Epilogue (Awakening)

This page will reveal the various endings that occur in the epilogue of Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening. Naturally, there are spoilers here.

The Warden

 * If the Warden is married to Alistair, she returns to life at court, resuming her duties as queen of Ferelden and receives a hero's welcome when she rode back into the capital. King Alistair awaited her at the palace gates, grinning from ear-to-ear. A few years later, the Warden vanishes. Nobody knows why, but "neither does anyone think her tale is complete..."
 * If the Warden was in love with Alistair, but not married to him (even if you make him king in Origins): Some claimed she returned to Alistair, her true love, and a life far away from both Ferelden and the royal court. Some say that she served the Grey Wardens elsewhere, Alistair at her side, or that the two of them were seen often at the palace in Denerim. After a number of years, however, neither she nor Alistair were seen again. Perhaps they undertook some mission on behalf of the Grey Wardens, or departed for their own adventures, or... simply disappeared. Most assume their tale is far from complete...


 * If the Warden is married to Anora, he comes back to his life at the court and even Anora meets him with a smile. But some years later the Warden vanishes. Nobody knows why, but "neither does anyone think his tale is complete..."
 * If the Warden had chosen to "continue to serve the crown" in Origins, he/she will return to life at court in Denerim, and rumors suggest that he/she is the true power behind the crown. But a few years later, the Warden vanishes, and nobody knows why. (If you had a romance with Leliana in Origins, this epilogue will not show. Instead it will show the Leliana romance epilogue).
 * If the Warden had a romance with and chooses to follow Morrigan at the end of Origins, and none of his companions stay with him after the original epilogue, he leaves Vigil's Keep, and some claim that he chose to follow the dark-haired sorceress who fought alongside him during the Blight. Whether he found her or not, he never returns to Vigil's Keep again.
 * If the Warden had a romance with Leliana, he/she can eventually step down as Warden-Commander, since the Blight is truly over, and move on. Some claim he/she reunites with her. A year after the Blight's end, the pair are spotted together in Denerim. The commander never returns to Vigil's Keep. (BUG: If Alistair was/is in love with the - female - Warden it will go with with the Alistair ending listed above, even though the Warden was in a romance with Leliana.)
 * If the Warden had a romance with Zevran, some claim that he/she went to Antiva chasing him. One rumor suggested the pair engaged in a terrible showdown in the Antivan capital, and others say that they took over the Crows. Perhaps they adventure together still.
 * If the Warden is from Orlais, the Warden can serve as Warden Commander at Vigil's Keep for a time before finally being called by the Order to the Grey Warden headquarters at Weisshaupt. Rumor has it that there is a new Blight there. The Warden never returns to Vigil's Keep again.
 * The Warden might simply just vanish for reasons unknown and there too they will say that "neither does anyone think his/her tale is complete..."

Companions
Outcomes are not only dependent on the choices the Warden makes during the course of the game, but also dependent on the approval ratings of his/her companions at game's end.

Anders

 * If left to defend the Keep, Anders will be hailed a hero by the few survivors of Vigil's Keep by using his magic to hold off hundreds of darkspawn. He gets invited by the men to engage in a drinking contest. He loses.
 * Anders will remain with the Grey Wardens to train the Order's next generation of mages. When he is called by the Circle of Magi to deliver a lecture on the nature of the Architect - much to the templars' dismay -, he tells the Commander of the Grey that his time with the Wardens is over. However, not two months later, he returns and the Wardens remain his home and lasting companions.
 * Anders will remain with the Grey Wardens to train the Order's next generation of mages. When he is called by the Circle of Magi to deliver a lecture on the nature of the Architect - much to the templars' dismay - he tells the Commander of the Grey that his time with the Wardens is over. No longer a part of the Wardens, the Chantry brands him an apostate, but never captures him. He is last seen on a pirate ship with a familiar woman.
 * If Anders' companion quest is not complete, he will be captured again when he resigns from the Wardens. With his phylactery secure, he is unable to evade the templars. After two subsequent escape attempts, he vanishes for a third and final time.
 * If left to defend the Keep without enough upgrades to it, he is found dead with an arrow through his neck with hundreds of darkspawn dead in a circle around him; none were touched with a blade, but all were felled by magic.

Justice

 * If left to defend the Keep, and the Warden chooses to save the city of Amaranthine, Justice will fight valiantly, but, before the victory horn is sounded, a darkspawn sword removes Kristoff's head. It is unknown whether the spirit perishes or simply departs. At the least, Kristoff's wife, Aura, is finally able to claim her husband's ashes.
 * If Vigil's Keep is saved, Justice serves with the Order for many years, keeping in touch with Kristoff's wife, Aura, during his stay. Eventually however, Aura informs him that she can no longer tolerate her husband's rotting body. Justice bids her goodbye, and Kristoff's body slumps to the ground. Where the spirit goes, no one knows.
 * If Vigil's Keep is saved, and Justice's quest is completed, he will serve the Order for many years, fighting darkspawn resistance pockets; he appears at Aura's doorstep one day smiling, and fall over dead. It is unknown if the spirit completed his quest, or whether he died, or simply passed back into the Fade.
 * Once the darkspawn threat was ended, Justice left the Grey Wardens to pursue other injustices. Years later he appeared on the doorstep of Kristoff's widow and, smiling, simply dropped dead. Aura finally had a body to mourn. If the spirit remains alive, it has not shown itself.
 * If Vigil's Keep is not saved and Aura not visited in Amaranthine, Justice will stand in the ruins of Vigil's Keep looking in to the sun and saying "Now I know what to do." The ghost then disappears leaving behind the rotten body of Kristoff.
 * If the Warden sides with the Architect and fails to convince Justice that it's the right thing to do, Justice is killed by the Warden. It is unknown whether the spirit survived.
 * If not recruited, A mysterious figure in Grey Warden armor is occasionally seen in the marsh, erecting gravestones to honor villagers of old. In time, those sightings cease.

Nathaniel
NOTE: If you plan on importing to Dragon Age II, the game will, oddly, consider Nathaniel dead, unless he comes with you or you save the keep, regardless of upgrades.
 * Nathaniel will dedicate himself to the Order and to clearing the blemishes on his family's name. After saving Teyrn Fergus Cousland from a bandit attack, a portion of Amaranthine is returned to the Howes. Nathaniel passes the holding to his sister Delilah's son. When a new castle is built there, a statue of Nathaniel is erected in its courtyard.
 * If left to defend Vigil's Keep, Nathaniel fights valiantly and inspires his fellow defenders. He is one of the few to survive the battle.
 * If Nathaniel stays in the not upgraded Keep, he dies. He fought valiantly and with honor.
 * Nathaniel will leave the Grey Wardens after a few years seeing that the life is not for him.
 * If left at the Vigil with a wholly upgraded keep he will survive but will leave the Grey Wardens seeing that the life is not for him, later his nephew joins the Grey Warden and brings honor to the Howe name once again.
 * Nathaniel could have been executed by a Human Noble Warden if decided that it was too dangerous to spare a Howe who had the intention of assassinating the Warden.

Oghren

 * If left to defend the Keep, and the Warden chooses to save the city of Amaranthine, Oghren rallies a last-minute defense of the gate, Oghren epilogue.jpgg on two ogres simultaneously to allow others time to regain the courtyard. He eventually passes out from blood loss and wakes up weeks later, surprised that he has been credited as a hero.
 * Oghren stays with the Order and tells stories of his prowess in both battle and bed to the new recruits. His drinking games prompts at least one recruit to declare that she'd rather reattempt the Joining than lift another mug.
 * If Oghren's companion quest is not complete, Felsi will visit him frequently with their child, but, fed up with his immature attitude, will eventually stop visiting altogether. If Oghren misses them at all, he doesn't show it.
 * Oghren can, at the urging of the Commander, continue to play a role in his child's life, visiting Felsi and his child every so often and writing them letters (which the Warden Commander generously proofreads) almost weekly.
 * Oghren can die at the Keep. During his funeral Felsi gained condolence of Warden Commander with child in a hand and crying.

Sigrun

 * With the Mother dead, Sigrun seems to lose her purpose. She withdraws from her friends in the Order and speaks to them less each day. One morning, Sigrun is simply absent, her bed made and her trunk emptied. A young recruit who has been up in the night says she left for her Calling.
 * If the Warden defends Amaranthine, Sigrun was the one to lead the battle against the Darkspawn during the attack on Vigil's Keep with another army at her back. Once again, she and a legion faced the Darkspawn with no hope of survival. This time she did not run.


 * If the Warden doesn't recruit Sigrun among the Grey Wardens, Sigrun leaves Kal'Hirol for the Deep Roads, to fulfil her duty as a Legionnaire of the Dead. Many years later, a group of Grey Wardens battling in the roads recounted of a perky little dwarf fighting alone and mumbling of her death.
 * If the Warden completed her Companion Quest and then says that he/she *doesn't want to lose a friend* after the battle at Vigil's Keep, then Sigrun will stay with the Warden, sometimes leaving him/her, joking about her death, but always coming back.
 * Although Sigrun seemed intent on leaving for her Calling, departing for the Deep Roads to finish what she started in Kal'Hirol, the Warden-Commander had a knack for finding important and absolutely urgent things to occupy the dwarf. And so Sigrun delayed her long walk into the darkness for several decades, even though she never stopped cracking jokes about needing to throw herself at death.
 * If the Warden spared the Architect and did not do any of her quests (joining, companion quest) she will end up opposing the commander and vanishes into the Deep Roads where she will find her death, this time not running away from it.

Velanna

 * If left to defend the Keep, and the Warden chooses to save the city of Amaranthine, the surviving defenders watch in horror as a section of stone collapses upon her. When the rubble is later cleared, no body is found. Velanna is just gone.
 * If the Warden chooses to save Vigil's Keep, Velanna survives, though she does not return to her clan. Thanks to her friendship with the Warden Commander, she may eventually change her views on humankind. In the wake of the defeat of the Mother, when darkspawn stragglers attempt to attack a human village, Velanna single-handedly defends them.
 * If the Warden takes Velanna along and allies with the Architect against the Mother, Velanna will remain with the Wardens, but years later, on an expedition in the Deep Roads, Velanna takes off on her own after saying she had seen Seranni in the shadows. The other Wardens searched for her, but she was truly gone. Taking Velanna along during the final mission is not necessary; she might still have this even if she was not there when the Architect was spared.
 * If the Warden chooses to kill the Architect and Velanna survives the attack on Vigil's Keep (either because the Warden chose to save the Keep or was with Velanna when saving Amaranthine), she never sees her sister again. She partly blames the Warden for this, as she believes the Architect would have released her sister had they allied themselves with him, and this forever becomes a source of friction between the two.
 * If Velanna is not recruited, she continues to search fruitlessly in the Wending Wood for her sister, and eventually resumes attacking caravans, so that the Pilgrim's Road is abandoned and merchants start taking a longer but safer road to Denerim.
 * Velanna could have been killed by the Warden in the Wending Woods before she had a chance to be inducted into the Grey Wardens.

Amaranthine

 * If the Warden chose to send soldiers to protect the farmlands or chose to try and protect everything, the war devastates many farms, but many agree that more would have been lost otherwise. As a result, the farmholders develop a reverence for the Warden Commander, as well as an ongoing reliance on the Grey Wardens for order and protection.
 * If the Warden chose not to protect the farmlands, they will be devastated, but new settlers will come.
 * With Velanna and the Architect gone from the region, the Pilgrim's Path began to see traffic again. The massacre of the militiamen and the merchants, however, led to hostilities between the neighboring human settlements and any Dalish clans that passed by. One human villager soon kidnapped and murdered a Dalish child. The clans reacted by giving the Wending Wood a wide berth, but both sides know that at some point the elves will return for revenge.

City of Amaranthine

 * If the Warden helped the militia against the smugglers and then saved the city, Constable Aidan and his men are able to distribute the smugglers' goods to the battered survivors in the grueling days that follow the darkspawn defeat.Awakening Mage City of Amaranthine ending.png
 * If the Warden chooses to save Amaranthine, the citizens are overjoyed. This helps bring in large donations from other nations to Ferelden resulting in Amaranthine being rebuilt in a year and Vigil's Keep in five.
 * If the Warden chooses to abandon the city to save Vigil's Keep, Amaranthine is burned to the ground. The city's destruction does not endear the Wardens to Ferelden, and although much of the citizenry wants to forget the terrible event, a small segment pledges to exact revenge on the Grey Wardens. Eventually, a mob appears at Vigil's Keep, and although many are shown mercy and survive the bloody clash, public opinion of the Wardens remain sour until the Wardens finally lead an effort to rebuild Amaranthine.
 * If the Warden is a Mage and chooses to abandon the city, they will spread rumors that the Warden is a maleficar and an abomination, controlled by spirits of the Fade set to destroy humanity.
 * If the Warden is an elf and chooses to abandon the city, rumors say that the burning of Amaranthine was an act of revenge, part of a larger plot to destroy all human settlements.
 * If the Warden is Orlesian and chooses to abandon the city to save Vigil's Keep, rumors persist that the Warden was sent as part of a plot of Orlais to retake---or even destroy, Ferelden, fanning more anti-Warden sentiment.
 * If the Warden is a Human Noble and chooses to abandon the city to save Vigil's Keep, there are whispers that the burning of Amaranthine was a move for the Warden to gain more influence at court.
 * If the Warden helped the Smugglers and then saved the city, the Smugglers business thrives and they begin to slowly buy off all of the city guards. Eventually they have so much influence and power that they control the entire market district, driving the Merchant's Guild to disband after losing so much business to the Smugglers

The Blight Orphans

 * If the Warden had helped out the Orphans in all the scams they pulled, the leader of the group will create a legitimate charity after the attack on Amaranthine. (PC, PS3) Bug: It is possible to see this in the epilogue even if the Warden hasn't started this quest but did save Amaranthine. (In-game screenshot). Ironically, it's also possible not seeing this epilogue even if you completed all the quests given from the orphans. (Confirmed on Xbox 360 and PC).

Vigil's Keep

 * If the Warden chooses to save Amaranthine, and if all the upgrades are made to the Keep, it will hold against the Darkspawn Vigilkeep.jpg for days in a row before the attacking horde broke upon her walls. Although greatly outnumbered, the soldiers' silverite armor allow them to kill a dozen darkspawn each before falling. The keep developed an almost mythic reputation, the few survivors immortalized in song and legend. When the magnitude of the losses came to light, sympathy drove generous donations from all over Ferelden into the region's coffers. Vigil's Keep was restored to its former glory in five years.
 * If the Warden chooses to abandon Amaranthine and save Vigil's Keep, annals of the Grey Wardens hail the Warden Commander's victory at the Keep as a crucial one. Eventually, many of the Order's more clever recruits often spend days studying the account of the successful defense in order to better understand the Warden's tactics.
 * Peace allows the Wardens to replenish their numbers, and in time the keep bears an army with Wardens as its core, and new heroes would emerge from their ranks to challenge threats to Amaranthine and Ferelden.


 * If the Warden chooses to invest in Voldrik's reconstruction of Vigil's Keep, the fortress is eventually rebuilt, until Voldrik eventually stands on the battlements and declares the defenses acceptable. Never again would he speak more highly of human engineering.


 * If the Warden chooses to invest in silverite armor for the Vigil Keep's soldiers, the army at Vigil's Keep eventually becomes known as the Silver Order, becoming one of Ferelden's most renowned military forces, and becoming a lasting memory of the Keep's famous commander.
 * If the Warden chooses to protect the trade routes, or chose to try and protect everything, the Vigil becomes a trading hub that would eventually eclipse the city of Amaranthine, with traders reassured by guards continually patrolling the Pilgrim's Path. But prosperity breeds scheming and treachery between merchants and nobles, testing the commander's patience.
 * If the Warden spares Alec and orders him to join the army, then he will become one of the great heroes of the next age, a sheepherder-turned-soldier by the name of Ser Alec the Valiant, who eventually founded an order of knights that lasted a thousand years.
 * If the Warden brings Dworkin Glavonak lyrium-sand, then he further refines his lyrium-sand explosives, but left the Wardens' employ after Qunari mercenaries tried to assassinate him. Although the dwarven bombardier took his secrets with him, the learned say he left clues for others to follow in his footsteps.
 * If the Warden lets Master Wade create a sword from the ancient dragonbone, then the Commander's blade, Vigilance is boldly stolen by Antivan Crows. The blade changed hands many times thereafter, with some master swordsmen pursuing the weapon their entire lives. Some claim that this legendary blade has had a life of its own and that its power is steadily growing.
 * If the Warden gave the peasants food during their revolt, they will continue with their uprisings due to their suffering both during the war and afterward. Their success at the first riot emboldened them, so more uprisings followed, which were often put down brutally.

Kal'Hirol

 * Kal'Hirol is cleared of darkspawn, and eventually the dwarves of Orzammar attempt to reclaim it. House Helmi ultimately leads a host of dwarves to clear the Deep Roads between Orzammar and Kal'Hirol, and though the losses were great, they are ultimately successful. Kal'Hirol is reclaimed by Orzammar once and for all.
 * If the Warden returns from Kal'Hirol with the plate that honors the casteless that died to defend Kal'Hirol, the dwarves of Orzammar that reclaim Kal'Hirol hold a special celebration for them, and the Warden is invited to the proceedings as a guest of honor.

Blackmarsh

 * In time, the arling began to forget the tales of apparitions in the Blackmarsh, and ever so slowly, settlers drifted into the region. The village was slowly rebuilt, but the baroness's mansion was torn down completely and the site left untouched after both of her previous occupiers (one a wealthy merchant and the other an Orlesian mage) died mysteriously.

The Architect

 * If he gains the trust of the Warden, the Architect will keep true to his word, freeing the darkspawn from the Old Gods' call and gathering his remaining disciples to follow the rest of their kind back underground. Those Grey Wardens in other nations were appalled to hear of the Architect's continued existence, saying that it guaranteed another Blight, but were unable to track him down despite years of effort. However, darkspawn sightings grow increasingly rare and the dwarves claim that the Deep Roads have never been quieter.
 * If he is killed by the Warden, his disciples eventually make their way to the Deep Roads with their brethren in order to escape. However, they show no inclination towards vengeance on the Grey Warden who killed their savior.

The Darkspawn

 * If both the Architect and Mother are killed, nearly all remaining darkspawn flee back into the Deep Roads, and the raids on Amaranthine come to an abrupt end. However, the Deep Roads remain plagued, and it seems certain that a new Blight will begin. Though the immediate danger has passed, the cycle of the Old Gods is likely to continue.

The Messenger

 * If the Warden chooses to let him go after the battle in the City of Amaranthine, the city soon buzzes with stories of a cloaked but lisping figure who helps travelers in danger. At the same time, reports of isolated cases of the darkspawn disease emerge, but no one connects the two.

The Conspiracy

 * If the Warden finds the Dark Wolf and pays him to uncover the identities of the conspirators, and if the Warden pays them a visit, there will be the following lines in the Epilogue: Dark whispers of a conspiracy against the Warden-Commander fell silent, and Bann Esmerelle committed suicide. The nobles are rumored to have been cowed into silence.
 * If the Warden chose to wait for the nobles to make a move, and killed Bann Esmerelle and the conspirators, some nobles claim the Grey Wardens were involved in the Bann Esmerelle's disappearance on the eve of the final battle. Dark whispers hint at a conspiracy to oust the Wardens from Amaranthine is still afoot.
 * If the Warden chose to force Amaranthine's nobles to send a member of their family to live with the Grey Wardens, there will still be mumbles of ousting the Grey Wardens. But they will all fall silent soon after they are made.