After Inquisition threw a wrench into the history of Thedas with gods, titans, and an artificial Veil, a lot of information that I previously overlooked is coming back around with new implications.
One of those is the Gangue.
The Gangue Shade
Originally introduced back in Origins as a side quest, during “The Gangue Shade” you have to equip the full set of the Legion of the Dead armor and interact with a Legion “relic.”
This summons a boss-level shade demon from said relic and, once defeated, gives you this codex:
“The Stone has a will that surrounds and directs; she guides even when we are willfully blind to her influence. But she is not pure. The Stone bears a corruption as old as balance. For the dwarves to prosper, the gangue—the waste and unstable rock—must be cut away. But like the Stone, the gangue also has an influence. Each of us must face this, must carve the worst of ourselves away, but the Legion of the Dead bears a unique responsibility. Only the fully adorned of the Legion can face the gangue, can cut into darkness that afflicts the raw Stone. She encircles us, and we must protect her, here where darkness meets light.
—A Legion of the Dead inscription, undated”
Considering demons were as numerous in Origins as darkspawn, I didn’t think much of this.
Religion in Dragon Age was presented like real-world religions; they existed according to their adherents, but you couldn’t just walk around and find evidence of truth or reality of those deities outside of belief.
The religions of Thedas, in Origins, felt more like flavor than anything else. They shaped the world because of the actions of the worshippers, not the gods themselves.
It felt like the existence of those gods—all of them—was irrelevant.
They might have been based on an exaggeration of an ancient story, powerful entities masquerading as gods (like spirits), or even just made up entirely.
What I took from Thedosian religions in Origins was that there were no “real” gods.
And that’s how I interacted with information about the Stone.
Until Inquisition set the lore on fire.
The Gangue
In the Hissing Wastes are the remnants of a heretofore unheard-of dwarven outpost on the surface. In the ruins, tombs of the Paragon Fairel and one of his sons among them, are demons bound to stone as guardians.
We are given very little information about this. There are no direct codex entries, and only the Venatori mention them at all:
“—Demons bound into the rock! How did the ancient dwarves manage it without mages? (Binding runes? Subtle properties of stonework? Investigate!)
—’Gangue’ carved into walls. Could be translated from Old Dwarven as ‘Stone waste’ or ‘Impure spirit-of-the-stone.’ Dwarven superstition, saw demons as “impure” spirits of rock?”
From “Demons of the Stone” codex
Dwarves don’t dream. They cannot be possessed or made Tranquil as far as we know. There is no reason or way for them to know of the Fade or its inhabitants outside of human/elf relating it to them.
Why and how are demons guarding their ruins?
Cole’s Comments on the Gangue Demons
Cole says, after fighting the “Gangue”:
“They were Dwarves. They think they still are. They sound like dust tastes.”
That is terrifying for so many reasons, but these are the main two:
- Despite early comics from before Origins was released, spirits are never actually considered souls of the dead in Dragon Age. They are considered their own entities with their own “births” and deaths. Likewise, the Fade is only considered a place of the afterlife in dubious religious dogma.
- Dwarves. Don’t. Dream. They do not have access to the Fade in any capacity. How the hell would a dwarf (or anyone!?) turn into a spirit??
I genuinely don’t know what to make of this, but it feels reminiscent of the Profane in DAII, dwarves turned into something . . . else. Something different enough to attract demons.
(Lack of) Conclusions
Ever since titans were introduced, I’ve been assuming they were the Stone the dwarves revere, or possibly a progenitor titan. Something like that.
We know lyrium, the most potent source of magic outside of the Fade, is their blood.
But dwarves, their “children,” have no access to the Fade.
We have no connection to the titans and the Fade, let alone demons.
But we find demons “bound” in the stone (or the Stone?).
“Darkness meets light,” the “raw Stone,” “corruption as old as balance” . . .
And then there’s what Cole said . . .
There’s a connection to be made here, but I feel like I’m missing a piece that ties it all together. Even my theories about titans and the Fade and the Evanuris don’t take the spirits of the Fade into account.
I feel like, through dialogue with Solas and ancient Elvhenan lore, there’s a connection of spirits to ancient elves. Like they might be one and the same, but that still doesn’t account for the Gangue.
Or how they were once dwarves.
Plus the “corruption as old as balance’ and the darkspawn seemingly originating from someplace on the outskirts of the original dwarven kingdom—likely, down farther . . .
Something is here, I just don’t know what it is.
Unrelated But Very Interesting . . .
One last thing. When I was going over the relevant codex entries, I came across this little section. I don’t know how this puzzle piece might fit, but while you read it, keep in mind the “sacred forms” of dragons that the Evanuris took.
“I was tracing heraldry etched on a wall when I noticed pictures of weapons with winged lizards worked into the decoration. I spent the rest of the day translating the inscriptions. This verse was apparently passed down through Fairel’s house, through his father to his father’s father and so on for hundred of generations:
‘From the Stone, have no fear of anything,
but the stone-less sky betrays with wings of flame.
If the surface must be breached, if there is no other
way,
bring weapons against the urtok, and heed their
screams.’
‘Urtok’ means ‘dragon.’ Why was it part of an ancient crest? Why were these dwarves so worried about a monster they’d never see that they worked it into their weapons?
This place becomes more impossible each day.”
From “A Journal on Dwarven Ruins” codex
Interesting. Very interesting.