History Trivia / DragonAgeInquisition

* ActorAllusion:
** Kind of. Alix Wilton Regan, one of the voices for the female Inquisitor, played Samantha Traynor in ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', a comm officer who can challenge Commander Shepard to a game of chess. This time, Cullen can challenge the Inquisitor to a game of chess, and the line to accept the challenge is "prepare the board, Commander" - an address just ambiguous enough to make someone think of Shepard.
** [[spoiler:Morrigan]] gets to call the elves who built the resident PortalNetwork [[Series/StargateSG1 "Ancients"]].
** During ''The Descent'' DLC, the devices needed to open doors to get special loot can only be opened by old metallic dwarven gears lost for millennia. Of course, one of your NPC companions for that quest is voiced by Creator/DavidHayter. "[[Franchise/MetalGear Metal gear?]]"

*** Similarly, there are data mined audio files which indicate that Solas was also intended as a bisexual romance. The writer canceled this plan explicitly because they wanted to avoid him falling into the DepravedBisexual trope.

** Solas was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFx1nCdZFjw#t=5m35s originally]] going to be much more of an ObviousJudas, with elves as his SingleIssueWonk (not unlike Anders' mage rights obsession), constantly talking about elves elves elves, complaining that elves were so much better back in the old days, then basically say, [[spoiler:"[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial No, I'm not Fen'Harel! Shut up!]]"]] The writers got real tired real quick, and struggled to think of some other hook to flesh out his character. Then Weekes came up with the idea to make him in love with the Fade, leading to the current "Fade nerd" that players know.

* CreatorsFavorite: The developers have been pretty vocal that The Iron Bull was one of their favorite companions (along with Varric and Sera). Bull's romance was going to be more tame, but the wives of his head writer and animator found him so sexy that they ''encouraged'' Weekes to write more [[BrainsAndBondage steamy content]]. Bull was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen also going to be]] a restricted romance due to animation issues, but Mike Laidlaw and Bull's animatiors animators loved him so much that they spent ''hours'' of unpaid overtime every night for several weeks to resolve the issue in time for launch. SugarWiki/AndTheFandomRejoiced

** Solas was [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFx1nCdZFjw#t=5m35s originally]] going to be much more of an ObviousJudas, with elves as his SingleIssueWonk (not unlike Anders' rather infamous mage rights obsession), constantly talking about elves, complaining that elves were so much better back in the old days, then basically say, [[spoiler:"[[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial No, I'm not Fen'Harel! Shut up!]]"]] The writers got real tired real quick, and struggled to think of some other hook to flesh out his character. Then Weekes came up with the idea to make him in love with the Fade, leading to the current "Fade nerd" that players know.

* WriteWhatYouKnow: Dorian's personal quest involving his homosexuality and his father not accepting him was based on lead writer David Gaider (who is gay) coming out to his own father.

* CreatorBacklash: While Bioware generally stand by that the game was ultimately a success they were fine with, they've publicly gone on to say that they actually ''wished'' the game had been more of a commercial failure due to the games success being a major factor in what lead to the TroubledProduction issues of all their games post ''Inquisition''. This is because many of the games issues and development had to be fixed in a crunch, causing EA to essentially think Bioware was good at making great/profitable games quickly. Both ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'' and ''VideoGame/Anthem2019'' were made in the same manner as ''Inquistion'', leading to the two being major failures for the company.

** During the quest line "Here Lies the Abyss," the Grey Warden assisting the Inquisitor and Hawke was supposed to be ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins the Hero of Ferelden]]''. Ultimately, Creator/BioWare decided that, given the Warden's "blank slate" personality, implementing them in a satisfactory way was too difficult and the role was given to Stroud/Alistair/Loghain. [[spoiler:Considering how difficult it is for many players to accept the option to sacrifice Hawke, this is probably for the best - imagine trying to choose between both of your previous heroes!]]
** Iron Bull was a woman in the very early development stages.

** However, in ''Trespasser,'' [[spoiler: a romanced Solas explicitly states why he refused to get physical.]]

** Krem's backstory [[http://letsplayvideogames.com/2017/04/how-trans-consultants-saved-dragon-age-inquisition/ was originally going to be much darker, but was changed after trans consultants let the writers know of the Unfortunate Implications]]. In addition, Krem was originally supposed to be voiced by Creator/GwendolineChristie.

** There's a quest at the Western Approach keep where you have to deal with a poisoned well. Poisoning that well as part of taking the keep was part of a mechanic that never made it into the final game but was featured in the 2013 PAX demo.

* NamesTheSame: A super obscure one. There's a war table operation called "Grand Cleric Iona," in which the Inquisition must choose the means by which a very outspoken Chantry sister will be made to stop slandering them. Iona is also the name of Lady Landra's handmaiden, an OptionalSexualEncounter for the Human Noble Warden during their origin story, in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''.

* UrbanLegendOfZelda: For a while both before and after the game's release, there were rumors that playing with a world state in which Varric kept the red lyrium idol would have dire consequences, ranging from Varric going insane and needing to be killed, to Varric being possessed by a demon and becoming a TokenEvilTeammate. This was quickly proven to be false, however; Varric has it sealed in a [[TailorMadePrison purpose-built-vault]], and any examiners and experimenters have to follow a very strict regimen to avoid red lyrium madness.

** The Iron Bull's romance was originally intended to be restricted to certain races because of animation issues (with the in-story justification that the Bull won't sleep with anyone he fears that he'll "break"), but the animators were able to solve the problem in time for the Bull to be available to Inquisitors of all races.

** Datamining the PC files revealed Cullen was intended as a bisexual romance, having male Inquisitor voice files for Cullen's romance and Dorian and Cassandra (both male exclusive romances) having reactions to the Inquisitor flirting with them in addition to Cullen. Similarly, there are data mined audio files which indicate that Solas was also intended as a bisexual romance. The writer avoided this explicitly because they want to avoid him falling into the DepravedBisexual trope.

** Krem's backstory [[http://letsplayvideogames.com/2017/04/how-trans-consultants-saved-dragon-age-inquisition/ was originally going to be much darker, but was changed after trans consultants let the writers know of the Unfortunate Implications]]. In addition, Krem was originally supposed to be voiced by Creator/GwendolineChristie.
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* TroubledProduction: The production of ''Inquisition'' was quite hectic for Bioware and began the trend of their games having hellish development cycles that would carry on into ''Mass Effect Andromeda'' and ''Anthem.'' Coming off the cold reception of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', the team felt unsure of themselves and often second-guessed their creative choices. Thus, many important decisions were't finalized until late in the development cycle, causing the final months of production to be a difficult crunch period. The game also faced severe technical challenges. The first was having to developing the game for five different platforms, including consoles from two generations. Another was that Bioware had to use EA's internal Frostbite engine, which was made primarily for {{First Person Shooter}}s and lacked considerations for other genres like {{Role Playing Game}}s in mind. This lead to a lot of struggles throughout development thanks to Bioware essentially having to teach the engine how to do anything not related to combat. EA and Frostbite developer DICE also gave limited support to Bioware on using the engine, preferring to give their help to the team behind EA's [[MoneyDearBoy much more profitable FIFA series]] instead. Speaking to Kotaku about ''Anthem's'' development, a Bioware employee was reported to have lamented that the game did well, since it gave Bioware's higher ups the idea that the "Bioware magic" could save a game in the final months before release, normalizing this kind of production environment for Bioware's games going forward.

* TroubledProduction: The production of ''Inquisition'' was quite hectic for Bioware and began the trend of their games having hellish development cycles that would carry on into ''Mass Effect Andromeda'' and ''Anthem.'' Coming off the cold reception of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', the team felt unsure of themselves and often second-guessed their creative choices. Thus, many important decisions were't finalized until late in the development cycle, causing the final months of production to be a difficult crunch period. The game also faced severe technical challenges. The first was having in to developing the game for five different platforms across two console generations. Another was that Bioware had to use EA's internal Frostbite engine, which was made primarily for {{First Person Shooter}}s and lacked considerations for other genres like {{Role Playing Game}}s in mind. This lead to a lot of struggles throughout development thanks to Bioware essentially having to teach the engine how to do anything not related to combat. EA and Frostbite developer DICE also gave limited support to Bioware on using the engine, preferring to give their help to the team behind EA's [[MoneyDearBoy much more profitable FIFA series]] instead. Speaking to Kotaku about ''Anthem's'' development, a Bioware employee was reported to have lamented that the game did well, since it gave Bioware's higher ups the idea that the "Bioware magic" could save a game in the final months before release, normalizing this kind of production environment for Bioware's games going forward.

* ActorAllusion: A few.

* DevelopmentGag: Hawke reveals that he/she left Kirkwall to attempt to dissuade the Divine from sending an Exalted March against it, but after the mage rebellions, it never came anyway. This likely refers to the cancelled ''Exalted March'' expansion pack for ''Dragon Age II''.

* OneSteveLimit: The game has two Templars named Mattrin. One is in Haven, where he keeps trying to persuade his friend Lysette to leave the Inquisition; the other is found dead in the Hinterlands, and is carrying the phylactery belonging to Enchanter Ellendra.

* TeasingCreator: Despite (or maybe because of) knowing how much an EnsembleDarkhorse Cullen is, the writers and creative director neither confirmed nor denied him being a companion and seemingly avoided talking about him.
** Case in point, from Twitter:

** Datamining the PC files revealed Cullen was intended as a bisexual romance, having male Inquisitor voice files for Cullen's romance and Dorian and Cassandra (both male exclusive romances) having reactions to the Inquisitor flirting with them in addition to Cullen.
*** Similarly there are data mined audio files which indicate that Solas was also intended as a bisexual romance. The writer avoids this explicit because they want to avoid him falling into the DepravedBisexual trope.

** Vivienne was originally a lot more cold-hearted and murderous. [[spoiler: Bastien's]] death was originally a result of her poisoning him.
*** Vivienne was also originally going to be an advisor. When she was changed to a companion, she was almost cut from the game entirely.

* CrossDressingVoice: Subverted with Krem. He identified as male, but because he was born biologically female and never had a sex change (surgical or magical), Jennifer Hale voices him.

* CrossDressingVoice: Subverted with Krem. He identified as male, but because he was born biologically female and never had a sex change (surgical or magical), Jennifer Hale voices him.

* TroubledProduction: The production of ''Inquisition'' was quite hectic for Bioware and began the trend of their games having hellish development cycles that would carry on into ''Mass Effect Andromeda'' and ''Anthem.'' Coming off the cold reception of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', the team felt unsure of themselves and often second-guessed their decisions. Thus, many important decisions were't finalized until late in the development cycle, causing the final months of development to be a difficult crunch period. The game also faced severe technical challenges; in addition to developing the game for five different platforms, Bioware also had to use EA's internal Frostbite engine, which was made primarily for {{First Person Shooter}}s without considerations for other genres like {{Role Playing Game}}s in mind, leading to a lot of technical struggles throughout development thanks to Bioware essentially having to teach the engine how to do anything not related to combat. Speaking to Kotaku about ''Anthem's'' development, a Bioware employee was reported to have lamented that the game did well, since it gave Bioware's higher ups the idea that the "Bioware magic" could save a game in the final months before release, normalizing this kind of production environment for Bioware's games going forward.

* TroubledProduction: The production of ''Inquisition'' was quite hectic for Bioware and began the trend of their games having hellish development cycles that would carry on into ''Mass Effect Andromeda'' and ''Anthem.'' Coming off the cold reception of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', the team felt unsure of themselves and often second-guessed their decisions. Thus, many important decisions were't finalized until late in the development cycle, causing the final months of development to be a difficult crunch period. The game also faced severe technical challenges; in addition to developing the game for five different platforms, Bioware also had to use EA's internal Frostbite engine, which was made primarily for {{First Person Shooter}}s without considerations for other genres like {{Role Playing Game}}s in mind, leading to a lot of technical struggles throughout development thanks to Bioware essentially having to teach the engine how to do anything not related to combat. Speaking to Kotaku about ''Anthem's'' development, a Bioware employee was reported to have lamented that the game did well, since it gave Bioware's higher ups the idea that the "Bioware magic" could save a game in the final months before release.

** "Qunquisitor" is a popular nickname for, well, a Qunari inquisitor. "Inqunsitor" is also seen (and, rarely, "Inkossithor", though that one invites InternetBackdraft due to a Qunari vs. kossith race name war), and there have been efforts to get equivalent "Inquisihuman", "Elfquisitor", and "Inquisidwarf" names going, to various degrees of success. One cheeky poster even went so far as to declare the player's mount "Inquisithorse". Similarly, "Manquisitor" for a male Inquisitor of any race seems to have caught on, as has "Femquisitor" for a female of any race.

* RealLifeRelative: Morrigan's son, Kieran, is voiced by Odin Black, Creator/ClaudiaBlack's son. They should probably both be complimented for the AwesomeMcCoolname.

* TroubledProduction: The production of ''Inquisition'' was quit hectic for Bioware. Coming off the cold reception of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', the team felt unsure of themselves and often second-guessed their decisions. Thus, many important decisions were't finalized until late in the development cycle, causing the final months of development to be a difficult crunch period. The game also faced severe technical challenges; in addition to developing the game for five different platforms, Bioware also had to use EA's internal Frostbite engine, which was made primarily for {{First Person Shooter}}s without considerations for other genres like {{Role Playing Game}}s in mind, leading to a lot of technical struggles throughout development.

*** Similarly there are data mined audio files which indicate that Solas was also intended as a bisexual romance.

** At [[http://mattrhodesart.tumblr.com/post/105363559951/da-i-divine-heretic-another-one-of-those one]] point in development, it was discussed what would happen if the Inquisitor got enough influence to name him/herself Divine. On its own it was considered a bit farfetched, but it got even more insane when talks of letting a ''male Qunari''[[note]]In the Southern Chantry, only women are allowed to be appointed Divine, and Qunari are more or less the sworn nemeses of Thedas and the Tevinter Imperium.[[/note]] Inquisitor declare himself Divine, at which point, the team backed away from the idea when they considered how badly such an action would be a "game- and lore-breaking act of heresy."

* [[BannedInChina Banned In India]]: [[http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/11/obscenity-laws-prevent-indian-release-of-dragon-age-inquisition Obscenity Laws]] prevent release of Inquisition in India.

** Cassandra mentions in conversation with the Inquisitor that s/he was actually their ''second'' choice to lead the Inquisition behind Hawke. This is rooted to Development in which ''Inquisition'' was originally planned to be an expansion of ''Dragon Age II'', with Hawke still as the lead.
*** If the Hero of Ferelden is alive, Hawke is the second choice, and the Inquisitor the third.

** "Scribe Girl", "Scribbles," or "Queen of Antiva" for Josephine, the last member of the Inquisition whose name was revealed. The developers eventually started using "Scribbles" themselves in lieu of actually revealing the character's name to the public.
** "Dramatic Hands Mustache Guy" (or DHMG for short) was the name used before Dorian was named. He caught the attention of fans after he appeared in a piece of concept art striking a jazz-hands like pose.

** The theorized eighth Old God is commonly called Draconis. Fans figured the constellation that revealed the possibility is as good a name as any until they learn more.

** The name Evangeline also appears in two places. Evangeline, as those who read ''Asunder'' know, is a female Templar who befriended Cole and can be rescued via a war table operation. A couple of codex entries about Orlesian royal history mention Princess Evangeline, the daughter of Emperor Florian, who died as an infant during the Hundred Days' Cough (thereby clearing the way for her younger cousin Celene to take the throne later).
* PlayingAgainstType: Jon Curry as the Inquisitor, having him use a BadassBaritone can be a surprise to those are familiar with some of his work, especially compared to Zevran.

*** Similarly there are data mined audio files that indicate that Solas was also intended as a bisexual romance.
** At [[http://mattrhodesart.tumblr.com/post/105363559951/da-i-divine-heretic-another-one-of-those one]] point in development, it was discussed what would happen if the Inquisitor got enough influence to name him/herself Divine. On its own it was considered a bit far-fetched, but it got even more insane when talks of letting a ''male Qunari''[[note]]In the Southern Chantry, only women are allowed to be appointed Divine. And Qunari are more or less the sworn nemeses of Thedas and the Tevinter Imperium.[[/note]] Inquisitor declare himself Divine, at which point, the team backed away from the idea when they considered how badly such an action would be a "game- and lore-breaking act of heresy."

** [[https://youtu.be/PZquoV9Wm4E?t=2m22s Unused dialogue]] seems to imply it was possible at one time to spar with Cassandra and that your companions would have their own horses to ride when you mounted up (instead of simply disappearing as they do now.) Even more unused dialogue implies it was possible to allow Cole to [[spoiler:kill the Templar that killed the real Cole]]