Thedosian Magic System, pt. 1
My analysis and revamp of Dragon Age's magic system.
Dialectic Magic System (Fade/Spirits and Titan Magic)
To start, the magic system in Dragon Age appears to be a binary between the magic of the Fade and the magic of the Titans. We know these magic sources are different; lyrium somehow manages to bridge the gap through the Veil (created by Solas), between the Waking World and the Fade itself. Pre-Veil, though, these magic sources are inextricably linked. Instead of a binary, either/or conceptualization of magic, we ought to consider magic existing dialectically.
(long ass essay below the cut. you've been warned.)
When using the term 'dialectic,' I work from Marx/Engels and Lenin's understanding. This is not an essay about that, though, so in sum: dialectics "the science of the general laws of motion, both of the external world and human thought" (Frederick Engels, Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy). Dialectics is the method of reasoning which aims to understand things concretely in all their movement, change and interconnection, with their opposite and contradictory sides in unity. AKA, we need to think of Titan/Fade magic of being two sides of the same coin. Both/and, not either/or.
Fade magic and Titan magic exist as a dialectic. For me, Fade magic is similar to idealism whereas Titan magic is materialism. By this, I mean that the magic from the Fade is based on intangible concepts, such as ideals, dreams, and memories. This kind of magic is potentiality. It breaks the rules of reality. It is chaos. It is the magic of energy, force, and becoming.
On the other hand, Titan's magic is material; it makes reality. The Titans are the "Pillars of the Earth" (Codex entry: Veilfire Runes in the Deep Roads). They sing into the stone, shaping it. It follows the rules and is order. It is the magic of song, substance, and being. In its raw form, lyrium emits a singing/humming melody (more on lyrium in a moment).
Pre-Veil, I believe that metaphysical and physical magic were mutually constitutive. Rather than the spirits of the Fade, or the Fade itself, merely "reflecting" the world, it imagined what could be. The Titans made the world what it is, as their magic follows the rules of reality. I imagine they had a much more symbiotic relationship: spirits created (intangible and impermanent) imaginings of reality, and the Titans shaped reality based on those dreams (and/or their own dreams). In support of this is a note Leliana leaves the Warden in DAO if she was killed in the Temple of Sacred Ashes: "The lyrium sang thought into being. Now time is stale, and the melody is called elsewhere. Until I am needed, I am free."
Post-Veil, we know that lyrium exists in the Waking World (material plane) and in the Fade (metaphysical/dream plane), and it bridges the gap between material/ideal (possibly serving as the synthesis of that dialectic, but I am uncertain; perhaps instead the Titan's magic is so real it can materialize in the unreality that is the Fade). Lyrium is the blood of Titans (confirmed by Valta in The Descent DLC). The Chantry claims that lyrium is a remnant from the birth of the world, when the Maker created the land and the skies; we know it is Titan's blood, and thus could be the essence of all (physical) creation. Lyrium may also be the "emerald waters" of the Fade. In codex entry: Here Lies the Abyss, we see the following text: "It is possible--even likely--that the 'emerald waters' Andraste refers to are the substance of the Fade, which began as an 'ocean of dreams' (Threnodies 1:1)." Now, if the Fade is immaterial, it should not have substance; lyrium provides substance to it. I believe the interaction between the Fade and lyrium is mutually constitutive. The Fade idealizes the material; it can do 'unnatural' things to material by reality's standards. The Fade cannot create material but it can manipulate it, but it isn't permanent. Lyrium, though, can shape the material; it can make a dream real, within the parameters/confines of how reality works. Again, this supports the theory that Titan magic is material/corporeal and bridges the gap between the material and immaterial planes.
Mages use lyrium to boost their mana and connection to the Fade post-Veil. Circle Enchanter Wenselus explains that mana is the "potential that dwells within a person but does not always manifest itself. All men are connected to the Fade; we go there to dream. But only those with this potential may draw upon its power. Mana is, then, a measurement of one’s ability to draw power from the Fade, and it is this power that is expended in magic" (World of Thedas, Vol. 1). Lyrium is physically used to augment that potential, i.e., to make a mage stronger and able to pull more magic through the Veil. In my reading, lyrium cannot create potential but can capture it and anchor it.
However, lyrium can also cut off one's connection to the Fade. Tranquility uses a lyrium brand to cut a mage off from the Fade. They are no longer able to dream while tranquilized. I believe that using lyrium is the original form of blood magic. Lyrium is the captured potentiality of the world of dreams (AKA, materialized magic). Human blood functions similarly, but on a smaller scale.
For example, First Enchanter Josephus writes: "Although lyrium will allow a mage to send his conscious mind to the Fade, blood would allow him to find the sleeping minds of others, view their dreams, and even influence or dominate their thoughts. Just as treacherous, blood magic allows the Veil to be opened completely so that demons may physically pass through it into our world" (WOT, Vol. 1). Corypheus and the Magisters Sidereal sacrificed countless slaves to use their blood (alongside 2/3 of Tevinter's total lyrium supply) to open the Veil and enter the Fade in physical form.
However, Solas comments: "Unfortunately, using blood magic seems to make it more difficult to enter the Fade." This could be a blanket claim, an outright lie, or he is referring to his own experience. I think, though, that it could be true. If lyrium can strengthen or cut off one's connection to the Fade, ostensibly blood magic could as well. (Or, if you follow the theory that the ancient elves/spirits mined lyrium to create their bodies, you can theorize this as a potential side effect of lyrium. I do not subscribe to this lore reveal personally, because of reasons. I'll talk about it in my tinfoil theories about elves in part ? [will update with link later].)
What's important to note about all blood magic is its basis of capturing the immaterial, or literally 'realizing' potential. Non-lyrium blood magic specifically is predicated on influencing, if not outright controlling, someone's life force (one could argue that a life force is both material and immaterial, to which I would remind everyone--including me!--that we have to think of this as a dialectical process that is mutually constitutive). This focus on control adheres the the recurring theme of blood magic as a weapon of binding, of using one's willpower to bind another.
Willpower and purpose, and their corruption, are important mechanics to the magic system of Thedas. This will be discussed in part 2.
The final thing to address is what has been absent from this theory/analysis, and that is absence itself, or the Void. In Dragon Age: Until We Sleep, chapter 3, Aurelian Titus says that "there are void places, gaps between dreams" referring to the raw Fade. Similarly, a memory in Vir Dirthara (codex entry in Trespasser DLC) mentions "an island floating in a void." Is the Void physical or metaphysical? I believe it's another "both/and" situation. For example, consider the inscription found on the Staff of the Void in DAI: "There is strength in absence. Absence of weakness, and of limitation. Absence of caution, and of mercy. The Void has always been within."
Some theorize that the Void is the source of the Blight, to which I would agree; however, I would not conflate the Void with the Blight. I think that the Blight is produced in the corruption of life, and that act of corruption (death) is contact with the Void, which is the antithesis of life--it is nothingness. The Void is also the absence of the song, which I believe is a metaphor for life. In DAI party banter, Cole notes that, at one unspecified time in the past, "everything sang the same" (w/ Solas) but then "the song was sundered" (w/ Varric).
Again, this ties into the mechanics of magic/life (i.e., willpower and purpose), and its corruption, or deviation, from that purpose. As mentioned, more on these themes will be continued in part 2.
In sum:
The Fade is a mirror of the material world; the material world reflects the Fade.
Material magic: lyrium/blood, order, being/remembering —> driven toward harmony & resolution (the song; the signifier)
Ideal magic: the Fade/dreams, chaos, potentials, becoming/imagining —> driven toward dissonance & experimentation (the signified)
Synthesis of material/ideal = source of life in Thedas (inextricably connected as the sign, via the wellspring of all life/souls; each component has its own song [according to Cole’s party banter]; each melody in a harmony = life itself)
The Void = absence of song/nothingness/silence
