Entertainment Article (Gaming)

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is about to release, and you know what that means: it’s time to throw on a sensible one-piece swimsuit, take a deep breath, and dive head first into the lore of Thedas.

 

If you’re new to the world of Dragon Age, beware—here there be spoilers! Turn back now!

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When the latest installment of the Dragon Age saga lands on PCs and consoles on October 31, veterans and newbies alike will find themselves thrust into a fight for the survival of Thedas as Solas—AKA Fen’Harel, AKA the Dread Wolf, AKA that egg-looking mage fellow who adventured alongside the player character in Dragon Age: Inquisition—enacts his plan to tear down the Veil and reintegrate the Fade with the mortal world. And we faithful lore hounds couldn’t be more excited for a new chance to, hopefully, get some answers to some long-held franchise questions.

 

After, of course, a 4- to 5-hour battle against the game’s first major boss: the character creator.

 

   1. What exactly is the Black City?

Any mage or dreamer who enters the Fade has seen the Black City, the ancient skyline that sits at the heart of the ever shifting landscape of the Fade. But what exactly is the Black City?

 

According to the in-game doctrine of the Orlesian Chantry, the primary religious order of Thedas, the Black City was once the Golden City, home of the Maker in the Beyond. The legend goes that an upstart cabal of seven Tevinter mages, the Magisters Sidereal, physically entered the Fade and breached the Golden City at the behest of their draconic deities, the Old Gods, in order to attain godhood themselves. But instead of their Old Gods, the magisters came face to face with the Maker himself. Their corrupt presence left the city befouled and blackened, and the magisters were cast out of heaven and returned to Thedas as the first darkspawn, triggering the recurring Blights that have plagued Thedas for centuries—the Fifth Blight served as the backdrop for the first game in the series, Dragon Age: Origins.

 

But according to Corypheus, an original member of the Magisters Sidereal and the antagonist of Dragon Age: Inquisition, the city was already black when they got there, and there were no gods living in the Beyond. So, let’s assume old Corypheus is telling the truth…

 

In that case, what is that Black City that dreamers see at the center of the Fade?

 

One popular theory that has arisen online over the years is that the Black City is actually the ancient Elvhenan city of Arlathan, or part of it, and that this is where the rebellious Fen’Harel locked away the Evanuris in an effort to save the elves from the tyranny of their gods. But until this theory gains in-game confirmation, the mystery remains.

 

   2. What are the Titans, and how do they fit in the history of Thedas?

During Dragon Age: Inquisition’s The Descent DLC, the Inquisitor and their companions meet the dwarven Shaper Valta and venture into the Deep Roads in order to discover the source of the increasingly destructive earthquakes that threaten the dwarves, save the extremely valuable lyrium mines, and curtail the increased darkspawn activity in the Deep Roads triggered by the seismic activity. 

 

A few hours of dungeon diving and darkspawn stomping later, and the Inquisitor’s adventuring party comes face to face with a monumental piece of lore that could shake Thedas—and of Dragon Age in general—to its foundations: the earthquakes were caused by the awakening of a Titan, a vast entity of living stone that apparently created the dwarven race, and lyrium, the strange living mineral that is used to enchant weapons and armor, enhance magical rituals, and nullify mage’s abilities, is the Titans’s blood. 

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Not only that, but after Shaper Valta is struck by a strange blast of energy from the Titan’s heart, she accidentally hits the Inquisitor with a blast of what appears to be magic. As any long-time Dragon Age player knows, dwarves have no connection to the Fade and are the only race in Thedas unable to wield magic. So what in the Maker’s name is happening here?

 

Clearly the dwarves need to update their histories. Are the Titans truly the creators of the dwarves? If the Titans awaken, will all dwarves gain the potential for magic? In a recent Veilguard trailer, Inquisition scout Lace Harding was shown using some sort of magic on attacking darkspawn, which suggests that whatever happened to Valta is happening to her as well, and may potentially happen to other dwarves. 

 

Speaking of the Titans awakening, what put them to sleep in the first place? At the end of the Trespasser DLC, Solas remarks that the mages who made up the Evanuris were elevated to godhood as a result of a war—could this war have been against the Titans? Is it possible that the Titans are in fact the “Forgotten Ones,” the mysterious forbidden members of the elven pantheon that Fen’Harel allegedly locked away in the abyss? More on the Forgotten Ones in a moment…

 

   3. The Old Gods, the Forgotten Ones, the Archdemons, and the Evanuris: Are they connected?

During each of the five Blights that plagued Thedas, the armies of darkspawn have swept across the land, led by Blighted dragons known as archdemons. In Dragon Age: Origins, it is explained that these archdemons are believed to be the Old Gods of Tevinter, twisted and corrupted by the power of the Blight. There are seven of these Old Gods in total, and lore states that once the seventh archdemon is defeated, the Blights will finally stop and order will return to the world.

 

Interestingly, the Evanuris also consists of seven members, not counting the Dread Wolf: Elgar’nan, Mythal, Falon’Din, Dirthamen, Andruil, Sylaise, June, and Ghilan’nain. Coincidence? I think not!

 

Ever since the first Dragon Age game, players have speculated about how the imprisoned elven gods and the Old Gods might be connected, and how each group relates to the archdemons and the Blights. According to some fan theories, the Old Gods and the Evanuris are one and the same; according to others, the dragons of the Old God pantheon are in fact pets or aspects of the elven gods, rather than the Evanuris themselves; some say that the Old Gods are in fact the Forgotten Ones of the elven pantheon, locked away deep beneath the earth. It's also worth mentioning that there are two formerly imprisoned Elven gods appearing as antagonists in Veilguard—Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain—and there are allegedly only two remaining archdemons. Food for thought!

 

So, are the Evanuris, the Old Gods, the archdemons, and the Forgotten Ones all connected, or do the peoples of Thedas just have a thing for the number seven?

 

   4. What is the origin of the Qunari?

A few hundred years ago, in 6:30 Steel, the large, horned, metallic-skinned Qunari conquered Par Vollen in northern Thedas and became a permanent fixture of the northern part of the continent. The Qunari have been a staple of the Dragon Age series since the beginning: the hornless Sten is a potential companion in Dragon Age: Origins, an army of Qunari led by the Arishok serve as major antagonists in Dragon Age 2, and Iron Bull and Taash are available as companions in Inquisition and the upcoming Veilguard, respectively. What’s more, since Inquisition the Qunari are available as a playable race

 

But where did the Qunari come from? There are a few intriguing pieces of in-game dialogue suggesting that the creation of the horned race was far from natural. For example, when a Qunari Inquisitor first meets Kieran—the son of the witch and Dragon Age: Origins companion Morrigan who may or may not have the soul of an Old God inside of him, depending on player choices in the original game—he says that he feels sorry for the Qunari race, and that your blood “doesn’t belong to your people.”

 

Weirdly enough, this creepy child is not the only character in Inquisition to comment on the stuff flowing through a Qunari Inquisitor’s veins: when confronting Corypheus at the end of the game’s story, the ancient magister says that your blood is “engorged with decay,” and adds, “your race is not a race, it is a mistake.” 

 

Some have theorized that the Qunari may in fact be the result of some ancient experiment—by the elves, Tevinter magisters, or some other party—and that these giant horned beings are actually derived from dragons in some way, leading to their physical divergence from the other races of Thedas. Will Veilguard confirm this popular fan theory?

 

   5. What is the Blight, and where did it originate?

One of the most mysterious pieces of the world of Dragon Age is the Blight, the dark power that infects the races of Thedas and turns them into twisted mockeries called the darkspawn. Promotional materials for Dragon Age: The Veilguard  suggest that Ghilan’nain of the Evanuris, one of the game’s primary antagonists, created the darkspawn as a part of her twisted experiments with the Blight. In fact, Ghilan’nain and Elgar’nan appear to be Blighted themselves, suggesting the remaining Evanuris may be as well. The Evanuris’s use of the Blights power is likely a primary driver of Solas’s decision to lock them away beyond the Veil.

 

But the mystery of the Blight itself, including what it is and where it came from, still remains.

 

Ghilan’nain and her fellow Evanuris may have used the Blight in their lust for power. So, let’s say that Ghilan’nain is the proverbial chicken, and the Blight is the egg—which came first? Did the Evanuris create the Blight, or did they stumble upon a force that already existed? If the Blight already existed, where did it come from? Does the Blight come from archdemons, or the Titans, or maybe red lyrium? Or is it the other way around?

 

And perhaps the most important question for the future of Thedas: will stopping the Evanuris in Dragon Age: The Veilguard stop the Blights as well? Can the Blights be stopped? It looks like we may get some answers to these questions soon...

 

   6. What happened to his hair??? 

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, from the moment we meet him in the Valley of Sacred Ashes to the moment he reveals his identity as Fen’Harel, takes away our cool glowing arm, and makes a dramatic exit through the eluvian to enact his doomsday plan to restore the power of the Elvhenan—hoo boy, I really hope you guys paid attention to my spoiler warning earlier—there is a significant physical characteristic that sets Solas apart from the rest of the Inquisitors companions. Many fictional characters are intrinsically tied to an identifying physical trait: Harry Potter has his lightning-shaped scar, Donald Duck has his sailor suit, Paul Bunyan is big as heck. Solas, too, has a particular physical attribute that fans have come to see as synonymous with the character. Can you guess what it is?

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Yes, dear readers: Solas is bald. He is as bald as the day is long. He could not be any more bald if he tried; no hair goes there; the top of this guy’s head is so smooth that it doubles as a non-stick pan.

 

But guys, you’re not going to believe this: Solas had hair. Like, a lot of hair. According to early previews of Veilguard, in the days of ancient Elvhenan, Solas's locks used to cascade into a lengthy, luxurious mane.

 

So, what happened to Solas’s hair?

 

Was it blasted off of his head by some sort of powerful magic? Is this a classic case of male-pattern baldness? Did the Evanuris steal it as some sort of punishment? Is he sick? Did he just like the shiny look? Did his pal Mythal give him a bad haircut and he shaved it all off out of embarrassment?

 

As a member of the legion of the follically challenged, I am in desperate need of some answers, and I dare say I’m not alone.

 

I’m sort of joking. 

 

But I’m also extremely not.

 

Where did the hair go, Bioware?

 

Where is the hair?