Leliana's Past

"Perhaps it's time to settle this score for good."

- Leliana

Leliana's Past is Leliana's personal quest.

Walkthrough

 * Talk to Leliana after Lothering. You should be able to ask why she joined the Chantry. If you choose the correct options you should get a Codex update. This can only be done if her approval rating is above 25. Once her approval is around 30+, make sure to ask her about "minstrels and spies in Orlais". She will tell you about bards.


 * The next time you return to Party Camp, Leliana will tell you about Marjolaine.
 * This conversation should prompt a random encounter that starts her quest after you leave camp and travel on the World Map with her in your party. You will confront assassins hired by Marjolaine. Only the leader must be killed to end the combat.
 * Go to Denerim and enter the residence pointed to by the assassin's contact (second door on the right, as you enter the Denerim Market District from the North-West corner; the door is marked as Assassin's Contact for Leliana when selected). Kill two guards before entering the foyer.
 * Confront Marjolaine.
 * If you suggest to Leliana that she cannot allow Marjolaine's actions to go unpunished, you will enter fight with Marjolaine. Two guards and two travelling mages will join in the fight. The mages should be your first target, as they are weak in defense but can heal their fellow combatants and will dispel your buffs. Best strategy is to attack them using magic or ranged, as the entrances to the siderooms are trapped. The two guards should be the next goal, and after they fall, Marjolaine is not difficult anymore.
 * Marjolaine possesses the Rogue Evasion talent, which grants her a chance to resist Stun and Knockdown effects. For instance, she will appear to resist Dirty Fighting, a talent with a stun effect that is not normally resistable since it has no physical resistance check, but stun immunity granted by Evasion will still produce a "Resisted!" message. It is likely this is the developer's attempt to make the encounter challenging.
 * Marjolaine can also use the Bard talent Captivating Song, stunning your entire party and preventing any abilities with cast/animation time. This can easily result in a wipe if the guards or mages are still alive.
 * Alternatively, if you back up Leliana's demand that Marjolaine stay out of her life, she will walk away, but vows that it's not be over between them.


 * After dealing with Marjolaine, there's a chest in the bedroom that contains a very good Tier 7 bow named Marjolaine's Recurve for Leliana, as well as an assorted selection of other valuable gear (Orlesian treasure) such as Chevalier armor and grandmaster runes. Make sure to take all the loot out of the chest, as the building will become inaccessible once you have left.
 * The player should look out for pieces of the Chevalier Armor Set, Executioner's Helm, or Standard Bearer's Helm - whichever interests the player. As such, be sure to save BEFORE entering Marjolaine's Home to make multiple attempts at the chest.
 * No matter how the meeting ends, there is no approval change from Leliana and party members (Alistair, Dog, Morrigan, Shale, Sten, Wynne and Zevran confirmed).

Hardening Leliana
Leliana starts out the game as a repentent bad girl. Nevertheless she greatly enjoyed the intrigue of her previous life as a bard, more so than her new life as a chantry lay-sister. This leaves her feeling internally conflicted. At the end of this quest, the words of her former mentor Marjolaine spark an internal crisis. The player can help Leliana sort through her feelings once back in camp. Depending on the conversational options chosen, one of two results will occur:


 * Leliana's faith in the Make and her new, more virtuous path will be reaffirmed and strengthened. The result is that she remains unhardened.
 * Leliana will decide that her new self was just an attempt to run away from her previous life after her mentor's betrayal, and that the real Leliana is a worldly bard who loves all of the danger, intrigue, and at times even the killing that goes along with that lifestyle. This results in her being hardened.

Results
"Hardened" Leliana will no longer object to some of the morally questionable choices made by the Warden. She will be less judgmental of Morrigan, and will have different ending epilogues available. A Hardened Leliana who is in love with the player character will also be willing to engage in a threesome with Isabella, or a foursome with Isabella & Zevran. If Leliana is in love with the Warden at the end of the game and the Warden marries the new ruler, then a hardened Leliana will be willing to stay on as the Warden's mistress. This option is available to both male and female wardens.

Urn of Sacred Ashes: Even a hardened Leliana will still object to the defiling of the Urn should the player decide to go that route. Nevertheless hardening her does open up one scenario in which she can be present at the defiling and does not attack the player. See Kolgrim's Offer for details.

Hardening Dialogue Walkthrough
The hardening dialogue begins when talking to her in camp after the quest is completed. She will respond with: "Oh, hello... is there something you wanted to talk about?"

There are many ways to get to the list of conversational choices that can result in her hardening. The key is the point in the conversation when she eventually confesses: "What we're doing... what we've done--hunted men down, killed them--part of me loves it. It invigorates me and this scares me. I... I feel myself slipping."

A choice of four responses follows, two of which will harden her. The ones that will harden her are:


 * "You're not slipping. This is who you are."
 * "Don't punish yourself for doing something you enjoy."

As long as either of these two lines are selected, Leliana will be hardened. Selecting either of the other two choices will result in her remaining unhardened. The rest of the conversation has no effect on her hardening.

Note that hardening must be done before any proposal to Queen Anora, otherwise it may be impossible to harden Leliana afterwards, even if her approval is at 100.

If Marjolaine dies
Marjolaine mistakenly believed that Leliana's reason for emerging from the cloister was to exact revenge on her. She made the first move, sending men to kill Leliana. Marjolaine could not be allowed to hound Leliana, so you killed her.

If you let Marjolaine go
Marjolaine mistakenly believed that Leliana's reason for emerging from the cloister was to exact revenge on her and made the first move, sending men to kill Leliana. Leliana told Marjolaine to leave and to never come back, but Marjolaine does not seem to be finished.