Inquisitor Lavellan | Dragon Age: Inquisition

I started this costume because a group of friends was doing a Dragon Age Group for a convention. Little did I know that this would become one of my most worn and favourite costumes.

While making this costume I really got into the lore and world of Thedas, and it was a really fun exercise for me to try and put together a costume from a bunch of pieces that the developers had given me. This wasn't based on any one image or particular suit of armor, but the armor my own inquisitor had acquired -pell-mell- while running through Thedas.

I also made the design choice to stick to a unified color pallet which was not part of the imagery of the inquisitor commonly shown in the concept art. For my own Inquisitor, her dalish heritage was very important, and I decided to go with browns and greens to reflect that. Luckingly I found the perfect fabic, and was able to refer to that colour pallet to ensure a cohesive look. I was nervous to make a design decision like this, knowing the each person's Inquisitor looked different. But to my surprise, the silhouette and details of the costume were more than enough to let most people in the who I was portraying. Only once was I mistaken as Danyerys, but that just shows a lack of knowledge of both franchises that I was not hurt.

Photos by Marthonee Photography.

Build Notes

The armour of this costume is made exclusively from EVA Foam. The detail was achieved either by carving it out with my dremmel or building it up through additional layers of thinner EVA and craft foam.  I achieved the magic float pauldrons of video games by fastening them on to my jerkin with magnets which means I can get in and out of my armor by myself! Woohoo!

The Leather jacket is made from a supple pleather, but I used linen for the trousers,  knit cotton and wool blend for the sash and scarf, and silk velvet for the for the sleeves to give the costume an authentic look. Natural fibers photograph much better and have a more interesting texture to them, so including them was important to give the costume the right *feel*. Overall I think the fabrics work very well together and create the look I was going for.  All the patterns were draped and fitted on my dress form. 

Once all of the pieces were constructed, I went to town weathering the armour and garments to look like I had seen some battle and slept in a dusty tent or two. I used mostly acrylic paints and shoe polish to create the dirt and grime. The blood splatters are created using acrylic ink in burnt sienna. I have a video tutorial on how I create this effect. 

The helm was an addition to the costume which I am extremely proud of. It is made out of an EVA foam base. The details were created with a combination of worbla, super sculpey, and Free Form Air. I also learned how to do the ever annoying 6-in1 chainmaille technique to make the neck gaurd. So time consuming but so worth it. In hindsight, I would have finished this Helm with plastidip, as the winged faceguards have cracked a sustained damage over the years, but considering this was my first costume using EVA, I am extremely pleased with how this tuned out.

Photo By: Matthew Kissau Photography. Copyright 2016 Matthew Kissau. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

I have had some incredible times in this costume, and I am alway excited to wear it meet up with the Inquisition Squad.