Characters / Dragon Age: Inquisition – Antagonists

Dragon Age Character Index
Dragon Age: Inquisition: The Inquisitor | The Inner Circle (Warriors | Mages | Rogues) | Multiplayer | Non-Playable Characters (The Inquisition | Antagonists | DLC Characters)
Dragon Age: Origins | Dragon Age II

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Corypheus / The Elder One

Corypheus in Legacy

^{Corypheus in Inquisition}

Appears in: Dragon Age II - Legacy | Inquisition

Voiced by: David Sterne (English)^{Foreign VAs}Erich Räuker (German)

"Know me, know what you have pretended to be. Exalt The Elder One! The will that is Corypheus!"

The Big Bad of the Legacy DLC; a mysterious Darkspawn sealed away many years ago by the Grey Wardens, and later had those seals reinforced by Malcolm Hawke. Corypheus now seeks the blood of Malcolm Hawke's children in order to escape. He returns in Dragon Age: Inquisition as the Elder One, a mysterious being whom the Venatori serve.

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Tropes in Dragon Age II: Legacy

• All Myths Are True: Anders believes that the Golden City tale of the Chantry's canon is just propaganda to justify imprisoning mages. As it turns out, 7 magisters did try to breach the Golden City, and they were in fact turned into Darkspawn, and Corypheus was one of the people who did it, though he says that the city was already black when they got there. On the other hand, Word of God and in-universe historians confirm that the city did in fact appear golden, at least from the outside, until the Magisters' attempt to conquer it, suggesting that it might have been tainted at the moment they set foot in it.
• Antiquated Linguistics: His word order is strange and old-fashioned, which makes sense since it has been a thousand years since he last spoke.
• The Archmage: One of the most powerful Mages encountered thus far, and he might not even have been at full strength. You do not get to be a Magister by sitting on your ass.
• The Bad Guy Wins: He gets freed, and Hawke killing him doesn't take.
• Big Bad: Of the Legacy DLC.
• Black Eyes of Evil: His eyes briefly turn this colour moments before Hawke delivers the killing blow. This happens at exactly the same time Janeka or Larius stumble in the background, implying this was the moment he performed the Body Surf.
• Body Horror:
  • Similar to the Architect, he appears to have a hood growing out of his skin. Then again, as one of the first Darkspawn, it's very possibly these may actually have once been his clothes and the Taint fused them to his body.
  • And once again if he possesses Larius, who's a Ghoulified Warden.
• Body Surf: It's strongly implied that he survived his battle with Hawke by body-jumping into the nearby Larius or Janeka.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The main reason the Wardens kept him alive after the First Blight. Initially they'd wanted to interrogate or make use of him as a weapon against the Darkspawn; but when it became clear that any Warden who went near him fell under his influence, they were forced to imprison Corypheus as the only way to contain the danger he posed.
• Chekhov's Gun: The trailer for the DLC implies that Corypheus is a Darkspawn, yet records you can find during gameplay show that people saw him as being as intelligent as a human being. That's because he was, once.
• Elemental Powers: In between fighting him head on, he unleashes a slew of surprisingly powerful attacks. He unleashes two or three advancing walls of flame, conjures a maze of rock to box in the party, electrifies the rock maze to limit mobility even more and drops massive icicles in gaps of the rock maze.
• Evil Counterpart: To the Architect. They're both powerful and independent Darkspawn, but while the Architect doesn't seek power and wants to free the Darkspawn from the Old Gods' sway so they won't start blights any more, Corypheus is very much out for himself and no one else. If the Architect really is the Architect of the Works of Beauty, this is enhanced as they were former colleagues, but while Corypheus was eager to invade the Golden City, the Architect was uneasy about it and had to be persuaded. Corypheus also expresses no regret about the horrors of the Blights, and while the Architect doesn't remember his role in the First Blight, he's ashamed about accidentally causing the Fifth.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: Speaks in a sinister, raspy tone of voice.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: He's initially under the belief that Hawke and company are acolytes of the Temple of Dumat, servants or slaves to the Tevinter Imperium. He becomes even more confused when these "slaves" have the audacity to speak back to him! And since when did the Deep Roads of the Dwarven Empire fall into disrepair?
• Godhood Seeker: He aims to be a god, and plans to fuse the material world and the Fade to accomplish this.
• Greater-Scope Villain: As one of the original villains behind the Blight, he's one to the entire world. In addition, a Codex entry speculates that he might be responsible for Kirkwall being an Eldritch Location, which, if true, would make him partly responsible for the events of the main plot.
• Have You Seen My God?: He's visibly disturbed by the fact that Dumat is no longer around to answer his calls, on account of becoming the First Archdemon and being killed by a Grey Warden.
• Humanoid Abomination: Like the Archdemon, he's able to call those with the Taint to him and can even jump vessels when his body is destroyed. However, unlike the Archdemon, which is always destroyed trying to possess someone with a Grey Warden's soul, he's capable of doing so and surviving.
• Ironic Nickname: According to the Chant, he is "the Conductor of the Choir of Silence," being the High Priest of Dumat, god of silence. He spends a lot of time in both games monologuing.
• Large and in Charge: He must be at least nine feet tall.
• Large Ham: It might have something to do with being originally a Tevinter Magister, who are the Thedosian answer to what goeth before a fall.
• Leaking Can of Evil: He has been sealed inside a Grey Warden prison in the Vimmark Mountains by blood magic and he wants out.
• Meaningful Name: In ancient Athenian theater, the coryphaeus was the leader of the chorus. Corypheus has his own Calling, or 'music', and the achievement for defeating him is 'Conductor'. According to Word of God, he was once the Magister Sethius Amladaris, who used the alias 'Conductor of the Choir of Silence' during the planning of the assault on the Golden City (Dumat having been the Dragon of Silence).
• Mind Control: While sealed, Corypheus sends out a Calling similar to that of the Archdemons, allowing him to control anyone with the Taint. Corypheus does this unconsciously and is confused to see his victims once freed.
• Monster Progenitor: He is one of the first Darkspawn.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Lampshaded by Hawke and company, who note that with a name like that, he's clearly going to be a bad guy. In the real world, it's ancient Greek for 'chorus leader', which isn't all that intimidating, but hints to his identity as the Conductor of the Choir of Silence.
  Hawke: I'd like to know who this Corypheus is. With a name like that, he's bound to go "Mwha-ha-ha-ha!" at some point, I just know it.
• Nightmare Face: The guy's pretty horrific to look at normally, to say the least, what with half his face stretched out and strange growths coming off it. It gets worse when he loses his temper. And even worse when you realise that the odd growths coming out of his face resemble the shape of a typical mage's hood. When you remember that he was once a man and the Darkspawn Taint is frequently shown to actively mutate individuals... suddenly you realise that those growths probably were once parts of his clothes.
• Old Master: He's over 1300 years old and a powerful Mage.
• Only I Can Kill Him: Inverted. The Wardens realized he was way too dangerous to be kept alive, but his influence through the Taint prevented any Warden from striking him down. They had to imprison him instead, and his prison was deliberately abandoned because any Warden left around there would inevitably fall under his influence and try to set him loose.
• Power Incontinence: A mild example. He's initially unaware of the False Calling he emits and is quite surprised by the Wardens he inadvertently mind-controlled.
• The Power of Blood: This is the power that bound him. Despite being a Tevinter Magister who worshiped Dumat, Corypheus is never actually seen using any blood magic.
• Really 700 Years Old: As one of the Magisters who entered the Golden City and caused the First Blight, he's over 1300 years old. Grey Warden records imply he's been sealed away in his prison for the better part of a millennium.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: To the point where the entire Grey Warden prison acts as one giant seal to contain him. Rather tellingly, the Wardens imprisoned several Pride Demons merely to provide power to maintain the seal, turning them into little more than batteries.
• Unwitting Pawn: Of Dumat. Corypheus and the other Magisters went to the Golden City at Dumat's request, believing they would be rewarded with light. Instead, they found only darkness.
• Walking Spoiler: After The Reveal that he's not just a darkspawn. He's one of the first.
• Was Once a Man: And one of the Tevinter Magisters who entered the Golden City to boot.
• Wizard Duel: Engages in one with Mage Hawke, who manages to defeat him.
• Worf Had the Flu: Larius and Janeka both tell Hawke to free him while he's still "weak." Either they badly underestimated him, or we really don't want to see what Corypheus looks like at the height of his power.
• Wrong Context Magic: He's a Darkspawn with a soul and can thus possess people. Unlike the Archdemon, he can also do this with Grey Wardens.

Tropes in Dragon Age: Inquisition

• Achievements in Ignorance: Solas was setting him up to fail with the Orb and thought he'd die. Corypheus went ahead without knowing this, and his Resurrective Immortality meant that he was able to survive the unlocking process and go on to cause problems.
• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: At the conclusion of the final battle, he desperately begs Dumat and the Old Gods for help. Ironically, this is only minutes after mocking Andrastians for praying to a Maker he claims doesn't exist.
  Corypheus: Dumat! Ancient ones, I beseech you! If you exist - if you ever truly existed - aid me now!
• Ambition Is Evil: The game writer Sylvia Feketekuty describes him as ambitious, and he is the Big Bad of the installment.
• Arch-Enemy: To the Herald of Andraste. They single each other out as their greatest and most important enemies; the Inquisitor has to save Thedas from Corypheus no matter how ruthless they must be. Meanwhile, Corypheus despises the Inquisitor not only for opposing him but for interrupting the ritual that would have fulfilled his plans before the game's start.
• Bad Boss: Things don't go for well for his subordinates whether they fail or succeed. Samson and Calpernia have it particularly rough: Samson has to ingest so much red lyrium that he doesn't have long to live even with his astonishing resistance to it, and Calpernia was going to be brainwashed by Corypheus as soon as she drank from the Well of Sorrows.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: He wanted to get into the Fade. The Inquisitor grants him his wish, banishing him to the Fade but destroying Corypheus's body in the process.
• Big Bad: He's the main villain of the game.
• Boss Banter: Besides his general grandstanding, he has specific comments to reflect your Inquisitor's race and choice of party members. In particular, he is more contemptuous towards Dorian, his fellow countryman, for betraying their country.
  Corypheus: (to Cassandra) A pike shall hold your head before the gates of the Grand Cathedral, Seeker!
  Corypheus: (to Varric) The beardless stone-worshiper? Run as fast as your little legs can take you.
• Broken Pedestal: The entire reason he wishes to become the God of Thedas is that he went on a mission to the Golden City to meet the Maker Himself, but he found it Black with no one in it. He then jumped straight to the conclusion There Is No God, and never considered the idea that the Maker wouldn't want to meet him, or that he corrupted the Golden City himself. Regardless, basically Corypheus had a Crisis of Faith and decided Then Let Me Be Evil.
• Combat Stilettos: Corypheus's outfit includes Wicked Witch-style high heels. Why he needed to be taller when he was already nine feet in height is a mystery. The black and white striped stockings only make it weirder.
• Conflict Killer: He serves this role not for one, but two civil wars going on in Thedas: the Mage-Templar War and the Orlesian Civil War. He represents such a threat that the Inquisition must pacify all these factions at each other throats to make them stand together against him.
• Cruel and Unusual Death: The Inquisitor opens a Fade Rift inside his skull, ripping his physical body apart and banishing his essence permanently into the Fade.
• Dark Messiah: His followers are convinced that he's on the way to godhood, where he will make a better world for them.
  Erimond: While the Elder One rules from the Golden City, we of the Venatori shall be his god-kings here on earth.
• Devil, but No God: The Elder One claims there's no Big Good spirit like the Maker, leaving nothing to save Thedas from him and his legions of demons. He was heartbroken by the realization that his former god in Dumat is dead, and he saw no hint of the Maker in the Black City. His core motive, along with power, is to serve as the new, true God, which the Inquisitor can call out as incredibly selfish and insane. Also, it turns out the Elven Pantheon is (possibly) real, and the Dread Wolf is a (now regretful) Mysterious Backer working behind the scenes.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Josephine accuses him of this with his plans to restore Tevinter to its former glory; with the inevitable decline of the Imperium, due to the tensions with southern Thedas and the ongoing war with the Qunari, the Imperium is a shell of its former glory and probably too far gone to reverse that decline. Corypheus is working to restore something that no longer even exists. As Dorian remarks more than once, Corypheus' Tevinter will never be his Tevinter.
  • In Trespasser, Leliana remarks that Corypheus should have done like the Qunari are attempting and killed as many prominent leaders across Thedas after the Conclave if he'd wanted to gain an advantage instead of trying to manipulate things from the shadows.
• Dragon Rider: Not just any dragon, but an Archdemon. Or rather, a dragon he's corrupted with red lyrium to make it look like an Archdemon.
• Dystopia Justifies the Means: He wants to become god by merging with the Fade and Thedas. If he gets his way in the worst possible ending, the Fade would be forever twisted and Thedas will be destroyed.
• Evil Brit: His British accent only serves to make him even more intimidating. Much like most Tevinter.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Wrongly believes that the Inquisitor has the same motivations he does, which makes them a rival for godhood. The Inquisitor can even retort at the end that "I didn't come here to become a god!" - his reaction is to say nothing, but to stare at them in complete confusion for a few seconds, because this has never occurred to him.
• Evil Is Bigger: Corypheus is huge. He can casually lift and throw the Inquisitor with one hand, regardless of their species.
• Evil Laugh: The "Enemy of Thedas" trailer ends with him letting out a terrifying chuckle. In-game, it's actually the Nightmare demon (sharing the same voice actor) who gives the terrifying chuckle.
• Evil Overlord: Lets count the ways: 1) A supernatural being literally Made of Evil, more force of nature than man. 2) Aspires power and domination over all mortals. 3) Has an army of evil minions and monsters at his disposal to wreak havoc upon the land.
• Evil Reactionary: Corypheus has incredible power at his disposal even without the Anchor, but the only thing he can think to do with it is to essentially hard-reboot the last thousand years and turn things back to they way they should be. When thwarted, rather than accept and adapt to the new world, he tries to destroy everything.
• Evil Sorcerer: He is an expert at bending the Fade to his will. A continuation of his old life, no doubt.
• Evil Sounds Deep: He speaks with a deep British accent.
• Faith–Heel Turn: He was never a good guy, so losing his faith in the Old Gods just shunted him over to another form of evil. It's also deconstructed, in that he genuinely believes that his bid for his own godhood is actually a good thing, since he can't imagine why other people would tolerate living in a godless world. In effect, his worldview hasn't changed all that much.
• Fantastic Racism: Except for a human mage Inquisitor, who he only mocks their magical abilities, he exhibits this towards the other Inquisitor of different backgrounds and races during the final battle:
  Corypheus: [to a non-mage human Inquisitor] Look at you! A soporati^explanation A Tevinter term to refer to a lower-class person, predominantly those without magic nipping at the heels of your betters!
  Corypheus: [to an elven Inquisitor] Look at you, wearing slave markings scrawled across your face with pride! You are nothing! A race of sniveling cowards who quailed before Tevinter's power!
  Corypheus: [to a dwarven Inquisitor] You think to best me? A runted dirt-worshiper? Your people have ever been the sand beneath Tevinter heels!
  Corypheus: [to a Qunari Inquisitor] What do they call you? A Qunari? Your blood is engorged with decay! Your race is not a race, it is a mistake!
• Fatal Flaw: His pride. While he's a competent planner, having been working for years to come to this point and making a frightening number of extremely dangerous allies, his arrogance completely blinds him to his weak points and the idea that anyone could stop him. This makes him unable to properly adjust once the Inquisition thwarts him again and again. The Inquisitor and others lampshade this at numerous points. It's only at the very end when his doom is certain that he realizes he needs help and begs the Old Gods to save him. By then it's far too late.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: One of the traits that keeps him from being wholly unsympathetic. Deep down he's confused and afraid, especially since he can no longer hear his god Dumat. His entire plot is merely a means to restore some measure of familiarity and control in this new and frightening world.
• Flunky Boss: Summons demons and then a dragon during the final fight.
• Foil: To Solas. Both are Fish out of Temporal Water who unwittingly did enormous harm to the world in the distant past, only to wake up in the modern day and immediately try to destroy everything again and replace it with something they find more palatable. The difference is that Solas is full of guilt and self-loathing over his actions and previously fought against false gods, while Corypheus accepts no responsibility for his role in spreading the Blight and has decided to set himself up as the world's new god. In addition, Solas believes if people should die, they should die in comfort at the very least, and he would happily accept a third option that didn't involve death.
• Foreshadowing: During his attack on Haven, he corners the Inquisitor and tries to take the Anchor back with a spell - only it doesn't work, and he's genuinely confused. Seems very odd that he'd not know how to handle his own MacGuffin until the ending, where it's revealed Solas, as Fen'harel, gave it to him.
• General Failure: Proves to be an extremely poor military commander, to the point his assault on Haven costs an irrecoverable amount of troops while only strengthening the Inquisitions, and later battles like the Arbor Wilds costing him more to the point it mostly just him and his Archdemon at the end. Somewhat Justified since he was never a military commander in the first place, but a former priest of the Old God Dumat, more suited to building a devoted following of zealots than waging a military campaign; most if not all of his major actions against southern Thedas that held even a chance of succeeding relied on cloak-and-dagger operations, such as deception and clandestine takeover (in the case of the Wardens) or just outright assassination (in the case of Empress Celene) which could be accomplished by small groups of expendable martyrs. And, since his ultimate goal in the south was more to sow enough chaos to keep everyone busy while he cracked open the Fade again, tactics and military strategy mattered little to him anyways, as long it bought him the time he needed.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: Continues to fall back at certain points throughout the final battle, forcing the Inquisitor and co. to give chase.
• A God Am I: In the "Enemy of Thedas" trailer, he boasts that he's the new god of Thedas. His Venatori followers worship him as one. Solas, a "god" on the equal of Corypheus, dismisses this, saying real gods don't need to announce they are one.
• God Is Dead: His gods, anyway. Corypheus claims that the Golden City was already empty and corrupted, meaning that the Maker (if he ever existed) cleared out long ago. His own god, Dumat, was the first Archdemon and was slain by the Grey Wardens. His ultimate goal is to replace them with a new god: himself.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Very little of his original face is intact, the majority of that being on the right side, while his left side has shards of Red Lyrium growing out of it and his upper lip is missing a big chunk, giving him a permanent sneering expression.
• Greater-Scope Villain: Could be seen as one for the entire world of Thedas, being one of the seven Tevinter Magisters who became the first darkspawn.
• High Priest: Before entering the Fade, he was the high priest of Dumat, making him the leader of the seven Sidereal Magisters who ruled Tevinter alongside the Archon.
• Historical Villain Upgrade: According to him, this is what he and the other six Magisters Sidereal have become in the centuries since they vanished. He bitterly bemoans the fact that everyone, even his own home nation, now want nothing to do with him, have turned against him, and have even stricken all record of who he really was from history. Of course, that doesn't stop him from acting exactly like the villain history remembers him as, even if the details of his motivation were different.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • His attempt to crush the Inquisition early on seems to have worked at first, but actually results in the Inquisition becoming more powerful than ever before. At the end, the Inquisitor kills him using the very tool he hoped would bring him godhood.
  • Even earlier, creating his "Archdemon" demanded so much of his power that its death would drain him so much that he'd be unable to resurrect himself for a time. This one weakness is what allows his enemies to finally kill him for good.
• Humiliation Conga:
  • It starts when the future Inquisitor interrupts his sacrifice ritual at the last moment, allowing Justinia to knock away the Orb and the Inquisitor to pick it up, kicking off the events of the story.
  • The next instance is when he tries to kill the Inquisitor at Haven, only to have the Inquisitor drop a mountain on his forces and escape. This also results in a series of events that allows Inquisition to become more powerful than they ever were before.
  • One by one, the Inquisitor takes out his allies and stops Corypheus from getting any of the MacGuffins he needs to complete his plans. Corypheus's plans grow more and more desperate with each defeat.
  • Corypheus flies into pure rage when the Inquisitor beats him to the Well of Sorrows.
  • Finally fed up, Corypheus calls the Inquisitor out at the endgame, and gets his ass handed to him, shouting "Not like this!" when it's clear he's lost. The Inquisitor then summons the Orb (which Corypheus claimed he alone had mastery over) right out of Corypheus's hand, shattering his jaw in the process, and uses it to destroy him for good.
• Hypocrite: He proclaims himself a god while mocking everyone else's faith in the Maker. When he is about to die in the final battle, he loses his nerve and begs his god, Dumat, to save him.
• Kneel Before Zod: He commands all of Thedas to kneel before him.
  Corypheus: Tell me, where is your Maker now?! Call him! Call down his wrath upon me! You cannot... for he does not exist! I am Corypheus! I will deliver you from this lie in which you linger! Bow before your new god and be spared!
• Large and in Charge: He towers over every other character in the game. Even the Qunari Inquisitor is dwarfed by him, at one point being picked up by one arm and tossed aside like a rag doll. It's even more imposing with a dwarven Inquisitor, who is not even half his height.
• Large Ham: Just listen to his monologue at Haven.
  Corypheus: I once breached the Fade in the name of another, to serve the Old Gods of the Empire in person. I found only chaos and corruption, dead whispers. For a thousand years, I was confused. No more! I have gathered the will to return under no name but my own, to champion withered Tevinter, and correct this blighted world. Beg that I succeed, for I have seen the throne of the gods, and it was empty!
• Last of His Kind: He's surprised that none of the other Ancient Magisters have returned... but oh well, more glory for him! While at least one other of the seven original Ancient Magisters is potentially still around in the modern age (the Architect), that one has the good sense not to be openly causing trouble on the world stage.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Inverted. Players of the last game's Legacy DLC can easily spot his distinctive silhouette in his first appearance as a shadow.
• Magic A Is Magic A: Seemingly defied by Corypheus to devastating effect. His self-resurrection breaks one of the few explicit limits we know about magic, and both the Breach and the explosion that created it seem absolutely unprecedented in scale and intensity. It turns out he is able to do these because he is using darkspawn blight magic and an ancient elven artifact, respectively. The characters even feel that he is cheating somehow.
• Never My Fault: Logs found in the Shrine of Dumat if you sided with the Templars reveal that he is in total denial about his role in bringing the Darkspawn Taint to Thedas.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
  • Trespasser reveals that by surviving the attempt to unlock the Orb, Corypheus inadvertently prevented Solas from moving forward with his plans to tear down the Veil, and ended up averting a different and possibly even more cataclysmic apocalypse.
  • His arrival also acts as a Conflict Killer for the Mage/Templar war by turning one side into his minions (and getting them wiped out in later battles) and causing the other to be rehabilitated in the eyes of Thedas by working with the Inquisition and spurs the factions in the Orlesian civil war to try to come to terms.
• Nightmare Face: One distinct enough that it can potentially spoil part of the plot.
• Ninja Zombie Pirate Robot: As noted in the epilogue, he's a Darkspawn Magister. That combination alone was enough to instantly unite everyone in Thedas against him.
• Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: Never said by the man himself, but mentioned by others. The Elder One is so astoundingly arrogant that he can't even conceive of defeat. Several instances where he could have made a personal effort to salvage failing plans or protect himself, he chooses not to because it would make him look weak. Even after losing his army, his lieutenants, his Orlesian saboteur, and the MacGuffin, he still believes that this is a minor setback.
• Omnicidal Maniac: Alexius believes that the Elder One intends to destroy Thedas. After the Inquisitor stops him from using the Well of Sorrows, Corypheus snaps and reopens the Breach; if he succeeds, Corypheus will successfully merge the Fade and Thedas, permanently corrupting the former into his personal paradise and killing most-to-all life in the latter; and even if he doesn't, the Breach is unstable enough for Corypheus to take out the whole world.
• Our Liches Are Different: Intelligent, long-lived monster sorcerer with super-magic: fits the bill. He also has what looks like nasty red lyrium spikes shooting out of his face. He even has a Soul Jar in the form of the "Archdemon", since he invested so much of his being in corrupting it that killing it would temporarily neutralize his Body Surf abilities. And like a lich, killing him without destroying his soul jar is pointless since he can immediately resurrect himself using any tainted being, even a Grey Warden, as a host.
• Out of the Inferno: Near the end of the Siege of Haven, he does this when he meets the Inquisitor face-to-face for the very first time.
• Prayer Is a Last Resort: When all else fails, he desperately begs the Old Gods to help him. They don't listen, probably because they're dead. Played with in that when he first appeared prayer was his first resort, and Dumat not responding terrified him. He was originally a priest, after all.
• Pride: One of his writers describes him specifically with the word arrogance, not just arrogant. His whole being is constructed around his pride in himself.
• Put Them All Out of My Misery: After being utterly defeated at the Temple of Mythal, Corypheus creates a new Breach, knowing that only the Inquisitor can close it. His plan is to either lure the Inquisitor into a trap or allow the bigger, stronger Breach to kill everything in Thedas. He's too pissed off to care which.
• Red Baron: In Ancient Tevene, "Corypheus" literally translates to "The Conductor of Silence".
• Removed Achilles' Heel: The whole reason that the Grey Wardens exist is because the Archdemon can't possess them. Corypheus, on the other hand, can, so the 'Grey Warden deals the killing blow' solution to all previous blights simply won't work on him, and his ability to mimic the Calling means that Grey Wardens are a liability when fighting him.
• Resurrective Immortality: Corypheus will automatically possess the body of any tainted creature upon death and shape it into a copy of his original one. Death is barely an inconvenience to him as this ability has no known maximum range and takes only seconds. This ability is literally the only reason he's even a threat, as Solas says that the blast that involved creating the Breach would have killed Corypheus had he not been able to respawn.
• Satanic Archetype: He's a fallen Magister and the original source of the setting's major evil, with loads of pride and ambition, who wants to set himself up in God's place.
• Self-Serving Memory: Mother Giselle claims that he has this in regards to his claims about entering the Black City not matching the Chantry's official doctrine. While she notes the Chant of Light is far from a perfect and historically accurate record, Giselle points out Corypheus could easily be manipulating his recollection of events to either cover gaps in his memory after millennia of imprisonment, or to present a version of what happened that paints him in a better light.
• Slasher Smile: Sports a triumphant grin during a flashback where he drains the Divine's life force to power his Orb.
• Smug Snake: To himself and his followers, the Elder One seems like a genius chessmaster. Indeed, when the Inquisitor first stumbles upon his plans, the Elder One has secured so much power and so many allies that he seems virtually unbeatable. However, the Inquisitor deals him one humiliating defeat after another and Corypheus doesn't take any of them well. His obscene arrogance is his undoing; as Cassandra puts it, he was so sure that a true defeat was impossible that he never took any precaution against it.
  The Herald: [before kicking the trebuchet lever and trigger an avalanche] Your arrogance blinds you. Good to know.
• Soul Jar: His one weakness is his fake Archdemon. He invested so much power in corrupting the creature that its death prevents him from resurrecting long enough for the Inquisitor to deliver the final blow. Whether or not he knew of this potential liability to begin with is unknown.
• Spanner in the Works: Solas led him to the Orb of Fen'Harel believing that he'd die in the process of unlocking its power, not knowing that Corypheus was functionally immortal and thus putting a severe hamper to his plans.
• Stupid Evil: Not only is he an incompetent strategist whose every action is geared towards causing chaos and destruction over any actual benefit, but this focus on appearing evil above all else repeatedly and predictably backfires on him: being at the Conclave at all and deciding to use the Divine as the sacrifice when he could have used any sacrifice winds up with the Inquisitor making off with the Anchor ability; blowing up the Conclave to exacerbate the war between mages and Templars leads to the rise of the Inquisition and the war's end; the attempt to throw Orlais into chaos by having the Empress assassinated by a similarly Stupid Evil underling while screaming "For Corypheus!" leads to Orlais predictably uniting against him; freeing Calpernia from slavery solely so he can betray her in a cruel and ironic fashion leads to the Venatori turning against him at a decisive moment. That he refers to himself as "darkness" and exalts his own evilness every time he opens his mouth does not help his cause, either. By far, the worst is his adamant refusal to change any plan already in motion, even if he knows for a fact that his enemies know about it and how to stop it.
• Transformation of the Possessed:
  • He now looks identical to his old body, despite possessing Larius or Janeka, and then some other, random Warden; the body he gained by possessing either of them was most likely destroyed when the Breach opened, and according to Morrigan, his body surf ability has no maximum range. This ability of his is basically an improved version of the Archdemons' re(dark)spawn that works similarly. However, unlike the Archdemon who has to possess a Darkspawn and dies when entering a Warden's body, Corypheus is able to possess Wardens as well - which would make him unkillable if it wasn't for some particular loophole the Inquisitor, of course, takes advantage of.
  • He "dies" at the Temple of Mythal with his body being obliterated, and we get to see him Body Surf into another poor Warden. The poor sucker vomits up black goo and we see Corypheus rise out of the mess looking none the worse for wear - and exactly the same.
• Unknown Rival: Lampshaded when you first meet him after act 1. He acknowledges that you have no idea who he is despite foiling several of his schemes; he just wants you to know that won't save you.
• Villain by Default: Over on the Dragon Age – Races page, there are three groups marked as "Always Chaotic Evil": Tevinter Magisters, Darkspawn, and Demons. Corypheus is, technically speaking, all three of these.
• Villain Decay: He starts the game at the brink of victory, but then the Herald spends practically every moment onward taking out his assets one after another, making him look increasingly less threatening and more pathetic.
• Villainous Breakdown: He does not handle setbacks, failure, or defeat well. He flies into a rage at the slightest provocation, and your advisors tell you that Corypheus's actions grow more and more desperate and reckless with each victory by the Inquisition. He goes into a rage after the Inquisitor steals the Anchor from him, and when the Inquisitor stops him from using the Well of Sorrows, Corypheus decides to throw strategy aside and attempt to destroy the world by reopening the Breach.
  Solas: [talking of Corypheus after the Temple of Mythal] You have waylaid all his other plans. Now, as a petulant child, he will destroy the game board rather than admit defeat. Be ready for anything. He still believes himself a god, and gods do not fall gracefully.
• Vocal Evolution: This time around, David Sterne uses a voice much closer to the Profane Abomination. You could almost mistake him for a different voice actor.
• Walking Spoiler: The fact that he survived past Dragon Age II is itself a spoiler.
• Was Once a Man: One of the first Tevinter magisters, here. Also, according to some scraps of paper written by one of his old slaves, he used to be a stern but fair man with a loving wife. There's a War Table mission where Dorian tries to find out who he really was, before he and the other six donned their monikers as High Priests of the Old Gods. The conclusion offers us a possible real name: Sethius Amladaris.
• Worf Had the Flu: In the previous game, Corypheus was newly awoken and killed in a difficult but straightforward battle by Hawke's group. In Inquisition, he has been operating for years and shows how powerful he really can be.
• You Fight Like a Cow: In the final battle, especially toward a Dalish Inquisitor. This is not surprising, given their peoples' history.
• You Have Failed Me: Several times, you find servants (or their logs) saying that he offered zero help to failing or endangered operations, expecting that they either succeed or die trying. After failing to get his hands on the Well of Sorrows, Corypheus abandons what's left of his army to be destroyed while he makes his escape.
• Your Mind Makes It Real: Plans to use the Fade's tendency towards this to become a god in both worlds.

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Monsters and Demons

The Archdemon/ Red Lyrium Dragon

The Archdemon / Red Lyrium Dragon

Appears in: Inquisition

"Hey, remember that war we talked about? Full of little baddies I can stick with little arrows? That's not a frigging archdemon, is it?!"

— Sera

A massive, corrupted, dragon-like figure, the Archdemon is a creature that usually heralds a coming Blight... but this one seems to be under the Elder One's control. One of his most powerful tools, no one can find a way to defend against the Archdemon, and everyone is terrified of experiencing two Blights in the same age. There are rational doubts that it's a true Archdemon, however.

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• Art Evolution: There's no way to really know if all Archdemons are supposed to look similar, but the graphics in DA:I allow him to look even scarier than Urthemiel. Of course, the fact that he's not really an Archdemon - and also not a he - might have something to do with it, too.
• Breath Weapon: A crimson flame laced with electricity. Likely a result of red lyrium corruption.
• Demoted to Dragon: An Archdemon is supposed to be the Big Bad for a Blight, and was an Old God in his past life. Working under the Elder One is a step down for him. Or it would be, if she really was one.
• The Dragon: A rare literal version, to Corypheus, the Elder One. Technically shares this distinction with Calpernia/Samson.
• Giant Flyer: An immense dragon, so this is a given.
• Interface Spoiler: Locking onto it during the attack on Adamant will reveal that she is named "Red Lyrium Dragon" rather than "Archdemon".
• Living Weapon: It certainly serves as this to The Elder One. Cullen even notes having such a creature at their command gives the Inquisition's enemies quite the advantage.
• Mistaken Identity: Everyone initially calls it an "Archedemon", given that it's a big, corrupted High Dragon as all other Archdemons are, but investigations into it reveal that it's not actually an Archdemon but just a regular (or as regular as you can get for High Dragons, anyways) High Dragon corrupted with Red Lyrium.
• Our Demons Are Different: Archdemons are Blight-corrupted Old Gods, rather than aggressive spirits of the Fade.
• Our Dragons Are Different: This Archdemon is far different from any other Old God or High Dragon due to being corrupted by Red Lyrium.
• Samus Is a Girl: As a normal High Dragon, she is actually female.
• Skull for a Head: Somewhat. Its face and teeth are a bit more skull-like, as opposed to Urthemiel's rattish maw.
• Soul Jar: Corypheus invested so much power into corrupting this High Dragon that killing her temporarily prevents him from resurrecting himself.
• The Voiceless: The Archdemon only speaks in roars, but presumably can be understood by Darkspawn.

Nightmare

Nightmare

Appears in: Inquisition

Voiced by: David Sterne

A very old and extremely powerful demon that gladly gives the Elder One its services in exchange for the fear on which it feeds.

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• Dark Is Not Evil:
  • Nightmare feeds on fear, which means that people gradually forget what it was that terrified them; it's the reason so many cannot recall their dreams, and it can even take traumatic memories. The Inquisitor and the spirit that may or may not be Justinia discuss that this may have once been used as a blessing; these days, though, the Nightmare wants to actively create more fear on which to gorge itself.
  • Ambient dialogue by Cole suggests that it started out trying to help people.
  • While the Nightmare openly taunts most of the other party, its words in elvish (see below) to Solas, who spends most of his time exploring the Fade and is therefore more familiar with spirits and demons overall, come across more as an admonition than an outright taunt, implying that its intents aren't purely malacious and it was actually warning Solas about the dark path he intended to walk.
• Eldritch Abomination: Par for the course for demons, but this one makes all the ones encountered so far in the series look tame. The Nightmare is massive, and so powerful it can't be directly fought. To the Inquisitor (and therefore the player), it looks like a castle-sized spider.
• Evil Genius: His part in Corypheus' plan. He's responsible for the false Calling that is driving the Grey Wardens to desperate measures, playing them right into Corypheus' hands.
• Evil Gloating: He likes the sound of his own voice.
• Evil Laugh: A very low-key, but extremely sinister one.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Being somewhat a personification of the fear that Corypheus brings, Nightmare speaks using Corypheus's deep voice, which helps add to his menace.
• Faux Affably Evil: Like the Sloth demon of the "Broken Circle" quest back in Origins, he refers to the party as his "guests" in the Fade and wonders why the player character is so determined to reject his gift - in this case, taking the "fearful" memory of the moment the Breach was opened and the Inquisitor received the Mark.
• Fighting a Shadow: The spider-humanoid being that the party does battle with is called "Aspect of Nightmare", and defeating it just makes the demon itself angry.
• Foreshadowing: If the Nightmare encounters Solas, his "The Reason You Suck" Speech to him will be in perfect elvish, which is odd because no one, not even the Dalish, know perfect elvish. Indeed, unlike the elvish spoken during Solas's personal quest, it won't be translated if the player is Dalish. Solas being completely capable of understanding it hints that he's more than just an apostate. That of course, says nothing about the actual text: Dirth ma, harellan. Ma banal enasalin. Mar solas ena mar din. Translating it reveals that Nightmare's title, harellan, means "trickster." It's also the second syllable of Solas's title, Fen'Harel.^note Actually translating what Nightmare said is easier said than done; as mentioned within the lore itself, Elvhen is a language of "intent", meaning that translating requires knowing the context of what is said, and the speaker's feelings towards it. Still, the fanbase has made an admirable effort to translate Nightmare's taunt anyways, and the most widely accepted translation is thus: "You learned, trickster. That was no victory. Your pride will be your death."
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Inverted. Nightmare (and the shards of it the Inquisitor and their party fight throughout the Fade) takes the appearance of whatever will frighten their enemies the most. For the Inquisitor and Hawke, that means spiders. Alistair/Stroud/Loghain will see Darkspawn. For Cassandra, maggots crawling through filth. Sera sees empty blobs of nothing, and Iron Bull says spiders would be comforting compared to what he's seeing, and refuses to elaborate.
• Hero Killer: Depending on your choices (in this game and previous ones), either Hawke, Stroud, Alistair, or Loghain will die fighting Nightmare, buying time for the others stuck in the Fade to escape.
• I'm Your Worst Nightmare: He makes several boasts along these lines, and can actually live up to them.
• Not Hyperbole: That "Your Worst Nightmare" thing? He's not bluffing. He can look into your brain and present himself as whatever frightens you most.
• "Not So Different" Remark: His taunt to Cole; they both reach into the minds of others to find what causes them pain and fear, and then cause them to forget. But while Cole does this to help heal them and Nightmare does it to feed, Cole obviously finds the comparison distressingly apt.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Almost all of his dialogue involves him lecturing you, your companions, your Warden ally, or Hawke. The latter gets it particularly hard, given their history.
  Nightmare: Did you think you mattered, Hawke? Did you think anything you ever did mattered? You couldn't even save your city. How could you expect to strike down a god? Anders/Fenris/Isabela/Merrill/Sebastian is going to die, just like your family, and anyone you ever cared about.
  • The one it delivers to Loghain is quite savage and brutally accurate as well.
    Nightmare: Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir, the brilliant commander. Pity the one time you tried to rule, you failed so miserably. You had to be beaten, humiliated, lest you destroy your own country. You even doomed the Wardens by bringing the Inquisitor down on them. You destroy everything you touch.
• Saying Too Much: His boasts help the Justinia spirit realize that defeating him will banish the demon army. The spirit even thanks him politely.
• Spiders Are Scary: Invoked. Fear demons take terrifying forms to suit the listener. Since the Inquisitor is revolted by large spiders, the Nightmare takes the form of a spider roughly the size of a small castle.
• Time Abyss:
  • Judging from things maybe Justinia says, the Nightmare has been around at least since the First Blight, and possibly has existed ever since mortals gained the ability to dream and fear.
  • Solas notes that fear is one of the most basic emotions, and therefore one of the oldest (with desire being the only competition).
• The Unfought: You face mere shades and aspects of him. His true form is so powerful that even when bolstered with Hawke and Alistair/Loghain/Stroud, the party would stand no chance. One of your temporary companions must make a Heroic Sacrifice in order to let the others escape.
• You Cannot Grasp the True Form: You have no idea what this thing really looks like. The Inquisitor hates spiders, though, so for them it looks like a spider the size of a mountain.

Envy Demon

Envy Demon

Appears in: Inquisition

Voiced by: Timothy Watson

A rare and powerful form of demon capable of changing its shape and impersonating others perfectly. Having taken the form of Lord Seeker Lucius, it now desires to know everything it can about the Inquisitor before killing them and assuming their form.

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• Arc Villain: Of "Champions of the Just".
• Battle in the Center of the Mind: It traps the Inquisitor in their own mind in an attempt to learn all about them so that it can then take their form, constructing little scenarios to test their responses and torment them for reactions. To fight back, the Herald has only their own will - and Cole.
• Becoming the Mask: Envy demons seek to imitate their prey so perfectly, they tend to get caught up in doing exactly what the original person would do. The Codex entry about them was written by one that had taken the form of a scholar studying it, and it listed all its own weaknesses diligently because that's what its prey would have done.
• Driven by Envy: Its nature. Even after getting a host in a position of power, it always wants more - more glory, more love, more wealth, more fame, more power, more knowledge. That's why, even after becoming Lord Seeker Lucius, the leader of all the Templars, it wants to become the Herald of Andraste.
• Degraded Boss: Somewhat, being reused as the Demon Commander in the multiplayer. It's not really a downgrade in terms of strength, but there is no trace of its subversive danger and it's a much lower level on the lowest difficulty.
• Evil Doppelgänger: It assumes a shadowy version of the Inquisitor's form while inside their mind, and haunts the Inquisitor with visions of how it will lead the Inquisition: imprisoning people for "heresy" (disobeying/questioning the will of the Herald), executing the families of those who don't confess to their "crimes," crushing the nations of Thedas with the Inquisition's troops, and, eventually, leading a demon army on behalf of the Elder One.
  • Subverted in the case of Lord Seeker Lucius. Envy imitated him, but he was evil as well, working for the Elder One in a different capacity.
• Evil Laugh: It has an impressively nasty cackle.
• Fantastic Drug: It put all of the Templar officers on red lyrium while impersonating the Lord Seeker.
• Fatal Flaw: Guess. Its insatiable desire for more drove it to attack the Herald.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Has these while assuming its version of the Inquisitor's form - fiery pits. They're green.
• Humanoid Abomination: Other than looking like a bent, twisted caricature of the human form in its natural state, it assumes a shadowy version of the Inquisitor with Glowing Eyes of Doom in his mental world.
• If I Can't Have You…: It says as much during its boss fight - if it can't have the Inquisitor's form, no one can. Including the Inquisitor.
• Kill and Replace: Its goal for the Inquisitor, and the general MO of an Envy Demon. It wants to learn everything it can about the Inquisitor before killing them and leading the Inquisition in their place. However, it's later revealed that it didn't actually kill the man it is currently impersonating. Lucius let the demon replace him so he could enact his own Evil Plan.
• Killed Offscreen: If the Inquisitor recruited the mages instead of the Templars, then the Inquisitor will never meet the demon in person except in its disguise as Lucius. However, they can use the War Table to send the Bull's Chargers to kill it.
• Mole in Charge: As Lord Seeker Lucius, he leads the Templars, and replaces their supply of normal lyrium with red lyrium to subvert them to the will of the Elder One.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Cole says that the demon is just like how he used to be, killing to sustain itself and wearing faces that didn't belong to it.
• Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: A more subdued version. It assumes the forms of the Inquisitor's advisors in order to tear down the Inquisitor's mental defenses and learn more about them.
• Shout-Out: Possibly. This isn't the first Envy who could mimic people perfectly.
• Smug Snake: Appropriately enough. The Envy Demon always tries to act with supreme confidence, but that confidence is easily rattled, and it always seems to be teetering on the edge of a Villainous Breakdown. It has plenty of power, but it tries to make that power stretch far beyond its capabilities, and Cole's efforts to help the Inquisitor reduce it to shrieking pretty swiftly. It also doesn't respond well if you find the inscriptions revealing its motivations. It brought you into the mental world to learn more about you, not to have you learn more about it.
• Stalker without a Crush: Once it learned about the Herald and the power and worship they had, it became desperate to have their form.
• Voluntary Shapeshifting: Its modus operandi.

The Venatori

Magister Gereon Alexius

Magister Gereon Alexius

"The Elder One has power you would not believe. He will raise the Imperium from its own ashes."

Appears in: Inquisition

Voiced by: David Schofield

The Inquisitor: Look at what you've done, Alexius! All this suffering, and for what?
Alexius: For my country, for my son... but it means nothing now.

Alexius is a Tevinter magister, and now the leader of the Venatori. He was once Dorian's mentor.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: After his future self's death, Dorian laments how far his master had fallen. When you sit in judgment of him, he is a broken man and just accepts whatever you dole out.
  Dorian: He's fallen so low I don't think he'll ever get back up.
• All for Nothing: Notes found in the future Redcliffe make it clear that his research into time magic ultimately goes no where. The only reason he is able to really use it is because of the Breach warping the Veil so much that it can be done, but only to events after the Breach occurred. Since everything he was trying to change (the Inquisition, his wife's death, his son getting the Blight), happened before the Breach, he realizes how hopeless it was.
• Anti-Villain: At the end of the day, Alexius just wants to save his son. When Felix convinces him that this isn't possible and his final attempt to do something fails, he surrenders. His status as this is even seemingly reflected in universe as well; killing or making him Tranquil earns more disapproval from your companions than the other options, and if made an agent, earns approval from most of the companions.
• Arc Villain: Of the "In Hushed Whispers" main quest in Redcliffe.
• Astroturf: According to Fiona, a good portion of the mages at Redcliffe were Venatori infiltrators who clamored for her to accept Alexius's "help." He probably spread the rumor that the Templars were coming, as well; at the time, they were actually in no position to prosecute their war. It helps that the reigning monarch at Ferelden is notable mage sympathizer enough to offer them refuge at Redcliffe.
• Bad Samaritan: The "help" he offers the rebel mages. Once he's defeated, one option is to make him actually follow through on that promise.
• Broken Pedestal: He was once Dorian's patron and apparently had similar views to Dorian about reforming Tevinter. Then his wife was killed and Felix contracted the Blight, and Alexius went off the deep end.
  Dorian: Once, he was a man to whom I compared all others. Sad, isn't it?
• Calling the Old Man Out: Both Felix and Dorian do this when Alexius goes on a lengthy rant about how the Elder One will restore Tevinter to glory.
  Felix: Father, listen to yourself! Don't you realise what you sound like?!
  Dorian: He sounds exactly like the sort of villainous cliché everyone always expects us to.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: With the Arcane Knowledge perk, he can be made into a magical researcher for the Inquisition on the basis that the power he wielded is simply too potentially useful to be cast aside. Even without this, you can assign him to Fiona to make use of his talents.
• Death Seeker: Dorian suspects that future Alexius wanted to die so he could be reunited with Felix. Also in the main timeline, where he protests any decision that doesn't involve his execution.
• Despair Event Horizon: Several months earlier, Alexius's wife and son were attacked by a darkspawn raiding band. Alexius's wife was killed and Felix was infected with the taint. According to Dorian, Alexius was convinced that he could have saved them both if he had been there and his guilt and grief destroyed him.
• Doting Parent: To Felix, his only child. It's noted in supplemental material that Felix is too weak as a mage, which is usually a disappointment in Tevinter, but that Alexius loves his son so much that he genuinely does not mind.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He obviously cares for his son Felix a great deal, given that in the Bad Future, he kept him a walking corpse rather than see him completely dead. He was also willing to give the Inquisition anything they wanted if it meant his son would go unharmed.
• Face–Heel Turn: He went from reform-minded to cliché Tevinter villainy because the death of his wife and sickness of his son broke him.
• Fallen Hero: He tutored Dorian before he defected from the Imperium. The two were both reformists, hoping to work together to mend the troubled Imperial system from within, but his wife's death and Felix's blight sickness drove him to desperate straits and led to his downfall.
• Fate Worse than Death: The Inquisitor can have him made Tranquil. This is an option only for mage Inquisitors or those with the Arcane Knowledge perk, however.
• Flunky Boss: At a couple of points in his boss fight, he opens Fade Rifts to summon demons to support him.
• Happily Married: Supplemental material confirms that Alexius and his late wife had an actually happy marriage, which is somewhat unusual in Tevinter.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: When Dorian and the Inquisitor reverse his time rift unharmed, he immediately accepts his defeat and surrenders.
• Light Is Not Good: Dresses in light colors.
• Love Makes You Crazy: He was once a reformist, like his pupil Dorian, but his desire to save his son made him turn to the darkest depravities of the Magister system.
• Manipulative Bastard: He uses his time magic to get to Fiona before the Inquisitor, altering history and presenting himself as a Good Samaritan and savior to the mage rebels. It's only once the Inquisitor arrives that Fiona starts realizing something's really wrong.
• Necromantic: His main goal is keeping his son alive. In the Bad Future, we see how far he's willing to go.
• Obviously Evil: Shows up under bizarre circumstances with a rather terrified-looking Grand Enchanter as his new lackey. He's even wearing a hood with red "horns" on it, just in case you were wondering if maybe the magisters were nice people sometimes.
• Outliving One's Offspring: His ultimate fate, which leaves him pretty much broken and all but begging for death. He's so desperate to avert this that he joins forces with Corypheus, who promises to heal Felix. It's a lie, of course, but Alexius buys into it.
• Pet the Dog: He's on the receiving end of this if an Inquisitor with the Arcane Knowledge perk recruits him as an agent to study magic. Leliana will sometimes show him little kindnesses, as indicated by his message to the Inquisitor following a war table operation. "Your spymaster said she might let me stroll around without my shackles if [my research results] please you, but sing no false praise on my account."
• Save Scumming:
  • He does an in-universe version with his time magic: when Fiona and the Inquisitor are on the verge of making an alliance, he goes back in time and revises his entire strategy, infiltrating the rebel mages and manipulating the Grand Enchanter into indenturing her charges into Tevinter service. He also tried this to save Felix, but discovered that the time magic is possible only because of the Breach; he cannot travel back before it, either to save Felix or to stop the Inquisitor.
  • Metatextually, this makes him exactly as powerful as you, the player. Short of starting a new game, you can't go to a save file from before the Breach explosion either.
• Time Master: He's able to manipulate time, but the process is neither finely-tuned nor safe. He wasn't even sure if it worked, when he sent the Inquisitor and Dorian into a Bad Future - especially because Dorian messed up the ritual.
  Dorian: I don't even want to think about what this will do to the fabric of the world. We didn't "travel" through time so much as punch a hole through it and toss it into the privy.
• The Usurper: He throws Arl Teagan out of his own castle once he arrives in Redcliffe.
• We Used to Be Friends: Dorian relates that he and his old mentor had a bitter falling out when Dorian angrily told him to move on from his grief over the loss of his family. Apparently they didn't speak to each other for years after that, and when they finally did again, it was only so Alexius could try to recruit Dorian for the Venatori.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He's arguably the single most sympathetic villain in the entire Dragon Age franchise. Everything he does, he does out of love for his only child.
• Wrong Context Magic: One of the cardinal laws of magic is that time can not be manipulated. Everyone, especially the rebel mages, were blindsided when Alexius altered history to erase Fiona's first meeting with the Inquisitor. It is suggested that the Breach is twisting and warping the laws of reality everywhere as long as it's open.
• You Can't Thwart Stage One: A rare example in which the villain can't stop the hero's stage one. He managed to discover time magic, but with the caveat that it only works when the Rift is active (which is why he can't use it to save his wife or Felix). He can stop Stage 2 (ruining the Inquisitor's attempt to ally with the rebel mages) all he wants, but since Stage 1 (the soon-to-be Inquisitor disrupting Corypheus and gaining the Anchor) was what caused the Rift in the first place, it is beyond his power and he can't change the fact that it happened.
  [in Alexius' notes] Nothing works. I have tried countless times to go back before the Conclave explosion, before Felix's caravan was attacked by darkspawn, before the Venatori first arrived in Minrathous - without success. The Breach is the wellspring that makes this magic possible, and travel outside of its timeline is impossible. The Elder One's demand that I change the events of the Conclave can never be fulfilled.
• You Have Failed Me: Codex entries found during the "In Hushed Whispers" quest indicate this is the main reason why Alexius has barricaded himself inside Redcliffe Castle a year into the future. He's convinced - and certainly right to be - that Corypheus will ultimately kill him for his failure to undo the Inquisitor's interference at the Conclave.
  With every failed time spell, the magister grows a bit more paranoid - or perhaps it's not paranoia, since the Elder One really will kill him for his failures.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Corypheus has him killed if you side with the Templars. Alexius's job was to deliver the rebel mages to Corypheus, and he did, so what further use is he?

Lady Calpernia

Lady Calpernia

Appears in: Paying The Ferryman | Magekiller | Inquisition

Voiced by: Alexia Traverse-Healy

Leader of the Venatori, if you recruit the Templars into the Inquisition. A former slave from Tevinter.

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• The Ace: Despite her past as a slave and lack of proper training in the Tevinter Circles because of this, Calpernia is a formidable sorceress and a charismatic personality which is why Corypheus ultimately chooses her as one of the leaders and representative of the Venators.
• Affably Evil: If she were not aligned with Corypheus, Calpernia's goals (freeing slaves and eradicating corruption in Tevinter) make her a genuinely good-hearted, if grievously misguided, character. She also loves mint tea.
  • When initially confronted at the Well of Sorrows, she actually offers the Inquisitor the chance to walk away — even though she does not expect the same mercy from the Inquisitor in turn.
• All of the Other Reindeer: When she was a child, the other slaves ostracized her because her latent magic gave them the creeps.
• And I Must Scream: Narrowly avoided. Through her personal quest, you find out that Corypheus intended to perform a binding ritual on her that would render her enslaved again, but this time as an undying vessel of knowledge to be used whenever he needs her. You find that he practiced the ritual on her old master first, and when you meet him, he begs you for the release of death.
• Anti-Villain: She follows Corypheus because she truly believes he is the path to a better world; she longs for a revived Tevinter, freedom for slaves, and the defeat of the Qunari. If convinced that he means only to enslave her and rule himself, she will turn on him.
• Berserk Button: As detailed below, slavery and mistreatment of slaves is a sure-fire way to piss her off.
• Better to Die than Be Killed: If the Inquisitor fights her in the Temple of Mythal instead of talking her down, she appears to commit suicide shortly after her boss fight to deny the Inquisitor the satisfaction of killing her.
• Bookworm: Calpernia's deep patriotist love for the ancient empire that was Tevinter in the past has its roots in her secretly reading her master's history and politics books as a child, after being trained as a mage by him.
• Co-Dragons: She commands the Venatori, a Tevinter cult loyal to the Elder One and shares a similar role to Samson. Your actions determine who gets upgraded to The Dragon.
• A Day in the Limelight: "Paying the Ferryman" is a short story about Calpernia's past and her reasons for joining the Elder One.
• Degraded Boss: Somewhat, being reused as the Venatori Commander in the multiplayer. She is by far the weakest of the three commanders, and a much lower level than in single-player unless you play on the highest difficulty.
• Disney Villain Death: Throws herself off a cliff into a waterfall after fighting the Inquisitor. Possibly subverted, however; the Dragon Age Keep option about her fate does not explicitly say she died, nor does it show her skeleton like it does for other character deaths, so she probably didn't.
• Enemy Civil War: Downplayed. The Venatori do not get along with the Red Templars, and letters state they are rivals for Corypheus's attention.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • To Leliana. Leliana is the spymaster, while Calpernia ferrets out spies better than anyone. Both women are full of righteous bombast, capable of ruthlessness and genuine concern for their subordinates, and desire complete upheaval of the current system of their respective homelands.
  • She's also got a lot in common with Dorian; both are powerful Tevinter mages and fierce patriots who are happy to kill to restore their country. But while Dorian grew up privileged and pampered and still has trouble seeing past that regarding slaves, Calpernia started from rock bottom and frees slaves in huge numbers. After the opening of the Breach in the sky, Dorian chose to join the organization responsible for remedying the chaos that has swept across Thedas as a result of this, while Calpernia just happened to choose the wrong leader to follow.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Calpernia rips a slaver apart because he damaged his slaves. Dorian comments that, usually, most Tevinter wouldn't care about that.
  • More specifically, she's been buying slaves en masse just to free them, and was furious that the ones he kept sending her showed signs of abuse.
  • She treats her freed slaves very kindly, and frequently reminds them that they don't need to feel like they serve her, as shown through her interaction with one of them in the crystal planted to spy on her.
• Fate Worse than Death: What Corypheus had planned for her.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: She started out as a slave, and now, she's the leader of the Venatori.
• The Lost Lenore: In her youth, she had a relationship with her master's slave bodyguard, Marius. Unfortunately, Marius was sold to another master (and, as far as Calpernia is aware, died while training to become a warrior) shortly after their relationship began. Calpernia still remembers him fondly. When she learns that he survived in Magekiller, she is overjoyed and tries to convince him to join the Venatori so they can be together once more.
• Meaningful Name: Calpernia is named after Calpurnia, a very powerful ancient priestess of Dumat who adopted and raised Darinius, the future founder of Tevinter. Calpernia considers her name to be a promise that she would ensure Tevinter's rebirth.
• Mistreatment-Induced Betrayal: You can convince her to turn on Corypheus if you show her evidence that Corypheus planned to bind her to his will, effectively making her his slave.
• A Mother To Her Men: It's unknown how Calpernia regards all of the Venatori, but she is seen treating the freed slaves that work for her with kindness. Her codex remarks she is "fair to her followers," and letters between herself and her spies show that they hold her in a very high regard. Further, when it's revealed that Corypheus plans to bind her to his will and she leaves, some Venatori agents leave with her — showing that whatever devotion they have to their would-be god pales in comparison to their devotion to her.
• My Country, Right or Wrong: Subverted. She wants Tevinter to be a great nation in order to hold back the Qunari, but she also wants to get rid of slavery, which is considered a core part of Tevinter culture. Still, she wants her homeland restored more than anything else.
• Playing with Fire: She has shown a very strong affinity for fire magic.
• Put on a Bus: She gets a brief mention during Samson's quest if you recruit the mages; otherwise, she's nowhere to be found.
• Skippable Boss: By giving her evidence that Corypheus plans to use her, you can convince her to return to Tevinter with her men. She will not fight you in that case.
• Slave Liberation: Her ultimate goal in helping Corypheus.
• Static Role, Exchangeable Character: Depending on who you side with in Act I either her or Samson will be Corypheus' chief minion.
• Suicide Mission: If you show her the proof that Corypheus is using her, she makes a remark that she knows she's probably going off on one of these.
  Calpernia: I go to confront my master. Then I will return to Tevinter, if there is anything left of me.
• Underground Railroad: Calpernia uses her power to buy, and subsequently free, a constant stream of slaves from Tevinter - many of whom, in turn, align themselves with her. Vicinius even notes how demanding a customer she is.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: She was convinced that Corypheus's victory would result in a slaveless Tevinter free of corruption.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: She wants a revitalized Tevinter that is free of slavery, and is willing to join forces with the Elder One to see it happen.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: While Calpernia is ruthless, she's a true patriot and truly believes in ending slavery in her homeland.
• Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: While most of the Venatori are magisters looking to gain power through Corypheus's influence, Calpernia and her followers genuinely believe that siding with him can help revolutionize Tevinter for the better.

Magister Livius Erimond

Magister Livius Erimond

Appears in: Inquisition

Voiced by: Danny Webb

A Tevinter magister, he's behind the Venatori's activities in the Western Approach, where the Grey Wardens of Orlais have mysteriously disappeared.

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• Arc Villain: Of "Here Lies the Abyss."
• Bad Samaritan: For the Wardens. They were scared, they were desperate, and they were in just the right mindset to accept the "help" he offered. He even talks about how funny it was watching the Warden-Commander agonize over whether to resort to such measures.
• Beard of Evil: As befitting a mage in cahoots with the Venatori.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He's on the receiving end of one from Warden-Commander Clarel before the Archdemon attacks her.
• Defiant to the End: No matter what you do to judge him, he keeps up the smack talk... unless you're a mage and sentence him to Tranquility.
• Didn't Think This Through: Erimond clearly didn't consider that summoning the Red Lyrium Dragon to kill the Inquisitor for him might clue the Wardens in to his true agenda.
• Dirty Coward: He tends to run away the second things break into violence.
• Epic Fail: Attempts to use a spell Corypheus taught him to try and cripple the Inquisitor by manipulating the Anchor, like his master did at Haven. The Inquisitor easily shrugs it off and uses the magical backlash to knock Erimond on his ass.
• Evil Counterpart: He could be one for Dorian; they're both arrogant, powerful, foppish, elitist, Tevinter magisters, but Dorian is an idealist who wants to make his homeland better and be more than the "evil mage"-stereotype. Erimond is the Tevinter stereotype personified and has no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
• Hate Sink: Alexius, Calpernia, Samson, and even Corypheus have some redeeming or at least sympathetic traits. According to Cole, though, "Erimond is an arsehole."
  • To put it in perspective, almost all of your True Companions will approve of his execution, and no one will disapprove. And while many the Inquisitor's companions disapprove if the Inquisitor decides to have Erimond made Tranquil, it's notable that they only disapprove and not greatly disapprove (in contrast to how they react if Alexius is also made Tranquil, whose only fault is his misguided love towards his son that lead him to commit atrocities against the rebel mages, the Fereldan leaders, and to the Inquisition), indicating that even part of them believes that Erimond deserves such a sentence and they're only protesting more out of principle than anything else. Cole might still disapprove having him behind bars, but it less about his personal preferences born out from the harrowing experiences of real Cole, but more to his utter contempt and certainty that the asshole needs to die.
• Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Cassandra may ask Cole during party banter if Erimond has some hidden pain that motivates him. Cole confirms that he doesn't; he's just "an asshole".
• More than Mind Control: He manipulated Warden-Commander Clarel and the Wardens into thinking their Calling was coming early, and that he could help end the Blights forever. If the Inquisitor accuses him of brainwashing the Wardens, he replies that he didn't have to brainwash them.
• Motive Rant: Gives a lengthy one if the Inquisitor asks why he's helping Corypheus, talking about how the Elder One will conquer Thedas for the Venatori to rule over as god-kings on earth while their master rules from the Golden City.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: When the Battle of Adamant turns against him, he brings in Corypheus's Archdemon. The Wardens immediately turn against him.
• Not Worth Killing: The Inquisitor can sentence Erimond to end his days "rotting in the deepest cell we can find," since killing him would simply give him the martyrdom he wants.
• Obviously Evil: A smirking Magister who mysteriously shows up when the Wardens are desperate, claiming to be able to save them with human sacrifice and blood magic. He isn't exactly wrong when he calls Clarel stupid for trusting him. A letter from one Grey Warden openly calls Erimond "everything that's wrong with the Imperium".
• Oh, Crap!: If the Inquisitor decides to have him made Tranquil ^note (an option only available to mage Inquisitors), he finally loses any sense of smugness.
• Precision F-Strike: Calls Clarel "you stupid bitch" when she realizes his true motives.
• Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Erimond pulls one of these whenever his plan goes tits up (which is essentially all of the time).
• Smug Snake: When you capture him, he rants about how he'll ascend to the Elder One's side in Paradise. But he'll flip out if a mage Inquisitor makes him Tranquil.
• Sissy Villain: Has a high voice, fancy clothes, and a proclivity for running away and letting his henchmen cover him.
• The Sociopath: Erimond doesn't care about anyone, and thinks nothing of hurting countless people and corrupting the remains of the Templar order to get what he wants.
• This Is Not My Life to Take: You can choose to let the Grey Wardens decide his fate instead.
• Villain Has a Point: He's not wrong when he points out that Clarel was far too quick to take his claims about the Calling at face value and start with the blood magic and sacrifices, rather than investigate.
  Clarel: You've destroyed the Grey Wardens!
  Erimond: [laughing cruelly] You did that to yourself, you stupid bitch! All I had to do was dangle a little power before your eyes and you couldn't wait to get your hands bloody!
• Wizard Duel: Clarel hands him every inch of his ass in one. He only survives because the fake Archdemon interrupts.

Enchanter Crassius Servis

Enchanter Crassius Servis

Appears in: Inquisition

Voiced by: Henry Lloyd-Hughes

An enchanter from Minrathous's Circle of Magi hired through intermediaries to investigate the Western Approach. Going through the quests will end up with him captured by the Inquisition.

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• Ain't Too Proud to Beg: When caught, he's more than happy to submit and offer his services, saying outright that he throws himself on the Inquisitor's mercy.
• Arc Villain: Of the Western Approach section.
• Baddie Flattery: Inverted. The Inquisitor can compliment him on having the balls to steal from Corypheus.
  Inquisitor: I'm not certain if that's stupidly brave or bravely stupid.
• Boxed Crook: What he becomes if you conscript him into the Inquisition.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: He tries to invoke this to the Inquisitor by saying he has favors owed to him in Tevinter and they would be useful to the Inquisition. The Inquisitor can agree, decline, or Take a Third Option given what is learned about Servis's operations and his talents.
  Inquisitor: Someone who can smuggle artifacts to Tevinter and back is wasted on court diplomacy.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Notes in the Western Approach imply that he dislikes aiding the Red Templars' slaving operation. He definitely doesn't much like the Red Templars themselves, considering them a group of lunatics he's glad to escape.
• Minion with an F in Evil: He really didn't get the memo on the Inquisition being Corypheus's arch rival, possibly because he was practically a mercenary. When he realizes the Inquisition is tearing up his operations, he starts trying to find a new job somewhere very far away, but the Inquisition finds him first.
• Oh, Crap!: Freaks out if you decide to leave him for a Venatori patrol with a message telling how he stole from Corypheus.
• Only in It for the Money: He was simply hired to investigate and signed on for a paycheck. He has no delusion of grandeur or personal grudge with the Inquisitor at all, and he tells the Inquisitor that he was hired by a third party, so he doesn't have any personal affiliation with Corypheus either.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Just doing his job - in this case, running a mining company. He's enough of this trope that deciding to leave him for Corypheus to find is viewed by the majority of your party negatively.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: When he realized the Inquisition was involved in thwarting what he was hired to do, Servis recognized that he was in over his head and started trying to find a new job very far away. The player can find a letter he was in the midst of writing, in which he is listing his qualifications for a new position.
• Secret Test of Character: Well, secret test of intelligence, more accurately. If Servis is retained as a smuggler for the Inquisition, a war table operation opens up in which he can do this job; should Leliana be the advisor chosen for the operation, he's caught taking a small trinket from the artifacts involved. When caught, he surrenders the item cheerfully and says he just wanted to see if the Inquisition was sharp enough to catch him. He then 'rewards' them with the location of an additional cache of treasures.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Delivers one to Denam if they're locked up together, when Denam bemoans the fact that he believes he's the only one being punished.
  Denam: We were also led falsely in the order. A false Lord Seeker, the other officers schemed step by step. Yet I'm the only one charged.
  Servis: That's because the other officers were transformed into Red Templars. I read the reports.
• Surrounded by Idiots: He's paying a group of bandits to keep travelers away, steal equipment, and trap a dragon in the Approach, but they consistently screw up his orders to the point where he wonders in his notes if they'd work any better as jesters.
  • He also had no issue with Professor Frederic and his team of university researchers, since he rightly judged that they wouldn't be in his way; but the White Claw Raiders he hired either didn't receive or outright ignored his directions to leave them alone.

Gordian

Magister Gordian

Appears in: Inquisition

A magister working for the Venatori in the Exalted Plains with the Freemen of the Dales. At Corypheus's behest, he attacked Gaspard's forces and drove them back to Fort Revasan, and Celene's to Citadelle du Corbeau, while they were waiting for the peace talks to conclude, completely cutting their connenctions off from Val Royeaux. He takes advantage of the many corpses that lay in wake of the civil war in order to summon demons into them.

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• 0% Approval Rating: Even the Freemen who work for him don't like him.
• Arc Villain: Of the Exalted Plains.
• Elite Mook: He's a really tough Spellbinder, although he doesn't have the ability to create barriers.
• Flash Step: Like other Spellbinders, he can teleport himself in a flurry of pages.
• An Ice Person: Uses an ice staff and creates ice mines that will explode and freeze.
• Manipulative Bastard: Plays the Freemen for suckers to make his undead army.
• Necromancer: This seems to be his magical expertise, being able to raise and control the dead.
• Night of the Living Mooks: He has a few demon helpers, but most of his forces are undead.
• Spell Book: To go with his magic staff, like all spellbinders.

Red Templars

Lord Seeker Lucius Corin

Lord Seeker Lucius Corin

Appears in: Inquisition

Voiced by: Timothy Watson

Head of the Seekers, and of the remainder of the Templars following the death of Lord Seeker Lambert in the novel Dragon Age: Asunder.

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• Anti-Magic: As a Templar, he can nullify magic.
• Apocalypse Cult: He's essentially joined one, the Order of Fiery Promise, who see themselves as the nemeses of the Seekers.
• Dynamic Entry: The first thing he does is have a minion punch out a priestess denouncing the Herald. The Herald can remark that they were about to do that themselves.
• Evil Counterpart: To Cassandra. Both are members of the Seekers of Truth and take their work very seriously. But while Cassandra believes the Seekers are worth saving and can be made better, Lucius seeks to destroy not only them, but everything in an effort to rebuild the world. He has no qualms about luring the assorted Seekers to their deaths; she takes this very personally.
• Go Mad from the Revelation: In a non-Eldritch variation, Lucius learned the Awful Truth behind the Seekers: during their Vigil of initiation, they are made Tranquil and then restored via Spirits of Faith. This made him decide the Seekers should be disbanded.
  Lucius: We Seekers are abominations. We created a decaying world and fought to preserve it even as it crumbled. We had to be stopped.
• Jerkass: He's no longer the Reasonable Authority Figure that Cassandra remembers him being.
• Not Himself: When you go to meet him in Val Royeaux to discuss alliance with the Templars, he's been replaced by an Envy Demon. You meet the real one in Cassandra's quest.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: While the Order of Fiery Promise are nominally aligned with Corypheus, Lucius considers the Elder One "a monster of limited ambition" and is only allied with him to create a new and better world after Corypheus destroys the current one.
• Omnicidal Maniac: The real Lucius has allied himself with a doomsday cult and plans on destroying the world in order to build a better one in its place.
• Psychotic Smirk: He's rendered so that his face always has a slight smirk, along with cold, intense eyes.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Cassandra notes that he used to be very level-headed and calm, and finds his personality shift rather odd. Subverted, as he actually allowed the demon to replace him, and was working with Corypheus.
• Utopia Justifies the Means: Believing that the current world is beyond repair, he plans on destroying it in order to make a better one in its place.
• We Can Rule Together: Makes this offer to Cassandra on her personal quest. She doesn't even bother dignifying him with a response; she just attacks.

General Raleigh Samson

General Raleigh Samson

Appears in: Dragon Age II | Paper And Steel | Inquisition

Voiced by: Gideon Emery

"Huh. "Retired." Sounds better than "burned-out husk of a Templar begging for coins in the chokedamp."

A returning minor character from Dragon Age II, Samson is now leader of the Red Templars if you recruit the mages.

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• Anti-Villain: He wants to destroy the Chantry for what it's done to Templars and mages alike.
• BFS: Wields the greatsword Certainty. The sword was reforged by Maddox with red lyrium after it was broken. The player acquires it for themselves after Samson's defeat.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: The Inquisitor can let Dagna study his resistance to red lyrium, or make him an agent with Cullen as his handler.
• Co-Dragons: Serves as the commander of the Red Templars, who are totally loyal to the Elder One and shares a similar role to Calpernia. Like with her, your actions determine who fully becomes The Dragon.
• A Day in the Limelight: "Paper & Steel" is a short story about Samson and his motives for joining the Elder One.
• Defector from Decadence: He leaves the Mage-Templar alliance against Meredith in Act 3 of Dragon Age II because he realizes that some of the mages were using Blood Magic the moment they felt backed into a corner. After that, he sort of saw the writing on the wall, and goes to retrieve Cullen while Hawke deals with the alliance (who have a hostage of personal importance to the Champion).
• Degraded Boss: Somewhat, being reused as the Red Templar Commander in the multiplayer. Unlike the others, however, it's only in the sense that his level is much lower unless you play on the highest difficulty. He's still easily the toughest of the three commanders and arguably even more difficult than in single-player.
• Dented Iron: Samson is ruined by years of lyrium addiction and withdrawal. Cullen notes that even with the poisonous red lyrium augmenting him, Samson's best days are long behind him (and the red lyrium will kill him to boot). He relies on the red lyrium-empowered armour Maddox made him to fight effectively. Destroying that armour with Dagna's aid makes the final battle against him a complete pushover.
• Dying as Yourself: Toyed with. He knew full well what the red lyrium would do to his men, but believed that years of exposure to the regular substance from the Chantry had already ruined them, and he wanted his men to go out fighting for a worthy cause rather than rotting in the throes of lyrium addiction.
• Enemy Civil War: Downplayed. The Red Templars and Samson do not like the Venatori, and in fact are perfectly fine with them failing.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Samson is willing to sack and enslave entire towns and desecrate an ancient temple, wiping out its elven guardians, but he does have some limits:
  • When the Templars are in pain from the red lyrium, Samson orders they be given as much elfroot as they want to help with the pain - even the ones that will die from it.
  • If you sentence him to be exiled into the wilderness, he'll protest - not out of concern for himself, but because he knows that he'll eventually lose control over his red lyrium and probably hurt innocents if he's left to his own devices.
• Evil Counterpart: To Cullen. Both are burnt-out former Templars with lyrium issues, who deeply care about their soldiers. They were actually bunkmates back in Kirkwall, and if Hawke encouraged it in Act 3 of the previous game, Cullen even helped Samson get reinstated as a Templar. They also have somewhat similar views on how the Chantry has always taken the Templars for granted, but Samson is markedly angrier about it. The prime difference between the two is how quickly Knight-Commander Meredith's authority abuse disillusioned them: Samson was kicked out as punishment for passing love letters between a mage and a Templar, and lived on the streets as a junkie (thus making it very abrupt), while Cullen's disillusionment came from Meredith's own overwhelming paranoia and bloodlust, and it took a few years for him to really recognize how bad she had gotten.
• Evil Makes You Ugly: Samson in Dragon Age II was a sketchy but semi-decent guy◊. Samson in Inquisition, three years and a lot of red lyrium later, looks much more ragged and strung-out. Notably, his eyes are permanently bloodshot - both a sign of his addiction and Red Eyes, Take Warning.
• Face–Heel Turn: While not exactly heroic, Samson was previously willing to help mages escape the Gallows and drew the line at getting involved with Blood Magic (though he did sell a few into slavery if they couldn't pay for passage). The reason he was thrown out of the Templars was because he was caught carrying a love letter for a mage (who was made Tranquil for the offense). Now he's working for the Elder One.
• Fantastic Drug: Shown to be a lyrium addict. His getting back in good graces with Meredith to become a Templar was basically just to feed his addiction. While Cullen eventually overcomes his own lyrium addiction (or doesn't, depending on the Inquisitor's advice), Samson gets hooked on the red stuff — with terrifying consequences.
• A Father to His Men:
  • He gets enraged over the Inquisitor killing his men, and jovially compliments them on a job well done after they butcher the Sentinels at Mythal's temple. He also manages to inspire great loyalty in his Templars; they're willing to burn their base and throw away their lives to ensure Samson's escape. Maddox even goes so far as to commit suicide rather than be captured and risk betraying Samson, which Samson himself is sad to hear if the Inquisitor reveals it.
  • It seems Samson inspires this in his men. Notes found in Red Templar camps often talk about how upset the Templars are about the Inquisition killing their fellows, and urge people to avenge their fallen comrades.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: He was a penniless, over-the-hill ex-Templar struggling to survive lyrium withdrawal. Now he's the powerful leader of the Red Templars.
• Glory Days: Samson laments that he used to be a good Templar back when he was with the Order; Cullen pretty well confirms as much.
• Not Brainwashed: Cullen is disgusted to learn that Samson is immune to red lyrium's mind-altering effects and thus he committed all of the Red Templars' atrocities of his own free will.
• Old Friend: He and Ser Thrask were friends back when they were both in the Order. He was also on pretty good terms with Cullen back in the day.
• One-Man Army: His codex entry has Cullen warning the Inquisition soldiers to avoid fighting him, since the Red Lyrium has made him strong enough to wipe out entire battalions by himself. Even if you disable his armor with Dagna's rune prior to the fight with him, he's strong enough to give an entire party of high level characters a run for their money.
• Only in It for the Money: He'll help smuggle mages out of Kirkwall in Dragon Age II... but only the ones that can pay, because he needs to get his hands on more lyrium. However, it is implied he does sympathize with them (the whole reason he was kicked out of the Templars was that he was caught delivering a letter from a Circle mage to their lover).
• Pet the Dog: Numerous moments, putting him squarely in Anti-Villain territory:
  • You can choose whether or not to request that Samson rejoin the Order in Dragon Age II. If you do, he's soon seen wearing armor again in the Gallows Courtyard, and thanks Hawke for the second chance.
  • He treats his soldiers well and shows genuine concern for innocent lives, but his treatment of Maddox - the Tranquil assistant who helps forge his armor and weapons - stands out, especially when you remember that Maddox was involved in the incident which got him tossed out of the Templars. If you mention that Maddox respected him at his trial, you can recruit him to serve the Inquisition.
  • If imprisoned with other judgment subjects, he's very amiable toward some of them. He's complimentary of Ser Ruth, insisting that not going back to the Wardens is a waste of a good soldier, and saying it in such a way that it's clear he's using those words to describe her. He also downplays the gravity of Alexius's failure in relation to Corypheus's overall plans.
  • He also seems to still respect and possibly like Cullen after all this time. He insists, in a letter left for Cullen at the burning temple, that the former Knight-Captain is supporting the wrong side and should be with Samson's men, suggesting that he at least somewhat regrets that they are on opposite sides. At no time do we ever hear him speak badly of Cullen.
• Put on a Bus: If you recruit the Templars, all you hear about him is Corypheus mentioning his plan didn't work during Calpernia's quest. His name also crops up in some notes found in the Emerald Graves.
• Recruited from the Gutter
• Small Role, Big Impact: He only shows up in person near the end and gets only a handful of lines, but his influence is felt everywhere if you side with the mages.
• Took a Level in Badass: Yes, he is the same burnt-out lyrium-addicted beggar you met in Dragon Age II.
• Underground Railroad: In the second game, he isn't part of the more organized efforts by certain Kirkwall residents to sneak mages out of the city (as far as we know), but he does give information or safe passage to some of the young people who have recently discovered their powers and are trying to flee before the Templars find them. For a price, of course. Surprisingly, his lack of affiliation with the mage underground that Anders champions is probably the only reason he survives to Act 3.
• Villain Has a Point: Samson has no illusions or nostalgia whatsoever about the Templars, pointing out that they've historically existed to do the Chantry's bidding rather than protect innocents.
  Samson: Templars have always been used! How many were left to rot like I was, after the Chantry burned away their minds?
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: He joined the Elder One so he could destroy the Chantry - both so no one would ever again be tricked into becoming addicted to lyrium, and for what they have done to the mages.
• What the Hell, Hero?: If you sentence him to exile, he'll point out that doing so will only risk having him go mad and cause him to potentially kill innocents.
• Your Days Are Numbered: His overuse of red lyrium means that he only has a few years to live. That said, unlike most of the other judgment subjects, you do not have the option to execute him.

Knight-Captain Denam

Knight-Captain Denam

Appears in: Inquisition

Voiced by: Shaun Dingwall

A Red Templar Knight-Captain who was leading the Templars at Therinfal Redoubt. At the behest of his superiors, he murdered Knight-Vigilant Trentwatch (read: commanding officer of the entire Templar Order) and began giving the other officers red lyrium. If the Inquisitor sides with the Templars, they'll capture him.

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• Arc Villain: Of Therinfal Redoubt, shared with the Envy Demon, although Denam is closer to the order.
• Asshole Victim: Denam is such piece of garbage that when you hold him in trial, none of your party members disapprove of the harshest sentences you give him such as execution, exile to the Sea of Ash or handing him over to the Templars. To put it into perspective, the one option where he is spared by being conscripted (which is only available in certain circumstances) is the only one which party members will disapprove of.
• Body Horror: Like all Red Templars.
• Do with Him as You Will: You can turn him over to the Templars. He reasons that, most likely, they'll execute him. Unlike most decisions in the game, no one disapproves of it at all (Dorian will be unaffected, everyone else thinks it's a fantastic idea).
• Dynamic Entry: He walks into a room, insults an unjustifiably snooty nobleman, then has the noble and the entire retinue slaughtered along with the low-level Templars. (If you don't do the part with the standards, the nobleman lives, but the Templars still die.)
• Elite Mook: If the Inquisitor sides with the mages, the only encounter with the man is that he's a voiceless Red Templar Behemoth (the first the Inquisitor will meet) fought at the northern trebuchet at the Battle of Haven. He must be killed and won't interact with the party other than that. If the Inquisitor sides with the Templars, he is simply a strong Red Templar soldier.
• The Exile: Back when Thereinfall Redoubt was a Seeker fortress, a leader who failed his charges there was exiled to the Sea of Ash, a volcanic wasteland in the southwest of Orlais. You can order this for him.
• Hate Sink: Unlike Samson, Denam is not shown to have any redeeming traits whatsoever. If your judgement is to use him to hunt down other Red Templars, his war table mission results in him trying to lead your troops into a trap with other Red Templars. If you've chosen wisely you'll be ready for this and he'll be Killed Offscreen - a fitting end for this bastard, as Cullen notes in the report.
• Hero Killer: He personally slew Knight-Vigilant Trentwatch, the highest ranking Templar to survive the Conclave.
• It's Personal: Just like with Samson, Cullen will relieve Josephine from presenting him for judgement, since he knows and trained a number of the men under Denam.
• Just Following Orders: His defense when captured, unless you find evidence that he killed the Knight-Vigilant, in which case he starts ranting that anyone else would obviously have chosen to start following a god.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: If recruited into the Inquistion, Denam tries to lead Inquisition forces into a Red Templar ambush. If Cullen is selected for the mission on the War Table, he makes sure to send additional forces to catch the Templars off guard, and Denam is killed in the ensuing battle.
• Skippable Boss: If "In Hushed Whispers" is completed and he fights the party at the north trebuchet, his fight will end prematurely if the trebuchet is aligned before his defeat.
• This Cannot Be!: He freaks out if sent to the gallows, or if exiled to the Sea of Ash.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: True of Red Lyrium as a whole, but Denam is specifically mentioned to be raving mad when on it.

Knight-Captain Carroll

Knight-Captain Carroll

Carroll as he appears in Orgins.

Appears in: Origins | Inquisition

Voiced by: Stefan Marks

A Templar from Ferelden who was low-ranking and hinted to be lyrium-addled during the Blight, but during the intervening years was promoted, turned to red lyrium, and started running operations out of the Emerald Graves.

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• Arc Villain: Of the Emerald Graves.
• Body Horror: Not to the extent of Denam, but he's taller than a normal human and has red lyrium growing out of him.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: According to a sidebar in World of Thedas, his condition progressed to the point where he'd somehow gotten lost in Tevinter and mistook a random Qunari for Greagoir. Judging from his correspondence, he's "gotten better" by the time of Inquisition.
• Elite Mook: He's a really tough Red Templar Knight.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: He works with priests, chevaliers, mercenaries... he'll take anyone who can work for him. Particularly odd for a Fereldan, as they usually despise Orlesians.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: During Origins, he was the silly ferryman who stopped the Warden from going to Kinloch Hold, only to be distracted by beautiful women, sexy stories, and/or cookies. Ten years later, he's a monster smuggling red lyrium and capturing people who live in the Dales.
• Manipulative Bastard: To the Freemen in the Emerald Graves, much like Gordian is to the Freemen in the Exalted Plains. They don't even realize he's using their own soldiers for red lyrium "mining".
• The Reveal: He initially signs his letters "C."
• Surrounded by Idiots: Angrily rages in letters that the Freemen operating for the Red Templars seemingly can't do anything to stop the Inquisition meddling with their operations in the Emerald Graves, and has some words for his own men's incompetence at rounding up giants.
  You little shit:

  Three more giants. It would be two, if the last one hadn't died. This time don't herd it all the way from the Graves to Suledin Keep if it already has a fatal gut wound. And don't try to hide it either. Even if you hide it, the giant is still going to die.

  In case all your lyrium licking has made you forgetful, they need to be intact. Intact.

  That means no missing limbs either.
• Took a Level in Badass: Red lyrium turned a hapless lyrium-addled ferryman into a powerful and monstrous Red Templar who complains bitterly about other people's fumbling.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: A lot of Origins players found him funny and endearing. A lot of those same players were almost as horrified as Cullen to find out what's become of him since then.
• We Used to Be Friends: Cullen knew and got along with Carroll, back when they were both young Templars at the Fereldan Circle; in fact, he asks Leliana to use her spies to find him, and make sure he was safe. (This is heard in an obscure bit of ambient dialogue with a Skyhold runner.) When that doesn't happen, he asks the Inquisitor to end his life swiftly.
  [in Cullen's war table notes] Do what is necessary to stop him, but for my sake, make it quick.

Others

Grand Duchess Florianne de Chalons

Grand Duchess Florianne de Chalons

Appears in: Inquisition

Voiced by: Emily Lucienne

The sister of Gaspard de Chalons, cousin and lady-in-waiting of Empress Celene, who has secretly allied herself with the Elder One.

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• Arc Villain: Of "Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts."
• Badass Normal: Usually the Boss Fights in Inquisition are against mages, dragons, demons, or other powerful creatures. Florianne is just an ordinary human and yet she's still able to go toe to toe with the whole party. Woe betide to you and your party if you are going to fight her on higher difficulties unprepared.
• Big Brother Worship: Implied but in fact subverted. Her codex entry would suggest this, since it's written by a courtier who advises someone that their quickest way to gain an audience with Grand Duke Gaspard is to first ingratiate themselves with his sister. He also, upon first seeing her at the ball, greets her as "my dear sister" and the two can be seen walking and talking quietly together later in the quest. Reading supplemental material about Gaspard in The World of Thedas shows that he really loves and dotes on Florianne, who is several years younger than himself. Despite their apparent closeness, however, she was still planning on Framing the Guilty Party - see below.
• Black Shirt: An Orlesian noblewoman allied with the Elder One.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You: One of the possible fates for her is to be made an agent of the Inquisition. If she is dead, however, you can make her skull a prop for theater "about the evils of evil" and the box her remains were sent in a table for orphans, which still somehow counts as her being an agent of the Inquisition.
• Damsel in Distress: She can try to pass herself off as a "defenseless woman" when the Inquisitor chases her into the courtyard. After the Inquisitor doesn't buy it, she acknowledges that they never were one to fall for her "damsel in distress act."
• Dark Action Girl: Not at first glance, but when the guards try to arrest her for either murdering or trying to murder the empress, she suddenly pulls out two daggers and effortlessly kills everyone who tries to prevent her escape.
• A Day in the Limelight: "The Riddle of Truth" is a short story about victories she achieved in the Great Game without ever drawing a knife.
• Deadpan Snarker: If she's alive for her sentencing, she snarks at any result she's given.
  • Serving as the Inquisition's jester doesn't cause her to lose it either:
    Florianne: Humor to fit your mental capacity. A woman falls down. The end.
• Dual Wielding: Wields two curved daggers, and is quite skilled at combat. Likely, she has been trained as an Orlesian bard.
• Evil Counterpart: The devs stated that the Elder One's party opposes that of the Inquisition. Florianne easily serves as a foil to Josephine. Both are graceful creatures of the court with a hand for diplomacy. But while Josephine gave up the life of a bard, Florianne relishes it.
• Fantastic Racism: Mockingly calls a Dalish Inquisitor "rabbit" in the scene where she shows her hand.
• Fate Worse than Death: How she sees being made Court Jester of the Inquisition, which includes flat shoes.
  Florianne: My heels are... parallel with soil.
  • Though when the sentence is handed down, she remarks that it's fitting since "I am the jest of Orlais already," and her tone of voice suggests that she finds your idea of punishment somewhat amusing. Of course, the implication here is that she finds the idea of wearing flat shoes more humiliating and degrading than being the Court Jester.
• Framing the Guilty Party: Interesting variation: Florianne's plan is to murder Celene and pin it on Gaspard, believing that the court will certainly think he'd do so for the throne. Gaspard actually is planning a coup and moves mercenaries into Halamshiral the night of the ball, but his plans are completely unrelated to what Florianne had in mind. While Florianne did not divulge what she was doing to Gaspard, it is unknown whether or not she knew what Gaspard was plotting. There is only one thing that is confirmed though, she relishes the possibility of outplaying him since he is a Sore Loser, implying that she won't hesitate to throw Gaspard off the bus if she is to choose between him and power.
• "Get Back Here!" Boss: She's very fond of Teleport Spam, so should you end up fighting her, your melee fighters will likely spend more time running after her than actually hitting her with pointy metal things.
• Graceful Loser: Played with. If you take her alive by revealing her treachery to the party, she breaks down sobbing after she realizes she's lost the Game. However, when you judge her back at Skyhold, she has regained her composure and takes any sentence you give her with dignity.
• Humiliation Conga: Dead or alive, the Inquisitor can make her a laughingstock after foiling her plans, and if sentenced to be a jester, she'll remark that it's quite appropriate, since she's already a joke in Orlais.
• Never Mess with Granny: She's 54, kicks lots of ass, and is nimble as a fox.
• Older Than They Look: As stated above, she's 54 years old, and looks maybe half that. Granted, the mask helps.
• One Degree of Separation: She is, unbeknownst to either of them, the indirect reason why Hawke exists. According to the second World of Thedas book, Florianne once visited Kirkwall as an honored guest of Viscount Threnhold, who threw a lavish dinner party in her honor. He invited all the best families in the city-state and hired several Circle mages to entertain his guests - and that was how Malcolm Hawke met Leandra Amell.
• Practically Different Generations: She is thirteen years younger than her only sibling Gaspard.
• Skippable Boss: If you have enough pull with the court by the time she's about to kill the Empress, you can publicly expose her and have her arrested without anyone killed. Or if you desire, you can simply execute her on the spot with your murder knife after she had been restrained.
• Take Over the World: Believes that she will be the one who rules over Thedas in the Elder One's name after his accession to godhood. If she is alive and faces judgement, she'll realize that the Elder One never had any intention of rewarding her.
• Teleport Spam: Part of what can make her Boss Battle so frustrating, especially if your party is primarily melee-focused. She also likes to teleport to areas that warriors and dagger rogues can't reach, which of course exacerbates the problem further. Even mages can hit a snag due to many of their most powerful spells being persistent effects centered on a small area that become largely useless when the target just won't stand still.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: If she's recruited as jester to the Inquisition, she disappears from her spot after the battle with Corypheus and is never mentioned again.

Hand of Korth

Hand of Korth

Appears in: Inquisition

The ambitious and foolhardy son of an Avvar chieftain, who hopes to gain glory and the favor of Korth the Mountain-Father by defeating Andraste's Herald. To this end, he kidnaps a group of Inquisition scouts in the Fallow Mire to draw in the Inquisitor.

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• And There Was Much Rejoicing: Chief Movran the Under isn't particularly upset after his "idiot boy" is killed, and only vandalizes Skyhold with goat's blood because Avvar custom demands it.
• Arc Villain: Of the Fallow Mire region. The player must explore the region in search for the Hand if they want to free the captured Inquisition scouts.
• Avenging the Villain: After his death, his father "assaults" Skyhold by catapulting goats at it, though this is more out of custom than anything.
• Badass Normal: Nothing fancy about him. He's just a big angry idiot with a huge axe backed up by a few archers. Nonetheless, he hits fairly hard and takes a lot of hits before going down.
• Dumb Muscle: Sky Watcher and Chief Movran the Under (his own father) both think he's an idiot.
• Glory Hound: Hopes to make a name for himself by defeating the "Herald of Andraste."
  Scout Harding: I think [The Hand of Korth]'s a boastful little prick who wants to brag he killed you.
• I Have Your Wife: Kidnaps a bunch of Inquisition scouts and holds them hostage to force the Inquisitor to fight him. Probably the most positive thing that can be said about him is that he doesn't hurt them much.
• Religious Bruiser: Fights in the name of Korth the Mountain Father (and for his own glory).
• Screaming Warrior: Yells a lot while trying his best to chop you in two.
• The Unfavorite: His father thinks very little of him. Considering that he was supposed to attack Tevinter and leave the Inquisition alone, it's not a surprise.
  Chief Movran: A redheaded mother guarantees a brat!

Freemen of the Dales

Enemy forces who, for the most part, consist of deserters from either side of the Orlesian Civil War. They joined forces with Corypheus and are under orders to take the Dales from Orlais. They work under the Venatori in the Exalted Plains, and the Red Templars in the Emerald Graves.

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• Black Knight: Auguste the fallen chevalier. Unlike Duhaime (who is just a thug), the rest of the party (particularly the Warrior companions) will call out that he shames his rank.
• Dangerous Deserter: They prey on everyone, soldiers and refugees alike, under the guise of "freedom fighters." Worse, they're the pawns of one of the worst threats to Thedas in recent memory (keep in mind that Thedas suffered a Blight barely a decade ago).
• Elite Mook: Costeau is an elite guardian, with a shield. Duhaime and Auguste are two-handed swordsmen, and Maliphant is a rogue.
• Even Evil Has Standards: A letter found in the veridium mine shows that Costeau refuses to actively hunt Fairbanks and his refugees; she also maintains that the other leaders are "wrong about them," which may refer to another letter suspecting them of stealing food. After the Inquisition takes her down, a letter found on a nameless Freemen soldier observes that they're surprised she lasted as long as she did, since she was "too soft."
• Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: Inverted. Not only do they not get along with either the Venatori or the Red Templars, but the ones in the Exalted Plains don't care for the ones working in the Emerald Graves, and vice versa. The leaders of the group also hate each other.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Maliphant reflects in one journal on the horror of allying with the Red Templars, but he convinces himself that it will all be worth it to take control of the Dales.
• Nun Too Holy: Sister Costeau is a red lyrium smuggler who kidnaps people and ships them off to Emprise du Lion to become red lyrium fuel.
• Only Sane Man: Maliphant, the rogue in the Villa Maurel, is the only one who wants to work together, even if the rest of the team can't stand each other. The rest of the team are quite happy to see the others fall.
• The Smurfette Principle: Sister Costeau is the only female of the bunch.
• Surrounded by Idiots: The true leader behind the group in the Emerald Graves, Knight-Captain Carroll, thinks this of all the Freemen.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The Freemen are incredibly brutal towards the refugees in the Emerald Graves.
• Unwitting Pawn: Gordian, a servant of Corypheus, manipulated Maliphant and the other discontented Orlesian soldiers into forming the Freemen of the Dales. He then convinced them to pile bodies into the pits in the Exalted Plains under the pretense of disposing of them properly; in truth, he used the pits to create a steady stream of undead to overwhelm the armies of Gaspard and Celene. The Freemen then accepted an offer from the Red Templars to smuggle lyrium through the Emerald Graves, not realizing they would eventually become insane horrors.

Lord Pel Harmond

Lord Pel Harmond

Appears in: Inquisition

Voiced by: Steven Kelly

An aristocrat whose land dispute with a rival is getting commoners in Verchiel displaced and beaten up. Sera asks the Inquisitor to send in some troops to break up the squabble; Harmond retaliates by killing the ones who spoke up in the first place and luring her into an ambush.

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• Arc Villain: He only appears for a few minutes at the end of Sera's personal quest.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Small-time "evil", but completely self-centered.
• Bad Boss: When offering the Inquisitor the use of his family's militia, his exact words are "They can be made expendable for your purposes."
• Cruel Mercy: Sera would have preferred him killed, but she views the Inquisitor leashing him by requisitioning all his stuff instead of striking a deal with him as this, as the abusive nobs squirm when things don't turn in their way. It is implied that if Harmond would do anything rash instead of playing nice, the Inquisition will not stop the Red Jennies from offing his head for good.
• Disproportionate Retribution: He has Sera's contacts killed for complaining about his actions.
• It's All About Me: He's exclusively concerned with bettering his own wealth and position.
• Killed Off for Real: Instead of negotiating, the Inquisitor can just let Sera punch him to death.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: After his mercenaries are wiped out right in front of him, he quickly switches to bargaining. If the Inquisitor has the Nobility Knowledge perk and requisitions his land and titles, he notes that it's better than the alternatives and takes it.
• Never My Fault: After having Sera's contacts killed, he claims that trying to stand up for them makes her as responsible as him.
• Smug Snake: Slimy, self-serving, and punching well above his weight.

Mistress Alban Poulin

Mistress Alban Poulin

Appears in: Inquisition

An Orlesian aristocrat who ran the snowy town of Sahrnia and owned the nearby quarry. She made a deal with the Red Templars to sell citizens to mine red lyrium from the quarry. She is caught and tried by the Inquisitor.

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• Arc Villain: Downplayed in comparison to the demon within Suledin Keep or the Red Templars, but she is one of the enemies in the Emprise du Lion section.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: It's up to the player to decide how evil she is: Was she really under duress, did she believe she was in danger, or is it all an act that she says because she got caught?
• Do with Him as You Will: A rare merciful version of this trope. One of the judgement choices it to put her to work rebuilding the village she betrayed, and if the citizens of Sahrnia forgive her, then her debt would be considered repaid. It's subtle, but with this posit comes the implication that if the citizens didn't forgive Poulin, the Inquisition would not step in if they decide to hash out their own brand of justice on the former Mistress.
• Go and Sin No More: The Inquisitor can choose to pardon and release her on the condition that she never enters the Inquisitor's presence again.
• Foil: To Mayor Gregory Dedrick of Crestwood, whom the Inquisition also judged by their well-intentioned goal to save their people under their jurisdiction but did extreme methods to achieve it, and lied (only by omission) at the Inquisitor about their grim situation. However, while Dedrick runs away after he confessed his decision to drown his Blight-infected people down to save Crestwood ten years ago, Paulin's crimes are revealed after the Inquisitor's raid to the quarry and she didn't resist arrest when it is brought to light. The best outcomes of their respective judgments are opposite that of the other: Dedrick will stay away from Ferelden forever by exiling him while Paulin has to work with the people she wronged to help Sahrnia recover and letting the people decide whether she is to be forgiven or not.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Her defense when under judgment comes down to this. She knew what the Red Templars were up to, but in her eyes, she was caught between two unsavory choices: either sell citizens to the Red Templars in exchange for supplies and resources to help the remaining citizens,^note and possibly buy time for someone, such as the Inquisition, to show up and drive the Red Templars away or refuse to deal with the Templars, at which point they would likely just take everyone in town and leave what few weren't taken with nothing at all. Given how Orlais is in the middle of the civil war (or after the Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, still recovering from the civil war) and the cruel weather of the town that together affected their quarry business, one can sympathize with her actions. But as what the Inquisitor asked her, what if she lost to such risk-taking?
• Ungrateful Bastard: She grumbles a bit if sentenced to work as an Inqusition scribe. Bear in mind this is one of the more lenient sentences, and the Inquisition is fully within their rights to simply have her executed.
• What the Hell, Hero?: A human Inquisitor can be on the receiving end of this if the choice to confiscate Poulin's wealth is taken. Not a single companion approves of this.
• Work Off the Debt: The Inquisitor can force her to work as a scribe and repay the citizens of Sahrnia with half of her wages. If certain quests are completed, she can be forced to contribute more directly.

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