Anders

"It is the Maker who creates mages. The Chantry was built by men, and it can be brought down by them."

Anders is a mage who has escaped from the Circle of Magi and is a potential companion in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening. Despite his distinct dislike for the Circle, he has a rather laid-back and care-free attitude and doesn't let dire circumstances get him down. Anders is a very kind person, who loves to use his magic to help people. In both games he starts out with healing magic. He is also a companion and potential love interest to either a female or male Hawke in Dragon Age II.

Background
As an adolescent he was taken to the Circle Tower by the templars, which he despised as he compared it to a prison. Anders is not his real name (which is unknown), but rather a nickname referring to the fact that his family is from the Anderfels. He's a very talented mage and has escaped from the tower seven times, only to be captured and brought back by the templars. Despite accusations that he is a maleficar, he is only an apostate and campaigns vigourously for the freedom of mages; from his point-of-view, the Chantry twists Andraste's words of "magic is to serve man, never to rule over him", to mean that mages must be prisoners. Despite his ideals of freedom for others, he sees slavery as suitable to those who dare spit on the freedom of mages.

Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
{{SpoilerDAOA| Anders is found during the opening quest to regain Vigil's Keep. He has killed many darkspawn and is surrounded by dead templars. He claims to have not killed the templars although there is no proof either way. The Warden-Commander can then ask him to join the group and he will do so. Alternatively, the Warden can let him escape at that point and still have a chance to recruit him later on the rooftop of Vigil's Keep. He will be found spying on the Withered and Seneschal Varel, at which point he'll warn the Warden about the danger that lies ahead and confess that he came back because he wanted to help defend people against the darkspawn.

After the opening quest is completed, Rylock, a templar, will warrant Anders' arrest. The Warden-Commander can either conscript him, therefore making him undergo the Joining Ritual, or allow his arrest with or without leniency. If conscripted, he will survive the ritual and become a Grey Warden. During his companion quest, another choice will have to be made to either side with him, or let the templars take him into custody.

Epilogue
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 * 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 Order is over. However, not two months later, he returns and the Wardens remain his home and lasting companions.
 * 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.
 * 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. This possibly references the companion Isabela in Dragon Age II.

Romance
Anders is a romance option for both genders. If Hawke is male, he will mention that Karl was his "first." . If Hawke is female, he does not mention Karl romantically. Hawke can announce interest in Anders after his personal quest, much to his surprise. Anders will say he should "check a looking glass more often".

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

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

Dragon Age II
Act 1

Act 2

Act 3

Gifts
Anders favours fashion accessories. He also has a strong liking for cats.

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

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. Lowtown Lirene's Fereldan Imports Shop: (+30 armor) Next to the apparel shop.
 * Act 2: Lyrium Weave. Gallows Mages Goods Shop (+77 attack) Next to Formari Herbalist.
 * Act 2: Spirit Essence. Found during the Dissent quest (10% Magic Resistance). After killing Ser Alrik, search the nearby dead end chambers just west of the exit before leaving the area.
 * Act 3: Sigil of the Mage Underground. Found during the Best Served Cold quest

After completing his companion quest Justice 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.

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. (On the PC, it can be hard to find the correct spot to click; make sure to hit "tab" and rotate the camera if it's not letting you click on it.)
 * Vigil's Keep: The statue of Andraste in the middle of the courtyard. Just agree with the apostate point of view and you will get some approval.
 * Kal'Hirol - Trade Quarter: A basket of lyrium at the far end of the forge area (where the repair anvil is)
 * City of Amaranthine: A pine tree on the left side of the path just before the first gate. As female warden choosing 3,1,4,1 will result in, but no romance.

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 enquires about the Deep Roads maps) "A wizard did it."
 * (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 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.
 * Jennifer Hepler penned a short story to accompany the game, which focuses around the mage's possession by Justice.
 * 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 the people that he inevitably kills receives proper justice as well.
 * Though he uses a fire spell when you first meet him, he does not have the spell when he joins your 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 will laugh.
 * "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 purely by chance since both words come a completely different origin.
 * 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.)
 * In the Fade (Dragon Age II), when Justice take complete control, the passive spell Vengeance is active whether or not you have assigned it to Anders.
 * 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.