Alright to be fair this post should be titled: Let’s talk Lyrium, and world order, and how magic types relate to each other, and a lot of other shit because Tansy just finished Trespasser and is kind of freaking out. but that did not make as good a title.
See?
(As you can also tell I started this lore post a LONG time ago)
Basically the DLC was just one validation after another of some of the ideas I had lore wise that were so out there that I just sort of went NAH and didn’t really share them. It also validated lots I have spoken of but that’s beside the point.
There was literally so much to cover that I kept debating about how to mix it up for a while before finally deciding to just sort of dump it all in one place.
I ended up going with the Lyrium title because this has validated TWO crazy theories I had!
So basically I promise you there will be lyrium
There will just be a lot of other stuff too. Please keep reading. Unless of course you are a templar experiencing withdrawal in which case I advise you to… I don’t even know. Sorry buddy you’re screwed.
CRASH COURSE ON THEDAS WORLD ORDER!
Fade - Fade magic - spirits - sky/outerspace
Thedas - blood magic - us - Thedas
Void - Void Magic - dead people - Water
LYRIUM! LYRIUM EVERYWHERE!
I um... Might need to explain a bit more. Lemme just copy and paste from another of my posts
First let's look at magic. Blood/fade/void
We know how magic works for blood and fade “ A mage uses magic by tapping into the power of the Fade to essentially question reality, rendering it mutable and able to be reshaped. To this end, templars are the ideal foils for mages, having been trained specifically to counter and “deny” magic
http://higheverrains.tumblr.com/post/132465307323/circle-charts this post got me thinking
ok so basically Blood magic uses the power of real life of reality to shape spells Fade magic uses the fades power with it being a place of unfixed existence.
You got that? Thedas is reality, Fade is unfixed reality
The void as we see in the void magic performed in the Calling draws its power from lack of reality. It works by literally dissolving reality out of existence instead of changing it as fade magic does or creating it as blood magic seems to.
Side note: this is why blood magic can be so unexpected as in Last Flight. You are creating reality not changing it as Fade magic does.
Still with me here? Good,
According to the prima game guide “ Spirits whose realms are flocked with visitors rise to rule great portions of the Fade, while memories and concepts forgotten in the real world slowly drift away back into the ether, the spirits who ruled them losing all potency”
This ether is also known as the abyss or void. It's the raw waters of the fade. It is nothing but nothing is powerful because nothing is just energy that has not been shaped yet.
This is the fade in its natural state. Before people touch it with their perceptions
Its also a storage place for the souls of the dead before they return
The void is the land of the dead. (as stated by so many cultures in thedas) Thedas is the land of the living. And the fade is the land of those who can neither live nor die.
Now then.
Titans figured out how to have dwarves not enter the fade. But instead be drawn to them and their wellspring to from their own private pool of knowledge. These were the original memories. The accumulated knowledge of generations at the finger tips of new dwarves.
Sound like anything? The well of Sorrows. The elves took lyrium and “something else” That something else was souls.
This is how imortality works. Circumventing the void. Or rather making sure your full being is brought out into a new body.
Of course this does not explain my last little bit about space and stuff... So I Should started talking about that.
It started with a crazy thought There are three realms of existence, three types of magic.
But two big powerful animals? Titans and Great Dragons? Both of whom have blood with crazy special properties?
I don’t believe there is only two. I think one has not yet been revealed to us (Unless of course it’s the Cetus in which case we just don’t know shit)
Dear Bioware, please let it be this thing. Please let our heroes have to go out on boats to meet with it with only harpoons and fishhooks for defence, all like “Haha, we’re so screwed.”
But basically It got me thinking, If Dragons ruled the skies, and Titans do their shaping thing in the stone what is left?
BINGO! The Seas!
But that is crazy right and where did outerspace come from?
Well let me show you somthing
Heh-heh nice little rifty, please don’t swallow m-
No! What are we doing!?
OH MY G-D!!!
Gonna look back.... What the?
HOOOOBOY!
Welcome to the other side of the rift.
But wait there is more!
Nice Crossroads Green Forcefield thing.
Hmmm So this is the lowest point.... I wonder if I just
Is that what I think it is?
Thats right under the crossroads is an entire freaking forest.
Oh broken paths?
You mean like this?
A lot of people get frustrated about the geography of thedas and how it makes the sence. The thing is... It does. If you link the physical and the magical
But back to the concept of the seas.
Remember this in the fade?
Yeah I don’t think it was crestwood. Mostly because there is black water in the raw fade in DAO
Wanna know what else was in the fade?
Which is interesting because in the past lyrium in the fade was blue
Why the change?
Well... It could be because we entered the fade physically
Or it might have somthing to do with the part of the void we entered being connected to the void. I don’t think those fossils where an accident. Connecting water and death in a thing. As is connecting death and the void as I mentioned above.
We know the titan’s blood is lyrium
We know it has a heart
New age crystal lovers eat your heart out!!!! Yes I am a crystal lover...
So let's ask the question. What do hearts and blood DO?
If our blood and hearts carry things like oxygen and the other nutrients we need... We have to ask what TITAN hearts and blood carry.
My theory since before trespasser has been that the awnser to this is souls. Lyrium transports souls through the void the fade and thedas.
Moving on.
Here lies the abyss, the well of all souls. From these emerald waters doth life begin anew. Come to me, child, and I shall embrace you. In my arms lies Eternity.
In the book “The Calling” Merric speaks this verse while very likely in a titan.
What if this wellspring is a holder for souls. So that when Sha-Brytol die they can be brought back. A “secret to immortality”
What does this idea remind you of? Well it reminded me of The Well Of Sorrows.
But that’s crazy right... WELLLLLL....
This is the “pure” Lyrium we see in Decent
The Lyrium we see in trespasser however is different looking The following are two pictures of it taken at the same angle just moments apart.
Notice the shiny. It’s almost like the Lyrium has been charged somehow. But charged how... FLYCAM TIME
Oh look at this... You know what it reminds me off?
Welcome to Uthenera
Close up more
Oh look Lyrium columns leading to...
The dark waters of the fade. Shall we call this the void?
Diving boards are important for void sacrifices guys.
I’m about to propose somthing crazy guys.
What if Red Lyrium is not always evil?
Besides the fact that a Qunari inquisitor seems not to find Red Lyrium a bother in trespasser we have this.
Does this mean that Red Lyrium was once not blighted? or that the blight was once not bad? That there is some red Lyrium that is not bad?
The Elves in origins seem to suggest so.
This Camp should be doomed
But we have seen more than just blue and red lyrium
We’ve seen green Lyrium. FYI The Hissing Wastes is home to many Oddities
I know some suspect this might be a trick of the light But this does not look like a trick of the light to me.
Furthermore the Qunari in Trespasser seem to agree with me considering this is found in their little clubhouse.
SO if red lyrium is blighted lyrium.... Or rather void like Lyrium.... what is green lyrium..?
The awnser came to me seeing the Fade Touched Lurker
found in Jaws of Hakkon.
Green Lyrium is fade touched lyrium...
Which means that it is either like Veil Quartz... OR....
We have a possessed Titan somewhere!
Personally I bank on the Possessed Titan for two simple reasons.
First of all we find no green Lyrium in the Frostback Basin where both our fade touched friend above and veil quartz are...
ALSO
While we know that dwarves like using Lyrium in interior decorating...
We also see what could be other colors of lyrium in their decor...
From green...
To red and even yellow....
That this might be lyrium is given further credence by the fact that a Lyrium sales dwarf in Orzammar seems to be selling these decorations...
And that wraps up this lore post!
Thank you to @aqunaristateofbind for the Morrigan well graphic!