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TheDragon Agefranchise has many recurring characters, but few have been in the forefront as often as Flemeth, the Witch of the Wilds. She aids the protagonists of the first two Dragon Age games, and after the ending of the third entry, she’ll likely have a role to play in Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
Yet even if you have played all the games, you might still be left with many questions, like who this mysterious character really is, or why she is so important to the story. Her tale starts long before the events of Dragon Age: Origins, and it involves ancient Elven deities.
Spoilers For The Entire Dragon Age Franchise!
Who Is Flemeth?
We only have second-hand accounts of what Flemeth’s early life was like, but her own version states thatshe was married to a Bard named Osen, living an uneventful life. A certain lord namedConobar offered gold to Osen in exchange for his wife, to which the Bard agreed.
YetConobar never intended to pay the Bard, and simply killed him, keeping the gold and the wife. When Flemeth learned this,she ran deep into the forests and asked the spirits for help, and the most ancient one answered,giving Flemeth powers beyond imagination.
It isn’t clear if Flemeth could already use magic before the pact with the spirit, but since Mages are often the ones contacting spirits and demons, it is likely that she could.
With the power to bend nature to her will and transform into a fearsome Dragon,Flemeth had her revenge on Conobar, but the price for the deed was thatthe spirit could now possess Flemeth.From this point on,the spirit and Flemeth became one and the same, so to understand the Witch of the Wilds, you need to know who this spirit was.
The Elven Goddess Mythal
Many of the stories that talk about the gods in Dragon Age are, in reality, aboutvery powerful Mages. This is true for the Elven Gods as well, although the power of these Mages was such that they might as well have been godlike.
After an as-of-yet-unknown war, the main Elven generals that arose victorious led their people in a tyrannical manner,being worshiped as Gods by their subjects.The only ones who opposed this tyrannical rule werethe rebellious Fen’Harel and Mythal, the latter of whom dealt with the tyrants through diplomacy.
The influence of Mythal was great among the Elven people, which made her a target for the rest of the Pantheon.They plotted behind her back and killed her, only a fraction of her spirit surviving the confrontation, andit was that spirit that millennia later would answer Flemeth’s call.
As for the rest of the Elven Pantheon,they were dealt with by Fen’Harel.He led a rebellion that ended withthe imprisonment of the tyrants in a new dimension known as the Veil, but the price for this action wasthe immortality of all Elven kind.
Mythal And Flemeth
For a host to be possessed by a spirit,the host needs to be willing, and both entities can inhabit the same body as one.We see this happen to Anders and Justice in Dragon Age 2; both characters were introduced separately in the Awakening DLC for Origins, but merged as one in Dragon Age 2 thanks to their shared ideals.
Unlike Anders, however,Flemeth and Mythal seem to have fused beyond differentiation.It is likely thatthe dominant personality is Mythal, but she chose to keep the name Flemeth, likely to keep her true identity a secret.
Even if Flemeth is now the reincarnation of an ancient Elven Goddess,she still has a mortal body.If she wanted to remain in the physical world for centuries, she would needa way to rejuvenate her frail bodyevery few decades.
Flemeth And Her Daughters
Within Flemeth’s Grimoire, a ritual can be found thatallows her to possess a new body.Said body needs to fulfill certain characteristics, like being able to wield magic, and be a relative of Flemeth, which is whythe ideal candidate is any daughter Flemeth might have hadover the years.
Yetthis possession needs to happen on a willing host —we are still talking about spirits here, not demons. This means thatFlemeth needs to explain the whole situation to her daughter, and they need to agree to have their bodies possessed by Flemeth’s power.
For this transaction to be agreeable, it likely means thatthe host isn’t destroyed or subjugated, they simply gain the power of Flemeth, or more specifically, Mythal. This new Flemeth could choose to be named something else, but so far,they have all decided to keep the same name.
Flemeth’s Ultimate Goal
It seems that whatFlemeth wants is justice for what happened to Mythalall those years ago. To fulfill that wish, she’s been amassing power and perfecting her Dragon Form, but exactly how she wants to enact justice is unclear, sinceFen’Harel has already sealed the other Elven Godsthat wronged her.
It is possible that she knows abouttheir weakening cage, and is looking for a more permanent way to deal with them, but this will likely be developed during Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The one thing we know she tried to do, beyond finding her old temple, wasgain the soul of theOld God Urthemiel.
The Soul Of An Old God
One of Flemeth’s biggest involvements in the story of Dragon Age happens in the first title, Origins. There,she saves the remaining Grey Wardens (the player included), sending them on their way to save the world, whilealso entrusting her daughter Morrigan to them.
She knewthe inquisitive Morriganwould find many of Flemeth’s secret spells, chief among themthe ritual to capture the soul of an Old God.These creatures areancient sleeping Dragons, corrupted beyond recognition into an Archdemonby the Darkspawn and leading their destructive charge through Thedas.
Even though they are called Archdemons, these creatures have nothing to do with demons from the fade.
When an Archdemon is slain,its soul latches into the nearest Darkspawn, becoming a new Archdemon.The Grey Wardens drink Darkspawn bloodduring their initiation, so when they kill an Archdemon,the soul travels to them, killing both the Archdemon and the Wardenin the process.
Flemeth’s ritual involves her (or any other capable female Mage)having intercourse with a Grey Warden the night before the Archdemon is slain.She can thenforce the soul of the Archdemon into her, making it grow as a new person without anyone needing to die.
Flemeth knew that Morrigan would attempt that ritual, either to protect her newfound Grey Warden friends, or due to the temptation of holding the power of an Old God. Still,whether the ritual succeeded or not is completely up to the player, so Flemeth’s plan wasn’t fool-proof.
Appearances In Other Games
While you can kill Flemeth in Dragon Age: Origins,she still appears in the other two titles, so her defeat is never permanent.How she survives is explained in Dragon Age 2, whileher future involvement in The Veilguard is explained in Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Dragon Age 2
The Hawke family encounters Flemethas they are escaping from the Darkspawn.She saves them from certain death, but mostly because they look like a resourceful group that, if they were able to survive this battle, would likely make it safely to Kirkwall.
As payment for her aid with the Darkspawn,she gives them an amulet and tells them to get it to the Dalishnear Kirkwall. This way,Flemeth can transfer her soul to the amulet, which contains a small portion of her power.
This explains how Flemeth survivedbeing slain by the player in Dragon Age: Origins, since she had a plan of survival set in motion long ago. If you play a version of the story where Flemeth was never slain, however, this seems like a lot of preparation for nothing, and why Flemeth appears in Kirkwall is unclear.
Dragon Age: Inquisition
The player can meet Morrigan once again in Dragon Age: Inquisition, andfollowing her questline leads to both the player and Morrigan meeting Flemethonce more. How this interaction unfolds depends on what happened with the Old God Urthemiel in Dragon Age: Origins.
Whatever the outcome,we last see Flemeth with Solas, whois revealed to be Fen’Harel, the ancient Elven God that punished those who wronged Mythal all those years ago. While Flemeth and Solas greet each other as old friends,Solas seems to absorb Flemeth’s power, leaving her seemingly dead and turning to stone.
It isn’t clear exactly what happened during their interaction, but there are some theories about what transpired between these two. Of course,we will have to wait for Dragon Age: The Veilguard to give us a definitive answer, since Solas seems to be central to that game’s plot.
Many fans sawFlemeth’s interaction with the Eluvian mirror as significant, since she seemed to besending something through it.Shealready survived being slain oncethanks to saving her essence elsewhere, so who’s to say she can’t be doing the same now?
Of course, that is assuming that Solas is the one attacking Flemeth, since her last line is open to interpretation. She says “I am sorry as well,” as ifshe was doing something wrong to Solas, soshe could be potentially possessing himwith the spirit of Mythal.
As stated before,said possession needs to be done on a willing host, so it wouldn’t be a surprise to Solas if he was willing to let Mythal in.This would also make Solas the host of both Fen’Harel and Mythal, a monumental task for a simple mortal shell.
