‘Dragon Age: Inquisition’ Contained Elements From A Previously Cancelled Expansion That Could Have Killed Off Several Characters

While most of the story ideas from Dragon Age: Inquisition was created specifically for Bioware’s most recent installment of their fantasy franchise, Dragon Age lead writer David Gaider revealed this week that some narrative content was recycled from a previously cancelled expansion for Dragon Age 2. Gaider confirmed that the expansion was scrapped early, so everything written was very preliminary. However, the Bioware writer did admit that some themes from the expansion were reworked into Dragon Age: Inquisition while answering fan questions in a personal Tumblr post.

“I’ll just say that some basic plots were carried over, and naturally changed as the context for them changed. The Temple of Mythal is a good example. Beyond that, I’ll leave it to your imagination.”

The head writer of Dragon Age: Inquisition explained that everything created for the cancelled expansion was in such an early stage of planning that the plot would have definitely changed during the course of development. For this reason, Gaider didn’t want to go into many details on what was written for the Dragon Age 2 expansion, since the content never received polished revisions.

However, Bioware’s David Gaider did reveal that the ending of the cut expansion would have had a very different effect on the series’ lore than what happened at the conclusion of Dragon Age: Inquisition. Gaider hinted that many popular characters from the series, who actually survived the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition, would have likely been killed off if the expansion had not been cancelled.

“The ending we had planned for the expansion was brutal, insofar as some of their favorite characters are concerned … which would have been delightful for us writers, but maybe not so much for them. Maybe it’s better this way.”

Providing an example on how plot and characters can change throughout development, Gaider spoke earlier in the week about how Iron Bull’s lieutenant from Dragon Age: Inquisition wasn’t always a transgender individual. It wasn’t until later in creative process that Krem was fully finalized by another Dragon Age: Inquisition writer, Patrick Weekes.

“I remember Krem was originally supposed to be a different character entirely, and when Patrick Weekes created the new version as Iron Bull’s lieutenant the idea came up that maybe this might be the place to do it.”

David Gaider also recently revealed his stance on controversial themes in video game writing, as reported by the Inquisitr. The Bioware writer discussed his thoughts on uncomfortable situations, such as rape, used as plot inside video games. Ultimately, Gaider revealed that nothing should be considered out-of-bounds when it comes to writing drama. The only reason that Dragon Age: Inquisition didn’t cover such topics was because the situation never arose — but he wouldn’t be opposed to including controversial elements in future games.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is out now on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3, and PC. Bioware has not announced any details on the release of additional single player content for the game, but has confirmed their commitment the to the new multiplayer mode of Dragon Age: Inquisition.

[Image via Dragon Age]