#obal

respected by his father and the assembly for being less arrogant than trian, but more stern/courtly than bhelen. a decent tactician and gifted fighter, but bad with interpersonal relationships, which allowed bhelen to maneuver around him easily

gay but sexually flexible considering the obligation to produce heirs. he slept with noble-hunters while in love with gorim, never acting on his feelings due to the noble-warrior caste divide. he found a certain dignified misery in living like this (<- dipshit)

he considers “obal aeducan” to be formally dead after his banishment and never gives his clan name on the surface. he has a dire struggle with what to do when he finds out he has a son who was made casteless through the drama, and this is the only reason he bothers clearing his name in orzammar

he used to have very long and intricately braided beard and hair. when he was banished all his braids were cut and his jewelry confiscated. he’s only just now grown his hair back to his shoulders and gotten his beard in acceptable shape. he’s reintroducing jewelry slowly bc re: feeling the aeducan part of himself is dead, he doesn’t want to be too showy (he loves gold tho)

related to not sharing his clan name, duncan was the only surfacer who knew the political horseshit that got him banished and that he was a prince. he has never bothered filling anyone else in, simply bc he doesn’t think its relevant. he puts treating with orzammar off till last and the whole party is blindsided by the situation. im still debating how that will resolve! we’ll see when i get there

genuinely believes becoming a grey warden is the most meaningful path his life couldve taken and feels indebted to duncan. interestingly this makes him less likely to make the final sacrifice in slaying the archdemon, because he feels responsible for helping to rebuild the fereldan wardens after ostagar

a deeply unfunny man. he has never intentionally told a joke in his life. this has the unintended side effect of making him EXTREMELY funny to those who like him and see his life for the farce it is. he thinks alistair is hilarious, though, and general party bickering sometimes cracks him up

Zevran Arainai Hits This Man Like A Freight Train. happily, This Man Also Hits Zevran Like A Freight Train. flippant but deeply depressed unstoppable force vs stoic but deeply loving immovable object. they have a funny dynamic at the start, where obal immediately finds zevran likeable after the botched assassination when he talks and talks with his “welp, what can u do?” attitude, but zevran struggles to read obal or know where he stands with him for waaay longer. all dwarves give their coworkers gold ingots, right?

zevran trying all sorts of approaches to getting on obal’s good side (despite already being there) gets him a bullseye with flirtation that wouldnt have come up naturally, bc obal isn’t used to it but is open to it. this couldve been a sticky situation for zevran with his position in the party if obal wasnt physically incapable of being casual. the moment he realizes his feelings have deepened, obal immediately engages Silent Husband Mode and waits for zevran to catch up. he enjoys zevran so much as a person, i think when zevran gets an idea of how much its almost embarrassing. the mortifying ordeal of ur lover being sincerely delighted by u

obal allegedly likes all his party members equally. (20 minutes earlier) “i don’t care for oghren.” they have too much cultural freight between them. obal is platonically closest to leiliana, then sten

he named his dog after gorim and the roasting that ensues after the party meets him in denerim and Realizes is near-lethal

he finds he really likes the surface and traveling, though he’ll never admit it, and often gets cold bc he’s used to the steady magma heating in orzammar. wool socks are the only reason this man is still alive