Dragon Age Meta Nexus

Inquisition, especially Descent, but also slipped in in various other places, gave us a bunch of hints and a few big revelations about the Titans, but I'll be honest, I've been dying to know more about the Pillars of the Earth since the first tiny hints. I think it's about time I put my thoughts down coherently. Well, about time I try, anyway.

With PICTURES!All this is taken loosely (we have no absolute fixed borders) so it's just for a general idea. It wasn't possible for me to portray Tevinter's claims properly, so I will explain each image as I go along. Simplification is a given as we don't actually have all the records of the time available to us.

So if you bear with me, I think I have some fairly interesting evidence to present in defense of this argument, but it might be a little long-winded (and includes LOTS of interesting sources and a couple awesome pictures).

I've been transcribing cutscenes and dialogue to use as references in my own fanfic and figured that I should make my work available to other authors.

Beyond the Korcari Wilds and Arbor Wilds to the south there is a frozen wasteland called the Sunless Lands that only the Chasind Wilders have explored. There is land to the west of Thedas, although the Hunterhorn Mountains inhibit travel, as do the jungles of the Donarks in the northwest. The Tevinter call these lands the 'Viridis' - "The Green", and have rumors of wingless dragons and flying chimeras inhabiting the jungles. Before the Third Blight, the Ander city of Laysh traded with ships that came across the Volca Sea. The travelers, named 'Voshai', had an excessive interest in Lyrium. Expeditions to reach the homeland of the Voshai have so far failed. In recent times, however, rumors have risen that the Voshai ships have returned, bringing with them tales of a 'cataclysm' that devastated their home. [...]

So, because this is a thing that comes up in a codex entry, and it is specifically a DWARF-related codex, I feel like I should point out that 'name days' are a very real thing. They are the day that has the same name you do. (And you're like what, Wednesday? No, like Elizabeth, which is 19 November, in the Swedish Calendar that was in use up to 1972.)

An index of all the templars I can find mentioned by name, where they're stationed (or where you meet them), the ranks they hold when you encounter them in particular years, whether they are retired, whether they are dead, whether they go Red, and whether their condition is dependent on player action.

Thank fuck, the DA Wiki has a list of literally every official piece of media released in the DA franchise. Looking for a piece of canon? It's somewhere in here.

Transcribed:Swiftrunner: Zathrian came to this ruin and summoned a terrible spirit, binding it to the body of a great wolf. So Witherfang came to be.Zathrian: You do understand that she actually is Witherfang?Warden: Yes, I thought as much.Zathrian: She is the powerful spirit of this ancient forest that I summoned long ago and bound in the body of the wolf.

We know from Cole that they're trapped behind a mirror. "They sleep, masked in a mirror, hiding, hurting, and to wake them…" Naturally, that means an Eluvian, probably in some sort of pocket dimension, as Siggi put it. But which one? The one that doesn't work.

He once traveled to the Western Approach and nearly died from thirst. He uses magic to prevent sunburn on his bald head. He likes Ghilan'nain's Grove because 'it's quiet'. This area of the Exalted Plains (a place of bloody elven history) was named after Ghilan'nain of the Elven Pantheon, and also houses a shrine to Fen'Harel. Something's up about that place. [...]

I thought the next one of these I did was gonna be on ancient Elvhen and dwarven relations, but I got distracted. Spoilers for, uh… Trespasser a little, maybe the Descent? Click the Read More for ENCHANTMENT!!!!

An organized list of where we stand, canonwise, on the hints we have so far of the origins of the Qunari. May include spoilers for Jaws of Hakkon and Trespasser. Please note that there may be additional details hinted at in interviews given by the devs, but I haven't included those here as I don't consider a detail canon until it's actually in the media. Writer and dev conversations, even with the public, are too malleable to be safely considered canon-too much can change during development for such things to be reliable, in my opinion.

> So Zevran's nightmare in The Fade that's actually what he went through to become a Crow? > Cos the codex on the mission says his nightmare was him reliving his Crow initiation. All your other companions are experiencing just plain old nightmares but the fact that the worse nightmare the Sloth Demon could construct for Zevran wasn't something fake, but something he actually lived through is so awful and I'm gonna cry. > At least within, say, Alistair's nightmare he was happy for a bit until the warden arrived and informed him that it wasn't real, that demons were twisting his perception. but Zevran doesn't get that. His life has been filled with so much pain that I don't think the Sloth Demon would've even bothered to dig down far enough to find what would make him happy enough to stay entranced under a lesser demon's powers. Instead, he uses pain to control him, because that's what people have always used to control him. My read on the Sloth Demon is less about happy or pain and more like a distraction. Sloth is lethargy, something that prevents you from doing what needs to be done, a distraction from the task at hand.

"Song" is obviously central to the magical nature of Thedas. Sometimes these songs might be the same, and sometimes they're clearly different. I'm not speculating right now, just getting it all in one place. Things that Sing: The Calling/the Taint, lyrium, red lyrium, Titans, the Stone, and the Chant of Light. Also, the Fade?? Am I missing anything?

The earliest written main quest module is "Dalish Curse" a story about a Dalish elf who becomes possessed by a rage demon, and calls himself "Mythallen" - "child of vengeance." (here is the wiki page for Mythallen, which goes into more detail)

A little bit ago, I wrote a piece expressing the opinion that Cullen is a man whose actions speak louder than his words and that, specifically, his joining the Inquisition and quitting lyrium demonstrated a very strong desire to atone for having been a party to the abuses that took place in the Gallows. A friend who is, understandably, not eager to forgive those abuses or Cullen's part in them, responded with (among other things), "to me, it seemed clear that Cullen stopping lyrium and breaking away from the Templars was about him not wanting to live the life of a Templar anymore, for his OWN sake. Because of what that life cost him." I had honestly not considered that perspective, so I went back and spent a fairly ridiculous amount of time reviewing dialogue with and about Cullen, and now I feel prepared to defend my original assertion.

Anonymous asked: Solas is always talking about HIS people and he feels little kinship with the dailish or city elves, and yet with Sera he does talk about OUR people? Been a while since I played but it felt like he tried to remind her about her elfiness all the time (big spoilers for Inquisition, also speculation) It's very interesting, isn't it? Solas' kinship (or non-kinship) with other elves is something that he's ultra contradictory about through the whole game.

As cool as the armor looks, can we talk for a second about just how creepy this is? And the stylized halla stamp…Ghilan'nain, what did you do? [x] The writing on these papers aches to be looked at, shimmering slightly as if under an enchantment. The notes are handwritten, but each letter is as perfectly uniform as from a printing press: ... >>(Though this is tagged Ghilan'nain, the tag is pure speculation based on the halla seal.)

> So what do you think The Guardian is? It's from one of Valta's Codex entries and it's...enlightening to be sure. Wow okay thinking about this gave me some really interesting new thoughts re: dwarves, dwarf spirits, and the Stone. Specifically, I am now 100% convinced that not all spirits come from, or return to, the Fade...