Author's Note:
This is sort of a weird prequel sort of thing. Noting is gonna be in chronological order. But just imagine this: Tabris becomes a grey warden and eventually falls in love with Alistair (however begrudgingly and accidentaly) only for him to later end their relationship to both become king and leave the grey wardens because of her decision to spare Loghain. She then moves to Warden's Keep, meets Nathaniel, and the two grow close after a time. They heal each other, and this is Nate talking about her life before she became commander of the grey.
Nate didn't have to ask around to know the legend of Nadine Tabris. Yes, he says legend because that is the only thing one can classify it as. Hers is a rather powerful one, there's no denying it. She went from existing as a forgettable elven woman in the slums of Denerim to becoming the Commander of the Grey and arlessa of Amaranthine, but the story Nate is more interested in is before she became the Hero of Ferelden, before she slayed the archdemon, before she became a grey warden.
Little Dee, the girl with hair the color of flames and angry eyes that gleamed as dark and blue as the midnight sky. Nadine Tabris, otherwise known as the spitfire of the alienage. She was beautiful, talented in skills that society frowns on for a woman of her race to possess. With her name came danger and her presence spoke of death.
The Legend of Dee Tabris, an elven woman who rose from the ashes of the humble beginnings of her life with hair a shade of flame red, like the feathers of a phoenix. Supposedly, she was a deadly sight to behold, but even more so when she was out of sight. Even as a lass growing up in the slums of the alienage with hardly any food in her belly, her spirit was a fearsome thing to witness. Her fierceness in battle was nothing compared to the rage constantly boiling in her eyes, adding an eerie glow to their noteworthy shade of blue that darkened when she sliced a blade through a man's throat.
The story begins with her growing up in the alienage, petite lass with ears too big for her head, even for an elf, and with a set of eyes that could glare right through you. The legend mentions her family, how their lives were worth more to her than any sort of trinket or gold or silver. Her cousins are also mentioned, and quite frequently in fact; Shianni, Soris, how all three children were raised together as practically siblings. Her father, Cyrion Tabris, is also mentioned. And, lest Nate doesn't forget, the character that the story can trace its origin back to, her mother.
Little Dee was brought up by her mother, Adaia, to value strength over all else. Mother passed armor and weapons down to daughter. Mother taught daughter the art of sword fighting and lockpicking and shadowplay while father watched from afar, admiring his 2 warrior women and bringing mercy into the pre-hero's childhood.
This story is, in a few ways, similar to others. The heroine; beautiful and magnificent, but with a tragic past that made her into the strong woman she is as present. One parent of the heroine is killed, murdered, or dies an accidental death set into place by what some would call fate (or chance, if you're as pragmatic as Nate). Details of Adaia's death were kept from Dee by her father, who only revealed to her what truly mattered: her mother was killed by humans.
The rumor is that Little Dee, after hearing of her mother's untimely demise, became obsessed with giving her killers exactly what they deserved: justice. Along with the determination came hatred, prejudice and, what is to be gossiped, borderline obsession.
She trained for years, this time without the mentorship of her mother. Dee served as her own source of guidance, using her mother's death as motivation and everyday occurrences of cruelty exhibited by humans toward the elves in the alienage as ammunition. Our Little Dee became strong, and soon she was little no longer. She was a woman, a warrior.
Dee fought from the shadows; stealing from the undeserving, giving the spoils of her findings to the poor, rescuing elves falsely accused of crimes not committed. She made a reputation for herself by working as a savior for her people, and eventually earned her title as "Guardian of the Alienage." Dee became a symbol of justice, and her whispered name amongst the other people of Denerim restored hope to the hearts of her fellow elves and brought fear into those of the rich human nobles'.
She was feared, notorious, respected. Soon, it became too dangerous to reveal her name. So, she went by what the common folk had begun to call her: the Red Queen. Declared as such because of her style in battle: vengeful eyes that demanded attention, a presence as commanding as the words spoken by her as she sliced through men with practiced ease, leaving behind nothing but bodies and just that: the color red. Killing was an art form in her eyes, and she treated it as such. The amount of pride she took in the lives she stole nearly surpassed the wealth and safety that their absence granted her people.
She soon began to make it simple for her enemies to identify her. Her trademark was a note, left behind at each scene as a crumpled piece of paper with a single word written on it. Every note revealed the name of her next target. Dee wanted them to know to know her plans, to make it obvious what her intentions were. This was to give her target one last chance of redemption, to correct their wrongs and put their immense wealth to good use. This usually never happened.
However, the grand tale of Little Dee, Guardian of the Alienage and punisher of the wealthy, the Red Queen, eventually fell down a dark path.
Vengeance originally was her motivation, fueled first by anger but morphed into dedication to better the lives of her people, reverted once more to vengeance. Except it was now beginning to consume her. The tale speaks of how restless she had become, how she would forgo sleep for a number of days, how her severity in battle was beginning to make appearances in her personality as well. The long nights of glaring at her mother's old dagger, the satisfaction of her work soon draining her and leaving behind an empty shell of hatred and never ending spite.
The once determined Dee with angry eyes and a heart broken over a mother's death was now a woman who mastered the art of killing and was consumed with all aspects of it. It was no longer vengeance or selflessness that fueled her, rather, something else entirely.
Then suddenly, stories of her killings and many break-ins take a standstill, and the Red Queen does not make an appearance for several years. One can only speculate what exactly occurred. Was it a father's love that was finally able to snap her out of the newfound streak of uncontrollable bloodlust? Or was it Shianni who coaxed sense back into her cousin, possessing a soft spot for the angry elven child who had grown into an even angrier woman? Or was it Dee who snapped herself out of the vengeful haze and managed to return to reality once more, living up to her reputation as self-serving and independent, and a woman requiring aid from no one?
Years later, Dee is betrothed to a fellow elf by the name of Nelaros who met her mere moments before their wedding was scheduled to take place. Duty was no foreign concept, and so Dee took this in stride. She pledged her life to her people long ago, and if a marriage that she wasn't totally unprepared for (but still rather unexpected) was in the fine print of the contract that signed her soul over to a greater cause than her own foolish romantic expectations, then so be it. Rumor is, however, that Dee didn't find her future husband to be completely unattractive as her original childish fears.
Nelaros was fair-skinned with a pair of delicate looking eyes that gave him the impression of an elven doll; beautiful but easy to break. He wasn't an eye sore, that goes beyond saying. Tall (or at least taller than her), with legs that any woman would want to imagine herself in-between, and hay colored hair. Dee was certainly not disappointed, but also not looking forward to the life of a doting wife whose job it was to cook and clean and a long list of other motherly duties.
The wedding was nothing short of a disaster. Her old self, presumably buried under layers of regret and promises of future compassion resurfaced due to the brutality of the Human lords who captured Dee, along with Shianni and other female elves attending the wedding. Her old mindset returned and the Red Queen was born again.
She was tortured, the white of her wedding dress stained red with the blood of her attackers as she made her way back to Shianni, who was being held prisoner by the leader of their captors, Vaughn. Dee did not have to make the entire rescue on her own. Soris, her cousin, and Nelaros soon arrived and aided her in this.
Before reaching Shianni however, Dee's fiancé, Nelaros, the man who didn't deserve his fate, was killed before her very eyes. Legend says the entire city of Denerim and the surrounding areas could hear her screams. Noblemen and women shook in their beds at the sound.
Commonfolk peered outside through the curtains of their windows, searching for the source of the unearthly shouts, fearing some demon had infiltrated the city. The Red Queen made her way to her cousin, only to find Shianni broken completely and psychologically shattered by the very men who captured them. Dee's eyes glowed red and boiled over the brims of the midnight blue depths and the rage burning in them soon transformed into tears.
The guards blocking her path shook in their armored boots at the sight of the enraged elven woman. Her hands, with daggers gleaming red with blood, shook as she stalked towards them, each blow more forceful than the last. People witnessing the Hero of the Ferelden in battle all claim the same thing; that her fighting style is very direct and straight forward. Those stories all claim that she fights smoothly, without any doubt or hesitant movements because Nadine Tabris is a woman who works toward one goal, and that goal alone. However, the woman who fought her way through Vaughn's estate was not the same woman that she was in those stories.
Dee was not Nadine Tabris when she killed her cousin rapists; she was the Red Queen, and the Red Queen she remained. Eyes glaring, teeth gleaming as she ground out from between them animalistic snarls and curses. Her heart might not have been with Nelaros, but her future was; the one where she would marry him and live a normal life with a husband and children and the sort of domestic bliss that her mother was deprived of.
That dream died with him, along with any remaining sense of mercy she might have possessed. After that, the tale becomes mundane. After granting Vaughn the same amount of mercy that was shown to her cousin and now dead fiancée, Dee returned to the Alienage in her blood splattered wedding gown where she was apprehended by the guardsmen. It is where she meets Duncan, and so begins the story of the Hero of Ferelden, but surely everyone knows how that particular one goes by now.
The Legend of Nadine Tabris is a thing whispered amongst giggling elven children. It is told by mothers at night to sons and daughters to scare them into behaving, or else the Red Queen might slip into their home and steal them right from their beds. It is a topic banned from the discussion of noble parties, and sparks dread in the heart of every human that has wronged her people.
Her legend is widely known, yes, but Nate has discovered that every last tale of his beloved begins in the same way: Little Dee, with hair the color of flames and eyes filled to the brim with vengeance, the elven woman who beat all odds stacked against her and became the Hero of Ferelden.
Today, living in the Warden's Keep in Amaranthine, Nadine Tabris is different than the woman that her origin story spoke of, but also one and the same. She is a woman with a past that may not burden her as heavily as before, but still makes its appearances through nightmares and bad habits that Nate is currently trying to break. Perhaps the word "break" is incorrect, because it implies the need of reparation. Dee is the type of woman who lets her wounds fester for however long it takes to learn from them. She heals at her own pace, and if she looks as if she has forgotten about any painful memories, she hasn't. That is just another thing that Nathanial respects about her.