Dragon Age: Guardian of the Veil is a game about building a team to fight old elven gods, but the more time I spend in Thedas, the more I realize that I would rather pursue a different villain. Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain are two members of the old elven pantheon known as Evanuris who are up to no good – destroying villages, murdering innocents and trying to restore their old empire. However, I consider it a total snooze compared to the real villainous star of the game: Johanna Hezenkoss, an evil lich in the making and an absolute queen.
I should probably explain why I’m not concerned about Evanuris, even though they represent a very real and urgent apocalypse. There are definitely things I like about their character design, as well as cold story moments. Ghilan’nain looks great; whether she’s a disturbingly lithe figure, blinded by the plague and holding too many limbs, or a giant face in the clouds, I love her design. I also liked the creepy moments when Elgar’nan whispers in the mind of the main character Rook, promising impossible gifts.
Unfortunately, these moments are drowned out by the duo’s dialogue, which is quite banal. They both scream about the world drowning in plague, infinite power, the futility of anyone who tries to fight them, and their immortality. It’s exactly what you’d expect from a world-destroying villain, and after about the second encounter I found myself bored. Elgar’nan in particular is a disappointment. Ghilan’nain can rely on its brilliant visual design and army of monsters; Elgar’nan is just a massive guy with an impractical hat.
Compare them to Johanna Hezenkoss, a woman who looks remarkably ordinary in comparison. He wears a straightforward outfit of a mourning watch, a pair of goggles, and a practical hairstyle. If it weren’t for the ghostly lantern at her side, she could be mistaken for a straightforward lab assistant. Emmrich, one of the game’s best companions, will ask you to hunt Hezenkoss on his behalf. She gains the upper hand – literally, revealing that the team’s Hand of Glory is actually her own severed appendage – and banishes the team to the Void.
That’s a pretty good start for a villain, but it gets better as Emmrich’s story continues. Eventually you find out that Hezenkoss is throwing a massive fancy soirée at his evil necromancer’s mansion. This is obviously suspicious, so the team sets out to investigate and discovers that Hezenkoss has invited petty rivals, annoying nobles, and other enemies of hers so that she can sacrifice them all and inhabit the body of a giant monster with a golden skeleton. It’s like Menubut for necromancy.
I, for one, appreciate the goal of sacrificing a group of people you don’t like so that you can ascend to the immortal form of a giant skeleton. Reminds me of the Spider-Man meme where the hero tells a pterodactyl scientist that he could cure cancer with his technology, and the pterodactyl man – who happens to ride a triceratops – replies that he doesn’t want to cure cancer , wants to turn people into dinosaurs.
Hezenkoss and Elgar’nan obviously want power, but one of them is much more theatrical about it. I love a good mad scientist, and Hezenkoss pulls off this role with audacity. I won’t reveal the ending of her confrontation with Emmrich, but it is one of Guardian of the Veilthe strongest moments. Part of me longs for an alternate history where Guardian of the Veil it was much smaller in scope and less urgent. In this hypothetical alternate timeline, I think Johanna Hezenkoss deserves to be promoted to main villain. I’ve already forgotten about Elgar’nan and his plans, but Hezenkoss will remain in my heart – a villain with ambition, goals, and the freedom to chew the scenery in his moment of triumph.
