Kallian Tabris/Tropes

* Accidental Pornomancer: On numerous occasions, you can actually use sex or marriage as a bargaining tool.
** More literally, it's incredibly easy to accidentally start a romance with one of your eligible party members, as every romanceable party member has multiple dialogue options to start the romance, and many of them (such as "Are you feeling better about what happened to Marjolaine?" for Leliana) seem quite innocent on the surface.
* The Ace: Evolves into this over the course of the game.
* Affectionate Nickname: If his friendship is high enough, Sten refers to the Warden as "kadan," meaning something akin to 'close to the heart.'
** A romanced Leliana will also refer to the Warden (of either gender) as "my love."
* Ambiguously Brown: Canonically, the City Elf Warden is the child of a pale father and a dark skinned mother. The ambiguous part comes up as their appearance is ultimately up to the player.
* Anti-Hero: Without a Karma meter, it's very easy to play the Warden as one. You can inflict crimes ranging from petty theft to mass genocide to child killing.
* Anything That Moves: The Warden can definitely be played this way. Some of the origins offer the opportunity to hit on/sleep with someone; you have four potential romances among your companions; female Wardens can flirt with Arl Teagan, who seems interested; male wardens can kiss Bella, the waitress of Redcliff's tavern; you can hire employees at the Pearl in Denerim, and there's even a chance to sleep with certain members of the Dalish clan you meet in the Brecilian Forest. You can also claim after finding out Shale was once a dwarven woman that suddenly, she's very cute.
* Arranged Marriage: The City Elf Origin opens with one. It doesn't end well. 
* Ass Kicking Equals Authority:
** A City Elf Warden has the option of representing their people as the first Elven Bann of the Alienage in Denerim.
** Depending on your chosen origin and your actions in-game, you can also add a Teyrnir (Dukedom), another Arling (Denerim), the Kingdom of Ferelden (as a Prince or Queen-Consort), and a Lord Chancellorship (Prime Ministership) into the bargain, although the latter titles are mostly derived by forcibly removing their incumbents from the position.
* Badass Family: It'd be easier to list the Wardens who don't come from one note .
** The City Elf had an Action Mom, Adaia, whom Duncan wanted to recruit into the Grey Wardens; but he was talked out of it by Elder Valendrian, seeing as there wasn't an urgent need for recruits back then. Their cousins Shianni and Soris are both pretty awesome as well.
* Badass Normal: Every non-mage Warden is clearly this before they undergo the Joining.
** The City Elf leaves Bann Vaughan lying dead in "a river of blood" that runs throughout the Arl of Denerim's Estate, during their Roaring Rampage of Revenge over the abduction and rape of countless elven women (including their cousin Shianni) at his hands. And, like the Dwarf Commoner, the City Elf has no formal combat trainingnote  unlike the Human and Dwarf Noble. The sheer scale of the destruction wrought is lampshaded by Elder Valendrian and the Guard Captain who comes to arrest the City Elf. Guard-Captain: Do you expect me to believe that one wo/man did all of that? Valendrian: We are not all so helpless, Captain.
* Bad Powers, Good People:
** All Grey Wardens fall under this to a minor degree, due to the Joining Ritual being a form of Blood Magic meant to grant the Wardens the power of the Darkspawn taint by imbibing their blood.
* Battle Couple: With their love interest.
* The Beastmaster: The Ranger specialization for Rogues.
* Because You Were Nice to Me: If you make the effort to befriend the members of your party, you learn that you are one of the only real friends (if not the only one) that most of them have ever had. This is particularly true of Morrigan (who has never known anyone that she even liked before meeting you), Zevran (whose closest friend is willing to kill him), and Shale (who has never before known a person who didn't exploit it).
* Berserk Button:
** Fantastic Racism against elves can be one for an Elven Warden; particularly a City Elf. Overtly or unintentionally racist comments from other characters can always lead to at least one option to respond with sudden anger/hostility.
* Big Eater: It's a Grey Warden thing, apparently.
* Blade Enthusiast: The PC always uses the same knife to murder people in dialogue scenes. Examples include some off-duty guards in the City Elf Origin, the hungry deserter in Ostagar, the Elven Messenger, Brother Genitivi, Avernus.
* Blatant Lies: A female Warden can claim to be “Winnifred” from “just outside Highever” no matter their actual name and origin, while conversing with the Mad Hermit.
* Blessed with Suck/Cursed with Awesome: Congratulations! You've been selected as a Grey Warden recruit — the highest honor to which you could ever aspire! It means any birthright or title you had is now forfeit. But wait, you have yet to become a Grey Warden - first you have to drink darkspawn blood, which will often kill you right away. If it doesn't, congratulations on becoming a Grey Warden! You can now sense the darkspawn and destroy archdemons at the low cost of obliterating your soul if you try the latter. Of course, they can sense you just as easily as you sense them. Oh, and you have about thirty years to live until the taint starts turning you into a darkspawn, at which point the Grey Warden instruction troubleshooting manual tells you to go on a suicide run against the darkspawn hordes. Oh, and good luck ever having children, especially if the other parent is also a Grey Warden.
* Blood Knight: The Violent voice set.
* Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: A female City Elf who fights in her wedding dress.
* Book Ends: For a City Elf, the game begins and ends in Denerim.
* Boxed Crook: In five of the six origins, no less.
** At the end of their respective origins, the City Elf and the Dwarf Commoner are each facing long-term imprisonment (if not worse), but Duncan steps in to recruit them into the Grey Wardens. Many see that as an honor, but it ultimately is a death sentence, especially now that there is a Blight knocking on Ferelden's doors and you'll be on the front lines fighting it.
* Brutal Honesty: Every background has a brutally honest response option for when you meet King Cailan. For example, when meeting a City Elf, Cailan apparently thinks of the Alienages as a somewhat poor but fair chance for the elves to rebuild themselves after an age of slavery. A City Elf PC has the option to exercise this trope to correct him: King Cailan: Do you come from the Alienage? Tell me, how is it there? My guards all but forbid me from going there. City Elf Warden: I killed an Arl's son for raping my friend. King Cailan: You... what?
* Canon Name: Each Warden has a default namenote .
** City Elf: Darrian/Kallian Tabris
* Celibate Hero and/or Really Gets Around: As with the hero/anti-hero status, the Warden can be anywhere in between these two. The Warden can have a foursome with Zevran, Leliana, and Pirate Queen Isabela. And then taking the edge off by sleeping with male hookers, female hookers, nugs, a transvestite dwarf, or having some rather unusual things done to you using some rather interesting tools. The tragic turn in the Human Noble's origin prologue can happen in the afterglow of a tryst with the son or servant girl of a visiting vassal noble.
* The Chessmaster: At the Landsmeet, it's possible to manipulate every single lord but one into supporting you over Loghain, including Queen Anora, his own daughter. You can then execute Loghain in front of her, and she'll still go along with marrying Alistair and lending her support for the Warden. An even better show of mastery of Fereldan politics is to still turn the Landsmeet against Loghain even without the heavy support that his daughter the Queen curries.
** Lampshaded by Loghain during the Landsmeet, who suggests that while Arl Eamon might believe that putting Alistair on the throne would guarantee him a Puppet King to control, in reality even his strings are being pulled by the Warden. Loghain: Ah! Here we have the Puppeteer!
* Chick Magnet: Aside from various party members (male and female for both genders), serving girls and a few elves are smitten with the male PC, and Bann Teagan seems to be considering proposing to the female PC after a few days of knowing her, explicitly stating that it doesn't matter one bit that she's a dwarf, an elf and/or a mage. Oghren points this out in a conversation with Wynne.
* The Chosen One: Averted, as the Warden in each origin is merely the Right Man in the Wrong Place. Further averted with the Darkspawn Chronicles, which depicts a non-canonical Alternate History where the Warden died during the Joining and Alistair was forced to step up. It didn't end well.
* Clear My Name: All Wardens go through the entire game knowing that Loghain is doing his best to convince the entire country that their order betrayed the king to his death
* Comes Great Responsibility: An honourable Mage Warden under the tutelage of Wynne. While their remarkable self-confidence is one of their greatest strengths, Wynne reminds them that mages should never indulge in pride because of their abilities, lest it corrupt them.
** To a lesser extent, Wynne tries to impress this lesson to all Wardens. You are a hero, and heroes have to make hard choices, but as a hero, it's your duty to make the best choices you can. You serve the people, Wynne says, and must put their benefit before yours. Whether you take this lesson to heart or not is entirely up to you. 
* Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Some dialogue options, if they're not to be considered snarky, can come across as... loony: Chantry Priest: We are all sinners. The fire symbolizes our hope that forgiveness is possible. Thus, we all serve by feeding its flames. Warden: So if I sin, I should just set myself on fire?
* Crime of Self-Defense: The female City Elf faces execution for escaping her violent kidnapping by the spoiled son of the local lord.
* Curb-Stomp Battle: Among all the Player Characters, the Warden is the more proclive to this and his/her reputation of The Dreaded is mainly for this reason. The best examples is the Mage Tower's one (Gregoir, the templar in charge here, mentions that the demons and abominations are all dead) and the Carta headquarters' one (this one is even mentioned in the codex from the sequels, saying that the Warden pretty much decimated the entire branch in Orzammar).
* Damsel out of Distress: The Female City Elf. After getting captured by Vaughan's guards, who announce their intention to rape and murder her (and not necessarily in that order), her cousin Soris breaks into the room. While they're distracted by his sudden appearance, he quickly slides a sword across the floor to the City Elf, who immediately picks it up and adopts a fighting stance. Cue two very terrified, soon-to-be-dead guards: Guard: Oh sod...
* Dating Catwoman: Downplayed. It's perfectly possible to a heroic, morally good Warden to have a romance with the more amoral companions such as Morrigan or Zevran. While they will usually favor the more pragmatic, ruthless actions and disapprove of altruism, it can be circumvented by giving them gifts and being nice to them.
* Deadpan Snarker: The player character has 100% more snarky lines than in previous BioWare games. It's especially notable if the Warden is given the Violent voice; Suave (for males) and Sultry (for females) are also fairly snarky.
* Defiant to the End: The Warden can be played as this.
** The Female City Elf, when about to be bound and dragged by armed guards to Lord Vaughan's quarters to be raped and most likely killed afterwards, can be played as this in the face of her kidnappers. Guard: Now you heard the captain. Be a good little wench and do as you're told. Female Tabris: Go ahead, try it. See which parts you lose first.
* Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: There are a number of powerful horrors that The Warden can take down before, and after slaying the Archdemon and end of the game. Unless you disagree to Morrigan's Dark ritual, then The Warden will be dead. In Origins there are two Optional Boss Fights that take place before the Point of No Return, specifically Flemeth and Gaxkang the Unbound. In Awakening you take down the The Mother, (potentially) The Architect, and (again potentially) The Queen of the Blackmarsh. In Golems of Amgarrak there's the Harvester, and in Witch Hunt there's the Varterral.
* The Dreaded:
** The Warden becomes this to Loghain and Arl Howe, the latter particularly if they're the Human Noble.
** During "Unrest at the Alienage", when the Warden runs into a bunch of Tevinter slavers and tells them who they are: Guard: Oh no! I've heard of you!
* The Drifter: For the Grey Wardens, it's practically their raison d'être.
* The Dutiful Son:
** The City Elf can be played this way too, if you choose respectful dialogue options when talking to your father, showing that you've taken his lessons about putting family and the well-being of other elves first.
* Empowered Badass Normal: As a warrior, you can gain access to the slightly mystical Templar and reaver specializations, and even more in the expansion. Avernus' blood draughts also give a warrior or rogue upgraded abilities.
* Even the Girls Want Her: The women who love/lust after the PC are not limited to love interests or even her own race, which is somewhat uncommon in Ferelden nowadays.
* Even the Guys Want Him: The men who love/lust after the PC are not limited to love interests or even his own race, which is somewhat uncommon in Ferelden nowadays.
* The Exile
* Fantastic Racism: Mage and/or Elven Wardens are often on the receiving end of this, as are Dwarven Wardens (though more rarely). The Dalish and Dwarven Wardens can display this, though slightly more prevalent in the former given the rather complicated history between the races of Elves and Man. The City Elf can get in on thus too, being rude to any number of human authority figures. Could be that being a Warden finally gives the Elf license to backtalk the humans who've held them down for ages... or you can get just as belligerent with Duncan when you first meet him.
* A Father to His Men: The Warden spends almost as much time guiding their followers through their personal demons as they do fighting actual demons.
* The Fettered: Can be played this way.
* Fighter, Mage, Thief: Your class options via Warrior, Mage, and Rogue.
* Figure It Out Yourself: The Warden can be played as doing this with companions. Particularly noticeable with Alistair; if you convince him to take the throne, despite his reticence, he proves to be a great leader.
** The Warden says this verbatim when Loghain openly asks why you didn't take him with you to kill the Archdemon, since he assumed this was the Warden's reason for making him go through the Joining.
* Folk Hero: According to Sigrun in Awakening, the Dwarf Commoner apparently became one amongst the Casteless, being the lowly Duster who defeated Orzammar's finest warriors in a Proving, became a Warden, then was even made into a Paragon.
** By the second game, the Warden is commonly referred to as "the Hero of Ferelden."
** One of the epilogues reveals that Bevin, the little boy in Redcliffe, grows into a famous adventurer and often regales his companions with the tale of how the Warden came to Redcliffe, took up his grandfather's sword to fight off an army of undead, then returned it to him.
** If Lloyd dies in the fight against the undead, Bella inherits his tavern and renames it "The Grey Warden's Rest," though in the years to come, travelers find it hard to believe the "tall tales" of the Warden's exploits recounted there.
** In Awakening, you meet an individual calling themselves the "Dark Wolf" in Amaranthine. If you did the very quests in Origins, you get to call him out that he's not the real "Dark Wolf," because you are!
* For Want of a Nail: The Warden surviving the Joining is a pretty crucial nail. If the Warden survives the Joining, the story plays out as normal. If the Warden doesn't survive the Joining, Ferelden loses to the Blight. This is illustrated by the DLC The Darkspawn Chronicles, in which the Warden does not survive the Joining and Alistair has to run the show.
* Friend to All Children: Depending on the player, the Warden can be this. There are a few opportunities to do things like give money to orphaned children and protect a child from a demon who wants to possess her.
* Friend to All Living Things: The Warden can also be played this way. They have the opportunity to save the lives of several mabari warhounds during the battle at Ostagarnote , and in the Dalish camp they can resolve a life-threatening situation with one of the halla.
* Girly Bruiser: A female Warden who beats the snot out of darkspawn in hulking armor who then turns around and fawns over shoes and hairstyles with Leliana definitely counts.
* Good Bad Girl: Can be played as such. One response to Alistair's "licked a lamppost in winter" query is quite vividly phrased in a manner to declare that she decidedly has, many times.
* The Good Chancellor: Depending on who ends up on the throne, a particularly honorable Warden can become this to Alistair and/or Anora.
** In Awakening, the Warden can become this as the new Arl of Amaranthine.
* Good Is Not Soft: More Heroic Wardens, in particular, seem to excel at delivering Cruel Mercy to people.
** A good example is Nathaniel Howe in the Awakening expansion. He tried to break into Vigil's Keep in order to kill the Warden. Moreover, if the Warden is the Human Noble, Nathaniel is the son of the man who massacred the Warden's entire family. The Warden can decide that the most fitting punishment of all for him is... to make him become a Grey Warden.
** Also from Awakening, you are required to pass sentence on a man who stole in order to feed his starving family. The best result comes if you make him join the army.
* Guile Hero: You have to play the game to truly understand the freedom it gives you.
* Handsome Lech: Potentially. A frightening amount of possible interactions with members of the opposite sex (and even a few of the same sex) allows the Warden to hit on them, if not outright sleep with them. Heck, a female Human Noble can even hit on Duncan, though he demurs.
* Head-Turning Beauty: Everyone wants the Warden. Seriously. No matter how long you spend beating your character with the Ugly Stick in Character Creation, he or she (especially she, and especially if she's a human) will constantly be referred to as drop-dead gorgeous.
* The Hero: In the job description for a Grey Warden, and during a Blight that goes double. You'll one-up even the great accomplishments of the other Wardens, ending the Fifth Blight so quickly and so effectively people outside Ferelden doubt there even was a Fifth Blight! The most common epithet the Warden is known by in post-game content is "the Hero of Ferelden."
* Heroic Seductress: If playing a female Warden, this is possible as the warden has the option to flirt with and seduce a surprising number of NPCs.
* Hero with Bad Publicity: Played with. Despite Loghain's claim that the Grey Wardens are responsible for the King's death, the only people who really believe that, and subsequently antagonize you, are either Loghain's men or mercenaries/desperate refugees with their eye on your bounty. There are some people gossiping in various settlements, but their opinion seems to fluctuate from moment to moment.
** Played straight in Awakening if you start off fresh as an Orlesian Grey Warden. Everybody in Ferelden will hold your Orlesian heritage against you. It's understandable, since Ferelden just freed itself from a brutal occupation at the hands of the Orlesians a scant few decades ago, only for an Orlesian to become the new Arl of Amaranthine. Depending on how you play the game, their mistrust can be justified.
* He Who Must Not Be Seen: The Warden's actions had a very notable impact on Dragon Age II, and they will get brought up directly by Varric and Cassandra, indirectly by Flemeth, and by mention on the loading screen. Depending on your playthrough, they can also be mentioned by Anders, Merrill, Isabela, Bethany, Cullen, Nuncio, Bodahn Feddic, Zevran, Alistair, Leliana, Nathaniel Howe, Sophia Dryden, a letter found in the Wounded Coast, an ex-werewolf, several Codex entries, and Hawke themself. Despite this, the Warden never shows up in that game.
** In Inquisition, the Warden is occasionally referenced and, if a certain sidequest is done (and the Warden is alive), even writes a letter to Leliana, but never actually shows up in person. They are on a quest to cure the Wardens of their Calling.
* Hope Bringer: All you have to do is flash the Grey Warden credentials to get most people to listen to whatever you have to say. Of course, it's up to you whether or not you want to fulfill the spirit of this trope.
** By the time of Dragon Age: Inquisition, it's quite possible for Dagna the Arcanist to describe the Warden in such a way. Dagna: It was a dark time. There was one light.
* Hypercompetent Sidekick: More or less ends up as this at the end to either Alistair or Anora. They lead the kingdom and deliver the Rousing Speeches, the Warden leads the armies.
* I Did What I Had to Do: Ruthless but well-meaning Wardens will find themselves adopting this as their creed.
* Interspecies Romance: A Dwarf Warden who enters a romance enters this by default since none of the other love interests are dwarves. An Elven Warden also enters this if they romance anyone but Zevran, since Alistair, Morrigan, and Leliana are all human. Or have at least one human parent, since Alistair is elf-blooded. A Human Warden likewise enters this if they romance Zevran.
* It's All My Fault: Every origin has an event happen for which the Warden can blame themself. During the "Urn of Sacred Ashes", the Warden undergoes the Gauntlet, where they can confront these feelings of guilt or deny having them.
* It's Personal:
** The City Elf can bear a grudge against Arl Howe for leading a long and brutal purge against their alienage. They can even recognize him on first meeting as the one who's been slaughtering their people.
** The City Elf Warden's Origin can have the Warden cut a bloody swath to and take revenge on Vaughan, for abducting the brides and bridesmaids in their wedding (including the Warden herself if female) to be beaten, raped, and (likely) killed, and then for successfully raping their cousin.
* Kleptomaniac Hero: You can enter any dwelling and help yourself to anything that isn't nailed down, even if you need to pick locks in the process. Unlike pickpocketing, this never antagonizes the inhabitants, with very few exceptions (these being if the person who owns the place is afraid you will find the dead body they're hiding).
** Also, getting caught pickpocketing in Denerim will spawn an army (not an exaggeration) of angry guards while you travel from one point of the city to another.
** There is at least one instance where there actually are consequences for looting, even though it's not pickpocketing. Taking Zathrian's songbook before "The Nature of The Beast" is completed will eventually trigger a random encounter with a very pissed off Dalish archer.
** In Inquisition, Sera will offhandedly comment that "Wardens were an excuse for your stuff to go missing", implying they had a reputation for this trope (and the Red Jennies took advantage of that).
* Knight in Sour Armor: Can be played like this. A natural fit in particular for an elf - even if you're a Dalish who regards the Grey Wardens and Ferelden as an Enemy Mine situation at best, every human assumes you care about their kingdom.
* Large Ham: The Warden never outright chews the scenery, but there are some dialogue options that teeter on the edge. This is only exacerbated by some of the voice sets (such as Violent) whose lines can range from snarky to completely hammy.
* Like a God to Me:
** Some of the bits of party banter show that with high enough approval rating, the other party members feel this way about the Warden. Zevran calls them "an object worthy of worship."
** In Awakening, if Alistair is king and married to the human female noble, he fondly notes that "I married an indestructible goddess."
* Like Brother and Sister:
** The relationship between any Warden and a non-romanced companion of the opposite sex can be played out this way.
* Like Parent, Like Child: The City Elf is said to be very similar to their mother.
* Living Emotional Crutch: Various epilogues and the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC show that the group falls apart after the death of the Warden. They drift apart rather quickly even if the Warden survives to the end, but it's just because they each have things they want to do.
* Living Legend: The Warden becomes one during Origins, and the extent of their fame can be seen as part of the landscape of Dragon Age II and Inquisition.
* Loved I Not Honour More: Wynne lampshades this, reminding the Warden that they will have to put their duty as a Grey Warden ahead of their romance when it comes to saving the world.
* Manic Pixie Dream Girl: A female Warden can come off as this if the player tends towards the more snarky and quirky dialogue choices and goes out of their way to do things like break Zevran and/or Alistair out of their shells.
* Manipulative Bastard: You can be an utter douche, kicking dogs, desecrating holy artifacts and supporting crazy dwarves while still having all your most noble companions falling in love with your every word. Just make sure you have a good (and sometimes really good) coercion rank, a lot of gifts, and careful consideration of who you bring along with you and when.
* Magnetic Hero: You can also be this.
* Meaningful Name: Quite a lot of the Warden's default names and they can be remarkably appropriate.
** The Male City Elf's default name is Darrian. The female's is Kallian, a variant of an Irish name meaning "slender and fair".
* Mistaken for Gay: Possibly for a female Warden. Gossips in Witch Hunt seem to think that the female Warden is gay/bisexual and something happened between her and Isabela, even if no such encounter took place and the Warden was played as completely straight or asexual.
* Morality Pet: The Warden can be this for the more morally-dubious characters (like Morrigan and Zevran) should he or she befriend or romance them.
* My Significance Sense Is Tingling: The Joining allows all Grey Wardens to sense Darkspawn. Warden: Warden-senses tingling.
* Never Accepted in His Hometown: Except for the Dalish Elf, each Warden initially suffers this as a result of their respective Origin. The Human Noble's home was seized by Arl Howe, the Dwarf Noble was exiled from Orzammar, the City Elf and the Dwarf Commoner were wanted criminals in Denerim and Orzammar respectively.
* Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Depending on your options, this can definitely occur more than once.
* Not So Stoic: The Warden, who generally is given no expression in cutscenes, looks absolutely horrified after Duncan stabs Ser Jory, and will be visibly surprised at seeing Wynne collapse. In both cases, however, facial expressions are largely limited to the mouth, which can come off as Dull Surprise for the player.
* Occult Detective: While the darkspawn are their primary concern, the Wardens do train themselves to be able to deal with any threat.
* Odd Friendship: With everyone in the party, aside from your fellow Warden and your dog. When your closest friends include a Qunari Warrior, a Stone Golem, the daughter of Flemeth, a member of the Antivan Crows, an elderly Mage kept alive by a Fade Spirit, a Femme Fatale Spy who had a Heel–Faith Turn, a constantly drunk Dwarf, and potentially the Fallen Hero who left your King to die and blamed your fallen comrades for it, it's worth considering the possibility that you are the odd person in this friendship. The Warden can lampshade it when recruiting the dwarf: Warden: Don't I have enough armed lunatics following me around already?
* One-Man Army: The tales of the First Blight say that every Grey Warden is able to fight ten or twenty darkspawn at once. The Warden is The Dreaded because of this. Duncan states, if you ask about the danger of the Joining, that he wouldn't have recruited you unless he thought you could handle it, implying good Warden recruiters look specifically for people who have the rare fortitude that affords them a chance at surviving the ritual. While this doesn't directly translate into combat prowess, it certainly would help. All the potential Wardens were superlative badasses before they were recruited.
* Only Sane Man: Dialogue choices can have the PC repeatedly be the voice of reason amidst selfish political infighting and other craziness happening during a Blight.
* The Paragon: The Warden can be played as one.
* Parental Abandonment: With only a few exceptions, really bad things tend to happen to the Warden's parents in every origin, if they were even present at all:
** The City Elf’s mother was murdered by humans some time prior to the beginning of the story. Their father is still alive and well, and actually doesn't end up dying, but after the prologue he isn't seen again until very near the end of the story, because the Alienage is closed off and inaccessible for most of the game. If the player chooses to abandon Shianni to be raped by Vaughn in the prologue, he will completely disown the PC and refuse to speak to them ever again.
* Pragmatic Hero: The Warden can be played as such.
** A good example of this is the "Trial of Crows" questline. While the Warden still has a price on their head and the Antivan Crows never abandon a contract, by agreeing to carry out assassinations on disreputable individuals for them, they will have earned enough favour that if the Guildmaster after them calls for aid in performing the hit, the other cells will be less inclined to agree.
* The Quest: The Warden's quest is to end the Blight by destroying the Archdemon, and to unite Ferelden using the Grey Warden treaties so that there's an army to do it with. Along the way the player can complete this quest in whatever way, and with whatever kinds of companions, they choose.
* Rags to Riches: A City Elf can become the Denerim Alienage's first-ever bann.
* Right Man in the Wrong Place: All possible Wardens begin as well-trained but (mostly) unimportant figures, and rise to their station through skill and pure luck.
* Roaring Rampage of Rescue:
** The male City Elf Origin has your character going on one of these in order to rescue his betrothed and the other women taken. There's plenty of vengeance to be had against Vaughan and his men as well for killing Nola and raping Shianni, and in the case of the female City Elf.
** The mission to rescue Anora is a big one of these for the Human Noble or City Elf, in no small part due to the main bad guy of the mission being none other than Arl Rendon Howe, the bastard responsible for massacring the Couslands in the Human Noble origin, and leading a violent purge against the alienage for the City Elf.
* Seen It All: In Awakening, when Anders and Nathaniel bring up the strangeness factor of getting into fights with dragons, demons and darkspawn on a semi-regular basis, the Warden's dialogue seems to suggest that they really have stopped being fazed by it at this point: Warden: Stick around, this happens all the time!
* Sex God: Morrigan compliments the Warden for being such a... virile lover. Apparently it's a trait all Grey Wardens share, as she also mentions people telling stories about their "legendary stamina".
* Shut Up, Hannibal!: 
** A City Elf Warden can calmly shut down his taunting over how he sees elves as animals by calling him a talking ass.'
* Sink or Swim Mentor: Often can be seen as both this and Trickster Mentor in regards to Alistair, keeping him from falling apart after the loss of Duncan and the Wardens at Ostagar, as well as if they put him forward as King during the Landsmeet.
* The Squadette: The female PC. Alistair even lampshades it by wondering why there never were very many female Grey Wardens.
** The Warden herself lampshades this too at one point, when Daveth and Jory are fretting over the Joining. Female Warden: I swear, I'm the bravest one here and I'm a woman.
* Tragic Keepsake: 
** A female City Elf can loot her wedding ring from her betrothed's corpse, and keep it as this if she chooses.
* Tranquil Fury:
** Also for a City Elf who finally meets Rendon Howe after Eamon calls the Landsmeet, calmly identifying him as the one who's been butchering their kin. Especially in the face of his racist taunting. Howe: When animals snap at their human masters, it is necessary to cull the herd. City Elf Warden: Oh look, the Teyrn has a talking ass. / I'm going to enjoy killing you.
* Troll: Just like that other Bioware fantasy protagonist, the Warden gets some troll-ish dialogue of the nasty variety. Warden: Sounds like a deal. The treasure for your freedom. Treasure Hunter: Thank you! My life is worth more than this. Take the blasted thing! Warden: And now you die anyway. [pushes him into a lava pit]
* The Unchosen One: Went from random idiot who survived because Duncan and Flemeth happened to be around at the right times to Hero of Ferelden in about a year. If you complain that you don't have a choice in the matter, Morrigan and Wynne will be quick to point out that you could just sit on your ass and do nothing to stop the Blight - ultimately, you do choose.
* The Unfettered:
** The Grey Wardens encourage their members to be this, and you can choose to fully embrace this mantra.
** One of the possible default histories for the Warden in Dragon Age II is appropriately titled "Ruthless".
* Unscrupulous Hero: The Warden can fall into this, particularly if you're attempting for 100% completion. Doing every sidequest will mean having to engage in murder, blackmail, assassinations, coverups, bribery and petty larceny. On the other hand, most of the people to whom you do all those things had it coming.
* The Unwanted Harem: Saying nice things to your party members can be enough to convince them that they are becoming your Love Interest. This can lead to awkwardness when one of the Betty and Veronica pair forces you to choose between them; sometimes, being forced into making that choice is the first time you'll even be aware of the situation.
* Villain Protagonist: The player can make the Warden into this, committing laughably evil acts and having materialistic motives for doing anything resembling a good deed. 
* Walking the Earth:
** The Grey Wardens go where they are most needed.
* Weak, but Skilled:
** Duncan recruits the City Elf Warden for precisely this reason.
* Weapon of Choice: Depending on your class, your Warden will have longswords, greatswords, shields, daggers, bows, crossbows, and staves from which to choose.
* Well-Intentioned Extremist: Particularly ruthless Wardens tend to exemplify this, seeking to end the Blight at any cost. Even a heroic Warden will fall into this in Awakening, if choosing to ally with the Architect at the end.
* Widowed at the Wedding: The female City Elf's wedding is interrupted when she is kidnapped at the alter, and her betrothed dies in the rescue effort.
* World's Best Warrior: The Warden is legendary by the time of Dragon Age: Inquisition. Even as early as Awakening, several distressed characters immediately feel that their horribly bleak situations are going to be okay simply because the Warden has shown up. Because of this exalted reputation, s/he was Divine Justinia's first choice to lead the Inquisition. By that point, however, the Warden has disappeared to whereabouts unknown to try and achieve something most believe to be impossible (curing the inevitable corruption every Grey Warden will eventually endure). Every person who knows him/her shows absolutely no doubt that they will find a way to succeed at this seemingly insurmountable task.