Dragon Age: The Veilguard has an excellent cast of characters, almost all of which are new to the series. However, it looks like there were once plans for a few characters from previous games to appear as party members. And now that fans know this, they’re in their feelings.
News of this comes from the Dragon Age: The Veilguard art book, which is out now and full of spoilers. But we’re not gonna delve into anything that actually happens in the game here. So don’t worry about that. But there are pages of concept art for hypothetical party members that didn’t end up in The Veilguard. Some of them would have been new characters that don’t have names, such as a qunari mage dressed in chains and tattoo-covered Antivan Crow. But there is one character in the book who would have been a returning character from 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition. However, she wasn’t an ally. In fact, you could kill her in your playthrough depending on your choices. This was magister Calpernia, who once led the Venatori mages against the player in one of Inquisition’s routes.
According to the art book, Calpernia was a potential party member at some point in The Veilguard’s development. She’s shown in the concept art in some regal armor, notably with a prosthetic leg. Neve, one of the party members who made it into the game, is a mage with a prosthetic leg, so it seems like some of those concepts may have been adapted for that character.
Logistically, it makes sense that BioWare would scrap this idea because Calpernia exists in so many different quantum states depending on player choice. But that hasn’t stopped fans from being upset about an underrated fan-favorite villain not making it into The Veilguard.
Personally, I have little attachment to Calpernia because I never encountered her in my Inquisition playthrough. The only way to get her to show up is by recruiting the templars in the game’s first act, and I’m a career mage who was trying to smooch Dorian. So Calpernia and I never crossed paths. But it’s always fun to know who might’ve joined the party sometime down the line. I mean, unless it upsets you to know this information. But Calpernia could still show up in a future Dragon Age game, assuming BioWare allows players to import choices on what happened to her.