Dragon Age: Absolution, which launched on Netflix on December 9th, 2022, left us fans with a lot of unresolved questions and mysteries to investigate. For those who are brand new to the Dragon Age franchise, or are a long-time veteran, welcome because there is a lot of lore & secrets that are explained here in the show. Because Dragon Age Absolution is situated in a video game world, much of the narrative has already been built up and established from previous games, comics, and even in the Dragon Age books.
So, let us begin, and as always, this will include major spoilers from the Netflix show, so I strongly advise you to watch it as it is quite short for a Netflix series: Absolution is a six-episode show, with each episode lasting roughly around 23 minutes. If some of you aren't too interested in Netflix shows like I was, then a review is tagged at the end for your convenience. There will also be another in-depth video describing in the lore of this show, so like this video if you want to see more of that type of content. Regardless, let's discover 5 Secrets We Learned In Dragon Age: Absolution-
The Inquisition Is Disbanded:
Hira & Fairbanks, who are known secret members of the Inquisition, state that before the Inquisition ended, they gave Fairbanks and Hira one last mission before they broke up, to steal an artifact powered by blood magic known as the Circulum Infinitus. This makes a lot of fans conclude that the Inquisition is currently disbanded and selects agents to perform certain tasks to withhold any Inquisition enemy, such as the Elder One, the Venatori, Fen'Harel, and much more.
Miriam, the elven rogue even states that the Herald of Andraste sealed the Breach, and Killed Corypheus. So, as this subject entails, the timeline of Absolution definitely seems to take place after Trespasser, where the Inquisitor, the protagonist of Dragon Age: Inquisition, is left with a choice of either disbanding the Inquisition or keeping it and serving Divine Victoria's special forces.
It looks like there is either a default world-state BioWare is sticking to for this plot, and now we know that the Inquisition is at least disbanded in this Dragon Age netflix show. There is also of course a lot of Inquisition references in later episodes, such as stating giving the artifact to Skyhold, and even showing Cassandra and Leliana (and if you squint, you can even see Josie and Cullen sneaked in there).
Regardless, there is a lot of Inquisition references in this show, and it had many fans excited to see the Inquisition still in full-works, and BioWare world state being confirmed within this show.
The Circulum Infinitus Origin
The Circulum Infinitus is an item that uses blood magic to bring the dead back to life. It is required by several organizations throughout the program, but the mystery revealed by the spirit known as Memory piqued viewers' interest in this relic.
Memory, the wisdom spirit, states that the Circulum Infinitus was the last and greatest work of Magister Amelia Pavus. The last name Pavus belongs to another mage who we know from Dragon Age: Inquisition as Dorian who is also from House Pavus. It is quite strange but not surprising knowing that House Pavus was involved with creating this artifact, but it is a slipped in secret, and many fans will perk their ears when hearing the creation of this relic.
Magister Amasine, the mage who was assigned to research on this artifact states that this artifact was crafted here in the Summer Palace, which I we find out is also part of an Old God temple. However, the artifact was lost in the scuffle of politics and history. The Memory spirit also states that it hasn't ever been used by anyone.
And states, "should the circulum go to the one who seeks it, all of Tevinter will burn".
As far as we know from House Pavus, it seems to be very little. We know that Dorian's father was also part of the Magisters of the Tevinter Imperium, and after Trespasser DLC from Inquisition, Dorian is now part of the Magisterium and has a group called Lucerni; a faction within the magisterium whose primary goal is to redeem and restore Tevinter. So perhaps Amelia Pavus is an ancestor of Dorian, and whether her life was involved with either the Old God religion or even the Imperial Chantry will be left to find out or be a mystery until Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.
The Summer Palace Origin:
The city of Nessum holds the Summer Palace, an old castle dedicated to all the Black Divines of the Tevinter Imperial Chantry. Miriam, the main protagonist explains that it is 3 structures tied together, the cathedral is at the top, below, is a maze of secret smuggler passages an Old Divine used to use. And lastly, all of the structure is built on top of an old sealed temple dedicated to the old religion the Tevinter magisters used to believe in, the Old Gods.
In episode 2, Knight Commander Tassia explains that this place also had slave corpses Marconius IV built into the walls of this palace. It also shows some Imperial Chantry knowledge, Tassia quickly explains in some episodes that the Divine built the vault where the Circulum was hiding to be a last resort if a coup happened.
Also, according to Fairbanks in episode 1, while getting into the palace, Nessum is the end of a pilgrimage route created by Divine Adnias. Chronologically, we can't say where all of these divines line up, since we only really learn of the first Black Divine Valhail, and even the most recent Divine from 9:27 Dragon being Urian Nihalias from World of Thedas Volumes 1 & 2.
So there is a lot of easter eggs within the palace, including the dragon that was sealed below in the vault, but it's pretty interesting to learn a little more about the history of the Black Divines and origin of this location in the city of Nessum.
The Venatori's Influence:
The Venatori are an armed cult of Tevinter nationalist supremacists working to sow chaos in other nations across Thedas in order to further the machinations of their enigmatic deity, the Elder One, whom they believe will restore Tevinter's glory.
The Tevinter Imperium does not officially sanction them in any way. However, in this show, it seems like the Venatori do have a large influence more than we expected in the Tevinter Imperium. Of course, it's not too surprising since even in the Dragon Age comic Knight Errant, Archon Radonis even recognizes their threat to the Imperium and tries to get 4 senior Venatori members killed, one of them even included Calpernia who we know can work closely with the Elder One if we side with the Templars in Inquisition. And even in Tevinter Nights, it's hinted the Venatori are still in the works within the walls of Minrathous.
However, according to episode 5 of Dragon Age: Absolution, the Venatori continue to wield more power than we anticipated. Hira is revealed to be a mage of a deceased old powerful family from the northern part of Tevinter. Her family began assisting the people of Tevinter (specifically slaves) during her childhood, which enraged the Venatori. Hira's father was burned alive in their front yard by the Venatori as an example of her family's disobedience to Tevinter traditions. Since Hira is shown to be a child during her father's death at the hands of the Venatori, it appears that the Venatori are ingrained in Tevinter tradition and have been around longer than Corypheus' reign at the end of Dragon Age 2, and even after the Inquisition.
I'm not really sure, but it kind of seems to imply that they are more powerful in the Imperium and that they have been upholding Tevinter's traditions. But, in any case, the Venatori are a major plot point in a lot of the extra content like the comics, books, and now this Netflix show, which might intend that BioWare will show them in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.
Knight Commander Meredith:
Some Dragon Age fans who haven't seen Absolution will be very surprised by this. Hira, who intended to betray the Inquisition, was going to give the artifact to the Crimson Knight at the end of episode 6, the show's final episode.
The Crimson Knight is known to be revealed as Knight Commander Meredith from Dragon Age 2. She is crystalized in red lyrium, with the Red Templars guarding and telling her that Hira is arriving to Kirkwall to give her the artifact. To be honest, can Hawke actually start finishing their kills now? No seriously, Knight commander Meredith seems to be back and is using her power I'm assuming from the red lyrium idol, or perhaps she is stuck in that body and the Veil is thin enough in Kirkwall for her to possess it until someone can revive her through the artifact.
We can tell she moved based on what we see in just a few seconds, and we know she moved a lot all through Inquisition. Years after the Kirkwall incident, Meredith's body is said to be at the Gallows. Because it is still contaminated with red lyrium, no one wants to go near it. Meredith's petrified remains appear to have been relocated to a shelf in the Black Emporium as a result of her reluctance (although, some fans just consider this not even really her).
And even in the Trespasser DLC a codex explains, A spontaneous parade was held by the Kirkwall City Guard to commemorate the removal of Meredith's body from the Gallows. Several Lowtown residents spontaneously composed a song with the lyrics "Thank the Maker the crazy cursed Templar is gone," which was remarkably catchy.
But now in this show, Meredith is revealed to be alive and has taken the moniker The Crimson Knight after the Inquisition closes the Breach. She is now housed in a chamber in Kirkwall manned by Red Templars.
It's honestly just as shocking to many fans and even I'm kind of annoyed that she's back. But it does give a crazy amount of anticipation for the next season of this Netflix show, if it will ever happen.
But with that, we are going to wrap u-
HOLD ON a second, I promised to give you guys a review. To be honest, if some viewers skipped to the end, I'll just say this: This show will most likely be used by BioWare to prepare the plot for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. It was embarrassingly short at only 6 episodes, and I really want to see more. The character development was very quick for a 6 episode show, and even I was surprised at the change and growth of some characters. But I'm also thinking that because it was so short, it makes me suspect there was a limited budget BioWare had to work with for a Netflix show.
Some of the humor was there, and some of it wasn't; I believe some of the writers thought it was funny for themselves, but for a large audience, it came across as cringey. The best character they did well on, in my opinion, was Qwydion; her humor was good at points when things got serious within the plot, and she made a good impression on the show as well.
Lore-wise, BioWare did such an excellent job concealing a lot of lore from Northern Tevinter that I can now say it was very fascinating to learn about Tevene civilization firsthand, especially the culture of slavery, where a lot of people were still considered as second-class citizens in the end. However, I'm sure some new fans viewing the show may struggle to grasp why some things are bad in Thedas (such as blood magic, and even Tevinter as a whole)
Romance was, once again, pretty brief for what we saw, but I prefer a slow-burn sort of romance for characters, and even in Dragon Age games, romances take time to flourish. However, this was attributed to the brief duration of the episodes rather than the relationship itself.
As a long-time Dragon Age fan, I can tell you that it is not for everyone, but I went in with no expectations and was pleasantly pleased. It would be nice to hear Netflix give them another season, hoping that it should be announced soon for us to gain more attention for the franchise, but that will really be up to them and BioWare at this point.
Now we are going to wrap up, what do you all think of this Netflix show? Did you enjoy it? Do you wish there was more episodes? Let me know in the comments down below: and if you don't comment, I will revive some character we truly thought was dead back to life! (Wait, I'm not a Bioware writer, shit) As I was saying, thank you for watching, and I will see you in the next video.
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