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Name: Taash Door: Door pass Canon: Dragon Age: The Veilguard Canon Point: Endgame, shortly after the final confrontation with Solas. Age: Early 20s Appearance: Awwhyeah History: Taash was born to Shathann, a scholar and priest, in a Qunari city. However, when she was discovered to be a fire-breathing adaari, her mother feared she would be forced to join the Antaam (military) as a beserker. Thus, they both left Qunari lands and moved to southern Rivain. At some point - presumably a few years before her canon point, as she seems to be well-established - Taash joined the Lords of Fortune, a treasure hunters' guild. Pre-game and intro history While the rest of the game is going on - evil elven gods, warring factions, blight-infested cities, it's a whole thing - Taash's storyline concerns their pursuit by the 'Dragon King', one of the warlords of the rebel Antaam. Having allied with Ghilan'nain (one of the aforementioned evil gods), the Dragon King seeks to use Taash's blood to create an army of adaari. Whether or not this is actually possible is uncertain. After failing to use a dangerous dragon as bait to capture Taash, the Dragon King instead kidnaps Shathann to draw Taash out. This works, and Taash and their party are briefly trapped - then freed by Shathann, who is immediately killed by the Dragon King. Both he and his dragon are killed by Taash and company, who then escape his lair. Taash chooses to honor their mother by embracing Rivaini culture - this is a player choice, as Taash asks for the player character Rook's advice on whether to look to Rivaini or Qunari culture in the future. They then go on to help Rook and company kill some gods and save Thedas. Personality: Positive Trait: Passionate Notes written by Taash reveal their preoccupation with getting things 'right' (even little things like the difference between 'nonbinary' and 'non-binary'), and their frustration with being unable to play roles other people seem to perform easily. They feel unable to be either Rivaini or Qunari, and realise an equal discomfort with being considered male or female. This informs a fair bit of social awkwardness on their part. However, Taash becomes a different person when discussing her passion: dragons. Although described as a 'dragon hunter', they have a great and obvious respect for their quarry, being knowledgeable about many different breeds, their traits and behaviours, and strategies for dealing with them. Though actually killing dragons becomes unavoidable when they pose a threat to life, Taash isn't a trophy hunter. During their first encounter with Rook, they make it clear that their plan is to lure a dragon away from her lair so the other Lords of Fortune can steal from her hoard. Seeing the Antaam capture the dragon makes them so angry they reveal their identity as a fire-breather, something hidden for their entire life so far. Later in the game, on learning that the Antaam are infecting dragons with blight to be used as pawns by Ghilan'nain, Taash is outright horrified, seeing these dragons as victims as much as they've become monsters to be slain. This interest and respect does eventually expand into the social realm, even though it takes a while for Taash to warm up to their companions in the Veilguard. This tends to come across more in actions than words - for example, trying to find the best possible gift, or even offering Emmrich their corpse if they die in the final battle. It's also clear that Taash had an immense childhood interest in the Antivan Crows, which is somewhat reignited in the company of Lucanis; much of their banter is centred around Lucanis trying to teach them Crow techniques and style. Negative Trait: Hot-Tempered Taash didn't have the most effective upbringing. Shathann states unapologetically that she's not a good parent; she herself was not trained to raise children, and only took on the role after leaving Qunari lands for her daughter's safety. Having gone from the care of an overprotective parent to the company of the Lords of Fortune - not a group known for their restraint - Taash doesn't have many coping strategies. While they have a mantra taught to them by Shathann - shokra toh ebra, which they mistranslate to understand as 'struggle with who you are' - and use this to try to smother their anger, it often doesn't work. They snap even at people they care about, barge into dangerous situations due to emotional triggers, and (rarely) even breathe fire to express their anger. Negative Trait: Hypocritical Taash has some issues with maintaining one set of rules for themself and one for everyone else. Despite hating the idea of being put in a box or category by other people - 'You don't get to tell me what I am' - they do the same to necromancer Emmrich in particular, writing him off as 'death mage' or 'corpse guy'. While this is eventually resolved - Taash apologises and the pair work out their differences - the underlying hypocrisy is never addressed. Similarly, Taash berates Spite (a demon inhabiting another companion, Lucanis) for smelling a stranger, but then immediately points out an observation made via that exact same person's scent. As with a lot of Taash's flaws, this comes down to immaturity and an inability or unwillingness to see things from other people's point of view. Negative Trait: Blunt Taash isn't a socially graceful person and it shows. In their very first encounter with Rook, they state outright they don't want them there and have no interest in their help (although it does end up coming in handy). If they think an idea, person or entire concept is bullshit, they'll say so, even if that's insensitive or potentially hurtful. This might not be such a problem if they lived in a solely Qunari community - as a culture, they don't really mince their words - but in mixed company they can come across as rude and inconsiderate. In pragmatic terms, it's hard to pay much mind to the consequences of bad manners when you're seven feet tall and carry two axes around. Powers and Abilities: Taash's only superhuman (superqunari?) power is the ability to breathe fire, which can burn hot enough to melt thin sheet metal. Inventory:
Samples: Taash's TDM toplevel gives some good examples of how they think and the threads are all examples of how they both think and communicate! |
