: left-handed people. Only humans have lefties. It's not an option to be a lefty in-game. No NPCs are lefties.

I imagine coding left-handedness would be difficult - require reworking all the animations for combat and emotes, even the way weapons are stowed - and so nobody in-game ever is actually left-handed. (But I headcanon my Commander as a lefty, and she's part-human, so.)

Again, thanks for asking! You made me think some about Orr and that was fun, I'd never sat down to that task before.

#human #orr #zhaitan #risen #king reza #ghost #sylvari #left-handed #magic #queen jennah #tyria #gw2 #tiffanycommander

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queer-as-used-by-tolkien · 3 years

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First attempt at drawing? No

First time posting? Yes

Am I BAD at drawing people? YES (especially asura)

Posting anyway? YES

[Image ID: human Commander imparts wise advice to Gorrik while standing in the rain. There are no stars tonight but They watch over us just the same.] (Gorrik is the faint, purple blob to the Commander's right.)

----

Gorrik knew it instantly when the Commander, leather armor rent and Caladbolg askew on her back, returned from the Mists without Blish. He ducked his head and stared at his receiver. "You did it, Commander! We're receiving a signal from the tracker!" He feigned cheerfulness well. But those who knew him - Blish would have known, Taimi might know - would see he was blatantly ignoring the obvious. You did it, Commander.

But Taimi could never look away. "Wait... where's - "

Gorrik couldn't listen to her. "I had my doubts about whether the sword's magnetic pull would - "

Commander interrupted him. Gorrik barely felt the flash of irritation that would normally have occasioned. "Gorrik, there's something I need to - "

Gorrik talked over her, because he knew, she didn't need to say it, couldn't she let him - ? " - would still be functional, but, like always - " Gorrik pressed through the tightness in his throat, but he can't help it - "Blish was one hundred percent correct. I don't - "

"Listen to me!" Commander insisted.

Couldn't she see he was grieving in his own way? " - don't know how I ever doubted him!" his voice jumped slightly higher and Gorrik couldn't hide it anymore - "Blish can do anything he puts his mind to..." he was still staring at the receiver, but his eyes were closed and holding back tears.

Taimi, now. "Gorrik. Please."

It was her voice, devastated, lost, ruined, that broke it for him. Blish had had so much to live for. After a long moment - "did he say anything?"

"He said he's sorry."

Light fractured around the corners of Gorrik's vision - the Commander's gaze held pity and Taimi's eyes were on the floor and her ears were quivering, and he wasn't sure if he was angry or - or proud or selfish or missing or lost - "but I saved him."

It was too - there were too many people. Too much. They didn't know him - couldn't understand him - hadn't spent hundreds of late nights attempting the impossible for his dying brother -

He left.

"Gorrik, wait," Taimi called from behind him, sounding less despairing and more confused and uncertain, but Gorrik couldn't stop. He couldn't stay. He couldn't -

He was on the other side of Sun's Refuge, in the silent halls and tunnels near the entrance where there were no people, before he slowed down.

A breath of wind stirred in the close tunnels; nothing should be here. Gorrik looked up but saw nothing. "Blish," he murmured, and his heart quivered in his chest and for one-point-oh-two seconds he believed it just might be his brother, come back - because Gorrik had saved him. He had - there was no - he had no reason to die. He said he was sorry.

What had happened? Had a minion smashed his body? Had he been Branded? Had a Brandstorm disrupted his workings? Had a stray bolt of lightning fried his circuits? He said he was sorry. How did he - ? Was that something he, maybe, had preprogrammed himself in the event of his death? Or did he - had he - had he known he was about to die, because - no, no.

Blish had always been strong. Then he had been so delicate and weak - Gorrik had known every piece of his machinery and it was all his brother, it was all - every cog and gear - it was all Blish. And it was all Gorrik's labor of love. And he was so vulnerable and so, so, so fragile.

All the pieces were. Every one could break and his brother would be disabled, and every time it did Gorrik would drop everything (which he probably couldn't do anyway without Blish) - he would spend agonizing hours and days poking around inside the machinery of his brother's body to find the broken piece without breaking anything else, and fixing it and putting it in and marveling at the miracle that was his brother's life.

Gorrik had known Blish inside and out. Blish had needed it, Blish had appreciated it, Blish had loved him for it, even though it was never perfect and Gorrik sometimes wondered if he ever got used to seeing things through optic lenses and feeling everything bluntly and hearing his voice come out strange, but it all let out in a bigger heart and a kindness and a gentle empathy for everything.

Gorrik had always loved him for it and he couldn't find it in him to wish he wasn't, that it hadn't all led to him dying because he felt too strongly, because that was who he was.

Gorrik wandered the deserted places of Sun's Refuge, avoiding people and staring at where some intrusion of Brand had poked into the cavern, and wondering -

Finally he wandered outside. It was nighttime; and it was raining. Gorrik walked slowly past the Sunspear sentries. A little ways past them, he lifted his eyes from the ground and saw, on a cliff ahead, the silhouette of the Commander standing against the sky, contrasted sharply with the glow of Caladbolg, which she held limply in her off hand.

He didn't know why - something told him to, he felt like he should - but he circled the cliff until he found a way up. It was slippery from the rain and, while it was mostly a gentle slope, at places the way was narrow, or obscured by the scraggly desert shrubs growing in the crevices. But he cautiously went along, stepping carefully and trying not to slip, until he came to the top of the cliff. There were a few dead harpies, and the Commander's companion, Beorn, had curled up under a tree for shelter from the rain.

The Commander had sheathed Caladbolg and her hands were stretched up against the dark, cloudy sky. Her eyes were closed against the rain, but otherwise did not react to it.

Gorrik glanced from the Commander to the sky. There was something, Gorrik knew, that was profound about this moment for the Commander. Gorrik stared at the sky for a moment that stretched and lengthened until it broke:

"My father and my mentor are up there."

Gorrik looked at her and found she had lowered her hands and was looking down at him rather intently.

She said, "Blish is up there too."

These words struck Gorrik like a blade to the heart; his throat closed up and his eyes stung.

He turned his gaze back to the sky. He had no reply. Her words were simple, but they conveyed the powerful: she understood. And she knew something. Up there, beyond the clouds, was where Commander's father and mentor - her deaths, her losses - were waiting. Up there, beyond the clouds, in the same space, was Blish.

Unbidden, the vision of the Commander with her hands reaching, stretching high into the sky. Gorrik's throat went dry in - anticipation? Fear? "What were you doing?"

"Beyond those clouds," said the Commander at ear-height - he looked and saw she'd knelt down on one knee, still staring at the sky - "is a constellation known to the humans as the Hands of Lyssa. The stars form two hands - presumably the hands of Lyssa, pressing down on the world. But they are seen the same from here, from Kryta, from Orr. We touched hands from across continents. That was what separated us then. Now we touch hands across - " now she sighed, a deep, long, sad sigh - "now we reach across world, or dream, or death."

Gorrik looked at the sky and, in his mind's eye, saw beyond the clouds to the shimmering outline of hands, reaching down. Or, in reverse; hands reaching up. Both were true. Both joined at the stars.

"Does it ever - do you ever feel them?"

"As clearly as this," Commander said, laying her hand upon his shoulder gently.

They were there, and he could feel it, because he knew they were there. The Commander wore a glove; Gorrik's own clothing provided an extra layer. They were not actually touching. But they were.

Gorrik lifted his own hand toward the sky, then let it fall, trembling slightly.

"But the clouds - " Gorrik knew he sounded lost, even childish, but he did not care. His hand curled into his chest and he felt a renewed pang of loss. The clouds were the single greatest barrier between himself and his brother.

The Commander closed her eyes and took a long, slow breath; it was not the impatient sigh of an older asura, irritated about his fixation on entomology. It was the slow, peaceful inhalation of someone at relative peace. "There are no stars tonight," she admitted quietly. "But they watch over us just the same."

They, Gorrik knew, did not mean the stars. They meant the Commander's father and her mentor, they meant Blish, they meant - well, the loved ones of anyone who reached to the stars.

"The Olmakhan," Gorrik breathed in new understanding.

Commander nodded, eyes still closed. "They look to the stars for guidance, for wisdom, for help. I look to the stars for comfort and peace."

She meant that everybody saw the stars differently. Gorrik raised a hand against the sky; not as the Commander had done, as if holding the sky up, her hand pressed flat against some surface, but as one searching. His fingertips outstretched, grasping, as it were, through the clouds.

He did not know where the constellation of hands was, but maybe Blish didn't either. Their hands were searching in the dark, and when the clouds parted they would find each other. Or maybe Blish had his hand out, waiting, with that smile of his and the understanding look - which Gorrik had often enough already mentally projected onto the expressionless form of the metal body his brother had been trapped inside.

That look - the one he had seen often in his childhood, the older brother explaining how things worked, watching him figure it out. Later, that soft, understanding, slightly amused look when Gorrik first discovered that there was a whole scientific field associated with bugs. Even later, the look came as Gorrik built a miracle so his brother could live - but it was not amusement anymore. It was pride. Blish would wait for him to find the stars. Whatever that look had held over the years, it had always held patience. And love.

There are no stars tonight, but They watch over us just the same.

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