If you take a look at the forums, you'll see that many people say something along the lines of that their good chars kill Loghain and their evil ones spare him. Same on dev.art. He gets a lot of bashing and it feels good to have a place (a not character specific one, that is) where one can talk about these things in a rational manner.
Well, Word of God (D.G.) has it, that Loghain truly believed that he had no other choice at Ostagar and sincerely mourned Cailan's death. If you read The Calling, you'll see that he actually has a reason not to trust the Wardens. Besides, he was just keeping a promise he made in TST - to never again sacrifice an army to save one man, even if that man happens to be the king. He withdrew because the Wardens were late with the beacon. D.G. said so, and I have kind of believed that since my first play-through. As for the rest, I don't think he had anything to do with Howe betraying the Couslands - that was Howe alone. There is no evidence that I know of that Loghain was involved. The slavery thing. True. That is bad. Explainable, but bad. Mages: well, he was in cahoots with Uldred, but I somehow can't blame him for Uldred going bonkers and making a deal with a demon. Other than that, I kinda like him as a mage, since he tried to get them free. He just had rotten luck with his contact-person. And hey, not even Wynne blames him for what happened at the tower, and she's rather quick to blame him for just about anything. So no, my mage had no problem with letting him live. She's a mage. Why would she care about what he did to Eamon or the elves? No emotional ties there. Duncan? Nah, no hard feelings. He killed a frightened man in front of her eyes and didn't bother to explain anything about the Grey Wardens. Cailan? Again: why would she care? Ok, the assassin was annoying. Doubly so since he decided to stick around. Other than that? Can't think of a single reason why my mage would want to kill him.
**"Good" doesn't necessarily mean "forgiving."**
No? Hm. Interesting question, since I'm not sure I believe in the concept of good and evil at all. Can one be good without being forgiving? Isn't it widely accepted that being merciful is very important for being good? Well, my personal approach to this (and it has nothing to do with good and evil) is that if you don't forgive and keep on hating, you give that person power over you, because in hating them you let them rule your thoughts and actions. As soon as you really forgive them, they disappear from your life. I learned this the hard way concerning a guy who tried to kidnap/kill me when I was 16.
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Well, Word of God (D.G.) has it, that Loghain truly believed that he had no other choice at Ostagar and sincerely mourned Cailan's death. If you read The Calling, you'll see that he actually has a reason not to trust the Wardens. Besides, he was just keeping a promise he made in TST - to never again sacrifice an army to save one man, even if that man happens to be the king. He withdrew because the Wardens were late with the beacon. D.G. said so, and I have kind of believed that since my first play-through.
As for the rest, I don't think he had anything to do with Howe betraying the Couslands - that was Howe alone. There is no evidence that I know of that Loghain was involved.
The slavery thing. True. That is bad. Explainable, but bad.
Mages: well, he was in cahoots with Uldred, but I somehow can't blame him for Uldred going bonkers and making a deal with a demon. Other than that, I kinda like him as a mage, since he tried to get them free. He just had rotten luck with his contact-person. And hey, not even Wynne blames him for what happened at the tower, and she's rather quick to blame him for just about anything.
So no, my mage had no problem with letting him live. She's a mage. Why would she care about what he did to Eamon or the elves? No emotional ties there. Duncan? Nah, no hard feelings. He killed a frightened man in front of her eyes and didn't bother to explain anything about the Grey Wardens. Cailan? Again: why would she care?
Ok, the assassin was annoying. Doubly so since he decided to stick around. Other than that? Can't think of a single reason why my mage would want to kill him.
**"Good" doesn't necessarily mean "forgiving."**
No? Hm. Interesting question, since I'm not sure I believe in the concept of good and evil at all. Can one be good without being forgiving? Isn't it widely accepted that being merciful is very important for being good? Well, my personal approach to this (and it has nothing to do with good and evil) is that if you don't forgive and keep on hating, you give that person power over you, because in hating them you let them rule your thoughts and actions. As soon as you really forgive them, they disappear from your life.
I learned this the hard way concerning a guy who tried to kidnap/kill me when I was 16.