Dragon Age 4 is on the way, and following the story of Dragon Age: Inquisition, it’s extremely likely that the main plot will deal with Solas the Dread Wolf and his attempts to bring down the Veil between the material realm and the Fade. This presents some fantastic roleplaying opportunities for one Dragon Age race in particular.
Unlike any Dragon Age game before it, Dragon Age 4 is in a position to put the spotlight on the elves of Thedas. The antagonist is an ancient elven god, and the liberation of the elven people is at stake, potentially at a terrible cost. Here’s all the reasons Dragon Age fans should consider rolling an elf in the upcoming game, assuming that character creation exists (as with every game but DA2 before it).
Solas, the Dread Wolf
Dragon Age 4 gives elf players a great opportunity to make the scale of the whole conflict feel personal. While Solas was a companion in Inquisition, it is extremely unlikely that the Inquisitor will return as a playable character, which means players will have to find a new way for their character to be as invested in the Dread Wolf plotline as they are as a player.
Solas is an elf who became known as the Dread Wolf in the time before the humans arrived on Thedas, when the elven empire spanned the continent. The gods of the elves were extremely powerful mages who slowly became considered deities over time. When the gods began enslaving their own people, marking their faces with tattoos, the elven goddess Mythal - who later possessed Flemeth - tried to stop them. She was killed, and her ally the Dread Wolf led a rebellion against the gods, locking them in the Fade by erecting the Veil between the Fade and the mortal realm.
Eons later the elves have been enslaved by the Tevinter Imperium, freed by Andraste, and victims of the Chantry’s own Exalted March on the Dales. By the time of Dragon Age: Origins, the Dread Wolf is considered by most elves to be a traitor to the old gods, and the facial tattoos that once marked slavery are seen as signs of dedication to the old pantheon. In short, any modern elf’s relationship with Solas is complicated to say the least.
The Elves of Dragon Age 4
At Gamescom 2020, Dragon Age 4 developers described the next game as asking “what happens when you don’t have power.” This sets up an elf player as exactly the sort of downtrodden member of the race that Solas wants to liberate, but also makes them just as likely to begin the story having been raised on stories of the Dread Wolf and his betrayal.
Playing an elf in Dragon Age 4 sets the player character up for a great arc. They may well be faced with the question of whether to side with Solas and free their people, but it’s also likely that there will be other huge side effects to bringing down the Veil. Bringing down the Veil will, at the very least, likely have huge consequences for the Chantry, the mages of Thedas, and the Darkspawn, all of whom have strong links to the realm of dreams.
Dragon Age fans who have enjoyed the elven story across the games so far are likely in for a treat, despite the game probably taking place in the human kingdom of the Tevinter Imperium. The main moral conflict of the game will likely place the elven people and their past at the center of the story, and an elf player could find themself making some of the most dramatically difficult decisions made in a Dragon Age game so far.
Dragon Age 4 is in development now.