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lairofdragonagelore · 1 year

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Chant of Light - Part 1

In these two posts named “Chant of Light - Part 1 and Part 2″ I try to analyse the context associated with each group of canticles, the social and political situation in which they are written or compiled, the author(s) and their intentions, and a brief summary of the main concepts expressed in said canticles.

The whole Chant of Light can be found in the Wiki for anyone who wants to interpret it by their own. I will also add some comments and appreciations of how the concepts in the Chant of Light serve a very clear political agenda in the world of Thedas, idea which is usually reinforced by the social-political situation that surrounds the creation or acceptance of the canticles.

There will also be personal speculations about how certain parts of the Chant of Light seem to belong to other cultures’ tales which were modified in order to make this religion appealing to other races [mostly, elves]. This is an hypothesis I’ve been working on in all these analysis posts of the Chantry history and the Chant of Light verses. I’m not saying the Chant of Light “is” a unique piece of hidden lore; quite on the contrary: the idea I’m trying to display is that The Chant of Light reflects modified versions of pieces of historical events from Thedas, Elvhenan history in particular, maybe even Titan/dwarven history, and Alamarri folktales; all these elements combined in a way to pursue a political agenda in a given historical moment of Thedas.

There is also a compilation of all the art I found in these pages of the Chant of Light [World of Thedas Vol 2], which will be analysed briefly to give more context to the study of the Chant of Light using the hypothesis explained above.

The canticles of the Chant of Light [Cumberland edition] are:

Cosmogenesis and First Sin: Threnodies 5-6

Creation of the Blight: Silence 1-3

Epiphany of Our Lady: Andraste 1

Andraste’s Teachings: Transfigurations 1, 10, 12

Hymns: Trials 1

Rallying the Armies: Shartan 9-10

Betrayal and Death: Apotheosis 1-2

Prophecy: Exaltations 1

Disclaimer: The Chant of Light I’m focusing on belongs to the Cumberland Edition [World of Thedas Vol2], which lacks of several verses that appear in the games in different codices. All these verses are compiled in the wiki though and, in general, provide the same idea than the verses of the book.

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

Cosmogenesis and First Sin: Threnodies 5-6

Context of Threnodies Verses:

The first versions of these canticles related to the creation of the world were written between -31 Ancient and -11 Ancient [1164 TE and 1184 TE], which means after the First Blight [800 TE] and the Death of Andraste [1025 TE], but before the creation of the Chantry [1195 TE]

The author of these verses as well as the majority of the Chant of Light is attributed to Justinia I [first Divine with the creation of the Chantry, who was also general of Kordillus Drakon’s army], but the truth is that it’s a collection of different authors. Apparently, her main work was to make transcriptions and translations of tales of oral tradition, giving her total freedom to manipulate the stories with expansionist and mass-control purposes. I think we should not forget that the first Divine of the Chantry was the main general of Kordillus Drakon’s armies, a man who ordered Exalt Marches all over Orlais to unify the different tribes, using the Chant of Light as a “social glue” for it, while creating the Empire of Orlais deeply entangled with the Chantry.

The original Chant of Light by the time of Andraste’s death seems to have been only composed of: Threnodies, Andraste, Transfigurations, and Trials. This means that the contribution of the elves in the Chant of Light did not existed by that time as a canticle, or if it did, it was ignored or erased. The addition of the Magister Sidereals was added years later even though it was written a decade after the death of Andraste. One may speculate that the addition of this canticle was done later when the Chantry tried to unify Tevinter and Orlais under the same faith and removed them when the Schism happened and Tevinter developed its own version of the Chantry.

It’s clear that the Chant of Light was modified over time to pursuit an agenda of homogenisation and power.

The different languages in which these verses have been recorded over time produce alterations in the usage of words. For example the First Children of the Maker are called “Spirits”, “Firstborn” and “Demons” depending on the version we are checking. This shows how translation, and picking certain words, determine a lot the tone of the text and adds judgement to some concepts.

These canticles narrate the story of the creation of the world and the fall of man. This canticle ignores any other mortal race but the humans, this makes the Chant of Light an obvious human-made narration.

The events narrated in these canticles are mirrored in the dissonant ones of Erudition and Silence

Additional Threnodies verses can be found in several codices and books, but I ignored them since they tend to say the same than these ones that were presented more organised in the book World of Thedas Vol 2

Threnodies 5:

Before this moment there was only silence. The voice of the Maker created sound [As we can see, the Chant of Light also works with the metaphor of the sound/voice/song that is aesthetically and deeply related to DA lore as we saw in Songs and elements that sing and whisper in DA Lore.]

The Maker creates the spirits and waits to see their ingenuity in the Golden City, which exists in the Fade.

The Golden City is described to have streets with music for cobblestones. Again, we see more reinforcement of music and sounds.

The Maker is disappointed by the spirits, who only reflect his own creation without originality.

He separates the Fade [a formless world, ever-changing] from the Waking World [immutable world], and creates his Secondborn: the humans, who have bodies made of earth/immutable substance, and souls of Dreams/Fade. This part shows so clearly how the Chant of Light was a human creation since the verses and the creation itself is focused only on humans.

Put aside, the Firstborn feel abandoned by the Maker, and grow jealous and envious to the Secondborn. They want to rule over Earth and become greater than the Maker [this seems to have a soft influence of the elvhenan history when it comes to the Evanuris, but at the same time it’s the nature of the divinity power]

This way the Firstborn appeared to the “children of the earth” and called themselves gods, and demanded worshipping.

The Maker, angry, seals them into the Earth. This part of the Chantry tale seems to be inspired in the historical elvhenan event when Titans went into a deep slumber underground.

From there, the Firstborn began to whisper to the Secondborn/humans.

Tevinter heard them and raised altars in their name, so the Firstborn shared the secrets of dark magic [blood magic] with them. This part of the tale seems to represent the Forbidden Ones. Thanks to the Fell Grimoire and Tarohne [who implies this knowledge has been taught to humans by Xebenkeck] we know that the learning of the blood magic has been done through the Forbidden Ones. They relate to the elevhenan thanks to the codex Exile of the Forbidden Ones , who seem to have been forced to leave the Evanuris lands for not fighting against the Titans. Leaving these lands may suggest that the Forbidden Ones went to The Deepest Fade, which ironically is explained with words and expressions that give an impression of stone, dwarvish touch, and Titan flavour, as I explained with more details in Ancient Elven codices; Vir Dirthara. More about the concept of the origin of the Blood Magic in the post “Tarohne, the Fell Grimoire, and Xebenkeck”.

One of the illustrations used to represent this part of the Chant of Light is of a man which body [flesh] has been created from the Earth and it is related to the immutable world. This is represented by the “vowels” that look like tree roots, reinforcing the idea of being created to stick deeply within the Earth, while his heart, from which some branches come out towards his hands [representation of magic ability?] and head, was supposed to be created with “Fade”, hence he “returns” to the Fade every night in his sleep. This upper structure distantly looks like to an spherical Elven Tree Statue, which is an element related to the elvhen and therefore, to the Fade. It also looks a bit like a Titan’s guardian’s heart, which has no sense for this kind of interpretation since this is a deep dwarven lore that I doubt Elvhenan knew about. The drawing doesn’t seem to hide some elvhenan concept inherited from the ancient version that inspired this part of the Chant of Light.

Threonides 6:

Two original human tribes in the north enter in a war [one of them is from where the Tevinter will descend: the Neromenian]

The Dreamer called Thalsian of the Neromenian consults a demon in the Fade who promised him to win the war if he renounced to the Maker. And so he did.

The Neromerians invade Nevarra too.

Nevarra resists, but despite the blessings received in the name of the Maker, the cost they pay is too high and their lands end up soaked in blood. Seeing this massacre, the nevarran king forsakes the Maker, and knowing he could not resist another day of Neromerian attacks, he seeks help in another demon.

Nevarra wins the war thanks to this demon’s help [which we only know is a “she”].

I personally can’t say we know what demons were involved in this, if they were Forbidden Ones or not. I don’t think we can draw many worthy conclusions with these verses.

Creation of the Blight: Silence 1-3

Context of Silence Verses:

This text was written by Archon Hessarian, around -160 Ancient [1035 TE, a decade after the death of Andraste]

It’s historical value clearly is diminished when you think it was written almost 2 hundred years after the events it describes: the First Blight [-395 Ancient, 800 TE]. This canticle seems to be a way for the Archon to reduce the bad propaganda against Tevinter or even encourage an anti-blood magic propaganda. This text also places the Archon’s actions in good light, as if this text were meant to demonise only the Magister Sidereal alone, pretending to show how the rest of Tevinter would have seen these actions as terrible. It also provides a text in which Tevinter is presented as a “victim” of the ambition of seven isolated Magisters and their disciples.

It’s not firsthand knowledge. Probably it was written with access to the archives of the Magisterium though, but clearly this text may have been manipulated and altered to fulfil the Archon’s agenda and present Tevinter as a victim of all this situation.

Silence is named for Dumat.

The three stanzas describe the corruption of the Magisters, the assault to the Golden City, and the consequences of their fall.

It is not part of the Chant of Light anymore because it was considered pro-Tevinter propaganda, and I agree with that. The historical accuracy it has is none so far we know. For example, in these verses it is claimed that the Magisters kept hearing the Old Gods voices to make them open the gates and it was that what made them step into the Golden City, when we know via Corypheus that they were desperate to hear their gods again. The Old Gods had fallen silent for a long time, and in order to reach them, they stepped beyond the Veil.

Silence 1:

We are taught that the main Old God is Dumat; he has a powerful whisper, and rituals in his name involve “rare incense, trees of Arlathan, and bones of slaves”. The blood of his altars seems to never dry.

The High priest of Dumat is called “Conductor” and is described as a great dreamer, powerful, and wise. He is the only one capable of listening the Voice of Silence [Dumat]. All this seems to make sense with Corypheus: undeniably powerful dreamer who could heard Dumat in his dreams, until he did not anymore [The Claws of Dumat].

These verses say that Dumat whispered to him to go to the Golden City in order to give him godhood. This promise consumed the magister. However, we know this was not true; we learnt later that Corpyheus was consumed by the lack of any whisper [The Claws of Dumat].

The Golden City was presented as a “golden heart of the Dream’s kingdom”, unable to be reached.

Corypheus [conductor of the choir] decided to reach the Golden City, and with the power of the Whisper of Silence, convinced the Architect [Architect of Beauty] in secret to design the means to reach it, even when the Architect tried to resist this temptation.

The Architect consulted this plan to his own god, Urthemiel, who repeated what Dumat had said: she promised him unique designs and godhood if they opened the gates.

To open the gates they required more resources, so Corypheuys invited the rest of the priests who accepted after asking about this to their own gods, each of them answering and promising the same that Dumat and Urthemiel did. We know again this was not what happened. We have not only the codex The Claws of Dumat that explains the silence of the Gods, but also of Razikale in Mouth of Echoes and in Tevinter Inscription. The Magisters fell in despair when their gods went silent. This is what truly motivated their entrance to the Fade. Corypheus is our more or less reliable source of information on this matter: details in DLC: Legacy, Orlais: Shrine of Dumat, and in Frostback Mountains: Attack to Haven.

In this way, all the Magisters agreed to enter the Fade. This verse adds that the Archon had a bad hunch without knowing why, as a way to diminish Tevinter’s responsibility. Here we can see some details of propaganda to improve the image of Tevinter overall.

Three illustrations appear representing these verses:

The first one represents a magister who seems to hear the whispers of three dark old gods. At the bottom of this illustration we see white tentacles or a white snake. Since we can’t see its head is hard to tell. The tentacles would be adequate if we remember Urthemiel representation in DAO, which had tentacles in their lower body. As a snake, of course, would represent Tevinter itself.

The second image shows a white figure succumbing to the whispers of a strange entity. This entity is wearing a typical tevinter mask that we saw in the Tevinter Mosaics [mostly Sacrifice], but also I cannot stop seeing in that figure the profile of Thane from Mass Effect. The illustration is named “The Choir of Silence is corrupted”, representing Corypheus falling into the “temptation” of the Old God who asks him to open the Gates. Of course, this is what the Chant of Light says, we know the reality is different.

The third image is named “The priests formulate a plan”, where we see several priests plotting around a main one, which we can assume is Corypheus. He is represented with an outfit that looks like a moth. This representation is used later in “the Magisters face judgement”.

Silence 2:

The Magisters used lyrium to drown a city and countless slaves to reach the gates. This links immediately with the codex Enigma of Kirkwall, explained in detail in Kirkwall history and design, where we suspect that Kirkwall was the city where this event happened.

The ritual involved the creation of “a tower of blood, bone and metal to the heavens”. This clearly is a metaphor. Since this canticle is written by the Archon I doubt he does not know this plan was meant to happen in Kirkwall, the main slave trade city of Tevinter where several legions were sent to secure it, but were lost in their trip. Kirkwall was always important to Tevinter, and I cannot believe its importance was not recorded and kept in highly classified libraries that only Archons can access to. However, since this canticle is also a way to modify and improve Tevinter image to the rest of the world, the Archon may have opted for a very ridiculous metaphor to describe this.

One of the acolytes speaks against this plan but nobody listens. Then, he escapes to the “north”, heading to Miranthous to inform the Archon. This means that the place where this plan was performed was “south of Minrathous” which technically allows us to keep suspecting Kirkwall as the place where the ritual happened. It could be several others, true, but then again, the devs have given us a lot of clues and the codex The Enigma of Kirkwall to guide our suspicions to Kirkwall.

99 sacrifices were performed, and the dead slaves rose as if building a bridge towards the sky. The veil broke like crystal. This image felt a bit like the creation of a Haverster, but it seems natural to think that Hessarian wrote this in a more metaphorical way to be more appealing. In DAI we saw that entering the Fade does not require bridges or physical structures, but tearing the space-time of a given place [breaches].

The canticle states that as the Magisters entered and walked across the Golden City, a dark stained wake was left behind them, contaminating the city. We know this was not true; the Magisters entered to a city already deeply contaminated; they found no Maker at all, and ended up embracing the corruption that inhabited there [More details in Orlais: Shrine of Dumat].

The illustration that accompanies this part of the canticle shows two Tevinter figures carrying what I think is an elven slave [we barely can see something that may look like an elven ear]. Notice that the general colour of the Tevinter figures is dark and grey, with ash-like skins while the slave has a more vivid colour to him. The Tevinter figures seem to lament the sacrifice. This certainly reinforces the idea of giving a more positive shift to the usually “evil” reputation that Tevinter image has. They are still dark and grey, because they are sinners, but the overall drawing looks like they are lamenting the sacrifice they are performing. What a joke.

Silence 3:

The Chant claims that the Magisters found the Maker in his throne, but we know this is a lie: the throne was empty. [More details in DLC: Legacy, Orlais: Shrine of Dumat, and in Frostback Mountains: Attack to Haven].

It claims that the Magisters were furious because they expected to see dragons, but instead, they saw the Maker. This is a nice detail that Hessarian writes to keep cleaning the Tevinter image: he tries to show how badly mistaken Tevinter was, and how now they will know better and follow the Maker.

When they observed the Maker with mortal eyes, his Light burnt their eyes. This reinterpretation seems to be repeated in The Fall from Tevinter Mosaics. This idea is very hard for me to deny or accept, because the only two Magisters we saw so far, both have clear signs of having been melted. It may be an effect of the corruption or the potential red lyrium that they carry, but certainly this design choice always caught my attention. Architect in particular is the one looking more affected by the Fire, while Corypheus looks like something exploded on his left side. Comments on this matter were done previously in DLC: Legacy and a bit in DA2: Eyes.

The Maker did not kill them. Instead, he was “expecting” them, since he was waiting to see what his Secondborn had created by their own [it’s what Threnodies 5 says the Maker was planning when he created his Secondborn]. But when he looked at the Magisters, he only saw in them envy, hunger, pride, and desire, and was horrified with the sacrifices they had made to reach him.

This passage uses the line “On wings of death and suffering are you borne hence.”

The Maker explains that it’s obvious that the Old Gods were whispering to the Magisters in order for them to open the gates. In the end, he rejects the blood spilled to reach him and condemns the Magisters to be creatures of darkness [here, the Chant explains the creation of the darkspawn].

The “Veil in the Golden City” ripped beneath the magisters so they fell outside of the city, now corrupted. After this, the Maker never saw the humans again.

The Magisters “fell from the Wellspring of Creation”, and Tevinter saw them falling from the sky, burning, and where they fell, Darkness grew.

This passage seems to relate deeply with the image of The Fall from Tevinter Mosaics. It’s curious that this canticle says later that these Magisters fell on the surface of Barindur. We only know that the Architect apparently lived all his live underground after embracing the Blight, while Corypheus was “discovered” by Grey Wardens who confused him as a unique kind of Darkspawn to the point that he had to be sealed in his prison and forced into a slumber [all the details in DLC: Legacy ]. So, even though it’s not explicit, it seems to mean that the Magisters returned from the Fade to end up underground while the Chant gives a different explanation [detailed below].

The rest of Tevinter cried in rage and frustration.

The Old Gods did not answer to the Magister’s prayers, so they promised vengeance against the Old Gods and the Maker himself.

The Archon in Minrathous is warned about these events thanks to the acolyte who had escaped.

The Archon followed the path left in the sky and reached Barindur, where the Magisters have fallen. This means that, according to Hessarian, this is the place where the darkspawn were found for the first time in history. To me, feels like a very convenient way to cover something that may have happened in Barindur or use it to reinforce the impact of this current tale. The city of Barindur was lost around -1600 Ancient [ -405 TE], before the creation of the Tevinter Imperium. Tevinter considers it was destroyed by Dumat when Barindur’s King disrespected Dumat’s high priest, while Solas will talk about it as a place Pompeii-like, buried in the ground, with ashes, and calcified bodies of its previous inhabitants. Certainly placing the darkspwan in a natural ruined landscape helps to build the story of evil darkness carried by the Seven Magisters. I think it’s easy to see the manipulation of the facts to create the legend that will become religion later.

The twisted, blighted Magisters attacked the Anchor who resisted thanks to his items. He also tried to control and burn the Blight that was spreading across the land but he could not. So the Archon called the spirits of the fade to help him and scattered the Magisters across the world. He returned to Miranthous to prepare to fight the Blight. Clearly this is all pro-Archon propaganda. It implies the Magisters fell on the surface of Thedas, which we kind of concluded it was not the case some points above. And he also faced them. We know how powerful the Architect and Corypheus are. Imagine to face the seven together. It’s clear to see why this canticle was removed by the Chantry, since it has a good amount of pro-Tevinter propaganda, showing it as a nation that has recognised its mistakes, now walks through the “right” path, and the Archon is always a very wise man leading the nation. Pfft, lol.

There are several illustrations that belong to this part:

The first one shows a tower that may represent the Golden City. It has golden walls, with geometrical figures of yellow and blue, but the top of it is being corrupted. The Magisters appear bellow it, in front of a circle with a golden border that looks like a halo, implying that they were looking for godhood in the process of reaching this place. The bottom of their bodies is a spread stain of darkness, representing the corruption of the Magisters

The second illustration is described as “The Blight begins”, where the darkness in the night sky falls onto a city that features Tevinter buildings, and it leaks and drips that corruption below, underground. A very aesthetic representation of the Blight as something that came from above, hit the cities, and found home underground.

The third illustration is the Archon playing something that looks like a harp, talking to the spirits in the Fade. This practice is basically the one we see with Solas, and it was common among Dreamers. However, since it’s a practice that the Chantry condemns, it seems to have been drawn in a darker way. The spirits are dark, smokey entities, implying some negativity into the image. It’s represented as a night because it’s when a Dreamer have access to the Fade: through their dreams.

A fourth illustration can be considered part of this group of canticles, where we see a moth. The description of the image says that “the Magisters face judgement”, and we see a very creepy, evil-like moth, with ruined wings, a bit consumed [we see stains that seem to eat its wings and may be a representation of the Blight]. Behind the horrible moth, there is a Sun. The same Sun used in the cover of this edition of the Chant of Light. Because a moth will follow the Light [in this case the Maker], it is implying that the blind need that the Magisters had of following the “Light” [divinity in general] is also what destroys/consumes/wears them out. Following the source of Light is a compulsion that punishes you. In a way, this is the core mechanics of the Darkspawn as Architect described it: the only light they see is the song of the Archdemon, and once it awakes, darkspawn also suffer the consequences of the Blight happening in its endless cycle [more details in Songs and elements that sing and whisper in DA Lore].

Epiphany of Our Lady: Andraste 1

Context of Andraste Verses:

The potential origin of this canticle may be a particular version that belonged to an andrastian cult in -165 Ancient [1030 TE], 5 years after the Death of Andraste.

These canticles have five hundred versions, only the oldest one was preserved, apparently.

They are composed in the style of the Alamarri sagas [like the one of Tyrdda Bright-Axe Path] which is a genre more used for tales of war and heroism than prophecy.

This canticle is attributed to Andraste, but it’s unknown if this is the version she used to sing. More or less we can assume with some level of certainty that it contains some elements of the tale she spread. Personally, I think this is a modified version because Andraste’s personal life seems to have some hints that imply her as a Mage [she may have killed her half-sister by using fire in the forest, and could hear voices speak to her, details in here], while this tale erase this aspect completely to fit the Chantry agenda against the mages. Let’s remember that the Avvar respect and accept their mages, allowing even a natural possession of gentle spirits so the mage would learn their magic from them without risking damage from more violent entities. If the Alamarri and Andraste followed similar costumes to the Avvar, we can think that Andraste may have been possessed for a time, or maybe all her life.

Andraste 1:

In this canticle, Andraste wants to end the suffering of the alamarri under the abuse of Tevinter.

So Andraste asks help to the alamarri gods: the lady of the sky and Korth, but also to a “secret-steeped roots of the ancient oak trees”. None of the gods answers. She despairs.

However, a voice upon the mountain answered her call: the Maker. She describes this entity as “Greater than mountains, towering mighty, hands outstretched, stars glistening, from rings upon his fingers and crown upon his brow”. [So the Maker has a titan size, and wears rings and crown.] He is also described as the “Wellspring of All”. If these canticles truly keep some hint of real events that Andraste lived, this event may be explained as a contact with a Titan, or even a contact with one of them through the Fade [if we assume that Andraste may have been a Mage-dreamer].

If we think about it, this contact must have been done in the Fade, since an event such as this should have been recorded by many other cultures. Seeing a Titan rise behind mountains is something that many would see from a very long distance.

The Maker claims to have been forgotten, and invites Andraste to join him in the Heavens.

The Maker shows her all what the Magisters did, and she feels shame. Andraste proposes him to give humans a second chance. He accepts. We see once more how the whole tale is always focused on Humans.

Andraste 14 [this stanza does not belong to this edition of the Chant of Light]:

Here lies the abyss, the well of all souls. From these emerald waters doth life begin anew. Come to me, child, and I shall embrace you. In my arms lies Eternity.

Curiously, this passage is not present in the Chant Of Light, Cumberland Edition, but it has been used several times in books [The Calling] and in the game codex [Here Lies the Abyss], and seems to describe something that has been linked with Titan’s blood purity [In the Calling book], with the Fade [Emerald waters], and with some “well of sorrow” mechanism too [Well of all souls]. It clearly looks like a stanza with a lot of elements seen in the games to simply ignore its existence.

Andraste’s Teachings: Transfigurations 1, 10, 12

Context of Transfigurations:

This version can be tracked to an Andrastian group in Ferelden in -130 Ancient [1065 TE]. This is curious to me because these teachings are from a version gathered 40 years after her death. These teachings were supposed to be the same ones than the canticle of Andraste 1. Why taking two different versions of something that was spread by Andraste in the same time? Clearly one of them had inconvenient truths that were not present in the other version and suited more the Chantry’s agenda.

This is claimed to be the closest version spread among the alamarri who followed Andraste and Maferath to the North. I doubt it, simply because the vision of Magic among the alamarri was not as negative as it turned out to be in the Chant of Light.

As the war began and people rallied against Tevinter, more variations emerged.

Since Alamarri had no written tradition, these teachings may have been shared orally from camp to camp, creating multiple variations each time. There are at least 10 different versions among the Alamarri. Hence my mistrust: from all of them, they picked this one above the others... why? This is not research, as the Chantry likes to call it. Research is keeping all variations handy to see the differences. This is manipulation of religious texts.

These verses collect Andraste’s sermons. It’s supposed to be a faithful transcript of Andraste’s words done by Justinia, who was Andraste’s disciple and best friend. However we don’t know exactly what Justinia decided to write and what not. At the end of the day, it always relies on another person whose commitment with the truth is really compromised for different interests.

Personal opinion: These teachings are strongly hard to rely on, and it seems to be where the most of the Chant was modified in order to use it as a tool in favour of strong measures of mage control.

Transfigurations 1

These are the most common fragments we hear in DAO. At this point, after playing DAI, we can see how they were crafted to limit magic and mages and make its religion the only “true” one.

Each stanza is filled with irony in how it’s executed in the “real” world of Thedas: there is no one god [we are in a mess of Old Gods and Evanuris and Titans and several more entities that could qualify as gods], there is probably no Maker at all [The Maker seems to be a crafted tale of several ancient ones combined in one to turn it into the perfect tool of mass control to unify Thedas]. Blood mages are dismissed even though we have some guarantee that blood magic is not that bad as we were always told [Solas seems to know a lot more about these things that the average human in Thedas, and he is not scandalised by that magic]. These stanzas also claim that all people are the same, but in practice there are obvious race privilege of humans over the rest, as there is with the powerful, rich ones over the poor. Honestly, these verses are a total irony of what the Chantry claims the world to be, and what the world of Thedas truly is. A beautiful irony to make the Player think about our own religious tales, indeed.

Transfigurations 10

It’s related to the sermon she gave at Valarian Fields [in Tevinter, close to Miranthous]

It speaks about how much confidence Andraste had through her faith in the Maker.

The only illustration I think we can relate more or less to these verses are the one described as “Andraste marches on Tevinter”, in which we see Andraste at the head of the ship, bigger than the other humans, wearing a crown exactly the same than the Sun that represents the Maker in the cover of this Chant of Light. As we can see in [3], in the crown a silver spike stands out as her usual symbol of the Bride of the Maker. Several humans are drawn one beside another. Some cover their faces, others don’t. We can see in 4 and 5 that they were drawn in a way that reinforce the idea that men and women went into this March. At the end of the row, we see a last figure that may represent Maferath or The Aegis Havard: it’s the only figure that displays a shoulder/shield [1] and a decoration [2] on his shoulder.

Transfigurations 12

Andraste prays before the siege to Minrathous.

This prayer curiously uses the word “Maker” and “Creator” as exchangeable, which supports a bit my idea that the myth of the Chantry may have been inspired in historical Elvhenan events/tales spread by the elven slaves in combination with historical human events contemporary of the time. We already established that the tale of the Maker seems to have been inspired by Fen’Harel’s tales, who was considered a “Creator” later by the Dalish.

The Maker is described as “the fire at the heart of the world”.

This prayer may have happened before Maferath asks Andraste to go to a hill where the “voice of the Maker can be heard better”, and commits his “betrayal” [read Apotheosis in the Part 2 of the Chant of Light].

Hymns: Trials 1

Context of Hyms:

It’s believed to be composed by Andraste as hymns to the Maker, but its origin is more complex: some verses predate the prophet a hundred of years, and were originally related to local god pantheons that were altered when they joined Andraste.

This piece of info reinforces even more my suggestion that the Chant of Light is a big mixture of isolated local tales combined in a way to appeal as many as possible in order to unify Thedas through religion.

Trials 1:

These prayers have interesting combinations of words: some speak about an echo/song in the stillness, calling them to wake up from their slumber [very Darkspawn-like or Tevinter with Old Gods]

Stanza 8 and 12 has an interesting resemblance to Titans and their creation process.

There are some hints of songs, such as the heart of the prayer claiming that the Maker composed the cadence of their heart.

#chant of light #High speculation #chantry

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writ-in-violant · 8 months

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🌳 🌺

Thank you!

🌳 What is your OC’s favourite way to relax after a stressful day? Do they have a favourite book to curl up with? A hobby? Or do they have a nice bubble bath and have an early night to bed?

Vivian tends to find something to read -- they're partial to poetry, both that of current Neathy writers and older classics like William Blake, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and the Romantics in general. Also, pulling out "Mrs. Frontispiece"'s poetry is always good to wind down and cheer up.

Blake feeds the cats outside his rooftop shack and pets them. He'd deny it is a hobby or a method of relaxing -- he'd call it gathering secrets and intel -- but it functions much like a way to de-stress. He likes the cats a lot, and they like him back (probably bc he feeds them routinely). Sometimes this hardened spy just ends up with a lapful of purring kitten and is like well. This is how i'm spending my evening I suppose.

Art likes sewing. Usually it's mending his own clothes after they get torn up by his day to day life, but he made money before coming to the Neath by repairing clothes (and poaching, but that's less relaxing) and still likes the ritual and repetition of mending things. Keeps his hands busy and keeps himself grounded.

Celestine saves up money to buy nice soaps and bath products and takes the most lavish baths possible. She's calling herself a lady now and by god she's going to live like one, at least when it comes to baths. Also, doing and removing makeup and the rituals of getting herself ready for either going out or staying in are their own kind of comfort to her.

🌺 What does your OC do to calm down when they’re scared or after a nightmare? Do they have any special comfort items or need to be reassured by a specific person? How do they handle this if they’re alone?

Oh boy. Vivian tends to climb onto the roof; if it's particularly bad, they'll start loosing a Storm-threnody or something similar. This isn't great for their mental stability, but they've gotten to the point of being a poet and scholar in Fallen London when sometimes you have to pit the nightmares you love against the ones that mean you can't sleep. They tend not to seek out other people during this -- most people cannot deal with hearing about Vivian's dreams, anyway.

Blake...well. Blake used to have a very solid way of dealing with nightmares. Liam was extremely good at getting through Blake waking up with a fight-or-flight response, and usually would make tea and hold Blake, who usually is nonverbal in these situations. Now...well, now that's not available. Blake still has a jacket of Liam's that he wraps himself in. It's stopped smelling like Liam, anymore. And it's hard to get the kind of tea that Liam always made, down here. So mostly, Blake just...tries not to sleep more than he has to. The nightmares are bad, but waking up is worse.

Art likes to get moving after a nightmare. Sometimes he'll go out for a run or walk, often he'll end up getting into fights on the way. Usually he wins them. Before he started having quite so many dreams of the Vake, though, he used to try to clean his house or do other similar chores, but these days...he starts feeling more and more stir-crazy after those dreams. Like he needs to be...doing something. Getting into fights...works. It works to calm him down.

My recent fic gave us a peek into how Celestine deals with nightmares. Initially, she'll just shut down and go into denial mode, compartmentalizing her problems, but after a certain point she needs to be around people. Typically she breaks into the house of someone who she at least somewhat trusts, even if she wouldn't admit she trusts that person in the daylight. Or whatever passes for it in the Neath. She also tries to find places that are brightly-lit and where she can at least hear other people, and where she's not stuck in a small space; she had claustrophobia even before she got buried alive.

Feel free to ask me more questions from this ask game: https://writ-in-violant.tumblr.com/post/727735080951463936/soft-oc-asks

#oc: the sharptongued stormwatcher #oc: the acrimonious agent #oc: the pallid pugilist #oc: the comely cat-burglar #ask game

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z34l0t · 1 year

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The Unbearable Heaviness of Being

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Feeling Doom-Drone Classic Earth 2's Tremors 20 Years On

Dave Segal

Possibly more influential than Nirvana. Dave Harwell (left), Dylan Carlson (right).

Can you feel it? That massive, mind-blotting buzz from the planet's core? That's Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version. Sub Pop released this record by Seattle duo Earth in early 1993. Its truculent tremors still ripple through the heavy-music underground. Nobody's made a big deal about 2013 being the landmark album's 20th anniversary. We need to redress this oversight. Admittedly, Earth 2 is no Nevermind in terms of sales (understatement, ahoy!), but its impact on subterranean metal may be just as historical as Nirvana's breakout LP has been in mainstream circles.

On Earth 2, guitarist Dylan Carlson—with help from bassist Dave Harwell—invented ambient metal, a devouring swarm of down-tuned guitar and bass dirges that coalesced into a threnody for forward motion... and possibly the human race. Never has sonic stasis been so domineering and exhaustive. It is Metal Machine Music as interpreted by a La Monte Young acolyte. Its infernal growl makes the Stooges' "We Will Fall" seem like sheerest New Age and Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" sound like bubblegum pop. Perhaps only Melvins' Lysol rivals it for sheer mass. Unlike most metal, Earth 2 insinuates doom. It needs no lyrics to convey the dread aura at its molten center. Earth 2 pulverized metal's cartoonishness and took the genre to the ashram.

To commemorate this vastly influential recording, The Stranger interviewed some of the key figures in the making of Earth 2, as well as a musician inspired by it. (Sub Pop boss Jonathan Poneman was unavailable for comment. Harwell did not respond to an interview request.)

BRUCE PAVITT

Sub Pop cofounder

What were your first thoughts when you heard Earth 2? The first time I heard the Earth tapes, I was struck by the conceptual nature of the tracks. Ambient metal. I was fascinated by the extreme nature and artistic vision of the band.

Did you and Jonathan Poneman have any arguments about whether Sub Pop should release the album? Jon and I both recognized that we needed some "sub" to go along with the "pop." It was important for the label to find a balance between the commercial and the adventurous.

Did Earth 2 present any particularly difficult marketing problems? Do you know how many copies it's sold? As for selling it, we felt that people would either get it or not. We didn't have high expectations. By allowing for elaborate packaging (double album, clear vinyl), we hoped that it would attract the interest of collectors and those who appreciated high-concept projects. At the time of release, we only pressed 2,000 copies of the record, which we knew would sell out. We did manage to sell some additional CDs... most likely another 2,000.

Do you view Earth 2 as Sub Pop's most extreme release? I do think that [Earth 2] is the most extreme recording ever put out by Sub Pop.

Where do you think Earth 2 fits in the grand scheme of rock music? I've always felt very proud of Earth 2. In the grand scheme of rock music, I think it stands next to Metal Machine Music by Lou Reed. Conceptual, ambient, challenging. My favorite Earth memory is when they opened up for the Ultra Lame Fest show at the Paramount in '92. Although they opened for more popular bands like Mudhoney, it was amazing to see them perform for a sold-out crowd at such a prestigious venue.

DYLAN CARLSON

Earth mastermind

What was your state of mind when you went into the studio to record Earth 2? There were a couple of ideas. We'd already done long songs. So we wanted to do one album-length piece. Unfortunately, this was before Pro Tools; you only get 30 minutes max per reel of tape, running at 15 ips [inches per second]. That's why there are three parts to [Earth 2]. At the time we were doing that, the CD was like 75 minutes long, and we wanted to fill the entire CD. Those were two of the parameters we were working with. The first stuff we had done at a little eight-track studio. This was our first time using two-inch tape, so we wanted to use every track. The idea was to try to make it as big as the live thing that we did. It's funny, because when I was working with Stuart [Hallerman of Avast! Recording Company] again on Angels of Darkness, we were talking about how if we had to do that album now, how differently we would have gone about it. We loaded all our gear in there that we used in the live show, then turned everything up and did a bunch of stuff that is technically incorrect [laughs]. We mic'd all the speakers individually and ran them to separate tracks. It turns out there's a bunch of fade cancellation and stuff like that that we didn't take into account. And then realizing later on that if you crank up a small amp in the studio and record it, it'll sound bigger than cranking up a big amp in the studio. So we basically set up and played live with that crazy mic'ing going on. Any tracks that weren't filled later, we went back and did some overdubs.

What was the rationale behind using drums very sparingly? We didn't have a drummer at the time, and I got tired of programming the drum machine. The first two tracks, when we played 'em live, had a drum machine, but I didn't really want to record with the drum machine. And I figured it would take tracks away from guitar.

The idea was to come up with overwhelming waves of guitar and bass? Yeah. On ["Like Gold and Faceted"], we tried to have some drums, but it didn't work out well, so we ended up using cymbal washes, but that was it for percussion.

Did you conceive of this album as having a functional value, as the text on the back of the record suggests? That kind of came after we did it, when I was coming up with the cover. I had worked at a record store at the time [Peaches, then Beehive], over there on 45th. I grabbed a bunch of stuff when I worked there, and a series of meditational cassettes Atlantic Records did in the '70s caught my eye. It seemed to fit the mood. There was one that was sea sounds, one that was nature sounds. It went along with a series of Medical records that I had. Stuart mentioned that our songs seemed to be part of something else; they fade up and fade out, but sound like they keep going. I like that idea. It would be like this was a record that was part of a series. But I don't know where the series is; this is the only one that survived. It's funny when I listen to Earth 2—not that I listen to it that often or anything—we were trying to make this really huge record, but in a weird way it has this claustrophobic feel to me. Because of the way we did it, it has this weird murkiness. If I had to do it now, it would sound a lot more expansive.

Do you ever perform those songs live anymore? No. We haven't played those in many a moon.

Is it because you don't want to wallow in nostalgia or is it because you're so far out of that mind-set? Some people had mentioned the idea of us doing that this year. Since Earth is still a going concern, I don't really want to do that. I'm not really into that idea. It would be one thing if Earth had stopped at a certain point and we were coming back. But the fact that we're still going, revisiting stuff... I mean, we revisit stuff in the live set, but when we do 'em, they're updated and altered for the situation. With Earth 2, those would be really hard to do that with because they're just one thing. I don't feel the need to repeat it. I'd like to be the one band that's not playing an album from 20 years ago. [Laughs] It makes sense to me if you're a band that has a hit or hits back then and you're playing the hits for the fans. [Earth 2] is not like that. It's funny how so many people now are like, "Earth 2, Earth 2," but at the time, not many people got it.

It's acquired this [reputation] rather than starting out thinking it was this. People may view it as a seminal work, and that's great. I'm glad people like it, but I still feel there are better Earth records and more to come. So maybe if Earth in the future are doing a last tour, maybe then we'd break it out. But until then, I really don't want to do that.

What about the photograph in the inner part of the CD with you and Dave Harwell aiming the guns at the camera? It seems at odds with everything else on the cover. We were both firearms enthusiasts. It was a jarring bit of aggression in what was otherwise a fairly soporific album cover. [Laughs]

Whose work is that on the front cover? I had originally picked out some other photos from a book, but trying to get the licensing from the photographer was proving difficult. So I went through a book of stock photography with Art Aubrey. They weren't free, but there was just a flat fee. I tried to find photos that were close to the ones originally wanted, which were from this travel book about India. There was a picture of this castle in Rajasthan that has all these little mini towers hanging off the wall. The pill bottles had the same effect. Obviously at the time I had narcotic interests. [Laughs] The front photo is a picture of Mongolia.

Do you view Earth 2 as the band's ultimate statement? Maybe the first iteration of the band, but even then I'm not sure, because Pentastar I really like a lot. But I don't think it's Earth's ultimate statement. That's another thing about redoing stuff like that—a record is a snapshot of a certain time and mental state and environment. You can't re-create that. There was some talk of doing Earth 2 stuff again this year. The only idea that sounded cool to me, I had been talking with Lori [Goldston] about doing an arrangement of it for strings and an orchestra. Something like that would be appealing to me more than a "here we are cranking out the hits on tour" kind of thing.

If an avant-garde classical ensemble could do Metal Machine Music, it seems like you could get Earth 2 into some slightly different context and it would sound just as good. There was talk with ATP about doing that. It's okay to mention now because it never happened. It looked like it wasn't going to work out. They could sense I wasn't super-psyched about it. The logistics were proving to be difficult.

What did your musician friends—particularly Kurt Cobain—think of Earth 2 when it came out? Kurt was kind of in the midst of exploding. [Laughs] Nirvana were not in town very much at that time. You never really know when you play stuff for your friends: They say they like it, but who knows? I can like people and not like their band, but a lot of people you can't do that with. They think that if you like them as friends and you say you don't like their band, they get all huffy or get in a snit about it. I've always been like, I can like you as a friend, but I don't have to dig what you do musically.

Whatever happened to Dave Harwell? I tried to contact him, but he never responded. I see him every now and then—not as buds, but around town. This one time I saw him a couple of years ago, I said, "What's up?" and he acted like I didn't exist. [Laughs] For some reason, he and Joe Preston have some ax to grind. I've never quite figured out why. Back then, there were people I actually fucked over, and I get along with them fine now. Slim Moon, too... I don't know what I did that made them so angry at me. I've never had any ill will toward any of them. I don't know what's up.

Do you think that this album has received its proper due from critics? It's not for me to say what its proper due is. People seem to revere it and mention it quite highly. A lot of people say they were influenced by it. I can't complain. I'm glad people dig it. It took a while, but it's always nice when your work is appreciated.

Do you think Earth 2 was the hardest one to accomplish of all your albums, or the easiest? Hallerman said you guys would join him in the control room while the guitar and bass were going. He was kind of surprised. Earth 2 went pretty easily. (A) The budget was small; (B) we didn't have a ton of studio time. The first two tracks we'd played live, so we had 'em pretty down. The hardest part was playing the first two without any rhythms, since we had a rhythm track to play it live. That was the most difficult aspect of it. And then trying to figure out the weird ways to get as many tracks as possible without... Nowadays, obviously, I would book studio time and do a lot of overdubbing, whereas back then we didn't have that luxury, so we have to get all these at once—especially trying to overdub on a 15- or 20-minute track. It's not like you can do a lot of punch-ins and stuff. It would get pretty messy and mind-warping. But it did go pretty smoothly. The fact that we were young and Stuart was young and willing to try crazy stuff that we'd probably know better about now helped. We were excited to be in the studio with someone paying for our record to be made rather than us paying for it.

Do you remember how Sub Pop reacted when they first heard the record? My relationship with Sub Pop had always sort of been with Bruce, who was the more adventurous, experimental guy. Jonathan's strengths were knowing what would sell—he definitely had an ear for pop and hard rock. They seemed into it, especially Bruce. Bruce asked us to be on the label. They put a lot of effort into it. They did the nice vinyl version and made some nice shirts for it. It didn't get a lot of reviews at the time, other than British press. I remember being excited because the header said, "Slow Death, Immense Decay." Any reference to a Slayer song in a review of something I did I was pretty happy about.

STUART HALLERMAN

Earth 2 engineer, owner of Avast! Recording Company

Can you discuss the recording sessions for Earth 2? Did things go smoothly? What was the mood like in the studio when the tracks were being laid down? It went quite smoothly. They had a plan laid out. It was mostly the two of them—Dave and Dylan. Some things took me by surprise. After tuning up their guitars and getting a good roar going, it was time to get the first bass and guitar tracks; I walked back to the control room, and they followed me there and sat down and said it was time to roll tape [laughs]. The guitars were being played by EBows out there. Okay, interesting. I hit "record," and that was the bed of the first piece of music. Then they went back to retune their guitars and got the EBows going again and again followed me back into the control room. They said, "All right, that'll be our second track." I thought, "What have I gotten myself into here? This is going to be the most boring week on earth." It was already an interesting mood there, but as soon as the layers of the two instruments two times were there, the magic tapestry began to appear. So while filling reels of tape with sounds that way, it was a very relaxed vibe. I wish more days went by like that.

Were there overdubs or was it all just done in real time? Did you go back later and do some editing? They did the background tapestry of the layers of drones and EBow tracks and they did multitrack layers of riffs and parts over that that they played. It was done to tape—two-inch 16-track back in those days. No editing, really.

Did this music present any special challenges to you? It seemed pretty unprecedented up to that point. Patience. One of the stated things of Earth at the time was to out-Melvin the Melvins. I'm appreciative of both the fast Melvins and later the slow Melvins, but that was a noble experiment.

Did you feel like something momentous was happening during the recording of Earth 2? Did it stand out among the sessions you'd done? Not in the way the question would necessarily be wanting me to say, "Yeah." To me, it just seemed like this really cool drone record that I personally liked when it was done. I'd put it on in my living room for roommates or friends or visitors at appropriate moments—maybe late at night or just at a certain place in the evening—put this on and people would say, "What's this?" They'd pay attention to it and then give me this weird look, like, "Why are you doing this to us?" Four minutes later, they'd say, "This is cool." They'd relax into it.

To me, it was almost a parlor trick or experimental music, lovely in its own little porcupine way. It faded into obscurity, and then [in 2003 Autofact Records] reissued it and the label wanted me to write liner notes for it. I had a story or two—the preproduction meeting and first day of the session and whatnot, a few anecdotes, a short remembrance of the making of. Then, while checking the spelling of the members, I learned that unbeknownst to me, in the intervening years, around the world, people were doing doom-drone rock. I was pretty unaware of that. I knew about Sunn O))) and Boris and stuff like that, but didn't really get that there was this whole genre of this stuff. It might've even been before Sunn O))) and Boris. The momentous thing was there, but I was certainly taken by surprise that anyone had noticed or had spawned a genre.

Has anything you've worked on since then surpassed Earth 2 in sheer intensity and heaviness? Sunn O))) and Boris, the planets that orbit around Earth. There's some bombastic stuff that attempts to out-Melvins Earth. There was a Sunn O)))/Boris split record and one of the joking ideas was to release it instead of in a 5.1 surround sound, in 1.5 mono plus five subwoofers. For a moment we thought, "Why wouldn't we do that?" There was a mocking one-tenth-serious proposal to do that with the Sunn O)))/Boris split.

STEPHEN O'MALLEY

Guitarist for Earth-influenced band Sunn O)))

What thoughts were going through your mind the first time you heard Earth 2? What sort of associations did this music trigger in your head? I was living in a house in the U-District. A friend of mine, Curtis Pitts, worked at Sub Pop. He'd come over and hang out. I lived with six people at one of these terrible college houses. He brought over a promo of Earth 2. He wanted to give it to me because Dylan was wearing a Morbid Angel T-shirt on the promo photo. I was really into death metal. He thought I would respond to it. I did, but in a quite different way. I think I was 19 or something. It was my first year at the University of Washington. I was totally getting into LSD and black metal, as a graduation from death metal. Earth 2 was very different from anything I'd heard before. It kind of fit into that frame somehow. I didn't have any real experience with experimental music, so probably like a lot of people who got into that, we were coming from metal. It's kind of a gateway into minimalist music and experimental music—something that now over the years I've been educated on. But at the time, hearing purely instrumental guitar music was rare, especially in this format that I know now is referencing La Monte Young and raga music and various other types of meditational music. To a 19-year-old death-metal kid, it sounded like slow Slayer. Melvins had done some stuff like that, right around the same period, actually, but Melvins were always clearly a rock band. Earth 2 was the most non-rock album that they did. It's the most abstract album they did. Although some of the rock stuff they did on Pentastar is pretty abstract.

I actually saw the Earth duo of Dylan and Dave Harwell play at that time at the Sub Pop Ultra Lame Fest. I think they played right before Mudhoney and right after Seaweed. Earth played some riffs that I recognized from Earth 2, but the audience was not into it. It was at the Paramount Theatre, and after a stage-diving Seaweed set, it was like, "What the fuck is this?" [Laughs]

Did Earth 2 sound to you like an ultimate statement, a kind of ground zero for heavy music? No, it never did. I think people give it more credit than it deserves. I think it's a great experimental record. I don't know if Dylan was trying to make an ultimate statement about music. I think he was trying to follow his ideas and interests into another area. Which is how he still does music. He follows his own path. People worship the past—especially art and music and literature and film. Various works are worshipped as being these pinnacles, and in some cases they were meant to be by the creators, but generally they pick up that reputation or presence after the creative process is done.

I love [Earth 2]; I was very educated by it as a guitar player and a musician, but I don't know if the album itself is really that important in that way. It affected some people. That band was put out on Sub Pop [because Carlson was Kurt Cobain's buddy]. Poneman and Pavitt wanted to please Kurt, so they put it out. Sub Pop didn't know what the fuck they were doing. Now, of course, they've re-pressed all these old records. When they actually came out, it was like, "Whatever," you know? "Bleach sold another 50,000 copies; sure, we'll put out another Earth record. Whatever."

It may be one of the most interesting records the label put out, as far as minimalist music. There's not much minimalist music on that label. It's a great doorway, for someone coming from metal. It introduced New York minimalist music like Tony Conrad, Glenn Branca, guitar orchestra music, La Monte Young, the Western take on raga music. It still sounded heavy, like slowed-down Slayer, as it always was described, but it was drone music played with guitars, extremely long songs.

What do you think about Earth 2 today, 20 years after its release? Do you think the album has gotten its due from the press and the public? I think it's a historical album, and what more could you ask? It's 20 years later, and people still consider it to be a very important record. Every time Sunn O))) puts out a record, [Earth 2] gets mentioned—which is a compliment for us. It's a tower in the musical world. I don't know if it's due anything. Earth got its due when Dylan re-formed the band and turned it into a real band, who produced a lot more music that's more important than that album, actually. That Earth has continued to make interesting, compelling music on their own terms, that's more important. It's nice to have Earth 2 in the background.

#Earth #doom metal #drone metal #Earth 2: Special Low Frequency Version #Sub Pop #Dylan Carlson #Ambient metal

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sunnydaleherald · 10 months

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The Sunnydale Herald Newsletter, Friday, July 7

GILES: [explaining what a Watcher does] (sets down the books) He, he trains her, he, he, he prepares her... BUFFY: Prepares me for what? For getting kicked out of school? For losing all of my friends? For having to spend all of my time fighting for my life and never getting to tell anyone because I might endanger them? Go ahead! Prepare me.

~~Welcome to the Hellmouth~~

The Sunnydale Herald is looking for at least one new editor. Contributing to the Herald is a great way to get your Buffy on! Find out more here.

[Drabbles & Short Fiction]

Boytoy by SunflowerSpectre (Angel/Wesley, E)

Kids by RebeccaHaskell (Spike, Xander, M)

A Soft Touch for Soft Things by temporarytitle (Buffy/Spike, PG)

[Chaptered Fiction]

Buffy The Princess Consort - Ch. 1 by MattanzaMFedora (Buffy/Angella (She-Ra), She-Ra xover, Not Rated)

Stranded - Ch. 1 by Bloodshedbaby (Buffy/Spike, Not Rated)

Threnody - Ch. 1 by Superfluous_Wit (Unbridled_Brunette) (Buffy/Spike, M)

Merge - Ch. 1 by omalleyboose (Buffy/Spike, multi-xover, T)

The Art of Dying - Ch. 1-2 by disco_tea (Buffy/Spike, T)

Itsumo means Forever - Ch. 1-4 by Shanejayell (Willow/Tara, M) COMPLETE!

What I Did On My Spring Break - Ch. 1-4 by Michaelt (Ensemble, T) COMPLETE!

Triptych - Ch. 3 by Geliot99 (Buffy/Spike, T) COMPLETE!

Season 1, Episode 9: The Vampire Slayer - Ch. 3-4 by Emcee (Connor/OFC, Andrew, T) COMPLETE!

Initiative Soldiers Suck - Ch. 31 by cosplayermadness (Buffy/Spike, Xander/Anya, E) COMPLETE!

Xander's choice - Ch. 1-2 by DeanandSamsGirl (Xander/Spike, M) COMPLETE!

One night together - Ch. 1-4 by DeanandSamsGirl (Xander/Spike, M) COMPLETE!

First Turn in the Spiral - Ch. 1-2 by Gabriel_Is_My_Guardian_Angel89 (Angel/Spike, Angelus/William, E) COMPLETE!

Inner Demon = Literal Cat - Ch. 23 by desicat (Buffy/Spike, E) COMPLETE!

She Said Yes - Ch. 2 by AJ Fields (myfanfiction) (Xander/Anya, T) COMPLETE!

105 Intro To Vampyre - Ch. 18 by desicat (Buffy/Spike, E) COMPLETE!

Bloom - Ch. 1-6 by ashcrashed (Buffy/Spike, Dawn, M) COMPLETE!

Danganronpa: Teenage Wasteland - Ch. 1-26 by CleverlyClearly (Buffy, multi-xover, M) COMPLETE!

Part of the Family - Ch. 1 by Harlow Turner (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

The Art of Dying - Ch. 3 by disco-tea (Buffy/Spike, R)

Word of the Day - Ch. 6-8 by Nupalie (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

The stories we could tell - Ch. 4 by Julikobold (Buffy/Spike, G)

These Small Hours - Ch. 4 by sunshine-of-my-lifetime (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

The many different ways that you can kill the one you love - Ch. 5 by mcgnagallsarmy (Buffy/Spike, R)

A Vampire's Guide to Dating the Slayer - Ch. 4 by the_big_bad (Buffy/Spike, PG)

Scenes from the FAA-Verse - Ch. 11-12 by Willow25 (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

Ephemera - Ch. 9-10 by HappyWhenItRains (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

The (bad) Poems of William S. Pratt - Ch. 5 by Julikobold (Buffy/Spike, G)

The Text Message Memories of Buffy & Spike - Ch. 6 by Julikobold (Buffy/Spike, G)

Keepsakes - Ch. 8 by violettathepiratequeen (Buffy/Spike, G)

Through the Years - Ch. 6 by DarkVoid116 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

B&S 4ever: Drabbles - Ch. 10-12 by cawthraven (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Dream - Ch. 13-14 by Dusty (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

The Summers of Spuffy - Ch. 4 by FoolForSpuffy (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

Becoming Us - Ch. 23-25 by BewitchedXx (Buffy/Spike, R)

Long Story Short - Ch. 6-9 by scratchmeout (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Jigsaw - Ch. 10 by Dusty (Buffy/Spike, R)

Oh The Sights You'll See - Ch. 11 by Melme1325 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Excerpts - Ch. 8 by Holly (Buffy/Spike, R)

Aspectus - Ch. 38 by Kirinin (Buffy/Spike, PG-13)

Reweaving Time - Ch. 10 by Joan963z (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

We're Going to be Friends - Ch. 7 by scratchmeout (Buffy/Spike, R)

The Neighbor's Point of View - Ch. 26 by the_big_bad (Buffy/Spike, PG)

From Hell with Love - Ch. 16 by temporarytitle (Buffy/Spike, R)

Kaddara Hade - Ch. 21 by hostile17 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

The Spider and the Key in New York - Ch. 6 by DoctorSkywalker (Dawn centered, Spiderman xover, FR15)

Long Story Short - Ch. 6-9 by scratchmeout (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

Keepsakes - Ch. 8 by violettathepiratequeen (Buffy/Spike, G)

Holy Ground - Ch. 3 by honeygirl51885, Chelle, VeroNyxK84, Tessa, ClowniestLivEver, LJ94 (Buffy/Spike, NC-17)

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Artwork: sleepover by tubesock86 (Buffy/Spike, worksafe)

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Digital: 🍷 ATS 210. Reunion 🍷 by tmcarlee (worksafe)

[Reviews & Recaps]

Three clueless gals... reactions to the last minute of The Gift by wonky_pasta

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Lilah instead of Eve [S5 of ATS] by PuckRobin and others

Let's hear them [wild BTVS hot takes] by Opening_Knowledge868

What Summer would you've liked to see? [which year] by Walkerman97

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S3 Ep 15; Consequences [Faith] by rockghea

Does Faith trust too easily/quickly to be believable for her character? by AnimeAngel2692

first watch — Buffy and Spike [OMWF] by spikytiara

Any guesses as to what buffys final boyfriend the immortal looked like ? by Foreign_Angle6154

Opinion on Buffy and Angel's pedophilic relationship by darshitkoladiya

Is there any normal human being that could beat a Slayer in a fist fight? by ErrForceOnes

Why do people hate Buffy vs Dracula? by kipcarson37

Something that occurred to me about Sunnydale High by Seer77887

does anyone know which card is spike in the tarot deck? by slowdcwn75

My fiancé is finally watching Buffy and I ... have been showing him ATS as well. [which ATS eps to skip?] by Glitch1082

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corruptedsilence · 1 year

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I posted 3,356 times in 2022

That's 3,356 more posts than 2021!

2,260 posts created (67%)

1,096 posts reblogged (33%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@seraphvie

@dxrksideroyalty

@corruptedsilence

@themelleniasisters-a

@manbehindtheslaughters

I tagged 3,350 of my posts in 2022

#delicious knowledge // ic - 1,359 posts

#out for a bite // ooc - 905 posts

#mobile - 746 posts

#screams from the abyss // mt - 732 posts

#the abyss screams back // dc - 237 posts

#grief’s anger // ic - 195 posts

#dxrksideroyalty - 169 posts

#seraphvie - 168 posts

#anonymous - 122 posts

#manbehindtheslaughters - 97 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#;; fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnn

My Top Posts in 2022:

@strikers-saloon asked: ¥ How about ya able ta' tell me the day ya were walkin' around without a thread on? Ah wanna see who was at work that day for... reasons."

Send me a ¥ and a command and my muse has to obey. Take advantage of this…….

“ And here I thought you were a gentleman. Something, something, southern hospitality? Adorable you think I could even remember the day it happened. Sorry, Darling you’ll have to try harder than that as I can’t remember what day it is let alone if our days match the same on Earth and Hell. I’d think twice about asking for something so personal when we’ve hardly gotten to know one another. “

Missi snickers, there was a confidence in her voice with a challenging tone. While the display was humorous to her she was curious about the cowboy’s intentions. It certainly would shine a light on his possible thoughts or desires for her which only amused Missi further.

23 notes - Posted September 4, 2022

What’s in the box????

26 notes - Posted November 28, 2022

“ This is ridiculous. I look stupid. My fur doesn’t even match my hair. I can’t even change my clothing. What else could go wrong? “

35 notes - Posted October 24, 2022

Permanent Starter Call

Liking this post gives me permission to:

- Spam and Send Memes/Prompts/ect to your inbox - Tag you in things I find that remind me of your muse/our muses - Mention your muse(s) specifically in other threads - Involve your muse(s) in blog-events - Hit up your DMs to Plot or talk about HCs - Occasionally draw our/your muse(s) from threads - Feel less anxious about approaching you because anxiety is rude

* If there is something listed above you do not want to take part in just hit up my DMs and I’ll be sure to make note of it <3

52 notes - Posted July 25, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

The Cane is Mightier than the Sword

Independent || Semi-Selective || Crossover Friendly || OC friendly Rules || About || Vampair || Threnody Permanent Starter Call promo template

71 notes - Posted July 16, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review

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goldpilot22 · 2 years

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you dont get to bury them. do the bingo with threnody and labyrinth ok?

hi I didn't forgor about this ask I promise I was just uhh. letting it age like a fine wine ok?

I did these at different times that s why one is more shaded on everything but ya

#threnody's a lil freak (affectionate) I love her #I would want to meet labyrinth irl we'd be besties #but threnody is tall and thus scary to me #psii.txt #asks #soliiel

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plungermusic · 9 months

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Rusticity, reflection, regret, remembrance, rain …

… rebirth.

David Edward Booth’s latest release All My Days probably wouldn’t be called ‘a soundtrack for summer’ by many listeners but Plunger aren’t so sure…

Many of the songs on the album (and indeed the process of recording of it) were rooted in or coloured by personal loss and tragedy, so it’s perhaps perverse to focus on the music alone (... but then, that’s what we do!) It has to be said too that the darker inspirations and themes are pretty cryptically delivered so the listener isn’t overwhelmed by Leonard Cohenish “Woe is me” brooding.

Despite its largely folky vibe this is the second album in a row Plunger have reviewed that has a touch of the Crosby & Nash about it, in this case particularly Graham’s wistful English bucolicism (helped in no small part by David’s downbeat Northwestern-accented delivery!) and there are touches of Crosbyesque Californian complexity and mysticism as well as lush West Coast harmonies. Opener Another Me exemplifies that, a threnody so English you can see the ‘not-quite-picture-postcard gorse-covered fells and bracing climate, while the major-tinged chorus oozes Laurel Canyon polish: 1970s electric piano and 1870s brass complete the juxtaposition.

The mix of Mancunian melodicism and Californian colours continues in Run - strummed acoustic, noodling Tele and a walking-horse pace conjures a slow ride over Suffolk badlands - while the pared-back resources (palm-muted electric guitar and slick, bittersweet harmony vocals) of Just Following Tracks lend a Nash-demo-waiting-for-the-full-band-break-in vibe, heightened by the rising urgency, plaintive middle-eight, and hanging close.

Just Following Tracks’s doleful finality (“I’m not coming back”) is countered, at least in part, by the album’s two previously released singles, Blackbird and Rainbows Of October: the forrmer’s anthemic acoustic chords and vulnerable-but-purposeful vox carry a message of, if not exactly optimism, then at least cheerful perseverance (“… a song gives me wings to carry on…”) with a cello, piano and muted brass section crescendo; while the sparse haunting waltz of the latter has moments of (admittedly bleakly small scale) optimism in the line “I can live with growing older, for all the rainbows of October” albeit peppered by the relentless ticking hi-hat marking the passing of time, and bookended by a single sombre tolling piano note, like a mini-Bredon Hill knell.

With its gentle airy picking and rich upright bass You Are The Reason has the feel of an English village Girl From Ipanema (the Girl From Chapel Milton, perhaps?) but it’s slightly uneasy-easy-listening with the unsettling / unsettled chords and halting fragile vox: despite resolving to major in the school-piano-accented chorus (and a lithe bass ‘run’) the dissolving hanging close maintains that air of uncertainty. Uncertainty turns to menace in As I Have Always Done - insistent muted guitar-clucking and a rising-and-falling bass line, later beefed up with squeezebox / harmonium, could be the theme for a provincial P.I. (‘walking the mean streets and alleyways of Cheadle Hume’) underlined by the world-weary vocal: our hero emerges into the sunlight briefly in s lush multi-voice chorus before returning the the guitar-filled shadows and another unresolved close.

A brighter palette is used for the title track: chiming acoustic guitar leading a duet where David’s quiet, questing vocal is joined by the velvety tones of Kelly Bayfield (co-producer/arranger and provider of much of the harmonies throughout) in exchanged verses of loss and solitude, before combining in unison in the more optimistic closing lines. The closing track, My Friend Who Brought Me In - dedicated to Kelly’s late husband Mat “… who left us for other adventures on 2nd October 2019” - also opens with David’s vulnerable reflective vocals, backed by high-capo’d near-mandolin acoustic guitar, but the resolute, upbeat harmony chorus and appearance of a stirring colliery-brass section (with some fine cornet-like lead) ends on a more positive high note (in both senses).

‘Soundtrack for summer’ so often seems to mean relentlessly upbeat, cider-advert-popfolk or endless Balearic beats under unbroken sunshine, but All My Days evokes a real British summer - muted colours, blustery moments, the chill as unexpected clouds gather and the heavens open, and the sudden joyous warmth when they break…

All My Days is a complex, but rewarding, listen that engages your heart as much as your ears.

All My Days is available now, to listen to and purchase, here: https://davidbooth.bandcamp.com/album/all-my-days

Track Listing

1. Another Me. 2. Run (2023 version). 3. Blackbird (album version). 4. Rainbows Of October. 5. All My Days. 6. Just Following Tracks. 7. You Are The Reason. 8. As I Have Always Done. 9. My Friend Who Brought Me In (album version)

Personnel

David Edward Booth - voice, guitar, drums, flugel horn, percussion, piano, acoustic bass, tenor guitar, tenor horn, cornet; Kelly Bayfield - voice, piano, keys; Ian Stephenson - double bass [+ harmonium, accordion, piano Track 8]; Serious Child - harmonium [Track 1]; Ally Mcerlaine - electric guitars [Track 2]; Roisin O’Hagan - voice [Track 3]; Vera Tomas - voice [Track 3]; Andy Trill - bass [Track 3]; Kev Walford - lead acoustic guitar [Track 3]; Jonathan Evans - Cello [Track 3, 4, 5]; Mats Hård - flugel & trumpet [Track 3]; Susie Ledge - voice [Track 4]; Joe Nielson - voice [Track 8].

#david booth #david edward booth #all my days #folk #folk music #englishness #rusticity #bucolic #light and shade #kelly bayfield

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lairofdragonagelore · 1 year

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Chant of Light - Part 2

The canticles of the Chant of Light [Cumberland edition] are:

Cosmogenesis and First Sin: Threnodies 5-6

Creation of the Blight: Silence 1-3

Epiphany of Our Lady: Andraste 1

Andraste’s Teachings: Transfigurations 1, 10, 12

Hymns: Trials 1

Rallying the Armies: Shartan 9-10

Betrayal and Death: Apotheosis 1-2

Prophecy: Exaltations 1

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

Rallying the Armies: Shartan 9-10

Context of Shartan Verses:

Written by an unknown author, the first versions appeared around -140 Ancient [1055 TE], 30 years after the death of Andraste.

These verse have been removed from the Chant after the Exalted March of the Dales, erasing the contribution of the elves in human history.

Shartan was supposed to be a slave that may have led rebellions inside Tevinter and helped Andraste in her Exalted March. However, historically speaking, there are no proofs that he truly led any. This puts into question if Shartan truly existed. On the other hand, we could assume that Tevinter would have cared little to record the name of an elven rebel, but there are proofs that Tevinter has always been very careful in their bureaucracy, and if we don’t find records on something is mostly because the books have been destroyed, as it has happened in Kirkwall [more details in Kirkwall history and design]. However, some documents survived the many rebellions in Kirkwall, and we can know that they recorded names of important alamarri rebels [for example, in History of Kirkwall: Chapter 2] or in the prison of Coracavus; Records Room, where we find a list with some elven names in it. Thanks to these examples I find it very strange that Shartan did not appear in a Tevinter record of any kind. Maybe that’s documentation that we will see in DA:D?

Shartan’s tale has many common elements with elven folktales related to a “trickster” warrior. There are many different versions of this canticle that put Shartan in different places, suggesting in my opinion that his symbol has been replicated across history, and it’s not as if the person was in different places at the same time, if he truly existed. Some scholars suspect that Shartan was a title or an ideal, and I can see that.

“Maybe every rebellion had a Shartan”, and we, as players, can see the common points between Shartan and Solas, so it seems pretty safe for me to assume that most of this tale is based on Solas’ ancient rebellions, that fellow slaves passed down through generations, orally [as they were slaved and unable to keep a written history of the fallen elvhenan empire], until Fen’Harel’s tale changed into “Shartan’s tale”. Again, I’m not saying Solas was Shartan. There is no way he may have been around by that time, since he was slumbering. But clearly his legacy during the Elvhenan empire was preserved as best as his followers could and ended up inspiring modern tales in the shape of Shartan.

Since slaves could not write, this tale may have been preserved through oral tradition, being victim of a lot of changes and inaccuracies.

Divine Justinia I was the first one transcribing this tale, and what she allowed to be transcribed by Chantry clerics is very fragmented, suggesting that some stanzas or even verses have been removed or “lost”. Considering how suspicious Justinia I was of altering historical tales to fit the political purpose of Kordillus Drakon [that is, unifying Orlais], one may suspect that part of the “lost” stanzas may have been her decision.

Between the stanza ninth and tenth several verses or perhaps an entire stanza is supposed to be “lost”.

Historians still can’t prove the existence of Shartan. I think he may have existed in any elven rebel, embodying the symbol of rebellion that Solas left in his time as Fen’Harel. Shartan seems to me a symbol similar to the Emerald Knights [Emerald Graves: The open] who had a wolf as a companion, guardians and protectors of “the people”, leading rebellion and war if needed.

However, in some way, the players have a unique “proof” of Shartan via the Gauntlet [Temple of Andraste] where we see that someone like him existed, and looked a lot like an elvhen. Maybe that’s the elvhen that existed and met Andraste, and embodied the Shartan title.

Shartan 9:

Shartan rallied the elves when they began to despair and wish to return to their masters since they could not endure being hunted down by Tenvinter forces.

Despite the words of encouragement and truth about the reality that slaves face [ there is no forgiveness for them] some elves despaired while other prepared weapons made of what they could find: trees, sandals, etc.

Curious symbol: the day the elves ambush the Tevinter that were chasing after them, it was a night without moon or stars.

Their ambush was successful, so they celebrated afterwards, but from the distance they heard “thousand of voices in a song, marching”: Andraste’s army.

Shartan propose to make contact first, alone, and he is caught by Havard, the avvar warrior. Then, he presents Andraste to him.

In this way, the Alamarri forces join power with the elves, and head to Minrathous. Scholars suspect that after this verse and the following one there may be more content that was lost. As the story goes, it seems to imply that the lost verses would have spoken about how Andraste and Shartan may have tried to understand each other, develop a relationship of any kind, or simply spread the word of the elves, and for some of these reasons, the verses “disappeared” as they were not approved by Justinia I. Maybe Shartan’s role in the advance of Andraste’s troops was key in this point. The thing is that from this point on and the reach to the Valarian fields there is a big distance that may imply the existence of more content narrating the interactions of the Alamarri with the elves, but it was never approved, so it was “lost”. I think this is very ironical “loss” because this tale had big chances to have been preserved by the elves if the alamarri did not, meaning that probably some Dalish clans may have preserved these “lost” verses. Besides, we know there are versions of Andraste’s Exalted March much closer in time to the events than the ones that the Chantry picked, so I feel quite sure that these verses were not entirely lost but ignored or hidden.

The illustration in this part of the Chant of Light is described as “the Elves ambush the legion”. Unlike a quick glimpse would make us consider, the elves in this illustration are not represented by the deer [that could be considered an oversimplification of a halla]. Instead, they are represented by the wolves! The wolves here are the rebels, killing the Tevinter legion [a deer, which is strange; I would have expected a snake]. The fact that the elves are the wolves makes a lot of sense when we keep in mind that decades after, when the The Dales were established, the Emerald Knights would still keep the wolf as a symbol of protection. Somehow, the elves of this time had not lost completely the elvhenan concept that the wolf [Fen’Harel symbol] was a positive figure of protection and rebellion. This also makes me think in the codex The Rebel God, where we learn that after the Exalted March against the Dales the word associated with (Fen’)Harel started to morph its meaning into “betrayal”, instead of being “rebellion” as its etymology seems to point out. We keep before that time, a lot of elven symbols where the wolf was a synonymous of Rebellion. It’s also curious that this illustration depicts black wolves [more reinforcement of the black wolf aspect of Solas] but they also wear a sort of Vallaslin similar in style to those we saw in ancient panting that were worn by halla-like creatures in Nation Art: Elvhen.

Shartan 10

This verse describes the battle on Valarian Fields, close to Minrathous.

It seems that alamarri always sing hymns during battle. This makes us connect some events described vaguely by Solas in his travels through the Fade.

The fight against Tevinter was hard: Tevinter armies were numberless and fought with magic.

Shartan and his elves melted walls of magical ice that had trapped Andraste and her warriors with “fire arrows”. Clearly here there is something about magic going on, among the alamarri and the elves that the Chant hides constantly, since the mages are only present in the Tevinter side, while Andraste and Shartan always fought with non-magical people. This makes me laugh.

Here, Shartan is named Andraste’s champion, and she gives him her mother’s blade: Glandivalis. Now, this sword is a big mystery, because it seems that, historically speaking, it belonged to Andraste's mother, who was no special apart from being Andraste's mother. However, in DA2, this sword is part of the loor of an ancient pride demon at the end of the more mysterious quest called The Awiergan Scrolls [which also has additional blood-magic bound-based magic related codices to it]. It is a sword that causes an "enslave" effect [why Andraste’s mother would have such item?]. Nothing of these elements make much sense lore-wise without going too wild into assumptions. In any case, Shartan acquired a sword that could cause and “enslavement” effect, ironically.

The Illustration of this part is described as “Andraste names Shartan her champion”, and we cannot miss the obvious looking of Shartan wearing an ancient elvhenan golden armour. It’s curious he is depicted with white hair, while in The Gauntlet he is bald, as all elvhenan seem to be with the exception of Felassan. His shield reminds me a lot the usual fence decoration we see in several ancient elvhenan temples [see Patterns and Styles: Elvhenan]. Andraste is, of course, drawn with her one-spike crown as usual, as she has been represented since DA2 and all over DAI. What I found curious is that both of them are drawn with yellow eyes. I doubt the drawing per se has a “historical value” inside the world of Thedas, since it seems to be modern illustrations to decorate this edition of the Chant of Light, but from a dev’s point of view, I wonder if they are giving us a hint in this illustration. The fact that Andraste hears the Maker in dreams [at night] seems to have some common element with Mythal’s methodology. If Andraste was a vessel for Mythal for a while, maybe her eyes would have been yellow. I’m not putting high expectations in this detail, but it certainly made me wonder about it. It’s also curious how many illustrations in different styles we see along this Chant of Light. Sadly, this book says nothing about the theodosian person or persons that give these illustrations to this Chant of Light.

Betrayal and Death: Apotheosis 1-2

Context of Apotheosis Verses:

This song appears around -165 Ancient [1030 TE], 5 years after the Death of Andraste, and 5 years before Archon Hessarian uncovered Maferath’s role in the death of Andraste.

This canticle narrates the betrayal and death of Andraste.

Its authorship is attributed to the original Justinia, an escaped Tevinter slave and “Andraste’s closest friend” and confidante. It’s not clear if she composed them. It’s certainly strange because there are no proofs that Justinia witnessed the meeting between Hessarian and Maferath, while, in fact, we know that the one present at the time was Havard, the Aegis; according to the tale, of course.

There is no original copy of this canticle from that time, so it’s not clear if the original and this one share resemblance. It’s more likely that this canticle was written by Andrastian groups after Masferath’s betrayal was known, absorbing the original one.

The current version of this canticle dates to -100 Ancient [1095 TE], and appears around the time of the old Inquisition.

Apotheosis 1:

Maferath looked at the battlefield covered in dead and heard the cheers for the Maker and Andraste, as his heart “grew colder”.

With Havard, Maferath and Archon Hessarian have a meeting, arranging a deal in order to establish a long-lasting peace.

Andraste’s armies reach Minrathous, and they see the inactive golems at the entrance of the city, fearing them. [I suspect these are the same or similar golem to the ones we saw in DA2 [at the Gallows] and in some ancient Tevinter facilities in DAI; they are compiled under the tag Tevinter golem].

She gives a speech to infuse valour in her army.

Before the battle, Maferath and Havard accompany Andraste to a hill where Maferath said that the voice of the Maker could be heard better.

When she kneels to pray, the Archon’s servants surround her. She drew her sword and killed one of them, but Maferath struck the blade from her hands with his axe. In this part we can see how much emphasis is put on Masferath’s determination to hand over Andraste to the Tevinter.

Unable to fight his warlord Maferath, but wanting to defend Andraste, Havard stood between her and the tevinters until he fell from his wounds.

Andraste gives up and Maferath ties her hands and delivers her to Hessarian.

Apotheosis 2:

In the city gates of Minrathous, Andraste is brought and shown chained, mining the morale of her army. Her pyre is set.

The “Liberator”, probably Shartan, charged into the pyre to save Andraste, but he was killed by Tevinter Archers. It’s curious how in this part the Chant removed Shartan’s name for a title in common language, and removes him from the story forever with a useless, meaningless death. With this ending, the Chantry does not need to worry about the “Shartan’s legacy”, as it does with “Havard’s legacy”, who basically founds the sect that will evolve into the Chanty later.

Hessarian lights the pyre, and Andraste remains silent as she burns while suffering.

Taking pity on her, the Archon kills Andraste with his sword, piercing her heart.

The armies of Maferath returned south while the Tevinters hid inside their cities, fearing for the anger of the gods.

Wounded, crawling his way, Havard reaches the pyre and presses her ashes in his chest. Andraste appears to him as chorus fill his ears. She heals his wounds, and here is where the tale of Andraste’s ashes healing any illness comes from.

Healed, Havard takes her ashes and brings her to the Alamarri lands. The player will know that this place is Haven and the Temple of Andraste. I always wondered who truly was the real “guardian” of this place. If we remember, he kept a very out-of-day knowledge of the Tevinter Imperium state, and his existence was “bound” to the ashes [we know that bound procedures are a top-notch knowledge from the elvhenan]. The Guardian clearly is or was a human since he is bearded, but wears nothing that looks like Avvar. Could have been him the true figure who gathered the ashes? And if he were, who was he?

I can’t stop repeating how curious is that the “Liberator”/Shartan dies, watching Andraste being set in the pyre, without any use or meaning, while Havard, who had been “killed” in the scene of Maferath’s betrayal, returns to the narrative, crawling, in order to be the one who collected Andraste’s ashes. The truth in this scene is impossible to be glimpses in my opinion. The level of manipulation to force some figures to remain alive while other are killed out of the blue is a bit obscene. I would love to have access to see the true historical event unfold on its own with some time magic.

The illustration here is described as “Our Lady is sacrificed”. She is depicted in the pyre, black smoke coming up from the base of the pyre, with some small fire-like flames in it to emulate a fire with “dark” connotations. When it reaches her, there is a semi-circle in yellow with an intricate pattern of triangles. I have no idea what this may represent. It looks good, though. She is extending her arms up to the air, as a gesture of communion with the Maker, while the sword of Hessarian is pierced into her heart.

Prophecy: Exaltations 1

Context of Exaltations Verses:

They were written in -12 Ancient [1183 TE] by Kordillus Drakon, the man who will become the founder of the modern Chantry [as we know it] and first emperor of Orlais. These verses have the clearest authorship in the entire Chant, so there is no doubts it was he who wrote them.

Prophetic verses were popular back then, and many writers tried to imagine the return of the Maker. This seems to be a useful tool for Drakon in order to establishing the Empire of Orlais and the Religion that will homogenise and control the territory.

Likely, Drakon rewrote this canticle several times before letting Justinia I to introduce it to the Chant.

Probably these are the most interesting canticles for the Players, since they may inform us about what happened in DAI and what will happen in DA:D in a very, very vague way.

Exaltations 1:

Here, Andraste is called “Lady of Sorrow” which is unavoidable for us, the players, to wonder if there is no an intention from the devs to keep relating her with Mythal. This is not a proof, but from a design point of view, seems to look like a small hint left by the devs [similar to the one related to Andraste’s and Shartan’s eye colour]. I’m not saying Andraste *was* a vessel of Mythal, there is little lore to even consider it but certainly the devs left some details here and there to allow us to think in the potentiality of it.

In these verses, we read about “the symptoms” in the world with the Maker’s return.

Portents of the Maker's return'

Seven times seventy men of stone immense Rose up from the earth like sleepers waking at the dawn, Crossing the land with strides immeasurable, And in the hollows of their footprints Paradise was stamped, indelible.

This verse seems to imply that 70 titans will wake up and walk on the surface of Thedas, destroying the land with their steps. I’m not sure we can survive this situation in any game. Is this what’s coming in DA:D?

And I heard from the East a great cry As men who were beasts warred with their brothers, Tooth and claw against blade and bow, Until one could no longer be told from the other, And cursed them and cursed their generations.

The East is one of the biggest mysteries of the map of Thedas. It is filled with legends of fantastical places and stories of pirates that never were seen again. According to this verse, and keeping in mind DA lore, we can suspect several situations that could be described in similar fashion:

A situation with Lycanthropy, similar to what we saw in DAO with the werewolves. It’s described as a curse, as men who are beasts and fight each other, succumbing more and more to their bestial side. If the werewolves in DAO didn’t have the Lady of the Forest to calm them down, they would have looked similar to what this verse describes.

According to Cassandra and the lore she shared about the Pentaghast family, dragon blood drinkers may turn into beasts [scaled skin] and succumb to madness. If these humans bred over time, the features may have stuck and they may have developed a new specie. This situation also has a soft, potential link with the Scaled Ones.

Making a connection with The Horror of Hormak, these beast-men may be creatures created by ancient Evanuris that survived over time, breeding one another until the curse remained through the generations.

This could also mean the origin of the race of the “Qunari”. I mean, the Kossith. This makes a bit of sense since some codices of unreliable narrators consider that the East is the original place where they came from. We also have from Iron Bull the not too reliable comment that the Kossith were nothing alike the Qunari, and with the Qun, his race became more civilised. As if the Qun were the tool that tamed a bestial nature that used to inhabit the Kossith. If all these details can be truth, the Kossith can also be a good option of this situation.

And those who slept, the ancient ones, awoke, For their dreams had been devoured By a demon that prowled the Fade As a wolf hunts a herd of deer. Taking first the weakest and frailest of hopes, And when there was nothing left, Destroying the bright and bold By subtlety and ambush and cruel arts.

“Ancient ones that slept” seem to relate immediately with Uthenera elves. It may be related to Evanuris too, since via Murals in DAI, we have concluded that they may be slumbering/sealed inside the Black City, double isolated from the Waking World and the Fade.

Apparently, Fen’Harel’s wolf aspect, who roams the Fade, consumes the dreams of those who are in Uthenera. There are several interpretations for these lines. One of them is that maybe the Evanuris isolation, unable to reach any dreamer despite being in Uthenera, is caused by the wolf aspect of Fen’Harel who blocks that communication. Honestly, this interpretation is strange because via the murals we already saw that it was more about a magical barrier [maybe fed by the Fade energy of the uthenera elves] than a wolf what makes the Black City unable to be reached even in the Fade.

In a more integral interpretation, this could mean that the Evanuris have been slumbering and being consumed by the wolf in the Fade. However, the tone in which this is narrated, where the wolf is a cruel and trickery creature, seems to imply this is from an Evanuris’ point of view. Could this image have been given to Kordillus via an Evanuris or a follower of an Evanuris? I’m surprised how negatively the symbol of Fen’Harel is presented in this verse, which I cannot read in any other way than being an interpretation from an Evanuris perspective.

In any case, I think this verse presents what we will see in DA:D; the awakening of the Evanuris trapped in the Black City, extremely corrupted I guess.

The ninth sacred mountain upon which rests The mortal dust of Our Lady ascended Whole into the heavens, to be given high honor In the Realm of Dreams forever. And around it, a chorus of spirits sang: "Whatsoever passes through the fire Is not lost, but made eternal; As air can never be broken nor crushed, The tempered soul is everlasting!"

This may have been what we saw in Frostback Mountains: Somewhere North, where Corypheus raises a castle I never truly understood what that was. Clearly by the iconography seen in there it was Chantry-based. At the end, in the last platform where Corypheus is, we see a golden ring with a mosaic of Mythal in it, which keeps pushing the player to make a vague relationship between Mythal and Andraste. However, in that scene there was no fire despite looking like a kind of “ascension” of a place dedicated to Andraste.

It’s interesting that the process of the fire removes the body, which is something that, according all our analysis about Vallaslin and undulating lines [Murals in DAI and Fen’Harel’s mountain ruins], it’s something that restrains elvhen and makes them slave to the shape. “Through the fire you are made eternal” makes sense when you are a spirit trapped in a fleshy shape. The immediate comparison with Air reminds me the codex The Deepest Fade, where a spirit is described as “brethren or the air”.

Despite all these comments, I can’t say this verse makes much sense or can be related to something that happened or will happen in DA:D. It has a similar flavour to the one we saw in the Temple of Andraste, in DAO.

And I looked up and saw The seven gates of the Black City shatter, And darkness cloaked both realms.

Here, Drakon seems to coincide with the information shown in Murals in DAI: the Black City seems to have seven gates, or seven guardians. The coming of the Maker is when there is no more protection in these gates, which seems to coincide with the time we are going to see in DA:D.

It also speaks of a darkness, that may be the Blight, or something worse than the Blight, since the Black City seems to have been containing Red Lyrium and Blight at the same time.

Andraste gives Drakon his destiny

I covered my face, fearful, But the Lady took my hands from my eyes, Saying, "Remember the fire. You must pass Through it alone to be forged anew. Look! Look upon the Light so you May lead others here through the darkness, Blade of the Faith!"

This is a weird self-insert of Drakon. The Lady tells him to pass through the fire in order to be purified [everything on brand with what we saw in the Temple of Andraste in DAO and its rituals]. This reeks to manipulative self-insert to reinforce the idea that he is the “right” leader while he unifies Orlais through politics and religion. Drakon “Blade of the Faith”, pfft.

The Maker returns

In dread I looked up once more And saw the darkness warp and crumble, For it was thin as samite, A fragile shroud over the Light Which turned it to ash. And the Maker, clad in the majesty of the sky, Set foot to earth, and at His touch All warring ceased. The vicious Beasts lay down and were quieted; The meek lambs became bold And rose up, casting aside their shepherds To dance at the Maker's feet.

The maker returns, as a Light that destroys darkness and turns it into ash. This looks like standard religious tale. Maybe the devs wanted to add also the idea that the Maker will destroy the Blight=darkness for good.

The Maker appears wearing “the sky” [it’s not clear if he is wearing the sky as day or night, and I’m not sure that would matter. This part of the Chant feels mere standard religious bullshit.]

And as he walks, war stops and beasts calm down, and curiously, the symbols of submission such as a lamb, become bold, rise up, and cast aside their shepherds. This is a detail that speaks more about encouraging rebellion, and it’s a very vague concept of what Fen’Harel represents. Maybe this is the last bit where there is a soft connection between the tale of Fen’Harel and The Maker’s [as I explained in Threnodies 5-6].

This would reinforce my previous interpretation of the Maker being a piece of altered elvhen history, narrating Solas’ actions. The symbol of rebellion is still attached to the Maker [inspired in part by Fen’Harel’s tales] even in his return, at the last part of the Chant.

From every corner of the earth The Chant of Light echoed, And the Maker walked the land With Andraste at His right hand. And they reached the gates of Minrathous, Where once a terrible fire swept The Light of redemption from the face of the world, And there, the Lady of Restitution Drew her shining sword And plunged it into the ground at her feet, saying: The sins of creation are redeemed

"All sins are forgiven! All crimes pardoned! Let no soul harbor guilt! Let no soul hunger for justice! By the Maker's will I decree Harmony in all things. Let Balance be restored And the world given eternal life."

A verse of Chantry propaganda, not much to say than yadda-yadda stuff.

That the Maker has Andraste at his right hand sounds like a metaphor of what we saw at the end of DAI if Solas represents the Maker and Andraste, Mythal.

It’s not clear why Miranthous would be key in DA:D, but considering this image from a Chantry perspective, it’s clear that Minranthous is the capital of the “Evil” and where sin has been commited with the death of Andraste.

Andraste is also named as “Lady of Restitution”.

Andraste’s flaming sword in sunken in the ground and some things are granted: forgiveness of sins, justice, and eternal life. Standard rewards for any religion.

I don’t think these last two verses have much to offer than a natural closure to the religious text.

[Speculation] Why did Kordillus have these visions?

Since these visions seem to be “more or less” accurate with the existence of creatures that no human knew about at that time, such as the Titans or the evanuris, I’m inclined to believe that maybe Kordillus truly had visions that he used in the creation of these verses.

How this could be possible? Thanks to Hakkon’s DLC, we can assume that “having visions” is an ability that avvar Augurs have, which is basically what Solas does with spirits: talk to them, learn from them. The information obtained from the spirits have their perspective, and sometimes it can be a bit cryptic and metaphoric, as we saw it happens with Cole. They see and understand the reality much better than mortals, but it’s hard for them to describe it in the same terms that a mortal needs to fully comprehend. So, if Kordillus spoke about immense creatures of stone raising and walking on the surface, and ancient ones, slumbering, which dreams were eaten by a creature compared with the behaviour of a wolf, I have the impression that the story is telling me that Kordillus had some access to spirits. How so?

In terms of lineage, Kordillus Drakon has all the chances of having been a man who could have had some weak level of magic. Let’s see his parents:

His father came from a minor noble Tevinter family, and had no magical talent [this implies that the rest of the Drakon family had magic to some degree]. We know that if a person who comes from a magical family does not present magical abilities, it does not mean that future generations would not show magical powers later. So from the side of this father we can see that there is come magical power running in the blood.

Kordillus’ mother belonged to a Ciriane tribe who, thanks to the political expertise of Kordillus’ father, worked her way to ascend as chieftain. Ciriane are an ancient tribe loosely related to the alamarri tribes [Andraste was Ciriane], and since they have alamarri roots, I’m inclined to think they also may have similar beliefs and treatment of spirits than the Avvar [who came from the Alamari]. We learnt a lot about the Avvar in the last DLC, so if there is a chance for the Ciriane to treat their mages as the Avvar do, I think that Kordillus, if he manifested low magical powers, had a very positive environment to connect with spirits who may have informed him about these details written later in his “prophetic verses”.

There is also a very curious context by that time in which, despite all the anti-Tevinter propaganda that Kordillus [and Justinia I] started to build as he founded the modern Chantry, there was not a strong sentiment against magic yet. Why do I say this? because by that time, Kordillus had no problem to show his deep friendship with an Dalish mage [Ameridan] to whom he gifted a very unique dagger, and gave him the immense responsibility of leading the first Inquisition. When Ameridan went to the Frostback Basin, his group was compounded by two mages [Ameridan and his lover Telana] and one of the first Templars back in the day that had no power over these mages.

So the cultural context of the time and Drakon’s own background make me suspect that maybe part of these verses have a hint of truth just because they can be pieces of information given by spirits. He may have taken these pieces in a positive way to use them in his verses without the usual negative connotation that this will have years later, when the Second Exalted March destroyed any relationship with the Dalish and started a campaign to demonise any magical ability in order to solidify the current Chantry vision which is so averse to magic and spirits.

Still, nothing of this can be truly confirmed, so it remains in the field of speculation. However, I cannot deny that it’s quite curious that Kordillus could see things that we, as players, know with some degree of certainty thanks to our meta-knowledge of the games.

#chant of light #kodillus drakon #drakon #chantry #High speculation

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