How Netflix’s Dragon Age: Absolution hints at Dreadwolf with Tevinter

If you ask BioWare’s John Epler about Dragon Age: AbsolutionHe identifies one feature of the Netflix animated series as a building block for the eagerly awaited fourth Dragon Age. Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. And it’s not the stinger of the final episode, when an old foe thought dead made an unexpected comeback.

Epler, however, focuses on the positive aspects of the crew. The AbsolutionI was able, thanks to the fans’ expectation, to explore Tevinter, the fictional nation that supports slavery and magic-fueled human sacrifice. DreadwolfSince the end of the scene in the Final Scene of Dragon Age: Inquisition’s final DLC adventure.

“The most important thing for us was […] to make sure that we didn’t shy away or gloss over the sins of Tevinter, especially when you go to such an extreme country,” Mairghread Scott, The Absolution’s showrunner, told Polygon.

It’s that unflinching look, Epler added, that “provides us with with opportunities, in the future, to go more into those places with a conflict. What do people living in there that are actually genuinely good people, not just people who see themselves as good people, look like?”

One thing is certain, Polygon met Scott and Epler by video chat to discuss the topic. The Absolution, it was that to them, Tevinter wasn’t just a consortium of powerful mage politicians, a particular kind of architecture, or a location on a fantasy map. Tevinter allowed for the creation of fascinating and flawed characters that could be distressingly relatable.

[Ed. note: Some spoilers for Dragon Age: Absolution follow.]

Image courtesy of Netflix

The Absolution boasts a quartet of Tevinter characters: the reluctantly heroic Miriam, a formerly enslaved elf; her paramour, Hira, a mage who has turned her back on her country; Tassia, a warrior who believes her role is to protect others at all costs; and the series’ main villain, the magister Rezaren Ammosine.

Rezaren is a portrait in denial — the way he sees it, he’s doing everything he can to right a wrong, reunite his family, and resurrect his brother. The reality is that he will never see his “siblings” as anything other than property, and he will never relinquish the superiority Tevinter offers him as a slave-owning, highly ranked mage.

“We write very sympathetic villains, who are essentially encouraging you to look away from their misdeeds,” Scott said, “but ultimately, it was really important for me to try and look them in the eye as much as we could. […] It’s really easy in a story like Dragon Age to gloss over some of the evils of abuse, slavery, caste systems. I really felt like it was important that we look at those in a manner as realistic as we could — or as respectful as we could; it’s hard to say realistic in a fantasy setting.”

“A lot of the people living within [Tevinter]They have either convinced or tricked their way into believing that they are the truth. This is how things work.,” Epler said. “Rezaren is a person who sees, Yeah, of course, it’s unfair, of course, but this is just the world we’re in. It’s interesting, because ultimately, I think that is the Tevinter attitude for a lot of people. It also provides an interesting ability to contrast that with people who are in that society and maybe don’t see things the exact same way; they don’t just accept that this is the way things are.”

There are many players Dragon Age: DreadwolfBased on the short teasers BioWare released, they will venture to Tevinter against Solas. Solas is an renegade mage, cult leader, who last saw rallying the poor of the world for his cause. But who plans to rip reality apart. In other words, in classic Dragon Age fashion, it’s a complex ethical situation that looks to be happening in an even more morally complex place.

Image courtesy of Netflix

Polygon concluded the chat with one simple question. Polygon was one of many in the vast array. Dragon Age: Inquisition, why choose Fairbanks (voiced by Matt Mercer), the Orlesian freedom fighter, as the show’s most prominent ripped-from-the-games character? There was an easy answer. And, according to Scott, it had nothing to do with “the sheer joy it is to kill [Mercer] as many times as humanly possible.”

“Look, I’ll be honest, I really couldn’t bring myself to kill Harding,” Scott said, referring to one of Inquisition’s fan favorite (yet not romantically available to the player) characters. “Like, No, I’m still hoping to romance her. […]Our characters also needed to feel a certain level of danger. Having the leader of the team and the guy who in theory planned most of this die really early was a way to get the audience to understand that all bets were off the table.”