True, but Laidlaw said after DA2 that letting Merrill fix the mirror was perhaps not a good idea. I might do just have her smash it, just to be safe.
I choose to believe he meant that letting her fix the mirror leads to the death of her Keeper and possible her entire clan.
In any case, it seems Merrill has moved away from the mirror, even if she didn't break it, and is now focused on protecting the City Elves from the Mage/Templar war.
If I remember right, the scene where Merrill breaks the mirror also locks her into following Hawke no matter what, and not killable.
Well, yeah. You need to max out her rivalry path.
Best character-arc in DA2, by the way.
I choose to believe he meant that letting her fix the mirror leads to the death of her Keeper and possible her entire clan.
The way he said it sounded like he meant long term problems.
The way he said it sounded like he meant long term problems.
Like I said, I choose to believe it like that. If I'm wrong, whatever. I don't like the rivalry path anyway.
It actually resulted in her growing a brain though!Like I said, I choose to believe it like that. If I'm wrong, whatever. I don't like the rivalry path anyway.
It actually resulted in her growing a brain though!
Kinda...sort of.
In the friend path she comes to realize that the Dalish are kind of assholes and she's wasting her time trying to help them. I hope you can appreciate that, at least.
In the friend path she comes to realize that the Dalish are kind of assholes and she's wasting her time trying to help them. I hope you can appreciate that, at least.
I think the friendship path is good for her to see she was living in a socially toxic environment and needed to get away from it. A big step towards forming her own identity beyond "Dalish Elf" and independence.
But agree to disagree, right?
I think Merrill was always Audacity's target. Marethari just jumped on the grenade. It's Merrill that commits the 'sin' of pride.
This is totally how I see it as well. Merrill was Audacity's target and Marethari decided that she would rather take the bullet for her instead of watching her protege continue to ignore her and become possessed. I think Merrill's whole, "I'll be fiiiiiiiine....." attitude is the pride that Audacity represents.
Since her eluvian in the crossroads is still cracked then I guess it isn't fully repaired. That and she doesn't have passowrd/key to open it up.
either way, it seems like her eluvian obsession isn't as big of a deal as we all thought. Eluvians are fine, but now are mostly in the control of Briala :/
Since her eluvian in the crossroads is still cracked then I guess it isn't fully repaired. That and she doesn't have passowrd/key to open it up.
either way, it seems like her eluvian obsession isn't as big of a deal as we all thought. Eluvians are fine, but now are mostly in the control of Briala :/
Not all Eluvians lead to the same place I imagine, there could have been multiple "crossroads"
Not all Eluvians lead to the same place I imagine, there could have been multiple "crossroads"
This is totally how I see it as well. Merrill was Audacity's target and Marethari decided that she would rather take the bullet for her instead of watching her protege continue to ignore her and become possessed. I think Merrill's whole, "I'll be fiiiiiiiine....." attitude is the pride that Audacity represents.
That feels like too simple, too straight-forward a narrative. That's certainly the version that Marethari believes -- but what makes us think she's worth believing? She set up a chain of events that 1. got her possessed by a Pride demon and 2. created such hostility in her tribe that even after that disaster, it was compounded by the destruction of the entire tribe.
Like -- what unique kind of incompetence results in this outcome as something *preventing* a disaster? Marethari very well set it in motion!
At the very least, apparently Marethari decided that Merrill's life was worth more than herself and her entire clan? What an awful Keeper, if so. Especially because she showed it by ensuring the clan would try to kill Merrill.
Merrill's approach had a better failsafe -- even IF Merrill was wrong, Hawke was around to end her life. Nobody else needed to get hurt. She accepted that sacrifice. Marethari's complete lack of judgment resulted in this massive tragedy.
Merrill's worst case scenario: Merrill possessed, dies
Marethari's worst case scenario: Marethari possessed, dies. Whole clan dies too.
And folks are seeing that Marethari is the wise one here? I'm completely mystified.
Desire for knowledge was Merrill's weakness. Marithari's love for Merrill was hers. If there's one thing demons are good at, it's exploiting weaknesses.
I personally don't think Marethari's love for Merrill was all that great. She kept Merrill isolated all her life, to the point that her only real friend in the clan was Mahariel. Everyone else she was friendly with, but they didn't even really know her. Any decision Merrill makes is met with condemnation on the part of Marethari.
Marethari struck me more as a control freak of a mother then an actual loving one. Certainly one who has started to lose her wits in her dotage, if she takes a Demon's words on the Eluvian at face value after not doing any research for years on end.
As an aside for the thread, an obscure comment from Merrill indicates that she may know they're used for travel. She says in Mirror Image, if you click on her, this:
If I get the eluvian to work, I wonder where it will show me..."
And is there confirmation that it is, in fact, Merrill's mirror, and not just a mirror that looks the same (because BioWare never reuses art)?
Interesting. Thanks for the pics.
I won't, however, be signing up for a trip through the Merrill Express. Looks like you'd get diced in route.
Unless it expands like the chimneys in The Santa Clause. 
Depending on how things have shaken up regarding the Eluvians, I might very well change my Keep decision and have Merrill smash it. It's a little alarming to me that there is an actual representation of that particular mirror in the Crossroads, meaning it could very well end badly. I don't think that an open doorway into the Crossroads is a good thing at all.
I give Morrigan a pass on her mirror, cause she seems to at least have some idea of what she's doing.
That... doesn't make much sense to me. The Eluvian appears in the Crossroads, the place where all Eluvians appear, and this is a bad thing? How? I mean.... Morrigan's got the same thing going on. Morrigan's knowledge of the Eluvians is better, mainly because she had an entire book on them for a time, but I wouldn't say that she has some idea of what she's doing with them either because she doesn't even really understand the Crossroads entirely.
Unless it expands like the chimneys in The Santa Clause.
That... doesn't make much sense to me. The Eluvian appears in the Crossroads, the place where all Eluvians appear, and this is a bad thing? How? I mean.... Morrigan's got the same thing going on. Morrigan's knowledge of the Eluvians is better, mainly because she had an entire book on them for a time, but I wouldn't say that she has some idea of what she's doing with them either because she doesn't even really understand the Crossroads entirely.
Many people dislike Merrill because she is a Blood Mage, even though, time and again, the series has shown that Blood Magic is just magic and as such is not inherently evil. In fact it is useful. Templars use it to track down Harrowed mages, Grey Wardens use it in their rituals, etc. We have had an ancient Elven God of Rebellion, a runaway Tevinter mage and a Witch of the Wilds tell us this.
The only drawback to Blood Magic is that it reduces one's ability to connect to the Fade. As for its mind controlling properties, we have flasks and grenades that can induce confusion and mass panic and those are all okay for some reason. It is okay to have a chemical weapon that results in some form of mental insanity but magic that can control minds ? Talk about hypocrisy.
From an intellectual standpoint, all Merrill wanted to do is to understand the ancient Elven culture by reconstructing an ancient Elven artifact from nothing. This is not very different from an archaeologist investigating a dangerous ruin in an attempt to recover artifacts to understand the culture of the people that once lived there. Both have their own dangers.
As for possession, there was no point, except the one in the Fade, where Merill succumbs to promises of a demon, turned against people and started attacking them. Then again, almost everyone except Hawke did that at that point. She had plenty of opportunities to succumb to demon possession in Kirkwall but she didn't. She mostly minded her business and helped Hawke. She did not even attack her clan, she just decided to move out.
When push comes to shove, Marethari was the fool who let the demon possess her. She is an Elven Keeper, someone who supposedly has control over her magic. Don't tell me she cannot hold off and attack a pride demon, at least until Hawke & co came ? She could have even brought some Dalish Archers as backup and banished that demon, Audacity.
I hope we see her again in the future. Adorkable blood mages are hard to come around.
You guys want Merrill ? Allright, here you go...
Those eyes...Tis' very difficult to resist...
Yeah, I didn´t get the angry blood magic warden hating Hawke I had to put up with. My blood mage Hawke was somewhere out there with Merrill making their own half-elf soccer team and not giving a crap about the Inq.
Yeah, I didn´t get the angry blood magic warden hating Hawke I had to put up with. My blood mage Hawke was somewhere out there with Merrill making their own half-elf soccer team and not giving a crap about the Inq.
all human
no such thing has a half breed in Thedas
When push comes to shove, Marethari was the fool who let the demon possess her. She is an Elven Keeper, someone who supposedly has control over her magic. Don't tell me she cannot hold off and attack a pride demon, at least until Hawke & co came ? She could have even brought some Dalish Archers as backup and banished that demon, Audacity.
Doesn't really work if you subscribe to the idea, as I do, that Marethari was sacrificing herself to Merrill from being possessed by Audacity
Doesn't really work if you subscribe to the idea, as I do, that Marethari was sacrificing herself to Merrill from being possessed by Audacity
Marethari sacrificing herself for Merrill means Merrill did a big no-no. And we all know Merrill can't possibly do something wrong.
She's so innocent and naive and culture shocked.
don't forget dry humorMarethari sacrificing herself for Merrill means Merrill did a big no-no. And we all know Merrill can't possibly do something wrong.
She's so innocent and naive and culture shocked.
Doesn't really work if you subscribe to the idea, as I do, that Marethari was sacrificing herself to Merrill from being possessed by Audacity
If Audacity possessed Merill, we, by that I mean Hawke & co would have killed her. Plain and simple. It would have given us more options, more choices and more agency.
But this is Bioware and they only pay lip service to such things.
Marethari and indeed the Sabrae Clan should have left Sundermount after ACT 2 when we got the Arulin'Holm. They had no reason to stay there.
Marethari sacrificing herself for Merrill means Merrill did a big no-no. And we all know Merrill can't possibly do something wrong.
She's so innocent and naive and culture shocked.
No one here who supports Merrill assumes that she is perfect. For myself, I know what she attempted to do was risky. I just wish that if Merill went full retard and got possessed, we should have knifed her off instead like we can do with Anders when he blows up the Chantry. As for the chances of Merrill going full retard, perhaps if Hawke had max approval or max rivalry or romanced her, we could talk her out of it and kill Audacity together. But nope, pointless character death ftw.
The same applied to Morrigan as well. She was attempting and even practicing Chantry forbidden magic. Dark Ritual, Shapeshifting and what have you. Somehow they let us have full agency when dealing with Morrigan but for Merrill, Lol nope, they had to stick the Sabrae Clan and Marethari at Sundermount pointlessly.
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