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[frutard]

I am quite new to the forum, and have not been around much, in fact, this is my first post.

 

Since DAI shed some light on the DA lore, and I have read a little bit here in the forums in the past few days, I wanted to start a topic I have not encountered yet, at least not directly. Some other posts touch this question asked in the topic title, but I have not found a topic yet which revolves around it in a direct manner.

 

And also please excuse my bad grammar and/or expression, I am not a native english speaker.

 

So what it is the taint?

We know for sure that it does not came into the world because the magisters entered the Black City, although it seems certain that the magisters were transformed to darkspawn there. This we know because of the Red Lyrium Idol encountered in DAII, which was in a thaig lost for millennia, and Red Lyrium is tainted Lyrium.

 

We also know that the taint has the ability to transform living beings, and one of the features of this transformation is the ability to hear a certain song.

There is also another song, which one can hear when in connection with normal lyrium it seems, at least in DA: Asunder, Cole is also able to hear the music when the mages use lyrium for a ritual to enter the Fade (taken from http://dragonage.wik...m/wiki/Lyrium).

 

Cole also talks about the difference of Templars and Red Templars, where he mentions a song:

http://youtu.be/IfPyDupFXfs?t=7m41s

 

Here he states that Red Templars hear a different song, the song behind the door old whispers want open. This is an interesting statement, as it perfectly fits to something one can find in the Fade during "Here lies the Abyss":

 

"Whispers Written in Red Lyrium:"
WE ARE HERE
WE HAVE WAITED
WE HAVE SLEPT
WE ARE SUNDERED
WE ARE CRIPPLED
WE ARE POLLUTED
WE ENDURE
WE WAIT
WE HAVE FOUND THE DREAMS AGAIN
WE WILL AWAKEN

 

There are several posts regarding these whispers written in red lyrium, and many theories revolve around the question, from whom these whispers come. It may be the Old Gods which (maybe) are a part of the Elvhen pantheon (in whatever manner) or the Forgotten Ones, which would be a bit more fitting (IMO) since they where locked up in the Abyss by the Dread Wolf/Solas.

 

So, when mentioning the Abyss, then I think comes the rather confusing part:

 

 

Codex entry: Elven God Andruil

 

One day Andruil grew tired of hunting mortal men and beasts. She began stalking The Forgotten Ones, wicked things that thrive in the abyss. Yet even a god should not linger there, and each time she entered the Void, Andruil suffered longer and longer periods of madness after returning.

 

Andruil put on armor made of the Void, and all forgot her true face. She made weapons of darkness, and plague ate her lands. She howled things meant to be forgotten, and the other gods became fearful Andruil would hunt them in turn. So Mythal spread rumors of a monstrous creature and took the form of a great serpent, waiting for Andruil at the base of a mountain.

 

When Andruil came, Mythal sprang on the hunter. They fought for three day and nights, Andruil slashing deep gouges in the serpent's hide. But Mythal's magic sapped Andruil's strength, and stole her knowledge of how to find the Void. After this, the great hunter could never make her way back to the abyss, and peace returned.

 

—Translated from ancient elven found in the Arbor Wilds, source unverified

 

So we now have as realms: The Void/Abyss and the Beyond/Fade, according to elvhen lore (the confusing part for me). But I don't want to delve in there now, as this would encompass the questions when and how the Veil was erected, among many other things. Anyhow, from the codex entry mentioned above, it seems to me that she got tainted in the Abyss and brought it to the world (--> plague ate her lands), or if not the taint as it plagues Thedas now, then maybe something similar, sort of a Proto-taint, which may stem from the Darkness in the Void.

 

Also the last paragraph describes something (IMO) we are already familiar with: Mythal (who then later fused with Flemeth) battled with Andruil and with her magic, she sapped the strength and knowledge of how to find the Void from Andruil. This maybe can be seen that she cleansed Andruil from the influence of the Void aka the taint, something which apparantly also happened with Urthemiel after the Dark Ritual in DAO.

 

It does seem to me now, that the taint is something which comes from the Forgotten Ones, who are locked up in the Abyss. I do cannot say, however, if the taint is something which was alway there in the Abyss, or something "new", what the Forgotten Ones (maybe) created because they were locked up there and want to use to have their revenge.

 

 

So what does the Song tainted creatures hear do? One of the things is that it leads them to the Old Gods. What the Old Gods are, is not important here. What is important however, is that the Song leads tainted creatures to the Old Gods. But I do not think that it is necessarily so, that the Song comes FROM the Old Gods. I like to think of it more as a GPS signal/Navigation "device", so that tainted creatures are led to the Old Gods as a means that they can also become tainted. May it be because the Old Gods (=Dragons) contain the Essences of the Elvhen Gods or not, is not that relevant, they certainly are powerful beings, and control of a powerful being is always a good thing

 

 

So where I am heading now with this post? I am not even sure to be honest, but after reading some stuff here, it was important to me to share some of my thoughts regarding DA lore. Many things are not clear to me, as the nature of the different songs, their connections to the dwarven, magic, and lyrium, and many other important topics.

 

Anyhow, I hope some people will also share their thoughts on the matter, so please post

[Bad King]

IMO a key element here is blood magic. Morrigan's Dark Ritual and Merrill's cleansing of the tainted eluvian both made use of blood magic which is clearly in opposition to the taint and yet is very much similar in its effects. The Tevinter Old Gods were thought to be linked to blood magic (being the ones who taught it to the original Magisters), Kieran comments on the blood of the Inquisitor if he contains Urthemiel's soul, and Andruil (probably an elven god of blood sacrifice) was the creator most hostile to the Forgotten Ones. IMO, as of DA:I, the Creators=Old Gods theory works well and so while Blood Magic and the fade are associated with the Creators, the taint and the Stone (in Dwarven religion) are associated with the Forgotten Ones who, despite apparently being imprisoned by Fen'harel, may be slowly attempting to corrupt their ancient enemies with their power by manipulating the Magisters into tainting the golden city and then spreading their corruption to the Old Gods (though the flaw in the theory is why the calling emanates from the Old Gods). Flemeth's plan was to rescue her kinsmen's souls from the taint: she could be the mysterious potential eighth Old God who is depicted as a serpent (the same beast that Mythal becomes to battle Andruil in that tale).

 

So the Creator vs Forgotten One dichotomy may also represent the Blood Magic vs Taint dichotomy.

[frutard]

Yes, that surely sounds nice ... also the question is, why does Solas comment, he is not using Blood Magic because it makes it harder for him to go to the fade?

[Reznore57]

In DA2 there were the Profane , some rock wraith in the Lost Thaig , the one with red lyrium.

 

We who are forgotten, remember,
We clawed at rock until our fingers bled,
We cried out for justice, but were unheard.
Our children wept in hunger,
And so we feasted upon the gods.
Here we wait, in aeons of silence.
We few, we profane.

 

The Profane were eating the red lyrium as far as I know ...we also had Batrand feeding red lyrium to his servants when he went bonkers.

So...red lyrium = the Gods?(or what's left of it anyway) .

They also made the red lyrium idol back then , wonder what's up with that?

Also the darkspawn avoided the thaig for some reasons.

Maybe because red lyrium EAT people.

 

Now it seems dragons are somewhat immune to the taint.It seems dragons can contain the Blight , and keep it from spreading.(since Mythal is close to dragons , possible that's how she learnt to fight it , and why she's trying to bring them back)

And of course the Old Gods aren't immune at all , they turn into some beacon of blight .So are those dragons cursed?

 

About the main question , I have no idea what is the taint exactly.It's well ...corruption.Corrupts the body , corrupt the mind.

But it seems it can't corrupt the fade , only the Golden City has turned black  .

There is something going on with the ex Golden City anyway , the magisters were the first darkspawn.But they are still a special kind of darkspawn and whatever happened to them , it doesn't work like this in Thedas.

 

Also Fiona (from the Calling book) was cured from the Blight somehow...

[xJLxKing]

To me it sounds like a virus, duh, right? At least, the fantasy version of one. That's my guess likely one made from the Gods to kill off someone or specific group. I find it really weird that Dragons are the only living things immune to the Taint with the exception of a specific type of magic that Cory used along with Red Lyrium.

 

Other than that, there is really nothing that we can do off. The Chantry version has been proven to be somewhat falls which makes me believe it's all wrong.  There is also the weird correlation between the time the Magisters entered the Golden city and the first blight. The idea that the Darkspawn can field a army in that short time is weird.

 

This however can all be explained if BW decides to lol 

[DarkAmaranth1966]

We also know that it does not affect the soul (OGB) Though it was an archdemon, once housed inside Morrigan's son, that soul is not tainted so, it only affects the mind and body.

 

It only infects living things, so why not plants. If it only infects animals, then lyrium is an animal, it has blood and, that would fit since the joining and, the means of transferring the taint established in DAO was via blood or by ingesting tainted flesh, still blood born so, lyrium had to have blood. Hence why it or blood both work for enhancing magic. Is blood magic more powerful only because lyrium ahs less blood than a human or more mobile animal? Is all boosted magic really blood magic except there is not enough blood for it to be visible in lyrium?

[xJLxKing]

We also know that it does not affect the soul (OGB) Though it was an archdemon, once housed inside Morrigan's son, that soul is not tainted so, it only affects the mind and body.

 

It only infects living things, so why not plants. If it only infects animals, then lyrium is an animal, it has blood and, that would fit since the joining and, the means of transferring the taint established in DAO was via blood or by ingesting tainted flesh, still blood born so, lyrium had to have blood. Hence why it or blood both work for enhancing magic. Is blood magic more powerful only because lyrium ahs less blood than a human or more mobile animal? Is all boosted magic really blood magic except there is not enough blood for it to be visible in lyrium?

Well it does affect the Lyrium and yes, that's what they were point to in Inquisition with Dogma. She said if Red Lyrium is regular Lyrium that corrupted by the blight then that means Lyrium is alive. Also, I believe most plant life dies. Skies itself becomes dark and a few other stuff. 

 

Yes though, the taint is definitely only the corruption in the physical sense. 

[Captmorgan72]

I always thought of the taint as a supernatural virus.