MisterJB wrote...
I will stand by my claim that out of all the blood mages and abominations Anders claims were pushed into it, only one can be believed and that is Alain. And not only did his suffering have nothing to do with Meredith, he still knew better than to target innocent people or demand the absolution of the Circle.
This whole "Templars made me do it" is just one more way the mages use to avoid taking responsabilities for their actions.
Silfren already addressed how Meredith is definitely part of the problem for Alain. And I don't use the "Templars made me do it" thing for
every mage, mind you. Only where it's appropriate, and it's less that they
made them do it and more that they presented them with a situation where it was their only
option.
I won't claim, for instance, that Jowan was forced by the Templars to use blood magic. I will say that he was led into it by Uldred, who manipulated his desire for more power (especially in regards to the
Mage Warden) and used him as a sacrificial scapegoat in his bid for more power and prestige in the Circle, and that Jowan choosing to go through with it was his own decision.
He was not forced into it.
I would not say the Resolutionists were forced by the Templars to do what they did, nor would I say Tarohne was. Both freely chose to engage in such acts.
Huon, Evelina, Grace, every mage in Grace's group; those blood mages from the Mage Underground.
Huon was an Elven
Mage in a Circle that has previously shown itself to have little regard for the well being of both groups. His mind was broken (those eyes certainly aren't natural for any mental state). He was literally
dragged away from his wife
in chains. So ultimately, the Templars do share part of the blame. I do believe he does as well, but a man clearly not in his right mind can't be said to be blamed for what he does, can he?
Evelina was not a Blood
Mage, she was an Abomination. And she was formerly a
Mage that fled the Blight and shielded many orphaned children from the Blight as they all made their way north to Kirkwall, where she
voluntarily gave herself to the Circle -- asking only that her children be looked after by the Chantry. And what did the Templars do? Nothing. Not a damn thing. They didn't bring the matter to the Chantry, despite the fact the Chantry
wants to do more for the children (their methods are rather skewed on how to achieve such a thing, but their intent was in the right place).
The lack of care for these people that became her surrogate family from people that are
supposed to help out led her to feel both anger at the Templars and Chantry and a desire to give them a decent life, which coupled with the lack of grimoires allowed her to be possessed by not one but TWO demons -- as shown in battle. She was possessed by a Rage Demon and a Desire Demon.
We know she was trained at Kinloch Hold for 8 years, but whether she was Harrowed or not is unknown. We know that when she turned herself in, she was locked up as an apostate. I see the Templars as partially to blame for her situation, because all they had to do was go to the Chantry and say "Hey, these kids are orphans and were protected by a
Mage from Ferelden. Can you help them out?"
The Chantry has the resources to do so.
If they had at least
attempted to give those children a decent life by talking to the Chantry -- if for no other reason then practical concerns such as "Can be trained as Templars" -- then that'd be different. But they didn't.
Grace I already acknowledged as being a Blood
mage, though it's iffy on when she became one. She did have six years to learn it after all, though IIRC didn't she say "I learned all he (Decimus) had to teach" in Act 3?. The only thing I would even think of blaming the Templars for is the whole grimoire thing, assuming she didn't freely give herself over to a Demon. If she was possessed not of her own volition, then the Templars did kinda contribute, though ultimately most of the blame does go to her for choosing to engage in such acts. But honestly? I think she gets the entire shebang, because I think she did give herself over voluntarily.
And were the
mages in Grace's group blood
mages? I can't recall, honestly. I'm certain they were normal
mages.
And you still didn't address how the Templars did little to actually police the town. Gang of blood
mage apostates in Hightown, they do nothing. Cult of Dwarves and Humans enthralled by a Desire Demon (not acting like a typical gang as well), they do nothing. (Tevinter) Slave Hunters being run by a
mage, they do nothing.
Meredith may be paranoid but she is not one to plant evidence
Oh I disagree very much on that.
She suspected Orsino; and for good reasons; when the Champion assured
her he was not involved with Grace's group, she doesn't accept it but
she also don't tell Hawke to lie to the Grand Cleric. She just intends
to wait for Orsino to reveal his true self in time.
Her reasons' weren't particularly 'good' to suspect him of involvement. She's clearly not taking into account that by her squeezing the
Mages harder and forbidding Orsino from properly doing his job, he's unable to fully take into account what goes on inside the Circle. With the balance of power so heavily slanted towards Meredith's favor, there are going to be a lot of obstacles in the way for Orsino to properly understand what's going on.
Any action he takes will be seen as suspicious. Calls a
Mage to his office to understand what's going on? He's clearly planning in league with them. Wants to help Meredith? He's clearly just trying to pull the wool over her eyes so he can strike later.
Meredith believes that muddy boots are enough to cite "dark rituals" as being what's going on. That's.... actually REALLY far-fetched. She doesn't even seem to take into account that, hey, maybe some Templars are helping these
mages
of their own volition like say... as was the case with Huon, Evelina, and Emile? Nope, blood magic must be the reason for it because they're coming back with muddy boots. There are no other possible explanations. Contrast to Orsino, who merely
suspects blood magic could be involved, which is a sight better.
And despite how certain she was of all this, she does not in any way go to Orsino for assistance in a proper diplomatic fashion. She
demands answers -- which is not how the Circle is run. The FE and KC are supposed to work together, not be browbeaten and cowed into submission -- and assumes that because he doesn't have the specifics, he's not doing his job.
This despite the fact that he most assuredly IS doing his job, even though his power and authority in the Circle is diminished heavily. He
wants to work with the Templars, but wants to know the specific parties involved because he doesn't want every
mage to become a target.
And that's a perfectly valid fear because we've seen time and time again how the Templars of Kirkwall will take the actions of one bad apple as proof that the entire orchard is rotten. Worse still, he can't investigate on his own because should he go out, Meredith would use that as proof positive he's involved (and don't even try to deny she wouldn't if he did leave the Gallows, since he's now
forbidden to do so).
He
wants to know what's going on inside his Circle, but has to do so subtly lest he endanger all the lives he's responsible for. He knows nothing, but he wants to work with the Templars. Again, Grand Cleric Elthina cites him as a reasonable man. The fact that he tells Hawke to only interrupt if there is proof of something sinister -- i.e. blood magic -- shows that he doesn't want danger running amok.
Just because she doesn't tell Hawke to make up something for the Grand Cleric doesn't mean much, considering her own Knight-Captain also tells her that Orsino was not involved. As a result, it's less a matter of "She's not one to do this" and more a matter of "She can't succeed if she tried it". Hawke's word would conflict with Cullen's word, and it would become clear that something's wrong with what Elthina is being told. Cullen is not a pro-
mage person at this point in time, so it wouldn't be as if say.... Thrask was the one saying such things.
And it is suspicious for him to agree to Meredith's search only after he has been to the Circle.
To you. The man's office is right next door to Meredith's. If his connections to Quentin were anywhere in there, the Templars could've easily looked around.
I'm saying that the demons in the Warden's Keep turned against the
Wardens that would have fought by their side despite being surrounded by
the King's forces and, therefore, there is no reason to believe the
demons in Kirkwall would prioritize killing the Templars before turning
on the mages.
How are a few dozen mook soldiers in the immediate vicinity that have never fought Demons before, have no abilities that can threaten them, and are inwardly thinking "Bring me my brown pants!" anywhere near comparable enough to what's going on in DAII where Hawke and company are by no means unnerved by the sight?
You don't ever see those Circle mage summoning and controlling Pride and
Desire Demons but, if these creatures that stand at the top of the
demonic hierarchy, somehow designed a plan that involved obeying mages,
why not pretend that they were being controlled as well?
Who's to say some of them weren't? That Pride Demon on the docks I mentioned could, for instance, be pretending to be controlled by the Blood
Mage so that he could take control of her.
Some were controlling others, like the Desire Demon enthralling
Mages and Templars, but others could very much be doing this.
You say that Avernus had to study the corners of the Fade just to draw glyphs and sigils to summon his demons. Then by that logic, these demons required the same summoning glyphs, otherwise how were they summoned? If Avernus is somehow evidence of demonic summoning by any
mage period, then this is how it must be.
To make Meredith suffer. What would affect her more? Saying "You were
right all along, Meredith. I am a blood mage" or "If you hadn't done
anything, I never would have used blood magic."
Meredith doesn't give a damn what people say to her. She's called Iron Lady by Varric for a reason. So Orsino's not going to waste his breath saying something he knows won't affect her. The fact that in private, she keeps up this Iron Lady mentality tells us that she's ALWAYS that way.
MisterJB wrote...
And, of course, why would he read on blood magic if he has no intention of practicing it?
My opinion? Since Quentin's entire goal was to bring back his dead wife, I believe Orsino was working with the man as a means to research true resurrection and Quentin sent him piecemeal information that led Orsino to believe he was making progress, until he eventually found out what he was truly doing and how far off his rocker Quentin was.
Modifié par The Ethereal Writer Redux, 13 décembre 2013 - 07:40 .