So…I kinda wanted go in order of the video. However, I really REALLY want to talk about dis ho
Because…well I love this. In concept and it’s just a gorgeous, if grotesque piece of art.
What this concept art is depicting is a study of Dragon anatomy, you can see (unfortunately) that the main person of the art is cutting into the dragon corpse. They have a saw (I’m gonna call it a bone saw, but I know 0 actual medical tools) and are removing some part of the Dragon (too small for the brain? but too big for eye?). They also have one of the dragon’s eyeball on an apparatus.
You can also see two skeleton assistants carrying away the dragon pieces in glorified trays.
So let’s take a closer look at the person first.
They’re dressed in a cross between armor, a smock, and an intricate headpiece. They also have more medical tools in their smock.
When I first looked at this and the other concept arts containing characters like this ones, I was super confused. This looks like a walking corpse, the glowing skull and all. Could what happened in Inquisition with the Fade, have allowed for such a shift in the possibility and acceptance of spirit beings in Thedosian society???
That was until I went back to this person’s assistants.
Their assistance are skeletons possessed by spirits, the bodies have been altered specifically to hold the spirits. And if you look closely, their bodies look more organic and coarse than the face of their master. Which got me to thinking about something, specifically something from Tevinter Nights.
Mortalitasi are known for Necromancy, summoning Fade spirits to possess mummified and preserved bodies. They foster these spirits and sometimes even employ them as assistants, giving them purpose. I especially noticed how similar the main figures outfit is to the statues outside the Nevarran Tomb pictured above.
Which means it is possible, the figure in the concept art isn’t a spirit themselves; rather they are a Mortalitasi in full uniform.
I don’t know why or how the skull helm/headpiece glows, if it is magic or residual spirit. If maybe they are possessed or if it’s just aesthetic. I’m just not sure the skull head is even their real head. Especially since the spirit skulls have lit eyes and they don’t. That’s honestly the most confusing and least convincing part of these concepts (as in a good argument to them Not being Mortalitasi).
I also mentioned before this figure shows up elsewhere in the video too.
They appear far right in what seems to be a silhouetted version of what could be Companions. I’m pretty sure this in them or someone like them, even though they are obscured. As you can still see the green glow and the head piece is similar to the one worn above (if slightly bigger) and zooming in, you can also see a similar smock/armor under their coat as above.
Meaning, if all my speculation isn’t just bullshit from too much Dragon Age College. It is possible (but of course not confirmed) we could be looking at a Mortalitasi Companion in the newest Dragon Age, which I think is awesome!! I definitely can’t wait for Nevarra! Which is why I had to do this one first, cause I just love the idea of this; even if I’m completely wrong or it changes. So sorry for not doing it ordered like I was going to (I’m going to try in the future posts), but come on!
Death Goth Dragon Mage Companion, who wouldn’t want that?
Going forward, these analysis will vary in length and content. However, I will link them all together and try to make it easy as possible to find. Some will be in-depth, some surface looks, and some just a ramble of conscious. I hope you can enjoy them all, but if not there are absolutely plenty of cool people out there looking at these things.
Lastly shout out to all the devs working hard on this game, it’s already looking really nice and I look forward to seeing more in the future with high hopes.
Coming back to this, it was mentioned in the comments that they also show up in the underwater concept art. Which I had thought, but wasn’t sure and originally wrote off as a darkspawn emissary (for reasons unknown to even my own brain).
But it definitely looks similar to them. It certainly makes the skull piece seem like a helm of some sort, seeing as it has crest and doesn’t glow underwater. Which I would expect spirity things too, for lack of a better term. Of course this could just be due to the restraints of the concept art (aka the glow still exists, we just can’t see it visual)
I wonder if the magic glow of their helmet (if that’s what it is), isn’t tied to their spirit assistants and necromancy. Kind of a personal imprint and focus for their brand of magic.
My guess on the spirit companion is that it is Audric, a self aware spirit guardsman who becomes part of the Mourn Watch in Down Among the Dead Men in Tevinter Nights. Which really excites me because he was one of my favourite characters in the book and has so much potential as a companion.
I think it’d be interesting from many perspectives if this was Audric, The only reason I wasn’t sure it was him, is he was essentially hired as an archivist of the Mourn Watch. The concept of the Dragon dissection is kind of weird, in that regard; if it is Audric. There are a lot of open ended things when it comes to this particular entity. Especially since I don’t even know if the ones pictured above, are all the same person.
My library bought in Tevinter Nights and I read it for the extra lore (which sadly made me impatient to see the new game), but suprprise surprise I preferred the two stories with romance sublots and here we are.
I loved Tevinter Nights cause Solas turned to the camera at the Dragon Age audience and was like “dudes. It might shock you to know this but… I know I’m prideful. Like… did you think I don’t fully know that? Did you think that my pride was something that was going to bamboozle me. Did you think that I don’t intimately understand both the positive and negative attributes of pride. Did you think I haven’t thought about it for years and years. Did you think I haven’t constantly wished I had a different nature. Did you think I haven’t been thinking things through. Did you think I haven’t been actively working on my weaknesses for all my life? Fuck you.”
“For a moment, the sunlight illuminated something within - a sliver of what the spirit might have been. Not the opposite of Regret. A different flavor, or shade. Contemplation. Introspection. It felt the echo of the actions that had summoned it. There might have been a better choice, said a thought it had never been allowed.”
Thinking about these lines again and how Solas is going to absolutely demolish Tevinter’s entire career.
Btw, “Hmm(derogatory)” is actually ancient elven and translates to something like
Alternatively, it’s also slang for “Dorian, I need you to shut up right now or else I won’t guarantee for my next spell to not accidentally hit you in the face.” lmao
Poor Dorian just trying to find some common ground and make friends in these strange lands, meanwhile Solas internally:
and what it has to offer us about characters, lore, and the state of Thedas up north!
Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights is a collection of fifteen short stories by various BioWare writers, published in March 2020. It features a variety of new and returning characters, in stories set in the northern nations of Thedas: Tevinter, Nevarra, Antiva, the Anderfels, and Rivain.
I first read Tevinter Nights in a migraine haze in 2020 and I thank it for entertaining me during some of the worst of that year. It’s fair to say I needed a thorough and more lucid re-read before I could give a proper review of it! So here we are, with a brief look at each of the book’s fifteen short stories. As this book seems to serve primarily as a precursor to the next game, I give my thoughts on each story, with an eye to what it brings to the party in terms of lore and characters. Any interesting or relevant worldbuilding? Anyone we might hope to see show up in Dreadwolf? Anything else of note? Off we go, to Minrathous and points north!
