History Characters / DragonAgeInquisitionAntagonists

* AntiVillain: At the end of the day, Alexius just wants to save his son. [[spoiler:When Felix convinces him that this isn't possible, he surrenders.]]

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

* DoWithHimAsYouWill: A rare merciful version of this trope. One of the judgement choices it to put her to work rebuilding the village she betrayed, and if the citizens of Sahrnia forgive her, then her debt would be considered repaid. It's subtle, but with this posit comes the implication that if the citizen's ''didn't'' forgive Poulin, the Inquisition would not step in if they decide to hash out their own brand of justice on the former Mistress.
* GoAndSinNoMore: The Inquisitor can choose to pardon and release her on the grounds that she never enters the Inquisitor's presence again.

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

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* AnAxeToGrind: Wields a unique two-handed axe, The Gift of the Mountain Father. After defeating him you can claim it for yourself.

** She's also got a lot in common with Dorian; both are powerful Tevinter mages and fierce patriots who are happy to kill to restore their country. But while Dorian grew up privileged and pampered and still has trouble seeing past that regarding slaves, Calpernia started from rock bottom and frees slaves in huge numbers. Calpernia just happened to choose the wrong leader to follow.

* UngratefulBastard: She grumbles a bit if sentenced to work as an Inqusition scribe.

* EvilCounterpart: To Leliana. Leliana is the spymaster, while Calpernia ferrets out spies better than anyone. Both women are full of righteous bombast, capable of ruthlessness and genuine concern for their subordinates, and desire complete upheaval of the current system of their respective homelands.
** She's also got a lot in common with Dorian -- powerful Tevinter mages and fierce patriots who are happy to kill to restore their country; but while Dorian grew up privileged and pampered and still has trouble seeing past that regarding slaves, Calpernia started from rock bottom and frees slaves in huge numbers. Calpernia just happened to choose the wrong leader to follow.

** Though when the sentence is handed down, she remarks that it's fitting since "I am the jest of Orlais already," and her tone of voice suggests that she finds your idea of punishment [[ActuallyPrettyFunny somewhat amusing]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: If the Nightmare encounters Solas, his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to him will be in perfect elvish, which is odd because no one, not even the Dalish, know perfect elvish. Indeed, unlike the elvish spoken during Solas's personal quest, it won't be translated if the player is Dalish. [[spoiler:Solas being completely capable of understanding it hints that he's more than just an apostate.]] That of course, says nothing about the actual text: ''Dirth ma, harellan. Ma banal enasalin. Mar solas ena mar din.'' Translating it reveals that [[spoiler:Nightmare's title, ''harellan'', means "trickster." It's also the second syllable of Solas's title, Fen'Harel.[[note]]Actually translating what Nightmare said is easier said than done; as mentioned within the lore itself, Elvhen is a language of ''"intent"'', meaning that translating requires knowing the context of what is said, and the speaker's feelings towards it. Still, the fanbase has made an admiral effort to translate Nightmare's taunt anyways, and the most widely accepted translation is thus: ''"You learned, trickster. That was no victory. Your pride will be your death.''"[[/note]]]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: If the Nightmare encounters Solas, his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to him will be in perfect elvish, which is odd because no one, not even the Dalish, know perfect elvish. Indeed, unlike the elvish spoken during Solas's personal quest, it won't be translated if the player is Dalish. [[spoiler:Solas being completely capable of understanding it hints that he's more than just an apostate.]] That of course, says nothing about the actual text: ''Dirth ma, harellan. Ma banal enasalin. Mar solas ena mar din.'' Translating it reveals that [[spoiler:Nightmare's title, ''harellan'', means "trickster." It's also the second syllable of Solas's title, Fen'Harel.]]

* ShutUpHannibal: Delivers one to Denam if they're locked up together.

* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Subverted. She wants Tevinter to be a great nation in order to hold back the Qunari, but also wants to get rid of slavery. Still, she wants her homeland restored.

->'''Herald''': Look at what you've done, Alexius! All this suffering, and for what?\\

** To put it in perspective, almost all of your TrueCompanions will approve of his execution, and ''no one'' will disapprove.

* ObviouslyEvil: A smirking Magister who mysteriously shows up when the Wardens are desperate, claiming to be able to save them with human sacrifice and blood magic. He isn't exactly ''wrong'' when he calls Clarel stupid for trusting him.

[[center:[-[[Characters/DragonAge Main Character Index]] > Dragon Age: Inquisition > [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionTheInquisitor The Inquisitor]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionCompanionsAndAdvisors Companions And Advisors]] ( [[Characters/DragonAgeCole Cole]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeTheIronBull The Iron Bull]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeSera Sera]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeSolas Solas]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeVivienne Vivienne]] ) | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionStaff Staff]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionAgents Agents]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionTrainers Trainers]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionMultiplayer Multiplayer]] | '''Antagonists''' | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionNonPlayableCharacters Non-Playable Characters]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionDLC DLC Characters]] -]]]

* DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:Throws herself off a cliff into a waterfall after fighting the Inquisitor. Possibly subverted, however; the Dragon Age Keep option about her fate does not explicitly say she died, so she probably didn't.]]

* NotSoDifferent: His taunt to Cole; they both reach into the minds of others to find what causes them pain and fear, and then cause them to forget. But while Cole does this to help heal them and Nightmare does it to feed, Cole obviously finds the comparison distressingly apt.

* NotSoDifferent: Cole says that the demon is just like how he used to be, killing to sustain itself and wearing faces that didn't belong to it.

[[WMG:[[center: [- ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' '''[[Characters/DragonAgeInquisition Main Character Index]]'''\\
[[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionLeaders Leaders]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionWarriors Warriors]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionMages Mages]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionRogues Rogues]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionStaff Staff]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionAgents Agents]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionTrainers Trainers]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionMultiplayer Multiplayer]] | '''Antagonists''' | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionNonPlayableCharacters Non-Playable Characters]] | [[Characters/DragonAgeInquisitionDLC DLC Characters]]]]-]]]

* TheExile: Traditionally, Templars who fail their subordinates at Therinfal are exiled to the Sea of Ash. You can order this for him.

[[folder:The Archdemon/[[spoiler:Red Lyrium Dragon]]]]

* TheJester: If alive, she can be made into the jester of the Inquisition, complete with stupid costume. She'll stand around in the Great Hall and remark on her abject suffering. But, apparently, she will not juggle.

* YouHaveFailedMe: Codex entries found during the "In Hushed Whispers" quest indicate this is the main reason [[spoiler: why Alexius has barricaded himself inside Redcliffe Castle a year into the future. He's convinced that Corypheus will ultimately kill him for his failure to undo the Inquisitor's interference at the Conclave]]

** She's also got a lot in common with Dorian -- powerful Tevinter mages and fierce patriots who are happy to kill to restore their country, but while Dorian grew up privileged and pampered and still has trouble seeing past that regarding slaves, Calpernia started from rock bottom and frees slaves in huge numbers. Calpernia just happened to choose the wrong leader.

* TheLostLenore: In her youth, she had a relationship with her master's slave bodyguard, Marius. Unfortunately, Marius was sold to another master (and, as far as Calpernia is aware, died training to become a warrior) shortly after their relationship began. Calpernia still remembers him fondly. When she learns that he survived in ''Comicbook/{{Magekiller}}'', she is overjoyed and tries to convince him to join the Venatori so they can be together once more.

* WideEyedIdealist; While Calpernia is ruthless, she's a true patriot and truly believes in ending slavery in her homeland.

* HateSink: Alexius, Calpernia, Samson, and even ''Corypheus'' have some redeeming/sympathetic traits. According to Cole, though, "Erimond is an arsehole."

* SmugSnake: When you capture him, he rants about how he'll ascend to the Elder One's side in Paradise. [[spoiler: But he'll flip out if you make him Tranquil.]]

* DefectorFromDecadence: He leaves the Mage-Templar alliance against Meredith in Act 3 of ''Dragon Age II'' because he realizes some of the mages ''were'' using BloodMagic the moment they felt backed into a corner. After that, he sort of saw the writing [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere on the wall]], and goes to retrieve Cullen while Hawke deals with the alliance (who have a hostage of personal importance to the Champion).

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: See Cole's quote under HateSink above. It's in response to Cassandra asking [[TheEmpath Cole]] if Erimond has some [[HiddenDepths hidden pain]] that motivates him. Apparently not.

* TheSociopath: If [[TheEmpath Cole]] confirms this, you'll believe it.
* ThisIsNotMyLifeToTake[=/=]DoWithHimAsYouWill: You can choose to let the Grey Wardens decide his fate instead.

[[folder:The Archdemon]]