Dwarves are responsible for teaching humans the common language, currency, trade, and even advanced clockwork. Dwarves, unlike the other races, do not automatically enter the Fade since they do not dream and have no magical capability.
Despite this, dwarves have developed amazing night vision as a result of their underground habitat.
And also have a special skill known as "Stone sense," which is an aptitude for the capacity to hear the distant melody of lyrium from the 'Stone'. This link enables dwarves to detect a path before reaching it, allowing them to explore the Deep Roads without becoming hopelessly lost. Unfortunately, this sensation can be lost if dwarves stay above the surface for too long...
However, even die-hard fans may be unaware of the certain secrets about the dwarves within this series. And the fact that you're viewing this video implies that you're already a major Dragon Age fan. So be sure to subscribe and join our Dragon Age community. Regardless, here are 5 Things BioWare Never Told You About Dwarves.
Dwarves owned slaves
Let us just begin by looking at the current situation of dwarven civilization. According to what we know about the dwarven society, they have a dwarven social hierarchy regulated by a complex, interconnected, and rigorous caste system.
Then the dwarven system of administration is a monarchy, however, heredity is a weak role in selecting who sits on the throne when a new king is needed. While a king may offer his successor to the throne, the future ruler is ultimately decided by a vote of the deshyrs in the Assembly, as shown in Dragon Age: Origins.
But from what we understand, the dwarves are very similar to being a part of a remnant civilization just like Tevinter. And, based on what we know about Tevinter, slavery is a prevalent and active element of their civilization as a whole. But, according to Corypheus in Dragon Age 2: Legacy, slavery existed throughout the ancient dwarven empire.
The existence of slavery in the dwarven civilization today remains a mystery. According to World of Thedas Vol. 1, the earliest dwarven empire, Kal-Sharok, is an isolated remnant just like the other thaigs in Thedas due to the severity of Blights. However, because Kal-Sharok maintains a close trading relationship with Tevinter, it is quite possible that Kal-Sharok has slaves in its thaig, and could be normalized in their established society.
There is also evidence that Tevinter dwarfs hold dwarven embassies in Minrathous. For instance, the Tevinter cities, Neromenian, and Qarinus, are wholly underground and so technically within the Stone. Those dwarves are usually well-known for their trading, which might imply that they also engage in the slave trade.
The dwarven embassies, in Minrathous, Neromenian, and
Qarinus, are completely subterranean. Because these embassies
are still technically within the Stone, dwarves who serve there
retain their castes-even if their families have spent generations
outside of a thaig. Some of the dwarves in Tevinter live their
entire lives within the confines of their embassy, never stepping
under the open sky. — WoT, Vol. 1
Dwarves have A Special Diet
I say this with a smile on my face since their food is vastly different from what we see in traditional RPG games, or even in comparison to the other races in Thedas. As a result of the bulk of dwarves spending their entire lives underground, their nutrition is unique from that of any other races in Thedas.
Many thaigs responsible for food production were lost to the darkspawn after the collapse of the dwarven empire. As a result, the Orzammar dwarfs' nutrition is dependent on food imports from the surface. They are, however, still highly involved in rearing animals and cultivating food, as well as locating it in the Deep Roads and other underground sites around their thaigs.
Dwarves make use of all edible items that can be scavenged, some of which are hazardous due to their proximity to lyrium, and the darkspawn taint which is quite common.
Among the collected foods is Deep mushroom, despite growing near the darkspawn taint and lyrium veins they are regarded by the dwarves as having a distinct flavor and seductive aroma.
The dwarves also utilize moss and fungus to make a variety of liquors. Dwarves have a long history of drinking and an incredible capacity to withstand it. They import booze and make a lot of it themselves. According to the book Asunder, drinking the notorious dwarven ale, which is said to be made of fungus, has a reputation for being almost undrinkable for anyone who's not a dwarf.
Some ales include toxic moss, dirt, and even deadly lichen, which is also used to make their bread. So perhaps the dwarven diet might explain the next subject as well...
Sterility & Half-Raced Dwarves
From what we know of Dwarves, because of their proximity to the Blight and to even perhaps their diet, makes them sterile. Dwarves have the lowest fertility rate compared to any other race, and it doesn't also help with how they procreate with what see in the society of Orzammar. Or even the reason why we don't have dwarven romances.
Again, the Orzammar has a strong caste structure that convinces Casteless females that their worth in Orzammar is only in reproducing among the castes, which gives them agency as noble hunters seeking the sexual attentions of noble males in order to promote themselves (and/or their families or sponsors). Casteless males have a more difficult situation since they can only hope to have children with higher-caste women, the majority of whom are either unable or unwilling to pursue relationships with them.
So regarding all of those rules, this makes the dwarven population harder than most races to breed, while it is hard to sire a child as a dwarf, it is also troubling to find the best mate to benefit that Dwarf's house status.
Because dwarfs have a low reproductive rate, interspecies partnerships rarely result in children. However, they do exist.
Half-dwarfs born to humans are shorter than humans but taller than dwarves. Surface dwarves are more inclined to create such alliances, but they are widely condemned in Orzammar. And children born to dwarfs with elves are even rarer.
Their offspring would appear to be dwarf-like. Sandal Feddic from Dragon Age: Origins and 2, for example, was distrustful even among his own species. According to overheard banter between two Carta dwarves in Dragon Age 2: Legacy DLC, Sandal is a confirmed half-dwarf. (add voice line)
Also, a notable half-dwarf offspring was between Tyrdda Bright-Axe, founder of the Avvar, and Hendir, prince of the dwarves, the codex reads:
Lover's whispers to obey,
Hendir, dwarf-prince, friend in passion,
Babe produced to serve the line,
The Avvar tribe, her name, our taking.
— Saga of Tyrdda Bright-Axe, Avvar-Mother
So, if we will see more occurrences of half-dwarves in Thedas, we do know that it is rare, but it might suggest that magic and possibly dreams are only attainable for half-dwarves, as proved by Sandal...
The Titans Strange Mystery
Titans are colossal creatures that surpass anything other than a mountain in size. In elven times, they were known as the "pillars of the earth." Isana is their source of life, or blood, also known as raw lyrium. They sing into the Stone, sculpting it, causing earthquakes, and drastically altering the planet. They are gigantic beings that have never been seen before in Thedas, especially when compared to dragons.
They appear to have only awoken twice throughout Thedas' documented history. They are either asleep within the Deep Roads or are unable to function as they previously did, putting them in a vegetative condition. Lyrium is the sole source that allows them to still be deemed alive because it is a living source, making that substance so naturally related between two realms, the Fade, and the waking world, but something hinders the Titans, resulting in this coma-like state.
From what we know of in the Decent DLC, Titans can be sturred from major events in the Thedas, such as the Breach from Inquisition, and even to major Blights that occur near their area. Once they are stirred, they will sing in the stone to have dwarves connect to them, once connected, Dwarves seem to have the capacity to use magic, and even have foreknowledge of the past.
Fans argue that the Titans were either respected Gods, and had a deep connection to the dwarven race, resulting in a hivemind condition within the dwarves' minds. The Shal-Brytol is the lone example of how dwarves might be transformed into potentially mindless beasts to guard the Titan.
To add, the history of red lyrium is also unclear, which is even more suspicious given how the Wellspring in the Descent DLC held darkspawn at bay. What we can conclude from this is that Titans can become blighted, and when that happens, we may be witnessing something more than just an Archdemon threat. The elvhen pantheon, the Evanuris, are the only ones known to have struck down a Titan, and I don't believe we will be able to deal with that type of threat with the Veil in place...
The Dwarven Kingdoms Do Not Get Along
Before the Blights, according to Thedas' history, there were hundreds of thaigs, each with a thriving population. Despite the fact that each thaig had autonomy, the race remained mainly cohesive and maintained a proper capital, initially in Kal-Sharok and then in Orzammar.
After the Blights, the dwarves exclusively occupy two thaigs: Orzammar and Kal-Sharok, with Kal-Hirol being recovered after the 5th Blight to Orzammar following the Awakening DLC. Others dwell on the surface in exile. The most well-known and renowned Paragon, Endrin Stonehammer, famously relocated the dwarven capital from Kal-Sharok to Orzammar. But what really transpired to produce this major split?
After more than a century, the Grey Wardens slayed the Archdemon responsible for the Blight and drove the surviving darkspawn underground. The generations-long conflict was done for surfacers, but the Blight remained for dwarves.
The dwarves of Orzammar scaled the last of the Deep Roads going into their country, ln -15 Ancient. So in an effort to save Orzammar, High King Three-stone declared lost to the horde the kingdom of Kal-Sharok as well as the kingdoms of Hormak and Gundaar as they had to close the passages leading to most of the thaigs.
However, it has just been revealed that Kal-Sharok somehow escaped the darkspawn invasion in 9:12 Dragon. The few dwarves that live there, on the other hand, are reputed to be exceedingly reclusive and hesitant to re-establish communication with the rest of the world, as well as deeply resentful to Orzammar for abandoning them.
Kal-Sharok has had to do some pretty dubious things to survive because they have significantly fewer resources than Orzammar and no known access to the surface. When the darkspawn arrived, it is thought that the rulers of the old empire escaped to Kal-Sharok, where they defeated the darkspawn but suffered enormous fatalities.
It has also been intimated that Kal-Sharok's isolation and perhaps their interaction with the darkspawn during this time may have changed them in some unknown way. According to their descriptions, Kal-Sharok dwarves are physically distinct from Orzammar dwarves. They are described as pale and presumably "tainted" in an unpredictable manner.
The sole explanation for the division between the two kingdoms could be the existence of the Titans and their proximity of Titans to the Blight. The Titan understands why the dwarven race separated, according to Valta from the Descent DLC. This could be one of the reasons why Orzammar does not want its people to know about Titans. According to the journal:
I close my eyes and see glimpses of the world that was, before everything changed and the dwarven race broke in two. Something caused the Titans to fall, and the fate of my people fell with them. The Titan wants me to know. No, more than that. It wants me to understand. There is a loneliness to its song.
— Codex entry: Titans
Regardless of their terrible split, I aim to discover more about the Kal-Shirok culture, which is located in the Hunterhorn Mountains, and may know more about Red Lyrium, the Blight, and Titans' existence.
But with that, we are going to wrap up, 5 Things They Never Told You About Dwarves, which on this list did you never know about? Let me know in the comments down below.
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Again, thank you for watching, and I will see you in the next video, or as the dwarves say, Atrast nal tunsha (a-TRAST NAWL TON-shah) may you always find your way in the dark.
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