Dragon Age 4 will be the first in the series to truly pick up its plot from where the last game left off. At the end of Inquisition, players learned that their companion Solas was in fact the Dread Wolf. He aims to tear down the Veil between Thedas and the Fade, restoring the Elves to their full power and allowing them to rebuild their lost empire. Based on the trailers, the Dread Wolf will be the main villain of the new game, with BioWare also introducing a new protagonist.
The Dread Wolf storyline is far from the only plot-thread that needs resolution in Dragon Age 4, however. Inquisition hinted that the answers to some of the biggest questions in the series were just around the corner. Here's every major mystery set up by Inquisition that Dragon Age 4 needs to answer, and the hints that players have been given so far.
The Origins Of The Qunari
The Qunari seem set to have a big role in Dragon Age 4. Trespasser, Inquisition's final DLC, saw the Qunari attempt to use the Eluvians to assassinate the nobility of southern Thedas in the Dragon's Breath conspiracy. It was also established in Tevinter Nights that the Qunari retook one of the Imperium cities they had held years before during the Qunari wars, turning all captured mages within into mindless slaves.
With a renewed focus on the Qunari and the game taking place in Tevinter, nearer to the Qunari island nation of Par Vollen than ever before, it seems likely fans will finally get to know more about the race's strange origins. Until Inquisition fans had little to go on. It was known that in the Steel Age the Qunari arrived from an unknown land to the north and took Par Vollen before conquering much of northern Thedas, but where exactly they came from remains unknown.
Inquisition left some major hints. The game's main villain Corypheus hinted that he knew something about the origins of the Qunari, implying that they may not have evolved naturally when he describes a Qunari Inquisitor as a "mistake." Iron Bull also hints that the Qunari may have gained their grey skin and horns by mixing their blood with dragon blood, and Corypheus adds that a Qunari Inquisitor's "blood is engorged with decay." Iron Bull also mentions that the Qunari are now likely quite different from the Kossith, the race who created the Qun and became the Qunari. Whatever the truth may be, Dragon Age 4 seems to be setting up greater hostilities with the Qunari, and could reveal where they really came from.
The Origins Of The Darkspawn
Dragon Age: Origins opens with an account of the Darkspawn's origins that roughly matches the account given by the Andrastian Chantry in-universe. It claims that the Magister Sidereal of the Tevinter Imperium breached the Veil using blood magic, entering the Fade and the Maker's Golden City. This act of hubris turned the Maker's Golden City into the Black City, and led him to curse Thedas with the Blights until his word was chanted from all corners of the world.
Corypheus was one of the Magisters Sidereal and one of the first Darkspawn, but in Inquisition he claims that while the Magisters did enter the Golden City, they found the throne of the Maker empty when they got there. This raises huge questions about who or what transformed the Magisters into the Darkspawn, and if the Maker exists at all. It could have been the Evanuris, for example, with the ancient Elven "gods" that Solas trapped in the Fade taking revenge against Tevinter for destroying their empire.
The answer is likely to have huge implications for Solas' plan to bring down the Veil between Thedas and the Fade. It should also impact the Grey Wardens, who take on the Darkspawn Taint in order to battle the Blights but are therefore inherently connected to the creatures. BioWare did release some new Grey Warden concept art, and a renewed focus on the Wardens only makes a reveal about the truth behind the Darkspawn seem more likely.
The Executors
The identity of the Executors is one of the biggest mysteries set up by Inquisition and Tevinter Nights, but as a result it is also one of the most likely to be resolved. In Inquisition, symbols begin appearing all over the Inquisition's bases. They are left by the Executors, a mysterious group that represents unknown powers across the seas. Depending on player choices, an entire fort's worth of Inquisition agents may disappear, with the Executors delivering the Inquisitor a note claiming that those agents voluntarily left to serve a higher cause.
In Tevinter Nights an Executor appears, but not only are they hooded, their voice is said to evade identification by age or gender. One piece of Dragon Age 4 concept art has shown a figure with a strange flame-like energy coming from their face - which could be an Executor companion. The Executors' identity and their goals are among the most likely mysteries to be resolved in Dragon Age 4.
Red Lyrium
Despite mining Lyrium for generations, most of the Dwarves of Thedas have never seen Red Lyrium before when it starts appearing in nodes across Thedas in Inquisition. Bianca Davri, a Dwarf and the namesake for Varric's famous crossbow, discovers that Red Lyrium is Lyrium which has been affected by the Darkspawn Taint.
Along with its strange, blood-vessel like structure, this seems to suggest that Red Lyrium may be alive in some way. With Lyrium inherently connected to the Fade, it could even be the lifeforce of a being in the Fade expressing itself on Thedas. With Solas preparing to tear down the Veil, the true nature of Lyrium could soon be exposed once and for all. With the very fabric of reality on the line, Dragon Age 4 has the potential to pull back the curtain on some of the series' greatest mysteries so far.
Dragon Age 4 is in development for unspecified platforms.