Dragon Age creative director John Epler talked to Polygon about how it kind of sucks that you can kill a Dalish clan in every other Dragon Age game.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard has a lot of big lore reveals — which makes sense when the two main villains are the elven gods who had been locked away for thousands of years. The franchise has always been about confronting what everyone thinks is true and realizing that the truth is way more complicated. In the case of Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain breaking free and trying to conquer the world, this means a huge reckoning for the Dalish elves, who historically worshipped the two of them as part of the elven pantheon.
“I’ll say one of the greatest challenges of this game, but also one of the most enjoyable things, was, How do the Dalish react when their gods are out in the world and rampaging?” creative director John Epler told Polygon.
It seems that across the board every Dalish elf in the game pretty much rejects their risen gods now that they’ve shown their true hand. Two of Rook’s companions, elven historian Bellara Lutare and Grey Warden Davrin, come from Dalish clans themselves and even though they’re a little shaken about confronting their gods, they’re not conflicted about doing so. In fact, among Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain’s lackeys and puppets, there’s not a single elf to be found.
Epler said that it’s vindication for the Dalish — which is nice to see considering how they’ve been portrayed in past games.
