How a Creature of Pop Culture was Used to Develop Ferelden Culture

Dragon Age Origins Blog werewolves1 Of Werewolves & Dog Culture in Ferelden

When I first came across even hints of werewolves in Dragon Age: Origins, I was decidedly annoyed. Annoyed that the creators of something I had been waiting for, and for so many years, had apparently sullied their potentially great work with something so common to run-of-the-mill fantasy and pop-culture. What else would I find in their creature-book? Vampires? Thankfully, no.

In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the Dragon Age treatment of werewolves was to integrate the creature into major parts of the history and development of the peoples of the main setting-country, Ferelden.

Don’t get me wrong, I still find the integration of werewolves into Dragon Age to be at least a little bit lame, but conversations of derivative works or people-pleasing aside, using werewolves to explain why the people of Ferelden are so dog-focused (and wolf a-feared) is actually pretty cool. These people are not cat-people. Fereldans are attached to their dogs to such a huge degree that it has become a part of their character and national identity. It’s a bit of a fixation, really, but one that has become culture and has its basis in two very real human needs: safety and survival.

According to the codex entry on werewolves, they once roved the lands of Ferelden in great numbers. It doesn’t really explain the why of the geographical choice, but one can assume there was something that weakened the barrier to the Fade in that area enough to allow multitudes of rage demons to escape and take up residence in wolves. These wolves would then go rampaging about as humanoid monsters with enhanced speed and strength, and would spread the curse of the creatures’ rage to those they had bitten, “driving them mad with unthinking fury.” The newly cursed (humans) would, when in this enraged state, often also adopt wolf-like characteristics, rampage about, and continue to spread the curse to others.

This was a problem for the locals in Ferelden. However, the peoples of Ferelden learned very quickly that their fears could be allayed somewhat by keeping dogs nearby. Dogs could sense when the creatures were near, even if they were still in human guise, thus giving the humans a fighting chance. Dogs could be trained to fight and even kill, thus adding to the human defenders’ numbers. Dogs could be bred into bigger, more powerful dogs, creating a better, badder weapon for the Fereldans. And let’s not forget that, when they’re puppies or playful, even the biggest, most vicious dog is ridiculously cute. Don’t ever underestimate the long term power of a cute and cuddly puppy!

Werewolf Lair in Dragon Age

Ultimately, it was the werewolf problem that brought the Fereldans of that time into their current dog-centric society — which was, of course, the beginning of the end of the werewolf problem. It was the dog that gave them the security to begin to fight. It was that security that lead to organization. It was that organization that lead to the great Fereldan folk hero Dane’s crusade to wipe out the werewolf threat. It was the success of that crusade that lead to the continued development of Ferelden’s current dog-culture. Ipso facto and all that.

This is all history, though. The werewolves that are met in Dragon Age: Origins are of a different sort — more intelligent, with a culture of their own. They are more than just mindless beasts, and they aspire to be more, even, than what they have become. This may or may not be true for more than that one pocket of werewolves, in one corner of the land, that are encountered in the DA:O story. There are rumours of other packs, in other places. Perhaps these, too, will evolve? Will we see  more of the werewolf in future instalments of Dragon Age?

What do you think of the use of werewolves in the development of Fereldan culture, or in general? Let us know in the comments!

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