Dragon Age: Origins/Tropes A To E: Difference between revisions

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* [[Aerith and Bob]]: The names of the four main types of darkspawn: genlocks, hurlocks, sharlocks, and... ogres. This also applies to character names to an extent. There are a lot of real-world names mixed in with the more fantastic fare.

** Justified in the codices: {{spoiler|Genlocks, Hurlocks, and Sharlocks (labeled in-game by the nickname "Shrieks") are the ancient terms for Blight-mutated Dwarves, Humans, and Elves respectively. But Ogres come from blighted Kossith Qunari, who are newcomers to the region, so Ogres apparently didn't exist until recently.}}

{{quote|"I made you happy and safe. I gave you peace. I did my best for you. And you say you want to leave? Can't you think about someone other than yourself? I'm hurt. So very, very hurt."}}

* [[After Combat Recovery]]: After combat, health and stamina/mana are quickly restored while fallen characters are automatically resurrected, with injuries that must be treated by either applying wound kits, retreating to the camp, or having a spirit healer in the party in order to remove associated status penalties.

* [[All Girls Want Bad Boys]]: Morrigan, whose approval will rise when the Warden takes the selfish, invidualistic, power-hungry option when presented with a choice of actions. Oghren lampshades this trope when training the PC to be a berserker -- standing around looking mysteriously angry apparently does wonders on the ladies.

** Leliana can also basically say as much to Alistair.

** Earlier, once you've assembled the entire party, {{spoiler|your camp is attacked by Shrieks, along with an unpleasant surprise if you're a Dalish Elf.}}

** ''Awakening'''s prologue involves retaking Vigil's Keep from a darkspawn horde. {{spoiler|As well as a second, ''much'' larger assault at the end of the game on both the Vigil and the City of Amaranthine.}}

* [[Amazon Brigade]]: The Silent Sisters.

** Also a party consisting of a female Warden, Morrigan/Wynne, Leliana and {{spoiler|Shale}}.

** And what the darkspawn do with female prisoners...

** And where darkspawn come from...

* [[Baby Factory]]: Brood Mothers.

* [[Back Stab]]: If your rogue is melee, rest assured you are pigeonholed into this. (Although it's not entirely bad, given that a Cunning Rogue can kill an enemy faster than the Game breaking mages can.)

**** '''Morrigan approves +5.'''

***** [[Your Approval Fills Me with Shame]].

* [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp|Call a Count an Arl]]: The titles of nobility in the game are all somewhat unique, aside from "King" and "Queen."

** This is mostly [[Phantasy Spelling]]. Earl (largely equivalent to Count in any case) becomes Arl, whereas Baron and Thegn get mixed and divided into Teyrn and Bann.

* [[Camera Screw]]

* [[Can't Drop the Hero]]: Played straight except for one small part where party members rescue the PC (which is itself optional, as you can break yourself out) and another where your party members [[Hold the Line]] during the final battle.

** Due to Arl Howe's betrayal and brutal murder of most of the Couslands, the Human Noble Warden can decide whether or not to engage in one of these. Later in ''Awakening'', the Warden can follow through on a threat to murder the members of Howe's family in retaliation by executing Nathaniel Howe when he is caught attempting to assassinate the Warden.

*** On the other hand, its entirely possible to avert this, playing the Warden as simply seeking revenge on just Arl Howe himself. In ''Awakening'' the Warden can decide to recruit Nathaniel into the Wardens instead of executing him, befriend him and inspire him to redeem his family's name after he realises the extent of his father's crimes. One possible epilogue reveals that Nathaniel even rescues the Warden's brother from bandits and the Howes are returned some of their lands, ending the bad blood between the families.

* [[Damned By Faint Praise]]: You can actually kill {{spoiler|Jowan}} with this.

** And if you ''do'' actually say something that's barely nice about Jowan ("Well, he's ''trying'' to be a better person, I guess?"), Arl Eamon will say this trope word for word.

** {{spoiler|Even if you are a clueless idiot, the part where Sten returns home (If you have enough respect with him) really drives it home. When asked by his people if he met anyone worthy of respect on his travels, he replies "One."}}

* [[Dysfunction Junction]]: Pretty much every party member you can recruit in this game has a major psychological trauma or three in their past (or in some cases their present). This is how you can [[Spotting the Thread|tell]] that {{spoiler|Mhairi is a [[Mauve Shirt]]: she's not dysfunctional.}}

* [[Earn Your Happy Ending]]: if you work very hard, you'll be able to get one of these. However, there's many other... not that happy outcomes.

* [[Easily Forgiven]]: Rampant throughout the main quest storyline. Count the number of times that, after you have slaughtered your way throughout an entire dungeon of a particular enemy race or group, the leader of that race or group will come out and offer to team up with you. You can even call Father Kolgrim on it when he offers to proclaim you Andraste's champion after you've slaughtered about two-thirds of his followers.

** Lampshaded in ''Dragon Age II'' during Alistair's cameo. Bann Teagan says that they should be getting back to Denerim to see the Warden, and as they are leaving, Alistair responds, "You're always so formal. She/He has a name, you know.

* [[Everything Fades]]: Halfway played straight. All bodies fade away into low-polygon bones and junk, which remain when you return. Averted when your return to Ostagar to find {{spoiler|the king's body perfectly intact}}, but that is given a codex explanation: evidently, the Darkspawn taint is so fatal to living things that it kills the parasites that would normally break down dead tissue. (And of course, when you return, it's winter, which would further stave off decomposition.)

* [[Everything's Worse with Bears]]: Bears in the game come in two flavors: black bears and great bears. Considering that there is nothing supernatural about them and that they are not sentient, bears are some of the toughest enemies in the game. This is to your advantage if you play as a rogue and get the Ranger specialization, as you'll be able to summon first a black bear and eventually a great bear. Oh [[The Joys of Torturing Mooks|the joys of slaughtering mooks]] with a bear at your side.

** [[It Got Worse|Ohhh, it gets even worse]]. There is a Blight-infected variant called a Bereskarn.

* [[Executive Meddling]]: This and time restraints are the reason Shale's only available via DLC instead of being in the vanilla game.

** Though the devs were kind enough to include that bit of DLC for free with any copy purchased new. It still served to discourage buying the game used (which doesn't turn a profit for Bioware).

 

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