Dragon Age: Origins/Tropes F to K

• Fantastic Honorifics: Both the gender-neutral "ser" version and a few more unique variants among the elves and the qunari. Unfortunately, we don't have very much detail on the latter two.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Humans look down on elves. The Dalish are believed to be nothing but gypsy troublemakers, while the Alienage elves are treated as second-class citizens at best.
    • Subverted from the usual styles of the trope, however, in that most humans merely don't like elves and/or are ignorant of their ways. If told of the true plight of the elven alienage, most humans react with utter horror at the conditions there. This comes to a head if the Warden reveals that Loghain's been selling elves into slavery — though this is partly due to Fereldan pride that they have abolished slavery in their nation — which leads to open outrage against him, and depending on player choices, they or another elf can even be raised to nobility.
      • It gets even worse. If you tell Anora you won't make her queen and need to play the Landsmeet perfectly to convince them to side with you, pointing out elven slavery is actually one of the weaker arguments you can make against Loghain, far less effective than pointing out the kidnapping of a noble heir.
  • Dalish elves themselves pity the Alienage elves and are mystified why they remain in the human cities. Meanwhile, the Alienage elves also look down on "flat-ears", elves who have left their walled ghettos and attempt to integrate themselves further within the human settlements, believing they are abandoning their community.
  • The higher castes of Orzammar treat the casteless as lower than dirt.
  • Dwarves also look down on humans and elves, considering themselves to be superior. And they also hate "surface dwarves", fellow dwarves who have left Orzammar for the surface world, who are officially considered casteless and exiles.
  • If the Warden is a Female Elf Mage, it creates some funny situations where people, who were just scorning you for being one of the three, learn that you are a Warden as well. Of course, it also means that, Congratulations!, you have created the most hated character in the game!
  • In Awakening, the Orlesian Warden is often on the recieving end of this, as many nobles don't trust that they're now swearing fealty of their lands to the Grey Warden order... and even least of all to an Orlesian.
  • You also get the trifecta in the scorn department if the Orlesian Warden also happens to be an Elf.
    • What about a Female Elf Mage Orlesian Warden?
• Fantastic Rank System: The Qunari have one; see the trope page for details.
• Fantasy Character Classes: Warrior/Rogue/Mage.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture:
  • Featuring fantasy counterpart personages, too. Leliana –- a French-accented young cleric who firmly believes that The Maker told her to aid you. Can we say "Joan of Arc"? (Which is weird, given Andraste...)
    • Notable is that during one conversation with her, she will talk about her "unique" beliefs about the Maker: While most clerics of the Chantry believe that they are "chosen" by the Maker, and only they will achieve salvation, she thinks that the Maker loves everyone. Sounds a lot like Martin Luther (no, not that one) to me.
  • Speaking of Andraste: she's the legendary saint who inspired the major religion of Ferelden, so she fits even better. Having been spoken to directly by The Maker, she raised an army and led a holy crusade against the Tevinter empire. In the end, she was captured, and burned at the stake.
    • Aside from being the Maker's prophet, Andraste was put to death by Rome — err, the Tevinter Empire for her teachings. Her mortal remains (in this case, her ashes), are contained in an urn, which is a sacred relic rumored to have miraculous powers. Sound like anyone you know?
    • Also, Andraste is captured by the Empire thanks to her backstabbing husband, Maferath. Like Judas, Maferath's name has become synonymous with betrayal. There are also apocryphal holy books which imply that the Maker made Maferath betray her, and so he should be revered for enabling her transcendence.
    • She also seems to be a partial expy of Mohammed: a mortal chosen to reveal the teachings of the Maker and the only (or at least the final) person who will ever be spoken to, according to the Chantry; warrior prophet leading an outmatched army against a pagan Empire and picking up an army of converts; the Chant (in its origins, at least) is essentially a counterpart to the Qu'ran, and there is a similar impetus for it to be heard at all corners of the globe. Of course, the key difference that separates her from Mohammed is that she is worshipped, but, even then, excessive devotion to Andraste rather than The Maker is shown to be a bad thing.
  • Orlais was originally going to be called Arles, which was the name of an actual city in France. Orleans is a French city associated with Joan of Arc.
  • At one point, one of the Dalish refers to the Chantry's "Exalted Marches" as crusades...
  • Ferelden is basically "Scotland/Anglo-Saxon England" as a foil to the whole high medieval "Plantagenet England/France" thing Orlais has going. Ferelden also has Irish influences, mostly in the names.
  • Redcliffe is aptly named.
  • The Free Marches represent the mess of micro-states that Germany was until the 19th century.
  • Somewhat confusingly, the Anderfels have German parallels as well, although more along the lines of the Teutonic Order and Prussia, with some Mongolian influences (their territory consists mainly of large, sparsely populated steppes) thrown in.
  • The Dragon Age wiki says that Nevarra was originally just one of the larger Free Marches before becoming a major power. So... Austria?
    • The Pentaghast clan, who united the Free Marches under Nevarran leadership in a loose confederation, are very similar to the Habsburg dynasty, similarly suggesting that Nevarra is based on Austria.
  • Antiva is "a fictionalized version of a medieval Italian city-state like Venice"... where everyone has a Spanish accent for some reason.
    • Fridge Brilliance: The Borgias, whose purported methods appears to be popular in Antiva, lived in Valencia, which was part of the Crown of Aragon and later of Spain itself, which at the time included many parts of Italy (like Naples).
  • Word of God says that the Tevinter Imperium is based off the Byzantine Empire, complete with a schismatic version of the Chantry. (Ancient Tevinter was clearly Rome, without a doubt. Modern Tevinter is much smaller, and has converted to Andrastism, but is in religious schism with the other Andrastian nations, and thus...)
    • The schism itself takes on other flavors, too, with the White and Black Divines resembling rival popes in Catholic history.
  • The Qunari philosophy resembles militant Confucianism; they have been described in Word of God as, societally, resembling "militant Islamic Borg".
    • The "Islamic" part is because they clearly play the role the Caliphates did in early medieval Europe: an expansionist, advanced civilization with an evangelical religion pressing on the borders of the Andrastian nations/Christian Europe, particularly Tevinter/Byzantium.
    • Their theme from the sequel is deliberately Islamic-sounding.
    • To the extent that they are a technologically advanced people who left their home continent for religious purposes and proceeded to attempt to conquer the indigenous folk of their new home, they could also be compared to the early English settlers of the Americas.
  • The Chasind Wilders are clearly based on Celtic tribes from Pre-Roman Britian.
  • The Dwarves, despite the fact that their armor, weapons, fighting style, and art style all have an Anglo-Saxon/Viking feel, (like most dwarves) have a social structure and political system that is actually quite Roman. The assembly, like the Roman Senate, isn't elected but inherited, and only the wealthy nobility can hold office. Their kings are elected by the assembly, as was the case during the Pre-Rebublic era. The Caste system brings to mind the Patrican/Plebeian divide, the Paragons are similar to when the Roman Senate would vote to have men raised to the position of living god, and of course, they practice gladitorial combat in the form of the provings. On the other hand, their buildings actually look Ethiopian, believe it or not. An understandable choice, as both carve their buildings directly out of stone rather then using brick.
  • Dalish Elves as Gypsies Roma Irish Travellers.
  • City Elves are based on pre-World-War European Jewish culture. Once a powerful nation, they were overpowered, their homeland destroyed, and forced into slavery by the Tevinter imperium. (cf. Roman Empire). Eventually, they were freed, and built up a new culture, only to be again overpowered, this time by Fereldans and the Chantry. They now live in walled-off Ghettoes, try to keep up as many of their old customs as possible, can only find menial works among the humans, and are treated as second-class citizens. They have arranged marriages ("Matchmaker, Matchmaker..."), and even the ambient soundtrack for the elven "Alienage" (ghetto) has a distinct Klezmer/Schindler's List style, complete with mournful clarinet solo à la Giora Feidman.
    • The custom of having a great tree in the center of a village is a Basque tradition; for example, the Oak of Guernica.
    • Some inspiration might also be Native American, as they struggle to keep their old culture and language which is slipping away, and were the original people of Thedas before humans came.
    • Last but not least is the comparison with blacks in the United States, pre-Civil Rights but post-Civil War.
  • The nation of Rivain is a place where the Qunari (Muslims) and the Elves (Jews) live in peace and general equality with the humans. Sounds a lot like Moorish Spain. The fact that the only person we ever meet from there is a pirate named Isabela makes this comparison even more apt. (Piracy being the other thing the Moors were known for after religious tolerance and being a center of learning.)
• Fantasy Gun Control: Dragon Age's society has the engineering capacity to produce smokeless coal or build entire cities underground, but only the Qunari have invented gunpowder. Dwarves know a little about explosives, but Qunari assassins have been known to hunt down and kill anyone who looks like they might give the secret of controlled explosions to those not of the Qun.
• Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Averted, mostly. While there are plenty of standard fantasy creatures about, the writers did a decent job in coming up with alternate backstories for each of them that explain coherently how they can all exist in the same setting.
• Fate Worse Than Death:
  • Women who contract the darkspawn taint. If they survive, they can eventually turn into Broodmothers and birth more darkspawn.
  • Caridin only realized that being turned into a Golem was a Fate Worse Than Death after being turned into one himself.
    • Of course, Shale seems to rather enjoy being a golem, though she doesn't really remember much of the act of turning.
• Femme Fatalons: Desire Demons.
• Fetch Quest
• Fictionary: Played with. Dalish elves often seem to sprinkle their dialogue with "elvish" phrases, even when a scene consists of just elves (such as the origin opening). This isn't just breaking Translation Convention, though, as the whole point is that the Dalish aren't speaking "elvish"; the elvish language has all but forgotten. Many Dalish use as much gratuitous elvish as they can as a way to hold on to their heritage.
• Finishing Move: Occasionally, a character will get one when killing an enemy, ranging from a simple beheading animation when killing a Mook to a more involved lunge and coup de grace when slaying an Ogre. The most elaborate (which actually pause the gameplay for as much as 20 seconds) come with the deaths of the High Dragon, the Broodmother, and the Archdemon.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: The character classes in the game appear to be set up along these lines, with the Mighty Glacier Warrior, Fragile Speedster Rogue, and Squishy Wizard Mage.
  • You can Subvert this, correct class builds and specializations turn the first two into Lightning Bruiser's and the third into Kung Fu Wizard's
• Final Battle: What you spend most of the game preparing for.
• Finish Him!: A choice the player can make after dueling Loghain.
• Fireballs: A bread 'n butter spell for Mages. Does pretty hefty damage, has an area effect, does lingering damage, and bowls over any who fail a physical resistance check. Just don't shoot at your teammates.
• Fire, Ice, Lightning: Your elemental primal magics are this, + earth.
• Fishing for Mooks: You'll need to do this to survive on Nightmare if your party isn't insanely well balanced. And good luck with the bosses...
• Five-Man Band:
  • The Hero: You
  • The Lancer: Alistair
  • The Smart Guy: Wynne
  • The Big Guy: Sten/Oghren/Shale
  • The Chick: Leliana, but Morrigan could qualify
  • The Sixth Ranger: Zevran
  • Team Pet: The Dog
  • Eleventh-Hour Ranger: Loghain
• Flavor Text: Lots of it, and a very nice way to spend time.
• Flunky Boss: Several.
• Foreshadowing: Gameplay-wise. Jowan is one of only two Guest Star Party Members (in the PC version) with a colored background in his potrait. He was initially intended to be a permanent party member. Although the plan to make him a party member was scrapped, he still played a pretty important role in the plot, so...
  • Play the Human Noble origin a second time, then try not to cringe when Fergus assures Oren that he'll bring a nice sword home.

Fergus: Don't worry son, you'll get to see a sword up close real soon! Now, imagine how he feels when he learns of the attack on Highever, and realise that those were some of the last words he ever spoke to his boy...

• • Oghren can give you one if you cause him to leave the party through negative relationship: "I hope you succeed [in killing the archdemon], Warden, but I hope it kills you!" Which it can, even if you do.
  • In Redcliffe, there is a codex titled "Cautionary tales for the Adventurous" which tells about evil spirits inhabiting camp sites that drain the life force from those who rest there. Eventually, you'll find yourself in the Brecillian forest. You find yourself in a very inviting... campsite...
  • If you accept Morrigan's loophole to avoid killing the archdemon also killing you, one of the dialogue options before you part is, "Just don't make me come after you." Guess what the plot of the Witch Hunt DLC revolves around?
  • In the Mage's Origin story, it's possible to stumble upon a Statue of a Tevinter Mage who was turned to stone for prophecising the fall of Archon Valerius. She does surprisingly little... until she reappears in Witch Hunt with crucial information about the Eluvian.
  • Eleni Zinovia's prophecy in Witch Hunt makes very little sense at the time, until you realises she's referring to the events of Legacy where Corypheus, an Ancient Tevinter Magister turned Darkspawn, is accidentally released from his millennia-long-incarceration in a Grey Warden Prison; performing a Body Surf to a nearby Warden before Hawke delivered the killing blow and then leaving in his new host with no-one the wiser.

Eleni: The prison is breached. I see the encroaching darkness. The... the shadow will consume all...

• Forest Ranger: Subverted; not quite a Friend to All Living Things. Rangers are specialized Rogues described to "exploit every advantage of their environment". In this case, summoning battle beasties, making them more of a Minion Master.
• For Want of a Nail: The existence of a few other Origin player characters are alluded to in game (or in some of the DLC's), suggesting that you're the main character only because Duncan was in the right place at the right time. And then there's the DLC quest Darkspawn Chronicles, where it shows to some extent what would have happened if the Grey Warden candidate from any of the origins never survived the Joining ritual.
• Freudian Excuse: Invoked by Oghren in Awakening.

"Hey, everyone needs daddy issues. Just trying to help."

• Friendly Fireproof: With regard to spells that affect an area. On Easy, this trope is in operation. On the other difficulties, it isn't, although Normal dials down the damage inflicted.
  • It's the nature of all fire spells in particular to avert this. Avernus combines his aversion with Stop Helping Me!, as his assistance is highly likely to wipe out all your melee fighters.
  • Played jarringly straight in the Warden's Keep DLC, where Levi Dryden is curiously immune to the chaotic battles around him. Justified, as otherwise most of the DLC would be an Escort Mission.
  • Also not in effect during the Attack at Nightfall section of the Redcliffe storyline, where the Militia can easily get wiped out by fire-spells or decide to run into the burning barricades.
• Friends with Benefits: Both Morrigan and Zevran say that they want this relationship with the Warden if romanced, though Morrigan instantly becomes a Clingy Jealous Girl whenever the Warden shows a romantic or sexual interest in anyone else (Zevran, being an Ethical Slut, is much more easy going, even if he does eventually develop feelings for the Warden).
• From Nobody to Nightmare:
  • Played with in regards to Loghain, a commoner who ends up being a hero to Ferelden during the Orlesian Wars and later takes the throne. He clearly thinks he's this in regards to how he acts during Origins, threatening the Bannorn into inciting Civil War and believing he can outmaneuver the Darkspawn like he does more conventional enemies.
  • Arguably, the Grey Warden if you started as a Elf or Dwarven Commoner, or a Mage — this is how you appear to your enemies. The sheer number of assassins they send after you is a indicator of how much you're putting the fear of the Maker into them.
    • The Guard in the City Elf Origin lampshades this, in disbelief that the Arl's son lies in a river of blood that runs throughout the castle due to one Elf. When you step forward to take the blame, the Guardsman actually seems somewhat impressed.
• Full Set Bonus: Some items and armor give this.
• Functional Magic: A person has to be born with the ability to use magic. Magic is performed by drawing power from the Fade. Device magic is also present in enchanted items created by the Tranquil as well as most of the items you create with higher-tier poison-making and trap-making.
• Fun with Acronyms: The name of the game's world, Thedas, comes from the general working name "THE Dragon Age Setting".
• Fur and Loathing: All mage robes manufactured by the Tevinter Imperium prominently feature fur (except for one from the Witch Hunt DLC).
• Gameplay and Story Segregation:
  • Although Wynne strongly disapproves of Blood Magic like other Circle Mages, there is absolutely nothing preventing you from making Blood Mage her second specialization after unlocking it. If you are a Blood Mage, Wynne won't even bat an eyelash if you use Blood Magic right in front of her during battle. Likewise, there is nothing stopping you from making all-around good guy Alistair a Reaver.
  • Rangers can call wolves and bears in areas where there shouldn't be any to call on, like the Deep Roads.
  • Alistair comments that Zevran is no master of straight-up combat. When built right, he's the best melee fighter in the party, especially with the Duelist second specialization.
  • When Zevran asks to join your party, he claims he is good at lockpicking (besides other qualities IYKWIM...). Yet, he doesn't come with any lockpicking talents at that point. Of course, he might just be lying.
  • Lyrium potions are supposed to have an addictive quality, but none of your characters will ever suffer that no matter how many bottles they chug.
    • And lyrium ore is supposed to be lethally toxic to non-dwarves, and potentially brain damaging even to experienced dwarvish miners. Non-dwarven characters can touch exposed veins of the substance to heal themselves, and dwarven characters receive no effects at all.
  • Darkspawn corruption. Darkspawn blood is toxic, and getting it inside the body, either through ingestion or through a wound, can lead to death or ghoulification, and is one of several reasons the Grey Wardens intentionally taint themselves. However, your non-Warden companions will never once have to worry about that as they cut a bloody swath through entire hordes of the fiends. (There was an intent to make Grey Wardens out of the rest of your companions near the end of the game, but they had to abandon it.)
  • Anders (in Awakening) makes his spectacular appearance spewing fire from his hands. He has no fire spells at the time, and won't unless the player chooses to develop them. (Though if you start Awakening higher than level 18 or so, you'll have at least one spell point to spend for him.)
    • Likewise, Wynne is first shown (if you don't talk to her at Ostagar) defeating a fire demon with a cold spell, but doesn't have any when she joins the party.
  • It is perfectly possible for any member of your party to kill the Archdemon in gameplay. There will be no mistaking it when it happens, for the character in question will perform an elaborate Finishing Move. There will then be a Cutscene showing whichever Grey Warden was designated by the story to strike the killing blow doing so.
  • Some of Alistair's dialog at the Landsmeet assumes that he gets along with the Warden, regardless of the state of his approval meter. This is most apparent if you choose to spare Loghain.
• Gargle Blaster: Just read the description of any of the heavy liquor "gifts." And then picture Oghren chugging that stuff.
  • In Awakening, Oghren treats The Joining as this, being actually insulted that the Cup is too small.
• Gay Option: And how.
  • Modders enjoy having the usually straight Alistair reach for the rainbow as well.
• Gender Bender: In the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC, cornering Wade and Herren in an alley results in the latter transforming into a Desire Demon and teleporting the two of them away.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: In the Brecilian Ruins, the player can find "A Love Letter" to "Miss Ambrose" from a butcher, which mentions a three-pound sausage. Yikes.
• Girl-On-Girl Is Hot / But Not Too Gay: Played straight and subverted. Origins is the first AAA game to really depict passionate male gay sex, on the same level as the lesbian sex.
  • In-game, of course, Oghren definitely believes the former. He remarks that he'd wish he'd known Branka preferred girls to him — just before stating he has A Date with Rosie Palms.
  • A Female Warden romancing Alistair and Leliana will eventually have him force them to choose, though not before he drops this gem;

Alistair: I mean I get it, HOT, but...

• Give Me Your Inventory Item: Lots of these, actually. One sidequest for the Blackstone Irregulars is just the player giving them 20 health potions. The Mages Collective wants 10 Deep Mushrooms, 10 Lyrium potions. The Chantry wants 5-10 Corpse Galls, and the Interested Parties want Toxin Extracts and pieces of Garnet. Lothering villagers want potions, poisons, traps...
• Gladiator Subquest: The Provings.
• Glass Cannon: Mages and Rogues, usually, but you can avert this if you choose to build them out of it.
• Godiva Hair: The Lady of the Forest in Origins.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: The majority of the game is spent securing help from the Dalish elves, the dwarves of Orzammar, the Circle of Magi, and Arl Eamon's knights.
• Groin Attack: The "Below the Belt" talent is described as a "swift and unsportsmanlike kick" to the target, which causes normal damage and movement penalties, and if you're lucky can be a critical hit. This makes it entirely possible to finish off enemies with an especially potent kick to the jewels.
• Guest Star Party Member: The PC gets one or more of these during the origin stories. They vary based on said origin.
  • Also, in the Arl of Redcliffe story, you can send to the Fade Jowan or even First Encahnter Irwin.
• God: The Maker has a lot of similarities with the Abrahamic God. Even comes with his own Jesus, who also doubles as Mohammed.
• Going Through the Motions: It's not really noticeable unless you're really playing close attention, but if you watch long enough, you'll notice that a lot of characters use the same gestures, or tend to cross and uncross their arms a lot.
• Gold Digger: Noble-hunting — practically a profession amongst the casteless dwarves, as children inherit the caste of the parent of the same sex. Such a child is a valuable commodity which benefits both parents. The casteless family is adopted into the noble house and the nobles receive another heir, which due to low fertility rates and casualties from the darkspawn and political backstabbing, are in rather short supply.
• Good Morning, Crono: City Elves begin the adventure by being woken up by their cousin. Who is already half-drunk.
• Here There Were Dragons: Griffons have died off, the elves have been subjugated and lost their immortality and most of their cultural heritage, magic is rare, dragons were thoguht to be extinct until a very few were seen at the start of the age, the Tevinter Imperium fell in all but name long ago and its gods were turned into Archdemons, and perhaps the most fantastic thing is the advent of an apocalyptic horde led by said Archdemons and hellbent on destruction. Oh yeah, it's the sticks all right. Of course, main characters being what they are, they'll uncover plenty of special things that are still in the world.
  • The Magic Comes Back: The game is actually called "Dragon Age" because that's the age the story takes place in. Each age is named at the end of the previous one based on portents and signs. It's called the Dragon Age because dragons just recently started reappearing after being nearly hunted to extinction. Hell, one of the endings has Morrigan setting up an old god to be reborn, uncorrupted, as a human. However, no griffons... yet.
• Gory Discretion Shot: The killing of Connor is shown off-screen. Presumably because showing the deliberate murder of a young boy, even a possessed one, even in an M-rated game, would have upset the Media Watchdogs.
• Grave Humor: In Haven, after you've gone through it the first time.
• The Greatest Story Never Told: A series of Codex entries found in the Deep Roads gives the first-person accounts of a group of dwarven miners searching for treasure at the direction of their leader, who thought they were getting directions from the Stone itself. Instead of treasure, they found a darkspawn-dug tunnel that was about to break into Orzammar. The miners pulled an Heroic Sacrifice by collapsing the tunnel, and no one in Orzammar would ever know that they owed their continued existence to a small group that were considered losers and misfits when they were there.
  • There's a similar story in Awakening about the Casteless dwarves who fought and died defending Kal'Hirol. In that case, however, there is a sidequest allowing the PC to ensure that the story does eventually get told.
• Green Rocks: As if the green-blueish veins of Lyrium itself weren't enough, Dragon Age also has lifestones, a rare rock that has existed in close proximity to lyrium ore, and as such, they have absorbed some of its traits. Crushing a lifestone gives the user a small bonus to nature resistance for a short time — reasonable enough. But in addition, lifestones enhance the natural properties of other materials used in item creation, and how! These magic rocks are used as natural property 'enhancers' in all sorts of antidotes, salves, poisons, and grease traps, of all things, conveniently making things more healing, more deadly, more acidic, or more greasy just by mere presence, it seems.
• Grey and Grey Morality:
  • They're called the Grey Wardens for a reason. They don't care about anything but defeating the Archdemon and protecting the world from Darkspawn, so long as you get the job done. Sounds a lot like a special task force in a certain science fiction game, no?
  • The succession arc in Orzammar. Harrowmont is an honorable man but believes in preserving dwarven traditions, most notably the oppressive caste system. On the other hand, Bhelen may be a scheming bastard (and if he wins, he immediately executes Harrowmont), but he wants to abolish the caste system and end Orzammar's policy of isolationism. According to the Where Are They Now? Epilogue, if Harrowmont becomes King, the dwarven kingdom becomes isolationist and cuts itself off from human contact (and keeps the caste system), whereas if Bhelen becomes King, he becomes a benevolent dictator who does indeed end the caste system as well as open the kingdom up to the rest of the world.
    • Bhelen is actually following in his Paragon ancestor's footsteps. While the Deshyrs bickered amongst themselves on whose Thaigs to save in the First Blight, Aeducan seized control, cut off Orzammar from the other dwarven settlements, and was Paragon'd for saving the dwarves. It's entirely likely that the Deshyr were livid with him though.
    • If they were, they wisely kept it to themselves. When a single Deshyr objected to him being declared a Paragon, the Shaperate records that the Assembly descended upon him and promptly ripped him limb-from-limb.
  • This applies to quite a few situations in the game — e.g., the conflicts between the Dalish elves and the werewolves and the Templars and the mages, not to mention the motivations of primary antagonist Loghain. That being said, there is usually an acceptable middle ground solution for most of the quests — and Orzammar isn't really one of them, given the epilogue.
• Guide Dang It: Similar to Mass Effect 2, saving both Amaranthine and Vigil's Keep in Awakening requires a lot of work.
  • Origins also contains quests that don't appear in your journal.
  • In Awakening, there is a sidequest involving a set of Tevinter standing stones in the Wending Woods. You will probably need the guide to even figure out what you're supposed to do with them, let alone how to do it. (Hint: you need to connect every stone with a single, unbroken line.) There's a similar puzzle in the Fade, but the desired solution there is a bit more obvious.
  • The gifts can come off as very unintuitive and require a bit of poking around. A little moreso in Awakening because you have less opportunities to talk to the characters. But on the plus side, some are highly obvious.
  • Also, seemingly innocuous actions can have severe consequences, such as attempting to enter Arl Eamon's bedroom for the first time leading to Conner's death, and choosing Alistair as your champion at the Landsmeet leading to him executing Loghain immediately, preventing you from recruiting him and Alistair from marrying Anora.
• Guilt Based Gaming: Oh boy. Yes, being a creep generally nets you a lot of goodies, but certain members of your party are not going to let you forget it. And just try breaking up with someone without feeling like a scumbag (Hint: watch your dialogue choices, or you may end up with some hapless character on your romantic radar without meaning to).
• Harder Than Hard: Nightmare difficulty.
• Harmful to Touch: Lyrium.
• Haunted Castle: Soldier's Peak.
• Have You Seen My God?: The existence of the Maker that the Chantry speaks of is never given irrefutable proof in-game. For that matter, the elven Creators aren't obviously real, either. The Chantry preaches that the Maker did, in fact, abandon Thedas because of humankind's crimes, and that only their extreme penitence can make Him come back. Consequently, quite a few people in Ferelden are atheist or agnostic.
• Helmets Are Hardly Heroic: In-engine cutscenes show the characters in their currently equipped gear, except for their helmets. Not for all cutscenes, however. Generally, if the scene is the prelude to the appearance of some monster, the helmet stays on. And, of course, helmets are generally removed for conversations, but this only makes sense.
  • Plot-significant characters take their helmets off for cutscenes. People who don't have names (or who are going to die shortly) will not. In that way, the spirit of the trope still holds.
• The Hero Dies: The Ultimate Sacrifice ending.
• Heroic Fantasy
• Heroic Sacrifice: The Warden, Alistair, or Loghain can have one by killing the Archdemon without performing the dark ritual.
• Heroes Love Dogs: No matter what kind of character you're playing, you can always count on the unquestioning love and loyalty of the Mabari Hound. Human Noble Wardens start with one, and Wardens of other backgrounds can get one by completing an easy-to-finish sidequest at Ostegar. Once the Hound has joined you, it's not possible to make him leave, even if you deliberately try to drive everyone else from your side; his approval starts at maximum, and without a silly bit of DLC, you cannot lower it for any reason. You may engage the Hound in dialogue to literally Pet the Dog.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: Claudia Black voices Morrigan, Kate Mulgrew plays Flemeth, and that's just the tip of the iceberg.
• Hidden Depths: Behind the deadpan snarking, party banter between Morrigan and Leliana actually makes her raise some highly intelligent philosophical questions, pointing out to Leliana who compares belief in Magic to belief in the Maker, that it's not the same, as she can see magic and uses magic, whereas there is no proof for the Maker at all. She also theorises that if the Maker does exist, he may have simply moved onto another creation entirely, which given her later discovering that the Eluvian leads to an entirely different realm altogether, may not be too far from the truth.
  • Zevran also demonstrates that he's not just the mere assassin he seems, seemingly picking up on Morrigan having plans for the Warden fairly early on.
  • Oghren, the smelly, drunk, womanizing, ever belching dwarf looks like quite a superficial person. But take him to talk to the Guardian of Andraste's Sacred Ashes and...
• Hidden Elf Village: One of the reasons suggested why the Dalish kingdom was invaded and destroyed is they kept watching their neighbors getting beaten to a pulp... so the neighbors got pissed and now there is no more Elven kingdom.
• High Fantasy: What the game wound up being. Sure, magic is restricted in this setting, but it's still everywhere.
  • High Fantasy is not synonymous with "high-magic setting." How high Dragon Age is on the scale is debatable, since the ultimate Big Bad is so corrupting and evil it makes the Gray and Gray Morality of ordinary folks look like cupcakes and roses. But until the final battle, the typical Warden will have killed a lot more neutral types, or humans (or Dwarves, or Elves, or even werewolves) just following orders, than bad guys. Checking your kill stats can be quite surprising in this regard.
• High-Pressure Blood: Defeated enemies sometimes lose parts, resulting in a pretty blood fountain. Arguably applies to all melee combat, considering how much gore characters get on them. (It even goes on their back!)
• Hitbox Dissonance: The only thing keeping two-handed weapons and ogres from being a joke is that their attacks always hit if the target is within the hitbox when the attack animation starts. It doesn't matter if you're on the other side of the map — an attack that would hit you when the animation starts will hit you unless the user is stunned, knocked down or frozen.
• Hollywood Tactics: Justified. The Darkspawn rushing at the fortifications at Ostagar is somewhat plausible since they are mostly mindless beasts and have virtually unlimited troops. However, the Ferelden soldiers break their ranks and charge out of their defensive positions before the Darkspawn have come even close. Even if Loghain had charged the Darkspawn horde from the side, it wouldn't have helped the King and Duncan in any way, as they were already getting swamped by darkspawn at the other side of the battlefield. The justification? King Cailan is an Idiot Hero who was deadset on winning the battle in an epic, storybook-style fashion. Also, the main strategist, Loghain, was a traitor trying to get King Cailan killed.
• Hopeless Boss Fight: Bioware probably intended the (optional) fight with Ser Cauthrien in the Arl of Denerim's estate to be this, though they also doubtlessly realized that they had to provide a possibility for someone to beat Cauthrien or else it would feel like a cop-out if she suddenly turned invincible and wiped the party at 1 hp. You have the option to surrender without fighting, and if you fight and get killed (very likely) you're "captured" instead of getting a game-over. Cauthrien is beatable; just very, very hard. Possibly the hardest boss of the game, level to level. Definitely the hardest if you don't draw her out of the room with all her lackeys (the two warriors will follow you as well, but the horde of archers and the mage will stay put). Even then, she can still kill even a tank with only one or two hits. Inexplicably becomes a Degraded Boss when you meet her again at the Landsmeet if you took the "go to prison route".
• The Horde: The darkspawn. They especially like to leave people completely burned, hanging on display, or stuck in the ground with a large object lodged in the body.
• Horned Humanoid: Desire demons. The qunari also have horns — although the rare ones without horns are actually considered special in their society.
• Horny Devils: Desire demons, whose idle animations during conversation include acts such as feeling themselves up.
• Humanoids Are White: The number of dark-skinned characters you meet can be counted on one hand, including one black elf. (Gets especially jarring if the player gives the Grey Warden a very dark skin tone — in the origins with the Grey Warden's parents, like the human noble origin, said parents are very fair-skinned in contrast to their son/daughter. No one in the game mentions the Grey Warden's skin tone as being in any way unusual if this is done.) However, the Dalish elves are somewhat tannish. (They seem to be a little like Romanis/Gypsies).
  • Ferelden being fantasy medieval Britain, the abundance of white people makes sense. This doesn't make up for the oddness of having differently-hued parents from oneself, however.
• Human Resources: Golems are made using Dwarven lives. Also, Blood Magic drains the caster's (or others'...) blood and health points.
• I Call It Vera: In the Witch Hunt DLC, Finn's default staff is literally called Vera.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Will probably be inscribed on the Warden's tombstone. Can be invoked by name if the Warden kills Conner to eliminate the demon. Also claimed by Loghain, Avernus, and Zathrian.
• I Drank What: One can only wonder where Oghren's home-brewed ale comes from, as hinted by him and Zevran in their party banter.
• Immortality: The Archdemon has Type IV, which is why it can only be killed by a Grey Warden. Flemeth has Type IX, but also seems to have a way back without Morrigan's involvement.
• Improbable Power Discrepancy: An odd variation. Because the game gives you a lot of freedom about the order in which you do the major quests and the difficulty of almost all encounters is scaled to the level of the PC, it's possible that you'll end up facing back-alley muggers at the end of the game that are more powerful than the blood-curdlingly horrifying monsters you faced in the beginning.
  • Awakening, the expansion, is less odd. A Warden importing his or her level-capped character will quickly face ordinary highwaymen so powerful a handful of them could have defeated the Archdemon and taken over the Tevinter Imperium. (Though even they probably couldn't have taken out Ser Cauthrian without a good strategy.) You'll also find the local militia in Amaranthine could wipe the floor with any group of adversaries in the original game. No wonder Howe's men overcame Highever so easily! That being said, the Warden's own power will soon catapult into the stratosphere, to the point where you could probably beat the Archdemon by spitting on it if one showed up again.
• Inescapable Ambush: A number of random encounters throughout the game as you travel, but special mention to how you meet Zevran.
• Inevitable Tournament: The Provings during the Orzammar treaty quest line, although you only have to enter the Provings if you side with Harrowmont.
• Infant Immortality: Averted.
• Infinity+1 Sword:
  • In an odd twist, many of the best-in-slot weapons and pieces of equipment can simply be bought from merchants. They each cost a small fortune, however, so unless you're extremely compulsive about hoarding treasure and running sidequests (or extorting NPCs for favors), odds are you won't be able to afford many such indulgences.
  • Some of the DLC equipment — whether pre-order, collector's edition, or achievement awards — also counts.
    • Worth mentioning is the Reaper's Cudgel in the Golems of Amgarrak DLC. Statwise, it's an impressive, but otherwise ordinary mace. Its real value comes when, as DLC content, it is spread to your inventory in every game you have on file, and can be sold for insanely high amounts of money, even from the start of a new game. The only drawback is that to get it, you have to defeat The Harvester, a creature that spawns Elite Mooks as Goddamned Bats and is far and away the hardest boss in the game, easily outstripping the Archdemon or The Mother. And you have to do it on Hard or Nightmare mode, for the entire battle (no changing the difficulty when he's down to a sliver of health for you).
  • Vigilance in Awakening. It's meant to be so powerful, it will even get mentioned in the epilogue... unfortunately, its actual statistics, while certainly good, are nothing to get too excited about compared to other end-game weapons.
• Insistent Terminology: When Morrigan refers to Zathrian as a "sorcerer" instead of a "keeper," he flips out.
• Insurmountable Waist-Height Fence / Invisible Wall: A veritable cornucopia of them. Rather egregiously, you can climb to just below the top of a hill but you have to walk around the peak.
  • Even unobstructed roads and trails can be impassible. A Wide Open Sandbox this ain't.
• Interspecies Romance: None of the love interests care what race the player is. Anora does, and Alistair cuts off a non-noble PC if he gets the throne unless you pass a difficult skill check, and even if you do, you don't marry him, you just become his bit on the side, and then you'll have to have made him a bit more selfish through dialogue options in the game... but at least with him it's mainly politics.
• Ironic Nursery Rhyme: Hespith's poem, and the little boy in Haven:

Come, come, bonny Lynne; tell us, tell us where you've been Were you up, were you down Chasing rabbits 'round the town Come, come, bonny Lynne; tell us, tell us where you've been

Come, come, bonny Lynne; we've a bed to put you in It is soft, it is warm It will shelter from the storm Come, come, bonny Lynne; we've a bed to put you in

Dear, Dear bonny Lynne sleeps the peaceful crib within A mossy stone, a finger bone/No one knows but Lynne alone Dear, Dear bonny Lynne sleeps the peaceful crib within...

• • There's also a couple of which can be overheard in the Alienage orphanage.
• Isn't It Ironic?: Whoever decided Marilyn Manson's "This is the New Shit" was a good pick for the game's trailer either didn't listen to the lyrics at all or was intentionally satirizing it: The song mocks the use of sex, violence and blood as hype to cover up a complete lack of true innovation and creativity, and was used as backdrop in a trailer featuring... Sex, violence and blood used in an attempt to hype the game as innovative and creative.
• It Got Worse: Redcliffe Village is beyond screwed in general, what with the entire populace almost wiped out by undead which attack every night, dragging away the living to be devoured and turned, but The Warden has a few chances for finishing sidequests here which adds a few extra helpings of salt to the wounds. These include: informing one wife that her husband has died in the army and another that both her husband and son were killed in the Wilds; letting one of the few survivors of the massacre know that he was drafted by a mercenary company he'd signed up with (or inform him before the attack goes down, resulting in one less defender); and taking one of the party members' weapons back from a dwarf who'd purchased it fair and square.
• It's Not You, It's Me: What you can say to Leliana to break up with her. She'll get mad and try to fight to save the relationship.
• Jerkass Gods:
  • The Chantry treats the Maker with absolute reverence and makes the quest for His forgiveness of mankind's sins its primary goal, even though their canon makes the Almighty sound like a fickle, rather short-fused deity with a penchant for Disproportionate Retribution, lack of any actual love (or even vague sense of parental responsibility) for His creations, and no problem playing favourites for a girl in ways even Zeus might have called out of line. The Chantry preaches that He is God, but doesn't really make a very good job of painting Him as a good god. Ironically, it's the less orthodox if not borderline-blasphemous interpretations like Leliana's that attempt to paint the Maker as a God who someone may actually want to revere.
  • If the Old Gods of the Tevinter Imperium didn't fit this trope before, they definitely do after they become insane Archdemons that lead the Darkspawn in a bid to kill everything.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: The Warden/Orlesian Warden in Awakening sometimes appears to be this to other characters, but justified as he is stuck being one making the tough decisions, barely keeping the lands of Amaranthine together, on top of dealing with his entire contingent of Wardens at Vigil's Keep being wiped out before he even arrived.
  • Best exemplified in the utter disbelief when you recruit Nathaniel, who outright refuses and protests he would rather die. You then can point out that he may die anyway during the Joining. Although seeing as Nathaniel took 4 Grey Wardens to subdue him and snuck into the Keep in the first place in order to kill you, the Warden clearly recognises his value if he joined the Order, and is kindly offering him a chance at redemption for the disgrace his father brought on his family in Origins. Nathaniel eventually cottons on to why you did this.
• Justified Criminal: The casteless dwarves of Orzammar. Marked as outcasts and criminals from birth, they are not legally permitted to gain any legitimate work or housing. As such, they're forced into either begging or criminality for survival.
• Karma Houdini: If Bhelen becomes the King of Orzammar when you're the Dwarf Noble. He gets away completely with his actions in the Origin, where he framed the Warden for the murder of their brother Trian, poisoned your father the King, and bribed the Assembly to Unperson the Warden.
  • On the other hand, the Dwarf Noble has become a legendary Grey Warden (thus regaining their name in the Shaperate), defeated an Archdemon and even gets declared to be a Paragon. The only reason Bhelen even has his throne is because of the sibling he tried to kill. In that respect, it could be seen as a rather Pyrrhic Victory.
  • If you have Loghain become a Grey Warden and sacrifice himself history is claimed to forget all the evil crimes he did and became a hero because he sacrificed himself. The forgotten crimes involve almost dooming all of Ferelden, attempted murder on Arl Eamon, allowing slavers to abduct elves from the alienage, branding the Grey Wardens — the only people who can stop a Blight — criminals and trying to kill them, allowing a king to die in battle despite having the ability to save him, allowing the kidnapping of his own daughter, and quite a few other things. It's understandable that he (at least partially) redeemed himself at the end, but come on.
• Karma Meter: Removed entirely, and replaced with a system of consequences for individual choices, along with personal reactions to various actions from your party members. Two characters actually can be "hardened", which makes them much less likely to complain about evil decisions (and more likely to accept a threesome or foursome).
• Keep the Reward: An option for a few quests. Notable for the fact that it doesn't earn you karma or anything, since there is no karma. You just miss out on a reward when you do this. Instead, it's usually better to grub for rewards... and that's why it's so much more satisfying in Dragon Age when you do refuse the reward.
• Kick the Dog: "Lord Harrowmont kicks casteless in the streets! Does he respect none below his station?"
• Kill'Em All: In the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC, you can do this to a lot of named NPCs that would be in Denerim. Yes, including Alistair's sister. (Too bad you can't get Herren, though...)
• Killed to Uphold the Masquerade:
  • If you've been recruited and Refuse The Call, you're killed to maintain the Grey Wardens' secrets, especially the details of the unsavory Joining as well as the 30-year Dead Man Walking curse.
  • You have this option with Brother Genitivi, who wants to show off Andraste's Ashes to the world.
• Killer Rabbit: The fate of Mr Wiggums, assuming Anders wasn't just BS-ing you. Apparently, a cat possessed by a rage demon can take out *three templars* before being brought down.
• Kill It with Fire / Kill It with Ice / Dishing Out Dirt / Shock and Awe: The primal spells.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Averted. Nelaros from the Female City Elf Origin so desperately sees himself as this, attempting to protect you from Vaughn and later organising a rescue attempt with Soris to rescue his bride. What he doesn't realise is you are already planning your own escape, which luckily coincides with Soris arriving to slide you a sword, and within minutes you're heavily armed and taking down guards left, right, and centre. Sadly, you arrive too late to be able to rescue him.
• Knight Templar: Unsurprisingly, the Templars themselves fit this trope perfectly. While they do hunt down bad mages, many of them have a hard time differentiating a bad mage from a perfectly good one, and are all too willing to completely purge the Circle if anything goes wrong. This has happened at least once per century for the last seven hundred years. According to the Codex, candidates for the order are chosen first and foremost for religious conviction and martial aptitude. They're administered lyrium in order to assist them in fighting evil mages — but a conversation with Alistair implies that the entire purpose of the lyrium is to get them addicted, ensuring their loyalty. They track and destroy dangerous rogue mages — but a conversation with Wynne implies that many mage-hunters take a sadistic pleasure in their work. Whether the templars are necessary is a matter of debate in-game as well as among the fandom.