cullen stanton rutherford

Alright, I’m going to address a pet peeve of mine: how to address medieval royalty in fanfiction. Now, I know Dragon Age plays fast and loose with it’s pseudo-medieval background, so in truth this may not apply, but this is a tic of mine borne from those hellish months that I spent pouring over 17th century English parliamentary records for my thesis. I don’t fucking recommend it.

Let’s start with Queen Anora and Prince Warden. Why is f!Cousland a queen but m!Cousland a prince consort? It is because Anora/Alistair is the one who actually holds the throne; the Couslands are consorts. Similar to how Obama is the president - the one actually ruling the country - but Michelle is the First Lady. She’s important but she has no right to the presidential powers. Just because you marry a king/queen, it does not give you automatic access to make decisions for the country. So, f!Cousland is a “queen consort” but Anora is a “queen regnant.” But the title of King is always higher than the title of Queen and since Anora is the ruler, that means her consort cannot have a title higher than hers so he becomes a “prince consort.” See: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

When addressing a King or a Queen, the general accepted styling is “Your Majesty”/”His Majesty”/”Her Majesty.” If you want to be extra formal, you can use “His/Her Most Gracious Majesty”

Prince Consorts and Heirs should be addressed as “Your Royal Highness”, “His/Her Royal Highness.”

Now, Sebastian Vael is different. Ferelden is a kingdom, but Starkhaven is a principality. Prince or Princess is the ruling rank. Prince Sebastian should be styled as “His Serene Highness.”

As Viscount, Varric would only be addressed as “The Right Honourable” in formal occasions. He would usually be styled as “Lord Varric.” Any children he might have would be addressed as “The Honorable ____.”

Empress Celene would be styled “Her Imperial Majesty.” Any children she might have, as her heirs, would be styled as “His/Her Imperial Highness.”

The Archon is a tricky one. It’s possible he would not have a formal style address like the ones above, but he might be addressed similar to a Roman emperor would have been with a simple “Hail Archon!”

Now for Banns/Arls/Teyrns. Banns and Arls seem to be equal to Barons and Earls, respectively. Both of these ranks have the same address, so it would be “The Right Honourable Bann Teagan” and “The Right Honourable Arl Eamon.” Teyrns = Dukes, so for them it would be “His Grace, the Teyrn of Highever” or just “Your Grace” when being a bit more informal.