Brothers of Stone

Brothers of Stone is a side quest in Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening.

Background
In the Wending Wood you will come across two statues, one called Statue of War and one called Statue of Peace. As you approach the Statue of War he will speak to you telling you that he was once an Avvar Barbarian, a man of war, that he lived in the time of the Tevinters. When the Tevinter Magisters came to this land they were looking for easy prey but instead they found him, his tribe and his brother. The Avvar warrior and his tribe fought a Tevinter Magister at The Fort of a Thousand Vigils (Vigil's Keep) where the Avvar broke his army and cornered him in these woods.

The Avvar were going to sacrifice him to the god Uvolla, the God of the Wood, when the magister lashed out and struck them with liquid fire. As the magister's guards fell one by one and his own body was torn apart, the Statue of War and his brother watched from stone eyes.

After speaking to the Statue of War, his brother the Statue of Peace will call to you. Peace wants you to talk with him to hear his side of the story. He says that anger and vengeance will not free the brothers. He has prayed to their gods and feels that the answer is peace with what they are. He has periods of sleep but his brother's anger awaken him. He wants you to show his brother the way through peace.

Walkthrough
Talk with the Statue of War and listen to his side of the story. After he finishes you will get this quest; you can help him or help his brother. The Statue of War will want you to find the magisters remains and kill the spirit to free him. After the dialog is finished the Statue of Peace will want to talk with you. He will explain that over the years he has tried to calm his brother. His brother only knows vengeance and Peace has tried to sleep but every so often he awakens because of his brother's need for vengeance.

The statue will explain that his brother called to you and the Magisters death will accomplish nothing--Anger will not free them, Vengeance will not free them. Peace will free them; he wants you to calm the brother (War) so they can both be at peace forever. You must choose to side with one of the brothers.

If you choose to side with the statue of war you need to turn around and head a bit north you will find some bones of the magister disturb them, what looks like an Arcane horror will spawn. Kill the wraith and return to the statue of war.

If you choose to side with the statue of peace talk again with the Statue of war, He will explain that his brother is weak, he was a thinker and a dreamer, not a warrior. ask him if being angry has helped him at all. A character with a high enough persuasion skill can calm the brother and he will accept your way, talk again with the statue of peace to end the quest.

Note that (at least as of patch 1.03 on PC) it is possible to side with Peace, get XP and rewards from him, and then disturb the Magister's bones and kill the boss-level Arcane Horror for more XP and loot. (If you do this, then there will be *two* piles of bones in the field...which is certainly a bug.)

Result
If you side with the Statue of War, next to him is a tribute left by the hero Dane: a sword stuck in the ground. The sword is called The Winter Blade.
 * Oghren approves +2
 * Justice approves +2

If you side with the Statue of Peace, he says that he will tell you something of his lore of herbs, giving the recipes for Potent Stamina Draught, Master Stamina Draught and Greater Spirit Balm.
 * Nathaniel approves +2
 * Sigrun approves +2

Note
You can also calm the brother then go disturb the Magisters remains to kill the arcane horror, you will not get the sword, however.