Disclaimer: All of this is completely canonical knowledge. Nothing headcanoned, there are sources for it and I’ve gathered from every source that I could. This includes: Many Codice (Aldenon’s Vestments, Willem’s Bulwark, Freedom’s Promise, Robes of the Pretender, Camenae’s Barbute, Lyrium, Politics of Ferelden. Lake Calenhad, Lothering, Redcliffe, The Howes of Amaranthine, How to Act Fereldan, The Lady of the Skies), The World of Thedas Vol.1&2, Dragon AGE Core Rulebook, Until We Sleep (Comic), In-Game Dialogue, and dragonage.bioware.com (old DA2 site). Nothing is headcanon and nothing is taken from an unreliable sources (i.e. Wikipedia).
This is a lot longer than I thought it would be, but there was a lot of fascinating stuff. Including an alternative codex for Hawke’s family and relation to Calenhad, as well as a canon codex mistake that was never corrected. So I usually like to not put Read Mores on lore posts, so fic reference reblogs can easily see the information. Unfortunately that’s not possible for the length of this, so of course there is a read more. Enjoy~
Calenhad’s Titles
- King Calenhad, The Great
- First King of Ferelden
- The Silver Knight
- First of the Theirin Line
- Father of Our Fathers
Early Life, The Beginning
Calenhad was born in 5:10 Exalted as the third son of a Highever merchant, who was barely able to support his family. So when Calenhad was old enough he was sent to a distant cousin, Ser Forannan, and began work as the man’s squire and dog-handler. Soon after, Ser Forannan joined under Arl Tenedor’s service, an Arl no older than Calenhad himself, and Calenhad was brought along underneath the Arl as well.
Eventually Arl Myrddin marched on Tenedor at what was once known as the Western Hill Bannorn(now known as West Hill), he planned to either gain Tenedor’s loyalty or head in his campaign to be King of Ferelden.
However, before blades met, Myrddin called for a parley and Tenedor fearing for his safety decided to send a disguised squire in his place. The Arl of West Hill called for a volunteer and Calenhad immediately stepped forward. Yet when he met Myrddin he identified himself not as Tenedor, but as Calenhad and neglected Tenedor’s plan. Calenhad faced Myrddin head on and claimed he would die for his Arl. Myrddin was impressed by Calenhad’s bravery and loyalty, offering the young squire a place at his side instead. Calenhad refused, he told Myrddin that if the Arl had planned to kill his Arl during the parley, then he had no honor or worth. The comment caused Myrddin’s allies to ridicule and spurn him, the fact that a simple squire knew honor better than he and Myrddin was forced to concede. He would instead continue his assault head on, than use tricks.
During the attack both Calenhad’s Arl and cousin fell, but Myrddin chose to duel Calenhad for his victory. The young squire bested the Arl in a duel and a humbled Myrddin knelt before the common lad, surprising his allies. Myrddin once more asked for Calenhad to join his side, now that his forces had been defeated.
“You are not a man known for your honor, but I believe you wish to be. You allowed me to live once, and so now I do the same for you. Perhaps if more of our people lived by honor, we would learn to trust each other long enough to live together.” ~Calenhad
The Arl pledged his support to the young man instead. He shouted to his allies that while he knew that he would never be King, he knew who would and should be.
Calenhad would go on to be named Teyrn of West Hill.
Some of Myrddin’s allies also pledged allegiance to Calenhad, one such was the freeholder, Elias Howe.
Yet most of them would resist following a simple commoner as their future king. Though that would change as Calenhad proved his worth, gracefully wielding his reputation for honor and gaining many victories that built up his army.
Unification of Ferelden
As Calenhad began his campaign across Thedas, claiming fealty
after fealty, he was met with strange greetings, occurrences, and trials from the Banns and Teyrns of Ferelden. Many of which who did not wish to bow
before the ambitious commoner.
It was during a march in the lowlands bannorn that Calenhad would meet his most famous companion and dearest friend, Lady Shayna. She was a proud and powerful warrior, who agreed to fight by Calenhad’s side from the near start.
Calenhad was then married to Myrddin’s, famously beautiful, daughter, Mairyn.
One of Calenhad’s stranger greetings came from Bann Camenae Eremon of The Waking Sea. The Bann greeted her would-be King by shooting his horse out from under him, a league out from her castle. Calenhad continued his journey on foot and yet when he arrived at Castle Eremon, he was refused entrance or audience. Calenhad and his men waited outside the castle until sunset, when Camenae finally made an appearance trussed in armor and her bow at hand.
She then knelt to her future King and swore fealty, impressed with Calenhad’s qualities.
“You have proven you have sense and humility, Theirin. And no man can hope to lead the Bannorn without those gifts.” ~Bann Camenae Eremon, of The Waking Sea Bannorn
Another challenge for Calenhad would be Highever’s Eletha Cousland, who fought the would-be King to retain the Teyrnir’s independence. She led her local Banns . against Calenhad’s force, though Calenhad prevailed. Yet instead of punishing the Teyrna, Calenhad asked for her fealty in exchange for Highever to remain a Teyrnir and she a Teyrna. A deal that would make the Couslands only second to the King himself.
Calenhad’s religious views continued to build his reputation. The Chantry, still new to Ferelden, was gaining ground among the nobles and found a leader to push it further in Calenhad. Many voices of the court joining both the religion and Calenhad’s march all at once.
Calenhad would go on to defeat all other claimants to the throne, acquire the fealty of almost all Ferelden, and finally face Teyrn Simeon of Denerim.
In 5:42 Exalted, Calenhad with his might and faith, was unstoppable. With Lady Shayna at his side and the rest of Thedas at his back, he descended upon Teyrn Simeon’s forces in what would be known as the Battle of White Valley.
Calenhad would face Simeon as his forces occupied Simeon’s forces, however he would nearly be killed by Simeon’s blade. Calenhad’s close friend, Shayna, instead took the last blow meant for him and killed the Teyrn herself.
Aldenon
Aldenon the Wise was a hedge mage, that had come into the service of the Tenedor family as their advisor. He served Teyrn Tenedor the Younger during the time Calenhad came under the Teyrn’s employ.
Aldenon would become taken by Calenhad’s “foolhardy honor” after Calenhad’s actions during the parley with Teyrn Myrddin. When Calenhad returned to his Teyrn unharmed and without settled terms, Aldenon immediately gave his notice of resignation to Tenedor. He explained that when the conflict ended he would leave the Teyrn’s side to advise another, that he did not yet name.
So when Tenedor fell during Myrddin’s march and Calenhad was named Teyrn of Western Hill, Aldenon the Wise happily took his place next to Calenhad as a most trusted advisor.
As Calenhad recruited many allies and grew his forces to unify the nation, Aldenon suggested that Calenhad journey deep into the Brecilian Forest to seek more help. Listening to his advisor, Calenhad traveled into the forsaken woods and against all odds managed to return with Willem Halfear and his Ash Warriors. The Ash Warriors would be pivotal in Calenhad’s march, despite lacking numbers. They would turn the tide at the Battle of White Valley, giving Calenhad and Shayna the opportunity they needed to fell Teyrn Simeon.
However, the Ash Warriors were not the only allies Calenhad returned with. Calenhad believed deeply in the word of the Maker and so he had sent word to the Chantry as well, arriving back to Aldenon with the Warriors, Templars, and Circle Mages. Aldenon grew furious as he and Calenhad had never agreed on the Chantry’s standing. He believed the Chantry’s ideals went against every freedom Calenhad had wished for his united nation and so he left his friend’s side, resigning as his advisor and disappearing into complete obscurity.
“A civilization cannot be civil if it condones the slavery of another. And that is what this Circle is! But by accident of birth, those mages would be free to live, love, and die as they choose. The Circles will break—if it be one year, a decade, a century, or beyond. Tyrants always fall, and the downtrodden always strive for freedom!”~Aldenon
Calenhad came to regret his decision to give the Chantry power in his nation and begun to miss his old friend. The Circle had corralled Aldenon’s rebel mages and apprentices, growing stronger under Calenhad’s pious rule.
Some say that when Calenhad left his throne he went in search of Aldenon, which eventually led him to Marterel the Elusive. Marterel had been the only one of Aldenon’s apprentices to escape the Chantry’s campaign. Though when Calenhad asked Marterel the location of his old master, the mage refused. Calenhad was not deterred and asked again the next night, though Marterel’s answer was the same. In response, Calenhad began to tell Marterel his life’s story and regrets. For an entire week Calenhad bared his heart to the young apprentice, until finally Marterel took mercy on the haunted man and broke his oath. He gave Calenhad Aldenon’s location and Calenhad thanked him, before leaving for good. Whether the ex-King ever found Aldenon remains unknown, but that was the last heard from King Calenhad.
King Calenhad, The Fall
Calenhad finally claimed his kingship of Ferelden in 5:42 Exalted Age, the exact same year he defeated the Teyrn of Denerim and united Ferelden. He was crowned at a Landsmeet, mostly by Chantry influence, becoming the First King of Ferelden and bringing in an age of peace.
Together with his Queen, Mairyn, Calenhad would spread the Chantry’s influence and finally open Ferelden’s borders to trade across Thedas; especially the capital Denerim. Bringing prosperity along with the peace.
Calenhad would also spend some of his time helping nurse his dear friend back to health, owing Shayna for her companionship and for his life.
During his rule, one of Calenhad’s most important issues he faced was the mass amount of landholdings and conflicts they caused within Thedas. Before Calenhad’s leadership, Ferelden was a place of constant power struggles between Arlings and Teyrnirs all vying for ownership. Once he was crowned, Calenhad reduced the number of Teyrns to two. The Couslands would continue ruling in Highever, while Gwaren would be passed around until eventually falling into the hands of Loghain Mac Tir after the Fereldan Rebellion.
Another conflict that came to Calenhad’s attention was the holding of Lothering. For many years Lothering had been a dividing matter between South Reach Arling and the Southern Bannorn. Calenhad brought the issue to a head as he took the throne, awarding South Reach the town and its land and ending the fighting; at least outwardly.
The peace Calenhad nurtured was not to last though. For years Lady Shayna, Calenhad’s best friend, had kept feelings for Calenhad, though she was compelled by honor to keep them secret. Yet not long after Calenhad had earned the throne, she was she visited by a witch. The witch handed the woman a love potion and urged Shayna to seduce Calenhad. The mysterious woman would later be revealed as Simeon’s vengeful sister. Still Hesitant, but wanting, Shayna went through with it and succeeded.
That night Mairyn found them together and ran to her father’s arling, Ferelden once more set on the brink of a Civil War due to the King’s supposed unfaithfulness.
Guilt-ridden Shayna confessed to the court that it had been her, she had used forbidden magicks on the King and his heart. Though Calenhad refused to execute his old friend, even though he had every right and call to and instead forgave her. The withheld execution only furthered Myrddin’s anger at his son-in-law.
As Myrddin rallied his allies for a civil war, Shayna tried to make amends with Mairyn. Against Calenhad’s orders, the Lady went to plead peace and offered her sword as an offering. However she was discovered by Myrddin and slayed by her own sword.
As the conflict escalated Calenhad was forced to duel his father-in-law, Arl Myrddin, to the death. It was a fight that neither man wanted, though furious and saddened with one another, but it was one that Fereldan needed. Calenhad won the duel, though it was bitter and brief victory. For even though it was a honorable and ultimately upheld win, the Banns of Ferelden had lost all trust for their King. The Arls who had allied with Myrrdin still thought ill of King Calenhad and continued to question his place on the throne.
Having no other choice and wishing to reunite the country he had united before, Calenhad abandoned it. He said his goodbyes to Mairyn and their unborn son. It is said he gave his son a name and then left his throne, to disappear forever.
Though the legend of King Calenhad, The Great would still grow over time and many would claim to have seen him wandering, even long after his lifetime. Stories would place him in the Kocari Wilds, with the underground dwarves, and even as a brother in the Chantry.
Mairyn would rule until her son, Weylan, came of age and the Theirin line would remain unbroken till 8:24 Blessed when Orlais would invade and dethrone the Theirin family. However, come 8:44 Blessed Ferelden would retake their throne and restore the Theirins to the throne, at least until it was again disrupted in 9:30 Dragon. Cailan Theirin would die in the Battle of Ostagar facing Darkspawn and leave behind no heir, leaving the throne to his Queen Anora Mac Tir.
Conditional: Though the bastard child of Maric Theirin and half-brother to Cailan would, a year later, be seated on the throne, avoiding a civil war and once again renewing the Theirin crown.
The Qunari’s Tale of Calenhad
The Qunari have their own stories of Calenhad, though they start out the same as the Fereldan tales. Calenhad born poor to a commoner’s life, however, the Qunari saw nothing more than a weak, but clever dog-handler with a dangerous ambition.
Calenhad had started out with no strength of his own, nothing special about the man who would one day rule. It is said that he began to trade bargain after bargain and story after story. Collecting information like coin, until he had enough to trade to a witch in exchange for the secret to power.
The witch accepted and sent Calenhad into the lair of a Great Dragon, where he plunged a dagger beneath the dragon’s hide and drank deep on its blood. It was then that he grew strong with a strength that was not his to claim, tainting his bloodline with that of the Great Dragons’. It is this strength that would lead him on as he conquered Ferelden and united the nation under his banner, the dragon’s blood to be passed down generation after generation through the Theirin bloodline.
Other Accomplishments, Exploits, and Facts
Calenhad is described as having ‘hair twice as yellow as the sun and a chin more chiseled than the tallest peak in the Frostback Mountains’.
Tales have been passed down from generation to generation in the Hawke family, speaking of a mage named Parthalan Hawke. It is said that he helped unite Fereldan under Calenhad’s leadership, eventually vanishing into rumor to escape the Chantry’s wrath. He hoped one day mages would achieve the freedom Calenhad had once believe belonged to all men. This tale is incredibly reminiscent to that of Aldenon, if there was a link between the two men it goes unknown.
King Calenhad was said to be gifted an Enchanted Silver Armor from the Formari craftsmen in the Kinloch Circle, his armor lined with lyrium and giving him a near invincibility. The fate of this armor is unknown.
The story behind the armor is also the origin of Lake Calenhad’s naming. It is told that King Calenhad spent a year and a day in Kinloch’s Tower. Each day he would deliver a goblet of water to the Formari, each cup used by the mages to forge a single ring in his mail. It is from the lifeblood, the water, of the land that the armor is fashioned from and so believed that no blade or arrow could pierce it as long as the wearer stood on Ferelden soil.
Calenhad also wielded a sword name Nemetos, which would be left to the Theirin line as a symbol of kingship. Though it would be stolen of the corpse of Vanedrin Theirin in 8:24 Blessed during an ambush, in the start of Second Orlesian Invasion.
While Shayna’s sword, Avenger, was the one she tried to gift to Mairyn as a peace offering. It would make it’s way from Myrddin to Mairyn to Weylan I and finally be passed down through the Fereldan Monarchy for ages. It would be gifted to the Second Inquisition in the mid Dragon Age, by Ferelden’s current Monarch.
Calenhad would be one of three forces to ever captured Redcliffe in a time of war, the other times would be the Orlesians during the Second Orlesian Invasion and the Fereldan Resistance during the Fereldan Rebellion.
“The Fate of Redcliffe is the fate of all Ferelden.” ~Calenhad
Tha Avvar often brag about how they never bowed to the Silver Knight as their Alamarri counterparts had.
The Alamarri clan who split away to unite Ferelden under Calenhad came from the Clayne clan, the same clan who helped push Tevinter from the Fereldan Valley and fought the Dalish clan, Sabrae, during the abandonment of the Dales.
Parts of Calenhad’s tales are often spun to say every lord knelt to him without question, while omitting the mages, Ash Warriors, and Alamarri who also fell to their knees in the same room.
Stories recount Lady Shayna and Squire Tillers as famous and good friends of King Calenhad, though nothing more is every mentioned about Tillers in the lore.
In 7:88 Storm, the Chantry would bless Calenhad’s name as an Anointed One.
The Theirin Line
The Theirin Bloodline would last for 388 years, ending with Alistair Theirin who does not possess a known heir.
Conditional: Though unknown to many he is the father of Kieran, son of Morrigan. Who carries on his father’s bloodline and respect for Grey Wardens.
In the 44th year of the Blessed Age, the Theirin line was suspended from the throne for 58 years during Orlesian occupation.
- Weylan I Theirin (Son of Calenhad)
- Arland Theirin (Unknown Descendant)
- Vanedrin Theirin (Unknown Descendant)
- Brandel Theirin (Son of Vanedrin)
- Moira Theirin (Daughter of Brandel)
- Maric Theirin (Son of Moira)
- Cailan Theirin (Son of Maric)
- Alistair Theirin (Son of Maric)
- (Conditional) Kieran (Son of Alistair)
Canon Correction and Glossary
Correction: The History of Fereldan: Chapter 1 claims Calenhad became Teyrn of Denerim in the 33rd year of the Exalted Age. This is incorrect in every other source, as they name Teyrn Simeon as the Teyrn of Denerim until 5:42 Exalted, when Calenhad’s army overthrows him. Calenhad is never named Teyrn of Denerim and merely become King of all Fereldan. This is most likely a reference to Calenhad becoming Teyrn of West Hill at the start of his campaign, although there is no mention of when he is made Teyrn of West Hill in any other source to verify this.
Alamarri vs Avvar (vs Chasind): Not to be confused with one another, both the Alamarri and Avvar are similar. In fact, the Avvar are known as a sect of the Alamarri. However, the biggest difference between the Alamarri groups are location. The Avvar live in the mountains and have come to worship much different Gods. The Alamarri or Clayne, as they’ve been called, live in the lowlands and many are ancestors of modern day Fereldans. While the last group of the Alamarri are the Chasind who are considered more bestial by the lowland, worship nature, and live in the Wilds.
Formari: Mostly made up of Tranquil mages, these mages are most known for enchanting, the creation of magical items, and lyrium objects. They are the Circle mages who are most often found having direct contact with the non-magical populous and can include mages who have weak talents for magic, instead working in trades of potion making or beast studies.
Great Dragon: Not to be confused with a High Dragon, Great Dragons are the oldest and most powerful dragons that existed during Calenhad’s age. They are now considered thoroughly extincted.
Western Hill: Not to be confused with West Hills, which is actually an arling south of Redcliffe. The Western Hill is a Bannorn in northwest Ferelden near Highever and was once the Bannorn of Calenhad.
tagged as: Dragon Age dragonage Calenhad Calenhad Theirin lore long post Unification of Ferelden King Calenhad
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