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[nightscrawl]

Because I don’t create many new characters, and so don’t have reason to watch the opening cinematics, I haven’t paid that much attention to them. In doing so recently, I observed that the Anchor comes into existence in the Fade, and not immediately when the Herald/Inquisitor picks up the orb.

 

The memory restoration cinematics in the Fade at Adamant seem to suggest that the Inquisitor gains the Anchor when they pick up the orb; there is a pained expression, a flash, and then we (the player) see them in the Fade. However, in re-watching these opening cinematics, it seems as if the Anchor is gained in the Fade during this scene.

 

But… also from the Adamant Fade sequence, we learn that it was actually Divine Justinia in the Fade, yet we don’t see her here, and instead see the spirit that took her form that we meet later on at Adamant.

 

What is true here? Is this simply artistic license to be vague for the player? Did the Divine actually die in the explosion and that was really the spirit the entire time? If that's the case, then why did we see the spirit as the real Justinia in the memory sequence?

 

 

Pics...

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

[JasonPogo]

You get it during the explosion that levels the Temple and opens the fade rifts.  So yes you don't get it the second you pick up the orb.  You get it when the orb explodes and tears open the veil. 

 

And the reason you see a spirit and not the Devine in the opening is it would have spoiled the story to early.  That's the long and the short of that one.

[nightscrawl]

^ Did you look at the images, though? The opening cinematics clearly show the Anchor appearing in the Fade.

[JasonPogo]

^ Did you look at the images, though? The opening cinematics clearly show the Anchor appearing in the Fade.

 

Throughout the whole game your hand just looks like a hand.  Then it will flare up when you use it or are near a fade rift or something.  So the fact that your hand looks normal then flares green in the picture is nothing.  That's how it works throughout the whole game.

[nightscrawl]

Actually, it only works like that when you're walking around due to model limitations. In cinematics you do see a glowing slash, such as in the scene when you first get to Skyhold. There is another scene as well, but I can't remember where it is. But they're not consistent with it. For example, it's not seen in the various other cinematics, romance scenes, and so on.

 

Spoiler

 

[Gervaise]

I'd never really thought about this until you brought it up but there is an inconsistency there.   I assume it can be explained by the fact that we are being shown a mixture of memories and what actually happened. 

 

So with the anchor you do receive it outside the Fade and it is what stops you from being killed as it opens the rift into the Fade.   However, certain things do cause it to flare so it is more apparent and I think what happens in the Fade is just such an instance; the mark is responding to the spirit.   You can clearly see that the spirit reaches out and then the mark flares in response.    Spirits are powerful conduits of magic and that is what the orb is responding to.   If the soldiers outside the Fade were able to vaguely witness this encounter, it may have appeared to them that the figure was giving you the mark; hence the belief about it being bestowed by Andraste.

 

As for the spirit, I believe that is exactly what it was, as shown in the opening sequence.    However, it appears to you as Justinia, because that is linked to the person who you saw only moments before and whose action caused the orb to come to you.    Justinia had powerful faith and her last words were "run".   She was more concerned for your safety than her own, so the spirit responded accordingly.   Instead of saving Justinia, it helped you in her guise.    There is also the possibility that the soul of Justinia merged with the faith spirit at the moment of her death.    In the opening sequence we are shown it as it would appear to anyone looking in on the scene; in your memories as it appeared to you.

 

I'd also point out that it has long been known that originally the plot only involved a human Inquisitor and the other races were only added late on.    The backstory to the human Inquisitor is that they come from a devout family and thus the likelihood is that they would identify strongly with a spirit appearing as Justinia.   It makes rather less sense for a non-human, particularly one who actively follows other gods, which is why I've tried to cover this by saying the spirit reads your mind and the strongest image there of a friendly person that you might trust is that of Justinia, because that is the most recent memory in your mind.    It continues to maintain that image when you subsequently meet it in the Fade at Adamant because that is how it appeared to you before.   Once your memories have been restored, it is noticeable that it no longer maintains that image but reverts to its true appearance as seen in the opening video.

[Captain Wiseass]

That bit where the Inquisitor reaches for the faith spirit isn't even the first time the anchor flares up. It flares during the pre-CC bit, too.

[Sah291]

This is just wild speculation, and probably the writers didn't put that much deep thought into it and were just keeping it vague not to the spoil the plot before the reveal later on....

But I think more than likely the anchor would have been created in several parts. It wasn't fully formed right out of the orb, it was a magical process that happened to form the anchor.

First we know the orb had to be "unlocked". Cory presumably had already initiated this step. But the thing on Quizzy's hand was not yet an anchor at this stage. Solas describes the orb as a "focus" used to channel a gods power. So the power stored within has been channeled and unlocked, but it has not yet been directed anywhere or given any intent at this point. That part was probably supposed to take place in Cory's blood magic ritual with the Divine.

Next the Inquisitor receives the raw energy from the orb when they catch it. The Inquisitor is charged with this energy, as was the Divine who received the brunt of it, but it's still not yet an 'anchor' until the Spirit Divine grabs hold of his/her hand in the fade and helps secure it to the Inquisitor, making it permanent.

Now that energy can be channeled and directed by the Inquisitor. And it has been charged with a particular purpose... the spirit may not have been Andraste herself, but still a pretty powerful Andrastian figure and a symbol to the people as a spirit of faith or hope or whatever she was...and this, combined with the Inquitor's personality, reflects the nature of what the anchor became...which is very different from what it might have become attached to Corypheus.

Further, we now know Solas also influenced the creation of the anchor, when did something to stabilize it, to keep it from spreading and totally consuming the Inquisitor...which he did for a second time in Tresspasser, before removing it.

So there were a lot of factors that went into the anchor, which is maybe why it couldn't simply be removed and disentangled from the Inquisitor so easily.

[PapaCharlie9]

Flare != acquisition. Flare is flare. It could mean opening or closing a rift, it could mean sympathetic resonance with the Breach, it could mean the Inquisitor is dying.

Here's what I think the sequence of events were:

1. Coryphish captures the Divine and starts the dark ritual, using the fully-integrated and charged-for-doom Orb.
2. The Proto-Herald wanders in looking for the wine cellar, "What's all this then?"
3. Divine uses the distraction to knock the Orb out of Cory's claw
4. The Proto-Herald picks up the Orb and acquires the Anchor (SPECULATION: The Orb is semi-sentient and likes the Proto-Herald and doesn't like Cory so much, so as an F-U to Cory, bestows the Mark on the hapless Proto-Herald). Proto-Herald falls unconscious.
5. Seeing that the interruption is dealt with, Coryphish snatches back the Orb (using TK magic, precedent), doesn't notice that the Anchor is missing, and unlocks the Orb
6. Kaboom, except the Anchor flares just in time to push the Proto-Herald into the Fade, saving him/her. Unfortunately, the Divine is not so lucky and becomes a traditional special effect, ala Obi-wan Kenobi.
7. Proto-Herald wakes up in the Fade, gets a makeover, then climbs the spider rock to the Divine spirit
8. Once again, the Anchor fortuitously flares and opens a rift in the Veil back to the mundane world
9. The spirit of the Divine stays behind to run interference with the spiders so the proto-Herald can escape (Fade memories)

[fdrty]

I imagine that the anchor is given to the inquisitor as he picks up the orb during the ritual unlocking the anchor. This is because of a few reasons:

 

1 The anchor is what opens the veil, therefore the anchor must be created and conferred to the inquisitor before he/she enters the fade, as it is the means of him/her entering the fade, and we see in cutscenes that the anchor is on the inquisitor's hand when the veil is breached.

 

2 The anchor must be physical and exist in the physical world if it is something which can be used. Perhaps there is some analogue within the fade, with its own artefact to create it. That would be interesting.

 

3 The orb creates the anchor, the ritual used was blood magic which would increase its power - which is why the anchor went out of control and breached the veil, and why the breach can similarly be affected through the channelling of mage and templar powers through the anchor, but not affected by those powers directly. We know that conventional magic can boost the anchor, and this likely happened as the anchor was unlocked, breaching the veil.

 

One thing which is important is - what method did the Sidereal Magisters use to enter the fade the first time? Was it another orb, or was it the same orb? There clearly must be other means to destroying the veil, as Solas is clearly pursuing them.

[Ghost Gal]

The Inquisitor gets the Anchor about the same time that they touch the orb. The searing pain on the PC's hand from grabbing the orb is from the Anchor being formed, and it's explicitly stated/shown that the only reason the PC and Justinia survived the ensuing explosion (two seconds later) was because the PC inadvertently created a rift with their new Anchor and they were both inside the Fade when the explosion happened.

 

EDIT: So in the opening cinema, the Anchor was formed the moment before or a few seconds before the explosion that wiped out the mages and Templars.

[PapaCharlie9]

The Inquisitor gets the Anchor about the same time that they touch the orb. The searing pain on the PC's hand from grabbing the orb is from the Anchor being formed, and it's explicitly stated/shown that the only reason the PC and Justinia survived the ensuing explosion (two seconds later) was because the PC inadvertently created a rift with their new Anchor and they were both inside the Fade when the explosion happened.

 

 

Except that Justinia clearly did not survive (Here Lies The Abyss). Not as a flesh-and-blood person, anyway.

[thats1evildude]

To explain the discrepancies between the opening cinematic and the Inquisitor's memories, I think this quote from Solas would suffice:

 

"It is the Fade. It is all real."

[Aliceeverafter]

the orb gives the inquizi the anchor (key) which is shown in the flashy memory sequence in the fade.

 

the anchor (key) is then activated once the inquizi gets to the fade as seen in the opening sequence.

 

the anchor (key) is dormant until the fade (to which it is the key) activates it.

 

like having a credit card that needs activating

[Dai Grepher]

What is true here? Is this simply artistic license to be vague for the player? Did the Divine actually die in the explosion and that was really the spirit the entire time? If that's the case, then why did we see the spirit as the real Justinia in the memory sequence?

Perhaps one of these things is true, or perhaps neither, or both. The Fade is a mysterious place where anything could be true.

LOL! Okay, but seriously now. The anchor is gained after the explosion. That is, if Trespasser is correct (and it possibly isn't because it's so bad). Solas states that he intended for Corypheus to unlock the orb, for the resulting explosion to kill him, and then he would reclaim the orb. He would then enter the Fade using the mark.

So according to Solas, simply touching the orb would not bestow the anchor. The explosion would not bestow it either, as that was meant to kill whoever unlocked it.

So, that leaves after the explosion as the only time the Herald could have obtained it.

Related to this is your question about Justinia. The one we saw in the memories and in the Fade was not Justinia. Rather, that was the spirit that was watching over her. Justinia died in the explosion like everyone else. The spirit protected the Herald from the explosion. That is why the Herald survived it. After the explosion ended, the mark then transferred to the Herald either automatically or with the spirit's help.

From that point, the Herald physically moved through the Fade, ran from the Nightmare, and so forth.

As for the memories, the scene we see at the start of the game is the true memory. Parts of that memory were lost because the spirit that saved you was projecting an image of Justinia to make you feel safe and trusting. You lost parts of the memory because you were frightened and the Nightmare fed on your fears. So in effect, you were already being attacked by the Nightmare and your memories were being consumed. The spirit was trying to help you escape the Nightmare. During this tug of war between the Nightmare and the spirit small bits of the truth were perceived by you, which is why you see the spirit as it was during the intro scenes. But your recovered memories are altered by the spirit.

So the false memories really did happen, you just forgot them because the Nightmare stole them from you. But it still happened. The spirit impersonated Justinia in order to get you to follow her. That's also why "Justinia" let go, because she couldn't follow you anyway and she remained to keep doing battle with the Nightmare.

The real questions are, why did you go to the Fade after the explosion, and why did the orb stay in the real world? Perhaps the orb itself was a gateway of sorts along with the anchor, but I suppose anything is possible.

[Beerfish]

If I ever see a bowling ball rolling along down the street, no way in hell am I picking it up.

[fhs33721]

If I ever see a bowling ball rolling along down the street, no way in hell am I picking it up.

But then you'll die in an explostion instead.

[Beerfish]

But then you'll die in an explostion instead.

But I won't lose my hand after few years to a snotty elf!

[Gervaise]

The explosion of the orb created the tear in the Veil but the anchor in some way protected you from the effects, leaving you in the Fade.   I don't think Solas intended for Corypheus to find out about the anchor.    The anchor is necessary if you wish to remain in the Fade in the region in which you entered, without it shifting about.   I assume that is why it is so stable around us when we return there.   I also assume that Solas needs to enter in a particular place or at least for the area he enters into, to remain constant while he tears down the Veil.   Which is why he says he would recover his orb and then use the anchor to enter the Fade.    The reason the orb didn't simply tear down the Veil is that it was on the wrong side.   If the orb was taken into the Fade and then used on that side, I assume it would have achieved tearing it down in one action.    Then again, since the Veil is not a physical thing at all, according to certain Fade experts (not Solas) who knows what exactly would have happened.   I expect the writers didn't think it through fully either since it is no longer going to happen that way

 

On the other hand, since Solas doesn't want to give too much away when he explains things in case you figure out how to stop him, how do you know that anything he tells you is an accurate depiction of what was meant to occur?  

[thats1evildude]

But I won't lose my hand after few years to a snotty elf!

 

But you can get laid in the mean time! Who cares if you're down a limb? Doesn't matter, had sex!

 

[Donquijote and 59 others]

I don't see the point in believing into distorted memories manipulated by the nightmare demon.