The problem with adapting such a lore-heavy property like DOTA is that you can quickly lose the audience by trying to service too many plot threads. As of now, DOTA 2 has 119 playable champions, each with their own backstory. While DOTA: Dragon’s Blood only adapts five characters for its first season, it still feels just a little bit too dense for the average viewer.
Davison (Yuri Lowenthal) is a Dragon Knight. He hunts down dragons of all kinds. He meets Princess of the Moon, Mirana (Lara Pulver) and her bodyguard/companion, Marci. The two are on a quest to recover stolen magical lotuses for their goddess, Selemene. Davion, on the other hand, gets caught in a battle between Slyrak, a powerful dragon and Terrorblade, a demon looking to remake the world in his image, and Slyrak bonds himself to Davion’s body. As Davion and Mirana travel across the lands pursuing different objectives, they come upon a powerf mage called Invoker (Troy Baker) who has his own grudge against Selemene and her followers. There’s also Fymryn (Freya Tingley), an elf who has stolen the lotuses in order to bring back the original goddess of the moon, Mene.
If that synopsis sounds like a little too much, imagine how the whole eight episode season felt like.
As frustrating as the worldbuilding can be, thankfully the character dynamics are easier to digest.
Davion and Mirana develop feelings for each other, as expected, which even lead to Mirana getting jealous when a Fymryn joins their party and Davion starts talking to her a lot. We also get a better look at why Invoker hates Selemene, which humanizes him to the point that it’s difficult to reconcile that with his later actions. There’s also a lot of violence and gore, though it’s never overwhelming.
Despite the copious amounts of lore, DOTA: Dragon’s Blood feels like it’s stuck between being derivative and a unique take on fantasy. There’s the usual handling of elves as an allegory for racism, for instance. At least the angle with Selemene, who’s supposed to be a usurper goddess, is somewhat new. When compared to other Netflix fantasy offerings like The Witcher and Castlevania, DOTA: Dragon’s Blood falls short in making a cohesive world that feels engaging.
The animation is definitely an acquired taste. Done by Studio Mir, it’s not as detailed as the animation seen in something like Jujutsu Kaisen, but it’s decent enough when it comes to action scenes.
With the sheer amount of plot and lore stuffed into the first season, maybe it would have been better to include more episodes.
As it stands, the season ends right as a formidable foe lays waste to Selemene and fighting breaks out between her followers and outcast elves. There are a few different plot threads coming out of this season, such as the Dragon Knights capturing Davion and Fymryn returning to her tribe after losing her pod. Let’s hope that the next season is more focused and allows its characters to breathe more.
