‘You Already Have Everything You Need’
It’s a tough Wednesday, however you most likely don’t want me to let you know that. If, one way or the other, you’re studying this by way of Kotaku and never anyplace else, convicted felon Donald J. Trump is projected to win the 2024 presidential election over Vice President Kamala Harris. As a queer particular person in America, it’s fairly laborious to write down about video video games once I know the subsequent 4 years might be constructed upon the fearmongering Trump and his operating mate JD Vance have campaigned on all yr. However, nonetheless, the world turns, and we’re all anticipated to return to our every day lives very first thing within the morning. Whether or not that’s heading into the workplace, taking youngsters to highschool, or, in my case, writing about video games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
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Leisure journalism is a multifaceted, generally foolish affair within the grand scheme of issues. Whether or not you’re protecting video games, music, movie, sports activities, vogue, or every other trade, you could typically put your head within the sand to write down about your respective beat whereas every thing round you is on hearth. Quite a lot of websites, Kotaku included, are constructed upon the concept that the leisure mediums we cowl intersect with tradition, politics, and group. However each “news” author confined to a fandom-driven vertical generally goes total days with out reporting on the most important information occurring round them, particularly when such information impacts the human experiences of our readers but some can’t spot an apparent connection between that and what we write about.
These are the times when our beats appear trivial, and today, November 6, feels precisely that method. However should you can, you discover a approach to tie the 2 collectively. So, as promised, I’ll write about Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Particularly a late-game scene that feels pertinent given the journey of feelings I’ve been feeling for the previous two days.
The newest entry in BioWare’s fantasy sequence is all about recruiting and nurturing the titular staff. The Veilguard is made up of individuals from completely different backgrounds, cultures, and factions inside Dragon Age’s universe, and so they’re all introduced collectively for the specific function of stopping long-slumbering elven gods from remaking the world of Thedas of their horrific, tyrannical picture. A lot of the moment-to-moment in The Veilguard is about staff constructing, group outreach, and coming along with a united entrance to face up in opposition to this risk. That comes within the type of fostering relationships together with your teammates, in addition to serving to to strengthen factions internationally seeking to higher the lives of these round them.
Screenshot: BioWare / Kotaku
The Veilguard differs from previous Dragon Age games in that most of its choices aren’t about altering the world with the snap of your fingers. As an alternative, it’s extra about ground-level change that enables folks to stand up. It was cathartic to complete it earlier than the election, however as I performed the sport’s glorious remaining phase once more final evening simply earlier than the outcomes began coming in, I felt one thing I’ve identified has been rising inside me over the previous decade or so: cynicism.
The primary half of The Veilguard’s remaining mission goes terribly flawed. You kill one of many elven gods, however you lose two members of the staff you constructed alongside the best way. One is captured by the enemy, the opposite is killed by one of many gods as they create a gap for the ultimate strike. Then Rook, the hero of this story, is trapped inside a magical, nightmarish jail that’s meant to carry somebody chained down by all their regrets.
Strolling by way of the jail is a haunting sequence. A number of statues of the teammates you misplaced materialize as you search the void for a method out, their voices berating you to your decisions as a pacesetter that put them within the line of fireside. Nevertheless, they’re contrasted by the one who made the choice to sacrifice themself, which is demonstrably extra hopeful.
For me, that was Lace Harding, the dwarven scout whom I helped pave a brand new path for her folks, whereas additionally reminding her that she doesn’t have to offer in to the fad she feels for what has occurred to the dwarves over the course of Dragon Age historical past. As I walked by way of the jail, I heard her voice: “You reminded me that what I feel isn’t who I am. That this world is good and I love the people in it.”
…Did I? Am I even able to believing that myself anymore, a lot much less telling others the identical?
Screenshot: BioWare / Kotaku
In 2016 when Trump won the first time, I cried with my friends in a movie theater in bumfuck nowhere Georgia. I had lived in a small town where my being gay was an anomaly and had seen plenty of bigotry in my day. But I had always dreamed that outside of that small town, there might be places for me to belong. Seeing a nation elect someone whose core values included fearmongering against marginalized people made me feel as though I’d by no means be secure from these forces, even when I escaped into a giant metropolis. Eight years later in 2024, when it turned clear that Trump could be reelected for a second time period whereas right-wing America has solely change into extra emboldened within the assaults on girls and reproductive rights, and the aforementioned fearmongering towards immigrants, folks of coloration, and trans folks, I felt nothing. It was like I’d gone numb and was unsurprised.
Most days, I wish to imagine the world has the capability for good. However final evening, I used to be reminded that even when that’s true, there are lots of people who view abject hate as both a non-dealbreaker or an outright fascinating characteristic for a politician to have. The antidote to such poison is, in concept, organizing, training, and discovering the individuals who will assist you construct up once more. However I used to be so jaded final evening I couldn’t even seize the fingers of the folks extending one out. I sat in a voice chat with my closest mates, as even these on the decision who had the least to lose beneath a second Trump presidency traced again how we even obtained right here. They eloquently pointed to issues like Harris’ silly makes an attempt to court docket Republicans at the price of something that may enthuse leftists. However the optimism a few of them had felt that morning was gone. I simply stayed on the decision and mentioned nothing. I didn’t have the power to evangelise to the choir.
Lower than 24 hours later, I don’t have a lot curiosity in “I told you so,” however any marginalized one that has lived in America may let you know that Trump’s first election wasn’t a fluke. This is America. It’s made up of people that spend total days spreading prejudiced rhetoric, in addition to the individuals who will undergo beneath it. I attempt to not lose sight of those that are good. Transferring out of that small city and into New York Metropolis has given me extra lifelines to floor me as a result of I work together with individuals who don’t need this to be the norm daily. They’re a light-weight within the darkness, a hand prolonged by way of a tear in a magical, regret-fueled cage, pulling me again to them.
Attaching real-world folks and issues to fiction, particularly because it’s occurring, can simply change into the type of embarrassing nonsense that institution democrats tout out as they meme their method by way of political turmoil. Left unchecked, bolting every thing you expertise to the media you devour results in the shortage of self-awareness you see when Potterheads name Trump “Voldemort,” or another bumper sticker bait. This isn’t me pointing at Dragon Age and being like “our real world villains are just like the tyrannical elven gods and we gotta find our Veilguard.” However once I’m spiraling, reducing myself off from the individuals who look after me, even the smallest reminders that there are individuals who additionally need the world to be higher is the distinction between me falling off the sting.
Screenshot: BioWare / Kotaku
As my Rook prepares to leave the prison and face the elven gods once more, he talks with Varric Thethras, one of the long-standing mainstays of the Dragon Age franchise. He asks for advice on how to lead this team to victory, only for the dwarven storyteller to remind him he’s accomplished it each time thus far. His connections to the individuals who believed in the identical trigger he did have nudged him ahead by way of each hardship the staff has confronted up so far.
“I’d say good luck, but… you don’t need it,” Varric says, pointing at a portal as the remainder of the staff’s voices echo by way of. “You already have everything you need.”
Perhaps that’s true. However, god, I want a second to catch my breath. Perhaps then I’ll keep in mind that that is the place we’re, however it doesn’t must be the place we keep. For now, I believe I’ll lick my wounds slightly longer.