Summary
- A concept artist for Dragon Age: The Veilguard has shared early sketches of Solas.
- Solas was undoubtedly the primary villain of Dragon Age: The Veilguard before the narrative changes.
- The Lyrium Dagger was an early inclusion as evidenced by its appearances in the sketches.
Nick Thornborrow, a former concept artist and storyboard artist at BioWare, often shares early concept art of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf (eventually renamed Dragon Age: The Veilguard). While Thornborrow stresses that his sketches are pre-development and as such can’t be considered “cut content”, it’s still interesting to see what ideas were floating around for The Veilguard before the final product was released.
Thornborrow recently posted several images of the once-titular Dread Wolf, who was originally the main antagonist of the next Dragon Age game before he was reworked into a sort of frenemy type. In Thornborrow’s early sketches, we can see a more sadistic Solas toying with Rook in their dream sequences. We can see Rook keeled over, holding their head in their hands while the shadow of the Dread Wolf watches on.
Wrath of the Dread Wolf
The dream sequences did end up in the final game, but the nature of these scenes was reworked to be more straightforward conversations between Solas and Rook rather than anything resembling psychological torture. Although Solas is transparently trying to manipulate Rook in these scenes, the tone is more cooperative than competitive even when you try and choose more hostile dialogue options.
Some of the other sketches feature the Lyrium Dagger, which became so integral to the plot of The Veilguard. We can see Solas wielding the weapon against a horned creature and a dramatic still of someone running Solas through with the dagger. Whether that’s intended to be Rook, the Inquisitor or someone else is unknown. It’s clear from the tone of these images that Solas was originally meant to be the primary threat to Thedas, rather than a reluctant anti-hero of sorts.
Thornborrow explained which stage of development these sketches are produced at, saying “When cuts are made, it’s typically at a more advanced stage of production that involves multiple disciplines. Whereas scruffy sketches like these are useful in pre-production to see what resonates because they’re quick to draw and the emotional toll of throwing them out is minimal.”
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.