Unveiling Solas' Past: Dragon Age's Veilguard Concept Sketches Emerge

A former BioWare artist has shared some early concept sketches for Dragon Age: The Veilguard that give some extra details on the journey of Solas, the sometimes friend, sometimes enemy of the series' protagonists. While Solas plays a major role in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the sketches shared by Nick Thornborrow show him in a different light than what players may be used to.

Solas made his debut as a playable companion in Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014, joining the Inquisitor nearly immediately and providing magical support as the sole Rift Mage companion. While generally helpful, the ending of that game and its Trespasser DLC revealed his traitorous intentions as the architect behind the hole in the rift, and he carries the plan to tear down the Veil into 2024's Dragon Age: The Veilguard, setting up the game's premise.

While Thornborrow was no longer working for BioWare when The Veilguard launched, having ended his 15 years there in April 2022, his official website shows he was helpful in its development, having created a visual novel-style game with branching choices centered around The Veilguard's plot as a tool to convey story ideas to the development team. A recent addition to his website shows more than 100 different sketches presumably taken from that visual novel. While the sketches feature several characters and scenes that made it into the final game, some scenes involving Solas have changed drastically from the concept art. The character in the final version of The Veilguard is relegated to an advisory role for much of the game, visiting Rook through dreams, but some earlier artistic ideas make his hidden agenda much more overt and sinister-looking.

Artist Shares Early Dragon Age: The Veilguard Solas Sketches

Mainly presented in black and white with splashes of color drawing the eye to certain objects of interest, such as The Veilguard's lyrium dagger, the early images depict Solas dropping the sympathetic advisor act, presenting him directly as more of a vengeful god. While scenes like his attempt to tear apart the Veil at the start of the game seem to have changed little from concept to finished product, others look unfamiliar, often presenting Solas as an enormous being veiled in shadow. Since there have been changes to the game since its early development, it's unclear whether some of these scenes are happening directly in Rook's dreams or if Fen'Harel is unleashing his powers in the real world.

With nearly 10 years between entries in the series and some obvious production changes, like The Veilguard having its name changed from Dragon Age: Dreadwolf just a few months before its release, many fans were already aware that the story likely underwent some pretty drastic changes from start to finish of the development cycle. Thanks to Thornborrow sharing a behind-the-scenes look, players may be able to bridge that gap a little bit better.