What’s a good heroic video game story without a good villain? Frankly, it’s usually either a boring slog oran incredibly cozy game. Luckily, theDragon Agegames have no shortage of quality baddies. Or maybe that’s unlucky if you have high blood pressure.
While not all of them might hit quite as hard in your emotional spleen as you’d prefer, villains from every Dragon Age title have managed to leave an impression on players. So which ones are the best of the worst?
9Rendon Howe
Howe Can Someone Be This Evil?
In the case of Rendon Howe, his effectiveness as a villain is partially dependent on which background you choose for your main character inDragon Age: Origins. If you play a human noble, then it becomes a lot more personal.
Howe is an old friend of the human noble character’s father, Bryce Cousland. But he betrays Bryce and the rest of your family, sending his troops to slaughter everyone in your home. His hunger for power isn’t exactly complex, and he’s despicable no matter your origin, but finally cutting him down later in the game is far more satisfying with this backstory.
8Calpernia
Some Go To Any Lengths For Their People
Dragon Age: Inquisitiongives you the choice between siding with the mages or Templars in their long-running war, and giventhe underdog natureof the mages, it’s hard not to root for them. But if you side with the Templars, you get to meet Calpernia, a mage from Tevinter working with Corypheus to free her homeland of corruption.
Of course, you only find that out after spending many quests fighting her extremist Venatori agents. She’s a passionate fighter and almost seems like a cartoonish villain at times, but watching her anger shift onto Corypheus when you prove that he plans to betray her is a sight to behold. She may not be the most stable of folks, but her motives are relatable, and her energy is slightly frightening.
7Branka
Probably No Longer Welcome At The Blacksmith Meetings
A misguided drive to help one’s people is always a fascinating villain motive. Sometimes, like with Branka in Dragon Age: Origins, that drive becomes so twisted that its originally benevolent core becomes nearly unrecognizable. She’s so focused on the end goal that she commits atrocities without a second thought just to get there.
Branka is on a mission to find the Anvil of the Void, a mythical device that would allow her to create an unstoppable army of stone and metal golems for the sake of her fellow dwarves. Unfortunately, dwarves must be sacrificed to create the golems. But she doesn’t care, and will gladly accept that to reach her endgame unless you can stop her.
6The Arishok
When Life Gives You Lemons, Conquer A City
Sometimes,a good villainstarts with a good look, andDragon Age 2’s Qunari leader The Arishok had that covered before anyone even knew what the game was about, thanks to a surprisingly cool teaser trailer. But he’s also got the cunning brain and motivations to back up that chiseled perfection.
When the Qunari get stranded in Kirkwall, the Arishok decides to use that opportunity to attempt to force the people of the city under his people’s rule. Despite ultimately failing (spoiler alert), his commanding presence and some frankly well-made points make his time in the game super memorable.
5The Architect
Strive To Be Better, But Maybe With Less Blood
Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening supplemented its ambitious use of punctuation with a villain that may not actually be a villain. The Architect is possibly one of the original Magisters whose hubris caused them to become the first darkspawn, but he’s not one of the mindless creatures they eventually became.
The Architect discovered a way for his fellow darkspawn to gain free will by ingesting Grey Warden blood. Of course, one of his previous attempts caused The Mother, a human broodmother, to make things way worse, and knowing that’s possible might sour you to the idea. So is The Architect genuinely trying to do good? That’s up to you to decide. Dragon Age loves its grey areas.
4Corypheus
Even Death Can’t Make A Bougie Rich Guy Shut Up
Like The Architect, Corypheus is another ancient corrupted Magister. Unlike The Architect, he decided to make it everyone’s problem. First appearing in the Dragon Age 2 Legacy DLC, he returned as the surprise main villain of Dragon Age: Inquisition, remaining committed to the drama.
Corypheus' goal is to return to the Black City, the place in the Fade where he and his fellow Magisters reached before being cast out and turned into the first darkspawn. It will unfortunately take a lot of violence to get there. He’s a rather simple villain and you curb-stomp him at pretty much every turn, but he’s gotthat perfect bad-guy vibethat makes you enjoy taking him down.
3Knight-Commander Meredith Stannard
Fear Leads To Anger
Power corrupts, but so does red lyrium, and when you combine the two, you get Knight-Commander Meredith. As leader of the Templars in Kirkwall, she’s theoretically tasked with protecting people and ensuring mages don’t let their abilities get out of control. Somewhere along the way, that mission became a bit skewed.
She starts Dragon Age 2 off as already a little too militant in her view of mages. But when she gets her hand on a red lyrium idol, its influence twists her ambitions even further to the point where only the eradication of all mages in the city will satisfy her. Meredith might seem reasonable at first, but that’s one of evil’s most dangerous tools.
2Solas
Crack That Egg
Where were you when you found out that Solas, that humble tea-hating mage you dragged around in your party for 100 hours in Dragon Age: Inquisition, was the ancient elven god Fen’Harel, the Dread Wolf? Statistically, you were probably on a couch or chair somewhere, but what a shock, right?
Solas' status as a great villain comes from more than a surprise; he’s a tragic figure.He seeks to remove the Veilwhich separates the waking world from the Fade (and which he put there, long story), which would bring back his lost world of the ancient elves but effectively destroy everything as it is. He still seeks this goal inDragon Age: The Veilguard, but an unfortunate mishap throws that plan into disastrous disarray.
1Loghain Mac Tir
Cool Motive, Still Murder
For many, it’s truly difficult to see Dragon Age: Origins antagonist Loghain as anything but a power-hungry villain. Frankly, it’s hard to blame anyone for refusing to look any further. He betrayed the king and left him and an army of Grey Wardens to be slaughtered, after all.
But this guy genuinely believed he was doing what was right for his country of Ferelden. He figured that he was the only one who could save his people from ruin, despite his dastardly methods. If you allow him to live and conscript him into the Grey Wardens, his appearance in Dragon Age: Inquisition is a fitting redemption arc, and an excellent excuse to keep Hawke alive so they can return to their bestie Varric.
