It's also possible to consider that it's just Varric's response regardless. Varric is a storyteller and will often tell you himself when you ask him personal questions that he's bound to make stuff up. He and Hawke were friends, and at the end of DA2 he refused to provide much detail about his whereabouts to Cassandra. It's likely that he's protecting Hawke and his companions by lying about their whereabouts or where they ended up.
I am also checking the upload data when you first start the game, and it matches up with the keep. I really hope this gets sorted out soon, I didnt realise until about 10 hours into the game and its really putting me off playing more, and I cant even start a new game without it messing up. It feels like a waste to miss out on extra contect ect because of an error with the keep
