A little note: The events of Dragon Age can change a lot depending on the player character's gender/race as well as the choices s/he makes throughout the game. Generally, in both this app and the game, I'll try to avoid direct references to things that can vary between playthroughs.
Morrigan was born and raised in the Korcari Wilds, a dense expanse of forest and swampland in the southernmost reaches of the medieval kingdom of Ferelden. Few outsiders ever dared to enter the wilds, and with good reason: Morrigan's mother was Flemeth, a legendary witch of great power. Flemeth's legend spanned continents and centuries, and even the least superstitious denizen of Thedas had heard rumors of the woman's power and alleged immortality. She was said to have consorted with demons, to have killed kings, to have stolen the tribesmen of the wilds from their beds and used them to sire a clan of beautiful, deadly daughters who shared her fearsome power.
To Morrigan, though, Flemeth was simply 'Mother.' As she grew older, she learned of the legends surrounding the woman and, for the most part, dismissed them. Flemeth was old and powerful, yes, and had done many remarkable things, but she was hardly a monster. As far as Morrigan was concerned, the fact that other people labelled her mother an abomination was more a sign of their ignorance and fear of magic than anything truly to do with Flemeth. And anyhow, there was no evidence that Flemeth had ever had daughters other than Morrigan.
In their little swampland hut, Flemeth tutored Morrigan in the ways of magic from a young age. The girl learned to walk in the Fade, the spirit world from which all magic flows, to change into animals, and to kill those who threatened her. It was illegal for witches in Ferelden to live outside the Circle of Magi, and so mother and daughter often found themselves hunted by templars - the military arm of Ferelden's reigning religion, tasked with finding and killing 'apostates' who practiced magic outside of church sanctions. But the Wilds were a dangerous place, and none of the templars who entered in search of the witches left with their prize. Most never left at all.
In a conversation with the player-character, Morrigan reveals that Flemeth taught her to deal with these incidents as a child by turning them a game: new templars would arrive in the forest, and the young Morrigan would be tasked with leading them on a wild-goose chase - separating them from their fellows, drawing them deeper into the wilds - until her mother could find them and dispose of them.
And so Morrigan grew up with no real human contact, only her mother and the animals of the forest. She ventured into civilization a handful of times out of curiosity, but always returned to her home in the swamp.
She likely would have remained there her whole life if not for the dawning of the fifth Blight. A Blight is a really big deal in the Dragon Age universe: instigated by the corruption of one of the Old Gods, it involves monsters (known as darkspawn) rising out of the earth to wreak havoc on civilization and the general threat of doom of life as we know it. All of the previous Blights had been ended by the Grey Wardens, an order of warriors established for exactly that purpose, but by the time the fifth Blight truly began? There were only a handful of Wardens in all of Ferelden. After an early battle against the darkspawn turned sour, culminating in the betrayal and death of Ferelden's king at the hands of his most trusted general, there were just two: the dead king's bastard ex-templar brother and a recently-conscripted outcast. Flemeth saved these last two Wardens from certain death in the battle and charged them with gathering allies to drive back the darkspawn horde while the rest of Ferelden collapsed into civil war.
She also charged Morrigan to accompany them. Though initially resistant to the idea, Morrigan reluctantly agreed to guide the pair and help them on their quest with her magical skills. As they travelled, the threesome quickly accumulated a standard-issue party of adventurers - a kindly old witch from the Circle of Magi, a stoic warrior from another country, a dwarf with chronic alcoholism, a trusty war hound, etc - almost all of whom Morrigan got on with very, very badly. She even hated the dog. :(
The group's journey took them to the farthest corners of Ferelden, where they resolved a conflict between forest elves and werewolves, made a religious pilgrimage to recover Thedas-Jesus's magical ashes, discovered lost dwarven technology, and played exterminator when a demon infestation took over the Fereldan Circle of Magi. It was in this last location that the party discovered a long-lost possession of Flemeth's: the Black Grimoire. Reading it, Morrigan finally discovered the secret of her mother's alleged immortality. For centuries beyond count, the witch had been raising daughters just like Morrigan in the Korcari Wilds. Once a daughter reached adulthood, Flemeth would forcibly take over the girl's body, stealing her youth and living to repeat the process again. And, from all appearances, Morrigan was to be next.
Needless to say, Morrigan wasn't exactly keen on this idea. With the help of her fellow adventurers, she had Flemeth killed to prevent herself from getting body-snatched. She knew that nothing as old and powerful as her mother could truly die, but putting her current manifestation in the ground would, at least, keep the other witch at bay for a few years.
After that little adventure, the party finally travelled to Denerim, Ferelden's capital, to confront the man who betrayed the king and muster their newfound allies to drive back the darkspawn once and for all.
Sadly for Morrigan, she woke up in Mayfield before she could find out how any of that went. Oop!
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A little note: The events of Dragon Age can change a lot depending on the player character's gender/race as well as the choices s/he makes throughout the game. Generally, in both this app and the game, I'll try to avoid direct references to things that can vary between playthroughs.
Morrigan was born and raised in the Korcari Wilds, a dense expanse of forest and swampland in the southernmost reaches of the medieval kingdom of Ferelden. Few outsiders ever dared to enter the wilds, and with good reason: Morrigan's mother was Flemeth, a legendary witch of great power. Flemeth's legend spanned continents and centuries, and even the least superstitious denizen of Thedas had heard rumors of the woman's power and alleged immortality. She was said to have consorted with demons, to have killed kings, to have stolen the tribesmen of the wilds from their beds and used them to sire a clan of beautiful, deadly daughters who shared her fearsome power.
To Morrigan, though, Flemeth was simply 'Mother.' As she grew older, she learned of the legends surrounding the woman and, for the most part, dismissed them. Flemeth was old and powerful, yes, and had done many remarkable things, but she was hardly a monster. As far as Morrigan was concerned, the fact that other people labelled her mother an abomination was more a sign of their ignorance and fear of magic than anything truly to do with Flemeth. And anyhow, there was no evidence that Flemeth had ever had daughters other than Morrigan.
In their little swampland hut, Flemeth tutored Morrigan in the ways of magic from a young age. The girl learned to walk in the Fade, the spirit world from which all magic flows, to change into animals, and to kill those who threatened her. It was illegal for witches in Ferelden to live outside the Circle of Magi, and so mother and daughter often found themselves hunted by templars - the military arm of Ferelden's reigning religion, tasked with finding and killing 'apostates' who practiced magic outside of church sanctions. But the Wilds were a dangerous place, and none of the templars who entered in search of the witches left with their prize. Most never left at all.
In a conversation with the player-character, Morrigan reveals that Flemeth taught her to deal with these incidents as a child by turning them a game: new templars would arrive in the forest, and the young Morrigan would be tasked with leading them on a wild-goose chase - separating them from their fellows, drawing them deeper into the wilds - until her mother could find them and dispose of them.
And so Morrigan grew up with no real human contact, only her mother and the animals of the forest. She ventured into civilization a handful of times out of curiosity, but always returned to her home in the swamp.
She likely would have remained there her whole life if not for the dawning of the fifth Blight. A Blight is a really big deal in the Dragon Age universe: instigated by the corruption of one of the Old Gods, it involves monsters (known as darkspawn) rising out of the earth to wreak havoc on civilization and the general threat of doom of life as we know it. All of the previous Blights had been ended by the Grey Wardens, an order of warriors established for exactly that purpose, but by the time the fifth Blight truly began? There were only a handful of Wardens in all of Ferelden. After an early battle against the darkspawn turned sour, culminating in the betrayal and death of Ferelden's king at the hands of his most trusted general, there were just two: the dead king's bastard ex-templar brother and a recently-conscripted outcast. Flemeth saved these last two Wardens from certain death in the battle and charged them with gathering allies to drive back the darkspawn horde while the rest of Ferelden collapsed into civil war.
She also charged Morrigan to accompany them. Though initially resistant to the idea, Morrigan reluctantly agreed to guide the pair and help them on their quest with her magical skills. As they travelled, the threesome quickly accumulated a standard-issue party of adventurers - a kindly old witch from the Circle of Magi, a stoic warrior from another country, a dwarf with chronic alcoholism, a trusty war hound, etc - almost all of whom Morrigan got on with very, very badly. She even hated the dog. :(
The group's journey took them to the farthest corners of Ferelden, where they resolved a conflict between forest elves and werewolves, made a religious pilgrimage to recover Thedas-Jesus's magical ashes, discovered lost dwarven technology, and played exterminator when a demon infestation took over the Fereldan Circle of Magi. It was in this last location that the party discovered a long-lost possession of Flemeth's: the Black Grimoire. Reading it, Morrigan finally discovered the secret of her mother's alleged immortality. For centuries beyond count, the witch had been raising daughters just like Morrigan in the Korcari Wilds. Once a daughter reached adulthood, Flemeth would forcibly take over the girl's body, stealing her youth and living to repeat the process again. And, from all appearances, Morrigan was to be next.
Needless to say, Morrigan wasn't exactly keen on this idea. With the help of her fellow adventurers, she had Flemeth killed to prevent herself from getting body-snatched. She knew that nothing as old and powerful as her mother could truly die, but putting her current manifestation in the ground would, at least, keep the other witch at bay for a few years.
After that little adventure, the party finally travelled to Denerim, Ferelden's capital, to confront the man who betrayed the king and muster their newfound allies to drive back the darkspawn once and for all.
Sadly for Morrigan, she woke up in Mayfield before she could find out how any of that went. Oop!