17 réponses à ce sujet

[Lord Raijin]

Why do I like Knight Commander Meredith so much? She represents everything that is wrong in Kirkwall, but I seem to find myself liking this woman for some strange reason.

[cronshaw]

Why do I like Knight Commander Meredith so much? She represents everything that is wrong in Kirkwall, but I seem to find myself liking this woman for some strange reason.

 

For the same reason people like Darth Vader

[teh DRUMPf!!]

 She's a MILF and her voice-actor did a fine job with the character.

 

 

Still, she's one of the most ridiculous villains I've ever seen. I laugh myself to sleep just thinking about it.

[themikefest]

She is a strong willed, good looking woman who doesn't take crap from anyone.

[SamaraDraven]

If you play a pro-templar game and speak with her at some point, you learn that she's damaged goods. Her sister became an abomination and killed their whole family, and a sizable chunk of the nearby village's populace before templars destroyed her. It doesn't excuse what she does but it does provide insight as to why she's so fanatical. I think she even seemed to genuinely regret (even if just a little bit) what she was doing before that Idol came along. She never got past being that scared teenager who watched someone she loved become a monster and destroy everyone else she loved and left her family's name with a stigma that would never go away. Bioware really did try to inject a bit of other-side-to-the-story into DA2 but players would have to play contrary to their usual mode of play style to access them.

 

Yet, it made sense that you wouldn't see this if you were pro-mage and always grinding on Meredith's nerves. She only opens up to someone she feels... comfortable with, I guess. Tossing her story out at a pro-mage player would seem oddly convenient, I think. Throughout all of my play-throughs, however, I felt even Meredith had her limits of depravity, hence why she rejected Alrik's Tranquil Solution. She wanted to control the mages enough to mitigate her fear. The more that things unraveled, the more her fear grew and she chose control of that fear over her capacity to trust or care. She is a monster, though, make no mistake. Had the system for how mages were handled been better, the family may not have chosen to hide their younger daughter and put everyone at risk. But rather than recognize that and work toward a better system, Meredith lets her fear drive her to blame mages instead. Doing so has afforded her power over what she fears and she uses it to oppress that which she fears. That's what makes her a monster.

 

Mind you, this is all conjecture based on what I've seen in the game. At first I thought Meredith was power hungry for the sake of being power hungry - she certainly is by Act 3. Knowing why she was so motivated changed my view of what drove her to want such power which gives the end result a tragic air to me. She destroyed herself, became just as much an abomination as her sister and destroyed countless innocents because of the fear the Chantry preaches and that she had reinforced by what she experienced firsthand. I don't absolve her of her sins, but I do trace the root of her evil back to the institution she served.

[TheLittleBird]

Well said Samara, I full-heartedly agree.

 

That being said though, this really shows the problem I have when it comes to Dragon Age: While the story is generally amazing, and the characters feel very alive and full of depth, the villains seem to lack. In my first playthrough of both games, both Loghain and Meredith struck me as just power-hungry and evil for the sake of being evil. Unless the player really goes looking for their motivations - with Loghain being that you should read the books, which I find quite idiotic to say the least -, they don't seem to have the depth a BioWare-quality villain would be expected to have. This is also true in Asunder, at least for me.

[Lazy Jer]

Two words...subliminal messages...  Every time she talks to you, Cullen is secretly whispering "You totally like Knight-Commander Meredith, she smells like pie." while she speaks so that you'll start believing it.

[Ciaran Cousland]

I always wanted to go pro-templar playthrough but end up helping mages by the end. I always felt I'd miss out on alot of stuff if I just decided to say no to mage companions and other things... And lets be honest, how could you be mean to Merril?

[Akrabra]

You can make a persuasive argument to Merrill while siding with the templars, i happens randomly when she questions the choice. Either way, Merrill is there for you, not anyone else. I often side with the templars, mostly because i just hate Orsino, such a hypocrit. I know you get to kill him either way, but when you side with the mages it feels less deserving. 

[jtav]

Meredith is charismatic and the writers at least try for depth with her. It doesn't hurt that every other mage in Kirkwall is in fact a maleficar.

[Iakus]

Yeah Meredith was a character of unexpected depth.  I wish we'd gotten to know her sooner before the red lyrium put her on a bus to crazytown.

[congokong]

Dragon Age could explore the complexity of their characters' motivations further if they allowed you to see the antagonists' side of things before you have already sided with them. In DA:O you only get to see Loghain's POV after you've spared him at the Landsmeet. With Meredith you only learn about her sister after you've chosen to defend her over Orsino. You only learn of Orsino's hand in protecting Quentin if you've already decided to purge the circle. All this only reinforces your decisions already made.

[Bardox9]

I like Meredith because of the richness of the character. I don't really blame her for her actions against the mages either. Taking over as vicount was beyond the scope of her authority of course. And she was bat sh*t crazy, but considering all the things she was up against I think she did the best she could. I blame the escalation of events on Orsino. She would investigate rumors of blood magic or demonic activity and Orsino would do everything he could to block her.

 

The First Enchanter is suppose to over see the teaching of the proper use of magic. The Knight Commander is suppose to police the Circle and keep the mages and non-mages save from those who have been corrupted. They must work together to achieve either goal. If they don't then the Circle falls apart. Orsino's refusal to aid Meredith in weeding out the corrupted mages is ultimately leads to war.

 

I don't consider myself "Pro-Mage" or "Pro-Templar". I call myself "Pro-Circle". It's not a perfect solution by any means, but given the alternative it is the best of crappy options. The Mages train the apprentices and Templars watch for corruption. As Irving says, "The Templars protect us as much as they protect others from us."... atleast that's how it's suppose to work.

[KaiserShep]

While you don't really get the full depth of Loghain's point of view unless you spare him, you do get an idea that much of this has to do with his paranoia concerns over the Orlesians, and aside from that, he does make one final plea with Cailan to keep him off the front lines at Ostagar, so that does kind of take away from the whole power hungry thing. I think Meredith's background with her sister should always be there should you explore dialogue more extensively with her, along with her discussing her frustration over Orsino being uncooperative.

[Beerfish]

Her character and her attitude is very understandable, she essentially is a walking case of post traumatic stress.  She then becomes cursed but in the end just about every thing she worried about came true as far as the mages and their leadership is concerned.  Too bad they went too far and made her into a comic book villain at the end.

[congokong]

While you don't really get the full depth of Loghain's point of view unless you spare him, you do get an idea that much of this has to do with his paranoia concerns over the Orlesians, and aside from that, he does make one final plea with Cailan to keep him off the front lines at Ostagar, so that does kind of take away from the whole power hungry thing.

 

 

The thing is it seems suggested that Loghain premeditated his betrayal of Cailan. He has Arl Eamon poisoned before Ostagar even happens.

 

Many Loghain defenders will say his job was "to protect the realm" and therefore was right to betray everyone. That's bullshit. If Loghain really believed Cailan was in the wrong at Ostagar he should've resigned as a general instead of giving false hope by playing along. It's not like Cailan would kill Loghain for resigning even if he wasn't Cailan's father-in-law. Cailan just doesn't seem like that kind of person.

[Solas]

I'm still a bit sad about how they put Meredith on the bus to crazy town.

[congokong]

I'm still a bit sad about how they put Meredith on the bus to crazy town.

That might've been the worst part of the game for me... the ending. Up until that point Meredith's actions were somewhat justifable if not extreme. Even annulling the Circle could be argued without the lyrium idol, if not very well IMO. Turning her into a psychopath who leaps 30 feet into the air felt cheesy and off as if it was just squeezed in at the end. It reminded me of the ending of Star Fox Adventures for Gamecube when General Scales randomly turns into Fox's old nemesis.