Velanna

Velanna is an autistic Dalish elven mage and Grey Warden, lover of Sigrun.

## Background

Velanna was a quiet child who struggled to understand social interaction, and spent her time obsessively studying Elven history. This was in sharp contrast to her sister Seranni, who was two years her junior. Seranni was a cheerful and popular child who often attempted to include Velanna when she played with her friends. Velanna always failed to understand both the point of playing games and how to interact with her peers, and faced constant rejection.
Seranni's friends eventually stopped allowing Velanna to play with them. Velanna was devastated at the rejection, and she began to delve deeper and deeper into her studies. Her magic manifested when she was nine years old. She had long dreamed of being a mage, as she thought it would tie her further to the ancient elves, and when she finally produced a single flame in her hand, she immediately brought it to Keeper Ilshae and proclaimed that she would be the Keeper's First. Ilshae was impressed by Velanna's boldness and agreed. Ilshae nurtured Velanna's love of Elven history and in-time became like a second mother to her.
When some humans attempted to burn Velanna's clan out of the woods to prevent them from reaching their farms, Velanna was outraged and demanded revenge for their murder attempt, but Ilshae forbade it. Velanna called the Keeper a coward and was exiled. She left to seek vengeance on the humans with a handful of other elves and her sister, Seranni. The elves were attacked and killed, save Velanna herself and Seranni, who was seemingly taken captive. Believing the human merchant caravans traveling between the capital of the Arling of Amaranthine and Denerim to be responsible for the deaths of her comrades, Velanna begins using her magic to assault the caravans and their guards.

## Involvement

The Warden-Commander and the Grey Wardens first encounter Velanna in the Wending Wood when they set out to protect the arlings' trade routes as part of The Righteous Path . Velanna has been murdering humans who cross her path in an attempt to terrorize the nearby villages. When the Warden-Commander explains their objective, Velanna agrees to stand aside to allow the Wardens to eliminate the Darkspawn. The Warden-Commander learns from a wounded Militiaman who has become a ghoul that it was actually the darkspawn who took Seranni and killed the other elves. Velanna suspects the Wardens of treachery and unleashes a pack of Sylvans on them. After slaying the Sylvans, the Warden-Commander corners Velanna at her campsite next to the cairns of her comrades. The Warden-Commander may slay Velanna for her deeds or reveal the Darkspawn's role in abducting her sister.

Once fully appraised of the situation, Velanna asks the Warden-Commander to join them in hunting down the darkspawn responsible for her sister's abduction in hopes of rescuing her. Together they track the darkspawn to the nearby Silverite Mine where they are captured by The Architect and imprisoned in its Laboratory. Velanna and the Wardens are freed from their cell by Seranni, now infected with the darkspawn taint, before she mysteriously vanishes. Together the party slay the gathered darkspawn; however before they can kill it, the Architect escapes to the Deep Roads collapsing the passage behind it. Realizing that only Grey Warden training will grant her the abilities to track down the Architect and thus have any hope of rescuing her sister, Velanna offers to pledge herself to the order, in exchange for their unique powers. Velanna subsequently survives the Joining and becomes a full fledged Grey Warden.

Once her approval becomes high enough, Velanna will encounter a group of Dalish hunters from her clan, led by Maren. Velanna learns from them that Ilshae has passed on and this prompts Velanna to later reveal the circumstances that led to her leaving her clan to the Warden-Commander.

If Velanna is among the Warden squadron that attacks Drake's Fall, Seranni will be encountered one more time. Seranni and Velanna briefly discuss the similarities between the Architect's darkspawn and the Dalish before Seranni vanishes again, leaving Velanna bewildered.

Epilogue
Note: In Awakening, epilogue slides are also affected by whether or not the relevant companion quests were completed and how high companions approval has been raised.
If left to defend Vigil's Keep, and the Warden chooses to save the City of Amaranthine, the surviving defenders watch in horror as a section of stone collapses upon her. When the rubble is later cleared, no body is found. Velanna is just gone. This occurs even if the walls are never breached.
If the Warden chooses to save Vigil's Keep, Velanna survives, though she does not return to her clan. Thanks to her friendship with the Warden Commander, she may eventually change her views on humankind. In the wake of the defeat of the Mother, when darkspawn stragglers attempt to attack a human village, Velanna single-handedly defends them.
If the Warden takes Velanna along and allies with the Architect against the Mother, Velanna will remain with the Wardens, but years later, on an expedition in the Deep Roads, Velanna takes off on her own after saying she had seen Seranni in the shadows. The other Wardens searched for her, but she was truly gone. Taking Velanna along during the final mission is not necessary; she might still have this even if she was not there when the Architect was spared.
If the Warden chooses to kill the Architect and Velanna survives the attack on Vigil's Keep (either because the Warden chose to save the Keep or was with Velanna when saving Amaranthine), she never sees her sister again. She partly blames the Commander for this, as she believes the Architect would have released her sister had they allied themselves with him, and this forever remains a source of friction between the two.

* Writers Nunzio DeFilippis and Christina Weir once considered a very different direction for *Dragon Age: Blue Wraith*. In these preliminary plans, the plot involved the group tracking down someone who was replicating Fenris' origins to recreate elven immortality, as Fenris himself hadn't aged a day since getting his markings. It would be revealed that the tests were being done by Velanna, with the assistance of her lover Sigrun, whose Calling had come and was trying to avoid death. Velanna would eventually see the error of her ways and go into the Deep Roads to die, while Sigrun would join the group until her Calling came. This idea was never taken beyond the planning stages, and was never pitched to either Dark Horse Comics or BioWare.

## Possessions

* **Blank Journal**: A fine leather binding surrounds crisp, wordless pages.
* **Shiny Malachite**: A smooth piece of malachite, polished until glossy.
* **Ornate Silver Bowl**: This antique bowl is embossed with graceful representations of elven halla.
* **Carved Greenstone**: Delicate greenstone engraved with eye-catching swirls.
* **Discarded Journal**: In this old journal, an elf who lived in Amaranthine writes about the hardships of daily life and the unrealized hopes of his people.
* **Elven Runestone**: A flat stone bearing an elven rune.
* **Elven Trinket**: A carved ironbark trinket inlaid with silver and suspended from a leather cord.