Dragon Age 4’s main villain will be Solas, the Dread Wolf of Dalish legend who has returned to tear down the Veil between Thedas and the magical world of the Fade. His true plans were revealed towards the end of Inquisition, where Solas was a player companion. The focus on Solas, however, has overshadowed one of the next game’s most likely returning characters.
The Dread Wolf may be Dragon Age 4’s main villain, but Sten, the Qunari companion from Dragon Age: Origins, also seems likely to return in an antagonistic role. Dragon Age fans will remember Sten as the hot-tempered but honorable warrior who helped the Warden defeat the Fifth Blight. If the lore since Origins is to be believed, the Sten players meet in Dragon Age 4 could play a very different role, but with the same core motivations he’s always had.
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The Arishok
Sten first appears in Lothering in Dragon Age: Origins, where he is being held in a cage after slaughtering a local family. Despite his dark backstory, once players free the Qunari, most are quick to warm to him. Highlights include Sten growling back and forth with the Warden’s dog, and the deadpan dialogue he has with the player’s other companions throughout the game.
It is possible to maintain a poor enough relationship with Sten in Origins that he attacks the player during the quest to find the Urn of Sacred Ashes. Leliana can also be killed during the Urn of Sacred Ashes questline. The fact that Leliana returns in Inquisition even if killed in Origins suggests that Sten’s possible death in Origins is unlikely to impact his return in Dragon Age 4.
The comics that bridge the gaps between the Dragon Age games like Dragon Age: Those Who Speak take certain things for granted that aren’t necessarily canon in the player’s world state. This includes Alistair becoming king of Ferelden at the end of Origins and Sten returning home after the events of Origins to become the new Qunari Arishok, their military leader.
An earlier Qunari Arishok was introduced in Dragon Age 2, stranded in Kirkwall and hunting for an ancient Qunari text known as the Tome of Koslun that had been stolen by Dragon Age 2 companion Isabela. It is possible for the player to avoid dueling the Arishok, but in most cases Hawke ends up battling him to the death, which Those Who Speak also accepts as part of its premise.
Those Who Speak sees Dragon Age companions Varric, Isabela, and King Alistair briefly taken captive by the Qunari while travelling by ship. Alistair is taken to the new Arishok, revealed to be Sten. Although Sten initially treats Alistair with respect, when the young king tries to reason with him the Qunari beats him, and when the trio tries to escape Sten attempts to kill Alistair.
War With The Qunari
Sten was always one of the more principled Origins companions, but Those Who Speak shows just how lucky the Warden was that Sten’s goals aligned with theirs during the Fifth Blight. When it’s the other races of Thedas versus the Qunari, there’s no question who Sten will side with and the lengths he’ll go to to fulfill his duty to his people.
It also seems that the Qunari themselves have become far more aggressive since Sten took over as Arishok. Dragon Age: Inquisition’s final DLC, Trespasser, exposed a Qunari plot to assassinate southern Thedas’ nobility, while Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights revealed that the Qunari had taken over the Tevinter city of Ventus. Both events seem to be setting up a war between the human nations of Thedas and the Qunari, with the Qunari Wars having dominated the Steel Age and Storm Age in the lore.
It seems likely that the war with the Qunari will play a similar role to the war between the mages and Templars in Inquisition or Loghain Mac Tir’s takeover of Ferelden in Dragon Age: Origins. In both cases, there’s a greater existential threat, and then a more grounded political conflict that is in part dangerous because it fails to see the true scope of the existential threat.
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Sten As A Villain
Solas’ plan to tear down the Veil between Thedas and the Fade could have just about any consequences the writers at BioWare can come up with — the Dread Wolf is messing with the fabric of reality itself. If there’s any character who seems likely to put his sense of duty first despite far more pressing issues, however, it’s Sten.
That stubbornness could make him particularly dangerous as the Qunari’s military leader. Alistair had to defeat Sten in battle just to negotiate with him as a fellow leader. It seems unlikely that Dragon Age 4’s new protagonist will find much luck reasoning with Sten when the Qunari’s pride is on the line.
The Qunari as a race could be in for some big reveals in Dragon Age 4 as well. Corypheus has some dialogue he’ll only speak to a Qunari Inquisitor that seems to indicate that Inquisition’s villain knew something about the origins of the race that the players don't. Corypheus calls the Qunari a “mistake” and makes references to Qunari blood not belonging to them, hinting that the Qunari might have been the product of some sort of magical experiment or pact. Many fans believe Corypheus may have been referencing a connection between the Qunari and dragons, explaining their gray skin and horns.
The possibility that the true origins of the Qunari will be revealed in the next game could also put Sten at the center of the story, though how the character might react to such revelations remains to be seen. Wherever the next game’s plot goes, Sten seems very likely to return, and not as the ally players knew him as in Origins.
Solas revealed his true goals at the end of Inquisition. What might be most interested about Sten's villainous turn, however, is that he'll likely be making it based on the same dedication to the Qun that formed the core of the character in Origins.
Dragon Age 4 is in development.
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