Killing / Not Killing Dragons for RP Reasons?

I view it not as indiscriminately killing so much as population control. The dragons have only returned to the world over the past fifty years or so, and you run into ten of them over the course of a year or two at the most? They're clearly breeding way out of control.

I've never gone hunting, as the biggest predator local to my country is the raccoon dog, but it's my understanding that in semi-populated areas with very aggressive animals recently introduced to otherwise fairly balanced ecosystems those need to be hunted to keep them from eating pretty much everything else, only to then start targeting pets and livestock and even people who aren't careful.

Grizzly bears, snakes and alligators, mountain lions and certain breeds of wolves and wild dogs all tend to need to be hunted pretty aggressively, or suddenly they're the only animals around and you better keep your eyes on your chicken coop, and your kids, and keep your wits about you when going out at night.

I imagine it's a bit of the same with dragons?

In that sense, you could decide to only cull the dragons near populated areas. The Hinterlands dragon in its little nook only a few miles from Redcliffe? Dead. That dragon nest in Emprise du Lion right above a town and beside the Imperial Highway? Needs to go too. The one sniffing around Crestwood after you just saved it? Dead.

The one only picking fights with giants and bandits and red templars on the Storm Coast? Who cares. The dragons minding their own in the desert in the Western Approach and Hissing Wastes, feeding on poisonous predators that are dangerous all by themselves? They can probably be left alive too.

I like this kind of extra layer of roleplaying, it's a good idea.  Maybe I'll do it too, next time around. Wish I'd thought of it before murdering and skinning nine of them for parts this round. It would have looked good on my Lavellan to be conservative about hunting predators, even dragons.

I make up for killing all the dragons by saving the one in Trespasser and laughing as she munches on qunari.

The ones I have the hardest time convincing myself to go after (and am mostly likely to leave alone) are in Emerald Graves and Exalted Plains, just because they are so pretty. I love listening to them fly around overhead.

I always save the dragon in Trespasser and got really upset my first run because I didn't realise I had to blow up that cart to do it, so couldn't understand what I was doing wrong, whilst my team was gradually being killed off by the Qunari. Definitely a case of assuaging guilt over all the other dragon deaths with that one.



Actually this came from the comic series written by DG. It was Flemeth's daughter Yavana who declared that: "The blood of dragons is the blood of the world," and "In destroying what it does not understand, mankind would destroy itself." This would appear to be why Flemeth/Mythal charged her with protecting and reviving the dragons.

However, I am not sure how much of that they will actually carry over into the plot of the game. After all, if any creatures could be said to carry the blood of the world it is the Titans. There were also many elements of that comic series that I felt were not properly explained. For example, if drinking dragon blood made Calanhad's DNA different from ordinary mortals, what of the ordinary Reavers, what of the Pentaghast family that both slay and have drunk dragon blood? How did the Qunari learn a totally different history of Calenhad when they hadn't even arrived on Par Vollen when he was alive?

On a slight tangent, there was also the Magrallen, a strange device that was said to date from the time of the early human Dreamers. Apparently it was linking to this device, powered by dragon blood, that allowed them to enter people's dreams at will and control their minds. It allegedly had the ability to do this across the entire world. So instead of being gifted individuals, like Solas, they were probably just ordinary mages using a magical device. Presumably it was something they took from the ruins of the elven empire. Which begs the question of what it was used for then and why Solas and his followers didn't seek to destroy it, if it was capable of controlling minds across such a vast area. It could hardly have been difficult to find considering the early humans discovered it, so clearly not in the Crossroads. Then what happened to it after the time of the Dreamers? How did Aurelian find it? Why weren't Solas' agents aware that it had been found and helping to destroy it?

Luckily, by the end of the series, it had been destroyed but it still begged the question of the validity of introducing such a powerful world changing device into the setting in the first place. DG did the same in the Calling with a device that, had the villains been successful, would have changed the entire population into darkspawn. I feel having such powerful, god-like devices, is unnecessary but Solas' orb was another such device so I wouldn't be surprised if we don't encounter another one as the plot progresses

I gotta say... I'm not a big fan of those dragons with long necks, flat faces and no horns. They look like turtles.

I suppose it is possible that after so long in stasis the dragon was less powerful, like Solas was after his long sleep, and needed time to recharge to full power. So the Hakkon we faced was not as awesome as it would have been back then. After all, Ameridan also seemed to have thought that killing the dragon was beyond his party which is why he trapped it in the time bubble. I cannot believe that a mage with access to that sort of magic was not capable of taking on the Hakkon we faced, particularly if he had help.

However, I think the real danger was that Hakkon would act as a figurehead to unite various Avvar clans and so it was the combination of dragon and Avvar horde that would have been so devastating. Mind you, I still question why it would have been a threat to Orlais. If it came down the east side of the Frostbacks it would have attacked the Alamarri tribes there and if it came down the west side it would have had to have crossed the Dales. So Ameridan was surely protecting his own people and it is odd that they weren't more worried and kept tabs on his progress.

It was kind of my point that letting them get back on their feet is a recipe for local fauna, hunters, livestock, wandering children and provincials to start disappearing. Not to mention a mysterious spike in the occurrence of wildfires, and unsafe travel even by main roads stifling the economy. They were a menace back when they were stable, like a lot of predators are in real life if they aren't hunted pretty mercilessly, which is likely why the Nevarrans did exactly that.

Every dragon is beautiful and majestic, certainly, and also an enormous gluttonous killing machine with wings and a flamethrower for a face. Letting them run rampant is a terrible idea in my view. I feel worse about taking time away from other objectives and personally engaging in something as dangerous and potentially instantly fatal as dragon-hunting than killing them in and of itself, with so much else riding on the Inquisitor. Which is the main reason I'd spare a few if they weren't obviously liable to cause trouble for people.