[spoilers all] [lore]. The Architect and the Archdemons a theory
Let's talk about the architect. I think the Architect is simply lying about his background in awakening, there is no reason for him to tell the free dark spawn or any of the gray wardens he deals with that he's actually one of the ancient magisters that stormed the golden city over 1000 years ago, and has obvious reasons to not tell them. Easier just to make up some story: he happens to be a unique dark spawn. There is some evidence that this is true, his story is that he just one day woke up and he happened to be free, but that would not explain his obvious expertise with blood magic. There's no real evidence in the game that like the ability to develop blood magic rituals is something that you can just figure out on your own without any kind of training, surrounded by cannibalistic violent monsters. As the Architect he was one of the most accomplished mages of his era and so his feats seem more doable. Also, assuming he is lying and that he does have his memories it does explain what seems like a strange coincidence, that as the former architect of beauty he happens to be trying to release the old god of beauty. If he had his memories this is probably intentional, the architect believes the old gods have somehow become changed by the influence of the calling (probably why they no longer answer prayers) that affects the other dark spawn. It would then make sense that he wants to free his God, and only his God because the 7 magisters were jealous of each other and each one wanted them and their god to be supreme.
Some further related ideas
- why did he need other great wardens if the architect understood the joining well enough to replicate it or at least basically replicate it, seems like he would've been better off just creating his own gray wardens for blood( atleast they would not be trained warriors. ) the fact that this was not an option fits in nicely with one of my pet theories. That the gray wardens use a magisters blood in the. joining ritual. The official story is a cover, when the architect asked the gray wardens with him how the joining works. He was told the official, wrong, story, no wonder he couldn't replicate it and had to use kidnap victims, instead of creating his own. The irony of him having what he actually needed (magister blood) is not lost to me.
2.) second question I don't have an answer to is what's actually going on with the old Gods. The architect's plan is to try his joining ritual with one of the old gods as if this God is like all darkspawn. As if the old god is already corrupted, and needs the joining ritual to free it from whatever control the Calling has on it. In the Architect's dialogue with the brood mother at the end of dragon age awakenings, The Architect says that he attempted his joining ritual, that he thought it would free all the dark spawn and that" he was unlucky". If the Old God wasn't corrupted wouldn't it be obvious when he saw it face to face, why even try his ritual, why just not free it?
Posted Jun 7, 2017, 6:25 AM UTC
Yes! My favourite thing to talk about! :D
I don't think he's lying about his origin - for a former human who must've been at least an above-average politician to get to the top of the pile, his plans suffer an awful lot because he does not understand people...and I don't mean arrogantly underestimates them, but just plain doesn't get them, doesn't think like them and cannot predict what they'll do. He believes himself a darkspawn and is for all practical purposes a darkspawn. (is also possible his magister status was a retcon)
As for him being able to create Wardens, he knows what Utha told him about the Joining (we have no idea how deep her knowledge is, but as a senior Warden she'd at least have a general idea about the ingredients). The reverse "Joining" for darkspawn might've come from something he observed - a darkspawn eats a dead Grey Warden, a darkspawn changes its behaviour temporarily - and refined to permanently free them from the Calling. Also, while I share the headcanon that you can use an original darkspawn's blood in the Joining, the Wardens today don't know that, Utha doesn't know that and so the Architect does not know that either. Prior to awakening Urthemiel, they don't have the ingredients for a proper Joining. Afterwards, they might have a small amount of Archdemon blood to Join mortal allies, and I headcanon this is what they did with Seranni once she agreed to help them.
Also, since he has actually studied the imprisoned Old Gods in person and decided to use the same process on them as on darkspawn, it's a pretty big hint that they are Blighted already, and what darkspawn do is merely break their prisons open.
What he might be lying about is being 100% free of the Calling and wanting to end the Blights. Despite what he says were his reasons, and maybe despite what he believes, he still ends up doing the exact same thing the Blight intended him to and possibly even made him for. Like someone said in the game, it seems an unlikely wonder that darkspawn, in their random milling about, would ever just stumble upon the Old Gods' prisons...but humans know and if one is sentient enough to ask the right people, the whole thing becomes a lot less of a wonder. Or maybe he's just flat out lying there, he tainted and released Urthemiel as a standard way to start a Blight, and is awakening darkspawn not to give them free will (an unfortunate side effect), but to make them a smarter weapon for the Blight.
In fact, yeah, I like this theory:
Because we know (thanks to Last Flight, the novel) that there are reports of Grey Wardens interacting with intelligent darkspawn in the Fourth Blight. This is way long before the creation of the Disciples (that were created shortly before or amid the Fifth Blight).
Then why there is no intelligent darkspawn fighting in the Blight?
There are some that are intelligent enough to speak, have been ever since the First Blight, and they're not even that rare apparently:
Why they're intelligent is anyone's guess, could be a mutation, could be they're actually end-stage ghouls (Tevinter-ish ones in the 1st Blight might be remnants of some Tevinter expedition or presence in the Deep Roads at the time), could be they regularly snacked on Wardens while young.
I always assumed the first codex was talking about the magisters. As for the second, most notably the darkspawn says that "your world will die" as if it is from somewhere else? Through an Eluvian.