Dagna

“You know what's frustrating? Answers that aren't answers.”

Dagna (born 9:11 Dragon)^[2] is a dwarf from Orzammar.

Background

According to her father, her family has been part of the smith caste for a hundred generations. Despite this long lineage Dagna feels no interest in smithing and chafes at the restrictions of her life, feeling misunderstood by her family.^[3] Instead, she wishes to travel to the Circle of Magi to study magic, a peculiar desire for a dwarf as they are incapable of using magic.

She is the daughter of Janar the armorer and can initially be encountered to the west of Commons, just outside Garin's stall.

Involvement

Dragon Age: Origins

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This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Origins.

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Dagna offers the quest An Unlikely Scholar.

She asks the Warden to travel to the Circle of Magi and speak to the First Enchanter, so she may study there. Dagna is intrigued by the theory of magic, even though she knows that, as a dwarf, she will never be able to practice magic as a mage can.

Her father does not support her leaving, as to do so would mean losing her place in the smith caste, becoming part of the surface dwarves.

If the Warden refuses to help her, the quest will end. However, it is possible to change this decision later on by going to see the First Enchanter. Mentioning Dagna's desire to join the Circle will still be an option, and if chosen, the quest will become available again, but after exiting the dialogue, it will automatically be completed. Despite this, you can still deliver the news to Dagna and, though the Codex will still say that you refused to help Dagna, she will still be mentioned in the epilogue, as if you had never refused her in the first place.

If the Warden succeeds in gaining her a place at the Tower, the Epilogue will state that she writes "a comprehensive theory of how lyrium vapors relate to the supply of magic". If the Circle has not been granted independence, "This inspired mages from other parts of Thedas to establish a new Circle of Magi in Orzammar itself, one that had ready access to dwarven lyrium... and lies outside the Chantry's power completely. The willingness of Orzammar to harbor apostates sparked outrage that began whispers that the Divine was contemplating a new Exalted March."

Dragon Age: Inquisition

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This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Inquisition.

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Even if the Warden does not help her, Dagna will still leave for the surface after the end of the Fifth Blight. It is known that she has worked in the Tine Tower Circle of Magi as well as with Magister Tebrin's apprentices in South Post in Tevinter Imperium.^[1] By 9:41 Dragon she works as an Arcanist in Tantervale in the Free Marches. Since Dagna has left Orzammar she has lost her caste and is a surface dwarf.

After reaching Skyhold, the Inquisitor will receive news of Dagna intending to offer her enchantment services to the Inquisition via the war table operation, Acquire the Arcanist. The player can choose to meet up with the dwarven arcanist and eventually receive access to new items and upgrades as well as special crafting options.

If the Inquisitor recruits Dagna:

Following the events of Here Lies the Abyss, Dagna expresses her wish to study the remnants of the area at Adamant Fortress where the Inquisitor fell into the Fade. This leads to the operation, The Arcanist and the Fade. Following its completion, she offers another operation, Dagna: Overdue Penalties or Dagna: Mind Your Mentor, depending on choices made in Dragon Age: Origins.

The Inquisitor can also inquire Dagna about her findings. She tells that she was face-deep in a rune and for a moment felt mountain-tall and as if around all her people, their combined thoughts constituting her thought like parts. She adds that lyrium and the Fade are linked, but dwarves and Tranquil are different by nature, even if they have a common occupation (both work lyrium). Then Dagna delivers a cryptic line "Like the lyrium needs to flow, but if you're part of it, it takes you with it. So you can't be part of it. That makes me sad."

If the Inquisition recruits the mages:

If the Inquisitor follows Cullen's advice on seeking out Samson, Dagna gets to work on her red lyrium sample but says she needs more if she can find a weakness in Samson's unique red lyrium armor, starting an operation for that purpose. After the Inquisition raids the Shrine of Dumat and recover Maddox's tools used to maintain Samson's armor, using both red lyrium and Maddox's tools, Dagna crafts a special rune to destroy Samson's armor.

If the Inquisition recruits the Templars:

Dagna tinkers with a memory crystal the Inquisitor recovered from Vicinius' house in their search for Calpernia. As Leliana arrives at the Undercroft, the crystal projects a conversation of Corypheus and Calpernia for a short time before stopping from the stress. Dagna then suggests that she could alter the crystal to remember new sounds by splitting it in two (one half would send recordings to the other), giving Leliana the idea to plant it in Calpernia's camp to gather information about her.

Trespasser

Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights

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This section contains spoilers for:
Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights.

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The plot follows BioWare's own canon, meaning it may not follow some of the player's choices in the games.

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Callback

Dagna is part of the reinforcements that Sutherland recruited to investigate the silence of Skyhold's caretakers and its missing supply caravan. She uses a jar of bees to break the Regret demon's hold on Shayd and Voth then later participates in the fight that successfully sends it back to the Fade. After the battle, she collects fragments for testing.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Quests

Dragon Age: Origins

An Unlikely Scholar

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Acquire the Arcanist (war table)

The Arcanist and the Fade (war table)

Dagna: Overdue Penalties (war table)

Dagna: Mind Your Mentor (war table)

Finding Samson's Weakness (war table)

Under Her Skin

Ruined Blade

Fragment of Inadequate Chain Mail

Quotes

• "There's no barriers to what magic can do, Inquisitor. No matter what they say."
• "With the right bits, an edge can be more than an edge. Armor can do more than protect. A hue can be just a bit brighter."
• "Magical study, magical theory, magical enchantment, and through it, the manipulation of Masterworks. I studied it all with an objective eye. No secrets, no fears. That lets me apply principles like no other." (pause.) "Maybe one other, but I don't have that wonky of a mind, so I still kind of win!"

Note texts

Sera's Cabinet of Wonder Whose It Was (conditional)

Trivia

• Dagna is not the first dwarf allowed into the Circle of Magi. Other known dwarves are Minderel, and Ureldin "during the 13th century".^[4]
• In the earliest builds of Dragon Age: Inquisition, Dagna was an Artificer.
• Dagna keeps a chest full of letters to and about her, a lot of which are negative.^[1]
• If the memory crystal is acquired before speaking to her for the first time, she will mention it when introducing herself to the Inquisitor, being amazed by what the Inquisition brings her to study.
• Τhe Inquisition game file for Dagna describes her as: "An excitable, perky woman. She is something of a blacksmithing prodigy, and is also extremely learned in practical enchantment. The kind of enthusiastic "leap-first" thinker who would build a reactor in their basement because it's neat, without quite thinking through the consequences."

Bugs

• It's possible to encounter Dagna in the apprentice quarters of the Circle Tower after just having convinced First Enchanter Irving to accept her as a student, if you leave the first level of the Circle Tower and then return. In dialogue, she will speak as if you had returned to Orzammar to complete the quest (i.e. you tell her that she has been accepted and she says she will leave for the tower). Then, if you return to Orzammar, she will be standing in the Commons. Her dialogue will be the same as if you visited her in the Circle Tower after she becomes a student (i.e. she will tell you how amazing the tower is).

References