links here! theres no link style so youre gonna have to get it somewhere else
"You tend to get up to interesting things. you meet interesting people and then you kill them."
Fanblog that celebrates the making of an amazing Dark Fantasy RPG series, with a surprising lack of Dragons but is getting on that. A blog for the Dragon Age series and the fandom that loyally follows it.
The Mod's specialty is lore posting and sometimes fanfic writing.
inarticulateflailing quipped: This thought woke me up last night and I need an expert opinion, please help. Dwarves can't dream because they have no connection to the fade, right? Well what about dwarven wardens during a blight? Do they not get the freaky archdemon dreams? Or is their only experience dreaming terrifying blight nightmares? Blightmares?
Blightmares is the explanation Bioware gave us canonically. We see it with a Brosca and Aeducan Warden who asks Alistair about them, claiming Dwarves never dream and thus they never had till the nightmares. We also see it with Oghren in Awakening, where his first dreams come with the Taint.
Basically the Taint itself gives all Grey Wardens dreams and visions, even Dwarven Wardens.
This could be because the Taint, Archdemon, and Darkspawn are inherently products of the Fade, but it’s never really explained beyond the Taint IS tied to the Fade somehow.
This is also how we get Genlock mages, though they only occur in Origins at this point (I think Bioware is avoiding introducing them again, because possible lore repercussions but the way I see it? It still works out). Genlocks are the Dwarven equivalent of Darkspawn (made from Dwarven Broodmothers*) and Genlock emissaries are born into their ranks (Blighted Dwarves don’t become Genlocks and suddenly have magic, like actual mages they’re born with magic).
So yeah, most Grey Warden Dwarves first dreams are typically Blight nightmares, that said Blight nightmares aren’t the ONLY dreams Dwarven Grey Wardens can have.
We see with Oghren that though dreams are new to Dwarves, they can have them outside of Archdemon nightmares. He in particular has a nightmare about Hespith and Broodmothers, which is still 1) A Nightmare and 2) Has Implications of the Taint, but isn’t necessarily a Blight Nightmare.
Whether after being Tainted, if dwarves can have pleasant dreams is
still
unknown.
*As a side note and interesting fact: Ogres (Kossith, NOT QUNARI, Broodmothers) and Genlocks (Dwarven Broodmothers) as far as current lore implies did not originally exist when the Blight first started. It was only after the current Darkspawn warped Dwarves and Kossiths into Broodmothers did they appear.
This could also be the same for Shrieks/Elven Darkspawn, but nothing so far has come up about it. This is because humans (Tevinter Magisters) were the first to break into the Fade and Golden City, become Darkspawn, and be set out upon the world. Only increasing their ranks by turning others and breeding with Broodmothers.
lumateranlibrarian quipped: There is a statue of a dwarven warrior in Skyhold's lower floors, near the inside door to the kitchens. Do you know anything about that statue? I've wondered if it might be a paragon, and what that statue might mean about a dwarven presence in Skyhold at some point in the past.
Well, I’v done some research and from what I can tell. There is nothing specific to the Dwarven statues.
They are done in the same style of Paragons we see in Orzammar and obviously do imply a Dwarven presence at some point, though it is also strange to find Paragon and Ancestor statues out this far. They are placed inside Skyhold, which is neither an entrance/near an entrance to the Deep Roads nor a unearthed hall of the Deep Roads. All of which, means that they were placed by Surface Dwarves and possibly exiles (though they may predate the caste/surface system).
Like I said though, they do mean that there was a Dwarven presence of some kind, which isn’t too much a surprise (other than the fact it’s a surface placement). Skyhold has a long history of inhabitants.
The first obviously being the Ancient Elves (specifically the Dread Wolf), but there were also mentions/implications of:
Chasind
Dwarves
Fereldan Highwaymen
Fereldan Royalty
Orlesians
Rivaini
Unknown Inhabitants, using a Pre-Glory Language
Vints
tldr; So there aren’t specifics on the Dwarven Presence, but it is very likely there were Dwarves in Skyhold at some point. Considering how many group of people have passed through Skyhold on a whole.
lumateranlibrarian quipped: How do you think the Orzammar dwarves view the Grey Wardens? Do the Kal-Sharok dwarves feel the same way?
Well, from what we’ve canonically seen in Orzammar they are respected to a point. They are still considered outsiders/topsiders, even if they were originally from Orzammar. However, they do fight the darkspawn alongside the Dwarves and many will use the end of their lives to rush into the Deep Roads recklessly beside the dwarves, if only to thin out Darkspawn number. So if nothing else Wardens are tolerated and respected among those of Orzammar.
I also think some dwarves do side-eye the Wardens, because to the dwarves fighting Darkspawn is a part of their struggles and survivals. Meanwhile Wardens have time to rest, they get to travel and be free from the darkspawn at times. A luxury dwarves don’t have. This is more so an issue with non-dwarven or surface dwarf Wardens though, than someone they know grew up down there with them.
So for Orzammar, like everything, there are two sides and mixed feelings. As a general whole though, Orzammar does respect and often ally with the Wardens in good faith.
As for Kal Sharok…that I don’t know, but I know their view usually differ wildly from Orzammar’s. We haven’t see a ton of Kal Sharok and all we know is they do not associate nor want to with Orzammar. As far as they see it, Orzammar left them to Die. Left them to fend for themselves and never came looking to see if they were alive. Orzammar abandoned them to the Darkspawn, whether Kal Sharok feels the same about the Wardens? I really don’t know.
Honestly, at the rate this is going, the codex after this one is going to be about toilets. The evolution of the shitter in the nations of Thedas. So, anybody with screenshots of things that might be chamberpots, outhouses, or something of the sort, throw them at me. I might actually be serious if enough data appears in my inbox. I’m just too fucking lazy to go looking for anything beyond Hawke’s infamous chamberpot and the fact that Kirkwall has sewers, which may imply indoor drains.
I’m now 2/3 of the way through the one for tonight, which is going to be shorter than it should have been, but my brain stopped working about three hours ago, and I STILL haven’t slept. And I’m supposed to be up in an hour. *laughs*
My headcanon vote: The ancient cities of the Tevinter empire (Kirkwall included) have a decaying infrastructure of running-water toilets and sewers that they mostly only fix with magic in the existing empire and don’t fix at all outside that. The ultra-rich of Orlais have a handful of flushing commodes but mostly close-stool chamber pots, and the poor of most countries (and all of Ferelden) are largely only familiar with outhouses and chamber pots, or that old standby, goin’ in the woods. The Dalish dig temporary latrines and fill them regularly.
The interesting question is dwarves. Do they compost it for growing mushrooms? That actually seems the most reasonable. Some casteless dwarf going ‘round with his cart every morning. Alternately, do they have terrifying oubliettes under their privy rooms–and occasionally a tiny dwarf cries itself to sleep because some trinket is forever lost to the depths?
Hey guys if you have, or take, screens of anything that might be a toilet or chamberpot, send them Pen’s way. Let’s make him write a codex about people pooping.
I have a search term for you: Google Image search for mittelalter burg toilette. That gives you this great collection of toilets in medieval castles:
My favorite thing about this is that they built these little boxes up on the wall where you hang your ass out and let your shit go. I wonder if there was a special bullying thing going on where someone was forced to stand underneath that.
The garderobe in all its glory, folks. Bless.
To be fair, a lot of Tevinter technology also comes from the Dwarves, who do have a more advanced hold on technology. I’d hesitate to say they have a sewer systems, but they do at least know how to create water pumps as Dwarves do have steam engines and boilers.
They might have an interesting setup where there waste is directly deposited into mushroom farms and etc. but that’s pure speculation. Just I think Dwarves also have things like baths (maybe public like Tevinter?) and running water, they seemed developed enough for that to at least start becoming a thing.
Considering that Harappa, Mohenjo Daro, and Babylon demonstrated an understanding of sewers around 3000BC, I think it’s distinctly possible that a fictional civilisation in a magical world might also produce sewers well before other civilisations in the same world have a need to concern themselves with such things. I’d blame the advent of cities, really. High-density populations encourage development of means of dealing with waste other than ‘dig a hole and bury it’. (Also, it’s likely that only the upper castes of dwarven society would have in-home sewer access. Lower castes are probably stuck slopping out every morning into a public manhole.)
Also kind of likely that the elves of Arlathan had some hardcore waste disposal systems, possibly partially magical. Yet another thing that was lost to the Vints, although that MAY be yet another thing Tevinter picked up from the elves.
More good info and discussion that I need on my blog!
I mean considering Kirkwall had a sewer system built in it (from when Tevinter occupied and built it), it seems likely that Tevinter does have sewer systems itself and/or the knowledge of them which again could have been contributed by Dwarves or as you said Elves.
In fact, elves are shown to have public baths (you walk into the ancient ruins of one) and the only other country we’ve seen possess these so far is Tevinter (though Orlais could as well?), which gives a nice solid basis for them being something taken from elves.
I’m still not sure if Dwarves have sewers though, not because they’d be ahead of the rest of Thedas (they canonically already are) but because Dwarves live underground already and beneath them is usually 1) More Darkspawn nests and 2) molten lava tunnels. In fact, walking around parts of Orzammar you see the entire city is pretty much built over a lava flow. So I’m just not sure if they’d have a place for a full, underground sewer (force mains, gravity, etc) systems, I’d say they probably have a simplified or an effluent sewer system (I’d personally say effluent, it seems to fit dwarven design better) that runs around Orzammar since they would fit the easiest in the compact city.
Anonymous quipped: Okay, heres something thats been bothering me lately. Orzammar dwarves get exiled to the surface as soon as they've seen the sky, right? At least Valta implies as much in the descent dlc. So now im wondering, what about the Orzammar dwarves that helped the warden during the blight? They were most definitely on the surface, but I cant imagine that they were selected to fight the archdemon just to be exiled to the surface as soon as thats done. Do you have any thoughts on whats going on with that?
There’s a few things going on here.
First, if the Warden seats Bhelen on the throne, it is made to not really matter. Bhelen is actually trying to open the conservative government of Orzammar up to the Casteless and the Surface. While not everyone agrees, Bhelen has a lot of those behind him and can use this war on the surface to further his goal of having that ruled vetoed. So he isn’t going to exile any dwarf sent to the surface try to propose this extend to Surface Dwarves as well. Obviously there are still hesitations and ideals in place about the surface though since Valta mentions it even now. But Bhelen may still be trying to change that.
Next, if Harrowmont is made king. Harrowmont is much more conservative and he is more likely to extend the dwarves a leave of duty. They basically get a pass that says they will go to the surface, beat the Darkspawn, and then immediately return. Which when they return they may get some hesitant or distrustful looks from the more conservative dwarves, but by all rights and order of the King they are still Orzammar’s dwarves.
As to why those two situations are acceptable/available, the answer is the Grey Warden Treaties. The dwarves are obligated by honor, ancestry, and right to help the Grey Wardens face the Blight on the surface. I’m sure it is even written somewhere in the treaties that a dwarf that must surface to face the Blight may return home a hero and to open arms.
The whole thing in a nutshell, is that because the dwarves are obligated to help the Grey Wardens and fulfill a duty, they receive some kind of ‘Get Out of Jail (in this case Orzammar) Free’ card when they must leave for the surface.
Anonymous quipped: Do you know if anyone has put work into figuring out dwarven runes and what they are phonetically so they could be used as a mode of writing? It would be really difficult, considering the lack of source material, but if bioware is consistent in what is there it might be possible.
I’m really sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but dwarven runes have no phonetic value and are actually pictographs as most common dwarves cannot read dwarven.
For instance, a fire rune is very obviously fire. While runes from Origins are a bit more obscure, but still pictographs. For example, Silverite Runes against Darkspawn are stylized Ogre horns and Cold Iron runes are used against the undead, which is a stylized skull.
Therefore, it is impossible to use them to decipher the Dwarven alphabet, despite being able to be used as a form of writing (pictographs are one of the oldest forms of writing). Sorry :(
Anonymous quipped: I'm curious to see if we'll get much more dwarven lore in the next game. In Tevinter I expect we'll get a lot of information and history as written from the Tevene POV which will shed light on general human history and perhaps more things the Southern Chantry has hidden. But with the introduction of the Titans in The Descent & more text on the clash between them and the Evanuris I really hope we get more ancient dwarven lore as we've just begun to see how they connect to the lore at large.
I don’t see why we wouldn’t pick up at least a few things about Dwarves if we are headed for Tevinter. Tevinter is one of the largest consumers of lyrium, since it is made of free practiced magic and it has a very heavy dwarven presence for this reason.
In fact, Tevinter has several Dwarven Embassies and Dwarves are so highly regarded, they are the only race to not be made slaves in Tevinter. At all. They are also given their own house/branch within Tevinter’s government and can advise the Archon directly. Tevinter also has some of the oldest known Golems, known as Juggernauts within the Imperium and hosts a Proving Ground arena, based off the Dwarven Provings.
There is also Kal Sharok in the Anderfels, it is incredibly close to Tevinter’s borders. So I would imagine we will finally get to explore, at least parts of, Kal Sharok, which is incredibly important. Kal Sharok has been separated from Orzammar for Ages and thus its knowledge and culture is vastly different than that of Orzammar’s. Their Paragons are chosen differently and are carved into a wall (not as a statue). They also place very little importance in the caste system.
So if we are off to Tevinter, you should have few worries. As Tevinter provides much more opportunity for Dwarven lore, in fact Dwarven, Qunari, and Mage lore is probably the most abundant in Tevinter than anywhere else we’ve seen (other than Orzammar).
There’s a lot of post-holiday quality shitposting and Star Wars thirst on my dash, and that’s awesome.
My trash self wants to know what the state of non-magical medicine is in Thedas, whether they believe in germ theory (I am not the first to wonder this), how far they have come in surgical advances, and whether the discipline is affected by rampant misogyny and racism.
Thus is my contribution to late December shitposting completed.
*kicks in door* I HEARD GERM THEORY WHAT
Here are my two cents:
If we assume that Skyhold is eventually the home of some of the best Thedas has to offer, I’m inclined to believe germ theory isn’t prevalent in their medicine. Given the existence of the surgeon hanging around, and the fact that I don’t see any traces of microscopes in the Thedas that we know, there’s no hint to imply that Theodosians are even aware of the possibility. And why should they? We’re told that Theodosians bar Qunari are heavily reliant on magic; the study of non-magical science itself is most likely stunted from this.
Which ties in with surgical practices: since the Chantry generally forbids dissections of dead bodies it’s likely surgical medicine is not that far along either (or a pretty horrific deal…which is likely the same thing). If anything, the Qunari are more likely to be on the right track since they’re much more science-oriented than mainland Thedas.
Whether Thedas believes in spontaneous generation at this point is completely unknown (I wouldn’t be surprised considering the existence of magic and the Fade) but I wouldn’t be surprised if some person out on a farm had some sick crops/worms and noticed, oh hey, when I take a sick worm and put it next to a worm from somewhere else that’s healthy, it gets sick too and dies (Bassi parallel). Also, since alchemy is alive and thriving in this universe, the tools necessary for a Pasteur parallel likely exist. SO THERE ARE DEFINITELY WAYS TO INTRODUCE THE THEORY INTO THE UNIVERSE. SOMEONE JUST HAS TO BE OBSERVANT ENOUGH.
This is…probably not coherent since I just got out of bed but hey. I live for this shit.
You know, but microscopes probably can be invented, because the finest stained glass comes from Serault. Not a stretch to move from producing fine glass into producing magnifying lenses, and the onto the beginnings of magnification.
I would look for spontaneous generation advocates among the brewers, since beer relies upon yeast, especially among lambics producers (do those exist in Thedas? they have to) because lambics are created through spontaneous generation. Farmers too, since they have to deal with crops and livestock sickening. But at the same time they may just believe it to be magic, since the Blight is magical, and a lot of unexplainable things can be chalked up to magic or the Maker’s will.
The surgery area in Skyhold is abjectly horrific and evidence that the healer doesn’t know about germ theory…or cleanliness.
Don’t telescopes exist in Thedas? Because if telescopes exist, someone’s gotta come up with the idea for microscopes, don’t you think? Which would be really great because then that means someone will eventually get to cell theory which opens up soooo many possibilities.
I think we can all agree that if Thedas would just invent microscopes and calculus that it might be in a better place scientifically speaking.
The Qunari would likely be the first to do that and they hold their knowledge close to the vest.
And telescopes have to exist, doesn’t Isabela have one?
The Skyhold healer talks about the humors, which I suppose is based on the Hippocratic theory of balancing the temperaments to heal maladies, so I’m guessing they don’t believe in/aren’t aware of germs. I have a head cold so sorry if I’m missing the point.
Interesting discussion! I’ve been wondering about healing in Thedas lately, and how magical healing works, particularly to do with injury. If someone breaks a bone, for example, can magical healers immediately mend it, or do they just reduce the pain and get it sort of ‘on the road to recovery’, and then regular natural healing has to take its course? Can things like cuts and bruises be immediately repaired, or does it just speed up the process? I feel like the PCs and companions would need more healing and recovery time with all the injuries they get, but I don’t know just how powerful magical healing and potions are.
Oh man, I have so many headcanons about this, because while I do like having healing magic it is so utterly non-specific and inapplicable to many of the everyday injuries incurred by the general populace. Part of it is the fear of mages, and another part is that mages aren’t generally allowed out, so the Skyhold surgeon does have a great point when she says she’s interested in non-magical healing means.
HEADCANON TIME (also, a bunch of these these headcanons have made their way into my fic).
Magic as it stands in Thedas is limited only by imagination. The Fade itself is not inherently magical; it is full of possibility. Whatever you can visualize in your mind can be made real on this side of the Veil. In many ways this is a wonderful thing because a mage can make anything happen; Solas certainly demonstrates command of this, once he gets his power upgrade. However, fail to visualize well or clearly and disaster awaits in the form of fire, catastrophe, possession, etc.
There are generic magic spells available to non-spirit healer mages, and these I headcanon are general health type things. So if the patient is injured, a mage can cast Heal, and what Heal will do is take the mage’s power and use it to augment healing processes in the body. Bruises fade, cuts close, bones fuse after proper re-alignment. Spirit healers use the life energy of minor spirits to heal more thoroughly and deeply, but whether the healing energy is directed by the healer or the spirit I can’t say. I doubt minor spirits have the knowledge needed to fix various complicated ailments.
I would argue that spirit healing can heal colds and plague, but not cancer (Rowan, Cailan’s mother, died of a mysterious disease healers couldn’t fix years after her journey through the Deep Roads so it’s unlikely that she developed the taint so late post-exposure).
As for canon examples of Spirit Healers, there’s Wynne from DAO, and then Wynne’s son Rhys in Asunder. I would say Rhys is our best in-world example of Spirit Healing and the spirit side of magic in Thedas, as he’s our main protagonist. Anders isn’t exactly a Spirit Healer, though he is a very knowledgeable healer, and some of his abilities in DA2 may very well be augmented by the fact that he’s possessed by Justice. And by his all consuming need to help the helpless.
I’m not sure whether spirit healing can heal widespread infection like the plague or even a cold or the flu because that would be hard to visualize, especially since they have no idea what microbes are. I think spirit healing/healing can certainly take the edge off or manage symptoms like headaches, boils, general aches and pains (assuming pain relief is part of healing), and mind-magic like sleep or paralyze could be used to assist in surgery. But cancer or autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis wouldn’t be possible because it’s not like foreign pathogens are invading. And spirit healing would not be able to break paths of transmission, so you can get healed all you want, but if for example you keep going back to the cholera well, you’ll likely contract it again if you don’t have the antibodies.
I did a search of Asunder for spirit healing and Rhys only mentions it once or twice, but I do recall him thinking fondly of the little spirits and calling upon one to help him form a mage light. Regalyan is also a spirit healer but we didn’t see exactly how he did things in the movie. Anders is classified as a spirit healer in the Wiki; I wouldn’t argue with it given his moveset in DA2 (and his abilities augmented by Justice is exactly what a spirit healer does, except he’s possessed).
I’ve always wondered if something like fire magic could be used against cancer. I mean, presumably a healer could feel/sense/whatever the growths, right? Would it be possible to use a very tightly controlled fire spell to burn the tumor out of the patient?
(But yeah I don’t think spirit healing would be much good against autoimmune diseases. Maybe ease pain but that’s about it.)
*pokes head out of her blanket cocoon* Are we discussing medical science in a fantasy world? Because YES PLEASE.
I’d say one thing to remember is that the surgeon we see at Skyhold may not necessarily be emblematic of the state of medical science as a whole in Thedas. We don’t really always get the sense of it, since we’re the Inquisitor his-or-her-ownself and thus at the top of the heap, but in the beginning the Inquisition is kind of a ragtag mess. So is she a bad surgeon by Thedosian standards, but they couldn’t get any better? Or is she actually one of their best and brightest? Worth wondering about.
That being said, the impression I got was that the surgeon was a battlefield medic who wasn’t necessarily hot on long-term care: she had good (for a medieval-ish setting, anyway) ideas about stopping horrible things from getting worse (”When all else fails, amputate”) and knowing that cobwebs are good for wounds, but she also believes in the four humors and bleeding. Guido Majno in The Healing Hand discussed Hippocratic four-humor approaches and noted that while the initial treatment was often good, usually rooted in the solid experience one gets in a battlefield, the aftercare was often a flaming mess that just left things worse. People knew something worked, but they didn’t know why, and the more they attempted to build on a successful treatment the more they risked taking a detour to Batshit-on-Sea.
(You see the same thing in the beginnings of medical science all over the world. Ayurvedic medicine was pretty solid in its initial approaches, but the aftercare could cause just as many problems.)
My guess would be that in Thedas, medical science and healing magic are actually hurting each other. Healers don’t necessarily know why their spells work; nothing in the canon so far suggests that they understand cellular regeneration, viruses, etcetera. They’ve never had to know why it works. And if the Chantry really does forbid dissection, and most of the mages were until recently locked up in Chantry Circles, they wouldn’t have had many opportunities to learn. Meanwhile, other people are used to healing magic (or at least the universal cure-all, elfroot potions) being a thing, so there’s less drive to explore. You don’t HAVE to: that’s mage stuff.
That leaves the on-the-ground people doing the basic battlefield-medic-level medicine and the healers cleaning up the edges. A surgeon amputates a limb, a healing mage purges the infection and seals the bleeding flesh. Neither learns the full extent of their discipline because each is used to the other taking care of it.
Obviously, this doesn’t apply all across the board. Mages are hardly thick on the ground, especially healing mages. But between the apparent existence of a theory of the four humors (which would be reinforced by a world where magic exists–what better demonstrator of the influence of strange internal forces which can be purged, spent, topped up, and misdirected?), the Skyhold surgeon being good at immediate work but shit at long-term recovery, and elfroot fixing every-bloody-thing, there’s no guarantee medical science in Thedas would have advanced beyond doing what was immediately necessary.
Sadly, Tevinter might actually be in the lead there. If nothing else, we know they’re not squeamish about disobeying the Chantry. Fenris, who hung out at a magister’s elbow for years, probably has a better sense of the heart’s anatomy than most Thedosian doctors–and more experience examining live specimens. Eeek.
Thedas also has:
herbal remedies that do not rely on magic.
Non-magical first aid kits.
recent advances in animal anatomy (the Grim Anatomy).
Healing magic that can revive people from the brink of death.
And.. absolutely no evidence that germ theory is applicable. If Thedas as a world is a place where all our medieval beliefs comee to life, humors might be real and germs might not exist at all.
Mary Kirby on BSN in 2013:
All the races have approximately the same life-span. But Qunari have sanitation and medicine, and so on average tend to live the longest. Dalish do not live any longer than city elves. The only Dalish to “reclaim” any immortality was Zathrian, and he was using a blood magic curse.
Sanitation! SANITATION. And medicine. Man, the south is so backwater. The Nevarrans probably have excellent anatomy books, the Qunari have both sanitation and medicine, Tevinter has no weird rules on magic, the Rivaini and Antivans are likely more advanced than the Fereldans and Orlesians… though it seems the Fereldans are the least advanced, from what we know.
Oh, of course. I had forgotten. In that case, yes germ theory probably does apply.
But it’s a little funny.. we do ssee Vivienne bathe and ironically offer Oghren soap. Sanitation is not unheard of so much as it is not regarded seriously.
Not to hijack the post, but I wonder what the dwarves have? They have neither healing maguc, ever, nor access to herbs (though they may have mineral derived chemicals.)
Fucking long-ass post, but reblog anyway.
The fact that dwarves have no access to traditional herbs doesn’t mean they don’t have like, speshul healing moss growing down there. And you know what else grows down there? Mold. And what comes from mold? Penicillin. Plus, IDK, when I think about dwarves and ‘magic’, alchemy always comes up first. They could totally have huge labs and now that I think about the minerals lying about, what about lyrium? Dwarves are immune to the effects, but they might have found a way to incorporate it into potions.
(also, don’t know about telescopes, but Mother Ailis in Stolen Throne has reading glasses.)
(and now my head is full of a Tal-Vashott healer, who shares all his medical knowledge with the humans out of spite)
Add in a bit of my own to sense here on this amazing, incredibly long post.
First, spirit healers: Spirit Healers have been compared to by Bioware (I believe it was Weekes?) to surgeons, so that’s where I always draw the line. A surgeon can remove (or in the case of magic: shrink) a tumor, but a surgeon cannot cure cancer. The exception being that mages can stitch up a wound completely without scar, such as Regalyan does for Cassandra in Dawn of the Seeker. Also Spirit Healers are either trained to be Spirit Healers in the Circle and/or influenced/sensitive to Spirits. Thus Anders would be a Spirit Healer, as he does have a spirit guiding him through it. I’d say finding a self-taught Spirit Healer (without a Spirit’s guidance) would be next to impossible, also think Spirit Healer is the exact opposite of Blood Magic (One can be learnt from a Spirit, the other can be learned from a Demon).
Also the Skyhold Surgeon was just the most experienced person brought up from the Refugee camps, outside Skyhold by Cullen. So no, she is probably not the best/ideal healer. However, she also states that Orlais just came up with a brand new cure to aliments! Drilling a hole through the skull…which should tell you that even the most extravagant city is not doing to well in medical practice yet. She also mentions leeches, blood letting, and amputations.
Lastly, Dwarves do use what they find for remedies, The Deep Roads is really the only steady and abundant source of Deep Mushroom, which is a main ingredient is Stamina Tonics, Injury Kits, and other restorative potions (such as Restoration Potions). So actually Dwarves have most of what they need in just one fungus, which doesn’t include other things that can be found/have yet to be discovered in the Deep Roads (by the players). Not to mention all the fungi mentioned in the World of Thedas.
Anonymous quipped: Do you think dwarves are more likely to have better lives living on the surface than they are living underground like so-called "real" dwarves?
I think both lives are valid actually.
It’s easy to say that all Dwarves should just move to the surface, but Deep Roads Dwarves do have their own culture beneath and they do keep the darkspawn in control. They are important.
That said many Dwarves benefit from being on the surface, such as Varric. He thrived and became incredibly successful, more so than he would ever have been in the Deep Roads.
My thoughts are that the Deep Roads could be better (just get rid of the Casteless level and then it’s actually no worse that Orlais) and I do believe the conflict between the Surfacers and Deep Road Dwarves should come to an end.
Either way, they are all real dwarves and I think both ways of life can be good for different people.
Disclaimer: All of this is completely canonical knowledge. Nothing headcanoned and all can be found in the games or extended media. Also I do not support the use of slurs, this is simply a lore/educational post for the Dragon Age series. Please click through the Shemlen link, before coming to the conclusion Shemlen does not belong on this list.
While often taking from our own present day (and past) curses, Thedas also has it’s fair share of unique slurs. Everyone from Humans to Mages to Qunari have derogatory terms for everyone else. Some are spoken in a race’s first language, while others are simple King’s Tongue and just as common throughout the world.
Slurs for…
Humans
Dathrasi: a pig like animal This slur can actually be used for anyone of any race, but is most often associated with human nobles. Qunari using it to compare the nobles to wallowing, dirty animals who simply indulge and indulge until them become too fat on their greed.
Dog Lord This term refers to Fereldans, who are known for their excessive love of mabari. Created by Orlesians, it compares and essentially equates Fereldans to dogs and dog-like behaviors (rolling in dirt, licking their genitals, etc.). It is sometimes used by Fereldans as a true title or compliment than the intended insult.
Half-Elf/Half-Blood This term is never used for full humans, but rather is a derogatory term for Elf-Bloodied beings. Humans who have one elf parent will often be called out as being a Half-Elf or Half-Blood, as couplings with elves is considered taboo and disgraceful (see: Rabbit slur). The slur acknowledging only half their blood is good and/or that the person is tainted. This term is used in excess for elf-bloodied humans who choose to stay with their elven families in Alienages.
Quick/Shemlen: meaning “Quick Child” This is most often used by elves as it is an elven word and is usually shortened to shem. It’s original purpose was simply to identify humans, but continues to see use as an insult now. It is believed to have been chosen due to humans having much shorter life spans than elves and thus seen as dying far too young.
Elves
Flat ears/Seth’lin:meaning “Thin Blood” A term actually used by elves for elves, Dalish elves will sometimes refer to City elves as flat ear or seth’lin. The Dalish believing that city elves have lost their “elfiness” and practically become humans themselves. Both slurs insinuating the loss of elven blood, characteristic, and culture in the city elves.
Halla-Rider This slur is predominantly used by humans for Dalish elves, although many humans see it more as a comment or even a compliment than a derogatory term. The term of course referencing the chosen mount of elves, though it also oversimplifies and insults the relationship between the halla and the Dalish.
Knife-ear/Slant-eared Blanket term for all elves, used by humans. This is the most common slur used for elves, obviously coming from the shape of an elf’s ears.
Rabbit Rabbit is considered a more generous slur by the humans who use it, often claiming it is due to the shape of their ears. However, it has also been known to be used by (Orlesian) Andrastians who believe coupling with an elf is no better than sleeping with animal, due to their “bestial” intelligence and nature. Also it may speak to elves having a “plucky” nature.
Rattus An Ancient Tevinter term used to refer to elves, most likely meaning Rat. The origin and reference remains unknown.
Wood Elves/Savages Another Self-Elven Slur, for Dalish elves used by City elves. Used because many City elves believe Dalish to be wild, cruel, and barbaric. It often accompanies stories of cannibalism and predation on fellow elves, mostly built off the idea that City elves that go in search of Dalish lives are never heard from again.
Dwarves
Cloudgazer/Sun-Touched Slur used by Deep Roads dwarves to describe Surfacer Dwarves. The idea that seeing or gazing upon the sun and sky takes away your Stone-sense, the Dwarves connection to their ancestors.
Deep Lord This term is often used by lower caste Dwarves (Below Noble and down to Casteless). The label is used for Noble Dwarves, specifically Deshyrs of the Dwarven Assembly. The reasoning behind this unknown, other than the literal meaning.
Duster A derogatory term for the Casteless, used by Dwarves of higher castes. The exact origin of the term is unknown, but it most likely has to do with the Casteless living in the dust and dirt of the Deep Roads.
Noble-Hunter Used to describe women of a lower Dwarven caste (often Casteless), who are looking to raise their caste by bearing a son to a man of higher caste. The term comes from the fact that the women often try for noble, but will settle for someone of a lower (but still higher than them) caste.
Short Mouth Sometimes used by Qunari to refer to Dwarves, who are much shorter than them and any other race. It is a rather straightforward slur.
Stone-Blind Another slur applied to Surface Dwarves, this one deriving from the belief that Surfacers are and/or have lost all their Stone-sense. Much like Cloudgazer and Sun-Touched, though this one is a bit more straightforward than both of those. Insinuates that Surface Dwarves are not real Dwarves.
Qunari
Beasts/Giants Obvious slurs for a Qunari and used by almost all races. They are used to dehumanize the Qunari as mere creatures built on instinct and savagery.
Ox-men This slur is built more on Qunari appearance than attitude. Bringing attention to a Qunari’s horns, muscular stature, and back-breaking strength. In Tevinter, this is often accompanied with a Yoke being used in manual labor or as a symbolic slave collar.
Mages
Abomination While this has come to be a technical term for a mage possessed, this is often used as a slur towards any mage. This term is only used by mages when a mage has been completed corrupted by a demon and has lost their humanity, rather than being used casually for any mage dealing with a spirit. This term is used to dehumanize mages.
Hedge Mage This is another slur that is used as an identifier, the Chantry choosing to use this term as a blanket for unsanctioned mages (i.e. Avvar shamans and
Chasind/Riviani witches). It is often used in conjunction with “arcane derangement” to describe the unsanctioned magics.
Incaensor: meaning a dangerous substance A Tevinter term used for slaves who show magical ability and potential, though the word is also used to describe raw lyrium and natron salts. The idea of the slur is to dehumanize the slaves into just another tool, useful is controlled and used correctly.
Robes A relatively straightforward slur, playing off the stereotype that all mages wear robes. It also belittles mages down to the clothing they wear, taking away their personal identity.
Spellbind Little is known about the specifics of this slur, however, it may come from the idea that dangerous mages can bind others to their will or come from the Mortalitasi title Spellbinder. Spellbinders being a specialized magic among the Mortalitasi, binding spirits to objects like books and seen as extremely dangerous.
Misc
Basra The less neutral version of bas, this actually used an insult for those who are not Qunari. Most likely meaning purposeless nothing.
Nug Humper A commonly used insult by dwarves, implying someone has slept with a nug.
Deep Roads Dwarves believe deeply in The Stone, all come from her and return to her throughout their lives. They do this by entombing their dead within her, almost all Deep Roads are dwarves sealed in stone containers upon death to prevent the Darkspawn from defiling their corpses. However Dwarves cannot not truly return to The Stone unless the ritual words have been spoken over their corpse, as seen done by Hawke for a redeemed Legionnaire (Legacy DLC). The ritual words being: “Atrast tunsha. Totarnia amgetol tavash aeduc.” (so far untranslated).
Typically Noble dwarves and Paragons will be buried within detailed and intricate crypts and sarcophagi, while commoner dwarves are encased in piled stone plots. If stone cairns are unavailable for the burial, whatever the reason, they are buried beneath the solid ground. Meanwhile casteless and surface dwarves are considered unworthy of the Stone and are believed to roam the empty caverns of the Deep Roads as spirits and/or Rock Wraiths.
Dwarves also believe the quality of the Dwarf who returns to The Stone affects “her”. A Dwarf who was considered to be a disappointment or rebel and was sent to The Stone weakened “her”, while one of merit and possibly a Paragon strengthened “her”. Those who would “poison” “her” are often disposed of by fire, these being dwarves who have been defiled and/or eaten on by darkspawn after death.
Legionnaires bury their own brethren within the Deep Roads, typically within large shared areas. The nature of their personal burials, mean the last of the Legionnaires do not receive a burial and are never returned to The Stone they had finally earned through their deaths; since no dwarves are left to bury the dead.
Elves
The Ancient Elves were said to be immortal and live forever, thus lacking burial rites. Instead Ancient Elves would become weary of life and lay down for their spirits to cross over into the Beyond. They would return centuries later to share the knowledge they had found.
During these long sleeps, know as Uthenera, servants would attend to the physical forms and preserve them for when they’d awaken. Oils would be rubbed into their skin to help them consume the knowledge they found and keep their bodies from decaying. Herbs were burnt in the chambers to strengthen their connections to the Fade during the sleep. While a potion of honey, herbs, and water would sustain them physically.
Many Elves who entered the last wave of Uthenera would never wake up, their physical forms forgotten and decayed away. Thus turning the sleeping chambers to burial grounds and abandoned tombs.
After the fall of Arlathan and the elves gain of mortality, elves of the Dales were buried in burial sites with markers and stone tombs. Most of the these still standing landmarks house Great Warriors and Respected Elders.
Dalish now bury their dead within the ground and plant trees above them, poems and songs of mourning are sung as they are passed onto Falon’Din. However, Falon’Din is no longer physically around to guide the elves home, thus they lay their dead with an oaken staff (representing Falon’Din) to guide them along their path to the Afterlife. As well as a cedar branch (representing Dirthamen) to chase off Fear and Deceit, the crows who once served Dirthamen and are now without a master. It is believed that the trees planted above the Dalish’s dead is to represent that even with each death of their people, they live on and will never die out.
Meanwhile, City Elves follow the human rites of cremation, this is so they stand out less among humans and are more accepted into their society.
Humans (Andrastians)
The Chantry calls for cremation in all their funeral rites. As Andraste was burned and returned to the Maker, so shall her followers be. While Nobility and Royalty tend to have larger, grander pyres to send them off; Commoner pyres are often no more than a ring of stones and occur within the city limits, despite fire risks. While criminals are burned on mass pyres, all at once. The ashes of the dead are then cared for how the deceased’s loved ones see fit, they can be buried, spread, or kept as decided. The practice of cremation is believed to also ward off any attempts of demonic possession and/or use of blood magic.
Nevarra is the only Andrastian exception to this, as they practice Necromancy and build cities of the dead. This comes from the Nevarran belief that as a being dies and enters the Fade, they displace one of the Maker’s Children, a spirit. So in exchange for the person’s place among the Maker’s side, the spirit is allowed a mummified corpse and the experience of being in the World of the Living. Thus the Mortalitasi create the Cities of the Dead, entire catacombs of possessed corpses nurtured by them.
Due to the macabre nature and questionable practice of the Mortalitasi, as well as their active support for spirit possession, there is much fear and controversy in the Chantry about Nevarra’s practice.
Avvar
When it comes to non-Andrastian practices, Avvar are the ones most well known. The Avvar believe the afterlife to be guided by the sky, specifically the Lady of the Skies.
The Avvar believe that some of their dead are destined to be reborn anew and are favored by fate. These individuals are not known by memory, as the resurrected chosen are acknowledged to not remember their past lives; rather these individuals are said to be guided by past experiences, having the unconscious knowledge of what must be done. These beings are often encased whole in stone coffins.
Those not reborn join their loved ones in the Afterlife and simply live on in death together.
The Avvar’s actual burial rite is not so much of a burial. A procession is led for the deceased Avvar and their loved ones sing for them as they strip the deceased’s flesh from their bones and cut their bones into pieces, all before laying them out on a ritual slab. Then raptors (predator birds) feed upon their remains, the most common to appear being crows, and return them to the skies.
Qunari
The least is known about the Qunari death rites. The only information available is that when Qunari warriors die, it is their swords and not their bodies retrieved. The Weapon is the Qunari’s true soul, while their body is no more than a husk.
There is nothing regarding whether all Qunari (not just those of the Antaam) have a soul weapon and if they do not, what happens to non-combatant Qunari after they die.
Sources: The Stolen Throne, The Masked Empire, World of Thedas Vol. 1, Dragon AGE: Tabletop Set 1, Dragon AGE: Tabletop Set 2, Dragon Age 2 (Legacy DLC), Dragon Age Codex Entries (e.g. Uthenera, Falon’Din, etc.)
And then there are the Profane. What the hell is up with the Profane?
At the most basic level, of course, they are a textbook example of why eating red lyrium is a bad idea (you wouldn’t think you would need to explain this to people, but somehow …).
They might just be spirits, of course. Another case like the various undead monsters you’ll end up fighting pretty much anywhere in Thedas. Spirits who so completely failed to grasp the difference between a living thing and a not living thing that they ended up possessing a rock.
But then, of course, there is this:
We who are forgotten, remember, We clawed at rock until our fingers bled, We cried out for justice, but were unheard. Our children wept in hunger, And so we feasted upon the gods. Here we wait, in aeons of silence. We few, we profane. – The Profane
That puts things in rather a different light. These were people who were abandoned or imprisoned – left to starve in the Deep Roads, just as Hawke and her friends have been left. Eating red lyrium was either a last ditch effort to survive, or a deliberate choice to become monsters in order to avenge themselves. Or both. Why not both.
To their credit, they do seem aware that eating lyrium is not really a great thing to do, although maybe not for practical reasons. In doing it, they are ‘feasting upon the gods’ and ‘profane’. Lyrium represents the gods, or perhaps literally is a god (modern dwarves venerate ‘the Stone’, after all). The question is, was it eating the gods that made them profane, or were they profane before that, and so figured they had nothing to lose?
One problem is that dwarven society is really good at forgetting things when it wants to. I mean, every civilisation covers up the nasty stuff, but the dwarves have made an art form out of it.
But things of interest, regardless.
In dwarven mythology, Rock Wraiths – Profane – are dwarves so corrupt and awful that the Stone has rejected them. So, the casteless, then. Now, setting aside the fact that that’s a bloody odd thing to say about beings who seem to be literally made of rock, the idea of casteless becoming Rock Wraiths upon death is a bit silly. There are a lot of casteless, and Rock Wraiths are incredibly rare. My poor Hawke might have trouble believing this, given that they just mobbed her, but so the Codex says. But still, the idea is there.
There isn’t really an origin story for the casteless. Shaper Czibor will tell you a little story about dwarven brothers and how they formed the caste system. It’s almost certainly not in any way a true story, but it exists. The casteless, however, are aggressively forgotten. The Shaper looked my Brosca Warden right in the eye and told her that before she became a Grey Warden, she did not exist. Common dwarves, who can’t avoid noticing the casteless, will tell you a little bit more. They’ll say casteless are descended from criminals and outcasts who weren’t supposed to breed – but did anyway.
Whatever happened to the Profane, it was deliberate. You don’t ‘cry out for justice’ if you’ve been trapped in a cave in. You might cry out for help, or in despair, but natural disasters aren’t deliberately oppressing you. Someone trapped the Profane in this place. And they didn’t just trap the adults, who might just possibly have done something awful enough that the rest of the population had to lock them up and run, they trapped the children too. Whoever they were, the Profane weren’t meant to survive. There wasn’t supposed to be a next generation.
So I wonder if maybe some of them ate lyrium and became Rock Wraiths … and some very few found a way out, and tried to go back to their people.
The other thing of note is that apparently the tabletop RPG claims that Rock Wraiths have a connection to the Fade and are prone to possession. I don’t own that, so I’m just going by what is in the Wiki, and I don’t know what words it actually uses. But certainly the Rock Wraith I got a screenshot of here is possessed, and the Profane use a fair bit of magic: they’ve a tendency to summon shades and throw lightning around and generally make your life unpleasant.
In one sense, that’s unremarkable. They eat lyrium. Meredith held onto that lyrium idol for a few years and she was bringing statues to life. Lyrium is living magic. It gives you super powers.
But at the same time – however mutated, lost and strange they may be, these are almost certainly dwarves. Dwarves dreaming in the Fade. Dwarves doing magic. Dwarves getting possessed by demons. And they claim to have been trapped aeons ago. So long ago that their people might not have had Paragons or castes. That’s just bizarre.
So then I wonder – which came first?
Of all the societies in Thedas, I would say the dwarves most resemble the Qunari. They live by a religion that doesn’t care very much about gods or the Fade – although of course it has its own kind of mysticism. They have a rigid social structure in which everybody is expected to play a particular role – and woe betide anyone who has dreams of their own. They are intensely isolationist, and they are scientifically advanced. The details differ, of course. But the framework is the same.
The Qunari are utterly terrified of their mages – maybe even more so than the Chantry. Dwarves just don’t have any. Maybe they were more efficient at getting rid of them.
Then I think thematically. Dragon Age 2 is largely about the desperate things people do when they feel trapped, from the small-scale stories of Hawke’s friends to the large-scale fate of the world. It’s unfortunate that it’s a little light on the plight of the elves, but given how unfocused Inquisition was, perhaps it’s a good thing they decided to hone in on the plight of the mages.
In Kirkwall, some mages – like Orsino – choose to become monsters because they can see no other way to keep fighting. Some, like Evelina, become monsters because they are too frightened to think rationally. It’s not a question of blame. If you push people to breaking point, sometimes they break in ways that are … let’s say unpleasant for the people who are hurting them.
But I do rather wonder if we just found more imprisoned mages. They are profane. Cursed. Saarebas. The idea gets around.
Now, it’s worth backing up a minute. Lyrium is, after all, supposed to be very bad for mages – even worse than it is for an ordinary person, and it’s pretty awful for an ordinary person. But that assumes the Profane initially consumed raw lyrium. They may have done no such thing. Lyrium had religious significance for these dwarves, they may well have known how to prepare it. It is suggested that these dwarves are unique. By this point they are no longer flesh and blood, so the old rules don’t apply.
It’s also hard to timeline such creatures, but past a certain point I’m not willing to try. They are from very long ago, when the world was different.
Whatever went on with the Profane, they are … remarkable. They aren’t Red Templars, and they aren’t darkspawn. They are unique. And even if they weren’t lost mages before, they are now. They are dwarves who do magic. The cure in this instance isn’t anywhere near worth the price – but as proof that it could still be possible for them to do it? That is interesting.
(Emphasis mine)
Did you just propose the idea that the Profane are dwarven mages, long since discriminated and imprisoned within a Thaig…
Mind blown.
What more, this theory makes every bit of sense. That dwarves systematically went around imprisoning and condemning their mages within abandoned areas of the Deep Roads for what ever reason that came about. Not because mage oppression reasons (aka: “oh no it’s everywhere”…even though it is), rather because of all the evidence given to us in that Thaig.
Not to mention Sandal who was left alone in an isolated, abandoned Thaig (mind you one filled with glorious mosaics that further the idea of elves and dwarves sharing magic, from WoT2) as well, most likely addled from lyrium that he no doubt was forced to live off too and showing every bit of the signs to being a mage himself.
So yes, this one of the best theories I’ve seen put together on in this fandom and I’m actually really invested in this one now.
