Retroactive continuity is quite common in television shows, comic books, movies, and so on. However, having retcons in video games causes certain communities to be frustrated and even confused about the setting within a franchise.
While the writing and plot within Thedas are the highlights of the Dragon Age franchise. Retcons within the game are more common than we realize, so here are Five Retconned Moments From The Dragon Age Franchise.
Aesthetic Elements (Darkspawn/Demons & Qunari/Elves)cv
Many fans who played Origins and began as a Mage will recognize the infamous Sloth and Desire demons throughout the game. In Dragon Age 2, the Desire demons appeared in some Fade scenes as well.
When Dragon Age: Inquisition was released, fans discovered that the infamous enemies from the previous Dragon Age games were not present in this current game.
They appear to exist only in a codex. It's also mentioned in banter, with Dorian mentioning a desire demon he met in the fade. While the roster of demons was expanded in Inquisiton, some fans suggested that the 'absence' of those renowned demons did imply that they were no longer present in the world. Or, to put it another way, they weren't featured for one reason or another...
However, there is a desire demon in Inquisition; consequentially, for some reason, it does not take the form it did in Origins. That desire demon is what we know as Imshael, who is actually one of the Forbidden Ones according to dragon age lore, and he constantly referred to himself in the game and in the book Masked Empire as a "choice-spirit."
And, while it is thought that this Desire Demon "Imshael" is just that, the problem is that the design for the Desire demons was well-known in the franchise.... well.. as a result of... You get the idea! And, sadly, my favorite demon, the Sloth, does not appear in Inquisition at all...
The Darkspawn, particularly the Genlocks, Hurlocks, and Ogres, have been known to be redesigned. Some fans prefer the majority of the darkspawn's design changes. And some state they were transformed from hulking goblins to gorillas. And while their new design makes them feel more like their own thing, even less like Tolkien's Orcs and more edgier than before.
The Kossith or the Qunari were another aesthetic shift. First and foremost, I will add that I prefer the look of the Qunari in the sequel to the first. However, it's strange to learn that the bulk of Qunari indeed have horns when Sten has none. It's also odd that the Qunari in Kirkwall, who are ostensibly Tal-Vashoth, don't even remove their horns, while all the ones in Dragon Age: Origins do. And, according on the most current concept art visuals, the Qunari's horns will almost probably appear in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.
Finally, the vallaslin differences for elves from the previous games (Dragon Age II and Origins) to Inquisition are mentioned. Many fans were perplexed once again because they had appreciated the prior vallaslin and it appeared that they were retiring that design in future games...
While some people regard these types of visual alterations to be just simply changes, others fans consider them to be retcons, hence they are included on this list.
Anders
To be clear, a retcon can be very sneaky in its explanation. In the case of BioWare, the retcons we received were simply that, as if to say that everything we saw was an illusion and never happened. There was, however, an illusion—the illusion of choice.
This is a classic case of a comic book death, and BioWare made this certain decision with Anders. The Anders death slide in Awakening, on the other hand, is devoid of any foreshadowing, leading us to believe they didn't plan on Anders returning in Dragon Age II at all.
To be honest, many fans liked the idea of Anders returning; many just wish they had the foresight to plan ahead rather than improvising a plot on the fly. But even in Dragon Age II, Anders was a fan-favorite; his characterization was a little heavy-handed (probably most of that coming from Justice), but many liked where the writers took him; it felt like a natural progression for him and epitomized the central conflict of Dragon Age II.
Of course, many fans began to explain on forums that Anders was clearly added to Dragon Age II, with some even claiming that his writing/theme was very different from Awakening to the progression in II and even included some major plot holes.
In Awakening, he didn't want to be with the Circle, but he agreed they should exist and had little desire for reform. It seemed at that time he simply did not want to be controlled by anyone. However in Dragon Age II, Anders has become radicalized and wishes to destroy the Circle, Templar, and Chantry altogether (in part because of Justice, but that was more of a cover story for his plot).
And in Awakening the Warden-Commander isn't even required to enlist Anders. You have the option of handing over Anders to Rylock. Leaving aside the fact that the writers made yet again another plot hole. This didn't make any sense for some players that Anders was a Grey Warden in Dragon Age II because he never even became one from their Awakening playthroughs.
It is also noted that Anders' timelines for Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening and Dragon Age II are, as it turns out, intertwined. The Warden-Commander can conscript Anders half a year after the Blight, yet Hawke meets Anders in Kirkwall less than a year later.
Of course, Anders is important to the plot of Dragon Age II since they require a Grey Warden. The only problem is that Anders can only join in the middle to late 9:31 Dragon, causing a temporal paradox in the timeline... or something of that nature...
It's pretty confusing, to say the least, but as I have stated in my previous videos the BioWare writers explained that Awakening was created as a result of the developers debating whether there would be any more Dragon Age games...
Dwarves
Many may disagree, however this is added to the list since the dwarven race has been strangely altering with each game. So bear with me, for this race will almost certainly be retconned in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.
Magic is one of the primary components. Of course, we've known from Sandal to the Descent DLC that dwarves can have a magical component and dreams; we just weren't sure where it came from until the discovery of Titans.
The issue with these previous games is that the BioWare writers can be somewhat dwarfist at times. Dwarves were the only playable race in Baldur's Gate who couldn't romance anyone until the Extended Edition.
Then there's the paucity of dwarven love interests in Dragon Age, and, correct me if I'm wrong, but it feels like dwarves have been pushed deeper into the background compared to other non-humans since Origins. At least until the Descent DLC.
In Tevinter Nights "Dread Wolf Take You"short story, it explained that Fen'Harel killed dwarves through their dreams, which suggests that dwarves are being retconned in dreaming, or there's a whole other side to Fen'Harel's power that we haven't uncovered yet.
Then there's the romantic aspect. When a fan pointed out to former main writer David Gaider that he was 'grossed' out by a dwarven romance, a majority of the fans misread what he meant.
The fundamental issue is that many people who want a dwarven relationship are interested in the sexual component of it/fetishes. That was the major reason many BioWare writers avoided dwarven romances. He claims:"to [a dwarven/female Qunari romance] I'll simply say that if you're expectation is that we developers should be thrilled to become your virtual pimps, that's simply not the case. The fixation on romance displayed in these forums is borderline distasteful as it is... I'd rather not encourage such requests if people actually believe they'll have results that aren't the opposite of what they intend."
So, while Gaider is no longer a member of the team, if the crew decides to sexualize dwarfs, they have already done so with Varric in the Silent Grove comic. It's also not surprising to hear Varric narrate the upcoming game's teaser, with many fans thinking he'll be a romantic interest in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. Finally, Dwarven romances are now being altered and adapted, which can be called a retcon in itself...
Leliana
Leliana has three appearances in the entire franchise so far. But when considering retroactive continuity, a writer should sit down and seriously weigh their options. Is the current plot line so twisted that a retcon is actually preferable? If the answer is yes, then by all means. However, what was the need to retcon Leliana's death? Because... they felt like it?
So let's think on it. Why bring Leliana back? Retcons are huge, and Leliana coming back to life stands out so much in the game. Even fans were taken aback by her presence in Dragon Age II, owing to the fact that it was brief and unexpected. Of course, you can even inquire how she survived if you murdered her in Origins in Inquisition. (add voice line)
It absolutely boggles the mind that they would defy logic and destroy continuity by resurrecting her. Some speculate that she could have utilized Andraste's ashes to heal herself, however there are two issues with this scenario. To begin with, you don't even need to kill her near the Urn of Andraste. If she isn't in your party, but you still desecrate the ashes at the behest of crazed Kolgrim, Leliana will eventually find out, and you'll have to kill her back at camp unless you make a very precise set of story and conversation dcecisions.
There are also numerous ways to execute her. If stabbing, slicing, burning, electrocuting, freezing, shooting, and smashing aren't enough, you can use a messy kill to decapitate her or a Walking Bomb to have her burst into red mist.
This would imply that at some time during the production of Dragon Age II, they determined Leliana's role would be so important in the series that they would retcon the player's choices—a hazardous precedent indeed. So why was it Leliana?
I'd like to also note that the lead writers did express their regrets to retconning plot and characters:
According to Gaider, "[Dragon Age: Origins] was the spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate at the time. And since we had the epilogue slides at the end of Baldur's Gate, it seemed appropriate."
Many characters and plot threads were left "dangling" for Dragon Age 2 and later Inquisition, according to David, who adds, "I think ultimately I came to regret exactly how we had done that... And it’s like, we’re trying to have a plot and we’re trying to have some call backs... Can we honor those all? Here we have a plot which works in every facet expect for this one epilogue slide. And it’s like, g*d dammit, past Dave! Why did you write that?."
So the writers were well aware of their previous failures from Origins to Dragon Age II and throughout Inquisition. Gaider also addressed this in the old BioWare forums many years ago when someone asked why Leliana was brought back to life:
Gaider states: "If we wish to bring someone back to life, it's because we wanted to... Because the option was there as a reaction to your choice to defile the Urn of Scared Ashes... We're not saying what happened in that chamber ever occured.. but if what you're insisting on is 'I think X is dead so I should never see them again no matter what'... well, prepare to be disappointed."
So whether you had Anders, Leliana, Flemeth, Morrigan, or any other character from Inqusition who died, you might need to expect the unexpected in the next upcoming Dragon Age games...
Lyrium & The Red Lyrium Idol
The retcon of templars needing to consume lyrium to power their abilities has somehow changed within the writing of Dragon Age.
In Origins, Alistair says that lyrium isn't actually required to power their talents as a templar, rather that it makes them more potent and effective. It's basically a control strategy given to them by the Chantry to make Templars addicted and stay within the Order.
However, in the comic Those Who Speak, Alistair mentions needing to "get back in practice," which is a euphemism for using lyrium while training to be a Templar... Inquisition also states that ingesting lyrium is required to use any Templar ability. This also implies that Hawke's and the HoF's Templar powers have been retconned since they were not required to use lyrium.
The most recent retcon in Dragon Age lore is the return of the Red Lyrium Idol. Most people (including yourself) believed that the red lyrium idol was forged into Meredith's gigantic sword, so when Meredith went insane with power and nearly destroyed all of Kirkwall, her blade exploded, taking the idol with it. At least, that's what we assumed, but this isn't the case.
The idol is actually within the petrified lyrium statue who was originally Meredith in Tevinter Nights' short story 'The Dread Wolf Take You.' The sword was converted back to the idol in Dragon Age 2 and absorbed into Meredith's breast... As intriguing as this sounds, it seems that the idol is merely a prop for the next game, including the Dread Wolf requiring it in prior comics such as Knight Errant and Blue Wraith.
On the other hand, because the sword 'Certainty' was resurfaced in 'Inquisition,' there is a significant amount of confusion in the community. According to the description of this greatsword, it was 'inspired' and reforged in the name of Corypheus before being passed on to his lieutenant Samson. But why was this blade given new life in Inquisition?
Dragon Age comic writer Nunzio stated that the original plan for the comics would've had the characters retrieve the red lyrium idol. Only to have Fen'Harel take it back. Eluding to the idol's planned whereabouts before the plot changed since BioWare's shift regarding this idol in the comics to their recent book Tevinter Nights.
As far as I know, the Red Lyrium Idol's appearance was planned to remain in Dragon Age II, and the buildup to its return in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf could be another retcon once again...
But with that, we are going to wrap up, 5 Retconned Moments In The Dragon Age Franchise. What do you make of these retcons? And what would you like to see BioWare do in the future? I wanna see some discussions in that comment section down below.
Thank you for watching, and I will see you in the next video/blog!
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