Summary
- Playing as a Dwarf Noble in Dragon Age: Origins offers a unique perspective on fantasy nobility and the power dynamics within the ruling family of Orzammar.
- The Dwarf Noble has a free hand at enjoying the perks of their station, including engaging in vicious dwarven politics and making decisions for Ferelden with ruthless detachment.
- Dwarves have a complex relationship with magic and an ancestral enmity with darkspawn, making the Dwarf Noble origin a significant and compelling storyline within the game.
Fantasy nobility has certain presumptions surrounding it: ballrooms, arranged marriages, and pomp. Players who decide to play a Dwarf Noble in Dragon Age: Origins, though, will experience a completely different side of being a leading member of the dominant class. Unlike the Human Noble origin, the Dwarf Noble is a member of the ruling family in Orzammar. The opulence one might expect to surround a dwarven prince or princess is there to some degree, and in this role, players definitely have the opportunity to wield a lot of entitled power. But they also dive neck-deep into darkspawn hordes as a way of life.
The Shaperate of Memories holds the names and deeds of the mightiest dwarves in Thedasian history, and Aeducan and Brosca players will carve their names out in those records as one of the most impressive dwarves of them all. Out of those, with the Dwarf Noble origin, players take on the role of the favored son or daughter of King Endrin Aeducan, and there’s nothing she or he can’t have or make happen. The only trouble is the Warden is only one of three royal children who also have everything at their fingertips, and it’s clear they want more than what they already have.
10 Underground Royalty
Unlike the Cousland Warden, the Dwarf Noble has a free hand at enjoying all the perks of their station. Whether that’s praising or bullying merchants, setting schemes in action, or enjoying other fine dwarven crafts is up to the player. Aeducan isn’t a pampered aristocrat, though; the Dwarf Noble is a military commander.
Being dwarven royalty doesn’t influence Topsider politics. All the same, an Aeducan Warden still benefits quite a lot from their political and military upbringing. However, dwarves don’t adhere to Chantry doctrine or morals, giving Noble Dwarf players a chance to roleplay a Warden who makes decisions for Ferelden with ruthless detachment.
9 The Topside Is A Strange New World
Dwarf Noble or Commoner Wardens see the Topside from the perspective of someone who has never been aboveground before being conscripted. While every origin offers new things to discover, only dwarves are enchanted by mundane things like trees and not falling into the sky.
There isn’t much explanation attached to what the Warden learns through the dwarven origins, and they are less involved than other races, but what players do learn about dwarves provokes fascinating speculation. Given everything revealed about them in Dragon Age: Inquisition, players returning to Origins will relish the clues embedded in the Dwarf Noble origin more than most.
8 Ancient, Lonely, And Insular Orzammar
Modern dwarven society is shaped by its past. There are gaps and omissions, however, and Aeducan players will gain unique insight into just how flexible the history recorded in the Memories is. Recent Memories seem to suggest Orzammar, the last kingdom of the dwarves, only concerns itself with itself, remembering only what is politically convenient.
Dwarves enigmatically call themselves the Children of the Stone, and they nourish her essence when they die. Some dwarves can hear the song of lyrium, while others hear the heartbeat of an ancient and sleeping evil. Players will learn just enough about their origins to piece together that there is a much greater underlying mystery to dwarves.
7 The Politics Are Deliciously Vicious
Ferelden politics may be one of the most fun aspects of Origins, but it doesn’t hold a candle to the fast-paced and deadly dance that is dwarven politics. Players can use their station to their advantage to gain information and allies as an Aeducan, so long as it doesn’t result in complacency.
Aeducan Wardens don’t quite have the same long-term thirst for revenge that keeps the plot going as Couslands do, nor can he or she gain the dwarven throne by the endgame. That doesn’t mean Aeducans can’t reshape dwarven society. The politics the Warden chooses to support early on and during the Orzammar quests can change lives, or reinforce the status quo.
6 Ancestors Over Andraste
Dwarves don’t worship gods. Instead, they honor and pray to their Ancestors. Their deeds and contributions to dwarven society are what guide just how special an Ancestor can be, and the most venerated of all of them are the Paragons. A dwarf need not be dead to become a Paragon, though. Such an individual is almost worshiped like a living god.
What’s fascinating about dwarven beliefs is that it’s as thoroughly grounded in reality as the Stone they are connected to. The Stone itself seems mystical enough that it may surprise players to learn dwarves don’t worship the Stone. To make matters more intriguing, things like the “Stone sense” are tangible phenomena.
5 Male Aeducans Can Father An Heir
Aeducan Wardens are rare when it comes to family. Not only will the player’s relatives continue to be important, but it’s one of the few origin families that is in growth, depending on the Warden’s gender. Neither gender gets a fairytale romance. Female Dwarf Nobles have the rare pleasure of having Gorim as a lover with this origin, although the relationship ends with Aeducan’s exile.
Male Dwarf Nobles will have the opportunity to bed a noble-hunter or two. If this option is pursued, the Warden will have a surprise waiting for him when he returns to Orzammar: a casteless child to provide for and his despairing mother. This is the only origin where the Warden is able to have a child before being conscripted.
4 Magic Can’t Touch This?
Dwarves aren’t connected to the Fade, and thus have a handy immunity to conventional magic. They are the only race capable of safely mining lyrium, however, which is curious. This suggests that far from being untouched by magic, dwarves have a much more complex relationship with it than anyone realizes.
While playing a dwarf in Origins only distinguishes itself in mechanics with its high spell resistance, it can add a great roleplaying twist to all the magic content of the game. The Fade quests can’t be skipped by a dwarf, but unlike Wardens of other races, Aeducan or Brosca Wardens become the only dwarf in living memory to have any contact with the Fade whatsoever.
3 Darkspawn Are Ancestral Enemies
The Dwarf Noble origin is the only background that gives players first-hand knowledge about darkspawn well before being recruited. Among the dwarves fighting terrors in the dark is a mark of prestige. All dwarves know about darkspawn, but the elite castes of Orzammar compete to participate in Deep Roads expeditions.
Not all the houses have the advantage Dwarf Noble players will. House Aeducan has a venerated history involving darkspawn that outshines the contribution of the others: the Paragon and founder of the player’s house saved the dwarven race during the First Blight. It seems only fitting, then, that an Aeducan would resolve the Fifth.
2 From Royal Exile To Warden Paragon
Exiled dwarves aren’t typically invited back into dwarven society. When dwarves become surfacers, their names and all their contributions are erased from the Memories as if they never existed. The throne of the last dwarven kingdom may be out of an Aeducan Warden’s reach, but that doesn’t mean they have to remain entirely forgotten.
Aeducan players won’t return to the Frostback Mountains to live in luxury, no Grey Warden is afforded that. But Aeducans can still become the next best thing to a living goddess or god as a Paragon, which is satisfying compensation for having everything else taken away.
1 Heir Of Titans
The dwarves of Dragon Age have an incredibly enigmatic legacy. While playing an Aeducan won’t reveal many currently relevant bits of lore in the first game of the franchise, it’s clear the dwarves only remember the tiniest fraction of who and what they are.
When a Blight emerges, it’s time to call in the best of the experts. Warden Aeducan is raised to command armies and battle darkspawn, a descendant of a legendary king and savior, and a Paragon in the making. There is no darkness an Aeducan won’t plunge a sword into until it stops twitching.
Dragon Age: Origins
- Released
- November 3, 2009
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood, Intense Violence, Language, Partial Nudity, Sexual Content
- Developer(s)
- BioWare
- Publisher(s)
- Electronic Arts
- Engine
- Eclipse
- Franchise
- Dragon Age
WHERE TO PLAY
From the makers of Mass Effect comes the dark fantasy epic: You are a Grey Warden, one of the last of a legendary order of guardians. With the return of mankind's ancient foe and the kingdom engulfed in civil war, you have been chosen by fate to unite the shattered lands and slay the archdemon once and for all.
(1) Immerse yourself in a shattered world on the brink of annihilation;
(2) Experience complex moral decisions that have game-changing consequences;
(3) Sculpt your hero in your own image or fantasy;
(4) Engage in bone-crushing, visceral combat against massive and terrifying creatures.
- Genre(s)
- RPG
