# Forum > Discussion > Media Discussions > TV Dragon Age: Absolution

## Psyren

I searched and couldn't find any threads on this - have to say, it's pretty good! 

It debuted on Netflix a few days ago, and appears to be a connecting story taking place after the end of DAI Trespasser but before the upcoming DA4 (Dread Wolf). It references the events of Inquisition including the sky having been repaired (and features a couple of notable cameos via flashback), as well as tying into the ending of Dragon Age 2 by bringing back none other than *Spoiler: DA2 ending*
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Knight-Captain Meredith, the whackjob former head of the Kirkwall Templar Order who was transformed into a red lyrium statue at the end of that game; we learn here that she is alive and has a new identity as the Crimson Knight, with a massive red lyrium axe sword to grind against the Tevinter Imperium, so her chances of showing up in DA4 are pretty high.


Pros for me are the expanded lore we get about Tevinter, frequently through the lens of a talented young Magister voiced by Josh Keaton (aka Anduin Wrynn for the Warcraft fans among other roles), as well as a veritable wealth of major LGBT characters. Our main POV heroine is a former-slave elf assassin named Miriam who is voiced by Kimberly Brooks, aka Ashley Williams from the Mass Effect trilogy, but everyone else in the inevitable adventuring party is interesting and relatable too. Other notable voices include Phil Lamarr, Matt Mercer, Ashly Burch and Sumalee Montano.

The biggest con for me is the pacing - at only 6 episodes long it moves at breakneck speed, and several of the plot points could have used more time to breathe. There's one particularly bad moment in the final episode where one of the main cast has to stop the entire show in its tracks and explain to all the others what the plot was about, and I could just about hear every pencil in the writer's room snapping, but even that wasn't too bad.

All in all, this isn't going to beat Arcane or Castlevania any time soon, but I found it more interesting than Vox Machina; Thedas is a considerably more interesting setting than Exandria, and we don't have to rely on tropes like horny bards, ale-swilling barbarians, and broody rogues (okay I take it back, we still get that one, but for good reason) between plot beats. The fight scenes are also quite epic, especially the ones involving the mages.

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## Psyren

Oops, forgot the trailer:

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## Murk

I didn't even know this was a thing!

I'll need to look it up before I can have an opinion, I guess.

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## Giggling Ghast

I didnt care for it. As you said, the pacing was off, but Ill also note that most of the characters were flat (except the villain, oddly), there were a couple of annoying breaks with lore and the story was riddled with plot contrivances.

For instance, Tevinter citizens apparently feel the need to hassle every elven servant, but a Qunari (ie. that race of dogmatic giants that they are in a perpetual state of war with) is free to walk around and buy as many magical doodads as they like.

Oh, and the less said about that somehow Palpatine returned ending twist, the better.

Given the middling reception on Rotten Tomatoes and the lack of any splash outside of the DA fandom (its not rated as trending or even as popular on Netflix despite coming out on Dec. 9), I doubt it will get a Season 2.

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## Psyren

> I didnt care for it. As you said, the pacing was off, the characterization was flat, there were a couple of annoying breaks with lore and the story was riddled with plot holes and protagonist-centred morality.
> 
> Oh, and the less said about that somehow Palpatine returned ending twist, the better.
> 
> Given the middling rating on Rotten Tomatoes and the lack of any splash outside of the DA fandom (its not rated as trending or even as popular on Netflix despite coming out on Dec. 9), I doubt it will get a Season 2.


Eh, while it wasn't Arcane or anything, it wasn't that bad either. Though neither is ideal, I'd rather too-fast pacing that too-slow by a mile. And as for the RT rating, it wouldn't surprise me if the unabashed queerness of the leads played at least some role there.

Regarding the ending,
*Spoiler*
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I don't view Meredith's return that on the same level as Palpatine. For starters, she didn't actually die, she was encased in carbonite phlebotinum Red Lyrium. That's a mere 2 points in the algorithm already - and that's putting aside the properties of the blighted lyrium itself, which were apparently enough to make Corypheus immortal. So it keeping Meredith alive for a few years when she was in her prime seems fine.


I do agree with you that another season is unlikely though - not because the show tanked (though it may have), but because it seems to be a lead-in to Dread Wolf. It wouldn't surprise me if some of the characters here show up there.

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## Giggling Ghast

> And as for the RT rating, it wouldn't surprise me if the unabashed queerness of the leads played at least some role there.


You're probably right, though Arcane is still rated pretty well despite two of the leads being gay.




> Regarding the ending,
> *Spoiler*
> Show
> 
> I don't view Meredith's return that on the same level as Palpatine. For starters, she didn't actually die, she was encased in carbonite phlebotinum Red Lyrium. That's a mere 2 points in the algorithm already - and that's putting aside the properties of the blighted lyrium itself, which were apparently enough to make Corypheus immortal. So it keeping Meredith alive for a few years when she was in her prime seems fine.


*Spoiler*
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She wasnt encased in red lyrium, she *became* red lyrium. Also, Corypheus could do that body-surfing thing before he learned about the red stuff.

That said, preserving memories is one of the properties of regular lyrium, so it might not be Meredith at all, but rather a hunk of crystal containing whats left of her. Thus, her interest in restoring her body via a Tevinter artifact.

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## Psyren

> *Spoiler*
> Show
> 
> She wasnt encased in red lyrium, she *became* red lyrium.[/ Also, Corypheus could do that body-surfing thing before he learned about the red stuff.
> 
> That said, preserving memories is one of the properties of regular lyrium, so it might not be Meredith at all, but rather a hunk of crystal containing whats left of her. Thus, her interest in restoring her body via a Tevinter artifact.


*Spoiler*
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1) According to who? It's not like anyone broke her "statue" down into shards to check. Also, your theory in the second part is plausible.

2) Corypheus' power comes directly from the blight, which is the source of red lyrium.

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## Catullus64

Checked it out based on the discussion in this thread. Based on the first episode, I don't think it's for me (the Dragon Age world has always failed to really hold my interest, and this seems no exception), but it didn't feel like a waste of my time. I think it delivers pretty well on the kind of show it aims to be, even if I'm not the mark for it. 

It at least comes out favorably compared to _Castlevania_ in my estimation, which was an ok show that basically collapsed under its own pacing issues and inconsistent tone. DA:A at least seems much more capable on both those fronts. The  'D&D streaming campaign' tone, while not my thing, is at least consistent, and it doesn't waste time getting right into the main meat of the story. 

The fight scenes are well done, just of a school of action animation that doesn't really grab me; everything seems far too fluid and well-choreographed, and there's little sense of weight or danger to the blows. 

If these elements change radically after Episode 1, maybe I'll be tempted to revisit it. 

And as a final nitpick, Matt Mercer really needs to decide what Fairbanks' accent is.

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## Taevyr

Judging by the trailer, seems like a distinct "watch in background series" for me: I always liked the Dragon Age setting, but it seems like I'll enjoy this one more if I don't pay too much attention to it. Gives me a similar feel as the Vox Machina series, and that one was fun enough.

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## dancrilis

Personal opinion, it is bad.

Spoilers below for those who think they might watch, but in brief it is very much protaganist centered morality of the worst kind.

*Spoiler: spoilers*
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We are introduced to our protaganists as they are part of a robbery - during which they sabotage colleagues who might die from the fall that would have occured (might have survived as it is a cartoon but death if played fairly clear so I would be dubious about that), this sabotage is for convenience rather then core need also. 
The leader of the thieves guild doesn't like this and they effectively tell him that the those sacrificed were rubbish so no great loss.

They were stealing nothing important either it was for a pay day rather then a higher cause where sacrifices needed to be made - the two clients for the robbery turn out to be other protaganists and the entire thing was effectively meaningless and was done to recruit them - these people have alerted the guards to the general thieves for no particular reason. The thieves leader has had enough and after having his people been betrayed twice once by collegues and once by a client orders then killed - that doesn't go well and in a spark or light for the protaganists they don't murder everyone present - but it is clearly indicated they wouldn't be overly pushed about doing so despite knowing them and knowing their families.

The following episode sets up the overall plot - there is a magical artifact that can raise the dead back to as they were in life, and the antagonists want to use it to bring back someone but the artifact uses corrupt magic (blood magic) which neither of the antaganists wants to delve into so they want to find a different way to activate it.

This leads to the protaganists trying to steal the artifact to prevent it being used for badness (and causing a large amount of death as they do so) and the antagonists trying the best they can to prevent massive casualties.

Turns out the primary antagonist and the primary protagonist grew up together - he regards her as his beloved sister and she regards him as her slaver, the flashbacks indicated that where his mother was an abusive slave owner he himself didn't seen to ever hold her or her brother as anything other then family. She had escaped after she killed his mother to save her brother and then killed her brother as an accident and was then let go by the antagonist who then to save the brother bound him as an undead demon possessed corpse
He wants to use the magic artifact to undo that and restore the guy to life without any issues - that is his evil plan.

Our antagonist has delved into blood magic to try and contact his sister/slave to convince her to help him - and while it is poorly done it does seem to be corrupting him.

Our protaganists cause a whole lot more problems (and death) trying to free one of there own captured the last time them caused a lot of death - now they have everything they came for and the antagonists need to deal with a dragon on the loose.
Our antagonist finally goes off the deepend and kills an innocent guy (either because that guy saw him use blood magic or to use that guy for blood magic - either or both could be true) and binds the dragon to his will.
This is worth noting - he killed an guy who was on his side, he used that death to stop a killing machine for destroying a massive part of a city leading to untold deaths, compare to the protaganists who cause a whole load of deaths and were introduced likely killing people on their own side for minor convinence to steal something they didn't care about.

Now that the protaganists have everything they want, the item and all their members, it turns out that one of them was a betrayer - they planned to hand over the former slave to her slaver in exchange for the artifact all along, that is why the former slave was recruited ... this plan is never in the show at all, at no time in the show was this plan ever actually attempted nor was anything relating to it attempted.
This is not a matter of foreshadowing done poorly - this is a matter of we see the plan, we see it work and it is not this slave selling plan or anything related to it.

The antagonist shows up with a dragon and they have kindof went off the deep end - but they still want to bring the brother back to life, and it is clear they think that this will be done correctly and the guy will suffer no harm from it, the artifact seems to work as intended but the ghost rejects the offer leading to a final showdown where the dragon is freed to kill whoever it wants and the antagonist is dead and the betrayer gets the artifact and gets away - she wants to destroy the nation of her home because she thinks it is a bad place and so wants a war which will destroy it and the artifact will perhaps help someone who will help her with that.

The End.

There are other characters but they are not overly relevant to the overall conflict or story, but I will mention one of them -  the only person given any focus in the show who seems a decent person is the female antagonist, she leads and supports her men, she has no time for corrupt magic, she knows her nation is flawed and does want to make it a better place but knows that such things take time.
Had she been the protaganist I would likely be writing about an interesting show with a focus on the difficulties of remaining a decent person in an evil society dealing with evil attackers who seek to burn everything down (or in DnD terms a LG Paladin who is defending a LE kingdom which is under attack by CE forces and who is working not to compromise their morals even as those they love and respect do - and who wishes to move the society away from Evil) - it would have likely been a better show.


I haven't covered everything here by any means just the bits that stood out in my memory as I was writting the above - personal verdict give it a miss.

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## Giggling Ghast

Theres definitely a moral dissonance problem. 

*Spoiler*
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First the protagonists are presented as thieves and mercenaries, then they care enough about helpless servants to protect them from demons, and then saving Hira is such a priority that theyll carve up dozens of Tevinter guards and unleash a dragon, which appears to kill some of those servants and is going to ravage the countryside, just to save her?

Oh, and it was for all for nothing, since Hira planned to sell them out anyway and give the Circulum to a red lyrium monster.

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## Murk

Watched it!

I liked it well enough. It's a simple show. Simple plot and simple characters, maybe a bit one-dimensional at time. But the same tends to apply to the Dragon Age games so that's OK. 

Someone called it _background watching_? I think that's fair. 

The (lack of) morality of the protagonists doesn't bother me. Protagonists don't necessarily need to be moral people.
Also, since the antagonists participate in slavery and human sacrifice, it's hard for the protagonists _not_ to have the moral highground. 

On a separate note I continue to enjoy the Dragon Age franchise's commitment to their race*-sexuality-gender checklist. (*and _species_, since it's fantasy)
Sometimes I get annoyed when media seem to design characters purely to reach their quota, especially if it's the tokenism kind, or if they pretend they don't. But Dragon Age does it so consistently and so transparently that the checklist becomes an artform on its own.

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## Giggling Ghast

The problem wasnt the casts amorality, but their inconsistency.

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## InvisibleBison

> The problem wasnt the casts amorality, but their inconsistency.


I don't think they were shown to be particularly inconsistent. They generally cared primarily about themselves, and were willing to kill the soldiers who got in their way, but when confronted with helpless people who were about to be massacred they were willing to step in to protect them. That seems fairly consistent and within the "scoundrel with a heart of gold" archetype.

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## Giggling Ghast

> They generally cared primarily about themselves, and were willing to kill the soldiers who got in their way


You mean the Imperial Templars who also protected innocent civilians from the demons that Hira unleashed?




> but when confronted with helpless people who were about to be massacred they were willing to step in to protect them.


Yes, they care about helpless people except for the ones killed (or about to be killed) by the dragon they released from a magical prison, _a fact that is readily acknowledged within the show._

 :Elan:  Hooray! The people whose names I know are saved!

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## InvisibleBison

> You mean the Imperial Templars who also protected innocent civilians from the demons that Hira unleashed?
> 
> 
> 
> Yes, they care about helpless people except for the ones killed (or about to be killed) by the dragon they released from a magical prison, _a fact that is readily acknowledged within the show._
> 
>  Hooray! The people whose names I know are saved!


I'm not saying they're good people, I'm saying their behavior is generally consistent. You've pointed out two apparent inconsistencies in their actions: They're willing to kill the soldiers guarding the palace, but will fight to protect the servants; and they are willing to fight to protect the servants, but don't do anything about the dragon. I don't think either of these are actually contradictions.

In regards to the first issue, the protagonists strike me as thinking that it's morally acceptable to do violence to people who chose to make a living through violence. This is why they have no problem with killing the soldiers. Non-combatants, on the other hand, aren't acceptable targets for violence, which is why they choose to protect them from the security zombies.

As for the second issue, I feel like they only care about things that happen in their immediate presence. They know there's a lot of bad things happening in the world, but they also know they can't do anything about most of them, so they generally ignore them. However, when something they can do something about happens right in front of them, they do feel obligated to help out. This is why they protect the enslaved people in the palace but don't fight the dragon - the danger to the workers is immediate and within their power to address, whereas the threat posed by the dragon is just part of the various bad things happening in the world that they can't do anything about.

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## Psyren

I'm with InvisibleBison, the protagonists are not really trying to be heroic. They might be more inclined towards that now, given the events of the finale, but the fact that they're self-serving and morally dubious during the show proper is reasonable, they're quite literally being mercenary.




> You're probably right, though Arcane is still rated pretty well despite two of the leads being gay.


The female leads, yes - which historically tended to be more widely accepted. Thankfully this seems to be changing.




> Theres definitely a moral dissonance problem. 
> 
> *Spoiler*
> Show
> 
> First the protagonists are presented as thieves and mercenaries, then they care enough about helpless servants to protect them from demons, and then saving Hira is such a priority that theyll carve up dozens of Tevinter guards *and unleash a dragon*, which appears to kill some of those servants and is going to ravage the countryside, just to save her?
> 
> Oh, and it was for all for nothing, since Hira planned to sell them out anyway and give the Circulum to a red lyrium monster.


I don't think they can be blamed for the bold part.

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## Giggling Ghast

> They know there's a lot of bad things happening in the world, but they also know they can't do anything about most of them, so they generally ignore them,.


And in the case of the dragon, that is a bad thing that is directly their fault.




> I'm with InvisibleBison, the protagonists are not really trying to be heroic.


And yet, theres an effort to make them seem sympathetic, even though theyre not.

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## Murk

I don't think the characters are inconsistent in their morality, right? 
There's the elf who only cares for her own - at the start that's her, the mage and the warrior; later it includes the rest of the team; and at the end it includes other elf slaves. Everyone else she's reluctantly fine with murdering. The only bystanders she ever tries to save are elves. 
There's the warrior and the dwarf, who are mercenaries and do not seem to care at all about who dies. They make the joke about the dragon ravaging the countryside. I don't think they ever make any effort to limit the collatoral damage. 
There's the mage who hates everything Tevinter and wouldn't mind if the whole country and everyone in it dies. Collateral damage is a plus for her. 
The only one who seems to care about bystanders is the Qunari, who I think doesn't ever fight the guards and goes out of her way to save servants. _Maybe_ it's inconsistent that she releases a dragon, but I think it fits the chaotic/freedom type of morality. 

But I didn't get the impression the show tried to make the protagonists try to seem _sympathetic_ necessarily. I could _empathise_ with some of them, but I can do that without necessarily liking them on a personal level. 
Most of them are just here to blow stuff up and get the money.

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## Psyren

> And yet, theres an effort to make them seem sympathetic, even though theyre not.


Thedas is a dark fantasy setting; you can have sympathetic characters that are still not moral by our standards - see Morrigan, Zevran, Fenris, Merrill, Sera, Blackwall etc.

As far as the dragon, I'm curious to see what exactly it is you're proposing. Are they not sapient beings?

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## Giggling Ghast

> The only one who seems to care about bystanders is the Qunari, who I think doesn't ever fight the guards and goes out of her way to save servants. _Maybe_ it's inconsistent that she releases a dragon, but I think it fits the chaotic/freedom type of morality.


I think you forgot about Miriam twisting herself into moral backflips over that little elven girl who she first betrays and then saved from the dragon.

What was the point of that scene where Miriam hands the elven girl over to the drunk cook anyway? Couldnt she have just killed her and hid the body, as she did with the three guards she killed earlier? Was she afraid of the cook hitting her in the head with a spoon?  :Small Tongue: 




> Thedas is a dark fantasy setting; you can have sympathetic characters that are still not moral by our standards - see Morrigan, Zevran, Fenris, Merrill, Sera, Blackwall etc.


Im not trying to judge them by modern moral standards. Im judging them based on their inconsistent morality. Im doing this because the show hasnt given me a reason to give a **** about these dinks.




> As far as the dragon, I'm curious to see what exactly it is you're proposing. Are they not sapient beings?


Thedas dragons are reportedly as intelligent as dolphins, so thats somewhat debatable.

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## Murk

> I think you forgot about Miriam twisting herself into moral backflips over that little elven girl who she first betrays and then saved from the dragon.
> 
> What was the point of that scene where Miriam hands the elven girl over to the drunk cook anyway? Couldnt she have just killed her and hid the body, as she did with the three guards she killed earlier? Was she afraid of the cook hitting her in the head with a spoon?


I figured that was part of broadening the definition of "I care about my own". "My own" started as just her, the mage and the Orlesian guy, so she reluctantly sells out the elf girl. At the end it also includes other elf slaves, so she saves the elf girl.
I guess that's character development?  

Why she didn't just shank the cook is a good question. Probably inner turmoil and unresolved angst!





> Im doing this because the show hasnt given me a reason to give a **** about these dinks.


This I agree with, though. None of these characters I particularly care about.

But I'm not sure that's unintentional. I assume one of them will play a role in the next game and will have a fleshed-out character arc there. So nothing too essential can happen in this prologue because then game-only fans would miss out. 
I remember reading some of the books prior to the third game, which had the same issue. It was good pulp to read through on an afternoon but nothing that really stuck. At best, it made me think "Oh, hey, I know this guy" when playing the game. 
And that makes sense, I think - if the books (or now show) are too essential to the characters they become mandatory reading and you can't have that. 

How that translates to Netflix I'm not sure. Writing a small book is relatively cheap and might be worth it as promotional material. Making a whole animated show... dunno.

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## Giggling Ghast

In general, the books have been decent for video game tie-in novels.

Most of the Dark Horse comics have been good, though I personally hated Magekiller, ie. the tale of the Inquisitions janitorial staff.

We, uh, we dont talk about the other expanded media in the Dragon Age universe.

Oh look, a fairly positive review for Absolution from The Escapist.

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## Psyren

> Thedas dragons are reportedly as intelligent as dolphins, so thats somewhat debatable.


Don't dodge the question. What are you proposing? Should they have *Spoiler*
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murdered it in cold blood,
 something they couldn't be sure they were even equipped to do, and would have almost certainly resulted in casualties if not a TPK?

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## Giggling Ghast

> Don't dodge the question. What are you proposing? Should they have *Spoiler*
> Show
> 
> murdered it in cold blood,
>  something they couldn't be sure they were even equipped to do, and would have almost certainly resulted in casualties if not a TPK?


*Spoiler*
Show

What about not releasing the dragon in the first place? The Tevinter mages had it contained until Awkward and Excitable Character Played by Ashly Burch #1405 let it loose a second time.

I'm not suggesting they could or should have killed the dragon once Rezaren's control was broken. I'm suggesting that unleashing it in the first place to save Hira was wrong, especially given their supposed willingness to defend helpless servants.

"Well, what else do you propose?" I dunno, how about just giving Rezaren what he wanted?

Raising the dead should be flat out impossible in the Dragon Age setting. The souls of the dead pass from the physical world into the Fade and then move on to some other unknown destination. The Mortalitasi have figured out how to pin souls to corpses, but that doesn't bring the person magically back to life.

But let's say this ancient magister who made the Circulum did figure out how to bring back the dead, but decided never to use this incredible lore-breaking power. Why not just let Rezaren resurrect Neb? The show presents this as a bad thing, but never explains WHY it is bad except that it involves blood magic. But blood magic is not inherently evil, or so I've been told by a thousand howling mage apologists.

"But Rezaren wanted wanted Miriam to be his slave." OK, but Miriam is extremely capable. If she got out of Tevinter once, why couldn't she just escape his service a second time?

That's even if she WANTED to escape. Remember, all this death and destruction was for the purpose of saving Hira, who planned on betraying Miriam and giving up the Circulum to a red lyrium monster. After Rezaren informed Miriam of Hira's betrayal, it's concievable that Miriam might have chosen to stick with her adopted brother.

Or maybe she would have wanted to leave, and he would have let her go. He seemed fairly reasonable up until the point Miriam decapitated Neb.

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## Psyren

> *Spoiler*
> Show
> 
> What about not releasing the dragon in the first place? The Tevinter mages had it contained until Awkward and Excitable Character Played by Ashly Burch #1405 let it loose a second time.
> 
> I'm not suggesting they could or should have killed the dragon once Rezaren's control was broken. I'm suggesting that unleashing it in the first place to save Hira was wrong, especially given their supposed willingness to defend helpless servants.
> 
> "Well, what else do you propose?" I dunno, how about just giving Rezaren what he wanted?


*Spoiler*
Show

Uh... Give the very obviously evil Magister with designs on taking control the country the artifact that lets him reach beyond life and death? Nah, I'd say that's worth releasing the dragon he enslaved to prevent.





> Raising the dead should be flat out impossible in the Dragon Age setting. The souls of the dead pass from the physical world into the Fade and then move on to some other unknown destination. The Mortalitasi have figured out how to pin souls to corpses, but that doesn't bring the person magically back to life.


"Lore-breaking?" We've had multiple "resurrections" in Dragon Age canon actually; I assumed the Circulum was doing something along these established lines. The most prominent of these are *Spoiler: Origins*
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Wynne and Leliana (if the latter got murdered by an evil Warden) - where the "resurrection" involved a spirit from the Fade with all the deceased character's memories and personality keeping their existence going for a time.
 The impression I got was that the Circulum works in a similar fashion, especially given that *Spoiler*
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Miriam's "brother" immediately eradicates the body he was summoned to.

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## Giggling Ghast

> *Spoiler*
> Show
> 
> Uh... Given the obviously evil Magister ...


Not obviously evil, given his initial hesitation to use blood magic and his aim of reforming Tevinter.




> *Spoiler*
> Show
> 
> Lore-breaking?" We've had multiple "resurrections" in Dragon Age canon actually; I assumed the Circulum was doing something along these established lines. The most prominent of these areWynne and Leliana (if the latter got murdered by an evil Warden)


Doesnt count.

*Spoiler*
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Wynne was near death and the spirit healed her, Leliana was a lyrium ghost.


Neither of these involve bringing back a person who has been dead for years.

Consider instead Quentin from DA2, who wanted to bring back his dead wife and had to settle instead for a simulacrum made from the body parts of murdered women.

*Spoiler*
Show

Also, if Nebs soul really did destroy his body, then all this death and destruction was EXTRA pointless.

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## Psyren

> Doesnt count.


It does.




> *Spoiler*
> Show
> 
> Wynne was near death and the spirit healed her, Leliana was a lyrium ghost.


*Spoiler*
Show

No, Wynne actually died. The spirit didn't merely heal her from near death, it is (was) keeping her body animated and her existence intact.

Regarding Leliana, we're both right. Deadiana is a lyrium ghost from the Fade as you say, but it still was capable of perfectly impersonating her, maintaining all her memories, skills and personality, even remembering how the original died.





> Neither of these involve bringing back a person who has been dead for years.


I never said it has to be resurrection in a D&D sense. Whichever method in the spoiler above the Circulum uses would be more than enough to give it its reputation without "breaking lore." It is, in fact, perfectly consistent with the lore.

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