Dragon Age: Origins takes place during the Fifth Blight. This was the fifth time that an Archdemon, an Old God corrupted by the Darkspawn, rose up and attempted to lead a Darkspawn horde across Thedas, destroying or corrupting everything in its wake. Dragon Age 4 will focus on a very different kind of villain, but based on what fans know so far, it seems like the history of the Blights will be more important than ever.
The First Blight is one of the most important events in history of Thedas. There are reasons to think that the events of the First Blight, as well as its consequences, will be particularly relevant as Solas the Dread Wolf plots to tear down the Veil between Thedas and the magical world of the Fade. Here's the history of the First Blight, and how it already has clear connections to the premise of Dragon Age 4.
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It is believed that the First Blight broke out because of the actions of the Magisters Sidereal, although there are several different in-universe accounts, and the Dwarves of Thedas have no account of the origin of the Darkspawn at all. In any case, the Magisters Sidereal were the seven high priests of the Tevinter Imperium, the oldest human empire in Thedas and the setting of Dragon Age 4.
Using mass sacrifices and blood magic, the Magisters Sidereal broke through the Veil and entered the Fade in -395 Ancient. This was around 1200 years before the events of Dragon Age: Origins. The Veil had originally been erected by Solas during the time of the ancient Elven empire of Thedas, where he had used it to trap the other false Elven gods in the Fade during an attempt to free his people from slavery.
Entering the Fade caused the creation of the Darkspawn. To the Andrastian Chantry, this is known as the Second Sin. They believe that by entering the Golden City of the Maker, the Magisters caused the Maker to punish his creation. In Inquisition, Corypheus – one of the Magisters Sidereal – suggests that when they arrived in the Golden City, the Maker's throne was already empty.
Whatever the truth, the Magisters Sidereal became the first Darkspawn, and, carrying the Taint to others, First Blight began. They found the Old God Dumat, the Dragon of Silence, and corrupted him with the Taint, turning him into the first Archdemon. By -380 Ancient, the Darkspawn numbers had grown so large that they swarmed the Deep Roads, devastating the Dwarven kingdoms.
First Blight, worst Blight. It lasted for almost 200 years. In that time, the Grey Wardens were founded, taking on the Darkspawn Taint in order to gain precognition of the horde's whereabouts. At first their counterattack was successful. Their efforts even managed to allow a group of soldiers to kill Dumat, but they quickly discovered that the soul of the Archdemon would simply hop to the nearest Darkspawn and transform it into an approximation of its old form.
They realized that if a Grey Warden killed the Archdemon, however, the Archdemon's soul would try to jump into the nearest creature with the Tain – the Grey Warden himself. The fact that Grey Wardens still had souls unlike the Darkspawn would cause a paradox, destroying both the Archdemon and the Grey Warden.
This is what happened at the Battle of the Silent Plains in -203 Ancient, 1032 years before Dragon Age: Origins begins. Reinforced by the armies of Thedas' kingdoms, the Grey Wardens managed to kill Dumat. The Darkspawn remained, but without their leader they were able to be driven back to the Deep Roads within 32 years.
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The massive death toll of the Battle of the Silent Plains has left that region of southern Tevinter a barren, haunted wasteland. The sheer amount of Tainted Darkspawn blood that was spilled stopped anything growing there for a thousand years. As with other areas where many people have died, it's likely that the Veil is particularly thin in the Silent Plains. The Veil is thinner around the Tevinter city of Marnas Pell, for example, because Tevinter used blood magic to devastate a Qunari fleet there.
This makes the Silent Plains a very likely location to appear in Dragon Age 4, and in a central role. If Solas wants to tear down the Veil, going to a place where the Veil is already weak makes a lot of sense. The connection goes even further, however. Although all the permanent settlements in the Silent Plains that existed before the First Blight were destroyed, some tribes of the nomadic Dalish Elves are said to have lived there. It is also said that the Keeper of one of those tribes saw Fen'Harel, the Dread Wolf, in their dreams. There's even an unexplained settlement in the area simply named "Solas."
The Silent Plains are a key candidate for the location where Solas will try to destroy the Veil, and mirroring the end of the First Blight, BioWare may even be planning to have the great final battle of Dragon Age 4 take place there. After creating the Veil, the Dread Wolf fell into a long sleep that he only escaped before the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition. It seems like Solas has been aware of the weakness in the Veil there for a long time, taking advantage of it to accumulate followers while he was still trapped in the Fade.
This might also explain why the Grey Wardens seem to have a bigger presence in Dragon Age 4 than the last two games. BioWare has released new Grey Warden concept art, while a behind-the-scenes video showed Ike Amadi, the voice-actor for a character named Davrin, delivering the line "for the Wardens!" If Solas' plan relies on exploiting the Veil's weak spot, Dragon Age 4 could also be set to reveal more about the First Blight – and perhaps even the true origins of the Darkspawn – than ever before.
Dragon Age 4 is in development.
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