[MEMORY WRITE-UP] Origins: Tamlen disappears, and Mahariel becomes a Grey Warden.

[eluvianathema]

In 9:30 Dragon, war was beginning!!!!

The Sabrae clan, having settled in the Brecilian Forest in southeastern Ferelden, are minding their own business (which is a difficult task, considering how the forest is basically haunted as fuck) when tragedy strikes. This memory is mostly told to Merrill second-hand by Mahariel and Marethari, but here is the gist of it:

Mahariel and Tamlen, two childhood friends of Merrill, are hunting in the woods when they come across three humans who claim to have discovered ancient ruins in a nearby cave. They let the humans go with a warning, which is enough to spook them into fleeing the forest. Mahariel and Tamlen agree to go exploring these ruins, which are full of undead corpses and giant spiders and generally spooky shit. Eventually, they come across a room with a grand Eluvian--a strange Elven mirror--and Tamlen is fascinated. Tamlen touches the strange mirror, which unleashes some sort of magic that knocks Mahariel unconscious. Mahariel is rescued by Duncan, a Grey Warden, and awakens two days later in their clan's camp, barely recovered from a peculiar fever.

Merrill is there to witness Duncan bring Mahariel back to the camp, which is an alarming sight for everyone. While Keeper Marethari and the clan healers frantically work to keep Mahariel alive, Duncan--a remarkably polite human, as humans go--explains that he is a Grey Warden and that he happened to come upon two Dalish elves enter a ruin where he sensed darkspawn activity. Grey Wardens are a well-respected organization dedicated to stopping the Blight and fighting darkspawn, and accept anyone to join them, regardless of race, class, or gender. Naturally, hearing about darkspawn so close to the clan raises questions about whether or not the clan is safe in the forest--but before that can be answered, the clan asks where Tamlen is. Duncan replies that, unfortunately, he found no trace of the other elf who entered the ruins.

Mahariel, although having survived the fever, is now clearly afflicted with something terrible. They also don't know what happened to Tamlen, and so the clan must assume he is dead. Keeper Marethari instructs Mahariel to seek out Duncan once they are healed, and Merrill accompanies them. The two of them trace Duncan back to the ruins Mahariel and Tamlen had explored previously, and discover that it is, in fact, crawling with darkspawn. They meet up with Duncan in the room with the Eluvian, and Duncan explains that the mirror is somehow transmitting the darkspawn taint and that the only way to survive is to join the Grey Wardens, who gain temporary immunity to the taint. Grey Wardens are all eventually driven mad and die because of the darkspawn taint, but they gain a strong resistance to and the ability to sense darkspawn. Mahariel agrees, if it means surviving long enough to protect their clan and doing something worthwhile for what remains of their life.

The trio return to the Dalish camp, whereupon Mahariel speaks to Hahren (Elder) Paivel and arranges a memorial service for Tamlen by the campfire. Mahariel says goodbye to Merrill and the others in the clan, and Keeper Marethari gives them a ring as a parting gift. As Mahariel leaves, Merrill sits by the fire and wonders if she will ever see her two childhood friends again.


LEARNED
+ It isn't in this memory specifically, but for those who have seen other memories of Daisy's, the tainted Eluvian in the Ancient Ruins IS the same Eluvian that she attempted to restore after exiling herself from the clan in Dragon Age II.
+ I could have just linked youtube vids of the Dalish Elf Origin, but the voice acting is kind of terrible by modern standards and also because Merrill's characterization was almost entirely retconned by DA2, so you get a write-up.
+ Mahariel, the Grey Warden recruit in this memory, was the same elf on Ratatoskr, known as Warden.
+ Tamlen :(((((((
+ sure did try to fix the evil mirror that probably killed my buddy, huh