AlthoughDragon Age: Originsfocused on the Grey Wardens and their attempts to stop the Fifth Blight from overrunning Ferelden,Dragon Age 4could see the organization put under even greater strain. By taking players to the Tevinter Imperium for the first time, the upcoming game has the potential to reveal many of the group’s secrets, while taking players to some of the most important locations in the history of the Grey Wardens.
InDragon Age 4, the Grey Wardens are trapped between a rock and a hard place, and the impact its status will have in the new game likely cannot be understated.
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The State Of The Grey Wardens
The Grey Wardenshave always performed a delicate balancing act. Only a Grey Warden can slay an Archdemon, ending a Darkspawn Blight. However, in order to become a Grey Warden initiates must drink Darkspawn blood and allow themselves to become corrupted by “the Taint” that affects all Darkspawn. This gives them the ability to sense Darkspawn and receive the psychic transmissions of an Archdemon. However, it also eventually leads to the Calling.
The Callingtakes place between 10 and 30 years after the Joining ritual according to Alistair inOrigins. It eventually leads Grey Wardens who live that long to go mad and wander into the Deep Roads, overwhelmed by the same compulsion to seek out and corrupt the Old Gods that drives the Darkspawn. While this was originally a bitter-sweet clause in the Grey Warden contract,Dragon Age: Inquisitionrevealed just how vulnerable to manipulation the Taint made members of the Grey Wardens.
InDragon Age: Inquisition, it is revealed that the Grey Wardens are particularly vulnerable to corruption by Corypheus. Corypheus was once one of the Magisters Sidereal. The Magisters Sidereal were Tevinter mages who entered the Fade and the Maker’s Golden City, an act which supposedly transformed them into the first Darkspawn. Following the reveal of their vulnerability to corruption, the player has the option to recruit the Grey Wardens of Orlais into the Inquisition, or to banish the group from the land.
Banishing the Grey Wardens could in theory be disastrous if another Blight takes place, leavingOrlaisextremely vulnerable. While the Grey Warden decision doesn’t have extreme consequences inInquisitionone way or the other, the extent of the Wardens' vulnerability could be explored regardless of whether players recruited or exiled the Wardens of Orlais.
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The Creation Of The Veil And The Darkspawn
Althoughthe Chantry of Orlaisclaims that the Magisters Sidereal corrupted the Golden City and led to the creation of the Darkspawn through their hubris, this account is contested. The Chantry claims that entering the Maker’s Golden City corrupted it, turning it Black. Corypheus, however, claims that the Magisters found the Maker’s throne empty upon their arrival.
It is clear that the attempts made in Tevinter to break through the Veil and enter the Fade are in some way connected to the start of the First Blight, however. InDragon Age 4,Solas the Dread Wolfwill attempt to bring down the Veil that separates Thedas from the Fade. Exploring Tevinter and the Veil will almost certainly lead to some huge revelations about the Darkspawn and, by extension, the Grey Wardens.
Solas originally created the Veil well before humans had arrived on Thedas. Once, theElven empire of Thedaswas inherently connected to the Fade, which the Elves simply called “the sky.” Solas was a member of the Evanuris, a group of mages who were worshipped as gods for their immense power. When some of the other “gods” began taking slaves Solas led a rebellion and eventually erected the Veil to trap the remaining Evanuris in the Fade.
It’s clear that Solas did not realize the full implications of this act. By cutting the Elves off from their source of magic it is heavily implied that he took away their immortality, and made the Elven empire extremely vulnerable when humanity arrived on Thedas, formed theTevinter Imperium, and began a campaign to wipe its rival empire from the continent.
WhileBioWarehas kept the specifics under wraps, it’s clear that the Fade and the breaking through the Veil were connected to the creation of the Darkspawn. Whatever force created the Taint that corrupted the Magisters Sidereal could still be within the Fade waiting to get out. That force is likely the same presence which, through the Taint, compels the Darkspawn and eventually leads Grey Wardens to succumb to the Calling.
The Grey Wardens In Dragon Age 4
Solas' attempts to bring down the Veil could see the Grey Wardens transformed into a Darkspawn army, though that is far from the only possibility. Tevinter isn’t just the site of the Darkspawn’s entry into Thedas.The Silent Plainsto the south are where the First Blight was defeated, and the area is considered an extremely haunted location where the Veil is particularly thin. There are also rumors of Dalish Elves in the Silent Plains who worship the Dread Wolf. This could make the location key to Solas' plan, and tearing down the Veil in a site so closely connected to the Grey Wardens could have a huge effect on them.
TheGrey Wardens ofDragon Age 4are caught between a rock and a hard place. Whatever sinister forces are locked within the Fade could be on the verge of escaping. Just like during the Blights, the Grey Wardens could find themselves the only ones able to stop this force. However, they could also find themselves suddenly controlled by it through the Taint, and turned into a weapon.
Whatever the fate of the Wardens ends up being,Dragon Age 4’s setting and main plot make revelations about the origins of the Darkspawn and by extension the Grey Wardens more likely than ever.Dragon Age: Originsmay have starred the Wardens as they fought back the Blight, butDragon Age 4could see the organization involuntarily connected to some of the universe’s most powerful forces as the Dread Wolf threatens the very fabric of reality itself.
Dragon Age 4is in development.
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