Inquisitor Religious Representation

As far as I have explored things, the options for explicit expressions of religious preferences are limited to one religion, or none. The spoken lines don't assume you're *exclusively* following one religion, so headcanon is easy.

I'd say that's easy. To believe in more than one set of gods - in the sense of acknowledging their existence and status - was pretty much standard in antiquity. Only some of them weren't your gods, so you didn't worship them.

Favoring the elves as I do, I play as a devout elven pantheon member. It brings me no end of joy to tweak the Chantry. Frankly, as I look at it, I have always viewed Tevinter in general as "bad guys" although I do like Dorian and obviously not all Tevinters are the same. Let them abolish slavery and I will reconsider. For that reason I also view the Chantry with a jaundiced eye. Reading all of those exalted march markers was not to my taste although I always find the codex interesting.

I still wonder if the events of the Fade after Adamant would be as shocking to Andrastians as the Dalish finding out that their gods were not as benign as they think. Probably not, but what about finding out the last Inquisitor was Dalish?
We get to see a Dalish inquisitor go through Sera and Solas expecting him/her to be arrogant about their culture even if they never bring the topic up, but I'm hard pressed to think of a character that's bracing for a self admitted Andrastian to be self-righteous and preachy before said Andrastian even got a sentence past that. Sure, we can roleplay one, but I'd be curious to see a non Dalish NPC who had severely negative experiences with proselytizing Chantry followers who weren't content enough to live and let live because they believed the chant must be spread by all means.
In before jokes of "Andraste's Witnesses are at the door!" pops up.

I've tried playing all three versions as well. Is my character atheist, Agnostic, of devout? The devout characters are usually annoying (If you are Dalish this works well), the Atheists are just too hostile (If your a mage this works well), and the Agnostics are fairly tolerable (Works well for every other type).

I haven't seen any dialog where you can lean towards more than one religion at a time. It's either one specific religion or none in my experience.

Yes, I've done that with both of my Lavellan lady Inquisitors and Dwarf Inquisitor in their runs. Main reason was I wanted them to follow their own path while still keeping to some of their beliefs. I don't think the game limits you on embracing other religions like Ameridan did.

I can't play thoroughly devout. Doesn't matter about which gods it is, they're all bastards, and where my characters aren't not non-religious to start with, they tend to become so in the course of the story. 

My main main character Maelyn Trevelyan is mostly a nay-theist - you can't really deny the existence of the elven pantheon, or at least suspect that there's something behind the dwarves and their Stone after all she's seen. They may even be gods by some meaningful definition, but there's no way she'll ever worship, nor even follow, any one of them. Only the Maker holds a special place in that - as a collective delusion whose existence she doesn't acknowledge.

This is something that has puzzled me and why I find it so difficult to play a devout character, particularly Chantry loyalist. It was easier back in DAO because there seemed a consistency of belief, even if it did seem somewhat illogical to follow a god who the faith claims has abandoned you, bearing in mind that apparently he abandoned his prophet to her fate as well just when it seemed she was on the threshold of achieving the aim of freeing all the slaves.  Also he inflicted the Blights on mankind in response to the transgressions of just one select group of Magisters and then is content to just watch people suffer without doing anything to help.  Still the whole thrust of Chantry teaching at that time was that once the Chant is sung throughout the world, then the Maker will return. This was their whole justification for repeated Exalted Marches against those who did not accept the Chant or had the wrong version of it (by their reckoning). You didn't expect the Maker to intervene because the Chantry taught that he wouldn't but was simply watching events. In Redcliffe the Chantry cleric was consistent with these beliefs when she didn't want to give soldiers false hope by saying the amulets would ensure the Maker protected them. Andraste's ashes didn't contradict this belief either, since they were the actual ashes of the prophet and therefore granted the same miraculous powers as the Chantry claimed the Maker gave her in life. Even back then I could see serious contradictions in the faith but at least the people in game meant to be promoting it were consistent with that faith.

Then in DA2 a curious thing seemed to occur. People not only prayed to the Maker, begging him to return. They also seemed to offer prayers thinking he would intervene in the world and answer them. I couldn't see why the Chantry would be promoting this. All that mattered according to their faith was to recite the Chant. Then at the end Sebastian was questioning why the Maker allowed Elthina to die. It seemed simply enough to me, if the Maker had failed to intervene in four subsequent Blights after Andraste's death and numerous other major events, why would he bother with one Grand Cleric? The Maker does not get involved in the present world. Those who follow the Chant and are loyal to the Maker are rewarded by passing through the Fade to his side on death. Those who are evil sinners are doomed to wander the Fade/Void for eternity. Now the Chantry does have a moral code but the odd thing is how those in power seem to totally disregard it. Nowhere in any of the histories of Thedas do we have examples of holy men and women pointing out the faults of those who abuse their position, of Divine's condemning the Game.  None of those in power seem to fear the consequences of their actions in the afterlife.  All anyone ever does is focus on mages and magic as though that is the only thing the Maker is bothered about. Apparently if you are a mage, devout Templars think that gives them the right to abuse you. The nobility of Orlais think they hold their positions by Divine Right and that gives them the right to treat commoners as they please. To my mind none of this is condoned by the Chant and the behaviour of nobles in Orlais, the home of the Chantry, seem particularly to be in contradiction of the Chant. Surely for the Maker to return, you need to live the Chant, not just recite it, or why did he bother with putting in a moral code to follow?

Then in DAI I am at a loss to know what anyone believes. Bearing in mind my previous comments, I think it simply is a case of saying I believe in the Maker. Beyond that you can interpret the faith however you see fit. Divines can not only take out and insert texts into the Chant at whim but can also change the professed faith concerning mages, elves, dwarves, marriage of clergy, etc, and no one considers it odd. Well some people do object but they are easily dealt with. If people want to believe the Herald was sent by the Maker/Andraste even though you know they weren't, that is okay because it is all a matter of personal faith and who is to say the Maker didn't influence events in some way? Every time something seems to contradict what we had previously been told was a dogma of faith, that is okay so long as you continue to believe in the Maker. You can murder, steal and lie with impunity.  Just keep singing the Chant and everything will be just fine. Plus apparently, according to Cassandra a devout Seeker and potential future Divine, there is nothing with believing in other gods, so long as you also believe in the Maker. I'm pretty sure that isn't what the Chantry has been maintaining all these years.   In fact it is the first commandment of the Maker "There is but one god and he our Maker.   They are sinners, who have given their love to false gods."   You'd think all the devout Andrastrians' heads would be in a spin trying to reconcile a non-human, non Maker worshipping Herald with their beliefs but apparently it is easily overcome with "faith".   

As for the elves, as Sebastian once pointed out to Merrill, their belief system isn't so very different from that of Andrastrians. They teach that their gods were shut away by one of their own, so they know they can't answer their prayers, but they still keep on praying just in case. They are trying to recover their culture and remember what it is to be "true" elves because apparently their gods will then return to them, which seems contradicted by the previous belief that says they are unable to do so. The Keepers teach that those who persisted on the Long Walk to the Dales were rewarded for their persistence by the gods in arriving safely, which again is contradicted by the teaching that the gods cannot help them because they are locked away. So in these respects it is just as illogical a religion as the humans have. However, there is one aspect where it is different. They believe that their gods taught them certain things such as loyalty in the family, helping others in the community, respecting the creatures that they hunt, etc, and the Dalish do believe it is important to keep to these traditions. They also have certain prohibitions against blood magic and following gods like the Forbidden Ones. In other words they have a moral code that they do actually follow and people who transgress are asked to leave the community. From that point of view, I find it easier to be an elven believer because there is at least some consistency of belief and a code of values which the community seem to follow. Outsiders might not agree with their outlook but it is part of their culture. Their stubborn adherence to their gods who cannot help is part of those traditions that people have constantly tried to take away from them, so again I can appreciate their clinging to those beliefs, particularly when to me there is no better alternative.  Unlike the Maker who simply won't help, at least they believe their gods would help if they could, so you never know, may be one day they will manage to free themselves.    It also makes sense making offerings to Fen'Harel to appease him.   After all he managed to trick all their gods, so he isn't someone you want to mess with and they believe he is still active in the Fade. 

The only belief system which makes sense to me of those that believe in deities is that of the Avaar. They are fully aware that their "gods" are simply spirits that they ask for assistance and actually receive it. There does seem to be a culture and belief system that people follow and a code of conduct that they keep to. There is a tangible reason to have faith in a god and pray to them.   Mind you it hasn't had the same exposure as the other faith systems, so give it time and likely it will seem as illogical as all the rest. 

Bioware's modus operandi evers since ME3: butcher the lore to send a thematic message. I'm afraid we'll see more of that with Patrick Weekes at the helm (yes, I respect him as a writer of non-interactive stories, but I'm afraid we'll see more social commentary blatantly intruding into our fictional worlds, regardless of being out of place).

Having siad that, real-world religions aren't any better in things like this. For instance, Christians say their god is one of love, yet in most stories he's a veritable jerkass, an overjealous hardass authoritarian who destroys cities for daring to worship someone else, demands zombie-like obedience from his followers and enjoins his followers to genocide. How anyone has ever come to worship this entity escapes me.

So, maybe the DA team can be excused for making their fictional religions as consistent as real-world ones.   
  

The Avvar belief system isn't so much a belief system as a system of interaction which is susceptible to reality checks. It would crumble under the kind of inconsistency expressed by religions, because spirits are existing entities with personalities and a will of their own. If I may quote myself: religion is a social phenomenon that doesn't depend on the gods being such entities. In fact, it may depend on the gods not being such entities.

That, and you must to select "All this happened because of fanatics and arguments about the next world. It's time we start believing in this one" in the conversation on the way to Skyhold. At least I didn't get it the one time I used a different option.


Not if you think that wandering forever isn't such a bad fate and sitting at the Maker's side not all that desirable. I think that opinion is not at all implausible. To me, with the Maker being a father figure, sitting at his side comes across as "staying a child forever" and wandering forever appears rather attractive - always finding new things, seeing the world(s) etc... I would choose such a fate before the other. Of course, I think there is no such thing as a true "forever".


I have to ask: does it matter? The Maker doesn't act. Nobody really knows what Andraste taught, and nobody *can* know what the Maker wants, should he exist at all. Where nobody speaks with clarity, what is left to you but interpret things? It's no better or worse than to slavishly follow what others say Andraste taught, which they, too, couldn't know.

On the storytelling level, though, I agree with you: characters shouldn't be written to be so cavalier about this, because plausibly most of them wouldn't be if they were believers. They'd struggle with the question and maybe come up with a reason to be more tolerant than scripture appears to say, but it would be a fight. At least that's what I get from most believers I know. I may be mistaken though, since the religious mindset remains alien to me.

In the end, in comes down to this: whoever wrote this wanted to send a message of tolerance regardless of how that fit into the existing picture. I don't think this is a real problem since as I said, religions can be very inconsistent over time, but I find the attitude troubling.

I didn't get the impression that the DA team was predominantly non-religious. So, assuming they aren't, how would you explain the presentation then?