David Gaider Discusses Writing Cassandra in Dragon Age Inquisition
David Gaider, the creator of Dragon Age, recently opened up about the challenges he faced when taking on the writing of Cassandra, a fan-favourite character in Dragon Age Inquisition. This decision came after a colleague at BioWare had departed from the project.
In a social media post, Gaider revealed that he struggled with defining Cassandra’s romance in the game. Originally, Cassandra was being written by Jennifer Hepler, a seasoned writer at BioWare who had worked on previous Dragon Age titles. However, Hepler left the company during Inquisition’s development, amidst unwarranted harassment from a group of individuals associated with GamerGate. Gaider expressed his frustration over this incident, stating that it created a toxic environment for his colleague.
After Hepler’s departure, Gaider took on the responsibility of writing Cassandra’s character himself. He found it challenging to portray a “pious, self-righteous character” in a romantic light. However, inspiration struck when he came across a fan-made webcomic that portrayed Cassandra as a secret admirer of Varric’s books.
Character Development and Romance
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.[image or embed]
— David Gaider (@davidgaider.bsky.social) November 28, 2024 at 8:59 AM
This revelation led Gaider to redefine Cassandra’s character as someone with idealistic and awkward passions. In the game, players have to convince Cassandra that they can still have a normal romantic relationship despite her admiration for the player character, who is viewed as a messianic figure.
Ultimately, Cassandra became the most popular romance option in Inquisition, surpassing other characters like Dorian. Gaider had previously shared his insights into writing Dorian’s story and the personal experiences that influenced his narrative decisions.
In other news, the recent release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard faced backlash on Metacritic, resulting in a wave of negative user reviews. Despite this, the game continues to draw attention from fans of the series.