bc you asked for it (or encouraged me):
she’s actually a cocky piece of shit when fighting. she’s good at it and she knows it. (in fact, she considers it the one thing she’s good at). this doesn’t come out usually until one - on - one close combat because, of course, fighting from far away shooting arrows doesn’t really lend itself to taunting your opponent. but i’d imagine when fighting with knives and in smaller groups, she’s surprisingly awful.
if she’s not taunting her enemy, it’s usually because 1. she’s too far away with her bow, 2. she’s injured her jaw or something and it hurts too much to speak or, most likely, 3. she’s terrified / realises she’s going to need to concentrate her full attention on defeating her foe.
generally, she teases warriors more than mages. warriors are slow and it’s easy to dance around them and laugh at how slow they are. it helps that a lot of warriors are burly and / or men with inflated opinions of themselves and fragile egos, which are fun to knock as both a small woman and an elf. mages, however, can fire off deadly spells at the speed of thought so she’s usually in focus mode. also, unlike literally every enemy in the game who shouts ‘get that warrior’, she will always prioritise other rogues or mages in combat.
legit she doesn’t have the highest opinion of warriors, sorry my warrior guys n’ gals. that is open to change - she comes to fiercely respect chantry warrior cassandra, after all - but that takes some work. she’s used to dancing circles (almost literally) around warriors so she doesn’t really give the discipline its proper due.
i mentioned in the tags of that last hc post that, when fighting close combat, her recklessness usually means she walks away with at least one severe injury. this is mitigated some by her tempest capabilities (like, good luck hitting her when you’re burning in your armour) and the magic she gets from the mark, which slows everyone else down, making going for vulnerable points easier. she often goes for the neck, if she can, so they’re down for the count when the fade magic subsides.
that being said, and this is almost a bit odd, but she likes getting hit in a fight. not only is it a marker of a challenge but it also serves to sharpen her focus. of course, not all pain is the same and debilitating pain isn’t good but, like, a nice punch to the face gets her going and stokes her fighting fire.
she often spits after a battle on / in the general vicinity of her enemy, especially if it’s a person she really despised, like grand duchess florienne. she would’ve spat on corypheus but he got torn up til there was nothing left so.
post - trespasser, assuming the elves get magic back, i envision hers to be a lot like a blend of avatar the last air bender and the most recent thor movie. basically, her magic would be rooted in physical fighting (moreso even than the knight enchanter discipline). like it’d be 90% kicking people around with 10% magic to really fuck up their day.
i won’t spoil too much of thor ragnarok (but jump to the next point now if you want to know absolutely nothing) but a lot of thor in the final battle is huge inspiration. of course, her magic wouldn’t be as powerful because she’s not a god but, like, kicking people and sending magic through the kicks and hits i can very much see her doing. also like hela with all of the damn knives. if knife magic were a thing, she’d so be there.
from the avatar the last airbender franchise, i can see her fighting a lot like kuvira from legend of korra. kuvira was fast and often used small projectiles to displace her enemies or break their stances before moving in herself. imagine an ice puddle at the right spot to make people slip from their stances or jerking someone to the side by an arm /shoving them with a bit of force magic or a projectile so they’re more vulnerable and she can slip a blade into a fleshy / vital bit. like, yes. very much her jam.
she’s very confident about her archery skills. she’s seldom met better archers (and harbours the idea that dalish hunters are second to none) so, i love archery muses and really want her to have a squad of archery bros … but, unless the person is her brother or dalish, she’s more likely to be competitive and to labour under the assumption that they can’t shoot as well as she can. yes, she has sera on her team and that did sort her out a bit … but i think she’s more inclined to believe that’s a rare exception and also elvhen heritage at play.
so basically she’s cocky and competitive jot that down.
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