Dragon Age: The Veilguard Will Not Include Hawke

At last week’s Xbox Games Showcase, developer Bioware took to the stage to reveal the next game in its long-running Dragon Age franchise. Previously codenamed Dreadwolf, Dragon Age: The Veilguard takes place ten years after Dragon Age: Inquisition. Bioware has already shown several fan-favorite characters are making a return in The Veilguard, even revealing that players will be able to recreate their Inquisitor. That led some to wonder if the team would also bring back other previous player characters like Hawke from Dragon Age 2. After all, Hawke came back for a few quests in Inquisition. Sadly, a recent fan Q&A revealed Hawke won’t be joining the crew for Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

The news comes from a recent Discord fan Q&A. There the team revealed that Hawke won’t take part in The Veilguard‘s story. Of course, anyone who played through Hawke’s questline in Inquisition won’t find that news too surprising. It’s a slight spoiler for that game, but Hawke’s involvement in that game could potentially lead to their death depending on the choices made. With that in mind, Bioware might’ve had a difficult time explaining how Hawke had made it back for The Veilguard, though it’s possible the team could have retconned it in a way that made sense.

Either way, the team is instead deciding to keep the focus on the Inquisitor as far as past protagonists go. It’s possible the team might explore what’s going on with the Warden from Dragon Age: Origins. After all, they were briefly mentioned in both Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, but Bioware hasn’t revealed anything concrete on that front yet. We do know that The Veilguard will feature a character creator that lets players set their faction and backstory, giving them the control they love from the developer. Plus, there are several new and returning companion characters to meet. This time out, they’ll even start up romances among themselves if you don’t try to court them.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard doesn’t have a firm release date yet, but is scheduled to launch at some point this year. After the Xbox Games Showcase went off the air, the team did start to drop several more details about what to expect, so we’ll likely hear much more about The Veilguard over the next few months. Hopefully, that includes a release date in the next few weeks so fans can plan their sick days around the release of Dragon Age’s next mainline entry.