Dragon Age 2 was a particularly goofy game, with lots of hijinks for the player to get up to with their band of misfits. While Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age: Inquisition are remembered as the stories of great heroes, fans generally agree that Dragon Age 2 represents the story of a hapless young person who wound up in the middle of a global struggle that they BS’d their way through.
With this excellent sense of humour in mind, it’s no surprise that the developers of the game left behind lots of little tidbits for inquiring fans to discover. Some are hard to find, whereas others just require knowledge of the pop-culture media in question. These are the best easter eggs hidden in Dragon Age 2.
Updated August 16, 2021, by Gabrielle Huston: While news of Dragon Age 4 remains a leaky sink in a barren kitchen, fans still have astrariums in their eyes. Many have been revisiting previous games in the franchise, as well as picking up graphic novels and books. As such, this article has been updated to include extra Easter Eggs that you can find in Dragon Age 2, in honour of TheGamer’s Dragon Age Week!
15 Dwarves All Think Alike
Over the course of the Lord of the Rings movies, viewers watch Gimli and Legolas form a begrudging and adorable friendship. One of their iconic moments together is when, in battle, they keep track of their kills in order to determine who took out more enemies by the end.
As a small homage to that relationship, Varric will occasionally shout “Another one for me, how many you got Hawke?” after a fight. If you happen to be playing a primarily sarcastic Hawke, your character may also comment to him about keeping score during fights!
14 Swooping Is Bad
One of the most beloved lines from Dragon Age: Origins is one that Alistair says upon meeting a Witch of the Wilds. Morrigan jokes about whether the player’s party is worried that she is working as a scout for the Chasind and that “Barbarians will swoop down upon you.” Alistair replies: “Yes, swooping is bad.” This line has become an adored joke among the game’s fans.
Knowing this, in Dragon Age 2, the line “swooping is bad” can crop up in two different ways. First, if you made Alistair king in your playthrough of Origins, he’ll appear in Dragon Age 2 and repeat his swooping line. Second, regardless of your Dragon Age: Origins choices, Merril has party banter with Varric in which she suggests adding a griffon to his stories to swoop in and save the day, to which Varric responds: “Haven’t you heard? Swooping is bad.”
13 Felicia Day’s Crush On Thane
Back in the days of Dragon Age 2, Felicia Day starred in a web series and official DLC about an elven Qunari woman named Tallis. Day did motion capture for the game, voiced the character’s lines, and even slipped some of her own personality into her character!
The DLC is named “Thane” after Day’s main squeeze (preferred romance) when she played Mass Effect 2: Thane Krios. If you’re interested, the other dagger that she wields is named “Kathryn” since Day’s full name is “Kathryn Felicia Day”.
12 Three Wolf Boon
In Act 3 of Dragon Age 2, you’ll do a main quest called “Best Served Cold.” When looting one of the Enchanters you kill on the quest, you’ll find a unique ring called the “Three Wolf Boon.” This is a subtle reference to an internet meme that was popular around the time of Dragon Age 2: the Three Wolf Moon.
The Three Wolf Moon was a t-shirt that featured three wolves howling at a full moon. It received a number of satirical reviews and became an internet phenomenon. Famous people wore the shirt, thousands of people wrote similarly sarcastic reviews, and the company that sold them had to ramp up production to meet demand.
11 Cheese-Rolling Death
In the Dragon Age 2 DLC starring Felicia Day, Mark of the Assassin, there’s a steep hill next to the Andraste’s Mantle plant. If you venture to the bottom of it, you’ll find the body of someone who was seemingly crushed to death by a wheel of cheese.
While it could just be a joke about the extent to which Orlesians love their cheese, fans suspect it’s a nod to the infamous Cooper’s Hill Cheese Roll. You may have heard about this event during a trivia night somewhere; it’s an event held in England in which rounds of cheese are rolled down a hill and competitors chase after them.
It took place for years until 2010 when there were concerns about people’s safety (several people were injured almost every year). In 2011, the residents did it anyway, spontaneously and without management, and it’s been going strong that way ever since.
10 Hard In Hightown
Hard In Hightown is the crime-noir book written by Varric about a Kirkwall guardsman and the drama he becomes entangled with when he is paired up with a new recruit and the two of them discover a dead Magistrate lying in the street.
That novel, its sequel, and his subsequent ones of various genres, including a retelling of Hawke’s story (The Tale of the Champion), a romance series (Swords and Shields), and a fiction about an elven courtier (The Viper’s Nest) made Varric fairly wealthy and renowned.
A small little detail about Varric’s Hard In Hightown books is hidden inside Hawke’s own home. Once you get to the Hawke Estate, you’ll be able to interact with the bookshelves and read the titles.
Among the many other books is one of Varric’s: his sequel to Hard in Hightown, entitled “Hard in Hightown: Siege Harder.” This is a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it reference to the second Die Hard film which had the (slightly goofy) name: “Die Hard 2: Die Harder.”
9 A Hive Of Scum And Villainy
In Star Wars, Obi-Wan (Luke’s wise and powerful mentor) brings him to Mos Eisley at the beginning of the film. He regrets that they have no other choice since it’s, in his words, a “hive of scum and villainy.”
Meanwhile, you can speak to Aveline (Hawke’s wise and powerful friend) while in the Hanged Man, Kirkwall’s lowlife bar that Isabella and Varric both frequent. She repeats Obi-Wans words, saying that it’s “A hive of scum and villainy,” but admits that “every city needs the outlet.”
8 Goldilocks The Orlesian
There’s yet another Easter Egg hidden in the Dragon Age 2 DLC, Mark of the Assassin. To hear it, you’ll need to take the stealth approach to reach the vault during the “Heart of the Many” quest. As you pass two servants, you can hear them discussing their mistress, Babbette de Launcet. They complain that she doesn’t want her tea because it’s cold, but that she’ll complain that it’s hot when they bring her another.
One of them notes that “her bed’s either too soft or too lumpy” and the other agrees, commenting that “nothing is ever ‘just right’ with her.” This is a reference to a common Western children’s story - Goldilocks and the Three Bears - and a silly commentary on how rude Goldilocks’ behaviour would be under other circumstances.
7 The Butterfly Sword
In Dragon Age: Origins, a DLC called “Feastday Gifts and Pranks” provides the player with a number of prank gifts to give their companions. One of them is the Butterfly Sword, a prank gift for Sten (whose personal quest in that game revolves around finding his sword).
As a subtle nod to that gift, Merrill and Aveline have party banter discussing Qunari. When Merrill comments that she thinks the Qunari like living in Kirkwall, Aveline notes that she doesn’t think Qunari enjoy anything.
To this, Merrill replies that Qunari must like something, and proceeds to name a few conventionally positive things: “sunshine, rainbows, butterflies?” Aveline proceeds to promise Merril that if she ever sees “any Qunari admiring butterflies, you’ll be the first to know.”
6 Edwina The Serving Girl
Before making the Dragon age games, Bioware worked on the Baldur’s Gate games. It’s no surprise, then, that a few Easter Eggs from those games made their way into Dragon Age 2. Fans of Baldur’s Gate 2 may remember Edwin, a mage who was turned into a woman at the end of the game.
If you talk to Varric in the Hanged Man, the bar where he hangs out, he will comment about a serving girl named Edwina. Varric says that she’s “the meanest waitress I have ever met. But she keeps my drink full. I think I might love her.” It’s a subtle but significant detail. Edwina also made an appearance in Dragon Age: Origins, where she worked at the Gnawed Noble Tavern in Denerim.
5 Raindrops On Roses and Whiskers on Kittens
A purple (humourous/charming) Hawke sure is cavalier about the possibility of being possessed by a demon. In the Dragon Age 2 DLC, The Legacy, you can take Anders along with you to the Deep Roads. He’ll comment that he hopes he’ll be able to resist them, to which a humourous Hawke responds that he should “think… happy thoughts! Raindrops, roses, kittens!”
Of course, this is a reference to the cheerful song from “The Sound of Music” called “Favorite Things,” about how to pick yourself up when you’re down in the dumps.
4 Baby Got Back
In one quest during the course of Dragon Age 2, the player and their party are confronted by a Desire Demon. In an attempt to get your companions to side against you, the demon offers them things they’ve always wanted.
If you happened to bring Isabella on this mission, the demon offers her her own ship. She’ll respond by saying: “I like big boats, I cannot lie.” This is a not-so-subtle reference to “Baby Got Back,” a song by Sir Mix-A-Lot from 1992, which has the line: “I like big butts, I cannot lie.”
3 A Wizard Did It…
In The Simpsons, there’s an episode where Lucy Lawless guest stars as herself and is answering questions from an audience of nerds. One audience member points out a plot hole in an episode of Xena, Warrior Princess and Lawless responds that “whenever you notice something like that, a wizard did it.”
The line became a popular meme and a simple way to explain away insignificant plotholes or continuity errors. Dragon Age 2 calls back to it when you hand over the maps of the Deep Roads to Batrand; if Anders is in the party when Bartrand questions how you found them, Anders responds that “a wizard did it.”
2 Dogs Playing Poker
A famous painting - and series of paintings - of a group of dogs playing a game of Poker has stayed in the collective subconscious for years. It’s been referenced in lots of pop culture, like That ’70s Show, Magic: The Gathering, Toy Story, and more!
Dragon Age 2 joins this long legacy by including a scene where Varric attempts to teach your pet Mabari to play a fictional card game called Diamondback. He remarks that your dog is"still better than Anders."
1 Fond Memories Of Home
Dragon Age 2 starts around the same time as Dragon Age: Origins does. However, instead of being the hero who saves the day, you play as a young person escaping with their family. Indeed, Hawke grew up in the first town the Warden sees after their escape from Ostagar. It’s there that the Hero begins their adventure and recruits two key companions: Sten, a caged Qunari, and Leliana, a Chantry Sister.
There are little reminders hidden in plain sight about how Hawke and their siblings once called Lothering home. For example, if you visit Kirkwall’s Chantry with Bethany in your party, she may recall a young woman from their own Chantry, named Leliana, who used to tell the best stories.
NEXT: Dragon Age: Every Elvhen God And Their Story
