What Dragon Age Day’s Short Stories Mean for Dragon Age 4

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the Dragon Age franchise, read at your own risk.

It might have flown under the radar for most of our readers that I am a rather large fan of Bioware. This might be less easily noticed, because I’ve largely ignored Anthem since it released, and really only have interest in Mass Effect and Dragon Age these days. As most fans know, November 7^th is N7 Day, celebrating the Mass Effect franchise. This year we got a bit of a treat with Dragon Age day on December 4^th.

In addition to finding out that more will be revealed about Dragon Age 4 (or whatever name it takes) during The Game Awards this week, Bioware (and by extension EA) released a special celebration for Dragon Age Day. The members of the Dragon Age narrative team provided four short stories that will “help paint the picture for the future of Dragon Age, including some insight into the next reveal at The Game Awards.” Let’s talk about the state of Thedas and where some of these short stories might impact the next game.

It has been at least 14 years since the events of Dragon Age: Origins, including the Fifth Blight. Now, this could be anywhere between 15 years or more depending on how much time has passed since Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Trespasser DLC. We know that Solas (the Dread Wolf) plans to take down the Veil that separates the world from The Fade. We also know that he created the Veil in the first place and that by bringing it down it will destroy the world as the people of Thedas currently know it.

There is a lot in that regard we do not know, including what Solas plans to do specifically and how he plans to do it. We do know that whatever he is doing, it will likely take place (at least partly) in Tevinter, where Tevinter mages have been at war with the Qunari under the Qun for ages. Tevinter also is similarly at war with itself. Dorian seeks to stop the corruption rampant in Tevinter, along with slavery and other things that are chaotically running amok in the country.

One short story seems to hint that we may possibly see the beginning of another Blight or perhaps just new varieties of Darkspawn. Another foreshadows people who wish to take down the current political leaders in Minrathous, the capital of Tevinter. The other two short stories, however, are a little harder to pin down in terms of what they mean.

One involves the Antivan Crows, an assassin guild based in Antiva. You might remember them because Zevran Aranai (my Grey Warden’s husband) was formerly a crow before joining the Grey Warden in Dragon Age: Origins.

The final of the four short stories that I haven’t discussed, involves some strangeness that takes place in the Arlathan Forest. The Arlathan forest was a part of Arlathan, once the seat of power of the Elves when they were immortal. We don’t know when this short story takes place, but if it is anytime close to the current day in Thedas, then we may see the return of more elves from a time long passed.

This doesn’t even include the fact that Morrigan and her son Kieran are still alive somewhere. I can’t imagine that they won’t show up again. Plus it would be a shame for Claudia Black to not return to reprise the role. Kieran himself has a larger role to play in the story, considering he can be the product of the dark ritual between Morrigan and the Grey Warden.

We know very little about Dragon Age 4, including its name, what characters will return, and when we might even see the game release. Hopefully, at the Game Awards we’ll get a more substantial trailer, perhaps with a release window. At this point, even a year would be nice.

Have some theories on what’s coming next with Dragon Age? Let us hear all about it! You can bet that we’ll be covering more news for Dragon Age 4 whenever it arrives, including this Thursday during The Game Awards 2020.