The Grand Unified Theory of Leliana

Leliana is probably one of the most mutable characters in Dragon Age. Depending on how you play, she can progress from a hard-living bard/spy to a starry eyed chantry lay sister to a pragmatic adventurer to a fucking terrifying assassination-happy spymaster (and this is leaving aside the Darkest Timeline where she kills Felix out of vengeful spite because, hey, she'd been tortured for a year. I’ll let that one alone). She can go from being your most idealistic companion (in Origins) to being the counselor that you make sure to keep on the other end of the war table (in Inquisition).

Why is she so mutable? In short, she doesn’t seem to have a very strong internal moral compass. This isn’t necessarily innate. It’s probably all the fucked up years with Marjorlaine, but she’s really deadened her own sense of empathy and her conscience. Even before she’s been the left hand of the divine, when you meet her in Origins, she’s resolutely moral, not because she has a lot of scruples, but because she seems to like the idea of being good. Since she finds being good attractive, she adopts a pretty rigidly moral worldview that holds her own inclinations (nun-screwing, among other things) in check, and following this worldview also keeps her from following the most expedient path to solving problems (knifing people). This is hinted at in the gauntlet, when she faces her cruel self, and when the Guardian suggests she fabricated her visions. Alistair, by contrast, has a moral code, but behind that he has a very strong sense of empathy for the people around him. A hardened Alistair is pragmatic and a bit sluttier, but Alistair retains his feeling for his fellow man/elf/woman/dwarf and a strong sense of justice. Without the rigid morality of the Chantry, Leliana is adrift; she needs a lot of prompting from her friends to keep from straying into some dark places. Her work as a spy after the Fifth Blight always kept her in a morally ambiguous place; lying and sneaking and stabbing all the time meant that she got into the habit of doing what needed to be done, and never developed the habit of holding back.

It seems as though Justinia provided a kind of tether for her, even while Leliana was doing the Divine’s dirty work. Perhaps Leliana’s faith also played a role -- if Andraste was looking out for Thedas, then Leliana didn’t always have to take extreme measures into her own hands, because the Maker’s will would be done. And so she didn’t go ‘all the way’ and lose herself in her work. And then Justinia died. Leliana lost both her moral center, and her faith that there was any benevolent power looking over her and the world. She took things into her own hands, and she would stop at nothing to do what needed to be done. In Inquisition, you don't 'harden' her, you need to constantly push her away from the abyss.

/r/dragonage Thread