Hello, and welcome back to my channel, today I'm coming to you with a lore and speculation video regarding the Titans!
Titans are probably the most vague lore that has been stated in Dragon Age. It was quickly explained as it was introduced. It almost feels as if they were added to thicken the plot for their potential war with the Elven Pantheon and the misconceptions in dwarven lore. They're a catalyst for lyrium, a source of power that labels straight to the depth within the Deep Roads. It rises the question of where are these creatures, and what do they potentially bring to the future plot of Dragon Age?
So I'll first discuss every knowledge we know about Titans, and then we will get into some dwarven lore as well:
Titans:
Titans are known as enormous beasts that don't compare to any size except to a mountain. Or called the 'pillars of the earth' in elven times. Isana is their life source, or blood, known as raw lyrium. They sing into the Stone, shaping it, which results in earthquakes, vastly changing the world. They are vast creatures that have been never in the likes of what we have seen in Thedas, even comparing to dragons.
Apparently they have only woken up twice within Thedas' recording history. Meaning they are sleeping within the Deep Roads, or unable to be what they once were, making them in a vegetative state. Lyrium is the only source that connects them to still be considered alive since it is a source that is alive also, making that substance so easily tied between two worlds, the Fade and waking world, yet something blocks the Titans resulting in this coma-like state....
Now I could make a reference of pillars of the earth, as the pillar is the bridge between Heaven and Earth, the vertical axis which both unites and divides these two realms. It is closely connected to the symbolism of the Tree; it also represents stability, and a broken pillar represents death and mortality. In the Hebrew and Christian traditions, pillars of fire and smoke signify the presence of God, and God punished Lot by changing his wife into a pillar of salt.
In Greek mythology, the Titans were the deities in that preceded the Olympians. They were the children of the primordial deities Uranus (heaven) and Gaea (earth). Cronus was the leader of the Titans, after he managed to overthrow his tyrant father Uranus from the throne. Cronus later learned of a prophecy that said his son would eventually overthrow him and did everything he could to prevent it. However, the prophecy came true and Zeus managed to dethrone him and end the age of the Titans, known as the great war between the Titans and the Olympians.
Either way, the Titans in Dragon Age resemble beings in 'higher-power' and their mysteries regard them to immense sources of power, making them a target for being hunted. Either for their blood, or something entirely different that is hidden within our reach as of yet.
Connection:
Being the only connection to lyrium, it shows that they have a song amidst their own blood. Apparently Valta explains that the song 'is too loud'. And Cole says their song is quite different than the song heard of the Old Gods.
The Titans consider 'dwarves' as their children, yet seems completely suspicious due to dwarves never believing in beings that is all lost due to historical problems, which is coming up later in discussion.
These beings apparently refer to 'being pure', and only those who prove to be in that state, are not permitted in the Wellspring. Although we do not know the extension of what 'purity' represents, maybe the connection to a Titan makes that possible... Or perhaps their lyrium in which fills the gap.
They have also been recorded to be hunted by the Elven Pantheon before the Veil was even existed, in which, the Titans gave earthquakes upon the elven lands where the People would pray to their Evanuris to calm their rage. Eventually they hunted down the Titans, where Mythal is recorded to strike one down, giving the land to the People. But also using them for something else;
This resulted in them eventually hiding from the power they unleashed against this beings:
A new vision appears: elves collapsing caverns, sealing the Deep Roads with stone and magic. Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast. A voice whispers:
"What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all." -Veilfire Runes in the Deep Roads
These are the mysterious basics, but in order to delve deeper into this lore of the Titan's existence, we have to look at the dwarves:
Valta:
In the Descent DLC, we learn that Valta is a Shaperate, those conducted in recording Memories with lyrium and having a keen sense of the Stone as well. Valta became part of the Legion of the Dead due to the dispute of not recording Memories, which I will explain later.
Anyways, Valta ends up establishing the role to help the Inquisitor in finding out the reasoning behind the earthquakes in the Deep Roads. All because the Titan was disturbed by the Breach.
Valta during the end of the encounter becomes 'connected' with this Titan, feeling at peace, and healed. Although it seems mysteriously suspicious due to her witnessing Renn's death and eventually staying in the Wellspring.
As we know through Valta, that the Titan connected to his children, and that their blood lyrium is what sustains the Shal Brytol and Valta as well later on.
"The Titans are real. I knew it the moment I unearthed that ancient text. Renn scoffed at the words I read. I couldn't blame him, even as I felt the truth settle on me like a warm cloak. Much of our history has been lost, and the Wall of Memories goes back only so far. There had to be more to the story of our people, and I've finally found one of those lost chapters... Its blood now flows through me, and its song fills the gaps in our history. I close my eyes and see glimpses of the world that was, before everything changed and the dwarven race broke in two. Something caused the Titans to fall, and the fate of my people fell with them. The Titan wants me to know. No, more than that. It wants me to understand. There is a loneliness to its song." -Valta
Wall of Memories:
The Memories are the archives of Orzammar. Tens of thousands of years of history are recorded in them. Some Shapers claim that the Memories date back to the founding of the first thaig, while other sources state that the first dwarven kingdom was founded so long ago that even Memories do not record it.
Memories are recorded on the Wall of Memories by the Shaper of Memories who crafts lyrium runes containing the actual thoughts of the ones who made them. This is a magical process that allows them to record even the minuscule details with precise accuracy..
Now I feel like I need to address the problem regarding Titans' own lost to dwarven history was because of the Memories.
Memories record every record of marriages, deaths, promotions, demotions, inheritances, victories, defeats, Provings, and votes of the Assembly, among other things. The Memories are a collection of dry facts, such as "who", "what", "when", "where" and "how", but not "why". Dwarves trust in it's accuracy, but it isn't accurate at all, for example the casteless and exiled houses can be erased from the Memories as if they never existed.
In another example, Valta was sent out of Orzammar after denying to remove an official record despite the order from her superiors. If Bhelen or Harrowmont were crowned king, their relations would dispute them to be of the Carta. Making the dwarven politics highly controversial and subjective due to orders. This refusal cost her dearly, as she was demoted and sent to do field work in the Deep Roads instead.
As Valta first hand dealt with 'higher-ups' that distinctively change the Memories just for the benefit of claiming the throne, means that they can change anything if it poses a threat and influence for their people, like the Titans.
For instance, even the Primeval Thaig, Kal Repartha in the Hissing Wastes, and the House Cadash descended from elven origin. All of these important thaigs and houses weren't recorded in the Shaper's Memories, and now neither are the Titans, which somehow brings into question why? Why do the Memories limit the accuracy and lack the very fact of, well, "facts". Sometimes even the Memories are written in language fully not understood by the ones who created it. Seems like an Animal Farm scenario if you ask me, where they rewrite what seems fit, never incorporating realism in anything that helps them not repeat history.
Overall, the Memories record so many false things, that it doesn't come to be a reliable source at all, bringing the downfall of the dwarven race, kind of like the Dalish are with their history as well....
The Stone:
Despite their revered wall of false Memories that is recorded just for the fact of subjective beliefs. Let's understand their belief of their religion/faith that they stand beside known as the Stone.
"We are the Children of the Stone. She supports us, shelters us, offers us the most priceless gifts of the earth. The worthy return to her embrace in death, becoming Ancestors. The unworthy are cast out, unable to rest, that their failings may not weaken the Stone.
So it has been since the earliest memories. We live by the Stone, guided by the Ancestors, who speak with the voice of the Provings, and whose memories the Shaperate keeps forever in lyrium." - Shaper Czibor
The dwarves believe that they are the Children of the Stone, born of the earth itself. This veneration of the Stone has been practiced for two thousand years by the dwarves. They refer to the Stone as "she". Being practical, the dwarves revere her, but do not worship her as a god. The Stone is believed to be a living and a shifting entity with a will that surrounds and guides the dwarves.
One thing to note on the faith is the "Stone sense", where the ability provides subterranean navigation, and dwarves believe that it is derived from their connection to the Stone.
Now this makes me laugh since it seems like a Tolkien concept within their fandom, either way the dwarves believe they can navigate through 'hearing, or interpreting' them to come near a certain area within underground, as we see with Valta explaining that she was 'meant' to come here....
Anyways, Titans are referred of 'being' the Stone, whether this type of faith relates to them or not, it shows how these beings are alive, but there are problems regarding combining these two because of how wrong history correlates, and the corruption the Stone has along with it, known as the Gangue.
Gangue:
Now I'll briefly discuss this term just because I feel it correlates to the state of Titans in their own form known as Gangue. The dwarves believe that the Stone is not pure, for she bears a corruption as old as balance it is known as, the waste and unstable rock and must be cut away from the raw Stone. The Legion of the Dead bears a unique responsibility to protect the Stone herself from the darkness that afflicts her.
The gangue can also be translated from Old Dwarven as "impure spirit-of-the-stone" and manifests as demons bound into the rock.
This is also a mining-term for material that is closely tied into the main ore that is commercially worthless, and has no value for a pure material. Kind of like stone being near lyrium.
In the Hissing Wastes, where you do the puzzles for Tomb Fairel, you can discover that the reasoning for Gangue was recorded from the Venatori's notes:
"Demons bound into the rock! How did the ancient dwarves manage it without mages? (Binding runes? Subtle properties of stonework?)
- "Gangue" carved into walls. Could be translated from Old Dwarven as "Stonewaste" or "Impure spirit-of-the-stone." Dwarven superstition, saw demons as "impure" spirits of rock?" -Demons of the Stone
How this relates to the Titan discovers that a Titan can be corrupted and threatened if by becoming impure with bonding of a demon or something that is against their own nature. Thus corrupting into red lyrium? Possibly...
King Orseck & Legacy:
It was in this age of expansion and greatness that Orseck Garal ruled while on the surface the Imperium was rapidly growing in power as well. Dwarves had innumerable amounts of thaigs and spread their length around the land of Thedas.
Shaper Valta discovers an ancient tome in the Deep Roads that reveals that a Titan awoke beneath Heidrun Thaig during the rule of Orseck Garal in -1170 Ancient. It somehow lead Orseck becoming connected with this Titan, in which eventually split the dwarven race in half.
After King Orseck died he was succeeded by his ally and friend Edrin Stonehammer as the new ruler of the empire. Stonehammer established a trade alliance with Archon Darinius, a move which was supported by Orseck before his death. At -1170 Ancient, due to Kal-Sharock's close proximity to Tevinter, and the result of an internal turmoil caused in the Imperium following the Archon's death, booting chaos upon the surface.
Endrin Stonehammer moved the capital of the empire to Orzammar. While Stonehammer is attributed for moving the capital, some argue that the matter was originally put forth the Assembly already by King Orseck, and that Edrin only followed his decree. Sadly, this split up the people of Kal-Sharock, due to the over-bearing taxing to create Orzammar.
Overall this led to the abandonment of saving the Kal-Sharock during the First Blight, resulting in a sparce population after the Blight, eventually leaving the Kal-Sharock Dwarves in a hefty bitterness against the Orzammar capital.
Apparently the Kal-Sharock look distinctively different from regular Orzammar dwarves, and also speak the language more fluently than those in the new capital. They can journey up with the Inquisition, yet the Merchant's Guild tried finding them and doubt they will find them alive....
Lastly, now that we know a lot about dwarven's lore & corrupted history, the Titans are hidden among the dwarven past, probably to protect them in their mining of lyrium and prevent their main economical source to prosperity of their kingdom. Which leads me to state that wherever the Titans are, they sing in a sorrowful manner because of the lost of their history was because of their own children. Thus, potentially being the biggest secret in dwarven history, thus no one coming close to where a Titan would be located, pardoning the reasons for Valta and the Inquistion, and maybe even King Orseck....
Thank you for watching this lore video regarding the Titans, and I probably would love to mention more about their blood, I'm making that into a separate video. I you have any questions of comments leave them below, and we can discuss them together, like and subscribe for lore/theory videos like this, and see you in the next video!
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