I'm not too surprised by the dislike of Loghain. He is set up as the villain of the piece. However, he is not evil - he is simply committed to a goal, the independance of Ferelden and is willing to commit almost any act to advance or defend that independance.
Look at Duncan and the Grey Wardens - if Loghain is evil, are they good? Like Loghain they are commited to a goal, the defeat of the Darkspawn threat and they are willing to commit almost any act to advance that goal. They force initiates to drink tainted blood, and even if they survive the taint is death sentence. If Duncan thought Cailan was was hindering his efforts to defeat the Blight, does anyone think he would hesitate to murder him any more than he hesitated to murder Jory, whose only crime was to value a future with his wife and child more than swallowing tainted, poisonous blood? Would Duncan or any of the Grey Wardens lose any sleep about Fereldens independance if it meant defeating the blight? Duncan does not get involved with rescuing the women in the City Elf origin. He only helps the noble character if they swear to go into the Joining, a potential death sentence.He only offers to help the poisoned Dalish, again if they enter the Joining. We are not talking Awful Good Palidans here, hes got leverage over you and is happy to exploit it so he gets what he wants.
Loghains hostility to the Grey Wardens is probably rooted in that: He knows the Grey Wardens are amoral in their efforts to defeat the Blight, and he knows they place little or no value on Fereldens independance. Hence he fears and resents their influence over Cailan, who he considers naive and reckless: Cailan thinks the Grey Wardens are Awful Good Palidans. Loghain knows theyre just as amoral as he is.
For Loghain its clear hes got problems:
- Firstly he is despairing of his ability to reason with the King, who seems only concerned with building a glorious legend rather than Ferelden: I picked up that Loghain disagreed with the Kings need for an all or nothing, glorious battle with the Darkspawn, especially given the growing numbers of Darkspawn. Loghain never provides an alternative plan for the benefit of the player, but he does believe preservation of forces is the most important thing: hence Id believe he would be willing to trade land for time, and try to maneuvere so as to isolate and crush parts of the horde seperately in a series of one sided battle than to take on the entire horde in one finely balanced battle.
- Nobody considers the Darkspawn to be a true blight; several smaller battles have already been fought without any appearance of an Archdemon. Loghain can be forgiven for going with the conventional wisdom of "This is just a big raid" as opposed to believing Grey Wardens who he wholly distrusts anyway. Cailan believes the same, and Duncan is unable to convince him otherwise. Even if Duncan was to explain how he *knows* there is an Archdemon, it probably wouldnt make Duncan more reliable in Loghains view. It would only give Loghain another reason to distrust and fear the Grey Wardens and their influence over Cailan.
- Loghain sees the King inviting Orlesian forces into Ferelden, whilst planning a bloody battle with the Darkspawn. To his mind, the fresh Orlesians arrive after what at best will be a bloody and costly victory. Cailan is fighting at the frontlines and might even perish, calling the succession into question. From Loghains point of view, who is then to curb the Orlesians ambitions? With their military in the country at the very least they could throw their weight behind a pliable puppet. Loghain, already disagreeing with the "glorious final battle" strategy of Cailan decides he must preserve the bulk of Fereldens armies to secure the countries independance: he hints at this in the "regent" speech early in the cut scenes where he talks about defeating the Darkspawn sensibily so as to ensure their forces are not spent on one opponent.
- Some might confuse Loghains ultra-nationalism with a love of all Fereldens. If anything, the opposite is often the case. For Loghain, Ferelden is defined in opposition to Orlesian rule. Loghain knows that because he fought and bled as part of that opposition to Orlesian rule. That Cailan doesnt recognise this makes him a bad king. If the nobles are not willing to unify to defend Ferelden then that makes them no different to the traitors who bowed to the Orlesians during the occupation. Facing enemies within, he does what he feels he has to do to unify the state and protect its independance from enemies within and without - I dont ever get the sense he revels in cruelty, and indeed when Howe brings him word of the growing civil war his reaction is quite telling. It communicates frustration and maybe confusion at the situation slipping away from him: he probably figured that regardless of problems, the nobles and people would pull together behind him in facing the Darkspawn and the Orlesians.
Loghain isnt the typical bad guy, hes more a mirror to the Grey Wardens. They do what they have to do to defeat the Blight. He does what he has to do to defend Ferelden. Its a question of priorities and Loghain places a greater priority on defending against Orlais than he does defeating what no one is even sure is a Blight until its too late. Alisters attachment to Duncan clouds the issue for him, but if the Grey Wardens considered Loghain vital to defeating the Blight they wouldnt have any moral issues with aligning with him, even after Ostragar. As Alister mentions many, many times the Grey Wardens are willing to accept aid from any quarter to defeat the Blight. Alister has simply lost that perspective given his connection to Duncan.
I like Loghain, he reminds me of Irenicus in that he you can empathise with him: Irenicus might be a souless monster, but his soul was stolen from him. One of the best villain speeches Ive seen in a game was at the confrontation in the Elven city where the queen reminds him of their past love, and he responds with regret that joy and love was taken from him, and all he had left was his memory of that joy and love, and then only the memory of that memory, and now all he has left is his veangence before finishing "AND. I. WILL. HAVE. IT!"
Modifié par Melichai, 22 novembre 2009 - 04:46 .
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