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Uldred? He is gone. I am Uldred, and yet not Uldred. I am more than what he was.
~ Uldred/Pride

Uldred is a secondary antagonist in the game Dragon Age: Origins. At one point Uldred was a member of the Circle of Magi - a guild/school/prison of magi. Uldred is a boss of the game's trek through the Circle Tower and final confrontation for winning the magi and/or their templar overseers over to the Grey Warden as an army against the central threat of the game - The Darkspawn. However, what is encounter in the final confrontation is far removed from the Uldred even his closest colleagues in the Circle of Magi knew.

Uldred was voiced by the late Barry Dennen.

Circle of Magi[]

Tevinter Magi

The Magi of the Tevinter Imperium

In the world of Thedas a parable told by the Chantry - The central church dedicated to the monotheistic Maker, is that ages ago the mages of the Tevinter Imperium chose as their final challenge to try to use blood-magic to invade The Golden City - the maker's realm (effectively a non-afterlife Heaven). The very souls of the magi were incompatible with The Maker's realm and not only did their presence pervert the Golden City, and destroy it, but their very souls were warped in the process and they became the first Darkspawn - creatures that have propagated since. Darkspawn are largely souless - they only know destruction, they do not sleep of their own accord, they do not even eat or procreate for instinctual reasons, but rather solely when doing so will cause pain for the peoples of Thedas such as man-eating or engaging in rape. As for the Golden City, it became The Black City, and can be seen in astral plane - what Magi now call "The Fade"; And The Maker is nowhere to be seen - the Chantry claiming he abandoned the world when the Golden City was tainted, and humanity repent it's fundamental flaws for Him to return. The only indication The Maker has not totally given up on mortals, is He accepted the prophetess Andraste as His Messiah, to inform mortals of how they might atone - The Chantry based around Andraste's teachings. Though many suspect the validity of the Chantry's account of events, the Darkspawn are very real, and lacking in any will, save to cause pain, with the exception of the followers of The Architect. Darkspawn taint everything they touch, even the old slumbering Tevinter gods, appearing as Dragons. The Darkspawn are drawn to the power of the Tevinter gods, and when they find one it gives them purpose and piece of mind, as the god becomes a horrific Darkspawn called an Archdemon. An awakened Archdemon organizes the Darkspawn from mere monsters to a full army on a crusade across the land. The time of these awakened Archdemons and Darkspawn crusades are called "Blights".

Regardless of the Chantry's biases, the fact is because of their account, magi are considered dangerous on a metaphysical level. The Circle of Magi was supervised by the Chantry. Countries can vary wildly in how their Circle's operate, but the standard one of Fereldan is for The Circle Of Magi to be run by learned senior magi that supervise, teach and possibly punish magi according to the Chantry's interests/mind-set. The Chantry teach templars - warriors imbued with lyrium - the essence of magic, which gives them a resistance to magic, and with training can neutralize spells and magical auras - making them a group militarized to specifically kill or capture magi (as lyrium is highly addictive to non-magi, the templars become dependent on the Chantry, ensuring their loyalty to Church agenda). The Circle seniors largely set policy for those learning to harness their magic, but the templars oversee them - to ensure the Circle do not become corrupt - a prominent concern as there is more than one way for a mage to be corrupted, like that of the Tevinter Magi of fable.

Abominations[]

When the Golden City was tainted, the once benevolent spirits lost the guiding hand of The Maker. The taint of the Black City saw many spirits become evil, these are Demons - malevolent spirits that dwell in The Fade, trapped there. Though some spirits are still benevolent, interaction with humans may steadily corrupt even good spirits if they are not careful and turn them into Demons as well, through various sins of mortals - Envy, Greed, Anger, Desire, Gluttony, Sloth or Pride. The spirits that have become demons hunt for ways to leave The Fade and enter the land of the living. Though demons often torment mortals in dreams, or can seep out of The Fade in areas of great magic or massacre, such areas are few and far between, dreaming mortals tend not to have the lucid thinking to allow demons a bridge to the real-world; The most reliable exit is Magi - mortals with the gift of magic, who intrinsically have lucid dreams in order to bring their thoughts on The Fade to life as spells. If a demon encounters the soul of a mage, they can use the mage to escape by possessing them. The soul of the mage is kept in the Fade as a beacon for the demon, but once at the whims of demon the demon is the one who commands the mage's body and spells with their consciousness a figurative joy-stick for the demon on The Fade. Some demons make deals with magi, which can limit the demon's influence but is much cleaner as it can more effectively pose as the mage, other times the demon must kill the mage on The Fade when they refuse to cooperate, though with no soul, the possession often becomes messy, with the mage's body mutating or burning out once the demon is inside.

The possessed body of the mage is called an "Abomination". And abominations that occur as a result of the mage being killed are extremely apparent, losing all humanity, and warping into bloody hulks. Possessed bodies of magi resulting from compacts with the demon, where the soul is still alive, but a plaything of the demon are much less apparent, but still considered abominations.

Uldred's Agenda[]

During the time of the Fifth Blight, the new King Cailan is trying to win glory and go down as a worthy successor to his recently deceased father, King Marric. Cailan hears of the Darkspawn organizing in the south and makes a stand against them in the old Tevinter ruins of Ostagar, rallying his troops there. The Grey Wardens, those specifically dedicated, trained and ordained to fight the Darkspawn are by Cailan's side - though Cailan notes their resistance has been so much less than what he had heard of true Blights of legend, the Grey Wardens - all with a connection to the Archdemon's call, can tell it is in-fact a true Blight, though only just starting at the time. Among those called to aid Cailan in a stand against the Darkspawn is The Circle of Magi. Uldred is a Senior Enchanter of The Circle. The Circle can spare few magi to the front lines, and The Chantry dislike Magi leaving their towers where they could be compromised by Darkspawn taint, or happening across thin areas in the Fade where demons can get loose. King Cailan notes that even one mage for each army detachment would a phenomenal help for his forces, but as it is he must spread what few magi he has even thinner than that. Only six, or possibly seven magi are seen in the army, depending on if the player character is a mage too, Wynne, another senior enchantress, Uldred, three magi seen prepping in Ostagar, an unnamed mage that can act as a guest character for non-mage players, and the Player character if the route as a Mage class was chosen. Uldred is acting as the main envoy for the Circle, though Wynne is skeptical of his ability to represent them. Uldred briefly appears to explain the applications of magic for the Darkspawn assault, and is mostly acting as the advisor mage for Teyrn Loghain, previous right-hand of the late king Marric and commander for Cailan.

Loghain as it turns out, was planning to abandon Cailan, due to Cainlain being willing to make an alliance with the Grey Wardens of Orlai - previous enemies that had enslaved Fereldan in the past, which Loghain and Marric just barely stopped. When the Darkspawn army rallies, the Player character will be in a tower, lighting a beacon for Loghain and his men to charge the brunt of the Darkspawn horde. Loghain retreats instead, leaving Cailan to die. Loghain spins the tale that Cailan was just overwhelmed and declares himself regent, as he is the father of the king's widow, Arnora. Thus Loghain is the de facto ruler until his daughter is coronated, and until then is working on making her comply with his agenda. One of the only issues in Loghain's insurrection is the Player Character, as the Grey Wardens are essential to defeat the Archdemon, and the last ones are now witness to Loghain's treachery. As for Uldred, he has aligned with Loghain, caring little for the Darkspawn and far more for the political power he can forge with the man who looks to soon be the de-facto king.

The Player will need to go to the various people's of Fereldan all of whom have cultural obligations to help the Grey Wardens during a Blight, even over whoever happens to be king. The Grey Wardens have compacts with The Dailish Elves, the Dwarves of Orzamar and with the Circle of Magi/and or the Chantry Templars. Loghain has various influences in key-areas, and for the Circle Uldred is his agent.

The Broken Circle[]

When journeying to the Circle Tower to invoke the treaties with them, the Grey Warden will find that the tower is in a state of chaos. The Templars have declared a state of emergency. The Templars only hold the lobby of the tower, and the senior Enchanters and main detachment of Templars have been lost passed that - for the tower has been taken by Abominations and Blood Mages. The Knight-Commander, Greagoir, has sent word to the Chantry for back-up troops to perform The Rite Of Annulment - a doomsday plan for the Chantry to wipe out all the magi in a Circle if it is compromised beyond redemption. Though Greagoir is a true-believer fanatic in the Chantry's ideals, he does not invoke the Rite lightly, as he was good, if tenuous friends with the Head Enchanter, Irving. Greagoir doesn't know all the details, but knows Uldred came back from Ostagar with the blessing of Loghain, and requested a meeting with the other senior members, before cries were heard from the meeting room, and then Abominations and blood-magi descended from within and took the tower, level by level, with the Templars just barely able to barricade the ground floor lobby.

The Grey Warden can opt. to support the Rite of Annulment, and go in on behalf of Greagoir to slay all the mages within, presuming they've all become Abominations - ensuring The Templars in the final-battle against the Darkspawn; Or go in on a rescue mission to save whatever magi have not yet been possessed - ensuring the Magi in the final-battle. If the Grey Warden started as a Mage, this will be far more personal as the Tower is effectively their home, even if it was also something of a prison. Greagoir is willing to let the Warden try to either save or cleanse the Tower, and pledges to hold their last line until the Chantry's Templar contingent arrives for the Rite of Annulment. Just passed the barricaded lobby, the Warden will find Wynne, whose erected a magical barrier to prevent demons from getting through, though when encountered she is dealing with one that managed to get inside just before it went up. Wynne confirms what's happened, Uldred had called Irving, Wynne and the other Circle Seniors to propose an alliance with Loghain. Uldred says Loghain has promised The Circle autonomy from The Chantry if they align with him in the political dispute. Many of the senior members are highly intrigued by the promise of governing themselves free of the Templars, but with Wynne there as witness to Loghain's treachery, Uldred's temptations quickly became nullified. Uldred, in a panic, with Loghain's scheme exposed, and him as willing to align with a usurper, called in his followers, practitioners of the forbidden Blood-Magic. Uldred himself summoned demons upon the rest of the Circle - including a Pride Demon - most powerful and prestigious of The Fade's demons. Wynne ran, to get as many magi out as she could, but the other senior enchanters could not keep up and she had heard cries coming from the meeting from the various other senior members, and she could swear Uldred's voice among them. Wynne joins the Warden as their liaison to the Circle and helps fight their way back up to the Harrowing Chamber where the meeting took place.

On the way up they find one of the only other senior members to escape, Niall, had returned to the stock-room to retrieve The Litany Of Andralla - a potent tool to ward against Blood-Magic's control over others, though it can only prevent, not exorcise possession/enthrallment. Niall is found at the mercy of a Sloth Demon on the third floor's lobby. A Sloth Demon is a powerful demon, just below Desire Demons, with Pride Demons at the top of their hierarchy. The Sloth Demon has put Niall into a slumber and is feeding off his imprisoned spirit before turning on the Warden and Wynne. The Warden will need to overcome their warped dreams as a mini-dungeon within the tower. Niall's soul reveals further details about Uldred, that Uldred was possessed by the Pride Demon he invoked. Niall is unsure of the details, he was half-asleep as he found such meetings are often dull, though he snapped-to once Uldred made his move. Niall says he's been there too long, his life-force is nearly gone. It is left ambiguous if Niall is right, or if his motivation is too broken by Sloth to see he could in-fact return. Either way once the dream is conquered and the Sloth Demon defeated in the Fade, the Wardens and Wynne wake-up, though Sloth and Niall do-not; Sure enough the Litany is on Niall's body, ensuring the mage at least died ensuring Uldred's blood magic would not claim any further victims. At the top of the tower, one of the last Templars still in control of his own body. Greagoir's apprentice, Cullen, is holding down a barrier right in front of the Harrowing chamber. Telling Cullen whether they intend to kill Head-Enchanter Irving just to make sure he is not an abomination, or free him is the last point the Warden will have to decide. Cullen is not convinced Irving can be saved and opts to destroy not only Uldred, but everyone in the chamber, though he admits he can't do anything to stop the Warden and just holds down his barrier.

Harrowing Chamber Encounter[]

Uldred's Deal

Uldred offering the latest hold-out mercy in exchange for becoming an Abomination.

In the Harrowing Chamber, Uldred is seen tormenting the senior enchanters with his Abominations, with one of them at his breaking point just as the Warden enters. Uldred's latest victim agrees to aid Uldred, and Uldred and his Abominations infuse the mage with great power, while one of Uldred's demon's on the Fade uses the mage as a gate-way and possesses him, turning this latest mage into yet one more Abomination.

When Uldred spots the Warden, he greets them. When confronting Uldred, "Uldred" confirms he is not Uldred, not entirely anyway, but rather an infusion of a Pride Demon and the original Uldred's soul. Uldred was an Abomination long before the meeting, though the invoking of the demons seems to have been the point when his Pride Demon took control instead of laying in wait. Uldred has also been a blood mage for years. If the Warden was a Mage, it will be revealed the presence of blood-mages skulking around the tower were students of Uldred's - meaning the Mage Warden's friend Jowan needing to go into exile for practicing Blood-Magic, is the result of being used as a patsy by Uldred. Uldred cares little for Loghain's politics, he only wants to be free of The Templars/Chantry. He assures the Warden that once the Tower is secured, he will lead The Circle as Loghain's right-hand mage, and the Circle of Magi will go from a prison for magi to a magical political force, like the Tevinter Imperium of long ago. If the Warden is a Mage, Uldred will offer to turn them into an Abomination too. Saying that their power is immense, and even stronger than Uldred's that with them as their star mage with the backing of a demon behind them, the new Circle will be unstoppable. Naturally no matter what morals the Player has for the Mage Warden, they do not intend to be possessed, Uldred laughs at the notion that his proposal was a request, and reveals his Pride Demon form, as he needs to fight instead of just directly controlling their physical forms with blood-magic, thanks to the Litany.

Battle[]

Uldred and Abominations

Uldred and his Abomination followers.

Uldred's Pride Demon has three other Abominations with him in the boss battle. The Pride Demon will periodically try to infuse one of the remaining magi with a demon to renew his Abominations once slain. Using the Litany of Andralla during the battle when a mage begins to glow will prevent them from being possessed. If the mage's are warded instead of just killed when they become Abominations, Irving will be saved too, and the Magi will join the Grey Wardens in taking down the Blight; If the magi all become Abominations, Irving is not saved and Greagoir pledges his Templars in their place against The Blight. Uldred does not use any of his magic as a Pride Demon, rather the massive demonic hulk flits across the room pummeling, throttling, stomping and throwing party members. Uldred's magic was used more to infuse his body with power for the Pride Demon to use but is not used for more common magical tactics like destructive projectiles or healing. Uldred's magic does however make his body extremely resistant to damage with the Pride Demon in control of it. His Blood Magic is one of the only magics he uses, and only to keep his fellow magi in paralyzed agony while The Pride Demon steers his body and it's demonic minions try to enter the bodies of those he is paralyzing.

Exploit[]

There is a battle exploit to refight Uldred over and over. If after defeating the Pride Demon, the player does not raid his body, and leaves the Harrowing Chamber, re-entering it will see the Pride Demon re-emerge, though without his Abominations or the magi held hostage to be possibly possessed. Doing this can allow Uldred to be the only boss in the game farmed for endless experience, though of-course since it's the same xp pay-out each time, there are diminishing returns as the player levels.

Fraternities/Personality[]

There are different fraternities in the Circle of Magi. A fraternity is a group of magi with a shared agenda/mindset.

  • Lucrosians want to use magic to accrue wealth - either literal coin or become economic pillars of their society.
  • Loyalists are religious advocates of the Chantry - magi that believe whole-heartedly the teaching of the Chantry, and thus that the Circle's should be mere extensions of the Church.
  • Isolationists believe that magi should keep to themselves, live as recluses or even the heretical magi the Chantry deem "Apostates" those who have learned magic outside of the Circle and the Chantry's influence; Isolationists just want to be left alone, and don't care how magic is used, as long as they don't need to bother with superstitious civilians or agenda-driven clergy.
  • The Aequitarians believe in moderation, that magi should have a place to keep them safe from superstition and the common man should rest easy knowing there are safe-guards for magi. They wish to keep civilians safe from renegade magic, but are also strong advocates of basic civil rights for the magi in question.
  • Libertarians want the Circle to have total freedom from the Templars and Chantry; An extension of the Libertarians is the Resolutionists - magi that no longer are willing to negotiate and resort to violence to be free of Chantry/Templar restriction. According to Senior Enchanter Torrin - Uldred is "a Libertarian: And a loud one".

Uldred's dialog in Ostagar is largely that of fighting words with Chantry representatives there. He has open contempt for the Chantry and Templars. "Uldred"'s admiration of the Tevinter Imperium when confronted indicate he is more than simply concerned with the civil rights of magi, and an outright supremacist, though since this is both Uldred and a Pride Demon, it is unclear if he was always so, or this is just the view of his recent possession. If there was ever any true altruism to Uldred's Libertarian concerns, it has been lost to Pride. Wynne has known Uldred for decades and states Uldred was always a pompous malcontent. Precisely how long Uldred was playing host to Pride is unknown, but the two becoming one is relatively recent. Demons are not entirely outside entities, and to operate in a human they have bargained with, they must manifest from that aspect of the host's psyche'. A Rage demon possessing a willing host by letting their anger drive them, a Desire demon has the lusts of whoever the host is, and likewise, a Pride demon paired with a willing host, is that host's ego entirely unchecked - each possession justified internally to the host, even with the demon steering said objectives. As Uldred willingly invoked Pride, though a demon is possessing him, Uldred's human soul is entirely justifying every single one of his actions.

Jowan's Temptation[]

The opening for a Mage Warden sees them helping their friend Jowan. Jowan is a mage apprentice but hasn't been called to a Harrowing to be awakened as a full mage despite being there longer than the Player Mage. There are rumors that Jowan is a blood-mage according to Irving, and even if the Player tries to entreat Irving on Jowan's behalf, Irving says there is nothing he can do, and Greagoir has already decided Jowan will be made "Tranquil" - when a mage is cut off from the Fade so they can't use magic. A side-effect of becoming totally devoid of emotions and motive outside of helping the Circle. Tranquility is offered to Magi who fear the possibility of possession, but sparingly as a restriction of the Mage is a danger to others. With the rumors of Jowan as a Blood Mage, Irving cannot stop Greagoir from making him Tranquil. In addition to the rumors of Blood Magic, the Player can confirm Jowan is having a relationship with Lily, a Chantry acolyte - something totally forbidden. Either the Mage can keep quiet about Lily, and Jowan's plan to escape and try to help them, or go with them to sabotage the escape assured it's the closest thing to leverage they can get for Jowan by exposing Lily - Greagoir's apprentice along with Jowan, Irving's apprentice. At the end of the opening as Mage, when cornered Jowan uses Blood-Magic to fight off the Templars. Lily and the Mage seeing the rumors about Jowan are true want nothing more to do with him, and Jowan runs off now alone; Though Jowan too will end up working for Loghain to get back into The Circle Of Magi once Uldred's rebellion is complete - though it is unlikely Jowan knew Uldred was working with Loghain too.

As confirmed with further research on Blood-Magic, Uldred had been sharing Blood-Magic with apprentices in the tower. Some he took on as willing apprentices - those he had laying in wait to help him overthrow the other Senior Members; But others he had exposed to Blood-Magic research without ever directly teaching them or giving it to them face-to-face. This would mean, Jowan was one such apprentice blood-mage - finding reading materials on Blood-Magic, Uldred had specifically left out for him. Lore entries say the blood-mages not directly under his tutelage, are used as patsy's for Uldred or his apprentices once rumors of Blood-Magic begin to spread - assured none of them will be able to keep their research secret without him, and making them scapegoats so the Templars don't look any further once they find one. This is also apparently why Greagoir was so completely overwhelmed despite his vigilance, thinking he was catching the occasional blood-mage rather than just having the bulk of Uldred's followers evade him altogether.

Trivia[]

  • According to Torrin, Uldred is a particularly outspoken Libertarian.
  • Barry Dennen voiced both Uldred and Torrin.
  • Aequitarians are the most popular of the mage fraternities, with Libertarians and Loyalists as the second most popular positions, Isolationists are in the minority, but Lucrosian is in-fact the least popular position to take.
  • As Uldred is Libertarian, he had come into conflict several times with Irving and Wynne, though an Isolationist like Niall had no investment in either position.
  • Demons and humans use Blood Magic differently, a demon can completely enthrall a blood-slave, however human blood-mages can only control the bodies of their victims, not their minds/souls, with the victim often keenly aware of what they are being made to do; Thus Uldred is less hypnotizing people than using them as literal puppets when he controls the unwilling.
  • Even without the Litany of Andralla - Blood-Magic is less effective on magi than normal people, and a strong-willed mage, given a moment to adjust can in-fact break free of the Blood-Control/Blood-Slave spell - as demonstrated with Irving when in the thrall of Uldred and a Mage Hawke in Dragon Age II.
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