Hello and welcome back to the ongoing series regarding all about Mythal. In the last episode I discussed all about Flemeth and her relations towards Andraste, and how Mythal is leaving her legacy during the Ages with the Veil.
So without further ado, let's discuss all about how Mythal is the Core of the Pantheon.
Origin:
Let's start in the beginning, where this is probably the most hardest place to speculate due to our vague understanding of it in general. Mythal is basically the Mother God for the Pantheon of Gods, and Elgar'nan is the Father of these Pantheon Gods. But it comes to the question of how did that start? How did Mythal & Elgar'nan become known as the elvehn figurehead of Mother and Father?
According to Dalish legend, I'm going to dissect their text a little since it's a lengthy endeavor and probably the origin of what started this Pantheon:
"Elgar'nan had defeated his father, the sun, and all was covered in darkness. Pleased with himself, Elgar'nan sought to console his mother, the earth, by replacing all that the sun had destroyed. But the earth knew that without the sun, nothing could grow. She whispered to Elgar'nan this truth, and pleaded with him to release his father, but Elgar'nan's pride was great, and his vengeance was terrible, and he refused.
It was at this moment that Mythal walked out of the sea of the earth's tears and onto the land. She placed her hand on Elgar'nan's brow, and at her touch he grew calm and knew that his anger had led him astray. Humbled, Elgar'nan went to the place where the sun was buried and spoke to him. Elgar'nan said he would release the sun if the sun promised to be gentle and to return to the earth each night. The sun, feeling remorse at what he had done, agreed." -Mythal: The Great Protector
Let's briefly start with Elgar'nan, His Father's the Sun, and His mother is the Earth. Now the only theory I can come up with is that His Father could have something to do with Dragons, since these beast were seemingly high, regarded as divines, and worshiped as such before the Veil. And Elgar'nan's mother, represents the Earth, which might have to do with Titans, maybe Elgar'nan has to do something with both, but that's pure tinfoil.
Now regarding Mythal, is born out of the 'sea of the Earth's tears', now I don't want to accordingly say that this 'sea' is the oceans in Thedas, but I've got three aspects of who she could be:
One, the Fade is represented as the 'Ocean of Dreams' from the Chant, so she could just be one of the First Children of the Maker, or also known as a Spirit.
Two, Mythal is made out of the Earth's tears, if Earth is represented as a Titan, she could be made from a Wellspring, or also known as lyrium.
And Three, this is the one where it's the most tinfoil out of the other ones but my favorite, after the veil, humans and Qunari came over the seas to Thedas, so she could be one of the first Pilgrims of those races, I thought this would be so since she is also Flemeth, although highly unlikely...
So all of the aspects could be Mythal, again, I could just be going off on other spectrum's, but Mythal definitely has to have in some relation towards a Dragon, since she can turn into one, which I will get into later on.
Belief:
Now we would render her existence to be just for Elgar'nan, that she is his guiding hand in bringing fair justice upon the world of the elves. But in retrospect I believe that this isn't the case. I feel that there was something else going on to be involved with Elgar'nan. I mean, in this situation, who really would marry an angry Father-ursuper without an intention going on behind the scenes.
Let's look into other lore, throughout mythology as a whole, there are hundreds of Gods represented as a Mother figure. Take Freya (or Frigg) for example in Norse mythology, where during the Aesir and Vanir War, she was always the foremost practitioner of the art of seidr, the most terribly powerful kind of magic.
She was taken in as hostage in the result of a war truce, where the Vanir tribes sent hostages including Freya to Asgaard, where the Aesir God Odin resided at this time. Eventually it's not mentioned but hinted that Odin married Freya to a arranged truce would end their endless war.
Freya is claimed after to be adopted in the Aesir god, resembling of a goddess of fertility, marriage and motherly love. Eventually Freya is recorded to have slept with other gods, or men in general, yet is also to be recorded to have wept of Odin always leaving to his own journies. So both of the God were fickle in their own vendettas, much like what's hinted in the Elvehn Pantheon.
If I could compare Freya to Mythal, it doesn't seem far-fetched, already Mythal has immense knowledge of power in magic, and they are both known to be compared to shape-shift as well. Elgar'nan and Odin seem the same since they are vengeful tyrants ruling the lands. Ultimately this core comes to two gods unifying their cause to end, either from war or from seeking power...
Core:
Now I bring in this point again because it represents how much Mythal is the pillar for the Elvehn people. The Elvehn sought to her, prayed to her in the undoing of chaos in their lands. Yet when she died it became in the deeds of betrayal and greed.
Mythal must of provided so much for the People that wasn't given from Elgar'nan. Where it's depicted in lore that Elgar'nan was vengeful in his deeds, yet Mythal was the calm hand of pursuing in a justiceful manner that brought peace into their lands. It resolved in the elvehn prosperity of magic and all things knowledgeful, like a land of Eden.
She hunted down things to pose a threat to her people, seeking out the best way that brought the good for her land and becoming the best of these Gods. She is the tye to the Elvehn's creation, whether by herself or not, she is the 'Mother' the one who brings them together. Even when the Gods themselves beckoned against her ways:
Such as when Falon'Din began wars to amass more worshipers, Mythal rallied the gods against him. Falon'Din only surrendered when they bloodied him in his own temple. -Solas
Or when Andruil had gone mad after hunting in the Void, Mythal took the form of a great serpent and waited for Andruil at the base of a mountain. They fought for three days and nights, until Mythal sapped Andruil's strength with her magic and stole Andruil's knowledge of how to find the Void.
And eventually she struck down Titans , she struck down the Titans and rendered the earth, their demesne, unto the elves. Yet is also given Dwarves dreams when striking down the Titans, although might not be the case now with the Veil existing after her death....
Eventually, I can say that Mythal is and still is the reasoning of the core of a whole race, if not just elves, but maybe even more races as well. She sought the best resolution to each God's own vendettas and resolved peace, yet was betrayed in the end. Regarding her Personality being evil or not, we will discover that more in the next video series.
Have any questions or comments, leave them below, and we can discuss them together. I also have a Patreon now! My Patreons get the privileges of seeing my content early, involved in weekly discussions, and exclusive meme content! If you want to follow me on other social media, or check out my blog, all of these links are down below as well.
Again, thank you for supporting me, or if your new, like and subscribe for more BioWare content like this, and I’ll see you in the next video!
Comments