“That was me. A small actress who hated the roles available to her. So now I make my own roles. I make my own rules too.”
Olivia Pryde is a con artist from the Tevinter Imperium.
Background
Originally an actress, Olivia Pryde abandoned the theatrical arts for the more lucrative trade of swindling people out of their coin across Thedas. At one point in her life she ran a con on Ser Aaron Hawthorne in Ferelden going by the name Elena, and developed an emotional attachment to him. Despite this, she still stole his pendant and sold it to Slim Couldry, her fence for years. Slim however, cut his ties with her when he found out the pendant belonged to Ser Aaron.
Along the way she adopted a Mabari hound which she named 'Autumn'.
Involvement
Dragon Age: Deception
Hearing that Calix Qintara, the son of a recluse Magister has just arrived in Ventus, Olivia travels to the city to rob Calix of his funds. To this end, she adopts the disguise of a Magister named Aramis. Olivia intends to trick Calix out of his coin by pretending that he and house Qintara are being investigated for being suspected members of the Venatori and thus guilty of high treason against Tevinter. She manages to track down Calix in a tavern but deduces immediately that he is not in fact a scion of tevinter nobility but a con artist like her. Calix unmasks 'Aramis' in turn and each attempt to sabotage the other's work. When both their initial bids fail they instead elect to have a contest; whoever can first grift an attempt from an actual Tevinter noble will be permitted to stay, while the other must leave the city immediately. Calix flirts with Francesca Invidus and manages to convince her to give him a magical focusing gem. Just as he receives the gift, Olivia and Florian interrupt them. Olivia attempts to expose Calix by asking that he perform a magical demonstration of the gem's power. In a fit of panic, Calix shouts that Olivia is a con artist to the crowd while she responds in kind. They are forced to flee, whereupon they are discovered by Ser Aaron.
Olivia disguised as 'Magister Aramis'
While Dorian Pavus manages to distract the Invidus siblings with promises of a proper Magister investigation, Ser Aaron introduces Vaea, who is looking to steal from the Qintara Estate. However, to do so they require the floor plans. Olivia and Calix agree to get the floor plans, with the alternative being turned in by Dorian.
Olivia and Calix work out that as a landmark, the floor plans to the Qintara Estate would be kept as official city records, in the Ventus Vault. While Calix is initially intimidated by her plan to talk their way in using their established guises, he accepts her challenge.
Calix makes a deal with two Antivan Crows to create a distraction, in exchange for retrieving something from the official city records vault for them as well. When he returns, Olivia chastises him by getting involved with trouble, and goes to speak to the Crows herself. She tells the Crows that the only way they'll work together is if their distraction must not involve any death, while unbeknownst to her, Ser Aaron stands behind her with his hand on his sword, intimidatingly. The Crows agree to her deal.
When returning downstairs, Ser Aaron comments that he knew Olivia had morals. He is impressed that she took a stand against the Crows. Olivia in turn jokingly asks if he is trying to redeem her. Ser Aaron confronts her about having stolen from him, guessing that she knew Slim would return the pendant and thus wasn't stealing from him, but from Slim. Olivia acknowledges this but tells him not to make anything of it.
With the help of the Crows' distraction, using Calix's fake identity as the son of Magister Qintara and Olivia's "Magister Aaramis", they are able to retrieve the floor plans and return to Ser Aaron and Vaea without issues.
Back at the tavern, Calix and Olivia talk over a glass of wine, and Calix shares with her that Calix is in fact his true name, and his story of going from slave to con-artist. Olivia tells him she is impressed by his drive to survive, and kisses him. The two retreat to a private room.
Following sex, Olivia tells Calix not to make anything more of it beyond "fun," and has no intention of ever seeing him again after finishing their work together. She then leaves him upset at the rejection. Outside the door, she sees that Ser Aaron has taken to drink, and comments to Autumn not to tell her the mabari's upset with her, too.
The next morning, Olivia tells Aaron that she can't be held responsible for the expectations others put on her, to which he retorts that as a confidence artist, that's her job. The four regroup to go over their plan, and Vaea suggests they put their interpersonal problems aside to focus on the task at hand.
Olivia's last stand
After Vaea successfully breaks them into the Qintara estate, Olivia is left with Ser Aaron and Calix to guard the exit, where Calix overhears Francesca demand an audience with Qintara, and finds out the Antivan Crows killed her brother Florian. Olivia remarks that she shouldn't have expected anything else from Crows, as you can't ask people to change into something they're not. When Francesca discovers that Magister Qintara has in reality been dead for years, and instead an elven spy has been pretending to be him, Aaron and Calix run to rescue rescue Francesca. She is forced to accept their help when an army of qunari break into the estate.
Calix suggests they flee, and Olivia volunteers to act as a distraction for the rest to escape by pretending to be Magister Qintara. Aaron tells her that he always knew she was a good woman, to which Olivia says she's not, but can pretend to be. Olivia then shares one last hug with her mabari, before instructing Autumn to protect Calix.
Reflecting that this is her "role of a lifetime," she confronts the assaulting qunari with her fake pyrotechnic staff, and is killed while the others successfully escape.