Addai67 wrote...
Does Connor actually say that they were books on blood magic? As I recall, he just says they were books on magic that Jowan didn't want him to read. I interpreted it that they were too advanced for him, not that they were necessarily about blood magic.
He doesn't have to say they were about blood magic it's highly obvious, although Jowan does confirm it.
It's let out in the Circle tower that Uldred had been 'accidently' leading apprentices to forbidden books on BM and secretly manipulating training to push some towards using Blood Magic (along with outright teaching I would wager if he had a tiny army ready to storm the meeting halls), so the books Connor got ahold of are the same ones from the shelf Irving emptied out after the damage had already been done in the beginning of the Circle Tower.
The Couslands were entirely on Howe. He was a psycopath, saw he could get a bunch of assassins beside Bryce while he had no troops, and not only had no witnesses but a convienient army of fall guys to pin the blame on. It came as a shock to both Calian and Loghain they were wiped out. Now, would Loghain had approved of it or even helped put it in action, that's up for debate. I think he might have if he thought they wouldn't bend knee when he tried to solidify power 'for Anora', but Howe was acting completely on his own on that part.
I found myself surprised by the extra Loghain troopers you pick up for the Tower quest. Once the cutscene played that saw Calian and Duncan die, and it swapped back to my character I was sure they were going to try to assassinate myself and Alistair as part of some diabolical plan, and this was before even knowing Al was heir. I have to wonder that if he did everything people want to pin on him : Wipe out the other Teryn, Ruin the Circle, Wipe out the Grey Wardens, take down the most influental Arl, then why he didn't have a plan in place for the only person with the bloodline to give him any sort of challenge. If he's that thorough, then thinking 'Alistair is too flaky to be a threat' wouldn't come into play.