Tag: dragon

Year of the Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker

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. 

Year of the Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne

Happy New Year!

What do you mean it’s already halfway over?

I kept getting holds at my local library, so I just finished my first Dragon Age book over the holiday weekend. I don’t have anything on the horizon, so the next one should move pretty quickly and then hopefully you’ll be getting regular Dragon Age Origins videos out of me. I’m really looking forward to playing it with this book in my head. Loghain is going to read much differently. He’s still an asshole, but he’s an asshole with layers.

First of all, I cannot tell you how much I loved living in this world in a written form. Seeing characters that vaguely get referenced become fully fleshed out made my brain squee. Obligatory SPOILER WARNING that after this point there will be in depth discussion of both the book The Stolen Throne and the video game Dragon Age: Origins. You have been warned.

cover of the novel, The Stolen Throne

You know how Loghain is supposed to be a great war hero but all we know him as is the bad guy in the video game? This book takes place during that war. We meet Prince Maric when his mother, the Queen is betrayed and killed, thus making him the next in line to the throne and in charge of the rebel army along with his father-in-law, the Arl Rendorn. Loghain meets him while on the run from the traitors who have killed his mother and want him dead too. At first it’s just “I’m going to get you somewhere safe” and then it snowballs into joining the rebel army and ultimately becoming a commander of that army and one of his best friends. Except, oops, along the way he develops feelings for Rowan, the woman Maric is supposed to marry. Awk-ward! It’s fascinating seeing how Loghain’s relationship with this family develops over time, knowing that ultimately he is going to be an advisor to Maric’s son, Cailan, but that’s going to be complicated as well. More on that at the end though.

There’s one particular section in an early chapter I loved, where Loghain and Maric are traveling through the Wilds and meet Flemeth. She, of course, has some juicy dialogue that I made note of because I thought it would be prescient for future chapters (or even possibly the next book, since I know Maric is in that one as well). Hell, you could even argue she’s referencing Loghain’s actions in DA:O with this beauty, “Keep him close and he will betray you. Each time worse than the last.” I’d say leaving Maric’s son to die in battle could be considered a betrayal? Although there’s also this exchange towards the end of the book, after Loghain has diverted from the army to save Maric, where Maric then makes Loghain promise, “Next time I don’t come to your rescue”. I spent most of this book looking at their relationship and seeing what happens in DA:O with Cailan, and part of that I will admit was me mixing up who was king at the time, but I also wonder if Loghain remembers this moment and several others that add up to “sacrifices need to be made” and that’s his justification for doing what he does during that battle where Cailan dies. It doesn’t necessarily make me agree with him, but it does get me to a place where I see where he’s coming from in a way I didn’t expect to be able to.

The epilogue shows us that Loghain has been rewarded with a title of nobility – Teyrn of Gwaren. He marries and has a daughter, Anora, who we see is married to Maric and Rowan’s son Cailan in DA:O. What’s interesting is that in the epilogue it’s mentioned that after Loghain gets his title he stays in Gwaren and never visits the palace until Rowan’s death. Cleary he and Maric don’t speak again but patch things up and sometime after promise their kids will get married…? I’m curious to see what other things get filled in with the next book before continuing on with the game, but this one really does change how I view events especially early on when Cailan is still alive and you interact with him and Loghain more. I’m very excited to play with this new knowledge in my noggin.

One last interesting lore detail to wrap things up. In the last chapter, right before the big battle, a dragon flies over Ferelden. This is significant because, at the time, it was believed the Navarrans had hunted them more than a century ago into extinction. The Chantry takes it as an omen, and the Divine in Val Royeaux declares the next age as the “Dragon Age”. And thus our series was born.

Dragon Age logo, a red Dragon