| 1 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 2 | |
| 3 | ! General Tropes |
| 4 | |
| 5 | [[folder:A-E]] |
| 6 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: |
| 7 | ** Arl Eamon Guerrin. Although he is identified as a BigGood of Ferelden, some of his actions not seen directly in the game can make the player question just what kind of person he really is. Yes, he took in Alistair as a baby and saw that he was healthy and educated; but packed him off to the Chantry when he was ten to placate the jealous Isolde. Even this part becomes somewhat questionable when you understand that ''Eamon made the kid sleep in the stable''. One has to wonder how he even got away with that, seeing as how [[spoiler:Alistair's father was the ''king'']]. Additionally, once Cailan's secret correspondence is reclaimed in the ''Return to Ostagar'' DLC, it can be read in the codexes - where it is revealed that Eamon was the one who convinced Cailan that he should divorce Anora. Loghain himself puts forth this interpretation of Eamon. |
| 8 | --->'''Loghain''': Because Eamon, for all his merits, is a conservative man. He believes in tradition and inheritance, and would never see the daughter of a freeholder, however gifted, in power. |
| 9 | ** Duncan killing Jory is extreme, but a case can be made that Duncan doing so has more justified reasons than merely keeping the Warden's secrets. The Warden recruits had all been warned they'd reached the point of no return, they had to go through the Joining. Jory refused, and drew his sword on Duncan. In that moment, he became a deserter, refusing to stay at or report to his assigned post (being a Grey Warden), and showed by drawing his sword that he was prepared to fight, and thus kill, to affect his desertion. Desertion is a pretty stiff crime, especially in medieval times (in fact, in Ostagar, you meet an accused deserter, and it's treated as a ForegoneConclusion he'll be hanged for it as soon as someone gets around to sentencing him). So Duncan wasn't [[KilledToUpholdTheMasquerade killing Jory to keep the Warden's secrets]], he was executing a man who'd proven he didn't have the courage to fight the fight he'd signed on for. A harsh punishment to be sure. . . but a soldier on the line turning tail compromises the entire army; running off while still in the relative safety of the camp is little different. |
| 10 | * AluminumChristmasTrees: In one bit of party banter, Leliana (gently) insults Alistair's cooking, to which Alistair responds that the traditional cuisine of Ferelden involves throwing a bunch of random ingredients in a big pot and boiling everything down to a "uniform gray color." The game presents this as Alistair pulling Leliana's leg, but that's actually a pretty good description of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pottage pottage]], the staple food of most lower-class people in medieval Europe (on which Thedas is heavily, and [[ShownTheirWork mostly accurately]], based). |
| 11 | * AndYouThoughtItWouldFail: [[https://www.thegamer.com/dragon-age-origins-oral-history/ According to]] its lead writer David Gaider, ''Origins'' was written off by Creator/ElectronicArts even before it was released, who saw it as too old-fashioned and not "sleek and sexy" enough to succeed, especially compared to the concurrent ''Franchise/MassEffect'' releases. All they wanted was for ''DAO'' to break even, so they could [[StillbornFranchise shelve the series for good]] (which is why its ModularEpilogue cast so far into the future, it later had to be officially declared rumors and hearsay, so it wouldn't conflict with the later continuity). Then ''DAO'' came out and sold like hot pancakes, starting Creator/BioWare's ''second'' CashCowFranchise (after ''Mass Effect'') and forcing EA to eat crow and to demand that [=BioWare=] makes [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII a sequel]] immediately, which... [[ChristmasRushed backfired]]. |
| 12 | * AntiClimaxBoss: |
| 13 | ** Loghain. When you finally face him, he's actually not even a Boss, just an Elite. The [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Doylist]] explanation for this is that [[spoiler:a Boss-ranked Loghain would be way overpowered to fight in a one-on-one duel]], but it's still kind of jarring to discover that the most feared general in Ferelden is actually less powerful than Howe, a Rogue. Notably, if a fight breaks out in the throne room prior to the duel[[note]]Which happens if the player loses the Landsmeet or just decides to challenge him anyway[[/note]] -- meaning the player has access to the entire party and Loghain has all his soldiers -- Loghain ''is'' Boss-ranked, indicating it's a mechanical decision. |
| 14 | ** The Blood Mage Leader in "The Last Request." The quest itself is one of the hardest in the game, with room after room full of nothing but multiple mages partnered with multiple archers (the two toughest varieties of enemy in the game). Then you get to the end and it's just one mage and a couple of melee mooks (and the mage is easy enough to beat, since he won't stop [[CastFromHitPoints casting from hit points]] after you kill the guys he's using as HP batteries). |
| 15 | * {{Applicability}}: Hepsith's description of what Branka did to their house, that, "the true abomination is not that it occurred, but that it was allowed," is a popular description of many real-world corruption and abuse scandals. |
| 16 | * ArcFatigue: |
| 17 | ** The "Paragon of her Kind" questline in Orzammar gets a lot of flack for this. With the escapades around the dwarven city, followed by the eventual gauntlet through the Deep Roads to reach Caridin's Forge, the journey ends up rivaling perhaps the entirety of the mage and elf questlines combined. It could almost be an entire game in its own right. The player has to traverse at least ''five'' fairly lengthy dungeons to complete it, ''seven'' if you're also trying to get the side quests done as well. Not to mention the minimum of ''five'' boss fights (assuming you go out of your way to avoid them, even in the main questline, and skip most the sidequests and exploring), two of which are ThatOneBoss. This is made even worse by the fact that the final task ends up being a KingmakerScenario, making the first two tasks a completely pointless waste of time. Like the "Broken Circle" quest below, there's also a mod available that lets you skip 90% of the final Orzammar story-related quest ('Anvil of the Void'), bringing your party to the [[spoiler: Broodmother boss fight]] directly. Making things even more tedious is that Orzammar is basically a giant U, with Dust Town on one end and the Diamond Quarter on the other. Many quests involve you running from the extreme end (or nearly so) of one side to the other and back again, adding a lot of unnecessary "fetch" to the {{Fetch Quest}}s. |
| 18 | ** "Broken Circle" suffers similarly, since once you go past the big doors, you can't go back out until the quest is cleared. A very common complaint of the game is the Fade portion, which requires a lot of backtracking. To get an impression of how disliked it is, a mod that lets you teleport to your trapped party members and skip the rest of the Fade while getting all its special rewards is #8 on the DA Nexus most endorsed files of all time. |
| 19 | ** "Arl of Redcliffe" takes up the other third of the game not occupied by "Paragon of Her Kind" and the rest of the game (i.e. "Broken Circle", "Nature of the Beast", the Landsmeet, and the Final Battle). The real killer (particularly for completionists) is that it’s a three-parter, and they’re all potentially challenging. First you have to defend Redcliffe from an undead assault at night, meaning that if you miss the quests to make it easier on you, go to Redcliffe first, ''or both'', you have a long slog of a siege on your hands. After that, you have to reach Connor and fight a [[BrainwashedAndCrazy mind-controlled Teagan]]. Then you’re routed halfway across the world to Denerim and then all the way back to Haven, where you have to deal with the cultists living there, all of which are either Blood Mages or Reavers. Then you get saddled with a [[SadisticChoice choice of when you fight the area boss]]- near immediately, or right after you get a pinch of the Ashes. [[ThatOneBoss Both are equally bad, but for different reasons.]] Not to mention Leliana possibly leaving. Only then does it end (the game leaves it as incomplete until you agree to call the Landsmeet and move on to the final third of the game). Even worse, unless you want an approval hit from Alistair, you are practically ''forced'' to do "Broken Circle" ''in the middle of the quest'', only extending the arduous mess further. It doesn't help that Alistair strongly urges you to go to Redcliffe first after you arrive in Lothering (directly after Ostagar), which caused many players to shrug and go there first (since it seemed to be what the game is directing you), only to be met with said long slog at early levels. |
| 20 | * SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Pretty much the entire soundtrack, and in addition to "In Uthenera (Leliana's Song)," "[[http://youtu.be/lbPpDoATHS4?t=1m1s Denerim #1]]" can be a TearJerker when it plays as you say farewell to your companions either at the coronation or before the TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. |
| 21 | * BigLippedAlligatorMoment: |
| 22 | ** The Warden being hailed as the destined King/Queen by a bunch of people in the woods worshiping [[Myth/ArthurianLegend an axe stuck in a rock.]] [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail Then, one suggests that the ability to pull it out is hardly a good means of electing a ruler... though another points out that the Warden is regal and "not covered in dung."]] |
| 23 | ** The RandomEncounter that's essentially a medieval version of Franchise/{{Superman}}'s origin. This is seen only in the ''Warden's Keep'' DLC, and provides you with the ore to make your own powerful blade. |
| 24 | ** The [[BurnTheOrphanage haunted orphanage]] in the Denerim Alienage is both this and MoodWhiplash for the game as a whole. All of ''Origins'' is a {{dark|Fantasy}}, but still [[HighFantasy mid-to-high fantasy]] adventure through a typical RPG kingdom. Then this quest happens, and there's screaming and dying children playing as ambient sound, and everything is coated in ridiculous amounts of blood. This change to {{c|licheStorm}}heesy, [[NightmareFuel nightmarish horror]] is not even noticed, let alone {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d by your companions, and is never brought up again after it's over. Everything just goes back to business as usual. |
| 25 | ** At a certain point in the game, a horde of shrieks will ambush your camp. This event is meaningful with the Dalish Elf origin since it leads to you encountering [[spoiler:a ghoulified Tamlen, who begs you for a MercyKill]], but with the other origins it's so inconsequential, being concluded with only your companions briefly commenting about camping in the wilderness becoming more dangerous or about the camp needing better protection, that it leaves you wondering just what the hell happened. |
| 26 | * BrokenBase: The ''Witch Hunt'' DLC. Either it was a great ending to the ''Origins'' storyline, or it was a pointless DLC that raised more questions than it answered. To some extent it depends on how invested you are in Morrigan. |
| 27 | * CatharsisFactor: |
| 28 | ** Players who hate [[UngratefulBastard Goldanna]] for [[AllTakeandNoGive her treatment of]] [[TheWoobie Alistair]] were ecstatic to finally be able to kill her in the ''Darkspawn Chronicles'' [=DLC=]. |
| 29 | ** While [[spoiler: Loghain's death]] can be an AlasPoorVillain moment, especially [[spoiler: if you've recruited him in another playthrough and learned his view on the world]], it is pretty satisfying to see him get completely destroyed at [[spoiler: the Landsmeet debate]] after all he's put you and your party through. |
| 30 | ** [[OutGambitted Out gambitting]] [[spoiler: Anora at the Landsmeet, considering she's a ManipulativeBitch who sacrifices you with little remorses and engages in the same FantasticRacism as her father towards elves.]] |
| 31 | * ComplacentGamingSyndrome: |
| 32 | ** The Essences and Fonts in the "Lost in Dreams" sequence will give your Warden 21 free attribute points. Entire builds are made out of the assumption that you're waiting until you get those points before your build comes into its own. The vast majority of players thus opt for doing the Circle Tower first, even though you can do the major quests in any order (though {{Beef Gate}}s, as well as level scaling codes, imply that certain orders were intended by the devs). |
| 33 | ** It's pretty much agreed by fan communities that if you're playing a rogue, any build besides a heavy-Cunning, dual-dagger, Assassin/Bard, BackStab-focused one is basically a waste of time. For ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'', switch that out for "heavy-Dexterity" archer. |
| 34 | * CompleteMonster: See [[Monster/DragonAge here]]. |
| 35 | * DemonicSpiders: |
| 36 | ** [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition Ironically,]] spiders. Just start up a mage story and do the clear the basement quest: you have a lone underpowered character facing off against a SpiderSwarm, and these can be on the roof, or on the walls, or ''right behind you,'' no you won't see them until the JumpScare scripts in. Aggressive, violent, dangerous, can poison, pin down, and scary as all get out. |
| 37 | ** What about ''literal'' demonic spiders? Corrupted variant (encountered mostly in the Deep Road) are like everything above, but worse. They can use both Web and Overwhelm ability to stun your fighters, and use that time to tear your mage/rogue support a new one. Oh, but that's not all - they also have access to two sure-fire abilities, one of which (Potion Spit) deals a lot of damage, and other (Corruption Burst) lower your attack, so you have even less chance hitting them. [[OverlyLongGag Oh, and they hit like a truck in general, if you survive all the above]]. |
| 38 | ** Arcane Horrors. Their fights usually come with hordes of undead enemies they can heal, hard-hitting spells like chain lightning, and the one in the Brecilian ruins will teleport away every time you try to engage it in melee. |
| 39 | ** Darkspawn Emissaries in the late-game, such as in the Deep Roads or [[spoiler:the Battle of Denerim]] can be surprisingly durable, and pack spells like Curse of Mortality and Misdirection Hex, which combined will be almost a guaranteed death sentence for even the tankiest of characters. While this alone would be difficult to deal with, they generally come accompanied with Darkspawn foot soldiers, Ogres, archers, or ''other Emissaries''. The danger posed by Emissaries and the aforementioned Arcane Horrors is why the Mana Clash spell is considered a GameBreaker. |
| 40 | * DifficultySpike: If you go to a high level area such as Orzammar or Denerim immediately after [[OpeningTheSandbox leaving Lothering]], you will definitely notice this. |
| 41 | * DisappointingLastLevel: |
| 42 | ** After [[spoiler:the Landsmeet]], the number of bugs - some of them [[GameBreakingBug game breaking]] - seems to skyrocket. The worst of these is probably the one that has Alistair acting like he's the king, and everyone else thinking he's the king, when you have made Anora queen. One can fix this through mods on the PC, but confusion will quickly give way to annoyance, and on the consoles you have no choice but to live with them. |
| 43 | ** The ''Witch Hunt'' DLC, which is considered the last part of the ''Origins'' storyline, gets flack for being this. See BrokenBase above. |
| 44 | * DryDocking: The fandom is especially rife with this. Just a mere throwaway mention in a non-canonical AlternateUniverse DLC that suggested [[spoiler:Alistair and Leliana were rumored to be lovers]] in that timeline caused an backlash from the rabid portion of Alistair fangirls. |
| 45 | * EnsembleDarkhorse: |
| 46 | ** Finn and Ariane, the two companions from the ''Witch Hunt'' DLC, were incredibly well-liked by players. |
| 47 | ** Cullen, despite only having a few lines of dialogue in this game, remains one of the most popular characters from it - mostly for the crush he has on the female mage Warden. His popularity is such that he returns in the second game and becomes a major participant in the third, even being promoted to potential {{love interest}} for a female Inquisitor. |
| 48 | ** Bann Teagan has many admirers in the fandom, as he's one of the few unambiguously heroic characters, stands up to Loghain, never steps on the player's toes, and even flirts with the female Warden. |
| 49 | ** Sandal, the simple enchanter son of Bodahn, is fun, energetic, and memetic enough that the fandom very fondly looks on him. His return in the next game was extremely well received, and many players were disappointed not to see him again in the third. |
| 50 | ** Dagna, in Orzammar, is the rare dwarf that decided to study magic and is downright {{Adorkable}}. She proved to be popular enough to be recruited to the Inquisition. |
| 51 | * EsotericHappyEnding: |
| 52 | ** The Golden Ending for the Landsmeet questline is more uncomfortable the more you think about it. [[spoiler: Sure, Alistair and Anora are a beloved ruling couple. However, the biggest issue that nobles raised to urge Cailan to drop Anora was her implied infertility. Alistair is a Grey Warden, who are infamous for low fertility as well. It's almost a guarantee that they will not produce a viable heir and another SuccessionCrisis is on the horizon.]] |
| 53 | ** For that matter, the Human Noble [[spoiler:marrying Alistair/Anora and becoming Queen/King]], while also treated as an Optimal Happy Ending, is also a short-term solution since the couple suffer from the same fertility problems as above. [[spoiler:Male Cousland has low fertility as a Grey Warden and Queen Anora is still believed to be infertile. While King Alistair and Queen Cousland combine the beloved Houses Theirin and Cousland, two Grey Wardens are as good as sterile. In the short run they are a beloved ruling couple, but in the long run their chances of producing a viable heir are also next to none and another SuccessionCrisis is almost guaranteed down the line.]] |
| 54 | [[/folder]] |
| 55 | |
| 56 | [[folder:F-M]] |
| 57 | * FanNickname: The knife the Warden can use to execute people (which is always the same, no matter your class or what you're actually carrying) is known by the fandom as the Murder Knife. Bioware took note and turned it into an AscendedMeme in [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition the third game]]. |
| 58 | * FauxSymbolism: The Fade level requires you to go between rooms which, for some reason, are arranged in the pattern of the [[http://www.kabbalahandhealing.com/images/photo.treeoflifeyellow.big.jpg Tree of Life]]. |
| 59 | * FirstInstallmentWins: ''Origins'' is considered by some fans the best game in the series in terms of story, gameplay, and overall world building, and is also seen as Bioware's farewell to their old style of RPG development before the EA buyout that resulted in their development of games being heavily shifted. By contrast, ''II'' is usually derided for its rushed nature and not really feeling like a unique game since it borrowed heavily from ''Franchise/MassEffect'', and ''Inquisition'', while initially seeing massive success, has garnered more criticism over the years due to its weaker story, less developed characters, and feeling less like an RPG. |
| 60 | * FoeYayShipping: A lot of people think that dialogue between Alistair and Morrigan is not hateful, but filled with UST. [[spoiler:This potentially makes the Dark Ritual ''very'' interesting.]] |
| 61 | * FranchiseOriginalSin: A number of problems with later games found their origin in the ''Witch Hunt'' DLC. |
| 62 | ** The ''Witch Hunt'' DLC officially wraps up the ''Origins'' story, hidden behind a price tag and ending with a SequelHook. While it's a fairly inconsequential plot [[spoiler:(what happened to Morrigan?)]], later games would get much more flak for hiding the complete story behind DLC content as well. ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' would get panned for its rushed release, with a more [[WinBackTheCrowd complete story]] planned for a DLC that ultimately got canceled, leaving the game an incomplete mess. While ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' wasn't rushed to release, the ''entire'' endgame story (which wrapped up the fates of all companions, advisers, [[spoiler:the Inquisition, and Solas]], as well as the SequelHook) getting relegated to the ''Trespasser'' DLC behind a price tag, and then not even making it available to last gen consoles, really angered a lot of fans. |
| 63 | ** Elf fans unamused by human characters being portrayed as better qualified to research and recover elvhen knowledge than the elves themselves (especially given the elves' {{Applicability}} and [[https://web.archive.org/web/20151218090209/http://the-gaider-archives.tumblr.com/post/109509566283/i-was-wondering-if-the-elves-in-dragon-age-were-at Word Of Gaider Allegory]] to real historically oppressed minorities), noticed the seeds planted as early as the ''Witch Hunt'' DLC. [[spoiler:Morrigan]] the human hedge mage and Finn the Circle human mage both do more in this [=DLC=] to recover eluvian lore as a ''side hobby'' than the Dalish after ''centuries'' of dedicated study, with Ariane the Dalish companion sputtering helplessly. On it's own its not so bad as a [=DLC=] quest, but future games increasingly portrayed elves as painfully inept at recovering their own ancient knowledge and technology; from [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII DA2]]'s Merrill being portrayed as a naive idiot for trying to construct an Eluvian from scratch even though [[spoiler:Morrigan]] successfully did the same the previous game, to [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition DAI]] Solas and Sera endlessly ragging on modern elves for not knowing their own history, with human characters being increasingly portrayed as more qualified to recover and wield Elvhen knowledge than the elves themselves. (Again, [[spoiler:Morrigan]] successfully constructed an Eluvian from scratch while Merrill was portrayed as an idiot for trying the same, and [[VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition DAI]]'s ''entire'' second half portraying [[spoiler:Morrigan]] as a greater Elvhen expert than actual elvhen characters, as well as [[spoiler:more qualified to drink from the Well of Sorrows than the Dalish Inquisitior, and more worthy to inherit Mythal's Elvhen godhood (with Mythal herself choosing human women like Flemeth and Morrigan to house her soul over her own elven people)]]. Fans who felt this left a bad bad taste in their mouths can trace this all back to a minor plot of the easily overlooked DLC ''Witch Hunt''. |
| 64 | * GameBreaker: [[GameBreaker/DragonAge Has its own page.]] |
| 65 | * GameBreakingBug: The game suffers a lot on modern PC hardware, especially on ''Windows 10'' with the game having a big chance of hard-freezing during combat or on Denerim, making the unofficial [=4GB=] RAM Patch (a program that makes the game use 4 GB of RAM rather than the 2 GB it's locked) a must just to play the game. |
| 66 | * GameplayDerailment: Proper use of the Stealth talent can allow you to skip whole dungeons of enemy combat, shortening whatever main quest you wish to do this with tremendously. |
| 67 | * GeniusBonus: Leliana makes passing reference to Noyes's ''The Highwayman'' in a dialogue with Sten. |
| 68 | * GoddamnedBats: |
| 69 | ** Enemy archers. They're even worse after they learn Scattershot, which inflicts a nigh-irresistible stun effect on the entire party. It doesn't last long enough to serve as a true lockdown (unless there are just that many archers attacking you), but you won't enjoy seeing your spells and talents repeatedly disrupted. |
| 70 | ** Deepstalkers. Small swarmers that are only dangerous if you feed yourself to them on purpose. Lyrium potions were probably added as a reward for the annoyance, so they make a worthwhile break from the darkspawn. |
| 71 | ** Enemy mages can quickly become this if left unchecked. |
| 72 | * GoodBadBugs: |
| 73 | ** [[spoiler: In the final battle with the Archdemon, there are a few ballistae nearby. Going up to them will aim them at the Archdemon if it's close enough. Mashing the ballista fire button does a decent amount of damage (comparable to a powerful two-handed swing) to the Archdemon, but every time it is hit, it has to go through its hit animation. That means that due to the great firing rate of the ballistae, you can hit the Archdemon with it until it dies, slowly chipping away at its health as it can do nothing about it. If it flies away, just go to another ballista closer to it. The only real threat is the other darkspawn, but your other party members and your army can deal with them easily. The ballistae do jam up if you use them too many times, but can be repaired by a Rogue, as it becomes a "trap".]] |
| 74 | ** There's a particular armory vault door on the second floor of Redcliffe Castle that requires a key (or a rogue) to gain access. You're rewarded 40 experience for unlocking the door. The catch is that if you leave the area and come back, the door refreshes and can be unlocked for 40 experience every time. However, it's a lengthy process due to having to wait on the loading screens as you switch in and out of Redcliffe Castle's second floor, so YMMV indeed as to whether it's worth the trouble of doing more than a few times. |
| 75 | ** Reloading a save can refund you for those pricey specialization unlocks (be it through expenditure of coin for manuals or moral caliber to be taught by morally repugnant [=NPCs=]), but the specializations remain unlocked and available. They actually fixed this a few patches back, but fan outcry caused them to change it back. (It's likely that this is the reason specializations are handled differently in the subsequent games.) |
| 76 | ** Winter's Grasp can go off twice in a single cast. This happens at an almost alarming frequency. |
| 77 | ** Mana Cleanse does the opposite of its description and intent; it replenishes enemy mana to maximum. Later on the same spell branch, Mana Clash deals damage based on the target's total mana. Since most spellcasters have a [[SquishyWizard higher capacity for mana than hit points]], topping off their mana before Mana Clashing can be highly lethal. Between these two spells is Spell Might, which amplifies spellpower and makes Mana Clash a pretty brutal attack even on tougher-than-average wizards. |
| 78 | ** It's possible for a PC player to double attribute point increases with the Fade Essence Fonts, and the desire to get these is one of the reasons the level drags on so much. One particular Essence of Cunning can yield a whopping 10 point increase with very rapid right-clicking. The fonts can all be abused in some manner, resulting in potentially twenty or more points... each. Allegedly, one player has gotten up to a hundred off a single font. |
| 79 | ** One sidequest leads your PC to an abandoned, haunted orphanage in the Elven Alienage. A rare glitch can lock you in a windowless room all by your lonesome, complete with blood on the floors and a corpse in the corner. To make matters worse, the background music for this area is made up of children screaming, a sound that persists ''even if the game is paused''. You will have to reset to an earlier save, but your immersion will be amped up. |
| 80 | ** It's actually possible to kill and loot Ser Cauthrien for her CoolSword (complete with Codex entry!) twice. First, kill her at the Arl of Denerim's estate, then allow yourself to be captured by all the archers she brought with her. (Make sure you loot her body before that last happens, though, as you won't ever be able to return here either way.) Then once you go to the Landsmeet proper, there she is again, alive and well - even if you ''decapitated'' her. You can then kill her and loot her a second time, giving you two copies of the Summer Sword. |
| 81 | ** A number of bugs that have not been fixed by Creator/BioWare as of the most recent (and probably final) updates may actually be seen as good things, even if they are sometimes annoying, as abilities having limits not described in the text might be the only thing not making the game even easier. If Haste worked properly (and there is an unofficial fix), mages would be ''even more'' broken, and that would be just the start of the mayhem you can cause. |
| 82 | * HarsherInHindsight: |
| 83 | ** [[spoiler:During the Human Noble origin, Fergus tells his eager son (your nephew) Oren that "[he'll] see a sword up close soon enough". Oren is one of the first people slaughtered by Howe's men when Howe betrays the Couslands.]] |
| 84 | ** [[spoiler:If you're a Dwarf Noble and choose to support Bhelen in the succession crisis, then his first task for you is to form an alliance with a noble house whom you may have severely humiliated in your origin story. ''Awkward''.]] |
| 85 | ** Wynne talking with Alistair about giving birth in the Circle and having her newborn son taken from her. [[spoiler:This was just ''one'' of the reasons Alistair's actual mother couldn't keep him.]] |
| 86 | ** During the Magi Origin, Niall and Senior Enchanter Torin can be heard discussing the growing influence of the Libertarian fraternity, which becomes rather ominous after the events of the second and third games and the ''Asunder'' novel. |
| 87 | --->'''Torin:''' Just think of what the Chantry would do if suddenly the Circles were petitioning for more independence, or even a split.\ |
| 88 | '''Niall:''' Won't be pretty. |
| 89 | * HeartwarmingInHindsight: |
| 90 | ** After a dog that a non-HN Warden saved at Ostagar catches up with them, one response you can make is, "I've always wanted a dog like this." ''The World of Thedas: Volume 2'' reveals that a City Elf Warden used to have a stuffed Mabari toy when they were a little kid, giving extra significance to the line. |
| 91 | ** Wynne asking the Warden about the nature of abominations. If told that abominations are only abominations by their actions, she's greatly relieved and grateful. You later find out she's being kept alive by a Spirit of Faith, and ''technically'' she is an abomination. |
| 92 | * HilariousInHindsight: |
| 93 | ** Ser Bryant in Lothering tells a mage Warden that he'd be a pretty lousy Templar if he couldn't tell they were a mage. ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' rolls around, and it seems he somehow completely failed to notice his apostate neighbours, Malcolm and Bethany (and possibly Eldest Child) Hawke. |
| 94 | ** After Morrigan's ''Inquisition'' outfit was revealed, fans noticed similarities between it and the 'nice dress' Leliana suggested for her. |
| 95 | ** The entire rigmarole with [[spoiler:searching for a miraculous relic that's the only thing that can save the poisoned Arl Eamon]] seems just a bit silly beside David Gaider's claim that it wasn't actually a ''lethal'' poison. |
| 96 | ** The Mage Warden's origin story is built around Jowan's forbidden relationship with a Chantry sister, and the trouble they'd both get into if caught. [[spoiler: If the Warden romances Leliana, then by the end of ''Inquisition'' they can be in a very public romance with '''the Divine'''. Jowan really can't beat them at anything, can he?]] |
| 97 | ** The "Sacred Ashes" trailer suggests that the Warden absorbs dragon souls. Two years later, [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim another go anywhere do anything (anti) hero would spend the game doing this.]] |
| 98 | ** When Mithra (in Zathrian's camp) demands proof of a non-Dalish Warden's identity, one of the options is to rhetorically ask her if a lot of people go around pretending to be Wardens. In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition,'' [[spoiler: one of the Inquisitor's companions is doing exactly that.]] |
| 99 | * ItsEasySoItSucks: A lot of players say that Nightmare isn't hard enough, and generally complain about the FakeDifficulty, terrible AI, insanely powerful crowd-control mechanics, and potions. |
| 100 | * LowTierLetdown: |
| 101 | ** Sten unfortunately is the only humanoid character that has only one specialization slot and doesn't have anything to make up for it. While Shale and Dog don’t have any specialization slots, the fact that Dog can utilize some exclusive abilities and Shale being able to adapt to any role on the fly makes them usable in certain situations. Sten is often left behind at camp once he’s maxed out on approval rating and Oghren joins the party. |
| 102 | ** Two-handed weapon style is pretty much this, at least in comparison to two other options. While the game tries to mitigate the fact that you can't get bonuses from both weapons or shield by making two-handed gear more powerful, it's still hardly worth it. For starters, most of your skills are stamina-heavy, and the early ones are terribly underpowered in comparison [[note]]''powerful swings'' give you bonus to damage... at the cost of attack/accuracy, meaning you have hard time actually hitting anything[[/note]]. Oh, and most 2h weapons have higher strength requirement, which means you'll be putting most of your points there, leaving you behind in dexterity/constitution department. [[FromBadToWorse Which in turn makes you extremely squishy, which - combined with slow attack speed - turns you into]] a Glass Canno}. ''One that couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, due to low dexterity''. While you could make a decent build for two-handed warrior, it requires setup and support from rest of your team, which is hardly worth the effort. The other factor for the two-handed AI companions is a healthy dose of ArtificialStupidity; playing a two-handed warrior properly requires carefully timing abilities in between swings, which the AI is just terrible at, leading to 2h's biggest strength, its burst damage, being almost completely negated. The style does still have its fans for a Warden character; its main claim to fame is Indomitable, which makes the user immune to most forms of CrowdControl, and the aforementioned burst damage potential (especially using Sunder Arms and Sunder Armor) is among the highest in the game. |
| 103 | ** Oh, and Sten is designated a two-handed fighter. It's pretty much ''a scrappy twofer'' for him. |
| 104 | ** The Duelist, Ranger, and Shapeshifter specializations are widely considered to be lackluster, the latter especially so since it involves sacrificing a mage, one of the most powerful sources of damage and CrowdControl in the game, for a mediocre melee unit maybe a third as useful as a proper warrior. Duelist, meanwhile, has very limited benefits (you get some extra attack and defense, and guaranteed critical strikes... only in melee... [[AwesomeButImpractical every three minutes]]), and Ranger's utility is similarly limited compared to the powerhouse specs of the Bard and Assassin, which have better synergy (due to both relying on Cunning) and more powerful bonuses, though the Ranger at least has a [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman niche]] when used as an archer, which can't take full advantage of the Assassin's bonuses. Warriors avoid this trope for the most part; however, Templar has a bad case of MagikarpPower because its main claim to fame, Holy Smite, is a devastating ranged AreaOfEffect stun, but can't be acquired until level 15. |
| 105 | * MemeticMutation: See [[Memes/DragonAge here]]. |
| 106 | * MoralEventHorizon: |
| 107 | ** The Warden can cross this from the perspective of every party member: for several of the companions, there's a specific action you can take that makes them either attack you or leave the party altogether, regardless of approval level. However, for some of them, if you have a high enough Persuade or Intimidate skill and under the right circumstances, you can either convince them that you had to do it (or never did it in the first place) or intimidate them into submission and service. |
| 108 | *** Alistair: Sparing [[spoiler:Loghain]], unless you [[spoiler:harden him ''and'' marry him to Anora ''and'' convince him otherwise.]] |
| 109 | *** Shale: Choosing to preserve the Anvil (even if you destroy it afterwards, you'll still have to kill Shale). |
| 110 | *** Leliana: Defiling the Urn of Sacred Ashes (unless she's hardened and you have a high enough Persuasion to talk her into submission). |
| 111 | *** Wynne: Either defiling the Urn or agreeing with Cullen about killing all of the mages (you can still have the Templars' support, so long as [[spoiler:you let Uldred turn First Enchanter Irving into an abomination]]). |
| 112 | *** Morrigan: [[spoiler:Refuse to perform the Dark Ritual before the Battle for Denerim and she'll leave for Orlais that night.]] |
| 113 | *** Zevran: If his approval is not high enough during the Landsmeet, [[spoiler:he'll turn on you during a random encounter.]] |
| 114 | ** Outside of your party, there's also the instance of [[spoiler:Branka leaving all the surviving female members of her expedition, her lover included, to darkspawn captivity with the deliberate intent to allow them to be turned into Broodmothers - a process that involves the victim being brutally raped while being tainted, leading to insanity and cannibalism - so that they could produce as many darkspawn as needed to lure into the traps that guard the Anvil of the Void. This also resulted in the deaths of all the men.]] |
| 115 | ** Arl Rendon Howe crosses it in the Human Noble Warden's origin when he [[spoiler:massacres his best friend's entire household purely out of ambition and envy. This includes killing the Human Noble Warden's defenseless sister-in-law and [[WouldHurtAChild young nephew]]. Howe will later take the opportunity to mock the Human Noble Warden by gloating about how he made Bryce and Eleanor (the Warden's parents) suffer before he killed them]]. |
| 116 | ** Bann Vaughan crosses it in the City Elf Warden origin story where he abducts the entire female half of an elven wedding party and [[spoiler:succeeds in raping the City Elf Warden's cousin, Shianni]]. Loghain may also cross it for the City Elf Warden in regards to [[spoiler:selling Denerim elves into slavery, including members of your own family.]] |
| 117 | [[/folder]] |
| 118 | |
| 119 | [[folder:N-Z]] |
| 120 | * {{Narm}}: Has [[Narm/DragonAgeOrigins its own page]]. |
| 121 | * NintendoHard: Higher difficulties will strongly punish players who don't properly use tactics. The game also gives a very minimal introduction to the combat, causing the difficulty to increase when players get into battles designed to be won with strategy. |
| 122 | ** Given the focus the game has on tactics, there are a few design decisions that are a bit odd, almost to the point of being FakeDifficulty. The game makes some fights significantly harder by porting the entire party directly in front of the bad guys for a mandatory conversation before the fight starts; in extreme cases, this means the party walks directly into an ambush/crossfire/killzone. |
| 123 | ** Even worse is the irregular deactivation of abilities which of course have a cooldown, and are sometimes needed to use other skills. Other times you just lose the abilities themselves, which is bad enough. |
| 124 | ** ''The Golems of Amgarrak'' is designed to be much, much harder than any other entry in the saga, starting with being the only module that doesn't provide the Warden with at least one Mage as backup and ending with a FlunkyBoss who spawns ''other bosses'' as its flunkies. |
| 125 | * ObviousBeta: The critically bugged and broken endgame sequence. Among other things, several of the epilogue slides either contain inaccuracies about your playthrough or don't show up at all. The inaccuracies were later {{handwave}}d by the developers as being "rumors" of WhatCouldHaveBeen; when they made ''Origins'', they didn't expect it to get a sequel so they weren't concerned about continuity at the time. |
| 126 | * OlderThanTheyThink: Shale seems like an interesting and original idea for a character, that being a golem who turns out to have the mind of a female dwarf. Quite a few fans would be surprised to learn that [[ComicBook/ForgottenRealms the Forgotten Realms comic]] had pulled that exact idea off twenty years prior. |
| 127 | * OnceOriginalNowCommon: After games like ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' and ''VideoGame/BaldursGateIII'', it's hard to believe that this game was pushing boundaries. It was clearly RatedMForMoney, but the fact the game had multiple sex cutscenes and [[OptionalSexualEncounter one-night stands]] regardless of gender was almost unheard of in 2009 outside of ''actual'' porn games. |
| 128 | * ParanoiaFuel: Why do you think those giant spiders are proceeding ''away'' from you in an organized fashion? |
| 129 | * PlayerPunch: It's fair to say that every origin story provides ''at least'' one. |
| 130 | ** Regardless of your chosen origin, you'll most likely enjoy the thought of gutting Arl Howe and Bann Vaughn like fish when you get the chance. |
| 131 | ** The endgame is no picnic either, especially for those in a romance with [[spoiler:Alistair or Morrigan]]. |
| 132 | ** For the Dwarf Commoner origin, Leske's [[spoiler:likable personality makes his FaceHeelTurn during the main game all the more shocking]]. (This is only seen if the Warden is from that origin.) It's especially jarring if you play the sequel(s), then return to this game and play a Dwarf Commoner; Leske is voiced by Creator/BrianBloom, who also voices ''Varric!'' |
| 133 | * PortingDisaster: ''Edge Magazine'''s view on the console versions. Most other publications were less dramatic about the console versions being easier for a more casual audience (IGN even listed it as a plus in its video review). Other specific changes include each difficulty mode in the console versions being "bumped down" (ex. Normal on the console versions is equivalent to Easy on the PC version) and battles where enemies spawn in waves, such as the defense of Redcliffe, will have smaller waves in the console version (though this could be justified with how consoles have significantly less powerful hardware than [=PCs=]). The real PortingDisaster comes from the game's bugginess and how consoles got buggy, delayed patches, while PC gamers got official patches soon enough and unofficial fixes almost the same day the bug is introduced. (Yes, Bioware's DAO patches often ''introduce'' bugs.) There's also the fact that the game tended to hard-freeze in the late game on consoles (especially on [=PS3=]). |
| 134 | * ScrappyMechanic: |
| 135 | ** Dealing with friendly fire being turned on probably wouldn't be so bad if targeting abilities didn't have your cursor automatically center onto an enemy when it approaches close enough to them, forcing the player to swing the camera around wildly to find a spot on the ground where they can circumvent this to cast an ability that hit enemies while avoiding allies. |
| 136 | ** The limited inventory space. Even after all the inventory upgrades, your max will only be 125 (on PC) or 120 (on consoles) slots. If you pick up everything you can, you'll quickly run out of room in your backpack. This can be mitigated by the party chest available in the ''Warden's Keep'' DLC, but that only has 97 slots. The only other thing which helps at all is the fact that all party members can be equipped with two sets of weapons, which at least gets a few things out of the inventory, but it's easy to forget that this option exists because the second set is not seen unless you manually switch to it on the character screen. |
| 137 | ** The Approval mechanic sometimes falls into this. On paper, it's a great idea as a Gray Warden's purpose often involves doing whatever is necessary, even if it comes off as "the wrong thing" in terms of morality, so the opinions of your party members on your choices is supposed to give weight to your decisions: who do you want to keep on your side and who do you care less if you piss off? In practice, however, it's a broken concept as you can act like an immoral asshole (or totally moral, depending), piss your party off entirely, and have them thinking you're the right hand of the Maker simply cause you stuffed cakes in their faces and jewelry in their hands. |
| 138 | ** There's also the times that it will stab the player in the back unless the player knows ahead of time or [[SaveScumming Save Scums]] their way through it, which ultimately defeats the purpose. One nasty example is if the player goes to investigate the happenings at the Circle Tower. A male non-mage player, and one who may even be attempting to romance her, may choose to have Morrigan tag along....only to wind up confronting Wynne once it's too late to go back and do anything else. What results next is Morrigan ranting about the Circle, its flaws, and effectively damning them to their deaths, forcing the player to either side with Morrigan if they want her approval and ultimately having to battle and kill Wynne....or shut her down and lose a significant amount of approval from her. In such a case, it may be better to just piss Morrigan off and shove gifts in her face later, else the player will lose Wynne permanently. |
| 139 | * SerialNumbersFiledOff: |
| 140 | ** The Gauntlet in Andraste's ruined temple is amazingly similar to the tests required to reach the Holy Grail in ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade''. |
| 141 | ** A ''lot'' of ''Origins'' characters, organizations, and lore are lifted straight from the ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' book series. The Grey Wardens = the Night's Watch, the darkspawn = the Cold Ones, Alistair the [[spoiler:noble's bastard orphan who never knew his mother]] is alot like Jon Snow, Isolde's hostility toward Alistair and having him sent away because she suspected he was her husband's bastard has shades of Catlyn Stark, and so on and so forth. |
| 142 | * SpiritualAdaptation: |
| 143 | ** "The Urn of Sacred Ashes" quest is basically the final act of ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheLastCrusade'' transposed in a fantasy setting. You're breaking into a remote temple to find one of the holiest relics of your own religion (the Urn is the closest ''Dragon Age'' equivalent to the Holy Grail) which is rumored to have healing powers and is protected by a cult, you have to solve traps and puzzles, and a supernatural human guardian watches you. Note that, in both works, the protagonist immediate goal to look for the artifact is to use it to cure someone else, and it's proven to work. |
| 144 | ** ''The Darkspawn Chronicles'' DLC is basically the finale mission from ''VideoGame/TheBattleForMiddleEarth'' Evil campaign (the siege of Minas Tirith, played as the Orc besiegers) reimagined as a squad-based tactical RPG instead of a RTS. Both are a non-canon PerspectiveFlip where you're playing as the villain and the evil side triumphes over the good guys. You're leading a party of Orc-like warriors against the good guys' capital city, and mow down heroes from the canon campaign. Interestingly, ''The Darkspawn Chronicles'' FinalBoss is Alistair, a character with some similarities with Aragorn ([[spoiler:he's a king's hidden heir, and reluctant to assume his legacy at first]]). In ''BFME'' Evil version of Minas Tirith's siege, Aragorn appears in the last part of the battle and must be killed to win; Zevran and Oghren (who themselves are loosely inspired by Legolas and Gimli) are also encountered in ''The Darkspawn Chronicles'', but not along Alistair. Note both games share the same publisher (Creator/ElectronicArts). |
| 145 | * ThatOneAttack: Let's just say that enemies in this game have a lot of ways of being extremely annoying to the player at their disposal. |
| 146 | ** Groups of enemy archers spamming "Scattershot", which stuns the entire party and is almost impossible to resist. |
| 147 | ** Ogres, dragons, and other large enemies using Grab to pummel your tank to death. Ogres get bonus point for having inescapable [[RammingAlwaysWorks Ram attack]] that - somehow - could knock you down from across the room. |
| 148 | ** Creatures such as spiders or dogs with the ability Overwhelm, which allows the animal to knock a character to the ground and continuously cut the person to shreds. Nothing is fun about being helpless to defend with the character that's being overwhelmed, especially if said character is your group healer. |
| 149 | ** Revenants using Mass Pull to disrupt your carefully planned tactical spacing, interrupt your slow-recharging spells and talents, and render your entire party extremely vulnerable to some heavy hitting follow-up attacks. |
| 150 | ** Perhaps the most annoying aspect of these abilities, however, is that ''none'' of them require a physical resistance check which could at least let tankier characters ignore the worst effects. On the bright side, Overwhelm and Grab ''can'' be interrupted by the attacker being frozen, paralyzed, knocked down, or stunned. |
| 151 | ** Enemy mages as a whole have a plethora of skills that'll piss off the player in some way or another. |
| 152 | *** Misdirection Hex, while entirely useful on enemies, is infuriating when on the player, as it causes all normal hits to be misses, and all critical hits to be normal hits. |
| 153 | *** Chain Lightning which can be a [[TotalPartyWipe game-ender]] if your party members are standing close together. |
| 154 | *** Crushing Prison which is likely to be an extremely slow-acting [[OneHitKill death sentence]] if it's targeted at a mage; especially if it's your group healer. |
| 155 | *** Curse of Mortality, which causes a party member to stop regenerating for a while. |
| 156 | *** Fireball which can come off as a major annoyance due to its ability to knockdown your ''entire'' party. |
| 157 | ** Arcane Warrior is one of the best Mitigation Tanks in the game, achieving this through stacking multiple sustained effects - Arcane Shield, Rock Armour, Combat Magic, Shimmering Shield, etc. They can tank more than even a lot of warrior builds, and often end up the only member of their party on their feet during particularly tough encounters... unless you're facing a mage with Dispel Magic, that is, or a Templar with Cleanse Area, who will spam those abilities as soon as you're running even one active effect, turning you into an out-of-position SquishyWizard who's drawn most of the aggro to them. [[OhCrap Uh oh]]. |
| 158 | * ThatOneBoss: |
| 159 | ** Uthkiel the Crusher is one of the demons you have to kill during the Fade sequence during the "Broken Circle" main quest. He's a stronger version of the regular ogre darkspawn, with the ability to stun-lock you using nothing but its Charge talent. Trying to beat him can often be a LuckBasedMission. |
| 160 | ** After rescuing Anora, Ser Cauthrien's fight at the front gate of the estate is considered to be one of the hardest fights in the game. Thankfully, there's an option to skip past it, and the "[[FissionMailed penalty]]" for skipping or losing is just a minor side quest that involves a prison break, one of the funniest moments in the game. |
| 161 | ** The Broodmother. Since she can't move away from her spot, you think she'd be easy as pie; but the only way to kill her is approach her (unless you have ranged attackers), and approaching her means you'll probably get grabbed and killed. And even when fighting with ranged fighters, there's still the matter of the group of minions she sends after you...twice. |
| 162 | ** The fight with Jarvia during the second task in ''A Paragon of Her Kind''. Besides [[DemonicSpiders the natural resistance of Dwarves to magic]], the room itself is ''filled'' with traps and she's surrounded by a large number of henchmen and even calls in reinforcements at one point. Given that every single enemy present is a well-trained rogue, they also deal a very high amount of damage very rapidly. |
| 163 | * ThatOneLevel: |
| 164 | ** The Circle of Magi main quest is this if you play as a Mage Warden. Said quest has Wynne as a RequiredPartyMember, which forces to keep two {{Squishy Wizard}}s in a game with an ArbitraryHeadcountLimit of four party members. It's the quest where Wynne becomes playable, and her starting build is mostly devoted to healing and defensive buffs, without much offensive magic. The third floor of the dungeon is especially difficult with such a party because several rooms contain brainwashed Templars, who have anti-magic abilities. Since this part of the main quest is a PlotTunnel, you're not even able to leave early, do other quests to train Wynne, and go back once you feel more ready. |
| 165 | ** The Fade, a later portion of the aforementioned Circle of Magi quest. Dull environments, a nasty difficulty spike, obtuse puzzles, alternate forms that are very slow (save for the burning man) and a boss at the end that goes through about five forms before it finally keels over and dies. And the best part: a whopping twenty-one free [[PointBuildSystem attribute points]] hidden in various nooks and crannies, forcing players with [[HundredPercentCompletion Completionist]] or {{Munchkin}} tendencies to go over every inch of every map, every time. It's pretty much a universal agreement that no one likes doing this after completing it the first time. "Skip the Fade" mods are some of the most popular out there. |
| 166 | ** The Deep Roads, a string of four locations (six if you include the optional Aeducan and Cadash areas) that all use the same dull cave environment and erratic difficulty spikes throughout the gauntlet. It's a common feeling to [[ArcFatigue be sick of the Deep Roads]] by the time you finally reach Branka and Caridin's forge. |
| 167 | ** Orzammar in general can be this as it drags on for quite a while, with the game requiring a ''lot'' of backtracking in a much bigger location than most of the hubs. |
| 168 | ** There's a rather nasty map layout when you activate the encounter that starts Leliana's personal SideQuest. You start off at an entrance which is being attacked by ranged enemies on a higher cliff nearby; but to reach the cliff, you gotta traverse a small path up, and around, the hilltop that ''also'' happens to be filled with more enemies and traps. The actual fight against the enemies on the top of the hill isn't anything hard (heck, you can even kill them off with your own ranged attackers at the start), it's ''getting to them'' that's the rough part. |
| 169 | ** A similar case happens with the Denerim area for the "The Last Request" SideQuest, where the final battle against the Blood Mage leader isn't anything difficult... but the path leading up to him can be quite difficult due to areas full of traps, archers, and mages. |
| 170 | * TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The reaction to the game's new look and the greater emphasis on DarkerAndEdgier compared to the earlier trailers and promotional materials. |
| 171 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Oghren is a odd example, in that he isn't really "wasted", but more so available at the worst point in the game, causing players to rarely see a lot of the more complex aspects of his character. Oghren has unique voice lines for many of the major events in the game, but Orzammar is designed and essentially framed as a near end game location to go to. The Deep Roads are too hard to do early on without a lot of careful planning, meaning Oghren is often picked up so late into the game that he doesn't get the chance to be fleshed out as a character. The developers themselves realized this, and put him in ''Awakening'' specifically to give him more screentime, but in the base game, he still ends up feeling less developed due to the games pacing. |
| 172 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: |
| 173 | ** Depending on how attached the player feels to their favorite origin, it can be a little disappointing that after the hour-long prologue, each of the six playable origin stories converge at Ostagar, and you don't get many unique quests or story content apart from some flavored dialogue. It doesn't help that the devs were originally going to have more unique origin-specific content in the base game (such as the antagonist from their origin story becoming Loghain's right hand, like Rendon Howe from the Human Noble Origin) but found it too difficult and costly to implement and scrapped it. As Zero Punctuation puts it: |
| 174 | -->'''Zero Punctuation:''' You get one of six unique starting levels, depending on what sort of character you roll. So you've got six entire games in one... in theory. Realistically, you'll probably just play through once, then play the opening mission five times, because after that it's pretty much the same except for the occasional bit dialogue. For example, I was an elf, and every now and again characters would say, [[CaptainObvious "HELLO! YOU ARE AN ELF!"]] |
| 175 | ** The Dwarf Noble origin, though well liked, tends to be seen as a wasted origin plot wise, primarily when it's time to return to Orzammar. A Dwarf Noble Warden returns home to find their father is dead, and their brother is in a political standoff with another Dwarf over the title of king, and now has to ensure one side wins to have the forces needed to combat the Blight. While the Orzammar plotline is well regarded, being a Dwarf Noble has no impact on the outcome of the questline, nor are there any potential unique effects beyond dialogue for choosing it. Instead the story treats your Warden basically the same it would for any other Origin, only making small adjustments to the story and interactions, which sticks out when the Human Noble origin ''does'' have a lot of outcomes made by choosing it. If anything, the Dwarf Commoner origin gets better involvement or outcomes when returning to Orzammar, and feels more naturally able to fit into the story. |
| 176 | ** The City Elf arguably has as much reason to hold a [[ItsPersonal personal grudge]] against Rendon Howe and Teyrn Loghain since the two purged their alienage and sold their people into slavery. Yet, unlike the Human Noble Warden, when the City Elf confronts Rendon Howe at his estate and meets his son Nathaniel Howe in ''Awakening'', Warden Tabris can never bring this up and their quarrel with Rendon Howe is treated as any other non-HN Warden who has no personal grudge against him. |
| 177 | * ToughActToFollow: As stated under ''FirstInstallmentWins'', ''Origins'' set the bar ''very'' high in terms of story, gameplay, player agency, and overall world building. (To the point that the second game was [[VindicatedByHistory initially panned]] for its rushed nature, human-only protagonist, recycled environments and heavily borrowed ''Franchise/MassEffect'' elements, and ''Inquisition'' has become increasingly criticized over time for giving the player less agency, lackluster side quests, [[ClicheStorm a very conventional story]] and [[BrokenBase divisive worldbuilding revelations]].) It doesn't help that the developers weren't sure whether ''Origins'' would be successful enough to launch a franchise and thus gave the player ''way'' more roleplay freedom and world-impacting choices [[SeriesFauxnale in case this was the final game]], which set a precedent that future games couldn't live up to. |
| 178 | * UglyCute: |
| 179 | ** Nugs. They're a cross between rabbits, pigs, and baby aardvarks, but they're cute enough that Leliana is enchanted by them. |
| 180 | ** Also, Deepstalkers. They may be ravenous lamprey-mouthed monstrosities, but those little "meep" sounds they make when you hit them are ''so cute'' it makes you almost feel bad for wiping out their nests. Unless you get a good look at their faces, which is hard, as they're small. |
| 181 | ** Dragonlings (young dragons) make similar chirping noises and will attack you with a little puff of flame. For added cuteness points, [[WoobieSpecies their race has been nearly hunted into extinction]]. |
| 182 | * TheWoobie: |
| 183 | ** Lily, in the Mage origin. Poor girl tries to follow her heart and ends up in the worst prison in the world for it -- and she ''asks'' to go even if the (future) Warden tries to speak up for her, because that's what she thinks she deserves. [[spoiler:Made even worse by a brief mention in ''Inquisition'', which states that Aeonar was found completely abandoned...]] |
| 184 | ** Ruck, a young dwarf who's gone mad due to living off of spiders and surviving by tainting himself. He never wants to see his mother again because he's ashamed of himself, and he's desperate for attention from the female Warden out of loneliness. |
| 185 | [[/folder]] |
| 186 | |
| 187 | ! Character Tropes |
| 188 | |
| 189 | [[folder:Playable Characters]] |
| 190 | |
| 191 | !! The Warden |
| 192 | |
| 193 | * TheWoobie: All of the Origins put them into this category. There are moments, such as some conversations with Wynne and The Gauntlet questline, where they can lament over their regrets. Thankfully, [[spoiler:[[EarnYourHappyEnding you can end the game with them surviving, having a future with their love, and picking a boon from King Alistair/Queen Anora]]... or [[HeroicSacrifice end with them perishing to end the Blight.]]]] |
| 194 | ** A Human Noble's entire family except their brother (but including their nephew, who was only a child, and sister-in-law) is betrayed and slaughtered by a corrupt noble who had previously been a close ally and a friend to their father who fought alongside him in the previous war. Lastly, they are forced to abandon their barely surviving mother and father, who insist on staying behind to can buy their younger child time to escape. |
| 195 | ** A City Elf is living in a downtrodden ghetto when they or their bride is kidnapped for a Bann's rape party ''on their wedding day'' and in fighting to save themself/the bride have spurred the nobles to order a "purge" on their neighborhood. Their home gets locked for the majority of the game, and when they ''do'' get to return, [[spoiler:several elves, including their father, have been kidnapped and are about to be sold into slavery. Or in some cases, like the elder, already have been.]] They can't even get justice for their people since they already killed the guy who did it before they find out [[spoiler:about the slave-trading]], and if they bring it to Ser Cauthrien, Loghain, or the Landsmeet's attention, [[FantasticRacism no one cares]]. The City Elf Warden can't even significantly improve things for their people since, no matter their choices, the end slides make it clear that conditions for the elves backslide considerably within a few years after the Blight. |
| 196 | ** The Dalish Elf loses their best friend while exploring and aren't allowed to look for him, being told it's hopeless as they were found horribly sick, and are drafted into the Wardens whether they like it or not to cure them. They ''do'' find that friend eventually: [[spoiler: [[TragicMonster he's a darkspawn]], who gives the Warden either a heartstring-tugging apology for the way things turned out or an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove if they are female and took certain dialogue options, before they have to kill him]]. Furthermore, they are an orphan whose father was murdered by a group of humans and city elves and whose mother gave them up to Ashalle before leaving the clan in grief over her husband's death. |
| 197 | ** The Dwarf Commoner's family is so low in the social hierarchy, they're below the ladder; the future Warden is a PunchClockVillain for a mob boss to support the family, and their sister is forced to be essentially a prostitute. As added suck, their parents consist of a DisappearedDad and an alcoholic mother who constantly berates them and only cares about where her next drink is coming from. |
| 198 | ** A Dwarf Noble ends up with nothing after they are either manipulated into or framed for murdering their older brother by their younger brother, and are left to die in the Deep Roads as punishment. When they return home, it's only to discover that [[spoiler: their father has died while they were away from the grief of sending them to die]]. |
| 199 | ** The Mage has it the easiest, and their life story is no walk in the park: he or she was taken away from their family as a kid (never to see them again), upon graduating from apprenticehood is lied to and betrayed by their best friend and left behind to certain death or [[FateWorseThanDeath Tranquility]] by said friend after everything falls apart. Once they leave, their home is destroyed and almost everyone they know killed or turned into an abomination. |
| 200 | |
| 201 | !! Alistair |
| 202 | |
| 203 | * AccidentalInnuendo: Female player characters who romance him and max out approval get to enjoy his "Massive Constitution"... meaning his approval-based Constitution buff makes him even more stalwart in battle. What did ''you'' think it meant, you perv? |
| 204 | * {{Adorkable}}: As Leliana comments in party banter, his sense of humour, coupled with his awkwardness and nervousness around women, makes him strangely endearing and is a large part of his charm. |
| 205 | * BaseBreakingCharacter: |
| 206 | ** Alistair has a small but notable hatedom which is divided in its motivation; part of it comes from backdraft from his MrFanservice status from people who aren't ardent shippers. Most of it comes from perceived {{Wangst}} about Duncan and the other Grey Wardens dying, but the rest is generally due to his insistence on leaving the Grey Wardens if you recruit Loghain. Immature tantrum-thrower who deserts while the country is on the brink of destruction because he refuses to set aside personal and irrational hatreds for the greater good, or rightfully angry and heretofore-stalwart companion who has reasonable objections to working with a slaver and torturer who framed him for regicide and tried to kill two father-figures in a row? |
| 207 | ** Even among Alistair's fangirls, his [[spoiler:breakup]] after the Landsmeet is very divisive. Some grew to hate him afterwards and saw it as an example of FantasticRacism against mages and non-humans [[spoiler:since he only does this to non-Female Human Nobles, unless you can Harden him and pass a high Pesuasion check to get him to agree to make you his Mistress]], if not being a philandering heart-breaker [[LikeFatherLikeSon like his father Maric]]. Others feel that convincing an Unhardened Alistair to accept [[spoiler:being made king]] against his will involves convincing him to put his duty over his feelings, so the player shouldn't be surprised when he [[HoistByHisOwnPetard applies that same logic]] to [[LovedINotHonorMore his relationship to their character]]. Still a third faction aren't plussed since they feel they can TakeAThirdOption and just Romance him as a Female Human Noble, [[spoiler:keep him a Grey Warden, or Harden him and become his Mistress]] without any fuss or drama. |
| 208 | * MemeticMutation: He is the ButtMonkey of the party and his liking of cheese has been built up to ridiculous levels - despite him only mentioning cheese perhaps three times within the game. The lead writer thinks the fans have kind of run away with the cheese jokes. The writers ''have'', however, made "swooping" an AscendedMeme. |
| 209 | * {{Wangst}}: Alistair has this reputation with some of the fanbase. If anything, he discusses and defies the trope. He is conscious of how it appears to those around him, tries not to wallow in self-pity, and at least makes the attempt to lighten up with a joke. It's also worth noting that most of his {{Angst}} is in regards to the death of his father-figure and all of his friends (things that tend to make most people faaaairly depressed). |
| 210 | * TheWoobie: |
| 211 | ** He started off as an unloved and unwanted orphan who was unwillingly made a Templar to get him out of sight. When he finds himself with the Wardens, he's finally happy. A few months after he joins, they die and the fate of the world rests on his and a complete stranger's shoulders. |
| 212 | ** In addition to this, he can find some measure of happiness again in his possible friendship or relationship with the Warden... and depending on what choices the Warden makes, even this happiness can be taken away from him and he can be forced to make some incredibly difficult choices. By the time ''Inquisition'' and ''The Silent Grove'' take place, it's implied that whatever your choices, Alistair is, by and large, not a happy man. |
| 213 | |
| 214 | !! Dog |
| 215 | * FanNickname: |
| 216 | ** Mary Kirby (Dog's writer) named the dog Rabbit, making it a popular choice; for those who [[DontExplainTheJoke don't recognize it]], it's a subtle Creator/MontyPython reference (the killer rabbit). |
| 217 | ** Another common name is [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/11/6/ Barkspawn]], popularized by Tycho Brahe of ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'', who did the official ''Dragon Age'' comics. |
| 218 | |
| 219 | !! Leliana |
| 220 | |
| 221 | * SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: When Leliana sings for you and the rest of the camp. You'll know it when you see it. |
| 222 | * BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Leliana's musical number, pretty though it is, has only the pretext of having visited a Dalish camp, and the Warden can't mention it after. |
| 223 | * [[HoYay Les Yay]]: Leliana teasing Morrigan about how good low-cut dresses would look on her. Her romance with the Warden and DLC confirms that race and sex is a trivial matter that doesn't bother her. |
| 224 | * TheWoobie: As indicated in the ''Leliana's Song'' DLC. [[spoiler:A professional spy and sometime-assassin, she was framed by her superior/lover Marjolaine as a traitor to Orlais when she discovered documents proving that Marjolaine was a traitor. Captured by guards, she was tortured and possibly raped, but managed to escape to Ferelden, where she became a lay sister out of desperation and fright. It turns out that the paranoid Marjolaine had her watched after that, convinced that Leliana intended to take her revenge with a plot spanning years.]] |
| 225 | |
| 226 | !! Loghain |
| 227 | |
| 228 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: He's either an unforgivable traitor who deserves to die or a misguided and ultimately tragic figure. He was clearly plotting treason during the lead-up to the battle at Ostagar, but the consequences were drastically out of proportion to his original plans. It's also possible he didn't realize that his plan to take over as ruler of the country in order to protect it would have the results it did. He shows contempt for some of the actions his followers take, such as Howe hiring an assassin to deal with the main characters. |
| 229 | * BaseBreakingCharacter: |
| 230 | ** Many fights are had over whether Loghain should be [[spoiler:recruited into the Grey Wardens]]. People argue about whether or not what he did was justified as well. |
| 231 | ** As of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', he's even one in-universe, with Solas lampshading the fandom debates in an early conversation about Ostagar, where he lays out the common arguments from both sides about Loghain's actions there, and notably doesn't come down on either. He also claims that according to the reproduction in the fade, which is a recreation based on the emotional impressions left by the participants, both versions are true. |
| 232 | ** Loghain [[spoiler:selling elves into slavery]] is also a bit of a hot-button issue among fans. Some fans feel it was a horrific act of {{fantastic racism}} and [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocricy]] that crosses the MoralEventHorizon. Others feel it was a tragic [[NecessarilyEvil necessary evil]] born from desperate circumstances, that doesn't negate his otherwise [[WellIntentionedExtremist good intentions]] and deserved shot at redemption. Others still, Loghain's more [[DracoInLeatherPants ardant supporters]], feel his actions were ''completely'' justified and he never did anything wrong. Still a fourth group feel the act was so ''wildly'' OutOfCharacter for an otherwise staunch supporter freedom (not to mention his [[AllThereInTheManual stated backstory]] of [[Literature/TheStolenThrone recruiting Night Elves]]) and otherwise [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment inconsequential to the main story]] (since it doesn't earn you much support in the Landsmeet and most characters never mention it again after said Landsmeet), that they [[FanonDiscontinuity choose to believe Howe arranged it without telling him, or it just didn't happen]]. |
| 233 | * DracoInLeatherPants: While there ''are'' a lot of indications that Loghain is a WellIntentionedExtremist who [[NecessarilyEvil did what he thought he had to do]] in order to protect Ferelden, some of his fans refuse to believe he's a villain at all and insist that he's still a hero who never did anything wrong. |
| 234 | * TheUntwist: The [[ObviouslyEvil pale skin, black hair, and ominous music]] made many players correctly guess that Loghain would be evil. |
| 235 | |
| 236 | !! Morrigan |
| 237 | |
| 238 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: There's a strong case to be made that one of the things that sets Morrigan apart from the rest of the party is that she is the only innocent - even the Warden has more life experience than Morrigan, who is only just now experiencing life without her mother's direct influence. This is subtly lampshaded (if such can be possible) by comparing her interactions with the more straightforward members of the party with her romance with the Warden, and the ending to ''Witch Hunt'': for a character who regularly gets the last word in arguments with everyone else, it's surprising how often the Warden leaves her utterly speechless and confused. It's also implied that Morrigan and Flemeth do care for each other, just not as much as they do for themselves. She's also significantly less cavalier about killing than Alistair (who jokes about it), and doesn't try to excuse it the way Leliana does, despite Leliana being a trained assassin. |
| 239 | * BaseBreakingCharacter: Much more so than Alistair, at least in ''this'' game. Morrigan has a lot of fans who love her snarky dialogue and the HiddenDepths that her character possesses, and quite a few enjoy her status as the TokenEvilTeammate of the game (and find her [[TheSocialDarwinist Social Darwinist]] perspective to be highly interesting). On the flip side, she has a sizable hatedom. Mostly because they perceive her to be StupidEvil (as opposed to being a true pragmatist). In particular, Morrigan's disapproval of anything remotely kind the Warden does (or even simply not-evil) as well as her approval for [[EvilIsPetty cruel, mean-spirited, petty actions because they amuse her]] can put off quite a few players. Put it this way: People hate her so much that someone made a mod where you can slap her any time you want. However, ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap has changed this for a lot of people, to the point where she actually won best mage party member in a character poll from Bioware.]] |
| 240 | * JerkassWoobie: Morrigan can be extremely petty, cruel, and vindictive, not to mention she's basically the Thedas-equivalent of TheSocialDarwinist. However, growing up with no one but Flemeth for company would be enough to make her a candidate for Woobiedom ''alone''. The results of her personal quest ([[spoiler: that Flemeth intended to possess her body against Morrigan's will]]) reaffirms this several times over - and, if romanced, she might as well have it tattooed on her forehead. |
| 241 | * MemeticMutation: She disapproves of ''everything''. [Morrigan Disapproves -30]. Creator/BioWare made a t-shirt about it. |
| 242 | |
| 243 | !! Oghren |
| 244 | |
| 245 | * AngstWhatAngst: He'll steadfastly refuse to acknowledge any pain regarding his wife or his home, but if you befriend him, he'll gradually reveal that he misses Orzammar and is hurting. Massively averted if brought along on the Gauntlet in the Temple of Sacred Ashes. The Guardian barely has to prod him at all before he just spills out all his emotional baggage about Branka and his disgrace from his caste. |
| 246 | * SugarWiki/{{Funny Moment|s}}: "By the tits of my ancestors!" |
| 247 | * TheWoobie: Take him along to the Gauntlet when looking for the Urn of Sacred Ashes. His answer to the guardian should be proof enough of this trope. |
| 248 | |
| 249 | !! Shale |
| 250 | |
| 251 | * EnsembleDarkhorse: A DLC companion who was actually ''removed'' from the base game (due to a lack of time to finish her content), but has proven to be one of the most popular and beloved characters for her hilarious dialogue, unique gameplay mechanics, and many memorable moments. |
| 252 | * ItWasHisSled: Shale's [[spoiler:former identity as [[SamusIsAGirl a dwarven woman]]]] is quite well known at this point, as several sources tend to struggle keeping even her pronouns consistent. |
| 253 | * TheUntwist: The reveal that [[spoiler: she was a dwarf woman before she was a golem]] (and Shale's own surprise at this) is the first clue that Shale being female wasn't supposed to be obvious. Of course, it's heavily implied that it was only a surprise to her. |
| 254 | |
| 255 | !! Sten |
| 256 | |
| 257 | * MemeticMutation: |
| 258 | ** Sten's stony expression found its way onto imageboards [[http://newsimg.ngfiles.com/219000/219171_stendisapproves.jpg as a way to express disapproval.]] |
| 259 | ** Also, Sten's knack for answering any question [[MathematiciansAnswer with a simple and blunt answer]]. Namely, [[http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSd3P8y4O2-oUeeFcl3OoU2ulUh8E5huqAVlF_D7RAMyAkg-7rgELGNOab5 no.]] |
| 260 | * NeverLiveItDown: His fondness for cookies. |
| 261 | |
| 262 | !! Wynne |
| 263 | |
| 264 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Some people see her as a self-righteous, sanctimonious, and preachy woman trying to make herself look to be wiser than she is. |
| 265 | * BaseBreakingCharacter: Some resent her for any or all of the following: trying to tell you how to do your job, despite not being entirely aware of [[UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans what it entails]] and going off the KnightInShiningArmor versions in the stories; her lecture about the Warden's LoveInterest, where she either accuses them of being a HormoneAddledTeenager (Morrigan or Zevran) or being foolish and selfish (Alistair or Leliana) without fully knowing the details of the relationship (though to Wynne's credit, she ''does'' apologize and admit she was completely wrong, and even takes some ShipperOnDeck tendencies toward it afterward); her tendency to try and be everyone's therapist whether they want it or not; her taking credit for getting the party out of [[ThatOneLevel the Fade]] even though she ''succumbed'' to it when at least one other, potentially untrained, person didn't; and her hypocrisy in trying to get every mage she meets (including the Mage Warden) to go back to the Circle yet refusing to do so herself. On the flip side, quite a few fans love her for being a CoolOldLady who is thoughtful, kind, and compassionate, if stern. The fact that she's one of the most unambiguously good (along with Alistair) party members also helps, as does the mother-son sort of bond she and Alistair can develop if they're frequently in the active party together. Many also enjoy how different Wynne is from the other companions, even in the sequels, and believe that she provided an interesting perspective on the Warden's journey. Those who like her will often say [[JustForFun/MadeOfWin "Her name is 'Wynne' because she's made of it."]] |
| 266 | * MemeticMutation: Epic Wynne! |
| 267 | |
| 268 | !! Zevran |
| 269 | |
| 270 | * AngstWhatAngst: He has a pretty dark past, but he takes everything in stride and apparently lives for the day. Arguably a subversion, however, in that deliberate levity may be his way of dealing with that past. |
| 271 | * MagnumOpusDissonance: In a sense. It's clear from the writing and pre-release promotional material ([[https://www.deviantart.com/aimo/art/DA-Helloooooooo-Zevran-138061478 even fan art]]!) that Zevran was expected to be a ''far'' more popular LoveInterest than Alistair (to the point that Alistair can loudly grouse WhatDoesSheSeeInHim in party banter, with Leliana responding that AllGirlsWantBadBoys). However, once the game was released the opposite happended, with the [[SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan sweet]] yet [[{{Adorkable}} goofy]] Alistair blowing Zevran out of the water in terms of popularity and fan art. |
| 272 | * TheWoobie: He [[AngstWhatAngst doesn't consider himself one]], but you're likely to have a different opinion on the matter after hearing his backstory. |
| 273 | |
| 274 | [[/folder]] |
| 275 | |
| 276 | [[folder:[=NPCs=]]] |
| 277 | |
| 278 | !! King Cailan |
| 279 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: |
| 280 | ** The tidbits you find in the ''Return to Ostagar'' DLC reveal that Cailan was [[spoiler:far more politically savvy than virtually anyone thought. His bravado and seemingly nonchalant attitude may well have been a front.]] |
| 281 | ** Wynne supports this, if you talk to her in camp and mention how foolishly upbeat and overconfident Cailan seems. [[spoiler: She basically says it's the king's job to act like it's all going swimmingly and there's nothing to worry about, so that the rest of the army will feel as confident as he seems.]] |
| 282 | ** His idealism about the battle could be seen as a variety of well-meaning ObfuscatingStupidity. His actual idealism is more clearly displayed in his belief that the differences between Ferelden and Orlais can be put in the past so easily, and that the two nations can be allies and friends barely a generation after one was driven out of the other after a long, brutal occupation. |
| 283 | ** [[spoiler:Arl Eamon's letter to him implies that he didn't like the idea of dumping Anora, and it took almost a year for him to come around. It's unclear how many of those ideas were his.]] |
| 284 | ** Rumor is that it was Cailan and not Anora who was sterile, since he was going behind her back with other women and yet still never fathered any children. |
| 285 | ** The fact that [[spoiler:he specifically requested that Alistair be one of the two to light the signal fire indicates that he wanted him kept out of the fighting. This suggests that Cailan knew exactly who Alistair was to him, wanted him protected in case he himself fell in battle (so the throne could go to a descendant of Calenhad), and may even have had some kind of fondness for his little half-brother]]. |
| 286 | |
| 287 | !! Queen Anora |
| 288 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: |
| 289 | ** Some see her as a strong queen determined to maintain her throne who was unwilling to believe that Loghain was truly evil because he's her father, and that she is ultimately determined to do what's best for Ferelden; she joins the Grey Warden on her own initiative, and her doubt in Alistair's ability to be a good king is quite frankly justified, what with him being illegitimate, having no previously demonstrated leadership skills, and not even wanting the throne in the first place. Support her and let her father find redemption, and she's even willing to marry a male human noble Grey Warden. |
| 290 | ** On the other hand, ''reject'' her and watch her abandon you at the Landsmeet and switch back to supporting her father, even at the exact moment that doing so would only risk prolonging Ferelden's civil war and losing support of the armies the Warden has personally gathered. Anora wants what's best for Ferelden so long as that still includes her being in power and no danger to herself. So where do her loyalties ultimately lie: the people of Ferelden, or herself? |
| 291 | ** Her governing toward elves. In the City Elf Origin, a human noble fully expects to get away with kidnapping and gang-rape because his targets are elves, which happens under Anora and Cailan's watch, which sure says ''something'' unflattering about her governing style. If Anora is crowned queen alone, [[spoiler:unmarried to either Alistair or Male Cousland, then this is the only time an epilogue slide reveals that elves eventually riot due to food shortages, which Anora harshly puts down with a purge.]] Some think Anora is a good ruler apart from this racial blind spot, while others see it as another reflection of her poor governing and priorities. |
| 292 | * AngstWhatAngst: If you execute Loghain, she will quickly recover from seeing her father's decapitated corpse and having his blood splattered over her after a moment of shock. She can even have a friendly conversation with his killer in the epilogue if the player was the one who did it. |
| 293 | * BaseBreakingCharacter: Some see Anora as having legitimate cause for throwing you under the bus with Cauthrien, but some players don't buy that for a multitude of reasons. Even more contentious is her outright betrayal of you at the Landsmeet if you do not support her bid. Some people think it is a reflection of a strong and cunning queen, some people see it as an avarice-filled grab for power by any means necessary. |
| 294 | * {{Narm}}: Her RousingSpeech. In contrast to Alistair's more steady diction, the voice actress doesn't deliver with as much strength. |
| 295 | |
| 296 | !! Arl Howe |
| 297 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: If you compliment him as a Cousland heir during the prologue, he seems genuinely taken aback by it, as if implying that [[IgnoredEpiphany just for a moment]] he's having second thoughts about his plan to betray your family. He's gleefully unrepentant in your final encounter, but [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope it makes you wonder]]. |
| 298 | |
| 299 | !! Arl Eamon |
| 300 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: |
| 301 | ** He appears to be a standard ReasonableAuthorityFigure, but it's also fairly clear that [[spoiler:he wants Alistair on the throne so he can have strong influence over a ruler]]. The ''Return to Ostagar'' DLC reveals that [[spoiler:he was pushing Cailan to dump his wife due to his fears that Anora is barren]]. |
| 302 | ** [[spoiler: His role in Alistair's upbringing is also a lot less rosy than Alistair paints it, if you think about it. Hidden from his mother's family and sleeping in a stable with the dogs, until finally thrown out of even that? And now that Alistair is suddenly useful, he expects him to obey without question?]] |
| 303 | ** It looks particularly bad in the vanilla game, which makes it appear that [[spoiler:he or his retainers outright lied to an orphaned Goldanna that her little brother was dead and then sent her away to fend for herself. However, given what other canonical sources have revealed regarding Alistair's actual mother, it appears that they were probably telling the truth about ''that'' child.]] |
| 304 | ** There's also his reaction if the Warden manages to persuade [[spoiler: Alistair and Anora to marry]]. The Warden can point out that he doesn't seem pleased, to which he will say he's simply shocked that the Warden was able to do it. While he might be telling the truth about that, it also seems possible that he doesn't like the idea of [[spoiler: someone else having a stronger position of authority and influence over Alistair than he himself will]]. On the other hand, if the Warden [[spoiler: becomes Alistair's chancellor or, in the case of the Female Noble, his Queen, Eamon accepts it without comment and simply says at the coronation that since he won't be needed, he's heading back to Redcliffe. So it's possible that he just has some kind of strong objection to Anora, which does line up with Loghain's comments to that effect if he's spared and recruited]]. |
| 305 | |
| 306 | !! Arl Gallagher Wulff |
| 307 | * TheWoobie: Not only did the guy lose his entire Arling to the Darkspawn, but tavern chatter amongst the other nobles reveals that both of his sons were killed during the evacuation of the West Hills. |
| 308 | |
| 309 | |
| 310 | !! Bann Teagan |
| 311 | * EnsembleDarkHorse: Believe it or not, he comes closest to being a universally liked character in the whole game. Girls squee over his [[CourtlyLove polite flirtations]] and [[MrFanservice looks]], while the forums have already claimed multiple times that Teagan [[EvenTheGuysWantHim turns straight guys gay]]. |
| 312 | * FanNickname: The Bannhammer. |
| 313 | * {{Fanon}}: Due to his aforementioned flirtatious lines with a Female Warden (of any race or class), and a [[WhatCouldHaveBeen cut line]] for the [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII second game]] implying that he fell in love with the Female Warden but never had the courage to confess his feelings, it's near generally agreed that Teagan developed [[TheOneThatGotAway at least some romantic feelings]] for the Female Warden, whether she flirts or not. |
| 314 | * MemeticMutation: For some reason, Bann Teagan's interest in women who aren't human has Flanderized him in the eyes of the fandom into an erotica collecting, ExtremeOmnisexual [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Captain Kirk]]-like figure. |
| 315 | |
| 316 | |
| 317 | !! Isolde |
| 318 | * MemeticMutation: Tee-gAAAHN!!! |
| 319 | * TheScrappy: Isolde is almost universally disliked by the fandom for her [[NeverMyFault responsibility-dodging]], her tendency to shriek every other word, and the fact that she [[spoiler:not only plays a large role in what happened to Redcliffe, but is never truly sorry for her mistakes]]. Her weird tendency to be a ClingyJealousGirl with Teagan, who is her brother-in-law, doesn't endear her to anyone either. The fact that she's also something of a KarmaHoudini doesn't help, nor does her honorary WickedStepmother status in Alistair's backstory. |
| 320 | * TakeThatScrappy: One of the options for resolving the Redcliffe plot is [[spoiler:using her as a source of mana to enter the Fade, which kills her]]. The downside is that Alistair won't take it well, but that can easily be fixed either with mods or certain dialogue choices that will decrease his disapproval points. |
| 321 | |
| 322 | !! Duncan |
| 323 | * BaseBreakingCharacter: Duncan is ''very'' committed to doing what he believes needs to be done, morals be damned. The fact that he conscripts the Warden if they don't go willingly and [[spoiler:kills Jory for trying to back out of the Joining]] makes him a rather hotly debated character. Indeed, RP-inclined players doing multiple run-throughs with different Wardens tend to find that the line between a Duncan-worshiping Warden and one who curses his name is quite thin. |
| 324 | * HesJustHiding: Reinforced by how [[NeverFoundTheBody his body isn't present]] in ''Return To Ostagar.'' |
| 325 | ** [[WordOfGod David Gaider confirmed that Duncan is dead.]] But then again, this has been explicitly said about another character that was alive. |
| 326 | ** Though, since Duncan has yet to return up to the end of ''Trespasser'', fourteen years after he started getting dreams that signal the beginning of his Calling, there should be little doubt that he's long dead. |
| 327 | * MemeticMutation: His beard. Fights go on about whose is more badass: Male!Hawke's (the protagonist from the sequel) or Duncan's. In the sequel, if the imported save is one with a Dalish Warden, Merrill mentions Duncan and his beard. She'd never seen human facial hair before and at first was under the impression that [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} a squirrel was attacking his face]]. |
| 328 | |
| 329 | !! Jory |
| 330 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: He's either a whiny, spineless idiot who got what he deserved, or a perfectly innocent victim who simply got in way over his head and panicked. |
| 331 | |
| 332 | !! Sandal |
| 333 | * BigLippedAlligatorMoment: [[spoiler:In TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon you encounter Sandal surrounded by a veritable ''heap'' of darkspawn corpses. Just how a mentally challenged dwarven kid is able to cheerfully take on what would have been a tricky fight for your whole party is never explained.]] [[OffscreenMomentofAwesome Enchantment]] |
| 334 | * MemeticBadass: Taking out a room full of ogres and darkspawn had such an impact on the fandom, it led to ''two'' somewhat similar incidents in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII.'' |
| 335 | * MemeticMutation: Enchantment? Enchantment! Creator/BioWare made a shirt of that, too. |
| 336 | * [[CrazyIsCool Mentally Handicapped Awesome]]: The only explanation for him being such a whiz at enchantment. Not to mention [[spoiler:the horde of dead darkspawn around him when he's encountered in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon]]. |
| 337 | |
| 338 | !! Bhelen |
| 339 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Either he's a power-hungry despot seeking to take and retain the throne at any cost, or he's a WellIntentionedExtremist who recognizes the inherent problems in Orzammar and is [[ShootTheDog taking some extreme measures]] to ensure he can change it. Or, possibly, both. |
| 340 | * EnsembleDarkhorse: Between him and Harrowmont, he's the more popular choice for a king, even among Dwarf Noble players. This is in part because [[spoiler:the epilogues and ''Inquisition'' show him as a very good ruler, unlike Harrowmont, and he's actually ''grateful'' to the Warden, also unlike Harrowmont.]] He's also a loving husband to his casteless wife Rica, who is herself a bit of a fan favorite due to being the [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold loving]] [[BigSisterInstinct older sister]] of the Dwarf Commoner Warden. |
| 341 | * VindicatedByHistory: When the game first released, it was common for players to despise him due to his ruthlessness and backstabbing, with even those who crowned him feeling like they had to "hold their nose" and do it. However, with the epilogues and ''Inquisition'' revealing [[spoiler:he's a far better ruler than Harrowmont, helps Orzammar prosper while Harrowmont causes it to flounder, and Bhelen actually being ''grateful'' to the Dwarf Noble Warden while Harrowmont is not]], Bhelen is now far and away the most popular choice. |
| 342 | |
| 343 | !! Harrowmont |
| 344 | * AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Either a leader who upholds the law and provides the stability the dwarves need, or a weak leader who is bound by outdated and unjust traditions. |
| 345 | * HarsherInHindsight: If declared king, the stress of infighting in Orzammar and mounting class tensions, along with his advanced age, eventually causes him to become sick and die not long after the end of the Blight. And then, in 2013, his voice actor Robin Sachs dies of a heart attack just four days before his 62nd birthday. |
| 346 | * MemeticLoser: After ''Inquisition'' hammered home [[spoiler:just how ineffective of a king he really is]], people have taken to mockingly calling him "Failmont". This especially goes to Dwarf Commoners as they often have no reasons to even support him. |
| 347 | |
| 348 | !! Jowan |
| 349 | * TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Fans lamented how they wished Jowan was recruitable to help him atone for his mistakes (similarly to how the player as the option to recruit [[spoiler:Loghain]] for similar reasons) as well as to even out the class ratio in the party. [[note]]Not counting the Warden, there are a total of 6 warriors, 2 rogues, and 2 mages.[[/note]] What doesn't help is how [[WhatCouldHaveBeen early drafts actually have him planned to be a fully fleshed out companion]]. |
| 350 | * TheWoobie: His storyline, involving him trying to escape, becoming an apostate, losing his love, cheated and becoming awfully deluded in his actions whilst trying to atone, resulting in either his death (if the PC kills him or insists on his execution), his imprisonment (given back to the Circle, which is presumably this), or a life of exile (if the PC sets him free), is short but nevertheless rather sad. Giving him to the Circle is arguably ''worse'' than execution; it's highly likely the Circle will make him into a Tranquil as punishment for his crimes and to prevent from using BloodMagic again. The threat of undergoing the Rite of Tranquility was what made him seek to escape the Circle in the first place. |
| 351 | |
| 352 | !! Cullen |
| 353 | * {{Adorkable}}: Nervously runs for the hills if the female mage PC suggests getting to "know" each other. |
| 354 | * JerkassWoobie: He was a dorky kid and the poster boy for good templars, but Uldred's betrayal and torturing poor Cullen for days straight broke him. |
| 355 | |
| 356 | !! The Couslands |
| 357 | * SacredCow: Let's just say there are fans who see them as this, and just leave it at that. |
| 358 | |
| 359 | [[/folder]] |
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