hi, my name's elvira! i’m still fairly new to dragon age, but i’ve been around long enough to read about the racism in this fandom and even within parts of the game’s development. one of the biggest issues me and other poc players run into is the whitewashing of characters.
this mod list is meant to restore characters who have been whitewashed back to their intended designs. despite how frustrating this community can be, it’s also one of the few spaces where people sometimes actually come together to fix things like this.
credits and disclaimer: i take no credit for any of these mods. if you are a mod creator featured here and would like your mod removed, please let me know. if you’d like me to add another mod to this list, feel free to comment or dm me! a lot of the lore information here comes from @dalishious blog, since they’re one of the people i trust most when it comes to dragon age lore and analysis. happy dragon ageing!
⋆ alistair theirin
alistair, who is biracial is widely whitewashed in most depictions, and he’s often treated as fully human, even though he is half elven.
alistair is a half-elf (by girlstandstill on nexus) gives him elf ears and darker skin.
the bastard prince (by girlstandstill on nexus) uses the same base but without the elf ears.
alistair mod (by inanshalla on nexus and tumblr) makes alistair darker skinned, freckled, and elven. it even has curly hair.
for inquisition, options are more limited, but actually alistair (by sapphim on nexus) is the closest match, with a slightly darker complexion.
⋆ isabela
isabela is another character heavily whitewashed in dragon age 2, despite being canonically rivaini and described as a black woman.
the captain isabela (by suntheshattered on nexus) mod makes her darker skinned and adds curly hair and locs depending on the hairstyle used.
for dragon age 2, darker-skinned isabela (by honeywhite on nexus) gives her a deeper skin tone, curly hair, and additional piercing options.
rivaini isabela (by sunmarie on nexus) focuses on restoring her dragon age origins and rivaini facial features.
for dragon age: the veilguard, the rivaini isabela (by sunmarie on nexus) mod also adjusts her skin tone and adds more defined features, including two-toned lips.
⋆ grand enchanter fiona
grand enchanter fiona is whitewashed in dragon age: inquisition, where her in-game appearance is far removed from how she is described in the lore. this has led to ongoing debate in the fandom despite the fact it has been debunked.
the lore-friendly fiona and briala (by traviswasright on nexus) mod adjusts both characters to better match their novel depictions and original written descriptions.
⋆ merrill
merrill is canonically from nevarra, but in dragon age 2 she is often rendered with a very light skin tone that doesn’t match her background or prior appearance.
dark merrill (by keshka on nexus) which makes her hair, skin and tattoo darker.
original brown merrill (by hawkethority on nexus) simply restores merrill’s skin tone.
merrill armours and origins morph (by @/dalishious on tumblr / tepkunset on nexus) gives her higher quality armour and makes her more closely resemble her dragon age origins appearance.
⋆ cassandra pentaghast
cassandra is also canonically from nevarra, and mike laidlaw, creative director for dragon age, has stated she is meant to be from there, which would imply darker skin than what appears in dragon age: inquisition. instead, she is presented as very light in-game.
cassandra the nevarran warrior (by thedaswolves on nexus) adjusts cassandra’s skin tone to a darker complexion.
da2 cassandra (by appleschnapple on nexus) restores her dragon age 2 facial features and overall earlier appearance.
⋆ briala
briala is described in tme as having dark skin, freckles, and curly hair, but her in game appearance is much lighter with straighter hair.
the lore-friendly fiona and briala (by traviswasright on nexus) restores her darker skin and adds freckles back in line with written descriptions.
brown briala (by calbandra on nexus) offers a darker skin tone option while removing freckles.
another brown briala (by mrsgreenleaf on nexus) keeps the dragon age: inquisition facial features but adjusts her skin tone to a darker shade.
⋆ solas
now this might surprise some people, but solas’ early concept art showed him with brown skin and possibly dreads. in dragon age: inquisition and dragon age: the veilguard, his final design is much lighter. whether that counts as whitewashing is debated, but i’ve still included mods here because his original concepts feel closer to his implied elven and indigenous-coded inspiration. unfortunately there are no dragon age: the veilguard mods at this time.
concept solas for frosty (by echeveria on nexus) gives him golden brown skin and a short, close-cropped hairstyle.
concept art-inspired solas (by thelivinggale on nexus) darkens his skin slightly and adds a more rugged overall look.
concept art solas portrait (by bluewren on nexus) replaces his default portrait with the original concept art.
⋆ morrigan
yet another one that might surprise you, morrigan. in dragon age: origins, alistair says “don’t answer her. she looks chasind.” the chasind are described as a multi ethnic people, often interpreted as having indigenous and black inspirations. despite this, morrigan is presented with very light skin in game, which creates a disconnect with that line and the implied worldbuilding around her mother’s history with a chasind man.
chasind morrigan (by mothwrist on nexus) adjusts morrigan to better reflect chasind descriptions, mainly through darker skin and altered features.
morrigan - the witch of the wilds (by pashmilla on nexus) gives morrigan a deeper skin tone while keeping her original design intact.
alternative chasind morrigan (by gaymorrigan on nexus) darkens her skin and changes facial structure to feel more aligned with chasind interpretations.
the chasind shapeshifter (by sapphim on nexus) makes morrigan and flemeth darker skinned in dragon age: inquisition.
chasind morrigan (by mollymauks on nexus) makes morrigan in dragon age: the veilguard darker skinned.
⋆ miscellaneous
elven scenery (by commanderstrawberry on nexus) changes the dalish tents in dragon age: origins to more closely match their appearance in inquisition.
dunmr's zevran restoration project (by wagyvbeefs on nexus) returns zevran in da2 to his former handsome self.
