#your comics are fic guides bioware.

[hungee-boy]

full continuity in the face of devs loving their default worldstate is the job for us brainrotted creatives after all

sincerely, a person who does not have alistair as king

[sirladysketch]

List of things I would like to see in DA4/ Rin’s DA4 Bingo Card

With the hype of the trailer, I figured now would be a good time to get all of my thoughts down as to what I’d like to see/what I would do if I was on the DA writer’s team. Now, I haven’t read the most recent comics and I’ve been out of deep fandom for a while, but the things below are based on a series of notes I took after finishing Trespasser for a fic that will never come to pass. Take that as you will, knowing that a lot of my focus is from a Solavellan POV.

Important world state aspects

If you choose to go with a non-mage character, I would love a side mission where you get to go visit the Avvar and join with a literal spirit guide to learn/understand magic for when the Veil falls

Lyrium is titan blood. People should not be ok with that, maybe. I’d like to see groups calling for an end to its sale and use, and anticipate the Carta has things to say about people trying to undermine their main source of income

Tranquil can be healed/reconnected to the Fade and magic. When the Veil falls, I think a lot of them will go mad, and the ones who survive will BE mad and there will be blood

UNLESS you take a diplomatic and practical approach and proactively work with the Avvar to heal them by giving them the spirit guide again (something I planned to have Remli, my Inquisitor, do for Helisma, with the help of Archivist Banon)

Since Tevinter is all about Necromancy, I predict that one of the main characters we meet is actually gonna be a walking corpse/puppeted. They might not be aware of it, but it’ll be up to you to deal with it

If you’re allowed to play as a Dalish elf, I would LOVE to go to an Arlathvhen meeting and look for Fen Harel agents. Specifically I would like to see Varric as an invited guest to document and listen to tales that he can write down and hash into his next bestseller

Pocket-space camps and the gates-- Solas controls the gates, but you KNOW that someone in Tevinter is gonna find a way to hack them. Bonus points/achievement if they say “I’m in”

Agents of Qunari are still going to be around, probably hunting Solas. Not sure if you’d work with or against them (I’d work against)

ENCHANTMENT! Sandal will have his day

It’s 2020, Bioware. Please let me pet the animals, the mounts, and love interests whenever I want

That said, I anticipate that some of the following things will happen, in this approximate order:

Initial “get to know the new main character” storyline will land us in Tevinter and we get to meet Varric somehow, who will probably bring us up to speed on how everyone’s doing-- the Chantry, the mages, the Inquisition (or remnants), what’s left of the Wardens, possibly even some new Dwarven factions, and a few nods to DLC groups (more on that later) Varric will not be romanceable and many tears will be shed because of it.

I’m guessing that there will be a point at which your main character will meet up with your Inquisitor and, if not join them, at least do some side missions together, probably along the lines of “find Solas.” If you didn’t leave Hawke in the Fade, they’ll be there, too. 

About halfway or a third of the way through, you find Solas, or someone you know finds Solas. The Veil falls. I suspect this will entail one of the moons getting destroyed-- falling into the ocean, maybe?-- and the waters off the Storm Coast will settle.

That leads us to what I would call “things go apeshit.” I’m going to bullet them for fast scanning:

Seas are at rest, which means the dragon/lizard people on the other continent now have easy access to come over and invade

The mage vs templar battle will more or less be reskinned as elves vs everyone else-- I foresee a lot of alienages (and their trees) being destroyed in an effort to get rid of Fen Harel agents-- this might happen prior to the Veil collapse, and your actions to help or hinder the massacres will affect later story

Hawke (or whoever you left in the Fade in Inquisition) will appear once the Veil falls, probably in an hour of need during a pivotal battle. If it’s Hawke, don’t get your hopes up that they wanna help you, they’re just there for Varric

During the final battle, Varric’s Bianca will “die.” This is less about the weapon and more about him learning to move on; be happy for him

Ultimately I think we’ll meet up with Solas again with the Inquisitor at your side, and we’ll have two options: fight with him, or against him. This may even be a race-gated thing, where he’ll only ally himself with an elf or at least someone he deems elf-friendly. If you choose to unite with him, you lose your Tevinter allies and probably the Chantry allies too (fuck them anyway, lol)

If you choose to fight him, you’ll be faced with two scenarios-- inquisitor is like HELL YEAH and joins you in the fight, ultimately killing Solas. If your Inquisitor promised to help him, though, or ROMANCED him… they’re going to fight against you, and while Solas will not actively try to stop them, he will go into full out berserker, maybe even wolf form if/when you kill his Vhenan. In this scenario, we’d better get a tender “I’ll love you forever” moment or I will throw hands.

The only other wildcard I see coming into play here is Cole. If he left as a spirit to go be with Solas, I could see him coming to Solas’ side to fight with him. I would worry that being with Solas on his dark road could corrupt him, but he’s always known Solas for who and what he was, so I think he’ll be ok (unless you’re forced to kill him, and if you are how can you live with that save file on your conscience?)

Either way, the moment you’re done with Solas, you’re on the last third of the story, which I’m guessing involves Elvhen gods, Archdemons, and the undead (because Tevinter). 

Honestly those are just initial thoughts that I can remember off the top of my head. I may add more to it as we get closer to actual reveal, but for now, I’m just gonna think about the fic that I’m never going to write.