#thank you anon this scrap of info will sustain me for the winter to come

[leliwardens]

hello! I've recently been drawn back into DA:O after not playing the games for like 7 years, and am thus in the clutches of Leliana thoughts. I went through your Leliana tag and saw that sometimes you headcanon her mother as being Orlesian, not just that she moved there from Fereldan. I've seen Oisine (which, where does that name come from lore-wise, I feeel like a bad fan for not knowing her mother had a name) be traced back to the Irish masculine name Oisín (1/2)

but to me Oisine reads as much more of a made-up "French sounding" name - it parses as being linguistically closer to Voisine or Oiseaux to me (francophone though, so biased), and I'm not sure if Irish has the feminine e endings(?), but French does. Just wanted to forward that thought, based on what I'm sure was a years-ago post of yours, because I've also always headcanoned Leliana and her mother as being firmly Orlesian. Adds a little more spice to the setting, and of course, francophone bias

hi hello friend i ALWAYS welcome anything leliana dragonage!! and glad we're all on the same boat together for her...

and I do hope you enjoy my tag because prior to the recent resurgence in the last year I have NO idea what's in there dkfdsf. but also don't feel bad! oisine's name only comes from the world of thedas lore books and only a single mention, not much else.

but tysm for sharing your knowledge about her name! :D all I found was the wiki page about the legendary character, oisín, who was regarded as the most famous poet in ireland. so i can see them starting from that point but going "it is not French Enough" and mixing it up a little.

I've.....also not actually given thought to how oisine would identify (o if it was years ago I posted about it, don't remember sdksfsdf). leliana gives two contradicting accounts about where she was born (which I think is just an oversight vs character or lore beat):

(and I'm pretty sure she says after she didn't directly step food in ferelden til years later)

personally, I like she wasn't born yet when lady cecilie left and was born directly in orlais for thematic reasons, but for oisine it does raise some curious questions! presumably, how one would identify would vary, given up until that point, ferelden was considered part of orlais, or at least a territory of it. oisine's name in-universe being orlesian would be pretty fitting in that case, or at last not outside the norm since orlais nobles did occupy denerim (isolde's family is another one also).

so this could mean with whatever flavor you want it to be, with oisine considering herself orlesian (or maybe not caring as much) but with leliana grabbing at whatever she can from her mother because she remembers so little, so oisine living in denerim = ferelden to her and so she's ferelden. ack...my poor sweet girl..... :''')

or maybe oisine was the same as her daughter, and despite growing up amongst orlesians and/or occupied ferelden, proudly considered herself a ferelden, even when she left her home. could add some homesickness there, or telling little bitty leliana one day she'll show her where she grew up...ack....my poor sweet girl x 2

this is all a big treat for me to think on and throw into my lore so thank you so very much!!!

(bonus for me is I hc oisine as elven, so another juicy layer for me hehe)