Is anyone else disappointed tthat you couldn't sit in judgment on Blackwall to personally execute him? I mean, what he did was horrendous. My Inquisitor wanted to chop off his head!!
Out of curiosity - did you kill (let to die) Sten in DAO? After all he personally killed the whole family of farmers (including several children) who saved him.
But like many things in DA:I there wasn't many options.
QFT
Although we recruited Sten knowing his crimes and giving him the chance to make amends for it by fighting the blight. Blackwall is is drastically different, especially since in my playthrough I asked "What can one warden do?". He responds "save the f***ing world if pressed." This draws us back to DAO, since the wardens did save Thedas from the blight, but since Black wall isn't a warden he doesn't have those same abilities. If I needed him to track darkspawn we'd be screwed. Especially since he was bs'ing most of the time.
And here we have (sort of) a plot-hole: if you bring Blackwall during the Wardens questline (like everybody did, I suppose) none of them will notice that he isn't a true Grey Warden, not even Stroud/Alistair/Loghain. Shouldn't they be able to sense the taint? Anders did that in DA2 in the Deep Roads...
I'm just disappointed not to learn if he survives the joining should your inquisitor send him to the wardens. I wish we'd been told.
Me too. I want to do that on my next playthrough, but I'm worried he'd die. I guess this way I can at least go on believing that he was successful.
Well to begin with the Orlesian justice system seems to care more for who ordered the act than actually doing the act so I'd say the matter was resolved when the Chevalier behind it commited suicide.
Also you have the fact that with Blackwall recruiting him that means the Orlesian justice system has no right to judge him for crimes before recruitment.
Plus when people die due to Orlais messed up method of politics I'm more inclined to blame the system than the guy who actually has been trying to make up for what he did as part of it.
Regarding Shelidon's point, by pulling strings or sending in soldiers or using Leliana's deception, you de facto open yourself up to accusations that you abused your power. It seems silly to believe that beheading someone after you really did abuse your power in at least two cases (or gave the impression that you did by calling in a favor) is magically going to make people believe that the Inquisition is fair.
And here we have (sort of) a plot-hole: if you bring Blackwall during the Wardens questline (like everybody did, I suppose) none of them will notice that he isn't a true Grey Warden, not even Stroud/Alistair/Loghain. Shouldn't they be able to sense the taint? Anders did that in DA2 in the Deep Roads...
Well, the fake Calling is messing up their ability to hear the actual Old Gods calling, so it probably made it so they can't sense Wardens either.
Well to begin with the Orlesian justice system seems to care more for who ordered the act than actually doing the act so I'd say the matter was resolved when the Chevalier behind it commited suicide.
Also you have the fact that with Blackwall recruiting him that means the Orlesian justice system has no right to judge him for crimes before recruitment.
Plus when people die due to Orlais messed up method of politics I'm more inclined to blame the system than the guy who actually has been trying to make up for what he did as part of it.
Both are to blame. It is not an either or situation.
Also Rainier is still susceptible to Orlesian authority. He is not a Warden yet since he hasn't done the Joining, Plus he surrendered himself to them.
The backlash among some fans to Blackwall is amusing considering...
Sten is guilty of pretty much the same crime. Like Blackwall he murdered a family, and was sitting in a cage for it when you first find him.
Zevran is an assassin. He murders for coin.
Leliana was a bard. The role of bards in Orlesian society is as spies and assassins. The man difference between them and the Crows is that they are a little less mercenary, and work for noble patrons or the Orlesian crown. Still as agents they are among the primary tools of Orlesian aristocrats playing the Great Game, and do lots of awful stuff.
Isabela is a pirate, which is nothing more than a seagoing bandit. She murders for coin. In her backstory she even once dumped a load of slaves into the ocean to lighten her ship, so she could flee a pursuing warship.
Despite DA protagonists consorting with far worse people than Blackwall, I don't recall as many people clamoring for the protagonist to lop off those other characters heads. The real 'crime' people want Blackwall punished for is that he lied to the Inquisitor. Maker, we can't have that!
You recruit plenty of reprehensible people across BioWare games
Sten
Jack
Miranda
Morrigan
Anders
Thane
Zevran
Lilliana
murders and assassins all
for some reason Blackwall seems to be getting a little more vitriol than most
I think people are madder that Blackwall lied to them about being a warden than about what he actually did
That being said I'm not sure I see any reason we shouldn't be able to execute him
Edit: 
by Han
You're condemning Blackwall? Fair enough, but I am sure Leliana has done a LOT worse than him as one of the hands of the divine.
You're condemning Blackwall? Fair enough, but I am sure Leliana has done a LOT worse than him as one of the hands of the divine.
And she has probably done far worse as a bard than she did as Left Hand of the Divine. Her actions as a bard may have served no higher purpose other than allowing some noble patron to succeed in the Great Game and climb higher than his/her peers.
Isabela is a pirate, which is nothing more than a seagoing bandit. She murders for coin. In her backstory she even once dumped a load of slaves into the ocean to lighten her ship, so she could flee a pursuing warship.
Honestly, I had no problem with Blackwall and agreed he wasn't that different from other companions until I did my 2nd playthrough. He talks CONSTANTLY as if he knows wtf it is to be a Grey Warden. It got so annoying so freaking fast that now I cannot quest with him at all.
Sten and Zevran were up front with you. Sten's all, "Hey, I did this thing and I shouldn't have." And Zevran's all, "Oh hey, I just tried to kill you, but if you don't kill me I'll make your hoohoo sing!" Even Lelianna comes clean in a more timely fashion (in Origins.) Not to mention she doesn't straight up lie. She doesn't reveal the whole truth until a little later in and by then everyone has a pretty good idea there's more to her past.
But no, Blackwall just lies the whole time and uses you to hide. He doesn't stop being a coward until how many other people are caught and hanged from his crappy orders? Ugh, I just couldn't take it. Maybe if he didn't comment constantly as if he knew wtf he was talking about, I would be able to group him with the other dubious companions. As it was, I let him rot in Orlais with my 1st playthrough and the 2nd playthrough I exiled him with the rest of the Wardens.
/angrypants
I couldn't even think of executing him. He's perhaps one of the most idealistic characters we've seen in the DAI universe to date. Sure he mssed up, but other's who've done worse are walking around Thedas freely, with full sanction.
Plus he says awesome stuff about Wardens.
“All a Warden is, is a promise. To protect others…even at the cost of your own life.”
^This for me is one of the top fictional quotations of all time.
Eh easier to ignore him.
He's nothing but a farce, lived as nothing but as said farce and will die as nothing but a hollow imitation of what he wished he was in my game. Best revenge honestly.
I might troll him with the rest of the wardens but that'd entail him wasting a slot in my party.
The backlash among some fans to Blackwall is amusing considering...
Sten is guilty of pretty much the same crime.
Zevran is an assassin.
Leliana was a bard.
Isabela is a pirate, which is nothing more than a seagoing bandit.
He talks CONSTANTLY as if he knows wtf it is to be a Grey Warden. It got so annoying so freaking fast that now I cannot quest with him at all.
Sten and Zevran were up front with you. Sten's all, "Hey, I did this thing and I shouldn't have." And Zevran's all, "Oh hey, I just tried to kill you, but if you don't kill me I'll make your hoohoo sing!" Even Lelianna comes clean in a more timely fashion (in Origins.) Not to mention she doesn't straight up lie. She doesn't reveal the whole truth until a little later in and by then everyone has a pretty good idea there's more to her past.
But no, Blackwall just lies the whole time and uses you to hide. [...]
/angrypants
Well, you really should listen to him talk.
I am more than reluctant to go into some "my char is better than yours"-debate, but I feel like brushing it off like that is not giving the writer due credit. It's actually kind of smartly constructed. For only in my current second playthrough did I notice that he only ever talks about the Wardens when asked directly - Everything else he says is just experience. Just himself.
Well, you really should listen to him talk.
I am more than reluctant to go into some "my char is better than yours"-debate, but I feel like brushing it off like that is not giving the writer due credit. It's actually kind of smartly constructed. For only in my current second playthrough did I notice that he only ever talks about the Wardens when asked directly - Everything else he says is just experience. Just himself.
Blackwall indeed is constructed very very cleverly, many are just too used to knight in shiny armour played straight and get sidetracked it seems.
The backlash among some fans to Blackwall is amusing considering...
Sten is guilty of pretty much the same crime. Like Blackwall he murdered a family, and was sitting in a cage for it when you first find him.
Zevran is an assassin. He murders for coin.
Leliana was a bard. The role of bards in Orlesian society is as spies and assassins. The man difference between them and the Crows is that they are a little less mercenary, and work for noble patrons or the Orlesian crown. Still as agents they are among the primary tools of Orlesian aristocrats playing the Great Game, and do lots of awful stuff.
Isabela is a pirate, which is nothing more than a seagoing bandit. She murders for coin. In her backstory she even once dumped a load of slaves into the ocean to lighten her ship, so she could flee a pursuing warship.
Despite DA protagonists consorting with far worse people than Blackwall, I don't recall as many people clamoring for the protagonist to lop off those other characters heads. The real 'crime' people want Blackwall punished for is that he lied to the Inquisitor. Maker, we can't have that!
There's also Velanna, who slaughtered a load of humans because she thought they'd abducted her sister. She shows a little remorse in banters with Justice, but not nearly to the same extent as Blackwall. Granted, she's not a popular character, but that tends to be due to her personality, not her homicidal rampage.
We don't know much about Morrigan's past actions, but she supports every 'evil' act in the game, from massacring a Dalish clan, to abandoning Redcliffe, threatening Revered Mothers and kicking puppies.
Fenris murdered a bunch of Fog Warriors after they'd taken him in. Sure, he was suffering from the trauma/brainwashing of his enslavement, but if people are going to throw stones...
Not to mention Loghain, though opinions are pretty divided on him too.
There are definitely a lot of companions with bloody pasts. Seems weird that Blackwall gets singled out simply because he lied about it, disregarding that he does more than all the others to make amends for his past actions. And seems to spend a lot of time regretting them.
give the man his Redemption!
There are definitely a lot of companions with bloody pasts. Seems weird that Blackwall gets singled out simply because he lied about it, disregarding that he does more than all the others to make amends for his past actions. And seems to spend a lot of time regretting them.
I also think the hate has a bit to do with the fact that he is posing as a warden, and in DAO, we were wardens. I think that was kind of a bonding moment for the player and Blackwall--look at his recruitment when we ask him what a single warden can do "Save the ****** world if need be." I know I chuckled at that a bit and gave him a mental high five.
As a warden in DAO, most backgrounds had the player sacrificing a lot, and in some instances, being forced into the role of warden. I think some see Blackwall's deception as an insult to that. To have Blackwall talk about the wardens and their sacrifices, something as a player we know about, smacks of hypocrisy. So when his lie comes to light, there are some people who I think are more upset about that deception than they are over his actual crime (which is bad, btw). They feel tricked and betrayed.
"Save the ****** world if need be." I know I chuckled at that a bit and gave him a mental high five.
Really? I thought it to be very cheesy and my somethingwrong antenna went up.
I guess Blackwall does play on the whole "we were wardens in DAO" but even in DAO most wardens outside your own were very questionable characters, starting with Duncan
They've already allowed you the opportunity to personally execute a companion in DA2. In DA2 however, just me personally, it was a more difficult decision because that particular possibly executed person (avoiding spoilers about another game), was a pretty important part of my general party make up. Blackwall however was, for me, a generally forgettable character who was dry, boring and making incredibly poor attempts to redeem himself for what he'd done. He was pretending to be someone who was killed, to redeem himself. He was lying to redeem himself in other words, and only when faced with someone risking their lives to save people who only think they're guilty, when they're actually innocent, only that finally prompted him to redeem himself in the way he should have done so in the first place. That said however, I don't think it was the Inquisitor's right to execute him. It was not the Inquisitor that he personally wronged. He should have been left to be executed by the Orlesian people by crimes, or jailed, whatever they saw fit. In future playthroughs, I think I will just leave him there to be judged fittingly.
Honestly, the biggest problem with Blackwall's past is that he let his men take the fall for him without saying anything. On the other hand, most of them were caught rather quickly and it doesn't seem as though he really started to seek redemption until a while after he fled. Once he sets about trying to atone, he takes the first opportunity to step in to save one of them from execution. It's delayed of course, but at least he decides to take responsibility.
I don't really have a problem with how he idealizes the Wardens either. He has every reason to do so, especially given his desire to atone for his sins through them. I do think that his biases are much less obnoxious than some other companions throughout each game.
He's a very well written character. I'm usually pretty good with guessing what's behind a character, but I never would have guessed his background. It was very well done, and I like that, even despite his revelation, I still see him as a good man.
@Phoe77: My radar began to fire at me the minute I found out that he was conscripting farmers to allow them to kill thieves who had wronged them. I suppose the intention was good, but he wasn't behaving, at all like a Warden. It seemed to me, that he wasn't attempting to atone at that point, but hoping that something would kill him and he'd be made a hero, without him actually having to admit to and pay for his crimes. He also didn't acknowledge the Calling at all and only remarked on it after the fact, which meant, to me, that he wasn't hearing it. Just my opinion, but this is how I feel about him and his character. He was well written, but I just generally didn't like him and didn't feel sympathetic to his idealising of the Wardens.
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