Dragons

AKA: Ataashi (“Glorious Ones” - Qunlat)

Living engines of death and destruction, dragons are some of the most powerful creatures in existence. Each dragon boasts a lethal, elemental breath attack they can use to devastating effect, and inherent resistances to those same elements in addition to their formidable physical defenses. Though most dragons breathe fire, there are varieties that spew electricity, cold, and even poison. Beyond their element, dragons are split into several categories based on their age, size, and gender. Dragonlings are the smallest of their kind, little more than hatchlings, but still longer than a Qunari is tall. Males mature relatively quickly into drakes, which are tough but wingless and never grow past a certain size. Dragons and mature dragons are females that have lived long enough to develop wings and create nests of their own. They are certainly no pushovers, but pale in comparison to high dragons. When you read “dragons,” these behemoths are what you thought of. Winged monstrosities capable of destroying almost anything in their path, high dragons are a calamitous, if occasional, threat to the areas around their nests. Once every hundred years or so, a high dragon will emerge from her comfortable life of sleeping and being fed by and mating with a harem of drakes to rampage across the countryside for weeks at a time as she eats enough animals to feed her young. And she obviously cares nothing for what kind of meat she acquires or what paltry buildings she may have to annihilate to get at it. There are a few other dragons or dragon-like creatures that are, fortunately, even rarer than a high dragon. Archdemons, which lead a darkspawn Blight, are not actually dragons, but their form is very similar. Corypheus’ dragon, meanwhile, was a dragon, but one that the crazed magister twisted and transformed with red lyrium. Dragons also have smaller, more numerous cousin species like Wyverns and Varghests that, while not as dangerous as their kin, are still deadly beasts in their own right.

As powerful as dragons are, skilled hunters were able to counter the dire threat they posed. The last Inquisitor of the original Inquisition, Ameridan, was renowned for his dragon-slaying skills. Also, Cassandra’s family, the Pentaghasts, were famous as dragon hunters and actually thought to have driven them to extinction. Oh, and before I move on, in case you needed a reason to not challenge me, I’m capable of defeating a high dragon by myself. I'm not trying to boast, I just want to try and cut back on the number of idiots that I have to set on fire. And it’s not bragging if you can back it up. It was accepted for centuries that dragons had been wiped out before their sudden return to the skies of Thedas in recent decades. This unexpected resurgence is the reason the Age we are currently living in is called the Dragon Age. In my travels, I encountered and killed ten high dragons across Thedas, twelve if you count Corypheus’ red lyrium abomination and the beast that held the spirit of Hakkon Wintersbreath in Frostback Basin. It’s difficult to describe how those kills felt. Dragons provided some of the most thrilling and challenging fights I had while inquisiting and saying that it wasn’t fun in some way would be a lie. And a slap to Bull’s face. At the same time, I took no real pleasure in ending the beasts. Each time, it had to be done, they would have rampaged through their territories if I hadn’t stopped them, causing untold deaths and destruction. But that is their nature, not a choice made by a thinking being, and destroying something so magnificent was always sad, in its way. Even defeating Cory’s dragon and the Drakkon were similarly bittersweet, as both had been warped and controlled by a true monster that only wanted to use it to cause carnage. Inquisiting isn’t always easy and fun, I suppose, despite my best efforts.