Origins Timeline

Origins Timeline

Origins is epic in scale, and we know it takes place over the course of about a year (Ostagar happens in 9:30, the Archdemon is killed in 9:31).

I wanted a good reference for how long my Hero had been on the road at each part of the game (partly because this would inform their relationships to companions, partly just for reference because I'm a nerd).

So, without further ado:

(click to see the pictures in better detail)

So I've estimated that the whole journey from the moment you leave Flemeths Hut to the moment you reach Denerim and begin preparing for the landsmeet to take about 9 months and two weeks. That's accouting for a total of 6 months of travel (you're on the road a LOT in origins, I think way more than the game can accurately give you a sense of) and 3 months and two weeks doing the various quests you actually play through in the game (with about a month and a half spent in Orzammar).

I used the following resources to help me work things out, as well as focusing on the gameplay and lore (it doesn't make a lot of sense that you'd be spending days and days in Honnleath, for example).

Lavalampelfchild's timeline

Grogblogging Origins Travel Times

myrandacousland's Ferelden Travel Distance and times

Please be aware you may need to make your own maps and timelines to get an accurate idea as the way you go will definitely affect how long it takes your warden (if you cluster activities to one region or if you go back and forth loads). But I would say 9 months and two weeks is a good rough estimate for how long that part of the game takes.

I would then say a further two months are spent on the Landsmeet and everything running up to it/you being captured/the Alienage/everything in Denerium.

I would then reckon the end of the game would take a further month-ish from there, considering you have to travel to and from Redcliffe.

can we talk about how veilguard is saying with confidence that wardens can just have fire powers now i feel like i have seen literally no-one talking about this

happy pride month to HIM

The right of annulment is horrific in and of itself, but it's aftermath is a trauma minefield too. Gregor tells you if the circle is destroyed that they just send word to Orlais and get new senior enchanters in. Can you imagine that? You're a mage and you're suddenly ripped without choice from your home and then brought somewhere where a month ago they killed everyone like you. Does your office smell like blood? Do you miss your old home? Are the templars harsher on you?

where/what does da2 hint at w the wardens in amaranthine and the waking sea???? i am Intrigued but don't know where 2 look

if you saved the city of amaranthine in awakening, you get a potential quest called ‘secret rendezvous’ in act 1, where if you talk to an npc in the hanged man labelled suspicious lady, she will ask you to break up a meeting between raider captains and kill them. for an additional reward, she would like you to get close enough to the meeting before you kill them to overhear their conversation. if you do so (by walking on the street above them or sending a rogue close in stealth or whatever), you hear this:

“I lost two of my men for damned wheat!”

“If it flies Amaranthine colours, you sink her.”

“Careful, lickspittle. My men and I aren’t accustomed to taking orders.”

“The viscount’s pardon comes with strings. If Amaranthine is left unchecked, they will rule the Waking Sea.”

“Piss on that. What do I care?”

“A dozen war galleys hunting your kind to extinction says you’ll care.”

should you return to the suspicious lady with the information that “someone powerful in kirkwall wants the raiders to attack amaranthine ships”, she’ll give you that bonus reward and tell you “you’ve done ferelden and amaranthine a great service”

Okay here’s what I was expecting from worldstate customisation:

Origins:

- gender and origin of the warden, so they could be mentioned offhand in a codex entry or a line of dialogue

- who they romanced, so it could be mentioned offhand or in a codex entry and, if Morrigan was romanced, she could have a line

- whether or not someone died killing the archdemon and who that was, to be in a codex entry or mentioned offhand, or possibly seeing their grave in weisshaupt

- whether Kieran exists and whether he had the soul of an old god, to have a follow up on the implications of that and to add depth to Morrigan

- who is ruler of ferelden, to be mentioned offhand or in a codex entry

Da2:

- gender and class of Hawke, so they can be mentioned offhand or in a codex entry and so can the appropriate sibling

- who they romanced, so it could be mentioned offhand or in a codex entry

- what happened to the surviving sibling, so it could be mentioned offhand or come up if relevant (eg if they’re a warden a possible brief cameo at weisshaupt)

- whether they’d sided with mages or templars, to come up in codex entries or offhand mentions, and to establish how Varric feels about mages because it depends on Hawkes choice

- whether they killed anders or not, so it could be mentioned in a codex entry especially if romanced

Inquisition:

- gender and race of inquisitor

- who they romanced, and the outcome of their romance partners personal quest, so that the route taken would carry through (eg pardoned blackwall vs warden blackwall)

- whether the inquisitor did the mage or templar route, and how, to be mentioned offhand or in the codex

- who was left in the fade, not necessarily to follow up on their fate but just so Varric could acknowledge if his best friend was presumed dead or not

- who is leader of orlais so that the ruler of the biggest country on the continent can be brought up at least in passing/codex entry, with possible cameo

- who drank from the well of sorrows, because yeah actually it is important which of these two characters is bound to the will of an elven god. Especially as it seems that one of them might now be said elven god. I’d expect this to have as much influence as Kieran’s existence did in dai, ie you still get to the same place but you have a slightly different route there. I cannot fathom how this isn’t relevant anymore

- who is the divine, to be mentioned in passing or in codex, but mentioned more in depth if the inquisitor romanced Cassandra who is now the divine because they have a whole situationship going on. It would come up if the divine was a mage.

- whether the inquisition disbanded or remained together as bodyguard of the divine. I honestly don’t know how this is a choice if the divine doesn’t come up

- inquisitors attitude to solas, with room for them to be very negative towards him on account of all the killing and murder and world destroying

You’d be able to customise this through character creator, and you’d be able to choose a default for each game seperately, so new players didn’t have to worry about the other games and people who only played inquisition could ignore origins and 2 and customise their inquisitor.

I don’t think this would have been unreasonable. Most of this is just for codex entries and offhand comments, and the bigger ones are inquisition choices. I get that they can’t have big effects beyond that. But the codex entries and offhand remarks are what we WANT. They’re what makes this world state ours. It would not have been difficult to incorporate most of this, and it would do so much for the depth of the game.

As it is, we have a major character who can’t even discuss whether or not she has a child because that wasn’t deemed important enough to include