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[TheJediSaint]

Why would Varric be telling that story? It's years before DA2. And the only narrator in it is Byron at the beginning.

Because the idea of Varric telling an exaggerated version of Cassandra's origin story amuses me.

[TheJediSaint]

Fair enough.. I think it was confusing the conversation though.

Sorry about that.  Sometimes I let my thoughts spill onto the forum.

[90s Luke]

She seems the lead by example type. Action oriented. Not preachy.

 

Maybe I'm completely off-base here, but this is part of what leads me to think that Cassandra is not as devout as people think.

 

She's a practical person. I think she believes more in the (structural/political/military) power of the Chantry than the (supernatural) power of the Maker.

 

The Chantry maintained a high degree of order in Thedas up until the Mage-Templar War. According to David Gaider, Cassandra allied herself with the Divine rather than the Seekers because the former was trying to maintain peace and order.

 

Cassandra's views on mages illustrate what I'm talking about. Her initial hatred of mages didn't stem from a religious impetus. It was personal, namely the death of her older brother. After that, the young Cassandra believed that mages were the biggest threat in Thedas. The Chantry just happened to have a system of hunting and incarcerating mages.

 

Now years later, she has become aware of the fact that anyone (even devout templars and seekers) can be a threat. Interestingly, she doesn't blame mages for the war or the Breach. She blamed Meredith for Kirkwall and initially blames the Inquisitor (who can be a non-mage human from an Andrastian family) for the Breach.

 

Now I'm not saying that she is suddenly best buds with every mage in Thedas, but rather that her worldview has matured (or has been maturing for many years).

 

Cassandra's pursuit of justice strengthens this idea. "We will find those responsible and we will restore order," Cassandra says in the Inquisitor trailer. I think that a devout Andrastian would be more concerned that someone (the Elder One) is assuming the Maker's place, but Cassandra is more concerned about the security and existential threat which the Breach poses for the people of Thedas. 

 

Unlike the Chantry, the Inquisition is not a religious organization, but it is also trying to maintain order. Likewise, Cassandra is essentially its second-in-command. Whatever religious beliefs she may or may not profess, her agenda is preserving order in the absence of strong leadership in the Chantry. Her support of the title "Herald of Andraste" might have little to do with her beliefs and more to do with the title's implications. The Inquisitor, like the Divine, is a figurehead who can unite people against the threat posed by the Breach and the Elder One. Many people in Thedas are Andrastians.

 

Maybe Cassandra is very religious (in the sense that she believes strongly in the supernatural elements of Andrastianism), but I don't think she is.

 

If anything, she might be a deist. This could explain her direct approach to faith.

 

Anyway, this is just my at-the-moment interpretation of Cassandra.

[Wissenschaft 2.0]

Sorry about that.  Sometimes I let my thoughts spill onto the forum.

 

For shame, the Cass thread is for serious discussions only. *cough*

[Aimi]

If anything, she might be a deist. This could explain her direct approach to faith.

andrastianism is pretty deistic already

[90s Luke]

andrastianism is pretty deistic already

 

Fair enough, but what about the rest of what I said?

[Aimi]

Fair enough, but what about the rest of what I said?

idk rampant speculation on limited information is not really my thing and also alcohol

[Master Warder Z_]

I wonder if Cass has any new scars...

[90s Luke]

Being friendly to mages doesn't undermine her faith. The job of the Seekers is to be the moderates to begin with. They were meant to keep both Mages and Circles in check. 

 

The Templars behave more like the old wing of the Inquisition, who were just rampant mage hunters. The Chantry originally tried to calm the Inquisition down, formed them into less crazy Templars, and saved mages by making Circles.

 

Now their system has fallen apart and we're going to the old ways, where Templars dropped their alliance with the Chantry and went back to killing mages.

 

Point is though, she's just sticking to the original Chantry teachings. Andraste called magic a gift. Not a curse.

 

Interesting. I like this interpretation.

[Wolfen09]

idk rampant speculation on limited information is not really my thing and also alcohol

 

Its everybody's thing!  oh wait you were talking about the rampant speculation.... well, i was talking about the alcohol....

[HK-90210]

*snip

 

Cassandra has been consistently described by the devs as pious and driven. Her companion moniker is 'The Believer'. This is not a woman who is going to accept, on a personal level, that the Maker and the Chantry are not the correct religious interpretation of things. I don't think she will go all Mother Petrice on us and start slaughtering the heretics and heathens. But I think that she personally believes in Andraste's teachings, hence her disapproval when the Inquisitor says they are not the Herald. I think Cassandra is inclined to believe that the woman in the Fade was Andraste. Not a spirit or demon, but the savior or humanity who convinced the creator of the world to give His creations another chance to be worthy of Him. And now she has given humanity a champion capable of confronting this new, unprecedented crisis.

 

I mean, the fact that she and Solas are called "Team respectful theological debate"(paraphrasing, I don't remember the exact tweet), kind of indicates that she is an advocate for the traditional way of thinking for most Andrastians, since Solas is not fan of traditional human society(at least, that's the vibe I'm getting). But Cassandra is not a zealot, since they two seem like they are cordial.

 

Edit: Found the tweet

 

Patrick Weekes ‏@PatrickWeekes 

Am torn between that and Cole/Cass/Solas -- Team Mutually Respectful Moral and Theological Debate -- as first official play-group.

[TheJediSaint]

I wonder if Cass has any new scars...

She probably picked up a few emotional ones.

[HiroVoid]

Does she still have her eyebrow scar?

[90s Luke]

Cassandra has been consistently described by the devs as pious and driven. Her companion moniker is 'The Believer'. This is not a woman who is going to accept, on a personal level, that the Maker and the Chantry are not the correct religious interpretation of things. I don't think she will go all Mother Petrice on us and start slaughtering the heretics and heathens. But I think that she personally believes in Andraste's teachings, hence her disapproval when the Inquisitor says they are not the Herald. I think Cassandra is inclined to believe that the woman in the Fade was Andraste. Not a spirit or demon, but the savior or humanity who convinced the creator of the world to give His creations another chance to be worthy of Him. And now she has given humanity a champion capable of confronting this new, unprecedented crisis.

 

I mean, the fact that she and Solas are called "Team respectful theological debate"(paraphrasing, I don't remember the exact tweet), kind of indicates that she is an advocate for the traditional way of thinking for most Andrastians, since Solas is not fan of traditional human society(at least, that's the vibe I'm getting). But Cassandra is not a zealot, since they two seem like they are cordial.

 

I just wonder how strong her beliefs actually are if she is suddenly questioning them. She's nearly 40 years old and has spent much of her life surrounded by the teachings of Chantry. I can't help but think that she believes more in the structural power of the Chantry (having essentially been Thedas' hegemon and having maintained order for centuries), than its actual teachings. This would explain why she is questioning her beliefs in the absence of the Chantry's stabilizing influence. The Chantry's decline is a tangible representation of how her beliefs might be ill-conceived. The Inquisition is something new upon which she must place her faith.

 

I'm just hoping that Cassandra's "Believer" moniker represents something more complex than just religious faith, given David Gaider's talk of order and justice involved in Cassandra's character arc.

[90s Luke]

If she wanted to leave the Chantry's beliefs, she would have sided with her order. They and the Templars together left, while she remained in the minority with the Divine.

 

The only thing I think she'd want to question is that the old system of balance didn't work. It doesn't mean a person abandons all Andrastian faith. 

 

I'm not saying that she should (or will) abandon her faith. I'm trying to conceive of her "faith" as something more complex than just religious belief.

 

The Chantry is more than just a religious organization. It has political and military influence as well.

[90s Luke]

Does she still have her eyebrow scar?

 

In the most recent livestream, she only had two scars - one on each cheek.

[Wolfen09]

i did find it kind of funny how the inquisitor asked if the chantry would attack us and how leliana responded with what troops....  however, this made me wonder if the chantry didnt have a faction still in their pocket

[Hanako Ikezawa]

i did find it kind of funny how the inquisitor asked if the chantry would attack us and how leliana responded with what troops....  however, this made me wonder if the chantry didnt have a faction still in their pocket

Cullen says that actually. He says that they have only words now to which Josephine replies the Inquisition can be buried with.

Already those two have their opposing views on what is stronger: the sword or the pen.  

[Br3admax]

The Templars need to go back to the Chantry and the mages back to the Circle. There really is no other efficient solution to that particular problem besides killing upon discovery of magical talent. I'll take the former.