Player character in Dragon Age II
Hawke is a character from BioWare's "Dragon Age" media franchise, first appearing as the player character of the 2011 video game "Dragon Age II". Hawke is the eldest child of the human Hawke family and hails from the nation of Ferelden in the world of Thedas, the setting of the "Dragon Age" franchise. The opening sequence of "Dragon Age II" follows Hawke's family as they flee northwards to the Free Marches region as refugees from the invading Darkspawn hordes. Settling down in the city-state of Kirkwall soon after arrival, Hawke emerges as a prominent figure within the span of a decade, rising in power and influence to become the "Champion of Kirkwall". Hawke is a pivotal figure behind the origins of the worldwide conflict between the setting's magicians ("Mage" within series fiction) and their custodians the Templar Order, and also plays an important role during a subsequent extradimensional invasion of Thedas by demonic beings as depicted in "".
Hawke's gender, class, first name and facial appearance is defined by the player during the character creation menu. The character's core personality, political affiliations, and personal relationships with companion characters is gradually shaped by the player's cumulative choices and actions over the course of the game's narrative. However, Hawke has a distinct origin story and character arc within the narrative of "Dragon Age II", and is neither a hero nor a villain as the game has no morality system. British actors Nicholas Boulton and Jo Wyatt voiced the male and female Hawke respectively. A version of the character who is male and a mage was featured prominently in marketing and promotional material for "Dragon Age II".
Overall reception towards Hawke, much like "Dragon Age II" itself, was initially divisive. Several critics have retrospectively analyzed Hawke as an atypical and tragic video game protagonist who is not meant to be empowered with full agency over the narrative of "Dragon Age II", finding merit in BioWare's creative vision for the character.
Character overview.
"Hawke" is the eldest child of the renegade Ferelden mage Malcolm Hawke and the Free Marcher noblewoman Leandra Amell. During character creation in "Dragon Age II", the player decides Hawke's gender, character class, and given name. If played as a warrior or rogue, Hawke would have been part of the Ferelden army at Ostagar alongside their brother Carver. If played as a mage, Hawke is an apostate mage who, like their sister Bethany, has managed to evade the Chantry religious institution and its Templars while growing up in the Ferelden village of Lothering. Hawke's choice of class determines whether Bethany (for warriors and rogues) or Carver (for mages) survive the journey from Ferelden to Kirkwall, the hometown of their mother Leandra Amell. Hawke's physical appearance is fully customizable, which also influences the facial structure, skin tone, and hair for Hawke's family members except for Charade Amell, the daughter of Hawke's uncle Gamlen Amell who is said to resemble her mother. Later in the game, the player's choices also determine Hawke's overall personality, combat specialization, and political affiliation.
The player is given paraphrased dialogue options of fully voiced dialogue via a radial command menu called the "dialogue wheel", which will be expanded on when clicked. Over the course of "Dragon Age II", Hawke can exhibit one of three personality types, which is achieved through cumulative dialogue choices favored by the player. The tone of Hawke's voice will be decided by their personality type whenever the character is not directly controlled by the player, which will happen during cut-scenes and also during conversations between the player's dialogue choices. Each of the three established personality types unlocks additional dialogue options for the player when dealing with non-player characters. For example, a Hawke player character with a sarcastic personality has access to a big range of humorous dialogue options.
Players of "" have the option to customize their version of Hawke, either through Dragon Age Keep or the in-game character creation menu.
Concept and design.
The 1998 computer role-playing video game ' served as an important source of inspiration for "Dragon Age II" lead writer David Gaider's plans for the game's story and characters. Hawke was originally developed early in the production of "Dragon Age II" as a magician type character the development team dubbed "Biker Mage". According to BioWare Art Director Matt Rhodes, a staff member working in the visual development team "ended up being a launch pad for our protagonist". In a departure from the narrative of its predecessor, 2009's ', Hawke's personal story arc is the driving force behind the narrative of "Dragon Age II" as opposed to an epic quest to repel a monstrous invasion and slay an ancient evil. Players get to determine Hawke's "history, relationships, and regrets" through their actions and choices across the game's ten year timeline. Gaider described "Dragon Age II"'s approach towards storytelling to be novelistic: with an unreliable narrator who picks and chooses what aspects of Hawke's life story he wants to tell, the relationship dynamics with companion characters is presented in a more "organic and natural" manner without lengthy exposition, and Kirkwall is immediately more reactive to Hawke’s presence.
Unlike the silent protagonist approach adopted by "Origins", Hawke was designed to be a fully voiced player character. This was intended to create a deeper, more cinematic feel for "Dragon Age II"'s story and dialogue. Unlike many other role-playing game protagonists, Hawke is not meant to be a blank slate character as some aspects of his or her backstory and cultural background are set, though players may choose their character's class and customize their appearance. This concept is akin to Commander Shepard from the "Mass Effect" series, where non-player characters commonly refer to the player character by their last name, allowing for a distinct identity which could be crafted outside of the text players see on-screen. Gaider described Hawke as neither a "totally defined character", nor a malleable avatar for players of "Dragon Age II". He acknowledged that the developers may be "stepping on the player’s toes a little bit" as soon as a voiced player character is introduced, as such characters are not a complete extension of the player's thoughts and feelings, but referred to "Planescape: Torment" as an example where a fully voiced player character, The Nameless One, is embraced by players who could feel agency with regards to his life choices, even though they do not get to decide or define who the character is.
Voice.
The male and female versions of Hawke were voiced by Nicholas Boulton and Jo Wyatt respectively. Boulton has worked with BioWare on other projects, including minor roles in "Origins" as well as "" where he played a major supporting character named Reyes.
Boulton played "Dragon Age II" to familiarize himself with the job, but never completed his playthrough. With regards to playing a lead character in a video game that is meant to embody the disparate gameplay choices made by a player, Boulton said he kept a good sense of where he would be in his neutral or natural state and from there, he would "branch out" emotionally when acting out various lines from Hawke's three distinct personalities. To Boulton, acting out each of Hawke's different lines in different tones was about "finding a different part of that character" in how he would express himself if he had experienced a particularly extraordinary set of circumstances, as opposed to a different characterization entirely. Boulton found his reprisal the role for "Inquisition" to be a different experience, as Hawke is meant to be older, wiser and "more damaged" by the events of "Inquisition". He also found a poignancy to the working experience which he found enjoyable, as he felt that it was like meeting an old friend or "putting the skin on again".
Cut content.
As a result of the rushed developmental cycle of "Dragon Age II", a substantial amount of content involving Hawke were cut before the final release of the game. In April 2021, Gaider revealed in a series of tweets uploaded to his personal Twitter account that he would have liked to have restored all alternate or contextual dialogue lines by non-player characters, which were dependent whether they had prior interactions with Hawke and if Hawke had any qualities that resonate with them. A major unused storyline involved a mage version of Hawke's struggle to withstand demonic possession while being trapped in his or her own mind, a situation that often confronts individuals with magical abilities in the "Dragon Age" setting. Gaider noted that "Hawke is the only mage who apparently never struggles with this" within the narrative of "Dragon Age", and it is a character arc he deeply regretted being cut from the final game. Gaider would also have liked to include a third option where Hawke remains neutral and sides with neither the Mages nor the Templars.
Appearances.
"Dragon Age II".
The story of "Dragon Age II" is told through flashbacks from the perspective of Varric Tethras, one of Hawke's companions who relates Hawke's life story to his interrogator, Cassandra Pentaghast, who is trying to locate Hawke's whereabouts and determine their role behind the war between the Mages and Templars of Thedas. A few days after the disastrous , the Hawke family flees Lothering from the Darkspawn hordes. Although one of Hawke's siblings is killed by the Darkspawn, the group is saved by the timely intervention of the Witch of the Wilds, Flemeth. Alongside a fellow survivor named Aveline Vallen, the Hawke family travel across the Waking Sea to the Free Marches, arriving at the city of Kirkwall to search for their maternal relatives, the Amell family. Upon arrival at Kirkwall however, the group find themselves outside the city gates, which are overwhelmed by other Blight refugees. The group locates Leandra's brother Gamlen Amell, who reveals that he along with the Amell family fortune had fallen into financial ruin. Hawke has no choice but to raise funds to pay the bribe that the group needs to enter the city, where they take up residence in Gamlen's small dilapidated house in the impoverished Lowtown district.
One year later, Varric approaches the Hawkes and enlist them for a risky but potentially prosperous treasure hunting expedition into the perilous region of the Deep Roads, taking advantage of the Fifth Blight's recent end and the consequent reduction of Darkspawn in the Deep Roads. After raising enough capital and enlisting the aid of Anders, a renegade mage and former Grey Warden who is familiar with the Deep Roads, the group set off for their expedition. Hawke survives the perilous expedition but gains enough personal fame and wealth to buy back the old Amell mansion in Hightown.
Three years later, Hawke is asked by the Viscount of Kirkwall, Marlowe Dumar, to deal with the Qunari, who were shipwrecked in Kirkwall three years before and have occupied a city quarter ever since. In the midst of escalating tensions between the Qunari and the residents of Kirkwall, an anti-Qunari faction attempts to purge the Qunari from the city, while dissidents and criminals join the Qunari to evade law enforcement. Personal tragedy later strikes Hawke when Leandra is abducted by a serial killer who prey on Kirkwall's women using blood magic, a forbidden branch of magic. Hawke finds and kills the murderer, but too late to save Leandra. Hawke vows to find out the identity of the serial killer's accomplice, "O". Hawke eventually discovers the real reason behind the Qunari presence in Kirkwall, but their military leader the Arishok decides to attack Kirkwall and executes the Viscount. Hawke's is declared the Champion of Kirkwall after successfully retaking Kirkwall from the Qunari.
Following the death of Viscount Dumar, the Templar Order's local chapter led by Knight-Commander Meredith Stennard assume control of Kirkwall and rules it with an iron fist for the next three years, with mages in particular receiving heavy-handed and oppressive treatment. Meredith is challenged by First Enchanter Orsino, the head of the Kirkwall Circle organization, who attempts to rally public support for his cause. Although Hawke maintains a distance from the conflict between the factions, their recurring clashes grow increasingly violent, culminating in the Mage-Templar War following an act of terrorism committed by Anders against the Kirkwall Chantry. This forces Hawke to choose a side and intervene in the conflict. Hawke leaves the city-state and disappears following the deaths of both Orsino, who is