#I'd love to yap more about my HoF eventually maybe get back to writing for her again once I finish Clipped Wings

[midnightwind]

Quick Question

How does your Rook feel about HoF, Hawke, and the Inquisitor? How much does Rook know about their history and all that?

ohh these are good questions, had to do a lot of thinking!

Rook and the Hero of Ferelden:

As a Crow, Renn has been passingly aware of the Warden simply because Zevran ran away with her! Thanks to Lucanis and Harding talking about Ferelden, we know that Zevran (and his House by proxy) are rather infamous for failing that contract. The story of a Crow running away with his mage mark gained popularity after the Fifth Blight ended and it spawned at least a few trashy romance novels running with that idea. If Renn wasn't so dedicated to the Crows, she might make the amusing connection between herself and Lucanis and the story, but neither of them truly desire to leave the Order so it simply stays a story. As for the actual heroics of the HoF? Renn has held the woman absently as an example of what a mage let loose can be. Micah Surana was a mage who shrugged off the shackles of the Mage Circles, survived true horrors, experienced agonizing betrayal, made the awful choices no one else could or would, and saved the world. As the events of Veilguard drag on and wear her down, she starts thinking about that legendary mage and the story of caution her life became before she disappeared. She definitely started reading up more on the historical side of the story the harder things got for herself. Sometimes she wonders how similar they might be at the end of it all.

Rook and Hawke:

(I must preface this with the fact that I have not played DA2 nor watched a proper playthrough of it as I want to try to play it again, I merely know some major story beats)

For the most part, Renn wasn't really aware of what happened in Kirkwall back in the Fifth Blight. Hawke was more just... the dashing rogue in Varric's stories who somehow always got into trouble. Someone who seemed larger than life, who couldn't actually have done all those things in that specific way with people like that. After Varric's death comes to light and she no longer has to fight the Evanuris to save the world, Renn starts reading the books Varric wrote. She starts seeing the threads of the life he lived, the people he loved and worked with, woven into each story. She starts wondering how much was embellishment and how much was true. It was with some surprise that she learned that Hawke was lost some years prior to the Fade at the Inquisitor's side. She had hoped to pass the news of his passing to his close friends, see for herself what those people were like, but the trail seemed to end in death wherever she looked. Isabel has been the only other person she could ask about Varric and Hawke, with various results as the woman is also prone to exaggerating just to keep the dwarf's bit going. Renn doesn't know Hawke very well, or really understand just how much they actually did, but Varric loved them and that's enough for her. They were a good person, if nothing else.

Rook and the Inquisitor:

It's a little hard to find people who haven't at least heard of the Inquisitor after she saved the world from Corypheus and the Veil almost falling. A Dalish mage becoming the Herald of Andraste would have been a figure that captured her imagination if she hadn't been a bit busy helping Viago become Fifth Talon at the time. Watching Clan Lavellan become the governing body of the city of Wycome, changing many of their ways and rules of living, was a bittersweet development for her to learn about. Clans can change, but hers simply refused to.

As for the Inquisitor, she only knew the broad strokes of that story. Ceridwenn Lavellan was a mage, training to take over as her Clan's Watcher when she was chosen by Andraste to save the world. She saved the mages in Redcliffe, she saved the Wardens at Adamant Fortress and vouched for the order, she saved the Empress of Orlais while being the toast of the ball (and convinced the ruling bodies to work together despite it all), and that there were rumblings that she had delved an ancient elven ruin and returned with a mysterious knowledge. Varric and Harding spoke of the woman fondly, of how she selflessly put herself between innocents and the sword every time, of how she always was looking for how to help the people best, of how she put herself in danger first before anyone else was allowed to step forward. She was selfless, she was brave, and she was kind. According to them, she also hated being called the Herald of Andraste and fought the title constantly behind closed doors. It was with some blessing that her Clan no longer needed her to take over leading them as, once she had finished saving the world, she happily settled down in Antiva with her Ambassador after the Inquisition was disbanded.

Renn has a confusing opinion of the Inquisitor during the events of Veilguard. Before Morrigan brought them together, Lavellan was simply a figure who was larger than life. A model hero to strive to be like. Meeting her, talking with her, discussing Solas, left her with mixed opinions. The woman was patient and answered her questions well enough, but she was insistent that they save her friend. Solas had hurt people, had hurt her, and Lavellan wasn't asking her to forgive him for that- she was asking Renn to see him as a person pushed too far, not too different from either of them. After everything, Renn still isn't sure that the Inquisitor was right to believe in the old god, but fighting for your friend no matter what? She has to respect that, even if the woman sees to carry a deep sadness with it.

Anyways, thanks for giving me an excuse to think about this and ramble! This was a fun angle to explore, I hadn't really thought of how Renn might know or feel about our previous heroes before.