The analysis of the pentesic elements of Dragon Age, consciously and unconsciously laid down the basis of the BioWare work. How the heroes of the canonical “Lord of the Rings” and “Game of Thrones” leaked to Tedas? What roles do they play? And the most interesting thing is why this happened? About all this In the video above And the text below.
From the author: Familiarization is proposed primarily a video above under the spoiler. Therefore, I ask all the jambs of the video version to carefully provide my eyes, and throw it with tomatoes – preferably about, but not without. Pleasant viewing!
Non -canonical textual for lovers to read in the subway:
For five years, the expectation of lovers of noble role -playing adventures with a serious history stretched for five years. The announcement of Dragon Age that happened on E3 2004 could not leave them indifferent until its release in 2009. Tired by the framework of other people’s universes, Bioware masters promised the honor and glory to everyone who communes their new, their own world, in which they are free to dictate their conditions. Tedas intrigued and beckoned his reliability. It seemed that we had to plunge into the harsh Middle Ages, living according to all the laws of the real world.
Having made a new game, people around the world rushed to the call of the world, who needed heroes for salvation, without unnecessary thoughts. But the story that was waiting for them in the new setting was slyly sent to dozens of already familiar.
It is impossible to say that Tedas is a simple mixture of classic fantasy universes, as you cannot refute the opposite. On the one hand, in this world there is nothing unfamiliar for any fantasy that is close to the basics, but on the other hand, a set of conditions and rules easily competes with the cult worlds of “dungeons and dragons”, yielding only in the number of variations of the discrepancies.
So what is this Tedas? Why Bioware suddenly decided that their own work is better than recognized Dungeons & Dragons? And most importantly, what Tedas should attract the target audience?
Everything here is much more ambiguous than it might seem at first glance. The beloved Tedas plays in new colors, if you get the keys to its understanding – the sources of inspiration, which the authors were guided in the process of creating.
They will talk about them, in an attempt to explain and tell how the heroes have long been familiar to the world have settled in Tedas, why the dragons are alive, and – the most interesting thing is that the old man Gendalf does in this chaos of human sins.
But in order to avoid erroneous assessments of the final product in the light of this analysis and comparison, it is necessary to first look at the history of its creation in order to isolate the dominant goals and priorities set before the command and make their own adjustments to the creative process.
Your attention, the origins of the creation of Dragon Age.
At the very beginning of the development, the notorious Greg Zeschuk and Rey Muzik invited the eldest, until recently, the scriptwriter of the studio Devid Gader to outcast his own world for the classic RPG BioWare in the spirit of previous works: Baldur’s Gate and Neverwinter Nights. To do this, it was necessary to describe a world in which the standard D&D party mechanics would have been acting without problems. First of all, Devid Gader drew a map of the world, with the general representation of the peoples who could live in these territories. Thus, several zones were displayed, where the following conflicts are possible: Mor in Ferlden, an elven conflict in an eagle, confrontation with Kunari in Riveine and conflict around slavery and class division in Tevinter.
According to the initial concept, the dragons should have been considered a long -extinct look, but the Heider himself did not really like it, because this did not correspond with the name. Thus, the archdemon leading into the battle of the Horde of Creation of Darkness, and found the form of a dragon flaunting on the cover of a disc version. For the sake of making a correspondence to the name, the time of action was also called the Dragon era.
A distinctive feature of the new world was to be a gray philosophy, designed to justify the rejection of the standard strip "Good/Evil". It should be clarified that the contrast of good and evil is the action of the exaggerated archetype of the so -called “celestial office”, taking its origins from Christian medieval treatises, which described the struggle of God and the devil for human souls.
In order to move away from excessively obvious rules, it was decided to allow the player to make decisions without looking back at momentary consequences, which was primarily a displacement of the scale of good and evil in a certain side. This made it possible to draw out the consequences of some solutions at the most non -obvious moments, like maps from a sleeve.
For writing Laura Devid, he began to look at Battlestar Galactica, D&D, which in turn took as a basis the main aspects of modern fantasy from the Lord of the Rings, as well as George Martin’s Song and Flame, which is now being removed by the praised “Game of Thrones”.
As a source of inspiration for writing a world, where the variety of opinions and points of view reigns, the “song of ice and flame” suited best. Therefore, the same “gray philosophy” that leaves the player as an observer, the opportunity to act according to his own judgments, or the role chosen for passage, was made from there.
To create the effect of Winner Casino the influence of personal choice on the general state of the world, the background system (in the original Origins) was created, which made it possible to create a unique character that really lives in the depicted world. His description from now on did not come down to a pair of paragraphs of the text and allowed to avoid the gam-design stamp in the form of amnesia. On the contrary, each of the backstory proposed to familiarize himself with the narrow circle of the main topics that the character will face in the future. Thus, a person of noble origin learns about the political foundation of Ferlden, for as a representative of the greatest race on the surface, a person controls the kingdom. The magician, on the contrary, gets acquainted with the device of magic matters and related details of the life of the magician. Dwarves and elves, depending on the chosen character status of a character in society, also gain knowledge about the position of their races and class in modern Tedas.
In 2008, a year before a full release, marketers insisted on the need to endure the word Origins as a subtitle, since the word suggests a discrepancy: this is both the beginning and the background in one word, which emphasized the highlight of the project and gave hope for the sequel.
Having dealt with a brief history of creation, it’s time to go to what the game is loved and condemned. It is highly likely to get bogged down in literary disputes about the need and unnecessary use of ancient plots in modern works. Therefore, I ask you to perceive the information as soberly and understand that in addition to the plot archetypes and characters, the authors of the experimental universe personally erected many unique accompanying materials. Some of them in an abbreviated version are now published as encyclopedias on the fantasy world. Moreover, a huge number of internal reports and descriptions, according to the irony of fate, fell into the rules of the desktop version of Dragon Age based on digital sister.
Despite this, The Dragon Age Setting – or as it was briefly called in the development process – Tedas, intertwy is incredible to incredible. And here it is necessary to make a remark so that no one misses anything.
Intertextuality is a term from the theory of literature that describes the ratio of one text with another.Intertextuality, this is a term from the theory of literature, which describes the ratio of one text with another.
And since it has already come to literary criticism, the second remark suggests itself.
According to the idea of analytical psychology, it is enough to know only a few archetypes to read all the literature. This kind of prototypes fit in symbols or in plugs. Often they are mistakenly called a stamp.
According to the idea of analytical psychology, it is enough to know only a few archetypes to read all the literature. This kind of prototypes fit in symbols or in plugs. Often they are mistakenly called a stamp.
So Devid Gader and his Vataga Mignonov-helpers, inspired, but not allowing himself to copy anything from the origins of inspiration, they put a little by little and everywhere.
In each of the six backgrounds, the protagonist meets the gray guard of Duncan. He will invariably find the hero while the player and the character understand what’s what, will take the position of a neutral observer. The moment will also invariably come when the acting face falls into a pattern situation in which his life and the future hangs in the balance. The notorious gun will shoot immediately and Duncan will call him into the ranks of gray guards. Unfortunately, the screen of the screenwriter will not delay Duncan for a long time near the recruit, and like the father Ryder at the beginning of the infamous Mass Effect Andromeda, will die, leaving one -on -one with an impending apocalypse.
Remembering the “lord of the rings”, exaggerating the tie, the analogy with the Gandalf, which acts as an observer exactly until Bilbo decides to leave the width. Having convinced him to finally leave the ring and transfer it to Frodo, Gandalf turned from the observer into a mentor and guardian. The guardian archetype is attributed to those characters who strive to show sympathy, to provide care and assistance. Unlike Gandalf, however, the Gray Guard Duncan will not resurrect in the image of a white guard, but as a standard of judgment and compulsoryness will still meet in the course of the development of events.
The second gray guard in Ferlden, who was on the trusteeship of Duncan during his lifetime – Alister, also refers to the notorious fable about omnipotent rings. Like Aragorn, Alister, occupying an important secondary role, is the heir to the throne who does not want to accept his origin. Royal blood causes a conflict within the hero, the resolution of which he puts aside until the very last moment, wanting to live only to the best of his strength and moral code. Differences, however, very striking. Aragorn during the events of the saga about the rings, experiences a journey from one prototype to another, showing the qualities initially embedded in itself, making his personality multifaceted. The development of Aragorn passes from a warrior to the guardian and later the ruler, who takes responsibility and lives in accordance with his values. In turn, the alister, playing a similar role, is a mixture of the image of a warrior and a jester. Its development in emotionally psychological terms depends only on the actions of the character-player.
By his ambiguity, Alistair also refers to “Songs of Ice and Flame”, where similar circumstances have become the everyday life of the favorite of all little girls – John Snow. In the book cycle, surrounded by a gloomy image of John, there is a character nicknamed mournful Edd Tollet – a glorious small one, releasing inappropriate knuckles and jokes every now and then. And then Alister, who during the early stage of development was a very gloomy personality, was several times redesigned from scratch. Only ultimately, he began to resemble all the named characters at once, combining a warrior, a jester and ruler at the same time.
Both characters, Aragorn and Alister, are not the same in their variations. But at the same time, both refer to the myths about the "king of Arthur". So not only Devid Gader with associates borrowed from Professor Tolkien, but Tolkien himself was based primarily on the archetypes of the mythology of the ancient peoples of Europe.
Continuing a conversation about gray guards, one cannot lose sight of the general features of it with a sad night patrol. Both organizations were very revered long before the events described, but during the unfolding actions are only the shadow of themselves, sung in legends. Both of them – organizations, that is, warn of an approaching threat, but no one believes them. Both the gray guards of Devid Heider, and George Martin’s night patrol, take everyone in their ranks, but only thieves, killers and oath -criminals adjoin them for the most part. In both cases, they are few, and their leaders die, leaving all the difficulties on the shoulders of green recruits. Entering one of the named fraternities, it was also necessary to reject the previous life, abandon the family and give your mind and body to the service of the highest goal.
But family ties with one night watch did not limit the gray guards. Their ritual of dedication to pain looks like mutations of witches of racial Pole Sapkovsky. Like witches, the guards cease to be what they had previously. The witches received inhuman abilities and the speed of reaction, and the guards associated themselves with the creatures of darkness, feeling their intimacy and reading their thoughts.
According to the Internal Code, all living creatures are able to hear the song of the Creator, but the filth turns the song into a hellish scream that drives crazy. Only the voice of Archidemon puts order into the chaos of the thoughts of a chopped creature, because they will obey it with hunting. Distorting the mind and body, the blood in the blood turned any guard like a product, but worst of all – visions.
The hero of Ferlden in his journey has repeatedly seen a huge dragon towering over the horde of the dead, ready to rush into battle, just as Frodo saw the Eye of Sauron, feeling his gaze with his whole body. These visions are a standard for the fantasy of an omen of the future, saturated with the supreme villain.
On the way, the party of the guard prefers to break the camp in which all members lead their own life. Behind them on the heels follows a couple of gnomes-traders offering their goods to outstanding travelers. There is peace in this camp, but sometimes you have to defend yourself from an unexpected attack. I say right away that this is attracted by the ears, but approximately a similar atmosphere reigning during night passes, reports the mentioned television series Battlestar Galactica. In it, the wandering space fleet of people who had lost without earth’s houses, all the time is attacked by the Android Sylonov and only the ship was a quiet haven. More like a conflict of quarrians and gates from Mass Effect, but the assumption takes place.
Let’s continue about the specific. Among the companions, the Dvorf Ogren and the Elf Zevran may be, whose company brightens the trip, like Legolas and Gimli. The quarrels and proposals of the fire to consider the dead, Tolkien brings incredibly any fan of creativity. And not for nothing. Ogren resembles gimli not just phrases. Like Gimli, he is a warrior, who does not want to lag behind the full-growth satellites because of his origin. Zevran on Legolas is similar exclusively by bakingions with the fire. If Legolas played the role of the glorious small and the seeker (the development of critical thinking and the desire to differ accordingly to the prototypes), then Zevran tends to the image of the lover and the jester.
And while it did not go far from the Dvorfs, it should be noted that their habitat – the underground kingdom associated with the deep paths – copies the origin of the race, represented by Tolkien. Dwarves skilled blacksmiths and hold an ax well in their hands. Their cities are a stylistic copy of the ereor described in the "hobbit". Deep trails – the abode of the creatures of darkness – the work of the greed of the gnomes, "jerking so deeply that they awakened the ancient evil of unknown power". Mooria pure water. And if you believe the words of the Corifei from Dragon Age Inqusition, I did not have a naughty to Tedas, but was always in it in the form of a red lyrium, similar to what Hawk found, again, in the deep paths of the Dvorfs.
In turn, the tower of the circle of magicians is an obvious reference to the outfit, if not in essence, so outwardly.
Elves in the world of Dragon Age are weakly reminiscent of themselves from the canonical work of Tolkien. In Origins and Dragon Age II – elves live in cities and forests. The first – under the oppression of people who once enshrined in special ghetto, and the latter – hiding from persecution under the canopy of trees. It is known that once this race was dominant, had immortality, and their magical abilities did not need to be fed as a special substance, such as the lyrium. But after the betrayal of the ancient elven god, called a terrible wolf, all their advantages were lost. The causes and detailed descriptions of events are disclosed in Dragon Age Inquisition, having a direct connection with the mythology filed in Origins.
The terrible wolf from the elven legends is none other than the SOLAS himself – the satellite of the inquisitor, and his deeds are quite correlated with the betrayal of Sauron himself. In the time of the second era, Sauron was named Annatar – the Lord of Darov, – suggested the lord of the elves of the Mediterranean and part -time skilled blacksmith Kelebimbor, to overcome unfortunate rings, beautiful in their magical power. With a ring of omnipotence, subordinating himself all the other rings, Sauron committed betrayal by managing to rise. Such a betrayal was the conclusion of the elven gods in the shadow of a terrible wolf. So that they could not get out of the world of dreams, called the shadow, Solas created a veil separating the shadow and material world. Having lost the connection with the shadow, the peoples of the elves lost all their power and became like other mortal races.
There is an opinion that all stories have already been written in the time of Shakespeare and since then it is impossible to come up with anything new. This is just the essence of what was now about. Any history of modernity has its own roots in history. Explicit confirmation of these words is more than once mentioned today "Lord of the Rings". Wanting to create a purebred Anglo -Sacian epic, John Tolkien could not ignore the motives of Arturian legends, which he himself called unnecessarily Celtic.
Despite this, filigree artistic work on stories about Middle -earth, for centuries canonize the basics and principles of approach to fantasy, which remain unshakable to this day.
Does this justify direct borrowings to create new universes, such as Tedas? There is no definite answer, because here each has its own. Someone is looking for innovation in every line, demanding to commit impossible and get something unimaginable. And someone completely accepts familiar fables in a new way, if only it was fascinating. And the work of Devid Heider to create Tedas is quite justified by the last judgment, at least in my eyes, the rest – let the court decide in the centuries.
The only essence is that BioWare managed to achieve the goals – to allow everyone to survive the story of the fifth mora on their own, to create a unique hero and love in this world what will be closest to the heart and reason. Tedas is really an extremely familiar place, but only at first glance. It is enough to see a little wider – and this world will acquire completely new, amazing and exciting sides.