Reflections on a Dwarf Mourn Watcher
I've finished my Mourn Watch dwarf run, complete with an Emmrich romance for the peak Watcher experience. This is certainly the most glamorous dwarf I've ever had!
I will say that while I found the Grey Wardens more immersive and narratively fulfilling, the Mourn Watch offered a fresher, more exciting vibe; it gave me roleplay opportunities to play a more cunning/witty character (based on the amount of extra studies a dwarf Watcher would have taken on) that I wouldn't have had with a no-nonsense Grey Warden.
However, I ultimately felt that the Mourn Watch faction was mainly written for mages. I was never really clear on what exactly warriors brought to the table. (Maybe I missed a dialogue branch or codex that would have explained this.) I honestly would have been fine with dwarves being hired as crypt guards or something Carta-like. Instead, it just felt like a few lines were tossed in to acknowledge the rareness of dwarves.
I first noticed this disconnect during Emmrich's "Walking the Graves" quest when he asked Manfred to kindly step aside so we could light the candles. Dwarf Rook commented: “I’ve resurrected simple undead before, but I’ve never seen a wisp animate a corpse so smoothly.”
I handwaved this as a writing oversight since dwarves couldn't do magic, but then it would happen again and again with Rook asking Taash if their "necromancy" bothered them or with Rook using the royal "we" in Johanna giving their necromancy a bad name. It wasn't a big deal to reload and just pick a different dialogue option to sidestep these references, but it was immersion breaking. To be entirely fair, there were several lines to acknowledge the lack of spellcasting: "I'm not a spellcaster, but any Watcher can recognize a necromantic evocation."
Either way, it was still a mixed bag.
On the whole, I enjoyed leaning into the savagery of the Reaper warrior specialization and experiencing firsthand the code-switching between Watcher Rook and Emmrich. Since I took him with me everywhere to maximize the amount of banter from him, I had a fresh perspective of the Fade and magic in general because of his insights. I appreciated his compassion towards the other companions and felt that he was a one-of-a-kind character. Both Ingellvar and Thorne definitely scratched different itches.
Favorite Mourn Watch-related lines: Isabela: "Great show. Guess the Mourn Watch are good at fighting more than just skeletons." Rook: "Well, when you think about it, we're always fighting skeletons. Sometimes they're just still inside people." -- Neve: "I follow the leads I've got. What, you don't like a good stakeout?" Rook: "I'm a Mourn Watcher. If I can sit through our ceremonies, I can sit through a stakeout." Neve: "Oh, the picture of patience." Rook: "(Laughs) When I need to be." -- Emmrich: "Unbelievable. Johanna's stolen a chamber from the Grand Necropolis and transposed it under Blackthorne Manor!" Lucanis: "Mages. You want contracts on your life? This is how you get a contract on your life."