The Real World European Parallels of The World Of Dragon Age
In 2009, developer BioWare released the medieval fantasy game Dragon Age: Origins. At the time of its release, the game was praised by critics and currently holds a 91 PC score on Metacritic. As the franchise has expanded, more and more of its world becomes more palpable. The longer one spends in Dragon Age's world, the longer a player may start to notice some obvious parallels between the world of Thedas and real medieval history.
The history of Europe, particularly that of Western Europe, is one that is intricately tied to that of the Roman Empire. During the last few centuries of the Roman Empire’s existence, it was in constant turmoil. Civil wars, plague, bad leadership, the rise of Christianity, and invasions from the Huns and Germanic tribes all contributed to the fall of the Empire. Various Germanic tribes would go on to divide the Western half of the Empire which would gradually turn into the kingdoms we all know today. Contrary to popular belief, however, the Roman Empire technically wasn’t done.
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In the year 286 AD, the Roman Empire was divided into two halves. What became known as the Western Roman Empire comprised what is now known as Western Europe and North Africa. This was the empire that had collapsed by 476 AD and is what historians usually refer to as the fall of the Roman Empire. The second half of the Empire, known as the Eastern Roman Empire consisted of the Balkans, Turkey, Palestine, Israel, Syria, and Egypt and was overall more politically, financially, and militarily stable than its western counterpart. It would remain a powerful force in Europe before it was completely destroyed by the Turks in 1453
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