Dragon Age II / Tropes D to F

D

• Damn You, Muscle Memory!: While most of the controls haven't changed, many of the options on the radial menu have moved from where they were located in Origins, making playing the games back-to-back slightly jarring.
• Dark Messiah:
  • Cassandra implies that among those in the Chantry, Hawke is considered this.
  • Anders definitely serves as one throughout the story.
• Darker and Edgier: Certainly darker than Origins. Much of the grimness comes from how this game plays on a very personal level, rather than an epic one like its predecessor.
  • It's also Darker and Edgier in volume of gore, sexual situations, and dramatic tragedy. Also reconstructed with Sebastian, the rogue marksman who is also a paladin, and Merrill, a sweet, naive Moe who dabbles in every forbidden magic.
  • Visually edgier, as the color palette is less realistically brown, but virtually reduced to shades of gray, brown and intense red, with sharp contrasts.
  • This is by far BioWare's darkest game. While other BioWare games have their elements of darkness, they usually end in the triumph of the hero and, in "good" endings, everything restored. This game, however, is about a descent into madness with the hero caught in the middle. There is no triumph here.
  • There's also a lot of swearing. Real swearing, not the Pardon My Klingon that Origins featured.
• Dashed Plot Line: A prologue, three acts, and an epilogue, with 1/3/3/2 year skips between them.
• Day-Old Legend: Killing a nameless high dragon will let you loot her Fire Gland, which, in turn, can be crafted by a local enchanter into an amulet named Urzara's Tooth. This used to unlock a codex entry, which claimed that Urzara's Tooth is a 200-year-old relic of a dragon-worshiping cult, but the codex entry has since been patched out.
• Dead Person Conversation: If Legacy is completed in Act 3, at the end Hawke will have a conversation with a specter of their dead mother. Varric admits to Cassandra that the whole thing is artistic license, but asks that she humor him.
• Deadly Hug:
  • Huon kills his wife Nyssa this way in the "On the Loose" quest.
  • Marethari will give one to Merrill if you take the optimistic approach to the way the battle ends.
  • Anders to Karl at the end of his recruitment quest.
• Deadpan Snarker: Hawke by the boatload if you play them that way. The rest of the party will often get in on it. Flemeth will react approvingly to smartass remarks from Hawke.
  • Special mention goes to the comments Javaris makes outside of Smuggler's Cut. Snarking gold, right there, with a healthy dose of Lampshade Hanging.
• Deal with the Devil: In Origins, it was possible to make deals with demons that didn't carry any repercussions for the Player Character (though other people weren't so lucky). In Dragon Age II, demons always betray those who bargain with them. As Anders puts it, "demons will trip you up every time."
  • However, at one point it's possible for Hawke to make a deal with a demon and betray them almost immediately afterwards, killing them without any repercussions for Hawke or anyone else.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: The "Mythal's Favor" grenade allows the active character to revive companions who have fallen in battle.
• Debate and Switch: Notably averted. The game's conflicts don't have easy outs. Anders makes sure of that by removing the player's ability to Take a Third Option or compromise.
  • Played straight with Leandra and Gamlen. When the Hawkes first arrive in Kirkwall, Leandra is rightfully shocked to learn her brother Gamlen gambled the family fortune away without telling her, and then used her new family's distress to indenture her children into paying off his debts. Gamlen retorts that Leandra chose to leave the family fortune behind decades ago, didn't return until she needed something, and then complained when the help he could offer wasn't up to her standards — even after living in his home rent-free for over a year. An interesting conflict where Both Sides Have a Point... until it's revealed their parents left Leandra everything and Gamlen stole her inheritance, rendering his side of the argument completely moot.
    • But it’s also pointed out by Gamlen, that Leandra left, and *never* returned to Kirkwall, until after her husband, and one of her children was dead, and had the Blight at her heels, and she needed someplace safe to go, even after her parents died. She claims she couldn’t return for their funeral, due to having given birth a week before to twins, but by the time of the Blight, Carver is old enough to be in the Fereldan army, and it’s never noted that he’s remarkably young for the army, so she’s had 15-20 years to visit Gamlen after their parents death. Even after their death, even with the will, Leandra never shows any inclination to return. Gamlen nursed them two bouts of cholera, and old age, only for their fathers last word be “Leandra”. Who, again, left with her apostate husband, and fled to a different country, and never looked back (because she was disowned, sure, but it’s also noted that magic runs in her mothers family, see the Human Mage origin in Origins, being cousins of Leandra, and having magic results in one losing any title, position, or inheritance, and usually results in the mage being taken off to the Circle, or illegally living outside the inclement system, and being an apostate. So, understandably, her parents were furious when she ran off with an apostate, increasing the chances of producing children with magical talent, and indeed, one or two of her children can inherit magical abilities, and it can be just as much due to her family’s propensity for magic as Malcolm Hawke’s.)
• Deconstructor Fleet: Of the Adventure RPG genre. There's no Big Bad (despite the insistence of some characters that there must be), the central plot doesn't involve Saving the World, and as opposed to being The Chosen One destined to change and influence the world, Hawke is an ordinary (if badass) person simply trying to survive with their family. Hawke is ultimately a Failure Hero by the end of the game.
  • Many characters and party members are subversions to stock fantasy archetypes. The Tank of the group is a normal woman of average build; the BFG-wielding DPS warrior is a waifish elf; and the dwarf is not a surly, ax-wielding, beer-quaffing, bearded buffoon, but a bare-faced, cultured, smooth-talking crossbowman (without even Gadgeteer Genius cred to go toward the stereotype).
  • This will factor heavily into how much a given player enjoys the game. Hawke is not the protagonist moving the plot forward, the plot happens around Hawke and all they can do is react to it. SF Debris' review (Part 4) highlights this, that Hawke's motivations simply aren't important to the story unfolding. This may irk players who, having reached a certain level of annoyance with the goings-on in Kirkwall, want their Hawke to decide Screw This, I'm Outta Here; while another set might appreciate just being a person around whom great events are happening, and simply trying to pull through without getting bruised too badly.
• Defeating the Cheating Opponent: Hawke can overhear a conversation between Isabela (who has been promoted to party member) and Merrill; when Merrill asks why Isabela wins at Wicked Grace all the time, Isabela replies, "Because I cheat, Kitten."
• Defector from Decadence: The Mabari, according to Fenris. He tells Hawke that when the ancient Tevinters took Mabari warhounds along with them during an invasion of Ferelden, the Mabari took one look at the Alamarri tribesmen and immediately decided to switch sides, joining forces to drive out the Tevinters. This is given as the reason why the Mabari are so beloved by the Fereldan people and have been a staple of their military stratagem ever since.
• Defiant to the End: Duke Prosper. He will still try to kill a paragon Hawke even while hanging off a cliff. Good job, dude.
• Degraded Boss: It's hard to decide what's a boss battle in this game, but before the final battle you will fight Demons of Pride as normal encounters. Revenants too, although they were already somewhat degraded by Awakening.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: In a world full of demonic possessions, it's not surprising that your party has little to no understanding or empathy for a man in a quest who appears mentally ill. Because he's not possessed, they assume he's lying when he says he hears voices and just not accepting responsibility for his actions. Killing him is the only action in the game which garners a positive response from everyone in your party. The dissonance is softened slightly by his knowing that he's committed terrible crimes (definitely child murder, possibly pedophilia) but has been protected from any punishment by his magistrate father.
• Demo Bonus: Completing the demo on the same online account as the main game would unlock a unique greatsword called Hayder's Razor. The sword is named after the end boss of the demo, whom you also fight in the game proper during Isabela's recruitment quest (though this version of him doesn't drop any named gear), allowing you to kick his ass with his own weapon. The demo is no longer available for download, but the sword can still be obtained as part of a free DLC bundle.
• Demonic Possession:
  • A standard threat to mages in Thedas. Anders is also willingly possessed by Justice.
  • Also Powers via Possession; it seems like everyone has Cthulhu on call, and will accept a takeover at the slightest distress. Demonic Possession is the new Turns Red.
    • An in-game codex entry found in Legacy speculates that Corypheus is at least partially responsible for this, along with all the other things that make Kirkwall such a crapsack place to live.
• Depending on the Writer: Anders in Awakening (written by David Gaider) was womanizing, flirty, shallow, snarky, and laid back. Anders in this game (written by Jennifer Hepler) is a moody, obsessive, serious person, although he still snarks when he's in a good mood. This is explained as being due to the fact that Anders is possessed by a spirit, and thus not the same person that he once was.
• Dialogue Tree: Unlike the more traditional dialogue selection of Origins, a new icon wheel has been added to streamline the experience, similar to Mass Effect. The game adds the use of an icon in the center of the wheel to help deduce intent, along with the paraphrased line. These icons make it possible for the game to track personality, based upon which attitude the player most often takes, and will sometimes alter lines to reflect the dominant personality.
• Diegetic Character Creation: The character creation scene comes after Varric has told an exaggerated tale about his former companion Hawke, and his annoyed interrogator Cassandra demands that he start over from the beginning and give an exact description of what Hawke looked like.
• Dirty Cop: Captain Jeven, until he gets jailed for corruption.
• Disinherited Child: Subversion: Hawke's mother Leandra thinks she is this because her parents disowned her when she eloped with Malcolm Hawke. Her brother Gamlen lets her go on believing it. However, Hawke recovers Grandfather Amell's will from the old family vault, and it's revealed that he actually left his daughter everything.
• Disposable Decoy Doppelgänger: A rogue of the Shadow specialization can learn "Decoy", which distracts attention while the rogue escapes into stealth. It can be upgraded both to last longer and to explode when destroyed.
• Disproportionate Retribution:
  • If you supported Bhelen for the throne of Orzammar in Origins, the sequel reveals that he apparently had all of House Harrowmont murdered for opposing him, save for one nephew who is now on the run. If Hawke helps Renvil Harrowmont escape Kirkwall, it's revealed that Bhelen's assassins continue to hound him as far as Rivain.
    Lord Renvil Harrowmont: Bhelen's reach is long... and his vengeance a terrible thing to behold.
  • If you have the Exiled Prince DLC and you choose to spare Anders, Sebastian will inform you that he intends to raise an army and burn the entire city of Kirkwall to the ground. The third game shows him attempting exactly this.
• Distracted by the Sexy: Bethany, if you bring her and Sebastian with you for Mark of the Assassin, will get distracted by his smiling.
• The Ditz: Emile de Launcet. He squanders the money his mother gives him to escape Kirkwall on drinks at the Hanged Man. He also falsely and publicly claims to be a Blood Mage because he thinks it'll help him get laid. Even Meredith dismisses him as a threat when she hears this.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Several, of course, but most obvious would be Ser Alrik's "Tranquil Solution" to "the mage issue."
  • Also the Qunari recruit the lowest members of society and eventually try to take control of the city.
• Doom Magnet: Hawke. It's even worse because the vast majority of what happens is indirectly their fault - but unintentionally.
  Hawke: Just once, I'd like to go one week without an insane mage. Just one week.
  • In Legacy, Hawke will remark that they want to go someplace peaceful for once, like a beach. If Varric is in the party, he'll respond that the day Hawke goes to the beach is the day that an angry armada of demon pirates shows up.
• Doomed Hometown: Lothering.
  • Kirkwall, by the end of the game.
• Double-Meaning Title: The quest named "Gamlen's Greatest Treasure" is this. On the one hand, the name of the quest is referring to a legendary artifact Gamlen ruined himself trying to find, but it's also referring to his estranged daughter Charade.
• Downer Beginning: Hawke loses their home and one of their siblings, while Aveline has to either Mercy Kill her husband or watch Hawke do it. Just to drive the point home, Flemeth reminds everyone that their struggles have only begun.
• Downer Ending: The story does not end well, though you can probably figure that out due to the framing device. The mages and Templars are now a hair's breadth from all-out war; several innocent lives are lost in the crossfire (some of which are caused by Hawke, depending on player choices); all of Hawke's companions save their love interest are forced to abandon them; and Hawke, the one person who could conceivably put the whole thing right again, has gone missing.
  Varric: Nobody said this was going to be a happy story.
• Dowry Dilemma: Parodied. During one of the companion quests, after many unsuccessful yet hilarious methods of courting one of her guardsmen, Guard-Captain Aveline resorts to presenting herself with a dowry to the guard's mother and Hawke being the one presenting her.
  • Lampshaded by Merrill if she is in your party.
    Merrill: Don't be silly! A dowry would only matter if you were courting him!
    Aveline: Merrill...
    Merrill: [gasps] You're courting him!
• Dual Wielding: Rogues retain this ability from Origins, warriors lose it.
• invokedDude, Not Funny!:
  • In-Universe, at the end of the sidequest "Malcolm's Will" in the DLC Legacy, a mage Hawke is not amused by Carver's joking reaction to the revelation that Malcolm didn't want his children to be mages. Even a Deadpan Snarker Hawke doesn't find it funny.
  • A Deadpan Snarker Hawke gets this treatment all the time as they make jokes in the middle of all sorts of serious quests. From helping the guards put down a dangerous raider band, to helping Feynriel not turn into an abomination, to joking while Viscount Dumar is holding his son's corpse. Aveline will call Hawke on this.
• Due to the Dead:
  • Wesley will commend the soul of either Bethany or Carver, depending on who is killed by the ogre in the prologue. It's especially poignant if it's Bethany, since she's an apostate and he's a Templar.
  • Sebastian puts Wesley's name on the Kirkwall Chantry's memorial wall for Aveline. He later does this for Leandra after "All That Remains."
  • A side quest in Legacy, if completed, has Hawke performing dwarven burial rites for a distant relative of Varric's who was lost in the Deep Roads a few centuries earlier.
  • Varric makes a small gesture during Legacy if you complete it after you complete "All That Remains". He tells of how Hawke speaks with Leandra's ghost after returning to Kirkwall. Varric outright tells Cassandra that he's taking liberties for the sake of his best friend. Given his affable demeanor and Leandra's kindly nature, it's easy to see them being on friendly terms, so he may have wanted to honor her memory as well.
• Duel to the Death: Hawke can face the Arishok in single combat to determine the fate of Kirkwall.
• Dwindling Party: It's impossible to hold on onto everyone by the end game, since one of your siblings dies in the prologue, and the other will always leave you after the Deep Roads in one way or another. Also, some party members' choices are exclusive of each other's by that point, such as Sebastian and Anders over whether or not you kill Anders for his actions. Depending on which side you choose, you may lose the ability to get Bethany or Carver back (although you'll never fight them), you may have to fight Merrill and Anders to the death if you side with the Templars, or you may lose Fenris and Aveline if you side with the mages unless you manage to max out either their friendship or rivalry bar. Even before the endgame, it's possible to lose Fenris, Anders, Merrill, and Isabela during their personal quests; it's also possible to never recruit Sebastian, Fenris, or Isabela in the first place. By the end of the game, you can theoretically lose all of your companions except Varric (and Dog, if you have his DLC).
• Dynamic Entry: The Vendetta skill from the Duelist specialization fulfills all three criteria for this trope. It's a Flash Step behind the opponent with a rather large range, and can hit hard even without upgrades.
• Dysfunction Junction: As is traditional, the party is almost completely comprised of people just filled with psychological issues. Quite possibly the worst case in any BioWare game to date.

E

• Early-Bird Cameo: Scattered throughout the game are portraits of characters who would later appear in The Last Court on the Dragon Age Keep. For example, in the guard-captain's office hangs the portrait of the Acerbic Dowager.
• Easy Evangelism: The Qunari are shockingly successful at acquiring converts. Even the Qunari themselves are surprised. The group in Kirkwall is composed entirely of soldiers, and they aren't actively evangelizing at all since there is an entire separate caste dedicated to that. This makes the more fanatical members of the Chantry attempt to start a war with the Qunari.
• Eldritch Location: Kirkwall is famous for having the Veil be notoriously thin thanks to the horrors of the Tevinter Magisters. This explains why so many mages get possessed there in particular.
  • With the addition of the Legacy DLC, it's also implied that Corypheus, an ancient Tevinter Magister turned darkspawn, likewise might be responsible, even though he's been asleep in his Grey Warden prison in the Vimmark Mountains for the past thousand years.
  • The Enigma of Kirkwall codex entries reveal that it was almost certainly built from the ground up to be one. The streets and tunnels are nonsensical on the ground, but laid out on a map represent the glyphs of a summoning circle on a massive scale. It was also the site of human sacrifice on an industrial scale at its height, apparently as part of summoning very powerful demons. It also may or may not be where Corypheus and his compatriots launched their expedition to the Golden City in the Fade; if it was, they were making use of groundwork laid centuries before.
  • The Primeval Thaig may well count as well; it was built by prehistoric dwarves, and is full of red lyrium and ancient creatures Varric assumed were myth. Also see Alien Geometries above.
• Elite Tweak:
  • Ignore Willpower for Merrill, and give her only Magic and Constitution, plus a bunch of defensive sustainables, and you have this game's Arcane Warrior.
  • Two-handed swordsmen are murder masters: in a game where enemies tend to cluster, a weapon with a nice wide swing is devastating, and the majority of the moves for a two handed sword user can be upgraded to do critical hits every time they connect, and strike a wide area. And with the skill Second Wind, you can speed up the cool down of your skills, and completely restore your stamina. And you can use it once a minute, or every 45 seconds once it's upgraded. With the proper build, the only reason you need a party with you is to heal you while you reduce every enemy in sight to red ruin. This is especially true once you go into the path of The Berserker or the Reaver.
  • Two words: Spirit Healer. Max out the tree, and your character will have a one-hundred percent healing rate, which basically means you regenerate health every second. Throw on a bunch of buffs like Rock Armor, Arcane Shield, and Heroic Aura, and your mage will be taking pitiful amounts of damage at best, damage which will be healed completely moments later. Not only are you the best tank in the game, you can pretty much just turn on auto-attack and cherry-tap everything in the game to death. The clincher? This ability can be gained before Act 1 is done.
  • Blood Magic is pretty versatile as well if you invest some points into Constitution. After activating it, you can get a Heroic Aura and an Elemental Weapon buff for free. With Aveline, Fenris, and/or Carver hanging about, Improved Sacrifice recovers plenty of HP; and if you've got Anders in the fourth slot focusing on healing, he's going to be keeping the tanks in good health as it stands. Grave Robber is a nice supplement for anyone who gets near. Built right, you may now endlessly spam a cycling of Cone of Cold, Firestorm, Tempest, and Fist of the Maker infinitely, taking advantage of the hitstun from Firestorm to Improved Sacrifice Aveline until you run out of enemies.
• Elopement: Hawke's parents. He was a runaway apostate mage, she was a noble with an Arranged Marriage looming.
• Embarrassing Statue: After the events of Act 2, the citizens of Kirkwall erect a statue of Hawke on the docks. Various bits of party banter indicate that Hawke is severely embarrassed by the statue and didn't really want it to be made.
• Empathic Environment: As well as being an Eldritch Location Legacy offers the theory that the presence of Corypheus may be what causes most of the mayhem in Kirkwall.
• End of an Age: By the game's ending, the Mage-Templar War has officially ended the current status quo in Thedas.
• Ending Theme: Appropriately enough, "I'm Not Calling You a Liar," by Florence and the Machine.
• Enemy Mine:
  • The Raiders of the Waking Sea are an armada of pirates who fought to protect Kirkwall during the Qunari invasion. After the Qunari were stopped, they went back to piracy.
  • Also, during the Qunari uprising, Meredith and Orsino are forced to cooperate to save Kirkwall. She will also overlook mage Hawke's abilities for the time being.
  • Orsino says that he views his coverup of Quentin as this. He is fully aware that Quentin and his experiments were pure evil; but he also fears that, if Quentin's crimes were ever made public knowledge, Meredith would use him as justification for furthering her mage oppression agenda. Of course, this doesn't explain why Orsino didn't simply leave Quentin face-down in a sewer...
  • In the Mage ending, Cullen and Templar Carver will assist you in the final battle. Conversely, Warden Bethany will help a Hawke who sided with the Templars, although she's understandably reluctant.
  • If Gascard is still alive during Hawke's attempts at finding their mother, he will use blood magic to find the location of Leandra. Normally both against blood magic, both Fenris and Anders will allow him to use it once without gaining rivalry since the situation is very dire for Hawke.
• Entropy and Chaos Magic: Mostly consisting of curses and other sinister powers, and closely connected to the Fade.
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: The Qunari's Viddethari forces take anyone from Kirkwall who's willing to follow the Qun and help them impose it on the city. That includes mages, who are not allowed to be Qunari - only saarebas, literally "dangerous things." This is reinforced by the fact that a Mage Hawke can, depending on quest and dialogue choices, be accepted as basalit-an - "an outsider worthy of respect."
• Equipment Upgrade: Rather than changing armour, your party members merely improve on the stat bonuses provided by their outfits by picking up upgrade components.
• Establishing Character Moment: Each of the party members' first appearances show off their characters.
  • Carver swings a massive sword and takes down several darkspawn, while Bethany uses fire magic to block off their pursuers' path.
  • Varric shoots with ridiculous marksmanship, snarks, and tells outrageous lies. (Not to Hawke. To Cassandra.)
  • Aveline tackles and decapitates a creature threatening a loved one and prepares to die by his side.
  • Merrill plays with forbidden magic, acts secretive, awkward, and friendly, and kills things with extreme prejudice. While being adorable.
  • Anders helps people at his own expense, and Vengeance reacts extremely and violently to what it perceives as a potential threat.
  • Fenris gets angry about slavery and crushes someone's heart with his hand, before pursuing his vendetta against his master.
  • Isabela gets in trouble, kicks ass in a totally unsportsmanlike way, and flirts outrageously. And lies her ass off.
  • Sebastian shoots with ridiculous marksmanship, gets angry, and acts conflicted.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Like you wouldn't believe, making this something of a Crapsack Game. In one Act 2 quest, Merrill, Isabela, Varric, Aveline, and Fenris will all betray you to one of the Fade demons if the right factors align, even if you're best friends and/or lovers, though they will apologize later when free of the demon's influence. Isabela will betray you at the end of Act 2 (after revealing she's been lying to you all along), but if you have exceptionally high friendship with her she will come back later... after her actions result in a massacre and a small war. Fenris and Aveline may leave if you side with the mages in the final chapter, and Merrill and Anders may leave if you side with the Templars.
  • Not to mention Sebastian, who, if you do not execute Anders after the Chantrysplosion, not only leaves you, but swears to raise an army and burn Kirkwall to the ground until he finds and kills the mage.
• Ethereal Choir: Used as part of the score during the "Destiny" trailer.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Lampshaded during Alistair's cameo. Bann Teagan says that they should be getting back to Denerim to see the Warden, and as they are leaving, Alistair responds, "You're always so formal. She/He has a name, you know."
• Everyone Is Bi: The only party member that can only be romanced by one gender - female - is Sebastian, who's only accessible via DLC. The only ones that can't be romanced at all are Varric (who likes to say his heart belongs to Bianca), Aveline (who can be flirted with at one point by either gender but ultimately falls for someone else), and your sibling (who is your sibling).
• Evil Laugh: Conversed by a snarky Hawke in the DLC Legacy:
  Hawke: Corypheus? With a name like that he's bound to start going 'mwa-ha-ha-ha' at some point.
• Evil Versus Evil: While the conflict starts off grey, the mage/templar conflict becomes this in the end, with Orsino becoming a blood mage that aids and abets serial killers, and Meredith a Knight Templar driven mad by the lyrium idol.
• Evolutionary Retcon: The Qunari now sport horns in order to differentiate them from the other races. The official explanation as to why the Qunari seen in Origins don't have horns is that the Qunari who are naturally born hornless, such as Sten and the members of his squad, are considered special and are given special tasks, such as scouting foreign lands, while the other Qunari seen in Origins are Tal-Vashoth mercenaries who typically remove their horns when they leave the Qunari.
  • The hurlocks have also changed, appearing a few shades lighter, smoother-skinned, and with blunter teeth in the sequel.
  • Other types of darkspawn have changed in more drastic ways: from looking like normal hurlocks with staffs, the emissaries have changed into clearly exalted beings reminiscent of the Architect, whereas the previously goblin-like genlocks have become bestial, gorilla like creatures.
• Evolving Weapon: One of the DLC weapons, Fadeshear, levels up as you do.
  • As does Bianca, and any runes enchanted increase in power with it.
  • The class item packs include weapons and accessories that increase in effectiveness when you gain levels.
• Exact Words: The oft-quoted phrase "Magic exists to serve man and never to rule over him."
  • Part of the ambiguousness of this sentence is that the Chantry focuses on the "rule" line, believing that that mages should be locked away to prevent them abusing their natural gifts, while the Tevinter Magisters focus on the "serve" line, believing that magic can be best used to govern the populace, forgetting they use this to rule over others.
  • On the other hand, particularly honourable mage apostates such as Malcolm Hawke (and Bethany, and possibly Hawke) seem to Take a Third Option, instead believing this simply means that magic is merely a tool to be used to serve others, but should never be abused for one's own personal benefit.
• Eye Scream: Oh man, yeah. Arrows, knives... not for the squeamish.
  • If you look closely at Ketojan, you might notice blood spatter on his mask directly underneath his eyes, which has some disturbing implications.

F

• Face–Heel Turn: Any of the non-rogues can turn against you in the finale - Merrill and Anders if you side with the Templars, Fenris and Aveline if you side with the mages. But if you've reached full friend or rival status with someone, they will stay at your side regardless; the only exception is Anders, whose support for the mages is so fanatical, he will never side with the Templars.
  • A crisis point was found for Anders which suggests that at full rivalry, with certain dialogue options selected, he could have been convinced that blowing up the Chantry and being possessed by Justice were both wrong, and he would side with the Templars if Hawke asked. His writer stated on the official forums that this is supposed to be in the final game. It is only through a recent patch that this has been made achievable.
• Faceless Goons: Lampshaded by a dwarf whose mercenary bodyguards you slaughter while he's picking over their remains for stuff to loot. "What, are these guys brothers or something?"
• Faceless Masses: Many citizens of Kirkwall have an unfinished look to them, as they're just there to make the city feel less empty.
• Facepalm:
  • When trying to get the miners to return to the Bone Pit:
    Drunk Miner 1: What? My farm supplied eggplant to half the bastards in South Reach!
    Drunk Miner 2: Well, my eggplant supplied half the bastards in South Reach!
    Hawke: [facepalms]
  • A staple of Hawke's Deadpan Snarker responses.
    Lia: He didn't mean to hurt me, he told me. There are demons that make him do these horrible things.
    Hawke: [facepalms] I'll have to remember that next time. "A demon made me do it."
• Faction-Specific Endings: The game has the Templar ending and the Mage ending. The absence of a neutral path is very much a plot point.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Basically the whole main plot. No matter how much Hawke tries to prevent the catastrophe, every main story quest ends with the worst possible outcome and the world spiraling deeper down into madness.
  • Varric himself heavily implies that the Civil War was inevitable, no matter what happened or what anyone did to prevent it. The game's events merely added the final fuels to the fire that accelerated Thedas into the war.
• Fake Action Prologue: The game starts off with a playable action sequence of Hawke and one of their siblings (a warrior or a rogue will have Bethany, and a mage will have Carver) fighting off two groups of darkspawn plus an ogre, but this particular scene reveals itself to be made up by Varric, who narrates the story of Hawke for Cassandra. During this playable sequence, the player character's health meter constantly regenerates, they're wearing the Armor of the Champion (which you don't get until the final act), and their abilities' cooldown times are very short. Also, Bethany's breasts are considerably larger, should you choose a warrior or a rogue Hawke, though this isn't apparent until Varric starts telling the real story and she reverts to the normal female model.
• Family Extermination: Exactly one of Harrowmont's nephews has managed to escape being exterminated, although he needs help to get far enough away to where King Bhelen can't get to him.
• Fanservice Pack: Isabela, who had a much plainer appearance in Origins, gains several cup sizes, a very revealing outfit, and a more sensual face. Meanwhile, Flemeth turns from raggedy old crazy woman with plain grey hairdo in Origins to warrior goddess, complete with tight-fitting armor, 'horned' (and bleached) hairdo, and spiked diadem, with her face remodeled to be more beautiful while still looking "old." Not officially explained, but possibly due to the fact that she was previously hiding by masquerading as a raggedy, crazy old woman in Origins - and she has no reason to do that anymore.
• Fantastic Drug:
  • Lyrium, the drug that Templars take to gain magic resistance (and which player characters use to restore mana) — and this game introduces its nastier cousin, red lyrium.
  • Aquae lucidius, made from wyvern poison. Empress Celene, one of the best Chessmasters in a nation full of them, is known to enjoy it. Even your party members may be fond of it: Carver can explain in great detail its effects, and Varric knows the black market price of it offhand (40 sovereigns).
• Fantastic Racism/Fantastic Slurs: Many of the native Free Marchers resent the influx of Fereldan refugees into their city. Just walking around Kirkwall will net Hawke a fair number of nasty comments and there are several quests where Hawke is targeted by thugs because of their nationality. The favoured slur against the Fereldan refugees is "Dog-Lord", due to the country's infamous affiliation with Mabari hounds.
  • Otherwise, all other prejudices established in the first game carry over:
    • Elves are stereotyped as sneaky and poor, forced to live in the alienage or wander the wilderness as homeless nomads, and often called "Knife Ears" by humans. Like the first game, they're also easy targets of rape and murder by guards and nobles who know their demands for justice will be dismissed and ignored. This is why so many Kirkwall elves convert to the Qunari in Act 2, since elves are treated much more fairly under the Qun than in Andrastian human society.
    • The elves aren't terribly fond of humans either. "Shem" (short for shemlen, the derogatory slang term for humans, which originally meant "quick children" in the elven language but now simply means "human") is often uttered in an insulting way by both Dalish and City Elves against their aggressors.
    • Everyone sees the Qunari as brutish monsters while the Qunari themselves subvert this trope, hating those who don't follow the Qun rather than for a racial issue. Those who convert to the Qun are welcomed with open arms, regardless of race.
    • However, some Qunari - such as the Avaraad - get instantly hostile when they realise they are dealing with bas-saarebas (human and elven mages), accusing them of being demons trying to poison their minds before attacking.
    • From the loading screen, no less. "Never play cards with Qunari, you can never tell when they're bluffing. And never play with Elves, they never pay their debts. And never play with Dwarves, they kill you when they lose."
    • A few times the Qunari are called "Ox-men", due to their horns. Their stubborn disposition might also be a reason.
    • There is Fantastic Prejudice against mages, especially since magical ability is inherited through blood.
• The Farmer and the Viper: In Act 1 you run into an escaped mage named Grace. During the game you have a chance to save her life at least twice. But by Act 3, she's infiltrated a team of mages and Templars who both want to rebel against Meredith. She finally shows her true colors when she kidnaps your sibling or love interest and tries to kill them. And when you fight her, she reveals that she's been possessed by a pride demon.
  • It's a little less sudden if, after you take the choice to let her escape, you notice while going to the herbalist in the Gallows or near the area that Grace and Alain are standing around by a wall (despite the fact that Grace should be far away by now). When you talk to them, Grace seems to adamantly believe you must have ratted her out regardless, as otherwise there'd be no way the Templars would have caught them. She also has some unpleasant comments to make if you didn't free her but turned her over to Thrask, and either way reacts very bitterly at your presence.
• Fashion-Based Relationship Cue: Three of the potential love interests will change their outfits if they enter a committed relationship (e.g. spend the night) with Hawke. While Fenris and Isabela's wardrobe changes are pretty minor, Merrill goes from the black-green rags of a Dalish outcast to a gorgeous white-and-silver piece appropriate for the significant other of the Champion of Kirkwall.
• Fast-Forward Mechanic: A variant. The map allows the player to toggle between day and night at will. Some quests are only available during one or the other, and crafting materials and loot are exclusive to each; at the Docks, the Disused Passage is only accessible at night, while the Qunari compound is only accessible by day. All four main areas of Kirkwall (Hightown, Lowtown, Darktown, and the Docks) need to be searched thoroughly by both night and day during all three acts.
• Fate Worse than Death: Oh so many - becoming tranquil, becoming possessed by demons, becoming a prisoner of one's own insanity, the eventual effect of taint exposure (either becoming a mindless ghoul or simply dying a slow, painful death). Many a Mercy Kill is performed to spare people from this, the first one seen being Aveline's husband Wesley.
  • The fate of those who are captured by the Qunari but refuse to convert to the Qun may also qualify. Y'see, the Qunari don't kill their captives. Those who refuse to submit to the Qun are put through something called "qamek" which turns them into mindless laborers. The Qunari waste nothing. Fenris flat-out says he would never have turned Isabela over to the Qunari because he knows exactly what they do to their prisoners.
• Felony Misdemeanor: When Gamlen tries to raise the issue of rent, Leandra (fairly) points out that her children had to work in unsavoury jobs to pay off his debts (and get them into the city); however, she is also outraged by the fact that she might have to pay rent at all. While Gamlen is at fault for losing the estate and money, Leandra and her children are living in his hovel, and wouldn't have even set foot in Kirkwall had it not been for the Blight. He also remains there even after they move into the Hightown mansion.
• Fetch Quest: Inversion; unique valuables can be discovered in the course of adventuring, and the quest rewards are for locating the individuals who want them.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: Two such trios for each of Hawke's classes.
  • If Hawke is played as a rogue, the three Hawke siblings are this until Carver dies. Aveline then takes the fighter role for the remainder of the prologue.
  • If Hawke is a warrior, they are the fighter to Bethany's mage and Varric's thief, as they are the entire initial party when Act 1 begins. Later, they are the fighter to Anders's mage and Isabela's thief, as the three members of the party who have the most impact on the plot.
  • If played as a mage, Hawke is the mage to Carver's fighter and Varric's thief, as they are the entire initial party when Act 1 begins. Later, Hawke plays the mage to Varric's thief and Aveline's fighter, as materials released after Dragon Age II regularly treat them as a Power Trio.
• First Girl Wins: Averted. During Act 1, mage Hawke will receive a letter (although it's addressed to Carver) from a young girl back in Lothering named Peaches. If Hawke is male, the letter makes it very clear that she had a massive crush on him, but her feelings remain unrequited, as Hawke never returns to Ferelden after the Blight (and ultimately ends up with someone else if the player chooses to pursue a love interest). If Hawke is female, the letter implies that Peaches was Carver's girlfriend, but he slept with her and then never talked or wrote to her after the Blight. And he never ends up returning to Ferelden, either.
  • Also averted with Aveline, who is the first female party member apart from Bethany and cannot ever be romanced. Hawke can flirt with her at a certain point, if desired, but nothing comes of it.
• Flash Step: Several Rogue talents behave like this, such as Backstab and Back-To-Back. It is also said that Mages who teleport are using this.
• Flavor Text: Possibly due to rushed release, item lore, abundant in Dragon Age: Origins, is completely and frustratingly absent, except for some special items which get codex entries. Expect to find items like the "Sword of Pandemonic Knickers" or "The Archon's Sneeze" without any explanation why they're named so. Some items with special properties merely have generic names like "Amulet", "Ring" or "Sword".
• Fluffy the Terrible: The Black Emporium DLC gives you access to a Mabari warhound summon. He's not a full party member, but he is nameable. Beware of Cupcake, the hundred-pound warhound!
• Flunky Boss: Basically every major boss in the game, except for the Varterral and the Arishok.
• Foregone Conclusion: Hawke will become known as the Champion and will be involved in events that cause the Chantry to fall to pieces.
• Foregone Victory:
  • It is impossible to die during the introduction fight.
  • Also, when Varric first talks about confronting Bartrand in his Hightown mansion, it's impossible for him to fail in any way.
• Foreshadowing: Quite a bit, although many of them aren't noticeable until repeat playthroughs. There are so many examples, they have been given their own page.
• Fourth-Wall Observer: A talkative patron in the Hanged Man notes that "Everything like eating and fighting has become simpler" and that he "feels like he's in a story written by someone".
• Framing Device: Cassandra, a Chantry Seeker with an "interest" in Hawke, is holding the dwarf Varric, a merchant prince and acquaintance of Hawke's, in custody. He is telling her the story of Hawke's rise to power, as the current state of the world and the Chantry have been affected by them. Throughout the story, they give commentary on Hawke's past actions, thereby alerting the player to any changes their decisions may have made before the end of the game.
  • One has to wonder if the story has parts where Varric tells how Hawke spends several minutes examining and comparing several pieces of equipment in minute detail.
  • The DLC later expands on this concept, with Legacy and Mark of the Assassin acting as parts of the story that Varric apparently left out until Cassandra coaxed him into revealing the details.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: In the ending, one of the book's pages has a drawing of a woman who strongly resembles Morrigan as well as an image for Flemeth. There is also a gag of Shale chasing birds in the same sequence.
• Friendly Fire Proof: All your companions on most difficulty settings and every non-enemy NPC.
• Friendly Target: Being part of a family is dangerous business in Kirkwall.
• From Bad to Worse:
  • Dear Maker, does it get worse. First, you're forced to flee from the Blight to a city that's not enthusiastic about the influx of refugees, then Kirkwall is invaded by angry Qunari, and finally, you find yourself caught in the middle of a Civil War between mages and Templars that threatens to engulf not just Kirkwall, but the entire continent of Thedas.
  • This occurs in droves with the Hawke family: at the start of the game, the player character can opt to say, "Whatever happens, we must stick together." But by game's end, you've lost at least one sibling and your mother, with the other sibling either lost to the Grey Wardens, lost to their class-relevant faction, or dead. Either way, Hawke is more or less alone within their own family.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: Hawke, in a non-villainous example, goes from a poor refugee to a rich adventurer, and finally Champion of Kirkwall.
• Full-Contact Magic: How the mages attack.

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