Jackdaw:
Hey guys! Today me and Saria are speaking on another unraveled mystery, a mythic legend in Thedas! We’re uncovering the enigma and potential existence of fairies currently residing in the Dragon Age!
Saria:
We love talking & discussing mysteries, no matter how creepy, shady, unnerving or just completely enigmatic! All those legends, rumors and myths concerning Thedas.
Jackdaw: And so today we’re leaving no stone unturned, tinfoiling, speculating and having a whirl delving into the Dragon Age lore, uncovering these many intrigues… Onwards with the legend! Believe it or not, Fairies already exist in Thedas' lore, they just go by a different name.
Firesprites
Firesprites are a diminutive race of faerie-like creatures that (so far) dwell in Ferelden's Korcari Wilds.
The Firesprites are an ancient, dying race of minute proportions - about four inches tall. They are humanoids with yellow skin and insect wings, and close inspection reveals that they have compound eyes, like a housefly. They also have two antennas.
Saria:
Firesprites don't wear clothes (romance?) and their bodies emanate a musty yellow glow. In spite of their humanoid legs, firesprites don't seem to walk, instead they fly everywhere and often prefer hovering to standing.
They also don't seem to speak; instead they constantly sing. Their songs affect the moods of those around them; it isn’t clear whether this is intentional.
Most Chasind know stories of the “little people of the swamps,” which occasionally appear to humans as tiny, glowing creatures. Some Chasind have heard of “swamp lanterns,” made by imprisoning a firesprite in a portable cage or lantern.
Unfortunately, no one knows what the Firesprites need to have in order to survive, so many Firesprites have died inside their lantern prisons.
Jackdaw:
Firesprites have no interest in the affairs of other races, and keep to their own company, having no interest in regular food or in shiny objects.
The only way to attract Firesprites in the Wilds is by brewing a strange noxious soup with such a great stench that it can make regular men vomit from the smell alone. The ‘sprites’ have no interest in actually eating the soup, but they are attracted by the smell of it, because it smells like their sole-sustenance ‘Shadowmoss’.
Firesprites, or aptly faires, do exist in Thedas, somewhere in the Korcari Wilds, it's unknown if their inhabitants exists further throughout the world. Few questions linger on the survival of these woodland creatures, if the Shadowmoss is taken away, Firesprites will be doomed to starvation and extinction.
Are these miniature creatures supposedly going extinct? Their fate is pure speculation at this point, whether only a cluster of Firesprites remain in the Korcari Wilds, or if a herd of them moved forests to find more Shadowmoss, the mystery of fairies lingers out there in Thedas.
I'm particularly wondering about the existence of Firesprites, how long they've inhabited Thedas for, and did they exist pre-veil? The fairies have relied on Shadowmoss for centuries, perhaps in a time pre-veil, they could sustain on many things, and since those days, they've been stripped to depending on Shadowmoss.
Despite their vulnerability with Shadowmoss, these Sprites are pretty strong when colonized together. They have a parallel existence of what we know is like bees, instead of having a queen, they rely on a guardian; mostly known as the Guardian serpents. These serpents are believed to be the creation from the Firesprites, and their existence is very vital.
“The guardian serpents are 40-foot-long greenish silver snake-like serpents with a prehensile body and tiny legs. It has two wicked horns on its head that it uses to gore victims before swallowing them whole. The guardian serpent itself is a magical creation of the firesprites. When it dies, one of the firesprite's young becomes the next guardian serpent. Over the millennia, the guardian serpents have been destroyed and the firesprites that each supported along with them. Now, only a single colony remains. The shadowmoss left over when a guardian serpent dies is the only thing that sustains the firesprites long enough for a new guardian serpent to mature. If this shadowmoss is taken away, then the firesprites will be doomed to starvation and extinction.” - Blood of Ferelden p. 31-33
Saria:
Now that Jackdaw discussed the background behind the Firesprites, let’s discuss a little bit of a tinfoil theory for the Sprites:
First, there’s a tiny little question to why there’s different eluvians within the realm of Thedas. To be honest, the one that is pretty striking is of the recognizable eluvian for Merril.
In which, you can see those types of eluvians even in Inquisition Descent DLC, and also seeing it in the background when entering the eluvian crossroads with Morrigan.
One thing to take in note is the width comparison to the average eluvians that was once known for it’s easy travel around Thedas primarily used for elves. Although I don’t believe this is the case, due to how many notes and species that have been left behind in extinction after the Veil was created.
What if in these terms, that these types of smaller width eluvians are actually for a different race/species. And what I’m guessing is for these Firesprites!
Now Lengthwise, it would be a little alarming since fairies are considered 4 inches tall as we know them, but the width would fit perfectly to their dimensions either way.
It would be a wasted opportunity to not link those together, because it seems pretty logical in their own existence that they existed before the Veil. And they also seem to be pretty intelligent creatures, maybe they had a bigger colony than we could have ever imagined, and are now left into extinction and relics of what once was.
But speaking of the bottom of these types of eluvians, in which look like straggly branches tied to the ground, are called velghastrials; Velghastrials are a totem-like spell/craft from the Ghast species to do things in their bidding, perhaps these two species had a conflict? We may never know, but it's cool to linger on some unanswered questions in Thedas lore, and forgotten species.
Jackdaw: Only fate will tell us if the Firesprites live on, who knows perhaps as the Chasind do, we'll see Firesprites used as swamp lanterns once more, or perhaps these creatures may prove to be an ally in the wars to come.
We know they speak through songs in the forest, perhaps they communicate to other creatures and beings that’re hidden throughout the world of Thedas, like the Slyvens spread rumours throughout their lands.
Who knows, maybe one day we’ll hear the small whispers, sonnets and songs of tiny woodland creatures, luring us into their home, perhaps showing us the way towards many untouched lands of Thedas, or aiding us in the journey to come.
Saria:
In any case, Firesprites are out there and Maker only knows if we'll ever see one in the flesh! I really hope we do! Or may be we already have? Really? Where? Ardent Blossom anyone? Oh right! I mean that little creature did live in the tiniest cave after all!
Have any thoughts yourselves on the mysteries of Firesprites? Do you think we might see them in Tevinter? Leave all your thoughts down below and give us your theories, we would love to hear about them! But until the next one, for all your things BioWare, you’re already in the right place! Until then, we should gooo!
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