Dragon Age

For other uses, see Dragon Age (disambiguation).

Dragon Age is a fantasy role-playing franchise developed by BioWare. The series focuses on the continent of Thedas, tells stories spanning multiple nations and various time periods. The series is named for the time it primarily takes place in; the Age of the dragon.

Overview

Dragon Age was first announced during the 2004 E3 expo. It currently has 23 installments, three of which are video games (as well as one expansion), two books, six comics, one film, three mobile or flash games, four novels, two tabletop role-playing game and two web series. The newest addition to the series is the book, Dragon Age Library Edition, which was released on June 4, 2014. The next installment will be the video game, Dragon Age: Inquisition, and is scheduled for release on November 18, 2014.

Dragon Age installments

Video games

The first game of the Dragon Age series, Dragon Age: Origins, was released on November 3, 2009. The expansion pack, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, was released on March 16, 2010.

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This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Origins.

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The game focuses on the Fifth Blight, a cataclysmic event where twisted creatures called darkspawn rise up and leave only death and corruption in their wake. The player character is a Grey Warden, a member of an ancient order who historically are the only ones who have stemmed the tide of evil. As well as defeating the Archdemon who leads the darkspawn horde, the Warden must unite the shattered kingdom of Ferelden, which is in the grip of a civil war.

The second game of the series, Dragon Age II, was released on March 8, 2011.

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This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age II.

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The game spans ten years, and focuses on the adventures of Hawke, a Fereldan refugee who flees the Fifth Blight. They become a citizen of Kirkwall, and must reclaim their noble wealth and heritage by hiring on to a lucrative expedition. They are later tossed into a maelstrom of chaos and destruction, forced to intervene in a battle with the Qunari, and must then desperately attempt to ease the growing unrest between the templars and mages of the Free Marches city-state.

Books

The first volume of the guide book, Dragon Age: The World of Thedas Volume 1, was released on April 30, 2013 and revolves around Dragon Age lore. The first volume of Dragon Age Library Edition was released on June 4, 2014 and is the hardcover edition of Dragon Age: The Silent Grove, Dragon Age: Those Who Speak and Dragon Age: Until We Sleep. Furthermore the art book named The Art of Dragon Age: Inquisition is scheduled for release on November 18, 2014 and the lore book Dragon Age: The World of Thedas Volume 2 on April 21, 2015.

Comics

There are six comic series. The first one, Penny Arcade webcomic created by Penny Arcade and released on 4 September 2009 follows a group of templars trying to find Flemeth. The second comic to be released was Dragon Age by IDW, published on 1 March 2010, and following the origin of a templar named Duty. The next comic was also created by Penny Arcade, Penny Arcade Awakening comic; it takes place directly before the start of the expansion to Dragon Age: Origins, and follows Nathaniel Howe as he sneaks into the Vigil's Keep.

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This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: The Silent Grove.

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The last three to date are part of one series written by David Gaider and published by Dark Horse Comics. King Alistair investigates his father's disappearance with the help of Isabela and Varric. The search continues through Dragon Age: The Silent Grove, Dragon Age: Those Who Speak, and Dragon Age: Until We Sleep. The comics were released 22nd February 2012, 22nd August 2012, and 27 March 2013 respectively.

Films

BioWare has joined with FUNimation Entertainment to develop an anime film set in the Dragon Age universe, called Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker. It was expected to be released for home video in 2011, but was delayed to 2012. It was finally released straight to DVD on 11 February 2012 in Japan, 29 May 2012 in the US, and 1 October the same year in Europe. The anime focuses on Cassandra Pentaghast, and her early career as a member of the Seekers of Truth of the Chantry.

Flash and mobile games

There are two flash games which are respectively tied to the two video games. Dragon Age Journeys was released in 3 November 2009 and was tied to Dragon Age: Origins. Dragon Age Legends was released in 18 March 2011 and was tied to Dragon Age II.

The mobile game, Heroes of Dragon Age, was released on December 5, 2013.

Novels

There are five published novels: Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne, Dragon Age: The Calling, Dragon Age: Asunder, Dragon Age: The Masked Empire and Dragon Age: Last Flight. The first three novels were written by David Gaider, the lead writer for Dragon Age series, while the fourth one is written by Patrick Weekes and the fifth one by Liane Merciel.

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This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne.

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The first novel focuses on the latest years of the Orlesian occupation of Ferelden and the rebellion that Maric Theirin led after the death of his mother and to his rise to throne. It was published on March 3, 2009 and is the prequel to the events of Dragon Age: Origins.

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This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: The Calling.

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The second novel focuses on the mission of a group of Orlesian Grey Wardens who venture along with King Maric underground in search of Bregan. It was published on October 13, 2009 and is the prequel to the events of Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening.

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This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Asunder.

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The third novel centres around the prelude of the Mage-Templar War with the separation of the mages and the templars from the Chantry, and was released on 20th December 2011 and is the prequel to the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition.

Tabletop RPGs

Green Ronin have released two pen and paper RPGs based on the world of Dragon Age and a third is due to be released.

Web series

There are two shows released up to date. One, Dragon Age: Warden's Fall follows Kristoff as he investigates the darkspawn threat in Amaranthine before the arrival of the Warden-Commander. The second one, Dragon Age: Redemption is a live-action series that focuses on Tallis on a mission to capture a Saarebas. Both are prequels to the Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening expansion and Mark of the Assassin DLC respectively. Warden's Fall was being released on a weekly basis for five weeks following 22 May 2010; and the Redemption for six weeks starting 11 October 2011.

Chronological order

• Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne
• Dragon Age: The Calling
• Dragon Age: Dawn of The Seeker
• Dragon Age by IDW
• Dragon Age by Penny Arcade
• Dragon Age: Origins
• Dragon Age: Journeys
• Dragon Age: The Warden's Fall
• Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening by Penny Arcade
• Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
• Dragon Age II
• Dragon Age: Legends
• Dragon Age: Redemption
• Dragon Age Library Edition - volume 1
  • Dragon Age: The Silent Grove
  • Dragon Age: Those Who Speak
  • Dragon Age: Until We Sleep
• Dragon Age: Asunder
• Dragon Age: The Masked Empire
• Dragon Age: Last Flight
• Dragon Age: Inquisition

Installments without a set time period

• Heroes of Dragon Age
• Dragon Age: The World of Thedas Volume 1
• Dragon Age: The World of Thedas Volume 2
• Dragon Age by Green Ronin
• The Art of Dragon Age: Inquisition

Major characters

While Dragon Age aims to focus on the world, and the conflicts within it, some characters inevitably become prominent figure of the series.

• The Warden: Protagonist of Dragon Age: Origins, and member of the Grey Wardens, an elite order of warriors devoted to eradicating the monstrous darkspawn.
• Hawke: Protagonist of Dragon Age II, a Fereldan refugee who rises to power in the city-state of Kirkwall, and is involved in events that will change the world forever.
• The Inquisitor: Protagonist of Dragon Age: Inquisition, leader of the restored Inquisition dedicated to ending the chaos caused by Veil tears across Thedas.
• Flemeth: The fabled Witch of the Wilds remains an enigma, and her existence is still widely disbelieved, though she has saved the lives of many world-changing figures during the Dragon Age.
• Morrigan: A powerful and mysterious apostate and daughter of Flemeth, Morrigan aids The Warden at the behest of her mother.
• Alistair: Grey Warden and companion to The Warden, Alistair is also the bastard son of King Maric of Ferelden.
• Leliana: A former bard turned Chantry sister, this deadly temptress accompanies the Warden, and rises to become the left hand of Divine Justinia V, carrying out her actions throughout Thedas.

Canon and continuity

The epilogues in the Dragon Age game series are not meant to be canonical: they should be treated as rumors or hearsay. Companions such as Oghren or Anders may die depending on the player's character choices, but they become major characters in another campaign, the latter is always a Grey Warden who defects before the events of Dragon Age II.

Any story written outside of the game series establish its own canon, regardless of the game events such as Dragon Age: Asunder in which Leliana, Wynne and Shale are alive, or in the Dragon Age: The Silent Grove comic where Alistair is the King of Ferelden. David Gaider explains:

The nature of a novel means it must establish its own canon, and the novel's canon has no relation to the game's canon (such as it is). If you wish, think of the novel as an alternate universe where things took a specific path with regards to Wynne or other events. How those events would have played out in the world of your personal game might have been very different. I am not, however, telling that particular story.

Gaider also stated that "nothing happening in the novel [...] will directly tie into a future game. They are tangentially related at best."