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[Dean_the_Young]

Weisshaupt Fortress: Prison of an Old God? Ramblings,
Musings, and Unfunded Conspiracies of the Wardens

 

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Let’s just start by admitting some things: no, there is no
conclusive evidence for this idea, and even calling a theory lends it too much
credence. But it might be possible, and may even be plausible, and is certainly
fun enough to consider.

 Also, a pre-emptive apology for any poor grammar, spelling, and formatting that might be present. I did only a brief spellcheck/reread of this before simply copy-pasting out of MS Word.









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Anderfels’ History of Darkspawn

 

To be honest about it, the Anderfels are Dragon Age’s Poland,
only worse. If there’s a Blight to be had, generally the Anderfels get the
worst of it: rebellions against Tevinter, three out of five Blights, and one of
the foremost regions for Darkspawn surface raids, it’s said that the Anderfel steppes
still have places where bodies from the first Blight lay unrotten, as not even
the smallest bits of life lives to consume them.

 

Yet, even so, it endures. The Anderfels are renowned as some
of the greatest fighters, the most solid of stalwarts, and, of course, the home
to the Grey Wardens, who live at the impregnable Weisshaupt fortress, a massive
fortress that stood a full Darkspawn siege and still stands strong and
maintained when so much of the world has forgotten why the Grey Wardens are
needed.

 

Before I continue, I just want to share a little history
with the readers, a history of the Anderfels and the unusual Darkspawn fixation
on that country.

 

Poor, poor Anderfels: the first and worst hit of all the
nations of Thedas (bar the dwarves) by the darkspawn. The first Blight, which
tore the heart out of the Tevinter Imperium, struck the Anderfels particularly
hard, leaving the steppes devoid of life in a way we are never told that the
rest of Tevinter is, even centuries after the Wardens were founded at
Weisshaupt. And in the Second Blight, the Anderfels were hit even more
directly, and Weisshaupt Fortress itself came under siege by the full force of
the hoard until relieved by the Orlesian Empire.

 

True, the Third Blight largely spared the Anderfels… thanks
to the geography of the Blight starting South and East in Tevinter and Orlais
and soon stopped by the quick action of the Wardens, but the Fourth Blight didn’t:
indeed, the Capital of the Anderfels, Hossberg, is placed under a great siege that
the famed Warden Garahel came to break.

 

In and of itself, none of these happenings are suspicious or
noteworthy except in scale: Blights are, after all, great and terrible events,
and many nations have suffered when Grey Wardens were not present, as the Anderfels
did during the First Blight.

 

But what is strange is the number of times that the
Anderfels are hit: three of the last five Blights have had the Hoard make its
presence known to the Anders first, more than any other nation. Even now, the
Anderfels is among the largest place on the surface for Darkspawn to surface
and raid, even though much larger and greater populations of humans live in
less devastated lands. For  so many darkspawn,
who breed most and easiest when attacking the most vulnerable of villages (and
women) in the most corruptible of lands, to repeatedly go to the Anders, one of
the most damaged and prepared areas, is suspicious. By the logic of diminishing
returns, and preparation by the surface, Darkspawn without objectives should
flourish otherplaces instead: places where they can steal more unguarded women
to provide more broodmothers to provide more darkspawn, as opposed to the well
garrisoned nation with a smaller population well used to their incursions.

 

For all their brutality and mindlessness outside of the
Blights, even Darkspawn show some sort of intelligence, some goal. And to date,
only one goal has truly directed Darkspawn outside of a Blight.

 

---

 

The Joining

 

The Anderfels aren’t only known for their history of
suffering, they are also known for being the birthplace of the Grey Wardens.
Ninety years after the Blight began, Weisshaupt Fortress is the place the
Wardens are conceived. No one outside of the Order knows of the Joining ritual,
and even fewer inside the Order know one of the key ingrediants necessary for
the Joining: a drop of an ArchDemon’s blood.

 

Now, that last point is a key to the rest of this contemplative
conspiracy, for the question comes ‘where did the Grey Wardens get this blood,
and in such supply to supply enough Warden across the continent in both Blight
and the centuries of peace in between?’ An obvious answer is ‘after slaying the
ArchDemon of course’, but while that might in part explain after the first
blight, during the creation of the Wardens it is not so clear.

 

An ArchDemon-Dragon (as opposed to an ArchDemon in the flesh
and blood of a nearby Darkspawn) only has so much blood, after all, and there
were no Wardens the first time Dumat was slain to know the value of the Dragon’s
blood for future recruiting efforts. Was Dumat slain in the first year of the
First Blight? The first six? Sixty? All we know is that the Wardens, and
consequently the Joining, were only finalized after the first ninety years of
the Blight. The knowledge, and the need, to save the Dragon’s blood from the first
kill would not be known until likely decades after it was spilt, and how much
would be preserved then?

 

How much could be preserved afterwards as well? That is
another question: while one drop of blood from a beast of that size is not
much, that is one drop per attempt, and the Wardens have needed many recruits
both in Blight and between, both in number and replacement due to the shortened
lifespan of the Wardens. And the Wardens have not shorted themselves on
recruits either in times of peace, as one would expect if supplies of ArchDemon
blood were so finite.

 

In the Anderfels, before the Joining was perfected, there
needed to be supplies for the experimentation: and as the Dragon Cultist ritual
implies, it is Dragon’s Blood which grants power. While mages like Avernus
might exploit the taint’s power, that power is exploitable from the ArchDemon’s
blood mixed with the rest, not the Darkspawn blood in and of itself, which is
simply toxic. It is a vicious circle: you get power from the corrupted dragon
that is an Old God: the Old God’s power is exploitable because its blood is
draconic. The blood of another Darkspawn, even one hosting the soul of an Old
God, is no more draconic than it was before.

 

Perhaps this is wrong. Perhaps the blood of a possessed
Darkspawn is sufficient: it would give at least a few more opportunities in
that first blight, even though each corpse of blood would only be achievable
after fighting an army to reach it. Long, bloody, but maybe achievable… if the
possessed corpse’s blood is sufficient.

 

But why would it be? We are never told the hosts turned back
into Dragons, to provide some sort of draconic blood to unleash the power. So
the question remains: where did the Wardens, in war and peace, get the blood
they needed to experiment as they did to perfect and continuing the Joining,
when stocks of ArchDemon blood would be rare and always declining?

 

And why, of all places, did the Grey Wardens come together and
stay together with that ritual in Weisshaupt, in the Anderfels, when less
blighted lands safer for research existed further South? In peace and war,
easier to be relevant and accessible closer to the surviving lands, so why
maintain headquarters with the Anders?

 

---

 

Other Mysteries of Weisshaupt

 

Other mysteries abound about Weisshaupt in its Wardens. Some
of these are encouraged by the Wardens’ closely guarded secrets, but others go beyond
it. Questions of how some things come to be, and why.

 

Why, for example, does Weisshaupt remain the largest and
grandest Warden fortress, when it is so far removed from the greater
civilizations of Thedas? Perhaps some of it could be explained by inertia:
Weisshaupt could have been one of the few strongholds in the First Blight,
proved useful in the Second, Certainly Soldier’s Peak endures.

 

But its size and scale is out of all proportion. What we saw
in the Fade, assuming it is accurate, gave the impression that it is a city
unto itself. A thousand active, Joined wardens are in the Anderfels, despite
how desolated and poor and remote the country is. That fortress on the dead Steppes,
those supplies, just wall repairs, cost money, and lots of it. And while the
peculiar relationship of the Wardens with the Anderfel monarchy can explain
part of the costs, it can not fully explain the reason why. Why keep a Keep of
such size? Why keep so many Wardens here, when places such as Ferelden are
barely scraping a few dozen wardens from across the Orlais border? Is the
reason political, or far more practical? Is Weisshaupt keeping something out,
or in?

 

And speaking of what we saw in the Fade, why did see
Weisshaupt in the Fade at all? All our other companions were trapped with
surroundings of their past: friends, family, environment. But the Warden has
never been to Weisshaupt, so why there? Certainly ‘Duncan’ and the other ‘Wardens’
had their place, but most any other environment  in Ferelden makes more sense. At home, or even
Ostagar or Denerim or some other Ferelden stronghold.

 

What was at Weisshaupt that called into the Fade to us? What
connection, tenuous as it may be, do the Wardens and anyone else with the Taint
have with the Fade?

 

---

 

Discovery, Pre-emption, Defense

 

Here is the point at which we gather all these thoughts and
concerns, and try to tie them together. And as you may have gathered, it is
that an Old God fell into the hands of the Wardens, whether by accident or
intent.

 

Thinking of it, searching out an Old God seems an obvious
response to the Blight, once it is realized just what the ArchDemon is (or is
supposed to be). To find another Old God before the Darkspawn corrupted it, to
guard it against the Darkspawn corruption, to study its draconic blood for some
hope of relief and retaliation. These are reasons, motives for the
dragon-worshippers of Tevinter in the First Blight, those who, if there was
ever any truth to their tales, would have the best idea as to where to find an
Old God.

 

Or even simpler, for those without religious grounding, just
to keep an Old God away from the darkspawn, to prevent another blight. It seems
obvious enough: get to the Dragon before the Darkspawn, and the Blight need
never return or renew. Fortify it like nothing else, for those fortifications
would be worth more than all the world. And then you could study it at your
leisure, drain it for blood for whatever ritual you desire, and study it just
as the Architect tried.

 

Perhaps the earliest Wardens or their precursors did find one
Old God, slumbering away in some remote part of Thedas, perhaps interacting
through the Fade as it had with the Magisters. And perhaps the location of that
Old God is Weisshaupt, laboratory of the Grey Wardens, the greatest stronghold
to whose guard the Wardens refuse to decrease.

 

Consider this, and all the answers and loose ends it could
explain.

 

The frequent Blights, the constant attention of Darkspawn on
one small, depopulated country? Attempts, perhaps, to recover an Old God.
Perhaps some Old Gods were more intent of spreading the corruption to their brethren
than others: perhaps the ability to fight through the Anderfels dissuaded them.
But regular Darkspawn, always victims to the Call, try regardless, for in that
fortress lies what they exist to seek.

 

The ability of the Grey Wardens to replenish and expand
their numbers no matter the time between Blights. For while draconic ArchDemon
blood is rare in quantity and rarer in opportunity, a captive Old God remains a
constant source, one with which lyrium (for binding?) and conventional
darkspawn blood combined can suffice to supply the Wardens to be diligent
forever.

 

The reason for the Grey Wardens stay, and sway, within the
Anders: it is their base, and their mission. The Kings of Anders old could know
this, which helped give way to the Wardens enduring importance when the rest of
Thedas forgot. More than self-interested hunger for influence, the Wardens stay
in Anderfel in such numbers, maintain their steppe fortress in such care and
extent not because they want to, but lest their house guest awake.

 

The presence of Weisshaupt in the fade to the Warden, called
to the vision of a place never seen by the subtle call of the captive Old God.

 

Think of these, and any other things, that a captive Old God
could explain.

 

---

 

I will be the first to admit that much of this conspiracy in
the public interest lies upon the flimsiest of evidence. Much could even be
handwaved away.

 

Frequent Blights, in a world ravaged time and time again? Someone
has to be the one hurt worst. Home of the Grey Wardens? Well, where else was
better at the time? A scarcity of ArchDemon blood? Perhaps a single kill goes a
long ways indeed, even over the century. Such presence and influence in the
Anderfels? Wardens meddling in politics for their own advantage, as always.
Indeed, I wouldn’t but wonder myself if this conspiracy was Grey Warden propaganda
if I heard it in Thedas.

 

But while it is admittedly soft on hard support, can we
really disprove it? If so, I will be the first to disclaim it. But if we can’t
disprove it, could we, should we, put it past the Grey Wardens to keep an Old
God hidden below the walls of Weisshaupt?

 

Perhaps you would. Perhaps you wouldn’t. Certainly the
people of Thedas would agree it’s best to let sleeping Old Gods stay.

 

But does that make the speculation any less fun?

 

 

-Dean_the_Young

[Hrafn2112]

So this was posted forever and ages ago, but I have to say that was delightful to read. Very interesting theory, even if only a theory. For the purposes of my own roleplaying, I find it a though worth entertaining.