Dragon Age: The Veilguard - Unraveling Hidden Lore from the Latest Teaser

Being a Dragon Age fan since day one means that I have braved more darkspawn than I care to count, so forgive me for grinning at the thought of revisiting the returning title. After all these years, seeing fresh glimpses of Thedas and its mysteries is a thrilling reminder of why I fell in love with the game in the first place.

By now, BioWare has officially launched a new teaser for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The film also revealed the game's release date: October 31st. On Halloween, we will finally be able to return to Thedas after a ten-year absence. In this reveal video, several intriguing lore aspects were either not immediately apparent or presented without sufficient context.
 

"The blighted elven gods walk free, all because you disrupted my ritual."
 

Spoken by Solas, it is a line that serves more meaning to it than what meets the eye. A little background on the elven gods and the Blight is necessary to grasp the meaning of this assertion. Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan are figures among the Evanuris, the elven gods. We found out that Solas created the Veil to enshroud the Evanuris and The Forgotten Ones in the Inquisition's Trespasser DLC.

Rook and company interrupted Solas' ritual during the first gameplay reveal, prompting the two Evanuris to flee and infiltrate Earth. Blight has a very particular connotation in the world of Dragon Age; thus, it is intriguing that Solas calls them 'Blighted' elven gods.

The darkspawn discovers a sleeping ancient god—a dragon—and corrupts it to create an archdemon, causing a Blight. The surface world is then attacked by a swarm of darkspawns led by this corrupted dragon. While the Chantry and other groups disagree about what the old gods truly are, the old gods were beings to be honored in the Tevinter Imperium, one of the settings for Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

For anyone unfamiliar with the series, the elven gods are distinct from the ancient gods. In the chronicles of Thedas, five Blights have been documented; the first Dragon Age game centered on the plot of the fifth. This brings me back to my concern about why Solas used the term 'Blighted.' Could it entail that the elven gods have ties to the darkspawn?

We are already aware that griffons went extinct in Thedas. However, BioWare had previously said in interviews that we would have one as a companion. This is particularly important. The Grey Wardens, who formerly tamed and trained griffons as mounts, really had a unique relationship with the creatures. Their ultimate demise throughout Thedas was brought about by the Grey Wardens.

Simply put, the Wardens subject their griffon friends to the joining by feeding them darkspawn blood. They were under the impression that this would make them stronger combatants, but in reality, it gave them a severe ailment, quickly spreading throughout the population.

The question now is, how did we manage to discover one in the next game? Well, our party has been transferred into Arlathan, which was the place where the elves and the Evanuris roamed a very long time ago.

It is out of the question unless you can use the Eluvian act—basically a magical mirror—to go from Thedas to Arlathan. Nowadays, only a few individuals can access Eluvians, considering it is a forgotten art. And if one can recall, Merrill's objective in the Dragon Age 2 narrative was to restore an Eluvian and attempt to traverse it. As of Dragon Age: Inquisition, Morrigan was the only character who could move through the Eluvians. We found another Eluvian network in the Trespasser DLC that let us go after Solas in Arlathan.

Since griffons would have been protected from the Grey Wardens epidemic, it is reasonable to assume that they may have survived in Arlathan. The griffon in the trailer is identified as Assan, the companion to our Grey Warden squadmate Davrin. Everything should be A-OK if you inform Davrin not to feed Assan Darkspawn's blood.

The usage of magic by Scout Harding in the trailer was one more thing that somewhat surprised me. Magic in the Dragon Age canon is accessed via a link to The Fade, an otherworldly reality distinct from ours. Dreaming when sleeping grants mages access to The Fade; dwarves in the Dragon Age cannot dream. Hence, they cannot utilize this ability. Consequently, dwarf magic users should not exist in the Dragon Age.

This dwarf, Harding, maybe the first of her kind to be out here performing spells. It seems to me that Solas's limitation of the Veil could be the source of her newly discovered sorcery. Maybe this is how she can form a bond with the Fade despite her inability to dream. When we finally have the chance to play the Veilguard in October, I am eager to see how this is handled in the narrative.

Given the current events, I reflect on the journey that brought me here into the world of dragons. The series has always held a special place in my heart, and this new chapter is set to add another compelling layer to the world I have cherished for so long.