Part of the fun of Dragon Age fantasy is that it is inconsistent – or at least inconsistent with the standards of fantasy RPGs, which are often divided into a million carefully organized and interconnected codex entries. It all depends on who you talk to. Humans believe one thing about the origins and functioning of Thedas, elves believe one thing, and the qunari believe another. These differences are the basis for many factional disagreements and thus many developments in the plot of the main series. But according to former head writer David Gaider, there’s an “uber-conspiracy” behind it all that could one day be solved and end the series, assuming BioWare continues to reference his original (and closely guarded) narrative documents.
Gaider recently spoke EurogamerRobert Purchese, aka The Lovely Bertie, on how he and BioWare came up with the setting. The result is amusing article about world buildingfrom which I dutifully extracted some intriguing passages.
Gaider, among other things, emphasizes the importance of doubt and free interpretation when exploring the history of Thedas. “To know the truth, you have to, in a sense, choose between the lines,” he says in his article. This is especially true of the oldest stories about the origins of this place, and especially of the Void, the consuming dimension that is the source of magic. “Generally speaking, the further back history goes, we have always deliberately obfuscated it, more and more, making it more biased and untrue, regardless of who was doing the talking, just so that the absolute truth is rarely known,” Gaider continues. “From a global standpoint, I like this idea that the player always has to reflect on it and bring their own beliefs to it.”
As Bertie points out, Dragon Age: The Veilguard could be a substantial step towards solving Gaider’s original “uber-plot.” Without giving too much away, one of the plot threads is the return of a group of old elven gods who remember the origins of Thedas. I haven’t yet played The Veilguard myself – review Nothing here – but in theory these magical antiquities could clear up any disputes about, say, the exact nature of the ethereal Black City, which was supposedly once home to the world’s creator.
“Yes, we have access to people who can tell us the truth based on their own experience,” Gaider comments, “though again it depends on what the writers did with it.” He’s interested in whether Bioware continues its “tradition” of leaving players with doubts about the fundamentals. Interested and perhaps a little concerned.
“I mean, will they one day definitively tell you about the Creator? Will we unravel the world’s great mysteries and just have them finally be solved? And will this ruin one of the core principles on which Dragon Age is based? Maybe. Ultimately. , this knowledge, when you develop it, allude to it and suggest it, it becomes something like Chekhov’s Gun, eventually you have to get your act together.
I enjoy fantasy worlds that offer me a spectrum of competing lies where the truth is inevitably in the eye of the beholder. While I’m not above the temptation of a fully completed codex, I’ve always thought it’s a shame that so many RPGs default to treating this setting like an unlockable encyclopedia, where clarity and certainty are simply a matter of putting in the hours. Remember, I also think it’s a shame, that so many RPGs make you guess at certain world and narrative threads in order to leave room for sequels or expansions. Like Dragon Age, I am an inconsistent being. Anyway, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is out today and apparently people are going crazy over the twists.
