It seems that there is a support thread for just about everything else in Thedas, so let's not leave out magic. So, without further delay, welcome to the Magic Support thread! If you have arguments, thoughts, or insightful perspectives into the Arcane, then discuss them here. There are numerous views on magic in Thedas, so let's work together to gather them all here.
To start the discussion, I want to throw in something that jellobell said in the Solas thread.
while we're on the subject of magic, I'll just put my gushing about Solas and magic in here (this was originally in another thread but it died).
"Personally, I find Solas's ideas about spirits and the fade rather revolutionary. If the widespread belief that magic is inherently dangerous, and fear of possession by demons actually contributes to both of those things being "true" then that has profound implications going forward. And it's even backed up by established lore if you think about it. Magic draws from the Fade, which is raw potential. But it's shaped by the mage who draws upon it. Circle teachings both teach and restrict, by directing what mages believe to be possible. That's why all circle-trained mages do the same spells. Hedge-mages, though, who haven't had any formal training aren't able to do the sorts of things circle mages can, because their way of thinking about magic hasn't been directed. So hedge mage powers take on strange and unpredictable forms. Saarebas, who are treated basically like guns (dangerous things used to make war) are only able to make big, destructive explosions with their magic (confirmed by David Gaider in a pre-release interview). With magic, it seems that belief above all is what gives it form. It could even explain stuff like limited mana pools.
And if we accept that to be true, then perhaps we can see how the ancient elves were so powerful. If they did not have the same sorts of restrictive beliefs about what magic could do, then they could conceivably reshape reality with a thought. Perhaps it was also a consequence of no veil separating the magic of the fade from the "real" world. Though I swear there was a codex entry that also said that the image of the veil as a physical barrier was deceptive, because entering the Fade relies more on a change in perception. The Fade corresponds to places in the "real" world, after all. Solas said he had to physically travel to find new areas of the Fade to explore. Therefore, the Fade is all around us. We simply can't access it unless we are a mage, or have some other means (such as the anchor)."
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