Dragon Age 4 has been confirmed by BioWare, and Dragon Age fans are understandably excited to see how it will develop the story following Dragon Age: Inquisition. While not a lot is known about Dragon Age 4, the series has been building up fans' questions and speculation about the mysterious substance known as Red Lyrium for some time now. So, it seems likely that Red Lyrium will play some role in Dragon Age 4, and it will likely have an impact on the game's story and maybe even its gameplay and mechanics.
However, many players may not know just what Red Lyrium is, which may leave them at a disadvantage when playing through Dragon Age 4. There is an incredible amount of detail in the Dragon Age universe, and new players especially will have a lot to catch up on if starting with Dragon Age 4. While a release date for the game is not known, Dragon Age 4 is rumored to appear at the upcoming EA Play showcase, so now may be the best time for fans to start reading up on all of the Dragon Age lore that they will need to know when the game launches, including exactly what is going on with Red Lyrium.
What is Dragon Age's Red Lyrium?
Before one can understand Red Lyrium a basic knowledge of Dragon Age's regular Lyrium is required. Lyrium is a crystalline mineral in the Dragon Age universe that is extremely powerful but also volatile. Only experienced dwarven miners are capable of safely mining Lyrium as it is extremely prone to exploding. However, Lyrium is extremely valuable as it is used throughout the world of Dragon Age to enchant items and perform certain magic processes. This makes the material extremely valuable to Dragon Age's various factions of mages who are prone to fight over the material with the Templar faction that seeks to control the mages and all magic.
Lyrium is very well known across Dragon Age's world, but Red Lyrium is a newer occurrence that started after the Blight fended off by players in Dragon Age: Origins. Organic life forms are able to be corrupted by the Blight, leading some in the world of Dragon Age to theorize that Lyrium is a living material and Red Lyrium is its Blight-corrupted counterpart. Unlike Lyrium, however, Red Lyrium is able to grow anywhere and spreads across the land like a fungus. Once it takes root it is nearly impossible to completely remove, even by the most experienced dwarven miners. However, some factions are suspicious of Dragon Age's dwarves and suspect that Red Lyrium is their creation to get revenge for their fallen empire.
Red Lyrium in Dragon Age Games
Red Lyrium is also capable of corrupting anyone who endures extended exposure to its crystal structures. Individuals exposed to the Red Lyrium at first experience paranoia or extreme aggression before becoming sickly and experiencing great pain. Further exposure leads to the individual growing crystalline growths of Red Lyrium on their body while slowly being driven insane by a song playing in their head indefinitely.
Eventually, people are overtaken by the Red Lyrium and become derange behemoths that are incredibly strong but have lost all of their humanity. Red Lyrium's corruption eventually led to a new faction for Dragon Age called the Red Templars that consume Red Lyrium just enough to get its benefits without completely losing their humanity.
Dragon Age players first got a glimpse at Red Lyrium at the end of Dragon Age 2. After venturing into the Deep Roads on a dangerous expedition the player's party come across some Red Lyrium and discover that Knight-Commander Meredith created a sword out of Red Lyrium that eventually destroys her regardless of the player's decisions.
Then, in Dragon Age: Inquisition the opening of the Breach at the start of the game causes an explosion of Red Lyrium to start appearing all across the world. While this leads to the development of the Red Lyrium corrupted Red Templars, it also is the catalyst for Red Lyrium receiving more study, which leads to the connection between the mineral and the Blight. The games also reference a Red Lyrium idol that can be used to thin the veil, the barrier between demon and material worlds, which will likely play into Solas' plot to tear down the veil in Dragon Age 4.
How Red Lyrium May Impact Dragon Age 4
Red Lyrium will undoubtedly play a large role in the story and world of Dragon Age 4. Not only does the Red Lyrium idol align with Solas' goal, as well as being referenced by the character in a Dragon Age comic series, but it will undoubtedly have a large impact on the game's setting in Dragon Age's Tevinter. Tevinter embraces magic more than anywhere else in Dragon Age with mages being highly regarded and integrated into society and often holding positions of power.
However, a common theme in Dragon Age is the temptations of magic corrupting users and driving them to go too far. This aligns extremely well with Red Lyrium in the universe, and will likely lead to some mages in Tevinter going to far with Red Lyrium and falling under its influence and corruption. However, Dragon Age 4's released concept art has shown that Grey Wardens may be returning to the series in a big way. Grey Wardens are tasked with fighting back the Blight that reoccurs every number of years and was the faction the player found themselves aligned with throughout Dragon Age: Origins. With Red Lyrium's tie to the Blight, it seems likely that the Grey Wardens will return to tackle the Red Lyrium problem.
Of course, there is no telling what kind of role Red Lyrium will play in Dragon Age 4 until the game is released. It does seem assured that it will make an appearance in the RPG, but how big of a role it will play or how much players will have to confront it remains to be seen. Hopefully, the rumors are true and fans will get more news about Dragon Age 4 at EA Play soon so that they can see what to expect when they finally return to Thedas.
Dragon Age 4 is in development.