Dragon Age Character Profiles. Set Three.

Warden - Relas Mahariel

This rugged, scarred, dreadlocked Dalish warrior is taciturn and single-minded; and back when he was adventuring across Ferelden, he cared for little apart from stopping the Blight, seeing his mission as Grey Warden as the price he had to pay for his surviving the darkspawn plague while his friend Tamlen did not... Which kind of made him best buddies with Sten, an achievement I remember taking great pride in.

Back when living with his clan, Relas took all the lore and traditions very seriously - and this still shows in his actions. But even though his Dalish pride has never waned, as he made his long, eventful journey in the company of ever so many shemlen, he gradually grew more tolerant towards the human race, seeing that even among these seemingly treacherous beings one might find honour and courage and strong kinship.  

In the end, he warmed up towards Alistair, even growing to call him lethallin - and showed understanding towards Loghain, allowing him to join the Wardens. Alistair was furious, of course - but he forgave the elf eventually; and the doors of the royal palace are always open for the great hero, who drops by sometimes to gives a long, unimpressed look to the awkward human king.

Stern as he might be towards his companions, Relas has a surprising soft spot for all things small and defenseless. He will fight with special fervour if there is the life of a child at stake (he did not care for running back and forth to the Circle Tower and rushed Jowan to perform the blood ritual to free Connor from the demon then and there, honouring Isolde's sacrifice); and he has a way with animals, especially the halla. In fact, he finds the company of furry and feathered creatures to be soothing, especially therapeutic after all the crap he had to endure during his quest to save the world.

Of course, back in the day, he kept all his Disney-princess-like hobbies secret, especially from Morrigan, fearing that she might mock him. And, of course, he was also deeply troubled because he could feel that he was genuinely falling in love with the witch, while she obviously did not care to see past his lean, tan, scarred, virile body... Except that this was not exactly the case.

Because the plot to carry out the Dark Ritual backfired, and instead of being a means to an end, little Kieran became the link that strengthened the bond between his parents, and fill their hearts with the sort of serene happiness that neither of them could imagine.

Champion - Moira Hawke

This Hawke, a fiery lass with wavy black hair, bright-green eyes, and a sizeable hook of a nose, is a mage, and darn proud of it. Back when her father and sister were still alive, she detested the idea of her family having to live in hiding, and still continues to do her utmost to protect mages that suffer at the hands of abusive Templars. Naturally, the already rocky relationship between her and her little brother was almost completely ruined when he decided to become a Templar while she was away on the infamous Deep Roads expedition - still, I imagine that she and her buddy Merrill, together with some new allies from the Inquisition, went on a rescue mission to pull poor silly Carver out of the clutches of Red Lyrium.

In addition to reconciling with Carver, I imagine that Moira is now far less radical than she used to be. After seeing her beloved Anders go into wild abomination mode, she realized how dangerous things might get when the noble pursuit of justice turns into a blind lust for vengeance. Oh, she felt so betrayed when, after appearing to agree with her, Anders pulled off his ridiculous stunt. But the two little rebels still care for each other deeply, and Moira allowed Anders to live, eventually getting reunited with him. What with the mysterious corruption spreading in the Grey Warden ranks, she is determined to protect Anders at all costs - both from the bad guys and, more importantly, from himself.

Inquisitor - Meredith 'Ed' Trevelyan (plus Aidan Trevelyan)

After being all but disowned by her aristocratic family for turning out to be a mage, young Meredith has been seething on the inside with anger at the discrimination against those like her. Ironically, she happens to be the namesake of the infamous Knight Commander of Kirkwall, the grizzly tales of whose repressions travelled far and wide among the Circles of the Free Marches. This makes her especially infuriated, and she prefers to refer to herself as 'Ed'. Later on, however, she will be encouraged by her new friend Varric to use her full name, so that the associations it invokes may be changed from negative to positive, and the people may remember not Meredith the deranged Knight Commander, but Meredith the heroic Inquisitor, the savior of Thedas.

Due to being locked up in a mage tower for most of her life, growing up in isolation from the big wide world, Ed has retained some immature, infantile traits longer than one might expect of someone her age (her being in her early twenties). She is loud and aggressive, prone to snapping at people who try to reason with her, and screaming, 'It's not fair!' when things do not turn out the way she wants them. Other teenage-like traits include wild experiments with her hair, make-up and eye colour (thank you, Black Emporium!) and turning into a squealing fangirl when she is around people she admires - like Solas (poor thing), Dorian (but of course!), and, interestingly enough, Cassandra (while Ed does not share some of her views, she gets all heart-eyed when she sees the Seeker being bad-ass in battle... Plus, she is a princess and a dragon-slayer, how awesome is that?).

Ed is also a huge fan of Hawke and Anders as the instigators of the mage rebellion, and will fangirl to no end once she gets to fight by Moira's side (looks like poor Stroud will be staying in the Fade... again). Like Moira herself in her younger day, Ed turns into a hissing fury whenever a Templar happens to be nearby, and is left utterly beside herself when she realizes that she finds Commander Cullen attractive.

A similar predicament also awaits Ed's older brother, a grim sword-and-board warrior named Aidan. The two of them were quite close as children, before Ed came into her powers; one of their most cherished shared memories was going to the Grand Tourney together and cheering for Thom Rainier (harhar). But when Ed turned out to be a mage and was taken to the Circle, Aidan, who was raised a conservative Andrastian, began to refer to her in a way that might have led an outsider to believe that his sister had died. She has a hard time forgiving him for that - and their reunion, which took place in Val Royaeux as Ed was trying to reason with the Clerics, was more than strained.

Still, Aidan decided to join the Inquisition, to try and contribute to saving the world, and to see if his 'lost soul' of a sister is actually the Herald of Andraste. And this is where the predicament hits him - usually cold and reserved, he suddenly melts and finds himself falling head over heels in love with his sister's best friend, a mage from Tevinter, no less! All in the spirit of a good old romantic comedy, of course.