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[Mistersunshine]

Feraele wrote...
I have to say this creeps me out EVERY time I play through this part. Maybe more so because I'm female..I don't know.
But thanks for that, it explains very clearly whats going on..

It creeps me out plenty, and I'm a guy. Really, this is the point in the game where I realize how scary and horrible the darkspawn are, and how dark the story really is. These aren't just orcs coming to kill and pillage. The darkspawn are a much, much more terrifying kind of evil. It's a credit to the developers of the game just how uncomfortable this section makes me feel. After the first time, I find myself approaching the latter part of the Dead Trenches with a rising sense of dread. Very creepy, indeed.

Modifié par Mistersunshine, 07 février 2010 - 05:55 .

[Monica21]

svenus97 wrote...

"First day, they come and catch everyone.
Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat.
Third day, the men are all gnawed on again.
Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate.
Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn.
Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams.
Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew.
Eighth day, we hated as she is violated.
Ninth day, she grins and devours her kin.
Now she does feast, as she's become the beast."

To explain it: Day 1: The Darkspawn catch the survivors from the battle or take random people they find.
                        Day 2: The Darkspawn eat some of the captured people and they beat them.
                        Day 3: The Darkspawn kill most of the men.
                        Day 4: The Darkspawn are probably doing something while the captured wait and fear.
                        Day 5: The Darkspawn did what they were doing and take another giril.
                        Day 6: The Darkspawn probably beat the girl they took :"her screams we hear...".
                        Day 7: The Darkspawn did something/put something to/in her.
                        Day 8: The Darkspawn violate or "rape" the girl.
                        Day 9: The Woman "grins" and eats her kin. By saying she grins, as in laughs, she maybe did it on
                                     her own free wil, or was just going crazy.
                       Day 10: She feasts and becomes THE BROODMOTHER!


Here are some quotes from Hespith:

• She became obsessed, that is the word but it is not strong
  enough. Blessed Stone, there was nothing left in her but the Anvil. We
  tried to escape, but they found us. They took us all, turned us. The
  men, they kill... they're merciful. The women they want, to touch, to
  mold, to change until you are filled with them. They took Laryn.
  They made her eat the others, our friends. She tore off her husband's
  face and drank his blood. And while she ate, she grew. She swelled and
  turned gray and she smelled like them. They remade her in their image.
  Then she made more of them. Broodmother...
• That's where they come from. That's why they hate us...
  that's why they need us. That's why they take us.... that's why they
  feed us. But the true abomination... is not that it occurred, but that
  it was allowed. Branka... my love... The Stone has punished me, dream
  friend. I am dying of something worse than death. Betrayal.

The lines that are lined are about the transformation into the Broodmother. The ones that are not talk about Branka's obsession with the Anvil of the Void and how she betrayed them and allowed the Broodmother transformation.

Well thats the best I could explain it:) Hope it's clearer now.:happy:

[*]

You know, I just really don't have a big enough vocabulary to properly express how entirely disturbing this is. Was this a group process, or did one writer say, "Hey, this is really creepy!! Let's use it!"

Modifié par Monica21, 07 février 2010 - 06:09 .

[svenus97]

"What the Broodmother is, and what it is doing underground is a complete
mystery. However, one thing does stand out across all these stories –-
its insatiable hunger for Grey Warden flesh".


Interesting... I assume since she wouldn't eat her own "children" she requiers tainted flesh to eat, and here is where the Grey Wardens come. Or she would eat her babies... poor Genny and Hurry

I also came to a conclusion that a Blight has atleast 4 Broodmothers. Since one Broodmother will spawn only of its own race before it became a Broodmother.

Humans > Hurlocks
Dwarfs    > Genlocks
Elves       > Shirelocks / Shireks
Qunari     > Ogres

And what is also interesting is if Darkspawn increase their numbers by tainting other races, there will allways be darkspawns around. To exterminate them you either have to kill every female living beign in Thedas or every Darkspawn so there is no one else to taint them. I guess the first one is easier:P:devil:

[svenus97]

Monica21 wrote...

svenus97 wrote...

"First day, they come and catch everyone.
Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat.
Third day, the men are all gnawed on again.
Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate.
Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn.
Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams.
Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew.
Eighth day, we hated as she is violated.
Ninth day, she grins and devours her kin.
Now she does feast, as she's become the beast."

To explain it: Day 1: The Darkspawn catch the survivors from the battle or take random people they find.
                        Day 2: The Darkspawn eat some of the captured people and they beat them.
                        Day 3: The Darkspawn kill most of the men.
                        Day 4: The Darkspawn are probably doing something while the captured wait and fear.
                        Day 5: The Darkspawn did what they were doing and take another giril.
                        Day 6: The Darkspawn probably beat the girl they took :"her screams we hear...".
                        Day 7: The Darkspawn did something/put something to/in her.
                        Day 8: The Darkspawn violate or "rape" the girl.
                        Day 9: The Woman "grins" and eats her kin. By saying she grins, as in laughs, she maybe did it on
                                     her own free wil, or was just going crazy.
                       Day 10: She feasts and becomes THE BROODMOTHER!


Here are some quotes from Hespith:

• She became obsessed, that is the word but it is not strong
  enough. Blessed Stone, there was nothing left in her but the Anvil. We
  tried to escape, but they found us. They took us all, turned us. The
  men, they kill... they're merciful. The women they want, to touch, to
  mold, to change until you are filled with them. They took Laryn.
  They made her eat the others, our friends. She tore off her husband's
  face and drank his blood. And while she ate, she grew. She swelled and
  turned gray and she smelled like them. They remade her in their image.
  Then she made more of them. Broodmother...
• That's where they come from. That's why they hate us...
  that's why they need us. That's why they take us.... that's why they
  feed us. But the true abomination... is not that it occurred, but that
  it was allowed. Branka... my love... The Stone has punished me, dream
  friend. I am dying of something worse than death. Betrayal.

The lines that are lined are about the transformation into the Broodmother. The ones that are not talk about Branka's obsession with the Anvil of the Void and how she betrayed them and allowed the Broodmother transformation.

Well thats the best I could explain it:) Hope it's clearer now.:happy:

[*]

You know, I just really don't have a big enough vocabulary to properly express how entirely disturbing this is. Was this a group process, or did one writer say, "Hey, this is really creepy!! Let's use it!"

[*]I wouldn't be surprised if David Gaider came up with this:innocent:

Modifié par svenus97, 07 février 2010 - 06:12 .

[svenus97]

Here are also some "interesting" and "creepy" informations about the Broodmother Layrn you kill in the Dead Trenches in the Deep Roads.

When captured by Darkspawn, along with many of her companions, she
was chosen to become a Broodmother.
During her transformation she was forced to violate and eat her husband
alive.


it is possible that Hespith "forced" Laryn to her doom.


I don't really get that part which says Hespith "forced" Laryn to her doom. I tought it was Branka that allowed the transformation to the Broodmother, as Hespith says, and I qoute: "...But the true abomination... is not that it occurred, but that it was
allowed. Branka... my love... The Stone has punished me, dream friend. I
am dying of something worse than death. Betrayal."

[Korvayer]

draxynnus wrote...

The interesting thing is that on the fifth day, Hespith says it's another girl's turn. Implies that there was another girl before Laryn that Hespith doesn't specifically mention - possibly one they were initially trying to turn into a broodmother on the 4th day, but which failed for whatever reason.

Or succeeded and died of natural causes. We don't know the lifespan of a broodmother. It could, for instance, be no greater than that of the ghoul from which it developed, and ghouls generally have short lifespans.

Siradix, your queen bee analogy perfectly reflects the way I interpreted Hespith's chant.

svenus97, I interpreted Hespith's chant a bit differently. I'll do my own line-by-line breakdown.


First day, they come and catch everyone.
I agree with you on this one. The darkspawn take captives.

Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat.
Some of the surviving captives are eaten. You can imagine, at this point, that many have already died from the taint (they, too, are eaten, of course). Others have survived to become ghouls.

Third day, the men are all gnawed on again.
The sole purpose of this line is to clarify the previous one. It is revealed that the "some" who are eaten are the male ghouls, and not the female ones.

Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate.
"We" refers to the surviving female ghouls (and any male ghouls who have yet to be eaten).

Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn.
It's another female ghoul's turn to become a mother. That is her fate and the reason why the darkskpawn prefer to eat only the male ghouls. She is taken.

Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams.
Clearly, the situation is unpleasant for all surviving captives.

Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew.
It's exactly as it sounds. The darkspawn regurgitate into the mouth of the female ghoul, fattening her into fertility.

Eighth day, we hated as she is violated.
The female ghoul is impregnated by the darkspawn.

Ninth day, she grins and devours her kin.
Clearly, she's come to accept motherhood, and has wild cravings as only a pregnant woman can. (Flesh? Yum!)

Now she does feast, as she's become the beast.
Meet your new female ghoul-turned-mother (a.k.a. broodmother).

Modifié par Korvayer, 07 février 2010 - 06:28 .

[svenus97]

I agree with your analogy Korvayer, you summed it up pretty nice:)

[Quill74Pen]

In order to power a full-scale invasion — which is what a Blight is — there would have to be far more than four Broodmothers.

Yes, each Broodmother can produce thousands of offspring during her lifetime, but 4,000 troops wouldn't be even enough to conquer a small part of Ferelden, let alone all of Thedas and, possibly, the rest of the planet. No, I think there are dozens, if not several hundred, Broodmothers. Once an archdemon arises, it and the other darkspawn likely spend years building up forces — in order to do so, they probably kidnap and transform many women into Broodmothers. They'd have to, since a lot of those women don't survive the transformation process.

It's postulated earlier in this thread that the Broodmothers are the nominal rulers of the darkspawn. This makes sense, since an archdemon is almost like a figurehead — good for leading and commanding an invasion of the surface world, but little else. There would have to be something else that's more persistant in order to govern the darkspawn when there's not an active Blight under way. To me, that "something else" are the Broodmothers.

There's also the possibility that the Broodmothers govern in conjunction with the original darkspawn progenitors — the fallen magisters of the Tevinter Imperium; the ones who attempted to storm the Forbidden City in the Fade (and failed). Certainly among those fallen magisters were women ... so, with that in mind, maybe there's even another class of Broodmother that we haven't seen yet: those who are, literally, the female magisters who fell with their male counterparts and, in the process, became something monstrous and unrecognizable as human (according to codex entries I read).

When you think about it, it'd be horrible. Imagine being a female magister at the height of her power in the Tevinter Imperium, only to be thrown down by the Maker itself and transformed into a long-lived, slug-like Queen Broodmother. Talk about a literal fall from grace.

Quill74Pen

[Randomname1212]

Wait, aren't Grey Warden's "immune" to the taint? I thought that only the people who are resilient against the taint and survive the Joining are Grey Wardens, but the ones who can not resist the taint die in the Joining.

[steelfire_dragon]

Randomname1212 wrote...

Wait, aren't Grey Warden's "immune" to the taint? I thought that only the people who are resilient against the taint and survive the Joining are Grey Wardens, but the ones who can not resist the taint die in the Joining.

umm no.

the taint is darkspawn blood, mixed and altered with Gods of old.

what allows them to fight the darkspawn, also kills them in 30 years.

or earlier, or later......

[Thor Rand Al]

Quill74Pen wrote...
In order to power a full-scale invasion — which is what a Blight is — there would have to be far more than four Broodmothers.
Yes, each Broodmother can produce thousands of offspring during her lifetime, but 4,000 troops wouldn't be even enough to conquer a small part of Ferelden, let alone all of Thedas and, possibly, the rest of the planet. No, I think there are dozens, if not several hundred, Broodmothers. Once an archdemon arises, it and the other darkspawn likely spend years building up forces — in order to do so, they probably kidnap and transform many women into Broodmothers. They'd have to, since a lot of those women don't survive the transformation process.
Quill74Pen

In order to power a full-scale invasion — which is what a Blight is — there would have to be far more than four Broodmothers.
Not necessarily true... All of these darkspawn that we see have been being made before the blight... Each broodmother does produce thousands of darkspawn, now I'm not sure if that is in 1 egg-laying sesion or over their lifetime, also we don't know the lifespan of a broodmother.
But lets use a hypothesis here; Lets say that each broodmother produces (except the Qunari broodmother's cause the ogre's are rare) a few thousand in 1 nesting or even a thousand. Lets say that that a broodmother's lifespan is 20 yrs n for each yr she's giving birth to thousands of darkspawn.  In that 20 yr lifespan she has given birth to over 20,000 darkspawn n that is from just 1 broodmother.  We also don't know how long darkspawn survive either, so here lets  assume that they live lets say 40 yrs, that's over 40,000 darkspawn from 1 broodmother, put all the other broodmother's darkspawn's together n you have over 100,000 darkspawn just waiting for the right moment to go up to the surface...
This is where we don't know exactly how long a broodmother lives n how long darkspawn live... She could live for 40 yrs so double the 100,000... She could also be producing these thousands, every 6 weeks.  N you know that the minute that 1 broodmother dies there's another being made n from the sounds of it, it doesn't take very long at all.

Once an archdemon arises, it and the other darkspawn likely spend years building up forces — in order to do so, they probably kidnap and transform many women into Broodmothers.
Even before the archdemon is found n risen their building their forces.

[Quill74Pen]

Thor Rand Al wrote...

Quill74Pen wrote...
In order to power a full-scale invasion — which is what a Blight is — there would have to be far more than four Broodmothers.
Yes, each Broodmother can produce thousands of offspring during her lifetime, but 4,000 troops wouldn't be even enough to conquer a small part of Ferelden, let alone all of Thedas and, possibly, the rest of the planet. No, I think there are dozens, if not several hundred, Broodmothers. Once an archdemon arises, it and the other darkspawn likely spend years building up forces — in order to do so, they probably kidnap and transform many women into Broodmothers. They'd have to, since a lot of those women don't survive the transformation process.
Quill74Pen

In order to power a full-scale invasion — which is what a Blight is — there would have to be far more than four Broodmothers.
Not necessarily true... All of these darkspawn that we see have been being made before the blight... Each broodmother does produce thousands of darkspawn, now I'm not sure if that is in 1 egg-laying sesion or over their lifetime, also we don't know the lifespan of a broodmother.
But lets use a hypothesis here; Lets say that each broodmother produces (except the Qunari broodmother's cause the ogre's are rare) a few thousand in 1 nesting or even a thousand. Lets say that that a broodmother's lifespan is 20 yrs n for each yr she's giving birth to thousands of darkspawn.  In that 20 yr lifespan she has given birth to over 20,000 darkspawn n that is from just 1 broodmother.  We also don't know how long darkspawn survive either, so here lets  assume that they live lets say 40 yrs, that's over 40,000 darkspawn from 1 broodmother, put all the other broodmother's darkspawn's together n you have over 100,000 darkspawn just waiting for the right moment to go up to the surface...
This is where we don't know exactly how long a broodmother lives n how long darkspawn live... She could live for 40 yrs so double the 100,000... She could also be producing these thousands, every 6 weeks.  N you know that the minute that 1 broodmother dies there's another being made n from the sounds of it, it doesn't take very long at all.

Once an archdemon arises, it and the other darkspawn likely spend years building up forces — in order to do so, they probably kidnap and transform many women into Broodmothers.
Even before the archdemon is found n risen their building their forces.

Very good points. Hmm. My only addition to what you've postulated is, it appears life as a darkspawn is rough, filled with danger, and mostly short-lived. So, it's possible the darkspawn would want to "cover their bases," so to speak, by having (far) more than the minimum number of Broodmothers necessary to create the numbers needed to take on the surface world.
It's what I'd do if I were a darkspawn leader. Better to have too many Broodmothers than too few. (Besides, you'd need a lot of darkspawn to take all of Thedas, let alone the rest of the planet.)
Quill74Pen

[Demx]

This might put some people at ease.

-Theory 1-
Let's say typically a female warden is in her 20s when she does the Joining. From this point on, she may live a life as a human for another 30 years. This will place her at the age of 50 when the Calling begins. Even if she does get captured and turned into a broodmother, I don't think she will be able to reproduce any darkspawn due to her age. That's if the definition of a broodmother doesn't involve being pregnant.

-Theory 2-
However, if the darkspawn are smart enough to hunt down women for the process, I would imagine they would also be smart enough to look for the younger women as oppose to the older ones who can no longer get pregnant. Thus, leaving the older ones as ghouls.

Modifié par Siradix, 07 février 2010 - 09:18 .

[Thor Rand Al]

Siradix wrote...

This might put some people at ease.

-Theory 1-
Let's say typically a female warden is in her 20s when she does the Joining. From this point on, she may live a life as a human for another 30 years. This will place her at the age of 50 when the Calling begins. Even if she does get captured and turned into a broodmother, I don't think she will be able to reproduce any darkspawn due to her age. That's if the definition of a broodmother doesn't involve being pregnant.

-Theory 2-
However, if the darkspawn are smart enough to hunt down women for the process, I would imagine they would also be smart enough to look for the younger women as oppose to the older ones who can no longer get pregnant. Thus, leaving the older ones as ghouls.

Very very good points... We also know that the reason the darkspawn take the females is because of the reproductive system, that's why they are being made into broodmother's n by the time the women wardens reach their "Calling" thats already destroyed so no they can't be used.  Also cause we've already been tainted compared to a woman taken fresh from a raid the taint is already working on our system to where a fresh victim hasn't had a chance for the taint to take affect yet.

[Thor Rand Al]

Quill74Pen wrote...

Thor Rand Al wrote...

Quill74Pen wrote...
In order to power a full-scale invasion — which is what a Blight is — there would have to be far more than four Broodmothers.
Yes, each Broodmother can produce thousands of offspring during her lifetime, but 4,000 troops wouldn't be even enough to conquer a small part of Ferelden, let alone all of Thedas and, possibly, the rest of the planet. No, I think there are dozens, if not several hundred, Broodmothers. Once an archdemon arises, it and the other darkspawn likely spend years building up forces — in order to do so, they probably kidnap and transform many women into Broodmothers. They'd have to, since a lot of those women don't survive the transformation process.
Quill74Pen

In order to power a full-scale invasion — which is what a Blight is — there would have to be far more than four Broodmothers.
Not necessarily true... All of these darkspawn that we see have been being made before the blight... Each broodmother does produce thousands of darkspawn, now I'm not sure if that is in 1 egg-laying sesion or over their lifetime, also we don't know the lifespan of a broodmother.
But lets use a hypothesis here; Lets say that each broodmother produces (except the Qunari broodmother's cause the ogre's are rare) a few thousand in 1 nesting or even a thousand. Lets say that that a broodmother's lifespan is 20 yrs n for each yr she's giving birth to thousands of darkspawn.  In that 20 yr lifespan she has given birth to over 20,000 darkspawn n that is from just 1 broodmother.  We also don't know how long darkspawn survive either, so here lets  assume that they live lets say 40 yrs, that's over 40,000 darkspawn from 1 broodmother, put all the other broodmother's darkspawn's together n you have over 100,000 darkspawn just waiting for the right moment to go up to the surface...
This is where we don't know exactly how long a broodmother lives n how long darkspawn live... She could live for 40 yrs so double the 100,000... She could also be producing these thousands, every 6 weeks.  N you know that the minute that 1 broodmother dies there's another being made n from the sounds of it, it doesn't take very long at all.

Once an archdemon arises, it and the other darkspawn likely spend years building up forces — in order to do so, they probably kidnap and transform many women into Broodmothers.
Even before the archdemon is found n risen their building their forces.

Very good points. Hmm. My only addition to what you've postulated is, it appears life as a darkspawn is rough, filled with danger, and mostly short-lived. So, it's possible the darkspawn would want to "cover their bases," so to speak, by having (far) more than the minimum number of Broodmothers necessary to create the numbers needed to take on the surface world.
It's what I'd do if I were a darkspawn leader. Better to have too many Broodmothers than too few. (Besides, you'd need a lot of darkspawn to take all of Thedas, let alone the rest of the planet.)
Quill74Pen

That's the problem, we don't know exactly how long a lifespan the darkspawn have or even the broodmothers. As you said during their lifespan is rough n mostly short lived because thank the Maker for the dwarves lol

[Thor Rand Al]

So here's a couple of questions for the dev's if they don't mind answering concerning broodmother's. How long of a lifespan does a broodmother have, also how long are the darkspawn lifespan's?? I'd rather like to know more about the broodmother's but I am curious about the darkspawn lol. Inquiring minds want to know please, please

[Monica21]

Siradix wrote...

This might put some people at ease.

-Theory 1-
Let's say typically a female warden is in her 20s when she does the Joining. From this point on, she may live a life as a human for another 30 years. This will place her at the age of 50 when the Calling begins. Even if she does get captured and turned into a broodmother, I don't think she will be able to reproduce any darkspawn due to her age. That's if the definition of a broodmother doesn't involve being pregnant.

-Theory 2-
However, if the darkspawn are smart enough to hunt down women for the process, I would imagine they would also be smart enough to look for the younger women as oppose to the older ones who can no longer get pregnant. Thus, leaving the older ones as ghouls.

Two points to add to your theory: First early 50's might be too young for some women to go menopausal. Some women are technically fertile well into their 50's, so I wouldn't chalk it up to age. Second, the transformation itself is a physical mutation. I'm assuming not just the outward appearance, but internally as well. If nothing else, this gives me cause to believe that such a mutation could easily render a previously infertile woman fertile again, at least for the purposes of birthing darkspawn.

[Demx]

Monica21 wrote...

Siradix wrote...

This might put some people at ease.

-Theory 1-
Let's say typically a female warden is in her 20s when she does the Joining. From this point on, she may live a life as a human for another 30 years. This will place her at the age of 50 when the Calling begins. Even if she does get captured and turned into a broodmother, I don't think she will be able to reproduce any darkspawn due to her age. That's if the definition of a broodmother doesn't involve being pregnant.

-Theory 2-
However, if the darkspawn are smart enough to hunt down women for the process, I would imagine they would also be smart enough to look for the younger women as oppose to the older ones who can no longer get pregnant. Thus, leaving the older ones as ghouls.

Two points to add to your theory: First early 50's might be too young for some women to go menopausal. Some women are technically fertile well into their 50's, so I wouldn't chalk it up to age. Second, the transformation itself is a physical mutation. I'm assuming not just the outward appearance, but internally as well. If nothing else, this gives me cause to believe that such a mutation could easily render a previously infertile woman fertile again, at least for the purposes of birthing darkspawn.

If you mean they are still fertile without the use of assisted reproductive technology then yes that would destroy one of my theories. However, I don't think infertility due to age is the same as infertility due to a birth defect. The mutation shouldn't be able to reverse the aging process.

[ninedragons99]

Time4Tiddy wrote...
[...]
If Wardens could easily become broodmothers I wouldn't imagine the order would allow women to undergo the ritual at all, so the other magics included must prevent that from happening. Perhaps women who would have responded negatively to the taint (become ghouls, etc.) are the ones that just die right away.

Very simple reason, the Order has no rules whatsoever for female Wardens concerning the topic of broodmothers:
they probably do not know that such creatures even exist.

As a rule, Grey Wardens do not creep around in the Deep Roads all the time. When there's no Blight, they usually spend their time being vigilant and fighting stray darkspawn gangs who come to the surface occasionally. The average Grey Warden goes only to the Deep Roads when he hears the Calling, knowing that his time to die has come. Since they usually succeed on the dying part (we hope), there's no one to tell the tale, what they may have found in the Deep Roads apart from deepstalkers, spiders and darkspawn.

The PC is one of few Wardens who venture far into the Deep Roads and come out again alive. So I would expect, the knowledge of where the little darkspawn come from will be told from either the PC or Alistair to the Warden Headquarters in Weisshaupt.

[draxynnus]

Nonvita wrote...

The Brood Mother also makes me reconsider Alistair's comment that there aren't many women in the Grey Wardens. Are fewer women recruited on purpose, because of their sensitivity to the taint? It seems likely that they are killed by the joining process more often than men, and if they do eventually become Brood Mothers it's a big risk to put them through it...
Gah, this whole subject is so confusing and disturbing. >.<

Actually, I'd suspect that the general lack of Grey Wardens is simply a function that while there's no (remaining) restrictions barring women from being soldiers, they're still less likely enough to do so that the majority of soldiers are still men (and there are indications in some places that the general social expectation is that the men fight and the women stay at home). This is naturally going to lead to a gender imbalance in any martial organisation that doesn't specifically recruit women, and if the organisation in question is small enough, may lead to periods where that organisation has no women at all.

Thor Rand Al wrote...

But lets use a hypothesis here; Lets say that each broodmother produces (except the Qunari broodmother's cause the ogre's are rare) a few thousand in 1 nesting or even a thousand.

I suspect the reason why there are few ogres is because the darkspawn haven't had many opportunities to capture Qunari women. They are a relatively recent arrival to Thedas, after all, and even now they're here, they probably have a smaller population then any of the other races except possibly the dwarves, and the darkspawn have much closer access to the dwarves. Given qunari society, the qunari women are also likely better defended than human women (shrieks, it is worth noting, are also fairly rare, which may be due to elves having a lower population and most elves either being used to defending themselves (the Dalish) or residing in a city where it's hard for the darkspawn to get them without also getting a bunch of humans as well (the elves of the Alienages)).

As Quill74Pen says...there's no real logical reason for the Darkspawn not to have as many broodmothers as they can transform and maintain.

[Zugin]

Assuming that Humans in Thedas are similar to humans here, simple non-PC reason for women being rare as soldiers and consequently GWs is that male is physically stronger, faster etc. In modern military it does not matter as much but when fighting with hand to hand weapons or even bows those factors matter a lot

[Nonvita]

ninedragons99 wrote...

Time4Tiddy wrote...
[...]
If
Wardens could easily become broodmothers I wouldn't imagine the order would allow women to undergo the ritual at all, so the other magics included must prevent that from happening. Perhaps women who would have responded negatively to the taint (become ghouls, etc.) are the ones that just die right away.

Very simple reason, the Order has no rules whatsoever for female Wardens concerning the topic of broodmothers: they probably do not know that such creatures even exist.

I'm pretty sure the Grey Wardens do know about Broodmothers. According to the Wiki: "In the subterranean halls of the Dead Trenches, a nightmarish creature called a Broodmother is spoken of in hushed and terrified whispers. The few who were lucky to return from battling the plagued dwarven lands seemed mentally broken by the experience, feverishly mentioning tales about a disturbing beast known only as a Broodmother."

I realize the "few who were lucky to return" do not have to be Grey Wardens, but it seems most likely that the Grey Wardens would have at least heard of them. It is their duty to know as much as possible about the darkspawn...

draxynnus wrote...
Actually, I'd suspect that the general lack of Grey Wardens is simply a function that while there's no (remaining) restrictions barring women from being soldiers, they're still less likely enough to do so that the majority of soldiers are still men (and there are indications in some places that the general social expectation is that the men fight and the women stay at home). This is naturally going to lead to a gender imbalance in any martial organisation that doesn't specifically recruit women, and if the organisation in question is small enough, may lead to periods where that organisation has no women at all.

Aw, the straightforward answer. I know that's probably mostly the case, but I still wonder if there's something a little more to it. Meh, we'll never know until we know!

Modifié par Nonvita, 07 février 2010 - 11:32 .

[ninedragons99]

Nonvita wrote...
I'm pretty sure the Grey Wardens do know about Broodmothers. According to the Wiki: "In the subterranean halls of the Dead Trenches, a nightmarish creature called a Broodmother is spoken of in hushed and terrified whispers. The few who were lucky to return from battling the plagued dwarven lands seemed mentally broken by the experience, feverishly mentioning tales about a disturbing beast known only as a Broodmother."

I realize the "few who were lucky to return" do not have to be Grey Wardens, but it seems most likely that the Grey Wardens would have at least heard of them. It is their duty to know as much as possible about the darkspawn...

I love the Wiki, but is that particular quote a canon information or written by someone for dramatic effect?
On another page it says "Forays made by Grey Wardens into the underground have uncovered the answer."
 but it can as well be your own Warden, who discovered that.

[Thor Rand Al]

Here's the link for the Broodmother from the unofficial wiki n it's a fanbased link http://dragonage.wik...ki/Brood_mother

[SusanStoHelit]

It seems that many have reached the same conclusions that I reached on the first - relatively sleepless - night after I first encountered the broodmother ingame. I'm almost 50 myself -and still fertile, thank you.



As I said, my female pcs just are not going to take that risk. And not only for cowardly reasons (although those are pretty strong - being 'converted' and gang-raped by darkspawn, no thanks). As a grey warden, making sure that I didn't become the means for producing thousands upon thousands more darkspawn myself is far more important than killing a few on my way down.