Templars: Alliance vs Disbanding and Absorbtion

If someone romances Cullen, they may not want to piss him off, although he won't break up over it. He will get really mad if you disband the Templars and yell at the War Table.

Honestly, outside of what line you see in the vanilla epilogue, the ally/conscript decision does nothing with the Templars, so I'd say ally with them in game, and just set it as "conscripted" in the Keep, since Conscripted Barris is bugged.

What adds to your point is how Ameridan, the first Inquisitor, was technically still "alive" so in a way, the original Inquisition did still survive in some ways.

It's a noble ideal, but one that I'm not sure will stay on a better path necessarily. Cassandra has flaws herself and when she dies, her ideals may end up twisted by later generations unintentionally. I don't think you're wrong to want them to still try and learn from the mistakes of the past. Here's hoping they have a checks and balance system that will help them stay true to better ideals.

..............


I think this is likely very near to the truth. We have to remember that everything we know about the original Inquisition (apart from Ameridan) comes through the filter of the Chantry. They maintain its members were hard-line Andrastrians. However, we only have their word on that and Ameridan alone would seem to disprove it. May be the old Inquisition merely required you to have a strong faith in freedom and justice regardless of the god to which you gave your allegiance. As I understand the way spirits work, that is all that would be necessary to attract a faith spirit, even if the early Inquisition did require you to undergo the Seeker Rite (which actually I doubt was the case until the Chantry era).

What they do admit is that the old Inquisition was entirely even handed dispensing justice, whether you be noble or commoner. I think it was this fact that made Drakon want to bring the organisation under his control and he would have had the backing of the nobility in doing so. It is also noticeable that people were concerned about the direction the old Inquisition might take under the Chantry, which is why he specifically asked Ameridan to lead it in order to allay their fears. Ameridan was very concerned about the possible misuse of the Rite of Tranquility once it was discovered what it did to a mage who failed the test of faith. He was assured it would not be used in the way it subsequently was.

As for the question of allying or disbanding, in a way it is almost irrelevant, particularly if you do not disband the Inquisition. It will continue as the Divine's private army just as the original Inquisition did once it became allied with the Chantry. To my mind this was always Justinia's intention, whatever Giselle likes to believe. The Seekers and Templars had broken away from the Chantry, so she was going to form her own private army to replace them and enforce her will going forward.

On the whole, the various choices you can make do slant towards ending the Templar Order as an independent organisation. If you opt for either of the mage options then the Order is pretty much destroyed from within by red lyrium. If you disband the Templars, they become part of the Inquisition. So only with allies do they continue to exist in their old form. Then how independent will they be will depend on who you get as Divine.

Allying does increase the chances of getting Divine Cassandra, who is very much for keeping the status quo with reforms. However, Leliana seems to want to tear down everything and start afresh, including favouring disbanding the Inquisition even before the corruption in its ranks is discovered. Whilst Vivienne wants a Templar Order but firmly under her control, so favours disbanding them and bringing them into the Inquisition fold.

So if you think the old system just needed reforming but was otherwise okay, then allying is the way to go. If you think the old system was broken beyond a simple fix, then I would favour disbanding them, help them get off their lyrium addiction and then leave them free to join whatever organisation they wish in the future once the immediate crisis has passed.

I'd like to see the White Templars make an appearance and have griffins included...

No, I don't think they're going to sabotage the Inquisition for what they did before. I do think they're going to sabotage the good guys to stop them from doing everything they can to protect the innocent again, though.

Solas's agents probably aren't going to interfere with day-to-day Inquisition operations related to being Divine Victoria's bodyguards, but the post-credits scene implies that the Inquisitor intends to use the Inquisition against Solas, and the Keep slides remove all doubt. So Solas absolutely has reason to put spies in it. And even if that wasn't at all the idea, Solas would be mad to assume that wasn't part of the reason the Inquisitor preserved it.