#I guess I'm saying Circle mages were easy to manipulate because things in the Circle were uh not great

[anderstrevelyan]

A lot of the context's in the mage origin! (Thank you for the excuse to Jowan post.)

He grew up in the shadow of his best friend, canonically not as strong magically as Surana/Amell and jealous about it, in an environment where you grow up knowing a lack of skill will be the end of you. The apprentice class is by far the largest slice of population in a Tower (why do so many mages never live to adulthood? hanging over your head), your friends disappear in the night to go to their Harrowings and many don't come back, or they do reappear with the Tranquil brand on their foreheads, their personalities gone—and no one ever tells you why. All you know is you have to study. Be the best, most exemplary mage, and you might be one of the ones who make it through.

Then he finds some books lying around. (Possibly intentionally left around to trap apprentices by Uldred with Irving's knowledge, as implied in the codex.) Hmm, blood magic. Maybe that wouldn't be so bad, if he only uses a bit of his own to make his spells stronger? This could be the thing that saves him.

Then he falls in love. Like, head over heels, she wants to run away with him and start a life together kind of love—the kind of thing mages don't get to have. The thought of losing his emotions to Tranquility just became all the more frightening.

His worst nightmare happens. There's an order out that he's to be made Tranquil—he's not even going to be given a chance to try to pass the Harrowing. He can't bear the thought, and makes a plan to escape.

When it goes wrong (Irving's a lot more shrewd than he thinks), and he's backed into a corner and reveals himself as a blood mage to flee—he's lost everything. Lily, who'd been planning to spend the rest of her life with him, looks at him with disgust. He knows her punishment won't be light, and her love for him is gone forever. His best friend who he looped into the plan either betrayed him or is left behind to take the punishment in his stead—and he knows what the Circle does to mages it deems unruly. Imagine the guilt.

And then he's out in the world, having not been outside in any meaningful way since he was small (no outside exercise hour at Kinloch Hold, thanks to a lake-swimming escape attempt by Anders). He has nowhere to go, no idea what to do, and he's being hunted by templars. He probably doesn't even have a strong understanding of politics, with such an isolated upbringing, might not even know who Eamon is (though like many Ferelden children, he may have grown up hearing stories of the famed Hero of River Dane).

Yet he's plagued by the thought that maybe, if he could just find a way to make things right, appeal to Irving, go back to the Circle—maybe things could go back to the way they were. (Or, maybe he deserves Tranquility after all. Maybe that could make things right for his Lily, too.)

So someone offering to fix things for him? All he has to do is bend his morals a bit? He's done it before. Maybe it will work this time. He's desperate. He has to try.

round three masterpost