Say what you will about the Templars, they got some sweet Armor.

In origins it’s stated by Alistair that he learned his abilities as a Templar before taking lyrium and that lyrium isn’t necessary for them to learn their abilities just that most don’t start learning until after they take it and lyrium makes their abilities stronger

The Jaws of Hakon DLC and the meeting of Ameridan raised SO many questions for me about how the Templar order and the mages interacted and cooperated at the beginning of the Chantry. That Ameridan was surprised that mages were no longer welcomed as members of the Seekers (and I assumed, Templars as well) took me off guard and rewrote much of what the previous games said of the mages and Templars. The fact that Ameridan had a spirit guide, like Wynne, also surprised me since the definition of abomination had been rather black and white up to that point.
Great video, as always, Ghil! I hope you have a wonderful one!!!

I'm a bit surprised we don't hear about hunger demons typically targeting (not in dreams like mages of course) Templars when their addictions can make them feel a terrible hunger.

If what Solas is saying is right and that magic used to be everywhere and everyone had magic to a degree, is taking lyrium a way for Templar's to attain a form of their latent magic? It may not be natural magic like mages, but maybe lyrium awakens this form of magic in Templars? And since the abilities are artificial in nature, maybe that's why it allows them to oppose natural magic? Or maybe Templar abilities are actually magic that stems from the real world (Thedas) and not the fade and that's why it is able to repel fade based magics?

I just put this together: Lyrium root word : Lyrics, as in a song. Lyrium/Lyrics is Titan's Blood, we know that now. Perhaps the "hunger" is a call to serve a titan, but to a non dwarven mind it does not work and instead slowly deteriorates their mental health instead. Similar to the song of the Archdemon on Grey Wardens?

Something a lot of people seem to forget is that Alistair has taken lyrium before, in the form of the GW Joining. Darkspawn blood, archdemon blood, lyrium and other ingredients. So i'm now under the impression that while Alistair didn't lie about not needing lyrium to use templar powers, he may not have put two and two together; he's not the sharpest bulb in the crayon box after all (but we still love the goof). This also fixes the retco of templars do in fact need lyrium, and Alistair was lying to your warden, or that the entire conversation you and he had about templars in Origins never happened.

Another thing is that Avernus discovered that the tainted blood of GW have power beyond that of just sensing the DS; also blight magic is apparently a thing, so maybe the taint is a substitute for lyrium that a trained templar who hasn't taken their first lyrium hits yet can use to use the templar powers.

Templars are Titan blood vampires!

As a person who's struggled with addiction it's not an excuse. The Templar s are mage cops,

Alistair has never taken lyrium before and still has the abilities of a templar. When asked about it he theorizes that A. Lyrium just enhances the ability to reinforce reality for those already gifted or B. The Chantry is lying to keep the Templars on an addict leash and prevent dissent.

Another possibility is that Alistair's heritage, not as elf-blooded but rather as dragon-blooded, has something to do with his powers not requiring lyrium. That being said we know very little of dragons and how they actually work so that theory could just be me grasping at straws.

As of now, I personally think that the need for lyrium amongst templars is, if not out right a lie as Alistair theorizes, at least is exaggerated by the Chantry to maintain control.

My thought on Templar abilities and needing lyrium is that templars reinforce reality with their abilities, and that if they think they need lyrium to use their abilities, then they do need it. But someone like Alistair or our warden doesn’t cuz they think they can use Templar abilities and therefore they reinforce a reality that says they can.

this is a really good video on the lore of the Templar,s.

I have always found the Templars and the Circles an interesting concept. I know how horrific their relationship is, but I've always seen it as the fault of outside interference. I love your noting that many Templars are endoctrinated more to be servants of the Chantry than to do their duty as safeguards against magic. Despite what we see of them, I am actually usually pro-Circles and Templars in my games, because I am trying to reform them. I've always considered magic like science in the real-world. When working with hazardous chemicals or materials, or performing experiments that may have disasterous results, do scientists work in a tee-shit and shorts? Are they doing these experiments in a shopping mall? Chances are, no. They have dedicated research facilities and contained, controlled environments. They wear protective gear, such as gloves and goggles. Even if they are doing an experiment that they've done a thousand times before, they still need to take precautions. The same chemicals that make cleaning supplies also make mustard gas. In Thedas, it operates much the same. Mages are the scientists, magic is the chemicals and hazardous material, spells are the experiments, Circles are the research facility, and Templars are the protective gear, ensuring that in the event that something goes wrong, it doesn't lead to disasterous or long-term consequences. At least, that is how it's supposed to work. The problem, of course, is the Chantry, which manipulates perceptions to make magic seem inherently evil, turning what should be the mages' guardians and protectors into cruel oppressors. As such, I usually like to play characters that are pro-Circle, pro-Templar, but anti-Chantry.

more dwarf pls

I love the Templar's they get a bad rep for the extremes they sometimes have to go to to control mages, it's easy to say there bad but from what we've seen without Templar's eventually a few bad mages will take over they keep The people safe and are largely unthanked for it

It's sorta sad how far the templars fell from they're beginning to what we see in DAI

It makes me upset that you don't have millions of subs and views. I just discovered the channel, so don't know if the channel is just new too, but this one needs to blow up.

Lyrium cool aid for everyone!

Templars out there doing the Maker's work, keeping abominations and whatnot in check. Andraste bless those brave holy warriors!

CAITIE! I have a theory. Templars take lyrium to use and strengthen their abilities, and we know that lyrium is Titan blood. When Cole says that templars reach for... something else... to cancel out magic, could he be talking about the Titans? Veilguard may have debunked this as it showed "Titan magic", but maybe not too. Normal magic has branches too, it's not just one type, like Creation and Entropy being different. And the Titan magic we see in Veilguard is newly acquired and unexplored in total, so...