The Big Picture
- The Witcher struggles with its politics, often forcing side characters to explain schemes in lengthy exposition dumps that held little emotional impact.
- Dragon Age boasts one of the most sophisticated, inventive, and advanced fantasy worlds, with rich history, cultures, governments, territories, religions, and races.
- The Dragon Age franchise seamlessly integrates politics with plot, showcasing conflicts, in-fighting, divisions, and intricate moral decisions. It serves as a strong example of worldbuilding that The Witcher could learn from.
Although The Witcher Season 3 proved to be the Netflix series’ best season to date in terms of effective, coherent, and impactful storytelling, one element continued to plague the grizzled fantasy epic: its emphasis on politics. The Witcher novels by author Andrzej Sapkowski, as well as the video games based upon said novels from CD Projekt, are home to an intricate sociopolitical system replete with monarchal upheaval, bureaucratic in-fighting, power-grabbing machinations, and wars between different species with divided goals. This worldbuilding didn’t successfully translate to the Neflix-produced screen. Episode scripts often forced side characters to explain their schemes in lengthy info-dumps without making these moments relevant to the main characters or enriching the world’s wider mythos. The Witcher‘s dull attempts at political conflict bogged down the larger narrative and held little emotional heft. Thankfully, there exists a rich historical fantasy video game that’s ripe for adaptation — friends, please look no further than Dragon Age.
What Is ‘Dragon Age’ About?
Ironically enough, the Dragon Age franchise includes an excellent 2022 Netflix animated series (Dragon Age: Absolution) that touched upon the world’s politics as well as six break-neck episodes could. For the unparalleled Dragon Age experience, however, one must turn to the games, which (all hyperbole aside) boast one of the most sophisticated, inventive, and advanced fantasy worlds of the 20th century. Created by Canadian video game developer BioWare and spanning three completed full-length games as well as various spin-off media, Dragon Age draws obvious — practically unavoidable — inspiration from J.R.R. Tolkien‘s The Lord of the Rings trilogy as well as the role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons. Dragon Age is home to numerous different cultures, governments, territories, religions, and races, each blessed with an individualized and meticulously designed history. Clashes between said consortiums are more than just background set dressing; the protagonist of each installment (the player) must navigate civil uprisings, wars, and webs of subterfuge. Like most role-playing games, Dragon Age lets the player design a character by choosing between different pre-set backstories, races, and abilities, all of which impact said character’s relationships with non-playable supporting characters.
Similar to The Witcher’s mythology, all Dragon Age events take place on Thedas, the world’s only known continent. (In The Witcher, the continent is just called the Continent. Convenient!). Thedas’s recorded history dates back centuries with every one hundred years marking a new “Age,” but the continent has existed for millennia. Just like the Continent, Thedas was originally populated by the elves, a race of learned scholars, artists, and mages adept in magic. When humans arrived at Thedas’s shores from an unknown continent, they waged war, conquered elvish lands, and infected the once-immortal elves with deadly human diseases. Although the elves strived to preserve their nuanced culture, civilization, and language, everything was lost. The majority of elves spent centuries either enslaved, tortured, or murdered by these human invaders.
In the current Dragon Age timeline, the elves have unwillingly fractured into two main factions. The Dalish elves are nomadic wanderers devoted to safeguarding their history. Within the Dalish exist different clans, beliefs, and practices, although all still worship the elven Old Gods. In contrast, “city elves” were forced to assimilate into human culture, worship the human god, and live inside isolated city areas. These elves live in conditions equal to squalor and face constant aggression and abuse from humans.
Humanity in The Witcher also declared war against the Continent’s elves and became the dominant species by force. The ramifications of these wars and humanity’s continued subjugation of the Elder Races (elves, dwarves, and gnomes) make up much of The Witcher’s political climate. The Netflix series tries to divide its attention between the politicking of human magic users, the rampaging Nilfgaardian kingdom, and the vengeful Scoia’tael elves, but there aren’t enough episodes to go around. Rather than have various side characters tell the audience about their plights, Dragon Age lets its political landscape unfold naturally through setting and dialogue. If Geralt, Yennefer, and Ciri learned information firsthand like a Dragon Age player does, there’s a good chance things in The Witcher would grounded and relevant instead of dull and distant.
‘Dragon Age’ Integrates Politics With Plot (and Zombies)
Thedas’s main recurring threat is the Blight. Five times throughout recorded history, demonic creatures called darkspawn infect a powerful dragon with a corruptive, zombie-esque infection capable of spreading to all living beings as well as ruining the land. The first game, Dragon Age: Origins, follows the Grey Wardens, a group charged with ending the Blight at any cost. Dragon Age II has wide-ranging consequences but narrows its focus to conflicts within the city of Kirkwall, primarily of which are the overlapping tensions between apostate mages, city elves, and the Chantry (more on that later). Dragon Age: Inquisition introduces a new threat called the Breach, a dimensional rift allowing demons to run rampant. Characters with differing beliefs, approaches, and backgrounds band together to form the Inquisition and fix the Breach. None of these circumstances means there’s any less in-fighting, divisions, or scheming, though.
Left to contend with the Blight’s ramifications are Thedas’s diverse civilizations. Humans are split across numerous cities with varying government structures (feudal, monarchy, elected, etc.) but almost all worship a figure called the Maker. The Chantry, the monotheistic fantasy equivalent of the Catholic Church, oversees this religion and promotes the Maker as the true creator god. In turn, a figure known as the Divine (always a woman) guides the Chantry. The denomination also follows the teachings of Andraste, a Joan of Arc martyr figure who led a slave rebellion and believed herself the prophet (and later wife) of the male Maker.
The Chantry’s divisions include a spy group (the Seekers of Truth) and the Templar Order, the Chantry’s personal militia. The Templars defend Thedas against rogue magic threats with typical religious zealotry. They believe magic and magic-users must be strictly regulated, which means the Templars subdue any “apostate” mages who disagree with the Chantry’s chokehold. All Templar soldiers are also forcibly addicted to lyrium, a substance that increases resistance against magic but at a horrible cost. Not all Chantry members are terrible people, but the organization is a perfect example of individuals whose noble idealism tips into weaponized fanaticism.
The Dragon Age Universe Is Diverse
Dragon Age is full of complicated moral quandaries and barren of obviously correct answers. But the Tevinter Imperium is ghastly, despised by outsiders for their imperialism and an economy dependent upon open slavery. As humanity’s first stronghold, Tevinter once controlled Thedas; multiple wars and uprisings pushed them into isolation. The city’s unflexible social stratum is ruthless and run by the cruel, the conniving, and the power-hungry. Although magic’s widely practiced and a Magisterium of mages rules the government, access to magical training and the social benefits that follow are exclusive to the economically privileged. Tevinter’s alternative to the Chantry is run by a man, because of course it is.
Other primary humanoid races in Dragon Age include the dwarves and the Qunari. Dwarven culture, ruled by a monarchy, was all but erased by the First Blight. Early dwarves were responsible for Thedas’s best technological and cultural advancements; those who remain preserve their rich history through mining, crafting, and superb warriors. Dwarves operate according to a strict caste system accordant with social duties and worship the Stone, a creator whose “song” guides them through their expansive underground tunnels.
The Qunari, an original race created for Dragon Age, are instantly recognizable for their tall, muscular stature and their stylish horns. The Qunari welcome all beings into their culture, which prioritizes responsibility to others and enriching the community. Qunari value community so strongly, they forsake their given names and hold no attachments to their parents. The Qunari Triumvirate leads the Qun lifestyle, dividing all Qunari into workers of the mind, the body, or the soul. For all this progressive thinking, the Qunari’s history is tempestuous. Past military leaders tried to conquer Thedas before the Qunari established universal peace treaties, sans the Tevinter Imperium.
‘Dragon Age’ Shows How ‘The Witcher’ Needs To Improve
The Witcher (surprisingly) deals very little with religion or spirituality. Dragon Age examining religion makes for a richer narrative and an even thornier political landscape. How different cultures worship (or don’t), whether different beliefs clash or live in harmony, and the ways organized religion seizes power are all on the table. To be fair, Geralt fights random monsters for pay; there’s no single nasty for him to combat. But if we’re talking Big Bads, The Witcher’s overarching villains (the Nilfgaardians and their hunt for Ciri) haven’t felt like a threat since Cintra’s destruction. In Dragon Age, the inevitability of the Blight is always looming, and the Breach demands that different races and creeds work together. The Witcher’s lack of a unifying threat, and how slowly it brings its warring factions together, leaves something to be desired.
Although The Witcher‘s budget allowed for gorey monster battles, impressive fight choreography, and gorgeous landscapes, its inability to smoothy incorporate politics let alone balance those plots with character work leaves much to be desired. In comparison, the Dragon Age franchise feels as alive as the best 800-page fantasy novel and as detailed as a historical textbook. Learning every facet of the world while playing is almost impossible, but that’s not to this story’s detriment. Instead, Dragon Age is a lesson in grounded worldbuilding, a place abundant with life and reflective of its passionate designers. The Witcher could learn a thing or two.
