the acceptance of polyamory for producing heirs in orzammar opens up so many questions, like “were these three pitted against each other from birth by their mothers who were competing consorts of the king, or are they in fact just Like That”

Presenting the Aeducan family tree! 👑

I actually put a lot of thought into this so I'm gonna sum up under a cut, lol

King Endrin Aeducan, Ninth of his House: What it says on the tin. As Bhelen mentioned, he was actually a second son, and took the kingship in... less than entirely honest ways; nevertheless, his rule is largely uneventful, but for the worsening of differences between the different castes. He has many children of many mothers, but only three were properly risen - and of them, his 'only' daughter is the favourite.

Lady Tasleen Saelac, The Iron Queen: Endrin's first wife, mother of Trian. She was the Commander of Orzammar's forces, and an extremely difficult-to-please person in general; she expected nothing but perfection from her son and troops alike. She would eventually die during a Deep Roads excursion, sending back only one survivor to relay the message of her party's demise because, as quoted, "he did not deserve the honor of such a death". One of her cousins is Gorim's father.

Lady Nysmila Ivo, Jewel of Orzammar: Said to be one of the most beautiful women that ever lived in the underground. It's unclear whether Endrin truly loved her, she was incredibly politically savvy, or a combination thereof, but she was the only other woman Endrin married - thus legitimizing her children by him; a fairly Herculean task, given just how many bastards he sired. One day, she simply disappeared; despite every effort to find her, it's unknown whether she was abducted, killed... or vanished of her own accord. Her absence remains strongly felt within the palace walls and throughout.

Prince Trian Aeducan, The Crown Prince: His position as heir to the throne is a given, or so he believes; he has waited a very long time to finally be given his proper dues. Despite his heritage, however, he's not a particularly strong warrior; he just knows how to browbeat people into doing what he wants, and his position leaves little room for argument.

Princess Alana Aeducan, The Golden Lady: Her mother's ambition and her father's preference have led Alana to a fairly cushioned, comfortable life; that said, she loves the thrill of the fight, and is both the strongest and fastest of her siblings - even if it's with daggers rather than a sword or shield. She wears the tattoos of Commander, a role bequeathed to her against Trian's wishes, and she is by far the most popular royal between the three... a fact both of her brothers find incredibly difficult to stomach.

Prince Bhelen Aeducan, Lord of Secrets - Being neither the heir or the spare, Bhelen was largely left to his own devices as a child, especially because he was still very young when Nysmila went missing; her disappearance, however, became the catalyst that would lead to his becoming the most knowledgeable spymaster in Orzammar. He puts on a friendly face, for the most part, but what he has learned from his family history is that the ends always justify the means.

Another insomnia meme.

Why do I make only dwarf noble memes now? Well I don't know either.

Update: BECAUSE DWARVES ARE SO F****** UNDERRATED IN DRAGON AGE IN GENERAL AND THEY ALSO DESERVE SOME LOVE.

princes trian and bhelen and princess myala of house aeducan, ages 16, 10, and 12 respectively

2 years later, immediately before a major feast myala chopped off her braids and went dressed in bhelen's clothes, although they stopped having portraits done around that time

crazy stupid insane over the fact that if you decide to not move against Trian you never get any sort of solid confirmation that he was trying to get rid of you. You just have to wonder. Your family ring could have been stolen ages ago, the mercenary could have lied or maybe he was fooled, since when does a common graverobber know what the prince's men look like? It could have been anyone. The ring he had is Trian's but this could mean nothing there's an explanation for this there has to be. And then you find his corpse and it's a small mercy that Bhelen decides act then and you don't have time to think why Trian was there, away from prying eyes, waiting for you. whatever man. Whatever.

All of my past, I tried to erase it

But now I see, would I even change it?

Might share a face and share a last name, but

We are not the same

Please consider a younger, still and always autistic Durga Aeducan, while going selectively mute, gestures to Bhelan in the dwarven sign language, "Trian is being an asshole again." while wearing an utterly straight face.

Trian glared at Bhelan for coughing laughter and "ruining the solemnity of the occasion" and Durga gets another point in her and Bhelan's silent game of "Who can piss off Trian without saying a single word?"

So until this week, I thought there was no way to find any hard evidence about what happened in Orzammar before you got there during the main quest "A Paragon of Her Kind" in Dragon Age: Origins. There are some vague letters and rumors and some poison mysteriously showing up in the Royal Palace, but nothing conclusive about what happened if you didn't play the Dwarven Noble origin.

It turns out that you can betray either Bhelan or Harrowmont after the first task they give you and go convince the other that you're actually on their side. And if you betray Bhelan to work for Harrowmont, you demonstrate your loyalty to the latter by finding documents in Jarvia's hideout proving that Bhelan was behind Trian's murder. (If you flip the other way, Vartag Gavorn has you plant documents near Jarvia's body that supposedly implicate Harrowmont's cousin in lyrium smuggling.)

The best way to get as much information as possible, it turns out, is to work for Bhelan and then double-cross him. (And you can still give him the crown later, if you want, since you can choose either of them after the Deep Roads regardless of who you helped before.)

House Aeducan

Trian Aeducan

Declan Aeducan

Bhelen Aeducan

Okay hear me out... Trian and Alistair

Imagine Dwarf Noble HoF(Brink I call mine) saved Trian but he was still mortally wounded so she's still exiled and joins the gray wardens. Upon her arrival back to Orzammar she finds her Brother Trian is king and Bhelen is at his side on a tight rope "helping the king". Brink reunites with her brothers and catches up with them. She learns that Trian cleared her name and had it restored, and she quite easily gains Orzammar's alliance.

During her time there she introduces her party to them, Alistair included. Alistair has never had a family and considers the Warden as such, so he takes this chance to connect with hers. If not to make her happy, to get on their good graces. And her family is nothing he could have imagined. Bhelen is always posturing while twisting words to look favorable, so Alistair is caught off guard when he drops the act. But Trian is so brash with his statements it makes Alistair believe he has to be joking.

Trian reaches out to Alistair because he was the least offended by his personality. He awkwardly asks how his little sister is doing. Alistair regales him the tales of where they have been, how Zevran is a assassin that tried to kill them, and Morrigan is an actual witch. He talks about where their treaties have taken them, speaking of the epic part and not the ones that haunt him. He speak kindly and sweetly of the Warden and Trian can't help but feel the same of his accomplished sibling. Trian then goes out of his ways to take care of Brink and Alistair, the others as well but mainly them two.

Trian routinely gets Alistair alone to talk to him and Alistair thinks nothing of it and is very casual with him. Trian can't help but find this strange easy affection novel and desirable. So he treats him more favorable and even asks Brink of him. She sees whats happening and can help but throw fuel in the fire. She wants them to be happy, why not together? But she still has a blight to take care of so she barters information on Alistair. His favorite meal for weapon upgrades. His shoe size for runes. The information he would be willing to wear a dress if it was really pretty for the low price of better camping equipment.

Bhelen jumps in too. Bhelen routinely advocates for progressive things and what's a better step forward for dwarves than the king being and advocates for freedom of sexuality. Suddenly Bhelen also seeks out Alistair and tells him of things Trian likes. Alistair might not have a beard or long hair but dwarves favor those who take care of their hair. So he give him hair products. He also gives him history lessons and basic dwarven training. Alistair is confused by Bhelen's sudden shift but takes the information and uses it. Trian now finds himself wondering if he is flirting or if humans are just like this where he comes from. And Alistair thinks he's making a great impression on the Warden's family, so he's beaming with pride.

When Brink and her company have to leave Trian is sad. Not only is his little sibling leaving again but now his new found love interest friend is leaving as well. However Brink offers to send letters and hints Alistair will as well. Bhelen jumps in and offers that they will write back. So starts the letter correspondence.

The younger Aeducans tamper with the letters very slightly. Brink uses her signet ring to make sure the letter goes straight to Trian and Bhelen writes current event back to Brink, mostly gossip and strategy about how to get the two together. They also make sure the letters smell of them.

At Camp

"Why does Trian's letters always smell expensive." -Alistair confused

"That's just how he smells. He must've spent a while with your letter then." -Brink planting ideas

At Orzammar Palace

"King Trian, you have received a letter from the surface. It bares nothing resembling your usual correspondence." -Servant

"Then be rid of it." -Trian

"Good. It smells weird. Like wood and dog." -Servant relieved

"Give it here!" -Trian stressed

Alistair realizes that he misses Orzammar and takes a second to figure out why. Commence mutual pining!

(If you got this far thank you for listening to my rambles. And I hope this made you think or laugh. This came to my mind as a simple thought but spiraled into this.)

I must tell you something

Despite my love for Dragon Age and my vast knowledge (despite bad memory) of the lore, I have actually never finished DAO even once (but I was close and I’d finish if I did not foolishly format my laptop and lose that save), or played any other Origin than Mage Origin.

I am playing Dwarven Noble Origin for the first time now.

My conclusion after the first 1h? My older brother is an asshole.

Dwarven ladies are an underrepresented demographic in Dragon Age and I'm here to fix that

which job would kill you faster, food taster for bhelen or pr manager for trian

You can't even PRESUME the amount of joy when I read that you're making a pic of the whole Aeducan family! Really hope tumblr won't screw up the quality like it tends to do. Big fan here, I'm curious: how much the kids resemble their father, will the mother make an appearance on that portrait? I wonder about your headcanons on her looks, personality and what could have been, if she stuck around long enough to at least see her kids grow up. Who takes after who & what (in personality this time)?

Hello!! Thank you so much for your interest!! This turned out to be pretty long so I have it all written out below for you :D ~

It's funny because I actually only was intending to originally focus on the three Aeducan siblings but this ask got me thinking about their parents and who each child takes more after. I would say all in all that all three of them resemble their mother at first glance. But their father's features become more easily identified as they all get older.

In my own headcanon, mommy Aeducan died after giving birth to Bhelen, which didn't help his older siblings feel any sort of sibling-y affection for him since they were too busy mourning and resenting Bhelen "killing her". As for the Queen herself, I've always pictured her to be very stern but slightly kinder and more patient than her husband. She would have still been just as obsessed with keeping up with her children's education as Endrin was, and had a passion for dwarven histories (something that she and Uli have deeply in common.) Nonetheless, the pressure she would have put on her children would have been very high.

Despite Uli and Trian having memories of her as small children, Bhelen still is the most like her in nature. Bhelen is all of his mother's calm and patience warped into a mask of his true brutality, which came as a result of being raised by Endrin. As a child, Uli saw her mother as a pillar of strength and beauty, and to this day still wants to emulate this idolized version she has of her mother in her head. She very much blamed Bhelen for her death and had to face the guilt and complexity of her emotions during her return to Orzammar during the events of Origins. Trian on the other hand was more of a loose cannon. Trian has always learned and thrived in action and wasn't interested in learning about anything that didn't concern the glory of the Aeducan house or learning the ways of a warrior. Trian admired his mother for her role as the dutiful wife of the king, but he has always craved the complete undivided attention of his father and would often try to abandon her lessons in favor of his.

Endrin as a father is a whole different story, as I imagined he completely relied upon his wife to be the moral and educational model for his children to follow up until he felt they were old enough to be taken under his wing for their more 'respective' roles. When his wife died and he was left with two small children and an infant, he panicked. Trian, Uli, and Bhelen were passed around from nursemaid to nursemaid and grew up without their father being an active parent in their lives. Endrin still very much loved them in his own right but was primarily concerned with making absolutely sure they would be successful heirs and ingrained in them to be absolutely ruthless and competitive.

Due to the insane pressure, these three kiddos were under and each of them suffering under the grief of their father emotionally abandoning them, they all fought for his attention one way or another. Trian desperately wanted to be the favorite child, but his temper got in the way of it and he was painted as unstable and cruel. Uli felt the need to rise above her own mother's status and mold herself completely to her father's wishes, all the while admiring and holding onto Trian as her role model which ended up damaging her reputation by association. (I could go into a whole other rant on Uli and Trian's relationship and how much she loved him and the cost of that but that's for another day lol). Bhelen stirred in resentment and rage for being cast out by his father and siblings for indirectly causing the death of his mother, a woman he has never known. He was arguably the most neglected child, which only made it easier for him to eventually betray his family. I do not know exactly how much would have been different if their mother had survived, but I doubt it would have been half as tragic as the story of the Aeducan family ended up being.

He was a second son who took the throne of Orzammar. Do you honestly believe he did nothing underhanded?

They truly are their father's sons.