When she showed support for her friend, Jowan - a blood mage - the templars weren't pleased. Then, a Grey Warden by the name of Duncan took her under his wing when he needs mages to fight the Blight.
After Loghain's betrayal, she and Alistair are the only Grey Wardens left in Ferelden and need to both avenge the deaths of their king and Warden Commander while simultaneously fighting the Blight, led by the Archdemon.
After fleeing from her home with her family following the Blight and death of her father, Malcolm, Joanna meets Aveline Vallen, loses her sister Bethany, and meets the Witch of the Wilds, Flemeth, who refuses to teach her how to become a dragon. She helps them flee to Gwaren to get a ship to Kirkwall, where Leandra claims they still have an estate.
Once reunited with her uncle, Gamlen, the family finds out they lost the estate. Carver and Joanna are forced to work as mercenaries to make a living in the city of Kirkwall, meeting Varric when an opportunity for a Deep Roads Expedition arises.
She meets her future husband when Varric claims there's a Grey Warden with maps to the Deep Roads in the lowest parts of the city: Darktown.
As part of a group of refugee mages, fleeing from the Circle of Ostwick, they arrive at the Conclave to testify for the disbanding of Circles of Magi. During an evening stroll of the fortress, Elisabeth hears sounds and goes to investigate, only to run into the Divine in trouble.
After a series of unfortunate events, she wakes up to find herself handcuffed in a cell, surrounded by guards. Seeker Cassandra Penthagast and Sister Nightingale enter, where she finds out the Conclave exploded. And that's only the beginning.
Even though she wasn't born anywhere near the Free Marches, the life of a Circle mage in the Gallows is the only life she knew. For years she suffered the abuse at the hands of the Templars, even being sent to solitary at the age of eight when she resists.
While she can fight off the demons trying to lure her in, she can't fight off the desire for food and promptly cuts off her own foot using a shard of glass. Samson finds her passed out figure and sneaks her out of the Gallows to take her to a healer, Lirene, who tells him to go to Anders in Darktown.
Despite the chance to freedom, Samson is forced to bring her back to the Gallows, where her suffering continues.
The day of the Chantry explosion, she narrowly escaped being made Tranquil and manages to flee to Tevinter, where she was adopted by the Mercar family. Due to her age, she never really felt a familial connection to them.
Despite what she may tell you, Julie isn't actually Blackwall's daughter - at least, not biologically. Not that they ever correct anyone who makes assumptions.
In reality, she's not his daughter at all. In a way, the bond is there, but in the end, he is still the one who killed her family and took her with him out of guilt. Why she stays with him, she doesn't know. But they're in it together now, and where he goes, she goes.
And that includes the Inquisition
Dominique "Dom" Shepard was born on earth to a family of Scavengers. When they passed, the military picked her up and raised her to fight for them.
Dom soon became one of their best soldiers and, not long after, became the one to save the world (Several times).
Sara is used to being held to unreachable standards. After her mother died, there was nothing she could do that her father considered good enough. When her brother is unconscious and she's about to die on an uninhabitable island, her father saves her life and tells her the truth: he loves her. He always has. And he was worried about losing her like he lost his children's mother.
Now, as Pathfinder, Sara has to save humanity, all whilst worrying about her brother and mourning her father.
Unlike Sara, their father clearly favoured Scott and, for which he would later apologize, Scott never noticed how much it affected his older-by-two-minutes sister. When traveling to find new inhabitable planets, he's knocked unconscious when the spaceship crashes.
When he comes to, he finds out his father died, his sister became Pathfinder, and - oh, they're in danger! But he knows what to do: follow his sister's lead, since she is now the boss.
Evelyn was born and raised in Fall's End, Hope County. In fact, she was voted 'most likely to stay' in her senior year of high school. However, that couldn't be further from the truth. 4 years after her mother's disappearance, and 5 after her brother left for the UK, she leaves Hope County behind her. She'd have left sooner if it weren't for her father's alcoholism.
Instead she stayed until he was sober. Similarly, she comes back for him too - when he admits he was diagnosed with liver cancer.
Then, he mysteriously disappears and Evelyn returns home to find out what happened
Erin Williams never had control of her life. But when her husband cheated, she took control with the help of Eden's Gate. All it took was becoming one of their soldier. And while she doesn't necessarily believe in Joseph Seed, she believes being Jacob's Chosen gives her a purpose in life. John Seed is just a bonus.
But the Junior Deputy sent to arrest Joseph Seed changes her mind, makes her feel things she's never felt before. For the first time in her life, she stops thinking about herself and thinks about the peoople she's hurt. Only one problem: She's pregnant with John Seed's baby.
For years, Jody lied about not wanting to know who her father was, because she knew her mother would make up a story if she'd asked. Instead, she decides to investigate herself and manages to track him down to Hope County.
Expecting to just meet a stranger who'd hopefully be willing to connect with his estranged daughter, she instead finds herself stuck in a war between the people of Fall's End and the Project at Eden's Gate - the cult her father is part of.
Daniella has all but given up on pretty much everything. She'd forever be tied to her husband, no matter what she did - she'd lost the spirit to fight. To fight for herself.
That is, until she finds out one of her husband's sinister secrets and meets a private investigator who just so happens to be investigating the cult her husband is leading.
Earl and Sandra Whitehorse were once known as pillars of the community. But that was years ago. After Sandra's miscarriage, the couple divorced. Nevertheless, the two kept working together at the Sheriff's Department.
Despite their divorce, the two still seem to love each other - at least Earl does, and his heart breaks when Sandra meets someone new. Garrett Collins, a guidance counselor who was initially sent to help with a child.
When he goes missing and turns up dead, Sandra asks Earl for help and he is ready to drop everything to help her as they uncover the truth about his death. When it turns out the Project at Eden's Gate is behind it, the two grow closer as they work together to end the cult once and for all.
Amy is used to living on her own. After her mother abandoned her with her abusive father, Amy grew used to living without a home as she'd preferred to not be home at all.
When the Project at Eden's Gate arrives, Amy returns home to find her father brutally murdered and she doesn't feel anything. Instead, she packs her belongings and anything she deems necessary and leaves, never to be found again.
In the flesh, at least. Because not long after all radio stations go down in the mountains, a new one pops up, led by Amy. The Whitetail Militia finds out and, instead of handing her over to the cult, they help her.
If it were up to Tess, she'd kill you before you even get the chance to ask her about her past. She was always on her own, and she preferred it that way. Even though she moved from foster home to foster home, she always found a way to avoid going home.
When the bombs fell, she had no choice but to hide in a bunker with her foster family. As soon as it was safe to leave, though, she was gone.
Eventually, the Highwaymen found her, wandering on the side of the road, and picked her up.
Louise Mitchell never really thought of her future. At first, she only thought of living in the moment. Then, she met Sam Trapani and she actually saw a future, with him. Sadly, it was a future that could never be.
Fleeing from the war, Trudy is trying her best to get by. She's not sure of her neighbour's intentions, but he's teaching her English and in return she cooks for him. Every time she thinks something is growing between them, she hears moans coming from his apartment, and she scolds herself for daring to dream.
All Nia wants is a honest life, but trouble always has a way to find her. Sometimes, that trouble is named Lincoln Clay. Whatever's going on between them is confusing, yet they keep finding each other again and again.