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Varric was a good storyteller -- as his muse, best friend, and constant drinking buddy, Marian Hawke knew this to be true.
Varric was also much more political than he thought he was, instinctively twisting words and blurring narratives to suit his needs.
Of course, Varric would deny this if Marian ever suggested it. He was a free agent, Hawke, don’t you know?
But it was so clear as she read the Tale of the Champion (a masterpiece!) that Varric had an agenda. Cheeky critique of the Chantry to appeal to his pro-mage audience, and a scathing condemnation of Anders for everyone else.
And of course -- of course! -- there was the character he created out of Marian, herself. The narrative he made of the Champion wasn’t exactly untrue, really -- she was cunning and charming and her muscles were indeed a sight to behold, just like in Varric’s story. But he had changed some things, made her ignorant in the right places, helpless in the right places. His lies of omission made the Champion a bystander in the Mage-Templar War, another refugee swept up in the shitstorm that was Kirkwall.
He did not, for example, write about the letter she wrote to the Divine, trying to remove Meredith from her post. He did not write about the hours of work that went into it, the research, the horror when she began to fully grasp the stranglehold the templars truly had on her city.
He did not write about the nights she spent reading Anders’ manifesto, editing, finding weak points in his arguments, working until her vision swam with ink and justice. He did not write about her personal printing press, and the hundreds of copies of her friend’s work she made with it.
He did not write about how drunk she got when rumors of Annulment were whispered in the Gallows. He did not write about how she spread out Bethany’s letters to her and sobbed.
He did not write about how she had gone to Anders. He did not write about the plans they made, or the way Marian smiled when she saw the Chantry go up in flames.
Because she did side with the mages, her name was a war cry, now, she was a fugitive running from something with a reach so vast it was terrifying… but oh, wouldn’t it be worse if the Chantry knew how carefully she had planned this?
Wouldn’t it be worse if the Chantry knew it had made itself her enemy when it tried to kill her sister, her baby sister , the only family she had left?
Wouldn’t it be worse if the Chantry knew what they had created, when they let Meredith take Bethany away?
So perhaps Marian couldn’t blame Varric for the things he left out.
He was the storyteller, after all -- and what did Marian Hawke know about telling a story?