Dragon Age 4 is going to see some big changes coming to the franchise, including the final reveal of the Tevinter Imperium, the Dread Wolf’s attempts to destroy the fade, and hopefully, the wrapping up of the many plot threads left dangling at the end of Dragon Age: Inquisition. For players who enjoy playing as a mage in the games, however, the changes could be some of the most drastic seen in the series so far.
The treatment of mages in the Dragon Age series has always been unique. Magic is feared by almost everyone who lacks it, and a strict hierarchy of imprisoned mages and their templar guardians is established in the first game, eventually brought to a bloody climax in the Templar-Mage War that takes place in Inquisition. For this reason, Dragon Age’s mages have always provided some fantastic roleplaying opportunities and unique motivations for players, which could be taken even further in Dragon Age 4 for a few key reasons.
It is heavily implied in the Dragon Age: Inquisition “The Descent” DLC that dwarves will be able to be mages in Dragon Age 4, though in their own unique way that diverges from mages of other races. While humans, elves, and qunari gain their magical powers through a relationship with the fade, the dwarves of Dragon Age are unable to connect to the fade. or even dream, due to the Lyrium resistance their people have built up over the years spent mining the valuable magical mineral.
In The Descent, the player goes deeper in the Deep Roads than ever before in search of a Titan believed to be causing earthquakes across the continent. They discover that, in fact, the tunnels they have been traversing are the veins of a giant titanic macrostructure itself, with Red Lyrium running through it like blood. As they approach the heart of the creature, their companion, a dwarf named Shaper Valta, is struck by pure Lyrium.
After the incident, Shaper Valta pushes the Inquisitor back with something that the Inquisitor can identify as a spell, which Shaper Valta quickly dismisses due to the conservative nature of dwarven society in the Dragon Age universe. However, it is implied that through their unique relationship with the Deep Roads and the Titans, dwarven mages will likely be on the way in Dragon Age 4, perhaps even with their own unique Dragon Age: Origins-style opening to explain their new powers and their relationship with dwarven society.
Mages have been oppressed in every single Dragon Age setting players have visited so far, and some more than others. The Qunari, for example, cut their mages tongues out, and force them to wear iron mask-style headgear and Lyrium handcuffs that prevent them from casting spells. The mages of human and elven society are forced to grow up in the Circle of Magi, which essentially amounts to prison for mages, enforced by the Chantry’s Templars.
Their oppression isn’t entirely unjustified either – in Dragon Age: Origins mages are shown to be easy vessels for demons, which, often through no fault of their own, use them to get a footing in the material plane, even taking over the mages’ tower in Ferelden in the first game. Mages are also the cause of the Darkspawn, at least according to the Chantry.
The religious organization claims the Blight was created when the Magisters of the Tevinter Imperium tainted the Maker’s Golden City, causing themselves to transform into horrible monsters thanks to their hubris. The dwarves don’t believe this account by and large, and Corypheus’ claim in Inquisition that the Maker’s throne is empty could throw it into further doubt.
In Inquisition, Dorian mentions that the magisters of Tevinter deny their involvement and like the dwarves suppose that the Darkspawn have some other origin, though they have no official alternate account. Nonetheless, Dragon Age 4 is very likely to be set in Tevinter, and for the first time, players will experience a society run by mages, not one that oppresses them.
This could add a totally new moral complication to the role of mages in the Dragon Age universe, especially if the magisters don’t always use their powers for good. It could help pose the moral dilemma of whether or not someone can be punished simply for their greater capacity to do evil, and no matter which way BioWare goes with it, players who have played mages in the first three games so far will likely have a unique new roleplaying opportunity in Tevinter.
The Fade is the realm of magic and dreams that runs parallel to the material plane, separated by the Veil put up in ancient history by the elven god the Dread Wolf, revealed to be Solas in Dragon Age: Inquisition. Now, however, Solas wants to destroy the veil, and since that’s what separates mages from the realm which they draw their power from this could have huge implications for the class.
It’s likely the player will be attempting to stop Solas, but depending on what the implications of his plans are for mages in Dragon Age 4 they could provide some very interesting new roleplaying opportunities. After games of seeing mages struggle against their oppressors, players could be faced with a situation where mages might lose their powers, or perhaps risk becoming so powerful that the destruction of the Veil has to be stopped by a mage who would otherwise want to see their people empowered.
In any case, mages have always been one of the most interesting classes to play in Dragon Age because of their unique relationship with the setting, and Dragon Age 4’s mages will likely see that setting change and their relationship with it change as well in a way that gives the class some great new roleplaying opportunities. With December likely a big month for Dragon Age, fans of the franchise will have to wait a little longer for more details from BioWare, but whether the future for mages is bright or dark, it certainly seems like it will be very different for the class in Dragon Age 4.
Dragon Age 4 is in development now.
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