The Danforth Incident refers to the violence surrounding the attempted
annulment of the
Ferelden Circle of Magi. Spurred by the destruction of the
Denerim's Chantry by an
apostate and the murder of
Revered Mother Elthina by that same individual, Knight-Divine
Therminn Danforth of the
Templar Order invoked the Right of Annulment upon Fort Drakon, where the mages had been staying since there original Circle tower in Lake Calenhad became unusable.
These actions lead to widespread violence throughout Denerim. After the death of a large number of both mages and templars, including Ferelden's First Enchanter Irving as well as Knight-Divine Danforth himself, the remaining templars and knights under the king's decree were able to restore order to the city.
This rebellion ultimately led to the collapse of the Circle of Magi system across almost all of
Thedas within a few years.
The Conflict
Prelude
For a handful of years prior to this incident, conditions for Ferelden's Circle mages had been strict and what they would've deemed unfair. However, these conditions were at least stagnant and not worsening because of the fact that there were three people who shared the highest authority within Ferelden's Templar Order. These three Knight-Commanders oversaw the well-being of both their subjects and the citizens of Ferelden in being protected from rogue mages. They kept each other's more radical ideas in check and saw to it that they upheld their duty but did not do so unfairly.
Approximately two years before this incident, a cabal of fanatical maleficarum had attempt to subvert the Templar Order in Gwaren by kidnapping templar recruits and having demons possess them. This eventually reached the ears of Knight-Commander Danforth, the templar who was charged with overseeing operations involving bringing apostates back to the Circle as well as dealing with maleficarum. He brought swift and brutal justice was brought down upon this cabal, but the lingering fear of corrupted templars remained. It is unclear how this was dealt with internally.
About a year before this incident, Knight-Commander Danforth was promoted to the position of Knight-Divine, putting him as the highest ranking templar in all of Ferelden. Due to his knowledge of how powerful blood magic was and with threats lingering in the shadows similar to the cabal of mages from Gwaren, Danforth began imposing harsher sanctions on Ferelden's Circle. Some mages were locked in cells, put into isolation for weeks on end, or even made Tranquil for the slightest of crimes.
During the early part of his leadership, a mage underground formed which consisted of apostates trying to help mages escape the Circle. This was quickly stamped out by templars, but this meant their focus elsewhere had left Ferelden's Circle vulnerable. One of the Senior Enchanters, Uldred, went delusional with anger and despair. He spent his private time in secret researching blood magic. Eventually, he unleashed his vile magics upon the Circle and showed a number of disturbing abilities: most notably being able to turn a normal, unwilling mage into an abomination. After killing and corrupting many of his own Circle mages, Uldred was eventually killed. Due to how corrupt the tower became, the templars agreed it needed to be destroyed and so the Circle mages were temporarily relocated to Fort Drakon in Denerim.
As things worsened and the Ferelden Civil War brought out the worst in people, Danforth's actions went unnoticed as he started instituting ever more draconian measures of control. He started seeing every small act of mage sympathy as something done by someone perverted by blood magic. Even some of his own templars shared the view that Danforth was seeing enemies where none existed, but almost none of them spoke up lest they lose their job and be branded a blood magic sympathizer. It is believed that at some point Danforth sent a request to Divine Justinia V asking if she would grant him the authority to call for a Right of Annulment if need be.
As the Ferelden Civil War came to an end, the growing agitation between templar and mage came to a head. First Enchanter Irving had become belligerent because of how Knight-Divine Danforth had been treating his subjects. The two were often seen bickering between one another in the streets of Denerim. Every time this would occur, Revered Mother Elthina would intervene and step the two down.
The last straw came when Danforth accused the First Enchanter of harboring blood mages and demanding a full search of Fort Drakon. The First Enchanter refused to allow him to do so and tried to storm off to bring the matter to Revered Mother Elthina, a woman that both men respected and saw as both wise and level-headed. As he began to ascend the steps, Danforth was close to attacking Irving due to his insubordination but before he could do so a Dalish elf named Camhlen intervened. Things came to a head when Camhlen interfered to say that the friction between the Circle and the templars and the Chantry's apathy towards the abuses of its own military arm had gone on for too long.
Seconds later, Camhlen unleashed powerful, unnatural magic. He instantly destroyed Denerim's Chantry and everyone in it, most noticeably Revered Mother Elthina. As the explosion was not contained, deadly debris from the blast also rained over half of Denerim. Camhlen stated that he destroyed the Chantry and thus removed the chance of compromise because there was no real change of compromise, and in order to show Thedas the the Circle of Magi wasn't a solution.
Immediately after the destruction of such a holy site, Danforth invoked the Right of Annulment - calling upon the templars to execute every mage in Denerim.
Fortunately, King
Flume and the
Warden high-command were nearby. They witnessed what Camhlen did and immediately murdered him. Neither Knight-Divine Danforth nor First-Enchanter Irving could be talked down from their position. The Warden group couldn't support Danforth's actions and attacked him, but he was able to get away. Violence erupted across Denerim as mages and templars started to fight in the streets. The mayhem was exacerbated by some of the mages resorting to blood magic, becoming abominations and unleashing demons in the streets.
While all this internal war was being waged, the Warden high-command decided that the best course of action to minimize casualties was to go to Fort Drakon and interpose themselves between the assailing templars and the mages who were helpless against such an assault. When the handful of Wardens arrived, they found that the fighting had already begun.
After hours of the city being lit by the flames of combat, the Wardens eventually secured Fort Drakon as well as the safety of the Circle mages. They exited the Fort and called for Danforth to step down. He vehemently denied. They quickly realized that Irving had been correct in claiming that Danforth had gone mad. This was due to his proximity and usage of a sword that he had forged from a strange substance which has since been dubbed "red
lyrium". In front of the scores of templars who were in the Fort's courtyard at that time, the Wardens claimed that he had become a bigger threat to the nation than any mage he had ever oppressed. Danforth called upon his fellow templars to kill the Warden high-command, but they refused. When Knight-Commander Marcel ordered Danforth to step down and declared that he was now relieved of his command, Danforth angrily accused all of his templars of being enthralled by blood magic. Danforth battled against the Warden high-command while wielding the red lyrium sword which granted him supernatural abilities that far exceeded what any man should've been capable of.
When it became apparent he was going to lose, Danforth refused to accept defeat and attempted to draw more power from the sword. Instead, the sword exploded and the lyrium sank into his skin, petrifying him in the courtyard. Granted de facto command, Marcel silently ordered the remaining templars to cease hostilities against the city.
Per the state of Denerim, more templars arrived to serve under Marcel's command to restore order to the city. It took a lot of time, but Denerim was eventually able to pick itself back up but many of its denizens still greatly fear the wrath of mages given the demonic workings they had seen during this incident.
Decrying his actions, the White Spire publicly denounced Danforth because of his actions. He was posthumously stripped of his title as both Knight-Divine and as a templar. Based off rumors, it is believed that the red lyrium Danforth had made his sword out of had a corrupting influence causing him to act irrationally and to be delusional. The existence of this substance took many by surprise as it was the first time it had ever been seen. It is unclear if Danforth had manipulated lyrium in some strange way or if he had found it like that. No such red lyrium has been found since.
News of the slaughter of Ferelden's Circle spread far beyond the city's borders. The Warden name became a rallying cry as a symbol of the mage uprising and against the tyranny of Templar Order. This in turn incited the Circles in other nations to rise up against the templars and the Chantry. This caused many templars to look at the Andrastian Accords as null and void, so they defected from the Chantry as well.
Both sides violently pit themselves against the other, bringing Thedas to the brink of a war between the mages and templars on a worldwide scale.
Historical Significance
It is very difficult to say who is in the wrong in this incident: the mages or the templars. Thus, it is a highly divisive topic not spoken about in polite company.
On one hand, Danforth was justified in his actions. Though he may have gone too far and was somewhat delusional, he was not wrong. As became apparent quite quickly, there was an abundance of blood mages or even just those willing to submit themselves to demonic possession within Ferelden's Circle. Had Danforth been able to investigate his rumors pertaining to such matters and not have been blocked by First Enchanter Irving, a lot of death may have been avoided. It was also later discovered that Irving had kept Senior Enchanter Uldred's blood magic research for himself and used it during this incident.
On the other, Irving's actions were justified as he was going to be killed by a fanatical maniac. Time and time again the templars, under Danforth's leadership, had treated the mages of Ferelden like sheep to be culled and had turned even the slightest offense into a reason for a mage to be made Tranquil. He wanted basic rights that come with being a person and was denied that his entire life.
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