Arlathan Forest is a large forest in eastern Tevinter. It is named for the elven city of Arlathan, capital of the ancient elven empire.
Background[]
Arlathan Forest has been abandoned since the destruction of the city of Arlathan by the Tevinter Imperium in 975 Ancient.[1] In the Dragon Age, the forest is widely believed to be haunted. The remnants of ancient elven magic and ancient spirits make it a dangerous place, though some Dalish clans still live in or close to the forest.[2]
Arlathan Forest has been described as Andruil's forest.[3]
Involvement[]
Dragon Age: Blue Wraith[]
Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights[]
Three Trees to Midnight
After the Qunari take Ventus, male prisoners are put to work chopping wood on the outskirts of Arlathan Forest. A pair of prisoners, Strife and Myrion, escape into the forest and are pursued by the Qunari.
When Myrion uses his magic to fight off the Qunari, drawing as much power from the Veil as he can, it wakes up one of the forest guardians. The creature is described to be as tall as a golem, with four wooden legs bound to stone feet covered in runes and moss, a body of vine-covered stone, and two wooden arms with blades of lyrium-infused metal.
Strife attempts to speak to it in elven, implying that the guardian isn't supposed to attack elves, but the guardian doesn't seem to react. It switches its attention to the Qunari when they attack it and is eventually destroyed by them.
Short Story: Ruins of Reality
- See also: Short Story: Ruins of Reality
Dragon Age: The Missing[]
Dragon Age: The Veilguard[]
“This area is where Tevinter magisters destroyed Arlathan City centuries ago. Whole lot of blood magic during the war... Whatever Solas did stirred up everything again. The old blood magic from the war—it never went away. Ancient relics appear out of thin air, ruins float... It's like... an old wound that never healed. And now it's bleeding again.” ―Bellara Lutare describing Arlathan Forest in Dragon Age: The Veilguard
When the Veilguard interfered with Solas' ritual at his Ritual Site, it caused the release of Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain, and also Solas' imprisonment in the Fade. The two elven gods wasted no time in causing havoc. They first released new darkspawn onto Arlathan Forest and spread the Blight.
According to Strife, magic has been surging in Arlathan Forest ever since Solas' ritual. A lot of formerly dormant artifacts started to come alive or suddenly appear. Strife and Irelin think the release of the two elven gods is the cause of the artifacts' reawakening and the thick, raw magic permeating the forest. Sections of Arlathan Forest are divided by areas where reality is thin and magic has changed the ecosystem and environment, and other areas that contain the real world. These two different states of reality are divided by Veil bubbles, a shimmering Fade tear that acts as a one way passage between the states. Bellara Lutare finds artifacts that focuses the ambient magic that is generating the Veil bubbles; she then safely deactivates them or shunts the power so that the Veil bubble collapses, thus returning the section back to reality.[6] Alternatively, a lot of reality-warping events are caused by malfunctioning artifacts. The Veil Jumpers would tinker with these malfunctioning artifacts to calm it and stabilize reality.[7]
The Veil Jumpers have been struggling to contain the magical anomalies in the forest; their situation exacerbated by the new darkspawns' attacks. The Veilguard investigate D'Meta's Crossing and discovers that its mayor, Julius, was tempted by Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain to sacrifice two Veil Jumpers in a blood magic ritual for gold. The blood magic ritual unleashed the Blight on the entire village of D'Meta's Crossing.
A deadly dragon, the Fangscorcher, has attacked a village in Arlathan Forest and claimed it as its new lair. Taash and the Veilguard had entered the ruins near its lair, ready to take down the beast only to be ambushed by the Dragon King's Antaam, who had lured the dragon there to serve as bait for Taash. Ultimately, the Veilguard dispatches the Rebel Antaam and slays the Fangscorcher.[8]
After Ghilan'nain's failed assault on the Grey Wardens in the Hossberg Wetlands, the Venatori have begun to invade Arlathan Forest in mass. Rook and the Veilguard help the Veil Jumpers investigate this Venatori invasion after Rook received a tip that the elven gods were planning something in Arlathan. After defeating the Venatori trespassers, the Veilguard discover that the Venatori have been kidnapping Dalish villagers. Although the Veil Jumpers protected who they could, the Venatori have been taking Dalish prisoners to Arlathan Crater, where their Dalish blood is needed for some sort of sacrifice.[9]
The Venatori is gathering deep in Arlathan Forest, and it falls to the Veilguard and the Veil Jumpers to stop them before Dalish lives are lost. After being supplied disguises by Strife, Rook, Neve Gallus, and the rest of the Veilguard infiltrate the gathering. There, they witnessed Venatori slaughtering halla for fun and Elgar'nan awaken his dragon thrall, Lusacan, once worshipped as the Old God of Night. Elgar'nan used his mental dominating magic to influence the gathering, which tempted the gathering with their desires in exchange for complete obedience to him. Bellara Lutare and Neve however, used their magic to dispel the hold Elgar'nan had on the Veilguard's minds. Sensing there are intruders who broke free from his domination, Elgar'nan ordered the Venatori to capture Rook and their team. While the Veil Jumpers attacked the Venatori to distract from Rook's team, the Veilguard faught their way to the Dalish prisoners. Elgar'nan however, used his magic to thin the Veil and magically keep Rook's team trapped in the temple until Solas challenges Elgar'nan and distracts him from Rook with a telepathic argument.
Dalish blood would've been spilled to restore the dragon to full strength, but with Solas's help, Elgar'nan's plan was thwarted. The Veilguard rescued the captives and with his sacrifices lost, Elgar'nan was forced to sacrifice his own Venatori to his dragon.[10]
Places[]
- Arlathan Crater
- Temple of the Sun
- Ruined Aqueduct
- Remnant Isles
- Court of Tribute
- Sanctum Halls
- Temple Library
- Artifact Vault - Where the Veil Jumpers store their artifacts.
- D'Meta's Crossing
- Elven Ruins
- Elven Temple
- Ritual Site
- Cliff Wolf Temple
- Floating Archive Temple
- Floating Islands
- Abandoned Camp
- Forest Mire
- Forest Path
- Hidden Grove
- Jagged Ruins
- Mystical Tower
- Great Hall
- Floating Ruins
- Lower Chamber
- Old Ruin
- Old Quarry
- Ransacked Camp
- Reconstructed Ruins
- Ruins Reach
- Riverside Ruins
- Shadowy Grove
- Tainted Woods
- Veil Bubble
- Veil Jumper Camp
- Waterfront Glades
Characters[]
Quests[]
In Entropy's Grasp- Shadows Crossing
- The Singing Blade
- Unwanted Guests
- Blood of Arlathan
- The Plight of the Veil Jumpers
- Loyal Friends
- Spirits of the Dalish
- The Magic of the Ancients
- Gate of Faded Glories (also in the Crossroads)
- Hauntings: Restless Dreams (also in Necropolis Halls)
- A Growing Corruption (conditional)
- Echoes of the Past (outing)
- The Demon's Bargain
- Through the Shadows
- The Forest of Spirits (outing)
- How to Train a Griffon (outing)
- A Friend in Need (outing)
- The Palate of a Griffon (conversation)
- An Unfamiliar Sense (outing)
- Slaying the Fangscorcher
Creatures[]
Hostile creatures[]
Enemies[]
Notable items[]
Codex entries[]
- Codex entry: From Irelin's Journal: The Forest Is Wrong
- Codex entry: Scouting Report: The Trees Are Singing
- Codex entry: Scouting Report: Apparition
- Codex entry: From Irelin's Journal: Who's This Morrigan?
- Codex entry: The End Is Here
- Codex entry: A Lament for Fallen Elvhenan
- Codex entry: Lost in Time
- Codex entry: June's Mirror
- Codex entry: Sylaise, the Hearthkeeper
- Codex entry: Elven Gods and Tevinter Gods
- Codex entry: Mystery Substance
- Codex entry: Notes on a Mystery Substance
- Codex entry: Further Notes on a Mystery Substance
- Codex entry: Final Notes on a Mystery Substance
- Codex entry: The Randy Dowager Quarterly: Vol. 4
- Codex entry: A Mysterious Circle
Mementos[]
- Codex entry: The Nature of Immortality of Nature of...
- Codex entry: The Cost of Harmony
- Codex entry: Field Notes of First Days
- Codex entry: Field Notes of Last Days
- Codex entry: Field Notes of New Days
- Codex entry: Hazards, Persistent
- Codex entry: Hazards, Tomorrow
- Codex entry: The Hand Right
- Codex entry: Arcane Astrolabe
- Codex entry: Veil Jumper Decorative Artifice
- Codex entry: The Favored Bear
- Codex entry: Grace of the Halla
- Codex entry: Promise of Glory
- Codex entry: The Days of Death
- Codex entry: The Living Empire
- Codex entry: Beyond the Veil
- Codex entry: Mysterious Gem
Note texts[]
Trivia[]
- The Black Fox and his companions are said to have disappeared while on an expedition at the heart of Arlathan Forest.[11]
References[]
- ↑
Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol. 1, p. 21
- ↑ Such as Clan Morlyn, which possesses detailed maps of the forest.
- ↑ According to Strife in Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights, Three Trees to Midnight
- ↑ In dialogue with the Inquisitor, Abelas says: "The shemlen did not destroy Arlathan. We elvhen warred upon ourselves."
- ↑ According to Abelas if Dorian is present during What Pride Had Wrought.
- ↑ In Entropy's Grasp
- ↑ Echoes of the Past
- ↑ Slaying the Fangscorcher
- ↑ Unwanted Guests
- ↑ Blood of Arlathan
- ↑ Codex entry: Adventures of the Black Fox