There was no real way to describe his feelings when he first laid eyes on one. Horror was present, surely, as well as a clinging disbelief - as if he was not willing to admit that something this horrific could exist. The tale that Iano had threatened him with once as a child, of mages turning into monsters, made him wonder if that was what this was. Neither him nor Iano had believed, and Ravin had said that such tales could not be true because he had never heard of it and it was not in any of their written records. It was summarily discounted as a childhood fantasy, similar to the horror tales they would grow up to tell around the campfire. But Brennan was sure that he was staring at such a thing right then and there.
He would later learn that it was something called a Darkspawn, and that it was in no way a corrupted mage. Brennan was relieved. But even if it had been a mage, he was not moved to pity by the sight of it. He could tell at a glance that it was something that did not belong in this world, and it needed to leave it as swiftly as possible.