Shale

"The darkspawn are an evil that must be destroyed, it's true. Though not as evil as the birds... damnable feathered fiends!"

Shale is a stone golem and potential companion in Dragon Age: Origins. It can be recruited from the town of Honnleath through The Stone Prisoner DLC.

Originally, Shale was to appear in the shipped version of the game as a recruitable character in the village of Redcliffe, but the golem and its associated quests were cut when developers wanted to concentrate on further polishing the game prior to the planned 2008 release date. When the release was pushed back to Q4 2009, Shale was rewritten and reintegrated as downloadable content.

The Stone Prisoner DLC was available as a free day one download for those who purchased original releases of either the Standard or Collector's Edition of the game. It is currently available for purchase for US$15 through Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and Origin, or for free as part of the Dragon Age: Origins Ultimate Edition.

Background


Shale is one of the last dwarven war golems. The knowledge to create such golems was presumably lost after the invasion of the darkspawn and the sealing of the Deep Roads. She is extremely proud of being a golem and hates the villagers of the town of Honnleath, citing the expression that "familiarity breeds contempt," and that after 30 years of watching them, it has become very familiar with them. Its hatred of the townsfolk also stems from their habit of dressing the golem up in festive garb during holidays and their spreading of bird seed around its inert body, which attracted many birds over the years to defecate on it.

Shale may be present in Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne under the command of Wilhelm, as Wilhelm and a golem served under Maric to help him regain his throne. Wilhelm also served Moira the Rebel Queen. When she was killed, the golem and Wilhelm stayed with the rebel army and awaited for Maric to come back.

Gifts
Shale has a preference for "remarkable" gemstones. There is an issue with the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions which causes Shale to not give the standard for the first gem; instead you receive, which decreases as usual, so that after receiving four of the gems, Shale seems uninterested in the others ("So I'm to keep this then, am I? Fine."), giving only  for the rest, giving a measly 18 approval for giving them all to Shale. Therefore, you have to rely on conversation and your actions to get higher approval.

If you have the Feastday Gifts and Pranks DLC, however, you might also compensate for this bug with the thoughtful gifts and sugar cakes available from Bodahn Feddic. No matter how many are given, a Thoughtful Gift is always worth, while a Sugar Cake is worth.



Initial statistics
Relative attribute weightings on auto-level: strength 1.4, dexterity 0.25, willpower 0.5, magic 0, cunning 0.145, constitution 1.9

Equipment
Shale does not use conventional weapons or armor. Instead, much like Dog, the golem has two slots for specialized equipment:


 * Small Crystals, which act as weapons and appear on Shale’s wrists; they grant a bonus to the corresponding elemental attack damage, convert all damage to the crystal’s element type, and can (depending on their quality and type) grant bonuses to various attacks, attributes, and health/stamina regeneration.
 * Large Crystals, which act as armor and appear on Shale’s shoulders and legs; they grant a bonus to the corresponding elemental resistance and can (depending on their quality and type) grant bonuses to various defenses, attributes, and health/stamina regeneration.

There are a total of 50 different crystals: 25 small crystals, 25 large crystals. Both sizes of crystals come in each of the five elemental types and in five varying degrees of quality.

Equipping Shale with a small and large crystal of the same elemental type will grant an additional set bonus of +10% to the corresponding resistance.

Plot skills
As you befriend Shale and gain its approval, it will gain additional skills:

''Note: These approval bonuses do NOT stack. Instead of 13 extra strength, you get 6.''

Quotes



 * (If removed from party) "Pigeon crap."
 * "The darkspawn are an evil that must be destroyed, it's true. Though not as evil as the birds... damnable feathered fiends!"
 * "I wonder what it is like to float...or drown."
 * (Battle cry) "Death to all pigeons!"
 * (If given one of the Remarkable Gems) "Oooh, Shiny!"
 * (When heavily injured after battle) "Oh look! I think I got chipped after that last fight!"
 * "I would appreciate it if it didn't spread around that I said anything. Humans might start to get the wrong idea. They might start thinking their race is not completely hopeless."
 * "Now, let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?"

Dialogue

 * Shale: "I see it found some augmentation crystals. I was not even aware it knew about them... well done! So? What does it think? They don't make me look any wider, do they? I find I am already too wide as it is."
 * The Warden: "No, no, they're quite slimming"
 * Shale: "They are, aren't they? I so adore them! I think it should find some more as soon as possible. I want to glitter from ear to ear... so to speak!"


 * Leliana: "You aren't all stone, Shale. There is a person inside of you."
 * Shale: "If so, it is because I ate him."

Trivia

 * Shale has an undying hatred for birds. Apparently, roosting birds frequently left their mark on her during dormancy. This is called out when:
 * Shale stomps on a chicken when leaving Honnleath.
 * On Soldier's Peak (after Levi has set up shop), the camp ravens slowly migrate towards Shale and begin to follow it around.
 * Like Dog, Shale uses no weapons, and when Frost Weapons, Flaming Weapons, or Telekinetic Weapons is used, the visual effect is applied to Shale's entire body.
 * Shale mentions that she used to be 10 feet tall, but was shrunk (with a chisel "and a lot of nerve", as Shale puts it) by her mage owner Wilhelm, since his wife complained that the golem couldn't fit through the door. This refers to a joke among developers, who had problems with getting her to fit through many of the game's doorways when they used the original golem graphical model for her.
 * You can see a full-sized version of her during her nightmare in the Fade.
 * When your companions are wishing you luck before the final battle, if Shale has not been chosen to join you her parting statement will be "Have fun storming the castle." This is a quote from the film The Princess Bride from a scene just before the heroes invade a castle to win the day.
 * It appears from party banter that Shale is attracted to Sten. Overall they both seem to agree on most things and have great respect for each other. Her infatuation is expressed when they compliment eachother's fighting techniques and Shale gets a little "carried away": "I could watch you fight all day long--the skill you display, the form, how the light plays on its muscles... I mean... yes. Well done. With the fighting."
 * Shale's sex before she became a golem appears to be a mystery to those who do not know it:
 * For example, if Shale is the Warden's champion at the Landsmeet, Loghain says, "I think the odds might be slightly in his favor at a test of strength." (Another Princess Bride reference)
 * To capture the ambiguity of Shale's gender, the already gravelly voice of her voice actress was pitch-shifted down to sound deeper and more masculine.
 * The description of Renewed Assault refers to Stona Aura, instead of Stone Aura.
 * Shale's character and attitude towards "fleshy creatures" is similar to the hunter-killer droid HK-47, from an earlier Bioware game, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. In the latter, HK-47 refers to organics as 'meatbags', and also comments on how they are weak due to their organic nature.
 * Shale was originally intended as part of the base game and not downloadable content. The golem was to be found in Redcliffe Village, along with the Golem Control Rod and Wilhelm's Cottage.
 * In Dragon Age II, Corff the Bartender in the Hanged Man indirectly mentions Shale when asked about recent news, saying, "The craziest thing. Apparently, the pigeon population has taken a nose dive in Ferelden. Weird, huh? What kind of sick individual preys on those innocent things?"
 * During the epilogue of Dragon Age II, a picture of Shale chasing some chickens is also present when Varric is flipping through Cassandra's book.