Jocelyn Amell

"*If we don't fight for change, then it will never come"*

 -Jocelyn Amell to Wynne, during the events of *Awakening*

 In alternate worldstates: Jocelyn Amell was a human mage from the Kinloch Hold Circle of Magi. After unwittingly helping a maleficar escape the Circle, she was sent to Aeonar, but she managed to escape on the journey there. As the Templars never managed to recapture her, she disappeared afterwards, and her fate is unknown.

In her own worldstate: Jocelyn "Joss" Amell is a human mage from the Kinloch Hold Circle who would eventually become the Hero of Ferelden.

## **Physical Appearance**

Jocelyn is a fair-skinned young woman with dark brown eyes. She has long, straight black hair, which she is quite proud of and usually wears loose. At 5'3", she stands at about average height.

## Personality

Jocelyn is a confident young woman who knows what she's doing and likes to get things done and get them done quickly. She's very honest with people and has never been afraid to speak her mind. She's also kind and loyal, and always willing to help a friend in need.

Jocelyn has a rather unfortunate tendency to jump to conclusions about people, and in general, hates the Templars and anyone associated with them, to the point where she was rather frosty towards Alistair at times because he used to be one. She tends to view mages favorably, however, unless they're blatantly evil, which got her into trouble due to her what happened with Jowan. And although Jocelyn is all too aware that being a Grey Warden has its drawbacks, she also thinks it's the best thing that ever happened to her, as it freed her from a miserable life in the Circle and gained her respect, allowed her to fall in love, and gave her the freedom that she never thought she'd have.

Jocelyn is very proud of her magic, and she found it very frustrating being stuck in the Circle where she couldn't use it for anything. While she believes in the Maker and follows the Andrastian faith, she's a bit jaded and cynical towards the Chantry and especially the Templars for seeing her magic as a curse and something that needs to be controlled. She dreams of - and fights for - freedom for mages and hopes that the Mage-Templar war will change things for the better.

Jocelyn's membership in the Wardens and desire for mage freedom has led her down a darker path in the years following the Blight, as she believes that the ends justify the means, even if that means doing horrible things.

**Talents and Skills**

Jocelyn is quite skilled in manipulating the primal forces of lightning and ice, with lightning being her preferred mode of attack. She's also rather adept in the Spirit school of magic and good at spells which nullify other forms of magic and mages, making her quite deadly against enemy mages. As a shapeshifter, she can turn herself into both a bear (which she uses whenever she finds herself in melee) and a cat (which is good for stealth). She's also intelligent and well-read, and good at finding creative uses for her spells.

## History

Jocelyn Amell was the second youngest child of a noble family from Kirkwall, and the daughter of Revka and Martin Amell. Her eldest brother, Erik, was sent to the Gallows before she was born, and her older sisters, Audrey was sent to a different Circle when Jocelyn was three. Shortly after the birth of her younger brother, Samuel, her mother disappeared. Fearing the loss of his remaining children, Martin took his two youngest and left Kirkwall to stay with his parents in Ferelden.

Jocelyn's own magic manifested when she was seven, and her grandfather found her making lights in her room during a particularly stormy night. Fearing that she would be taken to the Circle, Martin was quick to tell Jocelyn that she should never use her magic around anyone outside the family, for there were people who would take her away if she did. The reason for Martin's departure to Ferelden became apparent - Jocelyn's grandmother was an escaped Circle mage herself, and began training Jocelyn (and later Samuel) in the arcane arts.

Unfortunately, her grandmother passed when Jocelyn was twelve and Samuel was nine. And while Jocelyn had been given enough training to hide her powers, Samuel hadn't. He lost control of his powers one day and the Templars arrived at the house. Jocelyn's attempts to use her magic to protect her brother did not go well, and both children were captured and taken to different Circles: Jocelyn to Kinloch and Samuel to Ostwick.

Joss was not pleasant to be around during the journey there; she tried to escape no less than three times en route and spent most of the latter half of the journey in chains, muttering insults under her breath. When she did get to the Circle, she spent two weeks in solitary and only narrowly escaped being made Tranquil because Irving vouched for her, claiming that she would calm down once she got used to her life there. And while she did, in fact, calm down after a rough first couple months, she never really accepted the Circle. She just learned that open rebellion was pointless and doomed to fail, so she found quieter, more harmless ways of rebelling, embracing her magic and encouraging others to do the same, and refusing to listen to most of what the Chantry had to say. She learned how to put a toe across the line without ever crossing it, basically. And while she could be aloof and bossy, she was also quite helpful to her fellow apprentices, making fast friends with Jowan, Rhen, and Eleri Surana, as well as a pair of older brother figures in Anders and especially Karl. She also gained a rival in Levi Malone, who's bullying she found reprehensible, especially since his noble connections allowed him to get away with it. The two were always competing with each other and trying to outclass each other as both quickly approached their Harrowings.

When she got closer to the Harrowing, she started to notice Jowan acting weird and secretive, but after she learned that he had a girlfriend, she brushed it off, assuming that he was sneaking around to see her.

## In-Game

Jocelyn passed the Harrowing with flying colors and quickly became a full mage. When First Enchanter Irving introduced her to Duncan, she instantly did what she could to get in his good graces, hoping that she could become a Grey Warden and finally get out of the Circle's tower.

When Jowan told her that he was going to be made Tranquil, Joss instantly agreed to help he and Lily escape the tower. Joss knew that he could barely light a candle with his magic and didn't believe for a second that he was talented enough to figure out something like blood magic. Jocelyn was shocked and horrified to learn that he really had become a blood mage, but she defended her decision to help him regardless - he was her friend and she wasn't about to let the Templars turn him into a drooling slave. Knowing she faced a death sentence - or worse - if she stayed at the tower, Joss readily accepted Duncan's offer to join the Grey Wardens.

After the disastrous battle at Ostagar, Jocelyn teamed up with fellow Grey Warden Alistair and mysterious apostate mage Morrigan to gather an army to fight the darkspawn. She recruited Sten and Leliana in Lothering, and quickly became attracted to the latter.

Arriving at her old home in the Circle tower to find it full of abominations, Jocelyn refused to let Greagoir annul the Circle and teamed up with Wynne to try to save the remaining mages. During her attack on the Circle, she rescued Rhen from some of the blood mages. She was incredibly embarrassed to learn of Cullen's old feelings for her and refused to kill the mages in the Harrowing chamber on his orders. In the end, she saved Irving's life and killed Uldred. After the tower had been taken back from the abominations, Wynne joined her.

In Redcliffe, Joss saved the village and ventured into the castle to find the source. She was quite surprised to find that Jowan had become the tutor to Arl Eamon's son Connor, who was a mage Isolde had hidden to keep him from the Circle. She chose to get help from the Circle, since while she didn't want to kill a child, she also didn't want to have to kill Isolde just for trying to help her son (especially since her father had done the same for her as a child). After the ritual had been completed, Jocelyn helped Jowan escape from prison and told him to run as far as he could. Grateful for the second chance Joss had given him, Jowan took on the name "Master Levyn" and began helping refugees.

After travelling to Denerim and finding a lead on the Urn of Sacred Ashes, Jocelyn headed back through the Brecilian Forest, running into a clan of Dalish elves afflicted by a curse turning them into werewolves. After finding out the nature of the curse, Joss convinced Keeper Zathrian to break it and managed to broker peace between the two, ending the werewolves' suffering and recruiting the Dalish to help stop the Blight.

Jocelyn chose to go to Orzammar next to get the help of the dwarves. She chose to support Prince Bhelen, thinking the more progressive, surface-friendly candidate would be more sympathetic to their cause. She travelled to the Deep Roads in search of the Paragon Branka, who herself was searching for the legendary Anvil of the Void. In the chamber where the Anvil was held, Joss, after learning the Anvil's true powers and the extent of Branka's madness, insisted on destroying the evil artifact and ended up having to kill Branka. Putting Bhelen on the throne, Joss managed to get his support against the Blight. After it was all said and done, Oghren joined Jocelyn on what remained of her quest.

Travelling south through the mountains, Jocelyn made it to Haven seeking out the Urn at last. Denouncing Father Kolgrim for his insane cult and his murder of so many knights, he attacked her, and she killed him without ever even hearing his offer. In the temple, Jocelyn didn't blame herself for Jowan's fate, she blamed the Templars for the constant threats of death or Tranquility that they held over his head, and claimed that if it wasn't for them, maybe he wouldn't have felt like he needed to use blood magic in the first place. Her reunion with Jowan's shade was bittersweet, but she was able to move forward and successfully obtain the ashes.

After being healed, Eamon called the Landsmeet, hoping to put a very reluctant Alistair forward for the throne, and Jocelyn and her group traveled to Denerim with him. She killed Arl Howe and rescued Queen Anora only to find herself surrounded by Ser Cauthrien's soldiers. Not wishing to put her friends in danger, Jocelyn willingly surrendered to her, and was led off in chains while her companions escaped the estate with Anora in tow.

After being imprisoned in Fort Drakon, Jocelyn attempted to escape on her own, managing to escape her cell and disguise herself as a guard, before being recaptured at the prison's doors when she tried to leave without the password. Knowing that she wouldn't be able to fool the guards a second time, her only option was to sit tight and wait for rescue, which came in the form of Leliana and Morrigan. Returning to Arl Eamon's estate, Jocelyn planned to win the support of the Landsmeet and unite Ferelden by arranging a political marriage between Alistair and Anora.

After winning the support of the Landsmeet, she allowed Alistair to duel Loghain, feeling that it was his battle and not hers. While she had hoped to spare his life as a favor to Queen Anora, Alistair killed him before the option could even be presented. Unable to reconcile the two, Jocelyn chose to put Anora on the throne by herself, very much aware that Alistair didn't want it.

At the Battle of Denerim, Jocelyn fought her way through the burning city of Denerim with her love Leliana, and her best friends Morrigan and Alistair. At the top of Fort Drakon, Jocelyn brought down the archdemon and lived to tell the tale, and true to her word, Morrigan disappeared.

After the battle was over, Anora was crowned as queen, and granted Jocelyn the Circle's independence as her reward for stopping the Blight, along with the title of "Hero of Ferelden". Desiring to see the world that she had never seen before, having been locked up in the Circle, Jocelyn chose to leave Ferelden to continue her travels, with Leliana by her side.

## Post-game

After spending some time traveling, Jocelyn went to Vigil's Keep to take up the post of Warden-Commander and focus on rebuilding the order in Ferelden. Her efforts were mostly successful, although her destruction of Amaranthine and her decision to spare the Architect made her a rather controversial figure. After cleaning up Amaranthine's remaining darkspawn, Jocelyn left Amaranthine for a while during the worst of the controversy. She reunited with Leliana and spent some time traveling with her.

Joss returned to Amaranthine a year later to find that her friend Anders, an apostate she had made into a Grey Warden, had merged with a spirit of Justice with disastrous results, killing several Wardens and Templars in the process. She attempted to track him down, but he had disappeared and her attempts to find him were unsuccessful. It was years later that Bethany informed her that he had settled in Kirkwall.

All the while, Jocelyn's relationship with the Circle and Templars got worse. Killing Rylock in order to protect Anders hadn't endeared her to some of the new Templars, and her failed attempt to grant Kinloch Hold its independence only made the relationship worse. After the incident with Anders and Justice, Jocelyn quickly sent any Templars away from Vigil's Keep in her anger and frustration. Her loyalty to the Circle deteriorated quickly; she had only ever been loyal to them out of necessity and fear, and now that she didn't have either, she saw no reason to pay lip-service to a system that had kept her imprisoned for most of her adolescence and caused several of her friends a lot of pain.

Not long after the explosion of the Kirkwall Chantry, Jocelyn agreed to shelter several apostates in Vigil's Keep following the fall of the Gallows. The Templars try to force her to release them to their custody, and when she refuses to do so, they attack the Keep. Jocelyn breaks the Wardens' neutrality by fighting them and becomes a fugitive from the Templars and the Wardens, fleeing the Keep in the dead of night after the battle was over. She sends a manifesto to Grand Enchanter Fiona encouraging the Circle to take its independence once and for all.

She eventually meets with Anders and Astrid Hawke, who have become fugitives themselves after the Chantry's destruction. They travel together for a time. After the vote at White Spire, they all get involved in the Mage Rebellion and begin helping mages who have been forced from the Circles all the way up until Jocelyn and Anders start hearing the false Calling. At that point, Jocelyn decides to follow the lead she has for its cure, sees Leliana one last time, and departs for the west. She takes Anders with her , along with Zevran and a few other Wardens.

Jocelyn returns from her quest to find the Wardens in shambles, but much more significantly, she finds that Leliana had been made Divine and that the Circle of Magi has been disbanded. While she was thrilled that the mages finally had freedom, she initially worried that Leliana would break off their relationship, and was immensely relieved when she didn't.

Jocelyn, now the mistress to the Divine, became Leliana's Left Hand, serving alongside Cassandra, who remained the Right Hand. Thanks to Jocelyn, at least two assassination attempts have been averted and the College of Enchanters has made peace with Vivienne's new Circle.

When the two aren't busy with their duties, they spend time at a villa in Val Chevin, where they live quite happily with a gaggle of nugs. As Jocelyn and Leliana look towards an uncertain future, they treasure the time they have to spend together.

## Relationships

### Jowan

Jocelyn's best friend while she was in the Circle. Despite everything he did, Jocelyn never held any anger or ill will towards him, rather seeing him as a victim of Templar oppression. She helped him escape from prison and hasn't seen him since, but she hopes that wherever he is, he is happy there.

### Irving

Growing up, Jocelyn saw Irving as something of a surrogate father. It was Irving who told Jocelyn not to fear or hate her powers, and she was even his personal apprentice for a time. Joss really looked up to him as a child despite finding his loyalty to the Circle frustrating as she got older, but after she found out that he had been working with Uldred to trick apprentices into using blood magic, she lost all of her respect for him.

### Alistair

As an ex-Templar, Jocelyn was initially wary of her fellow Grey Warden, wondering if he'd think less of her for being a mage. To her surprise, he didn't, and even looked to her to lead the group, since he really didn't want to. The two generally got along quite well once Joss realized that he didn't hold the typical Templar views on mages, and she often found herself laughing and joking with him. The two became pretty good friends and Jocelyn was quite upset by his presumed death in the Fade.

### Morrigan

Despite being an apostate, Jocelyn was kind of fascinated by Morrigan. Despite her distance from the group, Jocelyn took the time to befriend the witch and ask her questions, learning things about magic that they'd never taught her in the circle. After Jocelyn got her hands on Flemeth's grimoire, the pair became very close friends. Jocelyn was sad to see Morrigan disappear after the ritual, but honored her wish not to be followed.

After finding her two years later, Jocelyn and Morrigan came back into contact, and resumed their friendship.

### Leliana

Jocelyn was intrigued by Leliana from the moment she met her. A Chantry sister who was not only kind and charitable, but also very skilled with a blade and eager to help, Jocelyn accepted her aid and invited her to join their group. As they traveled together, Jocelyn befriended her, learning of her troubled past and of why she believed in her vision.

While Jocelyn, who had known she was interested in women for a long time, had developed feelings for Leliana, she was quite surprised to learn that the bard returned her attraction. The two started to find any excuse to spend time together as they started to fall for each other. Jocelyn was furious when Marjolaine sent assassins after Leliana, and put everything on hold to travel to Denerim and remove the threat. After that, the pair finally confessed their love for each other, even sharing their first kiss. Jocelyn promised to stay with Leliana after the Blight had ended, and that night, they consummated their relationship.

Even though Alistair agreed to do the ritual and no sacrifice would be needed, Jocelyn was still worried and spent the night before the battle awake next to Leliana, terrified that one of them might not survive the next day.

After the battle was won and the Blight had ended, Jocelyn chose to leave Ferelden for a while to travel the world with Leliana. While their duties would eventually bring them apart, the pair have always loved each other and kept each other in their thoughts. Jocelyn has promised that once she cures the Calling, she will return to Leliana's side for good - a promise that she was eventually able to keep.

### Wynne

During her apprenticeship at the Circle, and later during the Blight, Jocelyn had a good relationship with Wynne. She respected the elder mage a great deal, and gladly accepted her help when she offered to help Joss fight the Blight. Unfortunately, their relationship deteriorated as Jocelyn grew more and more opposed to the Circle and the Templars, causing many disagreements with the more loyal mage.

### Anders

Jocelyn conscripted Anders into the Grey Wardens to protect him from the templars' wrath, and the pair quickly became friends. Joss at least partially contributed her increasingly harsh, bitter views on the Circle to his influence after hearing just how horribly the Templars treated him. She also admired him a little for trying to escape so many times, as she had never been brave enough to try to run like he did, despite her own distaste for the Circle.

The pair remained close until Jocelyn left Amaranthine, after which Anders merged with Justice and killed several Wardens and Templars in the process. Joss was horrified, and tried to track him down so he could explain himself, but she never managed to find him. It was years later when she heard from Bethany that he was in Kirkwall, allied with a mercenary-turned-noblewoman (and Bethany's sister) named Hawke. She visited Kirkwall after the end of the qunari invasion, hoping to see him. Their visit was a rather short, unpleasant one - and one that left Jocelyn not only deeply worried for the mental state of her old friend, but horrified and appalled at the state of the mages and templars in the Gallows. She chose not to get involved, thinking that her presence would cause too much talk.

Jocelyn would later meet up with Anders again - after he blew up the Chantry. And while she agreed to protect him and take him with her on her quest out of her friendship with him, she's never been quite sure how she feels about his actions. Part of her is appalled at the loss of lives he caused - and part of her feels like maybe it was something that had to happen.

After their quest ended, Jocelyn and Anders remained very good friends.

### Cullen

Cullen arrived in the Kinloch Hold Circle a year before Jocelyn's Harrowing. Admiring Jocelyn's beauty and her superb control of magic, he developed a crush on her, but Jocelyn, who had no romantic interest in men, never returned his affections. She did, however, see him as one of "the good Templars" for not treating her like an abomination waiting to happen.

Jocelyn's good opinion of Cullen completely turned around after Uldred's uprising, when he accused her of being a thrall of the blood mages and tried to convince her to annul the Circle. And while Cullen would eventually come back around to liking her (although his infatuation was gone) Jocelyn spent most of her time post-Blight seeing him as just another Templar for her to hate.

Their relationship would go back to an amicable one many years later, when Jocelyn became re-acquainted with him thanks to Leliana's work with the Inquisition. She and Cullen had a very long talk about their lives following their departures from Kinloch Hold, and after finding out about all the other had gone through, they came to an understanding. She might never completely forgive him for his actions in both Kinloch and the Gallows, but at the very least, she wasn't angry with him anymore.

## Family

Jocelyn's mother and father were **Revka and Martin Amell**. Revka disappeared when she was three, and Martin and his remaining children, Jocelyn and Samuel, left for Ferelden shortly afterwards. Jocelyn lived with her father and younger brother in Denerim until she was sent to the Circle.

**Erik Amell** was Jocelyn's eldest brother, and he was sent to the Gallows before she was even born. He was illegally made Tranquil on Meredith's orders after being caught in bed with a Templar, Ser Hilda. Hilda, who was genuinely in love with him, mercy-killed him not long afterwards, as she couldn't bear to see him like that.

**Audrey Amell** was Jocelyn's oldest sister. She was at the Circle in Cumberland and largely stayed neutral through the war.

**Charlena "Charlie" Amell** was Jocelyn's second sister and the middle child of the family. She was at the Circle in Ansberg, where she would eventually gain some measure of infamy for killing the First Enchanter and later staging an escape after the destruction of the Kirkwall Chantry. She managed to survive the war and joined the College of Enchanters.

**Samuel Amell** was Jocelyn's younger brother, and was sent to the Ostwick Circle at the same time as Jocelyn was sent to Kinloch Hold. A talented young apprentice and a close friend to the Inquisitor's twin brother, Rodrik Trevelyan, he would survive the Ostwick uprising and join the Inquisition.

Jocelyn is the second cousin of **Astrid, Bethany,** and the late **Carver Hawke.** She never met Carver, but she was the Warden-Commander during Bethany's time in the Grey Wardens, and she and Astrid would maintain a pretty decent relationship.

## Miscellaneous

Jocelyn was originally a name in Medieval France meaning "one of the Goths". In English, it is a feminine name meaning "playful", and in Hebrew, it can also mean "supplanter".

Jocelyn had always kept her hair short after Jowan accidentally burned part of it off in an accident. After the Blight, she let it grow long again.

Of all the things that Jocelyn hates about the Circle, the Rite of Tranquility is the thing that she is most opposed to. She sees it as a cruel practice that turns mages into unfeeling slaves for the Templars, and she was terrified of having it inflicted upon her growing up. While she was not happy that Jowan had lied to her about being a blood mage, she thought it was justified because the Circle had been planning to force the Rite on him. After Jocelyn heard about its illegal use in the Kirkwall Circle from Anders, and the way that it was being used to control and abuse mages, it dissolved the little remaining good will she had for the Circle of Magi. Unbeknownst to Jocelyn, her eldest brother, Erik, was made Tranquil on Meredith's orders shortly after the Qunari invasion when he was caught in bed with a Templar.

Jocelyn's greatest flaw is her pride. She can be arrogant and stubborn sometimes. She's also been known to be rather cruel and cold when an argument gets too heated.

Jocelyn's greatest fear is Imprisonment.

Jocelyn hasn't worn Circle-style mage robes since the beginning of the Blight. She claims that part of the benefit of being free from the Circle is getting to pick her own clothes.

She has a major sweet tooth, which she bonded with Sten over. It's one of the few things that the two of them can agree on.

Her mabari is named Otto.

She is the godmother to Kieran.

=== '''Like So''' ===

=='''Links'''==

### Reddit Headcanon Threads

Jocelyn and Leliana's fights, and gifts from Jocelyn's friends

How Jocelyn would have been in Hawke's shoes, her favorite lore, and her dark secret

Jocelyn's worsening relationship with Wynne, and her increasing hatred of the Circle

Jocelyn's feelings on luxury, and her ideas on faith

Jocelyn's idle thoughts and enjoyment of her free life

### Reddit Writing Prompt Threads

Taken Away - Jocelyn is taken from her family to go to Kinloch Hold (100 Words - A Broken Family)

The First Meeting - Jocelyn meets the casteless dwarf Halli Brosca (Freeform)

A Frantic Rescue - Leliana and Halli race to rescue Jocelyn from imprisonment (LI POV theme - During Origins, the Warden gets captured and thrown in Fort Drakon when rescuing Anora. Your LI (or closest friend) thoughts and worries when hearing the news and waiting to get them out.)

In Another World - Jocelyn gets a look at what could have happened if another had been the Hero of Ferelden

A Visit to the Keep - Leliana surprises Jocelyn at Vigil's Keep shortly after the events of *Awakening*

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

The Price of Freedom - Jocelyn reunites with Anders and learns of the horrible situation in Kirkwall

Ao3: Jocelyn Amell - A lot of my fics on Jocelyn on Archive of Our Own