I kinda get @Qistina21 's point... I personally really dislike killing animals that do not aggressively attack me in DAI, I don't even do that one quest in the Emerald Graves where you have to kill one mama bear and her cubs - it makes me wayyyy too sad. I also hated killing the dragons in DAI (but I'm a completionist and wanted to finish that quest), and I was happy to have an option to free Atashi in Trespasser.
Now, if they are enemy elephants and I have to kill them, or if there are quests related to them, I'll do it, sure, but I would prefer it if we could have the option not to (like with Atashi).
Elephants mounts, like regular non-war mounts, would be cool, though.
Have you exhausted all her dialogue options? You need to ask her about minstrels often being spies in Orlais, if I remember correctly.
My canon protagonists are each time who I perceived to be the underdog from all classes/origins, so:
DAO: female city elf warrior (DW), templar, champion, spirit warrior. Romanced Alistair who stayed a Grey Warden. Performed Morrigan's ritual.
DA2: female blood mage / force mage, romanced Anders & supported him, sided with the mages every time, Carver is a templar.
DAI: female qunari warrior (DH), romanced Sera, conscripted the mages, exiled the wardens, left Hawke in the Fade, Cassandra is Divine, disbanded the inquisition to stop Solas at all costs.
Anders is my favourite, for the tragedy of it, even when in a friendship romance. I also like Isabela, because of the role she plays in Act 2, but it's less tragic and impactful than an Anders romance.
Mostly Morrigan - In most cases, she is indeed more capable of understanding the knowledge of the Well and using it to its full potential... She's also very eager to do it and in the eyes of the Inquisition, more expandable than the Inquisitor.
^ Wynne and Finn were both given permission to work, adventure or study outside the Circle quite easily, without nobility backing.
The way I see it, it's not that they're supposed to be in the Circle forever - they aren't allowed to go just for the sake of going, and since there is little for them out there in the "real" world, most of them stay in the Circle.
How high are your graphic settings? You need to set the graphic settings to at least high in order to see the scars.
On the one hand, it would be logical for the Dark Ritual to have little to no consequences in DA4 and later games, because it was a choice. On the other hand, it feels too important lore-wise to be swept under the carpet, and I would be a bit disappointed if they didn't go anywhere with it. Since we saw Leliana again, and since Fenris and Alistair (who can both be dead) make appearances in the canon comics, I think they will keep mentioning the OG in some way. My guess it that they'll find a way to have it make an appearance in some way that won't impact the game too much: maybe Solas will be more powerful because of the Old God soul, or weakened by the will of the soul, ...
^ What about romancing Bull and sacrificing the Chargers? He doesn't break up with the Inquisitor directly after, but that choice does end up in Bull turning against you...
I'll probably play a dual-wielding rogue given the spy vibes the info on DA4 has so far. As for race, the "newest" or most "underdog" race because I like mixing it up but also like my playthroughs to kinda have a running theme. I haven't thought about it much, however.
I think the answer to the original question depends on the perspective you adopt: what is the moral choice from a player's perspective or from Hawke's perspective? Hawke can't know for sure that the Templars will be willing to spare "good" mages or that the mages will go "crazy", so their moral choice is bound to be very different from a player's moral choice.
It also depends on your definition of morality: To me, morality isn't what produces the best end results or what saves the most lives in a purely mathematical sense.
That being said, the mage route is, to me, the moral choice as a player - not because it saves the most lives, but because siding with Meredith is unjust and vengeful.
Meredith doesn't seek to first help the victims and repair Anders's actions,e.g. by helping civilians, healing the wounded, etc. Instead, she prioritizes punishing the "guilty" and avenging the Chantry (which is pretty ironic given the role Vengeance played in the whole mess).
You could say that punishing the guilty is the role of justice. However, Meredith wants to punish ALL Circle mages for something NONE of them have done - what's more, without any investigation or trials. The Right of Annullment is the right to have a Circle purged of mages entirely - not only those suspected of blood magic or those who surrender.
To answer the original arguments - I know I'm super late, but here it is:
I don't think going the templars' route reduces the damage made to Kirkwall and to civilians: Having Hawke's support might give the mages some hope, and so they might not give in to despair as much. Moreover, there isn't really any indication in-game that some templars are protecting the civilians and Kirkwall from mages - that's what Aveline and the guards do, not the templars, and they do it whether you go the templar or mage route.
Neither route makes much difference as to the stability of Kirkwall's power - is there any codex or any conversation in DAI that implies otherwise? The templars lose power either way, but even more so when you go the templars' route, actually, as Hawke themselves becomes viscount.
As a player, you know you'll be able to save a few mages. Hawke, however, doesn't know that, since the Right of Annullment normally calls for the elimination of ALL mages in a given Circle. But there's no way to know whether those are the "good" mages - because they surrendered doesn't mean they aren't blood mages or corrupted. Conversely, because they didn't surrender (or weren't listened to, or didn't have the chance to) doesn't mean they were corrupted blood mages.
I agree, which is why I mostly recruit/conscript the mages in Inquisition: They know magic AND have abilities to fight it (even though I was given very convincing arguments to go the Templars' route).
If I recall correctly, the Seekers did have mages helping them to fight demons and maleficars, or so Ameridan says. I think there used to be mage "templars", before the Templar order was founded and those mages were rendered "redundant". I guess they thought a separate order would be less prone to corruption? I think we'll probably see mages somewhat policing themselves in further installments of the game, since we have a new Divine, no matter who, who changes things about the Circle, and Ameridan's story is discovered.
In DAO, the whole cutscene when a romanced unhardened Alistair who is to become king (so who dumped you after the Landsmeet) makes the ultimate sacrifice.
In DA2, Leandra's death - and Aveline killing Wesley.
In DAI, learning about Mythal's temple and the Well of Sorrows, and meeting Mythal when playing as Dalish elf.
There are other moments, but those are the ones that get me the most emotional.
My boyfriend at the time bought DAO, and I thought it looked awesome. He let me try out the mage origin for a bit, but I never went further. Then, 7 years later, I had started working and wanted a game to play a bit on week nights - and I thought about DAO, and I bought it. I loved it, and I never stopped playing it since then.
I change all the time, but I mostly choose names of heroes or "celebrities" in-game, like Maric, Cailan, Dane, Loghain, etc.
It's difficult to judge, as we see very little of him and have only two people telling us about Cailan in-game, and that is Anora and Loghain, and neither of their opinions can be taken at face value.
However, I think him being a fool is just an act, trying to cheer up his soldiers and giving them hope - he wouldn't have sent Alistair away, and given his key if he was so sure he would win the battle. He seemed to know what his strenghs were - his charm and likeability, and what he needed advice and help about - politics and battle tactics. He tries to connect with his people, and better foreign relationships, while he lets Anora handle most of the internal politics, discusses battle tactics with Loghain, and takes advice from Eamon as well (I think the whole remarriage idea was Eamon's, originally). You could expect from a king to be more competent in politics and battle, but Cailan was still very young, and didn't have a choice in being king - so I think he was doing well, actually.
What always baffles me about Cailan, is how much he is similar to Maric - yet people, Loghain included, see him as a fool and Maric as an extraordinary king. That is another reason I don't trust Loghain's take on Cailan: He probably said the same about Maric at some point, and Maric turned out to be a fine king.
@Warden Nuggins Thank you so much! Those are excellent points!
I have already taken the templar route for two of my Inquisitors, but my "reasoning" for them was a mix of 5) and prejudice/familiarity, and, while making prejudiced/flawed characters is perfectly fine, I don't like that characteristic to be the only thing that factors in their choices.
So glad to see I'm not the only one who loved the Fade and the Deep Roads in Origins! So I guess that's my first unpopular opinion.
DAO - I don't like Leliana. My characters have so far always been friends with her, because she's nice enough, and useful to have in your party, but I can't help rolling my eyes every time she speaks. She's boring at best (banter with Wynne), preachy and a hypocritical goody-two-shoes at worst. I also don't enjoy the Ostagar and Lothering part of the game, but I don't know whether that's an unpopular opinion.
DA2 - I like it a lot, and don't understand why it gets so much hate - Combat in DA2 is, to me, the best of the three games. I think the Anders-Justice-Vengeance development was well and subtly foreshadowed in DAA, and thus I don't think there is such an opposition or radical change between DAA Anders & Justice and DA2 Anders & Vengeance. Lastly, in my opinion, Merril is being reasonable about the mirror, while Marethari's objections are only rooted in ignorant prejudice and fears.
DAI - Sera is my favourite companion from a narrative point of view: I don't think I would get on with her, but I like what she brings to the story and party dynamics. I much prefer Leliana in this game, even when hardened - and I don't always soften her, on the contrary. Some opinions I have that I didn't realize were unpopular: I love the war table, and my characters mostly don't do the elven rituals.
@Warden Nuggins Why do you think the Templars were the better choice? I'm genuinely interested, I like to try out all possible choices, but I always struggle to find a coherent and logical role-play/headcanon as to why an Inquisitor would choose the templars rather than the mages.
Merry Christmas!
In DAO:
Never killed the dog, or any companion, for that matter (though I have had Wynne and Leliana walk out on my Warden, and maybe Wynne and/or Leliana will die in future playthroughs...)
Never sided with "Sophia" (I want to try it out, but I've never found any logical RP justification for any of my Wardens...)
Never left Shianni & the other elven women with Vaughn (Tabris Origin - that's not really a 'big' decision, but here it is)
Never had Alistair be executed (but made a drunk, yes)
In DA2:
Never let the Arishok take Isabela, Danarius take back Fenris, or Carver/Bethany die - in short, I have always kept all my companions alive until the final part of the game (as I have killed Anders in some playthroughs)
Never kissed Tallis, as I'm always romancing someone
In DAI:
Never kept Cullen on Lyrium indefinitely (but until Corypheus is defeated, yes)
Never sent away or not recruited any companion
And that's about it... I really like to explore all possibilities and their consequences.
F!Tabris/Warden Alistair
F!Cousland/King Alistair
M!Amell/Morrigan
M!Aeducan/Leliana
M!Mahariel/Zevran
F!Amell/Leliana (but this Warden does the Ultimate Sacrifice)
F!Surana/King Alistair (as mistress)
M!Cousland/Anora & Morrigan