434 réponses à ce sujet

[andy6915]

Merrill spends 6 years trying to restore a mirror (I know it's called something else but I'm too lazy to look up spelling it) and UTTERLY fails. Completely. She spends the better part of a decade trying and gets no where. Morrigan on the other hand spends only about a year or 2 to completely fix one to the point of being fully functional and able to bring her to the crossroads. Was there a difference in how broken they each were and so Morrigan had it easier, or is she just so dang good that she did in less than 2 years what Merrill couldn't in 6 and made her look like a complete idiot?

 

And it really does make me feel sorry for Merrill, she pretty much ruins her life trying to restore something that a human has already done for her years ago without her knowledge. I could see her falling into a deep depression and possibly suicidal if she ever learns that she ruined her life and killed her Keeper and possibly killed her clan for absolutely NOTHING because someone else already did it. If only she knew... Especially more painful somehow if a Dalish Warden was the one to find Morrigan at the end of witch hunt, though I can't pinpoint what makes me feel that. Anyway, this aspect does make me feel like Merrill is probably the most sympathetic and sad character in DA2 because she's the only one that ruined everything in her life for no actual reason. Everyone else at least accomplished what they wanted by the end, even Anders ultimately got his wish (that wish being mages getting to openly fight for themselves and a destruction of the circle system as they had existed for ages). Merrill? She failed at everything she tried, and even if she had succeed at getting the mirror working it wouldn't have mattered because someone else already did.

 

But yeah, back to the initial point of this topic... Is Morrigan just that much better?

[Incantrix]

They're both foolish and selfish mages but one on the other hand had been tutored by the spirit of mythal and the other relied on broken information and blood magic. 

[vertigomez]

This will end well.

At any rate, I don't think Merrill's efforts were wasted just because Morrigan got there "first". The pursuit of knowledge and all that.

[Heimerdinger]

Morrigan could have learned things from Flemeth, knowledge nobody else has access to. Merrill was the keeper's first, basically just an apprentice. But, to Merrill's credit, her mirror was badly broken. And tainted by the blight. And had a demon stuck inside it. She started with a big handicap.

[YourFunnyUncle]

Morrigan could have learned things from Flemeth, knowledge nobody else has access to. Merrill was the keeper's first, basically just an apprentice. But, to Merrill's credit, her mirror was badly broken. And tainted by the blight. And had a demon stuck inside it. She started with a big handicap.

Exactly this. The task that they had might seem superficially equivalent but Merrill's eluvian was in way worse condition from what we know. Based on other things, I'd say that Morrigan is certainly more learned than Merrill, if not actually more intelligent, but in terms of fixing up an eluvian, she had much less to do.

[jlb524]

no

[Dieb]

It's also noteworthy that Merrill grew up in an intellectual and cultural vacuum, while Morrigan was raised by someone playing a very similar beat. Then they both got to see the world, but Morrigan's personality made it critically easier for her to obtain knowledge, since she has a more ruthless and pragmatic approach.

 

Lastly, Merrill's path was inherently doomed to fail from the start, cause it turned out to never have even been one at all. It was more or less just being a demon having fun controlling her, and who never had an intention to restore the mirror in the first place.

 

Hence, I'm not arguing that Morrigan is way more competent, but it isn't really a matter of intellect. For example, I think that Varric is just as intelligent as Morrigan, yet he could never ever achieve anything she did.

[Sifr]

In fairness to Merrill, she had to first find a way to safely cleanse the Taint from the shards, before rebuilding the Eluvian from scratch with precious little instruction on what she was doing, since she lacked access to any blueprints or guidelines? For someone who was self-taught and was forced to figure it out as she went along, she did remarkably well given that handicap? The only reason her Eluvian didn't work was because she lacked the "key" to open it, which she was unaware was a requirement to get them to open?

 

Morrigan meanwhile found an Eluvian that was either not overly damaged or required very minor restoration to bring back into working order, since she mentions that she just needed to figure out how to power it (presumably referring to the "key"), which she managed to acquire by pilfering the necessary tome containing that information from Ariane's clan?

 

All told, Merrill had the harder job of it, whereas Morrigan had a far easier jumping off point?

[AlexiaRevan]

In fairness to Merrill, she had to first find a way to safely cleanse the Taint from the shards, before rebuilding the Eluvian from scratch with precious little instruction on what she was doing, since she lacked access to any blueprints or guidelines? For someone who was self-taught and was forced to figure it out as she went along, she did remarkably well given that handicap? The only reason her Eluvian didn't work was because she lacked the "key" to open it, which she was unaware was a requirement to get them to open?

 

Morrigan meanwhile found an Eluvian that was either not overly damaged or required very minor restoration to bring back into working order, since she mentions that she just needed to figure out how to power it (presumably referring to the "key"), which she managed to acquire by pilfering the necessary tome containing that information from Ariane's clan?

 

All told, Merrill had the harder job of it, whereas Morrigan had a far easier jumping off point?

While I don't care about Merrill , I still think it wasn't about who can fix what fast and better . I think the Eluvian Merrill had was more Damaged . And all the infos she was getting was from a Pride demon...who probably knew it wouldn't work anyway but used it to trick her . 

[TK514]

Though the OPs assertion that Merrill threw away everything good in her life for nothing is, in my opinion, correct, I have to be fair here.  Merrill did build a very fancy mirror from scratch.  Granted, she was trying to build a door, but...

[Steelcan]

yes

[Nehn]

Eluvian /cough

[thats1evildude]

Morrigan had an elven god for a teacher. Merrill had to rely on a demon that was trying to possess her.

[Lumix19]

Morrigan was probably just lucky in that she got to the easiest Eluvian first, there can't be that many Eluvians somewhat intact with the key inside a single tome belonging to a single Dalish clan.

[stop_him]

Bioware hates elves so they write elves as incompetent, selfish and arrogant. That is all. At this point, in the next game, I expect all elves in Thedas to wear diapers or else they'll poop themselves because they can't do anything right.

 

It's getting old. Especially since we all know from real life that humans are the ones who are incompetent, selfish and arrogant. But I guess that's a little too close to home for Bioware.

[Master Warder Z_]

A toadstool is better than Merrill.

[General TSAR]

I would say one has far more spine, drive, and intelligence.

 

But they were equally stupid in the end. 

[Roninbarista]

Morrigan is/was ruthless, thus she gets results quicker. She also has Flemmeth's training, so its no shock that she arrives at the goal line first.

[The Hierophant]

TEWR ain't gon like this. 

[vertigomez]

Bioware hates elves so they write elves as incompetent, selfish and arrogant. That is all. At this point, in the next game, I expect all elves in Thedas to wear diapers or else they'll poop themselves because they can't do anything right.
 
It's getting old. Especially since we all know from real life that humans are the ones who are incompetent, selfish and arrogant. But I guess that's a little too close to home for Bioware.

*sigh*

Bioware does not hate elves anymore than they hate casteless dwarves or apostates. Being persecuted in the game =/= being persecuted by the developers.

[raging_monkey]

*sigh*

Bioware does not hate elves anymore than they hate casteless dwarves or apostates. Being persecuted in the game =/= being persecuted by the developers.

this 1000x

[Br3admax]

Merrill could create six Eluvians and she would still be less competent and intelligent than Morrigan. 

[Fiery Phoenix]

no

this

[Sifr]

It's fair to say that the events of the Dalish Origin happened in canon, the only variable really was Duncan's presence to ensure that Mahariel survived long enough for Marethari to temporary cure them, before recruiting them into the Wardens?

 

In the world-states where Duncan never encountered the Dalish, we're told by Ariane in Witch Hunt and Merrill in DA2 that Mahariel and Tamlen ended up dying as a result of touching the tainted mirror. Presumably, we can also infer that the Eluvian was destroyed by someone else in the clan to prevent it from endangering others and at some point, Merrill retrieved most of the broken fragments in secret?

 

The idea that the mirror was shattered by someone other than Duncan is backed up by how in WItch Hunt, we find that the mirror already in a broken state, in DA2 we first encounter Merrill studying a shard, as well as her makeshift Eluvian having large cracks dotting across it's surface?

 

So yeah, Morrigan had an easier time because she didn't have to super-glue all the pieces together, she lucked out with one that was intact?