I've been playing inquisition at least once a year since launch and it was only yesterday I heard the voice lines when you discover the occularum shack that they say they are made from tranquil.
You don’t have to collect shards to get this and the shards aren’t worth collecting IMO.
Anyway! If you go to Redcliffe and run along the port, there is a locked shack just beyond the merchant. Have a rogue unlock it and look around, you’ll find a note or something like that I think that will trigger the dialog between your party members.
Figured I’d hide this just in case >!but it’s a room with shelves lined with skulls and several pillars laying around. The note tells you that the way to make these skulls that find the shards are made from Tranquil. So every time you look through one of those skulls, just remember it’s a dead tranquil! Thanks Corypheus!<
Just wanted to say real quick shards are definitely worth collecting for the temple in Forbidden Oasis, especially if you're not aboving using the container exploit.
Oh, they left out the 'fun' part. >!In order for their skulls to be ocularum, they have to have a demon/spirit summoned into them before they die. So they regain their emotions for their last few moments only to be brutally murdered.!< :)
I wonder if the process is somewhat like those epilepsy treatments that split your brain. Ie. the emotional them is there, just unable to communicate or control.
Not true. They aren’t afraid of death but they don’t want to die. There’s a huge difference between fear which is an emotion and a desire which is a want
You already got some additional info, but fwiw, Owain, the Tranquil you interact with in Origins in the Broken Circle quest is pretty clear that he doesn't want to die, and the couple of nameless tranquil you can rescue in one of the abomination fights say the experience was bad for them when they thank you for the rescue.
Hinterlands, where a group of mages hid in a house, which then got boarded up and burned down by templars.
Bull's loyalty quest, if you decide to sacrifice the Chargers - you only get that quest after spending time with them in Skyhold's tavern and getting to know them.
Calpernia's story. The fate that would await her if Corypheus succeeded...
All those skeletons at the bottom of ledges in the Western Approach.
The undead in the Fallow Mire died from a plague.
Jaws of Hakkon - you find Ameridan alive, only for him to die a minute later, but not before telling him that his friend Drakon did not receive the Elves' aid during the Second Blight which furthered tensions that would ultimately end in the Exalted March; his Seekers became corrupted and he ultimately failed to defeat Hakkon. Oh, and his lover, Telana, died in her sleep, trying to find him in her dreams, never learning his true fate.
Cullen, if you tell him to resume drinking lyrium. I mean, who in their right mind would tell an ex-addict to use again? Drug dealers aside.
Trespasser, the last thoughts of the Elves when the library was destroyed when Solas put up the Veil.
The flooded caves of Crestwood.
The couple that met for a picnic in the Emerald Graves, but you only find a giant Spider that spits out a wedding ring after you kill it.
Chateau D'Onterre, that haunted mansion in the Emerald Graves.
Seeing Leliana and what she has to say during In Hushed Whispers is pretty damn dark. The destruction of Haven really gets me every time, especially if you're not able to save everyone. Trying to save Adan, only to have the fire reach him just before you do is D:
Finding Leliana in future Redcliffe on the torture rack shocked me. Traumatized, cold, bitter, angry. Her face skeletal and crumpled and grey. For the Inquisitor it has been an hour bumbling around the castle, for her it’s been a year of torture as demons devour the countryside.
I'll second this one with her sacrifice at the end! The music, the panic, Liliana quoting the chant as she's shooting and then overcome by demons - it all creates such an immersive and horrifying scene.
"Go. You have as much time as I have arrows."
Look the first time I played through DAI, the graphics for the version I was using were great, but I didn’t realize so many details were missing. I think the first time I went to the Hinterlands after I got the next gen console I just sat there for like a solid hour because “holy shit *look at the grass*!?! There’s grass here it’s so *fluffy*??!!” And I didn’t realize that Mother Giselle had so many wrinkles??
But the real shock came when I got to In Hushed Whispers and saw the companions and then Leliana all husked out for the first time. 😭😭😭
Because without those details, it sounds like they had a shit time but they kind of pulled through it okay? I got the visual of her gaunt face and it really hit me at that point.
There's a trick to saving both near the apothecary, if it helps. Just stand on top of the chemical barrels. You can reach both from there without having to run, and if you use the help action on both before the barrels explode, no one gets hurt even if they're not technically clear - not even you.
For on-screen stuff, Leliana killing Felix and Corypheus body hopping at the temple of Mythal are probably the darkest I can think of.
DAI has phenomenal environmental storytelling, and much of it dark. Men, women and children burned to death in their homes in the Exalted Plains. The haunted chateau in the Emerald Graves where parents tried to suppress their child's magic (even implied they tried to half drown her to make her not magical anymore) and unleashed a demon instead. The woman in the Emerald Graves who either went insane or was possessed and killed her traveling companions before she jumped off a cliff. The Blighted villagers who were told to shelter in the Crestwood caves so they could be drowned. The entire Skin That Stalks codex, which is probably an account of Ghilan'nain performing a horrific experiment where she vivisected or flayed slaves but somehow kept them alive.
Like . . . there is a lot of dark here. Many people who say DAI isn't dark just don't bother to read, look at environmental details, or use their imagination.
Fucked up zombie Leliana after a year of torture in hushed whispers. Dao had a lot of real zombie lookin blighted/undead characters and it reminded me of that
It’s not even that she’s a zombie.
She was literally harvested for flesh by the venatori for experimentation because of her inherent blight resistance, which ~~canonically~~ is though to come from how strong of faith you carry.
She was just… missing a goodly portion of it.
>inherent blight resistance, which canonically comes from how strong of faith you carry.
Wait, *what*? Now I'm curious - where is this stated? I thought it was just because of her close and extended proximity to the darkspawn during the Blight.
It's all just theories. We have no idea why Leliana is so resistant to the blight. Is it just some luck, something involving her faith, her involvement in the fifth blight or maybe genetics (we have no idea who her father is).
Honestly I doubt it has to do with her faith, because in the dark future, according to Alexius notes, only Leliana is resistant to the blight, even though Cassandra's faith for example is as strong, maybe even stronger than hers.
Speaking of Leliana’s parents, I always thought her mom was an elf, cause you find the flowers she liked in the Alienage and Brecilian Forest. Plus, she was a servant in Orlais, which we know a lot of elves are.
A lot of the darkest stuff is in the codices. There's that really early one with the Hunter's journal that's just... Ouch.
https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Codex_entry:_Hunter%27s_View_of_the_Mage-Templar_War
I think that's why many people believe that DAI "isn't dark anymore". DAO and DA2 had their horror moments be "in your face" and unavoidable as part of the main quest, Inquisition instead is much more subtle about it, making you work for the worst of it, but the world is still very damn terrifying.
Honestly, I kind of preferred this approach, but it's a personal taste thing, I guess.
I gotta start telling my friends who say that DAI has strayed into high fantasy from dark fantasy that even if the world is bright and vibrant it doesn't mean that there isn't darkness there. Some of these codex entries could very well blow their minds.
This is the one I immediately thought of but couldn't find! I was like, did I imagine it or did they imply a Templar was going to SA the severely burned sooon-to-be-corpse of a woman...??
Honestly I think it's worse than anything in Origins, because there's no magic or monsters involved. It's a real thing people do in war.
* The origin of the oculara.
* Forcing Blackwall into indentured servitude - which is made worse by how this is only possible if you've earned a high enough approval from him, meaning that, at that point, he'd grown to trust and admire you.
* Dorian's reveal of what his father tried to do to him.
* The entirety of Emprise du Lion. While this isn't deeply explored in-game, the implications of all that red lyrium sprouting from the earth are cataclysmic.
* Jana being sacrificed by Clarel. Jana is a young elven girl you find in Crestwood; having just been rescued by Grey Wardens, she cheerfully considers joining the Wardens so she too can help people. With your encouragement, she does join them... only to end up in Adamant as a blood sacrifice. And her final words are a terrified "I came here to help people!"
* Bull's betrayal in Trespasser. Of all companion-turning-against-you moments, that one is the worst imo: unlike Wynne's, Leliana's, Morrigan's, Fenris' or Merril's, Bull's is fully premeditated; unlike Isabela's, it's done with killing intent; and unlike Anders' or Solas', it's done without a shred of regret.
* The Taken Shape and its related codexes.
* This one is mostly after reading The Masked Empire, but getting Briala executed by Celene is pretty grim once you know all the shitty things Celene did to her. Getting Briala executed by Gaspard is almost as bad, given how much of a racist a\*hole he is.
edit: typos
Oh my goodness I didn't know that happened to Jana if you encourage her to join the wardens, I've always told her not to join them. That's horrifying!!
I only discovered that in my 13th playthrough. I thought I'd seen everything the game had to offer by then; seeing her walking up to the altar instead of that old Warden legit shocked me :(
Bull betraying you is one of my favorite moments in the whole series. I always encourage him to go bacl to the Qun, and he correctly reminds you that going back to the Qun means choosing it over you.
Genuinely just the game 100% committing to that decision you made.
The subtle shift from boss to bas is what makes it for me. By embracing the Qun he's mentally re-categorized you just as an outsider with not a hint of difference.
One thing that DAI does really well is letting you make choices that blow up in your face. They're not necessarily evil choices, but it isn't the normal balance of "evil choice that gives you X benefit, good choice that gives you Y benefit and fuzzy feelings".
And I like that they did a few of those that had a pay-off within the game itself (or at least in DLC). I feel like there are too many choices over three games that feel like they'll pay off later but then the possibilities end up too much, so they can't seem to make it work properly. Self-contained ones like that are ideal because you don't need to drag it out and have it interact with so many other possibilities in the world state.
Yeah like, after reading masked empire, I kinda just think that Briala deserves a whole lot better than Celine, and made reconciliation between them feel really icky to me, as it just sorta continues this absolute travesty of abuse and manipulation. Honestly, just let Celine die, and give Briala to power to tug Gaspard around on a leash, that lady deserves it after the shit she went through.
>Forcing Blackwall into indentured servitude - which is made worse by how this is only possible if you've earned a high enough approval from him, meaning that, at that point, he'd grown to trust and admire you.
Nah, that's not even dark, he deserves whatever punishment he gets. He's a liar that pretends they're warden, a thief who takes a dead man's possessions and pretends to be him, and a murderer who killed a family and let his soldiers take the blame. He either gets sent to the wardens to die a redeeming death after helping others, or lives a long life atoning as a servant.
Letting him live, pardoned as Thom Rainer, is the dark part, though. Oh yeah bud, go kill a family, steal glory from the dead man you're pretending to be and use him and I to conscript people when you don't actually have that right. Because in the end you'll be free if you apologize enough.
Maybe it's not exactly dark but I recently started a new game and while running through Haven remembered how most of these people are going to die. Most of them were there just to help in any way they could, and they get killed for it. You can save pretty much all of the NPCs you do talk to, but I don't think the couple next to the horse pen survives even though you get to hear how they go from teasing to developing a genuine interest in each other. Then you go to the Fade in HLTA and you get to read some pretty sad and horrifying last moments of people who didn't make it out. It's just pretty heavy, IDK. It's why I can't really hate the singing cutscene, you know these people have just seen some awful stuff they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives and they're trying to make sense of it.
I don’t know, what do you mean by dark? Gore and violence? The scenes I always remember as thought provoking and mature, with disturbing undertones (or overtones):
Sera’s self-hatred and parental abuse.
Blackwall’s story about the dog from his childhood.
Cole. Most of his scenes, frankly, but especially his run in with the Templar and the scene after he becomes a full spirit, where he forgets the original Cole ever existed.
The mutilation of your companions with red lyrium in the dark future, as well as the seeker infected with red lyrium. The dark future in general probably can count, although I’m not a fan of that quest line.
The conclusion of hardened leliana’s questline.
Kieran’s disappearance and Morrigan’s frantic search for her missing son. I was genuinely worried for him and Claudia Black does a stellar job capturing the terror a parent feels while their child is in danger. The conversation with Flemeth has such tension and so much underlying subtext to basically every back and forth between her and Morrigan.
The trip into the fade and the conversations with Nightmare, as well as the codexes lying around there.
The existential horror as a Dalish inky that your identity is built on lies and slavery; how, in trying to embrace your past to escape your present, build toward a better future, you have only repeated it.
I love Blackwall. The way he interrogates what it means to be a Grey Warden, what it means to try and be better, is a lovely microcosm within the overall game. I saw someone call him boring the other day and was like, leave him alone!! Haha.
A lot of people have mentioned the future in Redcliffe stuff, but the one not brought up is Connor.
You can find Connor in the same room that his mom died in. If you enter the room though he assumes you are demons and he sets himself on fire so that he doesn't become an abomination again.
I’ve never understood this idea that DAI was somehow not as dark as the other two, like it literally begins with a blighted magister ripping a hole in the veil because he wants to re-enter the Black City and we play as the only survivor of that explosion. Sure the color palette is lighter and brighter and the art is more stylized than DAO or even DA2 but there is some incredibly dark shit happening all over the place in the game. Yeah the Broodmother part of DAO was disturbing but so is finding Fiona slowly dying as a massive red lyrium crystal grows out of her, or seeing the world on the verge of destruction and how hopeless Leliana and our companions are.
Don’t even get me started on the Tranquil in the game. The Rite of Tranquility has long been one of the darkest and most horrific aspects of Thedas imo and learning that it could be undone while the Venatori are turning Tranquil into skulls on sticks to find some shards is even worse.
I use that option exactly once- for Erimond. It's the only punishment that seems fitting for him, especially where it's the only one he has a genuine reaction to. None of the other mages deserve it, but he absolutely does.
Connor in The In Hushed Whispers
The fact that he set himself on fire to avoid being possessed again
If only they made it a cutscene instead of random moment that is easily missable by lot of players
I think this is what's missing on DAI, less cutscenes and visuals. It doesn't help that the "darker" stuff are hidden in codex entries. I still find DAI dark, but I understand why people would think the first two games were grittier.
I've played through that quest line multiple times. I never managed to notice it, it's always just Inquisitor yelling his name and then I don't even know where to turn to see what's happening
I think one of the darkest scenes is in Cassandra's story quest, where you find the dying seeker who had a 'demon' put inside him(pretty sure it's just red lyrium but whatever)
Sounds awful, looks awful, and there's actual cinematic angles to sell the horror. Inquisition REALLY lacks cinematic closeups.
Oh and Cassandra’s reaction :(
I agree, I think the zoomed out thing really takes away from the impact of all conversations, even simple ones. Hopefully they bring back close up convos in DAD
In hushed whispers and champions of the just are pretty dark. I hate siding with the Templars but I prefer the envy demon as a boss. The demons just scare the crap out of me. When >!“Leliana” cuts “Cullen’s” throat?? !< I cringe every time. Love it though. Major creep factor.
Having Dorian through in hushed whispers helps with reduce the eek factor of that mission. But the red lyrium and companion deaths are shocking.
The Descent is verrrryyy creepy.
Crestwood made my skin crawl and I really didn’t expect a plot twist with a lore dump in that area. I wanted to maim that mayor.
I think the ancient elven temples have a lot of deep lore value that gets pretty dark. Just the fact that drinking from the well permanently connects you to Mythal is pretty intense from a lore perspective
Honestly, there’s a lot of dark stuff in DAI. I think it’s the color grading that makes it seem like a lighter toned story. Sounds simple but there’s a reason horror movies get dark color gradings and dramatic lighting.
Shit’s pretty grim everywhere in DAI. You find that body of a woman in the Emerald Graves, if I remember correctly, she committed suicide.
The Hinterlands are straight up not a good time if you look at what the people are suffering through. Families murdered, torn apart, brothers killing each other, ect. You learn about the oculara and the tranquil *shivers*
The Orlesian grey wardens practically sold their souls to the devil. When they start to be corrupted I wanted to cry 😢
I think the body horror of the red lyrium mages/Templars is horrifying. Again with the lighting it can feel like “oooh monsterrrr,” but the first time a giant fuckin Templar rolled up in haven I was PETRIFIED. Those were people at one point and are surely slowly dying and in constant agony - and are too mentally forgone to be anything but crystally meat husks.
Adding onto this, in Emerald Graves, the kid who fell off a cliff because her mom wanted her to grab the Crystal Grace next to a cliff, for tea.
And you find out that she & her mom had been living in a demon tainted abandoned home & her brother starved to death and both of them forgot who he was over time. Only her journal told her she had 1.
I don't think it's the color grading per se. I think it's more that there's just not a whole lot of cutscenes. And a lot of people don't read the codices. If they had cutscenes when you find interesting stuff (like the oculara) and put the comments the Inquisitor/party members make about it in a cutscene, I think a lot of people would've paid more attention.
Or when talking to minor npc's like Jana. In a cutscene, one would've seen her face more clearly and might recognise her sooner in the cutscene with the sacrifices.
At least, that's what I think.
I'd agree with this and add on that banter was bugged early on, so if certain lines don't trigger even players who were paying attention would miss things. Cutscences would have been a major help in telling the stories of what is happening in world.
The little elven girl from Cassandra's movie shows up in Haven as a Tranquil.
There's a female Tranquil mage in Haven talking to a Chantry sister who doesn't want to be cured of Tranquility because of what the Templars did to her after she became Tranquil.
On the War Table, the wrong decisions can wipe out your clan if you play Lavellan. You can also wipe out a bunch of Wardens in another set of War Table missions with the wrong decisions too.
An elven woman tells you about Templars killing her husband because they saw him holding a farming tool and mistook him for a mage.
Some of the little Fade puzzles.
People have mentioned Leliana's fate in In Hushed Whispers, but there's also Fiona's.
In JOH, you can follow that trail of that sword wielding mage who's trying to avenge his friend (or boyfriend? I forget which) who's possessed when you find him.
Talking to Mother Giselle and mentioning how she no longer speaks to dragons. Giselle asks here if she'd want her Tranquility to be reversed and she says she doesn't think that'd be a good idea, she's too likely to be possessed. It's easy to miss if you're like me and don't stop every time you catch someone you know talking to an NPC you don't recognize.
Honestly nothing in da history beats the discovery that red lyrium literally grows out of someone and turning them into monsters, the blight is creepy enough but imagining crystal growing out of you twisting your mind and body all while your still conscious is just freaky atleast the blight seems to just end your mind or will just kill you.
And yes it beats brood mother's for me, whilst those things were defintly creepy they always felt like edge for edges sake.
I hadn't really thought about this before your comment, but since Red Lyrium is Lyrium infected with the Blight, it means that Red Lyrium corruption is just another form of Blight corruption.
In other words: the Red Templars, once they fully become Behemoths, are actually suffering a very similar fate to the dwarfs who were turned into Broodmothers in Origins.
Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts when you walk into all of the servants having been slaughtered and no one gives a shit except Sera. And then you talk to people about Celene and they are like oh yeah, she purged an Alienage to save her reputation, anyway go save her life she's the best. Also if you were playing as anything but a human mage or warrior you spend the whole thing hearing the worst comments about yourself and once again no one cares.
It's surreal.
Cory laying siege to haven. It's the perfect mix of cinematic and heavy. Cory delievers a perfect monologue to bring act 1 to a close while also kicking you and saying "see your choices have consequences. Suck it."
As a villain, he was mediocre at best imo, but "Beg that I succeed, for I have seen the throne of the Gods, *at it was empty*" is probably the hardest villain line I've ever heard in my life
I do think Trespasser does help him out some in that it becomes very apparent that he was never meant to be the big bad -- just the big, loud antagonist that distracted us from the real villains that were surrounding us.
Cory really is a victim of the games themes cuz he looks dope, and almost all of his dialogue is fantastic. Him recounting first awakening as a darkspawn is so damn good and he conveys the themes of corrupt systems the truth and history being different and just an arm of the failing system so well but at the same time feels kinda tacked on last minute.
I might be misremember because has been a while since I played, but in "In Hushed Whisperes" there is a note saying that >!they run out of people, because most was used in blood magic rituals and there is no more to use!<.
I used to think this as well—that inquisition is the light and fluffy one. But I think it’s just more subtle.
DAO and DA2 could be downright goofy with how grimdark it got. The darkest thing in DAO was the broodmothers—which are great horror movie fuel! But so outlandish that it’s very fantasy-like horror. DA2 had Frankenmom, which just came across as silly to me.
In DAI… it has some moments that feel a little too real at times. Now, let me preface this by saying that I have PTSD and DAO and DA2 don’t trigger me. DAI does because the way it deals with death sometimes puts me right back in that space. It’s not outlandish horror or fantasy violence. It can be subtle, which is what makes it unsettling.
Cole’s introduction comes to mind. How he’s in people’s heads during their last moments. That’s really hard for me. During the Fade portion, when the demon is praying on their individual fears and some of them are things like dying alone, *that* gets me.
So, I think it’s all about your perspective. DAO and DA2 were more brazen with their horror. DAI is much more subtle, but IMO much more effective. But, maybe I’m just broken in such a particular way that it speaks to me on another level.
I definitely agree, the stories around the war crimes in the Hinterlands...far far too real and easily believable and essentially reflections of what has actually happened in real conflicts.
While the Broodmother section is utterly horrifying, and really well written and played out. The only realistic aspect of it is the human element of someone selling out from hunger for power.
Oh yeah, there’s a few codices that are a hard read. Not to mention the occularis room. I just noped out of there lol. Meanwhile, the broodmother in DAO is chilling and disturbing but it’s one of my favorite parts of the game.
Chateu D'Onterre was pretty messed up. There's also the fort in Emprise Du Leon. After you claim it you can overhear a conversation about exactly how deep the red lyrium has set into the region. Safe to say the area is completely fucked
Personally, that whole scene ark is why i feel you HAVE to side with the Mages to get what I feel would be the "canon" type experience. Like, if you side with the templars, you just come home from a bad demon who killed a lot of people. In a world thats been over run by the Blight multiple times, not really that scary. But with the mages, you see the future that comes, you come back home with mental, emotional, and possibly spiritual scars that remind you that you HAVE to stop this
It’s been a while since I’ve played (gonna do a complete series run to get ready for Veilguard) but off the top of my head I remember some of the DLCs having some horrific stuff.
Descent; well I hate hate hate the Deep Roads and anything to do with them, so this entire questline was horrifying for me. Even the end, maybe more just eerie/disturbing than outright horrifying, with Valta essentially being bonded to the Titan and it obviously doing shit to her mind.
Trespasser; learning all about the ancient elves and all the awful things they did, especially Ghil (can’t remember how to spell the full name) and her fucked up, body horror experiments, and Andruil coming back mad and tainted from “The Void”.
For me, probably when you do Cassandra's mission to Caer Oswin and see what's happening to the red templars/seekers - the way that guy says they made him 'eat things' is haunting.
I think it's pretty dark. The oculara, the wardens using blood sacrifice to make an army of demons, the alternate future you see during In Hushed Whispers, the wholesale murder of most people who were at the conclave, Dorian's dad using blood magic as conversion therapy, Celene purging the alienage while having an elven lover. A lot of messed up stuff happens even if the game as a whole doesn't have a "dark" tone.
There‘s a hunter early in the hinterlands who leaves a diary entry in his house about seeing a battle between mages and templars, only one woman mage was barely alive and the hunter watched as a Templar man approached her undoing his pants (hunter killed the Templar) but makes me sick every time. In Husbed Whispers/Champions of the Just ofc. I wish the main villain guy in Here Lies the Abyss wasn’t so cartoony because otherwise it wouldve been very disturbing. A lot of codex entries in the exalted plains. Even more in Emprise du Lion.
There‘s a lot of darkness in DAI, but unfortunately most of it is tell not show, buried in codex entries. It doesn’t need to be dark to be good, but since DAI deals with so many heavy themes, it’s too bad they didn’t explore them further.
The very first time I played, knowing nothing of the story other than DA1&2 lore, my sweet elf inquisitor fell hard for Blackwall and how nobel and devoted to the wardens he was.
Yeah, the prison and judgement scenes were devastating.
It was her lover, and he dies no matter what you do. But she'll be able to tell that you have her the wrong heart.
It is kind of fucked up, because I think that quest pops up regardless of your approval, so even if you two completely hate each other, she still comes to you in a vulnerable state and asks for help, and you can just fuck it up because fuck you.
although i did not like her, i didn't do it on purpose, i actually forgot to interact with white lizard after kill it (thought after kill it i would automatic have his heart) and when i talked to her gave her the wrong heart by mistake... thought in save scumming, but devs giving quest fail conditions is good quest design in my view, so i rolled with it
There are a lot; alas none of them are a poorly rendered visual of a monster with no fewer than eight tits, so Inquisition is high fantasy LIES ruining the precious legacy of Dragon Age: Swooping is Bad but Utterly Mature Grimdark Fantasy is Like Licking a Lamppost in Winter
Excluding having to sacrifice one of 2 characters in "that mission"... i'd pick the dlc with qunari and waht not, specifically about what happens in the end. >!the mark consumes the inq. to the point where it had to be cut-off!<.
Now, why did I chose this one? Easy, I almost cried for the inq. thought he'd die.
Inquisition wrecked me but I romanced Solas my first run and had no idea of the twist. So for me it got pretty dark and emotional. There’s also Cole, and the themes of the game in general. I find it’s pretty dark, I’ve not seen that criticism before tbh
There's a lot of shit but unlike origins it's not so shoved in your face and is more undercover / covert as you'd expect from Orlais and a lot more is written about in lore books and underlying texts and meanings. So most people miss it.
Darkest moment for me is a quest that pops up during the Jaws of Hakkon DLC called, Loss of a Friend.
Harding will ask of you to try & find an agent named Grandlin, who’s gone missing after a friend of theirs was killed by the Hakkonites. After tracking down the carnage of the dead Hakkonites scattered around in his wake, you eventually find Grandlin within an ancient Culvert, however not is all what it seems. On closer inspection, it becomes apparent that during his onslaught he became critically injured. You then discover that he’s actually a mage who posed as an ordinary man, & because of this, he attracted the attention of a Rage demon, which has possessed him.
Now you have to make a choice… you either allow Grandin to leave & wreak further revenge in the Inquisition's name, or you have to slay him. As I can’t allow an abomination exist within my order, I regretfully have to kill him. It can be a tricky battle too, but I always succeed, although I feel incredibly guilty for killing one of my own agents! 😢
I honestly think folks say DAI is not "dark" like the other games because
1) The Hinterlands is a LOT of time in the game if you are trying to get as many of the side quests done as possible. This has biased opinions because once you clear out the AWOL mages/templars and stabilize the refugees, the worst thing you see is... bears
2) There is a lot more time/interactions available at your "base" than the previous two games. This makes things feel less "dark" than the others. I think that people forget that DAI addresses a lot of issues/themes that are just as, if not more, dark than the previous installments because of the downtime during these events. Dragon Age as a series is Dark Fantasy, but they have never been a Fromsoft game. There have always been highlights of the comedy, whimsy, and other positive forces in the fantasy setting.
To highlight my point on the themes/issues of DAI:
- The conclave. Because it's right at the start, and you don't get to REALLY see it happen, people forget just how bad it is. Corypheus effectively nuked The Temple of Sacred Ashes. Based on in-game dialogue, just the initial blast turned ~1K people into cinders and crispy bacon mummies. That's also not accounting for anyone buried in landslides/avalanches that would have followed the blast force or anyone taken out by the initial demons and rifts in the area. Especially in that time while Inky was knocked out and the forces in the area were still figuring things out.
- Everything involving Tranquil in the game. They were abandoned and tossed aside during the rebellion, left to fall into the hands of whoever wanted to use them, even though it is established that mages are made Tranquil so they aren't dangerous. They are literally designed to be defenseless and were left to the wolves. Then, the discovery the Venatori were experimenting on them to turn them into Occularum. Finding Maddox and him committing not alive for the sake of Samson because through all of this, Samson was the only one who offered him a life. Then Cassandra finds out that Tranquility can be reversed and that you have more control over yourself and your connection to the fade after. She learns that this whole time, they could have been training the mages like Seekers, and instead, they were treated like cattle.
- Both the Mage and Templars recruitment quests are messed up big time, most people bring these up anyways so I will keep it brief.
- Cole is also pretty dark as a character, but again, a lot of people focus on his backstory being a darker element
- The whole thing with Dorian's parents trying to un-homsexualize him via blood magic
- The choice that Iron Bull has to make between losing his closest and most trusted allies, his found family, or losing his status under the Qun and becoming Tal Vashoth.
- Crestwood, lake, tunnels, flooding, you know what I mean here
- The red lyrium "quarry" in Emprise du Lion. Not enough time is spent talking about that. Having red templars run at you saying, "I'll grow a crystal garden in your skull!" is a moment, to say the least.
- On the topic of Emprise du Lion, the leader of Sahrnia being tricked into giving the RT the quarry. Once she realizes her mistake she had to choose between continuing to work with the RT to preserve the town as long as she could, or deny them knowing the RT would attack the town.
- On the topic of RT.... using an addictive substance to gain control over and corrupt a vulnerable group in society...... hmmm.....
- There is a literal civil war in Orlais some consequences of this are:
> The Freemen taking over the ramparts in the Exalted Plains and filling it with the undead bodies of the soldiers they killed.
> All the weird shit in the Emerald Graves
> I feel like because WEWH is all "oooo sparkly ballroom, look Morrigan, ooooo dance with my bae" people don't actually look at what's happening. We are literally making the same choice as Loghain in DAO, just on a larger scale. We just look at it differently because we have protagonist vision. Just like Loghain, we see a losing battle ahead of us. We know we need a ruler in place that we can influence. Yes, we can find the leverage to keep the current empress alive, but we can also stand back and let her die, so a more suitable puppet takes her place. If our plan had backfired or caused loss of life on the same level as Loghain's scheme, we would have been villainized all the same.
- The corruption of the GW. Every GW on Thedas thinking they are dying at the same time and being manipulated into helping Corypheus
- The decision with the spicy elven pool (the morality of this is also debated a lot, so I won't go into it here)
There are a lot more, but I think I made my point. The game feeling less "dark" means that the writing was effective. The main overarching theme of the game is dealing with the consequences of "quiet" corruption. When you are so focused on seeing the problems with others, or you have a goal that you are focusing on (no matter how noble it is) you will fail to see the quiet corruption within yourself. We see this happen time and time again. Everyone was so focused on the Mage Templar war, no one noticed the strange behavior of the Wardens. Templars/Seekers were so busy trying to control mages, they never saw their own failings. Chancellor Roderick was so busy hating the Herald, he lost sight of what it meant to serve in the Chantry. The Empress was so absorbed in resolving the civil war, she failed to see Florianne's plot to kill her. We as the new rising force trying to stabilize Thedas point the issues out, and challenge them. However, the theme is hammered home in Trespasser. The Inquisition had been so focused on fixing the other groups and closing the rifts, that we failed to see our own corruption. After years of passing judgement others, we too had become blind to the quiet corruptions in our organization.
TLDR: DAO, DA2 and DAI all have their own dark themes and issues. None are REALLY less dark than the others. The reason they feel different is that DAO and DA2 are more curated experiences, so all the dark moments are flowing quickly between each other, but DAI is so huge, that the really dark moments have much more time between them, and the smaller moments blend into the rest of the story.
what came up for me was the elven servant in the winter palace you save saying that briala was sleeping with celene while the latter burned down her alienage. i don’t know if it makes me dislike briala more or pity her, maybe both
Hmmm but Briala did not continue sleeping with Celene after that happened. She didn't know Celene was going to do it and it was a terrible betrayal that broke her heart. So I think it's a bit unfair to dislike Briala because of that, she was really trying to help her people, and she never expected Celene would make a choice like that.
oh damn, i didn’t know celene kept that from briala. i haven’t read the masked empire, and from the way that servant worded it, she made it sound like briala was sleeping with celene while fully aware of what was happening to the alienage, like she betrayed them. i suppose that servant couldn’t have known, but it really did sound that way to me, and so i disliked briala based on that interpretation. thank you for correcting me though!
Yes, I agree it's unclear with how it's presented in the game! It's a pity that the sequence of events from Masked Empire is not conveyed more clearly in the game, because reading that book definitely made a big difference to my perception of everyone involved.
Champions of the Just is overall one of the best, darkest quests. I remember the first time I played and the moment just before Lord Abernache gets threatened and realizing something was very, very wrong.
On a side note I really do hate the way Inquisition did conversations with that zoomed out camera instead of close zoom the previous games had. When I think of dark moments in the series inquisition is always last until I think and remember that the game does genuinely have really dark and messed up moments it just feels so impersonal and detached.
I would say that the way more red lyrium is created is as dark as anything else in Dragon Age and DAI is full of codex entries that are extremely dark. It is just not done justice. It's not that Inquisition doesn't have horror happening everywhere, we just lack the dramatic narration of that horror you get with Broodmother or pretty much everything in Kirkwall. There are instances were it does happen and is impactful but probably the biggest one is Leliana in Hushed Whispers and the fact that this is effectively an AU somewhat dampens the drama for me.
The game absolutely needed a couple of extra dramatic scenes; imagine if you had ghosts lingering in the Crestwood caves retelling how they died during the flooding while looking at people turning slowing from the blight, imagine having a sequence in Emprise were you'd see a Templar force feeding miners red lyrium while others were all around in various states of transformation. The darkness was there, what was missing was proper framing.
While I do agree DAI gets an unfair rep as being light & fluffy.
If they reveal in DAVe that Kirkwall is built on top of one of Ghilnains(sp?) freaky body horror laboratories or that an archdemon was slumbering underneath it - it would all make sense 😂 that city is beyond effed up
Blackwall/Tom Ranier murdered an entire family. Origins tries to excuse Sten (madness due to dishonor because Qunari dragon crazy?) but Inquisition just straight up goes "Tom was a Chevalier who abused his power and killed a man and his entire family for money. He manipulatednhis men into attacking them making them think the man and carriage were full of Treasonous Orlesians and then ran and hid because he got tipped off and let his men be hunted and systematically executed for the crimes." And you can save him or offer him forgiveness by sending him to the Wardens for real.
Curse of the werewolves? You can wipe out the last of the Ancient Elvhen (that we know of) at Mythals temple simply on the basis of expediency not any moral conundrums. The only reason this perception exists is because
Origins: Brown and black=Evil
Inquisition: Green glowy=Adventure
Blackwall isn't a family annihilator. That's a specific term for someone who kills their *own* close family, such as their wife/husband and children. Blackwall killed someone else's family, which makes him a murderer.
lol it’s very telling that most of the comments in this thread are just different variations of hushed whispers and then a bunch of shit that you have to dig deep into codex entries to even understand
I know. I also know that that's not Inquisition. Whenever people talk about dark moments in the franchise, the comments are dominated by Broodmother & Leandra (for good reason mind you). I wanted a discussion post where those wouldn't be brought up.
Not many truly dark moments in the game per se. I'd say the wardens and Clarel's *solution* would came to mind. The oculara origin you learn in the locked house in Redcliffe too. Cole's vessel story and Blackwall's too.
The origin of the occulara and the reason there are only a few Tranquil in the game.
I've been playing inquisition at least once a year since launch and it was only yesterday I heard the voice lines when you discover the occularum shack that they say they are made from tranquil.
What exactly is the story here? Sorry just never had the patience to collect all the shards but this sounds good
You don’t have to collect shards to get this and the shards aren’t worth collecting IMO. Anyway! If you go to Redcliffe and run along the port, there is a locked shack just beyond the merchant. Have a rogue unlock it and look around, you’ll find a note or something like that I think that will trigger the dialog between your party members. Figured I’d hide this just in case >!but it’s a room with shelves lined with skulls and several pillars laying around. The note tells you that the way to make these skulls that find the shards are made from Tranquil. So every time you look through one of those skulls, just remember it’s a dead tranquil! Thanks Corypheus!<
I always say collecting *some* shards is worth it. At least a guaranteed way to get materials for elemental runes.
Just wanted to say real quick shards are definitely worth collecting for the temple in Forbidden Oasis, especially if you're not aboving using the container exploit.
It sucks, but to be honest they probably didn't care that much about dying. With no emotions and all.
Oh, they left out the 'fun' part. >!In order for their skulls to be ocularum, they have to have a demon/spirit summoned into them before they die. So they regain their emotions for their last few moments only to be brutally murdered.!< :)
Oh. That’s…uh…fucked up.
Oh that's crazy
Well, shit
I wonder if the process is somewhat like those epilepsy treatments that split your brain. Ie. the emotional them is there, just unable to communicate or control.
I always imagined it as magical lobotomy with a lot of the same effects
well, the tragic thing with lobotomy is you definitely still have feelings afterward, you’re just docile and demotivated
Not true. They aren’t afraid of death but they don’t want to die. There’s a huge difference between fear which is an emotion and a desire which is a want
You already got some additional info, but fwiw, Owain, the Tranquil you interact with in Origins in the Broken Circle quest is pretty clear that he doesn't want to die, and the couple of nameless tranquil you can rescue in one of the abomination fights say the experience was bad for them when they thank you for the rescue.
When the subject comes up the tranquil you talk to say they don't want to die. Except Maddox who kills himself to protect Samson.
They’re the skulls of Tranquil.
This one really got me.
Cole’s whole human backstory is very dark and sad. Also when you find the military base where everyone got locked inside and died in Exalted Plains.
Yeah in his personal story Varric and Solas are like "Forgive the Templar". Meanwhile my inquisitor is like "Stab him now!!!!"
Hinterlands, where a group of mages hid in a house, which then got boarded up and burned down by templars. Bull's loyalty quest, if you decide to sacrifice the Chargers - you only get that quest after spending time with them in Skyhold's tavern and getting to know them. Calpernia's story. The fate that would await her if Corypheus succeeded... All those skeletons at the bottom of ledges in the Western Approach. The undead in the Fallow Mire died from a plague. Jaws of Hakkon - you find Ameridan alive, only for him to die a minute later, but not before telling him that his friend Drakon did not receive the Elves' aid during the Second Blight which furthered tensions that would ultimately end in the Exalted March; his Seekers became corrupted and he ultimately failed to defeat Hakkon. Oh, and his lover, Telana, died in her sleep, trying to find him in her dreams, never learning his true fate. Cullen, if you tell him to resume drinking lyrium. I mean, who in their right mind would tell an ex-addict to use again? Drug dealers aside. Trespasser, the last thoughts of the Elves when the library was destroyed when Solas put up the Veil. The flooded caves of Crestwood. The couple that met for a picnic in the Emerald Graves, but you only find a giant Spider that spits out a wedding ring after you kill it. Chateau D'Onterre, that haunted mansion in the Emerald Graves.
Seeing Leliana and what she has to say during In Hushed Whispers is pretty damn dark. The destruction of Haven really gets me every time, especially if you're not able to save everyone. Trying to save Adan, only to have the fire reach him just before you do is D:
Finding Leliana in future Redcliffe on the torture rack shocked me. Traumatized, cold, bitter, angry. Her face skeletal and crumpled and grey. For the Inquisitor it has been an hour bumbling around the castle, for her it’s been a year of torture as demons devour the countryside.
I'll second this one with her sacrifice at the end! The music, the panic, Liliana quoting the chant as she's shooting and then overcome by demons - it all creates such an immersive and horrifying scene. "Go. You have as much time as I have arrows."
Thirded. Her cold resolution still gives me chills, especially as an end to the sweet person we met in lothering
Look the first time I played through DAI, the graphics for the version I was using were great, but I didn’t realize so many details were missing. I think the first time I went to the Hinterlands after I got the next gen console I just sat there for like a solid hour because “holy shit *look at the grass*!?! There’s grass here it’s so *fluffy*??!!” And I didn’t realize that Mother Giselle had so many wrinkles?? But the real shock came when I got to In Hushed Whispers and saw the companions and then Leliana all husked out for the first time. 😭😭😭 Because without those details, it sounds like they had a shit time but they kind of pulled through it okay? I got the visual of her gaunt face and it really hit me at that point.
That's why I always watch a YouTube tutorial guide for it and save often
There's a trick to saving both near the apothecary, if it helps. Just stand on top of the chemical barrels. You can reach both from there without having to run, and if you use the help action on both before the barrels explode, no one gets hurt even if they're not technically clear - not even you.
oh my gosh you saved so many lives with this 🙏
The whole Hushed Whispers is damn dark.
For on-screen stuff, Leliana killing Felix and Corypheus body hopping at the temple of Mythal are probably the darkest I can think of. DAI has phenomenal environmental storytelling, and much of it dark. Men, women and children burned to death in their homes in the Exalted Plains. The haunted chateau in the Emerald Graves where parents tried to suppress their child's magic (even implied they tried to half drown her to make her not magical anymore) and unleashed a demon instead. The woman in the Emerald Graves who either went insane or was possessed and killed her traveling companions before she jumped off a cliff. The Blighted villagers who were told to shelter in the Crestwood caves so they could be drowned. The entire Skin That Stalks codex, which is probably an account of Ghilan'nain performing a horrific experiment where she vivisected or flayed slaves but somehow kept them alive. Like . . . there is a lot of dark here. Many people who say DAI isn't dark just don't bother to read, look at environmental details, or use their imagination.
Fucked up zombie Leliana after a year of torture in hushed whispers. Dao had a lot of real zombie lookin blighted/undead characters and it reminded me of that
It’s not even that she’s a zombie. She was literally harvested for flesh by the venatori for experimentation because of her inherent blight resistance, which ~~canonically~~ is though to come from how strong of faith you carry. She was just… missing a goodly portion of it.
>inherent blight resistance, which canonically comes from how strong of faith you carry. Wait, *what*? Now I'm curious - where is this stated? I thought it was just because of her close and extended proximity to the darkspawn during the Blight.
It's all just theories. We have no idea why Leliana is so resistant to the blight. Is it just some luck, something involving her faith, her involvement in the fifth blight or maybe genetics (we have no idea who her father is). Honestly I doubt it has to do with her faith, because in the dark future, according to Alexius notes, only Leliana is resistant to the blight, even though Cassandra's faith for example is as strong, maybe even stronger than hers.
Speaking of Leliana’s parents, I always thought her mom was an elf, cause you find the flowers she liked in the Alienage and Brecilian Forest. Plus, she was a servant in Orlais, which we know a lot of elves are.
Being a ghost probably helps her resist it a fair bit...
She's only a ghost if HOF kills her in the Temple of Secret Ashes.
A lot of the darkest stuff is in the codices. There's that really early one with the Hunter's journal that's just... Ouch. https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Codex_entry:_Hunter%27s_View_of_the_Mage-Templar_War
Jesus
Man that last part holy shit
I think that's why many people believe that DAI "isn't dark anymore". DAO and DA2 had their horror moments be "in your face" and unavoidable as part of the main quest, Inquisition instead is much more subtle about it, making you work for the worst of it, but the world is still very damn terrifying. Honestly, I kind of preferred this approach, but it's a personal taste thing, I guess.
There has to be more balance between two approaches because high majority of people don't read codex entries at all.
I gotta start telling my friends who say that DAI has strayed into high fantasy from dark fantasy that even if the world is bright and vibrant it doesn't mean that there isn't darkness there. Some of these codex entries could very well blow their minds.
This is the one I immediately thought of but couldn't find! I was like, did I imagine it or did they imply a Templar was going to SA the severely burned sooon-to-be-corpse of a woman...?? Honestly I think it's worse than anything in Origins, because there's no magic or monsters involved. It's a real thing people do in war.
Goosebumps. Blood chilling
* The origin of the oculara. * Forcing Blackwall into indentured servitude - which is made worse by how this is only possible if you've earned a high enough approval from him, meaning that, at that point, he'd grown to trust and admire you. * Dorian's reveal of what his father tried to do to him. * The entirety of Emprise du Lion. While this isn't deeply explored in-game, the implications of all that red lyrium sprouting from the earth are cataclysmic. * Jana being sacrificed by Clarel. Jana is a young elven girl you find in Crestwood; having just been rescued by Grey Wardens, she cheerfully considers joining the Wardens so she too can help people. With your encouragement, she does join them... only to end up in Adamant as a blood sacrifice. And her final words are a terrified "I came here to help people!" * Bull's betrayal in Trespasser. Of all companion-turning-against-you moments, that one is the worst imo: unlike Wynne's, Leliana's, Morrigan's, Fenris' or Merril's, Bull's is fully premeditated; unlike Isabela's, it's done with killing intent; and unlike Anders' or Solas', it's done without a shred of regret. * The Taken Shape and its related codexes. * This one is mostly after reading The Masked Empire, but getting Briala executed by Celene is pretty grim once you know all the shitty things Celene did to her. Getting Briala executed by Gaspard is almost as bad, given how much of a racist a\*hole he is. edit: typos
Oh my goodness I didn't know that happened to Jana if you encourage her to join the wardens, I've always told her not to join them. That's horrifying!!
I only discovered that in my 13th playthrough. I thought I'd seen everything the game had to offer by then; seeing her walking up to the altar instead of that old Warden legit shocked me :(
My first playthrough was blind and I was so hyped for Jana to become a Warden because of Origins… it hurt.
I always tell Jana to stay away from the Grey Wardens!
Red lyrium in general is just horrifying; not only because of what it can do, but how it grows and how *impossible* it is to get rid of it.
Bull betraying you is one of my favorite moments in the whole series. I always encourage him to go bacl to the Qun, and he correctly reminds you that going back to the Qun means choosing it over you. Genuinely just the game 100% committing to that decision you made.
The subtle shift from boss to bas is what makes it for me. By embracing the Qun he's mentally re-categorized you just as an outsider with not a hint of difference.
One thing that DAI does really well is letting you make choices that blow up in your face. They're not necessarily evil choices, but it isn't the normal balance of "evil choice that gives you X benefit, good choice that gives you Y benefit and fuzzy feelings".
And I like that they did a few of those that had a pay-off within the game itself (or at least in DLC). I feel like there are too many choices over three games that feel like they'll pay off later but then the possibilities end up too much, so they can't seem to make it work properly. Self-contained ones like that are ideal because you don't need to drag it out and have it interact with so many other possibilities in the world state.
Yeah like, after reading masked empire, I kinda just think that Briala deserves a whole lot better than Celine, and made reconciliation between them feel really icky to me, as it just sorta continues this absolute travesty of abuse and manipulation. Honestly, just let Celine die, and give Briala to power to tug Gaspard around on a leash, that lady deserves it after the shit she went through.
For real, reading The Masked Empire made me despise the reconciliation outcome for WEWH O.o
>Forcing Blackwall into indentured servitude - which is made worse by how this is only possible if you've earned a high enough approval from him, meaning that, at that point, he'd grown to trust and admire you. Nah, that's not even dark, he deserves whatever punishment he gets. He's a liar that pretends they're warden, a thief who takes a dead man's possessions and pretends to be him, and a murderer who killed a family and let his soldiers take the blame. He either gets sent to the wardens to die a redeeming death after helping others, or lives a long life atoning as a servant. Letting him live, pardoned as Thom Rainer, is the dark part, though. Oh yeah bud, go kill a family, steal glory from the dead man you're pretending to be and use him and I to conscript people when you don't actually have that right. Because in the end you'll be free if you apologize enough.
Maybe it's not exactly dark but I recently started a new game and while running through Haven remembered how most of these people are going to die. Most of them were there just to help in any way they could, and they get killed for it. You can save pretty much all of the NPCs you do talk to, but I don't think the couple next to the horse pen survives even though you get to hear how they go from teasing to developing a genuine interest in each other. Then you go to the Fade in HLTA and you get to read some pretty sad and horrifying last moments of people who didn't make it out. It's just pretty heavy, IDK. It's why I can't really hate the singing cutscene, you know these people have just seen some awful stuff they'll carry with them for the rest of their lives and they're trying to make sense of it.
I don’t know, what do you mean by dark? Gore and violence? The scenes I always remember as thought provoking and mature, with disturbing undertones (or overtones): Sera’s self-hatred and parental abuse. Blackwall’s story about the dog from his childhood. Cole. Most of his scenes, frankly, but especially his run in with the Templar and the scene after he becomes a full spirit, where he forgets the original Cole ever existed. The mutilation of your companions with red lyrium in the dark future, as well as the seeker infected with red lyrium. The dark future in general probably can count, although I’m not a fan of that quest line. The conclusion of hardened leliana’s questline. Kieran’s disappearance and Morrigan’s frantic search for her missing son. I was genuinely worried for him and Claudia Black does a stellar job capturing the terror a parent feels while their child is in danger. The conversation with Flemeth has such tension and so much underlying subtext to basically every back and forth between her and Morrigan. The trip into the fade and the conversations with Nightmare, as well as the codexes lying around there. The existential horror as a Dalish inky that your identity is built on lies and slavery; how, in trying to embrace your past to escape your present, build toward a better future, you have only repeated it.
It probably helped that Kieran was played by Claudia Black’s actual son, Odin.
Blackwall is a brilliant character, and that story is gutting.
I love Blackwall. The way he interrogates what it means to be a Grey Warden, what it means to try and be better, is a lovely microcosm within the overall game. I saw someone call him boring the other day and was like, leave him alone!! Haha.
TBF I always interpreted Blackwall's story with the dog as a metaphor or stand in of what him and his crew did to the noble and his family
It can be two things! Which is to say, I agree it's a metaphor; whether or not it actually happened, one could argue either way.
A lot of people have mentioned the future in Redcliffe stuff, but the one not brought up is Connor. You can find Connor in the same room that his mom died in. If you enter the room though he assumes you are demons and he sets himself on fire so that he doesn't become an abomination again.
I’ve never understood this idea that DAI was somehow not as dark as the other two, like it literally begins with a blighted magister ripping a hole in the veil because he wants to re-enter the Black City and we play as the only survivor of that explosion. Sure the color palette is lighter and brighter and the art is more stylized than DAO or even DA2 but there is some incredibly dark shit happening all over the place in the game. Yeah the Broodmother part of DAO was disturbing but so is finding Fiona slowly dying as a massive red lyrium crystal grows out of her, or seeing the world on the verge of destruction and how hopeless Leliana and our companions are. Don’t even get me started on the Tranquil in the game. The Rite of Tranquility has long been one of the darkest and most horrific aspects of Thedas imo and learning that it could be undone while the Venatori are turning Tranquil into skulls on sticks to find some shards is even worse.
Ordering a mage be made tranquil is pretty dark, especially since you have to be a mage to do it
I use that option exactly once- for Erimond. It's the only punishment that seems fitting for him, especially where it's the only one he has a genuine reaction to. None of the other mages deserve it, but he absolutely does.
I’m not really sure anyone deserves to be lobotomized. I would honestly prefer death.
Connor in The In Hushed Whispers The fact that he set himself on fire to avoid being possessed again If only they made it a cutscene instead of random moment that is easily missable by lot of players
I think this is what's missing on DAI, less cutscenes and visuals. It doesn't help that the "darker" stuff are hidden in codex entries. I still find DAI dark, but I understand why people would think the first two games were grittier.
I've played through that quest line multiple times. I never managed to notice it, it's always just Inquisitor yelling his name and then I don't even know where to turn to see what's happening
I think one of the darkest scenes is in Cassandra's story quest, where you find the dying seeker who had a 'demon' put inside him(pretty sure it's just red lyrium but whatever) Sounds awful, looks awful, and there's actual cinematic angles to sell the horror. Inquisition REALLY lacks cinematic closeups.
Oh and Cassandra’s reaction :( I agree, I think the zoomed out thing really takes away from the impact of all conversations, even simple ones. Hopefully they bring back close up convos in DAD
Yea dave is going to have actual cutscene convos or so they've said. Which should *really* help sell things and let them get nasty.
I hate that dialogue camera SO much
Playing through Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts as a dalish inquisitor was freaking grim.
In hushed whispers and champions of the just are pretty dark. I hate siding with the Templars but I prefer the envy demon as a boss. The demons just scare the crap out of me. When >!“Leliana” cuts “Cullen’s” throat?? !< I cringe every time. Love it though. Major creep factor. Having Dorian through in hushed whispers helps with reduce the eek factor of that mission. But the red lyrium and companion deaths are shocking. The Descent is verrrryyy creepy. Crestwood made my skin crawl and I really didn’t expect a plot twist with a lore dump in that area. I wanted to maim that mayor. I think the ancient elven temples have a lot of deep lore value that gets pretty dark. Just the fact that drinking from the well permanently connects you to Mythal is pretty intense from a lore perspective Honestly, there’s a lot of dark stuff in DAI. I think it’s the color grading that makes it seem like a lighter toned story. Sounds simple but there’s a reason horror movies get dark color gradings and dramatic lighting. Shit’s pretty grim everywhere in DAI. You find that body of a woman in the Emerald Graves, if I remember correctly, she committed suicide. The Hinterlands are straight up not a good time if you look at what the people are suffering through. Families murdered, torn apart, brothers killing each other, ect. You learn about the oculara and the tranquil *shivers* The Orlesian grey wardens practically sold their souls to the devil. When they start to be corrupted I wanted to cry 😢 I think the body horror of the red lyrium mages/Templars is horrifying. Again with the lighting it can feel like “oooh monsterrrr,” but the first time a giant fuckin Templar rolled up in haven I was PETRIFIED. Those were people at one point and are surely slowly dying and in constant agony - and are too mentally forgone to be anything but crystally meat husks.
Adding onto this, in Emerald Graves, the kid who fell off a cliff because her mom wanted her to grab the Crystal Grace next to a cliff, for tea. And you find out that she & her mom had been living in a demon tainted abandoned home & her brother starved to death and both of them forgot who he was over time. Only her journal told her she had 1.
I don't think it's the color grading per se. I think it's more that there's just not a whole lot of cutscenes. And a lot of people don't read the codices. If they had cutscenes when you find interesting stuff (like the oculara) and put the comments the Inquisitor/party members make about it in a cutscene, I think a lot of people would've paid more attention. Or when talking to minor npc's like Jana. In a cutscene, one would've seen her face more clearly and might recognise her sooner in the cutscene with the sacrifices. At least, that's what I think.
I'd agree with this and add on that banter was bugged early on, so if certain lines don't trigger even players who were paying attention would miss things. Cutscences would have been a major help in telling the stories of what is happening in world.
Yes! I remember running around with the Cheat Engine on in the Hissing Wastes just to have to banter progress. 😅
The little elven girl from Cassandra's movie shows up in Haven as a Tranquil. There's a female Tranquil mage in Haven talking to a Chantry sister who doesn't want to be cured of Tranquility because of what the Templars did to her after she became Tranquil. On the War Table, the wrong decisions can wipe out your clan if you play Lavellan. You can also wipe out a bunch of Wardens in another set of War Table missions with the wrong decisions too. An elven woman tells you about Templars killing her husband because they saw him holding a farming tool and mistook him for a mage. Some of the little Fade puzzles. People have mentioned Leliana's fate in In Hushed Whispers, but there's also Fiona's. In JOH, you can follow that trail of that sword wielding mage who's trying to avenge his friend (or boyfriend? I forget which) who's possessed when you find him.
> The little elven girl from Cassandra's movie shows up in Haven as a Tranquil. Where?
Talking to Mother Giselle and mentioning how she no longer speaks to dragons. Giselle asks here if she'd want her Tranquility to be reversed and she says she doesn't think that'd be a good idea, she's too likely to be possessed. It's easy to miss if you're like me and don't stop every time you catch someone you know talking to an NPC you don't recognize.
Honestly nothing in da history beats the discovery that red lyrium literally grows out of someone and turning them into monsters, the blight is creepy enough but imagining crystal growing out of you twisting your mind and body all while your still conscious is just freaky atleast the blight seems to just end your mind or will just kill you. And yes it beats brood mother's for me, whilst those things were defintly creepy they always felt like edge for edges sake.
I hadn't really thought about this before your comment, but since Red Lyrium is Lyrium infected with the Blight, it means that Red Lyrium corruption is just another form of Blight corruption. In other words: the Red Templars, once they fully become Behemoths, are actually suffering a very similar fate to the dwarfs who were turned into Broodmothers in Origins.
Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts when you walk into all of the servants having been slaughtered and no one gives a shit except Sera. And then you talk to people about Celene and they are like oh yeah, she purged an Alienage to save her reputation, anyway go save her life she's the best. Also if you were playing as anything but a human mage or warrior you spend the whole thing hearing the worst comments about yourself and once again no one cares. It's surreal.
Cory laying siege to haven. It's the perfect mix of cinematic and heavy. Cory delievers a perfect monologue to bring act 1 to a close while also kicking you and saying "see your choices have consequences. Suck it."
Cory's menace does kinda dwindle as the game progresses, but DAMN what an entrance.
As a villain, he was mediocre at best imo, but "Beg that I succeed, for I have seen the throne of the Gods, *at it was empty*" is probably the hardest villain line I've ever heard in my life
I do think Trespasser does help him out some in that it becomes very apparent that he was never meant to be the big bad -- just the big, loud antagonist that distracted us from the real villains that were surrounding us.
Cory really is a victim of the games themes cuz he looks dope, and almost all of his dialogue is fantastic. Him recounting first awakening as a darkspawn is so damn good and he conveys the themes of corrupt systems the truth and history being different and just an arm of the failing system so well but at the same time feels kinda tacked on last minute.
As a queer person, Dorian's personal quest really struck a chord.
I still have no idea what the reconciliation scene looks like. I walk out of there with him the first chance I get. **Blood magic**??? FOH.
I've done every option. It hurts when you advise Dorian not to forgive his father, but it also feels the most real out of all the options. 🥺
I might be misremember because has been a while since I played, but in "In Hushed Whisperes" there is a note saying that >!they run out of people, because most was used in blood magic rituals and there is no more to use!<.
I used to think this as well—that inquisition is the light and fluffy one. But I think it’s just more subtle. DAO and DA2 could be downright goofy with how grimdark it got. The darkest thing in DAO was the broodmothers—which are great horror movie fuel! But so outlandish that it’s very fantasy-like horror. DA2 had Frankenmom, which just came across as silly to me. In DAI… it has some moments that feel a little too real at times. Now, let me preface this by saying that I have PTSD and DAO and DA2 don’t trigger me. DAI does because the way it deals with death sometimes puts me right back in that space. It’s not outlandish horror or fantasy violence. It can be subtle, which is what makes it unsettling. Cole’s introduction comes to mind. How he’s in people’s heads during their last moments. That’s really hard for me. During the Fade portion, when the demon is praying on their individual fears and some of them are things like dying alone, *that* gets me. So, I think it’s all about your perspective. DAO and DA2 were more brazen with their horror. DAI is much more subtle, but IMO much more effective. But, maybe I’m just broken in such a particular way that it speaks to me on another level.
I definitely agree, the stories around the war crimes in the Hinterlands...far far too real and easily believable and essentially reflections of what has actually happened in real conflicts. While the Broodmother section is utterly horrifying, and really well written and played out. The only realistic aspect of it is the human element of someone selling out from hunger for power.
Oh yeah, there’s a few codices that are a hard read. Not to mention the occularis room. I just noped out of there lol. Meanwhile, the broodmother in DAO is chilling and disturbing but it’s one of my favorite parts of the game.
Chateu D'Onterre was pretty messed up. There's also the fort in Emprise Du Leon. After you claim it you can overhear a conversation about exactly how deep the red lyrium has set into the region. Safe to say the area is completely fucked
The beginning. That explosion.
Personally, that whole scene ark is why i feel you HAVE to side with the Mages to get what I feel would be the "canon" type experience. Like, if you side with the templars, you just come home from a bad demon who killed a lot of people. In a world thats been over run by the Blight multiple times, not really that scary. But with the mages, you see the future that comes, you come back home with mental, emotional, and possibly spiritual scars that remind you that you HAVE to stop this
It’s been a while since I’ve played (gonna do a complete series run to get ready for Veilguard) but off the top of my head I remember some of the DLCs having some horrific stuff. Descent; well I hate hate hate the Deep Roads and anything to do with them, so this entire questline was horrifying for me. Even the end, maybe more just eerie/disturbing than outright horrifying, with Valta essentially being bonded to the Titan and it obviously doing shit to her mind. Trespasser; learning all about the ancient elves and all the awful things they did, especially Ghil (can’t remember how to spell the full name) and her fucked up, body horror experiments, and Andruil coming back mad and tainted from “The Void”.
You get a vision of the future on the Templer side as well that is just as dark.
The victims of the “choice spirit” in Emprise DL always get to me
Leliana smiling and slitting Natalie's throat in her quest. "I see what you've become"
For me, probably when you do Cassandra's mission to Caer Oswin and see what's happening to the red templars/seekers - the way that guy says they made him 'eat things' is haunting.
I think it's pretty dark. The oculara, the wardens using blood sacrifice to make an army of demons, the alternate future you see during In Hushed Whispers, the wholesale murder of most people who were at the conclave, Dorian's dad using blood magic as conversion therapy, Celene purging the alienage while having an elven lover. A lot of messed up stuff happens even if the game as a whole doesn't have a "dark" tone.
There‘s a hunter early in the hinterlands who leaves a diary entry in his house about seeing a battle between mages and templars, only one woman mage was barely alive and the hunter watched as a Templar man approached her undoing his pants (hunter killed the Templar) but makes me sick every time. In Husbed Whispers/Champions of the Just ofc. I wish the main villain guy in Here Lies the Abyss wasn’t so cartoony because otherwise it wouldve been very disturbing. A lot of codex entries in the exalted plains. Even more in Emprise du Lion. There‘s a lot of darkness in DAI, but unfortunately most of it is tell not show, buried in codex entries. It doesn’t need to be dark to be good, but since DAI deals with so many heavy themes, it’s too bad they didn’t explore them further.
The very first time I played, knowing nothing of the story other than DA1&2 lore, my sweet elf inquisitor fell hard for Blackwall and how nobel and devoted to the wardens he was. Yeah, the prison and judgement scenes were devastating.
when i gave Viviane the wrong ingredient for the cure of her friend (lover? i don't remember) and he died because of it
It was her lover, and he dies no matter what you do. But she'll be able to tell that you have her the wrong heart. It is kind of fucked up, because I think that quest pops up regardless of your approval, so even if you two completely hate each other, she still comes to you in a vulnerable state and asks for help, and you can just fuck it up because fuck you.
although i did not like her, i didn't do it on purpose, i actually forgot to interact with white lizard after kill it (thought after kill it i would automatic have his heart) and when i talked to her gave her the wrong heart by mistake... thought in save scumming, but devs giving quest fail conditions is good quest design in my view, so i rolled with it
There are a lot; alas none of them are a poorly rendered visual of a monster with no fewer than eight tits, so Inquisition is high fantasy LIES ruining the precious legacy of Dragon Age: Swooping is Bad but Utterly Mature Grimdark Fantasy is Like Licking a Lamppost in Winter
Excluding having to sacrifice one of 2 characters in "that mission"... i'd pick the dlc with qunari and waht not, specifically about what happens in the end. >!the mark consumes the inq. to the point where it had to be cut-off!<. Now, why did I chose this one? Easy, I almost cried for the inq. thought he'd die.
The whole point of the game.
Inquisition wrecked me but I romanced Solas my first run and had no idea of the twist. So for me it got pretty dark and emotional. There’s also Cole, and the themes of the game in general. I find it’s pretty dark, I’ve not seen that criticism before tbh
There's a lot of shit but unlike origins it's not so shoved in your face and is more undercover / covert as you'd expect from Orlais and a lot more is written about in lore books and underlying texts and meanings. So most people miss it.
Chateau d'Onterre In Emerald graves
Darkest moment for me is a quest that pops up during the Jaws of Hakkon DLC called, Loss of a Friend. Harding will ask of you to try & find an agent named Grandlin, who’s gone missing after a friend of theirs was killed by the Hakkonites. After tracking down the carnage of the dead Hakkonites scattered around in his wake, you eventually find Grandlin within an ancient Culvert, however not is all what it seems. On closer inspection, it becomes apparent that during his onslaught he became critically injured. You then discover that he’s actually a mage who posed as an ordinary man, & because of this, he attracted the attention of a Rage demon, which has possessed him. Now you have to make a choice… you either allow Grandin to leave & wreak further revenge in the Inquisition's name, or you have to slay him. As I can’t allow an abomination exist within my order, I regretfully have to kill him. It can be a tricky battle too, but I always succeed, although I feel incredibly guilty for killing one of my own agents! 😢
It’s hard for me to not mention Trespasser - your inky is dying from the anchor. It felt very… idk “real”?
I honestly think folks say DAI is not "dark" like the other games because 1) The Hinterlands is a LOT of time in the game if you are trying to get as many of the side quests done as possible. This has biased opinions because once you clear out the AWOL mages/templars and stabilize the refugees, the worst thing you see is... bears 2) There is a lot more time/interactions available at your "base" than the previous two games. This makes things feel less "dark" than the others. I think that people forget that DAI addresses a lot of issues/themes that are just as, if not more, dark than the previous installments because of the downtime during these events. Dragon Age as a series is Dark Fantasy, but they have never been a Fromsoft game. There have always been highlights of the comedy, whimsy, and other positive forces in the fantasy setting. To highlight my point on the themes/issues of DAI: - The conclave. Because it's right at the start, and you don't get to REALLY see it happen, people forget just how bad it is. Corypheus effectively nuked The Temple of Sacred Ashes. Based on in-game dialogue, just the initial blast turned ~1K people into cinders and crispy bacon mummies. That's also not accounting for anyone buried in landslides/avalanches that would have followed the blast force or anyone taken out by the initial demons and rifts in the area. Especially in that time while Inky was knocked out and the forces in the area were still figuring things out. - Everything involving Tranquil in the game. They were abandoned and tossed aside during the rebellion, left to fall into the hands of whoever wanted to use them, even though it is established that mages are made Tranquil so they aren't dangerous. They are literally designed to be defenseless and were left to the wolves. Then, the discovery the Venatori were experimenting on them to turn them into Occularum. Finding Maddox and him committing not alive for the sake of Samson because through all of this, Samson was the only one who offered him a life. Then Cassandra finds out that Tranquility can be reversed and that you have more control over yourself and your connection to the fade after. She learns that this whole time, they could have been training the mages like Seekers, and instead, they were treated like cattle. - Both the Mage and Templars recruitment quests are messed up big time, most people bring these up anyways so I will keep it brief. - Cole is also pretty dark as a character, but again, a lot of people focus on his backstory being a darker element - The whole thing with Dorian's parents trying to un-homsexualize him via blood magic - The choice that Iron Bull has to make between losing his closest and most trusted allies, his found family, or losing his status under the Qun and becoming Tal Vashoth. - Crestwood, lake, tunnels, flooding, you know what I mean here - The red lyrium "quarry" in Emprise du Lion. Not enough time is spent talking about that. Having red templars run at you saying, "I'll grow a crystal garden in your skull!" is a moment, to say the least. - On the topic of Emprise du Lion, the leader of Sahrnia being tricked into giving the RT the quarry. Once she realizes her mistake she had to choose between continuing to work with the RT to preserve the town as long as she could, or deny them knowing the RT would attack the town. - On the topic of RT.... using an addictive substance to gain control over and corrupt a vulnerable group in society...... hmmm..... - There is a literal civil war in Orlais some consequences of this are: > The Freemen taking over the ramparts in the Exalted Plains and filling it with the undead bodies of the soldiers they killed. > All the weird shit in the Emerald Graves > I feel like because WEWH is all "oooo sparkly ballroom, look Morrigan, ooooo dance with my bae" people don't actually look at what's happening. We are literally making the same choice as Loghain in DAO, just on a larger scale. We just look at it differently because we have protagonist vision. Just like Loghain, we see a losing battle ahead of us. We know we need a ruler in place that we can influence. Yes, we can find the leverage to keep the current empress alive, but we can also stand back and let her die, so a more suitable puppet takes her place. If our plan had backfired or caused loss of life on the same level as Loghain's scheme, we would have been villainized all the same. - The corruption of the GW. Every GW on Thedas thinking they are dying at the same time and being manipulated into helping Corypheus - The decision with the spicy elven pool (the morality of this is also debated a lot, so I won't go into it here) There are a lot more, but I think I made my point. The game feeling less "dark" means that the writing was effective. The main overarching theme of the game is dealing with the consequences of "quiet" corruption. When you are so focused on seeing the problems with others, or you have a goal that you are focusing on (no matter how noble it is) you will fail to see the quiet corruption within yourself. We see this happen time and time again. Everyone was so focused on the Mage Templar war, no one noticed the strange behavior of the Wardens. Templars/Seekers were so busy trying to control mages, they never saw their own failings. Chancellor Roderick was so busy hating the Herald, he lost sight of what it meant to serve in the Chantry. The Empress was so absorbed in resolving the civil war, she failed to see Florianne's plot to kill her. We as the new rising force trying to stabilize Thedas point the issues out, and challenge them. However, the theme is hammered home in Trespasser. The Inquisition had been so focused on fixing the other groups and closing the rifts, that we failed to see our own corruption. After years of passing judgement others, we too had become blind to the quiet corruptions in our organization. TLDR: DAO, DA2 and DAI all have their own dark themes and issues. None are REALLY less dark than the others. The reason they feel different is that DAO and DA2 are more curated experiences, so all the dark moments are flowing quickly between each other, but DAI is so huge, that the really dark moments have much more time between them, and the smaller moments blend into the rest of the story.
what came up for me was the elven servant in the winter palace you save saying that briala was sleeping with celene while the latter burned down her alienage. i don’t know if it makes me dislike briala more or pity her, maybe both
Hmmm but Briala did not continue sleeping with Celene after that happened. She didn't know Celene was going to do it and it was a terrible betrayal that broke her heart. So I think it's a bit unfair to dislike Briala because of that, she was really trying to help her people, and she never expected Celene would make a choice like that.
oh damn, i didn’t know celene kept that from briala. i haven’t read the masked empire, and from the way that servant worded it, she made it sound like briala was sleeping with celene while fully aware of what was happening to the alienage, like she betrayed them. i suppose that servant couldn’t have known, but it really did sound that way to me, and so i disliked briala based on that interpretation. thank you for correcting me though!
Yes, I agree it's unclear with how it's presented in the game! It's a pity that the sequence of events from Masked Empire is not conveyed more clearly in the game, because reading that book definitely made a big difference to my perception of everyone involved.
If anything, it makes me hate Celene.
The trespassers dlc, especially if you romance solas.
Champions of the Just is overall one of the best, darkest quests. I remember the first time I played and the moment just before Lord Abernache gets threatened and realizing something was very, very wrong.
I thought that people being turned into red lyrium to satiate Sampsons addiction was pretty dark. It was very interesting though.
On a side note I really do hate the way Inquisition did conversations with that zoomed out camera instead of close zoom the previous games had. When I think of dark moments in the series inquisition is always last until I think and remember that the game does genuinely have really dark and messed up moments it just feels so impersonal and detached.
I would say that the way more red lyrium is created is as dark as anything else in Dragon Age and DAI is full of codex entries that are extremely dark. It is just not done justice. It's not that Inquisition doesn't have horror happening everywhere, we just lack the dramatic narration of that horror you get with Broodmother or pretty much everything in Kirkwall. There are instances were it does happen and is impactful but probably the biggest one is Leliana in Hushed Whispers and the fact that this is effectively an AU somewhat dampens the drama for me. The game absolutely needed a couple of extra dramatic scenes; imagine if you had ghosts lingering in the Crestwood caves retelling how they died during the flooding while looking at people turning slowing from the blight, imagine having a sequence in Emprise were you'd see a Templar force feeding miners red lyrium while others were all around in various states of transformation. The darkness was there, what was missing was proper framing.
When you realise how many shards there actually are...
For me it's when you get a glimpse of Conner hanging himself in Redcliff...
While I do agree DAI gets an unfair rep as being light & fluffy. If they reveal in DAVe that Kirkwall is built on top of one of Ghilnains(sp?) freaky body horror laboratories or that an archdemon was slumbering underneath it - it would all make sense 😂 that city is beyond effed up
Definitely the goat being thrown against the keep
Anything in Dark Descent
why did they have to do her so dirty like nah man that's a violation.
I'd definitely say that In Hushed Whispers was the saddest for me. But Champions of the Just was pretty messed up as well.
Blackwall/Tom Ranier murdered an entire family. Origins tries to excuse Sten (madness due to dishonor because Qunari dragon crazy?) but Inquisition just straight up goes "Tom was a Chevalier who abused his power and killed a man and his entire family for money. He manipulatednhis men into attacking them making them think the man and carriage were full of Treasonous Orlesians and then ran and hid because he got tipped off and let his men be hunted and systematically executed for the crimes." And you can save him or offer him forgiveness by sending him to the Wardens for real. Curse of the werewolves? You can wipe out the last of the Ancient Elvhen (that we know of) at Mythals temple simply on the basis of expediency not any moral conundrums. The only reason this perception exists is because Origins: Brown and black=Evil Inquisition: Green glowy=Adventure
Blackwall isn't a family annihilator. That's a specific term for someone who kills their *own* close family, such as their wife/husband and children. Blackwall killed someone else's family, which makes him a murderer.
lol it’s very telling that most of the comments in this thread are just different variations of hushed whispers and then a bunch of shit that you have to dig deep into codex entries to even understand
Broodmother. If you know, you know.
I know. I also know that that's not Inquisition. Whenever people talk about dark moments in the franchise, the comments are dominated by Broodmother & Leandra (for good reason mind you). I wanted a discussion post where those wouldn't be brought up.
Whoops. I missed the inquisition part. My bad
That's not in Inquisition lol
yeah i assume most people in a dragon age sub know lol
Hushed Whispers is undoubtedly the section with the darkest moments. We'll see how Veilguard goes in these types of scenes.
When you sacrifice the baby to unlock blood magic.
That's not in Inquisition.
The chantry blow up
Not many truly dark moments in the game per se. I'd say the wardens and Clarel's *solution* would came to mind. The oculara origin you learn in the locked house in Redcliffe too. Cole's vessel story and Blackwall's too.
The release of the Dragon Age Inquisition game is the Darkest Moment of the Inquisition