The Veilguard Should Have Had A Nectrotic Dragon

November 2, 2024

There are seven high dragons in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and five different elemental damage types. In fact, since one of these types is ‘Physical’ (which is basically an absence of a type in favour of brute strength), there’s really only four. That’s right, Harding is a Jigglypuff. You’d think this would be a perfect match for the dragons. But it’s not.

Across the seven dragons, there are two Fire dragons, two Cold dragons, and three Electricity dragons. No Physical dragon is fine – what’s it gonna do, have punch breath? – but the real atrocity is no Necrotic dragon. Necrotic straddles the line between poison and undead, and in some ways is the least defined type in the game. But that also makes it the most interesting.

The Veilguard’s Dragons Come With Environmental Threats

Mythals Retribution in Dragon Age The Veilguard

It’s pretty easy to imagine a poison dragon, and the sort of environmental hazards it might pose. We already see one of the Electric dragons shoot lightning at shallow water, and one of the Cold dragons create a frosty mist. A Necrotic dragon using poison could create smog fumes, or exude a toxin that makes melee attacks dangerous and forces you to think differently about dealing damage or navigating environmental hazards.

A poison dragon makes as much sense as a lightning dragon, really. It’s also a combination we’ve seen before in Pokemon. Inquisition had this issue too. Its mighty 11 dragons (one DLC) were also split between Cold, Fire, and Electric. One of those even reappears in The Veilguard – Kaltenzahn, the Cold dragon. I don’t think it should be this tough.

And this thing is, that’s already my compromise. The idea of ‘Necrotic equals poison’ is me meeting people halfway. It’s just the interpretation that makes the most sense. What I really want is an undead dragon – and The Veilguard passes up an early opportunity to make it happen.

Mild spoilers follow for the side quest Pinnacle Of Its Kind.

The Formless One Should Have Been A Necrotic Dragon

Rook in front of the Pinnacle of its Kind door in Dragon Age The Veilguard

My favourite side quest across all of The Veilguard is Pinnacle Of Its Kind. You get this quest when you visit the Necropolis Halls, after recruiting Emmrich. When you complete the first side quest that opens up the Halls themselves (Restless Spirits), you arrive at a door. And a presence behind it taunts you.

Those at the Necropolis have no knowledge of the beast beyond this door. But you follow its instructions anyway and hunt down the three demons across Thedas, all sharing the name The Formless One. These are different demons every time, yet Rook suspects they are the same demon. Once you slay them all, you can open the door.

These are fairly high level enemies, so you’re going to face them later in the game. Until then, like the beast behind the door, they stay there taunting you. They linger on your map as you grow in strength and confidence, dealing with other issues, until finally you feel ready to take them on. These demons that have slithered out from the palace of death eventually form into a mighty dragon. And that dragon, formed of death and toxic trickery, is an Electric dragon. The third one in a game of just seven total.

Death Is Already Everywhere In Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Pinnacle Of Its Kind dragon in Dragon Age The Veilguard

Don’t get me wrong, The Formless One is a great dragon fight. Like I said, it’s my favourite side quest in the game. But it’s still a waste that it turns out to be a Lightning dragon. It summons skeletons to its aid! It lives in the Necropolis! Now, being a Lightning dragon it is weak to Necrotic, which could explain how The Formless One was captured. But I still want my undead dragon.

We have Blighted dragons, and yet the stench of death is not upon them. The Veilguard embraces the power of death more than any other Dragon Age game, but even then we still don’t see this transfer to the titular wyrms. The dragons are never a key part of DragonAge (two are narrative, three at a push, and the rest come in side stories), but this feels like a missed opportunity.

There are some who feel the Game of Thrones series jumped the shark when the White Walkers were able to take one of Dany’s dragons. I remember reading inane complaints about how the White Walkers would swim down and attach chains, then watching the series’ terrible end and realising actually everyone complaining might have had a point. But for a moment, the idea of an undead dragon was realised, and was incredibly cool.

Even here, I didn’t really get my wish. Since it was the White Walkers, the dragon became an ice dragon, or as Dragon Age might say, a Cold dragon. But it was a lot closer to embracing an undead dragon than The Veilguard did, and that’s something. Maybe in another decade when we get the next Dragon Age I’ll get my undead dragon fight.