i've got a hard time believing they even really got on board w the andrastian chantry thing for the first few hundred years at least. and we've seen how pro-mage the avvar are - and it's canon that pre-andrastian ferelden was very similar religiously to the avvar. and ferelden was never under the tevinter imperium's rule in the same way the rest of thedas was. so a) lacking infrastructure and b) lacking the cultural trauma of …. well, being ruled by tevinter blood mages.

Because apparently the Mage-Templar War is back in full swing here on Tumblr, and while I do side with mages (seriously, every playthrough), there are some points that have gotta be made here, and I haven't seen anyone else make them yet. The first and maybe the most obvious thing about the templars is that they are a military order in the service of the Chantry. And yet this obvious fact is possibly one of the least understood. We'll start by examining a possible reason for this.

Reviewing our posts (1, 2, 3) about eluvians the other day made me think about the lack of eluvians in DA2 other than Merrill's troublesome mirror. "Well," thought I, "there is Xenon's weird mirror, but that is just a courtesy to the fans and doesn't really fit in the lore……wait a minute! What if it is a really modded eluvian?"

Thanks for the ask! I hope we are the right blog, because you gave us an excuse to research some of our favorites: Spirits, Justice, Cole, and Fade shenanigans. Ironically, I was writing about spirits and Fade crossings for another post when I got distracted by Elgar'nan. Theses (I don't often get to use the plural!): Justice is trapped in the mortal world due to his own desire to fulfill his purpose, his (mostly) mistaken belief that he will fade away and die without a host body, and his growing fascination with the waking world. The spirits and demons that possess sylvans and corpses return to the Fade as energy, like any other spirit, unless outside forces intervene to continue their purpose.

So anyone else think that there are more "Well of Sorrows" in the series than just Mythal's? It's clear that groundwork was laid for shit to go down with the elven gods, their eluvians, the titans, and much more since the beginning of the series. It stands to reason that there may well have been other Wells shown earlier in the series…so let the speculations commence!

As we noted in yesterday's post, Mythal's temple existed for ages before the creation of the Veil and the loss of elvhen immortality. We have every reason to believe that the Well of Sorrows existed in those ages when the Evanuris waged war against the Titans, 'tamed' the land, exiled the Forbidden Ones, and reached the pinnacle of their powers. What would the Well have been used for during the glory days of Arlathan?

Previously on "Well Shit", we deduced that Mythal's Well was used to keep sensitive information in the hands of loyal (*cough* geas: ie magical binding for instant loyalty and controlability) followers, and that it may have originally been used to help elves and spirits manage emotions and personality which would make it more difficult for them to live in the Fade. The Well appears to have been essential to the Sentinels' ability to preserve Mythal's wisdom. So why wasn't the Well despoiled along with the rest of her temple? Did the Well only contain the knowledge of the priests who survived the attack on Mythal's temple? Or was the destruction of her temple merely meant to break her worshipers' will? Could the geas binding the will of the Well's recipient been enough to keep her rivals at bay? Or did they already have all the knowledge they could have gained from Mythal's Well from another source? There was, after all, an elven god devoted to knowledge and secrets…

We have examined why the Well of Sorrows was so important to the ancient elvhen Sentinels, the origins of the Vir'abelasan, and whether Dirthamen's Temple once contained a Well as well. If our theory that the Well of Sorrows is more than a plot device for Inquisition, and that it and many other important story elements for the rest of the Dragon Age series were previewed in earlier games, then it stands to reason there should be something like the Well of Sorrows in Origins or DA2. And it is there.

Sometime last year, I posted a very short piece about the Lady of the Forest and her role as a spirit. Lately, there has been a resurgence in reblogs of that post, which is all well and good, but in truth the theory itself was never truly expanded upon, mostly because it's part of something much, much bigger. The original premise of that post was basically that the Lady of the Forest was a spirit of the earth, because she says as much herself. People either loved this or hated this, and I'll be clear in saying that it is not a theory so much as taking what she herself says at face value. Those that did not like it seemed to be of a similar mind that it messed with what we know of spirits, and therefore it couldn't possibly be true, despite the video evidence presented from her own mouth that the Lady of the Forest was never drawn across the Veil.

They say the darkspawn came in a crawl, whispers in the dark, people vanishing along the Deep Roads. When Dumat rose in the First Blight, the dwarves already knew there was something different about these creatures that had harried them in the darkness (Codex: The Blights). They were bolder, organized, and when they at last had their general, their decimation was fast.

We begin our exploration of the Deep Roads in the heart of the Dwarven Kingdom: Orzammar. Once one of the twelve great thaigs (DA:O Loading Screen), Orzammar is now the last bastion of the dwarves, or so it was believed prior to the announcement of the rediscovery of old Kal-Sharok (Codex: Cut to Kal-Sharok).

I was thinking about Solas and Sera, and the fact that he considered her on of "his people" or "our people" when he was trying to if she would understand the elven language. But when the inquisitor asks if Solas is happy for Briala as a fellow elf, and he said he does not consider himself the same as her. So what do you think made Solas consider Sera as one of "his people" and not the other elfs in the game?

Some thoughts on Andraste's mother. Her sword - which we now know only as Glandivalis - was given to Shartan by Andraste. Random additional info on the sword: The word 'glandival' appears one other time in DA materials - in an "elven version" of a lullaby 'local to Denerim and nearby villages to the south' called Where Willows Wail. Glandival is translated as 'believe.' Glandivalis could be a blade named Belief. This sword is later loot in a quest in DAII called Pride Unbound from a Pride (hubris) demon named Hybris. It deals electricity damage and has a 2.5% chance to enslave normal enemies. You read that right. Shartan named a blade with the power to enslave Belief.

A great deal of the Dragon Age fandom was, and still is, deeply intrigued by our beloved elvhen sentinel, Abelas. His poise, his authority, and especially his role within the game keep many Dalish and Anciet Elvhen fans at the edge of their seats. He offers a view into the past in which no other character has been able to provide (besides, perhaps, Solas, but we later learn that he has kept more secrets to himself than he has exposed), deep into the past of the Ancient Elves and what now remains of their people. Further more, with the revelation of Fen'Harel's identity, we now seek to learn more of what becomes of Abelas and the Ancient Elves, and how they may influence the next Dragon Age game.

the-emerald-halla on Inquisition

the taint is bloodborne. that much is canon. if a regular soldier is exposed to darkspawn blood (by ingestion or via open wound) then he'll die of the taint. only Grey Wardens are immune because they got taint-immunization. except the immunization isn't actually an immunization… because it's not their immune system that prevents further taint. the GW taint is slower spreading version of the Darkspawn taint. GW have an active colony of taint in their system. most blood borne diseases are also transmissible through sexual activity, and sometimes other bodily fluids. why don't GW have to worry about safe sex? or making sure only other GW treat their bloody wounds?

At the edges of Caridin's Cross, the border of the old kingdom begins. The Memories say that there were thousands of thaigs (Codex: Darktown's Deep), almost beyond counting (Codex: Orzammar History Chapter 1), stretching from one end of Thedas to the other. Its corridors were the work of great architectural achievement and construction, and its thaigs were the sites of invention and creation over thousands of years. It was this dwarven kingdom that gave birth to the common tongue, the trade tongue that Thedas still speaks today (the Stolen Throne, pg. 312). And it was this dwarven kingdom that invented the standard gold, silver, and bronze coinage that is still used today as well (DAO:Prima Origins Game Guide).

Hi guys, HigheverRains here. This month I've got the first of a series discussing the links between the Avvar, the Titans, and the elves of Elvhenan. We're going to be covering a lot of ground here, so we'll have a couple different parts before we link everything together. Today we're going to start by laying the groundwork for this theory with an analysis on Avvar myths and how they link to both Mythal and the Titans.

I couldn't find these anywhere (except in video form which is too long) so I just transcribed them.

Aeducan Thaig is among the more recent, dating to the lull in the Darkspawn caused by the invention of Caridin's Legion of Steel. It appears, for the most part, small and it has been lost again to the Darkspawn over the years (WOT 2pg. 174), and was sealed when they overran the thaig (A Tale of Orzammar DLC), with the latest excursions into the thaig only as a result of the Fifth Blight driving back the horde from its caverns (DAO: Noble Dwarf Origin; Paragon of Her Kind). It appears that Aeducan Thaig's primary purpose, as with many thaigs, was to serve as the final resting place of its founding Paragon, and possibly his shield. This however remains in question and likely is untrue due to machinations of Bhelen Aeducan in the Noble Dwarf Origin of Dragon Age Origins. In the Bioware created downloadable content A Tale of Orzammar, the player is a hapless adventurer who is paid by Bhelen to carve their way into the thaig in order to plant the shield in the first place (A Tale of Orzammar DLC). Its doors are locked save by the use of the Aeducan signet rings, and its structures are derelict. The thaig itself is long since plundered of any distinctive treasures, but there is more to Aeducan Thaig than meets the eye.