8 réponses à ce sujet

[ShadowLordXII]

My Inquisitor decides to nobly return a stolen object back to the shrine at Grand Fortress Villa and is rewarded by having a Rage Demon appear to try and murder him.

 

It was easy to kill off, but it did remind me of the Black Vials quest-line and the strange tendency for demon hunters to capture, seal and store demons in locations that are open to the public. And the demons are sealed in fragile glass vials that can break with the slightest touch. Heck, in Mark of the Assassin, another vial was found in the Chateau Haine, a famous vacation spot for Orlesian nobles.

 

While the Rage Demon isn't as dangerous as a Revanant...it's still right next to a fortress that would normally be manned by Ferelden troops which in turn is nearby two populous cities and various settlements.

 

So I ask again, what kind of sadistic prankster hides sealed demons in public locations instead of just killing them? 

[Al Foley]

We do not know the circumstances of how they got there and why.  

 

Assuming that someone hid it there intentionally then the Villa could be easy to explain.  It is isolated (relatively speaking) and a fortress with a lot of soldiers around it that can deal with any problems.  That might be part of the logic.  

 

Another part is these things seem hard to find/ hard to unlock/ or innocus because otherwise they would have been done so already.  They could have been sold and passed down as trinkets for centuries, no one knowing what they were, until only Hawk figured them out and knew what they were looking for.  

[MissOuJ]

I doubt this is done on purpose (meaning the Revenant containing vials). My guess would be that this is actually an old warding / containment tradition that was lost to history, and these vials are treated as historical artifacts (when found), and most of the people who handle them have no idea what they actually contain and/or how dangerous they can actually be - then again I doubt many of them would be willing to break an item they have paid / expect to receive a large amount of gold for. IIRC; you only find those vials from ancient ruins / other old places (like from Caladrin's Cross / the Brecilian Forest), or from noble's mansions and other similar places (i.e. those who would have the money to pay for something like that). The only immediate exceptions that comes to mind is the Denerim one, since it's just there on the street, out on the open.

 

I think that the biggest indicator of that is the Arcane Warrior specialization in DA:O - the ancient elven arcane warrior who actually teaches you / your companion the specialization is contained in a glass vial in a similar manner to the Revenants, and the warrior mentions s/he has been contained in the vial / gem / phylactery for hundreds (thousands?) of years. With that in mind, it could be an old elven / Tevinter / early Chantry (as in the first Inquisition era - they did hunt demons and dangerous mages and abominations, after all) binding ritual or other similar magic which the history has forgotten about.

[Magdalena11]

Good point.  How many times does Inq come across a cabin that needs a key or a hint of a secret compact and find infernal dealings when they're investigated?  Do people in Thedas have a thing for leaving their demons out for everyone to see or something?  I think every location has something that smacks of public menace behind closed doors.  Everybody's hiding something.  Really diabolical, and realistic.

[ShadowLordXII]

Good point.  How many times does Inq come across a cabin that needs a key or a hint of a secret compact and find infernal dealings when they're investigated?  Do people in Thedas have a thing for leaving their demons out for everyone to see or something?  I think every location has something that smacks of public menace behind closed doors.  Everybody's hiding something.  Really diabolical, and realistic.

 

Lets not overuse the word realistic.

 

Also, about half of those vials were in locations with lots of people such as the Circle Tower; Denerem or the Orzammar Royal Palace (which also has a dragon sealed in the throne somehow). Considering how fragile these vials are, its all too easy for someone to come across a vial, break it and unleash a revenant on the surprised populace that will just spread havoc and chaos.

[Magdalena11]

Lets not overuse the word realistic.

 

Also, about half of those vials were in locations with lots of people such as the Circle Tower; Denerem or the Orzammar Royal Palace (which also has a dragon sealed in the throne somehow). Considering how fragile these vials are, its all too easy for someone to come across a vial, break it and unleash a revenant on the surprised populace that will just spread havoc and chaos.

 

If you consider the variety of demon prisons, they're not really in out of the way places at all.  Consider both the towers at Calenhad and Val Royeaux, Orzammar's throne, Tevinter ruins all over the map, cabins in the Hinterlands, Fallow Mire, and Storm Coast, Lord Woolsley, prisons like vials or the ones Malcolm Hawke built in Legacy, and mythical beasts like griffons, dragons, unicorns, and the Nox Mortica , all of which are seen or referred to.  I saw a winged hart wall painting on the Exalted plains, I think.  Could there be something like a pegasus later, or is that the Dalish version of the griffon?

 

I'm considering everything that's nature isn't understood and has the potential for harm.  The word "demon" is sort of used as a symbol.  Both Fenris and the magistrate's son (Kelder, was it?) in DA2 proved that actual possession by a demon is not required for demonic power and motivation.

[Dai Grepher]

I think the vials will only shatter when touched by a person who is capable of destroying the demon locked inside. Otherwise, the vials are unbreakable.

[Sifr]

Lets not overuse the word realistic.

 

Also, about half of those vials were in locations with lots of people such as the Circle Tower; Denerem or the Orzammar Royal Palace (which also has a dragon sealed in the throne somehow). Considering how fragile these vials are, its all too easy for someone to come across a vial, break it and unleash a revenant on the surprised populace that will just spread havoc and chaos.

 

The vial in the Circle Tower was hidden inside a statue of Andraste though, which suggests that the person who placed it there figured that such a statue would be unlikely to ever be vandalised or destroyed, which would allow it to remain undisturbed for a long time.

 

Other possibilities are that the statue could have also been part of an ancient secure vault somewhere full of dangerous objects that was plundered and sold by people who had no idea how dangerous it was, or perhaps had been in the vault containing dangerous artefacts in the tower basement, only to be removed and put in the Chantry by mistake? Or perhaps it was designed as part of a trap, so that anyone attempting a bit of iconoclasty got more than they bargained for when they attempted to desecrate Andraste's image?

[Magdalena11]

For that matter, isn't there supposed to be a tradition of sealing human sacrifice inside foundations?  That was supposed to be how the Tower of Bone and Bone Pit mines got their names, right?