@Silver Warden
"This is proved to be untrue, if the Dark Ritual is performed. The Archdemon dies but the Old God's soul is persevered. Yet the blight ends. Hence my point that the grey wardens' goal is to kill the archdemon, not destroy the Old God's soul."
Killing the Archdemon itself doesn't end the blight. A GW needs to take the killing blow because, only their tainted body can attach to an OGS when an Archdemon dies. This is why they created and went through with the Joining. Because they witnessed and/or been told that when an Archdemon would die, it would come right back. Either a Grey Warden must take the kill shot; and have the OGS destroyed when it joins with that Warden or cleanse/purify it with Morrigan's ritual to end a blight. The OGS itself needs to be dealt w/one way or the other.
The only people that know about the ritual, being generous, that would be around ten people, HoF, Flemythal, Morrigan, Alistair/Loghain, the HoF's romance and maybe some of the Wardens that the HoF recruited. It is false to give the presumption that the whole Order knows about this. They don't. For the overwhelmingly vast majority of Wardens, the knowledge is that an Archdemon needs to be killed by a Grey Warden so the OGS attaches to that Warden. This destroys that OGS and the blight is ended. *This is why I'm absolutely adamant and bullish of why the First Warden and all other Senior Wardens would want to know how this happened the way it did.*
If the ritual is performed, and as Morrigan says, that it would be a beacon for the OGS to attach too and there is no distance that would effect that. Then there is no logical reason why a Grey Warden needs to take the kill shot or even be present. Morrigan's embyro would be a 5G network, a Warden's body would be a 4G network and any Darkspawn's body would be a 3G network.
I think it is hokey that a Grey Warden has to score the kill shot for the Archdemon to perish. An Axe, Sword, Dagger, Arrow, whatever. These aren't living things. For the OGS to process, Okay, checking if the weapon that killed me came from a Grey Warden and lets attach to that Warden at whatever distance they are from me. That is dumb. Using the ballista example again, if there were 3,000 Grey Wardens, *who all had Archdemon Blood for their Joining,* between the Grey Warden who Kill Shotted the Archdemon from 300 yards away. How and why would the OGS know to skip over all those other 3,000 Grey Wardens and latch onto the the Warden that killed them with a ballista? It would make more sense that whomever Warden who's Joining included Archdemon blood, was closest to the Archdemon when it died, that is whose body/soul that the OGS would attach to. Probably put some parameters in how close a GW needs to be to an AD when it dies for the OGS soul to attach with a GW.
"There's no option in the Keep for "performed the ritual but Morrigan wasn't present for the final battle". And this is the epilogue you get if the DR is performed:
It seems likely that you either remember incorrectly or that you encountered a bug."
If it is a bug. Then why does Morrigan have unique dialogue for doing the ritual with her and then choosing not taking her for the Archdemon fight? Last couple questions for you to consider.
Is every decision/action that you take in the Keep?
Do you believe that BioWare is infallible?
I'm open to the fact that I could be misremembering the epilogue or that it was a bug. I'm more than capable of being fallible.
"In her uterus, which I believe isolates embryos and fetuses from the mother's cardiovascular system. Anyway, what's your point?"
My point was, since Morrigan did the ritual for the OGS to attach to her body (embyro), shouldn't she be the one to take the kill shot against the AD? For the reasoning being since a GW needs to kill the AD so the OGS attaches to the GW. The same logical reasoning should be if you want the OGS to attach to Morrigan's body (embyro), she should take the kill shot. *If she doesn't need to take the kill shot, then it shouldn't matter if a non-warden or Warden takes the kill shot; because that OGS is going to Morrigan's embyro no matter what.* Instead of answering that question, you seemed more concerned making me aware that the Morrigan's body isn't the host, her embryo is. Following that up with information that I was dozing off and drumming to music on my desk during Sex education and biology classes. Here we are.
"Which it did. We just don't see that because it's invisible. (Real reason: because that cutscene is universal and doesn't account for the DR.)"
I doubt they put much thought into that cutscene. Just something that is a one size fits all solution for any scenario, looking cool and cinematic. The soul isn't invisible either. We have seen that little blue-ish orb when Flemythal extracts it from Kieran.
"Riordan isn't an option. A female Warden can ask about using him instead of Alistair, and Morrigan says that wouldn't work because he's been tainted for too long. Personally, I think that's kinda dumb. Riordan would've been the perfect way for the DR to have been completed for Wardens who opt not to do it."
Ah, that is right. That triggered the old memory bank. Thanks.
"Morrigan shapeshifting into the Warden would work for female Wardens in a relationship with Alistair. But it wouldn't work for female Wardens in a relationship with Leliana or Zevran, or no one."
fW w/Zevran - Morrigan shapeshifts as Leilana and waits for Alistair in his room. In the Darkspawn Chronicles. Leilana and Alistair are in a romantic relationship w/each other. It wouldn't be the first time in a BioWare game were your companions can be romantically linked with each other.
fW w/Leilana. For a second, I thought you had me here. But, a couple solutions came to mind. There was a woman who warned Alistair that don't be surprised if we wake up with each other. Morrigan could shapeshift as Wynne. Shapeshifting as Anora could also be an option.
If a Warden didn't romance anyone. Then Alistair would be the one to be tricked.
Hell, we have put people on the Moon and sent rovers to freaking Mars. Finding a solution for this isn't that hard. The other things you would have to keep track of is, Leilana and Wynne can be killed. Again Humanity has solved and much more difficult and complex problems than this.
Everyone is trying to figure out how the protagonist of DA:4 can be powerful enough to face Solas. If they did it this way, the hero/anti-hero of DA:4 could have been the offspring of Morrigan (a powerful mage) and either the HoF or Alistair, *who has a legacy bloodline.* That child would also have an OGS attached to them as well. Don't you think that person would be at least reasonably powerful enough to have a chance against Solas? *Obviously, you wouldn't show the Old God Baby until DA:4, so players can choose the gender of that child when they are in their young adulthood.*
"My interpretation is that she tells the Warden about the true purpose of the Dark Ritual because he deserves to know. She's not pure evil."
I think she is capable enough to go through with it this way. *As she herself said, "I'm many things. But I won't be the mother that you were to me.) I don't think that she is pure evil. Sure, her intent was not getting close to anyone and getting the OGS at the end. But, if she comes to like and care for you, and her actions will now the save the life of the person she cares for or likes. I don't know if that is pure evil.
"On that note, I'm not sure that Morrigan would shapeshift into someone else in order to trick the Warden (or Alistair) into having sex with her. That's kinda rapey. Morrigan does have some scruples."
Yeah, it is kind of rapey. It is in some weird area where both of the adults are consenting with having sex with each other. But one of them is magically altering their appearance and deceiving the other person of who they are agreeing to having sex with. But, DA:O is a dark fantasy tale. This is dark. (It isn't DARK though.) While it is rapey, it also does save the life of the Warden who takes the kill shot. Right or wrong? Even if it was wrong for her to do it, would you still be alright with her doing it? That is for the individual to decide I suppose.
Why I think Morrigan is capable of doing it. Besides her personality and everything that she has said about one should take the action that acquires the most power for themselves. Well, her whole point of tagging along with the HoF and Alistair is exactly this. To acquire and preserve the OGS. Since this is her (or Flemythal's) plan, why in thee hell would she self-sabotage herself and tell the person her plan that might make it fail? She herself wants to get the OGS and she is also a glutton for power. This didn't change in DA:I. Both her and her "Mom" are deceptive. Which, fits nicely with them being shapeshifters. Being a shapeshifter is deceiving beings of what you actually are. If it was done this way; then the OGB would be important. Now, it is just a throwaway decision that has no weight.
@Asheluned
"(No reason to actually answer this; it's just late.)"
I think it was bonkers that Morrigan revealed her plan to the HoF. It would make more sense in my mind that she would first try to deceive either the HoF or Alistair/Loghain by shapeshifting as someone else. Because even if the deception were to fail, she could still reveal her plan exactly to the HoF as she does in the game.
If I was in charge of the game, the deception doesn't fail. The OGB happens regardless. Then the OGB would have value. At the time when I first played it. That really seemed like a important decision to make that could possibly have serious consequences. But it ended up being a dud with no value. I find that to be a bummer.