Genevieve always dreamed of being a Grey Warden, but when a Warden finally came to recruit, her brother Bregan was chosen instead. Bregan had no desire to become a Warden, but knowing his sister's greatest wish, agreed to be recruited on the condition that Genevieve was accepted as well.

Once the reality of being a Grey Warden set in, Genevieve came to understand the full depth of the sacrifice her brother made; knowledge that somewhat soured her opinion of the order. Some 30 years later when Bregan steps down as the Warden Commander and goes to his Calling, Genevieve is made Commander knowing that her brother, the unwilling Warden, had been the more respected, more loved and more talented Grey Warden of the two.

Shortly afterwards, Genevieve's betrothed, a Grey Warden named Guy, is murdered by a Val Royeaux cut-purse named Duncan, and her bitter grief deepens. In spite of his actions, Genevieve conscripts the reluctant boy, mentoring him.

Months later, she experiences nightmare visions of Bregan still alive in the Deep Roads, captured by darkspawn. Whether she is more afraid to let her brother go, or afraid that his knowledge of the locations of the Old Gods will precipitate a Blight is in question, but she convinces the order to mount an expedition to find him. Loghain Mac Tir and Maric Theirin are the only living survivors of a small group that escaped through the Deep Roads to Gwaren during the Fereldan Rebellion; they are the only humans known to have traveled the tainted highways of the forgotten underground empire and escape alive.

Involvement

Because of this, Genevieve hopes to persuade Loghain to guide them into the Deep Roads. Suspicious of Orlesians in general and Grey Wardens in particular, Loghain, not surprisingly, refuses to go. However, King Maric, seeking to escape his grief and depression over the death of Queen Rowan, volunteers to guide them. Genevieve accepts the offer and the Wardens smuggle the King out of Denerim before Teryn Loghain realizes their intent. The other Wardens question her sanity in placing the King of Ferelden in such danger, with only Duncan aware that she will go so far as see Maric dead to achieve her goals.

During their journey through the Deep Roads, an encounter with a Sloth demon left the Wardens trapped in the Fade, and Genevieve found herself in a dream of the life she would have lived had she not become a Grey Warden and married her fiancee. When Duncan tried to convince her to leave, she directed the full brunt of her grief and fury over the boy's part in Guy's death at him, revealing that she had forced Duncan to take the Joining in the hope he would die, after getting a taste of what she and Guy had gone through to protect people like him, only to have the Maker play one more cruel joke on her and let him survive. Duncan was initially astounded by the vehmence of her hatred, until he reasoned that if Genevieve truly wanted him dead, she could have just left him to be executed, and she is reluctantly persuaded to leave her dream..