4. What are their views of the Chantry?
Despite Thora’s status as an Andrastian, and a fairly devout one at that, her perspective of the Chantry is still that of an outsider. Not as much as an outsider as a Dalish elf or a born follower of the Qun, but an outsider nonetheless. Like elves and qunari, dwarves are not included in Chantry customs or lore, not even being referenced in the Chant of Light itself. Thora herself grew up never attending Chantry services in-person, instead listening to the Chanters on street corners and worshipping in private, it isn’t until Inquisition she attends them and by that point her own way of keeping the faith is such habit.
Her view of the Chantry is that it lost its way. At the beginning of Inquisition she thinks it’s more recent, that at some point in near history the Circles turned against what they had been founded for and that the Chantry has become something meant to maintain power than spread charity and hope. Through the game she begins to realise it lost its way a long time ago, when the first Circle was built or when the second Exalted March was declared.
She isn’t in favour of dismantling it entirely, but would approve of and advocate for a reduction in the Chantry’s political power and a complete disbanding of its military. Even when she approves of the politics of Divine as is the case with Leliana the fact that one person can have that much power means that if the next person comes along and feels differently, everything’s undone. Similar to the reasons that she disbands the Inquisition, something as unaccountable as the Chantry can’t really be allowed to persist as it is.
9. Did they have Bull sacrifice the Chargers or the Dreadnought?
Thora almost doesn’t go. Had the Qun not offered forward the opportunity to strike a blow against the Venatori, she probably wouldn’t have, feeling any alliance with the qunari would inevitably cut both ways. Unsurprisingly, she chooses to save the Chagers, although it’s not an easy decision. If I can like stand on my soapbox for a second, I find this being one of the decisions that people will judge you for choosing the opposite missing the part where a boatful of people die if you sacrifice the Dreadnought. Now, sacrificing the Chargers also kills what’s likely a similar number, it’s implied the Chargers are a larger company than the half dozen we meet in-game, but my point is that your Inquisitor probably shouldn’t come away from that quest feeling good.
Thora doesn’t. She is sorry for the lives lost and the people who will mourn them back home, but ultimately felt that when the lives of civilians aren’t on the line her people take precedence. On a cold, practical note, she completes this quest sometime prior to What Pride Had Wrought, and that kind of blow to morale that close to a battle would bode poorly. But she can’t call what she did the “right” decision, because there wasn’t one.
16. How do they react to the corruption of the Wardens? Why?
It’s upsetting. Thora’s default Warden is Joly’s Aeducan, Tamar, who apart from being a shining example of what a good Warden can be is also a Paragon. That not all Wardens live up to the example set by her and later Blackwall (who she fully believed was a Warden) was a massive letdown to say the least. She had considered becoming one herself after the Blight, only deciding against it because she didn’t want to be unable to see her family. She’s glad she didn’t, now.
25. What makes them lose trust in someone?
When you take Blackwall and Solas into account deception alone apparently isn’t enough. I’ve explored it in fics, both lie about who they are but not how they feel, and in spite of that she still reflects upon the time she spent with them and feels she knows them both. Perhaps more than he cared to be known in Solas’ case. She can’t say neither deception hurt, but even when her faith in them wavers it doesn’t break.
Making and breaking commitments will cause her to lose trust. Tetrak and her always promised to watch one another’s backs, and him leaving shattered the relationship they had as brother and sister and salrokas. People who make promises they can’t, no, won’t keep will erode her trust faster than lying to her. The people in the Carta who lied to you were a dime a dozen, she lied about herself plenty, but if you kept your word you were golden. The people who promised the world and turned up with empty hands were the ones you had to watch out for.
44. How do they think their race plays into being Inquisitor?
She navigates a strange place in both being dwarven but not dwarven enough by the standards of the “traditional” dwarf. As a Carta dwarf she’s not recognised by the dwarven Surface “nobility” but as one put in a position of power her connection with the people she ran with isn’t as complete as it used to be. She wears armour that was fitted for her and not scavenged, she has coin, and while she builds up those connections again through Inquisition and after they contribute to her isolation during the early parts of the game. It’s important to note that it’s race and class that play into her role. Her experience would be very different if she were a dwarf of Varric’s status, for example.
And then, of course, to humans she’s a dwarf. Sometimes conveniently not dwarven enough to have her dual faiths respected (I’m not quite sure how Cassandra would react to Thora believing in the Stone and the Maker, but in-game if you choose to say you believe in the Stone Cassandra undercuts it with “but aren’t you a Surface dwarf” so), but then also too dwarven to be respected as a human might. Her skills must be in her abilities as a warrior and not a scholar, or as a thief and not a negotiator, even though Thora’s true shining moments as an Inquisitor come from her bookishness and striving for pacifism.
They try to fit her into boxes she’s too big for. They can’t be surprised when she climbs out of it.
49. What is their least favourite foe to fight?
Spirits and demons, of any sort. They’re the ones she has zero experience with, she’s fought Templars in Kirkwall, the Carta’s been seen to employ apostates so she’s fought mages, and she’s locked blades with the occasional Darkspawn in her time. When the Breach opened she’d never seen them before, they were nightmares in the Chant and nothing else.
It gets worse when Solas tells her they’re people, and worse again when she actually starts to believe him.
50. Are they proud of what they accomplished?
Yes and no. There are some decisions which will never sit right with her— Halamshiral, for example. She’s not sure what she could go and do different if she had the chance, and wonders if letting Briala continue her work from exile is better than if she could go back and secure her a position as ambassador or marquise, but it doesn’t stop her from regretting it. That quest is also the instance where she is reminded that her accomplishments are already being rewritten, the mages she allied with are now enemies she vanquished on the lips of the herald who announced her entrance.
Some things, like her alliance with the mages, she is genuinely proud of and the good it does alone is enough to make her think it was worth everything else. The Wardens look to be reevaluating their Order, and hopefully improving what wasn’t working (at least south of Weisshaupt).
She’s worried too much pride will make her complacent, especially because everything she accomplished she hardly did alone. It’s hard not to feel good when she’s walking through Skyhold and seeing the beginnings of what she hopes is a better Thedas starting within its walls.
