Honestly, if you’ve been following the Dragon Age lore for a decade, the concept of a cage for gods isn’t just a plot point. It’s the entire foundation of the world. In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, everything comes back to the fact that Solas—the Dread Wolf himself—didn't just create a barrier between worlds; he built a literal, metaphysical prison.
The Veil isn't a curtain. It's a cage.
When we talk about A Cage for Gods Veilguard, we’re looking at the fallout of the Evanuris being locked away in the Black City. Solas thought he was doing the right thing. He thought that by severing the Elvhen people from the Fade, he was saving them from the tyranny of creators who had become monsters. But as Rook and the team find out, cages eventually rust. Or they get kicked open.
The Architecture of the Fade Prison
Most people think of the Fade as this dreamy, amorphous blob of spirit energy. That's a mistake. In the context of The Veilguard, the Fade is a highly structured environment where the rules of physics are replaced by the rules of will. The "Cage" isn't a set of bars. It's the Veil itself.
Solas used the Orbs of Destruction to channel enough power to tear the sky apart—or rather, to stitch it up so tightly that nothing could get through. The Evanuris, these so-called gods like Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain, weren't just exiled. They were buried under layers of reality that they couldn't touch.
It’s messy.
Think about the raw scale of that magic. Solas didn't just cast a spell. He fundamentally changed how reality functions for every living being in Thedas. If you're an elf, you lost your immortality. If you're a mage, you’re suddenly drawing power through a filter. The Cage for Gods didn't just trap the villains; it trapped the entire world in a weakened state.
Why the Evanuris are Terrifying Now
Imagine being trapped in a room for thousands of years with nothing but your own ego and a healthy dose of Blight. That’s what happened to the Evanuris. By the time they start poking holes in the Veil during the events of the game, they aren't the majestic figures from the ancient murals. They are warped.
Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain are the primary focuses here.
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Ghilan’nain, specifically, represents the horror of what happens when a "god" has too much time to experiment. In the ancient days, she was known for creating monsters. Now? She's the Mother of Halla, but "Halla" in this context refers to eldritch abominations that shouldn't exist. The Cage didn't stop her from dreaming, and in the Fade, dreaming is doing.
The Blight is the kicker. It’s the rot inside the cage.
There’s a long-standing debate among fans—and even within the game's codex entries—about whether the Blight was already in the Fade or if the Evanuris brought it with them. Regardless, the Cage for Gods became a petri dish for the most dangerous substance in the universe. When the Veil starts to thin, it’s not just the gods coming back. It’s the infection they’ve been brewing for millennia.
The Role of Solas: Jailer or Savior?
Solas is a complicated dude.
He’s the one who built the cage, but he’s also the one trying to tear it down because he realizes the "quiet" he created is actually just a slow death for his people. It's the ultimate "oops" moment. He wanted to free the slaves of the Elvhen Empire, so he put the masters in a box. But then he realized the box was killing the world.
- He’s driven by guilt.
- He thinks he’s the only one smart enough to fix it.
- He’s wrong.
You’ve got to appreciate the irony. The Dread Wolf spends his whole life fighting against the idea of gods, yet he has to act like a god to maintain the prison. He’s essentially the warden of a high-security facility where the inmates are more powerful than he is.
Rook and the Ritual of Ruin
In The Veilguard, you aren't just a bystander. You’re the one who interrupts the ritual. This is where the A Cage for Gods Veilguard narrative moves from backstory into immediate, "get-your-sword" reality.
When the ritual is interrupted at the beginning of the game, the cage doesn't shatter—it leaks. This is why we see the Evanuris appearing in a diminished but still incredibly dangerous form. They aren't fully out, but they’re out enough to start terraforming Thedas into their own twisted image.
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The gameplay mechanics reflect this. Every rift you close, every Blighted growth you clear, you're basically trying to put the bars back on the cage. But you’re doing it with a hammer instead of a needle and thread. It’s loud, it’s violent, and it’s desperate.
The Black City: The Heart of the Cage
We have to talk about the Black City.
Every player who has looked up at the sky in the Fade since Dragon Age: Origins has seen it. The golden city that turned black. In the context of the Cage for Gods, the Black City is the solitary confinement wing.
It’s the center of the Fade, the point from which the Veil was originally cast. If you want to understand why the Evanuris are so pissed off, look at that city. It’s a constant reminder of what they lost. It used to be Arlathan—or at least a reflection of it—and now it’s a tomb.
The game does a great job of showing, not just telling, how the proximity to this "cage" affects the surrounding environment. The closer you get to the source of the magic, the more the world starts to fray at the edges. Gravity gets weird. Memories start manifesting as physical objects.
It’s basically a cosmic car crash in slow motion.
Breaking the Cycle
The recurring theme in The Veilguard is that you can’t just keep building cages.
Eventually, the gods—or the forces we call gods—need to be dealt with, not just hidden away. The previous games were about the symptoms. Inquisition was about the breach in the roof. Origins was about the guard dogs (the Archdemons). But The Veilguard is about the prisoners themselves.
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Honestly, the stakes haven't been this high since the first Blight. If the cage fails completely, there is no "normal" to go back to. The world becomes the Fade. Spirits and humans and elves all mashed together in a soup of raw emotion and dangerous magic.
Some people think Solas is the villain. Others think he’s a tragic hero. But if you look at the Cage for Gods, he’s really just a guy who tried to solve a complex problem with a simple solution (a big wall) and realized too late that walls work both ways.
Practical Steps for Navigating the Lore and Gameplay
If you're playing through this section of the game or trying to wrap your head around the deep lore, there are a few things you should actually do to get the full picture.
Read the codex entries for the Evanuris early. Don't skip them. The game drops hints about Ghilan'nain's laboratory and Elgar'nan's temper long before you face them. Knowing their history makes the "Cage" feel much more real.
Pay attention to the environment in the Arlathan Forest. This area is a prime example of what happens when the cage starts to leak. The way the ruins are suspended in the air isn't just for "cool" aesthetics; it’s a direct result of the Veil thinning.
Talk to Solas whenever you can. Even if you hate him. His perspective on the Fade is the only one that actually explains the mechanics of the prison. Everyone else is just guessing. He’s the one who laid the bricks.
Focus on Blight resistance. Since the gods in the cage are heavily associated with the Blight, your gear should reflect that. It’s not just about raw damage; it’s about surviving the corruption that comes with them.
The story of the Cage for Gods isn't over just because you hit the credits. It’s a shift in the status quo of the entire Dragon Age universe. The Veil is different now. The gods are a known quantity. And the cage? It might not be needed anymore, for better or worse.
Go into your next session looking at the Fade not as a magic dimension, but as a crumbling infrastructure. It changes how you see every encounter. Thedas is a world defined by its boundaries, and you’re the one watching those boundaries dissolve in real-time. Use that to your advantage. Keep your eyes on the rifts, and don't trust anyone who claims to be a god. They’ve had too much time to think about revenge.
Key Insights for Thedas Scholars:
- Understand that the Veil is a manufactured construct, not a natural phenomenon.
- Recognize that the Evanuris are essentially Blighted mages of immense power, not divine beings.
- Track the environmental changes in-game; they signal where the "cage" is weakest.
- Balance your party to handle both magical Fade entities and physical Blighted horrors.