The first two characters we see in the reveal trailer for Dragon Age: The Veilguard are dwarves, two returning fan favorites from the previous game, Inquisition. It’s great to see Varric Tethras and Scout Harding taking center stage, but it also plays into one of my biggest ongoing frustrations with the Dragon Age franchise at large — it’s decidedly focused on a handful of specific dwarven characters. As a high fantasy series, Dragon Age has explored a wealth of dynamic history and cultures for elves and humans, but it feels like dwarves have simply gotten the short end of the stick (no pun intended) in the process. With a new game finally on the horizon with Veilguard, it’s high time that changes.
When I say dwarves have been underrepresented, it requires a bit of explanation, as yes, there have been dozens of dwarven characters across Dragon Age 2, Inquisition, and now Veilguard. But the catch is that those are almost entirely what the series calls “surfacers.” These are dwarves that have left the grand underground kingdoms of their ancestors to live on the surface, which in turn usually forsakes them from returning underground and dampens their “Stone Sense,” a hereditary six-sense kind of ability that allows dwarves to masterfully navigate the dense tunnels of the Deep Roads through their connection to stone.
Varric has been the dwarven poster boy for the series for three games now, and he’s fantastic, but focusing on characters like him has left a lot of the more interesting dwarven lore and political intrigue on the cutting room floor. More often than not dwarven lore is delivered as set dressing for the main story of Dragon Age games, like with the ancient underground ruins you explore in Inquisition’s The Descent DLC. But almost nothing since the first game has singularly focused on dwarven culture or even major locations. It’s a shame because the dwarves of Dragon Age Origins are easily the most compelling part of the entire game.
Recently replaying Origins, I was struck by how much more dynamic and interesting the section in Orzammar, the dwarven capital, feels than almost anything else in the game. Stepping into the locale, your character is immediately embroiled in a political struggle for the throne, having to weigh your options on which candidate to support. Do you choose the person better for dwarven society, or the person that could benefit you the most personally?
Orzammar is a brilliant exploration of isolationist state affairs, while still layering in a wealth of complex lore and history. By adding in another map for the Deep Roads, Origins effectively makes the dwarven kingdom feel like another world entirely, using visual and gameplay design to illustrate how separate Orzammar feels from the rest of the world, and the problems that’s caused. It’s one of the most thematically ambitious sections of the game, which makes it especially sad that fascinating world hasn’t been explored more in subsequent sequels.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with what the series has focused its stories on; Dragon Age 2 wanted to show a singular location changing over time, and Inquisition heavily tackles the religious elements of the world and elven history. Both of those games explore different facets of the world well, but it feels like the overlooked rich history of the dwarves is due for its time in the sun.
In some ways, it's understandable the dwarves have been less understated, as a lot of the nature of their culture revolved around the threat of constant attack from Darkspawn in the Deep Roads. After the events of Origins and Dragon Age 2 the Darkspawn threat had largely been dealt with, moving onto new threats like demons and old gods. But it still feels strange to have an entire section of Dragon Age’s world be conspicuously absent.
The Veilguard has the chance to change that, to finally unite the disparate pieces of Thedas. We know the game is going to take place largely in the Tevinter Imperium, a mage-ruled kingdom that’s been largely unexplored until now. But within the series’ lore Tevinter has enjoyed a long and fruitful alliance with the dwarven kingdoms. It’s quite literally the perfect excuse to bring a more varied approach to the game’s storytelling.
