10 Video Game Villains Who Lived Long Enough To Become The Hero

When we meet Leliana in Dragon Age: Origins she is the archetypal pious cleric, a character so (some would say sickly) sweet and pure that the only possible way to be more good-aligned would be if she was the reincarnation of Andraste herself.

Which is why the Leliana we meet in the DLC pack, Leliana’s Song, comes as such a shock. This is a woman who is arrogant, delights in shaming others, has no compunctions about thievery, and is quite willing to indulge in a bit of cold-blooded murder to complete her mission.

And for a bard intimately familiar with the infamously cut-throat Orlesian politics, she is also breathtakingly naive: betrayal, when it comes in the form of her mentor and lover Marjolaine, takes her by complete surprise. A stint in prison and some very rough treatment cures her of that ill, and learning that she was betrayed out of little more than spite cures her of the rest.

Hard though the lesson was Leliana would be all the better for it, becoming a mature, compassionate hero who plays a pivotal role in saving Ferelden from the Archdemon and ending the Fifth Blight.