Merrill

"It’s a Keeper’s job to remember, even the dangerous things."

Merrill is an elven mage and a temporary companion to the Dalish elf Warden during the Dalish Elf Origin and a companion and romance option for a male or female Hawke in Dragon Age II.

Pre-Game
Merrill was born to the Alerion clan, which wandered the hills of Nevarra. She was the third child of the clan with the ancient gift (magic) born to her- when the next Arlathvenn (gathering of clans) occurred, she was given to the Sabrae clan to be the First to Keeper Marethari.

Dragon Age: Origins
Merrill is the First, or apprentice, of the clan's Keeper, Marethari. She is interested in recovering the elves' lost lore and possesses some knowledge of the elves' old magic. You first meet her during the Dalish Elf origin story.

Dragon Age II
The Keepers of the Dalish are the masters of ancient lore and guardians of old secrets. Merrill can recite all of known elven history and navigate the Fade… but has very little experience with the world or even her own people. Now in a foreign land, surrounded by dangers on all sides, Merrill must find help for her clan. Whatever the cost.

Following the events of the Dalish elf origin, Merrill kept a fragment of the Eluvian to cleanse it of its taint.

On February 14th on a post announcing Dragon Age II's love interests, the following short story, written by the development team, was put up on the Bioware forums.

Romance
A Romance with Merrill will require 50% friendship/rivalry by act 2, also like every other romance flirting is important, flirt at least once before or during the Questioning Beliefs mid-point relationship conversation in Act 2. You may not get the flirt option if you do not have enough friendship/rivalry. After the Questioning Beliefs has finished, Merrill will visit the Hawke Estate in the evening if her friendship/rivalry level remains at least 50% or more, Flirt with her to initiate the romance and invite her to move in with the PC. Then max out her friendship/rivalry to 100% and do her companion quest and give her both gifts to complete the romance.

If there is a successful romance, she may end up being kidnapped by Grace in Act 3. Provided she survives everything, she does give Hawke a kiss during the final battle.

In the epilogue Varric will state that due to circumstances after the fight between the Templars and Mages they all had to leave the Champion's side, "Except Merrill of course."

Note: There are Chronological Bugs with Merrill's Romance in Act 3 during the questline "A New Path" where the dialogue after killing the demon-possessed Marethari plays before the "A New Path" line starts.

Friendship
Friendship with Merrill can generally be earned by siding with the mages or the elves in quests, by choosing options that favor blood magic or by being agreeable to her in conversation. Below are some specific ways to earn Merrill's friendship.

Rivalry
Rivalry with Merrill can generally be earned by siding with the templars or the Circle or by being contrary in conversation. Below are some specific ways to earn Merrill's rivalry.

{{SpoilerDA2|

Act 1:

Wayward Son Convince Feynriel to go the Circle: +10 Rivalry

An Errant Letter Keeping Thrask's secret: +10

Armor
In Dragon Age II, you cannot change what armor your companions wear but you can upgrade it. Armor is upgraded by purchasing the upgrade item from a vendor or finding it in your travels, your companion armor will automatically upgrade as soon as you receive the item. You will find companion armor upgrades that can be purchased at shops in the tab designated by the Gem Icon. Her armor has four slots available for upgrades.

Merrill's armor upgrades can be found at the following locations:
 * Act 2: Robes By Jean Luc Hightown: Samite Lining. (Gives Merrill an extra rune slot.)
 * Act 2: Ilen's Crafts Sundermount: Carved Ironwood Buttons. (+40 health)
 * Act 2: Top of Sundermount's Graveyard Path Sundermount: Silver-Threaded Dalish Embroidery. (+20 health regeneration rate)
 * Act 3: Found during her quest A New Path: Halla Horn Buckles.

An alternate armor is automatically equipped after romancing Merrill with either full friendship or rivalry, possibly referencing the fact that with Hawke's assistance she is now able to afford new armor and clothing. It is a set of silver/white chain-mail with plate shoulder and elbow pads and leather robes with a light blue sash around her waist. This armor is called 'Raiments of the Dalish Pariah' and replaces her previous armor set, 'Vestments of the First'.

Initial statistics (Origins)
Class: Mage

Specialization: N/A

Starting spells/skills: Herbalism, Combat Tactics

Mage: Arcane Bolt

Primal: Flame Blast, Flaming Weapons

Entropy: Weakness

Talent Trees

 * Elemental
 * Primal
 * Spirit
 * Arcane
 * Entropy
 * Dalish Pariah (specialization)

Quotes

 * (Approaching the Qunari Compound)"They're so big and grim! What do you suppose would happen if I tickled one of them ?"


 * "It’s a Keeper’s job to remember, even the dangerous things."


 * "Why do they call this a brothel? Does it have something to do with broth?"


 * (To Hawke) "If you were Dalish, our people would have a kingdom by now. ... And half of Thedas would be attacking us. So maybe things worked out for the best."


 * Hawke (to Fenris): "Merrill's quite capable of handling herself."
 * Merrill: "I am? I mean - yes, of course I am!"


 * "By the Dread Wolf! Why is my house always a mess when people are here? It's clean sometimes, I swear."


 * (Isabella): "Aveline. If you shove your thumb up his ass, I win."
 * (Merrill) "Ew!"


 * (Miner): "...but don't go that way, there's a huge dragon!"
 * (Merrill - to Hawke): "Are we gonna go that way? I've never seen a huge dragon before."

(If you brought Merrill along the "Finders Keepers" quest at the dock and Hawke is more sarcastic and you have chosen the "Fire!" option when confronting the warehouse guards)


 * (Guard): Shit! A fire could destroy the loot. We have to check!
 * (Merrill): But there's not really a fire, is there?
 * (Hawke): No, Merrill. It's a trick.
 * (Merrill): Oh! That's very clever, then!
 * (the guards attacked the party)


 * (Merrill to Aveline): That's silly! A dowry only matters if you're courting him!
 * (Aveline): Merrill...
 * (Merrill): Oh! You're courting him! (giggles)


 * (inside the Hanged Man tavern) "Isabela said the next time we came here, she would teach me to do something called... "body shots"?"


 * "If you hadn't come to Sundermount that day... I can't imagine where I'd be now."


 * (Merrill): "Pol... what was he thinking. He acted like I was a monster."
 * (Fenris): "You are a monster."
 * (Isabela): "You're not helping."
 * (Fenris): "Good."


 * (Merrill): "Does all this feel like a dream to you, too?"
 * (Hawke): "In a moment, I'll look down and discover I'm not wearing any pants."
 * (Merrill): *giggles* "The Champion of Kirkwall, going into battle naked. Why don't I ever have that dream?"


 * (Merrill): More demons. Feynriel's dreams draw them like pastries draw Varric.

Trivia

 * Mary Kirby wrote Merrill for Dragon Age II.
 * According to David Gaider, Eve Myles was last on the list of "actors I specifically asked for and got on the first try".
 * Merrill means shining sea in Irish Gaelic.
 * If you compare Merrill's face from Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II, you can see there is a slight difference in her facial tattoos and eye color.
 * In comparison to the other Dalish elves in Dragon Age II, who speak with Irish accents, Merrill speaks with a pronounced Welsh accent. This might be further indication of how distant Merrill is from her clan.
 * Merrill and Fenris often argue during party banter due to her curious nature and Fenris's reluctance to be considered as one of the people. He often tells her to mind her own business among other harsh lashings.
 * Merrill's talent, Stone's Throw may be related to Velanna's ability to disappear and reappear by being shrouded in roots.
 * If you're romancing Merrill, when you examine the handprints near the chandelier, instead of Sandal, Merrill will be said to have been swinging on it.

Bugs
In the all versions of Dragon Age II, at the beginning of Act 2, a bug can occur in which Merrill's companion quest "Mourning" appears in the journal as complete. This appears to be triggered by taking your sibling into the deep roads and having them contract the taint. However, this only affects the "Mourning" dialogue. All other quests in Act II appear to function as normal, and it is confirmed that you can indeed still romance her. One just needs 50% friendship/rivalry in Act II, and to flirt whenever possible.

In Dragon Age II after her personal quest The New Path, it may happen for the sad ending that she is stuck to your party, being locked forever... A fix is to overwrite the lock by another lock quest such as Sebastian's "Faith".

EDIT: An alternative fix for Merrill becoming locked is to go to Hawke's mansion in High Town. This will remove all NPC's from your party. When you leave the mansion, you will be able to add to your party as normal and Merrill will no longer be locked in.

During Act 3, Merrill's reaction to the end of A New Path may occur before you start the quest, where she is upset by the death of her clan's Keeper. It occurs whether in a relationship with her or not

Some playthroughs are reporting an inability to raise friendship/rivalry points. There is no word as to what causes this yet.

Though it's not major, during Act 3, Merrill will use her cave dialogues in her own house. Its amusing hearing her mention she doesn't like it in her own home.