Summary: An unexpected leader, unlikely allies. Bound by the Breach, Alexi Trevelyan is trying to hold it all together. Thankfully, he doesn’t stand alone.
“The Templars no longer have any
duties involving mages, unless the mages ask for their help. All the Templars
need to do is focus on rebuilding. Josephine has secured a supply of lyrium for
both groups, and I know Cullen and Vivienne have some ideas in mind to help,”
Alexi tells him.
“Some might not take this so
well,” Barris says.
“I can speak to them if they
have questions.” This statement is met with doubtful silence. “Or, I can have
Cassandra and Leliana speak to them,” he says. Barris chuckles under his
breath.
“That threat might be enough to
keep them in line,” he says, clapping Alexi on the back. Stronger than he means
it to be, Alexi almost trips but for Barris steadying him. “Sorry.” A smile,
waving away the apology.
“Herald, sorry to trouble you,
but I was wondering if we might discuss the plans for the Breach. If the
Templars are to dampen the ambient magic, we must ensure lines so that they do
not affect the mages,” Fiona says as she walks up to them. Alexi puts a hand on
Barris’s back, a guiding pat towards her.
“Barris is more than capable of
speaking for the Templars. He can also recommend others for this. Please let us
know what you decide, and we’ll do everything we can to help,” he says. Pulling
his sweaters and his robe tighter around him, breath fogging in the air. Snow
underneath his feet, the dirt paths of Haven. Stone steps, and he gives a
polite greeting to Solas as he passes. Pushing open the door of the cabin and
Adan instantly slams down the container he’s holding.
“You’re late!” He says, waving
around a fist full of spindleweed – for his own benefit, not for Alexi’s. “They
want us making healing poultices. Hear that’s your fault too.”
“Sorry Adan,” Alexi says with a
smile. He rests his staff very near the work bench, the small bells at the head
softly chiming as it leans against the wall. Hands moving over the table and
upwards, finding the small bottles. Alexi and Adan had spent most of an
afternoon labelling them in a way Alexi could find them easily. A circle of
raised dots for elfroot. Two for blood lotus. So on and so forth. Wrapping a
hand around the jar of elfroot, pulling out the stopper. Everything is
carefully measured in touch. Crushing the elfroot, adding a pinch of lotus. All
of it is routine, memorized and practiced, and so his thoughts stray elsewhere.
“Adan, do you know what happens
to Templars when they stop taking lyrium?” he asks.
“Stop taking lyrium? Maker why
would they do that? They usually die,” he says. Alexi’s jaw drops.
“I thought you’d’ve learned that
in your fancy Circle.” Adan is studying the edges of the spindleweed. Parts of
it are greyed, unfit for use. With a displeased knife, he cuts them to shreds,
completely unaware of the fact that all of Alexi’s movements have come to a
complete halt.
“The Templars didn’t typically
like mages knowing anything about the Order, outside of the fact that they were
in charge,” Alexi says.
“Not a surprise, I guess,” Adan
says, “lyrium gives them their abilities but it’s also some nasty stuff for
regular folk. It’s addictive so they need a constant supply. Eventually most
Templars lose their minds. Start having some crazy dreams. Lose all their
memories. Stopping it though, after years of use, is dangerous. You have the
typical withdrawal, but this is no typical chain. The ones I’ve seen try to
quit either start using again after a month or die after a few. Then again, a
Templar that quits is rare. Only seen a few.”
“If there were Templars in the
camp that wanted to stop using lyrium, is there anything we can do to help?” Alexi
asks, staying away from the question of Cullen entirely.
“Oh so you want to give me more
work, huh?” Adan finally looks over, “especially since the Herald himself can’t
put in the time!” Alexi immediately goes back to task, reaching for the glass
vial nearby. Adan watches him for a moment, and then sighs.
@inqy-hanalghilan had mentioned my quizzie resembled Felassan so I decided to do a quick portrait of him. Now I have so many feels about this elf ;____;
I think it has to be something like that, or he wouldn’t get so worked up. But I don’t think the Archdemons are imprisoning the Evanuris in particular, cause the Evanuris’ prison is the Veil itself, and Solas wants to take down the Veil – he seems to agree that tearing down the Veil would free the Evanuris, but says he ‘has plans’ for dealing with that. Whereas he gets very upset at the idea of killing the Old Gods and freeing whatever they’re holding back.
Solas had been fighting the Evanuris for a while before he finally put up the Veil, so there was a tipping point, and it wasn’t just Mythal’s murder. So what else could killing the Old Gods possibly unleash? I’m reminded again of the scene description I found in the game files of a particular hard-to-find ruin in Trespasser:
Other details too:
“Hail Mythal, adjudicator and savior! She has struck down the pillars of the earth and rendered their demesne unto the People! Praise her name forever!“
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.
The vision grows dark. An aeon seems to pass. Then the runes crackle, as if filled with an angry energy. A new vision appears: elves collapsing caverns, sealing the Deep Roads with stone and magic.
Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast.
A voice whispers: “What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all.“’ (x)
“The runes say the Evanuris fought the Titans. They mined their bodies for lyrium and… something else. It’s not clear.”
”-each time she entered the Void, Andruil suffered longer and longer periods of madness after returning. Andruil put on armor made of the Void, and all forgot her true face. She made weapons of darkness, and plague ate her lands. She howled things meant to be forgotten, and the other gods became fearful Andruil would hunt them in turn.“ (x)
“The fools who first unleashed the Blight upon this world thought they were unlocking ultimate power.”
“He broke the dreams to stop the old dreams from waking. The wolf chews its leg off to escape the trap.”
“They made bodies from the earth. And the earth was afraid. It fought back. But they made it forget.”
It’s not the Evanuris themselves, it’s what the Evanuris were doing. Something so bad that Elvhenan had to be destroyed (and the world cut off from the Fade) to stop the Evanuris from unleashing it. Something that Solas never even hints at in passing lest it be discovered. “Every alternative was worse.”
We’ve seen two different illustrations of what exactly the Seven Seals (presumably the archdemons) are holding back. I think both the many-eyed thing and the lyrium idol are representing the same thing. At this point, I’m taking the red lyrium idol to be a symbol and not what is actually locked away.
So what could it be? What are the ‘old dreams?’ What is sleeping that would be angry if they woke up? It could honestly be anything – the impossibly large sleeping Titans waking up/becoming blighted and striding the land, destroying everything with earthquakes, a Blight beyond reckoning that is only barely being held back, the Forbidden/Forgotten ones, or, yeah, I guess it could be the Evanuris themselves, Blighted beyond recognition. Or it could be something else we haven’t seen – they’re still introducing new concepts.
But whatever it is, Solas is worried af about it, but he hasn’t talked openly about it.
Sharing here because I see so many theories and posts I agree with for the most part and have great in depth analysis but corseque’s are always the ones that make me go YES EXACTLY 🙏
i want to cross stitch a snarky phrase for a gift but I’ve never made my own pattern before. i want it to look like those samplers all your aunties have that say things like ‘bless this house’ but actually says ‘eat my ass’ or something. with pretty accents like flowers or something.
Ir Laimsa Ara Lath 