Tevinter Nights - Spoiler Thread

I could definitely see the end of an era for the Dalish, which is quite sad when you think about it considering how hard they've tried to preserve their culture.

I think it would be hard for any Dalish to suddenly forget their legends and ally with Fen'Harel too, especially since it's common knowledge he is the leader behind the "cult". Perhaps some Dalish would join him in the hopes of a better future and life, but considering they distrust him and their legends paint him as a monster, joining him on the premise of trust and hope seems foolish. Based on the epilogue slides and the stories in TN it looks like his agents are mostly sourced from the servants/slave class rather than the Dalish. His agents certainly seem to acting on the hope that their actions will free their gods too. I also wonder if that's Solas' true intentions or just a side effect of the veil being destroyed, knowing that he often speaks exactly what he means.

Solas also says he "is not the monster the Dalish painted" yet a few sentences later "I would not have you see what I become" when an Inquisitor asks to join him. So, maybe the Dalish legends of him as a monster (and the propaganda found in Trespasser) actually do hold a grain of truth.

Or... A Titan? Dun dun duuuun!!!   (sorry, I couldn't resist!)

Given how society is set up in this setting, that's going to be a whole lot of peoples' first reaction. And even if the City Elves escape the misplaced blame (that's a big if) Gervaise is right that the Dalish are in danger no matter how many or few of them join in Solas's plot. (That might even be that.)

Well according to Drakon (assuming his prophesy is accurate and this is a reference to the Titans):

Seventy times seventy men of stone immense
Rose up from the earth like sleepers waking at the dawn
Crossing the land with strides immeasurable
And in the hollows of their footprints
Paradise was stamped, indelible.

That you see is Solas' master plan, open the Fade, awaken the Titans and then good luck with everyone else avoiding being squished.

Forget about the "fires of chaos". If dropping the Veil releases/awakens Titans, Evanuris, Old Gods, Great Dragons and whatever else is out there we don't know about, it is hardly surprising the mere mortals of the world won't stand a chance in what follows.

(A small part of me actually wants him to succeed just so I can see the cinematic visuals )

Fade-touched creatures are double the size of regular creatures so I'm expecting fights against behemoth monsters regardless if they are dragons or not.

Ohh yeah remember how massive Samson got chugging red lyrium? now imagine that in the fade Actually maybe that explains why the deep roads are so tall to begin with.

Not to mention how it allows him to levitate an entire mountain. That takes some doing. However, just a small piece in the hands of Bartrand was causing stuff to levitate in that house. So when it actually infuses your being and you have a magic channelling orb, it is hardly surprising. I notice how they glossed over what should actually have happened when something that big fell back suddenly to earth.

Still it is interesting that the Avvar claim the Lady of the Skies did something similar with the mountain top that was home to the gods. It would explain why the Black City is the one fixed point in the Fade that doesn't change, because it was never part of the Fade to begin with but lifted up into it before the Veil was activated, possibly in order to quarantine whatever was inside it.

I also find it curious how many different versions of the motivations behind the Magisters have been given over time. Some say that they already knew the throne was empty and that is why they went there to claim it. Others say they were going at the direction of the Old Gods in order to be given power by them. Corypheus sounded as though that was something they discovered along with the darkness but hadn't known beforehand. That makes more sense. If you think your gods live in the Fade City why would the throne be empty? I'd still like to know why sitting in the empty throne is meant to give you power?

The version that says they knew the throne was empty, also says they thought going to the Fade City and claiming it would grant them immortality, making them gods. Now actually that was true in a way, since it did give Corypheus effective immortality like the Evanuris but in his case it does seem to be through embracing the darkness and letting it "permeate his being". So may be it is a throne of darkness now. If the original throne was made from lyrium, I would guess sitting on it might have some lasting effect. So now it is a throne of red lyrium; still a lasting effect but with a definite downside.

In the Canticle of Andraste the Maker is referred to as the Voice of Creation and the Chantry have said lyrium is the stuff of creation and its song is the voice of the maker. So if the red lyrium is its opposite then that would make it the Voice of Destruction and the stuff of annihilation. Is there an Anti-Maker out there that has yet to be revealed and lives in the Void?

Cullen does seem to forget who he is entirely if he continues taking blue lyrium and he has some creepy looking eyes in some of the scenes too. Mythal was supposedly able to calm Elgar'nan and Andruil too and I wonder if it was also through the use of lyrium, like an ancient version of tranquillity.

The templar's abilities are interesting though, because they are able to reinforce reality with blue lyrium. In contrast, red lyrium seems to do the opposite and gives users the ability to change physical form and even defy laws of gravity within the unchanging world eg. Corypheus and Meredith could both "fly", Corypheus also rose a mountain through will and the combination of the orb and blight magic.

Perhaps the elves used red lyrium as a means of bringing some of their fade magic into the unchanging world so they could pull off effective immortality while also doubling their power.

"The unchanging world is delicate: spells of power invite disaster and annihilation. The unchanging world is stubborn: the pull of the earth fiercely resists making fire run like water or stone rise like mist. The unchanging world rings with its own harmony. Listen with fearless hearts, and great works will unfold."

Since it's highly likely the evanuris are themselves tainted and in fact embraced blight magic in order to control mass created armies like what Ghilan'nain was doing in Hormak, I have also been wondering if the old gods were created using red lyrium as a means to challenge and absorb the powers from the great dragons that ruled the skies at the time.
 

I also wonder about the yellow-green lyrium in Hormak...is it a corrupted form of blue lyrium, or is there is in fact a green version of lyrium? I remember there were green lyrium rocks in the hissing wastes which I always found odd because it was nowhere near the conclave (although it was also the location which a blight turned into desert, which may have something to do with it). Varric also mentions "glowing fade rocks" appeared in Kirkwall's docks in Trespasser.


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This does remind me of another thing too, the mysterious it in the black city.

Flemeth implies the song in red lyrium is the true source of the blight- "so long as the music plays we dance". And in the rune in the hidden mural in Trespasser: 
"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."

To go along with this Cole also says in the fade:
They still remember when they were higher, before it woke up and everything fell.

Corypheus also says this in one of his memory crystals:
Calpernia prepares to set foot in the place where regret dwells. To bring it into the light. She cannot know what must be done. Cannot understand. In time, she will forgive.

Corypheus clearly has some inside knowledge on what it is. Mythal also seemingly has something to do with it, because according to Corypheus, the well of sorrows is full of regret. And according to Flemeth, she knows regret well.

So, who/what is the mysterious it? I interpreted the skyhold codex to mean Solas raised the veil when the rebellion was threatened. I previously thought the threat to the rebellion was Mythal's death, but what if her death arose from it - one of the evanuris' own creations?

Perhaps Solas raised the veil in a rush because it was in fact a serious threat to everyone at the time and not the evanuris themselves.

The red lyrium is different, darker. Daggers under the skin. It eats you inside until you're nothing. They hear a different song. The song behind the door old whispers want opened. They are dead and dark and done.

When Tamlen describes what he's seeing in the eluvian, he says "it saw me". And both times when Tamlen is tainted and also when Duncan shatters the eluvian, there are audible whispers and malevelont growls that emanate from it.

So I wonder if we'll see this creature in DA4, and if it is in any way linked to why Ghilan'nain is now starting to rebuild her army of monsters.

They also appear on each side of the building at the ruins in the wending woods which I thought was interesting.

There's also the three headed dog at the temple of sacred ashes which always stands out to me because it's never referenced to anywhere in the game. It's just there like it's guarding the place (along with the falon'din statue and the war and peace statues) and it's creepy.



There is also this banner which is reused a lot:

Not sure if it means anything but the ouroboros reminds me of Razikale. 

Well, Cole describes Red Lyrium, Titans blood, as "angry." He also says this about the Titans:

"It's singing. A they that's an it that's asleep, but still making music."

I can only assume that the "it" are the Titans. You know how the Grey Wardens had to seal Cory because they didn't know how to defeat him? I wonder, if the Titans were so powerful, why they're "asleep" and not dead. If the Titans are all connected, I almost wonder if the Evanuris simply killed pieces of the Titans (rings familiar with Solas "severed arm" comment), chipping them away like Stone, yet not powerful enough to do much more than that. The solution to this may have been to put them to sleep, or tranquility. I want to bring up a very interesting banter between Cassandra and Solas:

Cassandra: Solas, I assume you know it's possible to reverse the Rite of Tranquility.
Solas: I did hear of what you learned, yes.
Cassandra: I know of only one mage thus cured, and... he had no control of his emotions. He was distraught.
Cassandra: Do you think that would have passed? If the Tranquil are cured only to end up thus...
Solas: They would be a danger to themselves and others, yes.
Solas: It is difficult to say. In your Vigil, you were Tranquil for but a moment. They have suffered much longer.
Solas: Such control is like a muscle, atrophying without use. Given time it might be restored, but until then...
Cassandra: That may be a risk we are obligated to undertake.
Solas: They will be grateful... even the ones who do not survive

If the Titans are tranquil, they'd have been tranquil for aeons. If it were to wake up and be cured, well, according to Solas, it'd be a disaster. I almost wonder if the Evanuris "cured" a tranquil Titan by not connecting it to The Fade, but rather, The Void or where The Blight comes from ? Or possibly it was already connected to the such things and Mythal put it to sleep, but the Evanuris woke it up. Solas would then have to put it asleep again, as it would have caused mass destruction.

That line of Solas's that they will be grateful...even if they do not survive...is supppeeer interesting given his opinion on modern day people of Thedas that we are all essentially Tranquil and his overall plans.  

Is it pure arrogance?  Is this a sign he is just drunk on power and thinks he knows what's best?
Is it him trying to reassure himself that he is doing the right thing?  
Does it have some deeper meaning?

Hmm, I suppose I need to hear the banter.