The Shattered Library, or Vir Dirthara, are ruins of an ancient elven library, suspended between the waking world and the Fade.
Background
Vir Dirthara was made with material world and Fade, and at least some of its visitors either took or created "forms out of air". It was the living knowledge of the elven empire that comprised libraries of every city and wisdom of every court. Vir Dirthara was a connecting place[1] and the spirit elvhen called "Ghil-Dirthalen" was connection. One city could read the records of another and one of the People feel the memories of another.[2]
When Fen'Harel "held back the sky", the Veil he created weakened magic and without it elven cities and structures crumbled.[3] Vir Dirthara was one of the countless elven marvels that were intrinsically tied to the Fade and dependent on its presence, and the Veil destroyed them all.[4] Paths of Vir Dirthara broke and knowledge was fractured. Many were trapped and their last words were that the floor was gone and they were falling down.[1] Others lived and called to their gods who would not answer,[5] while yet others vowed revenge against the treacherous Wolf.[3] The Archivist recorded the end of all they knew.[2]
Involvement
In their search for Viddasala, the Inquisitor enters the eluvian in the Crossroads marked by a bookshelf and finds themselves in a half-ruined library with scattered books, elven statues and murals amid rubble. Huge fragments of masonry form islands floating in the air and interconnected with eluvians.
At the Entrance the Inquisitor encounters the Archivist, a spirit of wisdom that once "knew all". It tells that Viddasala's scholars and mages search the library for information about the Veil. The Archivist advises to find "another one of itself" to learn more. As a final warning, it mentions that an unknown person recently woke the Librarians, spirits who once facilitated learning but now present a threat.
Moving forward, the Inquisitor discovers a qunari camp overhead, on an "island" that is turned upside down. The eluvian which appears to lead to the Inverted Ward is nearby, but the path to it is broken. The Inquisitor has to search for three mysterious red items and interact with them to recreate the path.
As the Inquisitor explores nearby islands, they meet two more instances of the Archivist. The group has to fight waves of the qunari, whose corpses and research notes pertaining to magic lay around. There is not a mark on the victims but they seem to have died in terror. The Anchor Blast upgrade for the Anchor Discharge becomes available in the Courtyard after finding the second red item. After discovering the last item, the Inquisitor is attacked by spiritual Librarians and Fearlings.
As the Inquisitor walks the reconstructed path, they face Viddasala in the Inverted Ward. She explains that the qunari view the inability to curb magic as the reason of the chaos in the South. When they saw the Breach, they decided to step in and remove the leaders while converting the rest of the populace to the Qun, a plan called "Dragon's Breath". Before she departs, Viddasala mentions the agent of Fen'Harel who has disturbed their plans. The Inquisitor is left to repel the attack of her men and search the area for evidence of their activities.
Notes laying around reveal that the qunari employed elves passing as servants to infiltrate the palace and used saarebas to research strengthening the Veil. The last Archivist tells that Viddasala went to the Darvaarad and that the eluvian leading there is protected by the keystone the Inquisitor found with one of the qunari as well as a password that the spirit overheard: "maraas nehraa".
Areas
Main map:
- Entrance
- Courtyard
- Broken Tower
- Scholar's Retreat
- Sundered Hall
- Lower Archives
Other:
- Inverted Ward
Characters
Merchants
Quests
Enemies
- Demons
- Qunari
- Ben-Hassrath Agent (Warrior - One-Handed Sword)
- Ben-Hassrath Assassin (Rogue - Double Daggers)
- Qunari Defender (Warrior - Mace and Tower Shield)
- Qunari Shock Trooper (Warrior - Two-Handed Great Axe)
- Qunari Spearman (Warrior)
- Saarebas (Mage)
Notable items
Mural found in Scholar's Retreat
Codex entries
Hard in Hightown: Chapter ???- The Risk of Saarebas
- The Very Private Diary of Sandal Feddic, DO NOT READ!!!!
- Vir Dirthara: A Flowering Imago
- Vir Dirthara: Attentive Listeners
- Vir Dirthara: Birds of Fancy
- Vir Dirthara: Duel of a Hundred Years
- Vir Dirthara: Exile of the Forbidden Ones
- Vir Dirthara: Homecoming
- Vir Dirthara: Raising the Sonallium
- Vir Dirthara: Signs of Victory
- Vir Dirthara: The Deepest Fade
Note texts
Dialogue points
Each companion has one dialogue point:
- Sera - Entrance
- Cole - Courtyard
- Iron Bull - Scholar's Retreat
- Vivienne - Scholar's Retreat
- Dorian - Lower Archives
- Varric - Lower Archives
- Blackwall - Inverted Ward
- Cassandra - Inverted Ward
Notes
- For the additional puzzle in this area see Lateral Thinker.
- Should the Inquisitor use veilfire to examine the ruin in the Lower Archives, it will reveal a message saying "Behind you". This can be quite a difficult task to achieve as the only available veilfire is located in the Broken Tower, requiring the player to backtrack all the way through the Sundered Hall and Courtyard with a torch in hand. Furthermore, the braziers containing that veilfire only become lit in relation to a portion of the Lateral Thinker puzzle that is located in Scholar's Retreat. When the player exits out of the veilfire message, a Fear demon and two poison spiders will spawn. The demon drops Superb Amulet of Barrier.
Trivia
- Sandal's camp can be found at the perimeter of the first "island" (Entrance). His diary lies near a bedroll, a table that allows to enchant weapons and an impaled qunari corpse.
- The last eluvian in the Courtyard leads to an area that seems to be a jumping puzzle. In fact, a walkway is created as the story progresses.
- A statue of a horned female figure adorns the base of the Inverted Ward. It is visible from the Entrance and to the left. Alternatively, when looking to the right, there is a statue of what appears to be a Tevinter soldier. (See Gallery) Both of these are the same models used in the construction of Judicael's Crossing.
- There are a few, massive, stone hands that can be seen throughout the Shattered Library. Some hold eluvians while others contain the spherical, metallic trees that seem to have been used to hold raw magic or something of the like. These stone structures look very much like the mysterious Dead Hand that can be found in the Exalted Plains.
- In a dialogue with Varric in the Lower Archives the Inquisitor speculates that the texts found in the library are not actually books, but rather dreams of books, evinced by a unknown chapter of Hard in Hightown to which Varric is genuinely confused and exclaims: "What the - I never wrote this!".
Bugs
It is possible to glitch your way up to the area in the Inverted Ward with the unreachable eluvian by jumping on the side of the stairs nearby and then jumping towards the area and pressing the touchpad to enter tactical camera mode, this may teleport your character up to the area. The eluvian can be interacted with though is facing the wrong way, doing this however causes the game to crash as there is no area it leads to. Your companions may teleport up here causing you to become trapped as there is an invisible wall and seemingly no way to glitch back down (this is especially true if the game saved before entering the eluvian as your game will reload with your companions trapped too.)
Gallery
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 According to the Archivist at the Entrance to the Shattered Library.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 According to the Archivist in the Inverted Ward of the Shattered Library
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 According to the Archivist in the Sundered Hall or the Broken Tower of the Shattered Library, whichever is visited later
- ↑ According to Solas during the final conversation in the Trespasser
- ↑ According to the Archivist in the Sundered Hall or the Broken Tower of the Shattered Library, whichever is visited earlier