A tainted cough echoes the dank cold stone of the underground. But that haunting look was starting to show: white lucid eyes that cloud no colour. Puss was now coming out of the left arm of the soldier. the smell of rotten flesh- it explodes on the raw skin of the forearm, this pain level is beyond comprehension to explain to a simple-minded Thedosian. The blight disease is an incurable one, so they say, some Wardens heard of a cure, but it's told through their ranks over the ages so many times it almost seems like a legend...
Sinews of skin and flesh pull away from the regular mortal, and purple-black hue flushes into their face. Maker, what's going to happen to me? Panicking from the transformation, the soldier struggles to find a long rope that would tie to- where would this rope tie to? With an exasperated sigh, the soldier flings the rope away from their dark clouded fingers. By Andraste, why have the sins of a few leave the rest of the good world to deal with this? The Blight, the First Sin caused by the Magisters of the damned Tevinter Imperium. Pride came into their hearts, and that is how they fell from the Golden City. But that was just a fucking dream scholars say anyways, and now we are left with a silent disease, a disease of the Taint. And so, the soldier looks to the distance of the dark underground thaig, their flesh breaking raw with each breath.
This was the Blight, and this was the birth of a new Darkspawn.
The darkspawn, twisted creatures of singular purpose, sought to unearth the trapped Old Gods. The Old Gods they met in the Fade were likewise cast out and locked away underground. . Prevailing knowledge teaches that the unchecked power of the Tevinter magisters- specifically, their attempt to touch the realm of the gods- triggered this threat to
all living things. This sin corrupted the magisters who entered the Fade, returning them to the waking world as the first darkspawn.
A Curse of Rebirth/ The Taint
What had been golden turned black, and
violently they were flung from the world of dreams back into
the waking world. Twisted and corrupted by their crime and
their magic into monsters, they fled underground, unable to
bear the light of day. The first darkspawn...
For this reason, Thedas brought
the darkspawn upon itself. When
the Maker returns, he will destroy
all evil, including the darkspawn.
While the Chantry insists the darkspawn created the first Archdemon, some ancient lore says that the first archdemon of Dumat created the first darkspawn and led them against Thedas.
—World of Thedas Vol. 1
It's also highly debatable as to where precisely the Blight comes from too. According to Corypheus, he states that this plague already existed and the Magister's Sideral only discovered it and claimed it as theirs to permeate their being. A curse of rebirth, some scholars say, where races from all parts of Thedas now became rebirthed as blighted creatures of this tainted essence. Some are considered more intelligent than others, claiming consciousness after rigorous amounts of blood, specifically Grey Warden's blood like in the Awakening DLC. And while I will get more into specific intelligent darkspawn, let's go over the rebirth process.
There seems to be two forms of birth for a darkspawn, the taint, and through a Broodmother, a birth giver to new darkspawn. The taint is a corruption spread by the darkspawn that ultimately makes the victim hear the call of the Old Gods. It can be transmitted through contact with darkspawn blood and fluids, or through objects imbued with the taint. Such as tainted eluvians from the Dalish origin in Dragon Age: Origins.
According to the Calling, Taint also manifests as spidery tendrils of black rot, along with a dry shiny film covering underground passages used by darkspawn. As the corruption progresses, it gathers into black sacs the size of a man lining the floor or hanging from the ceiling.
The Taint is also referred to as the mysterious 'wasting illness' contracted from living beings within Thedas, such as rats, horses, and even food. Dwarves contract the taint more frequently due to their proximity to the darkspawn within the Deep Roads. Griffons, winged beasts commanded by Grey Wardens became extinct due to its corruption, thus dying out an entire species according to the Last Flight. Concept and lore-wise, according to former lead writer David Gaider, simply touching darkspawn blood does not automatically make you sick. You can get sick. The infected are often segregated and/or locked up. In some areas doors of their homes are marked with a yellow circle, according to the Last Court.
Intelligent Darkspawn
Recent evidence of darkspawn capable of speech and rational thought has complicated theories surrounding the Blight's purpose. Only a few fringe scholars argue the point, as the death and destruction a Blight brings tend to render the question of "why" irrelevant.
According to a codex, dwarves witness intelligent darkspawn throughout the Deep Roads stating-
Reminds me of a story my grandsire used to tell, about something his grandsire did. Said he once came upon a group of three darkspawn in the Deeper Roads, each twice the size of any dwarf—bigger than humans, even—and dressed up like kings. He watched from the shadows and said they talked, like people, about things he couldn't understand. A city gone black, and they blamed each other for things but could barely remember for what. Story goes they attacked each other, and one ran off while the second choked the third to death and then ate him.
Earliest recordings debate on when intelligent darkspawn occur, for one we know that the Archdemon is considered intelligent, which brings us back to the start of the First Blight in -395 Ancient. And in the Canticle of Slience from the Chant of Light states where the Archon of Tevinter rides to face the Magisters, trying to cleanse the corruption, and then calling upon power of spirits to scatter the Magisters who caused the First Sin. So intelligent darkspawn existed when the ritual was completed.
And in -191 Ancient intelligent darkspawn capable of advanced thought and speech are discovered once again. The Warden Sashamiri captures Corypheus, who is said to be the greatest of these darkspawn. For centuries, Corypheus was held in a prison commanded by the Wardens, hidden within the Vimmark Mountains.
From what we know of the intelligent darkspawn, so far the list goes like this, Archdemons who command their Blight once awakened, using their tactics and calling through the darkspawn species. The Magisters who breached the Golden City, capable of speech and magic thus are intelligent, capable of breaching the heavens again, the two examples we have are the Architect and Corypheus. The Broodmothers are also capable of intelligence, although it doesn't seem like all are capable the Mother from Awakening DLC was capable of controlling many darkspawn. The First was an example, also capable of speech and leading hordes of darkspawn to battle.
Of course, some fans have suggested Ogres and even emissaries are capable of intelligence and that merits some truth, but regardless, these are the tiers we have seen throughout the lore of Thedas, and I'm sure we might see more soon, like the existence of a blighted Titan capable of their own intelligence as well.
But with that we must look into the one who starts this whole process, with how they become blighted and produce the Calling within their prisons:
The Archdemons
No one knows what it is that drives the darkspawn in their relentless search for the sleeping Old Gods. Perhaps it is instinct, as moths will fly into torch flames. Perhaps there is some remnant of desire for vengeance upon the ones who goaded the magisters to assault heaven. Whatever the reason, when darkspawn find one of these ancient dragons, it is immediately afflicted by the taint. It awakens twisted and corrupted, and leads the darkspawn in a full-scale invasion of the land: a Blight.
—From Codex entry: Archdemon
They say an Archdemon is a fearsome creature with gnarled teeth, rotting purple scales,
and bent wings. Despite its monstrous appearance, the dragon is believed to be quite intelligent. Specifically, in battle, the Archdemon rarely fights on the surface during Blights unless direct intervention is necessary, although, through the hive-mind, the Archdemon communicates with and commands the entire horde whether in their presence or not, usually sending its orders to the emissaries or powerful hurlock generals.
But whether we agree on what the archdemons truly are or not, it seems to imply that they are the very essence of the Old Gods the Tevinter Imperium believed in. Hidden within chambers of prisons beneath the lands of Thedas.
Scholars assume that the Old Gods must indeed have been real at one point, but most agree that they were likely actual dragons—ancient high dragons of a magnitude not known today, and impressive enough to frighten ancient peoples into worshipping them. Some even claim that these dragons slumber as a form of hibernation, not as a result of the Maker's wrath. The Chant of Light believes the Maker trapped the Old Gods in eternal prisons beneath the earth as punishment. It's strange the verbiage the Chant uses because there is another tale the elvhen have for Fen'Harel, who trapped the Evanuris into eternal prisons as fitting punishment for their death of Mythal.
Regardless of the truth, legend maintains that even from their underground prisons, the Old Gods were able to whisper into the minds of men. And according to once again the Calling, a few of the high-ranking Grey Wardens know the locations of each of the Archdemon prisons; however, they are deep underground and cannot easily be accessed by the Wardens without cutting through thousands of darkspawn. Even the Wardens who hold the knowledge of the Archdemon prisons are not necessarily aware of how this information has been acquired.
However, what makes this even more interesting is the discovery of the Shimmer Stone Mine from Inquisition, which recovers a Warden Logbook codex entry. Within the text the Grey Wardens entered the Deep Roads here and found an unnamed thaig. They believed that the thaig was refuge to one of the remaining known Archdemons. It is unknown if the Archdemon referenced in the Warden's Logbook was one of the five Archdemons already awakened by 9:41 Dragon, or if the text was specifically referring to Lusacan, the Dragon of Night, as Lusacan is one of only two remaining Old Gods known by the Wardens to still be imprisoned underground by the Maker. And by 9:41 Dragon, the mine is completely collapsed and covered in lava.
So perhaps this is the prison of Lusacan, while Razikel's prison is somewhere within northern Thedas. It's a suspicion of course, but what remains of the Blights is coming to a close, or, perhaps the Archdemons are the lesser of a true evil behind this plague. Perhaps a real Archdemon is the Titans within Thedas, as we know red lyrium has become a larger menace throughout the lands. Since lyrium is now discovered to become tainted too, Archdemons aren't the only enemy anymore...
The Cure
During the events of Inquisition, the Hero of Ferelden is engaged in a search of a cure for the Calling and the Blight itself. For how long the Blight has existed, it's cure still remains a mystery. One thing that seems to be the common denominator for diminishing the Blight is through blood.
According to the Last Flight, a Grey Warden blood mage, Isseya was able to purify a clutch of griffon eggs: embryonic creatures, which had little to anchor the taint, unlike mature organisms. She cured them by drawing their taint into herself through the process of Maleficarum or blood magic.
And in Dragon Age 2, Merrill was able to purify a tainted eluvian with blood magic as well. It's unclear exactly what method Merrill used to "cure" the Eluvian, but obviously removing the taint from an organism is far more complex than removing it from an object.
In rare cases an infected subject (e.g. The Mabari Hound) may make a full recovery if given early care.
Another oddball to the cure is the possibility of spirits helping resist the taint- David Gaider stated that Anders being merged with Justice may have one of the two effects: "One is that the spirit within Anders can affect the level of his corruption, so it may delay or remove the necessity for his Calling altogether. Either that or at some point the corruption within Anders is going to corrupt the spirit." He refused to tell which one the writers prefer. And spirits are known to be scared of the Black City, the theorized birthplace of the Blight within the Fade, due to the fear of corruption, so perhaps spirits can handle the effect of the taint, but them being the cure for it is probably not a possibility.
However, Grand Enchanter Fiona is the only exception, she was previously known as a Grey Warden who was completely cured of the taint. During the Calling, Fiona wore an amulet (along with the other Wardens) to hide her from the notice of the darkspawn while traipsing through the Deep Roads. Unbeknownst to her, the amulet was created by the Architect and it accelerated the corruption in her body. When Fiona realized what was happening, taking off the amulet reversed the effect; instead of the corruption continuing to spread, her body was completely cleansed of it.
But this is a problem, cause we never find out the real root of Fiona's cure, and it looks like we might not ever learn it unless the act is repeated somewhere else since she can die (and rather lamely) in DAI and our Warden never seems to feel like contacting THE ONLY PERSON CURED OF THE CALLING even though they are looking for a cure. Sorry, this just annoys me every time I think about it...
And it's definitely possible she got cured because of the dragon blood in Maric (which affected her when she got pregnant with Alistair)- which we know the Theiren blood came due to the drinking of a Great Dragon from the legends of Calenhad the Great. So dragon's blood is another possibility for a cure to the Blight, after all, dragons are practically able to withstand the effects of the taint for quite a while. They are theorized by scholars to be practically resistant, but we know through Corypheus' dragon they still can be tainted, it just takes longer than necessary.
And possibility of a cure, or the closest to one was from the idea of the Architects research, in by curing the Blight, was to make the whole Thedosian population become Grey Wardens, which is just one of those typical herd mentality theories he perhaps came up with, but the indication of curing darkspawns from their prisons of the call from Archdemons might have been cured, the rest of the population would have to suffer the same fate. It was a fanciful tale the Architect could have made a reality, but would have ended in the fate of total annihilation of every living being. Many fans believe this was never a cure, but a motive to win the Blights over Thedas. Or maybe the writers know more than we do, and implied that this was a plague that could never be cured by any simple means.
So that's just it, we don't know a cure, and in fact, that seems far out of the realm of possibility knowing that more and more substances can become blighted like for instance red lyrium. The plague benefits only the darkspawn, and that is where we are so wrong, the Blight can never be harnessed, but the intelligence behind it, has the motive to ruin Thedas and it's organisms within it.
But with that, we are going to wrap up, turns out we were so wrong about Darkspawn and their intentions. What do you think of the Blight and its threat upon Thedas? What is your favourite darkspawn- I'm pretty sure everyone knows mine, anyways, thank you for watching and I will see you in the next video.
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