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hawkethisnthat) wrote2013-02-03 01:30 pm
hawkethisnthat) wrote2013-02-03 01:30 pm
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P L A Y E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Your Name: Froda
OOC Journal:froda_baggins
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: Nope.
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frodabaggins
Characters Played at Ataraxion: John Blake | Batman (Nolanverse) |learnedtosmile
Kaylee Frye | Firefly |talkstoengines
Sara Harrngton | Looper |thefuckinhalf
C H A R A C T E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: Marian Hawke (most just call her "Hawke")
Canon: Dragon Age 2
Original or Alternate Universe: OU
Canon Point: Post-game.
Number: RNG, please!
Setting: The world of Dragon Age (called "Thedas" in canon which is actually an anagram for The Dragon Age Setting) is pretty vast and complex, though it's loosely based on the history and politics of medieval Europe - with lots of fantasy elements thrown in, like magic, elves, dwarfs, dragons, etc. Luckily! There is a fantastic wiki that is very detailed and covers a lot of the good stuff about the history, lore and mechanics of the setting. A good starting place would be the Fifth Blight, which is the backdrop to the beginning of Hawke's canon. Also, Hawke.
History: Marian Hawke was born around 9:10 Dragon in Lothering, a village on the southern edge of Ferelden, the first child of Malcolm and Leandra Hawke. Malcolm was an apostate mage, on the run from the Kirkwall Circle, and Leandra was a scion of the Amells, a noble family of Kirkwall. The pair had eloped after Leandra found herself pregnant and made their way quietly to Lothering.
Hawke's childhood was about as good as could be expected, given her father's status. They didn't have much, but they had food on the table and roof over their heads, and when Marian's magic manifested, Malcolm took is upon himself to teach her everything she would need to know to master the power she'd been given. When Hawke's twin siblings were born, Bethany and Carver, it soon became apparent that Bethany had the same magical gifts, so she joined the lessons too.
They did pretty well - they lived outside the bounds of the village, and among other things Malcolm taught his children how to hide what they really were, and avoid the Templars who would bring them to the Circle if they were discovered.
Then tragedy struck in 9:27, when Malcolm fell ill and died suddenly. Teenage Hawke found herself largely in charge of providing for the family, and she stepped up to the plate - however, the Fifth Blight was fast approaching, which would change things up again. Carver went off to join the army, leaving them one pair of hands down, and then disaster struck at Ostagar, the army suffering a massive defeat against the darkspawn, the king killed in battle along with basically all the Grey Wardens. Carver barely escaped with his life, and with the darkspawn horde on their doorstep, the Hawkes were forced to flee Lothering. In their flight, they fought off a lot of darkspawn, and Bethany was killed trying to defend her mother from an ogre.
At that point, having run into Aveline and her husband, the party encountered a dragon - which saved their lives, and turned out to be the Witch of the Wilds, Flemeth. Flemeth agreed to help them get to Kirkwall safely, in return for running an errand for her. Hawke readily agreed (though she really did want to learn how to fly and breathe fire, come on Flemeth!) and she helped them get to Gwaren, a port city where they were able to take ship to Kirkwall - hopefully there to be greeted as the returning lost Amells.
Of course, that's not exactly how it turned out. They got to Kirkwall, only to find that Leandra's brother, Gamlen, had squandered the family fortune and was now just a gambler and a drunkard living in a shack in Lowtown. He did finally get them into the city, however, after basically selling Hawke and Carver into indentured servitude for a year.
Skip ahead a year, then, and Hawke and Carver are free of their employment - and dead broke. Hawke has a brilliant plan to earn them some cash - the Blight is over and a local dwarven merchant, Bartrand Tethras, is putting together an expedition to the Deep Roads to loot some treasure before the darkspawn flood the place again. He doesn't want to let Hawke and Carver come along, but his little brother, Varric, has been watching Hawke like a... well. And he gives them a business proposition: buy into the expedition as a partner, and they'll all profit!
So then Hawke spends a few weeks trying to scrape together enough money to do that. Along the way, she meets a motley assortment of misfits and castoffs, including a former Grey Warden and apostate mage, Anders. Her friend, and guardsman-turned-Captain of the guard Aveline, Varric himself, an escaped Tevinter slave called Fenris, a dalish elf and unrepentant blood mage called Merril, and a pirate captain without a ship, Isabela. Together they go on adventures of various sorts, helping people around the city and Hawke quickly earns a name for herself as a person who can solve problems and get things done.
Anyway, so eventually they get the money together, and Anders provides some maps of the Deep Roads to help them out as well, and Hawke joins Bartrand's expedition, along with Varric, Carver and Anders. In the Deep Roads, the party discovers an ancient, primeval Thaig, and an idol made of lyrium (a powerful magical substance). Bartrand betrays his brother and Hawke and locks them in the Thaig, taking the idol with them. Hawke, being Hawke, manages to escape with her friends, but Carver contracted the darkspawn taint. It's a death sentence, but Anders is able to help get them to some Grey Wardens, saving his life by enlisting him into their ranks. Still, it's a huge loss, as Carver has to cut all ties to his family in Kirkwall, so while Hawke returns (mostly) triumphant and rich, able to reclaim the Amell family title and mansion for her mother, it's a pretty bittersweet return.
Still, a few years pass where Hawke is rich and prosperous - she's got friends in high places now, like the Viscount of the city, who enlists her help in dealing with the Qunari who have been stranded in Kirkwall for several years now and don't seem to be leaving. Hawke has some dealings with their leader, the Arishok, trying to be all diplomatic and solve their various conflicts peacefully. Turns out, the Qunari aren't leaving because they lost something sacred to them, a book, and the Arishok has to get it back. He believes the book (and the person who stole it) are in Kirkwall.
Oh, and somewhere in there, Hawke has a night of smokin' hot hatesex with Fenris - after which he chickens out and leaves (but still for some reason keeps following her around like a kicked puppy???)
Meanwhile, there's a serial killer on the loose in the city - women of a certain age and appearance are starting to disappear, after receiving a gift of white lilies, and Hawke begins investigating these disappearances. Right up until her own mother, Leandra, becomes the latest victim. Desperate to find and rescue her mother, Hawke finally tracks down the killer - Quentin, a deranged blood mage. Hawke destroys Quentin, but it's too late for Leandra. Quentin had used dark magic and made Leandra into a broken, shambling thing. Leandra died in Hawke's arms, and Hawke went into hiding for a while.
Unfortunately, tensions between the Qunari and the people of Kirkwall are rising ever higher, forcing Hawke to come out of mourning to try and deal with them. When she discovers that her friend Isabela has the book that was stolen from the Qunari, things come to a head. Isabela flees the city, and the Qunari attack - intending to sack Kirkwall and force all its inhabitants to submit to the Qun.
Isabela, bound by her friendship with Hawke, has a change of heart and returns, but the battle has already started. Hawke teams up with the leader of the Circle mages, Orsino, as well as his adversary, Knight-Commander Meredith, to storm the Viscount's keep and end the Qunari assault. Once there, they discover that the Viscount has been murdered by the Arishok - despite getting his precious book back, the Arishok wants Isabela too, to be punished for her crimes, or whatever. Hawke basically tells him "hell no you'll take her over my dead body" so he basically says "okay then I will". And so they duel to the death. Or something.
It's a long, hard fight, but Hawke manages to kill the Arishok, saving the city and subsequently earning for herself the title of "Champion of Kirkwall". After that, Hawke is all alone - all her family except Carver dead, but she's got so much power she can basically do whatever she wants. Knight-Commander Meredith, head of the Kirkwall Templars and a religious zealot, knows that Hawke is a mage but can't touch her at the height of her power and glory, so there is an uneasy peace, with Meredith essentially taking control of the city in the wake of the Viscount's death (and with no immediate successor to the position).
But tensions between the Templars (more powerful than ever under Meredith's rule) and the Circle mages and apostates of the city - always an uneasy relationship at the best of times - become ever worse, to the point where Orsino and Meredith begin having arguments in the streets, and the mages become ever more rebellious. Everyone begins looking to Hawke as a potential peacemaker, including Grand Cleric Elthina of the Kirkwall Chantry, whom Hawke has a lot of respect for.
Somewhere in there, too, Fenris's old master shows up to take him back to his life of slavery, Hawke gives the best line in the game ("He is not a slave!") and then proceeds to melt Danarius's face off. After that, she and Fenris finally kiss and make up and there is probably a lot of passionate sex to make up for like three years where they kept mooning and sniping over each other.
Of course, that's when Anders, always a bit of a hothead and sharing his body with a spirit of Justice, chooses to blow up the Chantry, killing the Grand Cleric and everyone inside. In the wake of his actions, the city literally explodes into violence. Meredith attempts to have the Circle annulled (despite the fact that it wasn't a Circle mage who did it...) and Orsino basically goes crazy.
Hawke - angered by her friend's betrayal, but unable to kill him, sides with the mages, her people, and fights alongside them against the Templars. It's a long, hard battle, with Orsino and Meredith both ending up dead, and Hawke forced to flee the city with her companions - once again, she's on the run.
This is the point at which she'll arrive on the Tranquility.
Personality: Hawke is probably the last person one would expect to be a great hero, the Champion of Kirkwall and the instigator of a religious war. For one thing, she never seems to take anything seriously. Sarcasm and a rapier-sharp wit are her bread and butter, they're what she primarily faces the world with. This means that, while she can be quite charming, not everyone is going to like her much. There are some people who find her annoying and obnoxious at best, and outright offensive at worst. She's great at parties, but probably not a good choice to give a eulogy or comfort a young widow. As of the end of the game, her sarcasm is as much a defense mechanism (and occasionally a weapon) as it is a sign of genuine good humor. Hawke has seen a lot of terrible tragedy in her life, she's seen and done a lot of horrendous violence, and as such she doesn't take a terribly rosy view of the world at large. Her sarcasm helps her deal with things - or, rather, not deal with things that might otherwise be deeply emotionally scarring.
However, under the brittle, sarcastic exterior, Hawke is a genuinely good-hearted woman, with a lot of compassion. She's got a soft spot for underdogs, which likely explains how she managed to take up with such a motley collection of misfits and castoffs, and at least partly explains why she sided with the mages in the end, aside from the fact that she is one, herself. She may be cynical, but that won't stop her from trying to help people when she can, even if she's occasionally putting her foot in her mouth from making tasteless jokes. She gets particularly vicious with people who are slavers, who hurt children or generally prey on those who are weaker than themselves. And there's no doubt that she's a damn good fighter - the multitudes of corpses left in her wake over the years can attest to that.
Family is important to Hawke. She's never been particularly ambitious for herself, but she was highly motivated to take care of her family (she was often the primary breadwinner back in the bad old days when they were poor refugees) and protect them. She doesn't have much actual family anymore, so the ties of friendship have become just as important to her. She is loyal - sometimes to a fault - and will pretty much do anything asked of her by those she trusts. Case in point, when Anders asked for her help sneaking into the Chantry. He refused to say why he needed to sneak in, and despite her misgivings about the situation, Hawke agreed to help him, because she trusted him. That action quite literally blew up in her face. It may take a while to initially earn her trust, but once earned, that trust is complete.
While she may often joke about how much she likes money and power, it's really people Hawke cares most for. The individuals closest to her are always her number one priority, and she's most focused on helping people on an individual level, rather than being overly concerned with the "big picture". She'd much rather keep a handful of innocent apostates safe, for instance, than sacrifice a bunch of lives in a rebellion against the system oppressing them.
Hawke is also good at inspiring loyalty. For purposes of my headcanon at this point, I am going to assume that Hawke followed the friendship path with all companions, except Fenris, with whom she had a rather more tension-filled relationship. Despite the fact that many of them have deeply opposed beliefs regarding politics, religion, mage rights, etc, somehow Hawke managed to bring them all together through loyalty to her, often getting them to fight together against common enemies. The most obvious case in point here would be Fenris and Anders who, while deeply opposed to each other ideologically, are able to eventually at least tolerate each other's presence for Hawke's sake. Aveline and Isabela have a similar dynamic, and eventually reach a point of something like friendship. Hawke's chosen companions are essentially her family, and she is the glue that tends to hold people together.
As far as religion, politics, and all of that, Hawke has never had very strong beliefs one way or the other. She's not exactly a churchgoer (that would be kind of disastrous given that she's an apostate) and she generally believes that mages should be free from the Circle, though she's never subscribed to Anders' extreme stance on the matter. She does fall very strongly into the anti-blood mage camp, however. Her father, Malcolm, had a very strong sense of morality and instilled that in his daughter, especially regarding making deals with demons. Hawke has never dabbled in blood magic, and never will. The only blood mage Hawke has ever had any patience for is Merrill, and that stems primarily from the fact that Merrill reminds Hawke rather strongly of her dead sister, Bethany at times.
Hawke is often blunt and straightforward, and is pretty much the farthest thing from "ladylike" that she can be while still self-identifying as female. She's never acted like the other noblewomen of Kirkwall - it's not a life she was born to, and even if it had been, she's always been perfectly willing to ignore social convention when it suits her. Even at a fancy party, you won't see her wearing a dress. She keeps her hair short and never wears makeup, though when she isn't sweaty, covered in mud, slime or blood, she's rather attractive. Not that she's ever paid any attention to it - she's not the kind of person who uses her looks or "feminine wiles" to get ahead in life. Frankly, the thought just doesn't cross her mind.
The things that Hawke values most are her own freedom and independence, and the freedom and safety of her loved ones. Threaten those things, and Hawke will make sure you regret it.
Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations: + Hawke is a mage; this means she can wield magic to various ends, tapping into the power of the Fade (the world of dreams) to manifest her power. Her specialties are in the elemental and force trees, meaning she's really good at using fire and ice to burn and/or freeze her enemies, as well as using the force of gravity to throw them around. She also has some minor healing skills, but she would be the first to point out that Anders is a much better healer overall. She can patch someone up in the field, but for more serious injuries, they would need to find a more dedicated healer or medic.
- Magic in the Dragon Age universe is a very powerful force, and a lot can be done with it, but it's not really very good for most mundane tasks. Hawke can't go around repairing objects, or cooking food, or levitating things instead of picking them up and carrying them - that would require a level of finesse that no mage is ever shown having, and it would be needlessly exhausting to boot. Magic is almost exclusively used for offensive/defensive purposes in a fight, or for healing. On the Tranquility, Hawke's connection to the Fade (which is the source of all magical power) will be weakened, which means simply that she won't be able to do as much damage before exhausting herself, and really big spells will require quite a bit of recovery.
+ Aside from the magic, Hawke is sharp as a tack, demonstrates some decent investigative skills, and is often good at talking/bluffing her way out of tight spots.
Inventory: + The Mantle of the Champion, aka the clothes on her back
+ The Hawke's Key, a staff that once belonged to her father, Malcolm.
+ 5x Lyrium potions.
Appearance:
Hawke's "signature" (default) look
Hawke is thin and lithe, though she's strong enough to haul around a big-ass magical staff. Her most striking feature is probably her bright blue eyes, which kind of stick out against her pale skin and characteristically short black hair.
Age: 32-ish.
AU Clarification:
S A M P L E S
Log Sample: "Let's stop here for the night," Hawke heard herself say. The sun was well and truly set, and they were far enough outside the walls of the city that she felt safe to pause and rest. For a few hours, anyway.
She doubted the blighted Templars would give her much of a head start.
Her companions were unusually quiet. Normally, they'd be chatting and joking, ribbing one another or arguing about something. Now, they were all subdued. Aveline and Donnic were speaking quietly to one another, out of earshot of the rest. Varric was inspecting the crossbow Bianca carefully. Merrill murmured something about finding kindling for a fire, and Isabela followed her, to keep an eye on her. Fenris had pulled a whetstone out from his pack and was polishing his greatsword. She hadn't asked any of them to follow her into exile, and yet here they were, all the same. Part of her felt relief, that she didn't have to face this alone. Another part of her was worried - she wasn't nearly as confident in her ability to protect her friends as she once was. Maybe they'd even be better off without her.
And Anders, Hawke could see his outline, even in the dim twilight. Away from the others, his back bent and his head bowed, the picture of despair. Any other day, Hawke would've approached him, tapped his shoulder, made him scoot over to make room for her. She would've flashed him a grin, cracked a joke, promised to find him a kitten, anything to cheer her friend up.
Today, though, today she couldn't bring herself to do it. Not with all of Kirkwall burning behind them. Not with his betrayal still gnawing away at her inside. She wasn't sure, yet, if she could forgive him. Or trust him again.
Hawke had never believed in fate, or destiny. She wasn't sure if she even believed in the Maker, most days. Most days, it didn't matter to her one way or the other. She'd always been determined to find her own path. But now, she found herself recalling something Flemeth had said to her, all those years ago. Hurtled into chaos, you fight... And the world will shake before you. She couldn't help but wonder if the witch had known something, known what was to come. The world felt a bit shaky just then.
"Hawke." There was Fenris, solid and dependable as always. She thought perhaps she could make out the faint glow of his lyrium markings in the twilight. She shook her head, and put on a smirk.
"Planning on killing a bunny rabbit with that big sword?" she joked, letting him lead her back toward camp.
Comms Sample: [The video comes on, and the only thing anyone watching can see is a shock of black hair and part of a bright blue eye.
Then Hawke jostles the thing again and more bits of her face get seen, but she's clearly unaware that the device is on - like she hit the button on accident in her fumbling.]
-box, if there's nothing shiny inside it? [She's either talking to herself, or talking to someone off-camera, who knows?] Unless it's some relic with magical powers. The last one I encountered drove everyone who owned it mad - I think I'll pass on that.
Your Name: Froda
OOC Journal:
froda_bagginsUnder 18? If yes, what is your age?: Nope.
Email + IM:
Characters Played at Ataraxion: John Blake | Batman (Nolanverse) |
learnedtosmileKaylee Frye | Firefly |
talkstoenginesSara Harrngton | Looper |
thefuckinhalfC H A R A C T E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: Marian Hawke (most just call her "Hawke")
Canon: Dragon Age 2
Original or Alternate Universe: OU
Canon Point: Post-game.
Number: RNG, please!
Setting: The world of Dragon Age (called "Thedas" in canon which is actually an anagram for The Dragon Age Setting) is pretty vast and complex, though it's loosely based on the history and politics of medieval Europe - with lots of fantasy elements thrown in, like magic, elves, dwarfs, dragons, etc. Luckily! There is a fantastic wiki that is very detailed and covers a lot of the good stuff about the history, lore and mechanics of the setting. A good starting place would be the Fifth Blight, which is the backdrop to the beginning of Hawke's canon. Also, Hawke.
History: Marian Hawke was born around 9:10 Dragon in Lothering, a village on the southern edge of Ferelden, the first child of Malcolm and Leandra Hawke. Malcolm was an apostate mage, on the run from the Kirkwall Circle, and Leandra was a scion of the Amells, a noble family of Kirkwall. The pair had eloped after Leandra found herself pregnant and made their way quietly to Lothering.
Hawke's childhood was about as good as could be expected, given her father's status. They didn't have much, but they had food on the table and roof over their heads, and when Marian's magic manifested, Malcolm took is upon himself to teach her everything she would need to know to master the power she'd been given. When Hawke's twin siblings were born, Bethany and Carver, it soon became apparent that Bethany had the same magical gifts, so she joined the lessons too.
They did pretty well - they lived outside the bounds of the village, and among other things Malcolm taught his children how to hide what they really were, and avoid the Templars who would bring them to the Circle if they were discovered.
Then tragedy struck in 9:27, when Malcolm fell ill and died suddenly. Teenage Hawke found herself largely in charge of providing for the family, and she stepped up to the plate - however, the Fifth Blight was fast approaching, which would change things up again. Carver went off to join the army, leaving them one pair of hands down, and then disaster struck at Ostagar, the army suffering a massive defeat against the darkspawn, the king killed in battle along with basically all the Grey Wardens. Carver barely escaped with his life, and with the darkspawn horde on their doorstep, the Hawkes were forced to flee Lothering. In their flight, they fought off a lot of darkspawn, and Bethany was killed trying to defend her mother from an ogre.
At that point, having run into Aveline and her husband, the party encountered a dragon - which saved their lives, and turned out to be the Witch of the Wilds, Flemeth. Flemeth agreed to help them get to Kirkwall safely, in return for running an errand for her. Hawke readily agreed (though she really did want to learn how to fly and breathe fire, come on Flemeth!) and she helped them get to Gwaren, a port city where they were able to take ship to Kirkwall - hopefully there to be greeted as the returning lost Amells.
Of course, that's not exactly how it turned out. They got to Kirkwall, only to find that Leandra's brother, Gamlen, had squandered the family fortune and was now just a gambler and a drunkard living in a shack in Lowtown. He did finally get them into the city, however, after basically selling Hawke and Carver into indentured servitude for a year.
Skip ahead a year, then, and Hawke and Carver are free of their employment - and dead broke. Hawke has a brilliant plan to earn them some cash - the Blight is over and a local dwarven merchant, Bartrand Tethras, is putting together an expedition to the Deep Roads to loot some treasure before the darkspawn flood the place again. He doesn't want to let Hawke and Carver come along, but his little brother, Varric, has been watching Hawke like a... well. And he gives them a business proposition: buy into the expedition as a partner, and they'll all profit!
So then Hawke spends a few weeks trying to scrape together enough money to do that. Along the way, she meets a motley assortment of misfits and castoffs, including a former Grey Warden and apostate mage, Anders. Her friend, and guardsman-turned-Captain of the guard Aveline, Varric himself, an escaped Tevinter slave called Fenris, a dalish elf and unrepentant blood mage called Merril, and a pirate captain without a ship, Isabela. Together they go on adventures of various sorts, helping people around the city and Hawke quickly earns a name for herself as a person who can solve problems and get things done.
Anyway, so eventually they get the money together, and Anders provides some maps of the Deep Roads to help them out as well, and Hawke joins Bartrand's expedition, along with Varric, Carver and Anders. In the Deep Roads, the party discovers an ancient, primeval Thaig, and an idol made of lyrium (a powerful magical substance). Bartrand betrays his brother and Hawke and locks them in the Thaig, taking the idol with them. Hawke, being Hawke, manages to escape with her friends, but Carver contracted the darkspawn taint. It's a death sentence, but Anders is able to help get them to some Grey Wardens, saving his life by enlisting him into their ranks. Still, it's a huge loss, as Carver has to cut all ties to his family in Kirkwall, so while Hawke returns (mostly) triumphant and rich, able to reclaim the Amell family title and mansion for her mother, it's a pretty bittersweet return.
Still, a few years pass where Hawke is rich and prosperous - she's got friends in high places now, like the Viscount of the city, who enlists her help in dealing with the Qunari who have been stranded in Kirkwall for several years now and don't seem to be leaving. Hawke has some dealings with their leader, the Arishok, trying to be all diplomatic and solve their various conflicts peacefully. Turns out, the Qunari aren't leaving because they lost something sacred to them, a book, and the Arishok has to get it back. He believes the book (and the person who stole it) are in Kirkwall.
Oh, and somewhere in there, Hawke has a night of smokin' hot hatesex with Fenris - after which he chickens out and leaves (but still for some reason keeps following her around like a kicked puppy???)
Meanwhile, there's a serial killer on the loose in the city - women of a certain age and appearance are starting to disappear, after receiving a gift of white lilies, and Hawke begins investigating these disappearances. Right up until her own mother, Leandra, becomes the latest victim. Desperate to find and rescue her mother, Hawke finally tracks down the killer - Quentin, a deranged blood mage. Hawke destroys Quentin, but it's too late for Leandra. Quentin had used dark magic and made Leandra into a broken, shambling thing. Leandra died in Hawke's arms, and Hawke went into hiding for a while.
Unfortunately, tensions between the Qunari and the people of Kirkwall are rising ever higher, forcing Hawke to come out of mourning to try and deal with them. When she discovers that her friend Isabela has the book that was stolen from the Qunari, things come to a head. Isabela flees the city, and the Qunari attack - intending to sack Kirkwall and force all its inhabitants to submit to the Qun.
Isabela, bound by her friendship with Hawke, has a change of heart and returns, but the battle has already started. Hawke teams up with the leader of the Circle mages, Orsino, as well as his adversary, Knight-Commander Meredith, to storm the Viscount's keep and end the Qunari assault. Once there, they discover that the Viscount has been murdered by the Arishok - despite getting his precious book back, the Arishok wants Isabela too, to be punished for her crimes, or whatever. Hawke basically tells him "hell no you'll take her over my dead body" so he basically says "okay then I will". And so they duel to the death. Or something.
It's a long, hard fight, but Hawke manages to kill the Arishok, saving the city and subsequently earning for herself the title of "Champion of Kirkwall". After that, Hawke is all alone - all her family except Carver dead, but she's got so much power she can basically do whatever she wants. Knight-Commander Meredith, head of the Kirkwall Templars and a religious zealot, knows that Hawke is a mage but can't touch her at the height of her power and glory, so there is an uneasy peace, with Meredith essentially taking control of the city in the wake of the Viscount's death (and with no immediate successor to the position).
But tensions between the Templars (more powerful than ever under Meredith's rule) and the Circle mages and apostates of the city - always an uneasy relationship at the best of times - become ever worse, to the point where Orsino and Meredith begin having arguments in the streets, and the mages become ever more rebellious. Everyone begins looking to Hawke as a potential peacemaker, including Grand Cleric Elthina of the Kirkwall Chantry, whom Hawke has a lot of respect for.
Somewhere in there, too, Fenris's old master shows up to take him back to his life of slavery, Hawke gives the best line in the game ("He is not a slave!") and then proceeds to melt Danarius's face off. After that, she and Fenris finally kiss and make up and there is probably a lot of passionate sex to make up for like three years where they kept mooning and sniping over each other.
Of course, that's when Anders, always a bit of a hothead and sharing his body with a spirit of Justice, chooses to blow up the Chantry, killing the Grand Cleric and everyone inside. In the wake of his actions, the city literally explodes into violence. Meredith attempts to have the Circle annulled (despite the fact that it wasn't a Circle mage who did it...) and Orsino basically goes crazy.
Hawke - angered by her friend's betrayal, but unable to kill him, sides with the mages, her people, and fights alongside them against the Templars. It's a long, hard battle, with Orsino and Meredith both ending up dead, and Hawke forced to flee the city with her companions - once again, she's on the run.
This is the point at which she'll arrive on the Tranquility.
Personality: Hawke is probably the last person one would expect to be a great hero, the Champion of Kirkwall and the instigator of a religious war. For one thing, she never seems to take anything seriously. Sarcasm and a rapier-sharp wit are her bread and butter, they're what she primarily faces the world with. This means that, while she can be quite charming, not everyone is going to like her much. There are some people who find her annoying and obnoxious at best, and outright offensive at worst. She's great at parties, but probably not a good choice to give a eulogy or comfort a young widow. As of the end of the game, her sarcasm is as much a defense mechanism (and occasionally a weapon) as it is a sign of genuine good humor. Hawke has seen a lot of terrible tragedy in her life, she's seen and done a lot of horrendous violence, and as such she doesn't take a terribly rosy view of the world at large. Her sarcasm helps her deal with things - or, rather, not deal with things that might otherwise be deeply emotionally scarring.
However, under the brittle, sarcastic exterior, Hawke is a genuinely good-hearted woman, with a lot of compassion. She's got a soft spot for underdogs, which likely explains how she managed to take up with such a motley collection of misfits and castoffs, and at least partly explains why she sided with the mages in the end, aside from the fact that she is one, herself. She may be cynical, but that won't stop her from trying to help people when she can, even if she's occasionally putting her foot in her mouth from making tasteless jokes. She gets particularly vicious with people who are slavers, who hurt children or generally prey on those who are weaker than themselves. And there's no doubt that she's a damn good fighter - the multitudes of corpses left in her wake over the years can attest to that.
Family is important to Hawke. She's never been particularly ambitious for herself, but she was highly motivated to take care of her family (she was often the primary breadwinner back in the bad old days when they were poor refugees) and protect them. She doesn't have much actual family anymore, so the ties of friendship have become just as important to her. She is loyal - sometimes to a fault - and will pretty much do anything asked of her by those she trusts. Case in point, when Anders asked for her help sneaking into the Chantry. He refused to say why he needed to sneak in, and despite her misgivings about the situation, Hawke agreed to help him, because she trusted him. That action quite literally blew up in her face. It may take a while to initially earn her trust, but once earned, that trust is complete.
While she may often joke about how much she likes money and power, it's really people Hawke cares most for. The individuals closest to her are always her number one priority, and she's most focused on helping people on an individual level, rather than being overly concerned with the "big picture". She'd much rather keep a handful of innocent apostates safe, for instance, than sacrifice a bunch of lives in a rebellion against the system oppressing them.
Hawke is also good at inspiring loyalty. For purposes of my headcanon at this point, I am going to assume that Hawke followed the friendship path with all companions, except Fenris, with whom she had a rather more tension-filled relationship. Despite the fact that many of them have deeply opposed beliefs regarding politics, religion, mage rights, etc, somehow Hawke managed to bring them all together through loyalty to her, often getting them to fight together against common enemies. The most obvious case in point here would be Fenris and Anders who, while deeply opposed to each other ideologically, are able to eventually at least tolerate each other's presence for Hawke's sake. Aveline and Isabela have a similar dynamic, and eventually reach a point of something like friendship. Hawke's chosen companions are essentially her family, and she is the glue that tends to hold people together.
As far as religion, politics, and all of that, Hawke has never had very strong beliefs one way or the other. She's not exactly a churchgoer (that would be kind of disastrous given that she's an apostate) and she generally believes that mages should be free from the Circle, though she's never subscribed to Anders' extreme stance on the matter. She does fall very strongly into the anti-blood mage camp, however. Her father, Malcolm, had a very strong sense of morality and instilled that in his daughter, especially regarding making deals with demons. Hawke has never dabbled in blood magic, and never will. The only blood mage Hawke has ever had any patience for is Merrill, and that stems primarily from the fact that Merrill reminds Hawke rather strongly of her dead sister, Bethany at times.
Hawke is often blunt and straightforward, and is pretty much the farthest thing from "ladylike" that she can be while still self-identifying as female. She's never acted like the other noblewomen of Kirkwall - it's not a life she was born to, and even if it had been, she's always been perfectly willing to ignore social convention when it suits her. Even at a fancy party, you won't see her wearing a dress. She keeps her hair short and never wears makeup, though when she isn't sweaty, covered in mud, slime or blood, she's rather attractive. Not that she's ever paid any attention to it - she's not the kind of person who uses her looks or "feminine wiles" to get ahead in life. Frankly, the thought just doesn't cross her mind.
The things that Hawke values most are her own freedom and independence, and the freedom and safety of her loved ones. Threaten those things, and Hawke will make sure you regret it.
Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations: + Hawke is a mage; this means she can wield magic to various ends, tapping into the power of the Fade (the world of dreams) to manifest her power. Her specialties are in the elemental and force trees, meaning she's really good at using fire and ice to burn and/or freeze her enemies, as well as using the force of gravity to throw them around. She also has some minor healing skills, but she would be the first to point out that Anders is a much better healer overall. She can patch someone up in the field, but for more serious injuries, they would need to find a more dedicated healer or medic.
- Magic in the Dragon Age universe is a very powerful force, and a lot can be done with it, but it's not really very good for most mundane tasks. Hawke can't go around repairing objects, or cooking food, or levitating things instead of picking them up and carrying them - that would require a level of finesse that no mage is ever shown having, and it would be needlessly exhausting to boot. Magic is almost exclusively used for offensive/defensive purposes in a fight, or for healing. On the Tranquility, Hawke's connection to the Fade (which is the source of all magical power) will be weakened, which means simply that she won't be able to do as much damage before exhausting herself, and really big spells will require quite a bit of recovery.
+ Aside from the magic, Hawke is sharp as a tack, demonstrates some decent investigative skills, and is often good at talking/bluffing her way out of tight spots.
Inventory: + The Mantle of the Champion, aka the clothes on her back
+ The Hawke's Key, a staff that once belonged to her father, Malcolm.
+ 5x Lyrium potions.
Appearance:
Hawke's "signature" (default) look
Hawke is thin and lithe, though she's strong enough to haul around a big-ass magical staff. Her most striking feature is probably her bright blue eyes, which kind of stick out against her pale skin and characteristically short black hair.
Age: 32-ish.
S A M P L E S
Log Sample: "Let's stop here for the night," Hawke heard herself say. The sun was well and truly set, and they were far enough outside the walls of the city that she felt safe to pause and rest. For a few hours, anyway.
She doubted the blighted Templars would give her much of a head start.
Her companions were unusually quiet. Normally, they'd be chatting and joking, ribbing one another or arguing about something. Now, they were all subdued. Aveline and Donnic were speaking quietly to one another, out of earshot of the rest. Varric was inspecting the crossbow Bianca carefully. Merrill murmured something about finding kindling for a fire, and Isabela followed her, to keep an eye on her. Fenris had pulled a whetstone out from his pack and was polishing his greatsword. She hadn't asked any of them to follow her into exile, and yet here they were, all the same. Part of her felt relief, that she didn't have to face this alone. Another part of her was worried - she wasn't nearly as confident in her ability to protect her friends as she once was. Maybe they'd even be better off without her.
And Anders, Hawke could see his outline, even in the dim twilight. Away from the others, his back bent and his head bowed, the picture of despair. Any other day, Hawke would've approached him, tapped his shoulder, made him scoot over to make room for her. She would've flashed him a grin, cracked a joke, promised to find him a kitten, anything to cheer her friend up.
Today, though, today she couldn't bring herself to do it. Not with all of Kirkwall burning behind them. Not with his betrayal still gnawing away at her inside. She wasn't sure, yet, if she could forgive him. Or trust him again.
Hawke had never believed in fate, or destiny. She wasn't sure if she even believed in the Maker, most days. Most days, it didn't matter to her one way or the other. She'd always been determined to find her own path. But now, she found herself recalling something Flemeth had said to her, all those years ago. Hurtled into chaos, you fight... And the world will shake before you. She couldn't help but wonder if the witch had known something, known what was to come. The world felt a bit shaky just then.
"Hawke." There was Fenris, solid and dependable as always. She thought perhaps she could make out the faint glow of his lyrium markings in the twilight. She shook her head, and put on a smirk.
"Planning on killing a bunny rabbit with that big sword?" she joked, letting him lead her back toward camp.
Comms Sample: [The video comes on, and the only thing anyone watching can see is a shock of black hair and part of a bright blue eye.
Then Hawke jostles the thing again and more bits of her face get seen, but she's clearly unaware that the device is on - like she hit the button on accident in her fumbling.]
-box, if there's nothing shiny inside it? [She's either talking to herself, or talking to someone off-camera, who knows?] Unless it's some relic with magical powers. The last one I encountered drove everyone who owned it mad - I think I'll pass on that.