Every Dragon Age game serves to disprove the Qun. The Qun's core ideology is that the individual is unimportant, they are simply a tiny part of the whole. But look at The Warden, Hawke, and The Inquisitor. Each of them over the course of their respective games shakes the world with their actions. In each case, this one person shapes history. They have help from their companions (and in the Wardens' and Inquisitor's cases, by the larger forces they control,) but why do they have those companions helping them? Why do they control those forces? Because of THEM themselves. DAO I think exemplifies this best. As Varel says in Awakening: "it only took 3 Wardens to end a civil war and stop a Blight." The Warden decides the fate of an entire country AND stops the Blight from spreading beyond Ferelden, in the process ending it in only a couple of months. And as we see in The Darkspawn Chronicles, Alistair would have been able to do the same in the absence of the Warden, despite his insistence that he's not a leader. In The Darkspawn Chronicles timeline, the only reason that the Darkspawn win the Battle of Denerim and are able to continue the Blight is because of the Darkspawn you control. Alistair and The Warden individually change the world. The individual not being important my ass!
I have found the qun to be absolutely fascinating since the first game, and it genuinely resonates with me. But the thing I've found really engaging about it in recent years is the divergence between the actual text and parables that make up the philosophy of the qun and way that philosophy manifests itself. The actual writing OF the qun that we've seen is all incredibly poetic and thoughtful, built from parables and metaphor that suggests a lot of deep introspection. In many ways the text of the qun suggests a very personal philosophy that has some connective tissue to budhist concepts; the idea of accepting the world rather than fighting it, suffering coming from resisting a metaphysical "way" things should be. If you look at the extracts from the tome of koslun that we've gotten, and then look at the society of the qun, both in isolation, I think some people would be surprised to learn that one follows the other. All that is to say; what social conditions led to the society we see now? It's implied that Koslun came from a culture that was in turmoil and had a lot of disorder and chaos, and the qun became an answerto that.
The Qunari is basically a Caste System without the whole caste determined by lineage part. You've got the Priests on top, the Warriors as second highest, then the traders and craftsmen and at the bottom, are the people doing the dirty unpleasant jobs No one willingly cleans the streets off horse puckey or disposes off carcasses and biohazards. So, some people have to be forced into those tasks. Which is why the Qunari Tamaaserrans lock you into a role at 12.
Alistair: So I suppose once I'm actually king I could end up in negotiations with the Qunari one day. Sten: My people do not negotiate. Alistair: What do you mean? They negotiated a peace treaty after the war, and as far as I know they've kept to its terms. Sten: They signed a piece of paper. But only because they knew that you believed in it. Alistair: And what is the difference between that and negotiating? Sten: They stopped fighting for their own reasons. And they will resume it again, one day. The agreement means nothing to them. Alistair: But I thought you said your people believed in honor. Sten: They do. The honor of the Qunari is what will bring our warships back to your shores.
I just binged all your Dragon Age videos. I'm glad you like Dragon Age as much as I do. Thank you for the videos. Curious on your thoughts on the Grey Warden Order and the Dwarves.
@ViewtifulBeau Hey, thank you so much! I really appreciate that. I do actually have a Bhelen vs. Harrowmont video in the queue, and I'd love to do something on the Wardens because they are legitimately my favorite fantasy faction in any game. I'll start workshopping that 🤔 thank you for the comments!
Nice video man, good discussion to have but I dont think anyone believes the qun is the best way of life and it seems the government dont always work together, like when the arishok attacked kirkwall, so even if they think its perfect no government is perfect because people are imperfect
I agree with you overall (though I personally think for certain people, myself included, could live in the qun and without too much issue) but regarding the arishok attacking kirkwall specifically, that's less a case of the government not always working together. He and his people got stuck in Kirkwall and the eventual invasion was basically him snapping because he couldn't tolerate the state of Kirkwall anymore and simply defaulted to dealing with it like a soldier deals with foreign nations; warfare.
@@velemamba260 what about Viddasala attacking the inquisition even if they have an alliance, one thing I say about the qun they dont discriminate against other races, you are qunari even if you're an elf, human, or dwarf. They just discriminate against other governments, I'll say this if you need to to mess with people heads as "reeducation" your government is far from being perfect
The Qun is basically a bit more extreme/violent than Andrastian religion (therefore, christianity). Regardless, I hope they get more into the tome of Koslun in The Veilguard. I suspect it’ll be with the Lords of Fortune.
I don't agree that everything we know about the Qun could be wrong. What good-enough explanation could there be for Qamek? If you refuse to convert to the Qun (ex. your'e a regular person living somewhere that the Qunari invaded and you don't like the idea of having to convert to this alien philosophy that you've never heard of and just want to be left alone,) or if you are simply a non-Qunari mage captured by the Qunari (as in EVERY SINGLE ONE of the mages captured by the Qunari,) they lobotomize you. What could possibly ever justify that practice?
Every Dragon Age game serves to disprove the Qun. The Qun's core ideology is that the individual is unimportant, they are simply a tiny part of the whole. But look at The Warden, Hawke, and The Inquisitor. Each of them over the course of their respective games shakes the world with their actions. In each case, this one person shapes history. They have help from their companions (and in the Wardens' and Inquisitor's cases, by the larger forces they control,) but why do they have those companions helping them? Why do they control those forces? Because of THEM themselves.
DAO I think exemplifies this best. As Varel says in Awakening: "it only took 3 Wardens to end a civil war and stop a Blight." The Warden decides the fate of an entire country AND stops the Blight from spreading beyond Ferelden, in the process ending it in only a couple of months. And as we see in The Darkspawn Chronicles, Alistair would have been able to do the same in the absence of the Warden, despite his insistence that he's not a leader. In The Darkspawn Chronicles timeline, the only reason that the Darkspawn win the Battle of Denerim and are able to continue the Blight is because of the Darkspawn you control. Alistair and The Warden individually change the world. The individual not being important my ass!
I have found the qun to be absolutely fascinating since the first game, and it genuinely resonates with me. But the thing I've found really engaging about it in recent years is the divergence between the actual text and parables that make up the philosophy of the qun and way that philosophy manifests itself. The actual writing OF the qun that we've seen is all incredibly poetic and thoughtful, built from parables and metaphor that suggests a lot of deep introspection. In many ways the text of the qun suggests a very personal philosophy that has some connective tissue to budhist concepts; the idea of accepting the world rather than fighting it, suffering coming from resisting a metaphysical "way" things should be. If you look at the extracts from the tome of koslun that we've gotten, and then look at the society of the qun, both in isolation, I think some people would be surprised to learn that one follows the other.
All that is to say; what social conditions led to the society we see now? It's implied that Koslun came from a culture that was in turmoil and had a lot of disorder and chaos, and the qun became an answerto that.
"We accept beings of all walks of life, so long as they are willing to accept their place in the world" by Sten
The Qunari is basically a Caste System without the whole caste determined by lineage part. You've got the Priests on top, the Warriors as second highest, then the traders and craftsmen and at the bottom, are the people doing the dirty unpleasant jobs No one willingly cleans the streets off horse puckey or disposes off carcasses and biohazards. So, some people have to be forced into those tasks. Which is why the Qunari Tamaaserrans lock you into a role at 12.
Alistair: So I suppose once I'm actually king I could end up in negotiations with the Qunari one day.
Sten: My people do not negotiate.
Alistair: What do you mean? They negotiated a peace treaty after the war, and as far as I know they've kept to its terms.
Sten: They signed a piece of paper. But only because they knew that you believed in it.
Alistair: And what is the difference between that and negotiating?
Sten: They stopped fighting for their own reasons. And they will resume it again, one day. The agreement means nothing to them.
Alistair: But I thought you said your people believed in honor.
Sten: They do. The honor of the Qunari is what will bring our warships back to your shores.
Interesting Interesting
counterpoint: big Qunari Women😌
Really happy we got a clear and concise video on the Qun. I'm Qunari lmao
Amazing video, thanks!
Loving your content! Keep it up! Subscribed.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate that 😁 -SJ
I just binged all your Dragon Age videos. I'm glad you like Dragon Age as much as I do. Thank you for the videos.
Curious on your thoughts on the Grey Warden Order and the Dwarves.
@ViewtifulBeau Hey, thank you so much! I really appreciate that. I do actually have a Bhelen vs. Harrowmont video in the queue, and I'd love to do something on the Wardens because they are legitimately my favorite fantasy faction in any game. I'll start workshopping that 🤔 thank you for the comments!
@10pointsofslashing thank you for the reply bro. 💪
At the end of Act 2
Aveline: “You lived your life for the Qun, you gonna die for some Elves?”
Arishok: “Someone is.”
😂😂😂
Hell yeah! This is what I’ve been waiting for!
Nice video man, good discussion to have but I dont think anyone believes the qun is the best way of life and it seems the government dont always work together, like when the arishok attacked kirkwall, so even if they think its perfect no government is perfect because people are imperfect
I agree with you overall (though I personally think for certain people, myself included, could live in the qun and without too much issue) but regarding the arishok attacking kirkwall specifically, that's less a case of the government not always working together. He and his people got stuck in Kirkwall and the eventual invasion was basically him snapping because he couldn't tolerate the state of Kirkwall anymore and simply defaulted to dealing with it like a soldier deals with foreign nations; warfare.
@@velemamba260 what about Viddasala attacking the inquisition even if they have an alliance, one thing I say about the qun they dont discriminate against other races, you are qunari even if you're an elf, human, or dwarf. They just discriminate against other governments, I'll say this if you need to to mess with people heads as "reeducation" your government is far from being perfect
The Qun is basically a bit more extreme/violent than Andrastian religion (therefore, christianity). Regardless, I hope they get more into the tome of Koslun in The Veilguard. I suspect it’ll be with the Lords of Fortune.
Sten: Qunari are most dangerous because we are thinking men and not an unthinking force.
I don't agree that everything we know about the Qun could be wrong. What good-enough explanation could there be for Qamek? If you refuse to convert to the Qun (ex. your'e a regular person living somewhere that the Qunari invaded and you don't like the idea of having to convert to this alien philosophy that you've never heard of and just want to be left alone,) or if you are simply a non-Qunari mage captured by the Qunari (as in EVERY SINGLE ONE of the mages captured by the Qunari,) they lobotomize you. What could possibly ever justify that practice?
Qun strayed away from it's original in DAO and DAII