I posted a theory in the "What do you think caused the veil tears?" thread this weekend, and it got me to thinking about a lot of the things that exist in the Dragon Age universe. I thought I would share some more of my thoughts.
The Veil
We know that the Veil was not always there, that there was a time before when the Dragons ruled the skies. What exactly this meant for the state of the world is hard to tell. Did magic run freely? Was the world malleable? Did spirits and demons share the world with elves and gods? We don't know any of those things.
What we do know is that at some point, someone thought it was a good ideas to separate the realms.
Now, we also know that there were but few sources of power to tap into in this realm. Lyrium might have existed, but you cannot enhance a magical connection when it does not yet exist. However, we also know that Dragon blood carries power, a lot of it. So, with no alternative, the being that separated the realms did so by creating a veil and binding it to seven Dragons who would later be called the Old Gods.
The world now consisted of three realms: Thedas, the Fade, and the Abyss (it will become apparent why I call it this later). The interesting thing here is that the Fade is the realm in the middle, not Thedas. Which weans that the Dragon Age universe is not Thedas-centric.
Elven mythology
I think elven mythology actually tells of these events, indirectly. The Creators and the Forgotten Ones did not get along because they were different. The Creators were just that: creators. The Forgotten Ones could not create by themselves, they could only take what another had wrought and corrupt it. Fen'Harel had a sort of middle ground, a more mundane form of creativity: the ability to see someone's creation and see how it can be applied to something else.
Fen'Harel saw a solution to the conflict between the two factions: give them each their own realm to do in what they pleased. So he suggested the Veil, and they made it happen. Of the three realms created this way, one was for the Forgotten ones: the abyss, one was for the Creators: Thedas, and one was a common ground, where Fen'Harel himself would feel most at home: the Fade.
The reason I divide up the realms this way, is because it makes sense with the lore. The Dalish say that Fen'Harel still stalks the Fade, which means that the other two realms are for each of the factions. I put the Creators in Thedas because I have a hard time seeing the Forgotten Ones residing there, but more on that later.
Locked in
Each of the factions were not restricted to their own realms at first. They could still hop from realm to realm by the use of magical artifacts such as the Eluvian. The problem here was that the Forgotten Ones still had the drive to destroy what the Creators created. This, obviously, did not sit well with the latter and thus they called upon Fen'Harel to find a solution.
Fen'Harel did what he is famous for, he locked both factions into their respective realms.
The Origin Of Elves
Now, there are many more things about Thedas than just the elven gods. So what is the nature of elven life in Thedas?
We know that spirits and souls are intimately tied to the Fade. The souls of the living go there or go through there when they die. But they don't seem to come FROM or THROUGH there when someone is born. We also know that spirits exist within the Fade but not how they come to be or how they might cease to exist.
What we can deduce from this, is that the secret to life is hidden within the Fade, though perhaps it is not the only place that secret can be found.
So in order to create life on Thedas, the Creators had to connect them to the Fade. This is why all the elves had magic at first, because they were all strongly connected to the Fade. Out of necessity, because there was no other way to give them souls, to create life. And this potentially also explains their immortality, as time is not important in the Fade.
We know that the elves have known about the Forgotten Ones, so their creation predates Fen'Harel's treachery. After the treachery, well, elves were still connected to the Fade, but no longer as strongly as that first generation was. They no longer had the capacity for immortality.
Those first elves faced the same problem, because the Fade is a realm that is shaped by the thoughts and the will of those dwelling in it, at least partially. However, because timelessness and immortality were things that humans could not conceive of, elves began to age by the very connection to the Fade that gave them their power and immortality.
A third and last factor, were the germs and diseases that humans brought with them. Elves weren't ready for any of those things, and in their panic they just ran.
The Origin Of Humans
According to the Chantry, the Dragons weren't created by the Maker. Since we know that not all life is connected to the Fade, perhaps the Dragons also hold the secret to life. Humans don't appear to have been created by the Elven pantheon, nor is there any other deity that has claimed the deed.
Did they evolve naturally in a world that was no longer on a malleable plane? It is possible, but it is also possible that they were created indirectly by the elven Creators. We have no substantial evidence to even make a guess.
What we do know is that when they came to Thedas, they brought disease with them, so the Forgotten Ones might have had an influence.
The Origin Of Dwarves
We know as little about the origins of dwarves as we do about the origins of man. We can attempt to make some deductions, however.
Dwarves think they were born from the stone itself, but the fact that there is a primeval thaig to find contradicts that entirely. We also know that once dwarves were able to do magic, but regardless of which steps are taken now, dwarves are not capable of it. From that we can deduce that it is not their exposure to lyrium that prevents their connection to the fade.
It is likely that Dwarves never had a connection to the Fade to begin with, and that this is actually what gives them their resistance to lyrium. How did they do magic it their primeval thaig then? Well, the place was filled with red lyrium and this gives magic-like abilities. But more on that matter later.
Lyrium
Lyrium is a rather large mystery as well. It's a substance that shares some characteristics with the Fade, and thus we can't help but wonder if there is a connection.
Lyrium can help in spellcasting, giving a bigger pool of magic/mana to work with. So like the Fade, it is a source of magic. Like the Fade, it also has the potential to remember. The dwarven Shaperate writes its annals into lyrium in an unknown way. The Fade also remembers the dreams of those who enter it for a time, and this is how demons and spirits learn of Thedas.
There is a connection between lyrium and the Fade, but there is aspect that is a big red herring: there's lyrium in the Fade. Thanks to Justice, we know that the lyrium in the Fade in not real lyrium, and thus that is not the connection we are looking for. The lyrium in the Fade is just another aspect of Thedas, gleaned from the dreams of mortals.
There is another important aspect of lyrium: it can be used to cut someone OFF from the Fade. So Lyrium likely doesn't have a direct connection with the Fade, but rather with the Veil.
The Song
Things we know that sing: the Old Gods, Lyrium, the Magisters.
Being that hear the song: darkspawn, spirits, dwarves.
The Old Gods sing to the darkspawn, as does lyrium sing to the spirits of the Fade and slightly to the dwarves. We know that lyrium is closely related to the Veil, and we will follow my theory that the Old Gods are anchors to the Veil, effectively making them "puncture" the fabric and touching Thedas, the Fade, and the Abyss.
What would this mean for the singing of the Old Gods and lyrium? Well, my theory is that anything trapped outside of its own realm can hear the song created by the interaction of his own realm and the realm he's currently in, i.e. they hear the veil.
Justice hears the lyrium ring because of the close connection that lyrium has with the Fade and thus the Veil. What exactly the connection is, we still don't know. Dwarves can also hear lyrium sing, though only quietly and not all dwarves can. We also know that dwarves are getting more and more infertile due to their exposure to the darkspawn taint. Perhaps this exposure also allows them to hear the lyrium sing as well, softly. To further substantiate this claim, the Grey Warden can also hear Justice's lyrium ring sing softly when the Warden gives it to him.
Darkspawn hear the song of the Old Gods because they are the anchors of the Veil and thus they form the connection between the Darkspawn's own realm (the Abyss) and the one they are in (Thedas). Why they do not hear the lyrium sing like Wardens and dwarves, I don't know. Perhaps they do, but the Old Gods drown it out? But why then don't the Wardens hear the song of the Old Gods? Neither does Justice, in fact, Justice seems to have an even higher resistance to the call of tainted beings.
There is something else that factors in here, and I'm not sure what it is. Maybe it's the fact that dwarves, Warden, and spirits all have a soul. Actually, do spirits have a soul?
The Magisters
The Magisters also sing to the Darkspawn, much in the same way as the Old Gods do, as far as we're aware. Magisters seem to share another thing with the Old Gods: body hopping.
The Magisters of old invaded the Black City and promptly got the powers of their gods. Funnily enough, the one who lured them to the Black City did not lie in that regard, but what the Magisters got was not what they wanted. They became anchors for the Veil with an extra function: to serve as a conduit for the taint into Thedas.
Nobody is aware of it, but the Black City is not within the Fade. It is beyond the fade, in the Abyss. It can just be seen from the Fade for reasons unknown. Afterall, if it were in the Fade, why would it be unreachable? And if it were in the Fade, why would the Magisters need to puncture the Veil to get there? Surely going there is spirit would be safer?
No, the Black City is in the Abyss, already corrupted by the Forgotten Ones and ready to spread the taint to the Magisters who are about to enter it. All with the express purpose of creating puppets in the realm of Thedas to start hunting the Old Gods to undo the Veil. The Magisters will be the first of the puppets and will serve as pipelines for their corruption so more can be made.
The Abyss
So why couldn't the Forgotten Ones just corrupt the Old Gods from their side of the Veil? Well, it stands to reason that when Fen'Harel sealed the realms, that he protected the Old Gods in all the realms. On Thedas, he buried them deep underground, in the Abyss he must have protected them in a similar manner. In the Fade they may yet fly free because it is the realm of Fen'Harel but he may have protected them just as well.
Red Lyrium and Darkspawn Blood
Red Lyrium and Darkspawn blood (or the taint) both corrupt things they come into contact with and they both carry power. These similarities make it seem to me that they are both the corrupted form of their respective substances on Thedas. So Red lyrium is a corrupted form of lyrium, and darkspawn blood is a corrupted form of blood. Both blood and lyrium carry magical power and thus might be the only things that can be corrupted in this way.
Red lyrium is probably a similar attempt to the darkspawn to gain a foothold in Thedas by the Forgotten Ones. Given that the primeval thaig was abandoned, this attempt seems like it was a failure, but maybe with the appearance of the Red Templars, this plan gets a second chance and might be (partially) responsible for the Fade tears.
Motivations
Why attack Thedas with all this corruption, what is the Forgotten Ones' goal? The simplest goal of all: freedom! They were tricked by Fen'Harel and they're not taking it, so they're attacking Thedas to get at the Old Gods. If they manage to destroy the Old Gods, the Veil will be gone and once again they will be free to corrupt all creations.
Needless to say, most people on Thedas haven't a clue about all this. Even the Magisters themselves have no idea what purpose they have and whose pawns they really are.
The only people who have any idea what is truly going on is Flemeth and family. My personal guess is that Flemeth is one of the Creators (a few seem to fit), though her daughters are just that: her daughters. They're special and they have power, but they aren't Fen'Harel or one of the Creators or Andraste, they're just Flemeth's daughters. That said, Flemeth and Morrigan clearly have different motivations.
In my opinion, Morrigan wants to keep the Veil intact, which is why she save the Old God's soul, while Flemeth, being one of the Creators wants to destroy the veil to regain her freedom. Or maybe Flemeth just realizes it's inevitable that the Veil will fall while Morrigan keeps trying. We'll have to find out in Inquisition.
The Nature Of Souls
I've tried to keep a somewhat meaningful thread throughout this whole post, but I think I failed at that. Sorry. Next on the list though, is the nature of souls. We actually have some important information regarding that.
In Dragon Age: Origins we were told that the soul of an Archdemon jumps to the nearest tainted being upon its death. If that being already has a soul, the soul is destroyed. However, we can prove that is completely false thanks to Legacy. In Legacy, after the defeat of Corypheus, he pulls the same trick as the archdemon and jumps to the nearest tainted being. But his soul is not destroyed despite the grey warden in question having a soul.
So, we can make the deduction that it's not the soul of the warden that slays the archdemon that stops the transfer, but rather it has something to do with that drop of archdemon blood n the joining.
Qunari
We know that Dragon blood carries power, that archdemon blood prevents soul transference, and that the Qunari species seems to have something to do with Dragons.
Lately a lot of theories have come up claiming that the Qunari are a magically altered race, having been changed to be more like Dragons. This would make sense if I am correct about dragon blood preventing soul transference, as this would make the Qunari the Thedas equivalent of Darkspawn. Rather than infusing species with the taint, they are infused with the source of power from the realm of Thedas: Dragon's blood.
If the Creators are imprisoned in Thedas, they would be their creation, and created for the same purpose as the Darkspawn: to find the Old Gods. Only, these Qunari will explicitly prevent any bodysnatching hijinks. That the Qunari are still following that path seems unlikely, but it might be the origin story.
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I'm tired now, so this will have to do. Thoughts?
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