If she was lying all along and was actually a Chantry agent, one would think that's what the Guardian would bring up, not her vision. That's most likely why Morrigan shot him down - how much you want to bet his question would have been related to her true intentions?
That's a strong possibility. Maybe the Guardian somehow knew what she was doing is important and that's why he left it at that and didn't press. I'd guess he might actually know what Flemeth is.
Might i suggest that her story was true and false?
All the events she described did take place in Ferelden, but she went with Dorothea to Orlais and got arrested for treason, because of Marjolaine using her own talents, to make her an enemy of Orlais stopping her from ever being a threat. Orlais doesn't like traitors after all and for someone like Marjolaine doing so would be easy for her after all she taught Liliana everything she knows about being a Bard.
Now Dorothea either saw or learned of this, and went to work helping her escape, maybe even using her influence with the Divine to make Liliana a Seeker of Truth. But because of all the dangers she told Liliana to return to Lothering to escape the dangers that were present in Orlais, until such a time either she or Dorothea could remove the threats towards her. This would place her in Lothering, the place where she either met Dorothea or the Chantry Dorothea started in, or maybe even just the safest place Dorothea could think of considering how mundane a place Lothering is. Heck even the Hawke's used it to that advantage. Its so plain no-one thinks Apostates could be their neighbor. So at the very least it seemed Liliana was safe there.
Now her joining the Wardens is sincere. She tells her story with a half truth as a way to protect herself. She may be a generally nice person, but if she's too trusting she could end up in danger. She trusted Marjolaine after all, and if the Warden fulfilled poisoned the Urn, then they nearly killed her, forcing her to drag herself off a mountain towards civilization that would help her, while a Blight was going on, so all in all she has very good reason to twist the truth. After all the events in Dragon Age 2 span about 7 years, in game, and we encounter Liliana in Act 3 of the story.
All in all its safe to say that Liliana isn't an agent or the Left Hand of the Divine at the time of Dragon Age: Origins. Its more than likely she became such after the Archdemon was defeated.
That's my theory anyway.
Though from a development standpoint, her being an agent of the divine in any way shape or form, probably wasn't even a consideration back then. If they ever go back and re-release the Dragon Age series years from now, and update everything to be more Chronologically sound, then they might change certain things involving her to make it so she is undercover but that would seem like a lot of work on their part. The most i think they'd do is edit her story in Dragon Age: Origins to match that of Liliana's Song, other than that I think its just a sign of how much the original idea of Dragon Age has evolved. I'd even bet they wish an Age in the Dragon Age Universe lasted more than a 100 years, because in a way it could limit what they do. A game called Dragon Age based in the Chantry Age isn't likely to sound good when the previous years were in the Dragon Age. Makes things rather confusing.
But on your suggestion of the Guardian knowing about Flemeth and what she really is...questionable. From a development standpoint Morrigans response to the Guardian just matches her personality and the line add more mystery to her deepest secrets. So its more than likely the development team just adding more emphasis to her personality, like how she's immune to the Sloth Demon in the Circle of Magi. It might just be adding to the display of her magical prowess. but story wise I personally doubt it.
The Guardian is asking people things that tests the fibre of who they are. Zevran an Assassin by trade who enjoys his work, still regrets one kill above all else, Stens only guilt is his murder of the farmer and his family, and Liliana's only solace in her what was becoming a mundane plain life, with none of the excitement she loved when playing her little court game, was forced to question her own ideas. The Guardian would more than likely state a fact in such a way that it would have made Morrigan question herself, and that is something she will not allow. So her dismissal isn't some secret she wishes to keep, but her own confidence in who she is.
But on your suggestion of the Guardian knowing about Flemeth and what she really is...questionable. From a development standpoint Morrigans response to the Guardian just matches her personality and the line add more mystery to her deepest secrets. So its more than likely the development team just adding more emphasis to her personality, like how she's immune to the Sloth Demon in the Circle of Magi. It might just be adding to the display of her magical prowess. but story wise I personally doubt it.
The Guardian is asking people things that tests the fibre of who they are. Zevran an Assassin by trade who enjoys his work, still regrets one kill above all else, Stens only guilt is his murder of the farmer and his family, and Liliana's only solace in her what was becoming a mundane plain life, with none of the excitement she loved when playing her little court game, was forced to question her own ideas. The Guardian would more than likely state a fact in such a way that it would have made Morrigan question herself, and that is something she will not allow. So her dismissal isn't some secret she wishes to keep, but her own confidence in who she is.
I don't see those things as mutually exclusive, but I like the perspective on her confidence. Her ability to resist the demon is definitely her magical prowess.
Now her joining the Wardens is sincere. She tells her story with a half truth as a way to protect herself. She may be a generally nice person, but if she's too trusting she could end up in danger. She trusted Marjolaine after all, and if the Warden fulfilled poisoned the Urn, then they nearly killed her, forcing her to drag herself off a mountain towards civilization that would help her, while a Blight was going on, so all in all she has very good reason to twist the truth. After all the events in Dragon Age 2 span about 7 years, in game, and we encounter Liliana in Act 3 of the story.
All in all its safe to say that Liliana isn't an agent or the Left Hand of the Divine at the time of Dragon Age: Origins. Its more than likely she became such after the Archdemon was defeated.
That's my theory anyway.
That's what I suspect, too, though I think she became something almost immediately after. Again, if we take it as intended and not an oversight, she can be acting on behalf of the Seekers as soon as late 9:31 (Act I of Dragon Age 2) in Mark of the Assassin, meaning she would have got there very quickly after the events in the story in DAO. Which means Dorothea probably had some unofficial power over the sun throne even before her official election as Divine.
I'm guessing that her vision is sincere, that she joined the Wardens for honest reasons, but lied about chunks of her past. She might also fall into the Varric trap of losing herself so completely in a good story she runs with it and plays a little loose with the truth. It's something storytellers are prone to.
(Remember poor Sketch in DA2, running from dozens of mercenaries because of all the tall tales Leliana told about him!)
All storytellers are liars, Varric reminds us.
I suspect that while Leliana was running around with the Warden, Dorothea was using her old bard talents to consolidate power in the Chantry. They were kindred spirits - they both have true faith but unorthodox beliefs, and both approach that faith with a certain amount of pragmatism. When the Blight ended, Dorothea probably wanted to surround herself (and fill the Chantry) with people she could trust who thought like her, in preparation for her rise to Sun Throne. If she was one of the people manipulating Beatrix, it would have been an easy thing to get Leliana made their agent, and it could be justified to their other courtiers because of her heroism in the Blight.
Just a theory, of course. But it makes a certain amount of sense.
But on your suggestion of the Guardian knowing about Flemeth and what she really is...questionable. From a development standpoint Morrigans response to the Guardian just matches her personality and the line add more mystery to her deepest secrets. So its more than likely the development team just adding more emphasis to her personality, like how she's immune to the Sloth Demon in the Circle of Magi. It might just be adding to the display of her magical prowess. but story wise I personally doubt it.
The Guardian is asking people things that tests the fibre of who they are. Zevran an Assassin by trade who enjoys his work, still regrets one kill above all else, Stens only guilt is his murder of the farmer and his family, and Liliana's only solace in her what was becoming a mundane plain life, with none of the excitement she loved when playing her little court game, was forced to question her own ideas. The Guardian would more than likely state a fact in such a way that it would have made Morrigan question herself, and that is something she will not allow. So her dismissal isn't some secret she wishes to keep, but her own confidence in who she is.
We often see spirits read minds. Desire Demons seem to know exactly what the desires are of the person in front of them, and Pride Demons do the same with ambitions. The Guardian seems to know all about the inner lives of the people in front of it. As Wynne says, "You phrase it in the form of a question, but you already know our answers."
This is the scene, actually, which convinces me of Leliana's sincerity. If she'd consciously fabricated the story from whole cloth for political reasons, the spirit wouldn't accuse her of making them up for the attention. The very fact that she has doubts about it proves its a belief. We don't "doubt" our lies - we know they're false.
As for Morrigan, I think the spirit knows whatever she knows. And since you can do Broken Circle after the Urn of Sacred Ashes (if you don't mind either Isolde or Connor dead) what Morrigan knows will change depending. Morrigan's answer is part characterization, true, but it also deftly avoids both spoilers and the dev team having to program different dialogue depending on whether she's read her mother's grimoire or not.
We often see spirits read minds. Desire Demons seem to know exactly what the desires are of the person in front of them, and Pride Demons do the same with ambitions. The Guardian seems to know all about the inner lives of the people in front of it. As Wynne says, "You phrase it in the form of a question, but you already know our answers."
This is the scene, actually, which convinces me of Leliana's sincerity. If she'd consciously fabricated the story from whole cloth for political reasons, the spirit wouldn't accuse her of making them up for the attention. The very fact that she has doubts about it proves its a belief. We don't "doubt" our lies - we know they're false.
Ah, very interesting. That makes sense.
The cynic in me believes she was made an agent of the Divine in retrospect, once the devs decided to make her a recurring character.
Well, thanks for all the thoughts, everyone. I'm glad I got responses. They were interesting.
I think she was just as she said in DA:O a lay-sister in the Lothering chantry. But she rose to prominence after accompanying the Hero of Ferelden, helping to kill an Archdemon and ending the Fifth Blight.
Once the Divine found out about her, and her past as a Bard, THEN she became the left hand of the Divine.
The cynic in me believes she was made an agent of the Divine in retrospect, once the devs decided to make her a recurring character.
I think this is pretty much on the money. Sometimes characters get tweaked way beyond their original concept in future installments to give them a new character arc. It happened to Sandal, it happened to Liara in Mass Effect, and it happened to Leliana.
Not that it's necessarily a bad thing. There's a lot to be said for returning characters in a series, even if their appearances don't always correlate 100%.
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