“We do not teach that magic is evil. We teach that pride is evil - and does not corrupt only mages.”
Mother Giselle is a member of the Chantry in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Background
Giselle is best known for her role as Revered Mother of the chantry in Jader. In the years following the Fifth Blight, Jader saw an influx of Fereldan refugees, which in turn led to an outbreak of disease and then famine in the poorer quarters. As the Revered Mother of a prosperous Chantry, Giselle wrote to the Chantry in Val Royeaux asking for assistance. When help was not immediately forthcoming, she encouraged the clerics to go on a hunger strike, saying that their faith would sustain them like it had Andraste. She then took their chantry's entire food stores to the poor quarters of Jader to feed the starving peasants. This displeased the Chantry in Val Royeaux, who saw this move as a bullying tactic, but led to them sending official aid to Jader. Food arrived quickly, along with instructions on how to distribute it: first to the clerics of the Jader chantry, then to the Orlesian peasants, then to the Fereldan refugees and finally to the elves of the alienage. Mother Giselle famously refused the order, arguing that those furthest from the Maker were in greatest need of the Chantry's care, and that their souls couldn't be filled until their bellies were. With the support of Lady Seryl of Jader, who was directing relief efforts of her own, Mother Giselle distributed food to the poor of the city without care for race or nationality.
Her actions in Jader saved thousands of lives and made her beloved to the poor in both Orlais and Ferelden. It also destroyed any chance of advancement within Chantry hierarchy, who saw her as too rebellious. In the following years, Divine Justinia often deployed Giselle to troubled areas to help the poor and the sick, who hailed her arrival as a blessing. To the rich she remained a portent of unwelcome charity.[1]
Involvement
Artwork of Giselle from Heroes of Dragon Age
Artwork of Giselle's tier progression in Heroes of Dragon Age
Mother Giselle aids refugees of the Mage-Templar War outside of Haven. She believes the Inquisitor can help to keep the Chantry from tearing itself apart following the Breach. She also maintains that the Chantry does not teach hatred of mages, and that swords and magic are equally dangerous when one is prideful.
She believes that the members of the Chantry are now free to follow their individual consciences, and hers advises her to do whatever she can to restore peace to the Chantry and to the world.
After advising the Inquisitor of her thoughts on the current conflicts in Thedas, Giselle heads to Haven to aid Leliana in locating clerics willing to gather in Val Royeaux, advising the Inquisitor to address them to give them reason to doubt their condemnation of them.
After the Inquisition was forced out of Haven, Giselle consoles the Inquisitor following their confrontation with Corypheus, allegedly an ancient magister who entered the Black City and came back as one of the first darkspawn. She offers her opinion on Corypheus, believing that he may be convincing himself that the Maker's throne is vacant. Seeing that the Inquisition is losing hope, Giselle sings an old Chantry hymn to rally the faithful. She then joins the Inquisition as the Inquisitor leads them to Skyhold. Giselle then took residence in the fortress courtyard.
The Inquisitor can discuss the Chantry's version of the origin of the darkspawn and Corypheus' own account of what happened in the Black City. Giselle admits that the Chant of Light could easily be misinterpreted or rewritten due to political machinations such as the censure of the Canticle of Shartan.
Giselle later informs the Inquisitor that she had been approached by a messenger of Dorian's father, Magister Halward Pavus, asking to meet with his son. In a possible follow-up of Dorian's meeting with his father, Giselle confronts Dorian about his "undue influence" towards the Inquisition to which she states her concern for a supposed rumor that stem from him being Tevinter. The Inquisitor's timely intervention reveals that the existence of this rumor itself is questionable and likely a fraud made up to excuse a confrontation, as Giselle wasn't able to repeat them and promptly apologized before taking her leave.
Mother Giselle attends the Exalted Council at the Winter Palace and briefly greets the Inquisitor when they arrive at the council chamber, where they discuss the history of the first Inquisition and plans for the future. The Inquisitor has the opportunity here, if they wish, to reference Giselle's earlier lessons on the first Inquisition, and demonstrate that they paid attention and either agree with her conclusions or not.
If the Inquisitor exposed her questionable accusation to Dorian back in Skyhold, she will properly apologize to the Inquisitor and admit that she had erred on the matter.
Depending on which romance the Inquisitor may have chosen to pursue, Mother Giselle may also officiate the Inquisitor's wedding.
Quotes
- "The Maker wishes His word to spread by example, not by war. We win no converts with blood."
- "Andraste led a rebellion against the Tevinter Imperium, whose magisters controlled most of the world at the time. Even then, she never called for all mages to be put to death. She believed in peaceful coexistence."
- "An army needs more than an enemy. It needs a cause."
- "Faith is made stronger by facing doubt. Untested, it is nothing."
- "Faith may have yet to find you, but it has already found them."
- "It's all one world, Herald. All that changes is our place in it."
- "Those who looked to the Maker never asked for a literal hand to stretch out of the Fade to protect them. They wanted a sign that in this harsh and unforgiving world, there existed some reason to hope."
- "A farmer, a noble, a warrior, and a mage will all see different aspects of the Maker in their lives. They must each hear a story that will reach them... and each of those stories is valid."
- "In some ways, Andraste had the simpler task. 'Magic should serve man, and not rule over him.' That tells us what should be. But it does not tell us how to get there. So many times the methods of men have undone the spirit of their goals."
Trivia
- According to Patrick Weekes, though Mother Giselle has no magic or martial prowess she nevertheless braves the wilds during a war in order to help others, and is in fact "in her own way, one of the most powerful characters in the game."[2]
See also
Codex entry: A Letter to Revered Mother Giselle
References
- ↑
Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol. 2, pp. 255-256
- ↑ Nerd Appropriate with Patrick Weekes.