(SPOILERS ahead for Dragon Age: Inquisition and the Trespasser DLC)

“Then we find people he doesn’t know…We will stop Solas by any means necessary.” 

These are the words defiantly vowed by the Inquisitor about the Inquisition’s former ally.  An elven mage, Solas is revealed in Trespasser to be far more than some apostate hermit…Solas is actually Fen’Harel: the “Dread Wolf” and infamous trickster god of elven mythology.  Upon being confronted in Trespasser, Solas reveals his intention to tear down the Veil and merge the material world with the spiritual realm of the Fade.  Of course, this would mean destroying the world, as the raw chaos of the Fade would burn and consume Thedas.  After removing the Anchor (and the Inquisitor’s arm), Solas expresses his regret, but is determined to see his plan through.  Across Thedas, elves began leaving their positions under mysterious circumstances…rallied to Fen’Harel’s cause.

After deciding the fate of the Inquisition, the Inquisitor plans the next course of action with their advisors.  As they do so, the Inquisitor stabs a dagger onto a map of Thedas…right in the middle of the Tevinter Imperium.  This has led many fans to speculate that Tevinter is meant to be the setting of the next Dragon Age game, with the Chantry and the Inquisition seeking allies to fight Solas. 

When the next Dragon Age game was teased at The Game Awards in December 2018 with the cryptic The Dread Wolf Rises teaser, there wasn’t much information to go off of.  The name of the teaser and Solas’s voiceover indicates that Solas will indeed be the main antagonist, or at least be the primary focus of the game’s story.  Since then, BioWare and Electronic Arts have been tight-lipped about story or gameplay details.

RELATED: Game Awards 2018: BioWare Teases Upcoming DRAGON AGE Game

On July 19, 2019, fans got their first hint at what might be coming up for Dragon Age.  A collection of short stories was announced called Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights.  On the Amazon pre-order page, Patrick Weekes was mistakenly credited as the author, leading the BioWare writer to take to Twitter to clarify that he is just the editor (the Amazon page has since been corrected). 

While no concrete details have been released yet about the anthology, there are two things worth noting about this book.  First is the title: “Tevinter Nights”.  It seems pretty plain that these tales are going to be about characters and events in the Tevinter Imperium.  This would provide readers (and people new to the Dragon Age franchise) an introduction to Tevinter through various viewpoints.  Which leads us to our second point: BioWare has a habit of using novels as a sort of prologue for upcoming video games. 

Before the first game (Dragon Age: Origins) was even released, BioWare had published a prequel novel…Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne., following Origins villain Loghain Mac Tir, and his friend King Maric Theirin.  Before the Awakening DLC, Dragon Age: The Calling introduced us to the Architect.  In the lead-up to Dragon Age: Inquisition, BioWare published Dragon Age: Asunder (showing the start of the Mage-Templar War) and Dragon Age: The Masked Empire (which actually was written by Patrick Weekes and set the stage for the Orlesian Civil War), introducing the conflicts that ravage Thedas during the events of the video game.

The Inquisitor stabs a dagger through the Tevinter Imperium on the Inquisition’s war map.

Considering all that, the Tevinter theory becomes a stronger possibility.  But some of you might be wondering, “Why Tevinter?  Why go there for allies against an elven god?” 

First, the Tevinter Imperium is the oldest human civilization in the Dragon Age world.  Roughly a millennium before the founding of the Chantry, the magisters (Tevinter mage-lords) conquered the elven city of Arlathan by using blood magic to sink it into the earth.  So when it comes to fighting ancient elven powers, Tevinter is kind of the expert.  Also, the Tevinter capital of Minrathous is famous for never having fallen to a siege.  Not the Chantry, not the Qunari, not the darkspawn (although the darkspawn came VERY close to sacking Minrathous during the Second Blight), and not even the Prophet Andraste herself could conquer the Imperium. 

Tevinter is also unique in that magic is a prized trait, rather than reviled as it is in southern Thedas.  The forbidden practice of blood magic, while publicly banned, is still employed by a significant number of Tevinter mages as an open secret.  Most of Thedas scorns Tevinter as corrupt and power-hungry, and the involvement of a Tevinter mage cult called the Venatori in the war between the Inquisition and the Elder One hasn’t helped that public perception.  Since then, infighting has broken out between the magisters, and the Imperium has grown unstable.

So will the Inquisitor find in Tevinter the help it needs?  Of course, doing so won’t win the Chantry much support from the elves of Thedas: Tevinter would crumble if not for the elven slaves employed as cannon fodder against the Qunari or as resources to power blood magic rituals.  But the Inquisitor said by any means necessary…is it worth the risks?  Could the magisters possess some ancient knowledge or magic that could stop the Dread Wolf’s plan?  How will Tevinter’s ongoing war with the Qunari come into play? 

After the Qunari threat is dealt with in Trespasser, we learn that the Qunari launched new attacks against Tevinter, with many fearing that if Tevinter falls, the Qunari will nullify the Llomerryn Accords and resume their war against all of Thedas.  Would the player in the upcoming game need to decide whether to take up arms against the Qunari, in order to secure Tevinter support against Solas?  Perhaps the player would also need to put an end to the magisters’ power struggle by supporting one side or another?  These are just a few of the intriguing directions that the story could take in the upcoming Dragon Age game.

Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights releases in paperback on March 10, 2020.  Based on the trend from past Dragon Age novels, that release date seems to indicate we could see the next Dragon Age video game from EA as early as Q3 2021.  But what do you think?  Are you excited about the possibility of Tevinter as the setting for the next game?  Or is there another nation of Thedas you would prefer to explore in-depth?  Are you looking forward to the Tevinter Nights anthology?  Let us know, and stay tuned to Geek Girl Authority for more news about Dragon Age and all your favorite geeky video games!

dragon age tevinter nights book cover

 

 

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