I'm replaying the DAO again and my new Roman Empire is the thought that if Tamlen had been saved, he would have become a Grey Warden along with Mahariel.
It’s obvious from the art that I ship them; in my playthrough there is a mod for a romance with Tamlen. But I still think that they were together long before the incident with the mirror, so here it is.
I had such a pleasure talking to Tamlen in the prologue, his dynamic with my Alen is just something beautiful. Tamlen always finds trouble, and Alen is always ready to follow him to protect him if something happens.
Alen was a very hot-tempered and pugnacious child, especially due to the fact that he was an orphan. Tamlen was one of his few close friends, so he always protected him.
I think there was a misunderstanding between them for quite a long time about this. In the game itself, when Tamlen asks why Mahariel went with him, we can answer that we simply could not let him go alone. To this answer, Tamlen will say that he thinks that the keeper sent Mahariel to keep an eye on Tamlen so that he does not get into trouble.
My Alen is a year older than Tamlen, so I think Tamlen really doesn’t like this kind of care and thinks that it’s just because he’s younger. Of course this is not true, Alen is just super protective and caring, for him family and friends always come first. Every time I play through the game as a dalish, Duncan takes my Mahariel from the clan by force and it's actually very heartbreaking. Alen was literally ready to die in the clan, especially dejected by the loss of Tamlen:c
