Falon'Din

“Lethanavir, master-scryer, be our guide, through shapeless worlds and airless skies.” ―Ancient song

Falon'Din is the elven god of death and fortune who guides the dead to the Beyond.^[1]

Dalish legends[]

In ancient times, the People were ageless and eternal, and instead of dying would enter uthenera-the long sleep-and walk the shifting paths beyond the Veil with Falon'Din and his brother Dirthamen. Those elders would learn the secrets of dreams, and some returned to the People with newfound knowledge.

—From Codex entry: Falon'Din: Friend of the Dead, the Guide

In Dalish stories Falon'Din and his twin brother Dirthamen are the eldest children of Elgar'nan and Mythal.^[1] Falon'Din had no fear of the night and would walk where the People could not live.^[2]

Legends tell that the twins were inseparable spirits from birth to adulthood. They were split from each other when the kindly Falon'Din took pity on a dying deer and carried her to rest beyond the Veil, to a place where Dirthamen could not easily follow. The deer's spirit was released from her weakened body and she once again became light on her feet. Seeing this, Falon'Din vowed that he would remain to guide all the dead to their place Beyond. Falon'Din's lost brother eventually caught up with him, and the twins swore to never be parted again.^[3]^[4]

Since then Falon'Din accompanied by his brother guided elders on journeys of enlightenment while in uthenera. When elves became mortal, he started to carry them beyond the Veil in death instead.^[1]^[5] Finally Falon'Din was banished along with the other gods, and the Dalish now bury their dead with an oaken staff to keep them from faltering along the paths without a guide.^[5] They invoke Falon'Din on their deathbed or before quests from which they expect no return, and sometimes refer to him as the Merciful One.^[6]

In Elvhenan[]

This section contains spoilers for:
Trespasser.

Falon'Din was one of the Evanuris, elvhen mages who ruled as malevolent despots over Elvhenan, enslaving their kin and branding them with their vallaslin.

When Falon'Din and Elgar'nan found themselves in an argument, Mythal defused the situation by suggesting that they appoint their knights to battle in their stead, thus avoiding a civil war among the gods. Falon'Din's champion lost the duel.^[7]

This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Inquisition.

An Orlesian source speculates that Dirthamen and Falon'Din were "twin souls" with no family connection. Their bond was not romantic, beyond even the strongest friendship. The oldest elven stories never even name them directly, referring to Falon'Din as "Dirthamen’s shadow," and Dirthamen as "Falon'Din's reflection."^[8]

An ancient song calls Falon'Din a scryer who mastered the lying dark and hungry shadows and is surrounded by "wings of death". The singers ask him to guide them through the Fade.^[9]

Falon'Din's vanity and desire for worshipers was so great he started brutal wars to gain more, killing all who would not bow to him. Only once Mythal rallied the other gods and they attacked Falon'Din in his own temple did he surrender.^[10]

This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Falon'Din was originally a primeval spirit who took on a corporeal form. Spirits can be broken, which will shatter the soul into pieces, each half holding part of the original. The halves of a soul can inherit different aspects of the original soul's personality but can go on to live different experiences as two different people. Dirthamen and his "brother" Falon'Din are but one example of this phenomena.^[11]

The Evanuris weaponized the Blight in their wars of supremacy, especially during Solas' rebellion against them. Solas told Mythal of the other elven gods' abuse of the Blight and she sought to convince them to cease its use on behalf of Solas. The other elven gods had somehow acquired Solas' lyrium dagger and murdered Mythal with it when she confronted them. Solas recovered the Lyrium Dagger from Elgar'nan and from it extracted a fragment of Mythal that had lain hidden within its depths.^[12] For unleashing the Blight onto the world and murdering Mythal, Solas imprisoned the Evanuris in the Fade and used their lives to sustain the Veil by connecting their blood to his Lyrium Dagger. Yet Solas did not anticipate that the Elven pantheon that he had imprisoned would speak through the Old Gods and manipulate the Magisters Sidereal into breaching the Black City and releasing a portion of the Blight onto Thedas.^[13]^[14]

Symbols and shrines[]

Falon'Din's sacred animal is an owl. It is either his companion^[2] or his manifestation^[15] and simultaneously a messenger of Andruil.^[16] The constellation Tenebrium, called "Shadow" in the common parlance and depicting an owl, may have been associated with him before it became associated with the Old God of Night, Lusacan. Falon'Din himself is sometimes depicted as a cloaked and hooded pointing figure.^[17]

Tales of Falon'Din[]

This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Inquisition.

"I do not believe they sing songs about Falon'Din's vanity. It is said Falon'Din's appetite for adulation was so great, he began wars to amass more worshippers. The blood of those who wouldn't bow low filled lakes as wide as oceans. Mythal rallied the gods, once the shadow of Falon'Din's hunger stretched across her own people. It was almost too late. Falon'Din only surrendered when his brethren bloodied him in his own temple." - Solas^[10]