Witch Hunt

Witch Hunt

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Witch Hunt
Appearances	Dragon Age: Origins - Witch Hunt

Witch Hunt is a downloadable content for Dragon Age: Origins that explores the whereabouts of Morrigan, the Witch of the Wilds, who aided the Warden during the Fifth Blight. The final DLC for Origins, it was released on September 7th, 2010.

Witch Hunt was patched to version 1.1 on September 20th, 2010.

Plot

The dreaded Archdemon has been slain and the advance of the darkspawn halted by a lone, heroic Grey Warden. The kingdom rejoices, but at least one question remains: what happened to Morrigan? The sorceress joined the Wardens' cause, but it is said her true purpose was not revealed until the eve of the last battle. She vanished into the shadows, and while rumors claimed she crossed over the mountains into Orlais no trace of her path could be found. She was never heard from again... until now. Nearly a year has passed since the Archdemon's death, and word has reached the Wardens that Morrigan has returned to Ferelden. She has been sighted in the southern wilderness where she was first encountered. Is it truly her? If it is, then why is she here and what secret does she carry with her? The Warden heads into the forest to find out and tie up this last loose end once and for all.

—Official description

Quests

In Search of Morrigan (main)

The History of Cad'halash (optional)

Dialogue

Main article: Witch Hunt/Dialogue

Companions

Ariane, a Dalish warrior

Finn, a human mage

Dog, a Mabari war hound. It's the same dog you picked up during Origins and a different one if you didn't. Codex entries will reflect this for each version respectively.

Notable items

Circle of Magi: The following items are obtained by going to the Library Index and activating the Mage Training section (by examining "Index G - L" then "Kindling the Flame"), then by going to the Mage Training Section and reading "Autonomous Prodigy, Volume 3: Hexes" which unlocks the Self Improvement section (the Self Improvement section is a shelf close to the entrance to the Library Index).

• "Tome of Technique: Use It or Lose It" - When taken from the shelf by The Warden, this book becomes the usable item: a Tome of Physical Technique or a Tome of Arcane Technique (depending on the class of the Warden).
• "The Willpower Workout" - Reading this makes an Essence of Willpower available which appears close to the long table at the Library entrance, see Essences and Fonts (Fade).
• The Ghastly Hat is acquired when Finn joins the party.

A "Master Barrier Rune" can be obtained by activating the Mage Weaponry section from the index and then examining "Staff Construction for Apprentices". Several Grenade, Poison, and Weapon Coating recipes can be learned by activating the Unstable Solutions section from the index, then reading "Ellie's Exploding Elixirs". May require at least one rank in Poison-Making.

Reward items

The following items are carried over to a new or existing game when you unlock the relevant achievement.

For Dragon Age: Origins:

Dragonbone Cleaver, obtained by unlocking the Varterral's Fall achievement.

The Sorrows of Arlathan, obtained by unlocking the Through the Looking Glass achievement.

Vestments of the Seer, obtained by unlocking the Witch Hunt achievement.

Cinch of Skillful Maneuvering, obtained by unlocking the Time of Wood and Stone achievement.

For Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening:

Dragonbone Cleaver, obtained by unlocking the Varterral's Fall achievement.

The Sorrows of Arlathan, obtained by unlocking the Through the Looking Glass achievement.

Vestments of the Seer, obtained by unlocking the Witch Hunt achievement.

Cinch of Skillful Maneuvering, obtained by unlocking the Time of Wood and Stone achievement.

Enemies

• Cultist
• Cultist Mage

Creatures

• Varterral
• Hurlock battle mage
• Hurlock berserker
• Shriek

Achievements and trophies

Name	Requirement	Points	Trophy	Image
Varterral's Fall	Defeated the varterral on Hard or Nightmare difficulty	25	Bronze
Witch Hunter	Completed "Witch Hunt"	25	Bronze
A Time of Wood and Stone	Gathered the lore of Cadash Thaig	25	Bronze
Through the Looking Glass	Completed the scrying ritual	25	Bronze

Notes

• If you imported a warden from Awakening, any Manual of Focus in the inventory won't follow the character to the DLC.

Trivia

• A conversation between two magi in the Circle Tower make a reference to the Harry Potter series of books and films: as one mage expresses a desire to own a pet, such as an owl, the other mage says with a sneer: "Owls? What kind of mage has an owl for a pet?" A second reference to Harry Potter is made in the same room: if you take your time to read a book about wands, you'll see that some very angry student wrote this note on it: "What kind of self-respecting mage uses a wand, anyway?"
• In the apprentice quarters two magi talk of rumors that the Warden once took a pirate woman and three greased nugs to bed, referencing two of the many sexual liaisons possible at The Pearl. This conversation occurs regardless of whether an imported Warden has done this or not.
• During the first Dialogue with Finn, if your Warden is not of Dalish origin, Ariane mentions the Dalish origin story with one elf disappearing and another becoming very ill and dying.
• If an imported Warden-Commander was of Magi Origin, the dialogue between the two magi in the apprentice quarters will vary depending on the gender of Warden-Commander and their choices during the Broken Circle quest. One variation of their conversation, if the Warden is male, is noting that the player was involved in the Jowan incident. Another variation they will mention, if the Warden is female, is that Cullen had a crush on the player.
• Additional dialogue between two magi in the library involves a group of Ferelden refugees in Kirkwall and the Free Marches, referencing the setting of Dragon Age II.
• Morrigan's line about a "harrowing to come" might be a possible reference to Dragon Age II, as several of her lines are similar to Flemeth's dialogue in the Dragon Age II "Destiny" trailer.
• In one of the random banters, Finn talks about war dogs and how they will bring back useful items; specifically, his conversation references the found cake from Origins.
• At least two references to Anders, the spirit healer from Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, can be found. One can be found in the School of Spirit section of the library of Circle Tower where the book "Spirit Healers through the Ages" has a drawing of Templars being eaten by a tiger named "Ser Pounce-a-lot". Party banter between Finn and Ariane also reveals one of Anders's early escape attempts during his apprenticeship, where he jumped into the lake surrounding the Circle Tower and swam away during the weekly exercise session. The Templars were unable to chase Anders initially because of their heavy armor but were able to apprehend him a week later. This incident brought an end to the weekly exercise sessions.
• A book in the Circle Tower library is named Lothering Heights, an apparent reference to Emily Brontë's novel, Wuthering Heights.
• The book "Of Hammers and Witches" may be a reference to the Malleus Maleficarum.
• The book Ines Arancia’s Botanical Compendium references Ines, a minor character who may be encountered in Awakening.
• The book Does This Book Have Griffons in It?! resonates with at least two other possible conversations in Origins. One is with Wynne, in camp; the other is with the Human Noble's nephew Oren (and therefore unavailable to other origins).
• One possible ending actually leaves a major aspect of the storyline (Ariane's quest) unresolved.
• Witch Hunt features no new areas, all being taken from either Origins or Awakening.

Patch

Witch Hunt was patched to version 1.1 on September 20th, 2010 in order to fix some bugs. This updated version contains the following changes:

• When importing from a post-game save, your conversation with Morrigan in the Witch Hunt module will properly reflect the choices you made in Dragon Age Origins' "Dark Ritual" plot. (This appears to still be an issue with the PS3 when importing from The Golems of Amgarrak and/or Origins.{confirmation needed})
• The game will automatically save after the final cutscene.
• Players who were getting 'Unable to Load Area' are now able to play the DLC.

Bugs

• The initial version of the game may have assumed that the Warden refused Morrigan's Ritual in Origins, even if it was performed. This bug was mostly fixed in the latest patch. For more information, or if you still get this bug, please see the Dark Ritual Continuity Bug.
• It was intended that a savegame file be created at the end of Witch Hunt for export into Dragon Age II. Unfortunately the export file is not being created in the initially released version of the game. Bioware has acknowledged this bug and fixed in version 1.1. Players who finished the v1.0 simply have to replay the final conversation.
• ps3 When playing Golems of Amgarrak, the character had equipped the Spellweaver sword with two Paragon Lightning Runes enchanted onto it. When imported into Witch Hunt, one of the lightning runes had transformed into an Earthbound ring rune, enchanted into the sword. When the "rune" was removed from the sword by Sandal, it became an equippable ring. The Paragon Lightning Rune was gone. Reloading the last GoA save, destroying the Earthbound ring in inventory, saving, then finishing GoA again and re-importing the character into Witch Hunt fixed the problem.
• ps3 importing a character from the "Epilogue" auto-save in Origins results in having to re-input Dog's name as mentioned above, plus Morrigan will indicate that the Warden refused to take part in her ritual, even if they did participate in Origins. This happens because the game takes any loading of the Epilogue auto-save as a "Ultimate Sacrifice" ending (if you attempt to play from it, it will actually award you The Ultimate Sacrifice achievement, in case you didn't have it already.)
• ps3 A bug has occurred in which the "Perfectionist" achievement is awarded if the player saves a game in the Circle Tower library and loads it later (normally the achievement is only awarded after the player has experienced every ending of Origins; it has nothing to do with Witch Hunt).
• xbox360 (v1.04, Dwarf Commoner Origin) The achievement award items from The Golems of Amgarrak, Witch Hunt, The Darkspawn Chronicles, Leliana's Song and the Blood Dragon Armor may not be present in the chest after being captured by Beraht. There is no way to get them back.
• ps3 Some of the rewarded items obtained may not transfer. Deleting the game data may resolve the issue.

External links

• Victor Wachter announces Witch Hunt, the last DLC for Origins
• Debut Trailer