Just a BioWare Fan

In the universe of Dragaon Age, the Veil that separates the Fade from the rest of the world is not a physical thing, despite references to it being torn and breached. It's more a barrier, like that mages cast in battle, to be dispelled. Even its name implies a thin covering that hides rather than a solid wall.

Consider the codex entry on the Veil which can be found in all three games, giving it more heft as “the devs see the Veil this way and want the player to know it” than the mere conjectural nature of half-blind research would normally carry.

"Regardless, the act of passing through the Veil is much more about changing one's perceptions than a physical transition. The Veil is an idea, it is the act of transition itself, and it is only the fact that both living beings and spirits find the transition difficult that gives the Veil any credence as a physical barrier at all.”

It's a spell that Solas cast, expending vast amounts of power (as well it should require, considering the magnitude of its effects). We don't know the source of that power, whether it was inherent or drawn from people or amplified by his focus or all three. We do know that it had the effect of making everyone half-tranquil compared to the way the world used to be.



It seems that everyone assumes that removing the veil will somehow kill all or most of the existing population. From the sound of it, most people have an image of some sort of spontaneous combustion that will destroy everyone more or less instantly. The matter of the Fade is imagination, which it appears people assume will have some sort of dark matter reaction with the “real” world.

There's plenty to support that. Solas says, “I will save the elven people even if it means this world must die.” He asks if the Inquisitor would “give the life of every friend you have ever known”. He says, “If they must die, I would rather they die in comfort.”

When asked “You'd murder countless people?” Solas responds “Wouldn't you, to save your own?” [Sidebar: My Lavellan totally would. Being with the Inquisition has softened her opinions but she still hates the shems for their seemingly eternal enslavement and degradation of the People. Solas's revelation that he was the one that caused the fall of Arlathan and the end of their immortality is seriously messing with her head.]

Of his original plan, had Corypheus thoughtfully died like he should have, Solas says, “As this world burned in raw chaos, I would have restored the world of my time...the world of elves.”

Taken all together these comments do make it sound like everyone will die and only the few surviving elvhen slumbering hither and yon will survive. I don't know why that has to be true, however. This does not mean I believe everything will be sunshine, lollipops, and combined spirit-human-demon-dwarf dance numbers. People are going to die.

The assumption seems to be that the Fade rushing into the “real” world will just...kill people. It might kill some, particularly mundanes. There will be demons free in the world and I can only imagine the havoc rage demons alone will wreak. But chaos only implies potential death, to me.

If the elves, mages, Templars, and Seekers all have a strong connection to the Fade, often enhanced by Lyrium,and training to fight demons and abominations might they not survive? Might not people band together and create places where they protect mundanes? What about the Avarr with their close relationship to spirits? I see no reason they would immediately drop dead should the Fade no longer be contained, nor why they should find themselves in conflict with those they revere once they are more directly accessible.

I don't see why the mingling of the Fade with the world, however that will work, should automatically spell the death of anyone. It seems more likely to me that it will lead to ages of conflict between spirits (getting corrupted by their sudden exposure to mortals and their impure ways) and people who have been taught to fear them for millennia. People will die, yes. Lots of them. So will spirits and demons.

Might not some of the Dalish, who through Merrill we saw have been taught that spirits are not inherently evil and terrifying, find peace with them? Might not their inherent connection to the Fade protect elves from whatever mingling the Veil with the known world will cause?

I can't imagine that existing elves will somehow be made immortal. That's just...well, that's silly. The death Solas sees is death that he knows will happen anyway—everyone alive will die, and comparatively soon from his ageless perspective. If he thought removing the Veil would make Lavellan immortal why would he balk at telling her so? His defense would be more “you'll thank me later” than “sorry, but you're going to die eventually”.

The existing world order will die if Solas dispels the Veil, there's no question of that. So much of what modern Thedosians believe will be rendered moot, nonsensical, or just flat out proven wrong. The people who hold so much power will have none when it comes to dealing with the influx of the Fade and that power will devolve to much different factions.

If the remaining elvhen awake they'll likely be blamed or just targets for resentment, which means that they will find themselves surrounded by conflict as well. Who can say, besides the writers who know that whole end game for the Dragon Age series, what new social order will take its place. Will Abelas be viewed as a god? Will the dwarves suddenly hear the truth of their own history in the lyrium and start hunting down elves in revenge? Will the Darkspawn and the demons have an all-out war that rids the world of both, leading to peace, prosperity, and a thorough exploration of the Deep Roads once and for all?

The trick to understanding my hesitation to accept that the release of the Fade automatically means the death of everyone in Thedas except the elvhen lies in the fact that Solas doesn't know what will happen. He didn't know what the Veil would do when he created is and he can't predict what will happen when he removes it. We also don't know that he intends to completely destroy it. The Evanuris are still in the Fade, apparently, and he just vaguely says “I have plans” when we ask him about whether they will be released.

My Lavellan says, “Shove those bastards in the Abyss with the Forgotten Ones, if they want to fight it out so badly, and let them kill each other.” Of course, that's what she would have said had she been around when he was contemplating creating the Veil in the first place. I can only assume that, had it been that easy, it's precisely what he would have done. Whether his plans will work out or whether all of this doom and gloom is premature remains to be seen.

Please, BioWare, can't we have Dragon Age 4 yet?