Alistair is dark, brooding, and generally a downer to be around. He's constantly being tormented by the voices of people he's slain, which he copes with poorly, often lashing out at others. It's for this reason he prefers to be left alone. He often hides his emotions and refuses public displays of romance or affection.

When he's with Basil in public, he often acts annoyed around her, telling her off and trying to get her to go away. Deep inside however, he feels deep affection for her, and would do anything to keep her safe. Basil knows this, and she loves him anyway. In private, Alistair acts like a doting lover with Basil, cuddling her and doing things with her.

Alistair awoke a normal Sylvari. He dreamed his normal dream, and he wielded a greatsword as a normal warrior. Most Sylvari live their lives in the Grove, with not much action to be seen. Some specialize in craftwork, others in battle. Alistair was the latter, and he was no slouch with the blade.

He was so skilled with the sword that he left the Grove to test his might. Arrogant and cocky, he walked right into a Nightmare Court camp and managed to slay exactly one courtier before he was overwhelmed and captured.

Alistair was beaten and abused. The courtiers saw great potential for the nightmare within him, and so they ordered him to torture other prisoners to awaken the nightmare. Defiantly, Alistair slew the prisoners instead in order to free them from the hell that they were trapped in. The screams of the dying echoed in his ears, and they rang through his mind.

Soon, the screaming quieted down. They became hushed whispers. Harsh, hateful, angry, these whispers nearly drove Alistair to madness. He lashed out in a rage. The Nightmare Court began to realize that Alistair was more of an annoying burden than a useful asset, and so was set to be executed.

But it turns out Alistair's luck hadn't run out. A warden raid stormed the camp, razing it to the ground and freeing the prisoners, Alistair included. Most prisoners emerged unscathed, but Alistair was broken. The voices in his mind did not stop. Instead, they grew in volume, and were just short of angry shouting. He hated the voices.

A friend recommended that Alistair become a Soundless so as to drown out the voices, so he traveled to a nearby Soundless village. He trained for months with them, but the voices did not get quieter. He tried magic to silence them, but nothing worked. Soon, he turned to increasingly experimental potions, but they, too, failed.

And so he instead learned to cope with the voices. He shut himself away within a hut in the Soundless Village, staying inside, eating and drinking very little, only leaving late at night when no one else was awake. He refused to socialize with anyone. For 7 years, he lived this way, as a hermit. He became a local legend. Nobody should approach that hut, they would say, for within lies a broken husk of a man. And nobody did.

Nobody, except for one girl. A tiny, plump, purple Sylvari sapling named Basil. She wanted to help Alistair, and so she approached the hut. She called through the door, and her voice soothed Alistair in a way that nothing else had. He told her to go away, but she persisted. She had experience in the occult, she said, and thought maybe she could exorcise the voices from him. But that was not needed, for being in this girl's very presence calmed his mind and caused the angry voices to become quieter.

Alistair let her in. And they bonded.

Basil was the only one who was able to help him. And now for her sake, he was trying to kill the bad habits that he had formed over the past 7 years of isolation.

Today, Alistair lives his days with Basil as part of a guild called the Rose Vanguard.

While his demeanor may suggest a cold, dommy personality, in reality Alistair is a romantic, especially with Basil, whom he is in an open relationship with. He prefers not to sleep around like Basil does, instead he would much rather participate in threesomes and foursomes alongside her.

He is pansexual, the same as Basil, which makes finding a potential third party much easier.