LMFAO
So Blackwall Is...(Spoilers)
Débuté par
Legiongethinator
, nov. 27 2014 09:27
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#352
Posté 21 janvier 2015 - 01:40
CrimsonN7
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and lets face it Cullen totally has the face of a serial jaywalker. That and his ruffled coat looks criminally warm and cosy.
One of the funniest things I've seen being posted about Cullen was that thread asking where did he get his clothes from, Bea Arthur's wardrobe?
Good thread. And to be likened to Bea Arthur is a compliment, Golden Girls is bloody hilarious.
- mordy_was_here, AtreiyaN7, Ryzaki et 1 autre aiment ceci
#353
Guest_MyLoneWarden_*
Posté 23 janvier 2015 - 11:32
Guest_MyLoneWarden_*
Guest_MyLoneWarden_*
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Blackwall - good vs bad
The good:
- He saves the Inquisitor’s life blocking and arrow directed to is/her head. I would never execute a man who saved my life, whatever he might have done.
- He spent the last 5 years of his life defending commoners from the darkspawn, and those who played Awakening should have an idea about how badly they affect farmer’s lives —-> tons of human lives saved.
- Giles, a farmer you find in the Hinterlands, tells you that he saved the refugees from the demons coming from the rifts —-> more human lives saved.
- He puts all his knowledge at disposal of the Inquisition, like the Treaties and all the wardens artifacts, plus his great professionality as a warrior. He doesn’t spare himself waiting for someone else to fix things unlike many who just watch, do nothing, and judge.
- He gives himself up to justice to avoid an ‘innocent’ man to die (innocent is in quotation marks because I’m not a fan of the ‘I was only following orders’ thing)
- He fights alongside the Inquisition in countless battles, helping to save the world and thus earning the title of hero like the real Blackwall did before him. —-> world saved
The bad:
- he accepted a job as mercenary to kill a man who was playing a dangerous Game, someone who, I’m sure, hired his own mercenaries to kill his opponents as well.
- he witnessed, petrified, a crude scene when he was just a small, helpless kid and did nothing to help while two urchins tortured and killed a street dog. I’d be more concerned about the small kid being traumatized instead of focusing on the dog but we don’t all have the same priorities I guess… I wouldn’t even put this thing if there weren’t so many hypo… ehm… people reporting this as something terrible he did. I'm sure there were many adults as well who witnessed the scene but simply didn't give a damn. Orlesians didn't give a damn even for a poor hungry street orphan named Duncan, who was forced to thievery to survive. Little Thom, the dreaded puppy killer (!) CARED about the dog and LEARNED a lesson, that is 'the best way to let evil win is that the good people do nothing'. He cared, he suffered, he learned a lesson, he put it into practice, unlike many.
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I have my idea about why Blackwall is so hated while other characters who did the same things, if not much worse, are instead loved.
When you first meet Krem he says about The Iron Bull: "He’s professional, we accept contracts with whoever makes the first real offer […] We’re loyal, we’re tough, and we don’t break contracts. Ask around Val Royeaux, we’ve got references."
This means that what Blackwall/Rainier did only once in his life, i.e. accepting a hire job to kill an Orlesian Grand-Gamer, was in fact Iron Bull’s daily bread and butter. The Iron Bull and his chargers made a living out of killing shems, as Skinner will later say in Skyhold - and she seems to enjoy it a great deal too. The Iron Bull accepted every contract if the offer was good enough.
Krem: "You’re the first time he’s gone out of his way to pick a side."
This means that The Iron Bull wants to stop being a mere mercenary and wants to fight for the greater good…. BUT, he doesn’t join for free like Blackwall, he wants to be paid a good sum for it.
So...
why is Blackwall getting all the hate?
Let's talk about Solas, the old god in disguise who gave the orb to Corypheus nearly causing the destruction of the world. Compared to him Blackwall is uncool, he's just a man, his faults are petty and mundane. Second, his feeling guilty makes him vulnerable to people’s judgement. You can do questionable things and then be ‘Yes I did it and I'm proud of it, so what?’ like The Iron Bull, and people will exclaim ‘Aww you’re a such a badass!’ Feel guilty, and you’ll find an army of predators ready to feed on your naked heart.
Solas is but the earthly disguise of an old god, his body is about 40something and his soul is not just old, but ancient. Despite all this Blackwall turns out to be the old bastard of the party and the one who lied about his identity. The fact imho is simply that Blackwall turns out to be LESS than expected, he’s not even a warden! —-> UNCOOL
Solas instead turned out to be MORE than expected. Hey my love is a god! —-> COOL!
All the fuss about morality is just hypocrisy: Blackwall’s faults are simply uncool, and furthermore he focuses the player’s attention on them because he’s feeling guilty.
Other character’s faults are even bigger but they have already come to terms with it, like Cullen when he says that he’s not proud of the man he had become. Leliana said that Cullen is like a hammer who sees everything as a nail. His options at the world table often are: a maybe-sympathizer with the venatori? Kill him! Someone has a venatori advisor? Ambush the bastard when he leaves town and slaughter everyone else.
But men can change.
Many wardens were criminals and it doesn’t matter what they did when they join the Order. The only difference with Blackwall is that we know all the details of what he did while ‘having been a criminal’ is more vague. If your only idea of justice is an eye for an eye Blackwall must die. If not, he already atoned spending 5 years of his life fighting darkspawn to save many more lives than those he had taken, and then he helps to save the world, well, if you allow him to do it.
Heroes are made, not born, who knows what the real Blackwall did before he became a Grey Warden, perhaps he murdered dozens of people. Does it matter? He became a hero and gained the silver wing of valor for…valor. If he ever met your kind of justice instead of being recruited in the wardens the men he saved would be dead as well and the world would lose a potential hero and all the good he could do.
May I add that Rainier didn’t know Callier was traveling with his family and that Callier’s opponent tricked Rainier into that mess, and that it’s not Rainier the one who killed the children, but his men They were not an army of brainless zombies, they could have stopped before striking children to death without any shouted order of the last minute. They were as guilty as him, if not worse, imho.
Callier for his part was not a poor victim. I think most of the problem with Blackwall is his commoner background. He is not noble by birth, he is just a random common soldier that earned a better position and liked money [not so far away than any of us and Iron Bull, just saying]. He accepted to kill a single man to get more coins, but happened that such man was travelling with his whole family. Obviously, powerful people that hired him - and knew - did not say a word for helping him. Blackwall is a character about how high classes can mess things up and get better results, even noble results, than those who are from lower classes who have to live the daily ****, inspired by the idealization of the heroes, understanding that they never could be one.
Blackwall has a lot of self-esteem issues based on class, and also a lot of bias and hatred towards powerful people that gives a **** about those who are under them.
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Last but not least, the 'Blackwall is a rapist' issue because of the 'rape by deceit' thing simply makes me laugh, especially if it comes from those who romanced Solas, the dread wolf in disguise.
