Varia Surana

Hero of Ferelden, Arlessa of Amaranthine

*"When every odd is stacked against you, it either makes you want to give up or work that much harder to prove yourself. I generally prefer to do the latter."*

Varia Surana is the former apprentice of First Enchanter Irving of the Ferelden Circle of Magi.

She was conscripted into the Grey Wardens just shy of her eighteenth birthday in 9:30 Dragon and later defeated the Archdemon by her own hand and inexplicably survived.

Currently, she holds the titles of Commander of the Grey in Ferelden and Arlessa of Amaranthine. Both responsibilities are shared with her husband and fellow Grey Warden, Alistair.

## Overview

### **Physical Appearance**

Varia stands at a little below average height for a female of her race and is well-proportioned despite not being very muscular. Her hair is a dark golden blonde with natural red highlights, and she usually keeps it pulled up and tied with a yellow ribbon given to her by her former mentor. Her eyes were dark grey as a child and started developing silver flecks in them as her magical abilities began manifesting. Following her slaying of the Archdemon, her eyes took on a slight glow which increases when she's using her magic.

### **Personality**

Varia always tries to see the best in people, a trait which Alistair has given her a hard time for in the past. She is kind and may seem weak to others, but as any person who has crossed her or hurt those she cares about can tell you, she is not the sort of person you should ever underestimate the potential wrath of. She has never really feared her magic, though she did suffer a brief crisis of conscience after Duncan told her about how she once killed a man as a child.

### **Talents and Skills**

In addition to being gifted at channeling the destructive forces of nature - especially lightning and fire - Varia has learned to be a somewhat proficient healer with the help of Wynne and Anders. Rather than letting herself be relegated to a single role, however, she has taken to developing spells of her own. This spell-crafting is one of her biggest hobbies, and she can often be found experimenting on target dummies before eventually moving on to live subjects.

## Biography

### **History**

Varia was born to Marieka and Thalien Surana in the fall of 9:12 Dragon in the Denerim alienage. Her father, an Antivan merchant, took them away from the alienage five years later after a nobleman made unwanted advances toward her mother, claiming it was "his right."

For the next two years, the family traveled around Ferelden as merchants during the warmer seasons, renting a room in the closest village when the harsh winters rolled in. They never had much, and faced much racism in their travels, but they were together and happy.

All of that happiness came to an abrupt end, however, in the spring of 9:20 Dragon. While traveling to Redcliffe, the family was attacked by a group of bandits. Thalien was killed trying to protect his wife and daughter, and Marieka was violated by several of them while one of them stole Varia away into the nearby woods. Terrified, her magic manifested itself for the first time and she killed her captor without understanding what she was doing.

A luck would have it, the arl of Redcliffe was on his way back from Denerim around the same time and found Varia's family - what was left of it. His guard killed the remaining bandits and he took in Varia and her mother, offering the battered and bereaved woman a job as a servant in his household. However, upon finding the corpse of the man Varia had killed, he had no choice but to call for the Circle of Magi to collect her.

Having been made aware of the situation, First Enchanter Irving himself arrived to collect the still frightened and confused child, testing her to see if the arl's claims of her being a mage were true. After confirming her as such, he took her back to the Circle with him to personally begin her training.

Varia's years at the Ferelden Circle were fairly uneventful. She made a few friends, though most of the other apprentices were human children who were unable to look past her race and the misconceptions many held about them. A year before her Harrowing, she met and befriended a young templar named Cullen after he protected her from some of his fellow templars. The two shared a mutual attraction, and began to engage in a secret relationship with one another after a few short months.

### **Kinloch Hold**

Varia's life was shattered the day following her Harrowing. Her best friend, Jowan, revealed that he was going to be made tranquil and begged her for help in destroying his phylactery so he could escape the Circle and start a new life with a Chantry initiate named Lily who he had fallen in love with. She agreed to help them, partly because of her own situation with Cullen. Thinking perhaps the First Enchanter could help her, she went to him and discovered he not only knew about Jowan's predicament but also that he was involved with Lily. To her dismay, the man she'd grown to see as a father figure insisted that she go through with Jowan and Lily's plans in order to catch them red-handed rather than to help them.

After assisting Jowan in the destruction of his phylactery, he revealed himself to be a blood mage - the very rumor he had earlier denied to her. Lily denounced him, and he escaped after knocking out Irving, Greagoir, and several other templars. Varia barely escaped suffering punishment for her part in the entire ordeal, thanks to the intervention of the Grey Warden Duncan, who was visiting the tower in search of possible recruits. The Knight-Commander ordered she be taken away immediately, and she and Cullen saw each other briefly one last time as she packed her things.

After leaving the tower with Duncan, the two were set to spend a night at The Spoiled Princess before setting out on their journey. Duncan explained everything that had happened to her over the past few months in his communications with Irving, revealing it had been his intent all along to take her with him and that Irving had known about her relationship with Cullen and getting her involved the plot to catch Jowan in the act of his escape had been meant to protect her should that relationship be exposed. He also told her the truth about the events leading up to her being taken to the Circle as a child, causing Varia a fair bit of distress when she realized just how dangerous she truly was.

### **Ostagar**

Upon her arrival in Ostagar, Varia was shocked to find how kind and welcoming King Cailan was even though she was an elf and a mage. She did not feel the same sort of warmth from Teryn Loghain when she came upon him, however. After meeting her fellow Warden recruits, she sought out the junior Warden, Alistair, as Duncan had advised.

## **Relationships**

### **Alistair**

Varia and Alistair first met briefly after she and her mother had been taken to Arl Eamon's estate in Redcliffe. Having heard about what her family endured, Alistair decided to try to help the traumatized little girl have some fun. They were later caught returning one of Eamon's horses after taking it for a ride and Varia was accused of "stealing" the horse. Alistair took the blame - and the punishment - for her, and that was the last time they saw each other until Duncan brought Varia to Ostagar from the Circle. Alistair remembered her following the fall of the Tower of Ishal, but Varia didn't make the connection until after their arrival in Redcliffe, when he found her old toy bear she'd had as a child and returned it to her.

Due to Varia's relationship with Cullen, things didn't turn romantic between the two until after they visited the Ferelden Circle and saved the remaining mages from the aftermath of Uldred's uprising and the Rite of Tranquility. Cullen's coldness toward her and the denouncement of their relationship caused Varia to doubt her worth as anything other than a mage, but Alistair talked her through her heartbreak and some time later she accepted his gift of a rose with a kiss, marking the start of their romance.

Fighting the Blight together as the only two remaining Grey Wardens in Ferelden, the two fell deeply in love - but their relationship was not without its bumps in the road. Arl Eamon's desire to place Alistair on the throne threatened to tear them apart, as Varia allowed herself to be talked into putting forth the idea of a political marriage with Anora to Alistair. She almost walked away from him then, but found herself unable to give up on her feelings and the two of them conspired to place Anora on the throne as reigning Queen of Ferelden - against Eamon's wishes. The greatest challenge to their relationship, however, came with the revelation of what killing the Archdemon would cost and Morrigan's subsequent offer to help them avoid that fate. Alistair insisted on going through with the ritual in order to protect Varia, despite her reservations. This led to a strain in their relationship, but it was soon overcome during the Battle of Denerim and they reaffirmed their feelings for each other before finally taking on the Archdemon together.

Following the end of the Blight, Alistair and Varia began training Grey Warden hopefuls and recruiting those they felt were genuinely interested in becoming Wardens. Six months later, when an urgent message arrived to them from Vigil's Keep, Alistair remained behind in Denerim while Varia went ahead to asses the issue and deal with whatever was going on. Despite her insistence that he didn't need to follow her there, his worry eventually won out and he showed up at the tail end of the siege on Vigil's Keep. When Varia finally returned after helping secure the town of Amaranthine, he asked her to marry him. The two were wed soon after.

### **Zevran**

Varia decided to spare the life of the Antivan assassin, despite her fellow Warden's protests, saying she felt she could trust him even though he had literally just tried to kill them both. Zevran was grateful for his freedom and showed his thanks by relentlessly flirting with her. Varia was flattered, at first, and even responded to his playful banter once or twice, but after witnessing his nightmare in the Fade she realized the playfulness was a mask to hide his pain.

Once she was able to get Zevran to open up to her about his past, the two began to grow closer to one another. He hinted at having deeper feelings than friendship at one point but, knowing Varia was pursuing a romantic relationship with Alistair, he decided not to push for anything more than what they had. Instead, he took it upon himself to try to move things along between the two Wardens - mostly by teasing Alistair that he would steal Varia away if he didn't make his move.

With the death of Taliesen, Varia offered Zevran the choice of remaining with the group or going off on his own. To both their surprises, he replied without even needing to think about it, stating he would remain at her side for as long as she wished. He was present at the slaying of the Archdemon, and later helped to train some of the Warden hopefuls who showed an aptitude for being a rogue.

Varia had suspected there was some sort of relation between herself and Zevran after having a near-death experience when she killed the Archdemon and saw her parents one final time in the Fade. The resemblance between her father and Zevran - both physical and their shared Antivan accent - made her realize why she'd been so quick to trust him when they first met, and led to her asking Brother Genetivi for help with looking into her family history. Shortly following the events of Amaranthine, it was confirmed that Zevran and Varia are cousins through their fathers.

The revelation of their blood relation to one another caused a bit of awkwardness for Zevran at first, as he'd continue shamelessly fantasizing about Varia despite his full support of her relationship with Alistair. However, once that subsided, he became even more devoted to her as she is the only true living family he has. His protectiveness can go a bit overboard, however, and he once physically threatened Alistair for making his dear cousin cry.

### **Leliana**

Varia and Leliana became fast friends, and spent evening patrols together sharing tales and gossiping about their fellow companions. Unfortunately, their closeness was misinterpreted by Leliana and after revealing her romantic inclinations toward other women she gave Varia a kiss which was not reciprocated. Things turned awkward between them for a bit until Leliana realized Varia had a crush on Alistair, after which the bard began teaming up with Zevran to push the Wardens toward one another. Varia later apologized for leading her on, which Leliana waved off with an apology of her own for having misunderstood her intentions. With the air cleared between them, Varia began to seek Leliana out for advice and in turn helped her deal with Marjolaine.

Following the defeat of the Archdemon, the two women went their separate ways but have remained in touch. Leliana was present at Varia's wedding to Alistair, and was one of the few people outside of their Wardens to be informed about Duncan's birth.

### **Wynne**

Varia knew Wynne from the Circle, as she had been Anders' mentor. She didn't see eye-to-eye with the older woman on some issues, but the two of them learned to work together and talked through their differing views - usually with Wynne surprising Varia by acknowledging she had valid points. When Wynne's condition came to light, Varia insisted upon learning healing spells to help lessen the burden on her. She attempted to do so alone, but then Wynne stepped in and taught Varia how to tap into her latent healing abilities.

Wynne was initially against the relationship between Varia and Alistair, especially knowing Varia had recently had her heart broken by Cullen, but eventually came to support the two of them in their romance. She later admitted to Varia she saw a bit of her younger self in both of them and hadn't wanted either of them to suffer as she had due to her own doomed love affair.

Wynne later traveled to Amaranthine shortly after Varia arrived there to take over the mantle of Warden-Commander of Ferelden, though their reunion was to be short-lived. Alistair managed to convince Wynne to remain in Ferelden for their wedding, but she left for Nevarra immediately afterward. It would be the last time either of them saw her, though letters were exchanged. News of Wynne's death saddened Varia greatly.

## **Miscellaneous**

* Varia was named after Varian Wrynn from World of Warcraft.
* Likewise, her mabari is named after Rhonin, and the story that Irving told her - which she states is the source of the name - is loosely based on the War of the Ancients novels.
* In the real world, Varia's birthday would be on Halloween.
* Varia's married name is Surana-Theirin, even though Alistair doesn't use his father's last name.
* Varia and Alistair eventually confirmed Duncan purposely reunited them, and later named their son after him.

## **Gallery**

* Warden-Commander Varia
* Irving walking Varia down the aisle on her wedding day
* Alistair and Varia's wedding
* The Kiss - Varia & Cullen - by koogee4 (dA)
* Marry Me - Alistair & Varia - by nazgullow (dA)
* Varia Surana & Adeline Hawke
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