Eris Lavellan

## Overview

### Physical Appearance

Eris is slim, tall, and fragile looking. She has delicate facial features and porcelain skin, which gives her a doll-like appearance. Up until Skyhold, she had long, straight dark hair, but after immense stress, her hair turned a silvery white. She walks with grace and confidence, and always has a frosty facial expression. Eris' grandfather was a human, so it accounts for her rather tall stature and human-like features.

After being abused by her old clan, she was left with scars on her back and second degree burns that covered her left arm. The tip her left ear was cut off when she was eight. Unlike the previous wounds, Eris was responsible for cutting the tip of her left ear off.

### Personality

After a being forced to grow up fast, Eris became fiercely independent and slow to trust. She relied heavily on her intuition and intellect. She has an aggressive disposition and is easily irritated, showing little tolerance for anything repetitive and inefficient. She has no interest whatsoever in social niceties and idealism. As the years went by, she grew cold and hatred and wrath became deeply embedded within her. A critic and a realist, she refused to see the world with rose coloured lenses. Often defiant and haughty, she was prone to outbursts and violence. Eris prefers routine, and when someone or something disrupts her routine, she can becomes flippant and aggressive. Eris is brutally honest and cares little for mincing words for the sake of someone's feelings; the truth is the only thing that matters to her. She approached things with a neutral perspective; she needed to hear both sides to come to a fair conclusion. Her morals would not settle for any less.

Time with her grandmother made her a much more composed individual. Her outbursts, were now kept in check, only to be released at times of great stress. Reading helped her grow and develop, and she became someone who valued knowledge and nuance. She was an extremely quick learner, she just absorbed everything like a sponge. While she was still far from nice and well-mannered, she no longer let her aggression and hatred control her. She approached things with a neutral perspective; to come to a conclusion, you need to here both sides. She grew to care for others, and not just herself.

### Skills and Hobbies

Eris particularly adapt at combat. It took some years, but after she learned to control her magic, she became quite a formidable opponent. Being an apostate, Eris choose to learn an alternate form of combat, and so she choose dual daggers. She was agile and fast, so they made the most sense. Aside from combat she is well-versed in alchemy, and crafts.

As for hobbies, Eris loves to read; she loved learning new things and reading was often the best way to do so. When she wasn't reading she was either with her Hart, or gathering herbs. She also loved woodwork, in particular carving.

## Biography

### History

Eris had a rather rocky early life, one that would be better off forgotten. Her mother died during childbirth and her father died when she was only eight. Eris was blamed for her mother's untimely death, and was resented by her clan's Keeper. Ever since she was a child, she was accustomed to receiving harsh and unjust punishments. It started with with the Keeper limiting her food and ended in harassment and injury. The final straw was when the Keeper threw her favourite stuffed toy into the fire, Eris reached into the fire pit to retrieve one of the only friend she had left. After that, she could barely use her left hand.

Her father was a good man, but he was sick and bedridden. He was forced to watch as the Keeper isolated his daughter from the rest of the clan. His intuition was telling him to get his daughter as far away from this place as possible. But he was bedridden, he needed to find someone he trusted to take his daughter and so he tried to get in contact with the child's grandmother. She proved difficult to find, and his suspicions started to become a reality. The Keeper started to to physically abuse his child and he couldn't do a damn thing about it. After nearly three years of trying to find the child's grandmother, he finally got ahold of her. A month after he got in touch with his mother in law, she arrived and she was ready to kill someone. Her grandchild's back was scarred, the tip of her left ear was cut off and her left arm was covered second degree burns. The father asked her to take Eris away, and she obliged. A few months after Eris left, her father died.

And so the two began anew. Charlotte, the Grandmother was a travelling merchant; she mostly sold potions, medicine and ingredients, but she sometimes sold crafts. Despite being an Elf, Charlotte was well respected and although she occasionally ran into some trouble, she knew how to handle herself. After many years of travelling, her instincts were top notch. She was fierce and haughty, not unlike her grandchild. Eris learned lots from Charlotte, and her vast collection of books. She even learned some rather colourful language. There time traveling together was peaceful, and they enjoyed helping their customers.

When the blight came to the Free Marches, Eris and Charlotte sought shelter with a clan of dalish elves, Clan Lavellan. Eris was initially hesitant; she hated elves, and in particular, dalish elves, but she trusted Charlotte's judgment. Their time with dalish taught Eris that she could not judge an entire race, based only on her prior experience. The world was not black and white, but shades of grey, and believing that all elves were horrible and cruel, was not right nor accurate. For the first time Eris made friends, outside of her father and grandmother. And when they went their separate ways, she was quite sad. However before they parted, they were offered an open invitation to join Clan Lavellan whenever they wanted to settle down. After saying goodbye, they made their leave. Despite feeling sad she was leaving her friends, she was excited to go back on the road with her Grandmother. The spent a little less than decade travelling and selling their goods before they decided to take Clan Lavellan up on their offer.

It took some time to settle in, but once they they were quite content. Out of all her friends, she was closest with Emilia and Cain, and when Keeper Deshana wanted to send someone to spy on the Conclave, she chose those three. Initially she only intended to send Emilia and Cain, but she thought it was best that Eris accompanied them, since she was one of the most experienced fighters in the clan. When the three approached the conclave, Eris felt something was off and so she made Emilia an Cain wait behind. Her suspicions were indeed correct and when she heard screaming she rushed into the temple. What she wasn't aware of, is that when Emilia heard screaming, ran to help her friend. Cain tried to keep her back, but as Emilia ran towards the temple it exploded, burning her alive, and sending Cain flying backwards.

### In-Game

#### The Wrath of Haven

Eris refused to be called the Herald of Andraste, not because she believed in elven gods, but because she detested religion.

#### Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts

Eris made Celene, Gaspard and Briala work together. Florianne is dead.

#### Here Lies the Abyss

Eris sacrifices Alister and, exiles the Grey Wardens. Blackwall remains a companion.

#### What Pride Has Wrought

Eris drank from the well, completed the elven rituals and allies with the Sentinels.

#### Trespasser

Eris discovers Solas' true identity, and seeks to redeem Solas.

## Companions

### Cassandra

The two didn't really like each other at first. They're both very stubborn and brash, but as they spent more time together, they became good friends. Eris likes how grounded Cassandra is, and trusts Cassandra to pull her aside and let her know when she's getting out of hand. Despite not having a lot in common, they thoroughly enjoy each other's company and are life long, best friends. During their adventures, when its time to make their way back to camp, the two like too sit by the fire and watch at the stars.

### Varric

Varric is very easy to get along and so he was one of Eris' first friends. He made her feel welcome, and was always willing to lend an ear when she needed to rant. With Eris' often sarcastic attitude, the two got along extremely well. Varric even showed her how to improve her writing skills. Varric usually joins Eris and Cassandra, and the three will watch the stars together. Depending on how tired he is, he might even tell a few stories.

### Solas

Eris was always weary of Solas, even though she didn't exactly know know why. Some things didn't add up about him, and towards the end she felt like she was being lied too, but didn't have enough information to confront him. Despite this, they got along extremely well. Eris was interested in his experiences in the fade, and his his view on spirits. The two of them often hang out, usually in the garden, or the library.

### Sera

Eris recognized a part of her younger self in Sera, because at one point, they both held the same general dislike for elves, and elven culture. While they disagreed on some things relating to elves, it was never enough to hurt their friendship. Eris always liked hearing Sera's unique perspective because she never wasted time getting to the point of the matter. They spent a lot of time together, be it pranking Eris' advisers, pranking each other, or sitting on the roof. If Sera is travelling with the inquisitor, Sera will usually join Eris and Cassandra, although she will often fall asleep by the fire, instead of watching the stars.

### Vivienne

Eris respects Vivienne's ambition and drive, and she also respects and shares Vivienne's views on the circle and mages in general. While the two don't spend a lot of time together, they still enjoy each others company.

## Miscellaneous

### Trivia

* Eris has a Hart is named Red
* She absolutely detests bears
* She has Marie Antoinette Syndrome, a fake disease that causes premature greying due to illness, and/or stress
* Despite being a mage, she often uses a rapier or dual daggers in combat
* Her fighting style is brutish and violent
* She likes to taunt people in the midst of combat in hopes they will become careless and stupid
* Her rapier has serrated edges and glows red when she uses magic

### TV Tropes

* The Tragic Rose
* Good is Not Nice
* Hair-Trigger Temper
* Parrot Exposition
* The Power of Hate
* Intelligence Equals Isolation
* Brutal Honesty
* When She Smiles