hello, yes, i would like to hear more about avery
!!! im honestly so flattered ur interested in her, tbh she’s one of my favourite dragon age ocs
her whole arc through origins revolves around loss and how inept she is at dealing with it. i base this in her noble upbringing, closeness with her father and how she was sheltered from the lifestyle she is forced into as a warden. literally, she is the epitome of classism and privilege and her behaviour reflects that. she doesn’t even want to become a warden, didn’t want to leave her family, and how quickly she is cornered into it with their sudden deaths sends her literally quite mad.
she hates duncan, she hates alistair, she hates how she can’t go searching for fergus after ostagar, she hates the mud and the humidity of the wilds, and especially the responsibility and the whole grey warden duty. if she had it her way, she’d continue going on fishing, hunting and hiking trips with her father in the free marches, attend balls and noble parties with her mother, train with fergus and help raise her nephew.
as the sensation of loss passes and she accepts that this is her routine now, old leather and dirty boots, she still struggles to accept her family is gone and that the attention she received from her family and being a noble, is also gone. she is a national traitor and nobody treats her like a cousland anymore, just a criminal. that she never quite deals with well, as a result, she often will act out and make controversial decisions just to receive attention for it. notably from wynne or alistair, the voices of holy reason. their criticism becomes substitute for the special attention she used to receive under the cousland banner.
for example, she cares little for the dalish vs. werewolves debate and slaughters them all anyway, taking whoever is left as allies but only because alistair intervenes. she kills connor, kills zevran, personally kills loghain with no remorse or hesitation, insults anora, etc., etc.. the only thing she does take time for is tracking down howe in denerim and you can be sure she murders him like a dog. yet, it doesn’t make her feel any better, she continues to badly deal with her warden responsibilities as a murderous tyrant. firstly, because she was forced into this position, and secondly, as she has lost everything that was ever important to her.
when it becomes obvious, however, alistair’s position as royal blood gives her opportunity to seize that same noble power again, she relents. this is during the redcliffe debacle which for avery happens at the very end of her arc with the urn of sacred ashes. as such, she plans to take the throne, and the public will let her. to them, she is the tragic grey warden, having lost her family to a corrupt arl, and does whatever it takes to unite thedas and stop the blight. only the party and her (reluctant) allies know how tyrannical she is and how, if she seized power again, it wouldn’t get much better for ferelden. anything she learned as a cousland noble is gone to the resentment of losing them and her grey warden journey.
the person who takes the brunt of this understanding is morrigan, who for the most part of origins, actually remains avery’s friend. she uses her to kill flemeth, in a way, as morrigan can recognise giving her some positive recognition, even if it is a lie, will be enough to draw avery in. she doesn’t need to act out for morrigan’s attention, simply spend time with her, away from the others’ eyes and ears. when the pressure isn’t on her shoulders, however, avery is just a scared young woman - she is only just twenty when she is thrown into being a warden - and reminds morrigan of her upbringing. manipulation turns into shreds of genuine compassion, morrigan eventually offering advice, which is when redcliffe and haven come around.
avery changes when the throne is in sight, and morrigan notices. the other members of the party do too. some have only remained around to follow alistair hoping he will actually do the right thing and unite ferelden against the blight, like wynne, leliana and oghren. sten is rather impartial but does end up siding with alistair. they manage to sway morrigan when the landsmeet drops and avery reveals her ambitions for nobility again. she detests anora, insults her and removes her from the picture in front of the court, and proposes herself as queen instead with alistair by her side. needless to say the latter is horrified, but the view of the public is their powerful duo has gotten ferelden this far, it can continue beyond the blight.
on the night of the battle of denerim, rather than talk of the dark ritual, the party plots to remove avery from power. it ends up playing out that morrigan lies about the ritual and bedding alistair, with avery thinking herself safe during the battle due to the baby. here, morrigan’s self-interest comes below the interests of ferelden, a development i attribute to her pity of avery during their travels. their relationship did change her views albeit only a little bit. pride has it that avery demands the final blow, and with it, takes her own life to end the blight. alistair takes the throne alone, avery with five minutes as queen, attributing herself the title “the blood queen”.
SO THAT’S AVERY FOR U and her tyrannical adventures through ferelden. it was interesting for me to examine such a character, i just liked thinking about the implications of noble privilege and different motivations. all of my wardens before avery have been reluctant heroes, or just heroes, but i’ve never had such a conceited warden before. her relationships are interesting to explore, especially the one with morrigan as it is quite unique for both characters. avery seeks a mother-daughter relationship out of it and morrigan eventually ends up relenting to that idea. maybe she becomes kieran, in a sense, and horrifies morrigan enough she can’t fathom raising a child just yet. she feels responsible, in part, for not deterring avery from the throne. i mean, she seized it technically, the reality of how close they got to having a tyrannical probable dictator on the throne struck them all hard.
devil’s advocate characters are just super fun for me. i don’t necessarily support any of avery’s decisions personally, she is deeply flawed and just plain evil. i didn’t make her to be controversial, either, it just was a plausible character for me that i wanted to explore.
THANK U SO MUCH FOR ASKING ME THO I MEAN IT. i’m so glad you like her bc i definitely worked super hard on fitting her into canon and considering all of this tiny interactions which led the story to where i wanted to go. UR LOVELY THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! i hope you like her too <3
