What was the lesson in Cassandra's personal quest?

Lord Sekker Lucius says the world will end.
Solas says the current world must be destroyed so that The Time of the Elves may be restored.
The Promisers base their faith in the world ending and being reborn a paradise.
And in the dark future of In Hushed Whispers, the world is undone by Corypheus.


There's a lot of talk about the end of the world. How Thedas is now a decaying world and must be destroyed in order to be purified.

In this post, I had already discussed how the Black City is at the very heart of Thedas and is likely an ancient Titan - since Titans resemble cities -, probably the first Titan to be born. The Black City is likely the center of Creation - the "Seat of the Maker" -, where the world was born. Since darkness is pouring from that place, it means the heart of the world is indeed tainted. Lucius is not wrong about that. And in order to cleanse it, someone would have to enter the Black City - causing another Blight in the process - and either purify that place or wield the power within and reshape reality.

When Lucius says he sees the future, he's not entirely wrong. Corypheus opening the Fade and storming the Black City would precipitate the end of the world. As for whether he would be succesful in rebuilding it, it's uncertain. Now, Solas claims he can do it. That is also uncertain since we don't know the extent of his powers. He may also not be the right person for the job and may actually make everything worse, given his history of failures.

But the most important point in what Lucius said is that the whole social structure created by the previous Inquisition was indeed based on "lies" about fighting magic. Templars themselves become mages without knowing it and use blood magic by drinking the blood of a Titan. Grey Wardens use blood magic by drinking the Archdemon's blood (aside from other foul things). And dwarves are not unable to dream or to cast magic. They were made Tranquil when Solas cast the Veil, sundered from the Titans. Even Seekers fight magic with magic. They are not immune to possession. They are effectively possessed, becoming, as Lucius said, abominations, not that different from Anders. There's no way to tell where a Seeker's mind begins and where the spirit's influence does. That's probably why Cassandra seems unshakeable in her faith. If she didn't harbour a spirit of faith, would she be so relentless? And let's not forget Solas himself says he felt like he was "walking through a world of Tranquils".

So there we have it. A world full of Tranquils, sundered from the Fade - which does look like a broken world in itself -, where blood magic and possession are frowned upon, but where both actually uphold the very structure of society. A broken world, in Lucius' words.

The point is, the Inquisition created, in Lucius' eyes, an imperfect world, where many things are not what they seem. A social structure meant to crumble from the very start, one that would inevitably lead to war once its inherent flaws were brought to light. Coincidentally, the status quo of Thedas mirrors the situation faced by Solas at the moment. He woke up in a world that looked far worse than the one he used to live in. Ironically, his actions created a worse reality - for him, anyway. And now he feels entitled to "fix it", just as Lucius does.

So I believe Lucius' speech is warning both the Inquisitor and Cassandra about how they might create a worse social structure from the chaos once the war is over, even if they don't mean to do it. Plus, his words also accidentally mirror the current state of affairs in Thedas in a broader scale. Even so, it doesn't mean Lucius, the Inquisitor or Solas are well equipped to save the world. If anything, they might indeed just make matters worse. I guess we'll have to wait for DA4, where I hope players may get to see the Black City for the first time.