FLARE ] The Keepers & Their Old Gods

Here are my thoughts on the theory that the Evanirus may have been the high keepers to primordial Old Gods after seeing how Solas's ritual in The Veilguard gameplay trailer seems similar to an ancient elven mural. I'll also address a couple of the discrepancies in the trailer.
MANY SPOILERS from the 3 previous Dragon Age games.
(Oops, I misspelled Zazikel. Brain mush)
Special thanks to:
~ XanderDorn
/ @xanderdorn
~ Ghil Dirthalen for naming that doohickey symbol a nib of an ink pen • DA:Veilguard Official ...
~ Bioware for all the great content that made this video possible

[@bunny8372]

What I like the most about the lore of Dragon Age regarding the Evanuris is how the entire "modern" history (post the fall of Arlathan and the creation of the Veil) is a poorly told and distorted recollection of its original meaning by humans. It’s similar to when the remains of dinosaurs were found, and dragons were created to explain those bones, if that makes sense. If you look at what happened in the past, especially what Solas says in Halamshiral (the part where he’s a bit drunk and mentions that the people in power and their ways of managing the court have always been the same), and what one discovers in the ancient Elven temples, it all turns out to be nothing more than a poorly told story, erased from what it once truly was. It's just feel's alive in someway and i can't think of other game that makes feel the lore of it's world this alive. Thank you for the video!

[@SaeybinUnderFire]

I love your comment and thank you for watching the video. My friends and I also talk about the disconnect between the Dalish, the Tevene, the ancient elves, and more modern scholarly lores. The writers really have us dig deep to find the nuggets to see if it fits a larger piece of a puzzle so it's likely why we love it so much.

[@christineherrmann205]

I like it. I mean, we discussed many times that Solas _had_ to trap the other gods (creating the Veil) because of the Blight, but I like the idea that the Old Gods are the dragons and the elven 'gods' were their 'keepers'. It makes the Tevinter adoption of the original scheme interesting.

[@HaxAras]

I always thought they were the elven gods' "pets" or vessels. Something of that nature. Such as how Corepheus has his own pet Dragon.

[@SaeybinUnderFire]

I mean if the Tevinter magisters were whispered to by the tainted Evanirus, it means that they saw themselves as gods who usurped the real ones.

[@BenkaiDebussy]

@@HaxAras I'm pretty sure you're correct (the "high level gameplay" preview literally says "Ghillan'nain's Archdemon" in the description), though I'd add that I suspect the "Archdemons" specifically (like the ones buried underground) were also deliberately used as some sort of seal on the Blight. This is why there's that one Dreadwolf/Veilguard preview image with the 7 orbs, where 5 are dimmed out. And it's also why we're suddenly seeing red lyrium and darkspawn pop up more frequently everywhere after Urthemiel was killed in Origins. I actually prefer this explanation to "the Old Gods were some sort of primordial/Lovecraftian thing," because that's the sort of lame cliche lore I'd normally expect from modern Western fantasy media, which is seemingly endlessly derived from the same stuff. Edit: Another source of evidence for this is Dorian's comments on ancient Tevinter art revealing the ancient Magisters possessed Evanuris orbs. It all-but-confirms that the whispers they were hearing (and dreams they were seeing) were coming from either the imprisoned Evanuris or their memories. It also explains why all the Magisters were encouraged to break into the Golden City after "consulting their gods"!

[@davidortiz3094]

​@@HaxAras The Elven Gods were just powerful mages. They became gods later. Basically, they aren't the original gods.

[@davidortiz3094]

Solas does confirm there were selected powerful mage elves who became so powerful they became known as gods. They aren't the originals though.

[@thirdcoastfirebird]

I like this theory. I also just found you channel through YT planting it on the side bar.

[@SaeybinUnderFire]

Hello and thank you for watching the video.

[@assassinb460]

That's the order if the Blights! 😮😮

[@SaeybinUnderFire]

You totally got it! Originally, I had it labeled 1st blight, 2nd blight, etc next to the names of the Old Gods in the summary slate of all 5 of them but the slate was already too cluttered with text.

[@assassinb460]

@SaeybinUnderFire I wonder if the Blights are a counter version of the creation myth of the Maker. What if the Blight comes from an Anti-Maker Entity or something? I may be of the few who actually think the Maker of Dragon Age is real. I believe it is left ambiguous just to make it similar to the real-life religion of a monotheistic God, maybe to avoid offending real-life believers. 🤔 The more I see that the Chantry got it wrong, the more I'm convinced that the Maker is actually real, lol. It's just that it is wrongly interpreted by their followers. I particularly like the part that talks about the creation of the world because theories like this help it understand it in a bigger, better way than the simplified version of the Chantry. I think the Chantry perceives Andraste's visions the way the Dalish see their ancestors. As a romanticized version of the real thing.

[@joshuamulhearn2212]

top tier tinfoilery! I love it

[@SaeybinUnderFire]

Thank you!

[@HaxAras]

Elves in Dragon Age are the "All roads lead to Rome" of this series. It's interesting, but I am fucking sick of them. I am far more interested in those dwarves who are fused with their armor, and bear a name I can't spell. I've speculated for years that Caradin didn't "invent" golems and only discovered them. He even describes the method being shown to him in a vision, likely from a Titan showing him how to save Orzamar.

[@SaeybinUnderFire]

Yeah, the Shal Brytol. (I probably not spelling it correctly, lol). Seeing that dwarves like Harding getting petrification spell, I suspect that all the dwarves got reconnected to the titans through Valta. I was just as thrilled to know that the Titans will finally get their revenge then I am to see the Dread Wolf springing into the air to bite into a tainted dragon in the trailer. If you believe Carridan was given a vision, do you think he can dream, unlike the general (dwarven) population that can't?

[@HaxAras]

@@SaeybinUnderFire I never even thought about that! I just always assumed it was something sent telepathically to him from the Titan. The way they talk about the Titans and the old dwarves, it always sounds like they were some sort of hive mind. Their "Stone Sense" is clearly their connection to the Titan. They talk about the Surface Dwarves having lost their "Stone Sense", but I suspect they've *all* lost their Stone Sense, and to the ones still connected to the Titan, they're all Surfacers at this point.

[@BenkaiDebussy]

The history of the elves is intertwined with the history of the dwarves, though - the war between the Elves and the Titans is likely what created the Blight, and also what lead to the rise of the Evanuris in the first place.

[@tahnadana5435]

you need to play pillars of eternity 2 deadfire, because all this is skin deep

[@SaeybinUnderFire]

I never played PoE. I'll check it out.

[@tahnadana5435]

@@SaeybinUnderFire you should try it, expand your horizons