Living in the harshest climates Dragon Age (specifically Inquisition) has to offer, the Avvar thrives. They’re fierce hunters with strong spiritual connections, offering a challenge for the aspirational player who is looking for strong armor and intriguing storylines.

As visually striking as their appearances may be, there’s a lot about the Avvar that can be lost to the harsh winds of the Frostback Mountains. It may take 20 hours for the combat to get good, but it won’t even take 2 minutes to breeze through this collection of fun facts.

10 A Group Of Many Tribes

Despite the singular name, the Avvar consists of a collection of tribes rather than being one overarching society. Each has its own specialties and intricacies that separate the groups from each other, but their similarities outweigh the differences.

They all share a pantheon, a general dislike for permanence (hence their hunter-gatherer vibes), and a disdain for outsiders.

9 Oath Keepers

Promises are vital to the Avvar. The Thane, the ultimate authority on Avvar matters, can find the loopholes in the word of others, but for the most part, breaking a promise is a big deal.

Those who break a promise or do not keep their word to another member of the group are made to pay for their slight with gifts and trade agreements. They’re not the kind that will kill you for breaking your vow, but the interpersonal implications and spiritual rules linger.

8 Death Before Capture

Pride and freedom are integral to the identity of the Avvar. Their nomadic lifestyle of living from the land’s resources and having hunting parties that can last weeks on end, so the prospect of living under someone else’s rule goes against everything they stand for.

In battle and otherwise, the Avvar would rather die by any means necessary than be captured and taken prisoner by the enemy. They live free and they will die the same way.

7 (Un)Tying The Knot

There’s a lesser-known marriage ceremony within the Avvar people that is worth noting when understanding them. During the official ceremony, the bride sings a hymn to a god of her choosing and the groom has until the end of the song to untie as many knots from a rope as he can.

However many knots he manages to untie foretells how many years the marriage will last. This would be a nightmare for the less dexterous, but for the Avvar, fate and the gods decide before you even get the chance to say “I do.”

6 Hold-Beasts And Their Place

To connect the spirits to the mortal realm, the Avvar tribes each have a creature that serves as an anchor. They’re known as hold-beasts and are protected fiercely by their respective tribes, like how a parent would protect a child or a religion might protect a relic.

These beasts live independently and freely, roaming the nearby landscape. A healthy hold-beast makes a happy tribe. A sick hold-beast is an omen of danger to befall the group from the guards.

5 Friends Of The Dwarves

The Avvar aren’t the friendliest people you’ll meet in Dragon Age. In fact, they’d rather have no friends than bad ones. But they do have one group they keep comparatively close: the dwarves of Orzammar.

Dwarves have been a part of the Avvar culture since the start, even aiding the would-be Avvar in creating their settlement in the Frostback Mountains. They trade goods, weaponry, and tales of great deeds and accomplishments between them.

4 Complicated Beliefs About Death

Death is a topic that, unlike the Mortalitasi and their Grand Necropolis practices, the Avvar have differing and loose opinions on depending on who you are within the society. They believe in the Lady of the Skies who reunite lost souls with their families, but not everyone is so peacefully passed forward.

Some are supposedly reincarnated into new bodies and may not be completely aware of their previous lives. Either way, it’s relatively loose in its explanation.

3 The Role Of Mages

While mages are abundant, Avvar augurs only appear one at a time. It’s the highest power a mage in the tribe can have. They use this position to aid in the possession of younger mages, allowing spirits to guide the teaching of these younger mages with kindness and patience. The powerful mages coupled with the group’s relationship with nature and spirits create a powerful dynamic.

2 Air Burials Are Real

Air burials are funeral practices the Avvar use to reunite their dead with their spiritual realm known as “The Land of Dreams.” They leave bodies to be eaten by vultures and other scavengers, returning their flesh to the realm and their spirit to the arms of the Lady of the Skies.

This practice is inspired by Sky Burials, a primarily Buddhist practice performed in Tibet, Mongolia, and other areas where the ground can be too difficult to break in order to dig a grave.

1 The Pantheon

The pantheon of the Avvar belief echoes the way that Greek, Nordic, and Roman mythology portray their Gods. The Avvar believe in Korth, the Mountain-Father and Father of the Skies, who births mountains from his strength.

The Lady of the Skies is the controller and protector of death, birds, and the skies. Other deities include Hakkon Wintersbreath (controller of winter), Sigfost the Great Bear, and Imhar the Clever (the trickster, like Loki in Nordic mythology).

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