10 Toughest Video Game Moral Choices (And What You Picked)
9. Exterminate The Mages, Or Destroy The Templars? – Dragon Age 2
The stakes: Tensions simmer between the city of Kirkwall’s Mages and Templars. The Templars are guilty of brutally oppressing the Mages, while the Mages are guilty of practising forbidden magic that increases their risk of demonic possession.
The matter comes to a head when Anders, a rogue Mage and member of the player’s party, destroys the Chantry. This ignites a fight a death between the two factions, making the player partially responsible and potentially forcing them to kill beloved characters.
The choice: Players must choose between personally executing Anders and siding with the Templars, or allowing him to go free and siding with the Mages.
The verdict: As seen in this poll, the majority side with the Mages. Siding with the Templars is seen as participating in the massacre of a group of innocent people, guilty of nothing more being born different and who have suffered from terrible persecution because of it.
While the pro-mage players acknowledge that some mages are out of control, that is not considered justification for wholesale murder, especially not when many were driven to evil by persecution at the hands of the Templars. It is a question of risk justifying oppression, and the answer is no.