Dragon Age: Inquisition is the series' largest game yet, and it's a shining jewel in the action-RPG genre. What do they do with all that space? Include dozens of easter eggs, of course. Part of the joy of exploring Thedas as you've never been able to before is finding unique encounters across the world. Every player could find something different during their time with the game.
There are plenty of unmarked easter eggs in Thedas to find during your time there. Some are references to past Dragon Age titles, or previous Bioware games, or just pop culture at large. We've collected together some of these secrets for you to enjoy.
Updated on August 17, 2021, by Gabrielle Huston: Love Dragon Age: Inquisition? Maybe you, like many others of late, have chosen to revisit this legendary RPG title. In honour of Dragon Age Week here at TheGamer, we've updated this article with extra easter eggs you can find hidden throughout the game on your next playthrough.
15 Can It Wait? I Need To Do Some Calibrations
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When you try to talk to Garrus on the Normandy during Mass Effect 3, he often comments about how he's busy 'calibrating the engines right now.' Fans turned the line into a meme that has stuck around to this day.
During Dragon Age: Inquisition, anytime you go to the War Table, your advisors may make comments in the background. Many of them are goofy, but one, in particular, is a nod to Garrus' quote: Cullen may comment about leaving to calibrate the trebuchets.
Josephine and Leliana both start to complain and poke fun about how he's always doing this - something that Mass Effect companions used to tease Garrus about, too.
14 A Spirit In The Lake
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There's a quest you can obtain in the Hinterlands by talking to a storyteller in Redcliffe. He tells of a spirit who lives in a lake and claims that the spirit will grant favors if it is offered a blood lotus. Upon putting a blood lotus in the basket at the lake, a Warlord Greatsword will appear.
This quest is a reference to a legend about King Arthur. In it, the Lady of the Lake, also known as Nimue or Viviane, is a fairy-like spirit who gives Arthur his legendary sword, Excalibur. In some tellings, she offers it after Arthur's original sword is broken in a fight. In others, she gives it to Arthur in exchange for a favor - that he will kill Sir Balin, who she believes is responsible for her brother's death.
13 The Nug Of The Smugglers Cave
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If you've seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail, you'll know just how many wacky hijinks there are in the film. Several of them found their way into Dragon Age: Inquisition as subtle references. For example, there's a cave entitled The Smugglers Cave in the Hinterlands. Its entrance is littered with corpses and weapons - but when you enter, only a single nug is inside.
This is a reference to the scene of the movie when King Arthur must attempt to take on a beast known as the "Rabbit of Caerbannog," a creature who looks like a mere rabbit but can kill an armoured soldier in an instant.
12 A Ladder For Your Back
There are lots of times in Dragon Age: Inquisition when it calls back to the first game in the series, Dragon Age: Origins. One such reference was very subtle and intended specifically for existing fans. In Origins, you got to pick from a set of different voices for your character to use during the gameplay.
If you chose the "Violent" voice set, your character really didn't hold back. One quote that stuck in the collective subconscious was "Can I get you a ladder? So you can get off my back?," a quote said by a Violent Warden during combat whenever you manually told them what to do.
In Dragon Age: Inquisition, in the Western Approach, you can find and claim a landmark near a ladder. Once you've done that, you can take a closer look at the ladder and discover that there's a message scratched into it which reads: "Can I get you a ladder to get off my back?"
11 Vivienne, The Evil Step Mother
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One of Vivienne's personal quests is called "Bring Me The Heart Of Snow White," a pretty clear reference to the western folktale Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. The objective is to carve out a Snowy Wyvern's heart and bring it to Vivienne - just like how the Evil Queen wanted Snow White's heart in the fairytale.
However, there's another hidden reference here. The quest gives you the option to bring Vivienne any Wyvern heart, instead of the one from the Snowy Wyvern, despite Vivienne specifically indicating that the spell will not work otherwise. This is a nod to the fact that the huntsman in Snow White doesn't actually kill Snow White - he instead brings an animal heart to the Queen.
Beware, though - the Evil Queen knows the Huntsman's treachery, as will Vivienne.
10 The Quizquisition
There's a nobleman named Lord Trifles Minutiae who will appear at random around Skyhold during your adventure. If you speak to him, he'll hit you with what he calls the "Quizquisition". Essentially, it's a trivia contest on the subject of Dragon Age lore. He'll ask you to name which settlement Loghain was the teyrn of, which city is the largest in Thedas, and more.
If you manage to answer three questions correctly, Lord Minutiae will award you with The Boon of the Spoon, a maul weapon that warriors can equip. Its description is just as confusing as the Lord himself. It reads "a Spoon that was hewn by a madman with a rune. 'I'm immune,' he would croon, celebrating all too soon..." and going on in that manner.
9 Let Them Eat Steak!
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You may have heard the phrase "Let them eat cake!" before. This infamous line is usually attributed to Marie Antoinette, the queen of France right before the French Revolution. While it's still in the western collective subconscious, there's no proof that Marie Antoinette ever actually said this.
Regardless, a reference still appears in Dragon Age: Inquisition's DLC, The Descent. There's a collection side quest called Mugs in the Deep Roads. There are 10 to find in total. One of them, the Pride of Nalthur mug, is found just after entering the Darkspawn Warrens and is inscribed with the words: Let them eat steak!
8 Solas And Iron Bull's Immortal Game
After completing the Iron Bull's personal quest and saving the Chargers in Demands of the Qun, Solas and the Iron Bull will begin to play a chess match verbally during party banter. If you pay close attention to their moves, you can tell that they are actually playing out a famous chess battle known as the Immortal Game.
It was played during the first international chess tournament in London between two highly skilled players. Adolf Anderssen, gave up so many high-ranking pieces only to checkmate his opponent, Lionel Kieseritzky, with minor pieces. Solas plays Anderssen's moves, while the Iron Bull plays as Kieseritzky.
7 Sera's Painted Box
This one is a very sweet callback to Dragon Age: Origins. When talking to Sera, she may reveal that she used to play with a little painted box as a child. She tells you that she got it from the Friends of Red Jenny who, in turn, received it from the Hero of Ferelden.
Many players thought of the "Red Jenny" group as something new to Dragon Age: Inquisition, but it actually existed all the way back in Dragon Age: Origins.
While doing the quests in the Circle of Magi, the Warden can learn that the Friends of Red Jenny sent mercenaries to steal something from First Enchanter Irving. In his room, they'll find a letter with details and a Small Painted Box. They can then choose to bring it back to Denerim and give it to the Friends for a reward.
It's a small detail but incredibly touching, to think that your past self had a hand in Sera's childhood.
6 Never Toss A Dwarf
Just as in Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age: Inquisition loves to compare Varric to Gimli, an iconic dwarf from The Lord of the Rings. When the party goes to Moria and faces a crumbling staircase, Aragorn throws several hobbits over the chasm before moving to throw Gimli. He halts Aragorn, saying that "Nobody tosses a Dwarf."
In Dragon Age: Inquisition, you'll find a broken bridge in the Exalted Plains and get an operation to rebuild it. If Varric is in your party when you approach, he'll say: "Before anybody suggests, no, nobody's throwing me across."
5 Crestwood's Plants Versus Corpses
There's a rather elaborate reference to the video game Plants VS. Zombies in Crestwood. A farm south of Crestwood Village, called Linden Farm, has a large field beside it. In the field are distinct rows, each with its own sunflower growing there and several corpses lined in front of them.
The reference is clearer once you find the nearby Codex entry, entitled "Plants Versus Corpses." It calls this scene the Battle of Pauper's Cap, in reference to PopCap, the developer of Plants VS. Zombies. The narrator of the entry is named Daveth the Mad who tells the reader about the bacon he wanted for lunch and the pot he wears on his head: both references to your neighbor, Dave, in Plants VS. Zombies.
4 The Towers Of Hanoi
The Towers of Hanoi is a board game that has appeared in multiple BioWare games, involving the reassembling of a stack of disks by following simple rules. Only one disk moves at a time onto another rod and no disk can be placed on another disk that's smaller in size. The goal is to move all the disks to the other side of the board (the third rod).
It was in Knights of the Old Republic, a Star Wars game developed by BioWare, and then in the first Mass Effect on Noveria. It appeared again during the Citadel DLC for Mass Effect 3. It's popped up twice in Dragon Age: Inquisition. First, the player can overhear two nobles discussing the rules of the game when they visit the Winter Palace. Second, a physical version appears during the Dwarf-centric DLC, The Descent.
3 The Legend Of Zelda Merchant
It's irresistible to make little references to The Legend of Zelda, isn't it? They pop up in tons of games. In Dragon Age: Inquisition, it takes the form of a Merchant who has a stall in the Canyon in the Hissing Wastes.
On his table of wares, he has three items laid out: a shield, a key, and a candle. Meanwhile, in The Legend of Zelda, merchants also sold a Magical Shield, Small Keys, and a Candle -- in the exact same order!
2 Kitty's Collar
There's one final throwback to Dragon Age: Origins that's worth mentioning: Kitty's Collar. It's an item -- an amulet -- that the Inquisitor can get by looting Macrinus' corpse in Griffon Wing Keep. If you read the description, you'll notice a few keywords. It says that this was popular in a Ferelden town called Honnleath, that there's orange hair caught in it, and that the Spirits associated with it are thinking of a little girl.
If you played Dragon Age: Origins, you may have put the pieces together on your own. There was a DLC for Origins called The Stone Prisoner, in which you visit a little Ferelden Town and unlock a new companion, a golem named Shale. To complete the DLC and free Shale, however, you must help a man named Matthias who has lost his daughter in the Darkspawn attacks.
The girl, Amalia, is found in a cellar under the influence of a Desire Demon in the form of an orange cat. Amalia simply calls her "Kitty."
1 Cole's Quotes Are Mini Easter Eggs All Their Own
As a half-spirit, half-human entity unlike any other, Cole's speech patterns are often cryptic and round-about. He can see and understand things in a way that mere mortals cannot. Many of his quotes while in your party or when talking to him in Skyhold are references to in-game events that have already occurred or will occur, while others are third-wall breaks referencing other media. There are tons of great ones, but we've listed some of our favourites here!
Note: many of his quotes refer to spoilers, so proceed with caution!
- "He was their enemy the whole time, but she made him forget, so he could change." - a reference to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, in which the player controls a character who had his mind wiped because he was a Sith Lord
- "He died in the darkness so a blue rose could bloom." - this references a character in Mass Effect named Charr, who died in some caves protecting his wife (who he called the "Blue Rose of Illium")
- "It always had a soul. The question is the answer." - another reference to Mass Effect, Cole is talking about an AI companion named Legion who asks: "Does this unit have a soul?"
- "There is no other man. He becomes the other man to do the things he can't." - here is a reference to the movie Fight Club in which the protagonist has Dissociative Identity Disorder
- "It wasn't from a flower. He rode it in the snow." - this refers to Citizen Kane, in which a man's final word ("Rosebud") is investigated but just turns out to be the name of his childhood sled
- "He didn't kill his father. He was his father." - no surprise that this calls back to one of the most famous twists in film history: that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father
- "Before the door is opened, they could let the cat out and it would always be alive." - this line is a reference to Schrödinger's cat, a thought experiment in which you put a cat in a box with poison; until you open the box to see if the cat is dead, the cat is considered to be both alive and dead