Demons, Mirrors, and Exile--The Joys of Befriending Merrill

Dragon Age II offers a eclectic mix of possible party members who you can join your Hawke on adventures in and around Kirkwall (and then in and around Kirkwall at night and then in Kirkwall again.  I think I've mentioned the environmental shortcomings of Dragon Age II).  There seems to always be one character who absolutely mystifies me.  One person who you cannot befriend and seems to be diametrically opposed to the personality of your playable character.  In Dragon Age II, this character is Merrill.

Merrill--Difficult to befriend.

You first meet Merrill as you head off to a Dalish encampment to return the amulet given to you by Flemeth.  From the first moment that you talk to the keeper you get a weird feeling.  Merrill is choosing to leave her tribe of elves for some mysterious reason.  As you head up the mountain you meet Merrill and realize that she's definitely a little odd...even for an elf.  This feeling of offness continues as you run into an elf hunter who states that he can't wait to have Merrill gone.  What the heck did she do that her own people are rejecting her?  It's when you make it to the barrier blocking entry into the elven burial ground and witness her using blood magic that you realize she could possibly be dangerous.  You question her about the spell she just used and hint to her that blood magic is sketchy...she shrugs you off and says she knows what she's doing.  After performing the ritual and having a brief exchange with Flemeth (or a fragment of Flemeth?), you head down the mountain and prepare to leave the encampment.  The keeper tells Merrill that she doesn't have to leave, but Merrill isn't going to change her mind.

Once you return to Kirkwall you see Merrill settled into the elven alienage in the city.  There are several opportunities to interact with her and learn her story.  Like Morrigan in Dragon Age:  Origins my kind actions generally resulted in negative feelings (rivalry in Dragon Age II).  It didn't matter that I tried to reassure her that eventually she would get the hang of city life or that my character was trying to be friends with Merrill.

The story unfolds and you learn more and more about Merrill.  Eventually you learn that she has managed to piece together an ancient elven mirror known as an Eluvian.  Merrill is obsessed with figuring out how to make the mirror function again.  She claims it is a relic of her people and that by fixing it that she will help to recover a piece of elven culture.  And, by the way, someone already died trying to fix it.  Befriending Merrill becomes even more difficult as you have to make the choice of letting her try to fix the mirror (which could possibly unleash demons and/or darkspawn onto the world) or telling her to give it up.

Eventually Merrill's quest leads you back to the Dalish where you are forced to make her see the error of her ways.  The quest involves demons and killing those closest to Merrill...it's hard to like her after that.

Merrill is not one of my favorite characters and one who it's extremely hard to like if you choose to play a more "paragon" like character.  I think I have only managed to really befriend Merrill on one playthrough and I intentionally made that character kind of a ruthless jerk.