Are there really only three companions hanging around with you, or are they stand-ins for more?

It depends on the situation and some of this IS written into the game.

For WEWH, it seems like everyone attends the actual ball, even though you only have the three who accompany the Inquisitor (these are announced alongside the Inquisitor, remember?)

After the trip into the future during IHW, Iron Bull says, "So... that Tevinter guy sent you into the future?" Solas asks about the future trip as well. For Abyss, all of the followers go to Adamant, but only those in your party are part of the Inquisitor strike team and get thrown into the Fade. This is reflected by such lines as Cassandra saying that she wasn't there, how she "heard about what happened," and asks you about it. Both Solas and Vivienne ask about the Fade. Even if you don't select Blackwall, he is there at the end when you make your choice about the Wardens. And so on...

Don't forget, a lot of the lines regarding certain mission tactics (given by Cullen/Leliana) have them say things like "a smaller group should be able to sneak in unnoticed." In that case, we should assume that it is just the Inquisitor and their three followers, and no one else.

As far as everything else is concerned, like roaming about in the world, I'd leave that up to your own headcanon. My Inquisitor has his core group that he takes everywhere, and everyone else sits around Skyhold.

In both DA and ME companions talk about events as if they were with you even if they weren't. So now I just accept that they're all there, but they just happened to need the loo when I looked for them or whatever.

Garrus mentioned being at events I never took him to, it's just one of those things.

Yeah, he does. It's pretty jarring to get that when I never take him anywhere with me.

While some of the instances of companions talking about your adventures could be explained away as just having heard about it second-hand, there are others that can only imply they they bore physical witness (like the IB cutscene). I'm okay RPing either way, but at least in the case of Halamshiral, it would have been kind of fun if everyone had actually been physically present and they just let you pick your party members upon entering the combat zones.

What I would prefer is just some consistency in general. Everyone talks about the Winter Palace as if they were actually present regardless of which party members I chose at the beginning of the mission; meanwhile, Blackwall gets pissy with me if I bring back the Grey Warden stuff back to him because he wasn't there to see it personally. A similar mechanic could have easily mitigated the incongruity of Bull's dragon killing scene; a subtle hint, like a "Hey boss, take me with you next time" comment if you kill one without him, which would then trigger the full cutscene if I chose to take him up on it later. 


And yes, it was; however, the OP's question specifically mentioned Wicked Hearts, which is what I was (and am) referring to.

As far as the exploarion part I have always viewed it that your companions all go with you whenever you leave Skyhold but only three of them are active at any one time adventuring with you. The rest? Stay at the camps waiting for you to call upon them.

"I would like to have seen it..."

Heh I totally forgot about that. If you get the item while Blackwall is not there, the Inquisitor also says something like "I bet Blackwall would like to see this," or sometimes another follower will say something similar. If you approach one of the rogue templars/mages and Cassandra is not there, the Inquisitor will make a remark like, "It's one of the mages Cassandra is looking for!" as if she isn't there. If she is there, Cassandra herself says something.

So yes, consistency would be nice.

I will just go ahead and say that people should go with whatever their headcanon is because the game itself isn't much help.


As far as "missing out" on the great Iron Bull cutscene, that is a personal preference. I don't care for it, so I wouldn't mind if my own choices changed the outcome. People need to stop being coddled with their choices in these games. If you make a choice and the result is that you miss something, then so be it. There are all sorts of scenarios and outcomes I will never see because I won't play with those choices. Despite playing several times, with hundreds of hours sunk into the game, to this day I still haven't finished a templar play to see the full outcome of the Calpernia story. I've also never drunk from the Well and tamed the dragon. That's my loss, and a choice I have made. I know what I have to do if I want to see those things.