Summary
Despite taking place over a swath of new regions never before seen in the series,Dragon Age: The Veilguardis still keeping things familiar with its traditional chaotic team of disaster friends for you to hang out with and romance. If you know your strengths, you stick with them.
But another way BioWare has stuck with their strengths is by bringing in some really solid voice talent to bolster that eclectic crew of walking explosions. Your player character Rook has the choice of voices fromCyberpunk 2077’s Alex Jordan,Baldur’s Gate 3’s Bryony Corrigan,Apex Legends' Erika Ishii, andBattlefield 1’s Jeff Berg. But what about your buddies?
8Honorable Mentions: Solas And Varric
Gareth David-Lloyd And Brian Bloom
While not part of your main playable crew like the rest of these hooligans, returning favorites Solas and Varric deserve their own spotlight. Elven god/revolutionary andheartbreaking romance option Solasserves as the devil on your shoulder after a mishap that was certainly somebody’s fault, and dwarven businessman/marksman Varric is just important no matter where he appears.
Varric is voiced once again by Brian Bloom, whose remarkably prolific voice-over resume includes B.J. Blazkowicz in the recentWolfensteingames and even Captain America in the devastatingly underappreciatedMarvel’s Midnight Suns. Gareth David-Lloyd also returns to play Solas again afterDragon Age: Inquisition. You may know him as Ianto Jones from the Doctor Who spinoff series Torchwood.
7Neve Gallus
Jessica Clark
Neve Gallus is the first companion you meet in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, and she fully embraces the chance to make herself known. As a member of the freedom-fighting Shadow Dragons, she’s a mage of the people, but that doesn’t mean she can’t be as extra as humanly possible.
Neve’s voice actress is Jessica Clark, who played Lilith in the gloriously angsty vampire series True Blood. This appears to be her video game debut, and if so, nicely done. You’d think she’s been doing this all her life.
6Davrin
Ike Amadi
It wouldn’t be a Dragon Age game without a Grey Warden or twelve. Luckily, you’ve got one on your team this time around, which was definitely the case last time too, right? Right?? Warden Davrin has gone above and beyond, earning some clout as a monster hunter as well, and he’s got a pet griffin, which he should definitely lead with every time he meets someone.
Davrin is played by Ike Amadi, already beloved in BioWare circles as Javik inMass Effect 3. Unfortunately,the drama surrounding this particular Veilguard cast membermight be understandably tough to look past for some. But just remember, a character is not their actor.
5Emmrich Volkarin (And Manfred)
Nick Boraine And Matt Mercer
Coming in from Nevarra to raise some corpses and educate players about what their dating age limit truly is, Mortalitasi necromancer Emmrich Volkarin is a romantic sort with an undead assistant named Manfred ready to blur the lines between life and afterlife. He first appeared in the Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights short story Down Among the Dead Men.
Emmrich himself is voiced by Nick Boraine, whom you may know as Peter Ashe from Starz pirate series Black Sails and the voice of Colonel Norris inCall of Duty: Modern Warfare. Meanwhile, Manfred has the delight of having Matt Mercer as his voice, famous for countless voice roles like Vincent inFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirthand as the DM of belovedDungeons and Dragonsseries Critical Role.
4Bellara Lutare
Jee Young Han
Every Dragon Age game needs a relentlessly optimistic party member who’s definitely not hiding a shockingly dark past or secret. Bellara is an energetic member of the Veil Jumpers, whose main love in life is exploring and making huge ancient discoveries. Imagine Indiana Jones with the spunk of a VTuber.
Jee Young Han voices Bellara in The Veilguard. She’s best known as Marion Kang in the modern Perry Mason series and she also appeared in a couple of episodes of Superstore as Kira Moon. But she’s also got that BioWare clout, having voiced Sentinel Dax in the unfortunatelydoomed live-service game Anthem.
3Lucanis Dellamorte
Zach Mendez
Also known as the most popular reason to pause during The Veilguard’s debut trailer, Lucanis Dellamorte is a deadly assassin with the Antivan Crows who knows how to look good while he’s doing what he does. He was also described as “a bisexual disaster of a human” by his writer Mary Kirby. As if he wasn’t already beloved enough.
Lucanis has the silky smooth vocal tones of Zach Mendez, the voice of former rebel Haxx inHorizon: Forbidden West. While his resume may be a bit sparse compared to some, it’s very much not from lack of talent. With those pipes, he’s going to go places, and the fans will absolutely follow.
2Taash
Jin Maley
Will a Qunari who loves fighting dragons just be a thing for Dragon Age going forward? No complaints here, cause newcomer Taash is a delightfully deadpan member of the Lords of Fortune with an artificial horn. Hey, if you hunt dragons and come away with just a missing horn, you’re doing alright.
Taash’s performance is provided by Jin Maley, who is probably best known for their role as Ensign Kova Esmar on Star Trek: Picard. No other video game roles to speak of, so good on them for making such an incredible debut in the medium.
1Lace Harding
Ali Hillis
Back after serving her time as one of thebest missable romance options in gaming, Scout Lace Harding was finally promoted to full party member (and full romance) in The Veilguard. She’s a hero of the Inquisition and now she has magic powers. Seems BioWare really wanted to make it up to her.
Returning to voice Harding is Ali Hillis, continuing her BioWare streak after playing asari scientist Liara T’Soni in every Mass Effect game. You should also recognize her as thoroughly underratedFinal Fantasyhero Claire “Lightning” Farron. But her full resume is pretty legendary, so even without those, you’ve definitely heard her somewhere.
