A great wolf is a unique, and potentially extinct, type of wolf.
Background[]
Not much is known about the great wolves, other than they are more powerful than any other wolf. At least one lived in the Brecilian Forest, named Witherfang.
Involvement[]
When the unnamed Dalish clan led by Zathrian were passing through the Fereldan Valley of the Alamarri, they settled close to a human village. The humans in said village captured Zathrian's son and daughter. The son they killed, but the daughter was left to die in the forest, after they raped her. The daughter returned to the clan, but soon learned that her assault had left her pregnant. She could not handle that, and took her own life.
Seeking revenge, Zathrian consorted spirits, and bound Lady of the Forest spirit to a great wolf by the name of Witherfang. He cursed the great wolf to spread a disease of lycanthropy, which turned everyone the wolf bit into werewolves. The humans the wolf attacked turned into mindless beasts, and those in turn attacked other humans, expanding the werewolf population. Zathrian also bound his life to the great wolf, and would remain alive for as long as the wolf does.
As the years went by, the werewolves had offspring. With every generation of werewolves, they began to regain more humanity, becoming sentient. Witherfang, now the Lady of the Forest, became their leader and together they decided to heal themselves. They attempted to contact Zathrian several times to persuade him to end the curse, but he always ignored them. Centuries later, Zathrian's clan returned to the area where the original infection began. Left with no other alternative for lifting their curse, the Lady of the Forest devised a plan to spread the disease to Zathrian's own people, thus forcing him to life the curse in order to heal his clan. However, Zathrian still wasn't budging.
During the Fifth Blight, the Warden arrives in the Dalish camp, and is tasked by Zathrian to kill Witherfang, in order to end the curse plaguing his elves. When the Warden finally manages to get through to the Werewolf Lair, Witherfang - as Lady of the Forest - speaks to the Warden, and urges them to bring Zathrian to them, so that he can see the effect his curse has had on these werewolves, and ask him to end it.
The Warden persuades the werewolves that Zathrian will never listen, and together they kill Zathrian and his entire clan. Witherfang then offers the werewolves to the Warden to fight in the archdemon.
The Warden decides that the werewolves are too far gone, and decides to fulfill the order by Zathrian, and kills all the werwolves, along with Witherfang.
At the urging of the Lady of the Forest, the Warden persuaded Zathrian to give up his own life, returning the werewolves to their human forms and saving the elves who had been afflicted with the curse. Witherfang's life ends.
Notable great wolves[]
- Witherfang – a unique great wolf and the head of a pack of werewolves