What I Love About Bard!tav/gale Is What Beauty Means To Them. For Gale, Magic Is Art. For Bard!tav, Art

what i love about bard!tav/gale is what beauty means to them. for gale, magic is art. for bard!tav, art is magic. if you push a more evil route, one of the many things gale laments are his hands - that something that used to create beauty was transformed into tools for heinous acts. there's this intersection of how bard!tav and gale want to see the loveliness and good of the world, and how they continue believing in it is thru the act of creation. bard!tav thru song, poetry, and all forms of art, gale thru the wonders and dreams magic can make real

Avvar lore resources

I might be a little bit invested in a certain part of Dragon Age lore...

Jaws of Hakkon DLC transcript - a transcript of all dialogue lines from JoH DLC, including variations dependent on the Inquisitor's race, previous choices, and quest order.

Avvar history reconstruction - a 7-part series delineating the history of the Avvar tribe

Avvar first names spreadsheet - a thorough list of Avvar first names that appear in canon sources, organized by their real-life origin if possible

Avvar name structure - a detailed analysis of how Avvar names are constructed, including first names, surnames, legend-marks, and clan names

Avvar symbolism - collages of visual symbols related to the Lady of the Skies, Hakkon Wintersbreath, Korth the Mountain-Father

Parallels between Korth and the Titans

Elven roots of the word "Avvar"

Random bits of Avvar lore

Playing as a sorcerer tav is great as a gale romancer, because of the very different perspective and approach to magic your character would have as an innate spellcaster.

You’re not necessarily better at magic, and unless you multiclass as wizard (lol why?) it’s unlikely that you’d have a better understanding of the mechanics of magic. Sorcerers cast magic innately, yeah? You don’t have to understand how muscles move to be able to move your body, but you can still train. Same kinda deal. Sorcerers can practice and learn to mold their magic in different ways. Wizards study magic, and learn a spell inside and out to be able to cast it.

It’s a different perspective, and one I think is so juicy to explore.

My tav Cordelia thinks Gale is very impressive. He understands magic in a way she doesn’t. He can cast all kinds of spells that she can’t.And on the flip side of that, Gale is fascinated by her innate grasp of magic. Fascinated by what it must feel like to feel connected to the weave constantly, it’s in your veins, a very tangible and real presence always.

They bond instantly over their love of magic

Their dynamic is very much: yes, I’m good at what I do, but what you do is also very impressive, tell me more, please

they make fun of the avvar all they want but their world and traditions are 5x more fascinating and exciting than the rest of inquisitions story

i think it's interesting that avvar mages from the stone bear hold seem to dress exactly like all the rest of the avvar, don't seem to be carrying staves etc - at least the two mages we know, the augur and sigrid don't. i think that would be nice if it was just a confirmed thing that the avvar do, and how pissed off the chantry people would be, knowing that literally any avvar they're interacting with might be a mage, they just have no idea.

(i know that in the heroes of dragon age both sigrid and the augur have staves, but i don't really like focusing on the models from there, they can be... very alternative)

i just like to imagine avvar practicing a lot of staffless magic, bcos their magic is just different and works fine like that. like i also hc that bcos they have such a close connection to the spirits they have way more spirit healers than amongst circle mages, where it's said to be a rare talent.

Song of rest