“Don't you sass me, you ungrateful brat! I made you and I can make another just like you.”
Kalah Brosca is a female casteless dwarf and the mother of the Dwarf Commoner and Rica Brosca. She can be encountered in her home in the Dwarf Commoner Origin.
Background
Part of the Brosca family, Kalah is a bitter drunk who appears to care little about anything except her mosswine. Having fallen on hard times after the Dwarf Commoner's father left her, Kalah has fallen into a depression which she seeks to lessen through drinking. She is constantly berating her youngest son/daughter for not being grateful enough about all she's done for him/her.
Kalah insists that she was beautiful in her day, even being crowned the "Paragon of Beauty" at 18. She had two children, each with a different man. According to Rica, Kalah and the Dwarf Commoner's father wanted to "bind a marriage", but were unable to do so. While the Dwarf Commoner was still a baby, their father left for the surface, and Kalah had to work cleaning the smoke vents for ten years. Presumably, this stopped when her children were able to start supporting her through their work with Beraht.
Involvement
Kalah is addicted to the cheap wine known as mosswine. This, and her depression has led her to be rude to her children, and to having a very bleak perspective on life. She does, however, care for her children, as is evidenced later. Rica comments that she was much happier before their father left for the surface, and urges the Warden to try to seek a way out of Dust Town.
Kalah reaching for a bottle of Mosswine
The Dwarf Commoner Warden can choose to purchase a bottle of wine from Olinda, and give it to Kalah. Purchasing the wine triggers a scene where an almost lucid Kalah speaks to her child, in a fairly motherly fashion, claiming that she only needs something to take the edge off. She then promptly passes out, with the bottle still in her hand.
Later, when Rica bears a son for Prince Bhelen Aeducan, she moves to the Royal Palace with her daughter and grandson. Despite her new surroundings, she's still bitter and abusive, resentful of the attention Rica is getting for carrying Bhelen's son. If the Warden is the Dwarf Commoner she is also resentful for her child leaving for the surface. Inside the Royal Palace of Orzammar, a conversation with Kalah will show her bitterness, believing that those living in the palace don't view her as an equal, and that she's only allowed in because of Rica.
During the epilogue, if the Warden is of Dwarf Commoner Origin, Rica will comment that Kalah has sworn off drinking after hearing what the Warden has done. Kalah will also be elevated to warrior caste along with her child and enjoy "lording over" her old friends. She can be seen behind Rica at the Warden's funeral if they died slaying the Archdemon Urthemiel. A few months later the Assembly votes for her child, the Dwarf Commoner Warden to become Paragon (even posthumously), with House Brosca, including Kalah, being further elevated to nobility.
Quotes
- "Before you were born, men would drop their tools and come running when they saw me. So take your pity and get out of my sight!"
- "They treat us like dust, tell us we're cursed. How else are we supposed to live? We got nothing!"
- "You can try, but you'll never get it off you. Dust town, it sticks to the skin... You don't bleed red enough for them, and nothing's gonna change that."
Note
- Kalah is accounted for the Codex entry: Hands of the Carta.
- Although she is listed by her name in the origin story, when you meet her again at the palace later in the game she is listed as simply "Mother".
- If the Warden is a Dwarf Commoner and talks to her in the Royal Palace with Morrigan in the party, the latter will comment that the Warden and her have more in common than they thought, obviously referring to Flemeth.
- Along with Cyrion, Kalah is the only parent of a Warden to survive the events of Dragon Age: Origins.