The Dragon Age story you need to know before Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Dragon Age is a series that has been ongoing since 2009, and the upcoming Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the fourth mainline game. That means if you’re going in fresh, there’s a bunch of info you won’t want to miss out on.

New players will find that decisions made in previous games won’t matter too much here, but there are still some returning characters, locations, and plot beats that you’ll need to be aware of in order to make the most of your time in Thedas.

This is the full core Dragon Age story, from Origins to the end of Inquisition.

Read more: Dragon Age: The Veilguard review

Dragon Age: Origins has one of the most interesting intros to any BioWare RPG, as there are six origin stories to play through depending on your race and background. The Dalish Elves that live in the woods are very different to the City Elves that are treated as second-class citizens, for example.

Darkspawn are encroaching upon the land of Ferelden, and the Grey Wardens are looking for new allies to fight against them. That search leads the Grey Warden Duncan to find the protagonist. Duncan visits the six origin story locations and meets the protagonist in one of them. The protagonist is one of the only Wardens to survive the Joining, which involves drinking the blood of Darkspawn. 

The Battle of Ostagar follows, and the Darkspawn win. The protagonist, and his Warden partner Alistair, are saved by an old woman in the swamp, Flemeth, and her daughter Morrigan, who joins the party. Around this time Alistair reveals that he’s actually in line for the throne of Ferelden.

In the meantime, political shenanigans see the king disappear, and Loghain Mac Tir declares himself the Regent of Ferelden. This means he’s essentially the interim king, although the Ferelden nobility rebel against him. This comes to a head at the Landsmeet, where the nobility are summoned to join their forces against the encroachment of the Darkspawn. A disagreement sees your protagonist fight against Loghain, and you can then nominate the next King or Queen of Ferelden.

The fun doesn’t stop here, as that night, Morrigan reveals her own plans to take on the Darkspawn blight. She plans to conceive a child that will host the soul of the slain Archdemon – the leader of the Darkspawn – which will then be reborn as a demigod. 

With the full forces of Ferelden united, the protagonist and the team manage to take down the Archdemon, at which point Morrigan disappears from the party, along with her newborn.

After the Archdemon’s fall, the protagonist goes on to fight Darkspawn appearances in other parts of the world, as seen in the Awakening DLC expansion. This introduces several important characters, including Anders, though is largely inconsequential to the overarching story.

Read more: Every BioWare game ranked from worst to best

Dragon Age 2 is told from Varric’s perspective, as he retells the story of protagonist, Hawke, as he knows it. It starts with Hawke’s family evacuating a Ferelden village under siege by Darkspawn, which happens at close to the end of Origins. Hawke loses several friends and family members in the process, but is saved by Flemeth, Morrigan’s mother. Flemeth helps Hawke and his remaining friends move to Kirkwall for safety.

Hawke works with Varric to make a living, and the team gets caught up in an extreme treasure hunt. A Red Lyrium idol they find with the treasure hoard corrupts a dwarven ally, and Hawke’s sister gets conscripted into the Circle of Magi.

Hawke’s main task is to deal with family issues while keeping peace in Kirkwall between the Qunari, Templars, Magi, and more. Hawke’s actions result in a rebellion that results in the Templars splitting from the Chantry, and Mages across Ferelden rebelling against overbearing restrictions. This starts the Mage-Templar war. At this point, Hawke, the Champion of Kirkwall, leaves the city.

Your character in Inquisition, much like Origins, is nobody special. But after a mystical close-encounter with a possible deity, your protagonist, the Inquisitor, gains the ability to close and seal Fade Rifts, which have spawned across the world. Peace talks were called by Divine Justinia, leader of the Chantry, to quell the Mage-Templar war, but an explosion happened, causing the Fade Rifts, and your abilities.

Teaming up with Cassandra and Leliana, the Inquisitor meets with Varric and a new elven made, Solas. With Solas’ assistance, the Inquisitor is able to seal Fade Rifts, and the people refer to the Inquisitor as the Herald of Andraste. 

In Val Royeaux you can choose between siding with either the remnants of the Templars or the Mages, and this prompts the Darkspawn mage Corypheus to attack Haven, where the Inquisition is based. The Inquisitor’s abilities are referred to as “the Anchor” and Corypheus reveals that he can use it to freely enter the Fade. Haven is destroyed, but Solas guides the party to Skyhold, an abandoned castle.

This pushes Cassandra, Leliana, and their allies to form the Inquisition around you, appointing you leader, while tasking you with saving Thedas. 

The Inquisition goes on to investigate the disappearance of the Grey Wardens, only to discover that many of them had become either defected or become controlled by Corypheus. Corypheus’ power evidently comes from a special orb, which the Inquisitor happened to touch during the events of the Conclave peace talks, resulting in the explosion and the Anchor. Once you escape Corypheus’ clutches, you will be able to either recruit or exile the Grey Wardens.

The Inquisitor’s achievements have them invited to the Winter Palace for a ball, which may help resolve the Orlesian civil war. The Empress’ advisor, Morrigan, joins the Inquisition, and the team heads to the Temple of Mythal to get to an eluvian before Corypheus does. Either Morrigan or the Inquisitor can gain access to the magical powers of the Well of Sorrows her.

This is bittersweet if Morrigan drank from the well, as Mythal is revealed to be Flemeth, Morrigan’s mother, who still wishes to control her daughter, and drinking from the well binds people to her will. With the new abilities, Corypheus storms in, and the party must escape through an eluvian. The abilities do help to reveal that Corypheus can be killed, however, by taking out his dragon first.

This speeds things towards the final fight, which takes place at Skyhold, with Corypheus and his dragon. Taking it down and stealing the magical orb from Corypheus will see the game end – only, Solas is looking at the broken orb very mysteriously. A post-credits scene will have Flemeth refer to Solas as The Dread Wolf, before Solas seemingly defeats her and acquires her abilities.

Dragon Age: Inquisition’s The Trespasser DLC is incredibly important, as it focuses on Solas, who was being very dodgy at the end of the main game. 

The Inquisition has been summoned to the Winter Palace, to see what should be done now that Corypheus has been defeated. A dead Qunari soldier inside the Winter Palace raises tensions, and it’s discovered that the Qunari plan to invade Southern Thedas. 

Meeting with the Qunari, we discover that Corypheus’ invasion has prompted the Qun to believe that the current rulers of Thedas are incompetent – in addition to a theory that the Inquisition serves Fen’Harel. Later, we discover that the Agent of Fen’Harel is named Solas.

Later we see Qunari warriors fighting Solas, and he petrifies them in place. Solas basically explains that he himself is Fen’Harel, the Dread Wolf, and is the creator of the Veil. Solas says he has his own agents within the Inquisition, and then removes the Anchor from the Inquisitor, by taking the whole arm.

Upon returning to Val Royeaux, you can choose between handing over the Inquisition to the Chantry, or disbanding the organization. The remnants of the Inquisition later plan to get revenge on Solas, starting by investigating in the Tevinter Imperium. And that’s where the story ends ahead of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.