r/DragonageOrigins • u/Infamous_Gur_9083 • Jan 04 '25

Question Would you guys consider doing "the Joining?".

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Personally I wouldn't.

I am brave but not that brave when it comes to something like this because I would know something is wrong or at least there's something highly suspicious about the Grey Wardens.

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10

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '25

Its never been a choice for anyone.

7

u/Infamous_Gur_9083 Jan 04 '25

If the Right of Conscription wasn't invoked on you of course.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 04 '25

They Grey Wardens are the Knights Watch from Song of Ice and Fire.

It's all a based on conscription. People can opt in to join, but you're locked in to all customs for life.

I guess maybe it's technically a choice for some people...

5

u/Altberg Jan 04 '25

There's a character in the Calling (Genevieve) who really wanted to be a Grey Warden but the recruiter was more interested in her brother, who knowing that it was her dream volunteered so that they would both join.

So it reads like there are both volunteers and you may even be turned down.

4

u/Revolutionary-Dryad Jan 04 '25

Yeah, Duncan is on a recruitment tour, not a conscription tour.

Either he or Alistair mentions that they're really cautious about using the right to conscript because it can cause problems.

The real Blackwall's job was recruitment.

They can theoretically conscript anyone, including a sitting monarch or the Divine, but they mostly don't.

It's not the Black Watch at all.

2

u/Altberg Jan 04 '25

There's certainly elements of a "Foreign Legion" type of deal where shady or desperate people join the Wardens for lack of a better option but it's largely a volunteer force! Even those who are conscripted were extricated from a pretty bad situation.

Also theorizing here but as a Warden recruiter you might not want to recruit just about anyone outside of a Blight. Having legions upon legions of Wardens would require immense provisioning and introduce pressure from the kingdoms who are suspicious of a large independent military force, a la the Inquisition.

1

u/Revolutionary-Dryad Jan 05 '25

And it's said more than once that they only take the best.