For Dragon Age Day, BioWare re-affirmed its commitment to a single-player entry, revealed two new short stories, and suggested Dragon Age 4 wouldn’t be at The Game Awards. The company did say it looks forward to sharing more next year, and so fans know development carries on. However, for eagle-eyed fans of the franchise, it’s entirely possible that BioWare revealed more than just that.
The two aforementioned short stories may play a big role in the Dragon Age timeline eventually, but many just enjoyed them as a microdose view into the realm of Thedas. Yet, one short story—specifically, “The Flame Eternal”—may have hinted at Dragon Age 4’s time period.
Dragon Age 4’s Time Period Revealed By The Flame Eternal Short Story?
“The Flame Eternal” tells of a little exchange between necromancers Emmrich Volkarin and Johanna Hezenkoss. These are two new characters to the lore, and their exact role, if any, in Dragon Age 4 remains to be seen. They are from Nevarra City, with the Grand Necropolis also being mentioned, and that may be enticing for many fans as Dragon Age 4 is likely set in Tevinter. But, the key clue is how the story opens: “30 years ago, in 9:22 Dragon…”
Thus, the described events take place in the past, but the in-universe narration of sorts takes place in 9:52 Dragon. It could be off by a couple of years, as some may round 28 years or 32 years to an easier number, but 9:52 Dragon is the exact 30-year mark for this story. The thing is, the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition take place in 9:41-9:42 Dragon. The events of the Trespasser DLC and the fate of the Inquisition follow two years later, in 9:44 Dragon. In other words, 9:52 is roughly ten years after 9:42/the defeat of Corypheus, and 8 years after Solas’ plans were revealed to the Inquisition.
Skipping ten years may come across as a surprise, but it’s really not. While Solas seemed ready to act immediately in Dragon Age: Inquisition, there could be further delays to his historically-bad plans or it could take time to bring down the Veil properly/manage what’s on the other side coming into Thedas. If true, this makes Dragon Age 4 feature the biggest, unconnected time skip so far.
Dragon Age 4 on the Dragon Age Timeline
Dragon Age: Origins, for example, begins in 9:30 Dragon and ends in 9:31 Dragon. Dragon Age 2 begins in 9:30 Dragon, tells the story of Hawke and Kirkwall, and ends around 9:37 Dragon. The Kirkwall rebellion is described as taking place in 9:37, and Inquisition begins with the Temple of Sacred Ashes Conclave in 9:41, four years after the Mage-Templar War began. Overall, these connections could suggest Dragon Age 4 has the biggest time gap for one reason or another.
Now, it’s worth mentioning that this is just speculation based on “The Flame Eternal.” However, it would be odd for Dragon Age 4 to follow events a year or two after Inquisition and not be the latest time period entry of Dragon Age (since it seems, in theory, that these events like influence Nevarra in 9:52). That could be the case, but at the very least, it seems 9:52 Dragon could come closer into focus for the franchise.
Read "The Flame Eternal" HERE.
Dragon Age 4 is in development.