So in my introduction I mentioned that my personal canon is an AU involving an adopted Cousland queen who is not the warden, so here's a bit about Elodie!
Full Name: Elodie Amira Cousland(-Theirin)
Nicknames: Pup by Bryce, doesn't really have any others
Rank/Title: Lady, later Queen of Ferelden
Class: Rogue
Affiliation: Doesn't really have any other than Highever and Ferelden
Specialization: Ranger and Bard
Tarot Card: Haven't really thought about it
Alignment: Neutral Good
Romanced: Alistair
Birthday: I haven't set a specific birthday for her but she was born in the fall of 9:10 Dragon
Age: 20/21 as of 9:31 Dragon
Race: Elfblooded human, in-universe ethnicity is half Antivan and half Rivaini (based on a headcanon that people we would consider Southeast Asian are one of the Rivaini ethnic groups because one of the writers said "Asian" people are from the far west and northeast of Thedas), in our world she's Filipina and Mizrahi (Middle Eastern Jewish)
Birthplace: Highever, Ferelden
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Complexion: Medium-light olive skin
Height: 5'6"/168cm
Body Type: Slender, her figure makes it fairly obvious even to strangers that she's elfblooded
Sexuality: Bisexual, grey-ace or demi
Gender/Pronouns: Cis female, she/her
Scars/Tattoos/Piercings: No particularly notable scars, no tattoos, pierced ears
Conditions/Disabilities/Mental Illnesses/Etc: Elodie has had general anxiety and depression for most of her life and developed PTSD following the attack on Highever Castle. Also ADHD because I like to project.
Abilities/Skills: When I say she's a bard it's more in the traditional sense. She has a good singing voice and can play the lute and... whatever the Thedosian keyboard instrument is (harpsichord?). She can sew quite well, both mending and embroidery. In addition, she's learned some basic cooking. Overall, her talents lean more toward the traditionally feminine.
Weapons: Bow and arrow as well as daggers just in case. She's not a particularly skilled fighter, though.
Likes: Reading, history, music, fine clothes, politics, flowers, pastries, cats, mabari, the sea, family.
Dislikes: Being looked down upon for her background, personal conflict, feeling trapped, being touched without consent, and things that remind her of the attack on Highever Castle like uncontrolled fire, people banging on doors, the smell of blood/burning flesh, and the castle itself.
Family/Pet(s): Her birth mother, Amira, was an elf of Antivan descent who worked for the Couslands. Her birth father was a human sailor who died in a shipwreck before she was born. Following her mother's death, she was adopted by Bryce and Eleanor Cousland, who had recently lost a newborn child. She grew up treated just like their biological child, Fergus, and was given a mabari war hound named Edmund as a teenager.
Personality: Even though she wasn't born into nobility, Elodie takes to the world of Fereldan politics naturally. She's clever, strong-willed, and idealistic. Or sharp-tongued, stubborn, and naive, depending on your view of her. She's more suited to life in court than on the battlefield; her parents insisted she learn how to fight but she always preferred her history and music lessons over archery practice. Honestly she's kind of a girly-girl and sometimes I say that "I accidentally made Josephine before playing DAI" which isn't really that far off. At her best, she's passionate, intelligent, kind-hearted, and loving. At her worst, she's indecisive, a perfectionist, and tends to crumble in difficult situations (unless her survival depends on it, in which case she crumbles later).
Background: Elodie was born to an elven servant of the Couslands and her human lover. Her father died before she was born and her mother shortly afterward. She was born shortly after the Couslands lost their second child in infancy, and they promised her ailing birth mother they would take in her daughter Elodie. Bryce and Eleanor Cousland loved and raised her as their own, although some others in the nobility didn't particularly like that and thought it was a sign that the Couslands were becoming too soft. Many would gossip about her behind her back, and once when she was six she overheard a bann call her "that bastard mongrel whelp" and say that "Bryce should throw her to the wolves like she deserves". When she told Bryce about that, he hugged her and told her "Wolves will care for orphaned pups like their own. It's a shame that men can be crueler than the meanest wolf."
When she reached adulthood, Eleanor began to subtly and not-so-subtly try to find a match for her. Elodie was always a romantic and hoped to marry for love like her parents and brother did, and Eleanor respected her wishes (although she would make suggestions sometimes).
When she was not yet 20, Arl Howe betrayed the Couslands and his men attacked their castle. Elodie escaped with her mabari after their parents sacrificed themselves to save her. She spent the next few days walking south to try to reach Ostagar and her brother Fergus to tell him the news, then started searching for a village when she realized poorly-cooked squirrels wouldn't be enough to feed her until she reached him and she should probably hire a carriage or horse. When she stumbled into an inn, she learned of the defeat at Ostagar and that Fergus hadn't been counted among the survivors. It was then that she fully let everything that had happened sink in and broke down in her rented room. After reemerging, she asked the woman who owned the inn to let her work so that she could lie low and hopefully avoid any assassins that still might come after her. She started off mending aprons and clothes for the innkeeper and her family and eventually learned to cook and clean. They saw refugees fleeing the Blight and even a few darkspawn there but for the most part were able to survive unscathed.
Eventually, news of the Blight ending reached Elodie. She bid farewell to the innkeeper and traveled to Denerim chasing a rumor that Fergus had survived Ostagar. They were reunited in Denerim, and Fergus told her he would be speaking with the new king after his official coronation in order to make sure that Highever was turned over to him. He also suggested that Elodie offer her hand in marriage to the king. I'm planning to write a fanfic about this part but long story short, Alistair and Elodie do end up falling in love and getting married, not necessarily in that order. Sometimes I'm a sucker for "happily arranged marriage".
Jumping forward a decade or so, with some hand-waving I've decided that Elodie gets pregnant when Corypheus is making the Grey Wardens hear a the false calling because something something it alters the taint in Alistair somehow, and their daughter is born with pointed ears. Which leads to Alistair finally getting Eamon to admit that Fiona was his real mother because Eamon says something about "knowing this would happen when you married her" and Alistair doesn't think that makes sense to say about a potential affair.
Appearance:Here's a picture of her from DAO
And in the Sims 4, which is a bit more accurate to how I imagine her
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