#altusnerd

I’ll begin with the questions by @altusnerd:

1. Regardless of in-game armor and clothing, what is your Inquisitor’s “aesthetic?” Do they tend toward comfort and utility or style and presence? What are their favorite armor pieces or clothing items like?

Tamlen definitely prefers practical and comfortable clothing he can move easily in and that isn’t entirely ruined when it gets a little dirty. Armor ideally is tight-fitting but flexible. He likes muted colors like dark greens, blues and browns, also black and grey. A color combination he loves when it comes to clothing and armor is black and green, because while wearing it he becomes one with the forest and is hardly visible anymore. He puts a huge emphasis on well fitting and supportive shoes and boots because of his weak ligaments. Also he loves scarves and almost always wears one - it’s probably the only piece of clothing he’d ever wear for purely aesthetic reasons.

2. Would your Inquisitor still have joined the cause in the case that they never attended the Conclave and didn’t receive the Anchor? Why would they make the choice they did?

In the “Tamlen as a companion” au the Keeper’s first goes to the Conclave instead of Tamlen and as soon as the clan hears about the explosion at the temple a few hunters are sent out to look for their brother in Haven. Tamlen volunteers to accompany them, just as much as he had volunteered to spy on the Conclave in the first place. He isn’t exactly on good terms with the First most of the time, but he still wants to find out what happened to him. Whether the First lived and later becomes the Inquisitor or not, whoever is called Herald of Andraste in that AU encounters Tamlen in the Hinterlands, where he’s hiding from a group of templars who confused him with a rebel mage. It turns out that the other hunters he had been traveling with got caught in the middle of the fights and were all killed. The Inquisitor can offer Tamlen to join their cause by promising that the Inquisition will restore order and prevent things like the death of the hunters and other innocents from happening again. So yes, although reluctantly and not without informing the keeper about his and the other hunters whereabouts, he joins the Inquisition. After Corypheus is defeated (or if he doesn’t agree with the Inquisitor’s choices) he returns to his clan.

3. How has being the Inquisitor changed their character? What would they think or feel if they looked back on themselves from before the Conclave?

I wouldn’t say that his character has changed a lot, actually. He cared about the people that are important to him just as much as he did after becoming the Inquisitor and he’d still do anything to protect them from harm. He’s still a bit awkward, takes things a bit too personal sometimes and talks faster than he thinks. He probably learned to take a diplomatic approach more often than an aggressive one, but he was already starting to learn that before the Conclave. He’s still a stubborn idealist, but being the Inquisitor probably added the wish and in parts also the power to make the world a bit better than it is in his eyes.

What did change though is his perspective on many things - and I don’t think that’s surprising after everything that’s he learned and that’s been revealed during his time with the Inquisition. If he looked back at himself from before the Conclave he’d think “ignorance is bliss”. He has so many more questions now and no answers (yet), and sometimes feels really disconnected from his former life... and that scares him a lot.

Now the questions from @splinterstaff:

1. Are there any decisions they made as Inquisitor that they have since come to regret?

I still want to see how drinking from the Well of Sorrows plays out in Trespasser (although I’ve heard that it’s not a big change - still I’m curious). I still haven’t yet decided what I’d want to be canon for Tamlen... I don’t really like both options actually, but for now I’m tending more towards him letting Morrigan drink. So.... That is something he’d regret for a long time afterwards. It’s a unique chance to return even the tiniest bit of knowledge of the ancient times to his people and who knows in how far it might be of even more help in the future. Seing a human woman he barely knows (and who probably barely knows herself what she’s doing) claim all the knowledge of the Well for herself is hard for him. He aks himself if he had made the same decision if Dorian hadn’t asked him not to drink from the Well.

2. Which regions of Orlais/Felerden do they enjoy visiting? Which do they despise?

Despite some rather awful memories he loved exploring the desert regions, especially the Western Approach - simply because it’s different from everthing he’s seen so far. His most favourite region for more sentimental reasons though were the Dales, especially the Emerald Graves. They reminded him a lot of home and of course also of how much the elves had lost just in the last few centuries. He was a lot more quiet than usual while they traveled through the forest and ruins there.

A place he despises is the Fallow Mire... but honestly, is there anyone who likes the Fallow Mire? It’s cold, it’s wet, it’s full of corpses. So many things he despises in one place, just the giant spiders are missing.

3. Were there any companions/advisors that your Inquisitor didn’t like at the start of game? Did their opinion change over time?

He and Vivienne didn’t get along at all in the beginning. There was just nothing they seemed to have in common, both concerning their personalities and their experiences. At one point they got into a discussion about the Dalish, Vivienne talking about how they’re not more than savages and that’s something that just got Tamlen’s blood boiling. How dare she judge him or the Dalish as such based on what she knows from some book another human wrote. The discussion quickly turned into a loud argument and well... thankfully Josie was nearby to deescalate the situation a bit :’D

It took a long, long time until Tamlen actually started to understand Vivienne as a person a bit better. They still disagree about a bunch of things, but they’ve built a friendship on their mutual respect for each other.