History Awesome / DragonAgeOrigins

* Saving the tower. To elaborate: the templars there were [[CurStompBattle overrun]] by an horde of abominations and demons. Then, the Warden's group enter into the tower and save the mages, killing every demon and abomination inside, if Gregoir's comment after the quest is any indication. One of the templars nearby him even says that the Warden is the proof that the stories of the wardens' strength are all true.

* The opening cinematic to the endgame. The huge army that you've spent the entire game gathering finally assembles. You arrive at Denerim after a forced march and see the archdemon flying overhead. Before you go into battle, Alistair gives the army a RousingSpeech, saying that ''you'' are the greatest Grey Warden in history. The end of the speech tops it off, as Alistair ends it by yelling "For Ferelden! ''And the Grey Wardens''!", after which the entire army charges towards Denerim screaming, easily breaking into the city after dealing with the group of darkspawn that was outside. [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic With the heroic leitmotif playing, no less.]]

---> '''Alistair''': Before us stands the might of the darkspawn horde. Gaze upon them now, but ''fear them not!'' The man beside me is a native of Ferelden, now risen to the ranks of the Grey Wardens. He is proof that glory is within reach of us all. He has survived ''despite'' the odds, and without him, ''none'' of us would be here today. Today, we save Denerim! Today, we avenge the death of my brother, King Cailan! But most of all, today we show the Grey Wardens we ''remember'' and ''honor'' their sacrifice. FOR FERELDEN! ''AND THE GREY WARDENS!''

* Saving the tower. To elaborate: the templars there were [[CurStompBattle overrided]] by an horde of abominations and demons. Then, the Warden's group enter into the tower and save the mages, killing every demon and abomination inside, if Gregoir's comment after the quest is any indication. One of the templars nearby him even says that the Warden is the proof that the stories of the wardens' strength are all true.

** It has a little extra oomph after you learn that Grey Wardens [[spoiler:usually only visit the Deep Roads when they are nearing the end of their tainted life - rather than withering away, they choose to take as many darkspawn as they can down with them.]]"

** [[spoiler: The armor worn reappears in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' as the "Armour of the Fallen", implying that was indeed that Warden's Calling. If so, that was an ''awesome'' way to go out]].

* The female city elf gets one of these in her origin. The other elves in the Alienage make comments about the character's infamous martial training, which she received from her mother. [[spoiler: When cornered by two guards intending to rape the character, now unarmed and in a jail cell, and possibly just wearing her wedding dress...her cousin Soris comes in with a sword. It looks like he's going to try and pull a BigDamnHeroes moment and get slaughtered. Then he leans down and slides the sword to you. The guards' comment? "[[OhCrap Oh, sod]]."]] Utterly badass, and the game's barely started.

* The Battle of Ostagar, where King Cailan and his men are positioned to crush [[TheHorde the darkspawn]] once and for all. [[spoiler:It doesn't work, but]] the battle cinematic is truly awesome to see, especially on higher graphics and with such SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic blaring from your speakers at top volume.

* Destroying [[spoiler: the Anvil of the Void.]] Epic Hammer Smash.

---> '''Alistair''': Before us stands the might of the darkspawn horde. Gaze upon them now, but ''fear them not!'' The man beside me is a native of Ferelden, now risen to the ranks of the Grey Wardens. He is proof that glory is within reach of us all. He has survived ''despite'' the odds, and without him, ''none'' of us would be here today. Today, we save Denerim! Today, we avenge the death of [[spoiler: my brother,]] King Cailan! But most of all, today we show the Grey Wardens we ''remember'' and ''honor'' their sacrifice. FOR FERELDEN! ''AND THE GREY WARDENS!''

* Riordan [[spoiler: leaping from the roof of the Fort Drakon tower to ride the Archdemon, stab it a few times, and then tear a huge gash in its wing with his sword...it didn't work, but you can't fault him for trying. And it did do enough damage to the dragon's flying ability that it can't simply take wing and fly away once you're fighting it atop Fort Drakon.]]

** And keep an eye out for [[spoiler:Sandal!]]
* In the ending, [[spoiler:whoever kills the Archdemon gets his/her own SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.]]
* If your PC kills the Archdemon [[spoiler: and dies in the process]], Sten travels back to Par Vollen. He's asked if there was anyone honorable outside of Par Vollen. Sten replies that in all his travels, [[ItHasBeenAnHonor he only ever met one.]]

* Duncan killing an Ogre by ''climbing up its chest with knives,'' [[spoiler:while mortally wounded.]]

** The deathblow animation for killing the High Dragon or [[spoiler:Flemeth]] is also completely awesome: feint, leap astride neck, stab, get thrown into air as dragon rears in pain, do flip, land on neck again, hack away until dead.
** The animation for a two-weapon elven rogue slaying [[spoiler:the Broodmother]] was pretty awesome as well. You climb up on her body to her shoulders, leaving her completely helpless. Then you slash her head a couple of times before slitting her throat with both blades. To top it off, you flip down to the ground.

* Flemeth's [[spoiler:nonchalant and casual [[ScaledUp transformation into a dragon]] to do battle with the player.]]
--->'''Flemeth''': [[spoiler:"Come. She will earn what she takes. I'll have it no other way."]]
** If a melee character attacks [[spoiler:Flemeth]] and kills her, the resulting "death blow" animation is truly epic to behold.

*** During one run-through the Battle of Denerim, both the Female Noble and a romanced Alistair ''repeatedly'' got the final strike on multiple Ogres, from various starting directions and ran the animation to take it down together. Made more awesome because during the Landsmeet [[spoiler: they'd become King and Queen of Ferelden]], proving that with Ferelden's premiere BattleCouple, the country is ''definitely'' in safe hands!

** Getting rid of Caladrius and his goons as an Elven Arcane Warrior. The Tevinter blood mage came to Ferelden to take advantage of its dire situation and take as many Elven slaves as possible, only to end up meeting the first Elf in centuries to master the Elvhenan's forgotten branch of magic, one that was [[KarmicDeath specifically tailored for war]] and [[TheDreaded the bane]] of the Ancient Tevinters. Of course, since Inquisition reveals that [[spoiler: ancient Elvhenan was itself a slaver civilization ruled by power-mad mage-kings with delusion of Godhood which the Tevinter Imperium didn't destroy but mimicked]], it may very well be that [[spoiler: the Arcane Warriors themselves used to be slave-hunters back in the day]], and frankly, [[spoiler: using the crafts and weapons of ancient slave hunters to [[CurbStompBattle mercilessly crush]] modern slave hunters]] makes it [[LaserGuidedKarma even sweeter in hindsight]].

*** Even better when you come to save the Alienage during the Battle of Denerim, only to find Shianni and many other elves carrying makeshift weapons they crafted themselves and ''volunteering'' to fight with you. Even if you try to convince them it would be safer to hide, they ''insist'' on staying to defend their home. A City Elven Warden and the Denerim Alienage elves banding together to protect their own home from darkspawn, which most people believed they would not be able to do (one of the reasons Loghain gives for [[spoiler: selling elves into slavery]] is that the Alienage would be defenseless against the darkspawn), feels pretty darn amazing.

** Note that all of the other nobles at the Landsmeet are wearing their expensive finery. Teagan, though? He's clad in heavy chainmail. He's ''expecting'' a fight when he calls Loghain out.

** Made infinitely more awesome if immediately following this speech, there's a slew of "South Reach stands with the Warden!" "Waking Sea supports the Warden!" "Dragon's Peak supports the Warden!"

[[folder: Trailers]]

[[folder: Main Story]]

[[folder: Leliana's Song DLC]]

[[folder: Other]]

--> '''Male City Elf''': [[PreMortemOneLiner I wanted you to be awake for this]]...
--> '''Soris''': *''Speechless''* That was ''cold'', cousin!

--> *''Removes helmet and reveals themselves to be Casteless''*

-->"I’d sacrifice a lot more if I knew it would end the Blight. (...) You saw those darkspawn, Ser Knight. Wouldn’t you die to protect your pretty wife from them? The babe she carries? Maybe you’ll die. Maybe we’ll all die. If no one stops the Blight, we’ll all die for sure."

-->'''Irving''': '''You think me a fool?''' '''''There is nothing I wish from the likes of you!'''''

--> '''Mage Warden''': How about you leave and I do not ''destroy'' you?
--> '''Desire Demon''': [[MuggingTheMonster I... see]]. Though you are alone in my domain, [[BullyingADragon I have no doubt of your power]]. I am not one for taking risks. Have it your way. I relinquish my hold on the boy if you allow me to leave unhindered? I can offer nothing better.
--> '''Mage Warden''': On the contrary, I think you can offer ''[[BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame more]]''.
--> '''Desire Demon''': *''Sighs''* I see. Name your price then.

-->"My lords and ladies, our land has been threatened before. It's been invaded and lost, and won times beyond counting. We Fereldans have proven that we will never truly be conquered so long as we are united. We must not let ourselves be divided now. Stand with me, and we shall defeat even the Blight itself."

* Even if you have to promise Anora the throne to get her to side with you, [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder or else she'll turn against you]], [[CallingTheOldManOut her speech against Loghain is awesome by itself.]]
-->'''Anora''': Lords and Ladies of Ferelden, hear me. My father is no longer the man you know. This man is not the hero of River Dane. This man turned his troops aside and refused to protect your king as he fought bravely against the darkspawn. This man seized Cailan's throne before his body was cold and locked me away so I could not reveal his treachery.

-->''(Alistair then beheads him!)''

---> "Before us stands the might of the darkspawn horde. Gaze upon them now, but ''fear them not!'' The man beside me is a native of Ferelden, now risen to the ranks of the Grey Wardens. He is proof that glory is within reach of us all. He has survived ''despite'' the odds, and without him, ''none'' of us would be here today. Today, we save Denerim! Today, we avenge the death of [[spoiler: my brother,]] King Cailan! But most of all, today we show the Grey Wardens we ''remember'' and ''honor'' their sacrifice. FOR FERELDEN! ''AND THE GREY WARDENS!!''"

* While shutting down the Tevinter slaving operation, a guard asks you to identify yourself. If you do, the guard immediately panics. You've become such a threat to Loghain that you are now TheDreaded.

--> '''Morrigan''' Let us end this! *zap*

* Ser Otto, the blind Templar. Going into the Alienage to solve a problem with no real help, fighting demons in a haunted orphanage, all pretty damn badass. But his ultimate crowning moment has to be when in mockery a rage demon throws a book at him, Otto simply swats it away in a manner that makes you question how powerful Templars can really be.

[[AC: City Elf Origin]]

--->'''Warden (to Vaughan):''' Start talking. You've only seconds to live.

[[AC: Circle Mage Origin]]

[[AC: Dwarf Commoner Origin]]

!! Tainted Blood

!! The Tower of Ishal

!! A Paragon of Her Kind

!! The Arl of Redcliffe

!! The Landsmeet

!! The Battle of Denerim

--->'''Anora:''' Before us stands the might of the darkspawn horde! Gaze upon them now, but ''fear them not''! <character specific line> S/he has survived despite the odds, and without him/her, none of us would be here! Today, we save Denerim! Today, we avenge the death of my husband, your King Cailan! But most of all, today we show the Grey Wardens that we remember and honour their sacrifice! For Ferelden! For the Grey Wardens!

* One for the entire Grey Warden order in the game's intro movie: we see the darkspawn rampaging along, massacring the dwarven armies, with Duncan providing the commentary, and then we see the Wardens charging at a massive horde of darkspawn - a half-dozen Wardens, and they ''tear'' into the darkspawn, swords swinging, magical fire burning, arrows striking. Then we see the darkspawn attacking a village, and ''two'' Gray Wardens are shown holding off virtually the entire darkspawn army by themselves - all while some truly heroic and badass music is playing in the background.

* Jowan in the mage origin. A timid, soft-spoken and somewhat pathetic guy, but the second his girlfriend is threatened with imprisonment he bellows with more force and rage than we ever see before or after: "NO!! I WON'T LET YOU TOUCH HER!", and then proceeds to stab through his own hand, raise his arms, and knock out the First Enchanter, Knight-Commander and an entire roomful of Templars with the sheer, brutal force of his own blood. [[TearJerker Too bad Lily instantly begins to hate him after that, as he lied to her about not being a blood mage...]]
** You yourself, a comparatively much stronger mage, will have to go through about three-fourths of the game before getting even remotely strong enough to solo so many enemies of that caliber, and Jowan has yet to go through his Harrowing. That's how [[DespairEventHorizon angry and desperate]] he is.
** The mage Warden can then follow it up. After spending their entire life in the Tower, being told that mages must be controlled, you can tell the First Enchanter and the Templar Knight Master that you don't ''care'' if Jowan is a blood mage, you're ''glad'' he escaped and that if you had to do it all over again, you'd still help him.
*** And for those who were sick of Jowan's manipulation and immaturity in the Origin, it's just as satisfying to track him down and punish him for all the damage he has done.