#marethari

[dalishious]

Every single time I finish the DA2 quest "A New Path" I'm struck by how much of a dumbass Keeper Marethari is. Every single time. I know the intention was to preach "oh, look how Merrill's blood magic has ruined everything" but like. Last time I fucking checked Merrill is not responsible for Marethari's actions?

Maybe if the Keeper had supported Merrill in the first place, instead of casting her away and then trying to coax her back into the clan that she was, at the same time, spreading lies to about how Merrill is dangerous and thus further socially isolating her... Maybe if the Keeper didn't treat Merrill like a baby who can't make her own decisions and just doesn't know any better whenever they disagree... Maybe if the Keeper didn't choose to become possessed because she didn't trust Merrill's ability to handle her own shit... Maybe then, things would be different!

Every single death that the story tries to blame Merrill for - Pol, Marethari, potentially the entire clan - is just other people being stupid and not trusting her. Despite the fact that through the entire game, Merrill harms zero (0) people using blood magic.

[anneapocalypse]

The arulin'holm choice is just one of those wild choices for Hawke to be making in the first place. On personal level, Hawke, a human, choosing to withhold a special elven tool from their elven friend sounds pretty terrible, and on a cultural level Hawke, a human, choosing to defy the wishes of Marethari, an elven leader, also doesn't look great. I don't think there's really any good optics for Hawke in that situation regardless of what you think personally is the right decision.

Because the truly out-there decision isn't what Hawke does in either case, it's Marethari feeling so strongly about denying Merrill the arulin'holm that she's willing to claim a loophole in Dalish custom by giving the artifact to a human instead of Merrill.

What's interesting about that to me is that the much more obvious route for Marethari would be to simply claim that Merrill has voluntarily left the clan and is thus no longer bound by its rules and traditions, therefore she can't invoke vir sulevanan in the first place and the whole point is moot.

But Marethari doesn't do that--because to do so would be to accept Merrill's departure, and Marethari doesn't want that. What she wants is for Merrill to come back and tell Marethari she was right all along. That's certainly the outcome that would flatter her pride the most, and I think Marethari is influenced by pride in this matter just as much as Merrill is.

But in treating Merrill as still a member of the clan, just one who's gone temporarily astray, Marethari has to acknowledge Merrill's right to vir sulevanan. Thus, when Merrill completes the task, Marethari is bound by Dalish custom to hand over the arulin'holm, and only then does she flout that custom by giving it to Hawke instead.

[disconnectedkat]

Something about Marethari receiving a hero's welcome to the alienage she exiled Merrill to.

[butter-and-too-much-bread]

Merrill's story is really important to me because the Dalish have a fandom reputation for being wise and curious keepers of old lore, but the only material difference between clan Sabre and a human Circle is that her clan let her live.

This story shows that the Dalish have a reactionary fear of Fade entities and "forbidden" magic, and that they have forbidden magic in the first place. Marethari engineered her own downfall, and very likely the entire clan's destruction, and in the end they blamed the overly ambitious mage. Being a mage herself changed nothing. Being elves divorced from human cultures changed nothing. Merrill was pushing magical boundaries and they wanted that out of their lives.

[proffbon]

TAMLEN AND MAHARIEL MENTIONED

[dirtybiowareconfessions]

Confession: Gilf battle royale: Flemeth, Marethari, Wynne, Fiona

[bluecadash]

Why didn't any of them listen to me? All this time, I thought I could help them. Save them.

[bisexualalistairtheirin]

This is probably just an inconsistency, but it could also easily be Marethari-talk for "I badmouthed you to everyone you knew and isolated you from your peers so no one but me and my judgy ass can help you with this. Wait why are you leaving?"