“It resembled a dragon in outward form, but no dragon was ever so terrible within. Darkness crackled around it, and darkness was its soul.[1]”
Archdemons are creatures believed to be the Old Gods manifested in the form of powerful and terrifying dragons and tainted by darkspawn.
Background
No one knows what it is that drives the darkspawn in their relentless search for the sleeping Old Gods. Perhaps it is instinct, as moths will fly into torch flames. Perhaps there is some remnant of desire for vengeance upon the ones who goaded the magisters to assault heaven. Whatever the reason, when darkspawn find one of these ancient dragons, it is immediately afflicted by the taint. It awakens twisted and corrupted, and leads the darkspawn in a full-scale invasion of the land: a Blight.
—From Codex entry: ArchdemonArchdemons possess an intelligence far beyond the average dragon and are purely evil creatures.[2] Most of the time, the darkspawn are organized as a simple hive-mind, concerned only with expanding the horde. They rarely appear on the surface, except in raids and small invasions. Similarly, the Archdemon rarely fights on the surface during Blights unless direct intervention is necessary, though through the hive-mind, the Archdemon communicates with and commands the entire horde whether in their presence or not, usually sending its orders to the emissaries[3] or powerful hurlock generals;[4] Grey Wardens often "hear" the Archdemon in their dreams, veteran Wardens even claiming to understand parts of the Archdemon's speech.[5]
A Blight begins when the darkspawn find and taint an Old God, who then unites them into a great horde and unleashes them onto the surface in both smaller groupings and large armies. The tainted Old God is now referred to as an Archdemon and a Blight will not end until it is destroyed. Without an Archdemon to command them, the darkspawn flee back underground. After a period of time, they search for another Old God to turn into an Archdemon and thus starting the cycle again.[5]
Prior to the beginning of the Dragon Age there had been four previous Blights, each led by an Archdemon, Dumat, Zazikel, Toth, and Andoral, respectively.
Since the dwarves managed to fend off the darkspawn invasion after the First Blight, no Archdemon has led a Blight against them. Instead, the dwarves consider the Blight to be something of a respite, as all darkspawn activity is focused on the surface.
It is revealed by Solas that the Archdemons were not in fact the Old Gods themselves, but rather dragon thralls bound to a specific member of the Elven pantheon (the Evanuris), who were known as the Old Gods to the ancient Tevinters. In ancient Arlathan, the Evanuris bound the life force of high dragons to themselves for power and protection. While their respective dragon thrall lives, the Evanuris is effectively immortal and impossible to kill.
After the Evanuris were imprisoned in the Fade, they used their dragon thralls as conduits to speak to the ancient Tevinters in dreams.[6] Thus, the personalities of the Evanuris speaking through their dragon thralls formed the concept of the Old Gods. The term "Archdemon" is used in modern Thedas to describe the dragon thralls that have risen to lead blights. The Evanuris themselves simply refer to their dragons as their thralls, although they also had names for them, which became the names of the Old Gods.[7][8] Each Archdemon is different, shaped by the whims of its master. For example, the Archdemon Lusacan is huge to reflect the ego of its master, Elgar'nan.[9]
When an Evanuris is trapped sleeping in the Fade, the death of the corresponding Archdemon causes a magical feedback that breaks the Evanuris' body and mind. Therefore, following the deaths of the Archdemons Dumat, Zazikel, Toth, Andoral, and Urthemiel, the corresponding Evanuris members Dirthamen, Falon'Din, Sylaise, Andruil, and June, who were still imprisoned in the Fade when their archdemons were slain, either died or at best became shells of their former selves.[10]
Involvement
Dragon Age: Origins
Urthemiel is first glimpsed by the Warden after their Joining ceremony, although the other Fereldan Grey Wardens, such as Warden-Commander Duncan, had felt his presence since before their engagements at Ostagar.[11] Urthemiel appears in the Warden's dreams after first leaving Lothering.
While traveling through the Dead Trenches, it is encountered in the flesh for the first time from a distance, leading the bulk of the darkspawn horde. Sometime before Arl Eamon Guerrin called the Landsmeet, the Archdemon appears again in the Warden's dreams the same night he has send a group of shrieks assassins to kill both the Warden and Alistair in their camp while they are traveling across Ferelden.
The Warden discovers on the eve of the Battle of Denerim that the Archdemon may only be killed by a Grey Warden. If killed by anyone else (as Riordan explains), its soul will escape to the nearest darkspawn (who are soulless), making it practically immortal (barring the impractical eradication of every darkspawn in existence). However, if a Grey Warden strikes the killing blow, the soul will assail that Warden's taint—causing both souls to be destroyed. As the senior Grey Warden present, Riordan acknowledges his duty to make the first attempt.
After this revelation, Morrigan waits in the Warden's bedroom to offer a deal. The premise here is that a Warden's taint will transfer to the pregnancy, and this will lure the escaping soul to be bound into the unborn child, free of the taint, rather than the standard mutual destruction with its slayer.
When the Warden reaches Redcliffe, they are informed the Archdemon has been sighted near Denerim. Thus Ferelden's capital becomes the site of the final battle. This is where the Warden will call all allies that have been gained previously.
Urthemiel is sighted some time after reaching Denerim, flying over the city followed by a charge of human soldiers. It is next seen from the Elven Alienage as the Warden leaves, after either killing or avoiding the Hurlock General there. Urthemiel flies overhead and destroys the bridge, making backtracking impossible for the 'primary' party.
At this point Riordan will be atop a tower dealing with his own group of darkspawn. The Archdemon swoops past the tower, and Riordan jumps onto its back, maintaining his position by stabbing his sword into various points in its body. Urthemiel attempts to 'skim' a tower, forcing Riordan to jump onto its right wing. It then flies directly upward, sending Riordan into a fatal fall, but not before he inflicts a massive wound which forces it to land atop Fort Drakon, where the remaining Wardens can finish it off.
When the Warden reaches the top of the fortress, the Archdemon is busy demolishing soldiers. This leads to the final fight of the Fifth Blight in which Urthemiel is struck down by the two remaining Grey Wardens of Ferelden.
The Darkspawn Chronicles
In a non-canonical narrative in which the Warden died at Ostagar and Alistair traveled onwards without his comrade, the Archdemon summoned the Hurlock vanguard to lead the other, mindless darkspawn to victory at the Battle of Denerim. Urthemiel whispers directly to the Vanguard's mind, ordering him to destroy key points of the city or specific enemies during the battle.
After its battle against Riordan, sensing Alistair's approach and aware of its own injuries, the Archdemon demanded the Vanguard's presence at the top of Fort Drakon immediately. After the Vanguard killed Alistair in the ensuing battle, Urthemiel, having regenerated from its injuries, flew off to destroy the rest of Ferelden unopposed.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Archdemon Prisons
A few of the high-ranking Grey Wardens know the locations of each of the Archdemon prisons; however, they are deep underground and cannot easily be accessed by the Wardens without cutting through thousands of darkspawn. Even the Wardens who hold the knowledge of the Archdemon prisons are not necessarily aware of how this information has been acquired.[12]
According to a report sent by Kardol of the Legion of the Dead to Orzammar's Shaperate, he accidentally discovered a cavern beneath the Heidrun Turning which was accessible via tunnels dug by darkspawn claws. The cavern smells foul and claw marks are ripped into the rock. There are also several darkspawn corpses dried out with their heads pressed against the stone, as if they were praying. Furthermore, the darkspawn could not follow the Legionnaires inside the empty cavern but the Legionnaires also started feeling numb and dizzy. Kardol believes this was a prison of an Archdemon, its echo still lasts to this day.[13]
Beneath the Shimmer Stone Mine there is a dwarven thaig which the Wardens believe to contain another Archdemon Prison, they were guided to it by listening to the Calling.[14]
However in both locations the ground is notably extremely weak and prone to cave-ins. In both cases the Legionnaires and the Wardens lost men as a result of this.
Codex entries
Codex entry: Archdemon
Codex entry: Dumat, the Dragon of Silence
Codex entry: The Mason's Tales: The Archdemon- Codex entry: The Old Gods
- Codex entry: To Be Corrupted
Note texts
See also
References
- ↑ Dragon Age: Last Flight, Chapter 5.
- ↑ Dragon Age (tabletop RPG), Core Rulebook, p. 293
- ↑ "Emissary". Official BioWare site. Retrieved January 28, 2012.
- ↑ The Archdemon talks directly with the Hurlock vanguard in The Darkspawn Chronicles DLC
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 According to dialogue with Alistair in Dragon Age: Origins
- ↑ Solas: "But their dragons were the conduit through which they spoke to dreaming minds." (dialogue in the quest The Siege of Weisshaupt).
- ↑ Codex entry: Elgar'nan's Handwritten Account
- ↑ Ghilan'nain: They stole Razikale from me, Elgar'nan. My greatest creation! ("Fire and Ice" mission in Veilguard)
- ↑ Solas: "Each is different, shaped by the whims and ego of its master. Elgar'nan is the lord of tyranny...His Archdemon reflects him. It is huge, to feed his ego..." (dialogue in the quest The Siege of Weisshaupt).
- ↑ John Epler (Dec. 4, 2024). Reddit AMA response: "We haven't been SUPER specific about this, but at best the other Evanuris are a shadow of their former selves, and at worst they're dead. The death of their Archdemons, particularly when they were still trapped in the Fade, caused enough magical feedback that it broke their minds and bodies. A couple may have survived as shells, but they aren't in the same state as Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan."
- ↑ According to dialogue with Duncan while in Ostagar.
- ↑ Dragon Age: The Calling, Chapter 10. Bregan, former Commander of the Grey in Orlais, knows the location of the prisons.
- ↑
Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol. 2, p. 106
- ↑ Note: Ancient Warden Logbook
| ||||||||||||||||