Pray for Sunrise

Nice try Bioware, but I know the state of Southern Thedas better than you do.

First off, it matters if the Hero of Ferelden is alive or not. When the First Warden recalled all wardens, our hero knew that was a bad call and refused, finally splitting off from Weisshaupt after years of mismanagement and taking scores of wardens with them. Their presence and leadership makes all the difference, rallying southern Thedas once more against the blight. If you have only an Orlesian Warden Commander in Amaranthine they’re less inspiring, but as long as you’ve done Awakening they are a boon nonetheless. There is someone to lead the fight against the darkspawn while other focus on the Venatori.

If you 100% completed Awakenings and also Soldier’s Peak, the Ferelden wardens have never been so prepared. They’re organized, they’re outfitted and they’ve been ready for this for years. Also, if you allied with the Architect then you have scores of strange research to give you an edge.

If Merrill completed her Eluvian then she moves south once again and joins the effort. She’s managed to cleanse the blight before and she’s ready to try it again. And her knowledge of the crossroads gives the south an edge on their movement and supply lines. If Hawke’s sibling is a Warden they accompanied her.

If the Inquisitor let Briala have power in any way, the Dales become the leaders in the war against the Venatori, forming a formidable alliance with Ferelden, Orzammar and the Marches, the likes of which have never been seen. And if you completed Jaws of Hakkon then their alliances with the Avvar and Chasind are stronger than ever.

Of course, if the Inquisitor kept the Wardens around after Here Lies the Abyss then their numbers are bolstered. It may cost Wiesshaupt later, but that’s Rooks problem. And if you completed the Descent, then the Inquisitor and Warden had a much better idea of what was coming and spent ten years getting ready.

They will not be broken.

They will weather this storm.

I have this pet head canon that in Thedas, that very powerful acts of sacrifice will create a spirit in the Fade, especially when mixed with a shit tonne of magic. Specifically, the act of a warden killing an archdemon will create a spirit of that moment.

So there would be four, possibly five spirits of sacrifice. Not ghosts, not the lost souls of those wardens and archdemons, they know they are a memory. But snap shots of the person, their personality and memories, a projection cast into the fade by the searing magic of an old god killed, a warden's promise fulfilled.

So maybe there would be five, even if the warden survived the fifth blight. And maybe they look out for their former companions from the fade and explore what their living selves never got the chance to.

god ok Dragon Age Inquisition Au where you stay a wanted fugitive for most of the game,

like you actually have to WORK for things, have to EARN the victory in any kind of way. step one, you aren’t inexplicably handed an army.

Picture it. You, the marked suspect in the divines death, stabilize the rift, pass out. But instead of waking up as the mythical Herald, surrounded by reverence, you are in the jail cell again. Cassandra believes you are innocent, but it's too late to convince anyone. Orlais wants your head. So Cassandra does the right thing, and helps you flee. You are, after all, still the only person who can do anything for the rifts. Solas is interested in the mark, so he comes too and, well, when has Varric ever turned down a good underdog story? Leliana helps you flee and promises to keep them off you.

You become the Fugitive. or something less nerdy

So you end up in the Hinterlands, and boy things sure are a mess down there, huh? So maybe you start taking out some bandits and rogue templars on your way. It’s kind of unavoidable. And the locals start to take notice. The more you help, the more they lie to the Chantry to help you. And you still need to try and close the breach, so you start wondering if the one of the factions could take a side trip from their war to help you. You have to pledge yourself, really work to earn the aid of either the Mages (x) or the Templars if you want to do an evil run idk, and of course they aren't without their own problems, but you get there. They trust you.

And on the way you keep finding fellow wayward scrappy do-gooders who want to help you. Madamme de Fer herself joins you, as you are the only practical way to Do Anything to help the world right now. And the Iron Bull well ok, you absolutely Cannot afford him but he wants to help, so for tax purposes you join the Chargers, technically, and Krem wont stop affectionately calling you guys the B-team.

So you take your faction and your team and you sneak into the mountains, which is easier if you befriended the lyrium smugglers, and if you convinced leliana’s contact Josephine to manoeuvre the nobility’s forces away from haven, and you do it! You stop the breach! And then a fucking dragon attacks you.

You buy your team time, and you flee. Corypheus wants you dead, so you need to hide. Fourtunately, Solas knows a secret place in the mountains, right between Fereldan and Orlais. Perfect place to sneak into both countries as needed. And cue the rest of the game, launched from your decrepit castle secret-base in the mountains.

(The rest of the game under the cut DA:I is so long.)