Who created the idols, who is she and why?

I suspect that it's a relic from pre-Veil times, likely connected to the Evanuris.

As someone who skipped DA2 (because ugh), I am at a complete loss for the idol and its significance other than that is is linked to red lyrium which is baaaaaaad.

It might be there because of what it represents. Perhaps who made it, why, what it does, and/or who it depicts will be whats important to da4/Solas's plan.

Or maybe there's just more than one, if it is depicting Mythal maybe there's one for each of the Evanuris?

It may not indicate an idol that is still in existence (the first one allegedly having been destroyed to create Meredith's sword) but is symbolic of what the idol represents.   However, remember that Meredith transformed into a lyrium statue and was apparently still in the Gallows according to Varric and the comic series Knight Errant. 



My bet is that it is symbolic of Mythal or more likely her corpse. We know that red lyrium can grow on any organic thing, even small microbes in the soil so her corpse could have been a feeding ground for the substance. Solas suggested at the site of the Conclave explosion that the red lyrium we find on the surface there had been caused by the magical backlash corrupting the lyrium. We know from DAO and Oghran that apparently the entire mountain was a huge lyrium deposit (dead titan?). It would seem that it was also the site of a shrine to Mythal and we know from Trespasser that she was behind a major lyrium mining operation at the time of the ancient elves. So if Mythal was killed in the Deep Roads whilst overseeing/guarding her mining operation, the magic needed to kill her might well have corrupted the lyrium.



I would suggest that it was created by her dwarven followers. When she defeated the titan, she seems to have freed the dwarves from its influence and gave them "dreams". It could be that Sandal was an example of one of these dwarves. He has strange powers, experiences visions and had disturbing dreams which featured a frightening lady that sounded a lot like Flemeth. Bodhan found him in the Deep Roads, far below the normal levels and in an area of murals depicting dwarves, elves, dragons and strange creatures that Bodhan had never encountered.

In Trespasser the elves were said to have discovered something in the Deep Roads that scared them and caused them to seal those levels. It was caused by something that the Evanuris had done. What if it was the corrupted corpse of Mythal? Then when they sealed it away, all those dwarves with it were shut in and died, becoming the profane we discover in DA2 in the ancient thaig. The only thing was we didn't find the corpse but it may be the whole level was sealed off and we only explored a small part of it.

Renn, the dwarven legionnaire who accompanied us in the Descent, suggested that somewhere there must be the original brood-mother that started the Blights and efforts should be made to locate this and destroy it rather than the surviving old gods. Mythal is known as the mother goddess in elven lore and in her elven mural is depicted as a protective mother, so it would make sense in a way that her corrupted corpse gave birth to the darkspawn.

Yeah, I think it’s likely to be either her or Andruil.

Reasons for it to be Mythal: clear associations with freeing dwarves/fighting titans and the “Mythal speaks the Calling” theory.

Reasons for it to be Andruil: associations with the Void, associations with armor of the Void that spread sickness, possibility that she hunted titans, overall hunger for power.

Regardless, it seems pretty likely that some ancient elf thought it would be a splendid idea to kill the literal pillars of the earth (what could go wrong??), and red lyrium was either the consequence of that or a tool they used to do it.

I read about that in a twiter post, not the 3rd figure but the missing left arm so the speculation is that the Iquiz. was prophesies in the Idol (shrug) he did drink from the well if you went that route lol its just guess work time will tell   

Going by Cole banter in DAI, there are stars missing in the sky. I don't think it was a metaphor for lyrium... Also, the spear goes with the a storm (the poem is split into two, the storm part is the description for the item Andruil's gift):

"She shook the radiance of the stars,
divided them into grains of light,
then stored them in a shaft of gold.
Andruil, blood and force,
save us from the time this weapon is thrown.
Your people pray to You.
Spare us the moment we become Your sacrifice.

She took the gathering storm,
trapped its fury in golden limbs,
and strung it with the screams of the south wind.
Andruil, blood and force,
your people pray to you.
Grant that your eye may not fall upon us.
Spare us the moment we become Your prey."

I am reminded of the Whispers in the Red Lyrium dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Note:_Whispers_Written_in_Red_Lyrium


It makes me wonder if the figures in the Idol are the ones whispering?

Since Elves mined titans for Lyrium and they must have known that sooner or later that Titans would run out. So maybe experimented for a "renewable" energy source and they eventually came up with Red Lyrium. Red Lyrium can easily be grown and farmed by using any living things and is somewhat easier to handle in that you don't need dwarves to mine. It also has the power of Taint for additional power boost. To power-hungry elves it might've been the next best thing on paper. They no longer have to rely on whoever controls the Lyrium mines because now they can grow red lyrium using their slaves.

Like what Solas said "you can't outsmart the blight" and many became corrupted. It might explain why so many figures in Elvhen Murals have those red marks on them. That might be red lyrium growth? 

Imshael seems to be familiar with Red Lyrium dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Codex_entry:_Suledin_Keep_Documents
It seems like he was tasked with the growth and harvesting of Red Lyrium and is very familiar with it.