@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.
According to Caridin, Shale was the best warrior of King Valtor and member of House Cadash. As a golem, Shale was very loyal to Caridin, even standing with him as he objected to Valtor's use of the Anvil of the Void. But, after Caridin was turned into a golem, he sent Shale away, "out of mercy". Sometime after leaving Caridin, Shale became deactivated in one of the lost thaigs.
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.
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.