Maisie Hawke

"I can't be a follower anymore...if something is wrong, it's my job to change things"

## Section Header

### Love Interest

Fenris

> "If things aren't good, I have to make them better. I'm done doing what's supposed to be done."
>
>

-Maisie Hawke to Anders shortly before the uprising

**Maisie Hawke** is a Ferelden apostate from the town of Lothering that would eventually become the Champion of Kirkwall. Initially a moderate who supported the Templars when the situation called for it, Maisie eventually came to fight against the injustices of the Circle after the abuses perpetrated by the Order came to light.

## Appearance and Personality

Maisie is a thin, relatively short woman with wild, curly blonde hair which is borderline impossible to tame (that picture of her? An innacurate depiction by an artist that Maisie absolutely hates for getting her hairstyle wrong). She has warm brown eyes and has been described as beautiful by several people.

Maisie is generally a pretty nice person who wants the best for everyone and always does her best to be kind and considerate to others and listen to their points of view. She also has a surprising sense of humor and can be very charming when she wants to be.

Maisie loves being a mage and has never had a problem with mages or with magic, taking great pride in her abilities and using them to help others. Despite this, she reluctantly supports the Circle as the only way for most mages to learn magic safely, since not everyone is as lucky as she was. Once she actually sees how bad the Circles are, this attitude changes, and Maisie turns against the Circle and ends up fighting for mages to enjoy the same freedoms that she always had.

### Talents and Skills

Maisie's fire and frost spells are particularly powerful, and she has an affinity for force magic and a surprising talent for entropy. She has absolutely no talent for healing magic even after some tutoring from Anders, and she won't touch blood magic - she sees it as too dangerous to mess with.

Less seriously, Maisie has a *great* poker face. It's best not to play cards with her if you value having any coin left by the end of it.

## Backstory

Maisie Hawke was born on 25 Harvestmere, 9:06 Dragon to Malcolm and Leandra Hawke, along with her twin brother, Flynn, on a little farm outside of Honnleath, Ferelden. The first few years of her life were rather quiet and uneventful - the family lived on a small farm and were generally very self-sufficient. Her twin siblings Carver and Bethany were born when she was five and life was generally happy.

A year after the birth of her siblings, however, Maisie came into her magic when she, in the process of refusing to eat her cabbage stew, set it on fire. The Hawkes packed up and left Honnleath for Killarney. During the journey, Malcolm explained to Maisie that she was a mage, and that he was going to teach her how to use her magic. He also explained that she must never use it openly outside their home, for there were people called Templars who would take her away from the family if she did. Maisie took his words to heart as she began her studies, and became even more careful about it when Bethany also turned out to be a mage.

Despite having to hide it, Maisie loved being a mage and ate up anything and everything that Malcolm could teach her. She wanted to study more and considered going to the Circle to do so, but knowing that she'd be never be able to leave if she did stopped her from ever acting on that particular desire. It frustrated Maisie to no end that there was no better ways to study magic outside of keeping it hidden like some dirty secret or being locked away in a tower forever.

The family was forced to leave Killarney after a close call with the local Templars and resettled in Elmridge for a few years. There, Maisie let slip to a boy that she had a crush on that she was a mage, and rather than be impressed, he called the Templars, forcing another move and turning Maisie off of romance for a while. After Elmridge was Lothering, where they were finally able to make a permanent home for themselves.

Malcolm Hawke died a few weeks after Maisie's twentieth birthday, leaving her to take up a role as head of the family, a role she took on with grace. When the Blight started, Flynn and Carver enlisted in King Cailan's army while Maisie stayed behind to look after Bethany and Leandra, constantly worrying for the safety of her brothers all the while. She would have gone with them, but the presence of an apostate would have raised awkward questions and there would be Templars there, so she stayed behind.

The brothers soon returned to the family followed by a horde of darkspawn which forced everyone to flee Lothering. They did, running for their lives as the village burned behind them.

## In-game

### Act One

 **The Deep Roads Expedition** | Took Carver - he became a Grey Warden with Anders' help.

### Act Two

 **Side Quests** | Fought the raiders with the guardsmen. Anders did not kill Ella; she was told to flee the Circle. Confronted Cullen with Alrik's plan; his lukewarm reaction turned Maisie against the Templars for good. Helped Aveline woo Donnic. Spared Sabin.

### Act Three

 **Side Quests** | Rescued Nathaniel Howe. Let Zevran go. Reunited Charade and Gamlen. Killed the High Dragon at the Bone Pit. Killed Danarius and got back together with Fenris.

## Relationships

### Carver (Friend)

Maisie's little brother despite being several inches shorter than he is; she knows that he can take care of himself but still worries for him and tries to protect him. The two argue and butt heads from time to time, but at the end of the day, they love each other and care a great deal about each other. Despite the horrible circumstances that led to it, Maisie was extremely proud to see him become a Grey Warden and carve out his own path in the world.

### Varric (Friend)

Maisie was extremely fond of Varric; he was a good guy to hang out with whenever she needed to be cheered up. Despite his tendency to run his mouth, Maisie always felt comfortable talking to him and felt like she could trust him with anything and he'd still have her back. The two formed an extremely close friendship during their time in Kirkwall and keep in touch as often as they can.

### Anders (Friend)

Maisie really liked Anders. She liked what he was doing with the clinic and she admired his passion for wanting to make things better for mages. Their early relationship was punctuated by the occasional disagreement, but it was mitigated by the fact that Maisie thought that he was right about how badly mages were treated in the Gallows. The initial friction between the two smoothed out after Anders helped save Carver's life, and they became very close friends as Maisie started to openly oppose the Circle. It was the friendship that formed between them that led Maisie to spare Anders's life and she continued to help him whenever she could.

### Merrill (Friend)

Maisie liked Merrill's personality well enough, and while the blood magic made her a bit hesitant, she tried not to be judgmental about it. She was actually really curious about the Eluvian and the two spent quite a long time doing research together on how to fix it. Maisie also just found Merrill pleasant and fun to talk too, and she was one of her best friends by the end of everything.

### Isabela (Rival)

Isabela always thought that Maisie was a bit too nice and a bit boring, while Maisie disapproved of Isabela's selfishness and tendency to run away from anything resembling responsibility, as well as her tendency to throw others under the bus for her own benefit. Despite their disagreements, Isabela still came in to save the day during the qunari invasion, which led Maisie to realize that maybe she wasn't as selfish as she thought. She dueled the Arishok one-on-one to save Isabela from the Qunari and years later, Isabela came to realize that she had become a better person with Maisie's influence. The two ended up forming a much more amicable relationship after that.

### Aveline (Friend)

Maisie and Aveline got along well, always being kind and supportive with each other. Maisie helped Aveline cope with her husband's death and later helped her court Donnic, and Aveline was always there to provide a shoulder to cry on when Maisie needed it. Overall, Maisie is proud to consider Kirkwall's Captain of the Guard one of her best friends.

### Fenris (Friend/Love Interest)

Maisie was fascinated and a little intimidated by Fenris when she met him, and they didn't get off to a great start, thanks to Maisie's pride in her magic combined with Fenris's distaste for any magic. Still, Maisie took the effort to get to know him, and realized that there was some baggage there that had led Fenris to act the way he did. She was kind and patient with him, and little by little, they opened up to each other.

Maisie started to fall for him, but didn't really think he would reciprocate because of his hatred of magic, so she was quite surprised when Fenris not only reciprocated, he spent the night with her. Unfortunately, he left the next day, saying that he had had part of his memories come back and that he couldn't stay with her. Maisie was left confused and heartbroken and things were very awkward and confusing between the two for a while, especially since they were both very obviously still interested in each other. Eventually they resumed their friendship as normal despite their unresolved romantic tension.

Then Danarius came to take Fenris back, using his long-lost sister as bait. Maisie refused to let him, which led to a drawn out and *very* bloody fight that pushed her to her limits. She refused to let him kill Varania, as she didn't think it would help. Fenris left, disgusted and angry at everything despite Maisie's reassurance that she was there for him. She went to talk to him soon after, during which he reluctantly thanked her for stopping him from killing his sister. Maisie said that it wasn't a problem and that she'd always be there for him. This led Fenris to admit that he still loved her and that if he could go back to that night, he would have stayed. He then asked Maisie to take him back, saying that he wanted to spend his future with her. Maisie happily reciprocated, and the pair resumed their relationship for good this time. Their love is very solid, based on mutual understanding and a willingness to understand each other and accept each other.

### Sebastian (Friend)

Maisie was never particularly close to the prince, but she found him pleasant enough to talk to and encouraged him to stay with the Chantry if that's what would bring him peace. Unfortunately, their friendship ended when Maisie refused to kill Anders, who had become like a brother to her.

## Other stuff

Maisie's real name is Margaret, but no one has called her that since childhood; Maisie stuck very early on.

She loves to read; it's her primary leisure time activity.

She hates ignorance above all else.

## Conversations and Quotes

"Father really loved you, you know. I know that he couldn't always spend time with you, but the way he looked at you...I think that he would have been proud to see you carve out your place in the world."

-to Carver after *Legacy*

**Maisie:** Being an apostate wasn't all rainbows and puppies, you know. But I never wanted to go to the Circle either. All I've ever wanted was to live my life without fear. To make friends, to be able to trust them with my magic and know they wouldn't betray me. Did Circle mages live in fear like I did?

**Anders:** You have no idea, Hawke. To be under the thumb of the damned Templars knowing that they could kill you or take away everything that makes you who you were at any minute. To be taken away from your family knowing you'd never see them again, to know that even if you did get close to someone, they might be taken away from you at the whim of the Templars. Does that sound like a safe place to you?

**Maisie:** It sounds horrible. I can see why you hated it so much. Do the Templars really think that treating people like that is just? That it's right just because of what we might do?

**Anders:** The things that the Templars are right about would fit into a thimble.

-to Anders after Tranquility

**Maisie:** So what now? Are you going to rat me out to the Templars? How much can I really trust you?

**Fenris:** Sorry, I didn't mean to sound ungrateful. Thank you for your help.

**Carver:** You didn't answer my sister's question. Can we trust you not to betray us?

**Fenris:** You've helped me so far. I won't say anything. You have my assistance, if you wish for it.

**Maisie:** Thanks. Your help will be welcome.

-to Fenris shortly after meeting him

**Maisie:** Did you know anything about this? About what your underlings were doing?

**Cullen:** I admit that Alrik went too far with it, but there's an argument to be made for Tranquility being used more often. Some mages are too dangerous for their powers.

**Maisie:** How could you say that?! Tranquility is the cruelest thing you can do to a person. But wait, mages aren't really people to you! So I guess it's okay for them to be stripped of everything they are!

**Cullen:** I didn't mean it that way.

**Maisie:** Yes you did. I've seen the way you look at the mages here. You'd make them all Tranquil if you thought you could get away with it.

**Cullen:** You are ignorant of the dangers of magic. If you knew what some mages could do...

**Maisie:** Spare me your excuses. I can't believe I ever trusted any of you.

-confronting Cullen after Dissent