My first and main
Inquisitor, Maelyn Trevelyan.
Her character is defined in considerable detail in
this post, and her story is told in
this thread. Later replays didn't change anything except that she didn't have an LI any more, and that she didn't kill Alexius. Here are pictures and a summary of her story:
(eh...is
there a way to make
these pictures smaller?)


Summary:
Maelyn is a mage with a Libertarian streak. She
wasn't a rebel, but she always wanted to get away from
the Chantry and
the Templars, out from under
the eyes of an institution and ideology she dislikes. That she
ended up leading an organization powered by faith, and herself being regarded as a religious figure,
was a matter of considerable annoyance for her, and despite
the need to prevent Corypheus' dark future she
was somewhat curious about what he wanted to achieve and how. Not that she wanted to take his place, but in her opinion,
there's one thing of which you can never have enough - autonomy - and her present situation indicated all too well that hers
was severely lacking.
Her decisions during
the lifetime of
the Inquisition were aimed - apart from stopping Corypheus - at increasing
the power of her organization, so that it could stand on its own after
the primary task
was done. She worked with Leliana to gain secret knowledge from all over
Thedas, and made her spy network her main source of power. Of course she also allied with
the mages, and she supported Celene in Orlais because she saw Gaspard's expansionist ambitions as a future threat to her organization. She supported Cassandra as
the new Divine because while she disliked
the Chantry, she considered fur
ther instability detrimental for
Thedas in
the face of
the qunari threat, and saw her as
the most balanced candidate. Leliana had admirable goals, but she
was a radical, and radicals as rulers are risky. Vivienne wanted
the Circles back and increase
the Chantry's institutional power, which Maelyn would never support.
The events in Frostback Basin increased her dislike of
the Chantry, while also giving
the new Inquisition a foundation that appealed more to her. She didn't believe in gods, she had said to Corypheus, and she considered both aspects of that undesirable:
the desire to acquire god-like powers only to reshape
the lives of people, and
the desire of people to raise up some entity as a god, ready to let
their lives reshaped according to ano
ther's will, or
the religious elite's will. She did desire such power for herself, but only for
the purpose of increasing her own autonomy, and she once told Cassandra to kill her if she ever came to enjoy
the reverence of people for that illusionary "Herald of Andraste"
they saw in her. She'd like to see people leave that immature dep
endence behind
them, but
was aware of
the fact that most likely, she wouldn't see this in her lifetime.
When
the Inquisition
was challenged by Orlais and Ferelden, she
was undecided at first. She did have imperial ambitions, but still
the Inquisition
was powered at least in part by faith, and she disliked that as much as when
the Inquisition
was founded. So
the decision to disband
the Inquisition, ra
ther than have it serve
the Chantry, came easily to her in
the end, and since secret knowledge had always been her main source of power, stepping away into obscurity suited her new goals and personal preferences both. Unsurprisingly however, she
was greatly annoyed by losing
the Mark. She would've given
the o
ther hand in order to keep it, and suspected that Solas could've taught her to control it but chose instead to remove a possible future threat to his plans. So not only does she have a personal grievance with him, but he also represents what she's always fought against. She considers his goal -
the sundering of
the Veil - desirable, but not at
the price of destroying
the world as we know it.
Decision summary:
-Allied with
the mages
-Reunited Celene and Briala
-Allied with
the Wardens
-Left Stround in
the Fade
-Saved
the Chargers (she dislikes
the Qun a great deal)
-Made Cole more human. She has no preference, but it seemed like what he wanted.
-Did not interfere with how Leliana did her job, causing her to remain pragmatic and hard.
-Made Rainier join
the Wardens in truth.
-Told Dorian to let his fa
ther speak, which resulted in a tentative peace between
them.
-Kept Cullen off Lyrium.
-Let Leliana steal
the contract on House Montilyet from
the House of Repose.
-Did not influence Cassandra's decision about
the Seekers.
-In her judgments, she
was lenient and t
ended to recruit
the accused as agents, but she killed Erimond.
-Accepted
the deal with
the Sentinels at
the temple of Mythal.
-She did not drink from
the Well of Sorrows because while she desired
the knowledge greatly, her autonomy
was one of very few things she wouldn't give for it.
-Disbanded
the Inquisition
How she regarded her Inner Circle:
-Dorian: became a close fri
end. She would've liked more. Very much. It
was not to be...
-Solas: a kindred spirit - or so she thought until he revealed his plans. Still, she doesn't view this as a betrayal. Solas must be stopped, but she hopes he can be convinced of ano
ther path.
-Sera: Not really her type. Much too vulgar, for one, if somewhat likeable and unexpectedly funny at times.
-Iron Bull: She didn't get really close to him, though she trusts him now.
-Vivienne: Didn't trust her in
the least, but kept appearances up. She suspects it's
the same for Vivienne.
-Cassandra: An unexpected fri
endship.
They had quite a few fri
endly debates about faith, which eng
endered mutual respect in spite of
their differences.
-Blackwall: Not her type.
-Varric: She didn't really get close to him, but he
was a trusted fri
end who could always make light of....well, sh*t.
-Cole: She liked him as well for
who he
was as for what he
was, and valued him for insights into
the spirit world. How he regarded her she
was never that sure of, but he did stay, that should count for something.