Megara Hawke

Champion of Kirkwall Joins the Inquisition

> *"But the one who repents, who has faith unshaken by the darkness of the world, [...] she shall know the peace of the Maker's benediction"* -Canticle of Transfigurations
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Born in 9:07 Dragon just outside Highever, Megara is the eldest daughter of Leandra (nee Amell) and Malcolm Hawke. She is thus far the only one to be titled Champion of Kirkwall in the City-State's history after her part in dealing with the Qunari invasion of the city in 9:34 Dragon. Hawke has also served as Viscountess of Kirkwall and currently Princess-Consort of Starkhaven.

## Overview

### **Physical Appearance**

Megara Hawke despite being the eldest ended up (barely) being the shortest of her siblings at 5'6". Despite that she is a little on the stocky side, growing up doing a good amount of physical labor as well as training with her bow on a regular basis. She's never quite lost all the baby fat in her face which softens her features. She ended up with the Amell auburn hair, the length of which has varied greatly based on the time in her life. She's grown it out again in more recent years since the Chantry explosion to where it falls half way down her back. Her eyes are almond shaped, slightly down-turned, and a dark orchid shade of purple that was passed down from her father.

Working as a mercenary in Kirkwall, first with the Red Iron and then with her own group, has led to her having a increasing collection of scars, the most significant being a few inches above her navel where the Arishok impaled her but her favorite one with a story would be a small burn scar on her left forearm.

### **Personality**

What you get with Meg largely depends on what sort of mood you catch her in. A majority of the time she is very distant toward people she doesn't know and comes across rather brash and rude. She's found it easier to just keep people at a distance most of her life with regularly needing to move with her sister's magic and renewed after Anders' betrayal. Once you get past that outer wall she keeps up though she is fiercely loyal and protective of her friends and family, even those she might not always agree with like Aveline. She is also very warm and caring but it is something she tends to keep in private spaces rather than show it more outwardly, one of those exceptions being when there is some crisis going on which brings out her caring side. She's not going to be an ass to people in need, but she definitely will be if you think you can demand her attention when someone else needs it more. Meg also has a rather dry sense of humor and quick wit but that also usually involves getting into the friends circle before she's willing to start joking around with you.

[Red Hawke with a edge of purple for her companions.]

### **Talents and Skills**

Meg picked up her skills with a bow from an early age, wanting to learn how to do a little hunting as well as enter in some of the archery competitions before the Hawkes had to stop pretty much anything that drew attention to the family. She picked up a little sewing and a decent amount of cooking skills in her younger years as well, but found that she preferred baking when the supplies were available. Meg finds the methodicalness of putting together something that requires an exact following of the recipe to be a good way to relax and the kitchen in the Amell estate was never short on sugar for when the mistress wanted to make cookies.

She is also very light on her feet and excellent with a set of lockpicks though she doesn't tend to use the latter skills much in day-to-day life of helping to run a city-state. Still, one never knows when a skill might come in handy.

## Biography

### Fereldan

Leandra Amell had already been pregnant when she eloped from Kirkwall with her apostate lover, Malcolm Hawke. The pair intended to find somewhere they could just live normally without the threat of the templars coming for Malcolm and the hope hat any children they had wouldn’t have any magic. Megara was born shortly after they were able to settle outside of Highever in 9:07 Dragon. She was something of a fussy baby, quick to quiet when someone held her and back at it soon after they put her down. She quickly fell in love though with the family’s first mabari that became something of a nanny to the young Hawke in her early years. She was almost five when she gained two younger siblings in Bethany and Carver.

Life was rather calm for several years. Meg grew past the age that magical abilities usually manifested, taking an interest instead in archery like Teryna Eleanor Cousland and rolling her eyes at anyone who suggested she was at all attempting to catch the interest of either of the Cousland sons. She just enjoyed the idea of being able to shoot someone who was bothering her without having to get blood all over her. She did win an archery competition that was being held as part of the tourney celebrating Fergus Cousland's 18th birthday, counting it as one of the happiest days in her young life.

Life shifted in the Hawke household though when Bethany started showing signs of magic. A small accident led to the family moving to South Reach when Meg was 13 and again to a small farm outside of Lothering two years later. It was a little difficult not to hold a little bit of resentment toward her younger sister at that point. The sudden uprooting of their whole life and having to leave friends behind without an explanation made it difficult to make new friends when there was always the question of when they might have to vanish again because Bethany couldn’t control herself.

There was also the fact that Meg was often charged with keeping an eye out while Bethany was having her magical lessons, making sure that the Templars or one of the more nosy neighbors didn’t show up and potentially catch them. It kept her all the more distant from others where her closest friend was Carver and even then the teenager had little in common with her younger brother beyond playing with wooden swords. A few years of Bethany gaining better control and feeling like they could actually build a life again though led to Meg to Ercole, a young man from Antiva that had recently moved south with his family. The crush soon led to a relationship although it wasn’t fated to last.

She was supposed to have been doing her usual guarding, but with more than two years with no incidences, she had gotten rather lax and gone sneaking off with Ercole instead. Malcolm unfortunately found them after his training session with Bethany had been cut short by some Templar knights traveling through, catching his eldest in a bit of a delicate position. Ercole was still trying to dress as he fled, leaving Meg there with her father going off on her as she wrapped a blanket around herself while her little sister stood in the background, unsure what to do.

Meg’s mild resentment toward Bethany went full-blown after that, barely speaking to her and just closing herself up all the more. Rumors had already gotten around Lothering of Malcolm Hawke’s anger over his almost adult daughter having a relationship and her father was not going to bother caring what the people of the town might think of them. What good relationship she’d had with her father was as good as gone as well and as soon as she was 18, Meg was volunteering for the town guard and often joking that maybe she’d join the Templars which only started more arguments. She tried to keep back part of her money in hopes of getting as far away from Lothering as she could, her mother’s attempts to hold the family together crumbling more by the day.

And then Malcolm died. He’d been doing his usual mercenary work when he had been wounded, but the infection that followed had been more than the healers could deal with. Leandra did not take it very well, leaving Meg to try and step up for the fifteen year old twins and help with the rest of the household bills. She felt guilty for being relieved that he was gone, but now she was the one having to deal with being head of the household while her mother pulled herself out of her depression, grateful to have someone else to take care of everything. For once though Meg was willing rather than just feeling obligated to do so.

Things also improved with Bethany, her usually quiet and reserved sister more willing to speak up for herself. She might have to self-educate herself now from some of their father’s books, but she wasn’t going to make her siblings “look out” for her when she could manage herself. It was a slow process, but the two reconciled as the Hawke kids worked together to keep the family together. When King Cailan was looking for recruits for his army to fight back the Blight, Meg and Carver signed up, Bethany assuring them that she and Ser Woofington (their current Mabari) would look out for mother while they were away.

Ostagar did not go as Cailan had hoped however, particularly with the betrayal of Teryn Loghain retreating just when they could have used him the most. Carver and Meg were just glad to find each other still alive as they agreed to head immediately back for Lothering to get the rest of their family north to Denerim or anywhere that could possibly be considered safe. They barely escaped before the darkspawn were on their heels.

### Kirkwall - The Early Years

> "Don't Worry. Helping People And Killing People Are What I'm Best At.” -Megara Hawke
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The Hawkes made a truce with another pair of travellers on the road, The Templar Wesley and his wife Aveline Vallen, who were also attempting to flee. They only made it so far before they found themselves surrounded, Carver losing his life to a giant ogre and the group mysteriously gaining the attention of a dragon-witch named Flemeth. She was unwilling to teach any of them how to become a dragon as well, but offered the trade of a favor in exchange for getting them safely to Gwaren to catch a ship. When she pointed out Wesley’s blight infection, Meg was willing to do what Aveline didn’t want to and put the man out of his misery before he could turn to a ghoul.

Kirkwall was already almost drowning in refugees and they soon found out their nobleman uncle had lost everything the Amells had once owned, making it all the more difficult to talk their way into the city. He did however find people willing to get them inside the city walls in exchange for a year of indentured servitude with Aveline joining them to work for Meeran and the Red Iron Mercenaries. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but it kept them from being sent back to Fereldan.

Meg found she did rather well as a mercenary even though the living conditions weren’t necessarily the best in Gamlen’s little hovel in Lowtown, but they made it work. When the year was up though she shook off Meeran’s requests for her to join the crew officially. It might just be her and Bethany now that Aveline had joined the guard, but they’d find their own way. It had been about a month when she’d caught wind of an expedition into the Deep Roads and looked into trying to sign up. The money wouldn’t be a lot, but it would hopefully be enough that they could find their own place and perhaps get a little more established. Bartrand was less than enthusiastic about signing them on however.

His brother, however, was a different story. Varric Tethras wasn’t looking to just find another warm body to throw at the darkspawn though but a partner for the expedition to help fund it, offering to help Hawke find work as well to build up the fund needed.  Meg was still a little reluctant, sure the dwarf was working some angle she just hadn’t seen yet, but he wasn’t wrong that if the expedition went well it would put them back in a position where they weren’t constantly watching over their shoulders for Templars. Perhaps even in a good enough position to petition the Viscount to allow them the Amell Estate now that the current owners had very mysteriously died from an outbreak of arrows to the face about the same time she also stumbled upon her grandfather’s will.

Hawke’s half-joking plan to put together her own crew of mercenaries was soon coming to fruition with the addition of Merrill the extremely perky, Fenris the extremely broody, Anders the extremely vocal, and Isabela the extremely flirty along with the occasional help of Aveline. At first she figured it would just be something of a crew until the expedition or they decided to break off and do their own thing, but soon it became a strange little family of sorts that would (mostly) protect each other while working out the problems of Kirkwall.

She didn’t realize at the time just how consequential some of her little jobs would end up being. While she never heard again from the Magistrate that had tried to protect his elf-murdering son that she’d let Fenris crush the heart of, despite his threats, there were others. A dwarf looking for help to acquire the recipe for the qunari black powder put her in front of their stranded Arishok and his soldiers where the two would eventually gain mutual respect for each other. The seemingly dead-ended search for a nobleman’s missing wife and her murderer would be one that would eventually haunt her for not taking more of an interest in afterward. And then there was the Flint Company…

She was a little surprised the man willing to shoot a paper out of the hand of the Grand Cleric wasn’t looking to deal with the mercenaries himself, but she had enough to make sure it wouldn’t be a suicide mission. An easy enough job in the grand scheme of things, but it also put her right in the crosshairs of Sebastian Vael, the now rightful heir to Starkhaven and unwitting subject of the Hawke girls midnight talks for the following week.

With enough money secured and maps secured to find a good path, the expedition into the deep roads was soon underway. Meg had Bethany stay behind partly to appease their mother and partly because she wasn’t sure that she wouldn’t potentially end up dying along the way. There were still supposedly less darkspawn down there with the Blight barely over, but she’d already lost one sibling to them and had no interest in losing another. Though Bethany probably would have been far more preferable to listening to Anders and Fenris arguing with each other half the time while looking for the ancient thaig.

The thaig itself was impressive although worrisome with the age that it had likely been picked over already and they were going to be doing well to break even on her investment. The red lyrium idol had her hopeful that there might be something worthwhile for the few minutes before Bartrand locked them in, taking the idol with him. The quartet were left to find another way out, fighting through a hunger demon and a number of rock wraiths that were also thought to be legends. It led to a trove that far exceeded the small idol that the elder Tethras had run off with and left them with one less share they had to split it. Hawke was already considering what she’d be able to do with the money in the week it took to get back to Kirkwall. Finally, she hoped, she would be in a position to keep Bethany safe.

The templars were already at Gamlen’s when Meg arrived, her sister getting between them being the only reason that Knight-Captain Rutherford didn’t walk away from there with a bloody nose at the very least. Bethany quickly flourished in the Circle while Meg and Leandra were able to take back the Amell estate and reestablish themselves in Hightown.

It was a bit of a hollow victory without the rest of the family there, but it also put the two in a position where they would start to talk and work out their previous issues from Leandra’s blaming her for Carver’s death to not stepping in when Malcolm was being unreasonable. And for a while things were good. She still would take work when it came in, but no longer relied on Meeran’s cast-offs now that they’d made more of a name for themselves in Kirkwall. She’d even gotten used to being nobility although having little interest in having any sort of actual title. And she’d gotten used to getting her hair done by her mother in the mornings before running off to whatever mischief the day had in store.

She was surprised when she was summoned up to Viscount Keep wondering what sort of thing Aveline had suggested to keep her out of trouble, but instead finding it was the Arishok for some reason requesting her by name. Aveline did have work for her as well; requesting that she look into suggestions that all of the missing people and murders in Kirkwall over the last years could be tied to the same killer. It was enough to keep her busy as it was without accidentally recruiting another member to her mercenary band.

Sebastian Vael had been continuing his own quest to gain support for his plan to retake Starkhaven and managed to find out who had hired the assassins that had killed his family, requesting Hawke come with him as back-up to confront them. There was clearly something wrong from the moment they entered the Harimann estate and it didn’t take long to find the demon who was behind it. The demon’s suggestion that he was little better than Lady Harimann shook the would-be Prince into reconsidering his plans to leave the chantry, but the Grand Cleric was less willing to let him retake his vows. The chantry’s loss was Hawke’s win for the time being though as he proved to be a skilled archer even though they already had one of those. She still stood behind the idea that he should reclaim his title and started a little, mostly innocent, flirting. There was something fun about getting the usually calm and collected laybrother to start stumbling and blushing.

Things were definitely getting a little crazier though between Isabela’s evasiveness, Fenris running into an old enemy, and Anders’ tranquil solution alongside the growing tensions with the qunari and elements within the chantry trying to turn the city against them all the more with Hawke twisted into the middle of it.

Any hope she had that the Kirkwall butcher might have gotten the hint to leave town with the death of Gaspard du Puis was crushed when Leandra went missing between the Estate and Gamlen’s place in Lowtown. By the time she caught up with the man, he had already completed his masterwork of piecing together his dead wife out of the women of Kirkwall including her mother. Hawke killed Quentin and his army of abominations and demons, but Leandra still died in her daughter’s arms.

Meg was devastated. Before the end of the week she had chopped her hair off in frustration over not being able to manage the same hairstyles on her own and launching into a tirade against Aveline that the whole barracks likely overheard over the fact that she’d brushed off a legitimate lead on Hawke rather than doing her job. Meg also ended up going more and more to the chantry services, finding a small comfort in the routine of it. She was starting to see why Bethany had been such a regular back in Lothering, though the occasional views of a certain laybrother made it all the better. After his visit the night of Leandra’s death to make sure she was okay her playful flirting had gone to the wayside for more genuine compliments.

### Kirkwall - Champion and Viscountess

Her newfound faith wasn’t enough to protect her from Patrice’s loyalists against the Qunari when they attacked. Nor from Isabela’s betrayal as she admitted she knew why the qunari were still there in Kirkwall and she had no intention of returning their relic so they could go home. Her loyalty to Hawke won out at the end of the day but not before the Arishok and his people laid waste to the city and put Hawke in a position to hopefully end it as the only one in the city that had gained his respect enough to be considered “basalit-an”. Hawke returned the favor of her willingness to return by refusing to let them take her, challenging the Arishok to single combat in order to keep Isabela. It was a fight that almost cost Hawke her life, but also gave her the title of “Champion of Kirkwall”.

Unfortunately there was only so much a title like that could do when the city was more or less taken over by Knight-Commander Meredith at that point after Viscount Dumar lost his head in the qunari attack. It earned her an invitation to Chateau Haine as an honored guest of Duke Prosper for a wyvern hunt that unfortunately led to the Duke’s death after trying to kill Hawke, but otherwise she was just slightly more popular among the people. She’d also found herself cooling her heels a little more in the fight for mage freedoms as Anders got more and more vehement about it. He was still one of her best friends and she would have loved to have Bethany outside of the Circle again, but there were some lines that it was better not to cross.

Her budding romance with Sebastian was only growing stronger though after he threw a small archery competition between the two in order to give her a kiss. It was more innocent and sweet which wasn’t something Meg could say for most things in her life. She found she rather liked being “courted” and having someone she could lean on when things were tough, fully letting her walls down to just be herself.

It was just when things were getting even more heated in the conflict between Meredith and Orsino that a group of Carta dwarves tried to break into the Amell estate to kidnap Meg and a few days later attempted to do the same in the Gallows with Bethany. Both attempts just ended in bloodshed, but surprisingly Meredith was willing to let her charge go long enough to investigate when Varric came upon a lead as to what they wanted with the two Hawkes that led to an old Grey Warden prison in the Vinmark mountains. It was there they discovered Malcolm had been coerced into locking up an ancient darkspawn with blood magic. As such the only way to release him was by using “the blood of the Hawke” which was exactly what they intended to do. Admittedly the Warden Janika made a decent appeal about controlling this Corypheus in order to find a way to stop the blights for good and convinced Meg to help her with releasing the magister. He proved too powerful for Janika’s plans however and they left the supposed magister-darkspawn on the ground full of holes and burn marks, believing they had managed to kill him.

Kirkwall was still a mess to the point that even the Divine was looking into stepping in, an idea that Meg wasn’t entirely opposed to if it would protect the city. As much as she wanted to see Elthina somewhere safe though, she couldn’t help but be a little glad that it meant Sebastian would be sticking around for a while longer even though he was already suggesting she should try her hand at being Viscountess. Not that Meredith was showing any more signs of relinquishing hold on the controls of the city-state.

When Anders came to her with a plan to separate himself from Justice, she was fully behind doing whatever it took to help him. It wasn’t until he started being evasive about what he needed to get into the Chantry uninterrupted that she started questioning just what he was doing. Then, she tried to reason, if this was some sort of powerful magic then it was going to require lyrium which was something the chantry controlled all trade of… And telling her would just implicate her if any was found to be missing later. Right?

The Chantry explosion would forever be listed as her biggest guilt because she had allowed herself to be used and trusted her friend not to have used her so thoroughly. Killing him was the right decision but she would spend years questioning if she did it because it was the right thing or just because she felt betrayed. She was not going to stand by though and let the Templars kill innocent mages over the action of one man, particularly not when one of those mages was her own sister. Though by the end of the night, there had been plenty of bloodshed and both mages and templars left dead including both of their leaders. Knight-Captain Cullen was at least more reasonable once Meredith had been defeated, willing to call a truce and end to the right of annulment.

Rebuilding was going to be another matter, but they had survived the Qunari attack and they would survive this. With the support of her friends, Meg put herself forward as a candidate for the empty viscount position and had a relatively easy time getting the position when few seemed interested. She did her best to root out corruption wherever she could find it which led to even more arguments with Aveline over her trying to micro-manage the guard when Meg started allowing any complaints to go over the Guard-Captain, still holding it against her both the issues with Quentin and the two elves that joined the Qun after a guard assaulted their sister with seemingly no repercussions.

It was also shortly after her ascension that Sebastian proposed, the two originally intending the engagement to last until Sebastian retook Starkhaven as he’d promised her “no less than a Prince”. It wasn’t a lack of patience as much as a fear of what the future might bring once things seemed to be going well that led her to request he reconsider his stance a little over a year later. Sebastian agreed and the two were wed in the Amell gardens in a small ceremony. A few months later he was returning to Starkhaven, taking Bethany along as they looked into the possibilities of “rebuilding the Circle” there. Tensions were still high after the explosion and more discontent within the other Circles, but in truth, it was more of an official reason to be in Starkhaven while working on pulling the nobles of the city behind Sebastian’s cause.

The separation wasn’t the easiest, especially when Meg soon discovered she was pregnant. Sebastian split his time as much as he could between the two City-States as Hawke wasn’t in much of a position to leave Kirkwall with still being Viscountess. In early spring of 9:40 Dragon, Theodore Carver Vael was born and soon became a regular fixture at the Keep with Meg refusing to give up on her work just because she was a mother now though he was also raised with a number of aunts and uncles as most of Hawke’s crew were still in Kirkwall.

Unfortunately, it was soon after the uprising at the White Spire that a group of Templars using a strange form of lyrium showed up at the Keep and tried to attack Hawke. She ended up injured but survived and soon after stepped down, putting Bran in as provisional Viscount only to vanish into hiding. With Varric’s avoidance of anything to do with Meg’s life after the night in the Gallows there wasn’t much to go off of for those looking for the Champion. Including the fact that there was one very obvious place she would have gone when leaving Kirkwall behind.

### The Inquisition

Admittedly Hawke’s time in Starkhaven was not as long as she might have liked, but those months of just being able to live together as a family were some of her happiest. The attack by the templars still haunted her though to the point that she managed to get in contact with a Grey Warden named Alistair that she hoped might be able to help her with finding out more about the red lyrium. By the time the Right hand of the Divine had come looking for her in Kirkwall she had already left even Starkhaven in search of answers and hoping to protect her family. She was in Fereldan when the sky tore open with the explosion at the Divine Conclave, reminding herself that it wasn’t her fight and she had people she wanted to get back to as soon as possible.

At least until the destruction of Haven and a letter arriving from Varric with news of the unthinkable: Corypheus hadn’t died back in that prison and was even quite possibly behind the red templars that had come to attack her in Kirkwall. She left Alistair behind outside Crestwood and headed to the Frostbacks and Skyhold to offer what help she could. It was her fault after all that there was a Darkspawn Magister running around terrorizing southern Thedas and she most certainly was not going to let him hurt anyone else if she could help it.

The Inquisition itself was certainly interesting though. The fabled Herald of Andraste almost the same age as Bethany and now in charge of the whole operation after their escape from Haven, but she took a shine to Danielle Trevelyan rather quickly, particularly after ending up in the middle of Cassandra Pentaghast trying to claim that somehow Justinia might have survived if only Hawke had been there, making it very clear there and then to the Seeker that she would have refused and still wouldn’t have been there if not for Corypheus. She wasn’t interested in joining, but she was willing to offer her knowledge and her bow until they found a way to kill the bastard for good this time.

If only she would have known “not joining” would involve getting pulled back and forth across Fereldan and Orlais. The one good thing about it was that it gave a point to be able to exchange letters again with her officially titled Prince after Goran Vael vacated, wanting nothing to do with trying to rule over Starkhaven when there was an actual crisis going on like the Breach and regular tears in the veil. Megara allowed herself to be invited as a guest to the ball at the Winter Palace to keep up appearances, a back-up for Inquisitor Trevelyan as it was less difficult to convince Cyril de Montfort to invite an old friend than to secure their own invitation through the Grand Duke. For that particular party, she was allowed to just be a guest and stick to the background as much as possible without insulting the Orlesians and their wine.

Attacking Adamant was a different matter. She had been in plenty of fights before, but never against a fortress and against warriors like the Grey Wardens. Thankfully most were willing to back down when they knew they were just there to stop Warden-Commander Clarel from this continued madness, leaving them to deal more with the Warden Mages who had largely already given themselves to Corypheus. In the heat of the battle and with the inclusion of the possible archdemon/dragon, the group had ended up falling to their likely deaths if Trevelyan hadn’t opened a Fade rift to cushion the fall.

Visiting the Fade again, particularly in person, was not something Meg had been wanting to do ever again. Being haunted by a nightmare demon that knew how to get into her head and show her the worst fears only made it all the worse. When they were almost back to the portal out of there, she was entirely ready to throw herself against the giant fear demon to protect the others but Alistair beat her to the punch and went charging in, continuing to shoot at the thing and Danielle having to grab her arm to get her to leave.

She suggested they pen the First Warden a very nice letter and that there was really no need for anyone to head all the way out to the Anderfels just to warn them of the danger. They were the same one s that had kept so much information about Corypheus from their own people that he’d managed to get this far, Meg was not going to let the Inquisition be down even one more person when they’d already lost “one of the best”. She came here to deal with the Darkspawn Magister and wasn’t going to leave until he wasn’t moving for good this time.

She also volunteered to head out with Varric on the Inquisitor’s behalf when Bianca showed up, all too curious to find out more about the woman who got a crossbow nameed after her. Besides it was all too amusing to watch her friend squirm after all the writing he’d done about her over the years to get to hear his story from someone else. It also helped piece things together all the more as to how Corypheus managed to survive when she saw what happened at the Temple of Mythal. “Janika” being given access to the mine dropped the pieces together as to how Corypheus had managed to get his hands on hands on red lyrium in the first place.

She was also one of the first to jump to action when the breach in the sky reopened over the ruins of Haven, ready to deal with this once and for all. It was a hard fought battle but at the end she could feel like there was one less threat out there to threaten the world, finally finishing what the Wardens and her father couldn’t manage all those years before. Inquisitor Trevelyan offered her an escort back to Starkhaven, having her own business to attend to back in Ostwick and also wanting to seal up whatever tears in the veil might still be around the Free Marches that they both called home.

There was one last meeting to be had before they left when a group of Wardens showed up at the entrance led by the roadworn rogue known as Eric Cousland. He was more interested in tormenting Morrigan and catching up with his son than the Champion of Kirkwall, but it was interesting to get to meet someone else that had known Alistair as well as being a fabled hero in his own right… Though she had more fun catching up with Nathaniel.

### Starkhaven

It was wonderful to be able to go back to the Marches again, Hawke mostly just catching up with Merrill and Aveline when they landed in Kirkwall and letting the Inquisitor be the center of attention among the nobles. She also went to Bran to make sure that the Amell estate would be passed on to Bethany if she wanted it, Charade if she didn’t, and otherwise to keep it out of Gamlen’s hands in case he got another itch to start gambling. Despite the provisional Viscount’s request though she had no interest in taking back her position when he’d managed through the last years without anything blowing up. She had other places to be as the group headed north, feeling like she was putting a significant chapter out of her life.

Meg settled rather happily into things back in Starkhaven. They had a few issues of their own with the tears in the veil and dealing with demons, but had managed to hold together well under their new leadership as she took her part in that. It was a far change from their house back in Lothering that they'd had to flee all those years before, but it was finally somewhere to call home. "Hawke" also became more a thing of the past, something she'd just allow her closest friends to still call her, but otherwise just shook her head whenever someone suggested it was her.

It didn't mean she wouldn't still draw her bow in defense of her people, but it was easier to let the whole "Champion of Kirkwall" fade into legend and focus on her family which was also growing. Eleanor joined her older brother within a year of Meg's return and two years later added the twins Alistair and Esme. The Vaels are definitely a bit chaotic, but Meg wouldn't have it any other way.

## **Relationships**

* **Bethany** - Her sister and best friend. Meg would do absolutely anything for Bethany including threatening to punch Kirkwall's second most powerful Templar just to keep her out of the Circle. She still just wants the best for her and is quick to laugh off any and all suggestions that Bethany and Sebastian are anything other than good friends.
* **Carver -** Meg was far closer to Carver growing up, the two bonding over their lack of magic and expectations being placed on them to protect the mages in the family, eventually going off to join King Cailan's forces together. There is not a day that passes that she doesn't wish she could have done more to save him.
* **Malcolm -** Meg and her father got along for the most part in her childhood. It was when it became obvious that he expected his elder daughter's life to just revolve around protecting her sister and showing little concern for how isolated Meg was feeling that their relationship broke. She does feel a little guilty how relieved she was when he was dead.
* **Leandra** - Her relationship with her mother was a little strained with Leandra having a difficult time after losing Malcolm and again after Carver. The two managed to patch things up and were rather happily living together for a time. Meg misses her a lot and wishes she could have gotten to know her grandchildren.
* **Sebastian -** Her anchor and love of her life. Sebastian is definitely one of the more stabilizing forces in her life and the two are always there to support the other or give them a push when they need it. Sure he's not a pirate captain or a revolutionary apostate looking to shake things up, but he's hers and that's all Meg really wants or needs from him.
* **Varric** - While another of her best friends, the two do occasionally bicker, though most of it involving Varric's usage of Hawke for writing material. She does appreciate though how much of her relationship with Sebastian he's managed to downplay and loyalty to not point out her seemingly very obvious hiding place when the Inquisition was looking for her.
* **Aveline -** Meg will admit Aveline's biggest crime that put them at odds with each other was just caring, wanting to keep Meg out of trouble and the fact that Bethany and Leandra were both quick to more or less adopt her into the family. Things have improved, particularly when the two don't have to share the same city any longer.
* **Anders -** Meg was fully behind the ideals her friend had about freedom for mages though the years in Kirkwall tempered her while it only seemed to push Anders to further extremes. She fully trusted him though up until the point that the Chantry exploded and is still sickened whenever she seems someone treating him like a martyr. Certainly not how he probably expected, but she has seen it on occasion.
* **Fenris -** The two became rather good friends, finding they had similar personalities that played off each other rather well with the sarcasm. She can understand his distrust of mages but hasn't failed to notice his friendship with her sister in more recent years.
* **Isabela -** Meg would say Isabela's disappearance from Kirkwall after the Qunari incident was probably the smartest thing she'd done for their relationship since it gave her more time to forgive without having to see her on a regular basis. She still did the right thing after all even if it did almost get Meg killed trying to protect her.
* **Merrill -** Meg and Merrill could almost not be more different, but it also kind of works for their friendship. Meg still doesn't approve of the blood magic, but she's also seen for the most part that Merrill knows how to handle herself. Meg's unwillingness to just take blame for Merrill's actions though did not go over well with the Clan.
* **Danielle Trevelyan -** Dani is someone she'd be willing to call a friend, trying to be there for the young woman as she was coming into her own as Inquisitor and show her that they're still just people at the end of the day despite the titles and stories. The two still occasionally write and exchange stories about their husbands.
* **Eric Cousland -** Eric is more someone she knows more by reputation than someone she'd consider much more than an acquaintance. Though she does appreciate he doesn't seem to care that she's "Champion of Kirkwall" and seems mostly down to earth.

## **Miscellaneous**

### Significant Items

* Her Locket - Formerly belonging to Leandra, Meg keeps the locket on her during almost all waking hours. Initially it just had a miniature portrait of the Hawkes back when Meg was 13 and the twins were 8. Through her time with the Inquisition it also included a small lock of Theodore's hair. In more recent years the family will occasionally have updated portraits done and she will have a replacement done.
* Bassrath-Kata - A longbow given to her by a Taarbas, she's oddly sentimental over the bow over any of her others. With the exception of her time away during the Inquisition (during which she had Sebastian's family bow as her protection), it is her weapon of choice when needed.

## **Links**

### Reddit Headcanon Threads:

* Nightmare Demon//Non-canon Letter from Varric
* Pet Names

### Reddit Writing prompt Threads:

* Letters from Starkhaven (Bethany and Varric)

## **Gallery**

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