#CIRCLES

[kristo-flowers]

rain circles

[xponentialdesign]

Circle Spiral Tessellation Color Over After Effects (Trapcode TAO) source file

[nemfrog]

Spore print of Amanita Muscarius. Our edible toadstools and mushrooms and how to distinguish them. 1895.

Internet Archive

[occultismos]

OCCULTALUCE

Vision I (b&w version) Digital art 2025

[clawmarks]

A grammar of Japanese ornament and design - Thomas W. Cutler - 1880 - via e-rara

[onejellyfishplease]

Behold! Shapes and Colours <3

[arc-hus]

Brion Tomb & Sanctuary, Terriso, Italy - Carlo Scarpa

[jacobjoaquin]

Crop Circle Rotation

[bingsoo-jung]

To help folks out with this whole convo about Harrowings and circles.

So canonically it’s been around 12 years since all circles were abolished in game. This was after Rivain’s circle was annulled and the mages decided to rebel. After they were abolished it took at least 2 years for any new circles to be put up. During which, almost harrowings took place.

Now, in DAI, no matter what, circles are then put back up, HOWEVER mage colleges are then created across all of Thedas. Canonically this is where most mages post-rebellion would’ve finished their education as most mages decided to rebel. Furthermore, while circles are put back up, no matter what those circles are being led by Vivienne, who states time and time again, in game, that most circles were not as bad as that of Kirkwall or Kinloch hold, and that that’s how she wants her circles to be. She believes in mages being able to come and go from circles with ease. Vivienne is actually incredibly reasonable when talking about her vision for the circles. She thinks that mages need to be educated, and that they need to be kept apart from the general population because of how dangerous magic can be, but she also fundamentally believes that they should be allowed to come and go at ease. She doesn’t believe that people should be killed willy-nilly or lack basic human rights.

There is no reason to think that 12 years after DAI that people would be constantly put through incredibly traumatic harrowings when literally every option on the table as stated in DAI, is against that as an option. The idea that all the circles would still be like Kirkwall and Kinloch were 20 years later, despite there having been, once more, a giant ass mage rebellion, is wild. Kirkwall and Kinloch were like that not because of the mages, but because of Templar and Chantry abuses of power. However, all instances of the circles and colleges that can exist, are being led either by people who are mages, and believe that mages are people who shouldn’t be killed for being mages. No one, from Vivienne, to Cassandra, to Leliana, to Fiona, approves of that idea.

There’s also the fact that pre-mage rebellion circle’s are also specifically talked about in game. At length. There’s a whole long ass side mission about the annulment of rivain’s circle. It’s

But long story short, there is no reason for anyone under the age of 32-37, to have experienced a harrowing. Harrowings even pre-mage rebellion, often were conducted when the mage was 20-25, any younger than that was considered early. 20 is about the minimum age they harrow someone, so if your Took was a teenager during DAI? Yeah, they probably weren’t harrowed. If they were in their early 20s? Also probably not harrowed. And while yes, your mage’s life would’ve changed quite a lot their continuing education as a mage would’ve been in a world where they were allowed to choose to not be harrowed. Because most mages post-DA2 would’ve not been harrowed.

This is not some insane abandonment of lore, that’s a normal conclusion that requires a handful of minutes of thinking about everything we were told about the consequences of the mage rebellion in DA2. I’m begging people to just like… calm down for a few seconds and like… think? Please?

[chasingrainbowsforever]

~ Aqua and Blue ~

[389]

by Zach Lieberman

[archiveofaffinities]

Sonia Delaunay-Terk, Electrical Prisms, 1914

[xponentialdesign]

Circle Spiral Tessellation Color Offsets After Effects (Trapcode TAO) source file

[nemfrog]

Solar eclipse, 1870. Worlds in the making. 1908.

Internet Archive

[abstracteddistractions]

Yuko Nasak, 'Untitled,' 1964,

Synthetic paint, plaster and glue on cotton, mounted on wooden board,

Dimensions: 1817 x 919 mm.

Courtesy: Tate