Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the fourth game in the Dragon Age series, a long awaited sequel that fans hoped would give closure to many plotlines. And it did bring that closure, following up on the latest events of a certain companion from Dragon Age: Inquisition and what their plans were.
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Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Blood Of Arlathan Walkthrough
Infiltrate a Venatori camp and rescue Dalish prisoners from Elgar’nan.
The game comes with multiple endings, depending on your bonds with your companions and how much extra content you go through in your adventure. There is even a hidden post-credit scene, hinting at future enemies to fight.
As Expected, Spoilers Ahead
The Story Of Dragon Age: The Veilguard
In Veilguard, we play as Rook, a player-made character whose origin we can customize to an extent but always ends up working with Varric. These two, alongside Harding, have been hunting Solas, who is trying to tear down the Veil.
We learned back in Inquisition that Solas is the truth behind an ancient elven god, a deity of lies and treachery. Of course, he isn’t really a god, but he is the same elf that all those stories and myths are based on, and he wants to break the Veil so that the Fade and the material world become one; just as they were thousands of years ago.
Rook and Varric manage to disrupt Solas’ ritual, which prevents the merging of the Fade with the material world, but also releases two entities: Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain, two ancient elves also considered gods by modern elven people. Varric dies at this point, but Rook only finds out about it at the end of the game, since Solas is projecting an image of the dwarf into Rook’s mind.
Forming The Veilguard
It is up to Rook to form a team and stop the two mad gods before they destroy the world. These ancient elves can control the Blight, which they use as their primary force, as well as influence evil and corrupt people (making the Venatori and the Qunari army their other main forces).
The people Rook brings to the team have a series of skills tailor-made to fight the different threats, and a few of their stories reveal huge details relating to the lore of Thedas. Doing their personal quests is required to get the best possible ending.
The Elves And The Titans
The biggest reveal the story gives by far is the real nature of the elves, the dwarves, and the Darkspawn. The elves were originally spirits, who created their own bodies using Lyrium, a substance well-known in the Dragon Age world for its magical potency.
Lyrium isn’t just a mineral, it is the blood of Titans, ancient ancestors of the dwarves. These Titans were connected to the Fade (since they were around when the Fade and the material world were one and the same), but were slaughtered by the elves for their blood.
This is why dwarves can’t use magic, or even dream, and since they couldn’t access their dreams, those dreams became corrupted, forming the Blight. It is revealed that there is no Maker punishing ancient Tevinter Magisters for their sins, the Blight is the unused dreams of Titans.
We also learn that some Qunari can breathe fire, although Qunari can already use magic, so why breathing fire is seen as a bigger deal is unclear.
Facing The Elven Gods
During the final confrontation of the game, Rook takes their team and, alongside Solas, defeat Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain. However, doing so is destroying the Veil, since that entire magical force was being held in place by a singular entity.
Rook and Solas have one final confrontation, which can happen in a few different ways, but it always culminates with Solas becoming the new anchor that keeps the Veil together. The way this happens is what separates one ending from another.
The Endings Of Dragon Age: The Veilguard
As stated before, the game ends with Solas holding the Veil in place. To do so, not only do you need an ancient powerful entity, but also the Lyrium dagger, an artifact that can pierce the Veil and wound neigh immortal beings due to its magical properties.
Everyone Dies
If you rush through the game and ignore basically all of your companion’s quests, you’ll notice all of them dropping like flies. No matter what task you give them at the end, they will all die, leaving only Rook with the two companions joining them in the final confrontation with Solas.
Solas, however, overpowers Rook instantly, and turns their companions to stone. Rook then manages to tackle Solas, who seems to have briefly forgotten how to turn people to stone, and they are both sucked into the Veil to hold it in place together.
This happens because the Lyrium dagger reacts to the blood spilled, and it was covered in the blood of Rook and Solas. The world is now safe, and while the entire Veilguard is dead, they at least get a nice commemorative statue to remember their efforts.
Fight Or Trick Solas
If you didn’t ignore all the side quests, this is the most likely ending you will get. Some companions might die, but most won’t, and you’ll end up with one final choice: fight the god of lies, or trick him with a fake Lyrium dagger that your companions conveniently made for you to have.
There is not much of a difference here, so it is better to trick him to save some time. The world is once again safe, and Rook even survives to tell the tale alongside most of their Veilguard friends.
Convincing Solas
To convince Solas, you’ll need to learn the full extent of his backstory and his relationship with Mythal, as well as the things he had to do to get to where he is. To do this, you’ll be aided by Morrigan, who holds the essence of Mythal after the passing of her mother, Flemeth.
You also need every companion to survive, except for Harding or Davrin, since one of them always dies.
The group talk works, and Solas agrees to hold the Veil in place. If the Inquisitor was in a romantic relationship with Solas, they both go to hold the Veil together, as a final romantic action.
The Post Credits Scene
If you complete every single sidequest, you’ll find hidden discs all around the game, particularly at the end of certain missions. Finding all of them will unlock a final animated cutscene about the future antagonist of the Dragon Age saga, someone players might know from Dragon Age: Inquisition.
They are the Executors, a shadowy group from ‘across the sea’ that seem to have been pulling the strings of every event in the games. They orchestrated the events of all Dragon Age games, including Veilguard, but we’ll have to wait for a DLC or future game to know what their ultimate goal is.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the long-awaited fourth game in the fantasy RPG series from BioWare formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. A direct sequel to Inquisition, it focuses on red lyrium and Solas, the aforementioned Dread Wolf.
- Released
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October 31, 2024
- Engine
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Frostbite
- ESRB
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M For Mature 17+ // Blood, Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence
- OpenCritic Rating
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Strong
- PC Release Date
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October 31, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
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October 31, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
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October 31, 2024