Alistair: In Game
Dragon Age: Inquisition
I will just say a few words about this, as I’m planning a Cullen shrine, and there will be written a little (much) more about this third installment of the series. Still SPOILERS there are SPOILERS for DA:I here. Especially on the part where we talk about the fact if you get him as Grey Warden, so please, if you are using the save from origins where your Alistair stayed a Grey warden, do not read before playing it.
The main point of the game is, the fact, that there is an evil entity that ruins the conclave to stop the mage-templar war, and your character is the only survivor. You can again choose between being a dwarf, elf, human or quinari. The main quests lead you till you get this crazy guy who wants to destroy the world, rebuild it and then rule it. Somehow like killing an archdeamon. Just a little different.
If you are lucky and you were able to import YOUR saves from your Origins and 2 games in the Dragon Keep, there will lay a difference of Alistair’s appearance in the game. I didn’t manage to do that (hating my ps3 for it, I would be able to do both the appearances the way I wanted if I did).
1. If Alistair is King (this one is triggered by the default world anyway)
At this he appears depending if he is King alone or if he married Anora (I hate her). You will actually meet him, if you decide to get the mages to help you and not templars; if you choose the templars you shall not meet him. After you do the whole mission, at the end he appears (preferably alone without Anora, unfortunately I got the one with the blond queen) and will tell the mages that they are not welcome anymore on his lands, and they better take the offer that you, as the Inquisitor is giving them, because he would not give them anything better. He tells that to Fiona directly in the face (check the added paragraph in the section about his background).
When the scene presented, and he came in front and I saw him, I almost cried, THEY… omg poor baby, he looks like… I can’t accept that look on him, he got mellowed as king, he has no fashion sense and that hair, I have no idea what the hell he did with the hair. It’s not him, he is like, I have no words.
But on the other side, there were few missions on the War Table, if he is king, and when you read his letters, you actually feel better, because they are whole Alistair, maybe his looks became that of a noble idiot, but he is still the Lovable idiot on the insides. I’m adding some screenshots of this letters, so you can better understand what I am talking about.
2. If Alistair is Grey Warden (only if you managed to sync your saves with the keep)
In Peace, Vigilance. In War, Victory. In Death, Sacrifice.
If you get this one, there is quite a big part of story that you get, and you can also interact with him on various moments. This one is like this, if you didn’t sync, you get another Gray Warden doing the same thing as Alistair, it’s just that is not Alistair, so you don’t have the option to talk about the Hero of Ferelden or about the Blight. Other things? They are the same. So if you haven’t played don’t read after this line.
It starts with Hawke contacting a Grey Warden (which we’ll find it’s Alistair, if it’s not means you didn’t synched your save as background, and you’ll get Stroud) to help them in the investigation about Red Lyrium, the point is that Alistair went into hiding, because of the corruption between the Gray Wardens ranks, and he disagreed with Warden-Commander Clarel. They met with him, in a cave in Crestwood, where you can interact with him, aside asking things about the mission, you can ask him about the past, the Hero of Ferelden (depending on how you ended your Origins stories, the answer changes) and the Blight.
He explains that he was in the middle of an investigation, to see if it’s possible if Corypheus could have survived the same was as an Archdemon can, when all the wardens in Orlais begin hearing the calling.; which lead to the decision by the Warden-Commander Clarel, with which Alistair disagreed, of using blood magic and go killing the old gods before they awake and end the blight for all times.
They together go investigate an old Tevinter ruin, where they stumble upon the tryout of the ritual lead by magister Livius Erimond, who escapes, while the group along with Alistair and Hawk battles the possessed mages and their demons. We find out, that Erimond has tricked Clarel into blood magic rituals, convincing her that with an army of demons they can go in deep roads killing the Old gods, what she doesn’t know is that by that ritual, she (as a mage) and all the mages will be bind to Corypheus and they would become part of his demon army.
When the Inquisitor goes to the siege of the Adamant Fortress, her/his group is joined by Alistair and Hawk, while they manage convince Clarel what true intentions of the magister was, he invokes Corypheous’ dragon, which leads to the death of Warden-Commander and the group along with Alistar and Hawke ends into the fade.
In the fade when the inquisitor gets his/her memories back, we come to find that the Grey Wardens helped Corypheus at the conclave, which leads to an argument between Hawk and Alistair, where the champion accuses the grey wardens for the stuff that is happening, while Alistair answers that Hawk alone played a big part in the starting the revolt of the mages.
There are two possible outcomes for this, when you come to the end of the Fade to go out, there is a monster that has to be stopped. You have a choice if leaving Alistair or Hawk behind, both wanting to atone for the past, Hawk because he was a key to wakening Corypheus and Alistair for what the Wardens did at the conclave.
If you choose Alistair to stay, he will die, and that’s the end of it. On the other side, if you chose to leave Hawk behind, Alistair comes with you back, and he is the only veteran warden that stayed in Orlais, becoming Warden-Commander, but leaving soon after to go to Weisshaupt (the main high quarters of the Wardens) to tell them what the hell happened, and that they MUST find a way to not be so easily taken over just because of the calling.
Post note, if you talk with him in the cave about the Hero of Ferelden, the answer is depending on whatever your character died or lived (and also if they were in romance) at the end of the Origins. If she stayed alive, he tells you that she is on a personal mission, looking for a something to block the Calling, so they don’t die young, granting a longer lifespan to all the grey wardens.
And I leave you here with a link to the video someone took, with the meeting Grey Warden Alistair. I could transcribe the whole dialogue, but its better looking at it. Yeah the hair is awful. I prefer much the hairstyle he had in Origins. The video is done by Marissa Wells.