18 réponses à ce sujet

[Klystron]

For roleplaying purposes I'd like to know what motivates a Grey Warden. 
So is the joining:
1.  like a wizard's geas, where if the Warden avoids his duties he gets sick or even dies?
2.  or is the Warden's motivation more altruistic, with the knowledge that the blight is real and the Wardens are the only ones who can stop it?
3.  or is it a more practical matter where the Warden knows that the Archdemon will purposely seek him out, and if It finds him he'll suffer a fate much worse than death?

[AntiChri5]

Once you take the joining yu are a grey warden. It is who you are, what you become, no matter what you try you will never be able to avoid or deny this. After the Joining all roads lead to the deeps.

[Freckles04]

I believe Riordan states at the Landsmeet that once you take the Joining, there is no walking away from being a Grey Warden. The darkspawn are drawn to you, and you to them. He says something like even if you ran from your duties, they would catch up to you (paraphrasing as I've only heard that line once).

It's never really fully explained, but I think once a Grey Warden starts to sense the darkspawn, it would be like this annoying buzz at the back of his/her mind, ever-present and driving them to silence it. So, kind of like a compulsion, I guess.

[Thiefy]

Klystron wrote...

For roleplaying purposes I'd like to know what motivates a Grey Warden. 

it's different for every grey warden. some aren't even motivated to join at all and have to be conscripted.

[TheRealIncarnal]

Once you have the Taint in you then you don't have much choice. Like it or not, your mission is likely going to find you even if you run away from it.

[BeljoraDien]

Most of the accurate information about being a Grey Warden probably comes from Riordan since Duncan isn't forthcoming and Alistair is obviously wrong about a few things.

You can ask Alistair about the Grey Wardens then ask "What if we just left?" and he states that that is possible, but you wouldn't have a home to come back to.

So I would think, in the short term, your motivation is to save Ferelden... for whatever RP reason your character can come up with.

In the long term, I think you could probably get away with neglecting your duties as long as there isn't an Archdemon around. The Grey Wardens were basically just watchers for a long time, since there was no blight. Once an Archdemon appears though, it can sense you, and will 'send'(maybe) darkspawn to attack you, as does happen in the game.

I think a character would have to be pretty chaotic-crazy to want to abandon a country to a horrible death when he/she is one of only two people in the country capable of stopping it. So saving Ferelden seems like a good enough motivation even if your character isn't exactly a paragon.

[Sandtigress]

It's interesting with my three girls so far. My Dalish elf went willingly and took her duties as a Grey Warden seriously. My City elf got conscripted to save her from being hanged and I don't think she ever really got into the Grey Warden thing - she was more on a "save the world" kind of bent and it didn't really matter to her that she was a Warden.



My noble female that I'm playing now has had a totally different journey. She didn't want to be a Warden, fought it the whole way, argued with Alistair over continuing to be a Warden, and has kind of resented it for quite a while. But after talking with Wynne about being a Warden, she's coming to see it as not that different from being a noble - someone charged with taking care of others and something that you're forced into rather than choosing it yourself, and I've played her as "dutiful daughter" and someone who takes her responsibility as a noble very seriously. Its funny because that set of conversations with Wynne has never made a big impact on one of my characters before, but you could almost feel her starting to come over to the idea of being a Warden after it.



I think for each person its different. For some like Alistair its an honor and a privilege, for others like my Amelia its a duty she's grown to accept, and some I think get conscripted and never really understand it.

[Xandurpein]

I agree. Being a Grey Warden is different for everyone. That's what I like about the six different orgin stories. Even if it only affects minor things in the game afterwards, it can litterally change your whole approach to the game when you get into your role.



My human noble never really got the fighting the Blight thing for a long time. I was going to kill Howe, and I didn't listen to Wynne at first. But after the Deep Roads all that changed. After the Deep Roads, Broodmother and Branka killing Howe was just routine business.

[Bibdy]

Like a lot of things in the game, it gives you freedom to determine the reason yourself, and develop your own motivations, rather than explicitly stating "You do naow, cos I sed so".

[Klystron]

Thanks for the insights.



My 1st mage was a do-gooder, whereas my 2nd mage is much more pragmatic and just saved the Anvil, which is a fairly hardnosed choice. Wasn't sure if one character is more "grey-wardeny" than the other...

[Demx]

Another reason could be the fact that once you become a Grey Warden you only have 30 years to live before the Calling gets to you. Riordan mentions that even if a Grey Warden flees he/she will eventually be drawn toward the darkspawn, because the taint in their blood connects the both of them together.

[Vansen Elamber]

The only part that bugged me about it all was that the PC did not have a choice on if he or she wanted to drink the blood, I am positive I could have taken Duncan so why not give me the choice? Would have ruined all the Kings fun I suppose because he would not have the "glorious Duncan" by his side when he dies but he was going to die anyway....who knows maybe the king would have lost interest in the Darkspawn and stood with Logain at the battle and walked off the field with him?

[SusanStoHelit]

But if you could fight and kill Duncan because you don't want to drink, then afterwards you certainly wouldn't drink. This means you wouldn't be a Grey Warden - the premise of the whole game - and wouldn't be able to kill the Archdemon.



That would be - *fill in the pejorative term that is missing*.

[QuiTamGogh]

Siradix wrote...

Another reason could be the fact that once you become a Grey Warden you only have 30 years to live before the Calling gets to you. Riordan mentions that even if a Grey Warden flees he/she will eventually be drawn toward the darkspawn, because the taint in their blood connects the both of them together.

This is the explanation.  Once you're tainted, you're dead.  Whether it's by Archdemon or Calling, your fate is sealed.

"In war, victory.
In peace, vigilance.
In death, sacrifice."

[Doyle41]

Why weren't the Grey Wardens drawn to the blight? they said they were waiting for word from the others. I would assume if my pc, the new guy saw the arch demon a seasoned vet would know as well. Or is it a didtance thing. the closer you are, the more intense?

[bobsmyuncle]

Vansen Elamber wrote...

The only part that bugged me about it all was that the PC did not have a choice on if he or she wanted to drink the blood, I am positive I could have taken Duncan so why not give me the choice?

What in the world makes you think that? The PC is a FNG at that point, while Duncan is a rogue with decades of experience and keep in mind he's only in his 40s or early 50s so he's not exactly aged. It would be an interesting choice to let the player make, but it'd be a choice between drinking the blood and reloading.

Regarding the original question, the joining doesn't alter a person's character in any way. What it does is ties you to the darkspawn, so it's a bit of a mix between 2&3. As much as a Warden can sense the darkspawn, they can sense the Warden. The AD sends shrieks after the group eventually, I imagine it would be similar if other darkspawn sensed the Warden nearby.

There are a lot of arguments around here about what ideal Grey Warden behavior should be, but as far as we know such a thing does not exist beyond 1) End Blights 2) **** up darkspawn. Duncan actually gets recruited by a woman who just wanted to watch him choke to death on diseased blood. Your Warden can be as nasty or nice as you want him/her to be. He or she can avoid the call if s/he wants to, but it gets stronger with age and the darkspawn will always be after you, so it's a bit futile.

[bobsmyuncle]

Doyle41 wrote...

Why weren't the Grey Wardens drawn to the blight? they said they were waiting for word from the others. I would assume if my pc, the new guy saw the arch demon a seasoned vet would know as well. Or is it a didtance thing. the closer you are, the more intense?

Well, we know from Riordan that foreign Wardens were turned away at the border, and it's kinda hard to get into Ferelden from other routes, and that could be perceived as invasion, especially by someone like Loghain.

Hopefully in the expansion we'll be meeting some Orlesian wardens and finding out more about their difficulties in showing up to the party.

[Wompoo]

Being a Warden means missing out on stabbing Duncan in the face with a rusty spoon. A sacrificial slab of meat. Hopefully I'll run into a helpful elven mage who can cure it. I see nothing heroic about being a Warden, become one or Duncan the murdering SOB will stab you too.

[TheBlackBaron]

Seems pretty simple - once you've sipped your Darkspawn blood, you've been irreversibly put on the path of fighting Darkspawn. Anything you do will eventually lead back to that, right down to your final blaze of glory in the Deep Roads.



And if you refuse, Duncan stabs you. In the stomach.



Were I really in that situation, that more than anything would have convinced me to drink the damn cocktail.