Inquistor Tells Solas to Try Again
BioWare is wrong, Dragon Age doesn't need to supersede its disabled protagonist
The Inquisitor's full story is not yet told.
This piece contains major spoilers for the Dragon Age series, particularly Inquisition.
"Information technology's time for a new hero..."
Those are the first words spoken by recurring Dragon Age companion Varric Tethras after the BioWare logo disappears in the most recent trailer for the new Dragon Age game trailer. But Varric and BioWare are wrong, Dragon Age doesn't need a new hero; the Inquisitor's story has not yet been fully told, and they offer BioWare the chance to give gaming exactly the sort of grapheme it needs: a powerful, disabled protagonist.
Disability in mainstream gaming is rare. At that place's Geralt in The Witcher series, who suffers from chronic pain subsequently shattering his elbow and thigh bone, and for AAA protagonists, that'south pretty much it. Given that both the gaming and Goggle box adaptations play down this chronic inability, many players don't even realise Geralt is canonically disabled, or will actively argue against it. Once you bring in the supporting cast, you can add the likes of Joker in Mass Effect and Barbara Gordon in the Batman: Arkham series, but now nosotros're already starting to run out of examples.
Those meagre offerings, plus gaming'southward bad habit of using physical disabilities as a signifier of or motivation for villainy, highlights the poor job gaming has washed to make the disabled community feel welcome in the infinite. Advancements in accessibility for disabled gamers have rightly been lauded, merely representation is stuck at a standstill.
This isn't just a random "hey, wouldn't it be absurd if the Dragon Historic period 4 protagonist was disabled," thought. The Inquisitor is already disabled, and casting them bated not simply avoids making a assuming step for representation in the industry, it reinforces Dragon Age'south worst storytelling tendencies besides.
Let's start with a refresher on the Inquisitor. At the beginning of Dragon Age: Inquisition, nosotros offset (for the third fourth dimension in as many games) equally a new, able bodied character. Afterward an explosion, they receive a magical mark on their hand, which allows them to close rift portals in the sky. Across the fourscore-100 hour playthrough, they go from Jackie Nobody From Nowheresville to the Inquisitor, i of the most powerful political players in all of Thedas. Lots of other things happen too, simply virtually of them come up either through the Inquisitor'due south magical rift abilities, or through their prowess in boxing.
However, in the very concluding scene of Dragon Historic period: Inquisition's concluding DLC (Trespasser), the magic mark becomes as well powerful, and the Inquisitor loses their arm. In a single instant, their 2 greatest strengths (rift abilities and combat skills) are snatched away from them. And BioWare thinks this moment, right as the character faces their biggest obstacle, is an advisable stopping point for their story?!
While the Inquisitor might disagree on a physical level, I don't think on a thematic level that our hero has lost all that much here. In fact, I retrieve they've gained. 'A nobody who becomes a somebody after existence given special powers' is not a unique or particularly interesting angle for a story. What the Inquisitor was in Dragon Age: Inquisition has been done earlier, many times. Simply the potential story for Dragon Age 4 tin can be something new. The Inquisitor has not been reset to zilch hither. Their wisdom, their courage, their leadership, their wit, their morality... all of this survived the amputation. They have non been reset to scratch every bit punishment or penitence. Dragon Historic period four would not be about them starting over later hardship - itself a tried and told story - simply would be near them adapting to this alter, both as a ruler without their rift magic and a fighter without an arm. It could exist near how disabled people matter, how they're more than their disabilities. How disabled people are not less than able bodied people. Instead, BioWare is replacing them with an able bodied person.
What BioWare is doing is like Game Of Thrones putting Jaime Lannister on a equus caballus after he lost his manus, watching him ride off then never showing him again. Then ii episodes afterwards, Jaime's long lost brother Raime Lannister shows upwards to take his identify. Just in Game Of Thrones, Jaime's manus is cut off past small-scale tertiary character Locke. For the Inquisitor, it was much more intimate.
Solas is the one who ultimately removes your hand in Inquisition. Depending on how you play the game, Solas tin can be a rival, colleague, friend, closest ally, or even your romantic partner, each of which tinge the scene with a different significance. This isn't just out of the goodness of his eye though; Solas is actually responsible for the rift marking your hand in the first place. He is an old elven God in disguise, he unleashed Dragon Age: Inquisition's master antagonist, he once betrayed his fellow gods, and he has spent the entirety of the game's runtime betraying you.
With Solas confirmed to return as Dragon Age 4's primary adversary, BioWare conspicuously believes in that location'south a lot more of this story to explore.
At the end of Trespasser, the Inquisitor learns of this betrayal, simply nonetheless trusts Solas one last time to take the rift mark from their hand, and as a result, lose their arm. Information technology may be that the arm, desperately injured by this point, was too far gone to relieve, but with Solas' story likely to be on examining how much of his expose of the Gods was really malicious and how much of it was the upshot of an action taken for the greater good, there are articulate thematic links. How much does the Inquisitor have that Solas had no pick? How much do they, a hero known for their prowess in battle, resent that Solas cost them their arm, and had been lying about his intentions all along? Does it make them bitter? More than resolute? Reflective and forgiving?
Sadly, we won't get to know any of this, because BioWare is going to replace the Inquisitor with a new hero and ask us to imbue them with our own feelings nearly Solas, in support of what's shaping up to be a generic 'go stop the bad guy' narrative.
I realise the Inquisitor will probably render in some course; they're too important to Solas' arc not to. Much like Hawke, the Dragon Age Ii protagonist who returns for a brief time in Inquisition, their links to Varric will probably requite them a foot in the door, merely if they're important enough to bring dorsum, why not exercise it correct? Especially for a serial which frequently fails to tie up loose ends?
I know there are logistical issues, but frankly I don't retrieve they're worth getting into. Aye, with the possible exception of Mage, all other classes typically require two hands. My reply to that is... and then what?
Just because disabled people require certain concessions does not hateful they should be denied access before anyone has even given these concessions a try. Nosotros've seen this in the real earth, with disabled campaigners trying for years to get a greater shift towards offices working from abode, only for the pandemic to trigger this shift overnight to assistance able bodied workers.
You're telling me in that location'due south no prosthetic, no weaponry accommodation, that tin can be created to allow a legendary fighter such as the Inquisitor to finer employ a sword with ane hand? Or a dagger? In a globe of magical dragons, I don't even think a ranged contraption is out of the question. We've already seen tabletop games integrate wooden wheelchairs into Dungeons & Dragons; if you want to adjust disabled characters, in that location's e'er a solution. The problem is, information technology doesn't seem like too many people desire to.
Dragon Age iv, which sees Solas shift from companion to antagonist, is shaping up to be the closest the series has had to a true sequel. In the Inquisitor, they have a compelling, intimately linked protagonist whose story is not over, ready to return in the leading function. Replacing them is a wasted opportunity thematically, narratively, and robs gaming of the disabled representation it sorely needs.
Source: https://www.eurogamer.net/bioware-is-wrong-dragon-age-doesnt-need-to-replace-its-disabled-protagonist
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