The Plots of DA4

Decades after the cancellation of the seminal and once-popular 'Dragon Age' series, the former stars who played the iconic characters now eke out a living making regular appearances at fan conventions and store openings.

It is at one of these conventions that the former lead actor, our protagonist, is approached by a group of strangely-dressed people who claim to be in awe of his past heroics, which they believe to have been real. They beg for his help in their war against an evil alien overlord. Thinking them to be merely delusional fans, he plays along, on the expectation of getting paid.

It is soon revealed, however, that he has been recuited by genuine space aliens who have developed their entire culture around Dragon Age, and have even constructed genuine, working replicas of all the iconic technology, transport and weapons from the series. It also turns out that the threat they described is very real.

Our protagonist forcibly recruits his former co-stars in the conflict with the evil alien overlord. Now roped into a genuine adventure with real stakes, this squad of washed-up, B-list actors must find it in themselves to put aside their petty squabbles and become true heroes.

First, thanks Heimdall for your service to the fandom. I haven't watched/listened to all of your productions, but I've been impressed by what works of yours I have seen.

Second, I have to take up the gauntlet panda has tossed, with a bit of old school style, of course.

Bioware shocks the gaming world by releasing the game Dragon Age 4 in standalone cabinet consoles placed in thousands of public locations across the world. Even more radical, there are scores attached to the adventures in Dragon Age 4 exciting the public in attempting to achieve higher scores than their friends. Somewhere in the desert southwest of the United States, one Player achieves a perfect score, seemingly breaking the console programming. Alex (the Player) is approached by a man (played by Robert Preston resurrected through CGI) who offers to recruit Alex into the Shadow Inquisition. It turns out that the game story is real, just on a far distant planet and the Inquisitor needs brave, talented sentients to lend a Hand. Solas meanwhile, petulantly plots the end of the Inquisitors dressed inexplicably like an 18th century fop assisted by a turned Iron Bull whos eyepatch keeps flipping up and down to emphasize the seriousness of his dialogue. Alex trains with Dorian as a assistant and guide of sorts, adjusting Alex to the 'not quite a game' world. Alex decides she's not cut out for the Inquisition and demands to return home. Meanwhile, an insider sets up a Gatlokk bomb in the base of the Inquisition, exploding it with the confused battlecry of "All your base are explode to us!" Solas sends an assassination team to earth to kill Alex, not realizing he has been replaced with Cole who took Alex's shape but weirded everyone out with her cryptic pronouncements and inappropriately timed cultural references. She heroically destroys herself keeping the assassin's from reporting Alex's survival, goading Solas to attack. Alex is inspired to return to fight Solas and Bull as the Last Inquisitor.

Bonus points if anyone born after, say, 1990 can ID the inspiration to my PM.

I want to see the city of Minrathous properly realised but I suspect I may be disappointed and we will just get a few areas that are meant to be part of the whole. To see the Grand Proving Grounds would be amazing, if only on the skyline but we never got to see the Grand Cathedral in Val Royeaux, even when on the battlements of the market area and could see 360 degrees across the city. In fact we couldn't see any sort of city at all from there, so I do worry that the dark neon lit area is going to be the only part of the city we are going to be involved in, particularly as all the other city art has been identified as Antiva. So we might enter an area in an adjacent street to, say, the Circle of Magi, and be confronted by an entrance but will never see the whole from the outside. Still at least if there is a decent amount to the interior that would be something. Given the building was formerly the Temple to Razikale and she was patron of Minrathous during the time of the three kingdoms, before the Imperium, that would likely make the building very old indeed. So, it would make sense there must be something of importance to be discovered there. There is also the setup in the lore for us to do a fair bit of exploring under the city. As you say, there is the Ambassadoria as well as the catacombs and probably a fair few other interlinking passages with the city above and major building there.

As for plot lines, I've always imagined that there would be a plot connected with finding the murderers of Dorian's father, probably his personal quest. There seems a strong likelihood they could be Venatori but may be we would find that in fact the instigator was someone completely different.

Whilst I don't think there will be an actual slave uprising (much as I would like to lead one), Tevinter Nights mentioned an anti-slavery movement that could well be connected with the Viper and their group. If so, they were likely behind employing Lucanis to take out prominent members of the Venatori as well.

I agree that we are unlikely to be on the front line of the war with the Qunari but might well be tasked with organising some sort of resistance to stem the tide. It is not just mages who don't want to see the Qun take over the north and last year the dev team did say about exploring what you do when people in power refuse to address the real issues. Clearly, something is wrong in the Magisterium if the Qun have pretty much taken over the eastern seaboard uncontested. What struck me as odd in the comics was the lack of a decent defense of major strategic locations. Qarinus/Ventus has always been on the front line of the Teinver/Qun conflict and was occupied for a time when Tevinter was taken by surprise when the Qun first appeared on the scene, not to mention a major offence having been made against the city early in the Dragon Age, which the Tevinter forces of that time successfully repelled, so what went wrong recently? Then, having lost that city, the logical step would have to been to double down on the major cities to the south of it, yet in the latest comic series once again the defense of Neromenian was pitiful. Where were the Tevinter legions? So if nothing else I want an explanation of why the leadership are apparently doing nothing by way of counter attack or at least defending what is still free.

I also agree I would love some sort of plot connection with the Black Divine. Could he be the strange elevated figure with have seen in some of the concept art? It is noticeable that outside of the novel Asunder and a brief reference by Dorian, the Black Divine has not been involved in any of the story lines in either the comics or Tevinter Nights. At least we know from Magekiller that the Archon was eliminating the Venatori behind the scenes (so could also have been responsible for employing Lucanis as well) but the Black Divine has been conspicuous by his absence. Corypheus and the Venatori were a direct threat to his power, although it is entirely possible that he could have been behind the Venatori arising in the first place. Why isn't he motivating the fight back against the Qun? Something doesn't seem right there so I really hope it involves a plot and a confrontation with him.

Plotline wise, I'm against the Black Divine featuring heavily, if for no other reason that Inquisition featured the Divine prominently, or at least her ascension, so I'd rather focus on something else.

I'd like to see Minratheous, but I'd like to see a living breathing city. While I'm loathe to use the comparison, I'd start with something akin to Novigrad, a living breathing city with lots of places to go. Not as many shops, that was overkill.

I'd like the plot of the story to feature a Qunari attack, but Minratheous isn't affected yet. I'd like the main character to be part of that attack, and while the qunari ultimately land, they get hurt really bad, lots of civilians get away, and the Big Bad (lets call her the Ariqun, an entirely new character) is supposedly killed by the main character in some badass way (like, throwing a barrel of gaatlok at her, then a fireball/torch)

I'd like the regrouping in Minratheous, where the Magisterium is unable to formulate a response, they are too busy squabbling, and think their rivals will attack if they are distracted. There are also rumored whispers of elven slaves disappearing, perhaps slave revolts, to hint at Solas's plans, even if they aren't the threat we face. Further, the Ariqun is supposedly still alive.

However, some magisters join in, and they work with you. Maevaris can be part of that group, making trade deals with dwarves. You sabotage the Qunari and take a base of your own, building it up into a fighting force that brings in Circle towers, imperial templars, mercenaries, and a huge ass army to drive the Qunari away. When you build up enough, you attack at Par Vollen. There, the truth is revealed: The Ariqun is dead, however, a spirit of survival (the true form of a hunger demon) latched onto her, and kept her spirit alive, drawn to her by her will. At least, that's what the spirit thinks.

The attack leaves the group stranded while the rest of the qunari move for Minratheous. The group rallies the Fog Warriors to find a way back, in just enough time for the city to nearly fall. Then the group sweeps through the city, destroying the qunari and the demon, ending with the Ariqun going full demon.

As it dies, it's revealed that this whole thing was orchestrated by Solas, using the spirit to fulfill its purpose, to weaken the qunari and Tevinter, and now with weakened forces, you'll soon have to battle the ancient god.

The Imperial Chantry and the Black Divine are completely different to the southern version. For a start off, apart from being male, the current Black Divine doesn't need a "left hand" doing his dirty work for him because Dorian says that he is quite happy to deal with malcontents himself. In that respect he most closely resembles "hardened" Leliana if made Divine but, from what we have been told of him (mostly in related lore books and Asunder) he is a completely different character. The Imperial Chantry have a different version of the Chant, a different view of Andraste, a different attitude to magic and a different moral outlook (they actually allow slavery). So it would be more like finding out about a completely different religion, like the Dalish or the Stone and knocking heads with its leader (or not as the case may be). It is unlikely to be a case of us suddenly being seen as a modern day prophet of the religion.


It wouldn't be the Ariqun as she never leaves Par Vollen but it might be Rasaan, who is the designated successor and is meant to travel around with the Arishok advising him on spiritual matters. However, according to Tevinter Nights she is off doing something Solas related, likely because the Ariqun considers that more important for the survival of the Qun (but possibly with the Arishok's approval as well). It will probably be best not to kill her until we find out what she knows.


I think there is a possibility the Qun will never get to Minrathous. According to Tevinter Nights there seems a strong suggestion that the Antaam are going to move from eastern Tevinter into Antiva and Rivain. Personally, I think that makes no sense as that would definitely bring in the southern Chantry on the side of Tevinter, whereas so long as they don't breach the Lomerryn Accord the Arishok can rest easy that the Divine would be very reluctant to risk taking sides in the conflict. However, it is true that Minrathous has never fallen, despite previous Qunari assaults against it, and it is the centre for magical power in Thedas (which has always been the most effective way of dealing with the Qun) so may be they would leave it until last.

I think the idea is to talk about other things we may be doing on the road to confronting Solas. In DAO our main goal was stopping the Blight but we had to do a lot of other quests along the way and visited various different locations, each with their own specific plot lines, both major and minor. So currently we are speculating what Tevinter might result in.

 The Veil I expect, Solas maybe not...

We had a teaser trailer called the Dread Wolf Rise, that means it's just chapter 2, the ascension, and not the final: his destruction.

Unless the teaser trailer was about what was going on between the DAI and DA4, in this case, the next game will start with the Veil torn asunder and everyone gunning for the cultprit.

New live service component with DLC chapters to continue the story? Is that a horror vision or not?

Dark Knight Rises was the final of the Nolan Batman trilogy, so that doesn't follow. The biggest concern about any videp game title from a marketing standpoint is just what sounds cool, actually conveying accurate information is secondary at best.

I think that would be best showcased during a meeting with an Imperial Father (whether at sermon or not). Magic is openly performed during services and there's a lot you could do with a magical religious incident, be it a festival or whatnot. 

You always get the chance to be a non-mage. We're given Warrior/Mage/Rogue for all games and I see no reason they'd stop now. 

Well you should have introduced that little hero vs villain caveat at the beginning, but it still doesn't make any sense.

Either way, if Solas is still active at the end of DA4, I am out. It's bad enough as it is that the current bad guy is just Corypheus 2, and I'm not interested in another 7 years of sooking about bringing the Inquisitor back.

Yes! TWO SCOOPS!!!

I might not know how will the plot develop, but i do know how will it end: