The Tevinter Imperium has cast a long shadow over the events of the Dragon Age timeline, though it has yet to make an appearance in the games themselves. Tevinter has long been suspected to be the setting of Dragon Age 4, a rumor possibly confirmed by BioWare’s new trailer released at The Game Awards.
The new Game Awards trailer gives fans some interesting new insights into the ancient civilization and how it might manifest in Dragon Age 4. The trailer certainly hints that Tevinter will be a very different kind of setting compared to previous games, and is full of hints about what fans can expect in the next game.
Tevinter is the oldest human civilization on the continent of Thedas. It was formed shortly after humans arrived on the continent from the north, landing on Par Vollen around -3100 Ancient, an island which would later become home to the migrating Qunari. There were several human tribes at the time, including one called Barindur which would mysteriously disappear in -1610 Ancient. The three major remaining human tribes consolidated into the Tevinter Imperium under their leader Darinius in -1195 Ancient, kicking off a new era that also makes the year 0 TE.
The most famous thing about Tevinter by the time of Dragon Age is its retained status as a magocracy. While other mages across Thedas were forced into the Circle of Magi or risked being labeled as apostates, Tevinter’s ruling mage class ultimately managed to stay in control of the kingdom, despite the occasional interruption.
The Tevinter Imperium stuck with magic even after its Magisters Sidereal allegedly created the darkspawn by using blood magic to enter the Fade. Even when the Imperial Chantry was established, its creators were sure to have a more lenient reading of the Prophet Andraste’s belief that “magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him,” choosing to see it as an appeal to the great responsibility of its magisters rather than a ban on their presence in the civil service.
As a result of the Tevinter Imperium’s unabashed embrace of magic, the oldest human kingdom in Thedas also appears to be the most advanced. The new Dragon Age trailer shows a city that almost resembles a stylized version of Victorian London with the addition of twisting gothic towers on its horizon. A banner hanging by one of the store signs bears the Tevinter sigil, seeming to confirm the setting.
Stores appear to magically advertise their services in the street, while the streets are lit by multicolored orbs of magical light. Parts of the city are shown floating above the streets below, which would imply magical teleportation is not uncommon in Tevinter, and may even regularly accessible to people who aren’t mages in Dragon Age 4. In Tevinter, magic appears to have taken on the role of the industrial revolution, producing equivalent advances in everything from technology to architecture.
The climate of Tevinter has never quite been clear. The continent of Thedas is in the southern hemisphere of Dragon Age’s world, which would imply that the further north the hero travels the warmer the climate would get. However, most pictures of Tevinter seen so far had shown spires jutting out of a barren landscape, a depiction which the game’s new trailer scatters to the wind.
Tevinter looks gothic, and its weather appears to match that aesthetic choice. The skies are cloudy, and the weather shown in the trailer ranges from seemingly temperate to rain to a snowstorm. It’s clear that Tevinter won’t be the arid landscape it has been depicted as in some previous games and has a colder, wetter, more wintry feel than some fans may have been expected from the history of Tevinter‘s depiction. However, there’s another aspect of the trailer which could affect how much of Tevinter players get to see.
Dragon Age 4’s new trailer takes place primarily inside an unknown city. It’s possible this city is Minrathous, the largest city in Thedas and the capital of the Tevinter Imperium. If so, the city could certainly provide a very interesting setting for the next game – it was built on an island with a single destroyable bridge as its entrance, which could make it the perfect size for a video game city. The focus on the city in the Game Awards trailer is interesting. Dragon Age 2 took place almost exclusively in and around the city of Kirkwall in the Free Marches, and it’s possible that after the large, semi-open world of Dragon Age: Inquisition BioWare may be returning to an urban landscape for its next game.
The figure who appears in the city segments, presumably the player character, seems to be able to get on top of buildings to look out over the skyline, which could mean players can expect a far more explorable city than Kirkwall was. The scene of the player character sitting on a ledge overlooking the city almost resembles something out of Dishonored, or even the Batman Arkham games. These games took place almost exclusively within urban areas, fleshing them out to the full instead of venturing beyond their limits. It’s possible that Dragon Age 4 may be going down the same path.
If so, this could have big implications for the story of the game. It’s hard to see how the narrative would have a limited or intimate scope with the existential threat of the Dread Wolf looming over the plot, but hopefully, the city shown in the trailer is more than just eye-candy that can be looked at from a distance. It seems despite the rule of the mages, Tevinter’s cities are just as prone to crime, with the player able to corner an unknown figure in a dark alleyway in the trailer.
There’s still much to be revealed about the setting of Dragon Age 4, but the new trailer certainly paints a far clearer picture of Tevinter and the sorts of environments fans can expect to explore in the upcoming title. The setting alone won’t make the game, but it remains to be seen how much Tevinter can complement and elevate the story of Dragon Age 4.
Dragon Age 4 is in development.
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