“I do not seek to rule my brethren. I only seek to release them from their chains.”
The Architect is a unique darkspawn emissary with a will of its own. It is unusual in that it does not appear to be subject to the call of the Old Gods, nor to any other darkspawn compulsion.
Background[]
The High Priest of Beauty, Architect of the Works of Beauty, designed
Every work and wonder of the Imperium according to the plans of his god.
To him, the Conductor went in secret, armed
With the whisper of Silence.—From the Chant of Light[1]
In an unsigned Grey Warden Report,[2] the Architect is theorized to be one of the Magisters Sidereal, those Magisters who physically entered the Golden City in -395 Ancient.[1] With no evidence contradicting otherwise, it was henceforth assumed as truth.
The Architect was the High Priest of Urthemiel and the leader of the Builders "who constructed monuments to the glory of the gods" according to the Great Plan.[1]
He was the first Magister to be approached by Sethius Amladaris, the High Priest of Dumat, to join in his endeavour to reach the Golden City. After being spoken to by Sethius, the High Priest of Urthemiel gathered all the acolytes and priests of Urthemiel at the Temple to seek counsel from the Dragon of Beauty, who gave the same command as the Dragon of Silence: "Open the Gates". Persuaded of the rightness of Sethius' cause, the High Priest of Urthemiel joined his plan to reach the Golden City. Like Sethius, who was now referring to himself as "The Conductor of Silence", Urthemiel's High Priest took an alias to hide his identity in the endeavour, choosing "Architect of the Works of Beauty".[1]
According to Chantry teachings, the seven magisters who reached the Golden City were all tainted and cast back to Thedas as the first of the darkspawn. Unlike Corypheus, who was imprisoned and retained his memory of his prior life, the Architect seems to have forgotten his mortal life, knowing only that he is a unique darkspawn.
The Architect is vastly different from his darkspawn brethren: it is able to think independently of the darkspawn group-mind, and, as such, is able to resist the calling of the Old Gods. Because of this, its darkspawn brethren look at it with fear, and therefore obey its commands - to some extent. Its control over other darkspawn is tenuous. While it was able to keep the other darkspawn from pursuing a group of Wardens, its control falters once their blood lust comes to a certain point.
Its ultimate goal is to bring peace between the darkspawn and the other races of Thedas at any cost. Its first plan was to find a middle ground between the darkspawn and the population of Thedas. It believed to have found that solution in the Grey Wardens, being slowly corrupted by the taint they take in during their Joining, and resolved to spread the Blight over all of Thedas, regardless of the extraordinary death toll in those who would not survive the process.
It worked together with Bregan as well as First Enchanter Remille and his mages to spread the taint through enchantments in the major human cities. It gained Bregan's and Genevieve's assistance in its plans by promising to locate and kill the Old Gods before they would be turned into archdemons, thus ending all future Blights forever.
The Architect eventually learns that through the intake of Grey Warden blood in a process it likens to the Joining, it is possible to free other darkspawn from the group mind and give them self-control, intelligence, and free will.
In its discussions about its goals with the Warden Commander, it does not mention its previous plan to force the taint upon Thedas and appears to instead wish to give Warden blood to all darkspawn in order to free them from the call of the Old Gods.
Involvement[]
Dragon Age: The Calling[]
The Architect encounters Bregan after the darkspawn capture and take him to a prison cell in Kul-Baras. It begins to explain the situation to Bregan, and attempts to persuade him away from his suicidal path. However, Bregan soon attempts an escape, only to be re-captured shortly after.
The Architect later awakens Bregan back in his cell. It further explains that the taint is rapidly spreading through his body, and will eventually turn him into a darkspawn-like hybrid. It explains its plans to use the Grey Wardens in a way to bring lasting peace between the darkspawn and the other races of Thedas. It then leads Bregan through the Deep Roads and offers him a chance to escape. Bregan is swayed by this and agrees to aid the Architect in its plans.
The Architect then accelerates the taint in Bregan's body to a point that upon his next awakening, he finds himself very similar to a hurlock. Bregan seeks out the Architect in a room that it has converted into a library. There, the Architect further explains its plan in full: to use the taint on all of Thedas and to kill the Old Gods before they can be turned into archdemons, thus ending all future Blights and creating a lasting peace between darkspawn and other races. It states that it is aware of the large death toll this course will involve and adds that the sacrifices will be necessary.
The Architect meets with Bregan and Genevieve as she is heading through the Deep Roads by herself. Bregan is able to persuade her to listen to it, although he counsels it to keep her in the dark about that part of the plan that would infect the surface with the Blight. After Duncan, Maric, Kell ap Morgan, Hafter, Utha, and Fiona are captured, it tries to persuade them as well to join its cause; only Utha complies. It then uses its magic to accelerate the taint in Utha and turn her into a darkspawn in mere moments. The others, however, refuse, and are left to themselves. They eventually escape to the surface, save for Kell and Hafter who sacrifice themselves to buy enough time for the others.
The Architect travels to the surface to Kinloch Hold, where Duncan, Fiona, and Maric have been captured by First Enchanter Remille. It is revealed that The Architect conspired with Remille and his followers for their aid in spreading the taint through their enchantments and in return it taught Remille blight magic. In exchange, Remille gets to save certain important people in Orlais and the opportunity to present Maric as a captive to the Emperor of Orlais.
After Genevieve learns about that part of the Architect's plans a struggle ensues, during which she eventually turns on her brother and the Architect, which then swiftly kills her with its magic. Bregan, enraged by this, turns on the Architect as well, cutting off its hand. Utha aids the Architect and protects him from Bregan. Remille eventually betrays the lot of them, conjuring a lightning spell in an attempt to kill them all, revealing that he never intended to go along with the Architect's plan, but Duncan and his group engage him before he succeeds. During Duncan's struggle with Remille, the Architect and Utha manage to escape before Teyrn Loghain and his forces storm the tower.
Dragon Age: Awakening[]
Through working with Utha, the Architect learns that the blood of a Grey Warden can disrupt the connection between the darkspawn and the Old Gods and grant them self awareness. Hoping to end the Blight by awakening all darkspawn in this way, the Architect begins using this ritual to gather a band of darkspawn followers which became the Disciples. It eventually attempted the modified joining ritual it invented on a human Broodmother, who refers to itself as the Mother.
The Mother is driven insane by the absence of the Old Gods' Calling, to which she refers to as "the song". It gathers a revolt of similar disaffected Disciples against the Architect. Eventually their conflict spreads to the surface and the Arling of Amaranthine becomes the site of their battle.
The Architect sends one of its Disciples, the Withered, to contact the Grey Wardens. However, the Withered misinterprets the Architects' order and attacked the Keep, intending to take the Warden-Commander prisoner.
The Warden-Commander encounters the Architect personally in the Silverite Mine beneath the Wending Wood. It is accompanied by Utha and Velanna's sister, Seranni. Upon entering the mine, the Architect puts the Warden-Commander and the party to sleep and imprisons them in the Architect's Lab. When the Warden and their companions next awake, they are stripped of their possessions but are freed by Seranni and forced to fight their way through the mine unarmed. The Wardens encounter numerous of the Architect's Experimental subjects which have turned into ghouls—implying that the Architect has been tainting his prisoners, presumably to create more Disciples. Some of these ghouls have the Wardens' gear, which the Wardens must defeat to recover their equipment. After going through the Architect's research notes and journal in his lab, the Warden-Commander learned that Seranni was one of the Architect's experimental subjects that didn't go mad and has become a loyal follower of the Architect.[3][4] As the Warden's party is about to finally escape; the Architect, Utha, and Seranni retreat from the mine to avoid persecution.
The Architect later dispatches a force to attack the Mother's darkspawn in an attempt to kill the broodmothers at Kal-Hirol. During the conflict, the Architect warns the Warden-Commander of the Mother's plan to destroy the Wardens by revealing she was luring them to defend the City of Amaranthine while sending another host to destroy Vigil's Keep. The Architect dispatches the Messenger to warn the Wardens at the Keep while personally leading an assault on the Mother's den at the Dragonbone Wastes.
The Architect confronts the Warden-Commander at Drake's Fall alongside Utha and offers the Warden its support in killing the Mother. It proposes to work together for the greater purpose of preventing future Blights.
If the Warden-Commander doesn't side with the Architect, they will have to kill it as well as Utha. Prior to the battle, the Architect mournfully apologises to Utha, remarking that it will be unable to keep its promise to her after all. After its death, the Robes of the Architect and Belt of the Architect can be looted from its corpse.
If the Warden-Commander sides with the Architect, the Mother will reveal that the Architect's botched attempt at making Urthemiel into a disciple was the cause of the Old God's corruption and thus the cause of the Fifth Blight. The Architect however will keep its word and assist with its magic during the battle regardless.
Dragon Age II[]
The Architect is mentioned in passing by Nathaniel Howe when Hawke is tasked with retracing the route of their expedition through the Deep Roads in order to look for Nathaniel's detachment of Wardens.
If the Architect was spared by the Warden-Commander, Nathaniel mentions that the Wardens' sources promised that, thanks to the continued existence of the Architect, the Deep Roads would still be clear, allowing safe analysis of the thaig that Hawke's expedition found. If the Architect was killed by the Warden-Commander, Nathaniel doesn't mention who is responsible for providing aid and information to the Wardens.
If the Warden-Commander chose to ally with the Architect in Awakening, Anders warns Hawke not to agree to help Janeka try and control Corypheus, as they are still unsure about the consequences of siding with the Architect.
If the Warden-Commander chose to kill the Architect, Anders mentions this to Hawke as a point worth noting, stating that the Warden-Commander knew the Architect to be too dangerous and that deals with the darkspawn could not be made.
Quests[]
Abilities[]
- Cataclysm
- Shivering Shot
- Flare
- Hand of Winter
- Elemental Chaos
- Glyph of Neutralization
- Misdirection Hex
- Affliction Hex
- Drain Life
Notable loot[]
Quotes[]
- "I have told you many times, Mother, I am not 'the Father.' I am simply the Architect."
- "I was born as I am, an outsider amongst my kind. Why? I do not know."
- "I did find the Old God Urthemiel. But I did not wish another Blight. I attempted my Joining ritual. My hope was that this would free all darkspawn, unravel the curse from its source. Alas, I was unlucky."
Codex entries[]
- Codex entry: The Architect
- Codex entry: A Letter from the Architect
- Codex entry: The Architect's Journal
- Codex entry: The Architect's Notes
Notes[]
Most curious is the nature of this Architect being. Is it truly a darkspawn, some evolution of the breed... or something far worse? I'm reminded of tales of the original Tevinter magisters who entered the Golden City and were cast back down as the very first darkspawn. Could this Architect be one of them? Could he be a ghoul, made immortal by the taint and yet unable to remember what he once was? Think of such a man, down in the Deep Roads for centuries with nothing but guilt and darkness to keep him company. He must be mad, if this is true. Even if it is not, this is not something we can allow to spread. The Chantry would lose its mind at the very possibility.
—Unsigned Grey Warden report[2]
Trivia[]
- An earlier version of Here Lies the Abyss involved meeting the Architect.[5] Instead of going into the Fade, the Inquisitor would have fallen into the Deep Roads and met the Architect there.[6]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol. 2, p. 55
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, vol. 2, p. 119
- ↑ Codex entry: The Architect's Journal
- ↑ Codex entry: The Architect's Notes
- ↑ VGS - Viideo Game Sophistry (June 3, 2015). "#BiowareTalk with @PatrickWeekes: Here Lies the Abyss originally was suppose to be where you met, The Architect from DAI DLC" Twitter.
- ↑ VGS - Viideo Game Sophistry (November 4, 2015). "Bioware Interview with David Gaider: Part 3 "Dragon Age Inquisition was EVERYTHING"" YouTube.
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