Upon initial introduction to Flemeth in Dragon Age: Origins, she seemed like little more than a frail old witch living in the Korcari Wilds with her sarcastic, young daughter, Morrigan. But when she swooped in to save the Grey Warden and Alistair at the Battle of Ostagar, it became obvious there's more to this Witch of the Wilds than met the eye.
Stories of the Witch of the Wilds are as varied as they are vast, with some claiming that she has been around since the Towers Age, more than 600 years before events that launched the Dragon Age franchise. Most elves in that world don't even live to be 600, and though Flemeth appears to be human, the stories surrounding her legend suggest she is anything but.
Flemeth's story begins in 300 Towers, when she is said to have been born in Highever. There are no actual records of her birth, however, which suggests she may have been born under a different name. When the player asks Morrigan about Flemeth after becoming travel companions, Morrigan recounts the story her mother told her.
Flemeth was a beautiful young woman married to a poor bard named Osen. When Lord Conobar saw Flemeth, his desire for her knew no bounds. Conobar offered the bard a substantial sum of money and power for his wife. Osen agreed to the terms, but it turned out Conobar didn't actually have the coin or the power to grant him. Conobar murdered Osen, an act Flemeth learned of from the Spirits of the Fade, and she swore vengeance upon the Lord.
According to the story, Conobar's men chased Flemeth into the Korcari Wilds, where she encountered a demon of the fade that offered her the power she required to stand against her pursuers and defeat them. Flemeth accepted the demon's terms and became what Morrigan believed to be an abomination.
However, Flemeth reveals to the Inquisitor in Dragon Age: Inquisition that it was not a demon who offered her strength and protection that day in the Wilds, but Mythal, the Mother Goddess of the elven pantheon. In exchange for her protection, Mythal possessed Flemeth, and the two have co-existed ever since.
Throughout numerous legends and stories within Dragon Age history, Flemeth played a part in the rise of several powerful figures. In the companion novel, Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne, Flemeth aided King Maric as he fled from the Orlesians. She offers him a piece of advice about Loghain that he unfortunately does not heed, telling Maric if he keeps Loghain close, "...he will betray you, each time worse than the last." She rescued the only surviving Grey Wardens from Ostagar, guiding them on their path to stop the Blight, and intervened to rescue the Hawke family as they fled Ferelden.
Flemeth is a powerful mage and shapeshifter known by many names. She can turn into a dragon, a fact that is confirmed if the Grey Warden and party attack Flemeth at Morrigan's behest, when Hawke and party encounter her fleeing from the Blight in Dragon Age II, and again when either Morrigan or the Inquisitor drink from the vir'abelasan (the Well of Sorrows) found in Mythal's temple.
The Dalish elves refer to her as Asha'bellanar, which means "woman of many years" in the elvish tongue. The Chasind people call her "Mother of Vengeance." The locals of the Korcari Wilds call her the Witch of the Wilds, though that moniker also belongs to numerous witches, including Flemeth's daughters, Morrigan and Yavana.
Flemeth is said to have mothered many daughters over the ages, a fact that terrified Morrigan as she began to dig deeper into legends and Flemeth's grimoire. In time, Morrigan came to believe Felemeth took the lives of her daughters to possess their bodies and prolong her own existence. Morrigan believed this made her Flemeth's next target, and she pleaded with the Grey Warden to kill her mother in an effort to preserve herself.
It was later discovered in Inquisition, that despite the fear she harbored over her mother's intentions, Morrigan was always safe from Flemeth, as one cannot possess an unwilling host. Despite this, Morrigan remained confused and frustrated, only offering herself when Flemeth asked for Morrigan's son, Kieran (whose body hosted the spirit of the Archdemon Urthemiel) in exchange. She offered herself over so Flemeth would leave Kieran alone, but Flemeth took only Urthemiel's spirit from Kieran.
As Inquisition's events came to a close, Flemeth was seen sending something through an Eluvian as Solas entered the space. She identified him as Fen'Harel, the Dread Wolf, and admonished him for giving his foci orb to Corypheus. When they embraced, Flemeth transferred an energy inside herself into Solas before collapsing in his arms and turning to stone. Whether Mythal at long last transferred her spirit into the Dread Wolf in an effort to help him undo the wrongs he'd done in the past or if this energy she gave him means something else remains unclear.
Mythal's return in future Dragon Age games is not guaranteed, though the wisdom and knowledge she bore certainly lives on in those who drank from the Well of Sorrows. Because she was murdered before Fen'Harel created the veil, it seems unlikely that she will be seen again in the same capacity as before, which could mean players have seen the last of one of the franchise's most iconic characters. Still, BioWare has surprised fans in the past, so it's not impossible that Flemeth is still out there somewhere, waiting for the right moment to return.