Hopefully it's the other 5 magisters that turned into darkspawn. Maybe get a broodmother that was a mage previously and get more background on magic wielding darkspawn. More talking darkspawn like the deciples or whatever the hell "the mother" shat out. Very rich in lore opportunities.
What you mentioned about Maric's blood and Fiona's pregnancy--the Dark Ritual immediately leapt to mind. That event may be how Morrigan and Flemeth knew that would work, though it's more likely to just be a clue hinting at other things. I keep feeing like I'm on the cusp of a breakthrough in understanding DA lore; it's driving me mad lately. Your videos are incredibly helpful for sorting through it all. Thank you. You're so pleasant to listen to, and you have great insights. I've subscribed.
If you play a Dalish elf in DAO (well, female is all I played - so not sure if it holds for male), Tamlin returns to your camp as a tainted creature with the other darkspawn. So, it is likely the Black City he saw. One quick other point - the Seekers (who've been possessed by spirits of faith and then released during their vigil) are also resistant to the blight.
Oh, your theory that Blood Magic could cure the Blight/ Red Lyrium really got me thinking. I mean, what if that is the real reason behind much of Tevinter's dark history of Blood Magic? Take Kirkwall for example, especially well-known for it's past with Blood Magic. What if the Magisters were trying to cure or halt the blight there. Or, more interestingly, going by the theory that there is a Titan beneath Kirkwall, what if the magisers were trying to cure/purify the Titan/Red Lyrium?
I have been wondering about the Architects whereabouts. Now, with the new elven gods are free from the veil. I wonder if he will make a reappearance. 🤔 What role will he play since his god was slain during the fifth blight. Excellent video as always, Cole and it's good to see you making content again. I hope and pray you are well. 🤘😉💜
I really want another appearance by the architect. One of the most interesting characters (goobers) in that there’s so much more they could do with his whole deal.
what im confused about is solas saying blood magic makes it harder to connect to the fade…. but then da2 implying that a massive blood magic ritual (commonly theorized to be the magisters breaking into the golden/black city) is the reason why the veil is so thin in kirkwall and there’s a lot of demonic possessions and blood mages. if blood magic can break down the veil, how does that make you less connected to the fade?
my personal theory is that when Elgar'nan upon being told about this magic that was derived from the void he was probably the one who decided they should use it against their enemies calling on the power of the void they imprisoned the old gods dragons. The calling seems to come from their prisons not the old gods A team of wardens came across one of the empty prisons and they could feel the calling coming from it, Also the Legion of the dead encountered dark spawn at one of the empty prisons that were just hanging around and worshiping it. Of course we know that blight magic and causes mutations and twist the mind of those that wield its power, Solas and Mythal seemed to be the only ones who may have realized the danger of using such a toxic form of magic. at some point that due to the use of this magic the mental instability that it caused Led to the murder of Mythal. Solas deciding he only has one option stop the taint from spreading any further Was to create the veil and imprison the infected Evanuris in the fade. While trapped in the fade the rest of the fade The remaining Evanuris Would continue to mutate into dark spawn abominations
Ahaha glad to see I am not the only one who compulsively jumps into the mystery pit in The Descent. I detect some form of environmental storytelling that we can’t interpret yet. Gotta get all up in there. Up or down whatever.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who ships Leliana and Alistair. Also, I always like the story choice of Alistair being the one who impregnates Morrigan .
Lovebyour content bro. Been following for years. I just have a slight problem and that is your introduction about talking DA being a show where you talk about DA. It sounds redundant. Anyway. Keep up the good work.
Sidereal means related to stars. They are called the Magisters Sidereal because Magister is the Tevinter equivalent of Lord/Lady and because each of them was a high priest to one of the Old Gods of Tevinter, and each of the Old Gods has a corresponding constellation. Corypheus was the high Priest of Dumat (not only the first Old God to become an Archdemon, but also supposedly the most powerful of the Old Gods,) while the Architect was the high priest of Urthemiel
I think the Old God dragons were used to power the seals on the gates/prison cells of the Black City/Arlathan like giant magical batteries. By having The Seven break one of the gates they broke the seal as well and the Old God got released from its forced slumber. Unfortunately after the Taint had already taken over their body.. Solas' murals show the blackening of said gates after the release of each Old God. The Blight was contained in Arlathan as a quarantine measure it would seem at first, yet the Taint was still being spread underground. Either due to the dragons also being Tainted already or because the source of the Taint still exists. This is also why I think the Old Gods are the Forgotten Ones which were sealed underground by Solas, with the Evanuris sealed in the city. There is a codex that suggests the Forgotten Ones willingly hid away underground while Solas executed his plan to remove the Evanuris. That if only they were patient and hid away their enemies would be taken care of. Meanwhile the Evanuris were lured to the city with the promise of a new weapon. Once the dragons were in their respective tombs and the Evanuris had gathered in Arlathan, Solas sealed the gates using the Old Gods' bodies and raised the Veil to prevent anyone from entering the city from the outside. Hence the Black City is always out of reach in the Fade. The dragons' bodies eventually fail to fight the Taint spreading through their body, causing them to Call out to Darkspawn to tunnel them out of their tomb. Either the Taint negates the powering of the Seal, causing it to fail and release the dragon/open the gate. Or the Darkspawn break the seal by finding the dragon's body after following the Call. The worst part about this theory.. there are the spirits of the other 5 Evanuris? 2 woke up in Veilguard.. but the other 5 would have escaped? Or did Solas kill them in the Fade during his vigil while his body slept?
I have had a similar thought. That the Old Gods are one of the magical "locks" for each of the Evanuris. That's why Solas freaks out about killing the Archdemons, it weakens the imprisonment of the Evanuris.
Meh. It seems like theorizing is a pointless endeavor now that BioWare seems to be switching things up so drastically. Personally, I think the original concept posed by the Chantry was the best and made the most sense. Now it looks like BioWare is flushing all of what we learned in the first three games down the toilet to take this nonsensical approach of combining the evanuris, the old gods, and the taint into one amalgamation, mainly to make things easier for them to write out, and also to present it as some kind of surprising or interesting revelation in the lore. It's not. Mages are capable of entering the Fade in dreams and remembering what they observe. The Golden City was observed to have been golden before the Magisters invaded it. The city turned black afterward, which would indicate their presence is what corrupted it. So if the city was always black and corrupted, then why wasn't it observed to be so by mages before the invasion of the Magisters? Conversely, if the corruption was locked away in the Golden City, and the Magisters merely released it, why didn't it taint the city black even while sealed away? Either it would taint the thing containing it, or it would leave the thing containing it golden even after being released. If a Darkspawn Magister slays an archdemon, then the archdemon probably just transfers to a nearby darkspawn and regenerates. I do think there was a female Magister, and she must have become the first broodmother. But Mark Darrah said BioWare will likely never feature the broodmothers ever again due to their controversial nature in both appearance and origin. So that plot line is basically dead. I theorized that Razikale's Magister was a female, and that is why Razikale's followers heard a female voice in their minds when reaching out to Razikale, they were hearing Razikale's priestess. But now BioWare is suggesting Razikale is Ghilan'nain. Meh. So for all we know the first darkspawn came from those silver liquid pools in Ghil's underground temples. The Architect didn't use the same sleep spell because that spell was dependent on the glyphs and magical layout on the floor of the mine. I liked the Disciples as a concept. I wish we'd had a good one as a companion in Veilguard. It isn't that I don't trust the Architect, it's just that I don't trust the taint inside him. As sensible as he is compared to other darkspawn, he's still quite insane. Bro, the Warden schism can't still be going on after 10 years. Come on. BioWare wouldn't hit pause on a plot line for 10 in-game years, would they? I doubt they will make him like Cory, where he can body-jump. If so, he would have simply possessed our Hero, or a companion, or at least some random darkspawn. He wouldn't take over Seranni. I think Seranni would be his stand-in just in case he was killed. But in reality, I think BioWare will drop this plot line entirely. Nathaniel could have been referring to the Disciples, or perhaps Kal-Sharok dwarves. The old gods being connected to the evanuris is stupid and lazy. But that's probably what BioWare is going with, because it's easy. Thus we went from having seven evanuris and two old gods, down to just having two evanuris and zero old gods. I think the best story was to have the old gods predate the evanuris, and they just be sources of magical knowledge, power, and ability. I don't think they would need to be imprisoned inside titans, just deep within the earth inside of great stone and steal constructs. I think the idea of the Maker imprisoning them all at the same time made the most sense. I wonder how BioWare will explain it away as Solas trapping them all at once. Knowing BioWare, they won't explain any of it. They will just claim that's how it was. It doesn't make sense for the Golden City to have been Arlathan. None of the other elvhen constructs can exist in the Fade, so why would that one? The explanation about it being the seat of the Maker is the only thing that makes sense. It exists physically in the Fade because it has that mandate from the one who created the Fade and the Real. All other elvhen constructs exist in the Crossroads, which is between the Fade and the Real, and even those places are falling apart. Even if breaking into the city was the only way to free their spirits, they would still need to free their bodies first. Otherwise they would just be trading one prison for another. And ceasing communication with their Magisters after the invasion makes no sense either. Yet they emit a "calling" that draws their corrupted Magisters and their spawn toward them. Why? They get corrupted and then turned into insane beasts, and then get soul-cancelled. Makes no sense. The only thing that makes sense is the old gods making some kind of desperate attempt to strike back at the Maker for imprisoning them, and it backfiring on them horribly. World of Thedas is a complete joke, and contradicts numerous lore plots presented in the games. That note in the Western Approach was describing an old god though. So yes, the Calling comes from the old gods, not their prisons. Kardol didn't hear any song from the prison he entered. As for what disturbing power he felt there, BioWare could do anything at this point. Maybe it was the remnants of the Maker's condemnation on the old gods. Or maybe it was a prison built by the evanuris to trap the old gods and feast on their power. Or maybe it was the thaig of one of the evanuris as an old god. But the prison can't be emitting the Calling, otherwise darkspawn would still be flocking to it rather than avoiding it. We should see the Hero of Ferelden at Weisshaupt, even if dead. But BioWare is not going to put in the effort to make it happen. Don't get your hopes up. The cure quest has so many ties to the story. It will cure the taint and red lyrium corruption. It is too important to abandon, but abandon it BioWare will. Why? Because BioWare is too lazy to bring back the Hero, even for just a cameo. If by Queen Anora, you mean Mike Simmons' IMDB cast listing, don't put too much stock into it. She is credited for that mini-series with Felicia Day as well, and also some behind the scenes video she wasn't actually in. She may have been incorrectly added to this as well, but even if it's not a mistake, she might not be voicing Anora but rather Charter. The "West" probably means off the current map of Thedas. Fiona's immunity will probably never be explained. I doubt it has anything to do with Maric or Alistair though. The darkspawn likely avoid the titan because the song of the lyrium blocks out the song of the Calling. The idol will also probably never be explained. I think it was only created as a plot device for BioWare without any thought put into it. Then after it was forged into a blade, broken, and infused with Meredith, that was going to be the end of it. Then BioWare decided to bring it back with a magic potion, all so it could be reforged into a blade that is suddenly cured from the taint with no explanation. I don't know what BioWare is planning, but this just seems ham-fisted to me. Leliana bearing the Warden's child has nothing to do with her. The taint makes the Warden less fertile over time. So if his sperm have been fried by the taint, Leliana's resistance isn't going to do anything. I think what BioWare was getting at with Leliana was that she is one of the many people who are more resistant to the taint than others. So it's people like her that would survive the Joining, compared to people like Daveth. Tamlen saw a dwarven thaig. And the thing he saw that he could look away from was likely the archdemon. They got blasted with tainted energy by the archdemon, and the eluvians reconnected with each other, which is where the darkspawn came from in the ruins.
Imagine Orsino instead of turning into a harvester would have used his blood magic to cure Meredith's sword from the blight.
Apart from the dwarves, the darkspawn and grey wardens are my favorite part of this series lore and can't wait to see where the story goes.
Hopefully it's the other 5 magisters that turned into darkspawn. Maybe get a broodmother that was a mage previously and get more background on magic wielding darkspawn. More talking darkspawn like the deciples or whatever the hell "the mother" shat out. Very rich in lore opportunities.
The Black City is the one calling the Darkspawn because the source of the Blight is still imprisoned there: the Tainted heart of a Blighted Titan
I was near the taint once, it was kinda shitty. Been trying to wipe that from my mind ever since.
If this was an hour long, I'd listen to the whole thing. This is one of the most fascinating and mysterious aspects of DA lore.
What you mentioned about Maric's blood and Fiona's pregnancy--the Dark Ritual immediately leapt to mind. That event may be how Morrigan and Flemeth knew that would work, though it's more likely to just be a clue hinting at other things. I keep feeing like I'm on the cusp of a breakthrough in understanding DA lore; it's driving me mad lately.
Your videos are incredibly helpful for sorting through it all. Thank you. You're so pleasant to listen to, and you have great insights. I've subscribed.
Oghren!
I love The Awakened. It's a shame they never did anything with them outside of the Awakening dlc.
If you play a Dalish elf in DAO (well, female is all I played - so not sure if it holds for male), Tamlin returns to your camp as a tainted creature with the other darkspawn. So, it is likely the Black City he saw. One quick other point - the Seekers (who've been possessed by spirits of faith and then released during their vigil) are also resistant to the blight.
Oh, your theory that Blood Magic could cure the Blight/ Red Lyrium really got me thinking. I mean, what if that is the real reason behind much of Tevinter's dark history of Blood Magic? Take Kirkwall for example, especially well-known for it's past with Blood Magic. What if the Magisters were trying to cure or halt the blight there. Or, more interestingly, going by the theory that there is a Titan beneath Kirkwall, what if the magisers were trying to cure/purify the Titan/Red Lyrium?
I have been wondering about the Architects whereabouts. Now, with the new elven gods are free from the veil. I wonder if he will make a reappearance. 🤔
What role will he play since his god was slain during the fifth blight.
Excellent video as always, Cole and it's good to see you making content again. I hope and pray you are well. 🤘😉💜
I really want another appearance by the architect. One of the most interesting characters (goobers) in that there’s so much more they could do with his whole deal.
@lizardmix I absolutely agree! Hopefully, he does make a reappearance.
I think the blue Lyrium looking blade in the marketing might be the red Lyrium idol purified by Solas.
what im confused about is solas saying blood magic makes it harder to connect to the fade…. but then da2 implying that a massive blood magic ritual (commonly theorized to be the magisters breaking into the golden/black city) is the reason why the veil is so thin in kirkwall and there’s a lot of demonic possessions and blood mages. if blood magic can break down the veil, how does that make you less connected to the fade?
my personal theory is that when Elgar'nan upon being told about this magic that was derived from the void he was probably the one who decided they should use it against their enemies calling on the power of the void they imprisoned the old gods dragons.
The calling seems to come from their prisons not the old gods A team of wardens came across one of the empty prisons and they could feel the calling coming from it, Also the Legion of the dead encountered dark spawn at one of the empty prisons that were just hanging around and worshiping it.
Of course we know that blight magic and causes mutations and twist the mind of those that wield its power, Solas and Mythal seemed to be the only ones who may have realized the danger of using such a toxic form of magic. at some point that due to the use of this magic the mental instability that it caused Led to the murder of Mythal. Solas deciding he only has one option stop the taint from spreading any further Was to create the veil and imprison the infected Evanuris in the fade. While trapped in the fade the rest of the fade The remaining Evanuris Would continue to mutate into dark spawn abominations
the Grey warden did nothing wrong
#theGreywardendidnothingwrong
Well, if we ignore the whole "demon army raised through blood magic by killing their own" thing, then yeah.
thanks cole
the dwarves say there was darkspwan before the first blight timeline im not sure but my guess is the Gill'anan created the first broodmothers
Ahaha glad to see I am not the only one who compulsively jumps into the mystery pit in The Descent. I detect some form of environmental storytelling that we can’t interpret yet. Gotta get all up in there. Up or down whatever.
In Dragon Age 2 Tamlen in the intangible warns Merryl about blood magic.
Seven Ones lol it’s actually surprising they didn’t go for that 😆
The architect - absolute goober
Yeah the audible calling near the prisons is just the titans yelling at everybody to back the fuck off.
I find listening to his voice so relaxing.
The Blight wins against any other fictional character or group.
Change my mind!
Okay, you just gave me nightmares. Sidereal Broodmother is something I don't really want to think about too much.
The cult of the empty ones seems like a 5 minute dlc expansion😏
I'm glad I'm not the only one who ships Leliana and Alistair. Also, I always like the story choice of Alistair being the one who impregnates Morrigan .
Lovebyour content bro. Been following for years. I just have a slight problem and that is your introduction about talking DA being a show where you talk about DA. It sounds redundant.
Anyway. Keep up the good work.
Sidereal means related to stars. They are called the Magisters Sidereal because Magister is the Tevinter equivalent of Lord/Lady and because each of them was a high priest to one of the Old Gods of Tevinter, and each of the Old Gods has a corresponding constellation.
Corypheus was the high Priest of Dumat (not only the first Old God to become an Archdemon, but also supposedly the most powerful of the Old Gods,) while the Architect was the high priest of Urthemiel
I think the Old God dragons were used to power the seals on the gates/prison cells of the Black City/Arlathan like giant magical batteries. By having The Seven break one of the gates they broke the seal as well and the Old God got released from its forced slumber. Unfortunately after the Taint had already taken over their body.. Solas' murals show the blackening of said gates after the release of each Old God.
The Blight was contained in Arlathan as a quarantine measure it would seem at first, yet the Taint was still being spread underground. Either due to the dragons also being Tainted already or because the source of the Taint still exists.
This is also why I think the Old Gods are the Forgotten Ones which were sealed underground by Solas, with the Evanuris sealed in the city. There is a codex that suggests the Forgotten Ones willingly hid away underground while Solas executed his plan to remove the Evanuris. That if only they were patient and hid away their enemies would be taken care of. Meanwhile the Evanuris were lured to the city with the promise of a new weapon. Once the dragons were in their respective tombs and the Evanuris had gathered in Arlathan, Solas sealed the gates using the Old Gods' bodies and raised the Veil to prevent anyone from entering the city from the outside. Hence the Black City is always out of reach in the Fade.
The dragons' bodies eventually fail to fight the Taint spreading through their body, causing them to Call out to Darkspawn to tunnel them out of their tomb. Either the Taint negates the powering of the Seal, causing it to fail and release the dragon/open the gate. Or the Darkspawn break the seal by finding the dragon's body after following the Call.
The worst part about this theory.. there are the spirits of the other 5 Evanuris? 2 woke up in Veilguard.. but the other 5 would have escaped? Or did Solas kill them in the Fade during his vigil while his body slept?
I have had a similar thought. That the Old Gods are one of the magical "locks" for each of the Evanuris. That's why Solas freaks out about killing the Archdemons, it weakens the imprisonment of the Evanuris.
Meh. It seems like theorizing is a pointless endeavor now that BioWare seems to be switching things up so drastically. Personally, I think the original concept posed by the Chantry was the best and made the most sense. Now it looks like BioWare is flushing all of what we learned in the first three games down the toilet to take this nonsensical approach of combining the evanuris, the old gods, and the taint into one amalgamation, mainly to make things easier for them to write out, and also to present it as some kind of surprising or interesting revelation in the lore. It's not.
Mages are capable of entering the Fade in dreams and remembering what they observe. The Golden City was observed to have been golden before the Magisters invaded it. The city turned black afterward, which would indicate their presence is what corrupted it. So if the city was always black and corrupted, then why wasn't it observed to be so by mages before the invasion of the Magisters? Conversely, if the corruption was locked away in the Golden City, and the Magisters merely released it, why didn't it taint the city black even while sealed away? Either it would taint the thing containing it, or it would leave the thing containing it golden even after being released.
If a Darkspawn Magister slays an archdemon, then the archdemon probably just transfers to a nearby darkspawn and regenerates.
I do think there was a female Magister, and she must have become the first broodmother. But Mark Darrah said BioWare will likely never feature the broodmothers ever again due to their controversial nature in both appearance and origin. So that plot line is basically dead. I theorized that Razikale's Magister was a female, and that is why Razikale's followers heard a female voice in their minds when reaching out to Razikale, they were hearing Razikale's priestess. But now BioWare is suggesting Razikale is Ghilan'nain. Meh. So for all we know the first darkspawn came from those silver liquid pools in Ghil's underground temples.
The Architect didn't use the same sleep spell because that spell was dependent on the glyphs and magical layout on the floor of the mine.
I liked the Disciples as a concept. I wish we'd had a good one as a companion in Veilguard.
It isn't that I don't trust the Architect, it's just that I don't trust the taint inside him. As sensible as he is compared to other darkspawn, he's still quite insane.
Bro, the Warden schism can't still be going on after 10 years. Come on. BioWare wouldn't hit pause on a plot line for 10 in-game years, would they?
I doubt they will make him like Cory, where he can body-jump. If so, he would have simply possessed our Hero, or a companion, or at least some random darkspawn. He wouldn't take over Seranni. I think Seranni would be his stand-in just in case he was killed. But in reality, I think BioWare will drop this plot line entirely.
Nathaniel could have been referring to the Disciples, or perhaps Kal-Sharok dwarves.
The old gods being connected to the evanuris is stupid and lazy. But that's probably what BioWare is going with, because it's easy. Thus we went from having seven evanuris and two old gods, down to just having two evanuris and zero old gods. I think the best story was to have the old gods predate the evanuris, and they just be sources of magical knowledge, power, and ability. I don't think they would need to be imprisoned inside titans, just deep within the earth inside of great stone and steal constructs. I think the idea of the Maker imprisoning them all at the same time made the most sense. I wonder how BioWare will explain it away as Solas trapping them all at once. Knowing BioWare, they won't explain any of it. They will just claim that's how it was.
It doesn't make sense for the Golden City to have been Arlathan. None of the other elvhen constructs can exist in the Fade, so why would that one? The explanation about it being the seat of the Maker is the only thing that makes sense. It exists physically in the Fade because it has that mandate from the one who created the Fade and the Real. All other elvhen constructs exist in the Crossroads, which is between the Fade and the Real, and even those places are falling apart.
Even if breaking into the city was the only way to free their spirits, they would still need to free their bodies first. Otherwise they would just be trading one prison for another. And ceasing communication with their Magisters after the invasion makes no sense either. Yet they emit a "calling" that draws their corrupted Magisters and their spawn toward them. Why? They get corrupted and then turned into insane beasts, and then get soul-cancelled. Makes no sense. The only thing that makes sense is the old gods making some kind of desperate attempt to strike back at the Maker for imprisoning them, and it backfiring on them horribly.
World of Thedas is a complete joke, and contradicts numerous lore plots presented in the games.
That note in the Western Approach was describing an old god though. So yes, the Calling comes from the old gods, not their prisons. Kardol didn't hear any song from the prison he entered. As for what disturbing power he felt there, BioWare could do anything at this point. Maybe it was the remnants of the Maker's condemnation on the old gods. Or maybe it was a prison built by the evanuris to trap the old gods and feast on their power. Or maybe it was the thaig of one of the evanuris as an old god. But the prison can't be emitting the Calling, otherwise darkspawn would still be flocking to it rather than avoiding it.
We should see the Hero of Ferelden at Weisshaupt, even if dead. But BioWare is not going to put in the effort to make it happen. Don't get your hopes up.
The cure quest has so many ties to the story. It will cure the taint and red lyrium corruption. It is too important to abandon, but abandon it BioWare will. Why? Because BioWare is too lazy to bring back the Hero, even for just a cameo.
If by Queen Anora, you mean Mike Simmons' IMDB cast listing, don't put too much stock into it. She is credited for that mini-series with Felicia Day as well, and also some behind the scenes video she wasn't actually in. She may have been incorrectly added to this as well, but even if it's not a mistake, she might not be voicing Anora but rather Charter.
The "West" probably means off the current map of Thedas.
Fiona's immunity will probably never be explained. I doubt it has anything to do with Maric or Alistair though.
The darkspawn likely avoid the titan because the song of the lyrium blocks out the song of the Calling.
The idol will also probably never be explained. I think it was only created as a plot device for BioWare without any thought put into it. Then after it was forged into a blade, broken, and infused with Meredith, that was going to be the end of it. Then BioWare decided to bring it back with a magic potion, all so it could be reforged into a blade that is suddenly cured from the taint with no explanation. I don't know what BioWare is planning, but this just seems ham-fisted to me.
Leliana bearing the Warden's child has nothing to do with her. The taint makes the Warden less fertile over time. So if his sperm have been fried by the taint, Leliana's resistance isn't going to do anything. I think what BioWare was getting at with Leliana was that she is one of the many people who are more resistant to the taint than others. So it's people like her that would survive the Joining, compared to people like Daveth.
Tamlen saw a dwarven thaig. And the thing he saw that he could look away from was likely the archdemon. They got blasted with tainted energy by the archdemon, and the eluvians reconnected with each other, which is where the darkspawn came from in the ruins.