Redcliffe Castle is one of Ferelden’s oldest and most important fortifications, and has seen more than its fair share of action over the centuries. And this entry isn’t about that place, not really, anyways. I was only in Redcliffe Castle once, and not for very long. I’m talking about a different version of the castle, one that was the setting for one of the most unsettling adventures of my inquisiting. During the Mage-Templar War, King Alistair and Queen Anora of Ferelden offered the rebel mages sanctuary in Redcliffe. Once there, Venatori agents infiltrated their ranks and convinced them to align with Tevinter. Magister Gereon Alexius came to oversee this transition, but tricked the mages and took over Redcliffe Castle. When I went there to stop him, he tried to use a time-magic amulet to get rid of me, but Dorian interfered and the spell went wrong, sending the mustachioed mage and myself one year into the future. We were still in Redcliffe Castle, technically, but it was a dark, twisted version of the structure we had been in. In the year since we had been flung forward, Gerry had secured his hold on parts of the castle, while leaving others to rot. The place was now swarming with Venatori and demons, overrun by red lyrium crystals, and had a dungeon full of my friends being tortured for information about me. And that was in the parts that were still attached to the ground, because when Dorian and I made our way outside for the first time, we were greeted by the sight of chunks of the castle floating in the sky. A sky dominated by a greatly expanded and out-of-control Breach. Apparently my absence and the rise of a mysterious “Elder One” had allowed this nightmare future to exist, meaning we had to go back and stop it. So, we found a way into Gerry’s throne room and did just that, meaning that, because of the wonky rules of time travel, this version of Redcliffe Castle does not exist and technically never did or will. Trust me, it’s been more than a year and I’ve checked. So, while you might be thinking that this entry was just a waste of time, I would argue that this glimpse of what could have been was one of the most impactful experiences of my inquisiting. Real or not, it gave the Inquisition an incentive to succeed by showing us the horrific results of our failure.