#strange idol

[lairofdragonagelore]

The Strange Idol [analysis]

A compilation of what we know and what we can speculate about the old “Strange Idol”.

[This post belongs to the series “Analysis and speculation of Statues”]

This is a mysterious statue that has appeared in DA2 and DAI in different contexts. In DA2, we find it in three places:  The Harimann’s house basement, atop of the Sundermount, and inside Dumat’s Temple. Its resemblance in style  [shape of limbs, decoration, lines, material] to the Red Idol is worth noting. I already wrote an extensive post about “DA2: The Strange Idol” but I wanted to make a summary here with brief speculations supported by the knowledge of the recent published comics. To understand the context of the idol in DA2 in detail, I suggest reading that post. As I always repeat, DA lore adds a lot when you have the context in which it appears [and also helps you not to go deep into wild theories].

Where do we find this statue in DA games?

It appears for the first time in Merril’s Quest [read Merril and the Eluvian], inside a cave atop of the Sundermount.

In Sebastian’s Quest, placed in the Basement of Harimann’s mansion which turned out to be an ancient Tevinter Ruin. Thanks to Tevinter Nights book we know that having buildings undergrounf was/is a Tevinter costume that keeps existing in Mintharous.  We also know that Kirkwall, historically, has a lot of ruins and chambers below the city itself. This allowed Tevinter mages to do forbidden research or unsafe magic or have cult activities without the authorities’ knowledge.

In a humble temple deep into the Deep Roads, at the base of the tower-prison where Corypheus is held.

It also appears several times in the Black Emporium of DA2, behind and over the mirror of transformation. 

It appears in a cave that you have access by following the Old Chantry Trail Sign, in Western Approach. In there, we learn it’s warm to the touch and has a pulse.

His face appears in some walls along Din'an Hanin, and it’s the central statue in the Elandrin’s Tomb.

Its face appears in the mural the “Removal of the Vallaslin”, located in Elven Mountain Ruins ,  Forgotten Sanctuary

The raw information

So far, details that are worth noticing about this idol:

It has many limbs: two legs and four arms. Other multi-limbered creatures in DA universe are Varterrals [ read DLC: Witch Hunt and The Missing for more varterral’s information], some demons like the envy one, Xenon [ owner of the Black Emporium], and some creatures related to elvhenan paintings [read Nation Art: Elvhen] which in some instance may or may not be related to The Horror of Hormak [Personal Speculation].

Its face is monkey-like or a bit toad-like. Its mouth is open, its eyes a bit squinted. For this reason, it can be related to Elgar’nan through the codex  Vir Dirthara: Signs of Victory, [“narrowed eyes and its open, snarling mouth”] which was analysed in the post Ancient Elven codices; Vir Dirthara.

Its chest and stomach have swirls. One can associate swirls all over the games with lyrium or, in DAI, with Veilfire/Fade and elvhenan gods [the dragon statue that represents Myhtal as well as the howling wolf statue that represents Fen’harel both have swirls along their body]. For more details on this aspect, read the section “Spirals and branching lines as Fade, magic, and lyrium” in the post Murals in DAI: Basics

Its limbs have long carvings, like canals, from which something red can be seen. Given the context of being perceived as Dumat, or as Elgar’nan who may have accepted blood from his defeated enemies [as his codices imply a ruthless, violent, dominant behaviour], one can suspect it is dried blood drips. It’s very subtle, but the red lines in them have been present in both designs [in DA2 and DAI, in DAI it looks even more like blood]. We also know that the Elvhenan performed blood magic and it’s highly likely that blood magic was originally from Arlathan [hints of this info in Tarohne, the Fell Grimoire, and Xebenkeck]. So, there are several hints that show that elvhenan know how to bind spirits and how to use blood magic.

In Sebastian’s quest, this idol appears in an underground Tevinter ruin, and has a [desire] demon bind to it.

In Merril’s quest, this idol appears inside Elvhen ruins and has a pride demon bind to it. However, given the context, the statue can be Elven or Tevinter, since the battle of Sundermount caused that both sides would “unleash horrors” in the Waking World [the codex is not too reliable, though, since it speaks of a legend, and it’s “recent history” related to Arlathan; details in Sundermount as an elven graveyard]. We also know that a lot of knowledge about Arlathan has been lost or modified due to time and elven mortality, but we also know that these elves were deeply related to blood magic. If we add the binding culture that Elvhenan had according to DAI [for example, read Ancient Elven codices; The Lost Temple of Dirthamen, and The Lost Temple of Dirthamen - Part 2] we can suspect that this demon was bind to this statue for either faction [with defensive purposes if elven or as a gesture of dominance if Tevinter]. Not necessarily it has to be Tevinter-made. What I mean is that we have enough context to know that this may have been Tevinter or Elvhenan doing. In fact, one can speculate that maybe the original knowledge was Elvhenan and Tevinter just took it as its own as it has always done with elvhenan magical knowledge.

In Merril’s quest, Felandaris appears close to this statue, suggesting that the Veil is very thin in the area [this plant only grows around places where the veil is thin and demon presence is expected].

In DA2, this idol is usually close to strange dragon-skull totems  that, due to the lack of codex, is impossible to associate with Tevinter or Elvhenan. In DAI they are used in the ramparts of Exalted Plains, seen as structures that hold barriers around pits where dead arise. So they seem to be related to [demon/undead] summoning rituals that, so far we know in lore, may be Tevinter or Elvhenan alike.

In DA2:DLC Legacy, we find this idol too, but deep into the Deep Roads, at the bottom of Corypheus’ tower-prison in a small structure that has an “altar of Dumat”. Four plates are placed there, where you have to put four items found along the DLC: a sacrificial dagger, a crown, a ritual scroll, and a sacred Urn. If you give the items, a reward is given [chain of the penitent].  If you defile the altar instead, you will fight some shades, which gives us the idea that this idol is related to demons and/or blood magic, thinning the Veil around it [shades are usually the standard shape that demons take when enter the waking world without possessing living creatures].

In DAI, it appears in a cave of Western Approach where you can place your landmark, and it’s called “The Thing in the Dark” [details in  Western Approach: Old Chantry Trail Signs]. The small message we get in it is “This statue is oddly warm to the touch and shivers slightly, as though it might have a pulse”.  In DA2, Merril could feel something in the statue when the demon was bind to it, so this warm shivering effect may be the concept that some spirit/demon is bind to it. Let’s remember that in DAI we found a lot of things that are warm to the touch and have some pulse/shiver/angry feeling to it that may imply a spirit attached to it [read The Taken Shape set for a list of details about warm, pulsing objects]

In DAI, curiously, his face appears in some walls along Din'an Hanin, which is expected since his main tomb is underground of that ruin, but it also appears in the lower section of the mural “Removal of the Vallaslin” in the ancient elven ruins of Fen’Harel. One of these faces appears as the source of Veilfire.

Design-wise may have some distant similarities with Korth, the Father-mountain of the Avvar, which has [dragon?] horns. 

Speculation section

Similarities with the red lyrium idol

When we find similarities between this statue and the red lyrium idol, I’m not saying they are the same, but they may have similar functions in ancient rituals. Among the similarities, we can notice that figures have carvings along the body.

May the red lines inside the carvings of the Strange Idol not be blood but inactivated red lyrium? 

Why would I say this? The Red lyrium idol has shown, specially in the comic Dark Fortress, to look like a piece of wood [as if it were inactivated red lyrium] unless I’ve been understading it too wrongly [the scholar even suspects that the idol, once consumed into the creation of a sword for the Red Wraith, has been rendered useless, and its drawing looks more like a piece of wood/metal than a “red glowing crystal”]. Only in some places we see it red. This visual fact always confused me in DA series. We clearly see that the object is not entirely made of red lyrium, only some parts [specially the roots] look like it. Why so many characters insist in saying it’s completely made of red lyrium?

If we remember, the cinematics in Dragon Age Official Teaser Trailer - 2018 Game Awards shows that the idol glows only along some lines, as if the red lyrium is activating from within its metal/wood material. Which is similar to the red lines we see in the Strange Idol, but in a dormant way. We also know that Red Lyrium sounds angry and feels warm [check the red lyrium section in Songs and elements that sing and whisper in DA Lore]. Since the Strange Idol is warm to the touch too [according to DAI in Western Approach: Old Chantry Trail Signs] and has these red lines barely seen, could it be related to inactivated red lyrium? I really don’t know what to think about it since we know so little about the red lyrium idol [and I suspect it has been retconned a couple of times even along DA2].

Design wise, the red lyrium idol always looked to me like wood+metal, and only its lower part is made of red lyrium, as if it were roots, implying from a design-point-of-view the metaphor that the horror represented in the figure is “fed” on red lyrium [details and speculations in  Red Lyrium Idol ].

Pros and cons of certain speculations related to the Strange Idol:

Speculation 1: “This statue is Elgar’nan”

PRO

Its face coincides with the codex Vir Dirthara: Signs of Victory, which describes Elgar’nan with “ narrowed eyes and its open, snarling mouth”. The general shape of the Strange Idol may look like a mountain, as it is said in the codex that Elgar’nan statue was made of stone as big as a mountain [metaphorically implying how he defeated Titans and created monuments of himself on or with the corpse of his enemies].

It makes sense for it to appear in the Bastion of Elgar’nan in Emerald Graves: Din'an Hanin, Elandrin’s Tomb as central icon of the tomb of knights that defended elvhen, considering that Elgar’nan is perceived along the codices as a big leader during the Titan war.

It makes sense for it to be in the Sundermount cave, since we can speculate it was a statue used to bind a demon by the elvhen resisting the war against Tevinter. Let’s remember that Elgar’nan was always related to victory and wars against the Titans in the oldest codices we find about him [read Elgar’nan section in Evanuris].

CONS

If this is an elvhen god/Evanuris, I hardly see it worshipped by Tevinter, who allways had an ancient, deep rejection to elves. It would make no sense to use Elgar’nan as a representation of Dumat either [not consciously, at least]. So it makes no sense for this statue to appear in the Altar of Dumat close to the Corypheus’ prison as well as in Sebastian’s quest, in an underground Tevinter ruin.

It doesn’t have any visual similarity to Elgar’nan mosaic, which displays a bestial arm with claws. There is no similar hint of bestiality in the case of the Strange Idol [read Elgar’nan section in Evanuris]. However, this is not a strong counterargument: we can say the same of Mythal, who has two representations, one as an elf in a mosaic, and another as a dragon [in mosaic and statues too]. Read Mythal section in Evanuris for further details.

Neither con not pro: I can’t speculate why Elgar’nan would appear in the mural of “Removal of the Vallaslin” at the Elven Mountain Ruins, Forgotten Sanctuary. Specially if we think that the previous corridor towards this mural doesn’t have any mosaic of Elgar’nan either. I also can’t explain or speculate why the Forgotten Sanctuary, a place to give shelter to slaves, would have images of the Evanuris on its walls, the ones supporting the slavery system of the moment.  

This face, if it is truly Elgar’nan’s, is also presented as a source of Veilfire which can be related to Titans through the mural “The Death of a Titan”, where the source of Veilfire is presented in the heart of the Titan. Linking both symbols, one can suspect that maybe Elgar’nan’s victory over the Titans granted him the power of exceptional magic [divinity?], represented in these murals as the source of this particular green fire.

Speculation 2: “This statue is Dumat”

PRO: 

It makes sense to appear close to Corypheus’ prison in an altar to Dumat or in the underground Tevinter ruins from Sebastian’s quest.

It makes sense to appear in Sundermount, so we can assume it was a symbol of dominance from Tevinter when they attacked the resisting elves in this place. They bind a demon there too, and this brings no conflict with the lore; we know Tevinter always had a deep knowledge of binding and using demons in their favour.

CONS: 

It makes no sense for Dumat to appear in the Bastion of Elgar’nan in Emerald Graves: Din'an Hanin, Elandrin’s Tomb. If it would have appeared in the first part of the zone, where we find statues of Andraste as the codex of Emerald Knights upgrades, it would have been considered an assimilation from former slaves, but this statue appears in a central position in a tomb that has been sealed long ago, surrounded by many statues of Mythal in her dragon shape.

Besides, why would Dumat appear in the mural of “Removal of the Vallaslin” at the Elven Mountain Ruins, Forgotten Sanctuary? So far we know the “Tevinter” perspective of the Old Gods appeared long time after the Elvhen and the Evanuris, so it’s hardly a contemporaneous concept to the ancient Elvhenan Gods. 

Dumat, understood as the Old God perceived by Tevinter, is a Dragon in shape. Its will may be something else, though, that may be represented in this toad-like figure?.

Speculation 3: “This statue is an ancient god [maybe a Forgotten One?] worshipped by the Evanuris before claiming divinity, and Tevinter adopted it later, believing them as Dragons or The Old Gods”.

PROS: 

This concept makes sense in both scenarios, Tevinter and Elvhenan. Like I said in the lore sections of the posts related to the comics The Silent Grove, Those Who Speak, Until We Sleep, Magekiller, and The Missing; there are some hints that make us speculate that Evanuris worshipped great dragons originally [that may or may not result in the Forgotten Ones]. Mythal should have been one of them as she is a dragon herself, but they stopped worshipping these ancient gods when they took the “divine winged shape” for themselves, claiming divinity. From that moment on, the Evanuris [at least Andruil] hunt these dragon-gods/Forgotten-Ones down, chasing them to the Void [which is more related to the underground lyrium than to a dimensional pocket ala Crossroads]. Mythal stopped her [ and intentionally or not, we don’t know, she protected these entities] by fighting against Andruil and removing her knowledge of how to reach the Void because in the Void there was “Darkness” and madness that Andruil infected with [for a whole detailed analysis of this, check the codex explanation of “Elven God Andruil” in the post Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal].

In this way, it makes sense for Tevinter to end up using similar iconography, ignoring it was the same god that the Elvhenan venerated originally. Tevinter knows that the Old Gods take the shape of Dragons, but they may be something else entirely.

Under this idea, it makes sense for this idol to appear in Tevinter or Elvhenan environments.

CONS:

There are too few hints to support this hypothesis of Forgotten Ones as the original gods that the Evanuris worshipped until they claimed divinity for themselves, and later Tevinter took them in their dragon shape and established the cult of the Old Gods. Most of the hints pointing out this relationship are recent [in the late comics].

We also have a strange potential relationship between the Forgotten Ones and the Forbidden Ones via the Seekers. It may be a red herring done by the devs or a consequence of “unreliable narrators”. Details in “Tarohne, the Fell Grimoire, and Xebenkeck”.

Another con is that this idol has no shape of a dragon when we know that the Old Gods are always represented as Dragons, and we also suspected from the comics that the Forgotten Ones may be dragons instead of elvhen . We also have another potential link with Hakkon as Geldauran, who may be one of them; for more details, read Elvhen Tomb and Ancient Tevinter presence, Speculation.

Neither con not pro but a detail worth noting: this entity has a shape with a distant resemblance to Korth, the Avvar Mountain-Father god [the mouth shape are alike, and the nostrils of the Strange Idol are similar to the Korth’s nose-eyes]. Korth is the oldest and strongest god of the Avvar pantheon. We know the Avvar have always had a much better understanding of the world due to their deep conection with the spirits, whose wisdom is always shared to the Augur of the tribe. With this I mean that this Strange Idol seems to be a very old entity that even the Avvar perceived, reflected later in the shape of Korth. Korth is related to the Mountain, as Elgar’nan is related to it in a dominant way in the codex  Vir Dirthara: Signs of Victory. Elgar’nan’s fury [which destroys everything it touches, according to the codex The Judgment of Mythal or read Elgar’nan section in Evanuris for more details] has some distant similarity to Korth’s cruelty when he lost his heart [read codex The Frostback Mountains] and became a force of anger and destruction. According to the relationships I’ve been trying to connect along this blog, these details seem to me that the same entity has been perceived by Avvar, Tevinters, and Elvhenan, but represented with some differences in order to fit their own purposes [as all DA lore has been showing so far].

[gatoburr0]

Aaaaaah I’ve been thinking for so long about making my own idol group but I suck at design and logos of any kind make me uncomfortable to design (graphic design ptsd) (I said design thrice)

This is the best I could do, honestly I like them.

Still need to figure out their backstory and all that elaborate stuff but for now just shenanigans and doodles of them.

Although his name is pronounced in Portuguese he’s mostly Spanish. I love Espada sm.

[m0e-ru]

fletchinder flame charge this mother fucker

[luc3ks]

forever going to hate the "pearl and marina are 8‘s adoptive moms“ cuz canon wise 8 is AT MOST 2 years younger than marina. chat she is now a grown ass woman those are her FRIENDS not moms

[ottosbigtop]

thinking about season 4 si-5. Thinking about the aftermath. Thinking about the absolutely fascinating trust Jacobi and Kepler have in each other- Jacobi in knowing that Kepler will make the right call, will keep the team safe, no matter how batshit nuts his plan of action is. Kepler in knowing that he can push Jacobi just as far to the edge without him falling over and without Kepler losing him or his unyielding faith.

And then season 3 finale happens and Maxwell dies. And Jacobi’s world view is thrown upside down. His strongest objectively positive relationship came out of his si-5 work, his relationship with Maxwell. A relationship that was a result of Kepler’s leadership. In seconds he loses his best friend and when he loses that, he loses everything he thought he knew about the situation he was in. Kepler slipped up, things were finally, finally pushed too far, something Jacobi was sure would never happen because there have been so many times where he was pushed just the right amount, but it happened.

It cost him his best friend and, in a way, cost him his relationship with Kepler. He loses his perspective on Kepler that he had. He loses that unyielding faith in the situation he is in. Kepler didn’t die, but Jacobi loses both relationships he formed in the si-5 when Maxwell did.

[demodraws0606]

You know I think there is something interesting to say in terms of where the fuck WxS is going because like

I think WxS is the only unit where the end goal or overall progression is probably the most unknown out of all of them ???

MMJ and VBS are extremely obvious, they both have the most explicit goals that are said to us in a straightforward way

25-ji, in the end we know the main goal at the end will be for all of the characters to go over their hurdles with Mafuyu finally being able to find herself and move forward

Leo/need is probably the closest in terms of vagueness but we know the end goal is clear for them to grow as a band, probably ending in a big concert or something along those lines

But with WxS...like I guess the closest thing I can see to an end goal is all of WxS preparing a show together with everyone playing their part but that definitely doesn't feel like something you'd build up for an entire arc and definitely not something that feels fitting after the emotional turmoil that was the disbandement arc ???

In terms of physical achievements as well they literally revived an entire parc through one gigantic show, so it just comes into question what they can do now.

Then you look at their first few event for this arc considering usually the first event kinda set up what will be planned for the future but it's...weird.

Yeah, Tsukasa and Rui's events set up they're inexperienced and how they will grow in the future but also there is this weird feeling of something feeling off ?

The plays/scripts all are strangely depressing, the play in Tsukasa's event being about a failed writer planning to drown himself (which I believe is one of the only undeniable explicit description of suicide ever in the game?????) and the second being someone whose given up on life meeting their estranged sister only for her to become ill.

We even have Emu's side story in Rui's event where they watched the movie Rin was watching during the event made by the same producer and Emu herself note how depressing the story is (meanwhile the main character of the movie clearly parallels Rui)

We don't see the conclusion of these in-game stories as well, lingering on their worst moment never really seeing the presumably happy conclusion.

THEN we also have Emukasa fes which....again strangely different in tone from what you'd expect a WxS fes card, they're not really all that conclusive either. Tsukasa never aknowledges how he relates to the brother in the story and Emu doesn't really get a conclusion on her grief.

Then we also have Rui's entire fuckign event with the cards and his cyberpunk deadbo-YOU SEE WHAT IM SAYING

The closest we fucking have to knowing what WxS's fucking endgoal towards the story is, is fucking WL which....TELLS US NOTHING

At least with VBS we know that they're goal is to go even further beyond and conquer the whole world, that is a developpement of their goal.

What I'm saying is I don't know what the fuck colorpalet is cooking wiht WxS but I feel like i'm a fucking twilight zone reading the way they're writing WxS now because I can't be the only one feeling insane at how weird all of this is

[snufkin44]

HE IS A FREAK YOUR HONOR

Although that's not really the case, the truth is that he's usually very calm and has a serious expression. Fans love the gap moe, so they make him act that way because they know Gakupo is a method actor. Unless he's in character, you'll never see him with any expression other than a relaxed one.

[yoohyeon]

𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕣 ℍ𝕪𝕖𝕛𝕦 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕖 ! 🩶

Mine - Do not repost!

[ilikeit-art]

What a strange case this girl was in American Idol. Speaking voice and singing voice were two completely different voices.

[deus-ex-mona]

farewell, my idiot son…

[lairofdragonagelore]

The Crossroads [DLC Trespasser]: Elven Mountain Ruins ,  Forgotten Sanctuary; Vallaslin Removal Chamber and Hidden Armoury

In the time of Elvhenan, this valley was a sanctuary created by Fen'Harel to give shelter to elven slaves. He rejected the divine mantle himself and taught the refugees the truth about the Evanuris in the surrounding towers. In the Forgotten Sanctuary, Fen'Harel removed the vallaslin, giving the now free slaves the chance to join his army in order to fight back against the pretender gods.

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

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

The Vallaslin Removal Chamber

Here, we find one of the murals of DAI [I make a deep analysis of all the murals in “Murals in DAI”]. For now I can say, briefly, that I’m not so sure if this one was made by Solas. 

We know his technique is not unique, it belongs to the ancient elves [proof of this is given by the archivist Banon of Skyhold in The Rotunda and the Fresco]. Technically, any educated elf of the past could have done it. 

We already saw how much of a romantisation of Fen’Harel was done in the mosaics of Fen’Harel’s mountain ruins, so this mural may perfectly be part of them as well. My main argument to put in question this is that we never saw Solas draw himself in the way he is presented here, so I’m a bit sceptical about his authorship.

This mural pictures Fen’Harel as a person wearing a wolf cape and a fine robe. The intricate patterns of the fabric makes him look more important, more “Evanuris”,  when he usually draws himself with the same kind of robes than the slaves are wearing: a black and green simple robe. I think there is an intent of idealisation of Fen’Harel by making his outfit fancy and more elaborated.

The figure is covering his face with a wolf mask [so, technically, anyone can take this role] and removes the vallaslin of the slaves. To me, this figure represents, ironically, a “priest” of Fen’Harel, a representative that embodies Fen’Harel’s (romanticised) ideas and shares and applies the power that Fen’Harel himself gave them [aka, the spell to remove the Vallaslin]. This figure could be a mage that knows the spell and removes the Vallaslin in groups of recently arrived slaves. 

We saw the removal of the Vallaslin in the romance scene of Solas: it’s a mere spell that doesn’t need any great material or fashion to perform, it’s easy and doable if you know the spell. Another extra detail to support this suspicion is the figure’s staff. That’s not Solas’ staff.

We know his staff from his tarot card (number 1), it is a kind of a “halla profile” with a very messy set of horns. In the mural of the red lyrium idol, he painted his staff (number 3) closer to the design of 1 than 2.  Staff 2 seems to be a generic branch made into a staff. 

Continuing with the mural, the elves come from a blue water pool which contains inside the shape of an elven orb.The water is drawn with undulating blue lines that can represent mere water, or lyrium pools [if we want to link this to The Horror of Hormak]. These waters are a product of the Evanuri’s power: from these waters, the elves come out, slaved and branded. Similar undulation can be seen in the vallaslins coming out of their faces, and in the borders of the aravels, giving us some hints to point out to The Horror of Hormak. These undulating lines appear too in the spheres of the Mural of “The Creation of the Veil” that we find in the Shattered Library. The relationship between undulating lines, orbs, and vallaslin seem to be rather consistent, and I trust this interpretation more than others.

Now, something that I will owe, because I have no idea about yet, are those white drawings over the heads of the elves. No clue what those could be.

For some unknown and unsettling reason, this mural has the face of the The Strange Idol repeated four times, with its mouth stained in (dry, I assume) blood. We have seen this exact circle with his face in Emerald Graves: Din'an Hanin and in Emerald Graves: Din'an Hanin, Elandrin’s Tomb. One of these heads holds the brazier from where you can cast Veilfire. 

Does this have any meaning? I’m not sure. We are not sure who this figure represents yet. The furthest we reached was Elgar’nan, thanks to the description in Signs of Victory as I commented in Ancient Elven codices; Vir Dirthara and thanks to the name of the zone [Elgar’nan’s bastion] where we find his statue in the middle of Elandrin’s Tomb. But we don’t know who named this place like that, so we don’t have anything truly reliable to identify this statue. So far, we can only suspect it to represent Elgar’nan, while some Tevinters considered it Dumat. More details about this unsettling figure can be read in The Strange Idol.

The Inquisitor and their companions make remarks about this mural: we are introduced here to the concept that the Vallaslin was a different kind of mark [this knowledge is only truly known by female inquisitors who romanced Solas]. For more details, check the post about “Murals in DAI”.

To activate the statue of Fen'Harel, we have to solve a small simple puzzle.  Curious detail, in front of the Sitting Fen'Harel statue we find a Stone in Razikale-Ceremony-style. This combination of elements will be repeated along the Crossroads and the small pocket worlds we visit: The stone that gives us a clue to solve the puzzle of the Sitting Fen'Harel statue is a Stone in Razikale-Ceremony-style. Mere reuse? I'm a bit lost with this stone since it appeared in the Fairel's burials. More about this stone was discussed in Razikale Ceremony and Dumat’s Warrior tablets.

Once we solve the puzzle, Fen’Harel statue moves, opening the entrance to the basement. We have access to the last mosaic:

It narrates what we saw in the previous mural: the removal of the vallaslin. For more details, read Ancient Elven codices; Fen’Harel’s mountain ruins.

As the mosaic disappears, it gives us access to the Hidden Armoury, where we see the arsenal of weapons that the rebels had to fight against the Evanuris.

In the Armoury, we read a report left by a qunari agent about an elven artefact in the box laying between Fen'Harel's paws. However, if we return to it and inspect it, we realise it is not elven [this shows how little Qunari know about elves and elvhenan craftsmanship]. Here we find Arrowwood which is associated with ... well, many things.

It speaks of a Ciriane tale, an alamarri tribe from which Andraste comes from.

We don't know the race of the main char of the story, we assume is human [but we know that the Alamarri have been mixing with other races without much problem, so they could be a half-dwarf].

He removed his heart to have mastery in the bow. There are two stories related to a creature that removes their heart: Korth, and the story that the elves narrate with the mural of the Titan: “The Death of a Titan”

This char shot the Sun, causing eternal night. This concept links him with Elgar'nan who fought the Sun or pushed it down into the earth depending on which unreliable story you based this on.

The queen of the Ciriane [called gothi] sent a messenger to the Witch of the Wild to stop him.

Depending on the story, the messenger never found the Witch and made a deal with a demon. Or worked for the witch and her daughters for a year. Or found the Lady of the Skies. In all three versions, we can interpret the same: the messenger found Flemeth [since she is an abomination with certain anomalies she qualifies as a demon for many tales. She is a also a witch of the wild, and she has a big potential to be the Lady of The Skies in some shape or form]

In all cases, the messenger received a coil of silk that he used to replace the string of the bow of the Arrowwood.

When Arrowwood tried to use the bow, his heart shattered and he became dust.

The queen took the weapon, encased it in an iron chest, and dropped it in the Nahashin Marshes.

Now, how and why a weapon of Ciriane nature, that has some resemblances with titans, Korth, and Elgar’nan, ended up in an ancient elvhen chest, from a time before the arrival of humans to the world? If it's not an elven weapon, it makes no sense for it to be here. And one can argue that this could be similar to the case of finding the Chapter ??? of Hard in Hightown in the Lower Archives, but I feel that such chapter makes more sense as a way for the devs to tell the players that whoever was left in the Fade, died in peace. It’s closure to a narrative. Now, this doesn’t make sense in that way either. One could assume this is just pure game mechanics and thinking too much about it is wasteful. It’s a good weapon after all.

Hidden Armoury

The first thing we see when walking downstairs is, besides all the weapons, a curious statue of two birds in a strange amalgamation. So far I'm aware, we never saw similar statue anywhere in the game [I tend to overlook Orlesian stuff, but I feel this statue would have got my attention anyway] .

It's two birds [maybe ravens due to their beak?] joined by their backs, and struggling to fly. The first idea that came to me when i saw it for the first time was the two ravens of Dirthamen: Deceit and Fear [if we indulge in the unreliable Dalish tales]. But it makes little sense. It's true that Dirthamen is present in this sanctuary more than we have expected, and he is also present in the first tower where we enter [ the Vine-covered Tower]. But what would be the meaning of placing his ravens, fused, in the armoury? This symbol here escapes me.

This place is filled with elvhenan weapons and armours [similar to the ones we saw Abelas and his elves wear in the Temple of Mythal].  

We find in addition to more Dalish supply boxes, Hallas statues that we know in game have been used by the Valmont family to create a system of locking doors in the Winter Palace, and three different kinds of rugs: 

One red and black, with geometrical patterns and small "fishes" in it. It's a rug we can find in Skyhold under the basic option [meaning, Skyhold may have had a link to the activities done in here]. On its corners we see two small dogs [?] attacking a simple-horned halla/deer.

There are smaller rugs in the rooms, featuring stars of 12 points. These rugs are the same ones we saw in the Temple of Mythal, placed in front of the Mosaics, giving the idea of being used to kneel and pray.  And a last carpet that, in a first impression, seemed to be Chasind, but it is not. It is an old red carpet which has a border pattern that looks like a half-sunburst [similar to the Chantry symbol indeed].

In terms of drapery, we find two main options: the typical Dalish drapery, with the "mask" that in DAO represented Mythal, with a pattern of spherical trees on the background.  And the second drapery that caught my attention was a series of ragged, discoloured flags hanging along the entrances of the armoury. It had a very curious symbol on it that I retraced. I've never seen this design. It looks a bit [with a lot of will] like "tentacles", which is not a big thing in DA series anymore, since in DAO the option of making the Old Gods as strange Eldritch creatures was removed due to the limitations of the engine or to add dragons instead. 

This symbol, however, appears in another place: in Skyhold, when you pick the basic decoration. Once more, it seems that Skyhold and this hidden armoury may have had some link in the past. Who knows if some of the broken eluvians in this place may have been related to Skyhold long ago. We also know that Skyhold was used by elves long time ago, and suffered strange damage, specially in the section of the jail, that the game leaves it free of any explanation [Prison Structural Evaluation]. At the end of Trespasser we know that Skyhold was Solas’ fortress at some point, so the link with this armoury is not that strange anymore. 

The eluvian to gets us out from this Armoury is flanked by two archer.

Extra Details

Along the exploration of these ruins, we find details worth mentioning.

The purple fire

In some parts there is a purple fire that, no matter what you do, it kills you. The only way to cross it is through powers that provide you invulnerability for a while, one of them is the use of discharge of the Anchor. What this means lore-wise?

This fire is visually the same kind of fire that the Archdemon from DAO breathed and it’s now Solas’ current power. I fear so much to connect excessively things that are unrelated, but on the other side, DAI in particular has proven to be such a detailed game, that something of the like, so visual, has a good chance to be intentional. I’m not going to say that Solas is an archdemon, because we still don’t know what truly is an Old God [the non-corrupted version of an archdemon]. We only know that Urthemiel was worthy to be protected according to Mythal’s actions, so the relationship of these powerful elvhen mages with these old dragons is not clear yet but the relationship seems to exist. 

The design in general

I like the design of the Elvhen banner and how it relates to Dalish and Tevinter design. That the Dalish banner is a more elaborated version of the Elvhen banner is not a surprise to anyone. It’s the same object with some extra “orlesian-like” ornamentation that can be justified for the years of coexistence between the Ancient Dalish and the Orlesians in the Dales, before the Exalted March. 

However, I think it’s worth noting how Tevinter design is, yet again, based on Elvhen design, specially the one related to arcane. Tevinter banner has a shape on its top that resembles an oversimplified raising dragon [like the symbol of Emerius, ancient Kirkwall] but it also can be seen as a thicker and compressed version of the top of the Elvhen banner. Both of them inspired, at the same time, by the shape of a dragon or an owl extending its wings. 

This comment is not meant to relate crazy lore stuff, but it is basically to highlight how the design of these objects is also related to the History they represents, and who co-opted what. Dragon Age Inquisition is such a detailed game in terms of design that, for that reason, I’m doing this extensive comparison and studies of the statues and art we see in it. It’s not mere whim, they truly worked a lot on this stuff. The director art and the artists who worked on this game, REALLY thought a lot how real life civilisations base their design, culture, and religion on previous ones, modifying them or mixing them with others, to the point that it’s hard to identify the original inspiration. And I’m truly convinced that DA series is a lot about the exploration of this concept in many levels and cultures. 

[run-aled]

I made an art of Kayne after 26372627 years (one month) and I refuse to publish it for two reasons:

1. the anatomy is a bit messed up and I don't know what I did with that lighting shit.

2. He is too beautiful to be Kayne.

[geee-three]

Goodmoenirng did you sleep well my dear angel >_<

my dreams are tormented by horrific visions called project sekai shuffle units

[gapteethed]

i genuinely forget to post here sometimes anyhow mini dump

[guavagyal]

WAKE UP AMERICA

[ispyspookymansion]

chain shipping is like the only saw ship that people always try and make softer. maybe shotgun shipping on OCCASION but like no one is doing that to coffin shipping or like. well that’s all the saw ships actually

i honestly dont know enough abt the state of hoffstrahm to speak to it much but i know it happens Sometimes with both of them i fear chainshipping is just the most popular/accessible as its built on one movie and the first in the franchise so it gets the most. how do i even say this. easygoing casual enjoyers vs like you need to see at least 3 to be into lynnmanda, 4 or 5 to be into hoffstrahm, etc. its so weird to me it loses all the appeal when you want any of them to be like happily married and healing together!!! at least give it a Little spice!! wheres adams anger wheres lawrence’s shortcomings in human connection wheres the desperation and guilt and such!