Hawke

Hawke is the central protagonist of Dragon Age II. Hawke is fully voiced, can be either female or male, has a fully customizable appearance and, as in Dragon Age: Origins, can be a mage, rogue or warrior. The default name for female characters is Marian. The default name for male characters is Garrett.

Background
Hawke is a human who lived in Lothering during the Fifth Blight in Ferelden, escaping the darkspawn attack by fleeing north to the Free Marches and eventually rising to become "the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age". Along the way the title of "The Champion of Kirkwall" is earned. Over the course of the game's ten-year timeline, players' actions and choices will determine Hawke's history, relationships, and regrets to determine Hawke's rise to power.



Hawke's father, Malcolm, was an apostate mage, who died three years before the beginning of the game, while their mother, Leandra whose maiden name is Amell, is a noble from Kirkwall. Hawke has two younger twin siblings, the mage Bethany, and the warrior Carver, who are both potential mutually exclusive companions.

Personality
Though it may not be apparent at first, Hawke can exhibit one of three personalities based on the dialogue choices that the player has chosen.


 * Diplomatic/Helpful: Light blue or green highlight (Olive Leaf/Blue Wings)
 * Humorous/Charming: Purple highlight (Diamond/Comedy Mask)
 * Aggressive/Direct: Red highlight (Fist/Hammer/Twin Swords)

The first dialogue choice the player chooses sets Hawkes’ personality. If the players’ first pick is a diplomatic option (for example) Hawke’s voice will adopt the diplomatic tone in the next dialogue line that follows. As the player keeps choosing similar dialog options and those decisions will “stack”. If the player were to decide to change Hawkes’ personality in the later stages, that would take more than twice the amount of (either Humorous or Aggressive) dialog lines to activate that version of Hawkes’ voice. The idea behind this system is to ensure a consistency in Hawkes’ delivery throughout each Act. After a certain number of specific dialogue choices, Hawke’s personality is effectively crystallized.

At the start of each Act, Hawke retains his or her established personality, but the "stack" of previous personality choices is reduced. This gives the player an opportunity to change Hawkes’ tone. For more information on the Dialogue wheel, see Dialogue wheel.

Quotes
"Hawke said sarcastically." (Varric) "You know, I hate it when you do that." (Hawke to Varric) "Hawke muttered in an angry aside to the dwarf." (Varric)
 * "She spends her day making poisons, and cake. Tell me you didn't try the cake".
 * "Not to interrupt, but the Blight's not going to wait while we stand here pointing fingers".
 * "Perhaps we'll be lucky and they'll run out of darkspawn". (Sarcastic/Charming Hawke to Carver/Bethany in the first scene)
 * "If the options are south or die, I'll take my chances with south". (Sarcastic/Charming Hawke)
 * "If I'm standing beside you, you'll be a good ruler". (Said to Sebastian)
 * "Fenris told me that all Tevinter wines were made with the blood and tears of slaves... I do hope he was exaggerating".
 * "You taught my dog how to gamble?" (To Varric about Dog)
 * "Let's make Kirkwall a better place for everyone." (Diplomatic Hawke)
 * "Where are we going? How should I know? Do I look like the leader of this merry band of misfits?" (Sarcastic/Charming Hawke)
 * "Hawke this, Hawke that. Why does everything fall to me?" (Sarcastic/Charming Hawke)
 * "So I shouldn't slit my wrists and dance naked under the moonlight just to fit in?" (Sarcastic/Charming Hawke)
 * "Carry on. I love to eavesdrop" (Hawke to Sebastian)
 * "When in doubt, run away.. and let me handle it."
 * "That's right...you heard me!" (During combat with humorous personality)
 * "We're under attack...what a surprise!" (When ambushed with humorous personality)
 * "You think he brought those skeletons to life to serve me tea?" (sarcastic Hawke, act I act of mercy quest

Trivia

 * Hawke is related to the human Warden from the Magi Origin through Leandra, whose maiden name is Amell.
 * If a warrior or rogue, Hawke is revealed to have been part of the King's army at Ostagar, before their flight from Lothering.
 * At some point after Viscount Marlowe Dumar is killed, Hawke has the possibility to become Viscount.
 * In the codex pages of Bethany and Carver, it is revealed that Bethany was a lot closer to Hawke and she was envious of her brother/sister embracing the idea of being a mage (if Hawke is a mage). Carver was very jealous of the eldest for his/her growing martial skill and that Hawke was better at everything than he (if Hawke is a warrior or rogue).