#heidrun thaig

[lairofdragonagelore]

DLC: The Descent – The Uncharted Abyss,  Forgotten Caverns

This DLC presents us a vast place below the Deep Roads called Uncharted Abyss. In this post the codex Chronicles of a Forgotten War is discussed.

[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]

In here we find the Sha-Brytol for the first time. Their armours are made of lyrium that has been fused with their bodies. They have hexagonal figures and pointy design that reminds us more about Tevinter style [would that mean that Tevinter also took part of its style from the dwarves?]. It also has a lot of geometrical patterns which resemble the modern dwarven style. 

They have more triangular swirls instead of the classic dwarven squared swirl.

Due to the fusion of their bodies with the lyrium of the armour, we can see their nose and mouth are melted. Their eyes are opaque, filled with lyrium [I guess it’s their eyes glowing with lyrium what we see in the darkness]. They developed firearms, probably based on the lyrium powder due to its explosive nature.

With the little information shared and shown about the Sha-Brytol skills, we can notice that they have similar abilities to Fenris’, who also has lyrium fused in his body. They are stealthy, almost ghostly. 

When Renn dies, Cole comments about the Stone, reinforcing the idea that the Stone also has a song.

As we continue, the song becomes wrong, filled with too many whispers. I have no idea what is that has too many whispers that interfere with the Stone’s song.

As we explore the caverns deeper, we find a bridge with a unique decoration: it’s not a standard dwarven bridge, each column has a triangular/pyramid-like structure with metallic claws at its point. These claws were seen previously in bigger size in ancient Tevinter structures.

I’m not so sure how much to read here, if the Sha-Brytol infrastructure inspired Tevinter, or this is a mere reuse of assets for a DLC. 

This bridge is destroyed, but we will see many of these in Wellspring.

Around this bridge we find the first of a series of upgrades of the codex Chronicles of a Forgotten War which I think it's related to the whole section of the Cadash Thaig in the DLC: Witch Hunt .

The source of this codex is unknown, but one can suspect it's an ancient dwarf soldier. The things that it informs us are quite juicy:

It says that the north of Cad'halash [name of the Cadash Thaig before it gave refuge to elves escaping Tevinter, see DLC: Witch Hunt  for a refreshment] is under attack. We don't know if this is happening before the elves settle down there, but we can be sure that this Thaig, with this name, predates the First Blight. So the events described in this codex predate the First Blight.

The King of the dwarves sent the reinforcement.

The Deep Roads changed around Cad'halash. The Deep Roads were almost abandoned. Torches would snuff out suddenly and attacks in the darkness would occur.

The father of the author who wrote this chronicle was the first victim of these attacks.

The attackers, named lately as Scaled Ones, breathe slow and heavily, and are larger than a dwarf.

When they finally could see one of them, they saw a human covered in scales. It wore an armour and had weapons [dagger]. However, they can attack with their jaws, teeth, and talons.

They speak a language that the dwarf could not understand [clearly not common]

When the dwarves could finally kill one of the Scaled Ones, they were in shock for a moment, hint that these creatures were not accustomed to see one of their own die.

I know this can be a lot, but this codex speaks of an amber light, which is also registered in the Razikale's Reach codex, in a cave that may have been connected to the Deep Roads.

The Scaled Ones worship a deity that can be seen in a golden altar fashioned in the shape of fire. On the tip of each flame hanged the corpse of those dwarves that had been killed in those sneak attacks.

These bodies have been drained of blood, leaving them bone and wrapped in grey skin.

A feminine Scaled One, a potential priest of this god, chanted and raised a bowl of blood towards the altar as she received the bow of the others.

This one seemed to be a mage. Produced fire on his palm and mouth  and ignited the blood.

When the dwarven company returned to this place to attack fully, they found nothing of the Scaled Ones’ camp, only a bow with burnt edges, suggesting a massive teleportation magic.

I would like to notice and remind myself that the first time I read this codex and the description of the golden altar, two images came to my mind immediately: Sylaise, who is extremely related to fire and rivalry according some of the codices that describe her in Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal. And the other image is Andraste’s inquisitor seat

After all, the whole Chantry is a cult of Fire, of a sunburst, more precisely.

Hypothesis about Chronicles of a Forgotten War:

The Scaled Ones are a joke of Bioware. Since in Jaws of Hakkon we have also read a codex that speaks about reptilian races, moon men, and a lot of delirious conspiracy theories; one could assume that this is just Bioware making a long joke. I doubt it because if it were the case, the murals of the lizard men in Elven temples would not be seen so repeated and central to the plot [they even appear in Trespasser, in the ancient elven ruins]. In my opinion it’s more than a joke if they appear in different contexts and even a codex is created. However, it feels like they developed this making it look like a conspiracy theory, but with the intention to reveal some lore mystery later. 

The Scaled Ones could be creations of Ghilan’nain that were not destroyed by her.  Since they have devotion for a golden altar in the shape of Fire, I think that, in the case of being elves transformed into this using procedures similar to the ones we saw in The Horror of Hormak, their worship seems closer to Sylaise [check Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal].  In any case, in this hypothesis, these could have been a bunch of altered elves under the experimentation of Ghilan’nain, that somehow survived. 

Another simple option that comes easily to mind is that they are the first darkspawn that the dwarves see. However, I think this is not the case for several reasons: Cad'halash was destroyed a long time before the First Blight. The description of these creatures, even though it looks similar to the first darkspawn from DAO and not to their redesign, have fine armour and weapons, and the way they attack [always sneak attacks and then run] do not resemble the modus operandi of the darkspawn who have trash weapons and scrapped armours, and their strategy to attack is always mindless and brute force. There is also this strange reaction they had when they saw one of them being killed, when darkspawn would not care at all.

The final option I can muster and that I trust a bit more than the others: Tevinter humans who are dragon blood drinkers. Even though the source of this codex is unknown, we infer it’s a young dwarven soldier from Cad'halash. We know these dwarves have seen humans of Tevinter before due to lyrium trade, so this comment in the codex makes me suspect that the Scaled Ones may have been humans who were under experiments of Tevinter mixing dragon blood [proto-qunaris?]. The devotion to a golden figure that represents fire may be a representation of the draconic fire of the Old Gods. We also know via Cassandra’s banter, that in her family it is said that those who drink dragon blood grew scales on their skin and became mad. On the other hand, the leader of this group of Scaled Ones seems to be a mage: it could cast fire from her palm as well as her mouth, like a dragon. They worshipped this entity of fire through blood, draining it from the dwarven victims they caught [sounds a very common Tevinter practice of blood magic]. They seem to have potent magic since they disappeared an encampment with a golden altar in an hour. These creatures seem to be related to three main things: fire, blood, and magic. Three elements related to Tevinter culture and dragons.  We also know that Qunari may have been a crafted race by, potentially, Tevinter [which makes us suspect that Tevinter has been experimenting with dragon blood in many ways to create a new race]. The Scaled Ones fit the idea of being “the discarded or non-successful” experiments of this purpose. The con of this theory is that why Elves would care about a failed experiment of Tevinter to fill the walls of their temple with lizardman drawings? 

So, Maybe the most substantial hypothesis is the one about the experiments of Ghilan’nain. In this case, the fact that they speak a language the Dwarven can’t understand also would fit since it would have been ancient elvhenan.

What annoys me of this codex is that North of Cad'halash is not marked in the maps of any game, while the southwest is where we find Heidrun Thaig, where these codex are and where we find, I assume, the skeleton of the dwarf who wrote all this. So north and south are mixed in the maps.

It’s also important to notice that maybe this codex may re-signify the history we know about Cad'halash. We found a codex in DAO [ Letters from the Past] which gave us the idea that Cad'halash was attacked by Kal-Sharok because the elven refugees who could put in danger the trade between the Tevinter Empire and the Dwarven Empire. If this forgotten war was happening back then, then the elements we found in the Thaig that belonged to Kal-Sharok may have been there not because they attacked Cad'halash but because they sent help to the thaig but they were annihilated by the Scaled Ones. another possibility is that Kal-Sharok truly destroyed Cad'halash to isolate the potential threat of the Slaced Ones spreading along the tunnels of the Deep Roads.

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore ]

[crossdressingdeath]

...I bet if I accept my fate of Endless Sleep Deprivation I can finish The Descent before bed tonight and then it's just Trespasser tomorrow and then I won't have any currently ongoing games on Christmas to get in the way of potential new games. And also I can cry about Dorian's romanced Trespasser dialogue breaking my heart all over again sooner.

[exhausted-archivist]

Lore: Titans

What we know about titans is little and sparse pre-DA4. Somethings that we do know about them are:

Also known as "the pillars of the earth"

They created the dwarves, they are potentially "The Stone" that dwarves refer to.

Alternatively the titans themselves are children of "The Stone", but created the dwarves. They consider the dwarves to be their children.

Lyrium comes from titans, it is considered to be their "blood".

The titans emanate a song from lyrium, it is different from the Blight.

Titans use earthquakes to shape the earth, they also previously used "Shapers" to carve valleys into the earth.

Their size is so vast it is impossible to describe it according to Valta. They're large enough to support life within themselves, from plants to dwarves like the Sha-Brytol.

Titans enable the dwarves to have a hive mind connection with it and others.

History

At least one titan has been killed by the Evanuris - specifically Mythal. Though it is suggested that it was multiple titans.

Ancient elves mined the bodies of titans' for lyrium, but out of fear, they eventually sealed them with stone and magic. They cited that "what the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would destroy all in its anger."

Before the Dragon Age, the last time a titan was known to be awake was -1170 Ancient. Before the fall of Arlathan and before the First Blight. Both instances were the same titan.

After -1170 Ancient there is no mention of the titans in Orzammar's memories. Though there are two texts that mention titans, they predate the First Blight.

Orzammar became the capital of the dwarven kingdom after the titan awoke in -1170 Ancient.

Known Titans

We only have the confirmed location (specific or general) of two titans.

Heidrun Thaig - it is the focus of the entire Descent DLC

Orlais - It is a super general and non-specified location but it is mentioned on the handle of Tug's axe that "The Stone lives beneath Orlais." It is also mentioned by the Nexus Golem in da2 in the Abandoned Thaig. Given that the stone is a reference to titans, we know there is one somewhere in Orlais.

Theoretical Titans

These are locations for titans that are mostly theory and locations I've seen others in the fandom talk about.

Temple of Sacred Ashes - I have seen this one floating around and I have some doubts. Mostly since we don't really know how big titans are, we can't rule out that it is the same titan as the one under Heidrun Thaig. Which, considering they can cause earthquakes and are described as impossibly vast, more so than a giant or a high dragon, they're erring on the side of large for sure. Coupled with Valta saying she wanders through the body of the titan for an unknown amount of time and hasn't seen all of it, only adds to just how inexplicably large it is. Along with that, if you keep with the scale of Ferelden being the size of England then from the thaig to the temple is only a 16 day journey (240 miles/386.24 km). Adding on the scaling math I have for the depth of Heidrun - being deeper than Mariana's Trench - the Titan could very well stretch that far.

Primeval Thaig - If this was indicative of a titan location, let alone being tainted, I feel that there would have been a discovery of red lyrium so much sooner. We know how infectious that stuff is, how impossible it is to destroy and how rapidly it grows. Not only is the thaig not deep enough to be directly connected to the titan, but it was completely sealed off to prevent it spreading. That said, I do think there is a possible titan under the Vimmark mountains. So far the only titan we have a definite location on is underneath mountains. Considering they cause seismic activity, I can definitely see one slumbering under there.

Anvil of the Void - This one does seem a bit plausible to me depending on where you put the thaig. This post by @/wyrdsistersofthedas explains the plausibility quite nicely. It is a bit tinfoil-y as is anything about dwarves and titans at this point. Especially when the source is dao and with how much BioWare has set aside in terms of lore. In essence though, Cariden's anvil is connected and supplied by a massive lyrium vein. His anvil and its location is also the only location where the creation of golems has resulted in functional creations. The rest went wrong or were driven mad in some way. The golems Branka is making from the Casteless in DAI if you give her the anvil are still consistently failing.

Sternann Peak, Anderfel - There is a lyrium mine out here near the town of Geltberg. Which also implies that there is a thaig as well. Whether this is run by Orzammar dwarves or the Carta is unclear.

Beneath the elven crossroads - The lyrium mines in Trespasser might be connected to an entirely different titan or the aforementioned titan beneath Orlais. It is unclear where the the spaces you go through the crossroads even are.

Cryptic Comments From Cole and Keiran

Cole

"It's singing. A they that's an it that's asleep, but still making music."

"Their ancient shapers were mountains drawn of all their wills, walking their memories into valleys of the world".

"They made bodies from the earth, and the earth was afraid. It fought back, but they made it forget."

Keiran

"But you can't be taller. Not without the titans."

Titan Tidbits and Theories

Cole implies that templars have established a connection with the titans through their use of lyrium when asked for his opinion on the templars. Solas also echos this by describing how templar abilities work, that they pull in the reality of the world around them to shut out magic.

Though this doesn't quite explain Seeker abilities, the use of they lyrium brand and the touch of a spirit may forge a different kind of connection.

Cole comments on how "They (ancient elves) made bodies from the earth, and the earth was afraid. It fought back, but they made it forget." This suggests that maybe the original elves who are implied to be originally spirits, made bodies out of the titans (earth) and that this is one thing that instigated the war between titans and the evanuris. Though this is a speculative interpretation of what he means.

In the tabletop it is implied that in the past, the thaigs were carved from living rock - potentially the titans.

The dwarves of the elder days filled the thaigs, large open caverns beneath the earth, living in great cities carved from the living rock.

Adding to the above point, we see two instances where the old gods' prisons were under/nearby dwarven thaigs. In the Shimmer Stone Mine in the Western Approach and the Dead Trenches near the Ortan Thaig where Urthemiel amassed his army. If the oldest thaigs were carved from titans, it brings to question if the old gods were buried before or after the dwarven kingdom started building their thaigs given the "newer" thiags are above the old god prisons, and the prisons are above the titans.

If the old gods were buried after the start of the dwarven kingdom, which would be after the fall of the titans, it brings to question if the old gods are connected to Arlathan and the founding of the dwarven kingdom, and if this was one of the relics of the ancient dwarf and elf emipire collaborations mentioned in the tabletop that was forgotten about. Sandwiching them between titans and thaigs for safeguarding.

[selfpossesedghost]

Codex: A Cry in the Dark

Transcript:

Inquisition scouts supporting Legion of the Dead forces of Heidrun Thaig report no contact with - or sightings of - Shaper Valta. However, a strange cry recently emanated from the Titan caverns, loud enough to be heard at the mining lifts campsite above. The cry's source remains unclear, but the voice was described as not belonging to either beast or darkspawn. Shaper Valta may be attempting to reestablish contact with her people - and may require assistance.

A search of the Titan caverns all thr way to Shaper Valta's last known location turned up nothing but a fee small groups of Sha-Brytol, who were quickly dispatched. Valta seems to have disappeared deeper inside the Titan, but she was not the only one who vanished. The grave site of Lieutenant Renn was recently disturbed, and his remains are missing. It's not known who took his body or why. There have been no more cries from the Titan caverns.

Inquisition scouts reported one final discovery: the tunnel to thr Wellspring no longer exists. Attempts to delve into the blank rock face result only in broken tools and little trace on the stone itself. Somewhat nervously, but emphatically, engineers recommend leaving it be.

Dragon Age Inquisition [The Descent DLC]

[nespyofire]

[redinkofshame]

One of my favorite scenes I've been saving forever. It was supposed to be the Epilogue of the Marigolds sequel, then I moved it to Prologue of the post-canon fic. Now it's here.

Keria commits many stupid drastic, desperate things in her effort to stop Solas and save the world. It takes a lot to take down a god.

content warning: faint suicide ideation, drug addiction (lyrium)

The Oncoming Storm

Keria stepped out of the Fade and into the Storm Coast, immediately buffeted by wind and icy rain. This was easily one of her favorite discoveries during her time as Inquisitor; a place where it stormed more often than not. She loved a good storm.

She tilted her head back to the skies for one peaceful moment, listening to the comforting rumble of thunder overhead.

Then she got back to work.

Down she went, into the Fissure she’d once explored when she still held that title, though after they had defeated Corypheus. After he had left.

She put thoughts of Solas out of her mind. The important part was that he had not been there to see the Inquisition seek out the source of an earthquake and find themselves inside a titan.

Not that his spies wouldn’t have reported as much, of course, and no doubt he knew more about titans than anyone else alive… But he wouldn’t know the particulars, and with any luck wouldn’t have sent anyone to watch over it.

As she passed the encampment where once an expedition table had been set up the flashes of memories that came with it made her blood run hot then cold with betrayal — not Solas that time. Cullen. She’d thought they’d been finally starting to understand each other when he’d proposed a mission: to have troops patrol the area to ‘keep the Sha-Brytol from becoming a threat to the Inquisition’s interests by taking the area over completely’.

For years she and that human had worked to build a tentative trust, all for it to shatter when he thought nothing of using troops to slaughter people protecting their home from invaders, all because they were inconvenient — as if he’d learned nothing from when his troops had surprised Clan Lavellan, leading to bloodshed.

Interesting. When had she started thinking of them as ‘Clan Lavellan’ and not just ‘her clan’?

She reached up and brushed her lone hand over where her vallaslin had once been and moved on. Moving as silently as possible she moved down, down, and down further still, following the scent of lyrium and brine, only skirmishing with a handful of darkspawn in Thaig Heidrun before she reached her target.

In the uncharted abyss she found it: the Bastion of the Pure.

She was equally awed by it as she had been last time she was here. Electricity hung in the air from the lyrium veins that looked like blue lightning frozen in time, and a vast underground sea crashed endlessly against the rocks. At least she assumed it was vast; darkness swallowed it up, making it too hard to guess how deep or wide it might be. The waves didn’t move like the tides of the ocean pulled by the moons. The air was full of mist but no wind, and yet the waves surged, high and erratic, a dangerous storm strong enough to sink a dreadnought with ease.

The phenomenon had not been studied, but she could feel the distilled lyrium in the ancient waters, as if they’d become more saturated with mana with each passing century. If she had to guess she’d say it was simply too much energy to be contained calmly.

She’d been eager to get a closer look when they’d been here before, but her party, knowing how she was with water, had kept her firmly away, citing that it wasn’t safe to get close to the edge. Which is wasn’t. But they weren’t here to stop her this time.

It was a stupid thing to do — what if she fell in, never to be seen again? She was the best chance they had for saving the world. Again.

Well, if she died and the veil fell and swallowed up all of Thedas she wouldn’t be around to care. Besides, it would serve him right, always wondering and never knowing what had happened to her, in the end.

‘I will never forget you.’

The first thing she did was tie a rope around a stalagmite and then around her waist. She wasn’t completely suicidal. Then she pulled out her satchel of empty vials and approached the surging waters carefully, hearing Cassandra’s warnings about how slippery the wet stone was, and Varric’s complaints that it wasn’t worth it. She was pretty sure Dorian would be secretly pleased over the samples, though. She would send him some.

She was soaked head-to-toe before the first vial was full, and she could feel the energy seeping into her skin. It wasn’t as cold as she’d expected.

As far as they could tell, he could watch them from anywhere, at any time. Perhaps he was scrying… Or perhaps he simply visited her allies in their dreams and pulled out their memories just as a demon would, the dream fading away upon waking so they’d never suspect a thing.

Whatever the case, she couldn’t let her beloved watch her. If he knew where she was and what she was planning at any given time, there’d be no point in even trying. She’d grown increasingly strong in her awareness in the Fade and ability to traverse it — in fact she was quite pleased with how she could Fade-step for miles now — but she couldn’t rely on that alone. Instead she relied on shrouds of protection and obfuscation spells. Layers of them.

They were a constant draw on her energy, but she didn’t dare ease up on them for a single moment. Which meant she’d come to rely on mana potions to keep her going. Which meant ingesting lyrium.

It had started with just one every couple of days, then every day, then several times a day… She knew she was so in so deep the withdrawals would probably kill her now. Another reason, perhaps, that she avoided her former commander. She didn’t need the lecture. What was a little lyrium addiction when it came to saving the world?

Mana potions and the raw lyrium to make them were expensive, though. During the days of the Inquisition they had a steady supply that they used only sparingly, leading to a surplus that she’d refused to give up when the Inquisition had disbanded and Skyhold had been abandoned. That has been nearly a year ago now, though, and the surplus was long gone. There was only so much Varric could do to keep her supplied.

And so, when her hands started shaking with need as the water seeped into her skin and hit her blood stream, she decided she wasn’t going to wait for Dagna to analyze it. The first vial she filled she immediately emptied, swallowing it down before she had a chance to second guess herself.

It was even saltier than she’d expected, but the saline taste was easy to ignore when the energy flooded through her. It was good. Really good. Better than anything the Carta had. Keria felt better and more awake than she had in months.

She could tell it was strong enough to cause an overdose in anyone else — if she hadn’t been building a resistance for the last year it probably would have killed her. At least she wouldn’t have to share. She eagerly bottled more, using the satchel of empties she’d saved, only taking another sip here and there. It was a relief that they weren’t going to have to find a way to mine the stuff, or find a way to go without.

When her soggy satchel was full she used the drenched rope to pull herself back to relative safety, belatedly remembering to look out for the Sha-Brytol. The coast was still clear, luckily, and it was time to go.

But…

Her feet stilled before she reached the entrance to the tunnel that led up. She stared up at a large vein, shining such a bright blue in the relative dimness that she had to squint past the stars in her eyes. Then her glance drifted to a much smaller one beside it.

She tentatively ran her palm against it, and it sang beneath her hand.

She tilted her head, and focused on the voices that haunted her. In the time since she’d drank from the Well of Sorrows she’d barely improved her ability to understand them, though she was much better at shutting them out so they wouldn’t drive her to madness at least. Still, she tried to consult their wisdom, listening close and trying to parse the whispered words of her nearly-forgotten language.

She wasn’t sure if she was hoping they’d talk her into it or out of it, and when the answer was not forthcoming she pushed them back in disgust. Useless. If she was a better mage, a better elf, maybe she could head their advice…

But she was a broken shell of a Dalish First, and she had only her own hard-won wisdom to guide her.

Fuck it. She’d come this far.

Her hand shot out and wrapped around the small vein.

Whether she’d screamed out loud or only in her mind she could not say, the energy in the vein lancing into her, drawn to the excess that already swam in her blood, overwhelming her senses until all she knew was blinding light and pain. She fought to release her grip and it felt like an eternity before she managed to stagger back.

It felt as if her heart was struggling to beat in her chest but she forced her eyes open. Immediately she saw a pair of shining blue eyes of the Sha-Brytol reflecting off the wet stone in front of her and she whirled, hand raised… And saw nothing. She could hear nothing past the uneven pulse of in her ears and she felt dizzy as she turned back.

She blinked, and the reflection of eyes blinked back. It wasn’t the Sha-Brytol; it was her own eyes shining back at her.

She blinked several more times, expecting the glowing to fade, but it remained steady. She dug in her pack for a rejuvenation potion and swallowed it, just in case. As her heart and her breath steadied as well she realized that she felt powerful. It no longer hurt, and it didn’t feel like a foreign substance the way mana potions once had. The strength had become her.

She’d never become a god, an evanuris, would never be as powerful as her adversary… but she could certainly see why the assholes had let it go to their heads.

The small vein was now dim and lifeless, but she still heard no footsteps in the distance, so it seemed the titan didn’t notice such a small injury. So one more couldn’t hurt, right?

She reached for another vein.

[enchantedturtleplays]

Dragon Age: Inquisition Part 55 | Reclaiming Heidrun Thaig

I brave waves of Darkspawn and find out more lore about the dwarves in this episode. I find out about another Dwarven King!

[kogarashi-art]

I’ve been helping my friend play through Dragon Age Inquisition, and we’re working on The Descent DLC right now. There’s a gauntlet of darkspawn to fight through along the way, and we did some exploring to find all the supply caches for restocking potions because I couldn’t quite recall where they all are, and you know what the internet seems to be sorely lacking? A map of the supply caches during this gauntlet!

So here’s a map of the supply caches in the darkspawn gauntlet of the Ruins of Heidrun Thaig!

Because I keep seeing posts (on forums, on Tumblr, elsewhere) that mention two caches, but there are actually three you can reach during the gauntlet. Three.

The third is up on a side ledge you have to jump to. I’ve drawn the route in blue.

You’re welcome.

[nerd-mom]

Quick death lol

[gugle1980]

Alexander, Heidrun Thaig, Deep Roads

[daicamgirl]

[lairofdragonagelore]

DLC: The Descent – The Deep Roads

After the Battle of Haven, earthquakes begin to shake the Storm Coast. Mine shafts are collapsing, threatening the Inquisition's lyrium trade with the dwarves of Orzammar and the quakes aren't subsiding. The Inquisitor looks into the matter, meeting a dwarf Shaper named Valta and a Lieutenant of the Legion of the Dead named Renn. Valta believes there is an intelligence behind the quakes.

[This is part of the series “Playing DA like an archaeologist”]

In this section, the first chambers we explore as we descend show typical  dwarven elements such as very old sarcophagus and statues. We see different dwarven statues similar to the typical one of the paragon with the hammer over his head.

And as we explore, we find a chamber where the presence of an old Tevinter friend stands out: A Claw of Dumat, flanked by two elven rounded trees in the dwarven style. This is already telling us that this Thaig, which predates the Blights, had Tevinter presence not only for trade: their blood ritual instruments had been incorporated to the decoration of the chambers of the Thaig.

In front of the claw, there is a table with a game, and a stone-painting that belongs to these strange paintings we found in Hissing Wastes: Fairel tomb. In DAI I found three of these: 

one displaying a dwarf person mining the stone, which belonged to DAO game,

 another showing Kirkwall’s Gallows, and the third is this one found in this chamber, which has not been seen in previous games. 

I am in-between two possibilities: another representation of Kirkwall [which is a building with a deep separation in the middle] or it’s another city analogous to Kirkwall. 

After resolving the first door of the Segrummar, behind the first gate, which is not optional as the other ones, we find one of these circular bases that appeared in DA2 DLC: Legacy , but in this case there is no [pride demon] guardian. We know the Grey Warden used them to seal entrances.

The chamber has a long conduct in the ceiling, meaning that this place could have be used to throw stuff into the magical circle. In DA2 DLC: Legacy, we infer these bases were made by Grey Wardens. In this DLC we find on it a Diary of a Grey Warden who has been roaming the Deep Roads as she is enduring her Calling:  Ailsa’s diary, which has some potential connections to events that happened in the book Tevinter Nights [see The Horror of Hormak and my speculations].

Ailsa points out that she had found beautiful flowers and unknown animals in the Deep Roads, making it look more like a paradise. However, she find a pit of “failed experiments” at some point, filled with creatures that are unrecognisable for Wardens [who have seen a lot in their lives and specially in the Deep Road]. Maybe these are the creatures that The Sacrificial Gates of Segrummar want to contain, or these creatures are the reason why we heard A Cry in the Dark at the end of the DLC.

The next chamber opens up into the entrance of the Thaig Heidrun, as we find a place decorated with standard dwarven elements: elven trees in dwarven style, devices for crafting, dwarven vessels, bookshelves, etc.

Finally we have access to the Ruins of Heidrun Thaig, a place that, similar to the current events, was built on a lyrium mine and then it was destroyed by and earthquake caused by unknown reasons [the stir of a woken-up Titan by an unknown event].  

There are some rooms and houses around this place, and a central monument of the paragon Heidrun.

The monument in the middle of the vacuum can be accessed via war table. It triggers the landmark Monument to Heidrun the Deep which explains that the paragon Heidrun has been buried at its base.

When we fight an emisary, Valta finds a book of an ancient paragon: Orseck Garal, “I awoke to the singing stone. Our kingdom trembled at the Titan’s hymn”. There is some questioning about the Stone and the characteristics of archdemons who sing/hum.

As we explore this part, we find one of the most intriguing chambers in the DLC in my opinion:  one with pools, which seems to honour four elements: two Claws of Dumat and two Tevinter birds. This could have been a chamber of summoning, since we know Claws of Dumat which were used as part of sacrifices to empower magic. So even though we don't know what the Tevinter bird's function could have been, the presence of the claws makes us infer that it may have been related to blood sacrifices. In this Thaig, blood magic has been performed long time ago.

This Tevinter bird has been found in DA2: Primeval Thaig as well as in another dwarven ruins in Crestwood: Flooded Caves.

These metalic statues are located in this room in a similar position where we find stone-paintings in another analogous room.

Maybe this is too much to read, but it could potentially relate the claw of Dumat to Kirkwall and the Tevinter bird to another city similar in design to Kirkwall which we didn’t visit yet.

If we continue through this chamber we end up in a cave

Before leaving the area, in a resting place, we find the codex The Eternal Battle: Darkspawn which questions the Chantry explanation of the origin of the darkspawn, wondering if there is not a big broodmother in the middle of the earth, the first one, who gave birth to the darkspawn. The source of this book is unknown but seems to be a dwarven point of view/questioning, since it belongs to Valta.

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore ]

[crossdressingdeath]

So! Got through that massive fight in Heidrun Thaig where you have to fight waves and waves of darkspawn. Uh... my whole party is still at full health. And mostly full guard. And I haven't used a single potion. I may have overdone it just a little with the guard on hit and heal on kill...

[ratchsellsfornax]

He, he..I have found him! :D

I’m not sure if the Viscount of Kirkwall likes that he has borrowed his crown but.. well, Varric doesn’t seem to need one.

[selfpossesedghost]

Heidrun Thaig

The Deep Roads - Dragon Age Inquisition [The Descent DLC]