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aka: Dragon Age III Inquisition

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WMG items for Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Jossed WMGs

Solas is a pride demon
  • His name means "pride" and he comes from a time when elves and spirits were considered equals, and that name would have been taken quite literally.
    • Then he breaks almost every established lore or rule about spirits in the DA universe.
    • Yeah, he points out that all of that's wrong, though.
    • Not all, not even close to all, just some. Indeed on Cole's personal mission Solas is very clear that he sees spirits and mortals as two very different things so I doubt he'd want to blur the lines himself. And indeed him being a spirit would rather torpedo the Elven gods plotline.

Patterns
I've noticed some patterns in the history of the DA universe. First is the one between Andraste and Flemeth, as well as Shartan and Solas. Both are known to only have daughters, they both share similar designs, just look at the Andrastian and Mythal iconography. Then we have the freedom-loving elf who partakes in the revolution against the ruling class and has a close bond to a powerful woman in the movement. Am I talking about Solas or Shartan?
  • We also have the connection between the Old Gods and the Titans. Both can be heard singing. One of the Old Gods in the Western Approach is said to sleep within a Thaig. Both have a presence in both the physical world and the Fade, since Lyrium is found both in the Fade and the physical world and is the blood of the Titans.
  • Hard to say however whether such things are indicative of something in-universe or just the narrative flow of the story.

The "Golden" City is Arlathan
Arlathan is said to have been burned to the ground according to Dalish lore. But since the lore has been proven wrong, and since Solas has confessed to have created the Veil, ripping apart a lot of Elven architecture, it wouldn't be out of place for the Golden City to be Arlathan. What impact this has on the current DA lore is up for debate.

The Maker is the "unknown eighth" archdemon.
Mythal was murdered by someone and all the other gods were imprisoned. It's already theorized that it could have been the Maker. Who says it wasn't? We have two, now one, god/s running about. So why not a third one? Maybe Andraste got possessed the same way Flemeth was. She too seems to have only had daughters... There are some patterns here...
  • As of Trespasser, we learn that Solas banished the Evanuris into the Fade after they killed Mythal.
  • In any case there is no evidence so far that the Evanuris and the Tevinter Old Gods are connected.

The Qunari have become a Paper Tiger.

Much is made of the threat the Qunari pose to Thedas and (when they're the ones talking) the inevitability of their victory. But I contend that they are far less impressive than they are made out to be. First, every Qunari agent we've met has second thoughts or doubts and at least one (possibly two, depending on what Tallis did next) can decide to leave. The Bull notes that the Qunari's leaders have not been able to satisfactorily explain why they lost the last war despite the fact that, according to their beliefs, following the Qun should have guaranteed victory. The evidence supports the idea that, despite gathering converts in some places, they are losing a lot of people to Tal-Vashoth; Tal-Vashoth are a constant problem on Seheron, they had to come up with a name for the descendants of those who left the Qun, proving that it doesn't always lead to madness and in Dragon Age 2 even the personal troops of the Arishock went Tal-Vashoth by the dozen. If Sten is the new Arishok the comics show him to still care too much about his friends to put the Qun over them. All this suggests a sense of doubt creeping into the heart of their supposedly unified society. This is also supported by the simple fact that it's been two centuries since the Llomeryn Accords and they haven't made a single advance in territory nor really made any effort to do so.

One is also not impressed by their supposed military might. They've been fighting in Seheron for 200 years and not only have they failed to expel the forces of Tevinter (which is, let's remember, a broadly spent power compared to the likes of Orlais and Nevarra) but they've actually created more enemies. In Origins an elite group of top level soldiers was surprised and massacred down to one man while on a scouting mission by an outlying group of Darkspawn before the main horde was even out of the Korcari Wilds. One of the much touted Dreadnoughts was wrecked in a storm while another will be destroyed by three(!) mages if not supported by a group of non-Qunari mercenaries. The only military success we've seen from them is taking over a city that has no army when already inside it and holding it for a few hours before one guy/girl and a handful of his/her friends cut through their ranks to their leader and possibly killing him.

Basically the Qunari come across as talking a good game and most of them probably believing it, to a point, but being significantly less hot stuff than they claim to be.

  • The Iron Bull, in a conversation with Dorian about the Tevene/Qunari conflicts, says that despite the priesthood not having an adequate explanation for why the Qun hasn't conquered the world yet, as far as the military goes, before the arrival of Corypheus, the conflicts they were involved in barely counted as border skirmishes, and that things would be much different if they wanted to declare another war. It isn't said why they haven't declared war (The Iron Bull says they are waiting for something, but he doesn't know what), but given that we know little about what is happening in Par Vollen, it is likely that while the Qun is far away from taking over Thedas, another Qunari Wars with the southern nations would be far from a Curb-Stomp Battle for the south.
    • Oh I never imagined a Curb-Stomp Battle, just that the Qunari are considerably less impressive than they think. While certainly the Qunari have only fought in skirmishes that doesn't change the fact that even their best (like the Arishock's personal troops and Sten's elite party) seem to lose as much as if not more than they win. And the Qunari certainly want Seheron and, by what the Bull and Fenris tell us, are getting no closer to properly controlling it. In fact it's getting more and more chaotic. I also stand by the idea that they have serious internal social issues, what with the constant haemorrhaging of people to Tal-Vashoth even from their best (the Arishock's troops again, Tallis' mentor, potentially the Bull, possibly Tallis herself etc). There's also lots of doubt and indecision among those who stay. As I said earlier the former Sten in the comics ends up helping Alistair despite the Qun because he's his friend and at one point Cole lets us know that the Tamarasssan who trained the Bull is actually glad he got out.
  • The upcoming "Trespasser" DLC will make or break this guess, given that the Qunari are the main antagonists. The Qunari will be invading and coming in force after the Inquisition, and the trailer presents this as the Inquisitor's darkest hour. (Though the Qunari aren't the only factor behind that.) It also appears that the Qunari have taken control of the Eluvians and are using them as military staging grounds - a frightening prospect should they succeed.
    • Indeed. Either this will prove me wrong by presenting the Qunari as a great threat or prove me right by allowing the Qunari to be defeated within the space of a DLC. We shall see.
    • The Qunari in Trespasser are far from toothless, but they don't get the best showing here. True, they've infiltrated the Inquisition, come up with a pretty good plan to conquer the South and are clearly being set up as major antagonists in the next installment. But they lose both the Eluvians and their lyrium supply - potentially game-changing factors - and spend a lot of time jobbing to Solas, who's being set up as an even bigger antagonist.
      • Indeed. I (original poster for reference) stand by my theory for now. [The Qunari are only as big a threat as they are in Trespasser because they're making use of Elven magic, which is in and of itself a betrayal of their beliefs. That rather backs up my points about their current crisis of faith. Also the Inquisition or in fact just the Inner Circle, put pay to their plans with the only outside help being Solas providing one clue. Also, once the plan is shot, they back off. My guess is DA 4 will be the fight against Solas with any Qunari shenanigans being a side story. We'll see.

The Blight is the pure hatred of the elven gods.
You have the Fade that reacts to feelings and then a bunch of god-like imprisoned beings who are "Fade-walkers". That the Blight is the wrath of god might not be so far-fetched. In this case it just isn't one but several gods. Tie this into that a really powerful magister can have control of the blight itself. It's no wonder Corypheus sees himself as a god, he commands their wrath and his will is at their level.

The Black City was never the seat of the maker, it's the holding pen for the Forgotten Ones.
The Forgotten Ones were elven gods, of a sort, but they weren't the sort of gods you'd want to bring home or worship - famine, pain, madness, corruption, plague, etc. So when the old magisters of Tevinter went there, they brought some of that nastiness back with them. Cue the first blight. Corypheus noted that the city was corrupt already when he arrived, and empty. But just because he didn't see the gods there didn't mean they were absent. Now keep in mind that multiple magisters went into the Black City and came back... defeating Corypheus was not the end of this, even with Fen'Harel still mucking about.

Building on the above point: Given the evidence that a god can ride shotgun in a mortal (See Flemeth/Mythal) it's possible that the reason the city was empty was that Corypheus was not the first magister to arrive - his competition beat him there, and the Forgotten Ones had taken up new residencies in mortal bodies. Or it could be Corypheus was playing host to one of these Forgotten Ones himself, and not know it. Or he knows and forgot. It may be best to take any observations from Corypheus with a grain of salt though - he's not exactly the most mentally-stable or objective of sources.

To add further: It's also possible that the "dead whispers" that Corypheus heard when he entered the Black City was actually the Blight (or MAYBE, The Forgotten Ones, who I am getting more and more convinced are the Abstract Apotheosis of the Blight) teasing him the same way the Well of Sorrows whispers in your head, and since he's not exactly knowledgeable of the TFO's lore, he couldn't decipher what they were saying (according to what Morrigan will say if you drank from the Well instead of her). So him being the carrier of the original Blight is actually him carrying out the TFO's orders... them being the representatives of disease and pain and all that.

The Elven Gods are the first Darkspawn.
Let's take the above to an even further point - the reason these were sealed away isn't because of some kind of moral whatever on the part of Fen'Harel, but because their existence itself posed a threat to all life on Thedas. The reason Corypheus found it empty is because they had killed whatever inhabited it prior and Fen'Harel sealed it off to stop them from infecting the entirety of the Fade with the Darkspawn taint. Corypheus himself is just a modified ghoul and he and the other magisters sent back by those Gods to cause enough death and destruction that the Veil would be weak enough for the Alpha-Darkspawn to escape back into the world.

Corypheus was lying when he told Hawke that the city was black when the magisters arrived.
Just before the Inquisitor rips the orb from his hands, Corypheus, in his panicked ranting, says "I have walked the halls of the GOLDEN City, crossed the ages . . ." A slip of the tongue? Or an accidental admission that he was lying when he told Hawke that the city was already black when the magisters arrived? If the halls of the city were black when he was there, why would he call them golden, especially in an unguarded moment like that?

The Elven Pantheon and the Old Gods are the same.
There were nine elven gods and seven old gods. Two of the elven gods have been confirmed to still be around.
  • If this turns out to be correct, Flemeth/Mythal's ability to turn into a High Dragon suddenly is extremely key. And Flemeth/Mythal's desire to have a Warden-spawned reincarnation of the Old God becomes much more understandable...
  • Also note the iconography and statues of Mythal. Pretty draconic, wouldn't you say? Also reminiscent of the depictions of Andraste. Another note is how Arlathan and Tevinter is very much the same. You have priests with magic ruling over slaves in the name of gods. It might even be that the target for Mythal's vengeance is the Maker.
  • This also explains why Solas was so freaked out by the Grey Wardens planning to kill Old Gods in their sleep before any darkspawn get to them. He wanted his old pals banished, not killed.
  • Another parallel: The Maker is said to have imprisoned the Old Gods underground, which was also what Fen'Harel did to the elven gods. It even fits the "7 Old Gods, 2 surfacers" part.
  • If this theory is true, then the Elven Pantheon would be even worse in hindsight. The Tevinter Imperium may be nothing more than the fallen Elven gods petty revenge against their former upstart slaves who dared to rebel against them.
    • A match-up between the seven Tevinter Old Gods and the Seven Elven Gods Who Are Not Fen'Harel Or Mythal needs to be made to give this hypothesis more credence.
  • Dumat, the Dragon of Silence and the archdemon of the First Blight=Dirthamon, the god of Secrets, who gave the elves the gift of knowledge. May match up with Dumat giving away knowledge of blood magic. Zazikel, the Dragon of Chaos and the archdemon of the Second Blight=Andruil, whose codex in Mythal's temple says she went mad, known as "blood and force." Toth, the Dragon of Fire and the archdemon of the Third Blight=Elgar'nan, god of the sun (fire?) and vengeance. Sylaise, the harthkeeper-fire. She gave the elves fire and taught them to heal. Andoral, the Dragon of Slaves and the archdemon of the Fourth Blight=June, the god of crafts. Slaves would be in charge of doing such work one would think. Urthemiel, the Dragon of Beauty and the archdemon of the Fifth Blight=Sylaise, god of domestic arts. Sister to Andruil. Razikale, the Dragon of Mystery=Dirthamen, the keeper of secrets. Lusacan, the Dragon of Night= Falon'Din, the god of the Beyond and twin to Dirthamen. Mythal, who is Flemeth and Solas, who is Fen'Harel. Ghilan'nain is harder to place as the mother of monsters and halla, and goddess of navigation. Night, on a stretch. Chaos, as something that monsters cause. Slaves, as she may have once been one before being raised to goddess-hood.
    • If you read the Astrarium Codex lends credence to this theory as it mentions Tenebrium is attributed to both Falon’Din AND Lusacan. Of course the Silentir constellation is linked to Mythal and Dumat which raises more questions then answers yet it might explain how Flemeth knew the Dark Ritual to capture the Archdemon's untainted soul during Origins. Mythal told Flemeth of its use in escaping Dumat's death at the end of the First Blight.

  • As of the Trespasser DLC this one seems to be Jossed. The Elven gods were mortal mages that became powerful enough to be viewed as gods but were sealed away from the world when Fen'Harel (AKA Solas) created the Veil. As such they are not the Old Gods, who are demonstrably not stuck in the Fade.
    • Not necessarily. They may not be Old Gods, but they were still powerful enough to be viewed as gods and we do know of one elven god who can turn into a dragon...
    • Taking this one step further... the Elven Gods might have been what Keiran had been, a mortal mage who houses the soul of an Old God not unlike the Abominations of demonic possessions. This could explain why the Evanurius went mad in the end if what befell them was any similar to Anders, gone mad with power or their purpose was corrupted by the weak hearts of mortals. Mythal was the only one who remained relatively sane and moral which is why Solas is so loyal to her: she literally was the best of them as she wasn't overcome by deprivation. Which means the Eighth Old God stricken from history would be Flemeth as that's exactly what happened to Mythal! She was struck down by seven of the Evanuris. By creating the Veil these seven were banished to the Fade. From within the Fade they may have only been able to influence the world as Spirits and Demons do by possessing others only instead of people they chose Dragons this time around. We've seen animal possessions before with the cat and desire demon in Shale's DLC. Which means in a sense the Chantry was RIGHT claiming these were not gods but spirits. Of course whether the original spirits that possessed the Evanuris were actual spirits or gods...

Oghren will be one of the faction leaders.
He will be the only thing keeping the rest of Thedas from succumbing to the schleets.
  • Sadly, Oghren is not in the game. We can hope a future DLC will incorporate him, however.
    • No more DLC and, unfortunately, no Oghren.

The protagonist of the game will be called...
  • ...the Grand Inquisitor.
    • The High Inquisitor or Grandmaster Inquisitor.
  • ..."Inquisitor" for short.
    • This one is pretty much confirmed by the Aaryn Flynn here.
  • ...Prince / Princess Stabbity.
  • Somewhat Jossed. While the Inquisitor is called "Inquisitor" frequently, each playable race has it's own unique last name, and the Inquisitor is addressed by this name often in dialogue along with "Inquisitor."

Shout Outs to other universes' Inquisitions will be made
Such as:
  • The one nobody expects. Their chief weapon is surprise... surprise and fear... fear and surprise... Amongst their weaponry are such diverse elements as: fear, surprise, ruthless efficiency, an almost fanatical devotion to the Divine. And nice uniforms of yet-TBA color and design.
    • Jossed.
      • Then again, now no one will expect them.
      • Confirmed; they were bluffing. Only a few subtle ones made it in, though, such as when the Inquisition is invited to Redcliffe by Fiona but discover that no one expected them upon arrival because Gereon Alexius manipulated the timeline so that Fiona never went to Val Royeaux.
  • Warhammer 40,000. For the Empress!
  • The Sith Inquisitor storyline.
  • The Witch Hunters.
  • Tomás de Torquemada.

Shout Outs to Game of Thrones will be made aplenty
Between the success of the series and the similarities which already exist between the two universes: we've already seen Varric with a Tyrion style scar in the first trailer, and who wouldn't want him to one-up Varys?
Power is shadow on the wall, few can cast as large a shadow as Bianca and they're already on my side
  • They already did it before it was cool, making Song Of Ice And Fire references in Dragon Age: Origins.
  • Personally hoping for some Stannis & Tywin shout outs regarding the dissident, rebellious factions from the Inquisitor, myself.
They will bend the knee, or I will destroy them.
Those who defy us will be served with steel and fire.

Like the comics, Sten will have been promoted to Arishok
Because holy shit that's awesome.
  • That's pretty much a given, unless you left Sten to die in Lothering in Origins. The comic book canon does not override the Old Save Bonus but it's otherwise canon.
    • Unless I'm mistaken, it is never explicitly stated that he died if you leave him. If BioWare wanted, they could easily say that he somehow escaped.
    • Confirmed.
  • He would have to be both released from his crow cage in Lothering and have his sword recovered.

And then, they'll turn it into a unavoidable boss fight and force you to kill him
Because True story-based RPGs are angsty
  • This one's unlikely, since the Inquisition is more-or-less impartial, and you may even be able to side with the Qunari. So maybe you'll be able to kill him, but it's unlikely to be unavoidable.
  • Jossed; Sten does not appear in the game at all. He does get mentioned briefly in party banter between Varric and Iron Bull, however.

Hawke and/or the Warden might make an appearance
Both or one of them might make cameos in the Inquisitor storyline by helping/mentoring the new player about the world and where s/he stands in Thedas.
  • And the Warden will be Suddenly Voiced—by the same actor/actress who did their respective voice set, as imported from Origins.
    • While that would be lovely, this would have to be sadly Jossed unless BioWare pulls The Other Darrin: Robin Sachs (the voice of the Experienced Human) passed away during the DLC cycle of Mass Effect 3.
      • As sad as that is, if they really decide to do this, replacing one actor will probably still be easier than reassembling and recording over 30 versions of the same dialogue.
    • Also they'd have to recast if they're keeping the accent changes with DAII. So say goodbye to your Yuri Lowenthal voiced male Dalish elf.
      • Not necessarily: they haven't exactly been consistent with their established accents in DAII, after all, and several Dalish elves in it still have American or otherwise not Irish nor Welsh accents. I've gotten the impression that they don't really care of applying it properly and consistently anymore, so I can't see them pulling off The Other Darrin for that reason.
  • A default female Hawke was seen in the "Enemy of Thedas" trailer, so it looks like Hawke will definitely appear in some capacity.
  • Confirmed, in bits. Hawke is indeed in the game and fairly important to the plot.
    • Sadly Jossed for the Warden, however. While the Warden was originally planned to be included as Hawke's Warden contact, they had to cut it loose due to, as mentioned above, troubles with finding the right voice actors. However, you can recieve a letter from him/her, so perhaps there is hope he/she will make it into DLC or a sequel.

The Qunari will invade during the Mage-Templar War
Subversive elements of the Qun helped manipulate the start of the Mage-Templar war, specifically wanting the Chantry lands to weaken themselves in an internal struggle and become vulnerable to a Qunari invasion. Ultimately, with the Inquisition's help, they end up an Enemy Mine that helps reunite the Mage and Templar factions.
  • Alternatively, all three factions stay separate, but just before the final battle begins, they pull an Enemy Mine against a sudden Darkspawn invasion (a new Blight?) that threatens them all. They fight valiantly but are almost overwhelmed, but then a fifth army swoops in to save them: Grey Wardens riding griffons.
    • Assuming the Wardens don't kill them all to prevent spread of the Blight. Swooping is bad, after all.
  • Jossed. Though, as Iron Bull mentions, the Qunari were not unaware of the dangers, and sent him to keep tabs on things.
    • Also the Qunari had nothing whatsoever to do with starting the war.

Skill Point Reset will once again be available
But it will not reset the Specializations, only the points invested in their respective skills.
  • Pretty much.

People you'll get to kill
Sorted alphabetically:

  • Adrian, the Libertarian Fraternity leader
    • Unconfirmed; plenty of mages die in the game, though, so he may have been killed and not identified.
      • Could also have died at the Conclave.
  • Alistair
    • Partially confirmed. If Alistair remained a Grey Warden, he shows up to aid Hawke and the Inquisitor; the player character doesn't kill him, but the player can by having him perform a Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Anders/Justice, provided he survived part two
    • Jossed. Anders/Justice does not appear in the game.
  • Cassandra (assuming she's not a party member, and even then, maybe)
    • Jossed. Cassandra is a full party member and there is no option to kill her.
  • A Dalish clan, in its entirety. So far both games have given you the option of slaughtering the Dalish. While not mandatory, it's practically tradition now for some players.
    • Depressingly, sort-of confirmed. If the Inquisitor is Dalish, it's possible for their clan to be wiped out off-screen at several points - getting them out alive depends on a string of War Table choices.
  • Empress Celene I of Orlais
    • Confirmed. The player's visit to the Orlesian court coincides with an assassination attempt. You can either save her or choose to let it happen.
  • Fiona
    • Confirmed. If the player recruits the Templars, Fiona must be fought and killed during the battle of Haven.
  • Flemeth (again)
    • Jossed. She's there, though! Solas kills her in the ending stinger, however... maybe. The interplay of gods can become rather complex.
  • Hawke
    • Partially confirmed, in the same way as Alistair.
  • Isabela
    • Jossed, although the player can ask Varric what she's doing these days.
      • And she is now a playable character in multiplayer.
  • Divine Justinia V
    • Jossed. Her death is what kickstarts the plot, but you're not responsible... well, not exactly.
  • Leliana
    • Jossed. Mostly. She dies in the Bad Future if you side with the mages, but not by your hand.
  • Lord Seeker Lambert (assuming he survived the encounter with Cole)
    • Jossed. Cole did indeed kill Lambert. He was replaced by Lord Seeker Lucius.
  • Loghain, provided he survived the first game.
    • Partially confirmed, in the same way as Alistair above.
  • Morrigan
    • Jossed; she joins the Inquisition for the latter half of the game.
  • Rhys and Evangeline
    • It is possible for them to die if you botch a certain War Table mission after speaking with Cole.
      • The war table op can't be "botched", merely not ever carried out. It is still possible that Rhys might extricate Evangeline from the Red Templars without Inquisition assistance.
  • Sebastian
    • Not exactly. But if you recruited Sebastian in II and allowed Anders to live, he does make good on his threat to invade Kirkwall, and there's a war table mission that lets you take a side in the conflict.
  • Sten, a.k.a. the new Arishok
    • Jossed; he never appears in the game.
  • The Warden-Commander
    • Confirmed - to an extent. The Warden-Commander who gets killed is not the Hero of Ferelden, and her death is actually a Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Zevran
    • Jossed; Zevran doesn't appear on-screen, though he does have a small chain of war table missions.

Certain choices from Dragon Age II will have major consequences (even the seemingly minor ones) as a Take That, Audience! in order to ensure that most, if not all of the choices were still meaningful.
  • For example:
    • Feynriel's fate.
    • The path Hawke's surviving sibling took.
    • Either killing Anders or letting him go free and the effect that has on Sebastian.
    • Giving Varric the shard of the lyrium idol.
    • Batrand's fate.
    • If Aveline married Donnic or not.
    • How The Arishok was dealt with.
    • Who Hawke sided with in Legacy, Larius or Janeka. And what Corypheus is doing after the end.
    • Tallis's relationship to Hawke and The Heart of The Many.
    • Which companions are Friends and which are Rivals.
    • The fate of Merrill's clan.
    • Giving Fenris back to Danarius.
  • Most of the above have now been confirmed to one degree or another by Dragon Age Keep.

Fen'harel, the Elven Trickster God, will be the Big Bad
The leaked marketing survey indicated that someone or something is working to prolong the Mage-Templar war. Fen'harel seems to be the type of god that likes to cause chaos for the sake of chaos. Prolonging a massive war sounds like something he would do. While there isn't any evidence that Fen'harel actually exists, people were saying the same about the Magisters who invaded the Black City prior to Legacy.
  • And on that note, Fen'Harel, the Elven Trickster God, is actually the Maker as well, having reshaped theology to his will after his trickery to the other elven gods.
  • Sort of Jossed. He is responsible for the Elder One's rise to power since he gave the Elder One the artifact that made it possible. But he only did it because he couldn't empower the orb himself, and he needed it to aid the Elves. And as Solas, he helps the Inquisitor stop the Elder One's ambitions. Fen'Harel is arguably the Big Good of the game. Fen'harel isn't exactly a god of malevolent trickery as the Dalish depict him as, but more a god of "That's not what I wanted to happen!"
  • Sort of confirmed as of Trespasser. While technically not the villain of Inquisition, Solas is definitely being set up as an antagonist in future games, albeit a sympathetic one. He likely would have been the Big Bad, had Corypheus not stolen his orb and ruined his plans.

There won't be another Blight, but the Darkspawn will get involved in the Mage-Templar War in some way or another.
Flemeth will somehow gain control of the entire Darkspawn horde (by using her Eldritch Abomination powers or something) and attack both the Mages and the Templars, and it'll be up to the protagonist to stop her.
  • Confirmed! The Elder One, aka Corypheus, aka one of the first Darkspawn ever, takes advantage of the ongoing War to aid his own plans. Whoever the Inquisitor doesn't choose as allies will become Corypheus' soldiers.
    • That said Corypheus is the only Darkspawn involved. All other Darkspawn encountered in the game are just random surface raids, show no sign of planning around or even knowing about Corypheus's plans and, on a couple of occasions, actually attack his forces when they get in the way.

Rule of Three will be excessively prevalent
Because this is the third game in the series, 3 will be the Arc Number and Take the Third Option will be more readily available. This continues the trend from Dragon Age II, where the concept of dualism (or more accurately, radicalism that divided the world in two camps) was prominent. The whole idea of Inquisition may stem from the need to create a third power in the Mage-Templar conflict, and the best ending will result from sticking to the middle path.
  • Seems to be holding up thus far: there are three pillars of the Inquisition's power (military, diplomatic, and espionage), three advisers to go with them, nine companions (three for each class), three multiplayer campaigns (at launch), the level cap in the single-player is 27 (3 to the power of 3), etc.

Like Origins and Mass Effect 3, we will choose between factions to aid us in the final battle throughout the game.
It seems that Dragon Age II was the build up to an epic final battle that DA 3 might deliver. What's a big battle without allies? Like Qunari (led by Sten or the Arishok if they're still alive) vs The Tevinter Magisters. Scenarios like this will lead to examples of mutually exclusive party members, like if you choose the Magisters you get Feynriel, but if you side with the Qunari you get Tallis.
  • Another could be Grey Wardens (led by Alistair, Loghain, Carver/Bethany and/or Stroud if still alive and in the Wardens) vs. The Darkspawn (led by The Architect if still alive and/or Corypheus). With the Wardens you get a skilled Warden recruit, while with Darkspawn you get The Messenger.
  • Partially correct - you will choose between the mages and the Templars. Whichever side you don't approach first becomes the enemy.
    • Also you can choose to ally with the Wardens or send them away and can also pick your preferred ruler/s of Orlais.

The game will feature a massive Big Bad Ensemble.
While the mages and templars are both wild cards, you can't ignore that there are a lot of other threatening figures, like Flemeth and Corypheus, still lurking around waiting for their moment to capitalize.
  • Not really. Corypheus is a singular Big Bad, Flemeth's interest is marginal and other players are either on your side by default or become Corypheus' minions.

You will reunite a companion with his long lost sister.
Because they've already done three times before.
  • Amusingly, they've actually done that FOUR times if you're just counting being reunited with sisters in general. Alistair, Velanna (temporarily), Nathaniel, AND Fenris.
  • Cullen does receive letters from his elder sister, asking him to write more often, but he isn't estranged from his family and it's mostly just character development.
  • You do, but not where you'd expect: you reunite the elven god Fen'Harel who traveled with you as Solas with his elven pantheon kin Mythal/Flemeth.

There's going to be a big reveal about the Dragon Age world.
Hints have been given throughout the last few games that certain beliefs held by Thedas are either inaccurate or out-right wrong, especially in Dragon Age II with the "the Stone is under Orlais" and Sandal's prophecy as two standout examples, plus the history of the elves and dwarves are shown as having gaps and inaccuracies going back to the Dalish Elf Origin and the Witch Hunt DLC. The truth (whatever it is) will be uncovered as a side effect of the Inquisition's attempt to stop the Mage-Templar War and tie into the Maker, the Archdemons, the Elven Gods and Flemeth, who's easily the franchise's biggest mystery to date.
  • Depending on your point of view, the Elven gods existing but not really being gods and Lyrium being alive are both pretty big.
  • The veil being an artificial construct and not Thedas "natural state", and the fact that it is possible to destroy it permanently are arguably even bigger reveals.

The multiplayer will be akin to Mass Effect 3
You will play as rank-and-file Inquisitors defending their keeps from waves of fanatical enemies such as the Red Templars or the demons.
  • Confirmed.

Varric will return as a narrator in DLC content.
He'll tell the player of his own adventures after Hawke left Kirkwall, with slight embellishments as he tends to do. The player can actually call him on this via Reaction Commands, which will alter the stories for replay value. Speaking of Reaction Commands...
  • Sort of confirmed: in addition to being a party member, Varric is now the narrator in Dragon Age Keep—and thus, of the entire DA franchise, apparently.

Reaction Commands will be carried over from Mass Effect.
Following the dialogue wheel as well, only instead of Paragon/Renegade it will use the dialogue symbols from Dragon Age II for more variety of actions. A Snarky reaction can interrupt an opponent by distracting him while an ally sneaks past them, or a Diplomatic action to interrupt two arguing parties to recommend a third action, or slipping a bribe to a guard while in conversation with a knowing wink.
  • This has been confirmed.

You will meet the Maker and/or Andraste inside the Black City while in the Fade
... After a certain point, of course, they will either condemn or condone your plans and seek to smite you/humanity/life in general.
  • I believe BioWare has said they don't plan to officially confirm or deny the existence of the Maker ever.
    • Though it should be noted that for half the game it's thought that the Maker, or Andraste at least, was directly involved. Unfortunately it turned out not to be.
    • You do, however, get to meet two Elven gods and, with the DLC, an Avvar god as well.

The Spirit of Faith will turn out to be the Maker Himself
And so Evangeline will become Andraste 2.0 and depending on your actions, Rhys may betray her to the authorities. I mean, Evangeline—evangelium, hello?
  • Jossed. Evangeline doesn't even show up in person, other than on a War Table mission and it's entirely possible to let her die if you make the wrong decision.
    • Not jossed. There is no wrong decision in that short War Table mission chain, there is only "not doing the war table mission in the first place". There are some potential ways that Rhys and Eva can extricate themselves from the predicament they're in without Inquisition intervention.

The game will have you visit the Anderfels
Both games had you fighting darkspawn. Origins, of course, had darkspawn as the standard foe, and II had them at the prologue and in the Deep Roads. But rather than dispense with them, or send you to the Deep Roads again, Inquisition will send you to the other place darkspawn can be found outside of a Blight - the Anderfels. Most likely, your purpose will be to gain the support of the Grey Wardens, who have their headquarters there.
  • And finding clues on what happened to the Warden and possibly Hawke if Bethany/Carver was put through the Joining.
  • Jossed - the Anderfels is one of the few locations in Thedas that you don't visit - but you do fight darkspawn.
  • Well, not in this game, but the epilogue says that something bad is going on in Weisshaupt, and whoever goes there after the Warden mission is not heard from again. This is probably a Sequel Hook.

Near the climax of the game, your headquarters will be attacked
  • Sort of. Haven is attacked at the end of Act I, sparking the move to Skyhold.

Grey Wardens will be in a very difficult political position when the game begins.
Because of Anders blowing up the Chantry and possibly Bethany/Carver or Nathaniel helping Hawke fight against Meredith, Wardens will be put in a very difficult position by the Chantry and/or the Templar Order. There will be rumors and conspiracy theories running around that Wardens set all of this up to take control. All of this will cause Wardens to lose much of their public support. Additionally, apostates who previously joined the Order to hide from the Chantry will desert and join the Mage-Templar war. Since the Anderfels are said to be both very religious and practically run by the Wardens, the country will turn into a battlefield between the Order trying to maintain its independence and influences in the area and Templars believing it's time to get the world rid of dangerous heretics. The situation will be even more dire if the Hero of Ferelden also was pro-mage.
  • Confirmed. If anything, their position is worse. They are deceived by Corypheus with a fake Calling and become his brainwashed minions. And he uses them to attack the Conclave, destroying the best chance for a peaceful resolution to the Mage-Templar War and causing the death of Divine Justinia. Then they're nearly manipulated into handing Corypheus a demon army, after which the Inquisitor can choose to exile them from Orlais. It's doubtful whether the Wardens will ever recover from this debacle.

Cassandra will have a fangirl moment in Dragon Age III
If we meet Hawke in Dragon Age III and she is in the party, she will try to get hold of her inner fangirl and show how serious and business-like and fail miserably. Just for Rule of Funny.
  • Jossed, well at least when it comes to fangirling over Hawke; however, she does get a fangirl moment... over Varric's romance novels.
    • Indeed, she does not "squee" exactly, but she does ask Varric if he thinks Hawke would be willing to sign her copy of The Tale of the Champion. Which, as Varric points out, has a big dagger shaped hole in it.

Glitches from previous games will be lampshaded
For example: the bug where Zevran will still sleep with Hawke/Isabela/both despite being in a loving relationship with the Warden. Perhaps if the Warden meets Hawke, the Warden will say, "Okay, no more sleeping with my boyfriend unless I'm invited from now on." Or if it was just Isabela, the PC can flirt with the Warden in front of Zevran, causing him to protest and the Warden will bring this up.

An orgy will be possible
You would have to fulfill several requirements throughout the three games, of course. The first thing would be to have the Warden romance Zevran in Origins and have a threesome (or the foursome) with Isabela. In Dragon Age II, Hawke will have to romance Isabela and then have a threesome with Zevran (due to the glitch that Zevran will still have sex despite being in a relationship with the Warden). Cue them all meeting in Dragon Age III. With the right dialogue options, the PC can convince them to participate in an orgy with him/her (and possibly their love interest).
  • Jossed. Romances will lock in as exclusive after a certain point, and there are no Optional Sexual Encounters outside of them.
    • Well, there's one, sleeping with a noble to get her to do what you want in Josephine's companion quest. But no orgies.

As an Old Save Bonus, a sympathetic Hawke will be a Guest-Star Party Member
Using the same appearance, class, personality, and background that you used for Dragon Age II. It would be easier to program for Hawke than the Warden, I think. Hawke will still also have their first name, but since that's player-designed they'll still just be known as "Hawke" (possibly also with a Lampshade Hanging; "Just call me Hawke. Everyone else does.") Hawke may not join the Inquisition, but it may turn out that their goals align in a late game mission and they'll join forces temporarily, which means you'll get to use your old character in your party for one adventure. Along the way there will be lots of shout outs and callbacks to Dragon Age II and the situation Hawke helped create which may come with some regret on Hawke's part. Assuming you do it right, however, and Hawke will pledge their further support to the Inquisition with whatever forces they might have (perhaps a group of like-minded Templars or Mages). Of course, that's assuming Hawke and the Inquisition CAN work together. If they're too diametrically opposed it would lead to...

As an Old Save Bonus, an antagonistic Hawke will be a Superboss
If Hawke and the Inquisition AREN'T able to work together, then instead of going on an adventure WITH Hawke, you'll go on an adventure AGAINST them, maybe because they've slipped into Well-Intentioned Extremist mode (which might make them a mirror to Meredith and First Enchanter Orsino, depending on which side they support) which will culminate in a Superboss battle against Hawke, which would be suitably epic as well as difficult, acting as a Climax Boss for the game as well. Afterwards, the player might be faced with a choice of whether or not to arrest Hawke, let them get away/escape...or kill them. And because of the Grey-and-Gray Morality mentality of the Mage/Templar war, it's entirely possible that a "Nice" Hawke might end up being the Bonus Boss while an "Aggressive" Hawke ends up being an ally depending on where they and the Inquisition fall. And to make the boss fight even more epic, how Hawke fights will be determined by his personality, and class from the second game. To whit;
  • Snarky Mage Hawke attacks from range and makes use of mooks of some kind to keep away from the party while running his mouth off the entire battle, which might act as some sort of party wide debuff to accuracy or something because of how DISTRACTING it is.
  • Aggressive Rogue Hawke employs misdirection and teleports all over the place while laying traps and trying to backstab your party members before teleporting away again.
  • Nice Warrior Hawke will be a Duel Boss much like the Arishok could be, fighting the PC one-on-one while arguing about their different ideologies and the state of the world.
  • Jossed. Hawke comes in, does his/her thing, then promptly vanishes for the rest of the game, no duel included.

Alistair will finally meet his biological mom
Given Fiona's role in Asunder, it is pretty certain that she will continue leading the rebellious Circle in Inquisition. On the other hand, the devs have already confirmed at least parts of Ferelden in game three, so it is likely that Alistair (if he survived) will make a cameo like he did in game two. The question is only whether the two of them will ever appear in the same scene.
  • Assuming Fiona actually is Alistair's mother. There are a lot of timeline problems in that theory, not to mention a lot of logistical ones. And personally, as many problems as I have with Alistair, I wouldn't wish being spawned from that foul creature's womb on my worst enemy.
  • Another possibility is that both propositions are true: Alistair is the son of Maric and a maid from Redcliffe Castle, and Fiona did have a child with Maric who's not Alistair, thus introducing another Theirin heir and therefore more political/family drama, because the Dragon Age series is clearly lacking in these departments
    • The notion that Fiona is not Alistar's mother is indirectly supported by the last issue of Until We Sleep, where King Maric refers to Alistair's mother as being no longer in the material world, along with Cailain (definitely dead) and Loghain (very likely dead in the BW canon), while Fiona is quite definitely alive at Andoral's Reach in the time frame the comic books take place.
    • There being a third Theirin boy solves a serious problem; if Alistair dies - which is a very real possibility - then Maric's story is essentially pointless. Having a third brother gives us someone else to connect Maric to.
    • It's now been confirmed by Mike Laidlaw that Fiona is Alistair's mother.
  • Confirmed in the saddest way possible. Assuming you side with the Mages and Alistair is king of Ferelden, they do meet... but only because Alistair is exiling her and her Mages from Ferelden for taking over Redcliffe. And he never finds out she is his mother.

The Surana and Brosca families will play an important role in Dragon Age 3
In Dragon Age: Origins, the Cousland family (because of the blood feud initiated by Rendon Howe), House Aeducan (because of Orzammar succession crisis), and the Tabris family (involved in the Alienage arc) all played a role in the story regardless of the Warden's Origin.

In Dragon Age II, Merrill (from the same clan as a Dalish Warden) and the Hawkes (scions of the Amell family like an Human Mage Warden) played a central role in the story.

Dragon Age 3 will see relatives of the two remaining potential Wardens playing a role so that every Origin can be linked to some quality family drama.

  • Jossed. Although it's interesting to note that the Dwarf inquisitor is from a Carta family like Brosca and distantly related to Shale. House Cadash

You get to hook up others as well as yourself
But not your companions. You will have a sub plot about helping two lovelorn dwarves, whose families are both alike in dignity, get together.
  • Nope. Though a couple of companions do get together without your help if neither is romanced.

An Interior Designer Is You will ensue
They've revealed we get a castle as a personal stronghold. Likely we'll get at least a bit of this trope.
  • Confirmed!

Jowan will appear as an old save bonus
If you let him live. If you send him back to the circle, he'll be tranquil. If you help him escape, he'll be an abomination.
  • Oh, True Art Is Angsty, when will you realize Cynicism is for Losers? Wait a minute, this is Bioware... never mind. Tranquil/abomination is probably a happy choice...
  • Jossed; no mention of Jowan to be found.

The Grey Warden will receive a What the Hell, Hero? from Wynne's ghost
She did say that if the Grey Warden didn't do their job as they should she would return from death to give them a lecture... and disappearing during the events of Dragon Age II and the war is a pretty big thing to call them out over.
  • And the Warden will promptly put a stop to that with something along the lines of "Was it a Blight? No? Not my fuckin' job."
  • Jossed; turns out that the Warden is out there still doing his/her job, namely looking for a way to cure the Grey Wardens of the Taint to prevent the Callings.

Betraying previous followers will come back to bite you
There will be a price for killing party members - or sending them to a Fate Worse than Death (Fenris, Isabela) - in the first two games. The consequences could be aimed squarely at the Warden / Hawke, or they could go meta and punish your Inquisitor - your character may not be responsible, but you are.

Yuri Lowenthal will be in this game.
Either because he's been in every game of the franchise and most of the DLC or because Yuri Lowenthal is in everything.
  • He voices Sandal, he will be in this game.
    • Except that Sandal isn't in this game. Yuri Lowenthal does contribute to this chunk of the series, but he's only credited as supplying "additional voices."

The final boss fight will occur inside the Black City in the Fade.
Because the locale would be suitably climactic.
  • Sort of confirmed? While certainly not within the actual Black City, the final level seems to take place in some sort of replica being created by Corypheus.

Different potential love interests are...
  • Cassandra. It's confirmed she'll be a companion, and to build off the earlier WMG she'll probably be the promoted love interest.
    • Confirmed as a potential romance.
  • Cullen. He's also strongly believed to be a companion after being a fairly important NPC for two games. He has a large female fan base, so it's likely he'll be a popular LI for the female Inquisitor.
    • Confirmed as a love interest but not definite as a companion.
      • He's an adviser, not a companion.
  • Varric. It will be a torrid love affair, doomed to heartbreak and torment, as he is forced to choose between the Inquisitor and the woman of his dreams.
    • Jossed.
  • Vivienne. New companion from the extremely liberal Orlais and Circle with a penchant for fashion? Who here thinks she won't be an option?
    • Jossed.
  • Sera. She will be the Veronica to Cassandra's Betty (or perhaps the reverse?).
  • Dorian. He will continue the tradition of apostate/outcast mage love interests (Anders, Morrigan, Merrill) we have had so far. And judging from the popular association with his name, he might be a Gay Option for male Inquisitors. And he will make for a contrast and similar Betty and Veronica dynamic with our other currently confirmed male romance, Cullen. Alternatively...
    • Dorian has been confirmed as an LI for male inquisitors only, jossing the Betty/Veronica angle with Cullen.
  • Solas could also continue that tradition, plus all elf party members so far (outside of DLC campaigns/expansions which have no love interests) have been love interests.
    • Confirmed, though only for female Dalish Inquisitors.
  • There will be a Betty and Veronica romance that will be subverted with the Betty having a Dark Secret or Dark and Troubled Past, and the Veronica becomes nicer similar to Origins and Dragon Age II.
  • Iron Bull has been confirmed as a bisexual romance. If there's anyone to play the Veronica to Cullen's Betty, it would be the Bull.
  • Josephine, aka Scribbles, has also been confirmed as a bisexual LI. She could potentially fit as the Veronica to Cassandra's Betty.

Inquisition will return to BW's classic formula
There will be five geographically distinct main questlines, each of which can be resolved in a multitude of ways but ultimately leads to the same endgame, only with different allies:

  • The Templars' siege of mage-controlled Andoral's Reach (obviously)
    • Jossed. You do fight templars and apostates, but none of the battles take place even remotely close to Andoral's reach.
  • The Orlesian civil war between Duke Gaspard's forces and Empress Celene's loyalists (from Asunder)
    • Confirmed. Not only do you visit one of the battlefields, one mission ("Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts") tosses you right into the depths of Orlais' infamous Game, with the goal of preventing Empress Celene's assasination and stopping the Civil War.
  • The conflict between the Seekers and the Grey Wardens (hinted at in the Fires Above trailer)
    • Semi-confirmed. Rather than Seekers v. Wardens, it's Inquisition v. Wardens. It's still awesome.
  • The elven uprising against humans, possibly centered around the Dales (hinted at by The Masked Empire blurb)
    • Sort of confirmed with Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, like above. One of the factions you're pitted against in The Game is Briala. You have a choice of exposing her plotting and possibly getting her arrested, putting Gaspard on the throne with her pulling the strings, or reconcile her and Celene and have them rule together. Or you can blackmail all three of them into working together, with you pulling the strings.
  • Possibly an ongoing conflict between the Qunari and the Tevinters?
    • Jossed as far as it being a major part of the plot and/or participating it. Iron Bull is a veteran of the Seheron conflicts, and often talks about his experiences there, but you never actually see Vints and Qunari duking it out...save for one mission where you have to help a Qunari dreadnaught assault a Venatori smuggler's port.

After you, as member of the Inquisition, quell these conflicts, you can proceed to the final story area, which will be the giant Fade tear and what lies beyond it.

  • Jossed. Closing the tear in the Fade is only the beginning.

There will be boss battles against a real high dragon and a fake high dragon
Because so far, every game has had a high dragon and a fake dragon. There were three high dragons, one in each game, and there was a shapeshifted Flemeth in Origins, the Queen of the Blackmarsh in Awakening, and Malvernus from Legacy in 2. Therefore, in Inquisition, there will be a quest to hunt down a high dragon (maybe one of Cassandra's companion quests; the Pentaghasts are renowned dragon hunters, after all) and as for the fake high dragon... I dunno. But there will be one. Of some kind. And you will have to kill it.
  • Okay, so as it turns out, there will be lots of real high dragons in Inquisition. Modification: one real and one fake plot important high dragon.
    • Aaaaaand confirmed! In a way. There are plenty of real high dragons, including one that you can actually tame if you drink from the Well of Sorrows. In terms of fakes, you have Morrigan (if she drinks from the Well instead), as well as the fake archdemon Corypheus's forces keep throwing at you. It's a real dragon, but a fake archdemon, if that makes any sense?

One of the major antagonists will be a morally complex Well-Intentioned Extremist authority figure who Jumped Off The Slippery Slope and became paranoid.
Between Loghain in Origins and Meredith in II it's pretty much one of the traditions by now. Since they were different kinds of antagonists (Meredith was the final boss but not quite a Big Bad, Loghain was the Big Bad for most of the story until the final act and the Archdemon was the real threat), it's hard to say what exactly the character in question's role will be, but they will be among the most important antagonists at the very least, and in a major authority position. And like with Loghain and Meredith, you'll have the option to either side with them or keep them alive or just form a more positive relationship with them, one way or another, similarly to how you could recruit Loghain and work with Meredith.
  • Somewhat, depending on how you see Solas/Fen'Harel and what exactly his original actions were (the whole thing is deliberately vague). He's not currently a major authority as even the Dalish are wary of him due to the stories, but past or future developments after that Cliffhanger await.

Orsino will show up alive if Hawke sided with the mages
Leliana and Anders' potential deaths have already been overwritten (with Leliana maybe having an out due to the Sacred Ashes). Why not do the same to one that no one seems to like (and was shoehorned into the story for the sake of a boss battle)? Bonus points if Cassandra is in your party when he turns up. "I knew Varric was lying! That part never made any sense to me."
  • Jossed. Though, hilariously, you can question Varric on that part and more or less tell him it made no sense. Varric will just shrug and say that Orsino must have just been really desperate.

Speculation on the identity of the Big Bad of Inquisition
  • Morrigan. She is after all, a major character in this game after not being seen in 2. And someone has been making sure that elements of Thedas that could potentially resolve the Hell Gate crisis are all destabilized, such as the Grey Wardens, Circle of Magi, The Chantry and Orlais itself. Judging from the way she's dressed in Orlesian attire in "The Fires Above" trailer, it's very likely that Morrigan has insinuated herself into Empress Celene's court. She could be behind it all.
    • She does claim that the world needs to change during her last meeting with the Warden; on the other hand, she insists that Flemeth is a bigger threat and is clearly terrified of whatever she has planned.
    • Jossed. She's been attempting to prevent Celene's assassination and joins up with the Inquisition later to help stop Corypheus.
  • Flemeth. Seriously, the woman has been set up as the most dangerous individual in the two games so far, and the kind of world-shaking that goes on in Inquisition definitely requires someone of her Power Level.
    • Jossed. Flemeth does appear, though it is once again uncertain what her angle is, even after she helps you. And as of the The Stinger, we don't know if she's even alive anymore or not.
  • Imshael or the Formless One. Come on, we've already fought two of the four Forbidden Ones, so chances are one of them will be in this game. Why not make one of them the Big Bad?
    • Jossed. Imshael, in keeping with DA tradition, appears as an Optional Boss and doesn't have any bearing on the plot.
  • Fan'Harel. Or the Maker, if you believe the theory that the two are one and the same.
    • In a way, it's the opposite, since Fen'Harel joins your party in the form of Solas, making him a good guy.
  • The Inquisitor. It's not like Bioware hasn't done that reveal before, and isn't it rather suspicious that the Inquisitor was the only person to survive the opening of the portal?
    • Jossed within the first five minutes, though it's clear that until you prove yourself, people are pretty suspicious of you being the only survivor.
  • Corypheus. He survived the events of Legacy by body-hopping, so he's certainly still a factor. The big bad is referred to as 'The Elder One', and Corypheus is one of the first ever darkspawn, and almost certainly the oldest living Tevinter Magister, so he qualifies on both counts. The big bad is creating breaches in the Fade, and Corypheus and his buddies caused the darkspawn curse in the first place by forcing their way into the Fade, so he has previous form in that area. Also, in one of the trailers, the big bad (presumably) says that there is no Maker. Corypheus is a pre-Andrastian worshipper of the Old Gods, so of course he wouldn't believe in the Maker.
    • Confirmed!

Qunari will be playable.
Qunari (that is, the qunari race; the guys with the horns) will be playable; when the question was raised in the Game Informer article, it wasn't confirmed but neither was it specifically ruled out. Even if they aren't a playable race for the singleplayer game, even money they'll be playable in multiplayer.
  • Confirmed!

Closing the tear in the Veil will mean cutting the world off from the Fade.
Closing the tear in the Veil will require cutting the world off completely from the Fade - removing magic from it. I really don't want this one to be true, because it would wreck the setting pretty badly and probably end the series...I'm hoping it's just my memories of playing Final Fantasy VI and not that I'm on to something.
  • Interesting WMG, although I'm hoping that chances of this happening are unlikely. If Sandal's prophecy in Dragon Age II can be taken at his word, the magic is coming back in some way or another. We'll probably see how that happens in the game itself.
  • If The Magic Goes Away, the Qunari are gonna take over the world. Seriously. They're the most technologically advanced civilization in Thedas by a good ways (gunpowder and basic sanitation), and the only thing keeping them in check is their Forever War with Tevinter. The only reason Tevinter is holding out is because they're The Magocracy and Qunari don't want to get within a mile of a mage, sending their own poorly-trained "attack dog" mages against warrior warlocks; take away their magic and it's a Curb-Stomp Battle (especially since mages tend to be extra squishy). Others may hold out longer (especially Ferelden, being generally cold and unpleasant to kossith without any magical aid), but I foresee a World of Silence if this happens.
  • Thankfully Mr. Final Fantasy VI fan, you can rest easy, as your theory is Jossed. In fact it is said multiple times that the tear in the fade is bad news; not only is it spewing demons like some sort of hellish Old Faithful on steroids, but it's also mentioned that it's really messing with the magic in Thedas, causing instabilities in time itself. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief when it's finally closed, but then again....that's only the beginning of the story.

Alternatively, dwarves will become capable of being mages. Or EVERYONE will become a mage.
"One day, the magic will come back, all of it. Everyone will be as they once were." It was implied that the Primeval Thaig was created partially through magic, which probably means that at some point far in the past dwarves were capable of being mages. While the former of these would be pretty cool (and Dagna from Origins would squee!) the latter...well, if the latter happened, we'd have a whole world of People of Mass Destruction, and Thedas would be fucked.
  • Jossed. Dwarves are still dwarves. Though Dagna seems to be doing quite well.
    • As of The Descent Sort-of confirmed! Maybe! It's not clear whether Valta has become a mage or not after connecting with the Titan (She very vaguely says that the thing she did that looked like a spell was "not a spell" but "an accident") but it certainly looks like she just became a mage.

Non-qunari knowledge of gunpowder will play some role
The knowledge of gunpowder is no longer a qunari secret. Gunpowder plus magic apparently equals really big boom. How could this fail to affect the world in some way?
  • Jossed. Though we are treated to seeing one of the Qunari Dreadnoughts in action.

Where Are They Now?
Some guesses as to what various characters are up to, if they're still alive:
  • If the above-mentioned WMG implying that there's an elven revolt is true, Merrill is protecting other elves from retaliation or helping them in one way or another - probably city elves, considering that she's an exile at this point.
  • Fenris is allied with one of the anti-magical or anti-Tevinter factions...though possibly not if you convinced him to stick with you for the Mage endgame. (Well, not with an anti-magical faction in that case, necessarily. If there are Tevinter asses to be kicked, though, he's apt to be kicking them.)
  • Anders is either The Atoner, especially now that he's seeing all the disaster he helped to bring about, or a completely Ax-Crazy "grr, arrg" abomination destroying everything in sight.
  • If Anders is dead, Justice/Vengeance may not be...and might well be an Arcane Horror or the like inhabiting his former host's corpse.
  • If Anders is alive, Sebastian will *try* to raise an army to destroy Kirkwall, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'll *succeed*; with everything else that will probably be going on, a whole army of allies interested in Revenge by Proxy might be hard to come by. (And an army that could destroy Kirkwall would have to be pretty impressive. I mean, not only is it fortified, but it's also basically the Sunnydale of Thedas. Maker only knows what an army besieging that demon-infested hellmouth would face.) If Anders is dead, Sebastian may abandon his attempt to retake Starkhaven in favor of fighting on behalf of the beleaguered Chantry.
  • Zevran is a Wild Card with no faction allegiance, still just gradually wiping out the Crows and anybody else who wants him dead.
    • According to an early dialogue with Varric, Merrill is helping her fellow Dalish nomads, Fenris is indeed busy killing any Tevinter slaver he finds, leaving a convenient trail of corpses behind him should someone seek to contact him, and, as a conversation very late in game between Morrigan and Flemeth shows, the Elven goddess Mythal looks eerily similar to Justice, so even with Anders out of the picture, there is, indeed one powerful revenge-seeking abomination on the loose. As for Zevran, some war-table mission involve him still killing members of the crows while still avoiding their wrath.

Flemeth caused the tear in the Veil in order to bring the Black City into Thedas.
  • Jossed - Corypheus was the culprit.

The Inquisitor will be saved and pointed at their destiny by Flemeth
It's already happened twice; Flemeth dragged the Warden out of the Tower of Ishal and pointed out the treaties that subsequently saved Thedas, and then she saved Hawke's life and ferried him/her to Kirkwall. Judging by what she says, either she has a plan, or something keeps dragging protagonists into her path. Either way, she and the Inquisitor will have an encounter near the beginning of the game and a little chat. Stabbing optional.
  • Somewhat true - she does show up near the end and offers a crucial piece of advice on how to beat Corypheus.

There will be non-companion love interests
  • While not perfectly implemented, it wasn't a bad idea in Mass Effect 3, and might see a return in Inquisition.
    • It looks like Cullen isn't a companion and he's been confirmed to be a love interest, as was Josephine.

By hook or by crook David Gaider will get Henry Cavill in this game!
  • Because he's getting a bit fanatic about it and things can only go downhill.
    • He'll be the focus character of a DLC campaign, with shout-outs aplenty to The Tudors (morally conflicted man who struggles to be noble and moral in a time of corruption and immorality) and Man of Steel (superhuman who nonetheless wants to help people and make society a better place).
  • Jossed sadly. One can only hope for that DLC now.

We'll get to visit Kal-Sharok.
  • Popular rumor going around.
    • Jossed, regrettably. However, the War Table does feature several operations that take place working with the Dwarves of Kal-Sharok.

The Inquisitor will be saved and pointed towards their destiny by Morrigan
  • Flemeth has done it twice, yes. So, rule of three demands the situation be subverted by having Morrigan assume her mother's traditional role in the story by pulling our asses out of the fire.
    • Jossed, though Flemeth and Morrigan do play a major role in the game.

We'll visit the Dalish clan Merrill was born in.
  • And it will be filled with the cast of Torchwood. Yes, that includes John Barrowman.
    • Bonus points if he makes reference to "a doctor in his blue box" he knew once.
    • Oh look, we'll even be bringing Suzy with us.
  • Sadly, nope. We do meet some elves, but they're unrelated to previous characters. Even Dalish Inquisitors don't get to physically visit their old clan.

The Wardens will Worf to the Red Templars
  • For the record, I really, really hope I'm wrong about this. But having the Red Templars attack the Wardens makes sense for a variety of reasons. The Wardens are something of a safe haven for apostate mages and even blood mages, which would make them a target for the fanatical red templars. Having the templars willing to attack such a respected neutral organization as the Wardens, who have such a reputation for badassery shows how off the deep end they've gone. And having them win shows how dangerous the red lyrium makes them, establishing them as a credible threat.
    • Jossed - it's even worse: the Wardens are as formidable as ever, but Corypheus' fake calling made them so desperate that they end up becoming his pawns, forcing the Inquisitor (and therefore the player) to turn the whole strength of the Inquisition against them..

The impending Nevarran succession crisis will factor into the game
  • The king of Nevarra, Markus Pentaghast, is extremely old and has no children of his own, neither does his heir-apparent, his younger brother, Ferdinand. More distantly related Pentaghasts are lining up to replace him while various other Nevarran clans are circling, smelling blood in the water. As it happens, you're going to have a Pentaghast- Cassandra- in your party. Even if it doesn't lead to an Alistair situation, you can bet her familial connection will come up.
    • Jossed. Though they are mentioned.

A host of darkspawn will join you against the demons
Turns out that the demons invading this world is a bad thing for them too, so they'll pull an Enemy Mine and aid the mortals. Three possibilities for their leader:1. The Architect, or another darkspawn like him. If he isn't in charge, he'll serve the latter as a lieutenant.2. Morrigan's god-child. Being as he is an Archdemon reborn as a human, he may be able to command the darkspawn, but won't want to start another Blight.3. The Warden. Going around and asking people to supply armies is exactly what you did in Origins. And if the situation with the Templars was dire enough, then the other Grey Wardens may have joined up.44. For bonus Enemy Mine points, Corypheus.

  • Aaaaaand Jossed. Darkspawn make an appearance, but they're enemies only-not to mention the Big Bad is a darkspawn himself.

Depending on your choices, Anders might not return...but even if he doesn't, Vengeance will.

The spirit-turned-demon will either be possessing someone else or pulling a Kristoff with Anders' body. Eeeeew.

Before the game starts, Flemeth caught up with her daughter Morrigan...
...to gain possession of her body, as Morrigan had feared in Origins. In game, you'll meet up with "Morrigan," who talks and acts just like we all used to know her, albeit with subtle dialogue tells that foreshadow the obligatory big reveal and gloating betrayal to the player character.
  • Jossed. We meet both of them(and at the same time in the same room, no less). In fact, if Flemeth was telling the truth, Morrigan didn't need to be so afraid of being body-snatched in the first place.
    Flemeth: A soul is not forced upon the unwilling. You were never in any danger from me.

The actual proximate reason for the tear in the Veil is...
The firing of the Crucible!
  • Those demons who come through it are actually the spirits of BSN forum posters angry about the ME3 ending.
  • Jossed - though that would be one hell of a crossover and breaking of the Fourth Wall.

The Inquisitor has some kind of specific magical powers
I believe we've been told the Inquisitor is the sole survivor of an attack that came through the Veil, so it wouldn't be too far-fetched to think that they received some kind of power that allows them to close the Veil tears, which would explain why they were put in charge of the Inquisition.
  • This has been confirmed.

Varric's stories about Hawke will have their own fandom...
...which spends far too much time insisting that the Champion couldn't possibly have had four bisexual people in their companions. Because that's so much less realistic than surviving the Blight or killing the Qunari leader in single combat.
  • They will also spend a lot of time complaining about how Varric's original descriptions of the dungeons Hawke had cleared out and street brawls they had survived are repetitive, monotonous, and generally uninspiring.
  • Somewhat confirmed, as many people in the game world have read Varric's books, and the Inquisitor him/herself can ask Varric about what they read in The Tale of the Champion.
    • And let us not forget about the sappy romance series inspired by Aveline, whose fandom includes a very devoted Cassandra Pentaghast.

The original Inquisition's purpose was not hunting mages
We know that the Inquisition split off into the Templars and the Seekers of Truth after the Nevarran accord was signed—and these two are essentially the watchdogs for the Circle of Magi and the watchdogs for the watchdogs, respectively. However, the new Inquisition's main purpose is to inquire, to find out what's behind the consecutive crises that struck Thedas around and after the Fifth Blight. This would suggest that if the original Inquisition was formed (and named) with the same considerations in mind, its true purpose wasn't what it's now being remembered for (hunting mages).

Looking at the facts: the original Inquisition, like the new one, was formed in the aftermath of a Blight (the first one, in their case), when conflicts rocked Thedas on almost daily basis (with Andraste's rebellion being the most notable one). It is possible that the original Inquisition was formed because its founders believed that, like in the Dragon Age, there is a single puppet master pulling the strings behind all of these conflicts. Their hunt for mages might have been an unintended side effect of their search for that villain. Evidently, the old Inquisition must have fulfilled their purpose, as they shifted their focus to babysitting mages full-time by the beginning of the Second Blight.

They must have accomplished something very important to Thedas in the years around the 1:1 Divine (the adoption of modern calender), but that event must have been stricken from every single (Chantry-controlled) history book. Possibly only the senior Seekers and the Divines know the truth of that story.

The Inquisitor must assemble the various factions in the vein of Mass Effect 3, and Flemeth is in on it
There have been so many various pieces of the puzzle running around - Flemeth, Morrigan, the OGB if it was conceived, the Warden-Commander, Hawke, Corypheus, The Architect (if you didn't waste him in Awakening) Anders, Sten and the otehr companions - and it seems like many of them still have parts to play. My bet is we'll see every companion character that hasn't died come back in the style of the War Assets - you can either recruit some past characters like Zevran or Leliana or Merrill, or give them teams of their own and have them work independently. For that matter, other characters like Sebastian, The Architect, and Anders will be leading factions that you'll have to talk into supporting you or destroy along the way.

As far as Flemeth goes, she's been at least partially aware of what's been going on and what was going to happen, but as we've seen in the Witch Hunt DLC, she's not a human, abomination, or demon, and has some huge plan going on. Either she's been playing the long con and has been manipulating the Warden-Commander, Hawke, and (presumably) the Inquisitor into doing her dirty work so she can walk in and gain something from it, or she's actually good, and has been preparing the heroes for the tear in the Veil.

  • The one thing that speaks against Flemeth's central role in the upcoming conflict is Sandal's prophecy, which explicitly says "when he rises...", while Flemeth has been consistently described in feminine terms.
  • Do we even know that Flemeth is female anymore? She's explicitly stated to be "not human", after all, and thus our rules of gender may not apply to her (it?).

The Inquisitor will kill an ogre early in the game.
As per Rule of Three, combined with the theory above about the Inquisitor being rescued and pointed to their destiny by Flemeth again. Both the Warden and Hawke killed an ogre right before their respective incidents from which they were rescued and set on their path, so in the Inquisitor's case it will likely be either sometime before or during the incident with the Veil tear, depending on how exactly it plays out.
  • Jossed. The role of "big ugly monster that is taken out as an early game boss" is taken by a Pride Demon this time.

It turns out the Architect wasn't to blame for the Fifth Blight
In Awakening, the Architect explained that instead of freeing Urthemiel, he accidentally corrupted him. However, with the revelation that there is a Hidden Villain seemingly pulling the strings behind every disaster in Thedas as of late, it is not implausible that it wasn't an accident—the Architect simply hadn't figured it out. For this reason, it's mostly irrelevant if you kill the Architect or not: the real perpetrator behind the Fifth Blight is still out there. (Also, the fact that you can kill him rules out his candidacy as said Hidden Villain.)

If you spared the Architect, he will lead a new Darkspawn army against Corypheus
He has ample experience of fighting other Darkspawn and his ideals of freedom for his species probably clash strongly with the nature of Corypheus (who seems to be a weaker version of an Archdemon).

Morrigan's dress is actually the result of shopping with Leliana
They are both in Val Royeaux in Inquisition, and Leliana has long wanted to dress Morrigan in something snazzier than her Witch of the Wilds getup.
  • Not the case, but it is exactly the getup Leliana suggested in Origins.
    • Likely jossed. Leliana was suspicious about Morrigan's presence during the Halamshiral Ball in "Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts".
  • If you meet with Leliana then one potential scene reveals that she had a word with Morrigan's son and he got his mother to dress that way.

The Hidden Villain is the same entity in TME that killed Felassan
The two obviously know each other and Felassan cryptically foreshadows the massive cataclysm to Imshael, so the villain probably had a good reason to kill him.
  • It could actually be Fen'Harel, it's implied that he was comparing Briala to him.
    • Given The Stinger, Fen'Harel is (or was) around, and is also an enigmatic elf who Knows Things. He's not quite a villain, but he is an Unwitting Instigator of Doom.
    • As of Trespasser, confirmed. Cole at one point says in his own cryptic way that Solas killed Felassan because Felassan was starting to sympathize with modern elves.

Who's going to die at the opening of the Breach?
The first fade tear, called the Breach, will open over a peace summit and kill everyone there, save for the man or woman who will eventually become the Inquisitor. According to the new trailer, we're not talking about a small event; apparently thousands were in attendance. So, who's going to die here?
  • Multiple Reasonable Authority Figures who were this close to getting a ceasefire between all the warring factions.
    • Potentially Rhys from Asunder, and Fiona among them.
  • Whichever potential Inquisitors the player didn't choose. They'll do that thing from Origins where all of the potential Wardens existed, but only one of them survived to become the protagonist.
  • Divine Justinia. Her goal is to end the Templar-Mage war, so her being at a peace summit would make sense. It would also explain why Cassandra is threatening the Inquisitor in the trailer: because she holds the Inquisitor responsible for Justinia's death.
    • Which would handily explain why Justinia's Right and Left Hand (Cass and Leliana) now work full-time for the Inquisition—with their patron gone and the new Divine not yet elected, they might just as well join her backup plan.
      • Confirmed.
  • Sorta confirmed in that a demo offhandedly mentioned a lot of leadership died in the breach so Reasonable Authority Figures and Divine Justinia are quite possibly dead.

Cullen, Leliana and that Scribe Lady are in charge of managing the Inquisition while you're off playing.
The Inquisition is an international organization. Someone has to run it while the player is off gallivanting in the countryside. Leliana, an unnamed scribe woman and a guy everyone thinks is Cullen appear in the trailer, but don't appear to be party members. They're actually plot-important NPCs. Cullen, Leliana and the unnamed Scribe all run individual sections of the Inquisition while answering to the player. Cullen handles military matters, Leliana handles espionage and the Scribe handles funding.
  • Mostly confirmed according to this interview. There are different branches of the Inquisition that certain returning characters are in charge of, with Leliana confirmed as being in charge of a network of spies/assassins.
  • Josephine actually manages political alliances and diplomacy, but otherwise, spot on.

Iron Bull and mustachioed mage won't get along.
Look at them in the table screenshot, both with the "Why do I have to stand next to him" arms crossed and nose upturned.
  • I actually doubt Iron Bull is going to get along with anyone, at least at first. In that shot, he's noticeably standing a few paces back from the table and the rest of the group. In every screen shot he's in, he's on his own. In the first trailer, he was on his own, in concept art, he's on his own. In a lot of ways, I think he's meant to stand apart from the rest of the group.
  • Jossed to hell and back again. Iron Bull gets along with everyone (with the slight exception of Varric due to Varric's general aversion to Qunari). And if neither of them are romanced by the player character, Iron Bull and Dorian end up together.

The Inquisitor is actually a Fade Spirit.
I didn't come up with this, I'm just posting it.

The supposed Inquisitor actually did die when the Breach opened. You're playing as an amnesiac fade spirit who took their appearance and identity. We know something similar can happen with Cole, and it sounds like a sufficiently Bioware-y twist. It also explains why we aren't getting playable origins stories: because the player character didn't actually live through those events. They just think they did.

  • So the Inquisitor is basically Captain Scarlet?

Similar to Origins, you can marry the leader you support
If you are a male human and support Celene for empress of Orlais you can marry her. Alternatively, if you are female and support Gaspard you can marry him at the end.
  • I believe David Gaider jossed this, though damned if I'm about to go digging through the old BSN to find the post in which he did so.
  • Jossed. Your companion/adviser romances are the only ones which go anywhere (and some of those may not last, either).

Leliana's vision wasn't about the Blight
In Origins, Leliana joins you because of a dream she had of a colossal darkness consuming the world and then of a single rose growing from a dead bush near the chantry. She then assumed that it was about the Blight and the single Warden who survived the destruction of the order by Loghain and the Darkspawn. But what if it is untrue? There were two Grey Wardens who survived (three, if you count Riordan), but there is only one survivor from the Breach—in other words, the Inquisitor is that rose. Furthermore, the darkness consuming the world may have been the Blight, but maybe an even greater darkness was meant? For instance, the one echoed in Morrigan's words: "Darkness closes in." Let's not forget that Leliana takes a proactive role in combating this darkness, as well...
  • Other possibility: Leliana's vision wasn't about the Blight nor the Breach, but about the Dragon Age itself. Thedas is clearly going through its version of the late middle age crises: the darkness represents this age of turmoil, while the rose symbolizes the renaissance that will come afterward.

The Inquisitor is a servant/child/incarnation of the Maker
The trailers like to play up the Inquisitor as a messiah-like archetype, so it would be interesting if it turns out the Inquisitor is a servant or child of the Maker, or even an avatar of the Maker itself, sent down to save Thedas from the demonic forces of the Fade, which might give the idea that despite the questionable things about the Maker and Chantry, the Maker actually gives a damn about protecting the people of Thedas.

There's going to be hilarious banter about the fact that two of the party mages are bald.
I mean that's assuming that Vivienne concept art is right but let's assume for now.
  • Nope. There's some pretty hilarious barbs traded between them, but nobody mentions their lack of hair.

The Inquisitor won't survive the game
Whether they're a Fade spirit or a god-child or a Time Lord, whatever. Doesn't matter. They've already been put into a Last Supper shot in the Inquisition trailer, and Bioware's also done the trilogy of games with a Jesus allegory as the main character and Shepard likely didn't survive that. Maybe this won't be a certainty because the multiple endings are supposed to be very multiple this time around, but trust me, at least one will have the Inquisitor on the chopping block.
  • We're apparently going to continue playing after completing the main storyline, so I don't know how that'll jive.
  • There is the possibility of an Awakening Orlesian Warden type situation, or even a DA:O situation that lets you continue before the point of no return. Given the 40 ending variants, I'd be surprised if all of these left the Inquisitor alive.
  • Definitely Jossed for the main game; all possible endings leave the Inquisitor alive. Doesn't mean anything about future DLC, though...

We will be properly introduced to Ariane's Dalish clan
In the Witch Hunt, Ariane is after Morrigan because she stole a unique book on the Eluvians from her clan; before Morrigan leaves (through an Eluvian!), she returns the book to Ariane. As of TME, the Eluvian network has been reactivated, so naturally the Inquisition would want to have access to it. Whether tipped off by Morrigan herself or some other source, the Inquisitor will seek out Ariane or her Keeper and obtain the book's secrets for the Inquisition.
  • The Inquisitor may be part of Ariane's Dalish clan.

Someone is going to have to put Black Magician Girl on Vivienne's character sheet.
The pun will be acknowledged and we'll all feel a bit awkward about it.

The seemingly mandatory one brothel per game will be in our keep
And we will be able to choose a few minor NPCs we've done quests for to hire. At least one will be a male dwarf.
  • The Inquisitor as owner of the brothel will be able to be a Miss Kitty or cruel pimp regardless of gender.

Blackwall is Secretly Dying
He's a Grey Warden of a certain age. The Calling could be around any time.
  • Jossed, since he's not really a Grey Warden.

Blackwall is loyal to Gaspard de Chalons
Blackwall was stationed in Val Chevin, which is on Gaspard's lands. Gaspard is especially respected by warriors. Perhaps, if rather than stopping the assassination attempt at the Winter Palace, you facilitate it instead, you will alienate Blackwall.
  • Jossed. Blackwall was formerly an Orlesian army captain, disgraced for carrying out a massacre ordered on Gaspard's behalf. He deserted when Gaspard disavowed the order and his immediate superior poisoned himself rather than be captured. If the Inquisitor chooses to permit Celene's assassination and his approval is not high enough, Blackwall will leave the party in protest.

Vivienne will be the team's resident hypocrite.
"A thousand arrows would pierce her breast before Vivienne would don beaten steel for so base an urge as protection." Yet a quote of hers is "For those who value survival, sentimentality is not an option"? For those who view fashion as little more than "sentimental value placed on clothing", her quote sounds pretty hypocritical. It might be Hypocritical Humor based on context, but hypocrisy nonetheless.
  • Sorta building on this Vivienne will become a Base-Breaking Character. One side will like her for being a strong female character and going after what she wants, others will dislike her for being hypocritical and selfish.
    • She already kind of is, though not to the degree that I've felt worth adding the trope to the YMMV page.

Each of the specializations classes will come from a companion.
Basically what the title says. Each companion will have a class skill tree unique to them (a la Dragon Age II) and will, after a certain checkpoint in friendship or personal quest, teach that class to the Inquisitor (a la Origins). Which class goes to which companion is a bit murky, though. My thoughts:

  • Cassandra is Templar, obviously.
  • Blackwall is probably Champion.
  • That leaves Reaver for the Iron Bull. He does have a dark past, and he has extreme issues with demons. Maybe the thing that burned him out of home defense was something that led him to make a Deal with the Devil he regrets?
    • That the Iron Bull is a reaver, at least, has been confirmed via the 2014 E3 demo; whether he will teach the spec to the Inquisitor or not remains to be seen.
  • The mages are harder. I can't see any of them being an Arcane Warrior, especially not Vivienne. Solas, maybe?
    • The description for Knight Enchanter lists it as a circle thing, albeit, rare among the circle; Vivienne's the only circle mage in the party.
    • Confirmed. Vivenne is a Knight-Enchanter.
  • But Rift Mage sounds more like Solas's thing, Fade expert and all.
    • Confirmed.
  • So, Jazz Hands Mc Mustache (sorry, Dorian) = Necromancer? But he hates blood magic. Maybe he learned a bit before he defected, and restricts himself to using it on corpses only.
    • Dorian as a necromancer has been confirmed. Again, it is unknown at this time whether or not he'll teach the spec.
    • Animate dead is in the Spirit School, as is walking bomb. According to the Codex in Origins, these spells are considered ghastly, but are not blood magic.
    • Necromancy being blood magic is jossed. Nevarra, an Andrastian nation, has odd burial practices looked after by mages called "Mortalitasi", who practice necromancy. Dorian is this.
  • The Rogue specializations are hard to pin down too. Assassin could be Sera, she was a Friend of Red Jenny, but I cannot think of that class being anything but stabby, not shooty. But there's no reason it couldn't be a ranged build.
    • Tempest, being an unknown, could be an archery based spec, which would shift assassin to Cole.
  • So, Varric is Artificer? I could see him trolling his enemies with traps, getting a good laugh out of it.
  • So that leaves Tempest (whatever that is) for Cole, who will be a companion, dammit. Maybe it's a mystic class, the rogues could use one.
    • Sera is the Tempest, which focuses on doing crazy things like lighting yourself on fire. Cole, being knifey and sneaky, is the Assassin. Varric is an Artificier.

Cole's special gameplay ability
Cole's special combat ability will be to reset all aggro against him the moment he disengages from combat, because people forget about him as soon as he is out of sight.
  • Played with. He does have more potent stealth tree abilities, and a different stealth shroud, but nothing particularly special.

Murderknife will not be back.
Well by assumption it's all but guaranteed to be in the game. Might as well take an opportunity to be painlessly cynical.
  • Jossed with particular gusto- you have to craft the Murder Knife (yes, that is its actual name) in order to unlock the Assassin specialization.

The identity of the corpse Varric was tending to in the first trailer...
Is Merrill. It would be a good reason for him to look THAT heartbroken.
  • Alternatively, Aveline.
  • Or Bethany, if she went to the Circle - that would devastate him.

Alexius opened the Breach
He's a Tevinter Magister, so he probably has the pull to gain access to the peace conference. During the Redcliffe Castle part of the E3 demo, the party seems to blame him for dooming the world. Presumably, Alexius was persuaded by the "Elder One" he keeps mentioning to open the Breach. It's possible that he was offered his son's resurrection in exchange.
  • Jossed. The Player Character's unintended intervention in Corephyus's dastardly plot caused the Breach and likely thwarted something even worse.

Following the Jesus analogy from farther up
Judas will be the follower most attached to you, with the followers set up that its impossible to piss them all off at once. They will be in tears as they admit to betraying you to save you. Another possible setup is all of them betraying you if you are that much of a jerk, sacrificing you to close the rift and halt the war. No matter what, you will be hurt, drastically, and their betrayal will take a lot to recover from. Possibly risking the success of the inquisition as a whole.

There's no way to keep Cole out of the Inquisition.
Even if you reject him from your party he still helps out but no one can remember him.
  • Jossed. If you tell Cole to leave, he will. He's probably still out in the world helping people as best he can, but you don't hear of it.

The Elder One is actually a Reaper
.That escaped the firing of the Crucible by breaking through the Fade and into the DA universe.

The Elder One is Flemeth.
One of her alternate names is Asha'bellanar, which translates to "the woman of many years".
  • Jossed. The Elder one is Corypheus.

The which companion is which arcana WMG:
A troper's guess of companions and corresponding arcana was on the main page. I'll just put it here and any other guesses also goes here.
  • Iron Bull holds a pouch (and a skull) similar to the traditional card for The Fool.
    • Other speculation is that his card is The Devil, given his pose, the horns, the lack of a cliff for him to walk off of (a major component of just about any version of The Fool), and, well the appropriateness of a pansexual mercenary hedonist representing temptation.
      • From the physical tarot deck included with the Inquisitor's Edition: Confirmed that Iron Bull's card is The Devil.
  • Dorian seems to be the Magician, sharing the infinity symbol.
    • Confirmed.
  • Varric holds Bianca in front of him, making her 4 straps look similar to the Wheel of Fortune.
    • Jossed by an e-mail sent out by Bioware announcing new giclees with some of the tarot card art. Varric's card is The Lovers. That makes Varric x Bianca officially canon.
      • The only "lover" symbolism on the card though seems to be the light and shadow splitting Varric.
      • This may also mean that part of Varric's storyline in the game is about choosing.
  • Blackwall rides astride a griffon on his card, making him the Chariot.
    • Judgment, actually. The Chariot looks to be Dorian holding two items, one black, one white.
  • Solas' card has him standing alone with a light in a dark place, like The Hermit, but he also has symbols of the four elements surrounding him, similar to the World card.
  • Cassandra's card, featuring her riding a horse alongside others, is similar to the Rider-Waite card for Death.
  • Vivienne stands with a white cup and a black staff in her hands, the colour scheme and cup suggests that her card is Temperance.
    • Jossed, that card is The High Priestess.
  • Sera's card depicts her looking at a tall tower.
    • Sera could also represent The Fool (not at the edge of a cliff, but definitely on a steep slope), and generally, The Tower is depicted being damaged. It's likely the Tower card in the actual physical deck that comes with the Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition will depict the Fadesplosion that wipes out the peace conference at the beginning of the game.
      • Sera being The Fool is confirmed, and The Tower being the Fadesplosion is Jossed, oddly enough. They went with Fen'Harel looming over a mage.
      • Or maybe it's Corypheus and his Archdemon?
  • Cole's card is the Moon, he's standing astride a black and brown hill, with a lobster beneath, and if that wasn't enough, he's also above an actual moon.
  • It appears that Morrigan has been confirmed as the Queen of Staves, likely meaning Queen of Wands, which could symbolize that her part in Inquisition is part of a plan (shocker).

Over the course of the game, the Inquisitor will become The Maker.
We all know that the Inquisitor will gain Fade powers due to mysteriously surviving the opening of the Breach. Over the course of the game, this strange power over the Fade could full on cause him/her to become a god, since according to The Elder One, the Maker doesn't exist. Also, how ironic (and cool) would it be that a person deemed the 'Herald of Andraste' could end up becoming the Maker themselves?
  • Jossed, though Morrigan muses whether or not the Inquisition's forces already think of the Inquisitor as The Maker.

Inquisition will reveal The Warden from Origins was Andraste in disguise, even if the Warden were male.
Just because they need a twist that is a total Mind Screw.

Varric will be the cause of 1-3 The Legend of Korra references in Inquisition.
How many other Varric/Varricks do you know in modern media? Frankly I'm hoping he gets an assistant named Julie.

When encountering Morrigan, the Inquisitor will have the option to ask her about the ring she keeps fidgeting with . . .
Which will open up dialogue about the Warden's whereabouts and activities.
  • Confirmed! If Morrigan was in a relationship with the Warden, she does reference him and even speaks highly of him.

One of the mounts will be a griffon.
I know they're extinct, but so were dragons.Your statement is Jossed. Griffons are back, son!

Josephine and Leliana will provide a Bilingual Bonus.
Both of their VAs speak French, AKA Orlesian, and have context for their characters to. It'd probably be some innocuous ambient banter between them that the fandom will swoop on to translate. Probably about fromage.
  • Jossed, but one scene does have Leliana swear in French.

The Dalish Inquisitor is chosen because specifically because they can fake/have an English or American accent.
They wouldn't do a very good job spying if their voice screamed Dalish.

Awakened Darkspawn will eventually show up as Multiplayer characters.
  • We got to play as Collectors in Mass Effect 3. I don't see this as unlikely.

Thedas will be revealed to be a planet in the Mass Effect Universe.
  • And there will be an end credits stinger to that effect, showing the Normandy in orbit, watching the final battle.

In the worst ending, the Elder One's victory leads to the eventual creation of the Warhammer Fantasy universe

He more or less poisons the Fade permanently, causing all the benign spirits to die off or become corrupted in that ending, after all. Eventually, however, the strain on Corypheus' mind grows too great from fending off unruly demons all the time, and his mind fractures into four split personalities, each embodying a different aspect of the four major strains of demon he's familiar with as they affect him; the Dark Gods (plus Malal, embodying what's left of his sanity and self-loathing). Eventually, the Qunari's descendants can't take the hellish environments of Thedas anymore, and begin constructing gates to new worlds as the Old Ones (bringing along what survivors of the merge they can), but of course the Dark Gods follow, curious about where they're going. Cue the Crapsack World, sooner or later.

Flemeth possessed Solas/Fen'Harel
After DAO and her appearance in DAII, you really think she's dead?
  • Jossed - The designers have mentioned Flemeth intentionally sacrificed herself to Fen'harel.

Solas/Fen'Harel took the soul of Flemeth/Mythal
And with the above so constitutes the prominent discourse upon this game's plot until we get some epilogue DLC.
  • Confirmed. Flemeth/Mythal was okay with it too.

Flemeth is trying to become the ultimate god
Near the ending, Flemeth is revealed to host Mythal, and elven godess, within her. If the Old God Baby exists, she takes the soul of the Old God into her own. In The Stinger, she appears to take over the body of Solas/Fen'Harel, or vice versa. With three gods/goddesses in one body, would it be any surprise if she's after more?
  • Adding to that, maybe she's just trying to return to her original form. The "throne of god on the Black City is empty" if Corypheus is to be believed, so maybe a single god did exist at one point, and the Old Gods of Tevinter and Elven gods were born from this single entity's power being split.

The Elven Pantheon were not true gods
But merely the oldest of the immortal Elven nobility who developed a god complex. If this is true, it would go a long way to explaining Solas' disdain for them. Particularly since he was one of them and knows all too well that they were never true gods.
  • That seems plausible. Doesn't Solas himself support this view?
    • One might note that, as Professor Kenric points out, we don't have a specific definition of "god" in this setting. Hakkon Wintersbreath is "just" a powerful spirit but he fits the Avvar definition of a god. Solas, despite being one of the pantheon, may not have the final word on the matter.
  • As of Trespasser, confirmed. By Solas, no less.

Fen'harel the Dread Wolf suffered an in-universe Historical Villain Upgrade
This neatly explains why the supposed Big Bad of the Elven Pantheon as Solas is one of the more unambiguously good characters in the game. Even when The Stinger reveals that he's responsible for Corypheus' rise to power, he only did it to help the Elves and admits that he still deserves to pay for his crimes nonetheless. Given his disdain for the rest of the pantheon, it's likely that the reason he was branded a villain was because he was the only one willing to call the others out on their bullcrap.
  • Confirmed.

Lyrium is some kind of bacteria or mold with magical properties
Since it's alive, that explains how it can be tainted by the Blight to create Red Lyrium.
  • Jossed. The Descent reveals that Lyrium is the blood of the Titans.

How Hawke knows Loghain.
In world states where Loghain survived the first game, he's the one who really took the Hawke sibling into the wardens in the Deep Roads and later met up with Hawke during the First Battle of Kirkwall. Stroud may have been there, serving under Loghain, but wasn't the commanding officer or the one Hawke had interaction with. Varric omitted Loghain and replaced him with Stroud, both in his book and his story to Cassandra, to avoid tarnishing Hawke's reputation by associating them with the notorious traitor and usurper.

Cole will join your party in next Dragon Age.
In every new Dragon Age campaign we have one party member that was a companion of a hero of the previous game - in Awakening we had Oghren. In Dragon Age II - Anders, and in Inquisition Varric. We can say with some confidence that we will get someone familiar also in a next game - romanceable characters are out for obvious reasons, Varric was already in 2 games, Vivienne can potentially become Divine, so she will probably be too busy, so that leaves us Cole.
  • Related: Cole will be a potential romantic interest, but only if you sided with Varric to make him more human. He'll go through several rounds of What Is This Thing You Call "Love"? and general confusion. Then, because this is BioWare, something tragic will happen.
    • Jossed. In the DLC Trespasser, assuming Cole is your friend and you did his personal quest, Cole will either return to the Fade, if he is Spirit; Or he will be in a romantic relationship with Maryden Halewell, if he is made Human.

Something very bad will happen if the Wardens actually manage to kill the rest of the Archdemons/Old Gods

The comics imply that dragons are needed to preserve the world. Solas hates the Grey Wardens because of their willingness to kill the Old Gods. He never elaborates on this, but since he's actually Fen'harel, he probably knows something about the Old Gods that the Wardens don't. Maybe Flemeth wanted Urthemiel's soul to prevent whatever catastrophe killing all of the Old Gods will cause.

Spirits may be more than just "failed creations of the Maker."
After playing Dragon Age II and noticing Anders/Jusice's blue sparkly glowy powers and the color of Solas/Flemeth's eyes when invoking their Mythal-given powers spirits might actually be somehow related to the Old Gods as well as the elven pantheon, rather than just the Maker as the Chant dictates. Especially since Mythal seems to be a goddess of justice and protection turned to vengeful force. Sort of like Justice him/itself.

The ancient Elves built a magical empire, were immortal, and were always slaves, that is until they rebelled and killed their gods.
A romanced Solas will reveal that the face tattoos the Dalish have are actual slave markings, and we do in fact see elves magically enslaved to Mythal in her temple. There's some suggestion that these Elves are immortal, but that doesn't line up with the lore. We also find out that Mythal was betrayed and murdered, and some part of her goes to Flemeth to seek vengeance. Why go to some human woman? Because originally the ancient Elves were enslaved by their gods, and that's what grants them their immortality. The elves rebelled, and killed their gods, which is why Flemeth doesn't help them, and how they lost their immortality.

Solas is trying to grant ultimate freedom from slavery by doing the equivalent of crashing the game.
Solas (and by extension all elven gods) are self-aware meta gods. Much like Lorkhan and Vivec from The Elder Scrolls franchise, the elven/old gods of Thedas have powers similar to CHIM - the ability to input the equivalent of console commands. In the past two games, it's implied that Flemeth can not only tell the future, but also understands how minute actions can affect the 'grande scheme of things'. This power probably extends to Solas, aka The Dread Wolf.

Solas describes other people as 'predictable' multiple times throughout the game. If romanced, he'll describe the Inquisitor as having a 'rare and marvelous spirit', which might mean that he's surprised at how captivating and wholesome the Inquisitor is, compared to how unsatisfying and repetitive he finds everyone else to be. After Solas breaks up with the Inquisitor, Cole will read Solas's feelings to be "You're real, and it means everyone could be real. It changes everything. But it can't."

This might mean that by spending time with the Inquisition, giving approval upon making benevolent in-game choices, and falling in love with the Inquisitor, Solas developed empathy for people that shouldn't matter 'in the grand scheme of things. Feeling empathy for mortals makes it harder to complete his goal of freeing everyone from slavery by doing the equivalent of crashing the game. This is why Solas/The Dread Wolf is considered an enemy to the other elven gods; The Dread Wolf wants to grant ultimate free will by freeing people from the control of the other elven gods, which can't be done when all life choices are pre-determined by dialogue wheels.

Eliminating the last of the Old Gods will NOT end the Blight or the Darkspawn.
  • Solas is against the blight, but he's also very critical about the Grey Wardens. Often saying that they are messing with powers that they in NO way understand. The Old Gods/Archdemons are bad things, but they're also the only things that can give any resemblance of control over the Darkspawn. Specifically in the form of 'The Song' that they make. For an example of a Darkspawn that's freed from any form of connection to 'The Song' just look at The Mother from Awakening. Totally berserk, and completely out of control. Now imagine what would happen if EVERY Darkspawn went that way. The Wardens aren't 'fixing' the Drakspawn problem. Darkspawn and The Blight are a corruption of a fundamental system, and the Wardens are breaking that system.
    • I would like to say that while I think this is where they're going with the story, I really, really hope it isn't. It was a goddamn stupid plotline when Blizzard used it for the Scourge and the Lich King and it is a goddamn stupid plotline now. Less so because precedent has been set where as it was completely ignored and contradicted when Blizzard did it, but still, goddamn stupid.
    • Unlikely. The darkspawn are largely non-sentient, only becoming capable of working intelligently when there's an Archdemon leading them (with the exception of the rare Alpha who is smarter than usual). The Architect's Joining ritual seems to make any darkspawn intelligent enough to function like a normal person but that's likely a side effect, something they take from the Warden's blood, much like The Mother changed to birth the Children rather than Hurlocks. In fact the only one to go berserk from the silence was The Mother, who, as a broodmother, is not a darkspawn at all but a horrifically mutated ghoul. Yes, there were other darkspawn that were displeased by the silence but they simply continued acting as regular darkspawn do, it was the Mother making them extra aggressive. Odds are if the Old Gods song was suddenly silenced the darkspawn would simply scatter, it might appear to be a blight at first, with large numbers coming to the surface, but they would be uncoordinated and lack planning or intelligence. If anything it would destroy the darksspawn since they'd spread out too thin and act too aggressively to survive long term. Though there may be widespread madness spread through the broodmothers.

Flemeth arranged for the Warden to be out of the action.
Considering how large a role the Grey Warden's played in the Elder One's plan, it seems odd that scant attention was payed to the pre-eminent Warden of the age (assuming s/he is alive, of course). The explanation we do get for their whereabouts feels like way too easy of an excuse for their absence, unless someone was deliberately trying to lead the Warden on a wild-goose chase. As one of the few beings in Thedas capable of pulling off such a trick, Flemeth has a few motivations, depending on circumstances:1 - If alive, the Warden represents a known quantity and investment, something she doesn't want to risk quite yet, which makes sense considering what can happen to Hawke.2 - However, the Warden is also one of the few people with first-hand experience of her (ostensible) goals and methods and she doesn't want to risk them acting as a Spanner in the Works now that she's beginning to take a more active role in things.3 - A Warden who romanced Morrigan probably defeated her in combat once already and whether she threw the fight or not, she likely doesn't want the aggravation of a pissed-off dad protecting his wife and child.
  • Alternatively: She knows that killing the Old Gods is a solution that will eventually destroy the world, and the solution to the Grey Wardens Calling problem will lead to saving the Old Gods from the Blights as well.

No matter what happens, the Qunari are probably going to declare war soon.
Probably on the Imperium. The Qun has long held a dim view on magic in general and now the world nearly came to an end because of some mage having a meltdown (a Tevinter mage, to boot!). Tensions have been simmering for a while now, starting with the major flare-up in Kirkwall. From the reports they've received from Iron Bull, they know that the magic situation in Thedas is becoming a bigger and bigger threat, one that they might not be able to fend off in the future. They might decide to go all in on a now-or-never invasion to keep the world from spiraling into what they see as chaos.

Solas is not really a god
I'm not saying Solas isn't Fen'Harel, just that he isn't a god. Solas is really an elf, albeit an incredibly powerful mage elf who has somehow found a way to avoid Quickening. Fen'Harel was originally a title of some kind, like a general or adviser to the gods (well, 'gods'). He decided that the world was suffering under the gods' rule, so they must be done away with; he started by tracking down the Old Gods and imprisoning them in the Deep Roads. He still had respect for the elven 'gods,' though, and was trying to find a way to get rid of him non-lethally when his followers decided that they'd had enough and wouldn't take it anymore. They rose up, killed the gods, and started a civil war that ended up destroying the elven empire. Since they were his followers, Fen'Solas was blamed, and eventually became the evil demon trickster he is currently represented as. Fen'Solas, distraught over what he had caused, went to a secret location and went into uthenera for a really, really long time. It would explain why he only talks about his experiences in the Fade and why he's relatively up-to-date on current events. Why he woke up, I'm not too sure about yet. Maybe he finally realized his guilt was getting the world nowhere and he needed to deal with it, or maybe it was while he was sleeping that he met Corypheus and gave him the sphere, later realizing what he'd done and waking up to put things to rights.
  • Considering that the codex informs us that Harellan originally meant "rebellion", Fen'Harel probably most accurately translates to "Rebel Wolf", which hardly seems like a title for an advisor to the gods.
  • Then maybe Fen'Harel was the name they gave him after the uprising, and his original title was something else wolf-related. To be honest, the original thrust of the theory was that Solas is really an elf and not any sort of god, and then I got a bit carried away. XD
  • "I was "Solas" first. "Fen'Harel" came later, an insult I took as a badge of pride."

Divine Justinia was Dead All Along
So everyone makes a big deal about how Corypheus could have survived the titanic explosion that wrecked the Temple of Sacred Ashes, but no one seems to question how the Inquisitor-to-be and the Divine survived after they find out what really happened. The Inquisitor is easy enough to explain; since they were the ones holding the orb, they merely got thrown through the Breach instead of being blown up. But what about the Divine? If Corypheus was killed, even though he was standing right next to the Inquisitor, how could the Divine, who was further away, have survived the blast? Answer: she didn't. Remember that at the start of the game, the Inquisitor saw the weird glowing figure that Schrodinger's Divine eventually turns into. My theory is that the Divine was killed in the blast, and it was her soul/the spirit imitating her that guided them out of the Fade.

Varric has replaced Bodahn and Sandal.
As the resident recurring Dwarven character. Bioware decided that it was too much of a headache to try and justify how the two would get around Thedas, or address any of Sandal's weirdness. Varric is more popular and has stronger connections to the world at large, so it's easier to insert him into things.
  • Alternatively, we'll have a separate dwarf character carry over from each installment. Oghren carried over from DAO to DAA, Bodahn and Sandal carried over from DAO to DA2, and Varric carried over from DA2 to DAI. Perhaps Harding will carry over from DAI to DA4. In any event, Varric expresses interest in returning to Kirkwall to help rebuild after the Inquisition is done with its work, and the next game is likely going to be set a considerable distance north. So unless Varric's visiting Maevaris or checking on that beat plantation he half-owns, I don't see him making the trip.
  • However, there is an Easter Egg in Trespasser, where one can find Sandal's diary, together with some runes and an upgrade station. The diary, of course, contains nothing but repetitions of "Enchantment!" with varying punctuation.

The Elder One's Body Surf works because he was originally human.
Spirits/demons need consent to possess people, and Archdemons can only Body Surf into soulless vessels like the Darkspawn. Even Flemeth aka Mythal, a goddess claims that she cannot possess someone without permission. Corypheus doesn't have these issues because he was originally a mortal human. The fundamental differences between mortal souls and the souls of spirits/demons/gods may be what causes the difficulties of possession and Body Surfing. Corypheus is still human enough that he doesn't have this problem. Either that, or...

Alternatively, the Elder One destroys the soul of his future vessel right before occupying it
He somehow ejects or destroys his future host body's soul before entering it.

Kieran is going to be playable in the future.
Really going out on a limb here, but not only is he going to be playable he's going to be the protagonist. At least, one the choosable ones. You'll be able to choose other protagonists (Elf, Qunari, etc.) but he will end up being the human protagonist for a future game. His pre-set history will include the ritual being performed, and though with who will be optional, a lot of other things won't be. Oh, and as a bonus, he either has to fight the Inquisitor, or his mother. Whee.
  • Problem with that theory: does not exist in Inquisition's default World State
    • Possible solution; Kieran could appear not as the protagonist of a primary game, but of a DLC in the style of Leliana's Song or Darkspawn Chronicles, where we take over as a separate character for the duration. For worldstates where Kieran exists, the DLC could be canon, while for worldstates where it does not, it could be an alternate universe, "what if?" scenario.
    • Other possibility: they do things like in Genealogy of the Holy War: make Kieran an important Teammate but also introduce a replacement character to take his role if he was not conceived: if Kieran exists, this character is a NPC and perhaps the Hero of Another Story, otherwise, he joins the party as one of the mages
    • The game where he appears will have only the best endings available in world states where he exists. If he lives, and is either Alistair's son or Anora's half-brother, he will become King and lead the nation into a golden age. If he is not, or does not exist, Ferelden will break into a civil war that destroys the country and balkanizes it. The Fereldans felt comfortable in their elected monarchy because there was always a Theirin to be the obvious choice. Now that that has been taken from them, they will not survive.

The Elves are indirectly responsible for Tevinter being an evil empire
Arlathan in its final days was an evil empire that practiced slavery, wielded powerful magic, and eventually destroyed itself in a civil war. It's possible that humans merely picked up the pieces of Arlathan, including its magic and its slaves, and formed the Tevinter Imperium from that. Solas even claims that much of Tevinter was built upon the bones of the People. As for why Tevinter is so awful, they could just be emulating Arlathan.

The Kossith are the mutated descendants of Reavers
Their horns are dragon horns, according to Cole. This is also why Iron Bull has the Reaver specialization without drinking dragon blood: he was born with it. This could also explain why they came up with the Qun. The order espoused by the Qun was a necessary restraining bolt to keep them from going crazy due to their dragon blood. As a result, the moment they let themselves go, things get...messy (Sten claims that parties get so wild that executions are needed to restore order). And the comics confirm that Reavers pass on some of their power to their descendants. The Kossith are the end result of generations of dragon blood abuse. This could even explain why horn-less Kossith are held in such high regard: it's a sign of weaker dragon blood, meaning greater self-control in theory (though Sten still went berserk when he lost his sword).
  • Other points in favour: Cassandra states that Reavers eventually begin to physically mutate, including growing spines (like horns?). Corypheus and Old God Kieren both state that a Tal-Vashoth inquisitor's blood is "engorged with decay" and "does not belong to [her people]". Iron Bull mentions that the Qun reveres dragons for their power but hates them for their chaos - and the Qun seems to exist to harness that power and master that chaos within the Qunari. And, finally, Iron Bull even outright states at one point that there's a conspiracy theory amongst the Ben-hassarath that the tamasrins spiked Qunari blood with dragon blood at some point in the past.

Sera's fear is the intangible
If you bring Sera into the fade, she says that what she fought was nothing - emptiness. People interpret this as meaning that she's afraid of nothingness but I would suggest that it's more the stuff that's intangible or beyond basic comprehension. Throughout the game, she shows incredible discomfort with the Fade and magic - areas that are beyond simple comprehension for those that have no real ability to touch. She also shouts at the rocks in the Fade for not following the laws of gravity and various other problems. If we follow that logic, we see her fear in fighting phantoms she cannot see - she can fight them, she knows they're there, but they're beyond her ability to comprehend and therefore terrifying.

The Warden came back to Ferelden in the bad future, and unwittingly made things much, much worse.
Ok, we know that assuming s/he survived the Blight, Origins Warden is busy finding a cure for the taint, and therefore unavailable to join (or lead, as s/he was Justinia's first choice) the Inquisition. But it's unlikely that, should the Inquisition fails, the Warden would stay away, especially since s/he has quite a lot of friends/family/clanmates/loved one in Southern Thedas, yet, s/he's not mentioned at all during the bad future... Here's a nightmarish theory about what happened: when informed about the Inquisition's failure, the Warden rushed back to South-East Thedas, fought Corypheus, defeated him, only to end up being possessed. The Elder One in the bad future may be "wearing" Origins' protagonist's life, and That is why Leliana refuses to tell Dorian any details about the events between Alexius time spell and the current "present": chances are that after loosing Justinia, she saw one of her few close friend -or- her soulmate becoming Corypheus' skin while trying to rescue her, adding guilt and remorse to the pain and hopelessness caused by being turned into a guinea pig by Alexius.
  • Also, if the way Corypheus possess people is similar to what the process depicted by Morrigan in Origins (where the stronger the host, the stronger the creature possessing him or her becomes), possessing the formidable Hero of Ferelden may have made Corypheus pretty much unstoppable, which would make the bad future the second time (after protecting Anders from his Templar pursuers) the Warden's compassion caused a major catastrophe down the road.

The Elven Pantheon was artificially crafted by the Elves themselves.
  • At one point, the Elves decided to create the perfect rulers for their society: for every important institution, one spirit epitomizing the virtues and/or quality needed to make it function was called from the fade and merged with a powerful elven which became the God: so Mythal was created from the merging of a spirit of justice with and elf and tasked with overseeing the justice system; her counterpart Elgar'nan was created from the merging of perhaps a spirit of valor with and elf and tasked with overseeing the law enforcement, June was tasked with overseeing Elvhenan's industry, Sylaise was in charge of healthcare, Ghilan'nain oversaw agriculture, Falon'Din was in charge of education while Dirthamen was the spymaster/secret-police overseer, and so one and so forth... Together, these artificial gods administrated the elven civilization but since they were the result of merging a living creature with singleminded spirits, they lacked the capacity for nuance needed to lead a society of comprised of millions of complex individuals , and as a result of their simplistic nature pushed in the name of efficiency the elven civilization into the rigid caste society it was thus sowing the seeds of its eventual demise.
  • Well crap, someone better make sure Anders doesn't get that crazy powerful.
  • So Morrigan was actually partially right: elven gods were indeed powerful elven rulers, except their godhood was neither the result of crass propaganda nor the consequence of history turning into legends and deforming its original meaning but a core feature of the elven rulers.
  • This theory puts Solas' fondness for spirits in an new light. Of course he'd be sympathetic to them, he's been fused with one for millennia.
    • It might also explains many things regarding Solas' interactions with Cole:
      First, it explains both why he sympathizes so much with Cole and why he wishes him to remain more Spirit than Human: Solas knows by experience how painful it is to be a material material creature habited by the simple drives of Spirit and he wants to spare this fate to Cole.
      During one banter with Cole, Solas says "I am not a spirit, and sometimes it is hard to remember such simple truths.": having more in common with Spirits than virtually everyone else, he sometimes forgets that he's still a creature of the material world with at least as much in common with its denizens than with Spirits.
      Another Banter, if Cole becomes more Human, asking Solas when was the last time he saw a spirit becoming Human: Cole was actually sensing Solas' memories of the time his elven self was merged with a spirit, and Solas answer: "You have taken a difficult path": he knows, because he walked this path himself.
  • Another possibility is that the Elven Pantheon were all originally Spirits who took on physical form without a host, not unlike Cole. Which means they had even less in common with their constituents than if they were abominations, and this led to the eventual fall of the Elven empire. Judging by his attitude in this game, Fen'Harel or Solas may have originally been a Spirit of Freedom.

Iron Bull was set up.
During Iron Bull's loyalty quest, he has to choose between saving the Chargers or a Qunari dreadnought, and the situation is set up so you can't save both. If the Dreadnought is sacrificed, the Ben-Hassrath will declare Iron Bull Tal-Vashoth, one of his biggest fears, but if the Chargers die Iron Bull is devastated and, according to Cole, never stops thinking about it. This was intentional on the part of the Ben-Hassrath, who were trying to see if he was more loyal to the Inquisition or the Qun. They deliberately fed the Inquisition misleading information on Venatori forces so Iron Bull would put the Chargers into a fight they couldn't win. If the Chargers died, they knew Iron Bull was loyal while removing any loyalty he felt to the Inquisitor (who had to make the call) and Thedas, which would allow them to exploit his connections to spread throughout Thedas with the Inquisition's blessing, spreading the Qun and preparing for a future invasion. If the Chargers survived and the dreadnought was destroyed, they knew Iron Bull had more loyalty to his men and the Inquisitor than to the Ben-Hassrath and they had the perfect excuse to cut loose their wayward operative once and for all.
  • With this in mind, the situation goes from being a no-win situation to having an obvious right answer - Save the Chargers. The Qunari aren't going to stop fighting Tevinter just because of this, since they've already been at it for centuries, so the Inquisition doesn't lose anything on that front. The Qunari have also been mentioned repeatedly to not really understand alliances beyond mutual convenience, so getting backstabbed by them is all but inevitable. Saving the Chargers is also what Iron Bull really wants, since you gain higher approval by doing that. From the Inquisition's standpoint, they gain a powerful mercenary company that is now totally loyal to them while also checking Qunari intelligence operations in Thedas and depriving them of a valuable and highly-placed operative while losing only an alliance that wouldn't have stuck anyway. This takes the quest from a Downer Ending no matter what into a Moment of Awesome for your Magnificent Bastard Inquisitor.
  • There's four problems with this theory:
    • Sacrificing an entire dreadnought just to test the loyalty of a single person seems a bit over-the-top. Sure, Bull has some connections, but not that much, plus he'd be under the constant oversight of Leliana.
    • Bull chose which group assaulted which camp, meaning the entire thing could easily have been rendered pointless.
    • How would the qunari assure that the venatori would be in the exact position to make this possible?
    • Qunari have fairly strictly defined roles and functions in society. If there was a role which had 'to be sacrificed in case of convenience' as a function, you'd think Bull himself would mention the possibility. Especially since he was part of the same organization that would have organized this.

Flemythal isn't dead yet
So the devs confirmed that Fen'Solas absorbed Flemythal's soul and power. That doesn't have to mean that she's dead. DAII proved that she's capable of having multiple bodies running at once; who's to say she isn't still out there?

The Old Gods were the pets/servants of the Elven Pantheon
Cassandra's idea that the Old Gods were mere pets just like Corypheus' dragon was right on the money. Solas denies it, but considering he's actually one of the Elven gods and trying to hide it, of course he'd try to discourage that line of thought. It also explains why he hates the Grey Wardens for killing them when they become Archdemons they are yet another piece of his culture that is being eradicated. The Old Gods were extremely powerful sentient dragon-like creations of the Elven gods, left behind in the wake of Arlathan's destruction and the loss of their masters. The humans who would eventually found the Tevinter Imperium adopted these mighty beings as their own gods. This ties in nicely with Tevinter's portrayal in this game as mere scavengers of Arlathan's culture: magic, slavery, even their gods.

Inquisition will eventually have an expansion where the Inquisitor causes by accident the next major crisis.
We already had it twice: first in Awakening, the Warden Commander of Ferelden took Anders under his/her wing which was the first domino to fall on the way to the mage-templar war. Then Hawke unwittingly freed Corypheus, causing the crisis which followed. So true to this proud tradition, the Inquisitor will, in a not-yet released expansion, do something which will eventually cause the next big threat to arise in Dragon Age 4.
  • Finally subverted by Trespasser: the Inquisitor didn't unwittingly cause the next big crisis that will threaten Thedas during Inquisition's final story DLC: s/he did that during the main game, by being Solas' pawn from the very beginning

Leliana was accidentally infected with the Blight during Origins.
Which explains her resistance to it during the bad future: tiny quantities of darkspawn blood entered her body during the many battles of the first blight, in quantities so small that the taint progressed so slowly that it gave her body the time to develop an immune response making her resistant to its effects. And it may very well be how the first Grey Wardens appeared in the first place: during the ninety years long first blight, a few warriors infected by the darkspawn's taint did not turn to ghouls for several years, which gave the Grey Wardens' founders evidence that it was possible to inoculate people from the taint: decades and probably a lot of hit and miss experimentation eventually led them to refine the Joining ritual and produce warriors which not only were immune (for a time) to the taint but had the added advantages of sensing darkspawns and being able give the killing blow to archdemons.

A Leliana that was killed in Origins was saved by Flemeth.
Well it had to someone suitably powerful and presumably Solas was still napping.

Theories on just what happened to the elven gods.
Some of this comes from other people's theories. The elven gods were actually powerful mages with the ability to transform into dragons. They kept slaves. Fen'harel led a slave rebellion against the gods with Mythal's help. The Forgotten Ones were members of the rebellion whose actions somehow outraged Fen'harel. I think that they betrayed and murdered Mythal and invented the Blight as a weapon against the gods. Fen'harel was outraged by the Forgotten Ones' actions and sealed them away in the Golden City. He also Mode Locked the elven gods into dragons and imprisoned them underground. This drained Fen'harel's strength, forcing him to go into Uthenara (actually a kind of magical stasis) until shortly before Inquisition began. Upon waking, Fen'harel took the name of Solas. As revealed in DAI, Mythal was the "demon" that possessed Flemeth.

The elven gods managed to contact the ancient Tevinter magisters in the Fade and convinced them to worship them. Eventually, Elgar'nan, elven god of vengeance, known to the Tevinters as Dumat, tricked the magisters into assaulting the Golden City so the elven gods could finally finish off the Forgotten Ones. The Forgotten Ones responded by infecting the magisters with the Blight and brainwashing them into infecting Elgar'nan with it.

When Solas awoke from his slumber, he saw that only two of the elven gods were alive and his former followers' Blight had killed millions of people. His goal is to free the elven gods from their underground prison and kill the Forgotten Ones. The latter would require physically entering the Fade, which is why he needed the Orb. I'm not quite sure why he wants the elven gods alive, but in Inquisition, he strongly dislikes the idea of killing the remaining ones. Perhaps he respects the gods, even though he once fought to overthrow them.

The elven gods are the old gods
See my above theory for details. The following is my theories of which elven god is which old god.
  • Dumat, Old God of Silence, was Elgar'nan, Elven God of Vengeance. The leaders of the two pantheons are one and the same.
  • Zazikel, Old God of Chaos, was Andruil, Elven Goddess of the Hunt. According to an inscription in the Temple of Mythal, Andruil lost her sanity while exploring the Fade, which would make her a rather chaotic person.
  • Toth, Old God of Fire, was Sylaise, Elven Goddess of the Hearth. Hearths need fire.
  • Andoral, Old God of Slaves, was Ghilan'nain, Mother of the Halla. This one is kind of a stretch, but according to inscriptions in the Temple of Mythal, Ghilan'nain created other beasts and beasts are slaves to people.
  • Urthemiel, Old God of Beauty, was June, Elven God of Crafts. Crafts and aesthetics are closely related.
  • Razikale, Old God of Mystery, is Dirthamen, Elven God of Secrets. Secrets are mysteries and it makes sense that one of the two gods whose temple the player can explore is still alive.
  • Lusacan, Old God of Night, is Falon'Din, Elven God of Death. Just as night comes at the end of day, death comes at the end of life. Also, it is fitting that the twins are the only buried elven gods to be alive.
    • I would reverse June and Ghilan'nain. June was more broadly the god of work and (interestingly) unity: he "taught" the Elves crafts by enslaving and forcing them to labor. Ghilan'nain was the mother of the, indeed the first, beautiful halla. I wouldn't worry about the gender issue too much; RW mythologies can be flexible there too!

  • A corollary to this, the codex entry for the Draconis constellation mentions speculation of an eighth Old God who's name and very existence was stricken from the record. That would be Mythal, who was murdered by someone. Thus Flemeth's ability to turn into a dragon.
    • One potential problem with this was recently revealed in Jaws of Hakkon. It was reveiled that Razikale was a female Old God where as Dirthamen is a male Elven God. But the potential that the codex is inaccurate in-universe still exists.

Josephine will be the Dragon Age setting's Christopher Columbus.
  • She is the first person in the franchise to question what's across the giant ocean and seems to be interested enough to find out herself. Shame if she goes all out Columbus but the similarities are there.
    • Considering Josephine is from Antiva, which is a fusion of an Italian city-state, where Columbus was from, with Spain, who financed his expedition, this would make perfect sense.

Harder in Hightown is basically Thedas' version of Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff.
  • In particular The Divine, Lelianna and Cassandra would quote it at each and planned to throw a party where everyone would have to cosplay as a character. Aveline and Donnic would be invited as guests of honour.

Flemeth is a fusion of many souls
Specifically the souls of the original Flemeth, Mythal, and Flemeth's hosts throughout the ages. The original woman seems to be the dominant personality, but all of the other souls are a part of her as well. This is why all of her daughters were willing to give Flemeth their bodies. They would still be alive in a sense, and they would be part of something greater than themselves.

The Dread Wolf renamed himself as a reminder of his mistakes
He arrogantly believed that he alone knew what had to be done to save The People, and it all went horribly wrong. His new name "Solas", which means Pride, reflects that.
  • As of Trespasser, Jossed. His name was always Solas. "Dread Wolf" was what his detractors called him.

The destruction of the Orb is what caused the events in the post-credits sequence
The Dragon Age wiki states that the game files indicate the Orb was related to Mythal, not the Fen'Harel, and Solas states that they're foci for the powers of the Elven Pantheon. Maybe the power of the Orbs is what separates an Elven god from a regular, immortal Arlathan elf, and allows them to live on until this age. As such, locking the power of the Orbs might have been how the Dread Wolf actually banished the gods, unlocking it would have been his way to atone by freeing the gods again, and unwillingly causing its destruction killed Mythal for good. That's why Solas was so devastated by the destruction, and what he meant in the end by saying he should be the one to pay the price instead of her, and how he's sorry. He's not possessed by Mythal/Flemeth, he killed her. The glowy eyes only serve to further indicate that he's an entity of the same nature as her, hammering in the point that he's Fen'Harel.

Solas wasn't using the ancient elven artifacts to reinforce the Veil

He was using them to weaken it. He's not trying to bring back the other elven gods. In fact, he could care less about them. Rather, he's trying to tear down the Veil for good, to merge the Fade and the waking world, just like it was back in the ancient days. Think about it: this is a man who makes no secret of his love for all things Fade related. One of the first conversations you can have with him is him gushing over how cool it would be if spirits were commonplace. He continues to make several offhand comments throughout the game about a merger between the two worlds, but the most telling of them is this low approval conversation about helping the elves:

Inquisitor: The man whose spent half his life in the Fade has no ideas [on helping them]?
Solas: Not unless we collapse the Veil and bring the Fade here so I can casually reshape reality, no.
That seems like an… oddly specific solution to bring up for the sake of snark. We already know that the Orb can be used to punch a hole through the Veil, but perhaps with enough power, along with a few dozen artifacts sprinkled around Thedas, it could be used to tear the whole thing down entirely. And then there's Sandal's creepy prophecy at the end of Dragon Age II. There's a lot of speculation that it was a prediction of the events in Inquisition, but the comparison falls apart unless you disregard the entire first half of his speech. After all, magic didn't come back, and no one is "just like they were" (Whoever "they" are supposed to be. Ancient elves, perhaps?). Which means that the prophecy is still on, as far as we know. And shadows parting? Skies opening wide? All the magic returning? That sounds a lot like someone's about to go screwing with the fabric of reality. And by endgame, Solas is the person with the most ominous mysterious agenda.

  • Ding ding ding ding! Trespasser confirms that Solas' endgame is to tear down the Veil—the barrier that he created—to restore the ancient elves.

Solas is Shartan.
We see Shartan in the first game and he looks damn near identical to Solas, and even sounds similar. Solus also seems oddly fond of Andraste and the chantry considering all that it has done for elvenkind, and mentions himself that he has met many heroes. It always bugged me that Shartan's final fate always seemed rather vague, and this might be why. He never died!
  • Not completely unfounded. Solas makes a subtle allusion to an elven skirmish during one his banters with Blackwall. He could be referring to his role in sealing away the other elven gods, but directors notes found in the game file state specifically that Solas has been sleeping for a thousand years. Either this was an oversight on the writer's part, or he's been up and about since the fall of Arlathan. And one thousand years puts him neatly in the timeframe of Andraste's rise to power. Besides, leading an elven slave uprising seems like the kind of thing that a god of rebellion would get behind, and it'd certainly explain both his disillusionment with modern elves, and the dialogue you get where he expresses weariness over fighting for unspecified causes. If this is true, he fought not once, but twice for the elves, and in the end, they were still oppressed, downtrodden, and impoverished. It's no wonder he's so bitter and disheartened by the time of Inquisition.
  • If the above is true, it would also explain why he approves of the idea of The Maker, to Cassandra's astonishment. He was a close friend (possibly more) of Andraste herself.

The Elven Empire never had anything like Templars.
This is why Solus tells Cassandra that he finds her and the Templars' Anti-Magic abilities so fascinating. Back in the days of Arlathan, the idea of non-mages gaining the power to reinforce reality as opposed to warping it like mages do might have been impossible to conceive.

The plan to change Dorian was his mother's idea
Dialogue with Dorian reveals that his mother was the smothering control freak type. It's entirely possible that she was the real mastermind of the plan and browbeat Dorian's father into going along with it. The reason Dorian's angrier at his father is because he was closer to his dad and respected him, making the betrayal hurt worse. By contrast, he doesn't seem that close to his mother and is almost glad to be away from her, so he wasn't as hurt by her betrayal.
  • While it fits what little we know of Dorian's mother, it raises the question of why she didn't just do the ritual herself. The whole reason she was forced to marry Halward is because she's such a powerful mage, and there's no indication given that the ritual required more than one person.
  • Maybe what she needed wasn't so much help as it was permission to go ahead with it. She could have done it on her own, but doing so without getting her husband's consent would have provoked a hostile response and been a hassle — especially since they already hated each other.
  • It's very possible that she was intended to do the ritual herself, but Dorian ran off before she could.
    • Dorian specifically says that Halward is the one that attempted to do it.
      • He could have stepped in to do it before she could. They knew the risks and planned to go ahead with it anyway, but they also don't like each other; Halward may have intervened because he didn't trust her to do it right.

Sera is much more than a foul-mouthed street urchin
Specifically, she is either A) the elven god Andruil, or B) carries a wisp of Andruil like Flemeth carries Mythal. The full explanation of this theory is here, but here's a few of the more compelling connections. Sera is a natural archer, and claims in dialogue with the Inquisitor that no one taught her, she simply knew. Andruil is the elven goddess of the hunt. Furthermore, Solas and Cole point out in banter conversations that there is something... more to Sera. Cole claims that Sera "sees the strings" that hold him and calls her a "quiver within a quiver", and Solas asks questions pointed enough to know more about Sera than he lets on (I don't remember the exact quote, but Solas coaxes Sera into admitting that she sees "something" "beyond the Breach." Furthermore, according to in-game lore, Andruil went mad hunting The Forgotten Ones in the Void (the Fade, possibly)(there are vague references to these beings taking the form of winged terrors; Sera loves fighting dragons in DA:I), and Mythal eventually banished her there forever (making Sera's fear of the Fade in Here Lies the Abyss, her fear of magic, and her revulsion at Cole understandable). And then there's this.
  • In one party banter, she talks disgustedly about how killing doesn't bother her, but once a body is dismembered, they're not people anymore, just meat. She also hates elves for being "too elfy" and all forms of moping about the past. If Sera is partly an elven goddess of the hunt who reviles what she once was, it makes sense that she doesn't like to be reminded of anything related to it, even subconsciously.
  • The Enemies of Thedas trailer centers on the threat, what should happen if you fail, certain characters like Hawke trying to stop a Bad Future, ect. Who is prominently shown? Sera. She also grows rather worked up in Trespasser vowing to fight against any threat to Inquisitor, even if not romanced they are still together and s/he is gifted a prosthetic crossbow arm: odds are the groundwork is laid for Sera to at least be looked at and expanded in more detail.

Solas can see through time, and he meant to use the Orb for true time travel.
Alexius uses time magic to send the Inquisitor into the future, and in that future, he notes that his time magic is confined to the span of time in which the Breach exists, and the Breach was caused by the Orb, which originally belonged to Solas. Being a Trickster god who excels at gambling and games even if he's never played before (as Blackwall mentions at one point), it's possible that he has a natural ability to see through different timelines and use what he sees in possible futures to inform his decisions in the present. If so, as a focus for his abilities, the Orb could have been a means for him to actually travel through time in the Fade, allowing him to change the past and correct any of the mistakes he may consider himself to have made, possibly to aid the Elven gods, or prevent Elven culture in Thedas from falling so far from grace, or any number of other things. That's why he goes to Mythal after the Orb is shattered: without it, his plans are over before they even began, and he's got a whole lot of fun new reasons to be pissed at Thedas: Tevinter, for producing Corypheus, Elves, for continuing in what he considers cultural squalor, even himself, for being an idiot and giving Corypheus the Orb at all... and now he's hooked up with an angry, recently-empowered Mythal with a brand-new servant bound to her will. "Shake the heavens" indeed.
  • If you bring him to the dark future, he even says, "You would think such understanding would stop me from making such terrible mistakes. You would be wrong." That could just as easily refer to his ability to think fourth-dimensionally as to his missteps as Fen'harel. Being able to see and understand the flow of time doesn't preclude him making bad judgment calls in the moment.
  • I always thought it was weird that in Maryden's song about Sera, the chorus is "Why change the past when you can own this day?". If the theory about Sera being Andruil is true, and Solas is at least somewhat aware of it and that's why he tries to get her to acknowledge her "inner elf", it might be a deliberate hint.

Fiona was being influenced by the Nightmare Demon.
Mages are accustomed to being collectively blamed and punished for any magic-related problem. When the Breach occurred, it would have caused a Mass "Oh, Crap!" from nearly every mage in southern Thedas, all certain that they're going to be blamed for this, too, and that people will retaliate. Fiona would be no different, and her fear would be exacerbated by the shear number of people she's caring for. Then immediately after the Breach, someone walked up to her and told her that her worst fear was going to be realized, and she panics. Nightmare may have been focusing on the Wardens, but what's stopping it from taking time out from that to give Fiona a little push?

Cassandra will somehow end up becoming the sole possible heir to the throne of Nevarra in the future regardless of whatever happens to her in the epilogue
It would be ironic if the one candidate left would be the one person who isn't the least bit interested in politics.
  • That becomes complicated if she is anointed Divine Victoria...
  • Cassandra is a long way down the line and still far from the end of it. What kind of massacre did you envision occurring?!

The Architect is one of the original Darkspawn Magisters just like Corypheus
The similarities are too great to be a coincidence. If he is a being with the same powers as Corypheus, it would also handily explain why his initial novel appearance and his in-game appearance are so different. The Architect may have simply recently transferred his soul into a hurlock and had not yet transformed his new body when he met the main characters. As for the explanation he gives for his origin? It's entirely possible that he's either lying through his teeth (people would be less agreeable to his offers if they knew who he really was and what he'd done) or he may genuinely not remember who he was for some reason.
  • Word of God has already confirmed that the Architect is "the same type of being as Corypheus"
  • Even better: in the Chant, one of the titles of the High Priest of Urthemiel was the Architect of Beauty.

Spymaster Leliana is dead.

She didn't "miraculously recover" from her death/beheading at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, the original Leliana died, and was later replaced by an Envy demon with a more vicious personality. Envy then used Leliana's contacts and ruthlessly climbed the ladder to the position of Left Hand of the Divine, then as spymaster to the Inquisition, using whatever means necessary to attain true power: the Sunburst Throne.

  • Not a great theory, as it relies on several different people who are the best placed both to recognise demons and spot Leliana acting out of character failing to do either. Also relies on the Warden siding with the Cult Of Andraste. Otherwise Leliana walked out of there just fine. Finally there's no reason why an Envy demon would even tell the story of what happened there.
  • confirmed, oddly enough. Not the envy demon part - apparently the lyrium in the Temple of Sacred Ashes "sang thought into being." And that's why she's still walking around if she's been perforated.

Sandal is possessed by June, the god of crafts.
Thus his skill with enchanting, why he apparently has dreams of Flemeth, who is also possessed by an elven god, laughing at him, and why a dwarf who looks suspiciously like him shows up in the Fade during Champions of the Just. He could very well have been born before dwarves lost their connection to the Fade.

The Architect is the Magister that corresponds to the eighth Old God.
According to legend, there were seven Magisters, one for each Old God. Corypheus specifically corresponded to Dumat. If the theories about an eighth Old God are true, than it stands to reason that there was also an eighth Magister. The Architect's apparent memory loss is connected to whatever led to his patron being stricken from the record. Thus why Word of God is not "the Architect is one of the other six Magisters" but the much more vague "The Architect is the same type of being as Corypheus".
  • Given the similarities between the Architect's mask and Urthemiel's symbol, it's also possible that the Architect was the Magister who worshiped the Tevinter god of Beauty. That would explain why he sought out Urthemiel first when he enacted his plan to end Blights by "Joining" Old Gods.
  • And very tragic, if he turned the god he once venerated into a monster.
  • According to a removed verse from the Chant of Light, Urthemiel's Magister was known as "The Architect of Beauty".

Some of the party members remind Solas of his old comrades
Namely the Elven Pantheon. It's not too hard to imagine that Cassandra, with her dedication to faith and justice, reminds Solas of Mythal, a good friend of his, which explains why he gets along with her so well. The above mentioned similarities Sera has to Andruil, goddess of the hunt may be why he keeps trying to reach out to her despite Sera being Sera.

A Knight-Enchanter's Spirit Blade is a Spirit of Valor.
The method of creating a Spirit Blade involves fusing a consenting spirit to the spirit blade hilt. What better spirit type for the honor than one would relish being turned into one of the most powerful symbols of valor?

Regarding the Stinger, Solas didn't take Mythal's power. Mythal possessed Solas.

Who else would Mythal want revenge on more than the Dread Wolf? Sure, they're friends, but Solas royally fucked up in giving his Orb to Corypheus. He even says "I should pay the price". He wasn't just being colorful, he came to Mythal as a penitent, and she punished him by usurping his will.

  • Word of God is that Solas took Mythal's power...except for a portion that Flemeth transferred through the Eluvian that she intended Morrigan to claim.

The reason the Warden left was because they heard Corypheus's "call"
Dialogue in-game and at the end of Dragon Age II implies the Warden's disappearance was a recent thing, likely coinciding with Corypheus's return to power. As we all know, Corypheus was sending a "fake Calling" amongst the Wardens as a way to bring them under his control. If you ask Alistair/Stroud/Loghain about it, they admit to hearing the call themselves. The Warden also felt the Calling, but instead of panicking like their brethren, they more rationally surmised that something was amiss, decided to say Screw Destiny again, and went off to find a cure. This is why they're worrying about it now instead of ten years down the road, and why they haven't made much headway yet. And this, ironically, ends up indirectly screwing Corypheus over, as the Warden's absence leads to the Herald being made Inquisitor instead.

The Breach and the damage it caused to the Veil will result in a Bizarre Baby Boom of mages.
"One day, the magic will come back. All of it. Everyone will be just like they were." Sandal's eerie prophecy has caused much speculation. This line in particular could hint that the whole tearing asunder of the Veil and the epidemic of Wrong Context Magic that resulted could also lead to a lot of babies born/conceived after the Breach could be latent Mages. Why haven't we heard of any yet in Inquisition? It takes some time before the tykes discover they can toss fire.
  • This may look less likely, as it seems Sandal's ominous portent may have instead been referring to Solas's intent with the Veil.

The Justinia spirit in the Fade is like Cole.
A Spirit of Faith took the reflection of Justinia upon her death like a Spirit of Compassion took the visage and memories of the real Cole, and like Cole, doing so blurred the lines of the Divine's and the spirit's identities.

The Kossith were created by one of the tainted Magisters.
After the failure in the Fade one of the Magisters decided to try and go it alone, taking a group of slaves with him. Over the years he transformed them physically, by mixing in dragon blood, and mentally, by forming the Qun.

The Magister corresponding to Razikale became the first Broodmother.
Jaws of Hakkon confirms that Razikale is female. Nothing says that all seven magisters were male, and if any were female it would be the one corresponding to the female old god. It could be that invading the Black City pushed the effects of the taint further than normal ghouldom, or it maybe the other six subjected her to the process that creates a Broodmother. The title for Zazikel's Magister suggests he would be the type to do something like that.

Mother Giselle is Andraste
She often speaks of Andraste as if she has personal experience in the matter, which would make perfect sense if it turns out she's the prophet herself. Her critique of modern Chantry dogma could be because she knows they're misinterpreting her own teachings rather than her just being a more liberal cleric than most. Consider also how convenient her presence is at times and how subtly important her role is (e.g. The Dawn Will Come). Is she intentionally guiding the Inquisition towards fixing what a thousand years of misguided men and zealots misinterpreting her message has wrought (in addition to stopping the Elder One, of course)?

This could also mean her oft-criticized accent is fake (since Andraste was Alamarri). Interestingly, this would mean the Inquisitor really is the Herald of Andraste even though it was Justinia who saved them in the Fade, just not for the same reason everybody believes.

How is Andraste alive at the tender age of 1043 (and after being incinerated), though? This could very well be related to the whole Flemeth/Mythal business.

Her initial hostility towards Dorian because he's from Tevinter would also be understandable since she dedicated most of her life to fighting Tevinter before she was burned at the stake by them.

  • This also has some support by the nature of how she rallies the Inquisition in its darkest hour: Song. Andraste was known to be a beautiful songstress; the ghost of her childhood friend in the Temple of Sacred Ashes attests to this. Giselle rallied the Inquisition with a rendition of "The Dawn Will Come", and it worked.

Flemeth lives!
But only if you did the dark ritual with Morrigan. Mythal transfers her power to Solas at the end and this seems to be the end of her, but if she also has the Old God soul Flemeth will live and return in the next game. She's been too important to just die before she really does anything.

Solas is going to be a Tragic Villain for a future installment.
Maybe the Big Bad, or maybe a major arc antagonist, but given that 1) he is guaranteed to stick with the Inquisitor for the whole game, 2) he will survive the end game and leave the Inquisition no matter what, 3) he has the power of not one, but two different elven gods, and 4) he has a very good motive for being angry at the world and most of the people in it, it makes sense that we might see him in a different light in a future game.
  • All but confirmed at this point.

The final story DLC will involve the Inquisitor in corrupting Razikale.
According to multiple leaks, there will be a DLC involving the Deep Roads. There's also the pattern of each player character somehow creating the problem that the next one needs to solve. On top of that, an increasing amount of focus is being placed on Razikale now that Urthemiel's plot has been dealt with, including hints about the exact location of her prison. Razikale's High Priest may or may not be involved.
  • Jossed. The new threat the Inquisitor leaves for the next PC is Solas and a qunari invasion.

Spirits, Demons, the Stone, and the Elven Gods are all Pieces of God.
The Maker created the world, set up the basic building blocks, then committed suicide to fill it with sentient life, after it found it could not recreate it's own thought patterns in its creatures. These pieces fell all over the Fade and Thedas, and were different shapes, sizes, and forms. Many of these pieces were too small to make anything even close to the original, and lacked the Maker's divine spark, but had his power. Others across the veil had his divine spark, but were missing the power to use it. Larger pieces of the Maker (that contained both Divine Spark and Divine Power) grew conscious and demanded worship in their name (ala the Elven Creators.) Some, like the Stone, were a conglomerate of parts both Maker and mortal. (This is supported by the Dwarven belief that they rejoin the Stone and make her stronger.) Elves and Dwarves were most likely created by their respective deities, whereas Humanity and the Kossith are products of evolution, thus explaining the fact that the Elves could exist without ever seeing one until the Quickening.

Following up on this, mages are humans with the divine spark, and just enough divine power to make a difference across the Veil. Demons are greedy, and seek to have the divine spark, thus returning them to partial glory that they once had as the Maker. This also explains why Spirits/Creators require consent to possess a mortal body. An omnipotent being can contradict anything except itself.

The eighth Old God was the leader of the others before being usurped by Dumat.
Dumat's coup happened long before the attempted invasion of the Golden City. When Dumat replaced Draconis, he ordered his predecessor struck from all records and his temples destroyed. It is noted in-game how strange it is that the Draconis constellation depicts a dragon when seven specific dragons were worshipped. If any of them were to be depicted by an actual dragon, it would make sense for it to be their leader. This also explains the apparent lack of an eighth Sidereal Magister: by the time the Golden City was invaded, few, if any people remembered Draconis, and his High Priest, if cults devoted to him even still existed, would not have been invited to the attempt.

Lyriums is Not the Blood of Titans
It is their flesh.

Lyrium is alive, specifically, it's similar to siphonophores, and Titans are gigantic colonies who attained a form of sentience and the capacity to "communicate" and enter mutually beneficial covenants with smaller sentient beings like the Dwarves.The taint is the Lyrium organisms' rough equivalent of cancerous growth: cancerous cells don't die: they grow and spread beyond control and eventually cause the death of the very organism they originate from, which is very similar to the observed effect of the Taint. Now here comes the nightmarish hypothesis:

  • That's kinda splitting hairs. Calling Lyrium the "blood" of the Titans is really a metaphorical flourish; they are not comparable organisms to humans (or dwarves, elves etc) so they use terminology that's familier. Blood, flesh, it's really neither, it's a non-biological life form, but either serves as a fitting metaphor.

The Dark City is not a location: It's the Titanesque fingerprint of the series final antagonist, hidden in plain sight from the very beginning
Everything that exist in the Fade is a deformed and or exaggerated reflexion of something that exist in the physical world: places like Weishaupt fortress, the Gallows, the Circle tower in Ferelden, etc... objects (floating chairs and barrels that create weird puzzles) or ideas (faith, justice, pride...).

So what is the Black City? It's the manifestation of a very old, very sick Titan: perhaps driven mad by the pain caused by the taint, perhaps senile and unaware of the damage it's doing around it, or perhaps so terrified by death that it find existing as a crippled collective organism composed of billions of microscopic ghouls preferable to oblivion, even if it's harming the rest of the planet by clinging to life: no matter the reason, the Taint and a lot of Misery affecting Thedas originated from it, and putting it out of its misery in order to dry out the source of the Taint will be the ultimate goal of the Dragon Age series Grand Finale

  • Not a bad thought as a concept but I doubt it, for narrative reasons. For a fantasy story this is a little too scientific in it's approach. Plus the Titans are so fundamentally alien to a human viewpoint that they cannot even communicate in any direct sense and a story needs a relatable villain. Even the Reapers could at least talk to you. Also this doesn't explain where the Blight originated.

Andraste was 'The Lady of the Sky' from Avvar myth
The Jaws of Hakkon: 1: We now know that the Avvar get on quite well with Fade spirits, and worship particularly powerful ones as gods, such as Hakkon Wintersmith. 2: We also know it's not unheard of for them to bind these gods inside mortal hosts. 3: Svarrah Sun-hair can explicitly state that this has happened to the Lady of the Skies in the past. The Alamarri, that Andraste was descended from, were forerunners to the Avvar and worshiped the same gods and had largely the same culture (it was only changed by Andraste and the chantry's influence itself). And we've already heard theories that Andraste may have been a mage. Maybe when the First Blight struck, the Avvar brought down their own god to help them against the chaos and rampages of the enemy god, Dumat. The reason Maferath killed her was so that she could be born again, as Avvar/Alamarri are wont to do once their mortal-gods are done with whatever they were doing.
  • Some points in support: some have already pointed out the similarities between Flemeth/Mythal and Andraste, such as only ever having daughters and vast and mysterious magical powers. Maybe it's because they're both gods bound in human form? Also Old-timey folk seem to connect gods and dragons an awful lot (the 'Vints explicitly worshipped dragons, a lot of old elven god art seems very draconic, Mythal's guardian is a dragon Hakkon Wintersmith was bound into a dragon, and Flemeth can notably transform into one. And suddenly the idea that the people of Haven started mistaking a High Dragon for "Andraste reborn" seems much less silly, if they were remembering pre-Chantry beliefs of her.

Sandal is an outcast Sha-Brytol
Both his eccentricities and his powers may be due to receiving the same "gift" from the Titan that Valta did, except at an earlier age.
  • Aren't all Sha-Brytol supposed to be mute, however?
    • Maybe that's why he was cast out; for whatever reason, the ritual that he Sha-Brytol perform to become...Sha-Brytol didn't completely work on him, leaving him with his simple speech and savant-like powers over enchantment!

The "Titans" are the real final stage of dragon evolution
In Origins, it was said that the High Dragon is the biggest the dragons can get. But in The Silent Grove, we see even more ancient "super" dragons, like the one that Calenhand (allegedly) exsanguinated; and then Until We Sleep mentions the time when dragons ruled the world. It would make sense that, like the smaller dragons sleeping in the Grove and the Old Gods sleeping in the deep roads, the biggest and baddest dragons of all would sleep in the greatest depths—cf. the Titans. Then, there are smaller hints: there has always been a connection between blood and magic in this setting, so lyrium is the blood of the Titans and is used to give mages power; but ancient dragon blood is also what gives Reavers their power, so it only makes sense that at some point, dragon blood becomes lyrium. The whole "sleeping dragons" thing could be of the same type as the elves' slumbering elders a.k.a. uthenera, and the Fade is basically the collective dream the slumbering Titan dragons are having (memory is hazy but IIRC the comics say something to the effect of the Fade not yet existing at the time of the dragons' rule).

Lastly, sort of meta, but still: In both the original campaign and Jaws of Hakkon, the penultimate or final boss was some kind of dragon, but there is nothing of the sort in Descent... unless the Titan is a giant dragon and you were fighting a part of it.

  • The dragons in The Silent Grove are still High Dragons, just really big ones. While the dragon goes through an interesting lifecycle it's a logical one; it's always a dragon, it just gets bigger. The only big shift is growing wings. Titans aren't even biological lifeforms. Seems like a pretty huge leap.

The Inquisitor will be to the next Player Character what Duncan was to the Warden.
When choosing the Warden, the player essentially chose where Duncan would go at a certain time, determining which Warden ended surviving the events of their origin. The Inquisitor's solution at the end of Trespasser for stopping Solas is to find allies that Solas does not know about. So Dragon Age 4 will start as Origins did by choosing race, class, and possibly the origin itself, otherwise the origin will be determined by race as it was for the Inquisitor. At some point while playing the origin story, the new PC will find themselves in a life threatening situation that will be solved by the Inquisitor, who may or may not be accompanied by someone else. At some point after that, the Inquisitor will decide that the new PC could be what s/he is looking for, and will go underground after directing the new PC to Dorian. Using those magic cellphones that Dorian gave the Inquisitor in Trespasser, Dorian will act as an intermediary so the Inquisitor can offer guidance without alerting Solas to their actions. In sense, the selection of the next PC will be the last choice we make as the Inquisitor.

Fen'Harel will succeed at undoing the Veil
Sandal's prophesy states that the magic will come back and everyone will be like they were, which matches Fen'Harel's stated goals precisely. The prophesy was too unambiguous to not be accurate - the devil, and the task for the next Player Character, is in the details of how Sandal's prophesy comes true and Fen'Harel succeeds at undoing his mistake.

Dragon Age IV: The Phantom Pain
At the end of Trespasser the world powers have dismantled the Inquisitor's private army of soldiers swearing allegiance to no nation, the villain with a big crazy world changing scheme has announced himself, and the Inquisitor has lost their left arm and dedicating them selves to rebuilding their forces to set things right. Who is ready to build a base in the middle of the ocean and go magic fulton some dudes?!
  • The Nocen Sea just north of Tevinter wouldn't be too bad an idea (Tevinter on one side, Qunari in Seheron on the other). All we need is a Silent Sister archer companion. And if the base gets destroyed? It's cause they played you like a damn lute!

In DA:IV Fenris will be a boss.
If Hawke gave him back to Denarius, he'll be an attack dog of the Not-Helpful Magisters. If Hawke freed him, he now works for Solas.
  • Maybe the first one but I very much doubt that Fenris would be with Solas. First, for character reasons; Fenris is broadly Andrastian in his beliefs so he won't like Solas as a god and we know how he feels about mages, so whichever way one views Solas Fenris will not like him. Second, for story construction reasons; the series has yet to force us to kill a former companion, even when it might be something you could see happening, like Sten in Dragon Age II or Trespasser. We've been given the option but never forced into it. Third, relationship reasons; if Hawke survives Here Lies The Abyss Varric says that their love interest (if any) and surviving sibling will certainly follow them. As of the Tresasser epilogue we know a surviving Hawke is back in Kirkwall. Relevance? Well, this means that, if romanced, Fenris is back with Hawke and highly unlikely to follow some stranger on a crusade. And that would be overly favouring one world state. Finally the biggest reason why Fenris would not follow Solas is because Solas' aim is utterly antithetical to Fenris' beliefs and view of the world. Solas wants to burn the world in order to make it more magical. Fenris despises magic in all its forms and believes that its mere existence corrupts the world. These are not two people likely to get on.
  • A free Fenris will probably not help a powerful mage hellbent on strengthening the world's magic... Merrill on the other hand... Here Bioware has the opportunity to pull another Iron Bull by having a Merrill who fixed her Eluvian and never gave up on restoring ancient elvhen magic joining Solas' ranks and becoming an antagonist even if she was romanced.
    • That would require some impressive Character Derailment. While she may be intense on the subject of Elvhen magic the defining character trait of Merrill is her compassion, which overrides even her obsession with the mirror. It would be a hell of jump for her to suddenly be ok with murdering millions. Not to mention she is a faithful follower of the Dalish religion and was not there to see the evidence of the Evanuris so won't be inclined to trust Fen'Harel. Plus even if she doesn't destroy the mirror she doesn't fix it either and in fact decides to put aside her obsession to follow a new path. Frankly I'd be surprised if any former companions except Dorian put in personal appearances in DA:4, since it appears to be set to take place in Tevinter, which is a LONG way from any of their stomping grounds and, more meta, the only former companions that have had significant effects after their games are Anders and Varric (who were companions again) Leliana and Morrigan (whose backstory make them essential to the plot). The others get cameos at most. And no, I don't count Warden Alistair/Loghain, since their role in Inquisition is optional and totally replaceable with a minor NPC.

The Elvhen Gods are the cause of the blight
We now know that the Fade and the ordinary world used to be one, that Elven culture relied greatly on the duality of the world, and that Solas sealed the Gods away forever when he created the veil. My theory is that the Golden City is the place the Elvhen gods originally ruled from and when Solas created the veil and trapped them in the Fade the Golden city went with them. Over time the rage and hate of the gods corrupted the city, turning the Golden city black, poisoning the area with their negative emotions. Then when the Tevinter magisters invaded the Fade later on they encountered this corruption and it gained physical form as the Blight. They then returned to Thedas and spread the Blight without realising or understanding it. This is why the blight grants magical power, it channels the sealed power of the Gods, why the Blight spreads to everything, why the darkspawn are driven to kill everyone around them and why ghouls are driven to help them, it's all driven by the Elvhen gods' rage at the world and their desire to be free.

The Old Gods are key to keeping the Elvhen Gods dormant
This is their purpose, why Solas and Flemeth desie to preserve them despite there being no apparent downside to wiping them out and ending the potential for Blights. Perhaps they hold the power or consciousness of the dormant gods and once they're all dead the Elvhen gods will awaken and potentially return (Solas did mention he had plans to keep them in check).

Theories on whom will be saying 'Well, what do we have here?' in DA:IV.
  • Morrigan again
  • Kieran, if he exists.
  • Solas.
  • One of the other Evanuris' avatars.
  • The Warden, assuming he or she is still alive

Dragon Age IV will return race and class-specific origins

  • Carta Member: Dwarven Warrior/Rogue. If Harding appears as a companion, she'll have hired them for a scouting mission.
  • Magister: Elven/Human Mage. Potentially, another option might be a Magister's apprentice, with the PC in that case being a mage born to disenfranchised non-mages.
  • Slave: Human/Elven Warrior/Mage.
  • Ben-Hassarath: Qunari Warrior/Rogue. Serving on the frontlines alongside the Antaam.
  • Saarebas: Qunari Mage. Starts out as a member of the Ben-Hassarath, though perhaps not of the same rank or function as the above origin, who manifests magical ability while serving on the frontlines and escapes being leashed.

Scout Harding will return in Dragon Age IV as a companion and possible romance
She will contact the next Player Character and help them on behalf of the inquisition. The positive response from the Inquisitor in Trespasser isn't particularly strong, implying the relationship it if it exists will not go very far.

Dorian's abduction happens regardless if Bull is Tal-Vashoth and an item with Dorian.
The event will happen in Dragon Age IV, and the difference will be that you encounter either the Chargers or some loyal House Pavus retainers (with maybe some House Tilani allies) mounting the rescue operation.

Trespasser: There's more to the Evanuris and Arlathan than Solas is saying.
While I'm sure the Evanuris were dictators and likely Solas' rebellion was not unjustified we are still only getting one side of the story. The elves have remembered the Evanuris as broadly benevolent gods, which (even taking into account the loss of information) seems unlikely if they were nothing but relentless tyrants. I can see elven history whitewashing their memory but not doing a complete one-eighty on them. This is supported by the records in the library from Trespasser, in which the elves of Arlathan don't come across as oppressed or downtrodden. Oddly, based on the evidence, the best modern Thedas society as a match for Arlathan would be Tevinter, something Dorian comments on at one point. It looks like there was an often brutally oppressed slave caste and a near all-powerful upper class that got everything their way but most elves lived perfectly comfortable lives, indeed probably better than most peasants of modern Thedas due to magical convenience. After all there must be something pretty good to that society that Solas is willing to go to such insane lengths and risk the return of his greatest enemies in order to bring it back.

Sandal is the son of the Gates of Segrummar writer
During the Descent DLC, you encounter the Gates of Segrummar, several locked gates with rambling writing by an odd cultist. The writing is weird, as the writer refers to carvings as 'wounds to heal', which would seem to indicate he either worships the Stone or the Titan beneath. However, in a later entry, he also writes that he 'stood in the Fade', indicating that he is a mage. As we've seen with Sandal though, the two are not necessarily exclusive. And coincidentally, the writer of the Gates segments just happens to have 'sacrificed' his son, 'destroying him' in some unspecificed way, in a thaig that was both acessible from the surface, and had seals against Darkspawn, making it a perfect place for Bodahn to try to loot.

Solas will drain Razikale, depending on world state
One of the biggest changes between possible worldstates is whether or not Morrigan performed the dark ritual. If she did, she had a kid with the soul of an Old God, that soul was taken out by Flemeth, who then had all her power drained out by Solas. As Solas is shaping up to become a major player in a future conflict, possibly even a main villain, the possession of the soul of an old god should make a rather big difference in whatever goes down. However, that can't happen in story branches without the dark ritual, and it'd be weird to have the soul of an old god not impact the story in a significant way. However, the end of Inquisition starts placing more emphasis on Razikale. This is a way for the writers to set up an event to compensate for this difference in world-states. If Morrigan didn't perform the dark ritual, Solas will instead acquire Razikale's soul. The presence or absence of an additional arch-demon shouldn't have a significant impact on the world until the next blight, which could take ages.

The Elven Fanatic from Dragon Age II was an agent of Fen'Harel.
  • The Elven Fanatic being the female elf from Act II who stole what she thought was gaatlok (but was really the poison saar-qamek) from the Qunari and framed Javaris Tintop for it. If you look at the scene where you confront her from a post-Trespasser viewpoint, she ticks a lot of the boxes for being one of Fen'Harel's agents. Though Fen'Harel himself was still sleeping at this point, he makes it clear in Trespasser that his agents were still active, since they ensured Corypheus' Venatori agents would find the Orb a year before Solas actually woke up. First off, the Fanatic hates the Qun with a fiery passion, just as Solas does in Inquisition. She also rails about how the Qun is attracting a lot of elven converts, causing them to forsake their heritage and culture which is something Solas probably also would be angry about, given his stated goals from Trespasser to return the elves to their former glory. Viscount Dumar also makes vague noises afterwards about how she probably belonged to or was being manipulated by some shadowy group he would be forced to appease, which seems to foreshadow her involvement with the Dread Wolf. While it's unlikely Solas would have approve of her plan (which was basically domestic terrorism made worse by the fact that she didn't realize she had gotten poison gas instead of explosives, which even she is freaked out by), it's possible her actions were not authorized by whatever superiors she reported to (if any) and was simply an act of extremism due to her blinding hatred of the Qunari. I would not be surprised if in the fourth game there isn't some throwaway nod to one of Fen'Harel's agents taking a more active stand against the Qunari in Kirkwall during the events of II or something else along those lines.

The Inquisitor is a descendant of Commander Shepard.

Leliana's eyes and ears really are everywhere.
In the first game she can be called out for watching over you while you sleep, and demonstrates a kind of obsession over you into the third game. This obsession extends to to The Inquisition where she would protect it at any cost to the point she would kidnap children to scare off rivals. Now, something you might see and hear quite a bit are ravens. What does she keep at Haven and Skyhold? What does she send and receive in messages? Ravens. Leliana is keeping an eye on you out there whether it's helping Cole or closing a Fade rift.

The Evanuris are the Elven/Eldar Gods, the Forbidden Ones are the beginings of 4 Chaos Gods.
It was theorized that the Eldar Gods could have started out as more corporeal, and mortal once, possibly Eldar heroes before ascending fully to the Warp. The 4 Forbidden Ones, and and many of the the Evanuris, share also an uncommon similarity to the Chaod Gods and the Elven/Eldar Pantheon.The Evanuris warring against and defeating the Titans, colossal entities made of living mineral/metal(Lyrium), parallels the Eldar Pantheon warring against defeating C'tan, who had bodies made from a living metal(Necrodermis).
Similarities between Evanuris and the Warhammer Elven/Eldar Pantheon:
  • Elgar'nan, elven god of vengeance and the sun, corresponds to both Asuryan and Khaine. The vengeance aspect, and overall personality of Elgar'nan resemble more Khaine's, but his connection to the sun and fatherhood, as well as being the pantheons leader, are more corresponding to Asuryan. As Khaine and Asuryan are viewed often as twin brothers, it's possible that overtime, Elgar'nan split into Asuryan and Khaine.
  • Mythal is Isha, both being connected to motherhood, and a Token Good Teammate among gods. What Flemeth became after merging with Mythal, resembles an Everqueen, especially that according to David Gaider, Flemth transfered her Mythal powers to Morrigan after her death at the end of Inquisition, very similarly how Everqueens were described to work.
  • June is Vaul, both being described as masters of crafts, and gods of blacksmitting.
    June also seemed not particularly vicious, there not being particular descriptions of cruelty like of other of Evanuris, mirroring Vaul also being one of the nicer gods.
  • Fen'harel/Solas, parallels Cegorach/Loec The Laughing God, both beings the outsiders of their pantheon, and tricksters. Both Solas and The Laughing God, are also more kind than it can initially seem. Another possibility, is that Solas is some early, pre-human incarnation of the Emperor of Mankind, both sharing the disdain at the concept of gods, and having very good, selfless intentions, but extreme methods of realizing them.
  • Dirthamen may be Morr, especially his probably older, elven version Sarriel. Both Sarriel/Morr and Dirthamen are gods of sleep and dreams, brothers to gods of death(Khaine for Sarriel, and Falon'Din for Dirthamen), and both are associated with Ravens. Alternately, Dirthamen may be a male version of Lilieath, the goddess of dreams, or possibly Morai-Heg, goddess of Prophecy. Another possibility is that Dirthamen, Sarriel/Morr, Morai-Heg and Lileath, are different forms or descriptions of the same being.
    Yet another possibility is that Dirthamen is Hoeth, as both are Gods of Knowledge.
  • If Dirthamen is Morr/Sarriel, then Falon'Din very probably is Khaine, with Khaine being the brother of Sarriel, and Falon'Din is the brother of Dirthamen. Both Khaine and Falon'din are gods of Death, and it was revealed Falon'Din was similarly vicious to Khaine, and like him, caused wars. Falon'Din had also a conflict with Mythal, similar to Khaine having a conflict with Isha.
    • Alternately Falon'Din is Sarriel/Morr, and Dirathamen is Lileath, as both fit those roles, and Sarriel/Morr was more often named the god of dead/death, rather than Khaine.
    • Or Dirthamen is Lileath, and Falon'Din is Morai-Heg, as like Lilieath and Morai-Heg are said to complete each other, so do Dirthamen and Falon'Din.
The 4 Forbidden Ones, possibly identical with the Forgotten Ones, have on the other hand similarities to the 4 Gods of Chaos:
  • Xebenkeck has similarities to Slaanesh, as Xebenkeck appears as a Desire Demon,
    And similarly has a confusion about gender, being presented as female, yet referred as a male, paralleling Slaanesh being a hermaphrodite. It's also notable that like in humans refer to Xebenkeck as a male, and elves as a female, just like Slaanesh is referred as a male among humans, and female among Eldar.
  • Gaxkang may Khorne, as both are the most directly martial of their groups, with Gaxkang appearing as an armored Revenant with a sword and shield. While Gaxkang has a mage form, and Khorne normally disdains sorcerers, it was explained that Khorne doesn't disdain magic/psyker abilities in general, but sorcery, which draws power from the Warp by the use of arcane knowledge such as runes, words of power or some other magic trickery, which which Khorne sees as cowardly, as it steals the power through unfair trickery in his mind, while magic/psyker abilities may be completely natural, own abilities and skill of the psyker/mage to harness the power of the Warp, and a form of personal strength(of the mind), not “borrowed”/“stolen”, like sorcery.
    It was shown with Khorne choosing Azariah Kyras, a Chief Librarian, and later even elevating him even into an incredibly powerful Daemon Prince. If you believe Khaine is a form of Khorne, it would also mean Gaxkang also doubles as Khaine, especially since it's practically stated Gaxgang and the rest of the Forbidden Ones started out as elves. Gaxkang's sword, is called the Keening Blade, which sounds quite similar to The Wailling Doom, and Windowmaker, names of Khaine's swords, or of Knorne's sword, Woebringer.
    The Keening Blade is even said to make an eerie wail whenever it cuts, likening it to a Wailling Doom.
  • Imshael may be Tzeentch. Both are skilled manipulators, and like Tzeentch, Imshael was shown to like to often change his form. Imshael's focus on choice, is very similar to Tzeentch's focus on change.
  • There is little known about The Formless One, but seeing the previous tendency, and that out the 4 only they two are left, he/she may be Nurgle
  • Also, if Geldauran of the Forgotten Ones isn't one of the 4 Forbidden Ones above, Geldauran, seeing his hate of the very concept of godhood, may be Necoho and/or Malal.

Lindsey Stirling will be in the next game.
  • Why? Three reasons. First is they already did this with Felicia Day and Stirling is clearly a fan. Second is her video quite likely helped sell quite a few copies of the game and this would be a nice way of BioWare saying thank you. Third there is an in game or in music video explanation as to why: The Inquisitor loses The Mark at the end of Trespasser. Who finds something similar? Stirling...imagine it, you are not the Savior of Thedas, she is, and your job is to protect her. Plus with Leliana well and truly out of said role by now Stirling would be a great Bard replacement.

Flemeth has been waiting for Fen'Harrel's return the entire time.
They were apparently good friends in the past, Mythal's murder drove him to form the veil and seal away the other gods in a state of eternal torment. Unlike him however she's been roaming the mortal world the whole time, she knows how he's likely to react upon awakening so she's been biding her time, preserving what ancient magical forces she can, steering things along a course that will benefit them, she planned to pass them all along to him when the time came. This is also why Flemeth has been more understanding but indifferent to the status of modern day elves, she knows why they are the way they are but believes the situation to be temporary. She's even groomed Morrigan to take her place.

The fourth game's prime antagonist will not be what Trespasser led us to believe.
In the fourth game, Solas/Fen'Harel will instead occupy a role similar to the Architect in the plot: a third party wildcard element that you may or may not ally with, and may or may not be able to convince to work with you. The true antagonists will be the Evanuri, the elven god-like beings who were so drunk with power that they murdered the only one among them sane enough to clean up their excesses when they harmed others. The Veil must fall to enact Solas's plan to eliminate them, but what happens afterwards depends on how you handle Solas. Their relationship status (lover/friend/foe) and with the Inquisitor and fate of the Inquisition (Scaled down/"disbanded") will be two factors in how Solas regards the current world, much like how previous actions concerning the Quarians in Mass Effect 2 were a factor in feasibility of Geth reconciliation in Mass Effect 3.
  • The two defining choices (Whether striving to redeem or kill Solas, whether to dismantle of scale down the Inquisition) will interact with one another easting of simply being plus/minus values on a single axis: If the Inquisitor vowed to kill Solas, they'll view the Inquisitor's associates as threat, and keeping the Inquisition around will backfire by providing Solas with more opportunities to infiltrate their organization and sabotage their work, making dismantling the best choice. If on the other hand the Inquisitor vowed to redeem Solas, they won't be able to bring themselves to actively work against their friend, and should the Inquisition still exist, Solas will find ways to indirectly assist it, making scaling down the best choice in this case.

If Calpernia survives, she will be recruited as s spymaster for Dorian's and Tilani's progressive Magisterium faction.
The Lucerni faction is probably rather vulnerable, as evidenced by Mae bringing heat down on her during the short War Table chain concerning her. To see that they aren't offed by more brutal methods by their political opponents, they could recruit Corypheus's old spymaster. Calpernia comes off as a bit of a Minion with an F in Evil, missing the whole memo about Corypheus being a magister from a period of time where slave abuse was so egregious that they were openly seen as blood magic reservoirs, and can be convinced to abandon him if she's the ascendant "nemesis" character. Dorian could take a (potential) page out of the Inquisitor's playbook (if they were the pragmatic recruit-the-captured-enemy type) and bring her over to take part in a truly progressive cause in the Imperium.

The Archdemons are trapped behind massive Eluvians in the Deep Roads.
So going with the "the Archdemons are tainted Creators" theory —
  • In DA:O, a Dalish Warden's first encounter with Darkspawn is through an Eluvian, when Tamlen strongly implies seeing the Archdemon themself through the glass. Later, the Darkspawn flood the ruins. This suggests that the Darkspawn have overrun the Crossroads. Fourteen years later, the Crossroads are deserted. This has never been expanded on or explained in any of the games.
  • The Archdemons are *clearly* in the Deep Roads, but Solas explicitly states they're banished to the other side of the Fade.
  • This doesn't add up, except for one thing — in a game where Lavellan romances Solas, Cole refers to someone "sleeping" behind mirrors that need to be awoken.
  • Trespasser establishes that there are Eluvians in the Deep Roads.
  • There's also another question — the Deep Roads are utterly, utterly overrun by Darkspawn to the point where there's only two Dwarven kingdoms, one of which is seriously isolated. So how is it it takes centuries at a time for Darkspawn to be able to find an Archdemon even though the Archdemons are singing to them? That's the longest game of Marco Polo I've ever heard of.
  • So the answer is this — the Darkspawn don't find an Archdemon and wake it. The Darkspawn find massive eluvians in the Deep Roads and spend centuries searching for the key to activate it. Only when the key is found can the Archdemon "awaken", surge through, and the Blight can properly begin.
  • And expanding on the above, one of those keys could be Solas's wolf bone necklace, a distinct but strangely undiscussed prop in DA:I...
  • We do see a dragon-sized one in Flemeth's final scene, and another at the end of Trespasser.
Australia will make an appearance in the next game.
The series loves spiders to the point a Romance Option for the fourth game with one is not completely out of the question. Australia is home to the most dangerous and aggressive one there is, as well as the iconic Huntsman. Moreover a quick look at Australian Wildlife shows all manner of creatures, animals and predators that could easily be adapted into the game, instead of 20 Bear Asses you need five platypus beaks for example and have to contend with it's unique poison. There's all manner of unique flora and fauna and the wilderness ranges from the wetlands of Tasmania and Victoria to the beautiful temperate South Australia and the arid wastelands of the Northern Territory. Being Aussies with Artillery they would make powerful allies. Its government is a modern day Decadent Court and the end of Trespasser has Inquisitor imagining finding allies Solas/Dread Wolf doesn't know: Tevinter looks like a safe bet to be one of the places s/he will search but where else could they try? Which could mean either a Hell Yes moment or Oh, Crap! if he does indeed know them.

Human souls and spirits are the same type of beings, and it'll play into the next game heavily.

After finding out that Solas intends to kill everyone in order to tear down the Veil, and with Cole being a spirit that manifested a human body, and the spirit of Divine Justinia who may or may not have been the real thing, there's a lot to suggest that the souls of sentient life on Thedas and the spirits of the Fade aren't actually very different from each other as a spirital "species", as it were. Mages draw from the Fade to produce magic, and it is possible to be present in the Fade physically, implying that mortals actually do have the ability (or the right, possibly) to exist on both planes, with each type being disoriented and disturbed by crossing into the other's world.

Bianca Davri's family now regrets disapproving of her (now cancelled) betrothal to Varric.
Now that Varric is the lawful ruler of a Freemarch city-state, his prestige level likely has shot up even more amongst the society of surface dwarves. Bianca's parents are now kicking themselves that their daughter isn't the wife to the Viscount of Kirkwall.

Cole says Sera shouldn't paint because it would damage her emotionally in the long run.
She's a talented sketch artist and loves to doodle, but she only ever seems to draw things from life. She likes things simple and concrete, and anything that strays from her idea of reasonable immediately makes her uncomfortable. Still, she has "elfy" reactions and perceptions that make her head hurt if she thinks about them for too long. Cole warns her against painting because, to someone who can't plan or compose and can't handle abstraction, the first steps of painting would just be smearing random colors across a blank, empty canvas, becoming only an aimless blob of nothing unless she can make it into the shape she wants. Knowing how she feels about elves, and how Solas describes life for elves in Arlathan, and how afraid she is of the Fade, and how something she loves can be easily ruined for her (like cookies, or her various pet names for the Inquisitor), if she tried painting, it might ruin all artwork for her, which would leave her without a very valuable outlet for her emotions. Being deprived of it would eventually mean a breakdown for Sera and living hell for everybody else.. which is how Cole was able to "hear" the danger of her painting in the first place.

The “people Solas doesn’t know” will include former party members.
Trespasser implies you’ll need to recruit people whom Solas can’t predict the actions of. What a perfect opportunity to bring the band back together! Let’s be honest, he’d be baffled at some of them (Alistair, Isabella... Oghren?!)

Of course on the flip side of that, some of them will join Team Solas instead... Because you know Merrill and Velanna will be there.

  • Velanna, maybe. Merrill, probably not; it'd take some serious doing to convince her to side with the guy whose goal involves mass murder.

When Solas raised the veil, it split the Evanuri.
One part of each of them, the physical body and the Id, remained behind in the material world. The other part, the soul and Ego, was locked away beyond the veil. The physical bodies, locked in endless sleep, would eventually become known as Tevinter's Old Gods...

the templar recruit in Cullen’s drunk story was Alistair.
It would explain why he really wanted out of there, and how he got Duncan’s attention.

Velanna left the notes found in Wardens of the Coast
The Storm Coast isn't far from Vigil's Keep, so I was assuming the group that had been rumored to be in the area were the Vigil's Keep crew - especially since "Vigilance on the Coast" is the title of the quest. The notes are pretty clearly written by a Dailish warden. I just think it would be neat if it was Velanna.

Fenris (whose name was foreshadowing all along) already works for Solas.

Because it'd be next to impossible for Solas to not know about the lyrium-tattooed former slave with a real bone to pick with the Tevinter slave trade. Given how much Fenris hates slavery and the Magisters, he'd be a perfect operative for Solas' interests in the north. And how could the Dread Wolf possibly pass up the chance to have an agent named Fenris?

  • As discussed above, it'd be pretty unlikely for Fenris, who heavily distrusts mages, to ally with Mr. 'Let's-Bring-All-Magic-Back-Again', especially since it's going to result in at very least genocide of non-mages.

You, the player, are The Maker
Who is it that controls the main characters and, by extension, decides the fate of Thedas? Us, The Maker. It's heavily implied (and all but confirmed in Origins) that the other origin characters in both Origins and Inquisition existed and only the character we chose survived to become the Warden/Herald. Why? Because we, The Maker, chose them to carry out our will. The Black City was empty because we, The Maker, can't exist within a video game. It makes Leliana wondering whether The Maker deserves to be worshipped a subtle Take That! at the audience.


Alternative Title(s): Dragon Age III Inquisition

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