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Was reading a few articles about Alduin and the Archdemon, then suddenly decided to look up some articles/threads on them fighting and who would win. 

Personally? I think it wouldn't matter since Alduin would just get infected with the Taint and basically become an all-powerful Archdemon-God thing. At that point it wouldn't matter if the Archdemon won or not.

But I mostly made this thread because of a comment I saw... lol Just read it.

"Well see now we have something of a debate, because Alduin eats souls, and the Archdemons soul can only be stopped by one of the Gray. Best-case situation for Alduin is that he somehow is pregnant…. it worked for The Warden… who still doesnt have a match somehow"

Seeing as to how Alduin is a god himself I don't think he would get infected by the Archdemon. The Darkspawn are the only ones with poison blood anyway, we never hear anything that suggests that the Archdemon has poison blood.

Alduin eats the souls of the dead, not the living. The Archdemon isn't dead (at least in this scenario), thus Alduin can't eat it's soul.

Alduin would come out the winner. He is a god on par with a few of the other Daedric Princes who as we know can't be killed. His power is on the level where he can destroy the entire world, not simply ravage the land but the whole planet...gone. Alduin was defeated twice. Once by a group of very powerful warriors known as "Tongues" that just sent him forward in time, then again by that same group of Tongues aided by the demigod Last Dragonborn (who's power is on par with one of the Daedric Princes). The Archdemon was defeated four times each by a single Grey Warden. He had the aid of an army of Darkspawn and still somehow loses each time.

Alduin > Archdemon

Since when did that one Grey Warden kill four Archdemons, he's only been in one game XD. But yeah, they straight up tell you that Archdemons have only been defeated by those who a.) Have forged an alliance of all the races to fight the Darkspawn, b.) Have an entirely separate army of Grey Wardens to fight the Archdemon himself, and c.) The incredibly badass Grey Warden that you play as in Dragon Age: Origins.

Only those who have either A and B or A and C have been able to take him down, since he has an almost infinite army at his disposal. That and only the protagonist of Origins has ever been able to take down an Archdemon with only three Wardens, and really you just got lucky since that one warden who was trapped in Howe's dungeon got a lucky shot and crippled the Archdemon, keeping it from flying too far without touching down again. When you play the Darkspawn Chronicles DLC (let's you play as a Hurlock Alpha during the final battle, it's really cool) the Archdemon tells his army to protect him because one of the Wardens crippled him and he can't get away.

The Archdemon is Dragon Age: Origins is crap. All of the destruction cause was because dumbass Logain (sp?) helped cause it. The whole situation would have been solved if he just stuck to the plan in the beginning.

Everybody would have died if they had stayed in Ostagar. Why you ask? 

Because the entire plan was for the Gray Wardens to swarm the Archdemon when it popped out during the battle and it never showed up at that battle. Which means either everybody dies or a bloody and moral-destroying retreat.

Wrong, the fight at Ostagar was simply false hope. The so archdemon never showed up.

The archdeamon is also a god you know, and if we are talking about the first god, Dumat, then he was very powerful.

The archdeamon and the grey wardens all have tainted blood.

Archdemon can ONLY be killed by grey wardens so unless alduin somehow changes....
 

Alduin would win. Even if he gets corrupted with the Taint he'll just become more powerful than the Archdemon. Also Alduin can gain strength when eating souls thus making him stronger than the Archdemon.

It would be a pyrrhic victory for the Archdemon since it spreads the blight which is what the Archdemon is basically made for. That and Alduin would eventually die from the taint or just spread it everywhere since he's a god.

Alduin cannot be tainted.

By what proof? If we accept that the Old-Gods were really Gods then Alduin can be tainted as well since the Taint can affect Gods.

If we don't accept the Old-Gods as Gods it doesn't matter since we haven't seen anything to stop Alduin from being Tainted. That and according to Lore(Although that's Chantry Lore but whatever) the Taint infected Heaven and caused the Maker to leave his throne then abandon his children to the Blight.

Archdemons can only be killed by Grey Wardens.

Both have very specific ways to be killed, so it really doesn't matter. The Archdemon needs to be killed by a Gray Warden so that the spirit of the Old God trapped inside him has somewhere to go. Alduin needs to be shouted down and then killed by a dragon born (it's been a while since I actually played the storyline of Skyrim) so either way the dragons need someone along with them if they wanted to kill each other. Also, the taint doesn't turn you into an old god, the taint is the disease that travels in Darkspawn blood that turns you into them, the Darkspawn then spend the entirety of their lives either attacking those in the deep roads to get more brood mothers or excavating in the deep roads in order to get to the soul of an old god so that they can create an Archdemon. A Darkspawn is WAY different from an archdemon

And yes, I play way too many video games XD

EDIT: It just hit me that even if Alduin got the Taint (which he wouldn't, since he's the son of a freaking god and therefore isn't mortal) it wouldn't help him at all. Getting the taint not only turns you into a Darkspawn, but also makes you subject to the hive mind which is directly controlled by the Archdemon. So basically if he did get the taint he wouldn't get Darkspawn powers to fight the Archdemon with, he'd get darkspawn powers so he can fight FOR the Archdemon, and there isn't a Grey Warden in the world who's gonna stop that combination XD

Alduin cannot be killed without the use of the Thu'um. It just can't be done, and the Dragonborn doesn't even kill him, he just banishes him. The Archdemon's body is still mortal and can still be killed by anyone with a sword. Even when the Archdemon transfers souls, it's new body (likely another Darkspawn) is not going to be able to do much against Alduin.

Alduin cannot be tainted because the Archdemon doesn't have poison blood. The Archdemon itself is an old god tainted by the Darkspawn, never does it say that the Archdemon has the tainted blood. Just those with the taint can commune with it. The Taint does not turn you into a darkspawn, it just kills you. A good example could be...any character in Dragon Age we've seen die from the blood.

If this was an all out battle, armies included, Alduin would still win. The Draugr, Dragon Priests, and Dragons would obliterate any Darkspawn the Archdemon has. Alduin himself would crush the mortal body of the Archdemon then proceed to drop balls of fire on it's replacement bodies.

>.> You really need to update your DA knowledge Danaos.

If your Tainted by the Darkspawn then you have Tainted blood, it's not hard to understand this. The Grey Wardens are tainted because they drink Darkspawn blood, the wounded soldiers/dogs at Ostagar are tainted because they get Darkspawn blood in them. You can likely become Tainted by staying in infected areas for to long(unless by magic if your Flemeth but that's another discussion.)

The Archdemon is a super-dragon of sorts(The Old God thing is from dragon-worship in the past) that was infected by Darkspawn who dug underground until they find it and infect it. Awakening+Lore basically explains how Archdemons come to be.

Yes, technically by ingesting to much of the Tainted blood you can die from it before becoming a Darkspawn but that's not the point. If it didn't turn you into a Darkspawn then explain where all the Darkspawn come from? If you say Broodmothers then you lose because those were Tainted female dwarfs.

No armies, just Alduin and the Archdemon.

Well as far as the Taint goes, it is apparently not contagious. In DA II we see that Templar guy being carried by Aveline and yes, he has the Taint and is also covered in blood. Yet she is not affected in the least. And, this is a little off topic, but explain how the Legion of the Dead somehow manage to keep fighting Darkspawn.

I honestly never gave too much thought into how they multiply. I thought it was through the taint, but every time we see one that is tainted, they die. They all die. So unless they come back as zombie-Darkspawn I wouldn't say for sure that the Taint transforms them.

The legion of dead if i remember correctly are basically fighting in a suicidal battle. They are all tainted and will eventually die from. You do realize that being tainted doesn't instantly kill you. Grey Wardens live for years fighting the taint in there bodies.

The taint is transferred by getting blood in the mouth, eyes or any other hole in your body. Being near an archdemon will affect you aswell.

The darkspawn multiply by taking people underground and doing things to them....I cant remember if it states exactly. But people with the taint who don't eventually die off become ghouls and they fight for the darkspawn.

The Grey Wardens last as long as they do because of the ritual. That's at least what I'm assuming otherwise it would be a major plot-hole. We see plenty of people that die from the taint in a short amount of time, but rarely do they last more than a few days to a couple of weeks. A good example could be Hawke's sibling should you choose to take them into the Deep Roads.

The Darkspawn doing thing to people they capture would make much more sense since everyone we see with the Taint dies shortly after. And with the whole mouth and eyes part, that would also make sense since our companions in the game get Darkspawn blood on them all the time and walk away fine.

Could be another plot-hole.

Grey Wardens ingest both Darkspawn and Archdemon blood, that's why they don't become Darkspawn as quickly as normally infected people.

Gameplay issues aside, I would assume that your companions that are not immune take great care to avoid being infected. But mostly Gameplay issues and the game creators unwillingness to kill off companions.

People infected with the Taint become Ghouls which is basically the Darkspawn version of their race. Ghouls usually seek out Darkspawn or other ghouls(who in turn seek out Darkspawn). Female Ghouls are assuming almost always turned into Broodmothers which can add their race to the Darkspawn horde.

So basically if we found another race that has never been affected by the Taint/Blight and then had a Broodmother made out of one of their females then that would add a Darkspawn version of their race to the Blight/Taint for future use. Similar to how Ogres in the Blight came about, before the Qunari arrived there were few to no Ogres and after they arrived the number of Ogres raised.

Holy shit Ogres are infected Qunari? I never though of it before but I had wondered where the Ogres come from. So now I can cross Hemlocks, Genlocks, and Qunari off the list :P. What do elves turn into though? I assume into whatever the hell the Architect is, he has elven features.

Just looked it up, apparently Elven Broodmothers spawn shrieks. lol It makes sense if you think about it.

The Grey Wardens aren't good to judge by. Allistair tells you that they mix the Darkspawn blood with strange magic that he doesn't know how to prepare, so it's not the same as ingesting the blood straight. I also don't know about the Legion of the Dead, I mean they probably do have the taint but I never considered it before. I mean in Awakening you can turn two Legionaires into Wardens so it's kinda weird if they already have the taint.

Then again in II Flemeth says that the only cure for the taint is becoming a Warden, so I guess it doesn't matter if you have it or not :P

Oh no it's VERY contagious, they straight up say so several times. Even when you're not in the actual dialogue, like when you're walking around the Ostagar war camp a drill instructor was specifically telling his students to stay away from the blood, and when you're talking to the Mabari trainer (or the ash warriors) they tell you that the Mabari keep accidentally ingesting the blood and getting the taint. The problem in the Aveline scene is that Dragon Age loves their blood, and in II they went overboard which COMPLETELY screwed up the taint. We can assume that it just didn't go in her mouth or any open cuts but then again we don't know. The visual effects kinda trampled the lore.

That's also how you see corrupted spiders, wolves, and bears. Because they eat Darkspawn.

Also, they reproduce through two means. a.) infecting through the taint, or b.) Broodmothers.

The problem with a.) is that they do sometimes die if they ingest too much so it's not a perfect recruitment means. However, the broodmothers are females (I don't think they specify Dwarven, do they? Didn't that one elf's sister be kidnapped to be a broodmother in Awakening?) who get the taint and become Darkspawn. However, instead of your common Hurlocks and Genlocks they become huge, bloated beings that spit out Darkspawn like nobody's business. That's why they're able to gather such a huge army without completely wiping out the surface's population.

Awakening was one of the best DLC's I played back then.

I'm not saying that the Archdemon would win (and I even said that Alduin wouldn't get the taint), I'm saying that neither would. The thing is that unless he's killed by the Archdemon then the old god will just keep jumping around, it'll never die. Alduin would also never die. They will keep fighting for eternity.

Plus, the old god is corrupted by the taint when they're found, it says so in the games. That's why they always go on a blight after they're found rather than just stay where they are or go off on their own.

Then that's the problem with this matchup. If the Archdemon kills Alduin, Alduin can just come back and vice versa. Then if Alduin kill the Archdemon, theres a chance they will both die as a result.

Bethesda and Bioware really made sure their big bad dragons weren't over the other.

haha yup XD. Plus I'm not sure if the Archdemon just infects the closest Darkspawn or if he chooses from the Hive Mind. I mean I think we can assume that a dragon isn't just underground digging at the dirt everytime. Maybe he manifests as a dragon? I think that the old gods came about from dragon worship, didn't they?

The dragons were forced underground by The Maker. The darkspawn dig around looking for them and when they find one they taint it. The dragons were worshiped by the Tervinta Imperium, in essence yes they are real dragons.

Then why do they fly around above ground? You find so many dragons in Origins and (mostly) II it's rediculous, and they're mostly aboveground

I suppose we can assume the ones above ground are no where near as powerful as the dragons below. And they never gained a following so The Maker never banished them.

I think the Old Gods were just the ones who did something against the Maker and were cast down as a result. The ones above ground I'm guessing didn't offend the Maker.

They are indeed actual dragons that were just Tainted. Mages worshipped them.

Tevinters did, I know that. So I assume their mages did too :P

Actually, The Maker and the Old Gods all get tainted. So alduin could to.

The game only says that his city was tainted, not he himself. The Maker is the one who created the Darkspawn, so he is not tainted.

Ah yes I was wrong.

Trueish but we won't know until Inquisition hopefully. But we already know that the entire Blight/Maker deal is made of half truths and lies since the dwarves had magic before and the elves were far different than they are now.

Yeah the Chantery are not exactly reliable :D

Quite so, there is so much hidden info and plenty of background things that basically state the Chantry is either a massive liar or seriously misdirected.

There are some theories that the Maker is actually a God-like Archdemon(or Demon) who was imprisoned by the ancient elf gods and/or the Old Gods. Here's a particularly good Maker Theory on what the Maker might actually be and how he(it?) unleashed the Blight as a way to escape the prison that is the Black City.

That certainly seems intresting.

I have quite a few links that other Dragon Age obsessed people might enjoy. lol

That's why I'm so interested in Inquisition since it's possible this tear into the Fade could be the Maker's prison breaking open or Flemeth messing around or plenty of other things. :P

Obsessed.....I played Dragon age origins like 10 times lul

I didn't like Dragon age 2 as much purely because of the very small map. I am very exited for inquisition, can't wait to play as a qunari.

I can't wait for Inquisition to come out. I'm hoping we get to see the Warden or Hawke, unlikely though. I also want to see Morrigan's demon baby.

Dragon age II was just disappointing. We went from gathering a vast army to take down a Tainted god, to running around a city with a button mashing combat system that made me hate combat in the game. It was darker, and felt more boring.

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about to morrigan....I need to play that again :D

Spoilers:

You see her in the Witchunt DLC, she straight up leaves her baby in the world and then travels to another dimension. Fucked up stuff, man.

I just had a thought. What if your character in Inquisition gets to see or speak to the Maker and is an Elf or Dwarf? That'd be a fun conversation.

In pictures she looks like she resembles a Human but yeah it would be interesting.

"She"? Are you talking about Andraste or the Maker. The Maker is referred to as a he.

Yeah grammar mistake again :D

Not really. She appears in the next game Dragon Age:Inquistion. She Arcane Advisor to empress Celene of Orlais. Her and The Warden child is said to be not to be just a passing reference...

Oh I know the child won't be a small part, it has too much potential.

But she said she had departed from this world or something like that XD. I heard that she was coming back as the magical advisor or something, which confused me since I heard it after I played witchhunt. Maybe she comes back? Maybe it's just meaningless DLC?

Or maybe I just got it wrong. But then again we know that can never happen.

Dragon Age Inquisition - Morrigan - Official Site

Morrigan - Dragon Age Wiki

Dragon age II was one of those "sequel builders" as I call them, they stand as their own game but are mostly to set the world up for the next one. It was a good game but fell short on some parts.

No Demon-baby for me. lol At least on my first play-through since my original warden died by taking out the dragon without Morrigans help.

But....but how could you......

Because she was willing to abandon me and use the demon-baby for her own purposes? I don't give god-like beings away just because it might save my life.

Yet another plot-hole. The Archdemon's soul is in the baby, technically the Blight isn't over. And you could chase after Morrigan in Witch Hunt where you can raise your demon baby together.

Nope, Morrigan specifically stated that the transfer would 'untaint' the baby and leave the Old God's soul intact. Which means we basically gave an Old God(specifically the Beauty one I think, symbolism there.) a 2nd chance at life.

The Blight indeed dies with the Archdemon but Morrigan's way works too, but it just lets an Old God go free for her to use.

Then why not just stuff the souls into unborn babies to save the Old Gods. Could you imagine the child with Dumat's soul?

Because there a far to many ways Morrigans plan can backfire. That and why bother to revive the Old Gods if they can just restart a Blight when they get infected again?

Do you want to have another 7 Blights and make the world suffer 14 total times before it's all done? lol

Wasn't it also Flemeths magic and it wasn't a known ritual?

Yes it was a ritual made by Flemeth so she could transfer herself into her daughters bodies but Morrigan altered it(or something) to allow the whole demon-baby and warden affair thing. 

The ritual itself likely isn't known outside the Origin Wardens, Morrigan, and Flemeth. If there is anybody else who knows of it we haven't met them yet I think.

Morrigans magic specifically is wat caused the Old God to transfer. Otherwise Gray Warden babies would have become old gods in one of the three previous blights.

Plus the fact that old gods existed in the first place, so there probably wasn't one god that made all the races.

If the Old Gods existed in the beginning then the Maker wouldn't really be the Maker right?(which in turn would disprove the Chantry. lol)

Personally I think the Maker is a super-demon or something. 

Is this all in the same universe?  O.o

Dragon Age - Elder Scrolls

Alduin comes from The Elder Scrolls universe and the Archdemon comes from TheDAS(The Dragon Age Setting)

Well since you never said.....I will be talking about Dumat specifically, the first archdemon and the most powerful.

It is said that only a Dovahkiin (Dragonborn) can killed Aludin but it is not exactly known.

Dumat would likely have a ton of darkspawn with him in this battle, the taint would affect Aludin so he would either succumb to the taint or die off from it eventually.

But either way Aludin can not win because it specifically states that only a greywarden can kill an archdeamon. So Aludin dies or none of them die.

The Dragonborn is the only one who can defeat Alduin. Alduin cannot be killed, and if you pay attention in the game, you'll notice that you don't absorb his soul. He is destined to destroy the world and the Last Dragonborn simply delayed it from happening. Alduin cannot be killed though ordinary methods, even the Tongues knew they couldn't kill him, which is why they sent him forward.

Anyone can kill the Archdemon, but only a Grey Warden can kill it permanently. As is stated, when you kill the Archdemon and you're not a Warden, it's soul will just go into the nearest Darkspawn. This would only make the Archdemon weaker since it just lost it's dragon form. Never in the game do they say that a non-Warden is incapable of killing an Archdemon, just that it has to be a Warden that does it. So the Archdemon is much more mortal than Alduin is, especially since Alduin literally can't die by any means (unless his father wills it so).

Did you notice how many times Alduin has been hit with swords arrows and magic when you see him? He doesn't even flinch until you use Dragonrend on him, which make him temporarily mortal. The Archdemon can't take a sword in the back without crying to everyone for protection.

It does says that only grey wardens can kill an arch demon.....thats kinda the only reason they were formed...

When a non-greywarden kills the body of the old god they it will transfer elsewhere. The archdemon will they burrow underground until he can regain his power.

I did say that only a Warden could kill it permanently. Which means that Alduin will beat the Archdemon and send it's soul into another Darkspawn so it can lick it's wounds. That of course is if Alduin decides not to eat the soul and poop out another type of Darkspawn.

Alduin has shown himself to be smarter, stronger, faster, and more pain tolerant than the Archdemon. I am also assuming we are talking about the most recent Archdemon and not Dumat. Which one are we referring to?

Dumat created Blood magic, defied the maker, and brought hell to the planet. But the other archdemons where not that powerful but they could certainly fight.

Lets say for amusement that alduin could and did kill dumat by eating his soul. Alduin would forever be tainted and he would, eventually, die from it.

Dumat did not create Blood Magic, that was used by others long before he was Tainted and became an Archdemon. Not sure what you mean by 'defied the Maker' seeing as how either the Maker didn't care or purposely unleashed the Blight upon the world to show his 'disapproval' of their actions.

This part is why I found the quote in my original post hilarious since the Archdemons soul would try to enter the closest thing(Alduin) with no Darkspawn around and that would lead to a mess of problems with Alduin trying to eat the Archdemons soul as it bashes into Alduin's.

Soul Combat is to unknown for anybody to know for certain but I would assume Alduin would destroy the Archdemons soul or he would get pregnant. Either way he would very likely be infected by the Taint at this point.

The first person known to wield blood magic is Archon Thalsian who got his magic from Dumat. The imperial chantry thinks it is the elfs that discovered it first or it could be someone made a deal with a demon. I was referring to the former.

When I said he defied the maker, I was referring to how the maker imprisoned him (and the other old gods) for being worshiped by the Humans. However, Dumat still kept in contact with his followers even when he was inprisoned.

Personally going with the Elves or a Demon deal. It's unlikely an Old God would bother teaching a bunch of demons about Blood Magic and if demons can use/teach it naturally then it implies that it comes from them.

According to the Chantry that is. lol 

The demons are the most probable scenario. The most powerful person in the Tevinter imperium was the de facto leader so it would be understandable for them to seek new magic from demons but it could be that Dumat wanted a powerful army on the planet to do things for him without getting his hands dirty and angering someone?

Well Dumat wouldn't really benefit from people using Blood Magic would he? Besides, he's dead now. lol

Other than making The Maker jealous of his followers.....not really. But who knows how Dumat had fun :D

Alduin is son of Akatosh, the chief god of the Divines. With his power, he managed to rule over Skyrim for generations going unchallenged even by the toughest of warriors and dragons. When the humans fight against him, they needed the help of another god to beat him. Alduin has the power to obliterate the whole world, something that all of the Archdemons only hope to do. Alduin does not need a vast army to do his work, because the power is already his. Unlike the Archdemons, he has not been killed and never will be because he is an immortal god. When he is beaten (that one time) he just leaves to recover his strength.

If this is any other Archdemon besides Dumat, Alduin will crush them. If it is Dumat, Alduin will still win but not without walking away with a few scars.

And Fireplay, can you explain why you think Alduin can be affected by the Taint?

Alduin himself/soul was forced back into wherever he came from but he indeed died in a physical sense. Not that it matters since he can likely just reform his body and come back later. At least, that's what I believe. No proof though.

Well the Taint can apparently affect everything unless it's a spirit in Dragon Age and Alduin has never displayed an immunity to the Taint so to me at least it's safe to assume that the Taint can affect Alduin as well.

That's like saying the Archdemon has not shown any immunity to Dragonrend. And you also have to consider that Alduin could attack the Archdemon without touching or getting near him. The way the Taint works is so undeveloped and never says anything about how it can affect other gods besides the Old Gods. The Maker, and Flemmeth have not been affected by the Taint, and I know for a fact that Alduin is more powerful than Flemmeth.

The Archdemon has no feats that compare to Alduin (except Dumat) and every time this match up is done, people just say, "Oh well Alduin will just be Tainted and die".

Well for one, The maker was never affected by the taint because she never encounterd it. Flemeth is very powerful and uses magic to resist.

The Maker is a guy, Andrastate is the girl.

In case it wasn't a grammar mistake.

We don't know if the Maker was affected by the Taint or not so don't use him.

Flemeth has survived though several blights I think so she would know how to avoid being infected, her powerful magic and possible abomination status help too. That and she basically states she set up magical barriers/wards to hide her home from the Darkspawn in Origins. At least until you come back and deal with her.

Mage Abominations can't be affected by the Blight since it's a spirit and not a person.

Well tell me why Alduin wouldn't be Tainted and don't say because he's a god/son of a god/demi-god. That's not really an answer as it doesn't give a reason why Alduin wouldn't be Tainted.

The Maker created the blight, so I'm sure he isn't Tainted.

Alduin is like any other Daedric Prince in the aspect that his body is basically an avatar of who he is. Just like Akatosh, has his avatar of a flaming dragon, or Sheogorath has his avatar as a jolly old man in a suit, Alduin has his. That being said, Alduin is a being that is above the physical world of the humans where the Archdemon is. That's why we see his soul taken out of Mundus upon being defeated, because just like any Daedric Prince, when defeated they are only banished. Not killed.

Think of any other Daedric Prince fighting the Archdemon. Should the Archdemon win, the Daedric Prince will just return to their realm of existence, but they aren't dead. We look at who defeated Alduin, the Dragonborn. The Dragonborn had to use a shout to make him temporarily mortal in order to defeat him, meaning that he couldn't have been defeated in any other way.

The Taint, as far as we know, only affects you if the blood gets in your mouth or eyes (otherwise all your companions are dead). Alduin does not have to touch the Archdemon to kill it, and he's smart enough to use his shouts to his advantage. Also consider that Alduin is no stranger to fighting dragons.

Well, being near the archdemon will affect you.

And again I have to ask. What about the Warden's companion's and the thousands of soldiers that fought in the battle?

I still don't know which Archdemon we're talking about...

Doesn't matter on the Archdemon but just assume it's Dumat since you won't accept any other.

See post below.

*sigh* 

The Maker made the blight According to the Chantry. Which has proven itself to be an unreliable source of information on several topics. 

It seems your rather against letting the Taint win. lol If according to the Chantry; the Blight/Taint was made by the Maker then shouldn't it be able to affect whatever he designed it too? The Taint forces change and the Spirits/Demons in the DA universe are static creatures, that's why it doesn't affect them. The Maker obviously changes over time as seen in the history of the world and in-game lore.

It wouldn't affect a Daedric prince because those princes are a physical manifestation of their particular realm, Sheogorath is mad because he is the prince of maddness. Alduin is the son of a Time God, but he is not one. He is nearly impossible to completely kill and that led him to change into an arrogant tyrant. 

The Taint forces a change on it's victims, the physical part is seen in Ghouls and the Darkspawn but the Spiritual side is hinted at with the relationship of the Grey Wardens and the Archdemons. Their very souls are destroyed when a Grey Warden ends a Blight. They literally cease to exist at this point. Alduin's soul could possibly be destroyed if the Archdemon's soul tried to enter into his body.

The Taint affects it's surrounding, this is seen in-game and in the lore. Alduin could be infect by the Taint if the battle goes on long enough. Why do you think the Darkspawn bodies are burned shortly after the battles? If they were not burned then their bodies would spread the Taint over the land where they died.

First, I originally thought we were talking about the most recent Archdemon Urthemiel, Brad brought up Dumat who happens to be strongest. And yes, it does matter which ones we talk about because they have different levels of power and the recent one in my opinion is the weakest.

By that logic this match would end in a tie since Alduin dies if he kills the Archdemon. That Taint is only a major issue because how it afflicts it's victims is never made clear enough, or perhaps I'm over thinking it. The battle with the last Archdemon wasn't a short one, yet the humans that fought in the battle did not seem to be affected by the presence of the Archdemon. The battle as you stated would have to be dragged out for a good amount of time for Alduin to begin to feel it's affects.

If you'd also be willing to explain why the Warden's companions don't seem affected at all by the Darkspawn corpses or the Archdemon that would be great.

Are you calling Dumat the strongest because he managed to spread the Blight farther and make far more dawkspawn or because he was the first? Either way it doesn't matter since the title doesn't specify so you can safely assume it's Dumat without naming the Old God.

Even if the Archdemon died it would have still been able to spread the taint to Alduin and the surrounding countryside and if Alduin was to be near the dead body or eat a Darkspawn from later then he would be infected. It's obvious that Alduin is stronger than the Archdemon though the shouts but the Archdemon is more specifically focused on spreading the Blight and delivering the Makers wraith/taking over the world just because it can/the taint commands it too.

Gameplay reasons, all the blood splattered on your companions is mostly for visual effects and was really out of hand. I seriously doubt that non-wardens would be so careless to be covered in Darkspawn blood during or after a battle.

Dumat is the strongest because he is "The first and most powerful of the Old Gods". Thus it would make sense that he is the most powerful of the Archdemons. It does matter because despite the new title, the Archdemon's power depends on who it was before. Dumat took nearly 200 years to beat while Urthemiel took about a year to defeat, quicker if it weren't for Logain. It's pretty obvious that the newer Archdemons are weaker in power. A fight between Urthemiel and Alduin just wouldn't be fair.

As I stated in a post above, this match may be a stalemate. Alduin is impossible to kill, period. He can be defeated but will come back later. The Archdemon is impossible to kill unless you're a Grey Warden. It will just go into the closest Darkspawn and regain strength. Should Alduin kill the Archdemon, the clashing of their souls that may or may not happen will result in the destruction of them both. You still didn't explain how no one seems to be affected during the battle with the Archdemon who apparently can Taint people without touching them. If humans aren't Tainted when fighting him, a god will be fine.

It's clearly a major plot-hole and nothing more. I wish they at least would have said that it only affects you if the fluid enters your body (mouth, cuts, eyes etc).

Agreed that Dumat is definately the strongest, if you wanted to match two up you should do Alduin and Dumat if you're going God vs. Old God. If you're doing God vs. Archdemon, however, it's just a stalemate no matter what you choose. Although to be fair, The newest old god (forgot his name) made the stupid mistake of charging all at once and that one Gray Warden who Howe imprisoned got one hell of a lucky strike. He got one giant gash all the way down his back, preventing the Archdemon from flying, which was one of his main advantages.

For the second paragraph, I'm assuming a shitload of people got infected in the major battle. Even at Ostagar you had people lying in the medical area succumbing to the taint. That's why you kill Arileth's husband, remember? (Come to think of it, didn't h say something about not letting him come back as one of them?) They just don't tell us whether there are casualties relating to the taint or not. But yeah your non-warden companions are major plotholes. I'm just gonna assume that they're skilled in fighting Darkspawn thanks to your brilliant expertise and leadership :D! Of course this is mostly so I don't start hating the game, but still

Perhaps Urthemiel though it would be a beautiful victory for the Darkspawn if s/he(?) managed to take over Fereldin in such a risky attack? :P

Urthemiel never even made it out of Fereldan. A single country whose armies were ravaged by both the blight and a civil war was able to put down a blight before it even spread. That's just embarrasing for the Archdemons XD.

Although to be fair, the Blight didn't happen naturally, so maybe the Architect just needs to stop playing God and let shit happen when it's supposed to XD

Alduin wasn't even at peak strength when the Last Dragonborn faced off against him. He had just come from a time warp which was 300+ years (correct me if I'm wrong).

He spent most of his time after arriving reviving dragons and feasting on souls up in the nord heaven. So he was basically at full strength, nothing to hint that he was not in any case.

If he wasn't already at full strength then he wouldn't feel the need to eat more souls,

Unless they're just tasty

I kind of figured Urthemiel would have spent more time underground if it wasn't for the Architect/Mother but I guess we won't know until the next Blight. lol

Dumat's blight lasted longer because it was the first and it had a massive boost to it's army from the dwarven empire before the Blight even got to the surface.

So yes, he was the first and most powerful Old God but he was only the most powerful Archdemon because he has the element of surprise on his side. The armies at the time could not wipe out the massive darkspawn armies or kill the Archdemon in a permanet sense. Dumat did not have to deal with any kind of true resistance until the Grey Wardens were formed and took him down. 

You know when you play a game like Starcraft and only have 200 soldiers die in a battle for an entire planet? That's because showing that many dead bodies/soldiers would be pointless. The massive death-rate in the battle against Urthemiel was implied but not shown because it would detract from the gameplay/story.

I gave you my opinion on why the non-warden companions did not get infected. So either take a possible answer or just call it a plot-hole.

While I agree that Dumat had the element of surprise, that's still 200 years. Within this timeframe they would have already devised tactics to use against the Darkspawn horde. The armies at the time were much more organized than what we see during the 5th Blight.

During the 5th Blight, as Bo had said, the Archdemon never made it out of Ferelden. The 5th Blight was the quickest and weakest attack by the Darkspawn, and is the only one to remain within one country. Ferelden was in a state of civil war and all the Wardens, save two, were killed. Yet they still managed to kill the Archdemon within a year. You can't deny that Archdemon Urthemiel is the weakest. Also, the 5th Blight was a surprise since only a handful of Wardens actually believed that it wasn't just a mass number of Darkspawn attacking. Only after the slaughter at Ostagar did they think, "Hey this might be a real Blight".

First, all the warden in Ferelden died.

Second, all the wardens knew this was a real blight. But the king and his army didn't believe them and thought that after ostagar they would win. Ostagar was simply false hope, whether they won there or not wouldn't matter.

So I'm guessing that Alistar and the main character suddenly aren't Wardens anymore? They survived.

Yeah I was leaving them out :D What I meant was that there were still wardens alive elsewhere in the world.

Doesn't matter since only one Warden from a foreign country bothered to help.

Actually they tried to help, they were just too far away to mobilize and march to Ferelden in time. It didn't help that Logain refused to allow forces from Orlais to enter Ferelden in the first place since he still remembered when he had to fight against them in the war for independance.

In Awakening (Idk if you played it) the Wardens from Orlais finally made it and helped you set up a Warden stronghold in Ferelden.

Apparently we're all forgetting that Arl Howe imprisoned one of the escaped Wardens from Ostagar. Or that he offered to lay down his life (which didn't work out) so that you and Allistair may live after the archdemon dies. Or that he's the reason the Archdemon was wounded enough for you to kill in the first place.

Horribly wrong with the first paragraph, the second paragraph was somewhat true. If they won at Ostagar they would have slowed the blight and could have forced the archdemon to show himself while the Gray Wardens still had  more than three members in Fereldon. That's why Teirn Logain's treachery was doubly awful.

Horribly wrong? Within 200 years, any competent commander would have some counter tactics. The Ferelden forces were split five ways (Elves, Dwarves, Mages, Original Fereldon army, Logain's army). How is that organized?

You traced my response back to the wrong post :P. I was responding to Brad.

Oh...oops. Q~Q

I had to jump through multiple hoops and even freaking time travel just to get the fair chance to fight Alduin. All I had to do to kill the Archdemon was survive drinking dark spawn blood and chop his head off. Even then I managed a loop hole to avoid death by screwing Morrigan.

Yeah, I'm giving this fight to Alduin.