#darvaarad

After confirming the presence of Qunari in Val Royeaux and their threat against the South of Thedas, the agents of the Qunari and Fen’Harel are immobilised, while the Inquisitor explores the Crossroads for the last time, reaching the Darvaarad.

Fortress Approach and Courtyard

With the passwords and the key obtained in the Shattered Library; Inverted Ward, we can unlock the  Darvaarad, an isle which is under the control of the Qunari but seems to have been belonged to Elvhen. I'm not sure how to understand it: there are some statues in the distance that imply the isle had some elvhen presence in he past, as we see the Elven hart statue at the peak of a cliff.

Or this big hand that we only saw in the crossroads and in the Exalted Plains: the Dead Hand. These statues do not seem to be placed by these Qunari in the general surroundings for further study, instead they look like original decoration.  In a sense, this whole fortress reminds me of Skyhold, a building that belonged to elvhen long time ago but passed over so many hands that its original shape changed.

This island displays some statues of female and male qunaris, and a lot of broken eluvians. Clearly the Qunari have been studying and collecting an insane amount of magical artefacts.

Close to us we can see a Saarebas working with an Eluvian.

This fortress looks like a generic “Ferelden” architecture. Nothing in it calls to any particular group, though it displays a banner we saw with the Highwaymen of Crestwood. So maybe it is implied that this fortress belonged to this group of bandits a bit before the Qunari took over when this operation started. Now it displays banners of the Qun.

On the top of the fortress we see some stained glasses that we can approach.

This surprised me a lot because they depict a big tree, that may be related to the Vhenadahl, and below it, red triangles that, for me, represent red lyrium. In Skyhold, we can have this glass by picking Dalish decoration. This image is such a curious thing if we think that DA:D has shown already a Vhenadahl infected with red lyrium in the trailer of Dread Wolf.

In the distance we see an Elven hart statue, below which there is an active eluvian that we will reach at the end of the exploration of this place. That Eluvian leads us to the abandoned elvhen ruins where we will meet Solas.

This eluvian is guarded by two Sitting Fen'Harel statues and behind them, a Golden Ring. The disposition of this makes it look like it was in the isle before the Qunari started this operation.

Research Tower

In this area, the Qunari have a tower completely dedicated to store magical artefacts, statues, art, and everything else they find remotely related to elven magic [which, of course, includes Tevinter]. Observing each of these elements we find fascinating things.

The artefacts are kept inside cells, ironically:

Here we find Tevinter artefacts: A molten rock pyramid, an Oculara, a Tevinter books, and a dismantled Astrarium.

Among the Elvhen artefacts or art: we find an Elven Owl statue, a broken Elven Orb, and a Shard 

There are also skulls for study and an Iron maiden we easily recognise as a typical decoration from DA2.

In the next cell we find a Sitting Fen'Harel statue, behind it there are two cells filled with books and this hexagonal Tevinter decoration where two dragons eat each other.

In the next cell, we find a Teviner Thrummer, a Tevinter artefact with spikes, and three things we never saw before in any game:

A Dark Hand connected to gears. The hand has long fingers, and a chain in its thumb. Is this a prototype to some metal golem? A Tevinter metallic golem? I don't know, it's not the same style than the Tevinter golem.

Then, hanging from a corner, a pinkish cocoon, that looks like the Flesh Pods we used to find during Dragon Age Awakening. So far, we didn't find any of this kind in DA2 or DAI. I would love to read the name of this object in the archive files.

And the most disgusting thing I found so far: a metallic circular structure that keeps a glowing ball of something in the middle and pieces of worms or tentacles around.

There are some more minor Tevinter objects we talked about in previous posts.

We also find red lyrium on a table without any safety measure around it, as if it were nothing.

Cole says here that the red lyrium has a different song to the normal lyrium, but they “fit together”.

We also find a statue of Dragon Mythal

and a whole wall that the qunari removed with a Mural paint by Solas. By the type of stone on this wall, it suggests it belonged to a generic Fereldan-like fortress. We have no idea when Solas painted it, or where. 

And another Elven hart statue.

They even found one of these ancient Stone in Razikale-Ceremony-style. Once again this stone gives a hint to solve the puzzle to open up the elvhen box in the paws of Fen'Harel. This keeps confirming that this stone is elvhen.

Inside the box we find Bloody Bargain. Again, the description of the weapon talks about a man called Harlan from the Coterie of Kirkwall, rumoured to be an abomination, or an apostate, or a demon of rage, or even a mere title passed onto the most bloodthirsty member of the Coterie. Nothing of this story seems to be related to the elvhen.

In this place we find the note Eluvian Studies that shows that the Qunari had some people working in understanding them; Logs of a Darvaarad Gatekeeper which shows how careless the Qunari are about the catalogue and the study of these artefacts, and Saarath,  which is a letter to Tallis written by a Saarebas. 

It is implied that this person was a scholar who developed magic as an adult, and then was treated as a Saarebas. He drinks lyrium and says that it has a song he uses to study the Veil which holds magic at its source. But clearly it's costing him his sanity or focus. The many crossing out along the letter show how intruding this song is in his mind.

I find this letter almost a narrative letter to Solas himself, with the allegory of walls and Veils and darkness as creations of the self because one cannot see the truth that no one is alone, the illusion of being so feels too real, though.