Faces of Thedas: Varric Things—Friendly Rogue, Quick Wit, Teller of Tales—Yet He’S No Scattered, Flighty Fellow

Varric Tethras is many Faces of Thedas: Varric things—friendly rogue, quick wit, teller of tales—yet he’s no scattered, flighty fellow. Those who get to know this dwarf may discover heart behind his wit, a bit of roman- MARY KIRBY ticism within even his most sordid tales, and a surprising depth of loyalty in his friendship. Despite hardship and TALKS VARRIC pain, Varric can find humor and joy even in the midst of Mary Kirby has been writing for the Dragon Age world grim combat and heartbreak. Look to him after a bloody for six years. When Dragon Age games are being made, battle and you’re likely to find him making a joke about major characters like companion NPCs are assigned his wounds. (“Dear Varric, please learn to parry. Love, to specific in-house writers at BioWare whose job it is your innards.”) to create and maintain the voice and vision for those Wherever he goes, Varric makes friends, learns the local characters through the long development process. stories, and gleans the choicest scuttlebutt. Wherever Various writers may write lines for characters other he goes, his prized and distinctive crossbow, called than their own during the design and development of Bianca, is sure to be at hand. Wherever he goes, he plots, conversations, and banter but it is the job of each seems to encounter trouble and treasures worth telling character’s dedicated shepherd to check over every line tales about later on. and make sure it is consistent with the character. Mary Kirby’s imagination has given voice to fan-favorite Whatever else Varric might seek in life, he is always characters like Varric Tethras (Dragon Age II) and the seeking a new yarn to spin and cohorts worth drinking Qunari warrior, Sten (Dragon Age: Origins) to. Surely your PCs are worth a toast or two, no? Kirby is an experienced pen-and-paper roleplaying- game player in addition to being an accomplished game “I know everyone in this town worth knowing.” writer. She ran a homebrewed D&D campaign right up until she started working at BioWare. Her first pen-and- — Varric, Dragon Age II paper RPG was Shadowrun. (“I still get a little choked up thinking about Trollish Street Samurai,” she said.) 1 Faces of Thedas: Varric Spoiler Warning Spoilers ahead! This Faces of Thedas entry doesn’t reveal every secret of Varric’s story—if you’ve played Dragon Age II and its DLC you’ll notice some instances where we’ve chosen to allude rather than define—but it does describe certain twists and revelations that come to light in other Dragon Age media. The Varric who appears in your Dragon Age RPG campaign may differ from the Varric we meet in, say, comics like The Silent Grove. Your RPG campaign’s Varric might make different choices during Dragon Age II’s period of history than you made in your most recent play through that game. We’ve chosen to minimize some spoilers by leaving some stories to be told in their own media but, still, beware of spoilers within. Thankfully, Kirby was happy to answer a few questions MK: We had gone to Orzammar in Dragon Age: Origins, about writing and developing the character of Varric but we hadn’t seen much of the surface dwarves. for Dragon Age II: Varric gave me a chance to explore what their culture would be like. He’s very much not a traditional dwarf and that’s sort of the point. From his perspective, Green Ronin: What was your inspiration or aim tradition is a trap. A source of regret and frustration for Varric as a fictional character? How did the that’s ruined the lives of people he cares about. He’s Varric we know emerge during the design and a rogue more in the sense of being a con man than a production of Dragon Age II? pickpocket. Be careful if he tries to sell you a bridge anywhere. Mary Kirby: When I first met Varric, he consisted of nothing but the description, “Dwarf who narrates the game.” That was enough to hook me. I loved the meta- GR: What does Varric want? Why might he fictional angle of writing the guy who’s writing the join with (or oppose!) adventurers on quests game’s story. throughout Thedas? We knew he would be a surface dwarf and we knew he’d be a rogue because we wanted to immediately MK: Varric’s sense of responsibility is his Achilles heel. distinguish him from Oghren. Our lead concept artist, Everything he does is motivated by a desire to look Matt Rhodes, did the initial concepts for Varric in the out for his family or friends (and they all make this as leather duster with the open shirt and that became difficult as possible). But he has friends everywhere, on the jumping-off point for me in finding his voice and all sides of just about any conflict. So it isn’t that hard personality. I based him a bit on Ed Bloom from Big for Varric to get roped into just about any adventure on Fish—if he’s not outright lying, he is at least telling the the grounds that someone he plays Wicked Grace with story the way it meant to have happened, but is none- asked him to participate, just this once, and it’s really theless sort of loveable despite everything. important… GR: How much do you need to know about a char- GR: Any advice for players and GMs trying to acter before you’re ready to write their dialogue get into character as Varric? Any guidance on his or behavior? Did you create a lot of background style, methods, or demeanor? lore for Varric? MK: Varric doesn’t use very formal language. He’s MK: I am terribly detail oriented and will construct a always among friends, it’s just that sometimes they character’s entire life story up to and including their don’t know they’re his friends yet. He’s a showman. favorite foods before I write anything, even though He’s always in control, charismatic, confident, even if absolutely none of that may ever come up in game. For he doesn’t feel it. Varric tends to avoid direct confronta- Varric, I invented a whole messy, tragic family history tion whenever he can. Hate the Merchants Guild? Hide for House Tethras and, of course, the untellable tale of from them. Family problems? Just stay at the Hanged how Bianca got her name… Man and don’t go home. But his sense of responsibility will always drag him back to eventually deal with whatever he’s been ignoring or hiding from. He’ll GR: How did the existing lore of Thedas inform always talk his way out of trouble given the chance and your writing of Varric? Was he built to reinforce or resort to Bianca only when necessary. defy some existing ideas about dwarves or rogues? 2 Faces of Thedas: Varric Hallard told his sons, “and setbacks only mean you took BACKGROUND a jaunt down one wrong road, not that you’re done.” House Tethras earned its exile from the great dwarf city After Hallard died, Varric’s older brother, Bartrand, of Orzammar by fixing the outcomes of otherwise honor- took on Hallard’s duties in the Merchants Guild. able Provings. Of course, it takes more than a rigged bet to Bartrand ran the family merchant business, pushing ensure the outcome of a Proving—at least some combat- House Tethras ever higher up the social ladder while, ants must have been in on the action for the fix to work— behind the scenes, Varric looked after the family and its yet only the once-noble dwarves of House Tethras paid retainers. Each seemed suited to his position. the price for the skullduggery. Some number of dwarven Lady Ilsa, mother to Bartrand and Varric, did not weather combatants who threw their bouts went undiscovered well the trauma of her family’s disgrace. She sought and unpunished. The theory among some of the nobility solace in liquor and smoke. Varric strove to curb the was that such combatants either could not truly betray worst of her drunken rages, to keep her from becoming the Proving, because the Ancestors see and influence all a public scandal. He cared for her when her excesses on the Proving Ground and so their combats only end made her ill. Varric and Bartrand were never exactly as they should, or that crooked combatants would close—more like colleagues than brothers. pay some other price, in time, when the Ances- tors decreed. Varric has come to see the world differ- ently than his family does. The Deep Roads In the meantime, the nobility of the great were never home for Varric, they were a dwarf city of Orzammar made an example legendary and ancient place of stiff nobles of House Tethras to warn anyone else who and forgotten treasures. They were a place would meddle in the cherished tradi- of risk and opportunity, worth the occa- tion of the Proving. The message sional venture, but home was where was simple: Those who would the drinks were, where the laughter undermine the Proving have was, where his friends were. no business being dwarves; out with them. Yet Varric holds no real grudge against the dwarves below. His Varric was born three years father made a mistake—either in after the family’s exile, into committing the crime or in getting the surface world of the caught—and the dwarves in Merchants Guild, where power did what dwarves the Ancestors never do as a result.

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