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[Heimdall]

And this doesn't quite convey the horror. Getting the blight turns people into ghouls. It turns women into ghouls. And guess what road that culminates in (ends with "-mother"). Basically any fate that could befall these people is better than being "saved" by the Messenger.

Questionable, it isn't confirmed that merely being tainted is enough to become a brood mother. Hespith's account indicated being forced to eat corrupted flesh over a prolonged period. Her talk of violation and "spewing" indicated to me that some sort of darkspawn gang rape occurred. That Hespith herself shows no signs of being anything other than a normal ghoul despite being corrupted for just as long seems to support the idea that the process is more involved than simply being tainted.

[In Exile]

Questionable, it isn't confirmed that merely being tainted is enough to become a brood mother. Hespith's account indicated being forced to eat corrupted flesh over a prolonged period. Her talk of violation and "spewing" indicated to me that some sort of darkspawn gang rape occurred. That Hespith herself shows no signs of being anything other than a normal ghoul despite being corrupted for just as long seems to support the idea that the process is more involved than simply being tainted.

Being blighted turns you into a ghoul. And it's confirmed ghouls will seek out the darkspawn. Not every blighted woman will be a broodmother. Some will be - as she says - beaten and eaten for meat.

That's the fate worse than death I meant - I admit I was a little hyperbolic otherwise.

[Heimdall]

Being blighted turns you into a ghoul. And it's confirmed ghouls will seek out the darkspawn. Not every blighted woman will be a broodmother. Some will be - as she says - beaten and eaten for meat.

That's the fate worse than death I meant - I admit I was a little hyperbolic otherwise.

That much is true, though there seems to be some variation and sometimes the result is outright death rather than becoming a ghoul.

[ModernAcademic]

Let's assume Darkspawn are sucessfully "awakened" and even taught to be exactly like humans in mind if not in body.

What do we have then? An entirely new race competing for living space, resources, etc.

And this new race is immortal meaning their numbers never naturally diminish; have a birthrate in the dozens, meaning they will just outnumber everyone else; does not require food, meaning that the adage " an army marches on its stomach" does not even apply to them, they don't have supply lines, sucessfully besieging them is impossible.

 

What does that lead to? Overpopulation, demographic crisis. All that has to happen is for the Darkspawn to decide they would much rather be living aboveground and everyone is screwed.

 

And that is without taking into account that, intelligent or not, all Darkspawn spread an incurable plague.
 

 

 

The primary problem is that darkspawn blood is still poisonous. In the case of the messenger, the epilogue states that he became a wandering do-gooder, but his efforts were accompanied by isolated outbreaks of the blight poisoning.

Can the darkspawn really integrate into a society to whom their very presence is poison?

 

This is the question that bothers me as well. The darkspawn can never integrate with the societies that live on the surface. 

 

So why some players like me spare his life?

Because, in the Architect's own words, the other option leads to the Blight.

 

 

 

The Wardens won't be out there forever to protect Thedas. One Epilogue of DA:I clearly shows the Wardens are on the verge of disappearing. Should that happen, the Archdemon will control the darkspawn hordes without anyone to stop it.

 

But what happens if there are thousands of darkspawn that DON'T hear the Calling? 

 

 

The Architect has succesfully concocted a potion that renders them IMMUNE to the mind control exerted by the Archdemon. In practice, that means A LOT LESS darkspawn to endanger and kill innocents.

 

And what's more, the Architect gathers those awakened by his ritual and teaches them how to think, to speak, to act toward other life forms without endangering them. As the Epilogue of Awakening states, the Architect is their leader and their prophet, and he manages to control his people succesfully. The Deep Roads have never been quieter.

 

We also have to take into account one important factor most players tend to ignore: blighted lands become desertified. Why do we take a trip to the Western Approach? To be reminded why Blights are dangerous. The darkspawn killing people is THE LEAST of Thedas' concerns. A Blighted country will become a desert overtime. And for how long? According to what we witness in the Western Approach, more than a thousand years.

 

 

This is why I spare him. Coexistence is a serious matter for the people of Thedas to think about in the long term. And intelligent darkspawn are as dangerous as any other. But awakened darkspawn may be the difference between risking have Thedas become devastated by the Blight, a sterile and lifeless world - as Ferelden is no doubt becoming now: a vast desert - and a chance for survival.

[In Exile]

This is the question that bothers me as well. The darkspawn can never integrate with the societies that live on the surface.

So why some players like me spare his life?
Because, in the Architect's own words, the other option leads to the Blight.



The Wardens won't be out there forever to protect Thedas. One Epilogues of DA:I clearly shows the Wardens are on the verge of disappearing. Should that happen, the Archdemon will control the darkspawn hordes without anyone to stop it.

But what happens if there are thousands of darkspawn that DON'T hear the Calling?


The Architect has succesfully concocted a potion that renders them IMMUNE to the mind control exerted by the Archdemon. In practice, that means A LOT LESS darkspawn to endanger and kill innocents.

And what's more, the Architect gathers those awakened by his ritual and teaches them how to think, to speak, to act toward other life forms without endangering them. As the Epilogue of Awakening states, the Architect is their leader and their prophet, and he manages to control his people succesfully. The Deep Roads have never been quieter.

We also have to take into account on important factor most players tend to ignore: blighted lands become desertified. Why do we take a trip into the Western Approach? To be reminded why Blights are dangerous. The darkspawn killing people is THE LEAST of Thedas' concerns. A Blighted country will become a desert overtime. And for how long? According to what we witness in the Western Approach, more than a thousand years.


This is why I spare him. Coexistence is a serious matter for the people of Thedas to think about in the long term. And intelligent darkspawn are as dangerous as any other. But awakened darkspawn may be the difference between risking have Thedas become devastated by the Blight, a sterile and lifeless world - as Ferelden is no doubt becoming now: a vast desert - and a chance for survival.

You misunderstood the term Blight. A Blight isn't the corruption of an OG into an AD. It's the eruption of darkspawn on the surface and the associated corruption of the surface - the sky blackened, the land poisoned, and so on.

The darkspawn existing on the surface in large numbers is what causes the desertification you're right to fear. Right now, the total extinction of all life in Thedas has been avoided solely because of the fact darkspawn are controlled by the Calling: the death of the AD leads them to retreat to find another AD.

If we remove the Calling - if we awakened them to be like other people, to think for themselves - then there is no way to stop them if just a small faction decides to eradicate all life. Nothing could stop them. Darkspawn allies would be useless because they'd poison the surface in large numbers. There's no load bearing boss to get them to retreat. Look at the first blight - the Tevinter Imperium at the absolute height of its power could not win a conventional victory against the darkspawn.

There is no greater threat to life in Thedas than an awakened darkspawn. That removes the single weakness and hope that Thedas so far has clung to in stopping the Blight.

Ignoring that every major problem IN DAO and DAA was personally or indirectly caused by the Architect, and you have the even greater issue that his master plan is to create an endless legion of darkspawn whose sole weakness is gone.

Supporting the Architect is rank insanity. He lies to you at every turn. He's actively hostile on every meeting except our last. His previous master plan was the absolute genocide of all life that wasn't darkspawn (and the eventual extinction of his own, but let's set that one aside).

Beyond that everything you say is wrong about the Awakened. Everyone of them we meet apart from the Messenger is pure evil. If we take the Architect at face value then his servants willingly attacked the Vigil BECAUSE their "think for themselves" reacting was mass slaughter. They think for themselves when they trick Velanna into murdering humans who are innocent after extermination of her clan for fun! They're sadistic. And then we have the Mother, who straight on starts a Blight.

The Mother's defeat is a counterargument to my post because the darkspawn retreat. But that could just be luck - another awakened could have taken over and kept the assault going forever.

[In Exile]

That much is true, though there seems to be some variation and sometimes the result is outright death rather than becoming a ghoul.

Do you have a source that it results in death? I suppose we point to Felix passing away. That's the first time I've heard of someone dying from the Blight. Still, DG wrote that scene I think so it had to be canon...

[Heimdall]

Do you have a source that it results in death? I suppose we point to Felix passing away. That's the first time I've heard of someone dying from the Blight. Still, DG wrote that scene I think so it had to be canon...

Well there's the Dalish origin, I believe it's said that the taint was killing Mahariel and Marethari's Magic was the only thing that kept them alive. Other characters have described being tainted as a slow death. The mayor of Crestwood talked about watching the Blight victims dying. There was of course Felix. Alexius wrote in IHW that some people are more resistant to the taint than others. It might be those that have no resistance die while those that do have some resistance become ghouls.

That could actually be the same factor that determines success or death in the Joining.

[Reznore57]

I think in a codex in DAI there's something about an Awakened Darkspawn.

It's quite scary , from what he says him and his fellows hates all the thing and wants to see everything die.

So far it seems nice darkspawns are the exception.

I'll go look for the codex.

 

Edit :

 

Spoiler

 

We brought it into Lord Varron's chamber, strong men on both sides holding the shackles. It had been stripped of weapons and beaten until we judged it barely capable of walking.

"I am told you were the lone survivor of the darkspawn from the mines," Lord Varron said to it. "A hurlock, as I understand it. I am told you spoke to my men when we captured you."

The thing spoke. "Told them they would die." Its voice was guttural and savage, like a beast trained to mimic the language of men, but we made out its words clearly enough.

"Yes," said Lord Varron. "You are smarter than your fellow beasts."

"Yes," said the beast.

"I would know more of this," said Lord Varron, "that we might understand your people and negotiate."

"You will," said the beast. "Your men beat me until their knuckles bled. My blood mixed with theirs. Soon they will hear the song. Soon their blood will burn, and I will lead them."

The men all looked to their hands, for the blood-sickness of the darkspawn was known to us. When they did, the beast wrenched the shackles from their grip. Then it was upon Lord Varron, holding him by the throat.

"There is no talk," it said. "No negotiation. You will die. Your world will die. Now you understand."

It snapped Lord Varron's neck and killed four men before we finally killed it.

—An excerpt from The Blighted Codex, a classified collection of studies on the darkspawn, held safely in the Imperial Library in Minrathous, available only to members of the Magisterium

 

[In Exile]

That's apparently a regular darkspawn.

[Shechinah]

Might be a ghoul close to complete transformation but not enough that it has lost all semblency of the mind and is unable speak.

[Dean_the_Young]

 

No. It means a darkspawn tripped and broke its neck. People die, IRL, from all sorts of accidents. Even if we had 0 intraspecies conflict, and even if we were all ageless, we would still be extinct without reproducing because our numbers would be thinned by sheer chance injuries. 

 

Darkspawn will die through the mere passage of time because life is dangerous. This is where the need for the rape and mutation of non-darskpawn women comes from - the inevitability that the mere passage of time will lead to darkspawn death. 

 

There are a couple different issues to address here, conceptual and pragmatic.

 

In the very abstract- do we believe that Awakened broodmothers are possible (and possibly stable)? If so, then Darkspawn reproduction would already be a given, an your attrition argument is invalid.

 

 

More functionally, however- the extremely long-term 'given enough time, all non-zero possibilities occur' spectre is far enough away to be irrelevant. By the point that Awakened darkspawn might actually be concerned about such an issue, then we can start that inevitable war.

 

 

I'm not talking about integration here. I'm talking about mere proximity. Non-darkspawn can't exist in the presence of darkspawn. Sufficient numbers of darkspawn on the surface actively eradicate life. Not just in terms of a virulent plague that poisons the land - we're talking blotted out sun, darkened skies, etc. Non-darkspawn can only exist at the whim of darkspawn. Right now, there's a detente because the darkspawn are bestial and underground. But that could change easily. It needn't be Awakened darkspawn that cause this change, of course. 

 

There's no analogy we can have to IRL human politics or relations because we're not actively poisonous to one another. Ignoring the fact that we can resolve cultural differences from mere intermingling, we have the basic fact that we can exist around each other physically for extended periods of time. 

 

 

Sounds like you're talking about integration there, because proximity isn't required if we don't pursue it.

 

There actually is a historic predence- small pox- which was actually worse than the Blight. In Thedas, the basis of coexistence remains what it's been the previous millenia- separation.

 

Whether Darkspawn even want to come up to the surface would be an exellent thing to investigate- and that would require Awoken.
 

 

You mean, apart from the Mother, which has a multiple broodmothers breeding an army of darkspawn? But this is a point against the Architect. If we suddenly entertain the idea that the rest of the Awakened might be okay with extinction by way of attrition, we know for a fact the Architect is against it, because the Architect wants to preserve the darkspawn. 

 

 

 

Not really relevant to the merits of a detente, so I'll move on..

 

 

If the Awakened might not want to reproduce, then this is an even greater reason to immediately exterminate the Architect - because he, at least, views the darkspawn as a people that he wants to preserve in the future. 

 

He also views conflict with the surface as counter-productive, which can serve our interests for dampening conflict until it's actually feasible to win.

 

Darkspawn reproduction is abhorrent, but it's also a given- it will continue as long as ferals exist and raid the surface. The Awoken are also a given- they will exist, and ultimately do what they want.

 

The opportunity is the use the Awoken to diminish the ferals.

 

More to the point, there's no evidence that there's a quid pro quo to be had, whether regarding knowledge or the equivalent of military intelligence . The Architect certainly doesn't at all suggest that there's any negotiation to be had regarding the nature of the Blight. Ignoring his methods and the methods of his crew, his sole overture is for you to clean up the mess he created. 

 

 

Exile, you're usually better than this. The basis of quid pro quo is why the Architect has non-Darkspawn allies in the first place, and was looking for Grey Warden contacts.

 

 

 

 

Apart from that, we do not meet any faction of Awakened willing to negotiate or engage with anything other than violence. There's one isolated non-hostile darkspawn we meet: the Messenger. Even the Architect is hostile. Judging the Awakened darkspawn by the conduct of the Messenger is a bit like judging humans by the character of cannibalistic rapists, in terms of outliers outside the moral norm. 

 

 

Weren't you the one who argued that there was going to be a splintering of the Awoken?

 

Either way, intelligence on the Awoken factions, or lack of them, would be important in the prepatory buildup phase of any conflict.

 

I'm not sure where you get that I'm judging the Awakened by the conduct of the Messenger.

 

 

 

 

Except for the fact that the Architect doesn't want to stop the Mother because it's dangerous to the surface. He wants to stop the Mother because she's dangerous to him and to his plans.

 

 

So?

 

If we're being realists here- and considering your arguments so far, I don't see moral principle being invoked- the other faction's benevolence is not the requirement or the expectation.

 

Alliances of convenience are on the basis of your interests, not theirs.

 

 

Too many quote boxes. Trying to skip a bit.

 

 

It's pure fantasy that the any Awakened faction will actually give this information away essential to their mass genocide, which is the only information that would be of any assistance. Certainly the Architect gives you no such information - he actively lies about his own faction and motives.

 

Why would it be framed in terms of their mass genocide?

 

We control things they want access to: Wardens. We can assist them in things that hinder them: rival Awoken. If they want our blood and sweat (literally), they will have to give us things in return. This is what negotiations can explore- but to have negotiations, you need to have someone to talk to.

 

That the Architect hasn't given us stuff in the past isn't relevant to what we can arrange in the future. Deals are made for what is expected afater the deal, not what has already been provided before a deal was struck.
 

 

The darkspawn are - as far as we know - entirely unstoppable. If there's anything that the Blights reveal is that conventional victory against the darkspawn is an impossible fantasy. 

 

 

This is precisely why dealing with the Architect is in our interest.

 

 

If we kill the Architect, we are taking away a potential avenue into the unconventional and pushing ourselves into that conventional fight. We remaining in what is already a losing proposition- fighting a foe we don't understand, who actively pursues a goal inclined to our imminent extinction (Old God Blights), and who over the long-term is still going to give us all the inevitable issues of an Awoken conflict.

 

Whether the Architect will be a long-term threat is irrelevant- we already face the long term Awoken threat of a conventional victory we can't win. What's important is the short and medium term- the Architect is uninterested in our imminent extinction, and oppossed to the means that could cause it (a Blight).

 

What the Architect also offers- not in terms of what he explicitly says, but what we can pursue- is information that we have no other means of getting- on the nature of the Blight, on the nature of the Darkspawn, and on the nature of the Awoken threat.

 

 

Hoping that the darkspawn would cooperate towards finding the secret of a mass and absolute genocide of their entire race is silly, and everything we see about the Architect is that he's worse than all of the Awakened, because he's smarter, more powerful, and more inventive. There's nothing to engage with here. Plan A for the Architect is to turn every darkspawn into an Awakened, and it has the means to do it. That's apocalyptic. Any possible alternative is better than this one outcome. 

There's just an existential threat - the darkspawn  - a bigger existential threat - the Awakened darkspawn - and an even bigger and more absurd existential threat - the Architect. There's nothing to engage with here. It's the equivalent of trying to meet Corypehus halfway. 

 

 

If the Architect was a load-bearing boss for any intent to awaken all the Darkspawn, I'd be more amiable towards your position- but he isn't. He's a leader of a like-minded faction, which will carry on his efforts whether he's alive or not. Killing the Architect doesn't stop the long-term threat. It doesn't even necessarily slow it down- there are any number of ways that a schismed following could accelerate, rather than impede, the cultivation and hostility of the Darkspawn and the Awoken. The apolocalypse will come, and there's nothing solid that indicates that the Architect's death will prolong the time until an Awoken conflict occurs. It would be trivially easy to sketch out how it could do it sooner.

 

 

Framing it in terms of 'cooperation for their own genocide' is silly, and you should feel silly for thinking of it in those terms. The Architect isn't helping us for our reasons, and we aren't helping him for his- what we'd be doing is areas of mutual interest, and then taking the opportunities to pursue our own interests. He may not know the things that end up being important- and if he does, then it would be vitally important to keep him alive so that we can try to get it out of him.

 

Because if we don't, we're back to that unwinnable darkspawn war.

[Dean_the_Young]

Questionable, it isn't confirmed that merely being tainted is enough to become a brood mother. Hespith's account indicated being forced to eat corrupted flesh over a prolonged period. Her talk of violation and "spewing" indicated to me that some sort of darkspawn gang rape occurred. That Hespith herself shows no signs of being anything other than a normal ghoul despite being corrupted for just as long seems to support the idea that the process is more involved than simply being tainted.

 

 

Being blighted turns you into a ghoul. And it's confirmed ghouls will seek out the darkspawn. Not every blighted woman will be a broodmother. Some will be - as she says - beaten and eaten for meat.

That's the fate worse than death I meant - I admit I was a little hyperbolic otherwise.

 

 

That much is true, though there seems to be some variation and sometimes the result is outright death rather than becoming a ghoul.

 

I'm just going to point out that this would be a very relevant piece of information in any total war with the Darkspawn- and something we'd be much better placed to understand via the Architect.

[Dean_the_Young]

Do you have a source that it results in death? I suppose we point to Felix passing away. That's the first time I've heard of someone dying from the Blight. Still, DG wrote that scene I think so it had to be canon...

 

 

Here you go.

 

 

Codex text

What the Blight does not destroy, it corrupts.

Any creature infected with the darkspawn taint that does not have the good fortune to die outright becomes a ghoul: a twisted shadow of itself.

The name originally comes from men—whether human, dwarven, or elven—who became tainted, usually while being held as a captive food source by the darkspawn. They would turn cannibal, preying on other captives, slaves to the will of the archdemon, driven mad by pain.

During a Blight, the corruption of the darkspawn spreads through the wilder areas of Thedas and infects the animals found there. This produces grotesque, enraged bears called bereskarn as well as blight wolves.

Fortunately, ghouls rarely survive their corruption for long.

 

 

 

 

And from Inquisitoin-

 

Codex entry: Ghoul (Inquisition)

        Codex text

Among the saddest legacies of the Fifth Blight are those poor souls who survived the darkspawn attacks across Ferelden only to succumb to the corruption of the blight itself. We have seen animals—birds, wolves, and even bears—corrupted into mindless ruinations of their former selves, but humans are by no means immune.

Those unfortunate victims not killed quickly by contact with darkspawn blood or disease become mad with fever. Their bodies lose their hair and become misshapen with sores; in their last lucid thoughts, many speak of hearing whispered words, or a song that no one else can catch.

It is vital that once victims begin hearing such things, they are put out of their misery quickly and mercifully. There are stories across Ferelden of these ghouls, maddened by the corruption of the blight, attacking their friends and spreading the corruption further. While it is likely that the sickness will eventually kill a ghoul, the dying strength of these poor creatures makes them nearly as great a danger as the darkspawn themselves.

They are no longer our friends, our family, or our countrymen. They are victims of the Blight, and must be given the same mercy Hessarian showed Andraste: a swift sword.

—An excerpt from Marks of the Blight by Sister Dorcas Guerrin

[Dean_the_Young]

That's apparently a regular darkspawn.

 

An Emisary, if I remember correctly.

[Dean_the_Young]

Might be a ghoul close to complete transformation but not enough that it has lost all semblency of the mind and is unable speak.

 

Ghouls don't transform. Well, besides into ghouls.

 

Darkspawn are only born from Broodmothers.

[Lady Artifice]

The Architect is crazy. I believe that he believes his own lies, but he doesn't understand humanity any longer. He's fundamentally clueless about what his plan would mean for non-darkspawn.

 

And "the deep roads have never been quieter," does not actually reassure me. I don't even think it's meant to. Quiet deep roads are not historically a good thing.

[Heimdall]

The Architect is crazy. I believe that he believes his own lies, but he doesn't understand humanity any longer. He's fundamentally clueless about what his plan would mean for non-darkspawn.

And "the deep roads have never been quieter," does not actually reassure me. I don't even think it's meant to. Quiet deep roads are not historically a good thing.

Is it a lie if he believes he's telling the truth?

I tend to see the Architect as a child with a particularly frightening mixture of naivety and power.

[Lady Artifice]

Is it a lie if he believes he's telling the truth?

I tend to see the Architect as a child with a particularly frightening mixture of naivety and power.

 

Personally I believe that a deceitful nature can evolve to the point of self delusion. It doesn't hurt if the deceiver is a little crazy to begin with. 

 

I know that's just my interpretation, though. I can see where yours comes from as well. For the time being, I buy into the idea that he was one of the old Magisters that tried to enter the fade along with Corypheus. I think the corruption inside of him, along with his age, has just turned him batty. 

[Dai Grepher]

Let's rephrase this-

 

Is there any reason to believe she (or any other disciplies) don't know it?

 

The Mother's faction is crazy, and want the song back. It'd at least be conceivable that they wouldn't use it if they could, and so relied on conversion. But the Architect makes notes, and has disciples- what indication is there that he alone has the knowledge?

 

 

 

Who says there is no opportunity to learn anything? The Architect and the Warden are not in contact for the vast majority of Awakening- whereas in DA2, we have content that indicates that the Wardens are, in fact, maintaining contact with the Architect.

 

If you're greedy and evil, the basis of personal advantage would be on the going forward basis- not on what didn't happen before you had the opportunity.

 

Moreover, the Architect's Maker-knows-what will continue as long as his disciples exist and continue to carry it out. You'd have a better chance of discovering Maker-knows-what, and preparing for its implications, if you don't burn your leads.

 

 

Why would we believe his secrets die with him? The Architect keeps notes, and communicates, and has allies.

 

 

Of course not. But he will notify you if other Awakened groups are going to attack until that point, while you can spy on his preparations through the medium and period of cooperation. In addition, conflict may be delayed as common interest pushes back Day 0 of renewed hostilities.

 

The rest comes from the benefits of the interim until the attack.

 

Killing the architect means the continuation of the status quo with the darkspawn until the Awaken consolidate into something new- and quite likely worse. Even until then, the status quo with the dark spawn is a losing proposition- the Orzammar dwarves are being ground out, the Old Gods being sought out, and the prospect of the eternal blight after the last Old God dies, when the Darkspawn have nothing drawing them down in the earth or any motive keeping them there. An eternal blight which, for good measure, is all but certain to have the Awakened be involved, for all the downsides of the Awakened being involved.

 

 

 

If his notes have value, he has more. If you can't find his allies in the Deeproads, why would you expect to find his notes once they flee?

 

Don't know what? The Awakening Ritual? I've just never seen or heard anything about the Mother conducting that ritual. The way the Architect explained it, some awakened Darkspawn simply chose to follow the Mother's influence through their own freewill.

 

Well the indication is that he came up with it. I doubt he explained the process to anyone, especially the Mother. He may have passed this knowledge on to Seranni or a select few loyal and tested disciples before meeting with the WC for the last time, just in case he would be slain.

 

We don't know that the Architect will maintain contact at the time the decision is made, and even if the Architect remains in contact, there is no word on what the Architect is actually sharing with the WC. It might all be useless information. Could all be lies. Unless there is direct oversight, there is no way to know for certain.

 

I disagree. I understand what you're saying about the evil bit; who cares if it doesn't pan out and people die because the Architect was let go? The problem is that the greedy person (or any person for that matter) is better off sticking with the prize they have rather than risk what they have on an unknown. A bird in the hand, as it were. The greedy evil WC is better off maintaining his Keep and his order of Wardens and Silver Order knights, rather than put it all at risk of another attack for the chance of only possibly gaining info from the Architect. It's like an episode of Let's Make a Deal, where you have money in your hand and Monty asks you if you want to trade even part of it for what's behind the curtain. Now sure, maybe some greedy people will gamble with what they earned, but the wiser choice is to keep what you worked so hard to build. With the Architect, the risk far outweighs the possible benefit.

 

The disciples won't carry out his work on as large a level as he would have. And I don't know what you mean by burn your leads. Nothing in Awakening indicates that you'll be able to count the Architect as a reliable lead as to what he is up to. He could be playing the Wardens, for all you know.

 

He kept notes that were far beyond what the awakened darkspawn could fathom. If the notes even fall to the disciples at all, then they will not be able to utilize them to an extent that would threaten the world.

 

So he notifies you. So what? That's not enough of a benefit to allow him to wander free awakening more darkspawn, which might then turn on him and attack you. It's like what Daveth says to Ser Jory in the Wilds. We might die, but we'll be warned about it first.

 

How would we spy on him exactly? We would have no eyes or ears into what he was doing. We would only get reports from him at most.

 

Unless that interim allows the darkspawn to fortify their forces with greater numbers or better armaments, ya know, thanks to their newfound intelligence.

 

Continuing the status quo is preferable to risking a war with darkspawn that know how to plot strategies. Thedas is winning the status quo. Why change things if you're winning?

 

If the awakened become something worse, it will happen with or without the Architect. I believe they are more likely to become worse if the Architect lives, as he is the smartest one of them. Without Grey Warden blood, they can't awaken more darkspawn, and the Architect seemed to be the best suited at capturing Grey Wardens alive and preparing the Awaking Ritual.

 

The dwarves were being ground out. This changed in Awakening when Kal-Hirol was cleared and reclaimed.

 

When the last old god dies and the Darkspawn make for an all-out assault on the dwarves and the surface, the Awakened will be among the casualties, with or without the Architect. There are hundreds of thousands of Darkspawn. Even a few hundred Awakened will not be able to control them. So its a moot point. In the meantime, better to fight stupid Darkspawn than relatively smart Darkspawn.

 

We found notes while we were there the first time. It is likely that all of the Architect's things will still be there after he flees for Drake's Fall. If the Architect has more notes, or will make more notes if spared, nothing indicates that he will share them with you. If there were an option to have the Architect work under the watchful eyes of the WC, then you would have a point. But as it stands, you get nothing except that which the Architect decides to share with you, which could be nothing or could be misinformation.

[Heimdall]

Personally I believe that a deceitful nature can evolve to the point of self delusion. It doesn't hurt if the deceiver is a little crazy to begin with.

I know that's just my interpretation, though. I can see where yours comes from as well. For the time being, I buy into the idea that he was one of the old Magisters that tried to enter the fade along with Corypheus. I think the corruption inside of him, along with his age, has just turned him batty.

I believe he was one of them too, I just think that he lost his memory due to the corruption and trauma of what they did combined with centuries of wondering the Deep Roads alone.

That codex of three of them in the Deep does indicate they were forgetting about what they'd done in the Black City.