Velanna

"All people with power never fail to abuse it, even those with good intentions"

Velanna is a brash Dalish elven mage and one of the companions in the Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening expansion. She has the Keeper specialization.

Background
Raised as the first to her clan's Keeper, Velanna knows how much has been lost to the elves, and her pride demands that her people lose no more. She has a short temper and is not afraid to speak her mind, even if this means insulting others. Although she hates humans and is proud to be an elf, she will lend people aid as long as it serves her own ends.

Involvement
{{SpoilerDAOA| You can find Velanna in the Wending Woods. She has been murdering humans who cross her path in an attempt to terrorize the nearby villages, believing humans have kidnapped her sister, Seranni. After talking with a wounded Militiaman, he will reveal that it was truly the darkspawn who took Seranni. Upon informing her of this she will offer herself to the Grey Wardens in hope of finding her sister. If she is put through the Joining she will survive to become a full Grey Warden.

Epilogue
}}
 * If left to defend Vigil's Keep, and the Warden chooses to save the City of Amaranthine, the surviving defenders watch in horror as a section of stone collapses upon her. When the rubble is later cleared, no body is found. Velanna is just gone. This occurs even if the walls are never breached.
 * If the Warden chooses to save Vigil's Keep, Velanna survives, though she does not return to her clan. Thanks to her friendship with the Warden Commander, she may eventually change her views on humankind. In the wake of the defeat of the Mother, when darkspawn stragglers attempt to attack a human village, Velanna single-handedly defends them.
 * If the Warden takes Velanna along and allies with the Architect against the Mother, Velanna will remain with the Wardens, but years later, on an expedition in the Deep Roads, Velanna takes off on her own after saying she had seen Seranni in the shadows. The other Wardens searched for her, but she was truly gone. Taking Velanna along during the final mission is not necessary; she might still have this even if she was not there when the Architect was spared.
 * If the Warden chooses to kill the Architect and Velanna survives the attack on Vigil's Keep (either because the Warden chose to save the Keep or was with Velanna when saving Amaranthine), she never sees her sister again. She partly blames the Warden for this, as she believes the Architect would have released her sister had they allied themselves with him, and this forever becomes a source of friction between the two.

Gifts
Velanna favours items of elven heritage and objects that are her favourite color - green. Special dialogue can be obtained through befriending her and giving her a blank journal.

Initial statistics
Class: Mage

Specialization: Keeper

Plot skills
As you befriend Velanna and gain her approval, she will gain additional skills:

Dialogue points


Below are the spots where you can initiate dialogue with Velanna. On the PC, it can be hard to find the correct spot to click; make sure to hit "tab" and rotate the camera if it's not letting you click on it.


 * City of Amaranthine: a tree by the stairs to the Chantry
 * City of Amaranthine: as soon as you enter the Amaranthine map, there is an abandoned house on your right (later used for the Till Death Do Us Part quest) and two city elves nearby. Walking near them triggers a dialogue with Velanna, if she's in the party.
 * Vigil's Keep: the statue of Andraste in the middle of the courtyard.

Quotes



 * "All people with power never fail to abuse it, even those with good intentions"
 * "You killed my friends and the merchants kidnapped my sister... They brought this on themselves just as you have!"
 * "Creators! It's like being pestered by a child!"

(When talking about Keenan)
 * Velanna: "He wanted to make the world a better place"? What an insipid line. Is that really supposed to make her feel better about his death?"
 * Warden: "I'm not with her!"

Bugs

 * Proceeding to complete the Silverite Mine without Velanna in the party will cause the plotline to be broken resulting in all sorts of strange behaviour such as Velanna becoming a permanent member of the team (see below for solution) and waking up back in the cell without the key when attempting to leave the mines.


 * In addition to the bug where Velanna becomes locked to the party, it is also possible to have a full party and have her as an extra. Meaning you can have 5 party members but you cannot control her, the only fix to this bug is to restart the game (exit to the dashboard and go back). This also glitches the game- npcs with no body, white loading screen and blood appears as a red box on dead bodies.


 * It is possible to have Velanna undergo The Joining and become a Grey Warden prior to completing the Silverite Mine and still get the dialogue where she asks to become a Grey Warden. This also clears the bug where she is locked to the team.


 * If Anders and Velanna are in the party simultaneously, Anders will sometimes initiate the same small talk lines multiple times with Velanna: "Have I ever told you that I find tattoos on women..."


 * It is possible to get Velanna's approval to +100 by giving her a gift when she first joins your party. In order to not get the +100 approval bug with any of the characters, you need to do the "Blight Orfans Notis Bord" quests or Chanter's Board quests, that give (dis)approval to a character, only after you recruit that character. For example, if you do the From the Living Wood quest (which normally gives -1 approval to Velanna) before actually recruiting Velanna, that will get you the +100 approval bug with Velanna. Same goes for the quests for the "Blight Orfans". If you do quests that give (dis)approval to Justice or Sigrun before recruiting them, that will lead to the bug with them.


 * Her dialogue appears not to take the player's race into consideration. Ex: For an elvish mage Warden, she consistently describes the Warden as human ("humans are all the same"), and Sigrun still informs Velanna that she is the first elf she has met, despite meeting the Warden earlier. This appears exclusive to mages, however, as Velanna gives the Warden a more friendly welcome if the Warden is of Dalish origin.


 * While exploring the Wending Wood it is possible to accidentally trigger the conversation with the dying soldier at the Makeshift Lean-To by standing too far to the north of the very beginning portion of the map by the destroyed caravans. If this happens prior to your first meeting with Velanna it will break the plotline and make it impossible for you to trigger the second meeting and therefore prevents you from adding her as a party member.

Trivia

 * Her favorite color is green.
 * Velanna seems to be sensitive about her elven ears. Some of the other companions in Awakening will take advantage of this, calling them "clownish", much to the distress of Velanna.
 * Anders makes a possible reference to Velanna whilst at the Dalish camp during Dragon Age II, stating how his experiences with Dalish women in the past have been crazy.