What Dorian thinks of blood magic? During a conversation in Heaven, he states that the problem is not blood magic -if you use your own blood or the blood of a willing part- but the fact that the Magisters always want more power, thus human sacrifices and all. But after his personal quest he states that his father -before trying to change him- as always hated blood magic and teached him to consider blood magic for weaks. Dorian hates blood magic or not? How the hell Halward Pavus has (1/2)
(2/2) survived in Tevinter society without blood magic, since he wasnt a blood mage until he has tried to force Dorian to marry? I can’t understand if this is someway some error by bioware part or there is something about the Imperium I’m missing: how really is the abuse of blood magic a need to survive and how really is just the Magisters going on the most easy solution?
Talking reasonably about blood magic is damn near impossible, you know. :)
The problem is that people say ‘blood magic’ when they’re talking about a whole range of things:
Spells of any school cast with your own blood
Spells of any school cast with someone else’s blood (willing or not)
Spells (good or bad) that specifically require blood as a power source cast with your own blood
Spells (good or bad) that specifically require blood as a power source cast with someone else’s blood (willing or not)
It’s often very difficult to define what someone means when they’re talking about blood magic, and people are almost always contradictory on the subject to some extent: the classic example is the Chantry using phylacteries to track mages, despite broadly condemning blood magic in general.
Okay, so: Dorian. Let’s get the quotes in order first.
Inquisitor: Just how often is blood magic used there?
Dorian: That’s what any magister would tell you. They’d be convincingly offended by the notion, too. Of course, what people call blood magic here and what we consider blood magic are two different things.
Inquisitor: What’s considered actual blood magic in Tevinter?
Dorian: Blood magic isn’t inherently dangerous. Using your own blood or that of a willing participant? What’s the harm? The problem is what’s permitted only gets you so far. And what if you need more? You always need more. That’s where we get into sacrifices and demon summoning. None of that is done – not officially. Behind closed doors, it’s a different story. Real blood magic can give you an edge, a leg up against your opponents. It’s safe to assume that any mage of rank does it. The rest are quietly shut out of power, to put it bluntly.
Inquisitor: You’d think the templars would object.
Dorian: I imagine they did, long ago. Once, their investigations might have been sincere. Then their balls were cut off. Too inconvenient. Nowadays, only the friendless are accused … and most of them are probably innocent.
Inquisitor: There must be some mages who oppose this.
Dorian: Of course. I do, and I’m not entirely alone. Occasionally there’ll be a magister who makes noise, and then the reform talk begins. All very patriotic. Meanwhile, that magister will be quietly shunned. Chances are – surprise! – it’s learned he was a maleficar all along. Most learn to keep quiet. Me? I enjoy the allure of pariah-hood.
– Dragon Age: Inquisition Dorian Dialogue
Halward: Dorian, please, if you’ll only listen to me
Dorian: Why? So you can spit more convenient lies? He taught me to hate blood magic. “The resort of the weak mind.” Those are his words. But what was the first thing you did when your precious heir refused to play pretend for the rest of his life? You tried to change me!
Halward: I only wanted what was best for you!
Dorian: You wanted the best for you! For your fucking legacy! Anything for that!
Dragon Age: Inquisition The Last Resort of Good Men
So: what’s happening here?
Tonally, obviously, these conversations are wildly different. The first one is the Dorian you just met five minutes ago, and are almost certainly interrogating mercilessly in Haven because the game just gave you a new dialogue tree, and you’ve already run through everyone else’s. He’s clearly clever and analytical, but also flippant and completely willing to play the semantics game with you just to mess with your foreign mind. The second is Dorian’s personal quest: it’s emotional and raw, and he’s speaking as someone who only narrowly escaped becoming a victim of one of the worst kinds of blood magic.
However, it’s worth noting that the Dorian of the first conversation had already experienced the things that lead to the second conversation, and some of what he says at first is a means of covering up pain and anger. I think you can build a reasonably consistent picture of blood magic in the Imperium, and what Dorian thinks about it:
theartofmadeline
yousharknotpass
vaporwave
areudirty
annaxmalina
gummygunk
pixelskylines
