Dragon Age...4? Trailer Analysis of The Game Awards

Transcript

Hello everyone. I'm guessing you saw the title. My name is Ashe, and welcome-welcome back to my channel. Today, we're dissecting the newest Dragon Age teaser trailer from The Game Awards. I did stream the eent and a live analysis, which you can see the Twitch VOD linked in the description below. This video is a compilation of that knowledge, as well as new revelations made since then. Sit back, relax, and welcome back to Dragon Age hell.

Knight Commander Meredith. Corypheus. And two of the Evanuris. The fresco is a massive part of this analysis, so instead, let's begin with our friendly neighborhood Dwarf — Varric Tethras.

Varric voices this trailer, and is one of the only two people we know 100% returning in the next Dragon Age. It's unlikely we'll have Varric as a companion a third time since, from his script, it sounds as if he's in a stronger leadership position. It may be possible he's leading the faction that stems from what's left of the Inquisition. In this video, he's appealing to the new heroes, both old and new players that will play the next game. But the feel is very different.

One of the key differences between the first two games and Inquisition was that the Inquisitor didn't exactly earn their position. They didn't fight for their power; instead, it was thrust upon them. The Hero of Ferelden joined with unique allies and rallied powerful nations in order to defeat the Archdemon. The Champion of Kirkwall Hawke went through countless hardships and fought foes well above their paygrade in order to gain power and save Kirkwall. The Inquisitor kind of ended up at the worst place at the worst time.

From the official website, BioWare writes the following: "Thedas needs a new hero; one they'll never see coming. Forge a courageous fellowship to challenge the gathering storm. Friendship, drama, and romance abound as you bring striking individuals together into an extraordinary team. Become the hero and light the beacon of hope in their darkest moments."

In this next game, it feels as if the player will be a leader of their own tight-knit team, fighting to save Thedas from itself. It feels closer to the protagonists' evolution of the first two games, where power is hard-fought for, and the development of your character will just be as important as the people who fight alongside you.

The first shot is in a desert plain, with what looks like a line of tortoise approaching what I think is a Grey Warden. While it's not a 1:1 of any Grey Warden armor, the winged greaves is a very distinct hint. The Anderfels are known to be a bit of an arid, barren wasteland, so it's possible this is where we see this scene.

Here's a fun fact: Dragon Age rarely—if ever—mentions tortoises. Not even turtles. The games all have spirits, spiders, wraiths, wyverns, dragons, and Darkspawn... but never turtles. Clearly BioWare is expanding their bestiary, but it's sad they couldn't spare the turtles.

Here enters a three-part shot of what seems to be the Royal Palace of Antiva, aggregating a ton of magical energy around it. Much of the scenery in the first shot is overgrown, covering most of the fences and structures. Antiva isn't nearly as magically opulent as Tevinter, so to say the least, this is very suspicious.

Here, an Antivan Crow appears to be drinking from a brass goblet. At first I thought this to be a Tevinter agent, considering the beautiful and dark outfit, but at this point whenever you see a bird in the background, you have to assume there's an Antivan Crow nearby.

Based on the architecture here, this area is in Antiva, if not Antiva City itself. Antiva is based off modern-day Venice, so much of what is seen falls in line. The water canal in the lower middle. The gothic architecture with the pointed arches and stained glass. Even the gargoyle spot here that this character is lounging on top of in this shot. It is possibly symbolic that this Crow is guarding from this perch, watching out for this building or the City itself. Or considering the alcohol, it's possible they're taking in the sights before dealing with the mess. The Antivan Crows are, after all, the most dominant force in the nation. Their infamous reputation keeps most antagonizers at bay, whether they be foreign powers or perhaps wild spirits oozing out of the palace in the background.

On closer look, the palace is exuding magical energy from dawn to dusk. The Antivan royalty and the Antivan Crows work symbiotically with each other, so I would assume here that there's a plot point in the next game which would have us investigate this phenomenon.

Without a single doubt, this is Minrathous. Tevinter's flags hang to its right. The floating circlet overhead. And, most notably, the colorfully outlandish magical glyphs within this scene. I'm actually very excited by how magically cyberpunk this city looks at a glance, and am curious to see how this all works in action.

Definitely one of the alleyways in Tevinter. It's not inherently clear who is this character or what faction they represent.

The outfit is curiously elegant, with a clear design on its shoulder. The front has what seems to be golden vials dangling off the right shoulder, which would mean the user would have to pull them using their left hand. It'd also probably make noise if they moved their right arm like they do here. They're completely covered, except their hands due to the fingerless gloves. And, of course, the dagger in their hand has a unique cross-guard in the form of wings.

Despite scouring through much of the games and books, I could not find the exact design of the shoulder, the logo in the wristguard, nor the winged dagger. So at this point, it's a matter of process of elimination.

A consideration I had is that this is one of the Lords of Fortune, considering the decoration at the front of their outfit. However, a Lord hustling after some creep in a back alley, who likely does not have wild treasures in their pocket, seems out of their M.O. (modus operandi).

A second thought was that this was a Grey Warden in disguise, considering the wings on the dagger. However, in the few examples of swords and daggers in that style, Grey Wardens normally have a more practical cross-guard that doesn't obstruct the user's hand, opposed to the more artistic shape as shown in this clip.

I'd argue that this person is native Tevinter, considering the dragonscale-like hood and the elaborate robes. Additionally, the dagger's crossguard shares a similar shape to a Venatori weapon that's seen in the "Art of Dragon Age: Inquisition" book. The main difference, however, is that the crossguard in this version has black wings. After looking at every single available weapon in Dragon Age: Origins, 2, and Inquisition, this is the best match I could find. That all said, considering this person is "on the job" in some back alley in Tevinter in the middle of the night, I'd argue this character is either Siccari (one of Tevinter's spies) or part of a different Tevinter faction we've yet to see.

Now... this character is very, very new. Horns on the helm and a mask covering their face, they walk through a snowy forest we've seen earlier this year with the spooky tree and red corruption nasty bits. They're covered head to toe, in what seems to be crimson and black attire. It's a similar red to the Executor outfits we saw in the short story "Ruins of Reality" that BioWare released on Dragon Age Day. Also, the weapon itself is the same as the triangle magic bow we've seen in one of the concepts of the Gamescom trailer.

But, that's where things get a little bit confusing. This person has distinct flaps on the front of the chestpiece, as well as a very distinguished mask. The closest resemblance I can pin this to is actually Venatori armor. It's not an exact match, especially with the very unique horns on top of their head, but it makes you take a second look.

The most unique part of this, however, is the longbow. Often with bows, they're only magical through the runes and enchantments affixed to it. This bow is completely different. If you showed me this bow by itself, I would almost say this is Remnant tech right out of Mass Effect. That said, considering the green, I'd say this is a build up from rift magic, considering some of the similar textures to the spell Stonefist.

I'm tempted to think that the bow and its wielder are of two different origins. It might be because red and green are polarizing colors, but I think the bow is of Executor origin, but the wielder is from a different faction. That all said, it's clear they're at least not one of the baddies, judging by this next shot.

Among the Blighted corruption, we see the Rift Archer shooting an arrow straight into a creature we identified in the last Dragon Age analysis — a Red Lyrium Hurlock Alpha. And after the dip to black, we see a fresco and our favorite Elven god—Solas.

This entire fresco might as well be called "The Big Bads". But let's break it apart, piece by piece.

Shown first in this trailer is Knight Commander Meredith, the main antagonist of Dragon Age 2. During her fight with Hawke, she was completely consumed by the red lyrium she relied on, so she's depicted here completely in red. But because she was also a Templar, and thus regularly used normal lyrium to fuel her powers, there's a depiction of Titan blood—lyrium veins in gold leaf—on her and the sword. The shape of these Lyrium veins is drawn identically to most painted depictions of Dwarven culture and lyrium.

To the right is Corypheus, the main antagonist of Inquisition. He's dominantly in all dark red and black matte paint, embodying his Blighted self, opposed to Solas's orb glowing gold in his hands above. Since he's wields Blight magic that has no connection to the Fade, there's no gold leaf here.

Next are two upside down characters, who are without a doubt part of the Elven Gods. The Evanuris. The left-hand feminine God is mostly in all black, except their hands. They have a strong, curved helm, as well as waves hanging from their head. The right-hand God is wrapped in their own robe, or perhaps cocoon, topped with a crescent-like helm. Both of them are hanging upside down, likely symbolic of their imprisonment. And because of certain hints revealed since the Trespasser DLC, I am of the mind that these two Gods may have been the original creators of vallaslin.

Let's start with the Left God and their two most noticeable attributes: the shape of their head and the waves falling from it. In the latest comic Dragon Age Blue Wraith, there's a scene of how Fenris originally received his lyrium markings. He was coerced into stepping into a golden sarcophagus, which in turn carved lyrium markings into his flesh. If we look at the sarcophagus itself, there's a clear resemblance between its form and the Left God from the mural. As far as the waves falling from it, we have to look to the Trespasser DLC, which has a mural depicting Solas removing vallaslin from a few slaves. The same three waves on this God.

Now, the Right God. We've seen them before. Again in the Trespasser DLC, there's a small quest the Inquisitor goes on where they have to retrieve a statue key. While on that quest, there's a Tower that holds several paintings on the wall. Inside, the walls show a brief progression of slaves trembling in front of a large dark figure, and those slaves walking away with blood writing — with vallaslin — on their faces. If you examine the mosaic door to the left of that dark figure, the same Right God is depicted upside down—tied to Fen'harel.

Now, the identity of both Gods is only guessable at this point. But I think there's a fair case for both of them.

The left God may be Andruil. Andruil's known for creating many powerful weapons for her hunts. It got so bad that she was dubbed the Goddess of Sacrifice, and her people prayed they would not be next. There's also an interesting story found during the events of Inquisition about this God, where Andruil had grown so mad after her exposure to the Void (to the point she even let her lands sucuumb to plague), that Mythal had to intervene. A motive for murder, a Darkspawn connection, and a complete disregard and lack of empathy for her people? Andruil's got it all.

The right God may be Falon'din. Let's double back to the Tower in the Trespasser DLC. After the Inquisitor picks up the statue key, all of the lights in that section go completely dark. It's only through the Mark that you can see the path forward. While there's an obvious gameplay reason here, I'm inclined to believe this is also hinting at Falon'Din, one of the Evanuris famous for mastering the darkness, and infamous for waging wars to justify and proclaim his godhood. If you use the Mark to interact with the door, it does mention how the Evanuris tried to claim their godhood over all. From what we know so far, Falon'din was the worst offender. And at the very least, considering Falon'din's representative animal is the Owl, it'd explain why the headpiece is curved upward like wings.

But there's a bigger key to the puzzle, connecting both Andruil and Falon'din together. The sarcophagus. It has very subtle markings on the top part that are slanted in the exact way as the dark figure with the slaves on both sides. We can also take a look at the markings on Fenris's body. When you look at Fenris, a 3 dot pattern is recurring from his forehead all the way down to... uh, presumably his toes. On the mosaic door, there's three shards, possibly lyrium shards, that are just out of Falon'din's reach.

Hey! Editor ashe here. there's another clip I'd also like you to see that i didn't realize until while I was editing. In the Mage origin of Dragon Age: Origins, there's a specific "Disturbing Statue" from the beginning, facing the Black City. Looks very similar to our upside down God with the weird arms and horns, right? Anywho, back to the video.

Let's review. The sarcophagus has the same head shape and blood writing (or in this case, lyrium writing) as the Left God, Andruil. The sarcophagus also has the same front etchings as the vallaslin slave paintings in the area depicting Falon'din. And Fenris, who used the sarcophagus, bears the same 3-dot markings that correlate to Falon'din's mosaic containing 3 lyrium shards.

Because Solas was directly against the use of vallaslin and removed those blood markings from the slaves, there stands reason why he would specifically feature these two gods in this mural. Solas—or more specifically Fen'harel—defied those two gods. Andruil and Falon'din, or whoever they are, are the reason for why he is the rebel god he is today. And in the future, they may pose the greatest threat to his goals in the future to come.

But we still have more to cover! So let's wrap these two up.

Their bodies, the vallaslin, as well as the big moon are all textured with gold leaf. For the Ancient Elves, it's said that the "gold mosaics and vertical structures" spoke to their "culture's reverence for a higher power, rather than vanity." The use of gold leaf in this fresco is likely symbolic of that magical power— the Evanuris, lyrium inside Knight Commander Meredith, and the Orb of Fen'harel.

And the last character, the Dread Wolf. Opposed to most of this fresco, its head is mostly white. In Tevinter lore, there's a mention of a "White Wolf" or Fenrir. Much of Tevinter's lore has taken and overwritten Elven lore, and since Solas is the one who likely created this fresco, it's possible that he is using this earlier version of himself—this "White Wolf"—as it describes who he was before he donned Fen'harel as a "badge of pride". It was only because his enemies used the Dread Wolf as an insult that history remembered him as a deceptive trickster, enveloped in darkness, and represented him as such in different frescos and paintings. However, the fresco we see in this trailer may be a more honest-to-self depiction of who he is. Or perhaps, how he wants others to see him.

Which brings us to the two strikingly different elements of the wolf's head — the eyes and the teeth. The eyes shine a silvery light-blue with gold-leaf texture. Oppositely, the teeth and its throat are stained blood red with a matte texture. We've seen Solas use his newer magic through his eyes to turn people into stone, however seeing the Wolf consume blood is a whole different take. Here, only depictions of Knight Commander Meredith's body and the city are enveloped in that red. This fresco may be foreshadowing him taking on red lyrium into himself, as we've seen a few do before as a purification method, such as Isseya from Last Flight.

Lastly, we see a city in the background, surrounded by gold leaf, yet consumed by red. The buildings have red lyrium and its veins consuming the city. After all that's been said thus far, I strongly believe that this is the Black City of the Fade. The gold leaf that surrounds the city itself is a prime indicator, but let's get into why.

The Black City is a bit of an enigma. Experts on the Fade aren't exactly sure why both spirits and demons refuse to get anywhere close to the City, and they aren't exactly sure why this City is the one anchored, unchanging thing in all of the Fade. Over the years within the community, there have been some theories that The Black City is the tainted throne of the Evanuris, and after finding out the Fade is slowly being infected with Red Lyrium, this all makes a little bit more sense.

In this fresco, Solas used colors that reflected an account of another event in history we discovered in the Trespasser DLC —the Evanuris striking down the Titans. The gold leaf indicating magic. The white depicting concentrated energy striking out. However, there is a distinct difference here. In the Titan fresco, it looks as if they had the aid of an Orb, an Orb of Destruction, the Somnaborium—whatever you like to call it. An orb helped inflict an internal, clean cut leading to the Titan's death. In Solas's fresco, it's as if this explosion was brute forced by the Dread Wolf. It makes a bit more sense since we know he doesn't have his orb, as well. Additionally, there are visual indicators that the effects of this explosion supercedes and overpowers the strength both Knight Commander Meredith and Corypheus ever wielded.

Solas's efforts won't be clean. It'll be diasterous, and chaotic. And judging by this fresco, it's possible that the Black City may be the epicenter of Solas's plan to tear down the Veil. There will be blood. Many will die, but it's a sacrifice he's willing to make.

So, where do we go from here?

Personally, I think it's a bit early to say we're on a complete marketing war path. But we've definitely started the clock. Both the Dragon Age and Mass Effect trailer at the Game Awards were considered debut trailers, despite Dragon Age showing up at previous events. Since we don't have an official name, nor an official release period, I expect that we will see a proper announcement trailer or even gameplay at the next EA Play around E3. If we don't see much from that event or Gamescom next year, I'd say a release period will be likely way after 2023.

Until then, we'll have to keep our ears to the ground. The Mass Effect remaster releases in the Spring, so Dragon Age will take a bit of a breather marketing-wise until the dust settles from the remaster release.

That's all I have for you right now. Thank you for watching! We're reaching the end of 2020, so it may be some time before we get another BioWare video. So let me wish you a very Happy Holidays, and Happy New Year. I hope to see you next year, so please subscribe and come back. Take care and Fen'harel enansal.