When the next Dragon Age game will actually make its debut (let alone get a release date) is anyone's guess, as BioWare has certainly been taking its time on the follow-up to Dragon Age: Inquisition. However, that leaves time for fans to speculate, and of course, one popular topic is who--or what--will be the main antagonist of Dragon Age 4.
Now, the final piece of DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition, Trespasser, made it seem like the big bad for DA4 would almost definitely be Solas, the elven apostate companion who was revealed to be none other than the Dread Wolf Fen'Harel himself. After all, Solas' current plans involve destroying the world such as it is and creating something new, but what if Solas wasn't the true villain of DA4?
The Dread Wolf's Plot
Current-day elven legends say that Fen'Harel, the Dread Wolf, is the trickster god who sealed the other Evanuris (the elven pantheon of gods) away using deceit and is responsible for the gods going silent and the fall of the great Elven empire. Through all that time, it is said that only Fen'Harel remains free, passing time in the Fade for thousands of years. While there are definitely a few grains of truth to that legend, it's not the full story: in reality, Solas did trick the Evanuris into a trap, but as a last resort after they collectively murdered their fellow goddess Mythal.
Before the fall of the Evanuris, the Fade and the real world existed together as one, making it a vastly different world than the one players know as Thedas. Solas' "trick" was creating the Veil, separating the Fade from Thedas and trapping the Evanuris somewhere inside the Fade, where they remain to this day. However, Fen'Harel feels a measure of remorse for his actions in inadvertently destroying the Elven people such as they were, and now plans to tear down the Veil and reunite the Fade with the world of Thedas--which, naturally, would be catastrophic for everybody else living there.
Solas has said that he "has plans" for the Evanuris, and also has an Elven network across Thedas working towards his plan of tearing down the Veil, but perhaps there's another unforeseen consequence for Dragon Age here: the Evanuris themselves, or their magical creations, could be the real antagonists of Dragon Age 4.
The Evanuris
Further speculation requires a deep dive into Dragon Age lore. Players will also know from their journeys to the Temple of Mythal and their travels around Fen'Harel's sanctuaries in Trespasser that legends of the Evanuris greatly underplayed the horrors they wrought upon the world. Perhaps Solas thinks he can avert those horrors when he tears down the Veil, but clearly (contrary to his beliefs), Solas can't control everything.
One of the Evanuris that Dragon Age has introduced more thoroughly is Mythal, the god of love and justice, who led the Evanuris alongside Elgar'nan. Mythal's servants continued to guard her Well of Sorrows in Inquisition, and drinking from it bound the Inquisitor to Mythal herself, who was revealed to have been murdered by the rest of the Evanuris (save Fen'Harel). Mythal, or what remains of her, resides inside Flemeth and remains angered by the betrayal.
Of course, Flemeth (Mythal) has helped every single Dragon Age protagonist thus far. Could that mean she has different sympathies than Fen'Harel? The last players saw of her, Solas absorbed Mythal into himself after they greeted each other as old friends. What will become of both him and Mythal next and what their plans are remains a mystery.
Then there are other gods of the Elven pantheon. To the Dalish, Andruil is simply the god of the hunt, whose name they invoke when they proceed to hunt for their clan's livelihood; she was supposed to be a god who cared for her people and provided for them. However, Mythal's temple tells a different story, one of madness and corruption, suggesting that Andruil may even have been the one to first bring the Blight into the world.
This new story says that Andruil, tired of hunting men and beasts in the mortal world, began looking for tougher prey in the Forgotten Ones of the abyss, otherwise referred to as "the Void." She suffered periods of madness each time she would return from her hunts in the Void, eventually wearing armor made "of the Void." As the legend goes, "all forgot her true face. She made weapons of darkness and plague ate at her lands."
If it's sounds familiar, it should because that sounds almost exactly like what happened to Varric's older brother Bartrand and, to an even greater extent, Knight-Commander Meredith in Dragon Age 2. Furthermore, it's known that such weapons and armor still exist in the world, and that lyrium (both blue and the more sinister red) are related. Not only did Meredith carry a sword made from "darkness," also known as a red lyrium idol found in the Deep Roads, but Samson in Inquisition wore red lyrium armor that required a magical rune to destroy.
Thus, Mythal's legend implies that Andruil suffered from corruption by red lyrium, and even worse, than she brought that corruption into the world from the Void. "Plague ate at her lands" could very well refer to the Blight, meaning that Andruil was the one to first introduce the Blight to the world--and the Blight is also known to drive those it corrupts insane, making them hear a "song" in their minds, same as red lyrium. Mythal supposedly removed knowledge of how to reach the Void from Andruil, ending her madness, but if this theory is correct then clearly the damage had already been done.
The Darkspawn Taint and Archdemons
As such, this involves how the Darkspawn Taint, Archdemons, and blood magic all likely tie back into the Evanuris too. Based on Mythal's legend, it's known that the Evanuris won the war against the Titans of the Void and harvested that power for themselves--to an even greater degree on Andruil's part. They likely took some cues from the way the Titans controlled the dwarves, and used lyrium brands like the ones Fenris sports to control their Elven subjects.
But then Fen'Harel trapped them in the Fade--yet it seems like they're still influencing events in Thedas. First off, there's a chance the Evanuris are trapped in what Andrastians believe is the Black City and what is probably actually the lost elven city of Arlathan. When the seven Tevinter magisters breached the city in search of power, perhaps they weren't banished by the Maker; perhaps they actually met the Evanuris, disguised as spirits, who gave them the power of the Blight and transformed them into the forms we've seen on former Dragon Age bosses Architect and Corypheus, thus unleashing the power of the Blight on the world.
Thus, the Old Gods and the Evanuris are likely related. There are seven Evanuris and seven Old Gods, and judging by Mythal's escape from the jaws of death, it's possible for pieces of the Evanuris to live on after large parts of them are destroyed. Kieran, a little boy with the soul of an Old God, was able to manipulate the Eluvians just like Solas, and it looked like Flemeth absorbed the same power from him that Solas later absorbed from her. Thus, it's entirely possible that pieces of the Evanuris escaped the Fade and took the bodies of high dragons, becoming the Old Gods of Tevinter.
If so, the Blight and the Evanuris are tied together. If Solas seeks out the final two Old Gods on Thedas and takes their power like he took Mythal and Kieran's, he may have enough power to tear down the Veil. However, that would also mean unleashing the archdemons on the world, which could also help Solas' cause; enough death thins the Veil, and the death of everyone may well destroy it. Basically, Solas is playing with some devastatingly powerful weapons, and when unleashed, they may well take on a life of their own that even he doesn't expect and won't be able to control in Dragon Age 4.
Solas may just be the first domino; the Evanuris, the Old Gods, and the Archdemons are likely all connected as one indomitable, destructive, and uncontrollable force potentially unleashed on Thedas.
The Fate of Solas
So, if Solas isn't meant to be the main villain of Dragon Age 4, then what is he? Well, if these theories are correct, then he'll be the one to once again both purposefully and (possibly) inadvertently do great damage to the world; what that'll do to his literal god complex could either be an improvement or much, much worse. Given that players were also given a choice of goals to either redeem or stop Solas, it's possible that Solas-romancers and other more sympathetic players will still get their chance at changing the Dread Wolf's mind, though it might well happen too late. As for everyone else...well, everyone else may well get to finally crack that egg.
Dragon Age 4 is reportedly in development.