Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a sport about constructing a group to battle historical elven gods, however the extra time I spend in Thedas, the extra I notice that I’d fairly be chasing a special villain. Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain are two of the traditional elven pantheon generally known as the Evanuris, they usually’re as much as no good — blighting villages, murdering innocents, and making an attempt to revive their historical empire. However I discover {that a} whole snooze in comparison with the sport’s actual villainous star: Johanna Hezenkoss, evil lich in progress and absolute queen.
I ought to in all probability clarify why I’m not nervous concerning the Evanuris, although they symbolize a really actual and pressing apocalypse. There are definitely issues I like about their character design, in addition to cool story-related moments. Ghilan’nain appears to be like nice; whether or not she’s an unnervingly lithe determine, blinded by blight and greedy with too many limbs, or an enormous face within the clouds, I like her design. And I additionally favored these creepy moments when Elgar’nan whispers in protagonist Rook’s thoughts, promising inconceivable presents.
Sadly, these moments are drowned out by the duo’s dialogue, which is fairly primary. The 2 of them bellow about drowning the world in blight, countless energy, the futility of anybody making an attempt to battle them, and their immortality. It’s precisely what you’d anticipate from a world-ending villain, and I discovered myself bored after the second encounter or so. Elgar’nan particularly is a disappointment. Ghilan’nain is ready to lean on her good visible design and armed forces of monsters; Elgar’nan’s only a large man in an impractical hat.
Examine them to Johanna Hezenkoss, a lady who appears to be like remarkably mundane as compared. She wears the easy garb of the Mourn Watch, a pair of goggles, and a sensible coiffure. If it weren’t for the ghastly lantern at her aspect, you may mistake her for a easy lab assistant. Emmrich, one of many sport’s greatest companions, asks you to seek out Hezenkoss on his behalf. She will get the higher hand — fairly actually, by revealing that the celebration’s Hand of Glory is definitely her personal severed appendage — and banishes the celebration to the Fade.
That’s a fairly sturdy begin for a villain, nevertheless it will get higher as you proceed Emmrich’s storyline. Ultimately, you be taught Hezenkoss is having a giant fancy soirée at her evil necromancer mansion. That is clearly suspicious, so the group goes to analyze, solely to seek out that Hezenkoss has invited petty rivals, annoying nobles, and her different enemies in order that she will be able to sacrifice all of them and inhabit the physique of an enormous golden skeleton monster. It’s like The Menu, however for necromancy.
I, for one, respect the objective of sacrificing a bunch of individuals you dislike so you may ascend to the immortal type of an enormous skeleton. She jogs my memory of that Spider-Man meme the place the hero is telling a pterodactyl scientist that he may treatment most cancers together with his know-how, and the pterodactyl man — who occurs to be driving a triceratops — retorts that he doesn’t need to treatment most cancers, he desires to show individuals into dinosaurs.
Hezenkoss and Elgar’nan each need energy, certain, however one among them is rather more theatrical about it. I like a very good mad scientist, and Hezenkoss pulls the position off with aplomb. I gained’t spoil the conclusion of her confrontation with Emmrich, nevertheless it’s one among The Veilguard’s strongest moments. A part of me yearns for an alternate historical past the place The Veilguard had a a lot smaller scope and fewer pressing stakes. On this hypothetical various timeline, I feel Johanna Hezenkoss deserves a promotion to important villain. I’ve already forgotten about Elgar’nan and his schemes, however Hezenkoss will stay on in my coronary heart — a villain with ambition, targets, and the liberty to chew the surroundings somewhat bit throughout her second of triumph.
