Line #12 Trivia/DragonAgeOrigins


1	* BeamMeUpScotty: The post-game expansion for ''Origins'' is called ''Awakening,'' but it frequently gets wrongly titled as ''Awakening'''s''''' or ''The Awakening''.
2	* CreatorBacklash: The writers have admitted to regretting making the ending slides the way they did, since the ending slides were such a definitive resolution to many plot points, that it became really hard to move the story forward. Due to this, the writers decided to retcon them into merely being rumors.
3	* CreatorDrivenSuccessor: Much touted by the developers as ''VideoGame/BaldursGate's'' spiritual successor.
4	* DummiedOut:
5	** The Human Commoner origin. It was cut sometime during mid-late development, but many bits and pieces from it, including fully voice recorded but unused dialogue, can be found within the game and in the toolset.
6	** Due to bugs and time constraints, many scenes and dialogue options are unavailable. Some notable ones include the proper ending to Morrigan's quest (which could start her romance), a dwarven noble being exonerated for their framing of Trian's murder, Oghren actually asking to join the party, the option to give up Morrigan to the Templars, and Wynne outing the player as a blood mage in front of the Templars (which could lead to the deaths of everyone in the tower, including the Templars). Most of these can be restored by mods, if playing on PC.
7	** "Broken Circle" has a notable amount of inaccessible dialogue options that are only accessible after the Landsmeet has taken place. This, along with character models for Fade illusions of a young Cailan and Maric, suggests that at some point in development you could do the Landsmeet early in the game and bring Loghain to the other main quests. This change would have massively altered the game's pacing (with there being no secondary main antagonist for most of the game), which might be why it was cut.
8	* ExecutiveMeddling: This and time restraints are the reason Shale's only available via DLC instead of being in the vanilla game. The devs were kind enough to include that bit of DLC for free with any copy purchased new. It still served to discourage buying the game used (which doesn't turn a profit for Creator/BioWare). It was later made free in Summer 2013 as part of EA's removal of Online Passes.
9	* FlipFlopOfGod: During development, there was a lot of debate on whether ''DA'' should be a DarkFantasy or a HeroicFantasy: the powerful writing team wanted a darker tone in the vein of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', while the rest of the designers wanted a heroic adventure in the footsteps of ''Franchise/BaldursGate''. A compromise was eventually [[https://www.thegamer.com/dragon-age-origins-oral-history/ found by Jennifer Hepler]], dubbed "dark heroic fantasy", wherein "the world was dark, but the player's role in it was heroic". This genre ambiguity has persisted throughout the series since, although the balance has gradually shifted towards HeroicFantasy in the later titles.
10	* MemeAcknowledgment: ''[[http://dragonagekeep.com/ Dragon Age Keep]]'' allows you to create a story to import into ''Dragon Age: Inquisition'' without having to play the other games. In the Companions section for ''Origins'', it refers to the ritual child that Morrigan can conceive with a male Grey Warden as an "old god baby."
11	* MissingTrailerScene: The BadassCreed of the Grey Wardens is never spoken in the actual game, but is featured in one of the trailers.
12	* PlayingAgainstType: While playing a villain is quite standard for Creator/TimCurry, it is incredibly rare for him to be one of the most subtle and repulsive villains in the entire story.
13	* PreOrderBonus: Rather ridiculously, '' every major vendor'' had a pre-order bonus for ''Origins'' that's exclusive to them. Amazon.com had The Lion's Paw boots, [=Direct2Drive=] had the Dalish Ring, [[Creator/ElectronicArts EA Store]] had the Fire Band, Game Crazy had the Guildmaster's Belt, [=GameStop=] and Play.com had the Feral Wolf Charm, UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} had The Wicked Oath... Those who pre-ordered were forced to pick one and miss out on all the other items. [[http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Downloadable_content_(Origins)#manual_installation Some items]] have since been made available for manual installation, although if you play on a console rather than PC you won't be able to get them all.
14	* SerendipityWritesThePlot: None of the Qunari had horns although their race is supposed to have them. This was because Creator/BioWare didn't have the time to create alternate designs for all the helmets just so your Qunari party member could wear them, so they opted to not give him horns at all and HandWave it by saying that Qunari born without horns are considered to be destined for greatness, while those who choose to leave the Qun cut off their horns as a way of showing their rejection (all the other Qunari in the game).
15	** Some of the earliest story drafts involved Andrastians being ''so'' afraid of magic that mages were only allowed to learn healing spells, and could only exist in society as on-demand magical healers supervised by the Chantry. (Hence some {{orphaned reference}}s in the City Elf Origin of magic healers being on hand to help injured dock workers.) Then the developers tested the game mechanics out, and realized the Mage Class was ''very'' boring without offensive spells. (In their words, "Everyone loves fireball!") So they changed it so mages are allowed to learn offensive magic, but only if they remain locked up in Circle towers guarded by Templars for any sign of corruption. This wound up working for the best since it fueled many games worth of conflict, and all because the devs found the class boring to play without the ability to cast fireball.
16	* ShrugOfGod: When asked about Maric's cause of death, David Gaider repeatedly stated that it was irrelevant before finally revealing that he was lost at sea. [[spoiler:''ComicBook/TheSilentGrove'' reveals that he was rescued from drowning, then imprisoned by the Antivans only to be captured by a Tevinter Magister. Unfortunately, when Alistair rescues him in ''ComicBook/UntilWeSleep'', he is forced to give his father a MercyKill.]]
17	* SparedByTheCut: There was originally a scene where the player could be outed as a [[TheDarkArts blood mage]] in front of the leaders of the mages and templars, which was removed for the final game but can be enabled through mods. The scene, if the player failed to lie their way out, would end with ''everyone'' in the tower -- mages and templars alike -- going hostile, forcing the player to kill them. This included Greagoir and Cullen, who are otherwise unkillable in the game.
18	* UrbanLegendOfZelda:
19	** There was a rumor (and rumor only) that if you do not [[spoiler: kill Flemeth]] in Morrigan's sidequest, the ending epilogue will state that [[spoiler: Morrigan was killed and possessed by Flemeth.]] Said rumor only ended when it was disproved by the head writer.
20	** One persistent rumour claims that Teagan can get married to either Kaitlyn or Bella in the epilogue. While this is true for Kaitlyn, Bella's epilogue has no mention of Teagan. The rumour likely started due to how similar the two women's stories are. Both of them are from Redcliffe and can be given money, which they will use to open a foundry (Kaitlyn) or a brewery (Bella) in Denerim. To add to the confusion, you can convince Bella to become Teagan's maid, which is ''also'' never mentioned in the epilogue. Add in [[MemeticMutation Teagan's reputation as a ladies' man]] and it becomes easy to see how fans just assumed that she was an alternate option.
21	** Due to the game's mechanics, it is very easy for Leliana to get high approval status with the Warden, and thus she tends to quickly become interested in them romantically, regardless of gender. This leads many to believe Leliana is the game's canonical love interest, or that she is a ClingyJealousGirl towards the Warden. In reality, Leliana is just a character whose affection is very easy to win--as she approves of most lawful good decisions--and has a plethora of bugs in her romance arc. The game often incorrectly assumes that the Warden is in a relationship with her and sometimes even forgets that a breakup has occurred, making her come across as a lot more clingy than intended.
22	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
23	** According to [[WordOfGod David Gaider, the game's lead writer]], Jowan was originally intended to be available for recruitment to the party after the events in Redcliffe, as the Warden could have invoked the Right of Conscription when speaking to Arl Eamon in order to recruit him. However, they didn't have room to add another character, so the idea was scrapped.
24	** One early idea that was ultimately scrapped was the game's ending being narrated by an old woman. The player would be led to believe that the woman was Flemeth, and then learn that was actually Morrigan in the distant future.
25	** There was originally a plotline that involved Empress Celene of Orlais visiting Denerim and would have explored Cailan's plan to marry her in favour of Anora.
26	** Originally, there was the possibility that some of your party members could become infected with the darkspawn taint and [[spoiler:they would participate in the Joining ritual in Denerim after the Landsmeet]]. However, the idea was dropped, and your companions' immunity to the taint is purely due to gameplay necessity.
27	** There were originally going to be two more human origin stories: a commoner story (you would have been a farmer's child from Redcliffe, owed Dwyn a lot of money, and had your sister Brigid engaged to him to take care of the debt), and an Avvar barbarian from the village of Haven. These were dropped due to being overly similar to the City Elf and Dalish Elf origins, though the concept art and fluff for these origins made it into the tabletop RPG.
28	** The Blood Mage specialization originally had some unique scenes on the basis that most groups kill Blood Mages on sight. For instance, [[https://youtu.be/ShSJot_20dM this deleted scene]] had Wynne and the Circle asking about you using blood magic, even giving you a pass if you convince them they are secret Grey Warden spells. But in the final game, they and any blood magic haters don’t seem to mind you casting forbidden spells.
29	** There was originally going to be a sidequest in Arl Eamon’s estate where you would interview the staff in order to unmask an Orlesian spy among them. This is why many staff members at the estate [[NominalImportance have names]], [[OrphanedReference even though you can’t actually talk to them]].
30	** Lyrium addiction was once a mechanic which caused mana potions to give diminishing returns which would downplay some of Magic's OneStatToRuleThemAll quality for mages - as opposed to making them only need smaller potions and poultices because they were amplified so much.
31	** Morrigan was originally going to be bi and romanceable to the Female Warden, and one way to do the ritual [[spoiler:would involve Morrigan and the Female Warden [[HomosexualReproduction magically conceiving the "old god baby" together]] without needing Alistair or Loghain]], but the developers feared that fans [[HowUnscientific wouldn't go for it]], so it was scrapped.
32	** Originally, any Warden of the appropriate sex could become [[spoiler:Alistair's queen if he's crowned king, or Queen Anora's prince consort if she stays on the throne]]. But again, the developers came to think it would be too unbelievable given Ferelden's FantasticRacism against mages and non-humans, so in the end only [[spoiler:the Human Noble Warden could become a monarch]].
33	** Some data-mined content implied that the villain of each Warden's individual origin (Arl Urian Kendells for the City Elf, Jarvia for the Dwarf Commoner, etc) would wind up being Loghain's [[TheDragon right hand]], and assist him in trying to hound the Warden across Ferelden (and Orzammar) due to their personal grudge against them. However, this probably proved too complicated to implement and got scrapped, and only Rendon Howe (the villain of the Human Noble Origin) ended up being Loghain's [[TheDragon Dragon]] in the final game.
34	** Dragons were originally not part of the lore, incredibly enough. The world was originally going to lean a lot heavily on the HereThereWereDragons trope and have magic and fantasy creatures be rare/extinct. The Archdemon's original design was that of a [[https://i.redd.it/hjn66pf6by461.png faceless humanoid with wings, tentacles and four arms]]. However, [[ExecutiveMeddling after the staff was told that they needed to add dragons to the game]], they rewrote some of the lore to include dragons. The original Archdemon design still appears in-game as statues, most notably in the Dalish Origin where it is identified as the elven god Falon'Din.
35	** "The Fade: Lost in Dreams" has data for an unused companion nightmare for [[spoiler:Loghain Mac Tir]], implying [[spoiler:either Loghain could be recruited earlier in the storyline, or the Fade segment was initially intended to happen much later.]]
36	** Mark Darrah, another development lead on the game, wanted there to be an additional treaty for the Avvar, who would be a relief for the player by actually having all their shit together and being ready to go once the Warden arrived.
37	* WordOfGod:
38	** Many of the epilogues are merely rumors about what might have happened. It was initially thought to be a closure of the story in case the game did not sell enough to warrant a sequel or a franchise. However, as the game outperformed, the developers found themselves hindered by the epilogues to develop the overall storyline. Granted, this became a moot point as of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' which implemented the "Dragon Age Keep" where players are able to establish and import all the choices they made in previous games.
39	** Duncan is [[KilledOffForReal dead]]. The only way he'll reappear in the series is if it's in a story that takes place prior to ''Origins''.
40	** Duncan's father was Fereldan and his mother a Rivaini.

Context Trivia / DragonAgeOrigins