Talk:Characters of Dragon Age: Origins

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 5 February 2019 and 6 April 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Hmsparks123.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 17:11, 16 January 2022 (UTC)

Pasted Content
See drop-down section. Ignore warning not to modify it, this just cleans up the talk-page layout without creating a short-term subpage. --Taelus (talk) 15:52, 1 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Struck one part of your comment. I altered the coding so there is not warning any more. -- Thejadefalcon Sing your song The bird's seeds 12:07, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

Cousland
Cousland is the surname for the player character in the human noble origin story. In the origin story, the player is introduced to Arl Howe and Duncan, who are conversing with the player's father, Bryce Cousland. Upon receiving an order to send their brother, Fergus, a message, the player may first choose to complete a sidequest in which the player's dog is introduced as a party member. After the player speaks their goodbyes to Fergus, the day transitions to evening. The player awakens to discover the castle under attack, revealing that Arl Howe had betrayed the Couslands and ordered his men to kill the family. Fighting their way through mobs of enemy infantry, the player, along with their dog, ultimately escapes with Duncan via secret passageway. Vowing to bring Arl Howe to justice for his treachery and avenge their family, the player journeys on to Ostagar to become a Grey Warden. At this point, the entire Cousland family has been wiped out, barring the player and Fergus, who had left with the army earlier the same day to journey to Ostagar to fight for the King.

Surana
thumb|right|A player-created design of Surana.

Surana is the surname for the player character in the elven mage origin story. The player undergoes the Harrowing test for mages, and upon successfully completing such a task, is promoted to the rank of mage in the Circle, above that of an apprentice. Soon, the player is involved in a plot with Jowell, a friend of the player and apprentice in the Circle, and Lily, an initiate in the Chantry and Jowell's love interest, to destroy Jowell's phylactery (blood sample) and allow him to escape the Circle and its Rite of Tranquility without fear of being tracked down. Whatever the player chooses to do, Jowell will be revealed to have practiced blood magic and will escape the Circle without Lily. The player will ultimately be freed from any punishment for their actions in the crime when Duncan offers for the player to join the ranks of the Grey Wardens.

Amell
Amell is the surname for the player character in the human mage origin story. There is no difference between the human and elven Circle Mage origin stories. Throughout the rest of the game, however, a human will receive more respect than an elf would from other humans and people of power.

Mahariel
Mahariel is the surname for the player character in the Dalish elf origin story.

Tabris
Tabris is the surname for the player character in the city elf origin story.

Brosca
Brosca is the surname for the player character in the dwarven commoner origin story.

Aeducan
Aeducan is the surname for the player character in the dwarven noble origin story.

Comment
These are not major in the universe, and the image is more suitable for the main article in the character section. We can cover the character creation at the main article, and keep the list of characters here. Thoughts? Also I will fix up the paste in a moment to help talk page readability, sorry for the moment as I am unsure how to do it. --Taelus (talk) 15:50, 1 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I was basing this off of the Mass Effect equivalent, where Shepard is rightfully mentioned. Admittedly, these characters have no true voices, but, in my opinion, they are major characters to the player since they are the player and the character goes around the universe killing things. If you think they deserve a space on the main article rather than here, then go ahead, but I think we need to have some plot description of the origin stories somewhere since they take up a reasonable amount of the game (and the game is named after them). My original thought was to describe the character's origin story and other information here and have a link in the main Dragon Age: Origins article, pointing to this as a plot description of the stories. -- Thejadefalcon Sing your song The bird's seeds 15:55, 1 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Perhaps, but it does look a little bit messy and indiscriminate in it's current shape. The main article should cover the character creation, and a few brief mentions of the concept of origins stories, but not need to go in to depth as that section directs the user here. Feel free to re-add it and flesh it out a bit. --Taelus (talk) 15:57, 1 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I've only played the Human Noble so far (as you may have guessed from that being the only one with information). -- Thejadefalcon Sing your song The bird's seeds 16:05, 1 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Well I've added the Surana and Amell Circle Mage origins. Note that the human and elven Circle Mage origin stories do not differ at all, aside from treatment from people throughout the rest of the game. What I have written thus far is from my experience with a mage character. I hope I did not add too much information. It just seems to me that a lot more happens in the Circle Mage origin story than in the human noble origin story, although I could add such details as how the human noble player meets his Mabari dog in the origin story, etc..
 * Perhaps we could include the origin stories (once completed) with the main article as part of the Synopsis section? I think it makes sense seeing as how the origin story is part of the plot of the game itself. Or, we could just keep this a separate page like you had done with the 'Characters.'
 * Kilkia123 (talk) 01:08, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

Additional comments
Orphan problem will resolve itself in time, when the article is expanded. In-universe is a bit more difficult to fix, especially as Bioware has not released that much helpful information on the web, so we will need to add references by trawling through books and manuals to grab page numbers. Other than that, I think priority should be expansion, then clean-up, as currently it is only covering one of the games from the universe. --Taelus (talk) 15:56, 1 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I've got the collector's edition strategy guide. That has character biographies in it (and a massive interview by BioWare at the back), but I'm reluctant to use it until I've completed the game at least once. -- Thejadefalcon Sing your song The bird's seeds 16:05, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

I've completed the game almost twice now with different characters, and I, too, have a strategy guide. I've been wondering if it was alright to add more information about the characters listed, seeing as how there is not much information right now. I am not too sure on how to correctly cite a strategy guide on Wikipedia, however. I cannot simply list a link to a source that is of ink and paper. Any help on the matter would be appreciated. Sorry for my lack of knowledge on such a thing. Kilkia123 (talk) 00:16, 13 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I would guess that would be your best bet for referencing a guide. Contact me if you need any help with it. I've never used it before, but I think I understand it from what I've seen of it before. -- Thejadefalcon Sing your song The bird's seeds  00:23, 13 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Yep, as long as you have the ISBN number I doubt anyone would challenge the sources validity. Hope this helps, --Taelus (talk) 10:36, 13 January 2010 (UTC)
 * Okay guys, I added more information for all the characters. If I made any mistakes or did anything wrong, feel free to tell me. Sorry for editing so many times (as you can tell in the history); perhaps I shouldn't edit when I am tired. :P --Kilkia123 (talk) 05:09, 18 January 2010 (UTC)

Sten's section states:
 * Further in the game, when searching for the Urn of Sacred Ashes, Sten may confront the player about his/her level of commitment in the task at hand. If the player treats Sten in a rude way, Sten will challenge the player for control of the party, and upon his defeat, Sten will leave the party for good.[4]

I see the citation, but from my experience playing the game this is incorrect. I was challenged by Sten, and upon his defeat he accepted this as a sign of strong leadership. Not only did he stay with my party, I got +7 approval. I expect there are some circumstances in which Sten will leave your party, but the article should not state that he will leave your party as though it were a certainty. 129.244.182.253 (talk) 21:49, 20 January 2010 (UTC)


 * Hmm, thank you for bringing this up. I will look into this and correct it as necessary. For some reason the game guide and, upon looking, other peoples' F.A.Qs., all state how Sten leaves the party upon the player beating him in battle. Perhaps this has to do with whether or not the player's approval rating is high enough or the player was "lippy" to Sten beforehand? If anybody can explain this, then that would be appreciated. For now, I think I will state that Sten may/may not leave the party.
 * Upon reading the game guide again, I noticed that it states that Sten "will want to leave the party," which means that, in my opinion, he may actually stay if persuaded? I am still not sure why you '129.244.182.253' got an approval from Sten... perhaps you could explain the steps leading up to the fight? Were you nice to Sten? Etc.. -- Kilkia123 (talk) 01:10, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

Categorizations
There are several characters that would fit under multiple categories, most notably Loghain who spends most of the game as an antagonist but can become a party member very late in the game and Zatharian who can be either protagonist or antagonist depending on the decision made in that section of the game. When the other major characters from the other sections of the game are added, this situation will become more prominent as characters tend to take on both roles at different points in the game and depending on choices made. Anyhow I think it would be better to swap something more neutral in for protagonist, antagonist, party member which I plan to do if I have time to expand this. My suggestions is by faction but I'm not really sure how to deal with Loghain. 99.71.139.40 (talk) 23:04, 6 January 2010 (UTC)


 * First of all, I think we should keep Loghain in the party members section. He seems fitting in that section and I have mentioned his antagonism in his description. Secondly, the other characters, such as Zatharian, could go under a new section entitled 'Other Notable Characters.' Would anybody object if I did so and created a new section? Of course peoples such as Eamon would stay under the protagonist section as the player cannot make such a person into an antagonist. On the other hand, is Zatharian really a major character? He is only seen during the player's questing in the Brecilian Forest, and he may or may not die in the end. If anybody else thinks creating a new section could work, I could go ahead and add it. --Kilkia123 (talk) 02:06, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

personal quests
i assume mention of that will be included in due course... Chensiyuan (talk) 23:13, 14 January 2010 (UTC)
 * See the first thread on this page. -- Thejadefalcon Sing your song The bird's seeds 23:15, 14 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I'll perhaps try to begin adding information during the weekends. As for personal quests, I don't think we should go too in-depth (to the point the article seems like a game guide), but I'll be happy to add in a basic summary of personal quests for each character, or at the very least I will mention how each party member has a personal quest that may be started through certain affection ratings and conversations. :) Kilkia123 (talk) 01:54, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Antagonists
Could any of you suggest any major antagonists in Dragon Age: Origins? The only person I can think of, other than Loghain (and I mentioned that he is an antagonist in his character section), is Howe, but I am not sure if he really is a major character as he only carries importance for the human noble storyline (correct me if I am wrong). Save the Archdemon and the Blight itself, there isn't really a major antagonist at all in this game except Loghain, I believe. --Kilkia123 (talk) 01:57, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
 * I haven't finished the game yet, but I can't think of any... -- Thejadefalcon Sing your song The bird's seeds 22:23, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Correct grammar when speaking of "the player?"
I have a query about this matter... Thejadefalcon pointed this out to me (and I thank you for that), but should we use "he/she" or "they" when addressing the player? Which method is the 'best' one to use? To be honest, both methods work, but using 'he/she' makes much more sense; I believe the average reader will not understand the usage of the singular 'they' form. I suppose I could just be an old school type of person, but my reasoning for my stance is that "the player" is one person, and therefore should be referred to as such. "They" just does not seem to be the best word to use when addressing one person, although it does work. I think the article looks more well-written and professional when using the 'he/she' form.

Any thoughts? For now, I am undoing my undo of Thejadefalcon's edits. I do not wish to anger or offend him in any way and technically his edits are correct in their way. -- Kilkia123 (talk) 03:20, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Awakening Characters
Could someone please include the new characters from Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening? Strydom21.04 07:56, 24 March 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 196.46.136.218 (talk)

Links
This page needs to be linked on the DA:O page and the DA(series) page needs to be linked on this page —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.14.37.106 (talk) 16:58, 14 March 2011 (UTC)

Splitting Varric into a new article
This proposal is made because: Section takes a significant portion of the Dragon Age II character section, condense his section in both Dragon Age character and Dragon Age Inquisition into one 69.119.154.86 (talk) 17:06, 22 March 2015 (UTC)

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References in New Layout
I overhauled the organization of this page to make it flow a little more logically, but when I pasted the new format from my sandbox, all of the references from the previous version disappeared. If anyone could add these back in, that would be helpful for the page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hmsparks123 (talk • contribs) 14:31, 9 April 2019 (UTC)