Venatori by Eugene C

Concept Art 1, 3, 4, 5     Game Armor 1, 2, 3

Since none of Bellaras outfits are suitable to wear in summer, i designed my own summer version to cosplay later this year ^^

(No i dont know yet how to make her arm rings...thats a problem for future me)

You totally shouldn’t think about Lace Harding

Haha

You totally shouldn’t think about Rook loving Lace Harding. Don’t do it.

Don’t think about Rook developing feelings for her over the course of a whole year traveling with her and Varric.

Don’t think about after that initial bar fight Rook tells Varric come on can’t keep Harding waiting and Varric almost rolls his eyes like he knows why Rook wants to get back.

Don’t think about Rook taking Harding into the ritual site because they’ve known her longer and know she’s got their back. Don’t think about how much guilt Rook has that she got hurt because they asked her to come.

Don’t think about tearstone island and Rook choosing to send her away this time, leading the B team is supposed to be away from the gods and thus farther away from the direct danger.

Hoping and praying they’re making the correct choice this time.

Don’t think about Rook’s heart dropping to their stomach seeing Lace Harding confronting a god face to face.

Don’t think about how much Rook had to push through the rest of the game, for Harding, to avenge her, to finish what they started.

Don’t think about how after everything a Rook at their lowest might seek out lyrium and take a dose pretending for a moment that Harding hugged them too long or kissed them, that high a bittersweet memory that brings tears to their eyes.

Just don’t do it. Don’t think about her.

Needed comfort since I had a shit night..

With how much Lucanis seems to enjoy reading, the knowledge that he finds Rook's voice comforting, and Emmrich's suggestion that he read to Spite, I feel like reading to each other (and also Spite) becomes a thing they do often.

More otter Ghoap 🦦 with a little surprise

A continuation of this art

There's just something very insane to me about this quest that has no markers, that's so easy to miss because the little caves aren't identified and are only found if you're being extremely thorough with your exploring.

All I could hear was Solas condescending to Rook, "Many would have died, I know. But afterward, flowers would grow again." and how Rook is such an inverted mirror to Solas' despair and "burn it down" mentality.

Rook spends all their *own* effort (rather than treating other people as necessary sacrifices for good things to appear once more), risking their own life (because these spots are frequented by darkspawn and spirits) finding flowers to soothe Despair Undying, and bring back Hope.

It's such a bookend to the quest in Dock Town, where you give names to people who brought joy, and art, and knowledge to the world.

I'm always thinking of Lord of the Rings, and often of The Council of Elrond and I hear Tolkien's echoes in this game, over and over.

“It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not. It is wisdom to recognize necessity, when all other courses have been weighed, though as folly it may appear to those who cling to false hope.”

To take the hard road, not the expedient one, to resist becoming the very thing you fight against.

Ugh.

I love this game so much.

Hello! I'm back with another Dragon Age portrait. This time, it's Bellara as (again) an Anthony van Dyck portrait, specifically the "Portrait of Lady d'Aubigny." Painting all that drapery was fun torture but I'm happy to be done. If you would like to help me choose the next subject, I'm open to any suggestion!

https://www.inprnt.com/gallery/egart/bellara/

It's Tough Being A Venatori

Bald Crows jumpscare.

Well it's Baar Baby's birthday and I was requested baby Lucanis learning to make churros. So anyway.

@baar-ur just for you. Sorry I'm having kind of a busy day today but anyway

Leftovers of my Lucanis Pins are up on my store now!

With all the Tariff nonsense I have no idea if I'll be able to make more anytime soon but I love love how he turned out

a commission for @pigeonwithaknife, of Aravel Lavellan and the Iron Bull, having a soft conversation together somewhere between Inquisition and Trespasser 💕✨

I want to talk a little bit about Rook and roleplaying because I have a distinct feeling a lot of people want to justify disliking the game and Rook with “roleplay” and “player agency” arguments that, frankly, feel like moving goalposts. I’ve read some genuinely wild takes like “roleplay only exists if you have evil options” or “you need a totally blank slate character” or “it’s only roleplay if it’s a complete sandbox type of game.” And I’m here to tell everyone: roleplay is pretending to be another character—full stop. In the context of video games, it’s about engaging with the narrative, the world, and the systems from the perspective of someone who isn’t you.

Dragon Age has always blended a wide range of RPG elements. Origins leaned hard into tactics and party dynamics. Inquisition flirted with open-world design and MMO-style because that was what was hot at the time. Even the combat systems have jumped genres. Each entry experiments—sometimes successfully, sometimes not—but this franchise has never been just one kind of RPG.

And the protagonists have reflected that flexibility too. The Warden was a classic blank slate—your race, class, and origin shaped everything. Hawke was more defined, with a voice and family and a backstory, but you still made key decisions. The Inquisitor was a bit of a hybrid, but leaned heavily into blank slate. And now we have Rook—clearly a character with more pre-defined traits, but still with space for you to influence tone, approach, and relationships. That’s a valid approach. That’s still roleplay.

So when I hear people say “I can’t roleplay as Rook,” it often sounds less like a systemic issue and more like an unwillingness to meet the character where they are. Roleplaying a character doesn’t mean they have to be a perfect cipher for your every impulse. It means you accept the premise of who they are, and then work within that space. That’s literally the skill of roleplaying. And honestly? Saying you “can’t roleplay” just because the protagonist has a personality sounds like a skill issue or at least a deflection from some other reason you’re not vibing with the game or the character.

Sometimes roleplaying means interpreting a character through your lens, not making them a mirror for you. And if you can’t do that—or don’t want to—that’s not a failure of the game. That’s a boundary of your own preferences, which is completely okay. Just say that.

If Rook isn’t your thing, that’s fine. But I wish more people would just say that instead of trying to retrofit a whole “this isn’t real roleplay” argument around it. Just be honest about your preferences—whether it’s tone, genre drift, or vibes—and let’s have a real discussion about that.

Art by Albert Urmanov.