Warning: Spoilers Off applies to these pages. Proceed at your own risk.
- In Awakening, the Warden Keenan explaining that it's too late and his legs are crushed, and all he wants is for his wedding ring to be returned to his wife. If you do take the ring back to Amaranthine, you find out that his wife has been cheating on him. You don't even get the option to call her out.
- Almost anything to do with Anders or Justice in Awakening after playing Dragon Age II.
- When the darkspawn assault Amaranthine in Awakening, an old man tells you that his family is still in the city and begs you to save them. If you defend the city and defeat the darkspawn generals, the next scene pans over the cheering crowds… and the corpse of the old man lying in the street while an older woman kneels beside him. It's a reminder that victory has come, but not without cost.
- With his Big, Screwed-Up Family, it's no wonder that Nathaniel was closer to most of the housekeepers and staff at Vigil's Keep. Upon discovering his surrogate mother figure Adria is one of the people trapped by the darkspawn, he begs you to rescue her, only by the time you discover her, she's already turned into an insane ghoul
.- Made worse because we never get to see his reaction or get to comfort him on yet another loss he's suffered.
- In addition, there is Nathaniel's exchange with Oghren regarding Arl Howe's death, especially if Oghren was present for it:Nathaniel: Were you there when my father was killed?Oghren: Don't go digging in the dust for things laid to rest. It does no-one any good.Nathaniel: Whatever people say about him, he was still my father, and I just want to know if... if he suffered.Oghren: … I'm not the person to ask.
- The epilogues for the companions who were left at the Keep, if you chose to save Amaranthine. Particularly heartbreaking are Justice's, who is beheaded just as the victory horn sounds, and Sigrun's, who "once more faced an army of Darkspawn with no hope of survival. This time she did not run".
- There is an obscure Sidequest initiated upon overhearing a woman named Alma praying in the chantry for her husband, who has gone missing. The Warden will track down the husband by following various notes scattered throughout Amaranthine. Eventually, you'll find his body hanged in an abandoned house outside of town. He hung himself because he thought himself unworthy of his wife, who tearfully laments that he should have told her about his feelings. The saddest part of this quest is how it depicts the feelings of inferiority and guilt that many real suicide victims suffer from.
- Somehow, they actually managed to make one that is half-tearjerker, half-black comedy. In Black Marsh, you can find the bones of a man named Corin who drank poison after his lover, Bonnie, left him due to being upset over a trail of riddles he'd left for her to follow. If you follow the trail yourself, it ends with a bottle containing an engagement ring and a letter from Corin asking Bonnie to marry him. Should've just asked, Corin.
- It's even worse than that - it's implied in the note that the main reason she was upset about the riddles was because the first one had a Last-Second Word Swap dick joke, and she thought he wasn't taking their relationship seriously.
- After finding her clan, virtually her family, completely massacred, Velanna buried every single one completely alone. Not only had she suddenly lost all her loved ones, but she'd had to personally dispose of every body. It's no wonder she's lost in her rage when the Warden Commander finds her.
- After defeating the sylvan she summons and going to confront her after learning that she fell for the darkspawn's trick, which, from her perspective, is the Warden chasing her to bring her to justice for attacking those who killed those closest to her, the slump of her shoulders and defeat in her voice indicate that she's absolutely ready to attempt Suicide By Grey Warden, and it's only revealing the trick played on her and the hope that her sister is alive that pulls her out of it.
