Ser Varnell starts off by serving as a guard to Sister Petrice. He shows his hate of the Qunari race when Sister Petrice asks Hawke to help Ketojan, a Qunari, to get out of Kirkwall as part of the quest Shepherding Wolves.

However during Offered and Lost, Varnell still works for Petrice (now Mother Petrice), but has abandoned his order and becomes a rogue templar, ruthlessly hunting down qunari with a group that he calls "The Faithful". When Hawke follows a trail of evidence to Petrice, Petrice gives Hawke Varnell's location, due to his incompetence in letting her be implicated, Varnell's growing fanaticism which has made Petrice wonder if he can be controlled and to have all blame for the qunari violence placed on him and his group. After the conversation, Hawke encounters him in an area in Darktown where Varnell is holding qunari delegates hostage and has to endure a difficult and lengthy fight with him and several groups of spawning enemies.