I can't really think of a more appropriate scene for this song than the destruction of the Chantry. Every time I listen to this song, it's all I can think of.
Bioware/EA owns the DA folks…I only write about them…
Flat of the Blade
I'm not good in a crowd
I've got skills I can't speak of over there
Things I've seen will chase me
To the grave
Clumsy steps are taken through the darkened streets of Lowtown. Mages…templars…onlookers surround. Anger hissed through clenched teeth. Hands tightened into fists…wrapped around staffs and swords. Words spoken with venom…with malice. The threat of extermination is uttered. He has seen the evils that mages can do – but it is when they are forced. When they are driven to such ends. Demons are dealt with – unspeakable horrors are entertained. All they want is freedom.
He no longer waited to grasp at such liberty. He fled from the tower he knew as 'home' for so many years.
And after so many attempts, the chaos that was created allowed his flight to go unnoticed for just long enough.
Led with your hands tied
Fed to the sand flies
You stumble the dunes
Complain to the moon
Back's to the wheel
There's granite to shove
But he will not go back. Not ever.
Death before incarceration. Death before tranquility.
Choices have long since been made – set on a collision course. Forced into corners, the mages turn on their captors. Those on the run fight for their brethren. Put themselves on the line.
No compromise.
No surrender.
Take it they give it
So rivet for rivet
I will build for my family
A bulletproof love
He does it for all of them. He does it for himself. But most of all, he does it for her. No freedom is gained without sacrifice. No love can exist without pain. And no love is perfect, but theirs is as close as it might come to being so. And they'll never be safe, but he can make it more difficult for others to harm them. To harm her.
And harm through inaction and indecision is simply the same as striking out against them.
The answer is simple. A staff strikes the ground once.
Twice.
The deed is done.
How does it feel, the weight of the steel
The weight of the steel, the flat of the blade
Now is the time for justice. He falls to the ground as she stands in front of him. Calls are made for his head. An eye for an eye.
Her hand falls to the dagger at her waist. She unsheathes it…staring at the length of the blade. It dangles uneasily in her hand…as if she means to let it clatter to the ground.
Eyes do not meet – they are focused on the gleam of the cutting edge. Would it slide easily? Would there be resistance? Would he fight back? Would he merely wait to be executed?
How does it feel to kneel at defeat?
To kneel at the feet of the choices you made
Her eyes finally rest upon him. She weighs her decision internally. He knows she is looking at him now. He tells her he will never be able to explain. And while she does understand, she cannot bring herself to tell him.
Simple words… "I love you…" – "Thank you…"
His choice was made. She must live with it.
Her choice is made. He will die for it.
Lyrics in italics from "Flat of the Blade" (Robert Del Naja, Grant Marshall, Neil Davidge, Guy Garvey and Damon Albarn) by Massive Attack, 2010.
