Kimarous Surana

**Kimarous Surana** is the figure known as the "Hero of Ferelden", having rallied the country to defeat the Fifth Blight. He later distinguished himself as Warden-Commander of Ferelden and Arl of Amaranthine. Popular among the people yet plagued by doubt, he finds what solace he can with his companions and his love interest, Leliana.

## Overview

### **Physical Appearance**

He has short brown hair with a clean cut and purple eyes. His general appearance is eerily similar to Sketch, resulting in headcanon that the two are related,  an AU counterpart where they're one and the same, and excellent reference material as my original Kimarous profile is on my old computer and thus I lack screenshots of the character, excluding the profile image ripped from the old Bioware Social website.

I headcanon his attire based on what he last had equipped on the aforementioned profile. Combining his equipped "Reaper's Vestments" with the standard Warden mage uniform as seen in later instalments of the series, I picture him in a Warden uniform with a custom collar of bear fur. He also wears a Talisman of Restoration (a silver disc attached to a gold chain; found a great visualization for my OC Aesthetic meme), the rings Lifegiver and Soulbound, the Belt of the Architect, Elementalist's Grasps gloves, and Fadewalker boots.

### **Talents and Skills**

Kimarous is an Elementalist, through and through. He learned all spells in the Elementalist school and used them regularly in battle. He furthered his offensive prowess beyond Cold (his favourite), Fire, Earth, and Lightning with a bit of Entropy Draining, Battlemage spells, and the secret arts of Keepers.

That isn't to say that he only focused on damage, however. He also learned Spirit Healing and a few other Creation spells to help keep his companions alive while on the field.

To a lesser extent, he uses a bit of Warden specific blood magic, casting bolts of his tainted blood at his enemies and regenerating his mana through self-inflicted wounds. He only used the former when dealing with darkspawn and the latter when his magic reserves were running low.

## Biography

### **Early History**

The story of Kimarous begins with his parents. His father was Caemarus, an elven mage in a Tevinter entourage who wanted to study some ruins within the Brecilian Forest. While the rest of his fellows convinced Teyrn Loghain to allow them passage, Caemarus went to Gwaren's brothel for some fun. Eiran, who worked there, was impregnated from this encounter. She gave birth to a boy in 9:11 Dragon and named him after the man who fathered him. Unfortunately, she had no idea how to spell his name, resulting in "Kimarous" instead of "Caemarus" - still pronounced the same, but spelled differently. Not a particularly "elfy" or Fereldan name, but that just became a mark of uniqueness later in life.

Raised in the Gwaren Alienage with a prostitute mother, Kimarous was often in the care of other elves while her mother was working. Typically, he was in the care of a dockworker who introduced him to all manner of sea-related information. This is why he sometimes flubs "an enemy" with "anemone", as he mispronounced the sea creature that way and was forced to say it correctly so many times that it became part of his vocabulary. That isn't to say that he didn't ever see his mother, as they still interacted in the evenings within their small, drafty shack of a house that had a small sign with their names on it.

One night, he was confronted in a dream by a Rage Demon, attracted by the lingering resentment that permeated the Alienage. Lucid enough to think, he instinctively tried to put out the fiery monster with something cold... resulting him freezing half of his shack house in the real world, waking him and revealing him as a mage. As his fellow elves chipped away the ice for other uses (as the templar stated, "ice is ice"), the templar that came to retrieve Kimarous allowed him a proper goodbye to his mother. While sad to see him go, his mother expressed pride in her son, assuring him that he was going to a better place than the alienage and that he was destined for great things. After a hug and kiss goodbye, Kimarous was sent to the Circle.

After a brief confrontation in the phylactery chamber that his name was *not* spelled "Caemarus" (for he remembered the "proper" spelling from the sign on his house), he was introduced to his fellow students, including Jowan. First Enchanter Irving quickly took a liking to the boy and took him under his wing, both to foster his talents and mitigate any negative influence that Jowan might have brought him. Despite questioning why the mages, despite being discouraged from participating in battle, were taught to many offensive spells, Kimarous excelled at his studies and was ready for his Harrowing at the age of nineteen.

### **Dragon Age: Origins**

Kimarous successfully completed his Harrowing, becoming a full mage of the Circle. Soon afterwards, he became embroiled in Jowan's plans to destroy his phylactery and flee with Lily, a Chantry initiate and Jowan's illicit lover. Despite his own misgivings on the matter, Kimarous went along with the plan. When confronted after leaving the phylactery chamber, Jowan revealed himself as a blood mage and escaped, much to Kimarous' shock and dismay. He would have been taken to Aeonar alongside Lily if not for the intervention of Duncan, who invoked the Right of Conscription and drafted him into the Grey Wardens. Kimarous thanked First Enchanter Irving for everything before now, sheepishly apologized to Knight-Commander Gregoir, and left with Duncan.

At Ostagar, Kimarous met many notable individuals, including King Cailan, Teyrn Loghain, Wynne, and his fellow Grey Wardens. Lead by Alistair, the most junior of the order excluding the new recruits, they went into the Korcari Wilds to retrieve darkspawn blood and a cache of ancient treaties used by the Grey Wardens, left behind in the Wilds long ago. The group also pursued several other tasks in the Wilds, although Kimarous forgot to retrieve the lockbox of the late missionary Rigby to bring to his wife at a later date. This would haunt him later.

After acquiring darkspawn blood, their task for the treaties met a detour involving two witches living in the Wilds: Morrigan and her mother. After some cryptic advice, the treaties were returned and the Joining commenced. Kimarous was the only recruit to survive the ceremony, becoming a Grey Warden in more than name.

The Battle of Ostagar began shortly thereafter. The result was catastrophic, as darkspawn overwhelmed the army, slaying King Cailan and most of the Grey Wardens, including Duncan. Despite Kimarous and Alistair lighting the signal beacon, Teyrn Loghain did not change according to plan and retreated from the field with his soldiers. As darkspawn surged up the tower, the two Wardens were rescued by Morrigan's mother, revealed to be Flemeth. The following day, plans were made to utilize the previously acquired treaties to replace the army lost at Ostagar, as well as seek assistance from Arl Eamon, who still had his forces.

Morrigan joined the party and brought them to the village of Lothering to get their bearings. Along the way, they were joined by a mabari that Kimarous previously helped, earning his loyalty. With the newly dubbed Ashwil, the party reached Lothering and disposed of the bandits preying upon refugees. They learned many things, helped many locals, and were joined by two more members: Leliana, a Chantry lay sister claiming to be following a vision, and a convicted giant known as Sten.

The history becomes muddied at this point, as scholars cannot agree on the precise order of certain events, but the following is known:

* The party travelled to Honnleath, whereupon they recruited the sapient golem known as Shale. This event is known to happen before the events at Kinloch Hold, as Shale was alongside Kimarous during those events.

* Kimarous and company travelled to Soldier's Peak, discovering the lost history of Sophia Dryden and the reasons why the Grey Wardens were once exiled from Ferelden. There they met Avernus, an ancient Warden mage who once experimented on his fellows to create the Power of Blood. Not wishing for the sacrifices of his fellows to go to waste, Kimarous drank the concoction and gained the Power of Blood. However, he insisted that Avernus restrict himself to ethical experimentation in the future.

* Upon reaching Redcliffe (confirmed to be the first "major" destination on their travels), Kimarous learned of Alistair's royal lineage and helped defend the village from marauding undead, suffering but a single casualty in the battle. Alistair wielded the Green Blade, the sword of Bevin's grandfather, during the defence and returned it to the boy after the battle. Prior to the battle, Kimarous also met Jetta, Rigby's widow, and realized he never retrieved the lockbox from the Wilds - he would keep this specific incident in mind as a reminder that he was fallible.

* At Redcliffe Castle, Kimarous met Jowan once again, who had been hired by Loghain to poison Arl Eamon. Out of desperation, Eamon's son Connor, magically talented and Jowan's "pupil", contacted a demon and became possessed. Unwilling to entertain Jowan's suggestion of a blood magic sacrifice, they opted to seek out assistance from the Circle of Magi.

* At Kinloch Hold, it was revealed that Uldred had taken over the tower with blood mages and demons. In a berserk rage, Kimarous slaughtered his way up to Uldred and rescued the surviving mages, including First Enchanter Irving. They were also aided by Wynne, who survived the battle at Ostagar.

* Returning to Redcliffe, Kimarous entered the Fade with lyrium and dispatched the demon, freeing Connor from its control. He also had Jowan returned to Circle custody for proper punishment. However, Arl Eamon was still unconscious, requiring the Sacred Ashes to fully revive him.

* In Orzammar, he first visited Dust Town and considered their plight obscene, considering it worse than alienage life. He advised a woman with a casteless son to make for the surface world, seeing it as a better fate. When the first thing he heard from Bhelen's crier was an intent to uplift the casteless, Kimarous made his choice on who to support. He would later reject Brother Burkel's plan of setting up a dwarven chantry, considering (correctly) that Bhelen's more unpopular reforms would cause enough strife without a religious upheaval on top of everything.

(more to be filled)

## **Miscellaneous**

* Kimarous and Sketch are brothers from the same father. In another timeline, they're the same person.
* Kimarous sometimes flubs "an enemy's ahead" with "anemones ahead" on account of youthful conditioning while babysat by a dock worker. His fellow Grey Wardens find this humorous and presented him with a bronze statuette of a sea anemone that he keeps on his desk.
* Kimarous privately theorizes that there never was a Golden City and that the Black City was always black, simply looking golden as shmuck bait to those who were power hungry... well, at least until the Magisters Sidereal fell for it.
* His Ritewine / Conscription Ale is labelled "Vintage: Warden Kimarous Surana. Demon drool." It contains a trace amount of all the liquors he collected for Oghren during his travels.

## **Links**

### Reddit Headcanon Threads:

* "Is your character literate?" and other early history.
* "What do home/home bases mean to your characters?"
* Combat proficiency & Guardian of Sacred Ashes answer(s)
* "What are your character's thoughts about death?" and other details.

### Reddit Writing prompt Threads:

* Hypothetical "Kimarous as a DAI Companion" dialogue.

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

* Hypothetical "Kimarous & Leliana reconciliation" Keep tiles by drathe
* OC Aesthetic Meme for Kimarous Surana