BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA

I finally let Jowan perform the blood ritual to save Conner. Usually I go with the lyrium/mage option, regardless of what I do with Jowan in the dungeon; and I have yet to slay Conner. I've been wanting to kill the stuck up snot for ages, but it always went against the grain of my characters; this time though, she pulled her attitude with an aggressive blood thirsty Cousland, "know your place woman!"

I can't wait to see the repercussions of this choice. - snicker snicker ---Shadizar666 (talk) 00:23, September 13, 2012 (UTC)

Just tell Alistair, "I think it turned out pretty well, don't you?" and you avoid the whole argument. :D I'm unfortunately opposed to blood magic in pretty much all forms, so despite my desire to see Isolde hung by her vocal chords, I'm honor bound to go with the mage option. RShepard227 (talk) 01:34, September 13, 2012 (UTC)

I almost always go with Jowan's ritual. It seems like the best option most of the time, since I usually do that before the Circle. I have nothing against blood magic and none of my character's have supported the Chantry at all, so it being banned by them didn't mean shit to me. I think it was a good chance for them to partially make up for their mistakes. Too bad Jowan's last side quest is bugged. I did have a corrupt Human Noble Warrior (Reaver/Berserker) that punched Isolde in the face and killed Connor, after leaving Redcliffe to be destroyed.--Vampire Damian (talk) 10:16, September 14, 2012 (UTC)

Well it's not a matter of following the Chantry for me (never bought into that), I just see it as a risk that's ultimately not worth the reward. Deals with demons to learn it (you can't just read a book on it, which makes me suspicious of Jowan, did he contact a demon to learn it?), putting yourself and your allies close to death to "heal" and cast more spells, and it's not something you can use for novelty: if you want to use it at all, you need to commit to it for the rest of the game by trading Willpower for Constitution. Not to mention it makes a terrible mess for Nan and the elves to clean up. :P Plus I could never disappoint the nagging Wynne, and even Flemeth seems to think it's a fool's errand (despite or perhaps because of using it herself), which should tell you enough about the school. Just a personal choice, I always play Warrior and never make Wynne or Morrigan a blood mage, too much Gameplay and Story Segregation if I did. RShepard227 (talk)

I also dislike Blood Magic because of the implications, the arrogance it takes to justify it given you're making deals with demons... yeah, that never goes wrong. However I know from meta-gaming that it looks like doing Jowan's ritual gives Connor the best chance to succeed as a mage. The sacrifice his mother makes gives him a resolve to do better in life and with his studies etc. It's the typical BioWare silver lining, I guess. Everything has grey. Zambingo (talk) 15:29, September 13, 2012 (UTC)

As much as i hate the fricking orlaisian fishwife, I can never kill Connor or do the blood ritual. I swear it's nothing to do with Alistair... well partailly to do with him, but i want Isolde to live with the deaths she's caused by not giving Connor to the circle
@ RShepard227 If you play though the Magi origin, you can ask Irving why he has books on blood magic on his desk, to which he'll say he had them removed from the libray. Plus Uldred had built up a large network of blood mages in the tower, leading up to and during the blight. So Jowan could've actually read a book or found a blood mage pal.
@ the guy who didn't sign his post, if you've got the pc version you can actually use a console cheat to go to the place marked Jowan, if not then... well tough luck. If you do have pc then The console cheat is on Jowan's Wiki page.
I personaly steer clear of blood magic. All Blood mages i've come across are either evil (Uldred), Insane (Quentin), Backstabbing( Jowan and Alain), are sheer b*tches (Baroness) or all of the above (Grace)Phoenix96 (talk) 15:58, September 13, 2012 (UTC)

You didn't mention Caladrius as a slaver, Hadriana as no respect for life, Quentin as insane, Gascard and Orsino as lairs. I'd rather call Merrill as naive or stupid than insane. Zathrian was also a blood mage, many players condemned and slayed his clan for his actions, but I didn't, they had nothing in common with this, it would be a needless genocide. Janeka is also a traitor. Avernus' actions lead only to destruction and death. I dislike blood magic and it has nothing to do with Chantry or morality, when I use it, my mage dies too quickly, it's just too lethal for user, too powerful double edged sword.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.8.247.39 (talk)

Ahhh, thank you in knew I was forgetting some facts. I was just going off the top of my head. And personally I think Merrill's insane. And aye blood magic is just like a pitbull. It'll protect you but can and will bite your hand off.Phoenix96 (talk) 16:35, September 13, 2012 (UTC)

^ Thanks for clearing up where it can be learned, I thought it was exclusively demon-taught. Nevertheless, it's handed down from demons, ergo no good. And adding to 78.8's statement, I too believe that Merrill is simply naïve, not insane. Insanity denotes cognitive/mental instability (the proverbial/inaccurate version is "doing the same thing and expecting a different result," which she certainly falls under). If you Rival her as a responsible person should, she'll abandon the Eluvian, and not using a talent point on Blood of the First is Hawke's/my way of forbidding her from using it in battle. Flemeth warns her, "No path is darker than when one's eyes are shut," which is most fitting for Merrill's situation. I also don't believe all blood mages should be put to death immediately, it's just how most of my encounters with them turn out, for reasons listed above (either combining the art with slavery and death, or madness, nobody say Sparta). :P It would depend on whose blood they drained (i.e. murder vs. self-bloodletting), what it was used for, and whether or not they feel any guilt over what they did. As a result, I leave Jowan's fate to the Circle, demand Zathrian lift his curse, Rivalmance Merrill, and kill everyone else. I let Gascard go only to have the satisfaction of Varric killing him later. RShepard227 (talk)

I always become Merrill's rival, make Zathrian lift the curse and never do Jowan's ritual and Gascard meets a messy end at the hands of Bianca or my Hawke.
True there are many variables as to whether blood mages are 'bad evil'. I wouldn't say Jowan is evil but he doesn't set a good example as he lies to your character and poisons Eamon. But you never see him use another's blood without their consent and he seems to understand the danger behind it. Merrill on the other hand was happily skipping though the field, cutting her wrists and not thinking about the consequences, e.g her beloved keeper getting possessed by the damn demon who taught her blood magic.
Nearly every group condemns blood magic, The chantry since it supposidley created the darkspawn. The Dalish, Merrill's clan seemed to recognise the danger, overall they recognise it is used for self-advancement which is not thinking about the clan, even most mages know it's a bad idea. The only groups that doesn't condemn blood magic is the wardens, they believe in doing whatever it takes to defeat the blights, no matter what the methods and the Tevinter Imperium
Oh and you can't blame Avernus for the veil tearing at Solider's peak, to be fair he was acting on the ORDERS of Sophia, so really she is to blame for that.
Sorry didn't mean to rant so much.Phoenix96 (talk) 19:00, September 13, 2012 (UTC)

Starting with Soldiers Peak; I agree, Avernus isn't fully to blame for his crimes; he was given full reign to experiment, when the NEW Warden Commander aka The Warden takes command of the keep, he is fully complicit with any and all restriction put upon him; and yes, he was ordered to call beyond his control, thus tearing the veil.

As much fun as Merrill is in DA2, she pisses me off; especially when compared to Anders in terms of character change; in DAO, she was much more serious, a real Second, not the halfwit encountered in DA2. Coupled with the dire situation she's involved with, it's like she chose to be stupid in defense of her decisions.

Zathrian tends to meet a messy end with me; whether I force him to do the ritual, or I kill him after wiping out the den, he never sees the light of day again.

Jowan isn't evil by nature, but stupid at best.

My opinion about blood magic is much like everything else; by itself it isn't inherently evil, but the actions of it's users have dirtied it. Granted, the demon doesn't add much in the way of sainthood; but a gun is designed to kill, yet not all users kill people with their guns. That aside, the graphic messiness portrayed puts me off of actually using the spec[1].--Shadizar666 (talk) 19:51, September 13, 2012 (UTC)

Avernus said he would summon so many demons even, if Sophia didn't command him to do this, he's more guilty than you think. Therone is another example of an evil blood mage. She's insane, evil and has no respect for life. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.8.247.39 (talk)

I don't see why everyone hates blood magic so much. I know that most of the blood mages in the game are hostile but there is no reason that peaceful blood mages could not exist since the Warden and Hawke would never meet them anyway. In my opinion blood magic is just a source of power like regular magic. Some blood mages may be evil but blood magic itself is not inherently evil.--CouslandRogue (talk) 21:09, September 13, 2012 (UTC)

As I said before I hate blood magic, because my mages die too quickly, when they use it. It's a double edged sword, it uses health insetad of mana to cast spells, but it's too lethal for me. I see every kind of magic as a tool, I hate more users of blood magic than the magic, sacrifaces for rituals are barbraric and mind control is no different than tranquility, beacuse both spells enslave people, its worse than death. Every met blood mage was a harbinger of troubles.—Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.8.247.39 (talk)

Sounds like something my 15yo daughter would say, "it's wrong", "why is it wrong?", "because it's wrong". Suffice it to say, I disagree; as CouslandRogue so eloquently put it, our hero is highly unlikely to encounter "good" blood mages. Zalthrian so far is the best example of a "good" blood mage; but his centuries old blind blood feud with long dead criminals sours the idea that he is "good" as defined as "good". We all know many "good" people in our lives, who do "bad" things when push comes to shove.

I would like to point out that the Tevinter Imperium isn't "bad" because of blood magic, but of culture. Fenris explains this quite well, yet still blames magic for the problem; he clearly states that the TI was never conquered, the magistrate were allowed to continue whilst being watched, and then subsequently allowed to watch themselves.

Given that lyrium is a highly controlled substance, damning blood magic for being blood magic is stupid; As explained by both Jowan and Merrill; in lieu of lyrium, the only option available IS blood magic. In essence, the Chantry and Templars damn themselves as enablers.--Shadizar666 (talk) 22:12, September 13, 2012 (UTC)

If you are talking about the Warden and Hawke when you say that your mages die then I agree with you. Blood magic is definitely more powerful when it is used by NPCs. Yes, all or almost all met blood mages attack you but you never see blood mages that don't attack you.--CouslandRogue (talk) 22:10, September 13, 2012 (UTC)

Blood magic (or any magic) is not evil in and of itself. The mage who wields the power and how they use it however, can be. Even if it were still true that it could only be learned from a demon, that doesn't mean much. Easy guide to getting a demon to teach you blood magic with no consequences:

Step 1: Find demon.

Step 2: Try to converse with demon/defeat it if it attacks you (kill only if necessary, since if you kill it you will have to find another demon).

Step 3: Strike deal with demon.

Step 4: Have demon teach you blood magic.

Step 5: Kill demon.

Then the next mob of darkspawn you see, paralyze them with Blood Wound/Paralyzing Hemorrhage (DAO/DA2), then use Blood Control/Blood Slave (DAO/DA2) on the ogre and watch him crush the paralyzed mob. I had a very friendly blood mage warden who had a relationship with Alistair. She was going to sacrifice herself against the Archdemon until Alistair stopped her and took the killing blow himself to save her. If the Chantry knew she was a blood mage, they would probably have called Alistair her 'blood thrall' and say she commanded him to take the killing blow for her. --Vampire Damian (talk) 10:51, September 14, 2012 (UTC)

That's actually one thing i don't understand about the blood mage or Reaver spec, by all rights Lelianna or Alistair should have a go at you for that. Cos well to become a reaver you have to defile the sacred ashes, (Alistair and Lelianna disapprove if you do this). Alistair has been raised to distrust blood magic. So why is there no 'give up your foul magic' speeches? The almost Templar should have been very distrustful of your character if he/she was a blood mage. Wynne never nags you about it. WTF is wrong with them?Phoenix96 (talk) 14:50, September 14, 2012 (UTC)

For Alistair, I think it's because he's mentally a Grey Warden rather than a Templar, and takes the "whatever is necessary" part seriously. Wynne does report the Warden to Irving if the Warden uses blood magic when fighting Uldred. She can be talked around, IIRC from reading the conversation in the toolset. -Sophia (talk) 15:52, September 14, 2012 (UTC)

If you defile the ashes with Wynne and Leliana in your party, Wynne will attack you and Leliana will join her. Leliana can be persuaded/intimidated out of fighting you but Wynne can't be reasoned with. Alistair does get upset about blood magic (Avernus and Jowan, for example). No one ever seems to notice when the Warden or Hawke use blood magic. Hell they barely even notice if they're mages or not most of the time. --Vampire Damian (talk) 14:49, September 15, 2012 (UTC)

Aye, the amount of times that i've saved Emeric and Cullen as mages and they are just "Thank you for your assistance" not "APOSTATE! SURRENDER" even though you've been chucking fire balls around. The only Templars that notice are Wesley and Meredith and one's fereldan and one's a looney.Phoenix96 (talk) 14:53, September 15, 2012 (UTC)

I only do the blood magic ritual if i play as a mage other than that i just kill the kid, problem solved. 203.45.127.20 (talk) 04:42, September 18, 2012 (UTC)Darkside