Information On Choosing The Next Divine
I want to preface this post with a quote from David Gaider on the matter:
Who ends up as the Divine depends on the choices you make in the major plots, as well as (to a lesser degree) some of the attitudes you express towards the Chantry. If you talk to one of the candidates, an operation will open up that allows you to throw some influence their way...but that is not necessarily going to ensure them becoming Divine if your previous choices have weighed very heavily in favor of a different candidate.
Just disliking the Chantry is neutral (depending on the context). Sentiments that suggest the Chantry needs to reform, or that it isn't doing its job, will push Leliana a bit closer towards being Divine. For her, however, the biggest influences by far are allying with the mages at the end of the Redcliffe plot and handing power to Briala at the end of the Wicked Eyes & Wicked Hearts plot.
Source: Here
Leliana: Rebuilt/Mage Freedom
Vivienne: Status Quo
Cassandra: Reform
The choice for the new Divine at the end of the game is from what we know dependent on your choices throughout the game, not just who you decide to throw your support to.
Some of the biggest choices that may affect your candidate.
Mages/Templars – Conscription, or Freed?
Conscription falls in line with Reform/Status Quo, while Freedom seems to favor rebuilt. Currently it is unknown if choosing one or the other locks in specific candidates. But if you’re aiming for a specific one, choosing the choice that will fall in favor with your ideal candidate would be the best option.
How did you express your views on the Chantry? Mages need to be free/chantry rebuilt from ground up? The chantry and circles were fine as is? Chantry needs to be reformed?
You have conversations with your companions/npcs throughout the game where you get to voice your opinions of the Chantry. Some of the companions include Dorian, Vivienne, Cassandra, and your advisor Leliana. (There are more npcs, but these are just a few). This seems to bear the most weight when it comes to determining the candidate at the end of the game.
Some other choices that may affect your candidate.
Who you side with at the Winter Palace.
Warden decision
As of now we don’t know for sure if the choices you are given with these scenarios affect the Divine appointment. But in the event that it may, we’ve been including them in our lists.
What does each Divine do when they are chosen?
Cassandra: Reforms the chantry, righting past wrongs without avenging them.
Vivienne: Status quo. Basically the same old chantry, but with mages given more power within their reinstated Circles. She also restores the Templar Order.
Leliana Hardened: Rebuilds the chantry to allow mage freedom, and opening the chantry to all races and genders. Deals with sects that rise in opposition violently. Blood is said to run down the halls of the chantry.
Leliana Softened: Rebuilds the chantry to allow mage freedom, and opening the chantry to all races and genders. Deals with sects that rise in opposition peacefully, and eventually unites them.
Templates
Right now it’s still to early to pinpoint exactly what contributes to the candidate that is chosen, but it is fairly reasonable to say that your expressed Chantry views as well as the mage/templar freedom/conscription choices play a large role. Here are 3 templates that you can use to see what sort of choices leads to the desired outcome. I played 3 playthroughs, with the intention of getting specific divines and in all 3 I succeeded. Here is how:
Cassandra Divine
Romanced Cassandra
Conscripted Mages
Sided with Gaspard at Winter Palace
Exiled Wardens
Chantry reform dialogue choices
No war table operations were made available
Voiced support for Leliana (to no avail based on previous choices throughout game)
[Should also be noted, I tried to discourage Cassandra from accepting in the romance dialogue but it had no affect. More information on that below.]
Leliana Softened Divine
Romanced Cassandra
Freed Mages
Sided with Celene at Winter Palace
Allowed Wardens to stay
Mage Freedom/Rebuild chantry dialogue choices
No war table operations were made available
Told Leliana not to kill the traitor back in Haven.
Told Leliana that she did right in pulling her scouts back, that they aren’t tools to be discarded. (Dialogue with her after Haven attack).
Told Leliana not to kill the Sister in the Chantry.
Voiced support for Leliana.
[For romance purposes, I attempted to get a playthrough where Cassandra was neither divine, nor leaving to rebuild the seekers. Here is how I was able to do so.]
Told Cassandra to let the Seekers go after her quest
Did not agree with Cassandra on her views of the chantry. Told her that I did not want the same things she wanted for the chantry.
After her talk with Mother Giselle, told her that there were other ways to help the chantry besides becoming Divine.
Told her to refuse the role if she was offered.
[This resulted in an ending where she was neither divine, nor leaving to rebuild seekers. Ends up staying with the inquisition. I should note that because you have to take opposite views of the chantry with her on this, you will need to do around 4/5 of the targets of her quest in order to have sufficient approval to romance her.]
Vivienne Divine
Offered Templars full alliance (they didn’t integrate with the inquisition)
Sided with Celene at Winter Palace
Exiled Wardens
Pro Chantry/Circle Dialogue for the most part. Anti Chantry/Mage Freedom dialogue with Cassandra.
Expressed that mages should be in the chantry to Vivienne.
Told Vivienne that she would be a great choice when discussing Cassandras candidacy.
Did operation on war table to support Vivienne. (With a max of 20 influence, not sure if that mattered).
Voiced support for Leliana as Divine in conversation with her as well.
[Vivienne’s was a little tricky, as some of the dialogue options that would seemingly support her would also do the same for Cassandra. That was why when I talked specifically to Cassandra, I would express anti chantry/mage freedom dialogue. In order to try to cancel her out and put Viv on top. I essentially agreed with everything Vivienne said when talking with her, aside from her views on Cassandra as divine where I said Viv herself would be the better choice.]
War Table Operations
So people have been mentioning throughout the thread that they had operations to support each of the 3 candidates. In all of my 3 playthroughs, I only had an operation to support Vivienne. My theory is that this only happens if you have conflicting views on the chantry throughout the game, which I sort of did as mentioned above.
Another thing to consider is the text in the operations summary. It mentions that the operation could backfire, as the chantry doesn’t necessarily like public endorsements. It is unclear whether or not your influence level has any affect on this, or if this really matters at all. For Viviennes operation, I had a max of 20 influence.
More To Do
These are just some templates to give players an idea of what they need to strive for in order to land their ideal candidate. We could still narrow things down a little more, so it will be useful to continue collecting information. If you have information you feel should be added to the main post, please contact me. If you would like to keep a record of your playthrough and submit information that can be used to help narrow things further, please use the following form:
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