dragon age games timeline

The Dragon Age franchise, developed by BioWare, has carved a profound niche in the landscape of Western role-playing games. Its enduring appeal lies not only in its complex characters and morally grey storytelling but also in the intricate, living history of its world, Thedas. The Dragon Age games timeline is more than a simple sequence of events; it is the backbone of the series' identity, a meticulously crafted chronicle where past decisions echo into the future, and the weight of history is a constant companion to every hero. Understanding this timeline is essential to appreciating the depth of the conflicts, the origins of its factions, and the cyclical nature of catastrophe and resilience that defines Thedas.

Table of Contents

The Founding of the Dales and the Rise of the Chantry

The Blessed Age and the Fifth Blight

The Dragon Age: Conflict and Divine Intervention

The Inquisition and Breach in the Sky

The Legacy of Time: A World Shaped by History

The Founding of the Dales and the Rise of the Chantry

The timeline of modern Thedas is largely measured by the Ages designated by the Chantry, each marked by a defining event. The Dragon Age games are set, unsurprisingly, within the Dragon Age, the ninth such period. However, the foundations for the world's central tensions were laid centuries earlier. Following the fall of the ancient Tevinter Imperium and the first four Blights, the elven people, who had fought as slaves alongside humanity, were granted the land of the Dales in -203 Ancient (approximately 800 years before the games). This era of elven autonomy was short-lived. Cultural isolation and rising human fear led to the Exalted Marches against the Dales, culminating in their destruction in 2:20 Glory Age. This war solidified the systemic oppression of the elves, reducing most to alienage dwellers or nomadic Dalish, and entrenched the Chantry's power. The creation of the Circle of Magi and the Templar Order, established in the Divine Age to control magic after the horrors of the Blights and Tevinter's magical abuses, added another layer of permanent conflict. These historical wounds—elven displacement, mage subjugation, and Chantry hegemony—are not backstory but active, festering realities that every protagonist must navigate.

The Blessed Age and the Fifth Blight

The century preceding the Dragon Age was a period of relative peace known as the Blessed Age, but it was a peace built on fragile foundations. The events leading directly into the first game, *Dragon Age: Origins*, begin with the political machinations of Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir during the Orlesian occupation of Ferelden. His victory at River Dane in 8:96 Blessed liberated the nation but planted seeds of deep paranoia regarding Orlesian influence. This paranoia directly triggers the central tragedy at the beginning of the Dragon Age. In 9:30 Dragon, at the peace summit at Ostagar, King Cailan Theirin is betrayed by Loghain, who withdraws his forces, allowing the king and the Grey Wardens to be decimated by the darkspawn horde. This act of treason coincides with the beginning of the Fifth Blight. The timeline here becomes intensely personal, as the player's Warden, one of the last surviving Grey Wardens, must unite a fractured Ferelden against the Archdemon while navigating the civil war Loghain's betrayal ignited. The Blight's culmination in 9:31 Dragon demonstrates how a global catastrophe is filtered through and exacerbated by local political history.

The Dragon Age: Conflict and Divine Intervention

The decade following the Fifth Blight, covered in *Dragon Age II*, is a period of escalating tension. The timeline shifts to a more focused, personal narrative following Hawke's family, who flee the Blight to the city-state of Kirkwall. From 9:34 to 9:37 Dragon, the game chronicles a rising tide of conflict between the Circle of Magi and the Templar Order. Kirkwall, a city with a history of profound magical suffering, becomes a pressure cooker. Each year marked in the act structure shows the gradual breakdown: the growing desperation of mages, the increasing brutality of the Templars, and the failure of the Chantry to maintain control. This localized strife explodes into an event that reshapes the entire continent: in 9:37 Dragon, Hawke is involved in the death of the Chantry's Divine Justinia V's mediator, leading the Knight-Commander to annul the Circle. In response, the mage rebellion begins, shattering the centuries-old Circle system and plunging Thedas into all-out war. This war, known as the Mage-Templar War, is the immediate backdrop for the next chapter.

The Inquisition and Breach in the Sky

*Dragon Age: Inquisition* begins in 9:41 Dragon, at a conclave called to peacefully end the Mage-Templar War. The timeline reaches a catastrophic turning point with the explosion of the Temple of Sacred Ashes, which kills Divine Justinia V and tears a massive rift into the Veil, the barrier separating the world from the Fade. This "Breach" unleashes demons upon Thedas and is an event of unprecedented theological and physical crisis. The formation of the Inquisition marks a direct response to a failure of all existing institutions—the Chantry is headless, the Templars and mages are at war, and the Grey Wardens are absent. As the Inquisitor closes the Breach and investigates its cause, they uncover a deeper historical conspiracy involving the ancient elven "gods," the Evanuris, and a being who claims to be the Dread Wolf, Fen'Harel. The game masterfully ties the present calamity to the deepest layers of Thedosian history, revealing that the elven pantheon were powerful mages locked away in a forgotten war, and their lingering influence has now burst into the present. The timeline thus connects the founding myths of the world to its current, apocalyptic struggle.

The Legacy of Time: A World Shaped by History

The Dragon Age games timeline is a narrative device of remarkable consistency and consequence. Each game is a node on a string of cause and effect, where the liberation of Ferelden sows the seeds for a regent's betrayal, and that betrayal indirectly allows a Blight to gain footing. The oppression of elves a millennia ago creates the conditions for a god's vengeance. The decision to control magic with Circles creates a rebellion that weakens the world precisely when a transcendent threat emerges. BioWare uses this timeline to enforce a central theme: history is not a record of dead things, but a active, often violent, force. The choices players make—who rules, who lives, what ideologies are supported—are entries into this ongoing chronicle, permanently altering the world state for future games. The timeline ensures that Thedas feels authentically old, its scars still visible, its ancient mistakes repeating in new forms. It is this deep, interactive history that transforms the Dragon Age series from a collection of fantasy adventures into a seminal work of world-building, where every age, especially the tumultuous Dragon Age, is defined by its past.

Egypt moves to deliver aid to Gaza after ceasefire: president
Feature: Japanese memorial museum fosters spaces to pass on war history for young people
Musk brands Trump's "big beautiful" bill as "disgusting abomination"
Trump signs executive order modifying tariff rates with dozens of trading partners
Explainer: Will Gaza deal bring permanent, comprehensive ceasefire?