Dwarven royalty

"Let the Memories find you worthy, first amidst the lords of the houses, the king of Orzammar."

- Assembly Steward Bandelor



The dwarven empire once spanned the length and breadth of Thedas, a rich and thriving collection of independent kingdoms known as Thaigs connected by the Deep Roads, until one by one the cities fell to the incursion of the darkspawn. The history of the dwarves is a long one and encompasses the rule of numerous kings and queens.

Role
To be a king or queen in dwarven society is to have both immense power as well as an immense system of checks and balances in the form of the Assembly and, to a lesser extent, the Shaperate. The dwarven monarchy as depicted in the time period of Dragon Age is a constitutional monarchy consisting of a king and one legislative house populated by members of the elite noble caste.



The Assembly holds the power to advise the king, approve or veto acts of the king, propose policy, declare Paragons, and elect new kings. The Shaperate acts in concert with the ruler and the Assembly by overseeing matters of civil dispute. As the seat of Orzammar's history and its greatest source of knowledge, the Shaperate also sets legal precedent and determines the authenticity of documents and the binding nature of contracts.

The Shaperate is often consulted as a neutral third party in disputes both legal and social. It is an elaborate interaction between these three major elements of dwarven politics, one often fraught with difficulty and even danger.

The king or queen hold their position for life, as do the Assembly members, unless they are removed or replaced. As the ruler, the king or queen is the theoretical war-leader of Orzammar but in practice this means that the ruler merely commands the warrior houses sworn to his or her own house. A king or queen can expand their army by appointing High Generals from other noble houses and thereby gain their warriors. The king also has authority over the Legion of the Dead.

High Kings and Queens
As the dwarven empire was constituted by numerous kingdoms, the dwarven kings were referred as "High King". Once the darkspawn took control of the Deep Roads, the communication lines between the dwarven thaigs began to falter. Subsequently each thaig elected its own king while maintaining allegience to the High King of Orzammar.


 * Bloadlikk : According to the legend he is the youngest and wisest of the Seven Brothers who founded the Dwarven Empire. Furthermore, he became the first king of the empire was the founder of the Noble Caste.


 * Orseck Garal: The first king of Kal-Sharok and later the first king of Orzammar. In the earliest days of the dwarven empire the seat of power was in the thaig of Kal-Sharok and the kingdom was jointly ruled by Orseck Garal and Endrin Stonehammer, whose rule set the tone for the present-day kingdom. Endrin entered into a covenant with the Archon Darinius of the Tevinter Imperium to forge a trade alliance with the human empire. In -1170 Ancient the seat of power was moved from Kal-Sharok to the southern kingdom of Orzammar, the ancestral home of the Smith and Mining Castes, and there Garal ruled until his death.


 * Endrin Stonehammer : The second king of Orzammar after Garal and the most famous of the dwarven Paragons. He is called as First Paragon, presumably because he is considered "first among Paragons." He is credited with having built Stonehammer Hall. He has also forged a strong alliance with the Imperium as well as attended the first match of the Grand Proving arena in Tevinter.


 * Aeducan : A Warrior caste dwarf who saved Orzammar from annihilation during the First Blight by collapsing strategic passages in the Deep Roads to save the city from attack. For this he was made a Paragon and a king. He is also the founder of House Aeducan. His queen was named Anika.


 * Valtor : Valtor preserved some of Caridin’s writings on creating golems after the Paragon destroyed most of them. Valtor had Caridin himself put on the Anvil of the Void when his desire to create golems was opposed by the Paragon. Caridin vanished in the eleventh year of his reign.


 * Getha : One of few queens mentioned by name. In the second year of her reign the entire Legion of Steel was sent to recover the Paragon Caridin. None returned. Due to the incalculable loss of the Legion of Steel, Queen Getha was deposed.


 * Threestone : Arguably one of the most important kings in dwarven history, he was responsible for the empire's greatest tragedy and its current isolation shortly after the First Blight. He sealed the Deep Roads in -15 Ancient in a last bid to save Orzammar from the darkspawn invasion. This effectively separated the last great kingdoms of Kal-Sharok, Gundaar, and Hormak from the capital and isolated the dwarven empire into, seemingly, one lone city as the outlying thaigs fell. It should be noted that Threestone was the last known king to be known as High King.

Kings and Queens of Orzammar
In modern-day Orzammar the king's power is leveraged by that of the Assembly, the dwarven governing body who chooses the king and from whom kings are typically drawn. Although the king rules Orzammar he must garner the support of the Assembly lords, called Deshyrs, to maintain his position, for kings can--and have been--expelled from the throne. Unpopular kings and their heirs are deemed unfit to rule and the kingship then passes to another. While the chosen ruler is typically male, women have also been chosen by the Assembly to rule.


 * The “Lost King” : This king was utterly removed from the Memories, his deeds unknown. He ruled during the Divine Age for a 30 year period.


 * Garen : A Paragon and king in the early Exalted Age whose son was sentenced to exile into the Deep Roads for a foul murder. Eventually he found out that the Carta was actually responsible for the murder and became so obsessed with finding his son that he was constantly sending Legionnaire units for ten years in an effort to find him and bring him back. Furthermore, as a tribute to his son, House Garen was renamed to House Tethras.


 * Eithnar Bemot : Mentioned by Gorim Saelac in the Dwarf Noble Origin. He became a Paragon and King of Orzammar in a single move from the Assembly during the Fourth Blight. He is the founder of House Bemot.


 * Annalar Geldinblade : Geldinblade reigned during the period around 8:48 Blessed when The Primeval Thaig was rediscovered--and promptly lost again on his order. It should be noted that Geldinblade's reign appears to overlap with that of Anaalar Perethin and Ansgar Aeducan. This is possibly an error of conflating the kings or the ages in which they ruled. Geldinblade and Perethin may be one and the same based on their first names, which would account for the chronological inconsistency. It may also simply be a reuse of the same name or a mistake.[note]


 * Anaalar Perethin : He was assassinated in 8:50 Blessed, sparking a civil war. He was the predecessor to the current king, Endrin Aeducan. There is a chronological conflict between Perethin's and Endrin Aeducan's rule. Perethin was assassinated in 8:50 Blessed and Endrin ruled afterward, which means the latter ruled for 70-80 years. This seems unlikely and may be a mistake in confusing Endrin with Ansgar, his father.[note]


 * Ansgar Aeducan : The grandfather of the Dwarf Noble Warden and father to King Endrin Aeducan.


 * Endrin Aeducan: He took the throne of Orzammar at 8:96 Blessed. He is the father to the Dwarf Noble as well as Trian Aeducan and Bhelen Aeducan. In his reign the lost great thaig of Kal-Sharok was rediscovered, to mixed joy and regret.

Kings not placed in chronology

 * Ragnan Aeducan : Mentioned in passing in regards to the Proving Grounds.


 * Darbir: Mentioned by Kasch in the Dwarf Commoner Origin.


 * Felbin the Mad : Felbin went mad and was dethroned by the Assembly.


 * Gherlen the Blood-Risen : A dwarven hero who returned to the Frostback Mountains after adventuring and gained enough prestige to attempt to overthrow the king. His tale is still honored by dwarven adventurers.


 * Jegrek : A king of Gundaar, killed by the dwarf Beregrand using the axe The Edge of Night.