This is part one of Vaea and Ser Aaron's story, continued in Dragon Age: Deception, Blue Wraith, and Dark Fortress.
Not to be confused with the Star Wars: Knight Errant comic book series.
The comic contains examples of following tropes:
- Anachronic Order: The second issue jumps back and forth between Vaea's (mis)adventures in Kirkwall in the present day and her origin story, shortly before being recruited by Ser Aaron.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: The unseen Arl Gell, who chops down the vhenedahl of Edgehall's alienage when the elves ask for a better wall to protect them after the town was attacked during the Blight. He was also responsible for the deaths of Vaea's parents.
- Call-Back:
- The first chapter contains a lot of call-backs to Dragon Age II, being the first installment since 2011 to return to Kirkwall. Most prominently, Vaea comes face to face with the red lyrium statue that Meredith turned into.
- Issue 3 has Varric mention Professor Bram Kenric and the Jaws of Hakkon twice when speaking to Professor Marquette.
- Canon Welding: The town of Edgehall and Arl Gell were both featured as part of the adventure module "An Arl's Ransom" in the quick-start guide
for Green Ronin's Dragon Age tabletop RPG. - Character Overlap: The Inquisition agents whom Vaea rescues in Starkhaven turn out to be Tessa and Marius from Magekiller, another Dragon Age comic mini-series.
- Ceiling Cling: Vaea does this to avoid some guards in the third issue.
- Combat Parkour: Vaea displays incredible feats of acrobatics in a fight, such as grabbing onto a thin pole protruding from a wall with her feet, after getting defenestrated.
- Cutting Off the Branches: At least as far as Bioware's canon goes, this story essentially confirms that Anders was killed by Hawke after he blew up the chantry in Kirkwall, as Sebastian appears as his normal friendly self and interacts happily with Varric, current Viscount of Kirkwall, something that would not happen if Hawke let Anders live.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: After discovering her uncle Coran slain, Vaea cradles his dead body.
- Expy: Professor Marquette is clearly one for Indiana Jones. He even presents a crystal skull recovered from a temple under a lake to Sebastian as a birthday gift. He also functions as an Expy of Jones' rival, René Belloq, who collaborated with the Nazis to find the Ark of the Covenant. Secretly, Marquette is in league with a Tevinter magister.
- Faster Than They Look:
- Ser Nevin is a hulking former Templar twice the size of Vaea. Even in his armour, however, he was able to sneak up on Vaea without her noticing and later prevents her escape by leaping over a balcony.
- Also Professor Marquette, who can move fast enough to catch up to Vaea while they're running down a corridor in Issue 5.
- The Glomp: During a flashback, Vaea gives a leaping hug to her uncle Coran. Since she's only a little girl, he seems receptive to the gesture and isn't bowled over.
- Good Scars, Evil Scars: Ser Nevin possesses a star-shaped scar under his eye.
- Gorn: The first three issues were fairly tame, though the attack on Vaea's alienage was somewhat gruesome. However, Issue 4 ramps it up with the blood and gore as Marquette's Tevinter allies slaughter Sebastian's guards and are then killed in turn.
- Groin Attack: Vaea defends herself from a Tevinter warrior this way in Issue 5.
- Humans Are Flawed: Vaea's uncle Coran offers this view when talking to her as a child. He suggests that while some humans are bad, the main flaw of humanity is that they think they are 'all so noble.'Coran: Shemlen always have a cause. They think the world needs fixing. And they assume they are the ones to do it.
- I Kiss Your Hand:
- Varric kisses Vaea's hand upon their second meeting in Lowtown.
- Prince Sebastian Vael also kisses Vaea's hand upon their first meeting in Sebastian. She responds by flirting a little with him, though she insists mentally it’s just for fun.
- Sebastian kisses Vaea's hand a second time in Issue 5 when she and Ser Aaron are about to leave Starkhaven.
- In-Series Nickname:
- Vaea gets one courtesy of Varric: "Fingers".
- Ser Aaron also gets one from Varric: "Muscles."
- Jerkass: Seneschal Granger, full stop. He lobbies Sebastian to let him torture Marius and Tessa, but also bullies a young elven stableboy by threatening to have his family evicted from the Starkhaven alienage. In fact, Marquette was relying on him to suspect Vaea of being a thief as part of his plan to steal the red lyrium journal.
- Just Like Robin Hood: At the end of chapter one, Vaea, upon recovering Meredith's box full of bribe money from the Gallows, goes back and steals the key from Ser Nevin, the rogue templar who offered to split its contents with her. She then hands the box over to the alienage elves. Issue 3 further suggests that Vaea does this routine in every place she and Aaron visit. Stories of stolen valuables in the wake of their travels are paired with stories of generous donations to the poor and indigent.
- Knew It All Along: In the fifth issue, Ser Aaron reveals he was always aware of Vaea's thievery and didn't particularly mind, since she generally targeted those who deserved it and helped the less fortunate.Ser Aaron: I am a drunk, Vaea. Not an idiot.
- Knight Errant: The title character is Ser Aaron, who was knighted by King Maric and has been Walking the Earth ever since. The comic itself is a reconstruction as the world of Dragon Age is just a hair too dark for the trope to be played straight. Ser Aaron's technical job is a knight errant's but the comic also acknowledges his political value as an agent or in the comic's words, "unofficial ambassador", of Ferelden even if Aaron himself prefers just doing good deeds and telling stories.
- MacGuffin: The red lyrium journal.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Of a sort. The comic implies that Vaea's altruistic actions are the result of listening to Ser Aaron's inspiring speeches.
- Playing Possum: At one point in the fourth issue, Vaea has to lie amongst the corpses in a hallway to avoid detection by Starkhaven's guards, who would have found her if she attempted to hide elsewhere. She is decidedly unnerved by the experience.
- Plot Hole:
Word of God (i.e. of DA creative director Mike Laidlaw) is that the comic takes place some time after Trespasser, and that the timing of Varric's crowning as viscount in the first chapter and the appearance of the red lyrium statue of Meredith are both continuity errors. - Properly Paranoid: Ser Aaron doesn't like Professor Marquette from the moment they meet. Sure enough, Marquette turns out to be a thief working for a Tevinter magister.
- Recruited from the Gutter:
- Before meeting Ser Aaron, Vaea was a petty thief at the Edgehall alienage. After the alienage was burned down and her uncle killed by the local arl, Ser Aaron took pity on the girl and offered her a position as his squire.
- Ser Aaron himself was just a kid working on the docks who tried to join the Ferelden rebellion against Orlais but was too young to do more than act as a secret messenger until he proved himself by killing two grown men who had kidnapped him and was recruited as a proper soldier.
- Refusal of the Call: Vaea refuses Charter's request for assistance in saving two "associates" captured in Starkhaven. Firstly, because she's a thief, not a jailbreaker. And secondly, because she isn't interested in working for "causes." Charter goes around her by inviting her patron, Ser Aaron, to Prince Sebastian's birthday party in Starkhaven. Later, Vaea tries to refuse the mission originally attempted by Marius and Tessa, though she gives in after listening to Ser Aaron.
- Retired Badass: Ser Aaron may be an old man who drinks too much, but he proves more than capable of delivering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of Marquette's Tevinter henchman.
- Save the Villain: Downplayed. Vaea ultimately decides to save Ser Nevin when she could have just left him to plummet to his death (or at least a heavy injury). The downplayed aspect comes from the fact that Nevin is not exactly evil, just pissed off at Vaea going back on their deal, and ready to talk it over after she saves him. She has none of it, however, and clocks him over the head again.
- Sequel Hook: The ending of the fifth issue has Vaea and Ser Aaron heading to Tevinter to investigate an alleged stash of red lyrium for the Inquisition ... which is also heading to Tevinter as of Trespasser's ending.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Ser Aaron fought at Ostagar. Asking him to tell about it is the one surefire way to sour his usually jovial disposition. According to Vaea, Ser Aaron was actually standing with Loghain at Ostagar when he sounded the retreat. He charged the field anyway, only to arrive just in time to see King Cailan fall to the horde.
- Standard Female Grab Area: Subverted when Ser Nevin catches up with Vaea and grabs her by the right upper arm. Sure, he is about twice as large as her and could probably break her shoulder with a single tug, but it doesn't prevent her from clocking him over the head and breaking free the moment his attention lapses.
- Standing Between the Enemies: Ser Aaron has done this at least once in his life and twice if his stories hold even a grain of truth.
- The first time, he was a youth who stood between an angry mob of Ferelden citizens and a group of heavily-armoured chevaliers, both eager for vengeance. Using a flag pole as an Improvised Weapon, he managed to keep both sides from shedding blood, which also prevented the start of a new war between Ferelden and Orlais. (As noted under Unreliable Narrator, this may or may not have happened.)
- The second time, which Vaea personally witnessed, he stood between the elves of the Edgehall alienage and Arl Gell's soliders. Blood had already been spilled by both sides, but Aaron was able to work out a peaceable agreement by claiming to have the ear of King Alistair. Sadly, it was too late for Vaea's uncle.
- The Storyteller: Everyone loves Ser Aaron's tall tales, and even Varric acknowledges him as the "teller of the best stories on the other side of the Waking Sea" (himself, of course, being the best storyteller on this side).
- The Squire: Vaea's official position, which serves as a front for her thieving activities.
- Unreliable Narrator: An in-universe example. While listening to one of Ser Aaron's stories, Vaea notes she's heard it a dozen times and the details change a lot. It turns out that he did put himself between two bloodthirsty mobs on at least one occasion. At that time, it was human guards and elves of Vaea's alienage, rather than Orlesian Chevaliers and Fereldan peasants.
- Villains Want Mercy: Ser Nevin begs Vaea to save him after she pushes him off of a window ledge and he catches hold of a nearby pole about to break. A moment before, Ser Nevin had knocked Vaea through the window, forcing her to grab on to the same pole to keep from falling to the street; he had stepped out on the ledge in order to finish her off.
