Proseltytization of the 'Maker's Glory' as it were, only really began when the 'cult of Andraste' was adopted by Kordilius Drakon I (that's a suspect looking name) when he established the Orlesian Empire. It then exploded after the first Inquisition signed the Nevarran Accord with the Chantry one hundred years later (sufficient time for the Chantry to alter and streamline it's dogma). As evidenced by dialogue with Brother Genetivi in DA:O the rites and traditions of the cult of Haven are reminiscent of the cult of Andraste which predates the Chantry.
While there are no recorded events of Andraste displaying supernatural powers other than 'speaking to the Maker' many people speculate the she herself was a mage. Couple this with dialogue from the Spirit of Cathaire that claims the Maker (who has never been known to intervene in mortal affairs) burned down Tevinter's crops so that the Imperium would suffer famine. I find the Maker's direct intervention unlikely. The less He does the more He's proven after all. If we assume it wasn't the Maker behind the famine that struck Tevinter we're left with few alternatives. The two most likely possibilities are that either a powerful mage or a High dragon would have the means to burn down an empire's entire supply of food. When you add in the fact that Andraste was born -203 AE, the same year the Archdemon Dumat was slain by an unknown/unsung Grey Warden, the speculation starts to coalesce into a pattern.
Then there's the peculiar fact that the armor of the unknown Grey Warden that slew Dumat in Tevinter was found in Ferelden, the birthplace of Andraste. Why wasn't the Armor of the Sentinel (which bore symbols and standards of the Cult of Dumat) not buried with it's esteemed owner in Weisshaupt? Perhaps this unsung hero didn't die killing Dumat. We know that the Dark Ritual Morrigan was instructed to perform by Flemeth has been done at least once before.
Now with the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition this theory becomes stronger based on the statues of Andraste's Wyvern in Crestwood. Despite attempts by the Chantry to censor this it's a staple of Fereldan folklore. Why would Andraste be linked to a Wyvern? Revelations at the Temple of Mythal also points to the possibility of Elvhen meddling. It's also worth noting that Corypheus explicitly mentions hearing 'dead whispers' not dissimilar to the Inquisitor when they drink from the Well of Sorrows. Were the voices Andraste heard similar to what Kieran experienced from Urthemiel? Or were they the whispers of an Elvhen God?
Are these things all connected? You decide.
The Prophetess and the Dragon of Silence
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Posté 05 mars 2015 - 02:25
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#2
Posté 05 mars 2015 - 04:49
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Good stuff.
First Kordillus, since this is something I've recently been trying to wrap my head around. The linguistic connection to Cordylus/Cordylidae can't possibly be chance, making his full name in Greek essentially "Water Lizard Dragon". That's an obvious Mythal pointer from the writers, but at the same time, I can't figure out how she could be directly involved. The connection to Cordylus cataphractus seems like a particularly heavy hint, since the connection to Ouroboros has some pretty heavy Jungian symbolism, not to mention the fact that her body is literally encircling the Stone Jormungandar-style. The whole thing is basically a huge blinking MYTHAL sign, but I can't figure out how it got there.
As a semi-related aside, the potential for Hessarian's act of "mercy" to be purposeful/unwitting blood magic seems awfully strong in historical context, doesn't it? Which begs the question not only of what his intent may have actually been, but how that act might be related to his conversion precisely ten years later. Suspicious, all of it.
Getting back to your actual post, though: keep in mind that the Andrastean Maker is the rope in a tug of war between more than one entity, and that Andraste herself was almost certainly carrying Mythal's OGS at that point. Cathaire's claim that the Maker's will caused these calamities for Tevinter could be reading divine intervention in otherwise-explainable occurrence (something we see often enough in DAI to be plausible) or it could have been the direct power of Mythal herself. As always, the writers are careful to leave room for both sides of the argument. I don't, however, think there's evidence to support the idea of Andraste leading dragons into battle. Historians of the day might be able to fudge her staff into a sword Brightaxe-style or do their best to round Shartan's ears, but covering over fields and soldiers crisped by dragon fire would be a harder sell- not to mention that it would probably have broken Tevinter's will on the spot, faced with dragons doing the bidding of a barbarian slave so soon after Dumat's "betrayal".
On the subject of suspicious names: Cathaire himself. Once again, I think the writers are bashing us over the head with the connection to Catharism: its heretical relationship with the Christian church, its divergence from accepted norms in terms of gender participation, the connection between the Cathar and the Holy Grail, their belief in dual Good and Evil Gods, and (to me, most interestingly) their core belief that the process of living inevitably incurred "regret" that required "consolation" to move nearer to the Good God, added to their further belief in reincarnation and its relationship to the rite of Consolamentum. It's all a pretty obvious mirror of Mythal as the Lady of Regrets, the reincarnation cycle underlying Thedas/the Fade, and the elvhen concept of ascension to the Maker's side via Uthenera. In other words, a warped real-world version of what may have been the original tenets of Andrastean faith that were sustained and then perverted in the cult at Haven.
Anyway, interesting stuff. Can you clarify two things for me? My lore still has a lot of holes in it- what exactly were you referring to when you say that the Dark Ritual has been performed "at least once" before? (I have some crazy thoughts about Earth-Mythal and the Stone on this front, but it hasn't quite come together, since though the Stone is certainly still alive and there's evidence Thedas used to be, which makes sense in terms of primordial history, we run into some bizarre contradictions assuming the Fade is literally her spirit. My grasp on the timeline also starts to warp pretty badly, since thematically the Sundering would have to have come first, and that breaks everything.)
As for the Well and the Fade: I believe they may be more or less the same thing. Mythal's well is simply a condensed fragment of Fade, just as Mythal's physical form and orb are revealed to be a condensed fragment of the Earth (anthracite coal). Whoever drinks from it (Morrigan or the Inquisitor) now houses the contained spirits within their soul, just as their own spirit resides within the Fade in turn. I don't believe this is what occurred with Andraste, however- I think she was directly approached by Dirthamen/Falon'Din in dreams, and convinced to take in Mythal. On the other hand, I'm fairly convinced that what Corypheus found in the Golden City was the physical embodiment of an entirely different entity: a connection to a separate Fade, the one that darkspawn and the Archdemons return to and that Wardens partially inhabit and visit in their nightmares. The sundered and corrupted essence of Elgar'nan.
Not sure I'm ready to take that thought to its logical conclusion, though. If DA turns out to be Elgar'nan, Mythal and the Sun playing Hungry Hungry Hippos for souls, I'm going to lose my mind.
That aside, can you give me an idea what you're getting at with the wyvern reference? It seems to be Ferelden's version of Mythal's elvhen dragon statue, (as the Crow likely is in Kirkwall and the pillar statues are in the Primal Thaig) but I couldn't read anything into the significance of the change.
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