Nehna

Under construction

* Distinguishing Features = Dirthamen's vallaslin (reddish); burn marks along her back

### **Personality**

Nehna is a very compassionate and empathetic person. She enjoys the finer things, like wine and partying, and in her free time, she tends to the gardens. She is quick to anger and becomes frustrated easily, though she has developed a mask to hide most of those emotions.

In the events leading up to Dragon Age Inquisition, she is broody and slow to trust others.

### **Talents and Skills**

Gardening; hand to hand combat; fighting; drinking; debating; manipulating others to get what she wants.

## Biography

### **History**

Nehna, born during the time of the Elvhenan, grew up enslaved to Dirthamen. As a result of the favor her mother had garnered before she died, Nehna inherited the task of both the groundskeeper and Dirthamen's Champion, in which she would go out and fight other enslaved elves for the entertainment of the Elvhenan. She begins a slave resistance group and eventually recruits Solas to the cause as she opens his eyes to the horrors of what the Evanuris do.

As their movement grows, so does the danger, which comes to a head when she is summoned to a meeting of the Evanuris and ordered by Dirthamen to kill Mythal. When she refuses and is subsequently outed as a traitor, Dirthamen kills Mythal to hide his own involvement in the resistance. Nehna stabs Dirthamen in the back, severely wounding him, before Solas gets her out of harm's way and to the refuge they've established in the mountains.

Solas tells her to lay low for the time being and tells her of his plan to trick the Evanuris and free the rest of the enslaved elves. She agrees to lay low, but doubt comes in as more time passes, and she decides to take matters into her own hands. Turning to Anaris, she makes a deal with the Forgotten Ones: she'll get them entry into Elvhenan if they promise to free the elves and kill the Evanuris. He agrees, but later forces her into uthenera in retaliation for Solas's trickery, believing her to have set him up.

### **In-game**

Nehna awakes from uthenera, unaware of who and where she is and finds herself locked up in a cage surrounded by Tevinter slavers. Before she has a chance to fully grasp her surroundings, Fenris attacks and kills the slavers, freeing her from her unfortunate fate. Upon learning she has no memory of who she is or where she was going, Fenris takes her under his wing and helps her navigate this new world, teaching her of the history and the plights of the people that live there. She fights alongside him against magisters and slavers, happy with the life she's building in Thedas.

Her partnership with him brings her into Kirkwall, where she begrudgingly assists Hawke and his merry band of misfits. Due to her distrust of magic, she immediately writes off Anders and constantly gets into fights with Hawke over Anders' spiraling mental state.

Following the events of Kirkwall, Hawke sends her to the Conclave and decides it is important to witness the events unfolding, particularly as it relates to the fate of the mages. It is here that she unwittingly interrupts Corypheus's plans and seals her fate as becoming the so-called "Herald of Andraste".

When she encounters Solas and he embraces her, she is taken aback by the apparent stranger's affection. He quickly picks up on her confusion and covers his misstep as being glad to see she is still alive.

She willingly works alongside the Inquisition, quickly learning the delicate powers at play with the help of her Inner Circle and Solas, who helps her navigate the apparent hatred of the people around as a result of her being a "knife-ear".

Her cohort quickly grows as news of the Inquisition's work has spread, and she recruits the Iron Bull, Sera, Vivienne, and Blackwall, most of whom she welcomes with open arms.

When it comes time to choose between allying with the mages or Templars, she struggles to face her own internal biases that she had developed working alongside Fenris. Solas tries to convince her to ally with the mages, heavily emphasizing that while he recognizes her distrust of mages, they have been signed over to servitude. Nehna struggles with that reality and seeks out Varric, whom she has grown close to as a result of their common friend, Fenris. Over drinks, he tells her to go with her gut: who would have her back and who could she trust. She had encountered Fiona and Ser Barris- which one of them could she rely on?

In the end, she chooses to side with the Templars, during which she recovers her memories as a result of Envy trying to tempt her into a deal.

Following these events, she struggles to grasp what is real and what was just a lie, all while coping with the new title of Inquisitor and the looming task of stopping Corypheus. She seeks out Ser Barris's counsel, on a whim and sense that he was someone she could trust to tell truth from fiction. As she gains a clearer picture, she decides to tell Solas she remembers everything up until uthenera. They rekindle what they had, but Nehna begins to doubt who he is and what his intentions truly are.

Nehna begins to distance herself from Solas, only seeking him out when she needs comforting as she realizes she doesn't love him, just the fact she has a past with him. Instead, she chooses to spend her time with Sera, Varric, Bull, Vivienne, and, when he is around, Barris.

When Solas takes her to Crestwood and offers to remove her vallaslin to free her, she rejects his offer and ends things, apologizing for leading him on for so long. From then, she goes out of her way to avoid Solas as the Inquisition closes in on Corypheus.

When Solas leaves without a word following Corypheus's defeat, Nehna is upset, but chooses to ignore such feelings.

Following the events of Trespasser, where she learns of what Solas did after she entered uthenera, Nehna vows to stop him, no matter the cost. Upon returning to the Skyhold after the events of the Exalted Council and the dissolving of the Inquisition, Nehna falls into a depression as she feels guilty for putting her trust in a man that had managed to deceive her and use her. Barris, whom she had a relationship with tries to console her, but she is dismissive of his actions. In the middle of the night, she disappears without a word.

### **Post-game**

Nehna goes off-grid for a year, drinking herself into oblivion to deal with her emotions. Solas tracks her down to explain himself, but leverage's Barris, whom he had captured, to ensure Nehna heard him out.

### Reddit Headcanon Threads:

* *What tarot card best represents your character? Would it change depending on their love interest? What events, in general, would change it?*
* Friendships and Proficiency

* Cultural Differences and Silent Love

* Themes and Shipping OCs
* Quotes, Tactics, and Principles

### Reddit Writing prompt Threads:

* *Something that was lost but now regained, regret, a wish, a window, touch.*

* *Sea sick, tattered banners, yellow, broken lantern*

* Memories
* Freeform
* *A smear of  dirt, heat, stained lips*
* Facing Fears
* Prompt 4 *"Is that my shirt?"* Prompt 5 *"People are dying because of me"*
* Halloween Prompt

## **Gallery**

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