Varric Tethras is a fictional character from BioWare's Dragon Age franchise. The character made his debut in 2011's Dragon Age II, where he appeared as part of the game's framing device as the unreliable narrator of its plot. He also serves as a party member, a role which he reprises in its sequel, Dragon Age: Inquisition. In-universe, he is a renowned novelist as well as a self-appointed biographer to Hawke and the Inquisitor, the protagonists of Dragon Age II and Dragon Age: Inquisition respectively. In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Varric reprises his role as narrator while also acting as the mentor for Rook whom he'd recruited to help him stop Solas from destroying the Veil. Brian Bloom provides the voice for Varric in all media.
Varric has consistently received a positive reception since his debut, with attention drawn to his sense of humour, loyalty, and wisecracking personality. The character's popularity have led BioWare to turn his most notable in-universe work, Hard in Hightown, into a real-world publication. Varric is listed as the first author; the actual novel is written by Mary Kirby, a former BioWare employee who was one of the main writers of the Dragon Age franchise.
Character overview Varric is a dwarf from House Tethras, a dwarven noble house which was exiled in disgrace to the surface world from their subterranean homeland, the kingdom of Orzammar, generations prior to the events of Dragon Age II. He is depicted as wielding considerable de facto political power by virtue of economic assets derived from his family's involvement in trade and commerce. He is considered a merchant prince among the surface dwarves of Thedas, the setting in which the Dragon Age franchise take place, and has a reputation for being the best dressed man in Kirkwall's Lowtown.
Varric claims he runs a "spy network" with contacts to deal with various troubles that come along with being in a family that is part of the Dwarven Merchants Guild, although he has little interest in their agenda and schemes; he maintains an outward facade as the idle younger scion of his family; while his older brother is in charge of the family business, he usually spends his time in taverns spinning wild stories to the local gamblers and thieves while people buy him drinks. On occasion, his storytelling act is also a cover of him to rob his audience blind. Varric is also an accomplished author renowned throughout Thedas; his most notable work is Hard in Hightown, which features the clash between a secretive group of agents of the Chantry's leader Divine with a mysterious organization known as the Executors over a mysterious artifact, with a member of the Kirkwall City Guard, Donnen Brennokovic, caught between the fronts.
Varric is the only companion member to be a permanent fixture in both Dragon Age II and Dragon Age: Inquisition; the player will never encounter crisis points with Varric or risk him leaving the party due to his central role in the games' storylines. His loyalty to the player characters of both games is noted by Mike Darrah as a defining character trait. His signature weapon is a repeating crossbow he named Bianca. Bianca has a carved wood stock and brass embellishments, as well as a retractable bayonet that slides out of a slot in the front. As such, Varric is the only companion who cannot equip alternative ranged weapons in the Dragon Age series besides his crossbow, which could be upgraded throughout the course of the games. Whenever he is asked about the story behind how Bianca got her name, he replies that it involves a girl and a promise, and that it is the one story that he can never tell.
In Dragon Age II, Varric is depicted as constantly spinning exaggerated stories about Hawke's heroic deeds. Solving problems and gaining an advantage through diplomacy, lying, and blackmail impresses him, whereas he finds straightforward violence and outright thuggery to be distasteful. He also responds well to irreverent humor and sarcasm. The events of Dragon Age II evoke his compassion and selflessness, revealing Varric to be a goodhearted person who appreciates kind and thoughtful acts, and who is determined to rebuild Kirkwall after being elected as Viscount following his adventures in Inquisition.
Conception and creation
Varric was originally written as a sleazy and untrustworthy character, one who "knows a good shirt can sell a story, and the right clothes are every bit as valuable as coin". The development team later decided that given all the opposing personalities in the party, a companion who would stand up for the protagonist of Dragon Age II was necessary, and Varric was eased into that role. In order to find Varric's voice, Bloom would metaphorically "gargle glass and scotch and sharks' teeth". Though he is not a romance option in either installment of the series, he can be flirted with in dialogue conversations. Mary Kirby wrote Varric in both games.
Varric's character design is noted as a departure from the usual sword and sorcery dwarf archetype, being "clean-shaven, bare-chested, playfully roguish and broadly disinterested in the usual Dwarven concerns of mining and industry". His dress style is described as "a subtle snub to tradition, foregoing the typical beard while making light of ostentatious merchant families".
Fictional appearances
In Dragon Age II
Varric first meets Hawke a year after their arrival in Kirkwall. Varric's brother, Bartrand, rejects Hawke's request to join his expedition into the Deep Roads. The future Champion is pick-pocketed by a thief whom Varric shoots and pins to a wall using Bianca. Returning Hawke's money, Varric, having heard of Hawke's reputation for skill, competence and reliability, offers them a place on the excavation as an investor. Tagging along to help Hawke gain the necessary money, Varric requests that Hawke speak to him privately in the Hanged Man in Lowtown later. At the Hanged Man, Varric tells Hawke the excavation lacks a suitable route to the Deep Roads and requests Hawke get one from a Grey Warden Varric has found in the city. Varric later accompanies both Bartrand and Hawke in The Deep Roads Expedition. They encounter a Primeval Thaig with an idol made from the dangerous mineral within. Bartrand, enamored by the idol, locks both Hawke and Varric in the room where the idol was found and makes off with idol, leaving the other two for dead. Varric is livid over this betrayal and swears to find and kill Bartrand.
Hawke and Varric manage to escape the Deep Roads and the treasures they found in their expedition make the two of them extremely wealthy. Bartrand vanishes after the Deep Roads expedition, and Varric has to divert his attention from searching for his wayward brother to keeping the now-abandoned family business from falling apart. Varric then occupies his missing brother's seat in the Dwarven Merchants' Guild, though he rarely attends Guild meetings and is hardly ever seen actually occupying the chair in their hall that belongs to House Tethras. He prefers to run the Tethras financial empire from his suite at the Hanged Man Tavern.
Eventually, Varric's spy network discovers Bartrand has returned to Kirkwall and is staying in a mansion in Hightown. Varric enlists Hawke's aid in paying Bartrand a visit, starting the quest Family Matter. Yet when they arrive at the mansion, Varric discovers that Bartrand's guards have turned crazed and hostile. After plowing through all the enemies, Hawke and Varric discover Hugin, the last surviving servant of the household. He reveals that after Bartrand left Varric and Hawke to die in the abandoned thaig, he started hearing voices, claiming the idol was 'singing' to him. Even after selling it, Bartrand can still hear the idol and is eventually driven mad by it. He tortures the servants by cutting pieces off them to help them 'hear the song'. Bartrand also feeds the guards , which makes them go insane. Hugin begs Varric and Hawke to give a quick and merciful death to anything still alive in Bartrand's study. Varric and Hawke's party proceed to fight off Bartrand and his remaining crazed guards. Once Bartrand is defeated, Varric tries to talk to him, but it becomes clear that Bartrand is crazy – he recognizes his brother and requests he help him find the idol again before talking to someone or something in his head. Varric could be persuaded to kill Bartrand, or spare him as his descent into madness is punishment enough.
When the conflict between Kirkwall's mage and templar organisations comes to a head following the destruction of the Kirkwall Chantry by one of Hawke's companions, the rebel mage Anders, Varric will side with Hawke regardless of which faction the player chooses to support. Varric leaves Kirkwall with Hawke at the end of the game; however, he later returned. Cassandra Pentaghast, a Seeker of the Chantry, travels there to interrogate him on the Chantry's behalf, believing that Hawke is the only hope of stopping the war between the mages and the Chantry. He tells her the Champion's story in full, though he exaggerates on some details. At the end of the interrogation, Varric informs Cassandra that he does not know where Hawke is, though he very much doubts that the Champion is dead. Cassandra thanks him and allows him to leave.
He later wrote and published a book called The Tale of the Champion, about the rise of his close friend Hawke and their involvement in the Kirkwall Rebellion.
In Dragon Age: Inquisition
Varric is brought to the Temple of Sacred Ashes, located near a town called Haven, by Cassandra to provide the Chantry with information on Hawke. An explosion at the temple is triggered by an entity known as the Elder One and his agents, which creates a massive portal in the sky known as the Breach, allowing multitudes of demons to escape from an otherworldly realm called the Fade into the mortal world. The explosion kills thousands, with the sole survivor being the player protagonist. Varric decides to remain to assist the Chantry forces. He later joins the Inquisition along with the protagonist, who is hailed as the Herald of Andraste due to their newfound power to banish demons as well as close the Breach and any similar portals of smaller size known as Fade Rifts.
After the Elder One's subsequent attack on Haven forces the Inquisition to move to a fortress known as Skyhold, Varric informs the Herald of Andraste, now known as the Inquisitor, that he knows someone who might be able to help. This contact is none other than Hawke. Cassandra, who is angry that he lied to her about not knowing Hawke's whereabouts, confronts Varric about his duplicity; the player may choose to intervene.
The Inquisitor may eventually encounter a dwarven woman talking to Varric at Skyhold, discussing a possible lead on Corypheus's source of red . Eventually revealed as his on-and-off love interest, Bianca Davri, she informs the Inquisitor that the location of Bartrand's Folly has been leaked, and that there are humans carting red out by the handful though the Valammar entrance. Varric discloses that her knowledge of the thaig came from him; he sent her letters after the Deep Roads Expedition.