22154 réponses à ce sujet

[Gervaise]

If I find out that Calpurnia in any way was responsible for Halward's death or was threatening Dorian with her remnant Venatori, I would be seriously ticked off.   Since I only meet Calpurnia on the back of my Dorian romance CoJ run, he is always with me so she knows he is a friend of mine.   I always let her go peacefully, with Dorian's full approval, which is why if she was to come back, I fully hope she has learnt from her past mistake over who to place your trust in and decides to throw her lot in with the Lucerni.   Of course she could come back under a different name, since Calpurnia was never her real one and it would be safer for her to adopt a new identity if she wants to resurface in Tevinter.    I actually think that Dorian, Maevaris and Calpurnia working together would be an awesome combination and might actually have a shot at reforming things.   I really liked Calpurnia's vision for Tevinter; it was just a pity she was so misguided as to think Corypheus was the one who would give it to her.

[Xilizhra]

I think the Lucerni might potentially be misguided, if they aren't planning to revitalize Tevinter along with eliminating its corruption. Getting bogged down in debates about blood magic would likely be a very bad idea. So I'm not rooting for Calpernia to join them just yet; right now, I'm still in observation mode.

[Yermogi]

I don't know how it happened, or why, but ever since I had this one thought which I posted about in the Tevinter thread, I've been starting to headcanon a Tevinter mage character who is childhood "friends" and next-door neighbor to Dorian growing up. And I say "friends" like that, because I just imagine that Dorian accidentally set a lot of things on fire growing up. A LOT of things. Like curtains, furniture... the neighbor kid's hair...

 

Man, this is one of the best headcanons I've had in a while! Imma keep this one around!

 

I wish Dorian was my neighbor. I bet he throws the BEST parties.

[nightscrawl]

Well, we do know he was a troublesome youth...

[Yermogi]

Well, we do know he was a troublesome youth...

I sort of want to write a short fanfic about how he comes back to Tevinter, but crashes in his neighbor's house for a few days while he gets things organized... and neglects to send the neighbor word that he'll be stopping by. So she wakes up in the middle of the night, goes down to the kitchen to get some water, and just finds Dorian helping himself to whatever he can find. And then after she screams in terror and nearly electrocutes him, he just goes to her guest room and goes to bed. Like he owns the place. Not even so much as a souvenir for her.

 

BW, if you're reading this- make it so.

[Sifr]

If I find out that Calpurnia in any way was responsible for Halward's death or was threatening Dorian with her remnant Venatori, I would be seriously ticked off.   Since I only meet Calpurnia on the back of my Dorian romance CoJ run, he is always with me so she knows he is a friend of mine.   I always let her go peacefully, with Dorian's full approval, which is why if she was to come back, I fully hope she has learnt from her past mistake over who to place your trust in and decides to throw her lot in with the Lucerni.   Of course she could come back under a different name, since Calpurnia was never her real one and it would be safer for her to adopt a new identity if she wants to resurface in Tevinter.    I actually think that Dorian, Maevaris and Calpurnia working together would be an awesome combination and might actually have a shot at reforming things.   I really liked Calpurnia's vision for Tevinter; it was just a pity she was so misguided as to think Corypheus was the one who would give it to her.

 

It would be kind of fitting to have Calpernia as a foil for Dorian regardless of whether she joins the Lucerni. She's just as much of a patriot as Dorian is, but represent a far more militant and underhanded attitude towards Tevinter's restoration, than Dorian and Mae's grassroots movement that seeks to get rid of the abuse of power and corruption in their society.

 

Having her be revealed to have engineered Halward's death to put Dorian in a position to succeed him because he's more of a reformer would be rather in-character for her, because even if she joined the good guys and has good intentions this time around, she might end up being an extremist.

 

Kind of reminds me of Revan... regardless of what side he was on, good or bad, the guy didn't do anything in half-measures.

[Gervaise]

According to Dorian, not doing things in half-measures is part of the true Tevinter psyche.  They are a passionate lot, caring deeply about everything.   So from that point of view, despite her lowly origins, Calpurnia was a typical Tevinter.   No one seems to know who her family was, possibly even Calpurnia herself but I do think there was potential there for an interesting backstory (beyond the one already given in Paying the Ferryman).     Was she just a anomaly that popped up in a peasant family or did she have links to the Altus?    I have this idea that since Alexius found Dorian in an elven slum, that it may be somewhere male Magisters go to relieve their sexual urges when their specially selected wife no longer gives them pleasure, or simply refuses to sleep with them.   Since elf blooded children don't look like elves, she could be the result of an Altus/elf mating, which if the Tevinter theory about breeding for magic is correct, would be rather a potent combination, what with the "pure" Altus magical bloodline combined with the "old blood" of the elf.  

 

I've had an intriguing thought, what if Calpurnia turned out to be Dorian's half sister?    After all, he says that his parents couldn't stand one another.    Even if Halward didn't visit the slums, he could have had a favourite slave girl and that is considered okay, provided you keep it behind closed doors.    Then he couldn't acknowledge the child because that would draw his wife's ire, plus she might prove a threat to Dorian, so he simply sold her on.   Now if Calpurnia had discovered the truth, that would have given her a very strong reason for assassinating Halward, particularly if she confronted him with it and he still refused to acknowledge her.   That would be an interesting twist.

[nightscrawl]

Sorry to point this out, but it's been bugging me for a while now, and since you like the character, I thought it would matter to you. You are spelling Calpernia's name incorrectly. While the ancient name (according to the short story) is spelled with an u -- Calpurnia -- her name is with an e -- Calpernia.

[Gervaise]

I stand corrected; I am using the Roman spelling as found in Julius Caesar's wife: my classical education getting in the way of accuracy.   I was thinking they used the name because of the Roman connection and it didn't register with me that the spelling was different.

[nightscrawl]

^ No worries. As I said, even the short story points out that is the ancient spelling.

[Sifr]

^ No worries. As I said, even the short story points out that is the ancient spelling.

 

Or the correct spelling... (at least if you ask Corypheus)

 

Actually, the idea that it's a pet peeve of his that Calpernia constantly spells her name "wrong" is my new favourite headcanon.

[Sarah1281]

I've been thinking about the word "Amatus" and how ridiculous it is that the game can't have a consistent pronunciation for it. I've heard it pronounced with the stress on the first syllable, the second syllable, AND the third syllable. 

 

I think my favorite is when they say AM-atus, followed by a-MOT-us, then I don't really like ama-TOOS all that much. Perhaps not surprising since the first one is how Dorian pronounces it when I believe the Inquisitor wants a moment alone with him. I just love how he says it. 

[nightscrawl]

^ I completely agree. I think the Trespasser pronunciation is the most jarring. The first pronunciation is my favorite as well, which is also what he says in the party scene when you click the door to head to the Inquisitor's quarters -- "Going somewhere, amatus?"
 
According to the Google translate pronunciation thing, it's ah-MAH-to-seh with full enunciation of the S. In general, I think it is closer to the first pronunciation that Dorian uses, but just drops the emphasis on the S.

 

 

[edit]

They really need to have some sort of pronunciation guide for these non-English words if they're going to use them. At least have them be consistent when said over time by the same VA. Ideally, the first time the VA records it they would set a clip of that aside so the VA can reference it later on if needed. I mean, think how weird if would be if Iron Bull said kadan as KAH-dan and then KAY-den. As it is, he already is not consistent with the pronunciation of Tal-Vashoth.

 

Amatus is probably a worse example since it's a real word in an actual language for which there are existing rules.

Modifié par nightscrawl, 24 juin 2016 - 05:34 .

[Phoe77]

If I remember my Latin lessons correctly, words with multiple syllables almost always have emphasis placed on the next-to-last syllable.  Tevene isn't necessarily Latin though, so take that as you will I guess.

[Sifr]

Amatus is probably a worse example since it's a real word in an actual language for which there are existing rules.

 

As a handwave, it could be that similar to Latin in our world, because Tevene is a (mostly) dead language, scholars have had to reconstruct how they think it most likely sounded based on the vocabulary, grammar and influences on later languages that derived from it.

 

So that even if you spoke Latin or Tevene fluently, if you were thrown back in time to a point in history when it was widely spoken, the locals might think you were running their language through a broken mangle compared to how it should actually sound.

 

Of course, it could be that drinking and enjoying himself, rather than studying, is one of the other reasons that Dorian got thrown out of school a couple times. This might be why his knowledge of Ancient Tevene is rather poor and he butchers the pronunciation, but banks on his paramour (Bull or the Inquisitor) not noticing because they don't speak it.

 

(Well, Bull might know Tevene because he seems to be adept with languages, but I can picture him keeping that tidbit to himself)

[Sarah1281]

You'd just think even if Dorian pronounces it wrong (though I tend to think academics is like the only problem Dorian didn't have growing up) he'd at least pick one pronunciation and stick with it. The Inquisitor may not speak Tevene but it's obvious Dorian is mispronouncing it if he keeps changing how he says it.

[nightscrawl]

Of course, it could be that drinking and enjoying himself, rather than studying, is one of the other reasons that Dorian got thrown out of school a couple times. This might be why his knowledge of Ancient Tevene is rather poor and he butchers the pronunciation, but banks on his paramour (Bull or the Inquisitor) not noticing because they don't speak it.
 
(Well, Bull might know Tevene because he seems to be adept with languages, but I can picture him keeping that tidbit to himself)

 
Sorry, I am not willing to handwave something that is clearly developer error. They can pronounce the word however they want*, but three different pronunciations by the same character in the same game should not have happened. The game is done, it happened, I have to accept how it is, but I'm not going to make excuses for it. I feel the same about some of the inconsistencies between the game(s) and World of Thedas.

 

Game developers make mistakes, they're human. Let's acknowledge those mistakes and learn from them. More importantly, let's not make something out of a mistake that it likely is not, or read in some deeper meaning. I can give several examples of dev mistakes, or oversights, where this has happened.

 

 

* I don't really care how it's actually pronounced and was only using the real Latin as a baseline.

[Arlee]

 
Sorry, I am not willing to handwave something that is clearly developer error. They can pronounce the word however they want*, but three different pronunciations by the same character in the same game should not have happened. The game is done, it happened, I have to accept how it is, but I'm not going to make excuses for it. I feel the same about some of the inconsistencies between the game(s) and World of Thedas.

 

Game developers make mistakes, they're human. Let's acknowledge those mistakes and learn from them. More importantly, let's not make something out of a mistake that it likely is not, or read in some deeper meaning. I can give several examples of dev mistakes, or oversights, where this has happened.

 

 

* I don't really care how it's actually pronounced and was only using the real Latin as a baseline.

 

I'd have to go searching for it but I'm pretty sure shortly after Trespasser came out Either Mike Laidlaw or Patricks Weekes admitted the pronunciation inconsistency was an error on their part which resulted from a confluence of a few different events.

[nightscrawl]

I'd have to go searching for it but I'm pretty sure shortly after Trespasser came out Either Mike Laidlaw or Patricks Weekes admitted the pronunciation inconsistency was an error on their part which resulted from a confluence of a few different events.

 

I'd like to see that! But to be fair, it was pronounced two different ways in the base game as well, Trespasser merely added a third, even if it was the worst one comparatively (that is, sounded really different from the other two).

[Gervaise]

May be the emphasis on particular syllables is regional variation.   Like scone which can have a hard "O" sound or a soft one depending on which part of the UK you are from.    So Amatus is pronounced one way in Qarinus and a different way in Minrathous (and possibly another way again in Vyrantium), which is why Dorian swaps between the two/three because it doesn't really matter outside of Tevinter.   Then in Trespasser he has just returned from a visit home; so he had got into the habit of saying it in a certain way according to the part of Tevinter he was in.  

 

The other possibility is that Dorian used to deliberately change the way he said certain words just to annoy his tutors when he was a lad and it became something of a habit.   I can just imagine when he was sent to that strict school in Minrathous finding ways like that to be subversive and laughing to himself when he saw how much it irritated them that he just couldn't seem to get the pronunciation right no matter how much they corrected him.

[nightscrawl]

^ I really can't understand why some of you just don't accept it as a developer error. I'm not calling them all a-holes or idiots for the error. It happened, I got over it. But that IS what it is.

 

 

Pronunciation of the word aside, I found it odd that the devs have used it as something that Dorian's lover thinks of him as. You see this in both the Inquisitor romance slide, and also in some remarks that PW has made about Iron Bull. Bull aside -- he can think of Dorian however he wants -- it just truck me as odd when I first saw it. My Inquisitor thinks of "amatus" as Dorian's word, and it is not something he (my Inquisitor) would say unless Dorian asked him to (I did write one scene showing this).

 

Of course, I don't expect that to apply to all Inquisitors, but that was my initial reaction on seeing it in the romance slide.

[Sarah1281]

I don't see it as an issue of not accepting developer error (they have the same word pronounced by the same character three different ways and don't provide any sort of in-game explanation for it. What else could it possibly be?) It's just that in-universe there's no such thing as developer error as there are no developers. That's the Doylist answer but people just want to find a Watsonian explanation for why Dorian might say it three different ways. I've noticed fans always try to come up with explanations for retcons or mistakes. And games do it, too. There's all sorts of hand-waving for why we're supposed to believe that the qunari from the first game and the qunari from later games are the same species and not just both followers of the qun even though "some don't have horns" doesn't really do enough to make that honestly make sense. 

[Gervaise]

Sometimes I just put forward a theory so I have something to talk about.   Lets face it, it is going to be an awful long time to the next game.   So I just throw something out there to get a bit of discussion going.    Most of these things are simply mistakes or may be different people being in charge of different aspects of the game.    I must admit I would have thought Ramon would have remembered how he pronounced the word from one session to the next.   I mean I might pronounce a word wrong, but I'm usually consistent about it.   Still it's not big deal.

 

I think the use of the word Amatus in that final slide was simply a sort of generic thing because we all have our own ideas of the sort of endearment our PC would use, so they decided to go with both using the same word, probably in the hope of avoiding trouble.    I'm pretty sure Iron Bull refers to him as Kadan after the showdown with the Qun (if he doesn't betray you) and the only time he refers to himself as Amatus is when he says "Would you like your Amatus to....."   To be honest I can't remember what they use in the slides for the Bull/Dorian romance.     I agree that it is Dorian's personal term of endearment but the end slide is sort of stating it from the perspective of Dorian's allies take on the Inquisitor's actions.   So they would say "I think I've seen the Inquisitor sneaking in to aid his Amatus", because that would appear to be the Tevinter term for a lover (male), they have probably heard Dorian use it about his lover in the south and of course they wouldn't know what the Inquisitor's personal term of endearment for Dorian actually was.

[nightscrawl]

^ I'm sure there are some Inquisitors that picked up on using it as well (in player headcanon), so I certainly don't discount those people. Mine doesn't use anything, except on rare occasions.

[Gervaise]

My Inquisitor mostly uses his personal endearment as his keyword for activating the crystal because it is something no one else would know, unless they are familiar with Dalish terms of endearment that is,