I agree that Loghain becomes quite despicable near the end, but I think his level of desperation coupled with his hatred for all things Orlesian makes him a very interesting well-motivated character. (I tend to like characters who are not sympathetic, purely because it requires very good storytelling to pull it off. I tend to fall asleep when stories are presented in a black and white fashion...)

Meredith. I am looking forward to seeing her appearance. I've made mental notes of every comment characters have made about her so far--which almost uniformly depict her as a severe hardliner. Only one conversation with Cullen provided some eyebrow raising subtext and, without that, she would otherwise appear monotone at this point. I suspect she'll will include elements of the sorts of characters I like (note: although definitely not the sort of person I like).