Renan Lavellan

"None of this shit should've happened."

Renan Lavellan is a Dalish rogue with a penchant for The People and a hell of a resting bitch face.

## Overview

### **Physical Appearance**

   It is highly likely Ren will develop wrinkles before she reaches thirty because of the permanent scowl fixed on her face. When she’s thinking, when she’s tired, when she’s hungry, when she’s peeing. Same furrowed brow, same deadpan expression. Chalk it up to decades of being surrounded by incompetence.
Fair, with wide eyes and dark brown hair, Ren was given Mythal’s vallaslin when she was eighteen years old. Ironically, the blood writing did not take well. While it anchored in the faces of her friends, it faded and patched on her over the course of a year until it was very fair. It was there, but slight in its color. At the time, her Keeper was unsure if this meant that she had angered Mythal in some way or not. Later in her life, she would muse on the irony. But at the time, she felt maligned and ashamed, like something was wrong with her by default.

### **Personality**

With her Clan Lavellan being an exception, Ren is uneasy around most. Growing up with little human interaction, it was easy to develop a distrust of them in general. She has a clear bias for her people and feels a sense of communion with ancient elven ruins, artifacts and history. The few times she has displayed wonder, joy and emotion around her companions often are related to that. The Temple of Mythal, the Crossroads, even the morbidity of Din'an Hanin were all incredibly impactful to her. However, she does feel a kinship to dwarves, mages, and other maligned minority groups.
Her brother had a love affair with magic and even though she herself was not a mage, his enthusiasm became important to her. In that way, she has always had a place of honor in her heart for mages and feels strongly about their plight in Thedas. Because the Dalish do not operate within the confines of a Circle, she struggles to understand the human institutions that govern magic and the removal of children from their families. In this regard, she often sees herself as an apostate-sympathizer, rather than someone that wants to see the Circle rebuilt. In regards to magic and how it is governed, she often defers to those like Fiona, Morrigan and Solas for guidance, rather than Vivienne.

### **Talents and Skills**

Renan Lavellan makes a shitty cup of tea but she is a damn good marksman. While she does not speak Elhven fluently, she has incredible (one might say indomitable) focus regarding things she is passionate about and she has worked hard to learn as much as possible. While brash, she has a keen intellect that her companions respect and she has yet to a lose a game of chess, much to Cullen's chagrin. However, she has yet to play against Solas because she does not want that embarrassment. She heard what Blackwall said and she has no interest in walking back to her quarters with a bucket for her bits.

## Biography

* Storm Coast
* Leaving the Council

### **History**

Her mother died when she was barely a child and her father left the Clan when she was fourteen, leaving her the primary caretaker of her younger brother. Her father told her that it was because the Keeper rejected his encouragement to seek out ancient knowledge, in ruins and artifacts. He said he would travel and find them himself and bring what he found back, but he never returned. Although the Clan parented them both, she saw herself as responsible for her brother. She never forgave her father and eventually, she grew to hate him. There was a part of her that wanted to use the Inquisition’s resources to find him, just to show him exactly how powerful she had become, to demonstrate how easy it would be now to cause him harm. Luckily, her friends curbed some of these darker impulses. Some.

### **In-game**

   When Renan arrived in Haven, she was wary toward the Chantry and other founding members of the Inquisition. It was, after all, a shem organization that had imprisoned her, falsely accused her, and then rallied her as the Herald of Andraste when it was convenient. After a time, she grew to respect Cassandra immensely, and trust in the counsel of Leliana and Josephine. Cullen, however, she never warmed to. Probably on purpose.

Allying with the Mages allowed Renan to approach their plight with some power and vehicle to affect changed. When they stormed Adament Fortress and prevented the Grey Wardens from their desperate acts of blood magic, she immediately banished them.
After this, the Inquisition was welcomed at Halamshiral for the Peace Talks. Renan did what she could to secure Briala up power, using any evidence against even her as ammunition to execute Gaspard. In her dealings with Orlais, she was unapologetically pro-elf and did what what necessary. Despise her advisors warnings, she was not cordial with the nobility and was openly antagonistic to anyone that was rude to the elf servants. Her rage boiled over toward the end of the night when she executed Florianne in the middle of the Winter Palace ballroom floor. It ruined her dress.
When they found the Temple of Mythal, Ren was overcome with both joy and grief at what they were seeing. It was a difficult excursion for her but she felt a sense of pride and connection to The People as she completed the rituals. When they found the Sentinels, she allied with them without question. Regarding The Well of Sorrows, it was not a difficult decision. Despite the protestations of both Solas and her companions, she took what she felt was a power meant only the The People, not a human mage.
When the Exalted Council became a power to contend with, Renan traveled to Orlais with the Inquisition. The time spent in the Crossroads was difficult for Renan and it was the only time her companions ever saw her weep openly. As they continued to travel through the Eluvians, Renan discovered the truth of the ever mysterious Fen'Harel but kept that from her companions at the time. When she confronted Solas and he did not bend in his decision to tear down the Veil, she saw little other choice but to tell him he would need to be stopped. Although, this was a painful exchange because of both their personal history and Renan's own actions as Inquisitor, often excusing violence for the sake of the elves. It would be something she ruminated on for years to come and something Solas pointedly emphasized in her.

### **Post-game**

   After the events of Trespasser and disbanding the Inquisition, Renan took the cue from Varric and immediately moved to Kirkwall. There she spent her time offering any information she could about her people, elf history and lore, and using whatever Dreamer contact Solas initiated to try to find more information about his plans or where he was to aid the resistance against him.

## **Relationships**

**Cole**
Cole is cherished by Ren, as he reminds her of her younger brother. Though he was shown to be gifted with magic at a young age, he died unexpectedly when he was fourteen. Curious, kind and simple, Cole feels similar to her. His happiness matters more to her than anyone else and his spiritual nature both excites and burdens her. While she loves how unique he is, it often stings her to see Cole without a friend that fully understands him because of that uniqueness. He will always be a little lonely and that is a source of pain for her. As often as she cans, she tries to encourage him to use his gift with others around Skyhold and often takes him with her when she travels so he might feel useful in that way and offer his special care to those that need it most. After the Exalted Council, when Cole went back to the Fade, Renan cried a great deal and often missed him. Sometimes she wonders if he can feel her pain from the Fade and if he comes back to her to offer comfort and compassion, as he used to so often do.

**Dorian**
Her overconfident, overdramatic, overzealous best friend. Though Dorian has his own complexities when it comes to relationships, there is a kinship between them that stems from their mutually poor coping mechanism: Dorian uses sarcasm and wit to detract from emotionally complicated situations, Ren often tries to reject them entirely and buries them beneath her tiny bare feet. They both lack emotional maturity and recognize that in themselves. Ergo, best friends. It helps that Dorian makes her laugh when no one else can. Most days, she would find her friend reading in the rotunda and would argue with him about Tevinter politics, slavery, relgion, magic and the elves in general. It often ended with a good laugh and a cold drink at Herald’s Rest. Whenever the Inquisition sent her somewhere, she would bring Dorian. It was a comfort, hearing his snark from the other tent in camp, listening to him argue with Solas about every little damn thing, and his reticent affection for Bull was something she always felt warm feelings over.  ​​​​​

**Sera**
Meeting Sera was exciting for Ren because there was an immediate attraction. Sera was wild, Sera was a little bit of an asshole, Sera was unapologetically herself. It was easy for her to get under Ren’s skin and endear herself quickly. However, the closer they got, the more she realized that there was no future with Sera. Ren was an "elfy-elf" and she didn’t intend to change that. Sera took offense to her desire to use any power she had as Inquisitor to help The People, it often prompted arguments. Things were thrown out the window, a bow was broken at one point, and pride cookies couldn’t solve it. While Ren did not have a religious devotion to the Creators, she put elves first in the decisions she made for the Inquisition and Sera could never really accept the tunnel-vision focus in which she did so. Any potential for a relationship was buried quickly under those ideological differences. There will always be a tinge of regret for her when it comes to Sera. That was an ulterior life that could have ended differently, with less tragedy and more cookies. There would be flirting, there would always be borderline drunken kisses in Kirkwall when she came to visit, but Sera would never go far enough to take the plunge of a relationship with Ren and it was something she had come to accept and move on from.

**Solas**

    Ren’s relationship with Solas started as a life raft, the only other elf in the Inquisition. Immediately upon being introduced, she felt a kinship that comes from being a minority in a human institution. When they arrived in Haven, Varric, Solas (and eventually Dorian) were usually the companions she sought most. Varric for a laugh and a good story, Dorian for a friend, and Solas for wisdom and insight. While they often argued, there was mutual respect in their disagreements and they became good friends very quickly. While it was clear to her that the apostate was openly flirtatious with her, it was not until they had reached Skyhold that she herself felt that was foundational of something. It became apparent to her that his perspective and personality were complimentary to hers. She would make decisions for the Inquisition that, usually, he was in agreement with and would support. Naturally, that kind of compatibility often breeds a relationship and when that began, she was reticent. When her initial casualness was not reciprocated and it seemed to her that the apostate was approaching the relationship with an intensity that was unexpected, she took a step back. But in time she opened up found in him a trusted ally, friend, and the source of love and affection. Well, for a time. When it ended it abruptly, Ren dealt with a significant amount of anger, confusion and a sense of betrayal. When he disappeared, she screamed at Leliana to use the resources necassary to find him and to deviate whatever they had to, but this was appropriately rejected by the spymaster. In that regard, she felt she would never get the closure she craved. After the events of the Exalted Council, she did her best to detach herself from his fate as she could offer nothing to the resistance and because he had rejected her pleas to change. Any contact he appeared to initiate in dreams left her feeling vulnerable and made the mourning process of a once-trusted friend more difficult.

**Hawke**

After the events of the Exalted Council, Renan experienced a kind of dysphoria with her own people. With elves joining the forces of Fen'Harel in droves and a sense of distrust of her in general breeding in Thedas' circles, she moved to Kirkwall and remained enclosed for a period of time. Varric would often visit, introducing her to his own friends, keeping her spirits up as best he could. Eventually, Hawke would make an appearance and offer understanding and consolation. Because of his previous relationship with Anders, he intimately understood the feelings of betrayal and rage that shadowed her. Hawke was entirely opposite to everything she had understood and grown comfortable with in life: he was human and was far removed from both her way of life and the culture of her people. Before the events of the Exalted Council, she would have found his human-ness something that she could not connect with. But now, there was a kind of comfort in how different he was. He helped her to see the world through the lens of people as people, rather than separating them into race. Sleep became easier, her dreams less intrusive, and the feeling of hopelessness that Solas' left behind began to fade. Eventually, they joined the resistance in Thedas and she found a sense of purpose again, fighting for *all people* this time.

**Cassandra**
They differ so much it is almost comical. The Seeker, strong in her faith, often takes offense to Ren’s lack of tact when it comes to the Chantry and the Maker. As Cassandra is devout and Ren is not religious, it is often a subject of contention. Cassandra wants to repair institutions, while Ren wants to rip them all down and start over. However, Cassandra is one of the few devout humans that has both earned her respect and admiration. Despite her own personal feelings on the Chantry, Ren often defers to Cassandra’s judgement when it comes to related matters. The Seeker has instilled in her a humility to recognize that when it comes to Andrastian matters, then maybe a Dalish elf should ask for wisdom from someone who may have more insight into what is best for its future.

**Varric**

Varric is one of the few people that Renan can relax around and quiet herself, no need for debate or argument. She enjoys spending time with him and playing Wicked Grace in Herald's Rest or listening to his (sometimes true) stories about Kirkwall. When she would eventually move to Kirkwall, Varric would check in on her regularly. His nickname for her was "Sunshine" for obvious reasons. She was not, indeed, a ray of sunshine. At all.

**Iron Bull**

The Iron Bull was someone that Renan immediately liked and he has yet to do a damn thing to make her think otherwise.

## **Miscellaneous**

Renan has a bow that she fashioned herself from the trees that bordered her Clan and though other weapons may have better agility and strength, she never parts with it. Even though she no longer has the use of her arm, the bow remains in her position as a reminder of the family she once had.

When Clan Lavellan was decimated and wiped out, Renan did not leave her tower for several days. She always felt that the humans would find a way to blame elves, no matter what she did, and the murder of her Clan only hardened her heart towards others.

There were very few members of the Inquisition that ever saw Ren cry: Dorian, Solas and Cole.
Because her vallaslin was so fair, Renan often felt afraid to approach other Dalish clans and often wished that she could undergo the blood writing process again.

Renan is a lightweight but likes to think she isn't. Hawke has carried her from The Hanged Man on several occasions but she still insists she can hold her liquor because she's a prideful dumpsterfire.

## **Gallery**

* Exalted Council
* Defeating Corypheus
* Here Lies The Abyss
* Judgment Day
* Deep Roads
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