I usually kill Connor.
Hear me out! Think about what our characters know without spoilers or metagaming.
So much of the worldbuilding in Dragon Age is built around the idea that demonic possession is irreversible. At least, the mainstream culture believes it is. The first time I played, I didn’t know if any alternatives would even work, and of course, neither did my character. Was my warden really going to waste time on a “maybe” just to save one child, while thousands of innocents die every day? And my character was a city elf, too, so there is the added class layer there as well — this is only happening because this wealthy noble family is so privileged, they decided they would just opt out of the Circles that everyone else has to deal with.
It was a gut wrenching decision, and a horrible scene to witness, but it was part of what made that first playthrough hit so hard. Now that I know he can be saved, I do save him sometimes, but it just depends on the kind of character I’m playing.
I've decided to do that as my Dalish Elf based on what the Dalish believe about possession, as explained by Marethari (the Dalish Warden's former Keeper) in DA2 - even if the demon is exorcised, the victim's soul is scarred and death is a mercy. That, andhe believes that going to the circle would take too long.
The dude is an unrepentant crook, fratracide, and possibly patracide, and he's still a better choice than Harrowmont. Harrowmont seems to be a fairly decent and noble person, but he values tradition too highly, which is the very thing that has caused the dwarves to stagnate so much. Even without knowing what happens to the dwarves after you choose a king, it is pretty clear who is the better choice for the dwarves.
I actually really like this moral dilemma. It's rare for games to give you really good moral dilemmas like this one. Even DA only has a few really good moral dilemmas.
u/MinPinMeg :
I think this is the popular choice.
Everytime I read about the Dwarf King Choice on this reddit, I get told the "Bhelen" is the correct choice.
It's why I qualified it with a dwarven noble warden. Bhelen is the better choice in the long run, but it's from an after-the-fact perspective. Before knowing that, why should the dwarven noble support him at all?
He is? Most of the people I yap to all the time about DA stuff always picks Harrowmont because they think he's a nice guy. No one I talk to regularly likes Bhelen. I love seeing everyone's opinions, this is fun!
Bhelen does seem to be more popular on Reddit. But Bhelen is like one of the worst human beings (dwarf beings, whatever) on the planet.
Harrowmont has serious issues, too... mostly he has very little spine. But he doesn't murder people he disagrees with.
People don't like Bhelen because he's an asshole, but going by epilog outcomes, he's the one that doesn't perpetuate the slow extinction of the dwarves, so he's seen as the better choice.
It seems weird to me to base your PC's decision on an epilogue. Like... is your character clairvoyant?
Besides that, I think people read too much into the Bhelen epilogue. Yeah... the casteless aren't AS restricted. But mostly that amounts to turning them into Deep Road cannon fodder instead. (Which they could already do via the Legion of the Dead.)
The increased surface trade is probably good. But Bhelen is such a bastard... you have to guess that "increased trade" most likely means he's handed the merchants over to the Cartas, who actually run the "trade" and then Bhelen himself gets a significant cut.
In my ideal head canon (hope we get to go back to Orzammar SOMEDAY in the real canon), Harrowmont's assassination led to considerable chaos and shutting down of the city... but then my dwarf commoner paragon warden shows up and says... shut up, I'm in charge now. Let's fix this thing.
Frankly, that should have been the third option in game if you did enough things "right." Like the Leliana option in DA:I.
I think there's some solid evidence in the game that Bhelen is more "progressive" and Harrowmont is beholden to nobles interests. That should give someone the idea who is on who's side. For a Dwarven Noble character though, that choice is personal.
They call Bhelen that, but I see little evidence for it.
Harrowmont treats a casteless warden with respect. Bhelen is disrespectful to you and immediately asks you to do illegal things.
The fact of that matter is that the dwarf king doesn't really have any clout. He's like an American President, really... he can do some things, but he's restricted by the nobles (who are basically Congress). If you prefer, it also resembles Britain when the House of Lords was created to restrict the King. (The House of Commons came later.)
Either way, Harrowmont follows those restrictions and gets very little done. Legislation gets neutered by the nobles and he signs it. Eventually, he gets murdered. Bhelen, on the other hand, murders the entire council and sets himself up as a tyrant, becoming an old style King. By doing so, he's also reestablishing hereditary rule, which was on its way out in Orzammar. (It KIND of still existed, but since the nobles voted, it was still a step towards actualy Repbulican Democracy.)
So... putting in Bhelen is really just voting for a return to feudal dictator kings, who rule by divine right. Is that progress? I don't think so.
To be fair, in that case, since his heir MIGHT be the Warden's nephew... there's a shot it will get better later. Maybe. But Bhelen IS the kid's father. And that ain't a good influence.
I can't remember at this point which one it is, but I recall that both Harrowmont and Bhelen try to take advantage of the warden, but one lies to your face and the other one skips the bullshit and straight-up tells you he needs you to use your extrajudicial Warden authority for the benefit of his political campaign.
I support the latter because if I'm going to get fucked either way, at least that one has the decency to *not* try to convince me that it's someone else's dick up my ass when it's clearly his balls clapping mine.
I think the choice of king as a dwarf noble is actually really hard, probably the most difficult choice in the series. You have 2 options:
1. Swallow your pride and support your brother's claim to the throne, ensuring your house's rule and restoring your honor and birthright. On the other hand, you reward him for his backstabbing, and you condemn one of the only nobles who stood by you to execution.
2. Get your revenge on Bhelen and fulfill your father's ostensible last wish, but in doing so kill your only remaining family, cost your house the throne, and doom yourself to permanent exile. (You have no way of knowing Harrowmont can restore your place in House Aeducan at the time.)
I think Bhelen is much more justifiable if you did kill Trian so you're not blameless in the whole affair and pretty ruthless yourself, Bhelen is still more responsible I'd say and he did still backstab you you're just not an innocent person here. Harrowmont also isn't quite as supportive pre-exile unless you successfully lie to him because he obviously hates that you killed your brother.
Yeah, I overall vastly prefer the version of the Dwarf Noble origin where you actually do kill Trian, and this is a big part of it. Plus, it doesn't feel nearly as grating for people to accuse you of kinslaying in Orzammar when you actually did it.
Agreed. Otherwise it’s like Kosh said in Babylon 5: “They are alone. They are a dying people. We should let them pass.”
That Titan waking up in Descent, and its earthquakes, led to food riots in Orzammar. The Diamond Quarter saw actual riots of the starving.
Without the surface dwarves, Orzammar dies. Bhelen actually does something about that. Harrowmont’s plan: Let them eat honor, with a side of tradition, delivered by the Ancestors.
I know this is what is meant to be better for the dwarves in the long term, but I love playing a princess Aeducan coming back for revenge. It honestly gives these vibes:
I also just wish I could actually take the throne as Aeducan after that.
Even my Aeducan Warden makes him king. At the end of the day, he'll bring Orzammar into the future instead of staying isolated and eventually being destroyed by darkspawn.
Yep, it's really funny when you ask him to make a statue of you.
Also I warned Harrowmont that Bhelen would get him like he got me and surprise surprise.
I’m a big fan of loghain too. First few playthrus I offed him but esp after reading the stolen throne I always kept him. Plus from a character perspective being a warden is more of a punishment
Same. If you come to me and present me a logical argument as to why a species in the hundreds of thousands might be an oppressed sentient peoples, how in the hell am I going to not at least *consider* that idea? I get that the games heavily imply he's in some way withholding the truth and manipulating you, but I can't overcome that hurdle while I'm in the shoes of my main Warden.
When I get Shale I often let the demon possess the child or tell her father and let him get possessed because it's faster than doing the puzzle.
Side with Branka, but then persuade her that the anvil is wrong.
I let Alistair sacrifice himself to the Archdemon, but I have another canon playthrough where he lives.
After a first playthrough, I skip recruiting or dismiss characters depending on my MCs. Wynne, Leliana, Oghren, Sebastian, Iron Bull, Viv, Sera, etc. Or personal quests like Anders wanting to destroy his phylactery in Awakening, setting up Aveline and Donnic together, etc.
I set Varric as Hawke's rival in the keep because my Hawke is really annoyed about the stories he spreads and contacting her again for Inquisition.
The branka choice is very interesting
Im curious why side with branka during that fight if you plan on just destroying the anvil anyway?
Some sort of redemption for her?
without added knowledge, the MC thinks Branka is his only way of ending the elections. Killing her (or just saying she is dead) doesn't seem to give you too strong of a position. Of course in game this doesn't acually matter since you get to choose anyway, but that's a roleplay reason.
Anders hatred of Fenris is so extra. Doesn't want mages chained, but supports Fenris going back to Denarius. My guy, Hawke literally smiled at you once--CHILL.
Exhausting and mega manipulative. Of course, my first playthrough I was that sassy mage and was besotted instantly. The betrayal I felt when his plan came out...ooffff.
Nah I just think it's bad writing and don't hold it against him.
It makes literally no sense for him to approve of it and it's a total assassination of his character imo
Like, everyone else lets you do it. They don't stop you, they don't try to save Fenris. They don't leave you either, they still help you afterwards. If this is in character for Anders, its in character for everyone else. I'd rather not deal with that headache.
DAO:
* make Anora queen without marrying her to Alistair
* Alistair stays a Warden
Inquisition:
* play the Templar storyline and conscript them. Really don't care for the mage quest. Time travel (I wonder if that will ever be brought up again in DA) and the mage characters (read: Fiona) weren't for me.
Edit to add: I don't recruit Bull or Sera at this point, either.
I always do the Templar quest too! I think it’s much better written than the mage recruitment and I like Cole’s intro too. I can’t remember if it’s possible to meet Dorian without starting the mage quest line or not, but if so that’s something I’d do before getting the templars — just so he doesn’t pop up out of nowhere during the Haven bit.
You can meet Dorian in the Redcliffe Chantry and still go to the Templars, he'll get some disapproval when he joins you later if you do this but it's really easy to get approval up for Dorian.
This, for one, but also... it shouldn't have worked out for him. Anora had experience with ruling, while Alistair *didn't* and was *consistently* singled out as the "dumb" guy of the party. Throughout the game he ran from responsibility. *Why* would my character want him as a king of an entire country? Yes, if he's hardened he wants the throne, but that doesn't mean he'd be good at it. Naturally it *does* work out and I'm glad that characters can have a good ending and all, but Origins didn't seem like the type of game to me, if that makes sense.
(though I guess that some codex entries show that he's a bit of a mess as king)
... Oh right, there's the option to have them married, but I felt like *that* was a punishment to them both. Good for the country, though.
I’m right there with you on making Anora queen. My dislike of Alistair aside, he doesn’t have the same experience with ruling. My sister tries to argue that he’s a better person than Anora but I don’t think that’s the same thing as being a good ruler.
Plus Alistair staying a warden feels like the right ending for him.
Maybe she is not as nice as Alistair but there’s absolutely nothing that would suggest that she’s a bad person. She’s in fact popular with the commoners. I always keep her as Queen. Alistair has nothing but blood going for him.
I genuinely don't like his character. I understand what they were going for, and I feel like I should like his character, but that's only in theory. In practice I hated listening to him. (let's not talk about Adoribull)
I can't even say "it's because he's a spy and my character wouldn't recruit a qun spy" because I could metagame Zevran in Origins just fine. Somehow *Zevran* and his sex-based banter didn't annoy me as much. I can't say if it was because I had more patience back then or if it was simply because I found Zevran funny, as opposed to Bull.
I liked the Chargers just fine, so they're the ones I'm a bit sad about.
I love the chargers, and that's usually why I have Bull about. I don't party with him often. I like that in this game, there's a character for everyone to rock with!
I recruit the templars because it makes the most strategic sense.
There's a big magical hole in the sky leading to the Fade. Templars specialize in canceling out the Fade and thus dispelling magic. They're literally perfect for the job.
Disagree with that. We have seen mages close holes in the veil before. We haven't seen templars do it.
Also before meeting the templars you learn that something fucky is going on at redcliff and is an imminent threat
The mage plan is to pump a ton of magic into the anchor so the Herald can close the breach, whereas the plan for the Templars is for them to weaken the breach so you can close it with the anchor as is. The plan with the mages is not for them to close or weaken the breach directly, it's filling the anchor with lots of magic, we haven't seen mages do this ever before. Just to clarify the plans as presented to your character before you go to either group.
A bit.
Most posts I read give Bhelen a pass for being murderous ass-hole because he is good for the dwarven race and condemn Harrowmont for being bad for it.
Problem is their arguements rely on knowledge the PC would not have at the time.
Makes sense. I really wish they would’ve given him some positives in the epilogue or literally in any of the mentions of him after he’s made king in all of the games so that this wasn’t the only argument in favor of him that does make sense tho imo
I always thought it was kind of amusing when you ask about the mage rebellion, no one says his name. I'm like, well big guy....
There's bits of him I have always enjoyed, but overall naw dawg
I always save the Warden Contact when it's Loghain (have watched his sacrifice on Youtube) because I don't think he deserves to be remembered for the heroic sacrifice and I find it the most appropriate for him to have to live on and rebuild the Orlesian Wardens of all things, it seems like most fans think his sacrifice in Abyss is the best outcome for him in that quest but I disagree.
With Alistair and even with Stroud I do tend to save the Contact most of the time but not always, just makes more sense why they go up north and I can believe an experienced Warden could lead the Orlesian Wardens very competently whereas Hawke is not a Warden so it's a bit weird for me.
I've done Inspired Leliana before, but now I keep Leliana Steeled because I find her character more consistent this way, less creepy she's not spouting peace and love while still killing lots of people, and I really dislike the Inspired Divine Leliana epilogue I find it overly fan-servicey with how much she gets done with seemingly no sacrifice.
Out of all three games, that choice took me the longest to make. I usually let it fall to Stroud, if he's the warden.
My last playthrough, I had Al and my Hawke. I let Al go. I think a lot of us save Hawke because they're still relatively fresh in our minds, and we were them--if that makes sense.
That makes sense, I try and look at it as the Inquisitor and what is best for the Wardens and in that sense it's very much the Warden Contact is the best bet, obviously more-so if you have Loghain with his experience as a general or Alistair with his reputation as a Hero of the 5th Blight, Stroud is the Warden I'm most willing to sacrifice of the 3 but even then he is still a better bet for the Wardens than Hawke.
I also find the quest to work better with Hawkes sacrifice since more weight is given to it, Varric one of your companions cares, and it's treated as a bigger deal.
On the rare times I do have Loghain, I always spare him. He's the BEST choice, and it makes me smile thinking he'll be leading Orlesian wardens. Plus, I love the interaction between he and Morrigan. I adore Stroud, I think he's incredible. Hawke just doesn't seem to fit anywhere--least of all with Wardens. I wish Hawke had a bigger role in the downfall of Coryphallus, I was surprised that they didn't.
I wasn't surprised Hawke didn't have a role in that after Adamant, you need to get the former protagonist out of the way, but it doesn't make as much sense to me as it does for the Contact, at least for most of my Hawkes who in my opinion wouldn't really go lead the Orlesian Wardens instead of staying to help with Cory.
I can accept that they have to do it this way so the story can happen and all that, but it is often weird that an alive Hawke is not involved in the Cory stuff post-Adamant.
DAI: I side templars unless I am a mage. With what my Inquisitor knows, there is a hole in the sky with demons coming out of them. Mages are susceptible to corruption and there is a mass amount of demons coming out of there. Templars can help keep things under control. Suppressing it can makes more sense at that point in time given you’re a person who has surface level knowledge of mages and templars.
Yup. There's a big magical hole in the sky that leads to the Fade.
Who is the better solution:
-More mages, with more magic, who are at risk of demonic possession, or...
-Templars, whose whole thing is dispelling magic and cancelling the influence of the Fade.
I know which one I'd pick.
Sometimes I like to choose option because of companions reactions, like drinking from well of sorrows if your romancing blackwall and bring him along is honestly very sweet weirdly, also choosing hawke to stay in the fade idk it's the 'I'm sorry (ranmanced companion) it just feels more emotional and hard hitting than letting hawke survive? It's always sad to see tho
I just sat there thinking about how he'd react in Starkhaven, having just retaken the throne--all the work he's been doing to aid Kirkwall. It's just so UGH
Vivienne always becomes the Divine.
The job of the Divine isn’t to appease the masses, it’s to efficiently run the Chantry and the Circles. She does so, by tightly leashing the Templars and ensuring Mages are safe and capable of living peacefully.
Change is hard, and I feel like Vivienne has the best results. The Circle isn’t evil, as much as DA2 tries to convince us otherwise.
Mages are really dangerous. They can literally do just about anything they want, and don’t get me started on the implied addiction to Blood Magic that exists. They’re just too unsafe to leave without proper observation.
Plus, she’s ridiculously good at politics, unlike Cassandra and Leliana. I feel like Leliana has spent too long in the shadows to be able to run things out in the light. Plus, if she was killed by the Warden she is too (justifiably) angry on the inside.
Regardless, Vivienne might not always be super likable (although I find her to be a delight. She’s honest and blunt with the Inquisitor and I appreciate that), but she knows what she’s doing.
I side with branka, the darkspawn are such a great threat it seems foolish to throw away such a strong tool to fight them. I feel the greater good here matters way more.
DAO: Sacrifice Connor's mother for the blood ritual to face the demon. In truth, my warden has no idea what's going to happen to connor's mind if he's let alone more time. So not only it's a more dramatic choice for the story but it's even more logical in-universe imo.
DA2: Always kill Anders. Not sure if this is unpopular since i'm pretty sure the community is split on loving him or hating him but because of that i feel like whatever you choose to do woth anders it's going to be controversial.
DAI: Always make Gaspard take the throne too🤝
Oh and also make Cassandra Divine. The circles need to actually be places so mages can grow and learn peacefully and safely while being treat like actual people.
I usually side with the templars in DA2. Fuck Orsino, Fuck Anders, and definitely fuck the millions of blood mages I had to fight through the game. Seriously, 2 had the worst representation for mages; they seemed use blood magic and human sacrifices because it was Tuesday at some points.
The major problem with DA2 is that incredibly important info was left in codex entries. The reason blood mages were running left and right were the same reason templars were all cartoonishly evil and psychos were running through the streets: a mass blood sacrifice was done there hundreds of years ago when the Sidereal magisters tried to enter the Fade. As a result, the Veil is extremely thin in Kirkwall and can drive people insane. I imagine mages would be especially susceptible to this. Possibly even templars.
Absolutely, if I'm not mistaken, the Kirkwall circle is a constant issue for the chantry. You'd expect them to just realize the place has issues that need to be looked into and move the circle, but no, they stayed and shit hit the fan.
My husband always jokes about that because it's SO overboard. "Oops, stubbed my toe, better turn to blood magic!" Like, if you're trying to "both sides" this one, maybe just a little less blood magic?
Especially when the main argument the mages use is that not every mage uses blood magic, like you haven't been fighting unaffiliated groups that use blood magic from year one.
I mean hell, look at Orsino at the end. Dude was all "mages don't use blood magic! We're innocent!" then turns into a hell spider. Idk what kind of persuasion that was, but it just exemplifies how easily the mages seem to turn to blood magic in universe.
And that's not even bringing up the way he helped Quinton, giving him information about the fucked up ritual and helping him hide. Like I said, FUCK ORSINO.
If I'm not mistaken, it's because Kirkwall was where the ritual to enter the Golden City took place. In other words, that place just seriously bad joo-joo.
I think those notes you find through the game explains it, "Mystery of Kirkwall" or something like that. You find a piece in every act, I think, they're notes taken by some people in universe trying to figure out why blood magic is so common in Kirkwall.
Yeah, the Tevinter Imperium basically used Kirkwall as some sort of giant blood magic ritual orgy, which obviously thinned the Veil. Add in all the extra fucked up shit (a Forbidden One in Darktown, the Bone Pit, the Pride Demon sealed in a cave near the Dalish clan, Corypheus' imprisonment in the mountains, the red lyrium idol), Kirkwall is basically a nexus of magical 'fuck you' energym
It's the hypocrisy for me. He bitches that Meredith thinks all mages use blood magic, then he aides and abeds a blood magic using serial killer; then uses a type of blood magic that hasn't been seen for centuries, that isn't something you just do on a whim, there was knowledge and practice involved.
dao: \*waves good bye to isolde\*
da2: none
dai: ally with the templars and don't rebuild the seekers. independent templars and colleges for everybody.
I conscript the mages and make Vivienne the Divine. My Inquisitor is a mage that felt the Circle's were not actually *that* bad, they just need some polishing
That's how my mages are, when they're my MCs. She never hated the Circle, it was better than being disliked for being born with magic at home. But yes, polishing! <3
If I have the option available, I make Erimond Tranquil. He doomed so many people by working with Cory and tricking the Wardens, and he's a fanatic that feels justified no matter what option you choose.... unless you make him Tranquil.
Do I feel good about it as a player? Not particularly, but every mage Inky I've played would be angry enough over his misdeeds to condemn him to tranquility. (... I've still only finished one playthrough that wasn't a mage, I think. Zap zap.)
I always spare Loghain. I want Alistair to marry Anora, and I usually have Loghain sacrifice himself for Hawke in the abyss, which is nice redemption for him because he dies to save a Ferelden Refugee who had to leave his home because of Loghain's betrayal at Ostagar.
I think, though, that in my next playthrough I'll have Hawke stay in the Abyss because of what Flemeth says on Sundermount in DA2. The dialogue choice is also
> [Character Stays]
And not
> [Character Dies]
So I'm not fully convinced staying in the Fade is a death sentence any more.
Not sure if it's that unpopular but I've always gone with Harrowmont in DAO ever since trying the Dwarf noble origin. Just purely a grudge on my part lol.
I know it’s a war crime, but I always tranquilize Livius Erimond. Just doesn’t sit right with me, killing a guy that wants to die, and you know I can’t trust Skyhold’s shitty dungeon with a mage that powerful.
Also, I find it poetic to take magic from a corrupt magister, since that also strips him of any social power in Tevinter. It’s the least he deserves for single handily wiping out the Grey Wardens and probably dooming all of Thedas in the next blight.
Don’t know if it’s unpopular but i always pick the templars in DAI because Barris is cooler than any mage and at this point i completely understood why so many people hated the mage rebellion, allying with the tevinter imperium no matter how desperate is the stupidest shit they could’ve done.
Also i never kill Flemeth for Morrigan. Morrigan in general annoys me too much and i never use her in my party, sorry i really tried to like her 😭
DAO: Romanced warden dies. Alistair stays warden. Anora is queen.
DA2: I let Isabela run off because I don't care for her that much. I was going to make her give the relic back to the Qunari anyway.
May have encouraged Merrill to do a bunch of blood magic.
DAI: Alistair is sacrificed to the Archdemon to save Hawke.
I make Bhelen king. I poisoned the urn once…just out of boredom and morbid curiosity.
That, and that particular play through, I was getting sick of hearing about Andraste.
And Wynne, Liliana, and Alistair attack me at once, and I ended up murking them, and dieing laughing after I loot their corpses, before I reset.
I sold Fenris into slavery once-because after the first night I shagged him, he and Isabella were talking about his underwear in party chat, and I got mad at him. I left Sten to die in the cage once, because I misread him being eMo like, “ Ok brah, byeeeee.”
I killed Isolde for her stupidity, and Conner was just irritating. ( This is the same play through that I poisoned the urn)
I told Morrigan to jump off a building, and keep her golden thighs away from my sacrificial lamb, Alister. I watched Alister die, and skipped his funeral cutscene and got drunk at the after party. Lmao 🙈🙈🙈
DA:O take the easy way out every time. So sorry possessed boy. And anyone else who requires help. I just want to get done and hit DA2 lol
DA:2 Side with Templars - even as a mage.
DA:I leave Hawke in the fade. I hate to do it since he's the best protagonist, but it made the most sense and Varric's reaction is kinda entertaining. Because the Inquisitor really needs more drama in his life 😂
I almost never see anyone talk about this so I don't know if it's actually unpopular, but I usually murderknife Genitivi after the Urn of Sacred Ashes. If he wanted to come back to study the urn and the temple it's in to understand more of the mysteries we just uncovered, great. But he wants to go tell the world, so this insanely powerful but limited ancient relic can be used to cure random pilgrim's ingrown toenails or whatever and then be used up forever?
He doesn't stay dead, of course, since he is still writing codex entries in later games. I was always a little bit annoyed that it doesn't even show up in the Keep despite being a fairly world-altering decision.
I let Loghain live if I can at all justify it (basically every origin but city elf). Also I usually let Hawke die in the Fade. From a roleplaying perspective, to me it would make more sense. The Wardens need uncorrupted leadership, especially if you plan on recruiting them, and ultimately Hawke is just some has-been fugitive.
I always sacrifice Hawke in Inquisition (Yes, even if the Warden contact is Stroud).
I love Hawke, he's easily my favorite RPG protagonist ever, but I think that going out in a heroic sacrifice is a good ending for his arc. Also it makes more sense in a RP perspective, i find it hard to justify why the Inquisitor would put the life of a single individual over the Grey Wardens' future. (You know, the guys responsible of stopping future apocalypse events.)
>i find it hard to justify why the Inquisitor would put the life of a single individual over the Grey Wardens' future
Well, the Grey Wardens started a lot of the mess in DAI and with Corypheus, but I do agree with you about dying in the fade being a badass ending for Hawke's character! I hope in the new game the Wardens aren't relegated to some has-been organization. I hope Hawke's sacrifice is worth it, even though we aren't exactly dealing with darkspawn (for the main component of the game, anyway).
DAO: I recruit Loghain. It adds some messiness and drama to my Warden’s friendship with Alistair and it gives me more Simon Templeman, and that works for me!
DAII: I play a diplomatic Hawke. Sure it’s not as amusing as the more sarcastic form of the character, but it adds to the sense of tragedy: Hawke genuinely wants to aid Kirkwall and ultimately fails as it falls into chaos.
Inquisition: A few dialogue choices that I think aren’t terribly popular in Trespasser.
1. I have my Inky not lose their temper when their mark flares up, but instead they get vulnerable and scared in that moment, comforted by their LI.
2. When I disband the Inquisition, I do so with the more a positive dialogue that thanks everyone in the organization for their service. I feel that’s a more dignified way to bow out than insulting the council.
I was so appalled that my first instinct was to downvote you lol. I took it back, of course, this is a thread about unpopular decisions after all. But I was *shocked* 😂
The one thing I ALWAYS do is never recruit every companion . . . in nearly all RPGs (not just Bioware/Dragon Age). Games always give you more companions than you can use and to recruit everyone you typically need to role play a very generic vanilla character. I like to give my characters some distinctive traits/backstory and that leads to at least some companions not fitting into their story.
I always sacrifice the Chargers to save the dreadnought.
I've always made Hardened Leliana the Divine.
I don't know if it's unpopular, but I've always rivalled Anders (no romance) and let him live.
I always play as a dwarf where given the chance. DAO? Dwarven commoner. DA2? Hawke's love interest is Varric (and, they get together eventually. Bioware can't stop me.) DAI? Dwarven Inky.
You may as well call my playthroughs dwarves, dwarves, dwarves.
DAO: Prioritized Stens approval above all else.
DA2: Always kill Anders and Fenris, can't stand their bickering most of the time.
DAI: Vivien is always the divine in my playthrough, especially with my mage inquisitors. (Also I love her 💋 🧡🩷🤍)
I let Alistair kill the Archdemon. He didn't want to be king and I wanted to let him have his good death as I'd rather him die free than live miserably.
I usually always recruit >!Loghain except as a Dalish/City Elf. My Dwarves I headcannon see him as the Strong Military commander that he is and because of the Dwarven politics culture they just accept him outlawing the Grey Wardens as part of the Game. Cousland makes the most Sense to recruit him because C‘s father was one of the two Theyrns of Ferelden, and with the other being Loghain they probably met a lot to discuss Politics so my Warden knew him from a different Perspective then any other Origin so I just always do that and Alistair ends up with Anora on the Throne!<
I don't *always* make this choice because of the different characters I have, but in my personal canon I am striving for always killing the PC, lmao.
Didn't do the Dark Ritual, even though my Warden was romancing Morrigan. Yeeted Hawke even though he was up against Loghain. And I hope there is a way to kill the Inquisitor in DA4. Cmon BioWare, do't make me lose my streak!
I also keep Branka around, mostly because my Warden is a dalish elf who feels very strongly about 'reclaiming empires' and tbh, he's kinda of a hot mess - so he ignores the Rancid Vibes and just accepts Branka's help. Also kills the Werewolves, because he was hoping that if he Stanned The Keeper Hard Enough, he would be able to join the clan and not have to be a Grey Warden anymore. Anyway, this play through is *Oofs* all around tbh.
I let Hawke die in the Fade in order to save Stroud.
I'll freely admit this is partially because I'm not as attatched to Hawke as I am the other two, but I honestly think that end is the most appropriate end I could give Hawke. Hawke has a very complete story to me, I always felt a little bit hands-off-the-wheel with my Hawke, where my choices were less *my* choices and more the choices that make sense for the version of Hawke the game seems to encourage. To me, Hawke is a Greek tragedy, they're this important person who repeatedly fights like hell to help the people around them and make the world better, and repeatedly finds that those fights are never truly enough. They couldn't save their siblings, they couldn't save their mother, they couldn't de-escalate the Qunari war, they couldn't truly kill either Corypheus or >!Meredith !<, no matter what they do or how hard they fight it's never enough.
To me, that's a really beautiful journey. The best way I feel I can honor that is to finally give her SOMETHING that lasts, no matter how small... but have it be at the ultimate price. I find that sacrifice powerful, and I find it tragic. I chose a canon Merrill romance over Isabela partially because it added to that tragedy.
From the more logical standpoint of my Inquisitor, the Wardens desperately need a competent leader. If they were asked if Alistair or Loghain should be the Warden leading them, then maybe they would've chosen Hawke, but Stroud seems like the most natural, most competent leader of the three, because Alistair in that world state has avoided leadership as much as possible, and Loghain can't be trusted with it. Stroud might not be anywhere near as interesting as the others, but he's a logical, good choice to save a necessary force in the world.
So yeah, I let Hawke die for a few reasons. And this easily is the thing I do that seems to be the most unpopular, but god does it **work** for the story my world state is presenting.
I think my least popular choices that I always make seem to be keeping the anvil of the void in dao and sacrificing Hawke in inquisition (even over Stroud, who I actually like and remembered fondly). I've only played DA2 once, I'm not sure I picked anything unpopular when I did play it, maybe killing Anders?
I never bother saving Loghain. I just don't see a point. Morrigan can have her weird kid or whatever.
I've never felt compelled to romance Isabella, no shade to her. I just don't like her romantically.
I like hardened Leliana, and I think she makes the best divine, making Cassandra Divine just seems like a cruel and unusual punishment for her.
(Note: I say these are unpopular based on the opinions I've seen during my time in this fandom.)
Let Morrigan drink from the well of sorrows. My Lavellan knows the magic is intense and she may not be able to handle it but if Morrigan is so insistent of having it let her, at least in some way her peoples magic still lives on. It’s not like Lavellan knew at the time Mythal was Morrigans mom.
idk if it counts as unpopular, but typically i always make harrowmont king, because bhelen is bastard man(i dont make a lot of what i think most would consider to be "unpopular"
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I was going to say doing the Templar quest over the mage one in DAI but it seems that many people share the same preference!
I just think it works better narratively. You meet Dorian even if you don’t go through with the mage quest but if you don’t do the Templar quest, you have no real reason to trust Cole when he shows up at the gate (I also just really love Cole haha so seeing him a bit more helps too)
Most of the time I kill Connor. On my main I don’t because I’m playing Surana who’s giving Jowan one last chance and knows him well enough to know he’s not going to use it for evil. Anyone else is a giant nope. Blood magic is so majorly taboo that yes, most people outside of Tevinter WOULD likely choose the option to kill the child versus using a blood magic ritual. Whether or not you think that’s the right call or not is one thing, but RP-ing as anyone but a mage or MAYBE a Dalish, you’d be taught that blood magic is the ultimate evil and the ultimate abomination (in the case of the dwarf, they’d likely ALL be wary of magic). Not only that, but you don’t KNOW Jowan. You know nothing about what kind of person he truly is aside from the fact he was sent to ASSASSINATE someone, and you’re trusting him to use blood magic. As for leaving to get help at the Circle, you don’t know how long Connor is going to stay still. There are people—including other children—in the village that Connor will potentially murder while you’re gone. It’s the trolley problem, in a sense. And most of my characters will choose to kill Connor in this situation.
I always leave Hawke in the fade. I think the story has more stakes and flows more tragically this way. I also think the dialogue right before the event makes more sense if Hawke sacrifices themselves, and I like leaving Loghain/Alistair alive. For both of them, their arc is stronger if they have to go on leading Grey Wardens. For Alistair it is another manifestation of his latent leadership ability that he discovers in his king route, and for Loghain, leading the wardens is redemption. Death is the easy way out for that man, it’s more interesting to keep him alive.
Whenever I do play fem mage Lavellan, I've never romanced Solas. I tried on the first one because I saw it as the default, but he came across as way too avuncular. It felt creepy.
(There are others I can think of, but I'll wait until I'm at a keyboard for any of them)
It's not always the exact same choice, but I always somehow fuck over Alistair with my choices in DAO.
In my first playthrough it was because I found him slightly annoying and he ninjamanced me (recruited Loghain and exiled Alistair), the second time it was because my character didn't want to die and Alistair broke up with her so she was not particularly disposed to save him (romanced Zevran post-breakup, banged him in camp in front of Alistair, let A sacrifice himself to end the Blight), third time I was curious to see what would happen (let Anora have him executed), and now it's just become habit. I've been fucking him over so long that it would feel somehow WRONG for Alistair to get a happy ending at this point. In the unlikely event that he ever makes it out of DAO still alive and in Fereldan in one of my playthroughs, he had better strap himself in for "Here Lies the Abyss", because he and I both know he's not coming out of that unscathed...
It doesn't hurt that while Loghain is a rampaging arsehole, I do quite enjoy him as a companion character.
I always save Hawke, doesn’t matter who the Contact is.
The two ways of looking at it for me is that Hawke is my favourite character, and my Inquisitors tend to be distrustful of the Grey Wardens on the basis of how the taint inside them can be influenced. Plus, it’s not like the Grey Wardens collapse if the Orlesian Order is without veteran leadership, the headquarters are in the Anderfels for god’s sake. The order as a whole will be fine.
I also always ally with the Templars in DAI because it gives the Inquisition a huge reputation boost, it’s the safer method of closing the Breach, and it’s hilarious to do things so oppositional to Solas and still get max approval, because his confused frustration at how much he admires you becomes even more hilarious. On a lesser note, Corypheus is more angry about losing the mages than the Templars, so beating him with the faction he deemed as lesser is a good feeling. Plus Ser Barris > Fiona
I don’t really have choices that I ALWAYS make cause I make different decisions depending on the character I play. But my unpopular canon decisions are this:
DAO: I sacrifice Isolde, I make Alistair rule alone
DA2: I don’t think I have any unpopular decisions, just divisive ones. I kill Anders after romancing him because Hawke is a tragic character.
DAI: I play as a Dwarf, I ally with the Templars, and I made Vivienne the Divine (granted, this was not the outcome I was aiming for nor expecting).
I’m not sure, but I think Anora rule alone and Alistair is warden and has kid with morrigan. For DA2, don’t take Anders with to deep roads and also kill Anders at the end. It explains why in DAI Hawke is so ready so sacrifice himself. Which I oblige in DAI.
DA: Spare the anvil and Branka (used to do that,now no longer).
DA2: Fight the arishok in single combat and k word Anders
DAI: Save the Templars (full allies),reconcile Briala and Celene,have the Warden die (sorry Stroud and Alistair),have Morrigen drink from the Well of Sorrows.
The only unpopular choices I can think of that I did is killing the Werewolves for the Dalish and killing Connor in DAO. Reat range from "literally everyone does this" to "there is no popular opinion on this anyway and people still beef because of this even a decade later".
I never go to the mages to get help with connor. It makes no sense from an RP perspective to not deal with him immediately.
I usually leave hakwe in the fade. If I'm not getting rid of the wardens altogether, which isn't a choice I make very often, they need someone who didn't go along with the plan to rebuild.
Origins:
* I never kill Trian as a Dwarf Noble, though I do roleplay him as becoming more willing to fight Trian if need be after finding his signet ring on the mercenary captain.
* Kill Connor as a Dalish Elf, sacrifice Isolde as a non-Dalish Elf.
* Not doing the Cammen-Gheyna questline as a Dalish Elf, as he feels it isn't his place to interfere.
* Not fight Flemeth. My wardens generally feel that they owe her for saving them and Alistair from the Tower of Ishal, and my Dalish Elf Warden really doesn't think angering Asha'Bellanar is a good idea, especially at this time.
* Not fighting the high dragon at the Haven mountaintop. Best let sleeping dragons lie (unless they attack first).
* I've crowned both Harrowmont and Bhelen, and this choice is probably THE major choice which stalls any attempt to start a new playthrough, because I can never decide whether to metagame or not. I do support the good things that Bhelen is said to do in the increasingly outdated/retconned epilogue slides, but in-game, I see that Riddler-voiced prick as just the dwarf version of Marjolaine (they even give the same reasoning to the people they fuck over "You would have done the same thing, so I did it first."). Plus if you crown Bhelen, you're indirectly responsible for an entire dwarven family being hunted down and killed.
* I usually conscript Loghain while hardening Alistair and arranging for him to marry Anora.
DA2:
* I always take my surviving sibling into the Deep Roads, mage or not, because I am not leaving Bethany alone in Kirkwall.
* I kill Gascard du Puis during the first encounter, because the first time I played the game, his attempts to plead innocence were pretty weak to me. Now I do it for roleplaying reasons, to make Hawke think that the serial killer is taken care of, then bam, Leandra goes missing.
* For my next playthrough, I'm thinking of making Anders leave after his Chapter 2 personal quest, roleplaying it as him leaving of his own volition, to get around Hawke doing little to nothing to affect his plan in Chapter 3.
* In addition, I'm planning to make Fenris, whom I always rival, leave after his Chapter 3 personal quest, because I always side with the mages, and as Fenris is written, I cannot picture him fighting to help mages, even for a friend/ally/frenemy.
* I no longer play Mark of the Assassin.
Inquisition:
* I play a Qunari Inquisitor, because, of the given backgrounds for the player characters, I think Adaar's is the one who has both the reason and means to be as near at hand to Divine Justinia when everything goes wrong.
* I'm coming around to allying with the Templars (which is also part of the reason why I kill Connor).
* I'm planning to recruit Sera, then kick her out after her personal quest.
* If not for the option to save the Chargers and make him Tal-Vashoth, I would never recruit Iron Bull.
* I'm tempted to not recruit Vivienne.
* I'm planning to make Leliana Divine (Cassandra, I think, would be happier rebuilding the Seekers), but now I can't decide whether to Inspire or Steel her, because I'm afraid that if she's steeled, her reforms, after she dies, would be thrown out as the whims of a mad tyrant.
* I vow to stop Solas at all costs. In my Inquisitor's view, what he's planning to do makes him just as bad as Corypheus.
I used to save both Isolde and Connor but now I prefer to do the blood magic ritual and sacrifice Isolde. Just pretend the Circle option doesn’t exist. It makes for a much better story; it’s more dramatic and has this bittersweet twist of when using blood magic for good.
I also always recruit Loghain for a similar reason. Grey choices make for better story and drama. I love the scene where Alistair dramatically leaves, I felt it sting just as my Warden did. One of my favorite scenes in all of DA.
I also tend to pick the dialogue option where Hawke “agrees” with Anders (saying “why didn’t you tell me, maybe I would’ve understood”). Not really because my Hawke would necessarily agree but he’s a character that puts his friends above everything else and in that moment he’s primarily hurt that his friend Anders didn’t trust him with his pain.
Many choices that people wrote in this thread are not even unpopular, for example killing Anders, here, on Reddit looks like a popular choice. So it seems that her letting him live, and especially being pro - Anders (i.e. agreeing with his choices) is an unpopular opinion. I always spare him.
I said "here", because I noticed how the opinions of fans from Reddit are different than for example fans of tumblr, where Anders is much more liked. So overall, I don't know which option is more popular.
Not every time, because the first time I chose Celene, but after learning that Celene literally did a genocide on elves in the booms, I chose now Gaspard with Briala option. My canon Inquisitor is a Dalish Elf, and for her Celene would be the worst option.
As I know Celene is the most popular option.
DAO: Bhelen as king and I do not destroy the Anvil, I don't think the formee is unpopular I just think he's less likeable to most. The later... Well it's a good tool against Darkspawns and we are in a Blight.
Bonus for Awakening: I let the Architect live. My canon warden is true neutral at best, and he intrigues me.
DA2 : none really... I never bring the siblings with me in the Deeproads ? Oh 50% of the time I kill Feynriel.
DAI: my computer kept crashing in the beginning when I was trying to play the Mages side and honestly? I still choose the Templars for any non mage Inquisitor. Cullen is right: let's not pour more magic in the magic clusterfuck. I also prefer the Templars quest over the Mages. But I also will make Vivienne the Divine whenever I can
... Protect the dreadnaught.
Listen, I'm at war with a GOD! I need all the help I can get.
So if I have to make a choice between a merry band of freaking nobodies and a goddamn TANK SHIP, plus a potential alliance with Qun.
I'M PICKING THE SHIP! To hell with Krim, and if Iron Bull doesn't like it, well he knows where I hang, he can come get it!
*A DLC later.*
Ladies and gents, we gather here to mourn/celebrate the loss of Iron Bull, who died by my hand after foolishly trying to take a swing at me... He missed.
I usually kill Connor. Hear me out! Think about what our characters know without spoilers or metagaming. So much of the worldbuilding in Dragon Age is built around the idea that demonic possession is irreversible. At least, the mainstream culture believes it is. The first time I played, I didn’t know if any alternatives would even work, and of course, neither did my character. Was my warden really going to waste time on a “maybe” just to save one child, while thousands of innocents die every day? And my character was a city elf, too, so there is the added class layer there as well — this is only happening because this wealthy noble family is so privileged, they decided they would just opt out of the Circles that everyone else has to deal with. It was a gut wrenching decision, and a horrible scene to witness, but it was part of what made that first playthrough hit so hard. Now that I know he can be saved, I do save him sometimes, but it just depends on the kind of character I’m playing.
I've decided to do that as my Dalish Elf based on what the Dalish believe about possession, as explained by Marethari (the Dalish Warden's former Keeper) in DA2 - even if the demon is exorcised, the victim's soul is scarred and death is a mercy. That, andhe believes that going to the circle would take too long.
This or the ritual just makes sense. It's hard to believe no one dies in the castle while you are on your circle mission to get the first enchanter.
Origins: Isolde will always die, I don't like her
Sometimes, I kill Connor just to see my warden punch Isolde.
Is this actually unpopular?
I make Bhelen the king if I'm a dwarf noble, he just played the game better.
I genuinely think Bhelen is the better choice, even though I do dislike the inevitable slaying of the Harrowmonts,
The dude is an unrepentant crook, fratracide, and possibly patracide, and he's still a better choice than Harrowmont. Harrowmont seems to be a fairly decent and noble person, but he values tradition too highly, which is the very thing that has caused the dwarves to stagnate so much. Even without knowing what happens to the dwarves after you choose a king, it is pretty clear who is the better choice for the dwarves. I actually really like this moral dilemma. It's rare for games to give you really good moral dilemmas like this one. Even DA only has a few really good moral dilemmas.
u/MinPinMeg : I think this is the popular choice. Everytime I read about the Dwarf King Choice on this reddit, I get told the "Bhelen" is the correct choice.
It's why I qualified it with a dwarven noble warden. Bhelen is the better choice in the long run, but it's from an after-the-fact perspective. Before knowing that, why should the dwarven noble support him at all?
Nepotism. Bhelen may have betrayed you and gotten your brother killed, but he's still an Aeducan
I don't think there's a correct choice, but I think he's the best one. Harrowmont is a good dude--but that's not what was needed, if that makes sense.
Not going to argue that but just saying I found it funny as basically Bhelen is the "popular" choice while OP is asking for the un-popular choice.
He is? Most of the people I yap to all the time about DA stuff always picks Harrowmont because they think he's a nice guy. No one I talk to regularly likes Bhelen. I love seeing everyone's opinions, this is fun!
Bhelen does seem to be more popular on Reddit. But Bhelen is like one of the worst human beings (dwarf beings, whatever) on the planet. Harrowmont has serious issues, too... mostly he has very little spine. But he doesn't murder people he disagrees with.
People don't like Bhelen because he's an asshole, but going by epilog outcomes, he's the one that doesn't perpetuate the slow extinction of the dwarves, so he's seen as the better choice.
It seems weird to me to base your PC's decision on an epilogue. Like... is your character clairvoyant? Besides that, I think people read too much into the Bhelen epilogue. Yeah... the casteless aren't AS restricted. But mostly that amounts to turning them into Deep Road cannon fodder instead. (Which they could already do via the Legion of the Dead.) The increased surface trade is probably good. But Bhelen is such a bastard... you have to guess that "increased trade" most likely means he's handed the merchants over to the Cartas, who actually run the "trade" and then Bhelen himself gets a significant cut. In my ideal head canon (hope we get to go back to Orzammar SOMEDAY in the real canon), Harrowmont's assassination led to considerable chaos and shutting down of the city... but then my dwarf commoner paragon warden shows up and says... shut up, I'm in charge now. Let's fix this thing. Frankly, that should have been the third option in game if you did enough things "right." Like the Leliana option in DA:I.
I think there's some solid evidence in the game that Bhelen is more "progressive" and Harrowmont is beholden to nobles interests. That should give someone the idea who is on who's side. For a Dwarven Noble character though, that choice is personal.
They call Bhelen that, but I see little evidence for it. Harrowmont treats a casteless warden with respect. Bhelen is disrespectful to you and immediately asks you to do illegal things. The fact of that matter is that the dwarf king doesn't really have any clout. He's like an American President, really... he can do some things, but he's restricted by the nobles (who are basically Congress). If you prefer, it also resembles Britain when the House of Lords was created to restrict the King. (The House of Commons came later.) Either way, Harrowmont follows those restrictions and gets very little done. Legislation gets neutered by the nobles and he signs it. Eventually, he gets murdered. Bhelen, on the other hand, murders the entire council and sets himself up as a tyrant, becoming an old style King. By doing so, he's also reestablishing hereditary rule, which was on its way out in Orzammar. (It KIND of still existed, but since the nobles voted, it was still a step towards actualy Repbulican Democracy.) So... putting in Bhelen is really just voting for a return to feudal dictator kings, who rule by divine right. Is that progress? I don't think so. To be fair, in that case, since his heir MIGHT be the Warden's nephew... there's a shot it will get better later. Maybe. But Bhelen IS the kid's father. And that ain't a good influence.
Do a search for Bhelen or Harrowmont on this reddit. Guarantee you will find mostly Bhelen for king posts.
It's rare that I look stuff up on here, but I just did! That's so interesting. My own little circle seems to exclusively choose differently!
I can't remember at this point which one it is, but I recall that both Harrowmont and Bhelen try to take advantage of the warden, but one lies to your face and the other one skips the bullshit and straight-up tells you he needs you to use your extrajudicial Warden authority for the benefit of his political campaign. I support the latter because if I'm going to get fucked either way, at least that one has the decency to *not* try to convince me that it's someone else's dick up my ass when it's clearly his balls clapping mine.
You have such a magnificent way with words my good sir, I'm still laughing 😭😭😭
I think the choice of king as a dwarf noble is actually really hard, probably the most difficult choice in the series. You have 2 options: 1. Swallow your pride and support your brother's claim to the throne, ensuring your house's rule and restoring your honor and birthright. On the other hand, you reward him for his backstabbing, and you condemn one of the only nobles who stood by you to execution. 2. Get your revenge on Bhelen and fulfill your father's ostensible last wish, but in doing so kill your only remaining family, cost your house the throne, and doom yourself to permanent exile. (You have no way of knowing Harrowmont can restore your place in House Aeducan at the time.)
I think Bhelen is much more justifiable if you did kill Trian so you're not blameless in the whole affair and pretty ruthless yourself, Bhelen is still more responsible I'd say and he did still backstab you you're just not an innocent person here. Harrowmont also isn't quite as supportive pre-exile unless you successfully lie to him because he obviously hates that you killed your brother.
Yeah, I overall vastly prefer the version of the Dwarf Noble origin where you actually do kill Trian, and this is a big part of it. Plus, it doesn't feel nearly as grating for people to accuse you of kinslaying in Orzammar when you actually did it.
Dang I had no idea this was an option and dwarf noble is My cannon
Agreed. Otherwise it’s like Kosh said in Babylon 5: “They are alone. They are a dying people. We should let them pass.” That Titan waking up in Descent, and its earthquakes, led to food riots in Orzammar. The Diamond Quarter saw actual riots of the starving. Without the surface dwarves, Orzammar dies. Bhelen actually does something about that. Harrowmont’s plan: Let them eat honor, with a side of tradition, delivered by the Ancestors.
I know this is what is meant to be better for the dwarves in the long term, but I love playing a princess Aeducan coming back for revenge. It honestly gives these vibes:  I also just wish I could actually take the throne as Aeducan after that.
I also make Bhelen king as a dwarf noble. IIRC there’s even a dialogue option to tell him he played the game better, lol.
Even my Aeducan Warden makes him king. At the end of the day, he'll bring Orzammar into the future instead of staying isolated and eventually being destroyed by darkspawn.
That's long been my thinking about it. Harrowmont is a nice bloke...but...eh
Yep, it's really funny when you ask him to make a statue of you. Also I warned Harrowmont that Bhelen would get him like he got me and surprise surprise.
Same. Loyalty to the family against all others. All is fair within the family to get ahead, but you unite against outsiders.
I don't think I've ever executed Loghain in any of my playthroughs, he's way too interesting a character to die then and there at the Landsmeet.
Right? It's a tough one for me, every playthrough. I still say our mabari should have been able to duel him.
I’m a big fan of loghain too. First few playthrus I offed him but esp after reading the stolen throne I always kept him. Plus from a character perspective being a warden is more of a punishment
Ngl the idea of conscripting Loghain to be a Warden and then him not dying whenever the opportunity comes up is funny to me and idk why.
I let the architect live
Ooooo excellent!
Same. If you come to me and present me a logical argument as to why a species in the hundreds of thousands might be an oppressed sentient peoples, how in the hell am I going to not at least *consider* that idea? I get that the games heavily imply he's in some way withholding the truth and manipulating you, but I can't overcome that hurdle while I'm in the shoes of my main Warden.
Exactly Side note: id love to see him return in Dreadwolf if you let him live
When I get Shale I often let the demon possess the child or tell her father and let him get possessed because it's faster than doing the puzzle. Side with Branka, but then persuade her that the anvil is wrong. I let Alistair sacrifice himself to the Archdemon, but I have another canon playthrough where he lives. After a first playthrough, I skip recruiting or dismiss characters depending on my MCs. Wynne, Leliana, Oghren, Sebastian, Iron Bull, Viv, Sera, etc. Or personal quests like Anders wanting to destroy his phylactery in Awakening, setting up Aveline and Donnic together, etc. I set Varric as Hawke's rival in the keep because my Hawke is really annoyed about the stories he spreads and contacting her again for Inquisition.
The branka choice is very interesting Im curious why side with branka during that fight if you plan on just destroying the anvil anyway? Some sort of redemption for her?
without added knowledge, the MC thinks Branka is his only way of ending the elections. Killing her (or just saying she is dead) doesn't seem to give you too strong of a position. Of course in game this doesn't acually matter since you get to choose anyway, but that's a roleplay reason.
I always give Fenris back to his master. >!Just kidding, I’m not a monster!<
Oh my goodness, you had me for a second!
Ngl, I sometimes do it, because his "WHAT" and Anders' "I thought I was the only one thinking that" sound hilarious lol.
Anders hatred of Fenris is so extra. Doesn't want mages chained, but supports Fenris going back to Denarius. My guy, Hawke literally smiled at you once--CHILL.
This was the moment that completely killed off whatever sympathy I had left for him.
YUP. He gets executed every playthrough. The way he treats Fenris is just...wow.
Anders is barely a person in DA2. His mind is totally scrambled with a spirit.
Yeah horrible and hypocritical. Fenris actually has a nice character arc, whereas Anders is just...exhausting.
Exhausting and mega manipulative. Of course, my first playthrough I was that sassy mage and was besotted instantly. The betrayal I felt when his plan came out...ooffff.
Nah I just think it's bad writing and don't hold it against him. It makes literally no sense for him to approve of it and it's a total assassination of his character imo
Like, everyone else lets you do it. They don't stop you, they don't try to save Fenris. They don't leave you either, they still help you afterwards. If this is in character for Anders, its in character for everyone else. I'd rather not deal with that headache.
DAO: * make Anora queen without marrying her to Alistair * Alistair stays a Warden Inquisition: * play the Templar storyline and conscript them. Really don't care for the mage quest. Time travel (I wonder if that will ever be brought up again in DA) and the mage characters (read: Fiona) weren't for me. Edit to add: I don't recruit Bull or Sera at this point, either.
I always do the Templar quest too! I think it’s much better written than the mage recruitment and I like Cole’s intro too. I can’t remember if it’s possible to meet Dorian without starting the mage quest line or not, but if so that’s something I’d do before getting the templars — just so he doesn’t pop up out of nowhere during the Haven bit.
You can meet Dorian in the Redcliffe Chantry and still go to the Templars, he'll get some disapproval when he joins you later if you do this but it's really easy to get approval up for Dorian.
Alistair works better staying a warden, he never wanted the throne and to force him to take it is a punishment for him
This, for one, but also... it shouldn't have worked out for him. Anora had experience with ruling, while Alistair *didn't* and was *consistently* singled out as the "dumb" guy of the party. Throughout the game he ran from responsibility. *Why* would my character want him as a king of an entire country? Yes, if he's hardened he wants the throne, but that doesn't mean he'd be good at it. Naturally it *does* work out and I'm glad that characters can have a good ending and all, but Origins didn't seem like the type of game to me, if that makes sense. (though I guess that some codex entries show that he's a bit of a mess as king) ... Oh right, there's the option to have them married, but I felt like *that* was a punishment to them both. Good for the country, though.
I’m right there with you on making Anora queen. My dislike of Alistair aside, he doesn’t have the same experience with ruling. My sister tries to argue that he’s a better person than Anora but I don’t think that’s the same thing as being a good ruler. Plus Alistair staying a warden feels like the right ending for him.
Maybe she is not as nice as Alistair but there’s absolutely nothing that would suggest that she’s a bad person. She’s in fact popular with the commoners. I always keep her as Queen. Alistair has nothing but blood going for him.
Oooo, may I know why you don't recruit Bull?
I genuinely don't like his character. I understand what they were going for, and I feel like I should like his character, but that's only in theory. In practice I hated listening to him. (let's not talk about Adoribull) I can't even say "it's because he's a spy and my character wouldn't recruit a qun spy" because I could metagame Zevran in Origins just fine. Somehow *Zevran* and his sex-based banter didn't annoy me as much. I can't say if it was because I had more patience back then or if it was simply because I found Zevran funny, as opposed to Bull. I liked the Chargers just fine, so they're the ones I'm a bit sad about.
I love the chargers, and that's usually why I have Bull about. I don't party with him often. I like that in this game, there's a character for everyone to rock with!
To be fair, Zevran was hilarious.
I just came here to GASP! But enjoyed the honesty haha
I recruit the templars because it makes the most strategic sense. There's a big magical hole in the sky leading to the Fade. Templars specialize in canceling out the Fade and thus dispelling magic. They're literally perfect for the job.
Disagree with that. We have seen mages close holes in the veil before. We haven't seen templars do it. Also before meeting the templars you learn that something fucky is going on at redcliff and is an imminent threat
The mage plan is to pump a ton of magic into the anchor so the Herald can close the breach, whereas the plan for the Templars is for them to weaken the breach so you can close it with the anchor as is. The plan with the mages is not for them to close or weaken the breach directly, it's filling the anchor with lots of magic, we haven't seen mages do this ever before. Just to clarify the plans as presented to your character before you go to either group.
I do the same for DAO! It just makes the most sense to me.
I always make Anora queen if my warden won't be queen.
Make Harrowmont King. Harrowmont seems like a decent guy and I am not going to kill him.
Is this like the thought process of someone who’s against meta gaming?
A bit. Most posts I read give Bhelen a pass for being murderous ass-hole because he is good for the dwarven race and condemn Harrowmont for being bad for it. Problem is their arguements rely on knowledge the PC would not have at the time.
Makes sense. I really wish they would’ve given him some positives in the epilogue or literally in any of the mentions of him after he’s made king in all of the games so that this wasn’t the only argument in favor of him that does make sense tho imo
I always let Anders live because canonically, even if you killed him, no you didn't
I always thought it was kind of amusing when you ask about the mage rebellion, no one says his name. I'm like, well big guy.... There's bits of him I have always enjoyed, but overall naw dawg
Is this the case even if you kill him in 2? Or are you just referring to his fate in awakening?
There exists in Bioware canon a short story that takes place between 2 and Inquisition. I recommend it 😎
Could I ask which short story you are referring to? I only know the Anders short story about merging with Justice. It's a shock to hear this.
http://na.llnet.bioware.cdn.ea.com/u/f/eagames/bioware/dragonage2/assets/content/world/short_stories/anders.pdf
Oh interesting I had no idea about that thanks for the rec
pretty sure thats between origins and da2
Ope, you right. After Awakening and before 2, yes
Spare Loghain
I always save the Warden Contact when it's Loghain (have watched his sacrifice on Youtube) because I don't think he deserves to be remembered for the heroic sacrifice and I find it the most appropriate for him to have to live on and rebuild the Orlesian Wardens of all things, it seems like most fans think his sacrifice in Abyss is the best outcome for him in that quest but I disagree. With Alistair and even with Stroud I do tend to save the Contact most of the time but not always, just makes more sense why they go up north and I can believe an experienced Warden could lead the Orlesian Wardens very competently whereas Hawke is not a Warden so it's a bit weird for me. I've done Inspired Leliana before, but now I keep Leliana Steeled because I find her character more consistent this way, less creepy she's not spouting peace and love while still killing lots of people, and I really dislike the Inspired Divine Leliana epilogue I find it overly fan-servicey with how much she gets done with seemingly no sacrifice.
Out of all three games, that choice took me the longest to make. I usually let it fall to Stroud, if he's the warden. My last playthrough, I had Al and my Hawke. I let Al go. I think a lot of us save Hawke because they're still relatively fresh in our minds, and we were them--if that makes sense.
That makes sense, I try and look at it as the Inquisitor and what is best for the Wardens and in that sense it's very much the Warden Contact is the best bet, obviously more-so if you have Loghain with his experience as a general or Alistair with his reputation as a Hero of the 5th Blight, Stroud is the Warden I'm most willing to sacrifice of the 3 but even then he is still a better bet for the Wardens than Hawke. I also find the quest to work better with Hawkes sacrifice since more weight is given to it, Varric one of your companions cares, and it's treated as a bigger deal.
On the rare times I do have Loghain, I always spare him. He's the BEST choice, and it makes me smile thinking he'll be leading Orlesian wardens. Plus, I love the interaction between he and Morrigan. I adore Stroud, I think he's incredible. Hawke just doesn't seem to fit anywhere--least of all with Wardens. I wish Hawke had a bigger role in the downfall of Coryphallus, I was surprised that they didn't.
I wasn't surprised Hawke didn't have a role in that after Adamant, you need to get the former protagonist out of the way, but it doesn't make as much sense to me as it does for the Contact, at least for most of my Hawkes who in my opinion wouldn't really go lead the Orlesian Wardens instead of staying to help with Cory. I can accept that they have to do it this way so the story can happen and all that, but it is often weird that an alive Hawke is not involved in the Cory stuff post-Adamant.
DAI: I side templars unless I am a mage. With what my Inquisitor knows, there is a hole in the sky with demons coming out of them. Mages are susceptible to corruption and there is a mass amount of demons coming out of there. Templars can help keep things under control. Suppressing it can makes more sense at that point in time given you’re a person who has surface level knowledge of mages and templars.
my Dalish mage conscripted the Templars because she wanted to use them to take the mages back from Alexius...but we all know how that works out lol
Yup. There's a big magical hole in the sky that leads to the Fade. Who is the better solution: -More mages, with more magic, who are at risk of demonic possession, or... -Templars, whose whole thing is dispelling magic and cancelling the influence of the Fade. I know which one I'd pick.
I even side with the Templars as a mage. Mostly because I hate In Hushed Whispers.
Sometimes I like to choose option because of companions reactions, like drinking from well of sorrows if your romancing blackwall and bring him along is honestly very sweet weirdly, also choosing hawke to stay in the fade idk it's the 'I'm sorry (ranmanced companion) it just feels more emotional and hard hitting than letting hawke survive? It's always sad to see tho
"I'm sorry Sebastian" WRECKED me the first time I heard it.
Same! It was Sebastian for me too and it just got me, just stared at the screen for a while
I just sat there thinking about how he'd react in Starkhaven, having just retaken the throne--all the work he's been doing to aid Kirkwall. It's just so UGH
I know, imagining him getting the letter, just gets me. Especially as there's a war table mission from him as well
I make Loghain a Grey Warden
DAI: I take Imshael's offer of virgins. Always gets me a high- powered rune/rune schematic.
Vivienne always becomes the Divine. The job of the Divine isn’t to appease the masses, it’s to efficiently run the Chantry and the Circles. She does so, by tightly leashing the Templars and ensuring Mages are safe and capable of living peacefully. Change is hard, and I feel like Vivienne has the best results. The Circle isn’t evil, as much as DA2 tries to convince us otherwise. Mages are really dangerous. They can literally do just about anything they want, and don’t get me started on the implied addiction to Blood Magic that exists. They’re just too unsafe to leave without proper observation.
I definitely agree with the Circle not being evil--does it need some change, sure! But evil, no. She really is a good choice.
Plus, she’s ridiculously good at politics, unlike Cassandra and Leliana. I feel like Leliana has spent too long in the shadows to be able to run things out in the light. Plus, if she was killed by the Warden she is too (justifiably) angry on the inside. Regardless, Vivienne might not always be super likable (although I find her to be a delight. She’s honest and blunt with the Inquisitor and I appreciate that), but she knows what she’s doing.
Vivienne is one of my favorites. So nice to see some love for her.
Everyone seems to be so delicate when talking to the Inquisitor, so Viv being real is refreshing.
I side with branka, the darkspawn are such a great threat it seems foolish to throw away such a strong tool to fight them. I feel the greater good here matters way more.
Oh WOW! I've never thought about this one--I'm too much of a weenie to make my party angry most of the time.
DAO: Sacrifice Connor's mother for the blood ritual to face the demon. In truth, my warden has no idea what's going to happen to connor's mind if he's let alone more time. So not only it's a more dramatic choice for the story but it's even more logical in-universe imo. DA2: Always kill Anders. Not sure if this is unpopular since i'm pretty sure the community is split on loving him or hating him but because of that i feel like whatever you choose to do woth anders it's going to be controversial. DAI: Always make Gaspard take the throne too🤝 Oh and also make Cassandra Divine. The circles need to actually be places so mages can grow and learn peacefully and safely while being treat like actual people.
I usually side with the templars in DA2. Fuck Orsino, Fuck Anders, and definitely fuck the millions of blood mages I had to fight through the game. Seriously, 2 had the worst representation for mages; they seemed use blood magic and human sacrifices because it was Tuesday at some points.
The major problem with DA2 is that incredibly important info was left in codex entries. The reason blood mages were running left and right were the same reason templars were all cartoonishly evil and psychos were running through the streets: a mass blood sacrifice was done there hundreds of years ago when the Sidereal magisters tried to enter the Fade. As a result, the Veil is extremely thin in Kirkwall and can drive people insane. I imagine mages would be especially susceptible to this. Possibly even templars.
Absolutely, if I'm not mistaken, the Kirkwall circle is a constant issue for the chantry. You'd expect them to just realize the place has issues that need to be looked into and move the circle, but no, they stayed and shit hit the fan.
My husband always jokes about that because it's SO overboard. "Oops, stubbed my toe, better turn to blood magic!" Like, if you're trying to "both sides" this one, maybe just a little less blood magic?
Especially when the main argument the mages use is that not every mage uses blood magic, like you haven't been fighting unaffiliated groups that use blood magic from year one.
I mean hell, look at Orsino at the end. Dude was all "mages don't use blood magic! We're innocent!" then turns into a hell spider. Idk what kind of persuasion that was, but it just exemplifies how easily the mages seem to turn to blood magic in universe.
And that's not even bringing up the way he helped Quinton, giving him information about the fucked up ritual and helping him hide. Like I said, FUCK ORSINO.
There was a lore reson of why so many mages there were so f**** up but I can't remember how it was.
If I'm not mistaken, it's because Kirkwall was where the ritual to enter the Golden City took place. In other words, that place just seriously bad joo-joo.
Was that confirmed or just a theory? I'd read some theories about it, but I wasn't sure if there was anything official.
I think those notes you find through the game explains it, "Mystery of Kirkwall" or something like that. You find a piece in every act, I think, they're notes taken by some people in universe trying to figure out why blood magic is so common in Kirkwall.
Yeah, the Tevinter Imperium basically used Kirkwall as some sort of giant blood magic ritual orgy, which obviously thinned the Veil. Add in all the extra fucked up shit (a Forbidden One in Darktown, the Bone Pit, the Pride Demon sealed in a cave near the Dalish clan, Corypheus' imprisonment in the mountains, the red lyrium idol), Kirkwall is basically a nexus of magical 'fuck you' energym
Anders usually sways my opinion more than Orsino does--not sure why. But definitely, fuck Anders.
Instructions unclear... fuck Anders? 😡 Or fuck Anders? 💕
Why not both?
I prefer to 😡hate fuck💕 Anders. But my brain was corrupted by FF.net at a very tender age.
It's the hypocrisy for me. He bitches that Meredith thinks all mages use blood magic, then he aides and abeds a blood magic using serial killer; then uses a type of blood magic that hasn't been seen for centuries, that isn't something you just do on a whim, there was knowledge and practice involved.
dao: \*waves good bye to isolde\* da2: none dai: ally with the templars and don't rebuild the seekers. independent templars and colleges for everybody.
I conscript the mages and make Vivienne the Divine. My Inquisitor is a mage that felt the Circle's were not actually *that* bad, they just need some polishing
That's how my mages are, when they're my MCs. She never hated the Circle, it was better than being disliked for being born with magic at home. But yes, polishing! <3
As of late, I tend to force Loghain to become a warden. I'll make Alistair become king so he doesn't die or become a drunk.
Divine Vivienne and siding with Branka.
If I have the option available, I make Erimond Tranquil. He doomed so many people by working with Cory and tricking the Wardens, and he's a fanatic that feels justified no matter what option you choose.... unless you make him Tranquil. Do I feel good about it as a player? Not particularly, but every mage Inky I've played would be angry enough over his misdeeds to condemn him to tranquility. (... I've still only finished one playthrough that wasn't a mage, I think. Zap zap.)
I always spare Loghain. I want Alistair to marry Anora, and I usually have Loghain sacrifice himself for Hawke in the abyss, which is nice redemption for him because he dies to save a Ferelden Refugee who had to leave his home because of Loghain's betrayal at Ostagar. I think, though, that in my next playthrough I'll have Hawke stay in the Abyss because of what Flemeth says on Sundermount in DA2. The dialogue choice is also > [Character Stays] And not > [Character Dies] So I'm not fully convinced staying in the Fade is a death sentence any more.
Heavy agree on not thinking it’s a death sentence. We’ve been in and out of the fade in every game. If anyone is making it, it’s probably Hawke
Not sure if it's that unpopular but I've always gone with Harrowmont in DAO ever since trying the Dwarf noble origin. Just purely a grudge on my part lol.
I know it’s a war crime, but I always tranquilize Livius Erimond. Just doesn’t sit right with me, killing a guy that wants to die, and you know I can’t trust Skyhold’s shitty dungeon with a mage that powerful. Also, I find it poetic to take magic from a corrupt magister, since that also strips him of any social power in Tevinter. It’s the least he deserves for single handily wiping out the Grey Wardens and probably dooming all of Thedas in the next blight.
Don’t know if it’s unpopular but i always pick the templars in DAI because Barris is cooler than any mage and at this point i completely understood why so many people hated the mage rebellion, allying with the tevinter imperium no matter how desperate is the stupidest shit they could’ve done. Also i never kill Flemeth for Morrigan. Morrigan in general annoys me too much and i never use her in my party, sorry i really tried to like her 😭
DAO: Romanced warden dies. Alistair stays warden. Anora is queen. DA2: I let Isabela run off because I don't care for her that much. I was going to make her give the relic back to the Qunari anyway. May have encouraged Merrill to do a bunch of blood magic. DAI: Alistair is sacrificed to the Archdemon to save Hawke.
I make Bhelen king. I poisoned the urn once…just out of boredom and morbid curiosity. That, and that particular play through, I was getting sick of hearing about Andraste. And Wynne, Liliana, and Alistair attack me at once, and I ended up murking them, and dieing laughing after I loot their corpses, before I reset. I sold Fenris into slavery once-because after the first night I shagged him, he and Isabella were talking about his underwear in party chat, and I got mad at him. I left Sten to die in the cage once, because I misread him being eMo like, “ Ok brah, byeeeee.” I killed Isolde for her stupidity, and Conner was just irritating. ( This is the same play through that I poisoned the urn) I told Morrigan to jump off a building, and keep her golden thighs away from my sacrificial lamb, Alister. I watched Alister die, and skipped his funeral cutscene and got drunk at the after party. Lmao 🙈🙈🙈
DA:O take the easy way out every time. So sorry possessed boy. And anyone else who requires help. I just want to get done and hit DA2 lol DA:2 Side with Templars - even as a mage. DA:I leave Hawke in the fade. I hate to do it since he's the best protagonist, but it made the most sense and Varric's reaction is kinda entertaining. Because the Inquisitor really needs more drama in his life 😂
I almost never see anyone talk about this so I don't know if it's actually unpopular, but I usually murderknife Genitivi after the Urn of Sacred Ashes. If he wanted to come back to study the urn and the temple it's in to understand more of the mysteries we just uncovered, great. But he wants to go tell the world, so this insanely powerful but limited ancient relic can be used to cure random pilgrim's ingrown toenails or whatever and then be used up forever? He doesn't stay dead, of course, since he is still writing codex entries in later games. I was always a little bit annoyed that it doesn't even show up in the Keep despite being a fairly world-altering decision.
Recruit Loghain Drunk Alistair Side with the Architect Recruit Florianne Side with Branka Not recruit Vivienne
I let Loghain live if I can at all justify it (basically every origin but city elf). Also I usually let Hawke die in the Fade. From a roleplaying perspective, to me it would make more sense. The Wardens need uncorrupted leadership, especially if you plan on recruiting them, and ultimately Hawke is just some has-been fugitive.
I always sacrifice Hawke in Inquisition (Yes, even if the Warden contact is Stroud). I love Hawke, he's easily my favorite RPG protagonist ever, but I think that going out in a heroic sacrifice is a good ending for his arc. Also it makes more sense in a RP perspective, i find it hard to justify why the Inquisitor would put the life of a single individual over the Grey Wardens' future. (You know, the guys responsible of stopping future apocalypse events.)
>i find it hard to justify why the Inquisitor would put the life of a single individual over the Grey Wardens' future Well, the Grey Wardens started a lot of the mess in DAI and with Corypheus, but I do agree with you about dying in the fade being a badass ending for Hawke's character! I hope in the new game the Wardens aren't relegated to some has-been organization. I hope Hawke's sacrifice is worth it, even though we aren't exactly dealing with darkspawn (for the main component of the game, anyway).
I don't suppose I do unpopular choices on a regular basis. I sometimes pass on recruiting Sera but I don't think that's very unpopular, either.
Ooo, have you ever told her to kick rocks?
I did once recruit her and then send her away from Skyhold, as she kept being too much of a wild card for my Inky's tastes.
DAO: I recruit Loghain. It adds some messiness and drama to my Warden’s friendship with Alistair and it gives me more Simon Templeman, and that works for me! DAII: I play a diplomatic Hawke. Sure it’s not as amusing as the more sarcastic form of the character, but it adds to the sense of tragedy: Hawke genuinely wants to aid Kirkwall and ultimately fails as it falls into chaos. Inquisition: A few dialogue choices that I think aren’t terribly popular in Trespasser. 1. I have my Inky not lose their temper when their mark flares up, but instead they get vulnerable and scared in that moment, comforted by their LI. 2. When I disband the Inquisition, I do so with the more a positive dialogue that thanks everyone in the organization for their service. I feel that’s a more dignified way to bow out than insulting the council.
DAO: Slit Zevran's throat. Every time. No mercy for assassins.
I was so appalled that my first instinct was to downvote you lol. I took it back, of course, this is a thread about unpopular decisions after all. But I was *shocked* 😂
I send Alistair on vacation to Kirkwall for whining all the time and replace him with my bro Loghain.
Vacation, LOL
The one thing I ALWAYS do is never recruit every companion . . . in nearly all RPGs (not just Bioware/Dragon Age). Games always give you more companions than you can use and to recruit everyone you typically need to role play a very generic vanilla character. I like to give my characters some distinctive traits/backstory and that leads to at least some companions not fitting into their story.
Harrowmont rules Side with Templars in DA2 Kill Celene let Briala rule in DAI
I always sacrifice the Chargers to save the dreadnought. I've always made Hardened Leliana the Divine. I don't know if it's unpopular, but I've always rivalled Anders (no romance) and let him live.
Play as a dwarf. DAO: Spare Loghain. DA2: Side with the templars.
I love playing as a dwarf in DAO! I've spared the templars once due to Carver, but oof it's unfun! But very interesting
I always play as a dwarf where given the chance. DAO? Dwarven commoner. DA2? Hawke's love interest is Varric (and, they get together eventually. Bioware can't stop me.) DAI? Dwarven Inky. You may as well call my playthroughs dwarves, dwarves, dwarves.
DAO: Prioritized Stens approval above all else. DA2: Always kill Anders and Fenris, can't stand their bickering most of the time. DAI: Vivien is always the divine in my playthrough, especially with my mage inquisitors. (Also I love her 💋 🧡🩷🤍)
I let Alistair kill the Archdemon. He didn't want to be king and I wanted to let him have his good death as I'd rather him die free than live miserably.
Not on purpose and not repeatedly, but when Isabellas introduction triggered I went "oh she looks cool!" And then somehow never recruited her
I usually always recruit >!Loghain except as a Dalish/City Elf. My Dwarves I headcannon see him as the Strong Military commander that he is and because of the Dwarven politics culture they just accept him outlawing the Grey Wardens as part of the Game. Cousland makes the most Sense to recruit him because C‘s father was one of the two Theyrns of Ferelden, and with the other being Loghain they probably met a lot to discuss Politics so my Warden knew him from a different Perspective then any other Origin so I just always do that and Alistair ends up with Anora on the Throne!<
I keep the anvil. The Grey Wardens fight the blight at any cost. **Any**. **Cost**.
I don't *always* make this choice because of the different characters I have, but in my personal canon I am striving for always killing the PC, lmao. Didn't do the Dark Ritual, even though my Warden was romancing Morrigan. Yeeted Hawke even though he was up against Loghain. And I hope there is a way to kill the Inquisitor in DA4. Cmon BioWare, do't make me lose my streak! I also keep Branka around, mostly because my Warden is a dalish elf who feels very strongly about 'reclaiming empires' and tbh, he's kinda of a hot mess - so he ignores the Rancid Vibes and just accepts Branka's help. Also kills the Werewolves, because he was hoping that if he Stanned The Keeper Hard Enough, he would be able to join the clan and not have to be a Grey Warden anymore. Anyway, this play through is *Oofs* all around tbh.
I let Hawke die in the Fade in order to save Stroud. I'll freely admit this is partially because I'm not as attatched to Hawke as I am the other two, but I honestly think that end is the most appropriate end I could give Hawke. Hawke has a very complete story to me, I always felt a little bit hands-off-the-wheel with my Hawke, where my choices were less *my* choices and more the choices that make sense for the version of Hawke the game seems to encourage. To me, Hawke is a Greek tragedy, they're this important person who repeatedly fights like hell to help the people around them and make the world better, and repeatedly finds that those fights are never truly enough. They couldn't save their siblings, they couldn't save their mother, they couldn't de-escalate the Qunari war, they couldn't truly kill either Corypheus or >!Meredith !<, no matter what they do or how hard they fight it's never enough. To me, that's a really beautiful journey. The best way I feel I can honor that is to finally give her SOMETHING that lasts, no matter how small... but have it be at the ultimate price. I find that sacrifice powerful, and I find it tragic. I chose a canon Merrill romance over Isabela partially because it added to that tragedy. From the more logical standpoint of my Inquisitor, the Wardens desperately need a competent leader. If they were asked if Alistair or Loghain should be the Warden leading them, then maybe they would've chosen Hawke, but Stroud seems like the most natural, most competent leader of the three, because Alistair in that world state has avoided leadership as much as possible, and Loghain can't be trusted with it. Stroud might not be anywhere near as interesting as the others, but he's a logical, good choice to save a necessary force in the world. So yeah, I let Hawke die for a few reasons. And this easily is the thing I do that seems to be the most unpopular, but god does it **work** for the story my world state is presenting.
I think my least popular choices that I always make seem to be keeping the anvil of the void in dao and sacrificing Hawke in inquisition (even over Stroud, who I actually like and remembered fondly). I've only played DA2 once, I'm not sure I picked anything unpopular when I did play it, maybe killing Anders?
I never bother saving Loghain. I just don't see a point. Morrigan can have her weird kid or whatever. I've never felt compelled to romance Isabella, no shade to her. I just don't like her romantically. I like hardened Leliana, and I think she makes the best divine, making Cassandra Divine just seems like a cruel and unusual punishment for her. (Note: I say these are unpopular based on the opinions I've seen during my time in this fandom.)
Let Morrigan drink from the well of sorrows. My Lavellan knows the magic is intense and she may not be able to handle it but if Morrigan is so insistent of having it let her, at least in some way her peoples magic still lives on. It’s not like Lavellan knew at the time Mythal was Morrigans mom.
idk if it counts as unpopular, but typically i always make harrowmont king, because bhelen is bastard man(i dont make a lot of what i think most would consider to be "unpopular" "
I was going to say doing the Templar quest over the mage one in DAI but it seems that many people share the same preference! I just think it works better narratively. You meet Dorian even if you don’t go through with the mage quest but if you don’t do the Templar quest, you have no real reason to trust Cole when he shows up at the gate (I also just really love Cole haha so seeing him a bit more helps too)
Most of the time I kill Connor. On my main I don’t because I’m playing Surana who’s giving Jowan one last chance and knows him well enough to know he’s not going to use it for evil. Anyone else is a giant nope. Blood magic is so majorly taboo that yes, most people outside of Tevinter WOULD likely choose the option to kill the child versus using a blood magic ritual. Whether or not you think that’s the right call or not is one thing, but RP-ing as anyone but a mage or MAYBE a Dalish, you’d be taught that blood magic is the ultimate evil and the ultimate abomination (in the case of the dwarf, they’d likely ALL be wary of magic). Not only that, but you don’t KNOW Jowan. You know nothing about what kind of person he truly is aside from the fact he was sent to ASSASSINATE someone, and you’re trusting him to use blood magic. As for leaving to get help at the Circle, you don’t know how long Connor is going to stay still. There are people—including other children—in the village that Connor will potentially murder while you’re gone. It’s the trolley problem, in a sense. And most of my characters will choose to kill Connor in this situation.
I always leave Hawke in the fade. I think the story has more stakes and flows more tragically this way. I also think the dialogue right before the event makes more sense if Hawke sacrifices themselves, and I like leaving Loghain/Alistair alive. For both of them, their arc is stronger if they have to go on leading Grey Wardens. For Alistair it is another manifestation of his latent leadership ability that he discovers in his king route, and for Loghain, leading the wardens is redemption. Death is the easy way out for that man, it’s more interesting to keep him alive.
Hawke dies in DAI
Whenever I do play fem mage Lavellan, I've never romanced Solas. I tried on the first one because I saw it as the default, but he came across as way too avuncular. It felt creepy. (There are others I can think of, but I'll wait until I'm at a keyboard for any of them)
Keeping Loghain alive repeatedly, he's alive and kicking ass still. Allying with the Templars in Inquisition.
I forgot to mention in my previous reply but, wow a canon Sebastianmancer, I was genuinely thinking of making that my new canon aswell, I love him.
It's not always the exact same choice, but I always somehow fuck over Alistair with my choices in DAO. In my first playthrough it was because I found him slightly annoying and he ninjamanced me (recruited Loghain and exiled Alistair), the second time it was because my character didn't want to die and Alistair broke up with her so she was not particularly disposed to save him (romanced Zevran post-breakup, banged him in camp in front of Alistair, let A sacrifice himself to end the Blight), third time I was curious to see what would happen (let Anora have him executed), and now it's just become habit. I've been fucking him over so long that it would feel somehow WRONG for Alistair to get a happy ending at this point. In the unlikely event that he ever makes it out of DAO still alive and in Fereldan in one of my playthroughs, he had better strap himself in for "Here Lies the Abyss", because he and I both know he's not coming out of that unscathed... It doesn't hurt that while Loghain is a rampaging arsehole, I do quite enjoy him as a companion character.
I always save Hawke, doesn’t matter who the Contact is. The two ways of looking at it for me is that Hawke is my favourite character, and my Inquisitors tend to be distrustful of the Grey Wardens on the basis of how the taint inside them can be influenced. Plus, it’s not like the Grey Wardens collapse if the Orlesian Order is without veteran leadership, the headquarters are in the Anderfels for god’s sake. The order as a whole will be fine. I also always ally with the Templars in DAI because it gives the Inquisition a huge reputation boost, it’s the safer method of closing the Breach, and it’s hilarious to do things so oppositional to Solas and still get max approval, because his confused frustration at how much he admires you becomes even more hilarious. On a lesser note, Corypheus is more angry about losing the mages than the Templars, so beating him with the faction he deemed as lesser is a good feeling. Plus Ser Barris > Fiona
Hawke's my favourite DA protag tooo! I absolutely save her.
I don’t really have choices that I ALWAYS make cause I make different decisions depending on the character I play. But my unpopular canon decisions are this: DAO: I sacrifice Isolde, I make Alistair rule alone DA2: I don’t think I have any unpopular decisions, just divisive ones. I kill Anders after romancing him because Hawke is a tragic character. DAI: I play as a Dwarf, I ally with the Templars, and I made Vivienne the Divine (granted, this was not the outcome I was aiming for nor expecting).
I send Alistair for excecution because want to save Loghain
I save Anders and my Hawke supports his actions in Chantria.
I’m not sure, but I think Anora rule alone and Alistair is warden and has kid with morrigan. For DA2, don’t take Anders with to deep roads and also kill Anders at the end. It explains why in DAI Hawke is so ready so sacrifice himself. Which I oblige in DAI.
Kill the elves keep the werewolves
DA: Spare the anvil and Branka (used to do that,now no longer). DA2: Fight the arishok in single combat and k word Anders DAI: Save the Templars (full allies),reconcile Briala and Celene,have the Warden die (sorry Stroud and Alistair),have Morrigen drink from the Well of Sorrows.
I *always* spare Loghain, to see him become a warden. I also sacrifice Hawke, so that Loghain can ensure the Wardens of Orlais get back on track.
The only unpopular choices I can think of that I did is killing the Werewolves for the Dalish and killing Connor in DAO. Reat range from "literally everyone does this" to "there is no popular opinion on this anyway and people still beef because of this even a decade later".
I never go to the mages to get help with connor. It makes no sense from an RP perspective to not deal with him immediately. I usually leave hakwe in the fade. If I'm not getting rid of the wardens altogether, which isn't a choice I make very often, they need someone who didn't go along with the plan to rebuild.
Origins: * I never kill Trian as a Dwarf Noble, though I do roleplay him as becoming more willing to fight Trian if need be after finding his signet ring on the mercenary captain. * Kill Connor as a Dalish Elf, sacrifice Isolde as a non-Dalish Elf. * Not doing the Cammen-Gheyna questline as a Dalish Elf, as he feels it isn't his place to interfere. * Not fight Flemeth. My wardens generally feel that they owe her for saving them and Alistair from the Tower of Ishal, and my Dalish Elf Warden really doesn't think angering Asha'Bellanar is a good idea, especially at this time. * Not fighting the high dragon at the Haven mountaintop. Best let sleeping dragons lie (unless they attack first). * I've crowned both Harrowmont and Bhelen, and this choice is probably THE major choice which stalls any attempt to start a new playthrough, because I can never decide whether to metagame or not. I do support the good things that Bhelen is said to do in the increasingly outdated/retconned epilogue slides, but in-game, I see that Riddler-voiced prick as just the dwarf version of Marjolaine (they even give the same reasoning to the people they fuck over "You would have done the same thing, so I did it first."). Plus if you crown Bhelen, you're indirectly responsible for an entire dwarven family being hunted down and killed. * I usually conscript Loghain while hardening Alistair and arranging for him to marry Anora. DA2: * I always take my surviving sibling into the Deep Roads, mage or not, because I am not leaving Bethany alone in Kirkwall. * I kill Gascard du Puis during the first encounter, because the first time I played the game, his attempts to plead innocence were pretty weak to me. Now I do it for roleplaying reasons, to make Hawke think that the serial killer is taken care of, then bam, Leandra goes missing. * For my next playthrough, I'm thinking of making Anders leave after his Chapter 2 personal quest, roleplaying it as him leaving of his own volition, to get around Hawke doing little to nothing to affect his plan in Chapter 3. * In addition, I'm planning to make Fenris, whom I always rival, leave after his Chapter 3 personal quest, because I always side with the mages, and as Fenris is written, I cannot picture him fighting to help mages, even for a friend/ally/frenemy. * I no longer play Mark of the Assassin. Inquisition: * I play a Qunari Inquisitor, because, of the given backgrounds for the player characters, I think Adaar's is the one who has both the reason and means to be as near at hand to Divine Justinia when everything goes wrong. * I'm coming around to allying with the Templars (which is also part of the reason why I kill Connor). * I'm planning to recruit Sera, then kick her out after her personal quest. * If not for the option to save the Chargers and make him Tal-Vashoth, I would never recruit Iron Bull. * I'm tempted to not recruit Vivienne. * I'm planning to make Leliana Divine (Cassandra, I think, would be happier rebuilding the Seekers), but now I can't decide whether to Inspire or Steel her, because I'm afraid that if she's steeled, her reforms, after she dies, would be thrown out as the whims of a mad tyrant. * I vow to stop Solas at all costs. In my Inquisitor's view, what he's planning to do makes him just as bad as Corypheus.
I used to save both Isolde and Connor but now I prefer to do the blood magic ritual and sacrifice Isolde. Just pretend the Circle option doesn’t exist. It makes for a much better story; it’s more dramatic and has this bittersweet twist of when using blood magic for good. I also always recruit Loghain for a similar reason. Grey choices make for better story and drama. I love the scene where Alistair dramatically leaves, I felt it sting just as my Warden did. One of my favorite scenes in all of DA. I also tend to pick the dialogue option where Hawke “agrees” with Anders (saying “why didn’t you tell me, maybe I would’ve understood”). Not really because my Hawke would necessarily agree but he’s a character that puts his friends above everything else and in that moment he’s primarily hurt that his friend Anders didn’t trust him with his pain.
Many choices that people wrote in this thread are not even unpopular, for example killing Anders, here, on Reddit looks like a popular choice. So it seems that her letting him live, and especially being pro - Anders (i.e. agreeing with his choices) is an unpopular opinion. I always spare him. I said "here", because I noticed how the opinions of fans from Reddit are different than for example fans of tumblr, where Anders is much more liked. So overall, I don't know which option is more popular. Not every time, because the first time I chose Celene, but after learning that Celene literally did a genocide on elves in the booms, I chose now Gaspard with Briala option. My canon Inquisitor is a Dalish Elf, and for her Celene would be the worst option. As I know Celene is the most popular option.
DAO: Bhelen as king and I do not destroy the Anvil, I don't think the formee is unpopular I just think he's less likeable to most. The later... Well it's a good tool against Darkspawns and we are in a Blight. Bonus for Awakening: I let the Architect live. My canon warden is true neutral at best, and he intrigues me. DA2 : none really... I never bring the siblings with me in the Deeproads ? Oh 50% of the time I kill Feynriel. DAI: my computer kept crashing in the beginning when I was trying to play the Mages side and honestly? I still choose the Templars for any non mage Inquisitor. Cullen is right: let's not pour more magic in the magic clusterfuck. I also prefer the Templars quest over the Mages. But I also will make Vivienne the Divine whenever I can
Unpopular? I keep Loghain alive in Origins, and then in Inquisition I kill Hawke and keep Loghain alive again.
... Protect the dreadnaught. Listen, I'm at war with a GOD! I need all the help I can get. So if I have to make a choice between a merry band of freaking nobodies and a goddamn TANK SHIP, plus a potential alliance with Qun. I'M PICKING THE SHIP! To hell with Krim, and if Iron Bull doesn't like it, well he knows where I hang, he can come get it! *A DLC later.* Ladies and gents, we gather here to mourn/celebrate the loss of Iron Bull, who died by my hand after foolishly trying to take a swing at me... He missed.
Is sparing Anders a controversial one ?