Codex entry - Yusaris The Dragonslayer

Codex entry: Yusaris: The Dragonslayer

Codex entry: Yusaris: The Dragonslayer

Dragon Age: Origins

Number: 51

Section: Items

Location: Unlocked in Kinloch Hold by looting Yusaris from Shah Wyrd; see side quest Watchguard of the Reaching

Appearances: Dragon Age: Origins

See also: Item: Yusaris, Tale: Dane and the Werewolf

Codex text

"In the company of monsters he went,Down the empty wolf-roads after the dragonTo the lands where the ice is like steel,And the air grows thin as a beggar,And every rocky path is strewn with the bonesOf the lonely dead. There Dane dwelled,And fifty swords were worn to rusted ruinBefore at last they found the cave of Fenshal, Ancient keeper of the mountains, bane of wolves.Dane sought a way in which the dragon might be felled,Fiend of fire and talon, its scalesBrighter than any warrior's mail, teeth greater than men,And all around the slumbering wyrm were bones:Wolves, men, beasts beyond counting.The fume of death frightened even the wolf pack,And Dane, desperate, crept into the cavernTo seek the monster's death alone.There, shining among the dead like a starHis hand found a sword. Yusaris:Forged by the dwarf smiths for an Alamarri lord long ago,Waiting age after age to be taken to battle once more.And this Dane freed from the earth and struckAt the eye of the dragon, still sleeping,With a swift, terrible blow.And Fenshal woke, wroth, only to die."

—From Dane and the Werewolf

The legend of the blade Yusaris predates Andraste. The sword that Dane found in the dragon's treasure hoard, which he used to slay both Fenshal and the werewolf, was passed on to his son Hafter.

Dane may have been fiction, but Hafter was fact. In 1:40 Divine, he led the Alamarri tribes against darkspawn that flooded into the Ferelden valley from the dwarven lands. He not only drove back the horde, he also then defeated the combined forces of the Avvars and Chasind who hoped to take advantage of the chaos. His victories earned him such respect from the tribes that he was named the first teyrn.

After years of ruling the valley in peace, it is said that Hafter left Ferelden, sailing into the unknown east of the Amaranthine Ocean with the blade still in hand, never to be seen again.

Related texts

Codex entry: Dane and the Werewolf

Codex entry: Werewolf