The Crazy Theory Center

Wellll I do think that 'Red Lyrium' is essentially Titan blood from an enraged Titan basically.  I mean my idea does borrow heavily from the kind of things we see in Star Wars with 'Dark Side Corruption' just (hopefully) better written and the idea is that if a Titan becomes that mad with rage it probably wouldn't care about its chidren anymore.  It'd want to just kill and destroy everything...to get itself free.  Though I suppose the Titan's relationship could be that of normal Titan's and their children/ especialy the Sha Brytol.  That it desires to reconnect with something but the Darkspawn are now the only thing that could be related to and hear its call.  Whether or not it can control them?  Maybe not...or at least not yet.  But it could compel them like Corypheus compelled Darkspawn and even other Wardens while he was slumbering....and trapped in his own prison...in the Deep Roads.  Hmm.  

I do one hundred percent agree with you about the Scaled Ones though.  As of now basically all the ancient races and their modern equivalents have been accounted for.  I mean I'm not sure they are Elves but it is likely that they would eventually become the modern Qunari.  

- I think the red lyrium is an autoimmune response from the titans
- as a response to the elves killing them and mining their corpses
- it had the same effects back then as it does now. I think Trespasser has a codex entry which mentions something awful that was found in the mine and that made the powers that be seal it. I think Mythal recognized the threat (although I also think she was integral in the initial decision to kill/mine the titans) but the other evanuris didn't/were too enamored with the power it offered.
- Mythal kept the others away from the red lyrium, they grew resentful and eventually killed her
- Arlathan became the hub for red lyrium or they took some especially potent piece from the titans and kept it there
- Solas recognized the threat it posed + driven by a desire to avenge Mythal decided to erect the Veil
- the erection of the Veil sundered the dualities of the elves and some of their creations. The Black City is spirit!Arlathan holding the trapped evanuris and some uber-red lyrium. There's also a physical Arlathan though I'm not sure how much it'd mirror the spirit one.
- the creation of the Veil also split the Evanuris between a spirit form (trapped in the Black City) and a physical form (the Old Gods).
- for some reason their physical bodies act as seals, keeping their consciousness/will/potence largely safely locked up
- but not entirely
- they contacted the early Imperium through dreams and gradually manipulated them into entering the Black City.
- it looked Golden cuz that's how the Evanuris wanted it to look but it was always Black
- the Blight is weaponized/viralized red lyrium malice + Evanuris intent
- it corrupts people into searching out the Evanuris's quiescent bodies, corrupting and awakening them forcing their murder and the breaking of a seal.
- when the last seal is killed the Blights will be over but something way waaay worse is gonna emerge from the Black City

I also have a pet theory that right now isn't the first time Solas and Mythal futzed about with the course of history, I think they might have been the leading figures in the first Exalted March (ie Andraste and the Maker/Shartan) when Solas first recognized the threat the Evanuris still posed and wanted to do something about it. Mythal initially agreed but her immersion in the world of humans led her to see value Solas didn't which eventually led her to abandon his plan/fake her death/not actually fake her death but kinda and get burned at the stake. Which led to him going to sleep for a long time.

So the core tragedy with Solas is that he's not wrong. The as-is world really is doomed, you either let the Bight consume and corrupt everything or you kill the last seal and let the Evanuris wreak havoc. Something about tearing down the Veil before the Evanuris escape evidently offers some kind of hope for a more permanent solution to the threat they/red lyrium/the Blight represents. If I'm correct I think the potentialities for his character can go one of two main ways here: 1) he's ultimately a hero who has made mistakes in the past (creating the Veil, genociding his people when maaaybe there was a different way, maybe) but is correct/will 'redeem' himself now with the second genocidal necessity 2) Solas is ultimately, fundamentally and tragically true to his name. It was pride that made him create the Veil, thinking he saw all the angles and had prepared for all the contingencies, pride that made him discount what the evanuris were capable of even locked up, pride that made him discount the magical ability of other races in piercing the Veil/entering the Black city, pride that made him give the Orb to Corypheus and thinking he'd blow himself up opening it and at the end of it all it's still pride in his intellect that makes him think this second go at genocide will fix things, swearsies.

I personally find that second narrative much more compelling/poignant, especially with how Solas is characterized, as this ostensibly introverted, thoughtful, self-aware, remorseful but willing to do what's necessary kind of person but, if the second one is true, who remains blind to certain core flaws/implicit motives and keeps perpetuating personal tragedies, personal tragedies that also happen to wreck the world. But I've spoken with people on here that makes me think the first is just as likely.

The thing is the first narrative would mean that essentially the only sensible choice is to let Solas complete his plan because the world is doomed either way and thus we become complicit in the genocide of the races. Whereas the second narrative would make a more compelling story because our PC is not just working to stop Solas but to find an alternative solution to the darkspawn problem. Redeeming Solas with the second option would be by convincing him that we have found an alternative to his vision, the alternative simply being to kill him because either you didn't bother trying or he didn't believe you.

The darkspawn and the Blight have been central to the narrative right back to the first game so it makes sense that eventually we are going to discover not only how it started but how to stop it. Everything else that we have been involved in has been going on despite the underlying (literally) threat to existence. It is the problem the Grey Wardens face between every Blight; once it is no longer on the surface people forget about it and go back to their normal lives and problems associated with that. Most of the theories already posted are not that crazy really and the final reveal will probably have elements of them all. From DAO onwards there have been clues that the pious version given in the Chant is only part of the story:

- The dwarves have always insisted that the Blight began in the Deep Roads
- The Stone has to be protected from the Gangue corruption.
- Red lyrium is a strange kind of lyrium that has an adverse effect on the minds of those who spend time near it.
- The Stone, lyrium, red lyrium,arch-demons and titans all give out some sort of song that attract those attuned to them.
- Not all darkspawn are the same. The Magisters became sentient darkspawn, corrupted but still with an independence of thought.
- Darkspawn reproduce by stealing away the females of the various races and corrupting them into brood-mothers.
- Dragons have a degree of resistance to the taint so it takes far longer to corrupt them.
- The elven gods took the form of dragons.
- There were two factions: the Creators and the Forgotten Ones - it is still not clear who the term Evanuris referred to.
- The Forgotten Ones were said to live in the Void.
- The Void is variously an existential realm but also interchangeable with the Abyss which is somewhere accessible in the world.
- The Maker is referred to as the Wellspring by Andraste and the Abyss is also the Well of Souls which seems to be in the Fade.
- In the Descent the place where we encounter the titan is known as the Wellspring.
- Lyrium is the blood of titans.
- Titans are disturbed by large scale influxes of magic or magical events.
- Elgar'nan is known as the Firstborn of the Sun. Probably this means he was the first of the spirits that crossed from the Fade to the world and became the first elf. In this case the Sun = Titan = Earth and material existence. The other original "Creators" were probably nature spirits that took on earthly forms. At first this didn't cause problems but only after they started to use magic to produce non-natural creations.
- The ancient elves used magic to create cities and other wonders on the earth. This disturbed one or more titans which destroyed them.
- Mythal and Elgar'nan at the very least fought a battle with the titans because they were destroying their creations.
- The Dalish legend has Elgar'nan throwing down the sun into the earth because it destroyed the things he loved.
- Mythal found a compromise that involved the sun being put to sleep but still allowed to live as it was necessary for life.
- Afterwards they were able restore what had been destroyed with the sun's help: the legend seems likely to be remembering the war with the titans and using their blood to rebuild and enhance their creations.
- Ghilan'nain, originally a priestess of Andruil, was elevated to godhood. She seems to have conducted many experiments breeding hybrid animals that went out of control. Being made a god was the incentive she was given for destroying these creations. However, some were spared, for example the halla, the creatures of the air (griffons?) which she gave to Andruil and the Cetus (sea dragons/monsters) because "Pride" stayed her hand (was this a way of saying Solas persuaded her, possibly at the request of Mythal?) It is likely the Kossith were another of her experiments, probably conducted in secret after she was made a goddess.
- ? The bit that has yet to be explained. The elves went too far and this resulted in the creation of red lyrium.
- Mythal probably recognised its dangers and tried to prevent the others from using it.
- Already becoming influenced by the red lyrium, the others struck back and killed Mythal.
- Solas and his followers locked away the corruption and corrupted creatures in the Deep Roads. He also raised the Veil which trapped the Evanuris as well.
- Raising the Veil resulted in the destruction of many elven constructs. It is likely that the original Arlathan was a city which spanned the divide between Fade and material world, so the Veil severed it in two, the Fade half being sealed off in the Fade and the Thedas half falling beneath the sea (see Maryden's song about this).
- Over the centuries that followed the corrupted creatures continued to breed but were trapped by the elven magical seals.
- The Magisters breaking into the Black City also simultaneously broke the seals in the Deep Roads and the darkspawn started to spread.
- The Old Gods/arch-demons are likely either a split-soul Creator Evanuris or manifestation of the Forgotten Ones. May be they had already been corrupted with red lyrium and that is why they were sealed away deep in the earth but whatever the case, they went into Uthenera whilst awaiting their release. Over time the corruption became complete, overcoming the dragon's natural resistence. So darkspawn tunnelling through to them isn't what corrupts them but what wakes them.
- Killing the arch-demon doesn't remove it completely from existence as the Grey Wardens think but releases the spirit back to the Fade or possibly the Void if that is where the Evanuris are trapped, just as happened with Mythal, where it waits, possibly to be reunited with its other half once Solas drops the Veil or simply released if the reunion has already occurred. Hence Flemeth/Mythal wanting to capture that power and prevent it reuniting because that weakens the opposition. Also why Solas is so against killing the remaining arch-demons.
- ? How Solas feels that removing the Veil is going to fix things. There are the beliefs of the Promissors and also the suggestion in Drakon's vision (Canticle of Exaltations) that the current world is so corrupt that it has to be cleansed with fire and begin again. It is possible that he intends using the Crossroads to keep his followers safe so they can re-populate once it is done.
- ? May be we shall discover not all the Evanuris were guilty of the crime and some still wish to restore the world without genocide.
- ? May be using spirits can help in healing the current world. Benign compassion spirits are already used by spirit healers but there are other spirits of faith and hope, the latter said to be the most powerful and rare of spirits. This is because there is so little real faith in the world and more reasons for people to despair than hope. It would explain why "the Maker" was encouraging the spread of faith as a pre-cursor to healing the world. Freeing all the slaves in the world would give a huge number of people "hope" for a better future. So something along these lines would give our hero something positive to do to counter Solas' plans and yet still cleanse the world of the Blight. May be their ultimate aim is to become the embodiment of "Hope" so the most powerful of spirits will come to our aid.

gervaise21 regarding the lyrium part, there's also the thing revealed during Varric's quest with Bianca
Bianca reveals she has studied red lyrium (either the idol piece that Varric kept or the thaig itself)
she says the red lyrium has the Blight, which she says should be impossible if it was merely a mineral since only animals can get the Blight, which partially already confirms that lyrium is alive...and must therefore come from something that is also alive

The idols ears are apparently rounded like a human's though.  Which does not completley discount the theory but I think there is more going on with its imagery per se..more the idea that there seems to be a lot of repeating imagery in Dragon Age.  

This is more of a thematic/ meta/ in world perspective theory...but your post makes me think that it might be kind of funny if the Dwarves are the ones that end up being super environmentally consious...at least out of the ancient races.  Elves are typically portrayed as the ones who are the 'tree huggers' of the races where Dwarves are super industrious/ technical and humans are often in the middle.  And in Dragon Age humans are still portrayed as this way but Morrigan claims that humans trample over everything and destroys everything 'mystical' in the world.  And while she was thinking that the Elves were superior in this regard and part of the mystical past she wants to perserve/ restore in the face of human greed this post indicates that the Elves were just as greedy and just as destructive to the natural order as humanity and it was the Dwarves who are somehow closer to the Earth, or at least the buiders of the Earth.  Of course if you look at the relationship between the Dwarves and Titans via the Sha Brytol I kind of get the feeling that the Titans weren't exactly benign either and the Dwarves were basically mindless...ants.  Not an exisistence I would want.  

Of course at the end of the day one of the things which has always confused me about DA was the ancient timeline or what I at least think is an inconsistency.  Based on what we know it seems kind of *obvious* that the Elves were mining Lyrium which led them into conflict with the Dwarves.  This is the war that Solas was probably talking about and the war which likely led...somehow...to the formation of Red Lyrium.  But...why?  Why would the Elves want to mine Lyrium when the Veil hadn't been formed and the Fade and the World were the same?  I mean it would make much more sense to me if they wanted to mine Lyrium AFTER Solas created the Veil in order to try and recapture their Empire...but the timeline does not support that.  

Unless (and I literally just thought of this) that Lyrium was mined specifically by Solas's (and probaby Mythal's) rebels as weapons in the first place because we 'know' that even in a pre Veil world there were some Eves that were more equa then others (I've personally always thought these were the dreamers ike Feynreal, the ability to control the Fade in a Pre Veil world would've been devestating) and that the mining of Lyrium was the only way to even the scales...which then ironically bought them into conflict with the Dwarven gods.  lol wouldn't it just be hilarious if we found out Solas is the one who *acidentally* started the war between the Elves and Dwarves in the first place?

(This post was a lot longer and more rambly then I intended, my appologies) 

I'd like to point out that the Fade has been pretty consistently (even if not overtly) linked to elements of fire and air, while Titans to earth and water.

So this may just not be about the dragons (also, not all dragons in that universe use fire). I've always suspected that Titans/Stone and Fade may be two sides of the same coin; a duality of sorts that are interlinked with one another. After all lyrium - the source of magic on Thedas's side - is Titan's blood and it is a substance that is connected with the Fade (I mean... magic IS the Fade, essentially, so that's kinda a given).

Also, if the Blight is indeed linked with Titans, it may be the equivalent of Fade's Void.

I'd also posit that ancient elvhen weren't just dragon form stealers - I think they WERE dragons and that at the time they may have been little to no distinction between the two. I wouldn't be surprised if dragon was the first or most powerful form of the First of the People, hence why it may be considered sacred, or why only Evanuris or whomever they favored was allowed to use that form while those of lower rank seem to have been punished for that.

So, here's my craziest theory for now - I think the idea that many creatures we see today (dragons, halla, etc) may have been elves/spirits/a lot more sentient once, only the magical conundrum during the Veil creation (and potentially many deeds of Evanuris during wars and subjugation of people under their rule) may have 'locked' them into one form and they forgot who they are. It's not an uncommon trope in fiction.
Nnnnot really? Solas mentions that there was a big war that has eventually elevated them on position of godhood and all signs point to the conflict with Titans to be that war. At that time those who later became Evanuris may have been considered powerful leaders who may have led elves to victory, but that was probably some time before Evanuris were even a thing.
While I agree that locking under earth may be the way to imprison powerful creatures at time of Evanuris I don't necessarily think that they simply imprisoned dragons because they wanted to replace/impersonate them, given that I don't think the Evanuris were mere dragon impersonators. Whoever they may have imprisoned - maybe in form of dragons - were likely their political rivals or whoever else they wanted to eliminate, subjugate or... well... bury.

I'd also like to point out that while the Titans are very closely associated with earth and stone itself they were probably the first ones to be entirely buried underground, imprisoned and then cultivated - there's a substantial amount of suggestions here and there that Titans/their power may have been treated as nourishment for magical, enormous plants which played a very important role in Elvhen culture (especially ginormous trees). The whole 'elves are close to nature' thing doesn't really seem as innocuous if one pays attention to such details It may even be that plants may have played a vital role in literally sustaining the Elvhan civilization and those plants themselves may have been sustaining on whoever an whatever the Elves have buried underground and intended to drain

Huh, i can't say i've thought of the idea of titans being buried before. Ever since playing the dlc I've sought of assumed that their bodies make up the earth not that their buried in it, any time you're walking, you're walking on a Titan, and dirt and trees and animals are just what happened to settle down on top of them. Perhaps the spirits/elves/dragons were drawn to this more physical plane they created by connecting to together and are the ones who placed plants and (non dwarf) animals upon it. Or became those plants and animals themselves?

Orrrr... they could be parts of a bigger whole. Like the Stone is earth as a whole while Titans are either its offspring or intrinsic parts. Kinda like dwarves are suggested to be offspring of Titans. Perhaps together they form a collective consciousness of sorts.

I also think that Titans may be 'Pillars of the Earth' because they support physical creation, but not by its body, but by their will/magical power.

Think about it - Templars who use lyrium draw from its power to 'reinforce reality'. Cassandra uses powers that effectively work the same, but unlike Templars she draws directly from the Fade - through her bond with Faith spirit. So 'reinforcing reality' appears to be still a work of will and belief.

Titans may be so massive/powerful (and primordial and probably quite knowledgeable) that they basically 'exude' reality, even when subjugated.

Anyway... while we don't know much of context for this image and can't really tell how much of it is symbolic and how much is literal (doesn't necessarily have to be one or the other ), there is one picture (Solas's mural, actually) that appears to depict a Titan: