Yeah, there's actually quite a handful of options on how to deal with Connor. And yes, this one is just straight up sad. :(
Sebastian is interested in helping Fenris and being his friend. Fenris is very lost, even after he completes his revenge and gains his freedom for good, he feels very little satisfaction and expresses he doesn't know what to do with his life now.
Sebastian grew up as an aimless young man that just indulged in drinking and sleeping with women. It wasn't until he met Elthina who became a surrogate mother to him and he became dedicated to his faith that he finally felt his life had purpose. I think with everything Fenris has gone through, Sebastian wishes to help him the way he himself was helped. And Fenris is exploring going to the Chantry and prayer, he's clearly looking for something to give his life meaning, or at the very least a way to cope with all the trauma he's gone through.
I think it's clear Sebastian sees a lot of potential in Fenris and he respects him a great deal for overcoming the trials and tribulations his life has thrown at him. Sebastian and Fenris have a very wholesome friendship in the end, and I'm happy Sebastian is looking out for him.
^I was thinking about Blackwall too and at least he expresses extreme remorse for what he did. He has such a low opinion of himself, that I can at least recognize he understands the weight of his actions.
Nathaniel is my favorite Awakening companion, and one of my favorite companions in the DA series in general, and he deserved to have more appearances imo
I genuinely adore his character arc. How he goes from hating the Warden & threatens that there's a real possibility he may betray you if you recruit him, to him reuniting with his sister & learning about everything his father did, to accepting the truth & coming to terms with it all. And the cherry on top, I love the friendship he forms with the Warden by the end.
Arl Howe may have been trash, but Nathaniel's goal to reclaim the Howe name to be something worthy of respect is admirable. He's got a lot of work ahead of him, and I think it's really cool that one of his best epilogues involves him saving Fergus Cousland's life.
I have a headcanon that Nathaniel becomes one of my Warden's most trusted friends and an exemplary Grey Warden that he becomes her Warden-Constable (second-in-command).
And heck, maybe he even takes over as Warden-Commander by the time the Warden has disappeared around DAI's time.
I will say though that people definitely have good reason for hating Velanna. I mean my main gripe with her is she was killing innocent people on the road because she *thought* they may have been responsible for her sister's disappearance, which we know they weren't, and she never even expresses remorse for her actions. She's incredibly arrogant and her personality is grating, she's just not my cup of tea.
I'm assuming "Red" you're referring to is Leliana, but you do not need to purchase the DLC to romance her. That DLC just adds an extra look into her background, that's all.
And yes, hopefully someday we'll see a remaster for both DAO and DA2. It would be nice to be able to play them on modern consoles.
^I think it's possible his spirit could be trapped in the Fade, like Niall's is from the Circle of Magi mission from Origins.
^Yeah we're talking about The Silent Grove graphic novels where Alistair goes on a journey to find Maric. Maric actually isn't discovered to be dead, he's been hooked up to a Tevinter device called the Magrallen that has been draining his blood for years. Varric damages the device and everyone is pulled into the Fade, that's where Alistair meets Maric. Once they escape the Fade, Alistair tries to free Maric of the device, but his real body has deteriorated over the years of being hooked up to it and it's pretty much the only thing keeping him alive at that point. Ultimately, Alistair realizes that the only way to free Maric is to destroy the device and let him finally die.
I'm saying in the case that both Alistair and Loghain are dead in a world state, Maric's fate is likely never uncovered because I don't believe Anora or anyone else would go out to search for him.
Now I suppose it's possible that in this event, Maric could potentially still be alive and hooked up to the device, or he could deteriorate and die a few years later from being so drained by it. I'm not sure about that.
^Yeah, as I said before, I also don't see Anora going on that journey either. I agree that Maric probably still dies and everything, I just think no one ever finds out what happened with Maric's disappearance and his fate remains a mystery still.
^Considering the next game will be based in Tevinter, they'll probably handle the new Divine's actions through codex entries and dialogue. So they've got some buffer room for now, but who knows what they'll do if we ever return to the south and they have to show each of their changes in action.
Whoever is Divine is not set in stone canon, no. It varies between Leliana, Cassandra, and Vivienne and BioWare has said moving forward they are trying not to undo player choices in future games.
In the scene you're describing, yes Leliana is still the Divine. However, she's also still a member of or former member of (depending on player-choice) the Inquisition and is dedicated to helping stop Solas so she's present at the meeting. I'm assuming she's wearing her Spymaster outfit because it's more inconspicuous than her Divine robes.
^I would assume Maric is never found and the events of that journey never occurred. Although I do have a friend that theories that Anora embarks on the journey in Alistair's stead. It's an interesting idea, but I personally don't see that happening, so I think Maric's disappearance remains unsolved. If Loghain remains alive, I could potentially see him trying to go on that journey, but in the event both he and Alistair are dead, I just don't see it happening.
"BioWare canon" refers to the world state present in the comics and novels. For example, in "BioWare canon" Alistair is king. This isn't to say that their choices are the "official canon," they just simply do it to make writing the comics easier. They've stated every player's own world state is equally valid.
Also, events in the comics that occur are canon, it's just certain elements may differ due to player choice. Using Alistair as an example again, in his comics where he is king he searches for and finds Maric in the Fade, but if you import a world state into DAI where Alistair is the Warden contact he will still mention having met Maric in the Fade. By this, it can be assumed that he still went on his journey to search for Maric, but the events leading there differed based on his status as a Warden vs. being king.
That being said, my own canon world state doesn't line up with BioWare canon. 😅
Going by the trailers and comics, Varric and Harding are pretty much a given. And considering the location, I think Dorian is highly likely as well, since we'll probably need an ally involved in Tevinter politics.
Anyone else is really up in the air, and depending on who it is, they're gonna need a really good reason to be there. Although at least for the Inquisition crew, if we're working as new agents for them, I could see any of the companions showing up to lend a hand. It'd be way harder to explain any DAO or DA2 companions showing up. However, considering the Blue Wraith comics, Fenris could potentially show up, depending on if they scrap his potential death in DA2 or explain that he didn't actually die because his lyrium markings saved him.
If those leaks about Weisshaupt lead to anything, then we could be looking at another Warden Alistair/Loghain/Stroud/Hawke situation.
For the most part, we'll probably get written cameos via codex entries and other characters talking about past companions and what they've been up to.
Although heck, with Dorian's communication crystal, we may even be able to have a conversation with our own Inquisitor. 👀
@Godzillavkk First off, fictional fantasy races DO NOT equal real life marginalized or oppressed people, do not conflate the two because that is incredibly outlandish and disrespectful. This is also not a discussion thread for Harry Potter or Hogwarts Legacy. And bringing up Birth of a Nation is wildly inappropriate for this discussion and I do not know how many times we have to keep warning you about this type of behavior, but it's getting incredibly tiring.
After reading through the discussion here, I may as well add this: when you ignore canonical evidence in favor of affirming your own bias or start arguments to prove a point that only exists in your own ideas, it makes having a discussion with you feel incredibly disingenuous and frustrating.
You may hate Solas to your heart's content, but as this is the DA Wiki and we discuss canon lore here, you cannot ignore it in favor of your own ideas when evidence has been shown to the contrary or is currently unknown. Even if you end up being correct and Solas kills a former friend in DADW or attempts to kill off survivors of the Veil being torn down, it doesn't justify this constant denial of canon evidence that we have access to right here and now.
Not everyone has the same ideas as you or agrees with everything you say, so if you are going to engage with this community, then you have to learn to accept that and be willing to agree to disagree instead of it constantly spiraling into arguments or inappropriate off-topic subjects.
You can always express your ideas in a more conductive way that keeps the discussion engaging, for example:
"It's true that Solas has had a handful of opportunities to kill former allies in the past and chose not to, but I could see as he gets closer to accomplishing his goals, his mercy towards them could wane especially if they continue to stand in his way. For example, if the Inquisitor/Varric/(insert name here) were the only ones between Solas and some McGuffin™ he needed during a climactic part of the story, I could see him not taking the chance to lose it and end up killing a former friend/ally for it."
For the record, this is an idea I actually believe could be plausible going into the next game.
^^You may be referring to a War Table mission that involves Fergus Cousland inviting the Inquisition to Highever for a vigil for Divine Justinia? That's the only tangentially possible thing I can think of, besides the letter from the HoF themselves.
And to add to your point, the human from the Magi Origin, Amell, is related to Hawke and gets mentioned in DA2 as well.
Also in DAI, the situation in Orzammar is mentioned by some dwarves during WEWH. If the Dwarf Noble is alive and Harrowmont is king, he has a small statue of them built and when they go missing, Harrowmont declares them as dead. If Bhelen is king, he spares no expense and builds a large statue of his sibling and when they go missing, Bhelen refuses to declare them dead and vows to search for them.
For the Dwarf Commoner, King Harrowmont builds a statue for them in the Hall of Heroes. On the other side, King Bhelen married Rica Brosca (the Warden's sister) and has also built a statue of the HoF, but has it placed right in front of the palace instead.
Now on this topic, I think what would have made the Dalish Elf Origin way better would be if the Dalish clan we go to later in the game to recruit was actually our Warden's clan from the beginning.
A majority of the other origins involve returning to their beginning areas and sorting out a main plot conflict and reuniting with family, friends, and mentors of those particular origins. The Human Noble doesn't return to Highever, but confronting Howe personally is more satisfying and you have extra options at the Landsmeet to become queen or prince-consort, and again meeting Nathaniel in Awakening is much more personal.
Yes, the Dalish origin is one of two origins where you can encounter Darkspawn before joining the Grey Wardens, but once you do join them, the DE's heads up about the Blight gets pretty evened out. Finding the Eluvian is unique and gives more perspective about Merrill and that whole situation later in DA2. In fact, you get more callbacks for your own clan in DA2 than you do in Origins, and I think that's a shame. The only thing that happens after the origin is done is you eventually meet Ghoul Tamlen, which is sad if you care about him, but has no bearing on the plot as a whole.
Anyway, I think the Dalish Elf Origin is fine and has some neat stuff happen during it, but it sucks that there are no callbacks or follow-up with it. It's interesting, but in terms of the topic of which Origin connects best to the rest of the game? In my opinion, once the Dalish Elf Origin is complete, it's relevancy ends. Again, this could have been remedied if the Dalish clan we meet later was our Warden's clan.
I think most of the Origins are fairly equal in terms of importance, connection, and callbacks to the rest of the game, but I do think the Dalish Elf Origin is probably the weakest of them for reasons stated above. But other than that, I don't think I have a clear favorite. 🤔 My canon Warden is an elven mage, but they're all very solid and fun.
^Additionally, in one of the comics, Dorian no longer uses slaves in his estate, he instead employs the people as servants and pays them a wage. It's said that he credits his time in the south with changing his outlook on slavery.
^^Thedas is the continent and Ferelden, Orlais, and Tevinter are all countries located in it, so Thehumaneldar's point still stands.
A bit of a tangent, as far as the LGBT point goes, there's no evidence to suggest that things like same-sex relationships under the regular Chantry in Ferelden and Orlais are forbidden. We had a big discussion that dissected this topic in the DA Discord server, and the only caveat seemed to be that nobles are pretty much required to produce heirs, but as long as they do that it's not unheard of for them to take on lovers. For the common folk, there doesn't seem to be any legal or religious laws that prohibits relationships like that either.
I mean Leliana and Josephine are both Andrastian and are both bisexual and could very well be in same-sex relationships depending on player-choice and there's no issues or drama arising from that. Especially with Leliana who is one of the most devout characters in the game, she was a lay sister, turned Left Hand of the Divine, and can possibly become Divine herself, and yet she can be in a relationship with a female Warden and everyone treats it as perfectly normal.
The only thing we don't know currently is how they would treat a transgender individual because the only 2 existing trans characters are from Tevinter and even those are two completely different scenarios where Krem was almost killed and Maevaris seems to be doing just fine as a Magister.
Getting back on topic, although I suppose an argument could be made that because Maevaris is a Magister, she has the power and privilege to do as she pleases, while Krem and his family were slaves so obviously he'd be targeted in more ways than one.
In terms of what good there is in Tevinter and what we'll be fighting for, I think it's obviously going to be mostly for the people, mostly non-magic and lower level mages, that are in slavery or at the very least used and abused by the more prominent and corrupt Magisters of Tevinter. That's pretty much a given, seeing as how many Magisters just see their slaves as blood filled sacks to torture and use to fuel their blood magic.
However, in terms of the Magisters themselves, there is in fact hope that exists that Tevinter can potentially be reformed. Dorian and Maevaris co-founded the Lucerni faction that is opposed to corruption and seeks to redeem Tevinter, and have even caught the attention of other like-minded Magisters and minor noble houses. They are definitely a small faction and growth is slow, but we're used to standing with the little guys so I think we'll definitely be in contact with Dorian going into DADW.
^Yeah, I mean my personal opinion is that the Qun is really messed up in a lot of ways and on top of that incredibly, unnecessarily complicated at times. It's a lot of hoops to jump through for their lore a lot of the time, but it is what it is I suppose. 🤷♀️
We'll see what new wacky ideas they come up with for DA:DW 😂
Getting back on topic, the only other thing I can think of is Shapeshifting magic. I've seen conversations about it used on this topic, but it still comes with a lot of caveats. For one, we've only ever seen characters transform into animals, giant insects, and of course dragons.
Morrigan does imply, or at least theorize, that she could potentially shapeshift into another person, but she's never tried it. And even if she could, it's a normal spell that costs mana (not just gameplay mana) and when the mage runs out and they are too weak hold on to their form, they would change back. Obviously it remains unknown if changing parts of the body is even possible and let alone if it would remain permanent.
^
"Hence my giant ass disbelief that is how the Qun operates."
I'm using confirmed lore when I made my previous points and it is literally confirmed canon that the Qun determines gender via profession. A person's talents and skills determine their profession, and their profession determines their gender thereafter.
All warriors in the Antaam are male, ergo a trans woman warrior would be considered male in their society because her profession determines her gender.
They would not go out of their way to accommodate her and find her a job that aligns with her personal identity. They would determine that her skills would strengthen their military and should not be squandered elsewhere, and she would be forced to live in a male role.
One of the most basic principles of the Qun is they don't waste anything or anyone, if it can be helped. The individual is expected to conform to the ideology, to make the whole stronger.