Line #20 VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening


1	[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dragon_Age_Origins_Awakening_628.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:320:I see your [[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins blood dragon motif]] and raise you a blood... toothy spider thing motif?]]
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4	''Awakening'' is a 2010 ExpansionPack for the successful 2009 RPG ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' and thus part 1.5 of the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series. While continuing and expanding the ''Origins'' storyline, its plot is mostly independent of the original campaign. Although you can import your ''Origins'' PlayerCharacter to ''Awakening'', it stars [[OldHeroNewPals a mostly brand-new supporting cast]] and is set in a region of Ferelden that was never visited in the original campaign. If you don't [[OldSaveBonus import an old save]], you start with a brand-new main character, too -- a seasoned Grey Warden from the neighboring Orlais.
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6	The story starts about half a year after the Fifth Blight had been vanquished in Ferelden. As the newly-appointed Warden-Commander of Ferelden, you are tasked with rebuilding TheOrder of the Grey Wardens in the region, based around the ancient fortress of Vigil's Keep. Something is not right, however: despite the Archdemon's death, the Darkspawn linger on the surface, instead of scattering back to the Deep Roads like they did after the Blights of old. It is almost as if something directs them in the absence of an Archdemon...
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8	Some of the expansion's original characters went on to play a crucial role in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' -- most notably, Anders and Justice. It also picked up a couple of important plot threads from ''Literature/TheCalling'' that were never touched upon in ''Origins''.
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10	----
11	!!The game contains examples of following tropes:
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13	* TheAce: According to his Codex entry, Paragon Hirol was this. He thought the dwarven FantasticCasteSystem was bunk and set out to prove it by mastering all the skills of Warriors, Smiths, and Nobles. His accomplishments at warfare and smithing were so great that the Assembly named him a Paragon, whereupon he built one of the wealthiest and most prestigious noble houses in the old dwarven empire.
14	* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: The prologue involves retaking Vigil's Keep from a darkspawn horde. [[spoiler:As well as a second, ''much'' larger assault at the end of the game on both the Vigil and the City of Amaranthine.]]
15	* AndIMustScream: In the Wending Wood, the Warden can find the Statue of War and the Statue of Peace -- two Avvar brothers, petrified by a Tevinter mage and still aware. The Statue of Peace, who is more accepting of his fate, has been able to "sleep" on and off throughout the years, but the Statue of War's anger has kept him awake for countless centuries.
16	* ArmorOfInvincibility:
17	** The Golem Shell Armor plate, which Master Wade can craft for you after your defeat of the Inferno Golem in Kal'Hirol.
18	** The Armor of the Sentinel is the most powerful massive armor set in the entire ''Origins'' saga and must be collected by completing a series of sidequests in both the Blackmarsh and [[spoiler:the Blackmarsh Undying]]; otherwise, several pieces will be {{Permanently Missable\|Content}}. As a hint to how good it is, [[OlderIsBetter this armor was worn by the Grey Warden who slew the first Archdemon, Dumat]].
19	* AwfulTruth: In ''Awakening'', you learn how the Fifth Blight got started.
20	* BagOfSpilling: Characters imported to ''Awakening'' lose all ''Origins'' DLC items except for those obtained in ''Return to Ostagar.''[[note]]Items received after completing the other supplemental DLC, like the "Battledress of the Provocateur" from ''Leliana's Song'', are still present in the inventory.[[/note]]
21	* BattleInTheRain: In the endgame, should you choose to [[spoiler: prioritize Amaranthine over Vigil's Keep]], the ensuing battle takes place in the rain.
22	* BigBadEnsemble: Like the main game, the expansion has two {{Big Bad}}s: [[spoiler:the Architect is the morally ambiguous one, whose fate you ultimately may decide, while the Mother is an unambiguously irredeemable monster, whom you kill either way. The Architect ''wanted'' them to be a BigBadDuumvirate, but the two of them ultimately ended up too far apart on the SlidingScaleOfAntagonistVileness]].
23	* BlatantLies: [[spoiler:If you call out the Architect on abducting Wardens from Vigil's Keep, he claims he was only brought Wardens that were already dead. But even at the point when you passed through the Silverite Mine yourself, Keenan was still alive]].
24	* BonusFeatureFailure: Not only you can't import ''Warden's Keep'' items in ''Awakening'', but playing the ''Awakening'' campaign without disabling the ''Warden's Keep'' DLC results in Vigilance using Starfang's asset instead[[note]]Starfang is an unique longsword[=/=]greatsword from ''Warden's Keep'', and the best weapon of its class available in the original campaign[[/note]].
25	* BreadEggsMilkSquick: Courtesy of Anders:
26	-->'''Anders:''' All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, ''and the right to shoot lightning at fools''.
27	-->'''Warden-Commander''': I think you're aiming too low.
28	* BrokenPedestal: Nathaniel will defend Rendon Howe until his own sister confirms, yes, the former Arl was a monster.
29	* BullyingADragon: Played straight by the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad bandits]] holding [[DistressedDamsel Bensley's daughter]] for ransom after the Warden introduces themself as 'Commander of the Grey'. If you follow that up with an Intimidate option, the savvier ones flee and one goes so far as to ''jump off the cliff rather than face you''.
30	* CallBack: Should you let Nathaniel free from his cell, he comes back to you after finishing one main story quest via random encounter, very much like how Zevran is recruited minus initially ambushing you and your party. Lampshaded by Oghren warning you about how he might "go all Zevran" on you should you let your guard down.
31	* ConfrontingYourImposter: There's a KnowledgeBroker calling himself "the Dark Wolf" who has information about a conspiracy against you. However, if you completed Slim Couldry's missions in ''Origins'', ''you're'' the Dark Wolf, and can call him out on it. He will express surprise, thinking you died, and considered the Dark Wolf a LegacyCharacter.
32	* DayOldLegend: PlayedWith here, where you can have an InfinityPlusOneSword crafted by the UltimateBlacksmith from ancient dragonbone, which immediately gets a Codex entry and even a line in the epilogue -- but not because of its ''past'' history, but because of its ''future'' history. In other words, you create a weapon so ridiculously overpowered that the game gives it its own legend as an advance payment.
33	* DiscOneNuke: You can buy all specialization manuals almost right from the start as well as the ridiculously overpowered Intensifying (+5% crit, +20% crit damage) and Amplification (+5% magical damage) rune tracings; and you get reasonably good weapons on top of that (among them ''Dumat's Spine'' with +25% crit damage). Thus a dual-wielding warrior (spirit warrior) can start the game with +30% crit, +145% crit damage and +15% damage in general, which makes for a pretty powerful combination even if you start with a new character (and the lackluster equipment that comes with it).
34	* {{Dracolich}}: The Queen of the Blackmarsh, an [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot electro-ghost dragon from another dimension]].
35	* {{Dreamville}}: During the mission to the Blackmarsh, a confrontation with the First results in you, your companions and the First being transported into the Fade; however, rather than the usual chaotic jumble of dream environments, this particular area is a largely coherent incarnation of a human village. Called "The Blackmarsh Undying," it's a recreation of a real town that once existed on this site in the waking world - and with good reason: when the Baroness of the Blackmarsh was found to have been sustaining her youth through blood magic, her subjects turned on her and burned her mansion to the ground, only for the Baroness to escape death by preserving herself and her people within the Fade. Years later, the village has long since fallen into ruin, while its incarnation in the Fade is still ruled by the Baroness - who is still feeding on the trapped souls of the townsfolk - and it's up to you to stop her.
36	* DualBoss: The Lost and an Inferno Golem, two Dragon Thralls, and a SkippableBoss fight against [[spoiler:the Architect and Utha.]]
37	* DudeWheresMyRespect:
38	** Your position of Commander of the Grey gives you plenty of respect and influence. However, if you also happen to be [[spoiler:queen or prince consort of Ferelden]], it changes [[WhatsUpKingDude surprisingly little]] in the way you are treated.
39	** Voldrik and Dworkin Glavonak, the dwarves sent by the king of Orzammar to assist the Wardens' rebuilding efforts, are far less deferential to a dwarven PC imported from ''Origins'' (who was named a Paragon for their deeds) than one would expect.
40	* EnemyCivilWar: ''Awakening'' centers around one between two surprisingly well-organized bands of darkspawn, both of which are attacking the people and Wardens of Amaranthine.
41	* EvilTaintedThePlace: The epilogue states that people eventually returned to the Blackmarsh, and rebuilt the village there. However, two homes built on the remains of the Baroness' house both died mysteriously. After that, the people tore it down and never built upon that part of the land again.
42	* FantasticRacism: The Orlesian Warden is often on the receiving end of this, as many nobles don't trust that they're now swearing fealty of their lands to the Grey Warden order... and even worse, to an ''Orlesian''. Remember, Ferelden had overthrown the brutal Orlesian occupation less than 30 years before. Some of the nobles now having to swear fealty to an Orlesian Warden may very well have fought in that war -- and given the way native Fereldans were treated during the occupation, they can be forgiven for being less than thrilled.
43	* ForcedSleep: The Architect uses magic to put the Warden and their party to sleep when they first encounter each other in [[spoiler:the Silverite Mines.]]
44	* {{Foreshadowing}}: The banter conversations between Anders, Justice and Nathaniel are ''insane'' foreshadowing for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''. Nathaniel keeps asking Justice if it's possible for him to transfer to a living host and if he could eventually be corrupted into a demon. Meanwhile, Justice tries to convince Anders that he should strike back against the Templars oppressing mages. [[spoiler: And so, of course, in ''Dragon Age II'', Anders allows Justice to possess him, Justice becomes corrupted into the demon Vengeance, and together they kill a heck of a lot of people in their crusade to set mages free.]]
45	* FreudianExcuse: Invoked by Oghren in banter with Nathaniel:
46	-->"Hey, everyone needs daddy issues. Just trying to help."
47	* GameBreakingBug:
48	** The infamous "Animated Dead glitch" that occurs in the game's climax. [[spoiler:Should you decide to save Amaranthine rather than return to Vigil's Keep]], you'll come across a standard group of darkspawn including an Emissary and some shadow Genlocks. It's a pretty easy battle on its own... until the Emissary summons Animated Dead decoys, which draw your party's attention away from the actual darkspawn. The bug occurs when the decoys don't vanish after you kill the Emissary thus keeping your party stuck in combat mode and not allowing you to progress in the mission. [[HereWeGoAgain The only option now is to reload the game until you can kill the Emissary before he summons the Animated Dead]].
49	** And while there are fan-made patches out there to rectify it, Sigrun's personal quest won't trigger if the quest "Law & Order" is started in Amaranthine prior to her quest triggering.
50	* GameplayAndStoryIntegration:
51	** Upon meeting Sigrun, she'll mention that she might have a couple of cracked ribs - if you immediately add her to the party, she'll indeed have a "broken bone" Injury.
52	** If you give Anders the kitten you find at the Vigil, he'll mention that Ser Pounce-a-lot can stay in his pack for now - adding a new item, "Ser Pounce-a-lot," which gets some CutenessProximity out of Anders when used.
53	* GameplayAndStorySegregation: Anders makes his spectacular appearance spewing fire from his hands. He has no fire spells at the time, and won't unless the player chooses to develop them.[[note]]However, if you start ''Awakening'' higher than level 18 or so, you'll have at least one spell point to spend for him, so you can give him a fire spell.[[/note]] Similarly, Velanna is later shown summoning sylvans and generally making the Wending Woods fight for her, but those abilities vanish once she joins the party.
54	* GargleBlaster: Oghren treats ''the Joining'' as this, being actually insulted that the ceremonial cup is ''too small''. And then he just burps rather then pass out like everyone else and claims it was "Not bad."
55	* GoldenEnding: The endings to the main game are fairly ambiguous, but ''Awakening'' makes it possible to save both Amaranthine and Vigil's Keep, provided you put enough effort in the Keep's... [[AccidentalPun upkeep]]. Depending on who you pick as your companions for the last mission, you can also have your entire party survive (assuming you fully upgraded the keep and completed the respective party member's personal quest): If left to defend Vigil's keep, Sigrun and Justice die while Velanna [[NeverFoundTheBody disappears]], but Oghren, Nathaniel and Anders make it out alive. I.e. for everyone to live (or, in the case of Justice, "live"), you need to pick Justice, Sigrun and Velanna for the last quest.
56	* TheGreatestStoryNeverTold: There's a codex story about the Casteless dwarves who fought and died defending Kal'Hirol. In this case, however, there is a sidequest allowing the PC to ensure that the story ''does'' eventually get told.
57	* GuideDangIt:
58	** Similar to ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', [[spoiler:saving both Amaranthine ''and'' Vigil's Keep]] requires a lot of work.
59	** To get Vigilance, you need a Grandmaster Flame Rune, which can't be found in ''Awakening'' unless they're crafted or imported. Now, if you have three levels in Crafting, no problem; but if you were more tempted by the skills that give you health and mana (and don't purchase a couple [[SkillPointReset Manuals of Focus]] from Herren), congratulations! You just locked yourself out of one of the most powerful swords in the game! Fortunately, not only Manuals of Focus are ridiculously cheap and besides that, since at the end you'll have 12 skillpoints towards the end of the game, you can pick up each of the four crafting skills as well as maxed health and mana slots anyway, but you can also give the Runecrafting skills to a companion and create the Grandmaster Flame Rune with them. It also requires a few unique pieces that you could easily sell off before getting the quest, as do Wade's other crafting recipes.
60	** Getting everyone you can recruit to become a Grey Warden. [[spoiler:If you pick up Sigrun or Velanna last, you won't be able to put them through the Joining due to the game kicking the plot into gear by talking to the character who handles the Joining. The real method is to recruit Justice last, since he's already a Warden.]]
61	** A few of the ways you recruit characters can become this. If you decide to let Anders go instead of turning him over to the Templars, or forcibly making him a Grey Warden, he'll effectively [[SoLongAndThanksForAllTheGear run off]] and you'll lose him for the rest of your playthrough. Meanwhile if you allow Nathaniel go instead of forcibly making him a Warden or executing him, he'll return and join of his own will. Theres no way to tell what will happen if you don't force someone to join, and you might lose out on Anders since your first instinct might be to let him go.
62	* GroupReactsIndividually: Half of the party would have different comments on the statue of the prophetess Andraste in the Vigil's Keep courtyard.
63	* HappilyMarried: Apart from a possible union between [[spoiler:the Warden and Alistair or Anora]], if Nathaniel becomes a Grey Warden, they can all go to Amaranthine so he can find his sister Delilah. He learns that she married a shopkeeper whom she (in her own words) adores, and [[BabiesEverAfter they're expecting their first child]].
64	* HealerSignsOnEarly: Anders is the first party member you encounter aside from Mhairi. He'll probably be the party's designated healer, unless the Warden is a Spirit Healer themself.
65	* ImprobablePowerDiscrepancy: A Warden importing his or her level-capped character will quickly face ordinary highwaymen so powerful a handful of them could have defeated the Archdemon and taken over the Tevinter Imperium. (Though even they probably couldn't have taken out Ser Cauthrien without a good strategy.) You'll also find the local militia in Amaranthine could wipe the floor with any group of adversaries in the original game. No wonder [[spoiler:Howe's men overcame Highever so easily!]] That being said, the Warden's own power will soon catapult into the stratosphere, to the point where you could probably beat the Archdemon by spitting on it if one showed up again.
66	* InfinityPlusOneSword: Vigilance. It's meant to be so powerful, it will even get mentioned in the [[WhereAreTheyNow epilogue]]... unfortunately, its actual statistics, while certainly good, are nothing to get too excited about compared to other end-game weapons.
67	* InterfaceSpoiler:
68	** [[spoiler:Mhairi]] will never survive [[spoiler:her Joining]]. While this in the base game would have been revealed by the lack of acquired experience and gain/lose approval bars, she has them indeed. But it's revealed in another way: if you check the character info screen, you'll notice her contribution to overall party damage always stays at 0% even after she's attacked.
69	** In Drake's Fall, the guide to a series of towers that you can activate (similar to the wheel that shows what allies the Warden could use in the base game's final battle) spoils the fact that [[spoiler:you can ally with the Architect.]]
70	* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: The Warden sometimes appears to be this to other characters, but justified as they are stuck being one making the tough decisions, barely keeping the lands of Amaranthine together, on top of dealing with their entire contingent of Wardens at Vigil's Keep being wiped out before they even arrived. Not to mention the fact that some of the nobles are plotting to kill them. Best exemplified in the utter disbelief if you recruit Nathaniel straight out of prison, who outright refuses and protests he would rather die. You then can point out that he ''may die anyway'' during the Joining. Although seeing as Nathaniel took four Grey Wardens to subdue him and sneaked into the Keep in the first place in order to ''kill you'', the Warden clearly recognizes his value if he joins the Order, and is kindly offering him a chance at redemption for the disgrace his father brought on his family in ''Origins''. Nathaniel eventually cottons on to why you did this. (Note that this is not seen if he is released from prison and set free. If that happens, he shows up later and ''asks'' to become a Warden.)
71	* KilledOffscreen: Arl Howe's son Thomas, who never appeared onscreen to begin with. You only find out he was killed by darkspawn when his heretofore-unknown brother Nathaniel inquires about it.
72	* KillerRabbit: The fate of Mr. Wiggums, assuming Anders wasn't just BS-ing you. Apparently, a cat possessed by a rage demon can take out ''three Templars'' before being brought down.
73	* LighterAndSofter:
74	** While still fairly dark, it significantly tones down the bleak sense of impending doom that ''Origins'' had; after all, both the Blight proper and the civil war are over and the Grey Wardens are busy mopping up the remaining darkspawn with full support from the new monarch.
75	** Companions at rock-bottom approval will simply leave, with no option to kill them off (as you often could in ''Origins''). [[spoiler: If you fail to convince Justice or Sigrun to help the Architect, however...]]
76	* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Subverted. At higher ends, mages are only the best if you use the auto-level options and wear whatever equipment comes in the prettiest colors. The most [[EliteTweak mind-bogglingly powerful]] builds are all rogues and (even more so) warriors. It is possible to make a spirit warrior archer who does three thousand damage with an arrow of slaying, a rogue who does more than three hundred damage per second backstabbing, or an nigh-invincibly murder machine warrior who has 100% resistance to magic AND normal attacks, clad in armor of invulnerability, regenerating 8 health per second and still dealing a good 150 damage per second. Oghren in particular, when dual-wielding a Tier 7 weapon, berserking, and using Peon's Plight, will regularly deal almost 450 damage to a single target. It only gets more ridiculous as his weapons get more powerful. And Maker help the bad guys if you start screwing with his specializations...
77	* LoopholeAbuse: How a Mage Warden becomes Arl of Amaranthine. Legally, Mages are forbidden from holding lands and titles, but technically, the Arling itself is stated to belong to the ''Wardens'', not an individual. The title of Arl/essa falls to whomever is appointed Warden-Commander of Ferelden, which in this case, just ''happens'' to be a Mage.
78	* LoveHurts: Practically a theme of ''Awakening'', as several sidequests, including two companion quests, center around a love story that ends horribly. Oghren joins the Grey Wardens after having split with Felsi, with whom he had a child, because he was unable to reconcile his BloodKnight nature. In one sidequest, the Warden can track down a young man who hanged himself after failing to provide a dream home for his wife; the Warden must then deliver the horrible news. Another man's attempt at a WackyMarriageProposal resulted in his would-be fiancée believing it to be a crude joke and leaving him; he then poisoned himself. In the Silverite Mine, a dying Grey Warden begs the main character to bring his wife his ring, but when the Warden tracks her down, it turns out that she's cheating on him. Finally, a young woman named Aura learns of the death of her husband, a Grey Warden named Kristoff, in the worst possible way: by encountering his animated corpse, which is possessed by a Spirit of Justice.
79	* MagikarpPower: After being largely ignored or relegated to backup in Origins, the addition of the Accuracy skill makes an archer with high dexterity and decent armor basically a OneManArmy. A properly specced and equipped archer trounces even most of the game-breaking mage builds, capable of one-shotting any basic mook and massacring bosses faster than the rest of the party combined could've accomplished.
80	* MeleeATrois: The final dungeon is a slog through a dragon graveyard which is the [[HiveQueen Mother]]'s territory, while the Architect's forces are also trying to invade for the same reason. So you have the Grey Wardens trying to plow through two factions of warring darkspawn, and just in case you were getting bored, a High Dragon drops out of the sky in the middle of a fight and begins attacking everything indiscriminately.
81	* AMillionIsAStatistic: Can be used as a threat at one point: "Hundreds have died in my wake, you're just a number."
82	* ModularEpilogue: ''Awakening'' continues the tradition from ''Origins'', albeit [[http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Epilogue_%28Awakening%29 not as energetically]] (without "normal" cutscenes and just the epilogue).
83	* MoneySpider: Childer Larvae and Hatchlings seem to have a pretty big allowance for being a week old. They can drop over 2 sovereigns.
84	* MontyHaul: All of ''Awakening'' throws more loot at you than you'll ever need. The sticker shock of the building upgrade and dream items in shops fades pretty quickly when you notice how quickly your purse is refilling.
85	* MurderInc[=/=]ProfessionalKillers: "The Antivan Crows send their regards."
86	* MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch: Justice, a spirit who was [[spoiler:forced by magical mishap into the body of a newly-dead Grey Warden]], explains that most benevolent spirits have no interest in the material world, especially since all those who go there never return.
87	* NeverSuicide: Inverted. One sidequest ends in coming across a man who apparently hanged himself with his hands tied behind his back. Nobody finds this odd.
88	* NeverTrustATrailer: The trailers touted [[spoiler:the Architect as the BigBad. In reality, he only appears a couple times throughout the expansion and has very few lines. You don't even have to fight him.]]
89	* TheNudifier: ''Awakening'' can start an imported character save from the previous game in their underwear if they were wearing DLC armor. There is also a prominent glitch that destroys the player character's equipment.
90	* OldHeroNewPals: Except for Oghren, your entire ''Origins'' party cannot join you in the ''Awakening'' time frame, with various justifications. Even your dog is absent - a codex entry states that he's being used as a stud to help repopulate the mabari kennels. You will at least see Wynne, if she wasn't killed in ''Origins'', who shows up to give you a sidequest. If the Warden ended ''Origins'' in a romance with either Leliana or Zevran, they will receive a letter from their absent beloved. Alistair has a brief cameo at the beginning of the game if [[spoiler:he is the king]]. Also, [[spoiler:if spared, Loghain can also appear at Vigil's Keep at one point, bringing the Warden some items before informing them that the Grey Warden order reassigns him to Orlais, much to his chagrin.]]
91	* OldSaveBonus: You can import your ''Origins'' endgame save to start the game at a level higher than 18 and with high-level ''Origins'' gear.
92	* OptionalBoss: The Queen of Blackmarsh, is a [[spoiler: [[{{Dracolich}} ghostly dragon]] that can be found hidden in Blackmarsh if the player finds all the scattered dragon bones across the Marsh, opening the path towards her.]]
93	* OptionalPartyMember: In theory, you can refuse to recruit ''any'' of them.
94	* OrderReborn: The Grey Wardens of Ferelden are all but wiped out near the beginning of ''Origins'', and rebuilding them remains a concern even after the defeat of the Blight. ItsUpToYou to restore the Order.
95	* OutOfClothesExperience: How a player could start off playing the ''Awakening'' expansion if they imported a character save from the previous game who's wearing DLC armor that doesn't transfer. (It doesn't always happen, but it ''can''.)
96	* PermanentlyMissableContent:
97	** The Silverite Mine. Once the Warden-Commander has completed the area, it is not possible to return to it. You can potentially make up to 5 sidequests[[note]][[spoiler:Trade Must Flow, Elemental Requirements, Worked to the Bone, Bombs Away!, Last Wishes]][[/note]] {{Unwinnable}} as a result, on top of missing out on any loot you couldn't get from chests or enemies.
98	** [[spoiler:The Blackmarsh Undying. Much like the Fade: Lost in Dreams section of the "Broken Circle" quest from ''Origins'', you can miss out on the Essences and fonts that give permanent stat boosts. You can also miss out on assembling the ArmorOfInvincibility.]]
99	* PlayerHeadquarters: The Vigil's Keep.
100	* PointAndClickMap
101	* RagtagBunchOfMisfits: There's an apostate mage with an obsessive Templar out for his blood, a murderous elven hippie mage, a thief whose father is the noble who killed the Human Noble's family, a member of the Dwarven Legion of the Dead, a Fade spirit of Justice trapped in the body of a dead man, and a very nice Grey Warden recruit [[spoiler:who dies the second she takes her Joining]]. Oh, and the drunk dwarf soldier from ''Origins'' returns as well. Much like in ''Origins'', the {{Odd Friendship}}s are so numerous that it might just be ''you'' who are the odd one.
102	* RandomEncounter: Some battles will be initiated while travelling through the map. Specific encounters will even trigger Velanna's personal quest and Nathaniel's recruitment if you released from his dungeon cell.
103	* RealTimeWithPause: Due to being an expansion of Origins, the gameplay mechanic works the same here.
104	* RenovatingThePlayerHeadquarters: The game opens with the Gray Wardens being legally rehabilitated in Ferelden and granted a castle by the crown, the ancient fortress of Vigil's Keep. Unfortunately for them, Vigil's Keep is in a state of major disrepair following its fall during the Orlesian occupation and the subsequent rule by Arl Rendon Howe who preferred to spend most of his time in the capital or plotting against the Cousland teyrns. Throughout the game, the player can invest large sums of money into renovating the castle, such as rebuilding its outer walls and upgrading the armory, which has a moderate impact on the expansion's ending.
105	* SadisticChoice: The endgame has a very nasty one: [[spoiler:You have to choose between saving Amaranthine or saving Vigil's Keep. If you choose the former, the companions you left at the keep may die.]] [[TakeAThirdOption This fate can be averted]] [[GuideDangIt as long as you do certain steps]], you can [[spoiler:save both the keep and Amaranthine]]. [[EarnYourHappyEnding The game]] ''[[EarnYourHappyEnding will]]'' [[EarnYourHappyEnding make you earn it.]] In order to save them both, you must [[spoiler:first clear out the Vigil's Keep basement, which turns into a fairly large dungeon connecting to the Deep Roads, in order to seal off the tunnels from further darkspawn threats. Next, pay the dwarf stonemason in the courtyard a truly absurd amount of money to hire laborers to repair the walls. Find a granite quarry to supply him with raw materials, and ''make absolutely sure'' you assign guards to the laborers to go and fetch it. Finally, find ''all'' of the ore deposits in the game and bring them to [[UltimateBlacksmith Wade]] to forge weapons and armor for your troops.]] It'll take quite a bit of work to take care of everything, but [[VideoGameCaringPotential it'll be worth it]] when you read the Epilogue about the heroic defense. You'll know you've gotten it right if it's your first time playing it and you get the Enduring Vigil achievement. Despite all your efforts, however, [[spoiler:Sigrun (definitely) and Velanna and Justice (supposedly) will die if you leave them at the Keep and save Amaranthine, regardless of whether you got the Enduring Vigil achievement]].
106	* SequelHook:
107	** The Warden Commander can spare the Architect and allow him to continue his experiments. This could stop blights forever, but it also involves letting him create a society of intelligent darkspawn, both of which could greatly impact the future of Thedas. [[note]]It's been stated by developers that the intelligent darkspawn were originally planned to reappear in ''Inquisition'', but the quest ended up reworked into something else[[/note]]
108	** One of the cards released with ''Awakening'' has a picture of a dragon in the blood paint style and the numbers 2-01-11. ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' (whose cover has a similar looking dragon on it) came out in March 2011.
109	* ShoutOut: Besides this game being an expansion of ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins Origins]]'', there's a few others:
110	** At one point, the Warden [[VideoGame/BaldursGateII wakes up in a cell without their gear and confronts a mad wizard's experiments.]]
111	** The Warden-Commander is frequently addressed as [[Franchise/MassEffect "Commander."]] Additionally, some of the childer spawn look and sound an awful lot like the [[HellIsThatNoise geth]].
112	* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption:
113	** [[spoiler:The opening involves a darkspawn attack on Vigil's Keep using a tunnel network, and a quest chain is dedicated to closing off their access. Absolutely no one thinks the smuggler tunnel leading from outside Amaranthine into the heart of the city poses any further problem than posed by the smugglers themselves. Guess how the darkspawn get in at the end.]]
114	** The huge disk inside the Silverite Mines sure looks like a trap, but there's no way to go around it. It doesn't matter which way you go; a cutscene triggers once you get close enough, in which you and your party walk straight onto it. [[spoiler: And get ambushed.]]
115	* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: You can make the Orlesian Warden this to your [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificed Warden]], if you wish. The major locations in ''Awakening'' are all this to locations from ''Origins'': Vigil's Keep is Soldier's Peak, Amaranthine is Denerim, the Wending Wood is the Brecilian Forest, Kal'Hirol is the Dead Trenches, the Blackmarsh is the haunted Castle Redcliffe combined with the infamous "Lost in Dreams" sequence from the Circle Tower, and Drake's Fall is the Temple of Andraste (but with darkspawn).
116	* TakenForGranite: The Brothers of Stone, who were turned into statues after they sacrificed a Tevinter magister to the god of the Wending Wood.
117	* TakeAThirdOption: The Warden is faced with this dilemma during a meeting with the nobles of Amaranthine. By this point they know there's a plot against them, and could possibly have gotten information about it from a woman who later turned up dead on the road to Vigil's Keep. The chief suspect is a knight who is very much aware that the Warden has no proof against him and that he can't be punished for that and also for the simple fact that he's [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections noble-born.]] The Warden can either let him go, leaving him unpunished and free to participate in the attempt on the Warden's life; kill him, which will upset the banns; or declare that he will be kept in the dungeon for the duration of their very long, very thorough investigation. Watching the ensuing VillainousBreakdown is extremely satisfying.
118	* ATankardOfMooseUrine: Dragon Piss, an alcoholic gift for Oghren: "The name is probably figurative, but no one knows for sure."
119	* TooAwesomeToUse: Whatever variant of Dworkin the Mad's explosives you receive, you get a maximum of 4. One bomb will do 300+ damage across its area of effect and knock back enemies, so the player must decided if they want to stockpile them for the endgame or not.
120	* TooDumbToLive:
121	** Rylock, the [[InspectorJavert overzealous Templar]] pursuing Anders, who is determined to bring him in to face justice for the deaths of the Templars who were guarding him during the darkspawn attack on the Vigil. While she claims that Chantry law supersedes the Crown in matters regarding mages, she's conveniently forgotten that part where the Crown merely accepted that they '''cannot''' deny a Grey Warden who has invoked the Right of Conscription - and, as seen with Alistair's conscription in the first game, ''neither can the Chantry''. The Chantry certainly does not allow her to foolishly attempt to ''murder'' the Warden for refusing to hand Anders over, either. It's particularly egregious since if they're imported from ''Origins'', the Warden may actually be the chancellor, the king's mistress, or the sovereign's wedded consort, not to mention beloved by the people as the Hero of Ferelden. What did she expect to happen if she ''won''?
122	** Bann Esmerelle and the other nobles conspiring to get rid of the Warden Commander if the Warden Commander is the Ferelden Grey Warden imported from Origins. They do this knowing fully that the Warden has both faced and claimed victory over including but not limited to: several dragons, an Archdemon, the Witch of the Wilds, a Pride Demon, a broodmother, and Tevinter slavers led by a powerful Magister. Not to mention he/she (with hardly any effort) dispatches bandit gangs on a regular basis, defeated a Fereldan war hero in one-on-one combat, stormed an Arl's estate and either killed several of the previously mentioned war hero's top knights, or escaped from the largest Fereldan prison while leaving dozens of corpses in his/her wake, and plows through countless numbers of darkspawn while coming out with hardly a scratch.
123	** Mosley the Snake, a bandit who kidnap some noble's daughter in a side mission. Even after knowning that the person who confront him is the same that killed an Archdemon, [[SmallNameBigEgo he still thinks that he can win the fight]]. Fortunately for them, [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere some of his men seem to have half a brain and flee]] the second the Warden started to intimidate them.
124	* TotalPartyKill: If you import to ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', ALL party members not present with you to the broodmother will be flagged as dead no matter if you choose to save Vigil's Keep or not.
125	* TwentyBearAsses: The Chantry wants five samples of wood from ancient wild sylvans, while the Merchant's Guild wants nine pieces of silk stolen by bandits and charcoal rubbings of the inscriptions on eight statues. All these things can be found in the Wending Wood.
126	* UltimateBlacksmith: Master Wade is back to craft the InfinityPlusOneSword for you.
127	* UnexplainedRecovery: If [[spoiler:the Warden dies at the end of ''Origins'']], and a save file is imported to ''Awakening'', they'll be kicking around and no one finds it odd or expresses surprise. Draw your own conclusions.
128	* TheUnintelligible: Most darkspawn can only communicate in guttural growls and roars. [[spoiler: The appearance of darkspawn that CAN talk is treated as incredibly dangerous, and indeed it is: the darkspawn are an exceptionally deadly threat when the Archdemon organizes them into a Blight, but they're generally easy to deal with otherwise. If the darkspawn can suddenly reason enough to lead themselves without an Archdemon, it would mean an unending Blight. Luckily, the Architect is smart enough to realize that the Blights are as devastating to his people as they are to the other races and wants to end them forever.]]
129	* UnintentionallyUnwinnable:
130	** Both of Sigrun's companion quests can be this. If you did "Last of the Legion" last of the main story quests, you'll never be able to complete "Sigrun's Joining" because your normal dialogue tree with Varel will be replaced by discussion of the [[spoiler:impending darkspawn invasion of Amaranthine]]. This problem also afflicts "Velanna's Joining" if you do "The Righteous Path" last.[[note]]The only way to have both complete the Joining is to wrap up both Kal'Hirol and the Wending Wood, and make sure they've both done the ritual before venturing into the Blackmarsh.[[/note]]
131	** Making matters worse, a bug will cause the "Sigrun's Roguish Path" quest to never trigger at all if you did either the "Law & Order" or "Smuggler's Run" sidequests in Amaranthine before you recruited her (and those just happen to be two of the first sidequests you'll be given in the game). Even just ''starting'' them makes "Sigrun's Roguish Path" fail to trigger. However, there are fixes for this that can be found through the Dragon Age Wiki.
132	* {{Unperson}}: Arl Howe's actions in the previous game have caused him to suffer this fate in Amaranthine, with the place doing its best to erase any evidence that he ever existed beyond people's personal memories (and a conspiracy of nobles that want revenge on you).
133	* YouKillItYouBoughtIt: The Warden (now Warden-Commander) is given Arl Howe's title of Arl of Amaranthine. You may also have been awarded the Teyrnir of Gwaren, depending on the boon you ask at the end of the main game. If your Warden was the Human Noble, you may have [[spoiler:married Alistair or Anora]], which means that in total, you can be the Royal Consort of Ferelden, Teyrn/a of Gwaren, Arl/essa of Amaranthine, ''and'' heir to the Teyrnir of Highever, [[spoiler:since your brother, the new Teyrn, is without issue at this point]]. When you go for your Calling, there's gonna be significant political upheaval unless the Warden is smart enough to start naming successors PDQ.

Context VideoGame / DragonAgeOriginsAwakening