Netflix just released a new trailer for Dragon Age: Absolution, a six-episode animated show about a magical heist made in partnership with BioWare. I criticized the last trailer for that generally boring. The new trailer is a marked improvement over what Netflix originally showed. If you’re a BioWare sucker like me, then you might have gotten some clues as to the plot of absolution. They’re not hidden, but they require a bit dragon time to parse knowledge.
The story takes place in the Tevinter Imperium, a brutal nation where slavery is still legal and slave rebellions are frequent. Our band of heroes is hired to steal a powerful artifact to keep it from falling into the “wrong” hands. While I haven’t seen any references to in-game events, I did notice that Cassandra Pentaghast introduced the main cast of something Absolution. Cassandra is a seeker of truth (a kind of anti-magic secret police) and she helped the player save the world Dragon Age Inquisition. Which means the series is likely set after the events of Inquisition. BioWare has previously included spin-off content in side quests for inquisitionso I wouldn’t be surprised if elements of the show make it Dragon Age: Dread Wolf, the latest entry in BioWare’s action RPG series. So even if you’re undecided while watching absolutionit might be worth it for that dire wolf lore crumbs.
The trailer mainly focuses on the protagonist Miriam, who is an elf slave in the empire. It shows their owner using humans as part of a painful ritual. This form of casting is called blood magic, which often sacrifices life to increase a mage’s power. It’s safe to say that Miriam has always lived with the knowledge that she could be killed by her “mother” at any time. So it feels a little unfair when her friend Hira accuses her of being a coward who wouldn’t stand up to injustice.
But that’s exactly what I enjoy absolution trailer & dragon time as a franchise. World do-gooders and freedom fighters who are ostensibly on the same side will have differences of opinion because of their social class, experiences, and individual traumas. if absolution can give me a lot of intra-faction conflict in six episodes, then I’ll be happy with that.
But I’m also a little concerned about one aspect of the story trailer – its antagonist. He eventually gets the show’s MacGuffin, the Circulum Infinitus. The artifact uses blood magic as its power. Here’s how Cassandra describes his exploits: “I don’t recall anything good coming from something fueled by murder.” However, his quotes seem to indicate that he is trying to better the Empire. In which dragon time World, that usually means ending slavery or breaking the existing power structure of powerful mages. Both of those goals are noble, and I don’t want this thing to be spoiled by a terrible plot device. It believes that any well-intentioned revolutionary in fantasy media is inevitably charged with human rights abuses to show why rebellion is wrong. I hope so absolution doesn’t end in such a tired trope.
Dragon Age: Absolution comes to Netflix on December 9th.
