In the wake of the recently released development trailer for Dragon Age 4, the latest game in Bioware's dark fantasy RPG franchise, many fans are likely wondering what new threats will arise in this latest installment, and what villains will be behind these threats. A wide number of recurring characters from the previous Dragon Age game have both the terrifying power and personal motivations to theoretically fill the mantle of of antagonist for Dragon Age 4. Even if BioWare developers do come up with a new antagonist, it's still likely they'll have a connection to the history of the Dragon Age setting and the numerous apocalyptic disasters that gave birth to the game world of Thedas.
Thedas, the central fantasy continent of the Dragon Age franchise, is a messed-up place filled with conflict, long-ingrained prejudices, and a corrupt system of magical metaphysics. Elves are second-class citizens in many nations, oppressed and mistreated by humans ever since the fall of their legendary empire. Mages, thanks to their vulnerability to demonic possession, are locked away in towers and guarded by zealous magic-nullifying Templars. An ancient imperium of mages once tried to claim the Golden City of the Maker, only to accidentally unleash a cyclic invasion of mutated abominations called Darkspawn. Lastly, a race of antler-headed humanoids called the Qunari wish to subjugate the other nations of the world into their rigid, caste system philosophy. For all that fantasy is seen as an escapist genre, this is one fantasy world you wouldn't want to escape to.
Because the reality of Dragon Age is so clearly broken, the story arcs of each game generally revolve around the main characters trying to mend their world. The protagonists seek justice for the crimes of the past so a better future can become possible, while the villains invariably seek to turn back time to restore an idealized version of the past. If this pattern hold true, then there are many pre-established characters that could take up the mantle of antagonist for Dragon Age 4.
[Be warned: the next few paragraphs contain a truly ludicrous amount of spoilers for Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age II, and Dragon Age: Inquisition.]
Dragon Age 4 Antagonist Candidate #1: Solas
Solas, a mysterious Elven Mage with an uncanny power over spirits, s the protagonist of Dragon Age: Inquisition to restore order to the continent of Thedas, seal the rifts in space leading to the hazardous spirit world known as the Fade, and stop the mysterious faction who triggered the dimension-shattering explosion in the first place. Solas possesses an uncanny amount of knowledge about spirits, demons, the Fade, and the Veil that separate these from the material world. In the climax of Dragon Age: Inquisition and its Treser DLC, players learn why he knows so much about the Rift explosion: he was the one who caused it.
Solas, as it turns out, is an ancient Elf God from the mythical, long-lost empire of the Elves – or rather, a magic so powerful that he's functionally indistinguishable from a god. He turned against his fellow mage-gods to liberate a population of elves from slavery, only to inadvertently erect a barrier between the worlds of spirit and flesh, sealing away most of the magic and wonder from the world.
The entire plot of Dragon Age: Inquisition – explosions, rifts, conspiracies, inquisitions – arose from botched attempted by Solas to manipulate the Big Bad into removing the Veil he had created, and at the end of the Treser DLC, he declares his intentions to destroy the Veil himself, an act he describes as destroying the current world to bring back the old.
It looks like the position of antagonist for Dragon Age 4 could only be filled by Solas. That being said, he consistently expresses regret and doubt about his plans, outright telling the Inquisitor protagonist of Dragon Age: Inquisition he "would treasure the change to be proven wrong once again." Could the antagonistic intentions of Solas be a red-herring, hiding the true identity of Dragon Age 4's true villain? If so, the remaining candidates for the position of "Big Bad" can be divided into two categories:
Dragon Age 4 Antagonist Candidates #2: The Tevinter Imperium or Qunari As A Whole
A good number of major antagonists in the Dragon Age games hail from either the Tevinter Imperium or the Qunari, and for good reason. The Tevinter Imperium is a mageocracy of slave-owning, demon-summoning, decadent aristocrats, who frequently commits atrocities in the name of power and experimentation. The Qunari, a religious movement dominated by a race of stoic horned giants, shuns magic and indoctrinates its subjects with a moral philosophy based on lifelong adherence to a rigid caste system. Story-wise, the Tevinter and the Qunari are currently engaged in a simmering border war, each keeping their mutual ambitions in check. If one of these societies were to suddenly collapse, the other would be free to pursue imperial ambitions against the rest of Thedas over the course of Dragon Age 4's story.
Dragon Age 4 Antagonist Candidates #3: A Heaping Load of Gods
In the universe of Dragon Age, there's no shortage of slumbering, absent gods that could wake up and try to destroy the world. There's the Evanuris, the pantheon of callous, sociopathic gods Solas broke the world trying to seal away. Mythal, the one just Elven God, was betrayed and murdered by her brethren, only for her spirit to merge with the witch known as Flemeth and launch a centuries-old plot for revenge. There are the Old Gods, the dragon-like deities of Tevinter, who were transformed into Archdemons by the Darkspawn and the Blight they spread. Finally, there are the Titans, giant beings who dwell far beneath the surface of Thedas, who bleed a magical material called Lyrium and are large enough to contain civilizations within their bellies.
Most villains in the Dragon Age games are reactionary to some degree, either seeking to reinforce the status quo of the system they profit from (Meredith and the Arishok in Dragon Age II) or restoring a long-lost "Golden Age" where they were on top (Corypheus in Dragon Age: Inquisition). What then, makes someone a hero in the Dragon Age franchise, particularly in the Dragon Age 4? Arguably, heroes in these games are those who are willing to fight for the flawed, broken fantasy world they live in – either because it contains people they value, or because they believe it can be changed for the better.
