Plaintiff wrote...
How is it that the size of the darkspawn horde was larger than anticipated, if Loghain sent out scouts earlier?
Many of the scouts were killed. What ones returned either managed to give a decent approximation of what they saw or were too panicked to say anything coherent. It varies, though I think the scouts were killed more and more in the later attempts to understand what was happening.
Scouting parties are usually very small, and while they can maneuver easily through an army they can still be taken by surprise. Some of them might've even gotten careless.
But just because a scout says there are going to be 2,000 foes in the field (as an example) doesn't mean there will really be 2,000 foes in the field. Things change in war. The one certainty about war is that nothing is certain.
Which seems contradictory, but meh.
), not to mention that he actively threatened the banns with violence. Was that genius move supposed to win him friends?
No (it certainly wasn't smart), but considering the Darkspawn were the priority the Bannorn's desire to place petty politics over uniting under Loghain's banner -- whatever misgivings they had about him, they should've realized he was the lesser of two evils (though I do not find him evil) -- is really damning of them.
As a result of this new front, Loghain had to turn his attention to fighting the Bannorn so that he could then focus his attention down south against the Darkspawn. If he had marshalled his forces and marched against the Darkspawn then, the Bannorn would've attacked him in the rear.
The more fronts a person fights a war on, the less likely their chances of victory.
Even more damning of the Bannorn is that they had no centralized leadership. It was literally every bann for himself, because they didn't even begin to think they should come together. Most would get their asses handed to them by Loghain, and on the rare instance a bann
did manage to defeat Loghain's forces they would find that their residual forces were sufficiently inadequate to face the Darkspawn.
Not to mention he poisoned Eamon completely out of hand.
Out of hand implies he had no legitimate reasons for it.
He did.
Eamon is hardly a saint after all.
Plaintiff wrote...
XxDeonxX wrote...
what do you call his alliance with uldred to get the mages on side? What do you call his selling elves to Tevinter to fund and maintain his army, what do you call the talk of him sending out press gangs and conscripting the populace?
I call these moronic dick moves that make him look like an insane tyrant and cause him to lose the support of the public.
Press gangs are not a "moronic dick move". They're necessary to rebuilding an army in a time of war. Eamon does much the same thing to rebuild his own forces.
Making an alliance with Uldred and promising the Mages greater rights in return for aiding him against the Darkspawn is
not a moronic dick move. He would've had a greater asset in the war effort as well as the support of the Formari and Lucrosians, who could've helped generate revenue for the war chest.
Since that was a no-go and the Bannorn's Civil War went on and on -- coupled with Howe's embezzling -- detracting from the war chest, slavery (distasteful as it was) was the only option. At the time the Warden intervenes, a few dozen Elves had been shipped off to Tevinter and the war chest was 1/3 of the way full. Had it continued, the war chest could've been replenished entirely.
Loghain makes it a point, if recruited (at which point there's no reason for him to lie because the man doesn't give a **** what people think of him and actively encourages you to be spiteful towards him), to say that he would've armed the main army and then armed the remaining Elves in the Alienage so they could defend themselves.
That's on top of his question of what's worse, to live as a slave or die without hope.
Is it a pretty solution? No. Is it one I can necessarily condemn or approve of? Again, no, because it wasn't done For the Evulz like Orlais did. There were reasons. Is it one I might've made, had I been in his exact situation and done the exact things he'd done prior to it all? Probably.
Howe was more then likely the one who suggested the idea in the first place, FWIW. The man cares nothing for the lives of the Elves, viewing them as little more then animals.
The only one that can be called a dick move that will create a loss of support is the slavery one.
Modifié par The Ethereal Writer Redux, 19 décembre 2013 - 07:05 .
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