Man. What a blue ball of an update.

Has anyone read any of the revised chapters?

 

I did a reread a couple of months ago, and honestly, for the most of it, I didn't even notice the difference.

IIRC, the first few chapters it's mostly the wording difference, and a couple of in-character changes where Vel is a bit more aware of his own mortality, but the changes are such that all the major plot points ended up the same, only he wanted them explored a bit differently but it obviously doesn't work out.

So after that, I haven't noticed anything glaring different from Whiterun to Solitude, where there's the only bigger change I took note of, which I guess puts him in more of a favour with the Jarl than it was the last the last time around. I have a feeling that there's a couple of scenes mixed around, but it's been too long between the rereads for me to claim it's new with confidence.

All in all, as good excuse as any for a reread of this, with some skimming over the lore wanking.

 

I read the entire new chapters. I couldn't pinpoint what has changed, but it felt better paced then I remembered. Had a great time, but I did the first time around as well.

 

I think I'll wait for a new chapter to give the new version a read, but I'm looking forward to it. Dragon from Ash is easily the best fic in the fandom.

 

Some parts have been rewritten so that it is less of a...game adaptation, I suppose? Rather than sticking with starting from zero and learning spells and skills as he adventures, the passages have been rewritten so that Vel has an experienced background as a temple priest. He is still unfamiliar with combat, but there's a lot less learning spells from tomes (barring one or two more Nord-themed spells, like frost runes).

The major rewrite is the part in Wolfskull Cave and some of the following plot threads at the party in the Blue Palace. It is pushing the Elisif romance a lot more, which...I just don't see, myself. Also, some of the later chapters got broken up.

There are still parts that I think are weaker and probably should have been rewritten, but not enough to detract from the overall story.

 

Well, this is still being updated, the rewrite recieved a new chapter today. I do genuinely love this fic, but even as the chapters get longer, nothing seems to happen. This chapter was a 15000 word rehash of the quest where you learn the second word of unrelenting force, and the first word of whirlwind sprint. The author seemed to make a conscious decision to more or less stick with the way events proceeded in game. They even had the MC ask interesting questions and have Arngeir respond with 'I couldn't possibly answer that until you've found the horn of Jurgen Windcaller'.

It's a bit disappointing tbh, because I remember the earlier parts of the fic radically deviating from the game, and adding tons of lore from older TES titles or C0DA or whatever.

I honestly don't know where the plot can go from here. For one, the pairings in the description are on such a slow burn that they might take another 10 years to cook. I think it'll probably end the same way most Skyrim playthroughs do, abandoned at level 40.

 

Honestly, if you separate this update from the fact that it hasn't updated in a year or so, it feels like it fits very firmly into the arc of the story. Nothing particularly exciting or noteworthy happened, and it continues to explore and address interpersonal themes (like Lydia becoming more comfortable with Serana).

It's a perfectly fine chapter. From a more meta outside-the-story perspective, I even kind of admire the author not saying a goddamn thing about the update rate and not swinging for the fences with a "big" chapter and just.... plugging away. Granted, the reality of it is like Drachna said, this is probably never getting finished. But still...

I'd say the worries of verging into canon rehash are not something I'd be too concerned with - the author's shown a pretty predictable and consistent way of staying within Skyrim's 'framework', so to speak, and using the unique perspective of the MC to explore them.

In a visceral sense I wasn't like, blown away or anything by this chapter, and yeah it almost felt a bit wistful like "man, imagine if you just snapped your fingers and it was finished" combined with knowing it's overwhelmingly likely it doesn't.

Still one of my favorite pieces of fanficion.

 

I agree with you about the lack of an AN being sort of admirable. Mortigaunt doesn't owe any of us anything, and if they do return to regular updates, the fic will flow better without the acknowledgement of the pause. I did enjoy the chapter for what it was, and I will read future updates if and when they arrive, but it's hard to ignore that this was essentially a filler chapter after a year plus hiatus - essential filler to move the plot along maybe, but I think it lacked some of the more interesting lore touches that earlier chapters might have had to distinguish them from the canon events. If I go back for a reread, it'll probably work better with context.

 

I also had a problem with how Vel went along with the Greybeard's demands. I'm not one of those people on Spacebattles who thinks that the everybody should bow to the whim of the protagonist or be destroyed (you know the type), but within the context of the story it felt kind of like a dick move on their parts. Sure, being sent to Ustengrav had been foreshadowed with a mini-interlude with Delphine, but being sent back down the mountain, almost within the same day of getting to the top, after having had to put it off for months while he handled the whole Volkihar thing, and being sent back to where he came from in the first place? While they are (presumably) aware that Alduin being back is a Bad Thing leading to the End Times?

Yeah, dick move. I would have expected several weeks of training before they sent him on another fetch quest.

 

I question the narrative purpose of having Vel comply with it too. This Skyrim is dynamic and reacts to its characters. We could just have Delphine send Vel a note or hunt him down. His credentials as Dragonborn have already been proven beyond doubt, and he's a famous figure with high visibility. He also took such a long time to get to High Hrothgar that you'd think the Greybeards would be scared of sending him away, because it might take him years to get back.