In several released images we can see floating rocks, broken mountains, chasms... flying aravel too. In the recently released logo, the words "Dragon age dreadwolf" are drawn in a way that reminds something cracked, losing pieces.
Inside the Fade, floating object, rocks and isles are a common thing. Also, the the same phenomenon occurs near to the Breach, and is even more pronounced at redcliff castle in the alternate timeline. Of course, we can see the same thing in the Vir Dirthara library, suspended between the fade and the material world.
I would say it's safe to assume that the closer you get and the deeper you go into the fade, the less gravity is a factor.
So... if Dragon Age 4 is full of flying stuff, can we assume that we will see the Veil been permanently torn apart, or severely weakened (and so we won't be able to stop Solas)
In several released images we can see floating rocks, broken mountains, chasms... flying aravel too.
Some of us have pointed out that all these images were released before they decided to concentrate on single player, so they could have been something to do with a multi-player module, may be a flash back to an earlier era. Alternatively, may be they are planning on a DLC in the vein of the Darkspawn Chronicles, so you get to see how things would play out in an alternative timeline without our PC where Solas is successful.
However, you are quite correct in suggesting that this is probably a scenario where the Veil has been removed. Either that or someone has punched a hole big enough that this has occurred in a localised area, as happened with Corypheus and the area around the Temple of Sacred Ashes in the finale to DAI. This is a possibility when you consider that all the images appear to show the same general area with similar trees and rock formations. I would hazard a guess that if this is a localised phenomenon, it is probably in the area of the Arlathan Forest where, according to the short story, Ruins of Reality, weird stuff was happening in response to the appearance of an ancient artifact connected to Ghilan'nain. The (allegedly) Dalish clan who recovered this may end up causing something unfortunate to happen, whether they intend it or not, since there is clearly a whole lot she was mixed up in of which they are unaware.
Would also mention that in the original 2013 trailer for DAI, the Veil was shown as being torn open from one horizon to the other, as opposed to what actually happened in the game and David Gaider indicated when he left the company that the story was only half told in DAI, so it is quite possible that is what happens in DAD. Question is, would that not be until the end of the game or might it be at the very beginning? Then instead of instant destruction, there is just general panic and chaos, plus meteors raining down (as per the 2013 trailer) and our new hero's task is to try and restore the Veil before everyone gets wiped out by the angry Evanuris rampaging across the land looking for Solas. He, of course, has had a "oh shit" moment when his plans for them didn't work and is now hiding out somewhere hoping they won't find him. How do you like the idea so far?
Last Edit: Jun 16, 2022 18:07:32 GMT by gervaise21
You did physically walk in the Fade, but that does not mean the Fade corresponds to physical laws.
It is simple to say that the laws of nature do not apply in the Fade, but while traveling in the Fade is often confusing for mages, it is rarely so chaotic as to defy description. In fact, while the placement of items may seem random, those items usually operate as we would expect them to in the real world. A book opens to show pages, although the pages may be blank or lined with gibberish. A pen and inkwell let a user write, though the pen may write on its own, and the inkwell never runs dry. Those items that float usually hover at the relative height where they would have sat had the objects meant to support them existed—candles suspended in the air as though held by a phantom candlestick, for example.
Why are the laws of the Maker bent but not fully broken? Why does a book not turn into a dragon, or a statue explode into countless shards of energy? The answer, I believe, lies in the fact that the items we see in the Fade were most often made by the hands of men. A statue is a created thing. The mortal hands that shaped it gave it purpose, and it knows what it is meant to do. The objects that strain against the laws of nature are ironically those that are more natural themselves. Great stones, for example, hang in the sky. No hand has ever touched them, no mortal mind shaped them to purpose. I suspect, though we may never know, that if dwarves dreamt and shaped the Fade with their own perceptions, the rocks would not float.
—From The Shape of the Fade by Enchanter Ephineas Aserathan
You did physically walk in the Fade, but that does not mean the Fade corresponds to physical laws.
It is simple to say that the laws of nature do not apply in the Fade, but while traveling in the Fade is often confusing for mages, it is rarely so chaotic as to defy description. In fact, while the placement of items may seem random, those items usually operate as we would expect them to in the real world. A book opens to show pages, although the pages may be blank or lined with gibberish. A pen and inkwell let a user write, though the pen may write on its own, and the inkwell never runs dry. Those items that float usually hover at the relative height where they would have sat had the objects meant to support them existed—candles suspended in the air as though held by a phantom candlestick, for example.
Why are the laws of the Maker bent but not fully broken? Why does a book not turn into a dragon, or a statue explode into countless shards of energy? The answer, I believe, lies in the fact that the items we see in the Fade were most often made by the hands of men. A statue is a created thing. The mortal hands that shaped it gave it purpose, and it knows what it is meant to do. The objects that strain against the laws of nature are ironically those that are more natural themselves. Great stones, for example, hang in the sky. No hand has ever touched them, no mortal mind shaped them to purpose. I suspect, though we may never know, that if dwarves dreamt and shaped the Fade with their own perceptions, the rocks would not float.
—From The Shape of the Fade by Enchanter Ephineas Aserathan
this is certainly true from the perspective of a mage (or human) who consciously enters the fade.
But we know that the fade is not simply the realm of dreams, accessible only by spiritual and metaphysical ways. it is something also physical, concrete, existing, that can interact with material realities, influence them.
The breach, the inquisitor physically entering the fade, the suspended elven library. The stronger the interaction between fade and the material world, the closer the interconnection and proximity between the two worlds, the more it seems that the physical laws of the material world are distorted.
In these cases there is no "mind shaping reality, imagining flying rocks within the fade." It is real rocks, made of stone, that are flying around, in the material world.
In these cases there is no "mind shaping reality, imagining flying rocks within the fade." It is real rocks, made of stone, that are flying around, in the material world.
This is the essential difference between what happens in the Fade as against the Waking World. Removing the Veil would not alter this. Solas admits that whilst you could easily pass from one to the other in ancient times, there was a demarcation between the two. Otherwise the natural world would not exist, although the elves did have some part in creating it. For example, it was the elves who planted the Brecillian Forest and the Lady of the Forest was a spirit that connected itself to the area or was summoned there to act as a guardian, since she remained there once the Veil was raised and that is where Zathrian found her; he didn't summon a spirit from the Fade but the land itself.
The spirit instructor in the memory in Trespasser also has this to say: "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."
So it acknowledges that there is a difference in how magic works in the Unchanging World and the Fade. It even makes reference to gravity (the pull of the earth). Yet we know from DA2 that lyrium, or rather red lyrium, can apparently nullify the effect of gravity. The elves also succeeded in creating a bridge between the two states of reality in the Crossroads and associated areas. Magic drawn directly from the Fade was clearly an important factor in this since the Veil resulted in wholesale destruction occurring. Even though the Crossroads was not destroyed, it is gradually breaking down (we can sense this in DAI given the right conditions).
Taking all this into consideration, simply removing the Veil should not result in what Corypheus was able to do, nor in what we see in the concept art. In the case of Corypheus, this did not occur simply because he punched another hole in the Veil, otherwise we would not have been able to approach the area at all. Instead it was some sort of spell that he performed that did this, no doubt possible because the hole in the Veil allowed him to draw on far more magic than was possible before by means of the orb. So thinking about it, this does not automatically mean Solas was successful in lowering the Veil. It seems far more likely that it is a localised effect that has resulted from opening a channel to the Fade and then utilising the flow of magic from their by means of some sort of artifact. Again, my thoughts return to that statue of a halla in Tevinter Nights. Could it be that was the foci of Ghilan'nain? If so, then foci do not have to take the form of an orb and there could be others out there if we can identify them. For example, perhaps that spear spoken of in the Temple of Mythal in connection with Andruil was her foci, in which case the creature shown in the concept art could be using the same. "She shook the radiance of the stars, divided them into grains of light, then stored them in a shaft of gold." She took lyrium and created from them a focus for magical energy, which she could then direct (throw) against her target.
Taking all this into consideration, simply removing the Veil should not result in what Corypheus was able to do, nor in what we see in the concept art. In the case of Corypheus, this did not occur simply because he punched another hole in the Veil, otherwise we would not have been able to approach the area at all.
but we se the same effect (floating rocks) during the prologue... maybe it is a colleteral effect of using the orb, or a side effect of the veil itself (which if I correctly remember, is a sort of "magical vibration" repelling the Fade and the Waking World.
So if the Veil has a repulsive effect, removing it could cause a sort of... attractive effect.
but we se the same effect (floating rocks) during the prologue... maybe it is a colleteral effect of using the orb, or a side effect of the veil itself
I suppose it is possible that the effect is going to be more pronounced closer to the actual demarcation line. It would make sense that the area was more unstable closer to Fade or, alternatively it is linked to the fact that there is a Breach in the Veil rather than totally removed, so the concentration of magical energy around the hole leads to instability in the surrounding reality. I seem to recall we experience a similar phenomenon in the Dark Future where the Veil has only broken down and widened gradually, resulting in a sort of bleeding between the two states of existence.
Anyway, it does leave them a bit of wiggle room to introduce the sort of scenario we see in the concept art without giving Solas an automatic win with regard to the Veil. May be seeing the localised effects might cause him to change his mind. In the Dark Future he seems genuinely disturbed by what he has encountered there and when he says to you that this future must never happen, in hindsight I think he is speaking as much to his self in the past as to you. Unfortunately, when you return to the present, Solas doesn't seem to want to believe that what you saw was real, instead suggesting it could have been a trick of the Fade. Whilst he appears to accept your word if you insist it was real, he disapproves if you use Dorian's word as confirmation. Again, I don't think this is just because he doesn't trust Dorian as much as it is easier for him to stay in denial if he rejects his testimony. I'm pretty sure whatever chaos he thinks is going to result from him removing the Veil, the Dark Future wasn't what he envisaged.
Last Edit: Jun 17, 2022 12:28:15 GMT by gervaise21
I'm wondering if what we're seeing emanating from the castle in Antiva City is magic designed to strengthen the Veil in the region, shielding it from its collapse elsewhere...
Post by Pounce de León on Jun 17, 2022 15:24:08 GMT
Does BW have a plan or do they just pull stuff from their rear that might look cool to suggest a sense of perpetuity? Sorry, been cliffhanged once too often.
I'm wondering if what we're seeing emanating from the castle in Antiva City is magic designed to strengthen the Veil in the region, shielding it from its collapse elsewhere...