“No one ever saves us. So we save us.”
Miriam is an elven mercenary who escaped enslavement in Tevinter.
Background[]
Miriam and her twin brother Neb were born in Tevinter. They were both slaves owned by the matriarch of House Ammosine, who raised them as assassins and bodyguards for her son, Rezaren. Miriam was groomed to be Rezaren's Left Hand—his personal spy, assassin, and agent. Although Rezaren played with the elven siblings and thought of them as family when they were children, Rezaren's mother liberally beat and mistreated Miriam to remind her that she was their slave to be used—not their equal.
After leaving Tevinter, she met a human mage named Hira; the two became close friends and later lovers.
When the Breach opened, Hira wanted to join the fledgling Inquisition, as she believed that they were the only one who could deal with this threat to the world. Miriam however, did not wish to join, as she believed people like them were not important enough to change the world. As a result, the two ended their relationship and parted ways. Hira went on to join the Inquisition while Miriam continued her life as a mercenary and thief with their associate Roland.
Miriam and Roland then joined a gang of thieves known as Dolph's Daggers.
Involvement[]
Dragon Age: Absolution[]
On a job to steal lyrium from a Circle of Magi tower in Nevarra, Miriam and Roland, veering from Dolph's plan, are able to sneak in by disguising themselves as mages and using their Dolph's Daggers collaborators to distract the templar guards. Although they successfully retrieve the lyrium, Dolph is incensed that their distraction got three of his recruits arrested—including his nephew. Miriam counters that if they couldn't evade two guards, then there was no way they could have fought their way through the mage tower, which was Dolph's original plan. Dolph is furious and accuses Miriam of trying to take over leadership of his gang. Miriam tries to deescalate the situation by reassuring Dolph that he is still in charge but is interrupted by Fairbanks and Hira, who reveal that they were the ones that hired Dolph's Daggers for the job in order to test whether Miriam and Roland had the necessary skills for their quest.
Seeing Hira again upsets Miriam, but Hira hugs her and urges her to remain composed. Fairbanks reveals that he’s already told the city guards where to find the stolen lyrium and that the entire city guard is on their way to their location as they speak, which is why Miriam and Roland should accept his offer. Dolph orders his men to kill Fairbanks and the others for this betrayal, but Miriam skillfully subdues his men and intimidates them into running away in order to protect Hira.
Once the group find safety outside the city, Miriam discusses her bitterness over Hira abandoning their relationship to join the Inquisition. Hira however, claims that the Inquisition's work was necessary to not only save the world, but make it a better place. Hira tells Miriam that people like her have given up in trying to pursue that noble goal, and Hira herself can't live her life with her trauma hampering her from taking action. Nevertheless, Hira promises Miriam that once she helps her accomplish the last mission given to her by the Inquisition, she will retire with Miriam in the Hinterlands to make cheese. Miriam agrees to take the job and hear about the details with the rest of the group.
Inside a forest, Miriam and Roland are introduced to the rest of Fairbanks' crew: Lacklon and Qwydion. Fairbanks reveals that Cassandra Pentaghast and Leliana tasked him and Hira to steal the Circulum Infinitus from the Tevinter Imperium and deliver it to Orlais. They tracked it to the Summer Palace, which belongs to the Imperial Divine. When Fairbanks states that the Circulum is being studied by Magister Rezaren Ammosine, Miriam's former owner, she becomes vexed and initially refuses the job. Fairbanks tells Miriam that they are under time constraints and she is the only one who's been to Nessum and knows the Summer Palace's defenses and layout; thus her help is their only hope to complete the heist. Hira goes after Miriam to try to change her mind but Miriam reaffirms to her the commitment she made to never return to that place and also expresses her disappointment that Hira used her promise of a future together to trick her into accepting this job. Hira agrees and apologizes for her manipulation but persuades Miriam to help with the heist by stating that this mission will help her confront her trauma, hurt her abusers, and find closure. Hira reaffirms her desire to retire with Miriam after they've completed their mission. Miriam consents to the job so long as her only role is helping them find a way into the Summer Palace.
After the group spends some time scouting the Summer Palace, procuring supplies and a safe house, and getting into a bar fight with several Tevinter ruffians harassing Miriam (causing Miriam to be both annoyed and grateful), Miriam comes up with a plan to infiltrate the Summer Palace. However, the plan involves Miriam infiltrating the Summer Palace under the guise of a House Ammosine slave and opening an old escape tunnel that can only be opened from the inside.
Once inside the Summer Palace, the group splits up into four teams. Miriam is tasked with guarding the secret tunnel entrance which is the group's primary escape route. As she cleans up the scene to cover up any tracks that can alert any Tevinters to the heist, Miriam encounters a young elven slave girl hiding from her superior, an abusive cook. Unable to jeopardize the mission, Miriam begrudgingly informed the cook of the slave girl's whereabouts in order to avoid scrutiny from the Tevinter staff. Miriam murmurs an apology to the slave girl and tells herself no one ever saves people like them. The incident forces Miriam to recall traumatic memories of her childhood which causes her to run away from her guard duty in a panic. As she runs through the Summer Palace, she unexpectedly encounters Rezaren and his lover Tassia, and eavesdrops on their conversation. The sight of Rezaren triggers more traumatic memories and Miriam pulls out her daggers as she considers attacking her former master. But before she could initiate the attack, the Summer Palace's security system suddenly activated, which will kill everyone in the Palace. Fearing for Hira's life, Miriam goes back to the secret tunnel entrance in order to rendezvous with her. However, she only finds a mortally wounded Fairbanks at the entry point. Fairbanks could only pass the Circulum Infinitus to Miriam before dying. Not long afterwards, Roland and Lacklon reach the entry point and find Miriam with the dead Fairbanks and the Circulum Infinitus in her possession.
Roland is willing to believe Miriam has a rational explanation for her damning circumstances but Lacklon accuses Miriam of killing Fairbanks and stealing the artifact. Miriam protests her innocence and Roland defends her, citing her rapport with him (which gives him some knowledge of how she operates), Miriam's indifference to acquiring the artifact, and the lack of stab wounds on Fairbanks' body. Lacklon acquiesces that Miriam may deserve the benefit of the doubt, but he still wants to learn the truth. Miriam says that they need to focus on gathering the rest of the group and escape the palace. However, Lacklon does not want to return to the danger, even to risk a rescue, and wishes to leave immediately. However, Roland is able to charm and entice Lacklon into participating in the rescue by stating he will gain fame for his part in helping them. Lacklon agrees to rescue the other members but demands that he holds on to the Circulum until they discover who the traitor in their group is.
As Miriam, Lacklon, and Roland fights through a multitude of undead rampaging through the palace, they encounter signs of Qwydion defending herself from something in battle. Lacklon decides that since it would be too difficult for them to find Qwydion, and also acknowledging that she has the mettle to survive and escape on her own, it would be wiser to focus on searching for Hira, who is probably still at the vault and is probably Miriam's primary concern. Miriam tells Roland that Qwydion is safer if she is on the move and assures her companions that they'll search for her after they have retrieved Hira. After fighting their way to the vault, the three find Hira trapped behind the vault's magical lockup. After Miriam briefs Hira on their situation, Miriam tries to find a way to free Hira but it is ultimately futile. Hira tells Miriam that Fairbanks attacked her and tried to steal the Circulum. Miriam reveals to her that Fairbanks died and gave the Circulum to her. Hira then urges Miriam to leave her and give the Circulum to her contact in The Hanged Man, a Kirkwall tavern. She tells Miriam that the Inquisition meeting in Orlais was set up by Fairbanks and is probably a trap. The companions then hear the roar and fire breathing of a dragon inside the vault, and realizes that it's just about to break out of its confinement. As more demons and undead reach their position, Hira pulls away from Miriam and goes further inside the vault so that Miriam will be forced to abandon her. Roland and Lacklon shepherd Miriam away from the vault and flees. Roland, Lacklon, and Miriam run into Qwydion at the courtyard of the palace and the four head to the secret tunnel entrance to escape. However, the group is spotted by a Tevinter guard who sets up an ambush for them at the tunnel. Although the group fends off the the tunnel guards, the Tevinter guard tries to apprehend or kill atleast one person in the group. Ultimately, the guard is attacked from behind by Magister Rezaren.
Rezaren is surprised, but happy to see Miriam, and affectionately welcomes his "sister" home. However, Miriam is agitated by his presence, and goes to attack him. Neb quickly separates the two, and Rezaren orders him to focus on Miriam while he deals with her friends. Rezaren's skill and magic makes short work of Roland, Lacklon, and Qwydion despite their best efforts, and he is able to restrain them in magical fields. Miriam and Neb engages in combat but Rezaren orders Neb to cease his attacks before the two could kill each other. While Miriam unleashes a flurry of attacks on Neb, she soon recognizes her brother. Although Rezaren tries to warn her, she lifts off his mask and sees that Neb is her brother's corpse, animated and controlled by Rezaren's magic. She angrily attacks Rezaren again, causing him to lose his concentration and free the others. Tassia and reinforcements arrive before she can land a killing strike, and archers begin shooting at the group. Qwydion conjures a wall of fire to cover their escape but Miriam is shot in the back with an arrow.
With the city on lockdown, the group tries to sneak back into their safe house. As Roland tries to scout for a safe route, Lacklon follows him to privately discuss their situation. Lacklon confides in Roland that Hira's failed rescue and Magister Rezaren addressing Miriam as his family only strengthened his suspicions of Miriam, but Roland replies that it is absurd and objectionable to believe Miriam harbors any loyalty to her former slave master. While Lacklon agrees that he may have taken the accusation a step too far, he nevertheless asserts that even Roland has to admit that there is something dishonest about the job that could get them all killed. Lacklon thinks they should leave the city, even if it means abandoning Hira and possibly Miriam, and extricate themselves from the job before it leads them to their doom. Roland rebukes Lacklon for wanting to "screw" everyone else and Qwydion, who along with Miriam was eavesdropping on their conversation, teased him for loudly conspiring to betray them. Miriam doesn't blame Lacklon for wanting to leave but pleads with Roland to not leave yet as they'll never get out of the city in broad daylight and reminds them that they'll be hunted down and executed as fugitives for their crimes. Roland resolves to stay with Miriam and orders Qwydion to carry the injured Miriam to the safe house. Afterwards, Roland tells Lacklon that he understands if Lacklon doesn't trust Miriam, and asks him to trust him instead. Deciding to put his faith in Roland, Lacklon decides to stay with the group as well.
Once in the safe house, Qwydion tries to heal Miriam's wounds with magic, but the group discovers that someone is using blood magic to prevent Miriam from healing and also to put her into a coma. With no other options, Lacklon instructs the group to use cloths to slow the bleeding. In the Fade, Miriam dreams of a peaceful life with Hira, but a Rage demon disguised as Miriam kills her imaginary Hira and chases her; forcing Miriam into the arms of Rezaren who comforts her. Miriam attacks Rezaren again and again until she realises that she cannot harm him in the Fade. He shows her idealized visions of their childhood together to convince her to return the Circulum, as it is the only thing that can bring Neb back to life as he was before. As Neb's twin, Rezaren needs her blood to complete the ritual. She, in turn, shows him other visions of how his mother treated her terribly to counter his arguments that their childhood was a happy one. He insists that he was only a child, and he couldn't protect himself much less others. In response she brings up the memories of his Harrowing, when he was nearly possessed by a demon. Not wanting her son to be a failure, Rezaren's mother transferred the demon into Neb. Miriam killed her to stop the transfer, but it was too late. Her brother had become an abomination and attacked her, so she had no choice but to kill him. In the aftermath of the carnage, Rezaren tearfully asked her to flee.
The present version of Rezaren tells Miriam he understands why she did what she did, and admits that he was the one who ensured the Templars couldn't track her down. He tells her that he plans to become the Imperial Divine and change things in Tevinter, with Miriam and Neb at his side. She immediately refuses to be a part of his plans, confounding him, as he states that it was the role she was born for. He insists that they are family, and as long as she is with him she will be safe and cared for. Miriam, however, refuses to be a slave again. Rezaren's calm demeanour begins to collapse and he taunts her, saying that she has accomplished nothing with her freedom. Miriam admits that she has made mistakes, but she made them of her own free will, and asks him to let her go once again. Angry, he calls her selfish for putting her desires first. He tries again and tells her that he can save her from dying of her wounds, but she refuses, preferring to die rather than be enslaved again. Realizing that she won't change her mind, he informs her that Hira is in his custody and threatens to kill her if Miriam doesn't bring the Circulum to him. He then extracts a strange purple substance from her wound and shoves her back into the waking world. Miriam awakens and throws up her own blood (which magically dissipates); Qwydion could now use her magic to heal her wound. Miriam eventually recovers and resolves to save Hira.
Miriam tells the group her history with Rezaren's family and that she has come up with a plan to rescue Hira, but she needs their help. While Qwydion and Roland sympathizes with Miriam's troubled past, Lacklon reminds the group that Hira herself wanted them to leave her behind and deliver the Circulum to her contact in Kirkwall. Qwydion, after being told that Fairbanks betrayed them, could not believe he was a traitor as she had worked with him for years and always considered him loyal. Roland reminds the group that they all signed up to deliver the artifact to the Inquisition, so he proposes that they deliver it to Skyhold; but Lacklon objects as meeting the buyer at their main stronghold risks getting them duped into losing their payment. Miriam interrupts their discussion to exclaim that she doesn't care about the Circulum. She pleads with the group to be decent people and help her rescue Hira. In the end, Miriam offers the group a choice: She promises those who help her will gain her trust, forgiveness, gratitude, and whatever they're looking for; while those that want to abandon Hira can take the Circulum and go. Much to Miriam's relief, the group was unanimous in supporting Miriam's rescue plan.
Miriam approached the Summer Palace's entrance gates alone as a bluff, while Miriam's friends breached the wall of the other side of the palace; this forced Tassia and Neb to divide their forces in order to defend against both attacks. After Miriam dispatched the remaining Tevinter guards, Neb threw handcuffs at Miriam in order to give her a chance to surrender. Miriam ignored the handcuffs and attacked Neb. After a fierce battle, Miriam subdued him. Before she can inflict the killing blow however, Neb reached his hand out—seemingly to caress Miriam's face—only to utilize the hidden glyph in his palm that knocked Miriam out. By the time Miriam regained consciousness, Neb was dragging Miriam into the Summer Palace. Miriam began stabbing Neb with her dagger and the two tussled until Neb began to choke her. By this time, Qwydion had freed the vault's dragon, who began rampaging throughout the palace. The debris from the palace's collapsing structure fell nearby them, and the force of the impact freed Miriam from Neb's stranglehold. With Neb knocked down from the debris' impact, Miriam took a sword. Finally accepting that her brother was gone, Miriam used the sword to decapitate Neb's undead corpse. Afterwards, Miriam witnessed the hordes of Tevinter guards and slaves fleeing the palace and the dragon's rampage. Miriam sees the same elven slave girl she encountered earlier being knocked down from the stampede of fleeing people and saved her from being crushed by falling debris. Before telling her to flee, she tells her that since no one saves people like them, they have to save themselves.
Hira used the chaos of the dragon's rampage to free herself and flew to the safe house. Lacklon saw her escape and called out to her but she didn't seem to notice him. Knowing that Hira had escaped, the group decides to regroup and head back to the safe house as well. The group finds Hira just about to leave the safe house, and escorts her back inside the safe house only to find it ransacked. The group grows suspicious of Hira for trying to leave, refuting her cover-ups, and also for her refusal to relinquish the Circulum. After Miriam deduced that Hira was the traitor, Hira attempted to escape but was trapped by a wall of fire conjured by Qwydion. After Miriam took back the Circulum, Miriam demanded an explanation. Hira revealed that she grew disillusioned with the Inquisition when they refused to fight Tevinter, which has been a safe haven for the Venatori. Thus she became an ally of the Crimson Knight, who had no qualms about waging war with Tevinter. Together, Hira and the Crimson Knight made a plan to turn the Templars against Tevinter, even the ones inside it. However, the two needed the Circulum to do it. Hira made a deal with Rezaren to arrange for the Circulum Infinitus to be at the Summer Palace. Hira and her group were meant to get caught and Hira would make an exchange for the Circulum. Once Hira delivered Miriam to him and he has used the Circulum to resurrect Neb, Rezaren can then let Hira go with the Circulum. Rezaren was supposed to then scuttle any investigation into the matter so that the Imperial Divine wouldn't be able to trace the theft back to Hira. Although Hira tried to reassure Miriam she had no intention of letting Rezaren keep her and would have rescued her eventually, Miriam is upset by her betrayal.
Suddenly, Rezaren, Neb, and a dragon he mind-controlled attack the group and Hira is seemingly knocked out. Miriam willingly surrenders herself and the Circulum, and also offers her full compliance in exchange for the safety of her comrades. Rezaren has become ruthless due to Miriam's resistance and now only sees Miriam as his slave. He now seeks to punish Miriam by killing her friends in front of her. But fist, he sheds his, Miriam's, the dragon's, and Neb's blood to do Neb's resurrection ritual with the Circulum. The Circulum summons Neb's alleged spirit. Neb's spirit recognizes Miriam, and Rezaren pleads with the spirit to retrieve its body and complete the ritual. Neb's spirit only looks at Rezaren briefly before floating to the body. Miriam apologizes to Neb for not being able to save him but pleads with him to not resurect himself and return to a horrible life. Neb's spirit only reassures Miriam that everything will be alright and that he loves her before touching the body and causing it to disintegrate. Roland and Lacklon then shoot a grenade at Rezaren, and its subsequent explosion disrupts the ritual and stuns Rezaren momentarily. Rezaren swears profanities at Miriam and Neb for being ungrateful as Miriam and him fight; but Miriam ultimately kills him and asserts that she and Neb never belonged to him. With Rezaren dead, the dragon he mind-controlled becomes wild again. Rather than start another conflict, Qwydion heals the dragon's wounds which is enough to mollify it and let it leave the group in peace.
In the aftermath of the battle, Hira regains consciousness and Miriam gives Hira an ultimatum: Help her take the Circulum to what's left of the Inquisition and they can try to rekindle their relationship. Miriam pleads with Hira to tell her she is more important to her than her vengeance. Hira however, reveals that the Hira she was speaking to was an illusion. Hira appears behind Miriam and tearfully tells her "[She] wishes she could," before casting a spell that put the entire group to sleep. When the group regains consciousness, the group resolves to pursue Hira, foil her plans, and destroy the Circulum.
