Got another Dragon Age theory for you.
I was thinking about red lyrium and the titans and the Old Gods and the Elven gods…
Again.
And I think I made a connection I haven’t seen put together anywhere else. I think it’s an interesting detail that relates back to my last theory too.
Thaigs
We all know that thaigs are great bastions of the dwarven kingdom and that all but two have fallen to the darkspawn; Orzammar and Kal’Sharok.
Orzammar has always been our baseline for non-surfacer dwarves, but we know next to nothing about Kal-Sharok.
From a war table mission in Inquisition, we know they are secretive and very likely “tainted” with the blight like a Warden or Darkspawn.
Though there were countless thaigs lost to the darkspawn, there were only twelve “Great Thaigs” including the two mentioned above.
Keep that number in mind.
Other than the “reclaimed” great thaig of Kal’Hirol, we don’t know which of the fallen thaigs were the other ten great thaigs.
Another thing to mention is that the Primeval Thaig had veins of red lyrium as well as the idol made of it, but its name (likely Valdasine) and existence were stricken from the Shaperate’s Memories. It is possible this thaig, while unnamed, may be a great thaig, but there has never been a confirmation (and I’m leaning against it for reasons explained below).
Titans
So far we have found one titan.
Because of their relatively new announcement within Dragon Age, we don’t know much about them, but we do know that:
- waking one causes earthquakes
- lyrium is their blood
- dwarves are their “children” (possibly literal, possibly metaphorical)
- the Sha-Brytol drink lyrium for sustenance (yet don’t become rock-wraiths like the dwarves who ate red lyrium in the Primeval Thaig) making them become guardians of the titan
- darkspawn avoid the titan and the area around it.
But we’ve only seen the one, so we don’t know if it’s special or unique in some way. I’m leaning toward it not being special, if for no other reason as it is our first look at one and to give us something unique amongst multitudes would only confuse us when more arrive.
Because we know the one’s location (under Heidrun thaig), we also know that it is near the former prison of an Old God which was also found under Heidrun.
Darkspawn and Old Gods
Something else that’s important to consider is that, despite the darkspawn fanatically digging with their bare hands to get into Old God prisons (as depicted in The Calling), once the prisons have been “emptied,” darkspawn seem unable to enter.
Where else is mysteriously empty of darkspawn in the Deep Roads?
The Primeval Thaig.
Which, not coincidentally, is filled with “blighted” red lyrium.
Elven Gods and Foci
We know that there are nine elven gods: Elgar’nan, Falon’Din, Dirthamen, Andruil, Sylaise, June, Ghilan’nain, Mythal (who was murdered before their fall), and Fen’Harel (who was the cause of said fall).
Because we now know that Fen’Harel and Mythal weren’t included in the fall and imprisonment of the Elven Pantheon, and that dragons were considered a sacred form of the elven gods, many assume that the Old Gods imprisoned in the earth are actually the Elven gods (though we don’t “know” which is which).
Seven imprisoned elven gods, seven Old Gods.
Dumat, Zazikel, Toth, Andoral, and Urthemiel have all been unearthed, corrupted, and later slayed.
Razikale and Lusacan are, for now, still imprisoned.
Regardless of their connection, before the fall of the Elven Pantheon, the Evanuris used foci like Corypheus’/Solas’ orb as a means of power and divine identity as each god had their own.
Dorian says the orbs are called “vessels of dreams” in elven, which doesn’t have much to do with this theory, but adds credence to my last one about the titans “containing” the Fade.
We also know that Mythal once hunted and slew titans and mined their bodies for lyrium.
In Trespasser, the murals painted on the walls, in conjunction with the codex entries, indicate that the foci were the hearts of titans. If each elven god had one, that would mean at least nine titans that are likely dead, or at the very least, heartless.
Forgotten Ones
The Elven Pantheon also had an antithesis in the Forgotton Ones—another piece of lore we know very little about.
From what we can piece together, they were the “bad guys” of the Elven Pantheon, pre-fall.
From the Fen’Harel: The Dread Wolf codex entry:
“The legend says that before the fall of Arlathan, the gods we know and revere fought an endless war with others of their kind. There is not a hahren among us who remembers these others: Only in dreams do we hear whispered the names of Geldauran and Daern’thal and Anaris, for they are the Forgotten Ones, the gods of terror and malice, spite and pestilence.”
I, personally, read that and for some reason thought it meant that there were more whose names were forgotten, but that’s not what the codex actually says. The elves don’t remember anything other than the names of three specific gods: Geldauran, Daern’thal, and Anaris.
Also worth noting, if we include Solas/Fen’Harel as he was purported to be included amongst them, then there is one “divine sphere” per Forgotten One; terror, malice, spite, and petilnence. I mention this as it lends credence to the theory that there are just those named.
Three in total, bringing our count of elven gods to twelve.
Conclusions
If the elven gods all had foci, including Fen’Harel who was also part of the “Forgotten” variety, then it stands to reason that Anaris, Geldauran, and Daern’thal had them as well.
Twelve gods, twelve foci, twelve heartless titans.
And twelve great thaigs.
I stated in my last theory post that I believed that the titans used their blood to create a hivemind among the dwarves with themselves as something like the “queen” of said hivemind. The Sha-Brytol seem far less sentient than other dwarves because of this, and have little in the way of architecture and culture like what we find in Orzammar or even in the fallen thaigs.
What if, by taking the heart of a titan, the Evanuris took this ability from them, accidentally freeing the dwarves of each titan in the process, leading to higher sentience and culture?
And this allowed them to create the great thaigs of the dwarven kingdoms.
This, if correct, would mean that there is a heartless titan under every great thaig, such as Kal’Sharok which mysteriously survived the first and subsequent Blights, Kal’Hirol under Amaranthine, and Orzammar, the greatest bastion of the non-surface dwarves.
What does that even matter?
Well, remember how I mentioned that the darkspawn only avoid two recorded places in Dragon Age? One of them is the inside and surroundings of a titan, and the other is the prison of an Old God once they have been freed.
Do you ever wonder why the Old Gods/Elven Pantheon don’t just break themselves out of their prisons? I mean, the darkspawn literally just dig them out. Why can’t nearly all-powerful gods do the same?
What if they’re locked in?
As in, the key to their power and magic locked them in?
What’s the key to their power? Foci.
What are foci? Titan hearts.
I think the remaining elven pantheon are (or were, in the case of the archdemons) locked inside the heart-chamber of their specific foci, and it is the foci that locks them in.
Further Evidence
What if the elven gods used their heartless titan as workshops of sorts after the deed was done, but before their imprisonment?
In The Horror of Hormak (which I haven’t read yet, so take this with a grain of salt), Hormak is directly on top of (meaning it was added later to) an elven site.
It’s also, considering the hints, a laboratory of Ghilan’nain.
It has different-colored lyrium (yellow-green). This might not have any basis yet, but I think each heartless titan produces a different colored lyrium.
I think blue is from all heart-intact titans, but I suspect the one beneath Heidrun might have “reclaimed” its heart (or at least the powers from it) somehow, since it has a “heart-chamber” devoid of an archdemon.
I think once an archdemon is slain, that titan regains the power the Evanuris took from it. Where the physical hearts/foci are remains to be seen.
If Ghilan’nain isn’t one of the archdemons already awoken (and considering her victims in the story refer to her in the present), then she is likely imprisoned under the thaig, in what I would assume to be the heart chamber of the titan whose heart she took as her foci. Hence her titan’s lyrium is a different color.
Perhaps that’s how the titans get access back to their powers? The heart/foci is in there or around there, and destroyed/released when the archdemon escapes.
That would also make Ghilan’nain Lusacan, the Old God of Night, or Razikale, the Old God of Mysteries. Considering Dirthamen was the god of secrets to the elves, I assume he is Razikale, leaving Ghilan’nain the likely candidate for Lusacan.
There is a mural of twelve mountains in the story, including and linked to the site under Hormak, meaning mountains=titans by my logic.
Let’s follow this reasoning a bit.
In the Frostback Mountains, Solas’ led us to Skyhold. Considering the elven translation of the name, it is likely the place he chose to create or bring down the veil.
The dwarven kingdom of Orzammar resides in the Frostbacks.
Solas says that Skyhold was once his, and when we find it, elven magic protects it. I think, given whatever Ghilan’nain was doing under Hormak, Skyhold is Solas’ version. His titan is likely under Orzammar.
Orzammar is one of two dwarven kingdoms to survive, just like there are only two elven gods that weren’t imprisoned.
Which would make sense, since there would be no “Old God” beneath the thaig that would draw in the darkspawn to release it.
That would likely mean the titan under Kal’Sharok is Mythal’s.
(A question I don’t have an answer for: If the Forgotten Ones were imprisoned elsewhere and not in their titan [Evanuris in the Fade vs. Forgotten Ones in the Void]—which would make sense if they aren’t included in the Old Gods like the Evanuris—then why were their related great thaigs overrun as if they were down there?)
BUT!
Despite what Solas says about Skyhold once being his, I think he means that he once occupied it to raise/lower the veil. As in, he picked a thematically relevant place to end the people who killed Mythal.
Like, maybe, Mythal’s bastion?
Why do I think that?
What color lyrium does Corypheus use, in conjunction with Solas’ orb?
Red. Lyrium “tainted” with blight.
What are the dwarves of Kal’Sharok reportedly infected with?
Blight.
What kind of lyrium is new to Thedas despite Mythal kicking around for hundreds of years at least?
Red.
That also might answer the question of why Solas woke up now of all times. If he’s connected to the red lyrium, it’s only been on the surface (or disturbed) for about a decade.
The Primeval Thaig might be where we found the idol, but we also know that red lyrium grows differently than blue lyrium. If it can infect an organism, it will eventually grow from it.
I think the true source of the red lyrium is the Kal’Sharok titan, which might explain why Kal’Sharok sealed the Primeval Thaig when it was discovered there: they already knew what it was and what it could do.
Another piece of potential evidence that probably seems totally unrelated: That story about the ptarmigan.
Why is it loved by the Lady of the Skies (a likely incarnation of Flemeth/Mythal)? It brought back the heart of Korth the Mountain Father that he hid in the Frostbacks.
Hearts and mountains…
Twelve mountains, twelve thaigs, twelve gods, twelve foci, and twelve titans.
I’m not good with math, but things seem to be adding up…