The Undead Should Be Expanded Beyond What We've Seen
The Undead Should Be Expanded Beyond What We've Seen
One of the most underused enemy groups in Dragon Age is the undead.
The series has given us walking corpses, skeletons, revenants, arcane horrors, and a few necromantic encounters, but compared to Darkspawn, demons, dragons, and other threats, the undead have never truly received the attention they deserve.
Thedas is thousands of years old. Entire kingdoms have risen and fallen. Countless wars have been fought. Millions have died. Ancient civilizations have vanished beneath forests, mountains, deserts, and cities.
There should be far more undead roaming the world.
Not Just Skeletons and Corpses
Undead should come in many forms.
Fallen Knights
Ancient warriors still wearing rusted armor from forgotten kingdoms.
Some patrol ruined roads.
Others guard tombs they swore to protect centuries ago.
Many no longer remember why they fight.
Undead Nobility
Former kings, queens, generals, and nobles.
Unlike mindless corpses, these beings retain fragments of memory and personality.
Some may even negotiate with players.
Others rule over entire crypt kingdoms beneath the surface.
Bone Giants
Massive constructs assembled from hundreds of skeletons.
Created by powerful necromancers or ancient curses.
They could function as regional bosses.
Spirit-Bound Dead
Bodies possessed by spirits rather than demons.
Not all undead should be evil.
Some could offer quests, lore, warnings, or assistance.
Plague Dead
Victims of ancient magical diseases.
Their corruption spreads through attacks and environmental hazards.
Drowned Dead
Thedas contains lakes, rivers, coastlines, and flooded ruins.
Undead emerging from underwater would create genuinely unsettling encounters.
Frozen Dead
In northern regions or high mountains.
Perfectly preserved corpses awakened by magic.
Dragon Graves
What happens when dragons die?
Some should remain dead.
Others should not.
Ancient dragon skeletons animated through forbidden rituals could become terrifying world bosses.
The Undead Should Have Their Own Factions
Not every undead creature should be controlled by a necromancer.
Some groups should have their own agendas.
The Silent Court
Undead nobles ruling a hidden kingdom beneath Thedas.
They see themselves as the rightful heirs to lost empires.
The Forgotten Legion
An army from an ancient war that never realized the conflict ended.
They continue marching centuries later.
The Hollow Choir
Undead priests who endlessly perform rituals in abandoned temples.
Travelers hear their songs long before they encounter them.
The Ashen Monarch
A legendary revenant king commanding armies of dead warriors.
His existence is debated by scholars until players discover the truth.
Darkspawn vs. Undead
One of the most interesting possibilities is letting enemies fight each other.
Darkspawn and undead should not automatically coexist.
In many situations, they should be mortal enemies.
Imagine entering a Deep Roads chamber and finding:
Skeleton warriors battling Genlocks.
Revenants fighting Ogres.
Arcane Horrors hurling spells at Darkspawn Emissaries.
Entire undead armies holding back Darkspawn invasions.
The player arrives in the middle of the conflict and decides:
Attack both sides.
Aid one side temporarily.
Slip through unnoticed while they destroy each other.
These encounters would make the world feel alive and unpredictable.
Ancient Battlefields
Thedas has centuries of warfare.
Many battlefields should become cursed locations.
At night:
Ghostly armies reappear.
Dead soldiers relive ancient battles.
Players witness conflicts that occurred hundreds of years ago.
Historical mysteries can be uncovered through supernatural events.
These locations would provide both gameplay and lore opportunities.
Necromancers Should Be More Complex
Dragon Age often portrays necromancy as either evil or dangerous.
But what if some necromancers genuinely serve society?
Imagine factions that:
Recover lost historical knowledge.
Speak with ancient rulers.
Investigate murders by questioning the dead.
Protect dangerous spirits from escaping.
Guard massive burial complexes.
This would add moral complexity to the setting.
Make Death Feel Present
One of the strengths of dark fantasy is that history leaves scars.
Thedas has experienced:
Blights
Civil wars
Exalted Marches
Mage-Templar conflicts
Qunari invasions
Countless forgotten disasters
The dead from those events should still matter.
Not every threat needs to be another demon invasion or Darkspawn horde.
Sometimes the most frightening enemy is the past refusing to stay buried.
A future Dragon Age could greatly benefit from making undead a major pillar of the world alongside dragons, demons, and Darkspawn—giving players ancient crypts, haunted kingdoms, cursed battlefields, necromancer politics, and even large-scale undead-versus-Darkspawn wars that make Thedas feel older, darker, and far more mysterious.
[Dragon Age] More Undead Types, Encounters, and Forgotten Horrors of Thedas
If dragons represent power and Darkspawn represent corruption, then undead should represent something Dragon Age excels at: history refusing to die.
Thedas is built on layers of fallen civilizations. Every nation stands on the bones of something older.
That should be reflected in the undead.
The Crownless Kings
Not every king receives a proper burial.
Some rulers die during civil wars.
Some are betrayed.
Some are erased from history.
These forgotten monarchs rise as powerful undead known as the Crownless Kings.
Characteristics
Wear broken crowns.
Command spectral armies.
Remember ancient grudges.
Possess knowledge of lost kingdoms.
Some may even offer alliances.
Imagine entering a crypt and finding a king who has been waiting 800 years for revenge.
Grave Titans
Entire mountains of bones animated by ancient magic.
Not merely large enemies.
Living disasters.
Encounters
Villages report earthquakes.
Livestock disappear.
Travelers vanish.
Eventually players discover an enormous undead giant buried beneath a valley slowly awakening.
A regional event could require multiple quests before the titan fully emerges.
The Lantern Dead
Not all undead are hostile.
Some carry ghostly lanterns.
They wander roads and forests at night.
Mystery
Following one might lead to:
Buried treasure.
Ancient ruins.
Lost family tombs.
Hidden Fade tears.
Terrible ambushes.
Players never know which outcome awaits.
Hollow Knights
Ancient warriors whose souls are gone but whose armor continues moving.
No flesh.
No bones.
Just empty armor animated by curses.
Special Feature
Destroying armor pieces affects combat.
Break the shield.
Remove mobility.
Shatter the helm.
Reveal magical weaknesses.
The Bone Swarm
Thousands of tiny skeletal creatures acting as a collective intelligence.
Not individually dangerous.
Together they become horrifying.
Behaviors
Form walls.
Create temporary weapons.
Assemble larger creatures.
Consume corpses to grow.
Imagine a battlefield where fallen soldiers are immediately absorbed into the swarm.
The Dread Choir
An entire undead faction built around song.
Their voices echo for miles.
Those who hear the music:
Experience hallucinations.
Relive old memories.
Become disoriented.
Risk possession.
The closer players get, the more reality begins to distort.
The Buried Mages
Many powerful mages have died throughout history.
Some should return.
Unique Threats
Each Buried Mage becomes shaped by their magical specialty.
A fire mage creates volcanic crypts.
A frost mage creates frozen catacombs.
A spirit healer creates undead that constantly regenerate.
No two encounters feel the same.
Undead Dragons
Dragon Age needs more dragon variety.
Undead dragons are an obvious opportunity.
Bone Dragons
Nothing but skeleton and ancient magic.
Combat
Bone shard storms.
Tail attacks that scatter skeletal minions.
Self-repair mechanics.
Destroying bones weakens specific abilities.
Spirit Dragons
Ancient dragons possessed by powerful Fade entities.
They phase between worlds.
Players fight them in both reality and the Fade.
Gravewyrms
Massive serpent-like dragon relatives living beneath ancient cemeteries.
They tunnel underground.
Players only see signs of their presence until they finally emerge.
Undead Deep Roads
The Deep Roads are perfect for undead.
Too much death has occurred there for thousands of years.
The Lost Legion
Entire dwarven armies trapped underground.
Neither alive nor dead.
Still following commands issued centuries ago.
Encounter
Players find a fortress still functioning.
The soldiers continue standing guard.
They do not realize their kingdom fell hundreds of years ago.
Stonebound Dead
Unique dwarven undead.
Rather than being animated by spirits alone, they become fused with living stone.
Appearance
Granite skin.
Crystal growths.
Glowing lyrium veins.
A blend of undead and golem aesthetics.
Darkspawn Versus Undead Wars
This should become a recurring world event.
Deep Roads Battlefields
Ancient undead kingdoms and Darkspawn hordes compete for territory.
Players may witness:
Ogres fighting Bone Giants.
Revenants dueling Alphas.
Emissaries battling undead mages.
Massive underground wars.
The player enters an active battlefield.
Nothing is scripted.
The conflict unfolds naturally.
The Blight Dead
A horrifying hybrid.
Darkspawn attempt to corrupt undead remains.
Sometimes it works.
Sometimes it creates monstrosities neither side controls.
Even Darkspawn fear these creatures.
Haunted Cities
Entire abandoned settlements should exist.
Not dungeons.
Actual cities.
The City That Returns
A vanished city appears one night each year.
The inhabitants are undead echoes.
They continue daily routines unaware they died centuries ago.
Players can:
Trade.
Investigate.
Learn forgotten history.
But when dawn arrives, the city disappears.
The Last Festival
A town eternally relives the day it was destroyed.
Ghosts celebrate.
Music plays.
Food is served.
Everyone appears alive.
Until night falls and the massacre repeats itself.
Undead Companion Possibilities
Dragon Age has always excelled at companions.
Why not an undead one?
The Last Knight
A revenant trying to remember who he was.
He fears what happens when his final memory disappears.
The Necropolis Scholar
An undead historian preserving knowledge lost to time.
Not evil.
Not good.
Simply obsessed with ensuring history survives.
The Bound Queen
An ancient ruler trapped between life and death.
She joins the player hoping to finally break her curse.
The Necropolis Beneath Thedas
The biggest missed opportunity may be a true mega-dungeon.
Imagine discovering:
Hundreds of miles of crypts.
Entire underground cities of dead rulers.
Libraries of forbidden history.
Ancient dragon tombs.
Lost empires erased from modern records.
A place older than most nations.
A place feared by necromancers themselves.
A place where the dead have built a civilization beneath the living world.
Because if Dragon Age wants to embrace its darker fantasy roots, then death should not simply be something that happened in the past.
Death should be an active force in the present—whispering from crypts, marching across forgotten battlefields, and challenging both Darkspawn and the living for control of Thedas itself.
[Dragon Age] The Dead Kingdoms of Thedas
One thing Dragon Age has never fully explored is a terrifying possibility:
What if some dead civilizations never actually disappeared?
What if they simply continued existing beneath the world?
Not alive.
Not entirely dead.
Waiting.
The Empire Beneath
Deep below Thedas lies an ancient kingdom forgotten by history.
Its citizens died thousands of years ago.
Yet their civilization continues.
Undead farmers still work fields illuminated by lyrium crystals.
Undead scribes still copy books.
Undead guards still patrol walls.
Undead nobles still argue politics.
To them, they never died.
The living are the strange ones.
The player may become the first living visitor in centuries.
The Parliament of Bones
A gathering of powerful undead rulers.
Kings.
Queens.
Generals.
Archmages.
Prophets.
Heroes.
Villains.
All preserved through ancient magic.
They debate events occurring in modern Thedas.
Some wish to remain hidden.
Others believe the dead should reclaim the surface.
Others seek war against Darkspawn.
Others view demons as the true enemy.
Every member has a different vision.
The Tomb Lords
The equivalent of legendary dragons among undead.
Extremely rare.
Exceptionally dangerous.
Entire regions fear them.
The Ash King
An ancient conqueror whose body burns eternally.
His footsteps ignite the ground.
Entire armies died trying to stop him.
Now he wanders forgotten battlefields searching for enemies that no longer exist.
The Ivory Queen
A ruler whose skeleton has transformed into ivory-like crystal.
Her crypt becomes a palace of white stone and bone.
People disappear near her territory.
Some return as loyal servants.
Others never return at all.
The Weeping Emperor
An undead ruler trapped in endless regret.
His tears create cursed rivers.
Those who drink from them experience memories from ancient ages.
Many never recover their sanity.
Forgotten Dragon Graves
Thedas has existed for thousands of years.
Countless dragons must have died.
Where are their bones?
Valley of Wings
A hidden canyon filled with dragon skeletons.
Hundreds of them.
Thousands, perhaps.
No one knows why so many came there to die.
Ancient necromancers seek the location.
Grey Wardens avoid it.
Even Darkspawn fear it.
Something beneath the bones remains awake.
The Bone Tyrant
A colossal undead dragon assembled from the remains of many dragons.
Not a simple beast.
A highly intelligent ruler.
It commands entire undead kingdoms.
Its appearance alone can alter political landscapes.
Undead Seas
Dragon Age rarely explores undead threats in oceans and lakes.
It should.
The Drowned Fleet
A naval armada lost centuries ago.
Its ships still sail.
Ghost lights appear during storms.
Sailors tell stories.
Most dismiss them.
Until ships begin vanishing.
The Leviathan Grave
An enormous sea creature died centuries ago.
Necromantic energies transformed it.
Now entire islands move because the creature beneath them still shifts in its sleep.
Haunted Forests
Forests should sometimes feel wrong.
Not demon-infested.
Not Darkspawn territory.
Something older.
The Silent Woods
No birds sing.
No animals remain.
No wind moves the trees.
Yet voices can be heard.
Whispers from countless dead hidden beneath the roots.
Travelers often leave with knowledge they should not possess.
Some never leave at all.
The Hanging Forest
Long ago an army was executed there.
Now ghostly soldiers appear among the trees.
They continue preparing for a battle that will never come.
Undead Created By Powerful Emotions
Not all undead should come from necromancy.
Sometimes emotions themselves create monsters.
Griefborn
Created from overwhelming sorrow.
Often found after disasters.
Their presence causes sadness and despair.
Entire communities may slowly collapse under their influence.
Ragebound
Created where massacres occurred.
These undead relive their final moments endlessly.
Violence follows wherever they go.
Oathkeepers
Warriors who refuse to die until a promise is fulfilled.
Some become allies.
Some become terrifying enemies.
One might have spent five hundred years pursuing a single mission.
Intelligent Undead Settlements
Not every undead encounter should be combat.
The City of Last Words
A settlement where undead citizens preserve memories.
Visitors can hear stories from:
Ancient Tevinter magisters.
Forgotten dwarven kings.
Elven generals.
Heroes erased from history.
The city functions as a living museum of Thedas.
The Bone Market
A secret underground trading hub.
Necromancers.
Mortalitasi.
Collectors.
Historians.
Adventurers.
All gather there.
Rare relics from lost ages can be purchased.
Dangerous knowledge changes hands daily.
Undead Companion Concepts
The Last Legionnaire
A soldier from an empire that no longer exists.
He has served for 1,200 years.
Every day he remembers less.
He writes notes to himself so he does not forget who he is.
The Grave Child
A young spirit inhabiting a dead body.
Innocent.
Curious.
Strangely powerful.
Its understanding of life and death creates both humor and tragedy.
The Forgotten Hero
Legends describe this figure as a villain.
History says otherwise.
The companion joins the player to reveal the truth.
The Great Necropolis Expansion
The Grand Necropolis introduced in Dragon Age lore is one of the most fascinating concepts in the setting.
A future game could make it a major location.
Imagine:
Miles of catacombs.
Political factions of necromancers.
Tomb cities.
Undead courts.
Spirit embassies.
Ancient dragon crypts.
Hidden entrances to the Fade.
Entire underground civilizations.
The Grand Necropolis could become as iconic to Dragon Age as the Deep Roads.
The Ultimate Encounter
Imagine descending into the deepest crypt in Thedas.
You discover:
Darkspawn armies attacking.
Demons pouring through Fade rifts.
Ancient undead kingdoms defending themselves.
Dragons circling overhead.
Necromancers raising armies.
Forgotten rulers awakening.
For the first time, the living, the dead, the Blight, and the Fade collide in one massive conflict.
Not because the world is ending.
Because history itself has finally awakened.
And it wants Thedas back.
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