#dwarves dragon age

[ceo-of-sloppy-men]

Dragon Age is full of strange things but by far the strangest (and most unnerving) are the Dwarves.

For examples...

When talking about Nugs: Cole "Even dwarves don't really remember the dwarves" Varric "You had me until that last one..." Cole "Oh. Sorry."

The Descent DLC revealing Titan lore and the layers under the Deep Roads.

Abandoned Thiags.

Lyrium memories.

It's all very... forboding when you think long enough on it. I know Thedas has a lot of ancient civilizations that were lost to time and now manifest as races stumbling blindly in the wake of their legacies, but Dwarves are particularly unnerving. The existence of Titans alone makes you wonder just where Dwarves came from, and why.

#dwarves dragon age #dragon age inquisition spoilers #dragon age inquisition #dragon age

[0alix0]

1) Aeducan deserves much more love & attention 2) Oghren is a buddy fu 3) LET ANORA KISS A LADY DWARF GODDAMNIT!!

⁽ᵒʳᶦᵍᶦⁿᵃˡ ᵘⁿᵈᵉʳ ᵗʰᵉ ᶜᵘᵗ⁾

#*opens a crumpled piece of paper* err... how many dwarves does it take to kiss a queen of ferelden..? #anora mac tir #aeducan #oghren kondrat #dragon age #dragon age origins #dao #art #ukrainian art #украрт #укртумбочка #арткозацтво #anora is a lesbian in denial sorry not sorry #i mean seriously who in their right mind would unironically want to fuck cailan??

[laurasimonsdaughter]

I can't seem to turn this into a story (yet) but picture this:

Dwarves who age dwarven wiskey in barrels in their underground caverns, but don't bother with proper ventilation because they have such high resistance to alcohol that the fumes do not bother them

Unfortunate side effect 1: the fumes are very flammable

Unfortunate side effect 2: delinquent teenage dragons sneak into the cavern to get drunk off the fumes

#laura babbles #dragons #dwarves #the dragon ageing cheese made my husband chatter about whiskey and now this happened #I can see it so very clearly in my mind #but it won't become a proper scene just yet

[illusivesoul]

"Like, just wake up and you don't get possesed duh" - Oghren, 9:31 Dragon

#dragon age #dragon age memes #oghren #oghren kondrat #da memes #da meme #illusivedits #illusivesouledits #the fade #dragon age origins #dragon age: origins #dao #da o #da:o #da: o #bioware memes #dragon age dwarves

[plaguebeasts]

He was a second son who took the throne of Orzammar. Do you honestly believe he did nothing underhanded?

They truly are their father's sons.

#dragon age #dragon age fanart #dragon age bhelen #dragon age trian #dragon age aeducan #aeducan #orzammar #hero of ferelden #dwarves

[janehaster]

Dreadwolf won't be centered around Solas

Dreadwolf's big reveal won't be Solas' plan.

It'll be the Titans. More accurately, their connection to Arlathan, the Golden City and the true source of its magic.

The big magical mystery revealed in Inquisition - actually, in Descent - wasn't the Elvhen empire. We already knew the elves made a magical empire where they were immortal.

Sure, we were hit with a few surprises, like the fact that the elven magisters thrived due to slavery, to enslaving their own people.

Other surprises were: part of the empire was located in the realm of dreams, immortality ended with the creation of the Veil, spirits served the elven magisters, etc.

But the biggest reveal was the DEATH OF A TITAN. And by the hand of an elven magister, no less.

By now, every DA player knows about it. And how the afresco where it is presented is in a secret area. As if hidden on purpose.

Add to that Kieran's mysterious lines about ancient magic and a time before the Chantry, such as the ominous line to the dwarven origin Inquisitor - you can't be taller. Not without the Titans - and Shaper Valta's discovery of a living Titan, plus how she broke the age old taboo that dwarves cannot cast magic and you have one of the biggest magical mysteries of Dragon Age.

There are several other indications that Titans will take center stage in DA:D (such a weird acronym):

One, the arrangement of the eluvians around a water pool in the Well of Sorrows mirrors the shape of the Titan's core, where its beating heart is located and where we fight the Guardian. This means the kings and priests of Arlathan were aware of the existence of Titans and where their heart lay. They likely traveled inside a Titan for some unknown purpose. And if they did, they learned that the Titan is the source of magic, and that their blood is a way for you to acquire magical powers, even open portals to other realms, such as the Fade and possibly...the Beyond and the Void.

Two, plenty of codexes show the Titans were destroying the cities of the People. For what purpose, we do not know. But the discovery of Titan magic hints that magisters may have mined their bodies for lyrium, angering the stone giants, which lead to Mythal having to kill a Titan.

Three, we find a strange poem in the Fade in DA:I that hints at creatures of same nature being sundered, tainted, asleep and enduring while they wait for the moment to awake. There's every reason to believe they are the Titans, and that the Sundering might refer to when the Veil was created and they lost their connection to the Fade.

Four, Shaper Valta's fate teaches us that dwarves were actually made Tranquil for some reason since their connection to Titans was severed. The reason for it may be the creation of the Veil by Solas' hand.

I want to call your attention to parts three and four because I believe this is the most important fact we know so far: the Sundering, caused by the creation of the Veil was felt by the Titans and turned all dwarves Tranquil.

We never see this said directly in the game because not even the dwarves are aware of it. They completely forgot that part of their history. It's not recorded in the Shaperate, and Shaper Valta hints that the implications of it are quite severe. The entire early period of dwarven history was erased, and it revealed the existence of the Titans and their role in Thedas in the time of Arlathan.

Hence why I believe Dreadwolf will inevitably reveal this big truth, this missing big chunk of Thedosian lore, one that is behind the secret of Arlathan's magic, Elvhen immortality, the true nature of the Golden CIty, of the Fade, the Beyond and the Void.

Once the Veil is no more, the Titans may possibly awake from their slumber. They will be fully connected to the dreaming world, and that can have terrible consequences to the physical aspect of Thedas. If they awaken, they might destroy entire continents, kill millions, entire kingdoms may disappear overnight. They can literally reshape the surface of Thedas. Hence why I believe the consequences of Solas' actions will be apocalyptic. And he's fully aware of it.

As he states to the Inquisitor, as the world burns in the raw chaos, I will rebuild it. What he doesn't mention is that the chaos will be caused not by the arrival of demons or even the Evanuris, but by the cataclysmic actions of the Titans.

I'm really curious to see the full impact of this revelation on a dwarven protag and if they will suddenly develop magical powers once the Titans awaken...

#dragon age #dragon age 4 #dreadwolf #dragon age dreadwolf #dragon age speculation #da: dreadwolf #dreadwolf theory #dragon age theory #solas #solas dragon age #dwarves #titans dragon age #arlathan #golden city #theory

[exhausted-archivist]

The Deep Roads are Complicated, and I am in too Deep...

I've been working on and off at mapping the Deep Roads for a while now and after writing 4 pages explaining my methodology of why I think it is mapped the way I put it and then moving on to orienting the ttrpg thaig map, I realized something while taking notes on the directions mentioned and cross-referencing it to the description of Horrors of Hormak thaig description.

You can't map the Deep Roads from a top-down perspective because sometimes the roads change directions and aren't actually going in a straight line.

They need an orthographic map. Or a map that essentially bisects the mountain. The literal map in the corner of both the Origins and ttrpg maps. The maps... that have increments of depth.

Now, I knew that the deep roads had to change elevation, especially considering how they're described and the way they're supposedly below sea level for most thaigs.

But somehow, despite knowing that, I never considered that thaigs and the roads themselves would essentially be stacked on top of each other. Don't know why that never crossed my mind up until I was checking my notes and the passages of the ttrpg and Horrors of Hormak to confirm directions. To which it finally clicked as they both explain how there are galleries/antechambers and staircases/pathways that change directions.

How do we get to the thaig? This tunnel leads to a series of galleries. Think of them as interconnecting wide flights of stairs linked together and occasionally switching direction. We head down these for a few hours and we’ll be on the outskirts of the thaig.

-- Dragon Age Tabletop RPG, Buried Pasts p. 18

Beside him, Lesha muttered a word and her staff began to glow. She pushed it inside the entrance to the hole, giving light to the darkness within. The edges of the circle cast by Lesha’s spell revealed a small staircase that descended into an antechamber slightly larger than the clearing above, carved with a skill and delicacy that rivaled the works of Orzammar, or even Kal-Sharok. At the other end of the chamber, a doorway and a second staircase beyond that which spiraled into the darkness, the entire space lit by the glow of lyrium. And above the entrance, written in dwarven runes, a single word—Hormok.

-- Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights, Horrors of Hormak (p. 86)

Which then gave me pause and had me rereading and looking back at the map. Because the maps looked like they were straight and didn't initially give the impression of any verticality to them. Until you look in the corner. That's when it clicked for me and the mountains suddenly made more sense.

And now I'm screaming about it here. Because both maps are depicting a small chunk of mountain(s) in the Frostbacks. Which, for reference, my wip of the Deep Roads looked like this.

If you follow BioWare's scale of 1 square = 15 miles / 24 km - if the Deep Roads were in working order the journey to the anvil would only be roughly around 2.5-3 days journey. However, we know to get to the anvil and back to Orzammar is a month-long trip. So, with the darkspawn and collapsed tunnels it becomes a 2-week journey there and 2 weeks back. Which is quite a large jump in travel times.

I have a personal scale based on population size, megafauna, and the fact that it is supposed to take over a week to get to the Circle from Orzammar on the surface, among other travel time increments. Which makes each square 38 mi / 61 km. A 4-5 day journey from the anvil to the void when functioning.

Now, I think this map still holds up in terms of placement considering that mountains can have a wide footprint and the map on the Origins Deep Roads has at least two major peaks and a plateau, whereas the ttrpg just has one major peak and a couple of smaller ones. The ttrpg map also speaks of ravines and such so it fits the geography.

But yeah, long story short I need to revise some of my methodology; and maybe rescale the map, so things aren't super tiny.

#dragon age #dragon age maps #deep roads #dwarves #thaigs #dragon age origins #dragon age tabletop #dao #da ttrpg #long post #no cut because if I'm here you're here lost in the deep roads with me #archi is yelling

[finelyageddragons]

Once again thinking about a dwarven warden who is unphased in the face of darkspawn, who shows no fear in the face of Fereldan's boogeyman after having lived with them outside their doors and especially as an Aeducan who might even relish getting to fight them and have vengeance for their empire. Imagine how much they would inspire not just their fellow wardens but all their companions and allies meeting this enemy with such ferocity to save this home on the surface after having been raised on stories of how their last home was stolen by this same evil. I also love to imagine this great, unstoppable warrior suddenly leaping back at the sight of the undead and fight with a new frenzy of not rage but fear and disgust, with an even deeper hatred. Having been raised worshipping ancestors and living in grief of a stolen history and finding peace in the promise of a peaceful end embraced by the home that could never be stolen, the Stone, this warden is now seeing corpses rise, that rest stolen, the glory of their life ripped away so they can become servants of some dark magic. The undead is always unnatural to everyone but for a dwarf, the undead aren't just corpses, they're everything they value corrupted and sent back like a some ungodly evil. If the darkspawn are humanity's demons then the undead are the dwarves' devils.

#dragon age #dragon age origins #warden aeducan #aeducan #dragon age dwarves

[sesamenom]

Some design sketches for Bilbo and Lobelia, plus a bonus thorin

#not silm #the hobbit #lotr #lord of the rings #bilbo #lobelia #thorin #lobelia is honestly rather like bilbo #only she steals shiny things from the neighbors instead of from a dragon halfway across the continent #imagine a world in which lobelia was chosen as the burglar though #...would that mean lotho pimple gets to go on the whole ring journey #bc while lobelia definitely would have stabbed more people than bilbo (see: hitting orcs with an umbrella at like age ninety) #lotho would definitely have died before he even reached the anduin #ok but imagine thranduil and thorin doing their whole starving in the woods back and forth routine #lobelia just standing there invisibly #and then the moment thranduil turns his back #*BONK* #legolas makes a surprise cameo as a drunk guy in the background getting hit over the head with a pommel #but then they wouldnt have actually made it out of menegroth lite because they would all be locked up #on the other hand then elrond and gandalf would be at the next white council meeting like hey? thranduil? where are the dwarves + hobbit

[murmel-malt]

it’s warden time 💙

#my art #dragon age #dragon age origins #dragon age fanart #dragon age origins fanart #warden brosca #dragon age dwarves #bioware #grey warden #hero of ferelden #dwarf warden #dwarf commoner origin #when you have the need to make a new warden but EA won't let you play Origins #2 and inquisition work just fine only origins doesn't #i am big mad

[hawkeharel]

why are dragon age dwarf skeletons literally this

#dragon age #dragon age origins #dwarf #dwarves #dragon age memes #orzammar

[dankinthedas]

varric: This reminds me of a story.

inquisitor: Shocking.

varric: It’s about an impossibly handsome dwarf and his friend who get crowned King of the Nugs.

inquisitor: A nug king, really?

varric: It’s not as good as it sounds. Nugs mostly just shit on the floor and roll in it. Welcome to the Deep Roads.

blackwall: Always wondered if I’d die down here.

inquisitor: You’re not dead yet.

blackwall: The day’s just starting.

solas: Dwarves cannot dream, yet they devise the most fascinating inventions.

inquisitor: Not all ideas come from the Fade.

solas: True. But these designs must be inspired by something.

~WELCOME TO THE DEEP ROADS

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #dai #thedas #the inquisition #solas dai #solas da3 #solas dragon age #blackwall dragon age #blackwall dai #varric dai #varric dragon age #varric #varric tethras #the deep roads #dwarves #dwarven ruins

[bhaalspawnshitposting]

The contrast between Broodmother, and the fertility to produce an army of soldiers forced against her will, vs the anvil, and the inability to create any manmade life, so it must be stolen. Both are being used for such a twisted purpose, war, slavery, and the exploitation of women and men. The act of creation itself corrupted and done through force, while he true act of creation being based in love and motherhood.

"No mere smith, however skilled, has the power to create life"

Not to mention, Broodmother is entirely organic, as it is, opposite the anvil. The anvil can claim creation, but it is really transmutation. Broodmother can claim creation, but even Hespith calls it the darkspawn *remaking Laryn in their image*

Its just such a good trope that I've never seen in horror, and they make such good foils of each other one immediately after the other, how both darkspawn and greed corrupt even the most holy and well-intentioned acts. It makes sense when you consider the darkspawn are the Golden City's reflection of man's sins.

#broodmother #hespith #laryn #anvil of the void #branka #deep roads #golems #dwarves #orzammar #dragon age #dragon age origins #dao #dai #da2 #bioware

[illusivesoul]

Something I hadn't considered until now is how brutal the mission to kill Jarvia and most of the Carta in Orzammar is for Brosca. I'll never forget the emotional gut punch that was having to fight and kill Leske, who is probably only true friend Brosca has ever had in all their life (I remember desperately searching if there was a dialogue option or something to let him live but there is none), but I also just thought that Brosca must have known most, if not all of those Carta members that we fight through the mission.

And knowing how the casteless are pretty much cut off from the rest of Orzammar's society and most are forced into a life of crime, Brosca must have known and possibly have been friends or at least care for for a lot of the Carta members, and also possibly have worked with them often under orders from Beraht and Jarvia.

Then after becoming a Warden, returning to Orzammar and under orders from either Harrowmont or Bhlen, they have to go to their old home in Dust Town and kill Jarvia (who was alledgely planning to use her growing power in Orzammar to force the Assembly to recognize the rights of the casteless), Leske and pretty much everyone else they knew during their many years growing up and while being a part of the Carta.

Just another bit of tragedy for Brosca's story.

#dragon age #warden brosca #brosca #dragon age origins #orzammar #dragon age dwarves #dragon age meta #dragon age lore #dwarf commoner #dwarf commoner origin #beraht #jarvia #rica brosca #dust town #dao #da:o #da: o #da o #da origins #aeducan #harrowmont #bhelen aeducan #pyral harrowmont

[mrkida-art]

My first upload I ever made on twitter under my Mr.Kida handle back in 2021 featuring a young king Thrór, it also was my first proper tolkien related art piee that I had made in years. I wasn't sure what sort of style I wanted to work with so it sort of became a mix of my more stylized work and my more realistic stuff. Wanted to make sure to post this here as well in case twiter dies, so expect a lot of "older" work from me the coming days.

#my art #thrór #king thrór #durin's folk #erebor #longbeards #the hobbit #tolkien #lotr #the lord of the rings #the rings of power #trop #silmarillion #dwarves #sons of durin #thorin's family #I remember I wanted him to look capable but still young #since he became a king at such a young age after the dragons took over his home #or well #the cold drakes if you wanna be specific

[plaguebeasts]

"Vharen

Don't listen to what Harrowmont is telling you. His men haven't visited Dust Town in weeks- why should they? It's not like they're going to find anything new. Everybody who's been questioned had a different answer for where Rica was supposedly headed so either she's given them false information to cover her tracks or the brands are just making shit up in the hopes that they'll get a reward.

Face the facts, cousin: she's gone. Took what's left of the Brosca family and disappeared to the surface. They probably started going by new names. You're not gonna find her unless she decides to make contact someday. I know things haven't been easy between us since Bhelen's death, but I'm not telling you this to cause grief. I don't want you wasting the rest of your life in a hopeless search for someone who doesn't want to be found.

Be safe, Piotin Aeducan"

-A letter found in the Warden-Commander's chambers at Vigil's Keep, tucked away in a desk drawer. The paper is creased and worn, like someone has been constantly re-reading it over the past several years.

#digital art #art #dragon age #dragon age fanart #fanart #dragon age origins #my art #dwarves #fantasy #rica brosca #karlah brosca #endrin jr #brosca #aeducan #orzammar #thedas #codex entry