Friendship & Rivalry

Hawke’s relationship with his companions is measured on a 200-point scale that ranges from rivalry to friendship. You can study a visual representation of his current standing with his cohorts in the active party at the Character menu screen.

• No matter if you are speaking to them directly or addressing a third party, companions will react to your conversational options in accordance with their own unique personality.

• We offer advice on major relationship shifts throughout the Quests chapter in the Companion Guidance sections that fall at the end of each quest fact sheet. Using these, you should find it easy to engineer a full friendship or rivalry.

• Completing companion quests and increasing the relationship gauge to the 50% and 100% thresholds in either direction will unlock special mid-stage and final-stage companion conversations that serve to advance and formalize Hawke’s relationship with his associates.

• Another way to further a relationship is to find and deliver “gifts”, a small selection of items that will usually increase friendship. We reveal the locations of these items in the Quests and Inventory chapters.

• Developing the relationship gauge to +100 in either direction will “freeze” it in perpetuity and (Bethany and Carver excepted) unlock a special ability on a talent tree unique to friendship or rivalry with the relevant companion. At this stage, further relationship adjustments are disabled: short of dismissal, betrayal or late-game plot developments, that companion will be completely dedicated to working with Hawke (as a friend or rival).

• Don’t assume that developing a rivalry will lead a companion to desert Hawke. In fact, this side of the relationship spectrum can be just as powerful as an established friendship if you take it to its conclusion. In essence, a healthy rivalry means that an ally may not agree with your methods, but they respect your ability to shape the world around you – even though the way in which goals are achieved might not correspond with their individual ideologies.

Romances

• If you wish to initiate a romance with a companion, follow these simple guidelines:

• Flirt with the object of your affections whenever possible. However, note that the presence of a Flirt option isn’t always a true indication that a romance is possible.

• In Act 2, try to ensure that your visits to Hawke’s abode occur at night. If your desired squeeze is present on arrival, use the Flirt option to initiate the next stage. When the option arises in conversation, enquire about living together.

• After the romance begins, do not  make come-hither eyes at other companions or NPCs: this will not end well. Nor, for that matter, will any degree of ambivalence or outright rejection.

• For the rest of the story, develop the relationship gauge to maximum friendship or rivalry, complete all companion quests (including any ambient situational conversations that may occur), deliver the necessary gifts, then share a moment with Hawke’s loved one in the calm before the storm during Dragon Age II’s epic conclusion (you’ll know it when you get there).

• For Isabela and Sebastian, the above technique only partially applies.  The Companion Analysis section at the conclusion of this chapter contains a complete guide to wooing both (though Sebastian only ever offers a chaste relationship) but is surrounded by heavy spoilers if you are still on your first playthrough.