Dragon Age: Inquisition's Beginner’s Paradigm Shift

After dozens of hours of closing rifts, destroying red lyrium veins, and maybe even defeating some dragons, you finally beat Dragon Age Inquisition. Congrats! You may now be asking yourself: what the heck just happened?

You're not alone. Even as a Dragon Age fan that's been playing since Origins, the ending to Inquisition—or more specifically, the post-credits epilogue—left me scratching my head. The thing is if you're not well-read on your lore, if you haven't played the right bits in previous games, if you didn't use the right party members, or if you didn't look at specific codex entries, the epilogue scene might make no sense.

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The first Inquisition was a group of people who, following the First Blight, rose to defend Thedas from the dangers of magic and heretics. The Inquisition later allied with the Chantry, abandoning its original name and splitting itself into the Seekers of Truth and the Templar Order. In 9:41, Dragon, the Inquisition is reformed, following the cataclysmic event called The Breach.

The Inquisition of old

In the years before the founding of the Chantry and the start of the Divine Age, Thedas was plunged into chaos. The First Blight had ended, the Imperium had broken apart following Andraste's March, and despite the spread of the Maker's teachings, blood mages, malefic, and Old Gods cults were widespread. The Inquisition was formed around -100 Ancient, thus predating the Chantry by roughly 90 years, to protect the people from the "tyranny of magic" in whatever form it might take; blood mages, abominations, cultists or heretics. A loose association of Andrastian hard-liners, the group, combed the land searching for these "threats," and some say theirs was a reign of terror. Others say they were cast negatively by history because their investigations and even application of justice, protecting both mages and common people impartially, crossed too many powerful groups. In these accounts, it is suggested that the group was already known as the Seekers of Truth and that the "Inquisition" moniker was perhaps pejorative.

In 1:20 Divine, the newly founded Chantry found common cause with the Inquisition, and they signed the Nevarran Accord. As part of the agreement, the Inquisition became the new martial art of the Chantry, the Templar Order, and its senior members became known as the Seekers of Truth. Another result was creating the Circle of Magi, with the Templars serving as overseers for the Circle.

The last leader of the original Inquisition, American, went missing after the organization's dissolution. It is said he left to hunt a powerful dragon or not to overshadow the newly created Templar Order.

When the Inquisition was no more, the mysterious Order of Fiery Promise rose for the first time, claiming to be the real Inquisition and Seekers of Truth. They were quickly dispersed by the might of the newly established Chantry.

The modern Inquisition

The re-formed Inquisition is commanded by the Inquisitor, who serves as the overall leader of the organization. Beneath them are the three advisers, each of whom oversees a different department of the Inquisition. The Commander leads the military forces of the organization and oversees training. The Seneschal/Spymaster is in charge of covert operations, fraud and liaisons with more disreputable elements. The Ambassador is in charge of co-coordinating diplomatic efforts among the nobility and various other groups the Inquisition must work with.

The Inquisition is less rigid than most organizations in Thedas. It adopts a more inclusive recruitment practice, allowing humans and elves, dwarves and Qunari into senior command positions, similar to the Grey Wardens. Unlike the Wardens, however, the Inquisition does not strive to be a-political, as much of its financial and diplomatic backing comes from senior members of the Orlesian nobility as well as the Fereldan nobility.