DA2 had its problems, but I think part its strength is that we were only given one background to play. As there was only one type of Hawke, our preexisting relationships that make the world feel bigger than the game could play a role in the main plot rather then be relegated to optional side work. Origins had the origin quests with characters that could be revisited later in the game. Inquisition had war table missions and some background specific dialogue choices. But 2 was different.
Because we were restricted to Hawke, the player got to interact with close family and see how those relationships changed throughout the game. Nothing in Inquisition can touch the emotional weight of the Leandra quest because she was Hawke’s mother. A character who we had gone the entire game interacting with. And it was just as important as any other quest in the game. The plot of 2 wasn’t just about saving the world, it was about an individual balancing their own personal relationships with their desire to make their city better. And Hawke feels more real because of it.
I know a lot of people want to see a return of the origin quest and to have a lot of background specific content that’s center stage, but that will be very hard to do with so many of them. I certainly like having the background options, but I don’t think it’s possible to match what DA2 had with them. And that’s okay because it gets to be its own game. I just think 2 deserves it’s laurels now.
Spoilers for The Calling/Awakening (Just the Architect’s plan)
So, a bit of a controversial opinion maybe: the Grey Wardens are not a squeaky clean order. I know everybody wants to defend their Warden, but the Hero of Ferelden is a Warden in name alone until the end of the game. They don’t interact with any other Wardens, deal with none of the bureaucracy, and certainly don’t deal with the Order’s leadership until Awakening. I’ve seen a lot of people say that it is strange what Clarel did, but this isn’t even the first time the Wardens have tried to find the Old Gods and kill them.
Its happened at least two other times. Once in the Western Approach when the Wardens attempted to dig down to the prison of an Old God until the mine collapsed. And a second in The Calling. The Calling is all about how the Architect manages to convince at least three Wardens to tell him the location of the Old Gods and kill them first. It’s how the Fifth Blight was started in the first place. This isn’t even getting into how the Architect’s whole plan is to free the Darkspawn of their connection to the Old Gods, slay them, and turn every mortal into a Grey Warden, which would kill most people.
Neither is this the first time they used blood magic and demons. It’s not forbidden in the order by any means. Regardless of anyone’s opinion on blood magic, it is wise to be cautious about it. Playing the Warden’s Keep DLC in origins tells us that not only did a Warden mage use blood magic to summon a legion of demons to fight for the Wardens (who turned on them and killed indiscriminately by the way), he relentlessly tortured his fellow Wardens to study the Taint. And the commander approved of this.
There’s also the fact that Solas disapproves of the Order. Solas isn’t really known for his honesty, but his disgust at the idea of the Wardens hunting the Old Gods isn’t a lie. And it’s important to remember that regardless of what he tells the Inquisitor, he knows a lot more about the Order than even we do as of now. He certainly knows enough about them to tell the Inquisitor how Grey Wardens are made.
There’s so much secrecy. We may know a lot about the Order, but the average citizen does not. The Joining, the Broodmothers, the talking Emissaries, the fact that the Wardens can understand the Archdemon, the Calling, the nightmares, and so much else is kept from everyone. Most Wardens don’t even know that the Taint will eventually corrupt them. Even fewer know that the Calling was created to prevent them from finding out. I understand the reason why they keep so much under wraps, but to keep things from your own members? Stroud/Alistair/Loghain get threatened by the Wardens for daring to question the actions of Clarel, and I don’t think that’s necessarily out of the ordinary for the Wardens, given that Duncan was ordered to kill King Maric if he learned too much about the Wardens during their journey into the Deep Roads. And he was the King of Ferelden at the time.
Leadership in the Order is notoriously sketchy. The First Warden is mostly interested in fattening their own wallet and ruling the Anderfels, only sending word to other Wardens when its politically convenient, like sending Miss Woolsey to Amaranthine in order to maintain Warden control over the area.
Is there a better option for controlling the Blights? I’m really not sure, but I am sure that not questioning what the Wardens do is a recipe for abuse and corruption. The Wardens believe in doing whatever is necessary to combat the Blight. No matter the cost. And that’s dangerous.
(I also think a better ‘grey morality’ storyline could be done with the Grey Wardens. I think we’re all tired of the Mage-Templar bullshit. Just saying.)
Very small detail I noticed is that in The Calling and The Stolen Throne, Darkspawn are not described as having blood. They are described as “oozing black ichor” if ever injured, and this fluid drips from their eyes and mouths. In the games it is called blood, so the terms are probably interchangeable, though it is black regardless. (Origins gave them red blood, but this was corrected in later games)
It’s a common enough term in fantasy works to describe a monster’s blood, but I wanted to investigate further. Ichor has several meanings, all of them interesting. All of these definitions are from the Oxford Dictionary. It comes directly from Ancient Greek and its first uses in English are from the 1600s. It can mean blood in a metaphorical or poetic sense, and I believe this is why it is used often in fantasy works. It’s meant to describe the monsters as inhuman as possible. They don’t even have blood, just some fetid seepage that flows in their rotten veins. This isn’t the only definition though.
Homer writes in the Iliad that ichor is the fluid that runs through the veins of the Gods in Greek Mythology. It is what makes them immortal. It was later a medical term for watery, blood tinged discharge from wounds in the 17th-19th century. Christians later wrote polemics against the Greek Gods with this fact. Clement of Alexandria writes in his Exhortation to the Heathen that “the purification of blood is called ichor” unaware (intentionally or not) of the original sense of the word.
A final definition is a geologic one. I’m not too familiar with this field, but ichor is apparently a fluid in magma that creates granite. Interestingly enough, the word petrichor derives from ichor as well. the word itself was created in 1694 and literally means “ichor derived from rock or stone” by I. J. Bear and R. G. Thomas
I don’t think any of this was particularly intentional, but I do think there are some parallels that can be drawn to the Darkspawn here. Something about it being the blood of the Gods and the Christian denouncement of them feels similar to the Old Gods and the Chantry. Demons have also been described as having ichor, as well as spiders, (demonic ichor and spider ichor are ingredients in the games)
Has anyone brought up the fact that the if the Inquisitor is an Elven woman (especially if she is a mage or romances Solas), the modern Inquisition is a gender inversion of the Inquisition of old? Italics are conditional
Ameridan/Inquisitor: Dalish elves who are mages, worship the Elven gods, and fell in love with Solas/Telana. Later in life they become Chantry symbols and part of an organization dedicated to defeating a would-be god and dragon that acts as a vessel for said being.
Solas/Telana: both elven dreamers who are powerful mages and spent significant time in the Fade and befriending spirits. The Inquisitor’s lover
Cassandra/Haron: Seeker/Templar warriors, quarreled often due to perceived slacking off with Orinna/Varric.
Orinna/Varric: Surface dwarves with strong family connections to Orzammar and disrupted arranged marriages. Fights with Cassandra/Haron, but does care about them regardless.
What does any of this mean? It is hard to say. I’m not certain if any of it bodes well for the Inquisitor though. I did notice something... curious however. There is a codex entry named The Hunt of the Fell Wolf which describes how Haron and Ameridan hunt a powerful possessed wolf. Ameridan slays its physical form, and Haron finds an “idol of Fade-touched stone | that could prove the monster’s doom”. Which is something that connects it to the spirit. While I don’t like connecting any and everything back to Solas, the similarities are there. And Solas obtains the red lyrium idol in Tevinter Nights.
It’s been said in canon, that the only way to go into the fade and find someone in directly is a large amount of lyrium or blood magic, as per Jowan in Origins. There is also an ancient Dalish ritual to get to Feynriel in the Fade, though it is implied that this is related to him being a Dreamer rather than a way to locate just anyone.
There is another way however. in The Calling, the Architect is able to track down Genevieve and First Enchanter Remille in the Fade while they dreamt using blight magic. Genevieve is a warrior, but she is also a Warden, which explains how he was able to effect her dreams (similar to the Archdemon).
There is no such connection with Remille. He is simply a mage, and he and the Architect met in the Fade. IDK what this means or if it will ever be plot relevant, but it is weird.
Kirkwall is a weird city. It is known that the Veil is so exceptionally thin in the area that demons can enter the mortal world freely underground. Blood magic, lunacy, abominations, and violence all run rampant. Twice the amount of mages are unable to complete their Harrowing than in Starkhaven, a city comparable in size. The streets are a maze, confusing to even the most skilled masons.
Why is this? There are a few hypotheses, but I believe it is because Kirkwall is where the Magisters of the Tevinter Imperium broke into the Fade.
(For a quick read, look at the bold text)
Let’s begin with its history: According to The Band of Three, a Chantry taskforce dedicated to uncovering Kirkwall’s secrets, the native people of the city are unknown, but the Imperium’s army arrived with force for an unexplained reason. It was founded in -620 Ancient and named Emerius after the Magister who founded it. The location ended up becoming advantageous due to the proximity of quarries that produced valuable metals. After a slave revolt in Minrathous, Emerius was chosen to be the Imperium’s hub for slave trading with a population of over one million slaves at its height. This staggering number is made even more horrifying when we recognize that hundreds to thousands of slaves went missing every year, their blood used for sacrifice.
The mages of the Imperium created sewers underneath the city so they could run experiments and research underground; hidden away from the eyes of the average citizen. This is notable, since they had no reason to keep arcane research secret. Such tunnels are home to troves of artifacts, scrolls, and relics thought lost that show up in Darktown after the chambers get ransacked.
These sewers served a dual purpose however. The tunnels created across the city were made with grooves carved into the stone, encouraging streams of blood to reach the bottom. This blood was used for their blood magic, as the streets were built in the formation of glyphs and used to power the spells. There is no mention of where this blood ends up, only that they descend far into the earth.
The Band of Three come to an incredible conclusion:
“We've discovered the magisters were deliberately thinning [the Veil] even further. Beneath the city, demons can contact even normal men. Did they seek the Black City to compound the madness of their previous efforts? Or was it something else?” -Codex Entry: The Enigma of Kirkwall
The Magisters were deliberately trying to thin the Veil. The Band of Three pose that this project occurred after they walked into the Fade, but there’s no exact dates.
So when exactly were the Magisters thinning the Veil? What we do know, is that Emerius was founded in -620 Ancient and the Tevinters started losing their grip on the city in -203 Ancient, but fully lost control of it after the First Blight in -25 Ancient. That is a significant amount of time.
We can narrow it further though. Looking more broadly at Tevinter history reveals more. The First Blight started in -395 Ancient, and reached the surface in -380 Ancient. This was the start of the decline in the Imperium. Due to the chaos of the time, I doubt much research was able to be done. So the idea that it happened after the breach of the Golden City seems unlikely. We also see a massive civil war in the Imperium that occurs from -575 to -555 Ancient, and this is the catalyst for many mages to turn to darker magics and demon summoning became commonplace. I see this Veil thinning project as happening after the war due to the nature of this magic.
The timeline for this project has thus been restricted to -555 Ancient to -380 Ancient. It is here that we have a massive gap with no information between. But -395 Ancient, when the High Priests are said to have walked into the Fade is within the proposed timeline.
So in summary, there were mages working towards some secret purpose beneath the city. We know that the High Priests used pseudonyms to hide their identities, even from each other. This city happened to be specifically engineered for blood sacrifice and had access to quarries and Deep Roads entrances. We also know that sundering the Veil required the blood of hundreds of slaves and most of the lyrium in the Empire. And the Second Sin occurs at the tail end of Tevinter rule of the city, allowing around 150 years of research before it occurs.
But where specifically in the city could this have been done? Reason assumes that wherever the blood in the sewers ended up is where it was used, but the only mention of where it ends up is down. No destination other than that. I may be stretching out on a limb here, but I think the Primeval Thaig is where this research was done specifically. A Dwarven thaig located beneath the Deep Roads is a rather convenient location for the collection of all that blood. I don’t think the Magisters created it, but they may have discovered it while they were researching underground. It may have even been why the Tevinters used such force when invading the area, the location whispered to them by the Old Gods. The Thaig is littered with Tevinter constructs as well. For example, the Claws of Dumat, which were used to collect the blood of sacrificed slaves are found in the sealed Thaig. These Claws are specifically said to have been used to tear open the Fade. I can’t think of a more direct connection than that.
There is even evidence of a High Priest near Kirkwall. Corypheus. He awoke from dormancy in -191 Ancient and was trapped by the Wardens in the Vimmark Mountains right outside Kirkwall in -189 Ancient. While it doesn’t prove that Corypheus woke up around or lived in Kirkwall, it does prove that he was close. He also shows an interest in the Primeval Thaig, manipulating Bianca Davri into sharing its location. While this might imply that he didn’t know where it was, the route may have changed due to over one thousand years of cave ins.
I would also be remiss not to note the similarity between Tevinter imagery for the city and most symbols for the Black City. (Sidenote: after Tevinter rule of Emerius, the name was changed to Kirkwall, for the black wall of stone that faces the sea)
The first image is the Tevinter symbol for the city, the second is the current Kirkwall symbol, and the third is a Chantry symbol for the Black City. I don’t think Kirkwall is the Black City, but I do think the similarities in the images show some type of connection between the city and the Second Sin.
So there we go. All of the evidence I have for why Emerius/Kirkwall is where the Magisters walked into the Fade. There’s definitely more to say though, especially on the Primeval Thaig and the implications for da4 with the red lyrium idol are... interesting.
I’ve heard from a lot of people that in Inquisition, the different locations feel completely disconnected from the main plot. While there are in game explanations for why the Inquisition chooses to go to each region, they are easy to miss. Here’s an overview of why the Inquisition goes to each location, the primary quest in the area, and a quick summary in the end.
(I didn’t include the DLC locations because this post is a beast already and I think the DLCs are much better at explaining what’s going on)
Ferelden
The Hinterlands: The fledgling Inquisition, desperate for allies learns of a Chantry Mother who is willing to speak with the Herald.
The Hinterlands don’t have one singular questline that neatly ties the entire region together. However, most quests revolve around reestablishing order in the area due to the effects of the Mage-Templar war (especially around the Crossroads and Redcliffe) and gaining more influence and reputation for the Inquisition. When the war ends after In Your Heart Shall Burn, most of the enemies in the area become Venatori, and there are some quests on trying to eradicate them.
The Fallow Mire: Inquisition scouts have gone missing in the Mire and the Herald treks into the uncharted territory to find them.
The Inquisitor’s main objective is locating the Inquisition scouts that have been captured by the Avaar that occupy Hargrave Keep. (The Veilfire runes are part of a separate quest that is unrelated to the Lost Souls quest) After defeating the leader in the keep, the scouts are found safe and sound.
The Storm Coast: There have been reports of Grey Wardens on the Coast and the Inquisition wants to track them down to learn if they’ve discovered anything about the Breach.
Upon arrival, the Inquisitor learns that some scouts have gone missing and goes to a rendezvous point where they are supposed to negotiate with a group called the Blades of Hessarian who have been a nuisance in the area and made it hard to track the Wardens. The Inquisitor also attempts to track the Wardens by finding their last known whereabouts as well, but is unsuccessful in locating them.
Crestwood: Hawke gives the Inquisitor the location of their Warden contact so they can figure out why the Wardens are behaving so strangely.
This location is unlocked as a part of Here Lies the Abyss and while the Warden contact is being located, the Inquisitor learns of the Fade Rift in the lake that’s spitting out demons and the undead upon the village of Crestwood. In order to close it, they must access the dam controls in Caer Bronach and clear out the Highwaymen that have taken up residence in the fort. After emptying the lake and closing the Rift, the Inquisitor learns that the Mayor himself had caused the flooding during the Blight to prevent the spread of the Taint.
Orlais
The Western Approach: Concerned about the disappearance of the Wardens, the Warden contact suggests the Inquisition investigate when he hears of a gathering of some Wardens in the Approach.
This location is also available as part of Here Lies the Abyss. On their way to the secret Warden gathering, the Inquisitor happens upon some Venatori and White Claw Raiders. After taking Griffon WIng Keep from the Venatori, they learn that the group has been working on several projects in the area and led by one man: Crassius Servis. Tracking the man leads the Inquisition through an old Tevinter prison named Coracavus and eventually to Echoback Fort, where Servis himself was planning his escape.
The Exalted Plains: With the Orlesian Civil War raging in the Dales, a sudden lack of communication between Val Royeaux and the Exalted Plains is cause for concern, especially if the Inquisitor has settled the matter of the Crown in Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts.
Upon arrival, the Inquisitor quickly notes the lack of soldiers in the ramparts. Huge pits of bodies have been piled up and not burned, resulting in hoards of demons crossing into the waking world and attacking. The Inquisitor also encounters the Freemen of the Dales, a group formed from Orlesian deserters and furthering tensions on the battlefield. After culling the demons, the Inquisitor reaches Citadelle du Corbeau and Fort Revasan, where the main combatants of the War of the Lions have been fighting and reestablishes order. After taking back the Eastern Ramparts, the Inquisition discovers Gordian, the regional leader of the Freemen of the Dales who worked undercover for the Venatori. He intentionally left the bodies unburned to sow chaos and further his goals.
The Emerald Graves: Due to the Orlesian Civil War, many people have become refugees and gathered in a group led by Fairbanks. He sends a letter to the Inquisition that offers useful information in exchange for eradicating a group named the Freemen of the Dales.
After meeting with Fairbanks, the Inquisitor pursues the Freemen of the Dales again. They discover that some of the refugees have been captured in a veridium mine not far from Watcher’s Reach by Sister Costeau. Investigating the mine leads to two other targets, Chevalier Ser Auguste and Commander Duhaime. The latter has the key to Villa Maurel, where a General for the Freemen who has been reluctant to comply with the Red Templars is hiding. After defeating all of these targets, Fairbanks reveals that the Templars have been smuggling red lyrium through the area. Investigating this lead ends up uncovering Carroll, the Templar who is responsible for roping the Freemen in with the Red Templars.
Emprise du Lion: Red Lyrium and Templars have been spotted near the village of Sahrnia and all the bridges leading to the quarry have been destroyed.
Mistress Poulin, the leader of Sahrnia reveals that a large group of Templars have been prowling around the area after she sold her family’s quarry to them. After pushing them back to the keep, the Inquisitor finds Imshael, a “choice spirit” who’s been helping the Red Templars with their mining operation through various experiments. He has been giving the Red Templars red lyrium and letting it fester inside them and growing it until they become behemoths, and refers to this as his ‘garden.’ It is also in this keep that the Inquisitor discovers that Mistress Poulin has been selling villagers to the Templars to be used to harvest red lyrium.
The Forbidden Oasis: The Inquisitor happens upon a strange rock after looking through an Oculara and Inquisition agents are curious as to its origins
When the Inquisitor arrives, they learn that the Venatori have also found the Oasis and are looking for ruins. The Inquisitor finds a large group of them outside the Temple of Solasan. After the Venatori are defeated, they approach the Temple door and enter the Elven ruin. They reach a chamber with several doors that require a certain amount of shards in order to open. Only after the Inquisitor finds every single shard in Thedas can the Inquisitor open all the doors and enter the heart of the Temple, and receive all of the rewards. (Significant amounts of spirit, ice, fire, and spirit resistance as well as some unique items)
The Hissing Wastes: Leliana’s spies uncover an order from the Venatori that outlines their plan to excavate something in the Wastes. The Inquisition wants to prevent them from getting any advantages, and goes forth.
The Inquisitor arrives in the desolate Wastes and Harding informs them that the Venatori and Red Templars have already made their presence known in the area, forcing their slaves to dig into the sand and running patrols. She hands them a map to a Tomb further into the desert and suggests the Inquisitor find what the Venatori are after first. After all of the dwarven ruins are searched, they find a cache with incredibly powerful runes and relics from a famous Paragon.
So in summary: Most of the regions revolve around Venatori, which is to be expected: Corypheus is their leader after all (As well as Calpernia). The Venatori are usually involved with investigative work, uncovering Tevinter ruins, and acquiring artifacts. The Red Templars are led by Samson, and their primary concern is with mining red lyrium and giving it to their Templars. The Red Templars end up manipulating the Freemen of the Dales into their schemes by getting them to sow chaos in the Dales and smuggling red lyrium for them. This would have been so much easier if the game hadn’t left most of its important information in codex entries that most people don’t read. </3
This post has been a personal hell for me and i just want it out of my drafts
I’m not a particularly big fan of the “the Old Gods are actually the Evanuris” Theory because the idea that the Elven gods would help the Tevinters oppress their own people is rather sickening, but it is nevertheless a common theory and I wanted to look at the available information. The primary evidence against this theory seems to be that the developers disproved it, but I have only seen one post from David Gaider even addressing the theory. It was made on the now deleted Bioware Forums, but an archived link still exists. The original post was made on December 28th 2009, before the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition and Dragon Age: 2, so the available information on the Evanuris and the Old Gods has changed drastically since then. Let’s look at the post in full:
“Could the Old Gods have been based on the elven gods? Possibly, but there's nothing to suggest the elven gods were ever dragons,”
We now know this to be untrue. At least partially. According to a veilfire rune in the Arbor Wilds, the dragon was a “form reserved for the divine.” I think it is relevant to mention Mythal is especially noted to have a connection to the creatures. The Guardian of Mythal is a High Dragon, Flemeth can shapeshift into a High Dragon, and Morrigan is only able to shapeshift into the form of a High Dragon after she drinks from the Well of Sorrows and is bound to the will of Mythal. So while the Evanuris may not have been dragons, there is evidence to say they had a significant connection with them. At least with Mythal.
“and certainly the contempt the Imperium held for elven culture makes it unlikely that they would think elven gods were worth worshipping.“
This is true, but only if we assume that the Tevinters knew they were Elven. We know that the Evanuris were locked away in the Fade before -3100 Ancient and the Old Gods started whispering to the humans in -2800 Ancient. It wasn’t until -1595 Ancient that worship of the Old Gods became common when Archon Thalsian is said to have communed with Dumat and learned blood magic. That is a lot of time for knowledge to be forgotten and altered. Furthermore, there is a theory in Thedas that Ancient Tevinter renamed Elven constellations to align with their Gods. If they were the same Gods with different names, this would make sense. The codex entries on the constellations make direct allusions to Ghilan’nain (Equinor), Andruil (Fervenial), Elgar’nan (Solium), Falon’Din (Tenebrium even references Lusacan), an eighth unnamed Old God with dragon imagery (Draconis) and the Dread Wolf (Fenrir). That is a staggering amount of Elven Gods connected to the Imperium.
“Consider also that it was the Old Gods that taught humanity its magic and encouraged them to destroy Arlathan -- why would elven gods do this?”
Who knows why the Old Gods taught them magic? Maybe it was an attempt to get out of the Fade? The Old Gods seem to have had their own goals fulfilled by the Magisters breaking into the Fade and went silent after that. But that is mere speculation. As for the second half, we know now that the Tevinter Imperium didn’t sink Arlathan. The Imperium merely picked at the bones of what remained. Solas says that the Evanuris had already enslaved their fellow elves, so they don’t seem to be against the practice itself. However the Imperium went beyond slavery: they engaged in genocide for centuries. That isn’t something I could imagine the Gods orchestrating or cooperating with
“One could point to the Forgotten Ones (look at the codex entry on Fen'Harel for their mention) and suggest that they had reason for vengeance, though that would probably be against Fen'Harel and their good brethren and not against the elven people themselves, no?”
Fen’Harel locked the Evanuris in the Fade, so reason assumes the Evanuris would also seek vengeance for it. Also in the codex entry referenced, Fen’Harel traps the Forgotten Ones in the abyss. However Geldauran--one of the infamous Forgotten Ones--leaves a manifesto behind a shard door in the Frostback Basin of all places, making the information dubious. I don’t think we have near enough information to make a call on what the Forgotten Ones even are, let alone their revenge plots, so this one is still up in the air.
“Still, all of that depends on how much of the knowledge given by Dalish tales is complete.”
And after two millennia of violent oppression by humans, how could it be?
To conclude, there isn’t really anything in Gaider’s post that explicitly denies the theory. Which is intentional. I certainly think the connection between the Old Gods and the Evanuris within astronomy is fascinating, and I think a legitimate claim could be made for it. The question that arises here is: what else could the Tevinter Imperium have appropriated? Because if they changed the meaning of constellations, reason follows that they could change the meaning of other things.
So do I believe that the the two are the exact same? No, but that wasn’t really the intention behind this post. I do think they could be related somehow, but we’ll just have to wait for more answers.
