Setiweb i never liked that Alistair could take the throne.. it seemed like an insult to the Grey Warden Order..

Setiweb I tried to marry Anora in Dragon Age origin and I thought it worked but when I imported to Dragon age awakening Alistair took the throne and my wife away from me! IT WAS A COUP!

lol, that's awkward :D still, it's good to be Prince consort :3 never like the responsibility of a true King, but i'll enjoy all it's privileges as my competent Lovey's boy toy :D

In relation to the first Wardens: From the wiki: "While archdemon blood is typically used, blood of other darkspawn creatures can also be magically treated to make it function in the ritual."

where does it say that? source?

Grey wardens can defeat it because they absorb the archdemons soul and die

Yea, I was just answering a question in the video: "Where did the first warden found the archdemon's blood for the joining ritual?"

LovelyQyla I think they could possible got it from our old friend Flemeth, supposing she is an old god, and she helps the warden in origins in so much that whatever her goal is? A blight wont help her achieve it. "Is it fate or chance? I can never decide"

Luke McInerny I dont think that the first warden really could get it from flemeth ... since wardens were founded in Ancient age and felemth was born in Towers age in ferelden which is actually two ages apart

Here, let me put my thoughts down for ya. I guess I should have been more detailed in my original answer. To start: it most likely took several tries for the Wardens to figure out the Joining ritual. They essentially used the same magic that Dumat taught them, blood magic, in order to do the ritual. We don't know if that was the exact same ritual that the Wardens do today. That being said, I challenge the potency of a corpse in which an Archdemon has possessed. And these are my reasons why: 1. *Dumat was tainted. He was not an original carrier of the taint.* The soul is a spiritual/mental/etc manifestation. When an Old God transfers to a new body, will he force himself to become tainted again? In the prison, the Darkspawn used their taint to awaken and free the Old God of their choosing. The original Dragon deity becomes an Archdemon - he is not one himself. To further illustrate my point, let me note that according to the Chantry (and to an extent, Corypheus), the Magisters are the ones who brought the taint. Not the Old Gods. 2. *We don't know what bodies were killed in the process. Or if those bodies were tainted at all.* It's quite possible that one of his bodies could not have had the taint. Morrigan's son Urthemiel is prime example of this, as he is completely free from the taint entirely. The only way a secondary/third/fourth/etc body would have the taint is if Dumat willingly took it. But the real question is... 3. *Do the Old Gods need Darkspawn blood?* Doubt it. Once they are awoken, they have their own power. They're powerful in their own right. I could be wrong, but these things just make sense to me in all sense of the lore. There's a gaping hole in the truth of what happened with the Golden City. I'm just trying to piece things together.

I thought that Dumat had died more than once during the first blight. Hence how they learned you couldn't kill Dumat in a normal way. Dumat died more than once before the Grey Wardens were formed and end his threat for good. Also, keep in mind that the Archdemons names are the chantrys story. Its not clear at all what the Archdemons actually are. The Chantry's story might just be that, a story that has nothing to do with the truth.

Ashe | Lady Insanity I am guessing that Dumat was slain, but took over a body of a darkspawn, leaving his blood-filled dragon corpse behind. Probably, at some point, the Grey Wardens (or rather, their predecessors), determined that blood magic involving the blood from an Arch Demon's dragon corpse was required to give them the magical ability to end Dumat once and for all... Perhaps Dumat was slain many times before this was determined. In any case, the First Blight was ended, and so I assume they destroyed Dumat using the Joining Ritual and sacrificing the slayer of the Arch Demon so that Dumat would be destroyed and the Blight ended... Had this not occurred, logic dictates that the 1st Blight would not have ended, and the world would have eventually been destroyed by the blight!

Ashe | Lady Insanity The soul and body of the Old god is tainted by the Darkspawn. It takes an ancient magic, apparently known only by Flemeth (Who may be an old god herself?) to purify the soul through the special ritual utilized by Morrigan. The corpse of the Old god (dragon corpse) retains the taint even after the "soul" is destroyed by the grey warden sacrifice, thus, logic dictates that it would also retain the taint after the soul of the old god travels into the body of a Dark Spawn after it's dragon body is slain! Thus, the ancients could have used some of the tainted arch demon blood to utilize the joining ritual after the soul of the arch demon possessed the body of a dark spawn!

What I don't understand is that originally, in Origins, it is stated that ANY darkspawn blood can be used to make a Grey Warden(with obviously the blood ritual for the Joining), but now suddenly I'm hearing that Archdemon blood is needed? Unless I am hearing that wrong?

Especially since she's described as "young" in the anime movie.

After Riordan reveals the truth about the Archdemon: When the first Blight began, many brave men and women threw themselves at Dumat, the first archdemon, trying to strike him down. But no matter the numbers, no matter their strength, he would always return. This was proof, some said, of his divine power. But the Grey Wardens soon learned otherwise. Their tainted blood bound them to the archdemon, and they could hear it, feel it, as it died and was born anew, its spirit drawn to possess the nearest tainted creature. The darkspawn were mindless, soulless, empty shells of flesh that could be bent and remade in the dragon's image. But a man... a man's soul was not so malleable. When a Warden's hand struck a fatal blow against Dumat, the Old God's spirit was drawn not to a darkspawn but to the man who had slain him. In that moment, the souls of both the Warden and the archdemon were utterly destroyed. And the dragon rose no more. The Blight was over. DAO Codex entry: Archdemon

So in a sense she might be a little like... Lelliana in DA:O? You can harden her and make her turn a blind eye on some of the Chantry's teachings, or you can strengthen her faith.

The Inquisition is a neutral party and Gaider himself tweeted "If someone prefers to believe that's what their character is [Atheist], more power to 'em."

Cassandra isn't bi, just straight. Or that's what I hear, anyway.

Fair point! I don't mean to have people already affix an impression of Cassandra or any other character. I'm just here to shed perspective on how Cassandra has a deeper connection to the world's events and its people than what the games lead on :)

Ashe | Lady Insanity Thanks for replying and again a great job with the video. I just have personally found that speculation can sometimes be a double edged sword on the Internet as sometimes it can lead to a build up to something that may end up not being there or spoil a segment somewhat if events don't go the way you were hoping. Plus not having a preconceived notion of what will happen will add more surprise for the games story when I finally play it.

It was confirmed that the soldiers at the doors were all Grey Wardens. Sure, it could be a curious edit that she wasn't particularly attacking that Keep (like they did with Crestwood village and Varric) but I'm just going off the progression of events seen in the trailer.

They more than likely will be coming back, just not as companions. Shale, according to the books, is a dwarf now, and Sten is now Arishok.

Thank you for some hope but does it explain how Shale is no longer a Golem?

Terry Valentine Yes. Her and Wynne do some studying. (I've never read the book, just summaries of it on the Dragon Age Wikia. Here's Shale's page on it: dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Shale . The page does not mention whether or not she is a dwarf now.)

After Masked Empire is released, I definitely will.

The Joining involves a concoction of darkspawn blood that also includes a drop of an Archdemon's blood which builds on its potency. During his short reign, Loghain confiscated many of the Ferelden possessions (including a reserve of purely Archdemon blood) which caused a bit of distress from Riordan. Because of its rarity, Archdemon blood is greatly treasured by the Wardens.

Nope. That's part of her DLC, Leliana's Song.

I played Leliana's dlc...It was so long ago though so, probably just forgot.

Ehh I don't think Leliana will just the Inquisition, but I think she'll definitely help out.

For a literal answer, the Right Hand is Cassandra and the Left Hand is Leliana. The hands of the Divine are special agents employed by the Divine to do what she sees fit. Higher power and authority than both the Seekers and Templars in the essence, but of course within the limits of the Chantry. Think of the US's secret service combined with CIA agents. But there's only two of them.

Ashe | Lady Insanity Oh ok, thanks Ashe! I appreciate it! That definitely makes more sense and thanks for that example with the CIA agents, that helped it click.

It involves a mixture of Darkspawn blood, lyrium, and a drop of the Archdemon's blood. I think when it came to Dumat, he had been slain repeatedly and his husks provided the blood necessary to provide the future Grey Wardens with the mix to master the taint to finally slay Dumat at the Silent Plains.

Aha, thank you

3 vials of Darkspawn blood, yes. But it's still treated with a drop of Archdemon blood.

Ashe | Lady Insanity ahhh ok, :) well if they only need a drop, then they don't need to kill dumat the first time, just survive a encounter, the blood in their weapons it will enough :)

Ashe | Lady Insanity They used magic instead of Archdemon blood at Ostagar. I'm pretty sure u hear Duncan mention the mages doing their deed...

KingRat543 In the Book of Thedas it mentions that senior wardens always carry a vial of Archdemon blood for emergencies; so maybe he had one as well?

Ashe | Lady Insanity in the lore they also tell that if anyone kills an archdemon but isnt a warden then the soul of the archdemon is simply transferred to the nearest darkspawn taking it over so i guess that they killed the archdemon a lot of times during the 100 years the first blight lasted which would give them plenty of oppertunity to gather blood besides in the dlc it is told that when an archdemon is killed they gather the blood and preserve it for later use which means hat they always can create new wardens or atleast as long as they have blood in store

dear ***** Dorothea was an orlesian chantry mother that had a "history" with Marjolane and also helped Leliana esape her torture room after captured. So you see she over qualifies for a Divine :P

we don't know...yet. my guess is if the warden refuse to help the inquisition the inquisitor can decide to force their hand by using force or diplomacy. it may result with a battle between those two factions.

Corypheus... WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?

MrRobertSama Corypheus - What I had to do.

remember in DA2 the Wardens are up to something and we know full well the lengths they are prepared to go to end the blights, point being we have no idea what's going on with the Wardens atm, they turn up at the oddest times in DA2 we're being told wink wink there is something going on here but remember Grey Wardens don't always have to be good guys in the traditional sense as their goal of ending the blights is paramount to them, one could see how that could potentially cause frictions with other factions