[Spoilers] Please reconsider the DATV "secret ending"

Dear Bioware, I have serious concerns regarding the "secret" post-credit ending to DATV not because of what it does retrospectively to the world state but of what it teases and foreshadows.

The "secret ending" to DATV intruduces an idea that elusive, masked entities named the Executors, presently teased in lore and briefly featured in Tevinter Nights, are in fact a secret mind-controling cabal that prevails throughout history of Thedas and has steered its outcomes from the shadows to brew a new danger under the metaphor of the "poisoned fruit".

To corroborate the point I make in this post, I'd like to point out something I noticed about Dragon Age as a whole: this series has always seemed to contain references to Western esotericism in some shape or form. In some aspect, the whole series seems to allude to the Manichaean concept of the perennial war between the Light and the Darkness, and to the plight of living in a seemingly neverending End of Days. We've had the Blight as the main force of darkness that tainted the perfect realm of Light, the Old Gods as those who dwelled the Darkness. We sang hymns that "The Dawn Will Come" in Inquisition. DATV doubles down on the message, weaving in the allegory of light into virtually every place that struggles against the elvhen gods. The forces of Light are thus constantly under siege - the Black City is bursting in its seams, the Blight virtually takes over the world, the Shadow Dragons and the former Lucerni share a message of "bringing the light" from the underground. Aside from the allegory of Light and Shadow, we have the Fade - the quasi-platonic realm of beings that embody ethically charged concepts and the entire course of history as it was remembered in human experience. The "Fade as a library" analogy becomes more apparent with the introduction of The Vir Dirthara and the archive spirits. In this respect, the Fade/ the Crossroads most resemble Akashic Records, a concept formulated in Helena Blavatsky's theosophy. Next, we have lyrium and the Titans - entities of magical sentient crystal. The idea that minerals hold "soft" intelligence that can heal and aid spiritual development is widely adopted by modern New Age. We also have magic defined primarily as manifestation of thought form into the material world through "sheer force of will", as preached by Tevinter and Nevarran mages - another cornerstone of modern New Age. There's a possibility of reincarnation, made explicit in the Avvar culture and now semi-confirmed in elvhen lore. There's a very clear analogy between the Evanuris/ Old Gods of Tevinter and the gnostic Archons, both cases being corrupting powers that foster evil and prevent the spiritual development of humanity. The concept of the Void/ Abyss has a pretty straightforward counterpart in Gnostic and Hermetic teachings. After the DATV revelations regarding Elgar'nan & Mythal and Solas, one could draw parallels between the aforementioned elven characters and gnostic figures of the Demiurge/ Yaldabaoth and Pistis-Sophia (Faith-Wisdom), directly responsible for the descent of the world from pure form into matter. The dwarf/ Titan lore consequently leads up to a panentheistic conclusion where selected chosen ones (Valta and Harding) can be enlightened to experience unity with their lost cosmic Source. Arlathan is, on some level, comparable to elven Atlantis - which would be a callback to a myth introduced in Plato's dialogues and romanticized throughout the ages. Last but not least, Solas's plan to bring down the Veil and restore the entire capacity of magic to the world, including elven immortality and their full spiritual prowess, resembles the more recent New Age ideas about the spiritual Ascension of the humanity back into its presumed supernatural condition - especially the apocalyptic variant of the concept that circulated around 2012.

I hope my corroborative tangent proves that esoterical references are not just flashy, superficial gimmicks meant to set a tone or to increase the "cool factor" of the work, but that they are integral to the identity of Thedas. Finding such parallels has been great fun and one of the reasons I was deeply attracted to the mysteries of this universe in the long waiting period between DAI and DATV, as long as these were parallels to texts of the ancient time or parts that did not strike as parallels too close to phenomena that are ubiquitous in the Western public awareness.

Unfortunately, modern Western esotericism carries a shameful legacy of [inspiring and cultivating ideologies of white colonialism and white supremacy. Their current day iterations double down on the polarizing concept of the perennial war between Light and Shadow, and they voraciously incorporate modern conspiracy theories for that purpose, forming some highly disturbing ideological connections.

In my opinion, introducing a conspiracy theory of history at the core of a new potential overarching plot crosses the fine line between inspired, deep fantasy worldbuilding and a pastiche on the current social climate that inadvertently romanticizes some prevalent yet disturbing mythologies.

Sadly, the overall simplification of the world's continuity observed in DATV doesn't leave me much hope that the next stories in Thedas will take risks to properly dissect and deconstruct such a risky premise. This is why, in the context provided, I implore BioWare to reconsider if a new overarching plot where the protagonist's new duty, new adventure, new cause to unite people, new grand world-saving experience should stem from a moral imperative that quite bluntly dips into modern conspiracy theories. I implore BioWare to reconsider if this is an "impactful story" worth telling in this time and day, by a developer aligned with socially progressive and inclusive values.