Dragon Age Origins Walkthrough Part 31 – Companion Quest – Leliana's Past

Dragon Age Origins Walkthrough Part 31 – Companion Quest – Leliana's Past

This can be a tricky quest to trigger. You need to first get Leliana to a minimum approval of 25. Ask her about why she joined the Chantry. If this was done right, the codex will show an update after the conversation. Following that, raise her approval to 30+ and ask her about “minstrels and spies in Orlais”. She will then tell you more about Bards. Leave camp and then return to it. She will tell you about her old mentor, Marjolaine.

Later on there will be a random encounter on the world map. The party will be confronted by assassins who have been hired to kill Leliana. The quickest way to end this combat is to focus on and kill the Leader. This will open up the quest, “Leliana's Past”.

Once you have access to “Leliana's Past” head for Denerim Market District. Just go straight forward to the house marked “Assassin's Contact for Leliana”. When you step inside you are immediately attacked by a pair of guards. Defeat them and save. Beyond that door is Leliana's old flame, Marjolaine.

Cross the threshold and enter into the next room to trigger the conversation. Marjolaine starts by complaining about the smell of the country. From there the Warden can respond with:
Ferelden doesn't smell like wet dog.
We killed your guards.
Why did you send assassins after Leliana?

Talk through the dialogue until you get the choice of either letting Marjolaine go or fighting her. It is not an easy fight if you opt to make sure that Marjolaine leaves Leliana alone. Marjolaine is a very skilled unarmed opponent who does plenty of damage without any weapons. She is also aided by 2 Warriors and a Mage.

After the battle or seeing Marjolaine leave you can loot the chest that is in the room beyond the pressure plate. There can be some good loot inside it. Now, with this quest finished, head back to camp.

Party Camp
Talk with Leliana in the camp. If she does not want to talk, let her be for a quest or so. She will be going through a crisis of faith. It is during this conversation that you can harden her. The conversation can have a number of things said but to harden Leliana, there are only 2 choices that must be made. Understand, you must choose both of these options to harden Leliana. One of the key elements is to get Leliana to say “What we're doing... what we've done – hunted men down, killed them – part of loves it. It invigorates me and this scares me. I... I feel myself slipping.”

The Warden's Responses to harden Leliana are:
1)You are not slipping. This is who you are.
2) Don't punish yourself for doing something you enjoy.