Inquisitor Lera Trevelyan is a bold and headstrong archer raised in Ostwick. She's been rebellious and spirited ever since she was a young girl, and that aspect of her personality has led her to a severe distaste for nobles and aristocracy, despite being a noblewoman herself. Lera is a voracious learner, always looking to learn as much as she can about almost any subject purely because she enjoys it, though her knowledge and intelligence are very useful during her tenure as leader of the Inquisition.
Overview[]
Physical Appearance[]
Lera has jet black hair like the rest of her family, which she keeps at a length slightly below her collarbones and normally wears in a high and tight bun. She was born with icy blue eyes, also like her family, but upon receiving the anchor at the Divine Conclave in 9:41 Dragon they became a pale but rich shade of green. After Solas removes the anchor, her eyes begin to slowly fade back into blue, a process which takes place over a few years. She has high cheekbones and a gaunt facial structure. Her eyebrows are very sharp and thin, making them one of her more prominent features.
A small scar about an inch long intersects her left eyebrow. The scar was earned after Lera foolishly decided to walk around the Trevelyan manor at night without a candle and slammed face first into an armoire when she was 14. Two years later, she got a decorative tattoo around the same eyebrow, a rebellious act meant to infuriate her parents as well as distract from the scar.
Lera is of a slim and athletic build, but not without curves. She stands at about 5'7" or 170 cm and has significant muscle definition as a result of the active lifestyle she's had since she was a teenager.
Personality[]
Lera has had a personality that could be described as "high octane" for most of her life. She is a woman marked by extremes with very little subtlety or ambiguity in the way she behaves. While she grew up a normal little girl for the first ten or so years of her life, she developed a very rebellious attitude toward her family and a contrarian stance on the Chantry around the time she entered puberty. As a young woman, the knowledge that a certain action would upset or anger her parents was normally enough to motivate her to take that action. This came about after her oldest brother, Osbert Trevelyan, ceased to be the friendly and jovial friend she knew and loved and was slowly turned into a boring noble by her demanding parents. Her spirited nature led her to develop an increasingly strained relationship with her family, and fights between Lera and her mother were very common.
As Inquisitor, Lera is fearless, cunning, and bold. She spends very little time worrying about problems, and as much time as possible fixing them. While her confidence is certainly admirable, it can be a detriment to her objectivity and flexibility as a leader since she tends to make decisions quickly and without looking back. It would be fair to say that she is at times overconfident, something that becomes problematic on the rare (according to her) occasion that she is ever wrong about something. Blackwall once described her as "stubborn as an ox, and just as strong." In her romantic relationships, most notably with Blackwall, Lera can be incredibly naggy. Specific to Blackwall, she is very strict that he maintain a healthy diet, often forcing him to eat salads, which he hates but goes along with to keep her happy. Blackwall tells her that he loves salad, which she believes because it means she's right, but is actually miserable whenever he has to eat one and often tries to surreptitiously feed them to the horses by the barn.
As a judge, Lera is practical but not merciful, often recruiting enemies of the Inquisition if they are of better use to her as a subordinate than as a corpse or a prisoner. Her harsh pragmatism is often displayed through the decisions she makes out in the field, such as allowing Empress Celene to be assassinated and sacrificing the Bull's Chargers to secure an alliance with the Qunari. In most cases, Lera is the type to shoot first and ask questions later.
Lera has little patience for those she does not respect, which means she has little patience for most people as a result of the almost impossibly high standards she has for others. Her lack of respect for others usually stems from perceived weakness or lack of will on their part. This aspect of her relational skills is a result of the strength and tenacity she managed to give herself after some difficult times she faced in her late teens. All of this means she can be a very difficult person to please, but for those who manage to curry her favor, she is a loyal friend and a fierce ally. Despite her tough exterior and hard to please nature, Lera has a pronounced sense of humor and is often willing to joke about any subject, no matter how serious. Her jokes often come at the expense of others, such as when she was 16 and she stole her brother, Braddock's favorite sword and had a local blacksmith melt it down to be refashioned into a gaudy, ugly dagger.
Lera is on the surface a very strong and confident person, but underlying that is a deep understanding of what it's like to be helpless and vulnerable. When she was 19, she went on a trade caravan from Ostwick to Hercinia. On the second day of the trip, however, a group of bandits raided the caravan, one of whom dragged Lera out of her carriage and came very close to raping and killing her. The fear and anxiety she experienced as a result of that became the catalyst of her growth into the bold and tenacious person she became.
Lera has a very strong sense of disdain regarding nobility and aristocracy. She developed this attitude at first only to spite her family, but the more she spoke bad about the noble class the more she realized how deeply she disagreed with everything about it. From her perspective, nobles were good for nothing except for wasting time and talking about how noble they are. Meanwhile, the working classes who Lera affectionately refers to as "real people" are stuck doing all the work to maintain their lifestyle.
Lera does not deal with grief or stress very well. Her response to both, more often than not, is to get extremely angry and kill things until the problem goes away. In the case of grief, she'll spend a variable amount of time depending on her relationship to the deceased campaigning violently against whatever it was that killed them, after which she'll dissolve into a puddle of tears and usually alcohol.
Talents and Skills[]
Lera is a very talented archer, having picked up the skill at the behest of her mother when she was 12. Archery was intended to be a parlor trick meant to make it easier to marry her off to another noble's spare, but Lera took to it with a great amount of zeal and quickly attained a lot of skill with the bow. Two years into her training, she entered into a city-wide archery contest and placed fourth against the other competitors, most of whom were at least ten years older than her. After becoming the Inquisitor, Lera refined her skills further by specializing as an assassin. Her motive for choosing the profession was to prioritize her own safety, seeking to ensure that fights would end before they began. When out in the field with her companions, Lera would frequently take powerful shots at groups of enemies from a great distance, often killing them before they got close enough to attack her party.
She despises melee combat, but nevertheless trained with it from the age of 19 in response to a close call she experienced during a bandit raid on a caravan she was representing for her family. Barton, a former Kirkwall city guardsman, instructed her in combat with a short sword and daggers. Her main goal when using daggers in combat, as she puts it, is to "get the fuck back out of range" as quickly as possible so she can go back to using her bow.
Lera is a very skilled climber, a talent she picked up while exploring Ostwick and climbing onto the rooftops of various buildings, usually an act of rebellion. Chantries were among her favorite buildings to scale owing to the interesting architecture they normally had and the socially unacceptable nature of climbing them. She makes use of this ability very frequently while in the field, often climbing sheer rock faces to get clear shots at her enemies and use the environment to her advantage.
A cunning and ruthless strategist, Lera often assists in planning the Inquisition's movements and takes a great interest in deploying her men for war table missions. She is willing to sacrifice men if it means the job gets done, but makes sure to earn their loyalty by minimizing casualties whenever possible. This is best exemplified by her rescuing of the soldiers in the Fallow Mire and her insistence that Rufus Hawke protect her soldiers during the siege of Adamant. Despite her eye for strategy, however, Lera is absolutely hopeless at board and card games. She struggles to remember the rules and very quickly becomes frustrated, often flipping the game board or tossing her cards into the air.
Lera holds her liquor very well, going toe to toe with Iron Bull after killing their first dragon together and often out-drinking her companions at the Herald's Rest. Her fondness for alcohol led her to struggle with depression and alcoholism following the events of Trespasser, where losing her arm caused a crisis of confidence in her. Several tales of her drunken escapades are in circulation around Skyhold.
Biography[]
History[]
Lera was born on 24 Firstfall in 9:14 Dragon as the third and youngest child of Bruford Marlon and Lucy Trevelyan. Throughout her early childhood, she was best friends with her oldest brother, Osbert, and cared little for her other brother, Braddock. She had a fairly straightforward and uncomplicated relationship with her parents until she was around 11 years old, when the spark of rebelliousness first appeared in her.
At 12, she first began training with a bow and arrow, a skill her mother had chosen for her to make it easier to marry her off down the line. Lucy was somewhat dismayed when Lera took to archery with much more zeal and enthusiasm than expected, but did not stop the lessons as she saw little harm in Lera developing the talent.
When Lera was still young and Osbert had recently hit puberty, her parents began putting more and more responsibility on his shoulders. Osbert, who had been Lera's best friend until that point, gradually became a boring and stuffy noble just like everyone else in Ostwick seemed to be, much to Lera's horror. In response, Lera started acting out, and eventually grew into an extremely rebellious personality that put her at odds with the rest of her family. When she was 14, she entered a city-wide archery competition without permission from her parents, an act which infuriated Lucy despite Lera having won fourth place. The same year, Lera earned the scar on her eyebrow that would eventually become part of the justification for the face tattoo she got when she was 16.
A couple of months before getting the tattoo, Lera became acquainted with Hanrael, an elf two years older than her from Ostwick's alienage and the apprentice of a local blacksmith with a reputation for low skill and poor craftsmanship. As Braddock's birthday was approaching, Lera stole his favorite sword and brought it to the blacksmith to have it remade into a dagger with a golden hilt and a broad, elaborately decorated blade. Han, seeing the mistake she was about to make be ordering the work from his master, discreetly urged her to back out of the deal. When she informed him that she knew what she was doing and that the dagger was to be a prank gift for her older brother, Han revealed his mischievous personality by suggesting that she ask for gemstones to be embedded into the hilt and for the blade to be engraved with words or markings, both of which his master was notoriously bad at. Lera picked up the finished dagger from Han a week later, and promised to come back and tell him how her brother reacted. She and Han became fast friends soon after. In fact, Han was the one who came up with the idea for Lera to get a tattoo.
The next year, when Lera was 17, she noticed that Braddock would rarely sleep at home, instead making it his mission to bed as many women in Ostwick as possible. Upset at the lack of repercussions for his actions and slightly jealous because of her own sexual inexperience, Lera invited Han to her house, took him up to her bedroom, locked the door, and had exaggeratedly loud sex with him for her whole family to hear. While her father barely took notice at all, her mother was furious and forced him to get the door open and remove the elf from the estate. When Lera heard her father at the door, she told Han to slip out the window and run home so as not to let her parents see his face, which he did with his pants still around his ankles. This encounter marked the start of Han and Lera's friends with benefits relationship, which lasted four years until Han was betrothed to another elf by his Hahren. After his marriage, he and Lera remained fast friends, but did not engage each other physically again.
Later that year, Lera went out drinking with a few of her friends, Han among them, and found a tavern in the bowels of Ostwick that served her the best drink she'd ever had. The events that followed were so extreme and irresponsible that she lost all memory of them and could no longer remember which tavern it was or what drink she had. She woke up the next day in a carriage halfway to Markham with Han, another friend, and a druffalo calf with vallaslin markings sharing the cabin with her. No one had any idea what the hell happened, least of all the driver, who claimed he did not ask questions but only drove the carriage, but they all shared the vague suspicion that one of them was married to the druffalo.
Shortly after Lera's 18th birthday, she met her aunt for the first time. She'd grown up hearing very little about her aunt. In fact, she first became aware that she even had an aunt around the same time she began learning archery. Imelda Gregoria Trevelyan was a few years older than Lera's father, and was meant to be the heir to House Trevelyan. However, as she grew older, she grew dissatisfied with nobility. She eventually abandoned the responsibilities of her rank and became a scholar, conducting and publishing research all across Thedas, most often researching the arcane or matters related to the Fade. When Lera first heard of this, she was about 12 or 13 years old. She overheard her father saying that her aunt had spent several weeks in Rivain to study with the seers there. Curious, she looked for publications from Rivain in a nearby library and found a copy of her aunt's research there. That the research was entirely focused on the arcane and the Fade eventually led Lera to her intense fascination with that field. Lera threw herself fervently into her studies, attempting to focus them on the arcane whenever possible. Over the course of a few years, Lera consumed every scrap of her aunt's work that she could find and came to idolize the woman she'd never met simply because of her defiance of nobility.
Years later, when Lera had just turned 18, her father mentioned that Imelda would be returning to Ostwick for a brief visit, grief and indignity on his voice. This instantly piqued Lera's interest. She decided that she must meet her aunt. She dreamed of joining her on her scholarly excursions and finally leaving Ostwick behind, never to return, and instead be immersed in the study of the arcane. She pressed her father for more information and found out when exactly her aunt would be in the city. Once the time came, she surreptitiously left the manor and made her way to her aunt's temporary quarters. She expected a grand meeting and a lively exchange of thoughts. She also hoped for a chance to complain out loud about her family to someone else who understood her frustrations. She hoped most dearly to meet someone that actually felt like family to her. Unfortunately for Lera, none of these hopes were realized.
When she finally met her aunt, who was busy preparing for her next scholarly venture in the Anderfels, she was immediately dismissed and written off by her, which was not quite the welcome she'd hoped for. Lera convinced herself that her aunt was simply too busy to talk or was irritable for some other reason, however, and persisted. She spent the next couple of hours in her aunt's company, refusing to leave until finally Imelda gave up on convincing her to leave. Over the course of Lera's visit, Imelda proved herself to be just as obnoxious and despicable a woman as the rest of the Trevelyan family. She was rude, condescending, and uninterested in speaking to Lera at all. She was also incredibly pretentious and arrogant, speaking almost through a thesaurus the entire time as though attempting to catch Lera at an intellectual disadvantage. At first unwilling to accept this result as it would mean giving up on her dream of leaving Ostwick behind, Lera finally accepted defeat when Imelda compared her to her father, saying "[it was] not a wonder that [she's] Bruford's daughter." Lera did not take kindly to that insult.
She flew into a rage over her aunt's dismissive behavior and called her a bitch for even daring to suggest that she was similar to her father. On her way out of her aunt's quarters, Lera angrily knocked over some scientific equipment, specifically targeting whatever looked most expensive, and then left with no words and only one finger for her aunt. When she came home, she saw her father, who asked where she'd been. Lera told him the full story, only omitting what exactly her aunt had said to set her off. Surprisingly enough, Bruford was actually proud of Lera, himself not being very fond of his sister. He stretched out his arms and gave her a hug in what was a very rare moment of bonding for him and his daughter.
The next year, Lera was sent on a trade caravan to Hercinia by her family. Her parents were looking to expand their influence in the Chantry and in the Free Marches, so they began funding trade caravans carrying basic resources like pelts and grains to other cities. Most caravans did not need to have a member of the family present, but the bigger deals normally did. Lucy, aware of her daughter's disdain for nobility and the Chantry, only sent Lera on minor trades when she simply wanted her out of the city so she would stop making trouble for the family. Lera welcomed the opportunity to leave the city, which she had no love for. This particular trade was not special, but its caravan was attacked by bandits on the way to Hercinia. Lera, trapped in her carriage without a bow, desperately hid from the bandits but was found soon after the attack started. One of the attackers ripped open the carriage door and dragged her kicking and screaming out of it before throwing her to the ground and straddling her. With one hand constricting Lera's neck and the other undoing the front of his pants, his intentions were very clear. Luckily, Lera managed to grab hold of a rock and smash it into the bandit's temple, putting him on his back. She quickly jabbed her knee into his side to keep him down and began pummeling his face with the rock, losing count at 12 strikes and running off into the trees to escape the other bandits. This was the first time she had ever killed someone.
When she arrived home early, anxious and terrified over what happened, Lucy was the only one home. Lera reluctantly tried to explain what happened, but her mother callously disregarded the attempted rape and cared only about the lost resources. Upon hearing that Lera had killed her attacker, Lucy complained that her daughter was now a murderer. Lera asked if she should have let the bandit kill her, to which Lucy replied that if she had, it would save her the trouble of cleaning up her daughter's messes all the time. Shocked and disgusted by her mother's indifference, Lera ran upstairs to her bedroom, where she spent most of her time for the next week or so. Lera was a bundle of nerves for the next few days, eating and sleeping little. Eventually, while pacing back and forth between her wardrobe and vanity and trying to stop her hands from shaking, Osbert knocked at the door to tell her dinner was waiting for her. Already on edge, the sudden noise made Lera jump backwards with a yelp and bump into the vanity. The vanity's mirror fell to the ground and shattered to pieces, which Lera frantically scooped up to clean the mess. Carelessly, she cut her hand on one of the shards. Pausing to look at the wound, she caught a glimpse of her face in the shard that had cut her. Her bloodshot eyes had bags beneath them, and she was sniveling and breathing irregularly.
Lera became impatient with herself in that moment, asking herself how long she was going to put up with being anxious and miserable before deciding on "not another minute" as the answer to the question. Her resolve strengthened, she tended to the wound and began thinking about how she would never let herself be vulnerable like that again.
For that to happen, she surmised, she would need to train in melee combat with an experienced fighter. She asked her mother to hire a trainer for her, and though she at first refused, two weeks of constant pestering from Lera finally convinced her to hire one. Her parents found Barton, a former Kirkwall city guardsman looking for work in Ostwick, and hired him ostensibly as Lera's personal carriage driver. Lera and her mother came to an arrangement prior to Barton's hiring that in exchange for getting the trainer, Lera would continue to represent the family on caravans and do a good job of it. The arrangement was acceptable to both women, as for Lera it meant getting out of Ostwick more and having the freedom to leave the house whenever she pleased and for Lucy it meant that her daughter would be causing less trouble around the city. Though Lera still cared little for the trappings of nobility and had no respect for the Chantry, she agreed to be on better behavior. The training sessions would be undertaken outside of the noble district so as not to make a mess of the Trevelyans' reputation.
Barton who was born in 8:79 Blessed, had over thirty years of experience with Kirkwall's city guard, but never made it past the beat owing to his lack of respect for due process and other regulations. Thus, he and Lera were kindred rebellious spirits, and after sizing each other up on their first meeting became friends. Eventually, their bond strengthened into a parental one, and Lera found in Barton the love and support that her own family consistently refused to provide her. On one notable occasion, Barton was waiting for Lera outside the entrance of the Trevelyan manor. From his position at the head of the carriage, he could hear shouting coming from inside in Lera and her mother's voices. He couldn't quite tell what words were being spoken, but he could tell from the fury in both voices that they were having a vicious argument. After a short while, Lera exited the mansion, letting Lucy's voice ring clear while she professed to regret having birthed Lera before she slammed the door shut. Barton waited to see how Lera was acting before doing anything himself. After climbing into the seat next to him, however, Lera simply crossed her arms and stared at the road ahead, telling him sternly to go. He followed the order, but kept Lera in the corner of his vision. After a while her angry resolve began to falter. Enraged eyebrows became saddened ones and her lips trembled slightly. Barton stopped the carriage and turned to face her slowly. Without a word, he reached out to put a hand on her shoulder, but the moment he made contact she wrapped her arms around his waist and began crying into his chest. Slightly bewildered, he returned the hug and did his best to comfort Lera, who asked him in between sobs why it was that her mother hated her so much. Barton and Lera spent eight years in each other's company before the Divine Conclave in 9:41 Dragon. Lera had plans to ask Barton to stay in Ferelden with her after the meetings, but never got the chance to. Having been in attendance, Barton was killed in the explosion that destroyed the Temple of Sacred Ashes.
In-game[]
Lera had a rough start with the Inquisition. Reeling from Barton's death and upset at being held prisoner despite her innocence, the first few weeks she spent at Haven were marked by almost constant anger and high levels of stress. The opening chapters of Inquisition were basically one event that pissed her off after another. After the sacking of Haven, Lera finally had a moment to breathe and take in everything that had happened. When she resolved to sacrifice herself so that the other members of the Inquisition might escape, she was inspired by Barton's memory. After surviving the avalanche and leaving the caves, she instead promised him that she would live on in his honor. She first felt the painful sting of Barton's passing after waking up in the camp in the mountains, half expecting him to be by her side. Her disappointment with seeing Mother Giselle there instead was marked by intense anger. Immediately telling her to go away upon hearing her voice, Lera later threatened her and told her to "go bother someone stupid enough to listen to [her]."
After arriving at Skyhold Lera quickly grew accustomed to the castle, especially once the Herald's Rest was set up. Very fond of alcohol, Lera spent more than a few nights getting drunk in the tavern to pass the time, though on a few occasions it was to cope with stress. One example of this is after sorting things out at the Winter Palace. Lera's hatred for aristocracy and nobles made being in the thick of the Game an arduous and trying nightmare. Knowing how much she would need it upon her return, she asked that members of the Inquisition acquire a barrel of wine from the palace and have it delivered to her quarters at Skyhold.
Most of the time, however, Lera's drunken exploits at the tavern were far more jovial. Alcohol lowers her exhibitions to the point where she becomes a rambunctious hooligan and daredevil. Several of her actions while drunk became recurring topics of conversation at the tavern. One night in a drunken haze, Lera attempted to arrange an archery competition between herself, Sera, and Varric with the Iron Bull acting as the target. Fortunately, no one let her have a bow. Another time, she convinced herself that she could free climb Skyhold's main tower after far too many drinks. She only made it four feet up the tower before getting nauseous and falling off. By far the most famous tale is that of her attempted theft of Blackwall's beard. Their relationship having become romantic for a while leading up to this night, the pair were sat at the bar sharing each other's company while Lera became increasingly interested in his facial hair. Eventually, she began tugging at his beard and insisting that he let her borrow it because she wanted to "try it on." Blackwall laughed and explained to her that beards don't come off before kissing her so she could at least feel the hairs on her face. The story spread like wildfire and was a favorite all throughout the castle. From that point on, her visits to the tavern were often accompanied by cries from the other patrons warning the men to hide their beards as the Inquisitor was drinking again. No one ever let Lera live it down. She took the joking in stride, but pretended to be offended whenever someone brought up the story so as not to spoil their fun, adding that her attempt at removing Blackwall's beard only happened once.
Throughout her stay at Skyhold, Lera became acquainted with several of the members of staff. One of those which she came to know was a redheaded elven girl with a string of terrible bad luck when it came to Lera. The girl was a regular servant who most often assisted the cooks in the kitchen, but she had a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time whenever she crossed paths with Lera. On one occasion, a couple of rowdy guards had spilled a barrel of wine that was meant to be delivered to Lera's quarters. Having fled the scene, the girl was resigned to the fact that she would have to clean up the mess. Before she could, however, Lera came walking down the hall and witnessed the scene, mistakenly attributing the spilled barrel to the girl's actions. Another time, one of Sera's raunchy doodles made its way to the throne in the main hall. The girl found it, picked it up to inspect it, and laughed. While she had every intention of getting rid of the doodle, which was an unflattering image of Lera committing a sexual act upon three qunari, she had the misfortune of being in Lera's line of sight when she laughed at it. Yet another mishap occurred when the girl enlisted Rufus Hawke's aid to help her flirt with an Antivan chef who worked at Skyhold with her. Unbeknownst to her at the time, the chef had planned a romantic dinner for them to share. Unfortunately, she arrived late to the dinner after getting sidetracked by talking to Rufus about her love life. As often happens when Rufus is involved with things, a poorly timed debacle ended with him being covered in pie yet again. The elf took Rufus by the hand and was leading him to the nearest washroom when Lera passed them in the other direction. Convinced of the girl's status as a saboteur, political satirist, and general mischief maker, Lera asked Rufus if she was causing him any trouble and offered to put her in a jail cell for it. Rufus denied anything being wrong, of course, and told Lera not to worry about it, though her opinion of the servant did not change improve a result.
Some major game events:[]
- Spoke with the Mages first, recruited them as allies against her personal wishes based on Blackwall's advice that no one fights well for their captors.
- Attended the ball at the Winter Palace, which was a nightmare for her as it meant being surrounded by Orlesian nobility, and allowed Celene to be assassinated before killing Duchess Florianne. Briala was put in charge of the empire.
- During the siege of Adamant and her journey through the Nightmare's realm, Lera sacrificed Rufus Hawke so that Stroud, the surviving Warden, could help rebuild the order. She then allied with the Wardens and accepted their aid for the Inquisition. Magister Livius Erimond was imprisoned for his crimes after Lera's refusal to give him the death he wanted.
- Fearing the repercussions of drinking from the Well of Sorrows and figuring she could always kill Morrigan if necessary, she allowed the witch to drink in her place.
- Lera saw Leliana (who was hardened) as the best hope for the Chantry. At worst, her appointment as Divine would make Thedas a better place to live for non-humans. At best, her appointment would be so controversial that the Chantry would tear itself apart.
- Lera defeated the Jaws of Hakkon and ended the tremors in the Deep Roads.
- She vowed to defeat Solas at all costs and disbanded the Inquisition, ready to save the world yet again.
Companion quests:[]
- Lera pardoned Thom Rainier and allowed him to stay with the Inquisition so that he could atone for his crimes, despite her belief that he had redeemed himself long before he joined up.
- The Bull's Chargers were sacrificed to secure an alliance with the Qunari, leading to Iron Bull's death during the events of Trespasser.
- Cullen stopped taking lyrium altogether.
- She encouraged Dorian to speak to his father, knowing that if her parents were invested enough in her to seek her out in the same way she wouldn't miss the chance to hear them out.
- Cole was made to be more like a spirit.
- Lera did not help Vivienne acquire a snowy wyvern heart due to her unwillingness to explain what it was for and her severe personal distaste for the mage.
- Lera harshly reprimanded Sera for her behavior at Verchiel, warning her that she was on thin ice with the Inquisition.
- Cassandra was encouraged to rebuild the Seekers of Truth.
- Lera helped Solas track down his friend and reversed its transformation into a demon, though its life could not be saved. She allowed Solas to kill the mages that had summoned his friend.
- Varric and Bianca were accompanied to Valammar by Lera. She also destroyed as many traces of red lyrium as she could.
Post-game[]
After Inquisition[]
Shortly after Corypheus' defeat, Lera's older brothers visited her at Skyhold. Their visit lasted only a few days but was long and stressful enough for Lera to regret it having happened. During a conversation with Osbert, Lera opened up about her strained relationship with her mother, something her oldest brother was aware of but did not know the full extent of. Osbert also revealed that their mother had been looking a bit worse for the wear. Though neither sibling knew it at the time, this was the beginning of a long illness that would eventually lead to Lucy's death.
During the same visit, Lera's other brother, Braddock had a short conversation with the Iron Bull after which he warned his sister that she should watch out for him as Qunari are not worthy of trust. He hinted at the Qunari's strange behavior up in the Free Marches as evidence that they were up to something, but Lera ignored both warnings because it was Braddock who was warning her.
After Trespasser[]
In the immediate aftermath of Solas' reveal as the Dread Wolf and the removal of her arm, Lera did not seem fazed. She was struggling internally to adapt, but the shock had not worn off yet by the time the map stabbing scene took place. Soon after that happened, everyone suddenly had orders again and went off to fulfill them, leaving Lera alone with Thom to deal with everything that had happened to her. The crushing silence and inactivity gave her little to think about aside from her recently acquired position as an off-balance dork, which opened the flood gates on the negative feelings she'd been suppressing since her arrival at the palace. Her confidence waned and she began having extreme doubts about her ability to lead the former Inquisition against Solas. Depressed and afraid, she felt helpless and vulnerable for the first time in a decade. The boldness and confidence she embodied previous to the events of Trespasser were gone, replaced by anxiety and alcoholism. Losing her arm threw Lera straight back to the fear she felt when she was attacked by the bandit and undid the work she put in to build herself up around it.
So devastating was the loss that Lera's entire sense of identity suffered. Her self image had been forged over a decade into that of a resolute, unshakable woman. Without the physical ability to back that up, however, that image disappeared. She felt incomplete, her personhood seemingly robbed from her. Anxious for distractions, she threw herself at Blackwall several times on the journey from Halamshiral back to Skyhold, the temporary validation those moments gave her acting as a coping mechanism for her loss of confidence.
Back at Skyhold, she struggled with depression for a few terrible months, drinking more than eating and not sleeping very much. She would stay up at night crying and poring over copies of the journals she kept during her time as Inquisitor to remember what it was like to feel strong. Blackwall, having seen enough of her depressed state, left Skyhold to find Cullen and recruit his help to get Lera out of it. Though he left a note, Lera's quarters were a mess and she didn't find it, instead thinking he had left unannounced never to return. When he showed up 5 or 6 days later, she buried herself in his chest in relief before quicky switching gears to anger at his sudden disappearance. When she noticed Cullen standing in the doorway, Blackwall explained that he was there to help her because of his experience with lyrium addiction. He asked Lera to look around the room, which was littered with dusty bottles both empty and partially full. Her eyes eventually fell upon the vanity's mirror, where she stared at herself, biting her lip to fight the sting of recognition but refusing to break eye contact with her reflection.
Seeing herself with such clarity opened Lera's eyes to how bad things had gotten. She agreed to let Blackwall and Cullen help her with her depression and gradually came out of it, though the process was a struggle. One day after a brief argument with her, Blackwall gave Lera a book with instructions on how to tie various knots. He told her that some of the knots might be possible to tie with only one hand and that she should practice them. Lera was furious with him at first and kicked him out of the room, but not long after, she opened the manual and found a knot she was willing to try. Cutting out some lengths of twine, she began practicing the knot, repeating the process until exhaustion took her and she fell asleep with some twine still wrapped around her fingers. As time passed, tying knots became very therapeutic for her and she eventually wore a bracelet made of twine that she removed in times of stress to tie into various knots and calm down.
Not long after, Lera's mother died after a prolonged illness. Osbert sent her a letter informing her of Lucy's death and asking her to come to the funeral, which Lera refused by writing "No." on the same sheet of paper the letter was written on and sending it back. Dorian, whose own father was recently assassinated and with whom he also had a strained relationship, was a great help to Lera after she heard the news. While she had no sorrow over her mother's passing, Lera was confused as to how she should feel. Lucy meant little to her, but her death meant that she would never have a maternal figure in her life, a prospect that actually did make her sad.
A couple of years after Trespasser, Lera and Blackwall had their first child, Alan Rainier, who was born in 9:46 Dragon. From the time he could walk, Lera trained Alan in the use of a bow and arrow. Alan took after his father in both appearance and personality, being a selfless and caring man and earning his mother's great admiration as a result.
Lydia Rainier came next, three years later in 9:49 Dragon. Lydia resembled her mother greatly both in her face and in her spirit, which was just as rebellious and stubborn as her mothers. When she was 9, Lydia discovered she had magic. This was a surprise because neither Lera or Blackwall could recall having any mages in their family trees. Refusing to send her away to a circle or college, Lera asked Dorian to help Lydia grow accustomed to her powers, which he did through the use of the sending crystal he'd given Lera years prior. When Lydia was in her teenage years, she became interested in the idea of going to Ostwick to claim her noble birthright, a prospect which terrified her mother. Lera gave her daughter permission to go to Ostwick on the condition that she accompany her in an attempt to convince her how terrible the city and everyone in it were. While there, the two women run into Hanrael and Lera casually informs her daughter that she lost her virginity to him. Lydia is unimpressed by Han's appearance but unexpectedly ends up in a sexual encounter with his son, another alienage elf.
Lera's youngest child, Levy, was born in 9:51 Dragon. Cheery, bright-eyed, and an incurable prankster, Levy was a confusing anomaly among his family, as neither his mother nor his father shared his jovial nature. Levy studied sword and shield combat under his father and knew from a young age that he wanted to join the ranks of the Grey Wardens. This made Blackwall unspeakably proud of him. Lera remained very wary of his ambition, knowing that the life of a Grey Warden is not a pleasant one, but nonetheless supported his decision when he found a recruiter at 20 years old. She told him he would make a spectacular Warden when he finally left to join the order. Unfortunately, he did not survive his Joining. Lera was inconsolable upon hearing of his death.
Relationships[]
Family[]
Lera has a very strained relationship with the members of her family. Her mother, Lucy, was not a noble by birth. She came from a family that had been poor only two generations prior, and Lucy's own mother instilled a deep ambition in her that she should do whatever it takes to rise up in society. This led to Lucy marrying up into the Trevelyans and becoming the rank-obsessed noblewoman who expected nothing less of her children than that they be the perfect proper nobles she wanted them to be. Lera's rebellion and her outspoken criticisms of nobility and the Chantry made it impossible for her to get along with her mother. Once Lera was a bit older, their relationship became quite vicious, with both women saying awful things to one another on a regular basis. Lera did not grieve for her mother when she died.
Her father is a much less antagonistic presence in her life but is nonetheless an unwelcome one. Unlike his wife, Bruford Marlon Trevelyan is an incredibly effete man with very little of value to offer to any given situation. He is entirely unconcerned with anything that is not directly related either to the Chantry or to improving his standing among other nobles. As a result, he has a very distant relationship with his children, except for Osbert, the eldest child and his heir. He has some amount of love for Lera, but he doesn't truly know her, so that dynamic falls pretty flat. Bruford is himself the second child. His older sister was meant to be the heir of House Trevelyan, but for reasons as yet undecided she did not take on the role. Bruford was an irresponsible party animal in his youth, not entirely unlike his daughter.
Osbert Trevelyan was born in 9:08 Dragon and is the eldest of Lera's siblings. The only member of Lera's family to have ever had a closer relationship with her as well as the only one who maintained a cordial rapport with her, Osbert is the person she cares most about in her family. For a few years in her early childhood, she and Osbert were incredibly close. When he hit puberty, her parents began throwing more responsibilities and burdens upon his shoulders and he soon became boring and stuffy like other nobles. This is what kick-started Lera's rebellious streak and he intense disdain for aristocracy. Lera lacks respect for her brother, but has a soft spot for him because of how close they used to be. She is very much attached to the idea of being friends with him again and subconsciously hopes in vain that he'll go back to being the fun person he was when he was still a kid. Lera is usually nice to Osbert, but doesn't allow anyone else to be. If another person acts friendly to him, she'll be the first to correct that behavior. Osbert is as much an effete useless tool as is his father, and in addition to that he's something of a wimp.
Braddock Trevelyan was born in 9:10 Dragon and is the middle child in the Trevelyan household. Aggressive, petty, and scheming, he and Lera do not get along whatsoever. The few times they have amicable conversations are usually when they're both making fun of Osbert's wimpy behavior. Braddock is Lucy's favorite child because he is as tenacious and obsessed with moving up as she is. He fantasizes about usurping his brother's place as the heir to the house, but has neither the brains nor the skill to make it happen.
Barton is a former member of the Kirkwall city guard who is hired by Lera's parents to train her in melee combat after she is nearly raped and killed while accompanying one of the family's trade caravans. Over the course of the time they spend together, their relationship moves away from a mentor-pupil dynamic and becomes a father-daughter one. Neither Lera nor Barton ever speak openly about the fact that their relationship is so close and familial, but it's implicitly understood by both of them that they see each other as a father and daughter.
Alan Rainier is Lera's eldest child, born in 9:46 Dragon. From a young age, she teaches him to use a bow and arrow. A family man and a selfless, caring person, Alan takes after Blackwall greatly and is admired by both of his parents. His younger siblings are convinced that he is Lera's favorite because he's the only one she taught to use a bow that extensively. Lydia Rainier is his younger sister and Lera's middle child. She was born in 9:49 Dragon and discovers at the age of 9 that she has magic. She often butts heads with Lera because their personalities are very similar, which scares Lera into thinking that she might be just like Lucy. Every time they fight, Lera makes sure to tell Lydia that she loves her unconditionally, which confuses Lydia because she doesn't actually bear her mother any ill will. She's just belligerent like that. Finally, Levy is the youngest of the litter, born in 9:51 Dragon. A cheery man and an incurable prankster, Levy is the most jovial member of the family. Despite being older than him, Alan and Lydia constantly fall for Levy's pranks. Lera absolutely adores Levy. He learns to use a sword and shield from his father and aspires to join the Grey Wardens, something Lera is simultaneously proud and wary of. When he finds a recruiter at the age of 20, Lera tells him he'll make a spectacular Warden. Unfortunately, he does not survive his Joining, and when news of his death reaches the family they are all devastated.
Imelda Gregoria Trevelyan is Lera's aunt. The older sister of Lera's father and original heir of House Trevelyan, Imelda abandoned the responsibilities of a noble to pursue a life of academia and scholarly research. Lera first found out about her aunt when she was 12 or 13, and when she learned of her desertion from the nobility, she started to idolize her. Lera's aunt can be thanked for her niece's fascination with the arcane as well as her voracious appetite for knowledge. She read each of her aunt's published works and dreamed of meeting her until she finally got the chance to when she was 18. Unfortunately, Lera's aunt turned out to be as vile as the rest of her family, and the meeting did not go well. It ended with Lera destroying expensive scientific equipment and parting company with her aunt with a rude gesture.
Friends and Companions[]
Lera traveled most often with Blackwall, Dorian, and the Iron Bull in her company. As Dorian and Iron Bull entered into a relationship around the same time Lera and Blackwall did, their outings became a series of incredibly violent double dates.
Lera and Blackwall were attracted to each other upon first meeting, though their relationship didn't start in earnest until after they arrived at Skyhold. They flirted constantly at Haven and when out in the field. When Lera told him he was charming, he said he appreciated the compliment from a lady, to which she responded that he was welcome to more and that she kept them in her private quarters. (That's an actual line from the game. Blackwall's flustered response is priceless and I love everything about that interaction.) Lera began having her suspicions that Blackwall wasn't being entirely forthright about his past around the time they went to the Storm Coast together and found the real Blackwall's badge. When she found out about his lie and the fact that he was really Thom Rainier, she was furious at him but refused to let him stay in prison. Upon his arrival to Skyhold, Lera, who hadn't seen him since leaving Val Royeaux, pelted her journal at him, bending some of the pages and drawing a bit of blood from his forehead. Lera pardons him but does not get back together with him until a few months later. In the meantime, she continued talking to him just as before and taking him out into the field. Over time, Thom came to forgive himself and stopped feeling sorry for himself. Lera, upon seeing the first signs of his improvement, harbored intentions of getting back together with him but kept them to herself so she could be sure his improvement was genuine. Once she was satisfied that he saw in himself the same good that she saw in him, she initiated the renewal of their relationship. Thom had to ask her to give him a few days off from sex because she couldn't keep herself off of him. After Trespasser, Lera becomes a depressed alcoholic after losing her arm and Blackwall is instrumental in helping her recover. She and Thom have three children together.
Dorian and Lera are best friends. He is the first of her companions that Lera opened up to about her family life and about Barton. After seeing what Dorian's troubled relationship with his father was like, she felt a great sense of solidarity and understanding toward Dorian and shared her own experiences. This led to the two of them bonding and becoming incredibly close to one another. When Lera loses her arm and everyone busies themselves with trying to brush past it and expects Lera to get back up and continue fighting, Dorian is the only one who doesn't ignore her pain and just tries to share it with her. He even minimizes the pain he's feeling over having had to kill Iron Bull, his lover, in order to avoid upsetting Lera even further when she's upset over everything else that happens in Trespasser. Later, when Lera discovers that her daughter is a mage, she refuses to send her to a college or a circle and instead asks Dorian to give her lessons using the sending crystal he gave her at the Winter Palace. Whenever he can manage it, Dorian visits in person to give her hands on lessons in controlling her magic.
The Iron Bull was a good friend of Lera's, but not as close as some of the other members of the Inquisition. He was one of her most frequent traveling companions and he and Lera often shared drinks together. During his companion quest, Lera prioritized the alliance with the Qun over the Chargers, leading to his betrayal and death in Trespasser. It took months for Lera to feel anything other than furious anger when she thought of the Bull after that. When the anger finally passed, she was resigned to a simple sadness that such a cool person forced her to kill him.
Solas was another of Lera's closest friends throughout the events of Inquisition. His constant talks about the Fade and about magic, combined with his knowledge of history, piqued Lera's interest and stimulated her mind on a regular basis, which she appreciated massively. Solas was one of her go-to companions for strategic advice or for help understanding something she couldn't quite get. Lera and Solas developed a strong mutual respect for one another and he often stood the best chance of changing her mind when it needed to be changed. Solas' disappearance after Corypheus was defeated was puzzling and disheartening to Lera, but she didn't think much of it until Trespasser, when she found out he manipulated the Inquisition. The viddasala revealed his role in playing the Inquisition right after Lera, Dorian, and Blackwall had killed the Iron Bull, which meant Lera was in no position to hear bad news. She vowed to kill Solas before the viddasala could get the chance to and had every intention of doing so until she saw the raw power he possessed. The revelation that he was the Dread Wolf and was planning on destroying the veil was extremely upsetting in its own right, and she promised to stop him at all costs.
Hanrael, born 9:12 Dragon is an alienage elf and blacksmith's apprentice from Ostwick who met Lera when she was 16 after she brought a sword to his master's smithy and asked for it to be remade into a dagger. The two developed a fast friendship built on mischievous trouble-making and, a year after meeting, started a sexual relationship that lasted 4 years and only ended when Han was betrothed to another elf from his alienage. Despite his willingness to lay with humans, Han still considered himself a good elf and respected his Hahren's decision. It also helped that his and Lera's relationship was never romantic, but purely physical. However, his marriage in the alienage was an unhappy one fraught with arguments and dissatisfaction. When Lera became Inquisitor, she sent Han a letter giving him permission to brag about having bedded her, which he gladly did in a tavern. Unfortunately for him, his wife walked in on him during the conversation, which added to her already seething anger at the time.
Cassandra and Lera never really got along, despite being very similar in nature. Both are stubborn, strong willed women whose greatest fear is helplessness. However, Lera's first impression of the Seeker was fairly poor and never really recovered. Add in Cassandra's intense Andrastian faith and Lera's total lack of respect for the Chantry and you have a recipe for disaster. Lera found Cassandra drunk in the blacksmith's building one day and first realized how much her relationship with Cassandra was affecting her. After that moment, Lera decided to shut up about the Chantry and make amends with Cassandra, eventually finding out about her love of Varric's tales and telling Varric to finish the latest volume for her. Out of all the companions, Cassandra is the one who likes Lera the least, but she respects her and does not regret following her.
Cullen and Lera got along fairly decently. They share a militaristic mindset when it comes to big picture stuff like war table operations, and Lera helped him stay off of lyrium, a favor which he returned by helping her kick her alcohol addiction after Trespasser.
Lera didn't bear any ill will towards Josephine, but couldn't quite get along with her very much. Everything Josephine loves is everything Lera hates, though Lera did come to respect Josie a bit more after learning that she was once a bard.
Leliana was on good professional terms with Lera, but aside from their shared skills they had little in common. Leliana is too focused on the Chantry to develop any real common ground with Lera.
Vivienne and Lera interacted as sparingly as possible in an unspoken mutual agreement to stay out of each other's hair. Vivienne is the definition of an aristocrat whom Lera hates on a personal level. Or she would, if she ever gave Vivienne the time of day. Vivienne, likewise, would dislike Lera more than Cassandra does if she ever had to spend time with her.
Lera could not stand Sera. At first they got along well because of their shared dislike of nobility, but after Verchiel and the Temple of Mythal, Sera's immaturity and weak-willed nature became clear to Lera and as a result she lost all respect for her. Sera remained with the Inquisition only because Lera didn't see the point of kicking her out.
Cole was the subject of great interest for Lera. She's fascinated by anything having to do with the arcane and so she enjoyed having conversations with Cole as a result, but she never really crossed the bridge over to friendship territory because he was still too alien. Too weird.
Lera and Varric were on good terms. That's about all there is to say on that topic.
Aren Trevelyan is Lera's interdimensional time traveling sister and/or best friend. No one is quite sure how exactly they interact with one another because the timelines are inconsistent and despite having their own AU, they frequently interrupt each other's timelines with advice, support, or irritation. They love each other dearly and have a mutual respect for one another that far surpasses the upper limit of respect they show anyone else. Do not fuck with one if you don't want to be killed by the other. Also, they like drinking wine together.
Miscellaneous[]
Lera's favorite color is a deep, rich navy blue.
Lera features as one of the two main characters of the Lera and Aren's Distance-Murder Funhouse alternate universe.
Lera's natural scent is reminiscent of oatmeal being cooked in another room.
She is mostly content to drink anything alcoholic as long as it's not dwarven ale, which she finds disgusting.
Lera is not a practicing Andrastian. She is technically agnostic as to the Maker's existence, but defaults to not believing that He's real. Rather than being the result of any introspection, her agnosticism is almost entirely based on being a contrarian and disagreeing with her family.
Her tombstone in the Fade said 'helplessness'. Realizing that her tombstone and Cassandra's shared the same fear was, along with seeing the Seeker in a drunken stupor, one of the points at which she developed a sense of solidarity with her. Lera's understanding of Cassandra was immensely improved after the fact, which itself led to an increase in the amount of respect she had for her.
When she's trying to be surreptitious, Lera refers to Blackwall's penis as "the fire," often remarking that she would like to move closer to it.
While alcohol turns Lera into a rambunctious hooligan and makes her personality even more lively, smoking elfroot does quite the opposite to her. When under the influence of the herb, she becomes incredibly calm and spends most of her time giggling at the walls before falling asleep.
Lera's modern counterpart is a Reinhardt/Sombra main in Overwatch who is largely unconcerned with winning. This is why she's in Gold despite having higher than average skill for the rank. She likes to fuck around with Winston and Zenyatta on quickplay, but is unaware of her higher potential as a hitscan main.
Lera's favorite genre of music is post rock. She loves the slow, heavy feel of some of the more evocative songs, like this one. During her recovery phase after Trespasser, either version of Pink Floyd's In the Flesh evoke feelings that mirror her turmoil with the chord progressions and opening riffs.
Links[]
Reddit Headcanon Threads:[]
Lera's "price of admission" in romantic relationships
Lera on her combat specialization and loyalty
Reddit Writing prompt Threads:[]
The death of Iron Bull, from Dorian's perspective
Non-Reddit links (AO3, DeviantArt, Tumblr):[]
To Catch a Predator but Instead of Catching Him She Kills Him (AO3) - a fic detailing the attack on the caravan and the events that followed.
Anger Management but She Has to Manage Alcoholism, not Anger - an ongoing fic detailing Lera's struggle to regain her composure after the events of Trespasser.
The Snowdown - a fic detailing a series of escalating snow conflicts between Lera and her "sister" Aren
