Hello and welcome back to my channel Thedosians, today we going straight into a theory video, I remember someone on reddit a long time ago wrote a theory regarding this. I cannot find it, and it seems to most likely be deleted or lost within the void of reddits subpages. So I wanted to make a video on it since it seems pretty interesting and intriguing to say the least, so lets get on with it!
Theory: When the Veil was present, the Golden City was located on Seheron. But disappeared due to a calamity...
Evidence-
In the realm of Dragon Age, or Thedas in general, Seheron is a location fought for many years throughout history. It is a land of value, and not that we totally believe for many reasons. Seheron was and is known for having a city larger than anything seen before in Thedas.
Wonders of this island remain a mystery, they claimed to be the old lands of the Imperium, building structures during their glory days. Yet, as we know of these ages past, Qunari conquer it to the point of no return. Seheron's structures, if they have any, are only lost due to ages of battles due to destruction of a nasty war.
Location & Vectors:
"Ours is a land that has been shaped by war, as no other. Long ago the lmperium came, and after centuries of trying and failing to tum us into compliant Imperial citizens, the Qunari came instead. They conquered Seheron and attempted to convert us. Neither side succeeded in taking our freedom. And though battle after bloody battle have ground our ancient halls of wisdom practically to dust, we still dream of the land that was..."
-Brother Ashor Vell
It all goes back to Tevinter's history, during their glory days, where the renowned kings became magisters, their prolific kingdom of magic. While gaining power from magic, they had to conquer lands, most noticeably, lands that are potentially vectors that are on both sides towards Seheron.
In 415 TE, or -1610 Ancient, Tevinter Archon Thalsian, the first blood magic dreamer who worshipped the Old God Dumat. Visits the City of Barindur:
"Legend has it that during the celebration of the winter solstice, Carinatus, High King of Barindur, turned away an envoy from the High Priest of Dumat. The priest called upon his god to punish Carinatus for the offense, and the Dragon-God of Silence answered him.
Months passed. The Kingdom of Barindur fell silent. In distant Minrathous, the priests of Razikale dreamed of dark omens. Their oracles declared that a dire fate had befallen King Carinatus." - In Pursuit of Knowledge: Travels of a Chantry Scholar by Brother Genitivi
Eventually scouts were sent out to the city of Barindur, and when the road led out the the northern plains, "They walked for leagues over barren, empty rock where the Kingdom of Barindur had once been. All of it swept from the face of the world by the hand of a god."
What this means is that scouts were looking on to an area that seemed to never reach this kingdom, confirming that it had sunken beneath the earth, or into waters...
Apparently this City was also seen by Solas:
"The Lost Tevinter City, buried deep beneath the dead and barren wasteland. Volcanic ash sealed it tight, and in one dark moment, every living creature in the city seared and smothered. They were statues in the ashes. Like a mold made to recall the lost" -Solas
The point of where this Lost City belongs on the map of Thedas really is hard because the modern day of Thedas is drastically different than what was spoken before this calamity of this city. It goes on that this city belonged to a great rolling plain, to birds laid in flocks that blocked out the sun. This, was known as Barindur.
Barindur must have been a Tevinter city near a distance towards Minrathous, according to the map, the only wasteland that is known for ash closest, would be known as the Orthlands, or Anderfels. Now according to the timeline, Anderfels had not fought their independence until later so this land would be considered the Imperium's.
Noticeably, the landmark known as Tallo's Eye looks of what to be a huge inactive volcano, and if Solas saw that this city had been destroyed into ash, this area could be the closest to where Barindur actually existed. This city could been spreaded out would be exactly the area between the Colean Sea and even the edge of what makes Seheron an island.
In relation towards Seheron? Eventually the fall to Barindur's demise, this city was the western area closest to Seheron. It was a prosperous city most in the likes of being mystical, unlike anything we have ever seen in Thedas. The Lost City of Barindur was most like a port city, but that wasn't the only area the Imperium conquered near Seheron...
East from Minrathous, elven scouts began to be spotted in what we know as the Arlathan forest, but we know that humans partially had coexisted with elves for a time. That soon fell short and hostilities soon arose when the elves retreated from human contact. Furthermore, the human settlements in the Arlathan forest, as well as emissaries sent to make contact with the elves, all disappeared.
This led the Imperium to declare war on 214 TE, marching into the Arlathan forest to lay siege to the city with--it is said--demons and dragon thralls. Six years later, the magisters and then-Archon Thalasian sank the city into the ground with 'blood magic'. Elven survivors were enslaved, despite their talent for magic. From them, the magisters learned to use lyrium to enter the Fade.
According to the Dalish, and human scholars, the city of Arlathan was the city near the northern part of the Arlathan forest, which seems like an easy speculation. But in the modern day of the map, Arlathan Forest seems to end abruptly, its area seems smaller than expected, and if this was the case, why has no elvehn people recognize this forest except for it's own foggy speculations?
It's the case of connecting the Golden City with Arlathan, and honestly, there isn't any wonder of another great city before the ages except the Golden City and Arlathan. Basically these two might have coincide with each other, if the elves basically brought upon the Blight. But again, this area of Arlathan looks to be missing for such a prosperous kingdom, which we know is because of the Veil, so this vector could have connected to Seheron, since we see some islands that look closely the same to Arlathan Forest.
Thalasian the Destroyer was third archon under the rule for Tevinter, from the first being Thalsian and then Darinius. From what we know of these Archons, they all believe in the Old Gods, and used blood magic to coerce power and destroy those who oppose them.
The problem is that Tevinter's history has been manipulated to seem like they are the big bads, intimidation of destroying cities was to fear the Old Gods and potentially the power of blood magic. And for what seemed like ages, within 300 years, there was a decline of their Golden Age. Leading to the effect of their greatest sin.
Entering the Black City:
What we know from Solas and according to the laws of traveling in the Fade, he states the reasoning of traveling to areas limits physically in the world as well:
"Two reasons, first, the Fade reflects the world around it, unless I traveled, I would never find anything new." -Solas
Now according to the uses of rules around entering the Fade or a location in the Fade would require you to actually be in the specific area. Where did the Magisters go if this was the case? One would guess Seheron:
The first Dreamer, Thalsian, ruled over to make the prominent land of Minrathous and it's religion based on the Old God worship. They created structures beyond measure that weigh upon the Imperium's lands, even including Seheron.
As we know of Seheron, it's land belonged to the areas of griffons, but now its a land of rubble and ash, some structures remain, but back then, some had remained there and still is today.
One location noted goes back to the events behind Silent Grove, it's known as Ath Velanis, when Ath Velanis was built, it was used by Malgorthios the Black in order to sacrifice women screaming to the Old Gods.
Ath Velanis is located for experiments of blood magic to worship the Old Gods, to the modern day of seeing King Marric on a magrallen for syphening dragons blood. They created structures and items to secretly create rituals without the eyes of travelers.
So Seheron would be a pretty good place to have an island so close to the Imperium's capital, using experiments to see how far they would go for the Old Gods, and one would go as far as using some rituals to practice and enter the Fade physically. This is a huge possibility...
These Magisters must have entered the Fade physically because they were on the land that consisted where this Golden City was. At the height of this, Seheron's kingdom was learned at the feet of the elves, well, so where the Imperiums, what we know is that the Black city is not existent physically in Thedas, therefore, they would have to know of this place from the Old Gods, and even texts from which the elvehn wrote down. It leads to believe that they entered this city because they knew the exact location of the city through elven texts.
So if they physically entered the Fade, they see the reality of the Black City, in which, their own Old Gods had betrayed them in their time of godhood, thus, the damnation of the Blight was born onto this Veil like world.
"The fog dancers who travel with each band of warriors regale them with the legends of old and keep the songs our people alive. They say that the griffons of the Grey Wardens came from Seheron. They tell us of the ancient Curse of Nahar that brought the fog, and the promise that will one day lift it. They speak of the March of Four Winds, of the lost people who fled to the northern islands and the great heroes who learned at the feet of elves."
-Brother Ashor Vell
Impressions:
Honestly this theory kind of leaves speculation less on the Golden city, and more onto the land of Seheron itself. It's highly tinfoil, but this theory could be within reach and potentially make sense in Dragon Age lore, so I'll stick with it.
What do you guys think? If you don't think the Golden City was on Seheron where was it? Put all your comments and theories down below as we can discuss them together. Thanks for watching, if you want to follow and other social media, follow my blog, check out my Patreon, all of those links are down below as well. Again thank you for watching, or if your new, like and subscribe for more theory content like this, and I'll see you in the next video!
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