telanadas
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Post by telanadas on Dec 31, 2020 14:11:20 GMT
Yet in the last few years someone has clearly unlocked them. Deformed monsters were clearly starting to escape because of the one that appears in the Next One, which would appear to have taken place before Evka became a Grey Warden and therefore earlier in time than HoH. Of course, the Warden in that story died and Evka would not have been aware this wasn't a regular monster so it probably didn't alert the Wardens anything odd was happening in the Deep Roads. Now Ramesh has told them, it would seem something that does need investigating and will be something we get involved in. I am deeply suspicious of the Executors though, particularly as Solas describes them as dangerous. If they have the key to these pools, they are very dangerous. This is also what I have been wondering since reading TN. HoH does suggest that Ghilan'nain has found a way to control darkspawn and these pools from a distance, if they are indeed associated to her (which seems highly likely at the moment). But how? She is supposedly imprisoned in the fade with the rest of the evanuris if Solas is to be believed. The darkspawn in the concept art (with the red lyrium axe) also looks like a different variant to what we've seen before so clearly something has changed or something has reactivated these brine pools more recently. The executors could even have reactivated them somehow. I have been wondering if they are acting as agents of whoever is in charge of these brine pools. From HoH the darkspawn were supposedly building an army down there. So I am guessing whoever is controlling these pools are trying to amass personal minions for themselves, they could even be blighted. Although, maybe weird things have gone on underground that surface levelers just aren't aware of. In the Descent there is a warden journal that says: I was distracted by the curiosities yesterday. Was it yesterday? I let my guard down, got comfortable. Easy to do when you know death is inevitable. But then I stumbled across something horrible. I smelled it before I saw it: bodies. Hurlocks, genlocks, creatures I didn't recognize—hundreds of them, mutilated, tortured, and thrown into pits.
Bear in mind this was found near the titan too. Maybe these brine pool experiments have been going on for some time. If the executors are the scaled ones, that would also seem to associate them to the ancient elves because of that blood ritual in the bastion near the Mythal statue (and that weird Merrill eluvian they have yet to explain).
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Post by telanadas on Dec 31, 2020 14:18:19 GMT
e executors also have a passing reference in Varric's "Hard In Hardtown". It's suggested that the executors may have had a hand in killing an Antivan Queen (I can't remember her name). Now I know this isn't the most accurate source because it's fiction and Varric does tend to be imaginative but what if there is a grain of truth behind this rumour. If it is true and the executors did have a hand in the Queen's death, this shows that the executors could get to anyone in Thedas. There is another Codex entry about this Queen's death where it mentions the guard in charge of the investigation interrogated the crows. The crows didn't mention who was responsible but what if they weren't crows but there were executor agents disguised as crows to erase any suspicion? Yes, associating them to Queen Madrigal seems so random if it's just a passing reference with no bearing on anything. Why would the writers include that weird tidbit knowing the executors are already mysterious enough as it is? This is why I was so suspicious of that dagger found inside Solasan, because it was associated to the cousin of Queen Madrigal. At the very least it is what makes me think they have been pulling strings in Thedas longer than we've known them for, and yeah they do give me faceless men vibes too. I think their mystery is kinda what makes them so interesting as a faction. It would be interesting to me if they were our allies in the game, but their motives were entirely different to ours, forcing us to make a choice to side with them or go against them.
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Post by gervaise21 on Dec 31, 2020 14:44:24 GMT
Bear in mind this was found near the titan too. Maybe these brine pool experiments have been going on for some time. I also wonder if the horror that was discovered in the depths by Solas and his followers was really a brine pool. I know it was found in the same place as the mural showing the defeat of a titan but it could be related. The pool seems to need the power of a large lyrium crystal to work, quite possibly the sort of crystal you would get from defeating one of the guardians. " What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all." Finding one or more of those pools could well have struck them with the horror that caused them to collapse the tunnels and seal them with magic, locking them in. Also, if as HoH suggests they were using wagon loads of elves in the creation of these hybrids, it could well have led to be the destruction of the elven people and ultimately the world. According to the narrative, the upper mural in the cavern showed "elven kings and queens holding court." Assuming he interpreted this correctly then this would suggest that at least some of the other Evanuris were in on this besides Ghilan'nain and Andruil. As for the Executors, they could be another race working with the Evanuris, although we have no certainty the Evanuris were elves by race. Since they were able to alter their shape to suit themselves, they could have been anything originally, but just used elven form when dealing with them. The size of passages in the Deep Roads and of the steps leading down to the start of the eluvian network in Masked Empire, suggest these people were far taller than modern elves or even ancient ones for that matter. Alternatively, those across the sea were a group/race that opposed the Evanuris and are in fact, as someone else suggested, the original Forgotten Ones. As we know, they have a reason for resenting Fen'Harel, whilst still enemies of the Evanuris and wishing to work against their return. The Executors are after all simply the agents of the powers across the sea.
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Post by Buckeldemon on Dec 31, 2020 15:04:03 GMT
(and that weird Merrill eluvian they have yet to explain). If it is just because of the design, I've got two ideas myself: - in-universe, isn't it said that Merrill re-built this Evluvian from a shard? So the different design is due to this being Dalish (or Merrill-specific) ornaments. - meta-wise, I'm not sure if the Bioware folks at this time were settled on a definite Eluvian design.
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Post by gervaise21 on Dec 31, 2020 15:14:56 GMT
- in-universe, isn't it said that Merrill re-built this Evluvian from a shard? So the different design is due to this being Dalish (or Merrill-specific) ornaments. I must admit I thought she had salvaged the original frame but it was the glass that was shattered by Duncan, so she only had a shard or two to work from. Although I thought her problem was that the mirror had been tainted and she needed to cleanse it, so identified which shards were tainted and needed to be cleansed and then she pieced all the shards back together. The strange design could have been due to the god it belonged to. Why shouldn't each god have their own particular eluvian design? If, as seems likely, her eluvian actually led directly to the Black City (whether in the Fade or underground), then it would likely be only for the use of that god or their most trusted priests and have its own activation word/item as well. We know that the whole network was meant to be shut down but it was possible to activate sections of it or individual eluvians with the right password or item key. So who activated the one that we find in the Brecillian Forest?
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Post by telanadas on Dec 31, 2020 15:47:34 GMT
If it is just because of the design, I've got two ideas myself: - in-universe, isn't it said that Merrill re-built this Evluvian from a shard? So the different design is due to this being Dalish (or Merrill-specific) ornaments. - meta-wise, I'm not sure if the Bioware folks at this time were settled on a definite Eluvian design. Yeah honestly, her eluvian is confusing to me. She said the mirror was found in the forest by Tamlen etc. but its design is unlike anything we see in origins. So how did it get tainted in the first place? I always assumed she had salvaged a shard from the shattered mirror Duncan smashed and tried to use it to restore the mirror in DA2. I dunno maybe someone has a better explanation I do find the design oddly specific though. It seems intentional by design that it is way different to the other eluvians because of the vines twisting around it, and the size of it. It just doesn't look like a mirror that is made for walking through.
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Post by MrGDL87 on Dec 31, 2020 19:05:47 GMT
e executors also have a passing reference in Varric's "Hard In Hardtown". It's suggested that the executors may have had a hand in killing an Antivan Queen (I can't remember her name). Now I know this isn't the most accurate source because it's fiction and Varric does tend to be imaginative but what if there is a grain of truth behind this rumour. If it is true and the executors did have a hand in the Queen's death, this shows that the executors could get to anyone in Thedas. There is another Codex entry about this Queen's death where it mentions the guard in charge of the investigation interrogated the crows. The crows didn't mention who was responsible but what if they weren't crows but there were executor agents disguised as crows to erase any suspicion? Yes, associating them to Queen Madrigal seems so random if it's just a passing reference with no bearing on anything. Why would the writers include that weird tidbit knowing the executors are already mysterious enough as it is? This is why I was so suspicious of that dagger found inside Solasan, because it was associated to the cousin of Queen Madrigal. At the very least it is what makes me think they have been pulling strings in Thedas longer than we've known them for, and yeah they do give me faceless men vibes too. I think their mystery is kinda what makes them so interesting as a faction. It would be interesting to me if they were our allies in the game, but their motives were entirely different to ours, forcing us to make a choice to side with them or go against them. I completely agree that the executor reference in 'Hard In Hardtown' does seem to be very random because we have very little information about them as it is and then all of a sudden they pop up in a piece of fiction It does seem a little bizarre, so I think there's more to this than it first appears. I don't know why Varric didn't just use the crows instead and this would bring me to how did Varric know about the executors to begin with? It's not a group that openly advertise themselves, so it's curious where he learned about them. One could argue that Varric may have taken their name as a result of the war table mission but he probably mentions the executors even if you don't complete the war table mission, so this means Varric must have heard some rumours about them elsewhere. Anyway, I don't think those across the sea appreciate the free publicity from the book as they prefer anonymity, so Varric may be in the executors crosshairs at some point in the future.
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Post by gervaise21 on Dec 31, 2020 21:31:57 GMT
One could argue that Varric may have taken their name as a result of the war table mission but he probably mentions the executors even if you don't complete the war table mission, so this means Varric must have heard some rumours about them elsewhere. The original Hard in Hightown was written between 9:33 and 9:36, so the tales of the Executors must have been circulating at least that long. If the Executors had re-surfaced around that time, may be it was in response to the rise of the Arch-demon a few years earlier. Alternatively, if they had been keeping a clandestine watch on the continent for signs of the Wolf, may be they became more active as a result of Solas activating his agents, like Felassan. Regardless, his mention of them in his story pre-dated the Inquisition, so he wasn't inspired by what he heard about the War Table missions.
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Post by MrGDL87 on Dec 31, 2020 22:09:35 GMT
One could argue that Varric may have taken their name as a result of the war table mission but he probably mentions the executors even if you don't complete the war table mission, so this means Varric must have heard some rumours about them elsewhere. The original Hard in Hightown was written between 9:33 and 9:36, so the tales of the Executors must have been circulating at least that long. If the Executors had re-surfaced around that time, may be it was in response to the rise of the Arch-demon a few years earlier. Alternatively, if they had been keeping a clandestine watch on the continent for signs of the Wolf, may be they became more active as a result of Solas activating his agents, like Felassan. Regardless, his mention of them in his story pre-dated the Inquisition, so he wasn't inspired by what he heard about the War Table missions. Oh my, I'm very embarrassed right now! For some reason I thought that Varric was writing his novel during the events of Inquisition which is just absurd Can we just pretend that I never wrote this?! (but I still find it curious that Varric mentions them at all).
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Post by Absafraginlootly on Jan 8, 2021 5:30:26 GMT
Another version of the potential executor garb of red cloak, gold triangles, and magic bow: Beneath the shin guards it looks like she has bare feet, an elf like Strife?
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Post by gervaise21 on Jan 8, 2021 8:26:24 GMT
Another version of the potential executor garb of red cloak, gold triangles, and magic bow: Where did this come from? I looked on the official site but couldn't see it there. However, I often look in the wrong place. Still it is clear that either the Executors are some group of ancient elves or the Arcane Archers are from another group altogether. There is no way that they are any Dalish clan, so if Strife and Irelin have this garb their clan is not Dalish. Either that, or they have infiltrated the Dalish like Felassan did. Also, Strife was really proficient with a bow, so I suppose that could be him. Just notice the figure seems to have a bust so maybe not him after all. These archers are always shown masked though, which suggests that is how they usually choose to appear when in their full regalia. If they aren't Executors I wonder why that would be? Could they actually be the original members of the Wolf Pack? It would make sense back at the time of the Evanuris that they needed to keep their identity secret. It looks a really cool concept though. I had a blast playing an archer in DAI but if this is going to be a possible specialisation for DA4 that would be even better. Best of all is if it really is an Arcane Archer, so actually a mage class like Arcane Warrior. That would be amazing. I notice there are floating rocks in the image, so that would suggest a weakening Veil, which makes me wonder if archers back when there was no Veil needed this type of magical weapon in order to counteract the effect of low gravity. Maybe conventional bows and arrows wouldn't work, not to mention the fact that all elves were effectively mages then.
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Post by Absafraginlootly on Jan 8, 2021 10:03:44 GMT
Another version of the potential executor garb of red cloak, gold triangles, and magic bow: Where did this come from? I looked on the official site but couldn't see it there. However, I often look in the wrong place. Christian Dailey posted it on his Twitter. I first saw it shared on Tumblr myself, then of course again in the Twitter thread here.
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Post by gervaise21 on Jan 8, 2021 19:42:10 GMT
Discussion elsewhere is making me wonder now if this figure (and Strife/Irelin) are genuine Dalish who have stumbled on an ancient shrine and acquired these items rather than Executors. However, I also did some research on prismatic weapons as they are mentioned as being wielded in the memories in Vir Dirthara and there is a prismatic great axe and a chromatic great sword in Trespasser. A particular feature of them is that their blade only appears when actually being wielded. I wonder if there is any relationship to the bow as both weapons seem to have triangle or diamond (which is two triangles essentially stuck together) as the source of the magic powering them. You will notice with the bow that the arrow doesn't appear until it is drawn. Of course they could still be connected to the Executors who were the source of the knowledge that created the weapons and they were responsible for strange writing in the journal that has guided the Dalish clan to Arlathan Forest, unknowingly doing their work for them. This would be a clever move on the Executors' part if they are trying to keep their actions hidden from Fen'Harel.
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Post by Absafraginlootly on Jan 8, 2021 23:09:49 GMT
Clan Morlyn may have been recruited by the Executors like the Inquisition camps were. I hadn't noticed before but in the picture from Ruins of Reality the figure also has bare feet. It would be a bit of a coincidence if Strife wasn't connected to the executors seeing as he has an upsidedown triangle with two wavy lines through it on his back in this image.
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Post by gervaise21 on Jan 9, 2021 8:57:37 GMT
It would be a bit of a coincidence if Strife wasn't connected to the executors seeing as he has an upsidedown triangle with two wavy lines through it on his back in this image. This is why I feel they have to be connected with the Executors in some way. Whilst we know that triangles seem important to ancient elves considering how much they appear in Solas' art, nevertheless this triangle clearly has wavy lines across it. Why would the writers/designers give such items to these characters after also associating the symbol with the Executors unless there is some link between them? Otherwise they are being deliberately confusing for the sake of it and what would be the point? So until we are told otherwise I am going to assume that there is some link between Clan Morlyn and the Executors even though the members of the clan may be unaware of it. It is simply a matter of whether the Executors are a sect of ancient elves or another (possibly unknown) race who are opposed to the Dread Wolf (maybe all the Evanuris) but are trying to acquire items associated with the ancient elves for their own purposes (rather as the Venatori have done). I'm still deeply suspicious of the fact that the monster creating pools smell of the sea even though they are deep beneath the earth and miles inland. Then we have members of this mysterious group who also smell of the sea even though they may have been away from the coast for many weeks. Then there is Maryden's song that says Arlathan sank beneath the sea. Finally, there are several concept art pieces showing different sea monsters, some humanoid, some not. This suggests to me there is going to be a strong emphasis on the sea during the game and thus "Those Across the Sea" are also going to be heavily involved in the plot. The question is are they allies or enemies or a combination of the two? What does seem clear is that the Arcane Archer was hunting darkspawn, so at the very least we can be hopeful that their faction opposes the Blight and will want to find a way to stop the spread of the blight and red lyrium.
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Post by gervaise21 on Jan 9, 2021 9:20:54 GMT
And note that in the short story there's no mention of the Executors - at all. This is why my latest theory revolves around the Morlyn clan not being aware of who they are being controlled by. In the short story Strife and Irelin are searching the Arlathan Forest in response to a mysterious new entry in the Keeper's journal. Personally, if I were them, I'd be concerned to know who was responsible for that entry? Also, who was responsible for the strange magic? Presumably the ancient elves connected with the halla statue as that seemed to be responsible for it; once removed from the Ghilan'nain statue the magic stopped. However, it would seem he had been in that part of the forest before without any problems, so presumably whatever caused the journal to start rewriting itself also activated the magic protecting the statue. Perhaps the writing had always been in the journal but had previously been invisible; likewise the halla figurine in the grip of the Ghilan'nain statue. As a reader, I wonder where they acquired the journal? The story says that it had been in the clan for generations. Apparently they also had a previously reliable map of the forest. So did they acquire both items from the same original location? The map apparently showed every hidden trail, cave and elven ruin. That suggests to me that it wasn't of Tevinter origin as I doubt they would know that much about a forest that always seemed to have a degree of magical protection of ancient sites that would discourage investigation. So possibly an old elven map? The journal is very suspicious. Wherever they acquired it from apparently there had been nothing of significance before and then suddenly new entries start to write themselves, describing this ancient ruin and an artifact of great power. Clearly the entry was intended to encourage the reader to go to the site and recover the artifact. So what or rather who caused that writing to appear? More importantly going forward, what does that artifact do? Strife seemed more concerned that something had gone wrong with the forest but whatever caused that to start happening, it is likely connected with the statue and the desire to recover it. Was the person behind the writing the Dread Wolf or someone else? I suspect the latter and that the subsequent appearance of sea monsters close to shore are connected with that statue.
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Post by fairdragon on Jan 9, 2021 10:20:54 GMT
And note that in the short story there's no mention of the Executors - at all. This is why my latest theory revolves around the Morlyn clan not being aware of who they are being controlled by. In the short story Strife and Irelin are searching the Arlathan Forest in response to a mysterious new entry in the Keeper's journal. Personally, if I were them, I'd be concerned to know who was responsible for that entry? Also, who was responsible for the strange magic? Presumably the ancient elves connected with the halla statue as that seemed to be responsible for it; once removed from the Ghilan'nain statue the magic stopped. However, it would seem he had been in that part of the forest before without any problems, so presumably whatever caused the journal to start rewriting itself also activated the magic protecting the statue. Perhaps the writing had always been in the journal but had previously been invisible; likewise the halla figurine in the grip of the Ghilan'nain statue. As a reader, I wonder where they acquired the journal? The story says that it had been in the clan for generations. Apparently they also had a previously reliable map of the forest. So did they acquire both items from the same original location? The map apparently showed every hidden trail, cave and elven ruin. That suggests to me that it wasn't of Tevinter origin as I doubt they would know that much about a forest that always seemed to have a degree of magical protection of ancient sites that would discourage investigation. So possibly an old elven map? The journal is very suspicious. Wherever they acquired it from apparently there had been nothing of significance before and then suddenly new entries start to write themselves, describing this ancient ruin and an artifact of great power. Clearly the entry was intended to encourage the reader to go to the site and recover the artifact. So what or rather who caused that writing to appear? More importantly going forward, what does that artifact do? Strife seemed more concerned that something had gone wrong with the forest but whatever caused that to start happening, it is likely connected with the statue and the desire to recover it. Was the person behind the writing the Dread Wolf or someone else? I suspect the latter and that the subsequent appearance of sea monsters close to shore are connected with that statue. Interessting. I have a nother idea. You said "controlled by", but what if the clan isn't controlled. When the clan stumbles over the symbol and the magic weapons that somebody left there. Somebody who created kossith and executors. Yes connected, but unkown. with no control.
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Staff Mini-Profile Theme: Heimdall
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Post by Heimdall on Jan 9, 2021 12:15:36 GMT
My view is that Strife in particular may have been recruited to work for the Executors from time to time, rather than his whole clan.
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Post by ellanathehamster on Jan 9, 2021 13:08:56 GMT
What bugs me about Strife (among other things)- he has no vallaslin. Seeing that he is sent on important missions, I very much doubt it because he is deemed unworthy by the clan. Rather not getting vallaslin is his own choice. Also, in Runs of Reality he mentioned Morlyn clan like this: " It was a relic of the Morlyn clan, handed down over generations. Their Keeper had given it to Strife when it started rewriting itself last month. Mysterious entries appeared of their own accord, describing sacred ruins in Arlathan Forest that guarded an artifact of fabled power." Their Keeper. Not our Keeper. Also, he has a map of Arlathan forest. "Or the bewildering realization that his time-worn, always reliable map of Arlathan Forest—a map that detailed every hidden trail, cave, and elven ruin—could no longer be trusted." Now, where did he get this map from? It sure sounds like he has been in possession of it for some time.
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Post by gervaise21 on Jan 9, 2021 13:17:04 GMT
My view is that Strife in particular may have been recruited to work for the Executors from time to time, rather than his whole clan. The Keeper seems to have entrusted him with the mission to find the artifact. He also seems to have been responsible for the mission to Ventus as well. I wonder why that would be? His name has always bothered me. That is not a city elf or a Dalish name. However, in elvish, it would be an ancient elf name. You are right, though, he could have been a sleeper agent for sometime (either the Dread Wolf or the Executors) and then hooked up with the Morlyn clan when the time seemed right. Was it the Keeper's idea to head north for Arlathan Forest or his? The short story definitely makes it sound as though he had been there before and was accustomed to walking its paths. However, he told Myrion he grew up in Starkhaven alienage. Why did he tell him this at all if it wasn't true? After all, even if that was the story he gave to the clan when they found him in the woods, why tell Myrion? If the clan found him in woods near Starkhaven, that was their usual hunting ground, so why did they head north? It seems like it was part of a group of clans, because the message Irelin was meant to deliver was to the "clans", not simply the clan. That's why I wondered how recent this was? I can understand the clans being prompted to travel north as a result of recent events but not so long ago that Strife was familiar with Arlathan Forest. Now it is not clear from the short story when exactly it took place in the timeline. The story about Evka clearly pre-dated her story in Tevinter Nights so why not Ruins of Reality as well? That would mean the reason they traveled north was due to the entry in the journal. Could it be that recovering the halla statue was what activated the monster pools? That doesn't explain how Strife was familiar with Arlathan Forest though. Mind you the writers have never been good with dates and continuity, plus Three Trees to Midnight and Ruins of Reality were written by different authors, so that could account for it.
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Post by pessimistpanda on Jan 9, 2021 13:32:35 GMT
Interesting that he'd be surprised by a map being out of date... maps become outdated IRL, and a map of a forest, where things are always growing and changing (unless Arlathan is magically frozen in time or something?) would become outdated more quickly than most, I would've thought.
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Post by ellanathehamster on Jan 9, 2021 13:37:29 GMT
what if it's a magical map? Like Marauder's Map in Harry Potter
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Post by gervaise21 on Jan 9, 2021 13:46:41 GMT
What bugs me about Strife (among other things)- he has no vallaslin. Seeing that he is sent on important missions, I very much doubt it because he is deemed unworthy by the clan. Rather not getting vallaslin is his own choice. My post crossed over with yours but I agree with all the points you raise. Strife is definitely not all he appears to be. My initial reaction on reading the story in Tevinter Nights was that he was an agent of the Dread Wolf who had ingratiated himself with the clan in much the same was as Felassan did in Orlais. However, the illustration with Ruins of Reality had me doubting this because of those wretched triangles. Also, he seemed to have a genuine respect for Andruil, which would not be consistent with a member of the Wolf Pack. Anyway, the Arcane Archer is female so someone we haven't yet encountered as Irelin very much seems to favour using her shape shifting ability. Given the elven connection and the use of triangle weapons, whatever faction she belongs to is clearly the same as the earlier concept art from August and I still think they strongly link to the ancient elves in some way.
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Post by gervaise21 on Jan 9, 2021 13:48:36 GMT
what if it's a magical map? Like Marauder's Map in Harry Potter It could well be but that still doesn't explain how he came by it, nor why he knows it is no longer to be relied upon.
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Post by Heimdall on Jan 9, 2021 13:55:45 GMT
My view is that Strife in particular may have been recruited to work for the Executors from time to time, rather than his whole clan. The Keeper seems to have entrusted him with the mission to find the artifact. He also seems to have been responsible for the mission to Ventus as well. I wonder why that would be? His name has always bothered me. That is not a city elf or a Dalish name. However, in elvish, it would be an ancient elf name. That’s true, but in any case it could be a self given title more than a name. If he’s telling the truth about his city elf background, it’s possible he took it on after leaving the alienage to join the Dalish. I have actually been wondering about this. Strife specifically wanted Irelin to warn the clans that the Qunari are moving into Rivain. In the Dalish page in the wiki, there’s a note that David Gaider once said that the Dalish had a semi-permanent settlement in Rivain. If so, it could be near that side of the Arlathan forest. That seems contradicted by later lore, but I was wondering if it had been revived here. It would explain the comment about a group of clans. Maybe when Strife left Starkhaven, he headed north toward the Dalish settlement he had heard tell of or clan Morlyn was headed that way anyway. It’s possible that whether before or after joining the Dalish, Strife was contacted by the Executors and became their agent in exchange for some boon. It’s difficult to discuss since we know so little about them, but I think the point I want to make is that he could be serving two masters here: his clan and the Executors when they call upon him. I’m not completely following. Both Three Trees to Midnight and Ruins of Reality occur in Arlathan forest (the former being in the outskirts mostly). The two stories seem disconnected enough that they could occur in either order. That the Ghilan’nain statue could be used to activate the pools is an interesting idea though. Especially if Strife was acting in his capacity for the Executors. It makes me wonder if they could be behind that ‘sea monster’, which would contradict my previous theory about her being Solas’ ally.
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