As DA: Inquisition has now released, this thread will contain SPOILERS. Feel free to post and discuss Celene's in-game character and all new information we have on her and the Orlesian court here.
Edit: 11/16/14 - Please refrain from posting spoilers until the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition on November 18th (Europeans may want to avoid this thread then, I know I will be until I finish the game). From then on, spoiler talk is fair game here as anything else we learn about Celene's character is very applicable. As far as most of us are concerned, the topic question is still up in the air.
This includes spoilers from The Masked Empire because that's where we learn pretty much everything we know about who Celene is. If you haven't read it, much of this won't make any sense to you.
In your opinion, is she the best ruler for Orlais given the current circumstances? Is she a good person or a villain? Does she deserve mercy or the axe? What role might she play in DAI?
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I started off the novel rooting heavily for her, as she cleverly manipulated less smart people in order to bring about peaceful resolutions to tense situations or force the university to accept elves. When she stuck up for Bann Teagan, I really liked her. During the hunt, when she defended herself from Gaspard's advances, I respected her defensive abilities and guile.
However, as the story went along, she seemed to become more and more selfish and callous while becoming less and less smart. She walks right into a trap set by Gaspard, more a soldier than a player of the Game, and yet his skill in the Game is what maneuvers her into it. And she does this to prove her strength of will because of a PLAY??? Is she really so weak as to be humiliated into action by a little vague theater mockery? Briala's plan to assassinate the guilty noble would have still gone off perfectly well if she'd stayed in Val Royeaux where she belonged. So she burns the elven quarter of Halamshiral and arrests her lover for a task she authorized her to complete. Then she has her bodyguard cut down several of her own soldiers who fled the battle. She visits a Dalish clan and (along with her companions) leaves it a bloody ruin. She consorts with a demon. In the fight with the vaterral, she chooses self-preservation over protecting the elf she loves when Briala risked all for her numerous times. A badly wounded Gaspard easily disarms her in self-defense when she tries to stab him in cold blood. She threatens her champion Michel with death should she ever see him again, despite his saving her skin constantly. Worst of all, we discover Celene arranged the deaths of Briala's family (and possibly Briala herself if she hadn't hidden).
Anyway, by the end of the book, I was thoroughly satisfied when Briala didn't give the smug brat her way. She is basically reduced to absolutely nothing and shown for what she really is. A conniving and ruthless, yet inept ruler and fighter. I hope she has more than a cameo in Inquisition and we'll be able to affect our will on the Empress to a degree.
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