#like more people will pick this origin so lets emphasize the horror of the darkspawn by comparing it to the massacre at castle cousland?

[lizzybeeee]

It's also the only origin where Duncan really gives a 'speech' comparing the plight of the player character to what is happening at Ostagar. Like, can you imagine pulling "What is happening here pales in comparison to the evil now loose in this world" with a Tabris origin? They had to leave, obviously, but all the origins have a chance to express their desire to stay in their old life with Duncan or someone else being like 'nah it won't work'...not "people are dying at Ostagar, Cousland."

There's a time and place and...it was not then. Not when there's a sword lingering over your neck as Howe's men break their way into the Castle and not when the man you're trying to convince is so clearly on the verge of dying from his wounds. What was the point at that moment? Why was Duncan attempting to sell him a pitch as to why Bryce should sign off his child's life to the Grey Warden's? It just feels oddly cruel for Duncan to dangle the lives of Bryce Cousland's wife and child over his head when he knows that he already has them at that point.

I interpreted it as Duncan ensuring that Cousland would come with him and follow through with their promise/conscription because it happened in the presence of their dying father. Because that kind of shit is going to haunt you when some of your father's last words to you are "Our family… always does our duty first. The darkspawn must be defeated. You must go. For your own sake, and for Ferelden's." (the dialogue if Cousland refuses to join the Grey Warden's.)

You're kneeling in his blood as he dies, your nephew and sister-in-law lie dead in their own room, your home is burning, not to mention your nanny/tutor/etc...have all been slaughtered - Cousland has all the reasons in the world to just go after Howe with a vengeance at that point. Like, fuck, the entire game I was way more invested in wanting to kill Howe than stopping Loghain...I was 100% willing to pull a Sophia Dryden and go off-course. So giving Warden Cousland the additional motivation to fight the blight being 'your dying parents want you to do this as part of your duty to your family and home'. I get it.

Still, Duncan's approach was majorly fucked up - and it added to the idea set up in-game that the Warden's tend to be 'out of touch' in a way, due to the demands/pressures of fighting the Blight and being one of the few people with a greater understanding of its evil. I also just really enjoyed having an origin where is was way more morally grey about whether or not Duncan was truly saving you and what his motivations could have been. You can chat with Alistair about it too - whether Duncan conscripted him out of pity or practicality. It's cool to have that potential role playing perspective - even though I firmly believe that Duncan is a complex but genuinely kind and well-meaning (but arguably very poorly timed) person.

I love him as a character for the short time we met him! Especially with a Brosca warden! I loved hearing him one last time in the epilogue slides <3 But the Cousland origin certainly didn't endear me to him, at all.

Replaying Cousland origin in DAO and it's reminding me how upset I was with Duncan/how much I felt angry with him in the origin lmao.

Like, I don't hate Duncan; I generally like him and his character despite how little we get of him in the game. But in the human noble origin in particular, I did not like him.

He won't recruit the human noble because your father does not want that, and Duncan respects that; sure. But, he decides to use your father dying to his advantage to recruit you in the end. I know the whole, 'grey wardens will do whatever they have to to stop the blight,' thing but this felt so fucking unnecessary and made me angry as fuck lmao.

Like, your father is there, dying on the floor, your home is burning, your nephew and sister-in-law are dead, and your father begs Duncan to get you and your mother out of there safely. And Duncan says "yeah sure, but I must ask for something in return-" and your father says, "anything" because he just wants his family safe. And Duncan pulls out the "what's happening here pales in comparison-" and asks basically to recruit you to the Wardens, which your father says he understands.

And, the best part? If you REFUSE to be a grey warden either way, Duncan will invoke the right of conscription on you; he never needed your fathers permission, he was going to do it no matter what. There was no need to create some sort of ultimatum for your father, or ask for a favour in return, "sure I can save them, but in return I would like this-" because he was going to do it ANYWAYS.

"Oh, but he was just being respectful-" no, he wasn't. He asked for something in return for saving two innocent people, and even that was empty because he will conscript you either way. Using your fathers desperation to get a yes was cruel in those moments and unnecessary. "Oh he's a grey warden-" yeah, he is, but he didn't have to do this. Especially when he uses the right of conscription on you if you say no either way.

He could have gotten you out safely after being asked to by your father, and then, when you were both out of there- asked you to become a Grey Warden. And if you said no, used the right of conscription on you. But no, he decides to use your father dying as some way to get empty permission for something he doesn't need permission for in the end. He makes an already hard situation even harder by giving a dying man some sort of "favour for a favour" ultimatum to save his child, when the permission he's given because your father is desperate, means nothing.

Sorry, this just- always made me feel so upset lmao.