The Darkspawn Chronicles

"You now fight as the darkspawn! The city of Denerim, jewel of Ferelden, girds itself for war. As a hurlock vanguard, you alone hold the power to make thralls of your fellow darkspawn and drive them into the heat of battle. Heed the archdemon's call--Denerim must burn!"

- Promotion

The Darkspawn Chronicles is a downloadable content for Dragon Age: Origins. It provides a look at an alternate history, providing a chance to see what would have happened if the Warden had died in the Joining ceremony, and the Grey Wardens marched under Alistair's command instead.

It was released on May 18, 2010, on the PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 and costs 400 BioWare Points, 400 MS Points (US$5) and US$4.99 on PSN.

Plot
It begins at the final conflict between Fereldans and the darkspawn. Denerim is set ablaze, the terrified civilians flee in all directions, seeking refuge from the onslaught.

The Hurlock Vanguard which the player controls has the ability to enthrall other darkspawn in his service. By doing this, the player's party can number up to four, much like the original game.test

Reward items
The following items are carried over to a new or existing game when you complete The Darkspawn Chronicles:

For Dragon Age: Origins: , complete The Darkspawn Chronicles.

For Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening: , complete The Darkspawn Chronicles.

Darkspawn thralls

 * Blight Wolf (thrall)
 * Genlock (thrall)
 * Genlock Archer (thrall)
 * Genlock Sapper (thrall)
 * Hurlock (thrall)
 * Hurlock Archer (thrall)
 * Hurlock Emissary (thrall)
 * Ogre (thrall)
 * Shriek (thrall)

Tips
The Enthralling achievement is achieved when full approval is gained from a genlock, a hurlock, an ogre, a shriek, a hurlock emissary and a blight wolf. Although other types of darkspawn are recruitable, they do not count. These approvals must be gained in a single playthrough. In addition, any darkspawn killed using Enthrall counts towards other darkspawn-killing achievements.


 * In the 2nd area, Market District, the entrance to Goldanna's House is an infinite spawning point. You can easily maximize the approval of your Genlock, Hurlock, Shriek, and Orge here simply by AFKing your entire party there for a few hours. Just be sure to set your party members' tactics to "Aggressive". (Not true on v1.04 after completing the quest, Slay the Healer.)
 * Almost every doorway in the Market District acts as an infinite spawning point if the party is nearby. But only until the Healer is slain.
 * In the 4th area, Palace District, many areas have respawning soldiers. The palace doors themselves, the burning pile of debris to the left of the doors down the path and the doorway just beyond the burning pile on the left (across from the stairs up). All locations will continuously spawn Dwarven Soldiers and Legionnaires. This is a much faster option than the above, as the legionnaires are Elite ranked (+5-10 approval every minute or so).

Bugs

 * The initial genlock you are told to enthrall is immortal. Attempting to kill him causes him to explode and lose his head, but then the headless corpse will stand back up again, and you can enthrall him again.
 * The Steel Spiked Collar sometimes appears as equippable for characters other than the blight wolf, but isn't usable in fact. Also, the equipment console for the blight wolf may change to the humanoid version, allowing you to equip weapons, armor, and even accessories.
 * In Chronicles this item can be equipped to some humanoid thralls (Hurlock (Shield & Two-handed weapons), Hurlock Emissary, Hurlock Archer, Genlock (Shield, Palace District and Fort Drakon)), as well as the Blight Wolf. It plays the equip sound effect and highlights as if equipped while providing the listed benefits (noticeable damage increase with low armor penetration weapons, armor stat raises in the character pane and reduces damage taken).
 * Sometimes you can't burn the gate at Elven Alienage; you have to restart the campaign.
 * The fix "Fix - No Stealth Drop on Friendly Spells", part of the package Dragon Age Rules Fixpack (http://www.dragonagenexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=1601) will cause the barrels on the entrance to the Alienage not to burst into flames and explode. This can be solved by temporarily removing that fix from the override folder
 * (v1.04, Dwarf Commoner Origin) The achievement award items from The Golems of Amgarrak, Witch Hunt, The Darkspawn Chronicles, Leliana's Song and the Blood Dragon Armor may not be present in the chest after being captured by Beraht. There is no way to get them back.

Trivia

 * Dog is named Barkspawn like in the Penny Arcade comic.
 * Based on Alistair's companions and allies, the following could be assumed:
 * He preserved the Anvil of the Void during A Paragon of Her Kind. Ironically, Alistair disapproves of this in Origins. (edit: not necessarily, the codex entry you receive for golems in Darkspawn Chronicles says that the Dwarves still have a few golems left for when things get really desperate with the Darkspawn.)
 * He convinced Kardol and the legion to fight along his side.
 * He sided with the mages during Broken Circle, but failed to save First Enchanter Irving.
 * He sided with the werewolves and killed the elves during Nature of the Beast.
 * He helped defend Redcliffe village.
 * He never found the Urn of Sacred Ashes and Arl Eamon died.
 * He killed Loghain during the Landsmeet.
 * He recruited Leliana, Dog, and Sten.
 * He did not recruit Wynne, although she volunteered to join the army and traveled with the Templars.
 * He let Zevran go without recruiting him.
 * He didn't encounter Oghren who travelled to Denerim on his own.
 * He, or another Warden, performed the Dark Ritual with Morrigan.
 * He had a rumored romance with Leliana.
 * The Archdemon refers to Alistair as "the Warden-King", suggesting that he was elected for the throne at the Landsmeet.