Since its introduction in 2009, Dragon Age has become a beloved video game franchise with a sizable fan base. Now, the world of the game is coming to Netflix with a new animated direct-to-home media film titled Dragon Age: Absolution. In this article, we take a look at how the producers of the movie are bringing this beloved universe to life on the streaming platform.
I think that’s, in a lot of cases, what Dragon Age is about, what the hero characters is. I believe for me, that’s constantly an incredibly intriguing thing to check out.
Furthermore, I think that’s intriguing to me, that contrast and speaks to the previous point of, What is a hero? Furthermore, I always thought that was fascinating, again, due to the fact that everyone to Coryphées was a tool. Furthermore, I’m relying on the people around me to get me where I require getting to, and being able to acknowledge when they couldn’t do things on their own when they needed that help.
Power at a cost is another one, the idea that power constantly has a cost, whether it’s a cost of who you are or if it’s a more subtle cost. It costs you your relationships, or your friendships, which is a pretty typical dream theme, but among the things in Dragon Age is how literally it often manifests, whether it’s through the cost of blood magic, the cost of devils, demonic possession, or in the case of Dragon Age: Absolution, the cost of whatever that was provided for Relearn to achieve his objectives.
Relearn genuinely believes that he’s doing the best thing since people don’t wake up in the early morning and think that they’re doing the wrong thing and then continue on. You have this other example of a hero, these characters who aren’t necessarily lying about what they want, but ultimately, what they want is grotesque.
Do you have anything to include to that, John? I know we’re not discussing Dread wolf today, however as Reinter ends up being a larger and more relevant presence in the larger Dragon Age narrative, I picture this is a conversation that may be taking place.
It was also really important to give Miriam some area to be less than best. She’s someone who’s been through hell, and we desired that to not be her only defining particular, however we wished to provide her a possibility to reveal some scars and to not be completely well-adjusted and make the right options all the time and be 100% capital-H Hero, but be somebody who’s really having problem with any sort of sense of self-regard and finding and defending herself so that even if these type of systems of injustice aren’t familiar to you as an audience, that sensation that possibly you’re not worth it, that feeling of that person who states that they have your best interest at heart, so they do not need to listen to you, that’s something that resonates, I believe, with all of us.
Dragon Age: Absolution is streaming now on Netflix. This interview has been modified for clarity and length.
What is it that makes Dragon Age so special to a lot of fans? And what did it require bringing that essence to animation in Dragon Age: Absolution? had the opportunity to speak to Dragon Age Creative Director John Euler and Dragon Age: Absolution showrunner Fairfield Scott about exactly that.
I believe it really just has come down to being, as Fairfield said about compassion versus empathy, attempting to be empathetic to people who might be consuming this media and how they might be affected, how they might be, in many cases, injured by it. Trying to be aware of that by being deliberate in your storytelling choices is, I believe, what it comes down to. Don’t be negligent. Be extremely thoughtful and want to grow. Want to take feedback. Want to take that criticism. Want to take individuals stating, Hey, you did this thing which actually really drawn for these factors, and wanting to sit there and say, You understand what? I had not considered that. Let me listen to that point of view and hear that perspective.
Part of Miriam’s story is her background as a servant in the Reinter Imperium. Dragon Age now has actually been around for more than a year now, and in that time, it feels like the method a great deal of us discuss things like slavery, especially when it is tied to race, has actually progressed. Can you talk at all about your philosophy when handling such a subject that brings such real-world weight and injury and using it in fiction?
Fairfield Scott: We understood with 6 half-hours we weren’t going to be able to take you to 30 various nations and provide you a lot of different missions. Our goal was never ever to construct as impressive an adventure as Inquisition, however we desired it to seem like Dragon Age. We desired Miriam’s story to feel as epic and as dire as someone dealing with the end of the world since, in a lot of methods, she faces the end of her world. We truly wanted to purchase these characters and provide you characters that are truly flawed, however eventually, many of them are brave.
Beyond that, I believe Dragon Age is eventually a story about the characters. To use Dragon Age: Inquisition as an example, you’re the Inquisitor. You stopped the end of the world, but I believe I’ve constantly discovered it more intriguing, and we would love to do more with this, utilizing Solar as an example, utilizing Coryphées as an example, how did they get to where they were?
The reasons for doing so were different. You didn’t need to be like, I am doing it because it’s the ideal thing to do. I’m doing since I am this virtuous and pure figure. In a lot of cases, it’s like, I’m doing this since Kirk wall’s where I’m keeping all my things. I believe eventually, there is something to be said about it isn’t necessarily who you were before, it’s who you choose to be and what you pick to do when faced with these scenarios of dispute and strife and injustice, do you stand up or do you run away or do you take benefit of the circumstance for your own personal gain? I believe that’s something that you can see even in any of the Dragon Age media, however especially in something like Absolution for sure.
Furthermore, I believe that that’s always been the heart of Dragon Age, to me, the Who gets to inform the story? What agenda do they really have? All the little decorations along the method give a lot of a sense of remaining in a real, messy world where individuals argue about everything and how everything decreased. You get 3 opinions if you ask 2 people about something in Dragon Age. It was truly intriguing to check out that sort of messiness in Absolution with our heroes, with our villains, with our group, and What should we do next? You get numerous interpretations, and it makes it feel a lot more real.
To start with, what are the central styles, ideas, designs, or whatever else that you feel defines a Dragon Age story? What is that particular Dragon Age taste, in your mind?
For somebody like myself, it’s not actually my story to tell and to attempt to be the individual who’s like, Oh, and it’s really like this, so we like to engage consultants. In some cases it’s simply reevaluating things that you have actually said or done before. You do not desire to be like, Oh, we never ever did this, but also you perhaps desire to like, You know what?
MS: I keep considering the opening of Dragon Age: Inquisition, where Cassandra grabs you and tosses you into prison, or you awaken in her clutches, and she accuses you of ruining the conclave, and then you have to show your innocence because she’s such an excellent and exemplary person, and she’s absolutely incorrect since you didn’t destroy the conclave and there’s that fantastic style. You see it once again in the opening of Dragon Age II where they’re telling the story of Hawk, and then it resembles, That’s not how that took place!
JE: I believe among the things that Dragon Age really does teach, and it’s not constantly been a theme that we’ve struck on as tough, however heroism has to do with the choices you make. It’s about what you select to do when challenged with an issue. When you’re faced with a situation, do you step up? The Herald of Andante, the Hero of Garden, Hawk, all of them, when faced with problems that were candidly escaped of their understanding, method out of their league, stepped up and faced them head-on. The Herald of Andante had a special mark, and the Hero of Garden had the writs to recruit the armies, however Hawk is a great example of someone who was just attempting to make it through life in the city and take care of individuals in the city as they went.
The Dragon Age video games are pieces of heroic fantasy. You’re cast as a hero, and the video games let you choose who your hero is or how they behave, but at the end of the day, you’re still anticipated to be the lead character and conserve the world, if nothing else. What do you believe Dragon Age needs to say about heroism, and what makes a hero, and how is that consolidated all the styles of sacrifice that you’ve mentioned throughout this conversation currently?
MS: Clearly it was something that was actually essential for us to– it feels unusual to state to a deal with well, because it’s such a terrible thing, however actually, it was necessary for us to try and illustrate it in a method that felt a little less simple and a little less nuanced. There’s a mage we satisfy in the first episode in the bar who’s generally like, I’m going to attack Miriam in a street. You’re like, Yeah, he seems bad. That’s a truly simple story to inform, and you have the bar battle. The bar fight’s actually enjoyable and everybody’s like, High 5, we did it. And Miriam’s speech is, That’s not in fact really the problem, that didn’t really assist anything. It’s attempting to press past the simple narrative.
In revitalizing my memory of Dragon Age tradition prior to this interview, I was struck by how large it is. Out of all Dragon Age lore, is there anything that sticks out to you as being a conclusive or really special representation of what Dragon Age is everything about?
That’s the sort of things I like to explore moving forward. What does it indicate? What other problems exist in this world? What other locations do we wish to go to? Where we can see that concept of individuals who are persuaded that they are the only ones who can fix the issues versus individuals who do have that capability to lean on others, that ability to take what’s provided to them, take what’s used, take the help that they need.
It’s funny that one of the important things that John discussed was a really crucial thing for us composing Absolution, which is that it’s a little amusing that Miriam’s the only individual who doesn’t think she’s the hero of the story. I keep in mind when working with the stars, we informed IRA (Suwanee Montano), You need to play this as if you are the hero of the story. We told Relearn (Josh Keaton), You need to play this as if you are the hero of the story. You need to play this as if you’re right, since that’s one of the things that I like about Dragon Age, that it’s unusual in the world for somebody to get up and say, I’m going to do bad things because I’m an evildoer. Individuals do the important things they do since they believe that that’s the best thing to do, and their perspective is so distorted, or their truth is so warped. We seemed like we wished to provide you characters that felt a bit more real, and that felt like Miriam’s not ideal. She’s at times a really vulnerable character. She’s really been through hell and the show puts her through hell again, however we wanted to give her the space to reveal a complete variety of feelings. Due to the fact that somebody who’s been through he’ll like that isn’t perfectly fine, I didn’t want to stress so much about making her perfectly likable. It leaves scars, and we desired this to be a possibility for her to try and begin to heal some of those scars, and with our other characters to show characters who also aren’t completely noble heroes.
In 2009, BioWare initially introduced video game players to the world of Dragon Age with the release of Dragon Age; Origins. The series provided Dragon Age fans a chance to go to Thetas, the world of Dragon Age, while they await the next installment of the beloved video game series, Dragon Age: Dread wolf, presenting viewers to a whole new cast of characters on a secret mission into the Reinter Imperium.
JE I believe for myself, I truthfully enjoy the character Coryphées. One of the reasons I enjoy him is you could see why he was doing what he was doing. He saw himself as this figure who now needs to conserve the world. He saw himself as the hero of the story. It’s, as he said, I saw the throne in the maker. He’s that sort of character who sees themselves as, I need to do this on my own. I’m not going to let anybody else, I’m the just one I can rely on. I’m the only one who can do this. You have actually that contrasted with the Herald of Andante who truly leans on individuals around them, leans on their fans, leans on their companions.
In 2009, BioWare initially presented video game gamers to the world of Dragon Age with the release of Dragon Age; Origins. Dragon Age came to Netflix earlier this month with the six-episdode animated series Dragon Age: Absolution. The series used Dragon Age fans an opportunity to check out Thetas, the world of Dragon Age, while they wait for the next installment of the beloved video game series, Dragon Age: Dread wolf, presenting audiences to an entire new cast of characters on a secret mission into the Reinter Imperium.
I believe that that’s a truly important story nowadays, which is why I believe Dragon Age is a really valuable residential or commercial property and not just monetarily.
John Euler: I think there are a bunch of different components. I think one of the biggest ones for me, and among the things that give us the flexibility to disturb the apple cart, is undependable storytellers. You think you understand how things work, but it’s uncommon that you actually do, and it’s unusual that everything is exactly what it seems. It gives us chances between video games. Utilizing Tolkien, for example, Tolkien is a very established lore. You understand what took place, you understand when it took place. With Dragon Age, it’s a lot more fluid. From our viewpoint, it provides us chances to ask concerns like, What if that didn’t actually happen that method? Perhaps the world isn’t what people think.
How did that equate into Dragon Age: Absolution? Compared to the Dragon Age games, the show seems like a more intimate, smaller-scale story.
JE: A great deal of it just comes down to being really sensitive, being thoughtful about how you do it, as Fairfield stated, not using it just for shock worth, not utilizing it as a blunt instrument, however being understanding of not only how it exists in the fiction, however whenever you’re being allegorical or referencing back to the real world, comprehending what stories you can easily inform and what stories you should not. I believe, as a creator, that’s very essential because all of us have our own lived experiences. For some people, those lived experiences are going to be a lot more linked with systems of injustice and overbearing institutions.
Ultimately, our heroes are heroic since they decide to put other individual’s lives prior to their own and to band together and try and do something they’re not even sure they can accomplish due to the fact that it’s the right thing to do. I think that that’s a really important story nowadays, which is why I think Dragon Age is an extremely important property and not simply monetarily. I think it’s an essential property to have a fantasy setting that truly challenges people to surpass, Well, this person appeared and said, ‘I’m a hero,’ so they must be right.
had the chance to speak to Dragon Age Creative Director John Euler and Dragon Age: Absolution showrunner Fairfield Scott about precisely that.
It’s intriguing when you develop a considerate bad guy, and you talk a lot about sympathetic bad guys. I think that the interesting aspect of IRA and Relearn in regard to our villains is that they have a great deal of compassion, they don’t have a great deal of compassion. They feel bad when people are hurt by their actions, but they can’t actually put other individual’s needs above their own or other people’s needs, in IRA’s case, above the significance of her cause.
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