I think people miss the whole point of Loghain and what he did. Watch the game closely. There are plot points about him strewn everywhere. If you haven't "redeemed" Loghain--try it. He's a marvelously complex character. My fav in fact due to his complexity.
1) He does not know that the Grey Wardens must slay the Archdemons--he sees them as just a pile of undisciplined mercenaries out of Orlais who do not work for the king and are in fact, a threat to Fereldon's hard-won freedom.
2) If people *listen* at the beginning, before Ostagar there are two plot points. One is that Loghain has sent scouts. [I heard them while wandering about the camp] So he knows Ostagar could possibly be overrun. He does his best to convince Cailin, [who is busy boozing it up with the GW's instead of attending to duty] not to enter the battle while Loghain spends his time shut up in his tent trying to sort out the mess. Cailin shuts down his best military advisor due to some idiotic quest for glory. Remember, this is the man who is married to Loghain's daughter--whom Logain truly loves. Even Duncan mentions that Cailin is rash and it's just not going to be as easy as Cailin thinks if this is a real blight.
3) Loghain looks across the battlefield when the beacon is lit, realizes they are going to be swarmed and he will lose all his troops. He's smart enough to know that if they do not retreat--he will have no army to fight again.
4) The poisoning of Arl Eamon--why isn't he dead? There's at least 5 different deadly poisons in the game but Eamon lives? Who is to say the ashes even worked? Perhaps, like arsenic,in slow doses it doesn't kill and when it was stopped, the recovery started. This means Eamon's troops won't be at Ostagar--another fighting troop to save to fight when the country is unified enough to fight, as well as Eamon himself. Or, Cailin won't wait for them anyway. As it turns out--they survive to fight with the Warden at the end. If they had died at Ostagar--the Warden would have lost the battle. Turns out--Loghain was right, strategically speaking. As well, it is Loghain who tells Cailin to wait for Fereldon reinforcements.
5) Loghain is all about freedom and all about the "common man". He rose from the ranks on sheer merit, hard work and brilliance. He's stuck with a dolt for a son-in-law and a not much brighter candidate in Alister.
6) Once Loghain retreats from Ostagar--the Banns turn on him for letting Cailin die. It doesn't help that Arl Howe is piffing them all off, as well and following his own agenda, creating more problems.
7) His own daughter is willing to sell him out and believes that he would deliberately kill her and her husband. Yet he loves her anyway. He has no pretensions to the throne--if he did--he could have taken it easily since he had far more martial support than any other leader in the country. If he wanted a coup--he could have staged one or assassinated Maric before he ever got on the throne in the first place since he was the one who tossed out the Orlesians. He calls it out in the Landsmeet when he tells Eamon he has grown rich and fat and forgotten what it's like to work hard and lead.
8) He believes in freedom from oppression. Therefore, he would naturally side with the mages since he lived his early life under Orlesian domination. Secondly, the templars are a fighting force and another potential problem in dominance against the country.
9) Watch when Zevran is hired. Loghain is drinking and obviously exhausted when Arl Howe comes in, Zevran in tow. The look of disgust on his face is palpable.
10) "The Blight" is part of a 400 year old legend. The Orlesians were only turfed out 30 years ago and have been trying to infiltrate back into Fereldon, ever since. Everyone in power is aware that the Dwarves have been kicking Darkspawn butt for centuries. As a pragmatist--Loghain sees the obvious, the Orlesians are a very real threat. He has no "info" on how organized the darkspawn may be. He's well aware of how exigent the Orlesians are.
11) Loghain has nothing to gain by killing the Couslands. He won't gain their lands or titles--Howe can. Howe can also potentially take the throne with those resources. Loghain, can't.
12) If Alister truly cared about the country he'd care about *uniting* it. By putting Alister on the throne and sparing Loghain--everyone wins since all the of Arls have a stake in the outcome and will commit their resources. Yet Alister throws a childish hissy fit. Oh gee--he lost Duncan? Well how many people has the MC or Loghain lost in this mess? Does that excuse them? Or is the country the priority here? On top of that--never in the game does Alister want to "do his duty" by taking the throne. He bailed on the Templars now he bails on the Gray Wardens. Loghain, right or wrong--does not bail out, whine about injustice and agree or disagree he does his duty even when he finds it reprehensible or painful. If the MC executes him, he dies with dignity. Also, Alister and the MC are guerilla fighters, essentially. Loghain is the best general in the country used to strategic commanding of troops not mere butt-kicking. Killing him is wasting a valuable resource.
All throughout the story we are told stuff about Loghain 3rd hand. Yet, there's no proof that Loghain knew about the elven slavery, or a number of other problems that he was too busy to see.
He also talks about how it is easier to die oneself than watch others die. He is obviously quite pained about the loss of troops at Ostagar.
If Loghain is to be the villain it would be due to his single-minded patriotism. He's not particularly devious--he's actually blunt to the point of abrasiveness and he's no scheming politician like his daughter or Arl Howe.
Frankly I see him as a man betrayed on all sides that starts losing it. When he's recruited he does his duty and "puts his back into it." Something, if you listen to Alister's carrying on at the beginning when you ask him to do something--he doesn't.
And just to be clear I adored Alister. But as a king without Anora? Disaster. The Arls would be mucking up in civil war within a week and the Orlesians would walk in and mop up the mess.
Modifié par Swifty, 06 mars 2010 - 08:47 .
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