Jader

[1smut_princess]

Opinions:

Ferelden or Orlesian?

On the dragonage.wikia there's conflicting entries. One says it's part of Ferelden, another says it's part of Orlais. Then there's the statement in game from Riordan about being from Jader and so he was 'Ferelden' or 'a-okay with Ferelden' sort of sentiment, like no one would think it odd he was there...


Orlesian City List
Ferelden City List

Has anyone read the books and if so, do they say if Jader is Orlesian or Ferelden?

One hypothosis I have is that perhaps it was originally part of Ferelden, but was left to Orlais during the withdrawal of occupational forces. Or vice versa - that it is now part of Ferelden and been ceded over as a sort of...concession to Ferelden for the occupation... Thoughts?

Comments

[amhran_comhrac]

I always thought Riordan was from Ferelden as a young man, like Duncan, but became a Warden in Orlais. That he wasn't allowed into the country along with the other Wardens of Orlais makes me think Jader is an Orlesian city. I actually never got the idea it was anything else.

The books do not comment on Jader one way or the other, from what I can recall.

[1smut_princess]

But the accents are totally different - Riordan sounds Orlesian, and Duncan sounds Ferelden. I think the not bein' let in was because it was the Wardens in general - at that time they were on the poop end of the political spectrum, as any orders on the borders would have still been Loghain's which would have still been the standing order of "No Wardens - busy tryin' to kill them like cockroaches..." Ahhh carpet continuity, gotta love it :grumbles:

[scarylady]

Duncan sounds Fereldan, but he's lived in Ferelden since he dumped the baby on Maric, so lots of years. And he didn't come from Jader, he came from the slums of Val Royeaux.

Riordan came from Highever, but is a Warden of Jader and has an Orlesian accent. Therefore I would take him to be the exact opposite of Duncan. Jader is clearly right on the border, but it does make sense that this is where the Orlesians would try to come into Ferelden proper - by ship from Jader up the Waking Sea.

[1smut_princess]

Accent is such a funny thing though. Some people live a place for a little while and pick up the local cadence etc and nearly forget their native (or they are able to flip it like a switch) but many can't pick the local accent up at all. It'd be a little weird for two men to randomly both switch accents like that, sort of improbable, or just slightly a bit over lucky. :grumbles:I'm not gonna be satisfied either way, which is annoying. (Because the intent is to figure out what cities Ferelden has for expansion etc, etc, as the story takes place 8-20yrs after the Blight. Then again...Jader could easily - well relative comparatively - taken from Orlais. With the problems from Nevarra and Orlais attacking each other, so on, so forth, and if there was some famine in the Dales areas... Orlais would be overextended and anyone with enough manpower could y'know, say 'haha this is mine now.' But Ferox and Zev are far more focused on rebuilding Ferelden bigger and better internally rather than expansion...settling Brandals Reach properly and bringing it fully into the Ferelden fold, and then there's those islands right outside of West Hills that could be interesting...)

[sagacious_rage]

Maybe it's like the Alsace-Lorraine or Kashmir and just keeps getting passed back and forth as the boundaries move.

[1smut_princess]

That is one possibility - someone should just make it a bloody city-state/neutral territory with special tax and citizenship stuff... But that would be moderately logical.

[owlmoose]

Riordan says that he was "born and bred" in Highever. This is why he describes himself as Ferelden. I always assumed he must have moved at a young age, hence the accent.

[1smut_princess]

Either that or considering his age, he may have been part of Highever while it was heavily occupied, and considering that Highever is basically the seat of the teyrnir, perhaps that means that during the occupation Jader was part of what was considered Ferelden, and may have originally been part of Ferelden...and...I need coffee. Because I have a feeling that what I have typed is utterly jumbled.

[zute]

"I am Riordan. Senior Grey Warden of Jader. And you... must be Duncan's last recruit. Yes, you match his description."

He's from Highever but relocated to Orlais at some point. I always assumed he was young when he moved, thus the accent.

[1smut_princess]

Yeah. Then that winds up implying that each major city has a Senior Warden, either that or Jader is considered a vassal city-state.