One of the biggest questions that need to be answered inDragon Age: Dreadwolfis the damage that removing the Veil will cause to Thedas. While Solas describes a world without the Veil as magic and spirits co-existing with the living world as a part of nature, Solas' removal of the Veil has consequences that go beyond the sheer chaos of merging the real world and the Fade. While it would solve someobvious problems central toDragon Age, it would also unleash horrors that would turn Thedas into a nightmare. One of the obvious consequences of doing so is that it could cause damage similar to what happened to the world of the ancient elves; an even more worrying problem would be freeing the Evanuris, or elven pantheon, from their prison in the Fade.
The release of the Evanuris unto the people of Thedas is already a frightening prospect, but there are other horrors trapped in the Fade that would be unleashed if Solas were to remove the Veil inDragon Age: Dreadwolf. While demons have raged havoc upon Thedas when they manage to slip through the Veil, one of the best examples of the horrors that could destroy Thedas that lie in the Fade is the Blight. According to Chantry lore and confirmed inDragon Age: Inquisition, the Blight comes from the Black City, a place visible from everywhere in the Fade and a place that could possibly have a role to play inDragon Age: Dreadwolf.
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One theory is that the Black City is the prison of the Evanuris, where they were imprisoned together with the Blight in the Fade. From the Black City, the Evanuris used their connection to the Old Golds imprisoned below the Deep Roads to influence the Tevinter magisters, who began to worship the Old Gods. The Evanuris used this connection to give the Tevinter magisters the knowledge of a ritual to physically enter the Fade and open the doors of the Black City, their prison. When this happened, the magisters were immediately sickened by the corruption of the Blight, and became the first darkspawn, as seen withthe Architect inDragon Age: Originsand Corypheus inDragon Age: Inquisition.
Just opening the doors of the Black City nearly destroyed Thedas, withthe downfall of the Tevinter Imperiumand five Blights ravaging the continent. Solas' reaction to the Grey Wardens' plan of killing the remaining Old Gods implies the darkspawn and Blight threat will become even worse once the last two Old Gods have been found and defeated. What will happen to the darkspawn and the Blight once the Veil is destroyed is unknown, but if the two are as closely connected as the lore implies, the results will not be a positive for Thedas.
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As dangerous as the Blight is, the biggest and most immediate threat behind the Veil are the Evanuris. The issue of the Evanuris being freed with the Veil being destroyed was raised bythe Inquisitor inDragon Age: Inquisition: Trespasserduring their final conversation with Solas after he described how he created the Veil to imprison them forever. Where exactly in the Fade the Evanuris are imprisoned is still unclear, as there aren’t any record of mages encountering them in the Fade or in dreams. It is possible they’re still trapped in the Black City
The damage the Evanuris could cause to Thedas is unimaginable. Codex entries in the temple ofMythal inDragon Age: Inquisition,Dragon Age: Inquisition:Trespasserand other material likeTevinter NightsandThe Missinghas created a picture of beings who ruled with absolute authority and treated people as objects. Ghilan’nain, the Goddess of the Halla, used people in her science experiments where she combined them with animals to make monsters and deliberately infected them with diseases, while Andruil, the Goddess of the Hunt, discovered the Blight, donned herself with it, and brought it to Thedas, becoming so mad that Mythal was forced to defeat her before she could destroy all life.
There are nine Evanuris in totalincluding the free Dread Wolf and Mythal, and while there are stories about them, most of the information is from Dalish legend and does not reflect the truth of their nature. As the stories of Andruil and Ghilan’nain are significantly more disturbing than their titles of Mother of the Halla and Goddess of Hunting would suggest, players can probably assume the God of Vengeance, the Keeper of Secrets, and the Friend of the Dead are significantly worse than their titles imply.
Possibly even worse than the Evanuris are the Forgotten Ones, the evil gods of the elven pantheon. According to Dalish legendfound acrossDragon Age, the Dread Wolfwas the only one who could walk among the Evanuris and the Forgotten Ones as a friend and, because of this, he was able to seal away both groups at the same time. There isn’t much information on the Forgotten Ones, but there is a possibility they could also be sealed away within the Fade alongside the Evanuris and will be freed once the Veil has been destroyed.
Even low level demons cause massive damage in Thedas, withstories across theDragon Agefranchisedescribing entire villages wiped out by a single abomination. While spirits and the living were originally able to live together peacefully side-by-side, Solas' actions in creating the Veil have created a world where the two groups have spent tens of thousands of years apart from one another. Solas observes inDragon Age: Inquisitionthat mutual understanding is impossible due to the Veil, but even if it were removed it would take generations for mortals to unlearn their fear of spirits and demons. The consequences of this involve spirits appearing to most mortals as demons, causing untold devastation across Thedas for even the lowest ranking demons.
Higher-ranking demons such as theNightmare demon inDragon Age: Inquisitionwould do even worse damage if given free rein across Thedas. As the Fade reflects the world of the living, there are probably many more demons of the same rank as the Nightmare demon that could be unleashed upon Thedas if Solas' plan to destroy the Veil comes to pass.
