"The best spies are never seen, only inferred." - World of Thedas Vol. 2
Charter - the name given under the Inquisition when she became under contact as Leliana's spies. When seeking for steady employment, the Inquistion was her chance to prove a force of power beyond her talents, and for being a spy, this was just the start.
Let's Talk about Charter, hello Thedosians and welcome back to my channel, today we are going to talk about the infamous spy that controls a lot of organization of our Inquisition. But as every member joins, and doing it as a service, it is for personal gain? Or is there a hidden agenda we might be seeing in the future Dragon Age? Let's start -
Identity/Aliases -
Black Hart
'The highest levels of the Game spin around manipulation of a thousand hearts, but the men and women engaged in the groundwork of spy-craft must hide their true allegiances, not their physical presence. The Black Hart, for example, was a notorious master of false identities. It is unlikely she or he - accounts vary, although most agree the spy was elven - was the inventor of the colorful pseudonym.' - WoT Vol. 2
Black Hart was the last known name for Charter, and as a spy, alias are the key to keeping an identity and claim a secret from many. Her names mean little, and as far as we know, her own real name she might never recall...
I think in this case, for most of her names, her identity was easily blended in, she was trained, skilled in her work, and although there isn't much of a backstory, that does leave room for suspicious behavior among other things for any organization.
Leliana's Contact -
We know personally Leliana contacted 'Charter' to become one of her leading spies in work for this newly found organization.
Along with being one of Leliana's spies, Charter is also a senior member of the Inquisition and the commanding officer of Caer Bronach. It was also Charter who recruited Scout Harding into the Inquisition. So yes, Charter has quite the influence than I and most player might have not anticipated... So why, of all people, has Charter not been a highlight within the Inquisition, I mean, compared to so many other characters who wouldn't really matter if they had screen time or not, for some reason, Charter was always behind the scenes...
I guess that goes to say that well, she was behind the scenes, maybe her portrayal for the Inquisition was to stay behind and watch and observe, yet I just wish there was since she has been our 'eyes and ears' for Leliana, or even go as far as saying our HR of the Inquisition too...
Comics -
That goes without saying, Charter does give some downtime in recruitment throughout the newer comics we have seen recently. In Magekiller, Charter recruits both Marius and Tessa for their potential in serving the Inquisition. We know in the end of the comics, it seems that Charter begins a relationship with Tessa, and while they fight on the last fight with Corypheus, Charter wants to see her back alive.
As for Knight Errant, Charter witnessed Vaea stealing in the Kirkwall Alienage, and so made a deal that the Inquisition would deal with Vaea's personal affairs with Ser Nevin if only Vaea would rescue Charter's agents Tessa and Marius out of prison located in Starkhaven.
Charter and Varric later meet up with Ser Aaron and Vaea as they are leaving Starkhaven, and they learn that a piece of red lyrium may already have made it to Tevinter.
Conspiracies -
So now that we know about Charter, lets talk about what might be going on in the future of this character. As we know now, her being in the comics to recruit the newly found members of the Inquisition even after the events of Corypheus means that at some point Charter might be mentioned in the next game.
Think about it this way, from Project Joplin, their main idea they put into was to become a spy and lure into doing heists within the city walls, much like with what Vaea and Ser Aaron have been doing in Knight errant. Which goes without saying, Charter was most likely involved with some sort of recruitment for spies.
So yes, we know spies have been a huge double edged sword throughout the entries within Trespasser. Double agents do not sound like a good idea, and I have a hard time believing Charter isn't just in it for the Inquisition anymore. Recruitment or not, her work is polished and effortless, but there cannot be a spy that good and not be cut down at any moment in the next future game, so why not her being as a double spy? That idea doesn't sound too far-fetched. But that leads to the factors of what other spy would she be recruited as?
Fen'Harel -
Now this is pretty easy to imagine because of, well, race. So far we haven't seen another spy within Fen'harel's ranks that was not elvhen. Maybe I could say Flemeth Bianca, but even Flemeth does her own thing and I wouldn't even consider Bianca cause she's pretty useless to the plot anyways now...
As for Charter as an agent of Fen'Harel, we would be walking into a dangerous territory, I believe, for one, that Charter could be a spy due to her involvement with heavy recruitment for the Inquisition even when the Exalted Council happened. Think about it, the spy of Fen'harel who intercepted the Council to notify you of a message might have just been recruited by Charter. A spy as powerful as this lets on to too many identities and for the elvhen race led by Fen'Harel wouldn't be too far away for her being a double agent to these two causes.
Executors -
As far as we know of the Executors, they are known as the 'Powers of the Sea'. What that says about Charter might not mean little, but maybe Charter came over to the lands here to become a spy and learn about this part of Thedas' affairs.
For one, before the Inquisition, 'Charter' was known to do dealings around the edges of the Amarantheane Ocean, she was called Mollnir for the conspiracy against the Crown in Hercinia, the eastern most city near this Ocean. And even called as 'Sonner', as a spy who sneaked into the heart of Markham could of just been sailed into these edges and set on a mission to become a spy involved in higher powers.
As far as her intel, Charter is pretty thorough in her work, and might be one of the best agents out there for doing her missions, but that does come from somewhere, as I find it hard to believe she learned this all be herself, she might have been taught by them all along. Who knows?
As for any other agent, Qunari, Tevinter, or even Seheron's Fog Warriors, and to the edge of the Orth people, she could easily represent these too. But for one alliance we know is certain, is of the Inquisition, and after Trespasser's events Charter is one of the agents with whom Leliana had shared many responsibilities during the final months of the Inquisition as an independent organization. Many believed that Leliana feared that what lay on the horizon, was grooming successors in anticipation of the challenges ahead.
Thank you for watching, if you have any questions or comments leave them below and I would love hear about all of your theories too! If you want to follow me on any other social media, read about this on my blog, all of those links are down below in the description as well.
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