Dragon Age is not a franchise afraid of mixing and matching influences, and it has many fantasy staples like elves and dwarves as well as original creations of the series. One of the most interesting races of Thedas is the darkspawn, the swarming humanoid creatures that pour out of the dwarven Deep Roads to blight the land.
The darkspawn are reminiscent of orcish or zombie hordes from other fantasy media. There are certainly similarities that are worth diving into, but there are also some key differences that may hint at the future of the Dragon Age franchise and some of the mysteries it has yet to fully unveil.
The darkspawn live mostly in the Deep Roads, the abandoned dwarven tunnels which used to connect their empire before being overrun. They are at constant war with the few now isolated remaining dwarven kingdoms like Orzammar from Dragon Age: Origins, though their numbers usually only become overwhelming during a Blight.
A Blight takes place when the darkspawn are able to find and corrupt one of the Old Gods, ancient dragons imprisoned deep underground. The Old God then rises as an archdemon to lead the next Blight. The darkspawn’s blood has a quality known as the taint, which allows this Archdemon to communicate to the horde. The Blight which takes place in Dragon Age: Origins is the Fifth Blight, leaving only two Old Gods which have yet to be found by the darkspawn: Razikale and Lusacan.
The darkspawn reproduce using broodmothers, captured women who are fed the taint and turned into ghouls–people who have contracted the darkspawn taint. The Grey Wardens gain the ability to defeat Archdemons by drinking darkspawn blood and, if they survive, taking on a form of resistance to the taint. This joining ritual kills many who undergo it, and even those that survive suffer nightmares as the Archdemon calls its underlings. After contracting the taint, a Grey Warden is expected to live around another 10 to 30 years before the Calling, which lures them into the Deep Roads in search of the Old Gods just like the darkspawn they swore to defeat.
The dwarves, who have the most interaction with the darkspawn of the races of Thedas, make no claims about the origins of the creatures. The Chantry, however, has a very specific account of how the darkspawn were created and why.
The Tevinter Imperium is the oldest human empire on the continent of Thedas, and worshipped the Old Gods until 10 years after the execution of the Chantry’s Prophet Andraste. In -395 Ancient, the top Tevinter priests, known as the seven Magister Sidereal, attempted to physically enter the Fade. The Fade is the world of magic and dreams, separates by the Veil, erected by the Dread Wolf before humans arrived on Thedas. The magisters believed that by reaching the Golden City in the Fade, they would reach the seat of the Old Gods.
However, according to the Chantry, the Golden City is the seat of the Maker, the sole creator of the universe. The Chantry claims that when the Magisters Sidereal entered the Golden City, their pride corrupted it, turning it black. The magisters were then corrupted with the taint, the Old Gods imprisoned, and the First Blight began. It is the Chantry’s mantra that the Maker will not return to the Golden City until the Chant of Light is sung from all corners of the world. The First Blight lasted nearly a century, devastating the human and dwarven kingdoms of Thedas.
One of the Magisters Sidereal, Corypheus, returns as the villain of Dragon Age: Inquisition after appearing in DA2 DLC. While he affirms that the Magisters Sidereal pierced the Veil and entered the Fade, he claims that the Maker’s throne was empty when they arrived. It is unclear how he explains his own exposure to the taint and the creation of the first darkspawn.
The Architect, one of the other surviving magisters, appears in Awakening. The Architect discovered that by giving the darkspawn themselves the Grey Wardens’ resistance to the taint, darkspawn can be inoculated to the calls of the Old Gods and become able to talk and think tactically.
The darkspawn are similar to zombies in many ways. They swarm in large hordes, they are apparently mostly mindless until awakened, and they are created from the different races of Thedas. Ogres, for example, were created from the kossith – the precursors to the qunari – who arrived in the Korcari Wilds in -410 Ancient.
However, unlike most iterations of zombies from movies, the darkspawn aren’t just following instincts but the specific commands of the Old Gods and the Archdemon of each Blight. While the taint affects areas that the darkspawn have moved through, it also doesn’t turn creatures into darkspawn directly, only transforming survivors into ghouls, with darkspawn themselves only coming from a broodmother.
They are similar to orcs in some ways as well, particularly Tolkien’s orcs Twisted corruptions of the mortal races, the darkspawn origins resemble Tolkien’s origins for the orcs, created by corrupting elves. However, the Dragon Age games raise more questions about the true origins and potential intelligence of its villains.
Many questions still remain about the darkspawn. Were they really created as a punishment by the Maker, or was their creation part of the Old Gods’ plans all along? Is there any way to stop the Calling from luring Grey Wardens to their death, as Morrigan suggests in Dragon Age: Inquisition? If the Chant of Light is sung from all corners of the world will the Blights end, or would this happen anyway if the final two Archdemons were defeated? Is there a chance that the darkspawn can be freed, and if they are, could they be even more dangerous?
Dragon Age 4 will likely see players travel to Tevinter, and will very likely deal with the Dread Wolf’s attempts to bring down the Veil he put up between the material world and the Fade. Between its plot and its setting, the next game could answer some of the biggest questions about the darkspawn and the future of Thedas.
Dragon Age 4 is in development now.
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