So, how is it that the Breach caused the corruption of red lyrium to spread to the physical world? Where is the Black City, and how does one reach it? In this post, I hope to answer all these questions and more. In my previous posts, I have theorized that The Black City is the location where red lyrium (the source of the Blight) and its origin, the sundered Titans, were sealed away by Solas and Mythal.
Seemingly, however, it did not spread from that location, and the spread of red lyrium across modern Thedas only really occurred in a significant way after the Breach. It has existed deep underground in at least one thaig, the Primeval Thaig, since before the first Blight. As we know, from playing Dragon Age II, red lyrium isn't new. This idea first crossed my mind when I was thinking about the rather sudden spread of red lyrium across Thedas in Dragon Age: Inquisition. existing in a realm that connects them both, known as The Abyss. However, there is lore scattered about that I believe weaves together into an intricate tapestry revealing how the Black City, the source of the Taint that binds all darkspawn, is not only reachable from the deepest Fade in the highest reaches of the sky, but from deep beneath the earth as well. But what if both of these beliefs are true? The anatomy of Thedas is a mystery. The Chantry and the dwarves both have different interpretations of the origin of darkspawn - the dwarves stating that they crawled up from the deep recesses of the earth, and the Chantry stating that they fell from heaven.