89 réponses à ce sujet

[telephasic]

What would they be?

My guesses.  Given the Templars/Chantry are essentially the law of the land, I'm using NPCs support of them as evidence of being lawful.  No one seems to be evil, but some characters seem a bit more self-interested, or less interested in helping those in need.  

Anders - Chaotic Good 

This was a toughie.  Anders is clearly chaotic, as he is willing to upset the established order in a dramatic fashion.  Is he good?  Well, his actions cannot be defined as good/evil in a classic D&D sense, but in his own mind, his actions are clearly justified, so I think he would have to be considered this alighnment.

Aveline - Lawful Good

The most clear portrayal of Lawful in the game - she literally becomes the law.  I think her basic goodness is also a no-brainer, although it's clearly subservient to her going by the books. 

Bethany - Neutral Good

This is tough, given we see so little of Bethany.  That said, she likes good actions.  Although she is clearly a mage supporter, she mainly wants to keep a low profile if possible, not upset the whole apple cart like Anders.  Hence neutral. 

Carver - Lawful Neutral

I didn't get Carver in my playthrough.  However, from what I've read about him, he seems to mainly support the Templars, and isn't particularly interested in helping the less fortunate.  So this seems like a logical alignment. 

Fenris - Chaotic Good

Fenris is interested in helping the disadvantaged, which certainly puts him in the good spectrum.  I have more time deciphering if he is chaotic or neutral.  I'd lean towards chaotic.  He rebelled from his master, and sees nothing wrong with taking the law into his own hands.  Even his support for the Templars is only because he hates Mages. 

Isabela - Chaotic Neutral

This is a no-brainer as an alignment.  Isabela is, at least initially, out for herself.  She likes it when you shake people down for money, and she doesn't like it when you perform random acts of kindness.  And she lies, cheats, and steals whenever she can. 

Merrill - Stupid Stupid

Honestly, although I wrote that in frustration, I cannot think of any sensible alignment for Merrill.  Perhaps she could be considered as chaotic good, as she does everything for her clan (she thinks), but in doing so she is willing to leave the rules of her clan behind. 

Sebastian - Lawful Good

This isn't a very big jump.  Sebastian is a chantry/templar supporter, and he aspires to be a noble man of faith. 

Varric - Chaotic Good

Varric is pretty much the archetype of a D&D chaotic good character.  He might lie his dwarven arse off, but he has a disdain for random killing and, although certainly not heroic, seems happier when you do good than not. 

Quite honestly, this was much harder to do than DA:O, where the alignments of all of the characters were easy to decipher.  Probably a sign Bioware is understanding gray morality better. 

[CrimsonZephyr]

Fenris is more Chaotic Neutral. He's more about exacting vengeance on those that made him suffer, not on righting wrongs. Also, while Isabela claims she's Chaotic Neutral, if she comes back at the end of Act II, she is firmly Chaotic Good. The whole reason she split with Castillon was over his slave trading, so she has some Chaotic Good beforehand as well.

Vengeance is pure Lawful Neutral.

Cullen is Lawful Neutral, Thrask and the Viscount are Lawful Good. The Arishok is Lawful Stupid, as is Meredith.

Danarius is Lawful Evil.

Merrill is Chaotic Stupid.

Modifié par CrimsonZephyr, 13 juillet 2011 - 08:37 .

[Sinaxi]

I agree with the Isabela thing. Isabela has only had herself to count on basically her whole life. When she finds a friend/romance in Hawke she really does prove deep down she's a
good person when it counts. She won't leave you in act 3 but it's obvious by her snarky comments that she would rather fight for the mages, not the Templars...since she's definitely going to fight because she wants to prove her worth to Hawke (and herself) I always thought it was sad how she was like "you're a champion now..and i'm just a lying thieving snake!" awww

[hoorayforicecream]

Isabela's Chaotic Neutral, but with good leanings. She's not good enough to be good, but she leans more toward good than pure selfishness.

I'd argue Merrill is more of a True Neutral with evil leanings. She's got her own goal, and nothing else morality-wise really applies to it. The goal is more important than her friends, her life, or dealing with evil creatures. Her goal is more important to her than anyone, and she uses all sorts of justifications and rationalizations for doing questionable things (blood magic, demonic consultation, etc.) for it.

[Zjarcal]

The "stupid-stupid" comment is bad an the OP should feel bad for it.

Personally I hate the alignment system as you can't classify complex characters in a simple grid. That being said, I agree with hooray's post for the most part.

EDIT: Yeah, perhaps not entirely agree. 

Modifié par Zjarcal, 14 juillet 2011 - 12:17 .

[jlb524]

hoorayforicecream wrote...

I'd argue Merrill is more of a True Neutral with evil leanings. She's got her own goal, and nothing else morality-wise really applies to it. The goal is more important than her friends, her life, or dealing with evil creatures. Her goal is more important to her than anyone, and she uses all sorts of justifications and rationalizations for doing questionable things (blood magic, demonic consultation, etc.) for it.

I wouldn't call her 'evil' as ultimately her goal is unselfish in motivation, i.e., help the Dalish elves in general by restoring a lost piece of potentially important magic (and originally she only intended to study the mirror to save Tamlen/Mahariel possibly).  Her methods are obsessive (as opposed to evil) to the point where she forgets about friends, will deal with demonic creatures or will even sacrifice her own life, but I don't see that she's doing this just for her own benefit nor would willingly harm another person to achieve her goal.

Modifié par jlb524, 13 juillet 2011 - 10:56 .

[hoorayforicecream]

jlb524 wrote...

hoorayforicecream wrote...

I'd argue Merrill is more of a True Neutral with evil leanings. She's got her own goal, and nothing else morality-wise really applies to it. The goal is more important than her friends, her life, or dealing with evil creatures. Her goal is more important to her than anyone, and she uses all sorts of justifications and rationalizations for doing questionable things (blood magic, demonic consultation, etc.) for it.

I wouldn't call her 'evil' as ultimately her goal is unselfish in motivation, i.e., help the Dalish elves in general by restoring a lost piece of potentially important magic (and originally she only intended to study the mirror to save Tamlen/Mahariel possibly).  Her methods are obsessive (as opposed to evil) to the point where she forgets about friends, will deal with demonic creatures or will even sacrifice her own life.

I didn't say she's completely evil, I said she's True Neutral with evil leanings. Evil isn't necessarily selfish.. Her ultimate goal is noble, but so was Logain's. The main differences between the two of them is that Merrill's better about rationalizing her dangerous activities and willingness to sacrifice those close to her for it, and Merrill has much better publicity. This is why she's True Neutral with evil leanings, and not actually evil. The fact that she compels herself to perform societally-accepted "evil" acts under rationalization for her goal, no matter how noble it is, is what colors her neutrality with evil.

[jlb524]

I would say she's neutral with chaotic leanings instead of evil.

I also never got the impression that she's willing to sacrifice those close to her (as in, give their life for her goal). She was willing to sacrifice relationships with people but not the people themselves.

[hoorayforicecream]

jlb524 wrote...

I would say she's neutral with chaotic leanings instead of evil.

I also never got the impression that she's willing to sacrifice those close to her (as in, give their life for her goal). She was willing to sacrifice relationships with people but not the people themselves.

Asking Guilting Hawke and company to kill the abomination she may become isn't willingness to put their lives in danger for her goal?

Modifié par hoorayforicecream, 13 juillet 2011 - 11:03 .

[jlb524]

hoorayforicecream wrote...

jlb524 wrote...

I would say she's neutral with chaotic leanings instead of evil.

I also never got the impression that she's willing to sacrifice those close to her (as in, give their life for her goal). She was willing to sacrifice relationships with people but not the people themselves.

Asking Guilting Hawke and company to kill the abomination she may become isn't willingness to put their lives in danger for her goal?

You could say the same thing about Hawke taking companions into the Deep Roads, to face a High Dragon, etc.

You could say the same thing about many of the other companions as well.

Most companions ask you to help them with X and often it involves facing a dangerous enemy of theirs (Isabela: Castilon, Fenris:  Danarius, etc.)

[Zjarcal]

jlb524 wrote...

You could say the same thing about Hawke taking companions into the Deep Roads, to face a High Dragon, etc.

You could say the same thing about many of the other companions as well.

Most companions ask you to help them with X and often it involves facing a dangerous enemy of theirs (Isabela: Castilon, Fenris:  Danarius, etc.)

Indeed. If we use that logic, every companion and Hawke place each other in grave danger, and they do so consciously.

The point here is more about whether one would be willing to sacrifice voluntarily, not because of the circumstances they find themselves in, but because they actually make the decision to make the sacrifice (i.e., Merrill deliberately sacrificing Hawke because that was the only way to get what she wanted).

I can already hear a counter to that being her behavior in the Fade. Every companion looses it in the Fade and they all apologize for their behavior so that doesn't count.

Modifié par Zjarcal, 13 juillet 2011 - 11:29 .

[jlb524]

Thanks, Zjar...that's what I meant if it wasn't clear.

Merrill doesn't intend to give Hawke as a sacrifice to a demon in order to achieve her goal which is the sort of thing an 'evil' character would do (by the DnD definition).

[hoorayforicecream]

The main reason I see Merrill with evil leanings (and actually, Anders/Justice too, but that's a bit of a pickle for other reasons) is because of her willingness to pretty much sacrifice herself and anything for her goal. All it would take is a little push and she'll follow that rabbit hole all the way down to full blown evil, and I think she's the closest of all of the companions (besides Anders, I guess) to that. It's important to note that I think she's not evil, but she's dangerously close to it. That's what evil leanings are.

Anders is a pickle because he's not actually one person, he's two. So how do you classify his actions? Are they both Anders *and* Justice? Can Justice even *have* an alignment? You can make the argument that Anders is chaotic good, but that kind of requires you to be willing to sacrifice innocent people (or to paint them all as not-innocent, down to the poor and refugees who live at the Chantry). Either way, it's pretty murky.

[ydaraishy]

hoorayforicecream wrote...

jlb524 wrote...

I would say she's neutral with chaotic leanings instead of evil.

I also never got the impression that she's willing to sacrifice those close to her (as in, give their life for her goal). She was willing to sacrifice relationships with people but not the people themselves.

Asking Guilting Hawke and company to kill the abomination she may become isn't willingness to put their lives in danger for her goal?

Evil would be not telling them so they would be forced to do this regardless of what happened.

Hawke was given a choice, guilt trip or no, (and while you pretty much have to go along by the conventions of the game) Hawke voluntarily decided to do what Merrill asked.

[jlb524]

hoorayforicecream wrote...
The main reason I see Merrill with evil leanings (and actually, Anders/Justice too, but that's a bit of a pickle for other reasons) is because of her willingness to pretty much sacrifice herself and anything for her goal.

It seems she's only willing to sacrifice herself (which is typically seen as a 'noble' and 'good' attribute) or to sacrifice relationships with people.  It's not clear she'd sacrifice anything, though, including other people's lives.  I mean, she could have kidnapped other elves in the alienage and used them to fuel her blood magic instead of using her own.  She could have offered her entire clan to Audacity from the beginning in exchange for its aid.

hoorayforicecream wrote...
All it would take is a little push and she'll follow that rabbit hole all the way down to full blown evil, and I think she's the closest of all of the companions (besides Anders, I guess) to that. It's important to note that I think she's not evil, but she's dangerously close to it. That's what evil leanings are.

I don't agree.  I think she showed enough willpower/discipline to resist the lure of power that comes with using blood magic....most don't.  What type of little push do you have in mind?  She went through a lot in those seven years and has thus far maintained her sense of self without given into becoming pure evil.

[Sinaxi]

Mash Mashington wrote...

This thread is funny. Half of DA2's charm comes from nobody being exactly good or evil. Please let's keep it this way

Oh and Merrill is clever-clever

Grey is where it's at. Especially morally grey.

But you also can't classify these characters because I think that even though they are basically portrayed the same way to each person who plays the game (depending on rival/friendship status) that each person will still view the characters personalities in different ways. It's just about perspective. Such as people thinking Merrill is dumb, others thinking she's a cute little kitten who got too involved with blood magic. In my instance, the only real character development I felt I saw in the game was in Isabela's case where she doesn't put herself first in act 3 so my opinion on her still stands. 

Justice and Anders...eh. Even reading back the party banter between them in Awakenings on the wiki, Anders basically is like not wanting to bother with the whole rebel freedom for everyone thing but Justice keeps pressing the point with him even then. In the game he repeatedly says they are one, which I suppose is true and I'm sure his views had shifted quite a lot after witnessing the things he did, but it certainly does seem like Justice really took ahold of him. Anders says his anger changed Justice but it's hard to tell if it's not the really the other way around, that Justice is the one that warped his mind to extreme obsessiveness and anger over the mages plight.

[hoorayforicecream]

jlb524 wrote...

hoorayforicecream wrote...
The main reason I see Merrill with evil leanings (and actually, Anders/Justice too, but that's a bit of a pickle for other reasons) is because of her willingness to pretty much sacrifice herself and anything for her goal.

It seems she's only willing to sacrifice herself (which is typically seen as a 'noble' and 'good' attribute) or to sacrifice relationships with people.  It's not clear she'd sacrifice anything, though, including other people's lives.  I mean, she could have kidnapped other elves in the alienage and used them to fuel her blood magic instead of using her own.  She could have offered her entire clan to Audacity from the beginning in exchange for its aid.

hoorayforicecream wrote...
All it would take is a little push and she'll follow that rabbit hole all the way down to full blown evil, and I think she's the closest of all of the companions (besides Anders, I guess) to that. It's important to note that I think she's not evil, but she's dangerously close to it. That's what evil leanings are.

I don't agree.  I think she showed enough willpower/discipline to resist the lure of power that comes with using blood magic....most don't.  What type of little push do you have in mind?  She went through a lot in those seven years and has thus far maintained her sense of self without given into becoming pure evil.

And I would argue we don't know enough of what went on to adequately judge whether Merrill was in full control, or had enough willpower/discipline, especially when you're dealing with spirits that are immortal. The spirit convinced Merrill go to back to it and keep coming to it for help. We've never seen Merrill turn *down* a spirit when being tempted by one, but she's the only one who claims to be the expert. All we have to go on is her word that everything is ok, and she's the one who values a fixed eluvian over her own life.

Do you think Merrill would stop if the demon dangled information about the ancient elven civilization in front of her? It's already gotten her to listen to it and use blood magic. All it needs to do is start dangling interesting bits of elvish heritage that require a bit more power than Merrill can muster for her to get at them, and she'll realize that since she doesn't have the lyrium, and doesn't have enough blood on her own, she's going to have to use someone else's blood in addition to hers. And then a little bit more, and a little bit more. The demon's got a long time table; it's immortal after all. In such an escalating situation, I can definitely see Merrill continuing on that path all the while reasoning to herself that she can control it, and it's entirely up to her, without consulting anyone else because they don't understand what she's going through.

One can argue that a similar descent into darkness can happen with any of the companions, and there is some truth to the matter. However, Merrill is the only one with such a foundation already in place. She's already dependent on the spirit for its information, and she's already indebted to it for teaching her blood magic, and she's already got the attitude the spirit wishes to foster - she thinks that she's smarter than it. She might be, but you have to remember that practically every mage to ever make a deal with a demon has made (and believed) the same claim. 

Of all the companions, Merrill, in my mind, is the most at risk of falling to the dark side,  because she's the only one who purposely keeps exposing herself to the risks for her goal. In fact, I actually see a few parallels between her story and a prequel Anakin Skywalker.

Modifié par hoorayforicecream, 14 juillet 2011 - 01:20 .

[DRTJR]

I thought anders was lawful Evil, one does not kill the kindest person in thedas with out going to the dark side.

Isabella goes from Chaotic neutral and end Chaotic good.

Merrill is Lawful good- and cute, she is suffing from culture shock and is unfamiliar with the labyrinthine Kirkwall. that's why she seems unintelegent.

I'd argue that Fenris is Lawful neutral, not motivated by doing good but pure revenge, and a want for freedom.

Also though a gaurd, Avaline is Neutral Good, She is consered by the grater good and not the by the book shenanigans.

[Sinaxi]

lol "kindest person in Thedas" ...that will never get old. hahaaaa..

[CulturalGeekGirl]

All that is required for the greatest evil is for kind women to do nothing. She created and perpetuated more evils through her ignorance and inaction than a thousand murderers with a thousand poisoned knives.

Poor Anders is chaotic good, the best example of the classic definition I've seen in a long, long time.

[jlb524]

hoorayforicecream wrote...
And I would argue we don't know enough of what went on to adequately judge whether Merrill was in full control, or had enough willpower/discipline, especially when you're dealing with spirits that are immortal. The spirit convinced Merrill go to back to it and keep coming to it for help. We've never seen Merrill turn *down* a spirit when being tempted by one, but she's the only one who claims to be the expert. All we have to go on is her word that everything is ok, and she's the one who values a fixed eluvian over her own life.

We don't know enough either way...but I think the burden of proof rests with you on the original claim.  Also, I think this all boils down to how we both interpret things like blood magic/spirits/demons/the necessity of restoring elven history differently.  I personally don't think blood magic is evil or corrupting...it all depends on the individual using it and why they used it.  Remember that blood magic is criminalized in Thedas, so it's not a surprise to me that 'bad' mages often turn to it.  I think there's a similar analogy with the criminalization of drugs in our world.  I also don't think spirits/demons are necessarily any more dangerous than people.  Spirits and demons don't organize themselves and start wars that span Thedas.  They are also single minded and predictable, representing one particular aspect of the human psyche.  A person can have all of it and take you by surprise (for good or ill).  From what I've gathered, Merrill knows that spirits/demons are dangerous and must be handled with care.

IMO, Merrill seemed to handle the situation as good as expected, or even better than expected.   The trip to Sundermount with Hawke was also only the second time she had contacted the demon in 7 years....she did the majority of the work on the eluvian on her own, only considering the spirit in times of complete desperation.  She could have taken the much easier route and sought the demons assistance exclusively.

She does value the eluvian over her own life, but their could be a few reasons for that...possibly because she doesn't think her own life is worth all that much.


I don't think she ever claimed to be an expert.  

hoorayforicecream wrote...
Do you think Merrill would stop if the demon dangled information about the ancient elven civilization in front of her?
It's already gotten her to listen to it and use blood magic. All it needs to do is start dangling interesting bits of elvish heritage that require a bit more power than Merrill can muster for her to get at them, and she'll realize that since she doesn't have the lyrium, and doesn't have enough blood on her own, she's going to have to use someone else's blood in addition to hers.

See, I think that's where'd she'd stop.  I honestly don't think she'd sacrifce another's life for this project.  For instance, she doesn't shrug off the death of her clan as no biggie and continue working on the mirror as if nothing happened.  She greatly mourns their loss and regrets that her actions led to this.  As I mentioned, she's ultimately doing this for others, not herself. 

Also, I don't think lyrium to blood magic is that big of a step, especially for one that doesn't thing blood magic is evil.  Merrill does, on the other hand, think human sacrifice is (as seen during Fenris' Act 2 quest and her reaction to the blood sacrifices).

hoorayforicecream wrote...
One can argue that a similar descent into darkness can happen with any of the companions, and there is some truth to the matter. However, Merrill is the only one with such a foundation already in place. She's already dependent on the spirit for its information, and she's already indebted to it for teaching her blood magic, and she's already got the attitude the spirit wishes to foster - she thinks that she's smarter than it. She might be, but you have to remember that practically every mage to ever make a deal with a demon has made (and believed) the same claim. 

Well, how do you define a foundation for 'descending into darkness'?    I would say there are a few others that also have that (Fenris, Isabela).

I interpret the spirit situation differently.  It's the vulnerable one, trapped in a statue where only powerful magic can remove it.  Of course it will play nice with anyone that gives it the time of day, but it must know that it could all be for nought given it's weakened position in the statue.   Merrill just has to avoid doing something completely dumb to let it out (like, using really powerful magic to bind the spirit to her).  I don't see her doing that and I believe she asked Hawke to accompany her to Sundermount to face the demon for the second time as a fail safe just in case something really crazy and unforseen happened.

hoorayforicecream wrote...
Of all the companions, Merrill, in my mind, is the most at risk of falling to the dark side,  because she's the only one who purposely keeps exposing herself to the risks for her goal. In fact, I actually see a few parallels between her story and a prequel Anakin Skywalker.

Yes, there are similarities, if you consider that Anakin was single-minded in saving his wife's life and his goals were noble as well.  However, I don't think the whole blood magic/demon dynamic is the same as with the Dark Side, which is more like a trapping force that you can't hope to escape if you fall.  But again, I interepret blood magic/demon thing differently than most.

In my days of discussing Merrill's character here on BSN, I've found that it ultimately comes down to your opinions on mages, blood magic, demons/spirits, the elven condition in Thedas (expecially Dalish) and their desperation to obtain what was lost.  If we don't agree on these things, we aren't going to see eye to eye on Merrill   However, it's still fun to discuss (at least for me).

Modifié par jlb524, 14 juillet 2011 - 02:05 .

[ipgd]

DRTJR wrote...

I thought anders was lawful Evil, one does not kill the kindest person in thedas with out going to the dark side.

oh lawdly lawd

[hoorayforicecream]

jlb524 wrote...

We don't know enough either way...but I think the burden of proof rests with you on the original claim.  Also, I think this all boils down to how we both interpret things like blood magic/spirits/demons/the necessity of restoring elven history differently.  I personally don't think blood magic is evil or corrupting...it all depends on the individual using it and why they used it.  Remember that blood magic is criminalized in Thedas, so it's not a surprise to me that 'bad' mages often turn to it.  I think there's a similar analogy with the criminalization of drugs in our world.  I also don't think spirits/demons are necessarily any more dangerous than people.  Spirits and demons don't organize themselves and start wars that span Thedas.  They are also single minded and predictable, representing one particular aspect of the human psyche.  A person can have all of it and take you by surprise (for good or ill).  From what I've gathered, Merrill knows that spirits/demons are dangerous and must be handled with care.

The demon already got Merrill to trust it, come back to it, and learn blood magic from it. There's a *huge* history of mages making deals with demons and becoming abominations, and very, very few of mages dealing with demons and coming out the victors. I'd say the burden of proof lies in Merrill proving that she'll always be strong enough to overrule the demon, because the history of mages shows that dealing with demons is almost always a bad idea. Almost all of them knew that spirits are dangerous and have to be handled with care, but almost all of them still thought that they were the exception, and could get away with it. 

Blood magic may not be inherently corrupting any more than any other power, but there's a very good reason the adage goes "power corrupts". I think you're incorrect about the blood magic causality. Bad mages don't turn to it because it was criminalized. It was criminalized because bad mages turned to it.

I'm not sure where you get that demons are single-minded and predictable. Demons are merely spirits with specific goals. Their goals vary, and so do their methods.

IMO, Merrill seemed to handle the situation as good as expected, or even better than expected.   The trip to Sundermount with Hawke was also only the second time she had contacted the demon in 7 years....she did the majority of the work on the eluvian on her own, only considering the spirit in times of complete desperation.  She could have taken the much easier route and sought the demons assistance exclusively.

That doesn't mean she's too strong to be corrupted. The fact that she even considered going back to the demon indicates that it's already got a hold on her, rather than, say, look elsewhere, or do other things that may help the elves.

She does value the eluvian over her own life, but their could be a few reasons for that...possibly because she doesn't think her own life is worth all that much.

I don't think she ever claimed to be an expert.  

Then how can we trust her judgement when she says she's strong enough to not give in to the demon's temptations? 

See, I think that's where'd she'd stop.  I honestly don't think she'd sacrifce another's life for this project.  For instance, she doesn't shrug off the death of her clan as no biggie and continue working on the mirror as if nothing happened.  She greatly mourns their loss and regrets that her actions led to this.  As I mentioned, she's ultimately doing this for others, not herself.  

I'm not sure that's the case. And in doing so, she loses sight of those very others she's doing it for. She ignored the pleas of Marethari and clan to stop with the demon and with what she was doing. If she's ultimately doing it for other people, I'd hope that she'd actually listen to those other people.

Also, I don't think lyrium to blood magic is that big of a step, especially for one that doesn't thing blood magic is evil.  Merrill does, on the other hand, think human sacrifice is (as seen during Fenris' Act 2 quest and her reaction to the blood sacrifices).

But all it takes is a little to start. Maybe she doesn't use a human. Maybe she uses an animal instead. Maybe that's all it takes to start with. But if it keeps up, maybe the animals aren't enough anymore. Then some thug tries to knife her, and she almost kills him in self-defense. But he lives. He's never going to be missed, and he's obviously a bad guy. You see how such a slippery slope type situation might happen? I have a harder time seeing Fenris or Isabela in a similar situation. In their cases, they grow *away* from the source of their trouble over the years, while Merrill moves closer towards it.

Well, how do you define a foundation for 'descending into darkness'?    I would say there are a few others that also have that (Fenris, Isabela).

Isabela actually changes for the better. Temptation for Isabela isn't really that big a deal, because she doesn't have any sort of grand ideas. Her goal is to get a ship and sail. That's all there is to it. She doesn't care to have the biggest ship, or the fastest ship, or whatever. She just wants to be free, and that's not going to happen unless somebody has something dangling over her like death, with Castillon, and even then it's still under duress - she'd never really do it of her own will, it'd be more of "if I don't do this, I'm going to die".

I suppose that Fenris could become utterly consumed by his desire for revenge and become a merciless killer of any who stand in his way if they had written him like that, but his situation really doesn't play out that way. He actually kind of mellows out over the years.

I interpret the spirit situation differently.  It's the vulnerable one, trapped in a statue where only powerful magic can remove it.  Of course it will play nice with anyone that gives it the time of day, but it must know that it could all be for nought given it's weakened position in the statue.   Merrill just has to avoid doing something completely dumb to let it out (like, using really powerful magic to bind the spirit to her).  I don't see her doing that and I believe she asked Hawke to accompany her to Sundermount to face the demon for the second time as a fail safe just in case something really crazy and unforseen happened.

I disagree. Spirits don't really fear anything, because they can't die. Even if you kill them in the physical realm or the fade, they just dissipate, then come back again later. If it's been trapped in the statue, it's just a matter of time before it gets out. Eventually the seals will break down, or someone will free it, or whatever. It might be boring, but for a creature that has forever, it really doesn't matter. All it's got to do in the meantime is plan and try to figure out what it wants to do once it gets free. It's not in a weakened position, because that implies that there can be some sort of actual consequence to it staying there. The only real consequence is possibly boredom.

[DRTJR]

The demon would probably be bored in that statue for how many centuries it's been stuck in that statue. So when an Elven mage walks in itmight just help because it was bored out of it's ethereal skull, and in the oft chance she might let him out.

Anders is Evil, He kills innocents to start a war, that may cause the annihilation of Mages and mage producing families, and considers his opponents little more that beasts to slaughter. the only reason he's Lawful evil is that he knows it's wrong and that he must pay with his life.