Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s protagonist, Rook, oversees the final chapter ofDragon Age. They play an important role inDragon Age’s overarching story thanks to their ties to Solas, their role in the double-Blight, and the outcome of the release of the Evanuris from their Fade prison.Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Like all theDragon Ageprotagonists before it,Dragon Age: The Veilguardfeatures massive mechanical changes. These changes make Rook a very different protagonist to the ones that preceded them. The Warden, Hawke, and the Inquisitor were the threeDragon Ageprotagonists who came before Rook. All had different parts to play in Thedas' story, and all have their own presentation and mechanics that define them.
Rook’s Role as a Protagonist in Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Rook is presented as a young upstart from between the ages of 20-40. Rather than a set background, like Hawke, Rook has one of six factions, or backgrounds, the player can choose from to define their backstory and relationship with other characters. For example, aRook who has the Mourn Watch backgroundwill have more to say with Emmrich than a Rook with a Lords of Fortune background, although all companions will have unique dialogue based on all background options.
Although Rook had plenty of dialogue and references back to their history, their dialogue was found by some to be limited in tone. While Rook had different “tones” or personality dialogue options, much of their dialogue comes across as quippy, making them more snarky than the other protagonists, even with more somber dialogue choices chosen. Another
Rook Compared to Other Dragon Age Protagonists
The Warden
One of the biggest differences between the Warden and Rook is that Rook is a voiced protagonist. While this does help makeDragon Age: The Veilguardmore cinematic and immersive for some, it limits how far roleplaying can go. As a result, some players consider the Warden to be more customizable, with more freedom in regard to their dialogue options and choices. Like Rook,the Warden has different backgrounds, or origins, to choose from, but the player gets to play through the Warden’s Origin, rather than it being a description card.
The Warden can be any race except Qunari, and their origins are tied to the race selected for them. Rook can be any lineage, and the backgrounds for them aren’t tied to lineage or gender.
Hawke
While Rook can be any lineage from Human, Elf, Dwarf, or Qunari, Hawke can only be a human, and has the most defined background of anyDragon Ageprotagonist. Like Rook, Hawke is canonically a young adult at the beginning ofDragon Age 2, though Hawke has a canon age of 23 or 24. Hawke uses the same personality dialogue wheel as Rook, but also creates a dominant personality based on the most used personality choice for ambient dialogue or responses outside of player control.
While Hawke’s Humorous personality,nicknamed “Purple Hawke"by the community, is overwhelmingly popular, the choice of having the Diplomatic and Aggressive dialogue options kept it from becoming overbearing, allowing the player to step away from it if they wished.
The Inquisitor
The Inquisitor saw the removal of the personality system that was introduced inDragon Age 2, which was replaced with a dialogue wheel that only specified special options such as dialogue related to background or special knowledge and perks. Like Rook, the Inquisitor can be a Human, Elf, Dwarf, or Qunari, though the Dwarf and Qunari Inquisitors were criticized for having very little acknowledgment or content, whereas Rook’s lineage is acknowledged throughoutThe Veilguard.
The Inquisitor sees a more gradual rise to power, and accumulates resources and an army from the ground up with their successes throughout the game. This is in contrast to Rook, whose contacts are face-to-face with each faction, but the fight against the Evanuris is largely unseen outside key moments.
