Another DAge blog that takes this too seriously

dinner justice is served

& the thing that they all have in common is that they subvert their orders. the "kind" templars in da2, across the board, all defy orders and expectations— thrask comes to you behind his superiors' backs to plead for you to stop his own colleague from catching up to some runaway mages for fear of what he'll do to them, emeric begs you to help investigate a series of murders of young women after both the city guard and his own superiors have already expressly told him to drop it, and. samson passed love notes between mages. (and when you meet him he may also ask for money in exchange for information on feynriel, but iirc he expresses hope that you're successful). maurevar carver helps malcolm escape.

and pretty much all of them suffer immensely for it! thrask and emeric are both ultimately killed. samson spends the entirety of the game homeless and suffering lyrium withdrawal before ultimately breaking, turning on you and returning to meredith.

update (may 2024):

sorted files by media type, rather than chronological order. in-universe dates and release dates can be found in a spreadsheet

added tastes of thedas, compiled from screenshots from an online reader, not a proper pdf of the book

added the 3 original ttrpg sets and some reference sheets

added swf files for dragon age journeys and dragon age legends remix, which can be played with any flash emulator

added some origins toolset files for modding. these are editable version of base game head morphs (.mrh), level layouts (.lvl), fmod sound projects (.fdp), animations (.acb), materials (.matproj), and vfx (.vfxproj)

still looking for:

a proper version of tastes of thedas

-If Hawke sides with the templars, Orsino is still a miniboss, just not as a Harvester. He fights Hawke in the Gallows to buy the mages time to escape.

-If Hawke sides with the mages, Orsino is not a miniboss, but instead thanks Hawke for helping and joins the inactive party. Cullen, however, finds them before Meredith and fights them, but before Hawke can kill him, Meredith interrupts and he leaves while he can. (This way, Hawke has Orsino instead of Cullen in the inactive party for the final bossfight.)

-In the aftermath of the Gallows fighting, Cullen is drawn to the red lyrium, amplifying his desire for revenge on mages and leading him to drastic measures. This makes him a candidate to be Corypheus’s vessel.

-Samson, meanwhile, is busy with damage control, rallying whoever remains of Thrask’s rebel templars and helping mages to safety. Recognizing his efforts, Cassandra eventually recruits him to be the commander of the Inquisition.

-Commander Samson might have some arguments for both sides in regards to who should help the Herald close the Breach, but ultimately respects both choices, although he doesn’t seem too fond of the Templar Order as free allies or the mages being prisoners.

-Maddox is still with Samson and still plays some role in the Before the Dawn equivalent, but he survives and is safe. If Promise of Destruction is completed, there is a possibility of curing him, or at least of bringing up the possibility and then by the time of the Exalted Council he’s been cured.

i can’t find it now so don’t quote me on this maybe i made it up or it was some fanon thing my brain twisted, but i think i even vaguely remember dialogue where i could tell the developers had figured out this was weird because they felt the need to throw in an explanation that a grateful client had given the coat to her. which... okay... but what kind of dock town client could afford that thing? or if it was a rich client, why does she lovingly wear it everyday and make it her whole identity when she doesn’t like those people? and how does she possibly keep it clean and white in her line of work? where is the wear and tear? where is any evidence of someone who is supposedly a “mess”, who chases cases obsessively and doesn’t look after herself? and it does give her an elegance that is followed through in her animations so i guess this is an intentional aspect of the character but i still feel like there’s a missing link for me here in terms of storytelling. like we missed a step. i think the fact that a lot of her aesthetic was originally intended for a totally different character (calpernia) probably plays into this somewhere because like we factually know that a lot of these elements existed in concept art before neve did

i definitely feel like you could create storytelling reasons why neve dresses like this. like there’s an angle where maybe she puts on her elegance and outer coat like armour, it’s a front that says “i know what i’m doing” and the mess is underneath. that would be character storytelling. but then her home outfit is every inch as pristine and artfully constructed as her coat, so it’s like, eh, that doesn’t really work. or maybe you work it into a backstory thing, like, as a powerful mage she had some class mobility opportunities when she was younger, and ultimately she chose the opposite of that life, but the experiences still characterise her tastes somewhat and she has this cherished coat as one last reminder of the life she could’ve lived, which has the side effect of putting some distance and tension between her and the people she’s chosen

Like they don't have the best track record for noticing that people are possessed? Sure if you're glowing, speaking in double voice or visibly mutated they notice. But if you look normal and act normal, they don't.

To all appearances Templars don't have have any special ability to detect possession. Special ability to provoke spirit/demon flare up possibly yes, but that is by being a traumatizing, violent, threatening, abusive and all round a terrible person that their victim knows can and will murder them.

'Abominations' (for lack of a better word) seem to have some degree of adjustment period, but it isn't always extreme and seems to act up mostly in response to strong negative surprises.

@imissorzammar 3h ago #lmao yep probably gigkfkfkdkdkd

and general agreement

@iovaras 2h ago #i cannot emphasize how hilarious it is that wynne got possessed while surrounded by other mages and no one noticed. #like different scenario for sure bc there was a fight going on and they arent templars#but it feels relevant

in the tags

@dick-hardboiled 2h ago #Looks at wynne

Wynne is a very relevant example in the context of Circles failing to notice possessions.

I did have a moment were I wondered if maybe the First Enchanter as the very experienced and lone mage overseeing the Harrowing might notice… then went hmm no, probably not.

(I suspect mages might have a slight advantage over Templars, in that I remember scenes of them showing some sensitivity to beings moving across the veil, but well first you would have to notice it happening, second you would have to recognize what just happened and third you have to be both sure enough in your suspicion of the possession and willing to report to the Templars that you sensed someone getting possessed.)

So Wynne.

Her not being noticed right away makes a fair amount of sense. She gets possessed in the middle of battle and she and all the other nearby mages are fighting for their lives. It is also a battle against demons and demon possessed mages, if there is some sort of magic pulse or shift when a spirit crosses the veil or possesses someone it's very like to be put down to another demon popping up. She was also just heavily injured and a spirit healer, if a nearby mage felt a spirit suddenly become particularly close I think their first thought would be more 'emergency spirit healing' then 'possession' especially when Wynne doesn't turn around and start attacking them.

So her being overlooked while the tower is overrun with abominations, demons, stray blood mages and several enchanted Templars makes sense. It's much more funny that the Templar just let her walk out of the Circle they almost Annulled for being overrun by blood mages turned demon possessed abominations. Like that's a total fail. There isn't even any indication that they try to check her for possession, but they should have been on high alert for it.

@ikarons 1h ago #i have been saying this the whole time #i think there are a lot more possessed mages than the chantry knows about! just in the circle! #like… a) WILL the templars notice. if you get possessed willingly during the harrowing by a spirit who doesn’t immediately explode you . no #but also b) even if you don’t get possessed At Your Harrowing… #i think the harrowing Introduces the idea in a really close up intimate way #like you’re shoved directly into the fade with no warning specifically to test you against spirits/demons #As The Warden we have successful interactions with a few! #if you meet a spirit of valour during your harrowing who won’t possess you bc it has no interest in the material world#but is kind and helpful and wishes you the best #what better way to plant that seed in your head.#but also yeah like. the harrowing is the perfect time to get it done also. hello #i think it is a lot more common than we’re shown #i also think spirit healers are Unusually commonly possessed lol#not bc it’s a requirement (i don’t think it is) but bc they are kind of predisposed to it by the nature of their work#and the experiences it gives them wrt spirits

I agree with you on all points.

The Chantry is only going to know about possessions that go wrong, possessions that get discovered. But we've seen several times that possessed people can look and act perfectly normal right up until something stresses them so badly that their spirit feels it has to react. Plus if a benevolent possession did get found out, it's not like the Templars are going to record that, they're just going to kill that mage, pat themselves on the back and say good riddance.

The entire set up of the Circle does not encourage any possessed mage to be open and honest about what is going on. As a matter of life and death they are going to hide it and never breath a word to anyone. Not tell their students or their peers or record it in their dairy. And even if they do tell someone, and that person keeps it secret from the Templars, then that person has good incentive to keep it secret even past the possessed mage's death, because if the Templars found out they knew and didn't report a possession, well, it's not going to be pretty.

Post Harrowing possessions!

You meet a Spirit during your Harrowing. You chat with them. The spirit helps you. You like the spirit, maybe started to consider them a friend. You kill the demon. You pass your Harrowing. The spirit who talked to you and helped you through the Harrow starts visiting your dreams now you are an official Mage of the Circle. Sometime later you agree to them possessing you. No one notices.

Why do you agree? Maybe you trust them. Maybe you are lonely. Maybe you are curious. Maybe you are bored. Maybe you are angry. Maybe you are depressed and don't want to be trapped here in this life anymore. Maybe you want to help them. Maybe you are afraid of demons and decide that choosing who possess you is better then waiting until you falter. Maybe you keep seeing your fellow mages leave you, death, Tranquility, transfer to another circle, and you want a friend who will be with you always. Maybe you want to study a particular type of magic but are not skilled at it.

There are all sorts of reasons a mage might agree to a possession.

Spirit Healers having unusually high levels of possession is basically canon. What with both Anders and Wynne being possessed spirit healers. I think Spirit Healing requires the ability to attract and interact with spirits at a higher level then most mages, but becoming possessed is completely optional. It's just that they interact with benevolent spirits regularly, with the mage becoming familiar with the spirits they rely up and the spirits becoming familiar with the mage they help.

I think this intimacy with Spirits also contributes to the rarity of Spirit Healers. As in it is not just rare to have the knack, but for all that a fully trained spirit healer is valuable, I bet mages with the potential are more likely to be killed by Templars. Probably not helped by the offensive nature of the Harrowing, as a mage who is disinclined to violence might struggle more when suddenly forced into a death match with a demon, although their greater familiarity with spirits might also help.

[ID: reply from @eye-of-yelough saying “it’s kirkwall”]

Therefore, in 10 years, I just don't think anyone will be talking about it or replaying it. Other things will come along to replace it. Fans of it will be easily pulled away by similar things. It might be fun to play in and sit in for a few months but that's kinda. It.

Compare this to DA2, a cult classic kind of game. Now THAT has staying power. There's little to replace it, because nothing else has what it has. Yeah, other things do have those same themes and tensions, but the specifics that make it unique are not replaceable because they're integral to THAT world to THOSE characters who have been INFLUENCED by that world. The circle, Kirkwall, the gallows, tevinter slavery, the religious tensions, andrastism, the refugees of the blight. It's all unique!