So, questions for the Qunari experts here. I've been trying to read up on their lore and whatnot - is there any confirmation as to what happened to their original homeland? I've read conflicting ideas; their philosophy conflicted with others, so they left...or that there was instead a blight there so they had to retreat (and that ogres are darkspawned Qunari).
Is there any canon lore confirmed about that? It gets me wondering what happened to the original people in Par Volen and if any survived, escaped, or are still there. And, if there are forces on their original homeland powerful enough to make the Qunari leave, what are they like? Exploring that stuff would make a kick ass expansion or DLC content for this game.
Just to note, it is very unlikely that it was a blight that caused the Qunari to leave. Blights are generally human-noted events, and all of the records place humans at the center of the conflicts. I guess it would be very easy for Bioware's writers to go back and use a Blight as a jumping off point for connections between humans and Qunari, but there's nothing suggested that the Qunari have ever really had much to do with the darkspawn (aside from the very rare Ogres bred from Qunari broodmothers).
The very idea of "Old Gods" and darkspawn blights is a human-centric/area-centric mythology created in-fiction in Thedas. The Qunari in the North may have never experienced any of the effects of the darkspawn nor had any of the myths reproduced in their own culture. Think of it like Christianity and Native Americans...until white people invaded North America, the mythological standards and knowledge of differing natural biological forms (like elephants and giraffes) of the original inhabitants would have been limited and otherwise explained by their own myths.
I'm still not super clear on The Qun and Qunari philosophy, could never get Sten to like me. They value efficiency and strength, everyone has a role and followers live on a commune together? Do they proselytize or scorn nonbelievers? And how much smaller are they now in comparison to before the Qunari Wars?
If the DA universe was advanced enough, Qunari might view society as analogous to a computer. Every piece of a computer is built exactly for one purpose and it excels at that purpose. If the piece tried to be something else it would fail miserably. If the pieces were allowed to choose their role it would be chaos and the computer would fall apart.
Qunari don't proselytize, but if someone is interested in the Qun they will educate them on the tenets. If someone wants to convert the Qunari give them a role and that's that. They largely view nonbelievers with disgust and, as you said, scorn.
It's hard to know what their numbers are really, but they are still formidable enough that only Tevinter ever dares to fuck with them.
All I know about Qunari is that Sten was a dick who never even wanted to talk and I only kept him around because he could kill things.
Even though they play it up like you're a head honcho with all this power, I have a bad feeling that this game will be 100% between choosing to support assholes or choosing to support the other assholes and not having much personal agency. Hopefully people are (unlike in DA:O) at least cognizant of the fact the blight is active and if all they do is bitch at each other they'll all die together which makes their squabbles pointless.
All I know about Qunari is that Sten was a dick who never even wanted to talk and I only kept him around because he could kill things.
Even though they play it up like you're a head honcho with all this power, I have a bad feeling that this game will be 100% between choosing to support assholes or choosing to support the other assholes and not having much personal agency. Hopefully people are (unlike in DA:O) at least cognizant of the fact the blight is active and if all they do is bitch at each other they'll all die together which makes their squabbles pointless.
Actually there's a very cool scene if you take Sten with you where he thinks you aren't capable of being a leader any longer and tries to take power by force. I was pissed with him since then but respected the size of his balls. Also I gave him a cookie and he practically fell in love with me
My only concern now is how big of a deal my choices in past games and characters I met play a role in DA:I I played the Keep to help me with that, but I'll probably still need to brush up on that.
This + Kotaku Guide + Shinobi's OT have greatly boosted my confidence and interest in this game!
Awakening and Stone Prisoner by far. None of the others are all that important or very meaty, mostly just a couple hours long each. Soldier's Keep is OK, but nothing amazing, same for Return to Ostagar. Leliana's Song is meh.
Hornless Qunari are a rare genetic trait and are considered special/destined for greatness. As well they are often used to deal with the non Qun world due to their lack of horns so they fit a little better, giants with grey skin and no horns is better than giants with grey skin and huge horns.
dont forget awakenings, thats some important dlc, but otherwise the other dlc is meh, warden's tower might be if they decide to ever use Avernus again, that dwarf one was a waste (only thing it had was the hardest boss on nightmare in the entire game +dlc)
Is there sort of an accepted canon of choices at this point? Obviously Leliana living given you can kill her in Origins. But I saw some comics are out with King Alistair. Kinda wondering if I should switch up my Keep if the accepted lore is so different from my own (he's an exiled drunk for me). Don't want to miss out on anything important or cool.
So.....I have skimmed the thread.....but do I need to play DA1 and 2 in order to understand the game and/or not feel lost? Or should I just go ahead and read one of these "summaries" of sorts and be on with it?
So.....I have skimmed the thread.....but do I need to play DA1 and 2 in order to understand the game and/or not feel lost? Or should I just go ahead and read one of these "summaries" of sorts and be on with it?
So.....I have skimmed the thread.....but do I need to play DA1 and 2 in order to understand the game and/or not feel lost? Or should I just go ahead and read one of these "summaries" of sorts and be on with it?
It depends on how much you are willing to read. If you give the Lore thread and the Wiki an hour or two you should be set with the basics.
Personally, I've been spending a couple days reading further, going through one of the books, etc. It's a pretty deep universe, if you're interested it wouldn't hurt to bide your time by wading through the many useful free resources on who's who and what's what. It's quite a lot of fun, and I was never super into the previous games.
Is there sort of an accepted canon of choices at this point? Obviously Leliana living given you can kill her in Origins. But I saw some comics are out with King Alistair. Kinda wondering if I should switch up my Keep if the accepted lore is so different from my own (he's an exiled drunk for me). Don't want to miss out on anything important or cool.
No, there isn't any kind of hard canon. They have a default state that will load in DAI, but even that is different from what is used in the expanded materials like the books and comics.
Basically the choices you make in the games are at the top of the heap, they trump everything else. If the things you did in DAO and DA2 happen to align so that they fit with what happens in the books and comics then those things happened in those ways. But if what you did in those games doesn't align with the books and comics then those events did not happen or did not happen in those ways described. We'll have to see exactly how that works out in DAI with things like Alistair as King going off on an adventure with
Is there any theory on what would happen if a non-darkspawn race stumbled across a sleeping old god and attempted to wake it? Would it attempt to fight against the darkspawn and remain uncorrupted? Are the old gods naturally evil?
Reading the OP and the Kotaku piece has me really interested in the story. I didn't realize how interesting of a world it is. Really looking forward to Inquisition!
Is there any theory on what would happen if a non-darkspawn race stumbled across a sleeping old god and attempted to wake it? Would it attempt to fight against the darkspawn and remain uncorrupted? Are the old gods naturally evil?
Reading the OP and the Kotaku piece has me really interested in the story. I didn't realize how interesting of a world it is. Really looking forward to Inquisition!
Assuming it would even wake up, it would probably just be a super radical dragon with some kind of agenda. Also probably a dick, because in the Legacy DLC for Dragon Age II that
The Maker's Golden City was already tainted by the Darkspawn before Corypheus and the other Tevinter Magisters worshiping Dumat stepped inside it- implying that Dumat (or at least someone else who could use their belief in Dumat) manipulated them into their corruption and releasing the Darkspawn on Thedas.
Assuming it would even wake up, it would probably just be a super radical dragon with some kind of agenda. Also probably a dick, because in the Legacy DLC for Dragon Age II that
The Maker's Golden City was already tainted by the Darkspawn before Corypheus and the other Tevinter Magisters worshiping Dumat stepped inside it- implying that Dumat (or at least someone else who could use their belief in Dumat) manipulated them into their corruption and releasing the Darkspawn on Thedas.
So what changes when an old god is corrupted? If they're already evil, wouldn't their goals be in line with what the darkspawn want?The darkspawn hearing the call of the old gods gives the impression that they're connected, that the old gods would already have the same intent as the darkspawn. Why would they then be corrupted when the darkspawn actually reach them? When I hear corruption I usually think of something being very warped or tainted from it's original form. If the old gods are already evil it seems strange that they could be corrupted from evil into evil. Sorry if i'm misinterpreting how they're using a concept or the like, I find the Black/Golden City and the related lore to be really interesting.
So what changes when an old god is corrupted? If they're already evil, wouldn't their goals be in line with what the darkspawn want?The darkspawn hearing the call of the old gods gives the impression that they're connected, that the old gods would already have the same intent as the darkspawn. Why would they then be corrupted when the darkspawn actually reach them? When I hear corruption I usually think of something being very warped or tainted from it's original form. If the old gods are already evil it seems strange that they could be corrupted from evil into evil. Sorry if i'm misinterpreting how they're using a concept or the like, I find the Black/Golden City and the related lore to be really interesting.
Well, "evil" is variable. There's evil in the sense of
let's mess with our pet magisters and send them into the Golden/Black City, and then there's evil in the sense of "kill absolutely everything."
Plus, we don't actually know what the deal is with
the original Magisters; Corypheus could have been full of it, or Dumat could have genuinely not known what was going to be there when they got into the Golden/Black City.
So what changes when an old god is corrupted? If they're already evil, wouldn't their goals be in line with what the darkspawn want?The darkspawn hearing the call of the old gods gives the impression that they're connected, that the old gods would already have the same intent as the darkspawn. Why would they then be corrupted when the darkspawn actually reach them? When I hear corruption I usually think of something being very warped or tainted from it's original form. If the old gods are already evil it seems strange that they could be corrupted from evil into evil. Sorry if i'm misinterpreting how they're using a concept or the like, I find the Black/Golden City and the related lore to be really interesting.
Perhaps- the Archdemon from Origins was Urthemiel, the Old God of Beauty which is far from a title that you'd give something inherently evil. It's also worth pointing out that the primary devotees to The Old Gods were the people of Tevinter, who are essentially the Dragon Age world's Nazi Germany, and explicitly value traits like greed and cruelty as virtues in their culture, which maybe sheds some light on why they would deem the creatures worth worshiping.
It's also worth pointing out, that as an in-universe religion, we don't even actually know if the Archdemon is a corrupted Old God for sure, or if there even are real Old Gods- that's just the generally accepted view in Thedas. It's also totally possible that the Old Gods were actually just a super powerful species of Dragon from the times when the world was young, and have died off- there aren't many Dragons left in the world as is now. Even if those dragons that survived were dicks, if they were a sentient race, they could be corrupted by the taint, same as any regular Darkspawn. As for the Black City stuff (Legacy ending spoilers),
they only kind of touch on it briefly at the very end of the DLC, and haven't really illuminated from there. All we know is that the core of the Chant of Light is both true in general, but colored with lies to frame the Imperium and mages as at fault. Considering that Corypheus himself bodysurfs away at the end of the DLC (Well, we don't know that for sure, but the sinister smile and several references to not being sure he died make it pretty clear Larius/Janeka is possessed), he's probably going to be back in Inquisition and want answers himself. It's possible that one of these villainous forces that has tore open the Fade in Inquisition is responsible for the manipulation of some kind, based on its God Complex talk in some of the trailers.
We'll have to see for sure, but the Dragon Age II DLCs dropped some pretty substantial lore bombs and Legacy really wasn't given enough time to really clarify it.
Morrigan seems to believe the Old Gods were not inherently evil. At the very least she is keen to re-birth an uncorrupted Old God into the world, whether you let her or not.
Since one reviewer said all the first two games' plot threads got tied up, I'm interested to see how the OGB plotline plays out.
Morrigan seems to believe the Old Gods were not inherently evil. At the very least she is keen to re-birth an uncorrupted Old God into the world, whether you let her or not.
Since one reviewer said all the first two games' plot threads got tied up, I'm interested to see how the OGB plotline plays out.
Hard to say. I guess. If Morrigan thinks the Old Gods were chaotic neutral - as she implies in the conversation before the Dark Ritual - because of Flemeth, then I think that probably reflects how Flemeth feels about them as well.
Call me optimistic but I think Flemeth's going to be on our side at the end of days. Then again the Pantheon thought the same thing about Fen'Harel...
Speaking of Flemeth, have we learned any more details about her motivations as of the beginning of Inquisition? The Wiki states that, according to Morrigan, she is connected to the blight and desires "something much more horrifying" than even immortality. Is she closely related to the Old Gods? Having not finished the previous games, I'm not really sure what her role is in this story on a grander scale. Maybe that's not known?
Also, are there any other living Flemeth daughters outside of Morrigan?
Speaking of Flemeth, have we learned any more details about her motivations as of the beginning of Inquisition? The Wiki states that, according to Morrigan, she is connected to the blight and desires "something much more horrifying" than even immortality. Is she closely related to the Old Gods? Having not finished the previous games, I'm not really sure what her role is in this story on a grander scale. Maybe that's not known?
Also, are there any other living Flemeth daughters outside of Morrigan?
There was one in the comics series starring Anders, Isabella, and Varric that takes place between DA2 and DA:I so I'd bet there are more. She's dead by the end of it though.
Who is the true, number 1 big bad anyway?
I can't remember why the hell we were questing for. From the Warden to the Hawke champion era, I felt like we were just killing random demons because they look ugly.
There was no true leadership within the demons, just random commanders whom were a bunch of xenophobe about humans and wanted to kill us because it was in their blood to do so.
I remember from my first playthrough of Origins that I romanced Morrigan and had a baby with her. However I was under the assumption that the baby prevented the battle with the archdemon, but the Battle of Denerum section says that the Warden defeated the archdemon, and there's no other option regarding the baby.
I remember from my first playthrough of Origins that I romanced Morrigan and had a baby with her. However I was under the assumption that the baby prevented the battle with the archdemon, but the Battle of Denerum section says that the Warden defeated the archdemon, and there's no other option regarding the baby.
It prevents your death, but not the actual battle, I believe.
It prevents your death by putting the soul of the Archdemon into the child, rather than into you (which kills you, presumably). I'm confused why that would kill a wardenbecause that soul can't mix with the taint/human blood/a bit of archdemon blood?
I think it just kills you because you're human. The idea being if just a normal human kills it, the soul will go into the nearest Darkspawn. Since Grey Wardens are kinda Dark Spawnish, they act as a magnet, but they can't really contain it, and both die.
I read the Kotaku lore guide and one thing I didn't grasp. Are the mages ruling the Tevinter Imperium also controlled by the Templars or is Tevinter completely under their control (mage country so to speak)?
I remember from my first playthrough of Origins that I romanced Morrigan and had a baby with her. However I was under the assumption that the baby prevented the battle with the archdemon, but the Battle of Denerum section says that the Warden defeated the archdemon, and there's no other option regarding the baby.
I think it just kills you because you're human. The idea being if just a normal human kills it, the soul will go into the nearest Darkspawn. Since Grey Wardens are kinda Dark Spawnish, they act as a magnet, but they can't really contain it, and both die.
This is correct. The Darkspawn taint ties Wardens to the Darkspawn and to the Archdemon. It's why they can sense their presence and hear their whispers / see the "dreams" of the Archdemon.
The reason that Dark Ritual works is basically "because magic". Morrigan does something that allows her unborn child the ability to contain the Old God's soul.
I read the Kotaku lore guide and one thing I didn't grasp. Are the mages ruling the Tevinter Imperium also controlled by the Templars or is Tevinter completely under their control (mage country so to speak)?
I read the Kotaku lore guide and one thing I didn't grasp. Are the mages ruling the Tevinter Imperium also controlled by the Templars or is Tevinter completely under their control (mage country so to speak)?
I'm kind of confused by what Dragon Age Keep is, and the Kotaku lore guide didn't help. Is it just dialog options with little/no context like Kotaku implies? If so, is it actually needed if Inquisition is your first game anyway?
