- See also: Chant of Light, Chant of Light verses
Codex text
The Old Gods will call to you,
From their ancient prisons they will sing.
Dragons with wicked eyes and wicked hearts,
On blacken'd wings does deceit take flight,
The First of My children, lost to night.
—Canticle of Silence 3:6
The Dissonant Canticle of Silence is an alternate creation story to the versions in the Canticle of Threnodies. Much of the Canticle is written from the point of view of the Maker Himself as He addresses humankind, which is why it was ultimately considered a blasphemous presumption and removed from the verses of the Chant. Popularly attributed to Archon Hessarian, Silence depicts the Maker as more sorrowful at the corruption and betrayal of His children—both spirit and mortal. He mourns the fall and corruption of the Old Gods as His own mistake, and urges His mortal children to turn aside from the dark path their elder siblings have led them down.
Most historians agree that Archon Hessarian had indeed likely written this Canticle during the bloody Tevinter Transfiguration. Literary scholars of the Imperium often cite this as one of the oldest recorded pieces of propaganda. In the sixth verse, the grieving Maker calls upon His mortal children to acknowledge that the dragon gods have manipulated and deceived them, and to throw off their corruptive influence and return to the Light. As the people of Tevinter rose up and slaughtered anyone remaining faithful to their Old Gods, this became the rallying cry of the most terrible bloodbath in the history of the Imperium.
–From The Chant of Light: Literary Analysis and History by Sister Tessaria