#the black codex

[thedaswolves]

More of Black Codex by Matt Rhodes! ❤️

They really did let Solas do all the heavy lifting, and than carry all the guilt. 😭

part 1 | part 3

[agents-of-fenharel]

BioWare. The Art of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Dark Horse Books, 2024.

              Post-Inquisition, p 32-36; “Black Codex”

[There was a top-secret document on BioWare’s network that contained the objectively true history of Thedas called the Black Codex. Each culture had its perspective, its own emphasis and style, and over time more was added and taken away. It was decided to reveal a lot of truth in this game, so early on we wanted to illustrate the Black Codex. This would help to act as a visual guide to the events that formed Thedas as we know it.]

[Peaceful beginnings, gentle giants gardeners, and curious spirits.]

[The spirits saw the dwarves as they tended to the Titans, and they wanted to try making bodies for themselves.]

[The spirits made physical bodies for themselves from the “flesh” of the Titans. The first elves were born, and the first war began.]

[A brutal war rages on between the elves and the Titans, only ending when one elf (Solas) rendered the Titans “tranquil,” capturing their souls.]

[With the Titans rendered tranquil, dwarves lost their connection to magic. They fled into the bodies of their fallen hosts.]

[The elves brought a powerful war trophy home.]

[With the power that came from the captured Titan souls, the elves built the greatest empire Thedas would ever see.]

[Solas fought against the self-proclaimed gods, earning the title “the Dread Wolf.”]

[The gods drew upon the power of the Titan’s souls to gain more power. The imprisoned sould became twisted with rage. This became the blight.]

[To contain the blight outbreak, Solas performed a desperate blood-magic ritual. He bound up the magic of the world behind a veil and powered it with the blood of the evil gods.]

[What remined of the elven empire collapsed. The early human empire of Tevinter discovered it in shambles.]

[Eons later, the blight reached out to power-hungry Tevinter magisters through their dreams. They were lured to the Golden City, but the magisters found it already blackened by the blight.] 

[lampost-in-winter]

Maybe it's an unpopular opinion, but I prefer the changes they made from the og Black Codex to Veilguard to make Mythal a more active participant of the big events that shaped Thedas. Like I know some people feel this was done to take the blame off Solas, but I still feel there's plenty of blame for him to get his share, and just. look I'm not blaming the artist, I don't know what went into making that concept art, but I much prefer a Mythal that is a co-author of war crimes to protect the People she created and that has earned her name as an Evanuris one bloody deed at a time, than have her be the lady who just looks scared in the background while Extra Manly Solas does Things (also, as others have pointed out: having Solas be the only person doing interesting things in Ancient Arlathan is Boring)

PS: Was gonna say this in the notes, but I think is important to note, that Mythal being the one to sunder the Titans was probably already decided by Tresspasser at least, since it's in that DLC when the "isatunoll" elven song about Mythal stealing the Titans' dreams appears for the first time. So not all the changes were decided during Veilguard's development, probably.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

if we could manage to get some of those War Thunder guys into Dragon Age i bet we'd have the Black Codex files within a fortnight

[thedaswolves]

Thedas Creation 🥰 Black Codex by Matt Rhodes

I think this was always clear to those who payed real attention to lore and explored lore and all the hints more deeply, not just on surface level of game story. still so fascinating to see it all spelled out like this, this artwork is STUNNING!!!!! man what I would give for a game set in creation days of Thedas and Titan War and early Arlathan 😭 But only if it was done by all the original devs and writers ofc. so yeah... we can dream.

part 2 | part 3

[thedaswolves]

part 3 of Black Codex and Thedas origin by Matt Rhodes ❤️

This is all good as far as explaining origins of the Veil and Blight and elven past but I still need someone to explain origins of Humans cuz at this point that is the bigger mystery lol

part 1 | part 2

[thedaswolves]

"From their prison in the Veil, the spirits of the titans lure power-hungry Tevinter magisters into the Fade to release them. Instead of a city of gold, they find a Black City. The first Blight is released."

The Black Codex by Matt Rhodes (link)

and this codex entry found in the fade in DAI

It was the blighted suffering Titans themselves calling to Tevinter Magister to break the Veil... not the Evanuris or Archdemons, their corrupted dragons, as many believed in years past.. this makes it somehow worse 😭

[thedaswolves]

Another thing that was always in the back of my mind.. this mystery of human origins in Thedas...

Black Codex says spirits watched dwarves, envied their form and crafted bodies for themselves from Titans, creating first elves... But the bodies looked more human than dwarven.

that, along with flashback from DAV of spirit Solas, before he took physical form, saying he doesn't desire to live like humans..

... it kind of implies humans were already around...

And are humans somehow connected to Kossith? we kind of know both Humans and Kossith came down from Par Vollen.. and before that.. somewhere farther beyond the sea? and in DAI Bull said Kossith looked nothing like Qunari but doesn't know more about who they were… It is also said that ancient Qunari came to existence by mixing their blood with dragons to enhance their fighting capabilities, and that would explain the current look of their race. But how different did they look before? Maybe more like.. Humans?! and how do Executors play into all that? were they involved? So many questions left unanswered 😪

Personal headcanon, yes I do I think Qunari (the race, not followers of the Qun obviously) were genetically engineered in ancient past, by mixing humans and dragons 🤷‍♀️ possibly by Executors or who ever those across the sea are