Morrigan makes note of her knowledge of the Grey Wardens right before she joins your party. Not only that, her mother had possession of the Grey Warden treaties that are used to call up an army on demand, they both read them and understood what the Grey Wardens are. Also, the previous blights are recorded history and Morrigan is one of knowledge. Morrigan also notes that she traveled out of the wilds into towns, etc. Surely learned other cultures and gained knowledge. She even acknowledges her dislike of how she is made to feel unwanted in her ventures out of the wilds. When you first encounter her in the Korcari wilds, she makes well known her being straightforward when I suggest she's being a dishonest person.
She acts the way she does when concerning Redcliffe, The Circle, etc because she wants to get to the heart of ending the Blight more quickly by *not* playing savior of the day. Redcliffe isn't needed for the Final battle is neither the Circle.
Yet Morrigan was raised a loner without love or affection. Surely we don't discard empathy for those were raised similarly? When that's all she knows and learned during her upbringing, one would (at least logically) apply the same considerations. Why not treat Alistair with the same unkindness when he keeps bringing up the deaths of the King, Duncan, etc. Alistair still had many people and support groups around him while he was raised. He even talks about his camaraderie with the Templar mates during his Chantry upbringing.
I agree with this on Alistair, but it makes him weak as a leader and a Grey Warden. I learned this about him when having the first conversations between him, Morrigan and myself when we entered Lothering after the bandit scene. I am not a Morrigan apologist inasmuch as I am not an Alistair antagonist. Again, Morrigan makes it clear from near the very start that she's practical about things and her upbringing by (what turns out to be) an even colder person, Flemeth; this makes it completely understandable regarding her obvious lack of care for others. Morrigan is not completely devoid of empathy. Heck I think she has expressed more of that than Sten does. Even Zevran is a very cold person who was raised and thinks similarly.
Alistair was always going to be weak as a grey warden because of his compassionate side which comes up in nearly every hard choice you have to make. He is only a grey warden because he didn't want to be a templar which actually makes sense given his compassionate side. He didn't want to be a mage killer. This way he's killing darkspawn which is better than mages.I would rather have a weak grey warden who has compassion then a powerful mage who has none.
I don't think Morrigan extends more empathy than Sten. She is almost equal though her comments are a bit more childish. Actually, I don't recall one instance where she did express empathy now that I think of it. Not at redcliffe for the people. Not at the circle. She's fine with killing Connor. Jowan, she has empathy for but only because she can relate to him being an apostate. She is not capable of relating to anything outside of her own experience which is either remarkably selfish, remarkably limited in one's ability to see another perspective, or shows her utter lack of compassion as a human being. Not surprising given her upbringing, but it never really changes. Best you get is that if you tell her she could have been like the mages had she not been Flemeth she will back down (which is some improvement) or that you would make her a Golem which she is horrified at when it's her butt on the line. But if it were others, she thinks it is a powerful thing one should use, just as long as you don't use her. Alistair for all his issues would never think that. I guess that's why I prefer him to her and see her as quite limited. Even with the mages, she only backs down because for a moment she can see that it could have been her. You have to shove her into that position, threaten her with it, for her to see get a bit of empathy. However, given that she was not raised to have empathy, that her mother ripped away her cherished mirror and told her to harden up, it is understandable. And we do see signs that she's coming around here and there. What is disconcerting to me is that if you do the ritual, how much better will she be with the child, one that will be a powerful old god and likely have all the empathy and compassion of a brick. She might have changed some with you, but surely not enough for another mother similar to flemeth. She still is out for herself and likely won't see the need for empathy or compassion without someone there to point it out to her. I think that's why I always lean more harshly toward her. Alistair, well, I can handle it because I don't have to worry that he will lack compassion. Yes, he is fragile, but that is overcome when you give him a reason to open up and trust. Being devoid of compassion and empathy however is not so easily overcome. Without the right person to guide her, she'll still act as she would. People call it practicality. But really, it's just lack of sympathy, compassion and empathy. In fact, what is the practical point of not dealing with redcliffe? It's short sighted because you will need all the help you can muster and if you don't deal with saving those people, then the point of going there beyond reviving arl when you get the ashes gone (presuming it affects the army). If you save the militia, then you get more men. But again, if you let the town get overrun or don't get agree to find the smith's daughter so they don't get the armor they need, what is the difference between that and letting the blight tear through it? We're stopping the blight to save the country. Do we throw away every village with a problem along the way to do this? Then we may stop the blight but at a very high cost. Still lots of dead people we might have been able to save. She and sten have no capacity to see this. This is a glaring fault on both of their parts. Save a country but forget about the people in it... not much logic in that if you want to really look at the practical side. So it takes a day or two to deal with it, you still saved redcliffe.
You are the only warden now. You get to shape how you will be. Do you want to be like Duncan who dismisses Cousland as he dies on the floor saying there are much bigger problems than his. That a blight is coming? The man is dying. He could have had a wink of compassion and simply asked for pup's help with his permission rather than so cold heartedly not give a crap about the fact that he was dying because there are bigger issues. If that is how all wardens should be, then I'm glad Alistair and I are starting a new crop of more humane and compassionate ones that will show you can get the job done without sacrificing your soul to do it. If I were to follow morrigan's lead I would be just like duncan and duncan has a huge lack of compasssion. True grey warden old school, but old school is dead now. I shape my own future.
Retour en haut
