Morrigan's ritual in Dragon Age Origins(spoilers)

[Reincarnatedwolfgod]

So do what you want, just know that if you do turn her down she turns into a cat and buggers off, so I hope you're not wanting to use her as your black magic user for the final big battle through Denerim.

I was already playing as a mage who was an arcane warrior/spirit healer(I put no points into that tree). I was pretty much a black mage who dabbled in other offensive magic and that disabled or made killing enemies easier. Not have morrigan wasn't much of a problem. I Also brought about 70 health potions to the final fight.

 

[Drauger]

I romanced her and she was my third favorite character. It doesn't change the fact that she kept her actual mission secret for the entire game and then tried to manipulate you into giving her an Old God.

Ok she manipulated the warden but at the end of the game she actually gives you a choice, that's because she actually changes the way she thinks of the player, also in the witch hunt she actually invites the player to follow her, she's just misunderstood the way i see it, people need some evil puppeteer in DAO and morrigan just fits the rol but she's not necesarily a villain, yes a puppeteer yes, but evil meh, same goes to flemmeth.....

 

[cthulhuspawn82]

I think they are going to find a way to make the ritual cannon whether you did it or not. I cant explain it, but things I have seen in the games really lead me to believe that the developers really expected you to say yes to her. Maybe its the way you have to tell her no like 3 times to get her off it, or how 2/3 of the pre-built histories in DA2 have it as a choice. the only history without it is the one that cant have it (i.e. heroic sacrifice)

It just really seems like the developers expect everyone, or at least most everyone, to make that choice.

 

[00slash00]

I had 100% approval with her. I didn't romance her (I played a female), but we were best friends. With an approval that high, I started to develop a completely different opinion of her. Before I always saw her as someone who cares only about her own survival and to hell with anyone else. Later on I saw her as a character who put on a hard facade to protect herself, but in reality was very scared and had come to realize how important it is to have friends you can rely on. Maybe I'm a sucker, but I felt like she was a good person at heart, and just had to put on a harsh exterior to survive the kind of life she had (I really did like Dragon Age 2 but holy crap, the characters in Origins were so much better and had so much greater depth).
I definitely don't think she was allied with Flemeth. It made me really sad that I couldn't go through the mirror with her, because we were friends but not romantic partners. I do think that is going to be the story that Dragon Age 3 follows though, considering the Origins character seems to have just kind of vanished off the map. Also it's more interesting than the story of tracking down Morrigan and then waving goodbye

Obviously I did do the dark ritual. It was partly because I'd grown to trust Morrigan but mostly because it seemed like it would lead to a much more interesting story (this was back when I believed you actions in Origins actually had some impact on expansions and future games, other than a couple cameos and slight dialog changes)

 

[Frozengale]

I played a Female Warden so I forced Alistair into the ritual. For one thing I really didn't want to die, but I didn't really want anyone else to take all the glory either. So I decided I would rather see how a possibly all powerful god baby might turn out. I think it was the right choice.

 

[maidenm]

I was doing a role-play heavy playthrough as a female warden who romanced Alistair and would do anything for him. Made the whole ritual very interesting from a emotional point of view. Morrigan was my buddy, as I was a dalish elf I felt I could connect with the alienated lady from the woods. I was unsure, I admit, but since playing witch hunt I came to trust her a lot more.

 

[RJ 17]

Here's a fun fact, though: throughout the entire game she....never actually does anything that would earn distrust. People say she's coldhearted and wicked, but she's not: she's just EXTREMELY practical, kinda like Sten in a way. Sure she was raised by Flemmeth but she doesn't trust her mother any more than anyone else does. When you first meet her, she happily and without hesitation takes you to where the scrolls you need are being kept. Still, a lot of people seem to view her with a lot of distrust.

I will admit, suddenly approaching you and saying "Yeah, I wanna give birth to a child that will have all the powers of an old god" is a bit shady...but beyond that, she's essentially a model party member. :3

This is what I wanted to say, but better said.

I went through with he ritual. I was a male Noble Human that was romantically involved with Morrigan throughout the whole game. I fell in love with her and I trusted her. Whatever people say, I don't believe Morrigan is actually evil. Darkness is not inherently evil. She was reluctant at the beginning, but she goes with you on your journey to save Fereldan, come what may. She stays and gives her all to help you, even when she disagrees. Morrigan was and is my favorite party member to have along. At the end of Witch Hunt, I still wanted to leave everything else behind and go with her.

Spoiler

And I did.

Hehehe, so did I. It was on my 2nd playthrough of the game (my first one being an elf mage that romanced Lelianna) when I was playing as a dwarf noble warrior. Gotta say it was pretty funny to have Morrigan getting all flustered and such over the fact that she found herself actually falling in love with a dwarf, but hey, love is blind, no? Anyways he was the guy I loaded up for Witch Hunt, and he followed her through the mirror without hesitation.

So do what you want, just know that if you do turn her down she turns into a cat and buggers off, so I hope you're not wanting to use her as your black magic user for the final big battle through Denerim.

I was already playing as a mage who was an arcane warrior/spirit healer(I put no points into that tree). I was pretty much a black mage who dabbled in other offensive magic and that disabled or made killing enemies easier. Not have morrigan wasn't much of a problem. I Also brought about 70 health potions to the final fight.

Then yeah, you should be good to go. It's a marathon of battles so - particularly depending on which difficulty you're playing on - it's a good thing you came stocked up with potions. The really neat thing is that you do get to call upon the groups that you're taking to war with you (mages or Templars, werewolves or elves, dwarves or golems, etc) and a little group of them appears and starts running amuck, kicking some asses for you. All in all I thought it was a pretty fun climax for a game.

 

[The_Darkness]

Oh, I loved this choice.

You've got Loghain with you. In that circumstance, I would say no to Morrigan and throw Loghain at the dragon. So would my Dalish Elven Rogue, Senteril. There's a reason why I'm making a distinction between myself and my character though...

However, during my playthrough, it was Senteril or Alistair. Now, if I had been in the situation myself I would have still said no to Morrigan, and thrown myself on the Archdemon. The risk is just too big. For all we know, if the child encounters the darkspawn at some or other point, we could have another Blight on our hands.

But I chose to have Senteril say yes.

And I'm someone who always chooses I would do when playing RPGs. This is the one time that I didn't.

Part of this was metagaming. I wanted to be able to import Senteril into Awakening, and that required him to be alive. (You can import dead characters into Awakening, and they show up alive without any explanation. And then they return to being dead if you import that save to DA2. Bioware could have done that better, I feel...)

But I crafted an in-character explanation to why Senteril said yes. Mainly, he didn't want to die. He didn't want to leave Leliana behind. Yes, that's completely ignoring the Warden's duty, and it's exactly what Wynne warned might happen, but I like that aspect. It makes Senteril more interesting if he isn't quite perfect.

He also, despite everything, does trust Morrigan. And he is willing to spend the rest of his life to do as much as he can to stop his actions from triggering another Blight. Senteril made another... questionable... deal during Awakening, with the aim of achieving just that. I headcanon that Blightblood (the reward for playing the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC) is a weapon forged from the body of the Archdemon, which Senteril carries with him as a constant reminder of his own weakness.

This then leads to Witch Hunt, which aptly demonstrates unique friendship-despite-differences between Morrigan and Senteril. They are two people who trust each other. Morrigan has saved Senteril's life (although he regrets the choice) and he spends the entire DLC tracking her down just because she might be in danger. And that's purely out of friendship - something that Morrigan doesn't entirely understand, but appreciates nonetheless.

So yeah, all in all, I loved that choice because it was the opportunity for Senteril to show some serious character development.

I have done a playthrough where I threw Loghain at the Archdemon though, and that is a very satisfying ending. The Hero of River Dane earning his final redemption...

 

[Miyenne]

I always play a noble human female who marries Alistair, so I begrudgingly convince him to sleep with her.

I tried once letting myself die, but it broke my heart when he held my funeral.

I let him die once, but felt so horrible I reset.

I'm curious as to what the baby will be in the future, but I couldn't lose my husband.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

Morrigan's romance is one of those romances that are on top of my list actually.

I really liked her personality unlike Lelliana who was way too easy to get. I did the ritual because I didn't want to die. The resolution was quite meaningful to me when I finished the Witch Hunt dlc.

Happy to see her back in DA3, now if only we could get the warden back somehow and just forget about Hawke completely...if only.

 

[Souplex]

If you assume her offer is on the level and her aim is to bring back one of the old gods (Who was corrupted when humans tried to enter too deep into the fade), then it could be a perfectly legitimate thing to want.

That said, based on her character and that of her mother, one can only assume they hope to gain something. Both are chaotic evil even if they are rather polite about it and both are eternally concerned with power as a means to some end. I don't see resurrecting a forgotten god as that end.

Chaotic Neutral for Morrigan actually. She doesn't go out of her way to hurt people, she just doesn't see the point in helping them.

She disapproves if you turn down the Blood Mage's offer to sacrifice innocent people for power in the Alienage.
That's evil.

 

[DEAD34345]

I did the ritual in the one playthrough of Dragon Age I actually completed. It was really less because I thought it'd end well for Ferelden / The World though, and more because I thought it'd end well for the Warden. Alistair had to survive in order to make sure the Warden ended up as queen, and she certainly wasn't going to let herself die. Besides which, Morrigan would make a better ally than an enemy, especially for when an incredibly pissed off Flemeth comes back.

 

[omegawyrm]

In my playthrough I performed Morrigan's ritual, with myself as the male participant. My main reasoning points for doing it were, 1. MY CHARACTER can't die because everyone else in Ferelden is a vindictive moron and if I'm not around to fix their problems the world will probably go right to hell and everyone will probably kill each other for no good reason, 2. Alistair can't die because the other options for people to run the country, Loghain and Anora, are total dicks. So whatever the repercussions of Morrigan's ritual, it's probably the least dangerous alternative. Any problems that arise will just be solved by the Warden and his OP main-characterness.

Also, honestly, disrupting the status quo is one of the biggest reasons to do it in my book. Status quo is boring.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Hehehe, so did I. It was on my 2nd playthrough of the game (my first one being an elf mage that romanced Lelianna) when I was playing as a dwarf noble warrior. Gotta say it was pretty funny to have Morrigan getting all flustered and such over the fact that she found herself actually falling in love with a dwarf, but hey, love is blind, no? Anyways he was the guy I loaded up for Witch Hunt, and he followed her through the mirror without hesitation.

That was the option I actively sought. I was vehemently against her leaving and I did and said everything I could to convince her to let me go with her. So it's a no brainer that I took it as soon as the option arose.

All this talk makes me wanna play Dragon Age again. :x

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

If you assume her offer is on the level and her aim is to bring back one of the old gods (Who was corrupted when humans tried to enter too deep into the fade), then it could be a perfectly legitimate thing to want.

That said, based on her character and that of her mother, one can only assume they hope to gain something. Both are chaotic evil even if they are rather polite about it and both are eternally concerned with power as a means to some end. I don't see resurrecting a forgotten god as that end.

Chaotic Neutral for Morrigan actually. She doesn't go out of her way to hurt people, she just doesn't see the point in helping them.

No - chaotic evil largely because of her continual pursuit of power. She does not uphold a neutral world view in the slightest and while she isn't evil for the sake of evil she does pursue and accrue power for her own selfish end. That is the core of what a chaotic evil character is. Chaotic Neutral would imply a reckless disregard for all social norms and an utter lack of a moral compass. She has a moral compass - it just isn't social acceptable.

 

[Boogie Knight]

First playthrough was as an elven mage, so I got a double dose of discrimination (though it was funny to scare off the bandits with threats of turning them into toads). Romanced Morrigan and Leliana simultaneously, the latter romance was quite by accident actually but I rolled with juggling the two as long as I could before it blew up in my face. Though at the end, Morrigan was still madly in love with the Warden though she cut him off, and remained great friends with Leliana though somehow we were friends with benefits or something (could have been a weird glitch). Preserved the Ashes and smote the dragon which allowed for safe passage, destroyed the Anvil, supported Harrowmont, negotiated a third way with the Elven-Werewolf conflict, went out of my way to save Connor without sacrificing anybody. I was quite the goody-goody, and in conversations with Alister and Wynne became quite bogged down by the weight of being a Warden: how I was doomed to a bad death, and the little things which the regular folks took for granted was out of my reach.

So when Morrigan pitched her bargain, there were points which were very tempting. I had no antipathy toward the Chantry itself, but I was skeptical that they had all the answers and thought that in their zeal they might be destroying things which would be useful in advancing civilization, or at least defending it from dissolution. As a Warden, settling down with a wife and kids after saving the say was improbable to put it mildly. Making this pact to preserve the soul of a god outside the Chantry's dogma and have a kid I might never have otherwise have sounded like a reasonable deal. Oh yeah, I didn't have the heart to kill Loghain, so Alister did, and so I picked Anora to rule because it felt like the most practical choice (Alister didn't want to rule anyway, and me being an elven mage meant she wasn't gonna marry me or even take me on as an adviser/love slave). I may not have made the best choices, but it was nice that there wasn't any karma meter to subconsciously prod me into doing anything other than make my own choices with whatever consequences I may face.

However, I lost a bunch of save data, and my Dragon Age 2 run was less than satisfactory, so now I'm making two saves files with different combinations. I'm toying with the idea of one where I get Alister and Anora to get hitched, and I sacrifice myself so that Loghain lives through the Blight as well, but the Warden lives on in a way through a natural child he begot with Morrigan.

 

[RJ 17]

Hehehe, so did I. It was on my 2nd playthrough of the game (my first one being an elf mage that romanced Lelianna) when I was playing as a dwarf noble warrior. Gotta say it was pretty funny to have Morrigan getting all flustered and such over the fact that she found herself actually falling in love with a dwarf, but hey, love is blind, no? Anyways he was the guy I loaded up for Witch Hunt, and he followed her through the mirror without hesitation.

That was the option I actively sought. I was vehemently against her leaving and I did and said everything I could to convince her to let me go with her. So it's a no brainer that I took it as soon as the option arose.

All this talk makes me wanna play Dragon Age again. :x

Ditto to that, I remember a few months back I needed a way to kill some time before a new game came out...might have been Bioshock Infinite...anyways a new game was coming out and I had just finished the game I was playing and needed a week or so of after-work-gaming to fill the void until the new game came out. So I busted out DA:O and started up a new mage. Think I finished the Mages and the Dwarves before whatever game I was waiting on came out, so I've still got a bit left to do. Might bust it out again soon and finish up that playthrough. I don't care what anyone says, I really enjoyed the first AND the 2nd game. I'm not denying that DA2 was horrible from a mechanics standpoint, but the story - if you actually pay attention........and ignore the fact that Lelianna can come back from the dead in some instances - is actually pretty damn good and solid.

Still, as I mentioned earlier in this topic, I do wonder if they're going to retcon Morrigan's god-child into existence even if you load up DA3 with a file that never did the ritual.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Ditto to that, I remember a few months back I needed a way to kill some time before a new game came out...might have been Bioshock Infinite...anyways a new game was coming out and I had just finished the game I was playing and needed a week or so of after-work-gaming to fill the void until the new game came out. So I busted out DA:O and started up a new mage. Think I finished the Mages and the Dwarves before whatever game I was waiting on came out, so I've still got a bit left to do. Might bust it out again soon and finish up that playthrough. I don't care what anyone says, I really enjoyed the first AND the 2nd game. I'm not denying that DA2 was horrible from a mechanics standpoint, but the story - if you actually pay attention........and ignore the fact that Lelianna can come back from the dead in some instances - is actually pretty damn good and solid.

Still, as I mentioned earlier in this topic, I do wonder if they're going to retcon Morrigan's god-child into existence even if you load up DA3 with a file that never did the ritual.

I just started up a male Dwarven Noble Warrior. :[] I've played and beat the game several times, but only played a Dwarven Noble one time, so I figured that's what I'd create. I considered human again but I've done that to death and Mage is the only class I'm willing to play an Elf as.

To be perfectly honest, I was stoked for DA2. Had it pre-ordered, got the DLC for Sebastian, the works(I don't have any other dlc than that, though). I was disappointed, to an extent. I didn't think DA2 was bad, per se, but I didn't really enjoy it all that much. The gameplay was fun but I still prefer the combat in Origins over 2 and you had to do a lot of looking to see through the narrative dissonance on the surface.

Personally, I don't believe DA2 is a sequel at all. Not to say it's bad- just not a sequel. Other than a few cameo appearances and some altered quests/dialogue, DA2 has little to do with Origins. It's just another game that takes place in Thedas. Though from what I've heard, Inquisition takes place in Orlais and sounds very interesting. I'm cautiously looking forward to it.

And they'll probably have some weird explanation set up to recon Morrigan's god-child in. They retconned Leliana's death, so I wouldn't put it past them.