1. Daniel Potes
12/7/2014
Film Theory As It Relates To Video Game Narratology
Film theory has come a long way since the dawn of cinematography in the late 19th
century, what began as general textual theory became more and more focused on the new, all-
encompassing genre of film. All forms of art have had philosophical theory applied to them,
whether it be painting or literature philosophers have written volumes on the structural
theories that make up the arts. One major focus of almost all modern and post-modern
philosophers is that of the structure of power in the communities that they themselves are in,
or the structure of power in an imagined community that showcases key elements of the
human power struggle. One such genre of art that has yet to have its worth measured by
philosophers is that of the art of Video Games.
Video games have now been around since the late 70’s and have had more than 40
years to make their mark on several generations of post-modern community members.
However, in the present day, Video game technology has increased exponentially to the point
that modern video games use similar if not replica techniques as modern films to get the look
that they need. The game that I will be using as an instrument of Power structure theory is that
of Dragon Age: Inquisition. This game is set in the mythical land of Thedas, a land where power

2. struggles is the normative function of life. To give a brief background on the history of Thedas,
you must first understand the mythos of it. Thedas has several central religions and is caught in
a violent civil war between the magic users and those attempting to exert Biopower on those
that use magic. More than that, the different countries of Thedas are almost always at each
other’s throats attempting to wrest control from one group or another.
The Races of Thedas have a lot to do with the power structure of the contrasting
communities. There are four Races that seek some sort of control or seek to assert their
biopower. There are the Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Qunari, a Warrior race of giant horned
beings. The Qunari follow a strict religious rule called the “Qun”. The Qun is a philosophical way
of life, a set of strict guidelines on how to live your life. In the Qun every action is
predetermined for the individual and their entire life is decided for them at birth. If a child of
the Qun is strong and fierce willed, then that child is made into a soldier, no choice is given,
what the Qun demands it receives. There are however examples of Qunari who no longer abide
by the rules and regulations set down by the Qun. These lawless Qunari are perfect examples of
Homo Sacer, called Tal Vashoth they are no longer considered real Qunari. The Tal Vashoth, or
“True Grey Ones” become exempt from the laws of the Qun and are hunted down as both
deserters of the Qun and traitors to the community of the Qunari.

3. To truly understand the concept of the Tal Vashoth I will use a direct quote from
Pompeius Festus to compare and contrast them to the Homo Sacer that Agamben uses in his
writing.
The sacred man is the one whom the people have judged on account of a crime. It is not
permitted to sacrifice this man, yet he who kills him will not be condemned for homicide; in the
first tribunitian law, in fact, it is noted that “if someone kills the one who is sacred according to
the plebiscite, it will not be considered homicide.” This is why it is customary for a bad or impure
man to be called sacred.
This relates to the very existence of the Tal Vashoth. By abandoning the Qun, or the law of the
land, the grey ones manage to both escape the confines of the Qun’s biopower, but are able in
response, to take the lives of members of the Qun without having the law abide to them. This
however goes both ways, the Homo Sacer is able to kill or be killed without having the law of
the land attributed to him. In this way the Tal Vashoth are the same as a Homo Sacer.
In Dragon Age: Inquisition, I decided to pick my starting character based on the research
I had planned for this class, in doing so I decided upon a Qunari Tal Vashoth magic user. By
picking these sets of stipulations, I created the perfect Homo Sacer. By being a banned member
of the Qunari, not only did the character not abide by their laws, but he did not even abide by
normal human law, a law that he is now also a part of. This was not the only attribute that
made this character a Homo Sacer, The use of Magic is also a signifier of the separation from
the normative cult of power that rules over the humans of this world.

4. The Human race is the current controlling race in the majority of Thedas. Ruled by the
Chantry, a sort of church that bases its faith on acts carried out by the “Maker” (God) and his
chosen messenger Andraste, the Humans are led to believe one set of power structures. Much
like Joan of Arc, Andraste plays the role of holy messenger and prophet. This causes the Chantry
to abide almost exclusively on her rules. However, like in all power structures, this does not
work as expected. One of the Chantry’s most important rule is the separation of Magic users
from the rest of society. The use of Magic in this mythological world contains hidden dangers
that the Chantry became scared of during the millennia of its existence.
In the mythos of this Video game, Magic is only reached by accessing a spiritual realm
that has no physical qualities. This realmis called the “Fade” and is created from fragments of
consciousness and dreams that bleed over into the spirit realm. This “Fade” is the land of
Demons and Spirits and contains untold ancient powers and darkness. By accessing the Fade
and using the powers it contains, Mages are able to harness it into “Magical” Powers. However,
by doing so, the Mages open their minds up to the Fade and attract demons into the world. In
response to this demonic threat, the Chantry locked away all of the magic users of Thedas into
a series of magical “schools” called “Circles”. However, in order to control these users of Magic,
the Chantry created a society of Knights that control and dominate by exerting biopower over
the mages. This is done by using a mineral that has been tainted by the fade. By ingesting this
mineral, the Knights, known as the “Templars” are able to muffle the use of magic in mages and
can control the potential danger of their use of Magic.
All in all, Mages are contained in Circles that are run by Templars who exert their control
on the Mages by killing those who let Demons turn them into Abominations. The Templars also

5. have their own way of pacifying a mage who is too reckless, this punishment is the worst
punishment that a mage can receive and is considered worse than death. By destroying the
mages ability to connect to the Fade, (The dream realm in which demons and spirits reside),
and “Tranquilizing” the mage the Templars are able to forever destroy the mages ability to do
magic, to dream and to even feel emotion. These “Tranquil” have all of their hopes and dreams
torn away from them and are created into a purely functional workhorse. They do what they’re
told and nothing else, a perfect example of the deductive power structure.
This is also a perfect example of Foucault’s Biopower, by taking away the very will of the
Mage that is punished with tranquility the Chantry exerts complete biopolitical control. This
control is one that is replicated in Qunari life. In the Qun, a Qunari that is able to do magic is
immediately separated from society in order to protect the Qun from the influence of the Fade,
they also chop off the horns off the Mage Qunari in order to signify his danger to the rest of the
Qun. The Qunari Mage character that I created was one such example. His life however,
managed to be different. Because he had loving parents that considered their child of more
importance than the biopolitics of their country, Adaar, my character, managed to escape the
Qun, and become a Tal Vashoth in order to escape the inevitable imprisonment by his people.
The story of Dragon Age: Inquisition follows a single character, in this instance Adaar,
my Qunari Mage, throughout his/her decision making. Already a Homo Sacer from birth, Adaar
becomes even more separated from society when the game begins. The game is initiated with a
political truce underway in the central religious center of the country. After years of civil war
between the Mages and the Templars, caused by the Templars over exertion of biopower and
deductive power on the Mages, the two forces decide to attempt to end the fighting by

6. meeting for a peace talk. Things do not go as planned however and the entirety of the people in
attendance are killed by a massive magical explosion that tears a rift into the Fade. This
explosion kills the Chantry leader, known as Divine Justinia, and begins the second stage of an
already fearful civil war. However, there is one survivor of this explosion. You, or whatever
character you decide to play as, in this case Adaar the Qunari Mage.
The actual gameplay begins with you exiting the Rift in the sky and appearing in front of
a task force sent to ascertain the danger of the Rift. You are immediately given the opportunity
to make narrative decisions that will impact the entire future of the game. Upon exiting the Rift
the blame is rested on your shoulders and you are given the option of embracing the blame or
fighting to clear your name. Your character is further cast out from society by not only having
the blame rested on your shoulders, but also because the explosion leaves you with the power
to close rifts into the fade, and the power to either help or destroy the current political system.
This is examined throughout the game by use of a series of choices at every possible point of
Narration.
In actual gameplay, Dragon Age: Inquisition manages to showcase almost every single
one of the theories and philosophies that we have gone over in lecture. The very way that the
game’s narration occurs is an example of choice between Foucault’s Deductive power and
Generative power. In Dragon Age, Conversation occurs by giving the player a series of options

7. that each entail a different world view.
This is an example of the method the player uses to make decisions. In conversation a series of
options will be given to the player, this is followed by this choice wheel that contains a series of
different possible responses. In certain situations these choices mean the difference between
several different game changing occurrences.
A perfect example of this method of narration is a quest in the game. About halfway
through the game, the character is sent to a grand masquerade in order to stop an
assassination attempt on the Empress of Orlais, a Human ruled country in the West part of
Thedas. Once the plot is figured out, the Character learns that there are four forces currently at
work attempting to use deductive power to steal control of the empire. There is the Elvish
Ambassador, a woman who is working tirelessly to gain better treatment of her peoples and is
willing to use any option to see it done. There is the Empress’ cousin, the Grand Duke, who in a
civil war with his cousin because he was the first in line for the throne and she stole it from him.
There is the Venatori, a cultic group that is behind the initial explosion and the Rifts in the sky,
and finally there is the empress herself, who is attempting to pull the strings in order to further
her political power and control.
All of these powers are available for you to choose between. Through your actions you
are given the chance to either help the Elven Ambassador, the Grand Duke, the Empress, or you

8. can choose to help only yourself and your allies in order to gain the control of the empire for
yourself. By stopping the Assassin, you are able to gain favor in the eyes of the Empress in order
to solidify her alliance. By letting the Assassin kill the empress and then killing the Assassin, you
guarantee the Grand Duke will gain control of the empire. By letting the Empress die and then
using blackmail to blame the Grand Duke you can place your faith in the Elven Ambassador. Or
if you’re feeling especially Homo Sacer as I was, you can decide to confront the Assassin
moments before the assassination, and then increase your own power by pinning the blame on
all three and forcing them to hand over their biopolitical control to you using blackmail and
fraud. Because Adaar already exists outside of the norm of their society and because he is
already looked down upon so much, he decided to wrest control of the biopower of all three
and create a single unified power structure based around the Homo Sacer as the Leader.
All in all, Dragon Age: Inquisition gives form to many of the biopolitical theories that
existed about film, Literature and general text of all sorts. By giving Narrative control to the
player and crafting a seamless and deep history of mythology and biopolitics, Dragon age
manages to bring a discourse of power structure to the foreground of thought and leads the
player to create a story entirely through the decisions made and the power structures chosen
and destroyed. To be able to do this in a filmwould demand the Auteurial command of the film,
an event that can only happen if you yourself are the director and you manage to be famous
enough to be allowed full Auteurial control. The ability to create for yourself a true semblance
of Auteurship and to narrate your own story and sculpt your own power structures and
biopolitics gives Video Games an edge over normative cinema and allows for an increased
reading into every single action performed.