The Inquisitor

Lore & Background

The Inquisitor's story begins in a moment of catastrophe: a rift the size of a city blooms over Vianta, and the Inquisitor is pulled into its light. Waking in the Inquisition's headquarters, they find themselves the sole surviving Inquisitor, the previous order's leadership destroyed or scattered. The Archdemon—Corypheus, a demon of the Fifth Circle—has orchestrated the rift not merely to unleash demons, but to corrupt the very fabric of the world and seize dominion over Thedas.

Under the Inquisitor's command, the Inquisition becomes a ragtag army of mages, soldiers, and outcasts. Key figures such as Cassandra Pentaghast, the Qunari mage Varric Tethras, the rogue Sera, and the enigmatic Solas serve as advisors, warriors, and moral compasses. The Inquisitor must navigate political intrigue between Orlais, Ferelden, and the Chantry, while simultaneously sealing rifts across the continent and uncovering the Archdemon's true plan.

The Inquisitor's origin—Noble, Soldier, or Mage—shapes early dialogue, available companions, and certain tactical options, but the overarching narrative remains one of a single individual bearing the weight of a world's survival. The Inquisition's headquarters in Vianta becomes both a fortress and a home, its towers and war rooms reflecting the Inquisitor's growing power and the mounting dread of the final confrontation.

In Their Own Story

The war room smelled of cold iron and old parchment. The Inquisitor stood before the map of Thedas, fingers tracing the red threads of sealed and unsealed rifts. Outside, the sky still bled a faint violet where the great rift had been forced shut, and the distant bells of Vianta marked the hour. Cassandra's voice cut through the quiet: "The Archdemon is not finished. It is only waiting." The Inquisitor turned, and in the firelight the weight of every oath sworn in that room settled onto their shoulders. Somewhere beyond the mountains, Corypheus smiled. The Inquisitor picked up their weapon. There was no time left for doubt.

Reader's Guide

The Inquisitor is the player character in Dragon Age: Inquisition, leading the eponymous faction against the Archdemon Corypheus. You create them at the start, choosing race (Human, Elf, Dwarf, Qunari), gender, class (Warrior, Mage, Rogue), and origin (Noble, Soldier, Mage), which together shape early dialogue options, starting gear, and a handful of companion interactions.

In combat, the Inquisitor operates in a real-time-with-pause system. You can pause to issue abilities, swap weapons, and reposition. Companions (Cassandra, Varric, Sera, and others) fight alongside you with their own AI, following your lead and using class-specific abilities. The Inquisitor can mix and match weapon types and, for Mages and certain hybrid builds, cast spells from a radial wheel. Threat scales with the region: early Orlais encounters feature low-level demons, while later Ferelden and Val Royeaux zones introduce Archdemon-touched enemies and elite demons that require careful ability rotation.

Lore-wise, the Inquisitor's authority is absolute within the Inquisition. Dialogue choices with companions and Orlanese nobility determine who lives, who defects, and whether the Inquisition remains a unified force. The final confrontation in the Darkspawn realm is a scripted sequence where the Inquisitor's chosen abilities and companion synergies matter most.

Did You Know?

• The Inquisitor is one of the few BioWare protagonists whose gender and race are fully player-chosen at character creation, with no fixed canonical identity.
• The Inquisitor's headquarters in Vianta is a fully explorable, multi-level tower that grows and changes as the story progresses, with new wings and furnishings unlocked over time.
• The Inquisitor's origin choice (Noble, Soldier, or Mage) determines which companion is available from the very first mission and alters several early dialogue trees.
• Dragon Age: Inquisition was the first mainline Dragon Age game to feature a fully customizable protagonist with no single canonical face, name, or backstory assigned by the writers.