Broodmother

Broodmothers are immense female ghouls capable of spawning darkspawn. Broodmothers are created from female captives, who contract the taint by being force-fed on darkspawn tissue, slowly mutating them and giving them cannibalistic urges. After devouring massive amounts of flesh, the final transformation takes place, turning them into a broodmother.

Broodmothers give birth to a large litter at once, usually between twenty and fifty children. They emerge from her womb as toddlers, often already able to walk, and grow rapidly in their first few weeks of life. A broodmother will birth thousands of darkspawn young in her lifetime. The race of the broodmother determines which kind of darkspawn she will give birth to. An elven broodmother will spawn shrieks, a dwarven broodmother spawns genlocks, a human broodmother, hurlocks, and a Qunari broodmother ogres.

Abilities

 * Gas - The broodmother releases a cloud of poisonous gas in an area.
 * Grab - The broodmother grabs a nearby enemy, holding them immobile for some time, before throwing them into the ground. Usually, she will vomit on the victim.
 * Ranged Spit - The broodmother releases a ball of saliva and stomach acids at her enemies.
 * Scream - The broodmother screams, the sound stunning nearby enemies and warning darkspawn that the broodmother is in trouble.
 * Sweep - The broodmother uses one of her tentacles to sweep the area, knocking down nearby enemies.
 * Vomit - A shorter-range variant of the broodmother's "Ranged Spit" ability, usually used in conjunction with her "Grab" ability.
 * Tentacles - The broodmother spawns a number of tentacles, allowing her to attack targets at range.

Known Broodmothers

 * Laryn - A dwarven noblewoman, part of Paragon Branka's team searching for the Anvil of the Void. Killed by the Hero of Ferelden during their quest to find the Anvil for either Lord Harrowmont or Prince Bhelen.
 * The Mother - An unknown human who was awakened by the darkspawn known as "The Architect," going insane in the process. Killed by the Warden Commander.