You take it like medicine at first, the lyrium. Your whole body sings with it, like the Maker's own fire. You're not scared of anything, not even abominations. After, it even takes away
the nightmares. But the ration's too small. If they don't give you enough, your hands get cold. The sky starts to press down on you. Little things slip away. So you have to stay.
—unknown Templar, WoT Vol. 1
The most potent type of lyrium, being crimson in hue, was recently found in the Deep Roads in 9:31 Dragon. Its potency is such that those who possess it may be imbued and possess magical-like power, regardless of whether or not they are a mage. But increased strength brings greater threats; contact with this substance comes at a cost. The potency of red lyrium is such that it ultimately corrupts all minds, including those of ordinarily resistant like the dwarves and the Tranquil.
With the arrival of Tevinter Nights, the comics, and the upcoming game Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, it appears that you and I were both wrong about red lyrium and its menace, here's why-
Mysterious Origin
According to the World of Thedas Vol. 1, Red lyrium was discovered in 9:31 Dragon on an expedition into a long deserted thaig. Hawke, the famed Champion of Kirkwall, led the expedition into the Deep Roads of the Primeval Thaig.
It's quite unlikely that red lyrium was discovered there first, considering this thaig was long forgotten and maybe sealed by the dwarves in ancient times.
The Blight initially struck Thedas in -395 Ancient, when the tevinter magisters invaded the Golden City and returned as monstrosities or what we now call the blighted beings, darkspawn. But lyrium is different; lyrium seems to exist well before Veil's creation, and it also appears to exist abnormally within the Fade. So, while Hawke was not the first to notice red lyrium, the dwarves and elvhen were perhaps the first to discover its mysterious origin.
It is said in the ancient times of Thedas, prior to the establishment of the Veil, elvhen kings and generals ruled the land. The dwarfs, who are said to have lived underground even at that time, were sacrificial labourers for the Titans. The elvhen gods sought the Titans' blood, isana, which translated to lyrium, and exploited it for their own advantage.
They made a mistake when something they killed caused the elves to lock the tunnels beneath Thedas. This awoke something far more worse than the Titan.
This is where the origin resides; lyrium, which is blue in color, became crimson, filled with fury, and began to afflict every creature of Thedas.
It's arguable what originated red lyrium, but it also leads us to wonder what even started the Blight to begin in the first place. Since the Blight is said to have existed before the Veil, Red Lyrium might have as well. Of course, it's never specified, but the red lyrium origin might lead us to believe that the elvhen dealt with this substance and wanted nothing to do with it at all, well, until the existence of the Forgotten Ones.
Plague
The second thing we are incorrect about is its potency. When discovered and investigated in Dragon Age: Inquisition, it appears that red lyrium affects Thedas' living forms, primarily plants and then creatures that consume those plants.
If one isn't forced eating it like the red templars or red mages, it appears to target through the food chain, threatening nature and livestock. This is a tremendous risk for anybody in Thedas, and it makes me wonder if the taint is really avoidable as we would like to believe.
First and foremost, according to Bianca Davri from Dragon Age: Inquisition, Red Lyrium is lyrium that has been poisoned by the blight. Because we now know the Blight is implicated and threatens all of Thedas, how sensitive can we be to this stuff now that it is spreading everywhere, as we witnessed at the Suledin Keep?
It is a plague throughout Thedas, and the elvhen labeled it so in ancient times. Andruil's narrative revolved around being tired with hunting monstrous beasts and ventured to the Void to hunt the Forgotten Ones, the Evanuris' main opponents.
Andruil put on armor made of the Void, and all forgot her true face. She made weapons of darkness, and plague ate her lands. She howled things meant to be forgotten, and the other gods became fearful Andruil would hunt them in turn.
—Codex entry: Elven God Andruil
According to what we know about lyrium, it is feasible to create weapons out of raw lyrium. The main issue is that it appears to imply that the Forgotten Ones were at a location affected by this 'plague.' Making dark weapons could only reference to the blight, which corrupts any thing or creature from its original form.
So perhaps it's merely the Blight, but as I already indicated, weapons made entirely of tainted or blighted magic are exceptionally rare. Lyrium would be used for the majority of Void crafting. As a result, the Forgotten Ones were troubled by this material, and Andruil and her land became a victim of it during the ancient periods of Thedas.
It Hungers For More
'...I opened up the creature and saw that red lyrium had fused to the bones, overgrown its lungs, and spread like a fungus into the brain. As I watched, the red crystal pulsed and spread the smallest fraction of an inch deeper into the flesh of the corpse. Blood drained out of the surrounding tissue, as if the lyrium itself were feeding on it.'
—Codex entry: Shadow, by Professor Auffret
When red lyrium is digested, the material proceeds to eat the host's body, until they themselves become that very item:
Something that perplexes most fans about red lyrium is it's unending cycle to consume it's victim. It's seen with the red templars, and it's tragically seen with Meredith in Dragon Age 2. According to Cole from the Inquisition, Red Lyrium has a hunger like no other, a rage.
Its rage causes this substance to bend the will of people who consume it; they surrender to its nature and begin to feed off of it more in order to achieve greater power. It is uncertain what takes control in the victim's mind; either the victim enjoys the power it brings, or the substance indoctrinates them to feed on more until their whole essence is destroyed.
It's a revolting reality: red lyrium eats the physical body, infiltrates the psyche, and finally transforms them into what started it all, crystalized red lyrium. The scarlet lyrium crystals that surround Thedas could, for all we know, be living beings. This is where we went wrong with red lyrium; red lyrium multiplies by eating life forms and continues to expand with each encounter.
This is its hunger, to expand and flourish. After all, Knight Commander Meredith is an exception with her look from the lyrium idol, but the goal remains the same: to gorge on red lyrium. We witnessed that happen to Bartrand's servants in Dragon Age 2, and nothing appears to stop this until we eliminate red lyrium from the victim, which is always too late for the majority of these individuals.
The Idol's Significance
While I would tell you that it's just a MacGuffin item from Dragon Age 2 and perhaps even a retcon. What I will say is that this represents the most powerful thing we have ever seen on Thedas, or maybe even surpassing other artifacts.
We've seen strong artifacts up close and personal in every game, from Andraste's Ashes to the Idol as well as the Orb of Destruction. The power of the idol in Dragon Age 2 was beyond the limits of natural magic in Thedas as we understand it.
The dwarves carved this idol out of pure red lyrium. If the thaig's family realized their mine contained red lyrium, they could have been persuaded enough even to create this idol.
Nothing appears to be able to destroy this powerful idol. It just changes its form from being a weapon, as we witnessed with Meredith and in Tevinter Nights. To return to its original size of a little idol.
However, we were so mistaken about this idol, while it doesn't appear to be destroyed by simple methods, it is, according to the comics and the book Tevinter Nights, the Dread Wolf claims the idol to be his.
“YOU USE MY IDOL CARELESSLY TO VANDALIZE THE SEA OF DREAMS. NOW FEEL THE PAIN OF WHAT YOU HAVE CREATED.”
— Dread Wolf Take You, pg. 496
Not to mention, the portrayal of the idol is evident yet unknown; based on the descriptions, we may guess that these front-facing figures resemble either a 'god mourning her sacrifice,' 'two lovers,' or 'a couple hugging,' according to the Dread Wolf Take You short-story.
The importance of this idol, on the other hand, appears to call back to the attention of the Dread Wolf. Given that red lyrium is now a greater menace to Thedas, what makes the Dread Wolf need it, let alone claim it as his own?
This is where we were completely mistaken because the red lyrium idol could actually pose a significant danger to the Dread Wolf's demise.
A Weapon Against the Dread Wolf
Maybe I'm incorrect, but maybe by the time Dragon Age: Dreadwolf comes out, you'll have forgotten what I said. The Dread Wolf may require the red lyrium idol since it is a weapon capable of defeating him.
We know from Dragon Age 2 that it can be transformed into a weapon used by Knight-Commander Meredith. According to Tevinter Nights, it also transformed into a blade when they conducted the ritual with this idol. The greatest indication that this is a weapon against the Dread Wolf comes from a large codex portraying a wolf battle.
A codex entry in the Jaws of Hakon DLC recounted a mysterious fight that included inquisitor Ameridan and his templar companion Haron.
Favored like a wolf it was,
In size like a Woodsman's Death.
Within its eyes burned eldritch fire,
The Fade in every breath.
— The Hunt of the Fell Wolf, Stanza 6
Haron the Templar and Ameridan the Brave fought a wolf creature in this legend. However, the story indicates that mortal power alone could not defeat the wolf. So Haron navigates a through an underground labyrinth in to find an 'idol of fade-touched stone.' Haron destroyed the idol , while simultaneously Ameridan struck the wolf, when both heroes did their job, it proved to defeat this demon wolf once and for all.
There is no way that this codex is a coincidence to our current world state. And although we could take this codex seriously and suppose that 'maybe' in the future Dragon Age game, this idol could be able to vanquish the Dread Wolf. It's still unclear why Solas really needs this particular idol. But perhaps this idol is a weapon against the Dread Wolf when destroyed, but I guess we'll really have to find out in the next Dragon Age game...
But with that, we are going to wrap up, you and I were both very wrong about red lyrium. Do you think that red lyrium is a big threat to Thedas? Let me know in the comments down below, and if you don't comment-
hold on, I'm starving, let go grab a snack, but as I was saying if you don't comment, I will send a small innocent child, sandal- to hand you a cute little rock candy, and you have to eat it, that's super disrespectful if you don't, and don't call me if you become addicted to them, anyways, thank you for watching and I will see you in the next video.
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