White_Buffalo94 wrote...
Where exactly is this word of God? If you are referring to the joke the Chantry forces upon the Thedosian people then you should edit that out.
The Circle got out of hand then, and gets out of hand now, due to the inhumane treatment of the mages. You make any person less than what they are, a person, they may stand idly by like sheep, but some are GUARANTEED to fight.
We know for sure, from real life experience, that people and governments are incredibly biased. I doubt the Chantry is entirely truthful in the stories of the Tevinter Imperium.
If what you say is true, about only the worst mundane figures being able to wreak as much havok as a mage, then Loghain shouldn't have been able to nearly doom an entire nation to a Blight. I hate Loghain, but I respect his will to follow what he believes, and he believes Orlais is a threat, killing his own king and usurping the throne to defend from a false threat. Admirable and noble to defend his nation, but his actions were still punishable by death in my own opinion.
HOWEVER, he is nowhere near the worst mundane figure.
If anyone is the worst mundane figure, it is the Divine herself. One person should NEVER rule over such a large amount of people
I should have linked to TVtropes when using one of their silly designations.
"Word of god" in this case means creator's fiat. David Gaider's words from another thread that touched on this topic were quoted by myself and another forumite earlier in this thread. As Aldandil wrote, we know Thedas pre-circle was not better off for having mages running free.
Okay sure, we could throw the Divine in there. I did not mention her because I thought it would be redundant at that point. I could also throw in Empress Celene I. My point was most people who lack magical abilitiy need serious political chops or power over an influential organization to have the potential to do as much damage as a mage, if not more. Even in the case of extreme examples such as Loghain, he did not truly do it alone. He had help from Arl Howe and benefitted from his daughter willingly stepping aside after Ostagar so he could become her regent. A mage is much more autonomous in comparison. That said, I will agree that the average mage is unlikely to cause as much damage as a ruler at the top or someone like the Divine.
As far as the then Divine's decision to empower every Grand Cleric with the option of destroying a seemingly irredeemable circle, it was a reaction to a castastrope that led to many mages and templars dying, in addition to seventy innocent people. The in-game codex is an unreliable narrator, and since that entry was written by a Chantry scholar, there is always the chance it is missing valuable facts. We may never learn the details of what transpired, if the templars were overzealous or the mages overreacted under false pretenses. Whatever occurred, there were enough deaths that the Divine made that decree.
A powerful and corrupt noble or royalty can potentially cause significant damage, but they are fortunately not as ubiquitous. I am sure an organization such as the Antivan Crows or the nobles of Orlais playing "the Game" cause as many, if not more deaths than abominations do. It would be great if there were checks on everyone's power. Unfortunately finding solutions for every woe is difficult. I simply see mages as a higher priority danger due to the immediacy and commonality of the dangers they present. If I lived in Orlais I would probably say chevaliers were more dangerous. If I was in Antiva I would be more fearful of getting mixed up in an assassination attempt or outright targeted. In the case of mages they can an issue anywhere.
In any case, it feels as if I am tilting at windmills. This will likely be my final post in this thread. My viewpoint has been amply expressed. To cap things off in case my stance is unclear: I do not so much support everything the Chantry does as I think mages should not be let free. I do not think the circle system is always fair. However, setting mages free is not solving anything--it is ignoring the problem entirely for the sake of fairness. If there was a superior way to deal with mages, I would say go for it. Simply letting them go only deals with one problem.
On a side note, this thread has seriously made me consider playing a non-libertarian mage in DA2. Unfortunately I cannot see myself playing a loyalist either. I like blood magic too darn much.
It will be interesting, if nothing else.
Modifié par Seagloom, 19 janvier 2011 - 10:55 .
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not a significant 
