A Test of Faith is a quest that is part of the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest line.

It entails a series of
challenges in The Gauntlet that test the Warden's faith to ensure he/she is worthy of finding the
Urn of Andraste. The ancient temple is found on the Mountain Top after the Warden has battled
through the Ruined Temple and the Caverns dominated by the Disciples of Andraste dragon cult.
The test consists of the following: A chamber containing the spirits of eight prominent people in
Andraste's life and time, each with a riddle that the Warden must answer; a battle with spiritual
copies of their present companions; a bridge puzzle which must be solved by stepping on eight
tiles; and finally one last riddle that is quite literally a trial by fire.

Contents
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Walkthrough

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A Test of Faith can be started by entering into the door atop the mountain and talking to the
Guardian. The conversation does not influence whether or not you are able to pass, but there are
effects on companion approval.

First Trial

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The first trial

For the first challenge, a total of eight riddles must be answered in order to pass. Incorrect
answers will result in the appearance of an ash wraith, which will need to be defeated, yielding
less XP than simply answering correctly. Some of the spirits will accept "I don't know" in
addition to the correct answer without summoning an ash wraith.
The amount of experience may vary depending on your character's level, up to 80 XP
encountered, e.g., at level 17, the experience gains were 61 for correct answers and 55 for killing
the wraith.
Note:
indication.

Experience is awarded when riddles are answered correctly, but there is no visual

Brona: "Dreams".

Ealisay: "A tune".

Thane Shartan: "Home".

Lady Vasilia: "Vengeance" or "I don't know".

General Maferath: "Jealousy" or "I don't know".

Disciple Havard: "The mountains" or "I don't know".

Archon Hessarian: "Mercy".

Disciple Cathaire: "Hunger" or "I don't know".

Once this part is completed, the door will open allowing the Warden to proceed to the next stage
of the trial.

Shianni
You will have a brief encounter with someone from the Warden's past depending on his/her
Origin. If you look back on your origins and reminisce about those days, you will be given
Reflection. However, if you refused to answer the Guardian before, you will not receive the
amulet.

City Elf encounters Shianni.

Dalish Elf encounters Tamlen.

Dwarf Commoner encounters Leske.

Dwarf Noble encounters Trian Aeducan.

Human Noble encounters Bryce Cousland.

Circle Mage encounters Jowan.

Second Trial

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The second trial

The next challenge is a fight that pits your party against itself. You will need to defeat spectral
versions of all current party members to continue. The spirit versions will all have the same level
as the Warden, even if the originals are of lower level. They can use any spell or talent that the
original characters have, although they will not use spell combinations or ranger summons/pets.
Also, they can use talents the originals do not have. In one run through, the Spirit Wynne used
Cleansing Aura when the real Wynne did not. If the original characters have any unassigned
points, the game will assign those for the spirit doubles.
Sample Tactics:

Go through the Gauntlet alone and therefore face only yourself.

Hold the rest of the party back in the chamber where you met someone from your past.
Send forward a rogue with good hiding talent to spy the area. Once you've got the area in
vision, have your mage lay down an area of effect spell, ideally Blizzard (which not only
knocks the opposition off their feet but also has chance of freezing them). Immediately
after Blizzard takes effect, have your rogue shoot their mage with the best arrows you
have available. Ideally, have your mage lay down a second area effect spell, e.g.,
Tempest. By the time the doubles make it through to the chamber where your party is
they will have taken considerable damage and are thus easier to defeat.

If you have two mages in the party, you can do something similar to the above. However,
pull your rogue back out of the room and have the party assemble behind the wall
between the two entryways. Quickly drop a Storm of the Century against the doubles,
then immediately follow up with Glyph of Repulsion on both entrances. Even if you don't
have Spell Might to enable Storm of the Century just having both mages cast overlapping
Blizzard spells then overlapping Tempest spells can be very potent. Further retreat the
party into the hall of riddling ghosts so that survivors can only come at you from one
direction.

If you have a party of mainly mages (e.g., your main character is a mage plus Wynne and
Morrigan plus another melee character), the easiest option to pass this trial is to cast
Mana Clash on your spirit doublesthis will most likely instantly kill three out of four
enemies and leaves you with just one foe to fight off.

It is possible to hold the party back and use a rogue with Combat Stealth to separate the
enemies enough (while sacrificing the stealth character for the battle) to lure them back
with magic or ranged attacks. Taking this further, it is still possible with some luck to
separate the group to the point only one will charge to your allies, leading to an
advantageous 3-on-1 battle.

Having multiple Two-Handed Warriors will make this battle much more difficult, as the
copies will have access to all defense-piercing talents of the Two-Handed tree and will
deal a great deal of damage, even to your better-armored originals. Therefore, it is best to
enter the Gauntlet with either one of every class or all mages and rogues.

Before you speak with the Guardian, unequip everything and shortly before you face the
copies reequip it all.

Third Trial

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The third part of the trial is a puzzle, in which you have to get 3 of your party to stand on either
the left or right floor tiles to make 1 block of the bridge solid, this will allow the last party
member to walk onto it without falling. There is 1 particular set sequence which you can find
below. Be sure to set your party stance into hold position. Move only the character on the
specified tile, leaving the other two where they are.
If your party does not consist of 4 members, ash wraiths will join as temporary companions and
once the bridge is complete and the party moves to the next trial, they will vanish. The ash
wraiths have Heavy Chainmail equipped on them which can be moved to the inventory and will
remain there even when they vanish.
1. Position three party members on Left 3, Left 6, and Right 2. This will make the first two
bridge sections solid. Move the fourth party member to the end of the second bridge section.
2. Move the person that is on Left 3 to Right 4, and the person on Right 2 to Left 1. The third
bridge section will now be solid. Move your Warden to the end of the third section.
3. Move the person on Left 6 to Right 5, and the person on Right 4 to Left 5. The fourth and last
bridge section will now be solid. Move your warden to the other side of the bridge. Now the
whole bridge will fill in. Change your party stance to move freely and your companions will
cross the bridge to you.

The last Trial

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The last trial

The last chamber contains a wall of fire and an altar with a riddle. Upon clicking on the altar, the
Warden will be given a choice to remove their equipment. Once you do that, you may then walk

through the fire. The Guardian will now appear and congratulate you on proving your worth in
the eyes of Andraste.
Note: If you began but haven't completed the Precious Metals quest from Dust Town, taking off
your gear will mark the smuggling quest as failed. Some companions may lose their entire
equipped items inventory, so save prior to clicking the altar so that you can reload if this
happens.
It is possible to pass through the fire while wearing an armor and equipping weapons and not
taking damage, but the Guardian will come to fight you. Approach the altar from the fire side.
When the prompts come up, choose the option, "Leave the altar alone." If you position yourself
correctly, you will remain on the entrance side, but your companions will be behind you, and
thus past the flames. This is because when you exit the altar your companions are "warped" into
formation behind you. Then, direct your companions toward the urn. As soon as they do so, the
Guardian will appear and demand to know why you are approaching the urn with your armor on.
In the cutscene, the Warden is now warped past the flames (toward the urn) while the
companions are back behind the flames. You can choose to apologize, or brashly insist on
keeping your armor on. If you do so, the Guardian as well as two elite ash wraiths will attack
you. It may help to have all your companions attack the Guardian with ranged attacks to keep
him busy while the Warden deals with the ash wraiths. Killing the Guardian and his wraiths does
not result in any loss of approval with Wynne or Leliana. The quest proceeds normally after this.
Note: This will give you less experience points than passing the trial normally. Killing the two
ash wraiths rewards 60 XP each with the Guardian providing 120 XP giving a total of 240 XP.
Completing the trial normally provides 500 XP. If you are planning on defiling the ashes, this is
a good way to weaken/eliminate the Guardian and wraiths.
After the Guardian finishes talking, you can approach the statue and take a pinch of ashes for
healing Arl Eamon.
If you accepted Kolgrim's quest to defile the ashes, you can still choose not to do so. If you
simply take the pinch and leave, nothing happens inside the chamber (but you will face a battle
on the Mountain Top). If you choose to do so, the Guardian will attack you with two ash wraiths.
If Leliana or Wynne witness you defiling the ashes, they will attack as well. If they are not in
your party while you defile the ashes, they will turn hostile when you return to camp and may
leave your party. If Leliana is hardened and you have a high Coercion skill, you can Intimidate
her into staying in line with a disapproval loss. You can defile the ashes without provoking
Wynne if you complete the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest before Wynne joins your team in Broken
Circle.
Either way, grab the loot from the adventurer's corpse and the chests before leaving.

Rewards

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500 XP for passing all four tests successfully.

750 XP when exiting onto Mountain Top via the doors in the urn room.

Pinch of Sacred Ash, source: Urn of Andraste

Bugs

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It is possible to defile the ashes and avoid killing Leliana or Wynne by running to the
entrance of the temple. This may take a few attempts, but with the narrow corridors it is
possible to leave most or all of the enemies behind. However, they will not return to your
party and are treated as hostile enemies.

When facing the spirits who copy the members of your party, the spirit copying Shale
will only be normal rank while most of the spirits will be of elite rank.

Once you have completed the quest, you will find exits at both sides of the urn. Going
through will yield 750 XP and bring you back at the tomb entrance. You can turn around,
reenter the tomb, and exit again by either door to obtain an infinite amount of experience
points. (Fixed in Patch 1.04 on
).

You still lose equipment on 1 of your companions, it seems like the 3rd companion each
time.

It is possible to skip the bridge puzzle entirely. When a Ranger has an animal summoned,
talking to a companion can sometimes cause the animal to appear on the opposite end of
the bridge once the dialogue has ended. Taking control of the animal and moving into the
next room will teleport the rest of the party to its position when the last trial cutscene is
activated.