essiefied:

AND ANOTHER THING

So let me get this straight:

• Mages are forced to go through a Harrowing where they face a demon
• If they do go through with this (instead of backing down in fear, which is understandable, and being forcefully lobotomized instead, which is not fucking understandable), the worst possible outcome is possession
• If they are possessed, they are cut down where they stand. Killed. Murdered. Because, “Oh, but we have no choice! We must kill the demon so that it cannot terrorize the innocent people of Thedas!”

And yet. AND YET. If you are a rich arlessa with a mage son who has been possessed by a demon, you can have the mages from the tower agree to… de-possess him? Remove the demon?

You can literally go up to Irving and ask him to remove the demon from the child, and he knows what you mean right away. Immediately. It’s not some strange thing that you, as the protagonist, are inventing. It’s a known option.

So please tell me WHY the FUCK this option isn’t employed whenever a mage is possessed during their Harrowing, and instead you get the Templars cutting them down?

The only point to the way the Harrowings are done in the Circles is to cull the mage population.

There is no other legitimate explanation to be had when you have a completely viable option to help a possessed mage and yet you kill them anyway.

Fuck the Circles.