Dragon Age: Absolution ending explained: How does the show connect to Dragon Age: Dreadwolf?

We still don’t know much about the plot for the highly-anticipated new Dragon Age game, Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, but BioWare has slowly been releasing teasers and information on the new game. The Netflix animated series Dragon Age: Absolution is one of our biggest hints toward the next game in the franchise.

Massive spoilers ahead for Dragon Age: Absolution

Dragon Age: Absolution ends with a few significant twists that could mean big things for the fourth mainline Dragon Age game. Perhaps the biggest surprise of all is that Meredith Stannard appears to be alive, at least in some capacity.

Dragon Age: Absolution ending explained

At the very end of the Dragon Age: Absolution finale, we see a group of soldiers conferring with someone encased in red lyrium. As fans of the game know, Dragon Age II ends with the player protagonist, Hawke, defeating Meredith as she succumbs to the red lyrium. She is petrified into a red lyrium statue in Kirkwall. It seemed like Meredith was dead, and she was never mentioned as possibly being alive in Dragon Age: Inquisition, so her return in Dragon Age: Absolution is surprising.

But in the credits, the show lists “Meredith” as voiced by Jean Gilpin, and Gilpin voiced the character in the games, so it appears it really is her. Based on this, it seems like Dragon Age: Absolution is setting Meredith up as the Crimson Knight, an extremist faction of the Inquisition intent on destroying the Tevinter Imperium.

The guards tell Meredith that Hira managed to escape with the Circulum, but people are pursuing her, which seems to confirm Meredith is the Crimson Knight and the person she betrayed Miriam for.

Despite being led to believe that Fairbanks is the traitor, the ending tells us that it was a misdirect and Hira is the real traitor. Fairbanks had been trying to stop Hira. Even though Hira is a Tevinter citizen herself, she is opposed to the Tevinter Imperium and disappointed that the Inquisition doesn’t intend to challenge them, so she had to look for other allies, hence her connection to Meredith.

How does Dragon Age: Absolution set up Dragon Age: Dreadwolf?

What does all of this mean for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf? Well, we already know that the new game is taking us to Tevinter, a setting we haven’t seen depicted in the game yet. It seems like the new game is setting up for Meredith’s “war.” Although we also know that the new game will focus heavily on Solas, who revealed himself to be the Dread Wolf, Fen’Harel, in the Trespasser DLC.

It’s also possible that the events at the end of Dragon Age: Absolution won’t mean much in the grand scheme of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, but I would be surprised if we didn’t see some of the characters in the show come into play in some shape or form.

At the very least, it will likely contribute to the world state that players begin with at the start of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, especially if they don’t have a previous save to carry over. Paste Magazine shared a great article going into more detail on the specific lore from the show and what it means for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf‘s starting point.

Dragon Age: Absolution is now streaming on Netflix.