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”] Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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”] Â
[Index page of Dragon Age Lore ]
Siding with Templars
Side quest:Â 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.Â
Inside, we have two levels. Â
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].Â
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. Â
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.Â
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:Â 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
The Forbidden Oasis contains ancient Elven and Tevinter ruins. Relatively recent history includes the arrival of the "Envers Mining Company" who predominantly mined Serpentstone and Paragon's Luster. The miners were eventually driven mad by the sinister magic that still lingers in the area.
[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”] Â
Updated December 2022
When we enter to this zone, Scout Harding tells us that the Venatori were already in this place, and she assumes they are moving on the Temple.
She also tells us that a mining company [Envers Mining Company] out of Val Firmin [a region in Orlais] used to have interests in this place, until economy changed and so they left two years before [2033 TE] the breach in the sky. She also highlights that it’s strange that this temple was never marked in any map, not even by the miners. This comment seems to be related to the fact that the entity trapped inside this temple had skills that caused forgetfulness on people, as we will see in other codices and notes.
There are many Tevinter urns everywhere in this place, along the streets formed by small canyons, inside the caves and mines, on small canyons, etc. How can we interpret this? I have no idea; the Venatori were here, and before them, a  mining company. Before that we have no information.
The ridiculous amount of Tevinter urns makes me suspect that maybe Teviner took and altered this temple, in similar fashion they did with the one we found in Razikale’s Reach in the DLC Jaws of Hakkon. They could not enter the temple, but built a Tevinter structure around it, maybe even drawing power from it.
When we walk outside the mining region, heading into the desert, we find this statue with remnants of what looked like an arc or a building. This statue is rather unique in all DAI; it appears 3 times in this region and then, only once, in Redcliff castle [in the future]. When we are close to it for the first time, Cole says
“It’s empty. That’s why they hid it here”
I have no idea what Cole is referring to.  Is the tomb empty? But it wasn’t empty, it was full of demons and possessed bodies. Unless Cole refers to a bigger entity that had been trapped here. In any case, we also don’t know what he refers to with the “they hid it”. What it was hidden?
This statue in particular triggers the codex  The Marker, where Ducette, amateur historian who works as a representative of the mining company, gives us his perception of this statue: a kind of guide in deserts for the people [my mind can't jump immediately to The Colossus after this comment, making me assume that the Colossus is also a guide in the deserts, even though it’s not clear towards where]
Close to this statue there are fallen pieces of a column that display a dwarven pattern.
This statue is mysterious. By only its style is hard to guess to which one it belongs. The main man has angular features, his ears are not visible since it looks like he is wearing a chain-mail, he uses scale-based pauldrons, and a robe. He is holding a sword with one hand while the other holds a bigger head. By comparison with the state of the overall figure, we can assume that the bigger head has a lot of wounds and scars. Despite looking similar, the head in his hand and this man’s profile are different. The bigger head has a smaller, shrank nose. The only significant shape in this statue that can give us a resemblance of a hint to whom it belongs is his belt, which has pointy ends. We had seen this pattern in two places: in Tevinter artefacts, such as the sacrificial burial or Tevinter architectural details, or in andrastian outfits.
Close to the canyons and around the mines, we see it again, where the codex The Weight of War is triggered. In it, the same author of the previous codex, Ducette, observes this statue and interprets it. He claims that the stern look and the bigger head in his hand represent a person or knight who carries the weight/burden of those he had killed [hence the comical size of the damaged head]. This amateur historian considers that, given the proximity to Western Approach, this statue could be related to the Wardens. We know it cannot be the case. There is no iconography of the warden on him, instead the only detail we see is his belt which has some reminiscence to Tevinter decoration. Sadly, we don’t have a date for this statue, so we can’t determine if it was made pre-blights or post-blights.
Close to the entrance of the Oasis, entering to the zone of the mines, we can find several pieces around this region that narrate a story, compiled in the codex A Miner's Journal. Summarising it:Â
Three years before the breach in the sky [2032 TE], this journal was started to be written.
There is a miner called Didot who wants to know about the Temple door in this place. The writer suggest him to keep low and just work.
The author is intrigued too, but prefers not to go deeper since he recognises the dark energy of the Temple.
The author fears that Didot can disturb the thing inside the temple with his procedures.
Didot starts to speak strangely, and the author assumes he spent too much time close to the door.
Their boss claim that soon a check of operations from a superior will happen. Didot disappears after this announcement.
Putting all together, it seems that these two miners, the author of the journal as well as Didot, could perceive something dark in the temple and the door, but could not open it. Didot became curious about it and started to do things that could “disturbed it”. I’m not sure if Didot became possessed at some point or simply was affected by a compulsion [like red lyrium do on people exposed to it] to the point he started to talk strangely and spend more time at the door of the temple.
When we enter to this zone we automatically trigger the codex The Forbidden Oasis where we read one of the last letters of Didot to his wife. It implies that the name of this place is based on the mysterious door of the Temple that he should not ask about. So, in an implicit way, we have a Forbidden place and a Door which seems to be Forgotten every time someone wants to speak about it. The words Forbidden and Forgotten mix in this series of codices and notes. What’s clear is that this original forbidden rule triggered the curiosity of Didot and doomed him to his own compulsion.
When we explore the mines, we can trigger the note Spiral Mine, where we find out that Didot had an accident. It’s not clear if it was the company’s doing [because he was starting to look mad] or was his compulsive state’s doing which made him find this end.
Also, as we see the symbol of the Blind Men, it looks like these mines had been or are used by smugglers.
As we explore the net of caves that this mine has, we find several notes and messages in veilfire. One of them triggers  An Apostate's Message which narrates how an apostate was incorporated to the company as a miner. This person claims to feel a sense of dread close to the "door".
We also find The Journal of Paulette Deschant where once more it is repeated the effect of the door on the miners: one of them slept close to it in his first day and awoke everyone with his scream. Since then, he avoids the pool.
Inside the mines we can see old columns which patterns are Tevinter. These tunnels are also filled with Tevinter Urns. We see once more the same pattern than in Razikale’s Reach: a Tevinter structure has been built around an elvhen tomb.  In these corridors we find a landsmark called  Upper Walkways  which suggests that nobody can describe the "heart of the pool".
[...] like all accounts of the area, a clear description of the "heart" of the oasis is lacking.
Apparently, when someone wants to do it, their words stop, they simply "forget". This would explain why this temple was never added into the map of the miners, as Harding has noticed in the beginning. It had a powerful unconscious effect on people when the dread entity was still inside. Now, that effect doesn't exist anymore, therefore we can mark Solasan in the maps.
Since we can compare this tomb with the one we found in the DLC Jaws of Hakkon, where a forgotten one was trapped inside, we can infer that Solasan may have had a trapped forgotten one as well [Full speculation in the post of the Temple of Solasan]. Â
We get closer to the door. In this case, we see a beautiful small waterfall and a pool of water.  There are two statues here, one of Andraste, and the another is the famous Faceless figure holding a crown. One of the statues triggers Intrinsic Pool, which adds nothing, like almost 90% of the codices written by Orlesians, lol.
Updated December 2022: I finally managed to understand and justify the statue Faceless figure holding a crown It's andrastian and represents the Maker. The stained glass of Andraste's life represents him as a figure without face with a crown that looks very similar to this one. As  The Maker, it makes a lot of more sense for it to appear in the places it does.
We approach the door. More details in the Post Temple of Solasan.
In another canyon we find four corpses and a book, explaining what happened with these people. It triggers a codex called Mysterious Book, which shows a person who I assume was a Venatori trying to bind a demon here, and clearly something went wrong.
In the upper part of these canyons we find a path which is flanked by these two statues. Due to the pattern that accompanies the columns, it seems to be Tevinter. So we have the mixture of the three styles: elvhen, Tevinter and Andrastian. There is a bit of dwarven style in some columns in the outskirts of the region too.
These statues seem to guide us through a path that reaches Par’as Cavern. We see symbols of the Blind Men and barrels, inferring immediately that this was a hideout for smugglers at some point.
The columns keep showing Tevinter patterns as well as the Tevinter Urns at the base of some columns. There are cells too that I imagine they may have worked like a jail for when the Tevinter were present in this zone [I follow the similar structure we saw in Jaws of Hakkon: The Frozen Gates had a prison close to its entrance].
