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

If you ask John Epler of BioWare about Dragon Age: Liberationhe pointed out an aspect of Netflix’s animated spinoff as we build towards the long-awaited fourth Dragon Age game, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. And that’s not the highlight of the final episode, when an old enemy who seemed dead suddenly returns.

Instead, Epler highlights how the crew on pardon was able to delve into the fictional country of Tevinter, a dark empire powered by slavery and magic that takes human sacrifice, and a country fans expect will be the setting. belong to werewolves for more than a decade, since the last scene of Dragon Age: Inquisition‘S Ultimate DLC Adventure.

“The most important thing for us is […] to make sure we don’t shy away from or cover up Tevinter’s sins, especially when you come to such a harsh country,” said Mairgread Scott, pardonpresenter, told Polygon.

Epler added, it is that unflinching look “provided us the opportunity, in the future, to go deeper into places where there is conflict. The people who live there are really good people, not just people who consider themselves good people, what do they look like?”

And if one thing is clear, when Polygon sat down with Scott and Epler over video to chat about pardonFor them, Tevinter is more than a corporation of powerful wizard politicians, a particular type of architecture, or a place on a fantasy map. Tevinter is an opportunity to create characters that are compelling, flawed, and perhaps unsettling.

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

Image: Netflix

pardon boasts a quartet of Tevinter characters: the reluctant hero Miriam, an elf formerly enslaved; her mistress, Hira, a magician who has turned her back on her country; Tassia, a warrior who believes her role is to protect others at all costs; and the main antagonist of the series, the magician Rezaren Ammosine.

Rezaren is a portrait of denial – the way he sees it, he’s doing everything he can to correct his mistakes, reunite his family, and revive his brother. The fact that he will never consider his “siblings” to be anything other than property, and he will never give up the superiority that Tevinter has for him as a High ranking mage, slave owner.

“We write very sympathetic villains that basically encourage you to stay away from their misbehavior, but in the end what really matters to me is trying to make eye contact,” says Scott. them as much as possible. […] It’s easy in a story like Dragon Age to cover up some of the evils of abuse, slavery, caste system. I really feel it’s important that we look at these things as realistically as possible – or as respectfully as possible; It’s hard to say what’s real in a fantasy setting.”

“A lot of people live in [Tevinter] have deceived themselves or have convinced themselves that, Well, this is just the way things are,” said Epler. “Rezaren is one who sees, Well, it’s not fair, of course, but this is just the world we live in. It’s interesting, because in the end, I think that’s Tevinter’s attitude towards a lot of people. It also offers an interesting possibility to contrast that with people in that society who may not see things the same way; They don’t just accept that this is the way things are.”

Player of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, to judge by the brief trailers BioWare has released, will venture to Tevinter to fight Solas, a rebellious mage and cult leader last seen rallying the oppressed on world for his own sake, but the one secretly plots to tear reality apart. In other words, in classic Dragon Age fashion, it’s a complicated moral situation that seems to be happening in an even more morally complicated place.

Image: Netflix

For a change, Polygon closed the conversation with a simple question. From the massive cast of Dragon Age: Inquisition, why choose Fairbanks (voiced by Matt Mercer), the Orlesian freedom fighter, as the show’s most prominent character ripped from the game? As it turns out, there is a simple answer. And, according to Scott, that has nothing to do with “the sheer joy of being killed.” [Mercer] as many times as humans can.

“Look, I’ll be honest, I can’t really kill Harding myself,” Scott said, referring to one of the investigatefan favorite (yet not romantic for players) characters. “Prefer, No, I still hope to be romantic with her. […] We also wanted to build a real sense of danger for our characters. Letting the leader of the team and the man who theoretically planned the majority of this die very early is one way to make the audience understand that all bets are out of the question.”