Being the fourth entry in a massively popular RPG series, Dragon Age: The Veilguard had some pretty big shoes to fill both in of story and remaining true to the lore of the series. While The Veilguard has been mostly successful, with an ambiguous story and clever lore twists, there are also some areas that felt too safe and clean for the established setting. Two factions that Rook must ally with embody this odd safe choice perfectly, making them feel at odds with the world they inhabit.

[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Dragon Age: The Veilguard.]

There are six factions in Dragon Age: The Veilguard which Rook can belong to and also forces with as they attempt to stop the Evanuris. Which faction Rook is a member of plays much more of a role than race, gender, or class, with faction-specific dialogue available during some conversations, as well as faction perks and traits. There is a mixture of old and new groups from throughout Thedas, but two of the six feel like wasted opportunities for more morally gray allies.

The Antivan Crows & Lords Of Fortune Are Too Sanitized

The Chance For A Darker Perspective Is Lost

All the factions Rooks teams up with seem to have the best interests of Thedas at heart as they work together to stop the Evanuris, Antaam, and Venatori. However, there was a clearly missed chance to have morally ambiguous, or even completely darker factions, with the Antivan Crows and the Lords of Fortune. Having everyone working together is all well and good, but given the darker nature of Thedas, it is somewhat unrealistic.

Inquisition did a great job of showing that while different groups might work together to stop a threat, that doesn’t mean they all get along or have suddenly become the good guys. Baldur’s Gate 3 has also done a fantastic job demonstrating this with the Guild, a shadowy group of criminals the party can ally with in Act 3, who are clearly shown to be bad people, but still worthwhile allies. However, both the Crows and the Lords in The Veilguard are shown in clean, practically glowing, at odds with the nature of each group.

The Dark History Of The Antivan Crows Feels Ignored

A Small Amount Of Acknowledgment Would Have Gone A Long Way

The Antivan Crows have been a part of the Dragon Age series since Origins and are by no stretch of the imagination the good guys. The faction’s introduction, via Zevran Arainai, painted the group as skilled but merciless assassins who took pride in always completing contracts. This is also presented to a certain degree in The Veilguard, but some of the darker and more controversial aspects of the faction are swept under the carpet by the Crows met in Treviso.

Through Zevran and details in other Dragon Age media such as Tevinter Nights and both Dragon Age: The World of Thedas volumes, the Crows are shown to have brutal recruitment and training regimes. The Crows will often buy orphaned or enslaved children to train, with only a few surviving to adulthood to fully become assassins, remaining the property of the House that purchased them. However, in The Veilguard these aspects are glossed over, with only a few remarks about how Caterina’s training of her own grandsons was literal torture.

If Zevran is in the party during the Fade missions in the mage’s tower of Origins, then his nightmares will show his torture at the hands of his trainers. Zevran can be rescued by the Warden from a rack, which presumably was part of standard Crow endurance training.

While this is a different side of the faction than Zevran experienced, there is the feeling that The Veilguard has gone too far the other way to demonstrate that the Crows are freedom fighters. Even Jacobus gets to make his own House at the end, with this framed as a positive without any member of Rook’s team questioning why a vulnerable grieving child is being made into an assassin. The Veilguard would have benefited massively from having just a few moments that address the Crow’s methods, which would have created some interesting story moments as well as acknowledged their history.

The Lords Of Fortune Fail To Make An Impression

The Lords Can't Seem To Decide What They Actually Are

The Lords of Fortune suffer in a similar way to the Antivan Crows by being excessively sanitized to the point of rendering them pointless. The Lords first appear in the anthology of short stories, Tevinter Nights, with two excellent stories focused on different of the group. Both stories demonstrate the skill of the Lords as they "procure" items or deal with dangerous monsters. However, the Lords of Fortune met in The Veilguard demonstrate none of these abilities or drive, and are instead resigned to flashy pirates in looks alone.

The Lords were an opportunity to have a cool pirate faction. However, the group feels more like it’s run by Indiana Jones, which has them veering dangerously close to the Veil Jumper’s territory. Taash even goes out of their way in several pieces of banter to reassure other team that the Lords aren’t thieves and don’t steal. But that’s exactly what they are meant to be doing as treasure hunters who regularly delve into ruins, dungeons, and other places they shouldn’t be. Ultimately, the Lords of Fortune suffer terribly from an identity crisis in The Veilguard.

Taash will explain that the Lords work with cultural experts to make sure that nothing culturally significant is ever sold. This completely defeats the point of a treasure-hunting faction as the cultural significance is what would give most items their monetary value.

The Lords don’t behave as treasure hunters, pirates, or anything in The Veilguard. Sitting in their bar, the faction’s only contribution seems to be the Arena battle quests, which, while fun, have little to do with the group’s supposed goals. Sadly, when examining their contribution to The Veilguard, the Lords of Fortune could be easily removed from the game entirely without impacting the plot. Taash could still have been introduced as a dragon expert, instead being freelance or linked to the Inquisition, as Taash’s storyline in The Veilguard has nothing to do with the faction they belong to.

Having two morally gray or shady factions would have provided balance and conflict as Rook begrudgingly teams up with them. Rook could even have voiced enthusiasm at the prospect, which could have caused conflict with other team . Instead, Dragon Age: The Veilguard opts for an odd inoffensive approach that causes its factions to lack the impact of previous incarnations.