The Blanketfort (crying and throwing up) - The Official Solas Thread [Spoilers]

 It's very likely.  You damn near can't sneeze on a full moon in Thedas without something big and angry waking up.  We had Hakkon, so what's another god or two?   But yes, that would make sense.  If the codex info is correct, they have a big beef with Solas.

I also think Mythal is down but not out.  According to dev notes datamined from DA:I, Flemeth was leaving a piece of herself behind during the Stinger for Morrigan to take.  Mythal appears to be on Solas' side, even to the point of giving up Flemeth's life for his cause, but she's got her own agenda. 

I'm very on board with Falon'Din/Dirthamen being the next bad guys, there has to be a reason for them to get so much protagonism, can't be a coincidende that in the temple of mythal we get the chance to hear Solas talk about Fen'Harel, Mythal, Andruill and Falon'Din. And Solas will have to leave the veil alone for the time being and will help us fight him and so he won't have to die   ok, this last part is wishfull thinking but I seriously expect Falon'Din to be the vilain if not in DA4, then in DA5

Art Post.

Solavellan kissing on the balcony under the rain.
Source: annajiejie.tumblr.com/post/154784103090/hey-redinkofshame-im-your-solas-secret-santa

Lavellan knows precisely what Solas means.
Source: fadedwhisp.tumblr.com/post/154755983423/solas-youre-the-thousand-year-old-dreamy

Bunnies are much less depressing and much cuddlier than our last few subjects of discussion. I thoroughly approve!

I wonder what Solas' opinion of most wild life is.

Probably not very high if all the humans are Tranquil.

Oh nuuu! Werewolf spooge! 

One of my chief objections to his plan is what is going to happen to creation as a whole. If the world is going to descend into fiery chaos, then the outlook doesn't appear good for the wonderful world of Thedas, with its myriad of creatures and beautiful landscapes. You may recall that one of the early trailers actually focussed on this. Bearing in mind that the main plot of DAI was meant to be Solas' plan, that would indicate that the entirety of nature is going to be doomed if he goes through with it.

Then again, clearly some creatures were around at the time of the Evanuris: dragons, griffons, halla and the sea monsters that Ghilan'nain created. With the exception of the sea monsters, we know that the other creatures are meant to have a degree of intelligence above the normal level for animals. May be the deprivation of magic has diminished this so they have only been exhibiting a fraction of the their potential.

A thousands years ago may not be long as far as evolution goes... on Earth. But not in Thedas, where life has apparently evolved in a different way than we do, which includes magical evolution from incorporeal spirits to fully physical beings. Even with the Veil in place we can see how fast that evolution can go thanks to example of Cole - and while Weekes (in his interview with BioFan) said that Cole's case is rare, it ain't an one-off thing.

We also can see fast evolution in animals in places where the Veil is thin - not necessarily torn. Fade-touched animals only have to spend some time in such places to evolve rapidly, going as far with it as growing in size, changing color, gaining strength and resistance to even possessing unique capabilities.

Needless to say: if animals went through such evolution in places where the Veil is thin, we may expect that they'll experience even more violent changes once the Veil's torn.

... And why wouldn't they? They'd effectively live in a world where almost everything is possible and magic permeates everything, and living creatures have many fantastic shapes and likely shapeshifting powers:



We know that there were even more exotic animals during Veilless times whose fate was likely sealed when the Veil dropped, though for some reason some of them went extinct even before Solas changed the world.

As for me... I'm sort of waiting for a revelation that many animals may not be animals, but sentient beings, maybe even elves, that for one reason or another (many of them likely linked to Veil appearing) were stuck in animal forms and... forgot how to shapeshift, only to eventually forget about their past selves. This is not an uncommon trope in fiction, and Dragonage is quite tropey if we're being quite honest here (I'm not saying that this is a bad thing, but even DA's writers say that it was their intent: to utilize many common fantasy tropes and archetypes).

... I'm also sort of expecting some kind of 'nightmare fuel' story about creation of halla, because they do creep me out a bit - especially after I bothered to spend some time to actually look at elven grafitti (last two from ones linked above) that suggest that halla is NOT something that came up naturally, and either tries to tell us there are elves trapped inside or that frikking halla ATE the elves (!)... not to mention that they're splashed with red, which suggests relation to either blood magic or Blight

And here I'm wondering he's smoking for the smoke to be that black... Must be lots of tar in there. Can't be good for the lungs.

Edit: Also, WTF i the deal with Flemmythal's head? It's so big!

This was done with flycam so it's probably the camera angle. 

In The World of Thedas Vol. 2, there are several pages of something referred to as the "Grim Anatomy." Whoever wrote it was particularly interested in animal eyes. The caption associated with the first page of the "Grim Anatomy" reads as follows:

The author of this book, dubbed the "Grim Anatomy" by its finders, dissects various creatures using unorthodox methods. The resulting diagrams illustrate in great detail how nugs, giants, wyverns, and others look on the inside. Careful study is paid to the eyes of the nug. Based on the drawings and a limited deciphering of the text, the author seems all but obsessed with understanding what animals see and how this might differ from our own perception of reality.

Paired with this codex entry I wonder if Thedosian animals might not actually be affected by the Veil - or at least not affected by it the same way that "higher" animals like elves, dwarves, humans, and qunari are:

I detest this notion that the Veil is some manner of invisible "curtain" that separates the world of the living from the world of the spirits (whether it be called the Fade or the Beyond is a matter of racial politics I refuse to indulge in at the moment). There is no "this side" and "that side" when it comes to the Veil. One cannot think of it as a physical thing or a barrier or even a "shimmering wall of holy light" (thank you very much for that image, Your Perfection).

Think of the Veil, instead, as opening one's eyes.

Before you opened them, you saw our world as you see it now: static, solid, unchanging. Now that they are open, you see our world as the spirits see it: chaotic, ever-changing, a realm where the imagined and the remembered have as much substance as that which is real—more, in fact. A spirit sees everything as defined by will and memory, and this is why they are so very lost when they cross the Veil. In our world, imagination has no substance. Objects exist independently of how we remember them or what emotions we associate with them. Mages alone possess the power to change the world with their minds, and perhaps this forms the nature of a demon's attraction to them—who can say?

Regardless, the act of passing through the Veil is much more about changing one's perceptions than a physical transition. The Veil is an idea, it is the act of transition itself, and it is only the fact that both living beings and spirits find the transition difficult that gives the Veil any credence as a physical barrier at all.

—From A Dissertation on the Fade as a Physical Manifestation, by Mareno, Senior Enchanter of the Minrathous Circle of Magi, 6:55 Steel

But later pages of the "Grim Anatomy" seem to suggest the author's interest in eyes is for an entirely different reason.
And then everything goes to heck.

The last pages of the Grim Anatomy are largely unreadable, torn, and singed. It's as if someone attempted to destroy the book. What little can be made out speaks of rot and emptiness. The accompanying diagrams are bizarre, no longer resembling the physiology of any known animal but instead a mess of overlapping and interconnected geometric shapes.

However, knowing that Dragon Age's writers, creative director, and producer like messing with their players' minds, and also that the World of Thedas books reflect a Thedosian's understanding of the world and not necessarily the truth, I'm not sure that the assumption that the Grim Anatomy is about demon possession is not a red herring.

LoL, jesting on the chicken thing. Just a mental image I had about dinner arguing with you XD

Funny that I always thought of Qunari are elves who's dna has been altered a bit by that of a dragon. And imagined Ghilan's temple are full of them functioning as guardians, being stronger and more aggressive compared to the 'boring and usual' Sentinels.

And the 'reagents' she's talking to? Why do I get a feeling that they're captured humans?
If they treat fellow elves with lesser power like dirt, I'm not sure they'd even look at the other species as 'people' ??