Meet Alistair. Your right hand man, your sidekick, the only other Grey Warden in hundreds of miles. He's got your back, and if you're lucky, you might just get his too.

But let's start at the beginning. When you first arrive at Ostagar after being recruited by Duncan, his first task for you is "Go find this guy named Alistair. I've got stuff to do." When you do find him, he's being snarky with a mage. This sets a nice precedent for your relationship. He's a smartass, he was raised in the Chantry and was in training to be a templar before joining the Grey Wardens. Templars kill mages when they look at you funny.

Alistair is your guide through the Joining process, and he gets to tell you all about the Grey Wardens as well as some fun tidbits about himself. He is an orphan who was raised by Arl Eamon, a Very Important Dude, until he was shipped off to the Chantry and subsequently conscripted into the Grey Wardens. You go on a nice romp through the wilds looking for nasty darkspawn blood so you can drink it (yes, really), and fortunately you don't choke on it and die. Congratulations, you're a Grey Warden! You're off to fight the darkspawn in an epic battle, sure to bring glory to all of Ferelden. Sadly, in a mysterious turn of events *cough*Loghain*cough*, everyone is slaughtered...except you and Alistair. Are you a bad enough dude to save Ferelden?

Throughout the course of the game, you find out this guy is much more than just a junior Warden and an endless source of entertainment. He's the bastard son of the late King Maric, and since his legit son just happened to get crushed by an ogre, Alistair is the heir to the throne. Of course, he couldn't care less, and in fact actively resists becoming king. He doesn't want, nor does he feel he can handle the responsibility of running an entire country. You're able to put him on the throne if you like, or let him be your sidekick forever, or you can even tell him to GTFO and get Loghain in your party instead. But really, if you're visiting this fansite, WHY would you want to do that?

One thing BioWare is really good at is creating characters you can really care about, and Alistair is no exception. He seems to be somewhat of a polarizing character, in that you either love him or you hate him, but either way you feel strongly about him. On one hand, he whines a lot, he deflects important issues with humor, and he can't handle responsibility. On the other hand, he's a perfect gentleman, he really cares about people, and he always tries to do the right thing. He does grow stronger and more responsible if you choose to encourage him to do so. Oh yeah, and he's really funny. He was born into a pretty crappy set of circumstances, never belonged anywhere, and doesn't really believe in the doctrine he was raised to uphold. You can't help but feel for his situation. Either that or you can't wait to try and get him killed.

This one's for the ladies...

In DA:O, you develop relationships with your party members based on your actions in the game. If you're a guy you can have a rocking bromance with Alistair, but if you're a lucky enough lady, you can claim this old-fashioned chivalrous ass for yourself! And if you're anything like me, slaying monsters sometimes takes a backseat to some juicy soap opera action back at camp.

Courting Alistair is actually very easy. He hardly ever disapproves much (although usually if you agree with Morrigan, you'll piss him off), and there are tons of ways to boost his approval. It's probably harder NOT to make him like you. If you're into romances where men were gentlemen and knew how to treat a lady, then this is the relationship for you! Alistair is pretty shy about matters of the heart and easily flustered (d'awwwww), making for some classic moments of conversation. Also, being raised by the equivalent of angry nuns with giant rulers, Alistair is still a virgin, and pretty clueless about the dirtier sides of humanity.

When he starts to care about you, Alistair will give you a rose he picked in Lothering, along with a beautifully corny speech about how it reminds him of you. At this point you can try to ask him to your tent, but he might reject you unless he has strong feelings. Later on, he'll ask if you feel the same way, and if you do, you get sloppy makeouts! (Mine were in a tavern! Stay classy, Alistair.) And finally, if he's fallen in love with you and you haven't taken him to your tent yet, he'll approach you in one of the most endearing, adorable, and completely awkward conversations ever and ask you to spend the night with him. Congratulations, you just bedded the most eligible prince in all of Ferelden! Oh wait, he's the ONLY prince in all of Ferelden! Ha, ha!

After all that, if you choose to put Alistair on the throne, and you're a human noble, you can become the queen of Ferelden. It may not always work out that way, and he's been known to break up with some unfortunate ladies after becoming king, but I can't help you there. I'm just a dirty hippie elf who would probably be a way better queen anyway... *grumble*

The end.

Spoiler alert! At the end of the game, you and Alistair learn that in order to slay an archdemon, a Grey Warden has to die. Bad news for you and your buddy/boyfriend/archenemy (circle whichever is appropriate). At this point, Morrigan comes to you with an offer: you or Alistair impregnate her with a crazy demon fetus, and no one has to die. If you go along with her plan as a guy, you get to boink Morrigan. Yay! If you're female, you have to get Alistair to do it (or Loghain, but again, if you kicked Alistair out whyyyyy are you reading this? Not that I'm complaining.) Tricky business if you guys are OTP. Convince him to do it, and you witness the most frightened you will ever see a young man about to get it on with a hot lady. Then you can live happily ever after! Except for that random god-fetus, but hey, that probably won't come back to haunt you, right?

If you get the willies about the whole thing and refuse Morrigan's offer, someone will have to strike the final blow and die along with the archdemon. If you're in a relationship with Alistair, he will stop you and insist on sacrificing himself. At first he says it's for the greater good, but then he will admit that he can't bear to live without you, and would rather die in your stead. If you agree, he gives you one last kiss before running to his blindingly-bright death.

And that, my friends, is why Alistair pretty much rules.