Shale

Shale is a stone golem and potential companion in Dragon Age: Origins, who can be recruited from the town of Honnleath through The Stone Prisoner DLC.
== Background ==
Shale is one of the war golems created by Paragon Caridin in -255 Ancient to defend the dwarven thaigs against the darkspawn during the First Blight. As such, Shale has been a golem for more than a thousand years. The golem was, for a time, a part of the Legion of Steel: a dwarven army regiment that was composed completely by golems. However, Shale seems able to accurately remember only the events of approximately the last 30 years, and prior knowledge is mainly based on what has been heard from others.
Eventually, in 8:93 Blessed, a deactivated Shale and control rod were found by Wilhelm Sulzbacher, a mage who was trying to escape from shrieks in the Deep Roads. Wilhelm reactivated the golem and, for many years, used it to his own ends: Shale became an object of study, a trophy, and a weapon during the Fereldan Rebellion, for both Moira Theirin's and later Maric Theirin's rebel forces.
After the war, Wilhelm settled in the village of Honnleath, taking Shale with him and continuing his study of the golem. While under Wilhelm's control, Shale was experimented on, paraded around the village like a pet, and even chiseled down to a smaller size so that it might more easily fit through the doorways in Wilhelm’s home.
Before Wilhelm's death, Wilhelm speculated that the Desire demon he had trapped in his laboratory was having an influence over Shale; although he also considers that his own experiments on Shale may have also been a factor. Wilhelm had planned to temporarily deactivate Shale while he attempted to banish his imprisoned demon.Codex entry: The Journal of Enchanter Wilhelm
Wilhelm was found dead outside his tower in 9:04 Dragon, with a deactivated Shale standing frozen over his body. Though there were no witnesses to the event, Shale was believed to have killed him. In response to the mage's seeming death at the golem's hands, Shale's control rod was sold to a merchant by Wilhelm's wife, in the hopes that Shale would never be activated again. 
But, though it was deactivated, the golem was still aware of its surroundings. Shale remained that way for decades, awake but unable to move.
== Involvement ==
=== Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne ===
=== Dragon Age: Origins ===
=== Dragon Age: Asunder ===
== Quests ==
=== Dragon Age: Origins ===
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== Gifts ==
Shale has a preference for "remarkable" gemstones. There is an issue with the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions which causes Shale to not give the standard for the first gem; instead you receive , which decreases as usual, so that after receiving four of the gems, Shale seems uninterested in the others ("So I'm to keep this then, am I? Fine."), giving only for the rest, giving a measly 18 approval for giving them all to Shale. Therefore, you have to rely on conversation and your actions to get higher approval. 
If you have the Feastday Gifts and Pranks DLC, however, you might also compensate for this bug with the thoughtful gifts and sugar cakes available from Bodahn Feddic. No matter how many are given, a Thoughtful Gift is always worth , while a Sugar Cake is worth .
:
== Statistics ==
=== Initial attributes ===
Relative attribute weightings on auto-level:
:
Strength	Dexterity	Willpower	Magic	Cunning	Constitution
1.4 	0.25 	0.5 	0 	0.145 	1.9
=== Initial talents ===
:
Warrior	Powerful 	 
Warrior	Precise Striking 	 
Shale 	Pulverizing Blows	   
Shale 	Stoneheart 	    (level 12)
Shale 	Rock Mastery 	(level 8)   (level 9)   (level 13)
Shale 	Stone Aura 	(level 10)   (level 11)
=== Equipment ===
Shale does not use conventional weapons or armor. Instead, much like Dog, the golem has two slots for specialized equipment:
* Small Crystals - act as weapons and appear on Shale's wrists; they grant a bonus to the corresponding elemental attack damage, convert all damage to the crystal's element type, and can (depending on their quality and type) grant bonuses to various attacks, attributes, and health/stamina regeneration. Because Shale's damage is largely elemental based, Vulnerability Hex and Affliction Hex are helpful in boosting damage.
* Large Crystals - act as armor and appear on Shale's shoulders and legs; they grant a bonus to the corresponding elemental resistance and can (depending on their quality and type) grant bonuses to various defenses, attributes, and health/stamina regeneration.
There are a total of 50 different crystals: 25 small crystals, 25 large crystals. Both sizes of crystals come in each of the five elemental types and in five varying degrees of quality.
Equipping Shale with a small and large crystal of the same elemental type will grant an additional set bonus of +10% to the corresponding resistance.
=== Plot skills ===
== Quotes ==
* "I wonder what it is like to float...or drown."
* (If given one of the Remarkable Gems) "Oooh, Shiny!"
* "I would appreciate it if it didn't spread around that I said anything. Humans might start to get the wrong idea. They might start thinking their race is not completely hopeless."
* "Now, let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?"
* (While conversing with Sten about the Qun) "Does sound like a delightful place where it comes from. Mages on leashes. What will they think of next?"
=== Dialogue ===
* Shale: "I see it found some augmentation crystals. I was not even aware it knew about them... well done! So? What does it think? They don't make me look any wider, do they? I find I am already too wide as it is."
* The Warden: "No, no, they're quite slimming."
* Shale: "They are, aren't they? I so adore them! I think it should find some more as soon as possible. I want to glitter from ear to ear... so to speak!"
== Codex entries ==
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:
:
== Trivia ==
* As revealed in the novel Dragon Age: Asunder, Shale was apparently present during the mission to Kinloch Hold, something which even Wynne acknowledges. 
* Shale, the golem control rod, and Wilhelm's Cottage were originally intended to be found in Redcliffe Village and therefore be accessible in the base version of the game.
* Like Dog, Shale uses no weapons. So, when Frost Weapons, Flaming Weapons, or Telekinetic Weapons is enabled, its visual effect is applied to Shale's entire body.
thumb|Size comparison between Shale and another golem
* Shale mentions being chiseled down to a smaller size by Wilhelm at the behest of his wife, who complained that the golem couldn't fit through the doors of their home. This refers to difficulties the developers had with getting Shale to fit through many of the game's doorways when they used the original golem graphical model. A full-sized version can be seen during Shale's nightmare in the Fade.
* At Soldier's Peak (after Levi has set up shop), birds will migrate towards and follow Shale around.
* To capture the ambiguity of Shale's gender, the voice actress's already gravelly voice was pitch-shifted down to sound deeper and more masculine.
* Shale is referenced twice in Dragon Age II:
** Corff the Bartender indirectly references Shale when he mentions that "the pigeon population has taken a nose dive in Ferelden".
** During the epilogue, a picture of Shale chasing some chickens appears on one of the flipping pages of Cassandra's book.
* A dwarven Inquisitor comes from the same house as Shale.
* A painting of a Val Royeaux street scene includes an image of an androgynous dwarf standing near a number of pigeons, possibly representing Shayle of House Cadash in a restored dwarven form.
* After completing the personal quest, Shale's codex entry will contain information that is inconsistent with other game lore. It says Shale became a golem "300 years earlier", presumably 300 years earlier than the current events in the game. However, Shale was created by Caridin around 1200 years before the Dragon Age.
* Shale was to appear in the cut plot "Finding Shale" for Dragon Age II. The plot was replaced with Finding Nathaniel.
* Shale is the only member of the party who cannot throw the Stick for Dog to fetch.
* David Gaider stated that Shale was influenced by a "combination of forced pigeon sex viewings and my bristling hatred of everything outdoors".
== Gallery ==
Shale Bioware Char Art.png|Character art
Shale da2.jpg‎|Shale chasing chickens in Cassandra's book
Diamond Shale.png|Promotional image of Ruby and Diamond Shale in Heroes of Dragon Age
Diamond Shale 1.jpg|Diamond Shale in Heroes of Dragon Age
Ruby Shale HoDA.png|Tier progression of Ruby Shale in Heroes of Dragon Age
Patrick's day shale.jpg|A mock up Shale tile from the Dragon Age Keep team in celebration of St. Patrick's Day
File:Promotional Amethyst Shale.jpg|Shale with Spirit Crystals in Heroes of Dragon Age
Promotional Emerald Shale.jpg|Artwork of Shale with Nature Crystals in Heroes of Dragon Age
== References ==
Category:Characters
Category:Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne characters
Category:Dragon Age: Origins characters
Category:The Stone Prisoner characters
Category:Dragon Age Legends characters
Category:Dragon Age: Asunder characters
Category:Heroes of Dragon Age characters
Category:Dwarves
Category:Warrior caste
Category:Golems
Category:Slaves
Category:Companions
Category:Dragon Age: Origins companions
Category:Dragon Age Legends companions
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