Beware: the following is a deep dive into the movie, and as such has a ton of spoilers. There’s also some talk about Dragon Age Inquisition, mostly character stuff involving Cassandra. And one mention of DA2, but it gives away the ending and I wouldn’t want that to be ruined for you. You have been warned!
Dawn of the Seeker takes place in 9:22 Dragon and gives us a look at Cassandra’s backstory. In the opening scene you see her take out a dragon pretty much by herself. Why can’t she do that in the video game?? (I do use her in my dragon hunting party because of her background as a dragon hunter in this movie).
The bulk of the movie is about a young mage (Avexis), some blood mages who are interested in her and a possible conspiracy within the chantry. Cassandra gets accidentally swept up in everything and it becomes her mission to protect Avexis. She teams up with a mage, Galyan, to rescue Avexis from the blood mages. According to the wiki, Galyan is a representative of the rebel mages at the Temple of Sacred Ashes and dies when the Breach occurs. If you romance Cassandra, she also mentions him as the only other person she’s been in a romantic relationship with. I’ve never done her romance, but I do have plans to do what I’m calling a “Chantry run” where I romance the more religious characters in the games. She’s going to be my DAI romance for that run.
Along the way we also get a glimpse into Cassandra’s past where she tells a story about blood mages killing members of her family, and that is why she hates mages so much. We’ve seen her distrust of mages in DAI, so that stays true throughout her life (even if she maybe romances the mage she’s traveling with in this movie at some point). I guess one cute mage can’t undo years of trauma and hate.
It turns out the Knight Commander is the secret mole working with the blood mages. Because we’ve never seen a Knight Commander secretly be the bad guy in this universe… (Martel walked so Meredeth could run). He might have murdered the High Seeker, but he was still a boring human when he did it. What, didn’t want to become a lyrium monster and attack an entire town for your cause?
The evil monologue reveals that they’re using Avexis to get her to control dragons to attack the Chantry and the Divine, Beatrix III. Ok, that’s more like it. There’s got to be a big final conflict that puts all the people you’re supposed to be protecting in danger, or are you really villaining enough?
Cassandra gets to solo kill some more dragons, and I’m only a little turned on. Gosh she’s a badass. She might take awhile to warm up to you in the games, but once she does, she becomes one of my favorite companions. She also looks damn good in the Divine armor in Trespasser, if you go that route.
With the dragons and Knight Enchanter dealt with, all that’s left is Head Blood Mage.
Bad guy: I wanted to create a world ruled by mages!
Me: you could have just moved to Tevinter
And then he turned into a Rage Demon and we had to kill him.
The events of this movie earn Cassandra the position of the Right Hand of the Divine. It’s cool seeing this big part of her backstory play out. That title means a lot to her, based on conversations in DAI. And clearly she does a good enough job that she keeps it through multiple Divines, as she is still in that role when Justinia takes over. I’d be curious to see more of her relationship with Justinia in the early days. I’d also love to see more of her with Galyon. The wiki hints at their relationship, but what did that look like? And how did it end? Was his role with the rebel mages what put a rift between them? I have so many questions.
That concludes this look into Dawn of the Seeker. If you’d like to watch the movie for yourself, it’s available on Crunchyroll. Up next, is the Penny Arcade Dragon Age Origins prequel comic and then we’re finally starting Dragon Age Origins! The Leliana’s Song DLC is first, and it will be a first playthrough for me. I can’t wait to dive into this game with my new knowledge.