Summary

While it’s easy to forget,Dragon Age: Inquisitionhas a multiplayer mode. That’s right, long before the disaster ofAnthem,BioWarewas tacking multiplayer modes onto its single player games, and they were about as popular as you would expect.

However, judging from the concept art for this mode, ia very unexpected character was considered for a slot in Inquisition’s multiplayer mode: Anders. This would have been after the events ofDragon Age- and his character design very much reflects that.

Concept art for Dragon Age: Inquisition. It shows a dishevelled man with one arm, wearing tattered robes. He is leaving a cave, shielding his eyes from the sun. We can see the shadow of a menacing soldier who has been sent to apprehend him

Anders Was Seemingly Considered For Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Multiplayer

This comes from recently revealed concept art for Inquisition, showing multiple rejected character designs for the multiplayer mode. It didn’t take fans long to identify that one of them is almost definitely Anders, with his blond hair and similar robes to what he wore in Dragon Age 2.

The biggest giveaway though is his character description: “There are many reasons for mages to flee to the wilderness. From Templar persecution, to the crippling guilt of starting a war that threatens to burn the world to ashes.” Don’t know why he’s feeling guilty, mind you. He did nothing wrong.

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Even if that wasn’t a dead giveaway, we then have the fact that this hermit character looks just like previously released concept art for Anders in Inquisition.

It’s unsurprising that BioWare decided against including Anders as a character. For starters, he can be killed off at the end of Dragon Age 2, and players might be annoyed to see such a huge decision ignored. On the flip side, there are those of us who hooked up with him, in which case he would be on the run with Hawke - presumably looking a little better than this.

In the end, this idea of finding Anders as a hermit never went anywhere, both in the main campaign and multiplayer. We don’t even find out where he is, although if Hawke romanced him, the two are still together - provided Hawke survived the events of Inquisition, that is. The latest game,Dragon Age: The Veilguard, didn’t import any decisions regarding Anders' fate, so I suppose it’s just up to our imaginations now.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

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Dragon Age: Inquisition is the third in the popular action RPG series from BioWare, and serves as a sequel to the events of Dragon Age 2. You must travel the continent of Thedas in order to seal the ‘Breach’, a kind of portal that is sending demonic enemies into the world.