User blog comment:Drayco90/Mid-Season Premiere: Hawke vs. Dovahkiin/@comment-422690-20120706040038

Iconic Weapon: Staff of Parlathan wins. Yes, the offense-defense combo usually gets an edge. But, the Staff - essentially a spear - not only has a range advantage physically, but it can also shoot magic blasts from a far greater distance. Edge: Hawke

Close: Fadeshear and Lion of Orlais wins. Since Fadeshear is specifically made to harm ethereal beings... but that's for the magic section. Anyways, offense-defense >> pure offense. Edge: Hawke.

Mid: Well... that "longsword" pic is actually the Ferelden Greatsword, so... I'm holding off on this one.

Special: Staff of Jyrik Gauldurson wins. Magic Staves have a larger range than two daggers - though those daggers are impressively fast. Edge: Hawke

Magic:
 * Overall: Hawke wins. Shouts are pretty meh, especially since using one sets a reset timer for  all of them . Hawke's magic has individual resets, but he can still chain directly from Chain Lightning -> Cone of Cold -> Firestorm -> Heal pretty much instantaneously, barring cast animations.
 * Magic 1: Mind Blast wins. Fus Ro Dah will knock someone off their feet, but Mind Blast just stuns. Charging at someone who is throuwmn backwards gives them time to recover. You can just folloyw up Mind Blast with a physical attack or simply cast Firestorm / AoE of choice.
 * Magic 2: Firestorm. AoE >> directional.
 * Magic 3: Chain Lightning. Whirlwind Sprint is good for evasion, but you can't see while you're charging, and can't change direction. What if you misjudge and impale yourself on the Staff of Parlathan? Chain Lightning also acts as a limited AoE, and I'm all about those. That picture is of Lightning Storm, BTW, the Lightning counterpart to Firestorm.
 * Magic 4: Cone of Cold. Sure, the Forst Breath has more range... but the Cone of Cold freezes targets in place, plus those ice spikes can be intimidating if you're on the wrong side of it.
 * Magic 5: Heal wins. Become Ethereal is analogous to a magic user mostly slipping into the Fade - something that Fadeshear was designed to counter. Fadeshear will most likely still hurt the Dovahkiin, since it was designed to fight against beings who do that naturally. Meanwhile the Dovahkiin is helpless to fight back - nor can he use Whirlwind Sprint to run away, since he's already used a Shout.

X-Factors: Hawke wins, with a nearly 20-point advantage in averages. Hawke came in at 85, The Dovahkiin at 67.5.

Overall: Hawke wins. He has a better party, better magic, better weapons, and is from a better game (that didn't count in my voting, but it is my opinion).