Sarah1281 wrote...
I disagree on so many levels.
That is your right. Don't take me as being disrespectful or anything - there's no one I respect more for DN lore.
Harrowmont himself says that he thinks that the Assembly who can't settle anything should make all the decisions in Orzammar. He says that he will leave the king's decision about whether to send troops to the Assembly. He says he'd rather be a just and kind king. He tells you that there really is no sure way to become king. He tells you how brilliant Bhelen's plot to become the sole heir was and how there was nothing he could do to stop Bhelen.
How are these signs of a bad king? Everything Harrowmont tells you above is law in Orzammar. Just because he follows it to the letter and Bhelen doesn't, doesn't mean he'll be a worse king than Bhelen. Perhaps he sounds less decisive, but some would say not seeing yourself above the law is a GOOD thing in a king.
Dulin tells you that Bhelen keeps sneaking spies into Harrowmont's estate and so if you do the first task then Harrowmont won't be AFRAID to meet with you. He says that they can't convince Harrowmont's own fighters to enter the Proving for him.
Vartag says the same thing about people betraying Bhelen and "knives to his Prince's heart" and all that. And yes, Bhelen got to Harrowmont's fighters. Signs of a master manipulator? Yes. But signs of a good king? Not necessarily. A ruthless person does not a good king automatically make.
Vartag says that you need to prove yourself by doing some things that he can't do personally but are really more a convenience to his side than a necessity. He says that you'll have to prove that you're worth Bhelen's time and threatens you if you draw your weapon.
Here Vartag is covering his ass. He's also being a bit of a bully, but I don't see how that equates to 'Bhelen is a better king. Because he's ruthless."
Bhelen says that he will absolutely send troops, that Orzammar needs a strong king, that the darkspawn are the 'fulcrum of true evil.'
A clear reference to Bush's "axis of evil". And we all saw how good a President THAT ruthless leader turned out to be. So Bhelen's a good salesman. Decisive? Yes. Knows how to sell his kingship to you? Yes. Traits of a good king? Yes. But does that automatically make you think "Wow he'd TOTALLY be a better king?" I don't think so.
The annoying merchant that says all you're good for is money tells you all about how Bhelen wants to expand trade.
All well and good. But there's nothing that says explicitly Harrowmont doesn't want to do the same thing. You can infer, of course, that Harrowmont's a traditionalist and tradition in Orzammar means isolationism. But not everyone's going to read all the codex entries and figure that out. Plus, of course, Legnar is
annoying to the player. You said it yourself.
The Shaper tells you all about the proud traditions that Harrowmont wants to uphold such as refusing to acknowledge the casteless as people and thinking that they should have been killed at birth.
The Shaper's a right b*stard, and most of my Wardens have wanted to slap him. But he doesn't flat out say Harrowmont wants to kill casteless at birth - he says Harrowmont wants to uphold tradition, and then he says the rest, which TBH sounded like his own opinion to me. Harrowmont was nice enough to my DC, but I agreed with you that the DC has no motivation to support Harrowmont.
The criers tell you that Harrowmont is a traditionalist and that Bhelen is involved with a casteless (both sides so you know it's true).
Again, no indication that being a traditionalist is bad for Orzammar. It seems to have worked fine for all its kings so far. Also, if you're a DN, you most likely hate casteless as well. Look what happens to the Warden the first time he/she enters Dust Town.
Nadezda tells you how she was crippled after being caught running protection and had her kneecaps shattered and was made to kneel in dung until an infection set in so they'd never heal properly but no one with a caste cares because tradition dictates that they aren't people.
Coupled with the above point, maybe you could infer, again, that Harrowmont is a traditionalist and will kill casteless people. But many players won't read that far - they just want to get out of Orzammar and have done with the whole Paragon quest line. There's nothing to say that Harrowmont WILL be bad for casteless - you and I know it's true, because we've seen the epilogue, but for fresh players the in-game evidence is fleeting and needs quite a bit of imagination to connect the dots.
If you crown Bhelen and talk to Baizyl and Gwiddon, they also tell you of their horrible fates. So Bhelen doesn't break casteless's knees. He only breaks his those of his enemies - and he has PLENTY of those in Orzammar. The humanitarian argument doesn't really work for Bhelen.
There is plenty of evidence that Bhelen is a stronger king and none of it is meta-gaming.
There is evidence - but it's 1. fragmented and difficult to put together without stretching the imagination, especially for your garden-variety casual gamer, and 2. relies on an assumption that a more manipulative king = a better king. Some people don't see it that way, myself included. Of course, this is Orzammar, and politics is a vicious business, but many people aren't going to see that. And for some people, Harrowmont is a better choice. At least until the epilogue.
Modifié par saruman85, 27 septembre 2010 - 06:37 .
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