Leliana’s Past – Dragon Age: Origins Quest

This guide will walk you through the “Leliana’s Past” quest in Dragon Age: Origins. We will go through all the steps to complete this mission.

Background

Once you’ve gained enough approval with Leliana, the next time you visit the party camp she’ll tell you about Marjolaine, a former mentor of hers who ended up betraying her in Orlais. Soon after the conversation, you’ll be attacked by a tough group of assassins on the world map (provided that Leliana is in your party). After defeating the assassins, Leliana will stop you from killing the leader, and you’ll learn from him that the assassins were hired by somebody living in the Denerim Market District. This revelation will trigger the quest.

Leliana’s Past

When you reach the assassin’s contact’s house in the Denerim Market District, you’ll discover that it was Marjolaine herself who hired the assassin. Marjolaine will then explain that she became worried when Leliana left the chantry in Lothering, and decided to strike first before Leliana could move against her.

You’ll have two options for dealing with Marjolaine:

• You can demand that she leave Ferelden. Marjolaine will then leave the house, and, despite her dire warnings, you’ll never see her again.
• You can fight her. Four mercenaries (including two spellcasters) will then leap to her defense, and you’ll have a tough fight on your hands. However, Marjolaine won’t do much more than repeatedly sing her Captivating Song, so as long as you can defeat her guards without taking too much damage, then you shouldn’t have any trouble finishing her off. When Marjolaine dies, she’ll drop 2 sovereigns and more.

Either way, you’ll gain 250 xp for completing the quest, and you’ll find Marjolaine’s Recurve (plus probably a master rune) in the chest in the bedroom. Then when you return to the party camp, you’ll be able to talk to Leliana about what happened in Marjolaine’s house. Depending on what you say to her, you might be able to shift her alignment slightly, so that she is less likely to object to evil acts.