Dragon Age 4 has plenty of loose plot threads to wrap up. Its main story will deal with the Dread Wolf and his plan to bring down the Veil, a continuation of Solas' storyline from Dragon Age: Inquisition. However, that's far from the only recent thread that needs resolving.
The novel Dragon Age: Last Flight revealed a hidden history of the Fourth Blight, and hinted at a future for a species that was long thought extinct. Here's what Last Flight tells fans about the history of Thedas, and why its major reveal should come back in Dragon Age 4.
The History Of The Griffons
The Griffons of Dragon Age were said to have gone extinct during the Exalted Age after the Darkspawn devastated their eyries during the Fourth Blight. Before then, many Griffons were allied with the Grey Wardens. Extremely intelligent creatures, Griffons would allow Grey Wardens they trusted and respected to ride their backs into battle. As summarized in Last Flight, a Griffon "was a partner and an equal, or else it was a foe."
It is revealed in Last Flight, however, that the Grey Wardens are as responsible for the extinction of the Griffons as the Fourth Blight was. While taking refuge from the Mage-Templar War that was central to Dragon Age: Inquisition, an Elven mage named Valya was tasked with researching the history of the Darkspawn in the Grey Wardens' library at Weisshaupt Fortress.
While performing her research Valya came across the journal of an Elven Grey Warden and Blood Mage named Isseya. Isseya was the sister of Garahel, the Grey Warden who would sacrifice his life in the early Exalted Age to kill the Archdemon Andoral and end the Fourth Blight.
The journal revealed that during the Fourth Blight, Isseya was tasked with using her blood magic to put the Grey Warden's Griffons through a version of the same Joining ritual that the Grey Wardens themselves undergo. The idea was that by putting the Griffons through the Joining, the creatures would also become immune to the Darkspawn taint in the same way as the Wardens. This in turn was hoped to enable the evacuation of Antiva City during the Fourth Blight, which was under siege by the Darkspawn.
The Extinction Of The Griffons
If they live long enough, almost all Grey Wardens eventually succumb to a madness known as the Calling, caused by the Darkspawn Taint they take on during their Joining ritual. Once the Calling has begun, the Warden goes wandering into the Deep Roads in search of an Archdemon, never to return. Some Grey Wardens have extended their lives using magic, and it is said in Inquisition that the Warden protagonist from Dragon Age: Origins is in search of a cure to the Calling, if they did not sacrifice themselves to end the Blight in the first game.
Putting Griffons through the Joining ritual caused the creature's to descend into madness far faster than was anticipated, but it also had unforeseen benefits as well. These tainted Griffons were capable of incredible feats of strength of speed, and even fighting after receiving injuries that would have otherwise been mortal wounds. However, these Griffons would also immediately attack any Darkspawn they saw unless controlled by the Grey Wardens using blood magic, and would die from the Taint not long after their Joining.
Hoping to make the best of a bad situation, the Grey Wardens began putting old Griffons through the Joining ritual in order to make them powerful weapons for their last stand against the Darkspawn. These tainted Griffons were partially responsible for the Grey Warden's victory during the final battle of the Fourth Blight. However, the Griffon Taint proved contagious. Before long, all of the Griffons in the control of the Grey Wardens had become extremely aggressive, even towards the Grey Wardens themselves. The leader of the Grey Wardens ended up giving the order to have all surviving Griffons killed.
Griffons In Dragon Age 4
Thirteen Griffon eggs survived when Isseya secretly saved them from this purge, feeling guilt for her role in causing it. These eggs had been fathered by Crookytail, Garahel's Griffon, and the Griffon who had belonged to Garahel's lover Vael. Isseya was able to remove the Taint from these eggs by using blood magic to transfer their Taint to herself. This made her Calling to become imminent, but Isseya still had time to hide the thirteen eggs in suspended animation. At the end of Last Flight, Valya rediscovers these hidden eggs, and a Griffon hatches who appears to be free of the Taint.
This means untainted Griffons will have reappeared in the world of Dragon Age during the Mage-Templar War, and just in time for the events of Dragon Age 4. Players could even find themselves taming and riding their own griffon in the next game, though by all accounts, that will be no easy task. While the next game's plot will focus on stopping the Dread Wolf, it is possible that some Griffons will come to respect characters who aren't Grey Wardens enough to help them in battle. It is also possible that the Dread Wolf himself will find some use for the creatures, though with just thirteen known survivors, there aren't many Griffons to go around.
The fact that Isseya was able to remove the Taint from any Griffons at all also raises the possibility for Dragon Age 4 to resolve another major plot point. The Warden from Origins may be out looking for a cure to the Calling, and Last Flight makes it clear that the Taint can be transferred from one being to another using blood magic. While it's hardly an ideal solution, the ability to remove the Taint after the Joining ritual could provide the foundation for the Grey Wardens to eventually escape succumbing to the Calling.
Dragon Age 4Â is in development.