Romance (Origins)

In Dragon Age: Origins, Wardens of either gender and any race can pursue a heterosexual or homosexual romance. There are four companions who can be romanced. Morrigan, a "Witch of the Wilds", and Alistair, a young and sarcastic Grey Warden, are the heterosexual options. Leliana, a sister at a local chantry with a dark past, and Zevran, an Antivan assassin, are bisexual romance options. No other companions can be romanced.

Initiation
Correct dialogue choices initiate romances while increased approval ratings and personal quest completions advance them. There are two opportunities to initiate a romance with each character, although these opportunities are not always the same for player Wardens of both sexes. The first opportunity is generally early on in the game. The second opportunity occurs after that particular character's quest has been completed. Some characters are open to casual sex and thus have lower requirements for physical intimacy (Morrigan, Zevran), while others are only looking for serious, long term commitments (Leliana, Alistair) and thus require more investment. You can tell that a romance is initiated if their rating is Interested/Care/Adore/Love instead of Neutral/Warm/Friendly.

Alistair
Alistair is only romancable as a female player. Take a joking route with Alistair as often as possible, so long as you are not laughing at him or his romantic gestures. Humorous responses versus serious ones will often lead to a bigger approval bonus. Dialog options that make him feel wanted or needed gain lots of approval; avoid insulting Duncan or the Grey Wardens, as well as being rude to him. Agree with him as much as possible. Certain dialog choices that are particularly cruel will end the relationship--however, most have the option to apologize for: as long as there are still conversations that will initiate a romance, it is possible to rekindle the relationship. Once Moderate Approval has been reached, he will give you his gift; at Major Approval he will confess he cares for you a great deal and kiss you; at Massive Approval, with his personal quest completed, he will ask to spend the night with you.

Morrigan
Morrigan is only romancable as a male player. It is important to remember that Morrigan is very set in her ways. If pursuing a romance with her, it is advised that you agree with her philosophy of "survival of the fittest". The Witch can be easily offended at first and so you should choose your words carefully. She is also an apostate, and as such, has very negative views toward the Chantry and toward Templars. She will often say that she doesn't wish for love, and you should agree with Morrigan without insulting her. At Moderate Approval, she will ask you to sleep with her. At Major Approval she will give you her gift. At Massive Approval, with the completion of her personal quest, she will confess her feelings.

Zevran
Zevran is romanceable by both male and female players. Be accepting of Zevran's past, and often sympathetic when you can. If the dialog option is present, tell Zevran that you are happy he is with you. Do not be negative of his occupation as an assassin, his sexuality, or his views on casual sex; it is often best to agree with him. At Moderate Approval he will ask about the nature of your relationship and about his future with you. At Major Approval he will ask you to his tent. At Massive Approval, and his personal quest completed, he will give you his gift and express his feelings.

Leliana
Leliana is romancable by both male and female players. After her previous career as a bard took a disastrous and incredibly traumatizing turn for the worse, she sought solace and refuge in her faith. This makes her something of a reformed bad girl at the start of the game. In this regard she has decided to use the skills she gained in her previous career to assist the Warden in not only ending the blight, but in also assisting him in making Ferelden a better place by helping others. Should the Warden have similar goals & desires, then gaining her approval is fairly simple and straightforward. An "evil" or highly mercenary Warden will find her approval harder to maintain. In order to initiate a romance with her, Wardens of both sexes must express interest. She isn't interested in a fling and will not become physically intimate until she has fallen in love with the Warden. Furthermore, she will not fall in love until both her personal quest has been completed and her approval rating has reached 91 or higher. She is highly romantic and wishes to be treated with respect. Nevertheless she is no innocent, and every so often the bad girl in her will come out to play, romantically speaking, especially if the Warden encourages that side of her. See hardening leliana for details.

Personal Quests: Sex & Love
Personal quests may need to be completed before a romancable character will fall in love with the Warden, and before Leliana or Alistair will become physically intimate. For Morrigan & Zevran, being in love is not a requirement for sleeping with the Warden. These quests will be triggered as long as party members accompany the Warden, have a high enough approval rating, and the version of the game is 1.02 or newer. In older game versions, the conversational trigger for Leliana's quest may fail to appear if her approval rises from 51 ("Care") to 71 ("Adore") before the player sees the dialogue option. Completing the personal quest will result in significant gains of approval. Certain dialogue options following their personal quests also provide an opportunity to 'harden' the two characters, making them less judgmental of actions which they might otherwise find disagreeable. Finally, for all romancable characters, completion of their personal quests will provide a second chance to either start a romance whose first opportunity was missed or to restart a romance that was previously ended. The personal quests are:
 * Flemeth's Real Grimoire
 * Alistair's Family
 * Leliana's Past
 * Defeating Taliesin (Zevran)

Love Triangles
It is easy to initiate romances with more than one companion. But none of the player's romancable companions like sharing with other companions. The game contains romance triangle dialogs that will eventually force a break-up with the companion the character does not choose. These romance triangle jealousy dialogs will be triggered under the following conditions:


 * For Leliana only: if her romance flag is set to active and her approval is "Care" (51 or higher) she will start an argument if you click on her after either a romance with Alistair romance has reached "Adore" (71 or higher) or the Warden has slept with either Morrigan or Zevran (their exact approval ratings don't matter in this case). It is possible to finesse your way through this conversation without breaking up with any characters. You can generally either lie and try to use your persuade skill to convince Leliana that you didn't sleep with Morrigan or Zevran, you can be evasive, or you can simply tell them what you have with the other companion is just a fling (Morrigan & Zevran) or harmless flirting (Alistair). As long as you don't tell her you have something special with the other character, don't tell her she misunderstood her relationship with you, don't tell her to mind her own business, and don't say something emotionally brutal, most of the other options keeps all your relationships alive. Lying has the most short term benefit as it will result in a small approval increase, but that benefit is temporary. The game keeps track of that lie and you will later face a far steeper approval decrease when she finds out. Telling her it's a fling will result in an immediate approval decrease, and the deductions can stack quickly if you make too many blunt statements. Being evasive, and then diplomatically indirect regarding the truth without lying avoids nearly all of the approval penalties without setting you up for a big deduction later down the road for lying to her. This conversation is something of a minefield loaded with approval penalties, but it's possible to get through it with just a very small approval penalty if you decide not to lie, but still wish to keep both romances alive.


 * For all companions (including Leliana): a companion whose romance flag is set to active and whose approval is "Adore" (71 or higher) will start an argument if you click on the character when another character also is in a romance with you and has an approval that is "Adore" (71 or higher). (For Leliana this is the second time she'll give the Warden a hard time over another character.) There is no way around a break-up this time. You will be forced to make a choice. Depending on the wording of your choice, the romance with the character you do not choose will either simply be cut off (with the possibility of being restarted later), or it will be ended permanently if you're particularly harsh in your break-up.

Note that it is possible to end the game having active romances with both Morrigan and Leliana while both are in love with a male warden if you are -extremely- careful in navigating your plot & dialog choices. The love triangle dialogs are set to only trigger once each and it's possible to trigger both Morrigan's & Leliana's adore approval jealousy dialogs before being forced to break up with one of them. This is because telling Morrigan your hero chooses her does not automatically cut off the romance with Leliana. Morrigan expects your hero to then tell Leliana it's over. Leliana's adore approval jealousy dialog will then trigger when you click on her and you can still change your mind and pick either. Your romance with the one you don't choose will then be cut off. If you later restart your romance with the one you rejected after their quest, you will then be free to pursue both simultaneously since you already triggered both adore jealousy dialogs the first time around. Note that the pursuit of a simultaneous relationship with Leliana will in no way affect Morrigan's actions at the end of the game. Morrigan will make the same decision regardless.

Achievements
When the Warden spends the night with a romantic partner achievements are unlocked.
 * Sharing the night with Morrigan unlocks the "Witch Gone Wild" achievement.
 * Sharing the night with Alistair unlocks the "First Knight" achievement.
 * Sharing the night with Leliana unlocks the "Wine, Woman, and Song" achievement.
 * Sharing the night with Zevran unlocks the "Easy Lover" achievement.
 * Sharing the night with all romance options unlocks the "Hopelessly Romantic" achievement.

Romantic Quotes

 * "We shall make this last night together something to remember." Morrigan
 * "Maker's breath, but you're beautiful. I am a lucky man." Alistair
 * "I walked where the Maker led me and he has rewarded me for my faith. I found you." Leliana
 * "In truth, for the chance to be by your side I would storm the Dark City itself. Never doubt it." Zevran

Other Encounters
As well as the fully fledged romance options, The Warden can engage in brief sexual encounters and romances throughout the game.
 * Iona (Human Noble Origin only)
 * Dairren (Human Noble Origin only)
 * Mardy (Males using the Dwarf Noble Origin only)
 * Teli (Males using the Dwarf Noble Origin only) *threesome with Mardy only
 * Gorim (Females using the Dwarf Noble Origin only)
 * Isabela (If in a romance with Alistair (hardened), Leliana (hardened), or Zevran, Isabela will engage in a threesome. You can also have a foursome if you have Zevran and Leliana, if she is hardened)
 * Cammen (located in Dalish Camp)
 * Gheyna (located in Dalish Camp)
 * Prostitutes at The Pearl
 * The Desire Demon that has possessed Connor (only if the Warden is a mage and chooses to enter the Fade to confront the demon in person)

Awakening
Romances do not carry forward in Awakening and there are no new romance options available either, though the approval indicator may sometimes mistakenly indicate "love" instead of "friendly" for certain companions. However, during his cameo Alistair will acknowledge his romantic relationship with an imported character and game files reveal A Letter From Leliana and A Letter From Zevran directed towards the Warden if they were in a relationship. Also, if the Warden romanced someone in Origins he/she will be mentioned in the ending.