'Dragon Age' Spoilers

Have you ever picked up a book and turned to the last page just to see what happens at the end? Well, I do it with games, specifically Dragon Age. For those of you who may not have known, Dragon Age is a three game trilogy that has spanned a total of nine years. Created by Bioware, it is one of the most-played games beside Mass Effect. If you love dragons, heartbreaking romances, and Claudia Black, then it’s the game for you.

But back to spoilers and what they have to do with the game itself. My first ever play-through was as a human noble and over half the time I had my dad fight the boss because whatever I was doing just wasn’t working. I even handed Alistair (oh, my sweet, sweet Alistair) over to the witch of the wilds, because I truly believed I didn’t have any other choice. I was young and it had been my dad’s choice, so I followed his lead. Then, Dragon Age 2 came out and I beat that in two weeks, falling for the ever-handsome gloomy Fenris. When I learned there was a third Dragon Age, I squealed like a kid in a candy store.

It was around then that I finally found out that, lo and behold, you could actually link the storylines from all three games together. Your warden from origins could be the warden talked about in number two, and your champion of Kirwall could be seen in number three! I was overly excited and got right to starting another gameplay of Origins.

When I’m not playing Dragon Age I’m spoiling it for myself, just like any romance book. The first spoiler I gave myself, however, regarded Hawk and Fenris. Seeing that the champion was in Dragon Age Inquisition, I took a peek at what had been happening since our dear champion got rid of the templars in Kirwall and between fan art and YouTube, I ended up in a corner, my knees to my chest, bawling my eyes out. Turns out that the Inquisitor has two choices towards the end of the game; they can either leave behind a grey warden in the Fade, or they can choose to leave behind Hawk.

My boyfriend didn’t know what to do when I had my first breakdown. He had thought that maybe it was my anxiety or my depression, but was not at all prepared when I looked at him tears streaming down my face and told him about it all. Now every time it happens, he knows to just tell his visiting friends that I’m having game issues.

Above everything, it’s the fan art that gets me the most. With pieces where Varric the dwarf has to write home to Fenris and tell him that his wife (lover?) was left behind in the fade for the greater good with captions like “He wished she never taught him how to read,” and pieces where Commander Cullen is comforting a crying Inquisitor telling her that, “you did not send her to her death,” my heart has officially been ripped out of my chest. The only good parts are when there’s art of Hawk breaking out of the Fade and showing up unannounced back home.

Either way, spoilers have made it hard for me to decide which to choose. I have yet to finish Inquisition, so I haven’t made it to the part where I have to chose to leave behind the warden, or leave behind Hawk (at least they didn’t’ make her choose between THE Warden, a.k.a Hero of Ferelden, and Hawk). I’m sure that there will be more tears shed in the coming months, but here I am still spoiling the game for myself.