Memes / Dragon Age

aka: Dragon Age Inquisition

Cassandra has no time for your foolishness.

With a rich world, a clever dev team, and an active and vocal fanbase, it's hardly surprising that Dragon Age has given birth to a variety of memes. Note that spoilers are unmarked for this page.

To add a meme, use this format:

• The meme. [[labelnote:Explanation]]The explanation behind the meme, if necessary.[[/labelnote]] ^ExplanationLike this.
  • Further mutations and successor memes, if any.

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Series-wide, Meta, and Expanded Universe

• "Enchantment? Enchantment!" ^ExplanationOne of the few words spoken by Sandal, the dwarf savant enchanter, most notably when he's found surrounded by dozens of enemy corpses.
• Salos ^ExplanationReference to an alleged "leak" of info regarding Dragon Age 4, titled Dragon Age: Retribution in said leak, that appeared in a 4chan post. A number of factors called its veracity into question, not the least of which was Solas taking on the rather lazy see-through alias of "Salos" in his initial appearances in the supposed game.
• Spider Age ^ExplanationThe first game maybe had three dragons total. The second had maybe one. On the other hand you have giant spiders, giant poison spiders, giant corrupted spiders, Spider Swarm where one battle can have more spiders than dragons across the entire franchise, massive spiders, massive named poison spiders, fear demons as spiders, massive fear demons as spiders that use Spiders Are Scary on the protagonist...fans had noticed how much the designers adore this trope.
• Tinfoil ^ExplanationAn epitet used by the fandom to refer to Wild Mass Guessing, or particularly out-there theories.
  • Sandal is the Maker ^explanationA particularly popular one, owing to Sandal's mysterious way of speaking, possible omniscience, and unexplained powers.
• Never trust the apostate. ^explanationEvery game (barring, if counted separately, Awakening) had an apostate companion who turned out to have ulterior motives for joining the party — Morrigan to obtain the soul of an Old God, Anders to blow up the Chantry, and Solas to retrieve the orb and bring about a new age of elven glory. It's a noticeable pattern, and has been joked about constantly.
  • Alternatively, always romance the apostate. ^explanationThey also all happen to be romance options, which leads to tumultuously emotional scenes and heart-wrenching, which some fans say lead to a deeper experience. Or they're just masochists.
• Cullen hates cancel culture. ^explanationFor Dragon Age Day 2020, Cullen Rutherford's voice actor, Greg Ellis (who's somewhat infamous for his right-wing political views), uploaded a bizarre 37-minute video to YouTube where he, in character as Cullen, went off on a tirade against "cancel culture," spouting off various transphobic, racist and homophobic talking points in the process. Given that Cullen's character arc in Inquisition largely focused around him letting go of his prejudices, it was seen as a jarring contrast. The same day, he took to Twitter and gleefully bad-mouthed the well-liked Mark Darrah, who had earlier announced his departure from BioWare, saying Darrah leaving was a "victory for BioWare, its employees and particularly the fans." The video and tweet were widely regarded as career suicide by Ellis, with broad speculation that BioWare will recast Cullen should he appear in future games in the series (Ellis voiced Anders in Awakening before being replaced by Adam Howden in Dragon Age II.)
• Danish elves^explanationElves who live outside of human society as nomads are called "Dalish," meaning "from the Dales," the old elven kingdom that was destroyed by Orlais. Autocorrect has a tendency to change "Dalish" to "Danish," however, leading to jokes about Dalish elves inventing social democracy, going on Viking raids, or engaging in other stereotypes about Denmark.
• Somehow Meredith returned/No one Hawke kills stays dead! ^explanationAt the end of Dragon Age: Absolution, the stinger reveals that Knight-Commander Meredith Stannard survived her defeat and transformation into a lyrium statue at the end of DA2, and is now going by the alias "Crimson Knight" and wants to conquer and destroy the Tevinter Imperium. Fans noticed two things: 1) the sudden Back from the Dead is amusingly similar to the abrupt resurrection of Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars, which was already a huge meme ("Somehow Palpatine returned!"), and 2) after Corypheus, Meredith was now the second major villain Hawke supposedly killed to come back, cementing Hawke's Failure Hero status even further.
• "Matthew Mercer doesn't voice Matthew Mercer".^ExplanationMagister Rezaren Ammosine looks almost identical to how voice actor Matt Mercer looks IRL, yet Matt voices an entirely different character. Many found this funny and quickly joked about the fact that the character who looks him isn't voiced by him

Dragon Age: Origins

• MORRIGAN DISAPPROVES (-5) ^ExplanationMorrigan has a tendency to lose approval over just about anything beyond being a selfish bastard.
• Swooping... is... bad. ^ExplanationAlistair's response to Morrigan's accusation that he "fear[s] that barbarian hordes will swoop down upon [him]."
• You're... some kind of... sneaky... witch-thief! ^ExplanationWithin the same scene as the "Swooping is bad" meme, Alistair says this as he accuses Morrigan of stealing the Grey Warden treaties that have gone missing.
• Well, shave my back and call me an elf!^ExplanationAn example of Oghren's rather... interesting way of phrasing things, with this particular quote coming from his reunion with Branka.
• We're RIDICULOUSLY awesome!^ExplanationOne of Zevran's victory quotes.
• Warden senses tingling... ^ExplanationA common start-of-combat phrase used by an Experienced Warden (even before becoming a Warden!).
• Have you ever licked a lamp post in winter? ^ExplanationAnother Alistair-ism, mostly associated with his Romance Sidequest.
• Oh, look. I have cheese. Also? Virginity. ^ExplanationYet another for Alistair, a virgin with "an unholy love of fine cheeses."
• "Dwarven crafts! Fine dwarven crafts! Direct from Orzammar! You won't find better!" ^ExplanationGorim, a dwarven merchant selling weapons in Denerim, repeats this line every time the player walks past him. The distinctness of his voice actor helped cement him as a memorable part of the game.
• A certain Penny Arcade strip resulted in "Barkspawn" being by far the most popular name for the Dog.
• The Leliana NinjaMance. ^ExplanationA certain dialogue event in Origins, which triggers after completing Leliana's quest and getting high enough approval, is infamous for suddenly thrusting the player into a romance with Leliana if you pick even remotely friendly dialogue options. It's particularly grating for two reasons: one, Leliana being a bisexual romance, you can't escape it no matter what gender you are; and two, by this point you'll almost certainly be well into a romance with somebody else, leading to Jealousy dialogue even though you didn't do anything wrong. Leliana's jealousy tirade is also very harsh, adding to the infamy.
• Zevran has insufficient skill. ^ExplanationWhile Zevran may be good at "killing and love-making and witty retorts", he starts off with no lockpicking talents and can't open chests or doors (leading to the message above). This especially stands out because he specifically claims he can pick locks in his introduction. Expect to see this a lot—especially if you're not playing a rogue.
  • Trap! Right ahead! ^Explanation Meanwhile, Leliana has a tendency to notice traps right after the PC (or Alistair) has walked into them. (It helps that she can be a bit of a Cloud Cuckoolander.) Alistair also has a small reputation for, well, stumbling into traps.
• Naked Landsmeet. ^ExplanationMetagaming to counteract Alistair's possible So Long, and Thanks for All the Gear tends to lead to him going through at least one dramatic scene in his underwear.
• "Who is this woman, Teagan?" ^ExplanationThe Scrappy Arlessa Isolde's reaction to seeing a female Warden with the Ensemble Dark Horse Bann Teagan.
• Massive Constitution ^explanationGaining approval with party members gives them bonuses in their most important stats. For Alistair, that's Constitution, which gives more Hit Points. The meme comes from the massive approval spike after progressing far enough into his romance to sleep with him, which often puts him over the line to get the "Massive Constitution" bonus (+6 to the stat) and lends itself to double entendres galore.

Dragon Age II

• Goddamnit, Anders. ^ExplanationQuickly became a meme on the Bioware forums, in reaction to Anders' behavior late in the game. Fans of The Flash (2014) adopted the meme "Damn it, Barry!" in their forums for their blond guy holding the Villain Ball.
• For a short while around the time of the demo prologue, The Order Dictates was a Dragon Age II meme. Why are Isabela's boobs so large? THE ORDER DICTATES!
• MAKER NOOOOO ^ExplanationSebastian's melodramatic horror at the Chantry's destruction in Dragon Age II.
• Press a button, something awesome happens! Button. Awesome. Button. Awesome. Awesome button! ^ExplanationA phrase used by one member of the dev team during the promotional period of Dragon Age II. Quickly caught on as a way to mock BioWare's advertising.
• Bullshit! That's not what really happened! ^ExplanationA highly-abusable phrase used by Cassandra Penteghast during Dragon Age 2 whenever Varric says something self-aggrandizing or otherwise unlikely. Used by fans in regard to unlikely-seeming twists during Dragon Age Inquisition's development after Cassandra was announced as a Companion.
• "Mages cannot be treated like people! They are not like you and me!" ^ExplanationAn infamous instance of Cullen failing a spot check.
• "Convenient last-minute change of heart." ^ExplanationAnother phrase loved by Cullen critics, comparing his contemptuous reaction to a mage who decides a conspiracy against Meredith is Not What I Signed on For to how he turns on Meredith at the very end of the endgame.
• It sounds so...romantic. ^explanationShould Hawke duel the Arishok one-on-one, Cassandra will say this. For most players, however, the fight turns out to be anything but romantic or heroic; the Arishok hits really hard, so you spend most of the battle running away from him like a coward.
• What's a Mekel? ^explanationA sarcastic Hawke's reply to a mercenary who attacks the party after Hawke kills his brother, Mekel. The notoriety of this line is mostly because of the mismatch between the text (which is simply "I kill a lot of people") and what Hawke actually says.
• "At least it can't get any worse? Today, anyway. It's pretty late."^explanationAnother infamous Sarcastic!Hawke line, this one said to Viscount Dumar. After his son was killed. While the viscount is cradling his murdered son's body. Widely considered the greatest Fee Fi Faux Pas snarky Hawke ever commits, and it has some pretty strong contenders. Viscount Dumar will point out that he doesn't "see the humor in his son's death," while Aveline will straight up call Hawke an "ass" for saying it.
• Everyone is Bisexual! ^explanationMany can't help but find it hilarious that, with the exception of Sebastian, every character that Hawke can romance in Dragon Age 2 goes either way.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

• The fact that the Qunari party member Iron Bull is to be a romance option in Dragon Age: Inquisition has lead to many jokes about "riding the bull". Received a nod from one of the Dragon Age Keep developers during a Twitch stream. Became an Ascended Meme in the game itself, as Iron Bull says at the start of the relationship, "you want to ride the bull."
• All the feels, ungh. ^ExplanationSaid in the most Narm-tastic way by Aaryn Flynn after an Inquisition trailer.
• SOLAS SLIGHTLY APPROVES. ^Explanation By selecting a choice that asks a question in the dialogue wheel, Solas slightly approves of the Inquisitor being inquisitive.
• (Disgusted Noise.) ^ExplanationCassandra's most common individual expression in Inquisition, along with "Deal with it."
• The ESRB summary for the game, particularly the phrase...
  I will bring myself sexual pleasure later, while thinking about this with great respect.
• ALL HAIL DRUFFY. ^ExplanationA small sidequest in the Hinterlands involves leading a druffalo named "Druffy" back home to his farm. Druffy spawns inside a ravine that's guarded by a very high-level rift—one that spits out Greater Terrors and Despair Demons easily three to four levels higher than your party. Solution? Grab Druffy. He's marked as essential thanks to his sidequest. Stand back and watch as a single druffalo completely wrecks demonic forces from beyond the waking world.
• Restriction: Not Varric. ^ExplanationSince Varric will only equip his preferred weapon, Bianca as a ranged weapon, every single standard bow states this.
• Which is?^Explanation A rare and glaring case where the Bioware devs didn't think of everything. When Morrigan says that the ruins in the Arbor Wilds are the Temple of Mythal, all PCs respond with "Which is?" This makes sense enough for humans or dwarves or qunari, but for elves, who are invariably Dalish and can play themselves as deeply devout to their pantheon. It's a rather glaring oversight and makes it seem like the elven Inquisitor doesn't understand a temple devoted to arguably the prime deity of their religion (turned up to eleven if the player happens to have selected the Mythal vallaslin, in which case the character will end up asking questions about the goddess whose symbol is inked onto their face). It's often brought up in bitterness about how anything other than human PCs are added on later, sometimes while cutting corners; the player character of Inquisition was initially planned to be human.
• Morrigan cheated on me! ^explanationMorrigan can have a son at the end of Origins with a male PC, Alistair, or Loghain, and the boy, named Kieran, shows up in Inquisition. However, the game has no way of controlling for a PC's appearance, so Kieran is lily white even if the PC who fathered him was very dark-skinned. Since the Morrigan romance was a popular one and most people had the baby with her in some way, a lot of people joked that she'd in fact been sleeping around and the PC was not Kieran's father. There was at least one mod created that darkened Kieran's skin to make it match up more. The joke is furthered by the fact that Morrigan was by far the most jealous romance option in Origins (she's the only one who won't let you sleep with Isabela or join you with her, for instance), so it makes her seem like a massive hypocrite.
• Leave the fucking Hinterlands ^explanationFollowing years upon years of conditioning by open world games to completely clear all available sidequests before advancing the story (lest they be missed), many players stuck around in the Hinterlands (the first area unlocked after the prologue) before continuing onto Val Royeaux or the Storm Coast. However, advancing the story doesn't wipe any side quests until later in the game (and unlocks quite a bit more content), and a lot of first-time players got sick of the boring and/or inconsequential fetch quests that made up most of the Hinterlands' content. It became a meme on the forums and the subreddit that the first advice given to every player who was finding the game unengaging to "leave the fucking Hinterlands" and advance the story in Val Royeaux. Players who disliked the open-world aspect of Inquisition also used the phrase to point to the Hinterlands as an example of how open-world could fail a game.
• Murderpope ^explanationMaking Leliana Divine and keeping her hardened, ruthless personality leads to her taking...extreme measures against dissidents in the epilogue of Inquisition.
• Cassandra's penchant for stabbing books, maps, and other inanimate objects.
  "Cassandra Pentaghast: Protecting the world from a variety of inanimate objects since DAII"
• "Maaaaaaayheeeem." ^explanationIron Bull's argument for elf-tossing. And pretty much everything else, really.
• Who the hell is Cole? ^explanationA double-layered meme. Firstly, Cole has the ability to make people forget his presence or even his entire existence. Secondly, he's a character taken from the expanded universe novels, which only a minority of players have actually read. Inquisition in general seems to put quite a lot of stock in the player having read at least The Masked Empire and Asunder, leading to many a bewildered fan wondering just who the hell Cole is (or Michel de Chevin, or Briala, or any number of characters who are just kind of thrown into the game without much introduction).
• BEES! ^explanationThe Jar of Bees is a grenade that sounds like a joke but is actually one of the most devastating spells in the game. Naturally, Sera is the one who sends you to find it. Its sheer destructive power, the fact that it can be obtained very early in the game and manufactured very cheaply, and its easy parallels with the legendarily memeable Wicker Man remake made it irresistible to joke about.
• Nice pajamas. ^explanationWhile at Skyhold, the Inquisitor wears a form-fitting gray suit, apparently in an attempt to avert 24-Hour Armor. However, the outfit honestly just looks like a set of pajamas, and it looks jarringly out of place compared to the more dignified outfits of everyone else. When Trespasser launched, it added in new, fuller outfits as alternatives.
• I suspect you have questions. ^explanationSolas' greeting when you meet him again in Trespasser. Mostly caught on for how exploitable it is. The most obvious joke, "Not really, no," is actually a dialogue option.
• "Choice. Spirit." ^explanationImshael's Insistent Terminology for "demon."
• Gay for Dorian. ^explanationDorian is an extremely popular character and his romance is considered by the fandom to be the best option for a male Inquisitor. Many players who otherwise wouldn't pick a male Gay Option create a male Inquisitor exclusively to romance him.
• "How can there be demons in the fucking Winter Palace?!" ^explanationA particularly memorable quote from a Fereldan mercenary captain hired by Gaspard to launch a coup against Celene, since he didn't have enough "fancy chevaliers." The captain quickly became quite the Ensemble Dark Horse for his earthy, direct manner of speaking in a quest rife with doublespeak and faux formal cordiality, as well as for his refreshingly realistic reactions to some pretty bizarre events. Oh, and the Precision F-Strike also helps.
• Variations upon Solas being an egg.^explanationSolas is bald and pale with a round head. He's also a bit of a condescending know-it-all, which are often called "eggheads" in American English. These two factors lead to lots of jokes referencing him as an egg.
• White British Mythal-vallaslin Solavellan mage^explanationThis particular, very specific brand of Inquisitor — an elven, female, British-voiced, white (and often white-haired), Solas-romancing mage (usually a knight-enchanter or rift mage) with Power Tattoos ("vallaslin") honoring the elven goddess Mythal — seems to absolutely dominate fanart and fanfiction of Inquisition, even though the Inquisitor can be one of four races and one of three classes (with most players playing male human warriors anyway). There's a perception that fans of this particular playstyle insist that it is, in some form, the "correct" or "canon" way to play the game, which often irks people who prefer other styles, which, of course, leads to memes and mockery.
• "I'm reading the shit out of this!"^note Cassandra's Bait-and-Switch Comment when she finds Varric's Expy of her in his amusingly-titled book All This Shit Is Weird — she initially sounds upset that Varric portrayed her as a weeping, apologetic, worshipful sycophant... but then is delighted she's in the book, and repeats the aforementioned line.
• Alistair's walk of shame.^note Cullen's story about a templar recruit showing up, fully naked, into a room full of mages and templars, just to retreat by saluting and marching is noted as a very Alistair thing to do.

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf

• Snarly Solas/Intrigued Solas^explanationA variation of the ubiquitous "Drakeposting" meme which used two shots of a preview video of Dragon Age 4 — one of Solas baring his teeth in an angry snarl, the other of him pursing his lips and raising his eyebrows.
• Cyberpunk Tevinter. ^Explanation The shots of Tevinter in the trailer show that it utilizes a lot of Magitek, including magical holograms as signs and an entire floating castle. Fans were quick to joke that the rest of the world would look like this if they didn't lock up their mages and to exaggerate it into Tevinter having sci fi levels of technology while the rest of Thedas is still in the Middle Ages. People also pointed out that Dorian and other Tevinter characters calling the south "backward" seems a lot more understandable now.
• NINE FIFTY-TWO DRAGON ^ExplanationAfter seven years of Development Hell, with little in the way of news regarding Dragon Age 4's plot, characters, or release date, by Dragon Age Day (Dec. 4) 2021 fans became pretty desperate for any bit of news they could get. While the day brought little in the way of actual development news, it did feature the release of two new short stories, one of which seemed to imply that the main game would take place in 9:52 Dragon, indicating a substantial Time Skip after Trespasser (set in 9:44, 8 years prior). This was a bombshell by itself, but given the lack of any other insights, fans latched onto it for dear life.
• DA:Ddy ^explanationOnce the full title of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf was revealed, people pretty much immediately noticed that its abbreviation spelled "dad." This led to numerous jokes, but most prominent among them was former Solas-romancers exploiting the sexual connotation of "daddy."
  • DA:D never came back with the milk. ^explanationAfter the title was revealed in June, despite the devs saying more information was to come, very little new information was released for the rest of 2022. After the Game Awards that year revealed nothing despite hopes and predictions, fans used the "DAD" joke in combination with the ubiquitous "Dad went out to get milk" trope to express their frustration and/or disappointment.
• Baldurs Gate 3 is the real Dragon Age 4^explanationBaldurs Gate 3 (developed by Larian Studios) released in August 2023, while Dreadwolf was still in Development Hell and amid a torrent of troubling news from within BioWare, including mass layoffs of several crucial veteran developers of the franchise. Baldur's Gate was the franchise that originally put BioWare on the map, and many people viewed the scale of the world, its well-crafted characters and RPG elements, and its choice-driven storylines as a Spiritual Successor to Dragon Age: Origins or Dragon Age as a whole. Many fan communities on places like Reddit and Tumblr, as well as several content creators, switched focus to BG3 content as hopes for Dreadwolf continued to dwindle.

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