The Origins of "Origins" Trivia Quiz

Answer: Take care of the castle

While your father and brother prepared for war, you, the younger sibling, were left to run the castle. Your mother was also staying behind, and was perfectly capable, but this served as a chance for you to practice leading a castle and its lands.

Answer: Howe

Rendon Howe was the Arl of Amaranthine. He was to join his forces with those of Bryce Cousland, your father, and then head to Ostagar to fight the darkspawn. Some of Howe's men were late, though, and Howe had to spend the evening at the Cousland's castle. Howe's men were late on purpose, and showed up in the night to murder the Couslands.

Howe was a strong supporter of Loghain, and used a number of underhanded techniques to secure personal gain. He bribed, embezzled, and hired assassins to remove his enemies. He made a number of land grabs, mistreated the elves in Denerim, and had his own personal dungeon under his estate, where he kept politically important people. When you finally met and killed Howe late in the game, he was unrepentant to the end, saying, "I deserved more!"

After the "Dragon Age: Origins", Howe's original holdings were seized and given to the Grey Wardens as reparations. This was how the Warden Commander acquired the castle Vigil's Keep, and the arling of Amaranthine in the expansion, "Dragon Age: Awakening".

Answer: Eleanor Cousland, you mother

The Howes attacked in the night while everyone was sleeping. All the servants and loved ones, whom you had known forever, were killed. You and your mother managed to repel the Howe assassins, and make your way through the castle. You found your wounded father at the entrance to a secret bolt hole. Duncan took you with him, while your mother stayed to defend he husband and her child's escape route.

Answer: The Harrowing

The Fade was where spirits lived, and where most beings explored when they dreamed (Dwarves were cut off from the Fade, and thus did not dream). Mages were unique in that they remained conscious in the Fade. Spirits and demons were curious about the real world, and would try to enter it by assuming a host. This act would kill the dreamer's Fade self. Normal people would wake up when they died in the Fade. Mages, because they were conscious, would instead become possessed, and turn into abominations. This made untrained mages a very real threat to the rest of the populace, and was why Mages were contained in Circle Towers. The Harrowing was a test for new mages, to ensure they knew how to resist demons in the Fade.

The Rite of Annulment was what the Templars could invoke if a Circle ever became compromised. They would destroy the circle and every mage they saw, to prevent the escape of demons. The Rite of Tranquillity was what the Templars used to remove a mage's connection to the Fade. This way, the mage would no longer be threatened by demonic possession, but would also lose all emotion and ambition. The Tranquil were monotone servants, perfect for performing mind-numbingly boring tasks for hours on end. The Proving was a gladiatorial arena in the dwarven city Orzammar.

Answer: Destroy phylacteries

Phylacteries were small vials containing some blood of the mages. The Templars could use them to track down any escaped mages. your friend Jowan overheard that the Templars were planning on making him tranquil because they suspected he was a blood mage.

He was also madly in love with a Chantry initiate, Lily, which was forbidden. The two of them decided to run away before he could be made tranquil, but they had to steal or destroy his phylactery first. You helped your friend destroy his phylactery, but were caught soon after.

In order to escape, Jowan used powerful blood magic to knock out the Templars. Lily was horrified, seeing her lover use blood magic, and refused to go with him.

Answer: Your wedding day

As a City Elf, it was your wedding day, though it was an arranged marriage. You and your cousin Soris were having a double marriage with some elves who travelled from Highever. It was possible that the wedding was merely a plot to escape the alienages and destitution.

Answer: Kidnapped all the elven women

Vaughan Kendells and his two friends seemed to enjoy tormenting and abusing the elves of the alienage. The first time he showed up, he started grabbing some of the elven women. Your sister, Shianni, knocked him out without realizing who he was.

Vaughan showed up later with a group of guards, during the wedding ceremony, and abducted all the elven women he could find. They were all taken to to his estate and locked away for Vaughan and his men abuse as they wanted. This was the only point in the game that your character's gender mattered. If you were a woman, you helped break out of the cells. If you were a man, you launched a rescue operation into the estate.

Answer: An Eluvian

Eluvians were ancient elven artifacts. Not many knew what they did or how they worked. Duncan misidentified the Eluvian in the ruins as Tevinter, but it was actually much older.

Eluvians would become more important in later games. Morrigan found one in the "Witch Hunt" downloadable content for "Dragon Age: Origins". In "Dragon Age II", Merrill would spend a lot of time and effort trying to restore an Eluvian to functionality. In "Dragon Age: Inquisition", Eluvians were a central plot device.

The Anvil of the Void was used by the dwarves to turn people into golems. The Urn of Sacred Ashes supposedly held the ashes of the prophet Andraste. The Tome of Koslun was a Qunari text, and a central plot element in "Dragon Age II".

Answer: Noble Hunter

Orzammar society was heavily stratified, and everyone belonged to a caste. Dwarves could be nobles, smiths, shapers, soldiers, and more. However, if a dwarf did something truly atrocious, or left to the surface, they could be stripped of their caste. The casteless and their descendants were the poorest people in Orzammar. They had face brands so all other dwarves would know to hate and distrust them.

One way a casteless woman could raise her station was by being a Noble Hunter. Noble Hunters courted the young noble men. If they produced a son for the noble, then the woman would be raised to official concubine, and she and her family would be invited to live in the noble's estate.

Answer: The Carta criminal organization

The casteless had a very difficult time in Dwarven society. They were not smiths or merchants, so making on honest living was nearly impossible. Furthermore, each casteless was branded on the face, so all other dwarves would recognize them, and know to treat them with distrust and contempt. On the other hand, most dwarves barely noticed to casteless, even when they walked in plain view.

This made them excellent recruits for those who needed discrete employees, such as the Carta. The Carta was the dwarven criminal underground, and they had extensive networks both in Orzammar and on the surface.

Answer: Retrieve the Shield of Aeducan

There were rumours that the old Shield of Aeducan was lying in a tomb in an abandoned thaig (city). You set out with you best friend, Gorim, and met up with two scouts along the way. The shield was being guarded by mercenaries, which was strange, but not a problem. Once the you had the shield though, the real problems began.

This origin was tied to the "A Tale of Orzammar" DLC, which was made with the help of PC Gamer. "A Tale of Orzammar" was a small, voiceless campaign to demonstrate the abilities of the "Dragon Age: Origins" modding toolset. In the short campaign, the player confirmed that the Shield of Aeducan was in the tomb, which the Dwarf Noble was later sent to retrieve. The mysterious employer needed to confirm the shield's location before he could spread rumours about its existence.

Answer: Trian, your older brother

Trian was your older brother, and the heir apparent of Orzammar. Depending on how you played the origin story, you could either kill Trian yourself for your own political reasons, or you could be framed to look like the murderer if you supported your brother. Either way, Trian died, and you were found by your father and younger brother standing over the body, bloody. You could try to defend your actions, whatever they were, but the two scouts with you lied, and made you sound like a scheming murderer. You were arrested on the spot.

Answer: Exiled to the Deep Roads

You were convicted of murdering your own brother, whether you did so or not. Sometimes criminals in Orzammar were exiled to the surface, where they would lose their caste and status. Sometimes they were given to the Legion of the Dead, where they would fight darkspawn until they died. In ancient times, people were forced to become golems, though the technology had been lost long ago.

As a noble, you were not sentenced to direct execution. You were, however, stripped of all your belongings, and sent into the Deep Roads, with the expectation that the darkspawn would eventually kill you. Luckily, Duncan and the Grey Wardens were in Orzammar, looking for recruits. You managed to find the Grey Wardens, and they led out out of the caves in exchange for joining their order.

Your friend, Gorim, was convicted of being complicit. Gorim was a warrior in Orzammar, a high caste. He was exiled to the surface for his (supposed) part in Trian's death. By being exiled to the surface, he lost his caste, and became the a part of the lowest social cast in Orzammar. Gorim made his way to Denerim, where we worked as a merchant, selling Orzammar crafts.

Answer: Dalish Elf

The Dalish Elf origin brought you to an ancient elven ruin, with a mysterious mirror inside. The second time you went to the ruin, the path and the ruin were littered with darkspawn. When you got to the mirror, Ducan was there, and explained that it was a broken artifact. Anyone who touched the mirror would acquire the darkspawn taint. You had already touched the mirror on your first visit, and had the taint. The only way to manage it was to join the Grey Wardens, and use their joining ritual to slow its progression.

The only other origin story in which you encountered darkspawn was the Dwarf Nobel story, in the Deep Roads. The Dwarf Noble fought darkspawn, but never got the darkspawn taint.

Answer: Yes

In each of the six origin stories, Duncan was present and looking for new Grey Wardens. His Rite of Conscription overruled local laws, and he could save people from being imprisoned or executed.

If Duncan did not go to the Cousland's castle, the Human Noble character most likely died during the Howe's night-time assassination. The human noble may have escaped, but would not have had an important role without Duncan to recruit them into the Grey Wardens.

If Duncan did not show up at the Circle of Magi, the Mage character was most likely imprisoned and/or made Tranquil, for helping a blood mage escape.

If Duncan was not at the elven alienage in Denerim, then the City Elf character was arrested and executed for killing humans in the Arl of Denerim's estate. Soris, the City Elf's friend, was also thrown in the dungeon, and could be freed by a Grey Warden of a different origin.

The Dalish Elf character and their friend, Tamlen, were both exposed to the darkspawn taint when exploring the ancient ruins and the strange mirror. If Duncan did not ravel to the Dalish, then there was no way to save the two from the taint, and they both became darkspawn.

The Dwarf Commoner character was accused of impersonating a noble, for which the penalty was death. Without Duncan to intervene, the Dwarf Commoner was executed. Interestingly, if you were not a Dwarf Commoner, in Orzammar you could find a body in a cell, and Leske, the Dwarf commoner's friend, in an adjacent one. This means that the Dwarf Commoner never even escaped the prison, even though Duncan had nothing to do with that.

The Dwarf Noble character was sentenced to wander the Deep Roads until they died by darkspawn or starvation. If Duncan was not wandering the Deep Roads, then the Dwarf Noble did not have anyone to rescue them. Gorim, the Dwarf Nobel's friend, could still be found in Denerim, selling dwarven goods. He was exiled to the surface, regardless of the origin chosen. In Orzammar, if you were not a dwarf noble, the king and his two eldest children were dead, with his youngest, Bhelen, seeking the throne.