Dragon Age creator David Gaider has discussed taking on the writing of fan-favourite recurring character Cassandra in Dragon Age Inquisition, following the departure of a BioWare colleague.
In Gaider’s latest and seemingly last social media thread discussing the series’ characters he worked on, the former franchise boss said that Cassandra’s romance had been difficult to pin down.
Cassandra was originally being written in Inquisition by Jennifer Hepler, a veteran of the series who previously worked on Origins, Awakening and Dragon Age 2. But Hepler left BioWare during Inquisition’s development “around the time a bunch of GamerGate dudes decided Jennifer was somehow responsible for ALL of BioWare’s faults,” Gaider wrote. “The result was a LOT of ugly harassment.”
“Is this why she left? You’d have to ask her, but it undoubtedly didn’t help,” he continued. “The important thing is, she left – and there was nobody as senior nor as superhumanly fast as her to take over any unfinished work.”
Gaider ended up taking on Cassandra himself, but says he struggled with how a “pious, self-righteous character” would have romantic appeal. The solution came after he found a webcomic created by a fan which joked about Cassandra secretly being something of a fangirl for Varric’s books.
CHARACTERS – Day Nine: Cassandra This is the last of the (major) characters I wrote during my time on Dragon Age. I could go into others, and considered moving onto Stray Gods… but I feel like fewer would be interested, and I honestly can’t keep up the pace. So let’s make this the last, for now.
— David Gaider (@davidgaider.bsky.social) November 28, 2024 at 8:59 AM
This prompted Gaider to reconsider Cassandra’s “idealistic and awkward passion”, and the fact she had put the player character – the Inquistor – on a “messianic pedestal” for being the Herald of Andraste and leader of the Inquisition. In the final game, settling down with Cassandra essentially requires the Inquisitor to convince her they can still be a normal romantic partner in addition to all that.
Cassandra ended up being Inquisition’s most-chosen romance option, Gaider confirmed, “by a good margin”. The least, again “by a good margin” was Dorian.
Gaider has previously discussed writing Dorian’s story and the personal inspiration he drew from to do that, as well as early plans to let you bring your Grey Warden character from Dragon Age Origins into Inquisition.
As for recent release Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Metacritic recently responded after the backlash to that game saw its users scores review bombed.