I hear a lot of people complain about the so-called "Bioware canon", fearing that its mere existence makes some of their decisions from earlier games irrelevant.
I am writing this thread to drive one message home: It does nothing of the sort! Its existence is not a problem! Since some people appear to have so much trouble understanding what is immediately apparent to me, I'll try to explain.
First, the ruling principle: Every playthrough of a DA game creates a self-contained universe.
People need to recognize that it is impossible to write books or comics - anything with a linear, invariant story - which are consistent with two or more world-states which contradict each other unless they never touch on the story of the game which creates those world-states. Clearly, it is undesirable to write exclusively about totally unrelated events. Regardless of what the writers of those books choose as a setting, it will always contradict some players' worldlines.
However, the events of the books happen in one world-line only: the one Bioware chose to use. Because every playthrough creates a self-contained universe, these events, while related to all playthroughs through the common elements of the setting - characters, places, themes etc.. - remain narratively completely unrelated to the events of any particular playthrough of a DA game. They exist in an alternative universe!
Some people may argue that the mere existence of a "Bioware canon" influences their perception of the setting and the meanings of the events in it. I say that is *your* problem, and solving it lies in adjusting that attitude. It is a necessary adjustment because (I) a canon is necessary for the writing of books and comics and (II) if there is a canon, it will always be a problem for those who (1) have different events in their playthroughs and (2) keep ascribing to the canon a weight beyond the publications it is made for.
Some people may argue "Surely there is some reason why Bioware chose *this* canon". Well, there probably is, but rather likely it has nothing to do with giving their specific version a special meaning or sending a message to players that their version is how it's supposed to be. Why do I think this? Between ME and DA, there has been a consistent pattern of making those world-lines into defaults which were least likely to be chosen by players (just think of how few ME players killed Wrex and how "Wrex is dead" ended up as the default for ME2). This creates a separation that I think should be rather easy to understand by everyone: this book is not based on your Warden, but on ours. Don't ascribe inappropriate significance to it. It also sets the default apart from most imported world-states. Again, the default exists because some default must exist, for no other reason, and while I can't look into the developers' minds, the reason for choosing a default lies probably rather in using a world-state which is as different from most players' world-states as possible.
Which brings me to the next principle: Make the story yours!
Every one of us invests a lot of time into the stories we create by playing the games. Yes, I mean that: we create the stories. Sure, Bioware creates its possible elements and circumscribes the borders of our decisions, but in the end the story is ours. The characters we create, the decisions we make, they create a story which is likely to be almost singular if you take all the variables into account, and again, if you don't use some of those variables, for instance by using an unmodified preset for your character, it is your own fault. Add those character traits and motivations which remain invisible because they only exist in your mind, and your variant of a particular game's story becomes even more significant.
I'm making this point because the "Bioware canon" is no different from any alternate decision path made by some player other than you. Do you ascribe other players' choices significance for your story? The answer I suspect would come from some: "It's special because it's Bioware's" tells me you haven't made the story yours successfully.
I do worry about the game facilitating our ability to make the story ours, after ME3 made it so incredibly hard, but the DA games have been rather good in that so far, and if the DA team manages what Mark Darrah says they aim for - giving the player more freedom - DAI will not fail in this regard. Anyway, regardless of other worries, the existence of a "Bioware canon" does not present a problem. It's just there, in some alternative universe the Bioware writers use for their books, or for those games of DAI which don't have a world-state to import. It doesn't influence our variants of the universe unless we let it. Or unless Bioware decides to force it upon the players - which hasn't happened yet in DA.
Perhaps juggling alternate universes in their minds is not easy to learn for everyone, but it is a necessary ability to acquire in order to enjoy any scenario which creates them, which means any set of two or more games where one influences the others.
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