Many long-time Dragon Age fans feel that Solas' arc in Dragon Age: Inquisition and Trespasser built toward something much larger than what was ultimately delivered in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Whether someone enjoyed Veilguard or not, it's fair to say the marketing, lore setup, and years of fan theories created enormous expectations.

If the goal were to create a "redo" story where Veilguard effectively never happened, I would not simply retell the same plot. I would make Solas the center of a world-changing conflict that fundamentally reshapes Thedas.

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf

A hypothetical alternate sequel

The Opening

The game begins ten years after Trespasser.

Across Thedas, reality is beginning to fracture.

• Spirits appear in cities.
• Ancient forests move overnight.
• Rivers flow backward.
• Forgotten ruins emerge from beneath mountains.
• Elves begin experiencing memories from ancestors thousands of years dead.

Nobody knows whether this is magic, prophecy, or madness.

Then Solas finally reveals himself.

Not as a villain.

Not as a conqueror.

As a man desperately trying to stop something worse.

The Truth

Solas discovers that the Veil was never meant to last this long.

It is collapsing naturally.

When he created it, he believed it would endure for centuries.

Instead it became a prison that has slowly poisoned:

• Spirits
• The Fade
• Elven souls
• Reality itself

The Evanuris are not merely trapped.

They have evolved.

For thousands of years they have become something closer to cosmic horrors than gods.

Solas now realizes removing the Veil may release them.

Keeping it intact may destroy the world anyway.

The player becomes caught between impossible choices.

Solas as a Companion

One thing many fans wanted was more time with Solas.

In this version:

• Solas is a full companion.
• He travels with the player.
• He debates constantly.
• He explains ancient history.
• He argues with Grey Wardens, mages, templars, and spirits.

For most of the game he is neither enemy nor ally.

He is a man carrying unimaginable guilt.

The player slowly discovers that Solas is exhausted.

After thousands of years he is tired of being a god, a rebel, a legend, and a monster.

He just wants to fix what he broke.

The Forgotten Titans

The Titans become a major focus.

Solas eventually learns that the Evanuris were not the original rulers of the world.

The Titans were.

The war between Titans and ancient elves nearly destroyed reality itself.

The Veil was merely a bandage placed over a much older wound.

The real threat lies beneath Thedas.

Something sleeping deeper than the Deep Roads.

Something even the Evanuris feared.

The World Changes

Unlike many RPGs where the story talks about catastrophe but little changes, this version would transform the world.

Entire regions evolve over time.

Examples:

The Fade Forests

Forests become partially merged with the Fade.

Trees speak.

Animals use magic.

Lost spirits create villages.

The Drowned Marches

A region where reality collapses daily.

Castles appear and disappear.

Ghost armies fight battles from ages past.

The Titan Wastes

Massive underground continents awaken beneath the surface.

Entire nations must evacuate.

Players witness history unfolding rather than hearing about it.

Solas' Final Choice

Near the end, Solas refuses to make the decision alone.

For once.

He places the fate of the world in the player's hands.

Possible endings:

Restore the Veil

The world survives.

Magic weakens.

Spirits become distant.

The Evanuris remain imprisoned.

Solas sacrifices himself to maintain the barrier forever.

Destroy the Veil

The Fade and reality merge.

Magic becomes common.

Entire civilizations change.

Some regions flourish.

Others collapse.

A new age begins.

Reforge Reality

The player, Solas, and powerful allies create a new Veil.

Neither the old world nor the ancient world survives unchanged.

Thedas enters a completely unknown future.

Why This Feels More Like Dragon Age

What made Solas compelling was never his power.

It was his tragedy.

He was:

• A revolutionary.
• A liberator.
• A liar.
• A friend.
• A destroyer.

The best version of a Solas sequel would focus on those contradictions.

Rather than reducing him to a final obstacle, the story should force players to spend dozens of hours questioning whether he is right, wrong, or both.

That uncertainty is what made the ending of Dragon Age: Inquisition and its Dragon Age: Inquisition – Trespasser expansion so memorable. A true follow-up would build on that tension instead of resolving it too quickly.

In that version of Dragon Age, Solas wouldn't merely be the final boss.

He would be the central character around whom the fate of Thedas revolves.

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf (Alternate Sequel)

Part II – Solas Was Not the Only One Planning

One of the biggest missed opportunities in many fan discussions is that Solas should not have been the only genius moving pieces across the board.

For thousands of years, everyone feared the Dread Wolf.

But what if someone else had been preparing for his return?

---

The Watchers

Before the Veil existed, there were individuals who understood the dangers of both the Fade and the physical world.

Not gods.

Not spirits.

Not demons.

Observers.

Historians.

Guardians.

They called themselves the Watchers.

When Solas created the Veil, they vanished.

Or so everyone believed.

Throughout the game the player discovers hidden sanctuaries older than:

• Tevinter
• Orzammar
• Arlathan
• The Chantry

Inside are records revealing a terrifying truth.

The Watchers predicted everything.

They predicted:

• The Blights
• The rise of the Chantry
• The fall of Arlathan
• The return of Solas

What they could not predict was what comes after.

---

The Forgotten Grey Warden

Dragon Age has always hinted that the Grey Wardens know less than they think.

This story changes that.

Deep beneath Weisshaupt lies a sealed chamber.

Inside sleeps the oldest Grey Warden ever created.

Not a king.

Not a commander.

Not a hero.

A survivor.

He predates every known Warden record.

Even the First Blight.

For centuries he remained in magical stasis.

The Wardens feared awakening him.

Why?

Because he remembers what the Darkspawn truly are.

---

The Real Origin of the Darkspawn

The Chantry version is incomplete.

The Tevinter version is incomplete.

Even Corypheus only knew fragments.

The truth:

The Darkspawn were never intended to exist.

They are the side effect of an ancient war between:

• Titans
• Spirits
• Ancient elves

The Taint is not merely corruption.

It is reality breaking down.

A wound in existence itself.

Every Blight is the wound attempting to spread.

Every Archdemon is the wound attempting to think.

The Evanuris did not create the problem.

They merely made it worse.

Solas discovers this alongside the player.

For the first time, even he is frightened.

---

A More Dangerous Solas

One thing often missing from later portrayals is how terrifying Solas should be.

Not because he is evil.

Because he is ancient.

Imagine scenes where:

A Tevinter Archmage threatens him.

Solas calmly identifies the mage's spell.

The school that taught it.

The founder of that school.

The founder's teacher.

Then explains how all of them misunderstood the spell.

Because he personally knew the person who invented it.

The room becomes silent.

The player suddenly remembers:

This man is older than nations.

Older than empires.

Older than history itself.

---

The Inquisitor Returns

The Inquisitor should never disappear completely.

Regardless of who the player chose previously, the Inquisitor becomes a major force.

Not a companion.

Not an NPC standing in a corner.

A leader.

A legend.

People across Thedas still speak their name.

When they appear:

Crowds stop.

Soldiers salute.

Nobles panic.

The Inquisitor has spent years preparing for Solas.

Now they discover Solas may actually be trying to save the world.

The tension becomes incredible.

Former friends become reluctant allies.

---

The Living Evanuris

The Evanuris should be terrifying.

Not cartoon villains.

Not giant monsters.

Not simple bosses.

Each should feel like a force of nature.

Elgar'nan

The first king.

His presence causes people to instinctively kneel.

Entire armies surrender without understanding why.

Ghilan'nain

The Mother of Horrors.

She creates living ecosystems of monsters.

Entire forests become her children.

Falon'Din

The god of death.

The dead literally answer his voice.

Ancient battlefields rise when he walks nearby.

Andruil

The Huntress.

Every predator becomes part of her awareness.

Dragons follow her like hounds.

Each god could serve as an expansion-level threat by themselves.

---

Dragons Become Central Again

Dragons should feel rare.

Ancient.

Sacred.

World-changing.

Not simply creatures waiting inside boss arenas.

Some dragons ally with Solas.

Others oppose him.

A few remember the ancient world before the Veil.

One ancient dragon becomes a major character.

Not fully good.

Not fully evil.

Merely old enough to remember the truth.

Imagine speaking with a dragon that remembers:

• Ancient Arlathan
• The Titans
• The Evanuris
• Solas before he became Fen'Harel

That conversation alone could reshape everything players think they know.

---

The Final Revelation

Near the end of the game, the player discovers something that changes Dragon Age forever.

The Veil is not the first Veil.

Reality has been remade before.

Possibly many times.

Civilizations existed before the elves.

Before the Titans.

Before anything recorded in history.

Thedas itself may be the latest version of a much older world.

Solas learns this at the same time as the player.

For perhaps the first time in thousands of years, the Dread Wolf encounters something he does not understand.

Something older than him.

Something older than the Evanuris.

Something waiting beyond both the Fade and reality.

And suddenly the story becomes larger than:

• Solas
• The Evanuris
• The Blights
• The Grey Wardens

The question is no longer:

"Can Solas save the world?"

The question becomes:

"How many times has the world already ended?"

And if Solas fails...

Will anyone even remember that this version of Thedas ever existed?

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf (Alternate Sequel)

Part III – The Last Secrets of Thedas

A great Dragon Age story should make players question everything they thought they knew.

Not by rewriting lore for shock value.

By revealing that history was always bigger than the stories people told themselves.

---

The Forgotten Age

Every civilization believes it was built upon ruins.

The elves discovered ruins.

The dwarves discovered ruins.

Tevinter discovered ruins.

Even the ancient elves found structures older than themselves.

For centuries nobody questioned it.

Because nobody wanted to know the answer.

The player eventually discovers an impossible location.

A city buried beneath the Deep Roads.

Not dwarven.

Not elven.

Not human.

Not Qunari.

Something else.

Something ancient enough that even Solas cannot identify it.

The architecture appears wrong.

Hallways shift.

Doors appear where none existed.

Time behaves strangely.

Companions begin remembering events that never happened.

Some swear they recognize the city.

Even though it predates every known civilization.

---

Sandal's Secret

One of the greatest mysteries in Dragon Age deserves an actual payoff.

Sandal Feddic returns.

Still awkward.

Still strange.

Still saying things that nobody understands.

At first.

Then the player realizes something disturbing.

Sandal isn't predicting the future.

He is remembering it.

Throughout the story he casually speaks lines such as:

"This happened before."

"Different faces this time."

"The wolf always cries."

Nobody understands.

Not even Sandal.

But hidden documents reveal that individuals like Sandal have appeared repeatedly throughout history.

Always before world-changing events.

Always disappearing afterward.

Always leaving warnings nobody understood until it was too late.

---

The Titans Awaken

For years Dragon Age hinted that the Titans were more important than players realized.

This version finally delivers.

The Titans are not monsters.

They are not gods.

They are living continents.

The bones of reality itself.

When one awakens beneath Thedas, mountains crack open.

Entire nations experience earthquakes for months.

Lyrium veins begin moving.

Dwarves across the world suddenly hear voices.

Some become prophets.

Others go insane.

Others gain abilities never before seen.

For the first time in history, dwarves begin naturally wielding magic.

The Chantry panics.

Tevinter panics.

Everyone panics.

Because the foundations of everything they believe are collapsing.

---

The Great Dragon War

Ancient dragons finally stop being rare boss encounters and become major players.

The revelation:

Not all dragons are animals.

Some ancient dragons possess intelligence rivaling the greatest scholars.

They simply choose silence.

For thousands of years they watched:

• The Evanuris rise.
• The Titans fall.
• Solas create the Veil.
• Humanity spread across Thedas.

Now they choose to act.

The world divides.

Some dragons support Solas.

Others believe the Veil must remain.

Others want both sides destroyed.

Entire aerial wars erupt across Thedas.

Cities watch battles between dragons that blacken the sky.

For the first time since ancient history, dragons become a political force.

---

The Mage Crisis

The weakening Veil causes magic to evolve.

New schools emerge.

Spells behave unpredictably.

A novice mage accidentally creates a living storm.

A child opens a portal into the Fade.

Entire villages develop magical abilities overnight.

The old Circle teachings become outdated.

Even veteran archmages struggle to understand what is happening.

Some see opportunity.

Others see apocalypse.

This creates one of the largest social upheavals in Dragon Age history.

---

The Return of Ancient Heroes

The Fade contains memories.

Echoes.

Possibilities.

Not ghosts.

Not spirits.

Something stranger.

Throughout the story, players encounter reflections of legendary figures.

Not truly alive.

But not entirely dead.

Ancient kings.

Forgotten heroes.

Lost Wardens.

Old companions.

These encounters allow Dragon Age to celebrate its history without simply resurrecting everyone.

The player can learn directly from the people who shaped Thedas.

---

Solas Begins to Break

This is where the story becomes tragic.

For years Solas believed knowledge was his greatest strength.

Now he realizes how much he never knew.

The Evanuris were not the beginning.

The Titans were not the beginning.

Even the Fade may not be the beginning.

Every revelation strips away another layer of certainty.

The player witnesses something rarely seen.

Fear.

Not fear of death.

Fear that everything Solas sacrificed for may have been based on incomplete understanding.

The Dread Wolf begins questioning himself.

Perhaps for the first time.

---

The Inquisitor's Decision

Late in the game the Inquisitor confronts Solas.

Not as enemies.

As former friends.

Former allies.

Perhaps former lovers.

The conversation becomes one of the most important in Dragon Age history.

The Inquisitor asks:

"How many people have died because you thought only you knew the truth?"

Solas has no answer.

For once.

No clever speech.

No ancient wisdom.

No hidden plan.

Only silence.

The player realizes the true tragedy of Fen'Harel.

His greatest flaw was never pride.

It was believing he had to carry the world alone.

---

The Beyond

Eventually the player discovers what lies beyond the Fade.

A realm even spirits fear.

A place older than dreams.

Older than magic.

Older than gods.

The Watchers called it:

The Silence.

Not because it is empty.

Because nothing that enters ever returns unchanged.

The Evanuris feared it.

The Titans feared it.

Even Solas fears it.

The final chapters reveal that reality itself is expanding toward the Silence.

Slowly.

Inevitably.

Like a tide.

The Veil was never meant to stop it.

The Titans could not stop it.

The Evanuris could not stop it.

The question becomes:

Can anyone?

---

The Ending

Instead of defeating a villain, the player shapes the future of existence.

The final choice is not:

• Save the world.
• Destroy the world.

The final choice is:

What kind of world deserves to survive?

A world of magic?

A world of order?

A world of freedom?

A world of spirits?

A world of mortals?

Or a completely new world built from the lessons of every age that came before?

And as the credits roll, players see one final scene.

Sandal standing alone in an ancient ruin.

Looking toward the horizon.

Smiling.

Then quietly saying:

"This one might work."

Fade to black.

Because some mysteries are better when they're finally answered...

and a few are even better when they aren't.