Dragon Age 4will see players take on the Dread Wolf, a powerful Elven mage who plans to tear down the barrier between Thedas and the magical world of the Fade. This mission will take fans north to the Tevinter Imperium for the first time, the oldest human empire on the continent and the setting’s only known mage-dominated society.
Dragon Age: Inquisitionrevealed the Dread Wolf to be the Inquisitor’s companion Solas. However, that isn’t the only time the name “Solas” has sprung up in theDragon Ageseries. There’s another time the name appears in theDragon Agelore - as the name of a location, and based on what’s known about this second Solas, the area could end up being key to the Dread Wolf’s plan inDragon Age 4.
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A Town Called Solas
Tevinter’s mapis full of locations that players should be excited to finally get the chance to visit inDragon Age 4. There’s Minrathous, the capital of the empire guarded by giant golems; Ventus, a portside city taken over by the Qunari in 9:44 Dragon; as well as one location that has drawn a lot of fan attention despite players having learned next-to nothing about it over the series so far. Just above Tevinter’s Silent Plains, to the east of Perivantium, is a location simply named “Solas.”
The fact thatDragon Age 4will take players tothe Tevinter Imperium, and that Tevinter happens to have a location named after the upcoming game’s main villain, is hard to consider a coincidence. With so little information about the location marked on the Imperium map, fans have struggled to draw conclusions.
This challenge has been made even more difficult by the lack of clarity surrounding certain details in theDragon Agelore. It’s known, for example, that Solas only gained the name Fen’Harel -the Dread Wolf- after he led a rebellion against the other Elven “gods” during the days of the ancient Elven empire. However, it isn’t made clear if Solas is the name the Dread Wolf gave himself after waking up from the Fade and assuming the identity of the apostate inInquisition, or if Solas really was the name he had before turning against the other Elven gods.
If Solas really is the character’s name, then the location named Solas marked on the Tevinter map could be the ruins of an Elven town named in honor of one of their gods. It might still be an active town to this day, repurposed by the Tevinter Imperium after their successful campaign todestroy Arlathanand oust the Elven empire.
While there are a few places in Tevinter that have a significant amount of lore, Solas is not one of them. Neither is the nearby town of Perivantium. The Silent Plains region as a whole, however, may be the key to explaining why there’s a location named Solas in Tevinter, how it connects to the Dread Wolf, and why players may find themselves in the area inDragon Age 4.
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The Silent Plains
The Silent Plains are the location that the First Blight was defeated bythe Grey Wardensafter two grueling centuries of fighting. The area is believed to be haunted, which in other places in Thedas has been shown to cause the Veil between Thedas and the Fade to grow particularly thin. By the timeDragon Ageis set, the Dalish Elves are among the few groups willing to live in the region.
It has been mentioned inDragon Agethat some of the elders ofthe Dalish clansin the Silent Plains had been contacted by the Dread Wolf while he was still wandering the Fade. These Elves will likely compose the bulk of Solas' army if he has one in the next game, but their presence also helps point to the role the town of Solas might play.
The lore of the Silent Plains and its potentially Dread Wolf-worshipping Dalish Elves makes it seem likely that Solas is the name of an Elven ruin. The fact that the Veil is thin in the region as a result of the deaths that took place there duringthe First Blightcould explain how the Dread Wolf was able to contact the Dalish to begin with. It could even be the case that Solas isn’t a ruin, but the name of a Dalish settlement the Dread Wolf was able to help establish from the Fade.
It seems likely that Solas will journey to the Silent Plains inDragon Age 4. His plan to bring down the Veil will likely require forces - the Dalish Elves - and a place where the Veil is thin. The fact that BioWare has established so little about the Solas marked on the map could let the studio refit the town for an important role in the story. It could be the ruins of the city that was once the seat of Solas' power as a member ofDragon Age’s Elven pantheon. It could be the location he created the Veil in the first place, and key to its destruction.
Even if the name of the location on Tevinter’s map was originally a coincidence, the lore of the surrounding area and what’s known about the plot ofDragon Age 4so far makes it likelyBioWarewill make the location significant. It could be the site of a central battle, or an important location for players to uncover how to defeat the Dread Wolf by learning about his past. The two Solases seem unlikely to remain unaddressed.Dragon Age 4has the potential to answer some major questions from Solas' early life to the origins of the Darkspawn. The location named Solas - be it a ruin, Dalish settlement, or Tevinter town - could end up being where some of those series secrets are revealed.
Dragon Age 4is in development.
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