#hessarion

It can be completely explained in detail from a starting point to "present" day, it can be shrouded in myth and legend, with what actually happened being very hard to piece together, like a song of ice and fire, or everything people thought they know about history turns out to be wrong, like the Stormlight Archives.

Dragon Age has elements of all 3, depending entirely upon which part of history we are talking about, and what characters.

However, onebrather unique way it handles this kind of writing is the Story of Andraste.

While the games, books or other media of Dragon Age always keeps the question of whether or not she really was divinely blessed, whether her maker was real or invented by her to justify her message, and whether this maker if he be real was actually the creator god of this universe or just a stupidly powerful spirit, deliberately vague and without an answer, in most other regards Dragon age takes the unconventional approach that it gives us a lot of the answers from day one during the trip through the Temple of Sacred Ashes, and only then has characters in-universe hotly debate the topic of her life, while we, the reader, sit with all the answers and can judge it for ourselves.

Maferath, Andraste's Husband

Maferath is treated astonishingly well by in universe historians considering how badly he fucked everything up.

This is the man who turned his wife over to the Tevinter Imperium in exchange for a poorly planned peace deal, and then rather than at least try to keep the nation him and his wife built together, divided it up amongst his sons, shattering any semblance of unity Andrastianism had after Andraste's death, and setting the stage for the dozen lesser states of modern Southern Thedas, the tyranny of the chantry, and the Tevinters continued existence.

And yet in universe historians try to rehabilitate them, the same way real historians try to rehabilitate objectively terrible monarchs like King John of England, or ancient massmurderers who they claim didn't really commit their murders despite all evidence to the contrary.

Maferath reason for turning over Andraste must have been because he thought their strategic position was terrible as a result of Andraste's actions, and so in the aftermath of Andraste's greatest victory, he made a deal to consolidate their gains, at the cost of his wife's life.

Nope, he did it because he was couldn't handle the fact that for all his military genius, it was Her who rallied the people together, it was her who everyone loved, and if total victory was achieved, it was no doubt going to be her who would get all the credit, while he would be a footnote.

And so he betrayed her to get her out of the way in a manner that would still allow him to become famous and celebrated, all the while making an absolutely terrible peace deal.

The fact was there was no such thing. There was no great plan. No idea of making himself into a target everyone of his own people could hate and rally against.

He was simply a terrible politician with a fragile ego, and a big complex about being seen as the best, biggest, and most impressive man around, who couldn't handle the fact his wife was more important than him, and so he threw everything away on a terrible peace deal, when his wife was at the tipping point of destroying the Tevinter Imperium, and forging a new super state composed of all her followers... And then he stupidly broke the empire apart so each of his sons could be king in their own right.

All so he could attempt to become bigger an more loved than Andraste, when it's very clear that she was the political brian in this union, and he an utter fool in anything that wasn't battle.

Shartan, Thane of all Elves

Shartan is speculated to be many things, his history is forgotten, buried, rewritten and so on.

Some historians try to say he never existed. Others that one, single elf could never have achieved so much success on his own, there must have been more than one man who took the name, a bunch of rebel leaders who created a legacy for themselves.

Some claim he was won over by andraste's charm and converted to the maker. Other's that he must have been Andraste's lover for her to favor him so.

In his death some say he was slain defending Andraste, others that he fought his way to her pyre and died there, while one claim that he died besides her at a pyre of his own is dismissed as obvious fiction.

The reality is that Shartan was indeed a man, did indeed rally the elves to Andraste's cause, but was never a true friend of Andraste. His and the Prophet's alliance was one of convinience, in his own words "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", and they did indeed have a shared enemy.

His motivation had nothing to do with the maker, and everything to do with his dream, his dream that his people would one day have a home of their own... But he was betrayed, just Andraste was.

And through the witness of the spirit carrying the memories of Hessarion's wicked and evil wife, we learn what became of Shartan. He and all of Andraste's Warleaders(Except for Maferath) was publicly executed by fire.

Shartan did indeed die on a pyre, right besides Andraste, but there was not sword of mercy for him. He died slowly, and painfully, and ultimately forgotten, just like the other warleaders.

Another soul lost to Maferath's betrayal.

Hessarion, The Lying Archon

Hessarion claims to have heard the will of the maker in Andraste's final moments, and used that as justification for his converting the entirety of his Imperium to the chant.

But this is a lie.

Whether he truly believed in the maker later in life, or not, Hessarion did not hear a voice from above telling him to kill Andraste. He did it for no other reason than that he could not bear to see the woman in pain and suffering, and so, acting on that impulse, he ended her life quickly and decisively rather than leave her in pain.

Hessarion built his ultimately doomed reforms of the Twvinter Imperium on complete lies about a holy vision from God. Whatever his intentions, it was built on a big, fat lie, not true, genuine belief in a higher calling.

Cathaire, the Witness

Historians claim that Andraste's miracle might not even have happened, that the Barbarian Queen merely took advantage of good fortune, but those who were there knew the truth.

For as the original Cathaire tells, the Barbarian Horde witness the fire of the sun coming doen to the Earth, scorching the land, inflicting such a destruction through fire and drought that the Imperium's entire harvest was gone, and so their armies could not march to fight Andraste's army.

And only then did the heavens open up, and create such a flood, that all that yet remained in the lands they passed were washed away like filth.

Whether it was though the will of God, her own incredible magic, or some mighty spirit's work, Andraste's miracles were real enough, and they brought her and her armies through to victory, all the way to the gates of Minrathous, where the betrayal from inside did what no Tevinter armies or spells could defeat.

Brona, the Seer and Mother

Much and more has been said of Andraste's visions, wheter they were real or not.

But what we do know, is that there was one close to her, who saw her future through the gift of magical and/or divine foresight.

Brona her mother, as her child slumvered beneath her heart, had a vision that told her of her daughter's life, and how it would end... Something she tried, and failed to stop.

The ability to divine the future is not unheard of in the Dragon Age universe, as shown with Flemeth, but as proven by Players chaoice in their actions, the future is rarely set firmly in stone.

Hawke will make the world shake before them... Provided of course they aren't killed fighting a Demon in the Fade.

Flemeth foresees her own death at the hands of the Warden, and takes steps to avoid it, but the Warden can choose to spare her life instead.