Dragon Age: Absolution season 1 ending explained – who is the Crimson Knight?

By Jonathon Wilson
Published: December 9, 2022 (Last updated: September 23, 2024)
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Dragon Age: Absolution season 1 ending explained - who is the Crimson Knight?
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Summary

Dragon Age: Absolution comes to a close with a good amount of action and drama, as well as the obligatory setup for a second season.

This article contains major spoilers for the Netflix anime Dragon Age: Absolution season 1, episode 6, “The Price of Salvation”, contains spoilers, including an open discussion of the Dragon Age: Absolution ending.


So, the Dragon Age: Absolution finale begins, quite fittingly, with a dragon on the loose. Since Qwydion was the one who freed it, she thinks she has bonded with it, but you know how wild animals are. As is established and reiterated quite a few times throughout the series, dragons in this universe are basically just wildlife. However, it’s Razaren who is able to overpower the laws of nature.

Dragon Age: Absolution season 1 ending explained – who is the Crimson Knight?

Razaren completes his pro-wrestling heel turn when he discovers Neb’s headless corpse. After reattaching both his bonce and another demon, bringing the elf back to “life” once more, he also uses blood magic to bring the dragon under command. Uh-oh.

The most effective character moment in the entire season comes when the gang catches up with Hira. As it turns out, she’s the spy that Lacklon has been suspecting Miriam of being all this time. She was trying to steal the Circulum all along, and Master Fairbanks confronted her because he had figured it out. She attempts to explain herself by revealing that she expected the Inquisition to turn against Tevinter. However, they were too scared to do so, forcing Hira to team up with someone who she thought could accomplish that feat – the Crimson Knight, an aspect of Dragon Age mythology that I’m not familiar with. Either way, the plan was to turn the Templars against the Imperior from within. And Razaren was in on it. Hira had used the promise of Miriam as leverage to manipulate him.

Needless to say, this stings Miriam. When Razaren arrives with the dragon, neither he nor his “sister” is in an especially good mood. Razaren uses Miriam, Neb, and the blood of the dragon to perform the ritual with the Circulum, which reveals Neb’s real spirit to Miriam. They’re able to speak and, hopefully, find a bit of closure, especially since Roland and Lacklon, who earlier shared a smooch, break up the ritual with a grenade and an arrow.

In the aftermath, Miriam kills Razaren. The dragon is freed. Hira takes off with the Circulum and the others resolve to find her and retrieve it. And Tassia sets out for revenge on Miriam for the death of Razaren.

The final scene of the season, though, depicts a red-eyed Templar telling a bunch of red crystals with a woman’s voice that Hira has the Circulum, but is being pursued. The disembodied voice claims it will have its war. Not in this season, it won’t, but it seems like we have the plot for the second.

As some helpful people in the comments have pointed out, the voice of the Crimson Knight belongs to Jean Gilpin, who played Knight Commander Meredith Stannard in Dragon Age II. In that game, she was Knight-Commander of the Templars of Kirkwall, but her fanatical hatred for mages made her a villain. In the climax of that game, she was petrified by a red lyrium sword. With Hira having mentioned taking the Circulum to a contact in Kirkwall earlier, not to mention the plan to turn the Templars against Tevinter from within, and the obvious red lyrium connection, it stands to reason that the Crimson Knight is Knight-Commander Meredith.

You can stream Dragon Age: Absolution season 1, episode 6, “The Price of Salvation”, exclusively on Netflix. What did you think of the Dragon Age: Absolution ending? Let us know in the comments.


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