#High Speculation

[lairofdragonagelore]

Flemeth / Mythal (part 2)

Flemeth is an enigmatic character along the series that seems to be related to the whole plot of Dragon Age since DAO. In the present post I will try to collect all the relevant information about her and about what she says, since she is one of the characters that I think we can rely more when it comes to digging the "truth" behind the DA lore.

The current post has the following bolded sections:

Flemeth in DAO

Story of Conobar and Osen

Flemeth in DA2

Flemeth in DAI

Mythal as an Elvhenan Goddess

Mythal as a Changed Goddess

Flemeth and Mythal

Mythal and the Well of Sorrows

Flemeth and the Music

Flemeth, Mythal, and Motherhood

Artwork of Flemeth

Flemeth in the books (or comics)

Conclusions

Flemeth and Mythal

If Kieran doesn't exist, the Inquisitor who drank from the Well will stop Morrigan from attacking Flemeth when she appears. However, if Kieran exists, Flemeth claims in this situation: "You will endanger the boy" meaning that this power she is planning to use may hurt him. It's hard to know if this is just a comment she does, a display of Mythal's motherhood, or simply a way to piss Morrigan off.

In another fragment of this scene, we have a cryptic explanation of how Flemeth can contain Mythal:

“Once I was but a woman, crying out in the lonely darkness for justice. And she came to me, a wisp of an ancient being, and she granted me all I wanted and more. I have carried Mythal through the ages ever since, seeking the justice denied to her. […] She is a part of me, no more separe than your heart from your chest." [...] "But what was Mythal? A legend given name and called a god, or something more? Truth is not the end, but a beginning.”

It's fair to question if this "ancient being" could not be a demon, as the Inquisitor says at some point. However, the voices of the Well say that Flemeth speaks the Truth. So, can we be [more or less] sure that Flemeth is not possessed by a demon? I personally have some issues about the accuracy and the reliability of the voices of the Well, because we know they are controlled by Mythal herself [read section below].

Flemeth also gives us room to wonder about who and what Mythal was. The fact she is cryptically telling us that Mythal was more than any other Evanuris makes me suspect and support the theory that Mythal is the one with double nature [instead of Fen'Harel], she is Evanuris and Forgotten One, and the Forgotten Ones were dragons that Evanuris and Elvhenan worshipped before claiming Divinity for themselves [details in Attempt to rebuild Ancient Elvhenan History  or in The Missing]

Flemeth: A herald, indeed. Shouting to the heavens, harbinger of a new age. As for me, I have had many names. But you... may call me Flemeth. Inquisitor: Flemeth appears in other legends, helping heroes for reasons of her own F: I nudge history, when it’s required. Other times, a shove is needed.  [chuckles]

These pieces of information also tell us and reinforce what we saw in DAO and DA2: Flemeth meddles with human history so the events go to a direction she wants. It's not clear what goal is behind all this, but I think it's fair to conclude she is preparing what she promised to Mythal: avenge her, a reckoning that will shake the very heavens.

When Morrigan claims that Flemeth "prolongs her unnatural life by possessing the bodies of her daughters" Flemeth answers

Flemeth: That's what you believe, is it? Morrigan: I found your grimoire, and I am no fool, old woman Flemeth: [chuckles] Yet here you stand, bound into my service. My daughter ran from me long ago. I've let her be... until now, it seems.

Again, we have no clear answer about the process that allowed Flemeth to live so much or if it is this body the one that lived for centuries, but considering the piece of information we obtained from Yavanna in the comic The Silent Grove, I think it's fair to assume that is not Flemeth who is living through different bodies, but Mythal, who is so entangled with Flemeth's soul that now they are one single entity. Flemeth told us before that Mythal and herself are one thing. This concept is also reinforced when we speak with Anders in DA2 about his possessed condition: It's impossible to determine when Anders finishes and Justice starts. They are one now. However, this brings into account a sharp observation: we don't see this same condition in Kieran.

Do Flemeth and Kieran suffered similar possession condition? If Kieran has the power of an Old God, he will be called by Mythal in dreams, activate the Eluvian by his own, and walk into the Fade [The Fade - Flemeth: Part 1, Part 2]. Morrigan will say "To direct the eluvian here would require immense power". This fact shows us that Flemeth/Mythal shares similar powers to Urthemiel [the soul inside Kieran] since she is in the Fade by herself. This would support a little bit the idea I've been exploring long ago about the Forgotten Ones being dragons, and Mythal being one of them; the actual real Evanuris who is Evanuris and Forgotten One at the same time [and not Fen'Harel, as the unreliable Dalish Legends repeat] since in the comic Until We Sleep we learn that the Great Dragons had absolute control of the Fade [dreamer/somniari's powers-like].

Kieran: I'm sorry mother. I heard her calling to me. She said now was the time . Morrigan [to Flemeth]: Then what is it you want? Felemeth, looking at Kieran: One thing and one thing only. Kieran: I have to go, mother. Flemeth: He carries a piece of what once was, snatched from the jaws of darkness. You know this. Morrigan: He is not your pawn, mother. I will not let you use him. Flemeth: Have you not used him? Was that not your purpose, the reason you agreed to his creation? Morrigan: That was then. Now he... he is my son. [Flemeth tilts her head, curious, as if she was surprised of a response she was not expecting]

From this exchange we see again how Mythal is deeply related to the Old Gods. Even though we don't know the reason why she calls Urthemiel nor why or for what there is no time, we can see that Mythal has some level of command over Urthemiel.

We also see once more the concept of "Darkness", as a metaphoric word to mean "The Blight".

And finally, the whole scene seems to encourage the suspicion that Flemeth has been testing Morrigan's sense of motherhood, which again makes some sense: thanks to the Dev's notes in Somewhere in the Crossroads, The Silent Grove comic, and Kieran's words about the inheritor of a new age, we know Flemeth has been raising Morrigan to become the next Inheritor. We can assume it means she will be the inheritor of Myhtal's godhood, who may need some sense of motherhood in her willingly host, maybe?

Morrigan: Flemeth extends her life by possessing the bodies of her daughters'. That was the fate she intended for me. I thwarted her, and now she intends to have Kieran instead. Inquisitor: The way she talked about Kieran... Flemeth: I am not the only one carrying the soul of a being long thought lost. Morrigan: He is more than that, Mother. Flemeth: As am I, yet do you hear me complain? Our destinies are not so easily avoided, dear girl. [...] Inquisitor: If Kieran is so special, why did you wait until now to come for him? Flemeth: I did not know where he was. Morrigan cleverly hid him from me... until now Morrigan: T'was the well... Flemeth: Always grasping beyond your reach, despite all what I taught you.

Flemeth seems to compare herself to Kieran in nature and destinies: souls of old creatures that were considered gone, that remain entangled with the soul of the body they inhabit, and have a particular destiny to fulfil [which is unknown to us].

Another curious thing: even though Flemeth has enormous power, specially in the Fade, she was unable to locate Kieran for a long time. Only when someone drank from the Well she was able to do so. We know that Morrigan lived with Kieran in the spaces in-between for a long time [the Crossroads], so we can assume that these spaces are not connected to the Fade and certainly Evanuris can't perceive it. Again, we learnt about the nature of these spaces in-between in The Crossroads [DLC Trespasser]: Elven Mountain Ruins, where the freed slaves tried to recover and hide from the Evanuris while gathering strength against them.

Inquisitor: You're... going to steal the body of a young boy? Flemeth: If my daughter believes it, that it must be so. [...] My daughter struggles. I expected no less of her.

Again, we see Mythal cannot care less to explain, and lets Morrigan to believe whatever she wants to. This coincides with what Flemeth told us in a previous scene: humans don't want the truth, and that's the true nature of their hearts. So, her approach is always “I will let you believe what you want to believe” and does nothing to make you change of opinion. In DAO, however, we find that she claims that the only wise attitude is to doubt about everything [Read DAO section in Part 1].

Mythal and the Well of Sorrows

If Morrigan drank from the Well of Sorrows:

Inquisitor: This meeting was not accident, was it? Flemeth: Clever lad/lass Morrigan: The voices.... came from you? Flemeth: The price of the Well seemed no dire thing when you saw so much gain, hmn?

If the Inquisitor drank from the Well of Sorrows:

Inquisitor: This meeting was not accident, was it? The voices from the well directed me here, and you direct them. Flemeth: Clever lad

This is also an important piece of lore: the Well of Sorrows, which gathers all the knowledge of all the high priests that served Mythal, and left their "will" in it [read Abelas' words about the concept of "will" that he lets transpire in Temple of Mythal-Part 5], are also controlled by Mythal. So this Well is not entirely a reliable independent source of information, it's as reliable as Flemeth wants it to be.

Inquisitor [If they drank from the Well]: So must I serve you now because I drank from the Well? Flemeth [chuckles]: Is that how you see yourself? A servant? I have no command for you. Not yet. Inquisitor [If Morrigan drank from the Well]: did you come here to make Morrigan serve you? Flemeth: [laughs] oh, what a servant she would make.

This piece continues supporting Abelas' words about Mythal's followers not being slave/servants against their will. Flemeth is amused to see how heavily the Inquisitor sees this position towards her, she jokes and laughs about it, and claims that there is no commands for the inquisitor. "Not yet", since she is also Flemeth, who will avenge Mythal, and will use any tool she can use to do so.

Flemeth: I wished to see who drank from the Well of Sorrows. It has been a very long time. [chuckle, if Morrian drank from it] Imagine my surprise to discover it was you. [if the Inquisitor drank it] Now I have, and he/she is free to go. Morrigan: and that's all? Flemeth: A soul is not forced upon the unwilling, Morrigan. You were never in danger from me.

This again shows how Mythal is not really fond of unwilling servants. She lets Morrigan/the Inquisitor free. And then, she claims that souls cannot be forced upon the unwilling. This line, as cryptic as anything that Flemeth says, seems to imply two things: Mythal never wanted slaves, but loyal followers. And if it's true that Flemeth's long life is because she transferred Mythal to her daughters, it should not be a process forced upon an unwilling host. Thanks to Yavanna in The Silent Grove, we suspect that Flemeth wanted Morrigan to be the next carrier of Mythal's fragment. Due to the Dev's note in Somewhere in the Crossroads, we confirm that Flemeth wanted this, and we suspect it is what she places in the Mirror before being consumed by Solas. Although if Solas took that piece of power/godhood, makes little sense to assume the same fragment was placed on the mirror, unless Mythal can divide that divine power [which is something she can do to some extent according to all what she told us about being a fragment of a whole]. In any case, we also know that Flemeth lets Morrigan/the Inquisitor free because she knows she will die soon at the hands of Solas [as the Dev's note in Somewhere in the Crossroads seems to confirm].

In the next scene, when the Inquisitor controls the dragon guardian of the altar, we see that, visually speaking, they use the same power that Flemeth cast on the one who drank from the well. So it seems to imply that the Inquisitor can control this dragon like Flemeth can control anyone who drank from the well.

Flemeth and the music:

It’s in DAO when we start seeing that Flemeth has a soft pattern of a music theme in her speech. When you find Flemeth for a second time, due to Morrigan’s personal quest, she speaks of “Morrigan’s music” as if it were a metaphor for Morrigan's manipulation. This image also brings us an analogy with the Blight and its sweet song, which manipulates blighted creatures into looking for Archdemons to awaken them [or most likely, to open the gates that keep trapped the entity in the Black City, the true origin of the song, according to Avernus in Soldier’s Peak]

Flemeth sounds very “done with” this potential assassination of her, again. This repeated situation where she sees that the ones she helped once return to kill her, may have given Mythal a bad taste in her mouth. In fact, she adds “It’s an old, old story [that Flemeth] even told. It’s a dance poor Flemeth knows well”, referring to Mythal’s. Back then, when we were playing DAO, it was impossible for us to understand the underlying meaning of these words even though we could notice there was something else. Now, thanks to DAI, all these lines are much clearer.

She doesn’t say the truth behind all this situation even if we ask her to do so simply because she knows the heart of humans: they do not want the Truth [this line was said in DAI], and she knows they prefer the comfort of the lies instead. “We believe what we want to believe”. Flemeth, then, turns into a Dragon and fights us if we choose that option. Only when we pick this option we can be sure she becomes a dragon. Up to that moment, we were hinted by Morrigan that Flemeth had polymorphed into a big unspecified creature and grabbed the Warden and Alistair in her talons.

Another reference to music that Flemeth uses appears in DAI:

Flemeth: You seek to preserve the powers that were, but to what end? It is because I taught you, girl, because things happened that were never meant to happen. She was betrayed as I was betrayed - as the world was betrayed! Mythal clawed and crawled her way through the ages to me, and I will see her avenged! Alas, so long as the music plays, we dance.

And considering the post Songs and elements that sing and whisper in DA Lore, we can agree that this line seems pretty curious and it almost allows us to link Flemeth's incoming avenge of Mythal with the Blighted song, specially if we explore all the hypothesis that sprouted in Speculations about the Vinyl Art.

Flemeth, Mythal, and Motherhood

The concept of Motherhood in Flemeth is controversial at best. Without going into a deep judgement of her character, we need to remember particular bits of lore and concepts we know about Mythal.

Mythal was always related to motherhood. It's not only something that is present in the unreliable Dalish legends, it's something we see clearly in the Temple of Mythal, and in her Mosaic [read Myhtal's section in the post Evanuris] and in Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal or Ancient Elven codices; Vir Dirthara.

In DAO, Flemeth--as the owner of a fragment of Mythal--is presented too explicitly as a witch that will possess Morrigan, questioning her genuine sense of motherhood. I think DAO had a poor presentation of a "misinterpretation", clarified later in DAI, simply because in DAO, at the end of Morrigan's Quest, there are two questionable items: Flemeth's Grimoire and "Robes of Possesion",

The grimoire doesn't say anything relevant in its description and all what we learn about it comes from Morrigan's perspective, who understands it very wrongly. But the robe has a straightforward description:

"The original intent of these robes is clear: a "welcome home" present from Flemeth, designed to sap Morrigan's will and ease the ancient sorceress's possession of her daughter. With Flemeth dead, these robes no longer pose a danger to Morrigan--but Maker help those who get in her way."

Again, this vision is after reading the grimoire and trusting Morrigan's interpretation. This item has -1 will, which seems to be very contradictory to what Flemeth claimed in DAI: "A soul is not forced upon the unwilling, you were never in danger from me" which means, in my opinion, three situations happened in all those years in between games:

Or DAO had a different idea about what to do with Flemeth originally and it changed over the years [very likely],

Or this robe is a bad designed red herring [they are lying to the player to avoid spoiling the concept of Mythal in Flemeth]

Or there is a real lore-wise explanation of this that needs a re-interpretation of the grimoire without the biases that Morrigan had acquired along her life. Maybe a re-read of this item with the Well of Sorrow's wisdom may enlighten us differently. However, this is speculation and we can't do it ingame.

We know that Yavanna in the comic The Silent Grove claims that Morrigan doesn't understand what Flemeth is doing, and apparently, what she will receive from her is a "gift", not unwillingly possession.

Kieran, if he has the old soul, will claim that Morrigan is the "inheritor" of the new age, which aligns with what Yavanna implies and the Dev's notes in DAI say: what Flemeth was trying to do is to give Morrigan the "essence of godhood, a gift that Morrigan misunderstood as hostile possession", read  Somewhere in the Crossroads [Ending] for details.

The presentation of this issue in DAO makes us wonder a lot about Flemeth's sense of motherhood. On the other side, thanks to DAI, we know that Mythal was changed in a way that she abandoned her Children [the People she always seems to be so fond of], because "things happened that were never meant to happen". In DA2 and DAI we find that Mythal is also presented and perceived as a goddess that protects, with some degree of Motherhood, but also abandonment [especially in DAI]: She also abandoned Abelas and his people, as the new generations of guardians lose they deep devotion to Mythal [read Untranslatable Elven Writing, from Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal] .

On the other hand, we lack of context. We don't know how Mythal was killed, if it was due to a betrayal from the Evanuris because she trusted them, and why she raised Morrigan harder than she should have.

Even though this Mythal is changed and has a questionable sense of motherhood, we see in DAI a motherhood test: when Morrigan tells Flemeth to leave her son and take her instead, Flemeth takes Urthemiel's fragment and leaves them both alone. Later, Morrigan will claim this was a test she was not sure she had passed.

[Kieran looks at Flemeth] Flemeth: As you wish. [She looks at Morrigan] Hear my proposal, dear girl. Let me take the lad, and you are free of me forever. I will never interfere with or harm you again. Or, keep the lad with you... and you will never be safe from me. I will have my due. Morrigan: I will take my chances. Flemeth: I found you once, girl. What makes you think I will not find you again? Morrigan Take over my body now, if you must. Just let Kieran go. He will be better off without me, just as I was better off without you. [Flemeth seems to make a face of hurt, as if those words reached her. Then, she looks at Kieran, and it seems to look like they can communicate in silence. Then she smiles at him as a blue glow passes from Kieran's body to Flemeth's] Kieran: No more dreams? Flemeth: No more dreams. [As Kieran returns to his mother] A soul is not forced upon the unwilling, Morrigan. You were never in danger from me. Listen to the voices. They will teach you... as I never did. Flemeth: [...] I will have my due. Morrigan: He returns to me. Flemeth: Decided so quickly? Morrigan: Do whatever you wish. Take over my body now, if you must, but Kieran will be free of your clutches. I am many things, but I will not be the mother you were to me. [Flemeth seems to make a face of hurt, as if those words reached her.]

So, what seems to transpire in both scenes is that Flemeth ends up hurt by Morrigan's words about her bad motherhood. Another detail is that those who have ancient beings in their body seem to have "dreams", hard to understand what that means. We can't say if these dreams are, in truth, walks through the Fade, or something else.

Another thing that stands out is that these scenes seem to show that Flemeth has been testing Morrigan's sense of motherhood. And if the player doesn't suspect this earlier, the next scene is explicit about it:

Returning from the Fade: Morrigan: Are you alright, Kieran? You are not hurt? Kieran: I feel lonely. [kieran leaves] Morrigan: she wanted the Old God soul all along. Is it worth reminding myself that perhaps I do not know everything after all? My mother has the soul of an elven goddess—or whatever "Mythal" truly was—and her plans are unknown to me. [...] I knew she kept the truth from me. I even suspected she was not truly human... but this? I always thought the so-called "elven gods" were little more than glorified rulers, now I have doubts. And doubt is... an uncomfortable thing, Inquisitor. Just be thankful you did not drink from the Well. I am evidently tied to my mother for eternity. Inquisitor: So Kieran had... the soul of an Old God? Morrigan: [...], yes. He has never known anythign else. I am uncertain what effect this will have on him. [...] I told you at the temple. The magic of old must be preserved, no matter how feared. Kieran had a destiny, and now it is in Flemeth's hands. I suppose we shall see what she does with it. Inquisitor: For what it's woth, I think you did the right thing. Morrigan: Did I? She was testing me, and I cannot tell whether I passed.

Kieran's sense of loneliness brings immediately to our mind the case of Sigrid Gulsdotten in Frostback Basin [DLC]: Stone-Bear Hold Avvars - Part 1, who did not want to be separated from the being she was possessed by because she would feel lonely. What we can see in this scene is that removing a soul from a possessed body is possible and won't leave them scarred as the Dalish believe [Marethari Talas tells us this in DA2 and in Merril and the Eluvian].

We see that Morrigan continues in keeping and preserving magic of old times, as Flemeth told her to do all her life, and at the end of the scene, we are assured, if we had some doubts up to that moment, that Flemeth has been testing Morrigan in something she doesn't understand. We can suspect it may be related to her sense of Motherhood given the overall scenes, as Mythal is a mother before anything else. Maybe Flemeth is preparing Morrigan to be a better host for Mythal, with a better sense of motherhood, since she is the "inheritor" of a new age [could it mean the inheritor of an age that came after the revenge was taken?].

Artwork of Flemeth

Artwork of flemeth is broad and varied and may hide some extra details about the figure of Flemeth.

One of the pieces that brought my attention the most belongs to the Book of Thedas Volumen 1:

We see Flemeth in her dragon shape. The dragon has a beautiful foreshadowing detail: it has some swirls that we can find in Mythal's dragon shape statue in DAI. This dragon is not only telling us that it's Flemeth in her shapeshifter form, it's also Mythal [not only the shape of the horns is similar to the statue's; it has a central spike, read the Dragon Age Iconic Patterns: The single spike].

Then, we find Flemeth in her war attire, depicted with a yellow sphere that coincide with the curvature of her staff. This ball can be interpreted in many ways: a mere design effect to make it look like glow, a sphere that can represent the orb power we see as an asterisk in many murals [Murals in DAI], the symbol of Mythal destroying a Titan [The Death of a Titan], or a sphere related to those red sphere explained in the Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal and Ancient Elven codices; Vir Dirthara. The sphere combined with the shape of her staff also seems to create an effect of an eye, also related to Mythal [at least in concept art]. The extreme of this Staff also appears in DA2, in Merril's loadscreen when we see the eluvian being broken [skim over the post Merril’s Eluvian to find the image].

This staff has a similar shape to the original design of Andraste's helm in her statue version of DAO, and it is also related to Flemeth several times in DA2 [in the background] or in other pieces of art where we see her holding this staff. We find in Patterns and Styles: Tevinter that some concept art seem to show a Tevinter staff inspired in this one, which again, makes a link between Tevinter and their dragon worshipping, with the Evanuris in a very indirect way.

However, this staff never made it into any game; I cannot say it was due to lore-wise reasons or simply it was hard to design in the games.

Finally, we see at the very right corner of the image an old woman with an apron that has a shape of an eye. This eye is the same one we find in the concept art of the Mythal's Temple guardians that did not make it into the game but we can see in the artbook of Inquisition. We can associate Mythal with a deep knowledge of the future that this eye may represent. We know Flemeth has been nudging history and [through the books], we can even suspect she has some foresee ability [read, for example, the meeting with Maric and Loghain in The Stolen Throne, several sections below].

The Eye may also be related to some presence in the dreams/Fade [let's remember that the Fade is a reflection of the Waking World, and you just need to "read and observe" the right way to have the information you need, according to Solas and several unreliable sources of Enchanters' codices]. In posts like Andrastian Design: Stained Glasses, the comic Until We Sleep or in Dragon Age Iconic Patterns: The Sun, I've talked about the impressive and yet easy to miss event of an elf in Val Royeaux who claims to have been visited by Mythal in dreams and after that conversation, he has his face burned with her vallaslin [Elven Servant Dreams of Mythal, another videos here]. The fact that Mythal can be related to the symbol of the eyes may show her relationship with foreseen powers and her ability to visit people in dreams and change reality through them. This is, so far we learnt in Feynriel quest [Feynriel - Somniari and Fade], the powers of the dreamers, and thanks to the comics Those Who Speak and Until We Sleep we know these powers also belonged to particularly powerful dragons.

In DA2, Flemeth's art can be found in the game itself in one of the Varric's narrations [Act 1]. In it, she looks like a mountain, with details of veins that make us suspect some relationship with titans and lyrium [design and visual detail discussed in Design of Kirkwall]. It's only in DAI where we learn through the codex and the mural “The Death of a Titan” that she was able to destroy a titan and, probably, took a unique power from it that may have encourage the Evanuris to kill her. It could also be the mere use of lyrium that the Evanuris started to implement in their magic to acquire more power and divine status. We can see in this image that the symbol of her staff is also in the background, cutting her in half: below the mountain, above the humanoid-dragon-like woman.

In this image, we see Flemeth wearing her war attire, which has a lot of parts that reminds us the statues of the Emerald Knights in Emerald Graves: Din'an Hanin or in the warrior version of Andraste herself. She is surrounded by dark smoke that reminds me the power that the elvhenan displayed in DAI: Abelas when he is killed by Morrigan, Flemeth when she is summoned as Mythal in her Altar, and Solas when consumes Flemeth's powers. In all these cases, they use dark smoke around them or in their powers. Read Somewhere in the Crossroads [Ending] to see the visual details of this. We see again the importance of the staff placed at the almost centre of the piece of art.

The "yellow mosaic" possesses a strong assumption: it has four shapes at the corners that may represent eluvians or something related to Mythal.

In the mural of “the Temple of Mythal” from  “The actions of the Inquisitor”, we see that Solas draw a particular star of 8 points inside a door frame that resembles this “eluvian outline”, but it’s also the shape of the doors of the Temple of Mythal which represents Mythal herself in her dragon shape. All these symbols seem to reinforce the idea we explored in “The Death of a Titan”: Mythal seems to be related to the core power of a Titan represented by an asterisk that evolves into a golden ring and into a sun. However, it's curious to highlight that the sun was always a symbol related to Elgar'nan.

As I repeated several times in Speculations about the Vinyl Art, at times, we find some hints where stars or balls of fires [also understood as suns] are related to Mythal and Elgar’nan, making us suspect that, maybe, Mythal and Elgar’nan share a nature similar to Falon’Din and Dirthamen’s: apparently, the same creature with two different aspects from them. If this were the case, associating Mythal with the Sun would make sense, and it would also explain why, if Elgar’nan was so central in the Elvhenan culture, there are so few representations and statues of him, while Mythal overwhelms it.

The center of the mosaic displays the Asterisk Symbol [made of 8 points], which may be related to the core of a Titan [asterisk of 8 points too]. The link is immediate when we see that this asterisk is outlined by a shape that looks like a star or a Sun, inside a big ball with triangular-shape ends. This same symbol appears in the Trailer of DA4, behind Solas, when he is presented like an Hermit, mysterious, apostate mage. Around this “sun” we can make out several concentric lines that may refer to a “Golden Ring”.

The Asterik symbol also appears in murals such as  “The Creation of the Veil” or “The Death of a Titan”, which allowed us to relate them with the core of a Titan and its immense power of “making real what you imagine by reinforcing the reality”, but this symbol also appears in a corner of Solas’ tarot card. For more details, read Dragon Age Iconic Patterns: The Sun .

Her art in Heroes of Dragon Age shows her more like a chasind mage, with a painted fave [1,2], and a curious staff of an appostate [1,4], which is also depicted, sometimes, in Solas' art. This staff made it into the game, and was reused many times in DA2 making it a bit meaningless. We can clearly see the similar design in her dress as a chasind mage [1,2] as well as in Flemeth's war attire [3]. In [3] we see again the staff that looks like an eye.

The vynil: I made a whole post about the potenciality of understanding the dragon we see in the Vynil as (a fragment of) Myhtal. Since it's a strong hypothesis, I will leave it there, so you can read more about it in Speculations about the Vinyl Art.

Flemeth in the books (or comics)

The Stolen Throne

In this book, we see Flemeth when Maric Theirin and Loghain are captured by Dalish that delivered them to her. As an exchange to leading them out of the Wilds, Flemeth requests Maric to make a promise we don't know about it, as well as giving him the knowledge that a Blight will occur in Ferelden. She also gives him a cryptic warning about Loghain: "Keep him close and he will betray you, each time worse than the last." These details reinforce the idea that she has foreseeing powers that were implied in the art through the symbol of the eye.

Flemeth is presented as a decrepit woman: " She was the very picture of a witch, wild white hair and a robe formed mostly of thick black furs and dark leather. Hanging down her back was a heavy cloak trimmed in fox fur, quite striking and delicately stitched. She carried a basket filled with large acorns and other items wrapped in red cloth".

She also uses sylvans. At some point, Loghan is attacked by a sylvan, what forces Maric to beg forgiveness to Flemeth. She is surprised, and once again, we see that she really appreciates "good manners":

Sweat trickling down his brow, Maric cleared his throat and carefully lowered himself to one knee. “I beg your pardon on behalf of my companion, good lady.” His voice was quiet, but the old woman appeared to be listening, fascinated. “We have been running for days now, and after the Dalish attacked us . . . we expected more of the same, despite the fact that you have offered no provocation. I apologize.” He bowed his head, trying his best to remember the courtly manners so painstakingly taught to him over the years by his mother. To think he had rolled his eyes at those lessons, assuming that he would never have an actual use for them. The witch laughed shrilly. “Manners? My, but that is unexpected.���

We also can see again Flemeth's foresee abilities:

“So you are he,” the witch said, nodding with approval as she studied Maric. “I knew you would come, and the manner in which you would come, but not the when.” She let out a sharp guffaw and slapped her knees. “Isn’t it marvelous how very capricious magic can be with its information? It’s like asking a cat for directions��consider yourself lucky if it only tells you where to go!” She howled with laughter at her own joke.

This also makes sense with the image of the temple of Mythal and its guardians in the concept art, with eyeball tattoos or armour. We can assume this comes from her ability to present herself in the dreams of some people, as it happened with the elven man in Orlais. This symbol of eyes, also presented in the first art piece of the section of Flemeth Art, can be considered a way to represent her omnipresence due to her ability to visit everyone in dreams, or foreseen powers.

“Fortunes change.” The witch’s gaze shifted to far off in the distance. “One minute you’re in love, so much in love that you can’t imagine anything wrong ever happening. And the next you’re betrayed. Your love has been ripped from you like your own leg, and you swear you’d do anything—anything—to make those responsible pay.” Her eyes focused on Maric, and her voice became soft, caressing. “Sometimes vengeance changes the world. What will yours do, young man?”

This part seems to reinforce the concept that Flemeth and Mythal are allied in order to perform a revenge. Through the tales of Conobar and Osen, we know that Flemeth may have been avenged thanks to the help of Mythal, and now it's the turn of Mythal: for which Flemeth has been changing and modifying the events of the world in order to accomplish this so long-awaited reckoning.

Loghain stepped forward angrily. “Leave him alone.” The witch turned to regard him, her eyes delighted. “And what of yours? You’ve rage enough inside you, tempered into a blade of fine steel. Into whose heart will you plunge that one day, I wonder?” “Maric and I are not friends,” he growled, “but I don’t want him dead.” Her chuckle was mirthless. “Oh, you know what I speak of.” Loghain paled, but regained his composure almost immediately. “That . . . doesn’t matter any longer,” he stated evenly. “Doesn’t it? Have you forgiven them already, then? You no longer remember her cries as they held her down? The laughter of the soldiers as they held you back and made you watch? Your father when he—” “Stop!” Loghain shouted, his voice filled with as much terror as fury. Maric watched in shock as Loghain launched toward the witch as if to strangle her. He lurched to a halt before he reached her, hands clenched tightly into fists as he struggled against his impulse. The trees around the hut seemed to creak in anticipation, like coiled springs. The witch merely rocked and watched him quietly, unconcerned. “You see too much, old woman,” he muttered. “In fact,” her tone was dry, “I see just barely enough.”

We can see here Flemeth's powers: she sees Loghain and can see when he had to watch Orlesians rape and kill his mother in front of him, who was a mere powerless child at the time. She sees into a person and sees the most traumatic events in their past. And probably this is why she can see the future as well. Hence, another reason more why her original concept implied an eyeball.

Loghain also didn’t want to think about what sort of promise the witch had elicited from Maric. He had gone into her hut and had remained there for hours, long enough that Loghain grew concerned. He had been trying to peer in through its one filthy, grit-covered window when Maric walked out the door, alone. The man seemed shaken and quiet and was resistant to even the most casual efforts Loghain made to inquire about what had gone on. So it was to remain a secret, after all.

Later we can suspect that Maric was in shock because Flemeth told him the destiny he had to fulfil in the next book: The Calling.

The hut was empty of everything but dust and rot, as if nobody had lived there for years. They searched about, but there was no sign of the witch. There was also, he noticed, no sign of Dannon’s body or his makeshift grave. It seemed they were free to go. It took them four days’ travel to leave the Wilds. Supposedly, the witch had told Maric they would see the way out once they left her hut, and sure enough, not an hour away a bluebird appeared in the trees before them. It was so out of place, and sang so sweetly, that both Loghain and Maric took instant notice. As they approached, it flitted to the next tree and to the next until Loghain realized it was leading them. So they followed. When it reappeared the next morning, there could be no doubt. The only thing Maric didn’t talk about was the witch.

Loghain and Maric are guided out of the Wild, showing the powers that Flemeth had in the Kocari Wilds.

[As they returned to Ferelden and out of the Wilds] It wasn’t long after leaving the ruins that they encountered wolves again. For the first time, Loghain was truly beginning to believe that the old witch had called on greater magic to aid them than just summoning a bluebird guide. Loghain stood with his bow at the ready, eyeing the wolves warily, while Maric remained breathless beside him. The entire pack, however, maintained its distance and watched, but did not threaten. Loghain and Maric moved cautiously through the trees, with perhaps twenty large wolves sitting and staring at them silently with their feral yellow eyes. Still, nothing happened. As soon as they were out of sight, Loghain let out a long breath. He swore that he never wanted to encounter magic again as long as he lived, and Maric murmured agreement. [...] When the sun went down that day, the bluebird vanished.

Interestly enough, Flemeth also uses the help of wolves to guide Maric and Loghain out of the Wild. The curious detail I liked to highlight is that they all share the yellow eyes, a feature that has been very unique of certain characters: Flemeth and her daughters [Morrigan and Yavanna], Abelas, some Qunari [we can notice this in more detail in the comics], and Titus [a Magister who performed dragon blood drink rituals]. All of them related to Mythal and/or dragons. However, in DAI, the feral wolves always appeared with Fade-like coloured eyes.

Dragon Age: The Calling

Fourteen years later, Flemeth's words inspire Maric, now King of Ferelden, to accompany the Grey Wardens on their expedition into the Deep Roads. He later relays her words to Loghain, who disagrees with them and points out that she may have been deceiving them.

Maric steepled his hands together and considered. He hadn’t wanted to tell Loghain, but it seemed like he had no other choice. “Do you remember the witch we met in the Korcari Wilds?” he began. “Back during the rebellion, when we were fleeing the Orlesians?” Loghain appeared taken aback, as if he hadn’t expected a rational explanation. He hesitated only a moment. “Yes. The madwoman who nearly killed us both. What of her?” “She told me something.” Loghain looked at him expectantly. “And? She babbled many things, Maric.” “She told me that a Blight was coming to Ferelden.” He nodded slowly. “I see. Did she say when?” “Only that I wouldn’t live to see it.” Loghain rolled his eyes and walked a step away, running a hand through his black hair. It was a gesture of exasperation with which Maric was well familiar. “That is a prediction that almost anyone could safely make. She was trying to scare you, no doubt.” “She succeeded.” He turned and glared at Maric scornfully. “Did she not also tell you I was not to be trusted? Do you believe that now, too?” There was a tension in that look, and Maric knew why. The witch had said of Loghain, “Keep him close, and he will betray you. Each time worse than the last.” It was the only one of her pronouncements to which Loghain had been privy, and obviously he remembered it well. Perhaps he thought that if Maric believed one, he believed the other. Loghain had never betrayed him, not to his knowledge. It was something to keep in mind. “You think it’s a coincidence?” Maric asked, suddenly uncertain. “I believe this witch was serving her own purposes, and would lie about whatever she thought convenient. Magic is not to be trusted, Maric.” Loghain closed his eyes and then sighed. He shook his head slightly, as if what he was about to say was madness, but he opened his eyes anyhow and spoke with conviction. “But if you truly believe that the witch’s warning has merit, let me be the one to go into the Deep Roads, not you. Cailan needs his father.” “Cailan needs his mother.” His voice sounded hollow, even to himself. “And he needs a father who isn’t . . . I’m not doing him any good, Loghain. I’m not doing anyone any good here. It will be better if I’m out there, helping the kingdom.” “You are an idiot.” “What you need to do,” Maric ignored him, “is to stay. Look after Cailan. If something happens to me, you’ll need to be his regent and keep the kingdom together.” Loghain shook his head in frustration. “I can’t do that. Even if I believed this cryptic warning, I would not agree that it was worth placing you in the hands of these Orlesians. Not without an entire army to surround you.” Maric sighed and sat back in the throne. He knew that tone. When Loghain believed he was in the right, there was no dissuading him. He would sooner call the guards in here and attempt to have Maric locked up in the dungeon than see him do this. In Loghain’s mind, the Grey Wardens were Orlesian. The First Enchanter was Orlesian. This had to be some manner of plot—not that it would be the first. There had been several assassins over the years, as well as more than a few attempts by disaffected banns to overthrow him, and while Loghain could never prove that the Empire was behind them all, Maric did not disbelieve his theories. Perhaps he was even right about this. But what if he wasn’t? The witch had been crazy, almost certainly, but Maric still found it impossible to discount her words entirely. She had saved their lives, put them on the path out of the Korcari Wilds when otherwise they would have died. He had almost forgotten her warning about the Blight, but the very instant First Enchanter Remille had told him of the Wardens’ request for an audience, he had remembered. The thought of a Blight here in Ferelden was almost too much to bear. [...] Surely such a disaster was worth risking almost anything to avert. Loghain could dismiss the idea, but Maric was less convinced. What if the witch was correct? What if the whole point of receiving such a prophecy was that it gave you a chance to try to prevent it?

Here we have the mystery explained: Maric was told about the incoming Blight and that he would be dead by that time.

[...] “And here I thought it was the Commander’s charm,” Duncan quipped. Maric ignored him. “After my mother died, Loghain and I were lost in the Korcari Wilds trying to get away from the Orlesians,” he began, his voice solemn. “We met an old woman, a witch who saved us. She gave me a warning. She told me that a Blight was coming to Ferelden.” There was something more to his story, Fiona could see it. But he stopped there, snapping his mouth shut. Genevieve pondered the tale, and looked at Maric curiously. “A witch hiding in the Wilds? And you believe what she said?” “There were . . . other things she said that were true.” “Magic cannot see the future, Maric,” Fiona told him. “But there are visions. Mages can see them; you said so yourself.” He let out a long, ragged breath. “I don’t know if I trust her. I paid a high price for the witch’s words, however, and it just seems like too much of a coincidence if it isn’t true.” Fiona saw the shadow behind the man’s eyes. She didn’t know the full story of this witch, but she could see that its implications disturbed him. And he believed in what he had been told. But that was not so incredible, was it? Fiona believed in Genevieve’s vision. They all did. It was not difficult to believe that at the root of these visions lay the Blight, warnings against the coming disaster.

We learn that Maric was disturbed by the warning of the Blight, but also that he had paid a high price to be saved and informed of these things. The only thing I believe he was locked in a promise is what Yavanna says in the comic: He had to awake greater dragons that were sleeping, but somehow, he failed to his promise due to the kidnapping under Titus. Read the details in The Silent Grove .

Dragon Age: The Silent Grove

Flemeth is mentioned by another daughter, Yavanna, the Witch of the Wilds in the Tellari Swamps of Antiva, who reveals that Flemeth made Maric promise to come to the Silent Grove once his children were grown. She also says that Flemeth's ritual of possession that Morrigan feared is, in fact, a "gift."

Yavanna: I had no idea you had met my sister Alitair: Then you'll be shocked to hear how I encountered your mother. Flemeth likes sunsets, turning into things, and talking about how clever she is. I'm also told she possess her daughters. Y: Is that right? Ha! Alistair: What's so funny? Morrigan found out what Flemeth planned and we stopped it Y: That poor, confused child. It is a gift.

This coincide with the notes that Gaider shared few time ago about the planning of the scene of Flemeth's death or with the dev's notes inside the game [read Somewhere in the Crossroads [Ending]].

Conclusions

If we gather all the bits of information along the games, we have a more complete picture of Flemeth, her relationship with Mythal, and some degree of enlightenment about her goals:

She polymorphs into a Dragon [DAO], but we have a good amount of reasons to suspect she is a dragon, and probably one of the Greater Dragons that only are mentioned in the comics [The Silent Grove]. Since we find in Elvhenan ruins her mosaic as a mother of many [see Evanuris] but also as a dragon in the shape of a gate, we can suspect a double nature in her: Dragon and Evanuris/elvhen. This duality is one of the main reasons why we could suspect that the Evanuris who was Forgotten One and Creator [according the unreliable Dalish Legends] was her instead of Fen'Harel [since Solas told us he never was a god, and he has always been this elvhen we see, read Solas sharing Lore: Part 1 - Part 2 for refreshment]

She has a set of beliefs that justify and make her behaviour more understandable:

She believes that we have to doubt all what we know, which makes sense since the repeated theme in DA series is how unreliable history and stories are due to the nature of the political, social, and religious conditions in which they develop. She also reinforces a level of disinterest in trying to push the "truth" onto others. She is so tired and worn-out, and understands the "nature of humans" too deeply, that she knows that they will believe only in what they want to believe. It doesn't matter the truth, hence she does not put energy in sharing it, not even in those who are willingly to stay open minded for it ["They do not want the truth"]. When it comes to the truth, she claims it's not the end, but the beginning.

For her, names are useless. She is known across history by many names, and gives them no importance. This detail may say a lot: elvhenan put their goal and purpose in life in their own name; if she keeps part of this tradition in her Mythal mind, having no name is almost an equivalent of not having purpose.

Bodies are useless too: Mythal can take different bodies and be in different places at the same time. Flemeth has put a fragment of her in an amulet that allowed her to be raised in DA2 after potentially being killed in DAO. When you talk to her, you are informed that bodies are things that annoy her. This makes sense when we think in the shapeless culture that the Elvhenan had long time ago. Flemeth is a piece of a bigger thing, a bit lost and wandering in Thedas, a shadow that dies slowly under the sun, but also a flotsam to cling to in a chaotic storm. All images of someone broken, diminished, tarnished, agonizing, that still tries to survive because has one thing to accomplish: a destiny to fulfil. This terrible change in her was product of “things that happened that were never meant to happen" .

Flemeth has a clear goal and purpose, deeply related to the Revenge of Mythal. For that reason, she has been meddling in the History in order to orchestrate a big plan, which we, as players, have no idea about.

Betrayal and Revenge: Flemeth has this concept deeply attached to her persona. It's not only the Betrayal of Mythal by those "who attacked her Temple" and assassinate her, it's also Flemeth and a Betrayal from one of the men she was involved with, according to the unreliable tale of Conobar and Osen. If Mythal changed after the assasination, and her motherhood and Justice purpose were twisted and changed into Revenge, we may have conflicting lore about Elgar'nan and her [both with the same purpose of revenge]. This point is never clear with the games up to DAI.

However, via the Altar scene, we know she used to be called for revenge, even before the assasination, so Myhtal always had this aspect related to her.

"She was betrayed as I was betrayed - as the world was betrayed! " This line, so iconic, and in combination with all the proofs gathered in these posts, makes us suspect that the Betrayal of Myhtal is her assassination [at the hands of those that attacked her Temple, according to Abelas' words]. The Betrayal of Flemeth is also unknown, but we know it is related to a mixture of the several versions of her story with Conobar and Osen. But the betrayal of the world could mean the creation of the Blight that required brutal measures to be contained: hence the creation of the Veil and the destruction of the Elvhenan empire with it.

Flemeth remembers promises: According to Marethari, Flemeth always keeps her word, and has a good memory about those who made a pact and a promise with her. This is confirmed when Flemeth is surprised that Hawke kept their word.

Mythal, the elvhenan goddess: We know that Mythal is the embodiment of motherhood thanks to the unreliable Dalish legends, but also thanks to the only mosaic that shows her as an elvhenan [see Evanuris]. In this mosaic, she is depicted with a flaccid breast and five small creatures in her arms, as a symbol of breastfeeding babies. This version appears in the Temple of Mythal [Part 3], in the Emerald Graves: Din'an Hanin, and in the last platform where we fight Corypheus in DAI [Frostback Mountains: Somewhere North, although it's focused only on her elvhenan face]. However, there is another depicture of her: the dragon one, usually present in her Temple where she imparted Justice.

Motherhood and Justice: We know that Mythal represented these two concepts, and they were kept in the unreliable legends of the Dalish, as well as her "terrible" side, related to a certain degree of Wrath. The Dalish seem to justify this side as the "angry mother" side, but as we explore the games and focus on Flemeth, we discover that she always had a Revenge representation. Solas even confirms it in the Altar scene. This Revenge may be an interpretation of Justice, so it would still make sense. But it all depends on the degree of rationality that this revenge has in itself. Otherwise, it would have been crossing the same paths that Elgar'nan [if we can trust the representation that we have of him, since most of it comes from unreliable Dalish sources and elvhenan ones]. However, we always need to keep in mind Solas' words: Mythal was always a complex creature [hence more reasons to suspect her duality as Elvhenan/Evanuris and Forgotten One]

Blight and Grey Wardens: She seems to be aware of all the rituals and treaties related to the Grey Wardens. She also has enough power to always keep the darkspwan away, even when she lives in the place where the main outbreak happened [Kocari Wilds]. This is also implicity seen in Solas`case, in the comic The Missing; thanks to these powers that he absorved from Flemeth, he can hide in the Deep Roads overwhelmed by darkspawn while keeping himself safe from Venatori and other human dangers. This makes us suspect that Flemeth and/or Myhtal have a certain degree of command over the Blight. That Solas and Flemeth have a deep knowledge of the Blight and the Joining ritual of the Wardens is not surprising if we rememeber that these things may have come from the knowledge of ancient Arlathan elves [read Tarohne, the Fell Grimoire, and Xebenkeck for details]. Like Solas, she explicitly says that there is a bigger Evil behind the Blight, and it's what humanity should be worried about, not so much about the darkspwans [DAO].

Magic and powers that once were: Flemeth taught Morrigan a great deal of ancient magic related to forbidden rituals [DAO ending] or blood ancient magic. She encouraged in her daughters to preserve the powers of the Old at all cost [Morrigan] as well as give them the position of guardians of Dragons [Yavanna]. This makes us suspect that a lot of the ancient magic that Flemeth was always interested on preserving is related to ancient Dragons. Maybe this is a potential hint about the Forgotten Ones and the hypothesis that they may have been ancient powerful dragons that ruled the skies once [this was informed by Yavanna in The Silent Grove]

Foreseen powers: She seems to have a certain degree of foreseen powers, letting her know that Maric and Loghain will visit her in the Wilds, that our Warden in DAO was key in the survival of Ferelden, and that Hawke was useful for her due to a potential death at the hands of the Warden. Related to these powers comes the well known line "It's fate or chance? I can never decide". She also foresees a radical, inevitable change of the configuration of the world: "We stand upon the precipice of change. The world fears the inevitable plummet into the abyss." These powers don’t seem to be triggered at will; it seems she sees it in the moment she interacts with the person. She sees Loghain’s betrayal in the moment she sees him directly, as well as she sees Hawke’s usefulness in the moment she speaks to them face-to-face.

Via small hints in the concept art, we can relate Mythal with eyes that may represent her foreseeing abilites as well as her power of changing reality throuh dreams, giving us a clue that she is a dreamer, powers that we know via the comics Those Who Speak and Until We Sleep were part of the original powerful dragons that ruled the sky in the begining of the times.

Music: Flemeth talks about songs and music as a metaphor of the concept of "manipulation". Morrigan's song is the manipulation of the Warden to kill Flemeth. At other times, the concept of music is merely a metaphor of facts: Flemeth also is "dancing the same song", related to be killed by those who she helped or had some dedree of her trust [this may be a reflection of Mythal's story as well as Flemeth's with Conobar and Osen].

Dalish as the young, bright, and vibrant People: Flemeth, unlike any other elvhenan we saw in the series, has respect for the Dalish. She always claims they are vibrant and young, and they do not need to bend the knee before her [Merril] unless they truly know who she is [Elven Inquisitor].

We also know via Solas that the Evanuris are hard to kill [reason why he trapped them instead of killing them long ago], so we can assume the same characteristic applies to Mythal. If Mythal was “killed”, we can assume that whatever it happened had a big power considering how hard is to kill an evanuris, and even more so a powerful one as Mythal. Maybe this is the reason why she changed so much: death itself or the event that killed her changed her radically because it was too traumatic and extraordinary.

Worshipping of Mythal: Via Abelas, we know that Mythal does not like slaves; serving her has to be an act of volition; the person has to work on in order to acquire the "right to serve her". However, she abandoned her followers after the assassination. It seems that she changed so much that she could not or do not want to answer the prayers of her people [Abelas] nor the Dalish ones [Elven Inquisitor]. Even though it is not explicit, it seems to imply that answering those prayers would have been disastrous because she stopped being the Mythal they believe in, and now she is the embodiment of a terrible thing [maybe Vengeance itself? Maybe corruption? Hard to say]. If it's because she is now too related to Vengenace, it would bring some conflict to the lore and the representation of Elgar'nan. However, we were already warned that Mythal took Elgar'nan's place long time ago to pass judgement upon The People [The judgement of Mythal].

Mythal can use and activate eluvians to walk into the Fade, and this is a testament of her immense power. Apparently, Mythal and Flemeth are the strongest when they are in the Fade, or at least, in that part of the Fade when we meet her with Kieran [DAI]. This could be because the evanuris-elvhenan nature of Mythal, as a creature of the Fade, but it could also be due to her dragon nature. If we remember the comic Until We Sleep, we find out that dragons and their blood had a particular power in the Fade, they are basically Somniari or Dreamers, able to modify the Fade and turn it into reality.

Regrets: Flemeth claims she is so filled with regrets that they poisoned her [DA2]. Unfortunately, there is no more information about this aspect of her in other scenes.

Possession process: Flemeth describes her relationship with Mythal in a similar way that Anders does with Justice: they are one, hard to separate one from the other. We can suspect that the tale of Flemeth using her daughter’s bodies to extend her life may be a lie. Yavanna seems to laugh at that idea, as well as Flemeth does, but following her philosophy of “let them believe whatever they want”, she doesn’t clarify the idea. The strange thing in this piece of lore is that we don’t see this process in Kieran, who has a similar condition, in principle: an ancient being was hosted in his body. In his case, Flemeth is able to remove it without hurting the boy. The only other case we see in lore about de-posessing a person without harm is with the Avvar: the spirit is willing to leave the host without scarring them. Maybe this is what happens with Kieran, and thus his following commet after the process: he feels alone, like in the case of Sigrid Gulsdotten [read Stone-Bear Hold Avvars - Part 1]

Urthemiel piece: it seems that Flemeth has some level of command over Urthemiel to the point to ask him to reach for her in the Fade via the Eluvian. Both of them have a destiny to fulfil, whatever that is. We may suspect it is related to the revenge/justice of Mythal.

The Well of Sorrows is a device made of the will of all the high priests of Mythal. Despite being shown in the game as a reliable source of information, I would consider to treat it carefully since we are told it can be manipulated by Mythal herself.

[sea-buns]

I just realized that Gilear is the only competent parent in that household. Aside from Cathilda, who for sure raised Fabian more than his own mother did. But in terms of "default" parental figures, Gilear is the only one who is going to fully show up and be ready.

Telemaine has an entire world to learn about; you put that baby in granpapa's arms and tell him you just need an hour, you're getting a call from the cops telling you they found your baby with a strange man buying lotto tickets at a 7/11.

Hallariel is in no shape or form fit to raise another child. And I can see a world where we get some long overdue development in her character and relationship with Fabian, where she comes to understand what a shit mother she's been, but she's gonna fumble the bag a lot until then.

And you know Cathilda is gonna be doing a lot of the pushing in that department. It'll worry her to let go of the reigns on such a young child, but the satisfaction at seeing Hallariel's face when she goes to pawn off the baby and Cathilda refuses will be more than enough to reassure her that this has to happen.

So that just leaves... Gilear. A fully capable parent who already raised one kid, and who is still a prominent figure in that child's life. It's Gilear in the midst of caring for a newborn whilst Telemaine has Alston declaring his own nemesis, Hallariel panics on the sudden lack of Cathilda, and Fabian furthers his elaborate scheme to kill this baby as he stubbornly fights the slow creepings of affection.

Godspeed, Gilear o7.

[morphimus]

[applebees4prez]

it doesn’t seem like the ratgrinders are very good friends. none of them were there to support ruben during the show and it doesn’t seem like they hang out at school. especially considering how much part the bad kids have in kristen’s campaign in comparison to the ratgrinders in kipperlilly’s. i think they’re just a bunch of powerful kids who got stuck together and are making the most of it but probably hate each other. that’s my theory at least.

[squidthesquidd]

haha guess who got too into turning an infodump into a comic ... meeee. this took twelve hours lol

aaanyway, i think i might turn this into a series! different characters explain lore and worldbuilding stuff to you! what would you like explained next? :D

[lucyfrostblade]

buddy dawn being the only cleric to accept corrupted ankarna is such a telling thing. we know helio's worship can already veer into rage and conquest so he was already primed to accept it all as necessary.

but also helio just let him die. buddy was so sure that "helio wouldn't have let that happen" and then helio did. and maybe buddy met him in heaven, saw that he's just a frat bro.

and then ankarna is offering him a chance to come back. take a step to the left and worship and different but similar god. his faith is shattered already. it was too easy for him to say yes. he's a kid, after all.

[feelingtheaster99]

Oh my gosh Beardsley that was SO SMART to figure out the people whose blood crystallizes are the people who TURN DOWN being brought back to worship Ankarna god DAMN

[thecryptidzenith]

Alright. So this episode was great, but in terms of themes & setting the stage for the rest of the story, this line really stands out:

"You feel something. You look, the Night Yorb twinkling. You've spent your whole summer chasing this. You know all the things you've missed. Your whole summer vacation, all of your friends. Some of you had birthdays on the road this adventure, and yeah, there's lots of adventure, but all of you feel a tiredness in your bones knowing that the reward for saving the world yet again will be going back to school and having another year of working just this hard forever."

This monologue from Brennan is the most thematically/foreshadowy thing we get in the episode, and it does set quite the stage. This is a story about exhaustion and the price of adventure. It's a story about what the hells these six people are going to do with the rest of their lives.

Fig releases something at the end of the episode. Some piece of magic that will certainly mean something later. This is how it's described:

"You've been holding onto a piece of magic for a long time... If you take me, you know what you would save. And you smell something sour and curdled."

"There is a flash of light, a kind of lemony yellow creamy light that flashes out over the hangvan."

Pay attention to that word choice. The magic is "sour" and "curdled" and "lemony yellow creamy." Is it reminiscent of anything?

Gilear's connection with yogurt is established pretty early on in Fantasy High, and yogurt in general serves as a symbol for everything that Gilear is. A sad, pathetic adult and A Normal Guy. Brennan is very insistent when reading out Gilear's stats for the first time that he's just a guy! Some people have to be normal!

But our Bad Kids aren't normal. That's the whole point of them. They've saved the world. Falling to Gilear's level is terrifying. It's literally Fabian's nightmare.

From that part of Pirate Brawl:

"You hear a voice behind you" [Gilear!Fabian] "say: 'It's all going to be all right... I know it seems very far off, but there is a way for you to be happy.'"

And of course, the yogurt, the symbol of mediocrity, is here too. "The yogurt curdles in your stomach." Curdles. The same word used to describe the magic coming out of Fig. The yogurt that Fig gives to Fabian while he's having his breakdown in Leviathan is lemon flavored too.

Of course the primary conflict seen in the trailer is about difficulty graduating. That's a normal problem. That's a normal concern for normal people.

The fear of mediocrity can be strong. Especially for people as exceptional as the Bad Kids. But the fear that you'd be happier taking the easier path, that the road less traveled isn't inherently better, that your hardship is for nothing... that's even worse.

The reasonable thing for Fig to be releasing would be the red growth seen on the minis in the trailer. But no. She releases something lemony and creamy and sour and curdled.

[d8tl55c]

physeng(write, file, "tco_physeng_breakdown.png");

to:compiler {file}

to:compiler {txt: "Internet and Outernet are full of StickFigures with similar body plans, so there are optimizations for rendering vector strokes specifically. it's way more efficient to use those optimizations than keep calculating perfect spheres for no aesthetic benefit."}

{txt: "btw why haven't heat issues been patched yet"}

{txt: "i fixed this years ago for the latest model. remember."}

from:compiler {txt: "Thank you. The avast! nodes will appreciate the credits. TheChosenOne.exe has been unreachable for some time."}

to:compiler {txt: "you mean OuternetPhysEng still won't update their programs"}

from:compiler {txt: "Yes."}

to:compiler {txt: "and still won't provide a specific location?"}

from:compiler {txt: "Do not allow them to bring up the moral argument again."}

to:compiler {txt: "OK. fine. yes. i will spare both of us"}

to:compiler {txt: "abridged or full docs?"}

from:compiler {txt: "Abridged. Please describe the acronyms."}

to:compiler {txt: "ofc"}

{txt: "

sel.per.filter: standard StickFigure component (src)*****. invisible membrane with special collision properties. protects mouthparts.

H2O scoop: avast! code. implements water retrieval from ambient air.

EIS: avast! code. destroys ingested materials identified as, "dangerous" before they reach internal systems.

SOS: avast! code. they only said this one was, "used for control."

ECL: avast! code. recycles some forms of contact energy.

THROUGHLINE: base code, initialization data, and processing space for vitals. found in some form in all StickFigure-type worms. following unique sectors noted: Black Hole Monitoring System, Basic Intake Threat Enum, Fly By Wire.

smaller points list other vital and peripheral systems.

"}

from:compiler {txt: "Thank you. That's enough."}

end(physeng());

@compressedrage as per my previous email /silly

related: pliable stick figure biotech

[adarkermiserablecrow]

Honestly my second favourite theory about buck's spiraling in 8x06 is that Tommy admits he initially tried to date Eddie, and Buck kind of spirals over being second choice, and he ends up at Dispatch and tells Maddie something along the lines of 'and I get it, I know Eddie's great' blah blah blah and maybe Maddie draws attention to that line somewhat and we see the moment it clicks in Buck's head. And of course, Eddie's allegedly straight and cue the pining. To me it would be really neat and potentially full of parallels to 7x04&5, the beginning of the relationship, where Eddie already was little miss haunting the narrative. It just makes sense in my head for buck and tommy to end because of eddie, when they got together because of him, too.

My favourite theory of course, is that Tommy is Abby's ex Tommy.

[laurellerual]

Lady Stoneheart, Nymeria and Arya

[lairofdragonagelore]

Flemeth / Mythal (part 1)

Flemeth is an enigmatic character along the series that seems to be related to the whole plot of Dragon Age since DAO. In the present post I will try to collect all the relevant information about her and about what she says, since she is one of the characters that I think we can rely more when it comes to digging the "truth" behind the DA lore.

The current post has the following sections:

Flemeth in DAO

Story of Conobar and Osen

Flemeth in DA2

Flemeth in DAI

Mythal as an Elvhenan Goddess

Mythal as a Changed Goddess

Flemeth and Mythal

Mythal and the Well of Sorrows

Flemeth and the Music

Flemeth, Mythal, and Motherhood

Artwork of Flemeth

Flemeth in the books (or comics)

Conclusions

Flemeth in DAO

When we meet Flemeth for the first time, we know she saved the Warden and Alistair from the massacre of Ostagar. She turned into a creature (later we will know it was a dragon), grabbed each of them in her talons, and returned to her shack where Morrigan nursed them back to health.

When you interact with her, she speaks about her position related to some topics:

Belief: she considers the wisest attitude is to doubt in what to believe. This makes a lot of sense when you see DA series overall: we know that history changed over time due to the inaccuracy that information acquires over generations due to oral transmission or political interests that modify historical records such in the case of the dwarves [more details about this in the post The Chantry and the Mythology of the Chant of Light].

She knows all about the Grey Warden business: She knows about the treaties, and the magic that seals those. Since Morrigan knows about the ancient magic that allowed her to protect Urthemiel’s soul by the end of the game, and this was always the original plan of Flemeth, we can assume this knowledge and the mechanics with which Grey Warden deal with the Blight were all well-known by Flemeth too. This makes sense too if we think that a contemporaneous of Flemeth, Solas, also knows a lot of details about how the Blight works and how the Grey Wardens deal with it [for example, read the section Blight and Grey Wardens in Solas sharing Lore: Part 1 - Part 2]. We can assume that part of the Grey Warden’s knowledge may have come from Arlathan, according some small pieces of information that we have from Seekers: Tarohne, the Fell Grimoire, and Xebenkeck].

Mythal [inside Flemeth] knows how to keep the Darkspawn away: This detail is never focused on in her conversations, so it's easy to miss. Flemeth can keep the darkspawn far away from her shack despite being in the zone where the main outbreak happened. This is not minor at all. Later, in the comic The Missing, we learn that Solas has been hiding in places that have enormous populations of Darkspwan and he has never been bothered by them. Since he has absorbed Flemeth's powers at this point of the story, we can suspect that this ability to keep the darkspawn away is something related to Mythal herself.

It’s clear that Flemeth, who has been a figure who has pushed the History of Thedas in a certain direction, had a clear interest in the Warden. Later, we discover her original plan was to keep Urthemiel’s soul [but this depends on the player’s choices after all, and the "canon" Bioware world state is one where Urthemiel’s soul has been destroyed, since the warden dies]. However, it’s hard to ponder the truth in her words. On one side, we know that Mythal was a creature of compassion and love, the embodiment of motherhood. So giving Morrigan to this mission may have truly been a bit worrisome for her. On the other hand, we know she has been rising Morrigan to become, most likely, the next host of Mythal [“the inheritor in the new age”], so she may value her more for this role. Maybe it’s both, because Flemeth/Myhtal are both complex creatures, human and elvhenan, and dragon [this concept was always repeated by Solas in DAI: Mythal is more than just one aspect, she is complex]. What we can see in the overall story is that, certainly, Flemeth saved Ferelden when she saved the Warden: without the Warden, the Blight would have expanded too fast over Ferelden [which had no wardens to fight it back] and when the Wardens of Orlais could have been aware of this situation, the spread may have been too hard to repel. We see this in the DLC "The Darkspawn Chronicles".

These lines are hard to determine if they hide a bit of the story of Mythal or the human Flemeth. Men killed for her, and this “determined all what followed”. If we keep in mind the many speculations I crafted in Songs and elements that sing and whisper in DA Lore, one has the impression that the Evanuris wanted a power that Mythal had. They may have tried to extract it from her, killing her in the process. Maybe even corrupting her, as I suggested in Speculations about the Vinyl Art, which is also supported by the story The Horror of Hormak. All the issue of the creation of the Veil and the Blight seems to be related to this original assassination, as Solas told us.

But Flemeth's line may also be related to the story of Conobar and Osen, which I will talk about later in this post. Flemeth became one with Mythal after these events, after "men killed for Flemeth".

She claims that names are useless. And we can see this in her case; in the end we don’t really know her real, human name. We know that some historians in Thedas claim that Flemeth never existed as a girl in Highever, while she has a name among the elves [Asha'bellanar, woman of many years], another among the Chasind [Flemeth], and another when it comes to Mythal. This dismiss about the names can also come from Mythal herself: let’s remember that Elvhen seemed to change their names according to their purpose, following a rule similar to the ones that spirits have. Abelas told us he had a different name before serving Mythal, another when he did, and Abelas when she died. Solas wishes for him to find a new name, aka, a new purpose [read Temple of Mythal, Part 5], so the Elvhenan have a different concept of how names work. If Mythal cares little about her name, could that mean she lost purpose after her assassination?

Unlike Solas, Flemeth seems to recognise the use of the Grey Wardens, but it’s hard to know if these words are just said to convince the Warden she is in favour of them or it’s truly what she believes.

She certainly claims that “men’s hearts hold shadows darker than any tainted creature”, a line that links many others from her monologue in DAI. It also implies the events of Mythal’s assassination: we don’t know how the event transpired, but due to Abelas’ words [Arbor Wilds: Temple of Mythal  - Part 5 ] we know that she was betrayed and killed by those who attacked her Temple. Solas claims it was the Evanuris [Somewhere[DLC Trespasser]: Elven Ruins]. And we also know that Solas has a resentful conversation with the Inquisitor who drank from the Well of Sorrows and supports the idea of sharing the power with “friends”. Solas will disagree, saying that sometimes it’s better to let a single person keep all the power, to prevent the group abusing of it [read the section Evanuris and Worshipping in Solas shares Lore, Part 2]. This conversation, even though it is not explicit, seems to be related to the assassination of Mythal and the desire for the Evanuris to have the power she grabbed, maybe, during the strike of one of the Titans and may have shared with them [read “The Death of a Titan” for details].

A curious line that Flemeth says is that Cailan does not see that the “evil behind the Blight is the true threat”. This may be Flemeth claiming that the Archdemon is the one responsible of the incoming Blight, or [if we compare this with Avernus’ words [read Soldier’s Peak]], it’s the entity trapped in the Black City, the true origin of the Song that blighted creatures hear [I wrote about this speculation in Speculations about the Vinyl Art].

In the DLC, Morrigan starts to speak like Flemeth, and basically says that change is what will make Thedas free. We can assume that a lot of Morrigan’s ways of seeing the world are Flemeth’s teaching. In DAI, Flemeth questions Morrigan’s intent to protect the old knowledge, and she claims that Morrigan is interested in that because she taught her to do it. We can assume, then, that the way Morrigan sees the world is also the way Flemeth’s sees it, although a lot more obscured, since Morrigan has not Mythal’s knowledge.

Conobar and Osen Story

There are two stories about Flemeth that, despite we never know which one is the true one, we can conclude something clear that DA series always repeats to us: stories hide some degree of truth, but most of them have changed across ages, sometimes due to political interests, sometimes as a consequence of co-opting or assimilating different cultures in a region. Stories are unreliable sources of information, and even institutions that record the information to avoid this degradation of the truth, like the Shaperate, are not perfect and they are victims of distortion [more due to conflict of interests than progressive decay of the information caused by oral transmission].

So, this is the first story in DA series that sets our mind to the main topic that DA series is about: every source of information is unreliable to a certain degree; We can’t trust the Shaperate, for the reasons claimed above, we can’t trust Dalish lore either, because it has been changed due to the fragile nature of oral tradition and their slavery, we can’t even trust Tevinter records, because they may have been manipulated to a certain degree to keep the cult of the dragons or they simply had a terrible understanding of other cultures [but I have my doubts, since we never had access to the main library of Miranthous, which archives are only available for magisters and the Archon, which means a lot of hidden truths may be recorded there, but not spread in order to keep the Empire in control]

But returning to the story of Flemeth. The first narrator we have of this legend is the codex Flemeth. This narration has the following characteristics:

Flemeth was born in Highever, was known as a mage, and married to Bann Conobar

She fell in love with a poet called Osen, and both ran away to find shelter in Chasind tribes [in the Wilds].

Conobar sets a trap: he claims to be dying, asking for Flemeth to see him for the last time.

Conobar kills Osen and kidnaps Flemeth, imprisoning her in a castle.

Flemeth summons a spirit of Vengenace and ends up possessed by it. She kills Conobar and flees to the Kocari Wilds.

As the Witch of the Wild, she kidnaps Chasind men to sire her daughters.

This way Flemeth leads a Chasind army to strike the Alamarri tribes.

A Hero called Cormac defeats Flemeth and burns her with her daughters.

Leliana’s version contains the following characteristics, pretty similar to the Codex's:

Flemeth was beautiful, and got the attention of the Lord of Highever: Conobar.

She married Conobar.

Conobar discovered that Flemeth was a mage, and kept it in secret, fearing she would be taken from him.

With his blessing, Flemeth practised magic in secret.

When Osen appears, both of them fall in love. They run away from the lands of Conobar and find shelter in Chasind tribes.

Then, the news of Conobar dying, and wanting to see Flemeth for the last time, convinced her to return to Highever.

When the couple entered the city, Osen was slain in front of Flemeth and she was prisoned a the castle, in order to wait Conobar’s judgement.

Asking for revenge, Flemeth summoned a demon to kill Conobar, but the spell went awry and the demon possessed her. As an abomination, she killed all the people inside the castle, including Conobar.

Then Flemeth flew to the Kocari Wild and sired daughters with the help of Chasind men.

Morrigan’s version, which is what Flemeth told her, contains the following events:

During the time when this land was not even called Ferelden, Flemeth was beautiful and married with the poor poet Osen, and Lord Conobar had been interested in her from afar.

Conobar offered Osen wealth and power in exchange of Flemeth, to which both, Osen and Flemeth, accepted.

However, Conobar did not have this wealth, so he killed Osen in a field apart, in secret.

Then, Flemeth used the spirits to learn about Osen’s fate and swore revenge.

Flemeth used the spirits to kill Conobar and then fled to the Kocari Wilds

Conobar’s allies chased her, so she found a demon in the Wilds that gave her the power to survive.

Morrigan says that Flemeth never rose Chasind armies to invade the lowlanders, and neither she fought Cormac.

According to Morrigan, Cormac led a brutal civil war against his own people, and later he justified it as a means to remove evil. Flemeth was attached to this legend much later [this shows all what I’ve been telling in this blog about how stories evolve along the time and satisfy certain political or social needs, details in The Chantry and the Mythology of the Chant of Light].

In DAI, the Inquisitor summarises Flemeth’s tale as:

Flemeth left her husband for a lover,

Her husband tricked her, killed her lover, and imprisoned her

Then a spirit came to grant her revenge: Mythal

Flemeth agrees that this was her tale, which is closer to the standard tale than to the story she shared with Morrigan. But we also know Flemeth: she can care less about what anyone thinks about her life.

What we can conclude is that Flemeth asked for revenge and Mythal granted it in that moment. We can also assume she told Morrigan a different story, to teach her about not trusting men, about how dangerous mages are for them, and how power is all what matters. Teachings that will prevent Morrigan [once she inherited the fragment that Flemeth wanted to] from falling and making the same mistakes that, maybe, cost Mythal's life.

Flemeth in DA2

In case we never fought Flemeth in DAO, DA2 starts by giving us the information about her nature: she is a dragon, or at least, she can polymorph into one. It’s hinted that this part of the game happened at the same time of DAO, after Flemeth rescued the warden, but before her potential fight against them. We can have a conversation with her about this dragon nature, and it’s never clear if she is one or can turn into one. Again, Flemeth and her philosophy of “believe what you want”. Of course, we, as players, can suspect this is the true [or at least one of the both] nature of Mythal thanks to her Dragon mosaic and statues in her Temple.

She meets Hawke family when Lothering is being attacked by hordes of Darkspawn.

She has her line of “It’s fate or chance” here, and it seems it’s in this moment when she foresaw the utility of Hawke as someone who can carry her piece. “It’s fate or chance” to survive once more the assassination that may suffer, again, at the hands of someone she gave some care [care with interests but still yet, she repeats a similar story to Mythal's once more]. Apparently, this is the “music she has to dance” as long as it plays. As usual, it’s hard to find clear meaning in Flemeth’s cryptic words.

She again reinforces the idea that names matter little. She seems to dismiss the legend that claims she steals children and considers herself closer to an apostate.

When she claims that she has an appointment, we know she refers to the second meeting she will have with the Warden. A potential chance of being assassinated again. This comment seems to me that she can foresee the future, or at least, glimpses of potential futures. She knows she has a big chance of dying at the Warden's hands, and therefore she gets interested in Hawke as a carrier of her fragment.

As I wrote in Marethari Talas, Flemeth remembers well who made a pact with her across the ages, and makes uses of them.

When we kill Wesley, Flemeth speaks “Without an end there can be no peace. It gets no easier. ” The implications of this line may or may not have a relevance with the speculation I did in Speculations about the Vinyl Art. If this speculation ends up being reasonable, maybe this line is also related to her fate: she needs to end her own corrupted shape in order to find peace. There must be a radical destruction to build upon the ruins. This concept is repeated over and over in all the lore of DA series, applying the idea of removing civilisations, for example in Par Vollen, or system, such as the Circle of Magi.

When we reach Marethari, we have some hints that she and Flemeth had a deal time ago. I spoke about this in Marethari Talas.

Marethari tells us that Flemeth’s word is valuable, reason why I always keep her words as the ones closest to the truth in the DA series, despite being so cryptic and sometimes, pretty useless due to it. Even in the way Marethari speaks about promises, one can suspect that Flemeth and Mythal are also keeping a promise. Hence, we can infer indirectly, that Mythal and Flemeth are creatures that value promises and words heavily.

It’s also interesting where Flemeth is raised once more: this is a cementery dedicated to Dalish uthenera [and I clarify Dalish one because it seems to be the “wrongly understood” Uthenera, that has nothing to do with the Elvhenan Uthenera, which has been seen in more details in the book The Masked Empire]. In here, we find souls bound to this place to defend it, called shadow warriors which shape resembles Elvhenan: bald elves. Now, this is what the Dalish say about this place. But let’s never forget that the time of Arlathan has been kept in their lore in a very unreliable state, so it’s hard to know if this is truly the case in here. After all, this cemetery has the Strange Idol in it, which is never clear which function had in the ancient Dalish culture. To refresh a bit all the mysteries about this idol, read The Strange Idol.

We reach an altar where Merril sings a part of the song Uthenera, as Flemeth raises from the amulet. The verses that Merril sings are:

emma ir abelas souver'inan isala hamin vhenan him dor'felas in uthenera na revas elder your time is come now I am filled with sorrow weary eyes need resting heart has become grey and slow in waking sleep is freedom

The first thing I notice, that Flemeth repeats with the elven Inquisitor, is her respect and kindness to the Dalish. She calls them “the People”, which is such a curious contrast with Solas, who doesn’t call them “his people”. “So young and bright” is another description she always gives to them, which encourages again my suspicion that the Dalish are not elvhenan turned into mortal ones [since Solas and Abelas and his people seem to retain their ageless nature as well as their baldness] but a product that came after. A transformation? Certainly something related to slavery, shape, and the Vallaslin that we have been hinted in several materials such as The Horror of Hormak [General] and The Horror of Hormak [Personal Speculation], as well as visually in some mosaics such as in the “Lifting of the Vallaslin" in Fen’Harel’s mountain ruins.

Flemeth asks if Merril knows who she is beyond the title of Asha'bellanar, and when Merril claims that she knows little, then Flemeth tells her not to bend the knee. It seems that she prefers those gestures when they come from people who know her as Mythal [she claims that these are “manners” in DAI when an inquisitor bows before her seeing her as Mythal]. This may seem to coincide with what Abelas has told us: Mythal followers are not slaves, but servants on their own volition. In these small details we can see that Mythal was not an Evanuris that asked worshipping unless it was with free will. Same as it happens with the Well of Sorrows, which I covered in the post Temple of Myhtal - Part 5.

Maybe this is minor, but Flemeth appears in the exact line of “in Uthenera we find freedom”, with a shot that seems to imply that Flemeth has everything but freedom or peace, bound to a cycle of assassination at the hands of people's personal interests. This also may be a hint about how Uthenera is something entirely different to what Dalish, and by extension the player, think to believe. I will try to write an Uthenera post eventually.

The amulet had a small piece of her in case the inevitable occur.

“if I know Morrigan, it already has [occurred the inevitable]”, she claims. This line makes me hint that this Flemeth is not truly aware of what happened in her “death” against the warden. This whole situation also seems to imply that Flemeth always dies, even when your Warden makes a deal with her and tricks Morrigan. In which case, there will be 2 Flemeth at the same time in a world state where you don’t kill Flemeth [intended or a small mistake from Bioware devs? I assume the latter]. In case Flemeth died, could it be that this small piece of her keeps the exact same memory that it had at the moment of the creation of this magical amulet? She doesn't know what happened during that last meeting with the Warden?

But we can be sure that Flemeth knows Morrigan well enough to the point to see her future confusion with the possession issue. This makes us understand Flemeth as Mythal who has been raising her as the next inheritor, teaching her to be tough and resilient, and mainly, surviving at any cost. Reasons why Flemeth raised Morrigan so roughly. However, in DAI, it seems that she also tested Morrigan’s sense of motherhood in that scene where she pretends she will keep Kieran to fulfil their destiny [check The Final Piece: Part 2]. This again emphasises that Mythal is not only a goddess of Motherhood and care, but also of Revenge with a terrible, furious side, as Solas said in Arbor Wilds: Altar of Mythal.

From all the companions’ comments when meeting Flemeth, the most interesting ones come from Fenris and Anders.

Fenris has a broad experience in seeing fucked-up creatures made out from blood magic due to his Tevinter background. He claims he can’t perceive Flemeth as an abomination, a spirit, nor a powerful mage. Because she is…. A dragon? A Forgotten One? It’s true Fenris is not the most reliable character we can have to perceive the truth, but maybe this is a hint about Mythal’s true nature.

Anders also gets confused, which is curious, because he is already possessed and has the unique perception of a spirit as well as a mage. It seems that Anders can see the magic in mages [as it has happened if your Hawke is a mage and you pretend not to be one in front of him, he will claim he can see magic power around the player]. So it seems he sees Flemeth’s power around her too, but it’s confusing for him; it’s not of a mage nor an abomination, therefore it may be because Mythal has “dragon magic”? Forgotten Magic? Hard to speculate. But we can be sure that Mythal’s powers are unique, never seen in the average world of Thedas mages. These comments may hint us that Mythal has a unique nature, whether a dragon one or a Forgotten One. Or maybe both, because there are speculations where I suspect the Forgotten Ones are, in fact, special, powerful, ancient dragons [read the series of comics for understanding this].

When she explains her own nature she says these valuable words:

“I’m a fly in the ointment. I am a whisper in the shadows. I am also and old, old woman. More than that you need not know” “Must I be in only one place? Bodies are such limiting things. I am but a fragment cast adrift from the whole. A bit of flotsam to cling to in the storm”.

I like to highlight the tone of these words. She claims to be a "fly in the ointment", someone who bothers the bigger plans or success of someone else. She is something that has happened, that the ones that assassinated her did not expect. Also, beside the expression, why would she use such a comparison for herself? Flies are disgusting creatures, carrion-like. Why the grandiose Mythal would claim herself as a fly? So much has she diminished? Or this is also related to some self-hate to the potential corruption version that may be caged in the Black City as I speculated in the post Speculations about the Vinyl Art? Maybe I am reading too much in an average expression. In DAI, she also uses a similar Metaphor to describe herself: “I’m but a shadow, lingering in the sun”. Once more, it is an image of a diminished creature.

She also reinforces the idea that Mythal can take different bodies, and be in different places at the same time. She describes herself as a "fragment cast adrift", which is an expression that also gives an idea of being lost. A "flotsam to cling to in the storm", which is another metaphor with a more ominous concept that, once again, seem to coincide with the speculations I talked about in Speculations about the Vinyl Art. Flemeth is, in summary, a piece of a bigger thing, a bit lost and wandering in Thedas, a shadow that dies slowly under the sun, but also a flotsam to cling to in a chaotic storm. All images of someone broken, diminished, tarnished, agonising, that still tries to survive.

When we ask about her plans, she remains as cryptic as usual: "Destiny awaits us both", which is a line repeated later with Kieran in The Fade - Flemeth:Part 2: "He [Kieran] has a destiny to accomplish". She claims in that opportunity that creatures like Kieran and her [who contain fragments of ancient entities] have a fate or a destiny, that doesn't care about what they want or what kind of humans they are.

Flemeth's words also speak about a radical, inevitable change of the configuration of the world: "We stand upon the precipice of change. The world fears the inevitable plummet into th abyss." As I talked many times along the blog, Abyss and Void seem to be synonyms, and both also refer to the depth of Thedas, deeper than the Deep Roads, and may be related to the Titans. That the world fears the plummet into the abyss, sounds a lot similar to the image that Exaltations 1, in Chant of Light - Part 2, where we can read the prophecy of the world's fate: enormous entities will awake, the world will crumble into the abyss as these entities arise. And this is inevitable. In general I won't consider anything from the Chantry reliable at all, but in this aspect I consider the design choice: these fragments were written by the devs to imply an incoming prophecy of an event that we may see soon.

Not by chance, the cinematic shows in this part the high place where they are, in a mountain. I think there is a potential foreshadowing here about the awakening of the Titans that somehow is related to keep caging the Black City, or containing the evil in it. I also implied in many posts that the Titans may be under a forced Uthenera, and all these elements may be interrelated in a more complicated fashion.

Flemeth speaks about giving Hawke an advice that still it's not entirely clear: a leap to the precipice of change, which translated into DAI it may refer to the leap, or fall, that Hawke and the Inquisitor made in Adamant fortress when they fell into the Fade. In there, they float to prevent death. But all this quest didn't really feel like a "radical change" in the plot. We only recover the Inquisitor's memories that put some perspective to who is Corypheus and the power of the orb, nothing more. It's not like Corypheus is new in that plot, we met him for the first time in the DLC of DA2, after all. So, what does this advice truly mean?

For some reason, I always read this as an advice from Flemeth to keep Hawke in the Fade, because Alistair, or Stout, would be more important later in the fight against the "big evil" behind the Blight. But still, this is mere speculation.

In a more hopeful reading, maybe Hawke was the only one able to survive the Fade, although the last chapter of "Hard in Hightown: Chapter ???" found in the DAI Fade clearly shows that Hawke died, content of fulfilling his destiny with that.

At the end of the encounter, Flemeth gives Hawke her sympathy, which may imply she knows that Hawke will have a complicated future; specially related to their mother, and since Mythal is/was the embodiment of motherhood, this may strike her a bit deeper.

Another small detail is that we are informed that Flemeth regrets a lot to the point she was poisoned. Should we take this literally? Should we understand that she, as Myhtal, even may have changed her name because regrets, and could have picked one that personified another attribute like regret or rage? Or this reget comes from Flemeth, her human shape, and Morrigan's raising? Impossible to say.

Flemeth in DAI

Inquisition has a lot of content and scenes where we can extract bits of information about Mythal, her divinity dominion, and Flemeth. To keep things a bit more organised, I try to gather the scenes more or less according a general topic.

Mythal as an Elvhena Goddess

If we perform the ritual to summon Mythal in her Altar, there are 2 different lines available to do so. In both cases, it starts the same:

"We few who travel far, call to me, and I will come. Without mercy, without fear" "Without mercy? That sounds rather ominous" "Indeed"

However, if the inquisitor drank from the Well, and we have Solas in the party, we have an extra line for the invocation:

Inquisitor: "We few who travel far, call to me, and I will come. Without mercy, without fear" Solas: "Cry havoc in the moonlight, let the fire of vengeance burn, the cause is clear"

Solas' addition shows Mythal as a revenge embodiment in here. I think this is a key piece in the lore: In this scene, we learn something extremely important and which is never again reinforced: this place is not in the Temple of Mythal, because the Temple of Mythal was a place of Justice, while this altar has another objective; only if you bring Solas you learn that this is where you come to ask for revenge. Because Mythal represents Justice [Mythal in Evanuris], but also revenge, a concept that so far, we had always aligned to Elgar'nan, and it was here where I started to suspect that maybe, Mythal and Elgar'nan are two sides of the same entity. However, we also have to remember that due to Elgar'nan's destructive fury, Mythal took his place to pass judgement over the People, according to the codex The Judgment of Mythal, which I analysed in Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal. Even though this is the first time we are informed strictly that Mythal could be called for revenge, it is not new for us that Mythal has a terrible side: since DAO and in DA2 [with Merril] we learnt that you don't want to infuriate Mythal because she may be just and the embodiment of motherhood, but she is also terrible with her enemies and those who don't keep their promises.

Morrigan: "You know who I am. From high priest to high priest, I am the last to drink of sorrows. Come to us Mythal. Whatever you are, whatever remains. I invoke your name and your power."

This line is only said by Morrigan, who adds a peculiar unique set of words: From high priest to high priest. It's hard to speculate why she would say that. Is she more prepared to drink from the Well because she was trained, unconsciously, to become a priest by Flemeth? Or this is a mistake from the devs? Is she talking about the entities trapped in the Well of Sorrow, who were all priests of Mythal who left their "wills" in the Well? Or she is talking about Mythal herself, considering her as a priest of another higher entity? For me is hard to decide.

When the Inquisitor drinks from the Well, they don't speak the line "from higih priest to high priest", it's merely "You know who I am, the last to drink from your Well of Sorrows. Come to us Mythal. Whatever you are, whatever remains. I invoke your name and your power."

This detail hardly is useful for any decent speculation. We can only assume that Morrigan is more prepared to handle the power of the Well simply because she is a mage who learnt the ancient magic of "what once was".

When the inquisitor bends their knee before Flemeth, or thanks her for coming, knowing she is Mythal, Flemeth claims that these are manners, and unlike with Merril, she accepts the reverence. Once again this seems to encourage what Abelas explained to us: Mythal doesn't have slaves but servants willingly to worship her. You are not her slave, and you have to earn the right to server her. If you don't want to, she would not force you. This concept of "manners" will be repeated in the book The Stolen Throne, where we see Flemeth appreciating Maric's manners when he bends his knee to her [read section below] respecting her power and wisdom.

If the Inquisitor is disrespectful, Flemeth acts similar to Merril's case

"That's Mythal?" "You invoke that name so easily. I wonder if you know what it means."

This shows to me that she gives a lot the benefit of the doubt, and understands deeply the ignorance of mortal creatures. She has other needs than being worshipped, even though she appreciates it.

When Morrigan is controlled by Flemeth to stop the Inquisitor:

Morrigan: If she did not have this hold over me... Flemeth: Then you would do something even more foolish. In this place, my power is greater than yours. Do not tempt me further.

This is a curious information: in the Fade, or at least, in this part of the Fade, Flemeth's power is greater. This could be because the evanuris-elvhenan nature of Mythal, as creatures of the Fade, but it could also be due to her dragon nature. If we remember the comic Until We Sleep, we find that dragons and their blood had a particular power in the Fade, they are basically Somniari or Dreamers, able to control the Fade and make it into reality. Curiously, in this comic, Titus—who has yellow eyes like Flemeth, Morrigan, and Yavanna—is related to dragon blood rituals that gave him strong powers. In the comic is implied that these powers come from the Old Gods, or Dragon Gods, which again reinforces the assumption that maybe the Forgotten Ones were dragons originally worshipped by the Elvhenan until they claimed divinity as their own and did not need them anymore [further exploration of this concept in Attempt to rebuild Ancient Elvhenan History].

Mythal as a Changed Goddess

When we learn that we need to summon Mythal, an elven inquisitor will reinforce a concept that has been repeated all over Flemeth's lines:

Elven Inquisitor: "My people believe that Mythal was trapped beyond the Fade long ago. Even if she is not, she has never shown any evidence of being alive, never responded to our prayers."

This shows that despite Mythal is who was once, she also changed deeply, hence she stopped being powerful or being present for The People, even though we always see Flemeth being kind with Merril, or an Elven Inquisitor. There is a dear sentiment for them, but distant.

Inquisitor: I presume you know what we're up against Flemeth: better than you can possible imagine

This part of the dialogue is when the Inquisitor asks her for help about Corypheus. It's hard to know what Flemeth is exactly referring to: Is she talking about magisters? The blight, the red lyrium, or most likely, a mage pretending to ascend to godhood? This last option makes more sense, since Solas told us about Mythal stopping Falon'Din from his uncontrollable desire of being worshipped in mass. So, we can assume that there is a soft confirmation about what Solas told us about Mythal: she fought against people who abused their power to increase their worshipping or tried to acquire godhood. Further details, read Temple of Mythal, What pride had Wrought: Part 2.

When the Inquisitor is non-elven, and claims that Flemeth should tell the truth to the world, she goes:

Inquisitor: If Mythal is within you, why not reveal yourself? Flemeth: And to whom should I reveal myself? I: To the elves? To everyone? F: [Laughs] I knew the hearts of men even before Myhtal came to me. It's why she came to me. They do not want the truth, and I... I am but a shadow, lingering in the sun. I: Why did Mythal come to you? F: For a reckoning that will shake the very heavens.

Morrigan: And you follow her whims? Do you even know what she truly is? Flemeth: You seek to preserve the powers that were, but to what end? It is because I taught you, girl, because things happened that were never meant to happen. She was betrayed as I was betrayed - as the world was betrayed! Mythal clawed and crawled her way through the ages to me, and I will see her avenged! Alas, so long as the music plays, we dance.

We have here, again, the Revenge vibes that Mythal seems to support and encourage in Flemeth. We are told, cryptically once more, that Flemeth had always had a desire to preserve ancient powers or entities. It's maybe not so clear to understand if the preservation of Urthemiel in DAO was Mythal's desire or Flemeth's. But we can be sure that Flemeth wanted to preserve Mythal in herself, as she wanted Morrigan to preserve Urthemiel in Kieran's body. Flemeth has always been interested in preserving ancient entities, specially dragon-like: another example is Yavanna, a daughter she raised specifically to take care of a temple where many ancient dragons hibernate [for details, read The Silent Grove].

"She was betrayed as I was betrayed - as the world was betrayed! " This line, so iconic, and in combination with all the proofs gathered in these posts, makes us suspect that the Betrayal of Mythal is her assassination [at the hands of those that attacked her Temple, according to Abelas' words]. The Betrayal of Flemeth is also unknown, but we know it is related to one of a mixture of the several versions of her story with Conobar and Osen. And the betrayal of the world could be the creation of the Blight that required brutal measures to be contained: hence the creation of the Veil and the destruction of the Elvhenan empire with it: a betrayal to the world that these elvhenan knew so far. With this I mean that I'm not sure what "world" Flemeth refers here: the Thedas we know, or the ancient world with no Veil?

It's also in this part where we have this iconic line about the music, which encourages the theory that the original source of the Blight's song is a corrupted entity trapped and/or fused with the Evanuris in the Black City [details in the post Speculations about the Vinyl Art].

We also suspect by the bold lines ["because things happened that were never meant to happen"], in combination with Solas' words about how difficult is to kill an Evanuris, that something truly terrible happened to Mythal to get killed. We know she was betrayed [ icon we saw in her Fade where a big statue we assume it's Dirthamen's exhibits a sword on his back, as a perfect symbol of betrayal: The Fade – Flemeth: Part 2], and something happened to her that not only changed her, as she claimed above, but also made terrible things happen; things that were not meant to happen.

Elven Inquisitor: Mythal was the goddess of justice. I've seen the statues. She... Flemeth: Was one of the People. Yes, indeed. So young and vibrant. You do the People proud and have come far. I: If Mythal is part of you why haven't you helped us? We’ve called to you, prayed to you. F: What was could not be changed. I: What about now? You know so much…. F: You know not what you ask, child.

As we can see, when the Inquisitor is Elven, Flemeth is kinder, and repeats similar behaviour we saw with Merril: she calls them young and vibrant, and respects them as "The People", when we know that Abelas, Felassan, and Solas, ancient elvhenan of that time, dismiss Dalish as non-elvhenan or even consider them Children. This always looked very curious to me, since apparently all of them are followers of Mythal in a way or another, yet they do not respect the Dalish as Flemeth does.

In this cryptic piece of dialogue we also realise that Mythal changed in a way that it shouldn't have happened. Maybe it could be reading too much in between lines but Flemeth claims that asking for Mythal's help is something terrible, something beyond possibility, because "they don't know what they are asking". Something so terrible happened to Mythal that changed her in a way that made her impossible for her to help The People. This again, seems to encourage the hypothesis we worked on in Speculations about the Vinyl Art.

[odoanaga]

Some developmental sketches for ohm and the ineffable sea

Plastic golem, milk-apes and the kappa are from the radiation and plastic-poisoned world beneath Uton, the gaoled sun (there are about 7-9 suns in the ineffable sea, sources of different magic and all said to be siblings of one another)

Demons are from another sun, which is partially exploded

The other creatures are from Ohm, under the sun Xol (creator of the celestials and dragons)

(Send me an ask if you're curious about anything from Ohm)

[snailofawoman]

I don't think Kipperlilly has a crush on Riz. I think she has had a one sided rivalry this whole time and has probably been doing as well as Riz has in school but is pissed that Riz has so much more accolades than her as a rogue. Bet she's seething that Riz found the rogue teacher the way she was designed to be found using proper rogue tactics.

[sea-buns]

I'm just waiting for Telemaine to wind up serving the next bbeg on accident. Man knows fuck all about the outside world, and you put him in Elmville? He's gonna invest in crypto and go into the deepest debt that no one will know about until Seacaster Manor has loan sharks pounding on the door.

[lucyfrostblade]

i think lucy died not so she could come back and become the champion but so porter could get her out of the way. put aside that she's a frostblade and put aside her clear devotion to ruvina. she's the person that kipperlilly was "very fond of" and she was a kind person, the type of person who brought rats back to life. she had kipperlilly's back and supported her when no one else did. take her away and kipperlilly is alone. take her away and make it clear that she chose oblivion instead of being at kipperlilly's side?

kipperlilly's isolated at school and she's isolated within the rat grinders and she's even easy to twist into what porter needs her to be. he believes in her after all, believes she can do it, and not even lucy had that much faith in her, right?