Plot Holes in White March(Obvious Spoilers Ahead)

[JO'Geran]

So, I just completed The White March, and while it was a brilliant DLC, I thought that a lot of plot points don't really make that much sense, such as the following:

• Why can't The Watcher use the Salt Well?, Isn't a big part of the main quest-line that The Watcher needs to forget his past, or he'll go mad like Maerwald. Like, I get that for the main story to progress, The Watcher kind of needs his memories, but couldn't they have given us some excuse like "It's fate" or "You haven't fully remembered it yet", like shouldn't you at least have the option to try
• How does Adaryc know that Maerwald had gone insane?, Like not even Kana Rua knew the fate of Maerwald, and he had a professional interest in Caed Nua.
• How come all of your companions can speak to the spirits inside Durgan's Battery? I thought that was just a Watcher thing.
• Maneha mentioned she never killed anyone in cold blood, but she's a former pirate. Surely that job would sort of require you to take over merchant vessels.
• The Stewart makes a big deal about the Leaden Key taking an interest in Durgan's Battery, but we never actually see them anywhere, or find out what there interest was.
• There's a lot of talk about "The Tidebringer" at The Abbey of the Fallen Moon, but nobody ever shows up. Where is the real tidebringer?
• Ondra says that God's getting involved with the mortal world is always destructive, but she herself got involved in the mortal world by giving the Eyeless a purpose to begin with. What's that about?
• If Ondra can visit people in visions, then why doesn't she just call off her devotees from attacking you at the Crayon's Scar?
• If Ondra knows about all the minor side-quests you did in Defiance Bay, how come she doesn't realise that the Eyeless are a threat to the Dyrwood?, Surely if she knows that much about your adventures, she knows why you want to stop the Eyeless.
• Ondra says she can't call off the Eyeless, but she was the one who gave the Eyeless a purpose to begin with. Can't she just give them a new purpose?
• If the Eyeless possess Abydon's memories, why did they become lost without Abydon, surely they would realise what Abydon wanted them to do by there own accord.
• Is it ever explained how Abydon died?, I mean, a big guy like him doesn't seem like he would be easy to kill.
• When the Eyless ask "Why did you send us to oblivion", they don't sound like unintelligent monsters, so surely Ondra could have just given them a vision directly.

[WorstUsernameEver]

1) The Watcher's Awakening is different from Maneha, in that it's not a single, clear memory holding her back. Also, depending on how early into the game you do The White March, chances are the Watcher doesn't even know exactly what her problem is.

 

2) This one is left unsaid. It's worth noting that you can only meet Adaryc after you've already dealt with Maerwald, so it's possible rumors about the state of Caed Nua's previous Watcher have gone out, though admittedly in that case he should know about the new Watcher already. Not something I'd classify as a "plot hole" in the grand scheme of things, but on a second read it's inelegant.

 

3) The spirit that manifest in Durgan's Battery seem to be able to do so because their essence was infused in the White Forge, not because of the Watcher's powers. At least, that's how I understood the process, especially considering you fight a number of them.

 

4) Honestly, this isn't a plot hole. Depending on the crew she ran with, it's not hard to believe she didn't kill people "in cold blood", which is very different from killing someone during a fight. She probably did a number of other questionable things as a pirate, though.

 

5) The Leaden Key plot is resolved in the Flames-That-Whisper cave. According to their note, they were trying to destroy the White Forge. Funnily enough, that would have prevented the plot of The White March Part Two from happening.

 

6) Chances are I missed this, but it's never resolved in game. They were probably just killed or didn't manage to make it in time, though, the trek to the White March isn't easy.

 

7) Ondra contradicting her principles isn't really a plot hole, it just shows that the Gods have plenty of character flaws, which goes hand in hand with one of the game's themes about questioning authority. She also has sentimental reasons to want to hold onto the labor of Abydon.

 

The problem with answering questions like these is that the scope of the Gods' actions and their limits aren't defined by the narrative. Right now it's hard to say whether that was an easy shortcut for the devs to add human encounters to the map, or it's simply due to some behind-the-scenes hard rules for what the Gods can and can't do. That said, the Gods definitely appear to be pretty unwilling to speak to their subjects directly, with the Watcher being one of the few notable exceptions (

it's unclear if even Thaos speaks with Woedica

).

 

9) I'm not sure I understand the question? Just because Ondra knows a lot of things, it doesn't necessarily mean her logic is infallible. She seems to suffer from a lack of foresight and tunnel vision and a lot of her actions have to be read through that lens.

 

10) The Eyeless aren't Ondra's creation. While she gave them a new purpose, it's very likely she can't take that back once given. If it were Abydon, I imagine it would be different.

 

11) The Eyeless don't seem to possess Abydon's memories, though, not individually. The only time they express that notion is when they've been defeated and their essence coalesces. I think one of the writers of the game argued on these forums that it was a state of heightened consciousness and that they only had so much sentience because they'd been regrouped.

 

12) This is easy, and I'm a bit surprised you missed it, but Abydon was killed by one of the crashing fragments of the moon that fell on Eora (the same one that generated Caryon's Scar.) The skeleton of him can be found on top of the Abbey of the Fallen Moon.

 

13) See 11.

Edited December 12, 2016 by WorstUsernameEver

[Messier-31]

12) This is easy, and I'm a bit surprised you missed it, but Abydon was killed by one of the crashing fragments of the moon that fell on Eora (the same one that generated Caryon's Scar.) The skeleton of him can be found on top of the Abbey of the Fallen Moon.

 

Ionni Brathr its name.

[JerekKruger]

(1) My explanation would be that the nature of the Watcher's awakening is such that even if they did dive into the Salt Well, all those lost memories would be returned immediately after emerging. No real evidence for this apart from the fact that the Watcher's awakening was obviously unusual.

 

(3) Well remember the normal people can see certain spirits without being watchers. The thing that makes watchers unique is they can see all spirits. So for whatever reason (perhaps the one given by WorstUsernameEver) the voices of the spirits in Durgan's Battery are audible to the whole party.

 

(4) One person's definition of cold blood might very well differ to another's. Imagine a pirate ship boarding a merchant and the pirates making it clear that no one will be hurt so long as they don't resist. Then imagine someone resists and is killed. Is that cold blood? In my eyes yes, but I can see how someone could rationalise that as not being cold blood.

 

(5) They had a run in with the Ogres of the Flames-that-Whisper cave and ended up rather dead. Depending on how you resolve that quest you may or may not have been told this by the matron.

 

(6) I'm not sure it's specifically spelled out, but perhaps they were killed by the bandit in the north of the Durgan's Battery exterior map (the guy with St. Ydwen's Redeemer). After all, he's barring the way to the monastery.

 

(8 ) Perhaps she knows but doesn't agree with your reasoning?