Consiquences of Therinfal Redoubt





One thing that kind of irked me about Inquisition was the lack of real emotion and consiquence for some actions. The only time you really see any true, lasting emotion is in the tresspasser DLC when the inquisitor is at the edge of a mental breakdown.

The developers did intend to add consequences to certain choices such as choosing between the mages and templars. So here is my take on either one.

If you choose to side with the templars, you are shoved into your own head to relieve past memories and possible futures. We only see a glimpse of what our inquisitor would truly see. I expect they go through much violent and worse memories, maybe of the circle, maybe of past abuse. They are trapped in an endless loop and Cole is the only one who could save them. If you make the right dialogue choices as well, you can see a slow progression of defiance to shock to terror as the envy demon slowly twists your mind. I assume its worse if youre a mage, since the demon forces you to murder innocent people with demons at your side while they scream and beg for their lives . It turns you into the thing you have tried so hard to overcome. Cole has to keep saying "its ok. Youre ok. You can do this." Which points to the fact that your inquisitor was near their breaking point through this.

But as soon as youre out of its control, you barely think twice on it. You dont even really snap at cassandra when she bitches about what happened (in either scenario really). It isn't until you see deleted dialogue from solas that it actually is an issue for your inquisitor. He has to try and stop you from having a full blown panic attack. He tells you its ok, youre safe, youre not there anymore. that point I think that no matter what your approval with Solas is at that point, You needed him to help you through the trauma. And once youre out you have to look at your advisors, the ones who envy once wore, and think to yourself "they arent envy. They wont kill you. They dont think youre a monster." You have to look at Cullen, who stabbed you in the back and laughed and think "he wouldnt do that." That doesnt seem like something you can just brush off in the span of a few weeks back to Haven. And it shouldnt.





If you choose to side with the mages, you are thrown into a future that has lost all hope. Dorian is your only friend, your only grasp at getting back to the past. Together you find some of your companions who are already beyond saving, watch Conner die, see countless bodies scattered across the castle, and watch Lilliana and your friends sacrifice themselves to save you. All of this becuase You werent strong enough to stop it. Dorian has to literally hold you back from going to Lilliana to try and save her. You can see the pain on the inquisitors face as Dorian pulls you through the portal. After that, you don't speak of it again.

I take this as more of a "its too hard to talk about" than a "yeah I have no trauma from that". When you get to skyhold afterwards, its Dorian who asks if youre ok. And when mother Giselle asks you what Dorians intentions are, its evident that you spend more time with each other outside of what the game permits. I think that they use each other as a way to help cope.its true that the inquisitor most likely experienced more truama, given that dorian didnt know those who sacrificed themselves that well, but they both still held that weight on their shoulders. Theyre the only ones who knew what could have happened if the Inquisitor failed. So yes mother Giselle, Dorian does have motives with the Inquisitor, to keep them from breaking. To say, Im here with you. Dont worry.

I wish we could see the impact these choices have on the Inquisitor more, like leaving a person in the fade, or having your clan burnt to the ground.but for now. We have to read between the lines.