Leliana

"Dying while in the company of a lovely seductress... tell me that isn't a good death."

Leliana is an Orlesian bard who came to the village of Lothering. She sought the refuge of the local Chantry, where she expected to spend her time in meditation and prayer to the Maker, asking Him for forgiveness for her past deeds. Leliana is a possible companion to the Warden, as well as a romance option for either gender in Dragon Age: Origins. She can also teach the bard specialization.

Leliana is the protagonist of Leliana's Song, an additional campaign for Origins revealing more of her past as a bard before she joined the Chantry.

Background
Leliana was born in Orlais, but her mother was Fereldan, and so she considers herself such as well. After her mother's death, she was raised by Lady Cecile, an Orlesian noble. Leliana's mother had served Lady Cecile during the Orlesian occupation and followed her to Orlais after Ferelden's liberation. Living in Orlais, Leliana learned a great deal about the royal court and Orlesian culture.

Dragon Age: Origins
Leliana believes she has received a vision from the Maker, which compels her to assist the Warden in thwarting the impending Blight.

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Leliana is first encountered at Dane's Refuge, a tavern in Lothering. When the Warden is set upon by soldiers loyal to Loghain, Leliana aids the Warden in the skirmish. When the combat is over, she explains her interest in joining their party and mentions her vision. Despite the Chantry's claim that the Maker does not communicate directly with individuals, Leliana is firm in her belief. This causes Alistair to suspect she is mentally unstable.

If Leliana is rejected initially, the Warden will gain dialogue options with the residents in Lothering who talk about her, and she will be found waiting at the village's exit to request to join the party a second time. At this point, Alistair suggests accepting her. If not accepted, she will never be seen again.

The Urn of Sacred Ashes
During The Urn of Sacred Ashes, the Guardian briefly talks to each of the party members about his or her past. When the Guardian speaks to Leliana, he states that the Maker only ever spoke to one mortal, Andraste, and accuses Leliana of making her vision up. He states she fabricated the story to get attention because she feared her life would become dull in the Chantry. Affronted by the accusation, Leliana denies the Guardian's version of things.

Due to her devout nature, Leliana will not stand idly by if the Warden chooses to defile the Ashes of Andraste. If she is in the party, she will attack, resulting in her death. She can be intimidated to avoid this; she will not forgive the Warden for the desecration, but will remain as a companion. Even if she is not in the party at the time, she will confront the Warden at the Party Camp. If she cannot be successfully persuaded, she will leave permanently.

Marjolaine
Eventually, when Leliana reveals a certain amount of her past to the Warden, Marjolaine sends assassins to kill her. Upon defeat, the assassins confess Marjolaine is in Ferelden. The Warden will be prompted to join Leliana in settling her score with Marjolaine. During the quest, Leliana's personality can be "hardened" through certain dialogue options. Doing this will result in her being less likely to object to evil decisions, will alter her attitude towards Morrigan, and affect her possible endings, particularly in relation to the Warden.}}

Romance
The Warden's first opportunity to kiss her occurs when her approval reaches "Adore" (71 or higher) and the Warden is not already in a romance with another party member. She starts a conversation in camp with the opening sentence "I enjoy the nights at camp. The night always seems more peaceful, to me. Safer." Nevertheless she isn't interested in a fling and will only bed the Warden once she's fallen in love with him/her. She will not fall in love with the Warden until her quest has been completed and her approval rating has reached 91 or higher. To increase her approval, talk to her a lot, listen to what she tells you, be supportive, avoid criticizing her when she talks about the Maker, give her gifts that are personally meaningful to her, do good deeds while she is in the party, and avoid evil acts (or at least avoid having Leliana in the party when performing them).

Note: Although it isn't clearly a romantic advance on the Warden's part, asking "She was special to you, wasn't she?" starts a romance when talking about what happened with Marjolaine during Leliana's personal quest. This happens regardless of what dialogue choices you make after that, even if you don't ask about her current romantic interests. Take care not to select this option if you only want to be friends.

Gifts
Leliana prefers gifts with "Andraste" in their name, as well as other symbols of the Chantry. The white flowers called Andraste's Grace work particularly well. She loves shoes, too. Leliana can also be given a pet nug from the Idle Dwarf in Dust Town. It will stay with her throughout the game.

Origins




Relative attribute weightings on auto-level: Strength 0.6, Dexterity 1.2, Willpower 0.4, Magic 0, Cunning 1.2, Constitution 0.6.

Class: Rogue

Specialization: Bard

Skills: Stealing level 2, Stealing level 3 (level 8), Poison level 1, Combat Training level 2, Combat Training level 3 (level 10)

Starting abilities:

Bard: Song of Valor, Distraction (level 8), Song of Courage (level 11)

Rogue: Dirty Fighting, Below the Belt (level 6), Deft Hands, Improved Tools, Mechanical Expertise (level 12)

Archery: Pinning Shot, Crippling Shot, Rapid Shot, Shattering Shot (level 7), Crippling Shot (level 9), Suppressing Fire (level 10)

Leliana's Song
Class: Rogue

Level: 10

Specialization: Bard

Attributes (1 available point)
 * Strength: 20
 * Dexterity: 26
 * Willpower: 18
 * Magic: 14
 * Cunning: 18
 * Constitution: 10

Skills (no available points)
 * Stealing, Improved Stealing, Expert Stealing
 * Poison-Making
 * Combat Training, Improved Combat Training, Expert Combat Training

Abilities (2 available points)
 * Bard: Song of Valor
 * Rogue: Dirty Fighting, Combat Movement, Coup De Grace, Below the Belt, Deft Hands, Improved Tools
 * Dual Weapon: Dual-Weapon Training
 * Archery: Pinning Shot, Rapid Shot

Dragon Age: Origins
Initial gear

Leliana specific gear

Leliana's Song
Initial gear

Plot skills
As you befriend Leliana and gain her approval, she will gain additional abilities, including the following:

Quotes



 * "I tried to be merciful!"
 * "The righteous stand before the darkness, and the Maker shall guide their hand."
 * "I came to Ferelden and the Chantry because I was being hunted. I walked where the Maker led me and he has rewarded me for my faith. I found you."
 * "Walking corpses? Do you think it's something in the water?"
 * (When entering combat) "I never liked this part!"
 * (Getting up at the end of combat) "Oh, look! My bruises form a pretty pattern!"
 * (When badly injured) "I can't go on like this."
 * (When badly injured) "I hate this part."
 * "There were many lovely young initiates in the Lothering cloister -- all of them chaste and virtuous. Ah, it added to their mystique."
 * (At Redcliffe village) "Ooh! A windmill. I once took a ride on the sails of a windmill. Didn't turn out well."
 * (When confronted with floor puzzle) "Ooh, this looks fun! I'll bet we'll have to work together, join hands, and sing a happy song to get across."
 * "Look at what that woman's wearing! Is she drunk or does she just have bad taste?"
 * "I suppose violence is a solution... sometimes!"
 * "Try not to look too incompetent, it's embarrassing!"
 * (Leaving the party) "I weep for Ferelden. If all it has standing between it and the Blight is you, then we are all doomed!"
 * (At the gates of Denerim if you take her with you to fight the Archdemon and in a romance with her) "You are my dearest friend and my love; you lit my path through darkness and I will stand with you, to whatever end. This day, we will forge a legend of our own."

Trivia

 * In her Bioware's character file, her appearance is described as: "Red hair, pale, slender."
 * Leliana's CGI model from the Sacred Ashes trailer is based on adult model Alexandra "Alleykatze" Stein.
 * When asked to compare a list of NPC companions to food, BioWare employee Mary Kirby described Leliana as "A sticky cinnamon bun. No question."
 * Sheryl Chee described her as, "a macaroon; very French and very girly."
 * If Leliana is given the cute nug, she will name it Schmooples. (To see for yourself, hold down tab on the PC version to highlight your companions names or left trigger on the console versions to note all names in the vicinity.)
 * At one point when discussing Orlais fashion with Leliana, she will mention how one trend had shoes with soles "as big as bricks." This is obviously a nod to platform shoes, similarly fashionable a few years ago and just as impractical.
 * Leliana is one of three companions who appears in the Sacred Ashes trailer.
 * If Leliana's approval is high enough, it is possible that she will hum a little melody when the player takes control of her.
 * If Leliana is hardened, she will be clad in armour during the coronation, however, if she remains unhardened, she will simply wear a dress.
 * If you talk to Bethany in the chantry in Dragon Age II, she will say, "I miss the Lothering Chantry. Sister Leliana told the best stories."
 * If you talk to Aveline in the chantry in Dragon Age II, she will comment about feeling uncomfortable around chantry sisters due to a "red-haired trickster in Lothering."
 * Leliana's face, dialogue, and personality also bears resemblance to another popular Bioware character, Imoen, from Baldur's Gate II.
 * Leliana's name might come from the municipality in Spain, L'Eliana, or it might come from the name Liliana, which is an Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian, Polish, and English form of the name "Lillian". Lillian is both a form of "Elizabeth", which means My God is an oath or My God is abundance (which fits her personality very well), as well as an elaborated form of the name "Lily", which is named after the flower (which also fits her character perfectly since the flower Andraste's Grace is specific to her).
 * During a party banter with Sten, Leliana says she was singing about a "highwayman and the tavern girl who was in love with him." This might be a nod to the poem The Highwayman, which is sung by Loreena Mckennitt, that tells a story identical to the one described.

Bugs

 * One important dialogue option that leads to Leliana's background quest can be lost if you get her approval too high without talking to her. Therefore, do not simply shower Leliana with gifts—talk to her and make sure you choose "I heard that in Orlais, minstrels are often spies" when that option appears. As her approval increases further, you can no longer ask it. Leliana's background quest requires her to first tell you a lie about her background, and then feel bad and come clean on it. If the question about spies disappears from the dialogue options before you ask it, you will never learn of Leliana's past and you will not get the quest to seek out her former bard master, Marjolaine. Using Feastday Gifts and Pranks is also a useful way to deal with this problem for those still encountering it.


 * A female human noble Warden who does not engage in a romance with Leliana and becomes Alistair's queen during the Landsmeet can still get a heartbroken speech from her back at camp on the topic if her approval rating is high. Oddly, it is possible to squeeze a few more approval points out of this dialogue if you are regretful about having to "end it" with Leliana, even if you were never in a romance with her to begin with.
 * If you give Leliana lots of gifts and have her at 100 approval, in Orzammar's Proving Grounds, when you are in the championship battle and are almost finished, Leliana will blurt out, "Oh thanks, that's wonderful!" as though she has been given a gift.
 * When Leliana asks elven mages about living in the Alienage, there is no option to say that you don't remember the Alienage. This occurs even if you have already established that you remember nothing in the origin story.
 * Leliana has blue eyes, yet when she has blood all over herself her eyes turn a greenish colour.
 * In Leliana's Song, if you put a point in Coup De Grace, it will vanish when Leliana levels up,
 * If an Awakening or Witch Hunt (instead of Origins) save game is imported in Dragon Age II, the game will not acknowledge active romance between Leliana and the Warden (and she will not refer to the Warden as "dear to her heart"). This is because the unmodded DA2 checks imported approval ratings instead of romance flags to determine Origins romance, and while the flags are imported properly, neither Awakening, nor the DLC campaigns keep the approval ratings of absent party members. An unofficial fix exists to address this problem.