Red lyrium

For the location of red lyrium nodes in Dragon Age: Inquisition, see Seeing Red.

File:Red lyium World of Thedas.png

A cavern with veins of red lyrium

Red lyrium is a more potent and more addictive form of raw lyrium.

Properties

Red lyrium is created when normal lyrium is corrupted by the darkspawn taint. It can be handled by anyone and apparently, does not require dilution and ingestion to take effect. All that is required is to be near the mineral.

Red lyrium has the ability to grant certain magical abilities that are unique. For example, it is known to grant the ability to animate objects and even the power to make things float. It is known to thin the Veil, allowing spirits to interact with the physical world. It also seems to enhance templar and physical abilities and when processed into a Primeval Lyrium Rune, it will increase weapon's attack speed.

Eventually though, long term exposure to red lyrium drives all of its users insane. This madness affects even normally resistant dwarves. Only Seekers of Truth are resistant to its close contact corruption. The symptoms seem to vary. For some, they are driven to madness by a 'song' which compels them to try to force others to hear it; usually through depraved means. For others, their penchant for violence and paranoia are exacerbated. Cole says that they hear "the song behind the door old whispers want opened" which is different from the song of regular lyrium. Whether it is also different from the call of the Old Gods is unclear. Physical changes also emerge such as red lyrium veins appearing on the skin, red eyes, or the mineral starts growing on the body. If abused too much, the red lyrium will shatter in their hands and cause their body to become petrified.

Involvement

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This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age II.

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Meredith's red lyrium-infused sword: Certainty

A red lyrium idol was worshiped by the inhabitants of an ancient thaig thousands of years ago. Even before the rise of the darkspawn, contact with the thaig was somehow lost, and it could not be resumed because of the arrival of the darkspawn.

In 9:31 Dragon, an expedition into the Deep Roads rediscovered this thaig. The expedition was led by the two dwarven brothers Bartrand and Varric Tethras and the human Hawke. While exploring the thaig, Hawke and Varric found the idol. When they showed it to Bartrand, he betrayed them and stole the idol intending to sell it for a fortune and left them to die. Still further in the thaig Hawke encountered the Profane, rock wraiths that feed on red lyrium claiming that they "feast upon the gods". In the following years, as a result of prolonged exposure to the red lyrium idol, Bartrand gradually succumbed to insanity.

The idol ended up in the hands of Knight-Commander Meredith Stannard who forged a sword from it. She was corrupted by its power and died during the Kirkwall Rebellion in 9:37 Dragon, petrified in red lyrium after a failed attempt to draw more power from the sword.

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This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Inquisition.

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In the aftermath of the destruction of the Temple of Sacred Ashes, red lyrium began appearing all over southern Thedas. A splinter faction of the Templar Order, calling themselves the Red Templars, begin to consume red lyrium, corrupting their bodies and transforming themselves into monsters. Autopsies on Red Templar corpses has shown their relationship with the red lyrium is parasitic; the red lyrium essentially "eats" the Templar from the inside out as it grows. The process is described as incredible painful and demands a careful balance between allowing the Lyrium to change the person so that they can manipulate it, but doing so careful enough that they are not immediatly consumed and lost to madness.

According to Bianca Davri's research, red lyrium is lyrium corrupted by the Blight. This proves that lyrium is alive as the Blight can only taint living things. Red lyrium can also "infect" the landscape and grow into massive deposits.

Lord Seeker Lucius Corin discovered that Seekers of the Truth are immune to red lyrium thanks to having their minds touched by a spirit of Faith during their vigil. To counter this, he force-fed the Seekers captured by the Order of Fiery Promise Red Lyrium, resulting in the characteristic red veins in their skin, until they died or gave in.

Notes

• While traveling through Emprise du Lion, several companions will note that the red lyrium gives off heat.. If Cole is in your party, he'll remark that "it's very angry."

Red lyrium in Emprise du Lion.

• Red lyrium is described as being an anti-magic substance, an opposite force to regular lyrium.
• Cole will comment on the red templars in the Hissing Wastes, saying that the red lyrium is "less angry" when it's cold, thus it is possible the red templars used magic to freeze the Emprise du Lion so that the red lyrium works better.
• Red lyrium is extremely hard to remove once it has taken root, the chances of even dwarves removing it completely from Emprise du Lion stated as being 0.014%

Related Texts

Whispers Written in Red Lyrium

We are here

We have waited

We have slept

We are sundered

We are crippled

We are polluted

We endure

We wait

We have found the dreams again

We will awaken

See also

Codex entry: Red Lyrium

Gallery

Red lyrium veins in the Primeval Thaig

Red Lyrium corroding a Lyrium Storage Chest

Red Lyrium's inexorable growth destroying a storage chest