How big is a division?

[zute]

I apologize for another lame-ass question, but in the story I'm writing now this actually has relevance. It's the difference between paranoia and reasonable concern.

When you rescue Riordan he tells you that Loghain had turned away 200 Grey Wardens and two dozen divisions of cavalry.  When I looked up division sizes I got utterly enormous numbers like 10,000 for single light infantry division, in the modern army. I'm sure that must be vastly larger than in middle ages terms.

Does anyone have a feel for how many actually people that would be? 

My thanks!

Zute

Comments

[darkrose]

Really you have to look at the knowledge Loghain would probably have at the time he makes these decisions. And if you do that, his actions seem much more rational and he becomes way more sympathetic and tragic - as he makes the wrong decisions.

I absolutely agree. But I think where we part ways is that I think Loghain's decisions were understandable, given the information available--but I still don't believe that saying, "He had good reasons to think it was all an Orlesian plot" gets him out of all responsibility, or means that he wasn't partially acting out of non-rational reasons, like his absolute hatred of the Orlesians or not wanting to believe that Flemeth's prophecy was true. I consider him a classic tragic villain because he isn't destroyed by some outside force. His tragic flaw is the inverse of his best qualities: his willingness to do what he believes needs to be done, regardless of the cost, and his single-minded focus. He's not a victim of circumstance; he destroys himself by a series of very conscious choices.

The best Loghain-centric fics I've read are the ones that tackle that head-on.

[zute]

I agree. His problems are because he is yesterday's hero. He misunderstands the current threat because of the past, and it's compounded by his personality traits such as stubbornness and old grudges he holds onto forever.

I like to think of him as Hero v1.0 and his software is a little outdated for dealing with the new environment.

[darkrose]

I like to think of him as Hero v1.0 and his software is a little outdated for dealing with the new environment.

*dies*

And nobody bothers to issue a patch. Typical Bioware.

[niniane]

That is a perfect way of expressing it. ^_^

[prisoner_24601]

I don't think we disagree, actually. Loghain for certain is his own undoing, and for certain his prejudice against Orlais influenced him. But I also think he had compelling reasons to make some of those decisions baised on the limited information he had, I think it's pretty clear, at least to me, that wasn't acting 100% out of crazy paranoia. It was probably a blend. And I'm not arguing for one second that he's not responsible for the results of his decisions - he screws up big time and the fallout is for sure on his shoulders.