Nova Amell

""''You would have no kingdom to rule if it weren't for the Wardens. With all due respect, Your Majesty, you owe me this. You offered me a boon years ago which I did not accept. I must take it now. [...] I'm not asking for an army. I ask for you to buy us time.''""

- -Nova Amell to Anora

Nova Amell is a mage recruited into the Grey Wardens during the Fifth Blight, and a pivotal character in Dragon Age. She is a child of Revka Amell and the second cousin of Roman Hawke. She gathered a total of five armies to fight against the Archdemon in 9:31 Dragon. Nova is the current Warden-Commander of Ferelden and the ex-officio Arlessa of Amaranthine, due to the Arling being gifted to the Grey Wardens after the Fifth Blight was ended.

Appearance & Character
At the beginning of Dragon Age, Nova is a young mage living in the Fereldan Circle. When we first meet her she has just turned twenty-two years old and is about to go through her Harrowing.

Nova is described as beautiful by most. She has platinum-white colored hair, a trait that runs in her family. Her eyes are violet. She looks very similar to Hawke, just as her and Hawke's mothers bore a striking resemblance to each other.

Nova is a member of the once-noble Amell family. She is the second oldest of Revka Amell's five children, all of whom are mages. She was taken by the Circle when she was ten years old. She only remembers one of her four siblings - a brother one year younger than her. The rest of her siblings were born after she was taken to the Circle. When she meets her second-cousin Roman Hawke during the events of Inquisition, she questions him about her other siblings, only to find that Hawke never knew them either and has no notion of which Circle any of them were sent to. Hawke and his sister Bethany are Nova's only known living relatives.

Nova prefers to fight with an enchanted longsword and a dagger, or a staff with a dagger on her hip. As far as spells go, she prefers to immobilize enemies before taking them down.

Nova likes to read when she has the time. She is fond of animals and food, her favorites being shepherd's pie and peaches. She enjoyed listening to Leliana sing when they traveled together during the Fifth Blight.

Background
Nova was born in 9:11 Dragon in Kirkwall to Revka Amell. Being Revka's firstborn, Revka named her daughter after the Ander phrase "stella nova", meaning "new star". Leandra Amell tells her son Roman Hawke that Revka always called Nova "the brightest star of her life". In her youth, Nova was a curious girl, always wanting to examine every plant, animal or building that caught her eye.

Lyrei Surana
""You must let me go, vhenan. Else your misery will destroy you before this Blight gets the chance. ""

- - Liari's spirit to Nova Nova met Liari when she first arrived at Kinloch Hold at age 11. Liari was the first person she actually spoke to, after being not uttering a word for nearly a week.

Jowan
""Stay your current course, 'Levyn.' Redemption suits you.""

- -Nova to Jowan

Morrigan
""Of all the things I could have imagined would have resulted when Flemeth told me to go with you, the very last would have been that I would find in you a friend. Perhaps even a sister.""

- -Morrigan to Nova Nova and Morrigan first meet when the former comes upon the Grey Wardens' Cache in search of the Ancient Treaties, only to find it empty. Morrigan emerges from the the ruined tower, and asks if Nova and the men with her (Alistair, Daveth, and Ser Jory) are intruders or scavengers. The three men are immediately distrustful of Morrigan, but Nova engages her, asking if she knows where the missing treaties are. Morrigan reveals that her mother, Flemeth, has them, and offers to take them to her. Against the objections of the men, Nova agrees to follow Morrigan to her mother's hut.

Sten
""Are you sure you are a Grey Warden? I think you must be an ashkaari to find a single lost blade in a country at war.""

- -Sten to Nova after she returns his blade to him.

Cullen Rutherford
""''We're not in the Circle anymore, Cullen. Mind your tone. ""

- -Nova to Cullen

Cullen was a Templar in the Ferelden Circle during Nova's time there. She had never had much contact with him before her Harrowing, other than being watched over by him and a few other Templars. Cullen was the one assigned to kill her if she did not make it through her Harrowing. After Nova does make it through and is woken by Jowan, she overhears two female apprentices talking about her success, and one of them says that Cullen "says she's very talented and very brave". The other apprentice she is speaking with replies with "Well, he would, wouldn't he?". Nova stops to speak with Cullen on her way to speak with First Enchanter Irving, which is when Cullen informs her that he was the one who was to strike the killing blow if she became an abomination. Nova notices the Cullen is stuttering during the conversation, but she does not mention it to him, and she already knew why. She had seen the way he stared at her when he thought she wasn't looking. She leaves him alone, telling him she doesn't want to distract him from his duties, and he stumbles through telling her that she can come and talk to him any time.

Later, when Nova returns to the Circle Tower to gain the help of the mages for the Blight, she finds it overrun by demons and abominations. She heads through the tower and eventually finds Cullen, appearing to have been tormented by the demons in the tower. At first, he does not believe it is really Nova, revealing that the demon had shown him images of her for the duration of his torture. In his attempt fight off what he believes is another illusion, he reveals his infatuation with Nova. When he finally realizes that it really is her and that she's there to help, he tells her to kill every single mage in the Harrowing Chamber, as not to leave alive any blood mages that may be in hiding. Nova refuses, not wishing to kill any innocents. Cullen is not pleased with this, saying that he hopes they won't all have to suffer for her actions later. After Uldred is defeated and Nova returns to Knight-Commander Greagoir, Cullen complains to Geagoir in an effort to get the mages killed. Greagoir values Irving's word over Cullen's, however, and the remaining mages who were not corrupted by Uldred are spared.

A decade later, Nova and Cullen reunite in Haven during Corypheus's first attack on the Inquisition. She arrives with her dragon and fights off most of Corypheus's minions. Although she does not defeat Corypheus then, she pushes his forces back enough that he departs for the time being. As Haven burned, she gathered the remaining survivors on Kabira's back and flew them all to Skyhold. Cullen speaks with her on the balcony of Skyhold, finally able to apologize for the way he spoke to her in the Circle Tower. She dismisses his apology, saying that he should be more sorry for the abuse of mages in Kirkwall which he allowed to happen for years. He tells her that he does hold the hatred for mages that he did then, and Nova ends the conversation with "Take this mage's word for it - regret means nothing with no action to prove it."