Key Takeaways
- Varric plays a key role in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, but that wasn’t always the case.
- At one point during development, he wouldn’t have been included whatsoever.
- Instead, we would be told that he was busy being the Viscount of Kirkwall, leaving us to deal with Solas ourselves.
First introduced in Dragon Age 2 as one of Hawke’s companions, Varric quickly became a fan-favourite. It’s no surprise that the rogue, surface-dwelling dwarf returned in the sequel for an even bigger role, so it’s only fitting he’d return once again for The Veilguard and its showdown with Solas.
However, as revealed in an interview with GamesRadar, that nearly wasn’t the case. While it “felt right” to bring him back a third time, creative director John Epler revealed that the team nearly benched him in the Free Marches at one point in the game’s lengthy development.
“In some of our earliest versions of what we wanted to do for Dragon Age 4, Varric was not actually involved,” Epler explained. “Varric was doing his own thing as the Viscount of Kirkwall. But I think especially as we got to the version of Dragon Age: The Veilguard that shipped, it felt very strange to have a story about Solas and not include Varric.”
Things Could’ve Gone A Lot Differently For Varric
Varric’s appearance in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and his pivotal role in the opening especially, have huge ramifications on not only his character but the wider story, so it’s interesting to imagine how different the game would’ve looked without him.
Spoilers for The Veilguard.
At the end of the game, it’s revealed that Varric was killed by Solas in the opening (along with his trusty Bianca). Throughout the entire game, Rook was simply seeing an illusion conjured by the Dread Wolf to coerce them into playing the role Solas wanted them to play. The Trickster God tricked us, whodathunk?
Had Varric not been included in the game, he and Bianca would be tucked away safely in Kirkwall right now. However, as Epler elaborates, bringing him into the story and going through with such a gut-wrenching move played into one of the game’s key themes — regret.
Varric is hesistant to look back on his mistakes, while Solas is tormented by them. The two are a perfect contrast, and even if it was heartbreaking to see Varric go, it’s hard to imagine the sequel ever not including him.
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.