숨죽인 속삭임으로

내쫓긴 자들,
신을 참칭한 악마들은,
그 무덤 속에서 인간에게 속삭이기 시작했노라
테빈터의 인간들이 이를 듣고
거짓 신들을 위해 다시금 제단을 세웠나니
그리하자 그들은 숨죽인 속삭임으로
인간에게 가장 어두운 마법의 비밀을 알려주었노라.

—비탄의 송가 5:11

비탄의 송가의 다섯 번째 절은 첫 번째 절에 언급되는 창세담을 완전히 개작한 것이다. 두 절의 저자는 필히 다른 사람이라고 추정되는데, 두 절 사이에 영의 본질과 두 번째 죄악의 궁극적인 이유에 대한 해석의 방식이 완전히 다르기 때문이다. 이 절에서는 인류가 타락하게 된 원인을 인간의 본성에 내재한 흠결이 아닌, 오롯이 옛 신들의 탓으로 돌리고 있다. 그 때문에 역사가들은 집필자가 테빈터인일 것으로, 더 나아가 집정관 헤사리안이 직접 작성했을 것으로 여긴다.

열한 번째 절에서 이 점이 분명히 묘사된 것을 확인할 수 있다. "신을 참칭한 악마들"이란 분명히 옛 신을 가리키는 것이며, 이 절에서 그들은 황금 도시를 침범했을 뿐만 아니라 인간에게 마법에 관한 비밀을 알려주는 역할로 그려지고 있다. 이는 이들의 개입, 즉 "숨죽인 속삭임"이 없었다면 마법 또한 존재할 수 없었으리라는 것을 암시한다.

—수녀 테사리아 저, 빛의 성가: 문학적 분석과 역사에서 발췌

 

Those who had been cast down,

The demons who would be gods,

Began to whisper to men from their tombs within the earth.
And the men of Tevinter heard and raised altars

To the pretender-gods once more,

And in return were given, in hushed whispers,

The secrets of darkest magic.

—Canticle of Threnodies 5:11

The fifth stanza of Threnodies is a complete retelling of the creation story appearing in Stanza One. The authors are clearly different, with notable disagreements on the nature of spirits and the ultimate cause of the Second Sin. This stanza lays the blame for mankind's corruption squarely on the Old Gods rather than on a flaw inherent to human nature; therefore, historians believe a Tevinter author, perhaps even Archon Hessarian himself, wrote it.

 

In the eleventh verse, we see this illustrated most clearly. "The demons who would be gods," can be no one but the Old Gods; they are credited here not only with broaching the Golden City, but with gifting the secrets of magic to humankind. The implication is that without this instruction, these "hushed whispers," no magic would exist.

 

—From The Chant of Light: Literary Analysis and History by Sister Tessaria