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mrshaythamkenway · 1 year

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Dirthamen & Fen'Harel

I've been doing a lot of speculation lately on DA:Dreadwolf, and I just want to take a break from it by going back and thinking about the evanuris; the cause of all this shit. Specifically, my favourite of the elvhen pantheon; Dirthamen - god of secrets, and how he relates to my favourite problematic love interest; Solas.

What we know of Dirthamen is rather little.

We know he was believed to be a god of secrets and knowledge, who took his secrets very seriously. He conquered to spirits/concepts in the form of ravens (metaphorical or not) called Fear and Deceit. He was the 'brother' or 'twin soul' of Falon'Din; god of death and guide to the souls of the dead (according to elven legend, at least). He and Falon'Din were close, from what we can gather, though it is uncertain whether or not they were brothers. Though some suspect that they were the same entity, occupying the same body- by way of a spirit possessing a host, or, some form of 'split personality' - I find this interesting, but I'm not here to discuss Falon'Din, or the relationship he had with Dirthamen; I'm here to discuss the relationship between Dirthamen and Fen'Harel.

Fen'Harel; the Dread Wolf, He Who Hunts Alone, the Lord of Tricksters, the Great Wolf, Roamer of the Beyond, Pride/Solas (wisdom?). The elven god of betrayal or rebellion. Solas, it's just Solas, we know what's up with him.

I find it curious how Fen'Harel and Dirthamen orbit a similar spheres of 'divine' influence; deceit, knowledge, trickery, secrets. I imagine Dirthamen being the keeper of secrets and knowledge are rather odd things to be a god of; what is a secret and piece of knowledge but something that can be used (or locked away forever - keep this in mind). I would argue he was more of a spymaster - like Leliana, but good at it - especially given that the gods are not truly gods, but powerful mages who were once great generals. I imagine a sort of Petyr Baelish from ASOIAF, but with a qualitative, fuckton of magical power along with his 6-dimensional chess brain. But considering this; wouldn't we regard Fen'Harel/Solas as the sneaky one of the elven 'gods'? He does an excellent job of cultivating lore, knowledge and lost secrets that few else hold. It just sounds peculiarly similar to me.

Now, I am not saying Fen'Harel/Solas and Dirthamen are the same person, but they are similar in many regards.

I believe they were likely friends before.... Well, before shit hit the fan, so to speak. Perhaps rivals, but I like to believe it wasn't necessarily a rivalry fuelled by hatred. Like, when you see another person on the track and you just know you can run a bit faster or longer than them, though you wouldn't want them to stop altogether, that would ruin it for both of you. Friendly, perhaps spiteful, rivalry, then? Yes, I'm pulling this out of my ass (absolutely for fanfiction reasons, and fun).

Please consider that Dirthamen is known as the keeper of secrets and knowledge, and Fen'Harel/Solas is a pursuer of knowledge and lost/forgotten lore (or secrets). I find that very, very curious. I imagine they operated differently; allow me to elaborate.

Why is this relevant? Well...

I believe in this (we know to be quite reliable, as it's information from the ancient elves themselves) being some multi-dimensional chess move by Dirthamen. The sinner belonged to Dirthamen, so why would Ghilan'nain urge a slave to do something that was considered 'high treason'? We know that Dirthamen created the Varterral, and Ghilan'nain created a great many creatures, so perhaps they were quite close, or shared notes on the creation of weird looking creatures. Why would Ghilan'nain urge a slave to take the form of (presumably a dragon, a form reserved for the gods and their high priests)? I don't think she would do it of her own volition, it feels very... Out of place for her - why would she urge one of Dirthamen's slaves to do something that will get him punished/killed, and likely get her in trouble with the other Evanuris for telling him to do it - and even then, why would she want some random slave to become a dragon when the consequences seem so obvious. Unless...This will sound out there, but what if Dirthamen was plotting something with this, and used Ghilan'nain to cover his tracks? Why would he be plotting?

The slave begged protection from Mythal, who is the most known among the gods for caring for and being protective of her people. But she didn't, she didn't show him favor - she let Elgar'Nan judge the slave. Why would Dirthamen not judge the slave, if he belongs to Dirthamen? Dirthamen is a keeper of secrets and knowledge, and I feel like he would know if one of his own was doing something (like becoming a fucking dragon, at the urging of another god, no less). What if the goal of this was to test the other Evanuris and what they would do if a slave (or bunch of slaves) took the form of 'the divine' (I imagine they somewhat revered/respected the dragons and their power/strength to regard them so highly, so that would suggest they are powerful... Powerful enough, to possibly challenge the other gods?).

We know that the gods did get uppity, rivalling one another at times, as the example of Falon'Din and how he started wars to gain more followers, and the other gods (particularly Mythal) had to rally together to stop him only when he started invading the other god's lands. So we know that it happened. What this tells us, along with Andruil and whatever plague she brought upon her lands, is that the gods don't care what happened within each other's spheres/realms of influence/lands, unless it challenges their own authority. Though I will bring up why this is relevant to Dirthamen and Fen'Harel's relationship later.

Back to the sinner/slave; what if it was to directly challenge Mythal? Why would the slave not ask for his own god/patron to judge him? Why specifically Mythal - the goddess who is best known for taking the form of a dragon (and from what we gather in the games, does not seem inclined to share the knowledge of that form with others)? I suspect, Dirthamen told Ghilan'nain to do all this, or perhaps... Tricked her into getting the slave to do all this, so to keep himself from the other god's ire/suspicion? All eyes would be on Ghilan'nain, surely. And the worst Dirthamen has to deal with is seeming incompetent for not being able to keep his own people in check (kind of perfect, if your goal is to get people to lack confidence in your ability/underestimate how well you do have your people in control). But why did Mythal not judge him? She was the go-to for judgement/justice within the pantheon, it was practically her realm of jurisdiction. She gave him to Elgar'nan to judge, and we can only assume Elgar'nan just fucking eviscerated him- given his reputation (Mythal must have know the slave would be killed, it was essentially a death sentence to hand him over to Elgar'nan; it's like a big 'oh, okay, alright, yeah put that in the 'I don't care' pile'). Let's consider what would have happened if the Mythal protected him; she would have been defying the rules (the slave had committed a massive sin), picking favourites, and it wasn't her slave to begin with. If she thought the slave was committing some atrocity/sin, surely she would have killed/judged him herself? So why didn't she? It would have been undermining Dirthamen's power/authority, and perhaps it would have looked really bad for her to personally judge/kill a slave who had begged for her protection? So she hands it over to Elgar'nan, the father of the pantheon, the big daddy, the chief, the Don. Nobody would question him doing shit.

So I imagine the goal of this was to sow dissent/mistrust between the gods. I imagine Elgar'nan was annoyed at the slave, annoyed at Mythal for not dealing with it personally (when it's her sphere of influence to pass judgements), annoyed at Ghilan'nain for making this all happen, and everyone else is likely annoyed at one another for the fact this could happen, a lack of trust in one another has been sown. Mythal purposefully shirked her duty, Ghilan'nain purposefully provoked this into happening, and all that Dirthamen can be accused of is being a bit ignorant/blindsided (I don't know, I just think it's genius if he did this with the intent of being a sneaky bastard who nobody thinks is as good as he claims to be). Unless Fen'Harel had a part in this somehow, I do smell the faint whiff of suspicious shit, but I couldn't say.

Back to the thing about what Solas says concerning the gods challenging one another's realms/lands. At the Temple of Mythal, Solas remarks on Falon'Din's vanity, and how he would crave adulation to the point of murdering anyone who doesn't show enough reverence for him, and starting whole wars just to gain more followers (going so far as to invading the lands of the other Evanuris). But I find it odd how he doesn't mention Dirthamen, given that he seems to know them all personally, and would know that Falon'Din and Dirthamen are 'inseparable'. So the lack of mentioning says to me that Dirthamen was not like his brother, and from what I'm guessed above; it seems Dirthamen was subtle, he perhaps wasn't vain, but he was certainly not without motives, or getting others in to trouble, and avoiding it himself. He didn't start big, noisy 'I'm going to come get you' wars. He got others to do things, and keep himself out of trouble. He was clever, and he knew things others did not, and he knew just what to do to get others to act.

Who does that sound like? Hmmmmm.

I also find it worthy to note that Dirthamen's Wisdom was a literal shield, some lost item of great significant (at the Temple of Dirthamen). His wisdom was a shield, think about that. Something to block attacks, to avoid being hit, perhaps knock someone back. He was smart and he knew how to use his smarts on the battlefield. Shields are awful on the battlefield; they're big, bulky, heavy, almost impractical unless you're using tactics like shield walls, or are facing a single opponent using something useless like a bow (or magic). They had their uses, it's just an unusual item for a mage god-king as seemingly his lasting legacy. It's a defensive piece of equipment, not really offensive unless someone's right up in your face - and I think that says a lot about him (more than some multiple paragraph tinfoil hat rambling about how Dirthamen is a master manipulator because a slave became a dragon).

I would also like to point out that you find Dirthamen's Wisdom in a box with this symbol on it;

And then this;

As far as I know, these are the only 2 instances of this symbol (please prove me wrong); Dirthamen's Wisdom container, and Temple of Mythal Fen'Harel statue.

Dirthamen and Fen'Harel/Solas are remarkably similar. Both like others to do their dirty work for them, both seems exceptionally clever, and employ underhanded tactics, both avoid the offensive position when it comes to fighting, and both are pursuers and keepers of knowledge. I refuse to believe they didn't at least respect one another, if not, had some sort of... (don't say rivalmance, don't say- fuck) rival... friendship (perhaps not quite friendship? Like... rivals, but not in the 'i will kill you' kind of way. Like, you bring out one another's best side -best side being their talents- and there's a kind of comfort in seeing part of yourself in another, especially if it's a part you pride yourself on).

And this is just for extra fun;

Dirthamen is heavily associated with ravens (fear & deceit). Fen'Harel is associated with a wolf (being the Dread Wolf).

Wolves and ravens have a very close/friendly and symbiotic relationship; raven's are typically scavengers, and rely on larger predators to provide their meals for them. The closest relationship they have (rather famously) is the wolf; being known in some cultures as wolf-birds. Ravens will attract wolves to carrion, who will remove the tough hide and bone, to get to the 'good parts', meanwhile they will watch over the wolves eating to warn them of other predators. Wolves and ravens also engage in play, yes you heard me, ravens have been documented throwing sticks to wolves and engaging in tug-of-war with pups.

I really like Dirthamen. I hope we get more on him in the next game (let the Evanuris rise again!)

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #dai #solas

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