Maura Hawke

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**Maura Etheldreda Hawke** (born 9:06 Dragon, mention her middle name at your own peril) is the eldest daughter of Malcolm Hawke and Leandra Amell, and sister to Garrick, Carver, and Bethany Hawke. A Fereldan apostate and refugee, Hawke ultimately rose to prominence in 9:34 Dragon for her role in stopping the Qunari invasion of Kirkwall, granting her the title Champion of Kirkwall. Though a known blood mage, she rarely used her abilities, and was reluctant to become involved in the affairs of her fellow mages until the destruction of Kirkwall's Chantry by her lover, Anders, forced her hand. She fled the city in 9:37 after the attempted annulment of the Gallows with Anders and their young son, Malcolm.

*Alternatively*... Maura Hawke was the elder sister of Garrick Hawke, Champion of Kirkwall, who was taken to Kinloch Hold in 9:25 Dragon, shielding her younger sister Bethany from the same fate. She survived the events of the Broken Circle in 9:30, and against Garrick's wishes, she voluntarily transferred to the Gallows in 9:32. Caught aiding Anders' efforts in the Mage Underground, she was made Tranquil on the orders of Knight-Commander Meredith and was ultimately killed by her at the onset of the Mage-Templar War.

## **Overview**

### **Physical Appearance**

Maura bears a close resemblance to her late father, and by extension, her younger brother Garrick, who also took greatly after Malcolm, sharing their prominent noses, low brows, "resilient" (according to Varric) dark grey eyes, and chestnut brown hair. Maura stands at 5'10" (1.77 m), and is taller than most women, but remains shorter than both of her brothers. Though not primarily a physical fighter, she is more muscular than a typical mage, built from years of farm work and using a heavy hunting bow to hide her magic.

Maura changed how she wore her hair throughout the decade she spent in Kirkwall. During her first two years in the city, she wore her hair shoulder-length and loose; after she reclaimed the Amell estate, however, she let her hair grow out to her elbows. Just before the Qunari invasion, she cut her hair once again to just below her chin, and began wearing it in a braided plait after the birth of her son.

### **Personality**

* Pretty evenly blue + purple with a bit of red
* Started out the game mostly red (out of frustration, mostly)
* Softened after she met Varric
* Opened herself up slowly over Act 1
* Compassionate side was hidden deep down, just needed to do some digging to find it

### **Talents and Skills**

* **Magic:** Maura was trained by her father in several schools of magic, but she particularly excelled at elemental and entropy magic. She learned a slate of healing spells from Malcolm, but refused to use them after learning blood magic for fear she might accidentally hurt someone. For spell-casting, she primarily used her father's old staff, Malcolm's Honor.
	+ **Blood Magic:** Maura never wanted to become a blood mage and rarely, if ever, used her abilities; Malcolm taught her how to control her powers but no further. Maura saw her ability as a curse more than anything, an opinion only exacerbated after her encounter with Quentin. The last time she used blood magic was to save her unborn son from dying after her fight with the Arishok - she never practiced it again.
	+ **Force Magic:** Malcolm Hawke, like many of the Gallows' mages, was a force mage, and held onto the ability long after he escaped the Circle. He taught both of his daughters how to bend physical energy to their will, and Maura became adept at the specialization in her youth.
* **Archery:** Always careful to hide her magic in public, Maura wielded a bow along with a staff during her early years in Kirkwall, inherited from her brother Garrick. She was never as good of a shot as he was, though Varric complimented her aim once - and from that dwarf in particular, that means something. After her magic was publicly revealed during her fight with the Arishok, however, she largely stopped using a bow to fight, choosing to embrace her magic instead.

## **Biography**

### **History**

Maura Hawke was born in a barn on the outskirts of a village just near the Storm Coast in 9:06 Dragon. Her parents had spent much of the previous nine months leading up to her birth on the run; like her younger brother, her name was a tribute to Malcolm's friend Ser Maurevar Carver, an on-the-spot decision by Malcolm he did not realize until much later. A scant ten months later, she would be joined by her younger brother Garrick, and five years later by twins Bethany and Carver. Their parents did their best to give their four children a good life, but they had to constantly keep moving to prevent detection from the templars. From a young age, Maura learned to never consider a place home for too long - something would always come and necessitate a move.

Maura's magic began to manifest when she was ten, much to Malcolm's dismay, but not his shock. Nevertheless, he taught her how to responsibly handle her powers and how to evade templars. Though Maura proved to be a quick learner with great potential for powerful magic, over the years she slowly grew resentful of having to hide her powers. What she wanted, more than anything else, was a permanent home, where she could practice her magic openly without fear of discovery. She hated having to constantly look over her shoulder for templars, to fear being dragged away to a Circle...

Perhaps that's what made her such a target for the desire demon.

The demon started coming to her when she was thirteen. It came to her in the form of a charming, well-dressed man while she slept, who always spoke in a delicate tone and never lost its smile. Over dreamed tea and imaginary cakes it asked her about her heart's desires, and even though Malcolm had warned her against the dangers of demons, over time she slowly gave in. Over the next two years, it fed her its knowledge, eventually teaching her the forbidden art itself - blood magic. Gradually she began to trust the demon who smiled so sweetly at her... and then she agreed to let it in.

Bethany woke in the middle of the night to find her sister thrashing in her bed, blood pouring out of her mouth, screaming in tongues. Terrified, she ran for Malcolm, who arrived in time to see his worst fear come to life - his eldest daughter halfway possessed by an incredibly powerful demon. It was only through the bottle of lyrium hidden under the floorboards, his own blood, and a trip to the Fade that he managed to save his eldest daughter. It was a little too late to reverse all of the damage, though; Maura would from that point on be a blood mage.

This incident, combined with Bethany's own recently manifested powers, prompted the Hawkes to move once again - this time, to a little village on the edge of the Hinterlands called Lothering. Malcolm bought a square of farmland, Leandra a few goats, and the family settled down in what they thought might be a permanent home. Slowly, Maura began to recover from her near-possession, though she was forever changed in more ways than one. She grew more cautious about her magic, constantly aware of the dangers it posed. Malcolm slowly tried to fix the damage the demon had done, by teaching her how to control blood magic responsibly, and warning her against ever using it to harm others.

### **In-game**

* Prologue
	+ Garrick died at Ostagar
	+ Bethany died leaving Lothering
	+ Joined the smugglers
* Act 1
* Act 2
* Act 3

## ***Alternatively...***

Bethany was caught practicing healing spells by a village girl in 9:25, who immediately alerted the Templars to the presence of an apostate in Lothering. To shield Bethany from life in the Circle, when the Templars arrived at the Hawke residence that night, Maura lied that she was the one practicing spells by the river. She did not fight when they took her, only looking back to see her mother crying and screaming for her eldest daughter.

Maura settled into life in the Circle with nary a complaint, and though she resented the loss of her freedom and family she never spoke a word of it to anyone. She underwent the Harrowing almost immediately after her arrival and survived to become a full mage, settling into a life spent tutoring apprentices. Though friendly and helpful, she never truly opened up to anyone there, preferring letters to her family than face-to-face interaction with any of the other mages. Garrick in particular never stopped writing to her. Apart from a brief lull in communication during the Blight, the two eldest Hawke siblings kept up a weekly correspondence. His letters to her served as comfort while separated from the rest of their family, while she was his sole confidante in matters he could not tell to anyone else.

In 9:32 Dragon, Maura requested and was approved a transfer to the Gallows. She did not tell her brother of her decision, as she knew he would protest, but she sent a letter informing him of her impending arrival to the City of Chains.

> Dear Garrick,
>
>

> By the time you read this, I'll probably already be in Kirkwall. I submitted a transfer request to the Gallows a month ago and the First Enchanter approved it just last week.
>
>

> I know what you're thinking, and yes, I know what they say about the Gallows. That's why I didn't tell you I'd be transferring over here - sometimes, I think I've been gone so long you've forgotten just who the oldest sibling is! But I managed to survive a horde of abominations commanded by a mad Senior Enchanter, I think I can handle a bit of extra Templar scrutiny. Besides, I won't be alone. Beth will be there, and my old friend Karl was transferred there a few years ago. And I'll probably be mentoring apprentices again, same as at Kinloch Hold, so I'll keep busy.
>
>

> I can't believe it's been five years since I've seen all your faces. You write nearly every week, sure, but it'll be so wonderful to hear your voices, not just imagine them. Mother's always wanted to visit, and there's not an entire sea separating us now. It won't be the same without Carver, but at least three of us Hawkes are in the same city again, at long last.
>
>

> Love, your big sister,
>
>

> Maura
>
>

Despite his initial misgivings, Garrick was overjoyed to see his older sister again after so many years only reading her words, not hearing them.

## **Relationships**

### Family

#### Malcolm

* Knew he was a blood mage all along
* He helped her control her powers
* Knew he preferred Bethany to her - the easier one to handle
* Loved him, but resented him, just a little

#### Leandra

* It's complicated
* Honestly Leandra playing the blame game w/ her is getting a little stale

#### Garrick

Maura and Garrick were not always as close as they were at the time of Garrick's death. Though much closer in age to each other than either were to the twins, the eldest Hawke siblings rarely saw eye-to-eye in their youths. Though they still cared for each other deeply, they had a tendency to get on each others' nerves - Garrick with his constant recklessness, Maura by her over-caution on nearly every matter. After Malcolm's death, however, they were left in charge of the household and their younger siblings, causing their relationship to much improve. The two bonded through their shared sense of responsibility towards their family, though they still argued constantly over the same topics they used to. Maura was absolutely devastated hearing the news of her brother's death at Ostagar, and this ultimately damaged her relationship with her surviving brother, Carver, for a long time afterwards. During her first two years in Kirkwall, she wore his old armour and carried his hunting bow to hide her magic around the city.

* Alternatively..
	+ Write to each other constantly, each other's confidante
	+ Overjoyed when they finally see each other again
	+ But then she starts pulling shit with Anders and he is Not About That
	+ "I'm the older one, not you!"
	+ Then she gets made Tranquil
	+ Then she dies
	+ Is sad
	+ Dragon Age 2: The Hawkes Are Never Happy

#### Carver (Rivalry → Friendship)

* It's also really complicated
* He blames her for Bethany and she blames him for Garrick
* It gets better, eventually

#### Bethany

Maura adored her younger sister Bethany, the other mage child in the family, and the two sisters shared a strong bond over their mutual powers. While Bethany envied and idolized Maura's great potential for magic and the ease with which she learned powerful spells, in turn Maura resented Bethany, just a little. In Maura's eyes, Bethany was Malcolm's little angel, the daughter who was never tempted by a desire demon, the one who wasn't lured into learning blood magic. She refused to let these feelings of resentment cloud their relationship, however, and loathed the part of her that felt this way towards her baby sister. The double punch of her two favourite siblings' deaths, one after another, took a toll on Maura during her first year in Kirkwall, and, in time, she started to genuinely believe Carver when he blamed her for her death.

### Companions

#### Varric (Friendship)

* The best bro, ever
* Got her to open up after her terrible first year in Kirkwall
* Confidantes, shoulders to cry on, etc.
* Thinks it's kind of weird that he wrote a book about her but whatever
* Probably the person she's closest to in the world, even over Anders

#### Anders (Rivalry → Friendship → Romance)

* The One True Love™
* He fell in love at first sight but she took much longer
* He was not really into how she didn't really care for other mages
* Constantly switched between friendship and rivalry before settling on friendship when she convinced the Templars to leave
* She fell in love with him when he saved Carver in the Deep Roads
* Awkwardly danced around feelings for ~3 years
* Babby is formed
* Genuinely happy family for ~3 years, but slowly his paranoia starts taking over
* Chantry Boom!
* Tells him to leave, but takes him back at the Gallows
* Still loves him, but never really quite forgives him
* Alternatively:
	+ Acquaintances from Kinloch Hold, knew each other through Karl
	+ Never really friends until she transferred to the Gallows and reintroduced by Garrick
	+ She starts helping out with the Mage Underground
	+ They fall in love in this one too
	+ She gets caught helping him and gets made Tranquil
	+ He never forgives himself

#### Fenris (Friendship)

Much to their mutual surprise, Maura and Fenris became close friends over the years, despite a rocky beginning. Though Maura was an apostate mage, both her hesitation over her powers and cautious approach to magic endeared her to him, and in return she tried her best to understand his grievances and be supportive of him. The two could often be found playing cards and drinking in the Hanged Man, and later on Maura's son Malcolm took to calling him "Uncle Fenris." Though he trusted her to be vigilant with her magic, he did not approve of her relationship with Anders, often cautioning her (to no avail) against the Warden mage, and he especially did not like her growing support for mage rights as the years went on. Despite this, however, a strong bond of trust and friendship ran between the two, and he stood with her to the end, even as it went against his own beliefs.

#### Aveline (Friendship)

* Fire forged friends
* After their misadventures leaving Lothering how could they not be friends?
* Thinks she's a bit overbearing but knows she has good intentions
* Never stops teasing her for Donnic, though

#### Isabela (Friendship)

* Best drinking buddies that would probably die for each other
* Maura nearly did die for Isabela in the Arishok fight
* Flirt with each other, constantly, as a joke

#### Merrill (Friendship → Rivalry)

* Became very good friends, but soured when Maura refused to give her the Arulin'Holm
* Maura was just trying to do what she thought was best for Merrill
* Get into a lot of arguments about blood magic afterwards
* Eventually do fix their friendship to some extent

#### Sebastian (Rivalry)

* That sort of friend she only barely tolerates?
* Wishes he would stop waffling about Chantry vs. Starkhaven
* Not really comfortable with him, believes he would turn her, Anders, and Merrill into the Circle and call it a kindness

## **Miscellaneous**

* Maura is demisexual and panromantic.

## **Links**

### Non-Reddit links (AO3, DeviantArt, Tumblr):

This is totally going to end well.Running from mad Carta dwarves w/ the baby broThis is about 2 seconds before she collapsed from blood lossExtreme hair growthAlways so smooth, Maura.Fancy party with her favourite rogues (and decidedly not a favourite rogue)Things in common with the Inquisitor: 1) both of them are mages, 2) parents, 3) make bad decisionsShe has good reason to hate blood mages. She is one, after all."Take care of Varric for me."