When heading to the room with the eluvian near the Skyhold garden, we meet Leliana who tells us that Morrigan has entered the mirror in pursuit of her son. As the Inquisitor enters the Eluvian, they realise that it leads to the Fade instead of the Crossroad. A part of the Fade that seems to reflect part of the "personal" story of Flemeth.
[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]
[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]
Once we return from the Temple of Mythal, we find Leliana telling the Inquisitor that Morrigan chased Kieran into the Eluvian. This scene is completely skipped and we never have access to this Fade if Kieran does not exist. For Lore reasons, I think having Kieran is the richest option
We enter the eluvian, and what we realise immediately is that we are not in the Crossroads that Morrigan showed us before. Instead, we are in a part of the Fade. This shows that powerful mages can force Eluvians to go to the Fade and the final destination of an Eluvian is not precisely determined with its construction. This is telling us that technically, any eluvian can allow us to reach the Fade if you are powerful enough.
This Fade is more guided that the one in Adamant Fortress. In the moment we enter, we find these mabari-brazier that are so typical of Ferelden, and a statue of a The Guide.
Same as in the previous Fade, there are a lot of Keepers of Fears merger in the landscape. I find this strange, because this space belongs to Flemeth, it’s not a space of a demon of Nightmare or terror. Someone could argue that, since Flemeth may have some relationship with the Chasind, her relationship is being reflected in these statues since Alamarri and Avvar [and likely Chasind too] may share the tradition of the Keepers of Fear. We see several screaming faces, Keepers of Fear, Eroded dragon skull, and a Dwarf with long limbs. The first thing giving us a welcome is a big hand and a table.
This same table has been found in the previous Fade, in the beginning of that space too, like an invitation. Over the table, there are hanged generic dead bodies and two enormous hands: one keeping the strings of the hanged dead, and another from which a pile of keepers of fear emerges. These hands seem to work like the hands we see in the Crossroads of Trespasser, which give support to eluvians or circular tree.
Aside of this configuration, a bit hidden on the ground, Andraste statue’s head.
As we approach the second opening, we see a pair of Keepers of Fear, with heads being burnt, flanking a Sacrificial altar. The figure of a man is towering over them, and in front of these elements, there is a statue of Beheaded ram-man. The whole configuration seems to relate again the concept of sacrifice and fear.
These are the rarest version of the Keepers of Fear. In this case, we see them working: their heads are burning, maybe as a representation of the fear screams being consumed before an Alamarri goes to fight against their fate. The base of these Keepers of Fear have a drawing on it that looks like another creature, screaming.
The Sacrificial altar can be studied with great detail in this part of the Fade. We can see that it has a small platform with decorated patterns and carvings in the metal.
We have seen this human sculpture among Orlesian collections or in Free Marches-themes statues.
The Beheaded ram-man is erected on a head of a Keepers of Fear. [Fore more detail about this statue, read The Raw Fade: Part 1 ]
As we keep walking, we find Morrigan beside an enormous Claw of Dumat on one side, and a statue of the Free Marches in front of her. There are many keepers of fears around and above too.
Here, Morrigan explains that to direct the eluvian to the Fade requires immense power, which is absolutely reasonable since Kieran keeps the soul of an archdemon inside him.
Ahead, we find a very curious corridor that got my attention since I saw it. I believe the game is explicitly telling us to relate the andraste’s head with the Ferelden Wyvern through the spike. We know there is a tale in Ferelden Folklore [landmark Fereldan Wyvern Statues] where they connect both in a story that the Chantry does not acknowledges as official. I don’t know what’s the real deal with this Wyvern, but the connections with dragon-like creatures [reptiles] seems to be a pattern in the game. This Wyvern in particular is standing on two Tevinter urns. How this creature relates to Tevinter is also a mystery, but this statue has been seen in ancient Tevinter buildings as well, predating Andraste and Blights.
We step into another Guide under which a small table and chair can be found.
Behind the guide there is a skull with two metallic columns that seems to be Claws of Dumat prototypes. We saw these artefacts in Western Approach: Coracavus; Records Room, gathered around desks:
Maybe it is an artefact used to study elements, such as heads, or to record information. Still it is hard to guess its function.
When we reach to the next clearing, we find one of these Tevinter devices of several claws, diapason-like, clipped with an “injector”. This device, or at least this combination of clipping is similar to what we saw in Suledin Keep, when we met Imshael. Like in that place, at the base of the device there is red lyrium. Same as in Suledin, the area seems to be related to Horned warrior holding a sword. This is the first time that this element appears in the Fade. It’s placed at the left of the device, on a piece of rock: One on front of the rock, and a smaller version behind it.
A bit above of the device, we find a Tevinter urn merged in the stone and more versions of Keepers of Fear, one who is swallowing or regurgitating Red Lyrium, and another screaming.
As we explore the castle and save our companions from the future, we explore corridors with a series of statues that make little sense. It only seems to be reasonable once we learn this future has no Veil, and this is how it looks like the Waking World with the Fade, fused one another, under the god Corypheus. I imagine the corridors reflect or have elements from the Fade, or from what the Fade reflects of this place.
This post has compiled the most relevant information during the main quest for completion’s sake. These quests have little “archaeological” value, but since I’m visually covering the majority of the game, I can’t put them aside since there are some exceptions, such as the Temple of Mythal.
[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]
Along the corridors of the Redcliffe Castle, we find andrastian statues such as maferath crying on the sword [1], andraste variations [1], the Man holding bigger head [2], Tevinter diapason-like artefacts [3], and alamarri mabaris clipped with skulls [4,5]
Avvar heads [1], Tevinter banenrs with glyphs [2], strange clipping combinations of different assets to pretend to create a new one [3], sacrificial altars [3,5,6], dragon gargoyles [4], more Tevinter artefacts [7] and classic keepers of fear [8].
More artefacts appear by the end of the castle: upside-down artefact of Temple of Dumat [1], torture devices [2], more avvar heads or Eroded dragon skull [3], Maferath statues and Keepers of Fear [4], Andraste in Ferelden style [5] and Free Marches statues with alamarri mabaris clipped with skulls [6].
I found it curios that this universe is an abomination in Solas’ opinion, so I guess he has in mind something different for the future of Thedas when he destroys the Veil.
Trying to reach the outside of the castle, we see more of these strange clipped statues and in the darkest corner, we see the unusual statue of Beheaded ram-man.
Some rooms display Andraste iconography of her life and more Ferelden items. In this case, they display Templar rugs. Rugs are something to question, since we keep seeing Inquisition rugs and carpets in places where there is no way they could be there. So in general, my conclusion about rugs is not to pay them too much attention, so maybe I may have done a mistake in Emerald Graves: Din'an Hanin with doing such a extreme analysis over a damned rug, lol.
We find the codex A prayer, where we are again suggested to connect darkness with Blight. There is an implication that the Old Gods were gods at some point, but not anymore, and the Maker was always invented. One can suspect this prayer is based on Corypheus’ knowledge shared to his subjects.
The art of clipping artefacts: diapason-like artefacts in combination with a sacrificial altar and some red lyrium. In this room there are Tevinter urns too.
We see again Man holding bigger head statue and two stylised dogs, both Orlesian statues.
Here we find an angry Leliana, changed and transformed due to the torture. We learn she is also immune [or resistant] to Red Lyrium, like Seekers are. This implies lore-wise that Leliana may have been touched by a spirit at some point in her life.
Once more, we have another character in DA series who speaks this line so similar to Flemeth/Myhtal: “I’ve suffered, the whole world suffered. It was real”
Red Lyrium
When we meet Fiona, we see she is half a vein of red lyrium. Later, we see Templar in similar ways along the castle. A creature become a vein of red lyrium just by exposure. This implies that the spread of the Red Lyrium has doom connotations. So far, we don’t know how to rend it inert, and it infects by mere exposure, living creatures as well as objects. It’s a disease even worse than the Blight which can be contained if living creatures are blocked from an area.
We are given several bits of info about the nature of the red lyrium. Dorian question if it’s a disease as the Blight, that only affects living creatures. This red lyrium seems to affect things and objects as well, growing out of them.
Exterior
Now, having the interpretation of this statue of the Faceless figure holding a crown as the Maker, makes this cinematic angle even more dramatic, with a gigantic Andraste, shattered, trying to reach down to the Maker.
Solas informs us that there is no Veil in this world, so all the non-physical situations we are seeing, the nonsense of the statues in the corridors seem to be justified.
Now without Veil, we make sense of the mixed sculptures we saw in the corridors, reflection and reality overlapping each other. As we go up looking for Alexius, we keep seeing strange statues, like Keepers of fear
We reach to a place where we can explore more corridors heading to Alexis. This particular set seems to be carefully done to imply something: The Maker with red Lyrium, the Andraste warrior, the Blocky bearded humanoid [which seems to be in the shadows] and this Adonis human statue.
When we reach Alexius’ chamber, we see an Elven Ancient Shard-based door. It’s impossible to know if it was taken from an ancient tomb or its a reflection of the Fade and overlapped with the reality. Curiously, this door requires red lyrium-based shards.
A Shrine of Dumat was built in Northern Orlais. Apparently many came here to pray to Dumat, and received answers.
This post has compiled the most relevant information during the main quest for completion’s sake. Most of the time these quests have little “archaeological” value, but since I’m visually covering most of the game, I can’t put them aside since some of them are key in the lore and in terms of objects, statues and ruins, such as the Temple of Mythal.
[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]
[Index page of Dragon Age Lore ]
Siding with Templars
Side quest: Under Her Skin
We are introduced to this quest trying to understand what Calpenia is doing with a slave merchant located in Val Royeaux. When we enter to his house, we see a gore scene which, after being explored, allows us to find a crystal that dagna will research later: a crystal of memories.
Here we are introduced for the first time to this device: It preserves memories: voices and some rudimentary images of a given moment. We are not told what or how these crystals are made of, but with its blue glow we can suspect it’s lyrium-based. Dagna will add that this is a device that shapers use in Orzammar, so we have more suspicions about the object being made of lyrium: we know that the shapers record the memories in the Shaperate using lyrium.
I found it quite interesting because it means that lyrium, treated in some way, can carry memories. This has a potential correlation with the lyrium and its song, and with the codex of A Flowering Imago [check it in Ancient Elven codices; Vir Dirthara], where one can interpret it that Uthenera and pools such as the Well of Sorrows [DAI] or the “The Well” [DAO, Ruins of Brecilian Forest ] are related to the preservation of memories, and they may be related to lyrium as well.
Thanks to the crystal, we find a memory of Calpenia with Corypheus, where she asks permission to prepare to become a vessel at the Shrine of Dumat, but Corypheus forbids her. This makes Leliana suspect that there is something in this shrine that may break the relationship between Corypheus and Calpenia.
We investigate the shrine and we find it at the North of Orlais.
When we have access to the shrine, we find a very interesting comment from Cole: he speaks of an old pain. He usually refers to elven pain as such. The most interesting detail is that he refers to the Old God of Dumat as “something that listened until it didn’t”. He doesn’t speak of gods or spirits as he usually comments during the Jaws of Hakkon. It’s the only hint we have about the nature of the Old Gods: they are “something [which potentially means that it is not a spirit] that listened”.
The shrine is pretty interesting. It has many Tevinter objects we saw before in Coracavus or the Still Ruins:
To enumerate the most relevant ones: the Tevinter artefact with spikes or the Artefact of Temple of Dumat.
All over the place there are many dragon heads which seem to activate a defence system, summoning demons from the Fade.
Inside, we have two levels.
Before exploring the levels, we can see a red crystal standing out from the general room: a memory crystal. We have seen before that memory crystals are blue, assuming they are made of lyrium somehow. Here, we find these versions that give us more confidence in believing these artefacts are truly made of lyrium: these red ones can be "infected crystals" that belong to Corypheus, of Corypheus simply imitated the technique to create analogous ones with red lyrium [we know that Tevinter has a talent for arcane imitation and appropriation].
On the superior level we find two objects: an inspector and a Sacrificial altar. In a semi-hidden room when we head deep into the shrine, we find a place that looks like a storage/library room: it has these scarab-like lamps that here are clearly shown as tools for illumination, and several containers with the symbols of the sun, plus a scroll-library where another memory crystal is stored.
On the lower level, we find a lot of rubble. One of the Tevinter artefact with spikes is covered in rubble
and there are several Tevinter urns
From the lower level we can walk upstairs to reach a bigger chamber
where we see a big diapason-like object. Over it, there is an “injector” glowing in green, which again, I suppose it’s something reacting or containing Fade-like magic. The base of this object is just a small table, with a red memory crystal
At the sides of this small chamber we can find doors we didn’t see before, which have a rhombus on its top, and big hinges that resemble snake scales. As usual, Tevinter design is always pointy and dark-metal based.
One of the most interesting things, lore-wise, of this shrine are these crystals which trigger the quest Corypheus's Memories. We find out that Corypheus recorded some words, maybe to remind to himself. The total compilation and set of conclusions and truths that can be drawn from there are presented in the following list:
Corypheus’ memories
Awake, in a world twisted into perversion and ruin. Awake, only to discover the light of wisdom has gone black. Samson has failed. But Calpernia stands ready.
Corypheus truly awoke like we saw him in DA2: confused and unaware of the time that had passed. He dismiss and detests the current state of the world.
This is what makes him change his goal now.
We see here the reinforcement of what he did in Haven: In DA2 he awoke after the breach of the Fade by the seven Magisters, and realised that the gods did not exist. He kept asking for help to Dumat during the last combat against Hawke, in a last desperate action. Dumat’s silence only reinforced his certainty that there are no gods. Now, in Inquisition, we see he had time to process this sudden loss of faith, and his goal now is to become a god for the “good” of people. In his “Tevinter” way, of course. He is looking for power, but also to fill a vacuum that he knows is too hard to handle for mortals.
I recited the old verses. How easily they come, even after so long a slumber. Yet still I do not feel the presence of Dumat - hear no whispers, no commands. Silence has fallen.
Probably this line comes from the time after surviving the final fight in DA2. He is still trying to reach Dumat, but he only hears silence.
How does this age stand such desolation? They sing to a "Maker" who answers no prayers. Once I have ascended, I will be their answer. I will be their light.
He acknowledges the nonsense that the Maker is. He wants to be a god to be the light that humanity, and Thedas, needs. Again, I like to highlight this fact because the game repeats it several times. Corypheus is an awful char but his motivations are not only and exclusively power-hungry based. There is something of “being the God that humanity deserves” that motivates him. Again, in his Tevinter way.
Calpernia prepares to set foot in the place where regret dwells. To bring it into the light. She cannot know what must be done. Cannot understand. In time, she will forgive.
He is well aware of the artefact “Well of Sorrows” or “where the regret dwells”. I suspect this knowledge must have come with the usage of the Orb, unless ancient Tevinter knew that much about Evanuris and Ancient Elves.
He says he needs Calpenia to become the vesel of the well to “bring it to the light”. Once more, he is well aware of the servant condition that is forced upon the drinker of the well. And once more, I assume this knowledge came to him due to the orb.
The Anchor has been stolen, by a stripling. I shall descend on this Haven with fire and fury and take it back. Let us see what manner of "Herald" this age has bred.
He recorded this memory before attacking Haven; he still thinks that he can remove the anchor.
Did the others never return from the Black City? There is no record even of our names! We are vilified by legend. They spit on our deeds and claim we brought darkness into the world. We discovered the darkness. We claimed it as our own, let it permeate our being. If the others have not returned, they are lost. I am alone in my glory.
This line is very significant: He seems to perceive himself as the only survivor of the breach of Fade.
When I read this line, I found some ironical parallel, to some degree, between the Sidereal Magisters and Fen’Harel: they ended up being written in history in a similar way: they did something that had not terrible intentions [the Magisters wanted to know why the Old Gods had gone silent, and Solas wanted to stop the Evanuris from destroying the whole world], but the means used to reach that goal were brutal, and after centuries, the story reminds them, when it does, as villains.
Here we also see a reinforcement of the relationship The Blight= darkness. Corypheus explains here what he announced in Haven: they found no gods in the Black City, and instead, they found darkness [the Blight] that embraced it. This implies that they turned into these high darkspawn on their own volition.
A slave girl who burned with potential, ignored by all save myself. Her master did not see it. No one saw it. This world has gone craven and blind.
I’m not sure what kind of gift Corypheus is refering to that Calpenia has. I suppose it’s her ability to become a vessel.
The next chamber is a place where we see three injectors pointing to a platform, several dragon gargoyles, Artefact of Temple of Dumat and the objects I called “Water dispenser”, which name seems even more ridiculous in this room. Clearly we can’t trust this object as something always related to water.
In the middle there is a platform where a Tevinter Magister is kept captive. It’s made of the hexagonal figure of two dragons eating one another.
We meet the scholar magister, calpenia’s ex owner, who is the one who knows most about Old Gods in all the empire. He starts talking about a light, and then he says “he came down in fire and splendour”. It’s such a vague line that it could apply to any Old God since most of them returned doing this as archdemons. He knows about the deal of the vessel, and we are informed that the vessel role is something made by Corypheus because he can bind souls into obedience as he has done with this magister.
Siding with Mages
Side quest: Before the Dawn
The whole Shrine of Dumat is reused if we side with the mages and go after Samson in the quest given by Cullen.
When we side with mages, we learn more about Red Lyrium than Corypheus:
Samsom is wearing a red lyrium armour that should have killed him. It seems he is extremely resistant to red Lyrium [maybe he has a similar immunity that Leliana?] It is implied that this resistance may have been due to his Templar past. Hence, we, as players, can suspect why any attempt to turn non-templar humanoids into red lyrium monstrosities have failed: the subject meant to be transformed needs some resistance to lyrium.
Red Lyrium still consumes Samson despite his resistance, but clearly it does it very slowly.
We learn about Maddox, the mage whose love letters Samson smuggled when he was a Templar and cost him his position. The mage was made tranquil immediately afterwards.
So, to go after Samson, the Inquisitor heads to the Shrine of Dumat.
In this case, the existence of decoration and assets that made it so iconic to a temple of an Old God when siding with Templars is lacking here. There is almost no Tevinter devices in it, every Tevinter artefact has been removed and replaced with templar banners, and even the dragon gargoyles are not in the front. Everything has been replaced with Templar banners or red tents. It lost all its charm.
The inside lack of any memory crystal, Tevinter artefact or anything. The lower level is non-accessible, and burning.
We only see these artefacts that Solas recognises as tools to work with Red Lyrium in a safe way.
We find here a massive piece of red lyrium with these water dispensers in the place where the last crystal memory was during the exploration when siding with the templars.
The last chamber, where we find the scholar and the injectors when siding with the templars, only shows dragon gargolyes and a lot of red lyrium placed where the injectors used to be. It’s in this place where we find Maddox
Once finished exploring this Shrine, we can return to Dagna and we obtain the red lyrium rune that will weaken Samsom
DLC: Jaws of Hakkon - Frostback Basin, Swamp Kulsdotten
The swamp seems to have been a lake that was drained during the time when the Tevinter established in the zone. There is little information about it. We can only see a potent overgrowth with the predominance of red vegetation and strange thorny vine-like roots of red thorns in this swamp. Some codices as well as characters [Scout Harding and Dorian] imply that there is unusual or never-seen-before plants in this area.
Hakkonites are using this swamp to place sacrificial altars and talismans meant to release Hakkon from its temporal cage inside the frozen gates.
[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]
[Index page of Dragon Age Lore ]
All over this place of dense vegetation we find Avvar statues of the Keepers of Fear, and coffins of Razikale Ceremony and the horned warrior holding a sword, all surrounded by thick thorny vine-like roots. This keeps our chronology consistent: the Tevinter installed themselves in the area first, drained the water of this lake, and made a prison, around which some sacrifice altars were erected. Close to them we keep finding these stone coffins. Once the Tevinter presence was gone, ancient Avvar or maybe current Hakkonites decorated it with their own elements: Keepers of Fear.
These coffins are shown working in the expected way: they contain corpses but they are in positions that may suggest they were struggling... inside? Maybe living creatures were placed in them. These bodies can be looted, and what we find are elements that seem to belong to Grey Warden. This makes little sense if we think this Tevinter building was built before the Blights, and there was no existence of Grey Warden. However, there exists some strange link via its symbols between Tevinter and Grey Wardens.
I'm very annoyed with all this DLC when it comes to these thorns. These vines are massive, and we have been shown and taught through several games and iconography, that thorny vines were related to something bad, most of the time in direct relationship with the darkspawn. Now here, we find a lot of overgrowth with RED thorns. I'm unable to speculate anything because in all the DLC there has not been any hint for us to do it. The only thing we know is that this zone had a concentration of darkspawn during a time when there was no Blight going on [ A Celebration Of Wardens]. We also know that the Veil is too thin in this area, and therefore, there is a subtle hint that this is the reason of this excess of vegetation in enormous dimensions. We also know that the Veil being so thin here allows the preservation of the objects around, as if they were delayed in time.
There are hints that these red plants are foreign. It’s implied that the Fade is to blame on this, but also it’s not clear if it’s just because the Fade, or the ancient Tevinter made some experiment which consequence is this unnatural overgrowth. This could also be Dorian being an unreliable source of information when it comes to plants in the Frostback Mountains.
We find more avvar/ferelden items like this monolith with a rope surrounded by coffins with lids depicting Razikale Ceremony and the horned warrior holding a sword, and an Eroded dragon skull.
Deep into the swamp, we find a Tevinter sacrificial altar that has a lot of skeletons around. We assume they are the sacrifices that the Ancient Tevinter talked about to connect with Razikale [it displays ”sun-bleached bones”, potential way to imply old bones]. Currently, it is used by the Hakkonites [”moldy corpses”, implying recent sacrifices] who placed a dragon skull upon it. There are oval objects that I think represent dragon eggs [hakkonite modifications, clearly]. In this place we find a landmark called Blood-Stained Shrine which information is of not much use.
Steps away we see more skeletons and open coffins. I’ve started to manage this hypothesis that these coffins may have meant to transport sacrifice humanoids [probably in stasis state] because we see many of these in places where sacrifices has been made, but also where Tevinter prisons are. Coracavus has coffins of this kind in front of a sacrificial altar in the section of cells. The same pattern is seen here. A slightly different pattern is shown when the game uses these lids as decorations or altars.
On a side of a way up of the swamp we see a climbing area where a big iconography of the Lady of the Skies can be seen. I think it’s worth noting how the Lady of the Skies has a representation that looks like a sunburst.
We know that some triangles structures made of sticks/bones are all over the swamp as part of a sacrifice made by the Hakkonite to place a powerful spell. If we discuss this with the Augur of Stone-bear Hold, we will know they are meant to help free Hakkon from his current prison of ice and at the same time, to keep the other spirits away from knowing what’s happening with Hakkon.
The Abandoned Jail
Deep into the swamp we see the entrance of an abandoned jail, made of typical Tevinter elements. The door is the same one that the ones we found in Coracavus and in the Still Ruin.
There is not much to highlight in this area. Some assets are clipped and used without the purpose that we saw in them in the base game. Clearly it was not a prison like Coracavus, but a small jail to keep some prisoners but not too many. In one of the cells we find another note of our conspiracy guy Helsdim:
Notice that once more the symbols of the eyes keep appearing relating it to him and to conspiracy ideas.
The Hissing Wastes is a large stretch of desert in western Orlais. Thousands of years ago, Paragon Fairel fled to the surface with his clan to escape a catastrophic civil war among the dwarves waged with his inventions and founded Kal Repartha, the only known thaig built on the surface. The Venatori are searching the ruins of the long-abandoned colony for the powerful runes that Fairel created. Like Western Approach, the Hissing Wastes used to be a lush forest, before encroaching sands destroyed the trees' roots.
[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]
We approach the main camp of the Venatori noticing immediately the shape of one of the statues we saw in the Imperial highway of Emprise du Lion or in the Fade. Since this was made in the stone, it can’t have been done by the Venatori recently. So I assume these carvings were done in the rock since long ago.
From Emprise du Lion we know that these statues were part of the columns of the Imperial Highway. So, the most logical and simple explanation of why these statues are here is to hypothesise that the imperial highway reached Hissing Wastes [probably when it was not a desert] and this is just a part of the columns that supported the bridge made with the local stone? If that’s the case, Fairel thaig was involved with Tevinter in more ways than what we saw [demons bound to the stone, claws of Dumat in the tombs, Emerius stone-paintings], allowing them to reach Miranthous through a direct branch of the Imperial Highway.
There is little proof of this in terms of maps, if we see the Imperial highway along the map, in the surroundings of the Hissing Wastes [I’m using this map], we can see there is no highway in the region, however, the only slightly curious thing is that inside the red rectangle, we see a bifurcation of the Imperial highway that one can only see in maps with high resolution. The possibility of the imperial highway reaching this place exists, even though it’s very low. Why did it not last along the region? Maybe because the event that turned these green lands into deserts?
Bellow this statue, we find a wooden fence with the symbol of the Blind Men, so this place was not only used by Venatori, it was a hideout of smugglers as well. With all the use of slaves that the Venatori have in this expedition, we can consider that part of the Venatori are part of the Blind Men or very entangled with them. In fact, we see three symbols of mercenary, bandits, and smugglers here: the Blind Men, the Highwaymen, bandits who took the keep in Crestwood, and the mercenary group that was roaming around Hinterlands.
In this main camp we find a gallows with old dead bodies hanging.
The place shows 3 symbols of bandits:
An armoured glove gripping a snake which represents Outlands: we saw them in Hinterlands,
A dragon skull with two scimitar crossed, Highwaymen that we met in Crestwood, and
The blinded skull that represents the smugglers and slave traders from the Blind Men
We can see that, heading deep, we find again the two gigantic statues of the horned woman--potential kossith--and the Tevinter Warrior. Both of them carved into the stone. Sadly, I can’t say I see a bridge over them, so I’m not sure how much I can support the hypothesis of the Imperial Highway reaching this place. In fact, this place looks more like the ruins of an ancient temple.
This ruin, ignoring the wooden installation, is composed by these two looming figures which look upon a ceiling-less chamber. This chamber entrance has a pair of columns with the statue of the Horned warrior holding a sword at both sides of the entrance. These columns display a pattern usually associated with Tevinter: a square pattern that looks pretty similar to the dwarven C-pattern.
The Venatori have been digging this place as well, so these statues and coffin lids were part of a temple or place that may or may not belonged to the city built by Fairel. We can see that below the sand there is a stone ground of an original construction.
There are more coffins and lids with the symbols of Razikale Ceremony and the Horned warrior holding a sword spread around.
We also find this strange Tevinter object which has spikes [something in common with the statues that loom over this place: they have a texture behind them that looks similar to the one we see at the bottom of this artefact]
In the place there is an urn on the same altar of the Horned warrior holding a sword that we found in Coracavus; Front Corridor and South Entrance.
We check some tables around in order to understand what the Venatori are after, and by reading books and reports we find out the codex draft of letter to Venatori Magisters which says that they need to get the dwarven relics that are instructions to recreate the weapons of the paragon Fairel. If you side with the templars, there is a sentence that adds more hinted information: "He remembers a time when this place was not a blasted wasteland, and if He desires its secrets brought up to the light, we shall obey" meaning that Corypheus knew about this place when it was green, he knew Fairel had crafted a unique weapon as well, so the suspected involvement of these dwarves with Tevinters seems a little bit more solid.
Behind this place, a bit out of the Venatori camp, there is a Tevinter sacrificial altar. Solas and Cole speak of this place: a Venatori tried to call something he could not control. In the beginning they were “many” entities, but only one finished the diary. It’s not clear if this Venatori was possessed or had some personality disorder.
The codex found in this place is Blood-Spotted Venatori Diary which displays two different handwriting styles. This Venatori seems to be an apostate that has a lot of knowledge about old dwarven language and that's the only reason why he is here. In the evenings, when he is free of that work, he studies his own interests. The most ambitious user/personality of this diary wonders about the source of power of Corypheus, and wants it. They consider that maybe it comes from the demons that Corypheus had taught them to bind. The temptation grows, as one of them wants to put aside their fear and wants to bind a high powerful demon to themselves. By the consequences we see in this place and by Cole’s and Solas’ comments, clearly the binding of a powerful demon did not go well.
The main colossal statues
Let’s talk about the details of these statues. I think they can be seen better here than in the Fade [the background lighting sometimes makes it hard to see the bas relief] and much better than in Emprise du Lion, where they are half covered in snow. They also appear in the Shattered Library, but in the same way than in the Fade, it’s hard to see the details due to the contrast with the environment.
The horned woman, or female kossith or potential desire demon, has the following details:
She has horns. They don’t look like the same kind of horns we see in desire demons, which are longer and go backwards and then forward. In fact, her horns look more similar to Qunari’s.
She has pointy ears, which again, it’s not the design of the desire demons. The Qunari in DAI have pointy ears.
On her chest and solar plexus her skin has thick lines. They look like veins (of lyrium?). The symbol on her chest resembles the symbol on the chest we found in the main Old God statue in DAO during the Dalish origin. Yo me looks like a sketchy dragon.
Her neck and her left shoulder show some tendrils or texture similar to the one that chastely covers her breasts.
There is a long object that comes out from her legs. It seems to be a snake with a rhomboid scale pattern. It’s not clear if that snake covers her or is being born from her.
Her figure rests against a structure which is filled with thorns or spikes.
The man holding the sword
The statue of the Tevinter Warrior has the following details:
His helmet has a spike that reminds Andraste’s helm as well. In the Fade they are aligned in a way that the game suggests you to make that connection [first panel of the green image].
He is surrounded by a snake. On his back he has around 10 skulls aligned as if he were resting against a backrest chair made of tiny skulls.
He holds a sword which hilt looks like a face in a triangular shape. In fact, that sword is Hessarian’s sword with which he killed Andraste out of mercy. We can see it in detail in this typical triptych:
That the Tevinter warrior is holding the same sword related to the death of Andraste, may relate him to the Archon Hessarian, or to a proto ”Blade of Hessarian” group. It’s also curious that the replica of this sword in DA2 [ Blade of Mercy], has nothing to do with this design.
Both figures are not associated with any codex directly. And thanks to this excavation here, we can relate them to the lids of Razikale Ceremony and the Horned warrior holding a sword
Both of them are linked, since they are not two different statues, but just one, each of them resting on the back of the other. Both rest their back against an element with spikes [a thorny thick vine?], and the snake keeps them in place and wrapped. Could this be the representation of a bound spell? Hard to know. This pair of statues have always fascinated me, I wish I could understand them with a good degree of certainty.
