Do you think the belief in the Herald of Andraste will last?

Yeah it's likely they'llgo down the sme route as what they did for the warden and maybe have them write a lette rt ous wit hinfo o rinstructions if we need it o rsomething like that if we'er working for them or something.

He seemed to be generally looking for magical items, so I suppose it could just have been another random item that the Venatori found for him that proved to be very useful indeed. However, if its power was only unlocked by the explosion at the Conclave, how did he know what to do with it? He also mentioned you undoing a ritual that had been "years" in the making. So if he had been planning it for some years, it would seem there must have been specific items he needed for it to be successful. A foci would make sense.

We know, from the short story about Calpernia, that he did visit Minrathous. May be he was hoping to find a foci there; I can't think why else he would bother. When he didn't (unless that is where he found Solas' orb), he started looking elsewhere. It came to the attention of Solas that a bunch of cultists were searching for a foci and he thought this would be the ideal way to get his orb unlocked without risking himself, so he had his agents place it where they could find it. So, whilst it is never said explicitly that is what happened, it does have a certain logic to it.

I have to agree that I always found the explanation as to why these opposites would both work was rather simplistic. As you say, the Templar one had more logic to it; the Templars reinforcing reality, pushing back against the Breach so the Anchor would have enough power to seal it. I assume that with the mages it was a case of combining their power with that of the Anchor to give it the strength to heal it that it did not have on its own. However, it did require a great deal of trust that Solas knew what he was talking about. Obviously, as Fen-Harel he did, but we didn't know that. He was just meant to be an apostate mage with a lot of magical theory which he claimed he got from talking with spirits in the Fade. Whereas, with the Templar path we had the reassurance of actual practitioners who had been dealing with rogue magic for years. I have to admit, it made a great deal more sense to go with the Templars.

This always seemed a bit of nonsense with no real thought to it. Clearly it was written for the mage path, which as you say makes some sort of sense, and they couldn't be bothered to come up with a different dialogue for the Templars. As you say, it seems odd to suggest that the Herald is drawing on their abilities through projecting this into their willpower rather than them directing their power past the Herald into the Breach to dampen down the magic enough to allow the Anchor to do its job. To be honest, though, I never thought the Inquisitor's willpower was really the way the Anchor worked. I thought it was simply a case of point and shoot, so all your mind does is control how long it stays active but all the power came from the Anchor itself. After all, the first time we use it, we don't even know we can; Solas simply grabs our hand and holds it up to the tear, so surely that was his willpower as much as ours? At this point, we don't even know him, so we have hardly made a mental connection that allows him to combine his will with our own. To be honest, they never really explained how the Anchor works apart from the fact that it is a key that can both lock and unlock access to the Fade. So presumably the willpower part is being able to focus on which way you want it to work. Once again, when we are falling to our death, how did we know to use the Anchor to save us? Did we consciously think "open sesame" or was the Anchor simply reacting to our sub-conscious desire not to die?

As for the "reinforcing reality", I admit that you haven't been given that explanation of why it it should work at the time you make your decision but if you know a bit about Templars (or may be ask around as to how they deal with magic) it is clear they can suppress it, even if they don't know fully how their powers work. So, it did make sense to take along a bunch of Templars on the basis that they could combine their powers of suppression on the Breach and allow you to heal it. That did seem far less risky than pouring yet more magic into the Breach and hope that does the trick. Whilst it seems as though the Templar part is an act of faith in them, the mages path is an act of blind faith in the idea that pouring magic into a magical rift is going to heal rather than blow it wide open.

One of the problems I had with DAI (and DG's novels and comic series) was them introducing reality changing magical concepts without really coming up with a proper explanation of how and why they worked. You just had to accept "it's magic, just go with it". The Anchor, the Veil as an artificial construct, time travel were all beyond the realms of magic we had been used to encountering in the setting. There was also the magical item in the Calling that could allegedly turn everyone in the world into darkspawn or the Magrellen that could control the minds of everyone in Thedas. I thought it was lore breaking when Meredith suddenly started leaping around like giant flea and animating statues but it would seem that was only the start of it. I was hoping they might dial back a bit on the reality changing magic in the future but from what was revealed in Tevinter Nights, I don't think that is going to be the case.

I was always under the impression that while the mark primarily operated on autopilot to close/open rifts, but it was always possible for the Inquisitor to 'learn' how to better wield it whether this exerting will or the mark itself somehow giving impressions to the Inquisitor when certain conditions are met (ex. like meeting with a spirit in the Frostback basin to learn Aegis of the Rift). But that's more theory than anything else.

Also the plan wasn't to pour the mage's magic directly into the breach but to power the Inquisitor's mark, something that has already been proven to close small rifts and even stall the expansion of the breach itself. Templar abilities in comparison have had no confirmed effects on the rift themselves, despite the fledgling Inquisition having access to both a Seeker and a few former members of the Order. Even one line stating that they had limited success in slowing down or affecting a minor rift would have done wonders in showing the templar plan's validity, but we don't get that. Just speculation that they could if there were enough of them. 

Which seems like a real missed opportunity, seeing as how in the gameplay itself we know that templar abilities can at least block the rift's demon summoning ruptures if they act pre-emptively. Its not affecting the rift directly, but allowing Cullen to say something like "We know we can restrict the magic around the rifts, perhaps if there are enough of us there we can weaken it" would have done wonders for plan presentation. But again, that's not what we get. All we have is what we know of that the time, mainly being that the mark is the only confirmed way to seal rifts. The random magical mcguffin that we know nothing about and is embedded in our hand is apparently the only thing that is confirmed to work on the rifts in any capacity. If there were any attempts to seal them with another method, they either didn't mention it or they all failed.

The real crux of my issue with the templar plan as presented is the lack of evidence. Not a single crumb of a codex or a line dialogue showing or even hinting that their abilities could work on a rift except in a single bit of ambient companion dialogue. But the mark? Confirmed to work. The idea of powering up artifacts or specific magical effects with magic? Been shown numerous times in the series, and the game's intro quest even alludes to the possibility of magic (via lyrium) being used to power up whatever happened at the temple. And that's even counting the presumed blood magic sacrifice we interrupt at the very beginning of the game, with the player naturally being lead to believe that the sacrifice would have been used to power up whatever the then monster-man was holding.

So the idea of powering up the mark to achieve a stronger affect? It has a lot going for it to back up the line of reasoning well beyond Cullen's templar plan that primarily relies on faith. Which is fitting given the templar's religious motif, I suppose. Would the mage plan come with consequences? Possibly, but barring a breach expansion I was willing to bet the consequences would have been much less severe than just letting the breach remain and fester as opposed to relying on a plan that players were lead to believe may not work at all. In terms of the logic and evidence presented, the main draw of the templar plan was this: there minimal to no chance of the breach/mark being made worse.

If we weren't being told explicitly by bold war table text that the other group would be made unavailable once I made a choice, I honestly would have gone with the templar route under the premise that they seem like the safest option. We would try sealing the breach via templars and if it worked, great! Mission accomplished, the game has its nice message about belief and faith, etc. But it didn't, as we were lead to believe, then the templars would have at least been good at keeping the effects of the breach in check in case the mark's growth stalling effect wore off. In which case we're back to the mage plan and would have gone to recruit the mages Redcliffe. Or at least approach some powerful mages who did not affiliate with the rebellion. God knows the war table missions alone confirmed that there were unaffiliated mage groups...

But alas, the game all but broadcasted that I could only choose one group and implies that this one choice was the only choice I was going to get in regards to the breach...

This never was about accuracy regarding the Inquisitor's origins and traits.

My question was whether people will still believe that the Inquisitor was the "Herald of Andraste" or that such a thing existed at all.

As I've said before, it all depends on whether people believed they were the Herald of Andraste's return to the world or simply her/the Maker's Chosen One to deal with Corypheus. If the latter, then I assume their faith would be reinforced by the fact that they did in fact deal with Corypheus and, as Trespasser points out, there is a scar in the sky to remind them of how near the world came to disaster before the Herald was sent to rescue them. If the former, then there may be some who are slightly disillusioned that Andraste did not immediately return to set the world to rights but will continue to live in hope that they do not have long to wait. Nevertheless, for them the fact that the Herald did deal with Evil One on behalf of Andraste will probably be sufficient for them to go on believing in them.

As for the skeptics, of which you can be one, it is clear that the truth was never going to get in the way of propaganda. At the beginning we are told that regardless of what Leliana/Cassandra or our PC think on the matter, they have decided to let the belief continue in order to encourage support for the Inquisition. When we appear to return from the dead, even though we deny it or any faith in our title, Giselle promptly steps in to encourage continued belief among the rank and file of our organisation. We are frequently told it is good for morale to let people think we are the Herald. After returning from the Fade at Adamant even Hawke is saying that it would be better not to tell the truth (I was definitely not happy about that one). Then in the Arbor Wilds the call to arms is in the name of the Herald and Morrigan notes how the PC has now acquired near divine status. Plus if you rub Solas up the wrong way and founded the Inquisition on faith, he has some very scathing things to say about this, calling you a "false god" but it is clear that voices like his are drowned out by the general approbation.

So it is likely that belief in the Herald will continue but as the years go by it is likely people will be remembering their own or the Chantry's idea of who the Herald was rather than the actual person.

Again, this would depend on how much of the real person is taken into consideration. If you embraced the title of Herald of Andraste and expressed belief that you were the Maker's Chosen (even saying as much to Corypheus at the end), then chances are you could be elevated to Anointed status at some point in the future. If you consistently denied belief in the Maker and your title of Herald, then it might be rather more problematic. Also, I think you are more likely to be Anointed if you are human, although I suppose if you expressed belief that you were the Chosen One and better still declared the Inquisition to be founded on faith, then that would probably override the negatives because of your race.