BioWare has kept details aboutDragon Age 4close to its chest, beyond the few images revealed at EA Play last month. However, with evidence pointing towards Tevinter as one of the game’s settings, the Free Marches, a group of city-states which gained independence from the Tevinter Imperium, will be more relevant than ever.
Not only have players been to the Free Marches before, with Kirkwall forming the main setting forDragon Age 2, but BioWare has given players reasons to be invested in the fates of multiple cities across the Free Marches, where fan-favorite followers from the games have settled. This has left many players speculating about what could become of the Free Marches inDragon Age 4.
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Kirkwall
TheInquisitionDLC Trespasser confirms that former companion Varric Tethras is elected the Viscount of Kirkwall after the main events ofInquisition. Players were able to achieve the same title playing as Hawke inDragon Age 2. It is revealed inInquisition, however, that Hawke was forced to step down from the role due to theRed Lyrium-induced paranoia of the Templars. If Hawke survived the events ofInquisition, both Hawke and Varric are said to be helping rebuild the city of Kirkwall, and both could make an appearance in the next game.
Not only has Varric greatly increased his position within Kirkwall, but Trespasser states that “under his rule, the city state finally resumed its place as the major trade hub of the Free Marches.” A restored Kirkwall underVarric could be a powerful ally inDragon Age 4, and Varric himself could prove one of few rulers willing to take the threat of the Dread Wolf seriously.
Although Kirkwall has recovered its strength, Varric’s position is still precarious. It’s heavily implied in Trespasser that the leaders of Kirkwall were more than happy to elect Varric due to the dangers of the role and the fates of his predecessors. Varric is also shown to have already irked some of the nobility when the former Interim Viscount attempts to stop him spontaneously giving the Inquisitor the key to the city. Whether or not Varric will get along withDragon Age 4’s protagonistalso remains an unknown factor.
More than any other location inDragon Age, Kirkwall exists as a character in its own right. By putting Varric at the helm of Kirkwall, BioWare is tying together the political landscape of Thedas and some of most developedcompanions in theDragon Agefranchise(especially if Alistair is King of Ferelden) which hopefully indicates some character-driven decisions coming up inDragon Age 4with big implications for the world at large.
Starkhaven
Starkhaven is another city in the Free Marches, though not one players have been able to visit in the games yet. The city was referenced heavily inThe Exiled Prince DLC toDragon Age 2, however, which introduced the companion Sebastian Vael, the exiled prince of Starkhaven.
The war table inInquisitionreveals that after the events ofDragon Age 2,Sebastian was able to reclaim his crown, and Varric’s epilogue in Trespasser states that the dwarf “continues to ignore all mail from both the Merchant’s Guild and the Prince of Starkhaven,” showing that, at the very least, the two are in pseudo-contact. The fact that Varric and Sebastian know each other, however, doesn’t mean there won’t be tension between the two cities and their interests. In The Exiled Prince, it is revealed that a Kirkwall noblewoman is behind the assassination of Sebastian’s family, and old grudges may reemerge that need resolving based on the game’s ending.
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Tevinter, Tantervale, and Speculation
There are a few reasons to believe thatDragon Age 4will be set in Tevinter, at least partially. The original scrapped plan for the game, the Joplin Project, took place in Tevinter, and though the direction of the game has changed since then, it is likely the setting remains the same for narrative reasons. Tevinter is also one of the main countries of Thedas players have yet to visit, with Ferelden and Orlais both featuring inInquisition. Not to mention, the end of Trespasser more than hints at Tevinter’s presence in the next game.
This would make the Free Marches extremely relevant, as the cities have only been known to unite before in theDragon Agetimelineto defend against a larger neighbor, with Tevinter fitting that role nicely by forming their biggest land border and having a unique relationship with the cities as the empire they originally gained their independence from.
There is one major city in the Free Marches which has also been left out of theDragon Agegames so far, Tantervale. If some of the action ofDragon Age 4takes place in the Free Marches, Tantervale could throw some interesting new complications into the mix, as well as giving the developers the opportunity to tell some new stories as well as wrap up some ofDragon Age’s unsolved mysteries.
Tantervale is also said to have been under the strict control of the Chantry, and so could be heavily impacted by the decisions players made during theMage-Templar War inDragon Age: Inquisition. There are plenty of smaller settlements players could visit as well, with the reduced scale perhaps allowing them to have an even bigger impact on these places. This includes the “backwater” town of Ansburg, the double-walled city of Ostwick, and Wycome, a party town known for importing wine.
UnlikeDragon Age: Origins, where the player is dropped into the action with very little knowledge of the wider world, which is only slowly and partially revealed throughout the game,Dragon Age 4could see former followers as the Viscount of Kirkwall, the Prince of Starkhaven, the King of Ferelden, the Divine of the Chantry,Dorian as a Magister of Tevinter, and more.
Players now have reasons to be personally invested in the fates of the different countries and cities of Thedas, whereas inOriginsthe Darkspawn destruction of locations like Lothering felt more like an ominous detail than a personally tragic event. This could suggest that BioWare is preparing players to be emotionally invested in some big decisions that will have a large scale impact on the fate of the world, especially if the game continues the trend started inInquisitonby including locations acrossmultiple countries inDragon Age 4.
Dragon Age 4is in development.
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