#(the ballad of cathain is a reference to the witchblade tv series from 2001. that's where I got her name from. it's also an actual song!)

[haledamage]

6-8 of essentials and the protagonist specific questions for cait!

Essentials:

6. Do they have a preferred weapon they always use?

daggers! my girl is made of knives. she's always carrying at least four more knives than you can see on her, and trying to disarm her can become absolutely comical

she learns how to fight with a sword and shield after being a Warden for a few years, and I like the idea of her eventually switching classes to warrior, but I don't think she'd ever stop being a knife lady.

7. How do they dress in their downtime, while fighting, in formal settings, etc.?

answered here!

8. Do they have any notable scars, markings, tattoos, etc.?

answered here!

Protagonist-Specific Questions for DA: Origins:

under the cut because it got a bit long 😅

1. What was your Warden’s origin like? What happened and how did it affect them?

she's a Cousland, so her origin was... bad. she was really close to all of her family, and Duncan had to literally drag her away from Highever to prevent her from dying with them

she dealt with her grief by being very angry at everything. I tend to compare her to a wildfire in Origins, burning herself out and trying to take everyone else with her. she was angry, and bitter, and had a bit of a death wish but somehow kept surviving everything thrown at her

2. How did they feel about being recruited into the Grey Wardens? What were Ostagar and the Korcari Wilds like for them?

bitter! Cait didn't have any illusions about her recruitment. Duncan didn't "save" her, he just offered her a different way to die

her memories of Ostagar are dark, but she has trouble differentiating if that's because of what happened there or the circumstances that brought her there. she wanted to wallow in her grief, or just blindly throw herself into a fight she couldn't win, but Duncan kept finding chores and errands she needed to do instead... (much, much later, she recognizes what he was trying to do, and appreciates it. he saved her life in more ways than one)

3. What did they think of King Cailan and Duncan? How did they react to their deaths?

she wasn't feeling especially charitable at the time, so she thought Cailan was an idiot and Duncan was a busybody who should've just left her alone

later, she understands Duncan better, why he made the choices he did and what he was trying to do for her, and she comes to appreciate and respect him (far too late)

but her opinion of Cailan remains... uncharitable. she thinks Cailan was naive, and overly cocky. he should've listened to Loghain, or Duncan, or both. he didn't see the big picture and was more concerned with his own personal glory and what was happening in the moment, and that got him and a lot of other people killed

4. How bad are their nightmares as a Warden? What do they think of the Calling?

she has nightmares almost every night, but they aren't all due to being a Warden. she just has a lot of Trauma. she's lucky, at least, that she doesn't often remember her dreams, she just frequently wakes up terrified in the middle of the night

Cait thinks the Calling is stupid and unnecessary. Wardens have known about the side effects of the Joining for centuries, they haven't figured out a way around it? why make recruits undergo the Joining at all, unless there's a Blight? why keep everything a secret?

between the Architect's experiments that freed some darkspawn from the Archdemon's call, and Avernus surviving centuries without losing his mind to the Calling, and with Corypheus creating a false Calling, Cait is determined to find a cure for the taint and save herself and the people she loves from ever having to take that walk

5. What did they think of Flemeth?

answered here!

6. What did they name their Mabari?

his name is Byron! I originally picked this name because I thought Caitie would want to give her dog a fancy name because he's nobility just as much as she is

but then I learned that there's actually a Byron Howe who fought alongside Maric and Loghain in the rebellion, so I decided that she just really likes war stories and named him after a hero (not realizing that she would grow up to be friends with Loghain and also with one of Byron's descendants)

7. Did they do much in Lothering, or pass right through? How did they feel about its destruction?

she did all the quests because I'm a completionist, but also because she wanted to help people as much as she could. she feels terrible that she wasn't able to do more, and that most if not all of those people died anyway. just another thing to feel guilty about

8. How does your Warden feel about Loghain painting the Wardens as traitors?

honestly, she would've done the same in his shoes. it's a smart play. she uses it to her advantage when she can, and tries to ignore it when she can't.

otherwise, she's not really bothered by it; she knows the truth of it, and she knows Loghain, paranoid as he is, is terrified of the day his lies come to light. she forges that into another weapon that she eventually turns against him

9. At the Circle, did they side with Cullen or save the mages?

saved the mages. killing a bunch of people because a couple of them might, someday, be demons? absolutely not

10. What was their nightmare in the Fade during Broken Circle?

answered here!

11. What do they think about Andraste’s ashes and the cult? Do they keep any of the ashes after healing Arl Eamon?

cults are crazy and do crazy things ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ she thought Haven was creepy, but the cult itself didn't bother her so much.

the ashes themselves, and the gauntlet to get to them, were another story. they gave her... not a crisis of faith, exactly, but something like it. she found the whole thing very moving, and inspiring

but she didn't keep any of the ashes after healing Eamon. it felt disrespectful to carry around a piece of a dead woman, no matter how important or powerful said dead woman was

12. How did they react to seeing a loved one at the Temple of Sacred Ashes?

that was the first time she cried about her family's murders. she broke down completely, and begged her father's ghost for forgiveness

13. Did they help protect Redcliffe? What happened to Connor? How did they deal with Jowan?

she didn't hesitate to help protect Redcliffe, and managed to get through it without losing anyone.

in her canons that have her as the only Warden, she brings in the mages to save Conner and I think convinced Morrigan to go into the Fade. and she tried to convince Jowan to leave and save himself, but he stayed to try and help

in her canon where Carah Amell is there too, Carah's the one that goes into the Fade, and Carah convinces Jowan to travel with them because they're besties

14. How did they resolve the conflict in the Brecilian Forest? Did they side with the werewolves, the elves, or did they reach a truce?

Cait talked the werewolves and elves into compromising, everyone lives happily ever after. except the Lady of the Forest and Zathrian, I guess

15. Who rules Orzammar, Bhelen or Harrowmont? How did your Warden make their decision?

answered here!

16. Did they support Caridin or Branka in the Deep Roads? What happened to the Anvil?

she supported Caridan, and destroyed the Anvil. the mistakes of the past don't need to be repeated

17. What did they think of Anora? How did they feel about her betraying them?

answered here!

18. If they were captured, did the Warden and Alistair escape on their own, or did someone help rescue them?

I've done it both ways, but I think in my canon versions I always have the others rescue them. because shenanigans

19. What was the outcome of the Landsmeet? Whose claim for the throne did they support and why?

Cait won the debate, and then she dueled and ultimately defeated Loghain. in 2 out of her 3 "canons", she convinces Anora and Alistair to get married, and recruits Loghain into the Wardens. in her 3rd canon, Anora rules alone and she recruits Loghain

20. How did they deal with Loghain?

answered here!

21. Did your Warden survive the events of the Fifth Blight? Did someone make the ultimate sacrifice, or was Morrigan’s ritual performed?

Cait convinced Loghain (somehow, she still has no idea how) to perform the ritual with Morrigan, so none of the Wardens died killing the Archdemon. except poor Riordan

22. If your Warden survived, did they continue to serve the Grey Wardens? What is their life like after the Blight?

she continued to serve the Grey Wardens until the events of Inquisition. in the canon where she and Carah are both recruited, Carah becomes Warden-Commander and Cait is her second in command and eventually promoted to Warden-Constable. in canons where she's the only one, she becomes Warden-Commander

in the time between Awakening and Inquisition, her life is pretty quiet actually. she trains new recruits, she helps Anora keep the nobility in line, she probably gets married (when varies wildly depending on which canon we're talking about), and she starts researched a cure for the taint and the Calling

23. If your Warden survived and remained a Warden, what boon did they ask of the new ruler of Ferelden?

she becomes Chancellor to the Queen (or King and Queen, depending), though I do sometimes wish I'd had her made Teyrna of Gwaren (even though she has zero interest in more titles thank you) because of the potential for shenanigans

24. What gifts would raise their approval rating if they were a companion?

I feel like her big plot-specific gift would be a dagger of some time. one with the Cousland crest on it, maybe? or a copy of The Ballad of Cathain, which is the story about the warrior woman she was named after

for more general gifts... knives, and more knives, and also any of the maps that are technically Loghain-gifts

25. How did your Warden resolve Warden’s Keep? Stone Prisoner? The Golems of Amgarrak?

answered here!

26. What happened at the end of Witch Hunt? Did your Warden allow Morrigan to go through the Eluvian?

she let Morrigan leave. she only undertook the hunt for her because she wanted to make sure her friend was okay. though she is disappointed she didn't get to meet Kieran (until much, much later, post-Inquisition)

27. Did the warden you used for Awakening kill the Architect or spare him? What happened to Amaranthine and Vigil’s Keep?

she ultimately ended up sparing him, though she still isn't sure if it was the right decision

Amaranthine and Vigil's Keep both survived the battle fairly unscathed. the Keep was reinforced and rebuilt to within an inch of its life, and she and her team went to Amaranthine to protect it

#cait cousland #(the ballad of cathain is a reference to the witchblade tv series from 2001. that's where I got her name from. it's also an actual song!)