Nadia Carcosa

Nadia Carcosa
Race	Human
Gender	Female
Class	Rogue
Voice	Mae Whitman
Appearances	Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance

Nadia Carcosa is a retired cat burglar from Tevinter and the protagonist of Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance.

Background

Nadia Carcosa is a former slave turned Liberati. Nadia was born to poor Liberati parents. As a child, Nadia grew up in the Salts, an old slum near Docktown where many people died because the landowners ignored an infestation of silver brine mold to save some coin.

In order to impress other children she sought friendship with, Nadia went down to the catacombs beneath the Salts but was locked in there by the other children. Nadia fell to despair and was being misdirected by a demon named Maeror, who sought to make her even more lost. Her father searched for her and found her on the ninth day, but he was horrified to find Nadia feeding on the blood of rats.

Unbeknownst to Nadia, Nadia's father grew ill from the silver brine mold and Nadia was too preoccupied being a thief under Olen's employ to notice. Nevertheless, Nadia needed to work in order to provide for her family. However, Nadia's father eventually succumbed to his illness; he became one of many that died from the silver brine mold. Sometime later, she met Elio Andante during one Wintersend and was enamored by his disarming looks and his charming personality. Even knowing she was a thief, the two fell in love.

When she was young, her mother was falsely accused of theft by a member of the Imperial Chantry and hanged for it. Despite Nadia's pleas for help, no one stepped in to help her mother.

At some point, Nadia became associated with Taash and went on a few adventures with them, including a jailbreak in Dairsmuid and fighting undead in the tombs beneath Clagan's Hollow.

A former cat burglar who has given up her illegal activities, Nadia is now content to spend her days being the secret lover of Magister Elio Andante, who adores her.

Involvement

Dragon Age: Vows & Vengeance

Once a Thief...

In his estate in Minrathous, Elio prepares a lavish breakfast for Nadia and proposes to her with his great-grandmother’s ring. As a Liberati, Nadia thinks marrying a magister would only subject her to stares and gossip and paint a target on her back. Angered by his dismissal of her feelings on the matter, she leaves the estate, though she keeps the ring. At her home, her former associate Vik informs her that their friend Olen has a job for her. Happy for the distraction, Nadia accepts. Olen tells her that she needs to break into Arcanist Hall to retrieve the artifact known as the Eye of Kethisca.

With Vik serving as distraction, Nadia successfully breaks into Arcanist Hall, only to find Elio, who has been tipped off by private investigator Neve Gallus. Elio tries to discourage her from stealing the artifact, telling her they can go back to their normal lives. Nadia accepts, but they are caught by templars before they can leave and Elio is accused of treason. As they escape Arcanist Hall, Nadia takes the Eye, knowing that they’ll need the gold now that they are both outlaws.

Returning to Nadia’s home in Docktown, they are confronted by Neve Gallus, who tells them that she can’t let them finish the job and asks them if they’ve heard of the Dread Wolf. Their conversation is interrupted by Vik, bleeding out, warning Nadia of an imminent ambush. As they defend themselves from Venatori assassins, the Eye interacts with Elio's magic and causes a massive explosion on the docks. In the confusion, Nadia and Elio flee and head out to finish the job.

In the Silent Plains, Nadia and Elio find Olen’s buyer, Solas. He tells them that the Eye of Kethisca was crafted by a powerful dreamer by the name of An'Dante—Elio’s ancestor. He also tells them that he’d heard the Venatori were about to steal the Eye and hired Olen to steal it first. Solas asks for Elio’s help, as he is a powerful rift mage and related by blood to the creator of the Eye. Nadia correctly intuits that it was no coincidence that Olen hired her for the job. Against Nadia’s advice, Elio accepts, convinced by Solas’ talk of regeneration, telling her that it might be his last chance to make a change for the better. However, the ritual goes wrong and Elio ends up trapped in the Fade while Solas and Nadia escape. Nadia wakes up alone on the Plains.

Looking for answers, Nadia returns to Minrathous and poisons Olen until he gives her the answers she seeks about Solas. Olen tells her that he only knew the buyer by his title, the Dread Wolf, and that he was heading to the Hinterlands to visit old burial grounds. She gives him the antidote, as well as some gold, telling him to make sure it goes to Vik’s family. As she heads out of the city, Nadia hears Elio’s voice, telling her that he needs her to escape. She tells him not to worry and that she’s coming for him.

The Cult of the Doomblade

After discovering Lace Harding fighting a demon and its undead minions at a burial ground, Nadia helps her defeat her enemies. After the battle, Nadia and Harding give each other formal introductions and discover that they are both searching for Solas. Nadia tells Harding that he needs Solas to help her break into the Fade. Suddenly, Nadia passes out from the strain of telepathic communication with Elio. Harding takes Nadia back to her camp so Nadia can recover.

When Nadia regained consciousness, Harding inquires about Elio, who Harding explains is the person she is trying to rescue from the Fade and summarizes how Solas tricked her and Elio into helping him utilize an ancient relic. Harding tries to warn her that Elio is most likely dead, but Nadia believes Elio's powerful magic can help him survive. Suddenly, the two hear screams from a distance and go to investigate the commotion. Harding and Nadia find Doom Blade cultists preparing two villagers to be ritually sacrificed to an entity called the Deathless One. Although Harding cautioned they should formulate a plan first before acting, Nadia was impatient to intercede and attacked the cultists. Although Harding and Nadia drive off the cultists, the cultists' leader, Bolmor, kills Elisa, one of the human sacrifices, before escaping.

The surviving human sacrifice, Drayden Kiel, berates Nadia for her haphazard rescue that got Elisa killed and tells them they were undercover to learn the secrets of the Cult of the Doomblade's sacrificial rituals and that they had an escape strategy planned before Nadia interceded. The trio return Elisa's corpse to her village of Raven's Brook, where the villagers are dismayed the sacrificial ritual was disrupted as the cultists will surely punish the villagers severely in retaliation. Nadia berates the villagers for their cowardice but the villagers argue they aren't warriors and their attempts to resist the cultists ended terribly for them. Harding urges Nadia to be compassionate to the villagers' grim circumstances and Drayden persuades Nadia that if she is so passionate about fighting the Doom Blade cultists, then she should help the villagers defend themselves. Although Nadia feels compelled to continue her quest to rescue Elio, Harding offers to help Nadia search for Solas if she aids the villagers.

Harding trains a portion of the villagers to be archers while Nadia and Drayden trains the others to be ground troops. Nadia pushes her trainees in their drills in order to prepare them. Drayden challenges Nadia to a practice duel, with the wager being the trainees get to rest on the eve of battle should Drayden win, or a bag of Drayden's gold to Nadia should Drayden lose. With the contest rule being first to get hit loses the duel, Drayden was able to win the duel when they exploited a weakness of Nadia's after studying the patterns of her fighting style.

After training, the troops celebrate on the eve of battle. Nadia confides in Harding and Drayden that the villagers' willingness to sacrifice Elisa reminded her of how no one did anything to stop her mother from being executed for a theft she didn't commit. Suddenly, the bells begin to ring, signifying the cultists are initiating the battle.

Thanks to their training, and Drayden's shock bombs, the ground troops successfully push back the cultists. Bolmor lures the ground troops away from their position by setting the village aflame, forcing Nadia and Drayden to kill Bolmor alone. Ultimately, the villagers successfully defeat the cultists and the fires engulfing the village were quenched by unexpected rain. After the battle, Harding tells Nadia about earthquakes and demon activity in the southern Anderfels and suspects it to be the work of Solas. Although Nadia offers Harding to travel along with her, she declines. As soon as she's done helping the villagers recover, Harding needs to reunite with her partner Varric Tethras for another mission. The two bid each other farewell with the hope that they may cross paths again.