Canon Grey Wardens

[lea_hazel]

I've heard some people refer to their "canon" Wardens, out of all their various incarnations. Closing in on the end of my second playthrough (f!Surana blood mage), I'm interested to hear about other people's experiences. Do you have a canon Warden, is it the first one you played, and what sort of Warden were they?

I haven't played all the origins yet, but from the hints in the game and from other people's stories, I can already see myself developing elaborate "canon" versions of each origin, separate and different from how my game might have turned out. See, I make a lot of choices that are specifically to experience parts of the game I haven't played yet, and also to unlock achievements. But, what I play is not necessarily what makes most sense to me from a characterization POV.

That's part of the reason I picked Surana for my second game, because she's kind of a wild card in my eyes. Maybe I put too much stress on characters being a product of their upbringing, though.

Anyway, everyone loves talking about their characters, and I'd love to hear your stories.

Comments

[i_paint_the_sky]

I don't really have a "canon" Warden really. I do have preferred versions of each Warden though and that is often based on how I played them. For example, I prefer the Aeducan who does kill Trian (this is actually the Origin I first played on a friend's game and I'm sad that the Aeducan Warden who I've played the whole way did not actually do this). And I like my Cousland Warden to be politically savvy. But I don't consider any of that to be canon.

I do have a few thoughts as to what would be canon as pertains to the other characters. I feel like ending with Alistair and Anora on the throne together is vaguely canonical (which is funny since I've never had that happen but my two full playthroughs have both been Alistair romance so ... XD).

I also do try to have characters act according to their characterization, unless its something I really want to see. But even then sometimes I just make a new Warden for that purpose, I have a nice blood mage that I'm having fun with since his goal in life is to make Alistair hate him.

[lea_hazel]

That's a very noble goal in life. Let me know how it goes.

I really feel like the origins have a lot of cues and hints in them as to what people expect the Warden to behave like, and why. As for which choices are canon for the storytellers, I have lots of opinions about that, too. Then again, I'm not sure if maybe my favored choices aren't seeping through just a little bit. Or a lot.

[twist_shimmy]

My canon Warden is the first one I played, and also the only one I've played through more than once. I tried to redo her ending because I wanted to have her in Awa (she's a Dalish who died to the Archdemon), but her personality was so strong that we went through the end battle and she did it again.

I guess she's my "canon" because her playthrough appears to be quite literally set in stone. XD Everyone else I can load and redo if I want to see something go down a bit differently, but Tesni?

Nope.

[lea_hazel]

I imagine that would happen if I tried to make my first Warden execute Loghain. In fact, as much as I adore the Brosca origin and could see myself playing it another five times, easily, I don't know how much variation in personal choices I'll be able to fit in. Every choice I made (except the accidental ones, and even some of those) just seems to fit her perfectly.

[silvermoonshade]

My Dalish warden also ended up sacrificing herself, only I screwed up the first time and Alistair did it for me... was rather emotionally traumatizing since it was completely unexpected.

[silvermoonshade]

I played through several times with different scenarios and characters to see which ones I liked the most and I have to say that my canon warden is the female noble who marries Alistair to become queen.
I also had an ending where my mage freed the circle and one where my mage did not (but those games were corrupted and erased!)

[lea_hazel]

Ugh, I can't imagine losing a game like that. But a scenario where a mage annuls the tower is fascinating.

[dragonreine]

My canon (or my "favourite", to be exact) is a male Human Noble, which was my 7th or 8th full playthrough of DAO. I'm not entirely sure why, but he's the only character that I can mentally immerse with, and the only character that I feel comfortable enough to write fanfic about.

I suspect it's the story of the Human Noble origin that allowed me to immerse in the RP experience; revenge is a tried-and-true motivator, and out of all the origins, only the Human Noble has any significant ties to DAO's villians. It's rather cathartic to cut down Arl Howe ;) The other origins, IMO, felt very "removed" from the politics of the game, so I'm not sure how or why the characters from other Origins would have a significant emotional investment in the events of DAO.

[lea_hazel]

Trying to justify a Warden's investment in the politics of Ferelden is a wonderful RP experience for me. But, I think I agree the the HN is probably someone's idea of a canon Warden. I read somewhere that almost all of the play stats for DAO show people playing human Wardens by a huge margin. The human noble Warden also has the most cause to be ambivalent about Loghain, which adds another level of meta to the Landsmeet and possible outcomes.

My main problem with it is that I get bored of nobility protagonists, with a secondary issue that revenge storylines rarely work for me. I will definitely play it eventually, but it really was my bottom priority when I first opened the game.

[dragonreine]

I'll agree that the HN origin is one hell of a cliche storm. In fact, some of the dialogue in that origin lampshades it.

What irritated me about the HN origin is that it's probably the only origin in the game where the player character starts out in honestly POSITIVE circumstances (at least, positive for DAO, where anyone can die). The other origins have shades of unpleasantness to them in varying degrees; I won't call myself the sort that would only enjoy something if it's all grim and dark, but the "sunshine and rainbows" air of the HN origin feels weirdly out of place. Admittedly, it makes the circumstances of the forced recruitment more tragic, but still, very out of place.

I do enjoy both Dwarven origins and the City Elf origin as well; they also tie quite significantly to major political figures/events in the game, and the two Dwarf origins in particular offer some startlingly different viewpoints on one very important quest character (which I'm not going to spoil, seeing as you might not have played through them yet). It makes for very interesting character building :) The Surana origin also offers interesting RP possibilities, since s/he would be both elf and mage; two of the most oppressed classes in DAO.

I didn't really enjoy the Dalish origin until Witch Hunt and DA2 were released; the origin felt the most removed for me in DAO, and it was only until certain events in WH and DA2 had happened before I appreciated how a Dalish Warden's story would be tied into the overall story of Thedas.

[sarasa_cat]

My canon Warden is the first one I played. Same for my canon Hawke.

My first DA:O play through was almost entirely unspoiled (unfortunately I was spoiled about Alistair being a bastard prince but I didn't know what the outcomes for him would be). Even if things don't happen the way I want in my first play throughs, I never reload and redo. I just keep moving forward, accepting whatever consequences occur while trying to role play the PC. This makes me far more emotionally involved than I would be during later playthroughs. Once I'm spoiled on the story, I'm more likely to meta-game and create Wardens (and Hawkes) who are going to have specific personalities, specific romances, and specific endings. As much as I enjoy them, I don't have the same emotional feelings that I have for my first Warden and Hawke. So, that's why my first is canon. ;)

My canon Warden was a female Surana. I randomly picked mage just because I was curious to play one and when I saw that elves had slightly better starting stats for magic, I picked elf without having any knowledge about how elves are treated in Thedas. I did *not* play any of the other origin stories until after I completed my canon playthrough because I didn't want to be spoiled by them and learn knowledge that my Surana wouldn't know. My Surana romanced Alistair and put Anora on the throne.

[lea_hazel]

Partway through my first playthrough I started looking up strategic information online. I'm not experienced with RPGs, so a lot of the mechanics were unintuitive to me. I couldn't have beat the game without that outside advice, I probably would have become frustrated and quit after getting wiped out at Redcliffe for the sixth time.

Both aspects had their advantages. There was something very fresh about playing unspoiled, it makes the role-playing experience much more immersible. Especially when it comes to companion approval, looking up dialogue trees and gift guides makes the social/romantic aspect of the game more artificial and less satisfying. If I had gone into the game with a guide of who the possible companions and LIs were, when I first saw Alistair I would already be thinking about whether or not to have my Brosca romance him. The answer would still be "not", but her character would have been shaped totally differently.

On the other hand, I might have picked up Sten and the dog on my first playthrough. And, uh, actually succeeded in romancing Leliana, rather than getting her to "interested" and getting stuck.

Even if I play a "successful" version of Brosca with all the knowledge of the game that I've gained, I think on some level it might feel wrong. Like she wasn't meant to recruit Sten or to succeed in befriending Morrigan or whatever else. My party was shaped by bad gameplay decisions. Weird.

[sakuratea]

For a long time my cannon warden was my Cousland (I want to be the queen), but as time wore on, the Amell I started *just* to see if I could become Alistair's mistress became my cannon one and now is the one nearest and dearest to my heart. Of course, it helped that it tied so well into DA2. Neither of those were the first I did (the Amell was like the 5th I started)...

For me, in both games, the first time I played just to play and each subsequent time I explored the world differently/in greater depth. Those deeper explorations ended up shaping my head cannon.

[darkrose]

My canon Warden is the first--and so far, only--one I've done a complete playthrough with, my Tabris who becomes Warden-Commander, Bann of the Alienage, and Alistair's longtime mistress and de facto queen. Some of it is because I really liked the City Elf origin and could identify with certain aspects of it, but mostly it's because Miravael was my first. I'm doing the same thing in Skyrim, where I'm doing my second playthrough of my Dunmer spellsword DB.

[sleepyowlet]

Canon Warden? I've got two. An f!Amell and an f!Cousland. Both made the same choices, but for completely different reasons. The mage, for example, let Loghain live because she didn't want to kill someone who was beaten - and because she knew nothing about leading an army, and Loghain did, so she needed him. The noble let him live because she was raised that way - killing a defeated enemy is dishonourable, besides, everyone in Ferelden owed their life in freedom in large parts to him, so it didn't seem right to her to simply off him.

Branwen Cousland is very much a noblesse oblige kind of girl, doing the right thing, even if it's hard. Like breaking things off with Alistair because the chance of two Wardens being able to have a child are minuscule. And an heir to the throne is very important, so she ended things with him and had him marry Anora (it's implied that it wasn't her fault that she didn't get pregnant - Cailan seems to have been shooting blanks, since he's had lots of lovers but no bastards). She's usually dignified and serious, but deep down she's very playful and somewhat mischievous.

Ceridwen is pleasant and placid on the outside, but pretty driven on the inside. She's had a harsh time growing up in the Circle, and her sweet-mannered-maiden routine is just a mask. Other than Branwen she doesn't form deep connections to the people around her - she makes sure that she's liked well enough, but she doesn't really let people in. She doesn't like violence, so she usually talks people into submission. Nice and helpful she may be (with a soft spot for small, fuzzy things and children), but don't get on her bad side. She's got a quick, devious mind, and when the gloves come off she can be pretty ruthless. As Irving found out the hard way in my fanfic ^^