A theory about The Dread Wolf Rises and the plot of the new Dragon Age game
A huge plotpoint is hidden in this image, I think! Let’s take a good close look at this image..
We obviously see Solas and his monstrous form, Fen’Harel. We see the world around them burn and go to waste. We know how important nature and trees are in Elven artwork, so to see a barren, burnt, dead tree.... says enough about the world as it is now, or maybe how Solas sees it.
We see the monstrous form of the Dread Wolf, Fen’Harel, separate from Solas himself. (My guess is that something is not allowing Solas to fully become Fen’Harel again. )
We also see the red lyrium idol from the DA2 storyline. I do not yet know what significance the idol has (perhaps it was elven? In da:o we find ruins of elves living underground. Or it was stolen/taken afterwards. Or maybe it is the remnant of the first Blood Magic ritual done by Ancient Tevinters, presumably at the behest of one of the Old Gods....)
What we do know the significance of is Red Lyrium. The Idol was the first known red lyrium item and it has caused a huge interest in the stuff (red templars and all...). We now know that red lyrium is alive and has the Blight. So the blight might be involved in what is preventing Solas from achieving what he wants.
But we have to go deeper! Look at the circle around the lyrium idol. It has seven bumps on it, of which 5 grey and 2 gold.
In another post, I theorized what the bumps might be. Nations, Elven gods/Evanuris, Major Plot Points.... none of those theories matter anymore, because after discussing it with @haewke we came up with something even better!
What are there 7 of in Thedas, that have huge significance to the world and its history, of which 2 are different from the other 5? The Old Tevinter Dragon Gods!
There were originally 7 Old Gods that the Tevinters worshipped. Read the Dragon Age Wikia page about the old gods for more about their relationship to history and the world as Thedosians know it.
What you need to know now, is that the Old God dragons are asleep (almost like Uthenara.........👀✨) deep beneath the surface and through the ages, get tainted by Darkspawn/The Blight and become Archdemons, leading their Darkspawn breathren to the surface to wreak havoc and destroy the world!!!
To defeat an Archdemon, a Grey Warden must kill the body of the Archdemon to release its Old God soul, which will try to enter the body of its killer, but since there’s already a soul in a Grey Warden, both souls and bodies are destroyed in the process and the day is saved..
However, if the Archdemon is killed (somehow) by someone who is Not A Grey Warden, the Soul will transfer to the nearest (soulless) darkspawn host, where it will transform the body slowly to a more desired form. (Where have we heard or seen that before? Blighted creature dies and transfers to another host to transform back into its old self...... Hmmmmm....) The dragon may be dead, but it will return as soon as it is strong enough and the Blight will not be over yet...
In DA:O, Morrigan offers you a way out of certain death; have one of the wardens make a baby with her. This unborn child will have the mark of a Grey Warden’s soul, without the deadly side effects of the Blight. The Archdemon’s Old God soul will transfer directly into the unborn child and will be safe there, without causing a Blight and without killing its host. However you play the game, Morrigan will eventually get what she wants, which is a child (Kieran) with an Old God Soul.
Skip all the way to DA:I. Flemeth is revealed to be a host to the essence of Mythal. She takes the Old God Soul out of Kieran and into herself, for... whatever reason. Morrigan is now free of Flemeth’s clutches, unless you let her drink from the Well of Sorrows, I suppose.
No matter, because we will continue to go to the scene after you won the battle against Corypheus.
In that scene, we see Solas approach Flemeth/Mythal. We learn that this wasn’t all supposed to happen this way and that Solas has some form of regret about what happened and what’s going to happen. He takes the Old God Soul from Mythal and she (seemingly) perishes.
Well, that is one Old God Soul for Solas. Perhaps this is why she took it away from Kieran and Morrigan, so that Flemeth’s family would no longer be involved in Mythal’s plans... Flemeth might not be so uncaring after all.
But!!!! Back to the image and the circle with the seven bumps and how all of the above has anything to do with it.
For every Old God/Archdemon being awakened, there is a Blight. In da:o your Warden becomes the Hero of Ferelden, Defeater of the Fifth Blight. So we know that it is the Fifth. This means 5 Old God Souls may or may not have been destroyed or scattered. 5 grey bumps on the ring. 5 down, 2 to go........ like the 2 gold bumps on the ring. Lit, maybe, because Solas has acquired those? Or maybe those two are the only ones alive? Perhaps, once all Old God souls are gone, Fen’Harelncan finally be his old self??
What does all of this mean?! I don’t know for sure, but I had to share the things I saw in/thought about the artwork in the teaser trailer! What I do know is that this game will be the one where the events of DA:O, DA2 and DA:I will finally all come together in one big epic story. I think Solas is on a quest to retrieve all the Old God Souls to become some sort of overlord God who has the power to shape the world..... or tear it asunder, to recreate the old Elven world.
Will we have to find the Old Gods before Fen’Harel does? Commit the same Sin the darkspawn do, but without tainting the Old God Dragons? Will we need the Wardens? What does the Lyrium Idol have to do with this? And how many Old God Souls are still scattered throughout the world, and will we learn what the truth is behind all the gods, pantheons and supposed rulers of this world? I PERSONALLY CAN’T WAIT TO FIND OUT!!