#ghilen mahariel

[venvellan]

ik i've been functionally comatose online for a while now but i'm back for a bit to talk about my canon DA world state in which tabris and mahariel are both recruited and when the blight's over tabris goes off to look for a cure for the calling while mahariel stays with leliana and,,, joins the inquisition. fully integrated party member. (and is romanceable !) it occupies so much of my brain space

i have inquisition party banter drafted. and a rough romance arc for your(!) inquisitor to date my dragon age origins oc ghilen mahariel

[venvellan]

one of The Things about Ghilen Mahariel is how he naturally brings the party together by being the sweetest saddest little shmooper of all. he's often barely containing very raw very strong emotions while sharing very little of them openly, not for lack of trust, but for simply not being ready. but even before opening up, he manages to become fast friends with everyone there. their sad, wet little binkster. they find themselves working together in silence, running a long con of sorts, to make his life easier and help him smile a bit more often.

Zevran's "you're dalish?" conversation starts with a worry that he'll reopen an old wound and ends with Ghilen braiding Zevran's hair the way he does his own and telling wistful stories about Merrill and Ashalle.

Ghilen spends several evenings talking to Alistair about Duncan and the other wardens to help him grieve, and Alistair doesn't know why helping him cope is so important to him until much later, but it makes them both feel better, so he obliges.

Morrigan doesn't yet understand why he gives her all the shiny jewelry he can find, but he's so excited every time that she never argues when he tells her she deserves it.

Leliana and Oghren work together, actually work together, to find and wrap him a little present, and are immediately rewarded with the delight on his face at the realization that they've thought of him.

Sten is constantly offering his advice, at first only because Ghilen asks, but later completely unprompted, when he thinks it could spare him a little heartache.

when Wynne asks what being a warden means to him and he answers with, "i don't know :(" she isn't even disappointed. she's just glad he was honest, and reminds him to keep his goals in sight and serve the people.

Ghilen's eyes get glossy petting the sick halla in Zathrian's clan and everyone warmly congratulates him when he heals it, more or less collectively cooing at him for a job well done. what's best is that he doesn't even realize any of it is going on, he's just glad Tabris is there to make the really hard decisions so he can feed wildlife around the cities and be sweet to his little team of besties.

he really comes into his own after the blight and during the events of inquisition, but origins only takes place over a year, and it just happens for many reasons actually to be the worst year of his life, despite being the one he's remembered for.

[venvellan]

dai companion ghilen mahariel (1/?)

companion!ghilen's introduction would fall with varric and solas, right at the beginning of the game. it's short and to the point, and doesn't yet reveal that he was one of three wardens that ended the blight.

the only visual clue to his character is the griffon pauldron on his starter armor set. and despite the pauldron, his armor is significantly toned down from the standard warden-issued blue that we find on wardens later in the game. it's entirely dark cloth and leather, with a layer of chainmail under the cloth around his torso.

that first interaction with him is polite, but vague. it teaches you two things about him: 1) his name, and 2) that he's a grey warden, as given by cassandra. we do not learn his last name, however, or any other clarifying information.

story-wise, he maintains a lowkey support role until after the prologue, where you're given the opportunity to speak with him at haven. ->

Ghilen: You might be the one person in all of Thedas that can close the rifts, and yet you don't even remember how you got here?

Herald: I'm as lost as you are.

Ghilen: Hm. You're a very curious case, my friend.

...

Herald: Tell me - what was a grey warden doing at the conclave?

Ghilen: I was there for Leliana, more than anything else. She helped me end the Blight, so I save her from the torture of bureaucracy.

Ghilen: Assuming it doesn't get blown up, that is. You certainly made it exciting for her.

Herald: I'm sorry, "end the Blight?" Are you the Hero of Ferelden?

Ghilen: If by that you mean, 'did I kill the Archdemon?' no, I didn't.

Ghilen: If you mean, 'was I one of only three wardens left to stop the Blight after the rest were slaughtered?' then yes. That was me.

...

[If the Herald is Dalish]

Herald: I'm sorry, you're Ghilen Mahariel? I can't believe I didn't realize sooner.

Herald: The people look up to you,- tell stories about you. Some of us call you the pride of our people.

Ghilen: Ah. I appreciate it, but I'm really not all that remarkable. Besides, uh... you've had a lot going on.

...

Herald: So, this is what grey wardens get up to when there's not a Blight, then?

Ghilen: Hardly! Most of them stick around the order to do aimless housecleaning. If it were up to me, I'd be retired.

Ghilen: I was retired, until somebody put a hole in the sky.

Herald: I didn't create the breach.

Ghilen: I didn't say you did.

Herald: ... Oh. Right.

Ghilen: [Laughs] Stay safe, "Herald."

[venvellan]

so, about ghilen mahariel,

he is so different tonally and characteristically to my lavellan (and tabris! but thats a post for later).

venathren lavellan who volunteers to trade in the city every year without fail, lets his voice carry over open courtyards, is bold, talkative, and curious. he hears about the conclave through idle chat with village locals and runs home to tell the keeper that he's going.

they weren't invited, of course, but lack of an invitation's never stopped him. he can smile his way out of damned near anything, and he knows it.

so off he goes, bringing little more than a goodbye kiss from his mother. at the conclave, he's no different. he mingles and wanders, ever bold and excited.

this time, he wanders too far.

and ghilen mahariel, who'd just turned 22 when he contracted the blight. he was preparing to bond with his lover of several years, had never once left the clan, and is suddenly both torn from it and kicked out of it in equal measure.

ghilen mahariel who's dead silent on the trip to ostagar, only speaking when spoken to. he spends days in a walking slumber that only breaks when they finally arrive and his eyes meet the very top of the tower of ishal. reality dawns on him, and an oppressively cold feeling of death and dread seeps through him.

he's eager to cure the mabari and excessively courteous with morrigan, but feels a twinge of envy at surviving when daveth is granted the luxury of death.

still, he finds reasons to push on: people that he cares about more than himself — people that depend on him.

ghilen mahariel who worms his way into each of their hearts without even trying. he is naive. he's indecisive and utterly ruled by his heart. he is meager and easily swayed. he's soft; weak, even.

he's also achingly gentle. he's never left his clan — never met anyone that didn't believe the same things as him — but he is nevertheless marvelously understanding. he gives without expecting in return (and how could he? the only thing he truly wants is a gentle death — and to be forgotten) and gives so readily that you wonder if he's ever once thought of himself. his voice is gentle and warm. it soothes and urges the others on, even as he is lost and alone.

becoming a grey warden was not his choice, and he is deeply resentful of it. the effects of the blight and the joining (which is to say nothing of the grief he carries) leave him chronically sore and tired. the very blood in his veins feels like its not his own. he is colder, paler. his entire body feels brittle at times. but he never forces this resentment upon anyone else. he suffers, silently, instead. mind you, his pain never goes unnoticed. he is loved, whether he sees it or not.

ghilen mahariel who cannot even return home when his job is done, because he barely feels dalish anymore. even if he knew where his clan was, he couldn't bear to face them. he lives in states of in-between with tabris and her family, half of him always stuck in his head, replaying the night tamlen came to camp in the horrible picture-perfect accuracy it burned into his brain.

after amaranthine, he finally begins to pick himself up. the world isn't perfect — it isn't even good, from what he's seen — but its innocents deserve charity and love. as he did, when he was younger. as his friends always have.

he travels back and forth amongst them, but he's always where they are — loving them the way he knows how.

his best and closest friend invites him to attend divine justinia's conclave. asks her 'dearest ghilie' to pretty please keep her company so she isn't 'bored to tears'. she's playful and flippant, trying to hide how badly she needs it all to go right, but he knows everything there is to know about her.

he goes, and none of it goes right, and by the end of the day he's back to work.

his gentle death can wait a little longer.

[venvellan]

my newest DA oc, good lord am I excited about this one

~✧⚘☾ Ghilen Mahariel ☽❦✧~

he/him

22 at the beginning of origins

black hair to the middle-ish of his back

a bit taller and broader than "typical" elven stature

bisexual ♡

arcane rogue (dual-wield)

here's where it gets exciting i am shaking with joy

he's one of two protagonists, joined by Kaira Tabris (who delivered the killing blow to the arch demon and is technically remembered as the hof)

he was in a deeply committed relationship with Tamlen

he got a tattoo in orzammar, which started a trend of picking up the occasional small tattoo during his travels

winning smile :)

vertical labret

quite friendly, if shy

he did the ritual with Morrigan rather than asking Alistair to

when the blight is over, Kaira becomes warden-commander and they go through the events of Awakening together

Kaira then disappears to find the cure for the calling, and Ghilen attends the conclave at Leliana's invitation, making him one of the first inquisition companions !!!!!

if he were an actual companion in-game:

warns the party of darkspawn whenever they're in the area

huge tension between him and Blackwall. he has his suspicions

after arriving at Skyhold and before Here Lies The Abyss, shares with the inquisitor in a panic that he's hearing the calling

keeps to himself at the Winter Palace, unless recognized

feels no particular loyalty to the wardens, but will make himself known if brought to Adamant and will win over a sizeable portion of them

romanceable by anyone !$1^*%#♡♡♡♡

if he and Josephine are both unromanced, they'll get together and have children sometime after Trespasser <3

endings post-Trespasser

if the Inquisition stays together and he's not in any romance: remains with the Inquisition as long as he can be useful

if in no romance and Leliana is divine: becomes her new, temporary(?) left hand

if romanced by inquisitor, regardless of Inquisition status: stays at their side

otherwise: follows Josie where she goes ♡

I also have some Inquisition-specific dialog ideas for him that I would love to post later <333