Dragon Age II / Tropes S to Z

S

• Sarcasm Failure:
  • In Act 2, you'll meet a homicidal elf who has killed a bunch of people, but not by the method she intended. Her sadness over this prompts Smartass Hawke to say:
    Hawke: You were going to kill people anyway? That's... not funny at all, really.
  • Also notable in the same act, when Leandra is taken by a serial killer. No matter how Hawke is played, throughout that quest, they will sound terrified.
    Hawke: You're crazy, I get it! Where is my mother?
• Scary Dogmatic Aliens: The Qunari. Conversations reveal just how alien their thought processes are compared to most of Thedas, but also show how they can be so successful in gaining converts despite this. This made their stay in Kirkwall tense for all sides.
• Scenery Gorn: The Korcari Wilds in the beginning. It's a barren wasteland, and the only landmarks are the road to Lothering... and the pillars of smoke rising from where Lothering used to be.
• Scenery Porn: Largely averted, but much of the setting of Mark of the Assassin is extremely beautiful and lush. Even some of the loading screens are remarkably lovely.
• The Schlub Pub Seduction Deduction: Subverted in Mark of the Assassin. Tallis tries to seduce various men to get a key, but either they don't have it or they don't swing that way. Double subverted if you play male Hawke, who can seduce the man who has it.
• Secret Legacy: The main plot of the Legacy DLC. Hawke's father Malcolm helped the Grey Wardens to seal away a powerful darkspawn.
• Self-Deprecation: Similarly to the above, the DLC has some self-deprecating Party Banter poking fun at some of the oft-criticised aspects of the game, such as the lack of exploring outside Kirkwall and the reused dungeons and environments.
  Merrill: It's so exciting to be out of Kirkwall! It seems we haven't left there in ages!
  Snarky Hawke: We do seem to spend a ridiculous amount of time in the city.
  Merrill: I needed this break. I was starting to think every part of Kirkwall looked alike.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: The Game. The anti-Qunari activists were hoping for a fight, but weren't remotely prepared for what that meant. As early as Act 1, Thrask notes that Meredith's anti-mage measures have caused as much as dissent as obedience.
• Sentimental Shabbiness: If you romance Merrill and have her move in with you, she will still keep her hovel in the Alienage, which is where you'll find her in between quests. While this initially appears to be a case of Merrill being sentimental towards her people, in reality, she's there because she has the Eluvian there, it's too fragile to move easily, and she doesn't want anyone to learn that she's trying to fix it.
• Sequel Hook: Many, and not all of them get resolved in the next game.
  • There's a bunch of unfinished plot threads, a massive civil war on the horizon, and both Hawke (and their Love Interest) and the Hero of Ferelden have mysteriously vanished if they did not die. Cassandra and Leliana are still looking.
    • This one, however, turns out to also be a bit of a Red Herring. Leliana comments that the fact that both the Hero of Ferelden and the Champion of Kirkwall are missing "is no coincidence." But, as it turns out, it's completely a coincidence. Hawke is on the run from the Chantry, while the HoF is on a massive quest to try and end the Calling for Grey Wardens everywhere.
  • Bodahn mentions that he and Sandal will be moving to Orlais.
  • King Alistair is concerned with tensions between Ferelden and Orlais, which could lead to another war between the two countries. He also mentions that Orlais has factions of its own. Come Asunder...
  • The entirety of the Primeval Thaig is clearly setting up sequel hooks, or at least fodder for future lore.
    • The Nexus Golem in a Bonus Dungeon dangles references to a thaig beneath Orlais.
    • The Primeval Thaig could be connected to the strange ruins that the Dalish Elf in Origins found at the beginning.
  • You run into a few Grey Wardens on their way to resolve some new threat they refuse to discuss.
    • There's also their extreme interest in the Primeval Thaig, an investigation ordered by the First Warden.
  • Flemeth and Morrigan are still up to something.
    • Sandal said that "the old lady is scary". Which old lady? One that apparently watches him sleep, and has a scary laugh. Additionally, if Merrill lives in the Hawke mansion, she starts to think that Sandal is watching her.
  • With regards to the Qunari, while there are Multiple Endings involved and we don't know which is the "real" one yet, odds are very good that not only do they still not have their relic, but now they've also lost a large contingent of soldiers and an Arishok (you know, one of the three people that rule Qunari society). No one with half a brain could possibly expect them to take that lying down. However, it's revealed later in the comic "Those Who Speak" that the Qunari replaced the Arishok with Sten from Origins.
  • During Sebastian's companion quest "Faith," Sister Nightingale pretty much confirms that the entire Kirkwall crisis was orchestrated by the "Resolutionists," an international conspiracy of apostates hell-bent on toppling the Circle of Magi system.
  • If Alistair is alive and king, he wants to meet Hawke to discuss something important; but, having run into Meredith first, he dismisses the topic as now being too late.
  • The Band of Three's notes scattered across Kirkwall relate a disturbing story that is yet to be completed.
  • From the Legacy DLC, there are strong implications that Corypheus survived the final battle and is on the loose. Sure enough, guess who the main antagonist in Inquisition is?
  • The DLC Mark of the Assassin adds another one if you bring Aveline, who is Orlesian. Her personal sidequest culminates in a battle with a Revenant, all for a small note linking her father's late doppelganger to the Orlesian "game." The characters are just as confused as the player, but it's yet another hint toward Orlais as the setting of the third game. Orlais does figure prominently in Inquisition, sure enough.
  • Should you spare Anders, Sebastian declares that he will return to Starkhaven, gather an army and then raze Kirkwall to the ground. He makes good on his threat in Inquisition. Alternately, if you kill Anders, Sebastian promises to do his best by both you and Kirkwall, and in the next game he makes good on that promise too.
  • Sandal's ominous prophecy that can only be heard during Act 3 sounds like one giant sequel hook depending on interpretation. The sky definitely opens in Inquisition; however, with the release of the Trespasser DLC, it sounds much more like he was talking about a certain character's plans for the fourth game.
    Sandal: One day the magic will come back, all of it. Everyone will be just like they were. The shadows will part, and the skies will open wide. When he rises, everyone will see.
• Set Bonus: Some items and armor sets give one.
• Sex Slave:
  • It is hinted that Fenris was this to Danarius on top of being his bodyguard. Word of God later confirmed it.
  • Ser Alrik is making mages Tranquil and using them for this purpose. It's not stated explicitly, but consider the Tranquil mage in the Gallows courtyard who blankly tells her former lover, "I am Ser Alrik's now." He all but spells it out during the quest "Dissent," when he tells the teenage Ella that "Once you're Tranquil, you'll do anything I want."
• Sexy Discretion Shot: The sex scenes are tamer here than in Origins. Though at least they don't have ludicrous, randomly appearing ugly underwear like the Origins sex scenes did.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: The Tale of Corsa the Bard.
• Shoot the Dog: The player can choose to Mercy Kill or outright murder people in order to complete a quest. In the beginning of the game, the player can choose to stab Wesley for Aveline, while in the end, the player may choose to kill Anders in retribution for the destruction of the Chantry.
• Shop Fodder: It's called "Junk" and has no purpose other than to pad your coinpurse once sold. It even comes complete with a little trash can icon.
• Shout-Out: Has its own page.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Some conversations with the villain have options where you can cut straight to the fighting rather than talk.
• Sidequest Sidestory: Frequently, completing a sidequest in one act will make you deal with its consequences in the next or even until the end of the game, such as the Bone Pit quests. Word of God states that this was the whole reasoning behind the three-acts-and-time-skips plot structure.
• The Siege: The mage endgame, where you defend the mages against the attacking Templars. Contrast the Templar endgame, where you're taking part in the siege.
• Sigil Spam: Three symbols (the emblem of Kirkwall, Hawke's family seal, and a third that resembles a stylized dragon in red) are everywhere, even the loading screens.
• Situational Sexuality: Averted. Only Isabela makes any mention of being attracted to both sexes; Anders only mentions a male partner to a male Hawke; and neither Fenris and Merrill show any interest unless romanced. However, Word of God is that they were all written to be bisexual, with only Sebastian being otherwise.
• Skill Point Reset: The Maker's Sigh potion, available at the DLC-only Black Emporium.
• Skill Scores and Perks: In sharp contrast to Origins, which had linear perk progressions, skill trees in DAII do branch. Also unlike Origins, where rogues and warriors talents largely overlapped, each class now has a unique shared set of them, although not all party members have access to the complete set (e.g. Merrill has no Creation tree and thus no healing magic). Plus, each party member has a skill tree unique to them, while Hawke has three class-specific specialization trees.
• Skyward Scream: A sarcastic Hawke will do this, in reaction to a fake bee sting, to distract a guard in Mark of the Assassin:
  Hawke: If I die... make sure the world knows... I died at Chateau Haine!
• Slave Market: The city-state of Kirkwall was originally a slave market for the Tevinter Empire before a slave rebellion turned it into a free city. There are still statues and murals around the city that attest to its dark past.
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Cynical. Much more than the original.
• Smoke Out: The rogue's standard trick is running behind the target under a puff of smoke to initiate an instant backstab.
• Spikes of Villainy:
  • Some very subtle ones at that. Meredith gets a new sword at the beginning of Act 3, right around the time she starts going off the deep end. See the spikes on its handle?
  • Hawke inverts it at the same time after becoming the Champion of Kirkwall and gets the opportunity to start collecting the Mantle of the Champion seen in the prologue. The Mantle is spiky everywhere and is a symbol of Hawke's newfound Folk Hero status.
  • Don't forget Fenris's armor. Some of the other characters make references to the implications of having spikes on his armor during dialogue, for example, if Hawke is romancing Fenris:
    Varric: You do know the elf is covered in spikes, like an angsty porcupine? He might have some... issues.
• Spoiler Opening: The very first screen of the game shows a drawing of Orsino and Meredith facing off with each other, though on your first playthrough you probably don't know who they are.
• Spotting the Thread:
  • On a couple of occasions, characters will lie to Hawke in an attempt to gain clemency. Hawke never gets the option to call them out on this, but the player can certainly use the knowledge when deciding how to act.
  • Gascard DuPuis is one example, claiming that the serial killer only goes after young, beautiful women who won't be missed. Yet the previous victims include an older Circle Mage and a well-loved noblewoman with a very powerful family.
  • Another is Sabine, a miner in the Bone Pit who leaks information to the Coterie. When he is at Hawke's mercy, he claims that he is from Lothering, and is an old friend of Leandra's family. Of course, Leandra's family is restricted entirely to Kirkwall.
• Spy Fiction: Mark of the Assassin begins as The Caper but switches gears halfway through to one of these. Switch the Orlesians for Russians and the Qunari for U.S. intelligence and you have a textbook Cold War spy story, albeit one with wyverns in it.
• Stalker Shrine: In the lair of the Serial Killer.
• State Visit: In Act 3, Hawke gets suddenly invited to the Viscount's Keep, and it turns out that Kirkwall is receiving a state visit by King Alistair of the neighboring Ferelden (though this only occurs if you made certain choices in Dragon Age: Origins). The king figures that Hawke, being both a Fereldan refugee and a Kirkwall noble, will be most receptive to his warnings regarding the mounting abuses of power by the Templar Order in Kirkwall.
• Static Role, Exchangeable Character:
  • "Hawke Sibling": One of Hawke's younger twin siblings always dies in the prologue (Bethany if Hawke is a mage, Carver otherwise), while the other, often called "surviving sibling," goes on to play a specific role at several points of the plot (most importantly at the end of Act 1, where they contract the Darkspawn Taint if taken to the Deep Roads, or join the Circle/Templars if not taken). They also have a somewhat specific role to play in the Legacy DLC if brought as a companion, since the framing device involves the Carta attacking the surviving children of Malcolm Hawke, and if they are still alive in Act 3, Thrask's group will kidnap them - even out of the Grey Wardens.
  • "Love Interest": Hawke's lover has a minor role outside of the Romance Sidequest, such as when they come over after "All That Remains", or if Thrask's group kidnaps them.
  • "Rescue Duo": In the Mark of the Assassin DLC, when Hawke and Tallis are captured, the other two party members try to break them out. They universally fail, but their interactions during the attempt paint a perfect picture of the convoluted relationships among your party members.
• Stealth Insult: If played as a Deadpan Snarker, Hawke attempts this whilst talking to Janeka, but quickly forgets the stealth part.
  Hawke: Nothing personal, but you're kind of crazy... and a bitch. Oh wait, I guess that was personal, wasn't it?
• Stealth Pun: In the second act, next to your storage chest in your house is a... Fat Lute. (There's a lute by your loot.) This is a reference to the Feastday Pranks DLC for Origins, where the best gift you could buy for Leliana was a Fat Lute.
• Sticks to the Back:
  • Just like the first game, this applies to all the weapons, shields, and staves.
  • Aveline's pose on the character selection screen has her weapon on her right hip, but she carries it like everyone else during gameplay.
• Stock Puzzle:
  • Some very easy sliding puzzles involving floating barrels show up when Hawke enters the Fade. They're basically just a reason to give free attribute points.
  • Legacy has a pretty lazy beam puzzle that Hawke must solve to free their party from a chamber and get a legendary Grey Warden helmet.
• Stockholm Syndrome: Lia from the quest "The Magistrate's Orders" shows shades of this, practically begging you not to kill her kidnapper because he cried that the demons in his head made him do it and because he let her escape, ignoring the fact that he killed several elven children and intended to do the same to her. If you do kill him, Lia can have a small cameo in Act 3, thanking Hawke again for what they did for her and saying she was out of her head when she asked them to spare her kidnapper. If you let him live, she and her father leave Kirkwall and Lia will eventually grow to fear every man, thinking him a monster in disguise.
• Stone Wall: Several flavors provided by specialized skill sets. Aveline's Made of Iron Guardian tree combined with Defender tree can make her unstoppable, and Isabela's Flynning makes her virtually untouchable. A trained Spirit Healer/Force Mage PC can diminish all attacks to rapidly regenerated Cherry Tapping.
• Stop Poking Me!: Hawke responds to clicks with annoyance or surliness, depending on personality.^note This is only seen on PC, however, as there's no option to click on Hawke on the consoles.
• Storming the Castle: The Templar endgame, where you help the Templars attack the mages' final bastion. Contrast the mage endgame, where you're helping the mages defend themselves.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Regardless of how you customize Hawke, all of Hawke's family members will bear a resemblance to them. It's a nice change from Origins, where Wardens whose families appear in their origin story may look nothing like their nearest relations.
• Stupid Sacrifice: In the mage ending, Orsino's desperate transformation into a monster only hurts the people who were trying to help him. He kills maybe five Templars before Hawke and company, who initially supported him, need to put him down. (Apparently, the writers didn't want this to happen, but other departments wanted another boss battle.)
• Stupidity Is the Only Option: A surprising number of quests require Hawke to hold the Idiot Ball in order for them to play out the way the writers want.
  • When Hawke is warned that a serial killer is targeting Hightown women, Hawke can't even try to warn Leandra. The next phase of the quest promptly reveals that she's been kidnapped - she was walking around Lowtown alone, on her way to visit Gamlen, and the killer faked an injury to lure her away.
  • During "On the Loose," Huon's wife asks Hawke for protection because she fears for her life. Hawke notably says they'll come back for her after dark, and the player has to leave the Alienage, shift to the nighttime map, and then come back in order for the quest to trigger. Lo and behold, leaving her alone for so long gives Huon ample opportunity to return and kill his wife, which Hawke witnesses just as they walk through the Alienage gates.
  • When Anders asks for Hawke's help finding ingredients to a magic potion that he claims will split him and Justice, and the ingredients sound oddly similar to real-world bomb ingredients, Hawke has no choice but to take Anders at his word and help him. While in some Guide Dang It! cases Hawke can realize Anders's deception after the fact and call him out on it, Anders will note that it's too late and the Chantry blows up no matter what.
  • Despite not necessarily being played as a thieving type of character, Hawke has no choice in the Mark of the Assassin DLC but to help Tallis with her plan to steal the Heart of the Many. This is even more egregious on repeat playthroughs when the player knows what's really happening.
  • In the Legacy DLC, even if Hawke kills Corypheus, one of the Grey Wardens who brought you will act obviously possessed, strongly implying that Corypheus body-hopped after you slew him, but Hawke and co. have no choice but to stand there and watch him go on his merry way. This makes Hawke and Varric's insistence in Inquisition that they were sure Corypheus died sound more like they're trying to convince themselves.
• Succession Crisis: After Viscount Dumar dies with no heir, Meredith uses this to justify taking over his responsibilities. Then she opposes any attempt to replace him until the "blood mage problem" is no longer a threat. After three years of this, even the most well-off in Kirkwall are getting wary of her.
• Suddenly Blonde: Because of difficulty programming helmets to work with horns, the Qunari were hornless in the original game. Now that they've worked around that little problem, the horns have been added in like they were never absent. Word of God explains Qunari born without horns (like Sten) are said to be blessed and destined for greatness. Qunari who abandon the Qun tend to cut them off, like the mercenary Qunari and the merchant from Awakening. Strangely, however, the Tal-Vashoth in this game all still have their horns.
• Suddenly-Harmful Harmless Object: The statues in the Gallows during the final fight with Meredith.
• Suicide by Cop: Choosing to kill Anders in Act 3 can definitely feel like this, as Anders is heavily implied to be suicidal before he blows up the Chantry with Hawke's help, though unwittingly. He even accepts this fate, should you choose to kill him, not making any move to stop you. He can even be almost entirely talked out of this decision, but Vengeance takes over at the last moment. Anders wakes up having forgotten your entire conversation, and goes through with the plan. He is also implied to doubt this decision.
• Supernatural Hotspot Town: Kirkwall has frequently experienced supernatural phenomena such as the easy use of blood magic and demonic activity among other things due to the Veil being very thin in the area. It is very heavily implied that Kirkwall was the site where the mages of the Tevinter Imperium entered the Golden City of the Maker, although some including the Grey Wardens have hypothesized that the presence of Corypheus near the city may also be responsible.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Stroud the Grey Warden (whom you meet when trying to save Bethany or Carver in the Deep Roads and/or during the Qunari invasion of Kirkwall) is remarkably similar to Riordan, the Orlesian Warden who is a key figure during the last few missions of Origins. They even share the same voice actor.
• Suspicious Video-Game Generosity: There are almost as many health potions and injury kits lying around in Legacy as you'll find in the rest of the game put together. And you'll need 'em, too.
• Sword and Sorcery: Obviously, considering the setting. Even more apt considering it can be seen as a metaphor for the conflict between the Templars (Swords) and the Mages (Sorcery).
  • A more subtle example is that the heraldry on the Amell family's coat of arms, which Hawke takes as their personal sigil, includes a crossed sword and staff.^note It's not easy to see, especially for console players, and many recreations of the sigil don't actually include this aspect.
• Sword Drag: Male Hawke drags his spear on the ground before attacking the Arishok in the "Destiny" trailer.

T

• Tainted Veins: A symptom of darkspawn corruption.
• Talking Your Way Out:
  • Varric can help Hawke in conversations which could end in violence. Not that violence isn't fun, but hearing Varric's lies is, too. It doesn't work if you have Merrill in the party, though, because she just gets confused and corrects him.
    • Subverted once, in the side quest "Fool's Gold":
      Hawke: I'll let Varric negotiate the price [for a golem control rod].
      [Varric reaches over his shoulder for Bianca]
      Iwan: Okay, okay, it's yours!
  • There are a few other instances where deferring to one of your companions, and letting them speak, gets a better result and also increases their friendship level. Fenris is particularly adept at conversing with the Arishok, for example, which results in the Arishok's memorable compliment.
    Arishok: I have a growing lack of disgust for you.
• Tall Tale: At the beginning of the game, The Narrator, Varric, tries to start his story as a tall tale (resulting in a Tutorial Level wherein you control unkillable Game-Breaker characters), but is soon interrupted by his listener, who wants to hear the real story. He still occasionally lapses into tall tales later (and is always interrupted again).
• Take a Third Option: Presented just so it can be explicitly denied in the main mage-Templar conflict.
  • "Night Terrors" features a third option presented by a villain. At the start, it seems your choices are saving Feynriel (risky, and he'll still have to live with his powers) or making him Tranquil. Then Torpor comes along...
• Taken for Granite:
  • The final fate of Meredith..
  • And what apparently happened to the dwarves in the Primeval Thaig who became Profane. But they're still mobile... and hungry.
  • Three petrified pirates make an appearance during the Mark of the Assassin DLC. (However, if Isabela has not been brought along for the quest, the party never learns that they're anything but ordinary statues.)
• Take Your Time:
  • Both played straight and averted. Side and Companion quests generally disappear when you go from one act to the next. However, within a single year? The looming threat of a poisoned district, dangerous blood mages on the loose, or an insane serial killer kidnapping your mother? It's fine, feel free to wander the Dalish camp or take that random item back to that random NPC. The safety of hundreds can wait.
  • Very much averted with the Act 2 Fenris quest "A Bitter Pill." Fenris will get mad (i.e. rivalry) if you try to do anything else other than continue with the quest, and if you persist in ignoring his pleas, he'll leave to handle things himself. As he's never seen again, he presumably either gets killed or captured and taken back to Danarius.
• A Taste of Power: The game opens with the player controlling an overpowered Hawke and one of their siblings (Bethany or Carver) against a horde of darkspawn. This is quickly revealed to be the result of Varric trying to make Hawke's story more interesting. See also Fake Action Prologue.
• Tastes Like Purple: In the Mark of the Assassin DLC, there is a ham that apparently tastes of despair. It becomes something of a Running Gag for the franchise afterward.
  Tallis: How can ham taste like despair? Why would anyone eat it if it did?
• Team Pet: People who buy the game new can obtain an item that allows them to summon a Mabari hound in battle. Unlike in Origins, this hound isn't a full companion; this allows you to bring the dog and three humanoid party members. Word of God says players can still experience all the joys of being a dog owner. ^note The dog is included in the free Black Emporium DLC, for those who did not get him with their original purchase. It gets to the point where you will arrive home to see your companions there to visit Dog rather than you!
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • Aveline and Isabela, though as time goes on this mellows into an actual friendship.
  • Fenris and Anders, whose rivalry gets so bad that each may approve of Hawke doing something that they would normally consider a Moral Event Horizon, simply because it negatively affects the other. Unlike the first example, this does not get better, ever.
  • To a lesser but still notable degree, both Fenris and Anders towards Merrill, as neither of them can stand Blood Magic and Fenris hates mages in general.
  • By the end of Act 3, Anders has become almost intolerable to everyone in your party due to his constant bitter harping about the Mage/Templar conflict.
  • Any team you put together where every companion has a high rivalry score counts as this.
• Temporary Party Member to Villain: First Enchanter Orsino and Knight-Commander Meredith Stannard briefly fight alongside Hawke and company during the Qunari coup attempt at the end of Act 2. Both of them are fought at the end of Act 3 after the tensions within Kirkwall end up boiling over into all-out war.
• Thematic Theme Tune: "I'm Not Calling You A Liar" is aptly given the subtitle (Varric's theme) on the soundtrack.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: Applies to both the Qunari and a good portion of the mage criminals in the story, who take this route after getting fed up with the populace of Kirkwall.
• Thieves' Guild: The Coterie and the Carta are both versions of this. The main difference is that the Carta is entirely made up of dwarves and are arguably more violent, or at least more openly so; the Coterie seems to be mostly humans and elves, and are more into things like smuggling and protection rackets.
• Third Time's The Charm: Tragically done, after two failed attempts to track a serial killer in Hightown.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: When Lucky is attempting to extort coin out of Isabela.
  Lucky: Me and my boys will get our money's worth, bitch!
• Three-Act Structure: The narration is split into the prologue and three acts by recurring time skips. The prologue occurs in 9:30 Dragon, and the following acts in 9:31, 9:34, and 9:37, respectively. Thematically, the acts center on, in order, the Hawkes reclaiming their position as Kirkwall nobles, on Hawke and Co. dealing with the Qunari threat to the city, and on Hawke being caught up in the mounting Mage-Templar tensions.
• Time Skip: Hawke's rise to power takes a full decade. Three of these are present just so the player doesn't go crazy, and they're arranged in such a way that the game takes on a Three-Act Structure, not counting the introductory levels. These are explained as the parts of the story that Varric doesn't find relevant/interesting.
• Title Drop: Anders comments about the reappearance of dragons when taken to the Bone Pit.
• Tomato Surprise: The game ends with the revelation that Cassandra's interrogation of Varric has been taking place in Hawke's own house the whole time. What they both knew all along, but the first-time player did not, is that Hawke fled Kirkwall in the wake of the game's events, and the reason Cassandra is asking Varric all about Hawke is so she can try to find them to ask their help with a Chantry matter.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • Pol. Apparently, a few bits of gossip about meek, gentle Merrill is enough to get him to run away from her and right into the jaws of a varterral that killed three of his fellows.
  • During The Conspirators side-quest, Sergeant Johanna regards the conspirators' plan to kill the Warden as a "trully stellar idea, if you know something about her/him (the Warden)".
  • When you met him in Act 3, Zevran lampshaded that he still don't understand why people insist they can kill people like the Warden and Hawke.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Warriors and rogues are a lot more powerful this time around, and a lot more impressive to watch in combat; their skills have a much more visible effect on the battle field.
  • Genlocks in the Legacy DLC, in comparison to their Origins counterparts. In the first game, they were funny little things that could have been dwarves in a costume; in Legacy, they're nightmarish gorilla-esque monsters.
  • Remember Feynriel, the half-elven apostate you rescue from kidnappers in Act 1 and help free from demons in the Fade in Act 2? By Act 3, we learn that his ability as a "Somniari," a rare mage who can enter the Fade without lyrium and can bend the Fade to their will, allows him to rescue a young girl in Kirkwall from bandits and kill each and every one of them... while asleep, in Tevinter, which happens to be on the other side of Thedas.
• Too Much Information: This will be Hawke or Varric's reaction when Anders and Isabela start talking about an encounter they once had at the Pearl in Denerim, and she mentions that "nice" thing Anders did with electricity.
  • Or, if you romance Merrill and take both her and Anders along for Legacy, their conversation about Merrill poking through his books for "dirty spells."
  • Or a book Isabela provides to Hawke, One Hundred and One Uses For a Phallic Tuber. Hawke deadpans that that's "one hundred too many." (For those not familiar with the term, tubers are potatoes.)
  • Or Hawke's reaction to running into Anders affectionately warning Isabela, "Don't come to me next time you pick up one of these diseases" (no doubt of the sexually transmitted variety) as she's exiting his clinic. An alternative version of the scene has him treating Seneschal Bran and warning him to avoid pirates in the future.
• Trailers Always Spoil: The announcement cinematic trailer no less. In it, we see a powerful Qunari kill the Viscount of Kirkwall at the start of the trailer. In the game itself, that Qunari turns out to be the Arishok, and he does indeed kill the Viscount when he decides to take control of Kirkwall.
• True Companions: Par for the course in a BioWare game. Instead of a random group of adventurers thrown together by fate to stop some Big Bad, they're friends and/or rivals who bond over the course of six years. While some of them genuinely can't stand each other, they put up with it for the sake of the overall group.
  • Averted at the end of the game, where the player is forced to choose between letting Anders live or keeping Sebastian's loyalty.

U

• Uncanny Valley Make Up: Tarohne, the head maleficar from the quest "Enemies Among Us," is made up rather garishly, including white lip color. It helps drive home the point that she's barking mad.
• Underground Railroad: The Mage Underground.
• Ungrateful Bastard: The entire Hawke family does nothing but chew Gamlen out for not putting them up to the lifestyle they expected when they arrived (he smuggles them into the city by having them Work Off the Debt rather than use the Amell Old Money, and has them stay in his Lowtown hovel rather than a Hightown mansion) even before it's revealed he stole his sister's inheritance... Even though he got them into the city and put them up rent-free for a year when they would have been turned away at the gate with all the other Ferelden refugees without him. Only Hawke can thank him in private after Act 1 starts.
• Unholy Ground: The entire city of Kirkwall. It's revealed the city's very architecture is designed to harness arcane power and was used in an immense blood ritual, the sacrificing of thousands of slaves secretly abducted from the slavery trade, which took place during the Tevinter Empire days. This mass slaughter may have been to fuel the very ritual Tevinter Magisters used to enter the Black City and unleash the Blight on Thedas. As a result, the Veil is noticeably much weaker in Kirkwall with demons, blood mages and abominations far more frequent that any other location. Worse still, the Chantry and Templars decided that the old slave prison was the best place to house the Circle of Magi. Unsurprisingly, the death rate for Harrowings, a trainee mage's final rite of passage, is far higher in the Gallows than anywhere else.
• Unintentionally Unwinnable:
  • Act 3's "No Rest for the Wicked" is regarded on quite a few forum threads as an extremely glitchy mission on the Xbox 360 and PC. In most cases, the quest plays fine until Hawke enters the warehouse in the Docks. Players' testimonies point towards a key cutscene not triggering, an unreachable enemy that's phased into the wall texture, and occasionally a key item not being dropped.
  • PC players can simply fix this with the Debug menus, summoning the items they need, among other things. Console players, however, get the short end of the stick.
• Unreliable Narrator: And how! The entire game is told in retrospect by Varric, who often changes details for "emphasis" or "theatrical effect" and leaves out all the "boring parts." More than once you'll go through a sequence of being an incredible badass or doing something astounding just for the Seeker to cut in and yell at Varric for making stuff up. This could also be the reason why half of all enemy mooks die in a bloody explosion for no apparent reason, and may also be at least partially to blame for why even a gang of thugs who only had four or five guys in conversation can suddenly call in three dozen heavily armed warriors for the party to fight through. Varric openly admits to enjoying embellishment, and there is a fairly prevalent fan theory that what we see in the game is what Cassandra imagines based on what he tells her.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: Isabela appears to display this towards Hawke, if they rutted and Hawke later romanced someone else.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The various NPCs don't bother to look up from what they are doing, even if the Champion of Kirkwall is fighting off bandits, assassins, or illegal dog trainers. It must happen so often that it's hardly a surprise.
• Urban Segregation: Kirkwall. Hightown is where the nobility live and is the safest part of Kirkwall. Lowtown is the remnants of Kirkwall's slave quarters, now used as the dwellings of the city's lower class. The really dangerous criminals live in Darktown, the city's Absurdly Spacious Sewer System (which used to be a mine). There's also the standard Thedas Alienage.

V

• Vengeance Denied: Varric eventually gets the chance to take revenge on Bartrand for leaving him, Hawke, and two other companions for dead in the Deep Roads at the end of Act 1. But it's not nearly as satisfying as he expected, because Bartrand has gone completely insane due to the influence of the idol they found, and Varric has to either have him committed or else put him down like a rabid animal. No matter which course of action he takes, it clearly breaks his heart.
• Vengeance Feels Empty: The fugitive ex-slave Fenris experiences this. It's kill-or-be-killed (or worse, returned to slavery), but neither killing his master's apprentice nor his master brings him any satisfaction, despite the years of abuse they put him through. As an amnesiac whose few memories are still of slavery, he has no idea what do once he doesn't have to run and fight any longer.
• Verbal Business Card: Cassandra, in the opening scenes of the Framing Device, introduces herself to Varric this way. "I am Cassandra Pentaghast, Seeker of the Chantry."
• Vicious Cycle:
  • Varric points out in the narration how the mutual distrust and hatred of the mages and Templars (and Meredith and Orsino in particular) builds over the years.
  • If you choose the Deadpan Snarker option, Hawke can call Sebastian's campaign for revenge one of these as a joke, and Elthina will agree.
  • Anders and Justice/Vengeance and the rest of the party. The more Anders stews over his obsession with the plight of mages, the more the noble spirit of Justice is corrupted into the vicious demon of Vengeance, and the less the others can stand being in Anders' company for any length of time, which leaves him with little to do but stew in his obsession over the plight of mages...
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: Similar to the first game. However morally gray the overall setting is, there are some actions without any justification - e.g., giving Feynriel to a demon or Fenris to Danarius. Some of Purple Hawke's "funny" lines also involve sociopathic levels of Kick the Dog, particularly abruptly dumping love interests after sleeping with them with a blithe, "You just weren't that good," or joking that "it's still early" as a grieving father craddles his murdered son.
• Video Games and Fate: Destiny is a major theme in the game: nobody really asks Hawke's opinion on being the catalyst of the Kirkwall disaster—it's just that no matter what they do, everything builds up to a catastrophe that erupts in the game's finale, sending quakes across all of Thedas. Exemplified by this quote from Flemeth:
  Flemeth: There are men who struggle against destiny... and yet only achieve an early grave. There are men who flee destiny... only to have it swallow them whole. And there are men who embrace destiny... and do not show their fear. These are the ones that change the world, forever.
• Villainous Breakdown: Happens to pretty much everyone in the game.
  • Except for Bethany, and a handful of Circle mages who don't even have names, the mages break out the blood magic when they're cornered; conversely, the Templars start getting way too eager to kill them first and ask questions later.
  • On a more direct note, the entire game is basically Meredith's breakdown.
  • "On the Loose" features a Villainous Breakdown occurring in the middle of the fight. As the Evelina abomination takes more damage, it loses control and briefly transforms into demons of Rage and Desire.
• Visual Pun: During Varric's narration about Loghain's betrayal at the Battle of Ostagar, he is shown holding a dagger behind his back.

W

• Walking Shirtless Scene: Most of the Qunari don't wear any actual body armor. Some wear helmets, but still go around bare-chested. Lampshaded later by Merrill, who in Act 3 calls them "easy on the eyes."
• War for Fun and Profit: Twice, with different outcomes each time. First, Sister Petrice tries to instigate war between Kirkwall and the Qunari. Her efforts get her killed unless you go out of your way to help, but contribute to the Qunari attempt at conquering the city in Act 2. Later, Anders tries to instigate war between mages and Templars, and he succeeds so well that the next game in the series is centered around it.
• War Refugees: The Hawke family at the beginning, courtesy of the Blight. Many unnamed background characters are also this.
• We Are Everywhere: Mark of the Assassin reveals that there are Qunari located throughout Thedas, although at least some of them have ceased following orders and are just trying to lead normal lives.
• Weapon of X-Slaying: Bonuses against darkspawn, undead, or demons are a common property of weapons. There are also weapons of Qunari slaying and human slaying, each issued at an appropriate moment in the plot.
• Weapon Stomp: In one of the first scenes from the game, a wounded hurlock reaches for his sword but is stopped by Hawke stomping on its wrist. It screams in rage before being cut down or, if Hawke is a mage, getting blown up.
• Weirdness Censor: As noted under Unusually Uninteresting Sight, the people of Kirkwall have this for anything outside of main quests. Unless what's happening is causing the entire city to literally be on fire, they don't seem to see any of what Hawke and friends do - even if it means slaughtering waves of gang members on the streets while they stand nearby chatting. Lampshaded in this comic.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: So many. It goes with the whole grayness of the game.
  • Anders deserves special mention with the way he sets off a bomb that destroys the Chantry, killing countless innocents and starting a war in which even more will die, specifically to avoid a compromise.
• Wham Episode:
  • The end of Act 1, especially if you brought your sibling to the Deep Roads with you, and especially if you didn't bring Anders.
  • The Act 2 quest "All That Remains" is this from start to finish.
  • If your jaw didn't drop when Anders blew up the Chantry, you must have read a spoiler.
  • From the Legacy DLC: the Magisters who tainted the Golden City are real and one is now free - and possessing a Grey Warden.
  • From the Mark of the Assassin DLC: if you don't recognize (or notice) the Qunari emblem on her breastplate, hearing Duke Prosper announce that Tallis is a Qunari assassin can be this. It certainly seems to be one for Hawke.
• Wham Line: One line in the Legacy DLC manages to turn the entire mythology of the setting on its head.
  Corypheus: It was supposed to be golden!
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Unless she left Kirkwall or died, where exactly is Revka Amell, Leandra's cousin and the Mage Warden's mother?
  • Also, what becomes of Uncle Gamlen after the endgame? And Orana, if she was hired as Hawke's maid?
• What If the Baby Is Like Me: Legacy reveals that Malcolm Hawke felt this way when Leandra was pregnant with the protagonist. He hoped that they would not be a mage, like him, so Hawke wouldn't have to live in fear of being locked up by the Chantry. But even if Hawke is not a mage, Bethany is; so ultimately, Malcolm evidently came to accept having at least one mage child, and did everything he could to ensure they remained free. His children are very surprised to learn that he felt this way.
• "What Now?" Ending: By the end of the game, Hawke is still missing, the companions are scattered, and Varric is (seemingly) unable to give further intelligence. Cassandra and Leliana are both revealed to be working for the Divine, but it's unclear why they're trying to find either Hawke or the Warden.
• What the Hell, Hero?: If you take clearly immoral actions, or do something of which your party mates disapprove, they can do this to you. Your party mates will also occasionally call out each other. Most notably, Anders and Fenris will always give Merrill hell over being a blood mage.
  • The player can demand this of Anders at the start of the endgame.
• Where It All Began: The final battle takes place in the Gallows, the first section of Kirkwall the player visits.
• With a Friend and a Stranger:
  • Hawke, Bethany/Carver, and Aveline during the prologue.
  • Also, at the start of Act 1, it's Hawke, Bethany/Carver, and Varric (until they go to the guard barracks to get Aveline).
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: This is exactly why people are so afraid of mages. Meredith is a non-mage example, especially after she starts using a sword forged from the cursed lyrium idol you find in the Primeval Thaig.
• A Wizard Did It: Invoked by name by Anders.
  Bartrand: What's this? Three, four entrances into the Deep Roads, all in the Free Marches? Where'd you get these?
  Anders: A wizard did it.
  • If you ask him aggressively, Anders admits that he stole it.
• World of Buxom:
  • Virtually every female character in this game has a Buxom Beauty Standard figure, due to the limited selection of character models. And then there's Isabela...
  • Aveline may seem like an aversion, but her guard armor is just excellent camouflage. In the Prologue, where she's wearing more casual clothing, she's quite buxom; the outfit is seen again in one scene if The Exiled Prince is installed.
  • There's also Bethany's buxom moment in the very beginning, if Hawke is not a mage.
• Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Invoked by Cullen, who complains both to Hawke and in the "Mage Underground" codex entry that people no longer see Templars as a moral authority. He blames this on mages playing the victim card with "the image of the poor chained apprentice."
• Wretched Hive: Kirkwall, especially Darktown.
  • Aveline describes the Hanged Man as this, though not without fondness. Varric, both in this game and the next one, heavily implies that he's particularly fond of the Hanged Man because it's this.
• Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: Discussed in-universe. Party banter reveals that Varric writes this way, at least in regards to his guard serial. He admits to Aveline that he isn't sure how it will end, which confuses her.
• Written-In Absence: No matter what you do, you will not have the twins in the party after the end of Act 1. There are specific plot-related reasons why they leave you. One is always dead after the prologue. Depending on player choices, the other either dies, becomes a Grey Warden, or joins the Templars/Circle of Magi. They can be brought along for the DLC campaigns and will come back for the final battle; but otherwise, Hawke is on their own, especially after "All That Remains" - which is itself another example of the trope. Leandra is gone from the house from the beginning of that quest onward, and just like with the twins, there is no way to prevent it.

Y

• Yank the Dog's Chain:
  • The quest "All That Remains." Leading up to the battle with Quentin, you have a vague hope that, perhaps, your mother can be saved. Alas, it is not to be, as Leandra had been killed - and reanimated - long before Hawke arrives.
  • Fenris gets several of these. During the romance scene with Hawke, Fenris remembers all of his lost memories only to lose them just as suddenly. It's such a shock that he breaks things off with Hawke for three years. When there is finally a chance to reclaim pieces of his past, it turns out it to be just a trap to enslave him again.
  • There's also a fun little conversation you have with Flemeth:
    Flemeth: We stand upon the precipice of change. The world fears the inevitable plummet into the abyss. Wait for that moment... and when it comes, do not hesitate to leap. It is only when you fall when you can learn if you can fly.
    Hawke: What should I do?
    Flemeth: Do as I do. Become a dragon! [laughs, then a Beat] You could never be a dragon.
  • Aveline discusses the dashed hopes at Ostagar after her last companion quest.
• You Are Not Alone: In "Wayward Son" during Act 1, Mage Hawke says this to Feynriel, a young half-elven apostate.
  Feynriel: Why do you care? You don't even know me.
  [Hawke creates a blinding ball of light in one hand]
  Hawke: (gently) I am you.
  • Alternately, Rogue or Warrior Hawke can explain that they've spent their entire life protecting Bethany from everything that Feynriel fears. Bethany herself, if present for this conversation, doesn't say anything, but she gives her sibling a look of gratitude which reinforces the statement.
• You Can Keep Her!: Silly Hawke can make a response along these lines to the news that their sibling, love interest, or closest friend has been kidnapped in Act 3.
• You Can't Go Home Again:
  • Lothering was destroyed by the darkspawn - not that you ever see your home. Your mother and Bethany lament this early in the game.
  • Aveline can make reference to this in the first conversation following your first year in Kirkwall.
    Aveline: You can't go home again; that's supposed to be a sign of maturity. It's not the same if you don't have the option.
    • However, in Act 3, she does have the option to go home; her "Questioning Beliefs" conversation is about the fact that the Fereldan monarch is inviting expats to return. Of course, she's staying put.
• You Remind Me of X:
  • One of the first things Anders says to Hawke is that they remind him of a friend (which is presumably the Warden). A couple of other returning characters have similar lines. It's especially relevant if the Warden imported from Origins was the human mage, as this means the Warden is Hawke's second cousin.
  • Bethany remarks that Anders reminds her of her father.
  • Bodahn comments that "Mistress Amell" (Leandra) reminds him of his own mother in some ways.
  • In ambient dialogue in the Chantry, Varric will comment that Grand Cleric Elthina reminds him of his mother. A really tall version of his mother. With a nicer hat.^note Oddly, we never see Elthina wearing a hat.

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