7th circle Solavellan Hell, obsessive DA theorizing and Fanfic
@calwyne
Sooo I am a person who sticks words, theories and stories together for fun. I love the Dragon Age universe and obsess over its lore. *Pulls up conspiracy board and a nug*.
Translating Thedas: A List of Thedas Languages From Veilguard and Links to Decoding
This has been a long time in the works and I'm so glad to finally have this posted. Some talented people on discord and Bluesky have been doing some HARD work and decoding the languages in both Veilguard and the series in general. While I've working on cleaning up the scripts where I could, a lot of credit for this work belongs to:
Blishtar on Bluesky
Kiranox on Bluesky
Ginkys on Bluesky
@calwyne
@vabonesyart
Ghil Dirthalen on Bluesky
Pundromeda on Bluesky
Jay on Bluesky
Bomble
Languages they've managed to decode + fonts!
If you want to check out the entire thread posted by Ghil Dirthalen (Caitie) here is the Bluesky link!
Here is the link to the script pdf that they have shared!
Some of these alphabets are incomplete! But they may be updated in the future. To which I will make sure to do so then! There will be additional posts sharing all of the things that have been translated.
With all that said! Here are the alphabets!
Ancient Elven/Elven
A note about this that Caitie mentions, while the alphabet works for datv and there is some cross correlation with dai elven script, it seems that dai has some extra rules. It is unclear if the dai script is still canon. Eitherway Caitie and the others have made a font! Link below.
Elven Font datv + dai | Bluesky Thread Link
Complete Elven Alphabet from datv, with notes on the difference from dai elven script, where it used a character to indicate when a letter was doubled underneath. datv elven does not share this trait.
Ancient Tevene/Tevene
The script for ancient tevene and modern tevene are the same as far as we can tell. I am uncertain if like elven and dwarven if its changed from dai.
Tevene script, left is the collection from in-game images, right I cleaned up to make it a little easier to read.
Anders
Anders script, left is the collection from in-game images, right I cleaned up.
Antivan
Antivan script, left is the collection from in-game images, right I cleaned up.
Dwarven
A note on this, is this is different than the runes we see in the Descent dlc.
Dwarven script, left is the collection from in-game images, right I cleaned up.
Tomb-script
An important fact about tomb-script is that it was introduced by Emmrich's writer Sylvia Fekekuty, and is specific to the Mourn Watch, it is not the script for Nevarra in its entirety. As of right now in the series we have not seen Nevarran script to her knowledge, nor have we found script we could deem to be Nevarran.
Tomb-script Font | Alphabet Cheat Sheet Bluesky Link
Tomb-script Font Example by Blishtar
Tomb-script alphabet cheat sheet by Blishtar
Conclusion
All text in the game is translatable, unfortunately for us, some of it is just Lorem ipsum or just fake latin. It is thanks to all these talented people that we've discovered it and fleshed it out. A big thanks to them and for them sharing their work with me so I can bang on about it. I will be providing translated works in separate posts organized by language. There is a lot and I'll easily hit the image and text limit.
As things develop, whether in updated/completed alphabets or releases of fonts, I'll keep this post updated. If I missed anything, you come across updates, or have questions, please feel free to drop an ask!
Just an interesting note I picked up from Zevran in my recent DAO playthrough. He notes this in Haven when you discover the bloody altar in the house just on the left as you enter I believe. I didn’t remember this line, which has some rather interesting implications.
“I wonder… the Crows often made sacrifices of blood, and it gave them uncanny abilities.”
Reminder that there is an elven servant in the Val Royeaux courtyard who stumbled upon the temple of Mythal in his youth, supposedly directs the Venatori there, and begins having dreams of a woman whispering to him in the night and calling herself Mythal. He later gains Mythal’s vallaslin if you return to the courtyard! I transcribed the audio below - I did my best to get them in the right order! It’s been a while so the line placement may not be 100% correct. A friend was interested in this, and I decided to share this here too in case it is of interest to anyone else.
Noble: Those men who came to speak to you at the manor. Who were they?
Servant: My brother and several of his friends. They asked about Ambassador Briala.
Noble: They didn’t think she was staying with me, surely.
Servant: No Sire, they asked when I last saw her. We were once friends, remember?
Noble: I’d forgotten that you knew Briala.
Servant: When I lived in the palace, prior to working for you. We’ve barely spoken since.
Noble: Oh, I wasn’t accusing you of anything. I know how elven servants can be.
—
Noble: How odd that more men show up at the manor to speak with you, you and not I.
Servant: I apologise sire. I had never met those men before.
Noble: And what did they need? Nothing unsavoury I hope.
Servant: I would never do anything to jeopardise your reputation, Sire.
Servant: They asked about ruins, something I found when I was a child. Rather strange they knew about it at all.
—
Noble: How is it you know anything about ruins?
Servant: You forget sire, before I became a servant at the palace, I was with one of the Dalish clans.
Noble: Ah, yes. I keep forgetting because you don’t have those ridiculous markings on your face.
Servant: I was too young. Long ago as it was, I remember the Arbor Wilds as if it were yesterday.
—
Servant: Sire. You should know those men approached me again.
Noble: Again? The last time they came to the manor, I told them to leave you be!
Servant: They came to me in the market. They claim I misdirected them, but I swear I didn’t.
Noble: No need to worry. I am your patron, not them. I won’t bow to Tevinter scum, that’s for certain.
—
Noble: You are worrying Madame with your shouting during the night. Not to mention the other servants.
Servant: I can’t help it, Sire. A woman comes to me in my dreams, and she whispers things.
Noble: You mustn’t say that. Not in public. People will think you’ll be taken by a demon.
Servant: She’s not a demon, Sire. She says her name is Mythal. But… I will be quiet. I promise.
From the new ‘Making of Dragon Age: the Veilguard’ behind the scenes video: 👀
“As we’ve gone through DAO, DA2, Inquisition… magic has become more and more present, and part of that is because Solas has been slowly preparing this ritual for longer than anyone in the Dragon Age universe is really aware of.”
More information on the role Solas plays in Veilguard!!! As a Solasmancer I am SO HAPPY. - https://www.gameinformer.com/exclusive/2024/06/20/dragon-age-the-veilguards-leads-on-the-name-change-and-solas-role-in-the-story
Though Solas name isn't a part of the game's title anymore, he still plays a major role in The Veilguard.
DA:TV news: "On the narrative themes of the game: “For DA:TV, from the start one of the biggest themes has been regret; how regret shaped peoples’ lives, how people deal with their regrets, how people maybe move past their regrets.” Each of the characters, the stories as a whole, have elements of this tied throughout. They really wanted to have this thematic cohesiveness to the game’s story."
-
Tevinter Nights, Callback: “I am the heart of what was here. An echo that has breached the Fade. And I can still the bravest blade or magic. I am Regret! There is so much of me that's here. So much Regret behind these deeds. I wonder if you know the dread that's coming? I am the regret of a god!" Sutherland then cries out, echoing the regret that drew Regret to Skyhold: "I regret! I regret acting alone! I regret using my friends! I regret now!" Regret had never been accepted. Never owned. The regret that had drawn it to Skyhold had a very long memory.
For a moment, the sunlight illuminated something within - a sliver of the spirit it might have been. Not the opposite of regret. A different flavor, or shade. Contemplation. Introspection. It felt the echo of the actions that had summoned it. There might have been a better choice, said a thought it had not been allowed.
It glimpsed the spirit realm beyond the Veil, and a faraway glimmer. Familiar, and somehow far brighter than what had drawn it here. It knew where it would go. Rat hefted her hammer, brought it down on the demon, and a lazy breeze blew in the garden."
Regret saw a faraway bright light in the Fade when it died? The light called to it and that's where it went, it went home. To a Lighthouse, and a lonely god.
After seeing all the speculation on Bellara’s vallaslin in Dragon Age: the Veilguard, note that we have already seen quite a bright red version of Mythal’s vallaslin on the guards at the temple of Mythal - so I don’t think the use of the colour directly connects to worship of the Forgotten Ones.
I was watching some older Ghil Dirthalen theory videos and saw this mural in one of them.
Those eye-like things in the middle have always drawn my attention but we haven't been able to come up with explanations for them. There's fourteen of them, and we haven't had anything that there's fourteen of before.
Well now there's fourteen statues involved in Solas's ritual, two of each Evanuris that he locked away. They're even arranged in the same sort of arcing shape, with a sphere below them.
(Side note, there are three statues here that are of "Beetle" aka the Evanuris that's on the right at the end of the gameplay trailer, but Ghil Dirthalen stated in (if I remember correctly) this Split the Veil episode that it's a mistake, meaning there's supposed to be two of each Evanuris.)
This makes me think that this ritual is very much a reverse of the one he used to create the veil in the first place, and he needed fourteen statues for that one too. I always kind of suspected that mural was a depiction of Solas creating the veil, and I think this pretty much confirms that.
I saw some theories about why Rook might want to avoid blood magic, and I think it’s likely as simple as because it weakens the veil. (Excerpt is from Streets of Minrathous, Tevinter Nights)
Okay so we know ancient tevene=Latin. Solas, in Latin, means alone. I couldn’t help but note the symbolism with our favourite elf apostate (worst fear is of dying alone) and how ancient elven names correspond seemingly with their states/duties. Abelas (meaning sorror) guards the Vir'abalessan, and when he leaves, Solas says he hopes he finds a new name. Is solas afraid of dying still ‘alone’ still ‘solas’? We know that elvhen words and meanings are found integrated into tevene/Latin, and that tevinter was built on the remains of the Elvhen empire. Could the dalish meaning be twisted from alone to pride? As the dread Wolf walks alone? It seems a short step in meaning after his supposed betrayal. Could the original meaning be concealed in the tevene language/Latin? Other tevene words have clearly been derived from elven words, similar to Roman’s appropriating from the Greeks. I begged Weekes for answers and this occurred.
It’s worth noting that I’ve thought for a long time that a change like this would make the nightmare demons words make more sense. (Though I think it’s possible that this ‘walking alone’ is a kind of pride, and this may be a nuance to the name). After targeting each companions fears, the demon starts accusing Solas of pride? We know from his gravestone that he fears dying alone, and I think that when Solas’ name is considered to have that alternate meaning, instead of potentially saying his pride will kill him, the demon is speaking of him dying alone. This just makes more sense to me personally.
Some wild speculation that is most probably wrong!
Although the shadow ‘demon?’ in Neve’s story, streets of Minrathous initially brings to mind figures from lore similar to The Formless One or Shah Wyrd, as @Andarateiea on twitter has spotted, there is a very similar silhouette shared between the figure standing before the golden city on the Vinyl cover art, and the shadow entity visible in Neve’s tarot art. In this post I explore the possible similarities between this figure and the Magisters Sidereal. I'll add a break because this will be a long post.
There is potentially also a figure with a similar staff in the DAI collected mosaics. I'm not sure if this is deliberate, but I will include it:
On the Vinyl image, standing before the still golden city, the depicted figure appears more humanoid and proportionate in comparison to its appearance in Neve's tarot card. In current day, if it is the same figure, their appearance has been dramatically twisted in the time since the city went dark. This immediately brings to mind the warped appearances of both of the magisters we have seen so far (Corypheus and The Architect). So, are there any other similarities worth noting? I have written out some of the parallels and connections that struck me upon reading this post (time for wild conspiracies!).
Aside from the earthquakes and blood magic leading up to the unsealing of this being, similar to the lead-up to Corypheus’ release, and the remnant architecture (described as depicting dragons and typical to Minrathous) there is one similarity I have noted in the past between The Architect and the entity Malvernis/Amgeforn the Foul that reoccurs to me here. Both use a strange kind of shadow/blight magic that consumes others, and reduces them to black goo:
The 'demon' below Minrathous: ‘I saw a steel-haired Venatori stumble near the writhing darkness. Before he could straighten back up, the shadow was wrapped around his wrists. The cultist jerked to his knees. His body convulsed. Silence fell suddenly on both sides, broken by the screams of the old man as he sunk from view.’
The Architect: ‘…the Architect… had cast the spell. Genevieve clutched at a pool of shadow that spread across her torso. It grew, and appeared to be eating her... It washed over her arms and her legs, and then finally swallowed her head. Her screaming ended abruptly. The shadow-covered body flailed about twice more, and then the blackness simply collapsed, leaving nothing more than a pool of liquid on the floor.’
Malvernis: (who, coincidentally, takes the form of a dragon in his boss battle in DA2 legacy): ‘We called it Malvernis. The Pestilential One. It devoured Thaigs, turning our fairest work into a noxious waste. It consumed living warriors, turning their bodies into slime, and when its hunger was not abated, it consumed the bones of our ancestors’
Corypheus notes in his memories: ‘They spit on our deeds and claim we brought darkness into the world. We discovered the darkness. We claimed it as our own, let it permeate our being.’
These accounts are not identical, and are likely unrelated, but I thought it worth noting! Along with the following:
Neve notes when approaching the ritual releasing the shadow: ‘A strange buzzing in my head. It was thick with a feeling I couldn’t understand and an expansive need for emptiness.’ This buzzing and mental strangeness are mentioned several times. It also reminds me of descriptions given by Bregan of a constant humming and buzzing when succumbing to the Calling. An even more tenuous link is just the fact that there is a cult that worships the blight that name themselves 'the empty ones'.
All of this reminds me additionally of the codex entry: A Different Darkspawn.
‘Said he once came upon a group of three darkspawn in the Deeper Roads… said they talked, like people, about things he couldn't understand. A city gone black, and they blamed each other for things but could barely remember for what… Story goes they attacked each other, and one ran off while the second choked the third to death and then ate him.’
So is there potentially a third of the magisters Sidereal contained out there, and is this them? I am really not sure. But given a large focus of Neve's story 'Streets of Minrathous' is a refusal to aim for the ancient 'glory days of Tevinter' espoused by active Venatori remnants and a popular talking point on the streets of the city - I could certainly see it making for an interesting narrative connected to the heart of what Neve is working both for and against.
And!!! something actually far more relevant! If this figure is one of the Magisters Sidereal - he would have worshipped one of the old gods. This is central to each of the Magisters Sidereal so far. So, which are those that remain? I looked at the remaining 2 to see if there was any obvious candidate, and yes!!!!
Lusacan, the Dragon of Night, calls to you. He lives where it is darkest and waits for the day he will rise. Drink of his blood and know the power in darkness: either fear the Night or wield it. - Description for Call of the Dark weapon.
Continued below:
Called "Shadow" in the common parlance, likely due to the ancient association of the constellation Tenebrium with Lusacan, the Old God of darkness and the night. It is odd, however, that the depiction for this constellation has always been an owl and not a dragon, even in the Tevinter texts. This lends credence to the widely-held belief that Tenebrium was a name meant to supplant an older, elven association—perhaps with the elven god Falon'Din, sometimes represented in tales as a giant owl. There is, of course, another explanation: owls are nocturnal hunters, and among earlier people, were considered terrifying omens of loss. - Constellation Tenebrium
For a figure depicted standing before the golden city, and warped after - connected to the image of a dragon rising from a dark sea - described as a shadow with a sense of emptiness - tied to a story about escaping the harsh roots of the Tevinter Imperium - connected to Corypheus and a story which becomes connected to a group called ‘the Shadow Dragons’ I can think of no better candidate than the high priest of Lusacan.
In Tevinter Nights, a remaining group of Venatori are attempting to break a being of terrifying power from its prison beneath Minrathous. Supposedly, Corypheus had a backup involving its release.
‘If Minrathous wasn’t ready to kneel, the demon would make sure it did. The Hour of Minrathous’s Return.’
Here I will list the collection of significant moments in the story Streets of Minrathous that stood out to me, informing on its nature and power.
He’d left me the necklace. The clay seal fit in the palm of my hand and was seated in a polished black shell attached to a gold chain. A long, thin dragon with four wings was etched on the front, rising from a dark sea.
-
I placed the necklace on the scarred wooden table. The man scooped it up. I could feel his magic reaching to unlock the nature of the four-winged dragon’s enchantment. “Blood magic,” he said.
“Yes, I gathered that.”
“No, not like this. Not since Corypheus…”
“What does—?” But I didn’t get to finish the question.
“Get out,” he said, slamming the seal back to the table and shoving it toward me.
“Wait. What is—?” I tried again, but he wasn’t having it.
“I don’t know, I don’t care, I never saw it.”
A moment later I was back on the street. The man in the shop had seen a lot of things—worse than I could imagine, I’m sure—but this had him scared.
-
“There’s a demon sealed beneath the city. If it’s let out…” He made a dismissive gesture, as if tossing Minrathous aside. “Corypheus would rebuild. That was the plan.”
“Minrathous has defeated demons before,” I said.
“Not like this,” Flavian said. “I’m not even sure demon’s the right word. It’s something only a god could summon.”
-
“If Minrathous wasn’t ready to kneel, the demon would make sure it did. The Hour of Minrathous’s Return.”
-
The walls were largely plain, though even here there were echoes of the ornamentation found on the buildings above—a pillar carved like a dragon, a fresco meant for almost no one to see. A faint vibration ran through the ground beneath me and I stopped admiring the art. It wasn’t long before I could make out the flicker of orange light up ahead. A voice echoed back to me off the stone walls. Another vibration ran through the ground and I felt a strange buzzing in my head. It was thick with a feeling I couldn’t understand and an expansive need for emptiness.
-
Aelia herself was focusing all her power into a large stone obelisk. It rose the full height of the catacomb and there were deep cracks in the stone at its base. Below the obelisk, a shadow moved at odds with the lights that cast it. Looking at it caused the buzz in my head to grow louder. Whatever I was looking at, it was the edge of something deeper. If this was a demon at all, it was older and larger and more nameless than any demon I’d ever heard of and so much worse besides. If that thing rose, there wouldn’t be a Minrathous left.
-
The shadow heaved as the templars fought the Venatori. It was darker now, thicker, too, but still formless. I saw a steel-haired Venatori stumble near the writhing darkness. Before he could straighten back up, the shadow was wrapped around his wrists. The cultist jerked to his knees. His body convulsed. Silence fell suddenly on both sides, broken by the screams of the old man as he sunk from view.
-
I sent a wall of ice up and over the obelisk. It wouldn’t hold back disaster on its own, but it was enough to hold secure until the justicars sent experts smarter than me to deal with it.
Some wild speculation that is most probably wrong!
Although the shadow ‘demon?’ in Neve’s story, streets of Minrathous initially brings to mind figures from lore similar to The Formless One or Shah Wyrd, as @Andarateiea on twitter has spotted, there is a very similar silhouette shared between the figure standing before the golden city on the Vinyl cover art, and the shadow entity visible in Neve’s tarot art. In this post I explore the possible similarities between this figure and the Magisters Sidereal. I'll add a break because this will be a long post.
There is potentially also a figure with a similar staff in the DAI collected mosaics. I'm not sure if this is deliberate, but I will include it:
On the Vinyl image, standing before the still golden city, the depicted figure appears more humanoid and proportionate in comparison to its appearance in Neve's tarot card. In current day, if it is the same figure, their appearance has been dramatically twisted in the time since the city went dark. This immediately brings to mind the warped appearances of both of the magisters we have seen so far (Corypheus and The Architect). So, are there any other similarities worth noting? I have written out some of the parallels and connections that struck me upon reading this post (time for wild conspiracies!).
Aside from the earthquakes and blood magic leading up to the unsealing of this being, similar to the lead-up to Corypheus’ release, and the remnant architecture (described as depicting dragons and typical to Minrathous) there is one similarity I have noted in the past between The Architect and the entity Malvernis/Amgeforn the Foul that reoccurs to me here. Both use a strange kind of shadow/blight magic that consumes others, and reduces them to black goo:
The 'demon' below Minrathous: ‘I saw a steel-haired Venatori stumble near the writhing darkness. Before he could straighten back up, the shadow was wrapped around his wrists. The cultist jerked to his knees. His body convulsed. Silence fell suddenly on both sides, broken by the screams of the old man as he sunk from view.’
The Architect: ‘…the Architect… had cast the spell. Genevieve clutched at a pool of shadow that spread across her torso. It grew, and appeared to be eating her... It washed over her arms and her legs, and then finally swallowed her head. Her screaming ended abruptly. The shadow-covered body flailed about twice more, and then the blackness simply collapsed, leaving nothing more than a pool of liquid on the floor.’
Malvernis: (who, coincidentally, takes the form of a dragon in his boss battle in DA2 legacy): ‘We called it Malvernis. The Pestilential One. It devoured Thaigs, turning our fairest work into a noxious waste. It consumed living warriors, turning their bodies into slime, and when its hunger was not abated, it consumed the bones of our ancestors’
Corypheus notes in his memories: ‘They spit on our deeds and claim we brought darkness into the world. We discovered the darkness. We claimed it as our own, let it permeate our being.’
These accounts are not identical, and are likely unrelated, but I thought it worth noting! Along with the following:
Neve notes when approaching the ritual releasing the shadow: ‘A strange buzzing in my head. It was thick with a feeling I couldn’t understand and an expansive need for emptiness.’ This buzzing and mental strangeness are mentioned several times. It also reminds me of descriptions given by Bregan of a constant humming and buzzing when succumbing to the Calling. An even more tenuous link is just the fact that there is a cult that worships the blight that name themselves 'the empty ones'.
All of this reminds me additionally of the codex entry: A Different Darkspawn.
‘Said he once came upon a group of three darkspawn in the Deeper Roads… said they talked, like people, about things he couldn't understand. A city gone black, and they blamed each other for things but could barely remember for what… Story goes they attacked each other, and one ran off while the second choked the third to death and then ate him.’
So is there potentially a third of the magisters Sidereal contained out there, and is this them? I am really not sure. But given a large focus of Neve's story 'Streets of Minrathous' is a refusal to aim for the ancient 'glory days of Tevinter' espoused by active Venatori remnants and a popular talking point on the streets of the city - I could certainly see it making for an interesting narrative connected to the heart of what Neve is working both for and against.
Notes from the June 14th 2024 Developer Q&A, from the official BioWare Discord
Under a cut due to length.
Please note that these notes are mostly not directly-transcribed quotes! It was a live session, so these were quickly-written cliff notes produced at pace. So if anything sounds weird or slightly off, it's almost certainly because of that and not because of anything a dev said.
Corinne Busche, John Epler, Matt Rhodes and Community Manager Katey were the devs that were there.
Update: I have done another pass of this post to tidy up typos, grammar etc. :>
Update 2:
----
The session began.
The first question was on which of the factions in the game the devs would like to belong to. The Antivan Crows have great fashion - Corinne said that we are going to love their threads. Corinne loves both them and the Mourn Watch. She said she would go with the Crows for fashion reasons, and her vibes-based answer is the Mourn Watch.
John's answer was the Veil Jumpers (for fashion + vibes both). “Who doesn’t like a walk in the forest, you know, even if that forest is filled with horrifying monsters and terrifying anomalies?”
Arlathan Forest is filled with horrifying monsters and terrifying anomalies.
The faction Matt would choose is the Lords of Fortune because "pirate-barbarian is just such a great combination of elements"; he likes that they are related to treasure-hunting, beaches, palm trees and everything like that. "It's a really good mix."
This game is a much more intimate experience, and in this regard the camera has been pulled in. The reason why is that the devs want us to feel like we actually are in this world, like we're walking these city streets of Minrathous, looking up, seeing the buildings all around you - "you're a part of this place". They believe that as the narrative unfolds, this creates a lot more immersion.
Since the question was about there being two companions, Corinne continued, "Now, how this relates to companions, we went back and forth on it a lot, but we actually found, with this perspective," having two companions really allows the companions to each have more visibility and presence. The companions are fully-realized, we will really see them shine.
They did testing with their internal team and the Council of players as well [the Community Council] and found that when you’re playing in the combat system, when you’re planning strategies, two really felt like the right number to manage. Rook has a lot of different types of actions, abilities and individual attacks available to them as the PC - more than ever before - and the number of inputs we need to take when telling Rook and the companions what to do is also higher than ever before. Timing and position matter a lot in this game. With those things in mind, two companions in the field felt like the right balance.
Banter is still absolutely a core part of and big thing in DA:TV. There is global banter (the general stuff that we will get in all spaces) as well as mission-specific banter. If anything, this game has the most banter that they have ever done in terms of pairings of companions. They have added some interruptible and resumable banter too this time. John said, “You could not stop the writers from [writing banter] even if you tried”. Writing is one of the more light, fun things for the writers to do. They get to write little stories and arcs between different companions, and DA:TV is no different.
Corinne added: "John, listening to you speak, one thing that comes to mind, maybe people are wondering, with two companions in the field, do I get less interaction between them? Like, do I get to see my companions interacting in a broader group more often? And, the way you'll gather them around the kitchen table, there's just so many of those moments where they're all interacting with each other, those are some of my favorite parts."
They wanted to make sure that the companions had a life and relationships of their own outside of the times when we take them out into the field. "So we made sure that they had those interactions there as well."
They were asked about the customizability of Rook's backstory. Rook has 6 different backgrounds that you can choose from. Each of them is tied to one of the major factions in DA:TV. "Each one sets up who Rook was before they were recruited by Varric. Well that sets out the broad events. As you go through the game, as you have conversations, either with members of your faction, other characters, you can define not just what those events were but what they meant to you. What was your motivation, what was the kind of person you are as you build up Rook. Because again, we wanna make sure that roleplaying is at the heart of this experience, and taking Rook, giving them background to ground them in the world and then letting you decide what that means, what that says about you, is also a big part of it." "A lot of opportunities to really define who your Rook was and who they are now, so."
Q. Will crafting return?
A. We can improve and customize our gear, that is a big part of RPG progression. "I will say though, it is different this time around, and it does get into spoiler territory so I'm gonna be a little bit cagey about it, but there might be a mysterious entity that assists you with that, that will be an important part of the narrative."
Emmrich’s skeleton Manfred is not "kissable" or romanceable, however, they added - “not that skeleton, but we’re not saying no skeletons”.
They have taken a different approach on how we import our decisions into the game this time around. This is now fully integrated into the character creator. The devs believe that this serves a dual purpose. Corinne said that she playfully thinks of it as ‘last time on Dragon Age’, though it isn't actually called this in the game. She noted that it has been ten years since the last Dragon Age game was released, so this aspect serves as a refresher on critical events as well as allowing us to remake those decisions that are critical to us. The system for doing this is very highly visual and uses the familiar tarot card aesthetic. "It’s a very visual and playful experience as you go through it." It was very important to them that this system was built into the client, so that you can play this game entirely offline. No online connection is required, no linking to EA accounts is required – this was a big fan request.
Corinne added, “I don’t want to spoil anything by revealing what decisions you can import, but I will say that this [thinking about the decision import system and what decisions to include] has been a really interesting creative intersection for us, because on the one hand, this is a whole new adventure”. In this game we are in northern Thedas, in locations we have not been to before. This naturally affects "some of what will matter and what decisions they're not using this time around, as far as decisions. But obviously there are some very, very clear connections to existing characters." “It’s no secret that the Inquisitor is going to show up, so that’s a factor”.
The game only begins in Minrathous, it doesn’t stay there. “I don’t want to get into too much spoiler detail, but getting to go to and work with the art, narrative and design teams, to build out these locations that we've talked about", places in this game where characters in previous games came from and referred to in previous games has been really exciting for the dev team. We do start in Tevinter, but Minrathous is not the entire game by any stretch.
"We've gone back to what we believe delivers the best, most curated, intense narratives." There is side content in the game, the locations can open up and we can go back and "solve mysteries" and things, but these are not fetch quests and they are not "grind content". The game is a very hand-crafted, mission-based, curated experience. The side content is really great. "The most important thing for us [on that], obviously we've talked about how narrative, story, characters are the most critical to us, and this has allowed us to build these experiences in a way that emphasizes that extremely well, tying into the story threads and the story beats."
Q. Will the companions have unique specializations?
A. The "companions will have abilities that are truly unique to them, but also, they do fall into the archetypes of mage, rogue and warrior. For instance, because she has a bow, you might be surprised to hear that Bellara is in fact a mage, and I love that”. The bulk of the companions’ abilities are based on their own unique 'personality'. For example, Neve is the only mage that is an Ice Mage, so she has related abilities that are distinct to her, but because she is a mage she does have access to abilities that all of the mages share, like Time Slow. The devs are really happy with this balance, a good mix of representing their archtype, their class, and also their distinct "specialization or personality, whatever you wanna call it." “Each of these characters exists, each of these characters have a history, has a story of how they became who they were. Part of that was finding the intersection between narrative and gameplay”. They want to serve the needs of gameplay but also allow the characters to breathe as their own people both in conversations and out of conversation.
Healing spells return, and these are a part of the 'core mage kit'. "Your mages, you wanna make them a healer? Do that."
Q. Will DA:TV still have tactical combat?
A. Yes, combat gets quite tactical. The combat system is an evolution of the previous combat system. The game has a robust difficulty system. Tactics are of increasing importance the higher up you go in the difficulty system. If you want a higher tactics experience, crank up the difficulty in particular. “I want to make sure I am super clear in my answer. Our pause-time tactical mode is not overhead. It stays close to Rook. It does allow you to cycle between targets both in and out og combat, there is a reason for that”. As the game progresses, this can display information about enemies, such as what enhancements they have. Elements matter a lot (as in, elemental resistances and whatnot). Coordinating abilities between Rook and the companions is important, and they call this “detonation combos”. An example of this is that Bellara has an ability that is like a gravity well. You could use this to draw enemies in to one place. Then, Neve has a Slow Time ability (which does what it says on the tin). Then you could come in as Rook to do something like a devastating Area of Effect or damage over time ability on the enemies that have been gathered up and slowed/frozen in place. (Even better if it is a lightning ability!) The devs said that it is good to try and ensure that you have a few possible detonation combo synergies amongst your team that you choose to bring out into the field - so there is tactical gameplay while in combat, but also an element of pre-combat strategizing as you decide who to take. The system will remind you of the combos available between companions during gameplay.
The enemies in Arlathan Forest are “Fade-touched”, and they are vulnerable to lightning abilities.
Veil Ranger, one of the three rogue specializations, is one of Corinne’s favorites.
In CC, Rook’s pronouns can be chosen. You can select both pronouns AND gender, as as Corinne noted, these are related concepts, but not exactly the same thing. Rook can be non-binary. The pronouns available are she/her, they/them, and he/him.
The Character Creator is very detailed and very deep. The team focused a lot on doing hair and skin tones respectfully. There is full body customization. They are going to show us a lot more on CC in the future, but at a time when they have the time and space to do so.
The devs were asked about a Photo Mode being in the game. They said that this is something that they are actively looking into. They know that there is a ton of interest in this. It is a feature that they like the idea of even just internally, as it is helpful for them to have this internally when they are building things. They said that they will let us know about this when they can.
On abilities: The Ability Wheel has a capacity (as in number of abilities available on it). You have to choose which three abilities you want to bring for Rook, and what three for each of our two companions. This creates emergent gameplay - you have to do that strategizing, building the kits before you go on a mission. The devs noted that while there are three ability sots for Rook, there is so much more than that on the Wheel. The Wheel has other things on it that we can do. For example, on the Wheel Rook gets an "ultimate ability" that is based on their specialization. There is also a type of item we will get that will function like abilities, like runes with buffs and enhancements.
We can choose what enemies our companions will target.
Fireball and Cone of Cold do not return as spells in this game, but their successors do: Meteor and Frost Nova. These two abilities serve the same combat role and function as the previous two, "only with a glow-up", especially Meteor. It is “so satisfying nuking a group of darkspawn with a well-placed Meteor”.
On Accessibility features: They have spent a lot of time thinking about this topic so that we can play the game in a way that really works for us. They will go into this in more detail closer to launch when the time is right.
On the timeskip: John said “Timelines are always a little iffy. They change and morph over development”. It has been about ten years since the events of Trespasser transpired. "As you may have noticed, Varric has become a bit of a silver fox." Solas’ Ritual has taken quite a long time to set up, and we are coming in at the end of that hunt in the start of the game.
They can confirm that Solas is still bald (hhh). Matt: “I really like how Solas has turned out this time around”.
In Thedas, ancient elves go bald when they’re "millennia" old. Solas was not always bald. “If you end up seeing what Solas looked like in the past” in the game, then we will see that he looked different.
On companion armors: The companions still have iconic color palettes and things like that, but they do have a wider range of looks that they can have this time around (compare with Dragon Age II, where they always had the same armor and we could not choose how it looked).
Q. Will we go to Kal-Sharok?
A. “For what we can show of Kal-Sharok and other locations”. I didn’t catch the second part of this quote, but Matt was talking about hints of things that they can show and Kal-Sharok was specifically mentioned.
The dialogue wheel has "tone wheels", "emotional wheels", and "choice wheels". The "Investigate" option also returns. They want players to understand as much as possible about what it is they are choosing on the dialogue wheel.
“Choose outcomes of conversations, choose how conversations unfold”. “For example, you may be talking to an elf companion. If you are an elf yourself” you may have different opinions on things that have happened, different perspectives.
Each of the seven companions have full romance arcs and they are all romanceable by all genders. This does not mean that they are playersexual. The companions don't conform or twist their identities to who we as the player are, and they don’t suddenly have a preference for men or woman based on what we are playing. Instead, they have their own fully fleshed-out identities which they are authentic to. They are all pansexual. They may have histories of romance, and sometimes we will hear about their preferences and things of that nature from them. If you don’t romance them, they will actually build their own romances with each other. Taash and Lace is one of Corinne’s favorite companion relationships. She says that she has heard that the shipname in the community for this is "Laash".
Vallaslin are back in Character Creator. A couple of the characters also have vallaslin, but their vallaslin are a bit more customized and a bit more specific to their personalities.
We will learn about the companions, what they care about, and their hardships. Corinne said "they all feel like my dear friends".
Corinne's favorite thing is the CC. She mentioned "the way you customize qunari horns and combine it with the hair" as being something which is cool.
The art team worked very hard to make the story more visible around you in the game. They really leaned into this philosophy with regards to props, visual effects, environments etc. They wanted to put the story on the screen so that we can see it all unfold. Matt said that DA:TV represents one of the best attempts they have ever made at doing this.
This game contains "the deepest companion arcs" that they have ever done - not just in a Dragon Age game, but in a BioWare game.
There are moments in each companion arc that will make you cry, angry, excited.
John loves the way that the companion arcs integrate into the story as a whole.
“You need to put together a team and stop the end of the world.”
John said: “DA:TV feels like a mix of novelty and familiarity”. [in terms of the world]
DA:TV has been the highlight of John’s career.
There have been times in the companion arcs where, even knowing exactly what was going to happen, Corinne had to set down the controller, let out a heavy sigh and go, "oh my god, what am I going to do here?"
Corinne: “Can we just give a big shout out to the dev team? I am so proud of them. The team has poured their heart and soul into this. To anyone from BioWare who is listening in, thank you so much”.
Q. Why does Varric have dark hair now?
A. He has been adventuring for a while now. His hair is actually more gray than black, but it's been hard to see thus far as he has been shown to us in very dark scenes so far. We will see him in more contexts in future.
The Inquisitor appears in the game in the flesh. The devs know how attached we all are to our Inquisitors and they have seen our love for our OCs. The Inquisitor can be customized. “Yeah, they’re gonna show up and they’re gonna be your Inquisitor.” “The story of Solas and the Inquisitor is tied together, it would have been strange for us to not bring the Inquisitor into this one”.
Right now, the team's focus is entirely on the quality of the game – they are all-in, with all of their attention on finishing the game and on the quality of the game. They are 100% focused on making this game as complete as they can make it.
There are no microtransactions. There will be no battle-passes. You do not have to connect online to play. They want to make this the most complete singleplayer game that they possibly can.
Armor transmog exists in the game. Corinne said that she is the kind of player that believes "fashion is the real end game". She said that there is a transmog system, and that it is sick.
Q. Are any of the characters explicitly asexual, or on the ace spectrum?
A. Corinne shared she is gray-ace. “I will say though, that none of our companions this time around are explicitly asexual. When we look at the characters, their motivations, who they are, we always ask, 'is this the right time?' This time it wasn’t. But for everyone on the asexual spectrum out there, I would love to represent an asexual relationship, sometime in the future when it would be authentic to the companion and we can do it best”.
Q. Can Rook do blood magic?
A. “This gets a little spoiler-y. Rook has some pretty good reasons to avoid blood magic. Rook is not gonna want to be interested in that. But the mage skill tree is [still] packed with all kinds of” cool spells and things.
One of the three mage specializations is Necromancer. Another was described as “elemental”. The third was described as being like "a combat mage".
Davrin has already named the young griffon "Assan".
In Dragon Age: Inquisition, we had Skyhold. In this game our headquarters is called The Lighthouse. There will be more to be seen on this later. The Lighthouse has elements that will change over time, and some things about it that we can adjust. “It definitely does start to feel very much like home over time”.
Q. Do pasta and noodles exist in Thedas?
A. Matt geeked-out for a while about world-building. “DA:TV for us is a dream opportunity” on that front – he referenced architecture, landscape, biomes, culture, costumes, food design. Food design was one of the many things they looked into in order to try and capture the feel of a place and make it believable. “At least one place does have pasta”.
Mabari are not nearly as big of a thing in the north of Thedas as they are in the south. Sadly, in DA:TV we will not get a mabari (but to be fair, we have a griffon!!) And he can be PETTED! “I have actually hugged the griffon”. There is lots of opportunities to interact with the griffon.
We will see the Character Creator before launch.
They have a [marketing/promo for the game] roadmap to take them up until launch.
In CC, the body customization can be done for humans, elves, dwarves and qunari. Qunari hair and horn options are awesome.
Lineage choice (this refers to human/elf/dwarf/qunari) gives a lot of unique dialogue options in the game. Depending on the background and lineage you choose, there is unique dialogue. For example, if you play as a dwarf Mourn Watcher, obviously your experience in that faction would have been different to if you were a human or an elf – so there are even specific combinations like that which are touched on in dialogue/referenced in the game.
Barkspawn/Dog is safely gnawing on a bone somewhere next to a fireplace in Ferelden! He is fine. Mabari live as long as you want them to in your heart!!
Rook's last name is defined by their faction, it is tied into their backstory. However, you can choose your own first name. There is also an in-built name generator, so if you always struggle during CC and name all your characters like 'Bob' or something, you're gonna be okay!
The Voice Actor cast are very talented. They devs are super excited to talk about them more over the summer. They are not quite ready to announce their names yet.
Q. Will there be a Collector’s Edition?
A. They will talk more about the different editions of the game that will be available soon.
Q. Will tavern songs return?
A. There are tavern songs in the game, and they are pretty great. They said huge props to the team that made these.
There is a tavern in Minrathous called The Swan. The song that you hear there is great, and probably Corinne's favorite.
More information on the required PC specs will come soon.
They are not quite ready yet to talk in specifics about the music. But the process of creating the music is the same each time: working with the composer, working what the themes are, working out what they want to keep, working out what bits of music to tie to which characters etc. It is a really in-depth and collaborative process. The team have great audio and music people. They want to make sure that the music feels like a cohesive part of the game experience.
On the narrative themes of the game: “What you start with [when setting out to create a game] aren’t always necessarily the same as what you end up with.” “For DA:TV, one of the biggest themes has been how regret shapes peoples' lives, how people deal with their regrets.” Each character has this element to them.
The world reacts to Rook’s lineage and backstory. There are unique dialogue options based on backstory and lineage.
There are glorious, fantastic dwarf beards.
If you go against a companion’s wishes or do something that they don’t like, you can piss them off and they may take some time away / “leave for a minute”. However, they are always going to be "willing to show up to defend Thedas because this is the biggest threat Thedas has ever seen." “They’ll show up to defend Thedas… unless… spoilers.”
“The things that we have enjoyed, the things that shaped us, show up in these characters”.
Q. Why is Harding a companion?
A. “It was impossible not to see the love that people had in Dragon Age: Inquisition for our murderous girl-next-door dwarf. She is a fan favorite. She has a strong connection to Solas, Varric and the events of the past ten years”. It just made sense to include her. Her inclusion as a companion is one of the earliest-on 'companion decisions' that they made. Her writer wanted this, and her writer had a story to tell about her in this regard. Harding tends to be one of the people that has the most insight into Solas and who he was. John: “Who was Solas, what kind of character was he? Using characters to provide windows onto the world is one of my favorite things.”
They want to make sure each quest provides a perspective on the world and the characters, and feels relevant to what you are doing. We are trying to save the world. “We really wanted to make sure that these quests were something that you”, someone who is trying to save the world, would think is important or worthwhile to do when faced with the end of the world. Everything is hand-crafted and intentional. We aren’t going to be "gathering Shards in the Hinterlands"; everything is built with intention and a dev lovingly crafted the experience.
Locations can fundamentally change based on decisions we make. For some of the parts of the world that we will go to, the choices that we make have an impact on how these spaces exist and develop. “Your decisions do impact how the world shows up”.
If Rook gets knocked out during combat, we will have to reload our saves unless we have invested in companions’ progression and what they can do (they can be progressed to be able to revive Rook).
Q. “Will Solas still occasionally dramatically speak in iambic pentamer?”
John: “Solas is a returning character, it’s the same Solas you love or hate depending on who you are, the same writer. It’s Solas”.
The decision of who was left behind in the Fade in Dragon Age: Inquisition is not important in DA:TV. However, this does not mean that it will be a decision which will never be important in future.
There are no mounts. “Mounts addressed a need in Inquisition that we don’t have in DA:TV. You’ll see why when you get to play”.
On sidequest design – they are all hand-crafted, all story-focused. “Narrative is so much at the core of DA:TV, and anything other than hand-crafted quests just felt like it would be a disservice to the game we were building”. There is no mechanic in DA:TV like Power in DA:I, there is no mechanic that blocks your progression until you fill a bar. “You have the autonomy to engage in these quests as you like, there is no 'grind-out gates' before you can progress”. “We want to make sure that doing this content feels like it’s natural and logical” in the context of the story.
Q. Are there War Table missions?
A. “We haven’t talked much about the player’s base, The Lighthouse. We will save that for now. The Lighthouse, your headquarters so to speak, has its own unique purposes and functions this time. This is an area that we will leave for you when we talk more about The Lighthouse.”
Dual-wielding is back as part of the rogue kit this time. Warriors are focused on mighty two-handed weapons which have a real heft to them when swung. (Warriors can also use sword and shield). The amount of hits rogues can get in in rapid succession is really satisfying – dual-wielding is the providence of rogues this time.
They mentioned “knowing just how much people care about this franchise, care about these games”. They are excited for when people can see the fantastic work the team has been doing. This game is huge. John gets pleasantly surprised on a daily basis and is always amazed by the awesome stuff the team has done. Sometimes he spends hours at night watching the work come in, watching the cutscenes come it etc and is blown away by the work. Corinne said “Everyone is working so hard, putting so much passion and of themselves into it, this is a franchise the team really loves. Seeing everyone’s support has meant a lot to the team, I want to say thank you to all of you.”
They are working on a way for the Q&A to be 'immortalized' for us so that the info does not disappear into the ether. John hopes this was the first of many opportunities to talk to us directly. He is really excited, and Corinne noted that how much Dragon Age means to us is wonderful. "Thank you again, truly."
Session ended.
[source: The dev BioWare Discord Q&A]
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