This is a quite fun speculation thread.
With that said, I'm sorry if I take it too far, and also sorry because I'm not as familiarized with the lore of the game as would perhaps be desirable for such a thread.
One thing comes to mind though, and it's the way Dragons (ADs or not) seem to communicate with other beings. I remember there was a codex entry mentioning it, the fact that Dragons don't have any detectable communication with other beings, but seem to communicate, somehow, in a psychic fashion, through their minds and into the minds of their "intelocutors".
That "ability" clearly seems to serve for more than communication purposes, though. It seems to allow for dragons to slowly take control over the minds they link themselves with, not in a direct "puppeting" manner but rather by allowing them to shape their "listeners" decisions, behavior, actions... Even when (and perhaps essentially when) they're unaware of it. In other words, this draconic telepathic power goes beyond communication, goes beyond even mere control of one's body: it also shapes the very psyche of its "victims". Maybe I should rephrase it: the way it's done, it seems that the dragons communicate on a subconscious level. They don't send clear, direct messages or orders, but they make their victims know deep inside what they want. It's through the shaping of the subconscious that they not only communicate with, but also control others' minds. Not something entirely different from the "indoctrination" of the Reapers from ME, in a way of speaking. Maybe this very mind-power is the source and origin of blood magic itself.
And there's one important thing: the Andraste Ashes quest seems to hint that not only darkspawn can be victim of a Dragon's mind-influence, but perfectly normal humans as well. (Okay, not entirely normal, but you get my point.
). The quest seems to hint at, IMO, the fact that when it suits Dragons, they decide to communicate with humans, through their own means, in order to reach their ends.
Still in the same quest, another thing is hinted at: Dragons - High Dragons, at least - take interest in religion. The HD in the quest seems to create a cult of his own, and get them to try to get Andraste ashes. For some reason, it seems Dragons seek to be worshipped and have a sort of fascination with religion in general.
So with all of this in mind, it seems to make perfect sense that the Tevinter Empire and the darkspawn have similar symbols, whether you take them to be a crescent moon, horns, wings or all of this together. (They
are symbols, after all.
) If the OGs shape the minds of their "worshippers", and if they really take interest in stabilishing by themselves their religion and their place as gods, it would make sense that they implanted somehow into their followers the symbol they wanted to represent their religion, and made them spread this symbol in a number of ways. In a nutshell: it's the same symbols because it's the same religion, with the same "Gods" ruling over it and having their followers spread the same symbols.
It goes even further, though. If the darkspawn are truly Tevinter mages who got corrupted once they entered the Golden City, then there aren't truly two different followers of the OGs: there is only, indeed the very same followers, which got transformed into tainted creatures (which, IMO, makes more sense). if that is the case, what if the OGs planned the corruption of their followers from the very beggining? Think about it: the only way they were actually released from their cages (the ones who did, so far) were through the darkspawn listening to their song and following it to their cages. The wikia says that, according to the Chantry, the OGs first contacted the Tevinter magisters in order to get their help to be freed from their prisons: in order to achieve such, the Magisters would've tried to take over the Maker's throne, and failed. But what if everything went according to the OGs plan? What if they suggested and ultimately lead the magisters to enter the Golden City, because they knew this somehow would create a link between them and their followers which would allow for their release? Even more, what if they knew their followers would bring a "gift" from the Golden City which would raise even further their powers? (Not sure it does that, actually, but just to think about the possibility)
Also, one last point to make: dragons, it seems, are far from being rare in Thedas. Furthermore, they all seem to be fascinated for religions and seek to be worshipped in some fashion. The Old Gods themselves were worshipped not only by the Tevinter empire, but also by other thedosians. Why assume they were the only dragons that were worshipped, though? Considering what we know so far about dragons, it's reasonable to expect that other dragons founded other religions as well - and perhaps, the conflicts depicted between the gods of one religion and another were conflicts between dragons. (why should we assume, after all, that the dragons, from all of the races, would be the only one fully united and peaceful between themselves?) It would account for the symbolic similarity between different and antagonizing religions, since the dragons would always desire the symbol of their religions to be reminiscent of their form, of what they represent as dragons. It may be that what we see in the Andraste Ashes quest is a "culture in extinction" - and maybe in extinction only within certain limits, such as Ferelden: dragons trying to found their own religion. What if in other parts of Thedas this is still a common, not to say predominant culture?
So what would be the difference between (High) Dragons and OGs? My guess is, like someone already said, that the OGs are the first abominations. But they're not humans or other race that shapeshifted themselves as dragons once they became abominations: they were dragons from the very start. As far as I remember, the codex entry in which the creation of the Maker's creatures is narrated doesn't say that, after the spirits, came immediately the humans or any other similar, humanoid race; it might be that the first "material" beings brought to existence were Dragons. Which would explain their arrogance, their wish to be worshipped by other beings, perhaps even the fact that their way to communicate is more akin to the way of the spirits than the way of other sentient material beings, since they are closer to spirits than other material beings. Even from a non-religious point of view, if the Dragons are the oldest sentient species alive, it'd make sense that the most intelligent ones (the High Dragons) would seek to be worshipped by the others and take themselves as gods. The OGs, in this case, would just be HDs that went too far in their quest for power and dominance, weaving their magics to a point that a demon finally managed to take over them. They are set on ruling the world: and maybe it's the very same plan that's been in motion from the Tevinter Empire to the creation of the darkspawn and the beggining of the Blights - which are, perhaps, to the eyes of the OGs and even the darkspawn, Holy Crusades rather than Blights.
They don't want only to rule the world, though. They want to be its very Gods. And thus they want their symbols to be spread by their followers. More than spread: they want it to be imprinted in each and every thedonian mind. Rule not only the body, but the soul. The psyche of the darkspawn is what it is because the OGs shaped it the way they wanted: and that's what they want to do with as many as they can, because they want followers (yet another reason for having the darkspawn capture, instead of killing their enemies) rather than bodies.
Of course, all of this is wild speculation and, yet again, I should advise my knowledge of the lore of the world is flawed (so I'm sorry if I made any mistake in this respect)... So let's not forget it's just an opinion, or rather, a guessing, which can be fully criticized and brought into ruins.
Also, I'm sorry if I inadvertedly said anything that is too common-place - again, I don't have a full grasp of DA:O's lore.
Modifié par NuclearSerendipity, 02 janvier 2011 - 01:17 .
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