Spoilers from Comic to follow.
Right, so with the newest comic Stenishok says that the secret to Calenhad's rise to power was that he drank Dragon's blood. But being a Reaver isn't that special. The Warden kills wipes out a few dozen of them between the Dragon Cult of Andraste and the Dragon Cult in Awakening. So why is Calenhad so special that his bloodline is important hundreds of years later? I've heard it said that maybe he was an OGB, and I suspect that might be the right answer.
According to his wiki page Calenhad was born in 5:20 Exalted, the same year Garahel slew the Archdemon Andoral at the battle of Aysleigh (though admittedly, I don't know the exact dates of these events). Andoral was known as the Dragon of Slaves, but also the Dragon of Unity. And it was Calenhad who unified Ferelden. Possibly Flemeth was behind his birth just as she was (probably) behind his 'ascension' after all, Morrigan has heard stories about Garahel's sexual prowess- maybe she heard them from Flemeth.
The big hole to this theory though is that Garahel died bringing down Andoral, which implies there was no Dark Ritual at the end of the Fourth Blight. But maybe he just died from wounds?
I'm not sure I'm sold on this myself, but there are some interesting coincidences here. Any thoughts? Oh, and sorry if this has already had a forum post, but I couldn't find one already up about this.--Liam Sionnach (talk) 06:15, April 14, 2013 (UTC)
- EDIT- Oh and credit to RShepard227, your suggestion of this in the UWS thread was what prompted me to go investigating.--Liam Sionnach (talk) 19:59, April 14, 2013 (UTC)
The reason Reavers are made more powerful in the lore than they are in game is the same for making the blood mages so. In the lore, a blood mage is the worst thing ever, able to make people into thralls, bleed them dry and whatnot, but in reality you only switch the source of magic from mana to blood, with one or two somewhat useful talents. A reaver supposedly gets more powerful the more hurt he or she is, and so theoretically a reaver gets stronger as the enemies get weaker. In reality you get power boost just as you are about to die. A reaver should get stronger all the time he or she gets hit, and weaker when healed, also number of injuries should make reavers more powerful. But no...
Anyway, I don't like where this is going. First they switched wyvern blood potion to just dragon blood, and now reaverism gives you powers to become king, eh? They shoulda come up with something original, but then we already had Dragonborns. Henio0 (talk) 07:25, April 14, 2013 (UTC)
Okay, I get how Reavers are probably used in lore differently in than in gameplay, but I don't feel like that goes far enough to explain why Calenhad's bloodline is so important. If it's just a matter of having a Reaver around, why were Yavana, Flemeth, and this Tevinter guy from the comic so interested in having Maric? He's not a Reaver, just a guy several generations removed from a Reaver ancestor. I feel like there has to be something more going on. --Liam Sionnach (talk) 07:59, April 14, 2013 (UTC)
- I think I mentioned this in the "How will DA:UWS end?" thread, I just didn't have a timeline for his birth to match up with the death of an Old God. I thought it was Toth until your post, which it turns out lines up perfectly with the Fourth Blight. Problem is like you said, Garahel died. However, it sounds like any high dragon will do, the Old Gods are simply the most powerful. If Calenhad carries the soul of one of the Queen of Dragons's direct descendants, that would certainly work for whatever Flemeth had in mind with Yavana. The other option is another retcon courtesy of Gaider, Garahel bled out from his wounds and not killing Andoral, which albeit is a far simpler explanation. RShepard227 (talk) 15:44, April 14, 2013 (UTC)
- I'm not sure what you mean by "any high dragon will do". For the blood, or soul? Because how would you get the soul from a normal high dragon? The taint is the vehicle for the soul transfer.--Liam Sionnach (talk) 16:46, April 14, 2013 (UTC)
- Ah, right, good point. Well it's confirmed via Flemeth that soul transfer of one being to another is possible, it's not exclusive an archdemon via a Witch of the Wilds to a Tainted embryo. It's possible that a very powerful high dragon (the queen of dragons or a descendant perhaps) transferred its soul, either by its own willpower (which would mean the trait is not unique to archdemons, it's been hinted that some high dragons are at least sapient if not adept in magic) or with the help of a mage (likely Flemeth) into the just-conceived Calenhad. Later, he consumes dragon blood as a catalyst to awaken his abilities and conquer Ferelden. ...I'm liking the Garahel retcon more and more as this topic gets more complicated. :P
- Furthermore, I'm curious as to how much Eamon knows about all this. He was very insistent on Alistair having the throne and Cailan being able to sire an heir, and IMO it seems to go beyond simply preserving the tradition of it. He was Maric's brother-in-law, what did Rowan learn from her husband that she later relayed to her brother? RShepard227 (talk) 23:28, April 15, 2013 (UTC)
- Right! I forgot about Flemeth's soul movement. Partially because I was never sold on the body-snatching line that Morrigan gives, but I can't deny the whole witch in a necklace thing. I was only thinking of the Archdemons and Corypheus, completely forgetting about Flemeth.--Liam Sionnach (talk) 01:39, April 16, 2013 (UTC)
That would explain a lot... Having performed the ritual before would explain why Flemeth was able to teach it to Morrigan... And the as for how Garahel died during the battle, the purpose of the OGB is to absorb the soul of the Old God when a Warden kills it. It does not however seem to grant an protection from physical harm, just the death the comes from slaying the Archdemon. This is making a lot of sense.--Lurooke Surana (talk) 17:44, April 14, 2013 (UTC)
David Gaider is biting Michael Kirkbride's Hjalti Early-Beard by giving Calenhad an alternate heretical back story. Difference is Kirkbride is an alien from another dimension gracing us mere mortals with inconcievable ramblings over the memospore and Gaider... well Gaider is sometimes an aight writer. Just my opinion. - Soulofshezarr (talk) 19:13, April 14, 2013 (UTC)
Interesting concepts...I'm not following the dragon blood thing really. But I do now find it odd Alistair just happened to be one of the wardens that was eligible to slay the Archdemon in the fifth blight. Especially given Flemeth's connection to Maric......Also, I find it highly unlikely that this is the first time Flemeth has tried to free the soul of an old god by using the OGB method. It would not surprise me at all to find that each of the Wardens responsible for "slaying" the Archdemons in their respective blights had a companion that fit the description of a witch of the wilds. And no where is it clearly stated that the warden making the killing blow to an archdemon died from that blow. Only that they died. It's assumed that death was a result of the killing blow, but it just as easily could have been from something else, even murder to keep certain things secret. There's only been five, so it isn't like it would be all that hard really, and there would be plenty of time to plan it out given the length of time it takes to combat a blight... And I've always had the thought that Grey Wardens themselves were created not to combat darkspawn, but rather to "free" an old god from the prison that is the taint. The Grey Unknown (talk) 20:41, April 14, 2013 (UTC)
- That would give credence to the one story I heard about the First Warden knowing where all the ADs (or was it OGs?) are, and the periodic (IU) rumors that the Wardens 'cause' the Blights. DAWUSS (talk) 21:04, April 14, 2013 (UTC)
May be Calenhad drank special dragon blood, if a Reaver drink normal dragon blood and gain such abilities, then Calenhad drank the blood of the queen/king of dragons, consider it as royal dragon blood not normal dragon, also there is the possibility of drinking it with special ritual not normally as reavers do, consider that Calenhad had known much Apostates , Aldenon isn't the first, nor the unnamed witch of the wild is last. Also talking about what Kolgrim tells the warden that it's Wyvern blood that makes people reavers isn't really something, he might be hiding it to protect his cult little secret (or not know the real diffrence) , in fact Nyree and Josmael confirmed that it's dragon blood, Nyree herself fought a dragon and drank his blood to be reaver, that all happens in Dragon Age: Redemption .. Add to that, blood mages were seeking dragon's blood for unknown rituals, that happened , that happened in Cassandra Pentaghast childhood . Elnawawi (talk) 06:14, April 15, 2013 (UTC)