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“This is a heightened fantastic adventure and sometimes, for better or for worse, realism is left by the roadside.”

A heist gone wrong, a magical ritual involving an ancient gemstone, and a loved one trapped in a realm of spirits and demons. Vows & Vengeance is contemporary epic fantasy to its very core and Episode One of this weekly narrative podcast seems to promise a great time for anyone who’s a fan of the genre. A dramatic flair runs through this adventure, although there are fluctuation in the quality of the dialogue and characters.

Set in Thedas, the world of the Dragon Age games, the podcast tells a self-contained narrative that requires no previous knowledge of the series in order to enjoy. That being said, it contains numerous little nods to established lore which will give fans of the world a familiar thrill. The eight part series follows Nadia and Elio, who are an unlikely couple to say the least – he’s a magister, high up in the magocracy of the Tevinter Imperium; she’s a retired thief, back in the game for one last job. While the first episode serves to introduce these original characters, Vows & Vengeance serves as a tie in with the upcoming release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard and each subsequent episode will showcase one of the seven companions that will feature in the upcoming game.

Dragon Age as a franchise is very dear to my heart, one tinted by the rosy glasses of teenagehood. I adore Dragon Age: Origins, having completed it more times than I can count, and I remember rewatching the trailers for the sequel with a childlike glee. Sadly, the heady age of fourteen has long since passed me by and, as a grown man with a more critical sense of media literacy, I’m quietly apprehensive about The Veilguard. I enjoyed the last game Inquisition, but there were a few foundational quirks in its design that didn’t sit right with me. Certain elements to help cinematise the franchise and the incorporation of more modern mechanics ended up losing a little of what made it special. It felt dumbed down strategically and its maps were filled with content that often felt like padding.

Episode One of Vows & Vengeance has helped alleviate some of my concerns. Writers Will Melton and Jeremy Novick weren’t involved in the writing of The Veilguard, but the quality on show seems to suggests that even if the most of the original writers have moved on, others can successfully take the helm and steer this ship in an interesting direction.

*** Warning, I’ll be diving into the plot of each episode so if you want to avoid spoilers I’d suggest giving it a listen and then checking back. ***

In this first episode, Nadia takes on her old ways for one last job, stealing an ancient artifact from the archives of the Magisterium. When Elio catches wind of this he attempts to stop her and both of them are caught in the act, forcing them to flee as fugitives. With no other option, they take this gemstone to the buyer Solas, who goes by the moniker of the Dreadwolf (clearly a very trustworthy guy), and needs it to complete an ancient ritual. This ritual goes wrong and Elio ends up trapped in Fade, the realm of spirits and demons that exists alongside Thedas.

This whole tales is told via a framing device, as we first meet Nadia after Solas’s ritual. After a few hints as to what has transpired and a mournful toast ‘To Elio’, we cut back in time to the couple waking up together in Elio’s magisterial manor. This sudden whiplash in tone is just one a example of this episode’s excellent pacing. Tensions are constantly growing as the story charges towards the downfalls that we know are coming, with just enough quieter moments scattered throughout to allow the characters, and the world-building, to breathe.

Speaking of the characters, their introduction features some strong performances, although, Armen Taylor, who plays Elio, steals the show. Instantly likable, very clearly in love with Nadia and capable of admitting his own mistakes, both the writing and the acting are on point. Nadia on the other hand, well I have some complicated feelings about Nadia. Voiced by Mae Whitman, who is most well known for voicing Katara in Avatar: The Last Airbender, and Whitman gives a decent performance, but it lacks a gravitas when compared to some of the other actors. By comparison, her delivery seem less at home in this tale of world-threatening magic, which wouldn’t be an issue were it not also for the way that the character is written.

Nadia is a deeply flawed person. She’s headstrong, reckless and impulsive and I can’t tell if it is due to the direction or the writing, but her dialogue can comes off as abrasive. She’s clearly had a rough life and the narrative does a great job at implying how trauma has made her the way she is. However, she’s also very snarky, which can undercut some of the narrative tension. As Nadia breaks into the heavily guarded archive, she spends more time trading quips with her companion than she does trying to be stealthy. The writers clearly want her to be the baddass thief but her dialogue often undercuts this and she teeters on the side of irritating rather than unlikable. I’m hoping future episodes will see her undergoing an arc that makes her a little less abrasive and more serious about goals. A competent and driven thief, on a quest to save her love against impossible odds, could have some real potential for epic drama.

Other than that, the writing was consistently executed, with one other exception – Elio’s decision to help with the ritual doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense. Elio justifies his actions by vaguely saying he could ‘do some good’ but Solas had been nothing but evasive about his aims, claiming only that he seeks ‘regeneration’. For whom? Of what? He offers no explanation for any of this, yet somehow Elio is convinced that by assisting he can help people. Its a decision that exists only to further the plot, and since his character was otherwise so deftly handled, this misstep becomes a glaring flaw.

The sound design is one of the episodes greatest strengths. The soundscapes conjure up a clear sense of place, taverns are accompanied by raucous music and chatter, the docks characterised by the bells and gently lapping waves. Besides the sound effects, overheard dialogue are often used to inject a bit of silly humour into the drama. As Nadia sneaks around, we overhear two guards discussing what it would be like to have their own guards. It’s a silly interjection, more for the relaxing of tension that for any sense of setting and I think it help signifies Vows & Vengeance’s approach. This is a heightened fantastic adventure and sometimes, for better or for worse, realism is left by the roadside.

Moments of combat, or at least physical exertion, are also very well executed. There’s a remarkable sense of movement in these scenes and there was never a moment where I felt lost or unsure as to what was happening. The only place where the soundscape struggles is when it tries to evoke the use of magic. Flame spells are accompanied by the crackle of flames but spells wielding ice or stone are bafflingly silent. To try and make up for this, there’s a frustrating tendency for characters to hamfistedly blurt out the names of these spells shortly before or after they are cast, which quickly starts to make mages feel like they’re in a Dragon Ball series rather than a grounded dark fantasy.

This name dropping spells is the most egregious example of the fan service in the podcast. There’s quite a few moments included to give established fans a knowing wink. Most of them work quite nicely, using previously established details to make the story feel more grounded in such a pre-established world and none of it is too overwhelming for newcomers either. If anything, the writing tends to handhold the audience too much as several characters often state the obvious, usually alongside more naturalistic dialogue, as though the writers don’t trust the audience aren’t to fill in the blanks themselves.

Despite my few gripes Episode One offers a strong start and promises an interesting story to follow. I’m invested enough to want to see if Elio escapes from the Fade and if Nadia catches up to Solas and if there’s a planned arc for Nadia then much of my current criticism would be addressed. More importantly, future episodes promise meeting those that will go on to form the Veilguard, starting with Scout Lace Harding, a fan favourite character. But for now, Episode One has done enough to leave me excited to jump into the next episode.

Subscribe to the blog if you’d like to keep up with this review series, and to hear my opinions on The Veilguard once it has been released.

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