[Spoilers All] You've been tasked to direct a movie trilogy on DA:Origins. How does the story works out?

  • What's the HoF origin?

Human Noble: This origin is probably the one with the most emotional impact throughout the story (city elf is only for the Alienage part of the story) with a very clear target from the very beginning; have your revenge. It is also the origin that is most invested in remaining loyal to Duncan.

Warrior: A warrior equipped with Sword and Shield is probably the best trope for a heroic protagonist. Also allows a, by medieval terms, honourable duel with Loghain.

Male or Female: I am not entirely sure whether I would prefer one or the other. Both choices can certainly offer an extremely interesting story with very intreresting romances.

  • Romance anyone?

For male I would either go with Leliana or Morrigan. The obvious choice is obviously Morrigan whom offers a story that is directly connected with the main theme of the game/movie but Leliana is too nice to not consider.

For a female the choice is obviously Allistair.

  • What choice would he/she make?

The hero would aim to be as good but I would try to make the events flow is such way that this is not possible, forcing him to make the "wrong" choices.

For example, in the mage tower, I would have him fail to protect Irving leading to the Gregor annuling the circle and ultimately forcing the Warden to sacrifice Isolde.

For the Landsmeet, I would be almost tempted to have the Warden lose the debate with Loghain Mac Tir but that would probably not be appealing. I would however keep Loghain alive. Further explanation on this choice later.

Alistair would marry Anora even if the Warden is chosen to be female (drama!).

  • Would you alter the narrative flow in some way?

Considering I am a massive Loghain fanboy and the movie cannot just be a story about a small company rescuing the world. Loghain Mac Tir would also be a main character and the movie would have scenes in Denerim which would show exactly how and what drove Loghain to these bad choices.

Just like a person that has read Stolen Throne/The Calling might "fall in love" with Loghain, so should the viewers feel sorry for him.

  • Would you play some scene from another character point of view?

Can't have an entire movie with the Warden in every scene, that just does not work.

  • As the title suggested, the story is splitted in a trilogy (3 movies). What exactly happens in each movie?

Movie 1: Treaties Movie 2: Eamon's ressurection + Denerim + Landsmeet Movie 3: Final Act beginning in Arl Eamon's Estate

As you can understand, having all quests of Act 1(treaties) in the movie would be virtually impossible to have in a 3-hour movie. This would mean that certain parts could not be included unless we started draining time from Denerim and the final battle which, although they are over quite quickly in the game, are also the most alluring parts of a potential movie. (Who doesn't like intrigue after all?)

With that said, I do not know what parts I would cut. Redcliff obviously needs to be included (without perhaps a long-winded Andraste's Ashes plot), Elven plot can be done away with, Dwarven plot should be included because there is no Dragon Age without Deep Roads, and Mage plot is part of the Redcliff plot.

Denerim, Landsmeet, and the final battle cannot be rushed.

  • For budget reasons you're forced to reduce the cast to 4/5 companions (HoF and dog excluded). Who joins the fellowship and what happens to the others?

No. I would tell my funders to go fuck themselves.

I would, however, ensure that only a few select characters survive to the end-game. After all, a non-Warden party cannot travel in the Deep Roads and not die.

Alistair, Morrigan, and Leliana would survive for sure.


Regardless of all this, I would also not make them a movie. Time constraints or not, every single main quest (Elves, Dwarves, Redcliff, Mage Tower, Andraste, Landsmeet, and the final battle) has a purpose in the story. You need a series to have them all without cutting stuff left and right.

/r/dragonage Thread