Gaspard de Chalons

"We're looking at fire and death for this empire....I went against Celene because I thought I was the one to guide Orlais through it..."

- Gaspard de Chalons

Gaspard de Chalons is a character from Dragon Age Inquisition. Due to the grey nature of Dragon Age, he could be considered a villain. He is voiced by Anthony Howell.

Personality
Gaspard is a military man who greatly respects the Cheveliar code and way of life. He also detests the Great Game, that the Orlessian nobles and royalty play to increase their power and status. Gaspard views former realms of the Orlessian Empire, such as Ferelden, as lands that rightfully belong to Orlias, and their Kings as thieves and usurpers, and thus believes that Orlias should go to war against them, in order to take back what "rightfully belongs to the Empire".

He has little care for the common people, especially Elves, and only sees them as pawns to get what he desires. Despite this, Gaspard does possess some honor, and expresses politness when he must. He even will go as far as to request aid from the Inquisition, even if the Inquisitor is an Elf themselves.

War of the Lions
As the Mage Wars and Elven Uprisings grow more and more out of control, Gaspard becomes convinced that Empress Celene is unfit to rule Orlias himself. To this end, he proposes marriage to her. When she refuses, he draws his weapon on her. She in turn, slashes him with concealed daggers, causing the Grand Duke to retreat, and muster his forces.

During the war, Gaspard uses the rumors that Celene is an Elf ally to his advantage in an effort to damage Celene's reputation. This causes Celene to marge on Halamshiral to crush the Elven rebellion. However Gaspard ambushes Celene's forces, but the royalists manage to escape. The War of the Lions grows more and more bloody as the loyalists and rebels battle across Orlias.

Eventually, Gaspard's sister, Florianne arranges for a peace treaty ball to be held, and invites Celene, Gaspard, and even Briela, Celene's former elven handmaid. Unbeknowst to anyone though, Florianne is allied with Corypheus.

Hoping to bring the Inquistion to his side, Gaspard invites the Inquisitor to the ball as his guest. As the ball proceeds, Gaspard, Celen, and Briela (who hopes to give Orlessian Elves a greater voice) all attempt to gain an alliance with the Inquisition. But as these plans are carried out, Florianne helps smuggle in hostile agents to lure the Inquisitor away from Celene so she can murder the Empress, and frame her brother for the crime. However, the Inquisitor survives the trap and foils the plan. The Inquisitor is left with either letting Florianne attack, thus allowing her to assassinate Celene, attempt to detain her, resulting in Florianne's death, or expose her plot to the court. Afterwards, the Inquisitor has a say in who rules Orlais thanks to the vast amount of blackmail material on both candidates for the throne and Briala. Rulership of Orlais is granted to either Celene or Gaspard --either alone or supported by Briala-- or all three are convinced to work together.

Gaspard's final fate is any of the following.

Execution

Exile

Rule Alone

Rule as Briela's puppet

Make peace Celene.

If Gaspard is Emperor, he gives the Inquisitor the Orlessian support they need in their war against the Elder One.