History Trivia / DragonAgeOrigins

* PreOrderBonus: Rather ridiculously, '' every major vendor'' had a pre-order bonus for ''Origins'' that's exclusive to them. Amazon.com had The Lion's Paw boots, [=Direct2Drive=] had the Dalish Ring, [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA Store]] had the Fire Band, Game Crazy had the Guildmaster's Belt, [=GameStop=] and Play.com had the Feral Wolf Charm, UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} had The Wicked Oath... Those who pre-ordered were forced to pick one and miss out on all the other items. [[http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Downloadable_content_(Origins)#manual_installation Some items]] have since been made available for manual installation, although if you play on a console rather than PC you won't be able to get them all.

* OldShame: The writers have admitted to regretting making the ending slides the way they did, since the ending slides were such a definitive resolution to many plot points, that it became really hard to move the story forward. Due to this, the writers decided to retcon them into merely being rumors.

** Due to the game's mechanics, it is very easy for Leliana to get high approval status with the Warden, and thus she tends to quickly become interested in them romantically. This leads many to believe Leliana is the game's canonical love interest, or that she is a ClingyJealousGirl towards the Warden. In reality, Leliana is just a character whose affection is very easy to win and who has a plethora of bugs in her her romance arc. As a result, the game often incorrectly assumes that the Warden is in a relationship with her and sometimes even forgets that a breakup has occurred, making her come across as a lot more clingy than intended.

** Many of the epilogues are merely rumors about what might have happened. It was initially thought to be a closure of the story in case the game did not sell enough to warrant a sequel or a franchise. However, as the game outperformed, the developers found themselves hindered by the epilogues to develop the overall storyline.

** There were originally going to be two more human origin stories: a commoner story (you would have been a farmer's child from Redcliffe, owed Dwyn a lot of money, and had your sister Brigid engaged to him to take care of the debt), and an Avvar barbarian from the village of Haven. The concept art and fluff for these origins made it into the tabletop RPG, though.

** Originally, any Warden could become [[spoiler:King or Queen of Ferelden]]. But again, the developers came to think it would be too unbelievable given Ferelden's FantasticRacism against mages and non-humans, so in the end only [[spoiler:the Human Noble Warden could become Queen or Prince Consort.]]

** Originally, any Warden could become [[spoiler:King or Queen of Ferelden]]. But again, the developers came to think it would be too unbelievable given Ferelden's FantasticRacism against mages and non-humans, so in the end only [[spoiler:the Human Noble Warden could become King or Queen.]]

* TalkingToHimself: Gorim and Oghren can have a conversation at one point. Both dwarves are voiced by Creator/SteveBlum.

** Dragons were originally not part of the lore, incredibly enough. The world was originally going to lean a lot heavily on the HereThereWereDragons trope and have magic and fantasy creatures be rare/extinct. The Archdemon's original design was that of a [[https://i.redd.it/hjn66pf6by461.png faceless humanoid with wings, tentacles and four arms]]. However, [[ExecutiveMeddling after the staff were told that they needed to add dragons to the game]], they rewrote some of the lore to include dragons. The original Archdemon design still appears in-game as statues, most notably in the Dalish Origin where it is identified as the elven god Falon'Din.

** Many of the epilogues are merely rumors about what might have happened. It was initially thought to be a closure of the story in case the game did not sell enough to warrant a sequel or a franchise. However, as the game outperformed the developers found themselves hindered by the epilogues to develop the overall storyline.
** Duncan is [[KilledOffForReal dead]]. The only way he'll reappear in the series if it's in a story that takes place prior to ''Origins''.

** Many of the epilogues are merely rumors about what might have happened.

* QuoteSource:
** AndIMustScream

** Dragons were originally not part of the lore, incredibly enough. The world was originally going to lean a lot heavily on the HereThereWereDragons trope and have magic and fantasy creatures be rare/extinct. The Archdemon's original design was that of a [[https://i.redd.it/hjn66pf6by461.png faceless humanoid with wings, tentacles and four arms]]. However, [[ExecutiveMeddling after the staff were told that they needed to add dragons to the game]], they rewrote some of the lore to include dragons. The original Archdemon design still appears in-game as statues, most notably in the dalish origin where it is identified as the elven god Falon'Din.

** Many of the epilogues are merely rumours of what ''might'' have happened.

** In early concept art, The Archdemon would be more demonic in appearance as his name implies, having an humanoid body with bat wings, four arms and tentacle-like legs, but ExecutiveMeddling demanded for dragons in the game and he was turned into a draconic being. Part of the Archdemon original design can still be seen as a statue in the Dalish Elf origin, where it's refered to as the elven god Falon'Din.

* FanNickname:
** Mary Kirby (Dog's writer) named the dog Rabbit, making it a popular choice; for those who [[DontExplainTheJoke don't recognize it]], it's a subtle Creator/MontyPython reference (the killer rabbit).
** Another common name is [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/11/6/ Barkspawn]], popularized by Tycho Brahe of ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'', who did the official ''Dragon Age'' comics.
** The knife the Warden can use to execute people (which is always the same, no matter your class or what you're actually carrying) is known by the fandom as Murder Knife.

* FlipFlopOfGod: During development, there was a lot of debate on whether ''DA'' should be a DarkFantasy or a HeroicFantasy: the powerful writing team wanted a darker tone in the vein of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', while the rest of the designers wanted a heroic adventure in the footsteps of ''Franchise/BaldursGate''. A compromise was eventually found by Jennifer Hepler, who dubbed it "dark heroic fantasy" and [[https://www.thegamer.com/dragon-age-origins-oral-history/ explained]] that "the world was dark, but the player's role in it was heroic". This genre ambiguity has persisted throughout the series since, although the balance has gradually shifted towards HeroicFantasy in the later titles.

* CastingGag:
** Alistair deeply distrusts magic and was formerly trained to be a Templar. In real life, Creator/SteveValentine is an accomplished stage magician.
** Possibly mixed with foreshadowing, we see the leader of the Dalish is the Keeper, who leads them both physically and spiritually. The third game reveals that [[spoiler: Flemeth is the host body of the Elvhen goddess Mythal. So it looks like [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Tuvok]] (played by Tim Russ, voice of the Keeper) is still working for [[Series/StarTrekVoyager Captain Janeway]] (played by Kate Mulgrew, voice of Flemeth).]]

* FlipFlopOfGod: During development, there was a lot of debate on whether ''DA'' should be a DarkFantasy or a HeroicFantasy: the powerful writer team wanted a darker tone in the vein of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', while the rest of the designers wanted a heroic adventure in the footsteps of ''Franchise/BaldursGate''. A compromise was eventually found by Jennifer Hepler, who dubbed it "dark heroic fantasy" and [[https://www.thegamer.com/dragon-age-origins-oral-history/ explained]] that "the world was dark, but the player's role in it was heroic". This genre ambiguity has persisted throughout the series since, although the balance has gradually shifted towards HeroicFantasy in the later titles.

* FlipFlopOfGod: During development, there was a lot of debate on whether ''DA'' should be a DarkFantasy or a HeroicFantasy: the powerful writer team wanted a darker tone in the vein of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', while the rest of the designers wanted a heroic adventure in the footsteps of ''Franchise/BaldursGate''. A compromise was eventually found by Jennifer Hepler, who dubbed it "dark heroic fantasy" and [[https://www.thegamer.com/dragon-age-origins-oral-history/ explained it]] as "the world was dark, but the player's role in it was heroic". This genre ambiguity persisted throughout the series since, although the focus gradually shifted towards HeroicFantasy in the later titles.