43 réponses à ce sujet

[MishenNikara]

Maybe your next book should be a triple checked set of biographies of the characters that finalize this stuff....if you're lucky it'll remove of few of these posts

[Sandtigress]

lol No. It will only bring up new speculation. That's what we do. Speculate and nit-pick just to give the devs headaches! :-D

[MishenNikara]

Sandtigress wrote...

lol No. It will only bring up new speculation. That's what we do. Speculate and nit-pick just to give the devs headaches! :-D

Thats why he will have to name it "Final Cannon Dragon Age Biographies That Overwrite Everything Else Ever Written About Dragon Age" in red caps bold underline italics

[David Gaider]

spirit-dog wrote...
Alistair tells you that he was recruited because Duncan saw how unhappy he was in the templars. In the offical wiki, there is a story about a tournament and Dunca recruited him because he was plucky.  There is also no mention in the version on the wiki about the Reveared Mother being upset at his recruitment forcing Duncan to use the Right of Conscription.

Err... as mentioned, there's nothing contradictory. Duncan clearly went to the tournament knowing who Alistair was. And the story didn't mention the Revered Mother being upset because her being upset did not equal her blowing a fuse when it happened but rather seething about it afterwards. Do I seriously have to explain this?

[Sandtigress]

Now David, what we all really want to know (okay, maybe just the Alistair fangirls) is did Duncan go to visit the templars knowing who Alistair was beforehand?    Not that you'll answer that question, of course, but it had to be asked.

[MishenNikara]

David Gaider wrote...

Do I seriously have to explain this?

You do realize this is the internet, right?  The answer is obviously 'yes'

[Tenjac]

You know what? Alistair also fails to identify his mother as a Grey Warden, but that doesn't necessarily contradict the book.

[Zepheera]

David Gaider wrote...

emynii wrote...
9:00 - Start of the Dragon Age
9:02 - Death of Meghren,
9:03 - Maric Crowned King (Age 24)
9:05 - Cailan Born
9:08 - Queen Rowan Dies
9:10 - The Calling (Cailan age 5, Maric age 31)
9:25 - Maric Dissapears (Age 46), Cailan takes throne (Age 20)
9:30 - Modern Dragon Age Game

I'm gun-shy of confirming any timeline at this point, and I don't have my notes from the novel on hand -- but at a glance this doesn't look too far off.

That was a very busy half hour in Ferelden...









(psst, that was a joke!)

[spirit-dog]

David Gaider wrote...

spirit-dog wrote...
Alistair tells you that he was recruited because Duncan saw how unhappy he was in the templars. In the offical wiki, there is a story about a tournament and Dunca recruited him because he was plucky.  There is also no mention in the version on the wiki about the Reveared Mother being upset at his recruitment forcing Duncan to use the Right of Conscription.

Err... as mentioned, there's nothing contradictory. Duncan clearly went to the tournament knowing who Alistair was. And the story didn't mention the Revered Mother being upset because her being upset did not equal her blowing a fuse when it happened but rather seething about it afterwards. Do I seriously have to explain this?

I see that completly.  It's more my take on what other people might have thought were contradictions.  Part of it also might be that what Alistair says is from his perspective, and he might have a different perspective on the Revered Mother's reaction then then third person view from the wiki.

Thank you though, for being so attentive to these forums, and well generally putting up with us.  

[emynii]

David Gaider wrote...
Err... as mentioned, there's nothing contradictory. Duncan clearly went to the tournament knowing who Alistair was. And the story didn't mention the Revered Mother being upset because her being upset did not equal her blowing a fuse when it happened but rather seething about it afterwards. Do I seriously have to explain this?

Thank you, I didn't think there was a contradiction, but I participated in a lively discussion on the fact. I was just going for some clarification.

And thank you for answering our questions, I really do appreciate it.

[Sandtigress]

Actually, having just reread the entry from the Tome of Knowledge on Alistair, it is "authored" by "Brother Tevius, serving the Order of Templars in Redcliffe", Was Alistair enrolled in the Templars in Redcliffe itself? That puts an interesting light on a certain party's actions...

[Lady Olivia]

Sandtigress wrote...

Now David, what we all really want to know (okay, maybe just the Alistair fangirls) is did Duncan go to visit the templars knowing who Alistair was beforehand?

David Gaider wrote...

Duncan clearly went to the tournament knowing who Alistair was.

A better question, I think, is why would Duncan want to make Alistair a Gray Warden. It seems like a lot of effort went into showing how awful it really is, being a Gray Warden. The game doesn't do a very good job at it, but the book does. So, possible reasons not to make Alistair a Warden are:

1. Joining is often fatal; why would Duncan risk the life of a friend's son?
2. The taint is a progressive, degenerative disease; at best, he'd have shortened Alistair's life by 10 or 20 years.
3.  Alistair is a potential heir to the throne; conflicts of interest aside, why would Duncan want to make him infertile?

The only reasons I can think of for making him a Warden are:

a. He's miserable as a Templar. [Weak as hell, I don't believe it for a second.]
b. He'd be miserable as a king. [Same as above.]
c. Knowing the Blight is coming, Duncan wants to have him close by and immune to the taint.
d. He's already tainted.

I suppose d. is the best bet. Still, it's kind of murky.

Modifié par Lady Olivia, 11 février 2010 - 12:08 .

[supernovashadow]

e. Templars end up addicted to lyrium and can develop dementia because of it.



I got the feeling Duncan was backed into a corner and conscription was the only way to get Alistair out of there.

[DKJaigen]

Nobody believes that duncan simply recruited allistair for the person he is? i mean this guy sticks with you even when you ****** him off and get his approval to -100. So yeah duncan recruited allistair for his sense of duty

[GEWill]

leonia42 wrote...

What has annoyed me a little is that we do not know the ages of other characters, like Fiona or Duncan,

We do know Duncan's age though. The book states he is 18 years old or maybe it was 19 years old. I can't recall because the book isn't near me at the moment.

[spirit-dog]

How did Duncan know who Alistair was?

[Leonia]

spirit-dog wrote...

How did Duncan know who Alistair was?

Because Alistair is Fiona's son (or I am hoping, anyway, it seems we may never know for sure at this rate)

Also, someone said the taint makes one infertile.. that's not the case, seeing as there is the whole Dark Ritual thing, but I can't spoil that in this forum. Also, Fiona was tainted when her and Maric..er, did the "you know" even if she was cured of it afterwards somehow.

[Sandtigress]

Lady Olivia wrote...

Sandtigress wrote...

Now David, what we all really want to know (okay, maybe just the Alistair fangirls) is did Duncan go to visit the templars knowing who Alistair was beforehand?

David Gaider wrote...

Duncan clearly went to the tournament knowing who Alistair was.

A better question, I think, is why would Duncan want to make Alistair a Gray Warden. It seems like a lot of effort went into showing how awful it really is, being a Gray Warden. The game doesn't do a very good job at it, but the book does. So, possible reasons not to make Alistair a Warden are:

1. Joining is often fatal; why would Duncan risk the life of a friend's son?
2. The taint is a progressive, degenerative disease; at best, he'd have shortened Alistair's life by 10 or 20 years.
3.  Alistair is a potential heir to the throne; conflicts of interest aside, why would Duncan want to make him infertile?

The only reasons I can think of for making him a Warden are:

a. He's miserable as a Templar. [Weak as hell, I don't believe it for a second.]
b. He'd be miserable as a king. [Same as above.]
c. Knowing the Blight is coming, Duncan wants to have him close by and immune to the taint.
d. He's already tainted.

I suppose d. is the best bet. Still, it's kind of murky.

Well, regarding David's quote, I believe he meant that he went to the TOURNAMENT, not necessarily the monastary, knowing who Alistair was i.e. as I said before, at least noticed the unhappy templar initiate before the tournament began and wondered why he wasn't fighting so he could get an idea of his skills.

As for the rest, I don't want to do too much speculation in the non-spoilers forum, but for you who want no spoilers at all, cease reading immediately!  If we postulate that Duncan knew of Alistair's heritage before-hand (and if you read the Calling, you'll know why he might have), we should still remember that Alistair was not in an important position at the time, and was not until after the battle at Ostagar.

Faced with keeping his promise or allowing Alistair to live a life he despised, I think he took the next best course.  Knowing who Alistair's mother was, he probably thought the boy had a pretty good chance of surviving.  I think we can safely assume no one knew for certain a Blight was coming yet - Alistair asks you if your nightmares are particularly bad because you Joined in a Blight, which sort of implies that he didn't.

Infertility, not a problem, since templars are celibate anyways, and there are reasons to not want Alistair to have children anyways, regardless of taint.  Complications due from his father's side, if you get my drift.  Shortened life span?  I think its reasonable to say better a number of years in a happy life than a longer life in a miserable situation, plus the life of a templar isn't exactly risk-free, fighting maleficarum and all that.

I think Duncan saw an unhappy man in a bad situation and kept his promise the only way he could - right of conscription.  I maintain that its awfully convenient that Duncan managed to be there just before Alistair took his final vows...

[GreyWardenJase]

 Well, at the end of The Calling, Alistair's mother Fiona explains that all signs of the taint had left her, and that she might be the first Grey Warden ever who might not succumb to the progressive, degenerative effects of the taint later on in life. So perhaps Alistair could have inherited this immunity to the effects of the taint from his mother?

Because otherwise, I do have a problem with Duncan allowing Alistair to become a Grey Warden. He absolutely knew that Alistair was the son of Maric, and that if anything happened to Maric's older brother, Alistair might well become King. Also, if Duncan really believed, as all the Grey Warden characters apparently believed (judging by their dialogue in The Calling)  that becoming a Grey Warden was much more of a curse than a blessing, then it is again hard to understand why Duncan would recruit Alistair into the Grey Wardens.