Hawke this, Hawke that

Player Name: Kiwi
Are you 16 or older: Older
Contact: PM or gundamkiwi on Plurk
Current Characters: Thane Krios // psychadrellic
Tag: garrett hawke (crau)

IN CHARACTER
Name: Garrett Hawke
Canon: Dragon Age
Canon Point: Post DA2, pre DAI
Age: 31

History:
DA2 Overview
In-depth storyline for DA2
Wiki character summary

Blue text highlights player decision
Red text highlights headcanon

Personality: In Dragon Age II, Hawke's personality is determined through dialogue options chosen by the player as the game progresses. Hawke comes in three different flavors: Diplomatic/Helpful ("Blue" Hawke), Sarcastic/Charming ("Purple" Hawke), or Aggressive/Direct ("Red" Hawke).

The summary of my major in-game choices is as follows:
Mage --> Joined the smuggling ring to pay for entry into Kirkwall --> Took Carver into the Deep Roads (where he was conscripted into the Grey Wardens) --> Fought the Arishok in single combat for Kirkwall Isabela's honor freedom --> Romanced the pants off of the trash mage Anders --> Broke up with Anders but let him live --> Sided with the Mages

I play Hawke as a gentle balance of blue and purple who can generally be counted on to take off the happy joker mask for his good friends in favor of sincerity. He can (and has) come off as a completely insensitive jackass, but overall he's really a decent, caring guy who hides his feelings behind a heavy facade of sarcasm and humor. He has decent context sensitivity, and while he will often choose to ignore it in favor of a sarcastic remark or inappropriate innuendo, there are instances where his irritation with a situation will cause him to be uncharacteristically direct (generally whenever he talks to Sebastian). Conversely, there are some situations (any time a parent or a child asks for help) where he drops the jackass act and responds with genuine sensitivity.

 × THE FIRST-BORN
Hawke was profoundly affected by growing up in a family where life and happiness depended on staying together. The danger of being separated from his father was ever present in his childhood and grew even greater when he hit puberty, when his magical abilities manifested. If the family was caught by Templars, not only would he be separated from his father but from his mother and younger siblings as well. The likelihood of seeing them again would be nonexistent, as the Chantry is notorious for separating mages from their families.

He has an affinity toward fellow mages, his connection with his father and sister having always been stronger than with his mother and brother due to the shared dangers they face as mages, both of possession by a demon and being found as an apostate. He was closer to his father than to his mother since he spent more time with Malcolm learning to control his abilities, and then with Bethany as well, once her magic manifested. This created an unintentional divide between Hawke and his mother and brother, the non-magical members of their family, and in some ways carries through with many of his other relationships.

Following his father's death, Hawke took on the responsibility of leading out of necessity and has since continued to do so. Even with the passing of his sister, especially due to Leandra's accusation that it was his fault, he blames himself for a lot of things he has no control over and subsequently takes responsibility for the burdens of those he cares for.

This being the case, he tends to assume a paternal role for his remaining family - Mother and Carver - and his adopted family - Aveline, Varric, Merrill, Anders, Fenris, Isabela, and Sebastian. This paternal role influences his outlook and, in turn, actions and interactions with the people he meets and helps in Kirkwall, i.e. he has a special soft spot for parents, children, and siblings.

 × THE BIG BROTHER
Hawke has a tendency to adopt the Big Bro role with children and teenagers. He's more likely to be sincere with kids, and pulls out the sass as a means to make them smile or laugh, rather than as a weapon of mass irritation. This is evident as, throughout the course of his adventures, he comes across several families who need help and provides support for them in this way.

In Act I he helps a young woman, Macha, locate her brother, Keran, a templar recruit who has mysteriously gone missing. Though he has little reason to love templars, he agrees to help her find Keran because he strongly relates to her feelings. What he uncovers is a blood-mage conspiracy to plant demons within the Templar ranks by corrupting recruits in the hope of undermining the Templar organization. In the end, he's able to kill the blood-mages, rescue Keran, and even sweet-talk the Templar knight-captain into accepting Keran back into the recruits despite his close call. This, again, is not due to any love he has for Templars or for people who want to be Templars, but because the stipend Keran earns is the only thing supporting his sister and keeping her out of poverty. Sibling solidarity, yo.

 × THE SCOUNDREL WITH THE HEART OF GOLD
A lot of Hawke's actions can appear to be financially motivated, but he always follows his moral compass. At the start of the game his home and everything he knew was destroyed, and the only way to get into Kirkwall (he found out only after he'd arrived) was to buy his way in. He spent his year with Athenril's smuggling ring and earned the money to do so. Once his debt was paid off, he moved on to different means of locating financial security, not so much for himself, but so that he could take care of his mother and his brother. As described in the wiki, part of the main questline is to earn enough gold to buy a partnership in a caravan heading to the Deep Roads. He takes on a lot of "odd jobs" with a monetary reward as the main motivator, but as often as not eschews the reward upon learning that things are not what they seem.

Some time after he'd left Athenril's smuggling ring and come into riches in the Deep Roads, his former boss contacted him for a job. Knowing he was trustworthy and capable, she asked him to track down misplaced goods. Upon locating them, he discovers that the initial runner for the job was an orphaned, teenaged boy who had younger sisters to look after. Hawke recovered the shipment but decided to give it to the boy and advises him to take his sisters and get out of Kirkwall. He forfeited payment for the job and then lied to Athenril about the fate of the goods, covering for the kid and allowing him to get away.

Another time, he was hired by an aristocrat to track down a dangerous criminal and to bring him back alive. The man was set to pay Hawke a handsome reward, but when Hawke learned that the criminal in question had a history of kidnapping, molesting, and ultimately murdering elven children, he elected to bring the man to justice upon confrontation, instead of allowing him to pass into the hands of the courts where he would ultimately receive nothing more than imprisonment and a slap on the wrist. All he got in return for that particular kerfluffle was the gratitude of the girl and of her father (as well as threats of retaliation from the aristocrat), but that was just fine with Hawke.

 × SER SASSYPANTS
Hawke takes shit from nobody.

Well, that's not entirely true. His friends give him a lot of shit, but they're allowed to because they're his friends. Slap him into a situation where he's expected to be diplomatic, and he'll sass his pants off till the cows come home. Knight-Commander Meredith and First Enchanter Orsino are bickering again? Break it up with a flippant remark about releasing sexual tension. The Viscount needs someone to rescue his son again from that Qunari that keeps "kidnapping" him? Subtly indicate that the viscount's son is an adult who is more than capable of making his own life choices. ...And then go find him anyway because ~money~

To strangers and acquaintances, Hawke often appears to be a fairly shallow individual incapable of taking anything seriously whose only concerns are coin and drink (and dirty jokes). The thing about Hawke, though, is that he doesn't think of himself as a hero. He never set out to make a difference in the lives of thousands of people or make a name for himself in any sense of the word. He's just this ordinary (though extraordinarily handsome~) guy who all of these big, important people have somehow decided is going to save them from corruption or blood magic or total annihilation. His method for dealing with these big, important people just happens to be sass. Maybe if he's sarcastic enough at them, they'll realize how many stupid things they're saying and figure out a way to fix their own damn problems. Not that that has ever worked so far, but he can still dream!

 × THE CHAMPION
Regardless of Hawke's hopes, sometimes things just happen, and that's more or less how people came to see him as a hero despite his intentions. This was the case when he came to be called the Champion of Kirkwall, which occurred following the First Battle of Kirkwall.

When the Qunari began attacking and razing Kirkwall to the ground, Hawke's only goal was to protect his home. Amid the chaos of the attack, it was unclear whether or not anyone was capable of stepping up to respond. As it happened, Hawke (along with a handful of his friends) were the only ones to do so. While he did eventually encounter Meredith and Orsino on his way to confront the Arishok, he wound up proceeding on his own, the promise of backup from Templars and Circle Mages never being kept.

Hawke made his way through the Viscount's Keep, which the Qunari had captured, and arrived in the grand hall just in time to witness the Arishok toss the head of Kirkwall's Viscount into the midst of its citizens. Attempting to reason with the Arishok did little good, until Isabela sashayed onto the scene bearing the Tome of Koslun, the artifact whose theft had prompted the Qunari attack in the first place. Delighted at this turn of events, Hawke happily offered the Tome to the Arishok in exchange for the cessation of hostility and the swift removal of the Qunari from Kirkwall.

Unfortunately, the Arishok wanted both the Tome and Isabela. That was a deal-breaker for Hawke, so the two agreed that an honorable, one-on-one Duel to the Death™ was the only way to settle Isabela's fate. While Isabela had initially betrayed her friends by running off with the Tome, she returned despite her selfishness, and that was enough for Hawke to forgive her.

In defeating the Arishok, respect from the city-state was gained and the title of Champion was bestowed upon him. This came with its own benefits, but overall, it is not that Hawke chose to become the Champion, but that he has what is needed in what others want of one. In the end, his loyalty and leadership in regard to his friends is what brought about this result, and though he would never willingly choose to receive such a title again, Hawke continues to lead and protect those he cares for when the world requires it of him.

 ×THE POWER OF FRIENDSHIP
The above link is provided in an attempt at brevity, because this is already ridiculously long. If the above personality summary is not sufficient to give a good idea of the sort of guy Hawke is, the link provides even more details.

 × A DASH OF HEADCANON
Hawke is kind of a raging alcoholic. If he has a problem he doesn't feel emotionally equipped to deal with, and there is a tavern available, chances are very good that he will be in that tavern, and he will be wasted. On the plus side, he's generally a happy drunk?

Additionally, he is rather vain. He spends a ridiculous amount of time on his personal appearance every morning, fluffing his hair and styling his beard just so. He's delightfully easy to tease, especially with regard to his beard. Even an offhand suggestion that it might be uneven can send him running to the closest mirror to investigate and suggestions that he shave it off are usually met with sulking and pouting. This is headcanon based on the impeccable styling of Hawke's beard no matter how many bandits he's just killed.

 ×THE CRAU
The first and probably most notable difference between Garrett and Marian Hawke is their physical sex. He's obviously a burly manly lumberjack, she's pretty clearly a twiggy, willowy femme fatale. While they do share a lot of core personality traits - their genial good humor, their easygoing nature, their unfortunate and self-destructive tendency to alcoholism - overall they're about as similar as a somewhat dumb but good-humored bear and a wiley, mischievous fox.

Garrett, the dumb but good-humored bear, wore his heart on his sleeve until he gave it away to Anders, who proceeded to bury it under tons of rubble when he blew up the Kirkwall Chantry. Marian, the wiley, mischievous fox, has never been brave enough (or, perhaps, stupid enough) to trust her heart to Isabela, although she does think that the two of them maybe possibly could potentially have A Thing going on in the romantic sense, if you tilt your head at a 42 degree angle and squint just so.

Additionally, Garrett's going to be coming into Savrou directly from a previous DW RP game called Beastly Roses, where he spent about seven months living in a small fairy-tale village named Astor, within a larger land called Loria, completely cut off from the Fade and his magic. He was initially pulled there between Acts II and III of DA2, and so was still getting used to being the Champion of Kirkwall but had not yet had his heart crushed into a fine powder by urine-based explosives. To start, he struggled to get used to his complete lack of magic, but was soon making plenty of friends, both PC and NPC, as is his wont. About a month in, he encountered the Hero of Ferelden, the Grey Warden Cousland. The woman was pricklier than a cactus but he befriended her anyway, because Thedas solidarity, yo! This was also his first encounter with the idea of alternate realities, because for him the Hero of Ferelden had been a Circle Mage, not a Fereldan noble. His second encounter with alternate realities hit a lot closer to home when his buddy Fenris showed up a few months later and became very angry at him for being a mage. Fenris remembered Hawke as a non-magical rogue, not an apostate. Between the two of them they did kind of figure out what was going on (magical bullshit, essentially), and were able to fall back into their usual friendship without too many more hitches.

He took up residence in the small Inn and earned his keep there by providing wild game for the kitchen - hunting being a thing he learned as a kid. The first month or so was a bit difficult, because he couldn't fall back on his usual method of freezing fleeing prey solid, but, after about a month had gone by, his loyal Mabari warhound Champion mysteriously showed up on his doorstep one morning. After being reunited with his best dog pal, hunting became a breeze...Because Champ did most of the work. Hawke always carried everything back, though, so there was some teamwork going there.

During his time in Astor, Hawke managed to piss off the NPC antagonist, known locally as "Fox" because he was, you know. A fox. Fox had the ability to return characters' abilities to them, for a price. Hawke, who had a very thorough education on the topic of Why It's A Bad Idea To Make Deals With Demons, had no interest in dealing with Fox, although that didn't stop him from pulling some pretty juvenile shit just to mess with the guy. Fox didn't appreciate Hawke's activities for some reason, and when another PC applied to him to get his powers returned, Fox agreed on the condition that he use his powers to dig up dirt on Hawke. The dirt that was dug up was the death of Hawke's little sister, Bethany, and the method of the digging was a literal mind-fuck which forced Hawke to relive arguably one of the worst moments of his life up until that point in excruciating, realistic detail.

Hawke dealt with the reminder of his enormous failure to save his sister's life like he always did, by bottling up his feelings and drowning them in alcohol. Outwardly, his demeanor and personality appeared the same as always, but he was quietly experiencing an anger and a hatred toward another living being that he'd never felt before. He had no way to act on it, however, because Fox had all the magic and Hawke none, and the guy who'd rooted around in his mind for his memories of Bethany disappeared shortly thereafter (the character was dropped, so no follow-up could be made). So he tried his best to ignore it, even while it simmered and stewed quietly in the back of his mind.

A few months later, Hawke died in a dragon attack on Astor. Fenris had been teaching him how to not be completely useless with a sword, but a few months of lessons does not a master make. He did his best, but the dragon was faster and stronger. The time period between his death and revival was used to canon-update him to after the end of DA2, so he awoke in Astor again smarting not just being skewered by a dragon, but also from having his trust in Anders very thoroughly betrayed. Luckily (or not?) his buddy Cousland needed some pretty attentive bedside nursing, having barely survived being stepped on by a dragon, so he had a handy distraction from his own problems. Unluckily, Astor had been dry for a couple months prior to the dragon attack, and showed no signs of being able to restock the wine cellars any time soon. It was around this time Hawke and Fenris decided to move out of the town (they had been renting space in the Inn up until then), and took up residence in an abandoned lodge in the woods. They brought Cousland along with them, so they could continue to care for her. They fixed the lodge up into a very cozy home for the three of them, and built a little distillery and planted potatoes to put in the distillery...because it's difficult to be a group of functioning alcoholics when there's no alcohol with which to function.

And that's where Hawke and his friends were when the game unexpectedly closed.

Contracts: Hawke's not actually sure he wants to go home after the blow-up with Anders (Hah! Get it?), but he wouldn't mind going back to Loria too much? Maybe he'll get a chance to skin the Fox...that'd be pretty good. So, eh, sure, he'll play the captain's game (or what's left of it, given the Moira is no more), sign on the dotted line, etc.

Abilities/Skills:
Hawke is a mage! He can set shit on fire with his mind and crush his enemies with...crushing force! I have a list of the spells he can cast and what they do here. He gets into a lot of fights in-game and is quite the magical powerhouse. In addition to flinging offensive spells at the bad guys, he wields a staff, which is enchanted to enhance his magical abilities and also doubles as an excellent club in the instance an enemy gets too close.

In canon, he uses his magic passively unless provoked and this follows in how I play him in RP settings. He might use magic to light a campfire or to heal an injury, but he doesn't set people's hair on fire for fun (for example). He grew up keeping his abilities a secret, and while his few close friends know he's a mage, it's not something he advertises, even in RP situations.

Strengths/Weaknesses:
Strengths: Personable, easy-going, fiercely loyal, hard worker, pyromaniac, jack-of-all-trades
Weaknesses: Vain, alcoholic, selfless to the point of self-sabotage, gives no shits

Items:
 × The Clothes On His Back
 × Best Mage Staff In The World
 × One (1) mabari warhound

SAMPLES
Network Sample:
['Sup, fellow refugees, today the network has a special treat for you, in the form of this handsome asshole. You're welcome.]

Since walking through the, uh, Ingress, was it? I've been informed that an entire library has somehow been preserved from the destruction one usually associates with crashing ships. I don't suppose anyone here thought to use the same technique to rescue large quantities of ale or wine?

It doesn't even have to be good, just alcoholic. I've spent the past month scouring all sense of taste with homemade potato liquor, so chances are high I won't even notice the quality.

[Here he flashes a charming, roguish grin and winks cheekily.]

Thanks in advance!

Prose/Action Sample: TDM Link!