feynites:

Something to keep in mind about magic in Dragon Age:

Spirit magic is dangerous. Spirits are sentient beings, and while their natures tend to make them more predictable than most people (because they are very driven towards the concepts they embody), an improperly educated or unprepared mage can easily find themselves overwhelmed by the spirits they interact with. It’s a danger that’s magnified by the disconnect between the waking world and the Fade. Mages are brought up with a lot of preconceptions about spirits, and many spirits don’t really understand how the world beyond the Fade actually works. So even with good intentions, things can go awry.

Blood magic is dangerous. First of all, because it’s magic – a highly volatile and potentially even explosive force – that is being fueled by bodily fluids. Blood magic requires that at some point, someone gets injured. Even apart from the nature of the magic itself, that’s going to carry risks. Self-harm can easily become addictive, too, so even benevolent blood mages who only use their own blood are running risks by making a habit out of regularly cutting themselves open. And of course, less benevolent mages can be driven to access blood in ways that are immoral. 

But what gets way less attention is that lyrium is dangerous too.

Untreated lyrium is a toxic substance, and it’s also highly addictive. Mining it is risky and difficult work, that often carries the danger of encountering darkspawn. Many of its actual properties are unknown, and even its true source was only recently rediscovered. And it is basically Titan blood, so, a form of blood magic in and of itself. Just, amplified because the blood is coming from a specific type of god-like being. Lyrium can carry the Blight, at which point it becomes red and even more potent, volatile, and dangerous.

The lyrium market revolves around the chantry. The chantry provides Circles with lyrium and approves their use of it as a magical power source, and the chantry requires templars take lyrium in order to fuel their abilities and control them via addiction. They are the only legal surface distributor of lyrium – acquiring the substance from anyone else means getting it from smugglers. This is a big component of how addiction is used to control the templars. Being ousted from the templar order means no longer having legal means to acquire lyrium. Mages attempting to operate outside of the Circles will also not have legal access to lyrium.

The only reason for the chantry to endorse the use of lyrium, is because they can control it. It is a physical substance which they can trade, stockpile, withhold, or even destroy. Spirits cannot be controlled by the chantry – they are too numerous and highly difficult, in most circumstances, for non-mages to contact. So, spirit magic is stigmatized, and heavy emphasis is put on the concept that all spirits are demons and all demons are dangerous monsters that want to possess mages.

Blood magic is even more difficult to control, because everyone has blood. There is no way for the chantry to effectively monopolize the distribution of it. Ergo, blood magic is highly criminalized, with harsh penalties – primarily execution or tranquility – enacted on anyone caught using it.

This is a big reason why dwarves are not treated quite so badly as elves or vashoth when it comes to the chantry, and the societies around it. Dwarves mine lyrium. While the chantry could certainly arrange an exalted march to try and claim places like Orzammar or Kal’Sharok, that would mean overseeing mining operations in a subterranean city state frequently beset by darkspawn. So, as long as the dwarves are willing to do near-exclusive business with the chantry, the chantry is willing to let them maintain control over their own kingdoms. 

All of these balancing acts are bigger determining factors for the social strata of Thedas than the legitimate risks presented by certain kinds of magic, or certain kinds of philosophies towards it. The Avvar are not taking greater risks by interacting with spirits, than a templar is by taking lyrium, and someone like Merrill, who can balance blood magic with spirit deals and traditional Dalish spells, isn’t actually taking stupid risks compared to someone like Wynne or Anders, who became abominations after a lifetime of absorbing misinformation on the nature of spirits.

Magic is dangerous. Most things are dangerous. Being a farmer is dangerous if you mishandle your animals and they trample or gore you. Being a doctor is dangerous if you mess up your hygiene and spread diseases from one patient to yourself or others. Being a chef is dangerous if you don’t prepare your ingredients properly and poison somebody. The thing about Thedas is that the chantry is basically going ‘animals are dangerous’ and ‘cutting into people’s bodies is evil’ and then also going ‘folks need to eat’. Demons are dangerous. Blood magic is evil. Lyrium is necessary.

The trick is to focus only on very particular and self-serving facts, and reiterate them over and over, until they become the issues people are most familiar with when they think of the related topics. It’s a common form of misdirection that you see in propaganda. Lies are risky, because lies can be disproved. Selective truths, on the other hand, can be way more effective at misrepresenting a situation in the long run.

And that’s what is going on with the different sources of magical power in Thedas right now.