#da:dw

[leopardmuffinxo]

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf

[star--nymph]

[thatrandombystander]

DRAGON AGE 4 GAMEPLAY LEAK??????

Link to reddit poster + text about it

Link to the images + one gameplay gif

Gameplay seems to be moving away from the sort of top-down, semi-tactical style of previous games, and more towards action RPG. "Hack n' Slash" is used a descriptor but that's a very particular kind of gameplay genre, so I'm just going to settle on "action". Might be good. I play Dragon Age for the characters and RPG elements, so as long as I don't dislike or get frustrated with it, I'm fine with a gameplay change

This player seems to be a Grey Warden, and the gameplay sequence was set at the Grey Warden fortress of Weisshaupt. (Weisshaupt is in the Anderfels, but it's pretty close to borders with Tevinter). I would guess that playtesters would likely be given an earlier part of the game, so this might be the opening quest. (have seen some speculation that we might be able to choose our start like in Origins, but that seems baseless speculation at the moment)

This build of the game seems to be at least a few months old so it's certainly further along, but I'm definitely not expecting to see Dreadwolf this year. Also, the graphics are clearly not finished. Don't base any judgements about that from this

I think I had some other points but I'm blanking. Feel free to offer any other observations or insights.

[iridescentmemoria]

Please don't imagine Solas succeeding in his task and having to bury the only woman he ever loved with his own hands.

Don't imagine him building a temple devoted to Lavellan over her tomb, filling it with murals depicting her deeds and devotion to her people. Please don't think about how he would make this temple the most awe inspiring building in the whole of new Arlathan, putting everything else to shame.

Oh and don't you dare think about how he would include every member of the inquisition in this temple's gravesite. Please, don't imagine him making sure that every single one of them had their own resting place inside this building, along with their stories painted on the walls with intricate detail because he refuses to let them rot in obscurity and all alone.

Spare yourself, don't imagine him dedicating his life to this project to bring honor to his dead lover and his dead friends, and once it is done, years later, he ends up in the final tomb because he ended himself over the crushing guilt that's eating him alive from the inside out.

Don't do that. That would be torture.

[bunny-banana]

I'm gonna kill them

[poisoncherrywine]

tbh i don’t get people complaining about the name that much. dao is called origins because you’ve got several origins. dragon age inquisition has an inquisition. thedas stands for ‘the dragon age setting’. dragon age 2 is literally just a number.  lets be honest names have never been biowares strong point

[tigereyes45]

Still holding out hope that an unromanced Hawke, is revealed to have been either dating Varric the whole time, or started dating him sometime after the inquisition mess. (Hawke left in the fade will confess their feelings when they are rescued in the next game.)

[frostbackmountaineering]

"...but sorry, lords and ladies! according to our source in skyhold, this bull still only has a single rider, the inquisitor himself!"

transquisitor tenoren adaar, as inspired by bacchus (caravaggio, c.1589) 🌷

[b-e-e-h-o-p]

Can we get an option to just… hug our LI in the next game? I dunno about y’all but my Lavellan AND my Cousland were both big huggers. And my DAD protag is probably going to be as well. Let us hug the LIs. They all deserve hugs.

[hellisdex]

ok, i have to put my dragon age: dreadwolf theories down somewhere for posterity, so my thoughts on dreadwolf and the origin of the blight:

what if dreadwolf is the blight?

theory + supporting evidence:

the dreadwolf title announce page says that "dreadwolf" is solas' namesake

solas himself says that "the dread wolf" is a misnomer

solas leading the dreadwolf into the fade, potentially as a weapon to use against the evanuris. i take the former picture as his own interpretation of his actions (freeing, leading, liberating) and the latter as the potential truth (the wolf is a dangerous weapon). it also looks tainted

solas could have tricked the evanuris into believing the blight made them stronger, when it only made them mad and evil.

this would explain why he is the dread wolf - named after the dreadwolf, the trick he pulled to defeat the evanuris, the cloak in which he wrapped himself.

the evanuris are locked away; each god a key in the black city, protecting thedas from the blight. he has to create the veil to do this. binding them into the fade itself prevents anyone from reaching them - or so he thinks.

the black city is breached; the magisters let the blight into thedas; gradually, the gods find their way into the archdemons, and the death of each one is another chain falling off the black city. when all are killed, the blight's full force will invade the fade and thedas

ever since, it has been growing more powerful - infecting even lyrium, now. desperate to stop it, solas must turn around and face the weapon he used, stand between it and the world. there are two gods that remain (the ones we see in da4 concept art). when they are dead, the blight will ravage everything in its path.

this would explain why he loathes the wardens, why he tells them they're messing with things they can't understand. they're killing his keys. not that they have any choice - but they are, and it will eventually unleash the true power of the blight.

[high-dragon-bait]

It’s called Dreadwolf

“Wolf” is in the name

What

What character is named after a giant Norse wolf that’s whole thing is it breaks from its chains and kills a god?

Who is it BioWare

Give him back to me BioWare

[corvidexoskeleton]

Personally I think that bioware should bring back Zevran for da:dw and also let the Crows be one of the active factions

[bossuary]

Here’s a quick and dirty mash-up of the Fade/Veil/Prison imagery from the newest trailer, and the Trespasser mural depicting the same concept. For all your Old God/Elvhen tinfoil needs. I’m of the mind that the mural from Trespasser shows someone (Solas, probs) using an eluvian to cross the Veil (which he has already put in place) in order to retrieve an object of power. He exits with his prize, but something follows him. And as it hunts for him, it brings the Blight, or red lyrium, or both with it.

(All of the Trespasser murals have a dotted through-line that seems to connect them as a sequence. But their order is wonky, to me, due to the presence of the black-and-gold Veil motif, and the obvious over-painting on at least two images) Anyway, all the “ooh i’m such a trickster,” Dread Wolf mythology aside...I think Solas is actually running from this thing, not leading it. It may be a part of him, some aspect of his spirit twisted by the Void, or it may be something else entirely. But, if you take the mural above and change the perspective by 90 degrees, you get this:

The thing is, the sight-lines in the Trespasser mural seem to show that the wolf sees everything but Solas, who escapes unnoticed in his moony bubble. But in the game trailer? The wolf definitely sees him. It’s not focused on us. It’s not coming for us. It is here for him.

[bloedewir]

I fell into another hyperfixation hole so this is going to be some sort of Dragon Age theory post.

Preamble: Tevinter Imperium has Old Gods (7). Elves have the Creators, the Evanuris (9). Minus Fen'Harel and Mythal, because they weren't caged in the Fade, so 9 turns to 7.

The Old Gods

The Evanuris

Old Gods and the Evanuris may be connected. If so, there might be a connection between the Evanuris and Archdemons, because as we all know the Blight started when darkspawns find and corrupt one of the Old Gods, which is transformed into an Archdemon.

The fresco is the thing I talk about.

On the left is the Evanuris and Meredith Stannard, on the right is the Evanuris and Corypheus. I can suggest a few theories that may confront each other. However all of them suggesting that the Old Gods and the Elven Patheon are connected. So.. I’ll try my best.

Theory 1

Meredith and Corypheus isn’t a coincidence here.

Corypheus was the High Priest of Dumat. Dumat is the most powerful among the Old Gods (so as Elgar’nan among the Evanuris). For a moment let’s call it the "Elgar’nan side".

Meredith was infected by red lyrium idol. Red lyrium idol is somehow connected with Mythal. Maybe that’s how she saved People from the war with Titans (by tainting their blood). That’s a honestly a blank but let’s call the left side is the "Mythal side".

And so we’ll have two most powerful evanuris who is *obviously* against each other. Mythal (but we already know Fen’Harel absorb her soul/power) and Elgar’nan (who actually can awake Titans and politely remind them WHO tainted their pure lyrium blood).

Theory 2

Dumat isn’t connected with Elgar’nan, it’s one of the many mistakes and misunderstanding Tevinter Imperium did during the appropriation (stealing) of elven culture and heritage. Dumat was the Dragon of Silence and that’s perfectly match with the god who keep secrets (=keeps silence). Dirthamen.

But there’s more than that. If the connection between Old Gods, Archdemons and Evanuris is as strong as it might be, we still have two unidentified dragons – Lusacan and Razikale.

The Old Gods

Lusacan is the Dragon of Night. Constellation called 'Shadow' but depicted as an owl which is sacred animal of Falon’Din. According to "Song to Falon’Din", he’s a scryer who mastered the lying dark and hungry shadows and surrounded by 'wings of death'.

Dumat and Lusacan, which of them on the right? Both. Falon’Din and Dirthamen are twins who swore to never be parted. "The oldest stories never even name them directly, referring to Falon’Din as 'Dirthamen’s shadow', and Dirthamen as 'Falon’Din’s reflection'." (Game’s codex: A Treaty on the Pagan and Heretical Customs of the Elven).

So, one side but two dragons.. yet we have the concept art with a dragon with two heads. Let’s call the right side is the "Twins side" for now.

Razikale is the only confirmed female among the Old Gods, so we have only few options : Sylaise, Andruil and Ghilan’nain. And I think that’s Ghilan’nain. Because: Razikale’s constellation is 'Eluvia' ('Sacrifice') which is told a story about young girl who has to be saved from danger, so as Andruil did by turned Ghilan’nain into first halla (Codex entry: Ghilan’nain: Mother of the Halla); game’s codex "Razikale’s Reach" where was mentioned 'pulsating amber light' and "Horror of Hormak" (Tevinter Nights) with 'yellow-green lyrium crystal' in the ruins where Ghilan’nain made monstrous centipedes. Razikale’s constellation is 'Sacrifice' ('Eluvia') and all those bloody transformations can be called a sacrifices. Clearly not as convincing as it must be but it seems acceptable to me. So, the "Ghilan'nain side".

In that way we have Ghilan’nain and Falon’Din/Dirthamen.

Theory 3

That one is so crazy that I love it more than previous ones.

So.. This is all Mythal’s doing.

Once again: on the right we have Corypheus, the High Priest of Dumat. And what if... Mythal is Dumat.

Most powerful of the dragons because she was a dragon (= the ability to transform into a dragon). However she was the first reawakened by darkspawn because she was weak enough after evanuris’ betrayal. Dumat’ constellation is 'Silentir' ('Silence') yet its meaning is still debated. Someone sees a flying dragon (Mythal can do that), someone sees scales (Mythal was the patron of Justice) (Codex entry: Constellation: Silentir).

Dumat was slain during First Blight in -203 Ancient. Same year that Andraste was born. That can be a coincidence, of course. As so the fact that Andraste heard the whispers and some elves still hearing the Mythal’s whispers (ambient dialogue in Val Royaeux). As so the similarities of Andraste’s picture and red lyrium idol.

It definitely can be paths to nowhere but I like the idea anyway. Also it’s just perfectly fit in to the theory that Andraste was guided by Mythal and Shartan was guided by Fen’Harel.

Well, okay, it was the side on the right. And the left one?

Urthemiel (aka Ghilan’nain). The Dragon of Beauty and the evanuris who was 'very beautiful – with hair of snowy white – and as graceful as a gazelle' (Codex entry: Ghilan’nain: Mother of the Halla). Urthemiel’s soul was in Kieran, then Flemeth (Mythal) took it away to keep and then *presumably* made some preparations before Fen’Harel absorb her own power.

In that way Mythal either wants to help Fen’Harel to succeed, stop him from making new mistakes or pursuing her own goals. All of that promise to be fun imo.

Note: it's just a thoughts. Nothing more but a wish to spend an evening with bunch of crazy theories till nothing to discuss yet.

[rock-teh-elf]

!!!!!

[nerdanel01]

just chillin’ in my kitchen when the terrible premonition comes over me that all this Varric set up pre-Dreadwolf promo (teaser narrator, the comics) is sort of maybe a little bit vaguely starting to feel like Bioware is getting ready to kill him off within the first ten hours of gameplay