Varric Tethras

Varric Tethras is a character in Dragon Age II, where he appears as one of Hawke's first companions after the one-year time skip after the player makes it into Kirkwall. He is also the narrator of Hawke's story, telling Cassandra Pentaghast as well as the player what really happened in Kirkwall that began the Battle of Kirkwall and consequentially, the Mage-Templar War. He's a published author and avid storyteller, often telling hyperbolized stories of Hawke's adventures before eventually writing and publishing The Champion's Tale. He is also a main character in the comic series Those Who Speak published by Dark Horse, where it's revealed he has a cousin (through marriage) in Tevinter named Maevaris Tilani. He returns as a companion in the third Dragon Age game, Dragon Age: Inquisition.
== Fandom ==
== Response to the Character ==
In the lead-up to Dragon Age: Inquisition, some fans expressed dismay that a companion slot would be taken up by an old character. Other fans were thrilled to see Varric again, and some even hoped that he would finally be a romance option. Fans noted Mass Effect's Garrus inclusion as a romance option after his popularity in the first game, and hoped the same might be true of Varric. Other people suggested that romancing Varric would ruin the character: he was a "bro" and that he was still too attached to Bianca (the woman and/or crossbow). No BioWare game to date has had a romanceable dwarf character (unless one counts the cutscene-less flirtations with Lace Harding), and some people misquoted an old statement by David Gaider, and claimed that he finds dwarf romances gross, as the dwarves look like children. David Gaider addresses the issue of dwarf romance: 
That is so. Fantasy dwarves are not real-life dwarfs. 
Also? I was joking, as I believe I even mentioned in that thread. Those comments were after people took something I'd said earlier out of context to mean "David Gaider thinks dwarf sex is gross" ...when what I'd said was that we'd reviewed the sex scenes in DAO with a "worst case scenario", and the Alistair scene was done with a dwarf made to look like a young girl (with pigtails and such) and that had left me a little traumatized. I clarified that as well, but nobody paid any attention to that clarification either, so I've pretty much given up on trying to assure people that I don't hate dwarf romances.
So, yup. Dwarves are gross. Eww. Feel free to quote that out of context and spread it around. Concerning comments by the head writer (Thread started Jul 15 2014. Thread accessed Oct. 15, 2014) Varric was finally confirmed not to be an LI on 8/23/14, which posters on the BSN's Varric thread accepted with grace (although some did wonder why BioWare had dragged out the suspense for so long). There were at least a few people who harassed David Gaider about the issue on Tumblr or Twitter.
==Example Fanworks==
==Art Gallery==
File:Varric Tethras by DonFuchs.jpg|Varric Tethras Portrait by DonFuchs
File:Varric by Erika H.png|Tarot-style art by Erika H
File:Ambition by Ioana-Muresan.jpg|Ambition by Ioana-Muresan
File:Varric by Ben Masi.jpg|Art by Ben Masi
File:Varric 2 by Ben Masi.jpg|Art by Ben Maki
== Resources ==
* Varric Tethras tag at Archive of Our Own
* Varric tag at Tumblr
* Varric for DA3 - One of several threads about Varric on The BioWare Forum.
* Varric the Storyteller - Varric fan thread on the BSN.
* Am I the Only One Who Dislikes Varric?
== References ==
Category: Dragon Age Characters‎