Nicholas Hawke

"Brother Stabbity"

*"Who lives, who dies, who tells your story?"*

--Lin-Manuel Miranda, *Hamilton*

The blood smear across the nose is kind of gross, though. Nicky isn't into it.

### **Personality**

Charming, sarcastic, impossible to be angry with for long (unless you're Meredith). He's utterly devoted to his family, even though he doesn't always think they appreciate him. Total oldest child: he always thinks he should be...*more...*but is resigned to just getting through the day.

### **Talents and Skills**

He's good with his knives, yes, but better with his wits. He can also do this thing with his tongue that...you know what, never mind, let's not go there.

Um. He's a little jealous that Tallis got the nickname Shivs from Varric, because that should have been his.

## Biography

### **In-game**

The usual. Befriended everybody but Anders. Defeated the Arishok through pure stamina, running around and lobbing knockout bombs at him
periodically so he could get in with the stabby-stabby. Comedy gold. He asked Varric to make it sound sexier in the retelling.

He starts out vaguely pro-Circle, because Bethany confides in him that she feels so lonely, having to hide from the world, from her magic. At least the Circles let mages learn from each other and build friendships, right? He's gradually disenchanted with the Circle system, though, over the course of the game as he sees its many abuses in Kirkwall. He can't stand Anders personally, but thinks the guy kind of has a point.

Headcanon divergence moment regarding said renegade mage, incidentally: Hawke refuses to kill Anders after the Chantry explosion, on the grounds that (a) he's not qualified to be judge, jury, and executioner, (b) he's not gonna be responsible for making the guy into a martyr, and (c) even if he were, he wouldn't stab him in the back, because that's just tacky. Sebastian is pissed initially but comes around when Aveline's guards show up to take Anders into custody until he can be properly tried by an actual legal system. In the end, Anders was taken by Chantry authorities to be tried at the Conclave, so it's extremely likely that he died in the explosion. But, you know, DA. Hard to tell.

### **Post-game**

Outline:

* Goes to Starkhaven for a while to lay low under Sebastian's protection w/Fenris

* Attempts to keep a low profile, which turns out to be difficult when (a) your BFF wrote a book about you and (b) your partner has very distinctive glowy magic tattoos
* Fights lots of slavers
* Meets up with Inquisitor Pen Trevelyan at Skyhold to help the Inquisition against Corypheus...but I have some headcanon divergence about how exactly that went down.
	+ I don't care *what* the game says, there's no *way* he could have left Fenris behind. He tried, for the protective reasons given in-game, but if you think Fenris was going to put up with that, you have another think coming. He showed up at Skyhold a couple days later, rolling his eyes at Hawke's idiocy.
	+ He's been teaching Bethany knife-fighting so it's not completely obvious to everyone that she's a mage while they've been on the lam. She accompanies Fenris to Skyhold.
	+ And honestly, do you think those two are going to let him get away with a Heroic Sacrifice while they're alive and kicking? Sorry, Stroud, my man, you get to distract Nightmare.

## **Relationships**

#### The Hawke Family

**Leandra:** You know, years later he was still bitter that Mom blamed him for Carver's death, but he would have done anything for her, and he's going to beat himself up for the rest of his life that he couldn't save her from Quentin.

**Gamlen:** "I guess I don't have to ask which of you's the girl" STFU FOREVER GAMLEN

**Bethany:** Hawke is tremendously protective of Bethany, and while he was terrified for her safety at the Kirkwall Circle, he knew she appreciated not having that dread of *what could happen* hanging over her. He has trouble viewing her as an adult sometimes, but that's because he remembers when she and Carver were four years old and splashing in mud puddles.

**Carver:** That damn ogre. Beating down his little brother is *Hawke's* job, and unlike the freaking darkspawn, Hawke would have known when to stop. He revisits that moment in his nightmares a lot.

#### The Companions

**Varric:** Ah, Varric of the dashing charm and the sadly unattainable chest hair. Bros for life.

**Anders:** Hawke flirted with Anders a little bit at the beginning because hey, he was cute and he indicated he was into guys, but their relationship deteriorated over time. Anders was getting kind of weird and clingy (read: unreciprocated rivalmance), and Hawke tried to distance himself from the increasingly unstable mage. He wasn't enough of an alchemist to know that Anders had him collecting bomb ingredients, but put things together when asked to cause a distraction at the Chantry and noped right out of that shit.

**Merrill:** Hawke made it clear that he was weirded out by her blood magic thing, but you know, she was a grown-ass woman and she needed to figure that out for herself.

**Isabela:** If Hawke ever fell for a woman, it would have been Isabela. The lovin' would be freaky, uninhibited, and sporadic between adventures in far-flung places. But as it is, Isabela has had to settle for camaraderie and bonding over pretty daggers.

**Fenris:** The love of his life. If asked when he fell for Fenris, Hawke would say it was the second he heard that warm, gravelly voice, but the attraction runs deeper than that. Hawke loves Fenris's courage and tenacity, his willingness to draw boundaries and assert who he is (and who he is *not*) in the face of a world that has tried to erase his selfhood. #teamfriendmance

**Sebastian:** Hawke liked him well enough--I mean, the man knows what to do with a longbow--but got increasingly eye-rolly (on the inside) at his waffling over whether to stick with the Chantry or go home again. Hawke was like, "you do you, my man, if the religious life fulfills you, get that," but wasn't surprised in the end when Sebastian went home to Starkhaven. He only hoped that whoever Sebastian ultimately married and had a passel of good Maker-fearing Starkhaven heirs with wouldn't have to listen to him reminisce wistfully about his days in the cloister all the time.

## **Miscellaneous**

**Likes:**

* rainy days by a fireplace

* cheesy pick-up lines

* the way people shout, "HAWKE!!!!!" when he walks into the Hanged Man

* when Fenris says no to something, because that means he feels safe

* Havoc the Enthusiastic Mabari

**Dislikes:**

* people who repeat the same joke over and over

* Orlesian parties with tiny sandwiches

* being unappreciated

* spiders, of course

* Enchantment Soup