Elderath

Elderath
Race	Human
Gender	Male
Family	Brona (wife) Andraste (daughter) Maferath (son-in-law) Ebris (granddaughter) Alli Vemar (great-granddaughter) Vivial (granddaughter) Halliserre (daughter)
Appearances	Historical

Elderath was a powerful chieftain of the Alamarri and the father of the prophet Andraste.

Background

Elderath was chief of the northernmost tribes of the Alamarri. He held vast stretches of territory with loosely defined boundaries, sparking conflict along the southern border of the Tevinter Imperium. Additionally, Elderath cultivated good relations with a number of small and wealthy tribes in the Fertile Crescent (what would eventually become central Orlais) and married Brona of the Ciriane to secure their alliance. Their daughter, Andraste, was born around -203 Ancient in what would become the city of Denerim, though both the date and place of her birth are hotly contested.

Elderath also fathered another daughter, Halliserre, with his advisor on matters of alchemy. Andraste would later suggest that her father's consort whispered of the Old Gods. While the circumstances of Halliserre's birth were frowned upon, they were not uncommon; Halliserre was welcomed into the family line, though not the family home. Her mother's fate remains uncertain, though she was likely killed or exiled by Brona.

In -187 Ancient, Elderath married his daughter Andraste to Maferath, a chieftain of the Alamarri with significant holdings in what would become eastern Ferelden, to create a unified Alamarri border stretching from the Planasene (present-day Nevarra and the Free Marches), the Fertile Crescent, and the Bannorn. It was the largest alliance that the barbarians of the South had ever attempted up to that point, though they were not all unified against Tevinter yet.

Elderath was killed shortly after Andraste's wedding to Maferath in a Tevinter raid on his settlement. Andraste was kidnapped into slavery while the settlement was razed to the ground. Elderath's death put Maferath in command of all northern Alamarri territory, the largest power outside the Imperium, though most primarily held allegiance to Elderath's daughter Andraste and would only follow Maferath after he successfully negotiated for her freedom with the Tevinter slavers who had taken her captive.

Trivia

• The Fall of Elderath is an Orlesian passion play in which Andraste frees Old Gods worshippers from their subservience to the dragon gods.