Anden is a ranger whom the Princess meets in the course of her adventures and who serves in parts of the story as one of her companions and potential love interests. He is a very polite and selfless man with a clear dedication to goodness and law. This makes him directly opposed to Vico, and the two of them openly share a distaste for each other.
Anden is very proficient with his bow, but he doesn't like close combat and can sometimes be disoriented when asked to fight in melee. Maybe it is hard for his gentle character to carve pieces of living flesh or bathe in enemy blood. Who knows? Just let him unleash a storm of deadly arrows on the enemy and he will do fine.
Although Anden is a real expert on all natural things, he is extremely shy, especially regarding "the birds and the bees" related area. Anden believes in "saving himself for the One" (at least unless he gets serious with a certain barbarian woman) . At the point where the Princess meets Anden, such an approach is somewhat "fresh" compared to the standard greetings she gets from males.
Henchmen Data[]
- Ability Scores: STR: 14, DEX: 16, CON: 13, INT: 10, WIS: 13, CHA: 12
- Anden increases his Dexterity score during leveling.
- Class: Anden is a ranger and cannot be multi-classed.
- Feats: Anden has all the ranger dual-wielding feats (Dual Wielding and Improved Two Weapon Fighting), along with Point Blank Shot and Rapid Shot, but has no Weapon Finesse feat and doesn't get it during his progression.
- Because of the Rapid Shot feat issue, Anden can sometimes freeze if asked to fight in melee. This can be resolved by using Anden as an archer. However, he may auto-equip melee weapons if they are in his inventory. Sometimes, while dual-wielding, Anden will put a medium weapon in his off-hand. This happens when the light weapon is better then the medium one. This can be prevented by giving Anden only appropriate weapons or by dressing him in medium armor, so he will not dual-wield at all.
- Being a ranger, Anden doesn't have Uncanny Dodge feat. Therefore he looses all his dex related AC bonus when caught flatfooted.
- Equipment: Anden's Leather Armor, Longsword +2, Shortsword +2, Bracers of Dexterity +2, Amulet of Natural Armor +3, Cloak of Protection +2, Composite Longbow +2. Anden's equipment, besides his bow, cannot be taken from him until the beginning of Part Two.
- Equipment (Return to Delberg): Dhorn Mail, Anden's Composite Longbow, Archer's Belt, Ring of Protection +2, Braces of Dexterity +2, Amulet of Natural Armor +2, Boots of Striding +2
Trivia[]
- Anden is a variant of the German name Anton, and means "a flourishing man".
- Goodmanner may refer to Anden's courteous behavior, but it is also one of the names showing up in Bioware's random Last Name generator.
- Goodmanner is also the surname of Carla who owns Carla's Beauty Palace in Betancuria North, but it is not clear if she and Anden are related.
Plot Significance[]
|
The Past[]
Little is known about Anden's past, but he seems like a capable woodsman, recognized by his peers at the Betancuria Ranger Guild. He claims the forest as his home and has a broad knowledge of the woods surrounding Betancuria along with their history.
Prior to the story, Anden came across some bandits disguised as distressed travelers on the road between Sargoza and Betancuria. Claiming the wheel of their wagon had broken, they knocked him out cold when he bent over to inspect it, and took him to their headquarter in a nearby abandoned castle where they locked him up in a cell.
Part one[]
The Princess finds Anden during Lesson 7, and in return for rescuing him from the bandits that captured him, he joins forces with her and shows her a way around the collapsed bridge to Betancuria, through a long abandoned druidic barrow. On the way to Bentancuria the Princess and Anden meet Gail, a young woman who is familiar with Anden and enjoys taunting him. The nature of her relationship with Anden isn't revealed, but Gail and Anden seem to be on friendly terms, despite all Anden's assuransies to the contrary.
On arrival to the city, Anden and the Princess part ways, though Anden shows an interest in knowing where he can locate her. Being the expert tracker that he is, he will find her regardless of what she might tell him.
Later he witnesses the assault of the Bear Pit and offers to join the Princess on her trip into Dhorn territory in an attempt to rescue Master Nathan and the rest of her friends, as he knows a way through the mountains and into the Dhorn Empire.
Part two[]
After being rescued by the Princess along with others companions from Dhorn jail in Westwood castle, Anden acompanies the party on it's way into Abandoned Mine, as a guide of sorts. However, it becomes clear that the mine has many surprises of it's own. Anden follows the Princess into the depths of the Underdark, but gets lost , after the party is captured by the drow. The Princess doesn't find him in the Underdark after her escape from the drow, but hears from Vico, that Anden's mind was damaged by a mindflayer. While the Princess continues on her journey, oblivious of Anden's true fate, Anden gets rescued from the Underdark by Arto's squad looking for the Princess. Arto convinces Anden to help him find the Princess "for her own good" and Anden joins Dhorn ranks. The Princess meets again with Anden only near the end of the story, where uses his position with the Dhorn, to rescue the Princess from their clutches and secret her away to meet Nathan and Co.
The Romance[]
Anden's romance choice is maybe the most difficult to attain, there are many complications on the way and they will spend a lot of time separated until the end. There are many ways the Princess can choose to behave after the fateful day of her parent's death, and one of those is the shy, naive and kind-hearted one, which best fits for Anden's profile and belief of True Love for Life. In order to pursue Anden's romantic ending, the princess will have to reject all other romance options during the game in part 2. When speaking to Anden, the best choices are the shy and educated lines. The princess should let him know about her feelings without crossing the line. It's best not to invite Bran and Nora into your party, otherwise in rejecting Vico, the Bran romance will probably be triggered, leaving a broken-hearted ranger in the skilful hands of Nora.
If you're just looking for some fun with the ranger, it is possible to catch him in a moment of weakness, when resting just after the jump down the waterfall, in the beginning of Chapter 3, part 2. You can take advantage of him, but he will be very upset later.
If you let Norah and Bran into the party, Anden may eventually hook up with Norah and both will have amusing interaction. On the other hand, Vico has some "amusing" lines as well, if the princess shows her interest for the ranger in front of him.