#isolde guerrin

[anneapocalypse]

Isolde Guerrin owns actually. She fed information to the Fereldan resistance during the Orlesian occupation. She tried to save her son from being taken by the Circle, and so far as we know the only reason her plan failed is Loghain planted an assassin in her home. She volunteers to give her life for her kid without a moment's hesitation, she doesn't give a fuck that it's blood magic, she just wants to save him. If you insist Connor has to die, she pleads for his life in a voice performance that deserves awards, and if she's convinced that there's no hope for Connor, she insists on doing the deed herself.

[baelonthebrave]

reading the stolen throne and trying to like maric is tough when you know in like 10 years he’s going to father a bastard and promptly ignore existence of said bastard, allowing him to be bullied and forced into servitude and used as a political pawn bc eamon and isolde are fucking awful. like maybe there’s more context I’m missing and will learn from reading the books but I’m finding it difficult to get past that so far! you dishonoured your wife already bro that ship has sailed! can we maybe make sure the child isn’t so traumatised it will later have a circle mage and a literal child slave saying uhhhh you good buddy?? anything you wanna talk about?

[sapphim]

Isolde and Teagan Guerrin, on Connor (and Alistair) at the Duke's estate in Mark of the Assassin. All variations. This dialogue only plays if MotA is played in Act 1, so 9:31, less than a year after the end of the Blight.

[Connor died, Isolde lived]

Perrin: How is your husband, Arlessa? I imagine the news of your son must have been terrible.

Isolde: We are at a party, Bann Perrin! This is no place for such dourness.

[Connor lived, Isolde lived (the ritual to enter the fade was performed by First-Enchanter Irving)]

Perrin: How is your son, Arlessa? Does Circle life suit him?

Isolde: He is well, thank you. He is glad to have proper tutors, and they say he is a very good student.

[Connor lived, Isolde died (the blood magic ritual to enter the fade was performed by Jowan)]

Perrin: How is your nephew, Bann Teagan? [if: Alistair dead]

Tegan: Connor is… a teenager now, Maker save us all. My poor brother is tearing his hair out dealing with the boy.

Teagan: He'll grow out of it. Or Eamon will kill him. Either one. [if: Alistair alive]

Teagan: Which one? Connor is well enough. He's almost through the most trying years.

Teagan: [Alistair king] Alistair, on the other hand, seems to be just entering them. Again.

Teagan: [Alistair exiled] While Alistair… that boy is going to make me old before my time.

Teagan: [Alistair warden] I haven't heard from Alistair in some time. But he's a Grey Warden. He should be able to look after himself.

[vigilskeep]

these bad boys are the kind of dress i imagine arlessa isolde wearing, personally

[greypetrel]

Alyra and Isolde maybe?

Hello! 💫 Uh, thanks for asking, I admit I never really put much thought to Isolde before, in relation to Alyra! it was interesting to ponder about...

Ask game (send me others if you'd like)

I don't think they'd get along at all.

She may understand her reasons and even agree with her wanting to hide Connor's magic and hiring a private tutor just to teach him to control his magic to be safe and not be sent to a Circle. On that, no issue. But hiring the first runaway mage without checking his credentials? Just like that? The one apostate that conveniently arrives the minute you need him? MMMMMMH.

Also, Alyra would strongly disagree in how she dealt with the situation in Redcliffe. One thing is wanting to protect your child, the other is letting him go ruckus, possessed by a demon, kill the people you should protect as the one figure in charge, and wait for the first two idiots arriving there to solve your problems and considering "Killing Connor" as an option just then, not before… Alyra went to the Circle Tower to find help, but the very discourse that she was ready to kill her son NOW, after how many casualties really made her catalogue Isolde as "terrible politician". (she often pondered, later on, on how kind it was in the long run to let Connor live with his guilt and a trauma that would eclipse both moons. Alistair may have thanked her for freeing him, but she never fully agreed it was the right choice, particularly after seeing him years later, still plagued but what he had done.)

Add the fact that she learnt that Alistair ended up in Templar training against his will because Isolde insisted? No. Like, no. That she can't understand, won't understand, won't forgive.

In summary: aristocratic scum, both her and her husband, they totally deserve each other. Isolde may be a good mother for her own son, but if you ask Alyra, she'd say she should not hold a crumble of power over anyone. And she may also add that she shouldn't be left unsupervised with children either.

[inquisitorgaywarden]

I wish I could play DA:O for the first time again, just to experience what I felt when this happened

[ansburg]

DRAGON AGE ORIGINS REPLAY: 6/?

✨ bann teagan's new groove ✨

[elfcollector]

All mages are beacons that attract the attention of Fade spirits. Because of this, they are trained and tested by the Circle to ensure that they can withstand attacks from malevolent Fade creatures that seek entry into the waking world. Untrained Connor drew the attention of a powerful demon that tore the Veil asunder. He was freed from the demon's power at a terrible price: the cost of his mother's life.

[princehendir]

One thing that must be said about da:o is that it is an excellent "meeting your friend's parents and finding out that they are not actually generally good people who made some damaging but well meant mistakes during the child rearing process and are in fact just kind of really evil and mean and your friend is in a truly insane amount of denial and oh god how are you ever possibly going to fucking navigate this" simulator

[niofo]

really overthinking the arl of redcliffe quest.

on one hand i like the idea of the quest. i don't hate isolde (at least for this situation, she was horrible to alistair as a kid), bcos what she did only illustrates how horrible circles are as an idea. she's by far not the first nor the last person who preferred to hide family member away from templars exactly bcos of how bad the circles are. the chantry has another "proof" that the mages are dangerous, as if they weren't the ones who created this situation themselves. if circles weren't kidnapping children never to see their parents, if they were just schools of magic focused on community and learning the whole situation would be entirely avoided.

but the solution of this quest is weird. there is an obvious best solution that saves both connor and isolde, it's not particularly hidden behind complex dialogue choices or anything. but also metagaming aside, just leaving redcliffe for gods know how long to get the mages is really immersion breaking for me. there should be some consequences of just, yk, leaving. i would much prefer the player to be forced to choose between two bad options, like we do with orzammar quests.

but now considering the two remaining options: killing connor or letting islode sacrifice herself, and knowing what i know about the circles, esp with kinloch hold currently raging about abominations everywhere, both i as a player, and my warden (tabris) would be really hesitant to just turn connor to them. lbr, they have a documented history of turning children into tranquils for the crime of having nightmares and being scared, you're telling me they wouldn't immediately jump to this conclusion seeing a former abomination and one that was saved by blood magic on top? like we obviously know that it didn't happen in canon, but that's what i would fully expect this of the circle by what they showed up so far, and so would my warden. (and even when we meet circle mage connor in dai he's depressed and eaten with guilt for something that happen when he was a child and wasn't his fault, i can bet that chantry was feeding those feelings for the last 10 years).

all i'm saying that i have a lot of doubts about sending connor to the circle. fuck the circle. my tabris would never just let this happen, especially knowing that connor's safety is something isolde died for. and then there's jowan. yes, he messed up before, but i would still consider him a preferable option as connor's teacher than a damn circle. we know that if let go, jowan actually helps some refugees and creates community on his own, away from the circle.

apostate connor is what i'm trying to say. apostate connor option would be so cool and better for him than the circle bs. let him be a hedge wizard, using his magic to help people instead and that would maybe help him with the guilt over everything that happened.

[perenians]

sometimes i think about how @wrdn-tabris and i have constructed this elaborate world where eamon and isolde's kids are mages because isolde has a lyrium snorting habit and may or may not be cheating on eamon with teagan and/or multiple templars (?). and then i wonder how the fuck we got here

[anneapocalypse]

Something I did not pick up on before is that World of Thedas implies Alistair was sent to the monastery during Isolde's pregnancy--before Connor was born. Which means we actually can pretty closely pin down Connor's age, as he was born soon after Alistair was sent away--so in either 9:20 Dragon or early 9:21.

[minaakaajaa]

The ninth episode in my Let's Play: Dragon Age Origins is now posted! In this episode we are heading to the Village of Redcliffe.

Let's Play Dragon Age: Origins Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi8aTtsE5XhmKny0uU959wQXnITYq4vLu&si=xfho0bFb_DhB5AI5

[varricscrossbowbianca]

inquisitor: what is the hero of ferelden like? alistair: they sacrificed isolde guerrin to save connor. it was fine though because they gave me 24 sugar cakes to keep my mouth shut. wynne: they called knight-commander greagoir a 'fucking idiot' right in the middle of abominations attacking the circle. I wasn't even mad because they suddenly had The Rose of Orlais and gifted it to me. zevran: they didn't even hesitate punching caladrius, he was finished before we could even join in. they gave me beautiful dalish gloves. leliana: they called the revered mother in the lothering chantry a 'greedy old hag'. she got me my favourite flower, andraste's grace, immediately after, how strange :) oghren: you all got gifts???

[immawraffle]

The funniest take I’m seeing for this is furubatsu’s “Isolde is one of those essential oils/healing crystal moms”

how did jowan even poison eamon btw. like what did he poison him with that they had to resort to the holy grail. in what time frame did isolde resort to the holy grail

[sapphim]

I've been a little bit obsessed lately with whatever it is that may or may not be going on with Connor Guerrin.

Desire: I abandon the boy… for now. But I retain the contract he and I made, and many years from now I may return and claim what is mine. Desire: This will be long after whatever you want is done. In exchange, I will provide something of value to you. Something you desire. What say you? Warden: So you leave and come back when nobody expects it? Desire: I have had my fun in the living world. If I leave, you could tell anyone you've slain me. Even the boy himself would believe it. Desire: He will grow and become a mage, mighty and wise. But when I return, his soul would be mine. Warden: How do I know you would keep your word? Desire: A bargain struck is a bargain kept. Such is our way. — Desire: Then it is a deal. You'll have what you desire… and I'll leave as if destroyed. For now. Desire: I wish you luck, dear creature. You shall certainly need it.

After Connor is freed (or, "freed"), regardless of whether or not the Circle and Irving were contacted for help, he is sent to the Circle.

Teagan: Connor is his old self. He does not seem to remember anything, which is a blessing. Teagan: I suppose we will need to send him to the Circle of Magi's tower for… training, once the war is over. It's so odd to think of the boy as a mage, of all things.

This is corroborated in his codex entry.

With aid from the Circle, he was freed from the demon's power. Connor will be sent to the Circle Tower where he will no longer pose a danger to the innocent. He was freed from the demon's power at a terrible price: the cost of his mother's life. Connor himself will be sent to the Circle where he will no longer endanger innocent people.

Now, the Origins epilogue disputes that Connor ever arrived at the Circle, in the event that the Warden cut a deal with the desire demon and allowed him to be repossessed.

While Eamon planned to send Connor to the Circle of Magi for training, the boy grew strangely ill and the trip was delayed… and then one day Connor simply disappeared entirely. After a frantic search, he was eventually given up for lost. His disappearance remains a mystery to this day.

However the Origins epilogue slides are explicitly non-canon, and have been freely retconned throughout the series. The implication that he never arrived at the Circle due to the demon's interference is also inconsistent with the its claim that it would wait "many years" for him to grow into a more powerful mage before attempting to reclaim him.

Furthermore, Isolde mentions how Connor is settling in at the Circle in dialogue from Mark of the Assassin if the DLC is played in Act 1 (9:31, less than a year after the end of the Blight). This plays if Connor is alive, regardless of whether the demon was dealt with permanently or not.

Perrin: How is your son, Arlessa? Does Circle life suit him? Isolde: He is well, thank you. He is glad to have proper tutors, and they say he is a very good student.

Tangentially, Teagan's dialogue about Connor, if Isolde died, implies that he has maintained a good deal of contact with his surviving family despite living at Kinloch.

Perrin: How is your nephew, Bann Teagan? Tegan: Connor is… a teenager now, Maker save us all. My poor brother is tearing his hair out dealing with the boy. Teagan: He’ll grow out of it. Or Eamon will kill him. Either one.

If he appears in Inquisition, he mentions that he was still at Kinloch when the Circles were dissolved.

Inquisitor: How did you end up in the mage rebellion? Connor: I was living in the Fereldan tower when the Circles dissolved. I voted against it, but… Connor: At first, it seemed all right. No one was summoning demons. They just wanted to oversee themselves. Connor: But then the magister came and… It's wrong, what they do in Tevinter. Connor: We are monsters. We need to be controlled. If it wasn't for me… Connor: Every family in this village wouldn't be missing a son, a daughter, a spouse.

However, (according to the wiki) he only appears in Inquisition (in 9:41) if the Warden did not cut a deal with the demon to allow it to return and repossess him later.

So, if that is the case, then what happened to Connor between 9:31 and 9:41? This question is the one that has been haunting me.

Connor doesn't appear in game between Origins and Inquisition, but there was a quest that was cut from DA2 in which Hawke would have met Teagan and Connor if Connor was alive.

I want to add a few caveats before presenting more information on this quest. Uncompleted quests like these are removed from the game for any number of reasons, and all the information contained within should be considered 1) incomplete and 2) possibly in error. There is, for example, another cut quest in which, if Harrowmont is king of Orzammar, the carta continues to support Bhelen and his claim to the throne. The problem with the concept of this quest concept is that, if Harrowmont is king, Bhelen is dead.

The quest was going to take place in Act 2 (9:34, which would have made Connor around 14 at the time). Teagan and Connor are in Kirkwall for? Some reason. A little field trip for a well-behaved boy, perhaps. Kirkwall's templars have gone rogue and are attempting to kill Connor, having heard of his little reign of terror in Redcliffe some five years ago and believing him to still be possessed. The political implications on this one are a bit uh, insane, if we're being honest.

Connor is still a mage of Kinloch, and says as much himself. Except there is an alternate line, in which he does not mention the Circle at all.

Connor: I’m a mage of the Circle Tower of Ferelden. Connor: (alt line) There’s no use keeping it a secret. Yes, I’m a mage.

When the quest was cut, the plot flag to determine if Connor would claim to be a mage of the circle checked:

1) Is Connor alive? (This seems unnecessary. He's standing right there in front of us, after all.) 2) Did the Warden make a deal with the desire demon? and 3) When cutting a deal with the demon, did the Warden not intimidate it into leaving Connor permanently and never returning for him?

In other words, basically, if Connor is slated to be repossessed, he doesn't claim to be a member of Ferelden's Circle. Again. This could be anything or nothing. It could be a mistake.

One very mundane explanation: in the zz_vault_debug dialogue, this plot flag is phrased as "Connor went to the circle of magi"/"Connor did not go to the circle of magi," and it's possible that's how it was phrased in the developers' toolset as well. Then someone saw the flag, with only that description to go off of, and wrote it in. This is... technically not incorrect? But it glosses over the very very important factor of WHY specifically did he not go to the Circle of Magi. Bioware, in the absence of the Circle of Magi, then what!!! Answer the question.

You can understand maybe why I'm a little, "hmmm?" over this, red string style, especially since Bioware has kindly given me no other details to to "HMMM?" about.

Anyway that's my current Connor brainrot that's been rotating in my head for the past several days.