Hear, oh deshyrs, of Hallbera Paragon
From Gundaar hailed - great her fame
From Warrior Caste came this woman
Bred to arms, in armor born

Before the Blight brought death to Deep Roads
Darkspawn came; first a few
None could know then the carnage coming
Monsters they were, mighty and fierce

One such monster, ogre by name,
Near Hormak's high halls made its foul home
Terrorized thaigs, threatened the city
Hormak's lord calls for creature's death

Warriors of Hormak, wielding their blades,
Go to the tunnels - great their glory-hunger
Search for the darkspawn sleeping in Stone
Thinking to kill it; capture honor thereby

Misfortunate men find the fell ogre,
Tall as four men, teeth long and sharp,
Fingers with talons - terrible grasp -
Horned is its head, a horrible sight.

Stronger than any, the ogre attacks
Soldiers are grabbed and grievously hurt.
Limbs torn apart, lava consumes them -
Death is coming in darkened roads.

Lone warrior returns, ragged and bleeding,
To Hormak's high halls report for to give
The lord hears it grimly, grief on his face
Hormak needs help - Who then will come?

Words come to Gundaar, greatest of cities,
Home of Hallbera, warrior maid.
She hears of the ogre and eagerly boasts
Kill it she will without any weapons!


Poet's Note:
Each line of the poem is composed of two half-lines; normally, I'd separate them with a caesura (a big blank space). does not approve of my intended formatting, so I'll see what I can do with dashes and commas.

The form is (loosely) the alliterative style used in Anglo-Saxon poetry like Beowulf and some of the Norse eddas. The meter is not supposed to be regular, but rather each half-line conforms to one of six patterns of stresses.

I know some of the lore suggests that ogres are new to Thedas, since the kossith only arrived after the Fourth Blight. I just really, really wanted an ogre for my Grendel stand-in.