Anders

"The people fear what we can do, but to use that fear to bludgeon us into submission is wrong! And they do it with our blessing!"

Anders is an apostate mage determined to escape the Circle of Magi and the templars, with whom he has developed a rather antagonistic relationship. Nothing they have done to him has dampened his desire for personal freedom. He has a deep affinity for the downtrodden and underprivileged, and for cats. He is a potential companion in both Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening and Dragon Age II. In the latter he is a romance option for Hawke.

Background
Anders is a spirit healer. His real name is unknown, and his nickname refers to the fact that his family is from Anderfels. When he started to exhibit magical abilities and set a barn on fire, his father grew afraid of him. At the age of twelve he was handcuffed and taken by the templars to the Ferelden Circle Tower. The only personal possession he was allowed to keep was a pillow hand embroidered by his mother. Anders despised the Circle and compared it to a prison. He made at least seven and at most dozens attempts to escape the tower, each time being returned and punished by the templars. First Enchanter Irving believed that Anders, however reckless, posed no true threat. Anders' next-to-last escape earned him a year of solitary confinement, in which the only company he had most days was the tower's mouser named Mr. Wiggums. The final time he managed to run away was prior to Uldred's uprising.

Romance
During the DLC Legacy, Anders will act as if no longer in a romance if you have sided with the templars and are playing after Act III. At the beginning of the DLC, Anders expresses worry that Hawke's pursuers can "get at" Hawke. During the course of events, he has some romance specific lines for Hawke, such as begging Hawke to help him overcome the voices and calling Hawke "love". In Mark of the Assassin, Anders can grow jealous if you flirt with Tallis, and worries over Hawke's safety when he/she is captured with Tallis. He also makes some note of knowing what's coming or perhaps what has happened by saying "I wish we could stay like this forever, love" when clicked on.

Friendship and rivalry
Friendship with Anders can generally be earned by siding with the mages, by being agreeable to him in a conversation and by directly confronting demons and blood mages.

Rivalry with Anders can generally be earned by siding with the templars, by sending mages to the Circle and by refusing to champion the oppressed or enslaved.

Dragon Age II
Act 1

Act 2

(gift)

Act 3

Mark of the Assassin

Dragon Age II

 * The Tevinter Chantry Amulet can be found during the quest A Bitter Pill

Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Class: Mage

Specialization: Spirit Healer

Skills: Herbalism, Runecrafting, Improved Combat Tactics, Clarity

Starting Talents:

Mage: Arcane Bolt, Arcane Shield

Spirit Healer: Group Heal, Revival, Lifeward

Primal: Winter's Grasp, Frost Weapons, Cone of Cold

Creation: Heal, Heroic Offense

Spirit: Walking Bomb, Mind Blast

Entropy: Weakness, Paralyze, Drain Life

Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Initial gear

Anders specific gear

Dragon Age II
Anders' armor upgrades can be found at the following locations:


 * Act 2: Armor Struts, purchased at Lirene's Fereldan Imports in Lowtown. Increases armor.
 * Act 2: Lyrium Weave, purchased at Mage Goods in the Gallows Courtyard. Increases attack.
 * Act 2: Spirit Essence, found during the Dissent quest. After killing Ser Alrik, search the nearby dead end chambers just west of the exit before leaving the area. +10% magic resistance.
 * Act 3: Sigil of the Mage Underground, found during the Best Served Cold quest. Extra rune slot.

After completing his companion quest Questioning Beliefs during Act 3, he will change into a black version of his Renegade's coat. Entering into a romance with him ultimately has no factor in this.

Anders specific gear , requires Mage Item Pack 1 DLC. , requires Legacy DLC. , requires Mage Item Pack 2 DLC. , requires Mark of the Assassin DLC.

Plot skills
As the player befriends Anders and gains his approval, he will gain additional skills in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening:

Dialogue points
Below are the spots where the player can initiate dialogue with Anders in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening:
 * Vigil's Keep: The statue of Andraste in the middle of the courtyard.
 * City of Amaranthine: A pine tree on the left side of the path just before the first gate.
 * Kal'Hirol - Trade Quarter: A basket of lyrium at the far end of the forge area (where the repair anvil is)

Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening

 * "All I want is a pretty girl, a decent meal, and the right to shoot lightning at fools."
 * "Maker's breath, kitty. What have you been eating?"
 * "After my seventh escape attempt, you think they'd have given me credit for trying."
 * "Magic isn't for your amusement! Why don't I just do a little dance? Anders' Spicy Shimmy?"
 * (Upon being removed from party) "Andraste's knicker-weasels!"

Dragon Age II

 * (To Hawke and party upon first meeting) "I have made this place a sanctum of healing and salvation! Why do you threaten it?"
 * "Since when is Justice happy? Justice is righteous. Justice is hard."
 * "Ten years, a hundred years from now, someone like me will love someone like you, and there will be no templars to tear them apart."
 * (To Bartrand, after he inquires about the Deep Roads maps) "A wizard did it."
 * (Entering the Blooming Rose brothel) If someone here tries to hire me again I'm leaving.
 * (Shouted in battle) "Suck on a fireball!"
 * (Shouted in battle) "I'll show you why mages are feared!"
 * (Reviving after a fight) "Even my bruises have bruises."
 * (To Hawke's dog) "Be a real pet! Ignore me until you want something and then sit on my head."
 * (Upon arriving at the Dalish camp) "In my experience, all Dalish women are crazy."
 * "Andraste's flaming knickers!"
 * (During The Last Straw) "I removed the chance of compromise, because there is no compromise."
 * (During The Last Straw) "The people fear what we can do, but to use that fear to bludgeon us into submission is wrong! And they do it with our blessing!"

Trivia

 * David Gaider wrote Anders in Awakening, while Jennifer Hepler took over the role for Dragon Age II.
 * "Anders" is a common name in Scandinavia, equivalent to the English name Andrew, and derived from the Ancient Greek word andros, meaning "human" or "man." In modern Dutch and modern German, anders means "different," but this is likely purely by chance, since both words come from a completely different origin.
 * Though Anders uses a fire spell when you first meet him in Awakening, he does not have the spell when he joins the party.
 * If Anders specializes in Blood Magic, the player can have another additional line of dialogue with Anders when speaking about Anders' past with the templars. When Anders remarks there really isn't much of a reason to arrest him, the Warden can point out that Anders is an actual blood mage now, to which Anders laughs.
 * In the library in the Circle of Magi during the Witch Hunt DLC one can find some old notes left in a book in which a young mage made sketches in the margins of templars being eaten by a tiger named "Ser Pounce-a-lot". (Since that mage is Anders, he subsequently names the kitten given to him in Awakening Ser Pounce-a-lot.)
 * The mage Finn reveals through dialogue that Anders once escaped the Circle of Magi by swimming across Lake Calenhad during a weekly training exercise for the apprentices. He was caught again one week later.
 * In the Fade (Dragon Age II), when Justice takes complete control, the passive spell Vengeance is active whether or not you have assigned it to Anders.
 * If Hawke invited Anders to move in and proposed Orana to work for Hawke, you can click on the lute in Hawke's bedroom to learn that "Anders may have talents, but playing the lute isn't one of them".
 * Jennifer Hepler describes the choice of keeping Anders alive as "poetic justice", as he would have to face and suffer the knowledge of the lives he took. She also states her belief that he wishes death so that the people whom he killed receive justice as well.
 * David Gaider stated that Anders being merged with Justice may have one of the two effects on his Calling: "One is that the spirit within Anders can affect the level of his corruption, so it may delay or remove the necessity for his Calling altogether. Either that or at some point the corruption within Anders is going to corrupt the spirit." He refused to tell which one the writers prefer due to the possibility of Anders appearing in future games.

Bugs

 * If Hawke sleeps with Isabela or Merrill, breaks up the relationship and then starts romancing Anders, the final scene and the achievement are still accessible. However, in the epilogue Varric mistakenly says "… all except Isabela/Merrill" (or both "Isabella/Merrill" and "Anders" simultaneously).
 * If Hawke is in romance with Anders but kills him in the end, or spares him but breaks up with him before the last battle, in the epilogue Varric mistakenly says that all the companions parted ways except for Anders unless the latest patch is installed.