Dragon Age

I'd say they'd have a pretty good chance since their First Enchanter's first use time using blood magic was when he turned himself into a harvester. Well at least they would have a good chance if they didn't also have a madwoman actively creating a self fulfilling prophecy as their ward.

edited 26th Feb '15 4:03:09 PM by Spirit

First time using blood magic personally, yes, but harboring and assisting deranged blood mages in their research isn't exemplary behavior for the man in charge of the Circle.

Orsino is the worst hypocrite, and his behavior perfectly explains why countless of his charges are Blood Mages and Abominations. Running the Circle like a maleficar factory will do that.

Its especially galling because if you avoided the blood mage specialization on a mage hawke, and are pretty much a paragon of how apostate mages arent necessarily dangers to society, orsino can waltz in and make you look like an asshole within seconds by sheer dint of proving every stereotype about mages "true"

The Keep doesn't exactly upload save files. It takes your Name, Class, Race, and that's about it. You have to manually input the save information yourself.

Well yeah. If you ignore everything else then of course Orsino is the sole contributor to Kirkwall's madness.

Oh, hardly. K Kirkwall is corrupt as shit from every side and its a wonder hawke kept it from falling apart as long as he/she did.

I didn't say sole contributor to Kirkwall's madness. I said he's the reason why Kirkwall's Circle, specifically, is f*cked to hell.

Outside the Circle, mages are hunted by Templars and tempted/seduced by the exceptionally thin Veil in Kirkwall. Inside the Circle, they're taught by Orsino. It's bad to be a mage in Kirkwall.

edited 26th Feb '15 12:03:59 PM by TobiasDrake

Honestly, I liked to pick Blood Mage in both DA 1 & 2 as a specialization but otherwise play pretty much the nicest, most heroic wizard possible.

...Although I freely confess I think of my character's personality as being similar to how I feel playing the games; putting on the most diplomatic face possible, but always hoping some bad guy isn't going to get that they only exist because I continue to allow it and let me turn the whole thing into a bloodbath. XD

Well, the Circle in Kirkwall did nothing to incentivize honest leadership. Kirkwall might have had plenty of honest mages who would never touch blood magic. They still wouldn't get rid of Orsino, because he's the devil they know. He does what outwardly looks like standing up for their best interests. In contrast, Meredith appears far too sanguinary in her treatment of dissent and likely wouldn't reward any of them for coming forward. Same oppressive organization, except Orsino's replacement would unquestionably be Meredith's toady.

Orsino is where he is not because his subordinates are all evil mages. He's where he is because of Realpolitik.

edited 26th Feb '15 1:36:28 PM by CrimsonZephyr

Meredith doesn't seem that Kill Em All to me up until Anders blows up the Chantry. She rejected the Tranquil Solution, is willing to accept traitors who were plotting with Abominations to assassinate her back into her ranks, and laughs off the behavior of an admitted blood mage on nothing more than Hawke's testimony that he's just a dumbass kid.

As much as people talk in-game about how she's a mercilessly brutal dictator who puts all who dare speak against her to the sword, she never lives down to that reputation until Anders gives her a hard shove over the edge, and at times seems more reasonable than I'd be.

edited 26th Feb '15 1:45:26 PM by TobiasDrake

Actually, if you don't ask Cullen to convince Meredith to spare the traitors, Meredith has all of the traitors^note Except for Samson (who can be executed if you pick the asshole option, but turns up alive in DAI regardless) and Alain (who Cullen kills on the spot if you don't speak up for him) executed and displays their corpses in the Gallows as a warning.

And back in Act 1, before she got the idol, she executes three Starkhaven mages at random as an example if you convince them to return to the Chantry.

edited 26th Feb '15 1:48:41 PM by lrrose

Yes. The traitors collaborating with blood mages and Abominations in a city which has previously experienced a conspiracy of blood mages and Abominations implanting demons in Templars. Without Hawke vouching for them, what reason has Meredith to show mercy here? For all she knows, they're demon-possessed Templar Abominations feigning submission for a second chance to take her head and burn the city down for lulz.

That she is willing to accept them back into the Templars on Hawke's word alone is, in and of itself, an incredibly display of mercy and one I would be less inclined to afford them given the circumstances.

edited 26th Feb '15 1:59:33 PM by TobiasDrake

Executing them is one thing, but displaying their corpses as a warning is clearly excessive. It serves no purpose beyond reminding people what happens to those who defy her.

Not to mention "I refuse to let you all elect a new Viscount so that I can continue having unchallenged authority enabled by a Grand Cleric who refuses to get involved even though she could stop this."

edited 26th Feb '15 2:42:32 PM by theLibrarian

Blood mage thralls have always been shown to be obvious; it's even a plot point in the Orlesian Ball questline that Celene isn't Morrigan's thrall because she's still capable of disagreeing with her. All of those Templars rebelled because they felt she was overstepping her bounds, and probably there were mages who felt the same way. All this really shows is that Meredith is paranoid and unwilling to brook dissent, and is so megalomaniacal that she thinks of course anyone who opposes her is possessed.

Plus she was outright dumb enough to have a sword made out of Red Lyrium. Yes, Knight Commander, go make yourself a weapon that you keep in constant contact with that's made of a more dangerous version of an already deadly and addictive substance that has already driven at least one person to madness. There's no way that's going to backfire.

edited 26th Feb '15 7:41:20 PM by TheGunheart

To be fair, no one knew what Red Lyrium was capable of when she bought the idol.

She...confiscated it, didn't she? Still, who looks at an evil idol and says, "I want to make this into a sword."?

She had a few screws loose from the start.

edited 26th Feb '15 7:58:15 PM by CrimsonZephyr

Your average video game protagonist.

Red lyrium had never been heard of before Hawke discovered it in the Deep Roads. Meredith had no idea what it was when she bought it. She probably just thought it looked cool.

Which it totally does.

edited 26th Feb '15 9:31:17 PM by LeGarcon

It's still Lyrium and I don't exactly see people handling weapons made of that stuff, either.

I think runes are supposed to be made of lyrium?

Its also possible that the Lyrium whispered in her ear that it should be formed into a sword. She may not have actually though 'Gee. This'd make a fine sword!' or something.

Come to think of it, if that thing was at the Gallows the whole time after you deal with Varric's brother, I wonder if that's the reason for the madness that's going on there becoming so much more pronounced as the game progresses...