#circle critical

[squirrelwithatophat]

Wynne defending children from the Templars

It’s interesting to reflect on Wynne’s Establishing Character Moment in Dragon Age: Origins, especially in light of the strange whitewashing of the Templar Order in Inquisition as well as her apparently conservative politics.  When we encounter her in Broken Circle (our first interaction with her since the brief chat at Ostagar), we see her fighting to protect a group of young children not only from demons but from the Templars -- the very military force that claims to protect them.  If she is recruited into the party, in fact, we discover that she had already sacrificed her life for them.  She is technically dead/undead and only kept standing due to possession by a spirit of Faith.

As soon as the party enters the door, she’s fearful that the Warden has come to kill them all on behalf of Knight-Commander Greagoir, and depending on player choices/intentions, she may in fact be correct.  

Wynne: It’s you!  No... come no further.  Grey Warden or no, I will strike you down where you stand!

Warden: Wynne - what are you doing here?

Wynne: I am a mage of the Circle.  More importantly, why are you here?  The templars would not let just anyone by.

Warden: You have children with you.

Wynne: The tower is a place of learning.  Young apprentices are always here.  Why is that surprising?

Wynne: But this is no time to discuss that.  Why are you here?  Why did the templars let you in?

Warden: I am helping Greagoir resolve the Circle’s difficulties.

Wynne: Then you do serve the templars as I feared.  Do they have the Right of Annulment?

Warden: The Right of Annulment?

Wynne: The order from the grand cleric allowing the templars to completely annul a Circle.  Do they have it?

Warden: No, but Greagoir expects it to arrive soon.

Wynne: So Greagoir thinks the Circle is beyond hope.  He probably assumes we are all dead.  

Wynne: They abandoned us to our fate, but even trapped as we are, we have survived.  If they invoke the Right, however, we will not be able to stand against them.

Warden: It’s nothing less than this Circle deserves.

Wynne:  Do these children deserve death too?  Will they die by your hand?

Warden: Mages are a danger.  If I had a say, you would all be culled.

Wynne: Killing us solves nothing, but with training and education, mages learn to control their powers.

Wynne: You’re mad if you think I’ll let you lay a finger on these children.  If will fight you if you won’t listen to reason.

Wynne: I am not afraid of you.

Warden: This Circle must be destroyed, for all our sakes.

Wynne: If you insist on making war on the Circle, we have nothing more to discuss.  It comes to blows, then.  I will stop you or die trying.

BONUS - terrified child fleeing from being murdered:

Commentary

While Wynne can be condescending and sometimes preachy in her support for the Circle, her dialogue both here and elsewhere indicates that she has no illusions about the Templars keeping them locked inside.  

After all, they imprisoned her in Kinloch Hold since she was a young child, took her own child away from her forever, and threatened to slaughter both her and the other children she was mentoring in her son’s stead.  If recruited into the party, she opens up about the despair she felt as a girl when she realized she would be trapped there forever, and it was only by turning to the religious faith that was being forced on all mages in the tower that she began to make peace with her fate.  She knows that if the Libertarian Fraternity successfully leads a vote for independence from the Chantry, the Templars will simply kill them all.  She even uses the term “genocide” to describe what will happen.  She explicitly cites this as the reason why she opposes the independence vote. 

The mages will never be free! The Chantry would never allow it. Our only hope for survival is to show them we can be trusted! Don’t you remember what happened to the Circle in Ferelden? Do you want to give the templars another excuse to call for the culling of all mages?

She doesn’t reject freedom for her fellow mages for any personal advantage, throwing others like her under the bus to reap the rewards of brown-nosing.  If she wanted any semblance of power or status, after all, she would have accepted the post of First Enchanter (or second-in-line to it) a long time ago.  As of Dragon Age Origins, she has consistently rejected the opportunity to become Irving’s successor.  As of the end of Broken Circle, if she joins the party and defeats Uldred’s rebels, she still needs to ask for permission just to temporarily leave the tower, despite having proven her loyalty and competence beyond any reasonable doubt both here and over the past thirty or so years of incarceration.  It takes helping the Hero of Ferelden save the entire country by defeating the Archdemon to convince the Templars to allow her to come and go freely - an opportunity that, as her own son later points out, no one else has had or probably ever would have in their lifetime (and one, as the only the player knows, that is entirely conditional on player choices).

The only context in which she ever even considers fighting the Templars is when she has no other way of preventing the Templars from killing them all anyways - both during Broken Circle and in the climax of Asunder.

Her politics are, in the end, based on fear.

Not the usual fear of the Other or fear of social change that hamper normal politics, but the completely rational fear, as someone at/near the bottom of the social hierarchy, about what the authorities will do to her and everyone like her if they step out of line.  As it turns out, she’s not wrong about what the powers that be are and how they will react - she’s only wrong about the potential for a better future and the rewards of fighting for it.

[justcallmecappy]

Annulments, Harrowings, and Tranquility: Methods the Circles use to assert control over the mage population of Southern Thedas

I have noticed that it's not really common knowledge among the Dragon Age playerbase how terribly mages have it in Southern Thedas -- I'm still seeing takes where it's implied that Circles are benign 'magic schools', so going to use this post to elaborate on three widespread methods the Chantry uses to control and cull the mage population:

1 - The Right of Annulment is a form of group punishment where all mages within a Circle are put to the sword, including children and the elderly. A Grand Cleric or Knight-Commander may invoke the Right of Annulment if "a Circle is deemed irredeemable" at their own discretion. As of the events of DAO, the Right of Annulment has been invoked 17 times, and an additional 3 times afterwards. That's potentially 20 Circles purged of all mages since the inception of the Circles.

Even if you are a "good" Circle mage who has never stepped out of line, has done as you are told, and has never once broken a single rule your whole life, you could also be executed just for the crime of being born a mage, and being in the same Circle as "guilty" mages. (For additional context, group punishment is considered a war crime in the real world, for the reason it is inhumane -- you do not collectively punish the many for the crimes of the few.)

2 - Harrowings are more than just a "magic test" that determine who qualifies to become a full mage. Apprentices are not given any time to prepare for it, are not told of what the test consists of, and are taken at random in the middle of the night to fight a demon in the Fade. Not everyone survives and those that fail their Harrowings are killed and their friends are not informed of what happened to them. All Circles in Southern Thedas enforce Harrowings on their apprentices. Apprentices who refuse their Harrowings are made Tranquil.

3 - Tranquility is a form of magical lobotomy that strips a person of their autonomy and ability to feel emotion, essentially robbing them of their minds and free will.

Players in the real world might have trouble grasping this concept, but think about making someone unable to refuse anything you ask them to do, or unable resist anything you do to them, making them more susceptible to abuse.

It is against Chantry law to make full-fledged mages who have passed their Harrowings Tranquil -- and yet, Karl Thekla did not escape this fate, and was illegally made Tranquil to be cruelly used as bait to capture Anders.

The Tranquil are apparently immune to demonic possession, but this was proven wrong in the novel 'Asunder' when the Tranquil mage Pharamond was possessed by a demon. The Seekers of Truth have also been keeping the cure to Tranquility a secret, so that it may continue to be used as a method to keep mages under control.

Tranquil mages are also members of the Formari, a trader's guild under the Circles, creating and selling potions and enchantments to line the Circle (and Chantry)'s coffers. It is therefore profitable for the Circles to keep making mages Tranquil to ensure a steady supply of trade goods to sell leading to a steady stream of revenue.

Besides this, I have also found it's not common knowledge among the DA player base that Circle mages are not allowed to get married, not allowed to have families or relationships, and if they get pregnant while in the Circle, the child is taken away from it's parents to be raised in a Chantry orphanage after being born. All these are rules enforced by the Chantry to keep mage populations under control.

[radbanditgooplight]

A First Enchanter’s Hypothetical Authority

It’s ridiculous to think that it only requires a First Enchanter to sign off on letting mages out of the Circle, or that it’s required for a First Enchanter to sign off on making someone Tranquil. If that were true, a libertarian First Enchanter could just ban anyone being made tranquil, and could let all harrowed mages out of the Circle. And since Fiona, who was once the First Enchanter of Montsimmard and then became the Grand Enchanter, didn’t do it, it seems obvious that she couldn’t.

That’s not to say this doesn’t exist in some limited way. There’s obviously some sort of limit to the amount of mages a First Enchanter can let out of the Circle, not to mention an “acceptable” behavior that a mage must meet to be let out of the Circle. But it also seems clear that consequently the Knight-Commander could just veto whoever gets let out of the Circle. That sure is what it sounds like in the Magi Origin where Irving and Greagoir are arguing about mages being let out of the Circle to fight the Darkspawn, that sure sounds like Greaogir was preventing anymore mages to go help.

It sure doesn’t sound like the Kirkwall Templars need any of Orsino’s approval to make mages Tranquil. It sounds likely that First Enchanters need to “play ball” (i.e. approve making mages tranquil) to keep their position, or have any sort of control over the system, otherwise it will be taken away.

If the First Enchanter can only send out a handful of mages out of the Circle, then that First Enchanter is going to give approval to those that will most benefit the Circle, those who are on a job for the Chantry, those who are long established Circle supporters/loyalists, those who will make the Circle money or gain political clout. So only a handful of the oldest, most loyal, most connected, and/or most “harmless” mages are let out of the Circle. You know: Wynne, Vivienne, Finn.

(Even if a First Enchanter could give permission for harrowed mages to go outside the Circle with impunity, why should this even be a thing? Why should someone being let out of the Circle depend on a single person’s say so, if they are already recognized as qualified? Oh, too bad, you passed your Harrowing but the First Enchanter doesn’t like you, looks like you have to stay in the Circle until there’s a new First Enchanter.)

[hurricane-of-jacarandas]

FULL OFFENSE BUT

In case is hard to read:

Hi, I'm Luke Skywalker. I blew a big-city-worthy, 150km diameter space station, with an estimate population of One Million people who maybe aren't fascist themselves. But ok, because that was the center of killing and oppression system, abusing their population for like, 20 years.

(everybody cheers)

Hi, I'm Anders. I blew one 70m² church with like, 30 people in, and they are all the very enforcers of the fascist system. If there was an innocent person there, would an citizen that happened to be in the wrong place, wrong time. But ok, because the chantry has been systematical killing and abusing people for Over a Millennia.

(everybody feels sad)

@freedoms-call @magicskull @andrsfel @iwillturnthisquestaround

[the-savage-nymph-art]

Okay, so I am replaying origins as a mage and I would like to ask a couple of things:

ANDRASTE'S SMOKING TOES! THE APPRENTICES SLEEP WITH 42 PEOPLE TO A ROOM AND HAVE LIKE THREE BATHTUBS???

HOW MANY DON'T PASS THEIR HARROWING IF THE HARROWED MAGES SUDDENLY SLEEP 4 TO A ROOM????

DON'T THEY HAVE ANY PRIVACY???? NO BATHROOM, JUST A WALL???

MAGIC IS A GIFT, NOT A SIN!!!

DUNCAN, GET ME OUT OF HERE!!!!

[ageofdragon]

I’ve been thinking about the Bigger ideas of the Circles, like why certain things are and really...

Prepubescent children who show signs of magic are taken to Circles, isolated from all other society, taught how to only control their magic or use it (only when permitted) for practical things (that help Templars or other non-mages, like healing magic), and forbidden from being with each other to discourage the result of a [mage] child.

Magic is often a hereditary trait, very rare does a non-mage have a mage child unless the trait existed somewhere in their extended family lines. For example, the Trevelyans are a relatively non-magical family and in fact are a highly religious, templar family. However, they can also trace their ancestry back to the Pavuses who have always had magic.

Or the Amells, who forbid Leandra from seeing Malcolm and then were so disappointed she was having his child and bringing the possibility of “more magic” into their line instead of breeding it out. This happening after her cousin had her entire family of mage children sent off to Circles.

Circles are at the basic level not meant to only “protect” non-mages and mages from magic, but to isolate and eventually smother the magic trait. If you have a bunch of mages not making more baby mages, the number of baby mages (who Often require a parental magic trait) might decrease eventually right? There will still be mage babies, but they’ll be fewer and rarer.

Because otherwise there is no other real reason to forbid mage families, to the point that one of the main, valid reasons the Rivain Circle was annulled was because they had working family units within the Circle.

[thebloodychampion]

I feel like the templars are necessary, not the circles like they are now. There should be circles in Thedas but maybe more based on Tevinter, so it is a school and people can go home or well stay if they don’t have a home to go home to. But they are free to walk outside and do stuff. Provided they can actually control their magic and not a templar or chantry sister is proving that, but another mage. Or the mage is going with them especially with children. Also Templars should have no say in the circle itself they should be there to protect the mages from outside threats not from themselves unless they all go into a fist fight at once.

[squirrelwithatophat]

Did you know that there are whipping posts in the Kirkwall Gallows?

They’re rather easy for players to miss. You can see them in the background during The Last Straw (Act 3), and as early as Act 1 (and continuing into Act 2), Circle mages can be heard complaining, “Don’t talk to me. The templars will give me thirty lashes if they see me speaking to a civilian.” During the quest A Noble Agenda (Act 3), a woman reports seeing a mage cousin “whipped, half-starving” while pleading for mercy from a literal “death squad.”

In-universe, however, the whippings in the Gallows appear to be common knowledge. During Repentance (Act 2), we can see a whipping post (the exact same model observed in the Gallows later on) being used for sexual roleplay in the Harimann Estate in Hightown.

Lord Harimann: Now, you be the naughty apprentice, and I’ll be the Templar torturer.

It’s Played For Laughs here of course, but it really says something that citizens of Kirkwall know about Templar abuses in the Gallows and just how awful conditions are there — including the use of whipping posts. This isn’t even the only instance in the game of random NPCs referring to the severity of the repression and the rampant cruelty.

For example…

During The Destruction of Lothering (Prologue):

Hawke: I heard someone call this fortress the Gallows. Is it a prison?

Guardsman Wright: Used to be, back in the Imperial days. They kept slaves here until the rebellion. Now the templars run it and use it to lock up their mages. Guess not much has changed.

Outside Lirene’s shop, during Tranquility (Act 1):

Refugee: Hey! We heard you in there. Asking about the healer. We know what happens to mages in this town. And it ain't gonna happen to him.

Speaking to the sister of a Templar during Enemies Among Us (Act 1):

Macha: Keran was always so devout, so idealistic. He was so proud when the templars accepted him. I pleaded with him not to join the Order, but he wouldn't listen. You hear dark rumors about the templars and Knight-Commander Meredith. And now my brother is gone.

Hawke: (“Are templars so bad here?”) In Lothering, some templars died protecting villagers. I never heard any dark rumors.

Macha: And those are the stories my Keran adored. But it is not like that here, serah. There is a growing darkness in the order. They prowl the streets in packs. Hunting. And now, they say their duties put them above us, that they have the right to... take people from their homes. It is frightening.

Hawke: (“Tell me about Meredith”) 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. But others say she is terribly fierce and utterly without pity. That she sees demons everywhere. It is dangerous even to whisper such things.

During Wayward Son (Act 1):

Feynriel: Look, I know it's different in other kingdoms, but here... no one helps Circle mages. Anything the templars don't like, you get the brand.

During Underground Railroad (Act 2):

Hawke: Helping apostates is dangerous. If the templars caught you...

Mistress Selby: One of my sisters is a mage. A gentle child, so generous. She was made Tranquil last year. Templars claimed she was a danger. Now... it's like she's not there. That shouldn't be forced on anyone.

In Sundermount (Act 3), if Feynriel escapes to Tevinter:

Arianni: I hear the templars have grown more abusive of the mages in Kirkwall. I'm glad Feynriel is no longer subject to their whims.

By the Docks, any Act:

Unnamed Woman: I feel sorry for the mages sometimes, you know? What a terrible thing, to be used by everyone.

Knight-Captain Cullen even admits that the common folk suspect them and have become hostile towards the Templars. There’s this exchange in Act 1:

Hawke: The templars defend us all.

Cullen: That's a surprisingly unpopular viewpoint. It used to be that templars were welcomed wherever they went—for defending people from dark magics. Now the townsfolk are as likely to slam their doors as offer us a bed. The image of the poor, chained apprentice is a powerful one. And one the mages are more than willing to exploit.

Then there’s the codex for the Mage Underground (available in Dissent, Act 2), written by Cullen:

Every Circle in Thedas suffers from individual mages who rebel and attempt to flee… Until now, I have never served anywhere that the populace does not fully cooperate in hunting these rebels. Here in Kirkwall, citizens actually help rebel mages escape.

In World of Thedas vol. 2 (p. 173), from a note dated 9:25 (set between Acts 2-3) from a mage of the Hossberg Circle in the far away Anderfels: 

I have heard that in the Kirkwall Gallows, mages are locked in their cells with barely room to stretch, let alone exercise.  I can promise you that any mage of the Anderfels would be stark raving mad after a week of such treatment... No wonder Kirkwall has such trouble with blood mages.

Even relative newcomers recognize the situation right away. For example, when speaking to Grand Cleric Elthina in the Chantry (Act 1):

Hawke: Why are Circle mages here kept in a Tevinter prison?

Elthina: Ah. So soon you take an interest in our problems. The short answer is, it was a building. A large one. Should it have sat empty? The Chantry found a use for what was once a horror. It is the nature of men to move on and forget the past. Even your Blight will be a distant memory in our lifetimes.

Isabela: “Once a horror?” Yes, I'm sure it's filled with flowers and sunshine and happiness now.

Even Fenris, who supports Meredith’s policies, immediately notices (first entry into the Gallows, Act 1 or 2):

Fenris: I've... heard about the Circle of Magi outside of the Imperium, but I've never been in one. This seems more like a prison. I wonder if it's more effective than the Circle I know.

Given all this, it’s hard to believe that the people in power in Kirkwall don’t know (or at the very least suspect) what’s going on — more likely, they simply just don’t care.

Or perhaps they think it’s acceptable. As Cassandra says of the Seekers of Truth in Inquisition, “We knew what was happening at Kirkwall, where the mage rebellion began. We looked into reports of Knight-Commander Meredith’s harsh treatment of her charges years earlier. But we found so many shocking cases of magical corruption, it was decided her actions were justified.”