Sunless Lands

The Sunless Lands
Terrain	Wasteland
Appearances	Dragon Age: Inquisition (mentioned)

The Sunless Lands are a frozen wasteland located in the far south of Thedas.

Background

The Sunless Lands are located at the edge of known Thedas, south of the Korcari Wilds and the Arbor Wilds, outside the borders of established nations of Ferelden and Orlais. Beyond the wet marshes of the Korcari Wilds begins a region filled with fields of ice and white-capped mountains. The Sunless Lands are considered too cold for mankind to survive. Many Thedosians believe that nothing of interest can be found south of the Korcari Wilds.

A few scholars are aware that people do indeed live in the far south, although some mistakenly think these folk are part of the Chasind tribe that dwells in the Korcari Wilds. Brother Genitivi learns that the inhabitants of the Sunless Lands are not considered Chasind by the rest of the tribe. As these people are called "Agadi" by the Chasind, which means "exile" in their language, Genitivi theorizes that the Agadi have been expelled from the Korcari Wilds and splintered off into their own culture. Likely in part due to the animosity between these two groups, the Chasind view the Sunless Lands as a dangerous and forbidden place. The Chasind also tell stories about horrors lurking in the lands south of the Korcari Wilds, things that "the lowland folk could not begin to comprehend".

The lands that lie even further south of the Sunless Lands remain a mystery to Thedosians.

Codex entries

Codex entry: Boots of the Frozen Wastes

Codex entry: Geography of Thedas

Codex entry: The Korcari Wilds

Notes

Dragon Age Inquisition concept art by Matt Rhodes titled "Frozen Wastes"

• It's not fully clear if the Sunless Lands are meant to be the same region as the Frozen Wastes referenced in the names and lore of Boots of the Frozen Wastes and Grimoire of the Frozen Wastes, despite sharing very similar characteristics. According to Codex entry: Boots of the Frozen Wastes, temperatures in this region can drop to dangerously cold levels, and the people who live in the Frozen Wastes wear special boots to prevent frostbite; the entry also claims that the inhabitants of the Frozen Wastes are generally hospitable and friendly and may gift those boots to travelers. Although the description of the Grimoire of the Frozen Wastes also presents the region as an icy homeland to a group of so-called barbarians, the key difference is that that the Sunless Lands are very consistently described to be located in the south Thedas, beyond the Korcari Wilds, whereas the Grimoire of the Frozen Wastes claims that the Frozen Wastes lie north of Orthland, which is an antiquated term for the Anderfels. This is possibly an error in editing of Dragon Age: Origins–as lands in northern Thedas, such the Donarks jungle which borders the Anderfels from the north, fall inside warmer climate zones.
• According to Codex entry: Geography of Thedas, the "snowy wastes" that mark the southern edge of known Thedas lie beyond the Orkney Mountains. Another version of this codex entry featured in Dragon Age: Origins: Prima Official Game Guide Collector's Edition - Traveler's Guide, p. 339 doesn't reference the Orkney Mountains, instead saying that Thedas is bounded to the south "by the snowy wastes that lie beyond the Korcari Wilds". See Codex entry: Geography of Thedas for further context.

Trivia

• A shaman who served an Avvar warlord Balak during the invasion of Ferelden in the Steel Age owned a staff that was supposedly crafted in the Sunless Lands.

See also

Boots of the Frozen Wastes

Grimoire of the Frozen Wastes

The Sunless Staff