Look, Morrigan is back in Dragon Age: The Veilguard!

Dragon Age: The VeilguardThe new trailer is chock full of details that my Tumblr partners can’t stop screenshotting and dissecting . But those unfamiliar with the deeper lore of the franchise might be wondering why everyone is specifically going wild for the woman who shapeshifts from a giant crow. I mean, besides the fact that she made such a badass entrance.

In fact, the trailer confirmed that Morrigan, Witch of the Wilds is officially back (after her voice actor Claudia Black oh-so-subdued denied it)And oh my goddepending on what you did in the previous games there could be big, big consequences

Short answer: She’s a shapeshifting Gothic swamp witch who initially hates everyone, but who may end up being your best friend and/or lover.

Longer answer: She is one of the companions from the first Dragon Age game, Originwhose strange swamp witch mother, Flemeth, basically demands that she tag along with your player character. She’s cold, intelligent, and a total badass mage. You can gain her respect, and even her love, and she’s just, so cool.

In the course of Dragon Age: OriginsShe eventually confides in you that Flemeth plans to use her body as a vessel so she can remain young and beautiful forever, something she has been doing with her other “daughters” for centuries. You help her kill her mother. Later in the endgame, when you are faced with the fact that you or one of your companions in the party will have to sacrifice themselves to save the world, she offers you a solution: if you are a guy, you can impregnate her (if you are a lady, your companion will), and the baby will essentially save your soul from being consumed when you kill the Archdemon.

After the final battle, no matter which path you choose, she runs away. It is revealed in the Witch hunt DLC she acknowledges that her mother is not perma-dead and is hiding in a secret network of elf mirrors that everyone thinks no longer exists (more on that later). If she has a child she will take her son with her. If you have had a romance with her you can join her.

In previous games, BioWare’s default world state (the state that players who haven’t played the previous games inherit) had a Morrigan who not that ritual completed, and thus had no son. So it is likely that the deal is the same in The veil keeperand if you go in without importing any previous decisions, you probably won’t have the Morrigan who is a mother. Otherwise, she has a son named Kiernan who will be 20 years old in this game and he might show up too. And he might just have the soul of an old god inside him.

Morrigan does not appear directly in Dragon Age IIbut her mother does. As it turns out, Flemeth had a feeling that Morrigan was going to kill her, so she kept a piece of herself in a magical amulet that she must deliver to the player character in exchange for help escaping the demons. After a major ritual, Flemeth regenerates, says something cryptic to the player character, and then leaves.

Morrigan reappears in the 2014 film Dragon Age: Inquisitionwhere she helps the player character defeat Corypheus, the game’s Big Bad. Part of his grand master plan involves using that secret network of previously defunct mirrors, so she teams up with you to stop him before he does.

This leads you to find a mysterious spring in the temple of Mythal, an ancient elven goddess. Morrigan offers to drink from it, as it gives control over the mirror and prevents Corypheus from using it. As a player, you can decide which of you does this.

Anyway, it turns out that while the drinker does gain some hidden ancient knowledge, he… Also become a lackey to the old elven goddess. And the old elven goddess? Well, it’s just that Morrigan’s dearly departed mother is her current vessel.

However, in the game’s epilogue, everyone’s favorite elven mage Solas (the bald man in The veil keeper trailers, who is very angry because his master plan has been thwarted) apparently kills Flemeth…

Enter The veil keeperyou can have a Morrigan who is both a mother And to the whims of the goddess Mythal, who may or may not be her own toxic mother. Or you could have a childless Morrigan and a player character dealing with the fallout of being Mythal’s lackey! Or a combination of the two. It’s unclear at this point which is the default option in The veil keeper will be, but there will likely be consequences for what you decided for Morrigan back then…

One telling detail in the trailer: Morrigan (who now sports a bit of an “I’m 40-something now so maybe I should clean my hair up a bit” bob instead of a messy bun) is wearing the same headdress as Flemeth. Does this mean she’s become Mythal’s vessel? With the Elven gods walking the world again, that could spell disaster for Morrigan.

Dragon Age: The Veil Guard will be released on October 31st.