I was trying to get into Loghain's head during the Fifth Blight period, since I usually write him before that. Don't know if I was successful, but here it is anyway. :)
For Ferelden. The words he lived by. He'd done everything for Ferelden.
He could see Maric in every corner. By all rights, it should have been Cailan's ghost that haunted him. It had been Cailan he'd left behind, Cailan that he'd betrayed. But no, it was Maric's face that flashed in front of him every time he closed his eyes.
By all rights it should have been Cailan, but he wasn't surprised that it was Maric. The man had haunted him even when he had been alive. The shadows shivered when he wasn't looking. Sometimes he wanted to die.
He woke up one day and discovered there was distrust in those around him. The only thing that felt right was the sword at his belt. His daughter no longer smiled at dinner.
The air crackled with tension and no one's eyes met his.
Every word out of Arl Howe's mouth was poison. But he was honest with Loghain, and he was on his side. Howe was despicable, but with every new maneuver, Loghain was too. The only difference was his ability to stand behind his own legacy.
When he found out two Grey Wardens had lived, he was displeased. When they continued to survive despite Howe's best efforts, Loghain didn't know how he felt.
To protect Ferelden, that's why he did all of this. He raised his goblet to his mouth with shaking hands night after night and told himself that's why he was selling his own citizens into slavery. Some might say he was destroying Ferelden in his attempts to save it.
When it was midday and he looked out into the city, he might agree.
In the night, where the shadows watched as he writhed in his bed, sleep haunted by the ghosts of chevaliers long dead, he would not even know another path existed.
When those Grey Wardens showed up in Denerim, Loghain did not try as he could have to stop them. Perhaps he was tired. Perhaps he had lost the ability to lead, like so many said. Only Loghain knew.
The Hero of River Dane has fallen, the criers yelled after the Landsmeet. Loghain wondered why he was still alive to hear it. Howe was dead, but he feared the poison in his veins was alive, thriving in him, pulsing through his veins. Maybe there was time for him yet. More likely, he would ruin the Warden and their friends, as Howe had poisoned him.