Veil nullifies Leliana's effects as divine

Key conclusions

  • Dragon Age: Veilguard doesn't ask us who became God at the end of the Inquisition.

  • For the most part, the game writes around this, but there is at least one inconsistency that prevents Leliana from being Divine.

  • The codex entry suggests that wizards are still controlled by the Chantry and the Templars in the South, despite Leliana's Divine End eliminating this.

When it became known that Dragon Age: The Veilguard did not allow us to carry over most of the choices from the previous games, many feared that some of them would be undone. Instead, it was explained that since The Veilguard takes place in North Thedas, our choice simply won't come.

However, hidden in the codex entry, it appears that one major decision from Dragon Age: Inquisition was overlooked: Leliana's influence as Divine Victoria. In an entry titled “Andraste's Different Tastes,” Harding explains the difference between the Arlesian and Imperial Temples, and it is here that Leliana's great reforms are suggested never to have taken place.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard returns to reform the Chantry

Leliana in Chantry.

In this codex entry, Lace Harding provides a brief overview of how the Orlesian Temple interacts with mages.

“In the South, the Templar Order is tasked with keeping wizards in line according to the rules of the Chantry,” the message reads, before continuing, “In the South, magic is seen as a curse or a corrupting influence. Blood magic is forbidden.”

Now, that was pretty much true for the first three games, and that's probably why it's here. Mage oppression and templar conflicts aren't a big factor in Veilgard, so it allows new players to understand what we've seen in previous entries. However, he ignores the fact that this may not have been true for ten years.

When Leliana became Divine at the end of the Inquisition, her final slide mentions that she made sweeping reforms, including the abolition of the Circles. A replacement, the College of Wizards, is created, but it is independent of the Chantry and demands more freedom for wizards. This happens regardless of who the Divine is, but they have the best outcome with Leliana on the throne, given that she sympathizes with wizards.

So while a codex entry might work in cases where Cassandra and Vivien became Divine (and even then, it wouldn't be easy since there are still a lot of changes in their rules), it directly contradicts Leliana taking over this role. This is probably unintentional, as the game otherwise goes out of its way to not name who the ruler of the Orlesian Temple is, but it's still an oversight.

Heck, when Leliana had an affair with a wizard in the first game and then became a Divine, she's still in an open relationship with them. This is particularly inconsistent with the Chantry apparently viewing magic as a “curse”.

For whatever reason, none of the options we can import from the Inquisiton apply to the Chantria. Instead, we're asked who we've had an affair with, if we've disbanded the Inquisition, and how we plan on dealing with Solas. This means that some other decisions have been rewritten in The Veilguard, mostly related to mentioning companions when not all of them had to be recruited.

Dragon Age The Veilguard Tag Page cover

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the highly anticipated fourth game in BioWare's fantasy RPG series formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. A direct sequel to Inquisition, the focus is on red Lyrium and Solas, the aforementioned Dire Wolf.

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