Death of the Maker {Theory - Spoilers All} — Transcript

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1. 0:00Welcome, welcome patrons. One of the
2. 0:01major talking points in Veilgard is
3. 0:03learning about the origins of Thedas and
4. 0:05in doing so learning uncomfortable
5. 0:07truths about history. The Chantry or
6. 0:09more specifically the Maker being one of
7. 0:11them. But how set in stone are those
8. 0:14reveals and is the Chantry actually as
9. 0:16cooked as some people will make you
10. 0:17believe? Well, let's explore that topic.
11. 0:21A question of faith. So as Harding
12. 0:23points out during the cutscene a lot of
13. 0:25the lore revelations of Veilgard
14. 0:26suddenly throws most of the Andrastian
15. 0:28beliefs in the bin. The Golden City is
16. 0:30really the remains of Arlathan which
17. 0:32itself is a prison of the Blight. On top
18. 0:35of that Morrigan holding the memories of
19. 0:36Mythal makes reference to Andraste being
20. 0:39a carrier of Mythal, right? There is no
21. 0:41seat of the Maker, the bride was his
22. 0:43sham, everything is the end.
23. 0:46Right? I've seen a number of people
24. 0:48upset with this and in some cases I do
25. 0:50understand. If you haven't been keeping
26. 0:51up with the lore circles for the past
27. 0:53decade, the fact that everything ever is
28. 0:56elves can be really frustrating. But
29. 0:58part of my confusion comes from the
30. 1:00people who have been here for a while
31. 1:02because none of this is really new or
32. 1:05even that far off from pretty
33. 1:06well-established fan theories dating
34. 1:08back since the time of Origins.
35. 1:11Arlathan being the Golden City is a
36. 1:12theory as old as the series only
37. 1:15strengthened with each game's release.
38. 1:17Even Andraste being attached to Mythal
39. 1:19in some way has been thrown around due
40. 1:20to the crown that she and Mythal both
41. 1:22share and in their similarities of
42. 1:24stories as we learned Mythal was
43. 1:25murdered in Inquisition. So really none
44. 1:28of this should be a shock although I do
45. 1:30understand if you were hoping for a
46. 1:32different answer other than elves. But I
47. 1:34would like to challenge a few of the
48. 1:36points I keep seeing around as I don't
49. 1:38think things are as concrete as a lot of
50. 1:40you are lamenting.
51. 1:42The identity of the Golden City. So
52. 1:44let's talk about this without Veilgard
53. 1:46in mind for a second. For years now
54. 1:49Arlathan has been thought to be the
55. 1:51Golden or Black City. It's so ingrained
56. 1:55in fan theories now that people just
57. 1:56talk about like it's fact, despite it
58. 1:59not even being confirmed. Even in Veil
59. 2:02Guard. Yes, you heard me. Find me the
60. 2:05source where the game directly calls the
61. 2:08Golden City the ruins of Arlathan. Now,
62. 2:11don't get me wrong. It talks around it,
63. 2:13maybe even I missed it, but I could not
64. 2:15find a line that says the two are the
65. 2:19exact same.
66. 2:21Frankly, the most concrete evidence we
67. 2:22have is actually in the copy for the
68. 2:24vinyl release, which describes the cover
69. 2:26as being a representation of the Golden
70. 2:28City turning black with blight and
71. 2:30covered in ancient Elven god statues.
72. 2:32The Veil Guard art book also includes
73. 2:34some photos that make it seem like what
74. 2:36we would think of the Golden City was
75. 2:38part of Arlathan City. And then to add
76. 2:41on to all of this in stories I'm
77. 2:42smuggling out of my time in the Veil
78. 2:44Guard community council, there was a
79. 2:46version of the game where I think it was
80. 2:48Bellara, I can't quite remember who said
81. 2:50what, but there was a line where someone
82. 2:53turned you and said directly that the
83. 2:54two were the same, but it's gone now.
84. 2:57So, the intent is there. It is supposed
85. 2:59to be. But when we talk about the lore
86. 3:01of the series, anything in a shipped
87. 3:03game takes priority over anything else.
88. 3:05And the Veil Guard, as it is now,
89. 3:08technically leaves it a little open for
90. 3:10wiggle room to possibly be something
91. 3:12else.
92. 3:13The only concrete thing is that the
93. 3:15blight is held there and it is Elven. It
94. 3:17could be another city.
95. 3:19I'm also going to squeeze this in here.
96. 3:21Some people were disappointed that the
97. 3:22Golden City wasn't revealed to be
98. 3:24whatever was originally on top of the
99. 3:25mountain where Skyhold rests. But with
100. 3:28what I just said, it could technically
101. 3:29still be that. I'd also like to push
102. 3:31force the theory that Skyhold was where
103. 3:33the lighthouse originally sat. I have no
104. 3:35other proof for that, that's just fives.
105. 3:37Now, all that aside, do I personally
106. 3:39think Arlathan City is the Golden City?
107. 3:42Yes, I do. But I want to give people the
108. 3:44option to believe otherwise because
109. 3:45there is room for doubt. Like it's
110. 3:48small, to be fair, but like have fun
111. 3:51with it.
112. 3:52And Dirthamen and Mythal.
113. 3:54So, to begin, let's actually listen to
114. 3:55what Morrigan says. Spirits can't get
115. 3:58along with fragments of each other.
116. 4:00Spirits, certainly. But the aspects of a
117. 4:02self-righteous god who have walked
118. 4:04different paths for ages? One bears the
119. 4:07insult of her betrayal by the Evanuris
120. 4:10and then by Solas as fresh wounds,
121. 4:12insult upon injury.
122. 4:15The other once fell in love with an
123. 4:17Alamarri chieftain and lived happily in
124. 4:19a swamp for centuries.
125. 4:22Everything revolves around the words
126. 4:24Alamarri chieftain here. So, let me
127. 4:26remind you on who Maferath is. So, to
128. 4:29begin, we do need to acknowledge that
129. 4:31there is a ton of conflicting
130. 4:32information on Andraste by design. So,
131. 4:35yes, what I'm building up here could
132. 4:36easily be incorrect, but let's look at
133. 4:38how World of Thedas Volume 2 describes
134. 4:40Maferath. Maferath's father was Hagar
135. 4:43the Second. His mother was Thale. Both
136. 4:46were prominent Alamarri, their union
137. 4:48creating a powerful tribe that
138. 4:49controlled much of what would become
139. 4:51Eastern Thedas.
140. 4:53Now, I get that reading this, one could
141. 4:55say that they were chieftains, but World
142. 4:57of Thedas does not use those words.
143. 5:00While it does later for Andraste's
144. 5:02father, World of Thedas continues to
145. 5:04refer to Maferath as a skilled tactician
146. 5:06or general, but never chieftain. In
147. 5:09fact, I could not find anywhere that
148. 5:10lists him as a chieftain. Although,
149. 5:12again, I do miss things. I just mean to
150. 5:14say that at least most things do not
151. 5:17describe him as such.
152. 5:19So, perhaps this is not who Morrigan was
153. 5:22referring to. Then you might be
154. 5:24wondering, who is she talking about? And
155. 5:25that, my dear friends, let me guide you
156. 5:27over
157. 5:28to Tirda Brightaxe or Tirda Brightaxe. I
158. 5:31always mispronounce this name and I at
159. 5:33this point, it's a joke. With this
160. 5:34point, we're just rolling with it. I
161. 5:36have a whole video on her, so I'm not
162. 5:38going to go too far in depth, but Tirda
163. 5:40was a well-documented chieftain of the
164. 5:42Alamarri who most notably fell in love
165. 5:44with a leaf-eared lover, Laughing Lady
166. 5:47of the skies. So, yes, I think Morrigan
167. 5:51is referring to when an elf carried part
168. 5:53of Mythal and fell in love with a human
169. 5:55woman of the Alamarri. This also opens
170. 5:58up the door to a whole other world of
171. 6:00questions with the Avvar and Alamarri
172. 6:01faiths and its connection to the
173. 6:02Evanuris, but that's a video for another
174. 6:04day.
175. 6:05Now, all that said, while I'm pretty
176. 6:07convinced that Morrigan's line here is
177. 6:09referring to Tirada, I'm personally
178. 6:11still of the mind that Andraste might
179. 6:13still have been a carrier of Mythal.
180. 6:14There have been a lot of like small
181. 6:16little weird hints that suggested over
182. 6:17the years, but yeah, Veilguard did not
183. 6:21confirm it.
184. 6:22Death of the Maker. So, was the Maker
185. 6:24debunked? I think the short answer is
186. 6:27no. With as much unknowns that surround
187. 6:29the Maker to begin with, he could still
188. 6:31be a real figure in Thedas. Actually,
189. 6:33let's spin off here real quick because I
190. 6:35think it's likely that there is
191. 6:37something in Thedas that likely calls
192. 6:39itself the Maker. In Jaws of Hakkon, we
193. 6:41got a view of the Avvar religion. They
194. 6:43worship spirits. Knowing what we know
195. 6:46and that the elves were once spirits,
196. 6:47this again brings into question if the
197. 6:49first worshipers of the Evanuris were
198. 6:50actually humans, blah blah blah,
199. 6:51whatever. But something that is
200. 6:53completely possible is that enough
201. 6:56people gathered together to worship a
202. 6:57new god that they just completely made
203. 6:59up, and then a spirit of faith takes on
204. 7:01the behavior of that god they worship.
205. 7:04So, with as long as the cult of the
206. 7:07Maker has been around, it's not only
207. 7:08possible, but I think very likely that
208. 7:10there is a spirit out there that was
209. 7:12formed to take on the personality of
210. 7:15what the Chantry believes the Maker is.
211. 7:17So, then that begs the question on if
212. 7:19this counts. Does a spirit that watches
213. 7:22over and protects what it thinks its
214. 7:24children are? Perhaps even being very
215. 7:26old and helping to have guided the
216. 7:27foundation of the Chantry, and if we
217. 7:29want to get crazy, actually falling in
218. 7:31love with a human Andraste? Could that
219. 7:33count as being the Maker?
220. 7:35Or no, because it didn't make the world.
221. 7:38Is that where the line's drawn?
222. 7:39I I
223. 7:41But no matter what, Valguard proves the
224. 7:43Chantry did get things wrong. Now again,
225. 7:46this is old news. Even in Inquisition,
226. 7:48Corypheus is telling us this. He saw no
227. 7:49Maker in the Golden City. Open and shut.
228. 7:52That was it. Well, there are two
229. 7:54theories floating around that I want to
230. 7:55discuss. First is a super old one, but
231. 7:58Solas is the Maker. Now personally, I
232. 8:01don't love this idea, but in a literal
233. 8:03sense, he does check off a lot of the
234. 8:05boxes that the Chantry gives to the
235. 8:06Maker. He made the Veil. He did at one
236. 8:09point live in the Golden City, aka where
237. 8:11the Blight was sealed. He is responsible
238. 8:13for the Blight, etc., etc. So
239. 8:15technically, Solas does sort of fit into
240. 8:17the shoes the Chantry has painted for
241. 8:18the Maker. This is also where I'm going
242. 8:20to save a much larger discussion on how
243. 8:22a romance Lavellan did ironically live
244. 8:24up to being Andraste reborn, becoming
245. 8:27the bride of the Maker and ascending
246. 8:28into the heavens to be by his side, but
247. 8:30that's more me being a fangirl, so I'm
248. 8:32going to spare you all. Now the second
249. 8:33is one that I've actually seen around
250. 8:35before Valguard, but I think it's really
251. 8:36blossomed with a whole new realm of
252. 8:38possibility since.
253. 8:40What if the Maker are the Titans?
254. 8:44We don't know the exact history of the
255. 8:45Titans, but while Corypheus did not see
256. 8:47the Maker on the throne, perhaps he did
257. 8:49not see what it truly is. In both
258. 8:52concept art and Solas' murals, it's
259. 8:54shown that Solas sundered the Titan
260. 8:56souls and put them in a little Blight
261. 8:57box. This box was then sealed in the
262. 9:00Golden City, which is locked away.
263. 9:03Corypheus saw the Blight, which is born
264. 9:05of the Titans' pain and is part of them
265. 9:07in some way.
266. 9:08Maybe he did actually see the Maker. He
267. 9:10just didn't expect it to look like that.
268. 9:12Titans were able to create life when
269. 9:15spirits touched dust or blood. What
270. 9:18magic were they able to produce when
271. 9:19they were casting it willingly? They
272. 9:21surely created the dwarves, but what
273. 9:23else? In concept art, they are part of
274. 9:25the land itself. Surely that counts as
275. 9:27creating the world.
276. 9:29This would then recontextualize the
277. 9:31whole bit with the Chant of Light.
278. 9:32Andraste preached that the Maker would
279. 9:34return once the whole world sung the
280. 9:36Chant. What if the chant was the song of
281. 9:39the Titans? The Titans souls are lonely
282. 9:42and lost, confused in a box after being
283. 9:45tortured by the Evanuris for centuries,
284. 9:47which created the Blight. What if all of
285. 9:49creation really did sing in harmony with
286. 9:52the Titans? Could that cure the Blight
287. 9:54for good and perhaps even revert the
288. 9:56Titans souls to the creatures they once
289. 9:58were? Perhaps the folly of the Chantry
290. 10:00is not that they were wrong, but that
291. 10:02they don't have all the details. What if
292. 10:04Andraste is right? What if she found out
293. 10:06the reality of the Blight and knew
294. 10:08people wouldn't understand and adopted
295. 10:10the method of the Maker to help explain
296. 10:12the cure to the Blight in simple terms.
297. 10:14The Maker and the Chantry isn't over.
298. 10:16It's not completely debunked. My dear
299. 10:18patrons, we just got a different angle
300. 10:20on a viewpoint and I'm excited what some
301. 10:22of you are going to come up with using
302. 10:24this new point of view. And that, dear
303. 10:26patrons, is all that I have on the state
304. 10:28of the Chantry. But what do you all
305. 10:29think? Do you still have any lingering
306. 10:30questions? Proof that I'm wrong?
307. 10:31Comments about your own fan theory? Feel
308. 10:33free to tag me at Guilderfan on Blue Sky
309. 10:36and @Shira_all.