#the 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.

[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

[ilikeit-art]

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

[yoohyeon]

𝕋𝕣𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕖𝕣 ℍ𝕪𝕖𝕛𝕦 𝕨𝕠𝕦𝕝𝕕 𝕝𝕚𝕜𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕓𝕒𝕥𝕥𝕝𝕖 ! 🩶

Mine - Do not repost!

[gapteethed]

i genuinely forget to post here sometimes anyhow mini dump

[guavagyal]

WAKE UP AMERICA

[lairofdragonagelore]

Emerald Graves: Din'an Hanin

Din'an Hanin is a large elven ruin found in the southeastern region of Orlais, in Elgar’nan’s Bastion. It is the final resting place of the Emerald Knights. Since the end of the Exalted March of the Dales and the fall of elven Halamshiral, Din'an Hanin has remained abandoned and largely forgotten.

It’s important to notice this is not exactly an “ancient elvhen” ruin. It’s an Elvhenan building taken by Ancient Dalish and turned into a ruin after the Exalted March of the Dales. This is very important to highlight to understand the iconography we are going to see here.

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

In my opinion, the clarification of the time in which  Halamshiral shone is key to understand this ruin. This tomb will reflect exactly the same spirit that Ameridan showed in the Frostback Mountains, DLC of Jaws of Hakkon.

As we enter Din'an Hanin, we see a stair surrounded by the undeniable shape of elven buildings with statues: we find a broken Humanoid Mythal’s statue on the ground, and two howling Fen’Harel. Mythal statue triggers fragments of the codex The Emerald Knights. The first fragment we have here seems to be a warning to me: Curse the past where lies were born. There is also another detail in this fragment: they call Andraste as “Lady”. There is respect to her. If contemporary history is to be believed; we know she helped the Dalish to have these lands, so it seems reasonable for them to respect her.

On the other side of the stair, we find one of the most strange statues to see in elven ruins: The cursed Skull bud with sword.

As we continue going ahead, we see more parts of the place that was attacked during the Exalted March, the rubble sinks deep enough in the terrain to assume it’s old destruction.

When we are reaching the entrance of the building, we meet another strange statue. We know with total certainty that these statues are Andraste, in her shape of a warrior. We have seen them everywhere in the game, and specially in Val Royeaux, triggering codices and notes about her. So, this is speaking to us that in a ruin of the time of Halamshiral, Andraste was honoured among the Dalish. She triggers another part of the codex The Emerald Knights.

We see more attacks of those days, collapsing parts of the ruin and making it inaccessible. This rock is likely to be from an Orlesian attack.

In the Hall of the Knights, we see ceilings that speak of ancient elven ruins, and statues of Owls which triggers the codex of Arlathan: Part One, an unreliable tale of Gisharel. Curiously, there is another statue hidden among the shadows:  The Strange Idol‘s face. It’s repeated in most of the arcs.

Continuing the path towards the tombs, we reach the corridor of the first floor, finding another strange element that speaks about how these elves were Dalish and not Elvhenan: the rugs in these parts display the symbol of the family of Celene’s mother: De Montfort. 

This is very curious because this family begins to raise in prominence around the time of the Fourth Blight, while these Emerald Knights of the  Exalted March were alive around the Second Blight. That this rug is here could mean that this place was explored before, or this family has very old ties with elves, specially during the time it was not an important family. With the context we were given about the Dales and the interracial examples of relationships, it’s not strange to assume that maybe this family is elf-blooded. But this goes into the speculation field. The only fact we see is that this rug with the De Montfort symbol is here, during a time [around the Second Blight] in which the family was not prominent.

At the end of the corridor, we begin to walk downstairs to head into the tombs. We see the strong elements of the elvhen decorations and the Orlesian rug.

We make our way to the Hollowed Tombs. I think this name explains a bit the structure we will see inside. The entrance welcomes you with howling Fen’Harel statues at the sides.

The place is already underground. It shows a mixture of Dalish, Elvhenan, and Chantry elements. Exactly the same kind of amalgamation of cultures we saw in Ameridan during the DLC Jaws of Hakkon. These elves were less radical with their culture as the current Dalish are, and they allowed the Chantry to permeate their elven temples to the point of placing statues of Andraste in them. 

This brings a natural question: if they did this centuries ago, how much were their tales changed when they added Andrastian flavour in them? The culture that the modern Dalish want to preserve has been altered centuries ago by their own people too, not only Tevinter. The Dalish cultural process and attempts to recover their culture is an incredible tragedy and irony at the same time. 

Going on with the exploration: at the sides of the entrance there are some pits interconnected with corridors. They show the inuksuit we always see related to funerary places. High up, close to the ceiling, we see Dalish banners. 

This is the object that says this place of elvhenan origin has been taken by Dalish at some point.

The central figure of this temple is Mythal, no doubt. The pit surrounds her, and her statue stands out among the others. Behind her, there is one of the typical paintings of ancient elves, this one I call “the shifting” halla or the bounded halla [for details read Nation Art: Elvhen].

Exactly in front of this Mythal statue we find an entrance with the face of The Strange Idol on its top, flanked by two statues of Andraste that trigger more fragments of the codex The Emerald Knights. This entrance is blocked with rubble, but if you cross it with the fly cam and follow the path of the stairs, you reach exactly to the entrance of Elandrin’s tomb, where The Strange Idol is. 

At the left side of the statue of Mythal, we find columns decorated with elven owls, and beyond them, a vandalised figure of Mythal. This is quite strange to me. It’s the statue of humanoid Mythal, with a skull on her head. The only  detail I remember seeing in similar fashion in the series was in the Fade of DAO, where a statue of Andraste had her head replaced with a skull. 

I can only find two potential reasons for this: 

The ancient one: I imagine that so many iconography with broken statues of Dragon Mythal along the game, and this vandalism of her statue may be related to the hatred that she earned from the other Evanuris. We know that after all, she ended up being assassinated by them. And unlike the Temple of Mythal, where there are really few statues of broken Dragon Mythal, the rest of the elvhen ruins depict a lot her dragon figure without her head. 

The modern one: maybe these Old Dalish elves related Andraste to a representation of Mythal, and her death [which happened before the complete fall of Halamshiral] was represented by them this way.

The configuration of this place is similar to the one we will see in Elandrin’s tomb: the main figure, [in this case Mythal] is in front of a pit. If the pit were filled with supplicants, they would be seeing her from a very low place. Unlike the Elandrin’s tomb, this pit doesn’t seem to have  a system to raise the lower platforms. It must have been destroyed with the collapse of the place or simply it never had it.

What’s most intriguing is the symbol on a side of one of the pit walls:  these golden rings are Elvhenan. We saw them in the Shattered Library. The Elvhenan statue of the owl always has one of these on its talons. 

In here, there are three rings of the same size, all aligned, and one bigger and thicker, surrounding and containing the middle one.

As potential links, we can have a quick reading of the many codices in the Shattered Library where concentric spheres are overlapped, or world in spheres are created. There is also a link with the red lyrium idol: the main figure has an arm crossing the same kind of ring than these. This figure has several links, specially if we take into account the murals of the series [For more details check:  Red Lyrium Idol  and Nation Art: Elvhen. It’s safe to assume that this is a symbol that belonged to the Elvhenan, and can’t be a representation of the creation of the Veil. When Solas created it, all the temples and tombs of the elvhenan had already been built, depicting this ring in their monuments or murals [More details in Nation Art: Elvhen].

If we explore the pit below and see what its corridors have to offer, we can see that at our left, the corridor is quickly blocked. It’s filled with funerary inuksuit...

...while the corridor at our right side allows us to explore many other rooms. We see in these pits a lot of arcs that were filled with bricks before. When you destroy them, you have access to new rooms. This is curious, but given the name of this chamber [hollowed tombs], it seems to be a characteristic of this place: hollowed rooms are sealed with bricks containing mostly urns and/or special runes and veilfire messages of mourning. 

Some of these pits have stairs that allow you to leave these corridors, but they have a strange feeling when you see the ancient paintings of slaved elves on its walls. If this is a tomb and we are right in assuming that Falon’Din was meant to guide the dead, but also this was a misunderstanding of his vanity that caused the death of many just for his whims, I wonder if these pits had an “elvhenan” function related to the slaves. What I mean is that maybe the Ancient Dalish used this ruin to give sepulchre to their warriors or honour Andraste, but this is an ancient elvhen ruin which must have had a different function long time ago. 

Anyways, returning to the main statue of Mythal, we see the painting detail on the back, and if we see the rooms behind this wall, we find more elvhenan paintings and sealed rooms of dead.  We see the painting of the dark armoured figure and breached walls [which I think it’s safe to assume it must have been the Venatori we find inside.] On a table, we see a book that triggers the Arlathan: Part Two, again an unreliable tale by Gisharel.

In the sealed rooms, we find dead, urns, paintings, and bones. Occasionally some of these structures trigger codices or notes about fallen Emerald Knights.

Sometimes these rooms are just locked but have no much difference with the others funerary rooms. 

Close to the Andraste’s statues in the main chamber of Hollowed Tombs, there is a stair that allows you to reach the highest level of this tomb.

As we walk upstairs, we find the typical mosaics of the Evanuris: Dirthamen and Falon’Din, one beside the other, and a painting of a “shifted” / bounded halla along the stairs [Read The Lost Temple of Dirthamen - Part 1 to understand my supposition of how this halla could also represent “bounding process” specially when it is related to Dirthamen and Falon’Din]. 

Around this place we find more mosaics: June with his anvil and Mythal with her babies. 

Mythal and Falon’din, which we know they had a confrontation [Solas’ words in the Temple of Mythal]. All these mosaics are normal ones in terms of colours [meaning, there is none red or weird so far I noticed].

From the highest level, we can see the main statues and the pits. It gives the impression that this is a place where high priests could oversee all the rituals below, but since it has fences, it also seems to be a place for observation instead of imparting rituals. If we compare it with the Temple of Mythal, where the highest places were big, high stages for the priests to impart their blessing on the petitioners. This one here seems more like a mere overseer level.

Along these corridors in the highest level we find more of these objects that trigger Dalish epitaphs.

The last statue that triggers the final part of the codex is beside a corner that seemed to head to Elandrin’s tomb, as the face of the strange idol on the top may indicate. Once more, we see these entrances sealed, likely as part of the tradition: seal the rooms of the dead.

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore ]

[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!

[reddd-robin]

I feel so crazy about that last episode I knew literally in my soul that the lich would appear eventually and be named the last scholar of golb. Throws up everywherr

[pretttyh8machine]

my FRANKENSTEIN GIRLS are all STRANGELY SEXY!!!!!!

[nicetoseeyouu]

E.M🖤

[theloveinc]

What abour drummer! Bakugo x idol! Reader

Bakugo finally gets to be on stage as idol! Readers love music cast (dunno what its called 💀) and he's fan girling so hard (he's hard)

Does he try and speak to them??

Goes he swipe some merch??

Does he bark at the fans trying to get close to you??

Do you just smile at him

I dunno anything about idols but he's definitely shy asf!!!

All excited deep down only to freeze anytime he's near you not in performance. Like at least if he's playing or dancing he doesn't have to think about how gd close the two of you are, but afterwards, when you're all sweaty and sticky and tired, he can't take his eyes off you and he finds it SO embarrassing. Stupid lovesick drummer!!!

He definitely swipes more merch though, even if he already has some at home (not that he'd ever admit those shirts are his favorite pajamas). You guys already know I love the headcanon of Bakugo wearing really silly / funny shirts, so I'm imagining him in rehearsal wearing something really colorful of yours ahead of changing into to show gear.

(When you notice, of course you smile at him! And it's another moment when he feels like he's died and gone to heaven, even though he's also a celebrity himself LOL)

It's also honestly kinda cute to think about if you were in an idol group, too, and you were his favorite. Singing near him on stage instead of with your other members, him trying to take photos with just you instead of the whole group........ I know both your AND his fans would go wild🥺

[bmpmp3]

325 RAKSHATA OUR GOOD FRIEND RAKSHATA MY BEST FRIEND RAKSHATA