Beyond this world and beyond the Fade

Dragon Age Origins Blog rsz morrigan Where is Morrigan?

“To another place, beyond this world and beyond the Fade.”

These are the only words we have to clue us as to where the Eluvian at the end of Witch Hunts goes. Morrigan leaves Thedas through the mirror, either of her own will or with a Murder Knife wound in her gut, but still travels through. It’s almost universally assumed that, at some point, she will return. But where is she exactly anyway?

First before we get into a discussion steeped in speculation and philosophy, we’ll look at some alternatives. But even before that, we need to hit a quick refresher course on the Eluvian’s themselves.

Despite Duncan’s initial read on the mirror, we know that the Eluvian is a relic dating from the times of ancient Elvhenan. It appears that the main use for the Eluvian was scrying – at least, that is what the Tevinter Magisters were able to use it for after the defeat of the ancient Elves and the taking of the mirrors. Obviously it appears that the Eluvians can also be used for teleportation on top of telecommunication.

It’s unclear however as to where the Eluvians were capable of going. Were they merely doorways to each other, gates to travel across Arlathan quickly? Were they gates into the Beyond, the Fade? Or could they, as Morrigan describes, take a traveler somewhere beyond both? Now let’s break down the question – Where is Morrigan?

Option 1: She’s still somewhere in Thedas

When Tamlen looked into the mirror outside the Dalish camp, he described seeing underground cities, We know from our Elven history that for a period of time the elves co-habitated with the Dwarves. But also the Tevinters appeared able to get their hands on at least a couple and move them throughout Thedas.

If the Eluvian acts as a gate system, allowing jumps from one unit to the next, there’s a good chance that maybe Morrigan was either wrong or lying and is still somewhere in Thedas. Maybe in an old Dwarven thaig. Maybe in a cave somewhere like Sundermount. Maybe somewhere deep inside Tevinter.

However, this scenario seems somewhat unlikely. The first reason, a meta one, is that it wouldn’t make for a very interesting explanation. We were left with expectations that she’s going to obtain power and knowledge on the other side, so if she just ends up miles underground in a thaig filled with darkspawn, that wouldn’t be very notable. The other is that apparently Morrigan was able to research the Eluvians enough to get one working. It would seem that if it wasn’t anything particularly special as far as travel, she might know that and seek other options.

Dragon Age Origins Blog rsz category lore Where is Morrigan?

Option 2: She’s in the Fade

Although it would mean disregarding her statement, it could be plausible that she actually is somewhere deep in the Fade. The logical place would seem like the Black City – which as far as we know is technically in the Fade, although seemingly impossible to reach from within it.

Considering that the Eluvian in the Brecilian was carrying the taint and brought darkspawn to the woods. We also know that the Black City is supposedly where the Blight comes from. So perhaps the Eluvian was linked to the former Golden City. Also knowing that there are many powerful demons and spirits in the Fade, it might be a logical place for Morrigan to go to seek the tools to defeat Flemeth, which seems to be her general motive.

However, there’s some confusion on whether or not you can enter the Fade physically or whether it’s just your metaphysical side that goes in. Supposedly the first magisters physically entered the Golden City to taint it, but other times it’s hard to tell whether the whole body goes in or if it’s just the soul, for lack of a better word.

Option 3: She’s beyond the Fade

So assuming that Morrigan is telling the truth and is right about traveling “beyond the Fade,” that raised some interesting questions. The biggest issue is we have a dearth of information as to where or what that might mean.

The most likely place this all leads to is the Maker. We know from the creation stories that the Maker created the Fade and the spirits within it as the first children. While perhaps that means the Maker created the Fade around him, it seems more likely that the Maker would create the Fade as a contained system within his control, therefore existing outside of it. After the Maker deemed the spirits were kind of lame, he then created Thedas and separated the two worlds with the Veil.

It seems that traveling beyond the Fade means traveling to a place where the Maker might exist. Certainly it would be a place for Morrigan to obtain power and knowledge, but given her stances on the existence of the Maker, it raised the question of why she would go seeking a deity she does not believe in.

Other than that, we can only assume there is some world, some plane of existence that we haven’t been told about or that we don’t know about. That, itself, raised many other questions. How would the ancient Elves create a doorway to another dimension that’s not the Fade? What’s there? Why would Morrigan want to go there? Where did she learn about it?

We’ll certainly have to find out the answers to the bigger question eventually. For now, outside of guessing at the Maker, it’s hard to tell where, if anywhere, she went.

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