11 réponses à ce sujet

[NaclynE]

There has been something that has been off bugging me about the franchise. Way back in DRAGON AGE ORIGINS one of the big things they brought up was how people can become darkspawn. It seems like you can become one by being bit, or wounded by their weapons or being exposed to a darkspawn infected eluvian. When this happens it seems like a slow process but early stages you become nearly like zombie looking. Further down you start losing your mind and sanity. Eventually as more time passes you'll become one and want to kill anything in sight. To semi be cured by this is to become a grey warden apparently (play DAO). 

 

One of the things that's been semi bugging me is all of the hero characters are magically immune to the dark spawn which to me makes no sense.

 

In DAO I feel a few of them have good reasons to be like your character who is a new grey warden, Alistar who is already a grey warden, Morrigan who seems like she's partially in a way herself which is being slowly but surely explained in DAO and DAI, Ohgren because he becomes a warden in DAA, Shale because she's a golem, and Wynne because she gets possessed by a spirit. So the unexplained immune ones are Liliana, Sten Dog, and Severen. I'll get into Liliana later for DAI wise but Sten, Severen and Dog should be infected and become darkspawn but so far it seems like in later DA games they don't ever become darkspawn oriented people.

 

The DAA cast preaty much is made into a warden unless they weren't recruited. if they weren't recruited (except for Anders) will not show up in DA 2.

 

In DA 2 They explain how Carver/Bethany get infected and how Hawke is being kept sane by Corypheus but why isn't Aveline, Varric, Sebastian or Isabella infected? Merril in a sense is infected by the eluvian shard but I believe since the shard is in her possession it is only mind controlling her but won't ever make her a darkspawn because the shard needs her to summon demons from the darkspawn worlds. Fenris is easy to explain: Fenris's master did a-lot of crap to him to keep him as a prized possession so why would he not immune to darkspawn oriented infectious stuff? Anders is a warden already (DAA unless imprisoned but escapes and is made one from Stroud). Shouldn't Aveline, Sebastian and Isabella become infected and become like Carver/Bethany if you took them along for the final mission in arc 1 and get made a grey warden in Anders went along? Varric I may have a few ideas but keep in mind in a side quest in DAO a dwarf guy became a level 3 darkspawn dwarf (lost mind and sanity) so Varric being a dwarf should be ruled out.

 

In DAI I feel like they do partially explain why Liliana isn't infected (Liliana: "I consider the hero of ferelden one of my closest friends") so maybe HOF probably found a way to help Liliana not become a darkspawn before the HOF went MIA (unless it is explained more thirlly in the DESCENT DLC?). Obviously the Inquisitor is being kept non darkspawn by the anchor and maybe Corypheus. Cassandra is a seeker so she probably underwent some immunity training so that's why she can't be infected. Solas isn't a normal elf. Cole is a spirit but I am sure if he's kept human in future DA games he should be since he's been exposed to a-lot of darkspawn. The people that should be defenetly infected should be Iron Bull, Blackwall, Sera, Vivianne, and Dorian. Yet however they seem to be oddly immune for unknown reasons.

 

I know I am putting to much thought into this but I felt it was really cool that one of the reasons why people became wardens was to become immune to the ways of dark spawn infection (until you die earlier than normal people) but after DAO/DAA this seems to be a f'd up lore thing that's been bugging me a tad. Does anyone become a warden in the DAI DLCs or did they continue to right off their darkspawn infection rule which was created in DAO/DAA?

[Sunnie]

Plot armor.

[Ashaantha]

Sadly it's the whole "plot armour" thing. Companions, and protagonists, and important NPC's won't catch the taint unless story reasons require it. so Story > Lore most of the time. Not something I agree with but it would be very difficult to implement a companion or the non-warden protagonist catching the taint during a story mission underground, which is likely why they haven't .. or tried and scrapped it.

[thats1evildude]

You cannot become a darkspawn. What you can become is a ghoul: a living organism twisted into a monstrous version of its past self.

When the Venatori tried studying the Blight, they couldn't figure out why some people resisted it and some died within hours. There's no rhyme or reason to it.

The Blight is not just a disease carried in darkspawn blood; it's also metaphysical, which is how the darkspawn can cause the skies to blacken and plants to wither. Births drop during a Blight because the world itself is dying. They can infect people just by being in their presence.

Although there are some actions that will probably result in infection - eating dead darkspawn, for example - resisting the darkspawn taint seems as much about having the force of will to keep it from infecting you as anything. People like Hawke or the Inquisitor are heroes of legend able to do things most normal people can't, and they have incredible willpower.

It's why the Venatori failed utterly at replicating Blight resistance; it's not as simple as "something in the blood."

[NoForgiveness]

Who the **** is Severen?

[Andraste_Reborn]

As with most illnesses, not everyone exposed becomes infected. Even something as contagious as measles doen'st have a 100% transmission rate. We've met Legion of the Dead members who have been living in the Deep Roads and fighting darkspawn for literaly years without becoming ghouls, and other people who start turning mere hours or days after exposure.

 

Merril in a sense is infected by the eluvian shard but I believe since the shard is in her possession it is only mind controlling her but won't ever make her a darkspawn because the shard needs her to summon demons from the darkspawn worlds.

 

The Fade is not where darkspawn come from. (Well, not regularly. There aren't any there now.)  And Merrill is not being mindcontrolled by the demon. She made a deal with it of her own free will.

 

In DAI I feel like they do partially explain why Liliana isn't infected (Liliana: "I consider the hero of ferelden one of my closest friends") so maybe HOF probably found a way to help Liliana not become a darkspawn before the HOF went MIA (unless it is explained more thirlly in the DESCENT DLC?).

 

It's explained in the game itself, if you do the mage recruitment questline, that Leliana is highly resistant to the taint. For all we know, Sten and Zevran are as well. (Dog in DAO was immune unless you were a human noble. He was already infected with the taint and survived it before he joined the party, and is immune to futher infection, like a person who's had measles or smallpox and lived. He's effectively something like a Grey Warden.)

 

If the HoF had a way to protect people from infection, I'm sure they'd share it with everyone. There's no evidence that any such remedy exists, other than becoming a Grey Warden.

[BSpud]

Wow, OP. I think my 85-year-old grandma has a better grasp of DA lore and she's never played the games.

[NaclynE]

You cannot become a darkspawn. What you can become is a ghoul: a living organism twisted into a monstrous version of its past self.

When the Venatori tried studying the Blight, they couldn't figure out why some people resisted it and some died within hours. There's no rhyme or reason to it.

The Blight is not just a disease carried in darkspawn blood; it's also metaphysical, which is how the darkspawn can cause the skies to blacken and plants to wither. Births drop during a Blight because the world itself is dying. They can infect people just by being in their presence.

Although there are some actions that will probably result in infection - eating dead darkspawn, for example - resisting the darkspawn taint seems as much about having the force of will to keep it from infecting you as anything. People like Hawke or the Inquisitor are heroes of legend able to do things most normal people can't, and they have incredible force of will.

It's why the Venatori failed utterly at replicating Blight resistance; it's not as simple as "something in the blood."

 

A thing I am mehhhhed regarding to "Lore changes". Again back in DAO if your wounded via weapons like swords or arrows like the one human soldier guy in the wilds were you meet Morrigan eventually become a darkspawn. Now it's like from DA 2 and DAI they put in random information for these two games to have people not become "darkspawn in time" but become something else entirely like ghouls which I'm like mehhhh. I understand the team who did DAO/DAA is gone but frankly I still feel theres some continuity lossed since game development teams keep changing. 

 

Who the **** is Severen?

 

I meant "Zevren". Sorry. Memory went bleht for a second.

 

As with most illnesses, not everyone exposed becomes infected. Even something as contagious as measles doen'st have a 100% transmission rate. We've met Legion of the Dead members who have been living in the Deep Roads and fighting darkspawn for literaly years without becoming ghouls, and other people who start turning mere hours or days after exposure.

 

 

 

 

The Fade is not where darkspawn come from. (Well, not regularly. There aren't any there now.)  And Merrill is not being mindcontrolled by the demon. She made a deal with it of her own free will.

 

 

 

 

It's explained in the game itself, if you do the mage recruitment questline, that Leliana is highly resistant to the taint. For all we know, Sten and Zevran are as well. (Dog in DAO was immune unless you were a human noble. He was already infected with the taint and survived it before he joined the party, and is immune to futher infection, like a person who's had measles or smallpox and lived. He's effectively something like a Grey Warden.)

 

If the HoF had a way to protect people from infection, I'm sure they'd share it with everyone. There's no evidence that any such remedy exists, other than becoming a Grey Warden.

 

1: Darkspawn infection only affects the individual and not the person around them. It's just when they become one and know how to infect others via weapons or their own hands then this is how others become darkspawn. It's more or less how people become zombies except zombies make others zombies through just zombie bites. Dark Spawn somehow gain the knowledge to make infectious poisons to add to their weapons to wound or kill others to make them darkspawn.

 

2: I would have to dig up DAO again but I swear I remember something about "THE BLACK CITY" supposedly being the true starting point of who what when and where the very first darkspawn came from so yes this sounds correct to me. It's just further down the road I think they branched out to the fade and started infecting things there then jumped out by possessing eluvians to come to the real world to make darkspawn that way. Again now this is all thrown out from what I remember so Lol. I know the codex's in DAO explain the whole birth of darkspawn and how they and and and to present.

 

3:I forgot about Dog because since he's a Mabari and I remember Mabari are already preinfected by darkspawn blood which is one of the reasons why they are "different" from normal dogs (Mabarai trainer in Ostagar explains this if you don't have a Mabari yet). I should slap myself for brain farting this. However I am still stumped on how the rest of the DAO cast are immune like Sten and Zevren? The DAA cast become immune by being made wardens but Zevren and Sten never underwent the warden procedure ever. They make no mention via codex's or messages in DA 2 or DAI.

 

4: True there is no cure but I am still wrapping my head around Fiona though. She said she's a ex warden (I don't know how long though she's been an ex warden though). As far as Liliana I suppose i need to take her to the mage tower story to get an idea how exactly she's "immune" to darkspawn infection. Cassandra I understand because of how she was trained and one of the things she regularly kills is darkspawn so she can't. But Liliana I'm still scratching my head and am theorizing something that I feel isn't making sense on a whole to me because in a way I feel she was exposed via a wound or two but shows no bodily signs but possible mental signs of darkspawn infection. However I cannot get the DESCENT DLC to know for sure since the DLC won't come out for the XBOX 360. Again I don't recall Liliana explaining this to the inquisitor at all in anyway shape or form when she should.

 

Wow, OP. I think my 85-year-old grandma has a better grasp of DA lore and she's never played the games.

 

*Scratches head*

 

Uhm...

 

Get her and explain it then. Lol. I would love to know why the whole Darkspawn infection idea was changed.

[Commander of the Grey]

There's also the cool and interesting thing of the dragon corpses studied that all had cysts that, when cut open, were filled with the blight. They would succumb to it eventually but at least have some resistance to it in that their bodies are capable of sealing it off for a time.

[BSpud]

Jesus Christ.

[Hydwn]

There are definitely still "ghouls" (the official term for what you're asking about).  Felix Alexius is becoming one, and trying to cure him is his father's motivation in In Hushed Whispers.

 

Also, the ghoul redesign for DAI is pretty scary if you look at them up close.  You can meet them wandering around with hurlocks on the Storm Coast.

 

People have called it "plot armour" in this thread - a somewhat dismissive term for a very real problem of gameplay.  The devs talked about how in the early stages of development in Origins, they were going to make it possible for any of the party members to get infected, and then Leliana, Morrigan, Wynne, Zevran, Oghren, and Sten would have to go through the joining.  

 

Aside from the problems this would have created for later games that feature these characters, it proved impossible to implement from a gameplay perspective, and it caused problems with the story as well.  Part of the plot of Origins is driven by the fact that Alistair and the Warden don't know anything about the order they've joined yet.  Not even how to kill an archdemon.  And their loneliness is increased by the fact that they can't put anyone through the joining.

 

So it was decided that all the other members are just lucky.

 

Interestingly, they seem to have started to make it so that there are some explanations for why some people get infected and others don't.  A codex entry mentions a hurlock alpha who can talk, and mocks its human captors who will become ghouls because their blood mixed with his.  Ren in Descent mentions to keep your mouth closed in battle s you don't swallow the blood.  

 

It may be that you have to somehow take the blood into your body accidentally to become infected - something all too likely in battle when people are shouting and getting cut.

 

EDIT: As for the infected Eluvian, that's more fascinating.  Are Eluvians alive, or is the lyrium used in their construction blighted like red lyrium...?

[Andraste_Reborn]

It's just when they become one and know how to infect others via weapons or their own hands then this is how others become darkspawn.

 

No, it isn't Darkspawn aren't made, they're born - from broodmothers, which are a special kind of ghoul. This lore was clearly established in the first game, and has not changed. We saw several ghouls in various stages of transformation in DAO, including Ruck, Hespith, Tamlen and Adria, but they never turn into actual darkspawn.