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“You're such a worrier! There's a giant hole in the sky. I think the Merchant's Guild has bigger things to think about.”


Bianca Davri is a surface dwarf and member of the Dwarven Merchants' Guild. She is also a former lover of Varric Tethras[1] and the eponym of his crossbow.

Background[]

Bianca comes from a family of kalnas, surface dwarves who insist on maintaining caste and rank. She met Varric in Kirkwall while he was looking for someone with mechanical skills. They became romantically involved for a while, until they were forced to separate by the Merchant's Guild for almost starting a clan war and were refused contact of any kind. Bianca was married to Bogdan Vasca, a member of a powerful Smith caste family in the Guild, to cement the alliance between House Davri and House Vasca. This alliance has granted them both considerable power within the Guild, one that none dare to oppose. Varric describes Bianca as "the most brilliant smith you will ever meet", and is responsible for designing his signature crossbow, which is named after her. The two still exchange letters and manage to meet in secret from time to time, though they mostly remain separated.

Bianca is also currently under consideration for Paragon status for her invention of a steam powered mechanical thresher and seeder and the first surface-born dwarf ever to be nominated for Paragon. House Dace, House Bemot and House Meino all support the motion while House Helmi is split and House Aeducan, House Harrowmont and House Hirol remain undecided.[2]

Involvement[]

Dragon Age: Until We Sleep[]


This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Until We Sleep.


Bianca Davri - Until We Sleep

Bianca Davri as projected by Varric Tethras in the Fade.

As Varric shoots the Magrallen, he is accidentally pulled into the Fade, where he wakes up to see Bianca awaiting him. She tells him she found a captain willing to cross the guild and sail them both away. Apparently both Bianca and Varric were planning to escape and that she was responsible for creating a design that made the crossbow Gerav made for Varric actually work. It is also revealed that the couple planned to profit from the design. However Varric immediately recognizes that Bianca is merely an illusion of the Fade and with much regret he exits his dream.


Dragon Age: Inquisition[]


This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Inquisition.


The Inquisitor encounters Bianca talking with Varric at Skyhold, discussing a possible lead on Corypheus's source of Red lyrium which starts Well, Shit quest. She informs the Inquisitor that the location of Bartrand's Folly has been leaked, and that they are using Valammar as a staging area for smuggling. It is revealed by Varric that her knowledge of the thaig came from him as he sent letters to her after Bartrand Tethras' expedition.

If the Red Lyrium Fragment is kept by Varric:

Bianca reveals that she was the one who built the safe for Varric's red lyrium fragment.

Varric DAI quest - DA Keep

The quest choices in Dragon Age Keep

At the end of the mission, Bianca will recover a key and use it to close an entrance in Valammar. The Inquisitor or Varric will come to the conclusion that it was Bianca who leaked the location of the thaig, which will result in a confrontation between the three. She reveals that she went into the ruins herself to study the lyrium after receiving Varric's letter. If Bartrand was kept alive she will mention him as one of the reasons for going into the ruins, saying she was doing him a favour. If Varric was allowed to keep the fragment of the Lyrium idol during Haunted in Dragon Age II, that can also be used as a justification as she says that she was trying to help him study it.

According to her research, red lyrium is corrupted with the Blight. This proves lyrium to be alive, as the Blight can only taint living things. This research led her to Larius/Janeka, whom she met while seeking a Grey Warden mage to aid her in her research. Bianca gave the Grey Warden mage the key she just recently recovered, which is the reason Corypheus' forces could access her secured routes in the Deep Roads.

Either way, Varric is angry with Bianca, and the Inquisitor can either side with either Varric or Bianca or break up the argument. As they part ways, Bianca threatens to feed the Inquisitor their own eyeballs if they get Varric killed.


Quests[]

Well, Shit Well, Shit

Inventions[]

Bianca Davri HoDA

Bianca Davri in Heroes of Dragon Age

  • Davri Seed Drill: Improved seed drill capable of distributing seed in perfect rows at nearly any spacing and of adjusting to the correct depth for each seed type. Became a standard across the Free Marches, Antiva and Nevarra.
  • Davri Spinning Frame: A spinning machine run like a grain mill by the action of moving water. A single worker could spin up to sixty spools of thread at a time at a much finer quality than hand spinning.
  • Davri Mechanical Thresher: Steam-powered device that separates grain from chaff, doing work that normally takes hundreds of laborers weeks of back-breaking effort in mere hours. Nevarran nobility believe it to be the greatest innovation of the age.[3]

In addition, she helped Varric fix Gerav's fourteenth prototype, a repeating crossbow believed to be the only one of its kind.[4] Varric named it Bianca, after her.

Bianca is widely regarded as a genius smith and many of her inventions have made a lasting impact on the world. The Davri Seed Drill was her first invention, and instantly established House Davri, formerly an obscure surface Smith caste family, as a power within the Merchants' Guild. Her second invention, the Davri Spinning Frame, made Bianca's design spread to the high-priced markets of Orlais.

She spent many years investigating more efficient ways of powering her machines, experimenting with a variety of water and steam engines before settling on a design that incorporated a coal furnace. This created a lasting alliance between House Davri and several Mining caste families back in Orzammar who specialized in converting ordinary coal to the smokeless variety used in dwarven forges (the invention that led to Branka being named a Paragon).

Bianca keeps a workshop in Val Royeaux with almost a hundred smiths employed full-time. She devotes most of her time to developing new designs.[5]

Trivia[]

  • Bianca's family have an extreme dislike of Varric, so much so that they have sent assassins after him each time he has visited her.
  • Bianca considers herself "ten times the smith that Branka was", but does not believe the Assembly will ever make a surfacer a Paragon.
  • As a favor to Varric, many of Bianca's contacts were buyers of artifacts that Varric and Hawke found during their Deep Roads Expedition.

References[]

  1. Party banter between Varric Tethras and Bianca during the quest Well, Shit hints that their relationship may not be completely over.
  2. Dragon Age logo - new Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol. 2, p. 258
  3. Dragon Age logo - new Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol. 2, p. 256
  4. Dragon Age logo - new Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol. 2, p. 181
  5. Dragon Age logo - new Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol. 2, pp. 257-258
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