History DragonAge / RaceTropes

[[redirect:DragonAge/DragonAgeRaces]]

%%
%%
%%
%% Zero Context Example entries are NOT allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to the entries before uncommenting them. %%
%%
%%
%%

[[foldercontrol]]

Races from the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' franchise:

[[folder: Humans]]
[[quoteright:346:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dragon_Age_Humans_4199.png]]
[[WMG: Humans in general]]

The most prolific race in Thedas, humans have been behind nearly every important historical event in the history of Thedas for a very long time. The elves blame them for the loss of their immortality, Tevinter humans became the first darkspawn when they invaded the Fade, and of course virtually every major country is primarily human.
----

* AndManGrewProud: According to the Chantry, it was men trying to conquer the "Golden City" in the heart of The Fade that first drew the darkspawn, and caused The Maker, their creator deity, to shun them. Though the first thing that caused Him to shun them was when they started worshiping dragons instead of Him. Then they did that, and He shunned them harder. Still later, he shunned them again for the death of Andraste. He is a very passive-aggressive deity.
* TheChurch: The Chantry. Led by [[ThePope the Divine]] and composed [[AlwaysFemale entirely of women]]. It's not capital-E-evil and most of its adherents are just trying to get on with their lives, but the institution as a whole is responsible for many of the setting's social problems. Case in point, destroying the Dales in the name of the woman who helped free elves in the first place, and while whether or not they had a legitimate reason to do so is debatable, the many faults in cleaning the situation up afterwards are decidedly not. Official Chantric teachings hold that [[AntimagicalFaction magic is inherently dangerous]], can lead to temptation, and opens up innocents to demonic possession, an opinion that...[[StrawmanHasAPoint isn't necessarily wrong]], actually, but not entirely accurate when applied to the morality of individual, ''trained'' mages.
** CorruptChurch / SaintlyChurch: It does its best to be the latter, but inevitably, its institutional faults make it the former.
* DueToTheDead: The Andrastian religion practices cremation, in memory of Andraste being burnt at the stake.
** Although it's been suggested that it may have originally been to prevent Blood Mages raising or demons possessing corpses.
* FantasticRacism: Even though an elf was one of their Prophetess' greatest generals, the Chantry officially removed all verses about him when it came time to conquer the elven kingdom of the Dales. Now that most of the elves in Thedas have converted to Andrastianism, the Chantry still doesn't let them become priests.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Medieval Europe.
* OneTrueFaith: The Chantry is by far the most widespread religion in the setting. There are some exceptions, such as the polytheistic Chasind and the pantheistic Rivaini, but they don't get much screen-time.
* OutsideContextVillain: For the Ancient Elves of Arlathan, who's lore records the strange, mortal beings calling themselves human, coming across the sea from Par Vollen and caused the Elves to lose their immortality.

[[WMG: Ferelden]]
--> ''We're not ''actually'' dog people, despite whatever rumors you've heard.''\\
-- '''Hawke'''

A country with a reputation as "back-water dog-lovers" due to their strong history of breeding Mabari warhounds, Ferelden is a young nation that only recently earned its independence from Orlais. ''Dragon Age: Origins'' takes place here.
----

* ALighterShadeOfGray: Compared to pretty much all of Thedas. It's not a ''fantastic'' place to live, but it doesn't have nearly the level of institutionalized prejudice as Orlais, Kirkwall, or Tevinter. An elf (the Warden, Shianni, or Cyrion) can be raised to a Bann in the endgame of Origins.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: This is expected of the nobility.
* {{Badass}}: Replete with them. This is the country that ended a (normally decades-long) Blight in about a year.
* BoringButPractical: Has none of the frills or luxuries of Orlais, Antiva, or Tevinter, but also has none of their crippling dysfunctions.
* ElectiveMonarchy: The Landsmeet, in theory, selects the king. In practice, every king has come from the Theirin bloodline, as that was the line of [[FounderOfTheKingdom Calenhad the Great]]. There are exceptions. The Orlesians never called the Landsmeet, and this is part of why they were so hated. Bryce Cousland was preferred as Maric's successor by the Landsmeet, but he turned them down. And Anora can be selected as Ferelden's monarch, and she comes from a very recently ennobled family.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: England, if the Normans had been driven out. The Saxon influences are there in the names and the political structure. Also there are nods to ''pre-Saxon'' Brythonic kingdoms. King Calenhad is basically an {{Expy}} of KingArthur, complete with his own {{Merlin}}, a hedge wizard turned CourtMage named Aldenon the Wise. Highever is also a counterpart of the Celtic overkingdom of Dal Riata, which once encompassed Scotland and parts of coastal Ireland. The default human noble male (Aedan) and Fergus Cousland are named after its two greatest kings, and "Cousland" is a place in Scotland.
* Foil: To Orlais. Ferelden is an isolationist kingdom, Orlais is an expansionist empire. Fereldans emphasize martial strength, Orlesians emphasizes subterfuge. Fereldans dress plainly, even the noblemen. Orlesians dress garishly, and derive status from ConspicuousConsumption. Fereldan kings draw power from a parliament of nobles and magnates, Orlesian emperors enforce their will and maintain that authority through the theory of the divine right of kings. Fereldan iconography emphasizes dogs and wolves, Orlesian iconography emphasizes lions.
* HeroesLoveDogs: Dogs play a large role in Fereldan culture. Particularly the magically-created Mabari breed.
** Fenris claims that the Mabari Hounds first arrived in Ferelden during an invasion by Tevinter. When the Mabari found the local Alamarri tribes were [[MagneticHero far friendlier]] than their masters, they immediately decided to [[DefectorFromDecadence switch sides]], joining forces to drive out the Tevinters. Since then, a contingent of Mabari have been a staple of the Ferelden military.
** The second game reveals that "Dog-Lords" is a common slur against Fereldans in foreign countries.
* InformedFlaw: It being a dirty nation of barbarians. On the contrary, the country seems quite civilized, its nobility has a better than even chance of being reasonable, its government doesn't descend into tribalism and barbarity after Ostagar, and they were able to defeat a Blight (with no outside help from other human nations) within a year. The opinion of Fereldans being barbarians seems to be shared only by the most foppish Orlesians.
* IrishNames: A lot of Fereldans have them.
%%* TheKingdom
* MageTower: The Kinloch Hold, more commonly referred to as the Circle Tower.
* OopNorth: Amaranthine.
* {{Principality}}: According to the codex, Highever is a semi-autonomous protectorate, loyal to the crown.
* RatedMForManly: Thanks to their barbarian ancestry, Fereldan culture involves quite a bit of fighting with little effort placed into luxuries.
** Unlike Orlesians who favour elaborate [[SilkHidingSteel silks]] and Antivans who enjoy [[HellbentForLeather well-tanned leather]], Ferelden fashions seems to be based on whatever is the most [[BoringButPractical practical material]] on hand, lined with fur.
* {{Scotireland}}: Highever.
* TheTower: Fort Drakon, a fortress and prison in the heart of Denerim. It's basically Ferelden's answer to the Tower of London. Unlike the Circle tower, it was actually built by the Tevinter mages.
* TookALevelInBadass: The nations of Thedas take Ferelden a lot more seriously ''after'' the Fifth Blight. It is also one of the ''only'' countries in Thedas that has emerged from both games in a better place than it started.

[[WMG: Orlais ]]
-->'''Hawke:''' What's happening in Orlais?\\
'''Alistair:''' Oh, the usual. Attempted assassinations, uprisings, fancy parties with stinky cheeses...

A very old empire known for its DeadlyDecadentCourt, for centuries Orlais has been the center of culture in Thedas. They still treat Ferelden as an uppity colony in many ways, and there is always at least some scheming to recapture it.
----

* AmbiguouslyGay: The faux French accents and foppy demeanor makes most Orlesians appear this way to foreigners.
** BiTheWay: That being said, Orlais apparently has a more tolerant attitude towards bisexuality and homosexuality than many other countries, as shown by one noble being exiled for being in a relationship with his male cousin, with only the ''latter'' being considered taboo.
** CampGay: Of course, they're just so flamboyant that they come off as this if they are.
%%* TheDandy
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Their nobles take pride in "the grand game". The chance of your party entertainment being a spy or hitman is considered a bonus, and a FantasticDrug brewed from wyvern poison is favored by the Empress herself.
* DroitDuSeigneur: According to Liselle, this practice is very popular amongst the nobility and the Chevaliers.
* TheEmpire: As foppish as their nobles come across, Orlais is the richest and most powerful human nation in Thedas. Ferelden threw off their occupation at the start of the Dragon Age, and officially made peace with Empress Celene twenty years later, but it's fresh in people's minds on both sides.
* EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench: Played straight with Leliana. Averted with everyone else, with Fereldans in particularly often taking a moment to mock their accents.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Basically a distillation of everything stereotypically French, good or bad, ancient and modern, packaged into one country and rounded off with a side-dish containing [[RunningGag stinky cheeses]].
* {{Foil}}: To Ferelden. Ferelden is an isolationist kingdom, Orlais is an expansionist empire. Fereldans emphasize martial strength, Orlesians emphasizes subterfuge. Fereldans dress plainly, even the noblemen. Orlesians dress garishly, and derive status from ConspicuousConsumption. Fereldan kings draw power from a parliament of nobles and magnates, Orlesian emperors enforce their will and maintain that authority through the theory of the divine right of kings. Fereldan iconography emphasizes dogs and wolves, Orlesian iconography emphasizes lions.
* FrenchJerk: A worrying number of them.
* MageTower: White Spire.
* SissyVillain: If they're not a FrenchJerk, they're this. Or they're both. The only truly ''manly'' Orlesians seen in-game identify themselves as Free Marchers (Stroud) or Fereldan (Riordan, who was "born and bred" in Highever).
* VestigialEmpire: They used to control the Free Marches, Ferelden, the Anderfels, and Nevarra in addition to their own land. All of these places won their independence. They're still quite powerful, but have lost territory to Nevarra in wars, and as of Literature/{{Asunder}}, are in the middle of a CivilWar.
%%* WanderingMinstrel

[[WMG: Antiva ]]
-> ''Can you smell that [leather]? Like rotting flesh! Just like back in Antiva City. Now if only you could find me a prostitute or two, a bowl of fish chowder and a corrupt politician, I'd really feel like I was home!''\\
-- '''Zevran'''

A dangerous nation that makes no attempts to hide its corruption and employment of assassins.
----

%%* AnythingThatMoves
* CultureChopSuey: Medieval Venice populated by [[LatinLover Latin Lovers]] with [[DashingHispanic Spanish accents]].
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: If Zevran is to be believed, it's an OpenSecret that the Crows run the place.
** ElectiveMonarchy: Kings are elected, provided they get through their campaigns without being assassinated. Sometimes no-one feels brave enough to step forward - at which point the Crows go after ''potential'' candidates until someone does.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Spain and the Italian city-states.
* MerchantPrince: While nominally a monarchy, the country is effectively a plutocracy -- ruled by a dozen or so merchant princes with personal armies, vast resources and a heaping helping of the local assassin order, the House of Crows.
* TheSyndicate: More or less controlled by the House of Crows.
* WeakButSkilled: Their army is laughably bad. Their assassins are the best in Thedas. No general would attack them for fear of the Crows killing him, theoretically. Of course, countries have still done it, and quite successfully.
* WretchedHive: Antiva is run by its criminal element.

[[WMG: The Tevinter Imperium]]
--> '''Anders:''' So, there must be mages in Tevinter who don't use blood magic?\\
'''Fenris:''' Of course. There are slaves. The magisters do not hesitate to collar their own kind.

Perhaps the oldest human nation in existence, Tevinter is still an extremely violent and dangerous magocracy that uses slavery and blood magic as a matter of course. In order to dodge the Chantry's laws on magic, they created a splinter church of their own, ruled by their own Divine (known as the Black Divine) to reinterpret scripture in their favor.
----

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Maevaris from the comics is the closest thing to a decent Tevinter human we've yet seen. The country itself is a useful boogeyman for anti-mage characters to use as a justification for imprisoning mages specifically because seemingly ''every'' Tevinter magician is evil with a capital E.
* BadassArmy: It has mages and war elephants. And has managed to stave off conquest by a technologically superior enemy for centuries. Tevinter's armies also managed to conquer all of Thedas, and they're basically the reason the Qunari have no major settlements on the mainland.
** The capital city, Minrathous, has enough food and supplies to withstand an enemy siege for over a year and has been guarded for nearly a thousand years by the "Juggernauts", gigantic war golems acquired from the Dwarves.
* BloodMagic: Technically outlawed. Still practiced widely.
* EqualOpportunityEvil: Elven Tevinter Magisters are uncommon, but not unheard of.
* EvilSorcerer: An entire Empire seemingly built on embracing this trope as fully as possible.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Byzantine Empire, though with a heaping scoop of evil and a much tighter geographic alignment to Rome.
* HopelessWar: They've been trying to drive the Qunari off Seheron for at least eighty years, but have yet to even inspire a serious counterattack. Of course, the Qunari can barely make headway in conquering the mainland since they were first repulsed, so this is more of a stalemate.
* MadeASlave: The Tevinters are heavily involved in the slave trade, particularly when it comes to [[EnslavedElves elves]].
* TheMagocracy: Not initially. The elves (or the Old Gods) taught the Archon Thalsian BloodMagic, and it all went downhill from there. Now mages rule everything, from the government to the Chantry. They even split from the official Andrastian Chantry so they could reinterpret scripture to put mages back on top.
* TheQueensLatin: Though British accents are pretty common in other places in-setting too.
* ShiningCity: Minrathous used to be this. It is a place of culture and history stretching back to time immemorial, and has never been conquered. Unfortunately...
** SoiledCityOnAHill: What it is now, owing to centuries of misrule by the magisters and their ilk.
* VestigialEmpire: The Imperium once controlled all of Thedas, but is now reduced to its heartland in the north, between the Anderfels and Rivain.
* WhyWontYouDie: Pretty much every other nation in Thedas thinks this of the Imperium. Even the Qunari couldn't take them out.

[[WMG: Rivain]]

A distant country with some interesting ways of utilizing magic. Rivain is almost surrounded by water except for a strip of land linking it to Antiva. As a result, it's a teeming sailing hub and the headquarters of (among others) the Felicisima Armada. It also has the last peaceful Qunari holding in mainland Thedas.
----

* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Moor-influenced Spain.
* {{Seers}}: The traditional path of female mages. They only have a Circle at all to keep the Chantry happy, and mages are still allowed more family contact than almost anywhere else. Once the Chantry caught wind of it, however, they called the Right of Annulment on the Circle of Dairsmuid.

[[WMG: The Anderfels]]

A mountainous country best known for being where the Grey Wardens were founded.
----

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Due to several Blights occuring in the Anderfels, the Wardens wield a lot of authority there.
* ButtMonkey: Three of the five Blights began or ended here, and these Blights lasted for decades.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Loosely based on Germany, with many of their city names being rather Teutonic. Specifically they are similar to the Germany of the Holy Roman Empire, being a deeply religious people constantly geared for war. They also bear heavy resemblance to the northern German regions during the control of the Knights Teuton, a situation very similar to the Grey Warden's authority in the country.
* {{Mordor}}: Some areas have seen so many darkspawn invasions, the Blight has rendered the land completely barren. Corpses don't even decay there, as insects or grubs can't get anywhere near them.
* PuppetKing / AuthorityInNameOnly: The Anderfels has a King who is technically in charge, but due to all the Blights and Darkspawn raids they've suffered, everyone looks to the Wardens as the ''real'' power in the region.
* [[RealMenLoveJesus Real Men Love The Maker]]: These guys are said to be some of the toughest warriors in Thedas. They are also among the most devout nations under the White Divine.

[[WMG: Nevarra]]

Generally referred to in the context of "Nevarran dragon slayers," Nevarra has a reputation for powerful mercenaries and odd funeral customs.
----

* {{Badass}}: So far every mention of Nevarra has shown inclinations towards this. To whit: the reasons dragons are nearly extinct in Thedas is because ''the Nevarrans hunted most of them down''. They've also been mentioned to be a heavily militarized country in general.
* TheDragonslayer: To the point where it's practically their national pasttime. The Nevarrans are responsible for (nearly) wiping out the entire species during the Steel Age, while in the case of the distantly related Wyverns, they've taken to organising yearly hunts to keep their population in check.
* DueToTheDead: Unlike the other Andrastian nations, the Nevarrans don't burn their dead, but instead bury them as mummies in elaborate tombs. This has given rise to the "Mortalitasi", an order of mages responsible for preserving the dead.
** Unfortunately, the preserved corpses make ideal targets for DemonicPossession, resulting in larger numbers of more powerful undead in Nevarra.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Prussia, as both are led by extremely militaristic royal families, and Cassandra seems to be sporting a vaguely German accent. The wars with Orlais are also similar to Germany's repeated conflicts over France for land.
** The existence of a culturally important and politically active order of mages responsible for administrating funeral rites also gives the country something of an Ancient Egyptian flare.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The Pentaghast Family is known for actively hunting dragons.
* TheRival: To Orlais.
* SuccessionCrisis: ''The World of Thedas'' states that both the current King of Nevarra and his most likely successor are childless old men, and that both the Pentaghast and Van Markham clans are preparing for a fight over the throne when he goes, making this a likely possibility.

[[WMG: Starkhaven]]

Sebastian's home country, which Varric doesn't take very seriously.
----

* TheDandy: According to Varric, Starkhaven is stuffy and pretentious.
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Varric and Sebastian bond over how similar it is to the Dwarf Merchant's guild.

[[WMG: Kirkwall]]

A city-state that used to belong to the Tevinter Imperium. The setting of ''Dragon Age II''.
----

* TheAlcatraz: ''The Gallows'', home of Kirkwall's Circle, swings between this and a CardboardPrison.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Darktown, which is made up of old mines and the sewer system.
* AnimalMotifs: Kirkwall's architecture, family crests and even surnames often contain bird imagery, often birds-of-prey.
* AuthorityInNameOnly: Viscount Dumar, due to being a SlaveToPR. The ''real'' power in Kirkwall lies with Knight-Commander Meredith and she ''knows'' it. [[spoiler: She becomes ''de facto'' ruler after the Viscount's murder at the hands of the Arishok, refusing to allow the nobles to elect his successor]].
* BadGuyBar / GoodGuyBar: ''The Hanged Man'', situated in Lowtown, depending on who's in that night.
--> '''Seneschal Bran''': Though where you would find a guardsman so eager to sell his honour and sword is beyond me.\\
'''Isabela:''' Hanged Man.\\
'''Fenris:''' Hanged Man.\\
'''Merrill:''' Hanged Man.\\
'''Aveline:''' Got to be.\\
'''Sebastian:''' Even ''[[ChurchMilitant I]]'' know that.
* TheChampion: Hawke becomes this for Kirkwall after ending the Qunari invasion of the city.
* CityOfAdventure: Living there is certainly not dull by any accounts, just ''incredibly'' deadly.
** Most of the ridiculously high death rate in Kirkwall is attributed to [[FightMagnet Hawke]], and they're the ''hero!''
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Somewhat. While other nobles have put out a hit on Lord Harimann for convincing the Viscount to send financial aid to post-Blight Ferelden and the Viscount mentions he fears assassination if he becomes too friendly with the Qunari, for the most part they tend to limit themselves to passive-aggressive complaining. Which, if you've read this far, you should realize qualifies them as downright ''restrained'', on the whole.
* EldritchLocation: So many slaves died here while it was part of the Imperium that the Veil was permanently damaged, accounting for the sheer number of possessions you see in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''. Kirkwall's Circle of Magi has an alarmingly high failure rate for mages undergoing the Harrowing, especially when compared to other circles. A codex entry hints at a darker purpose to the city's very design and implies a huge number of slaves were sacrificed in an effort to ''deliberately'' weaken the veil for undetermined reasons.
** [[spoiler: It's close proximity to Corypheus' prison likely didn't help matters either.]]
* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Played straight under [[CorruptCop Jeven]], but averted under [[DaChief Aveline's]] leadership, as she roots out the corruption and turns the City Guard into an incredibly efficient fighting unit.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Kirkwall is home to Darktown, the Gallows, Sundermount, the Bone Pit Mine and the Wounded Coast. Hawke frequently lampshades the sheer bleakness invoked by the local place names.
* MalevolentArchitecture: Lowtown is adorned with rusted metal spike partitions, narrow streets, abandoned mining equipment, while Darktown adds various hidden traps into the mix. Justified however, as both are former mines and slave dwellings, designed to prevent slave uprisings through intimidation.
* RedLightDistrict: Located in Hightown and centered around ''The Blooming Rose''.
* InSeriesNickname: "The City of Chains".
* SoiledCityOnAHill: Quoth Varric, "Now it's a free city...but I use the term loosely."
* ThievesGuild: The Coterie is the main one, but there are at least a dozen others, all of whom seem to like taking potshots at Hawke's group in between crises. It never ends well for them.
* WretchedHive: It's one of the most infamous cities in Thedas for a reason.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Dwarves]]
[[quoteright:327:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Dwarves_6078.png]]
-> ''"Most people on the surface think of dwarves and imagine greedy merchants or dour craftsmen, and certainly those are the faces most often seen by those of us who live under the Maker's eye. But a journey to the thaig reveals a culture of nobility and of poverty, of proud warriors and of necessary brutality."''
-->-- '''Brother Genitivi'''

Dwarves in Thedas have been fighting a losing war against the darkspawn for a very, very long time. When the darkspawn first appeared, the capitol of Orzammar closed its gates and abandoned all the other thaigs and cities. When they sent out scouts centuries later, they found that only one other city had survived. Dwarves are mostly known for mining lyrium, the magical ore that powers most magic items, but they have a number of other quirks--most notably, they are not allowed above ground under any circumstances, and are exiled if they do so.
----

* BadassArmy / RedshirtArmy: The Dwarven army swings between this. They're some of the most efficient and seasoned warriors against the Darkspawn and have successfully held out against them for over a thousand years, but they are very aware that they are losing soldiers faster than they can replace them, as well as losing more and more ground to the horde by the year.
** The Legion of the Dead actually invoke and embrace ''both'' tropes, as their members consider themselves ''already'' dead, thus eliminating any fear when called to perform a HeroicSacrifice or run a SuicideMission against the horde.
* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Dwarven noble society ain't a very nice place. Backstabbing, coups, and assassinations are standard operating procedure.
* DisasterDemocracy: Their politicians spend more time arguing and attempting to assassinate each other than actually worrying about the Darkspawn constantly threatening to overrun the city.
* DueToTheDead: The Dwarven funeral custom is to entomb the body, believing that their spirits goes into and strengthens the Stone.
* DyingRace: The endless war with the Darkspawn coupled with restrictive social policy and already low birth-rates are slowly but surely bleeding the dwarves out. The dwarves are very aware of this, but are too bound by tradition to really do anything about it.
* EternalEnglish: Played with. While the the Dwarven language has for the most part been replaced by that of the surface, it still can be heard in formal greetings and farewells, important titles and the occasional bit of slang. Interestingly, Caridin appears to use an archaic form of a Dwarven farewall, implying that even though the language has mostly fallen out of use, it has changed slightly over the past thousand years.
* FantasticCasteSystem: By tradition, each dwarf is born into one of eight castes, depending on the caste of their parent of the same sex. Those without a caste are shunned as untouchable by the majority of dwarves. The only way to change castes is to marry a partner of a different caste, give birth to a child the same sex as that partner, and then petition the Shaperate for a caste change. [[GoldDigger "Noble hunting"]] is a very common profession among the comelier casteless.
* FantasticRacism: Against Casteless or Surface Dwarves.
* FantasticSlurs: "Brand" and "Duster" are used to describe the Casteless, while the Surface Dwarves are "Sun-touched" and "Lost to the Stone".
* HonourBeforeReason: The Dwarves of Orzammar believe in this so much, that they'd rather let the city fall to the Darkspawn; rather than allow a Castless to insult the Smith and Warrior castes by picking up a fine blade and aiding in the defense of their city. Depending on who the Warden puts on the throne, they can get better... or much worse.
** The Warden is forced to get involved with their SuccessionCrisis as a result of this, as despite the fact that an apocalypse is currently in progress, their BindingAncientTreaty requires that only their ''[[ExactWords King]]'' can lend aid the Wardens during the time of a Blight, meaning that their Assembly is legally required to do nothing until one is chosen.
* HopelessWar: They're stuck in one with the darkspawn. The Warden's actions can improve or worsen the situation.
* JustifiedCriminal: The casteless dwarves of Orzammar. Marked as outcasts and criminals from birth, they are not legally permitted to gain any legitimate work or housing. As such, they're forced into either begging or criminality for survival.
* LavaAddsAwesome: The underground realm of the Deep Roads has a lot of lava, to the point that the dwarves have lava fountains and lava waterfalls as decorations in the same way surfacers might use water. [[ConvectionSchmonvection How their city is still habitable is a mystery.]]
* MedievalStasis: While dwarven technology, primarily smithing techniques, has advanced, dwarven society has retained the same rules for its entire recorded history. A fact that most dwarves will proudly note.
* NayTheist: The Dwarves do not believe in any god or gods, but instead venerate the Stone itself, who they credit with creating their race and believe guides them in their daily lives. In addition, they practice ancestor worship, believing that by interring themselves within the Stone, they strength it and allow themselves to continue guiding their descendants. Those decreed Paragons are individuals who have performed such incredible achievements, they are considered to have the Stone's favour and considered "Living Ancestors" themselves.
* TheRemnant: Of the entire Dwarven Empire that once spanned across (and under) Thedas via the Deep Roads, only the furthest outposts of Orzammar and Kal-Sharok are left; their once magnificent Thaigs and grand highways, now in disrepair, collapsed or swarming with Darkspawn.
* [[ScrewYouElves Screw You, Dwarves]]: Surface Dwarves have this view towards the Dwarves of Orzammar, wondering how anyone who willingly chooses to remain living in a dank hole in the ground, in constant danger of being overrun by the Darkspawn horde, can ''still'' act so smug and self-important towards everyone else. The Casteless, of whom they are technically a part, tend to agree with this sentiment.
** The Dwarves of Kal-Sharok have this attitude towards the Dwarves of Orzammar, having not forgiven them for shutting their gates and abandoning them to the Darkspawn horde over a thousand years ago.
* StoutStrength: Despite their squat stature, dwarves tend to be slightly stronger and significantly hardier on average than either humans or elves with equivalent training.
* TattooedCrook: Casteless dwarves are marked with a tattoo so that everyone can recognize them as "thieves and beggars." This, however, results in them becoming crooks, because they can't do anything else legally. Society really ''is'' to blame in their case.
** According to one trader, Surface Dwarves are legally required to wear one whilst conducting their business in Orzammar, as they are technically considered Casteless. Most opt to wear a temporary tattoo that they can wash off upon their return to the surface.
* TownWithADarkSecret: Kal-Sharok, the only other major Dwarven thaig remaining standing against the Darkspawn. While little is known thus far, the ''World of Thedas'' hints that the inhabitants are very insular and slow to trust outsiders, particularly those from Orzammar. [[spoiler: They are also rumoured to have been altered in some manner, as a result of a thousand years of constant, low-level exposure to the Taint]].
* UrbanSegregation: From Diamond Quarter (Noble Class) all the way down to Dust Town (casteless).
* VestigialEmpire: The dwarven kingdoms used to span the entirety of Thedas' underground. The First Blight reduced them to only two known cities, one of which hates the other.
* WretchedHive: Orzammar, from the Nobles in their DeadlyDecadentCourt, all the way down to the [[TattooedCrook Casteless]] squatting in Dust Town.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Elves]]
[[quoteright:305:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Elves_992.png]]
[[WMG: Elves in general]]

The once-immortal elves have been declining for centuries, and are now split between the wandering Dalish tribes and the alienage elves in human cities. Even their magic is waning; while once every elf had magic, now it is rare to find more than one in a single clan or settlement.
----

* ArtEvolution: They gained more distinct features than just "short humans with pointy ears" as part of the overall shift towards a distinct art style in ''II''. The devs are apparently going for a middle-ground look in the third game. Amusingly, though the Dalish looked quite alien compared to the design of the elves in ''Origins'', Merrill looks pretty much like a conventionally attractive human woman, just a very thin one.
* EnslavedElves: As far as anyone knows, they were the first race to inhabit Thedas. Then the humans arrived, the Imperium formed, and things went to hell for them. After Andraste led the rebellion against the Imperium, they were given a homeland and enjoyed a HopeSpot that lasted nearly three centuries before the Chantry declared an Exalted March against them.
* FromBadToWorse: Their entire history.
* OhMyGods: The Creators.
* [[OurElvesAreBetter Our Elves Used To Be Better]]: They once ruled a Tolkien-esque kingdom, with near-ubiquitous magic and (supposedly) the next best thing to immortality. Then the Imperium attacked with everything from mages to dragons.
* PointyEars: As common to most Elves in fantasy.
* ScrewYouElves: Inverted. Their hostility towards humans comes from a history of abuse, and most human societies continue to treat them as second-class. Elf Wardens have several options to go "Screw you, human." However, they still occasionally exhibit the classic high-elven aloofness, which is especially ludicrous considering the humans have and are capable of wiping them out, and pretty much ruins any chance of human societies actually sympathizing with them.
** It's more likely to be seen between different branches of elves. Dalish and City elves don't always get along, but even the city elves are contemptuous of those who try to fully integrate in human society.
* TeenyWeenie: A hardened Leliana will mention the rumor.
* YouAreTheTranslatedForeignWord: Elves typically refer to Humans as Shemlen ("Quick Children"), Dwarves as Durgen'len ("Children of the Stone") and themselves as Elvhen ("The People").

[[WMG:Alienage Elves]]
-->'''Cailan:''' Do you come from the Alienage? Tell me, how is it there? My guards all but forbid me from going there.\\
'''Warden:''' [[BrutalHonesty I killed an Arl's son for raping my friend.]]

The elves confined to the slums in human cities.
----

* AwakeningTheSleepingGiant: The alienage folk aren't exactly a superpower and have to tolerate a lot of crap in their day-to-day lives. The moment they stop tolerating it, [[LetsGetDangerous watch the fuck out.]]
* EnslavedElves: They're technically ''not'' slaves, but they're so second-class, there's really little difference.
* FantasticGhetto: They're kept in slums called "alienages," and any human crimes against them suffer the equivalent of MissingWhiteWomanSyndrome.
** This depends on the rulers of the alienage in question. The alienage in Highever, ruled by [[BigGood the Couslands]], is noted to be governed well and in better condition by Iona. The Denerim alienage, ruled by [[JerkAss the Kendalls and then Rendon Howe]], is a complete and utter hellhole. The alienage of Kirkwall, ruled by a well-meaning but ineffectual Viscount Dumar and the casually corrupt Kirkwaller aristocracy, is somewhere in between.
* UrbanSegregation: Elves who try to assimilate with humans are sneered at by both groups. The elves, when questioned about this, admit the real reason for encouraging isolationism is to discourage [[InterspeciesRomance interracial affairs]]. Due to a strange quirk in their genetics, elves can only be born from a union of two elven parents. Mating with other races produces members of the non-elf parent. The elves fear being completely absorbed by the other races if this was left unchecked.

[[WMG: The Dalish]]

--> "''[[BadassCreed We are the Dalish: Keepers of the lost lore, walkers of the lonely path. We are the last of the Elvhenan, and]]'' [[BadassCreed never]] ''[[BadassCreed again shall we submit!]]''"

The more traditional elves, who wander the dales in small tribes.
----

* BadassCreed: The Oath of the Dales, as shown above.
* BareYourMidriff: Their female armor.
* TheFairFolk: According to the Chantry. How straight its played varies from clan to clan and from Dalish to Dalish. They have a tendency to draw swords against ''any'' human who even accidentally wanders into their territory, they are known to dabble in BloodMagic, and the historical record speculates that human sacrifice may have been common when the Dalish still had a homeland, though for [[WrittenByTheWinners obvious reasons]], this is suspect.
* {{Druid}}: Their mages preserve traditions and lean towards 'wild' magic (nature spells or shapeshifting).
* DueToTheDead: The Dalish funeral custom is to bury their dead and plant tree saplings over the grave. The idea is that in death, they can bring new life to the forest that serves as their home and refuge.
* FantasticRacism: Towards humans (who they call "Shemlen") and City Elves, though this varies depending on the individual, even within the same clan.
* {{Fictionary}}: Although they've lost most of the old Elven language.
* FightingForAHomeland: Or for any scrap of their old culture they can find. The reason you only hear them speak snatches of elvish is because that's all anyone can remember of it.
** Part of their bitterness towards Humanity is that they actually ''did'' this once before, having joined Andraste's army to overthrow the Tevinter Imperium and founding their new homeland of Halamshiral in the Dales. That was, until a few centuries later the Chantry decided to brand them "heathens" and launched an Exalted March against them.
** The Dalish Warden can be granted the Hinterlands as their royal boon for ending the Fifth Blight. Depending on who you leave in charge of the Dalish clan, this can turn out badly.
* ForestRanger: Territorial rather than custodial, since they move around a lot. Nonetheless, they are fiercely territorial and protective when it comes to the safety of their camps, as shown by the introduction of Tamlen and Mahariel, chasing down three humans trespassers with their bows fully trained on them. Tamlen is somewhat amused by their immediate assumption that it's because it's "their" forest, pointing out that the ''real'' reason is because they've stumbled too close to the Dalish camp.
* GratuitousForeignLanguage: They frequently pepper their speech with random Elvish. Justified as they've lost so much of their language and culture, this is how they try to keep it alive.
* GreenThumb: Their mages tend to use nature-based spells, as Velanna and Merrill will be happy to demonstrate.
* HaveYouSeenMyGod: They believe the Creators weren't around to protect them from the humans because they've been imprisoned by a trickster god.
* JesusWasWayCool: Or rather, "fantasy Joan of Arc was way cool". They're obviously not Andrastians, but they admire her actions.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Dalish Elves tend to have longer lifespans than their City Elf counterparts, although this varies depending on individual families and clans who have been more isolated from humans. Indeed, while [[spoiler: Zathrian's]] longevity was the result of a curse, WordOfGod says that it's ''not'' actually unheard of for exceptional Elves to reach ages that measure in triple digit figures.
* PoliticallyCorrectHistory: Wringing the truth about the circumstances that created the modern Dalish out of the setting is virtually-impossible, considering that all sources are in-universe and actively working to make themselves look better and the other look worse. Both the Chantry and the Dalish are quite fond of their historical revisionism too, and don't take kindly to having it questioned by know-nothing outsiders.
* RacialRemnant: Of the Elves of Arlathan and the Dales.
* ScrewYouElves: Many Dalish view the city elves as "flat-eared" [[CategoryTraitor race traitors]] who have forgotten their roots - the city elves, in turn, consider the Dalish either smug and aloof, or little more than wandering bandits.
* TechnicalPacifist: The Dalish are nomadic and never stay in one place too long in order to avoid conflict. The Keeper even says that they could destroy a nearby Human village who are rallying a mob to drive them out, if they so wished. As that would only cause King Cailan to send soldiers next time, it is wiser to simply move on. That said, they are ''very'' possessive of any spot they've chosen to camp, and always have a full contingent of archers hiding in the trees whenever outsiders come near.
* VoluntaryShapeshifting: A Dalish Warden can tell Morrigan they've heard of Keepers with powers like hers. The closest we can get to this in-game is giving Velanna the specialization.
* WalkingTheEarth: As a result of the loss of both Arlathan and the Dales, the Dalish are reticent to settle anywhere for too long and elected to scatter to the four winds as wandering nomads, allowing them to preserve their culture and stay out of reach of humanity.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Qunari]]
[[quoteright:348:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Qunari_8280.png]]

%%
%%Yes, the Qunari are technically an organization and not a species. But since we don't actually know what the species is called, and since they are the de facto rulers of the Qunari faction, related tropes go on this page.
%%

-> '''Leliana:''' I've heard stories about the Qunari, you know. They conquered nearly all of the north. Tevinter, Rivain, Antiva...much of the land was laid waste. In the northern kingdoms, they say the Qunari are implacable. Relentless. More like a landslide than an invasion. It took three Exalted Marches to drive them back to the sea.\\
'''Sten:''' We'll do better next time.

The Qunari is not the name of a single species, but an intense religious movement founded by the people originally known as kossith. Anyone is free to join the Qun if they wish, and converts are treated with respect regardless of species - unless you're a mage, in which case they're treated even worse than anywhere else.
----

* [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Always Lawful Evil]]: Played with. While Sten and the Arishok are ambiguous, the games and comics show that Qunari society as a whole is a totalitarian dystopia (from every point of view, but their own) which every Qunari swears by, and is often just as harsh as the Tevinter Imperium. And it doesn't matter what the other countries do, the Qunari will never stop vying to conquer them.
* AntiMagicalFaction[=/=]BanOnMagic: The most hardline anti-magic group in the entire setting, against some tough competition. Saarebas ("dangerous thing") have their tongues cut out, their horns shorn, and are kept [[SlaveCollar collared]] and supervised at all times, their only accepted use being "attack dog". Qunari mage-handlers will try to kill a mage who so much as speaks to them for fear of demonic influence.
* ArtEvolution: The kossith species went from tall, dark-skinned humans in ''DA:O'' to massive, metal-hued, ram-horned "ox men" in ''DAII''. It wasn't a true retcon, since from the earliest drawings the Qunari were supposed to look like their ''DAII'' forms but the design couldn't be implemented in time. Instead the two Qunari seen during ''DA:O'' were established to have been born without horns or to have intentionally removed them.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Promotions in Qunari society are based on skill and suitability for the task - in the case of soldiers, that means fighting. For this reason, the highest-ranking soldiers are ''very good'' at being soldiers, meaning that if you encounter an officer, you can bet he's the best fighter in the group.
* BadassCreed: "''Victory is in the Qun''".
* BirthmarkOfDestiny: In one of their few instances of superstition, kossith (who normally have horns) who are born hornless are believed to be destined for great things.
* BlindObedience: In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', if Hawke mentions that Saarebas chose to die rather than leave the Qun, the Arishok is affronted by the human notion that such a choice should be exceptional or difficult; he'd expect no less of ''any'' Qunari.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Qun's value system is completely alien to anything else found in Thedas.
* BreedingCult[=/=]SuperBreedingProgram: The tamassrans (breeders) control the Qunari breeding program, systematically pairing couples for the purpose of creating individuals who are very suited for specific jobs - those bred to be soldiers are practically born knowing how to march in formation, while fishers are drawn to water like a retriever.
* ChurchPolice: The Ben-Hassrath.
* TheComicallySerious: It's subtle, but certain Qunari have demonstrated a ''very'' understated sense of humour.
* CripplingOverSpecialization: On an individual level. Each Qunari is given only one specific task, and ''will not'' learn anything else in his or her lifetime. Soldiers stranded on an island won't even ''try'' to build a ship, for the simple reason that they are ''soldiers'', not ship builders, and to do ''anything'' that is not their original purpose is beneath them.
** This presents problems for those who decide to leave. Defectors who used to be scientists, farmers, or artisans can find work outside the Qun, but soldiers are left with nothing but a sword and their ability to kill. At best, they become mercenaries. At worst, they become terrorists. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard One of their greatest enemies is actually of their own making.]]
* [[DeadArtistsAreBetter Dead Heroes Are Better]]: Qunari who die during or after performing an exceptional service for their people may be proclaimed ''Qunoran Vehl'' (an exemplary cultural hero). No one is ever proclaimed such during life, as it would make them too proud and they'd be insufferable.
* DueToTheDead: The Qunari considers corpses to be no longer the individual they once were, thus afford them no special treatment. Hence, they are typically disposed of in whatever manner seems most practical.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep / HisNameReallyIsBarkeep: They refer to themselves by their job titles, and the closest thing they have to personal names are more like social security numbers.
** FantasticRankSystem: Similarly, this dictates their role within their society.
** Although WordOfGod is that among themselves they're more likely to use short-hand versions of their personal names, so you won't have a group of soldiers who all refer to each other as Sten, as that would obviously get confusing.
* FantasyCounterpartCulture: The Qunari are all over the map with this. Their status as a religious rival to mainland Thedas makes them very reminiscent of medieval Muslims. Their continued hold on the Spanish-based Rivain and general tolerance for religious freedom therein makes them very similar to the Moors who ruled most of Northern Africa and Spain. Their religion, however, is very Taoist / Confuscianist in philosophy, with its belief in the existence of a single universal "path" for all and its emphasis on knowing one's place in society.
* FourStarBadass: Even the officers fight on the front lines. To them, it makes no sense whatsoever to promote someone based on his skills in battle and then expect him to sit around a desk all day; he is a soldier and should be doing what soldiers do.
* FreedomFromChoice: One of the central tenets of their philosophy.
* {{Fictionary}}: Qunlat is heavily based on English, with a subject-verb-object word order (though it seems to lack articles like a, an, or the). The pronunciation and actual vocabulary seem closer to Japanese, in that words are "modular" and can be snapped together to create new words.
* HornedHumanoid: Most kossith, but those born without horns are deemed destined for greatness rather than inferior.
* InSeriesNickname: The Kossith are derogatorily dubbed "[[FantasticSlur Ox-Men]]" by some.
** Qunari itself counts as one, as it's frequently used to refer to members of the Kossith race, despite actually being the name of their ''religion''.
* ItCanThink: {{Discussed| Trope}} in party banter:
-->'''Leliana:''' You're so Qunari! All the stories speak as if you were a hurricane or an earthquake rather than people.\\
'''Sten:''' Qunari are most dangerous because we are thinking men and not unthinking force.
* MadeOfIron: As demonstrated by Sten, it's possible for Kossith to survive for over a month without food or water, with no ill-effect. When the Warden encountered Sten for instance, he was only ''just'' beginning to starve to death and believed he'd probably last another week.
* MedievalStasis: They are more technologically advanced than the other races, but they had all of their current technology when their ships first came from the original kossith homeland centuries before the games. Even the Qunari you meet don't know where their true origin is, so there may be a more advanced empire of their race that doesn't follow the Qun somewhere else in the world.
** It's been theorised that their advanced technological development may be in part due to the Qunari never having to deal with the Blight. Unlike the people of Thedas, they've been spared from their civilisation being routinely ravaged by the Darkspawn, forcing them to rebuild from scratch after a decades - if not centuries - long Blight.
* TheNameless [=/=] NoNameGiven: A species-wide example. The only names that we have for the horned giants (Qunari, kossith) are not actually names of their race, but of beliefs or philosophies that the race has followed. We don't know what their species is called; it's possible that they have no name for themselves, and [[WildMassGuessing only identify by their system of belief]].
* NoBloodTies: Children are raised by priestesses rather than biological parents; they have no clue who they're actually related to (luckily, said priestesses do, and since they decide on the breeding pairs, they can keep cases of SurpriseIncest down). When you explain to Sten that the majority of people are raised by the ones who gave birth to them, he is first surprised, then decides that this explains why you are all so backwards.
* OneGenderRace: A few codex entries mention that the Chantry believed they either had this or minimal sexual dimorphism for ''centuries''. When the Qunari briefly allowed an embassy in their own capital they discovered it was just a misconception caused by the strict caste system, and Kossith females are both common and obvious.
* OurGiantsAreBigger: The kossith are often called giants by others, with good reason.
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: They tolerate lingering beliefs in gods in recently-conquered peoples, believing they will eventually abandon such things as they reach true enlightenment. They're also the most technologically advanced race, having more powerful warships and an explosive that may be gunpowder, though it's never specified exactly what it is.
** However, despite claiming to not worship and that their priestesses are merely teachers on the path of enlightenment, they do still pray for their dead, though to who or what is never specified. It is possible that the "prayers" in question are something completely different seen through an Andrastran lens.
* OutsideContextVillain: Considered this by most of Thedas. Their true origins are unknown and have yet to be revealed, save that they arrived at Par Vollen, from an unknown continent across the sea.
* PetTheDog: Qunari society is the only society in Thedas to have complete racial equality. It's also worth pointing out that they were holding their own against the Exalted Marches, and withdrew not because they were losing the war, but because it was taking a high toll on the civilian population of Rivain.
* PrinciplesZealot: When following a demand of the Qun;
--> '''Hawke''': I see a man who's willing to start a war on principle!\\
'''Arishok''': And what would the Qunari be without principles? ''[[WorthyOpponent You]]'', [[NotSoDifferent I suspect]].
* ProudWarriorRaceGuy: Their soldiers fit the bill, although Sten is bemused whenever people assume all qunari are like him.
* RebelliousRebel: Many Tal-Vashoth fall into this.
* ScaryDogmaticAliens: A rather literal example. They are alien to Thedas in both their origin and their strict philosophy.
* SecretPolice: The Ben-Hassrath are responsible for keeping the populace in line, finding and "re-educating" dissidents and discontents, and occasionally engaging in spying and wetwork.
* SeriousBusiness: Losing one's sword, which is considered akin to [[TheSoulless losing one's soul]]. And woe betide anyone who's caught in possession of the stolen Tome of Koslun, their most sacred relic.
* ShootTheShaggyDog: They withdrew from northern Thedas to spare the civilians of the region being slaughtered by the Exalted Marches. After they withdrew, many of these civilians were purged by the sword for refusing to be converted back to the Chant.
* StayInTheKitchen: Culturally specific example that applies to men as well as women. Qunari believe that women are more cerebral whereas men are more physical: all merchants, administrators, artisans, breeders, and builders are women, whereas all soldiers, sailors, scouts, and laborers are men. The only place where men and women are allowed to be in the same field is in the priesthood, as the wisdom of the Qun is believed to speak to anyone, regardless of gender or race. When party member Sten travels to Ferelden and is confronted with a female warrior/rogue Warden, he doesn't question his beliefs in gender roles, he questions whether the Warden is actually a ''woman''.
** As their methods involve assassination, infiltration and stealth, Assassins are not considered to be "true" soldiers by the Qunari. As such, they fall under the purview of the [[ChurchMilitant Ben-Hassrath]] lead by the Ariqun, making them technically part of the priesthood and can be either male or female.
* TheQuietOne: Purposefully invoked, in that many Qunari remain silent due to not wishing to admit that they do not understand the common tongue. However even those who ''do'', tend to be creatures of very few words and dislike pointless small talk.
** Lampshaded by the Warden, after Sten finished an uncharacteristically lengthy sentence.
--> '''Warden''': That's the most words I've ever heard you speak.\\
'''Sten''': [[DeadpanSnarker I've been saving them up]].
* TheSoulless: Tal-Vashoth and warriors who have lost their sword are considered this and will be killed ''on sight''.
* {{UnPerson}}: The Arishok implies that Tal-Vashoth, individuals who've abandoned the Qun, are considered this.
* VestigialEmpire: Oddly enough, even they have one. Back in their glory days, the Qunari controlled all of Tevinter, except for Minrathous, which has never fallen to ''anyone'', Antiva, Rivain, and parts of the Free Marches. After several wars, the Andrastians reclaimed their lands, the Qunari lost everything except for Par Vollen, Orlais became a RisingEmpire, and the Qunari were left fighting with Tevinter over the island of Seheron. The settlement of Kont-Aar in Rivain is their last mainland territory.
* WarriorPoet: Even their warriors come across as highly educated and philosophical.
--> '''Sten''': Shok ebasit hissra. Meraad astaarit, meraad itwasit, aban aqun. Maraas shokra. [[BadassCreed Anaan esaam Qun]]. [[labelnote:Translation]]"''Struggle is an illusion. The tide rises, the tide falls, but the sea is changeless. There is nothing to struggle against. Victory is in the Qun''"[[/labelnote]].
* WorkHardPlayHard: For all their SeriousBusiness attitude, when someone is proclaimed ''Qunoran Vehl'' (an exemplary cultural hero), the partying breaks loose to the point where ''executions'' can be required to get everyone back in line.
* WorldOfSilence: They believe people should give up personal desires and work together for the betterment of the whole. They also feel honor-bound to impose this on everyone else sooner or later.
* WorthyOpponent:
** Their term for this is "''Basalit-an''", literally meaning "an outsider worthy of respect".
---> ''' Arishok''': ''[to Hawke]'' You alone are ''Basalit-an!'' ''[to Kirkwall nobles]'' This is what respect looks like ''Bas!'' Some of you will ''never'' earn it!
** ''Mark of the Assassin'' implies that Hawke and the Warden are, so far, the only ''Bas'' to be considered this.
** Sten mentions that legends about the Grey Wardens are told even amongst his people, later expressing admiration that they stood their ground at Ostagar and didn't flee, even when it became clear the battle was lost. One could infer that the Qunari find the Grey Wardens' single-mindedness to the goal of fighting Darkspawn, a refreshingly [[NotSoDifferent familiar]] concept in the otherwise alien Thedas.
* YouWillBeAssimilated: Their goal is to spread the Qun to all ''bas'', whether they wish to be converted or not.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Darkspawn]]
[[quoteright:347:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/theblightartwork1_5269.jpg]]
-> ''"Those who had sought to claim Heaven by violence destroyed it.\\
What was Golden and pure turned black.\\
Those who had once been mage-lords,\\
The brightest of their age,\\
Were no longer men, but monsters."''
-->-- '''Threnodies 12:1'''

The standard "monsters in the shadows," darkspawn are the boogeymen of Thedas. Born form [[{{God}} the Maker's]] curse against [[AndManGrewProud arrogant humans]] (if you believe the Chantry, at least), the darkspawn's entire purpose of existence is to repeatedly attempt to wipe out all life in the world, spreading a virulent, ecology-destroying plague called the taint in the process.. Normally mindless and disorganized, the darkspawn live in the Deep Roads beneath the earth, unseen and rarely thought of (except for the dwarves, who have to live with them). At least until they find one of the Old Gods. When that happens, they infect it with the taint, making into a Archdemon which organizes the hordes and drives them to the surface, attacking and destroying everything in their path. Such events are known as Blights, and can take decades to defeat, and always with staggering cost. The Grey Wardens were formed specifically to combat and keep an eye on the darkspawn.

----

* AerithAndBob: The names of the four main types of darkspawn: genlocks, hurlocks, sharlocks, and... ogres. Justified in the codices: [[spoiler: genlocks, hurlocks, and sharlocks (labeled in-game by the nickname "shrieks") are the ancient terms for blight-mutated dwarves, humans, and elves respectively. But ogres come from blighted kossith Qunari, who are newcomers to the region, so ogres apparently didn't exist until recently.]]
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: With a few extremely grey exceptions (the Architect and his minions) along with one true subversion (the Messenger). The rest are just fine with murdering, torturing, raping and looting.
* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Darkspawn are born nearly fully grown, and the first thing a newborn does is fight the rest of its litter, weeding out the weaker ones. Sometimes, though, one will manage kill all of the other newborns. This one will become an Alpha, stronger, faster, tougher, and smarter than the rest of the darkspawn. These are the ones that lead the rest, and usually kill any darkspawn that refuse to follow.
* BabyFactory: Broodmothers, which birth every single darkspawn (except for the ghouls and the Archdemon).
* BadBoss: The more intelligent darkspawn leaders think nothing of executing minions who have disappointed them.
* BeePeople: Though the position of Queen is split between the Archdemon (commands the HiveMind) and the broodmothers ([[BabyFactory baby factories]]).
* BlackBlood: Discussed and subverted; several characters reference the darkspawn having black blood, but all that you see is red. The Warden-Commander can even mention that darkspawn blood looks completely normal; it burns on contact, though.
* BlackSpeech: While it never shows up outside of cutscenes, the appearance of the darkspawn is frequently heralded by an ominous whispering. Possibly this is meant to indicate that the Warden is sensing them.
* BodyHorror: They range from looking like horrendously diseased and malformed people to monsters who only bear a vague resemblance to their species of origin. Let's not go into the Children, please.
* CorpseLand: Any place where the darkspawn have been for any length of time or in great enough numbers. Justified in that the taint is so deadly it kill insects and bacteria which normally break down corpses, so the dead can remain unchanged for decades or even centuries.
* TheCorruption: The taint, which they spread either through prolonged contact or through blood. Exposure kills pretty much everything (though victims mutate and go insane first), though if you recover from your first brush with it, you can develop a resistance.
** The dwarven scavenger Ruck demonstrates the mental decay of someone living off of darkspawn flesh, and Oghren offers more details on their health decay. This does give them the ability to detect the taint of the darkspawn, including that of the Wardens. The Warden can reflect on the disturbing implications of Ruck's description of it.
* EnemyCivilWar: With no Archdemon to lead them, the hordes feel no particular reason not to lay into each other. Once the Architect gave some of them the capacity of thought, however, they started forming sides.
* HiveMind: While individual darkspawn are mindless, the Taint they carry unites them into a primitive version of this trope. Enough to hear the call of the Old Gods and serve the will of an Archdemon.
* HealingFactor: Ogres can apparently heal from grave wounds in a manner of minutes, pretending to be dead or unconscious the whole time. This is the main reason Grey Wardens try to [[KillItWithFire burn any ogres they manage to take down]].
* HollywoodTactics: Justified. The darkspawn rushing at the fortifications at Ostagar is somewhat plausible since they are mostly mindless beasts and have [[WeHaveReserves virtually unlimited troops]].
* TheHorde: They especially like to leave people completely burned, hanging on display, or stuck in the ground with a large object lodged in the body.
* KeystoneArmy: The massive darkspawn invasions known as Blights will end only if the Archdemon (a corrupted god in the shape of a dragon) leading it is killed. Without the guiding influence of Archdemon, the hordes of darkspawn will immediately collapse into disorganized bands of mindless creatures that can be easily driven back underground or killed by an organized army. This weakness is the only reason Thedas has survived the monsters for so long, which is why the possibility of the horde uniting without an active Archdemon is treated with such fear in ''Awakening''.
* LightningBruiser: Shrieks. They’re tougher than hurlocks and genlocks, hit hard, and are very, very fast.
* MeatMoss: The Deep Roads (and any other place with heavy darkspawn presence) are absolutely filled with rotting, pustulent growths. Their similarity to the growths that appear in the demon-infested Circle Tower is food for thought.
* MookMaker: The broodmothers you actually get to fight give birth mid-battle.
* MysticalPlague: The taint disease spread by the darkspawn is said to be a curse by the [[{{God}} Maker]] upon the Tevinter Magisters, who turned into the first darkspawn themselves under its influence.
* OurOrcsAreDifferent: Darkspawn fit the classic Tolkien orc criteria enough to fit and look enough like orcs as well. Indeed, they're closer to Tolkien orcs than most of the ProudWarriorRace orcs now in fantasy. The Deep Roads is Moria, and [[spoiler:the broodmother hints at the idea in ''The Silmarillion'' that orcs are corrupted elves.]] Due to the very real threat they pose to entire nations, they're closer to Tolkien's orcs than most standard fantasy orcs you find these days. They get a whole lot worse when you meet the first broodmother. And it manages to [[SerialEscalation get even worse]] when you meet the Mother in ''Awakening'', who [[spoiler:is different from broodmothers in that she is 1) fully sentient, 2) capable of commanding other darkspawn, including broodmothers, and 3) cacklingly insane.]]
* OurZombiesAreDifferent: 'Ghouls' are people who have been infected with the taint and survived. Sorta. They’re still going to die but it’ll take longer. And in the meantime, they join the darkspawn HiveMind and serve the Archdemon, or whichever high-ranking darkspawn happen to be around. They can't talk and have the standard ZombieGait going, but can still use weapons. However, there are cases of people who become heavily infected but still retain their minds.
** Also, ghouls can be any species, including non-sentient ones.
* TheSoulless: None of the darkspawn have souls except for the Archdemon, since it was formerly an Old God, and "essence" is apparently synonymous with "soul", since there's no room for both in one body. [[spoiler:This becomes a plot point in the first game, since killing the Archdemon merely causes it to automatically transfer its soul to the nearest creature infected with the taint, which will then grow into to resemble its old body again. Unless the creature still has its soul. In which case kaboom.]]
* SpiderSense: Creatures sufficiently infected with the taint can detect other such infected creatures in the area, be they darkspawn, ghouls, or Grey Wardens.
* SpikesOfDoom: All the armor that the darkspawn wear is adorned with lots of these.
* StrongerWithAge:The power of the taint grows in an individual with time, and the power of a darkspawn grows with it. The upper limits of a darkspawn's natural lifespan are unknown, but the most powerful ones seen have shown evidence of being centuries old.
* TaintedVeins: One of the first signs that someone is on their way to ghoulification.
* TheUnintelligible: Most darkspawn can only communicate in guttural growls and roars. [[spoiler: The appearance of darkspawn that CAN talk is treated as incredibly dangerous, and indeed it is: the darkspawn are an exceptionally deadly threat when the Archdemon organizes them into a Blight, but they're generally easy to deal with otherwise. If the darkspawn can suddenly reason enough to lead themselves without an Archdemon, it would mean an unending Blight.]]
* TheUsualAdversaries: Goddamn darkspawn.
* TheVirus: The taint is a sort of magical disease carried by the darkspawn that poisons the lands they inhabit. People infected by this go crazy and die, or become decaying ghouls in the thrall of the Archdemon -- or worse, [[spoiler:if they're women, become Broodmothers]].
* WalkingWasteland: Anywhere darkspawn live or die in great enough numbers will be poisoned and incapable of supporting life for ages. In some areas, land has been tainted for millennia, and cannot recover.
* WasOnceAMan: The original darkspawn were formerly human Tevinter magisters, corrupted by a mysterious force they found within the Black City. Broodmothers, the bloated beasts that birth the darkspawn, were formerly women of the major races, captured and mutated beyond recognition in a horrific process by the darkspawn to forever produce more of the monsters.
* YouHaveFailedMe: The more intelligent darkspawn are perfectly capable and willing to execute minions for inefficiency.
* ZergRush: Considering their [[BabyFactory birth rates]], this is a favored tactic of the darkspawn, though they are capable of strategy on the small scale (or if there’s an Archdemon leading them).
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Fex]]

A primitive, yet sentient, race native to Par Vollen. It's said they have assimilated almost entirely into Qunari society.
----

* WordofGod: They have only been mentioned once by one of the writers.
* TheUnseen: Due to Qunari rarely allowing outsiders to venture to Par Vollen.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Spirits and Demons]]
[[quoteright:230:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/demon_1_7074.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:230:A demon of Rage.]]
--> ''"In general, spirits are not complex. Or, rather, they are not complex as we understand such things. Each one seizes upon a single facet of human experience: Rage, hunger, compassion, hope, etc. This one idea becomes their identity. We classify as demons those spirits who identify themselves with darker human emotions and ideas."''

The spectral inhabitants of the magical realm called the Fade that exists alongside the physical world. Referred to as the "Maker's first children", they range from compassionate, helpful beings to twisted, vile monsters to entities whose morality [[BlueAndOrangeMorality does not make any sense.]] While spirits couldn't care less about the physical world, demons constantly try to gain access to the mortal plane, usually through possessing a living being.

----

* AboveGoodAndEvil: Fade Spirits are repeatedly mentioned as only being as benevolent and malevolent as the virtue or vice they have chosen to aspire to. Even the "good" ones have no true grasp of the more subtle nuances of morality and are prepared to commit horrific deeds in the pursuit of an abstract goal. The Codex implies that their supposed lack of a soul is the reason behind this.
--> '''Merrill''': Anders... There's no such thing as a good spirit. There never was. ''All'' spirits are dangerous. I understood that. I'm sorry that you didn't.
* AnthropomorphicPersonification: All spirits, demon or otherwise, bind themselves to one ideal or aspect of the psyche and define themselves through it.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Sort of. Some seem to operate on BlueAndOrangeMorality, while others are clearly utterly evil bastards. None of them are in any meaningful way "good" though, and every single demonic outbreak has been a horrifying experience where the demons torture and torment those they don't possess or kill. According to the other Fade spirits this is because it's these traits that ''make'' them demons, and the ones that lack them are just spirits.
* BloodMagic: Frequently, how demons are summoned.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Applies to some of them, at least, while others will try and convince you they do in order to get you to do what they want.
** Even the more benevolent spirits are said to only be able to see understand the world in the context of the ideal they subscribe to. Due to the Fade lacking time, concepts like patience and restraint are foreign to spirits.
* {{Catchphrase}}: "You just [[SchmuckBait need to want]] to ''[[DemonicPossession let me in.]]''"
* DealWithTheDevil: How they get into the world and attain hosts, though several times the victims aren't even aware a deal is going on or the fact that they are bartering with demons in the first place- like children, for instance. Though most of them ''do'' seem to honour any bargain they've struck, if often in an ExactWords kind of way.
** BeatThemAtTheirOwnGame: While very difficult, it is possible to use their tendency to make deals [[HoistByHisOwnPetard against them]]. In ''Origins'', a Mage Warden with sufficient persuasion can listen to the Desire Demon's terms before returning with a counter-offer of their own, intimidating the demon into releasing Connor's soul ''and'' giving up a boon, in exchange for the Warden not ''[[MuggingTheMonster destroying]]'' them!
* DemonicPossession: Called an Abomination, and sometimes though not always followed by horrid physical transformations and mutations, though there are a few exceptions and the transformations seem to be arbitrary, or sometimes induced. An Abomination is more of a combination of the demon and the mortal rather than the demon simply taking over. Though the demon's personality is usually dominant.
* DirtyCoward: When hopelessly outmatched, most Demons will attempt to make a deal or bargain for their freedom.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Most of them are well mannered and polite, right until the moment they turn on you. Except for Rage demons because [[CaptainObvious they're always, well, angry]].
* ManipulativeBastard: An entire spectral race of them.
* NoBiologicalSex: Despite voices and appearances, spirits and demons are all genderless entities. A Chantry researcher who interviewed a desire demon in the codex noted that the only reason it appeared female is because it wanted to appeal to the man and lower his guard.
* OurDemonsAreDifferent: Demons are the evil inhabitants of the Fade, the spiritual realm, and most of them wish to experience what it is like to be mortal via DemonicPossession and other nefarious means. The difference between them are the non-evil inhabitants of the Fade are not clear, but they do appear to be a particular sub-category. They represent / feast upon different sins and generally amoral and AffablyEvil at best, and cruel and sadistic at worst.
* SevenDeadlySins: Well, five- Rage (Wrath), Hunger (Gluttony), Sloth, Desire (Lust) and Pride demons have all shown up (in order of strength), but Greed and Envy have yet to make an appearance; though, the Codex suggests that Sloth may double as Envy, and its possible from this that either Desire or Hunger doubles as Greed.
** The Codex also notes that the demons are named less for the sins they represent than those they feast and prey upon; a Sloth demon, for instance, may or may not be slothful- what makes them Sloth demons are that they encourage their ''victims'' to be.
** According to [[WordOfGod David Gaider]], there are many more types of Demons, such as Envy, Despair, Fear and Remorse.
** The second game introduces Vengeance, although it should be noted that there is debate as to whether that truly counts as a demon or not (it used to be a spirit, though some characters maintain that the only difference between a spirit and a demon is the ideal they latch onto).
* TheSoulless: According to the Codex and Chantry lore, their fundamental lack of a soul is why the Maker abandoned them in favour of His new creation of the mortal world. This is one of the reasons Demons are so envious of mortals and seek to cross the Veil.
* UnderestimatingBadassery: The usual hierarchy of demon power is said to be an arbitrary concept that does not always reflect reality. For example; despite being supposedly weaker, it's been theorized that a Sloth Demon, sufficiently motivated, could potentially prove to be even ''more'' powerful and dangerous than even a Pride Demon, due to their intelligence and insidious nature.
** Similarly, desire demons who solely focus on lust are among the weakest because of how narrowminded they are.
[[/folder]]
----

-->-- ''Brother Genitivi''

-->-- ''Threnodies 12:1''

--> ''"Most people on the surface think of dwarves and imagine greedy merchants or dour craftsmen, and certainly those are the faces most often seen by those of us who live under the Maker's eye. But a journey to the thaig reveals a culture of nobility and of poverty, of proud warriors and of necessary brutality."''

The spectral inhabitants of the magical realm called the Fade that exists alongside the physical world. Reffered to as the "Maker's first children", they range from compassionate, helpful beings to twisted, vile monsters to entities whose morality [[BlueAndOrangeMorality does not make any sense.]] While spirits couldn't care less about the physical world, demons constantly try to gain access to the mortal plane, usually through possessing a living being.

The spectral inhabitants of the magical realm called the Fade that exists alongside the physical world. Reffered to as the "Maker's fisrst children", they range from compassionate, helpful beings to twisted, vile monsters to entities whose morality [[BlueAndOrangeMorality does not make any sense.]] While spirits couldn't care less about the physical world, demons constantly try to gain access to the mortal plane, usually through possessing a living being.

The spectral inhabitants of the magical realm called the Fade that exists alongside the physical world.

Were no longer men, but monsters."''\\

--> ''Those who had sought to claim Heaven by violence destroyed it.
What was Golden and pure turned black.
Those who had once been mage-lords,
The brightest of their age,
Were no longer men, but monsters.''

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Dwarven noble society ain't a very nice place. In fact, it almost qualifies as drow noble society, only reskinned with dwarves. Which, given the mythical origins of drow, is kind of appropriate.
* DisasterDemocracy: Their politicians spend more time arguing and attempting to assassinate each other, than actually worrying about the Darkspawn constantly threatening to overrun the city.

* StrongerWithAge:The power of the taint grows in an individual with time, and the power of a darkspawn grows with it.