Dragon Age: Lore Immersion Checklist
📚🎮 Diving deeper into the world of Thedas.
First, I saw the news about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf (yeap, the original title before it became Dragon Age: The Veilguard) & thought: “Hey, why not I revisit that amazing Dragon Age: Origins for a quick lore refresher before the new game release?”
Hah! To my surprise, this supposedly little side project turned out to be unexpectedly larger than the map of the Hinterlands this year! 🐉
From my random research, I discovered that Dragon Age lore is actually quite massive & it goes way beyond just the games. There are books, graphic novels, comics, shows, short stories, web series, compendiums… & more.
About six months later, I was still knee-deep in the Fade. It took me more than that venturing deep into the universe. I’ve played all the games, read a few books & comics, watched some of the shows, yet I’m still not done exploring all the expanded media.
With such an expansive & rich lore, I decided to split my posts into separate subseries. This first post is intended to be a quick intro & a summary checklist.
Mini Disclaimer: Within my very limited knowledge, I expect my posts will have some mistakes which I’ll gradually update from time to time. Feel free to explore further or let me know in the comments~ 🤗🐉 (Note: all purple fonts below are clickable links)
Summary Introduction.
Dragon Age was developed by the legendary studio BioWare, with its roots tracing back to around 2004. For most people, the journey into the Dragon Age universe usually begins with the games, before diving deeper into its expanded media.
Fans of Dragon Age often find themselves familiar with BioWare’s other beloved franchises too like Mass Effect, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, SWTOR, Baldur’s Gate & a few more others. Back then, it felt like they were all part of one big, nerdy family under the same roof.
Dragon Age is set in the high-fantasy world of Thedas— a continent filled with ancient mysteries, political intrigues & struggles of various nations & races against dark forces.
Central to the lore are the Mages, who draw their power from a realm called the Fade. However, they are often feared & controlled by the Chantry & its Templar enforcers.
There are also the Grey Wardens, a legendary order created to fight against the darkspawn during catastrophic events known as the Blights. Thedas is also home to the elves, dwarves, Qunari & more, each with their distinct cultures & histories.
Dragon Age Checklist (Simplified).
There isn't a specific standard way to consume Dragon Age, but for a start, most people would recommend Dragon Age: Origins, as it's one of the best games that kicked everything off.
From there, you can branch out to other books & media. You could also start with Dragon Age: Inquisition & then backtrack, or you can watch gameplay cutscenes & lore/story recaps on YouTube (I’d recommend Ghil Dirthalen & Jackdaw for their in-depth content).
Since I've been asked by a few people about my own lore journey, I decided to create a Dragon Age checklist. While this list is primarily for my own reference, I think it could be helpful for someone new to the Dragon Age universe or anyone looking to refresh their knowledge or dive deeper.
Dragon Age Timeline is a bit complex, you may refer to the summary here. For simplicity, I created this list as a more streamlined version (not an exhaustive breakdown), but I believe it still covers most of the key lore.
📚 DA: The World of Thedas (Vol.1 & Vol.2) — This is a separate compendium books, I highly recommend as a lore supplement in between.
Legends Reference:
📚 Books/Novels
📘 Comics/Graphic Novels/Short Stories
📺 Shows/Anime/Webseries/Podcasts
Prequels to Fifth Blight (Timeline: 8:66 Blessed - 9:22 Dragon)
📺 DA: Dawn of the Seeker (anime)
📺 DA: Warden’s Fall (5 parts)
Major Fifth Blight & Aftermath (Timeline: 9:30 Dragon - 9:38 Dragon)
*recently published in one book, Dark Horse DA: The First Five Graphic Novels.
dlc: Leliana’s Song
dlc: The Stone Prisoner
dlc: The Warden’s Keep
dlc: Return to Ostagar
dlc: DA - Awakening
dlc: Golems of Amgarrak
dlc: Witch Hunt
dlc: The Darkspawn Chronicles (optional, alternate what-ifs)
📺 DA: Redemption (6 episodes)
dlc: The Exiled Prince (in DA2)
dlc: Marks of the Assassin
dlc: Legacy
The Inquisition (Timeline: 9:40 Dragon - 9:44 Dragon)
***recently published together in one book, Dark Horse DA: Wraiths of Tevinter.
dlc: The Descent
dlc: Jaws of Hakkon
dlc: Trespasser
📺 DA: Absolution (netflix)
📘 DA: Deception***
📘 DA: Blue Wraith***
📘 DA: Dark Fortress***
Post-Inquisition & The Veilguard (Timeline: 9:52 Dragon)
📚 DA: Tevinter Nights (mix anthology)
🎮 DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD (newly released in Fall 2024)
For other list below, I think they can be consumed separately. You can also check out other Dragon Age Release List or the more extensive The Archivist List if you’re interested:
DA: Tabletop RPG
DA: Companion short stories
DA: IDW, Penny Arcade, The Revelation webcomics
That’s pretty much it for my first introductory post of Dragon Age, I hope you find some of it useful! I occasionally share some of my Dragon Age updates on my instagram & will probably write more about the books & games in future posts.
Ma serannas, may the Maker bless you.
~ xoxo, figu 🕊️