David Gaider apparently is not a math genius
So! I just recently bought the second of the two Dragon Age novels, this one being "The Calling," which more or less details the reintroduction of the Grey Wardens into Ferelden. I have finished it, and I can pretty much definitively say that the DA Timeline doesn't make a lick of coherent sense. At the very least, it doesn't add up right--there are too many inconsistencies. And I shall prove it with visual aids!
First of all, it might help to understand how the Thedas calendar works. This is the codex as the game presents it, verbatim:
"For most good folk, the details of our calendar have little purpose. It is useful only for telling them when the Summerday festival will be held, when the snows are expected to begin, and when the harvest must be complete. The naming of the years are a matter for historians and taxmen, and few if pressed could even tell you the reason that our current Age is named after dragons.
It is 9:30 Dragon Age, the thirtieth year of the ninth Age since the crowning of the Chantry’s first Divine.
Each Age is exactly 100 years, with the next Age’s name chosen in the 99th year. The scholars in Val Royeaux advise the Chantry of portents seen in that 99th year, and Chantry authorities pore over the research for months before the Divine announces the name of the imminent Age. The name is said to be an omen of what is to come, of what the people of Thedas will face for the next hundred years.
The current Age was not meant to be the Dragon Age. Throughout the last months of the Blessed Age, the Chantry was preparing to declare the Sun Age, named for the symbol of the Orlesian Empire, which at that time sprawled over much of the south of Thedas and controlled both Ferelden and what is now Nevarra. It was to be a celebration of Orlesian imperial glory.
But as the rebellion in Ferelden reached a head and the Battle of River Dane was about to begin, a peculiar event occurred: a rampage, the rising of a dreaded high dragon. Dragons had been thought practically extinct since the days of the Nevarran dragon hunts, and they say that to see this great beast rise from the Frostbacks was both majestic and terrifying. As the rampage began and the high dragon decimated the countryside in its search for food, the elderly Divine Faustine II abruptly declared the Dragon Age.
Some say the Divine was declaring support for Orlais in the battle against Ferelden, since the dragon is an element of the Dufayel family heraldry of King Meghren, the so-called Usurper King of Ferelden. Be that as it may, the high dragon’s rampage turned towards the Orlesian side of the Frostback Mountains, killing hundreds and sending thousands more fleeing to the northern coast. The Ferelden rebels won the Battle of River Dane, ultimately securing their independence.
Many thus think that the Dragon Age will come to represent a time of violent and dramatic change for all of Thedas. It remains to be seen."
There's already a problem here. Note the date given there. 9:30 Dragon. Actually, according to EVERY OTHER TIMESTAMP in the series, the Blight (a.k.a. the plotline of Dragon Age: Origins) takes place in 9:25 Dragon. Honestly, it actually would make more sense if it WERE, in fact, 9:30 Dragon instead of 9:25 Dragon. This codex appears in a book in the game, though, so I suppose it could be canonly chalked up to a printer error or something, because on the SAME CODEX ENTRY, it is marked as being from "The Studious Theologian" written by Brother Genitivi and published in the year 9:25 Dragon. Maybe. Moving on.
Now, aside from the assorted codex entries, this is how the chronology of the series generally plays out.
Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne (a novel by lead game writer David Gaider)
Dragon Age: The Calling (a second novel, also by Gaider)
Dragon Age: Origins (the first game)
Dragon Age: Awakening (the first sequel/expansion, takes place shortly after Origins)
Dragon Age 2 (which overlaps slightly with the prior games--more on that here in a sec)
When "The Stolen Throne" opens, the first scene we are treated to is Prince Maric Theirin, an 18-year-old boy at that point, running headlong into a forest following the murder of his mother Rebel Queen Moira. Then he meets Loghain Mac Tir for the first time (who becomes his BFF) and we are later introduced to Lady Rowan Guerrin, daughter of Arl Rendorn of Redcliffe. The book spans three years' time, and chronicles the three of them (plus one elven bard, Katriel) driving out the Orlesians so Maric can reclaim the throne, and their romantic entanglements (Rowan and Maric have been betrothed since infancy, but Maric falls for Katriel while Loghain and Rowan fall for each other, but eventually the betrothal is honored. More on that in a bit). The main action ends on the eve of the Battle of River Dane, the centerpiece of Loghain's military career, which, per the above codex, we can assume takes place in 8:99 Blessed. That means the book opens in 8:96 Blessed. Well and good, right? Still with me?
In "The Calling," it is marked as beginning 14 years after the start of "The Stolen Throne," at least if you go by Maric and Loghain's discussion at the beginning--Maric kinda messes with that a little while stuck in the Fade, since he sees Katriel and mentions her dying 14 years ago, when, actually, she dies near the END of "The Stolen Throne." I blame Maric being Fade-addled for that, though. Seeing her is a bit of a shocker for him. Now, I'm not totally sure if, between Ages, there is a Year 100 or a Year 0, or if it just skips from Year 99 to Year 1. Let's assume that there's a Year 0, though. That would thusly mark "The Calling" as taking place in 9:10 Dragon. Maric HIMSELF specifies on page 93 of this book that his son Cailan is 9 years old. So, Cailan's birth, therefore, happened in 9:01 Dragon, indicating that Rowan and Maric married sometime in 9:00 Dragon. It's possible, though it adds up oddly, considering that, per the epilogue of "The Stolen Throne," it's an additional three years after the Battle of River Dane before Maric completely secures the crown for himself.
That means, when we meet Cailan in Origins, which everything tells us happens in 9:25 Dragon, he's roughly 24 years old. This makes reasonable sense, because the assorted NPCs you speak to around the Ostagar camp make a point of mentioning that Cailan is a young man and a bit headstrong. At this point, I'd like to mention that Thedas is supposed to be more or less a "standard fantasy setting," so it can probably be assumed that characters are considered age of majority roughly around the age of 15 or 16. So far, nothing weird, right? Yeah. Hold that thought.
If you talk to the guard outside Cailan's tent at Ostagar, he'll mention something about Cailan and Loghain having a fight regarding Queen Anora (Cailan's wife of five years and Loghain's daughter). He doesn't know much about the details, though. If you have the "Return to Ostagar" DLC installed, though, you get to find out just what that fight was about when you uncover three letters from Cailan's lockbox. One is from Arl Eamon (Cailan's uncle), and states the following:
"Your Majesty,
My men will arrive as soon as possible to bolster your forces. Maker willing, this Blight will be ended before it has begun.
Cailan, I beseech you, as your uncle, not to join the Grey Wardens on the Field. You cannot afford to take this risk. Ferelden cannot afford it. Let me remind you again that you do not have an heir. Your death--and it pains me even to think of it--would plunge Ferelden into chaos.
And yes, perhaps when this is over you will allow me to bring up the subject of your heir. While a son from both the Theirin and Mac Tir lines would unite Ferelden like no other, we must accept that perhaps this can never be. The queen approaches her thirtieth year and her ability to give you a child lessens with each passing month. I submit to you again that it might be time to put Anora aside. We parted harshly the last time I spoke of this, but it has been a full year since then and nothing has changed.
Please, nephew, consider my words, and Andraste's grace be with you."
Catch that? Anora's pushing 30, so it can be reasonably inferred that she is 29 at the game opening. And most evidence supports that Anora is a few years Cailan's senior, which backs that up. PROBLEM. Per our timestamps, that means Anora WAS BORN in 8:96 Blessed--the same year "The Stolen Throne" opens. Her birth is legitimate, but AT NO POINT in "The Stolen Throne" is Loghain married, nor a father, save for a mention in the epilogue which features a twelve-year-old Cailan. So, major inconsistency there. And it gets better.
In "The Calling," Maric sires a bastard son on an elven mage Grey Warden named Fiona. It is commonly speculated by fans that this baby boy is Alistair, one of the first companions you pick up in Origins, since Alistair tells you that he is Maric's bastard son, and he seems to have a particularly close relationship with Duncan, who promised to keep on eye on Fiona's son and occasionally send updates to Maric. Alistair, however, tells a different story about his birth:
“Let’s see. How do I explain this? I’m a bastard. And before you make any smart comments, I mean the fatherless kind. My mother was a serving girl in Redcliffe Castle who died when I was very young. Arl Eamon wasn’t my father, but he took me in anyhow and put a roof over my head. He was good to me, and he didn’t have to be. I respect the man and I don’t blame him any more for sending me off to the Chantry once I was old enough.” "Old enough" to go to the Chantry is age 10, by the way, according to a line later in the same conversation. Also, make a note of the line where he says that his father died before his mother.
And then the bombshell upon getting to Redcliffe:
“I told you before how Arl Eamon raised me, right? That my mother was a serving girl at the castle and he took me in? The reason he did that was because… well, because my father was King Maric. Which made Cailan my… half-brother, I suppose."
According to the game, Maric has only been dead for five years, because it notes that Cailan married Anora exactly one month after he inherited the crown. Now, Fiona does ask that her son be raised in ignorance of his mother, so it's possible that Alistair was fed a fake story growing up, though considering that Eamon himself backs up the story, I'm inclined to believe Alistair's facts are true. Plus, there are two things that make it extremely unlikely that Alistair is Fiona's son. One is when Alistair mentions that he has a maternal-side half-sister, Goldanna:
“The thing is, I have a sister. A half-sister. I told you about my mother, right? She was a servant at Redcliffe Castle, and she had a daughter… only I never knew about her. I don’t think she knew about me either. They kept my birth a secret, after all. But after I became a Grey Warden I did some checking and… well, I found out she’s still alive. In Denerim.”
Now, I'm not sure what kind of "checking" he supposedly did--I assume looking through records at whatever the Ferelden equivalent of the Bureau of Vital Statistics is--but between that info-digging and Goldanna's reaction upon meeting Alistair, it doesn't fit with the idea of having a Grey Warden mother. Also, did you note Goldanna's implication that their mother died in childbirth with Alistair? It also doesn't add up with Maric dying before her. More importantly, Cailan would have been ten years old AT THE EARLIEST when Fiona gave birth to her son, and, while it never specifies an age for him, there's ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that Alistair is a 14-year-old boy if we go by the marker that the Blight begins in 9:25 Dragon. Particularly not since he's already been a Grey Warden for six months when you meet him, and he came straight from being about to take his templar vows, presumably after several years of training. Four years wouldn't begin to cut it.
Some fans have alternately speculated that the mage Anders might be a bastard son of Maric's (after all, from what I can see, the man apparently is incapable of denying any woman sex if she offers it to him--not that he seeks it out, per se, but he simply doesn't seem able to say "no"), and may possibly be Fiona's child. (Feel free to look at the comparison graphic I made and decide for yourself) Anders is the first of the permanent companions you pick up in Awakening (assuming you choose to invoke the Right of Conscription and recruit him into the Grey Wardens), and here's where timing gets a little dicey, depending on how you played the game and what expansions you have.
If you play as a human noble in Origins and choose to marry whomever you set on the throne, the end credits tell you that the royal wedding takes place six months after the defeat of the archdemon. Also, during that time, there is a meeting with some Wardens from Orlais to discuss what happened at the end of the Blight. The defeat of the archdemon is estimated to be roughly one year after the game opens, so roughly 18 months to two years from the beginnings of Origins is when Awakening begins, if you go by that reckoning. We know it follows, because the Commander will receive a royal welcome early in Awakening, and if the Hero has taken the post, Alistair (or Anora, depending on the choices you made in Origins) will recognize the PC, and even address the Hero as a spouse, if they were married. Now, the Hero does not necessarily have to become the Warden Commander in Awakening (if you create a new character for it, you'll play as an Orlesian given the command of Ferelden's Wardens), but the timing is still a little weird either way.
Now, although Anders does seem a little younger than Alistair (who does seem a few years younger than Cailan), if he is Maric and Fiona's son, that would make him sixteen at the oldest when Awakening begins, going by the 9:25 Dragon timestamp for Origins. Per a short story written by one of the game developers, Anders was taken to the Circle of Magi at the age of twelve (so, he does remember his family--even keeping an embroidered pillow as a keepsake--but, again, he might have been adopted as an infant and is none the wiser), and you meet him during his seventh escape from there--and according to one conversation you can have with Anders, he got a year of solitary confinement as punishment for Escape #6. That would average one escape attempt every six months, at least. While plausible... it seems a little far-fetched, honestly. And Anders seems rather older than sixteen from what I can see. Not to mention that he's a healer, for Maker's sake. A doctor, effectively--and that takes training. Years of it. Much more than what a sixteen-year-old boy would have.
Then there's the matter of Nathaniel Howe. He is the youngest of the three Howe children, and the oldest, Thomas, is a few years younger than the Hero of Ferelden, if you play as a human noble. Although no age is given for a human noble Hero, it can probably be roughly assumed that s/he is somewhere between 17 and 21 at the beginning of Origins, give or take a bit, and Nathaniel is AT LEAST probably 5 years younger than the Hero. Anyway, he's in a cell when you meet him, and he'll tell you that he's only been back in Ferelden for a month, after having spent time in the Free Marches to the north. He's been gone for nearly eight years, which means he was little more than a young boy when he was sent there, but he implies that he's been more or less on his own the entire time he was abroad. Again, the timing doesn't make much sense.
And there's one other possible issue. A young Duncan, only a member of the Wardens for about six months, is a major character in "The Calling," and though his age is not specified, Maric estimates him in the neighborhood of age 18, and no one corrects him. That means if we are going by the 9:25 Dragon timestamp, Duncan is roughly 33 at the start of Origins. Which doesn't seem too bad, except if you ask Alistair about the physical changes that Wardens undergo after their Joining, he'll tell you that Wardens only get 30 years to live, more or less, before the taint takes over, and eventually he'll mention that Duncan was mentioning his time was getting close--and when you meet Riordan, who Joined at the same time as Duncan, he'll tell you much the same. Now, I understood that to mean "30 years from the time of the Joining," but it isn't terribly clear. Either way, it's only been FIFTEEN years since Duncan's Joining if we go by the 9:25 Dragon timestamp. The 9:30 Dragon allows a little more time, making it seem a bit more reasonable, but still a bit on the short side.
The chronology does work out better if we assume that the starting date for Origins is, in fact, 9:30 Dragon. Cailan's age doesn't *quite* paginate, nor the Calling getting close for Duncan and Riordan, but it's not entirely unreasonable either. It also makes it plausible that either Alistair or Anders may be Fiona's child. Unfortunately, allowing for the five-year difference does not solve all of the timeline issues, because we also have to contend with Dragon Age 2.
Dragon Age 2 is not a full-on sequel, as it does not continue the adventures of the Hero of Ferelden (in fact, the Hero never appears in person and only gets a handful of mentions, depending on his/her origins and actions in DA:O and DA:A), and it actually overlaps the earlier games. It opens, in fact, in Lothering, shortly after the Hero of Ferelden has already passed through with Alistair and Morrigan, and possibly picked up Leliana and Sten along the way--something that happens fairly early in Origins, and maybe marks about a month's time or so since the very opening of Origins. From Lothering, Hawke (the PC in DA2--can be male or female and any class, but is always human) and companions make their way to Gwaren (which probably takes a handful of days) and then take a ship to Kirkwall in the Free Marches, which is a two-week trip by boat. So, say, about two months or so into the Blight, give or take a bit.
Upon arriving in Kirkwall, Hawke has to figure out a way to get everyone who came along into the city, since there are huge numbers of Ferelden refugees there trying to escape the Blight (which the Hero is currently fighting). This is apparently solved by Hawke entering a year of indentured servitude either to a band of mercenaries or a band of smugglers, depending on what you decide. After the period of servitude ends, Hawke has to try to raise money to fund a Deep Roads expedition. In doing so, Hawke meets a few old familiar faces from the previous games--including our old friend Anders, who has merged with Justice (another companion from Awakening) and is on the lam from the Grey Wardens.
Before you ask, no, there is NO TIME LAPSE between the end of the indentured servitude and the beginning of the fundraising. NONE. At one point, Hawke is talking to Merrill, and has the option to mention how long s/he has lived in Kirkwall--the answer being "one year." That means this part takes place roughly 14 months or so following the beginning of Origins. Which, even if you don't have a royal wedding to include in the timeline, doesn't allow enough time for the Hero to have gotten through Awakening, let alone what happens afterward. Except... Did you catch Merrill's line? About the clan moving there just a few years ago? If Merrill and Marethari seem oddly familiar, there's a good reason for it. If you play a Dalish Hero in Origins, this is the SAME CLAN you come from, and Duncan recruits the Hero while the clan is still in Ferelden. In fact, Merrill is a temporary companion during the Dalish origin story. So, again, it doesn't add up.
What happened afterward in Awakening? Well, that partly depends on what choices you make. If you save Amaranthine, anyone you didn't take with you is supposedly killed at Vigil's Keep (which makes for an interesting dialogue bit in DA2 if Anders got left behind). Otherwise, Amaranthine burns (and this launches a quest for Hawke, to kill some disgruntled Amaranthine citizen-conspirators peeved at the Warden Commander for that). Otherwise, assuming all of your Warden recruits live through Awakening, Anders tries to quit after being asked by the Circle of Magi to speak about his experiences, but he goes back. Justice, meanwhile, has to deal with a steadily-decaying host body, until it is so decomposed it can no longer sustain him. At that point, apparently, he and Anders merge. Well, when a spirit/demon and a mage are together in the same body, that's known as an abomination, and, generally speaking, that's a VERY BAD THING. So, Anders leaves so he won't end up getting killed for what he is and heads off to Kirkwall.
Unfortunately, with all of THAT in there as well, there's no satisfactory way to resolve the timeline. And, therefore, I must conclude that Gaider is not that great with math, or else someone just wasn't paying attention.
Please, nice people at BioWare--hire me, and I will ensure continuity errors like this NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. Promise!
First of all, it might help to understand how the Thedas calendar works. This is the codex as the game presents it, verbatim:
"For most good folk, the details of our calendar have little purpose. It is useful only for telling them when the Summerday festival will be held, when the snows are expected to begin, and when the harvest must be complete. The naming of the years are a matter for historians and taxmen, and few if pressed could even tell you the reason that our current Age is named after dragons.
It is 9:30 Dragon Age, the thirtieth year of the ninth Age since the crowning of the Chantry’s first Divine.
Each Age is exactly 100 years, with the next Age’s name chosen in the 99th year. The scholars in Val Royeaux advise the Chantry of portents seen in that 99th year, and Chantry authorities pore over the research for months before the Divine announces the name of the imminent Age. The name is said to be an omen of what is to come, of what the people of Thedas will face for the next hundred years.
The current Age was not meant to be the Dragon Age. Throughout the last months of the Blessed Age, the Chantry was preparing to declare the Sun Age, named for the symbol of the Orlesian Empire, which at that time sprawled over much of the south of Thedas and controlled both Ferelden and what is now Nevarra. It was to be a celebration of Orlesian imperial glory.
But as the rebellion in Ferelden reached a head and the Battle of River Dane was about to begin, a peculiar event occurred: a rampage, the rising of a dreaded high dragon. Dragons had been thought practically extinct since the days of the Nevarran dragon hunts, and they say that to see this great beast rise from the Frostbacks was both majestic and terrifying. As the rampage began and the high dragon decimated the countryside in its search for food, the elderly Divine Faustine II abruptly declared the Dragon Age.
Some say the Divine was declaring support for Orlais in the battle against Ferelden, since the dragon is an element of the Dufayel family heraldry of King Meghren, the so-called Usurper King of Ferelden. Be that as it may, the high dragon’s rampage turned towards the Orlesian side of the Frostback Mountains, killing hundreds and sending thousands more fleeing to the northern coast. The Ferelden rebels won the Battle of River Dane, ultimately securing their independence.
Many thus think that the Dragon Age will come to represent a time of violent and dramatic change for all of Thedas. It remains to be seen."
There's already a problem here. Note the date given there. 9:30 Dragon. Actually, according to EVERY OTHER TIMESTAMP in the series, the Blight (a.k.a. the plotline of Dragon Age: Origins) takes place in 9:25 Dragon. Honestly, it actually would make more sense if it WERE, in fact, 9:30 Dragon instead of 9:25 Dragon. This codex appears in a book in the game, though, so I suppose it could be canonly chalked up to a printer error or something, because on the SAME CODEX ENTRY, it is marked as being from "The Studious Theologian" written by Brother Genitivi and published in the year 9:25 Dragon. Maybe. Moving on.
Now, aside from the assorted codex entries, this is how the chronology of the series generally plays out.
Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne (a novel by lead game writer David Gaider)
Dragon Age: The Calling (a second novel, also by Gaider)
Dragon Age: Origins (the first game)
Dragon Age: Awakening (the first sequel/expansion, takes place shortly after Origins)
Dragon Age 2 (which overlaps slightly with the prior games--more on that here in a sec)
When "The Stolen Throne" opens, the first scene we are treated to is Prince Maric Theirin, an 18-year-old boy at that point, running headlong into a forest following the murder of his mother Rebel Queen Moira. Then he meets Loghain Mac Tir for the first time (who becomes his BFF) and we are later introduced to Lady Rowan Guerrin, daughter of Arl Rendorn of Redcliffe. The book spans three years' time, and chronicles the three of them (plus one elven bard, Katriel) driving out the Orlesians so Maric can reclaim the throne, and their romantic entanglements (Rowan and Maric have been betrothed since infancy, but Maric falls for Katriel while Loghain and Rowan fall for each other, but eventually the betrothal is honored. More on that in a bit). The main action ends on the eve of the Battle of River Dane, the centerpiece of Loghain's military career, which, per the above codex, we can assume takes place in 8:99 Blessed. That means the book opens in 8:96 Blessed. Well and good, right? Still with me?
In "The Calling," it is marked as beginning 14 years after the start of "The Stolen Throne," at least if you go by Maric and Loghain's discussion at the beginning--Maric kinda messes with that a little while stuck in the Fade, since he sees Katriel and mentions her dying 14 years ago, when, actually, she dies near the END of "The Stolen Throne." I blame Maric being Fade-addled for that, though. Seeing her is a bit of a shocker for him. Now, I'm not totally sure if, between Ages, there is a Year 100 or a Year 0, or if it just skips from Year 99 to Year 1. Let's assume that there's a Year 0, though. That would thusly mark "The Calling" as taking place in 9:10 Dragon. Maric HIMSELF specifies on page 93 of this book that his son Cailan is 9 years old. So, Cailan's birth, therefore, happened in 9:01 Dragon, indicating that Rowan and Maric married sometime in 9:00 Dragon. It's possible, though it adds up oddly, considering that, per the epilogue of "The Stolen Throne," it's an additional three years after the Battle of River Dane before Maric completely secures the crown for himself.
That means, when we meet Cailan in Origins, which everything tells us happens in 9:25 Dragon, he's roughly 24 years old. This makes reasonable sense, because the assorted NPCs you speak to around the Ostagar camp make a point of mentioning that Cailan is a young man and a bit headstrong. At this point, I'd like to mention that Thedas is supposed to be more or less a "standard fantasy setting," so it can probably be assumed that characters are considered age of majority roughly around the age of 15 or 16. So far, nothing weird, right? Yeah. Hold that thought.
If you talk to the guard outside Cailan's tent at Ostagar, he'll mention something about Cailan and Loghain having a fight regarding Queen Anora (Cailan's wife of five years and Loghain's daughter). He doesn't know much about the details, though. If you have the "Return to Ostagar" DLC installed, though, you get to find out just what that fight was about when you uncover three letters from Cailan's lockbox. One is from Arl Eamon (Cailan's uncle), and states the following:
"Your Majesty,
My men will arrive as soon as possible to bolster your forces. Maker willing, this Blight will be ended before it has begun.
Cailan, I beseech you, as your uncle, not to join the Grey Wardens on the Field. You cannot afford to take this risk. Ferelden cannot afford it. Let me remind you again that you do not have an heir. Your death--and it pains me even to think of it--would plunge Ferelden into chaos.
And yes, perhaps when this is over you will allow me to bring up the subject of your heir. While a son from both the Theirin and Mac Tir lines would unite Ferelden like no other, we must accept that perhaps this can never be. The queen approaches her thirtieth year and her ability to give you a child lessens with each passing month. I submit to you again that it might be time to put Anora aside. We parted harshly the last time I spoke of this, but it has been a full year since then and nothing has changed.
Please, nephew, consider my words, and Andraste's grace be with you."
Catch that? Anora's pushing 30, so it can be reasonably inferred that she is 29 at the game opening. And most evidence supports that Anora is a few years Cailan's senior, which backs that up. PROBLEM. Per our timestamps, that means Anora WAS BORN in 8:96 Blessed--the same year "The Stolen Throne" opens. Her birth is legitimate, but AT NO POINT in "The Stolen Throne" is Loghain married, nor a father, save for a mention in the epilogue which features a twelve-year-old Cailan. So, major inconsistency there. And it gets better.
In "The Calling," Maric sires a bastard son on an elven mage Grey Warden named Fiona. It is commonly speculated by fans that this baby boy is Alistair, one of the first companions you pick up in Origins, since Alistair tells you that he is Maric's bastard son, and he seems to have a particularly close relationship with Duncan, who promised to keep on eye on Fiona's son and occasionally send updates to Maric. Alistair, however, tells a different story about his birth:
“Let’s see. How do I explain this? I’m a bastard. And before you make any smart comments, I mean the fatherless kind. My mother was a serving girl in Redcliffe Castle who died when I was very young. Arl Eamon wasn’t my father, but he took me in anyhow and put a roof over my head. He was good to me, and he didn’t have to be. I respect the man and I don’t blame him any more for sending me off to the Chantry once I was old enough.” "Old enough" to go to the Chantry is age 10, by the way, according to a line later in the same conversation. Also, make a note of the line where he says that his father died before his mother.
And then the bombshell upon getting to Redcliffe:
“I told you before how Arl Eamon raised me, right? That my mother was a serving girl at the castle and he took me in? The reason he did that was because… well, because my father was King Maric. Which made Cailan my… half-brother, I suppose."
According to the game, Maric has only been dead for five years, because it notes that Cailan married Anora exactly one month after he inherited the crown. Now, Fiona does ask that her son be raised in ignorance of his mother, so it's possible that Alistair was fed a fake story growing up, though considering that Eamon himself backs up the story, I'm inclined to believe Alistair's facts are true. Plus, there are two things that make it extremely unlikely that Alistair is Fiona's son. One is when Alistair mentions that he has a maternal-side half-sister, Goldanna:
“The thing is, I have a sister. A half-sister. I told you about my mother, right? She was a servant at Redcliffe Castle, and she had a daughter… only I never knew about her. I don’t think she knew about me either. They kept my birth a secret, after all. But after I became a Grey Warden I did some checking and… well, I found out she’s still alive. In Denerim.”
Now, I'm not sure what kind of "checking" he supposedly did--I assume looking through records at whatever the Ferelden equivalent of the Bureau of Vital Statistics is--but between that info-digging and Goldanna's reaction upon meeting Alistair, it doesn't fit with the idea of having a Grey Warden mother. Also, did you note Goldanna's implication that their mother died in childbirth with Alistair? It also doesn't add up with Maric dying before her. More importantly, Cailan would have been ten years old AT THE EARLIEST when Fiona gave birth to her son, and, while it never specifies an age for him, there's ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that Alistair is a 14-year-old boy if we go by the marker that the Blight begins in 9:25 Dragon. Particularly not since he's already been a Grey Warden for six months when you meet him, and he came straight from being about to take his templar vows, presumably after several years of training. Four years wouldn't begin to cut it.
Some fans have alternately speculated that the mage Anders might be a bastard son of Maric's (after all, from what I can see, the man apparently is incapable of denying any woman sex if she offers it to him--not that he seeks it out, per se, but he simply doesn't seem able to say "no"), and may possibly be Fiona's child. (Feel free to look at the comparison graphic I made and decide for yourself) Anders is the first of the permanent companions you pick up in Awakening (assuming you choose to invoke the Right of Conscription and recruit him into the Grey Wardens), and here's where timing gets a little dicey, depending on how you played the game and what expansions you have.
If you play as a human noble in Origins and choose to marry whomever you set on the throne, the end credits tell you that the royal wedding takes place six months after the defeat of the archdemon. Also, during that time, there is a meeting with some Wardens from Orlais to discuss what happened at the end of the Blight. The defeat of the archdemon is estimated to be roughly one year after the game opens, so roughly 18 months to two years from the beginnings of Origins is when Awakening begins, if you go by that reckoning. We know it follows, because the Commander will receive a royal welcome early in Awakening, and if the Hero has taken the post, Alistair (or Anora, depending on the choices you made in Origins) will recognize the PC, and even address the Hero as a spouse, if they were married. Now, the Hero does not necessarily have to become the Warden Commander in Awakening (if you create a new character for it, you'll play as an Orlesian given the command of Ferelden's Wardens), but the timing is still a little weird either way.
Now, although Anders does seem a little younger than Alistair (who does seem a few years younger than Cailan), if he is Maric and Fiona's son, that would make him sixteen at the oldest when Awakening begins, going by the 9:25 Dragon timestamp for Origins. Per a short story written by one of the game developers, Anders was taken to the Circle of Magi at the age of twelve (so, he does remember his family--even keeping an embroidered pillow as a keepsake--but, again, he might have been adopted as an infant and is none the wiser), and you meet him during his seventh escape from there--and according to one conversation you can have with Anders, he got a year of solitary confinement as punishment for Escape #6. That would average one escape attempt every six months, at least. While plausible... it seems a little far-fetched, honestly. And Anders seems rather older than sixteen from what I can see. Not to mention that he's a healer, for Maker's sake. A doctor, effectively--and that takes training. Years of it. Much more than what a sixteen-year-old boy would have.
Then there's the matter of Nathaniel Howe. He is the youngest of the three Howe children, and the oldest, Thomas, is a few years younger than the Hero of Ferelden, if you play as a human noble. Although no age is given for a human noble Hero, it can probably be roughly assumed that s/he is somewhere between 17 and 21 at the beginning of Origins, give or take a bit, and Nathaniel is AT LEAST probably 5 years younger than the Hero. Anyway, he's in a cell when you meet him, and he'll tell you that he's only been back in Ferelden for a month, after having spent time in the Free Marches to the north. He's been gone for nearly eight years, which means he was little more than a young boy when he was sent there, but he implies that he's been more or less on his own the entire time he was abroad. Again, the timing doesn't make much sense.
And there's one other possible issue. A young Duncan, only a member of the Wardens for about six months, is a major character in "The Calling," and though his age is not specified, Maric estimates him in the neighborhood of age 18, and no one corrects him. That means if we are going by the 9:25 Dragon timestamp, Duncan is roughly 33 at the start of Origins. Which doesn't seem too bad, except if you ask Alistair about the physical changes that Wardens undergo after their Joining, he'll tell you that Wardens only get 30 years to live, more or less, before the taint takes over, and eventually he'll mention that Duncan was mentioning his time was getting close--and when you meet Riordan, who Joined at the same time as Duncan, he'll tell you much the same. Now, I understood that to mean "30 years from the time of the Joining," but it isn't terribly clear. Either way, it's only been FIFTEEN years since Duncan's Joining if we go by the 9:25 Dragon timestamp. The 9:30 Dragon allows a little more time, making it seem a bit more reasonable, but still a bit on the short side.
The chronology does work out better if we assume that the starting date for Origins is, in fact, 9:30 Dragon. Cailan's age doesn't *quite* paginate, nor the Calling getting close for Duncan and Riordan, but it's not entirely unreasonable either. It also makes it plausible that either Alistair or Anders may be Fiona's child. Unfortunately, allowing for the five-year difference does not solve all of the timeline issues, because we also have to contend with Dragon Age 2.
Dragon Age 2 is not a full-on sequel, as it does not continue the adventures of the Hero of Ferelden (in fact, the Hero never appears in person and only gets a handful of mentions, depending on his/her origins and actions in DA:O and DA:A), and it actually overlaps the earlier games. It opens, in fact, in Lothering, shortly after the Hero of Ferelden has already passed through with Alistair and Morrigan, and possibly picked up Leliana and Sten along the way--something that happens fairly early in Origins, and maybe marks about a month's time or so since the very opening of Origins. From Lothering, Hawke (the PC in DA2--can be male or female and any class, but is always human) and companions make their way to Gwaren (which probably takes a handful of days) and then take a ship to Kirkwall in the Free Marches, which is a two-week trip by boat. So, say, about two months or so into the Blight, give or take a bit.
Upon arriving in Kirkwall, Hawke has to figure out a way to get everyone who came along into the city, since there are huge numbers of Ferelden refugees there trying to escape the Blight (which the Hero is currently fighting). This is apparently solved by Hawke entering a year of indentured servitude either to a band of mercenaries or a band of smugglers, depending on what you decide. After the period of servitude ends, Hawke has to try to raise money to fund a Deep Roads expedition. In doing so, Hawke meets a few old familiar faces from the previous games--including our old friend Anders, who has merged with Justice (another companion from Awakening) and is on the lam from the Grey Wardens.
Before you ask, no, there is NO TIME LAPSE between the end of the indentured servitude and the beginning of the fundraising. NONE. At one point, Hawke is talking to Merrill, and has the option to mention how long s/he has lived in Kirkwall--the answer being "one year." That means this part takes place roughly 14 months or so following the beginning of Origins. Which, even if you don't have a royal wedding to include in the timeline, doesn't allow enough time for the Hero to have gotten through Awakening, let alone what happens afterward. Except... Did you catch Merrill's line? About the clan moving there just a few years ago? If Merrill and Marethari seem oddly familiar, there's a good reason for it. If you play a Dalish Hero in Origins, this is the SAME CLAN you come from, and Duncan recruits the Hero while the clan is still in Ferelden. In fact, Merrill is a temporary companion during the Dalish origin story. So, again, it doesn't add up.
What happened afterward in Awakening? Well, that partly depends on what choices you make. If you save Amaranthine, anyone you didn't take with you is supposedly killed at Vigil's Keep (which makes for an interesting dialogue bit in DA2 if Anders got left behind). Otherwise, Amaranthine burns (and this launches a quest for Hawke, to kill some disgruntled Amaranthine citizen-conspirators peeved at the Warden Commander for that). Otherwise, assuming all of your Warden recruits live through Awakening, Anders tries to quit after being asked by the Circle of Magi to speak about his experiences, but he goes back. Justice, meanwhile, has to deal with a steadily-decaying host body, until it is so decomposed it can no longer sustain him. At that point, apparently, he and Anders merge. Well, when a spirit/demon and a mage are together in the same body, that's known as an abomination, and, generally speaking, that's a VERY BAD THING. So, Anders leaves so he won't end up getting killed for what he is and heads off to Kirkwall.
Unfortunately, with all of THAT in there as well, there's no satisfactory way to resolve the timeline. And, therefore, I must conclude that Gaider is not that great with math, or else someone just wasn't paying attention.
Please, nice people at BioWare--hire me, and I will ensure continuity errors like this NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. Promise!