Silfren wrote...
I can relate to the crappy situation Irving is in...moreso, having replayed the scene between him and the Mage Warden where she asks about Jowan being made Tranquil. But yes, I still find his practice abhorrent.
I replayed the scene to take a look at what it really was like, and the thing that's really uncomfortable about it is how much Irving wants to burn the Chantry. You can really see that he feels powerless to an extent. He doesn't view Jowan so much as a person, but the fact that Jowan is nevertheless a mage that has to be sacrificed mages his blood boil and makes him want to avenge himself.
This could be more a case of meta-gaming, but one thing I've always found to be lacking in character interactions is subtlety. If you know anything at all about body language and pay attention to what people say and how they say it, it's generally easy to tell when someone is lying if they're not a practiced liar. But both Origins and DA2 make it as easy to figure out when a character is and isn't lying as it is when watching a soap opera or a children's program. It's painfully obvious when characters are lying, and when they're not, whether it's Loghain, Anders, Jowan, or even a minor NPC like Idunna. So yes, it's obvious that Jowan is lying early on about not using blood magic, but it's also obvious later on when he's finally coming clean.
No, meta-game wise it's pretty clear when someone wants to do well later.
But my point is different: Jowan was twice stupidly selfish. Yes, he wanted to do right by everyone in the end, but he still did some very major wrongs for not very good reasons. Blood magic was, well, dumb. But without knowing more about Jowan as a mage... it's understandable why he migh have done it (e.g. fear of being made tranquil). It's hard to say that I wouldn't have done the same where I in his position. Tranquility is so much worse than death, it's difficult to fathom not being willing to do anything to avoid that end.
So I don't think Jowan's a threat because I believe him when he finally admits that he dabbled with blood magic, and only because he thought it would make him a better mage. He never once comes across to me as a mage who wanted whatever power blood magic could give him, but was mostly just curious about it. He may be foolish and reckless, and yes, those things can be dangerous in themselves, but that doesn't equate to his seeking the power to dominate others.
He's also a liar, and perfectly willing to murder someone for the right cause. He could easily 'give someone a nudge' because it might help a sympathetic person, convince a tavern owner he needs a place to stay because he's really cold, ask for a little food in return because he's just
so hungry, ask a merchant for a sovereign, so he can make his way away from the Circle... and suddenly he's controlling minds.
Like Loghain proved, it isn't necesarily hard to sweet talk Jowan into committing an atrocity. Recklessness, with the wrong combination of power, can be
really dangerous.
As for his poisoning of Arl Eamon, well, Jowan states flat out that he did so at Loghain's behest, and adds "Why wouldn't I trust Teyrn Loghain?" The fact is that at the beginning of Origins, Loghain is considered a liberating hero by all of Ferelden, and he has a well established reputation as a patriot who would do anything to protect his nation. So it may seem gullible to the rest of us, but it's a fair point. Given Loghain's reputation and status, a great many people would not believe he had anything but Ferelden's best interests at heart if he told them to do something that, coming from anyone else, would seem insanity. And Jowan also points out that Loghain offered to settle things with the Chantry so that Jowan wouldn't be facing execution. I can absolutely see a case where Jowan, having heard all his life of the great Hero of River Dane, would not have any reason to believe Loghain had malicious intent, and also being baited by the carrot of escaping punishment, would be eager to do whatever he was told. And, since there is also some indication that Loghain didn't actually intend to kill Eamon but to keep him incapacitated until he had secured his position, that Jowan didn't think he was putting anyone's life in danger. Gullible and stupid, sure, and criminally so, but not evil.
As I said before: Jowan wanted to murder someone that was a respect political figure because a respect political figure asked him to. Would
you murder someone under the guise of patriotism? Loghain offered him a sweet deal - kill someone for me and I'd erase your crimes. Giving in to
that isn't even patriotism - it's outright just being selfish. It's 2 steps removed from just outright murdering someone for cash.
Jowan
tells you he did it because he was a patriot... but that doesn't mean Jowan did it because he was a patriot.
I, and others, have said repeatedly that we don't have a problem with children having to go to a school for training. What we object to is the forced and permanent removal of children from their families, to say nothing of not telling parents where their children are going, threatening them, and even taking the children away in chains. I'm getting a little sick of having to repeat myself, frankly. I have said time and time and bloody time again that I'm okay with children having to go away for training.
So you come and ask nicely - and the parents tell you to go **** yourself.
What do you do then?
More generally, do you start funding trips for the parents to visit their children? What do you do if the
children don't want to run off to school? What if you take the children home, and then they refuse to leave again?
You have to repeat yourself because you haven't at all taken the time to consider whether the system would even
work. Like I have said repeatedly: the Circle exists because non-mages fear mages. Co-existence is going to require
some counter-balance of mages for the sake of equality; otherwise mages will, in virtue of their natural superiority, run everything.
Let's say, now, our 18 year old mage goes back to his village. Alone, and unwatched. Not that talented of a mage or charismatic of a person - pretty mediocre, and after a pretty girl (or boy). And he (or she) starts having dreams at night. Dreaming that the person likes them, wants them...
... and it turns out that's the work of a desire demon. Every night. Non-stop.
That's what mages have to live with. How do you keep the mage safe, in that circumstance? How do you keep the village safe? Even if you have templar equivalents stationed there, that's just a worse case scenario to fight an abomination if it happens.
It doesn't seem like even Tevinter had (or has) the kinds of freedoms
you're thinking of.
Retour en haut
If Anders needed to use his poop bomb so badly they could've had him escape. Wouldn't be implausable.
