Well, the teaser trailer for Dragon Age 3: Inquisition has just been released, and there's some stuff to talk about, which I may or may not get to. Firstly, a disclaimer: I have extensively played and loved Dragon Age: Origins (despite not having played its expansion), but I have not played Dragon Age 2, so my experience in regards to that story is small. So bear with me and any errors that may come from not knowing the story in Dragon Age 2; I apologize in advance.
Now, in the teaser, we see lots of things overlain with a narration by none other than everyone's favorite witch shape-shifter: Morrigan. We've got aftermaths of great battlefields showing a dwarf who I believe is Varric (a character I am only familiar with by reputation), and we've got great battles. Morrigan speaks of alliances crumbling, and we see what looks like a siege going on. But just then, sh*t hits the fan when the sky tears open and meteors start raining down. We see glimpses of all sorts of grotesque creatures (that may be familiar; I haven't played Dragon Age in a long time), and finally, we see it, albeit for a few, imposing seconds: a huge dragon. Afterwards, we see Morrigan and her slightly updated look breaking the fourth wall, asking us an interesting question: "Will you stand against it, or lead this world to its bitter end?"
Now, first thing I'm going to address: Morrigan talking about threats to the world. For those who've played Dragon Age: Origin's DLC "Witch Hunt", you'll know that the only threat that Morrigan remotely acknowledges is her mother, Flemeth, who is confirmed to still be "alive" (we still don't know much about the elusive witch). This is where the speculation begins: we can assume that Morrigan will have a big part to play in Dragon Age 3, as she's got her voice all over the trailer and her face all over its ending. If she's talking about a threat, we can conclude that the main antagonist of the game will be Flemeth (finally, as things have been building up to this point); I believe that the dragon we see is Flemeth in her dragon form (which she has used numerous times).
Alright, so we've established that Morrigan is significant and that Flemeth is the villain. I think that Flemeth is sort of going to play a Darth Sidious-esque role, working behind the scenes to make all of these previously-mentioned alliances crumble; I think she's going to manipulate the world into going to war so she can easier destroy/enslave it. The main story, I believe, will be about stopping the conflict between everyone to face the greater threat (sadly, this does seem extremely familiar, just on a larger scale).
Now, for something most people may overlook: Morrigan's child. The problem with this is that it's completely optional in Dragon Age: Origins, and so if they want to make it at all significant, they have to find a convenient way around that little pothole. However, if they do make the child important, that opens up a whole new avenue.
The child is said to have the essence of the arch-demon inside him. The arch-demon is the absolute leader of the Darkspawn during a Blight (sad to see everyone's apocalyptic creatures take a back-seat and get a down-grade in Dragon Age 2). What if, maybe, just maybe, part of the story involves allying with Morrigan and her child (who may or may not be matured to the point where he/she can fight as a party member) and using the child to cause another Blight to challenge Flemeth? That would be huge, and it would create an aspect of tragedy in the story: remember Morrigan's rhetorical question in the trailer? What if, after you summon the Blight with the child acting as the arch-demon and leading the Darkspawn to victory, somehow finishing Flemeth once and for all, you have a choice: kill the child and save the realm, or let him live and allow the Blight to ravage everything? What if Morrigan sided with the child, forcing you to kill her as well to defeat the Blight?
That, of course, is only assuming the child would be a major part of the game, and seeing as that path is optional in DA:O, I have a sliver of doubt. But you can't deny that that would be pretty damn awesome if they pulled it off correctly.
I have no idea what to say about the characters. Hopefully we see most of them make a return in some way (let's keep our fingers crossed that some of them don't get shafted Mass Effect 3 style), and maybe we'll see the Heroes of Ferelden and Kirkwall in some way. There's so much to speculate on, and I'm going to wrap it up with discussion on the main character: the Inquisitor.
The protagonist of Dragon Age 3 will be a completely new character, and I think this is the proper route, what with them creating a new character for Dragon Age 2. The good thing about this character is that they can have no ties or allegiances that limit them, at least at the start, aside from the faction that he/she will likely be a part of (either the Templar Order or a splinter group called the Inquisition). We will be able to choose an origin for this new character, but it has, unfortunately, been likewise confirmed that he/she will be human. My speculation is that the story will begin with the PC fighting in the Mage/Templar war, and something will happen to alienate him from this. Perhaps a vanguard of Flemeth's forces attacks him and his men and they get screwed over, pushed back only by a mysterious witch and a deadly child (hint hint). Perhaps this will lead the PC to ally with Morrigan in some way and try to gather everyone together to fight Flemeth.
However, this creates another quandary: if my story speculation about Morrigan's child is true, this would require the PC to become a Grey Warden to kill him/her, assuming those rules still apply. The main problem with this theory and my previous speculation is that it really leaves room for two endings, and not much else; it has been confirmed that DA3 will be more open-ended than previous titles, but we all know how Mass Effect 3 turned out with those words (never speak of it again). I suppose we'll just have to see what happens.
This is all purely speculation, and I might have made some mistakes here and there (feel free to correct me so I seem less of a moron in the future), but just in case they try to pull off something akin to what I just described, I'm immortalizing it right here on the internet, right now. If I'm right, I called it and am amazing (not really). If I'm wrong, oh well, I just hope the story is still very strong, strong enough to rival that of Dragon Age: Origins. So those are my thoughts. I'm curious about yours, so feel free to share. What do you think about all this? Are you even willing to give EA any benefit of doubt?
I hope you've enjoyed reading this massive wall of text (maybe I'll add in some graphics or something later), and I hope I've spurred some semblance of thought in your brains about this game, which I for one am tentatively looking forward to. I think that's all for now, so goodbye, and good day.
