Those wall of texts by some users would disagree with "No one here who supports Merrill assumes that she is perfect".
Some made some good points about Merrill's flaws. In come a bunch going out of their way to absolve her of everything wrong.
She can't be anything but absolutely flawless.
Merrill's prideful, no doubt about that, and I'll even agree she underestimates how much of a threat Demons can be (she knows they're dangerous like all spirits, but I suppose she doesn't know the full extent of their danger). And she was a pawn like Marethari in Audacity's gambit to get release -- no matter how that happened -- which she didn't take into account (though this does not make her culpable for all that transpired. Marethari holds more blame because she chose to remain in a place she knew was dangerous, to say nothing of every asinine thing she did).
I've never denied that (and I know Lob. I doubt he would deny the pride thing either). To act like people who make their arguments are somehow saying she's perfect is disingenuous.
Making a case for how a person was in the right does NOT in any way equate to saying "SHE'S PERFECT!"
But people will believe what they want to, I suppose.
Merrill's prideful, no doubt about that, and I'll even agree she underestimates how much of a threat Demons can be (she knows they're dangerous like all spirits, but I suppose she doesn't know the full extent of their danger). And she was a pawn like Marethari in Audacity's gambit to get release -- no matter how that happened -- which she didn't take into account (though this does not make her culpable for all that transpired. Marethari holds more blame because she chose to remain in a place she knew was dangerous, to say nothing of every asinine thing she did).
I've never denied that (and I know Lob. I doubt he would deny the pride thing either). To act like people who make their arguments are somehow saying she's perfect is disingenuous.
Making a case for how a person was in the right does NOT in any way equate to saying "SHE'S PERFECT!"
But people will believe what they want to, I suppose.
A Merrill debate is a lot like a Loghain debate. We back up our arguments with evidence, acknowledge the the character is flawed and does have problems and isn't perfect, but because we are defending one thing, or two things we like about the character, we must be misconstrued and our words twisted into saying something we're not.
Like this. "Loghain was right to retreat at Ostagar but is politically inept and alienated the nobles, and shouldn't have hired Jowan to poison Eamon and is definitely wrong to sell elves into slavery. Making him a Warden is not necessarily pardoning him so much as delivering a pro-longed death sentence where he may be able to redeem himself if he tries very hard," turns into "You support poisoning Eamon, slavery, noble kidnapping and torture but you can't accept that Logahin isn't perfect."
Or Merrill debates. "Blood magic is just a form of magic that must be used with great care. Based on the evidence we have gathered from two games and from dev comments, we have concluded that as far as the eluvian goes, Merrill is right and Merethari is wrong. But she is a prideful person, no doubt about it," will turn into "Merrill slaughtered her whole clan because she's an idiot and wouldn't listen to the much wiser Keeper (while conveniently not mentioning that Merethari knows nothing of eluvians as she did not do her homework) and Merrill must be responsible for every single thing that happened to her clan despite her leaving it because she's a stupid blood mage and an idiot, but you can't accept that because she's so naive, culture-shock and can do no wrong."
Not sure if the way our arguments in support of Merrill, or taken the wrong way by those who just hate her, is frustrating, eye-brow raising, or amusing.
Well, I keep saying that Flemeth points out how Merrill is smart and bright.
....kinda hard to argue with her, all things considered.
Also, admitting she's prideful is rather alarming when she is dealing with a pride demon. For all her supposed wisdom with dealing with Spirits/Demons the fact that she failed to recognize that she and Marethari were being manipulated by a demon shows she is not nearly as smart as she or her fans like to think she is.
Same could be said of Marethari, as her pride is twice that of Merrill's -- Merrill even goes through a lot of humbling scenarios.
Marethari's flaw was that she cared too much for Merrill she put her ahead of the clan.
I didn't see her as prideful.
She's a Keeper, she's an Elf, she's a mage, and she's a mother figure who believes she knows best.
If you don't see her as prideful, well..... I dunno what to tell you. Well that's not true. I do know what to say. I just can't say it now because I have to drive my mom to an appointment soon
I have never said Marethari was free from blame as well
"As for you child, step carefully. No path is darker than when your eyes are shut."
-Flemeth.
No, F no and H no...Can't stand her. Hubby romanced her on his last play through, I about gagged. No Merrill. 
all human
no such thing has a half breed in Thedas
No?
No?
What Steelcan meant was that human/elf pairings in DA doesn't result in half-elves like in say, D&D or Pathfinder tabletop RPG games, but humans.
Alistair is a good example of this. Even Feynriel was human.
Well he does have a bit DA2 kind of elvish features.
Well he does have a bit DA2 kind of elvish features.
he's still technically all human
I would have loved to see Merrill return in a supporting/companion role in Inquisition, for a couple different reasons. First, the revelations about elven history seem tailor-made for her, and she might have been a good fit for the Eluvian stuff as well (not that Morrigan was bad, the stuff with her was really strong. Just saying that Merrill would fit too). Secondly, considering how much the Dalish get dumped on over the course of the game, it would have been nice to get a more positive or constructive perspective on their culture, for variety's sake if nothing else. Same thing with blood magic; there was a moral ambiguity surrounding blood magic in the previous games that made it much more interesting and raised some important questions. That was wholly dumped in Inquisition: blood magic is now bad by authorial fiat, and it would be nice to see that grey area restored. And then, of course, there's the character's positivity and optimism. Merrill was just fun to have around in DA2, and her presence would inject a bit more humour into the proceedings.
And finally (and I know I'm gonna catch hell for this), having Merrill in the game means we can finally have a mage companion who doesn't suck. Seriously, when your only options are a foppish slavery apologist, a self-absorbed power-hungry autocrat, or a hypocritical know-it-all who decided
I would have loved to see Merrill return in a supporting/companion role in Inquisition, for a couple different reasons. First, the revelations about elven history seem tailor-made for her, and she might have been a good fit for the Eluvian stuff as well (not that Morrigan was bad, the stuff with her was really strong. Just saying that Merrill would fit too). Secondly, considering how much the Dalish get dumped on over the course of the game, it would have been nice to get a more positive or constructive perspective on their culture, for variety's sake if nothing else. Same thing with blood magic; there was a moral ambiguity surrounding blood magic in the previous games that made it much more interesting and raised some important questions. That was wholly dumped in Inquisition: blood magic is now bad by authorial fiat, and it would be nice to see that grey area restored. And then, of course, there's the character's positivity and optimism. Merrill was just fun to have around in DA2, and her presence would inject a bit more humour into the proceedings.
And finally (and I know I'm gonna catch hell for this), having Merrill in the game means we can finally have a mage companion who doesn't suck. Seriously, when your only options are a foppish slavery apologist, a self-absorbed power-hungry autocrat, or a hypocritical know-it-all who decided
Spoiler, well, what's a little blood magic compared to that? At the very least, she'd be nicer to talk to.
And she goes out of her way to try and be nice to everyone.
And she goes out of her way to try and be nice to everyone.
She doesn't really have the luxury of being an ass to people, what with her leaving her Clan and practically being friendless.
She'd be alone in the world.
At least she helps the city elves. Might start a new clan. Let's hope she doesn't give them stupid ideas like mirrors and demons.
Until you tell her common sense then she'll yell shemlen at you like it's a swear.
Until Inquisition and Masked Empire proved she was right. 
She doesn't really have the luxury of being an ass to people, what with her leaving her Clan and practically being friendless.
She'd be alone in the world.
At least she helps the city elves. Might start a new clan. Let's hope she doesn't give them stupid ideas like mirrors and demons.
I'd actually love to see more of Merrill defending Kirkwall's alienage folk in the midst of the Mage-Templar War, there's a great story in there that would be nice to explore.
Until Inquisition and Masked Empire proved she was right.
Orlais would be without a ruler if they didn't exist or didn't work, but I agree, that's pretty inconsequential.Not really.
It's just a relic.
And like all power there is a price to pay or as Pain simply put it as was his way.
"You cannot rule the world without sacrifice."
o.o those mirrors sort of are inconsequential all things considered.
Yeah it would. It'd be Gaspard. Just like it is for me now. I'm not sure why you tried to bring up Celene's possible death to Warder. He's hardly her biggest fan.
Gaspard went into the eluvian, too.Yeah it would. It'd be Gaspard. Just like it is for me now. I'm not sure why you tried to bring up Celene's possible death to Warder. He's hardly her biggest fan.
None of the major eluvian influences on the plot, like Gaspard going through one, would even happen, tbh.
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