Maker bless you, warriors, rogues, and mages, and welcome to our review of “Dragon Age: The Silent Grove.” If you’re an enormous fan of the Dragon Age game series like I am, then you’re straight up chuffed for any opportunity to spend a few more hours in the world of Thedas in the years between game installments. For us, “The Silent Grove” serves as an adequate snack to tide us over between meals. It’s a fun, playful reminder of everything we loved, and a few things we didn’t love, about the Dragon Age games. I will mention some things from all three Dragon Age games, but heavy plot spoilers are for “The Silent Grove” only. So fasten your +1 jewelry and be careful with the lyrium, here’s my take on the first comic book sequel to the beloved game series.
Plotted by David GaiderCover by Anthony Palumbo
Scripted by Alexander Freed
Illustrated by Chad Hardin
Colored by Michael Atiyeh
Lettered by Michael HeislerIt’s unusual for a king to embark on a dangerous quest himself rather than send an emissary, but King Alistair Therein has caught wind of a rumor big enough, and personal enough, that he is compelled to investigate though not alone. With deadly, wisecracking mercenaries Isabella and Varric by his side, Alistair travels to a city of assassins to learn the truth about his kingdom and his own reign! Story by David Gaider, lead writer of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II! An essential addition to the Dragon Age canon!
“Dragon Age: The Silent Grove” takes place after Dragon Age II, before Dragon Age: Inquisition. In it, we follow Alistair, now King of Ferelden, and his unlikely companions Varrick and Isabella, on their quest to find Alistair’s father. Right off the bat, I’m delighted to see two of these three pair up. Varrick, a silver-tongued merchant with a crossbow named Bianca, is my all-time favorite Bioware character, and he pairs well will Alistair, the fuddy duddy ex-Templar, like merlot and smoked cheddar. (Have fun deciding which is which). In Dragon Age: Origins, Alistair’s awkwardness had a certain charm to it, but Varrick brings out Alistair’s warmth too. His family drama was interesting in “Origins,” but it has even more emotional depth in “Silent Grove.” One of the many things I love about Varrick is his ability to bring out the best in his teammates. In Dragon Age II, Fenris and Anders could occasionally be, to put it politely, vexing, but every interaction they had with Varrick, from formal cut scenes to travel banter, brought out something heartfelt and human in them.
I was a little less excited to see Isabella, who’s brand of fetishized non-White feminine “empowerment” was tired when Dragon Age II came out in 2011. Her depiction in “The Silent Grove” remains, as ever, boring and irritating, though I feel icky blaming her, the character. In the immortal words of Jessica Rabbit, she’s not bad, she’s just drawn that way. Unfortunately, not even Varrick’s eternally deep well of empathy makes up for it.
The art in “The Silent Grove” stays true to the games, for the worse in terms of Isabella’s problematic illustration, and for better in its function as a fan-focused Thedosian vacation. The characters look familiar, giving the reader the feeling that we are reacquainting ourselves with old friends. Even Bianca looks the same. Hi Bianca! How have you been, cutie? Meanwhile, the dark muted colors are more reminiscent of the gloom-and-doom style of Dragon Age: Origins than the more brightly-colored fantasy world of Dragon Age: Inquisition. Varrick and Isabella have a fun vibe, but this is a story about Alistair, the melancholy orphan king, and the art reflects that.
While I’m overall satisfied to return to the familiar, parts of the plot are too familiar. In their quest to find Alistair’s father, our heroes meet a mysterious hypersexualized cynical mage lady who wants to preserve the olde magicks… but it’s not Morrigan, and I’m genuinely confused why that is. Morrigan is actually a nuanced interesting character, and her clone might be too, but we aren’t given the time to get to know her more deeply, especially since we’re viewing her through Alistair’s perspective, and Alistair is not particularly interested in getting to know her. In the end, he murders her. It’s reminiscent of Jon Snow stabbing Daenerys, both in the cliched pose, and in it’s utter nonsense. Sure Alistair is impatient with mysterious hypersexualized cynical mages, I am too, but we’ve never known him to go around murdering them all willy nilly, without even attempting to understand what her endgame is. He knows she wants him to awaken a dragon, and I get why Alistair would assume awakening a big swooping dragon would be bad. As he is wont to say, “swooping is bad.” But he is also presented with a seemingly friendly dragon, so I’d expect him to do a little more detective work before stabbing this lady he just met. The question of whether olde magicks are too dangerous to preserve, and who gets to decide, are pivotal dramatic questions throughout the Dragon Age franchise, but “Silent Grove” doesn’t give us enough information or time to mull this over substantially. If we knew what it meant for Alistair to awaken a dragon, we’d be able to think critically about pros and cons, but we don’t, and Alistair murdered the only lady who could have possibly told us.
I don’t know how much non Dragon Age fans would get out of this, but if you’ve been craving a trip back to Thedas with your old friends, “Dragon Age: The Silent Grove” is your ticket there. Until next time, Maker bless you.
