Rewriting Veilguard Part 1 - The World State
Disclaimer: I don't hate the game, I actually think it's quite great given the development hell Bioware went through in those 10 years. This is more of a hypothetical universe where there was less of that behind the scenes drama. Just a fun writing exercise.
Expanding Veilguard's World State Editor
Like many of us, I was disappointed with the total amount of choices carrying over from past games being only three, one of which dealt with romance, two with decisions made in the Trespasser DLC, and all of them being from Inquisition. This already set the precedent that we shouldn’t really be expecting the game to be as connected to our carefully curated Thedas as we have come to be used to from previous titles—no more uniquely flavoured codex entries, no more small but sweet cameos here and there that make the world itself feel like a larger place that we had helped shape.
Given The Veilguard’s very troubled production history of multiple delays, staff layoffs, and all-around restarts of the entire project, it is honestly a surprise that we even got three choices, so credit where credit is due. They made with what they had. But what if The Veilguard had this vision from the start? What if there wasn’t any of this meddling? What if BioWare simply had more time and control? What if they could truly let us import the World State this game deserved?
Now, for this hypothetical rewritten playthrough, I’m going off of the fact that the Dragon Age Keep will not be used; I actually found it a neat idea to tick my three choices in the character creator, and it would have probably been better had Inquisition done something similar. Why do I think that? Because it means we are not running into any dangers of servers potentially shutting down (yes, thank you for that looming Sword of Damocles for all Inquisition players, BioWare) , leaving us trapped in the canon we happened to have imported last. Converting the Keep into an offline editor was a good idea, but unfortunately not executed nearly enough as, let’s face it, we all expected. So we’re gonna have some fun for Veilguard.
Disclaimer: I’m going to refer to the game’s title as Veilguard from now on, not “the” Veilguard. I really don’t like the change of having a “the” in a series of otherwise one-word, or one-number, titles.
Of course, we have to be realistic about this. It is virtually impossible to implement every single decision from across all three games, and those that can be implanted can’t alter the main plot too much. We've had David Gaider explain this very dilemma in great detail when it came to the development of Inquisition. Certainly, we like to imagine and picture things, but let’s approach this from an actually doable point of view. Nobody has limitless resources, and neither shall we.
Right, so imagine you just booted up the game, listened to the killer main menu theme, pressed the start button, and then, before anything else happens, we get an opening narration. But instead of Varric talking about Solas immediately, thereby raising questions for anyone who hasn't played the predecessor, we’re gonna set the stage for the general state of Northern Thedas: with the South experiencing a few years of relative peace, the North is a wholly different story: Tevinter and the Qunari have engaged in a bloody and brutal all-out war that threatens to reach its culmination, the Grey Wardens are growing more reclusive with the Anderfels experienced increased Darkspawn Raids, strange magic thins the Veil and warps reality in Arlathan Forest, a part of the Antaam is now occupying Antiva and Rivain, pirates raid the eastern seas with increased brutality, strange whispers arise from the depths of the Grand Necropolis, basically, everything is in chaos. But Varric is certain that one person is the key to all this. Cue the distant howling of a wolf and six red eyes in the dark. Cut to black.
Instead of being immediately thrown into Rook's character creator, we can choose between either going to said CC, or we can click on another button called “World State”. Not just something about the Inquisition. And it would take up half of the screen instead of being shoved somewhere in the corner of the final CC page, which many people missed. I could have missed it too, had I not known beforehand that it was going to be there! Seriously, the way it was presented in Veilguard was almost like BioWare was going "Hi, hello, yes...it's there...but it's not much and we're kind of ashamed to even show it to you." You can't convince me they were not fully aware of the disappointment many DA veterans would have by how they presented that button.
Now, in our game, when we click on World State, we get this message: “You can customise the protagonists and several events from the games Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II, and Dragon Age: Inquisition. These choices will have both major and minor effects on this game's plot. If this is your first Dragon Age title, you would be advised to skip this section, as you may otherwise risk getting overwhelmed. A default World State has been created for your convenience.”
Why did I add this disclaimer? Because it would show us, right from the get-go, that we respect both new and old players. If you’re a new player, feel free to skip this part as it won’t matter to you anyway and, quite frankly, you wouldn’t want to spend an eternity in the character creator doing things you might not even be familiar with. But if you’re a returning player or someone who has read up on recaps and watched countless lore videos, come on right in, we’ve got you covered, don’t worry! We know how much time you spent meticulously crafting your World State for Inquisition, so join us and customise to your heart’s content.
If you choose to not skip ahead (honestly the only time I would click “skip” on that shit is if I was a new player), you will be presented with three tarot cards, one shows the griffon, the symbol of the Grey Wardens, one shows Kirkwall’s heraldry, and one shows the Inquisition’s banner. Here’s your previous three games. And now we get to customise them. The little gremlin in me would be quite gleefully rubbing his hands at this prospect.
The way this is going to work is that I'll be presenting all the options we can customise, and then I'll be giving you my own, personal World State, which we shall be using for our rewrite here.
Dragon Age: Origins
We open the first slide and are immediately hit with a crimson screen and an ambient reprise of several of Inon Zur’s themes from DAO. I loved this part in the game, when you click to customise your Inquisitor and are immediately hit with “Calling the Inquisition”. Ugh! PERFECTION! Imagine the same happening with a DAO screen and you're immediately hit with either the main theme or that serene party camp music. Now let’s actually customise things.
The Hero of Ferelden
Before people get too excited: No, I'm unfortunately not going to bring the Hero of Ferelden back for a major role, for the same reasons that prevented them from showing up in DAI. However, and this is a huge however, I do have plans for them nevertheless. And what exactly those plans are...well, you'll see. For now, let us customise what we can.
The Hero: Here, we get to tick the race, gender, class, and background for our Warden. Not an in-the-flesh CC, I'm afraid, but we do get those fancy BioWare tarot cards. And guess what? That would already be more than enough for what we can do. At least we know the game acknowledges their continued existence for now, instead of only being degraded to some vague mention of Ferelden's "national heroes". Our Hero for this World State shall be Meira Cousland, a human rogue.
The Warden’s Fate: Did the Hero of Ferelden perform the ultimate sacrifice? No, she didn't. Meira had Morrigan perform the Dark Ritual.
Romance: Who did your Warden romance, if at all? Meira romanced Alistair.
The Companions
Now that our Warden is set, we jump over to DAO’s companions. Each companion has their own little mini-section. The first few questions will always be “Did you even recruit them? And if so, did they survive? If so, were you on good terms or not?” Meira recruited all companions, was on friendly terms with them, and all survived.
These questions, depending on the answers, will immediately lock or open the more specific ones. Which are, as follows:
Did the Warden have Morrigan perform the Dark Ritual? Yes, she did.
What is Alistair’s ultimate fate? Alistair is the King of Ferelden, and Meira rules at his side.
Was Sten reunited with his sword? Yes, he was.
What happened to Loghain? Loghain was executed at the Landsmeet.
What happened to Marjorlaine? Marjorlaine was killed.
The Battle of Ostagar
What happened to the prisoner at Ostagar? Meira fed him.
The Arl of Redcliffe
What is Connor’s fate? Connor survived.
Is Isolde alive? Yes, she is.
Did you help Bevin and return his sword? Yes.
The Urn of Sacred Ashes
What happened to the Urn? The Urn was not defiled.
Broken Circle
Who did the Warden support? Meira supported the mages.
The Nature of the Beast
How was the situation between the Dalish and the werewolves resolved? Zathrian and the Spirit of the Forest both died, and the curse was broken.
A Paragon of Her Kind
What happened to the Anvil of the Void? The Anvil was destroyed.
Who rules Orzammar? Bhelen.
Did the Warden help Brother Burkel create a Chantry in Orzammar? Yes.
Did the Warden prove the Legion of the Dead was connected to a noble house? Yes.
Did Orta join the Assembly? Yes.
Warden’s Keep
What happened to Sophia and Avernus? Sophia was slain, and Avernus was permitted to continue his research under more ethical conditions.
Denerim
Did the Warden complete Slim Couldry’s crime wave? No.
Who rules Ferelden? Alistair and Meira.
Who killed Urthemiel? Meira.
Awakening
Now, when we get to Awakening, we get the option to recreate the race, gender, and class of our Orlesian Warden-Commander, but only if the Hero of Ferelden died slaying Urthemiel. If the Warden is alive, this option is locked. Furthermore, we get the same questions about Awakening's companions we got in DAO. Meira recruited all companions into the Grey Wardens and was on friendly terms with them.
Then, there are two more specific questions.
What happened to the Architect? Meira spared the Architect.
What happened to Vigil’s Keep and Amaranthine? Both survived the Mother's onslaught.
Witch Hunt
Did the Warden travel through the Eluvian with Morrigan? No, Meira did not.
As you can see, I have not included all the possible choices, but we all remember the question marks over our heads when pretty much nothing of what we ticked in the DA Keep ever came up in DAI. With this more curated set of choices you can be damn well sure that all of them will be taken into account. Not all of them will heavily feature in the game; in fact, many of them are for flavour and codex entries only, but there is still merit in those. We know there is a whole lot of stuff happening in the South thanks to the letters the Inquisitor regales us with. So let’s put some world-state uniqueness to those letters. I do actually have things planned for the South, so stay tuned for that. But in this rewrite, some of these choices will, in fact, feature in a more substantial manner.
And that’s Dragon Age: Origins done! Moving on to the next one!
Dragon Age II
When we enter this screen, the CC assumes Kirkwall’s orangey-yellow tone and we get a reprisal of the key DA2 themes by Inon Zur, the most prominent one being, of course, Hawke’s family theme. This one is not going to be as big as DAO, but there are a few important factors nevertheless, especially concerning possible deaths and survivals.
The Champion of Kirkwall
Unlike the Hero of Ferelden, Hawke will actually be customisable in this one. Because no matter whether or not they were sent to the Fade or Weisshaupt, there is always the potential for them to still be alive. So, here are the choices regarding Hawke:
The Champion: Here you can customise Hawke’s gender, class, and personality. Our Champion shall be a male warrior called Garrett with a humorous personality.
Who did Hawke romance, if at all? Garrett romanced Merrill.
The Party
Pretty much every companion’s card, aside from a few, will have the questions “Did you recruit them?”, “Are they still alive?”, and “Were they friend or rival to Hawke?” at the forefront. Most of it is gonna be flavour, but it’s still my flavour, dammit! Garrett recruited all possible companions, saw to their survival, and was on friendly terms with all of them.
What happened to Bethany or Carver? Carver is dead and Bethany became a Grey Warden.
What happened to Isabela and the Tome of Koslun? Isabela returned to Garrett's side and gave the Tome of Koslun to the Arishok.
What happened to Fenris and Danarius? Fenris killed Danarius.
What happened to Merrill, her eluvian, and Clan Sabrae? Merrill restored the eluvian and Clan Sabrae survived.
What happened to Bartrand? Bartrand survived.
What happened to Anders when the Chantry exploded? Garrett spared Anders' life.
Did Hawke approve of Anders' actions? No, he did not.
Did Aveline marry Donnic? Yes, she did.
The Tale of the Champion
Did Hawke protect the Bone Pit from all its dangers? Yes, he did.
What happened to Feynriel? Feynriel travelled to Tevinter.
Did Hawke let Zevran go? Yes, he did.
Did Nathaniel survive? Yes, he did.
Did Hawke side with the mages or the templars? Garrett sided with the mages.
Fewer choices are carrying over here compared to DAO, but many of the events that occurred in DA2 are only relevant to Kirkwall’s immediate fate, which is already resolved by the time of DAI. Many of these will be flavour again, but some of them, I’m not going to say which, will definitely have a bigger impact.
Right, we’re done with DA2, let’s move on to the last one!
Dragon Age: Inquisition
And here we get to the big one, the game that most directly impacts much of Veilguard's story. We click on the last page and get the green shades and DAI’s ambience themes, a beautiful reprisal of Trevor Morris’ great hits. I would like to once again reiterate how emotional the CC music made me feel here when I was playing the game. Let us now customise our choices.
The Inquisitor
While the Hero of Ferelden will be a background figure in letters and codex entries, and Hawke more of a minor character with a significant role, the Inquisitor will have a much larger presence. Just how large, you’ll find out soon. But for now, let’s customise them:
The Inquisitor: Here you can customise your Inquisitor’s race, gender, class, and specialisation. Their personality as well, for while it wasn’t as apparent as with Hawke, the Inquisitor does still have a distinct range of dialogue choices. You can still be diplomatic, lighthearted, or even rough. Our Inquisitor is a female elven mage called Elera Lavellan, who specialised as a Rift Mage and has a diplomatic personality.
Who did the Inquisitor romance, if at all? Elera romanced, and who else could it be for the purpose of this playthrough, Solas.
The Inner Circle
As with the other companion sections, pretty much all slides here will feature the “Did you actually recruit them?”, “Are they still around?”, and “Are you friends or not?” questions. Alongside a few specific ones that will definitely have more of an impact here. Elera recruited all companions and is on friendly terms with them.
Did Dorian resolve the issue with his father? Yes, he did.
What happened to Blackwall? Thom Rainier went to the Grey Wardens.
Did the Iron Bull remain loyal to the Qun? No, he did not.
Did Cassandra rebuild the Seekers of Truth? Yes, she did.
Did Cassandra discover the book of secrets? Yes, she did.
What happened to Harmond? Harmond is alive and forced to work for the Inquisition.
Which path did Cole choose? Cole became more human.
What happened to Solas’ friend? Solas freed Wisdom.
Did Varric track down the red lyrium source? Yes, he did.
Did the Inquisitor give Vivienne the heart of a snow wyvern? Yes, she did.
How was Cullen’s lyrium dilemma resolved? Cullen is no longer addicted to lyrium.
How did the Inquisitor help Josephine resolve her family’s fortunes? Josephine was able to elevate the Du Paraquettes to nobility.
Was Leliana hardened or softened? Leliana was softened.
The Path of the Inquisitor
Did the Inquisitor embrace or denounce their title of Herald of Andraste? Elera denounced it hard.
Did the Inquisition side with the mages or the templars? The Inquisition sided with the mages.
What manner of alliance was formed with the mages? The Inquisition recruited the mages as allies, not conscripts.
What was the general principle upon which the Inquisition was founded? Order and stability.
Who rules Orlais? Celene rules Orlais, and made peace with Gaspard and Briala.
Who stayed behind in the Fade? Hawke.
What happened to the Grey Wardens after Adamant Fortress? The Inquisition declared an alliance with the southern Wardens.
What happened to Samson or Calpernia? Samson was the Inquisition's nemesis and was given to Cullen.
Who drank from the Well of Sorrows? Elera.
Did the Inquisitor respect the rituals at the Temple of Mythal? Yes, she did.
Who became Divine Victoria? Leliana.
The Inquisition’s Influence
Did the Inquisitor ally with the Hinterland cultists? Yes.
Was the rift in Crestwood closed? Yes.
Was Caer Bronach captured? Yes.
Did the Inquisitor make a deal with Imshael? No.
Was Suledin Keep captured? Yes.
Was Griffon Wing Keep captured? Yes.
Was Sutherland’s company formed? Yes.
What tone did the Inquisitor’s judgments take? Elera was diplomatic and recruited most of her captives into the Inquisition.
Jaws of Hakkon
Did the Inquisitor learn Ameridan’s fate? Yes.
Was Hakkon slain? Yes.
Did the Inquisitor share the truth about Ameridan? Yes.
The Descent
Did the Inquisitor stop the earthquakes from destroying the Deep Roads? Yes.
Trespasser
What is the ultimate fate of the Inquisition? The Inquisition was disbanded.
What is the Inquisitor’s final goal regarding Solas? Elera swore to redeem Solas.
Again, this looks like a lot, and it is, but bear in mind that a lot of these will only have minor impacts on the story in the form of cameos and codex entries. However, there are several major DAI choices that will have significant consequences.
And that’s the World State editor finally done! I believe all of these choices are able to feature in some capacity, be it big or small. But no matter if it’s a big world-changing consequence or simple flavour texts and cameos, it will still be our Thedas, our own unique version of it that we helped shape.
Now that the past is dealt with, let’s look at the present. Next time we’ll talk about Rook, the six factions, and why a DAO-style origin story selection would have not only been beneficial but very doable.
Rewriting Veilguard Part 2 - The Shadow Dragons
Find this chapter on AO3
