Mahanon Lavellan

**Mahanon Lavellan** is Evangeline Trevelyan's lifelong friend and a later addition to the Skyhold Academy collective.

#### Background

As a little boy in Ostwick, Non became the devoted companion of Evvy and, through her, also a close friend of her older brother Nathaniel, despite the age gap. He was unexpectedly orphaned around the age of eleven, and because of his closeness to their two youngest children, Bann and Lady Trevelyan brought him to live at their home and have referred to him as their "extra son" ever since. Non remains deeply attached to the Trevelyan clan as a whole and to Evvy and Nat in particular. His pet name for Evvy, "little lady," refers both to the fact that she is the youngest Trevelyan daughter and that they met as very small children - hence, she was a genuinely little lady at the time.

He doesn't much like talking about the circumstances of losing his parents, though if he does mention them it's always with fondness. In essence it was a burglary gone wrong; they weren't the ones being robbed, but rather were struck and killed by the getaway car. This naturally had a profound and life-altering effect on the otherwise good-humored young man. In all aspects of life he enjoys being a playful troll, but when it comes to his career in law enforcement, he's as serious as can be. His official title is detective, but his actual skills are a little harder to pin down; if asked, he likes to say that he wanted to be Sherlock Holmes when he grew up, and got as close to it as possible.

#### In The Stories

After Evvy takes her temporary assignment at the school in the mountains, she and Non are by necessity kept apart for quite some time, though they communicate frequently through email and text message. It doesn't take him long to figure out that she's (in his words) "desperately in love" with Cullen Rutherford, and quickly grows to approve of the other man as being good enough for his beloved "little lady." They unexpectedly run into him during the staff outing at the Fade nightclub during Wintersend break in the first story, and Non is almost instantly smitten with Cassandra Pentaghast. Evvy dryly observes that he's always been attracted to women who could kill him. He and the Nevarran lady begin a long-distance relationship, and once Cullen and Evvy get themselves sorted out, the four occasionally double-date when Non is able to get away from work for a visit. Nothing in the world could keep him from being at their wedding near the end of the story, where he and Dorian Pavus share the duty of giving away their mutual adoptive sister; he and the bride share a sweet moment in which they reaffirm that they will always be important to one another.

Non returns intermittently over the next few stories, delighting in surprising both Evvy and Cass whenever he's able to show up without warning. He and Varric Tethras become cronies, as both are natural troublemakers with hearts of gold, and enjoy hatching ridiculous plots together. This lends itself nicely to the surprise wedding plan in *Disorienuptials*, and everyone is overjoyed to welcome Non to the Skyhold family officially. Despite this, he and Cass continue to have a long-distance relationship because of his job, though after they're able to formally adopt their son Anthony, Non finds himself hating the distance more and more. After a long talk with his old friend Nat, he is able to take early retirement, remaining a consultant to the Ostwick police force but living with his family full time, and becomes a criminal justice instructor at the Redcliffe campus of the new Ferelden Community College system.

#### In-Universe Trivia

* He and Evvy are approximately the same age; he's roughly seven months older. They have been friends since they were four years old.
* He and Evvy do not describe themselves as best friends; she considers Dorian to be her best friend and Mahanon considers her brother Nathaniel to be his. Rather, Evvy calls Non "my other self or something," and he is inclined to agree.
* Even he does not know how many middle names his wife actually has.
* He is one of the five members of Skyhold's 'aging boy band' who perform at various school events.
* The only time anyone at Skyhold has ever seen him get angry is when he was informed of Evvy's abduction. In his own words, "it really *pisses me off* to think she's out there somewhere scared out of her mind."
* He enjoys participating in Varric's tabletop gaming campaigns; since Cassandra effectively plays the guard-captain from Varric's novel *Swords and Shields*, he plays a variant of the character with whom the guard-captain falls in love.

#### Meta Trivia

* He is based on and shares a name with the male elf Inquisitor in *Dragon Age: Inquisition*.
* He was not created by either Lady Norbert or AuroraBorealia; rather, he is the invention of Lady Norbert's best friend, who begged to have him included in these stories. The surprise wedding in *Disorienuptials* was in fact written as a surprise for *her*.