Oh, no. I knew, but I wrote that very late and just jumbled words together excitedly! I also wasn’t focused on that because it’s been the focus of a lot of posts already.
Knowing what we know about what Res Lyrium is (blighted Lyrium), I think this has some really terrifying ramifications for Solas and for Thedas.
Welp I have finally cracked. I am analyzing the shit out of this trailer and the mural. This is gonna be pic-heavy with my observations.
So: from the jump we have an unknown light source first looking like it’s “dawning” but is actually disappearing as the object (the idol) rotates. As it goes, we discover this is the ridged top of the halo/circle portion. Note the green glow.
This is a view of the underside of the ridged halo. Note the two light sources: one is orange and flickering like flame – and indeed you can see little sparks start floating here – and the other light source is still a green glow.
This, I believe, is a view of the figure embracing the central figure of the idol. Note it’s unmistakable skeletal appearance with fully exposed teeth, nose holes, etc. Flaming orange light source underneath, highlighting the underside of this skull’s neck and chin. A second light source up and to the right (approximately) helps pick out the skull’s features. The wake of the light’s “beam” is still green.
Now we get a view we know for certain and is probably when many of us started screeching: a view of the central figure of the idol. Note the spiked crown: whether you believe this is Andraste or Mythal or another figure, the ears have a mild elongation but otherwise seem rounded. The face is not a full skull but is skeletal with massive eye holes and a gaunt appearance.
Two more things to note here: the definitive smoky, sparking atmosphere, and our first glimpse of red in the cracks of the idol, meaning red lyrium.
Now we see the growth of red glowing cracks spreading through the idol – here is the back, I think, of the figure crouched over the central Andraste/Mythal/whomever figure.
The full view of the idol not long afterward. Still two light sources – flames and ? – and still the general atmosphere around it has a greenish haze. The red lyrium is much more obvious here. Note: Andraste/Mythal/whomever appears to have a headlock on the crouching figure, cradling their head pretty closely in the crook of its arm. What exactly is going on with the bottom of the idol is hard for me to discern: parts of it look like potential dragon spines? But with no obvious linkage to anything else about that figure that might be explicitly draconic. There’s also a long curling tendril of something – an arm? a tentacle? a broken halo of some other sort? – embracing or resting on the right side of the idol’s halo.
The beginning of the progression toward the mural. Several important things are happening here: not just the “outline” of the barrier appearing around the idol, but also the appearance of the Dread Wolf’s open and slavering muzzle *piercing* that barrier, flecks of vivid red coming from the Dread Wolf’s mouth and tongue. These appear as spashes that cross and crack the barrier’s boundaries.
The idol transitions itself from a metallic appearance to a much more dull stone finish. The Dread Wolf’s appearance as noted above is a lot more apparent, along with more splashes and cracks. Its red glowing eyes are now obvious. Less obvious are hints of green near its “neck.” To the left, the figure of Solas becomes visible. His eyes are also reddish, of a more orange hue, and glow much less than the Dread Wolf’s. However, they are still red and still glowing a bit. We now see half moon disks or orbs appearing on the edge of the idol’s barrier. More cracks and smoke and flickering light here.
Everything noted above is still here and, in a few cases, much more evident. This would include the half-moon disks or orbs, two of which are clearly “lit” (gilded, in this shot). More details are seen of Solas, of the Dread Wolf, and more. At this point in the trailer you can see more splotches of green and a whole heck of a lot more flames – painted and “real” (via lighting and smoke and such) along the bottom along the Dread Wolf’s body and by Solas’s (warding off?) form.
I keep mentioning the flames and the green throughout this analysis because they appear to verify something I believe of the whole mural: that it is depicting this confrontation between Solas and the Dread Wolf at the Black City in the Fade.
Other great lore-minded folks have mentioned that the orbs would appear to map to the Archdemons, due to the fact that five of these orbs (representing five Blights) are dim and two of the orbs are still lit. I also believe this is the case, but there’s more to it than that: there are also seven gates to the Black City. (”And I looked up and saw / The seven gates of the Black City shatter, / And darkness cloaked both realms.”) Mythal had a dragon guardian, and Corypheus found one for himself as well (though it obviously wasn’t as powerful as a real Archdemon or Adamant Fortress would have been smothered in darkspawn too). Perhaps the Archdemons were guardians for their sleeping masters, the Evanuris.
Once all the guardians are defeated, then the Black City is no longer just cracked and leaking – as the mural currently implies, with the idol serving as the symbol for imprisoned Blight – but will be flooding the world with Blight.I believe the circle/barrier around the idol represents the Veil. The Canticle of Exaltations referred to above with the quote about the Black City? Is a prophecy as a whole regarding the Maker’s return to the world.
Note that the Canticle of Exaltations doesn’t negate Sandal’s prophecy at all. Rather, it agrees with it – at least, according to some points of view, because the return of magic will not make the Chantry happy, nor would it make them think that the Maker had returned. (In my opinion, it absolutely does mean that the Maker has returned. ymmv.)
For folks who read and reblogged my post that talked about the Black City but also had the info about Anaris: thanks to watching Ghil Dirthalen’s breakdown of the trailer, they convinced me the figure on the left was definitely Solas, so that’s not Anaris. *HOWEVER*, in the same trailer they posit that the Dread Wolf figure may actually represent the three known Forgotten Ones (Anaris, Geldauron, and Daern’thal) – and if the Dread Wolf is treated as a pack identity and not exclusively Solas’s “badge of pride,” as suggested in the video, Solas is still the Dread Wolf but so are the Forgotten Ones. In any case, the meta about the tree and Fen’Harel and Anaris and Andruil may still apply, just not in the way I initially thought. (Another potential lore source regarding the presence of the tree in the mural is “Where Willows Wail,” which refers to a Tree of the People – potentially, yes, a/the Vhenadahl.)
Y’all I am so tired. I could keep going and drag up the murals from Trespasser that show the links between the shiny half moon orbs, the green orb in Solas’s hands, and the Titan heart pic… I could talk about how one of the murals shows three lit orbs and not two, and theorize that one of those lit orbs was Solas’s, which we broke after fighting Cory… and more. But holy fuck am I tired and I need to eat.
I hope y’all enjoyed, though, and happy to discuss any or all of my cracky rambling here.
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