Still Not Dead!

If there was no choice for Zevran, there is certainly no choice for Lucanis. His preferences are immaterial. His desires are immaterial. His duty is paramount—it is treated as paramount by those around him, and it has been drilled into him that it is paramount. And Lucanis is deeply bonded with all those he considers family, even when those relationships are deeply strained; this absolutely includes Caterina.

Caterina is abusive. We learn as much in game. It is treated as unremarkable by Lucanis, inevitable, and that tells us something that is repeatedly confirmed: the Crows, as an organization, are abusive. Their training is torture now, just as it was for Zevran.

If he had been able to make a choice, to step down, to say "no," that would have shown the Crows in a softened light. One could argue that it might only have shown Caterina in a softened light, but we have to remember that Veilguard is doing two things at once with their characters: they are showing them as individuals, and they are showing them as representatives. Caterina is one of the faces of the Crows, both in-world and within the narrative. The fact that she is abusive has a narrative parallel. The fact that she doesn't give Lucanis a choice has a narrative parallel. The fact that she announces his new role in public has a narrative parallel.

The Crows are an organization. Part of that is performance, as performances establish and formalize conceptual, abstract principles. There is a veneer of glamor and glory that is a thin coating over the force and demand, and that, too, has a narrative parallel.

If Lucanis could choose, could say no, that would undermine what the game had spent so long showing us. That underneath the witticisms and the flowery language of freedom and protection lay a violent demand. We see this even in the visuals of the Crows: they have ornate, elaborate outfits. But no amount of preening and presentation will change the knife in their hand or the blood on it.

It's not softening, it's a misdirect. And it's not even that much of a misdirect, as the game repeatedly reiterates that, yes, these are killers. Lucanis, for all his kindness, for all his warmth, for all his sweet care for others, is himself a cold-blooded killer. He will take contracts and he will fulfill them. It seems that in his story he leaves some people alive and leaves innocents alive, which reflects favorably on his personal morals, but it does not make him other than what he is.

It is also a mercy that is permissible under the guise of precision and skill. He kills only who he must! That is skillful! Even if there is mercy in it—and to be clear, I think there is—the mercy can be ignored when other Crows are interpreting what he's done. That, imo, shows a deep political savviness as well, which makes sense to me, as Lucanis has been navigating the upper echelons of the Crows for so long.

So there is no way, narratively, for Lucanis to turn down the role of First Talon. A Crow has no real options… but a wily Crow can find routes within the limits, and Lucanis is a wily Crow. He will not be Caterina. Nor is it realistic to assume the Crows will be completely transformed under his leadership, especially considering the inter-organizational tensions and the very real possibly that a league of trained assassins could—and probably will—try to assassinate the First Talon, especially if he immediately starts making drastic changes that are counter to their established identity.

Even saying yes to an offer he cannot say no to will not save him, but it will limit the risk. And, notably, it will all but eliminate the risk to those he cares about. But a Lucanis who turns against the Crows? Who denies the title that is seen as his birthright, his destiny, Caterina's true legacy? That Lucanis will be a target not just of political opportunists within the Crows, but of the Crows themselves. And that Lucanis becomes a free-for-all, protected by none; and the Crows, brutal as they are, may well seek out those he cares about. Illario, possibly, but I'm thinking more of a Rook he is friends with or partnered with, or Neve. They might also go after others from the Veilguard, perhaps viewing them all as potential allies of their deserter leader.

Because the thing is… the Crows, as an organization, cannot abide someone, anyone, leaving. But they especially cannot abide a would-be-leader leaving. If Lucanis can turn his back on the Crows, can sever his ties to the organization, and can live, then who else may? The organization itself cannot tolerate that.

I speak of "the organization" as an abstract but thinking-feeling entity, which I think is fairly accurate. No one Crow embodies the entirety of the organizations' self-concept, but rather, all Crows embody elements of it, propaganda and performance and promise, suave words laid over cutting edges, all aware of the violence just beneath. And, as is always the case with such organizations, organizations that could easily and accurately be compared to cults, (I am not making light of cults/authoritarian control groups by saying that, mind. I am utilizing the BITE model) the inter-community elements are meant to create an internal narrative that is constantly reinforced, until it becomes second-nature and largely unquestioned. For instance, I fully believe that Viago believes that the Crows are protecting Antiva. That the Crows are the thin line between safety and annihilation. That Treviso, under the rule of the Crows, is free.

But Viago is and has been part of the Crows. He is and has been influenced by their concepts through constant exposure. And I think that he, as an individual, wants that to be the case. He wants the Crows to be defending Treviso, to be defending Antiva, even if, at the organizational level, it is more accurate to say that they are defending themselves.

We are seeing inside the cult. Thus, we are unlikely to see significant deviation away from the prevailing ideology. But the fact that recruits are tortured, the fact that the Crows are a league of assassins, the fact that they hold so much power over Treviso, these are things we are shown and these are things we are meant to know. None of it is made secret to us. None of it is subtle. And this, coming from a videogame franchise that has represented organizations based on authoritarian control multiple times: the Chantry, the Templars, the Circles, and yes, the Crows…

What's more, we see that in Thedas, assassin leagues are largely accepted so long as they are considered part of the area they operate in. Orlais' House of Repose, for instance. Even Josephine insists that the House of Repose must follow their contracts, that they are obligated to abide by their own rules.