#the landsmeet
Text
Why Rendon Howe is evil
This is a little theory thats been going around in my head for several days.
Rendon Howe. Evil personified. Probably one of the most despicable and hated characters in the Dragon Age series. One of the characters thats most easily defined as being just plain bad and evil, with good reason. Even in the game itself no one likes him (with 1 exception that I'll mention later in this post)
In the game, we really aren't given many reasons as to why he is the way he is and why he does the thing he does beyond saying he's evil, power hungry, and like he himself says as he dies, "I deserved more!"
But recently I started to become curious about him to try to find out what had made him become like this, cause I prefer villains to have some complexity that goes beyond just "He's evil just because".
Rest of the analysis under the cut.
.
My main theory of why I think Rendon became "evil" is cause he may have suffered brain damage due to his injuries while fighting against Orlais with Maric and his rebels. My first thought for this came cause historically, Henry the 8th of England suffered several brain injuries during sporting events, and its believed that his injuries led to him having a severe personality change, which led to him become more radical, tyrannical and murderous.
After the death of his father and the Howe family joining the rebellion, Rendon joined Maric's forces and became close friends with Bryce Cousland, future Teyrn of Highever, and Leonas Bryland, future Arl of South Reach. The 3 of them fought together in the Battle of White River, which was the worse defeat the rebels suffered in the war against Orlais, and only 50 of the initial thousand soldier strong fereldan army survived.
Rendon was very badly injured during the battle, and Bryce and Leonas had to dragged him away to safety as the rebel army was crushed by the orlesians. Bryce was injured in the arm while trying to save Rendon from a chevalier. They got Rendon to Redcliffe and stayed with him for a month while he recovered before leaving to rejoin Maric and the rest of the rebel forces. While Rendon recovered in Redcliffe, he was tended to by Leonas's sister, Eliane, until he eventually recovered months later. He eventually proposed to her and they got married.
And here is the first bit of evidence we get of Rendon's attitude and behaviour completely changing after that battle and his wounds. From the wiki: "Leonas had become concerned by the changes in his friend's behavior since the battle and attempted to prevent the marriage." And some other quotes from Leonas that we get to her in dao: "Rendon Howe was no friend of mine. The boy I knew... died at the Battle of White River" and "That he didn't die years ago is the only thing worth mourning here." Leonas cut all contact with Rendon after he told him that he was only marrying his sister for her dowry and connections.
This goes back to what I mentioned earlier about the one person that seemed to care for Rendon. That person is Bryce Cousland.
Bryce and Eleanor were the only people that attended Rendon and Eliane's wedding, and even though Rendon was treated as a pariah by almost everyone in fereldan nobility, Bryce still maintained a friendly relation with Rendon, and seemed to have an almost protective attitude towards him, which contrasts greatly with how Leonas feels about Rendon. And this is where I came up with another theory about why this is. I believe that Bryce feels personally responsible for the injuries and near death that Rendon suffered during the Battle of White River and feels that he is somehow obligated to look after him. I can only hc why these could be, but maybe Rendon got injured while protecting Bryce, or maybe Bryce's actions during the battle led to Rendon's injuries. Maybe that's why Bryce seems to have keep pushing for the friendship that he once had with him, even though he clearly no longer was the same person. Cause Bryce felt responsible for the way Rendon had turned out.
Its possible that Rendon was just always like this, and those months he spent recovering just made him become super resentful against everything and everyone, but I do believe that the near death injuries he suffered during that battle, including possible head injuries and brain trauma, led to his personality changing and to him becoming the sheer villain we see ingame.
And to finish, a bit of background as to why Rendon would have hated Bryce even despite of this, here's a bit of info about them and about the relation between Highever and Amaranthine.
Rendon's father, Tarleton, supported Orlais during their occupation of Ferelden, and was eventually hanged by the Couslands before the Howes officially joined the rebellion. Adding the fact that Highever was once part of Amaranthine before they rebelled to gain their independence and annexed a good part of southern Amaranthine after winning their independence war, it adds some context to how Rendon could have seen this part of his greater vengeance against the Couslands and Highever for killing his father and taking away land from Amaranthine.
TL,DR: Rendon Howe suffered grieveous injuries during the war against Orlais, including possible brain injuries which may have led to a complete personality shift and to him becoming the person that we see him being in the game.
#dragon age#dragon age meta#dragon age lore#rendon howe#illusivesoulrambles#nathaniel howe#delilah howe#couslands#bryce cousland#eleanor cousland#ferelden#maric theirin#denerim#amaranthine#highever#the landsmeet#dragon age origins#dao#da:o
196 notes
·
View notes
Text
landsmeet wip
as a little treat i am attaching an excerpt of a wip of the landsmeet scene where mahanon spares loghain. i am nowhere near this point in my actual fic so it's not really spoilers but I just felt very compelled to write it tonight.
read below the cut!
“What are you waiting for?” Alistair’s voice broke through the roar of blood in Mahanon’s ears. “You’re not going to let him live after everything that he’s done? Kill him, already!”
Mahanon hesitated, staring down at the man before him. The fabled General Loghain. The Teyrn. The man who had chased out Orlesian forces from Ferelden and reestablished the royal line. The father of the Queen. His grip on the hilt of his sword trembled as he heard Riordan’s words ringing in his head. Slowly, and knowing that he would not be forgiven, he drew away. “I accept your surrender.”
“What?!” Alistair demanded. A hand gripped back of his gorget and spun him around, and Mahanon found himself face-to-face with his fellow Warden. “After everything that he has done? Are you mad?! What are you thinking?!”
“He will undertake the Joining,” Mahanon said, though the words were heavy on his tongue. He looked up at Alistair and found only rage reflected back at him, but he was not sure to which of them it belonged. “If he dies, your vengeance is sated. If he lives, we have gained a general. We need more Wardens to face the Archdemon.”
“Absolutely not!” Alistair snarled, letting go of him. “This man abandoned our brothers and then blamed us for the deed! He hunted us down like animals! How can we simply forget that? Joining the Wardens is an honor, not a punishment! Name him as a Warden and you will cheapen us all! I will not stand next to him as a brother; I refuse.”
“Loghain is a traitor,” he continued. “We need him like we need to be stabbed in the back. Or have you forgotten how his being a great general didn’t help us last time?”
“So that is it, then?” Mahanon asked. “Is it you or him?”
“Yes. This is not what Duncan died for! This is not the way that he would have chosen! He would have understood; he of all people knew what a great honor it is to be a Warden! It is not the place for traitors or murderers!”
“How quaint,” Mahanon said. “In the eyes of Denerim, I am both of those.”
Alistair blustered. “Don’t twist my words. You know that isn’t what I meant—”
“No, I know exactly what you meant, Alistair!” Mahanon snapped. “You cannot put aside your need for revenge to understand what is really at stake here! Did the Landsmeet mean anything to you? Were you listening? Now is not the time for petty grudges! Now is the time for everyone to make a stand against the Blight. If we do not work together with all the help we can get—regardless of where it is from—we are all going to die!”
“And don’t you speak to me of Duncan,” he continued. “He would be making the same choice were he here right now. You heard him! You knew him best! Grey Wardens are always the ones to do what has to be done! But you can’t! You never have, Alistair! From the very start you have left me to make all of the hard choices! I made the decision at Redcliffe! I spared us from the blood magic! I found the Ashes of Andraste! And at every turn, where were you?!” He thrust a finger against Alistair’s breastplate with each word.
“You were too busy abdicating responsibility to me to take a damned look at yourself!” Mahanon paused only to draw in a breath. “Nothing I did ever pleased you, Alistair, but you never stepped up to make any hard choices yourself. You were content to step aside and blame only me. So, I must ask you one more time. Must it be you or him?”
Silence once more. In his peripheral vision he noticed that Loghain had risen to his feet. Zevran and Leliana were circling the teyrn like his own dual shadows, however, knives at the ready. Alistair stared at Mahanon, red-faced, until he spat his answer as though it were poison.
“Yes. If you let him undergo the Joining, then I walk away. I will take the throne if it is what will bring Loghain to justice.”
Mahanon’s blood immediately goes cold. He stands upright. “So be it. Pity that this is the first choice you have made for yourself, Alistair. I thought that you never wished to be king.”
Alistair’s regard was just as chilly. “I thought that you were not going to stab me in the back. Funny how nothing ever turns out like you thought.”
“Funny indeed,” said Mahanon. “When all of this is over, king or otherwise, I hope to never see you again.”
Alistair shoved past him, trying to knock his shoulder, but Mahanon held firm. “Consider the sentiment shared.”
tagging @demandthedoodles because maker knows i must subject my alistair otp to my angst
#my fic#mahanon tabris#my writing#my fanfic#cas-writes#dragon age origins#zevran aranai#the landsmeet#alistair theirin#loghain mac tir
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
"Oh, you're all right! You know, I'm almost disappointed we didn't get to try our plan... ah, well."
Leliana's selfie.
4 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Landsmeet (Dragon Age: Origins)
Time for the Landsmeet... and the first journey through Thedas is almost over.
Catch it on my Twitch YouTube Channel, or below the fold.
youtube
3 notes
·
View notes
Text
IABN - The Landsmeet
She stood there, shaking and trying to hide it.
The shaking was for two reasons.
Firstly, because it was a natural reaction to the rush of winning. To knowing that victory was close, exceedingly close.
The last hour had been possibly the most she had ever considered her words, turning each one over in her head before she spoke it, weighting them for maximum effect. All the time painfully aware that her words had probably never mattered more.
But somehow, she had done it. She had kept her temper; ignored Loghain’s accusations and threats; and kept the Landsmeet focused on his far more egregious and real crimes, rather than her imagined ones.
And the Landsmeet was with her.
It probably hadn’t hurt that she’d spent the last few days doing favours for a small portion of them. Not that the how or why mattered, now that they were with her, with them. Or, at least, enough of them were that she’d been able to call for Loghain to step down.
Hence the other reason that she was shaking.
She could have fought him herself – maybe she should have done – but a part of her, despite all that she’d done, had baulked at the thought of facing the hero of River Dane.
She didn’t think that she could be blamed overmuch for her cowardice. She had, after all, been raised on tales of Loghain and Maric’s heroic deeds during the rebellion. Even if the months spent fighting the darkspawn – not to mention her Grey Warden abilities and her comparative youth – meant that while she was entirely sure that she could beat him, she wasn’t entirely sure that she could kill him, if it came to it.
But she knew that Alistair could.
He hadn’t known that she could name a champion.
Or maybe he had…
When all was said and done, he was smarter than he let on. There had been more than one or two phrases he’d uttered while at Arl Eamon’s estate to indicate that his education on the workings of Fereldan politics had not been as lacking as he’d liked everyone to believe.
But if he had, then he hadn’t expected her to.
But he’d wanted it.
Oh, how he had wanted it…
Read the rest on AO3
#Dragon Age Origins#Dragon Age#Alistair Theirin#Alistair x Cousland#Alistair x Warden#AU#Set in the 'In All But Name' Universe#The Landsmeet#Such a good part of the game but i like none of the cannon options#Here's the alternative
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
if you took a bad enough hit while dao rock armour was active, could you have scars from blunt force trauma that spiderweb like cracks in stone
#i should be so fucking asleep right now but hear me out. minerva. landsmeet duel. loghain has shield bash. do you hear what im saying#i was thinking about magical scars for him actually#but that fucking armour. you have to cook him in it like a lobster in its shell#sometimes i think mages are overpowered for that fight realistically#and then i remember those close quarters and how fucking massive i think he is#he’s like a foot and a half taller than minerva. crikey#okay im saying fuck a lot but the crikey is a sign. need to sleep. need to sleep#but minerva literally cracked open during the landsmeet divorce#and only afterwards when nobody is watching letting her skin turn back from stone#holds it for so long that wynne can’t fix it clean#loghain SHOULD have a scar too for matchie matchies#its crushing prison she usually uses. crumpling that man like a tin can#that could fuck you up. less visible though. i’ll workshop#i dont think shed get enough of a grip to pull off something like#a handprint burn#maybe a slice across the cheek from a blade of ice#i’ll workshop. i’ll workshop. goodnight
58 notes
·
View notes
Text
it's not like alistair is wrong at the landsmeet. it is bullshit if you recruit loghain. at that point you don't even know that only a warden can kill the archdemon (riordan i do have to say that is a day one discussion not a night before the climactic battle discussion) and alistair has been at your side this whole journey... like if i'm him tbh fuck you. you killed marjolaine for leliana and flemeth for morrigan and like a ton of other people but you're not gonna kill The Guy?? you're stopping now??
#just that conversation you can have in the epilogue... he's RIGHT what DO we have to say to each other anymore#i like this i think when i first played the game (well i mean the first time i killed loghain but i mean years ago) i was like#'why do people say morrigan betrays you when alistair literally does it first' but if you think about it for three seconds... he was right.#the whole landsmeet is so fucked. i support that btw the writing is good#anyway the da:o run lives in my brain i might write something for this warden#just for fun :)
531 notes
·
View notes
Text
Yeah Origins Teagan can still absolutely get it
#dragon age#dragon age origins#da:o#bann teagan#teagan guerrin#npcs that have a grip on me#fanart#myfandomincolor draws#what if we kissed at the landsmeet 👉👈
8 notes
·
View notes
Text
Lmfao
#Alistair Theirin#Warden Cousland#Morrigan#Warden x Alistair#my boyfriend is a bitch and I love him#I am a bit sad though#all main quests are done and I just gotta do Return to Ostagar before the Landsmeet arc starts. girl help#ofc there is still Awakening Golems of Amgarrak Leliana's Song and Witch Hunt#but I'm still not ready for the main game to be over
27 notes
·
View notes
Text
my most controversial take apparently is that i genuinely don’t think alistair is an equal to anora as a candidate for the crown, and that nothing bioware claims about him as king after the fact is substantiated by any gameplay up to the landsmeet.
#and he would agree with me#alistair theirin#this insistence bioware retroactively does that he is an equal to anora/would make a good king is laughable actually <3#he's not stupid - i do believe he is perceptive and educated to a degree that indicates that he is a lot more capable than often argued#but the man is emotionally immature and clearly meant to be seen as naive/a 'himbo'#which sets him up at a disadvantage against anora at the point of the landsmeet EVEN IF he could ofc grow and mature over time#at the point of his being made king he's not that guy yet#when it crucially matters!#and he's selfish and spiteful and spineless in a really fundamental way that justified the hof's position above him :)))#he's not an idiot ... but in a much more significant way... he is an idiot at the point of us giving him so much privilege and power#and the ONLY reason why we would ever think that would be a good idea is because of his blood? lmfao?? get real.#sorry to the bioware liberal stannies caping for monarchy but i'm built different (better)
13 notes
·
View notes
Text
The Landsmeet supports Loghain
#dragon age#dragon age origins#loghain mac tir#alistair theirin#aeducan#illusivedits#illusivesouledits#dailygaming#gameplaydaily#gamingnetwork#the landsmeet#ferelden#teyrn loghain#arl eamon#dragon age dwarves#dragon age gifs#daedit#daedits#dragonageedit#dao#da:o#hardrada aeducan#anora mac tir#queen anora
51 notes
·
View notes
Text
sorry but "bad ending: you are your father's child." clenching my fist not to make it about dragon age
7 notes
·
View notes
Text
#I even forgot about last option#like why#ok#i'm just trying to figure out how many of u left him as warden#so i won't have a guilty feeling for not making him king#because i want him and my surana to live happily ever after#or at least until inquisition comes#and all the fade stuff#alistair theirin#alistair warden#dragon age#dragon age origins#dao#dao poll#landsmeet#grey warden
103 notes
·
View notes
Text
the fact that Alistair can become the Warden Commander of Orlais if he survives Inquisition is so funny to me. Imagine being an Orlesian warden and knowing that the bastard son of a Fereldan king is leading you. Hell, imagine being a Fereldan and knowing that the bastard son of your former king is leading a squadron of Orlesians. This is Loghain’s worst nightmare. This is the source of poor Anora’s constant headache
#me.txt#alistair theirin#dragon age#dai#obviously we know he's not gonna do anything but#a random bann during a landsmeet: hey is anyone worried that the kinda-prince alistair is leading an orlesian paramilitary organization#anora [eye twitching]: no
36 notes
·
View notes
Text
Today on Things Bioware Should've Done In DA2: give me Anders having Beef with King Alistair in world states where the Warden spared Loghain because the Warden is Anders's commander and if they have beef with the king he has beef with the king. Even better if Alistair doesn't even get mad, the DA2 gang are freaking out about this disrespect to a foreign monarch and Alistair just sighs and is like "This is because of the Hero of Ferelden isn't it" and Anders does not deny it because until Alistair apologizes properly for being a dick to the commander the beef will continue.
47 notes
·
View notes
Text
WIP WEDNESDAY
It’s not Wednesday :3
I was tagged by @greypetrel so I’m throwing the rest of the TOTALLY PLATONIC landsmeet boy-divorce underneath the cut. Working on it little by little.
—
“What are you waiting for?” Alistair’s voice broke through the roar of blood in Mahanon’s ears. “You’re not going to let him live after everything that he’s done? Kill him, already!”
Mahanon hesitated, staring down at the man before him. The fabled General Loghain. The Teyrn. The man who had chased out Orlesian forces from Ferelden and reestablished the royal line. The father of the Queen. His grip on the hilt of his sword trembled as he heard Riordan’s words ringing in his head. Slowly, and knowing that he would not be forgiven, he drew away. “I accept your surrender.”
“What?!” Alistair demanded. A hand gripped back of his gorget and spun him around, and Mahanon found himself face-to-face with his fellow Warden. “After everything that he has done? Are you mad?! What are you thinking?!”
“He will undertake the Joining,” Mahanon said, though the words were heavy on his tongue. He looked up at Alistair and found only rage reflected back at him, but he was not sure to which of them it belonged. “If he dies, your vengeance is sated. If he lives, we have gained a general. We need more Wardens to face the Archdemon.”
“Absolutely not!” Alistair snarled, letting go of him. “This man abandoned our brothers and then blamed us for the deed! He hunted us down like animals! How can we simply forget that? Joining the Wardens is an honor, not a punishment! Name him as a Warden and you will cheapen us all! I will not stand next to him as a brother; I refuse.”
“Loghain is a traitor,” he continued. “We need him like we need to be stabbed in the back. Or have you forgotten how his being a great general didn’t help us last time?”
“So that is it, then?” Mahanon asked. “Is it you or him?”
“Yes. This is not what Duncan died for! This is not the way that he would have chosen! He would have understood; he of all people knew what a great honor it is to be a Warden! It is not the place for traitors or murderers!”
“How quaint,” Mahanon said. “In the eyes of Denerim, I am both of those.”
Alistair blustered. “Don’t twist my words. You know that isn’t what I meant—”
“No, I know exactly what you meant, Alistair!” Mahanon snapped. “You cannot put aside your need for revenge to understand what is really at stake here! Did the Landsmeet mean anything to you? Were you listening? Now is not the time for petty grudges! Now is the time for everyone to make a stand against the Blight. If we do not work together with all the help we can get—regardless of where it is from—we are all going to die!”
“And don’t you speak to me of Duncan,” he continued. “He would be making the same choice were he here right now. You heard him! You knew him best! Grey Wardens are always the ones to do what has to be done! But you can’t! You never have, Alistair! From the very start you have left me to make all of the hard choices! I made the decision at Redcliffe! I spared us from the blood magic! I lost my eye to the werewolves! I solved the inheritance crisis in Orzammar! I found the Ashes of Andraste! And at every turn, where were you?!” He thrust a finger against Alistair’s breastplate with each word.
“You were too busy abdicating responsibility to me to take a damned look at yourself.” Mahanon paused only to draw in a breath. “Nothing I did ever pleased you, Alistair, but you never stepped up to the hard choices. You were content to step aside and blame only me. So, I ask you one more time. Must it be you or him?”
Silence once more. In his peripheral vision he noticed that Loghain had risen to his feet. Zevran and Leliana were circling the teyrn like his own dual shadows, knives at the ready. Alistair stared at Mahanon, red-faced, until he spat his answer as though it were poison.
“Yes. If you let him undergo the Joining, then I walk away. I will take the throne if it is what will bring Loghain to justice.”
Mahanon’s blood immediately went cold. He stood upright. “So be it. Pity that this is the first choice you have made for yourself, Alistair. I thought that you never wished to be king.”
Alistair’s regard was just as chilly. “I thought that you were not going to stab me in the back. Funny how nothing ever turns out like you thought.”
“Funny indeed,” said Mahanon. “When all of this is over, king or otherwise, I hope to never see you again.”
Alistair shoved past him, trying to knock his shoulder, but Mahanon held firm. “Consider the sentiment shared.”
“Get far from me, Alistair.” Mahanon glanced back over his shoulder at his retreating form. “You are a traitor to the Grey Wardens, and the punishment for that is death.”
———————
No tags today 😔 (no spoons)
#wip wednesday#tag game#my mutuals my beloveds#dragon age#mahanon tabris#dragon age origins#Cas writes#landsmeet
15 notes
·
View notes
Last Seen Blogs
park-chantheauthor
Park Stories
stonebasalt
SALT&SAVAGE
sugiieop
♱
silkpunk
小朋友（derogatory）
husskoni
HUSSKONI