If Meredith isn't willing to listen to Elthina, then that's what the Seekers are for. Also, Meredith went over Elthina's head to get the Right of Annulment, so Elthina only delayed the violence at most. Also, allowing the Templars to break their own laws, and not just in in their treatment of mages, seems more like taking sides than telling them to obey their own rules.
As for Petrice, Elthina only shoots her down after she stood by and did nothing while Petrice's fear-mongering played a major role in pushing things past the point of no return. That's a pretty textbook case of Too Little, Too Late.
I still think the entry should at least mention her breaking up the fight between Orison and Meredith at the gallows at the beginning of Chapter 3. As for petrice, up until that point there just wasn't any concrete proof of Petrice doing these things, she even framed her own bodyguard Ser Varnell to appear clean. And while Meredith requested the Right of Annulment, Elthina was still in the way of that and Meredith was only able to invoke it after she was dead. I mean don't get me wrong, it's not like she shouldn't have done more, but I think the entire entry is pretty biased, and the story itself doesn't paint Elthina in a negative light like it does with Meredith or even Orsino.
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Breaking up Meredith and Orsino's fight is mentioned in a different entry.
A Grand Cleric cannot override the Divine. Once Justinia gave the okay on the Annulment there wouldn't be anything Elthina could do. But she still could have prevented it from getting that far. If Elthina was afraid of how Meredith would respond to attempts to get her under control, she had the perfect opportunity to tell Leliana what Meredith was doing; tranquilizing Harrowed mages and interfering with efforts to appoint a secular leader being just the most noticeable of Meredith's crimes. And yet despite that opportunity, Elthina's solution was to lie to the Divine and pretend the situation wasn't as bad as it seems.
As for Petrice, she outright states that she was using her sermons to build up resentment of the Qunari. If Elthina didn't notice that, well, that's a pretty big indictment against her ability to fulfil her responsibilities.
If Elthina had made an actual effort to get the situation under control and make sure her subordinates in both the priesthood and the Templars were obeying the law, that would be one thing, but the game repeatedly made it clear that she wasn't.
The most recent edits are fine, I think. As long as Elthina isn't being made out to be doing more than she actually was.
Foreign Troper
Wooops double post
Edited by Forenperser Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian
I saw the notes about commented out examples. I hope my contributions help rectify the Zero Context Example problem.
Alright then, I think Elthina just receives way too much shit for the whole Templar/Mage-thing. Maybe she is theoretically higher on the chantry pole than Meredith, but she knows what kind of person she is. I certainly wouldn't put it past Meredith to have her poisoned, or even just reported to even higher authorities for supposed partiality. And yes, I think that would be considered as 'taking sides', just as would be speaking against the Circle for the escaped violent bloodmages. And despite all her passivity, she was the one who stopped the conflict from being outright bloody. Once she was removed by Anders, the whole thing escalated. Also, I think one should also mention how she shoots down Petrice, or how she advises Sebastian on not to indulge in He Who Fights Monsters in her Reasonable Authority Figure entry, the whole entry just reads way too biased and focused on the mage/templar thing.
Edited by Forenperser Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian Hide / Show Replies