Dragon Age 4's teaser already confirmed the return of two characters from previous games. Varric Tethras, a companion in Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, narrated the game's trailer. He heavily hinted that he would return to help the player take on Solas, AKA the Dread Wolf, who was also an Inquisition companion. Although major changes have taken place in BioWare's fantasy setting over the course of the series' timeline, this is the first time a major Dragon Age villain has been carried over from a previous title.
Solas and Varric aren't alone. There are good reasons to think that Dragon Age 4 could see more characters from previous Dragon Age games return in major roles. Although seeing familiar faces can be fun, this reliance on returning characters could also risk fundamentally undermining the new game's story and the new player character. If Dragon Age 4 is going to stand on its own two feet, BioWare can't rely on the player's relationships with a returning cast of characters.
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Familiar Faces In Tevinter
Solas and Varric Tethras are already confirmed to be returning in Dragon Age 4. It was already practically confirmed by the end of Inquisition and its final DLC, Trespasser, that Solas was going to be the main antagonist of the next game. Varric's prominence in the trailer as its narrator also suggests he will have a major role, and his claim that he's got the player's back more or less confirms that he will be returning as a follower, just as he was in the last two games.
There are other characters from previous Dragon Age games who are very likely to return in major roles as well. Dragon Age 4 will be set in the Tevinter Imperium, the oldest human nation in Thedas and one unique among the human kingdoms of the setting for a couple of reasons: it is the only nation that is run by mages, and the only one which did not sign a peace treaty with the Qunari after the Qunari Wars.
Inquisition introduced Dorian, a well-received companion from Tevinter's upper class who gave the country a more sympathetic face. In Trespasser, he explained that in the years since the defeat of Corypheus he had returned to his homeland to become a Magister, and was attempting to push for reforms in Tevinter, which has a rigid class system based on magical bloodlines and still practices slavery. The next game's setting makes Dorian very likely to return in some capacity, but there are other Dragon Age characters who could play even more major roles.
The Qunari War
Sten, the Qunari companion from Dragon Age: Origins, is the Arishok—the military leader—of his people by the time Trespasser takes place. In Trespasser, the Qunari attempted to use the Eluvians to assassinate the nobility of southern Thedas, hoping to sweep the continent from the south after years of stalemate against Tevinter in the north.
This makes a revived war between the human nations of Thedas seem very likely, compounded by some additional lore. In Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights it is revealed that the Qunari also captured the Tevinter city of Ventus, administering huge doses of a poison named Qamek to the mages they captured. BioWare seems to be setting up good reasons for both the south and the north of Thedas to once again unite in war with the Qunari, as they did in the Exalted Marches of the Storm Age.
This makes it likely that the war with the Qunari will play a major role in Dragon Age 4 despite the Dread Wolf being the main villain, similar to the role that the war between the Templar and Mages played in Inquisition despite Corypheus being the major threat, or the internal strife within Ferelden during Dragon Age: Origins' Fifth Blight. With Sten as the military leader of the Qunari, his return seems almost inevitable.
Solas, Varric, Sten, and Dorian are the four major characters most likely to return in main roles, but there are others whose return seems probably as well. The Divine Victoria—whoever they were by the end of Inquisition—seems very likely to return if the prospect of another Exalted March against the Qunari is on the horizon. Inquisition also set a precedent for returning player characters with Hawke's return, and the now one-armed Inquisitor could be making a comeback in a less active role.
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The Risk Of Returning Characters
The risk with all these returning characters is that it could be almost impossible not to engage with them on a meta-level, rather than from the perspective of Dragon Age 4's new player character. Dragon Age 4's trailer ends with the line "this is your story," but that seems to apply far more to the player themself than the next game's protagonist. The player's relationships with Varric and the Dread Wolf will be informed by their time as the Inquisitor in the last game, while it will be very difficult not to see Sten in the context of his role in Origins. The problem with this is that it creates a divide between the new protagonist and the player themself, where the player character's decisions are informed by their understanding of the series' story as a whole, limiting their ability to immerse themself in the new protagonist.
If BioWare leans too heavily on these returning characters and the relationships players forged with them in previous games while roleplaying as other characters, the individuality of Dragon Age 4's new hero could feel undermined. The story could either end up expecting players to treat Varric like an old friend and Solas like an old foe, or it might arduously expect players to forge the same relationships with those characters all over again.
BioWare will need to make sure that its new player character is more than just a stand-in for the player and their experiences across the series so far. Their circumstances will need to be distinct enough from previous protagonists that they encourage a fresh perspective on these returning characters. If not, too many familiar faces could end up holding back the hero's story, breaking the player's immersion in their character and the world at large. Dragon Age 4 is in development.
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