Discussing the Qunari in Dragon Age 4's Concept Art (Spoilers for Inquisition)
Posted: Fri Oct 01, 2021 8:05 am
Of all the characters shown in DA4 this Qunari was the one that captured my interest the most. I've no idea if she will actually be in the game (a LOT can happen between concept art and the actual product) but I do hope she show up.
Of all the characters shown in the The Next Dragon Age trailer released back in 2020 this Qunari appears at least 3 times with more or less the same overall look and it's clear that she is a party member but other then that we know nothing about up to and including whether she's actually Qunari.
Keep in mind that the Qunari is not a race it's a religion that also includes Elves, Humans and Dwarves on top of the Horned People. It's just that the Horned people are the face of this religion and therefore when when people both in and out of universe think of the Qunari the Horned Giants are the ones they think about. So, we don't know if the Qunari in this trailer is actually Qunari and if she is is she on our side or a spy who is working against us.
One thing to keep in mind, and spoilers for Inquisition, at the end of the game we end up in a conflict with the Qun and while I know a lot of fans don't like this it does make sense. It's been made clear that the Qunari don't know how to bargain and don't really care to learn how and that they are working to extend their reach across all of Thedas.
In every playthrough of DAI I've played I always make sure to NOT secure an alliance with the Qun because I know that they can't be trusted based on what happened in Kirkwall. Despite being "At piece" with the Qun in the city it was clear that any alliance with the Qunari is doomed to fail both because those on my side will find ways to try and antagonize them and the Qunari are just waiting for an excuse to fight. And again, they've made it clear that the will not tolerate use or how we live our lives. They hate us for being able to do as we see fit and to speak our minds and when push comes to shove they WILL turn on us.
My more heroic Inquisitor turns down an alliance because her duty was to to the people she vowed to protect and my more villainous Inquisitor knew that the Qunari could never be controlled and that any alliance with them would be doomed to fail. And in both cases I was proven right when Trespasser was released and the Qunari turned on us because they finally had a way to kill South Thedas' leaders and invade.
So, in DA4 it's all but confirmed that the Qunari will be one of the major antagonists with the new player character caught in the middle of this war. So, where does that leave us with our new Horned friend.
Called Harley Qun by one of the developers, HQ should be an interesting character to work with. Is she a Qunari agent sent to spy on us or is she a Tal-Vashoth (members of the Qun who left the Qunari) who is helping us to take on her former Qun masters.
I think from a story standpoint it would be interesting if she was the latter as it's an arc that could be influenced by our relationship with her with a major part of her story being to turn against or side with us at one point in the story. However, this would take a lot of time and effort and it might be easier to just have her be a Tal-Vashoth which would be interesting as we've never really had a Tal-Vashoth Party Member. Even Iron Bull started off as someone who was a loyal follower of the Qun and only becomes Tal-Vashoth about half way through the game and only if you side with the Qun.
Qunari companions are rather interesting as both Sten and Bull are fan favorite characters but the fanbase is largely against the Qunari due to them being little more then a Cult who want to take over the world. In regards to Harley Qun herself, given how prominent she was in the behind the scenes trailer I think there's a good chance she'll be in the game and if that's the case I hope she's able to stand toe-to-toe with the other Qunari Companions in the series.
