Dragon Age: The Missing (Comic Miniseries)

Yeah, that’s pretty accurate.

There could have been an interesting story told in The Missing. It could have been about Harding and Varric butting heads over what to do with Solas and then the more ideal of the two could have paid the ultimate price. It could have been about them falling in love, or even one of them throwing their lot in with Solas after seeing the brutality of Tevinter. Heck, it could have been about them being approached by the Venatori for a proverbial deal with the devil.

Instead, it’s just a string of cameos and dead ends. Even the Witch Hunt DLC had a better payoff, and it basically ended with Morrigan telling you change is coming before hopping through a mirror.

So... who was missing?

I assume it was meant to refer to Solas but he isn't so much missing, as in we don't really know what has happened to him, as voluntarily left the Inquisition after the defeat of Corypheus for reasons he subsequently explained in Trespasser. The Missing would have made more sense both as a title and a narrative if Trespasser had never taken place. Then, it would have been a case that he disappeared after the battle, Leliana discovered he had been lying about his origins and the Inquisitor was left wondering what all that meant. Rumours started to spread about elves who claimed to be followers of the Dread Wolf and were recruiting disaffected city elves in particular into their ranks. So, Harding and Varric try to track down Solas to see if he knows what is going on and in the course of their travels discover the truth about the identity of Fen'Harel and what he plans to do. That would have set things up for the next game. However, since we did have Trespasser, the whole of the Missing was somewhat redundant, particularly as the latest cinematic pretty much summed this up as well.

That is the problem, it just seemed to be another vehicle saying exactly the same thing as we had already been told in Trespasser, Tevinter Nights, and the cinematic trailer. Even the factions and their associated members that we will likely be working with had already been introduced in the short stories, which told us a great deal more about the individuals than their brief cameos in the comics.

Now, the other comics had their own self contained narrative, so added something new to the setting without impacting on the actual games. Mage Killer was probably closest to the Missing in the lack of anything significant happening, with the protagonists mostly going over the same ground as the Inquisitor, although at least they did end up in a different situation to the one in which they began, having started as independent operators and ended up as agents of the Inquisition. In the Missing we had two established characters going on a road trip, looking for someone they never found, with no idea what they would do if they did, until they finally arrived back at the exact same conclusion of what to do next as had been declared by the Inquisitor at the end of Trespasser. As more than one person has observed, Harding was even at that meeting, so was aware of how much their security had been compromised by Solas and his agents and the need to use people he was unfamiliar with in the future. The only new thing we learned is that there is an object called the Crucious Stone that could be dangerous but no idea in what way or even if it is meant to be important going forward, or was simply a plot device to give the protagonists a reason to travel to Arlathan Forest. Also, weird stuff is happening in Arlathan, although that was already established in the short story, that may or may not have anything to do with Solas.

Of the 4 issues, issue 3 with Arlathan was by far the most interesting and I would have rather they spent more time there, particularly as no evidence was given why they thought their next port of call should be Minrathous. Now, of course, it is probably better to leave investigating the area to our PC, but that could equally apply to anything that happened in the Missing and, since not every player is going to have read the series or other associated media, they are going to have to reintroduce the characters and factions they showcased when it comes to the game, so it really was a story that went nowhere and had no real useful purpose.

They were doomed from the start which makes it even more hilarious. Each new discovery was them just taking the next L. Lol.

Would have liked a good comic to go along with that.

those are features, not bugs. Reputition in fiction can be very effective. In the first place to setting up theme and reminding everyone what is going on, which may be beneficial given the circumstances. And in the second place setting up character. And since this is the third appearance for many of them, and given the dead end nature suggests they will play some role in DAD.

A couple of video related notes now that I am seeing some of it.

-I did not imagine Viago to look like that...like at all.

-Seeing everything in context does add more to a thought I was having about a previous conversation that we were having around here. I am actually starting to wonder if the Tevinter plot line will actually focus on the freeing of the Imperium's slaves and more behind the scenes politics. Yes, the Qunari are the big open threat facing the Imperium with invasion and very high level...and I can imagine that the hero could engage in some behind the scenes sabotage and political wrangling to sabotage that effort...but maybe that is the point. Since the trailer did mention something along the lines of 'people not focusing on the real problems' the Qunari could be the big problem for the magisters but then they could miss their own rot growing in their cities which then leaves us to manuver clandestingly to fix it behind the scenes, as is implied. Further evidence of this is one of the things that waylaid Varric and Harding in act 2 was dealing with Qunari slavers. Which could end up being important to stop Solas given that he was also a bit of a slave freer in his day and age. Kind of makes me wonder if there are any other clues hiddin in here on how to deal with Solas?

- And the big one

On that note too don't know how much BioWare had input into the comics but I get the feeling the answer is not much. Yes some notes were obviously passed between groups but it does not seem like the comics were seperate from any of Bios control. But Absolution had John Epler as a producer and Tevinter Nights was written by the entire DA writing team at the time. And whatever else at least they both felt very Dragon Age...so don't think we can draw too many conclusions about the bad writing in the Missing being there. Other then the usual BioWare tropes.

Actually I feel the opposite is true since they said it was meant to be a lead into the game and it had no real story other than chasing around looking for Solas. As you say above, they reconfirmed the factions we are likely to be working with, the individuals we are likely to encounter and the locations we are likely to visit. I imagine the notes of these aspects were fairly specific, for example the Qunari having got as far as Vyrantium, the weird stuff happening in Arlathan Forest and the names of the two new factions. We also know that they sent notes on how Varric should now look, although for some reason that didn't reach the illustrator on the first issue. However, so far as the writer was concerned, I think he was constrained by what Bioware was willing to allow him to do beyond setting the scene for the next game.

I think the writers and illustrators on previous comic series probably had much greater freedom to introduce new characters, explore their history and develop an interesting narrative purely because the action was not intended as a feed into the game. This was also true of Absolution.

I think the most important things that I got out of this comic series is a refresher on the 4 factions that our PC has their Origins in, give a face to the NPC's we've seen/read in the supplemental material and reinforces why we can't have the Inquisition in the next game. Personally I liked getting motives for the groups and why they might be willing to cooperate.
The Grey Wardens are worried about the Dark spawn who are resurgent and empowered by Red Lyrium.
The Antivan Crows are working against Venatori and Qunari.
The Veil Walkers are trying to contain the Arlathan forest and other areas from becoming like the Pre Veil Age, which is not compatible for mortal life.
The Night Dragons are radical Tevinters who oppose everything about the Venatori and seem more proactive than the Lucerni.
And all these problems can be traced back to Solas' interference and actions, either intentionally or indirectly.
They really are hyping up the involvement of the Factions/Origins for the next game, if all the previous promotions have been any indication.

Maybe you are right, but then I did say that notes were obviously exhanged, but no clear blueprint. 

And the Varric art change is just more evidence of that. BioWare just 'forgot' to mention that hey a lot of time has passed so Varric has gone through significant changes...here's our notes...until after the first issue was out enough to where they couldn't do anything to change it. It would also explain a lot of the little inconsistencies both with itself and with the greater world I have seen in here. Yes, BioWare obviously gave them spark notes of things they had to cover in order to set up the next game but then basically didn't take any direct control of the project to ensure quality or in universe consistancy. That is what I mean. 
Could easily be prisoner of the moment but I like your alternative names far better then some of the stuff we've been getting. Veil Walkers and even Night Dragons has a better ring to it.

Sure but that does ignore a good deal of the hypotheticals. Namely the ones where the Venatori stumble onto or get his power because he is too weak to stop them and then become super powerful themselves which is a much greater threat and again adds enough nuance where one might or might not choose to go after Solas. Now even with these choices I would probably still go after Solas by I certainly understand Varric's motivations now which is not as clear cut as some would make it out to be. 

And the Terminus Systems example is not exactly 1 to 1. First of all the Terminus System Pirates would likely not have the ability or technical know how, certainly after the war, to utilize Reaper tech to their own advantage. They lack the power or expertise. Given the Venatori's interests and their magical abilities they likely would be able to with Solas. 2. Solas is not the Reapers per se. Yes their plans may be more or less the same in its end objectives, maybe, but their tactics are entirely different. The Reapers were portrayed as a very open force of nature type nemesis which just could steam roll over their opposition openly because of all the advantages they had and even had the ability to brainwash other people to serve them to enhance their overall capabilities not neccessarily because they had to. The Reapers are more apprepro to the Qunari, if BioWare continues to hold up to their stated objectives in the game that we have seen from marketing. Solas meanwhile, despite his personal power and brilliance, still has made every indication that he intends to fight a shadow war. He does not want to move openly. He wants to stick in the shadows and play his opponents off one another because despite his personal powers he does not really have the numbers to stand up to all of the Theadosian nations truly unifying against him. 

Edit: I mean hell at this point Solas doesn't even have all the Elves on his side.