Harvester

Harvesters are monstrous creatures made from corpses and powered by Blood magic. They sustain themselves on the dead, whether long-deceased or freshly killed.

Background[]

The first Harvester was created by the smiths of Amgarrak Thaig, who were attempting to replicate and improve upon Caridin's work on creating golems. Instead of metal and stone, the smiths used the corpses of casteless dwarves claiming that "It would be an honor for any casteless dwarf to die in such way". Nereda, the Tevinter mage who joined the expedition to Amgarrak, used blood magic to seal a Fade spirit inside a construct made of flesh and bone.^[1]

When the construct came alive, the head removed itself from the body and disappeared, becoming the first Harvester. The creature could not be controlled and killed numerous individuals around the thaig. After witnessing what the twisted creation was capable of, those that remained were forced to trap the Harvester in the Fade via the use of the Lyrium wells and then seal thaig permanently.^[2]

Unbeknownst to the expedition, the Harvester had gathered the flesh of the dead and adhered them onto its own body growing larger and more monstrous. The creature additionally learned to manipulate the Lyrium wells to its advantage,^[3] trapping the entire research team before picking them off one by one to their deaths.^[4]

Involvement[]

The Golems of Amgarrak[]

This section contains spoilers for:
Golems of Amgarrak.

A Harvester attacked the Warden-Commander and those that accompanied including Jerric and Brogan of House Dace in Amgarrak. After discovering the truth behind the Harvester's origins, the trio resolve to destroy the creature and bury this branch of golem research forever. They finally succeed in cornering the Harvester at the Thaig's forge. The battle is pitched and the Harvester shifts the party through different levels in order to become more powerful and unleashes waves of animated corpses to attack them. After a fierce battle the Harvester is finally slain. However the structural damage caused during the battle causes Amgarrak to begin to collapse. Although the Warden-Commander, along with Jerrik and Brogan escape the crumbling thaig, it is discovered that the Harvester was not the only one in existence and waves of additional Harvesters are seen fleeing into the Deep Roads.

Dragon Age II[]

This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age II.

Driven to desperation from the Right of Annulment, First Enchanter Orsino performs a blood magic ritual learned from Quentin's research to merge the corpses of the recently slain Circle mages turning them into an improvised Harvester.^[5] After killing several Templars, the Harvester turns on Hawke and their companions, Hawke ultimately kills the creature by ripping its head off and stomping it to death.