#meredith's sword

[itsyasyall]

One of my first inkys (old console) who defeated Corypheus with Meredith's red lyrium sword// And my actual inky (he/him), similar face, hair color and vallaslin

[bohemiantea-scorpiocoffee]

I just realized why Meredith's sword (reforged, in Samson's possession) in DAI is called Certainty. It's a callback both to her fanaticism and also dialogue she has with King Alistair in Act III.

"I do not deal in maybes. I deal in cold, hard facts."

[bohemiantea-scorpiocoffee]

A Whole Lot of Well, Shit

One of the things that used to puzzle me a little was how Corypheus even learned about red lyrium in the first place. The quest “Well, Shit” heavily implies that it was through Bianca, but that didn’t quite completely track for me. (Also, as much as I do not care for her, I also didn’t want to place the entirety of blame on her. I’d rather be upset with her for her failings in her relationship with Varric than making her a scapegoat for all the red lyrium shenanigans that came after. There’s always more at work behind the scenes in stories like this, anyway.)

This is the dialogue from “Well, Shit” - note that “Larius” can be switched out for “Janeka” depending on whom Hawke sided with in DA2 Legacy:

Bianca: *key found* “There you are.” *locks door* “They won’t be able to use this entrance again.” Varric: “Bianca.” Inquisitor: “You were the one who leaked the thaig’s location.” Bianca: “It’s not like that. Not... entirely.” *sighs* “Shit.” Bianca: “When I got the location, I went and had a look for myself. And I found the red lyrium, and I ...studied it.” Varric: “You know what it does to people!” Bianca: “I was doing you a favor! You wanna know how this stuff works just as much as I do. I just... wanted to figure it out.” Inquisitor: “How did you go from studying red lyrium to giving the location to Corypheus?” Bianca: “I found out that red lyrium... it has the Blight, Varric. Do you know what that means?” Varric: “What, that two deadly things combine to form something super awful?” Bianca: “Lyrium is alive, or... something like it. Blight doesn’t infect minerals, only animals. I couldn’t get any further on my own, so I looked for a Grey Warden mage. Blight and magical expertise in one, right? And I found this guy, Larius. He seemed really interested in helping my research. So I gave him a key.” Varric: “Larius? He was the Grey Warden we met in Corypheus’s... aw, shit. I knew something seemed off.” Bianca: “I didn’t realize until you said you found red lyrium at Haven. I came here and, well... then I went to you. Inquisitor: “That name mean something to you, Varric?” Varric: “He was at the Grey Warden prison where we found Corypheus. And he definitely wasn’t a mage before.” What Bianca is definitely guilty of is giving Corypheus the location of a small buffet of red lyrium and an opportunity to study it. What’s not so certain is whether or not this also revealed red lyrium’s existence to him.

I believe it’s entirely possible that Corypheus could have heard about the existence of red lyrium before meeting Bianca thanks to another person he met in Kirkwall: Samson. 

Unfortunately the same sort of codex entry does not show up in DA2/Legacy for Janeka, but this is a codex that is supposed to show (and is often bugged from not appearing): A Strange Sighting

Yesterday, I saw a man I could swear was Larius, just walking around Lowtown. I wasn't sure at first, but that armor, that hair... he's unmistakable.

He was talking to Samson, of all people. I can't imagine what a Grey Warden commander and an ex-templar vagrant have in common, but they seemed intent in their discussion. When I came closer, Larius pulled Samson into a doorway---I don't know if he saw me or not, but it seemed almost like they were avoiding me.

Anders says that no one as far gone to the taint as Larius would ever have been reinstated by the Grey Wardens. Even without Corypheus, Larius will be plagued by the calls of the Archdemons until they drive him mad.

I tried to contact the Grey Wardens, to find out why they let him return to Kirkwall, but they weren't talking. They won't acknowledge a Warden named Janeka, a prison in the Vimmarks, a captive darkspawn magister, or ever having worked with Father.

they didn't even want to hear what Corypheus claimed to be--I'm certain they know something about what happened down there, but whatever it is, they're not sharing.

--From the diary of Garrett/Marian Hawke

Samson, especially if you helped reinstate him near the end of the game, would have known about Meredith’s sword and related to Larius/Corypheus what it did for her, power-wise, before she became a red lyrium statue. It also helps explain how you can “reobtain” Meredith’s sword Certainty, which had definitely shattered and was what turned her, or helped her turn, into a red lyrium statue.

I will also note that Hawke trying to contact the Wardens about what happened and trying to get answers is likely what alerted Stroud/Alistair/Loghain and put them on the trail and being worried about the Archdemon-like body hopping. (Because personally, that too had seemed strange to me -- how they’d up and wonder and start asking in the first place. This way helps connect the dots.)

[bohemiantea-scorpiocoffee]

UnCertainty

Meredith’s red lyrium sword has become a big deal again because of the red lyrium idol seen on the DA4 mural. I’ve seen some speculations that include her sword, and that’s cool. But I think there’s one thing folks are forgetting:

Meredith’s sword literally shatters during the end battle when you have her health down far enough you know she’d be killed off with a few more hits. Here’s video of that, jump to approximately 10:49.

But wait, we see her sword again in Inquisition, right? We get it from Samson after defeating him at the Temple of Mythal.

Yes and no. “Certainty” is anything but. Here’s its description:

A sword of deepest corruption and conviction, it cannot be the red lyrium blade that drove Kirkwall's Knight-Commander Meredith to madness. It cannot have been reborn in arcane energies somehow elven and Tevinter and Blight intertwined. And it cannot have inspired in the name of a magister who once entered heaven and would dare so again. One wonders what this sword cannot be next, in the hands of the Inquisitor, if he/she is not careful.

“Reborn,” considering how completely shattered it was, would have to mean it’s an inspired replica - all the little pieces from the original’s shattering went into making Meredith a red lyrium statue. 

It can, however, be a pretty faithful replica in look and some of its power! Especially if your Hawke helps Samson get reinstated as a templar in Act III: he’ll have had opportunity to see Meredith’s sword at least once, if not more than a few times, before the final battle. 

On top of that, Samson will have been in contact with Corypheus (at that time running around as either Larius or Janeka), so it’s extremely easy to see how the magister would have been massively inspired by seeing red lyrium in the first place, but also made into a weapon that makes its wielder so strong and powerful.

However, Certainty and Meredith’s sword are not quite the same things, and they cannot be because Corypheus would not have had the original idol - who knows what specific magics that idol had, as compared to what Certainty is capable of? In fact, it may be those specific differences that may be key to understanding (one or more of?) the central conflicts we might see in DA4. 

(Cut for Dragon Age Deception spoiler.)

This is why I personally hesitate in saying that any mention of red lyrium weapons will always be about Certainty: we could see ancient weapons made of red lyrium come to light (and given what little clues we have in the mural, it seems likely), or we may see more modern red lyrium weapon creations. Deception talks about red lyrium (the substance and/or the weapon) being stolen from Kirkwall, and considering the time Samson and Corypheus spent together there, at least one or two Certainty prototypes and several other weapon experiments could have been found.

tl;dr - I wouldn’t say that the mural’s idol is definitely about Certainty, and Deception’s “red lyrium weapon” doesn’t have to mean Certainty or the idol either. There’s a lot of wiggle room in there for possibility, though what evidence we have so far is pretty compelling. :)

[moontheoretist]

On the left is our Chantry with a woman as Divine. On the right is Tevinter’s Chantry with a man as Divine. Good to know, how they may look like. And these symbols. The Sun - our Chantry, the snakes, which looks like... I dunno - Tevinter Chantry. And Golden City as symbol of Andraste’s bond with the Maker.

And then we have this. Is it Black City? Looks similar to image of Golden City.

This sword looks familiar.

Not exactly the same, but nearly. Meredith’s sword.