“Yo @ChristianDailey,” creative director Matthew Goldman tweeted. “I’m feeling really gray and pointy right now. Know what I sayin’?” “I got you!” Dailey responds with the image above. “Is this the right amount of pointy and gray?” And yep, that sure is a Grey Warden. It doesn’t sound like the biggest deal at first - the Grey Wardens have been in every Dragon Age game so far, after all. They’re an ancient order that dedicate their lives to fighting darkspawn (the evil creatures that emerge whenever a Blight rolls around), and, despite their efforts to not get involved in Dragon Age’s politics, they get involved in Dragon Age’s politics very often. What’s interesting about potentially seeing the order in Dragon Age 4 is how their story was left off in Inquisition (spoilers!). Following a big main quest in Inquisition, the player can decide whether to recruit the Wardens or banish them from Ferelden after you save them from some weird demon stuff they managed to get involved in. Banished Wardens head back to their headquarters at Weisshaupt, and rumours of infighting there gradually begin to reach you. On the other hand, recruited Wardens form their own subsect of the order, eventually cutting ties with Weisshaupt. Regardless of your decision, you hear rumours that suggest things aren’t going great at Weisshaupt, and ultimately the place goes dark. It seems to me that they’re setting up the Weisshaupt Wardens as baddies. Other Wardens are trying to enact good change amongst the order, and it sounds like the old leaders are having none of it. The reason the Wardens need saving in Inquisition is because they’re manipulated into teaming up with an evil mage (from a faction called the Venatori) from Tevinter, who tries to turn them all into demons. It’s possible the Weisshaupt Wardens have disappeared to seek help from dodgy mages (or maybe they’ve been tricked by said mages) again, and with BioWare previously confirming Dragon Age 4 would be set in Tevinter, the pieces all start to line up. The Grey Warden in that concept art looks pretty righteous though, so perhaps I’m completely wrong and they’ll just be there to beat up darkspawn in their fancy winged helmets. Or maybe the Warden player character from Dragon Age: Origins will finally make a comeback. At any rate, I’ll be glad to see the Wardens return, I think they’re my favourite Dragon Age faction (mostly because of the cool armour.)
