Views on Knight-Commander Meredith and the templars of Kirkwall in Act 1 (Dragon Age 2 spoilers)

Originally posted to tumblr on May 19 2018. Reposted here for archiving of posts I want to keep.

Macha: You hear dark rumors about the templars and Knight-Commander Meredith. And now my brother is gone.

Macha: People harboring escaped mages just disappear. Templars interrogate and threaten passers-by.

Macha: My friend has a cousin who's a mage, and she says he was made Tranquil against his will. You hear more with each passing day.

Hawke: What do people say about Knight-Commander Meredith?

Macha: Oh, she has many admirers. They laud the service she does in keeping the mages in check.

Macha: But others say she is terribly fierce and utterly without pity. That she sees demons everywhere.

Macha: It is dangerous even to whisper such things.

Macha: I tried to see [my brother, who is a templar recruit], but Knight-Commander Meredith threw me out. They won't tell me anything!

Act 1 Meredith a.k.a. pre-red lyrium Meredith. She was already a tyrant and the red lyrium only amplified her paranoia (and the whole “something ~drove her insane~” villain motive is pretty ableist, too, considering there are plenty of bigots in power without a magical or mental illness excuse in real life that Meredith is not all that different from). Macha has family in the templar order and isn’t a mage, and she’s terrified of the templars.

Also surprisingly sympathetic to mages considering, well, family in the templar order. The sneer with which she says “service in keeping the mages in check” is pretty great. (Also she’ll later express disagreement with Cullen’s “mages aren’t people” rhetoric.)

I like to think Macha is representative of quite a bit of Kirkwall’s common people: sees the templars as largely bullies rather than heroes, definitely more afraid of them than of mages, and because of that fear hesitant to get involved more than by quietly disapproving. Considering her templar brother later leaves the order and joins a rebellion with mages to get rid of Meredith, though, perhaps willing to get involved if there seems to be hope of making some difference.

Macha: Please find Keran, good ser. I fear terribly what the templars have done to him.