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Dragon Age Graphic Novels #7
Dragon Age: Blue Wraith
A group of Inquisition agents pursue the deadly elven warrior Fenris in this new chapter from the world of BioWare's dark fantasy RPG!From the video game developer of genre-defining roleplaying games such as Baldur's Gate, Star Knights of the Old Republic, and Mass Effect comes a canonical continuation of stories begun in the multiple game of the year award-winning Dragon Inquisition.The power of the substance known as red lyrium is as dark as it is devastating, and a mysterious weapon containing a frightening amount of it is about to fall into the wrong hands. Enter knight Ser Aaron Hawthorne, elven thief Vaea, the magekillers Tessa Forsythia and Marius, and fledgling con artist Calix Pryde--a motley team of Inquisition agents whose task it is to recover the lyrium artifact before it's too late. In order to do so, fellow agent Varric Tethras directs them to recruit one more to their party, a former associate from Kirkwall--Fenris. However, as the team quickly discovers, this legendary fighter has an agenda of his own, and convincing him to join their cause will be no small feat.Collects Dragon Blue Wraith #1-#3.
72 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 21, 2020
24 people are currently reading
745 people want to read
About the author
Nunzio DeFilippis
202 books96 followersNunzio DeFilippis is married to Christina Weir; together they have written a large number of graphic novels. They have written superhero comics but also created original comics and graphic novels of many genres, from YA fantasy to sports to horror to crime drama.
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October 19, 2025
Though I've tried to find the answer to all the questions they ask / Though I know it's impossible to go livin' through the past (Natural Mystic – Bob Marley).
It’s probably no secret at this point that I’ve been having a bit of trouble in the literature department for what feels like some time now (two bad books in a row will do that to you), and I figured that the best way to fix this is to fall back on the tried and true. And what's more tried and true than my beloved, Dragon Age, and then that coupled with my second beloved, Fenris... from my beloved Dragon Age! Can't go wrong there, right? Because hey, would you look at that, it totally worked! I feel like I can read again, and while I don't know if I'm out of the funk yet, this is definitely a good start. "You've got a real type of thing going down, gettin' down, there's a whole lot of rhythm going round. Ow, we want the funk, give up the funk!" Really though, it’s funny because now that I’ve actually found something that I like, I find that I'm coming up empty after surviving only on sips during such a long drought of less than stellar books, shows, and movies. Help, I'm stuck in hater mode because I’d rather be mad! In that sense, it’s just as well that I found Blue Wraith at this moment in time, because being a Dragon Age fan means that you have to learn to live with a constant stream disappointment… "you merely adopted disappointment. I was born in it, molded by it" or whatever Bane said. But don’t worry, I’m not one of those fans who complain about Dragon Age: Veilguard for being too woke or whatever soap box they're on nowadays, because I actually love that game so much. I mean, at of the time of writing this, my profile picture has literally been the main character from that game, Rook, for about a year now! Besides, I’m a big fan of things that are woke, being woke is a good thing in my book. But yeah, my dissatisfaction with the series has always been with things like inconsistencies in tone, art direction, and the never-ending series of loose story threads that never get followed up on. For example, if you play through the games in chronological order (like I’ve been recently), it really clear how all over the place this series was. We've got Dragon Age: Origins riding the wave of the edgy late 2000’s “dark fantasy” vibes that also gave rise to shows like Game of Thrones, only for the second game to switch up on us by trying to go for a more cartoony stylistic choice by featuring characters with more exaggerated features and personalities, and in that evoking the ever popular Anime of the time. And then there’s the third and most popular game in the franchise with Dragon Age: Inquisition, where they dialed the art style wa~aay back down so that everything looks like an over realistic mess. Don't get me wrong, I like the game, but whenever I they jump-scare me with a close up of Varric, I think of those still frames in SpongeBob where they focus up on a disgusting and extremely detailed face. Well, at least Veilguard rectified this mistake by making him older and thus, wa~aay hotter.
Which leads me to my next point that, if anything, the best looking game of the series is Dragon Age: Veilguard because it manages to find a natural blend between characters that look like real people in a real world and also giving the game a much needed splash of color to make the world as vibrant as it always looked in my imagination. Sure, maybe such a drastic change in art direction might make things less gritty and realistic, but mind you, Dragon Age is a fantasy series, so it’s okay to add a little color every now and then. Though I will say that for this comic especially, it sucks that they gave Fenris a trendy Peaky Blinders hair cut instead of letting him keep his All American Rejects hair. Like, mans looks like he's about to make a YouTube video about his hair routine... or some kind of "Sigma Male" video complaining about women or whatever. I don't know, I just think that sometimes the dated Anime hair is much better, and it definitely informed Fenris' personality more than this "conventionally attractive" look they're giving him! Unlike its sister franchise, Mass Effect, which benefited greatly from following one character over the course of one narrative arc, Dragon Age has always felt a little hectic in the fact that you create a different main character for every game and they have to solve a different world ending cataclysmic event that seems to occur every ten years or so. Well, I guess I used to think this aspect of the series was unrealistic until I realized… that’s basically how the real world is too. Ugh, it's one terrible thing after another, huh? Besides, I’m not too fussed about it anymore because when I think about it, it’s pretty funny how if you looked at my canonical Dragon Age world state, then the history books would tell of a world that gets saved by an elf twink and his gay friends every couple of years. Hey, I'm nothing if not predictable! So yeah, I love Dragon Age, but there’s no getting around the fact that it sucks that there were often so many story threads set up in one game that never gets resolved by the next. For real though, the only installment with a real and definitive ending is the first game, Dragon Age: Origins, because it follows a very simple plot that gets solved by the end of the story. Sure, there always could be more to explore within the expansive world, but it never needed a sequel. Because it's otherwise cliffhanger after cliffhanger, with Dragon Age 2, the plot follows the growing tension between mages and their captors, the Templars, with the story ending by heavily hinting that the next game would be about seeing the conflict’s bloody resolution.
Enter Dragon Age: Inquisition, where the mage vs. Templar plot gets easily solved in the first forty minutes of the game and the main plot pivots to fighting against an ancient evil monster guy who’s trying to end the world because he traveled to the supposed throne of God and found it empty. The hook this time around hinting that the next game would be about stopping a bald elven god from ending the world (a common theme, it would seem). And then Dragon Age: Veilguard came out and the main story immediately forgoes fighting against the bald guy because two worse ancient evil elf gods get released into the world so they could... you know, end the world. See what I mean about all over the place!? But I guess loose story threads are what we have extra material like Blue Wraith for! I've never felt like reading the books set in this universe because David Gaider has proven to only be a good writer in a video game format, so I had to give the next best thing a go; comics. And what a comic Blue Wraith was! Drawn in a simplistic, yet dynamic art style similar to Jeff Smith’s Bone, we get to see everyone's beloved elf twink Fenris again, a former slave who now makes it his life’s mission to hunt down slavers. Cool shit, if I do say so myself! Unlike the games, it’s a simple story to get behind without having to factor in all the baggage that comes with lore, and it's pretty much the perfect kind of story to tell in a comic format. Though I didn't like how Fenris was only the focus of the comic rather than being the main point-of-view character, but I guess this was necessary considering he's a main character in Dragon Age 2, and because it was a choice based game where you can literally decide what happens to him in the end, they understandably can’t give too much insight into his past lest they contradict the player choice in the game. It’s one of those annoying canon things, and I kind of wished they would just “cut off the branches,” so to speak, so they’d then be able to write a complete story without having to worry about fan backlash against their precious world state being de-canonized. A good story is more important than canon and lore! It doesn’t help that we instead follow some person named Francesca Invidus who was incredibly dull, with her entire motivation being that she’s trying to save her racist slave owner father from Fenris, and it's like, this character is uninteresting, unpleasant, and bad at what she does? Sheesh, I think we've found Dragon Age's answer to Reneé Rapp. Anyway, I liked Blue Wraith a lot! At seventy pages full of eclectic action and "oof" worthy gore, I’m sure that just about anybody can dive right in and have a good time. And even though it doesn’t really have a beginning, middle, or end in any traditional sense, as you know by now, being a Dragon Age fan is learning how to live with disappointment. You take the good with the bad.
This could be the first trumpet, might as well be the last / Many more will have to suffer, many more will have to die / Don't ask me why.
It’s probably no secret at this point that I’ve been having a bit of trouble in the literature department for what feels like some time now (two bad books in a row will do that to you), and I figured that the best way to fix this is to fall back on the tried and true. And what's more tried and true than my beloved, Dragon Age, and then that coupled with my second beloved, Fenris... from my beloved Dragon Age! Can't go wrong there, right? Because hey, would you look at that, it totally worked! I feel like I can read again, and while I don't know if I'm out of the funk yet, this is definitely a good start. "You've got a real type of thing going down, gettin' down, there's a whole lot of rhythm going round. Ow, we want the funk, give up the funk!" Really though, it’s funny because now that I’ve actually found something that I like, I find that I'm coming up empty after surviving only on sips during such a long drought of less than stellar books, shows, and movies. Help, I'm stuck in hater mode because I’d rather be mad! In that sense, it’s just as well that I found Blue Wraith at this moment in time, because being a Dragon Age fan means that you have to learn to live with a constant stream disappointment… "you merely adopted disappointment. I was born in it, molded by it" or whatever Bane said. But don’t worry, I’m not one of those fans who complain about Dragon Age: Veilguard for being too woke or whatever soap box they're on nowadays, because I actually love that game so much. I mean, at of the time of writing this, my profile picture has literally been the main character from that game, Rook, for about a year now! Besides, I’m a big fan of things that are woke, being woke is a good thing in my book. But yeah, my dissatisfaction with the series has always been with things like inconsistencies in tone, art direction, and the never-ending series of loose story threads that never get followed up on. For example, if you play through the games in chronological order (like I’ve been recently), it really clear how all over the place this series was. We've got Dragon Age: Origins riding the wave of the edgy late 2000’s “dark fantasy” vibes that also gave rise to shows like Game of Thrones, only for the second game to switch up on us by trying to go for a more cartoony stylistic choice by featuring characters with more exaggerated features and personalities, and in that evoking the ever popular Anime of the time. And then there’s the third and most popular game in the franchise with Dragon Age: Inquisition, where they dialed the art style wa~aay back down so that everything looks like an over realistic mess. Don't get me wrong, I like the game, but whenever I they jump-scare me with a close up of Varric, I think of those still frames in SpongeBob where they focus up on a disgusting and extremely detailed face. Well, at least Veilguard rectified this mistake by making him older and thus, wa~aay hotter.
Which leads me to my next point that, if anything, the best looking game of the series is Dragon Age: Veilguard because it manages to find a natural blend between characters that look like real people in a real world and also giving the game a much needed splash of color to make the world as vibrant as it always looked in my imagination. Sure, maybe such a drastic change in art direction might make things less gritty and realistic, but mind you, Dragon Age is a fantasy series, so it’s okay to add a little color every now and then. Though I will say that for this comic especially, it sucks that they gave Fenris a trendy Peaky Blinders hair cut instead of letting him keep his All American Rejects hair. Like, mans looks like he's about to make a YouTube video about his hair routine... or some kind of "Sigma Male" video complaining about women or whatever. I don't know, I just think that sometimes the dated Anime hair is much better, and it definitely informed Fenris' personality more than this "conventionally attractive" look they're giving him! Unlike its sister franchise, Mass Effect, which benefited greatly from following one character over the course of one narrative arc, Dragon Age has always felt a little hectic in the fact that you create a different main character for every game and they have to solve a different world ending cataclysmic event that seems to occur every ten years or so. Well, I guess I used to think this aspect of the series was unrealistic until I realized… that’s basically how the real world is too. Ugh, it's one terrible thing after another, huh? Besides, I’m not too fussed about it anymore because when I think about it, it’s pretty funny how if you looked at my canonical Dragon Age world state, then the history books would tell of a world that gets saved by an elf twink and his gay friends every couple of years. Hey, I'm nothing if not predictable! So yeah, I love Dragon Age, but there’s no getting around the fact that it sucks that there were often so many story threads set up in one game that never gets resolved by the next. For real though, the only installment with a real and definitive ending is the first game, Dragon Age: Origins, because it follows a very simple plot that gets solved by the end of the story. Sure, there always could be more to explore within the expansive world, but it never needed a sequel. Because it's otherwise cliffhanger after cliffhanger, with Dragon Age 2, the plot follows the growing tension between mages and their captors, the Templars, with the story ending by heavily hinting that the next game would be about seeing the conflict’s bloody resolution.
Enter Dragon Age: Inquisition, where the mage vs. Templar plot gets easily solved in the first forty minutes of the game and the main plot pivots to fighting against an ancient evil monster guy who’s trying to end the world because he traveled to the supposed throne of God and found it empty. The hook this time around hinting that the next game would be about stopping a bald elven god from ending the world (a common theme, it would seem). And then Dragon Age: Veilguard came out and the main story immediately forgoes fighting against the bald guy because two worse ancient evil elf gods get released into the world so they could... you know, end the world. See what I mean about all over the place!? But I guess loose story threads are what we have extra material like Blue Wraith for! I've never felt like reading the books set in this universe because David Gaider has proven to only be a good writer in a video game format, so I had to give the next best thing a go; comics. And what a comic Blue Wraith was! Drawn in a simplistic, yet dynamic art style similar to Jeff Smith’s Bone, we get to see everyone's beloved elf twink Fenris again, a former slave who now makes it his life’s mission to hunt down slavers. Cool shit, if I do say so myself! Unlike the games, it’s a simple story to get behind without having to factor in all the baggage that comes with lore, and it's pretty much the perfect kind of story to tell in a comic format. Though I didn't like how Fenris was only the focus of the comic rather than being the main point-of-view character, but I guess this was necessary considering he's a main character in Dragon Age 2, and because it was a choice based game where you can literally decide what happens to him in the end, they understandably can’t give too much insight into his past lest they contradict the player choice in the game. It’s one of those annoying canon things, and I kind of wished they would just “cut off the branches,” so to speak, so they’d then be able to write a complete story without having to worry about fan backlash against their precious world state being de-canonized. A good story is more important than canon and lore! It doesn’t help that we instead follow some person named Francesca Invidus who was incredibly dull, with her entire motivation being that she’s trying to save her racist slave owner father from Fenris, and it's like, this character is uninteresting, unpleasant, and bad at what she does? Sheesh, I think we've found Dragon Age's answer to Reneé Rapp. Anyway, I liked Blue Wraith a lot! At seventy pages full of eclectic action and "oof" worthy gore, I’m sure that just about anybody can dive right in and have a good time. And even though it doesn’t really have a beginning, middle, or end in any traditional sense, as you know by now, being a Dragon Age fan is learning how to live with disappointment. You take the good with the bad.
This could be the first trumpet, might as well be the last / Many more will have to suffer, many more will have to die / Don't ask me why.
Want to read
July 10, 2020I just have, like, the MOST normal feelings about this. Really can't overstate how normal my emotions are when I think about Fenris killing slavers and freeing slaves, living and thriving and just generally being his best self.
The one thing is that he's no longer bishie because the anime hair is gone; he has an undercut so he's a Chad now. I don't make the rules, everyone, I'm just here to tell it like it is.
The one thing is that he's no longer bishie because the anime hair is gone; he has an undercut so he's a Chad now. I don't make the rules, everyone, I'm just here to tell it like it is.
June 27, 2020
The story and the art were both hard to follow. The art definitely needed more detail, especially some of the fights. There are a number of characters in the story. An introduction to each even if it's just a blurb on the first appearance in the book would certainly help explain what was going on. I felt like I was dropped in midstory with no explanation. It's a shame because the world building seemed pretty good.
Received a review copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.
Received a review copy from Dark Horse and Edelweiss. All thoughts are my own and in no way influenced by the aforementioned.
August 26, 2020
i wanted to see fenris and i saw him. one star taken off bc some pages did not have fenris in them
April 14, 2020
None of the cameos in these tie-ins have exactly been in-depth character explorations, but this one was just bad to the point of character assassination. Ah yes, Fenris, that pale and humorless guy who hates friendship and loves hitting things, am I right? But hey, he gets to kill slavers, what more could the fans ask for? Fenris was never my favorite character to begin with, but even to me this just seems like the most shallow possible interpretation of him.
I'm stretching to explain it - perhaps this is a version of Fenris who was rivaled, and even being rivaled he still felt betrayed by Hawke's role in freeing the mages, and the rebellion that's played out since has managed to suck out all his personality and humor in a way the horrors of his life before that point never could?
I'm stretching to explain it - perhaps this is a version of Fenris who was rivaled, and even being rivaled he still felt betrayed by Hawke's role in freeing the mages, and the rebellion that's played out since has managed to suck out all his personality and humor in a way the horrors of his life before that point never could?
September 3, 2020
Oh, look another disappointing, overpriced, short as crap DA comic that has barely any plot and leads pretty much nowhere. With art that’s more suited for a late-night cartoon on Adult Swim than a serious fantasy realm with deep story and lore. It doesn't help that the art is sometimes so busy you can’t tell what’s going on half the time either.
At some point I’ll learn to stop putting so much faith in Bioware. Considering their current track record of crappy games, mediocre books, and continuing trend of crappy comics, I shouldn’t get my hopes up anymore…even when they use Fenris (my Hawke’s love interest and my favorite character in DA2—Sorry Varric) and gorgeous cover art as bait.
Whoever designed Fenris’s new look…I just…really? There are thousands of fanart submissions online to look at for inspiration and you went with some generic Alistair hair flip? Yes, you took his armor spikes off but did you really have to move them to his hair?? I was expecting a hairstyle similar to the cover, not something so cartoony and un-Fenris like.
Anyway, I used to love the cameos of characters from the past games but at this point I would much rather they just left them out completely. They’ve been nothing but hollow shells of themselves, it’s seriously starting to feel like whoever writes them doesn’t care or know them at all. It feels like they took a 2D cut out, took their three most prominent traits (Fenris for instance is angry, likes to fight, and is distrustful) and then calls it good leaving out anything that gives them depth to bring them to life (Fenris, again, is soft hearted, is scared of happiness, and just wants a place to belong).
I’m also getting a bit tired of them shoving their own lore in there and overriding my choices in the game instead of keeping it vague, like when Fenris said he doesn’t speak to the group from Kirkwall anymore because they “used him”. I was pretty annoyed he didn’t dodge the question or sheepishly admit later that he is still friends with them...like Varric states they at the beginning of DA:I, despite being scattered.
So…according to this comic he’s broken up with my Hawke (despite them still being together in DA:I) and doesn’t speak to Varric…who magically knows exactly where he is and what he’s up to , at least just enough that they can exchange letters (DA:I).
I know this takes place a while after DA:I but I doubt things have changed this much in such a short period. The only timeline I can see this all happening is if (your) Hawke sided with/romanced Anders. Which my Hawke, mage or not, definitely didn't do. So, this was either a mistake on the writers part and just follows the trend of shallow writing, and he was hiding his friendship/connections to protect the Kirkwall group in case this new group was trying to hunt them down or this is Biowares crappy way of breaking it to the player that Fenris broke off your Hawke's friendship or romance for absolutely no reason (unless you sided with Anders).
The lack of plot is another issue, they’ve spent the entirety of the past comics chasing empty dead end quests that always end tragically and only add one new piece to the puzzle at the very end of the story…except they didn’t even do that here, so this entire story was pretty much worthless. With the exception of finding out how exactly Fenris got his marks.
I’m not going to keep paying so much for a 100-page comic with okay art that’s continuing to drag out to nowhere. I can just buy the next DA game and read about all this in the codex pages or read a summary of this on Wikipedia for free. What's the point of continuing to waste money if the comics are getting worse and not better?
Hopefully something gives in the next installment. Like a plot, or character development, or anything that actually makes this story a real story and not, yet another, book about a hodgepodge of useless side quests that may or may not give us a clue about the future of the next game.
One star for the lackluster story and art. One star for the gorgeous cover art, which has been the highlight of these dull comics.
At some point I’ll learn to stop putting so much faith in Bioware. Considering their current track record of crappy games, mediocre books, and continuing trend of crappy comics, I shouldn’t get my hopes up anymore…even when they use Fenris (my Hawke’s love interest and my favorite character in DA2—Sorry Varric) and gorgeous cover art as bait.
Whoever designed Fenris’s new look…I just…really? There are thousands of fanart submissions online to look at for inspiration and you went with some generic Alistair hair flip? Yes, you took his armor spikes off but did you really have to move them to his hair?? I was expecting a hairstyle similar to the cover, not something so cartoony and un-Fenris like.
Anyway, I used to love the cameos of characters from the past games but at this point I would much rather they just left them out completely. They’ve been nothing but hollow shells of themselves, it’s seriously starting to feel like whoever writes them doesn’t care or know them at all. It feels like they took a 2D cut out, took their three most prominent traits (Fenris for instance is angry, likes to fight, and is distrustful) and then calls it good leaving out anything that gives them depth to bring them to life (Fenris, again, is soft hearted, is scared of happiness, and just wants a place to belong).
I’m also getting a bit tired of them shoving their own lore in there and overriding my choices in the game instead of keeping it vague, like when Fenris said he doesn’t speak to the group from Kirkwall anymore because they “used him”. I was pretty annoyed he didn’t dodge the question or sheepishly admit later that he is still friends with them...like Varric states they at the beginning of DA:I, despite being scattered.
So…according to this comic he’s broken up with my Hawke (despite them still being together in DA:I) and doesn’t speak to Varric…who magically knows exactly where he is and what he’s up to , at least just enough that they can exchange letters (DA:I).
I know this takes place a while after DA:I but I doubt things have changed this much in such a short period. The only timeline I can see this all happening is if (your) Hawke sided with/romanced Anders. Which my Hawke, mage or not, definitely didn't do. So, this was either a mistake on the writers part and just follows the trend of shallow writing, and he was hiding his friendship/connections to protect the Kirkwall group in case this new group was trying to hunt them down or this is Biowares crappy way of breaking it to the player that Fenris broke off your Hawke's friendship or romance for absolutely no reason (unless you sided with Anders).
The lack of plot is another issue, they’ve spent the entirety of the past comics chasing empty dead end quests that always end tragically and only add one new piece to the puzzle at the very end of the story…except they didn’t even do that here, so this entire story was pretty much worthless. With the exception of finding out how exactly Fenris got his marks.
I’m not going to keep paying so much for a 100-page comic with okay art that’s continuing to drag out to nowhere. I can just buy the next DA game and read about all this in the codex pages or read a summary of this on Wikipedia for free. What's the point of continuing to waste money if the comics are getting worse and not better?
Hopefully something gives in the next installment. Like a plot, or character development, or anything that actually makes this story a real story and not, yet another, book about a hodgepodge of useless side quests that may or may not give us a clue about the future of the next game.
One star for the lackluster story and art. One star for the gorgeous cover art, which has been the highlight of these dull comics.
September 9, 2020
Real bummer, I was STOKED about this book because I love my boy Fenris but it just wasn't well executed, none of the characters were meaningfully introduced, the plot was very scattered, the pacing was choppy, and the art/layout didn't help at all, it was very hard to follow what was happening. Two stars because the covers are gorgeous and because Fenris...exists in it.
June 19, 2020
Not particularly strong story/characterisation or art-wise (interiors) with conflicting (and not as good) lore to what's already been established in the games. The characters were good even if their potential was wasted. A whole star goes to Sachin Teng's cover art which is by far the best part.
Read
October 5, 2019Fenris has a new haircut. I’m sold
February 18, 2021
(3,8 of 5, points down for increasing shortness)
Well, with this story I felt that the author started to "losing his breath" here. I see the tendency to create some company of heroes, but the increasing level of "main characters", storylines and decreasing number of pages is a recipe to failure. It's not complete failure here, but I feel the good qualities are rather diminished here. One more deterioration of my reader's experience: the end. Previous stories had a satisfying end, this feels like closing a storyline but hanging in the middle of a bigger one.
Yeah, I quite enjoyed the reading, but I'm bummed out how it deteriorated in expected ways.
Well, with this story I felt that the author started to "losing his breath" here. I see the tendency to create some company of heroes, but the increasing level of "main characters", storylines and decreasing number of pages is a recipe to failure. It's not complete failure here, but I feel the good qualities are rather diminished here. One more deterioration of my reader's experience: the end. Previous stories had a satisfying end, this feels like closing a storyline but hanging in the middle of a bigger one.
Yeah, I quite enjoyed the reading, but I'm bummed out how it deteriorated in expected ways.
stripovi-i-grafički-romani
December 1, 2021It's good to see Fenris again, even though I felt like I crashed the party where I know no one. Then a friend told me that I started reading comics in the wrong order, hahah.
By the way, I'm not a fan of the idea that Fenris feels "used" in the Kirkwall events by Hawke and the rest of the team. There is a chance to built strong positive relationships between characters in Dragon Age 2, even if you go for rivalry between Hawke and Fenris, so this "people only use you for your power" stuff coming from Fen's mouth is a bit off. But hey, I also heard that canon Hawke is diplomatic (boring) one instead of beloved "purple" one, so everything is possible.
By the way, I'm not a fan of the idea that Fenris feels "used" in the Kirkwall events by Hawke and the rest of the team. There is a chance to built strong positive relationships between characters in Dragon Age 2, even if you go for rivalry between Hawke and Fenris, so this "people only use you for your power" stuff coming from Fen's mouth is a bit off. But hey, I also heard that canon Hawke is diplomatic (boring) one instead of beloved "purple" one, so everything is possible.
March 11, 2021
A mysterious person who has been freeing slaves throughout the land joins our group.
Our group, by the way, is the group we have assembled from past volumes of the Dragon Age books. This detail isn't really touched on or addressed in anyway. I think a big part of the problem with this book is that it assumes you recall who every person in the group is from previous volumes. Where a quick summary or cast page would be tremendously helpful, the book foregoes that for a more "jump into the middle of the story" type feel. Unfortunately it comes off as a point of confusion and even someone who has read the previous volumes (like me) struggles to remember who is who and what they did in the past.
The story is very straightforward and kind of... sparse. It has to do with the Blue Wraith, the person who has been freeing slaves, and how he joins the group. One of the members' dad gets kidnapped, so they go to find him....and realize there may be more than one villain in this story. That's pretty much it.
I really was enjoying the Dragon age books in the early volumes. They seemed well thought out and they took their time to tell a story. Recent volumes however seem to rush the plot in order to fit it into 3 issues, and I think for a world as robust as the one of Dragon Age, you need a foundation to build off of.
Hopefully the next volume takes it's time a bit more.
Our group, by the way, is the group we have assembled from past volumes of the Dragon Age books. This detail isn't really touched on or addressed in anyway. I think a big part of the problem with this book is that it assumes you recall who every person in the group is from previous volumes. Where a quick summary or cast page would be tremendously helpful, the book foregoes that for a more "jump into the middle of the story" type feel. Unfortunately it comes off as a point of confusion and even someone who has read the previous volumes (like me) struggles to remember who is who and what they did in the past.
The story is very straightforward and kind of... sparse. It has to do with the Blue Wraith, the person who has been freeing slaves, and how he joins the group. One of the members' dad gets kidnapped, so they go to find him....and realize there may be more than one villain in this story. That's pretty much it.
I really was enjoying the Dragon age books in the early volumes. They seemed well thought out and they took their time to tell a story. Recent volumes however seem to rush the plot in order to fit it into 3 issues, and I think for a world as robust as the one of Dragon Age, you need a foundation to build off of.
Hopefully the next volume takes it's time a bit more.
July 26, 2021
C/W:
Dragon Age: Blue Wraith is one of the most frustrating books I've read in a while. If you're going to bring all of your various main characters together into one storyline, the least you could do would be to provide a brief blurb/recap of who all these people are. I had the Dragon Age wiki open while reading and kept having to stop so I could look up character names that sounded vaguely familiar.
Dragon Age: Blue Wraith was also surprisingly short. Most of the story is set-up and the conclusion was hard to follow. I found the teaser on the back of the book did a better job conveying what actually happened than the graphic novel itself did.
The upside was that the character interactions were interesting and entertaining. One of the things I've really enjoyed about the graphic novel additions are the lovable new characters. Blue Wraith provided a fun opportunity to see how they've all grown over the course of the arc.
Dragon Age: Blue Wraith is one of the most frustrating books I've read in a while. If you're going to bring all of your various main characters together into one storyline, the least you could do would be to provide a brief blurb/recap of who all these people are. I had the Dragon Age wiki open while reading and kept having to stop so I could look up character names that sounded vaguely familiar.
Dragon Age: Blue Wraith was also surprisingly short. Most of the story is set-up and the conclusion was hard to follow. I found the teaser on the back of the book did a better job conveying what actually happened than the graphic novel itself did.
The upside was that the character interactions were interesting and entertaining. One of the things I've really enjoyed about the graphic novel additions are the lovable new characters. Blue Wraith provided a fun opportunity to see how they've all grown over the course of the arc.
September 5, 2020
My sweet, broody boy Fenris is back! 😭
June 7, 2023
This is not a good comic. Confusing art and script, and…not really about Fenris? Like the quest where you meet him, this is a Bait and Switch.
October 24, 2024
Fenris my beloved
December 8, 2024
3.25/5
So good to see Fenris again! I wondered what he did during the Inquisition. I'm glad we know now. And I'm growing fond of all the new characters.
So good to see Fenris again! I wondered what he did during the Inquisition. I'm glad we know now. And I'm growing fond of all the new characters.
April 9, 2021
So so good! I'm so happy to see Fenris again, and the things revealed and hinted at are pretty fantastic (and a little worrying bc I just know I'm gonna have to deal with some crazy shit in Dragon Age 4 that I am not ready for)
January 25, 2022
that sarcophagus has me quaking in my boots. very excited for its potential implications in da4.
edit: just realized there's ANOTHER book after this one. So I'm now quaking for its potential implications in that :P
edit: just realized there's ANOTHER book after this one. So I'm now quaking for its potential implications in that :P
April 29, 2022
3.5 stars
I, uh, probably shouldn't have jumped into the series mid-way, eh? Whatever. So MY Fenris is happily travelling Thedas with my Hawke, trying and failing to hide just how madly in love he is in between saving the world and killing blood mages after a successful(ish) ordeal at Kirkwall while on good terms with nearly all of his new friends made before said Kirkwall ordeal, so this book fucks with my canon right off the bat. Therefore, really, none of this happened and this is just an alternate universe thing. That's a fact. Because I said so.
With that mentality, I began the book and almost immediately decided I'd go back and start the series from the beginning. I finished it though, and enjoyed the characters and world. Though even with more context, I hated the abrupt flipping around from storylines without warning or sufficient visual cues. I found it incredibly confusing.
I've already started this series from the beginning, so the plan is to do a re-read and come back for a more full review. Fingers crossed.
I, uh, probably shouldn't have jumped into the series mid-way, eh? Whatever. So MY Fenris is happily travelling Thedas with my Hawke, trying and failing to hide just how madly in love he is in between saving the world and killing blood mages after a successful(ish) ordeal at Kirkwall while on good terms with nearly all of his new friends made before said Kirkwall ordeal, so this book fucks with my canon right off the bat. Therefore, really, none of this happened and this is just an alternate universe thing. That's a fact. Because I said so.
With that mentality, I began the book and almost immediately decided I'd go back and start the series from the beginning. I finished it though, and enjoyed the characters and world. Though even with more context, I hated the abrupt flipping around from storylines without warning or sufficient visual cues. I found it incredibly confusing.
I've already started this series from the beginning, so the plan is to do a re-read and come back for a more full review. Fingers crossed.
Read
October 16, 2025To be completely honest, I'm very disappointed a comic about Fenris barely had any of him in it- especially considering how much of a fan favorite he is. His character did not feel like him whatsoever, the depiction of the Qunari was disappointing but also not surprising (I'm not sure why most DA comic artists essentially always depict them as unredeemable monsters every single time), and the new characters introduced felt like a lazy rehash of many DA characters already found in the universe. I felt no interest or connection to anyone but the dog, and maybe the older male character in the party. Though I don't remember anyone's names even though I read this only two weeks ago.
This could've been a good read if the story and direction was different. It really felt like Fenris was a side character in this; unimportant and forgettable, and only happened to be there despite this comic supposedly being about him.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 12, 2023
This was... fine. Fenris seems pretty bitter about the events of DA2, which I found interesting (and, in a recurring theme, makes me wonder what the point of DA2 was at all...). The story was a little hard to follow - it felt like they needed a few more panels in certain areas to really have a decent flow. It's also just the beginning of the story.
It's a quick read, so I wouldn't say it's a waste of time, but it's certainly not all I was hoping for in a comic featuring a major character from one of the games.
It's a quick read, so I wouldn't say it's a waste of time, but it's certainly not all I was hoping for in a comic featuring a major character from one of the games.
November 26, 2021
Fenris! A big fan of the man himself, just not his haircut here.
Things are not really wrapped up here, so I wonder if it's gonna become a quest in the next game? I just want Fenris make a come back!
Things are not really wrapped up here, so I wonder if it's gonna become a quest in the next game? I just want Fenris make a come back!
February 13, 2023
Fenris loml <3
Roll on Dragon Age 4!
*Second read - ugh I'll never be over Fenris. Never.
Roll on Dragon Age 4!
*Second read - ugh I'll never be over Fenris. Never.
July 4, 2025
One of the strongest entries in the Dragon Age graphic novel series. It brings back Fenris from Dragon Age II, and he absolutely steals the show. The story picks up where Deception left off, continuing the adventures of Olivia, Vaea, and Ser Aaron—but now with Fenris caught up in the chaos as tensions between mages and slavers explode.
The writing is tight, the action is intense, and Fenris’s character is handled with real emotional depth. His arc explores themes of trauma, justice, and what it means to be free. At the same time, the newer characters continue to develop in interesting ways, and the pacing is the best it’s ever been in this series.
The art is slick and moody, fitting the darker tone, and there are plenty of callbacks and lore drops for longtime fans without bogging the story down.
If you’ve followed the previous volumes, 'Blue Wraith' feels like a huge payoff. And if you’re a Fenris fan? It’s a must-read.
The writing is tight, the action is intense, and Fenris’s character is handled with real emotional depth. His arc explores themes of trauma, justice, and what it means to be free. At the same time, the newer characters continue to develop in interesting ways, and the pacing is the best it’s ever been in this series.
The art is slick and moody, fitting the darker tone, and there are plenty of callbacks and lore drops for longtime fans without bogging the story down.
If you’ve followed the previous volumes, 'Blue Wraith' feels like a huge payoff. And if you’re a Fenris fan? It’s a must-read.
April 28, 2022
This was…not a great first foray into the DA comic books. As someone who has played each of the games multiple times, I was absolutely baffled by what was going on and who half of these people were. It seems there was a brief series before this one that would explain some of the characters, but it took me a damn age to track down the order things should be read in.
This isn’t going to be popular with Fenris fans. While I know there’s an option to rival Fenris when Anders aces the Chantry, I can’t imagine most people chose it; seeing an antagonistic Fenris who lacks the depth of character and life lessons given to him in DA2? Meh, no thanks.
And the ART. Yeesh. I had to peer at certain panels for ages to find out what was going on. All in all definitely worth skipping, it didn’t really add much to my enjoyment of the series.
This isn’t going to be popular with Fenris fans. While I know there’s an option to rival Fenris when Anders aces the Chantry, I can’t imagine most people chose it; seeing an antagonistic Fenris who lacks the depth of character and life lessons given to him in DA2? Meh, no thanks.
And the ART. Yeesh. I had to peer at certain panels for ages to find out what was going on. All in all definitely worth skipping, it didn’t really add much to my enjoyment of the series.
March 31, 2020
This is a really good/beautiful elf-centric vignette following Fenris and Vaea in Tevinter. There are battles with Qunari and misuse of lyrium, and the dialog itself has a pleasing rhythm. I enjoyed it immensely. It handled elven heart pain really well.
March 13, 2022
Even though I like Fenris's hair better in the videogame, I love any and all opportunity to see my broody man in action!! It does seem like the panels sometimes jump around a bit too much, but I'm not picky when it comes to DA!
August 25, 2020
Dragon Age: Blue Wraith continues Varric's task force's quest to keep the spread of red lyrium in check. The group, led by Ser Aaron Hawthorne, seeks to recruit Varric's old companion, Fenris to aid their mission.
Part of this story involves a group of fanatical Qunari seeking to kill some high-ranking Tevinter members. A daughter of one of the Qunaris' target is caught in the middle of all this as she searches for her father, a quest that finally leads her to a showdown with Fenris.
THINGS I LOVE
The art is superb as always and the story is engaging. The dialogue is funny and the major characters live up to the Dragon Age standard.
DISLIKES
I do not like Fenris' character design for this volume. The design for Dragon Age 2 is much better.
WHO IS IT FOR
Fans of Dragon Age franchise will have loads of fun.
Many thanks to Dark Horse Books for review copy.
Part of this story involves a group of fanatical Qunari seeking to kill some high-ranking Tevinter members. A daughter of one of the Qunaris' target is caught in the middle of all this as she searches for her father, a quest that finally leads her to a showdown with Fenris.
THINGS I LOVE
The art is superb as always and the story is engaging. The dialogue is funny and the major characters live up to the Dragon Age standard.
DISLIKES
I do not like Fenris' character design for this volume. The design for Dragon Age 2 is much better.
WHO IS IT FOR
Fans of Dragon Age franchise will have loads of fun.
Many thanks to Dark Horse Books for review copy.
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