Archdemons

An Archdemon is the fiend that leads a darkspawn Blight against the surface of Thedas. They are wholly evil, dragon-like monstrosities that are created when the darkspawn find a sleeping Old God and corrupt it with their taint. What exactly the Old Gods themselves were is unknown, but they were worshipped thousands of years ago by the Tevinter Imperium, and somehow ended up imprisoned underground. The Chantry claims they are spirits who, when the Maker turned his attention to the newly-created races of Thedas, grew envious and corrupted men against Him and into worship of themselves. However they came into being, the Old Gods slumber in subterranean prisons until they are discovered and defiled by the darkspawn. The sleeping gods control the darkspawn via the call, a form of telepathic communication that compels the tainted hordes to do the bidding of what or whoever whispers it to them. Unlike most normal darkspawn, Archdemons are highly intelligent and capable leaders, able to call to nearly every darkspawn in existence at once, which is why a Blight is so dangerous. There were seven Old Gods in ancient times, and so far, five have risen as Archdemons. Dumat, Zazikel, Toth, Andoral, and Urthemiel have all led Blights, which typically last for years or decades and cause untold death and destruction, and only end when the leader is slain. This act can only be accomplished by a Grey Warden, otherwise a “dead” Archdemon will inevitably rise again. It was thought for a time that Corypheus’ dragon was an Archdemon and was as close as I came to actually seeing one, but this was thankfully not the case in the end. Demons raining from above and darkspawn rampaging from below might have been too much for even the Inquisition to stop.