Summary
- As longtime Dragon Age fans will remember, Varric has a habit of giving companions nicknames.
- An early draft of Dragon Age: The Veilguard continued this trend, but it was dropped mid-development.
- Varric’s writer, Mary Kirby, shares what these nicknames would have been.
Varric has appeared in three Dragon Age games now and has always been an irreplaceable member of the crew. In his first two games, Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, he even had nicknames for everyone in the gang, something which tragically didn’t make it into Dragon Age: The Veilguard.
But now, Varric’s writer has come to the rescue. Mary Kirby has shared what names Varric would have used for the members of the Veilguard, completing the trilogy of the fan-favourite dwarf giving his friends nicknames that most of them would probably hate.
Here Are Varric’s Nicknames For The Companions In Dragon Age: The Veilguard
As shared on BlueSky, here are the nicknames Varric would have given the members of the Veilguard.
- Neve: Slick
- Lucanis: Scruffy
- Bellara: Bangles
- Davrin: Hero
- Taash: Smokey
- Emmrich: Bones
- Harding: Doesn’t get one – “he’s intimidated by her”.
Of course, we do hear a returning nickname in game, as Varric refers to Solas as Chuckles once again. Oh, and Hero is the same name Varric had for Blackwall, so he seems to have a thing for Grey Wardens. At least this one turned out to actually be a Grey Warden, can’t blame him for the repeat in this instance.
This isn’t actually Varric’s first repeat. If your Hawke had the humorous personality in Dragon Age 2, he’d also call you Chuckles. That gives us another reason for him not wanting Hawke to get involved with the Inquisition – would be a bit awkward to be caught out like that.
As Kirby explains in the post, these nicknames were intended to appear in the game at some point in development. They didn’t make it beyond an early draft though, so we never actually hear Varric use them in game.
Unfortunately, Kirby isn’t working on the series anymore either. Despite being so integral to the series’ success, having written Varric since Dragon Age 2, she was included in last year’s layoffs at BioWare, alongside other longtime devs. Despite this, The Veilguard’s directors have suggested that the series will continue, we’ll just have to see what it looks like with even more of its writers having left BioWare.
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.