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Evelyn Trevelyan
A circle mage who has been living at Ostwick since she was eight years old.
- Badass Bookworm: The library is the only thing she loves about Ostwick.
- Blue Blood: Her father is the Bann of Ostwick, which makes her whole family nobility. This gives Evelyn advantages within the tower, even though a mage cannot hold a title or lands.
- Establishing Character Moment: In defiance of the Templars, she takes a risk to help an apostate she does not know.
- The First Cut Is the Deepest: She fell in love with a fellow apprentice when she was seventeen. While they managed to stay together for a year, he was eventually accused of being part of a blood mage conspiracy and sent to Kirkwall where he was made tranquil and killed when the circle was annulled. Afterward, she kept to Friends with Benefits or Sex for Solace… at least until she met Solas.
- Friends with Benefits: After her first love ended with a stint in the dungeon, she prefers her relationships this way. It is safer.
- The Heart: Evelyn is ruled by more emotion than logic. She cares for others and often puts herself in harm’s way to protect them. This is eventually deconstructed when she witnesses so many atrocities that she begins to believe Solas is right to remove the Veil.
- Interspecies Romance: Between Evelyn, a human woman, and Solas, an elf.
- My God, What Have I Done?: After she allows Celene to be assassinated, she goes through a bit of Heroic BSoD. She is horrified by her own inaction, even if she knows that who sits on Orlais’s throne won’t matter after Solas’s plans come to fruition.
- Parental Abandonment: When her magic manifested, the Trevelyans handed Evelyn over to the Templars. While they write occasionally, and visited once when she was a child, the family seems to have all but forgotten her. Which makes her brother writing to her once she becomes Inquisitor all the more jarring.
- Parental Substitute: One of her duties at Ostwick is teaching young apprentices. She is very fond of them, and when all of the mages are locked into the great hall, her first instinct is to gather the children and protect them.
- Playing with Fire: She is talented with fire magic and enjoys using it.
- Pregnancy Scare: After she has sex with Solas for the first time, she realizes that she took no precautions to prevent pregnancy. The mages have an herbal birth control, but it is less effective if taken after the fact. The scare is ended a week later, when she gets her period.
- Reluctant Warrior: While Evelyn can fight, she does not enjoy it. Rescuing her people from the Fallow Mire, fighting in the Dales, and the bloodshed at Halamshiral clearly weigh heavily on her.
- Second Love: Solas is this for Evelyn. He guesses as much after they discuss the matchmaker spirit.
- Side Bet: The first scene is of Evelyn and Kinnaird placing bets on who the new apostate is.
- Survivor Guilt: Evelyn suffers from this after the mage uprising. First because she survived at all, and second because her tranquility was cured and so many others still endure it.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Cullen, when she first joins the Inquisition. She is aware of his background as a Templar, and even his scent can trigger traumatic memories for her.
- Undying Loyalty: Evelyn toward all of her friends, but Solas in particular. She has demonstrated again and again that nothing will drive her from his side.
- You Must Be Cold: Cullen attempts to give her his cloak at Haven but she runs before he can manage it.
Fennel
One of the cats that lives in the Ostwick Circle.
- Action Pet: He survives the mage uprising and the battle at Haven. (Although he does come out of the latter with a singed tail.)
- All Witches Have Cats: Evelyn mentions that the Ostwick circle has several cats. Officially, they are kept for pest control, but really the mages enjoy having them around.
- Comic Relief: He is often a bright spot in an otherwise Crapsack World.
- Fuzz Therapy: Lampshaded in-universe, as Evelyn points out that animals can provide comfort in ways that people cannot. When soothing new apprentices, Evelyn introduces them to the cats.
- Parrot Pet Position: Has been known to crawl all over people, but he prefers to perch on shoulders.
- Running Gag: It does not matter if he was just fed. He is starving. Always.
- Team Pet: Even though Solas is not overly fond of the cat, he takes Fennel with himself and Evelyn after they escape the circle. He takes Fennel on a whim, hoping that the cat will help Evelyn recover from tranquility. Even though it doesn’t work, Solas keeps the cat and seems to draw comfort from the animal. When Evelyn recovers, she is just as happy to have Fennel around.
Fitz
A noble-born mage who has lived in the Circle most of his life.
- Defector from Decadence: As a noble-born mage, he could have lived comfortably at the Circle. His family’s wealth and influence would have kept him safe from many of the abuses. But he thought if he could escape, he could return and help Kinnaird escape, as well.
- Escape Artist: He has tried to escape the circle numerous times, to the point where it is almost a running joke amidst the mages.
- Killed Off for Real: His final escape attempt ends this way.
- La Résistance: He was part of a fraternity that wanted to break away from the Chantry... at least until his antics were considered too rebellious even for them and they asked him to leave.
- Motor Mouth: Talks a lot and very quickly.
Danforth
Formerly a healer, he an is an older mage who researches the Fade.
- Cynical Mentor: To Evelyn.
- Deadpan Snarker: Every other sentence.”I don’t think the cabbage will become something else if you stare at it. I’ve tried that with meals before. Never works out.”“Tell me about [a spirit.] And none of that, ‘I once met a pride demon and thrashed it in my sleep’ nonsense. I hear that sort of blustering from the apprentices.””Not a good plan, but it’s better than nothing.”
- Knight in Sour Armor: He worked as a healer who routinely helped mages end unwanted pregnancies, used his power to help mages who wanted to be transferred, and helps with the mage rebellion. But he’s grumpy about it the whole time.
Kinnaird
A mage who used to be an apostate, but was brought to the Circle of Magi when he was sixteen.
- The Big Guy: He towers over most of his friends, and he has a lot of muscle.
- Go Through Me: His general attitude towards dealing with Templars. Kinnaird looks like a Boisterous Bruiser which makes most templars think twice before messing with him.
- Heartbroken Badass: Becomes this after Fitz dies.
- Hidden Depths: He looks like a brute, but is actually a kind-hearted healer.
- Nice Guy: One of the nicest people in the entire fic. He heals his friends’ injuries, takes Solas under his wing, tries to help a new apprentice (even if he does back out of it, for fear he will get his sister in trouble), and is generally just a good person.
Keldra
Kinnaird’s twin sister and one of Evelyn’s closest friends.
- The Cynic: She tends to have a pessimistic view of things and reacts accordingly.
- Do Not Go Gentle: During the mage uprising, Keldra advocates for fighting back and taking as many of the Templars with them as they can.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While she may have been rather harsh about it, Keldra wasn’t wrong about Evelyn and Solas’s relationship having dangerous consequences. Like Fitz’s death, Claybourne becoming the Knight Commander, and the world probably being doomed because Evelyn’s trauma makes her believe in Solas’s cause.
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: She is the fighter, while her brother is the healer.
Ser Grieves
One of Ostwick’s templars.
- Evil Gloating: A specialty of his.
- Fantastic Racism: He demonstrates this toward elves. The first time, it is when a new elven apprentice locks himself in a closet and Grieves would rather just kill the child than deal with him. The second is when he catches Evelyn and Solas kissing, and he remarks that he’s going to enjoy “yanking your half-breed welp” away from her.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: He is killed by his would-be victim with his own knife.
- I Shall Taunt You: He enjoys demonstrating his power over mages.
- It's Personal: After Evelyn threatens his family.
- Meaningful Name: With a name like “Grieves,” there is no way he is going to be a happy, safe templar to be around.
- Serial Rapist: There are rumors that he was transferred to Ostwick after he had a mage made tranquil so he could have his way with her. The rumors are probably true because he goes after Signy and then Evelyn.
Signy
A young, quiet mage who tries to attract as little attention as possible. She shares the dormitory with Evelyn and Keldra.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Signy is quiet, calm and a blood mage who regularly converses with a demon of rage.
- Broken Bird: When Evelyn first meets her, Signy is being cornered by a known rapist. Her response implies this is not the first time it has happened to her.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: She seems to be a quiet, forgettable young woman until the mage uprising begins and she reveals herself to be a powerful blood mage. She takes out a good number of templars offscreen by making them fight one another.
- Hero of Another Story: It’s hinted that she has been using her blood magic against the Templars for a long time. And after the uprising, she vanishes into the wilds.
- The Stoic: She is probably the least emotional of all the mages.
