Following the events of Leliana's Song, a DLC pack which serves as a prequel to the base game, she encounters the surviving Grey Wardens of Ferelden in the town of Lothering, and accompanies them to stop the monstrous Darkspawn from overrunning the world of Thedas.

Chee described her playlist when writing for Leliana to be generally dominated by feminine voices, its tone "sweetly melancholic, with occasional moments of self-indulgent gloom and anger".

[3] For Leliana's iteration in Inquisition, Chee said she is no longer a "carefree, optimistic youngster", as she has a lot of responsibilities to bear as the Left Hand of the Divine following the events of Origins.

[4] Chee noted that the events depicted in the previously released novels, Asunder and Masked Empire, have also contributed to Leliana's backstory for Inquisition.

Laidlaw noted that she ultimately is "capable of incredible resilience despite hardship", as she had grown from the naive and inexperienced young woman in Leliana's Song to someone who has mastered her field of expertise but remains fundamentally optimistic in Inquisition, even though she understands what is happening in the wider world.

To Laidlaw, Leliana character's arc and the iterations of her personality represents the turbulent developmental history of the Dragon Age intellectual property as recounted in an interview with Eurogamer.

Revealing herself as Sister Nightingale, a special agent who is known as the Left Hand of the Divine, she asks Hawke to persuade Grand Cleric Elthina to flee the city out of concern for her safety.

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, Leliana is appointed as the organization's spymaster who deals in secrets and is quick to move amongst the shadows when diplomacy fails and when a deft touch is needed instead.

Leliana is depicted as having become ruthless and unforgiving due to experiencing a crisis of faith following the untimely death of Divine Justinia V. the Inquisitor has the option of accepting her emergent personality, or attempt to reach the idealistic part of her seen in Origins.

In the 2011 novel Dragon Age: Asunder, Leliana is presented as an agent of Divine Justinia V who attempts to mediate between the warring Mage and Templar factions.

In the 2014 novel Dragon Age: The Masked Empire, Leliana appears as an envoy to Empress Celene on behalf of Divine Justinia V. Among the topics of discussion between the characters include the ongoing Mage-Templar War, as well as a rebellion led by elves in the city of Halamshiral.

[13] In an article written in commemoration of International Women’s Day 2020, Jamie Sharp from Power Up Gaming praised Leliana for representing the virtue of strength and persistence, who has been through a lot of opposition and struggles in her life and yet retains her semblance of self and eventually becomes "the person she wants to be".

[18] Nathan Grayson from Kotaku was drawn to the game's even-handedness on religion as a subject, and to Leliana as a romance option since he could relate to her on the topics of "faith, the nature of it, and how much good it had done for her".