On The True Nature of The Fade, The Black City and The Mystery of an Absent Sun
Has anyone noticed how the Fade seems to be blanketed not by darkness, but by a perpetual night?
Yesterday, as I was trying to fall asleep, I noticed the shadows cast on the wall by the streetlights looked a lot like the dark edifices we see in the Fade, with their mysteriously lit "windows". And the rest of the room was comprised of dark silhouettes. Without sunlight, the form and colour of the furniture was indistinguishable, making it all look like a big, twisted amorph shadow.
Couple that with the concept of the Golden City becoming the Black City ever since the Fade was sundered from the Waking World, plus the fact that an eclipse is mentioned several times in Dreadwolf/Veilguard art and trailer, PLUS the tale of Elgar'nan, of how he captured "the Sun" and threw it into the Abyss - was it the Sun of the Fade? Did the Dream Realm have a Sun of its own? - and there is enough evidence to believe the taint/Corruption/Darkness may not be just some random mysterious magic, but something perhaps connected to the "death" of the Fade's Sun (and the subsequent blanketing of the Fade into a perpetual night).
Also consider the panel found in the elven library during Trespasser - Death of a Titan - and how the Titan's core design looks like a shiny sphere, with a design in the middle that looks similarly to a Sun.
Now, the Sun is considered to be the source of light, warmth and the Giver of Life in esoterism. If a world loses its Sun, its very core, the logical conclusion is that it inevitably dies. It becomes dark and cold, and life itself perishes.
Could it be the taint became a magic of death and decay because it is residual magic from a Sunless Fade?
Could the Corruption irradiating from the Black City be caused by the absence of the Fade's Sun?
To reinforce that notion, the very entry in the Dragon Age wiki containing information on the Fade defines the Raw Fade as:
"In its raw form, the Fade is a twisted, frightening world of dark rock and raw lyrium veins where it is always night and gravity affects nothing equally"
Now, of course I haven't read ALL the lore available on the Fade, the Black City and the nature of the Fade. But until DA4 provides us with answers, the best we can do is to speculate based on what little evidence - and empirism - we have. So far, everything points out to the Fade being blanketed in perpetual night. And the path to its restoration probably lies in restoring its Sun to its rightful place.
That should be the main plot of DA4, since Solas' mission was not only to lift the Veil, but also to "fix" the broken world he found once he awoke from uthenera.
However, one important question remains: what happens when someone finds that Sun? Remember, that was Corypheus' whole quest in Inquisition. He seemingly figured out the BIG SECRET to achieve Godhood and was desperate to storm the Black City. Apparently, if anyone wishes to find "the Maker's Seat", they must find this mysterious, elusive Sun within the Black City and, theoretically, claim Godhood.
Was that Solas' plan all along? Is that what Rook will have to do in Veilguard? Are either Ghilan'nain or Elgar'nan going to try and stop us, or use us to find where that Sun is located? Come October, I hope our questions will be finally answered.
