Actually! There's a crash course biology video where they explained a similar occurence. I might get some small details wrong, but you see, a couple of mix breed finch studied by peter and rosemary grant on the galapagos islands were the last of their kind after a natural disaster (or drought or something). Their offsprings interbred with each other since their mating ritual is too different from other finches, but as it turns out they're okay. What I'm saying is this thing is possible so I hope bioware doesn't try to retcon it.

DA4 you get a griffon to ride but realize it's just a angrier mako. Thanks for the video :)

the thing about genetics is, a huge part of it is chance-based. The biggest worry in incest is "what if a bad trait that was recessive suddenly shows up?" Because ideally, when you're reproducing with someone whose genes are different from yours, any "bad" trait that is recessive will hopefully be overridden by some dominant "good" trait that the person has. There's no absolute guarantee that this will happen but the chances of happening are more if your genetics aren't a perfect match. Of course if the bad trait is dominant, that's just really bad luck for you. Anyway, the point is, the chance of two recessive bad traits coming together and suddenly waking up is much higher in incest because the genes are similar if not the same. But if (and that is a BIG if) by chance, all the traits in these griffons are good and they don't have a single bad trait in them, incest won't impact them at all. I think magic might help there. But who in Thedas has that kind of knowledge about genes and traits? We haven't seen anyone with that kind of knowledge so far... the only people with that level of knowledge we've seen are the Evanuris. I'm not saying they know about it but I'm saying IF anyone were to have this kind of knowledge, it would have to be them.

There's another time in history that an animal breed was low in numbers, but was brought back from almost being wiped out. The Friesian horse breed was almost wiped out during World Was 1. There was only three left on earth, but with careful breeding, they've been brought back.

I imagine they're gonna retcon a small thing or two. After all, its quite possible there were other clutches of eggs that Isseya saved - maybe they'll just say instead of 13 there were 2 clutches of 13 each on the cave

Maybe getting around this problem will be a quest/storyline in DA4 and whether or not you're able to accomplish it will have an impact on the world state.

Well personally I doubt the entirity of griffins were wiped out, I remember when aksed where the warden commander (you CAC) was they went to an area where apparently "has not been touched by the blight" who knows what creatures florish there, plus girffins seem rather intelligent compared to most animals I'm sure those that weren't sick prbably thought to protect their species and mate somewhere safe.
And even if that's not the case we do this all the time with genetics it's definetly not impossible, maybe it's because I watch alot of cats and dogs 101 but humans had did crazier things with livestock, I mean look at the mabari in general. I really don't see how people can see saving the species as impossible, difficult yes but impossible? How many times has someone in this series said taht only to meet the impossible moments later?

Two clutches of griffon eggs would have been better. Why couldn't the author just have added a second clutch of eggs so there would be around two dozen. Curing the eggs didn't seem to put that blood mage warden on the brink of death. It would have made more sense to procure another sample or two since she already had access to at least one griffon roost/stable.

Last Flight has HUGE implications for DA4. We know something is happening behind closed doors at Weisshaupt, I think the Wardens are splintering in to different factions after all that Corypheus drama, whilst some would be against what he did I can see others agreeing to it. The ends justify the means to the Wardens and from the tambourine looking mural there is obviously some theme linked to the 2 remaining old god's. I bet a fair few want to accomplish what Clarel started, add in to the mix the possible resurgence of the Griffin's as well and I think we have a decent side story to go along with Solas, the Evanuris and the Titans too 😀

There's a lot of ways Bioware could get around the breeding thing, but the way I think of it is, incest is problematic because it greatly increases the risk for genetic diseases because if both parents possess a faulty gene, there's a much greater likelihood of it being passed to their offspring, right? But magic can help with this without needing to involve "artificial" assistance - Griffons are at least semi-magical by themselves. Admittedly, the Dragon Age version of them is relatively mundane, but there are still heavy hints that Griffons innately have a bit of magic. If this is the case, it's possible they have "magic genes" that don't possess genetic abnormalities in the first place, or at least not very many.


I have a feeling they're just going to press on and provide not much more explanation than, "maybe they were born with it, maybe it's Baby Griffon Magic." Which I'm fine with. We got what they were going for with the clutch of 13 eggs, it was poignant and significant in the story who the parents of the babies were, as long as they don't make me live through long discussions about Griffon incest I'll be happy.

I want the black one if we get to choose. Btw, will Valya be our sullen but determined Grey Warden romance option in DA4? I'm getting that vibe

As far as I know it might be possible to go on and breed those griffons, tough the Wardens would have to keep exact records for generations to come... Would be far easier with less chance of complications if you could find another clutch of eggs, or try to find a wild animal that's close enough to griffons to interbreed with. If griffons do become a feature (which I think would be pretty awesome! 8D), they could even make a quest or two out of that.
And if not... maybe it's possible to use magic to cure an individual griffon baby that's affected by inbreeding in any way? Or maybe there's something crazy involving spirits that yould be tried, though  I'm not sure that's advisable or weather magic healing or spirits even have an effect on genetic diversity...

Some of your episodes I just never want to end.

I would rather we not get Griffons than we get them and Merrill doesn't get a baby one.

We get 50% of both our parents DNA, but not the same 50% - it's random.  I suppose it could be possible that at least one Griffon could have a blend of DNA that none of the others have, thus rendering it genetically diverse enough to procreate? Maybe? I'm pretty sure chromosomal mutations are the biggest issue with any offspring from related parents, maybe Griffons have the ability to avoid that and heal damaged cells?
I don't know, but maybe it's pointless speculation and wild Griffons are still out there? The Warden might find them while out West..

8:48 LOL I'm a therapist I didn't learn real science

According to a recent leak it looks like we can play a warden and the grey wardens will be playing a major role in the game as the leak shows a bunch of them fighting what looks like 2 dragons attacking their stronghold so griffins could be very useful in fighting the arch demons in Ariel battle. Also it appears even the dark spawn aren’t safe from red lyrium

The questions are: do Griffins dragon age creatures/people have chromosomes in the first place? (Apparently Elves at least come from spirits.)
Second are wild Griffins no longer a thing on Seyharon? (We haven't met a Qunari zoologist yet)

For an extinct (endangered) as of last flight species this video is long and really informative.

so we do know they are coming back first dragons then griffins so when they become common again the age will end and become the griffon age