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/companion 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.

Also if Hawke sleeps with Isabella BUT doesn't choose to romance her, then starts romancing Merrill, everything will still function properly and you will still get the final kissing scene and achievement. However, in the epilogue cutscene, Varric will say "… all except Isabella" (or both names simultaneously) which indicates a bug, as it should be only Merrill, unless Hawke had accepted Isabela's offer of joining her on her ship, in which case Varric saying "… all except Isabella" is correct. {Uncomfirmed if above bug occurs by saying "What about Merrill" to Isabela's offer on PS3)

Friendship
You can typically gain Friendship Points with Merrill by: 1.) Siding with the Mages or the Elves in quests. 2.) Choosing options that favor blood magic. 3.) By being agreeable to her in conversation. Listed 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.

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.

Relationship with other companions

 * Merrill likes Anders and his love for cats, but they have strong disagreements about blood magic.
 * Merrill likes Aveline even though Aveline keeps distant.
 * Merrill and Bethany are interested in each other's pasts and share a love for baby animals.
 * Merrill is curious about Fenris as he is a Tevinter elf who has no interest in the Dalish.
 * Merrill likes Carver and thinks she misses the flirting in his comments.
 * Merrill and Isabela are close friends even though most of the things Isabela says goes over her head.
 * Merrill and Sebastian are very friendly and seem very playful about the others beliefs.
 * Merrill and Varric share a father-daughter relationship. Varric refers to her as "Daisy" when they converse.

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.
 * Merrill's cheerful, chatterbox personality and poor navigation skills would be consistant with symptoms of a rare disorder called Williams Syndrome, which some cultural historians believe to be the origin of stories about elves.
 * Merrill looks up to Isabela like a big sister, telling her that she wished her life was as exciting as hers to which Isabela responds by telling her she doesn't and she deserves better.

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 2 appear to function as normal, and it has been confirmed that this does not affect the romance. Hawke merely 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. This can be fixed by either taking another quest where a party member is locked in, such as Sebastian's "Faith", or by returning home to the Hawke estate. Both methods will remove all current party members, restoring Merrill's unlocked status.

During Act 3, the conversation involving Merrill's reaction to the end of A New Path may become available even before you start the quest, where she is upset by the death of her clan's Keeper. It occurs regardless of romance status.

There have been some reports of an inability to gain friendship/rivalry points with Merrill. The cause is currently unknown.

There is a more trivial bug: during Act 3, Merrill will use her Cave dialogue in her own house when a conversation is not available. It is amusing hearing her mention she doesn't like it in her own home.