#lacklon absolution

[redmedic]

Here is some old fanart I did for Dragon Age: Absolution when that was just coming out. I loved Lacklon and Roland's dynamic, they were very funny and sweet.

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[biancadavri]

graphic design is my passion <3

[juls-art]

Quick sketches of the Absolution cast that i forgot to post oopsies -- Kofi | Patreon        

[himluv]

DA Review Series: Absolution

<<< Previous Review: Dark Fortress

This is the part of the list that gets a little... loosey goosey. Basically everything after Blue Wraith but before The Missing takes place in this weird, nebulous, in-between time. We know it's after Trespasser, after the Inquisition disbanded (per my and Bioware's canons) and before Veilguard, but we don't know when specifically. So, since we can't really say when these stories take place in relation to one another I'm just going to review them as I consume them :).

Title: Absolution Writers: Mairghread Scott, Mae Catt, and Tim Sheridan Release Year: 2022 In-World Year: ~9:45+ Verdict: Look. I love this fucking show. I'd watched it at least three times before I decided to do this big tie-in media marathon. And, I just rewatched it three times while convalescing with the flu this past week – turns out it's a very good comfort/sickie show. It does a wonderful job of orienting new viewers while not alienating old timers like myself, is fast-paced and fun, while also establishing a very interesting plot that could be vital to Veilguard. Basically, I highly recommend you commit to the three hours required to watch it.

Absolution introduces us to Miriam, a runaway slave from Tevinter, and her bff Roland (who may or may not be a chevalier?). The two are hired by Fairbanks to join his team for one last job for the Inquisition – steal a magic artifact from the Archon's Summer Palace. That's right, babes, Absolution is a heist story!

So, they team up with Fairbanks (Orlesian human rogue from Inquisition), Qwydion (lady Qunari mage!), Lacklon (dwarf warrior Lord of Fortune), and Hira (Tevinter human mage with whom Miriam has a romantic history), and head off for the city of Nessum. Of course, this is Dragon Age and nothing is ever as simple as it seems.

Miriam's former master, Magister Rezaren Ammosine, is in Nessum. In fact, he's the reason the artifact they're after (the Circulum Infinitus) is even in the city. He's studying it in the hopes of finding a non-blood magic means of activating it. Supposedly, the Circulum can restore life to the dead, resurrecting them to be the same as they were before. And he has a very certain someone he wants to bring back to life – Miriam's twin brother.

Without getting too deep in the details, Miriam and her brother were slaves raised alongside Rezaren, intended to become his bodyguards in adulthood. He claims to see them as his brother and sister, that they all were helpless in the face of his mother's abuse. And for a while the show does a good job of making us wonder if that's true. Certainly, Rezaren seems to believe it. At least until Miriam refuses to play along.

The heist does not go well. Fairbanks seemingly turns traitor, tries to kill Hira, and dies in the process. Hira is trapped in the vault, and Miriam is mortally wounded on the team's frantic way out. In a blood magic-fueled dream, Rezaren lays out his plans to Miriam, in the hopes it will convince her to rejoin him and the reanimated corpse of her brother. And, of course, it all boils down to the Magister's ambitions – he wants to become the next Divine of the Imperial Chantry, where he swears he will work to make Tevinter a better place. And yet, in his power fantasy, Miriam and her brother are still his bodyguards, just as they were trained to be. Even Rezaren doesn't seem to notice how deeply ingrained his view of them as "things" truly is.

So, obviously, Miriam and company aren't going to play nice with that guy. They hatch a plan to get Hira out of the palace, and things seem to be going their way for once. There's a lot of epic fight sequences, Qwydion is hilarious, and the romantic tension between Roland and Lacklon keeps ratcheting up. But when Hira makes a break for the safe house, the team follow her and start to get a whiff of the true betrayal.

The traitor was never Fairbanks (whose loyalty I never doubted!). He caught wind of Hira's true plan – to steal the Circulum from the Inquisition and deliver it to the Crimson Knight in Kirkwall – and was trying to put her down. I will never forgive this show for killing him, btw. I loved him so much! But Hira's real plan is even worse. All this time she'd struck a deal with Rezaren – return Miriam to him, and he'd let her have the Circulum once his ritual to restore her brother was complete.

Side note: Hira is stupid. There's no world where Rezaren actually lets her take the Circulum. None. So, she was willing to sell her (ex?)girlfriend into slavery for something that would never happen. And yeah, she makes a lot of promises about how she would have got Miriam back, how Miriam would have escaped, but we know Hira is a liar and a cheat and just as ambitious and driven as every other "Tevinter snake," as Miriam would say.

Anyway, there's a bunch more badass action involving blood magic, spirits, grenades, and a High Dragon (which again shows that dragon blood is extremely potent in magic rituals!). Roland and Lacklon finally kiss, and Miriam stabs Rezaren in the throat mid-meltdown. It's a beautiful end sequence. And even though the show is over, the team knows their work is just beginning.

Because Hira snuck off with the Circulum in all the chaos, and they know where she's headed. To Kirkwall. To the Crimson Knight... which appears to be a colony of sentient Red Lyrium, formerly known as Knight Commander Meredith Stannard. And she/they/it(?) is intent on seeing all of Tevinter burn. (insert my theories here about how the Blight causes feelings of intense hatred over time, as established in the book The Calling and further exemplified by the tainted Griffons in Last Flight.)

Obviously, I love this series and really wish we'd gotten a second season. There's just so much this show set up, surely we'll see more of team Absolution, whether in another season/show, in a comic or book, or... in Veilguard? Fingers crossed, y'all.

[quillfulwriter]

Tumblr TV is right

[emopulco]

more lackon / roland but in the sunset this time ✨

[dualwieldingdruid]

Lacklon holding onto the grenades because there might yet be a better opportunity to use them is peak Dragon Age behaviour. 

[i-am-a-cloud-44]

Mmmmmmmmm

Gay

[wardencallings]

I cannot believe Absolution isn't getting a S2 that shit was so fun!!!

[pausegame]

Rewatching Absolution and hope cast crops up in future games 🥲 I would love Qwydion to be a companion eventually 🥺 also the plot is interesting and ends on a cliffhanger so I hope it has some sort of follow-up in Veilguard 👀

[libartz]

Gosh the best part of Absolution was the way Lacklon was like

Lacklon: Ugh I’m just here for the money, I don’t even like any of you people

Roland: *does anything*

Lacklon: 🫣🥺😤🥵

[biancadavri]

what the hell did lacklon ever do in absolution? complaining all the way through? and looking good doing it? have his big beautiful doe eyes taking up 89% of the screen?? i'm in love with him

[asterroses]

honestly i hope we get another season of absolution . or just like any tidbits of information / appearances abt the cast . miriam i miss u . if any of them get an appearance in veilguard i will be so so happy

[neopuff]

roland/lacklon // tonight tonight

[saltpigsblog]

Da absolution au everything is the same. Except Roland and Miriam are famous (anonymous) authors. They did it at first to earn a bit of money, things started to spiral out of control. Now every where they go they see people praising their work.

+bonus points if both Lacklon and Qwydion have an obvious obsession with the books.

[emopulco]

first art of 2023! for your consideration, a soft early morning with roland and lacklon 🌤️