A broodmother is a giant, tentacled, and sessile ghoul capable of spawning vast numbers of darkspawn in a manner reminiscent of an insect queen.[1]
“First day, they come and catch everyone. Second day, they beat us and eat some for meat. Third day, the men are all gnawed on again. Fourth day, we wait and fear for our fate. Fifth day, they return and it's another girl's turn. Sixth day, her screams we hear in our dreams. Seventh day, she grew as in her mouth they spew. Eighth day, we hated as she is violated. Ninth day, she grins and devours her kin. Now she does feast, as she's become the beast. Now you lay and wait, for their screams will haunt you in your dreams.” ―Hespith's poem, describing how broodmothers are created
Background[]
Darkspawn as a species have no females and are thus unable to reproduce naturally. In order to bolster their numbers, the darkspawn take female captives during raids and bring them back to their lairs to be transformed into broodmothers.
The captured women contract the taint by being force-fed darkspawn tissue, and the darkspawn forcefully "spew" into the prisoners' mouths. At this point Hespith describes the women who survive as being "violated".[2] As this happens they gradually develop cannibalistic urges and mutate heavily, eventually becoming full-fledged broodmothers after devouring massive quantities of flesh. Even their own kin are not exempt; they will be devoured regardless.
Broodmothers give birth to vast litters of Darkspawn, between twenty to fifty infants.[3] They emerge from her womb as toddlers, often already able to walk, and grow rapidly in their first few weeks of life. A broodmother will birth thousands of darkspawn young in her lifetime.
The race of the broodmother determines which kind of darkspawn she gives birth to. An elven broodmother will spawn shrieks, a dwarven broodmother spawns genlocks, a human broodmother spawns hurlocks, and a Qunari or kossith broodmother spawns ogres.[note 1]
Involvement[]
Dragon Age: Origins[]
Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening[]
Several broodmothers are killed by the Warden-Commander in the Lower Reaches of Kal'Hirol.
The Warden later confronts the Mother, a human broodmother who was subjected to an awakening by the Architect.
Dragon Age: Inquisition[]
Notable broodmothers[]
Quests[]
Locations[]
Abilities & Skills[]
Strategy[]
- See Broodmother (strategy) for details on fighting the broodmother in A Paragon of Her Kind.
- See The Mother (strategy) for details on fighting the Mother in the Depths of Depravity.
Codex entries[]
Notes[]
- ↑ To date, no specific broodmothers of elven or qunari origin have been shown or described; their existence is implied through the existence of both shrieks and ogres. It can be inferred that these creatures might bear some resemblance to the species from which they originated.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑
David Gaider (18 July 2010). "What do darkspawn eat?" . The BioWare Forum. (offline). Retrieved on March 5, 2014.
- ↑ Broodmother poem by Hespith
- ↑ Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol. 1, p. 148
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