Dragon Age: The Crown of Thorns: Difference between revisions

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{{quote| '''Raonar''': Zevran Arainai. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you managed to turn a codex of poisons and their antidotes into something that sounds like a porn novel.<br />

--<br />

'''Alim''': This is probably the point where I explain your folly. But you know what? I am a sadistic demon hater. So I'll just say one thing.<br />

** [[Badass Damsel]]: Kallian, as Zevran was forced to learn.

** [[Took a Level In Badass]]: The only one of the six Origin wardens that hasn't, so far, received one is {{spoiler|Gwen.}}

** [[Badass Boast]]: One would expect the protagonist to get these, but it looks like Faren {{spoiler|The Dark Wolf}} wins this.

* [[Battle Aura]]: Wynne, when she draws upon her Spirit of faith.

** The potion given to {{spoiler|Faren}} by the {{spoiler|DN}} in the first chapter is the same one {{spoiler|the former feeds to the latter in chapter 4}}.

* [[Children Are Innocent]]: The limitless potential that the protagonist sees in the younger generation is one of the main reasons he hasn't given up on the world or become a full-fledged [[Knight in Sour Armor]], although he does qualify as a [[Deadpan Snarker]] from time to time.

* [[Comes Great Responsibility]]: For some reason, the stronger Raonar and, by extension, everyone else gets, the bigger problems they have to deal with.

* [[Continuity Nod]]: {{spoiler|In the game, Gorim is crippled en route to Denerim. Here, he remains in Orzammar, but ends up similarly disabled because of an assassin he intercepted.}}

* [[Determinator]]: The DN was forced to become this by all the crap he's had to put up with. Sten seems to be this as well.

** As a better explanation for the DN, he keeps {{spoiler|pulling one gambit after another even though the fact he grew up in a Deadly Decadent Court could have long ago turned him into a self-centered cynic. He also displayed a high physical resilience in the deep roads, up until he stumbled upon a certain someone else and finally decided to allow himself to faint after two days of no sleep, fighting, getting repeatedly injured, tried for fratricide that never happened, dragged through streets in chains, spat on and generally not having a very nice time.}}

* [[Death Faked for You]]: The major diverging plot point compared to Canon. {{spoiler|Raonar fakes Trian's death and paints himself the murderer on purpose. The eldest is none too pleased because it happens against his will, and so totally out of the blue (for him anyway) that he has no idea what the frak happened when he is confronted with the situation.}}

* [[Deal With the Devil]]: {{spoiler|Raonar makes one with a Pride Demon in Chapter 48, then uses a [[Loophole Abuse]] to get his part of the deal without consequences. Granted, he does almost die in the process, but it was all according to plan in the end.}}

* [[Defeat Means Friendship]]: Averted. Raonar and Faren {{spoiler|gain each other's trust by having a duel that the former starts out of the blue, right in the middle of Dust Town's slums. It is an aversion because they end up having too good a time and, after reading each other's hearts by exchanging blows, so to speak, they both collapse to the ground and start laughing their hearts out because of how great they're both feeling.}} All in front of Gorim too...

* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: Most of the characters feel that the DN protagonist lashes out at Isolde a bit too strongly, although, true enough, she did outright accuse him that he doesn't mind killing children. Nevertheless, he makes her cry and even {{spoiler|deliberately makes her think he is going to/did kill Connor.}} Fortunately, he'd only gone upstairs to give the kid a hug and a [[So Proud of You]], plus {{spoiler|talk to the demon possessing him face to face.}}

* [[Doomed By Canon]]: Subverted hard. The game automatically killed off, more or less, all potential wardens except for the player character. Here, all of them become Wardens, although two of them get the chance only because of the protagonist's direct action.

** {{spoiler|Trian survives ''and'' becomes a [[Wise Prince]].}}

* [[Dramatic Shattering]]: In Orzammar, the only reason anyone realizes that {{spoiler|Raonar is pissed off at how Faren was slammed with Leske's betrayal}} is because the prince {{spoiler|grips on his glass of wine hard enough to crush it in his bare grasp, blood and all}}.

* [[Dramatic Wind]]: Alim makes his own sometimes.

* [[Dying Moment of Awesome]]: Duncan, when he and the DN {{spoiler|get cornered in Ostagar. Not only does he haul the protagonist off the fortress's ledge and shield him with his body from the fall, smashing his back (and ending up paralyzed and with bad internal injuries) in the process but, later, after said dwarven noble carries him away from the battle (and Duncan had been telling him to leave him behind), Duncan pushes him out of the way of a blight wolf's sneak attack and takes it himself. And he ''still'' survives enough to tell him that ''only'' Grey Wardens ca kill Archdemons, although he doesn't manage to explain why and how it's done.}}

* [[Easily Forgiven]]: {{spoiler|Trian.}} And he feels really bad about it because he thinks he doesn't deserve it.

* [[Eccentric Mentor]]: Maybe not old enough to qualify, but the DN makes a point of acting like this. He even {{spoiler|deliberately lets/encourages the other members of the party to think he's a kinslayer just so the shock of the later revelation can be strong enough to make them grow past the point where they assume so many erroneous things so easily.}} And he is perfectly honest the entire time.

* [[Flash Step]]: Yes, this of all things. {{spoiler|Faren and the Sloth Demon both use this when they have it out one-on-one.}} [[It Makes Sense in Context]]...

* [[Foreshadowing]]: At this point, anything mentioned in the fic can be seen as a [[Chekhov's Gun]] or Gunman or whatever else. {{spoiler|Alim's 'rose' is just one of the minor examples.}} Also, readers should know that pretty much everything Raonar does, however minor, is part of some contingency plan.

 

** For the DN it's justified because of {{spoiler|all the books and stories he read while growing up.}}

* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]

** {{spoiler|Raonar's eyes glow white when he draws upon magic.}}

** {{spoiler|King Endrin Aeducan}} doesn't really need one, since he seems to know all along that the crap he's pulling is wrong, but he does it all anyway. Still, he only really laments it during his {{spoiler|deathbed scene, when he thinks Trian is a hallucination.}} He eventually does play it straight when he sees just ''how'' wrong he was when the fact {{spoiler|Trian is alive and right there, holding his hand,}} sinks in. Too bad he turned it all into an {{spoiler|excuse to die sooner instead of living, like his sons had respectively ordered / begged him to.}}

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler|Frandlin Ivo}} pulls one after getting a [[Hannibal Lecture]] ''and'' a [[You Are Better Than You Think You Are]] speech. He is currently a triple / quadruple agent, depending on whether or not readers see his ''own'' interests as separate from those of {{spoiler|his house, Orzammar at large, Bhelen and, of course, the dwarven noble protagonist.}}

** Faren plays this very straight though, not understanding {{spoiler|why Raonar sent him away so he could live while he stayed behind in Ostagar to try and help Duncan. He also doesn't understand why the prince bothered with a no good thug like him in the first place.}} Kallian only partially manages to help him get over it, and he does seem to be slowly growing out of it as he sees that people believe in him.

*** And then there's the nightmare...

* [[My Friends and Zoidberg|My Enemies and Zoidberg]]

{{quote| {{spoiler|"Greetings, my fine lords and ladies of the Assembly." He smiled his warmest smile and looked at Bhelen. "And hello to you too, little brother."}}}}

** {{spoiler|Trian also goes through this phase, eventually, but it lasts months and gets worst when he thinks his brother is dead. Fortunately, said brother shows up literally at his doorstep the very same instant he finished writing in his journal the apology he thought he'd never be able to give him in person.}}

** Endrin is something of a special case because {{spoiler|he knows full well what he's doing is wrong from the get go, but he still discards his second son because of wanting to prevent a so-called scandal. As if the firstborn being murdered by the second son wasn't already scandal enough.}}

* [[Nakama]]: The Wardens and their group, although Morrigan is still her cold self and Sten is mostly devoted to the DN and not so much towards everyone else. Shale is... well, Shale, and Oghren {{spoiler|just recently joined up.}}

* [[Oh Crap]]: Happens a few times.

* [[The Paragon]]: Three guesses who.

* [[Perpetual Motion Monster]]: The Darkspawn.

* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: Averted. {{spoiler|Trian buys into Bhelen's otherwise obvious ploy not because he and his other brother can't understand each other, but because the DN ''deliberately'' gave the eldest reasons to hate him while repeatedly foiling plots against him}}.

* [[Power Perversion Potential]]: Raonar alludes to this during a certain discussion with Alim about his blood magic.

{{quote| {{spoiler|"Well excuse me for not being overly coherent. After all, I only just bled from my eyes and am aching all over, not to mention feeling as though my head is being carved open from the inside and am generally in a sorry enough state that I am actually indulging in a rare episode of self-pity, which, though it feels strangely justified and appropriate right about now, I will most likely look back upon with shame once this is all over, unless I die tonight of course, which is really looking like the second most likely outcome, immediately after irreparable insanity!"}}}}

* [[Razor Wind]]: The DN's ranged sword attacks could qualify as this, more or less.

'''Shale''': "[[Blatant Lies|Not a word.]]" }}

* [[Showy Invincible Hero]]: Alim Surana qualifies as this, especially after chapter 48.

** {{spoiler|The one the protagonist gives to Bhelen is not only devastating psychologically to the point where the latter can barely think or speak at all, it actually goes on for about two or three chapters.}}

* [[So Proud of You]]: {{spoiler|Faren gets one from the DN. The fact that the latter deliberately timed it to show up more or less out of left field made the effect all that more acute.}}

* [[Suspiciously Specific Denial]]:

{{quote| {{spoiler|Trian Aeducan was a prince. The Crown Prince of Orzammar, last, proud city of the Dwarves. He had been drilled on protocol as he grew up and knew well all the manners suited to one of his status. As such, he most assuredly did ''not'' start gobbling up the absurdly delicious food like some starved, uneducated peasant, knowing that no one was there to see. He remained perfectly civilized and satisfied his immense hunger steadily and with the utmost temperance, never exceeding the top speed that spoon-feeding ca manage without spilling the contents everywhere. He was the epitome of aristocratic grace each and every moment of it. Really.}}}}

** As does Bhelen, {{spoiler|ending with Raonar refusing to become a kinslayer and offering Bhelen a chance to kill him in front of the entire council.}}

* [[Team Dad]]: Raonar is ''very'' protective of his subordinates, even as he holds them in line strictly, isn't that right {{spoiler|Zevran}} and {{spoiler|Wynne}}?

* [[The Stoic]]: Theron (mostly) and Sten.

* [[Take a Third Option]]: Or, in Raonar's case, '''make''' one.

* [[Tempting Fate]]: Raonar does this by accident in {{spoiler|chapter 23 and is called out on it by Faren later}}. He avoids doing it afterwards.

* [[Took a Level In Kindness]]: {{spoiler|Trian.}}

* [[Violently Protective Girlfriend]]: {{spoiler|Jarvia was responsible for destroying Faren's last good thing in Dust Town, namely his friendship with Leske. Kallian took matters into her own hands.}}

* [[Warrior Prince]]: Alistair and Raonar.

* [[The White Prince]]: {{spoiler|Trian is this, at first.}}

* [[The Wise Prince]]: Raonar, obviously. Alistair also seems to be turning into this, as is {{spoiler|Trian.}}

* [[Wham Line]]: Oh yeah, the protagonist did it.

{{quote| {{spoiler|'''Raonar:''' Ladies and gentlemen… I have just made the Archdemon smarter, and if it was not self-aware before, it definitely is now.}}}}

{{quote| {{spoiler|"You know, I could say I'm doing this because I don't plan on letting those important to me die. I could say it's because I'm in a hurry to get out of this Fade thing and find out what happened to Kallian. I could say it's because I had a sort of revelation that ever so epically opened my eyes to a sort of higher calling. And I could also start a long, pointless monologue about true strength and a heap of other stuff, during which, truth be told, I may not even know what I'd be talking about half the time. I could babble for hours about nonsense, but the truth is that, right now, I am simply kicking your ass because I just don't like you."}}}}

* [[Xanatos Gambit]]: The DN does this all the time. Everything he does is probably part of a plan or backup ploy. Chapter 48 is entirely one of these.

{{quote| "And that so-called plot of yours, Stone's mercy, it was so incredibly outlandish that a five year-old could have poked holes through all of it. "You're my elder, I'll respect whatever decision you make" you said when you tried to {{spoiler|goad me into killing Trian}}. If that's the driving force behind your actions, isn't {{spoiler|Trian}} your elder too? Makes your words a huge red flag, doesn't it? The only reason I so quickly made you think I agreed to the whole {{spoiler|kinslaying}} was because I didn't want to risk bursting into laughter if I accidentally made you say something like 'Of course I'll {{spoiler|help you kill our brother,}} you've always been there for me'. And just what the hell were you thinking when you sent that stupid scout spy? What was he supposed to do, start a violent confrontation when I finally ran into {{spoiler|Trian}}? Just how stupid do you think soldiers are to listen to the ravings of a lunatic? And speaking of armies, how in hell were {{spoiler|Frandlin}} and that idiot supposed to have any credibility when it came to {{spoiler|framing me}} if my soldiers were right there, especially since Dugan, that idiot, and his ambush were so obviously not part of your initial plan? Do you even realize how many sodding coincidences your so-called plan actually relied on, even not counting how big the possibility was of any of your 'moles' getting killed in that expedition? Or how the chance of you actually timing your arrival properly was so absurdly infinitesimal! You speak of politics and planning, but don't you even know that any plan which relies on more than 2 or three things going right is doomed to fail! I put more effort into making that scheme work than you did!"}}

* [[Xanatos Speed Chess]]: It was {{spoiler|started years prior the actual start of the story, between two certain people and is still in effect, although only one of them knows it.}}