Fanfic / All This Venatori Nonsense

All This Venatori Nonsense, written by Checkerbox, is an Alternate Universe Fic for the game Dragon Age: Inquisition, in which Dorian Pavus, one of the game's companions who canonically opposes the Venatori, is now one of their commanding officers.

Roughly following the events of the game, the story begins with Dorian being captured by the Inquisition at Adamant Fortress following the quest "Here Lies the Abyss". From there, the story follows the developing relationship between him and a male Trevelyan Inquisitor, while also providing it more context with flashbacks to their earlier skirmishes. Along the way, it's also revealed what events, exactly, led to Dorian of all people becoming a follower of Corypheus himself.

The fic was finished in October of 2019; the author has also published a one-shot in the same AU which takes place before the game proper. The author also has written an ongoing series which does not take place in the AU, but which features the same Inquisitor.

This work contains examples of:

• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Trevelyan is more noticeably traumatized by Therinfal's Envy demon (and what being inside his own head taught him about himself) than the Inquisitor is allowed to express in-game, with him admitting months later that he's only almost over it.
• Adaptational Villainy: In this fic, Dorian went along with Alexius' plans to lead the Venatori instead of opposing them, attacking countless innocents as a result. It's subverted, however, as he would have never agreed to it in the first place if he'd been in his right mind at the time, and later only continued because he thought opposing Corypheus outright was hopeless.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg:
  • Despite all the pride and bluster he shows during most of their meeting, when implicitly threatened with Dorian being made Tranquil for his crimes Halward breaks and begs the Inquisitor to spare him, offering whatever he wants.
  • In a dark example, the normally proud and rebellious Dorian is implied to have pleaded with his father to stop the ritual as it tore his mind apart.
  Cole (reading Dorian's mind): I'll be better, please stop, it hurts.
• Anachronic Order: Roughly half of the fic alternates between a flashback chapter and a "current events" chapter, with the flashback chapters having their own chronological progression. The chapter concerning the Inquisitor's trip into the Fade at Adamant also has a series of flashbacks to his time with the Envy Demon in Therinfal. The final chapter, concerning the Trespasser DLC, shakes this up with a series of flash-forwards to the events of the DLC while Dorian and Trevelyan happily catch back up after being away for so long.
• The Atoner: After he becomes a legitimate member of the Inquisition, part of Dorian's motivation is to right the damage he did as a Venatori lieutenant.
• Blatant Lies: When Dorian's father, Halward arrives at Skyhold to negotiate for Dorian's release, Trevelyan leads him to believe that Dorian is currently in a dungeon, routinely tortured, and that the Inquisition is considering executing him or making him tranquil for his crimes. Not only was Dorian never treated this terribly after his capture, but by this point in the fic he's more or less an ally of the Inquisition and is in fact eavesdropping on the entire conversation directly above his father. It's made clear that the point of this was to make Halward suffer with more guilt for what he did to Dorian as well as to convince him to give the Inquisition his resources in exchange for more humane treatment.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Much like in the game, Dorian's view of his father was shattered by the blood magic ritual he'd planned, even more so because Halward actually attempted it. Similarly, he readily agrees that Alexius "failed him" by brainwashing him to his cause in the aftermath.
  • A point is made of how Trevelyan and Rainier get along terribly compared to how they did when the latter was Blackwall. After some pressing, it's shown that they are broken idols for each other—Rainier being disgusted that the "Herald of Andraste" would have him continue to lie and be Blackwall (among other things,) and Trevelyan being angry that the idealistic Grey Warden he'd seen Blackwall as was all a lie.
• Commonality Connection: Attempted early on by Trevelyan during his first one-on-one fight with Dorian, where he points out from his own observations that Dorian appears to hate red lyrium as much as the Inquisition does. Dorian blithely points out that this is not a very unique position to have before resuming trying to kill him.
• Deuteragonist: The story puts equal focus between Dorian and Inquisitor Trevelyan, with the two alternating POVs roughly every chapter.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!:
  • Once the whole truth comes out, Dorian reacts harshly to any notion that he's a "mental invalid" as a result of the ritual his father forced on him. He also refuses to deny responsibility for his subsequent actions, since his mind did heal and he still chose to work with the Venatori.
  • The Inquisitor is uncomfortable with anyone showing him pity for his awful childhood, especially because he's so emotionally detached that he doesn't usually get upset over it himself.
• Enemy Mine: The event directly preceding Dorian's capture is the siege on Adamant from the quest "Here Lies the Abyss", where he accidentally falls into the Fade along with the Inquisitor and his companions. Since Nightmare apparently doesn't care that Dorian is on Corypheus' side and is content to torment him just as much, he teams up with Trevelyan at least long enough for them to escape together.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Even though he self-professes to be an "evil mage from Tevinter", Dorian is nonetheless disgusted with the needless sacrifices and demon-summoning his fellow cultists practice. This is ostensibly because it draws too much attention to their activities, but it's shown it really does bother him on a moral level as well.
  • In the prequel fic, Alexius is outraged to see the damage Halward has done to Dorian's mind over something as petty as breeding an heir, not that it stops him from taking advantage of it.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Trevelyan notes early on that when Dorian is hit with Mind Blast, it seems to effect him more heavily than is normal. Dorian was literally mentally scarred by the ritual his father attempted on him, leading him to being more vulnerable to such attacks.
  • During Cole's first meeting with an imprisoned Dorian, he mentions that Dorian's hurts are particularly loud, and alludes to the blood magic ritual that messed up his mind.
• Fix Fic: Aside from some things changing according to the premise of the AU, the fanfiction alters certain elements of the game's story to better suit the author's liking (most prominently, that the Warden ally in the quest "Here Lies the Abyss" is not Alistair, Loghain, or Stroud, but the Hero of Ferelden.)
• Heel Realization: Dorian explains himself as having a gradual one after meeting more Venatori outside of Alexius, most of whom did not have nearly his charisma or intellect and so could not win him over even in his addled state. By the time the story starts, he had already accepted he was working for extremely powerful villains and could only hope to direct the Venatori towards true reform from the inside.
• Hero of Another Story: The author's version of Hawke, the protagonist of Dragon Age II, and their version of the Hero of Ferelden, the protagonist of Dragon Age: Origins, both make cameos in the fic. Much is made of how familiar they are with the kind of trials Trevelyan has to face as the leader of the Inquisition, like Warden Mahariel taking Dorian's Heel–Face Turn in stride because that's how she met some of her own friends in Origins, or Maharial and Hawke commenting on how "weird shit" seems to keep happening to them like it does with Trevelyan.
• Irony:
  • After being subjected to a traumatic blood magic ritual by his own father and left mentally broken, Dorian escapes to his former mentor Alexius, believing he'll keep him safe. Alexius immediately proceeded to take advantage of his broken mind to groom him into a Venatori.
  • This version of the Inquisitor is an atheist who doesn't believe in "gods", despite everyone practically venerating him as one.
• Mirthless Laughter: Following the events of the Trespasser DLC, when Trevelyan comes back out of the Eluvian and Dorian asks him what happened to his arm, all he can do is laugh hysterically in response.
• Moral Sociopathy: Inquisitor Trevelyan shows little to no empathy for strangers, has murderous impulses in response to discomfort, and finds killing (of people and animals) a form of stress relief. This on top of a litany of other violent and inappropriate interests. Despite this, he's far from a villainous character. He doesn't truly like hurting innocent people, and he cares deeply about his friends and (eventually) his followers in the Inquisition, even if he struggles hard to relate to the latter. He also genuinely admires people who do the right thing—his moral standard being that if you have a conscience, you should follow it. It's pointed out that even his killing for stress relief is mitigated by the fact that a large number of things he kills are trying to kill him first.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • Dorian explains that partway through the ritual to change his sexuality, his father "lost his nerve" and put a stop to it, though it was too late to keep from damaging Dorian's mind. Since that point he's been evidently wracked with guilt, especially as this led to Dorian becoming a Venatori and then imprisoned by the Inquisition.
  • It's subtle, but Dorian expresses guilt from seeing plans for the memorial honoring the refugees slain at Haven, before quickly telling himself they're just "numbers". As he becomes a willing ally to the Inquisitor, his inner narrative reveals he's had many such moments of self-loathing for what he's done under Corypheus.
• Point of Divergence: The premise of the story is that everything is about the same as it was in the game's canon, including Dorian himself. The biggest change is that Halward actually got the chance to attempt the blood magic ritual that he was planning to use on Dorian in canon, to predictably disastrous effects.
• Rewatch Bonus: During the assault on Haven, Dorian cheerfully apologizes for having to "crush" the Inquisition, saying it can't be helped. Cole's confused muttering of "he's sorry?" afterwards initially comes across, to the reader and to Trevelyan, like him not picking up on Dorian's sarcasm due to being a spirit. But after the truth is revealed, it's more likely that Cole was surprised to sense that, when Dorian said "sorry", he meant it.