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mrs-gauche · 2 years

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Fire, blood and ouroboros...

So the other day, I was thinking about this "almost ouroboros" artifact thing again that was shown in the netflix Absolution trailer...

I’m calling it “almost ouroboros”, because usually an ouroboros is depicted with one serpent eating its own tail, rather than two eating each other, as it’s also seen in the title of the netflix show.

But as some people have already pointed out, the ouroboros symbol also appears in a few other places throughout the series. For one, it is seen on the ground in the scene with Flemeth and Kieran in the Fade. Note that it is drawn in blood, almost like it’s part of a ritual, especially with how they’re both standing in its center when Flemeth takes the Old God soul from Kieran (keep this in mind! I’ll get back to this in a minute 👀).

When I noticed that this symbol in particular also looked a little familiar to me... So I went back and took another look at the scene at the Temple of Mythal, when the Inquisitor drinks from the Well of Sorrows, an act that inevitably binds them (or Morrigan) to Mythal's will.

(Putting the rest under the cut, because.. you know the drill, I’m incapable of ever writing a short post. 😂💀)

So I took my beloved flycam tool, to try and get a closer look at the symbol that appears for only a second on the Inquisitor's face, the moment Mythal’s will is forced upon them after they drank from the Well.

Which got me so curious that I eventually went into the files and searched out the exact texture asset that was used in this scene (which btw took me way longer than I want to admit 😶)...

And lo and behold, it actually turns out to be the same symbol! Or rather... one of them, because the symbol actually seems to be part of a set of three different symbols that can all be found within the same file.

And there it is!

Additionally, in that same scene with Kieran in the Fade, the symbol is also yet again seen when Morrigan is about to attack Flemeth, which she can easily prevent by forcing the Inquisitor to grab Morrigan, as Flemeth seems to have full control over the Inquisitor’s (or Morrigan’s) body now.

Later on, the Inquisitor can also tame and bind their own (or rather Mythal’s) dragon in order to defeat Corypheus, showing the symbol again.

Solas will be furious if the Inquisitor drank from the Well, despite calling Mythal "the best of the elven gods". He’ll also explain to us how the Inquisitor is now "Mythal's creature" and that everything they'll do from now on will be, “whether they know it or not”, in her will. Which is to say, the very definition of enslavement.

(Someone speaking from experience here, Sir? I mean, if the “Solas was once himself a slave of Mythal” theory is true (“He did not want a body, but she asked him to come. He left a scar when he burned her off his face.”), it would definitely give his reaction to the well and how he values free will above everything (as well as his entire flippin rebellion and all of his dialogue regarding binding for that matter) a whole other layer. Especially when being asked to drink from the well himself, when he’s like “No. Do not ask me again.” so instantaneous and snappy, as if to say “For f*ck’s sake, I’ve been through this once, I’m NOT doing it again??” 😂)

I guess, what I’m trying to say is.. what if the scene we saw at the Well of Sorrows was something very similar to the ritual that was performed in times of Elvhenan by the Evanuris, in order to mark their slaves with their vallaslin and bind them to their will, just like the Inquisitor or Morrigan were bound to Mythal?

And all that got me thinking...

If this ouroboros symbol, that is somewhat magically "branded" on the Inquisitor at the Well of Sorrows, is not just some random asset, but actually supposed to resemble ancient slave markings... Isn't it curious then, that the word "vallaslin", which, as far as we know, was already used back in ancient times, also translates to "blood writing", when the ritual we saw at the well doesn't actually involve.. any blood?

(And for the sake of clarification, for the Dalish this term does make sense of course, as the practice used to apply the vallaslin in present Thedas is likely to resemble that of traditional tattooing (unless some kind of magic is involved?). In real life, some tribal cultures traditionally created tattoos by cutting designs into the skin and rubbing the resulting wound with ink, ashes or other agents. Some cultures create tattooed marks by hand-tapping the ink into the skin using sharpened sticks or animal bones (made like needles) with clay formed disks for example. We’ve actually seen a glimpse of this practice in the latest comic series.)

Going back to the ouroboros however, because this is where it gets interesting!

Remember how the ouroboros symbol was drawn in blood in that scene with Flemeth and Kieran in the Fade, in which the setting is also displaying a generally super bloody, gruesome scenery of someone (apparently a statue of Dirthamen, but I’m not sure if that’s supposed to hold any deeper meaning) being stabbed in the back with a sword. A reference to Mythal being betrayed and murdered maybe, given the context of this scene?

(That’s a lot of effing blood.... Sneaky BioWare using level design to tell an untold story?)

And while we’re at it, I just want to point out the level of symbolism on display here, like, literally the first thing you’ll see when entering this part of the Fade, is this giant hand holding the ropes of some hanged corpses like little puppets. It’s quite literally Mythal pulling the strings, directing the course of history and controlling people behind the curtains for ages like a puppeteer. 👀

But let’s go back to the bloody ouroboros on the ground, because that same symbol also appears in relation to someone else's blood.

The Magrallen, a magical device dating back to ancient times, used Maric's Great dragon blood, which he is said to have because many ages ago, his ancestor, King Calenhad made a bargain with a "mysterious witch", *cough* Flemeth *cough*, to drink the blood of a Great dragon, granting him immense powers. Thus making the Theirin bloodline so special (and also part of the reason why Flemeth was so invested in saving Alistair’s butt at Ostagar? lol). BUT.. There is another certain ancient artifact that, if used in a ritual with fire of a Great dragon combined with a source of lyrium, will also grant special powers.

The sarcophagus seen in the latest Blue Wraith and Dark Fortress comic series, which was not only used on Fenris to brand him with lyrium infused markings...

...but also on Shirallas in combination with red lyrium, turning him into something like a mad berserker, that was pretty much invincible as long as he was in possession of the sword produced by the red lyrium idol. It also caused them both to lose almost all of their memories prior to the ritual.

Fenris recalls that the sarcophagus would drew in whatever source of lyrium was being placed onto it (in their cases, lyrium-laced weapons) and carve it into their skin.

Take a closer look at this sarcophagus. Maybe I'm just seeing things, but.. doesn't that design look KINDA familiar?

*takes deep breath* The sarcophagus was also specifically built only for elves, seeing as it will turn humans into walking lyrium time bombs, who will literally blow up minutes after the ritual is performed.

So, to reiterate real quick, in order to perform this ritual and create elven super soldiers, you need what? - a LOT of lyrium (with the color of your choice lol) - a Great dragon (/blood?) and a LOT of FIRE

And I know someone who conveniently had access to both of these things... Mythal, who was not only the first to kill the Titans and mine their blood in HUMONGOUS amounts, as we've seen in the Deep Roads section in Trespasser, but also just so happens to be always depicted as a flippin dragon.

"They made bodies from the Earth. And the Earth was afraid."

"He did not want a body but she asked him to come."

"The lyrium sang thought into being."

"The blood of dragons is the blood of the world."

Why was Mythal called "the Mother"?

Because she was the eldest of the pantheon? Because she was the leader and actual mother of some of the other “gods”? Because of her caring and fierce nature, representing Justice and the “Great Protector” of the People?

OR was it because Mythal was the first to kill the Titans, giving her access to mine their blood and use their lyrium combined with her fire to somehow create bodies for spirits to manifest, essentially "giving birth" to their physical form and binding/enslaving them. But you know what that would also imply? The vallaslin is called “blood writing“ and again, as far as we know, that term was already used back in ancient times. If bodies were created in a similar ritual with something like this sarcophagus, then I feel like lyrium - Titan's blood - was more essential to the elves than we think... Was the vallaslin of ancient times more like infused lyrium markings like we’ve seen on Fenris or Shirallas? Or was it even more than that?

...Leaving it at that for now (because initially, this was the part where it would dawn on me that BioWare must’ve taken a ton of inspiration from Greek mythology and I would go into excruciating detail about that subject for some reason... before I realized that I was going waaay off-topic and decided to make it an entirely seperate post for another day 😂). So.. anyway. *deletes twenty paragraphs of text* lol

Instead, let us look at some other mentions of the serpent in DA lore, or rather different meanings of the ouroboros symbol in mythology and how this could connect to the lore.

In one Dalish legend for instance, Mythal takes the form of a great serpent to fight Andruil, who had fallen to madness from the Void, at the base of a mountain.

Belenas, the mountain which is said to have stood at the center of the world, was destroyed in the battle between Korth the Mountain Father and the serpent Nathramar in a tale of the Avvar, leaving only a vast crater behind which would later become Lake Calenhad when the Lady of the Skies “filled it with her tears” (which I believe was actually Mythal whose blood dripped in the lake, but that’s a whole other story for yet another day.. 👀).

And of course, the first thing that comes to mind when talking about serpents in DA would probably be the very banner of the Tevinter Imperium.

The serpent itself is also often associated with immortality, when it’s biting its tails to form a circle and a spiral when it’s coiled. Both circles and spirals were seen as symbols of eternity.

On the contrary, it can also represent the cyclical nature of life and death, life feeding on itself in the act of creation.

The Chantry believes lyrium to be the emerald waters of the Fade, the very substance of creation itself, from which the Maker fashioned the world.

In Tevinter Nights, the Dread Wolf says this: "You use my Idol carelessly, to vandalize the sea of dreams, and in doing so, you threaten all creation." The red lyrium idol is very likely depicting Mythal’s death. Not to mention the whole creation of physical forms we’ve talked about earlier.

In Nordic myth, evil was symbolised by the serpent (which was actually a dragon) Nidhogg, literally the “Dread Biter” (*wheezing* no kidding), who coiled around one of the three roots of Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life.

Mythal’s vallaslin resembles tree branches and in visions of her victory over the Titans in Trespasser, it mentions flourishing vegetation that would make habitability/colonization of the earth possible.

“In this place we prepare to hunt the pillars of the earth. Their workers scurry, witless, soulless. This death will be a mercy. We will make the earth blossom with their passing.”

“For a moment, the scent of blood fills the air, and there is a vivid image of green vines growing and enveloping a sphere of fire.”

“For one moment, there is a vivid image of two overlapping spheres; unknown flowers bloom inside their centers. Then it fades.”

And yet again, fire and blood is being brought up in Mythal’s conquering.

And finally, in ancient Greek mythology (which, as I mentioned before, was very likely the inspiration for a lot of stuff regarding the ancient elves), the ouroboros is often interpreted as a symbol not only for the cycle of life, death and rebirth, but also the transmigration of souls.

In most beliefs involving reincarnation, the soul is seen as immortal and the only thing that becomes perishable is the body. Upon death, the soul becomes transmigrated into a new body to live again. The term transmigration means passing the soul from one body to another after death.

Hmmm... Doesn’t that sound familiar? 👀 Looking at the Archdemons.. and Corypheus.. and Mythal.. and the secret of effective immortality...?

I’ve talked a little bit about it on here before, but if we take into account Solas’ very suspicious use of the word “soul” in relation to spirits and everything having to do with the Void/Abyss, also called the “Well of all Souls” in the Canticle of Andraste, the same place where, according to Solas, spirits are reborn and the whole creation of physical forms... then I feel like I’ve found yet another argument for why the spirits are the souls that Solas wants to save by tearing down the Veil.

And if we go back to the very beginning of this post with all of this in mind now... isn’t it interesting how Flemeth and Kieran are standing in the very center of the ouroboros symbol, in a place where the entire level design could be a reference to Mythal’s death, when Flemeth takes the Old God soul from Kieran?

If I ever get around to write my ultimate tinfoil theory on what I think the Old God souls and the Blights truly are, and any of that turns out to be true.. then hoooo boy, let’s just say, Mythal is. s h a d y.

So to conclude, whether it’s intentional or not, no matter what myths or piece of lore we’re looking at, the ouroboros symbol can be connected to so many aspects of what we know of Mythal and the ancient elves (and I feel like this whole post can be summed up with this one meme 😂)...

I know there aren’t any grand revelations here, but I think it was fun to just gather all these tidbits in one place and if you really read all of this, thank you so much and feel free to tell me what you think of all this? 😁

#dragon age #dragon age absolution #mythal #solas #blue wraith #dark fortress #tevinter nights #tinfoil time #writing this post at 1am resulted in me picturing dragon mama Mythal in an apron..#..putting her little spirits into sarcophagi like cookie dough on a baking tray..#..roasting them with her fire on her ancient oven powered by lyrium..#..and out come freshly baked elven bodies lmaoo #I should probably get some sleep....

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