Characters / Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening

Dragon Age Character Index
Dragon Age: Origins: The Warden | The Companions (Warriors | Mages | Rogues) | Non-Playable Characters (Fereldan Nobles | Orzammar) | Awakening | DLC Characters
Dragon Age II | Dragon Age: Inquisition

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Original characters introduced in Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening.

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Party Members

Anders

Anders in Awakening

^{Anders in 2} 

Appears in: Awakening | Dragon Age II

Voiced by: Greg Ellis (Dragon Age Origins - Awakening), Adam Howden (Dragon Age II) (English)^{Foreign VAs} Tammo Kaulbarsch (German); Jacek Bończyk (Polish)

"Most people enjoy being kicked in the head to be woken up each morning. Me, I'm just so picky."

An apostate who despises blood magic almost as much as the Chantry does. Despite this, the Chantry still sees him as a threat, and keeps him locked up. Since Anders values freedom above all else, he has made many, many, many escape attempts. He finally succeeds when the new Warden-Commander invokes the Right of Conscription to save him from being dragged back to the tower once again. In Dragon Age II, Anders has left the Grey Wardens and come to Kirkwall to use his healing magic to help refugees.

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Tropes In Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening

• Ambiguous Situation: While he claims to be innocent when accused directly, it's never revealed whether or not if he actually murdered his Templar captors, or just sat back to watch and let the Darkspawn do it for him.
• Appropriated Appellation: When he was initially brought to the Circle as a child, he refused to speak. Not knowing his true name, other apprentices started to call him "the Ander" because of his Anders heritage. This became the only name he later uses.
• Birds of a Feather: Tries to invoke this with Nathaniel, whom he notes is also hated for who he is. Nathaniel is slightly annoyed by the oversimplification.
• Boxed Crook: He can be saved from death sentence for the supposed murder of the templars who were guarding him, but only if the Warden invokes the Right of Conscription.
• Claustrophobia: If brought to the Deep Roads, he nervously notes the miles and miles of rock over the party's heads. "Is this a bad time to tell you I'm claustrophobic?" It's hard to say how serious he's being, but he claims to have spent a long time in solitary confinement - an entire year after his sixth unsuccessful escape attempt.
• Combat Medic: His default specialization is Spirit Healer.
• Crazy Cat Dude: He loves the kitty he can be given in Awakening, and reminisces fondly about his previous pet.
• Cute Kitten:
  • He had one in the Circle called Mr. Wiggums, which later got possessed by a Rage Demon and killed at least three Templars before being defeated. Anders considers that Mr. Wiggums' proudest moment.
  • Ser Pounce-A-Lot, the kitten that the Warden-Commander can give him. In Dragon Age II, he says that the Wardens made him give it up for "making him soft".
• Determinator: Has tried to escape the Circle numerous times, despite increasingly harsh punishment, until he finally successfully escapes for good.
  "After my seventh escape attempt, you'd think they'd have given me credit for trying."
• Establishing Character Moment: He's introduced incinerating the Darkspawn who just killed his Templar handlers. Then he switches to dorkily wagging his fingers as though going "hot, hot, hot", before denying he killed the Templars and making a pretty dark joke about the noises they made when they went down.
  Warden: That's inhuman!
  Anders: That's what he would call me whenever he kicked me in the head, so I guess it was pretty accurate.
• Foreshadowing:
  • If questioned, he reveals that he's actually really pissed off with the Templars and wishes he could have a harem, a banquet, and the ability to rain fireballs upon every Templar in creation. The latter basically sums up his personality and actions in Dragon Age II.
  • He also makes the observation "Bet they regret that rule," when explaining that the only reason he's avoided being made Tranquil is that it's illegal to do that to a mage who has passed their Harrowing. In Dragon Age II, Anders rages that things are so far gone in the Kirkwall Circle that the Templars are disregarding that rule.
  • There's a scene where the Warden-Commander destroys a religious statue, and Anders comments that he's "always up for a spot of light iconoclasm." Again, rather dark, considering his actions in the second game.
  • After helping the Warden-Commander retake Vigil's Keep, his reaction to the Templar who attempts to arrest him and bring him back to the Circle to face justice for the Templars he (supposedly) "murdered" during his latest escape.
    Anders: Oh, please, the things you know about justice would fit into a thimble...
• Formally-Named Pet: Ser Pounce-a-Lot and Mr. Wiggums, although the latter got the name from an elf mage who liked hats with cat ears.
• Go Mad from the Isolation: Downplayed. His next-to-last escape from the Circle before the beginning of Awakening has earned him a year of solitary confinement, and the only living creature he was allowed to see during this time was a tower cat, which explains his affinity for them. He appears to be laid-back in his interactions with the Warden, but he occasionally lets slip that imprisonment had a profound negative effect on him:
  Anders: If I didn't have perspective, I'd still be sitting in a templar dungeon drooling on my smallclothes.
• Happy Ending Override: The epilogues where he happily settles in with the Wardens, as they eventually countenance Templar harassment, attack him after he merges with Justice, and confiscate his pet cat.
• Healer Signs On Early: He is the second (first, if the player counts Mhairi's unfortunate demise) party member the Warden-Commander encounters during the opening, and he can be recruited pretty much straight away. He comes back shortly after Oghren's arrival even if the player decides to let him run.
• Hypocrite: While not nearly to the extent as the next game, Anders does lament what mages suffer this game, and dismisses an Elven Warden who tries to bring up that their people suffer too. "No one ever locks you up for being what you are." They're called alienages, Anders.
• Living Legend: He's infamous among both Mages and Templars as the most prolific escape artist in the Ferelden Circle's history. According to Finn in Witch Hunt, Anders is the reason that Mages no longer do physical fitness exercises outside... after he ducked past the Templars, jumped off the dock, and swam across Lake Calenhad to freedom.
• Lovable Sex Maniac: Comes off as one. He claims that mages wear robes because it allows them to have illicit quickies without the fuss of buttons.
• Mind Rape: Suggested in his comments during the Joining that he may fear being made Tranquil, as further evidenced by what happens to mages in Kirkwall in Dragon Age II.
• Misery Poker: Again, not nearly to the extent of the next game, but he does engage in this a bit. If an Elven Warden tries to point out their people are oppressed too, Anders dismisses them by saying no one ever locks you up for what you are... seemingly forgetting what alienages are for.
• Mr. Fanservice: A surprising number of fangirls and fanboys wish Anders was a romance option. After Alistair and Zevran, he probably generates the most sexy fanart. Then Dragon Age II makes him a full love interest for both genders.
• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: If you let him keep running after your first meeting, he comes back to help you anyway, as the darkspawn need to be stopped. This gives the templars a chance to catch up with him, paring his options down to "conscription" or "dragged back to the Circle."
• The Not-Love Interest: Anders is arguably the closest thing to a romance in Awakening, but even then it never actually goes anywhere with the female Warden-Commander.
• Not What It Looks Like: His Establishing Character Moment, no less! The Warden walks in on him using fire magic to burn Darkspawn to a crisp, with the charred corpses of Templars lying nearby. His response? "Uh, I didn't do it."
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Anders is not his real name; he was given the nickname because he was originally from the Anderfels. His real name is never revealed, not even in DAII.
• Perma-Stubble: Sports one of these.
• Prison Escape Artist: has escaped from the Circle Tower (which is on an island in the middle of a lake and heavily guarded by armed and armored Templars with Anti-Magic) seven times. Of course, he kept getting recaptured, and once spent a year in solitary, but...
• Puberty Superpower: His magical abilities first manifested at the age of 12 when he accidentally set a barn on fire.
• Sad Clown: There are a few scenes in Awakening which hint that the situation that mages face hurts him more than he lets on. His talkativeness can be also partially attributed to his previous isolation — he's been released from a year long solitary confinement shortly before the beginning of the game:
  Anders: (sadly) Never mind me, now and again I recall that I'm not sitting in a cell and I have to smile, that's all.
• Ship Tease: His banter with the female PC is as close as Awakening gets to an actual romance.

Tropes In Dragon Age II

• Aesop Amnesia:
  • If he's brought along for Legacy, the revelation of Corypheus' origins shakes him up so badly that he declares he will reconsider whether the Chantry might have a valid point about the danger of mages. He doesn't, of course.
  • He experiences a combination of this and Ignored Epiphany after his personal quest in Act 2. If Ella survives, he tries to put aside his cause to learn to rein in Justice. Unfortunately, because of how bad the situation in Kirkwall has gotten by Act 3, the obsession soon returns worse than ever. If Ella dies, his Heroic BSoD is much worse, but he doesn't put aside his cause, instead throwing himself in more than ever so it won't all be in vain. It's very possible that Justice just flat out won't let these moments sink in.
• All Love Is Unrequited:
  • It's implied that Anders falls in love with Hawke even if he is not romanced, as not starting his romance at the first opportunity nets rivalry points. Obviously, this is subverted if Hawke does romance him, where Anders states that he's been "aching for" Hawke for the past three years, pretty much proving that he falls in love with Hawke either way.
  • This is implied to be true for both him and Justice, given Justice's comments on the nature of love in Awakening; he does not return the love of Kristoff's wife, but he still wants to experience such a love. However, Anders tells a romanced Hawke that "Justice disapproves of my obsession with you."
• Alternative Character Interpretation: In-Universe. By the time of Inquisition, just about every single character has VERY strong opinions on Anders and his actions, ranging from disagreeing with his methods to seeing him as a monster. Depending on their relationship, Hawke can agree with any of these portrayals or argue that none of them properly capture Anders' complexities.
  Inquisitor: What was he like?
  Hawke: Complicated. It's... not like the minstrels make it out to be.
• Anti-Hero: To start with but he later slides down the scale until he becomes an Unscrupulous Hero, or goes through a straight up Face–Heel Turn, depending on the player's stance on the mage-Templar conflict.
• The Atoner:
  • Can potentially become this if the player has him at high rivalry and tries to convince him that his merging with Justice was wrong and that there are other ways for mages to win their freedom, so that he will join Hawke when he sides with the Templars.
  • Even if the player sides with the mages, Hawke (and Merrill) can choose to invoke this as a reason to spare him. He implies that he agrees with this, saying that he'll try not to make so much of a mess out of his second chance at life.
• Bag of Spilling: By the end of Awakening, Anders was an archmage who probably could have taken on Urthemiel single-handedly. In II, he joins the party with single-digit levels and only a basic healing, repulsion, and ice spell.
• Batman Gambit: He knew exactly how Meredith would react when he destroyed the Chantry and he was depending on it for his plan to work. It did.
• Beat the Curse Out of Him: During Legacy, Corypheus's influence briefly causes him to snap - Justice's voice takes over, but demons start appearing around him. After the fight, he stays lucid and on Hawke's side for the rest of the campaign.
• Berserk Button:
  • The Templars, and the foundation upon which they stand, including the Circle and the Chantry. But especially Templars.
  • Blood Magic as well, to a slightly lesser extent. Of course, part of why Blood Magic offends him so much is that it's the main thing the Templars use to justify confining mages.
  • His reaction to Karl being made Tranquil, causing Justice to manifest;
    Justice: You will never take another mage as you took him!
• Betty and Veronica: Is the Betty in most possible Love Triangle combinations being fiercely loyal to Hawke. The only cases where he becomes the Veronica is when up against Chantry brother Sebastian and sweet and ditzy Merrill
• Big Brother Mentor: To Bethany, though she finds him more reminiscent of her father than anything else. Sadly, he becomes rather snarky towards her if she goes to the Circle, which he sees as throwing away the kind of freedom he always wanted.
• Black-and-White Insanity: Even before Justice/Vengeance corrupts him so badly by the events of Act 3, Anders has a very simple view on the mage-templar conflict: all mages (as long as they're not maleficars) are good, and all templars (even some of the more reasonable and well-meaning ones) are pure evil. Then as the years go by, Anders becomes slowly more irrationally convinced that the cause of mage freedom, or at least his view of it, is the real distinguishing mark of morality and that anyone who disagrees (even other mages) is his enemy. This is a result of Justice exerting more and more influence.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: More subtle than most, but the presence of Justice fundamentally alters Anders' viewpoints on a lot of things. Having a significant part of who and what you are made up of an entity formed around an unyielding concept, coupled with the lack of an understanding of time (time is irrelevant in the Fade, so Justice doesn't understand the concept of "waiting"), creates a distinct slant on his perceptions. It doesn't excuse his actions, but it does make them understandable.
• Brainwashed and Crazy:
  • If brought along for Legacy, Anders becomes a thrall of Corypheus. He snaps out of it after a brief boss fight. If Anders is alive and in a relationship with Hawke at the time of Inquisition, Hawke says that Anders is being kept out of the action specifically to prevent this from happening again.
  • One interpretation of his actions in Act 3 was that Justice pushed him to destroy the Chantry. During his speech to Meredith and Orsino, the player can hear Justice's deep voice intermixed with his words, implying that he's just below the surface and barely contained.
• Break the Cutie: Anders was flirty and cheerful with a soft spot for cats in Awakening. Things change big time in this game... well, save for the love of cats.
• Broken Pedestal: Potentially with Hawke or Bethany. He places them on a high pedestal of living the ideal apostate life, having been trained by a loving father. Anders' image of them can come crashing down if Hawke is Pro-Circle or just disinterested. If Bethany joins the Circle, he acts a lot harsher towards her.
• Byronic Hero: He got into the cause for mage justice, freedom and equality with the best of intentions. As time goes on, those intentions drive him to increasingly ambiguous extremes (though the spirit/demon in his head helps some too) until he comes pretty damn close to the Point of No Return.
• Combat Medic: Still retains his healing powers. He uses them on sick refugees in Kirkwall.
• Crazy Jealous Guy:
  • Whether romanced or not. If Hawke romances Merrill or Fenris, he states his disapproval in the bluntest and most hypocritical ways imaginable during "Justice" in Act 3.
  • In spite of the above example, he unusually doesn't act anywhere near as envious or nasty if Hawke romances Isabela, even if the player has Hawke and Isabela genuinely fall for each other rather than just say as Friends with Benefits, and doesn't question Hawke even once about their relationship in Act 3. This does get lampshaded in one party banter, but only if Hawke slept with Isabela but then romanced Merrill afterwards. Reasoning for this could be because he doesn't hate Isabela nor does she go against everything he stands for, unlike Merrill and Fenris.
    Anders: Hawke was a fool to let you move in. You'll only betray him/her. That's all your kind can do.
    Merrill: Why do you only do this to me? Are you jealous? You don't get upset about Hawke and Isabela.
    Anders: You can't really get jealous of someone for sleeping with Isabela. It's just... understood.
• Cruel Mercy:
  • Letting him live after he blows up the Chantry.
  • Or even worse, convincing him to side with the Templars.
• Cynicism Catalyst: He comes to Kirkwall in the first place to rescue Karl, his friend and ex-lover... only to learn Karl has already been made Tranquil, and is being used to draw Anders and Hawke into an ambush by the Templars. After the fight, Anders gives him a Mercy Kill at his request. Anders is a lot grimmer after this.
• Dark Is Evil: He becomes noticeably more ruthless in Act 3, when his outfit turns black.
• Dark Messiah:
  • Has hordes of the poor and needy willing to risk their lives to protect him? Check. Dedicated his life to creating a better system for his people? Check. Willing to sacrifice everything, including his own life and the lives of others, to achieve this? Oh so very much check. He even compares his situation to Andraste's once or twice, to Sebastian's disgust.
  • Averted if Hawke is in a Rivalry with him, though; he breaks down and sees himself not as a savior, but as just another monstrosity to be put down.
• Dead Man Walking: By the third act, he's convinced that he is this. It turns out this is because he knows he will most likely be executed after igniting the mage/Templar war.
• Deadpan Snarker: Just don't ask him about the Chantry.
• Death Seeker: In the end, he wishes death regardless of Hawke's attitude towards him, but for different reasons:
  • on Rivalry path, it is due to his difficulty in keeping Justice under control.
  • on Friendship path, he wants the people whom he killed to receive justice as well.
• Demonic Possession: Originally, Anders allowed his friend Justice, who was a benign spirit, to possess him; but Anders' inherent anger at the injustices against mages perverted Justice into Vengeance. If Hawke has achieved full Rivalry with Anders, Justice will take over his body to stop him from going back on blowing up the chantry after Hawke convinces him not to. Before the final battle, Anders will straight up say Justice possessed him to do what he did while on the Friendship path Anders will claim full responsibility for blowing up the Chantry. Anders isn't using Justice's possession of him as an excuse to escape culpability. He considers himself a monster and asks Hawke to kill him and in one path hints he plans to kill himself afterwards.
• Distressed Dude: Should he be the hostage in "Best Served Cold," he's embarrassed that Hawke had to rescue him and quips that he's never thought of himself as a damsel in distress. On the other hand, see Nightmare Fetishist.
• Dreadful Musician: If he moves into the estate, Hawke notes that playing the lute isn't one of his many talents.
• Driven to Suicide: After he destroys the Chantry, he acknowledges that it's Hawke's duty to judge him for it, and is unsurprised - and possibly appreciative - if Hawke chooses to kill him. Also, if his Rivalry is at maximum, and he's convinced to side with the Templars, he implies as well that he will kill himself after the battle is done.
• Dr. Jerk: Variation. He's quite kind to his patients, to the point that they're willing to risk their lives for him. Everyone else who doesn't share his views, however, is open for jerkery and much worse.
• Enemy Mine: With Fenris, and Merrill to a lesser extent by Act 2. As time goes on and his paranoia increases, he starts treating everybody (aside from, possibly, Hawke and Varric) with suspicion.
• The Extremist Was Right:
  • The flavor text of the Magehunter shield in Inquisition tells of a previous misuse of the Right of Annulment. In 3:09 Towers, twenty-five years after the Right was first granted, the Circle of Magi in Antiva City was annulled to cover up the fact that its Knight-Captain was a serial killer who murdered over a hundred mages out of pure bigotry. While the Seekers eventually hunted him down and punished him, they assisted the Templars in covering up the incident, leaving the rest of the Circles completely ignorant of the truth, and there is no mention of them punishing the Knight-Commander for Annulling a Circle under false pretenses. Background chatter in the second game reveals that Meredith had gone over Elthina's head and petitioned the Divine for the Right of Annulment for the Kirkwall Circle. By provoking Meredith into jumping the gun instead of waiting for the Divine's permission., Anders prevented yet another silent annulment of mages, this time in Kirkwall.
  • Anders's insistence that the Circle system must be destroyed through an open rebellion rather than peacefully reformed is validated in one of three endings of Inquisition where Leliana is named Divine. After the mage-templar war, she dissolves the said system, granting the mages their freedom and creating widespread mage acceptance. The Circles stand in the other two endings, but with varying levels of reforms that most likely wouldn't have happened without the war, so the trope is either played straight, downplayed, or averted depending on player choices.
• Evil Costume Switch: "Evil" is a simplification, but he switches to a black, buttoned-up version of his outfit after his Act 3 personal quest.
• Fallen Hero: Anders mostly just wanted to look out for numero uno back in Awakening, but he was also a fairly good-hearted guy happy to do the right thing. He hasn't quite become a villain, but it becomes readily apparent over time that he's slowly slipping into good intentions, very bad methods territory.
• Fate Worse than Death:
  • He sees being made Tranquil as this, with plenty of corroboration from Karl.
  • And if the player makes him side with the Templars through the rivalry route.
• Fighting from the Inside: Anders must constantly push back the influence of Justice or become a true abomination and lose himself.
• Foil:
  • To Fenris, who loathes mages. Both have similar backgrounds as members of oppressed populations and share an unreasonable hatred of anybody belonging to the same groups as their oppressors. They both enjoy taking the opportunity to somewhat pettily snipe at anybody who disagrees with their views, especially each other. They also both particularly despise blood magic. The only notable difference between them, aside from their opinions, is that Fenris hasn't started a war yet.
  • To Merrill. Even though he isn't a blood mage like she is, both of them dealt with potentially dangerous Fade spirits... with terrible consequences for themselves and others.
  • To Aveline in that they are both devoted to their causes and have a lost love interest. The similarity increases if Aveline was the one to Mercy Kill Wesley.
• Foreshadowing
  • Check out the banter between him and Justice (as well as Justice and Nathaniel) in Awakening. Heads will explode.
  • Anders generally has the strongest aversion to the Lyrium Idol out of all party members. As the only Grey Warden in Hawke's team, this sets up the reveal in Inquisition that Red Lyrium is infected by the Blight, and thus would alert a Warden's senses.
• Freudian Excuse: Revealed to Hawke in brief rambling in his clinic. From a young age he was estranged from his home, terrorized and confined by Templars. If he had a sense of the injustice, it blurred with his lifelong grudge, begetting vengeance.
  • A damaged journal found in Dragon Age: Inquisition that is implied to have been written by Anders suggests that his Harrowing was a particularly traumatic experience.
  • The World of Thedas: Volume 2 gives us more insight. Before his magic manifested, he was a carefree, cheerful young boy, beloved by his parents and very popular with the other children in his village; the discovery of his magic and his subsequent abduction by the Templars took all of that away from him, causing him to resent his new loss of freedom even more strongly. On top of this, while he ran away several times when he was young, there was a period of time where he made no effort to leave due to having found something in the Circle that made him happy and grounded: his relationship with Karl. He started running away again when Karl was moved to the Kirkwall Circle, trying and failing to make passage to Kirkwall to be with his lover again. It's easier to see how he came to feel that the Circle system took away not just his freedom, but his loved ones as well.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: Most other party members don't like how he keeps talking about mages and Templars. Anders, for his part, agitates them by insulting or instigating fights with his fellow party members at every opportunity. The fact that he's possessed by a hostile Fade spirit doesn't help matters. By the time Act 3 rolls around, no one in the party can stand him. Not even Varric. When asked for opinions on whether to execute him, only Merrill says anything in his defense, and she doesn't give any objections if you do decide to kill him^note a very stark contrast from her reaction if Hawke gives Fenris, who treats her worse than Anders, back to Danarius to where she'll even give Rivalry points, Isabela and Varric are neutral while Sebastian, Aveline and Fenris openly want to kill him.
• Fridge Horror:
  • He gets an In-Universe one. For much of the game, he talks about how Justice used to be as though he were a paragon of virtue. After losing control of Justice and almost/killing a young girl, Merrill explains to him that there has never been a "good" spirit and that they are all dangerous. That he is totally silent after learning this says it all. Again, if Hawke is on a Rival path, he finally comes to terms with it after blowing up the Chantry.
  • It gets worse at the beginning of Act 3. Anders confides that even he's scared that lately he's started experiencing blackouts, which previously had only happened when Justice took over, when Anders lost control. This implies that Justice is now manifesting at will, and now seeks to control Anders.
• Gay Option: For male Hawkes.
• Get Out!: Hawke can do this as a Cruel Mercy after blowing up the Chantry. If Hawke sides with the mages after doing this, Anders shows up at the Gallows, asking if he can help them fight. Hawke can refuse and tell him to leave again, at which point Anders finally gets the hint he is no longer welcome, bids Hawke good luck, and leaves permanently.
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Whenever he starts losing himself to Justice, his eyes glow blue.
• Good Victims, Bad Victims: He's obsessed with helping mages until they turn out to blood mages—then their plight is their own fault. It even gets to the point that he tends to excuse all mage violence against Templars as "self-defense," but if a maleficar uses blood magic for the same reason he condemns it as actions that makes "good mages" like himself look bad. He also draws a clear line in the sand between mages communing with "good spirits" like he did (Justice), and "bad" demons like Merrill did (Audacity).
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Nicknamed "Blondie" by Varric, but the trope is continually zigzagged; he's grim and understands that change for mages will come slowly, if at all, though he does get a few kind moments in from time to time. By Act 3, very little of his kind-healer-fighting-against-his-darker-side persona remains.
• Headbutting Heroes:
  • He and Sebastian clash quite a bit.
  • He goes back and forth between having this vibe and a Vitriolic Best Buds one with Aveline, depending on the day and topic of discussion. Aveline might have gotten along better with him if some of their first conversations didn't involve her calling him better than she would have expected from someone like him (though she then clarifies that she was talking about the refugees in Darktown) and later asking him for tips on how to take down apostates. He returns the favor tenfold with some nasty comments about Aveline's sex life and making fun of her dead husband.
• Hearing Voices: The rest of the party occasionally refer to Justice as a voice in Anders' head, though it's a bit more complicated than that. If he comes along for Legacy, he eventually starts hearing Corypheus' voice in his head as well and briefly is forced under his control.
• Heroic BSoD: When Justice (almost) kills a mage girl they had just saved from being made Tranquil, he realizes his control is slipping. While Hawke may help him through this (or not), the codex says he abandons the cause of mages for a few years in regret.
• Hero of Another Story: Though we never see it, and he never tells Hawke outright so they won't have to lie to Aveline, over the course of the game it is heavily implied that Anders has been doing things such as breaking into the Gallows, fighting Templars to rescue mages, helping apostates flee the cities, and other such dramatic actions. Not that Hawke's other companions have dull lives, but most aren't quite as fraught as his seems.
• Hero-Worshipper: Points out that Mage Hawke has done much to help the plight of mages in the city and could easily be the leader the Underground so desperately needs. Hawke's stubborn refusal to get into politics eventually forces Anders to implement his own "solution" to the problem.
• Hesitation Equals Dishonesty: First hint something's wrong during "Justice". He keeps glancing around nervously and sometimes just trails off or switches tracks in the middle of a sentence.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Eventually blows up the Chantry, with the Grand Cleric and more than a hundred people inside so that a compromise cannot be reached and the mages and Templars will have to fight a war. Not to mention turning Justice possessing him into Vengeance to use the phrase more literally.
  Anders: I removed the chance of compromise, because there is no compromise!
• Hot-Blooded: Deconstructed. His passion for mage liberation is what kicks off the Mage-Templar war.
• Humanoid Abomination: He has been possessed by the Spirit of Justice, who becomes a Demon of Vengeance. If he's a Rival, he blames it on himself more than usual.
• Hypocrite: Oh, where do we even start?
  • He criticizes Merrill about her obsession with the eluvian and her casual views on Fade spirits. She will in turn point out his own obsession with the Circle and how he willingly let a "good" spirit into his body. Anders is self-aware of this, and at one point wonders if this makes him unqualified to help mages.
  • If Hawke romances Fenris, Anders claims that Fenris has "let one bad experience colour his entire world" and that he deserves Hawke's heart instead for being more "open-minded". This is despite how Anders disrespects Fenris for not sharing his pro-mage stance, which Fenris calls him out on if he is in the party.
  • Anders also disapproves of Hawke romancing Merrill, alleging that she'll eventually turn on Hawke in favor of her demons. She calls him out on this if present for the conversation. The hypocrisy of this hits critical mass when you realize that he says this during a quest where he's tricking Hawke into helping him blow up the Chantry. Though to Anders' credit he seems aware of this, and opines that he doesn't deserve Hawke's love anyway if in a romance.
  • Despite Anders being vehement about how wrong it is to enslave mages, he is the only companion to approve if Hawke sells Fenris back to Danarius. This is actually a fairly apt reflection of the "Night Terrors" quest, where Fenris will normally disapprove of Hawke making a deal with the sloth demon but approves if Anders is in the party just because it pisses off his rival.
  • Anders believes that all mages' opinions should be heard... unless they actually enjoy being in the Circle (like Bethany does if she joins).
  • While more downplayed than the above, relating back to his hypocrisy in Awakening he can suggest in party banter that elves should band together to help mages since they too are oppressed by the Chantry, yet Anders himself offers no help to elves.
• Hypocrite Has a Point
  • Despite his frequent hypocrisy on the matter, many of Anders's points about the Circle of Magi and its flaws are shown to be correct.
  • While Merrill rightly calls out Anders for screwing up far worse than she has when dealing with spirits, he's not wrong about the dangers of the path she's on, as the incident with the pride demon in Feynriel's nightmare shows that Merrill is not nearly in control as she thinks.
• Hypocritical Humour: There's a lot of this if the player looks closely. In Mark of the Assassin, there is a scene where Anders gets so exasperated with Fenris, he straight up begs him to shut up about how all mages are evil for one minute. The whole conversation is a brilliant jab at his own obsession with mage freedom.
  Anders: Qunari give me the creeps. No one is that dedicated to some abstract ideal.
• I Am a Monster: He starts invoking this trope in Act 2, especially if Hawke fails to stop him from killing Ella. By the time Act 3 rolls around, he's pretty much resigned himself to being a monster. Though how much guilt he explicitly shows depends on whether Hawke has followed his rivalry path. If rivalry is not completed, Anders only seems to feel that blowing up the Chantry is an unfortunate necessity and only seems willing to let Hawke kill him so he can become a martyr for the Mage cause, even telling Hawke to hurry up and kill him at one point. However, if Anders' rivalry path is followed, he is genuinely horrified at what he's done and wants Hawke to kill him out of legitimate guilt. He is so shaken by what he's done that he'll even side with the Templars, something non-rivalry Anders will flat out refuse to do.
• I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me: Despite quickly developing a crush on Hawke, Anders makes it clear if Hawke romances him that he feels unworthy of their affection.
• I Did What I Had to Do: A non-rivalry Anders has this attitude about blowing up the Chantry. He is fully convinced he did the right thing and will refuse to help Hawke side with the Templars no matter what. Averted with rivalry Anders who is completely horrified by what he's done.
• An Ice Person: One of his starting spells is Winter's Grasp. It also makes for an interesting take on his character given that in Awakening, he was first seen using fire magic.
• Insecure Love Interest: While almost all the party members in this game have serious self-worth issues, Anders is probably the most vocal about it if Hawke tries to romance him, repeatedly telling them that he has nothing to offer and that Hawke should be free to have a normal life with someone else. If Hawke is not a mage, It's Not You, It's My Enemies also comes up, since Meredith starts declaring that anyone who shelters an apostate will face a death penalty.
• It's Not You, It's Me: He all but invokes this by name the first time Hawke tries to flirt with him, saying that there was a time when they could have had something, but he's no longer the same man he once was. (And yet, if Hawke doesn't flirt with him the first time it's possible, it causes a bit of rivalry.)
  Anders: I'll break your heart — and that might kill me as surely as the Templars.
• I've Come Too Far: No matter how many times he screws up or fails to convince people of his cause, Anders just keeps pursuing his cause further and further, believing it's too late to stop now.
• Jacob Marley Warning: After "Dissent," he tries to invoke this with Merrill. She points out that she at least understands the dangers better than he did before merging with Justice.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Anders can be very petty and hypocritical. But in the end, all he wants is to help people, and he's willing to go to grand lengths to do so. Unfortunately, he's not stable enough to always know how best to help people.
  • An apt demonstration? After Merrill's Act 3 personal quest, which gets her mentor/surrogate mother figure killed to save her from the demon in the Eluvian, he starts out lambasting her for the consequences of it, which he thinks could have been easily avoided, before telling her to make up for her mistakes, reminding her that most blood mages don't get a second chance.
  • There's also the fact that when he isn't running around with Hawke or helping the Mage Underground, he spends his free time attending poor people for free in his clinic in Darktown.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Anders may harp on and on (and on) about the cause of mages' freedom beyond a reasonable degree, but the game shows several times that his arguments are not baseless. Many Templars do abuse their authority; some of the apostates the party meets are just ordinary people who want to be left alone or take care of their families; he mentions how mages who get pregnant at the Circle have their babies taken away from them by the Chantry (which happened to Wynne); and the Rite of Tranquility is used by Templars to silence the dissenters or even for sexual abuse (as shown with Ser Alrik) and is revealed to be a horrific experience both by his friend and former lover, Karl and especially by Pharamond in Asunder.
  Anders: The people fear what we can do, but to use that fear to bludgeon us into submission is wrong! And they do it with our blessing!
• Jumping Off the Slippery Slope: In the beginning of the game, as far as mages are concerned; while he firmly advocates their freedom and rejects turning them over to the Templars, Anders is actually quite reasonable. He outright condemns blood magic and demons, allows murder only as a last resort, and is perfectly willing to work with reasonable men like Thrask. By Act 3, that persona is all but gone, and he refuses to accept anything less than total freedom for all mages, no exceptions. Thus, "no compromise" when he blows up the Chantry.
• Karma Houdini: The decision to have him killed for the destruction of the Chantry rests with the player, so this trope can be played straight or subverted. But even if the player does decide to kill him, he gets the war he wanted. If he lives, Sebastian vows to make sure Anders will face justice someday. Word of God subverts this, though, saying he wants to die for what he's done, so that the people he's killed will get justice in kind.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: Sadly, Anders had his cat Ser Pounce-A-Lot confiscated by the Grey Wardens after it nearly got him killed by accident. He's still very fond of cats, and puts out milk for the local strays. He even has banter with Merrill in which he wistfully longs for a tabby cat of his own. Ultimately subverted when Anders jumps off the slippery slope, though it's worth noting that he doesn't have his cat anymore by that time.
• Knight Templar: Becomes one, ironically, towards the Templars over the course of the game.
• Light Is Not Good: Despite his black outfit, he is a healer mage, which invokes more light than dark.
• Love at First Sight: If Anders is romanced, after his first night with Hawke in Act 2, he tells them that he's "lain awake every night for the past three years, aching for you." Since it's been three years since they met, this trope is fairly strongly implied. There are other hints that Anders may be in love with Hawke the whole time even if he's not romanced.
• Love Makes You Crazy: Inverted; if his romance is pursued, his Act 3 codex entry explicitly states that he views Hawke as the one thing in his life keeping him sane. Not that it makes a difference in the end.
• Mage Born of Muggles: Anders was born to two perfectly normal parents. Being rejected by his father and forcibly separated from his mother when his magic manifested informs a lot of Anders's neuroses.
• Manifesto-Making Malcontent: In Act 2, he starts writing a manifesto calling for the abolition of the Circles of Magi and spreading it around Kirkwall (but mainly around Hawke's mansion). In Act 3, he stops working on it, and instead becomes a Bomb Throwing Anarchist.
• Manipulative Bastard: Anders lies to Hawke and co. to get them to help him gather reagents to blow up the Chantry, telling them it's for a potion to rid him of Justice. It especially stings if Hawke is in a relationship with him.
• The Masquerade Will Kill Your Dating Life: Starts off entirely open about his pro-mage agenda. Eventually, he becomes less than honest and uses Hawke for his own purposes. It very much seems, however, that he regrets doing this if nothing else.
• Misery Poker: Frequently dismisses the suffering of other groups (particularly slaves and elves) by stating or implying that Circle mages have it worse. This is also the root of his mutual rivalry with Fenris: Fenris often dismisses the plight of Southern Thedas mages on the grounds that he believes Tevinter slaves suffer worse under Tevinter magisters, while Anders frequently dismisses the plight of slaves like Fenris on the grounds that he believes Southern Thedas mages have it worse under the Templars. Their fighting can get vicious and personal about it.
• Mood-Swinger: Stated in the codex to suffer from manic and depressive phases as of Act 3. His dialogue throughout the game tends to reflect this, ranging from calm and caring, to cheerful and snarky, to obsessively focused on his goals, to self-righteously grandiose, to self-loathing and miserable, to vengeful and bloodthirsty, with alarming speed.
• Morality Pet: By Act 3, Varric and (possibly) Hawke have become this for him, as he is much more distant, if not hostile, toward the rest of the party at that point. He even admits to a romanced Hawke that they are one of the few things he thinks are keeping him sane.
• Mr. Fanservice: He falls under Troubled, but Cute for some, but even aesthetically he comes across as a rugged, handsome man. The Blooming Rose has apparently offered him a job enough times that it becomes an annoyance for him.
• Mutually Exclusive Party Members: After he blows up the Chantry, if you spare him, Sebastian immediately abandons you.
• My Death Is Just the Beginning: If the player chooses to kill him after he blows up the Chantry.
• My God, What Have I Done?:
  • He is overwhelmed at the end of "Dissent" in Act 2 after he's lost control and Vengeance attacked Ella, which is nine times worse if Ella actually ends up dead.
  • He regrets blowing up the Chantry:
    • If Hawke is on a Rivalry path with him, after completing "Justice," Hawke can convince Anders to undo whatever it was he was doing in the Chantry at the end of the quest, with Anders becoming horrified at the prospect of actually succeeding and running off to stop it before it is too late. Since the Chantry explosion still happens, it seems that Justice sabotaged this attempt. After the explosion, he expresses regret much more blatantly than on the Friendship path, and even states that Justice may have become a demon from the moment they merged. However, he's also much quicker to pin all the blame on "Vengeance", insisting that he had no control over the situation. However, he remains just as willing to pay for what happened with his life.
    • If Hawke is on a Friendship path with him, he's more understated about his regret and isn't as visibly upset, but he doesn't shift responsibility, fully admits to his own role in what happened and calmly states that if Hawke were to execute him, Justice would be freed as a result.
• My Greatest Failure
  • Allowing Justice to possess him, which turned one of his closest friends into a demon. Though this may not be his fault...
  • During one of his companion quests, he loses control of Justice and threatens (possibly kills) an innocent girl.
• Necessarily Evil: He recognizes that blowing up the Chantry is a horrible thing to do, and does seem to feel guilty about it, but he honestly believes it's for the best. Subverted if he's in a Rivalry with Hawke; he becomes convinced that he's evil by the end.
• Never Gets Drunk: Justice doesn't let him get drunk anymore, making him a type 3. He still visits the Hanged Man occasionally, as it's the only place in town he can get a decent drink.
• Nightmare Fetishist: If romanced, he mentions in Mark of The Assassin that one of his sexual fantasies is being rescued by Hawke right before he's to undergo the Rite of Tranquility, and then expressing his gratitude in a myriad creative ways.
• No Canon for the Wicked: Like all mages in Awakening, he can be specialized as a Blood Mage. There's even a special branch of dialogue devoted to discussing that fact. In this game, however, he possesses no such powers, and takes an extremely dim view of Merrill's involvement in blood magic.
• No Place for Me There: He fully expects to be killed for the things he has done to free the mages.
• Not as You Know Them: Thanks to the fusion with Justice. If he's happy, some of the old Anders will resurface for a time.
• Not Good with Rejection: After finishing his first personal quest, Anders starts to flirt with Hawke. Hawke either has to flirt back or refuse his advances; choosing the latter causes him to react in a quite huffy manner, and it nets a fairly high amount of rivalry points. This is not the case with the other love interests, who won't hold it against Hawke if the player rejects their advances as no loss of approval occurs.
• Obviously Evil: Well, "evil" may be debatable, but during Act 3, Anders changes outfits into one that is completely black. It's pretty big foreshadowing that something is up with him, especially since he is the only companion who makes such a major outfit change (aside from Aveline's 2 outfit changes that show her joining the city guard then later become captain of it). And indeed, Anders blows up Kirkwall's chantry in an act of terrorism.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: According to Word of God, Anders is a nickname because his family is from the Anderfels.
• Outlaw Couple: If Hawke romances Anders, spares his life after he blows up the Chantry, and commits to him before the Final Battle, the two of them will go on the run together, since he is now the most wanted man in Thedas.
• Perma-Stubble: He gets some light beard trimming along his jaw and on his chin.
• Power Perversion Potential: A conversation with Isabela reveals that he uses magic for sexual applications. "Were you the runaway mage who could do that electricity thing? That was nice."
• Powers via Possession: By inviting the spirit of Justice in and corrupting him, Anders gains access to the "Vengeance" mode that provides increased damage output, reduced spell cooldowns and Life Drain ability at the cost of increased damage intake and inability to be healed by conventional means.
• Principles Zealot: While not as bad about it as the Qunari (he compromises in "All That Remains" due to the serious circumstances), due to a glitch, he was the only party member who could not be convinced to side against his faction. This was fixed in a later patch.
• Properly Paranoid:
  • Whether the player agrees with his solution or not, he's not wrong about the kind of abuses going on in the Gallows (or other Circles). There's also dialogue overheard from Templars that implies that Meredith was going to invoke the Rite of Annulment on the Kirkwall Circle anyway, which would have caused all the mages to be killed without any attention being drawn to it. The next game reveals that it wouldn't have been the first time that happened.
  • Zigzagged with "The Tranquil Solution," which he panics over in Act 2, only to find out that the Divine rejected it. He is surprised and wonders if there is hope for negotiation after all... but he's not entirely convinced it isn't a threat, and there are other Templar characters (such as Cullen) who aren't entirely opposed to the idea.
    Sebastian: The Chantry would never follow through with such a thing.
    Anders: Yet.
• Redemption Failure: After "Dissent", he distances himself from the mage underground and tries to find a way to control Justice or undo their merger. By Act 3, everyone he knows outside the party has been killed or forced into hiding, and he's only protected by his proximity to Hawke.
• Retcon: If Anders died in Awakening, it turns out the corpse Nathaniel found was badly burnt and they just assumed it was him.
• Rooting for the Empire: An In-Universe example. Almost every character the player comes across since Origins have described Tevinter as, if not evil, at least a dangerous place to be in given that there, mages have absolute freedom — which is why Anders sees Tevinter as an ideal place. Additionally, the only gift Hawke can give to him is a Tevinter Chantry amulet.
• Running Gag:
  • Hawke manages to find bits of Anders' manifesto everywhere.
  • He's terrible at card games, and everyone in the party knows it. In Mark of the Assassin, he proudly announces that he actually beat Isabela. With supernatural help, but hey, she was cheating too!
• Sanity Slippage:
  • Compare his behavior in Act 1 to his behavior in Act 3.
  • If brought along for Legacy, Corypheus' voice starts sounding in his head, which pushes him almost to the point of a complete breakdown. At one point he is forced under Corypheus' control, and the party has to fight him to get him to snap out of it.
• Self-Deprecation: There are times where he makes it plain he knows exactly how he comes across, especially if Hawke is romancing him and even more so if they are Rivals. Sometimes he takes lighthearted jabs at his own behavior, but other times it's a bit more serious.
  Anders: Orlesian.
  Varric: Fop. Um... Party.
  Anders: Crash!
  Varric: Seriously, Blondie? No one ever invites you anywhere?
  Anders: (softly) Would you?
• Single-Issue Wonk: The plight of mages, especially those oppressed by the Chantry and Templars. Quickly became notorious for this in-universe and out. See The Friend Nobody Likes for more details.
  Carver: I don't hate you because you're a mage. I hate you because you won't shut up about it. Oppression this, Templars that.
• Skepticism Failure: He believes that the Magisters Sidereal (the seven Tevinter Magisters who supposedly broke into the Gold City) are Chantry propaganda meant to justify anti-mage policies, calling them "magic boogeymen". If he's brought along in Legacy, he gets in a boss fight with one, not to mention the Architect, who Anders met in Awakening and who is very likely a Magister Sidereal himself.
• Split Personality: Between his own mind and Justice.
• Squishy Wizard: He's a mage, and not a blood mage, so he'll likely have very little constitution. His vengeance talent increases his damage in exchange for damage resistance, thus making him even more of this, as well as a Glass Cannon.
• Suicide by Cop: After Anders commits his crime in Act 3, he doesn't try to run and is sitting lumpily on a crate instead, avaiting Hawke's judgement. He believes he deserves death, either to prevent Vengeance from wreaking more havoc (on a Rivalry path) or so that those he's just killed may have their justice (on a Friendship path). The trope is then played straight or averted depending on the player's choices.
• That Man Is Dead: Whatever name Anders's parents gave him is long forgotten. When he was first taken to the Circle Anders refused to speak, even to give is name. One of the few things anyone knew about him is that his father was originally from the Anderfels, so he was referred to as "that Anders boy". Eventually that shortened to "Anders" and just became his name.
• Token Evil Teammate: If the player chooses to spare him and keep him in Hawke's party in Act 3. Depending on the player's views, he can be this the entire game.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Sort of. He starts out like a more cynical version of his Awakening persona in Act 1, but he ends up getting gradually nastier as the acts go on, though he never loses sight of his long-term goals.
• Tragic Hero: His intentions are good — very good, in fact — but his own methods for enacting them are not so noble and he occasionally shoots himself in the foot. Eventually he gets what he wants... but the cost of it is immense, and the general consensus is that it was not worth everything that happened, in the interim and afterwards.
• Tragic Keepsake: When the templars forcibly took him to the Circle, the only personal possession he was allowed to keep was a pillow hand-embroidered by his mother. Before he goes on his quest to blow up the Chantry, he offers the pillow to Varric, saying that the latter has been his good friend.
• Tragic Mistake: Unusually, it takes place between games at the midpoint of his story (so far). He genuinely wanted to help Justice, but neither of them were remotely prepared for the actual consequences of the merger.
• Übermensch: His goals regarding the Mages are transformative, to say the least, and he breaks a lot of eggs to get there, knowing full well he will probably be either killed or hated for his actions. Nevertheless, in his mind, society has to change or he will make it change.
• The Unfettered: His self-restraint gradually erodes over the course of the game until he tears down the existing dynamic between the Chantry, the Templars, and the Circle to force them into conflict, and it seems Justice helped him get there.
• Was It All a Lie?: A romanced Hawke will ask this of him after he blows up the Chantry. The answer is that no, his love was not a lie.
• Welcome Back, Traitor:
  • Can be either played straight or subverted. If Hawke tells him to run after he blows up the Chantry, he will still return to them in the Gallows. Naturally, what happens after that is up to the player.
  • In Inquisition, Varric also notes that many of the mages in Kirkwall and its surrounding territory had this reaction upon seeing him. Turns out, some people aren't so happy when you put their lives at risk to purposely start a war. It got to the point Anders basically just left them alone because they wanted nothing to do with him.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Anders's goal of wanting mages to have more freedoms and rights is good, but his methods after he was pushed to his breaking point and the consequences of his actions are problematic. Blowing up the Chantry killed hundreds in Kirkwall and made the mage rebellion and mages in general much more feared. Other characters point this out, and many mages denounce Anders' actions to the point that he's not welcome amongst them if he's alive.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gives a big one to Hawke if they choose to let a demon possess Feynriel, and strikes down Justice when he objects. If he's in a romance with Hawke at this point, some fast talking will have to be done, or he'll break it off at once.
  • Hawke can demand an explanation for blowing up the Chantry at the start of the endgame.
  • If Hakwe supports the Templars, especially if they are a mage, he will call them out on it and say that they should use their influence and money to help mages in Kirkwall.
• Willing Channeler: After the events of the Awakening, Anders allowed his friend Justice, a spirit of the Fade possess himself so that Justice could remain in the physical world after the dead body the latter's been inhabiting started to crumble. This backfires by the time of Dragon Age II, when Anders's hatred of Templars has twisted the spirit of Justice into a force of Vengeance.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Justice's influence hasn't particularly been good for his host's mental state.
• With Us or Against Us:
  • As part of his decline, by Act 3 he's become paranoid of anyone who does not explicitly share his views on granting mages immediate freedom. He gets very hostile towards even pro-mage Hawke if they suggest that some of his methods are too extreme, and treats everyone not firmly supporting his ideas as an enemy. Particularly Fenris, even approving of selling him back into slavery to get him out of the way. Anders goes so far as to blow up the Kirkwall Chantry alongside the only political figure capable of pacifying both Templars and mages, just to ensure that everybody would have to pick a side.
  • This is downplayed in the Rivalry path, however, where Anders begins to have serious self-doubts and will outright agree with Hawke that he's taking things too far. Though elements are most certainly present (RE: Fenris).
• A Wizard Did It: Invoked. "A wizard did it" is his sarcastic reply if he's in the party when Hawke gives the Deep Roads maps to Bartrand. The reality is that he stole them - which actually makes it technically true.
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Becomes this by the end of the game. After a time growing up in the Mages Circle (a life stuck in a tower, bound to do whatever the Chantry asked of him), he escaped from the Templars... seven times. On the last time, he joined the Grey Wardens to escape more permanently. It's all downhill for him after that, unfortunately. His time there under the Warden-Commander is implied to be good; but once they leave, the Orlesian Grey Wardens who run Amaranthine in their absence consider him a wuss, and mock him enough that he bails. Then he lets a wayward Spirit of Justice (once a friend of his) into his body. The sheer dark magic of Kirkwall, in addition to Anders' own resentment and anger, corrupts Justice into a Demon of Vengeance. By the time Dragon Age II begins, he's constantly fighting for control over the influence of Justice. In the final act, though, he can't fight Justice off anymore, and destroys the local branch of the Chantry. Talk about a Trauma Conga Line. Ultimately, his fate is left up to Hawke.
• You Are What You Hate: Grows increasingly more militant and preachy about the mage cause throughout the game. His companions don't miss a beat in letting him know the irony.
• You Remind Me of X: He remarks to Hawke at one point that "I had a friend like you once. Got in all kinds of trouble, dragged me along." It's suggested, though never stated, that this friend was the Warden-Commander. Gains an extra layer if it is Warden-Commander Amell, who is Hawke's second cousin.

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The Spirit of Justice

Justice in Awakening

^{Justice in 2} 

Appears in: Awakening | Dragon Age II

Voiced by: Adam Leadbeater (Dragon Age Origins - Awakening), Adam Leadbeater and Adam Howden (Dragon Age II) (English)^{Foreign VAs} Holger Löwenberg (German); Robert Tondera (Polish)

"I have no name, only a virtue to which I aspire."

A benevolent Fade Spirit trapped in the corpse of a Grey Warden named Kristoff. Justice joins the Warden’s party in the Blackmarsh, and is alternately confused and fascinated by the mortal, material world.

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Tropes In Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening

• Berserk Button: Suggesting that he's no different from demons. This carries over to Dragon Age II, and can lead to him murdering an innocent young mage unless Hawke stops him.
• Character Development: Starting off as disdainful of the material world and more dutiful than anything else, Justice can eventually come to learn that the world is beautiful in its own way and be a true Knight in Shining Armor protecting that for which he has come to care.
• Chaste Hero: He has no clue as to why Oghren keeps asking him about his memories of Kristoff's marriage. It's a human desire, and benevolent spirits really don't go in for that.
• Dark Is Not Evil: His flesh is decaying and he wears the dark colored Armor of the Sentinel in his trailer.
• Does Not Understand Sarcasm: Comes with being Literal-Minded.
• Foreshadowing: His eventual transformation into Vengeance and connection to Anders in Dragon Age II is heavily foreshadowed in his dialogue, with Anders, Nathaniel, and the Warden-Commander. At several points, the Warden-Commander can even outright ask him if he desires vengeance for Kristoff.
• Good Cannot Comprehend Evil: He states upfront that he doesn't understand what makes spirits become demons, and hopes he never finds out.
• Happy Ending Override: Nearly all of his endings have him leaving Kristoff's body and presumably returning to the Fade, but he always reappears merged with Anders in the next game.
• Honor Before Reason: As a sort of embodiment of justice, he believes that wrongdoers should be dealt with accordingly, even if it may not be the most pragmatic decision:
  • Unless he's talked down, he'll turn against the Warden-Commander should the latter decide to ally with the Architect.
  • After seeing the injustices mages face, he ends up causing his new host, Anders, to blow up the Kirkwall Chantry in Dragon Age II, and in doing so, ignite a world war between the mages and Templars throughout Thedas.
• Humanoid Abomination: A benevolent one, but still an alien entity that doesn't understand human attitudes occupying the shape of a human.
• Knight in Shining Armor: His true form and personality, though he starts off seeing it more as an obligation.
• Large Ham: In his spirit form. Considering the Spirit of Valor encountered in the Mage Origin, this may be common to all benevolent Fade spirits.
• Literal-Minded: It takes him a while to understand that Sigrun's death is symbolic.
• Magic Knight: His default specialization, Spirit Warrior.
• Motive Decay: In-Universe. His quest for Justice becomes one of Vengeance between games.
• Possessing a Dead Body: Justice is a spirit who was involuntarily expelled from the Fade and trapped in the body of the Grey Warden Kristoff. The body slowly decays, which drives Justice to seek a new host after the events of Awakening.
• Shout-Out: He's not the first embodiment of justice trapped in physical form after the physical form has died and begun to wither. He's just a lot nicer about it.
• Warrior Poet: "A world so full of beauty that beauty goes overlooked."
• What Is This Thing You Call "Love"?: Justice finds himself envious of the love between Kristoff and his widow Aura, but also associates such feelings with Desire Demons.

Tropes In Dragon Age II

• Ambiguously Evil: Did he become a Knight Templar but remain a spirit, or does he fall from grace and become a true demon? Anders' opinion changes depending on whether he's a Friend or a Rival, and it's up to the player to figure this out on their own as well.
• And I Must Scream: Anders talks about the terrifying sensation of being trapped inside his own body and unable to do or say anything after Justice briefly became the dominant personality during "Night Terrors," then remarks sadly that Justice must feel like that all the time. No wonder he's become a grouch.
• Berserk Button: Shares them with Anders, plus a bonus berserk - don't call him a demon.
• Beyond Redemption: Anders will consider Justice (and by extension himself) as such in Act 2 if he isn't restrained and ends up murdering a young girl. Even if Hawke does stop him, it still shocks him to the core. Justice, on the other hand, is much quicker to throw this label around.
• Black-and-White Insanity: Much of his morality can be seen as this. Add in some of the Blue-and-Orange Morality inherent with Fade spirits and you have an entity with an unbending idea of what it thinks is right but with zero concept of compassion or compromise.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Justice does not understand time (time doesn't matter in the Fade) and doesn't truly understand things like "mercy" or "forgiveness." Thus he is driven by the unyielding desire to constantly lash out at the injustices Anders perceives, regardless of who it ultimately hurts, and always immediately, never after some time to cool off.
• Break the Haughty: Justice's transformation into Vengeance. Could also count as Break the Cutie, personality-wise, seeing as he was an idealistic, good, poetic spirit before becoming twisted by hate.
• The Corruptible: The big problem with his fusion of Anders. Justice on his own was a Knight in Shining Armor, but the addition of Anders' rage against injustices spilled over to him too... and conversely, after Justice was corrupted, his inflexible nature corrupted Anders, preventing him from ever having a Heel Realization that stuck.
• Enemy Within: For Anders.
• Fallen Hero: The difference between Vengeance and a true demon is practically non-existent.
• Foreshadowing: In Awakening, Anders and Justice had a conversation about the differences between spirits and demons and whether Justice could become a demon.
  • Another conversation between Justice and Nathaniel about what would happen to Justice after the decay of Kristoff's body ends with him considering the idea of possessing a willing living human host...
  • The Warden can even ask Justice if he desires revenge for what happened to Kristoff and tell him that there is a thin line between avenging a wrong and outright vengeance.
• The Friend Nobody Likes: While various party members have their own opinions on Anders, at least until Act 3, everyone seems very vocal in their clear dislike of Justice. Justice apparently returns the sentiment, even toward Hawke, the only person who might be willing to listen to Anders' lectures. Anders mentions that Justice feels (especially if romanced) that his obsession with and hero-worship towards them is distracting him from the cause.
• Guest-Star Party Member: During the sidequest "Night Terrors," Justice takes control of Anders and fights alongside Hawke.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Inverted. While Justice originally encouraged Anders to seek freedom for all mages, Anders wanted revenge more than justice, and Justice was corrupted.
• Hypocrite: When accused by a terrified mage of being a demon, due to his possession of Anders, he goes into a blind rage and attacks her for the insult. If Hawke fails to calm him, Justice will murder a mage he was supposed to be saving from corrupt Templars.
• Knight Templar: He still seeks to protect the weak and punish the wicked, but Anders' anger has made him completely merciless.
• Large Ham: As hammy as before.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Anders blames himself for Justice's corruption. The Enigma of Kirkwall texts imply, however, that the Tevinter blood magic under Kirkwall may have been at the very least partly responsible, in addition to his own anger and resentment. And let's not forget about what's under Kirkwall...
• Not as You Know Them: Downplayed. Anders' repressed bitterness has turned Justice from "inflexible but good-hearted" to a trigger-happy Knight Templar with a heavy amount of Black-and-White Insanity who only manifests outside the Fade when he's completely enraged and Anders loses control. However, during the "Night Terrors", when he is in the Fade and not ticked off, Justice acts much more like his old self - just with a harsher view of right and wrong.
• Revenge Before Reason: Pretty much embodies this.
• Split-Personality Merge: If Anders is a Friend to Hawke, during their last conversation before the Chantry explosion Justice doesn't manifest and Anders says that he hoped to find a better way, but Justice and Vengeance are too intertwined and he can't tell one from the other. After the explosion he insists that the decision was his own as he and Justice are one now. By then, he speaks about Justice in the past tense.
• Split-Personality Takeover:
  • Before the endgame, Anders constantly fights to keep Justice under control - but occasionally Justice comes out. When he does, Anders' eyes glow blue and he shifts into Voice of the Legion. The outcome of this fight (takeover or merge) in endgame depends on Anders' relationship with Hawke.
  • If Anders is a Rival to Hawke, during their last conversation before the Chantry explosion Justice takes over and demands that Hawke leave, saying "Anders has no need of you". A moment later, Anders does not remember what he was saying and reveals he's been suffering blackouts. He tells Hawke that he tried his best to control Vengeance and asks not to blame him for failing. After the explosion Anders outright states that Vengeance took him over. He does not trust himself to control Vengeance any longer and begs Hawke to kill him before there is nothing left of him.
• Superpowered Evil Side: For Anders.
• Voice of the Legion: Speaks with both the booming, echoing voice of Justice, and Anders' voice underneath it. If the player listens closely, there are times where their tone of voice differs, hinting at the personality conflict.
• Volcanic Veins: It makes Anders' veins (and eyes) glow blue.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Justice won't turn on Hawke in the Fade unless the player agrees to let a demon possess Feynriel.
• With Us or Against Us: Justice is significantly less discerning about who qualifies as ally or enemy than he used to be.

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Velanna

Velanna

Appears in: Awakening

Voiced by: Grey DeLisle (English)^{Foreign VAs} Djuwita Müller (German), Anna Gajewska (Polish)

"I know a human crime when I see it. I have experienced more than enough of them."

A Dalish elf and mage who has been attacking human caravans to avenge hate crimes committed against her clan. She can join the Warden to track down her missing sister.

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• The Atoner: While she'd never admit it, part of the reason she joins the Warden is to make up for being an unwitting pawn in the Architect's plans.
• Berserk Button: She's very sensitive about her ears. Any implication of them being oversized sends her into even more of a fit than usual.
• Blank Book: One of her conversations involves how much history and folklore her people have lost. You then have the opportunity to give her one of these, as she can still make new stories even if the old ones are gone forever.
• Can't Argue with Elves: Oh, yes you can. To her credit, pointing out her volatile temper and calling out some of her hypocrisy generally has good or at least neutral results, making her seem more immature and misguided than genuinely pretentious. Even the Dalish Warden can call her out on her Fantastic Racism against humans, while the City Elf Warden gets to question if her dismissive comments about City Elves also apply to them as well.
  Velanna: You make me out to be some kind of shrill harpy!
  Warden: My mistake. Yelling is clearly out of character for you.
• Catch the Conscience: She can be in your party when you return to the merchant who briefs you on the trade carts’ destruction and the Warden can ask her if she has anything to comment when the merchant asks about the fate of the saboteur (ergo, her), to which she will try end back out of the conversation as fast as mortally possible. Unsurprisingly, you get disapproval from her for this.

• Cutscene Power to the Max: When you first encounter her, she will awaken Wild Sylvans and summon rabid wolves to attack you. That would be an awesome power to have on your side. Sadly, she loses it once she joins the Warden-Commander's merry band.
• Does Not Understand Sarcasm: Which of course doesn't help in a party that is, aside from Justice, composed of Deadpan Snarkers, to the point where she's embarrassed when Sigrun mocks her for believing Oghren's lie about Dwarves being born from rocks.
• The Exile: When humans tried to burn down the forest just to drive her clan away, Velanna's Keeper (Ilshae) wanted to pack up and leave. Velanna believed they should fight back, and eventually left the clan entirely.
• Fantastic Racism: Towards humans, though it's mainly a result of being on the receiving end for most of her life - the locals were trying to burn her clan out of the woods shortly before you meet her.
  Velanna: The shems give us land one day, and take it back the next. By their rules, we would wander forever. They had run us ragged; it was time to stand and fight!
• Gaia's Vengeance: Her default Keeper specialization uses this type of magic.
• Green Thumb: Her abilities lean towards offensive nature-based spells.
  Velanna: These humans flaunt their contempt of nature. Look at this poor, defenseless tree!"
• Hair-Trigger Temper: She doesn't attack you or anything, but it's really easy to earn her disapproval by accident; even responses that are supposed to be complimentary or understanding can rile her up due to the implications. For example, when she sees a tree in Amaranthine she mentions that she was intended to be the Keeper of her clan. If you then tell her she would have been a good Keeper, she says that the last Keeper knew Velanna like a daughter and believed that she would have destroyed the clan, angrily accuses you of arrogance for thinking you know her better than the last Keeper, and moves on before you get a chance to apologise or backtrack.
• Hot-Blooded: She doesn't like to mince words or back down from a fight, and chose exile over giving ground to humans. This didn't work out for those who followed her, mainly due to the darkspawn.
• I'm Standing Right Here:
  • Tip: do not talk about her like she's an inanimate object or not actually there. A couple of curious city elves find this out the hard way.
    City Elf: It's a Dalish! Nella, come see!
    Nella: Oh, she's very stern, isn't she? What's she doing here, do you think?
    Velanna: I'm right here, you slack-jawed oafs!
• Interspecies Romance: Heavily downplayed, as it doesn't go beyond a bit of banter, but she's clearly more receptive to Nathaniel's flirtations than she'd like to be.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: It's buried deep under her anger, but she does care for people and is horrified to learn that she had been tricked into killing innocents.
  • One epilogue even has her protecting humans from a bandit attack, and another having her single-handedly saving a human village from a Darkspawn attack, a far cry from when the Warden first meets her.
• Jesus Was Way Cool: Velanna admits she holds Andraste in high regard, due to her role in freeing the Dalish from slavery.
  Velanna: I should hate her, but I don't. I can respect a woman who fights for freedom and justice.
• Knight Templar Big Brother: Her entire motivation is to find her sister Seranni. Seranni's working for the Architect.
• Lady of Black Magic: Similar to Morrigan, Velanna is a beautiful elven sorceress who possesses deadly and incredibly destructive spells and curses, most of which are based on plants and fire.
• Luck-Based Mission: Her companion quest can only be triggered through a random encounter that has a low chance of occurring. Many players cannot even trigger the encounter at all.
• Navel-Deep Neckline: Her default armor gives her a plunging neckline.
• Never Found the Body: If the Warden leaves her at Vigil's Keep and doesn't abandon Amaranthine, then this happens to her. Additionally, even if she is taken with the Warden to defend Amaranthine, she's said to just vanish in the Deep Roads while looking for her sister.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Why she becomes a Grey Warden. She's not in it to protect the realm, she wants to find her sister and, failing that, revenge.
• One-Woman Army: One of her epilogues mentions how she was able to defend an entire human village from darkspawn on her own.
• Playing with Fire: Aside from her nature-based attacks, she seems very fond of flames.
• Ship Tease: A minor case with Nathaniel and with the Warden as well. Neither cases go anywhere.

• Tsundere: Normally none too fond of humans, she does get flustered with Nathaniel calling her my lady, and with the Warden, as defending her in front of Meran earns her approval, but all she says aloud is not to make a fuss over her. She claims nervous city elves sicken her, but gives them an old Dalish amulet as a reminder of their heritage and tells them to "remember who you are."
• Unwitting Pawn: The whole attacking human caravans thing? She was tricked by darkspawn into believing humans had destroyed her clan.
• When Trees Attack: She'll summons sylvan trees to attack the Warden-Commander.

Sigrun

Sigrun

Appears in: Awakening

Voiced by: Natalia Cigliuti (English)^{Foreign VAs} Kristina von Weltzien (German), Brygida Turowska (Polish)

"A wise man once told me never to argue with someone better armed than the entire warrior caste on parade."

A member of the Legion of the Dead, a group of dwarven warriors who are symbolically dead and spend the rest of the their lives fighting Darkspawn in the Deep Roads to atone for some crime they have committed. Prior to her "death" she was a casteless dwarf. Despite this, she's actually managed to keep her optimism, even after having her entire squad slaughtered.

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• Action Girl: She's a Legionnaire of the Dead.
• And That's Terrible: Leave it to the ex-criminal to underscore the wrongness.
• The Atoner: She's not proud of her past as a Carta member. She especially regrets framing her best friend for theft, getting her exiled to the surface.
• Attending Your Own Funeral: Standard induction into the Legion of the Dead.
• Badass Bookworm: She has the makings of one, given her enthusiasm for the library in Vigil's Keep. The Warden can encourage her to read by pointing out that she's welcome to make use of any of the books there.
• Bolivian Army Ending: If the Warden leaves her at Vigil's Keep and doesn't abandon Amaranthine, she leads the charge against the invading darkspawn despite the hopeless odds. "This time, she did not run."
• Deadpan Snarker: Being a Legion of the Dead doesn't preclude her from making a few quips.
• Death Seeker: Her dream in life is to make a Heroic Sacrifice, though it's not as if she complains if she lives though a fight. In fact, she cracks jokes about surviving and how she'll do better next time. She can drop this if the Warden is nice enough to her.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: If the Warden sides with The Architect and brings her along for the final battle, one epilogue states that with both her purpose as a Legion member and Grey Warden now rendered obsolete, she has no idea what to do with herself. She eventually just ups and leaves with no one having a clue where she's gone.
• Fate Worse than Death: She is being dragged away by darkspawn when the Warden rescues her. Her subsequent dialogue mentions that Legion suspected they were breeding Broodmothers in the area and that they had taken all the other female Legionnaires prisoner already. From her tone, it's clear that she knows all too well what happened to them next.
• Flat "What": When the Warden offers to aid her in eradicating the Darkspawn in Kal'Hirol to avenge the Legion.
  Sigrun: What? Really? Did I mention Kal'Hirol is a death trap? Why do you want to do this?
  Warden: I'm a Grey Warden.
  Sigrun: Ah. My condolences.
• Genki Girl: She's quite energetic about examining stuff she wouldn't usually see below the surface.
• Girlish Pigtails: Sports a pair of them.
• Jumped at the Call: Quite happy to join the Grey Wardens, since as a member of the Legion of the Dead, she expected to go out in a heroic Last Stand against the darkspawn horde anyway. Being told that the Joining is potentially lethal doesn't faze her either.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Her reaction to meeting the Dwarf Commoner Warden - the Casteless Dwarf who beat some of Orzammar's finest warriors in the Provings, became a Grey Warden, ended the Fifth Blight and became a Paragon.
  Sigrun: I'd get you to sign my helmet if I could, I know someone back in Dust Town who would sell his teeth for something like that!
• Meaningful Name: In some variations of Norse Mythology, Sigrun is the leader of the Valkyries.
• Mundane Luxury: She thinks alienages look nice next to Dust Town, and most of her gifts are toys or knickknacks like soap on a rope. "And no-one here is going to throw me out of their store!"
• Odd Friendship: The chipper castless dwarf Sigrun can become friends with Nathaniel Howe, the brooding human noble.
• Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's a dwarf and a rogue, but her really high strength stat allow her to equip heavy armor and weapons with ease.
• Plucky Girl: Surprisingly upbeat despite being a Death Seeker. Lampshaded by Nathaniel, with Sigrun responding that she could always choose to Wangst about everything. Nathaniel tells her to stick with "Perky".
• Sole Survivor: Of the Legionnaires that entered Kal'Hirol.
• What the Hell, Hero?: She and Justice have the strongest reactions to sparing the Architect, and will need to be talked down from attacking if you try it.

Mhairi

Mhairi

Appears in: Awakening

Voiced by: Alyx Wilton Regan (English)^{Foreign VAs} Britta Steffenhagen (German), Monika Pikuła (Polish)

"Allow me to say: I'm very proud to serve under your command."

An idealistic female knight who joined the Grey Wardens to repay them for saving Ferelden. She fails to survive her Joining.

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• Action Girl: Just watch her taking down darkspawn left and right in the Awakening trailer. It doesn't save her from the Joining though.
• Advertised Extra: Received her own trailer as if she would be a prominent character in the story, only to get killed very shortly after the first dungeon.

• Composite Character: Her eagerness to join the Grey Wardens is similar to a less pragmatic Daveth, and her class makes her mechanically similar to Ser Jory. This in turn is a hint that she's not going to survive past the prologue.
• Dead Star Walking: She was billed as a main character, but she doesn't survive the Joining less than an hour into the game.
• Deconstruction: Of characters who Jumped at the Call, as her wide eyed idealism and eagerness to join the Grey Wardens ultimately aren't enough to let her survive the Joining.
• Guest-Star Party Member: She's playable for the prologue of Awakening, then she dies during the Joining.
• Hero-Worshipper: Absolutely idolizes the Warden. If Alistair is king, she seems rather awed when he shows up for his cameo too.
• Jumped at the Call: Volunteers to join the Wardens after they call for new recruits after the events of Origins.
• Lady of War: Served in the King's Army before joining the Wardens.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Her death. It happens so early in the game it's not even worth putting under a spoiler.
• Mauve Shirt: She gets a plot hook and even swears vengeance during a quest. Unlike the Guest Star Party Members in Origins, she can level up and has an approval meter. Then she dies before anything comes of her plot hook. Appropriately enough, her armor is in fact a dark mauve.
• Never Trust a Trailer: She was hyped as a full party member only to die after the first dungeon.
• Sacrificial Lamb: Like Daveth before her, she exists to show just how dangerous and random the Joining actually is.
• Ship Tease: Briefly with Anders, as he flirts with her in his introduction scene and Oghren asks if he's her boyfriend.
• Stone Wall: As a sword and shield-using warrior as well has the Champion specialization, her main role is that of a tank for the prologue.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: Has shades of this towards the Grey Wardens, seeming to believe they are an Order comprised of honourable knights, instead the Ragtag Bunch of Misfits they actually are. She appears to be a little crestfallen when the Warden reveals they are not only friends with a disreputable drunk like Oghren, but also perfectly happy to accept him into the fold.

Nathaniel Howe

Nathaniel Howe

Appears in: Awakening | Dragon Age II^note Choice dependent

Voiced by: Simon Chadwick (English)^{Foreign VAs} Robin Brosch (German), Artur Kaczmarski (Polish)

"The Howes are pariahs now, those of us left."

A human rogue and son of Arl Howe, Nathaniel initially views his father as a patriot who fought for his nation. Feels the Grey Wardens are traitors for allowing Orlesians into Amaranthine. First seen in a comic from Penny Arcade.

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• Aesop Amnesia: If the Warden lets him take a few family heirlooms and go in peace, Nathaniel is so moved by your honor and mercy that he asks to join the Grey Wardens. However, after the Joining he goes right back to thinking you're an awful person and has to re-learn to like you as you raise his Approval.
• The Atoner: He honestly wants to make up for how his father single-handedly ruined his family's name, and his failure to put the Blight before his own ambitions.
• Avenging the Villain: His original plan when sneaking into the Keep. He decided to just take some family heirlooms and leave, but he still isn't impressed with the Warden when they first meet.
• Badass Normal: It took four Grey Wardens to incapacitate him.
• Bears Are Bad News: The Howe crest is a bear, his starting armor is named after it, and he can summon one to fight if you spec him as a Ranger.
• Breakout Character: Nathaniel became the most popular character in Awakening to the point where the developers wanted to make plans for him to appear in future novels. However, ten years after the game's release this has not come to pass. Apart from a cameo in Dragon Age II, Nathaniel has yet to appear outside DAA.
• Broken Pedestal: He eventually comes to realize that his father was a selfish prick who brought his fate on himself.
• Byronic Hero: He is a brooding, ambivalent and vindictive man who, nevertheless, is a decent, kind-hearted and diligent hero who strives to make the world a better place. He is haunted by the loss of his family, for which he blames himself; he becomes an outcast everywhere, because of his father's actions, and of the attempted murder of The Warden. Try to befriend him, and you will see his softer side.
• Call-Back: Should you let Nathaniel free from his cell, he comes back to you after finishing one main story quest via random encounter, very much like how Zevran is recruited minus initially ambushing you and your party. Lampshaded by Oghren warning you about how he might "go all Zevran" on you should you let your guard down.
• The Chain of Harm: Early on, Nathaniel accuses the Warden of doing this for leaving his family pariahs after his father Rendon Howe paid for his crimes during the war. The Warden, particularly a Human Noble Warden, can perpetuate the chain by having Nathaniel hanged for being a Howe.
• Chekhov's Gun: He mentions that he was squired in Kirkwall, a major city in the Free Marches - and the setting of Dragon Age II. (Nathaniel himself only appears in that game in a late-game sidequest, and as a possible guest star in the final battle.)
• Color-Coded Eyes: His gray eyes show he's a skilled marksman.
• Combat Pragmatist:
  • He is described in his codex entry as a practical person, and he backs some of the more questionable end-game decisions, like burning Amaranthine, even if his companion quest (finding his sister, who lives in the city) is completed, and siding with the Architect. (Her appearance in DAII does at least confirm that she survives the burning of the city.)
  • In the same theme, most of his gifts are functional (a bow, a sextant, lock-picks, a whetstone).
• The Comically Serious: He's dead serious (if snarky) all the time, leading to much annoyance and exasperation on his part when paired with more upbeat companions like Anders, Oghren, and Sigrun.
• Commonality Connection: Can get this with a few companions.
  • He and Velanna can bond over how their sisters used to play pranks on them as kids.
  • He can Sigrun can bond over how they know what it's like to struggle in abject poverty. (She for being casteless, he from his family's disgrace.)
  • He and the Warden can also bond over wanting to break The Chain of Harm, particularly with a Human Noble Warden.
• Cruel Mercy:
  • What he sees becoming a Warden as, if forced into the Joining. Only later does he realise the reason for his Conscription was because the Warden thought he'd prove to be a better man than his father and wanted to give him a chance to redeem his family name.
  • It's even more meaningful if the PC is a Human Noble, who lost their parents too, and had their family's good name unjustly tarnished by the machinations of Nate's father, Rendon Howe.
  • Also for a City Elf Warden, since Arl Howe led a brutal purge and sold many in their alienage into slavery, including potentially their sister-in-law, and almost their father.
• Deadpan Snarker: When you engage him in conversations about his family, he's especially snarky.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Black hair, fair skin, and has a face with a lot of shadows and lines.
• Enemy Mine: To the Warden, at first, particularly a Cousland or Tabris Warden seeing how there's slain family on both ends.
• Even the Guys Want Him: One party banter with Oghren has him asking if he's also an admirer since his "quiet and stoic" demeanor earns him ladies.
• Fantastic Racism: Averted. He's a human noble who grew up surrounded by elven servants, but he doesn't view elves as a Slave Race and treats an Elven Warden and Velanna as respectfully as anyone else. He can even have some Ship Tease with both.
  Velanna: "My lady" is such a human thing to call someone.
  Nathaniel: It is a term of respect. You think it's human to be respectful?
  Velanna: Now you're mocking me.
  Nathaniel: I think you're a lovely woman, and due some respect. So I call you a lady.
  Velanna: Well... stop it!
• Generation Xerox: Subverted, though it's especially poignant if the Warden is a Human Noble or City Elf.
  • If a Human Noble: Both Nathaniel's grandfather and father, Tartleton and Rendon Howe, betrayed the Couslands and fought against Ferelden during the Fereldan Rebellion and Fereldan Civil War respectively. Nathaniel, on the other hand, if befriended, remains loyal, redeems his family name and even saves the Human Noble's brother in one of the epilogues. Then played straight, albeit skipping a few generations; it turns out Tartleton's own father was a Grey Warden himself.
  • If a City Elf: His father was so openly racist he purged the Denerim Alienage For the Evulz, sold dozens of elves into slavery, and compared elves to animals that need to be "culled" to an Elven Warden's face. Nathaniel himself displays little to none of the Fantastic Racism most human nobles have, and treats an Elven Warden and Velanna with as much respect as he'd give any human.
• Good Is Not Nice: Justice aside, he's probably your most moral party member, but he's broody, irritable and can be pretty insulting if you get on his bad side.
• Guest-Star Party Member: In Dragon Age II if his sidequest is completed, he will show up to help fight against Meredith.
• I Am Not My Father: Once he realizes just how twisted his father really is, he more or less states this to the Warden.
• I Choose to Stay: The Warden can let him take a few family heirlooms and go when they first meet, only for Nathaniel to be so moved by their honor and mercy that he returns and asks to join the Grey Wardens willingly.
• Innocently Insensitive: Does this occasionally with Sigrun.
  Nathaniel: Oh, I... I didn't mean...
  Sigrun: It's all right. You're a noble.
• Irony: Nathaniel is strongly implied to be The Unfavorite since Rendon Howe shipped him off to be a squire in Kirkwall from an early age, and Nat is the only one of his kids he never mentions in the base game. However, this just ensured that Rendon's least favorite child is the only one to hold him in high esteem, since Nat was never around to see what an absolute prick he was.
• It's All About Me: His rage against the Human Noble and City Elf Warden for killing his father can come across as this, since Rendon Howe had the former's entire family slaughtered and usurped their lands, and had the latter's alienage purged and sold into slavery.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While he's rude and hostile when you first meet, the Warden can agree it's not right for his entire family to be punished for his father's actions.
• Killed Off for Real: The Warden-Commander can order him hanged, stating that as Arl Howe's last surviving son, he's too dangerous to be allowed to live.
• Lame Pun Reaction: Anders makes a joke out of Nathaniel's family name in a party banter they share.
  Anders: So you're a Howe.
  Nathaniel: Do you have a point, mage?
  Anders: Hey, I'm fond of the Howes. I'm also fond of the Whys, the Whos, and the Whats.
  Nathaniel: How clever.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Due to being stuck at Kirkwall during the Civil War, he seems honestly unaware that his father spent most of that time kicking every dog he could get his grubby mitts on. He instead thinks that the worst reports were propaganda demonizing Rendon for supporting Loghain (when in reality it was if anything the other way around; Loghain was demonized for supporting Howe, since Loghain was a genuine Well-Intentioned Extremist while Howe was Obviously Evil). The Warden can disabuse him of this notion and help him to accept that his dad deserved every bit of what he got.
• Misplaced Retribution: Nathaniel starts off hating the Warden because he blames them for killing his father and rendering his family pariahs. Regardless of their origin, the Warden can help Nathaniel see that not only did Rendon Howe bring his fate on himself, but the Warden potentially had nothing to do with his family being stripped of their status.
• Nothing Personal: Zig-zagged.
  • The Warden can tell Nathaniel when they first meet that they bear his family no ill-will since Rendon Howe was just another enemy they had to defeat in order to stop the Blight. They can also help him restore his family's good name.
  • Nathaniel himself will admonish the Warden for their part in his family becoming pariahs since, in his mind, Rendon Howe was just on the losing side of the war and thus any further retaliation against his family is excessive. (A Human Noble Warden can tell Nat where to shove it, in that case, since it's very personal.)
• Odd Friendship: If befriended, this becomes his relationship with the Human Noble Warden. It must run in the family, though at least this iteration ends happily.
• Pun: His starting armor is called The Bear's Embrace.
• Put on a Bus: One of the options for his fate, which you must decide - you can either conscript him, kill him, or set him free. If you do in fact release him, he comes back later and joins the Wardens of his own free will.
• Ship Tease: With Velanna. Nathaniel calls her "my lady" and tells her that he finds her lovely, and she yells at him to stop saying that, in an embarrassed tone.
  • A female PC can flirt with him in the Blackmarsh, teasing him a little about his childhood dream of saving the haunted marsh.
    Female Warden: You wanted to be a hero? That's cute.
    Nathaniel: Isn't that the dream of all little boys?
• Sins of Our Fathers: The Warden-Commander can choose to kill him in retaliation for his father's crimes, especially poignant if they happen to be a Human Noble (since Howe killed most of their family and usurped their lands and titles) or City Elf (since Howe butchered and enslaved most of their alienage).
• Straight Man and Wise Guy: Anders in particular enjoys bouncing bad jokes off him - and keeps at it years later in Kirkwall, despite his mental state being otherwise at its bleakest.
• Tall, Dark, and Handsome:
  Oghren: The whole "quiet and stoic" thing must get you a lot of action, huh?
  Nathaniel: I take it you're an admirer, Oghren?
  Oghren: What? No! No! Well, not unless - no!
• Threat Backfire: During his recruitment, the Warden can deflect his veiled threat by pointing out he's not the first person to make it.
  Nathaniel: You like having Grey Wardens who want you dead?
  Warden: Some of my best friends have wanted me dead.
• The Un-Favourite: Subtly implied. He doesn't appear to have been very close with his father, was sent to Kirkwall in the Free Marches to become a squire, and unlike his siblings, was never mentioned by Arl Howe at all during the course of Origins.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He has a conversation with Justice where he suggests that he could posses a willing living host in a mutually beneficial partnership. While Justice is initially opposed to the idea, he is persuaded to consider the idea further due to Nathaniel's arguments. This idea leads to Justice possessing the willing Anders, which causes some trouble in Dragon Age II.
• Written by the Winners: Discussed. Nathaniel starts off convinced his father was unfairly demonized because he was on the losing side of the civil war. It takes time for Nathaniel to accept that, no, his father was as bad as everyone claims, and brought his fate on himself.
• You Killed My Father: He was caught trying to assassinate the Warden. Particularly poignant if the Warden is the Human Noble or City Elf.

Oghren

Oghren

Appears in: Origins | Awakening

Voiced by: Steve Blum (English) ^{Foreign VAs} Ben Hecker (German), Dariusz Odija (Polish), José Luccioni (French)

"If you've ever heard of me before, it's probably all been about how I piss ale and murder young boys who look at me wrong. And that's mostly true."

A former dwarf warrior from Orzammar, Oghren is now best known for his drinking and the fact that he was forbidden to carry weapons; a great insult to his status. He was shamed when his wife Branka left with their entire clan to search the Deep Roads for something important to her, leaving only him behind.

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For tropes pertaining to Oghren, see this page.

Allies

Seneschal Varel

Seneschal Varel

Appears in: Awakening

Voiced by: Robin Sachs (English)^{Foreign VAs} Bernd Stephan (German)

"Unless the Warden recruiter promised you quiet rural contemplation, you knew what you signed up for."

Seneschal of Vigil's Keep, Varel assists the Grey Wardens in ruling the region and fighting the Darkspawn threats.

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• BFS: He wields a large two-handed broadsword in combat.
• The Creon: He is effectively the ruler of Amaranthine while the Warden-Commander is off adventuring, yet maintains his subordinate position.
• The Good Chancellor: Prior to the start of the story, Varel was imprisoned by Arl Rendon Howe for attempting to counteract the worst of his lord's atrocities. When the Grey Wardens are awarded the arling of Amaranthine, he is re-appointed as seneschal and is a helpful ally to the Warden-Commander, giving good, if sometimes morally ambiguous, advice.
• It Has Been an Honor: If the Warden-Commander protects Vigil's Keep instead of Amaranthine, Varel tells them this before dying in the assault.
• Number Two: To the Warden-Commander.
• Old Soldier: He has spent his life fighting and protecting Amaranthine from threats.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Fell out of favour with Arl Howe because he objected to so many of Howe's decisions. When Howe's acts became more sinister, Varel secretly sheltered those in need and did his best to counteract the arl's atrocities, ending up being imprisoned for it. Fortunately for Varel, Howe was killed in Denerim before he could punish the seneschal for his insubordination.
• Secret-Keeper: Although not a Grey Warden himself, Varel's position as Seneschal means he was told a great number of the Warden's secrets in order to better assist them and help rule Amaranthine. This includes knowledge of the Joining and how to administer it. This is explained in the game by the fact that he knows more about Amaranthine and the Vigil than pretty much anyone else now living, and his conduct has always been above reproach, so it was decided that he could be trusted with the secrets of the order.
• Taking the Bullet: If the Warden-Commander does nothing to stop the noble conspiracy against them from advancing, then Varel will take a crossbow bolt for the Warden during their attempted coup.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: His fate if the Warden-Commander defends Amaranthine is unknown, although Garevel is known to eventually replace him as seneschal.

Antagonists

The Mother

The Mother

Appears in: Awakening

Voiced by: Dee Dee Rescher (English)^{Foreign VAs} Isabella Grothe (German)

"You took that beautiful music from us, and left us nothing!"

An insane Broodmother who leads the Disciples.

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• Anti-Magic: She can cast Glyph of Neutralization to drain your party mage's mana.
• Ax-Crazy: The most unhinged Darkspawn in the franchise.
• Bad Boss: Though according to her, she believes she's doing her minions a favor, assuming they also seek death.
• Big Bad: Of the Dragon Age: Origins expansion Awakening.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Among the Blue-and-Orange Morality of the awakened Darkspawn, she stands out for being considered this by other Darkspawn. The First expresses fury over her plan trapping him in The Fade with The Warden and spends what remains of his screen-time trying to escape to seek revenge. The post-mission cutscene however shows her grieving over his death and stating that she'd considered sending him to The Fade a reward.
• Body Horror: In addition to the standard creepiness of being a Broodmother, her face is covered in blood, as if she is bleeding out of every orifice. And part of her face comes off when she roars.
• Death Seeker: She hopes that she will be able to hear the Old Gods' song again after she dies.
• Evil Laugh: Complete with an announcement that she will do so.
• Evil Matriarch: As a sentient Broodmother, she can command her own Darkspawn children.
• Fan Disservice: She's completely naked, her upper body still looks mostly human and sports multiple sets of increasingly larger breasts, but there's absolutely nothing titillating about her even so.
• Flunky Boss: When her tentacles are slain, she will summon a large number of Childer Grubs.
• Gone Horribly Right: The Architect wanted to give her free will. He succeeded, and she's decided that she wants him dead.
• Large Ham: Few female hams are as large as this.
• Nightmare Face: The bleeding face, and the way the lower part of her face opens up and comes off when you fight her.
• One Bad Mother: A horrific creature, and known only as "the Mother".
• Posthuman Nudism: As a Broodmother, she was once human - and despite having regained her sentience, rejects even the partial recovery of humanity this represents by keeping her upper body stark naked.
• Sanity Slippage: Not that she had much sanity if any to begin with, what with being a Broodmother, but the Architect giving her free will severed her from the song of the Old Gods that calls to the Darkspawn when there's no active Archdemon. This in turn drove what would already be a severely mentally tormented creature even more insane.
• Sinister Nudity: Like all Broodmothers, she's stark naked, and on top of being a Naked Nutter, she's the most aggressive of the intelligent Darkspawn loose in Amaranthine.
• Taking You with Me: She acknowledges that she stands no chance against the Warden, but tries to kill them before she is killed herself.
• Unknown Rival: Depending on what order the Warden-Commander tackles the main plot quests in, they may not even hear her name until just before she launches simultaneous sieges against Amaranthine and the Vigil.
• Was Once A Person: As a Broodmother, she was once a humanoid woman who suffered a Fate Worse than Death.
• We Wait: She seems to take the loss of Kal'Hirol with a remarkable optimism and the suggestion of a finely prepared trap. This trap apparently consists in herself sitting on her gargantuan, bulbous, arachnid abdomen waiting for the Warden, then beating the living hell out of them. She's very active on other fronts.

The Architect

The Architect

Appears in: The Calling | Awakening

Voiced by: Jamie Glover (English)^{Foreign VAs} Wolfgang Jürgen (German)

"I do not seek to rule my brethren. I only seek to release them from their chains."

A Darkspawn emissary who wants to end conflict between the Darkspawn and other races. He first appeared in The Calling and reappears in Awakening. He is very polite but does not understand the concept of morality.

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• Affably Evil: Even amongst the awakened Darkspawn, he comes across as the most rational and polite.
• All of the Other Reindeer: The Mother accuses him of being driven by sheer loneliness as much as any grand vision. After all, he's spent who-knows-how-long wandering the Deep Roads alone, with his fellow Darkspawn in thrall of the Calling and anyone who could actually hold a conversation too scared of him to stick around.
• Anti-Villain: "I apologize for what I must do."
• Apologetic Attacker: If challenged to a fight, he apologizes to the Warden for being forced to defend himself, and to Utha for being unable to fulfil his promise to her.
• Astral Projection: He can't physically get close to the Mother because her children will stop him, but he helps out by doing this.
• Big Bad: In The Calling.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality:
  • He literally has no clue as to why people object to his willingness to sacrifice millions of people to save billions.
  • He is fully aware of his lack of understanding and ashamed by it, since it makes it difficult for him to properly communicate with the other races.
• Cool Mask: Wears a nice one to cover up his deformed eyes.
• Dark Is Not Evil: Or at least, tries not to be - with questionable success.
• Dark Secret: While most of the other stuff happening in Dragon Age (the Hero of Ferelden ending the Blight, Hawke defending Kirkwall and inadvertently kicking off the Mage-Templar-War, the Inquisitor defeating Corypheus) is mostly public knowledge and abundantly commented on later on, the Warden Commander's involvement with the Architect is mostly kept under wraps. The most we get are Nathaniel's terribly vague hints in DA2.
• Enemy Mine: If the Warden decides not to kill him.
• Even Evil Has Standards: While is is unknown how evil he was before he became a Darkspawn, he was greatly affronted by Corypheus's idea to enter the Golden City and become a god, only coming on board when Urthemiel gave the approval for the idea.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: His eyes are in the wrong part of his face, and badly misaligned.
• The Fog of Ages: If he really was an original Magister, then he's either lying about his past or the centuries of wandering have eaten away at his memory.
• Forced Sleep: He'll put the Warden and party to sleep with a spell when they first meet him.
• Gone Horribly Right: Giving free will to the Darkspawn also allows them to rebel against him and become even nastier, just because that's what they want to do with their free will.
• Greater-Scope Villain: While the Architect isn't actively malevolent, his actions spurred the events of both Awakening and Origins at large. He subjected the Fifth Archdemon to his inverse Joining ritual in an attempt to destroy the Old Gods' control over the Darkspawn. He only succeeded in starting the Fifth Blight, resulting in the events of Origins. All of the death, chaos and hate that erupted from it is on the Architect's hands. It's also been all but confirmed that he is one of the original Magisters who brought the Blight to Thedas in the first place.
• Grey-and-Grey Morality: While the Architect's plans, if successful, would put off any further Blights and potentially lead to peace with both the dwarves and the surface, his methodology is haphazard and often leads to disastrous outcomes. A Grey Warden may well agree with the Architect's intent, but kill him anyway for the danger he represents.
• Heel–Face Turn: Sometime after the events of The Calling, he discovered that Grey Warden blood can be used to sever the Darkspawn's connection to the Old Gods, ending the Blights without killing as many people as he would have with his previous plan. He's still as morally ambiguous as ever, though.
• High Priest: If he really is one of the original Magisters that invaded the Golden City, then he was once the high priest of one of the Old Gods. Worth noting is that Urthemiel's high priest called himself "The Architect of the Works of Beauty."
• Horrible Judge of Character: Somewhat justified; due to his difficulty to understand both good and evil, he fails to realize when his Disciples are acting needlessly violent and disrupting his plans in the process.
• I Gave My Word: Keeping promises is very important to him. If the Warden decides to kill him, his biggest concern is that he won't be able to keep his promise to Ultha, and if he's made an ally, he'll help you fight the Mother and keep the Deep Roads mostly clear of Darkspawn by the time Hawke gets there.
• Immune to Mind Control: For unknown reasons, he's immune to the "song" the Old Gods emit that compels Darkspawn to seek out and corrupt them. He's discovered that Grey Warden blood allows him to give other Darkspawn the same ability, much like how Darkspawn blood gives the Grey Wardens immunity to the Taint. It is implied that this immunity comes from being one of the seven original Darkspawn.
• Inexplicably Awesome: Not even the Architect himself knows why he was born with free will and immunity to the Old Ones' effects on normal darkspawn. Later games imply it's because he was born as a human; he is one of the original 7 magisters-turned-Darkspawn, much like Corypheus.
• Inhuman Eye Concealers: For most of the game, he hides the upper half of his face behind a golden domino mask to conceal his disfigured eyes.
• Irony: If he is truly The Architect of the Works of Beauty, he is responsible for not only corrupting the object of his worship, but also his potential death.
• It Can Think: Most Darkspawn are completely feral. The Architect is fully sapient and quite intelligent- and he can make other Darkspawn like him. Luckily, he prefers to use his mind for constructive purposes... but unluckily, his screwups can be as bad or worse than what regular Darkspawn do on purpose.
• Lack of Empathy: He has a very hard time understanding non-Darkspawn, presumably because of how rarely he meets any.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: He's not exactly a good guy, what with his total lack of understanding of conventional morality, but not being an Omnicidal Maniac means he's leagues ahead of most Darkspawn, and not being completely Ax-Crazy makes him better than the Mother. And compared to his fellow Darkspawn Magister Corypheus, who's a DLC villain in II and the Big Bad of Inquisition, the Architect is trying not to be the bad guy and is fairly easy to talk down.
• Mad Scientist: He conducts brutal experiments on Grey Wardens and their taint. At least most of his subjects are already dead when he starts...
• Messianic Archetype: Deconstructed Trope. The Architect's intentions are ultimately benign, and would save both the Darkspawn and the rest of Thedas from the tragedy of another Blight. Unfortunately, the Architect is so powerful that his failures cause Blights. It's entirely possible for the Warden to agree with the Architect's intentions, and still find it morally irresponsible to let him live.
• Morality Pet: He's quite kind to Utha and Seranni.
• Mr. Exposition: Will explain the whole situation with himself and the Mother if pressed during your second confrontation with him.
• My Greatest Failure: Turning Urthemiel into an Archdemon, with the creation of the Mother as a close second. If you bring him to fight her, he'll apologize for it.
• My Species Doth Protest Too Much: He believes that being Always Chaotic Evil and periodically causing Blights are as bad for the Darkspawn as they are for the surface, and seeks to give his fellows their free will so they're no longer compelled to follow Archdemons to the surface and get a good chunk of themselves killed.
• Never Trust a Trailer: He was advertised as being the expansion's Big Bad, but only appears in it a couple of times and can become an ally- albeit that he's the one who caused most of the problems he helps you solve.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • Pretty much everything that happens in Awakening - and for that matter, Origins - can be traced back to him and his own efforts to combat the Blights. The Mother? His doing. The death of all the Wardens and most of the soldiers at the Vigil? His attempt to forge an alliance there which went wrong. The awakening of Urthemiel and the beginning of the Fifth Blight in the first place? His doing!
  • And if you remember Gaider's interview comment about him being "the same type of character" as Corypheus, then forget about starting the Fifth Blight. He helped start the first one!
• Non-Malicious Monster: Sort of. Compared to the other Darkspawn he's practically a saint, and he doesn't seem to possess any genuine maliciousness (and he won't fight the Warden unless they provoke it), but that doesn't mean he can't cause problems accidentally or as a result of his plans to 'save' Ferelden. Just ask Urthemiel.
• Only Sane Man: A sane Darkspawn. Yes, he knows it's weird. Later lore reveals imply that he was the only one of the 7 Magisters to think invading the Golden City was a bad idea, but was persuaded to go along with it when the Old God he served gave the go-ahead. Suffice to say, he was right the first time.
• Playing with Fire: His contribution to the Mother fight is a powerful fire spell.
• Power Floats: He floats down to meet the Warden face-to-face. He shares this power with Corypheus.
• Red Right Hand: He looks like a pale human unless he removes his mask, which reveals his disfigured eyes. This is decidedly different from his description in The Calling, where he looks like just another Hurlock Emissary that happens to be disturbingly polite. He does look considerably more like the redesigned emissaries in Dragon Age II.
• Reluctant Monster: The Architect would rather not be a mindless force of carnage and destruction, thanks. In fact, he'd like it if the Darkspawn weren't Always Chaotic Evil and compelled to cause blights.
• Rogue Drone: He was "born" unable to hear the Call and can't explain why.
  "Why do some of your kind become Grey Wardens? Why do some possess magic? I have no answers."
  • It's later implied that this is because he isn't a drone and never was; he was one of the original Magisters and is either lying or forgot about his human origins.
• Skippable Boss: If you reject his proposed alliance, you will have to kill him.
• Übermensch: Wants to free his fellow Darkspawn from the song of the Old Ones.
• Uncertain Doom: If you decide to kill him. He's never mentioned again, but the clearing out of Deep Roads darkspawn he's said to be responsible for in II still happens, and given how wrong-context the Architect is, it's entirely possible he can cheat death somehow. Inquisition proves that his fellow Darkspawn Magister Corypheus can jump to other bodies when killed, like the Archdemons- except that Corypheus can also possess Grey Wardens, so it's entirely likely that the Architect has the same ability and decided to stay out of the Warden's way after taking over some Darkspawn offscreen.
• The Unfettered: A strange variant. Most Unfettered have no moral limits because they consciously choose to ignore them. The Architect, on the other hand, is a genuine stranger to conventional morality and is unaware that these moral limits exist until somebody points them out to him. He'd certainly like to find a solution that removes the Blights from existence without anyone having to suffer for it (which is why he switched from his plan of Tainting everyone in The Calling to his Awakening plan of giving Darkspawn free will), but if he has to kill millions to save billions, then oh well, the math checks out.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Puns about his name aside. The Architect is this three times over! He caused the First and Fifth Blights with his experiments, although the first was under Corypheus' direction. He failed to provide proper instructions to The Withered, which led to his Darkspawn assaulting Vigil's Keep instead of just talking, which in turn (indirectly) led to Kristof's death and the death of Anders' escorts... and that led directly to Justice and Anders' Joining the Wardens, which caused the second game. That, in turn, caused the Mage-Templar War, which is why the world was distracted enough to allow the third game to happen! The Architect had a hand on nearly every problem you face in the games, and he has no idea. The name really is apropos...
• Visionary Villain: Velanna outright calls him a visionary. It definitely takes some serious idealism or insanity to think that peace with Darkspawn is possible, and even more to actually prove it.
• Was Once a Man: According to David Gaider, the Architect is actually a former Tevinter Magister-turned-Darkspawn similar to Corypheus. His appearance in Awakening has a few elements closely akin to Corypheus: his frilly Shoulders of Doom and his mutilated face with bits of other things fused into it.
• We Could Have Avoided All This: When the Warden calls him out on experimenting on them whilst unconscious, he apologises, pointing out that after the Withered screwed up his orders and attacked Vigil's Keep, he didn't believe that they would be very willing to listen to his proposition.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: His only goal is to find a way to end the conflict between the Darkspawn and the rest of the world in a way that allows both sides to coexist. However, a tenuous grasp on concepts like morality and a lack of understanding of basic human nature lead him to employ rather monstrous methods, less out of ruthlessness and more out of simply not understanding how horrifying they are to others. If the Chantry's story is to be believed, he wasn't really on board with the whole 'turn ourselves into gods' thing and was only persuaded to go along when Urthemiel gave him the go-ahead and told him they could turn Thedas into a paradise.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Like the Disciples, we never hear about him again beyond Nathaniel Howe's mention.
• Wrong Context Magic: Absolutely no one knows why the Architect is what he is and can do what he does, least of all the guy himself. A sentient Darkspawn should be about as impossible as a dwarf mage, but here he is. Later games imply that it's because he's not just any Darkspawn, he was one of the very first. He was born different because he was born human.
• Zombie Advocate: He believes that the Darkspawn could be peaceful if they weren't subject to the Old Gods. He's made some actual headway in proving it, as shown by the Messenger, though he still has a long way to go.

Utha

Utha

Appears in: The Calling | Awakening

A Silent Sister who joined the Grey Wardens. She later joined the Architect in order to end the Blights. She first appeared in The Calling and makes a cameo in Awakening.

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• Anti-Villain: She only follows the Architect because she believes that he will end the Blights.
• Barefisted Monk: In The Calling, although she does use a club occasionally.
• The Dragon: Serves as the Architect's right hand.
• Face–Heel Turn: From the perspective of the Grey Wardens, she does this when she leaves the order to willingly work with a Darkspawn.
• The Quiet One: Subverted. While she is mute, she uses sign language to speak fairly often. In addition, she seems to hold conversations with The Architect mentally.
• Retcon: In The Calling she fights with her fists, and after the Architect accelerates the spread of her taint, she resembles a genlock. In Awakening, she uses a sword and looks like a dwarf with decaying skin.
• Skippable Boss: She only fights the Warden-Commander should they move to kill The Architect.
• Tongue Trauma: Her mutism is justified. Instead a vow of silence, the Silent Sisters cut out their own tongues when joining their order.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: She was already one as a Grey Warden, but she becomes even more extreme by deciding to work with Darkspawn.

The Baroness

The Baroness

Appears in: Awakening

Voiced by: Belinda Cornish

"The spirits will watch in envy as the mortals of this realm bow down before me!"

The Orlesian Baroness placed in charge of the Blackmarsh. Infamous for the cruelty of her reign, even death cannot stop her from wreaking havoc.

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• Back from the Dead: After sundering the Veil she finds out that she's powerful enough to manifest completely in the mortal world without the need to possess another person's body.
• Devour the Dragon: What she does to The First.
• Evil Sounds Deep: In her demon form.
• Face–Heel Turn: A document found by the Warden speaks of how she once slew a dragon that was terrorizing her subjects, earning her people's love in the process. It's ambiguous whether she was genuinely a good person who fell prey to her darker desires, or one who was Evil All Along and only killed the dragon to make her efforts to kidnap her peasants' children easier.
• French Jerk: Or the equivalent of one, being from Orlais.
• It's All About Me: Due to her high station, she views her peasants as her possessions. Thus, in her mind, she can do whatever she wants with them.
• Kill It with Fire: She finally died when her peasants revolted and burned down her mansion with her inside of it. Unfortunately for them, she was able to cast one final spell before dying, which trapped all of them in the Fade with her.
• Lack of Empathy: Does not care about the suffering she causes.
• No Historical Figures Were Harmed: She's pretty clearly an expy of Countess Elizabeth Bathory, a Hungarian aristocrat who gruesomely murdered dozens of young women and was rumoured (though never proven) to have bathed in their blood to remain youthful.
• No Name Given: She's only ever referred to as "the Baroness."
• One-Winged Angel: Since feasting on her peasants' souls, she's become a Dark Pride Demon, one of the most powerful kinds of demon encountered in Thedas.
• Royals Who Actually Do Something: She was initially loved by her subjects for using her magic to defeat a high dragon, the Queen of the Blackmarsh.
• Smug Snake: Her opinion is that, as a Baroness of Orlais, her peasants should just lay down and let her do whatever she wants to them. After coming back to the mortal world, she seems to think she's powerful enough to Take Over the World on her own.
• Taking You with Me: When her peasants burned down her house, her final act was to kill them all and trap their spirits in the Fade.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: The Baroness brought Justice across the Veil by accident. That led him to properly meeting Anders, and the rest is history.
• Vain Sorceress: She preserved her youth via Blood Magic, and her spirit keeps her beautiful form even after becoming a Pride Demon. Her peasants also call her vain a few times.
  • The World of Thedas Volume II lorebook presents a motive for her vanity. There was once a Baron to the Baroness, but he left her when her looks began to fade with age.
• Would Hurt a Child: The rituals that restored her youth? She murdered her peasants' children in order to take the blood to perform them.
• You Have Failed Me: She kills the First when he fails in killing the Warden.
• Your Soul Is Mine!: Not only did she trap her peasants' souls in the Fade, she's been feeding off them. Apparently this caused her transformation from mortal soul to demon.

Ser Rylock

Ser Rylock

Appears in: Awakening

Voiced by: Natasha Little

"You cannot hide within the Grey Wardens' ranks!"

A corrupt Templar with a personal grudge against Anders, who isn't above overstepping her authority to pursue it.

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• Bullying a Dragon: Tries to intimidate the Wardens into turning Anders over to her.
• Corrupt Cop: Seems more interested in pursuing her personal grudge against Anders than her duty as a Templar. The fact she was willing to keep trying to arrest him despite his joining the Wardens putting him outside her jurisdiction proves that.
• Fantastic Racism: In addition to her grudge against Anders, she makes a few bigoted comments if confronted by a Mage Warden.
• It's Personal: She clearly loathes Anders and makes no attempt to hide it.
• Jurisdiction Friction: She keeps trying to intrude on the Wardens' turf, insisting the Wardens are nothing but a haven for blood mages. Given the nature of The Joining is Blood Magic, she's sort of right. However, it's also the only thing that allows the Grey Wardens to kill an Archdemon so her point is absolutely worthless.
• Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: Rylock seems to believe her status as a Templar gives her carte blanche to do what she likes in pursuing Anders, even if he has been put through the Joining and the Right of Conscription (which puts a mage outside Chantry jurisdiction).
• Too Dumb to Live: When confronted, she demands the Warden-Commander hand him over, talking down to a man/woman who has, potentially at this point, slain an Archdemon and untold quantites of darkspawn and other foes to get there. There's also the fact that her entire plan to recapture Anders not only involves attacking a man/woman who is the Arl/Arlessa of Amarathine and a personal friend of the King/Queen of Ferelden (if not the Royal Consort), making Rylock's actions treason, but trying to capture a grey warden, who, by Chantry's own laws, it's completely outside templar jurisdiction.
• Villain Has a Point: Post-Dragon Age II, her rantings about Anders do seem to have a point. Of course, Anders's mental state at that point has largely been caused by Templars like her.

The Disciples

General

The Disciples are Darkspawn, mainly Hurlocks, that have shown a keen cunning and intellect all but unheard of in regards to Darkspawn. They are the only Darkspawn that can speak intelligibly to non-Darkspawn, hold independent identities and free will, and choose their own names. All are voiced by Mark Meer.

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• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Like the Architect himself, the Disciples seem to have a hard time getting the whole morality thing. This is assuming that they're even trying, which the ones who serve the Mother definitely aren't.
• Dark Secret: Apparently, following Awakening the Grey Wardens keep their entire existence a secret.
• Facial Markings: Disciples who follow the Architect have markings over their eyes that resemble his mask. Ones that follow the Mother have red streaks like Tears of Blood, just as she does.
• Good Colours, Evil Colours: In addition to the Facial Markings below, Disciples who follow the Architect (and as such are not exactly "good", but still the least evil of the two sides) wear silver and blue armor, while those following the Mother wear red and black armor.
• It Can Think: Darkspawn cannot hold a coherent thought long enough to create complex plans (like ambushes or tactical manoeuvres) or suppress their innate savagery long enough to cooperate without an Archdemon to direct and control them. That's why Blights are so bad. The Disciples don't need an Archdemon or even a leader to hold on to their sapience, which really frightens the Gray Wardens.
• More Teeth than the Osmond Family: All of them have mouthfuls of needle-sharp teeth. This is probably why their speech is a little odd.
• Spell My Name with a "The": The First, the Seeker, the Withered, the Lost, the Messenger, the Herald...
• Strange-Syntax Speaker: Their phrasing tends to be peculiar. They're understandable, but... strange.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Aside for being mentioned by Nathaniel Howe in the second game, they never showed up again.

The Withered

The Withered

Appears in: Awakening

"You are thinking you know of our kind, human? It is understandable. But that will soon be changed."

The first Disciple encountered in the game. The Warden encounters him leading an assault on Vigil's Keep, intent on capturing them.

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• Dramatically Missing the Point: His interpretation of the Architect's orders was a tad off the mark.
• Noble Demon: He specifically says that he only kills what is necessary, and frowns on unneeded bloodshed. Ironic, considering his original goals.
• Poor Communication Kills: He interpreted "attempt to negotiate with the Warden in Vigil's Keep peacefully" as "kill everyone in the Keep except the Warden-Commander, and then parley with the Warden-Commander alone."
• Warm-Up Boss: Depending on your imported level, anyway. He introduces the player to the new warrior skills in his boss fight.

The Seeker

The Seeker

Appears in: Awakening

An unseen Disciple serving the Architect.

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• The Chessmaster: The point of his deception among the Humans and Dalish was to weaken the Wardens through their supplies and armory.
• He Who Must Not Be Seen: Although odds are he wouldn't look any different from the other Disciples.
• Karma Houdini: By virtue of never making an in-game appearance to answer for his scheme.
• Manipulative Bastard: He played Velanna like a fiddle by kidnapping her sister and steering her rage at Human merchants.
• The Unfought: Only mentioned in letters written by the Architect.

The First

The First

Appears in: Awakening

"I am the First! I am not being 'expendable!' Both the Grey Warden and the Mother shall be learning this!"

One of the original Disciples, as indicated by his name, and general of the Mother's armies.

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• Alas, Poor Villain: It's hard not to pity the guy when he pathetically pleads for his life as the Baroness uses him to fuel her spell.
• The Dragon: To the Mother. Later to the Baroness if the player sides with Justice.
• Flaming Sword: His greatsword is not only on fire, but has a 50% chance to ignite an enemy on fire.
• Number Two for Brains: He gets mocked by the Warden when he gets trapped in the Fade as well.
  Warden: You weren't the "First" in your class, I take it...
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: He's a little shocked to realize that the Mother intended for him to be trapped in the Fade with the Warden-Commander.

The Messenger

The Messenger

Appears in: Awakening

A Disciple that serves the Architect.

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• Creepy Good: He's a Darkspawn, creepy comes with the territory- but, in spite of everything, he is still entirely and unambiguously good.
• Mysterious Protector: Becomes this if the Warden lets him live.
• Noble Demon: While he argues to let Amaranthine burn to save the Vigil, he nonetheless offers to participate in the defense of Amaranthine if the Warden chooses to save the city.
• Reluctant Monster: By all appearances and accounts, an unambiguously nice guy lacking any of the malice or violent streaks inherent to the other Disciples.
• Token Heroic Orc: Played dead straight. Darkspawn in general are Always Chaotic Evil, and the ones awakened by the Architect tend to run the gamut of Blue-and-Orange Morality to Ax-Crazy. The Messenger is genuinely and unambiguously heroic.
• Typhoid Mary: The Messenger is heroic and entirely well-intentioned. If the Warden sets him free he wanders around hooded as a traveler with a slight lisp, helping people - and wherever he goes, isolated cases of the incurable Blight sickness occur.

The Lost

The Lost

Appears in: Awakening

A Disciple loyal to the Mother. He and his forces have taken the ruins of the dwarven city Kal'Hirol, using it as a breeding ground for their Broodmothers. When the Warden confronts him, he is already under siege by darkspawn loyal to the Architect.

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• Association Fallacy: He attacks the Warden believing them to have come into Kal'Hirol as part of the forces allied with the Architect. In reality, the Warden came to investigate the reports of sentient darkspawn and clear out the Broodmothers, as well as aiding Sigrun in avenging the Legion. Depending on the order the quests are done in, this also may be the first time the Warden has even heard the Architect's name.
• Ax-Crazy: A staple of the Mother's Disciples.
• Dual Boss: He's fought at the same time as his Inferno Golem.
• Evil Genius: Of the Mother's Disciples, he's clearly the most intelligent one.
• Mêlée à Trois: His screentime has him fighting both the Warden and the Architect's forces.
• Squishy Wizard: Unfortunately, he's compensated by using an Inferno Golem as his "tank".
• Undying Loyalty: To the Mother.

The Herald

The Herald

Appears in: Awakening

A Disciple loyal to the Mother, he is a general in her darkspawn army. He is the final Disciple encountered, and only appears in one of two quests which happen simultaneously prior to the endgame.

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• The Dragon: Unless you choose to kill the Architect, he is the last boss to fight before confronting the Mother.
• Four-Star Badass: The darkspawn equivalent thereof, anyway, having command of several lesser darkspawn and an armored Ogre.
• Skippable Boss: You will not fight him if you work to save the city of Amaranthine instead of returning to defend Vigil's Keep.
• Undying Loyalty: To the Mother.

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