Dragon Age, much likeBioware’sother famous franchise of the era, is a series with beloved characters for the player to connect with.
Fenris is one such character, featured in Dragon Age 2.According to David Gaider, the lead writer for that game,we’re probably not going tosee Fenris return for new Dragon Age titles.
I only wrote one follower, Fenris, and although it’ll make his fans mad: I probably shouldn’t have.
Over onBluesky, Gaider’s been giving Dragon Age fans a peek behind the curtain at various characters, and this was Fenris' time in the spotlight.
In short, Fenris faced a challenge that is the bane of all creative works:a time crunch, leading to compromises.
If I had time, maybe I’d have re-booted him as a templar. Someone pro-templar rather than anti-mage, who could give a personal hook into Meredith and give the templars some badly-needed humanity.
Gaider also feels that Fenris would have been better written by someone else. The character’s history with slavery made Gaider question his position.
Every Dragon Age Game, Ranked
From Origins to The Veilguard, BioWare’s iconic RPG series is among the best of its kind.
The quick production time also forced some strangeness into the player’s relationship with Fenris. He and the player had no contact during the story’s time jump - and if that gap was only a year, it wouldn’t feel as strange as it does in the finished product.
I wouldn’t have done the “Fenris doesn’t talk to you for three years” thing if I’d known we were going to cut all the reactivity initially planned for the time jumps. When that call was made, I campaigned to cut the jumps to a year, but there was no time for the revisions it’d need. So, um. Awkward.
But the big nail-in-the-coffin here is Fenris' tattoos. According to Gaider, having something that unique makes it harder to justify an inclusion in a future Dragon Age game.
The lyrium tattoos. Interesting concept, but they’re probably why you’ll never see Fenris in a future DA. He requires a custom body, and the tattoos make that expensive.
Gaider had even considered killing the character for good in one of the game’s novels. Luckily for Fenris' fans, that book was canceled, thus preventing the story’s events from entering official canon.
But even still, a future canon appearance of Fenris seems less likely than most. He’ll probably have to stick to the realms of fanon instead. But hey, fanfiction certainly beats dying, right?
Dragon Age 2’s Problem, And The Balance Fenris Would Need
The behind-the-scenes tale of Fenris is far from rare. Those who’ve ever written characters themselves are painfully familiar with the sentiment of “man, if only I had more time…”
But that’s what the project as a whole demanded. Dragon Age 2 needed to get released, so compromises had to be made.
Sometimes, the complete opposite is true. Before evenclicking this link, try to guess what “they cooked for so long, everything felt burnt” refers to. There are no prizes for getting it right.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Every Party Member, Ranked
With seven compelling companions at your beck and call, they can’t all be the best!
As with any creative work, trying to strike a balance between hyper-efficient production cycles and trapping an idea in production hell is not the easiest line to walk. If Concord was an example of the latter, then it seems Fenris is an example of the former.
Everything needs to strike a balance. And even if Fenris missed the mark for Gaider, he certainly found a home in the hearts of a few Dragon Age players, at least.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Review
Dragons, Gods and corruption. Just another day in the life of an RPG hero.
