Dragon Age II/Fridge


 * There is a major Fridge Brilliance moment regarding Ander's final personal quest. If you pay attention to what he says when he describes what the ingredients are like, where he can find the ingredients, and you have some passing knowledge of chemistry as well as geology, you may realize what exactly he had you collect when you see him  . The ingredients are potassium nitrate and sulfur; both chemicals are basic components used to make
 * It helps that the Tevinter name for one of the ingredients is
 * Anders: "I just need to mix the ingredients together and... boom. Justice and I will be free. Then we can take our place with the free mages."
 * Grand Cleric Elthina: "Your soul is troubled, child. I hope you found a balm for it here."
 * Anders: "It would take something catastrophic to change things now."
 * The second time you see Flemeth she tell Hawke that "it's only when we fall we learn if we can fly" and tells Hawke however he/she "could never be a dragon" like her. Hawke is a hawk! She/he does start to fall as he/she loses what is left of their family and faces the devastating Qun and civil war, but in the end wins...or at least lives and runs away with his/her true love.
 * The repetitive nature of some of the dungeons is initially annoying, until one remembers the entire game is essentially being retold by a storyteller who can't help but embellish a few things or cut corners in exposition. The reused dungeon interiors are essentially Varric saying "We went to a cave/warehouse/hovel and kicked some asses." and leaving it at that. He doesn't bother explaining what it looks like, leaving Cassandra to fill in a generic location. A generic, reused dungeon interior is now a part of the story that reinforces the narrative being told by Varric!
 * The lack of armor among the qunari makes a lot more sense when one realizes they're survivors from a shipwreck, and thus would have had to discard most of their armor while swimming ashore. Furthermore, very few people in Kirkwall would likely be willing to sell the qunari troops armor to replace what was lost. Further, vendors in Kirkwall may have equipment properly sized for humans, elves, and dwarves, but it's unlikely they predicted having much in the way of a qunari customer base. As a result, anything they COULD sell wouldn't fit the giants.
 * Once you've beaten the game, Varric's statement at the beginning is oh, so ironic. Similarly Varric's narration is full of foreshadowing that becomes Fridge Brilliance on the second playthrough, at one point whentalking about Hawke's companions Cassandra mentions a blood mage (Merril,) a pirate (Isabella) and finally "the warden Anders," to which Varric responds in a very bitter voice "don't remind me I introduced them."
 * The characters you bring to the fade with you during the "Night terrors" quest are very telling of their character flaw's: Isabela succumbs to a desire demon, indicating her general greed. Merill sides with a pride demon showing just how much she is unwilling to admit she is wrong about her use of blood magic.
 * Regarding the quest "Prime Suspect"/"All That Remains" and the major spoilers inside:
 * Leliana shows up alive again in DA2 even if your DA1 import save has you killing her at the end of the Sacred Ashes quest. Now, that could be a bug... or it could be that when the Warden defeated her, he made the mistake of leaving her for dead less than twenty feet away from that world's equivalent of the Holy Grail, the one that can heal anything. Admittedly, the part where he'd have just tainted it would be an obstacle, but hey, Andraste moves in mysterious ways! Or, you'd just poured out a pinch of untainted ashes for yourself before tainting them, perhaps you spilled some on the floor.
 * DA:I content - As it turns out that's not Leliana. That's one of the spirits that guarded the Sacred Ashes, having assumed the identity of the dead Leliana.
 * After watching the "Destiny" trailer, I was wondering why Hawke had his ass handed to him at first by the Qunari, and only after seeing the different classes in game did I realize that the Hawke in the trailer was a Mage who was using melee attacks; Mages weren't designed for close combat, and trying to do that in the game is virtually suicidal.
 * Fun fact: WordofGod says Anders is just a nickname because he was at least born in the Anderfels. It makes sense that when fleeing from the templars he would go by a pseudonym.
 * As discussed above, there's a problem with certain characters (Leliana, Zevran) who can be killed in DA1 and yet can still return in DA2. And then it was pointed out to me; they're both rogues, and in DA1, rogues have access to a 'Feign Death' ability on their talent trees.
 * During Zevran's cameo mission, after you've killed the bad guy at the end, he stops to let you loot everything in the camp, even lampshading the fact. Since none of the other NPCs bother to let you pick up your loot before starting the ending cutscenes, this troper wondered why Zevran would. And then it hit me: Zevran had been adventuring with the Warden all through DAO. He, of all people, would understand the importance of looting immediately after the fight.
 * As mentioned on the character pages, there's some debate over whether or not Anders, Fenris, and Merrill's sexuality changes depending on the gender of the player character, as none of them express interest in people of the same sex if involved in a straight romance with Hawke. Merrill, however, will express interest in men if romanced by a woman, confirming that she's bi. There's actually a pretty good reason why she might not publicly express interest in women; elves are something of a dying people, with a declining population. Producing children's a big deal for them, especially the dalish. So while there's no explicit prejudice against homosexuality by elves in game, it certainly makes sense for them to have cultural hangups about it. Merrill might feel selfconscious over these feelings, only coming to grips with them due to her love for Hawke.
 * One of the complaints thrown around is that the player is railroaded into the end, and you can only choose between Mages and Templars. It became clear to me that while this is true, it's also on purpose. As each Act goes on, the level headed people who want to prevent an open conflict, or even find a better solution are killed in various ways, until finally there is no choice but to have a war. If you favor one side or the other from the beginning it's not that big of a deal, but if you play a Hawke trying to avoid the inevitable fate, the feelings of the player will match the feelings Hawke has he loses every option to avert a very bloody conflict.
 * Pol running away from Merrill like she was a monster; Pol's an escaped city elf, and apparently holds onto his Andrastian beliefs. Blood magic is a huge deal for him; it makes sense it would terrify him more than the other Dalish.
 * Right before Anders  he has a good, long rant at Meredith and Orsino. He winds up going full Justice/Vengeance mode at them, complete with the glowing lines and booming, echoing voice, signs that both Meredith and Orsino should recognize as making him an Abomination, something they both should attack on sight. It's a sign of how far gone everyone involved is that this doesn't get any reaction from either of them.
 * This troper believes to have a satisfying answer for how Varric knows so damn much about the details of Hawke's personal and love life. We know Hawke keeps a diary to which Varric keeps adding "embellishments". If he can add those, he can read the rest. Even if what he reads is just "Tried to give Fenris the Book of Shartan today. Turns out he can't read. Figures. Will have to remedy", that's enough to extrapolate the exact phrasing and details based on what he knows of them from his own experience. His friendship/rivalry rewards support this: Either he's an "authorized biographer" and Hawke actually voluntarily lets him in on those details, or he's an "unauthorized biographer", will "tell your story someday, whether you like it or not", and keeps getting into your journal just to annoy you.
 * Like a lot of fans, this troper was really annoyed with Anders' characterization in II. It's not just that he's combined with Justice, it's that he's not recognizably Anders at all. But then I realized - of course he isn't. Because he's not. Over the course of two games we have it hammered home to us that being an abomination means losing yourself to the demon that has possessed you. Anders became an abomination the moment he accidentally corrupted Justice. In a way, it's actually a testament to how good both Anders and Justice were before hand, that it took them so long to
 * Fridge Horror: This troper just remembered that although they might not be shown in the game (save for the occasional adolescent), little children as early as six are taken to the Circle as soon as their talent is found. This makes the Rite of Annulment even more horrifying.
 * Actually, in the Mage Origin in DA1 the children are briefly shown. In your first trip from the apprentice barracks after your Harrowing on up to Irving's office you walk through the library, where several classes are in session. Two of them are adult or teenaged apprentices getting one-on-one instruction in spellcasting from their mentors, but the third is a group of small children in what is basically a grade-school classroom lecture.
 * You also catch a brief glimpse of same of these same children during Wynne's recruitment scene during the Mage Tower quest. Wynne is busy helping defend them (and a couple of older apprentices helping to watch over the kids) from abominations when you show up.
 * Fridge Horror: Bodahn doesn't mention his wife this time around. His wife was in Denerim in Origins.
 * First time I played through, the moving statues during the last bossfight bugged me. I asked why would there be statues with joints fully capable of such full range movement? Then I remembered; this was a Tevinter prison; the magisters probably had a spell, combined with red lyrium, to animate those statues themselves.
 * Anders little rant on Karl and the fact that it only happens if you flirt with him as a male Hawke as raised many eyebrows, and for me personally it didn't add up with his skirt chasing antics - right up until you realize that Thedas isn't that much better than the real world when it comes to sexual politics. The whole rant is full of frustration at the system, but when it comes down to it, Anders settles for an awkward "like you" instead of stating that they had the same gender, and finishes off by seeking acceptance from Hawke. The only reason that he tells Hawke is because he thinks that he has found someone who can understand him, otherwise he'll be too ashamed to talk about his relationship with anyone, even those who have been his closest and supported him for years, as happens in the real world.
 * For the longest time this troper was annoyed at the amount of Blood Mages in Kirkwall despite all the "not all mages are Blood Mages" arguments that get thrown around. Then I remembered that  I still wanted everything one in Kirkwall to burn but it makes a little more sense now.
 * Fridge Horror: So, after the main story Merrill can never return to her clan, for whatever reason. That's bad enough, but if you don't romance her, she ends up entirely on her own with no clan and forced to leave her close friend/respected rival. As someone who absolutely loved Merrill to bits, this horrified me and is probably why I'll never be able to romance anyone else.
 * Fridge Brilliance: Like most other people, I found Anders approving of Hawke  hypocritical; seeking to free the mages from the chantry yet condemning someone else to slavery just because they don't share his viewpoint/he doesn't like them. Then I read the story written for him a couple of times and realized it goes deeper than that; he is willing to get rid of anyone who stands in the way of his goal. Since Fenris is a "mages should be locked up" person, technically that includes him as well. Anders isn't being a hypocrite; he's happy because that's one less person to stand against him.
 * Fridge Brilliance: The Circle Tower in Origins was annoying mostly because you couldn't leave once you entered. But what if you could? There would be nothing stopping you from finding, taking Morrigan's personal quest, and  , making Dragon Age II a rather short game.
 * Marethari was after Merrill to stop using blood magic, but in the end, HER pride was the bigger danger to her clan. Not only for taking the demon on, but for also keeping the clan there for so long (Merrill specifically says that the clan should have moved on by the third act), for not stopping the out-of-control rumors of Merrill (which led to Pol running from her and into the lair of the varterral), and for not telling the clan that she was engaging in a ritual that would lead to her death, which could have the result of the entire clan turning against Hawke and Merrill and being slaughtered. All because she had to prove a point to Merrill about the dangers of blood magic. She says that Merrill always knew that there was a price to her blood magic and that she chose to pay it for her. The thing is, Merrill knew of the price as well and was taking precautions by bringing Hawke and company along with her. Merrill was willing to pay the price for helping her people. Marethari was willing to pay the price to protect her protege - and her way left the clan out to dry.
 * Merill speaks with a welsh accent, while the rest of the dalish have irish accents. This seems like an inconsistency until you remember that Merill would have lived with a different clan during her early years, before her magic manifested.
 * The Circle of Magi has always seemed to be poorly designed to This Troper. It preaches that mages are dangerous and should be monitored for everybody's sake. Reasonable enough, but it also offers no incentive for mage loyalty beyond survival, stifles most research into understanding magical phenomena aside from the most basic works, applies blanket punishments for the mages, and offers next to no public education about the functions of magic. All while alienating the mages from anybody who isn't a fellow mage (the only non-mages close by being deeply indoctrinated that magic is itself evil and that mages aren't to be thought of as other people). Then we ended up with Fenris as a party member, heard his utterly unbending hatred of all magic and it all made sense. The Chantry was founded by former slaves of the Tevinter Imperium, of course the method they came up with to control future mages would be poorly designed. It was though up by bitter ex-slaves and barbarians driven by fear and hatred. It's just that over the centuries, this fear-driven method has become unquestioned dogma. The fact that actual dangers exist ensure that nobody ever considers designing a different method.
 * You're more correct than you know. Dragon Age: Inquisition reveals in a codex entry that the formation of the Mage Circles was a compromise position between the Chantry hierarchy and the general public sentiment. The Chantry founders wanted mercy for mages. The bulk of the general population, just freed from Tevinter tyranny, wanted to kill everything and everyone with mage talent. 'Life in confinement' was the solution that was hashed out after much tension and some head busting, so... yeah, it started in fear and hatred and didn't have much chance to grow beyond that.
 * When there was the talk about the lack of a Human Commoner Origin tale, many were disappointed. But looking at Carver and Bethany's induction in the Grey Wardens. It struck me, that would have been what happened if it was a human commoner, a man or woman driven by the Darkspawn seeking to regain everything suddenly by going into the deep roads only to contract the taint and was founded by the Wardens and as similar to how every origin story happens in the same time. If it wasn't for the Warden's intervention, you would have died from the taint or reduced to a ghoul. That struck me as Brilliance, Carver and Bethany is the Human Commoner!
 * Anders and Meredith are very similar:
 * Both of them start out somewhat extreme, but fairly reasonable. Anders doesn't want to start a revolution and the templar atrocities in Act I were carried out by Ser Alrik, who was threatening templars who found out so they wouldn't report him to Meredith.
 * Then actions occur that make them become true fanatics. For Anders, it is Karl's illegally being made tranquil and subsequent mercy killing. For Meredith, it was Taronhe's attempt to turn templar recruits into demons.
 * By Act II,
 * In Act III, both of them start pushing friends away. Anders alienates the entire party except Varric and possibly Hawke. Meredith's actions cause even Cullen to question her.
 * In the endgame
 * Thinking back to Dragon Age Origins: Awakening during Anders' Joining when he said he would hold the Grey Wardens responsible if he woke up two weeks on a ship to Rivain in small clothes and with a tattoo branded on his forehead, I originally thought it was some sort of joke. But now seeing what has been done to mages in Dragon Age II, it makes me think that Anders was actually referring to being made Tranquil.
 * Most of the staff weapons seem to be designed to serve a double-function as both staves and polearms. Almost all of them have blades and many have cross-braces as well. When one thinks about it outside of game mechanics, though, it makes perfect sense that mages would use polearms. They're an ideal weapon for keeping melee-capable opponents away, thanks to their long reach, which is essential when one is a Squishy Wizard. Use a few sweeps or thrusts with the blade/speartip to ward the attacker off and open up a bit of distance, and then hammer them with a spell. This doesn't come up in gameplay because of the nature of the combat system, but realistically they'd be the best melee weapon a mage could ask for.
 * Also it helps their disguise since a polearm would be significantly less likely to arouse suspicion than a staff.
 * In my second playthrough pf Origin I created a female elvish mage Warden, for the fun of making her the lover of King Alistair and pretty much sending a huge Fuck You toward Thedas social structure. This Warden remained staunchly pro-mage: she saved the circle, saved Connor, petitioned Alistair for more authonomy for the circle, became good friend with Morrigan, took Anders in, remorselessly slaughtered the templars who tried to capture him in Amaranthine. It is this game that I imported in Dragon Age 2. And several things hit me:
 * Anders used to run away from the templars, and started to fight and kill templars on his own initiative in DA2. One of the last quest I did in Awakening was "Freedom for Anders" which ended with my Warden beheading three templars in front of him: my Warden, an exceptionally powerful mage unapologetically willing to kill templars if she sees them as abusing their authority provided him with an alternative role model: It's not just merging with Justice that messed him up, at least in my specific playthrough: my Warden messed him up as well. Oh, mother Elthina, I am so, so, so, sorry
 * At first, I thought that making Anders leave the Warden no matter what was done in Awakening was a bad thing: as said above, my Warden held strongly pro-mage views, so why would Anders leave the Wardens since he was essentially safe from the Templars as long as he remained on my Warden's team? Sure, there is the Deep Roads expeditions, but facing Darkspaws once in a while along well trained, very well armed fellow Wardens is better than being on the run, alone from templars, being forced to hide all the time. but then, I realized that Anders behavior made perfect sense, even with my Mage-friendly Warden: The king is friendly toward mages in general, his lover/right-hand-woman is herself a mage and a powerful noble in her own right since she became Amaranthine's Arlessa, and the most popular person in Ferelden for saving the country from the blight. If there is one place outside of Tevinter where the mages are not mistreated, it is Ferelden. Anders says several times that it is the plight of mages all over Thedas which motivates him, so of course he would go to a place where mages are subjected to more injustice.
 * Well, sorta. He admits to Hawke in Act I that the reason he came to Kirkwall specifically is because he was trying to rescue Karl from the Gallows. After the unpleasantness that was that reunion, he becomes much more focused on working towards freedom for mages as a whole.
 * Speaking of Fridge, this discussion open another shiny fridge: why are blood mages and abominations so over-represented among the mage population of Kirkwall? Because the more harmless apostates who did not dabble in blood magic and demon summoning have already fled Kirkwall. Which in itself open a whole can of Wild Mass Guessings.
 * Another moment of Fridge Horror from Awakening. Keep in mind, the Warden is not only responsible for Anders making a permanent escape from the Circle, but is also indirectly responsible for him and Justice meeting. Anders probably wouldn't have gone so far if he'd never been possessed by Justice and may never have gotten involved with the mage's plight at all. So, because he/she tried to help Anders and Justice out, the Warden is partially responsible for triggering the mage/templar war. Something tells me if the Warden ever comes back and runs into Anders, there are gonna be words.
 * To add further Fridge Horror to this situation, do you remember when you first meet Anders in Awakening, he was a very selfish character, who only cared about freedom for himself, but his time among the self-sacrificing, selfless Grey Wardens, who by-the-way also have a policy of doing whatever is neccesary, taught him to be more selfless. So of course he's  He believes that he is following what he was taught by the Grey Wardens.
 * Meredith's behavior. Like every Templar, she's been addicted to a Fantastic Drug: Lyrium. It's side effects include delusions, paranoia, dementia, obsessive behavior, and hallucinations. She didn't even need !
 * Carver has a Meaningful Name - rather than being stuck in Hawke's shadow, he wants to CARVE his own path.
 * At first, I thought making potion-brewing/poison-making/etc a separate function from the party was just a way of simplifying Dragon Age II so we don't have to use precious skill points on combat-unrelated skills. Then I realized that if it wasn't a separate function, it would make no sense. In DA:O, you were a traveling party that had no time to find a herbalist willing to follow you through danger. The warden only got lucky with Bodahn and Sandal tagging along. They could only rely on each other to be travelling herbalists. On the other hand, Hawke stays comfortably in Kirkwall and has more than enough time to find herbalists and rune-crafters.
 * The dilemma facing the Arishok is emblematic of a flaw within Qunari society as a whole. Qunari society is explained as working like a body, with each part of the body working in harmony. However, when one part of the body is seperate from the others, it doesn't work very well. The Arishok's seperation from the rest of the Qunari social structure puts him in a situation that, thanks to the rigidity of his society and beliefs, forces him to act in limited ways based solely on his role within the Qun as a warrior. If the Arishok had landed with other representatives from his society with different roles, the entire war could have been avoided, or at least resolved with less bloodshed, but circumstances forced Qunari warriors into one of the worst possible positions they could have been in - and they couldn't adapt. The flaw, therefore, is that the Qunari society only works properly when it is unified, but a section of that society cut off from the others will lead to disaster. Considering the game's emphasis on the flaws of the societies, organizations, and other social structures populating Thedas, this was likely quite deliberate.
 * DA:I casts more light on this, when we meet Ben-Hassrath agents like The Iron Bull. You can imagine how long it would have taken him to track down Isabela. She'd have been dead meat inside a couple months. Furthermore, pursuing fugitives and doing assassinations is a spy mission, not a war mission. The Arishok's failure was to not swallow his damn pride and call in the proper specialists for the job, but instead try to solve a problem himself despite having had no training in the skills necessary... which is an epic failure in a follower of the Qun, to refuse to stay in their role.
 * Cassandra knew to connect the Orlesian sanctions against Kirkwall to Chateau Haine because she had an inside source, albeit one who "didn't have [Varric's] access." If they didn't have Varric's access, then it needed to be an undercover servant (unlikely, as Chateau Haine was merely a well-built fortress that served as keep and mansion for a spoiled Orlesian lord, as well as the fact that the servants could easily con the guard out of the key, thus granting them full access) or one of the guests at the party (which means that Cassandra knows anything about the heist by sheer dumb luck). So, which of the guests would Cassandra know, as the Seeker for the Chantry? Most of the guests are a) Orlesian, which might justify her knowing them by name if not by face depending on upbringing, and b) not connected to the Chantry higher-ups in any way. There are also a few cameos from Origins sprinkled through that section, including Teagan and Leliana. Leliana recognizes Tallis, to which Tallis hides "Oh Crap" behind polite conversation. As evidenced by the endgame,
 * The reason for the lack of becoming an Arcane Warrior actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it. The Arcane Warrior specilisation was taught to the Warden by a spirit trapped inside of a gem, it was literally the last keeper of a long-forgotten Elven school of magic which they passed onto the Warden before its death. No mages in Kirkwall would know of this form of magic and with the heavy Templar presence, are not in a position to gain access to any tomes the Warden may have written that detail how the technique is achieved. Even after a Mage Hawke becomes so well known they could have gotten access any possible instructions, most mages are implied to have distinctive fighting styles they are comfortable with and adept at, so Hawke would likely haven't seen the need to learn it.
 * The Arcane Warrior specialization is available in Dragon Age: Inquisition, but by that point its been over ten years. And whether or not the Warden picked up the crystal themselves, they still had to deal with the werewolf problem one way or another (curing them, killing them, or letting them spread into the now-gone Dalish clan's territory) and kill the dragon in the ruins to progress the quest, as well as popularize its location when the tale of the Warden was told afterwards, meaning that the ruin is now open and available for ambitious tomb raiders. Eventually one of them would find it.
 * At first, this troper wasn't sure why Anders trusted Justice enough to let the latter possess him in the first place, and why he seems to think back on their friendship so fondly when they actually argued a fair bit. But looking back at the party dialogue in Awakening, Justice is the only one of the group, (other than potentially the Warden), that seems to sympathize with Anders' bad treatment at the hands of the templars, and treats his opinions on the matter with some respect. He grows to trust Justice so much for the same reason that he trusts a pro-mage Hawke-they seem to be the only people in the world he can trust to hear him out.
 * Hawke can invite Anders or Merrill to move in with him/her, while Fenris or Isabela don't get the option. I felt cheated that you don't get to invite them to move in until I realized... Anders and Merrill are mages - the Champion inviting them to live in their home is sending a message to the templars not to mess with these apostates or you mess with the Champion. Fenris and Isabela don't need the same sort of protection from the authorities of Kirkwall, so they don't need to move in for the explicit protection that living with Hawke offers.
 * Fenris and Isabela also have confinement issues and would want to maintain a private space they could retreat to if necessary, while Anders and Merrill are naturally gregarious people who have been forced to live alone for too long and would want constant companionship.
 * Regardless of Duncan being there in the Dalish origin, the eluvian mirror is smashed before the clan moves on, resulting in Merrill getting a shard of the mirror. For the next seven years, up until the death of the Keeper, Merrill has a pretty crappy life. She suffered seven years bad luck from breaking the mirror!
 * Ander's bisexuality may come off as something as sudden but I then realized why Anders pursued a gay relationship with Karl. Back then he knew of what happened to any child born in the Chantry which is to take it away from their mother as soon as they are born. Never to be seen again, Anders desiring for love and company like any normal human had a relationship with Karl so that he will not have to deal with the grim reality of losing the child he sired.
 * From the Mage Pack DLC, "Malcolm's Honour", the Staff that Hawke's father crafted actually begins to make sense when you consider why he'd risk constructing one in Lothering with all of the Templars milling around. Its described as "deceptively simple" in the codex, which fits as Malcolm knew that with the ornate engraving Andraste adorning it, should he or his children ever be caught with it, it'd be rather easy to pretend that it was merely a fancy club.
 * How did the gang of Guardsman Pretender's get such perfect replicas of the Kirkwall Guard uniforms and why were they in Hightown? Its because they are working for Jeven.
 * Something that struck me while replayinig Origins: if one chooses a mage and report Jowan to Irving, telling him that making sure that Lily's fate is not better than Jowan's is a rather vicious ploy makes him answer "Do you think Chantry and Templar are models of magnanimity? They would make us all tranquil if they could, and call it a kindness: once you've played through Dragon Age 2, this sentence will send chills down your spine
 * Why is Mage Hawke's Mantle of the Champion only lightly covered in armour, containing one gauntlet with the other sleeve missing? Because Hawke needs to be able to use his/her staff easily, something they couldn't do encumbered by lots of plate-mail.