Something About Origins Darkspawn + Darkspawn Designs That Is Lost In Future Games Imo Is Like... A Sense

something about origins darkspawn + darkspawn designs that is lost in future games imo is like... a sense of a strange, unknowable form of "culture". you fight their forgemaster/blacksmith, the strongest ones get a better set of armor and weapons, they add somewhat pointless gory decor to areas theyve overtaken, etc etc

you can definitely argue its the power of the archdemon in that game, use its control to make them act in a more "human" manner, but considering the sentient darkspawn in the expansions, theres definitely more to it

which to me is totally lost in the knock-off-bdsm-most-of-them-dressed-the-same darkspawn of 2 onwards

tldr origins darkspawn designs and behavior are more in line with their "spawned from sentient races" nature than future media, which makes them kinda feel like generic monsters to me

me and Leliana on our third glass of wine making unsubtle eye contact with Florianne while waiting for Celene’s assassination

The fact that we’ll be at Weisshaupt at some point and there will at best only be a generic reference to the Hero of Ferelden is really funny though. You die to end the Fifth Blight and the First Warden is like “damn, anyway” and they don’t even write your name down. You survive killing an Archdemon - a feat never before achieved - and the First Warden is like “damn that’s crazy” and then ignores you for the next two decades. If they found a cure for the calling, it won’t even be attributed to them. You fixed the fact that your order is basically a weird death cult and they just pretend you don’t exist. This is in fact perfect for my canon worldstate, where I’d already decided that Weisshaupt fucking hates Tabris because she’s always doing weird shit and they basically just pretend she doesn’t exist and ignore the fact that she’s also been ignoring any communications they’ve ever sent to her about how she runs her branch of the order.

i just think its funny that three out of the four dreamers that the demons use to power the fade islands during broken circle are templars. and the fourth is a mage whose nightmarish imaginings are just parroting the worst things mages are taught about themselves. isnt that funny

Origins Timeline

Origins is epic in scale, and we know it takes place over the course of about a year (Ostagar happens in 9:30, the Archdemon is killed in 9:31).

I wanted a good reference for how long my Hero had been on the road at each part of the game (partly because this would inform their relationships to companions, partly just for reference because I'm a nerd).

So, without further ado:

(click to see the pictures in better detail)

So I've estimated that the whole journey from the moment you leave Flemeths Hut to the moment you reach Denerim and begin preparing for the landsmeet to take about 9 months and two weeks. That's accouting for a total of 6 months of travel (you're on the road a LOT in origins, I think way more than the game can accurately give you a sense of) and 3 months and two weeks doing the various quests you actually play through in the game (with about a month and a half spent in Orzammar).

I used the following resources to help me work things out, as well as focusing on the gameplay and lore (it doesn't make a lot of sense that you'd be spending days and days in Honnleath, for example).

Lavalampelfchild's timeline

Grogblogging Origins Travel Times

myrandacousland's Ferelden Travel Distance and times

Please be aware you may need to make your own maps and timelines to get an accurate idea as the way you go will definitely affect how long it takes your warden (if you cluster activities to one region or if you go back and forth loads). But I would say 9 months and two weeks is a good rough estimate for how long that part of the game takes.

I would then say a further two months are spent on the Landsmeet and everything running up to it/you being captured/the Alienage/everything in Denerium.

I would then reckon the end of the game would take a further month-ish from there, considering you have to travel to and from Redcliffe.