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[Caritas_Lavellan]

Do you still love Solas? Did you think that nothing you did as Hawke ever mattered? Do you miss your Warden?

Today is 1 August, which is All Soul's Day in Thedas.

I believe that within the Dragon Age Keep there is a world state which can save both Solas and the Spirit of Compassion/Nightmare Demon, prevent the breaking of the orb, and turn the Black City into the Golden City again. I believe it may also be the only way to prevent the incoming sixth blight.

The idea is relatively simple in its concept but, given the scale of the Keep and the time it takes to play through the game, is going to need people working together to achieve it. It's as follows:

1. Your Warden needs to take those actions which would fit with the nature of the God of the Old Testament (in some sense the Dread Wolf imagery may help here), and should die to the Archdemon Urthemiel (Solas) so that their soul links with Solas' soul in death and becomes the Spirit of Compassion/Nightmare Demon. I'm thinking a fierce Templar-type here.

2. Your Hawke needs to take those actions which would fit with the nature of Jesus Christ in the New Testament: compassionate and self-sacrificing. Possibly a male warrior but maybe a male rogue would do?

3. Your Lavellan needs to take those actions which would fit with the nature of the Holy Spirit - romancing Solas and bringing people together. I think she may also need to be a mage.

Thankfully we can change the choices for 1 and 2 in the Keep rather than playing through DA Origins and DA II again.

Please read my story, Mind Heart, at Archive of our Own if you want to understand why I'm doing this and why I believe it. There are strong parallels with Dante's Divine Comedy which I explain there: DA Origins = Inferno / Hell; DA II = Purgatory and DA Inquisition = Paradise.

I am well aware that this probably sounds completely crazy, but if you, like me, have spent hundreds of hours playing Dragon Age, please consider the idea and help me out.

What is needed is for individuals to each take a choice in the Keep, and figure out where in the Old or New Testament there is an analogue to that story. The phrase "What would Jesus do?" has never been more appropriate. I imagine it may help if you know the Bible well already or know someone else who does - all of the characters lie "masked in a mirror" and I can't pretend this is going to be easy. I am a humanist / post-Christian, but I have read a lot of the Bible in the past. Nonetheless making all these identifications myself feels a very daunting task, and somehow not in the spirit of the endeavour. Any Inquisitor needs to recruit companions.

Once you've decided on a choice to look at and then what the right outcome for your choice might be, please post your suggestions below for what choices in the Keep fit best with the idea above, with reasons (e.g. chapter and verse, or just gut feeling).

Solas says at one point to Cole: "She didn't need a Chantry. She needed to remember her faith."

I think he's telling us something really important. However, I have no idea whether the Keep itself will give us a hint if we get it right or whether we will need to play through Inquisition fully with that world state in order to know for sure. If someone's had this idea before, my apologies for repeating it - I have looked but I haven't seen it mentioned. Obviously it would be lovely if someone from Bioware could confirm that this is worthwhile, but that may be too much to ask for - it is a test of faith, after all! It may be that it's enough for most of the choices to be correct, I have no way of knowing.

Solas also says in response to Cassandra: "I have people, Seeker. The greatest triumphs and tragedies this world has known can all be traced to people." My story explains why and how I think he is asking us for help.

Even if Bioware haven't patched the game with the ending I believe should be possible, if enough of us believe it is the right solution then I hope that they would consider doing so. The game is all about faith, after all.

[Edit: thanks to Ulv Elskeren's useful question, I have now posted a longer theory of the blights and the history of Thedas a few posts below. I appreciate these posts are very long, but it's going to take some effort to rescue an entire world!]

[Ulv Elskeren]

This is interesting, and there's no doubt at all that many Christian/literary parallels are invoked intentionally (Blake, Dante, Milton, etc.)  However this:

 

 

1. Your Warden needs to take those actions which would fit with the nature of the God of the Old Testament (in some sense the Dread Wolf imagery may help here), and should die to the Archdemon Urthemiel (Solas) so that their soul links with Solas' soul in death and becomes the Spirit of Compassion/Nightmare Demon. I'm thinking a fierce Templar-type here.

 

 

...is problematic.   There is some argument in exactly how the Old Gods map to the Pantheon, but unless you're suggesting that OGSes are infinitely divisible, one of the few certainties we have is that Solas cannot be Urthemiel.  

[Caritas_Lavellan]

Thanks for your response. This part of my thinking is still extremely new, and mostly pure intuition based on previous conclusions, so I welcome the critique. I think my best guess at the moment would be that Urthemiel has Solas' mind and Garahel's soul - noting that Garahel killed Andoral in the fourth blight and actually died. And I note that there was some debate about whether the fifth blight was a true blight.

I will have a good think about it and see if I can justify it further - I do agree that it's counterintuitive to most of the identifications I've seen so far. I do think Solas = Dirthamen = Dumat at present though. It's all linked to the way that the twin souls (Solas/Nightmare) behave when they reach the limiting point (the Epilogue) - Solas keeps his mind and memories intact but the other soul goes into an Archdemon, creating a blight.

I didn't explain this in my story explicitly, but you can think of the twin souls as binary complements: e.g.

10111001111110 - Solas
01000110000001 - Nightmare

Where 1s are good and 0s (the Nothing, banal, the void) are bad. As the Nightmare absorbs more fears, it gets more and more 0s and Solas gets the corresponding 1s. So Solas is ascending to Heaven and the Nightmare descending to Hell. I note that Solas is also the name for a distress flare for those lost at sea, hence the Anchor imagery.

These are creations in a computer game, so the binary imagery does feel rather fitting. I also note that we get a white screen at points in the game (all 1s) and that Solas has black smoke in the Epilogue. That is what scares me for him. My story draws out the sense of Lavellan being pure white sunlight / pure love, compared to the demons born in blackest Envy.

[Ulv Elskeren]

Thanks for your response. This part of my thinking is still extremely new, and mostly pure intuition based on previous conclusions, so I welcome the critique. I think my best guess at the moment would be that Urthemiel has Solas' mind and Garahel's soul - noting that Garahel killed Andoral in the fourth blight and actually died. And I note that there was some debate about whether the fifth blight was a true blight.

I will have a good think about it and see if I can justify it further - I do agree that it's counterintuitive to most of the identifications I've seen so far. I do think Solas = Dirthamen = Dumat at present though. It's all linked to the way that the twin souls (Solas/Nightmare) behave when they reach the limiting point (the Epilogue) - Solas keeps his mind and memories intact but the other soul goes into an Archdemon, creating a blight.

I didn't explain this in my story explicitly, but you can think of the twin souls as binary complements: e.g.

10111001111110 - Solas
01000110000001 - Nightmare

Where 1s are good and 0s (the Nothing, banal, the void) are bad. As the Nightmare absorbs more fears, it gets more and more 0s and Solas gets the corresponding 1s. So Solas is ascending to Heaven and the Nightmare descending to Hell. I note that Solas is also the name for a distress flare for those lost at sea, hence the Anchor imagery.

These are creations in a computer game, so the binary imagery does feel rather fitting. I also note that we get a white screen at points in the game (all 1s) and that Solas has black smoke in the Epilogue. That is what scares me for him. My story draws out the sense of Lavellan being pure white sunlight / pure love, compared to the demons born in blackest Envy.

 

I think you may be getting a bit into Helsdim territory connecting SOLAS (Safety Of Life At Sea) conventions with Solas, but it's certainly inventive, if a bit difficult to take as an intentional allusion by the writers.   I'm also not entirely certain how Garahel's soul is connected to Urthemiel in your conception here, though I have quite a few chapters to go in Mind Heart and the answers might be there.  (Are you suggesting the Archdemons are all animated by the 'recycled' soul of the Warden that came before?)

 

Personally, I think Urthemiel is more likely to have carried Ghilan'nain's OGS.  Aside from the surface parallel between Ghilan'nain's association with 'graceful' halla and the God of Beauty, the more substantial connection comes of understanding the particular talent that elevated her to the Pantheon.  Assuming the pattern established by Andruil > Zazikel > Sera and June > Andoral > Sandal (and Dirthamen-Falon'din > Dumat > Solas, if you're willing to extend the theory), we would expect Ghilan'nain's OGS to retain two characteristics: a core personality/purpose, and a skill.  For Andruil, this is fierce defense of the weak and skill with the bow.  For June, a cheery eagerness to create and effortless manipulation of lyrium.  For Solas, a dedication to balance and the ability to fadewalk/wipe secrets.

 

Given Ghilan'nain's particular skill described in Dalish myth (the creation of new creatures, essentially genetics) it's a bit suggestive that Kieran's comments to the Inquisitor effortlessly intuit arcane truths about the nature of their race.  Kieran's words, but Ghilan'nain's insights, I believe.

 

This is all arguable, of course!   And it has no real affect on your core theory- that DA:O/2/I form a triad that mirrors the Divine Comedy, and that a very particular world state might unlock a secret path to Paradise.  Just something additional to consider.  

[Caritas_Lavellan]

I went to sleep and woke up (too early, again) knowing the following. It's all about twin souls: their creation, purpose and destruction. I'm working the details out as I type it now. Some of the references to where the stories appear in canon are in Mind Heart, but I hadn't seen how it all worked when I wrote that.

 

The key point for me is that we really need to help Solas, despite everything he's done. (And to have faith in humanity.)

 

I think the history of the blights goes something like this. (Again, please critique - we'll make it better if we keep trying, no? )

 

Creation of twin souls

 

If one of a twin pair of souls A/B seeks to rise to godhood (1111 / Love / pure white light) then the other one is damned to hell (0000 / Envy / black). In a blight, the 0000 soul ( splits into darkspawn (0 0 0 0), small particles of the original soul, but which are still all connected to the 1111 via the hive mind from the original twinning. This is how the Archdemon (A) controls the blight. I note that 1111+1 in binary is 10000 – some learning is achieved but most of the soul is filled with Envy.

 

For a soul to be able to slip across the Veil, it must be light, i.e. with lots of 1s not 0s. Compare Cole’s dialogue. Perhaps it needs more 1s than 0s and it’s as simple as that.

 

When an Archdemon (A with soul A/B) is killed by a good creature with soul X, with no dark ritual, the souls link into A/X, and B is freed, but with a memory wipe (B’). If one of the pair starts to rise again (the Wisdom/Pride part), it will accumulate 1s and the other will start accumulating the corresponding 0s. This latter fate is either chosen out of Compassion, or it is forced on them out of Fear: the Dalish are right when they remember that “Dread Wolf take you” and “To the Void with you” are curses.

 

When an Archdemon (A/B) is killed by a good creature with soul X, with a dark ritual, we assume that either X herself or X’s lover Y is carrying a new pre-born baby soul Z (which I assume has lots of 1s). This soul Z gets swapped for B, which preserves the core nature of B but with a memory wipe. X and Y both survive without twinning. The baby soul Z is then linked to the Archdemon as A/Z. But, B and Z also remain linked as twin souls, which is how new twin souls are connected. This is a way of anchoring Z to B in humanity to try to help prevent it from sliding into the abyss. It’s good to try to maintain Balance (true grey, Grey Wardens, etc).

[Caritas_Lavellan]

Blights

I was getting confused in my earlier quick reply to Ulv Elskeren between souls and minds. Minds are interchangeable with souls. Here’s how I think the history might have gone. Some of this probably now conflicts with Mind Heart, but that was me trying to approach the problem via Compassion. This is an attempt at Wisdom. Wish me luck!

 

1. The Sun (soul A) is linked to the Earth (soul . They bring forth their child Elgar (a spirit, soul C). The Sun rises to godhood (1111) and destroys creatures on the Earth (0000). Elgar is a good spirit and so when it kills the Sun, their souls link into A/C. But the Earth is freed, and becomes Mythal (B’).

 

2. Elgar © tries to rise to godhood (1111) by linking to the Sun (A), which crashes down into the 0000 abyss. This is pre-Veil so this creates demons (“in blackest Envy were the demons born”) not darkspawn. Elgar becomes Elgar’nan (spirit of vengeance, a spiritual Archdemon) and the Sun is split into 0 0 0 0 drops of lifeblood.  

 

3. Mythal uses the dark ritual to kill (calm) Elgar’nan (C/A). The new baby soul D gets swapped for the Sun, creating Falon’Din (guided by Sun’s soul A, which I’ll call A’) and linking C and D into C/D. But A’ is still linked to D as above. Perhaps this is the Theirin bloodline – the inheritors of Falon’Din and the Sun.

 

4. Dirthamen (D) seeks wisdom, and so rises to godhood, crashing C into 0000. But Dirthamen is smart and creates the Veil to keep the demons 0 0 0 0 away. The action moves up a dimension from spirits (1D) to Thedosian mortals (2D). I’ll keep writing souls as 1D strings but actually I think here they become 2D arrays or something.

 

5. Unfortunately, various other twinnings go on, resulting in new gods (Andruil, Sylaise, June), and forgotten ones whose souls were lost when their twins ascended. This is an extreme version of the slavery of Arlathan, I think, because it keeps on happening, with good souls getting linked to the god in their turn, all to help the god keep rising and keep accruing power (1s).

 

6. We get to the point where Ghilan'nain (G) is the Chosen of Andruil (H), i.e. her linked slave. Something happens between Dirthamen and Ghilan’nain (the bear/halla murals in Skyhold). Perhaps he is lonely, and seeks someone else to seek wisdom/pride with him. Halla are proud. Or perhaps he thinks that Ghilan’nain deserves a chance of survival.

 

7. So Dirthamen persuades Mythal to kill Andruil in order to rescue Ghilan’nain’s soul. Mythal (B’) kills Andruil (H/G). The result is a twinning of B’/H, and Ghilan’nain becomes mortal with a memory wipe – blind, and the first halla. This is a poisoning of the Earth. I think B’/H might be Draconis.

 

8. Dirthamen realises in horror that poisoning the Earth (and your mother) wasn’t a smart thing to have achieved, even if it was done out of love and good intentions. Perhaps this is the Quickening?

 

9. Mythal has to be rescued and her soul has to be cleansed, and freed of twinning links. Dirthamen realises (with even more horror) that the only way to achieve this is for Andruil to rise to godhood, be killed by him, linking D/H (Dirthamen/Andruil) and freeing Mythal with a further memory wipe (B’’). I note that this chimes with Fen’Harel spending time in Andruil’s bed. At this point he really feels like Fen’Harel now, the Great Betrayer.

 

10. This is where we get to Dumat, who is Dirthamen/Andruil (D/H). They manage to co-exist for quite a while – it’s no wonder Solas is interested in checking how Sera is. (But more of that later.) The problem is that Andruil becomes terrified of the Nothing, and finds herself drawn by the pull of the abyss. I don’t think this is Dirthamen seeking wisdom, I think he is genuinely trying to keep balance at this point. He is probably also keeping the other gods in check by some method (linking them to dragons, which have strong blood?) to prevent things getting even worse.

 

11. Things are getting desperate (the Golden City is getting blacker all the time for poor Andruil). Dirthamen is trying to find a way out of the situation, so perhaps this is why they called in the help of the Tevinter magisters. There’s a gap here in my understanding of what goes on at this point, but in terms of mortal suffering (lyrium and slaves in Kirkwall), there are huge consequences, and Dirthamen carries many “necessary deaths” on his conscience.

 

12. In any case, Dumat (Dirthamen/Andruil, D/H) flies in the first blight. Mortals are terrified and take to the desperate measure of creating the Grey Wardens. Andraste’s father kills Dumat, but (I think accidentally?) his wife has just become pregnant with a baby (K) at the time. He survives, but Andruil’s soul gets swapped for the baby soul, creating Zazikel (D/K) and Andraste’s sister Haliserre (H’). No wonder Andraste is freaked out by something when Haliserre (“Sera”) is growing up, and no wonder she has a stake in putting things right.

 

13. The poor unwitting soul K has no chance really, which is why the Second Blight comes much sooner. Zazikel is killed and Toth (D/L) is created. (Perhaps anyone still reading can try to figure out information about L!)

 

14. The cycle repeats. It’s not really surprising that Dirthamen-Solas is terrified of dying / dying alone. Toth is killed and Andoral (D/M) is created. (I agree Sandal probably comes into this part, linked to Flemeth – Towers Age – if anyone wants to figure out what and why, please do!)

 

15. I think by this point Dirthamen-Solas is actively seeking out the most compassionate and brave souls he can, to try to balance him, with the quiet help of his still existing weak twinning to the Sun through his brother Falon’Din (indeed, the only friend of too-often-dead-but-cursed-to-remember Dirthamen). The sun shines through the clouds when Garahel fights him, and exhausted Andoral makes his choice.

 

16.  Dirthamen-Solas and Garahel manage to stay twinned for longer this time, because Garahel is such a hero.  That’s why I think Urthemiel is Dirthamen/Garahel. But, they are running out of dragons to control the darkspawn horde with in case everything goes wrong. I think this is where Solas begins to think about whether there is yet another dimension he can turn to. This did actually work the first time, aeons ago, before others started to rise to godhood.

 

Seeking us out probably terrifies him again – what if everything gets even worse? What if we don’t care?

 

So, I’ll ask again. Please can you help Solas? If you don’t want to do it for him, think about all of the people in Thedas that you care about. Can we prevent the sixth blight?

[KaiserShep]

I'd well up with joy if Hawke walks into the frame, and murder knifes Solas with an enchanted dagger. 

[Caritas_Lavellan]

I agree it is good to give Hawke some purpose, but that might not be the wisest course of action...

[Caritas_Lavellan]

If anyone's still reading, I wrote the second part of Earth Mind instead, to follow on from Mind Heart.

This is a story from Solas' point of view based broadly on the above theories.

I hope it helps some of you pass the time before the DLC's released on Tuesday!

Under the Fresco