The Glade 4.0

Whatever you think of Isabela's actions, Anders' actions at the end were utterly horrific--I was very tempted to have him executed--and I sided more with the mages than with the templars.

I -did- kill him, and I sided with the Mages in the end.

I told him to GTFO, then helped the mages. Anders showed up there later and rejoined the party. Which turned out to be one of the worst things to have ever done. Maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if 99% of the mages I was trying to help didn't turn into abominations and tried to kill me. Templars it is from now on, I suppose. At least Cullen has a good head on his shoulders this time around.

Hmmm. Were Anders' action horrific? They certainly seem to be on their face...but, as with so many things, there are two sides to that coin. Were the two sides to remain at "peace," would that solve anything? Or merely delay the inevitable? The mages would simply not have to worry about being killed or made tranquil...for now. But without decisive action, that threat would ever loom.

Matthais (my mage from my first playthrough), though seriously pissed off at the deception and action, pretty quickly made peace with it, let Anders live (he had romanced him, after all), sided with the mages, and basically felt that, much like the rest of his life, a die had been cast that he wasn't pleased with but made the best of it. There was no chance of reconciliation between the mages and the templars now, so for mages, it was now a fight for survival.

One of the many magnificent things about the game, as Ralter referenced, was the lack of a "good" answer to anything. The "happy ending" is the end of Act 2. After that, everything goes to hell in a handbasket, and it's a case of choosing not what a video game would consider "good," but rather, "what would your character do?" Knight-Commander Meredith was a raging, insane *****, but her cause was fairly just despite her abhorrant methods. Her opponent Orsino was weak and fell to the dark side, turning to demons after having the hope of a free life beaten out of him. The Grand Cleric was a good woman, just and compassionate, trying to keep the peace in a city that was falling down around her, and her resolve resulted in her death. Anders was a good man whose actions reflect not only a lifetime of pain but also bore the weight of the mistake of trying to help a friend (Justice).

You're the first straight man I've known to use a gay male romance option in an RPG. Of course, this will fuel the "FarSky is Gay" option on glade polls.

What's really strange, is if you play this game through as an Apostate mage that supports the Templars (?!), you can still become the new Magister Viscount of Kirkwall with full Templar support.

Interestingly, I was initially going to romance Merrill, but found her so clueless about romance that I switched over to Anders when he (easily) proved more responsive. My second playthrough, I'm going to try Merrill again, as she's kinda like an elfy Willow, but the blood magic/demon ally thing gives me great pause. She's adorable otherwise, just...y'know, demon.

Phe, ever the one to do things with great difficulty, is romancing Anders on her roge and Fenris on her mage(!). Yeah, that last one'll work out well.

Elves don't call them demons. They view Fade spirits differently than those that believe in the Maker. To her, the demon she made a pact with was just another spirit. She knows it was dangerous and continues to be dangerous. I really enjoyed her romance and I supported her the entire way.

it's explicitly clarified in Dragon Age II that in order to use blood magic, a pact with a demon must be made.

That's how Merrill got her blood magic. However, I think that's just one way to learn is to have a demon teach you. That's how it was to get the blood mage spec in DAO. But I don't think you need the demon if you figure it out yourself. Because with all of the magics turning into Blood Mages during the course of the game, it hardly seems like they all had enough time to make a pact with a demon.

As a matter of fact, during one of the quests that Ser Thrask gives you to try and convince the mages from Starkhaven, the mage you save that wants to go back to the Circle says that the guy said the only way to survive was to use blood magic. He then cut himself and the power woke all of the undead and such. Going from that story, it seems that a mage's blood has power and you can use it regardless of making a pact with a demon.