Alistair

Alistair is a playful and compassionate Grey Warden, who can be a companion to The Warden in Dragon Age: Origins. He is a romance option for the female Warden.

Background
Alistair believes his mother to be a serving maid who died whilst giving birth to him. He was raised by Arl Eamon Guerrein, Arl of Redcliffe. The arl's wife, Arlessa Isolde suspected the reason her husband took an interest in the welfare of a servant's child was that Alistair was Eamon's son. She insisted the boy be sent away to the Chantry. Isolde's suspicions were unfounded, however. Alistair was not Eamon's son, but King Maric's. Maric sheltered the boy to hide his existence from Queen Rowan, Maric's wife, on the advice of his friend Loghain Mac Tir. His father was the last King of Ferelden making him the current heir to the throne after the demise of his half-brother King Cailan.

He was trained to become a templar for many years in the Chantry, this being how he learned most of his skills. He was found to be ill-suited to a life of religious devotion, however. When Duncan, a friend to his father, found him, Alistair had not yet taken his vows and was desperately unhappy. During a tourney held to honor the Grey Wardens, Duncan decided to recruit him. Although Alistair was not the most skilled fighter, bested by acclaimed templars such as Ser Eryhn, a woman who wielded a sword and shield with unequalled grace, Ser Talrew leader of many victories against the Chasind, and Ser Kalvin, one of the finest blades in Ferelden. Yet despite this, Duncan admired Alistair's character above the other templars present. Sensing that he had a good and loyal heart, Duncan used the Right of Conscription to force the Chantry to hand Alistair over to the Grey Wardens before he took the sacramental vows. The Grand Cleric did not wish to let him go, but could not supersede the Right of Conscription.

Involvement
Alistair is the first party companion after The Warden is sent to meet him at Ostagar to begin the Joining ritual. He is proud to be a Grey Warden and is devastated when Duncan and the rest of Ferelden's Grey Wardens die at Ostagar, due to Loghain's treachery. He is dedicated to stopping the Blight along with The Warden and will stand by The Warden, even if The Warden acts in a way he disapproves of.

Family is important to Alistair. Despite sleeping in the stables when under Eamon's care, and Isolde being responsible for his being sent to the Chantry, helping save them all is very important to him. Alistair also longs to be reunited with his half sister Goldanna. After his experiences with Goldanna The Warden has the opportunity to permanently harden Alistair's personality by telling him, "Everyone is out for themselves. You need to learn that." If the Warden adheres to this advice in follow up conversations then Alistair will gain confidence and put himself first more often. This means he is more willing to become king, and to put his personal feelings above his sense of duty.

The Landsmeet is a critical event for Alistair. As the only known living child of King Maric, Alistair has a strong claim to the throne. At the Landsmeet Alistair can become the king, ruling by himself, with Anora, or with a female Warden with the Human Noble origin. However, despite his willingness to overlook other actions The Warden has taken, if The Warden accepts Riordan's advice to let Loghain undergo the joining, he will leave the party for good. He can be persuaded to marry Anora, and become king, but he will not serve alongside Loghain under any circumstances. If the Warden even considers Riordan's advice, Alistair will become angry enough that Anora refuses to marry him. If Alistair does leave, he will take all the items that he was equipped with.

Note: When Alistair got executed after the Landsmeet a chest appeared at his spot in Arl of Redcliffe's estate with all his equipment in it he was wearing at the time. If he simply leaves the chest is not present.

Epilogue

 * If he is not hardened and Alistair becomes King of Ferelden, he travels frequently during his reign, ruling with a "common touch".
 * If he is hardened, he will surprise many by studying governance, though he still likes to sneak out of the castle to visit local taverns. He will also be willing to continue his relationship with the Warden if it has occured (if they are not of Human Noble origin). Spending time after with his love before leaving for Weisshaupt - promising to return shortly.
 * If Alistair does not become king, and is in a romance with The Warden, he can stay with the Grey Wardens, not leaving his love's side except to make a memorial for Duncan.
 * If Loghain is conscripted into the Grey Wardens, Alistair leaves Ferelden and becomes a wandering drunkard. (Unless of course you harden his personality during his personal quest, and then subsequently convince him and Anora to marry - in which case he will still choose to become King but will no longer directly support you in your efforts against the Blight.)

Romance
Alistair is only romantically interested in women. To start a romance with him, talk to him about his past as a Templar. Compliment him; tell him you like him, essentially anything but openly mocking him will put you in his good graces. If propositioned before an appropriate approval rating he may turn you down due to his own inexperience. If continued approval built, he will eventually join you in your tent. He likes to feel wanted and needed, and will even respond to a little bit of bossiness. However, he doesn't like being mocked, especially about intimacy. It's a fine line between mocking him or not, sometimes you will gain approval for and sometimes lose approval for.

Alistair will take the lead and invite you to bed if your approval rating is high enough after completing his personal quest (and you haven't already gotten him to go back to your tent). The conversation will be initiated the next time you go to camp.

When Alistair becomes interested in the female Warden, he will offer a gift of a rose. You may choose to accept it or not. If you have high approval with Alistair and high approval with Zevran or Leliana (adore or love levels), when you next speak to Alistair, he will force you to make a choice between the two of them.

If Alistair becomes king, and Anora is imprisoned, unless the Warden is a human noble or Alistair has been hardened, the relationship will end. * Note: The human noble must be persuasive enough to make the landsmeet accept her as queen, or the relationship will end anyway (select persuade option "I'll rule beside him").

If you have already slept with Alistair, "hardened" him during his personal quest, and his approval is high enough, you can have a threesome with him and Isabela on her ship.

If Alistair falls in love with The Warden, and Morrigan's offer is declined, Alistair will insist on sacrificing himself to slay the Archdemon regardless of conversation option choice, admitting that duty alone is not the real reason for his actions. If told that his decision is crazy, Alistair will reply that it is the "sanest thing I've ever done" before kissing the warden one last time and slaying the arch demon. The only way to keep Alistair alive in the end is to convince him to accept Morrigan's offer.

If Alistair falls in love with the Warden and Morrigan's offer is accepted, he will have sex with Morrigan, though this will not change his feelings for The Warden. He will accompany you into the final battle- after that he will join you in whatever you decide to do.

Quests Given
Alistair's Family

Initial Statistics
Class: Warrior

Specialization: Templar

Starting Talents:

Templar: Righteous Strike

Warrior: Powerful

Weapon and Shield: Shield Bash, Shield Pummel, Shield Block, Shield Cover

Strategy
Alistair is a very solid choice as a "tank" (i.e. the character that captures the attention of enemies and take most of the damage) in the event that the Warden is not already playing a tanking role. Spend the early talent points on the Warrior school (threaten and taunt) and Weapon and Shield Talents will make Alistair the exclusive tank in the party. In melee Shield Tactics is crucial to avoid flanking damage while Overpower and Assault should be staple offensive talents for Alistair.

If Alistair is your tank he will charge smaller enemy groups, unless you have an ambush staged. So make sure to give him few moments so he can build up threat and make sure that the most dangerous target keeps it's attention on Alistair so that target doesn’t go in search of someone else in the party. Focus on the defense rather than offense for Alistair because his role is to hold the enemies and suck up damage while the party's damage-oriented members attack the enemies. Equip Alistair with the best massive armor available. He should wear better armor than the main character, because armor rating is a factor that keeps the enemies attention. By wearing the heaviest armor among the party members he will make sure to draw the enemies to him. He should wield a good one-handed weapon to inflict high damage and further increase threat against his targets. In his secondary weapon slot, give Alistair a bow or crossbow for long-range combat.

On the other hand if the main character is already a tank, then it is recommended that you explore an alternate build for Alistair. Alistair's starting dexterity is the highest of all the companion warriors, and he joins your party at a very low level, so it's quite easy to shift his focus to Dual Weapon Talents or Archery Talents.

Plot Skills and Plot Talent
As you befriend Alistair and gain his approval he will gain additional skills, including the following:

Quotes

 * "You know, one good thing about the Blight is how it brings people together."


 * "Well! He's not half as dead as he looks, is he?"


 * (meeting Morrigan) "Swooping is bad."
 * "Here I thought we were getting along so well! I was even going to name one of my children after you - the grumpy one!"


 * "You smell great; is that death you're wearing? It really suits you."


 * (About the statue of Andraste in Lothering) "You ever wonder if that's an accurate likeness of Andraste? Maybe she was ugly. Maybe she had buck teeth. How do you know?"


 * "Ah, kind of like coming home again. Only with more undead."


 * "You ever wonder why the mages built their tower out in the middle of Lake Calenhad? They have an aversion to practicality or something?"


 * (upon arrival at the Tower) "As I recall from my time as a templar, locking the door and throwing away the key was 'plan B'."


 * "Remind me never to get injured near you" (after snapping the neck of the injured scout you meet in the wilds)


 * "Is it just me, or did I do really badly back there?" (after being knocked unconscious)


 * "We won? We did? Yay!" (after being knocked unconscious)
 * "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."
 * "Ah there it is, Werewolf City, kinda like flea heaven, isn't it?"


 * "I tried dwarven ale once. I thought it was just something they tricked surfacers into drinking, as a joke." 


 * (After Redcliffe) "Now that the warm fuzzy part is over we can get back to the ritual of dismemberment. Oh wait, it's not Tuesday is it?"


 * "There's nothing like a brush with death to make you...not like death much."


 * "Yes, fun. Tricking Morrigan... oh, who am I kidding? That does sound fun. I'm a bad man."


 * (In Ostagar) "If the king wants to see you and Duncan, you probably shouldn't keep him waiting. He might get mad, start crying, you'll feel bad, and... well, it won't be pretty."
 * "You stole them, didn't you? You're some sort of... sneaky... witch-thief!"
 * "Warden senses, tingling!"
 * (When you walk into the blacksmiths store in Redcliffe) "Somebody's been drinking."
 * (After battle, heavily injured) "Injured! As in me, as in Ow!"
 * "Yikes, Beasties. Beasties are coming."
 * "Last thing you want when you're about to take down some maleficar out in the woods is to have him point and laugh at your taste in clothing. Am I right?"
 * "More crazy? I thought we were all full up."(In response to Leliana's request to join the party)
 * Have you ever licked a lamp post in winter?
 * "Who's the cute and adorable puppy?"

Dialogue
Alistair's Dialogue

--

(If you initially refuse to allow Leliana to join your group when you meet her in the Dane and instead she stops you leaving Lothering)

Warden: Alistair, she's one archdemon short of a blight.

Alistair: Yes, but she's more like 'Ooh! Pretty colors!' than 'Muahahaha! I am princess stabbity, stab, kill, kill!'

--

Alistair: I get it, I get it. 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.

Warden: I think I'd like to see that.

Alistair: For you, maybe. But it has to be a pretty dress.

Duncan: (Sighs)

--

(When Alistair initially confesses to The Warden) 

Alistair: Here, look at this. Do you know what it 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!

--

(regarding the rose he offers the Female Warden) "I picked it in Lothering. I remember thinking, how could something so beautiful exist in a place with so much despair and ugliness? I probably should have left it alone, but I couldn't. The darkspawn would come and their taint would just destroy it. So I've had it ever since."

Trivia



 * When asked to compare a set list of NPC companions to food, BioWare employee Cori May said that Alistair was most comparable to "strawberries and cream, sweet and wholesome and delicious, and a little goofy." While writer Sheryl Chee says "Alistair is an apricot. Cute, sweet and just a little fuzzy."
 * Writer Sheryl Chee has said that when going out for a drink Alistair would "have half a pint and giggle uncontrollably for the rest of the night."
 * In writing Alistair, David Gaider was inspired by Xander from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Malcom Reynolds from Firefly.
 * Alistair is David Gaider's favorite NPC.
 * Alistair has a fear of failing others which has lead to a fear of leading which is why he doesn't wish to be king or lead the party on their quest.


 * The origin of the name Alistair is Scottish; it means "Defender of the People."


 * Alistair is an anglicized form of Alexander, which means "One who holds off the enemies".
 * Alistair's real mother is revealed in the DA:O prequel novel, Dragon Age: The Calling.

Gifts

 * Alistair's Mother's Amulet (Found in Arl Eamon's Study at Redcliffe)
 * Duncan's Shield (Found in the Grey Warden Vault after Riordan provides access)
 * For more see: Gifts

Fanclubs and Fan-Run Sites
Please note that some sites have sensitive content.
 * Unofficial Alistair Fan Club - Facebook group
 * Swooping Is Bad - another unofficial fan community for Alistair
 * Alistair's Secrets: Unofficial Fan Shrine - media-based fan community
 * We &lt;3 Alistair - BioWare social network group