me: does not have dragon age 2 but knows a little about merrill cause played as elf a few times also me: did not know much about dragon age 2 until i looked it up after playing inqusition also also me: makes it 1:30 into this video...... merrill is bloody adorable o.o must protecc
that makes her more of a sister, the idea of protecting means you hold someone dear, but it's the type of protecting you'd think of like keeping an eye out for your little sister.
Ryan Fluck I’d be one to sit there and listen as solas tells us his story in haven. “I grew up in a small village” (Me,in real life) “Sure you did,and my grandad was an archdemon”
I think it's interesting that it took blood magic to cleanse the eluvian shard merril had. Considering what Bianca said in DAI might be true, lyrium being alive... Wouldn't that mean, no matter what you do, you have to sacrifice life force in order to achieve certain magical wonders? This would really underline the fact that blood magic isn't evil in and of itself. Also, the eluvian being blighted, indicates that the blight itself might be related to the fall of arlathan and its people.
I think it's suggested that the blight itself was a kind of bioweapon that was created by the elves to wage war on each other. It works in a very similar way to Lyrium, even so far as to sing to its hosts.
Listening to Solas, Merrill is right, blood magic is just another form of magic, not good or bad. The mirrors are teleportation devices, she should be allowed to fix it, you will learn a lot in the Dragon Age Inquisition Trespasser DLC that support her.
Only thing is, Hawke doesn't know that. All Hawke knows is that a good friend is forced to consult with a demon and use blood magic, both things that Hawke has experienced negatively, to try to fix this thing that killed her friend when it was whole.
The problem however is with blood magic you ALWAYS end up having to use more and escalating. A mage using their own blood eventually starts having to realize going emo cut yourself is not helpful in the long run so you end up having to go full blown maleficar sacrificing others once the power and eventual demons consume you.
Joe at first I thought Solas was some very weird conservative RP (which would have made sense given he’s ancient) until I learned the actor is welsh. Now I can hear it, but only in certain words, or when it’s a longer speech where there’s different intonation. Not nearly as strong as the accents the Dalish tend to have, which fits him so so well! It’s such a nice touch.
All elves generally have a Welsh accent. Ferelden and the Free Marcher Humans are British, Rivaini/Antiva are Spanish, Orlais is French. Qunari and Dwarves are generally American.
My favourite DA romance. Maybe because she's weird. And has that cute accent. Also, it really gave me the feeling that I could help someone, with her troubles and becoming a better person. I just wish there was some more nuance, because she's a bit... silly at times.
Some of her antics are really fun, but she does some stuff that's clearly dangerous and horrible without really thinking about the consequences, you'd think she'd learn from her previous mistakes. What I meant by a lack of nuance is not that she acts this way, it's fits her character, but rather the options your character has are a bit stupid. If there is someone you care about who does things that are not good for them, you'd try to stop them from harming themselves, without making them hate you. I'm just saying, your character, if he actually loves Merrill should not be so reactive. That's part of the problem of the dialogue system though, having only so few options, and there would a lot less drama if you just solve the problem by talking to her :P That's the crazy thing, this romance got me so bad, I had problems suspending my disbelief because I wanted to save her. Damn.
I see her connection to her demon to be something along the sides of a drug addict. She knows it's not right, but she thinks it will help and she can control it. Belittling her for it would be horrible indeed, but if you actually love someone, you will do everything to help them. Watching an addict fall deeper and deeper is also not right. There were some parts of her story which made it completely obvious what would happen, and your character just stood by and was purely reactionary. Many people suffered for that. It seemed like the two of you were quite distant and barely listened to each other, considering they were a couple. it's a story designed to be dramatic no matter which path you actually choose with her, "understanding" and "talking things through" just isn't the same as fighting for your love against a demon in the fade and then her Keeper being posessed, I guess ;P She's still my favourite chinese cartoon waifu.
I never said anything about being a control freak. And I said that there were similiarities to a drug addict, not that it was the same. Cherrypicking. Anyways, your char does nothing but blindly support her, even though he should know that Merrill is obsessing over the mirror way too much, and her mysterious. I'm talking about calming her down, making sure that she you can help her, trying to understand her better. Look at the discussion "FrogRaider1" just below started, I don''t agree with the rivalry path, but he has a point. There is not enough nuance between the two extremes. I always imagined that your Hawke and Merrill spend time together off-screen and learn about each other, like in any relationship. And yeah, you're right, the keeper was acting really stupid.
I see your point, I, as a player, with my knowledge of what is going to go wrong (or rather my expectation of what will happen) see it as a preventable drama, but my character can only hope and believe in her. Still, I do feel like a true relationship would be more involved.
Is it just me, or is the villain of this story the Keeper? If she'd trusted Merrill with the *actual* facts, which Merrill is absolutely smart enough to handle, no one needed to die. "Merrill, contacting that demon was a mistake. Here is why, and the logic behind it." Too often people mistake "child-like" for "childish." (Although it says something that I haven't played DA2 in years and I still have Strong Opinions about most of the characters...)
With the information we learn in Dragon Age, from Solas mostly, then yes, Merrill was right about most things. I think this is the point of the world - it lacks the knowledge, and is built on fear, ignorance - of magic, of spirits, of demons, because people don't understand it. But also, it isn't out of malice. It makes one understand a bit more how detached Solas must have felt after waking up after his millenia of slumber. The way people see the world is built on so many misconceptions. I love Merrill. I wonder if we will see her in the next game. I do believe the keeper should have stayed out of it, instead of trying to "save" her, when she didn't ask for saving. It's almost like a saviour complex. I understand she cared for Merrill, but it was misplaced.
I initially started DA II with an Isabela romance in mind, but as soon as I met her and saw her, it was sealed for me, one night with Isabela and a life time with Merril. She is like Tali, amped to 11 and I love it.
The Rivalry path is really the path that makes the most sense. To simply support her is very silly to be honest. I do like her white outfit she gets from that though. If Hawke doesn't romance her Carver tries and it is really very cute his clumsy attempts. I purposely never take Anders or Fenris in a team with Merrill because they can be so cruel. Fenris I understand but Anders is just such a hypocrite.
It makes sense to me. If you don't trust her with what she's doing with her *life*, how can you trust her with a romance? That's actually kinda creepy. You can be a caring parental figure of sorts to her, taking care that she isn't hurting herself, or a romantic partner. But both is really kinda creepy.
"I'm so sorry I attacked you in the fade because a demon tempted me for 3/4 of a second and my whole shtick is how I can handle interacting with demons." Hence rivalry. Either way you have issues. If you go the friendship path, you could be reinforcing self-destructive behavior. If you go rivalry, you're in a know-it-all competition with somebody who thinks they know so much better than everyone she's ever known that she ends up leaving to pursue her goal. I side with rivalry because of the above example. It's better to me that her relationship with Hawke falls apart and she stays away from the Eluvian than Hawke supports her and she ends up in danger, but happy with him. Of course, no matter what you choose the outcome is basically the same. Marethari and Audacity bite the big one. The only variables are the survival of the Sabrae clan, (Through a stupid, unclear dialogue option) and whether or not Merrill smashes the mirror. (Which wasn't working anyways and had been shards before and been restored.)
I agree with pretty much all you said, and the fact that Hawke is vehemently against blood magic no matter what you do in Inquisition makes me think the Rivalry path is the canon path, meaning Hawke will probably try to stop her from using blood magic after the events of the game, even if you took the friendship path with her. Also, she actually gets the white outfit in the Rival path too, this guy is just using mods or something to stop it.
@@x-c-10-ernestuswijayaaji57 Tamlen got infected by the blight, becomes a ghoul/half-darkspawn and searches for Mahariel for the sake of getting himself mercy-killed by Mahariel.
If you're a Dalish elf, You join the Wardens and Tamlen becomes a ghoul who you kill later If you're not a Dalish elf, Mahariel dies in the ruins and Tamlen disappears forever
I just platinumed this game ending at that scene after siding with Orsino. It's 5 AM EST and I'll regret not taking a picture of my screen as that platinum popped up when I kissed Merrill. I'm just very tired right now. At least you who is reading this can know that was just 5 minutes ago from 5:12 AM.☺️
Morrigan and Merrill I love to hear them🥰🥰... Whenever they speak and in inquisition Josephine is very cute too 🥰 And I think they are also the best romances for the series .
despite what a lot of people both in game and out might think, I don't actually think merrill is actually foolish or wrong. maybe inexperienced in social matters but bluntly speaking I really do feel that had the keeper not fucked around Merrill not only would have managed to fix the mirror completely but come out on top in regards to the demon without any losses.
I too don't believe that what she did was wrong, it was extremely brave, selfless and stupid to pursue that goal that would most likely kill her, but like she said, it was her choice. Maybe she could've almost fixed it, and left it to the future of her people, maybe she would've been possesed and consumed by a demon while we watch helplessly. But the keeper robbed her (and by extension us) of witnessing that posibility, by taking it upon herself in a extremely brave, selfless and stupid way. I may not *LOVE* DAII like I love DA:O, but fuck I really liked Merrill story.
@@Jonsoner Hm, I see what you guys are saying - and maybe if Merrill was the ONLY person she was putting at risk with her own choices, I could have been more supportive of them - but I think she was still unfairly placing the rest of her clan and later, Hawke and the gang, in a dangerous situation. Mages don't often stand there, politely waiting for their friends to chop their heads off when they become possessed. Hawke is pretty formidable by that point and might have been able to get the job done without collateral damage, but the clan? They might not have been able to take down a powerful pride demon like her without any loss of life on their side. And even in the best-case scenario, it still would have sucked: risking yourself is one thing, putting the responsibility of KILLING you on your loved ones if things go wrong is quite selfish. Honestly, Varric's banter on the way up the mountain in Act 3, is really what drives it home to me "I could do without telling everyone we had to murder you on the side of a mountain, Daisy..."
@@EmphaticNod You would be right IF putting her clan in the whole thing was her plan...but actually, it was Marethari/Keeper's idea for the sake of making her change the idea on the whole matter...basically Marethari used the clan against Merrill both as a weapon or a shield(like spreading lies about Merrill among the clan and remaining close to kirkwall) and as hostage(by choosing of not leaving the kirkwall's area) but if they have left, Merrill would have been possessed at some point(it depends on when they would have left, possibly even before repairing the glass of the eluvian) and Hawke(along with the party) would took down Possessed-Merrill and there would have not been any other victims but Merrill herself.
People seem to judge her for endangering her clan / leading them to their death (optional yet somehow it's canon for them). Meanwhile, Fenris killed his rescuers, Anders blew up a church and lead to a war and Isabella lead the qunari to Kirkwall. Honestly, her death counts are relatively mild compared to the others. Replaying the game she mentions, mahariel / tamlen a few times, which makes me think this is more about closure.
okay but, can hawke look anymore... emotionless? like he looks like they're just talking to a wall. I understand that hawke is our character so he's supposed to be a bit more plain so we could roleplay hawke as ourselves a bit better, but I just wish there could be more expressions and emotion on the face
Tali was already a lot more confident than Merrill when you met her. Tali was only flustered because she had a crush on BroShep, other than that she’s already quite assertive.
In my opinion either her or Isabella will be good for hawk they’re both quite interesting one to walk in the dark path the other a life of crime but you can choose to help them to change their ways a bit if you want to
@@nappyheadedjosh6578 If I understand it right, dragon age is done, and they sabotaged Andromeda to make if fail so they could turn the page on RPG games, move on to multiplayer cash cows, anthem, where they can sell items in it daily, bringing in more money!
@@Ivory5547 he said that everything in Ferelden was muddy, which basically in a throw off towards Dragon Age Origins UI art style that indeed had grey, yellow and black colors (aka muddy colors) as a dominant ones to underline the gritty atmosphere of the game.
The fact that Hawk is doing the right thing by helping her and stopping her from using something dangerous says a lot. If anything, this is a great romance though Merrill is completely nuts. She doesn't want to be helped unless it benefits her, too shy, talks too much, but truly worthy of being at her side.
Doesn't matter if you had business in Dalish matters or not. Merrill sure might've known the consequences included death and she still accepts it but that doesn't mean that Hawke can't have an opinion in what she's doing either especially if Hawke is in a relationship with her. Are you really going to help someone you love pursue something that might result in their own death? If you say yes because it's their decision, then you're full of shit. You would try your hardest to persuade them to not go down that path no matter how noble the intentions are. Even if the result is the person hating you, you would still try to keep them safe because that's what you'd do if you really cared for them.
Be it for a good intentions or bad intentions, I would still say that stopping Merrill from her dangerous task is worth it if you still end up with her. Sure, Hawk had no right to interfere with her plans, but ask yourself the same question: Would you rather go along with your lover's plan despite the danger of the results? Would you stop your lover from doing something you believe is dangerous? The real answer lies in your choices.
@thomas brady still would not agree to her plan if it means bringing danger that is not common practice among her people. Even her Keeper warned her before it led to her death.
Yup completely doing the right thing by saving her from her own stupidity anyone who says otherwise is well let's just say not the sharpest tool in the shed
@@pussdesutroyer9481 same thing I said before. Yes, the hero is faced with many dangers and puts his life on the line for things not his business, but if he can prevent one danger and save a lover, worth it.
My experience of playing Bioware games. Me2- meeting Tali owh she's an interesting and cute character *decided to romance her* Me3- ok this time I really dead on decided to romance Ashley from the start.... then here comes Tali again... *for fuck sake romance Tali it is then* DA.2- meeting Merrill owh she's an interesting and cute character *decided to romance her* DA.I- ok bioware anytime now? where she at ? games end *my hope is broken, my dream is shattered, my heart is destroyed*
Rivalry romance with Merrill is the most realistic romance I’ve ever seen from a BioWare game. Yeah still has magic and elves but I’ve seen couples like this, amazing writing
@@bossshun9 what a curious thing: Liara best romance then there are Tali and Jack(both second place) romances. In Dragon Age we have: Leliana(who becomes the Dragon Age equivalent of a shadow broker XD during DA: Inquisition), then Merrill and Isabela(both second place)...i find odd that the best romances, in Bioware, involve a spy, a happy cutie pie and a criminal XD
Honestly i had no problem with the art change to the elves in DA2. Same with the combat being more chaotic and fast. Really hated how slow it felt in 3
Rivarly is pretty stupid, given that Merrill was right about everything. Everyone else is literally in a moral panic and end up falling on their own swords. Given that she literally fixes the mirror, as per DA:I where it can be seen connected to the crossroads, Merrill did the equivalent of curing cancer or solving world hunger in their world, and no one wanted it. The Dalish deserved everything they got.
But you don't know whether she is right about everything when you just play DA2... And even now you don't know what can come out from Eluvians... And with having an Eluvian you basically invite Solas to your home. The same Solas who is probably a worse extremist than Anders, not to mention that once the Wolf destroyed the world and now want to do this again no matter the cost because he never learns... And a hundred other "ands".
I felt so fucking bad when I had to reject her (I wanted to romance Isabela for my 1st time in DA II) and tell her "We're just friends". Like, I don't even know how the hell she became interested in my Hawke... When I rejected Anders I didn't feel half as bad. But that's cause as far as I'm concerned Anders can fall off a cliff and die a painful death, but Merrill is this precious thing that has to be protected at all costs
@@samurai6331 i'll be quite depressed if I have to fight Merrill. Her desire to find closure for tamlen and mahariel by restoring the mirror. Her conviction to restore the history of her people. It's all tangled up.
@@callmek186 I don’t like the idea of fighting Merrill either. But I just had a fucking 400+ IQ thought with this idea and I really hope this is how it goes down.
15:39 ...Err, but wasn’t that eluvian also in the Witch Hunt DLC? That took place after Awakening? I thought Merrill’s clan was long gone from those ruins by that point.
Not, particularly........ She's Very awkward and silly to normal human's like a character in ME1... Ya She'll get angry on not helping but will come to hawk anyway.... So Yeah, her physic is similar to Tali ... Thin, and small
I haven’t played DA2 but if I did I would definitely romance her. It is interesting that the spirit which helped her was a spirit of wisdom, but since it got out it became pride demon. I wonder who bound it since Arlathan fell not because of Tevinter, but Solas.
It was always a demon. It just manipulated merril. Demons are old as hell so they use the knowledge they have from being creatures of the fade to seduce mortals.
@@ZeroOmega-vg8nq Very late to this discussion, but was it really? We have seen with Anders and Justice that spirits can be so easily corrupted if touched by the more fragile human emotions and who knows what might have happened to the shard when Tamlen touched it (the Dalish Warden did repeatedly tell him to NOT touch it, but he did anyway out of Dalish pride to retrieve a part of their history to get himself out of trouble)
@@phloxy_fox96528 anders and justice/vengeance or even solas explanation on spirits not withstanding it was most likely already a demon by the time a Dalish warden and tamlen got to the illuvian. Dont forget the illuvian they found that merril eventually trys to repair was in an elven ruin SWARMED with darkspawn and gameplay reasons plot armor not counting NOTHING is immune to dark spawn corruption even structures and magic and certainly not spirits trapped in artifacts. The spirit was in that ruin in isolation for thousands of years and then its unknown how long the darkspawn may have been residing there seeing as weve had 4 blights by the time Tamlen finds the mirror.
@@ZeroOmega-vg8nq Hm... Yeah fair point. It has been a while since I played DA2 and had long conversations with Merril, let alone playing the Dalish Origins, so I don't truly remember too many details outside of the ruins the mirror was in being of more human architecture. Then again, I would be willing to give Merril the benefit of the doubt, simply because it'd be interesting to know that a Wisdom spirit got corrupted by her own pride/the pride of the Keeper. ... Guess I will be playing the games again, haha :')
Doubtful. She's willing to preserve what's little of Elvhen history but not at any cost. Like with the eluvian - she took steps and precautions to make sure she'd be the one to suffer any consequences and not the clan, but then came Marethari and fucked everything up. Solas treats his agents as expandable - kills Felassan, Merrill wouldn't go for that. And Merrill def won't support his plans of world-scale genocide.
The Keeper well being a good mother figure to Merrill is an awful leader for her Clan, trying to rescue one blood mage while putting the rest of the group in harm. The Clan should have moved on a long time ago.
... Marethari looks like a good carrying mother from the outside but think of it like this: - She spread rumors about her daughter so terribles that Pal, a city elf who went back to the Dalish, literally run away from Merrill as soon as he saw her. The same goes for the rest of the clan. She was Vilified. - Marethari ordered the Dalish to stay in the same place ONLY because she wanted Merrill to go back with them (risking the clan's safety was part of her plan, just to put pressure on her) - As a mother she she never really trusted her. In the end that distrust was her undoing.
She's cute on the ally/blue romance option, so flustered looking for you. But she shows such a vulnerable state in the rivalry option i really think its the better of the two ways to romance her. She's trying everything she can in the hope that the mirror fixes everything...but against your warnings, her clans, eventually destroying the mirror once she realizes not even the one she's falling for supports her. Then with a few hours to reflect she finally realizes that hawke or the others are trying to keep her from the destructive path she's so innocently (or not so innocently) unaware she's on and...it pains her to think that all these people are putting themselves in harms way for her. The tremble in her voice asking hawke not to save her...she's about to break...so sure of everything up to that point but...a true moment where everything has crashed down on her and yet she's still trying to do what she thinks is best. Very touching, much more depth than the girlish 'hawke is the best!' ally/blue romance.
DanaDuchy The vids are awesome and well made as always. You ought to make a version of these romance vids using the mod version of these characters. I've seen a really beautiful mod of Merril that made me really wish the game makers had better taste in elven women appearances.
No. If someone is important to you, you should be willing to do what you can to save them. If someone you loved was destroying themselves with drugs because it made them better at something would you just let it happen?
@thomas brady Racist against a race that doesnt exist? You cant save someone who doesn't want to be saved???? Yikes I guess you believe in letting people with depression just kill themselves because, literally as Merril puts it, they dont believe they are worth saving. But if you think its ok to let her make a deal with demons, despite the game flat out showing you that she is wrong about a lot of what she is assuming such as her telling you she has defenses against demons then gets possessed in literally one sentince, then sure let her sell her soul to a demon that is clearly lying to her and you would know is lying to her. And guess what, you dont have to make that decision for her. You can rival romance her and still give her the tool. If you destroy demons on sight she gets rivalry. If you destroy the fell grimoires she gets rivalry every time. Say talk to the keeper first, rivalry. The only dialogud option that doesnt lead to killing off the clan, rivalry. When she asks why would the keeper do that, tell her because you wouldnt listen to her, rivalry. Then the acknowledges she has gone too far, that she could become possessed because of her deals with demons, and then destroys the eluvian.
@thomas brady Reguardless my "headcanon" playthrough is two dalish elves and romancing Merril, so im not biased against the dalish i find them pretty interesting, and no you can rival romance Merril without going against her a single time in her storyline. Any time you decide not to make a deal with demons at any point in anyones story line she gains rivalry. And yes we actually do know shes wrong. Trying to keep this as spoiler free as possible. 1. The demon cant unblight the mirror. Demons dont even understand the blight which makes blight magic more effective against them. Not even the old gods, shown by their own corruption, or the evanuris, elven "gods", by their own admission, at least the two that arnt sealed, can cure it. Tevinter can only slow it down the elder one cant stop it as shown with Felix in Inquisition. This means either the mirror was never truly blighted or that it wasnt actually made safe. Its more likely the 1st one because of what fen'harel did and also because its stated repeatedly that the blight only infects organic things. Even red lyrium is just an infected type of lyrium which is SPOILER titans blood since all magic is infact blood magic SPOILER END 2a. She is making a deal with a demon so powerful neither the ancient elves nor tevinter could actually bend to their will. The by FAR two strongest groups of mages who also had the most experience with spirits and demons couldnt handle the thing so it had to be put into a statue for everyones safety. Thats on the level of the forbidden ones. 2b. Her belief that she could outsmart the demon came from her experience with this extremely ancient powerful demon and when it was actually put to the test vs a minor pride demon she instantly gets charmed with the exact same argument the extremely powerful pride demon had been using on her already. Another thing you are ignorant of is rival romancing Merril does NOT require you to take the tool away from her, ignore her decisions, etc. All it requires you to do is oppose demons in other parts of the story. The fell grimoire quest line being a very easy way to gain rivalry points for destroying the books used to force demons into the templar recruits ie the Keran/Cullen questline. So unless you are arguing that NOT slaughtering her clan or leaving books around that instruct the creation of abominations are both bad things to do and somehow oppress her and creates an unhealthy relationship your entire argument has fallen apart due to being little more than incorrect assumptions and a misplaced feeling of superiority. Your basically saying if you romance anders you must want to blow up the chantry despite the game letting you friend romance him, disagree with many of his ideals, and punish him for his crimes. The best part of DA2 is that it is the only game where the relationships with companions are nuanced.
@thomas brady No her friend romance is unhealthy. To the point where i reloaded a save 5 hours back just to romance Fenris instead. She absolutely relies on Hawke to do everything for her and then clean up any mess she makes and take responsibility for her like shes a young child she needs you just to even talk to the keeper because she isnt brave enough to do it herself. Rivalry she becomes strong, self reliant, and accepts that no matter how good her intentions are they still have a consequence. In the friend route she never opens up to hawke about the reality of the situation and she flat out lies to him about it repeatedly. Thats because they wernt alive enough for the blight to infect them yet. Embryos are immune to the blight. Thats a consistent thing throughout the series. Otherwise every child of a warden would be born tainted. Also doesnt change that spirits and demons dont understand the blight or have power over it. In all the other rivalry romances I do agree with you. Since different characters have different writers they handled it differently and what they should have done is have it so each character can only be romanced if you go down specific paths ie Anders only romances friends Merril only rivals. Like a more fleshed out version of Jack from ME2 where if you pick the renegade options you cant romance her or Jaesa from Swtor where you must be darkside. And again I dont fundamentally disagree with her very nature. I go with the official blood magic stance of Tevinter that Dorian states. Using your own blood or that of someone who willingly offers it is fine. Controlling people and killing for their blood is not. I also absolutely support her trying to reclaim the lost glory. Even with the mirror although it still makes me cautious. I do not support making deals with the type of demon she is most susceptible to in pride due to her belief she can outsmart a demon especially when that demon is lying to her. She can go find a spirit of wisdom or something. Or oh i dont know read that book Morrigan used that is returned to the Dalish since she has the right to anything dalish owns. But she never even tried. A demon whispered promises into her ear and she took it hook line and sinker while my Hawke is anti demon and she eventually learns how truly dangerous they are through her quest line and throughout the rest of the game. Feel free to disagree more but Im done now.
Agreed, I wish they would have given every Dalish with a lot of lines (e.g. Merril or even Lavellan) a voiceactor with a welsh accent. It would have been nice to add to the whole "The accent comes from the Elven language and most Dalish know at least bits and pieces of it/try to speak Elven with each other"
I found it interesting, that does not mean I think it was an improvement or better because of the choice. In fact I do wonder how the interactions may go if you were Dalish or dwarven. but the way I see it not very much I changes aside from the dialogue, so overall I really find it interesting how they went about this one.
DA2 was rushed to all hell because EA saw the success of DA:O and wanted to make more money ASAP. I'm pretty sure DA2 was released literally a year and a half after Origins, that's why it's so minimalistic compared to origins. EA's greed will also probably be the reason DA4 will be horrible.
Very good video! I like the decissions you made, specially how you made Merrill laugh at the eve of a tragic bloodbath. With that being said, "Mirror, Mirror on the wall, how the dread wolf would benefit more: broken or not?"
So..does anyone know if it's even legal under Chantry law for interrac--- er....interspecies relationships to happen? I mean, I know there's no lack of half-elf or even half-dwarf children in the DA universe, but is there an official protocol or marriage law anywhere in the lore for it? Given the alienages and such, I'm assuming all such children are illegitimate, but Alistair.....
Well, elven Inquisitor can be married to human Cullen by the Chantry via mother Giselle. Same for any female Inquisitor and elf Sera. I guess if non-human is andrastian or was converted to it (like in Red Crossing story about elf and human pairing that led to tragedy), they won't say a word against such pairing. Though, fun thing, my noble mage told numerous times that she is not a believer, and she still got the wedding. Need confirmation from someone that knows lore better, maybe this exact marriage could happen at all just because of Inquisitor's friendship with Giselle or because of reforms done by the new Divine.
@@Sarydormi there's this (paraphrased) banter between Sera and Vivienne if she marries the Inquisitor Vivvy: What's next, a title? Sera: I have a title- wife. Vivvy: Yes, well good luck getting that recognized. So I'm guessing same-sex marriage isn't a legally recognized thing in the Dragon Age Universe.
@@errolpletcher9186 welp, the orig comment was more about the marriages between different species, but still a good point. And you gave more ammo to my annoyance over Vivienne)
![Dragon Age 2: Party Banter on Merrill & Hawke romance [complete]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/a2leong2fxA/mqdefault.jpg)
![FendiDa Rappa - Clock Dat ft. Shamar Marco [Official Music Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3NBU8KHdxYY/mqdefault.jpg)
I love the way Hawke strokes Merrill's arm after they sleep together; it's very intimate and affectionate. I adore little touches like that.
Remind me not to stay in the elevator with you.
@@CLOWNBOT00 just what are you doing in elevators
Watching the world go crazy.
and now to ruin that image "Merrill buttstuff."
29:47
Out of all the romances in gaming, she is the most important cinnamon roll of all cinnamon rolls. She must be protected at all cost.
Right up there with Origions Leliana and Cole
She's basically the Tali of Dragon age
me: does not have dragon age 2 but knows a little about merrill cause played as elf a few times
also me: did not know much about dragon age 2 until i looked it up after playing inqusition
also also me: makes it 1:30 into this video......
merrill is bloody adorable o.o
must protecc
Merrill is so sweet and innocent she's so kind i agree with you 100%
that makes her more of a sister, the idea of protecting means you hold someone dear, but it's the type of protecting you'd think of like keeping an eye out for your little sister.
Is anyone else listening to Merrill's story about Fen'Harel and then going to Solas' scene in Trespasser?
Ryan Fluck I’d be one to sit there and listen as solas tells us his story in haven.
“I grew up in a small village”
(Me,in real life)
“Sure you did,and my grandad was an archdemon”
That one part about the forgotten ones, that's gotta be the Old Gods, right? Are the Evanuris responsible for the blight.
I’m ssssooooooo happy I punch solas in the face.kkkkk
I hear the story and I’m like there’s not way that’s Solas XD
Sorry I’m busy watching trespasser right now
Why the fuck is this blood mage tormented by demons so goddamn adorable and welsh
Like Carver said the cute ones are always evil.
After playing dragon age 3 I just want to say I miss Merrill. She was leaps and bounds better then self hating sera
Time to call her up cause we're taking down the Dread Wolf in DA4
Yeah but Sera is literally one of the worst companions in bioware history
Late but she literally reminds me of ava from borderlands 3
Why do I have this strange feeling that Merrill will join Solas
@@alnotbiggaytho7124
I kind of like her quirkiness.
I think it's interesting that it took blood magic to cleanse the eluvian shard merril had. Considering what Bianca said in DAI might be true, lyrium being alive...
Wouldn't that mean, no matter what you do, you have to sacrifice life force in order to achieve certain magical wonders?
This would really underline the fact that blood magic isn't evil in and of itself.
Also, the eluvian being blighted, indicates that the blight itself might be related to the fall of arlathan and its people.
I think it's suggested that the blight itself was a kind of bioweapon that was created by the elves to wage war on each other. It works in a very similar way to Lyrium, even so far as to sing to its hosts.
Dragon Age: Best Girl
Dook Amen to that brother glad someone else is on the same pages me
One word: Morrigan.
Rixaly you both misspelled Josephine
ejem ejem C A S S A N D R A
Isb12-htp-Garhkb el codigo J O S I E
Listening to Solas, Merrill is right, blood magic is just another form of magic, not good or bad. The mirrors are teleportation devices, she should be allowed to fix it, you will learn a lot in the Dragon Age Inquisition Trespasser DLC that support her.
It literally has to do with demons
elaborate please @Maples01
Only thing is, Hawke doesn't know that. All Hawke knows is that a good friend is forced to consult with a demon and use blood magic, both things that Hawke has experienced negatively, to try to fix this thing that killed her friend when it was whole.
The problem however is with blood magic you ALWAYS end up having to use more and escalating. A mage using their own blood eventually starts having to realize going emo cut yourself is not helpful in the long run so you end up having to go full blown maleficar sacrificing others once the power and eventual demons consume you.
@@ZeroOmega-vg8nq Nahhh Emo mage is best Dragon Age play style.
A Welsh elf, who would have thought
aye, ain't that somethin'. In DAI there's also welsh Characters except they're in npc's.
Well Gareth David Lloyd is Welsh he just doesn’t sound like it (Solas)
@@aleksander3117 I'm not sure I'd agree with that, he sounds very South Walian to me.
Joe at first I thought Solas was some very weird conservative RP (which would have made sense given he’s ancient) until I learned the actor is welsh. Now I can hear it, but only in certain words, or when it’s a longer speech where there’s different intonation. Not nearly as strong as the accents the Dalish tend to have, which fits him so so well! It’s such a nice touch.
All elves generally have a Welsh accent. Ferelden and the Free Marcher Humans are British, Rivaini/Antiva are Spanish, Orlais is French. Qunari and Dwarves are generally American.
My favourite DA romance. Maybe because she's weird. And has that cute accent. Also, it really gave me the feeling that I could help someone, with her troubles and becoming a better person. I just wish there was some more nuance, because she's a bit... silly at times.
DeutscherDummer that's why I love her.
Some of her antics are really fun, but she does some stuff that's clearly dangerous and horrible without really thinking about the consequences, you'd think she'd learn from her previous mistakes. What I meant by a lack of nuance is not that she acts this way, it's fits her character, but rather the options your character has are a bit stupid. If there is someone you care about who does things that are not good for them, you'd try to stop them from harming themselves, without making them hate you. I'm just saying, your character, if he actually loves Merrill should not be so reactive. That's part of the problem of the dialogue system though, having only so few options, and there would a lot less drama if you just solve the problem by talking to her :P
That's the crazy thing, this romance got me so bad, I had problems suspending my disbelief because I wanted to save her. Damn.
I see her connection to her demon to be something along the sides of a drug addict. She knows it's not right, but she thinks it will help and she can control it. Belittling her for it would be horrible indeed, but if you actually love someone, you will do everything to help them. Watching an addict fall deeper and deeper is also not right. There were some parts of her story which made it completely obvious what would happen, and your character just stood by and was purely reactionary. Many people suffered for that. It seemed like the two of you were quite distant and barely listened to each other, considering they were a couple.
it's a story designed to be dramatic no matter which path you actually choose with her, "understanding" and "talking things through" just isn't the same as fighting for your love against a demon in the fade and then her Keeper being posessed, I guess ;P She's still my favourite chinese cartoon waifu.
I never said anything about being a control freak. And I said that there were similiarities to a drug addict, not that it was the same. Cherrypicking. Anyways, your char does nothing but blindly support her, even though he should know that Merrill is obsessing over the mirror way too much, and her mysterious. I'm talking about calming her down, making sure that she you can help her, trying to understand her better. Look at the discussion "FrogRaider1" just below started, I don''t agree with the rivalry path, but he has a point. There is not enough nuance between the two extremes. I always imagined that your Hawke and Merrill spend time together off-screen and learn about each other, like in any relationship. And yeah, you're right, the keeper was acting really stupid.
I see your point, I, as a player, with my knowledge of what is going to go wrong (or rather my expectation of what will happen) see it as a preventable drama, but my character can only hope and believe in her.
Still, I do feel like a true relationship would be more involved.
Morrigan, Merril, Cassandra... HOLY TRINITY of Dragon age series
They are the best of Dragon Age so far. At least to me.
Alistair, Fenris, and Cullen to me.
Fun thing, my characters romances Alistair, Anders and Solas, but if I would have to choose favourites, it would be Morrigan, Varric and Cassandra...
"Morrigan" I'm sorry; I think you misspelled Leliana.
For me it's
The boys: Alistair, Anders, and Cullen
The Girls: Leliana, Merril, and Cassandra
Is it just me, or is the villain of this story the Keeper? If she'd trusted Merrill with the *actual* facts, which Merrill is absolutely smart enough to handle, no one needed to die. "Merrill, contacting that demon was a mistake. Here is why, and the logic behind it."
Too often people mistake "child-like" for "childish." (Although it says something that I haven't played DA2 in years and I still have Strong Opinions about most of the characters...)
With the information we learn in Dragon Age, from Solas mostly, then yes, Merrill was right about most things. I think this is the point of the world - it lacks the knowledge, and is built on fear, ignorance - of magic, of spirits, of demons, because people don't understand it. But also, it isn't out of malice. It makes one understand a bit more how detached Solas must have felt after waking up after his millenia of slumber. The way people see the world is built on so many misconceptions.
I love Merrill. I wonder if we will see her in the next game. I do believe the keeper should have stayed out of it, instead of trying to "save" her, when she didn't ask for saving. It's almost like a saviour complex. I understand she cared for Merrill, but it was misplaced.
I initially started DA II with an Isabela romance in mind, but as soon as I met her and saw her, it was sealed for me, one night with Isabela and a life time with Merril.
She is like Tali, amped to 11 and I love it.
15:30 Merryl blushing and losing her composure after receiving a compliment... adorable according to popular votes
Merrill: *calls Hawke "ma vhenan"*
my garbage solavellan heart: *fuken explodes*
The Rivalry path is really the path that makes the most sense. To simply support her is very silly to be honest. I do like her white outfit she gets from that though. If Hawke doesn't romance her Carver tries and it is really very cute his clumsy attempts. I purposely never take Anders or Fenris in a team with Merrill because they can be so cruel. Fenris I understand but Anders is just such a hypocrite.
It makes sense to me. If you don't trust her with what she's doing with her *life*, how can you trust her with a romance? That's actually kinda creepy. You can be a caring parental figure of sorts to her, taking care that she isn't hurting herself, or a romantic partner. But both is really kinda creepy.
FrogRaider1 To me any path work it doesn’t have to be just one path You know any of them can work don’t you agree
"I'm so sorry I attacked you in the fade because a demon tempted me for 3/4 of a second and my whole shtick is how I can handle interacting with demons."
Hence rivalry.
Either way you have issues. If you go the friendship path, you could be reinforcing self-destructive behavior. If you go rivalry, you're in a know-it-all competition with somebody who thinks they know so much better than everyone she's ever known that she ends up leaving to pursue her goal.
I side with rivalry because of the above example. It's better to me that her relationship with Hawke falls apart and she stays away from the Eluvian than Hawke supports her and she ends up in danger, but happy with him. Of course, no matter what you choose the outcome is basically the same. Marethari and Audacity bite the big one. The only variables are the survival of the Sabrae clan, (Through a stupid, unclear dialogue option) and whether or not Merrill smashes the mirror. (Which wasn't working anyways and had been shards before and been restored.)
I agree with pretty much all you said, and the fact that Hawke is vehemently against blood magic no matter what you do in Inquisition makes me think the Rivalry path is the canon path, meaning Hawke will probably try to stop her from using blood magic after the events of the game, even if you took the friendship path with her.
Also, she actually gets the white outfit in the Rival path too, this guy is just using mods or something to stop it.
Honestly most of the rivalry romances are just better in the long run
“You’re just a shemlen like all the others!”
**pushes her**
Me: YOU CAN NOT SAY THAT WORD! ONLY WE CAN SAY THAT WORD!!!
N word reference be like
Isn't Tamlen the elf that disappears if you play as a dalish elf in dragon age origins?
Yes your correct.
Yes correct
Yes
@@x-c-10-ernestuswijayaaji57 Tamlen got infected by the blight, becomes a ghoul/half-darkspawn and searches for Mahariel for the sake of getting himself mercy-killed by Mahariel.
If you're a Dalish elf, You join the Wardens and Tamlen becomes a ghoul who you kill later
If you're not a Dalish elf, Mahariel dies in the ruins and Tamlen disappears forever
Merill is precious and must be protected at all costs.
My Hawke whould let Kirkwall burn to the ground and all his other companions die only to keep her safe.
@@Ivory5547 same
35:24 meanwhile Morrigan sitting in Serault crafting her own Eluvians from base 😂
I just platinumed this game ending at that scene after siding with Orsino. It's 5 AM EST and I'll regret not taking a picture of my screen as that platinum popped up when I kissed Merrill. I'm just very tired right now. At least you who is reading this can know that was just 5 minutes ago from 5:12 AM.☺️
A year ago now. Congrats to your cinematic platinum!
@@mikeztecha3808 Thank you ❤️ Now I'm trying to tackle the *Bitch of all Platinums:* Vanquish. -_+
Morrigan and Merrill I love to hear them🥰🥰... Whenever they speak and in inquisition Josephine is very cute too 🥰
And I think they are also the best romances for the series .
Nice...
Nerdy Shy Magical Elf-Girl
despite what a lot of people both in game and out might think, I don't actually think merrill is actually foolish or wrong. maybe inexperienced in social matters but bluntly speaking I really do feel that had the keeper not fucked around Merrill not only would have managed to fix the mirror completely but come out on top in regards to the demon without any losses.
I too don't believe that what she did was wrong, it was extremely brave, selfless and stupid to pursue that goal that would most likely kill her, but like she said, it was her choice.
Maybe she could've almost fixed it, and left it to the future of her people, maybe she would've been possesed and consumed by a demon while we watch helplessly. But the keeper robbed her (and by extension us) of witnessing that posibility, by taking it upon herself in a extremely brave, selfless and stupid way.
I may not *LOVE* DAII like I love DA:O, but fuck I really liked Merrill story.
@@Jonsoner Hm, I see what you guys are saying - and maybe if Merrill was the ONLY person she was putting at risk with her own choices, I could have been more supportive of them - but I think she was still unfairly placing the rest of her clan and later, Hawke and the gang, in a dangerous situation. Mages don't often stand there, politely waiting for their friends to chop their heads off when they become possessed. Hawke is pretty formidable by that point and might have been able to get the job done without collateral damage, but the clan? They might not have been able to take down a powerful pride demon like her without any loss of life on their side.
And even in the best-case scenario, it still would have sucked: risking yourself is one thing, putting the responsibility of KILLING you on your loved ones if things go wrong is quite selfish. Honestly, Varric's banter on the way up the mountain in Act 3, is really what drives it home to me "I could do without telling everyone we had to murder you on the side of a mountain, Daisy..."
@@EmphaticNod You would be right IF putting her clan in the whole thing was her plan...but actually, it was Marethari/Keeper's idea for the sake of making her change the idea on the whole matter...basically Marethari used the clan against Merrill both as a weapon or a shield(like spreading lies about Merrill among the clan and remaining close to kirkwall) and as hostage(by choosing of not leaving the kirkwall's area) but if they have left, Merrill would have been possessed at some point(it depends on when they would have left, possibly even before repairing the glass of the eluvian) and Hawke(along with the party) would took down Possessed-Merrill and there would have not been any other victims but Merrill herself.
People seem to judge her for endangering her clan / leading them to their death (optional yet somehow it's canon for them). Meanwhile, Fenris killed his rescuers, Anders blew up a church and lead to a war and Isabella lead the qunari to Kirkwall. Honestly, her death counts are relatively mild compared to the others. Replaying the game she mentions, mahariel / tamlen a few times, which makes me think this is more about closure.
okay but, can hawke look anymore... emotionless? like he looks like they're just talking to a wall. I understand that hawke is our character so he's supposed to be a bit more plain so we could roleplay hawke as ourselves a bit better, but I just wish there could be more expressions and emotion on the face
Merrill: The only female elf that can be romanced by both genders
hawk is right, she is indeed a sweet girl... when she is not being enthralled by demons.
Yeah, she is.
I know she’s a blood mage but she’s so adorable!
My Hawke whould let Kirkwall burn to the ground and all his other companions die only to keep her safe.
Its amazing how similar her personality is to Tali from Mass Effect.
I was just thinking the same exact thing
It wouldn't be a surprise if the same writers and actors did the work for the Dragon Age story line. They make great stories.
Tali was already a lot more confident than Merrill when you met her. Tali was only flustered because she had a crush on BroShep, other than that she’s already quite assertive.
Thanks to bioware being cunts about it i also assume she looks basically like tali but without the legs
Similiar tropes to Tali and Leliana.
I love that scene with the dog it’s just like a real relationship dealing with trivial problems like that
Probably Morrigan , Liliana and meriill are the best romance in the whole series no one can deny it
Marril won't happy when verric tells her about solas. She deserves love
In my case when Varric tells her I had Hawke sacrifice himself in my Inquisition run...
In my opinion either her or Isabella will be good for hawk they’re both quite interesting one to walk in the dark path the other a life of crime but you can choose to help them to change their ways a bit if you want to
If only you could romance them both XD
True
Sorry, but I can't listen to Merrill's voice and NOT start thinking about Gwen Cooper. It's the Whovian inside me.
Drinking game every time Merrill apologises take a drink
Bruh...people will die.
@@proverbialking3452too late
wish they'd make DA2 remake using Inquisition assets
hosung lee but with less bugs please
hosung lee I would love for EA or Bioware to do a total remake or remaster of Mass Effect/ Dragon Age series. Too bad EA sucks
@@nappyheadedjosh6578 If I understand it right, dragon age is done, and they sabotaged Andromeda to make if fail so they could turn the page on RPG games, move on to multiplayer cash cows, anthem, where they can sell items in it daily, bringing in more money!
Maples01 sad truth indeed my friend
@@Maples01 There's actually a 4th Dragon age game being created
Did the Hawke just joke about Dragon Age: Origins art style?
In which part?
@@Ivory5547 he said that everything in Ferelden was muddy, which basically in a throw off towards Dragon Age Origins UI art style that indeed had grey, yellow and black colors (aka muddy colors) as a dominant ones to underline the gritty atmosphere of the game.
Merrill: The Introvert that Got Lucky
The fact that Hawk is doing the right thing by helping her and stopping her from using something dangerous says a lot. If anything, this is a great romance though Merrill is completely nuts. She doesn't want to be helped unless it benefits her, too shy, talks too much, but truly worthy of being at her side.
Doesn't matter if you had business in Dalish matters or not. Merrill sure might've known the consequences included death and she still accepts it but that doesn't mean that Hawke can't have an opinion in what she's doing either especially if Hawke is in a relationship with her. Are you really going to help someone you love pursue something that might result in their own death? If you say yes because it's their decision, then you're full of shit. You would try your hardest to persuade them to not go down that path no matter how noble the intentions are. Even if the result is the person hating you, you would still try to keep them safe because that's what you'd do if you really cared for them.
Be it for a good intentions or bad intentions, I would still say that stopping Merrill from her dangerous task is worth it if you still end up with her. Sure, Hawk had no right to interfere with her plans, but ask yourself the same question: Would you rather go along with your lover's plan despite the danger of the results? Would you stop your lover from doing something you believe is dangerous? The real answer lies in your choices.
@thomas brady still would not agree to her plan if it means bringing danger that is not common practice among her people. Even her Keeper warned her before it led to her death.
Yup completely doing the right thing by saving her from her own stupidity anyone who says otherwise is well let's just say not the sharpest tool in the shed
@@pussdesutroyer9481 same thing I said before. Yes, the hero is faced with many dangers and puts his life on the line for things not his business, but if he can prevent one danger and save a lover, worth it.
My experience of playing Bioware games.
Me2- meeting Tali owh she's an interesting and cute character *decided to romance her*
Me3- ok this time I really dead on decided to romance Ashley from the start.... then here comes Tali again... *for fuck sake romance Tali it is then*
DA.2- meeting Merrill owh she's an interesting and cute character *decided to romance her*
DA.I- ok bioware anytime now? where she at ? games end *my hope is broken, my dream is shattered, my heart is destroyed*
Rivalry romance with Merrill is the most realistic romance I’ve ever seen from a BioWare game. Yeah still has magic and elves but I’ve seen couples like this, amazing writing
The romance with Fenris is pretty realistic as well.
It's not...it's basically pushing your opinion on her...and almost bragging about being right...
Anyone else think Merrill is like tali ?
She is to a degree, but Tali of Mass Effect is always the best to romance next to Liara. Ugh, now I miss ME and my Tali romance.
@@bossshun9 what a curious thing: Liara best romance then there are Tali and Jack(both second place) romances. In Dragon Age we have: Leliana(who becomes the Dragon Age equivalent of a shadow broker XD during DA: Inquisition), then Merrill and Isabela(both second place)...i find odd that the best romances, in Bioware, involve a spy, a happy cutie pie and a criminal XD
@@derokdeathaxe6984 While I would generally agree, I wished Kasumi of ME would be a romance option.
Ya.
Honestly i had no problem with the art change to the elves in DA2. Same with the combat being more chaotic and fast. Really hated how slow it felt in 3
Rivarly is pretty stupid, given that Merrill was right about everything. Everyone else is literally in a moral panic and end up falling on their own swords. Given that she literally fixes the mirror, as per DA:I where it can be seen connected to the crossroads, Merrill did the equivalent of curing cancer or solving world hunger in their world, and no one wanted it.
The Dalish deserved everything they got.
FINALLY SOMEONE SAID IT!
But you don't know whether she is right about everything when you just play DA2...
And even now you don't know what can come out from Eluvians...
And with having an Eluvian you basically invite Solas to your home. The same Solas who is probably a worse extremist than Anders, not to mention that once the Wolf destroyed the world and now want to do this again no matter the cost because he never learns...
And a hundred other "ands".
(Romance Merril) what is the best choice: leave the Eluvian complete or destroy the Eluvian?
se va a romper igual
She is very cute, contrary to that pirate slu...
LOL Merrill is way more put together than boobzilla
Your champion should be a romance option 😊👍
relmyna what are you doing here?
Merrill is adorable
I felt so fucking bad when I had to reject her (I wanted to romance Isabela for my 1st time in DA II) and tell her "We're just friends". Like, I don't even know how the hell she became interested in my Hawke...
When I rejected Anders I didn't feel half as bad. But that's cause as far as I'm concerned Anders can fall off a cliff and die a painful death, but Merrill is this precious thing that has to be protected at all costs
I just realized that if players help Merril there's a possibility she will be an antagonist in a possible DA4
Hmmmm i could see that. DAI already made us choose between our warden and champion
If BioWare thinks of the idea, they should makes Merril’s fate depend if you encouraged or discouraged the use of that Eluvian mirror.
@@samurai6331 i'll be quite depressed if I have to fight Merrill. Her desire to find closure for tamlen and mahariel by restoring the mirror. Her conviction to restore the history of her people. It's all tangled up.
@@callmek186
I don’t like the idea of fighting Merrill either. But I just had a fucking 400+ IQ thought with this idea and I really hope this is how it goes down.
y que pasaria con los jugadores que en su partida marril muere? no creo que sea posible lo que dices
15:39
...Err, but wasn’t that eluvian also in the Witch Hunt DLC? That took place after Awakening? I thought Merrill’s clan was long gone from those ruins by that point.
Merril is basically this universe version of Tali from mass effect.
Not, particularly........ She's Very awkward and silly to normal human's like a character in ME1... Ya She'll get angry on not helping but will come to hawk anyway.... So Yeah, her physic is similar to Tali ... Thin, and small
Thank you for posting this. It brought back all the feels.
29:05 nuff said
Yup
I haven’t played DA2 but if I did I would definitely romance her. It is interesting that the spirit which helped her was a spirit of wisdom, but since it got out it became pride demon. I wonder who bound it since Arlathan fell not because of Tevinter, but Solas.
It was always a demon. It just manipulated merril. Demons are old as hell so they use the knowledge they have from being creatures of the fade to seduce mortals.
@@ZeroOmega-vg8nq Very late to this discussion, but was it really? We have seen with Anders and Justice that spirits can be so easily corrupted if touched by the more fragile human emotions and who knows what might have happened to the shard when Tamlen touched it (the Dalish Warden did repeatedly tell him to NOT touch it, but he did anyway out of Dalish pride to retrieve a part of their history to get himself out of trouble)
@@phloxy_fox96528 anders and justice/vengeance or even solas explanation on spirits not withstanding it was most likely already a demon by the time a Dalish warden and tamlen got to the illuvian. Dont forget the illuvian they found that merril eventually trys to repair was in an elven ruin SWARMED with darkspawn and gameplay reasons plot armor not counting NOTHING is immune to dark spawn corruption even structures and magic and certainly not spirits trapped in artifacts. The spirit was in that ruin in isolation for thousands of years and then its unknown how long the darkspawn may have been residing there seeing as weve had 4 blights by the time Tamlen finds the mirror.
@@ZeroOmega-vg8nq Hm... Yeah fair point. It has been a while since I played DA2 and had long conversations with Merril, let alone playing the Dalish Origins, so I don't truly remember too many details outside of the ruins the mirror was in being of more human architecture.
Then again, I would be willing to give Merril the benefit of the doubt, simply because it'd be interesting to know that a Wisdom spirit got corrupted by her own pride/the pride of the Keeper.
... Guess I will be playing the games again, haha :')
@@phloxy_fox96528 get those mods ready
Yo, is she going to be on Solas' side in DA4? Her beliefs are very much like Solas'
Doubtful. She's willing to preserve what's little of Elvhen history but not at any cost. Like with the eluvian - she took steps and precautions to make sure she'd be the one to suffer any consequences and not the clan, but then came Marethari and fucked everything up. Solas treats his agents as expandable - kills Felassan, Merrill wouldn't go for that. And Merrill def won't support his plans of world-scale genocide.
I do hope we get to play as the champion in the future as Merrill is my favourite romance in the series. She absolutely adorable and kind.
The Keeper well being a good mother figure to Merrill is an awful leader for her Clan, trying to rescue one blood mage while putting the rest of the group in harm. The Clan should have moved on a long time ago.
... Marethari looks like a good carrying mother from the outside but think of it like this:
- She spread rumors about her daughter so terribles that Pal, a city elf who went back to the Dalish, literally run away from Merrill as soon as he saw her. The same goes for the rest of the clan. She was Vilified.
- Marethari ordered the Dalish to stay in the same place ONLY because she wanted Merrill to go back with them (risking the clan's safety was part of her plan, just to put pressure on her)
- As a mother she she never really trusted her. In the end that distrust was her undoing.
She's probably been under the demons sway the whole time. She's very different in DAO.
why do I watch this when it just makes my heartache
Wait, at the end of Trespasser, the Elves disappear to join Fen’Harel. Does that mean we’ll have to fight Merrill in Dragon Age 4?
I have a feeling if Merrill does appear in Dragon Age 4, her fate is gonna depend on if she smashed that Eluvian Mirror or not.
Nah. Not all of them joined him, and she's"s likely to see him as the horror from Dalish mythology.
Favorite but you got some different dialog than I did in my playthrtough.
She's cute on the ally/blue romance option, so flustered looking for you. But she shows such a vulnerable state in the rivalry option i really think its the better of the two ways to romance her. She's trying everything she can in the hope that the mirror fixes everything...but against your warnings, her clans, eventually destroying the mirror once she realizes not even the one she's falling for supports her. Then with a few hours to reflect she finally realizes that hawke or the others are trying to keep her from the destructive path she's so innocently (or not so innocently) unaware she's on and...it pains her to think that all these people are putting themselves in harms way for her. The tremble in her voice asking hawke not to save her...she's about to break...so sure of everything up to that point but...a true moment where everything has crashed down on her and yet she's still trying to do what she thinks is best. Very touching, much more depth than the girlish 'hawke is the best!' ally/blue romance.
atleast now i know hw not to screw up the romance with her
How did you have Carver as a rogue I thought it's programmed that he dies if you're a rogue or warrior ?
Mods I guess
So, Old Gods in the Black City are the Evanuris and the Old Gods underground are the Forgotten Ones, got it.
You know, I have a problem, I like to imagine Fem Hawke/ Male Hawke with kids even if they ended up with same sex.
DanaDuchy The vids are awesome and well made as always. You ought to make a version of these romance vids using the mod version of these characters. I've seen a really beautiful mod of Merril that made me really wish the game makers had better taste in elven women appearances.
Hawke starring at the ceiling like flashbacks from Ostagar.
....So....whats the best path with her?
Rival or friendship?
No. If someone is important to you, you should be willing to do what you can to save them. If someone you loved was destroying themselves with drugs because it made them better at something would you just let it happen?
@thomas brady Racist against a race that doesnt exist? You cant save someone who doesn't want to be saved???? Yikes I guess you believe in letting people with depression just kill themselves because, literally as Merril puts it, they dont believe they are worth saving. But if you think its ok to let her make a deal with demons, despite the game flat out showing you that she is wrong about a lot of what she is assuming such as her telling you she has defenses against demons then gets possessed in literally one sentince, then sure let her sell her soul to a demon that is clearly lying to her and you would know is lying to her.
And guess what, you dont have to make that decision for her. You can rival romance her and still give her the tool. If you destroy demons on sight she gets rivalry. If you destroy the fell grimoires she gets rivalry every time. Say talk to the keeper first, rivalry. The only dialogud option that doesnt lead to killing off the clan, rivalry. When she asks why would the keeper do that, tell her because you wouldnt listen to her, rivalry. Then the acknowledges she has gone too far, that she could become possessed because of her deals with demons, and then destroys the eluvian.
@thomas brady Reguardless my "headcanon" playthrough is two dalish elves and romancing Merril, so im not biased against the dalish i find them pretty interesting, and no you can rival romance Merril without going against her a single time in her storyline. Any time you decide not to make a deal with demons at any point in anyones story line she gains rivalry. And yes we actually do know shes wrong.
Trying to keep this as spoiler free as possible.
1. The demon cant unblight the mirror. Demons dont even understand the blight which makes blight magic more effective against them.
Not even the old gods, shown by their own corruption, or the evanuris, elven "gods", by their own admission, at least the two that arnt sealed, can cure it. Tevinter can only slow it down the elder one cant stop it as shown with Felix in Inquisition.
This means either the mirror was never truly blighted or that it wasnt actually made safe.
Its more likely the 1st one because of what fen'harel did and also because its stated repeatedly that the blight only infects organic things. Even red lyrium is just an infected type of lyrium which is
SPOILER
titans blood since all magic is infact blood magic
SPOILER END
2a. She is making a deal with a demon so powerful neither the ancient elves nor tevinter could actually bend to their will. The by FAR two strongest groups of mages who also had the most experience with spirits and demons couldnt handle the thing so it had to be put into a statue for everyones safety. Thats on the level of the forbidden ones.
2b. Her belief that she could outsmart the demon came from her experience with this extremely ancient powerful demon and when it was actually put to the test vs a minor pride demon she instantly gets charmed with the exact same argument the extremely powerful pride demon had been using on her already.
Another thing you are ignorant of is rival romancing Merril does NOT require you to take the tool away from her, ignore her decisions, etc. All it requires you to do is oppose demons in other parts of the story. The fell grimoire quest line being a very easy way to gain rivalry points for destroying the books used to force demons into the templar recruits ie the Keran/Cullen questline. So unless you are arguing that NOT slaughtering her clan or leaving books around that instruct the creation of abominations are both bad things to do and somehow oppress her and creates an unhealthy relationship your entire argument has fallen apart due to being little more than incorrect assumptions and a misplaced feeling of superiority.
Your basically saying if you romance anders you must want to blow up the chantry despite the game letting you friend romance him, disagree with many of his ideals, and punish him for his crimes. The best part of DA2 is that it is the only game where the relationships with companions are nuanced.
@thomas brady No her friend romance is unhealthy. To the point where i reloaded a save 5 hours back just to romance Fenris instead. She absolutely relies on Hawke to do everything for her and then clean up any mess she makes and take responsibility for her like shes a young child she needs you just to even talk to the keeper because she isnt brave enough to do it herself. Rivalry she becomes strong, self reliant, and accepts that no matter how good her intentions are they still have a consequence. In the friend route she never opens up to hawke about the reality of the situation and she flat out lies to him about it repeatedly.
Thats because they wernt alive enough for the blight to infect them yet. Embryos are immune to the blight. Thats a consistent thing throughout the series. Otherwise every child of a warden would be born tainted. Also doesnt change that spirits and demons dont understand the blight or have power over it.
In all the other rivalry romances I do agree with you. Since different characters have different writers they handled it differently and what they should have done is have it so each character can only be romanced if you go down specific paths ie Anders only romances friends Merril only rivals. Like a more fleshed out version of Jack from ME2 where if you pick the renegade options you cant romance her or Jaesa from Swtor where you must be darkside.
And again I dont fundamentally disagree with her very nature. I go with the official blood magic stance of Tevinter that Dorian states. Using your own blood or that of someone who willingly offers it is fine. Controlling people and killing for their blood is not. I also absolutely support her trying to reclaim the lost glory. Even with the mirror although it still makes me cautious. I do not support making deals with the type of demon she is most susceptible to in pride due to her belief she can outsmart a demon especially when that demon is lying to her. She can go find a spirit of wisdom or something. Or oh i dont know read that book Morrigan used that is returned to the Dalish since she has the right to anything dalish owns. But she never even tried. A demon whispered promises into her ear and she took it hook line and sinker while my Hawke is anti demon and she eventually learns how truly dangerous they are through her quest line and throughout the rest of the game. Feel free to disagree more but Im done now.
@thomas brady they are not human just like quanari or drawfs.
Calling them long ear or half a man wouldn't be racist.
29:13 These Two Lovebirds Of Merrill And Hawke.
Honestly, Merrill has a very Irish accent that is pretty cool from bioware. I wish they do this more, having characters with different accent.
I'd say it's more Welsh than Irish
Oh shit, never heard a Welsh accent. Make sense.
+Armani Nguon not surprised, welsh accents aren't very popular and aren't common, unless you're Welsh yourself, of course
Welsh language is interesting it's completely different compare to saxon language. Same with Gaelic but that's Irish
Agreed, I wish they would have given every Dalish with a lot of lines (e.g. Merril or even Lavellan) a voiceactor with a welsh accent. It would have been nice to add to the whole "The accent comes from the Elven language and most Dalish know at least bits and pieces of it/try to speak Elven with each other"
Huh, my Merrill didn't smash the mirror. Anyone know why that is?
Only on the rival path at max rivalry.
This is why i couldnt let hawke sacrifice in inquisition. I couldnt bare the idea of Merrill being alone again
It sucks what ultimately happens to her clan.
marry her
It is sad that one could not play as an elf or a dwarf here like in origins..
Yup
Meh I found it a interesting change
@@averongodoffire8098 Why? Having options it's what's all about. If you want change, just pick a different race.
I found it interesting, that does not mean I think it was an improvement or better because of the choice. In fact I do wonder how the interactions may go if you were Dalish or dwarven. but the way I see it not very much I changes aside from the dialogue, so overall I really find it interesting how they went about this one.
DA2 was rushed to all hell because EA saw the success of DA:O and wanted to make more money ASAP. I'm pretty sure DA2 was released literally a year and a half after Origins, that's why it's so minimalistic compared to origins.
EA's greed will also probably be the reason DA4 will be horrible.
So to seek the champion the seeker should seek out merill?
With my boyfriend: Fenris
With my fiancee: Isabella
With my husband: Anders
With my-: Merrill
*With my self: demon*
Any gaming character I make is named after her now 😅
Omg, I forgot how creepy hands looked in DA2!
Also Merrils underwear or whatever looks like the ones worn by the people in the brothel 😐
LOL
The only elf I actually like
The only elf that makes the romance worth it.
eyyyyyy...my first video game romance
i think she would join solas in da4
How do I trigger all of these dialogues?
31:32 Dog: *Whine (Huh?)* 😂😂😂😂
Very good video! I like the decissions you made, specially how you made Merrill laugh at the eve of a tragic bloodbath.
With that being said, "Mirror, Mirror on the wall, how the dread wolf would benefit more: broken or not?"
Merrill besto waifu
ENCHANTMENT!
I do love Merrill
FAN-HArel
Geez it's Fen-HarEL
Was anyone gonna tell me that Merrill is baby
🚓🚓🚓🚓
Sorry but i’m a hard FenHawke shipper!
Obviously so were the writers since Fenris was written for a male hawke. I can't say I disagree either. Opposites and all that.
I disagree
lol love sarcastic responses hilarious!
I like her but I see her more in a friendly way.
Anders is always my choice with male hawke.
Where do you get the dog?
He just kinda comes with the game
@@Ser_Locke its a dlc
@@lyriumstoneladydelirium5314 oh then it must be the black emporium
_(SIgh)_
We're gonna have to face her in DA4 aren't we
So..does anyone know if it's even legal under Chantry law for interrac--- er....interspecies relationships to happen?
I mean, I know there's no lack of half-elf or even half-dwarf children in the DA universe, but is there an official protocol or marriage law anywhere in the lore for it? Given the alienages and such, I'm assuming all such children are illegitimate, but Alistair.....
Well, elven Inquisitor can be married to human Cullen by the Chantry via mother Giselle. Same for any female Inquisitor and elf Sera. I guess if non-human is andrastian or was converted to it (like in Red Crossing story about elf and human pairing that led to tragedy), they won't say a word against such pairing.
Though, fun thing, my noble mage told numerous times that she is not a believer, and she still got the wedding. Need confirmation from someone that knows lore better, maybe this exact marriage could happen at all just because of Inquisitor's friendship with Giselle or because of reforms done by the new Divine.
And sorry for replying to 1 year old comment, if I bothered someone by doing it
@@Sarydormi there's this (paraphrased) banter between Sera and Vivienne if she marries the Inquisitor
Vivvy: What's next, a title?
Sera: I have a title- wife.
Vivvy: Yes, well good luck getting that recognized.
So I'm guessing same-sex marriage isn't a legally recognized thing in the Dragon Age Universe.
@@errolpletcher9186 welp, the orig comment was more about the marriages between different species, but still a good point. And you gave more ammo to my annoyance over Vivienne)
29:22
is this hawke a mod?
merill best girl