“The Maker is king in the heavens, but it is the kings of Thedas who must recreate his worldly glory.”
Sebastian Vael, an archer and Chantry Brother of royal birth, is a potential companion in Dragon Age II available through the The Exiled Prince DLC which is included with the Signature Edition. Only a female Hawke can pursue a romance with him.[2]
Background
The Vaels believed that their youngest son, Sebastian, was a disgrace to the family name, and would be a weight around his brothers' necks. They forced him into the Chantry, exiling him from their principality of Starkhaven.[3] While he was not without faith, Sebastian did not wish to give up his life in service to Andraste so early in his existence, and with the aid of the compassionate Grand Cleric Elthina, escaped. Elthina helped him to regain his faith however, and after reflection, Sebastian returned to the Chantry, this time willingly, and through the front door.
Now, Sebastian is forced to re-enter the viper's nest of princely politics when his family is brutally murdered, leaving him as the sole surviving heir.[4]
Involvement
Banding together with Sebastian and his unshakable loyalty and excellent aim, players will choose to either avenge Sebastian's murdered family to reclaim his title or direct his holy vengeance on their enemies in Kirkwall.
Following the murder of his immediate family, Sebastian has an argument with Grand Cleric Elthina in front of the Kirkwall Chantry in Hightown. In his anger he puts up a notice, promising a reward to whomever kills his family's murderers. The Champion, in Act 1, has a choice of accepting Sebastian's quest Duty from the Chanter's Board. After finishing the quest and meeting with Sebastian in the Chantry, Hawke will not see him until three years later.
In Act 2, Sebastian can be found inside the Chantry, next to the Grand Cleric. The Prince will join Hawke when he is spoken to in the Chantry, starting the quest Repentance. He has discovered who hired the Flint Company, an old family who once allied with his, the Harimanns. During the quest, Sebastian will discover that the Desire Demon Allure had corrupted the family, which drove Lady Harimann to be driven by her desires to seize Starkhaven until it was all she could think of. In the aftermath, Sebastian became conflicted over whether he should remain in the Chantry or retake Starkhaven.
During the finale in Act 3, you have to choose between killing Anders or having Sebastian threaten to seek vengeance on all of Kirkwall.
If you kill Anders and side with the mages he will join you, saying that all creatures have the right to redeem themselves in the Void while the others are free to walk with the Maker. He will then vow to stop the "tyranny" of the Templars. Alternatively, siding with the Templars shows that he is eager to end the threat of all "Maleficarum".
Romance
Even though a romance can be made with Sebastian, he will never actually sleep with Hawke due to his vow of chastity.
Though it may seem unlikely, it is possible to win Sebastian's heart if:
1: You are playing as a female Hawke.
2:You're not currently in a romance with anyone else. (In other words, don't choose any flirty dialog option with any other character....ever.)
3: You 100% rivalry or 100% friendship and complete Sebastian's quests.
4: You execute a certain mage.
If you romance him as a rival, he will say that he will take back Starkhaven, saying that he will give Hawke no less than a Prince, and that the marriage between the Viscountess of Kirkwall and the Prince of Starkhaven will be the strongest alliance the Free Marches has ever seen.
If you romance him as a friend, he will vow to stay in the Chantry as a brother of the faith, but he will ask Hawke to become a sister of the faith so they can have a chaste marriage in the eyes of the Maker.
The following quests have flirtation dialog options with Sebastian
Act 2: Questioning Beliefs
Friendship and rivalry
- See the approval page for more information.
Friendship with Sebastian can generally be earned by being helpful to those in need, or siding with the Chantry or templars over the mages.
Rivalry with Sebastian can generally be earned by siding against the Chantry or by making aggressive, disagreeable or otherwise "dishonorable" choices.
Also, any dialogue options that push Sebastian to retake Starkhaven will result in Rivalry. Of course, this means that encouraging him to stay with the Chantry results in Friendship
Gear
- See Companion armor for a list of all Companion Armor upgrades.
Sebastian's concept art
In Dragon Age II you cannot change what armor your companions wear, but you can upgrade it. Sebastian's armor may be upgraded by using the gift mechanics in that game. You will find companion armor upgrades that can be purchased at shops in the tab designated by the Gem Icon. His armor has four slots available for upgrades. These upgrades may be purchased or found at various locations in the the game. Upgrading a companion's armor once unlocks the "A Friend In Need" achievement and fully upgrading a companion's armor unlocks the "I Got Your Back" achievement.
Sebastian's armor upgrades can be found at the following locations:
- Act 2 Olaf's Armor Hightown: Reinforced Bracers. (+77 Attack)
- Act 2 Gallows Armor Shop: Enhanced Articulation. (Extra Rune Slot)
- Act 2 Harimann Estate during his companion quest, Repentance: Mail Undertunic. (+2% Critical Chance)
- Act 3 Hightown: During the Best Served Cold Quest, on the Templar Lieutenant: Protection of the Faith (Extra Rune Slot)
Bug: For some reason, Sebastian's armor may fail to show up on his equipment screen. His upgrades will also not show, and when the upgrades are found/purchased there will be no "level up" animation/sound indicating that the upgrade was equipped. It's as if Sebastian is simply not wearing armor. It's unknown what causes this, or if the equipped upgrades still give bonuses. (Observed on the 360, Act 2, with Reinforced Bracers, Enhanced Articulation, and Mail Undertunic)
Sebastian specific gear
- Requires Rogue Item Pack 1 DLC.
- Requires Rogue Item Pack 2 DLC.
Bugs
When the DLC pack, The Exiled Prince is installed during Act 2, a bug occurs. When you visit outside Chantry at daytime, you'll see the cutscene, but you won't be able to interact with the Chantry board. When this happens, it should be solved by visiting the Act 1 Hightown via debug console. Refer to Quest/Companion Fixes&Workarounds for more details on how to fix this problem.
A bug can occur where Sebastian's loyalty bonus will apply as a negative value to Hawke even though he is not in the party. The normal bonus is 5% damage resistance, therefore during the bug it applies as -5% damage resistance. This bug stacks upon each reload of the game with Sebastian in the party adding -5% each time.
There was a bug with the DLC in the day one Xbox 360 release resulting in Achievements not unlocking despite meeting the requirements. Bioware has since patched the DLC, and suggests you delete the existing content and re-download as a workaround. You will need to re-complete all the quests/actions for these achievements to unlock. No fix has been offered for users who should already have the achievements. See: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/301/index/6708411
Infinite Friendship of +10 can be earned by talking to the Grand Cleric Elthina in the Chantry. This must be done before completing Following the Qun. Talking to her about "helping the community" will yield that. Infinite Rivalry can also be obtained the same way, but by choosing the "Your Useless" dialogue option when talking to the Grand Cleric in Act 2.
A bug can occur in Act 2 and Act 3 when after finishing Repentance or Faith quest Questioning Beliefs won't trigger even if character has required amount of Friendship or Rivalry points. This cannot be prevented and leaves player unable to complete romance with Sebastian. It has not yet been patched.
Quotes
- Main article: Sebastian/Dialogue
- (To Grand Cleric Elthina) "It is my right, my duty, to show these assassins there's nowhere in the Free Marches to hide."
- (After Grand Cleric Elthina said, "This is murder!") "No, what happened to my family was murder."
- "Princes aren't meant for chastity."
- "The Maker is king in the heavens, but it is the kings of Thedas who must recreate his worldly glory."
- "Maker no!"
- "Varric, would but the Maker approve you and I could be so much more than the best of friends."
- "Huzzah! He's seen the light!" (Said if he is in the party when accepting Justice from Anders)
Trivia
- Sebastian was written by Jennifer Hepler.[5]
- Sebastian "Seb" Hanlon, a part of the BioWare team, was at a time assigned to do most of the bug fixing and such for the character. The main reason for this was because of their similar name and it did not please him. The shared name also caused some confusion for Hanlon as every time someone mentioned the character, Hanlon thought they were directing their comments toward him.[6]
- His first name derives from Sebastos, meaning "venerable" and "revered" in Greek.
- If one is to calculate Sebastian's age from what info he tells about himself, Sebastian says he was thirteen when his grandfather made a promise to give him the Starkhaven Longbow, and he was given to the Chantry some time after this. In Act 3, he states that he hasn't been to Starkhaven in fifteen years. That makes Sebastian's age at least twenty-eight by Act 3.
- Sebastian has many similarities with Nathaniel Howe. Both of them are surviving members of a noble family (of sorts), they both have a quest to retrieve a bow which belonged to their grandfather, and both were forced to join an order (Sebastian the Chantry and Nathaniel the Wardens).
Gallery
References
- ↑ Gaider, David. "The Exiled Prince, Sebastian Vael". BioWare Social Network. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
- ↑ http://oi56.tinypic.com/1ymjja.jpg
- ↑ Gaider, David.[1]Bioware, Dragon Age 2 Sebastian Vael; Short Story. Retrieved: 03-02-2011
- ↑ "Addons". BioWare. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
- ↑ Gaider, David. "The Exiled Prince, Sebastian Vael". BioWare Social Network. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
- ↑ Hanlon, Sebastian. "The Exiled Prince, Sebastian Vael". BioWare Social Network. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
External links
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