How the Blights Started - First Blight - Dragon Age Lore DOCUMENTARY

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Writer: Leo Stone
Illustration and Animation: Lito Areta
Map: Adam Ellis Charters
Editing: Kamran Maharramli
Producer: Nurlan Karimov

#Lore #Fantasy #DragonAge

[DarkKing]

The Brood mothers and how the darkspawn are created are terrifying

[keirangray]

In War, Victory
In Peace, Vigilance
In Death, Sacrifice

[JohnnyElRed]

Even when they save the world, the Grey Wardens constantly seem to be getting the short end of the stick. And I'm not even talking about their blight curse. I'm talking about how ungrateful the kingdoms of Thedas could act towards them.

[hangebza]

The dragon age setting (Thedas) has been one of the most interesting fantasy settings of the last decades IMO. Glad it gets its own section in this series

[sivanlevi]

Seven dragons, seven mages, and the seven deadly sins reflected in both them and the demons in the Fade.

[Xylarxcode]

Can't help but wonder how the Grey Wardens initially discovered that some people could be immune to the taint. Most people who ingest darkspawn blood die instantly. When Daveth ingested the blood, he keeled over dead in a matter of seconds and it horrified Joren so much, he refused to partake and preferred to die by Duncan's sword instead. So, at some point during the First Blight, someone must have ingested some Darkspawn blood in a battle and managed to survive somehow, realizing that he could now sense them and started to have dreams of the Archdemon. Must have been a hell of a struggle for that guy to convince people of it, when everyone can clearly see how ingesting Darkspawn blood results in instant and painful deaths.
I imagine he had to prove his worth to them over and over again, predicting where Darkspawn would strike and where they would come from, time and time again. Eventually, he'd have enough pull to convince people in charge that it's possible for some to survive the ingestion of Darkspawn blood, but it was insanely risky. Desperate times being what they were, the people went for it anyway and thus the Order of the Gray Wardens was born.
Imagine being that first guy, though. You're on the battlefield, fighting for your life. It's not going well and you're being overrun by superior numbers. You fight and fight until you are eventually overwhelmed as well and you go down swinging at the creature that's about to kill you. By some mad stroke of luck, you manage to deliver a killing blow with your final strike, but in the process of doing so, some of its blood sprays into your mouth and you prepare for what you believe will be your immediate and painful death. Instead, what you get is a prophetic dream of the Archdemon. And then what you know to be impossible happens. You wake up on the now deserted battlefield, alive and well. Not only that, but you can 'feel' where the Darkspawn horde move off to and which direction they took their battle in. You look around, confused and bewildered, but knowing that somehow, some way your charge isn't over yet. So you pick up your nearby sword and you head towards the nearest signs of battle, having absolutely no idea you're about to set history in motion in a major way and forever swing the balance of power around for all humanity.

[mikeshogunlee]

The First Blight is honestly an underrated epic. Not in the world of Thadus obviously, but in our real life world.
Dumat ravaged the world for 200 years but in between that, there is so many tales of Desperate Battles for Survival, Defiant Last Stands, and Determined Heroes that never let hope die.

My favorite story from this era, (leaked or imagined) by a writer for the Dragon Age RPG Core Rulebook;
is of how a Barbarian Prince of the South marched an army all the way to the heart of the Imperium in a vein attempt to stop the First Archdemon Dumat.
Because this line was given in but a brief mention of the many attempts from non-wardens to kill Dumat, we do not get his motivation for doing so. He could have been offered glory by the imperium, he could have been executing a pre-emptive strike in defense of his homeland, or maybe he was a genuine hero who wanted to save the world from the blight.
Regardless, in an epic battle between the Barbarian Prince and Dumat, the Barbarians gave their lives far from home to defend a land not their own. In the battle not even 100 years into the First Blight, the Barbarian Prince managed to kill Dumat in his heroic last stand, giving his life to stop the Evil god.
and then Dumat was spotted again a couple days later, leading his horde south.

[JW-jdsn]

The best feeling in dragon age origins is when you could actually kill your first dragon enemy. You felt badass at that point

[kevintierney]

I'm so glad Wizards and Warriors is growing. I never doubted you hard workers

Also, I'm still amazed that Bioware got away with actually putting the Broodmothers in a game. Don't know if they could get away with that these days, M rating or not

[nintendoRD]

Really enjoying this series! Brings back fond memories of Dragon Age: Origins

[darkinnovator]

That is one tale of Dumat's death, another tale is the theory that Andraste was the OGB (Old God Baby) of Dumat as she was born later that year.

[spectreagent]

Great video! One lore correction: the old gods were not imprisoned underground for luring the magisters to the Golden City ("the second sin"); they were already imprisoned for turning men against the Maker ("the original sin") and wanted Corypheus to free them by claiming the throne.

[WardenNFG]

Nothing like some Dragon Age lore that isnt about Solas to put a smile on my face.

[AbyssalZones]

Another good video. Again, only a couple of mistakes. Chantry theology is that, by this point, the Maker had long ago already imprisoned the Old Gods beneath the earth for turning the hearts of mankind away from the Maker. The Tevinter Magisters had only ever encountered the Old Gods in the Fade, but they believed that the Golden City was the Throne of the Gods. The Chant of Light says that they weren't there at all, it was always the Seat of the Maker. Since you did talk about Broodmothers, I'm not sure where the idea that "any who beheld the tainted Magisters became Darkspawn" comes from. It's not mentioned in the Chant of Light or in any other source of lore I know.

[lukecreed]

I love me some Dragon Age lore! And to think, there are still so many unknown things about Darkspawn, the Black City, the possible relationship between Tevinter Old Gods and Elven "Gods"...
It's no wonder you find people still churning out theories about the DA universe.

[Wkumar]

I just started playing Dragon Age Origins again after many years of not even thinking about it. Within the opening scenes I was quickly reminded how good the story is.

[StonedHunter]

'Venom' is such a perfect comparison for the darkspawn taking the Deep Roads especially with everything we've been learning about the potential true origins of the Blight and Red Lyrium. Would definitely love to see you cover Dwarven history as much as possible. The Dwarves have been largely ignored for so long, though we have been getting a bit more thanks to Descent and Tevinter Nights. I hope the trend continues into Dreadwolf.

[boodstain]

It makes me sad we'll never see anything like the DAO setting again in Dragon Age because modern Bioware no longer wants Dragon Age to be a Dark Fantasy, which is why the Blight is now treated like side villains nowadays. Bioware has forgotten the Grey Wardens and thus they are at risk of a blight.

[Kentchangar]

What an appropriate timing! I've just started Dragon Age Inquisition :)

[irons]

Love that you guys are continuing to cover Dragon Age lore. Finished watching the Netflix series so I want context of the world as a whole.