History WesternAnimation / DragonAgeAbsolution

* {{Animesque}}: Much like other Netflix-original adult animated series, ''Absolution'' resembles in terms of both art style and especially animation during action scenes, which are high octane and fantastical resembling Sakuga style.

* [=Animesque=]: Much like other Netflix-original adult animated series, ''Absolution'' resembles in terms of both art style and especially animation during action scenes, which are high octane and fantastical resembling Sakuga style.

* AccidentalMurder: [[spoiler: Miriam killed her brother after he was possessed during Rezaren’s Harrowing]]

** [[spoiler: The Circulum's power of resurrection has one major caveat that Rezaren either didn't know or never considered: the dead person's spirit must ''willingly'' return to their body. Not only can they choose to stay dead, but they gain the power to destroy their body to prevent any future resurrection attempts. Neb's spirit does exactly that, meaning Rezaren's efforts were entirely for naught.]]

* AmbiguousSituation: The subject of Fairbanks' [[spoiler:betrayal is subject to a lot of speculation. Did he betray Hira, knowing she wanted to use the Circulum to start a war with the Imperium like Miriam and the rest of the party believe, or did he have his own agenda like her? If it's the former, were Cassandra and Leliana aware of Hira's intentions all along, and he was under orders to kill her from the start or did he figure it out on his own?]]
* AmicableExes: Played with. Miriam and Sapphira were in a relationship, but the latter left to join the Inquisition when the Breach opened up. Miriam refused to go with her and broke things off. While understandably bitter with Sapphira, Miriam is otherwise cordial and works with her during the heist job in Tevinter. Sapphira, for her part, wants to rekindle their relationship. [[spoiler: Ultimately, Hira chooses her goal of destroying Tevinter over her feelings for Miriam, getting rid of the amicable part entirely.]]

** [[spoiler:Sapphira also presents herself as an idealistic member of the Inquisition who has to convince the cynical Miriam to take on the mission to keep the Circulum Infinitus out of the wrong hands. By the end it's revealed that not only is does she want to use the Circulum burn the Imperium to the ground, damn the consequences, but her plan to steal the it involved ''handing'' Miriam over to Rezaran in exchange and somehow double crossing him afterwards. She protests that she would have allowed Miriam to escape, somehow, but it evidently rings hollow.]]
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: Downplayed. In the final episode of first season we learn that [[spoiler:Hira]] is working for the Crimson Knight, a character never mentioned before in the entire franchise...except the episode ends revealing [[spoiler: that Crimson Knight is actually Meredith Stannard, BigBad of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'']].

* CapturedSuperEntity: In addition to the Circulum Infinitus, the crypts of the summer palace also hold [[spoiler: a high dragon held in magical stasis. It is initially awakened by Hira's activation of the security system and is then released by Qwydion as part of Miriam's plan to save Hira.]]

* CuttingOffTheBranches: The series is set after the events of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' as Miriam says the Herald of Andraste sealed the Breach [[spoiler:and killed Corypheus]] and that the Inquisition was disbanded, rather than being reduced in size and under the Divine's order as was possible in ''Tresspasser'' -- however, given that they were absorbed by the Chantry in the latter scenario, an ordinary Thedosian might not see the difference. For the sake of ambiguity, the gender and identity of the Inquisitor is never mentioned and referred to using gender-neutral pronouns and never make an appearance themselves, with flashbacks to Skyhold showing only Cassandra and the Advisors. Similarly, there's no mention of who succeeded Justinia as Divine.

** In Episode 2, Rezarem questions Memory, the spirit of wisdom who knows more about the Circulum Infinitus than anyone else in the Imperium. Memory warns Rezarem he's not the only one seeking the Circulum's power. At first, it sounds like he's talking about Miriam and the others. [[spoiler:His choice of wording says otherwise: He's talking about Hira, or possibly even ''Meredith'', who wants to use the Circulum to start a war with Tevinter.]]

* LastEpisodeNewCharacter: In the 6th episode we learn that [[spoiler: Hira]] is actually working for someone called the Crimson Knight, complete with several characters echanging confused glances to indicate they have no idea who that is. [[spoiler:Subverted when the final scene reveals the Crimson Knight is [[VideoGame/DragonAgeII Meredith Stannard]]]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: In the third episode, Miriam allows a drunken cook to take a slave back to punish her for stealing food [[DisproportionateRetribution from the garbage]], as she cannot move from her post. After repeating the words she told Hira how "no one saves people like us" to herself, she tries to rectify her mistake and searches for the girl. She never does as the Summer Palace becomes swarmed with monsters and demons after the security system is activated. [[spoiler: She is able to save her and several of the other slaves later by the end, during the dragon's rampage.]]

* WhereIWasBornAndRazed: [[spoiler: Hira sees nothing worth saving in Tevinter ever since her family was murdered by the Venatori while the Magisterium just stood by. So she plans to give the Circulum Infinitus to the Crimson Knight to ignite a war that would burn all of Tevinter, no matter how innocent or guilty, to the ground.]]

* AmbiguousSituation: The subject of Fairbanks' [[spoiler:betrayal is subject to a lot of speculation. Did he betray Hira, knowing she wanted to use the Circulum to start a war with the Imperium like Miriam and the rest of the party believe, or did he have his own agenda like her? Or were Cassandra and Leliana aware of Hira's intentions all along, and he was under orders to kill her from the start?]]

* AmbiguousSituation: The subject of Fairbanks' [[spoiler:betrayal is subject to a lot of speculation. Did he betray Hira, knowing she wanted to use the Circulum to start a war with the Imperium, or did he have his own agenda like her? Or were Cassandra and Leliana aware of Hira's intentions all along, and he was under orders to kill her from the start?]]

''Dragon Age: Absolution'' is a 2022 Creator/{{Netflix}}-original animated series set in the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' universe. Set in the Tevinter Imperium after the events of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', it follows a group of mercenaries hired by the forces of the ([[TheRemnant former]]) Inquisition to steal a powerful magical artifact, the Circulum Infinitus, from a Tevinter cathedral.

** Miriam is a former slave, so naturally this is a given. Unlike most elves, she had the unfortunate pleasure of being an elven slave in ''Tevinter'', where they're treated like utter shit compared to elves in Fereldan or Orlais. By her own admission, the only motherly figure she had growing up was her owner, who struck her when she accidentally tripped a young Rezaren despite the latter not being injured or daring to so much as ''own a flower'', bluntly telling Miriam slaves are not allowed to own anything. [[spoiler:The most traumatic moment in her life was when she witnessed her brother Neb be turned into an abomination when her owner, Rezaren's mother, transferred the demon possessing Rezaren into Neb during the former's Harrowing, leading to the latter's death at her hands.]] She's understandably pissed when she learns the place the Circulum is held happens to be her former "home".

** [[spoiler:Sapphira also presents herself as an idealistic member of the Inquisition who has to convince the cynical Miriam to take on the mission to keep the Circulum Infinitus out of the wrong hands. By the end it's revealed that not only is does she want to use the Circulum burn the Imperium to the ground, damn the consequences, but her plan to steal the it involved ''handing'' Miriam over to Rezaran in exchange and somehow double cross him afterwards. She protests that she would have allowed Miriam to escape, somehow, but it evidently rings hollow.]]
* CanonCharacterAllAlong: Downplayed. In the final episode of first season we learn that [[spoiler: Hira]] is working for the Crimson Knight, a character never mentioned before in the entire franchise...except the episode ends revealing [[spoiler: that Crimson Knight is actually Meredith Stannard, BigBad of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'']].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: In Episode 2, Rezarem questions Memory, the spirit of wisdom who knows more about the Circulum Infinitus than anyone else in the Imperium. Memory warns Rezarem he's not the only one seeking the Circulum's power. At first, it sounds like he's talking about Miriam and the others. [[spoiler:His choice of wording says otherwise: He's talking about Hira, or possibly even ''Meredith'', who wants to use the Circulum to start a war with Tevinter.]]

** [[spoiler:The party manages to get the Circulum and escape the Summer Palace, but Hira is captured by Tassia and Rezaren. They storm the palace again to rescue her, but it turns out Hira was a traitor who was trying to steal the Circulum for her own ends. They only end up rescuing someone who betrays them, and Hira escapes with the Circulum to boot, meaning not only the rescue was pointless, but the mission for the Inquisition was a complete failure.]]

** [[spoiler:The party manages to get the Circulum and escape the Summer Palace, but Hira is captured by Tassia and Rezaren. They storm the palace again to rescue her, but it turns out Hira was a traitor who was trying to steal the Circulum for her own ends. They only end up rescuing someone who betrays them, and Hira escapes with the Circulum to boot, meaning the mission for the Inquisition was a complete failure.]]

* CuttingOffTheBranches: The series is set after the events of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' as Miriam says the Herald of Andraste sealed the Breach [[spoiler:and killed Corypheus]] and that the Inquisition was disbanded, rather than being reduced in size and under the Divine's order as was possible in ''Tresspasser''. For the sake of ambiguity, the gender and identity of the Inquisitor is never mentioned and referred to using gender-neutral pronouns and never make an appearance themselves, with flashbacks to Skyhold showing only Cassandra and the Advisors. Similarly, there's no mention of who succeeded Justinia as Divine.

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: The Circulum's power of resurrection has one major caveat that Rezaren either didn't know or never considered: the dead person's spirit must ''willingly'' return to their body. Not only can they choose to stay dead, but they gain the power to destroy their body to prevent any future resurrection attempts. Neb's spirit does exactly that, meaning Rezaren's efforts were entirely for naught.]]

* {{Ouroboros}}: The Circulum Infinitus is a variant; it's a golden band consisting of two snakes eating each other's tails. [[spoiler:When Rezaren powers it up using the dragon's blood, the snakes disconnect and start dancing around each other.]]

* CapturedSuperEntity: In addition to the Circulum Infinitis, the crypts of the summer palace also hold [[spoiler: a high dragon held in magical stasis. It is initially awakened by Hira's activation of the security system and is then released by Qwydion as part of Miriam's plan to save Hira.]]

* CuttingOffTheBranches: The series is set after the events of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' as Miriam says the Herald of Andraste sealed the Breach [[spoiler:and killed Corypheus]] and that the Inquisition was disbanded, rather than being reduced in size and under the Divine's order as was possible in ''Tresspasser''. For the sake of ambiguity, the gender and identity of the Inquisitor is never mentioned and referred to using gender-neutral pronouns and never makes an appearance themselves, with flashbacks to Skyhold showing only Cassandra and the Advisors.

* AmbiguousSituation: The subject of Fairbanks' [[spoiler:betrayal is subject to a lot of speculation. Did he betray Hira, knowing she wanted to use the Circulum to start a war with the Imperium, or did he have his own agenda like her?]]

* CuttingOffTheBranches: The series is set after the events of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' as Miriam says the Herald of Andraste sealed the Breach [[spoiler:and killed Corypheus]] and Hira says the Inquisition was disbanded rather than reduced in size and scope as could be possible in ''Trespasser''. For the sake of ambiguity, the gender and identity of the Inquisitor is never mentioned and referred to using gender-neutral pronouns and never makes an appearance themselves, with flashbacks to Skyhold showing only Cassandra and the Advisors.

* AllForNothing: [[spoiler: The Circulum's power of resurrection has one major caveat that Rezaren either didn't know or never considered: the dead person's spirit must ''willingly'' return to their body to complete the spell. Not only can they tell the mage to get stuffed if they'd rather stay dead, but they can destroy their body at will to prevent any future resurrection attempts. Neb does exactly that, meaning Rezaren's efforts were entirely for naught.]]

* BackForTheDead: [[spoiler: Fairbanks is the only main cast member that appeared in Inquisition, and is killed by Hira early on.]]

** [[AmbiguousSituation Maybe]], given their fate in the game series. [[spoiler:The final scene of ''Absolution'' shows Meredith, former Knight-Commander of Kirkwall, in the flesh despite having been reduced to a red lyrium statue at the end of ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeII II]]''. She's also implied to have been back in action for some time as she's the one Hira wanted to give the Circulum Infinitus to in the hopes of starting a war with Tevinter.]]
** [[spoiler:Rezaren wants to use the Circulum to resurrect Neb, Miriam's brother who was killed after he became an abomination when Rezaren's mother redirected the demon that had possessed Rezaren into Neb. He thinks this will convince Miriam to "come back home" so they can be a "family" again.]]

* NeutralityBacklash: The show is very careful not to break or contradict any of the choices players may have made in the videogames (the fate of the Inquisition at the end of ''Trespasser'' being the standout exception), however many fans believe this makes the show very flat and, except for the last scene teaser, offered little for the fans that want more world lore and hints for the upcoming videogame.