#i still have the entirety of orzammar to go before the landsmeet but man. at least i got 100+ approval romance with zevran

[ars0nism]

me having 100+ approval with zevran and neutral with literally everyone else except wynne for some reason???

[lavalampelfchild]

Tentative Timeline for DAO, with Realistic Travel Times

Out of curiosity and some frustration, I decided to add up the different travel times that would make up the entirety of the DAO main quest line.  So I did.  Here are the sources, I used (definitely check them out, compare, and see if you have any different interpretations):

http://leliaanaa.tumblr.com/post/139369241215/origins-travel-times-distances-taken-from-this

http://myrandacousland.tumblr.com/post/62319977661/ferelden-travel-distances-and-times

Keep in mind, this is only taking into account travel times, and not the times that would be spent dedicated to a single location or destination.  And the order in which I completed the quests, which is the basis for this timeline, is:

Lothering and the Imperial Highway

The Arl of Redcliffe

Broken Circle

The Arl of Redcliffe, cont’d.

The Urn of Sacred Ashes

Nature of the Beast

Paragon of Her Kind

Landsmeet

The Battle of Denerim

So, with that order in mind, here is the tentative travel timeline I came up with, using the above sources:

Ostagar to Lothering, post-battle: 3 days (I’m going to bump it down from 4 because they’re moving quickly to escape the horde, but I don’t feel it would be close enough to a forced march to warrant the same time.)

Lothering to Redcliffe, to find Arl Eamon for the first time: 4-5 days

Redcliffe to Kinloch Hold, once discovered that it would be best to gain help of mages to go into the Fade and save Connor: 15-16 days (including 3 hours of rowing from the docks to the hold.)

Kinloch Hold to Redcliffe, mages in tow: 15-16 days (presumably it might take slightly more time if the Wardens are traveling with a group of mages who are unused to strenuous travel and require rest more often. 

Redcliffe to Denerim, to chase the rumor Isolde had about Genitivi: 16 days (Important: this is the option that includes investigating Genitivi’s house right then and there, instead of following up with what the fake Weylon said and going to the Calenhad docks, and then all the way back to Denerim, which would add several weeks to the overall travel time.)

Denerim to Haven, once they find out the truth of what happened to Genitivi: 24-26 days

Haven to the Temple of Sacred Ashes, once Genitivi has been found: 6 days (to account for Genitivi’s wounded leg, if he is taken with the group.)

Temple to Redcliffe, to take the ashes back to Eamon: 13 days (this is taking the route from the Temple back to Haven, then to Rainesfere, then back to Redcliffe, as opposed to going through Honnleath in the other direction directly from the temple, and then going to Redcliffe, which would take 18 days, and would take the group closer to the main horde of darkspawn while transporting a wounded man; i.e. Genitivi; this number also takes into account Genitivi being moved with the group to Redcliffe for proper healing.)

Recliffe to the Dalish camp: 15-17 days

Dalish camp to Brecilian Ruins: 8-9 days (taking into account the general unfamiliarity with the Brecilian Forest of any non-Dalish companions.)

Brecilian Ruins to Dalish camp: 8-9 days

Dalish camp to Orzammar: 25-31 days (the different sources that I’m using seem to vary here on the amount of time it would take to get from Redcliffe to Gherlen’s Pass because of the nature of the roads traveled to get there; how mountainous are the roads up to Gherlen’s Pass, and how much would the state of those roads slow the progress of the group?)

Orzammar through all the Deep Roads quests: 15-16 days (this is including Caridin’s Cross, Ortan Thaig, Aeducan Thaig, Dead Trenches, Anvil of the Void, and this is only the trip in to find Branka; I’m uncertain if this is the correct interpretation, but from the source I’m using, it seems to be.)

Anvil of the Void (location) to Orzammar, with either Branka or the crown: 15-16 days

Orzammar to Redcliffe, to tell Eamon about the completion of the recruiting of allied armies: 10-16 days (again, the sources seem to diverge on this greatly.)

Redcliffe to Denerim, for the Landsmeet: 16-17 days

Denerim to Redcliffe, post-Landsmeet, pre-Battle-of-Denerim: 16-17 days

Redcliffe to Denerim, to fight the archdemon: 10-14 days (Important: This is now where we see a definite forced march, but with a full army of Redcliffe soldiers.  Had it been the Wardens’ smaller group making this march alone, it most likely would have been 9-10 days, but with the addition of this army, plus the dwarves or golems, the mages or Templars, and the Dalish or werewolves, we have several additional components to worry about.  And this is assuming that all allied armies are stationed at or near Redcliffe and not still in Orzammar, Kinloch Hold, or the Brecilian Forest.)

Conclusion: For the main quest of DAO, the total travel time, given the notes I’ve added above, and with a specific order of quests performed, the total travel time is 263 days.

The events of DAO occur in the year 9:30 Dragon, and end neatly at the beginning of 9:31 Dragon, which marks the death of the Old-God-turned-archdemon, Urthemiel, and the beginning of the events of DAA.  I’ve looked but haven’t found specific dates to mark the definitive beginning and end of DAO, though.

These calculations are travel time only.  This does not take into account the number of days or weeks the Wardens will have spent at any of these given locations.  If we allow them a full year of 365 days, we’re left with 85-91 days to allocate to stops on the roads during travel, or days spent in a given location (like Orzammar doing Bhelen or Harrowmont’s bidding).  And of course, some of those days need to be given to Duncan’s travel time with the Warden down to Ostagar.

I feel like this exercise lends some perspective to just how much time the Wardens and their companions would have to devote to this quest, in addition to just how urgent some of these time sensitive quests might be.  For example, the Warden is going to have to spend over a month on the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest for travel time alone, with the possibility of Eamon’s imminent death hanging over their head.  In Nature of the Beast, The Dalish hunters’ conditions will be rapidly deteriorating while the Warden is devoting those 9 days to traveling to the ruins to find Witherfang, meaning there might be more werewolves or dead Dalish when they return.  Bhelen and Harrowmont’s clash over the throne will have escalated without question after the weeks the Warden and co. have spent in the Deep Roads looking for Branka.

And then, of course, the big whammy, before the Battle of Denerim, Eamon states that the darkspawn horde is two days away from Denerim while the army needed to defend Denerim is at Redcliffe.  Well, if it truly does take even 10 days of forced marching to get the army there (and that’s the kind estimate) then Denerim is well and truly screwed.  That’s 10 days of siege and an archdemon they need to outlast.