This original song is framed as Varric’s confession—the version of Hawke’s story you don’t tell cleanly when a Seeker is demanding answers. It’s a cinematic rock / symphonic alt-metal anthem about a refugee who climbed Kirkwall’s ladder on bruised knuckles, then became the city’s shield when everything inside it snapped.
The song follows Hawke from Lothering’s flight to Lowtown’s climb, carrying a “mantle” no one asked for: keeping the city together while templars tighten their bars, mages push back, and fear becomes policy. It hits the major turning points—the Qunari crisis and the Arishok, the rot under the Gallows, red lyrium whispering promises with teeth, and the moment Kirkwall’s conflict stops being local and becomes a spark for a wider war. Then it pivots into the later legend: the fight with Corypheus, and the Fade-shadow of Inquisition—the kind of heroism that looks like staying behind so others can crawl back to the light.
Released
Lyrics
Tell it again, Varric
Start where the world went wrong
A Seeker wants the truth, but you can't sing it clean
Kirkwall keeps its ghosts in stone and salt in chains
So raise your voice for Hawke of Kirkwall - let the chorus sting
Lothering fell in smoke, Blight at your back
Waking Sea ahead - no time to look back
Ferelden behind you like a torn-up prayer
Kirkwall in front - black stone, salt air
Lowtown to Hightown, you climbed on scars
Under the Gallows, watched by templar bars
You paid your way in blood and sweat - no crown to claim
Just a name that grew louder every time you took the blame
They wanted saints in stained glass, sinners locked in place
Kirkwall makes both, and calls it grace
But you wore the mantle, not the throne - through fire and doubt
And every step you took made the whole damn city shout
Hawke of Kirkwall, Champion of Chains
Turn our fear into thunder, our tears into flames
No throne, just the mantle - no saints, no games
Hawke of Kirkwall - we scream your name
Kirkwall calls your name
Champion of Chains
Qunari in the harbor, a war that learned to wait
Arishok's cold honor staring down the gate
Steel in the Viscount's hall - the city held its breath
You met that challenge face-to-face, bargaining with death
Deep Roads, dark roads, where red lyrium sings
Promises turn to poison, and power grows teeth
Then the Chantry became fire; the sky split wide
Right of Annulment hanging - so you stood between the sides
No clean hands in Kirkwall, no pure, note in the hymn
Just mages in the Gallows and templars caving in
Respected or reviled, you carried what remained
Because someone had to hold the line when hope broke in the rain
Hawke of Kirkwall, Champion of Chains
Turn our fear into thunder, our tears into flames
No throne, just the mantle - no saints, no games
Hawke of Kirkwall we scream your name
Write it in the flame
Ha‑ha‑ha Hawke!
You hunted an ancient magister - thought the nightmare was done
But Corypheus doesn't stay dead just 'cause you won
Adamant falling, Wardens hearing the call
Then the Fade opened wide like a prison wall
And you were ready to be the one left in that dark
So the rest could crawl back to the light with a spark
Even if the world forgets the cost of being brave
Kirkwall won't - your name won't fade
Kirkwall won't - your name won't fade
Hawk of Kirkwall, Champion of Chains
Turn our fear into thunder, our tears into flames
No throne, just the mantle - no saints, no games
Hawke of Kirkwall we scream your name
Varric's ink runs black
Still you never looked back
