- For the dwarf, see Bianca Davri.
- For Varric's crossbow upgrades, see Bianca Upgrades.
Bianca is Varric Tethras' signature repeating crossbow. It is made by carved-wood stock and adorned with brass embellishments. During melee combat, a retractable bayonet slides out of a slot under the bolt.
Background
Varric's crossbow is a marvel of dwarven craftsmanship, clearly the work of a master. However, she bears no smith's mark.
When asked how he procured the weapon, Varric has a few claims. He could have won it in a game of Wicked Grace against Paragon Branka, it could've been a gift from a mysterious old beggar who disappeared into thin air, and it's possible he bought it off a crooked merchant in Lowtown with the previous owner's hand still wrapped around the trigger.
None of those explanations is very likely and continued questioning simply results in Varric grinning and walking away.
—From Codex entry: BiancaWhen asked about the story behind how Bianca got her name, he replies that it involves a girl and a promise, and that it is the one story that he can never tell. Bianca is the name of Varric's unseen and mentioned dwarven lover. He has put the story to song, but will not sing it, instead humming the tune during battle.
After the Inquisitor encounters Bianca Davri in person during Varric's personal sidequest, Varric reluctantly reveals why he had never told anyone about his crossbow's real inventor and even lied to Hawke about it being built by Gerav. Since many underworld powers would want to acquire the secret of the repeating crossbow design, Varric judged that it would be safer for the real Bianca if he publicly claimed that his weapon was invented by a mad Carta engineer who has long since passed away.
Varric eventually confides in Leliana that Gerav created numerous prototypes of a repeating crossbow and eventually sold the fourteenth to him. As this prototype still wouldn't work, Varric began looking for a good smith to finish it and evenutally found Bianca Davri. After Gerav and the Carta found out that the fourteenth prototype was operational, Varric proceeded to hide Bianca's involvement by claiming Gerav's original worked after he simply changed a few pins.[1]
Trivia
- Bianca is called as such "because Mirabelle was taken". This is a reference to BioWare's Jade Empire, in which a powerful musket called Mirabelle can be acquired.[2]
- From a real-world perspective, Bianca is named after a young woman looking for true love in "The Taming of the Shrew" by Shakespeare.[3]
- There is a longbow with the Absolution model named Bianca in Dragon Age II game files (item code gen_im_wep_rog_arc_lore_03).
- Bianca is the only usable crossbow in Dragon Age II and Dragon Age: Inquisition.
References
- ↑
Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol. 2, p. 181
- ↑ In an interview with Gamespot, Mike Laidlaw notes that "...nor will he ever tell you how Bianca got her name except to say Mirabelle was taken, and the really old-school BioWare fans will get that."
- ↑ Kirby, Mary. "Varric Tethras: Chest Hair & Dwarven Goodness 2.0 **Finest Dwarven Craft**". BioWare Social Network. Retrieved 2011-04-16.