Veilguard is High Fantasy rather than Dark Fantasy

Key recommendations

• Dragon Age: Veilguard marks a shift to high fantasy for
  Dragon Age
  series.
• The conflict in Veilguard is epic, as in most fantasy properties.
• The game embraces the Hero's Journey formula and maintains an upbeat tone.

Players have noticed a change in tone between the previous ones Dragon Age titles and Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Story structure, characters and themes Veilguard is exploration seem more in line with stories like this The Lord of the Rings and games like Final Fantasy than previous games in the series. The world feels brighter, but the stakes are higher than ever. When the whole world is at stake and only one group of heroes is facing the gods, how can the tone of the story be lighter?

All these factors point to a gender change. Dragon Age: The Veilguard it is a work of high fantasy as opposed to dark fantasy. These two genres, while similar, have some key differences that make them suitable for different types of stories. High fantasy tends to take place in an entirely fictional universe with magical elements (like all Dragon Age games do), focus on a single hero coming to terms with his responsibilities and include, among other things, a battle between good and evil. Dark fantasy tends to have more morally ambiguous characters, focuses on an anti-hero, may or may not exist in an entirely fantasy universe, and sometimes has themes of hopelessness and moral corruption. Dragon Age: The Veilguard it fits best, though not entirely, into the first genre.

1 There is a clear difference between good and bad

With the major exception of the direwolf

In high fantasy, there is a clear distinction between good and evil. While there are some characters who change their minds about the Veilguard (such as the First Guardian) or were once good and now turned evil (such as Gloomhowler), there is no doubt as to which side each character is fighting for during events. of the game. The representations of evil, Elgar'nan and Gilan'nain, are motivated only by the desire for power: there is little ambiguity or room to sympathize with them.

The “good” characters are also unmistakably good: in previous games, factions like the Antivan Crows did things like kidnap and kill innocents. In Veilguard, they were written as a resistance army rather than killers. In precedent Dragon Age titles, some companions were prejudiced against mages or lied to the protagonist. In Veilguard, the focus is on the larger struggle against evil, as opposed to the interpersonal struggle between individual characters' morality. There is one interesting exception: Solas, who can be either redeemed or forced to do the right thing depending on the choices the player makes.

2 Conflict on an epic scale

The biggest battle yet

In high fantasy, the conflict tends to be “epic:” in literature, this means that the scope is broad and the themes speak broadly to the larger human condition. That is why the line between good and evil is so clearly drawn: the real battle is not between men, but between forces.

In dark fantasy, conflict tends to be smaller in scale: for example, the climax of Dragon Age 2 it's Anders destroying the Kirkwall sanatorium. In that game, the actions of an individual, who is neither good nor bad, are the central conflict. In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the climax is the battle with the gods, representations of pure evil.

3 There is a hero's journey

Something Veilguard Has in common with Odyssey

The hero's journey is something players might have come across in high school English class: it's a structure that's been used in stories for as long as there have been stories, and it's a key element of the fantasy genre. It looks something like this, although there are variations:

Evolution of Rook in Veilguard aligns with the hero's journey: mentor is Varric, helpers are companions, death and rebirth is Rook caught in The Fade, etc. In dark fantasy, the protagonist will sometimes mirror this structure, but it is more common in that genre to have a less traditional arc. The main characters of dark fantasy stories are often anti-heroes who sometimes don't achieve the goals they set out to: think again about the ending Dragon Age 2. In Veilguard, this formula is followed almost exactly.

4 Optimistic tone

We can do the impossible

In the core Dragon Age: The Veilguard, there is hope: hope in the face of impossible odds, hope in a worthy cause, and hope in a better future. In dark fantasy games like Dark souls and Elden Ring, hope is never certain. Not only is the protagonist of these games unsure if they will be able to accomplish their goals, but they are also unsure that their goals are for the greater good. In Veilguard, it is not the case. When Rook talks to Solas, there are several lines of dialogue assuring him that they are the right person for the job and that their team is capable of fighting the gods.

This central theme of hope lends itself well to the story Dragon Age: The Veilguard it tries to tell the story of found family, fighting against slim odds and heroic sacrifice. This is a common theme in fantasy properties such as The Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia.

5 Good Prevails

In one form or another

Whether Rook seals the Veil with Solas or not, good triumphs over evil at the end of it Veilguard. If Rook has completed the Crossroads quests and gained Mythal's assistance, Rook can convince Solas to seal him himself (thereby punishing him for his mistakes while allowing him to redeem himself, bringing that clear line back between good and evil).

This is after the fight with Elgar'nan: a classic high fantasy final battle between good and evil where beloved characters die, but always in a way that feels meaningful and useful to the fight at hand. In a dark fantasy story, there would be a lot of senseless death. The end would mean bad things for good people. Instead, Veilguard he takes the time to honor his dead in the crypt just before the end: anyone lost in this battle is nobly lost, and their sacrifice is recognized by the living. Dark fantasy often focuses on the randomness of death, while high fantasy allows characters to have some agency and power in death. In Veilguard, even in their darkest moments, comrades die for the cause and not just die.