Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough - The Landsmeet - Winning the Vote
Killing Ser Cauthrien
Going to the Palace will trigger a bit of a fight. Ser Cauthrien is standing in our way and refuses to let us in. She’s easier to fight this time than in the Palace before. She should only have a few guards and mages for support. Have your tank distract her while someone kills the mages. Then just stack up and kill her. She can cause a lot of damage, but she’s very vulnerable once you corner her. You can persuade her to step down, but you might as well fight her and get the cool sword.
The Vote
The Landsmeet itself is pretty simple. You only have one vote going in and need to secure the rest. There will be a bit of a debate and you’ll need to defend yourself.
The really important thing is to not mention that Loghain left Cailen to die. We can’t prove that and it makes us look weak. It will cost you a lot of support. Just stick to the Blight.
Make sure that you tell Loghain that the Blight is the real enemy, not Orleas. This will confirm Arl Wulffe’s vote if you spoke to him in the Tavern.
Mentioning Arl Howe’s dungeon will help if you finished the Tortured Noble quest. Bann Sighard will back up your claims.
Mentioning the assassination attempt will help, if you finished the Lost Templar quest. If you talked to Imeric in his cell, he explains that he was the one who captured Jowan in the first place. His sister will reveal that Jowan had to have been released by Loghain’s order.
Freeing Vaughn earns you a free vote.
Completing the Trial of the Crows quest line will earn you a vote. The noble who’s son you rescued will just state that you helped him with a family matter of great importance.
Anora will either defend or incriminate you in the matter of her “kidnapping.” It depends on whether you promised to support her.
One person will automatically vote for Loghain and one will vote for the Wardens.
After everything is said and done, the vote will be called. If you followed my guide, then you’ll win. This saves you a fight. If you lose, then Loghain will try to detain you and Eamon will call for resistance. You’ll then have to wound Loghain to make the nobles call for a duel.
If you win the vote, Loghain will demand a duel before he steps down.
The Duel
Loghain is tough. I don’t think a rogue or a normal warrior has any chance of taking him out. You need a tank or a mage. The good news is that anyone in your party can challenge Loghain, except for Dog. Do note that Alistair will not give him any chance for mercy. If he fights in the duel, then he’ll just finish him off and that will be the end of it. This is a little important, since it’s the equivalent of having Alistair execute him.
The reason that the fight is tough is that Loghain has some nasty tricks up his sleeve. The first is his war cry. He will almost always successfully knock down his challenger. He can also deal a lot of damage with his attacks. These two will work in combination to crush warriors and rogues.
A tank has a huge advantage, since any half decent tank should have shield wall. If you have learned shield mastery, then you should be completely invulnerable to his attempts to knock you down. This means you can just peacefully duke it out with him. You will probably still have to drink a few health potions, but that’s a small cost. You should be able to grind it out fairly quickly.
A mage has an easy strategy, if they can pull it off. Loghain should be fairly vulnerable to Cone of Cold. You can just freeze him steadily and then rip him apart with whatever spells you have in your arsenal. If he hits you then you’re really in trouble. He has to stay frozen or stunned in one way or another. Be ready to drink some mana potions.
Rogues might be able to pull it off depending on their build. Stealthy ones can stay hidden and just harass him from affair with impunity. Duelists and assassin can beat him in a sword fight due to their ability to deal damage and dodge. Dirty Fighting and Below the Belt also work to interrupt his war cry and shield bash.
Aftermath
Now, if anyone besides Alistair fought Loghain, you’ll have a ton of decisions to make. He is willing to pay off his debt by serving the Wardens. You can either pardon him and draft him for the Joining or you can order his death. Either you or Alistair can deal the killing blow. There is no real middle ground.
Only one material difference will really happen. If you choose to let Loghain live, then Alistair will leave your party in disgust and face exile or death if you pick Anora. He should also take all of his cool gear with him, so keep that in mind. You will then gain Loghain, who’s a half decent substitute.
The good news is that this is mainly story related. I’ve never been one to spoil the consequences too much and I’ll just say that it isn’t really worth worrying about. Just make the choices you want to make. The only important story information is that Anora should call off her alliance if Alistair kills Loghain. Something about having her father’s throat slit in front of her and getting splattered with blood must have changed her mind.
Just make your decisions accordingly. Once it’s all done with you are ready to gather your forces. In order to do this, you just have to head to Redcliffe and join the forces. Note that going to Redcliffe sets the final battle in motion. If there is anything that you want to do, then you need to do it now. You should also take your spare stuff and sell it. Then donate as much as you can to the allied supply crates It will help in the final battle.
This post is part of the series: Dragon Age: Origins Walkthrough - The Landsmeet
The Landsmeet is our grand event. We need to help Arl Eamon gain the support of the nobles and unite the crown behind the Grey Wardens. We’ll get to kill Arl Howe, free the Elven Alienage, and the finally fight against Loghain after the vote at the Landsmeet itself.
