The companion Oghren makes several comments throughout the game that imply his ex wife hit him or was verbally abusive towards him. He is an optional companion though and can be turned down initially, or accepted at first, but sent away at any time by speaking to him at the campsite.
Zevran's backstory states that he was bought by an assassin's guild at a very young age (younger than 10). It is implied that he was trained as an assassin from that age and that the training was deadly.
One of your companions is a dwarf named Oghren who is an alcoholic, and the Templar characters gain their power from a substance called Lyrium, which is very addictive to them. There are also a few scenes where you can come across Templars who haven't use in a while, and are clearly in withdrawl
There's no dog fighting as in the sport, but you do have a war hound companion who can fight alongside you, and other instances of the same breed of dog fighting in battles.
Among the Dragons killed is the big bad, the Archdemon, who is an elder god, corrupted by the Darkspawn taint.
Depending on player choices, the soul of this dragon may be preserved, rather than destroyed.
In the "Awakening" DLC, your character is caught in a trap and drugged, so that you can be trapped by the main antagonist. It seems to involve some kind of gas that makes you dizzy and then fall unconscious.
In the DLC Leliana's Song, it is heavily implied that the main character is raped during imprisonment.
In the female City Elf origin, a group of noblemen arrive on the PC's wedding day to abduct her and several other women to rape them.
Offscreen. It is a major plot point in the City Elf origin and implied about women turned into Broodmothers close to the end of A Paragon of Her Kind questline
Blood mages are shown stabbing themselves for more power. Also, there’s an optional ability acquired through a DLC that lets the player cause damage to themselves in exchange for greater powers. The cutting itself isn’t shown, but blood does spew from your character.
In game, the main religion of the world includes a martyr figure who was burned alive. You don't ever see this, but you can hear about it often and a main questline involving her brings it up as well
The major section to look out for with this is the Deep Roads. Specifically, the Deep Trenches and beyond contain many instances of people mutated into creatures that would fall under this category. This is part of the main story and cannot be avoided.
No, but there’s mention of it. At one point you encounter a character with a wounded leg, and one of your companions (if present) will suggest that the foot “may need to go”. This doesn’t actually happen, and is likely just a mean-spirited joke. There is no visible evidence of injury, and the character walks just fine moments later.
Clarification on previous comment by wesleythomasm: The afflictions mentioned here are statistic indicators only, and affect nothing except how the characters perform in battle. They are labelled as various types of head trauma (none of which is a squashed head, specifically), and are accompanied by small icons showing potentially upsetting illustrations of said injuries. These statistics have no visible effect on the actual characters, and do not affect dialogue.
Multiple instances in the background throughout the game, mostly in areas that are being attacked by the main monsters (Darkspawn) there will be background NPCs that are set pieces who are hanging from trees or buildings.
Clarification on previous comment by alexandrafrostcc: “Broken Bone” is a statistic indicator that only affects how a character performs in battle. It is accompanied by a small icon depicting an illustration of a snapping bone. The statistic has no visible effect on the characters, and does not affect dialogue.
If you trigger Zevran's recruitment cutscene before completing the Mage Tower quest, and bring him with you, his nightmare involves him being tortured on a rack by fellow assassin. It is implied that this, or similar torture, was part of Zevran's assassin training.
Clarification on previous comment by tollthedead: “Damaged eye” is a statistic indicator that only affects how a character performs in battle. It is accompanied by a small icon depicting a potentially upsetting illustration of an eye. The statistic has no visible effect on the actual characters, and does not affect dialogue.
In the Human Noble origin the player's nephew is murdered along with his mother, there is the option of murdering a child who has been possessed by a demon, an the ghost of children can be encountered in two occasions.
In the City Elf Origin, if you are a woman, the player and several woman, including your cousin, are kidnapped and abused by several human men. If you are a man, then your fiance is among the women kidnapped.
Your character can initiate multiple romance routes at once, and the characters involved will consider it cheating, and at least one of the characters will end the relationship with you.
At one point the player must complete a quest inside a haunted orphanage, the figure of crying ghost children can be seen through the mission. Additionally Skeletons, un-dead, spirits and demons are an enemy on the game.
Arl Amon's son is possessed. A mage at the Tower becomes an Abomination. The Big Bad Evil Guy leading the Blight is a mutated dragon possessed by an Elder God.
There is heated debate among fans of the game on the subject and surrounding. The guards and Templars (who guard a specific demographic of people and keep them from leaving) are not uncommonly treated sympathetically by the narrative, but not necessarily by all the characters.
There are a few instances where you see injured people being cared for on stretchers by healers or nurses, such as in the war camp at Ostagar. No medical instruments are visible.
There are many instances where your party travels through caves and narrow hallways. They are never in danger of being trapped and if you are meant to go there, it is wide enough for the characters to walk through.
While not PTSD by name, the Grey Wardens experience similar symptoms as a result of the "taint", or joining ritual they undertake where they drink darkspawn blood. They will frequently discuss their experiences with night terrors and hypervigilance, and the player character will experience one such nightmare about the Archdemon as a cutscene around mid-game.
Not as blatantly as some other games. But, Some of the mage abilities like Tempest and Blizzard might have a very similar effect, especially when one plays full screen, in a badly lit room, in dark areas.
Be careful w/ using the spells in maps such as the deeproads if you are photosensitive.
There is one small scene where an NPC wanders in the background talking about people controlling the world and making all the choices for you, which is a reference to him being a character and you controlling them all.
The N word is never used, but there are a lot of racial slurs used for other races that are used very heavily, especially in reference to elves and Qunari. If you play an elf, you will be called racial slurs by some NPCs.
At the brothel, there are prostitutes who are identified as "female" (with quotation marks, implying they're not really women). If you're playing on PC, there is a mod to correct these labels.
Leliana and Zevran are both bisexual characters that can die in your party (game mechanic deaths) as well as be killed by you through the course of the game's story. Several minor LGBT NPCs can also be killed or die regardless of your choices.
There is a type of demon (Desire) that can be seen in several places that wears very little clothing, pretty much just metal nipple clamps and a loin cloth.
In the brothel, if you choose the "Surprise me." option, one of the results has the Warden waking up in the room with two nugs (an animal similar to a pig and rabbit combined). There is no explanation, but if you mouse over them, it says that they won't make eye contact with you, implying that they either witnessed or took part in (or were) your sexual encounter.
If you have Alistair and Anora marry, the "gossip" characters you walk past have a conversation option where they joke about them being siblings due to her past marriage to his half-brother (not related by blood)
There is a Templar that can be found in a prison cell and a dwarven merchant in Orzammar that suffer from brain damage due to exposure to lyrium, and it seems very much like dementia.