Characters appearing in Dragon Age: Absolution
open/close all folders
The Party
Miriam
Miriam
Appears in: Absolution
Voiced by: Kimberly Brooks (English)Click to see other languages
"No one helps people like us."
Elven thief, Miriam is a runaway slave from Tevinter, who is recruited for the job due to the fact Circulum Infinitus is held in the palace of her former master, Magister Rezaren Ammosine.
- Amicable Exes: Played with, as she is notably upset about Hira breaking up with her to join the Inquisition, but remains cordial and receptive to Hira's attempts to rekindle the relationship. At least before finding out Hira set her up.
- Broken Bird: With her past, she has understandable trouble trusting people and opening up to others.
- Dark and Troubled Past: She and her brother Neb were raised as slaves to the Ammosine family, suffering a lot of abuse by the hand of Rezaren's mother. When Rezaren was about to fail his Harrowing, his mother forced the demon to possess Neb instead. Miriam furiously killed her and then had to kill possessed Neb in self-defense.
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Starts very aloof to the group, but with time forms clear bonds of camaraderie with them.
- Dual Wielding: Wields a pair of curved daggers in combat
- Flechette Storm: Utilizes a lot of throwing daggers.
- Fragile Speedster: She's the fastest of the party, and much of her combat capability relies on the fact she's able to slit throats and stab people with superhuman swiftness. However, she's not particularly durable, and when she's actually hit, she tends to go down hard.
- Mook Horror Show: Capable of creating these, as she easily tears through small armies with frightening speed.
- My God, What Have I Done?: During the break-in she comes across little Elf girl, a child slave hiding from punishment for eating a piece of food from the trash. She promptly gives the girl up to the cook, to not blow up her cover. Soon after she is overcome with guilt and rushes to find her. She redeems her mistake by saving the same child from a dragon in season finale.
- One Last Job: Hira convinces her to join the mission by promising they can retire and start a cheese farm together. Miriam admits this is a dream life she really wants. Of course, Hira was lying through her teeth, as she was planning to sell Miriam to Rezarem.
- One-Man Army: She has easily the biggest body count among the party, and her fight scenes tend to amount to a Mook Horror Show. As she was groomed to be Rezaren's personal assassin, its kind of natural.
- Pintsize Powerhouse: She's tiny compared to the rest of the cast (save for Lacklon, who as a dwarf is at least twice her size in width), but is one of the deadliest fighters among the cast.
- That Thing Is Not My Child!: She is absolutely horrified when she finds out her brother's corpse being puppeted by Rezaren. Invokes the trope several times when pushing herself to behead Neb.
- Tyke Bomb: Was raised to be Rezaren's personal assassin.
Hira
Sapphira a.k.a. Hira
Appears in: Absolution
Voiced by: Sumalee Montano (English)Click to see other languages
"The Inquisition gave me one last mission before it broke up, and I need your help to do it."
A mage who was Miriam's lover until a breakup over her decision to join the Inquisition. After it's downfall, Cassandra Penthagast tasked her and Fairbanks with recovering Circulum Infinitus.
- Amicable Exes: Hira broke off her relationship with Miriam to join the Inquisition. As soon as they're reunited, it's blindingly obvious the two still have feelings for each other and Hira talks about retiring with Miriam after one last job. It turns out it's all a lie, as whatever feelings Hira has for Miriam, the entire job was a setup for Hira to trade Miriam to Rezaren in exchange for the Circular Infinitus.
- Big Bad Friend: She set the group up to fail so she can take Circulum Infinitus and deliver it to the Crimson Knight
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: She may appear kind and loving, but she made a deal to set her group up and deliver Miriam to Rezaren, in exchange for getting Circulum Infinitum after he is done with it. She never intended to deliver it to Cassandra either, but to the Crimson Knight
- Boomerang Bigot: She's from Tevinter, yet hates the whole nation and wants to actively destroy it.
- Broken Pedestal: Her initial admiration of the Inquisition ended the moment she realized it won't wage her war on Tevinter, out of concerns for innocent people that would be caught in the middle.
- Fallen Hero: She goes from being a member of the Inquisition who helped save the world from Corypheus to a Knight Templar willing to sacrifice the woman she loves in order to kill everyone in Tevinter, no matter their innocence, to get revenge.
- Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: Her family were Tevinter nobles trying to reform the old traditions and improve lives of the lower classes. Venatori did not like that and burned her father alive to send a message that no one is above traditions of Tevinter. However, Hira decided that the whole nation should be wiped off the map and her motivation doesn't excuse her betraying and manipulating rest of the group.
- Gender-Inclusive Writing: Whenever she talks about her time in the Inquisition and Champion of Andraste, her lines never use a gendred term, so that the Inquisitor can be consistent with each player's version of their character.
- He Knows Too Much: After Fairbanks wounds her and takes the artifact, she mortally wounds him and is relieved he died before telling Miriam and others of her betrayal.
- Hero Killer: She kills Fairbanks, a heroic character from the third game.
- Horrible Judge of Character: Where to even begin? She thought the Inquisitor will help her commit genocide of Tevinter and possibly, if she knows Crimson Knight's identity, that Meredith Stannard can be trusted. She thought her own group will forgive her for setting them up to be captured and Miriam in particular will forgive being handed over on a silver platter to her former slave master, not to mention thinking that Rezarem will upheld his end of the deal, despite it being an equivalent of stabbing himself in the foot many times over.
- The Horseshoe Effect: Despite her hatred of her homeland, she's just as self-serving and manipulative as any typical Tevinter Magister.
- Master of Illusion: Illusion magic is her specialty and in the season finale she uses it to fool Miriam and escape with the Circulum.
- Missing Steps Plan: Roland calls her on it. Her original plan was to get the group captured, allow Rezaren perform "some ritual" she didn't bother investigating, then hope he, a Tevinter Magister, will keep his word and let them leave with the Circulum, despite how that would make him look like an incompetent buffoon in eyes of the Divine. And then to "somehow" rescue Miriam.
- Motive Rant: She gives a big one to Tassia and it turns out to be much more meaningful than it initially seemes.
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: While her opinion of Tevinter is justified, she wants to commit genocide of the whole nation.
- One Degree of Separation: She was involved in the Inquisition and knows Fairbanks, Cassandra and Leliana, but she was never important enough to meet the player character in person.
- One Last Job: Promises Miriam that, once they take Circulum Infinitus and deliver it to Cassandra, they can both retire to some peaceful cheese farm. Of course, considering her actual plan was to sell Miriam back to Rezaren...
- Redemption Rejection: In the season finale, Miriam is willing to forgive her everything if she gives up the Circulum and shows their love matters more than her crusade against Tevinter. Hira instead steals the artifact and takes off to deliver it to Crimson Knight.
- Too Dumb to Live: Hira somehow thinks that Rezaren, a Tevinter Magister, will keep his word and let the team leave Tevinter with the Circulum, despite how that would make him look like an incompetent buffoon in eyes of the Divine. Roland can't decide if she's dumb, naive, or both. She also choose to trust the Crimson Knight aka Meredith Stannard, although it's unknown if she actually knows the Crimson Knight's real identity.
- Ungrateful Bastard: After the party goes to extreme lengths to rescue her, she immediately runs to the hideout, steals Circulum and tries to ditch them without as much as a thank you.
- Walking Spoiler: There are very few things that can be discussed about her that do not spoil the latter half of the first season.
Roland
Roland
Appears in: Absolution
Voiced by: Phil LaMarr (English)Click to see other languages
"Seems like a good time for a new venture!"
An Orlesian mercernary who's Miriam's frequent partner and only friend.
- Big Damn Kiss: He and Lacklon kiss in the final episode.
- Lovable Rogue: Charming, laid back and charismatic, also frequently flirts with Lacklon.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Calls out Lacklon for casting doubt about Miriam's loyalty and loudly discussing betraying rest of the group during a single conversation.
- Undying Loyalty: To Miriam, who considers him her best friend. He's always by her side, even leaving their former guild just because she was hired for a job outside of it, and repeatedly stands up for her when Lacklon questions her trust.
- What Were You Thinking?: In the season finale, he flat out asks Hira how could she even think that Rezaren, a Magister from Tevinter, that earned its untrustworthy reputation, would really just let them break into his palace and hand over a powerful magical artifact, while making himself look like an utter fool, just in exchange for first letting him perform some unknown ritual he needs Miriam for. It's genuinely hard to tell if he is more mad about her betrayal or how naive she is.
Fairbanks
Appears in: Absolution, Inquisition
Voiced by: Matthew Mercer (English)Click to see other languages
"You know, my wife's right; I just can't stay out of trouble."
An Inquisition agent who organizes The Caper to steal the Circulum Infinitus under Cassandra and Leliana's orders. See his entry in this page for more info.
Lacklon
Lacklon
Appears in: Absolution
Voiced by: Keston John (English)Click to see other languages
"Lord of Fortune, and a talented...whatever the opposite of 'healer' is."
A grumpy Dwarven warrior, who is both the muscle and demolition specialist.
- Battle Couple: With Roland, through they spend a lot more time fighting side by side before officially hooking up.
- Big Damn Kiss: Initiates one with Roland in season finale.
- Bling of War: He dons golden armor when the group invades the Summer Palace for the second time.
- Combat Medic: He knows how to apply non-magical first aid.
- Fantastic Racism: Early on he expresses dislike of Elves, but gets over it eventually. On a more humorous note, he keeps complaining how he hates humans...for having long legs and being able to run fast.
- Hidden Depths: When Qwydion cannot use her healing magic on Miriam, due to Rezarem using blood magic on her at the moment, Lacklon steps in and reveals he knows non-magical medicine.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He is clearly much more caring than he tries to appear.
- Our Dwarves Are All the Same: A grumpy warrior who wields a big axe and carries explosives, and who's a treasure hunter by trade. The only thing going against him is that he lives on the surface.
- Perfect Solution Fallacy: He carries a bag of grenades but refuses to use them, claiming they're only for emergencies. He will argue back if told to use it during actual emergencies, claiming they're not bad enough.
- Straight Gay: He is serious, grumpy and reserved, has no time for silly or campy things and is very clearly attracted to Roland.
- Throw Down the Bomblet: He carries a bag of grenades with him.
- Too Awesome to Use: How he feels about his explosives - no matter how bad the situation gets, he will not want to use his grenades just in case things get even worse.
- Transparent Closet: Denies anything when Qwydion points out he has hots for Roland, but it's pretty blatant he does.
Qwydion
Qwydion
Seen here with a characteristic expression on her face.
Appears in: Absolution
Voiced by: Ashly Burch (English)Click to see other languages
"People pay you more to blow stuff up when it's for something they believe in!"
Plucky Vashoth girl and former Renegade Mage, the group's healer, demolition specialist and main offensive mage.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: She's pretty weird and has a bombastic personality, but she's as good in a fight as she is in a heist.
- Cute Monster Girl: Among the cast she's the only Vashoth, so she comes off as this.
- Fantastic Racism: After she saves a bunch of Elven slaves, they cheer for her and call her a giantess. She does point out how that's a little offensive, but seems more embarrassed by the sudden praise than anything else.
- Horned Humanoid: As is common among the Vashoth.
- It Can Think: She's the first to remind people that dragons are not mindless killing machines, which comes in handy when dealing with one.
- Only in It for the Money: She admits that she only joined the renegade mages because they were paying better.
- Plucky Comic Relief: While she is very competent and doesn't let her silliness become detrimental to her job, a lot of her behavior is used to relieve the tension.
- Plucky Girl: Very happy and optimistic almost all time.
- Red Mage: She knows both destructive spells and healing magic.
- The Smart Guy: She comes up with some very clever solutions to problems, such as wiping out an entire mass of undead by using an elf's makeshift metal spear to amplify a lightning spell. She also masterminds the plan to disrupt Rezaren's final resurrection ritual.
- Statuesque Stunner: She is by far the taller member of the group and also attractive.
- Token Heroic Orc: By virtue of being Vashoth, a Qunari unaffiliated with the Qun.
Tevinter Characters
Magister Rezaren Ammosine
Magister Rezaren Ammosine
Appears in: Absolution
Voiced by: Josh Keaton (English)Click to see other languages
"Together, we can make Tevinter a better place for everyone."
Noble of Tevinter and a powerful mage serving the Imperial Chantry, who is researching Circulum Infinitus to find a way to resurrect the dead.
- Ambition Is Evil: He believes that once he can master the Circulum Infinitus and restore Neb and Miriam as his "family" he will be able to become the next Divine.
- Bad Boss: Not at first, but as part of his Sanity Slippage, he is not above killing underlings to get what he wants, like when he sacrifices one with a laugh so he can use Blood Magic to control a dragon.
- Big Bad: Serves as the primary antagonist of the first season.
- Battle Couple: He and Tassia have a chance to show they are well-synchronized in combat.
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: At first he appears to be kind, hoping to reform Tevinter and genuinely thinking of Miriam and Neb as his siblings. But as the story goes on we see how ruthless and entitled he is and that he doesn't respect his "siblings" enough to even entertain a notion they may want lives outside his control.
- Entitled Bastard: While he may claim otherwise, it's clear his life of privilege left him with a sense of entitlement and cruelty, which especially shows itself with his obsession over getting Neb and Miriam back to restore his "family".
- Entitled to Have You: He believes Miriam and Neb are his "sister" and "brother" and utterly loses it whenever confronted with the fact they do not want to be part of his twisted family.
- Establishing Character Moment: His first scene shows him summon a fade spirit to ask it for information on the Circulum, assuring Tassia he'll be careful when she warns him of the risks. He then proceeds to quickly lose patience with the spirit's reluctance to answer his questions and accidentally warp it into a demon when he tries to coerce it, showing that he's someone who, despite his assurances and pretensions otherwise, is used to getting what he wants and doesn't hesitate to use force the second he's denied something.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones:
- He's romantically involved with his bodyguard Tassia and seems to genuinely care about her.
- Disturbingly deconstructed regarding his relationship with his siblings. Rezaren insists to Miriam that he views her and Neb as his actual siblings, but all the while he ignores the fact that as slaves, he owned them. While his entire motivation revolves around convincing Miriam to join him and resurrecting Neb with the Circulum Infinitus, he repeatedly ignores their wishes, undermines and abuses Miriam when she refuses to obey, and ultimately proves himself to be a toxic abuser who believes he's entitled to Miriam and Neb's love and loyalty because of treating them with a modicum of decency when they were young.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: He is utterly baffled as to why Miriam wouldn't want to be his "sister" again. And when Neb's spirit chooses to destroy his body, rather than be resurrected to serve him, Rezaren loses it.
- Rose-Tinted Narrative: In-universe. His recollection of his shared childhood with Miriam and Neb conveniently glosses over the fact that the twins were his family's slaves, as his memories only focus on the happier times and not the abuses the twins suffered. When Miriam actually forces him to recall just one example of her being beaten by his mother, he tries to turn it around and say she's the one who's being unfair for focusing on that and ignoring the good.
- Sword and Sorcerer: He's the sorcerer to Tassia's sword...er, hammer.
- Villainous Breakdown: He begins his Sanity Slippage when he sees Miriam has beheaded Neb, but when Neb's spirit rejects his offer at resurrection, he utterly loses it.
- Unequal Pairing: He's romantically involved with Tassia, but as her superior, he can easily pull the rank whenever he needs to.
- Unreliable Narrator: He repeatedly tries to rebutt Miriam's negative view of their childhood by claiming he also suffered, yet none of this is ever shown in the flashbacks. As far as can be seen, he had a relatively comfortable childhood as a nobleborn magister.
- Why Did You Make Me Hit You?: In the season finale when Miriam surrenders to him to save her friends, he opts to kill them anyway. He cruelly tells Miriam it's her fault - because she kept insisting their relationship never was that of brother and sister, but of a master and a slave, then he has to punish rest of the party for stealing his slave.
Knight-Commander Tassia
Knight-Commander Tassia
Appears in: Absolution
Voiced by: Zehra Fazal (English)Click to see other languages
"I'm supposed to protect everyone in this palace, Rezaren. Please don't make me protect you from yourself."
Commander of the Imperial Templars charged with defending the Summer Palace, as well as bodyguard and lover of Rezaren Ammosine.
- Badass Normal: She is a capable fighter and military leader despite lacking magical abilities or even the Anti-Magic abilities that Orlesian Chantry-affiliated Templars possess.
- Battle Couple: First time we see her and Rezaren they quickly establish themselves as one
- Bodyguard Crush: Is in relationship with Rezaren, despite being also his bodyguard
- Dark Action Girl: While she is better than most people of Tevinter, she is still a warrior in service of the villain and good enough fighter to take Roland and Lacklon all by herself and come on top.
- The Dragon: As Rezaren's right hand, she serves this role in first season. It's implied that after his death she'll become Dragon Ascendant by pursuing the heroes.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Evil part may be downplayed, as compared to rest of Tevinter she is outright heroic, but it's undeniable she genuinely seems to care for Rezaren. The last shot of her in the first season is her cradling his dead body in her arms.
- A Father to His Men: She cares about her soldiers and civilians, encourages her soldiers and fights alongside them and seems very respected and loved by them.
- Hammer of the Holy: As a Templar of the Imperial Chantry, she wields a large warhammer.
- Hero Antagonist: She is arguably this, a heroic character who just happened to serve The Empire.
- Heroic BSoD: Subverted. In final episode she is horrified by the realization Rezaren used blood magic to subdue the dragon and seems to be walking away in horror. However, when one of her soldiers points out her people need her, she regains her composure and focuses on the task at hand.
- Lady and Knight: Gender-flipped. She's the dedicated bodyguard and knight of a noble-born magister, who she is undyingly loyal to. A lot of their time together quickly brings to mind the classic image of the Lady and Knight, but with the genders completely reversed.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: She uses shield very effectively, including to survive a full blast of dragon fire.
- My Country, Right or Wrong: Subverted. While she is a patriot, she does admit to disliking bad reputation Tevinter has earned in the world, and seems to imply she is supporting some sort of group trying to take Venatori down.
- My Master, Right or Wrong: Subverted, as she constantly questions Rezaren's more reckless decisions and flat out threatens to report him to the Divine if she finds out he's using blood magic. By the time she does find out that he's a blood mage, he is killed by Miriam soon after.
- Noble Top Enforcer: A competent military commander, a warrior, a frequent voice of reason and, alongside Dorian Pavus, the most heroic Tevinter character in the entire franchise, who serves as right-hand to Rezaren.
- Revenge Myopia: Implied. After Miriam kills Rezaren, Tassia is shown cradling his body and weeping in equal parts grief and anger, setting her up to pursue the heroes to avenge him despite his horrendous actions.
- Shield Bash: She makes great use of her shield in combat.
- Sword and Sorcerer: She's the sword...er, hammer to Rezaren's sorcerer.
- Token Good Teammate: Arguably for the whole Tevinter Empire.
- Tomboy with a Girly Streak: Downplayed; she's a tall, strongly built and dedicated knight, dressed constantly from neck to toe in plate armour, wields a warhammer, and is the physically strongest martial fighter in the series...and also has a full face of make-up and her hair neatly styled, and from the neck upward looks like a prim, proper lady.
- Unequal Pairing: Her lover is also the man she is sworn to protect and while he will listen to her in matters of security, she has a hard time forcing him to do what she asks, like staying in his chambers during the attack, and he can easily pull the rank and dismiss her at will.
- What Does She See in Him?: Qwydion makes remark to this sentiment about Tassia and Rezaren's relationship, even when acknowledging he is cute.
Neb (Unmarked Spoilers)
Neb
Appears in: Absolution
Voiced by:
Rezaren's silent bodyguard who is actually dead corpse of Miriam's brother, puppeted by Rezaren via implanting a demon in it.
- Accidental Murder: Miriam killed him by accident when he attacked her while possessed by a demon.
- Demonic Possession: When Rezaren failed his Harrowing, his mother redirected the demon about to possess him into Neb's body, forcing Miriam to kill him. In the present Rezaren installed another demon in his corpse to preserve it.
- Off with His Head!: Miriam decapitates him during their last fight, but Rezaren puts his head back in when he reanimates his corpse again.
- The Undead: He's a corpse with a demon inside, controlled by Rezaren.
- Unwanted Revival: Once Rezaren pulls his soul back with Circullum Infinitum, Neb chooses to destroy his body instead of returning back to life.
- The Voiceless: Never says a word. Real Neb's soul does, reassuring Miriam everything will be okay, as he destroys his body.
Other Characters
The Crimson Knight
"I will have my war."
See Dragon Age II – Non-Playable Characters under Knight-Commander Meredith Stannard
Dolph's Daggers
The gang Miriam and Roland work for before being contracted by the Inquisition.
General
Dolph
- Small Name, Big Ego: Despite the name of the group being “Dolph’s Daggers”, he regularly has to remind people he is in fact in charge not Miriam and later Hasem. No one listens to him in either case.
Hasem
- Know When to Fold 'Em: He tries to get Miriam to back down during the fight that breaks out when Fairbanks shows up. When it becomes clear she won't, and that he can't beat her, he seizes command of the Daggers and pulls out, leaving Dolph alone.
