It seems either way Iron Bull feels really bad. He clearly doesn't want to lose his men but if you save them he says "Whatever I regret...", hates becoming Tal-Vashok, worries he'll become savage, etc. If the dreadnought is saved he's obviously devastated over losing the Chargers which hardens him as we see in Trespasser, but he's happy with being loyal to the qun.
I know he greatly approves of whatever choice made but which do you feel he truly wants to make if it were left up to him?
I think deep down he's extremely conflicted, and that's why he turns to the Inquisitor for input.
He might be paid for and employed by the Inquisition. But the Chargers are his guys. The Qunari are his people. The whole damn mission was his idea, a chance to put his Ben-Hassrath contacts to use for mutual benefit. I don't think he ever expected the two lives he'd been living (Iron Bull the mercenary and Hissrad the spy) to conflict in such dramatic fashion, and when they did, he didn't have a good game plan for that contingency. Quizzy needs to have decent approval to even trigger the quest, so Bull turns to someone he respects in that moment of indecision.
I think deep down he's extremely conflicted, and that's why he turns to the Inquisitor for input.
He might be paid for and employed by the Inquisition. But the Chargers are his guys. The Qunari are his people. The whole damn mission was his idea, a chance to put his Ben-Hassrath contacts to use for mutual benefit. I don't think he ever expected the two lives he'd been living (Iron Bull the mercenary and Hissrand the spy) to conflict in such dramatic fashion, and when they did, he didn't have a good game plan for that contingency. Quizzy needs to have decent approval to even trigger the quest, so Bull turns to someone he respects in that moment of indecision.
That's not helpful! lol
Up until that point Iron Bull was having the best of both worlds, an enjoyable life as a mercenary surrounded by people he treated like family, all while technically not being Tal-Vashok. It was inevitable he'd have to eventually choose, but he couldn't foresee having to in such a dramatic fashion. I suspect if that scenario never happened he would give up the Chargers to remain loyal to the qun, but to do so by sacrificing the Chargers? Far harder to tell. Hence the OP.
I don't think he could choose, not in those circumstances, which is why he follows whatever the Inquisitor says. He's frozen with indecision and literally can't make a choice.
He would save the Chargers; him arguing with Gatt about it and how conflicted he is about it shows that. Which is why he looks to the Inquisitor because even though his heart is telling him to save his men; he wants them to make the final decision.
Also, let's add to the fact Bull questions the Qun. A lot. He tries his best to defend it being for most of his life it's all he knows and he's been force fed that if you become Tal Vashoth you automatically become a monster and adding to that the ones he fought in Serhon also adds to that sigmu but that's not true.
The fact is that Bull loves his freedom. He loves to drink, eat, to break beds. All violations of the Qun and the fact he enjoys it scares him! But in the end, he gladly would risk his becoming Tal Vashoth for his men. And by the time Trespasser roles around and he's Tal Vashoth; he's far more happy that he ever was being he left 'the liar' behind and became more honest with himself.
The Chargers are his family and killing them also kills The Iron Bull.
Deep down he wants you to make the decision for him.
I wouldn't put too much thought into; this is just one of those scenarios created to give the player choice. There's nothing in game to support Bull's preference for either option, so you'd either have to ask Word of God or headcanon it yourself.
I think it's an interesting question, so why not put some thought into it?I wouldn't put too much thought into; this is just one of those scenarios created to give the player choice. There's nothing in game to support Bull's preference for either option, so you'd either have to ask Word of God or headcanon it yourself.
If the Inquisitor tells him to save the dreadnaught, he says that he'll never lead a band of mercenaries again. He is broken. Contrast that with what happens if the Inquisitor tells him to save the Chargers. The realization that he's Tal-Vashoth sickens him... until the Inquisitor reminds him that he hasn't changed at all. He's still the same Bull he always was. Deep down, the part of Iron Bull that is Iron Bull can't really exist without the Chargers.
I think Trespasser answers that if you don't choose the Chargers.
I think it's an interesting question, so why not put some thought into it?
I wouldn't put too much thought into; this is just one of those scenarios created to give the player choice. There's nothing in game to support Bull's preference for either option, so you'd either have to ask Word of God or headcanon it yourself.
That's kinda the point, Bull is internally conflicted between two lives
save the chargers
I don't think he knows what he wants. It's about you. Not him. I can barely see a character to begin with.. I just see Patrick Weekes trying to be cute. I see only the writer.. which is horrible when that happens. Even more strange that someone so adrift in their mentality becomes a core of the Inquisition. This is the Best of Thedas? Really? Out of all the hundreds of possible character slot ideas, they wasted it on this.
He absolutely wants you to save Krem. The Chargers he cares about, but Bull has lost men before, he understands that's part of war and accepts that. Krem on the other hand is his best friend, he loves Krem, he doesn't want to lose him. The other time his best friend died he went into a rage he attacked a Tal-Vashoth stronghold and killed everyone inside and nearly died because of it.
So to answer your question it's The Chargers without question, but due to how culture and his life Bull isn't able to make the choice himself, he has to be shown that it's okay to put the people you love over the job by somebody he respects (the Inquisitor) and when given the choice again later he chooses the people he cares about without question.
This banter between Varric and Bull says alot,
He wants both. But the Qunari leadership has devised a mission to test where his loyalty truly lies. And they do it by placing him against the wall.
He's proven his loyalty to the Qun over the years. He sends his Ben-Hassrath reports. He never breaks any Qunari law.
However, back at Par Vollen, they have their spies watching him in the South. They know he's adopted a name for himself. They know he's recruited mercenaries, a Tevinter amongst them. They see a Qunari settling to a new lifestyle and occasionally bending one principle or another along the way.
He's been abroad for years. The Qun is a distant reality to him now. So what do they do?
They ask him to do what he was meant to do one day: help establish an alliance between the Inquisition and the Qunari.
They know the cost might be his new lifestyle as the Iron Bull, but they don't care. This is a demand of the Qun. If Bull fails, he's declared Tal-Vashoth. And to make sure he obeys, they send the elven Qunari to spy on him and report what was Bull's decision: to save the alliance and fulfill the demand or betray the one and only true mission he had ever since he was ordered to join the Inquisition and be branded a traitor.
I think if he was forced to choose he'd pick the Chargers. Their bond is too strong.
He wants you to save the Chargers but he wants to not want you to save the Chargers.
He's fulfilled in some aspect either way.
But the Qun way is not a happy fulfilled. This is not the goody-good choice in the story. Its Inquisitor not quite being evil, but at least more strategic and the player valuing the sense of a stronger Inquisition (if only during the stretch of the Cory War) than a more pleased companion.
If you save the Chargers, IB is screwed up about it in the shorter term but you can cheer him up yay. If you don't save the Chargers, IB seems fine then is a broken individual (and rebuilt Qunari, so a great Qun-man! YAY!!!) when he faces you in Trespasser.
The script IMO does not present a perfect balance between two 'sides'. Its pretty clear to me that at this part of his life, IB is less Qunari than he is the Iron Bull. IMO he wants you to save the Chargers, but he's conflicted about everything surrounding that truth. So you have to have a chat with him afterward.
He is never really anti-Qunari, and he recognizes the role of those on the boat. Its not about their lives, but about what purpose the choice about them represents and follows. But it IS about the Chargers' lives - screw the 'greater purpose' about them, he just loves them!
This pretty much is it. Bull has spent his life living by the Qun - he went to the Tamassrans to be 'reeducated' at one point because he couldn't handle the strain on him anymore. It's what he's known most of his life. He wants to be true to it.
But in the Chargers, he has a home, and he has the emotional connections that make these people, not baas or any rank that depersonalizes them. So when faced with the choice, he wants to save them because they're PEOPLE to him. But he also knows that the Qun says they're disposable and he shouldn't be concerned about them - they're not of the Qun, and even if they were, their role was to be sacrificed. But he WANTS to save them. That's the loop he's stuck in. It's why he turns to the Inquisitor - 'tell me what to do.' 'Don't make me choose.' 'Define my role for me.'
Hissrad wants to serve the Qun, Bull wants to save the Chargers.
Or perhaps Bull wants you to save the Chargers so that its not him making the decision to abandon the Qun and he can pretend he didn't choose.
I'm sure there's an element of this too. Which makes Solas's comment about Tal-Vashoth Bull making the first choice in his life somewhat ironic, since Bull did hand the choice over to the Inquisitor. Though one could argue that in doing that, he was already defying the Qun. After all, a truly obedient qunari would pick the dreadnought no question, and certainly wouldn't hand the choice over to a bas, even one who had earned some measure of respect. It's not like the Arishok asked Hawke's advice before he blew his stack and attacked Kirkwall.
I'm sure there's an element of this too. Which makes Solas's comment about Tal-Vashoth Bull making the first choice in his life somewhat ironic, since Bull did hand the choice over to the Inquisitor. Though one could argue that in doing that, he was already defying the Qun. After all, a truly obedient qunari would pick the dreadnought no question, and certainly wouldn't hand the choice over to a bas, even one who had earned some measure of respect. It's not like the Arishok asked Hawke's advice before he blew his stack and attacked Kirkwall.
Actually, if Hawke is a Basalit-an by that point the Arishok does ask Hawke what they would do in his position.
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