Skyhold Academy Yearbook is overflowing with references to everything from classic literature to pop culture. Keep the MST3K Mantra firmly in mind. Spoilers are unmarked.
The series as a whole
- Several bits of the plot are, of course, tenuous connections to plot points in Dragon Age: Inquisition, translated to the modern magic-free setting. For instance, instead of casting a time spell, Alexius tampers with the scoreboard clock during the game against Venatori Prep.
- This particular example then comes full circle in I Must Be Going, when the character "inspired by" Alexius actually does cast a time spell in almost the exact same fashion as in the game.
- The chapter "Pas de Deux" in Where the Sky is Held has similar connections to the plot points of Dragon Age II, while The Red and Gold Dossier plays with those in Dragon Age: Origins and, to a lesser extent, Awakening.
- "Operation: Heart," in The Memory Band, is basically the Mark of the Assassin DLC from Dragon Age II rewritten to fit the setting.
- Everyone and almost everything in Bright Jewels, Chained City is a reference to the DA franchise. Character names have been changed, as have certain plot points, but readers can probably figure out which game characters and plots are being used.
- The character of Jim is, of course, the oblivious scout from Cullen's romance. The fandom has named him Jim, so that's his name here.
- Mahanon, Evvy's oldest friend, is a shout-out to Lady Norbert's best friend, who always plays male Lavellans in Inquisition and asked for him to be included to romance Cassandra. It's also a shout-out to her other major Inquisition series, Twice Upon an Age, where he's the Lord Inquisitor.
- In the narrative, Varric makes occasional references to maintaining a 'veneer of calm,' and notes that Fenris describes his poker face in this way. In Dragon Age II, "Veneer of Calm" is one of the abilities on Fenris's specialization tree.
- Rory's full name is Aurora Brona Norbertson - she's named after both of the authors, at AuroraBorealia's insistence. (Her middle name is after Andraste's mother.)
- Jim and Rory adopt "Cullevelyan" as shorthand for talking about Cullen and Evvy. This is, of course, the Portmanteau Couple Name in the fandom for the Cullen/Trevelyan pairing.
- The various stories contain several references to the works of William Shakespeare.
- I Must Be Going is a full-bodied shout-out to The Princess Bride.
- Bright Jewels, Chained City is in-universe fanfic of Varric's novel Hard in Hightown. Its title is a riff on Bright Lights, Big City.
Skyhold Academy
- A couple of incidents were inspired by various pieces of Dragon Age fan art.
- Dorian references Indiana Jones when trying to bolster Evvy's confidence, noting that Cullen would be Oblivious to Love even if she wrote the words "I love you" on her eyelids and blinked at him.
- Alistair's "unholy love of fine cheeses" (as he describes it in Origins) gets a mention during the wedding prep, and again during the wedding itself.
- At the Gull and Lantern karaoke bar, Cullen sings "Ma Belle Evangeline" from The Princess and the Frog. Evvy herself is named after the song.
- Dorian's resemblance to Freddie Mercury is not only acknowledged, but gleefully exploited during the concert.
- The concert in its entirety is a massive shout-out to a variety of musicians, including Owl City, Katy Perry, Duran Duran, and many others. Dorian also indulges a group of students who beg for "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid (1989).
- During the events in the undercroft, Varric makes a joke about magic rings. "By your powers combined, I am Captain Typewriter?"
- The kids decide that "This House Is Not For Sale" by Bon Jovi is practically about Skyhold.
- The wedding is something of a rehash of the concert, but with even more musical shout-outs to Walk the Moon, Backstreet Boys, Bryan Adams, and more.
- The wedding ends with the arrival of a magnificent white pumpkin-shaped coach, much like the one from Cinderella.
Where the Sky is Held
- Dorian once again has fun with his resemblance to Freddie Mercury.
- The school trip to the Exalted Age faire includes music by Celtic Thunder and Celtic Woman, as well as a nod to The Three Musketeers.
- Varric deliberately quotes A Song of Ice and Fire, although he refers to the books as "those Ice and Fire things."
- In the chapter "Pas de Deux," it's asked where Varric was on the night of Hawke's mother's murder, since he wasn't there with Hawke. He replies that since Hawke had everyone else to check on her, he went to the university to console Bethany. This is actually a subtle reference to another fanwork by the same authors, Night of the Lilies
, in which Varric bullies his way into the Gallows to console Circle!Bethany. - Solas being a Lets Player in-universe leads to him making occasional video game references, including a very dry comment about upgrading his sneak skill in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
- The little love notes which accompany Bethany's gifts from her "secret" admirer in the Wintersend chapters are quotes from The Last Unicorn and songs by Neil Diamond and Meat Loaf.
Skyhold Academy Seasons
- Dorian and Varric compose a pair of dueling Filk Songs about each other by rewriting lyrics to songs from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and The Hobbit.
- During the silly rehearsal of the school play, when Varric jokingly tells Krem (as the Beast) "good luck" in finding someone to love him, Rory (as Belle) yells from offstage, "I volunteer as tribute!" Later in the rehearsal, as Rory turns to stare at the audience, Jim comments that she's looking into the camera as though she's on The Office.
- At the first annual talent show, Nessa sings "Shiny" from Moana, Cullen sings "Evermore" from Beauty and the Beast (2017), and Varric (with special guest assistance) sings Meat Loaf's most famous song.
Disorienuptials
- Dorian's line about "tasteless demands upon my artistry" is a direct quote from the live-action Beauty and the Beast (2017).
- Blackwall makes a direct nod (as acknowledged by Bull) to Firefly.
- At the wedding, Fenris remarks, "Be good to her. Break her heart and I will kill you." As seasoned players know, this is taken directly from Dragon Age II; he says it to Anders if Hawke romances Anders after Fenris breaks things off with him/her. It's used quite differently here, of course.
- Isabela's "friend-fiction" from Dragon Age II is directly referenced.
The Memory Band
- Jim's fondness for calling things "the Inquisition" or some variant of it is discussed with Rory and Nessa. Not only is this a nod to the game itself, of course, but as he explains, it's because he's mildly obsessed with the Monty Python sketch about - in this universe - the Nevarran Inquisition. He claims it's because he's Nevarran on his mother's side, and that's one of the only things he knows about his family, although it's implied that he might be trolling the girls on that point.
- There's a trivia contest at the school reunion, and Jim is actually allowed to name it "the Quizquisition." This is an Easter Egg feature in Dragon Age: Inquisition which appears if certain perks are taken at the war table; a character then appears in Skyhold and will ask the Inquisitor trivia questions. Answering three questions correctly earns a reward called the Boon of the Spoon. The character who embodies the Quizquisition in the game is called Lord Trifles Minutiae; in the fic, Trifles Minutiae is the stage name of a local disc jockey who comes to Skyhold to host the trivia contest.
- With regards to the "uncle-off," Varric decides not to participate, because he's the "whiskey uncle" and that's good enough for him. Or, as he himself puts it, "That's not a question I need answered."
Life Is a Roller Coaster
- In the second chapter, Solas quotes Captain Picard. Lampshaded by an incredulous Cullen: "Did Solas just make a Star Trek reference?"
- Cullen, Evvy, and Cole collectively quote from Aladdin in chapter 6, talking about Dorian being "shining, shimmering, splendid."
- Also in chapter 6, Cullen sings Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" for Evvy on their anniversary. (Varric asks him to do "Viva Antiva City" as an encore.)
- In chapter 7, another Story Within a Story, Evvy refuses to give Cullen's superhero costume a cape, asking him if he's ever seen The Incredibles. She also notes that "Swooping is bad."
- Chapter 9, the Babysitting Episode, is called "Adventures in Babysitting." In it, the kids watch Cinderella and, when baby Anthony starts cutting a tooth, Jim remembers a clever trick he learned from a show he watched once, which is actually a reference to an episode of the original run of Roseanne.
- In the final chapter, preparing for another performance from the "aging boy band," the teachers try to come up with a name for the group. Michel de Chevin offers "Sky Holds Five."
- Also in the final chapter, Elissa makes a reference to Wicked, specifically the song "For Good."
- At the graduation celebration, Jim finally prepares to tap dance... only to Rickroll his best friends instead!
- The "aging boy band" performs Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'," Dorian sings Neil Diamond's "Sunny Disposition" for his 'brother and sister-in-law,' and Mahanon sings Earth, Wind & Fire's "September."
- Alistair gets asked to sing a "Weird Al" Yankovic song. He doesn't, but the request amuses him; instead he goes with "Forever Young" by Rod Stewart.
New Message Received
- As the school year progresses, the Partners in Crime keep making new Facebook messenger groups to include more of their friends, and each group has a name indicating how many participants there are. This culminates in the final group of the original three, Cole, Doug, Seamus, and Krem, which is of course dubbed "The Magnificent Seven."
- Since she and her friends are watching the Skyhold babies while the parents go out, Rory addresses one of her texts to "The Babysitters Club."
Bright Jewels, Chained City
- In The Topaz Promise, the detectives mistake the phrase "Sophia Perennis" for the name of a possible suspect; as explained on the Trivia page, this actually means "absolute truth." Although it's not indicated in the story, the authorsnote got the idea to use this as a Red Herring when Lady Norbert discovered the phrase while playing the Enigmatis trilogy.
Love Is a Mystery
- Solas gets invited to speak at a Fan Convention in Denerim, which kicks off the plot. The authors aren't invited speakers, but they do appear every year at Zenkaikon, where they have run a panel about Dragon Age, and this is what inspired the idea. Varric being recruited to serve as "The Dread Wolf's" bodyguard is also related to this, since Lady Norbert's best friend (who attends the con with them) self-identifies as her bodyguard.In case you were wondering...
- Since Solas's "Dread Wolf" schtick involves never being seen, he decides to wear a mask for his appearances at the con. Michel de Chevin offers to be the one to help him acquire this, which is a nod to the fact that the character is from Orlais - and, specifically, first introduced in The Masked Empire.
- Varric runs a Tabletop RPG for the kids (and later the teachers) called Gatehouses and Ghouls, which is a play on Dungeons & Dragons.
- Bull's character, Sillat, is a redheaded elf whom the authors explicitly modeled on Tallis from the Mark of the Assassin DLC of Dragon Age II. (Note the Sdrawkcab Name.)
- Josephine's character, Namud, is a maul-wielding barbarian from the highlands, who is basically Sky Watcher from Inquisition. The fact that he has a devoted fan club is inspired by Sky Watcher's popularity if he's sent to Stone-Bear Hold as part of a war table mission in the Jaws of Hakkon DLC.
- For an In-Universe example, Rory's character is quite literally an older version of Skye Rutherford.
- Hawke plays Eric Bathras, a snarky dwarven bard who lives in a tavern, where he spends most of his time telling stories about the local hero which may or may not be heavily embellished; "he has an excessive love of pastries and a crush on the hero's sister." This is not only a nod to canon!Varric himself, but also to Bright Jewels, Chained City, where the Varric character is named Eric Varras, and she acknowledges as much to Rory and Jim.
- In the second campaign, Fenris basically plays Hawke and Bethany plays herself. Evvy and Cullen also sort of play themselves, in an inside joke way.
- Solas openly admits that he's playing as a modified version of the character Talen-Ja from Skyrim. Dorian, meanwhile, is playing as Freddie Mercury in all but name.
- Varric, during the second campaign, makes references to Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the Dead Alewives' D&D sketch, Wayne's World, and Zork. Bull, meanwhile, makes a joke about how solving a puzzle in the game is "like playing Wheel of Fortune."
- For some In-Universe shout-outs, Cassandra's character is implied to be the Knight-Captain from Varric's book Swords and Shields. The entire plot of the second campaign is basically the "Tomb of Fairel" quest from Inquisition.
- At the convention, Varric jokes about Alistair cosplaying as himself, and Bull quips that someone would tell him that he got some detail of the costume wrong, "Like that show where they thought the kid was cosplaying and tried to tell him that his scar was on the wrong side of his face." This is a reference to Zuko in Avatar: The Last Airbender, specifically the episode "The Ember Isle Players."
- The convention chapters also contain a shout-out, as acknowledged in the author's note, to the Carolina Manga Library, an organization which promotes literacy through reading manga and comics by providing quiet reading spaces at fan cons.
- Varric purchases some Link and Zelda costumes for the baby. It's mentioned in the opening note that the vendor who sells them is based on a friend of the authors.
- The excited fan who gets Varric's autograph at the con is very obviously based on Trader Helsdim from Jaws of Hakkon, with some of the dialogue from that Easter Egg scene even being replicated.
- The convention chapters also contain a shout-out, as acknowledged in the author's note, to the Carolina Manga Library
- The chapter "It Could Be a Wonderful Life," written for the December holidays in 2020, is cited to be a mash-up of Dragon Age with It's a Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol.
- In "Please Do Not Panic," Varric refers to himself as being "the Uncle Scrooge of Skyhold."
- Chapter 10, "Masked Skyhold," is an acknowledged shout-out to The Masked Singer.
- Also during the chapter, Bethany tries to angle for some new fanfic from Rory and Jim by making a suggestion about "Time Lord Varric Tethras."
