#some people cite Warden infertility as another reason why it would be highly unlikely for a f!Warden to become a broodmother

[thunderboltfire]

I've stumbled upon a similar argument before and while I think that the writers just genuinely didn't think about it, you could patch it up with other lore.

For instance, the whole shebang with Wardens is that they can fight Darkspawn, because they're immune to Blight. They're technically immune because they are sort-of like darkspawn, already. They have a weak connection with their hivemind etc.

What I'm getting at, is that I don't think the Grey Wardens can be made into Darkspawn at all. (Corypheus excluded, he's special). They're already infected, another infection wouldn't work on them. Broodmothers are described as a type of ghouls, and altough I don't think that we've seen any Warden who's eaten darkspawn meat, I also don't think that Wardens can become ghouls. The main advantage of Wardens' Joining is that they cannot be harmed by the continous exposure to the Taint.

However, it has a lot worse implications for female Aeducan's origin. Because you don't have the Grey Wardens' resistance to the Taint back then. And you're sentenced to death by being sent into the Deep Roads.

Do they know they likely sentence you to the fate worse than death? Does your father, the king KNOWS that Duncan will be there or did he count on your luck in finding him in a labirynth of tunnels? He seemed to hope you'll get out alive - hence the letter he gave to Gorim. But what if he miscalculated? Did he know the consequences? Did he really think that the honor of the house was worth it?

not to advocate for MORE sexism in bioware games or anything like that but like...the "gender equality" in DAO is so poorly thought out and by that I am SPECIFICALLY referring to women in the Grey Wardens.

Sure yeah Alistair makes that off-hand comment about how "there aren't many women in the wardens" that's more indicative of the writing team's sexism than anything else, but genuinely speaking I think there's actually a valid reason for women to not be allowed in the Grey Wardens.

You cannot tell me that Alistair and the HoF were the first to discover what Broodmothers were and how they were made. You cannot tell me that Grey Wardens have been fighting back Darkspawn for centuries and they do not know about Broodmothers. And if the Grey Wardens know about Broodmothers, then they must know that sending female Grey Wardens down into the Deep Roads is a bad fucking plan.

I can understand concessions being made during a Blight; hell, being a Grey Warden is such a Shit Job that I can understand the Grey Wardens being willing to take in anyone. But like...the women who join cannot go down into the Deep Roads for their Calling. And I would argue that them going down into the Deep Roads at all is a bad plan unless they've got some equivalent of a suicide pill with them in case of capture by Darkspawn.

It honestly is baffling to me that there's NO mention of protocols for female grey wardens during their Calling or expeditions to the Deep Roads being different AT ALL. All it would take is Alistair saying something along the lines of "So that's why there's so few women in the Wardens" after they discover the Broodmother.

Because a woman joining the Wardens isn't just risking death.

She's risking a horrific, violating transformation that turns her into a creature that endangers everyone.