So it was killing two birds with one stone. The rebel mages were right there in Redcliffe, and the Inquisition still needed to stop the Mage/Templar War regardless. I think the rationale was that it would take too long to contact the few remaining Circles across Thedas, and even then they would only be able to send a few mages each. IMO it would have been a better at least temporary end to the mage-templar war then just by default having credit going to Corybits stopping the war by destroying/co-opting each side. They have a shack of murdered Tranquil and we get nothing WTF!ДЄlso, as others have suggested before, it would have been more interesting to have whichever group you help first to then go help rescue the remaining group. The rebel mages go from rebel enough to risk everything and rebel against the oppression of centuries of religious chantry rule to suddenly unwilling to do anything to help themselves other than passive servitude to a sketchy Tranquil murdering Tevinter mage.Д«eing unable to discuss the shack of murdered Tranquils in game is a big part of what ruins the 'In Hushed Whispers' choice for me. The rebel mages come across as feckless IMO. I didn't like the gamey forced timed quest part though. Although, having some templars fight with you to save themselves made 'Champions Of The Just' quest better for me story-wise. Even in the mage ally choice, I wish she took initiative in helping tranquils or fighting Venatori in DAI to make up for the perceived evil of her alternative universe self.Дespite the time travel bit I also did like the actual 'In Hushed Whispers' quest better. I wish they had explained her derpy transformation to Venatori better in game. Fiona is just another bad Orsino story writing in my opinion and shouldn't have been in the attack on Haven. I would never trust alternative universe Orsino. For me it would be like Bioware having Orsino as a companion in DA4 saying the whole murdering mages to become the harvester monster was a bad choice and never happened. I know you can alternative universe that choice if you ally/conscript mages first but I can't forget how quickly she goes evil and against actually helping mages. Even when we see that Calpernia and Alexius have at least one redeeming motivation they are also still the psychopaths in charge of the group murdering tranquils, feeding people to red lyrium, willingly following a delusional psychotic darkspawn magister that assaulted the golden/blackened city, and various other evil reindeer games.ДЇiona just falls into the delusional evil Ventatori leadership when she does the DA2 Orsino-ish flip from trying to save helpless innocent mages to next second being a Venatori leader after they murder rebel mages that won't join according to Dorian. Venatori as an organization are just evil murdering cultist scum and difficult to show they have any meaningful depth. They could have helped in collecting libraries and artifacts left in abandoned circles. Would have been a nice touch if they showed up when zones are cleared to help the wounded. Other than helping close the breech and assaulting Mythal's temple the rebel mages don't seem to do anything I can remember.

Although locking the best side quests outside of meaningful game experience in the the war table is part of what deadened the DAI game experience for me. I wish they had at least made a bore table mission if you ally with the rebel mages where they would risk their lives to save a group of tranquil or something. I don't think we get to see the average Venatori or rebel mage in the same depth throughout DAI like we do with the Templars. I'm actually leaning more towards the templar choice in DAI even though my bias is usually against the templars.ДЄs others have mentioned the motivations of the templars rank and file seem more richly depicted in DAI which humanizes them better for me. If a DA4 happens I would need a third play-through to still decide this and a few other game choices if I could stomach another play-through. I liked DAI in that the choice between mages and templars was even more complex IMO. I almost always support mages in my DAO and DA2 play-throughs. I think 'In Hushed Wispers' is more exciting and emotional, and has better characters - altough I must admit I'm a bit biased because the templars pretty much epitomize everything I despise. I did play the templar quest only once, and probably won't do it again.

Dragon age inquisition templar or mage