GavrielKay wrote...
Second, do we have evidence of mages being completely blindly possessed by demons with no culpability at all? I mean, ok, you can say everyone has weaknesses - like Connor for his father and such - but do we know that a demon can just poof take over at will?
Demons will struggle against a mage in the fade, if the mage
isn't trained enough then the demon will take over. The Harrowing for example is what a mage will face throughout their entire life, the Harrowing is simply a contained situation that mages are thrown in to see if they'd be strong enough to fight
should a demon try and fight them.
A mage who fails his/her Harrowing would've failed it in public, meaning they'd have most likely turned into an abomination and ravaged whatever area they'd had been in. Though the Chantry / Circle doesn't prepare mages to fight everything, for example the Harrowing we're facing the weakest of demons (rage) while there's many others who can take over with much less resistance.
Uldred was taken over against his will for example when using blood magic against the Circle, though this was a Pride Demon (which are the strongest of all demons).
You seem to be arguing from the point that mages are worse than just someone who can kill 70 people because they can be walking down the street thinking about buying a scented candle and then suddenly POOF, pride demon in market square.
It
could happen, mages struggle with demons their entire lives. It's more likely to happen when mages are sleeping (as they are directly connected to the Fade there), though they are always connected to the Fade and always at risk of becoming possessed.
Like Wynne puts it, you slip just once and you're gone. It's why panicked mages often turn into abominations, they aren't at their 100% to defend themselves or they decide that demons will help them (which is an odd thought but I'm bringing up because it'll be brought up if I don't).
Conner: near death of his father
Connor was approached by a Desire Demon, she made him an offer and he accepted. He was untrained in magic and was still capable of destroying the majority (or all depending on player choice) of Redcliffe.
Quentin: death of his wife
Quentin was simply a blood mage, not an abomination.
Taraohne: power hungry madwoman
As was Taraohne, she seeked to bring back the glory days of Tevinter where they worked beside demons. She's insane, though not an abomination. Though that she was creating abominations from the Templar.
The game doesn't at all downplay that mages can become or summon abominations, but I'm not sure I see the evidence for this happen to random mages just cooking dinner.
They can't really show it well in the main game, though. They can't simply make it so [edit: an abomination] shows up in the middle of Lowtown to demonstrate that random people can turn into abominations, everything in the game has to serve one purpose or another.
Though Wynne does mention it in conversation (Origins).
Do you have a concrete reason to reject a system of for lack of a better term, boarding schools, where young mages go as soon as they show their power to be trained to recognize and reject demonic influence. Once they pass some kind of fair test of their self control they graduate and go about their business.
Because even the most trained individuals can turn into abominations, other societies (I think Rivain?) have their mages loose and not restricted but they still have abomination problems. Gaider has mentioned that they rebuild the damages from abominations and society keeps moving on, though I find that not everybody (majority of non-mages) would think this to be the better solution.
Not only that, though. Society burns down elven homes simply because they are there, what would happen if a mage opened shop or owned a home? Society would most likely cause wild witch hunts, destroying the homes of mages and possibly kill them. Maybe something like the Salem Witch Trials would happen again, "oh look he's a mage, he charmed me to take my pants off in public! KILL HIM!".
Magic is a tool that can be used for great good too.
If I was in the shoes of a farmer, I wouldn't want to place my family at risk by living next to a mage. Nor would I find it amusing that he does my job faster, more effective and put me out of business.
Modifié par Dave of Canada, 13 mai 2011 - 10:22 .
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