Leliana

Leliana is an Orlesian  human rogue bard who may accompany the Warden through the game, Dragon Age: Origins. She came to the village of Lothering seeking 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. She is a possible companion and romance option for either gender.

Background
Although Leliana's biological family was from Ferelden, she was raised by the daughter of a handmaiden to an Orlesian noble. Living in Orlais, Leliana learned a great deal about the royal court and Orlesian culture during her youth. After being accused of selling government secrets to other countries, Leliana managed to escape to the village of Lothering and join the local Chantry. Shortly after, Leliana received a "message from the Maker" which ultimately compels her to assist the Warden in thwarting the impending Blight.

Involvement


You will be given the opportunity to recruit Leliana in Lothering at the Tavern. When you are set upon by misguided soldiers loyal to Loghain, Leliana will assist you in the battle. When the battle is over, you will have a conversation with her, during which she will tell you that she wants to go with you because she had a vision in which the Maker told her to. Despite the chantry's claim that the maker does not associate with people, Leliana states that she believes the Maker spoke to her anyway. Leliana is one of the recruited characters that Alistair asks your opinion on, alluding that he thinks she's bonkers. He will ask you if you believe her story about the vision and you're free to give him any answer you choose to. If you rejected her initially, it is possible to ask other people in Lothering about her. She will be waiting for you at the exit from Lothering, and will ask to join you again. Alistair at this point will suggest you let her join.

During the quest "Urn of Sacred Ashes", the Guardian you encounter briefly talks to each of your party members about their past, which he mysteriously knows about. When he speaks to Leliana, he states that the Maker only speaks to Andraste, and accuses her of making her vision up. He says that she feared her life would become dull after joining the chantry, so she fabricated the story about the vision, reveling in the attention it brought her. She seems taken aback by the claim and denies it, saying that she knows and still believes in her vision. She will turn on your party if you choose to pour the Dragon's Blood on the ashes (optional side quest), forcing you to kill her; however, you may get an intimidation dialogue option if your strength and coercion are high enough where if you succeed in intimidating Leliana, she will say that she will never forgive you for what you have done but cannot go against you and therefore will stay with you as a companion. If she is not present in your party at the time you will be confronted the next time you're at camp. If you do not have a high enough persuade skill, she will leave after a short dialogue scene.

Quests Given
Note: Talk to Leliana after Lothering and once her approval is around 30+, make sure to ask her about "minstrels and spies in Orlais." which should prompt a random encounter that starts her quest after you leave camp with her in your party.
 * Leliana's Past

The Marjolaine dialogue may not appear if your approval is too high and/or you are in a Romance with Leliana. In this case, Save and try breaking up with her to see if you get the dialogue. Updating the game to pach 1.02 should also fix this bug.

When above mentioned solutions to get Leliana's quest do not work, there is option to use console command to lower Leliana's approval (and rise it after getting the quest). Namely, without quotes, "runscript zz_addapproval 9 -50" lowers Leliana's ("9") approval by 50. To get approval back: "runscript zz_addapproval 9 50". Also, it has to be noted that there is console command "runscript zz_app_debug" that starts approval debug helper where you can lower/raise approval or check some options (like romance) - still this command should be used with uttermost care as a last resort as it could mess up entire game.

Initial Statistics
Class: Rogue

Specialization: Bard

Starting Talents:

Bard: Song of Valor

Rogue: Dirty Fighting, Below the Belt, Deft Hands, Improved Tools

Archery: Pinning Shot, Crippling Shot, Rapid Shot, Shattering Shot

Strategy


Arm Leliana with a pair of daggers and increase her Dual Weapon talents for the maximum effectiveness in melee combat. Equip her with rune-slotted daggers (at higher levels) and maximize the damage bonuses to really shred through targets. Leliana has the basics to be a quality archer if the Warden wants to add more ranged attacks to the party, the Warden can pour more talent points into Archery to develop her as a ranged expert. However, make sure to concentrate most of the talents in the Rogue school and the bard specialty. The Rogue talents can improve her backstab which will result in great damage output, and use the bard talents to help with crowd control.

Once you reach Captivating Song, Leliana can single-handedly lock down a handful of foes, which is an exceptional ability when swarmed by several difficult assailants. In combat, let the other companions lead and Leliana will gladly follow. She can either shoot at range with her bow, or wait a few seconds for the field to set and then maneuver in for flank attack or backstab tries from the enemy’s rear. To move quickly, do not overload her with armor; top-notch leather is probably her best option for her.

Choices the Warden may want to make for an archer build include:


 * Spend attribute points primarily on dexterity
 * Choose talents from the Archery line, in particular to pick up Scattershot and Arrow of Slaying later on
 * Progress though the Combat Training skills first before choosing other skills
 * Choosing ranger as the second specialization
 * Equipping a bow (and only a bow) or adjusting combat tactics for better archery

Leliana also starts with some ability for unlocking chests.

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

Gifts
Leliana's approval will increase when you offer her anything with "Andraste" in its name. The white flowers work particularly well. She loves shoes too. You can also get her a pet Nug from Dust Town and it will stay with her throughout the game.

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?"
 * "I never liked this part!" (when entering combat)
 * "I can't go on like this." (when badly injured)
 * "Ooh! A windmill. I once took a ride on the sails of a windmill. Didn't turn out well." (at Redcliff village)
 * "Ooh, this looks fun! I'll bet we'll have to work together, join hands, and sing a happy song to get across." (when confronted with floor puzzle)

Trivia

 * Leliana is modeled after 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," whilst Sheryl Chee described her as, "a macaron; very French and very girly."
 * After the "Nature of the Beast" quest, Leliana can sing a song in the camp if she likes you enough. The theme is called "Leliana's Song".
 * 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.)

Bugs

 * 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 dialog if you are regretful about having to "end it" with Leliana, even if you were never in a romance with her to begin with.