Alistair

"That's what I'm here for. To deliver unpleasant news and witty one-liners."

Alistair is a Grey Warden and a companion to The Warden. He is a potential romance option for a female Warden and also teaches the Templar specialization.

Approval


The Warden can increase Alistair's approval rating through gifts (covered below), dialogue, and plot decisions. Alistair responds well when you ask him to speak about himself. Typically, Alistair will try to deflect your question with a joke, which you can move past either by joking (often leading to humorous conversation) or calling Alistair's bluff. Neither approach will affect his approval. Alistair is, in a sense, shy and speaks often of Duncan and the Grey Wardens. In many ways, Alistair views Duncan as a surrogate father. Always affirm his emotional responses, and his approval rating will increase.

When speaking of one's post-Joining experiences, Alistair approves of responses that reflect his own. Admit to nightmares, increased appetite, etc. to slightly bump his approval. When the hero speaks to Alistair about other personal things (such as sex), Alistair admires answers which suggest both strength and experience. Do not mock him for his own softness and relative inexperience, however, as these will negate any approval benefits the hero receives through insisting on his own prowess.

Romance glitches
When romanced, the final conversation with Alistair, in which he declares to the Warden "You're the first woman I've ever spent the night with, and if I have my way you'll be the last," is glitched and may not trigger at all, or not after the first time the player romances Alistair. Any playthroughs afterward in which Alistair is romanced will not have this conversation trigger. This has been noticed in both and  platforms.

Gifts
Despite being raised by the Chantry to be a templar, Alistair has a deep interest in the arcane and occult, as evidenced by his preference for gifts of statues and rune stones. His plot items, however, are his mother's (repaired) amulet, found on the desk of the Arl of Redcliffe in Castle Redcliffe and Duncan's Shield, found inside Market Warehouse, in Denerim Market District.

Sometimes if you put Alistair into your party, he may respond as if he has just received a gift that has improved his approval to you by +1

Attributes
Relative attribute weightings on auto-level:

Dragon Age: Origins



 * "Nothing like a brush with death to make you... not like death much."
 * (To Morrigan) "Yes, swooping is bad."
 * "You know, one good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together."
 * "Just so you know, if the king ever asks me to put on a dress and dance the Remigold, I'm drawing the line. Darkspawn or no."
 * (After The Arl of Redcliffe) "Now that the warm and fuzzy part of the day is over we can get back to the ritual dismemberments. Oh wait, it's not Tuesday is it?"
 * "Have you ever licked a lamp post in winter?"
 * (While gossiping about the other companions) "What? Lead? Me? No, no, no. No leading. Bad things happen when I lead. We get lost, people die, and the next thing you know I'm stranded somewhere without any pants."

Romance dialogue
(Offering a rose to a female Warden)
 * Alistair: "Here, look at this. Do you know what this is?"
 * Warden: "Your new weapon of choice?"
 * Alistair: "Yes, that's right. Watch as I thrash our enemies with the mighty power of floral arrangements! Feel my thorns, darkspawn! I will overpower you with my rosy scent!"

(When romance has progressed) (If the Warden is a dwarf)
 * Alistair: "You're the first woman I've ever spent the night with, and if I have my way you'll be the last."
 * Warden: "My being a dwarf doesn't change anything?"
 * Alistair: "Of course not. Don't be ridiculous. If anything, I was wondering if I was too tall."

Dragon Age II

 * "I'm Alistair, uh... King of Ferelden. And this is Teagan, my uncle. Sort of."
 * "I was hoping we could talk. Would've been better timing before being emasculated by Meredith, but I'm not picky."

Dragon Age: The Silent Grove
(Speaking of Flemeth)
 * Alistair: "I met Flemeth in the Korcari Wilds, and she started me on the path to becoming king."
 * Varric: "We met her once too--she played a friend of ours."

(To Yavana) "You and Morrigan and Flemeth...all you do is manipulate and lie."

(Speaking of Yavana)
 * Isabela: "What do you think? Has she been testing you, or just screwing with us?"
 * Varric: "Or a little of both."
 * Alistair: "That last one—I never pass tests."

Dragon Age: Inquisition

 * (In the Fade) "I've seen my father in the Fade. I saw a demon pretending to be my sister in the Fade. But I've never seen this."
 * (After escaping the Fade) "Tell Morrigan...just tell her I stood there looking foolish."

Trivia

 * In writing Alistair, David Gaider was inspired by Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Malcolm Reynolds from Firefly. Gaider also wanted Nathan Fillion, who played Mal, to be Alistair's voice actor but it was decided to choose a British actor instead.
 * Alistair was originally supposed to be a "grizzled Grey Warden veteran". That didn't work well for a character that needed to join the player early, and he was rewritten.
 * Alistair received his name due to David Gaider watching several TV shows with actor Alistair Appleton when writing him.
 * Alistair's surname after becoming king has been confirmed as Theirin in the comic series. It can be presumed that he assumed the surname upon his coronation as his paternity was then legally recognized.
 * Alistair is the companion appearing in the biggest number of series' media.
 * Based on party banter between Wynne and Oghren, Alistair possesses a pike and often playfully swings it about, earning him the nickname "little pike-twirler" from Oghren. Alistair is never able to use a pike in combat. During his duel with the Arishok in Dragon Age: Those Who Speak, however, Alistair demonstrably knows how to fight using polearms.
 * The royal armor Alistair is depicted wearing on the inside cover art of the collected hardcover edition of Dragon Age: The Silent Grove appears to be an altered version of Alistair's Splint Mail Armor from Dragon Age: Origins, based on the design of the breastplate, pauldrons, and gauntlets.
 * In Dragon Age: Inquisition, Alistair signs his correspondence with the Inquisition as "Alistair Theirin" if he is made King, showing that he took on his fathers family name.