#solas' journey is just so fascinating

[loredrinker]

Solas, Isolation and His Greatest Fear

As a spirit of Wisdom, Solas was connection itself - not physical, but connection to ideas, emotions, and existence. Spirits in the Fade are born from shared thought and feeling; they are communal by nature. Wisdom, in particular, does not just possess knowledge - it listens, gathers, synthesizes, and applies understanding to help others and guide action. This is why Mythal calls to him: she needs not just his knowledge, but his capacity for connection, counsel, and guidance.

But for a spirit turned mortal, life outside the Fade can be isolating when not actively choosing it's original purpose. It's why Solas urges Cole to never lose sight of who he is, to choose compassion as an act of will. By consciously reaffirming his nature, Cole stays anchored to his essence, preserving the purity of his spirit against the distortions of the physical world. Solas knows this because he himself failed to do the same. Over time, he drifted from his original essence, allowing pride, fear, and duty to erode his wisdom.

From the moment Solas chose a physical form, he began severing the natural connection that had once defined him, as did all the Evanuris. Over time, he accumulated knowledge, but lost the practice of true wisdom, because he lost the communal engagement that wisdom depends on. Wisdom’s purpose, at its core, is fulfilled in relation to others - and in isolation, it withers.

Over time, Mythal’s influence, the betrayals of the Evanuris, and the violence and trauma of war taught Solas to rely more on control, strategy, and force - not mutual understanding​. He made decisions at every stage that moved him further from his original nature by choosing actions that prioritized victory, security, and ideology over connection. Isolation for Solas is not just loneliness; it is a spiritual dislocation from his very being.

Solas' greatest fear of dying alone is made poignant in this light. It reflects the deepest terror specific to what he once was: a being whose identity depended on connection​. As a spirit of Wisdom, his existence was validated by being in relation to others - understanding, advising, guiding, providing. Isolation, in contrast, is annihilation. Without connection, he loses not just companionship, but the conditions that once made him whole.

His fear of dying alone is the ultimate expression of this spiritual dislocation. To die alone would mean to vanish without witness, without anyone to recognize or carry the truth of who he was. It would be the final confirmation that his existence, once built on connection, ended severed and forgotten - the antithesis of everything he was born from.

No where is this more revealed than in the dialogue with Varric where he describes dwarves as "the severed arm of a once mighty hero, lying in a pool of blood. Undirected." Solas is saying that whatever vitality, whatever purpose the dwarves once had, is gone forever - they do not dream, they have no connection to the Fade, and therefore no participation in the greater flow of memory, spirit, or shared existence.

This metaphor reveals how Solas conceptualizes disconnection: a spiritual death. A severed arm may twitch and move, but it no longer truly lives. It is isolated, amputated from the body that gave it purpose. He does not fear physical death, he commits to the din'anshiral after all, his fear is being the severed bloody arm: existing in fragments, lost from the shared dreaming, without meaning, without recognition or connection​.

For Solas, to die alone, isolated, would be the final confirmation that his existence ended in that severance. It would mean he had failed not just his mission, but the nature of what he once was.

Inquisition: Fragile Restoration

Despite his cynicism and caution, Solas builds relationships during his time in the Inquisition. Dialogue and banter across Inquisition confirm this. Even with an Inquisitor who disapproves of him, Solas’ reactions show he cares - disappointment and sorrow leak through when the Inquisitor betrays principles Solas values. Aside from the Inquisitor, Veilguard confirms that his time with the Inquisition left an imprint. Dialogue with Rook shows that Solas remembers, regrets, and cherishes aspects of that time​. He confesses (through a letter and direct conversations about some companions) that these bonds mattered to him. He was not as detached as he wanted to believe.

Inquisition represents a brief, fragile restoration of Solas’ original self - a being tied to others, building meaning through connection, guidance, and shared struggle. For the first time since the collapse of the ancient world, he steps back into a community, forms bonds, and allows others to matter to him, offering him a glimpse of what it would mean to live whole again, to exist not as a severed limb but as part of something larger, vibrant, and real.

And because he walks away from it - because he sacrifices it in the name of his duty - I think the fear of dying alone only grows sharper for him here on out. Why?

He proves to himself that even when real connection is within reach, he will destroy it for the sake of his mission, reinforcing his internal narrative that he will always be alone - not because the world forces it on him, but because he cannot hold onto connection without crushing it himself. He now knows that even when salvation is offered, even when the bonds are real, he is the one who lets them go. And if he can't choose connection when it stands right in front of him, how can he hope to avoid facing the end alone?

Veilguard and the Consequences of Isolation

Being forcibly bound to the Veil in the non-atonement endings doesn’t just physically isolate Solas - it symbolically completes his severance from who he once was.

When Solas describes the dwarves as the severed arm of a once-great hero, appearing to live but fundamentally lost - the worst/fight endings force him into exactly that state.

In one ending, he still clings to his pride, calling himself a god.

In another, he collapses into bitter self-loathing, calling himself a fool.

Either way, it shows how far he has fallen: whether in arrogance or despair, he has lost the balance, the clarity, and the communal being that Wisdom once represented.

The non-atonement endings aren't just "bad" outcomes for Solas - they are the final realization of his worst nightmare: not death, but survival in a form hollow and broken that he becomes a shadow of the spirit, and man, he once was.

Atonement: Restoring Connection

The significance of the atonement ending in Veilguard cannot be overstated. When Rook reintroduces Morrigan, carrying Mythal’s essence, and the Inquisitor (his vhenan or friend) back into Solas' life at a critical moment, it is not only tactical but a symbolic act.

Rook interrupts the cycle of isolation that Solas has been trapped within for millennia at the perfect time - when he is his most spent, his most exhausted, his most off balance. They do not force Solas into submission through violence or deceit, instead, they bring witnesses - two of the few beings left who understand Solas. It is an act of restoring connection at the precipice of total severance.

It is Rook at their most unpredictable, their most radical - a deliberate act of compassion in a moment where all history pointed toward violence.

Morrigan/Mythal represents the beginning of Solas’s long journey: the spirit who first called him into the physical world, the one who sparked his original departure from his pure, communal self. She is the first bond he formed, his longest and the first to be broken.

The Inquisitor represents the possibility of renewal: a mortal connection that survived knowledge, betrayal, and grief. Whether as a beloved or a friend, they carry Solas’ truth - the full complexity of his mistakes and his heart - without turning away.

Rook represents the force of free will, unpredictability, and change. They are the living proof that fate is not fixed, that even the most rigid paths can be broken open by compassion and choice. In bringing Mythal and the Inquisitor back to him, Rook shows Solas that salvation does not come from control or grand design, but from trusting in the unpredictable, living bonds between people.

In this ending Rook, Morrigan and the Inquisitor give Solas the one thing he could not reclaim on his own: the restoration of his place in the greater whole - purpose. They force him to confront that he is not, and never was, alone.

Solas’ original fear - the spiritual annihilation of being severed, forgotten, fragmented - is at last answered. He is seen and known as he takes his first steps on the path of facing the terrible cost of his decisions and actions.

Choosing atonement - binding himself to the Veil willingly - is not a defeat, nor is it an absolution of his sins. It is the beginning of change, a reclamation and restoration of his original self: the spirit of Wisdom, whose existence was rooted in advising and connecting through communion with others. He still is a prideful man, but in surrendering control and anchoring the Veil with his own life, he begins to untangle pride from purpose.

It is the moment when Solas, for the first time since he sundered the world, chooses connection. And he does not have to face it alone. Whether he walks into the Fade by himself or with his vhenan at his side, the symbolism remains unchanged: Solas knows, at last, that he is not severed. He leaves not as a fragment, but as someone with renewed purpose.

And how beautifully symbolic that the path before him will center on healing an even more painful severance, that after connection was offered to him at his lowest moment, he will now find a way to offer connection back to the Titans and their dreams.

[ephemeralinstance]

solavellan + being a person

What is so essential to me about the Solas romance route specifically is that it is the only time in the whole series that you will clearly see him want something for himself. Everything else he does is so driven by his sense of duty and what he thinks he owes to others; you do get a lot of very interesting insight into him from the low approval and friendship routes, but the romance is special to me because it is, as he puts it, 'selfish,' and I think allowing himself to be selfish is actually a really important part of his character development.

The reason this matters so much is because personhood is such a big theme of Solas' whole story. The point of his arc in Inquisition is that he initially does not appreciate the personhood of the modern residents of Thedas, and through his relationship with the Inquisitor and Inquisition he learns that he was wrong; and on the flip side, one of his big motivations for effecting change is the fact that very few people in modern Thedas recognise the personhood of spirits as he does, and thus he feels it is his responsibility to defend them from these abuses. 

But lying behind all this is the fact that Solas is very insistent on denying his own personhood as well. He consistently refuses to admit that he has wants and needs; when Cole asks about his pain he quickly minimizes it, when Felassan observes that he's wounded he insists it's not important. From the flashbacks in Veilguard we see a life spent in service to others, with little sign of him ever pursuing his own desires. Solas gets criticized for using people, but it's essential to realise that he does exactly the same to himself; he sees himself primarily as a tool in service to higher purposes, he does not want to let himself be a person with genuinely personal, selfish desires. 

The romance is the only time in the series - perhaps the only time in his whole (embodied) life - when he loses his focus and allows himself to actually be a person; to pursue something just because he wants it, and not because it is his duty. For me that's such a fascinating complement to the journey he goes on in Inquisition with regard to his understanding of the worth and value of people as individuals. It's this tantalizing glimpse of who Solas could be if he would let himself exist outside of service to others, and that's one reason why the heartbreak goes beyond just the sadness of a simple breakup; when he leaves he isn't just turning his back on the Inquisitor, he's turning his back on himself and his own personhood.  

[missriggie]

If Inquisitor Lavellan is Hope, Elf!Rook is Freedom

Forgive my rambling but I just wanted to share this, see if it inspires discussion/theories/new friends to reach out, and maybe cement myself in this fandom.

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

I've given a sparing thought to some theories and headcanons I've seen circulating with the confirmation of elves once being spirits in Veilguard and all the clues sprinkled throughout Inquisition. One has popped up that I find intriguing and I agree with. Inquisitor Lavellan is a Spirit of Hope.

I think there is a very strong case for that, especially for those Solasmancers out there who love to pair them up as Wisdom and Hope. It's a very beautiful thought as they are without a doubt soulmates, at least in the cases where those two end up together.

Hope defines the Inquisitor's journey. They become the Herald of Andraste, a symbol to look to after a period of ruthless war, then into the ass-end of a demon apocalypse trying to mend a broken world. Deed after great deed they prove their capabilities, and become a formidable player in Thedas's history, keeping people looking up. They are the Dawn That Comes.

Now that Veilguard has since confirmed that Elves were spirits made flesh, I've started to wonder at what possible spirit Rook could be, should they be of Elven lineage. I've decided, either through evidence or delusion or trying to piece together the fanfic I've got brewing, that Rook could be a spirit of Freedom.

Every faction could have some way of a purpose toward liberation. A Veil Jumper would want to free their history and their people from ignorance. A Grey Warden would want to free Thedas from the Calling and the Blight. The strongest background, and most the likely canon faction for Rook would be a Shadow Dragon, putting pressure on the Imperium to abolish slavery.

Rook has a knack for freedom. We free Lucanis from the Ossuary, the Dalish Elves from the Venatori, the Kal Sharok dwarves from the Titan's anger, young griffons from the Gloomhowler. We even free ourselves from a prison of regret built specifically to lock up gods.

My first go round, I played a Lord of Fortune Spellsword, and it coincided very nicely with this theory. An ex-galley slave turned marauding treasure hunter with no masters to hold them back. She lived and breathed freedom so it made sense, at least for my Rook.

We also see the potential to corrupt that spirit of freedom. Into what you ask? CHAOS. Which also ties into the other thing that connects them to Solas; The Tower.

The big teaser for Rook as the protagonist back when it was still called Dreadwolf was the Tower/rook chess piece and floating head of a wolf. Solas's Arcana at the end of Inquisition is the Tower. This Major Arcana represents calamity, disruption, upheaval, unavoidable change, chaos.

Too much freedom leads to lawlessness, and Rook is never one to follow rules as far as we witness. In all backgrounds, no matter the faction, Rook's actions cause unrest, turmoil, disruption, often a total breakdown of authority, much like the spirit they are mistaken for when delving into Solas's memories in the Crossroads.

Rook cannot be caged or told what to do. But also, Freedom cannot go unchecked, to do so on either end of the spectrum just leads to untold mayhem. It needs a guiding hand. It needs Wisdom.

With this in mind, it just makes their dynamic with Solas so much more fascinating. Everything he has done is in the name of Freedom, and if he were to have a living embodiment of it move against him it would be so confronting. It would make him question his entire angle. Why is he really doing this, if not for freedom? But his pride would keep him in imprisoned in denial and regret. This denial is then reflected back to Rook in regards to the fate of Varric.

The case for each spirit, both Hope and Freedom, only intensifies if one chooses the Atonement ending.

Lavellan sees the Wisdom in Solas and tries to appeal to him through that. She gives him Hope, and joins him in the dream, forever protected from his fear of dying alone.

Rook holds a mirror to his Pride, his mistakes, his trauma and makes him confront it. They gather all the pieces needed to unravel his fear, allow him to let go and make his own choice to atone and return to his true self, opening a path to true Freedom to finally come home to the Fade. WHICH IS TWIN-FLAMEY AS FUCK

So yeah, I love this game. EDIT: I've expanded on this with a second part regarding Elgar'nan and will in the future take a look at Rook/Freedom in relation to Mythal as Benevolence and Retribution.

[queenrizzardnthelizardscissored]

now that the veilguard dust has settled im kinda just left feeling a bit... sad. like idk how to explain it. its like all the love i had for this series and the world was kinda shattered by it. like. i can either view it as a mid fantasy game on its own, or some kinda dragon-age-themed themepark ride, or i can make it canon and this is really what everything was building up to.

it just feels like everything i loved abt the series was sanitized and removed, and i cant even really get angry abt it bc it feels so sterile. like the thing about mages and how apparently they just are normal people now. as someone who struggles w/ mental health, including issues that make me hyperfocus and make a lot of stuff, or make me compulsive about weird random things, and then make me lethargic or annoying to everyone else, the way that mages worked in these games was so. idk. brutal but also relatable. it didnt feel like they sugarcoated the mental health issues, but it also didnt feel like they dehumanized these characters. they're all so human and we can see that they dont deserve agony or suffering or to have their minds destroyed and live w/o emotion (this in particular was affecting to me given my journey w/ psychiatric medication) but also that they need support networks, they need people to help them and hold them up and also say no sometimes and keep them from being their worst selves. but the core horror of that, of these people marginalized everywhere which just worsens their mental health issues, of these people tormented all the time by dreams they cannot control who have just accepted it, that there's nothing they can do to get better, of these people whose greatest strength is also their weakness, the core horror is just gone from DAV. it doesnt even care about it.

it also doesnt care about the injustice of the world. the thing that is so poignant about these games is that the world is not simple and that there is never a big bad. the 'big bads' that exist are there not as conventional villains you're meant to hate (nobody thought the darkspawn was a compelling villain, nor, really, demons? DA2 doesn't have a villain, really, just a bunch of sad people pushed to their limits who do horrible, horrible things bc they believe it's right), but as things that disrupt society, confront existing systems and exploit their weaknesses and demand change, or everyone will be annihilated. but in DAV, these societal weaknesses either aren't there or are distilled down to one or two bad guys from whom the whole 'evil' descends. it has villains that are gods that were worshipped for so long, and now turn out to be kinda insane and evil. this is, in my opinion, NOT the direction dragon age should go (i wish that DAI hadn't done the Solas thing, the veil should've remained intact and we should focus more on politics, on how the world rebuilds after the mage-templar war, what the qunari are doing, on small scale people's lives), but. it is what was done, and there's still a lot of potential there. Solas is a great character in DAI even if I think they should've gone in another direction. he challenges the worldviews of literally every character. so does the existence of these gods.

but the thing is that they end up not challenging anyone. the venatori, who, reminder, are human supremacist nationalists that hate the elvhen people and are extremely revanchist, side instantly with the gods the elvhen worshipped, for seemingly no reason, other than that they're Both Evil. The elvhen instantly recognize the gods are Evil and side against them. Solas is now One Guy rather than a thing that tests the boundaries of society. I'm not sure if this was because the game is rushed, or, and this is more what i suspect, the devs didnt want the players to have to confront the obvious and extremely difficult choice of potentially siding with the slavers and racists for what is, in universe, the 'greater good', even though that would be a fucking fascinating place for the game to go, especially if your Rook was elvhen. rather than examining these hate groups, or the structure of a society that builds itself on hatred and systemic injustice, the game just goes the easy route by turning their evil from something real and thus frightning due to the fact it exists in real life, can be seen in flags and posters on the roadside if you're in some parts of America, to some absolute unimpeachable evil that cannot be analyzed nor reasoned with. Imagine if they, for instance, explored Tevinter politics. a super crude version of this, which sucks and i have put little thought into, is to examine the way in which fascism and slavery upholds the social order. by positioning the elvhen below even human slaves and non mages, there's always someone lower for them to target and jeer at, and so they ignore the fact that they themselves are being fucked over by both the overarching structures at play and the people perpetrating them. instead, the game did none of these things, and did not even make the canon slavers in the canon slave country, (whose buisness of slave-trading and capture is tacitly accepted by rulers of Southern countries because even there, the elvhen are seen as second class), OWN SLAVES. We see none of this, none of the broad-scale social evils of inequality or the horrors of slavery and systemic racism, and so beyond avoiding the difficulty of having the player maybe have to temporarily side with and/or attempt to end slavery and the systems in it, *even when it affects their own people*, we just remove it all together. the relatable, realistic, *banal* evils are replaced with cackling villain laughter and dramatic designs.

the fact that we've torn apart and destroyed actual evil for the sake of replacing it with a caricature necessarily means the characters are less complex, which is fucking sad because there's so much genius on display with these character concepts. Harding's journey in particular could've been great, with her anger at the way her people have been fucked over present and past, and her either controlling it or embracing it. If you wanted to tie it back to the main story (which companion quests always sort of should thematically), you could have her realizing that the elvhen were just as fucked over by the evanuris as she and her people. Taash's quest about discovering their gender and the way that things are lost in cultural translation could've been great, if it leveraged the way the qunari work. the qunari have a very different system of gender than humans or elvhen or dwarves, though, importantly, just as restrictive. their journey could've dealt with actually integrating and synthesizing these cultures, and with breaking down both models of gender and how they fail to account for and capture the actual lived experienced of people, instead imposing a false dichotomy on them. In human countries, gender shapes work, in the qunari, work shapes one's gender. How could these equally repressive things be integrated or dealt with? Think about how cool this would've been to do ! there's so much cultural worldbuilding potential as well as the actual journey of these characters. but instead, we import a phrase from the real world that is characteristic of our present moment. historical cultures have had all sorts of different understandings of gender than our current system, not necessarily more or less restrictive (well, more restrictive if we consider the recent past in the West) but different. the identity of nonbinary is meaningfully different from that of "similar" positions in other cultures. in fact, dragon age already kind of already began to deal with this, albeit in a very-2014 way. It's just so dissapointing from both a queer perspective and a worldbuilding perspective. every quest is like this, a genius little kernel of an idea that instead of being expanded on and reshaped through the lens of the world we're in, is destroyed and made into the simplest, worst version of itself.

while we're at it, let's talk about souls. it's one thing that the enavuris exist. fine. i don't think that they needed to do that, but there were a lot of cool things that could be done with it, and i get why they made that decision, even if they didn't expand on it. but the whole thing about the enavuris is that they ARENT GODS! there are no confirmed gods in Dragon Age, and no confirmed afterlife. Remember Justinia in Inquisition and how it was a spirit that copied the imprint of her mind and personality on the fade? remember the same thing with Cole? Remember how Leilana can die and come back as a spirit that really, genuinely believes it is Leilana, but is, by the most physical of definition, 'not'? (insert metaphysics and debates about consciousness here).

The reason the fade and spirits are so damn good is because they are not as simple as an afterlife. what they are, as is clearly communicated, are impressions of reality and information. to put it another way, the fade reflects the perceptions and shapes and information about reality. the spirits that exist are not 100% truthful, and not because they're lying, but because their very existence is shaped by others beliefs. information gleaned from the fade is not 100% reliable, because how the fade looks and what happens in it can be manipulated not just by demons but by belief. There's a great bit with Solas from early in Inquisition where he talks about a battlefield that changes shape, changes events, based on whether the spirit he's talking to is closer to the losing or winning side. How damn great is that? the spirits aren't literal ghosts, but OUR CULTURAL MEMORY. the way they exist is so damn good, the way they carry on cultural traumas and beliefs. While we're at it, think about how this ties in to mages, who are tormented by spirits. They are literally tormented by cultural trauma and pain that persists even after the original victims and original perpetrators are long gone. God that's so great. What dying does is unclear, just like real life. What persists after death is your 'legacy,' warped by what other people thing of you. this ambiguity is great because whether or not an afterlife exists is unclear, but also, the 'soul' supposedly passes through the fade before dying. This system of magic, where spirits are not malevolent nor kind nor truthful, but formed by density of information and strong belief and cultural memory, is very unique. The closest thing to it is the spheres in the Witcher, and even that's different. In veilguard, souls exist and they are literally echoes of people and are 100% accurate.

The themes of Dragon Age, up to DAV, have been about cultural memory, about how beliefs impact actions impact beliefs, about (to borrow a really good comment on an early post) the truth of what religion makes us do rather than the 'truth' of what religion is. Think of how this magic system of spirits that are influenced by belief and cultural memory and raw strength of emotion that persists and impacts others even when the original person to feel those emotions is dead ties in to these themes. It's so beautiful, genuinely, even if the game does not explicitly explore it. Now think about how this all is lost when we make it so that souls explicitly exist and can be reserructed and spoken to.

Even aside from the broader themes, think about the potential that was there for the Mortalitasi. Rather than just being straightforward necromancers, if we applied old Dragon Age rules, the spirits they would summon from the corpses of people were not actually those people, but what their living relatives think of those people. How brutal and awesome and sad is that? That there is no true way to speak to the dead, only to speak to your conception of the dead. It's so beautiful, and sad, and honestly hurts my chest a bit to think about. Not only is that gone, but the concept it made way for - the existence of liches - falls way short and is in fact made actively worse by this change. So, liches are souls of mages possessing/controlling their own corpses, if I understand it right. Imagine if the 'souls' were not truly the original person, but a spriit imitating them. Not only does this make the whole thing bittersweet - it means that a person is sacrificing their life to cement a sort of constant legacy, because they are too afraid of dying without an impact of the world - but it means that a person who becomes a lich is taking this risk. Imagine if everyone hates that person, and so the new spirit that is now 'them' is an asshole. They have become, literally, the person everyone thinks they are. That's such a poignant and genius idea that is stripped away for, what? Literally just generic fantasy DND liches? It's. just. the loss is so sad. Especially since the theme of the character who has the option to turn into a lich is that of fear of death. What better way to show that fear of death ruins the way they LIVE than by making the new person not literally be them? By exchanging their life and happiness therein for a legacy? It's so beautiful and yet. gone.

the game, despite being on its own a really pretty but ultimately mediocre action RPG, feels like such an overwhelming loss because it not only destroys the world in which it is meant to be set but also because it seems to ignore the potential inherent in its own story. I am not a dragon age writer, and thank god for that, because I suck at writing, but if I was, i would've made the game more small-scale and poltiical and focus on ideology and fear and radicalism and acceptance rather than gods. TO be clear - I'm not mad that they didn't do that alternate game. I'm sad that they did this different idea, about the gods coming back, and then didn't do it well or even commit to their own idea.

and beyond that is the fact that it wants so badly to simultaneously distance itself from the previous games while also calling back all the time. the issue is that that could never be done, because the game is, inextricably, a sequel to a 2014 game that ended with a clear setup for a sequel this game expands upon. The game brings back this character from the previous game as a main villain, but because it also wants so badly to distance itself from the previous games, it makes him flatter, unreactive to the decisions and contexts of the previous games. The Solas of DAV is like the Solas of DAI immediately after waking up. The game brings back Varric despite him being in two previous games, and then proceeds to make him NOT Varric for most of the game. It brings back a companion from DA2 only to have her dress up in the worst outfit ever and not reference anything or be changed by her experiences, and then she fucks off. It has a plot inextricably tied to religion, but barely mentions Andraste or the Maker once, even in conversation among a group of casual believers, even as an exclamation. At the same time, the game is set in a nation completely different to the one of previous games, but it doesn't actually exploit that for any purpose. Rather, it destroys everything from the previous games. It makes it so the South is torn asunder, and yet our characters don't seem to care. Everyone from the previous games is implied to be dead, Hawke, maybe Cassandra, the HoF, Sera, Fenris (which is not in this game because they realized that having him here would expose the fact this game has ignored slavery entirely), Merrill, Josephine, Blackwall, Vivienne, everyone. At the same time they bring back a character from DAI who should've known these people for years, and she somehow goes on camping trips while the 6th and 7th blight destroys her home and everyone she's ever known. The game does not want to actually interact with the previous media, or the worldbuidling therein, but at the same time it must somehow remind you it is, in fact, a dragon age game, and so it must bring back and puppet around these characters and ideas just to show you they exist.

It's just so sad, but also kind of inevitable, and any solution would be terrible, because this game comes out 10 years after the previous entry. If they made it a direct sequel, where you play as Inky again, which would be the most logical thing to do, new players wouldn't get it, because why the fuck would they? They'd have to play a whole other 10 y/o game just to start this one. If they had you play as a small-scale character doing a side-ish story that ties into the main plot, a la DA2, with an inquisitor that chooses what to do w/o your input based on DAI choices, which would've been my preferred option, since it meant your character could be new and interesting without feeling out of place, everyone would've rightfully been mad that all the big world ending stuff is happening to someone else (which I think would actually be really cool for a narrative, to feel so helpless, tossed about by the world while you struggle to survive, but I can also see why they didnt want to do that.) If they did a time-skip, say, to the next Age, and had Solas defeated offscreen, which I think would actually be the best as far as creating a new series with divergence while also maintaining the lore and theming w/o having to account for player choices, well, this I think would've been the best game of the lot, but everyone, including the writers, would've been fucking pissed to not see an end to their story, to just have them live their lives and defeat Solas off-screen. So in the end, they're left with a sort of weird hybrid, where we play as a new character but also it's a direct sequel but also we're the one doing world-changing events but also there's a time skip during which nothing happened somehow, but everyone is still around just older. Even if this was well-done, and had artistic integrity and no interference due to market decisions, this would be a very hard balance to strike. But that's not what was done. Instead, the game started as a single player campaign, then was redone to make an MMO, then a raid game, then co-op action, then live service, then back to single-player again, and then rushed to recoup costs. With that in mind, it's really not *awful*. And then, of course, there was the bullshit "wokeism!!111!" assholes, as if the first game didn't have both gay and lesbian relationships, the second didn't have the same, the third didn't have both of those and also a canon trans character. It's just sad that it ended like this, with everything, including, somehow, my retroactive enjoyment of the series, being destroyed. I know it's stupid to not like old things because of the new thing, but. idk. it's this weird involuntary reflex. Ah well. I loved this world and its characters so much and now it just kinda feels hollow. :(

[hawke-from-kirkwall]

Solas. The Dread Wolf. He is an incredibly fascinating character to me. He has many names. His history is tangled and twisting with love, loyalty, pain, wisdom, betrayal, pride, power, fear, failure, regret- each part telling the story of a truly complex and nuanced person. In this Essay I will...

Something I find absolutely fascinating about Solas over the course of DAI and now DATV is that I feel you can see him struggle with the fact that at every turn his desperate belief that those around him are on some level not real people (a belief he holds on to with white knuckle fists because he knows he cannot complete his goal if he allows himself to see them as real) is challenged. Varric, Cole, Sera, Bull, Lavellan, or even an Inquisitor that's not Elvhen, Felessan, even to some extent Mythal, they directly challenge his view of them. He has to silence them or he won't be strong enough to continue his mission- he'd fail again. So he kills his closest friend, can't even look him in the eye when he does it, he breaks up with Lavellan (or distances himself from a friendly Inquisitor), and abandons the Inquisition without a word, even cuts himself off from Cole because Cole knew who he was and could reveal too much.

Solas cuts himself off from anyone and everything that could tear down his idea that they could be REAL, that they could deserve the same chance he and the other ancient elves had to live, or he knows he will abandon his work. He'd once again fail. And Solas fears he couldn't survive that.

So he forces himself to be detached, cold, calculating, deceptive, and strategic. He once again bears the mantle of Dread Wolf, once again the cost is never too high if it means the People are restored.

Solas fascinates me in his obstinate determination to not accept what he sees, and I believe he knows deep down, is true - his original plan succeeded, but the cost was great and that there is truly no way to reverse it. The world of Thedas, as it is now, completely changed from anything he ever wanted, is the result. But change is a part of life. It cannot be stopped. Fighting change or seeking to reverse change only serves to change things further and never in the way you had planned. Ultimately, Solas's plan was doomed from the start- he could succeed in pulling down the veil, he could "minimize the damage", but the world that would result from it would still not be the world he wants. It would still be subject to the thousand years of change it had gone through and would change further still at the abrupt return of magic and spirits to the world. He cannot predict the outcome and consequences that would be the aftermath of his success. And he doesn't want to! He cannot reconcile his failure so he pushes forward to erase what cannot be erased. It's futile. And I don't believe he is fully blind to it. I am certain he knows, even if he refuses to sit with it long enough to admit it.

Solas is a broken man who's so focused on his one failure that the cost of "repair" doesn't matter. HE has to fix it. HE has to sacrifice. HE has to go it alone. Else he might be persuaded to change his mind, to do the selfish thing and move on, when the ancient elvhen no longer have that chance.

So he holds tight to his bitter resolve only to be challenged again at every turn by Rook and their team, old allies and friends, those he had betrayed. Again.

His story is one of pain, loss, regret, failure, twisted purpose and the incredible power of a small seed of hope.

If you choose this end, Solas finally removes his blinders to see the light of hope in front of him. With or without Lavellan taking the journey with him, Solas finally sees what he'd been so forcefully shoving out of his view - it just takes one choice. One right decision to start a journey towards redemption. He cannot be absolved of guilt for his actions. He cannot change the past. But perhaps with time he can redeem his future.

[Me, typing this up at 10am on a Tuesday... like a normal person. Lol]

[krems-chair]

Just me musing about another thing I think would have been cool in Veilguard. (Spoilers abound starting like immediately below this so flee, flee if you need to!)

I think it would have been interesting to let a dwarven inquisitor present Solas with a different option other than binding himself to the veil and disappearing off on his own to soothe the blight. If other inquisitors were more inclined to pursue elf-related remedies (like finding Mythal and going through the crossroads), the implications of a dwarven inquisitor spending a near-decade learning the truth about what was taken from the Titans and showing up to Rook and being like "Deep Roads field trip time" instead of crossroads time would have been fascinating to explore.

And then, a high or low approval inquisitor might have approached Solas in the finale scene and been like "hey friend/fucker, field trip. You, me. Let's go." and potentially gone with for support/supervision on an alternate journey to try and help soothe titans in the real world in a way that would also help the fade. Idk, there's just a lot I love to consider about the dwarven inquisitor/Solas dynamic. We get to see a little glimpse of what it could have been like courtesy of that one line Harding says to him in the final act, but I hope fic writers feel like nourishing this particular unexplored avenue.

[saltyowlets]

Fandom Concerns: Cullen, Solas, and Forgiveness Deserved?

Something something, the narrative and character parallels between Cullen and Solas are quite fascinating in a microcosm but also reflective of the potential problematic nature of their romances in regards to analysis and meta talk.

This is not to say their romances are bad- even if I still struggle with the appeal of Solas' romance (just being transparent here), I enjoy his character. The central issue is the consistent narrative I've seen brought up, coddling and fixing both men in regards to their conflicts, Cullen with his lyrium and trauma, and Solas with his own past and actions in DATV.

In Cullen's case, it is not difficult to avoid such a narrative, but once you dig just a bit deeper, you find how easily it is to fall into the trap of coddling when addressing the major problems in his story. Fandom reaction can be mixed when faced with these plot points. Usually, it becomes a narrative of wanting to fix him or, worse, ignoring the issue altogether. If this was just about enjoying his character for fluff, then fine, take no mind in what I say. I love fluff as well and sometimes, i just want to enjoy a sweet narrative.

However, I am pointing towards more lenient analysis of Cullen and his arc that I have seen pop up through meta or even some analytical fanfiction (or so-called)

I don't find fault in people wanting to enjoy a simple and generally romantic story/fanfic. I also love them but for ones that try to somewhat address or tackle his story with critical thought, I take issue with the themes of the LI being the center and cause of his healing journey or sometimes lack thereof. It is not wrong to want to help and fix your partner, but at what cost?

It is not healthy to ignore the valid reasons why Cullen should have had a redemptive arc instead of a healing one. Relationship with Cullen becomes questionable in a realistic sense post game. Points and concerns of his past will prop up. That is the nature of relationships. To willingly allow his problematic biases and fears remain, to allow the narrative that love fixes a man, a woman fixes a man? That's what I take issue the most, why I cannot understand the vehemently denial of the necessity of redemption. This isn't about how you enjoy Cullen, it's about acting as if there are no faults in a man who actively seeks redemption for his actions. Aren't you taking away from his own narrative by claiming no fault in himself?

Some of my favorite Cullen fics and ships have no input in his redemptive story, but at the very least, they aren't built rose colored.

This is all the same for Solas. I have seen recently of narratives that leave Solas blameless for all his actions, pointing to all other people in canon such as Varric and Rook. And egregiously, Mythal.

Is this reflective of his disappointing narrative in DATV or the brewing sentiment towards Solas after a decade? Could be both. What is true is that his story falls directly in the trope of women (in this case 3) fixing him. Mythal, Morrigan, and Lavellan, for the good ending. It takes no time to address the faults of the man, directly letting him essentially go scotfree. Solas is not a good man nor entirely a bad man. Instead of understanding that characterization, we have a story that initially treats him as a proud, selfish man but ends with him, good man? This fault in his narrative becomes reflective of how the fandom treats his character, jumping from villification and obsession

Playing DATV on its own, Solas' character is muddy at best and contradicting at worse. This grey area makes it easy for certain groups to coddled and over-excuse Solas without even acknowledgments of the literal deaths at his hands. His appeal was never about being a misunderstood character- his appeal is about a character who is trapped with ideals and regrets of days long gone. His inability to change and learn is his downfall, so to have people say he did nothing wrong, that he was justified, erases the crux of what made Solas even a character.

What I say is never out out of hatred to those that enjoy their characters and romances, God knows how much I love Cullen. I literally talked about him every day for nearly 5 months.

But I will always take issue with people who purposefully disregard the blatant issues these men have and how misogynistic themes can be presented by fandom and its culture.

It becomes even more worrisome when this resolute refusal to accept both of their narrative issues and problematic history turns into talking points that mirror alt right pipelines and conservative culture.

Grants, I've been in the DA fandom for 5 months, 4 on tumblr. My observations are more of what I see in the current day and maybe it's limited, but I don't speak out of my ass when I see some weird shit growing in the corners.

[grymm-gardens]

First chapter of my Rook/Neve/Lucanis fic is up!

This one will probably end up being an insane amount of chapters so buckle in and expect updates relatively consistently, I am essentially rewriting spite and it will end up with rook/spite/lucanis/neve in a wild throuple

Words: 1,411

Summary: This Rook is a mage from kirkwall who fled to Nevarra with the help of hawke, after Hawkes disappearence in the fade, she made tracking down Solas her life's mission. Now a young adult, the same age Hawke was when they met, she embarks on her own journey of vengence. Unbeknownst to her, A detective, an Assassin and a Demon are about to change her entire perspective.

Link is here for AO3 or you can read the first chapter under the cut

"We don't have to fight. We're just here for Lucanis Dellamorte," Rook weakly bargained with the Venatori as they wasted no time drawing their weapons toward her. She heaves a deep sigh, drawing her spell blade, "Every day I try to reason with the unreasonable, and for what? Get ready, Neve."

As the red glow of venatori magic begins to warm her skin, she readies her blade. As she prepares to strike an unexpected presence causes her to stumble. A Demon. She had felt the reverberations of hundreds of demons in the halls but this one was closer - and different somehow. The thought is quickly pushed from her head as she narrowly dodges the end of a venatori staff, barely managing to fade step in time. The Venatori mage thrusts the end of his staff to the ground and begins chanting, "Razikale, dragon of mystery, Lucasan, dragon of night, Hear your faithful call-"

He's cut short by a crack in the frozen pillar behind him, a man with with glowing wings emerging from the ice. He grabs the mage by the waist turning him into his ally's blade before tossing him to the side, and kicking the other man onto a nearby spire of rock. The other venatori watch in horror as he sprints past two of them, slitting their throats before they can even grasp what's happening. Moving gracefully past them as they fall, he grabs the final cultist and snaps their neck with a swift precision.

Each kill was unsettling calm, and calculated, while hauntingly beautiful at the same time. Surely this is the Demon of Vyrantium they were sent after. No one mentioned the name would be so literal, Rook thought to herself. She shudders feeling the sheer amount of demonic energy in the room. She cannot help but stand in awe of the wings before her - a beautiful manifestation of purple and black feathers dripping with energy from the fade. She can only imagine what they might feel like.

"I'm guessing he's the reason we're here." Rook says cheerfully.

Neve chuckles lightly before lowering her staff, "Yes, I'd say so"

Lucanis turns toward them, his eyes unwavering as he assesses the two women. "Who are you? Who sent you?" As his wings fade, the demonic energy in the room remains. Ever curious about spirits and the fade, Rook couldn't be more intrigued. Meeting his gaze fully for the first time, she sees an surprisingly handsome face before her, with long dark hair beautifully framing his face and dark brooding eyes to match. He eyes her up and down, whether just to look or figure out the quickest way to kill her she isn't sure. Both, she hopes.

"I'm Rook, lovely to meet you," she says with a small wave, as if greeting a dinner guest. Sheathing her spell blade, she places her free hand softly upon her companions shoulder. "This is Neve." The detective laughs softly at the watcher, before giving her own half-hearted wave.

"Caterina sent us," Neve says

"But... you aren't crows," Lucanis shifts his gaze back and forth between the two, bewildered by his sudden rescue, and the unusual saviors.

"And you're possessed by an actual demon." The Detective says with a mixture of suspicion and amusement.

"It's complicated," He says with a nonchalance that has Rook further entralled with the him.

"That is fascinating, I have so many questions!" Neve quickly nudges her. "Rook, maybe you ask them after we break him out," She says, half-teasing, and half-serious as she observes the entryways.

"Right, Caterina promised us a mage-killer if we broke you out of here, are you... well?" Rook asks uncertain of exactly what the man before her is capable of.

"I can still work." The words almost sound venomous as they drip from his mouth.

"Good, because more venatori are on their way. We need to get moving." The Watcher readies her spell blade, and turns to begin plotting their escape.

"Wait. They have a vial of my blood that they can use to control me. I cannot leave it in their hands. And... I had a contract when i was captured. The target is here, Calivan. Crows don't break contracts," He says coldly.

"Oh, of course. The unbreakable crow contracts. It can never been simple, can it?" Rook sighs. The Crow looks into her eyes with such an intensity she can barely breathe.

"I'll owe you." For a moment he looks as though he is pleading with her, before steeling his gaze again.

"Okay. Where to first?" Rook says softly.

"The blood vial, then Calivan," As soon as the words leave his mouth he is already pushing past the two of them towards freedom.

As Rook steps forward to follow, she feels a soft hand grab hers. She turns toward Neve with her furrowed brow, and ever supiscious glare.

"Are you sure about this? Do you think we can trust him?" Neve stumbles, almost sounding nervous. Rook is surprised by her hesitation, and places her other hand on the detective's forearm.

"I have no idea but, I'll watch your back if you watch mine." She smiles reassuringly at her, before giving her hands a gentle squeeze. "Besides I imagine if he wanted us dead, he probably would've just done it, you know?'

"Oh well, that's very reassuring." Neve teases, relaxing a bit.

"I try my best, come on," Rook gently releases Neve hand from her own as they make their way towards their new ally.

_____________________

"The Crows send their regards," Lucanis snarls at the corpse of Calivan below him. Rook sees something animalistic in his eyes, and she can't help but wonder if its from the Crow training or the demon he shares a body with.

"So, we got your target," She says as she watches the shimmering wings in front of her fade. As they do, she expects the demon's energy to settle with them. Instead this time she's intrigued to feel it shift slightly.

"Yes, the jobs done," He almost sounds as if he doesn't believe it. He looks up from the body of his target for the first time, looking between Rook and Neve for a moment before looking distracted by something.

"Well, are you ready to get out of here?" Neve asks, clearly ready for break from the venatori.

"I know I am." Rook looks to Lucanis for an answer, before seeing that he looks a thousand miles away. She takes a few delicate steps towards him. Suddenly, she senses that same demonic presence from before, so clear she can almost feel it. Losing any sense of self-preservation she reaches her hand out towards what she can only assume is the demon.

Just as she extends her hand fully she feels the sensation of raw magic flowing through her painlessly, as the delicate violet and black from before dances around her finger tips

Rook gasps in awe at the display of lights and intricate hues. Suddenly she feels a strong hand grab the back of her collar and forcibly pull her back from the entity. She turns toward the hand and sees it belongs to Neve, her brow furrowed and her eyes sharply pointed at Lucanis.

"What in the hell was that?" Neve began interrogating the assassin while she nearly threw Rook behind her. As she tried to regain her footing she watched in terror as the detective threatened the man of her behalf.

"Don't point fingers at me I've never seen him do that before, ask her!" He shouted back at her, while gesturing dramatically towards Rook with his dagger. She threw her hands up defensively, before he gestured again and asked, "How did he do that?"

"Don't ask me, he's your demon!" She took a few steps forward putting herself in front of Neve, who was watching the bickering with an astounded look on her face.

"Can you see him?" Lucanis questioned her.

"See him? No, I just - felt something, a sensation, you know?" She said uncertainly, realizing she truly wasn't sure how she sensed him so clearly, let alone connected with him through the veil.

"No, I do not know! What does that mean?" He asked, becoming further frustrated with the watchers aloofness.

"Clearly we all have things to discuss - far away from here." Neve says prompting the trio to leave

"Agreed," Lucanis says while watching the two suspiciously as they make their way out of the Ossuary and back to Treviso.

[datvtranscripts]

Into the Crossroads Pt. 1

Vi'Revas

Signs and Portents Masterpost Previous: Here for Leads

Rook goes to speak with Bellara by the eluvian.

If Rook has not spoken to Neve about leads yet:

First time: Bellara: Oh, Rook! Hello! I've never seen an eluvian like this before! Not intact, anyways. Fascinating!

Second time: Bellara: Wait… if the magic is feeding back into itself… This thing's self-stabilizing! Sorry. Didn't need to yell.

Third time: Bellara: Soon as the lyrium cures, I should be able to fix this. Not… entirely sure what will happen when I do. But I can see the flaw in the resonance. So whatever it's supposed to do, it's not currently doing.

Else: Bellara: Can't rush this kind of thing, Rook. Bellara: Didn't Neve want to talk to you? Bellara: It'll be done when it's done. Bellara: Sorry, Rook. I'm just in the middle of some calibrations.

Rook speaks with Bellara at the eluvian after discussing leads with Neve. She is tinkering with the eluvian.

Bellara: Almost… there… I just have to— Shit. Sorry!

Rook: Can I… help?

Bellara: No, no! I've got it! Mostly.

She continues to work on the eluvian.

Bellara: Mirrors are funny things, aren't they? Reflections, they distort reality. No matter what you try. Sometimes the distortion's small. And sometimes it's big. And there's the trick. Control that distortion and…

The eluvian lights up.

Bellara: …there you have it.

Harding: What is that place?

Bellara: If I had to guess? It's the Fade. Another part of it, I mean.

Neve: Didn't Morrigan say this eluvian could go anywhere? Didn't think that meant "elsewhere in the Fade."

Bellara: She called it the Vi'Revas. "Freedom of ways." I wonder…

Dialogue options:

Affable: Maybe Morrigan was wrong. [1]

Sarcastic: Is it safe? [2]

Stoic: Wonder what? [3]

1 - Affable: Maybe Morrigan was wrong. Rook: Maybe Morrigan got this one wrong. Or misspoke? Harding: Morrigan can be a little inscrutable sometimes, but she chooses her words very carefully. [4]

2 - Sarcastic: Is it safe? Rook: If that is the Fade on the other side, won't it be dangerous? As the Fade often is? Neve: More dangerous than elven gods who wield the blight as a weapon? Rook: Point taken. [4]

3 - Stoic: Wonder what? Rook: If you have an idea what that place is, Bellara, share it. We don't have time to waste. [4]

4 - Scene continues.

Bellara: Some of the older texts talk about a place in the Fade where all the eluvians meet. A crossroads… where you could travel across all of Thedas in just minutes.

Harding: Right! We saw something similar, when we were chasing Solas. I wonder if it's the same?

A spirit appears near the eluvian.

Spirit: It is alike. And it is not.

Dialogue options:

Affable: Who are you? Rook: Who are you? And how did you get here?

Sarcastic: Neat trick. Rook: Either you found some way to get into the Lighthouse without us seeing… or you've been here all along. Not sure which one worries me more.

Stoic: Watch yourself. Rook: I've had enough surprises today, spirit. Tread carefully.

Spirit: The wolf's fang. You carry it now. Old paths. A new journey. Through there. I will wait.

Neve: Well. Can't tell if that's a trap or not. But we're short on options. One way to find out.

Harding: And it didn't feel dangerous, you know? Almost more… sad.

Dialogue options:

Affable: Let’s be careful. [5]

Sarcastic: The two aren’t exclusive. [6]

Stoic: I don’t trust it. [7]

5 - Affable: Let’s be careful. Rook: We have no idea what—or who—they are. So let's be careful. We need to be ready for anything. [8]

6 - Sarcastic: The two aren’t exclusive. Rook: Just because something's sad, doesn't mean it isn't dangerous. Harding: I can think of an example or two that proves that. [8]

7 - Stoic: I don’t trust it. Rook: No matter whatever-or whoever-else they are, they're a creature of the Fade. That means they're dangerous. Keep your weapons ready. [8]

8 - Scene continues.

Bellara: And we still don't know what this eluvian's going to do. One of us should probably stay behind, in case it closes.

Rook: Good point.

Neve: Just tell us when you're ready to go, Rook. And then we can figure out what's going on.

Next: The Crossroads

[briarfox13]

So after 80+ hours I've finally finished Dragon Age: The Veilguard! And boy do I have some thoughts (it's going to be a long post, sorry)

SPOILERS AHEAD

Firstly what an incredible journey from start to finish, I laughed, rejoiced and cried along the way. I loved it so much! The main story was engaging, and some of the side quests are the best Bioware has ever made.

However, I do have some criticisms with the writing and some lore. The beginning feels rushed, I wish we had more time before shit hit the fan. The faction backgrounds sound awesome and I wish we'd played those as a prologue and met Varric through those rather that tiny scene we got.

And I do wish the game was darker in some aspects. It felt weird that as an Elf I could just wander around Minrathous without a single problem, even the Venatori didn't comment on my race? Which felt off. Never thought I'd say this, but I miss the dark political plot points that the other games had (Looking at DA II here).

Expect The Blight, that was incredible, disgusting was just what I wanted to see.

I also don't like the concept of Ancient Elvhen magic being like advanced tech? I'm not fond of that. I play DA for the fantasy not the sci-fi. But that's a minor nit-pick.

But damn, Act 3? That was an explosive, incredible set of quests, and those twists broke my heart 😭 IYKYK

Honestly though, it's hands down one of the prettiest game I've played since probably Metro Exodus.

The environments, the lights and atmosphere is top notch; I know it wont happen but I'd kill for an Origins remaster with this engine (and combat system). The combat is my favourite so far.

Music is pretty but kind of unremarkable, Trevor Morris' Inquisition music was a 100% times better and more memorable, they should have stuck with him.

No offence to Mr. Zimmer but all his music sounds the same to me 🙈

The Grey Wardens, my babies are back ❤️ They've been my favourite faction in gaming since Origins and I'm so happy to finally play another Warden.

The reactivity was just amazing, I felt so connected to the plot by playing as one, especially with the Blight plotlines. Declaring for the Wardens at the end made me cry 😭 In War, Victory!!

And finally some good Grey warden armour!! XD I hated DA II and DAI's armour for them with a passion XD

Emmrich my love 💚

While I think it's too short (please Bioware add more romance content, I'm begging 🥺) I haven't loved a Bioware romance like this since Garrus'. (Sorry Alistair I still love you but, you're now joint second with Emmrich)

His romance was so sweet and charming, it felt so real. And so beautifully written; as someone who finds necromancy and death in religion fascinating but the reality of death terrifying, Emmrich was perfect for me.

I just adore it so much, I'm way too attached to him and my Rook 💚🥹 And obviously Manfred my son

To let you all in on a secret, even before I booted up Origins for the first time (2015) I was originally a Solas girlie (thanks to the internet) and now just under 10 years later I am so happy to have a happy ending to his and Zephyr's story 🥹❤️

I wish they interacted more with each other, and we'd got more about Solas' love for the Inky but ultimately I am happy with what we got. After all it wasn't entirely their story.

But, what I am not happy about is the Inky's personality. I respect it's kind of a soft reboot, but only 3 choices and none of them about how the Inky was like? Zephyr would never in a million years work with Morrigan (even with her Mythal fragment). It just didn't feel quite like my girl (even though I was happy to see her).

I do wish we'd got a couple more choices when making the Inky to make them feel more ours than slightly generic.

So finally, I will say that personally I adore this game, it's not perfect by any mile but I had fun, and that's important to me. It might even be joint top with Origins as my favourite DA game!

I've always been a Mass Effect girlie, but Dragon Age is important to me too. And I'm so happy to finally see a new DA release that has somewhat succeeded.

Now I'm done, do expect Tabitha spam! I'll make sure to tag them with spoilers for those who haven't finished/played!

And to my non DA followers, I'm very sorry about my current hyper-fixation (blame the ADHD) but bear with me! I have some tasty Halo art pieces cooking in the background 👀

[broodwoof]

happy birthday, brood!! I hope you have a lovely day. 😤💕

a handful of misc veilguard things I enjoy:

• the locations! it's nice to see so many new places in thedas, and they're all beautifully designed with so many little things to find (on my very slow replay i am taking more time to look at the little things and there's so many lovely--and sometimes silly--little set pieces.)

• the characters! not just the companions, of whom i all adore tbh, there's so many memorable and fun npcs floating about too. and the representatives of all the factions are all a delight.

• being able to be meaningfully trans and there being trans npc's and it's all just no big deal? you really do get some lovely interactions as a trans rook if you so choose to, and I think it's very needed in these difficult times. the things my rook could say to taash with regards to his and their gender journey's did kinda make me tear up :')

• faction reactivity! now granted I've only played mourn watch so far but I've seen some of the unique dialogue from the others here and there too, but i love all the mw specific dialogue and interactions I got, and I love how it really does make each rook have a different flavour? my guy is such a weird fella and I love it hahaha

• a technical thing I like too is things like resuming banter when it gets interrupted? genuinely a game changer tbh.

• animation? I guess that's technical, but there's some truly lovely animation in cutscenes for this game, the micro-expressions etc? good shit 🤌 and the cinematography in general for big quests? weisshaupt you will always be famous to me.

• the ambient npc banter in places? if you slow down and listen to it there's so many gems, and I love that companions sometimes chat to random npcs too?

• solas :) he is such a little bastard (affectionate) and the solavellan ending... the sad wet little 'vhenan....'? beautiful. no notes. (and also i loved delving into his memories and the like! and also... worm.)

I'm sure I could ramble a lot more tbh, but this is already an essay my god. I will end on emmrich, and by extension emmrook, they broke my brain and made me draw/write/gif more in the past 7 months than I think I have in the past 2 years LMAO so god bless those funky little goths they are piloting the braincell and driving at top speeds and I thank them for it.

Reooooo thank you 🥰🥰🥰

honestly!! this game is SO gorgeous, i will never get over it - and you are so right about the fun little discoveries! they really put so much into one single game, and while you can absolutely make your way through without discovering anything and that works, it's sooo fun to discover the things!

and honestly, i thought i did an in-depth exploration in my first playthrough... but as i'm slowly working through my second i'm like what?? is this?? i am discovering whole new sections of maps... 😂

and yesss, omg.... i have always meant it when i say i love all dragon age characters, bc i genuinely do, but veilguard makes it so easy to love everyone!

right??? like no matter what and no matter when, the obvious trans rep would be immensely meaningful, but rn...? wow. i've said before that veilguard is a brave game and i stand by that 😤 it is brave and earnest and it says that trans people belong. that nonbinary people belong. and that is so, so important 🥺

yeah!!! i am fascinated by the little changes depending on your faction... 👀 playing as a veil jumper first and then switching to a warden has been like Wow strife is treating me Very Differently 😂 it makes me so excited for the replay value, too!

REAL that was so good and important. i really hope other games with banter pick up on that, bc it feels totally organic the way that they did it but you aren't missing out on the banter which is soooo important to me! i remember playing dai and getting the banter cut off and sometimes i'd pause and look up what little they'd said so i could at least hopefully find and read the whole thing... 😂

yes!! god, the effort that went into this game - at all levels - is really phenomenal... like they didn't have to go this hard, to be this detailed and exacting, but they did! they did that! i have so much admiration and respect for the entire team behind this game, because it truly is amazingly well done on so many levels. the hair physics continue to impress me hehe... i need to play a long-haired character just to watch them more lmao

yes!! yes this is one of my favorite details!!! it really serves to flesh out the world, and to show that there are people everywhere. like ofc we see them, but listening to what they're talking about - sometimes innocuous, sometimes serious, sometimes downright grim - just adds such depth

y e s oh my god. yes. yes. i am just... i was a little worried about how solas would be handled, ngl. like obviously trick loves him but trick also seems to love a certain amount of misery - as do i, it's fun making your audience suffer lmfao - but the ending is so, so good and cathartic... 🥺 it didn't soften him at all, it showed his dread wolf side a lot more clearly, and still, he can change his mind. and that is! so! important! like that as a message is SO important, i don't think i'll ever get over that... but also yes... wormy boy >3 and Big Fucking Scraggly Wolf... truly we got it all 🥰

honestly emmrich is AMAZING and emmrook looks so good 👀 i didn't know the characters when i started playing, was very deliberate about staying in the dark, and i fell for bellara so fast lmao but i was like no... be strong... wait until u meet everyone...! (spoiler: i was Not strong and i did Not wait and i do Not regret this lmao) but i'm sooo genuinely excited to play all the romances!! they all seem so good

and i love seeing you being so creative, love seeing that energy and passion. and i love your little funky goths 💖💖💖 they deserve all the good things tbph

[loredrinker]

Inflection, Context, and Elven: Lavellan’s Veilguard Ending (romance state)

Lately, I’ve seen quite a bit of criticism directed at a romanced Lavellan on my dash - particularly in the Veilguard ending, interpreting her as needy, egotistical, or entitled.

And I am wondering: Did we watch the same ending? (I find it fascinating how differently people interpret the same moments - such a reflection of the human experience.) And I couldn't help myself! I felt compelled to share my interpretations so I punched this out the last few days.

The sticking point seems to be Lavellan’s words, especially the ones spoken in Elven.

It seems like a common interpretation of Lavellan’s words here are: 

“It won’t be terrible if you’re with me.” (Implying possessiveness or entitlement - and that she alone will make it better.)

The game’s delivery offers no inflection on any word though. For me, it’s always been: 

“It won’t be terrible if you’re with me.” 

It’s subtle, but very different. This is just one micro-example of how much nuance is packed into the dialogue in the Veilguard ending. These lines shouldn’t be taken in isolation - especially not the Elven ones. They should be understood in the context of what Solas says to Lavellan in Elven just before, and beyond that, within the history established in Inquisition and Trespasser.

Indulgent Solas x Lavellan post ahead.

Still here? Excellent. (And sorry, it's another long post.)

"Elven is often a game of intents, not direct mapping of phonetic meaning." The language doesn’t rely on straightforward translations of sounds or words into specific meanings. Instead, it operates on a deeper level, where intent and context carry as much weight.

Earlier in the game, when Solas confronts Elgar’nan, he says: “I must speak to you in this tongue. It seems Elven is beyond your grasp.” This insult implies that Elgar’nan has lost the ability to understand the nuanced, metaphorical nature of the language. Elven relies on shared understanding, rhythm, intent, to convey its full meaning. By Lavellan and Solas choosing to speak Elven to each other it's an acknowledgement of their shared understanding - a connection rooted in their history going back to Inquisition.

Which is why I embrace it in my interpretations.

This is personal and expansive. On one level, she’s speaking as someone Solas has wronged, reminding him of the pain he’s caused her directly. But on another, she’s channeling the voices of countless others whose lives were affected by him and who will be shattered by his actions. It’s a challenge that blends her role as both an individual and the Inquisitor.

It’s also not a condemnation. Lavellan doesn’t lash out or accuse him of being irredeemable. Instead, she questions him, cutting through to reach the man beneath. She’s speaking to Solas (wisdom).

"Vhenan" is acknowledging his love for her but it’s also symbolic of his heart, the part of himself he’s buried and tried to ignore, suddenly reappearing. Solas has spent much of his journey detached and isolated, removing his heart metaphorically to push forward with his plans without the weight of emotional ties. Lavellan’s presence makes it impossible for him to keep it hidden. His heart is right there, exposed and speaking. And the ellipsis - so many words unsaid.

Immediately Solas looks down (I read it as shame). It’s a reaction back to what he said in Trespasser: that he would not have her see what he becomes. And yet, here she is. She sees him, the terrible path he has chosen, the blood on his hands, the awful things he has done, and what he’s about to do. In that moment, his shame is palpable - because Lavellan is one person he couldn’t bear to face in this state. 

And Lavellan doesn’t hesitate. Her next words are as much about holding him accountable as they are about reminding him that there is still another path. 

This isn’t some starry-eyed, naïve Inquisitor we’re dealing with (at least mine isn’t). Lavellan is fully aware at this point. But her stance is clear: no one is beyond redemption, not even the Dread Wolf himself. And she wasn’t the only one – this message is repeated throughout the game by others. 

Her words challenge the belief that has kept Solas shackled to his path. He’s convinced himself that his guilt and mistakes are too great, that there’s no turning back.

She doesn’t beg or demand or frame it in a way that’s grand and sweeping – she simply says “you’re wrong.”  

She’s not trying to erase his mistakes or pretend they don’t exist. She's saying, Yes, you’ve done terrible things, but that doesn’t mean you’re beyond the reach of change.

Lavellan’s journey as Inquisitor began with the Anchor - a mark born of Solas’s mistakes and choices. From the moment she touched his orb (yes, it sounds dirty), her path became entwined with his. This isn’t Lavellan selfishly claiming Solas’s path; it’s an acknowledgment that their journeys have run parallel.

Lavellan’s work to stabilize Southern Thedas mirrors Solas’s aim to restore a broken world, including the burdens of being forced to take on titles and labels. She is revealing her own struggles with devastating, blood-soaked choices - choices that, like his, have carried profound consequences.

Solas believes he’s been walking this path alone, but Lavellan shows him she's been walking alongside him this whole time. Now, as their paths converge again, this is a reminder of the power of connection and the burdens they’ve both borne. He's actually not alone.

Her words also carry an unspoken promise: she is ready to continue to bear the consequences with him. She knows the road ahead is painful and fraught with difficulty, but she is steadfast.

Why do I feel that people sometimes forget Lavellan’s role as Inquisitor? She wasn’t defined by Solas; she was the leader of a powerful military and political organization, forced to make horrible decisions. Whether you choose the mages or templars in Inquisition, you doom thousands to torment and death. The Empress of Orlais can live or die based on the Inquisitor’s choices. And if you’re like me and made the wrong calls on the Dalish clan war table operation, her own clan can be murdered and wiped out.  (Yes, I’m still haunted by that moment.) Her hands have blood on them too. This makes me wonder: does some criticism of the Solas/Lavellan romance stem from failing to see Lavellan as her own person? I love Lavellan for who she is as the Inquisitor - not because of Solas. Likewise, Solas is fascinating on his own. Their romance is one layer of the story, not the foundation of either character. Sometimes it feels like there are even some Solas/Lavellan lovers who have a tendency to overlook the depth and individuality of both characters outside of their romance.

Solas’s statement is a raw admission of all the guilt he carries for his deceptions and the pain he has caused her - lying to her about his identity, betraying her trust - not just as the Inquisitor, but as a person he loves.

His words are not an attempt to seek forgiveness but an acknowledgment of the truth - no matter how painful it is for them both. He knows his choices have caused devastation to the world and to her specifically. He's exposing the full weight of his dual burden: the grand, world-altering consequences of his plans and the personal betrayal of the woman he loves, who trusted him. 

Perhaps, on some level, he hopes that reminding Lavellan of his lies and treachery will convince her to abandon him, sparing her further pain. His guilt and self-loathing are so entrenched that the idea of being forgiven - or even supported – either confounds him or terrifies him.

But Solas’s confession is not just a shield to push her away. It’s also an invitation for her to see him - not the wise, compassionate companion she knew, but the flawed, broken man beneath.

This moment to me shows that Solas still values Lavellan’s understanding (we also saw it in his letter to her). He doesn’t diminish the weight of his actions but wants her to see the cost of his deception - not just for her, but for himself. To Solas, his betrayal is unforgivable. 

And yet - this "selfish" woman dares to forgive him anyway. 

Forgiveness is an act of wisdom because it requires understanding - and she reflects that wisdom right back at him.

"All you have to do is stop" is heavy with meaning. Yes, on the surface, it’s a plea to stop tearing down the Veil, to reconsider the destruction. But it’s also a plea for him to stop running, to stop isolating himself, and to stop punishing himself for his failures. She’s asking him to step out of the shadow of his self-loathing and see that there’s another way forward, not by demanding or commanding, but by offering him compassion (forgiveness). (Cole, I miss you.) 

But Solas’s guilt and self-loathing run deep.

With these words, Solas apologizes to his heart - hardening it once more. For a moment, it had softened, cracked open. But he shuts the door.

The bow that accompanies his words is loaded. A bow carries layers of meaning depending on context - reverence, respect, gratitude, apology, greeting or farewell, a spiritual act, acknowledgment, loyalty, mourning, or even a romantic gesture. Solas’s bow can mean all of these. 

He is physically reinforcing the gravity of his apology. It’s a solemn moment. He is bowing to her strength, to all she has endured because of him. And when he calls her "vhenan," it is personal. It's an apology to her and to his own heart for not choosing the life he wanted to have with her.  “...to stay by your side as Solas...as I wanted.”  

The bow also carries guilt. He is acknowledging the pain he’s caused and humbling himself before her. And his eyes in the animation during this moment – I saw haunted, tormented, tired eyes – the eyes of a man grappling with the weight of his choices and the thought that he cannot accept redemption, even if it’s offered freely.

But, as I’ve said before, it takes a village to stop a Solas. Cue Morrigan and Mythal - but I’m not diving into that dialogue rabbit hole in this post.  

But this scene with Mythal is important. Lavellan has just watched the man she loves completely crumble in front of Mythal. He’s bent over in grief/pain, utterly vulnerable. She hears him say, in anguish, “The things that I have done.” She sees him lift the dagger - perhaps to surrender it, to shield himself from Mythal, or even as a plea to Mythal to end his torment. Whatever the intent, Lavellan is witnessing the rawest, most broken Solas. His guilt is overwhelming, and this is the first time she’s truly seeing the full weight of it laid bare (as is Rook). It’s a moment of heavy sadness for her – and for us as players. 

Solas is bent over with the emotional collapse of centuries of obligation and guilt coming to the surface. Mythal’s departure leaves Solas vulnerable, stripped of the purpose that has guided him for so long. He is alone in his pain.

For Lavellan, can you imagine the helplessness? All she can do is offer her presence, understanding, and faith in him afterward. That might feel like so little in the face of such immense pain, but it’s all she has to give. 

Where Mythal’s words, spoken in the common tongue, are authoritative and final, Lavellan’s are intimate and personal. Her choice to speak Elven reflects her desire to meet Solas where he is - connecting with him on an intimate level.

Only after Mythal has left him exposed - that Lavellan uses the Elven language. In this moment, stripped of his defenses, he is finally open to hearing and feeling the full significance of the words and their intent.

Lavellan’s words challenge the notion that fate is immutable or inevitable. When she says, “there is no fate...,” she isn’t diminishing everything else in favor of her love; she’s rejecting the tyranny of inevitability. Her words assert that choices - rooted in love, connection, and shared purpose - have the power to shape their path forward. She reframes love as a force just as powerful as fate, capable of creating meaning and direction where there once seemed to be none.

Atonement

And at this point? Lavellan has no idea what Solas will do next. None of them do. But the combined efforts of Rook, Lavellan and Morrigan get through to him. Because Solas makes a choice - a monumental choice. He binds himself to the veil, committing to atonement. Atonement is a powerful, active word. It evokes the gravity of recognizing wrongdoing and the courage to address it. His decision to seek restoration with the Titans, to deal with the Blight, to return to where it all began, reflects the depth of his remorse and his willingness to rebuild the balance he disrupted – from the beginning. 

Solas equates atonement with isolation, believing that his punishment must be borne alone. To him, atonement requires severing ties, including the possibility of love. He doesn’t ask Lavellan to join him because he cannot conceive of burdening her with the weight of his choices and the path he must walk.

But Lavellan’s words - once again - challenge that. She offers him the possibility that his actions, no matter how devastating, do not erase the love and faith others still have in him. This is an invitation.

She's also being vulnerable here. She’s offering herself to him, knowing full well that he still might say no. A risk she’s willing to take. 

He doesn’t try to shut her out or push her away this time. Instead, he shifts the focus - he needs her to understand the gravity of the path they are about to walk. His response reflects his own vulnerability as well, he wants her to know what she’s choosing, but he can’t bring himself to reject her offer outright. 

Solas responds in Elven - his acknowledgment of their shared understanding and their entire relationship and journey that has shaped them.

His words also mark a turning point: for the first time, Solas allows Lavellan her agency. Throughout their relationship, he has taken her choices away. He broke off their relationship in Inquisition. He vanished after Corypheus’s defeat, leaving her no say in it all.

Lavellan is asserting her choice. And this time, Solas doesn’t take it from her.

By framing his destination in such stark, "terrible" terms, Solas isn’t pushing her away out of cruelty. He’s laying bare the enormity of what lies ahead, warning her of the peril while giving her the freedom to choose for herself. It’s his way of ensuring she understands the stakes.

Solas is doing what she requested long ago - trusting her - and what a choice to place that trust in. He’s entrusting her to make an informed decision about stepping onto a path that could shape the future of Thedas. He is trusting Lavellan’s strength and resiliency. And in trusting her, Solas reveals a quiet, unspoken truth: he doesn’t want to face this journey alone. By even presenting the choice, he reveals a quiet hope that she might go with him, despite everything.

To me, what makes this moment so achingly beautiful is the duality in his expression. His eyes seem to plead two things at once: “I don’t want to put you in harm’s way,” and “I can’t deny wanting to be with you.” There’s a raw vulnerability in the way he looks at her.

“It won’t be terrible if you’re with me.” 

Lavellan’s response is a direct challenge to Solas’s warning. He tells her the path ahead will be awful - because of him. But she counters, saying that it’s because of him that it won’t be. This isn’t her forcing herself into his journey or suggesting that she alone will make it better. Instead, it’s her way of expressing that his presence will give her the strength to face whatever lies ahead - he's fucking worried about her! She’s trying to ease his mind, while also signaling her willingness to trust him again.

At the same time, her words acknowledge the weight of Solas’s suffering, offering herself as a partner to bear that burden together. She isn’t dismissing the risks or downplaying the severity of what’s to come - she’s choosing to stand beside him, fully aware of the challenges ahead.

It’s not about personal gain; it’s about shared resilience. Lavellan’s focus is on what they can endure together, not on what she might receive from the journey.

And since the Fade reflects emotions, as many have pointed out, their combined trust and love could manifest in ways neither of them can predict. Their bond has the power to shape not just their path but the very world around them.

This declaration is past, present and future; it’s a reaffirmation of their bond, a recognition that they’ve been walking the path of the dinan’shiral together all along. It’s future focused - she is offering to shoulder the burden with him going forward.  

She’s also telling him that she won't abandon him, no matter how hard the road ahead may be. 

And at the end of the day, she's a woman who still loves him. What does Prince Lir say in The Last Unicorn? "I love whom I love."

I've never interpreted Lavellan as someone sitting by a window for ten years, writing sad poetry and sighing into the wind, longing for Solas. She’s been busy - rebuilding a fractured world, navigating political fallout, and seeking understanding. Lavellan’s love for Solas isn’t blind devotion; she’s holding onto the possibility of redemption and the deep impact he had on her life. In my world state, Lavellan’s clan is wiped out. The people of the Inquisition have become her family, the ones she fights for and protects. And indirectly, Solas gave her that family. Despite the pain he’s caused, her love for him reflects the complexity of her journey - one defined not by a single relationship, but by hope, resilience, and the connections she’s forged along the way.

Lavellan then leans in to kiss him, and Solas allows himself to be drawn in. This moment is acceptance - a silent vow, a promise sealed in their shared vulnerability. It’s an intimate connection forged in front of those who have just witnessed the emotional storm that brought them to this point, as if to say, “This is where we stand, together.”

And then Solas turns to Rook and says, “Thank you.”

Solas doesn’t thank Rook when he hands them the dagger, nor when he’s preparing to walk into the Fade. He says it after the kiss.

In thanking Rook, Solas acknowledges not only their actions but also their understanding of the connection he shares with Lavellan. Rook, transformed by their own relationships and the bonds they’ve formed throughout their journey, embodies the themes that have always defined Dragon Age to me: connection, fellowship, community, love, and redemption. These games (again, for me) have always been about how people, despite their flaws and struggles, can come together to make the impossible possible.

Rook’s symbolism in the redemption ending feels like the culmination of this ethos. They represent how even those who begin on the periphery of great events can become central to forging bonds and creating change. Solas’s gratitude is for Rook's empathy, their recognition of the importance of connection, and their role in bringing these threads of love and redemption together. I'll go cry now.

And off they go into the Fade.

The Final Translation 

"With Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain dead, and the Inquisitor finally reunited with her true love, it looked like one of the biggest stories the world had ever seen was finally drawing to a close."  

Varric’s narration ties the ending image back to the connection between Inquisition and Veilguard. Inquisition is the Inquisitor’s story; Veilguard is Rook’s. Solas serves as the thread linking them. Varric frames this moment through Lavellan’s perspective, narrating the story like one of his novels - not to diminish Solas, but to highlight the Inquisitor’s journey. After all, Veilguard wouldn’t exist without Inquisition. Rook wouldn’t be working with Varric or searching for Solas if not for the Inquisitor.

As much as I would have loved a deeper focus on Solas, Veilguard wasn’t his story. If Inquisition is the Inquisitor’s story and Veilguard is Rook’s, this ending is a shared culmination: for a romanced Lavellan, it’s the personal resolution of her journey; for Rook, it’s recognition of their critical role in saving Thedas.

Okay, indulgence over - whew, that was long! I really need to practice shorter posts.

In the end, those who dislike this romance or this ending probably always will. That’s fine; I just wanted to share my interpretations because I genuinely love this story for all its complexity.

To everyone who made it to the end of this post - thank you for joining me in my indulgence. May your own Solas ships continue to bring you joy and inspiration.

[animezinglife]

I'm really enjoying how different my Lavellan (Erelith) is from my Trevelyan (Mira). There are some constraints to that with the way the game is set up, but where Mira is admittedly more similar to me in how she thinks and views the world, Erelith is challenging me to branch outside that box.

Erelith loves the rush and thrill of life. Where Mira's more reserved, Erelith is more openly passionate. She cannot fit comfortably into a mold, and certainly has a harder time being able to separate herself from the Inquisitor role than Mira does. While it's not easy for Mira either (at all, given her humility and caution towards her own shortcomings), she at least clearly sees the reason to serve as a symbol towards the people doing so gives hope to.

Mira never claims to be holy. She simply hopes what she's doing as Inquisitor will be enough. She longs for a sense of safety, security, steadiness, and being seen as the human being she is. She's exhausted by the end of it all and is quite happy to retire to a quieter life with her husband. To Mira, there's freedom enough in pursuing one's passions at one's own pace, building a home full of love and friends, and doing good as she will. There's freedom in simply being Mira---not Lady Trevelyan, not a mage, and not the Inquisitor---and doing what she wants.

What she wants is to experience life.

Erelith cannot separate the pressure of being Inquisitor from herself. She's always searching for some piece of her that's missing and is always evading her. Too much structure and the thought of being caught in too "small" a world drives her mad: she constantly needs to be moving and on the go. She constantly seeks more but has trouble defining what that "more" is. That often drives her to be impulsive. It drives her to more quickly and decisively analyze risks, and she's far more likely than Mira to take them.

She struggled with her clan's small, isolated world. She struggles with the bounds being Inquisitor brings and having to walk on eggshells around nobles (which Mira hates too, but is more accustomed to by having been born into that world and dealing with Circle politics).

Meeting Solas is like finding someone on the same wavelength for the first time. The way he thinks and his journeys into the Fade paint a picture of a life that goes well beyond what she's ever imagined a person could achieve. He sees and understands worlds and creatures beyond the bounds and constraints of humans and the Dalish alike, and while they butt heads a little at first, she finds the way he thinks and speaks intoxicating. She wants to experience what he has (at least, what she interprets these experiences to be).

She feels a rush around him. Solas is exciting to her. Erelith's own sights are ever-expanding, and being near him and talking with him just syncs with that part of her brain that craves more. She kind of likes someone going toe-to-toe with her too even if she doesn't realize it's freaking Fen'Harel.

Mira wants to be part of this world (where she never felt like she was or could be before).

Erelith has always been too "big" for it. I think she's never understood just how deeply that runs or why that even is, and I suspect it's going to play a big role in her story.

I also think it's quite funny to consider how differently they think about the other's love interest, too.

Mira loves Solas. She is genuinely intrigued by him and could spend hours discussing magic, philosophy, and listening in mutually fascinated, shared respect towards each other. Yet they're so very different in terms of their lives and what they want from them, and they're not attracted to each other. Mira surprises Solas and undoes a lot of what he's believed about humans, and he cares for her as a friend.

Erelith gets along fine with Cullen even if she doesn't really "get" him. She respects him and what he's doing for the Inquisition. She has eyes, so I think she would make the simple observation that he's good-looking, but it wouldn't go beyond that.

Yet I also think if she were stuck in a room with him long enough, she'd throw herself off a cliff.

All this to say, I am thoroughly enjoying exploring these two in particular and everything their stories bring.

[little-elf-wanders]

Veilguard Vault: Character Planning

~ Warrior Role ~

Basics

Name: Marsh (Aka Rook)

Age: 29

Gender: Male/Nonbinary 

Height: Average (Note: Short for a Qunari)

Race: Qunari // Tal-Vashoth

Faction: Lords Of Fortune

Class: Warrior // Two-handed

Subclass: Reaper 

Sexuality: Closet Bisexual (He gay panics)

Possible Romance: Lucanis (He makes him feel tall)

Possible Friends: Taash, Harding, Assan, Davrin?, Emmerich, Varric, 

Possible Yikes: Solas, Neve, Davrin?

Possibly Unsure: Davrin, Bellara

Personality

Likes: Money, Loot, Breaking things, Stealing things, Shady business schemes, The ocean, Biting, Changing his hair an ungodly amount of times, Sharp teeth, Coffee, His rings, Bright colours, Adventuring, Flirting his way into and outta situations, Singing (though he won’t like comments about it).

Dislikes: Orlais, Politics, Solas, The law (sorry Neve), Slavers, Being stared at, Big statues, Long debates (he has no attention span), The Qun, Being told what to do. 

Quirks: He picks his teeth when he’s bored, He sharpens his teeth because sometimes he likes to bite people in the middle of battle, Very self conscious that he’s not as big as most Qunari so out of sheer spite he’s learned to use a battle axe, He has a big mouth that often gets him in trouble but he’s also very good at getting out of it, Really wanted to explore under the ocean but it was impossible. (He tried and nearly drowned. Twice.)

Backstory: Marsh was always a scrawnier Qunari than the other boys, which you’d think would mean he’d have more incentive to behave, obey and fit in. It had the opposite effect, as instead it spurred him to rebel and prove himself even harder – growing to quickly learn he hated being told who he was and what he should do, tension built between him and… everyone around him. Somewhere along the way, he developed behavioural issues. He was cocky, had a smart mouth, a shit eating grin and talked too much smack for the kid who got his ass handed to him by the bigger peers. Marsh wasn’t a happy kid, he was an angry kid, leading to multiple incidents in his youth that didn’t earn him any favours. “Marsh” - not his Qun name -wasn’t fit for the Qun. After one incident once he was fed up with his assigned job as a blacksmith, he got into it with his teacher when he kept pocketing materials meant for weaponry, he was caught red handed. A bad fight broke out, which cost him half his horn and earned him half an ear from his assaulter, and although deep down he knew stealing wasn't a smart move, he was too angry at everything to admit it when he had the chance. He was promptly sent to re-education which broke the final straw for him. Unable to accept the Qun or his role, or how everything he did was always wrong, bad or against the Qun, he snapped and snuck away from his home in Kont-aar, moving further into Rivain where he disappeared into trading markets. It was a long journey just to get there and it really let him experience more than he ever would with his teacher. He escaped young at the age of 15 and became a dreaded Tal-Vashoth, where he’d scrap and scavenge anything and everything he could to survive. As it turned out, he was exceptionally good at it. His life in the Qun and his breeding as a Qunari gave him more of an edge than he realised. Inside the Qun, he was weak, yet out here? He had options. So many options. Which he took full advantage of; he watched merchants, watched pirates, watched the people of Rivain and grew incredibly fascinated by their customs, their blatant acceptance and reverence of magic, and just everything he came across felt like seeing colour for the first time – it felt like life, life perfectly wrapped in sea salt air. Marsh swiftly discovered he wasn’t as bad socially as he initially thought – where he’d get pushback, chiding, scolding or flat out strict snaps with the Qun, here he was more… accepted. Some younger kids even began to look up to him when he stuck up for them, and they helped him get better accustomed to life in Dairsmuid. They welcomed his conversation, taught him their language and from there he began to network.

At 17, he established many groups or... gangs, might be the better word, networking with his own little group of troublemakers. Finding information, items, lost things... it all became his talent, of course backed up by his teeth and battle axe. He especially learned of his love of trade through those years. Money, shiny things, bright fabrics, unique items, you name it he got it. He got a hunger for it and a passion for finding things people wanted, things he was never allowed to touch before. 

This led him right into the arms of the Lords Of Fortune, whom he worked with for a good sum of years, and eventually that brought Varric. 

[Image was made on picrew]

[quillweaves]

Characters I want to see in Veilguard

you did not ask for my opinions but you will get them regardless

Merrill. Our resident eluvian nerd! I want to see what she thinks of the crossroads and the truth of fen'harel so bad.

Anders. How does the veil coming down affect abominations? Also, how did the events of inquisition affect circles/mage rights in Thedas in the long term, and what is his opinion of his actions at the Kirkwall Chantry with that hindsight?

Cassandra. She is an ex-inquisition member with major political sway! What has she been up to in the past 9-10 years? Also I love her.

Maevaris Tilani. Everything we know of her makes her sound very cool, and we may need Tevinter contacts in the game!

Dorian Pavus. I wouldn't be surprised if he has a cameo as a Tevinter contact. Also I miss him.

Fenris. We know Solas has been freeing enslaved elves in Tevinter to distract his pursuers which I imagine would be of interest to him. I could totally imagine Fenris being involved with the Shadow Dragons.

The Iron Bull. With part of the game taking place in Tevinter, and the known Qunari presence in the crossroads, Qun politics and influence is likely to play a part in the game. As a previously loyal spy, current Tal-Vashoth (which he must be to be alive), I would love to have him as an advisor.

Shaper Valta. The lore of the titans is fascinating to me and there are hints of it being connected to the elves/evanuris as well.

Fiona. We know that red lyrium is blighted lyrium, and we are confirmed visiting Weisshaupt in Veilguard. Fiona is the only known person to ever have been cured of the warden taint, as well as a highly skilled mage. Also she's a bad bitch. Also can someone PLEASE TELL ALISTAIR THAT SHE IS HIS MOTHER.

Isabela. I could imagine her being brought up during our journey to Rivain or our association with the Lords of Fortune in the game (she has never been associated with the Lords of Fortune, it just seems like her type of fun).

Sandal. WHAT IS HIS DEAL.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

The Fool and the Magician for the Rook Tarot ask game!

Thank you!! ask game here for reference :)

The Fool: Where did Rook's journey begin? What were they doing before joining the Veilguard?

Juniper is an elf Veil Jumper, which mostly means I am pretty confused on what the 'canon' backstory is supposed to be 😂 The game alternates implying if you're Dalish or not (but you speak/understand elven and know Dalish customs), and Rook also says they "used to live in a town" at one point. So I think I'm going with: - was born in an Alienage... somewhere. tbd. nearby Arlathan but probs not Tevinter - at some point in childhood her parents died, but they had tenuous connections to a Dalish clan (maybe one of her parents was originally from a nearby clan but left), so older sibling & Juniper found them somehow & were taken in - later half of childhood onward spent with Dalish (hence having Vallaslin) - but her magic manifested After joining them, and they already had Keeper/First/Second lined up, so she knew eventually she might have to leave for another Clan/whatever else - when Solas' things started and Arlathan began acting up, some big catastrophe happens that kills a large portion of the Clan, and those left alive essentially scatter - at this point she manages to find the Veiljumpers and joins up. They're a very new organization but the game is hazy on how new (months? years? who is to say) but lets say she's part of them for about a year before Strife gets mad & kicks her out for the in-game reasons - Unlike Bellara who works on magic-tech though, Juniper specifically was a cartographer! trying to map the new weird shifting parts of the forest, track the dangers and how they might be moving/spreading, etc. as a biologist/geologist myself i am VERY fascinated with the implications magic could have on geography lol. This is why she was responsible for the map to the location Strife's so annoyed she lost, and also where her interests in mapping the Crossroads come from

The Magician: What are Rook's thoughts on Solas? Do they change as the story progresses?

She only knows Solas through what Varric tells her, at first. But she knows he's a softie and while she does trust he knows what he's getting into (rip), when he fails to talk Solas down/the Gods get out she very much turns that frustration on Solas. I played her fairly agressive/stoic for most of the game options, and the conversations with Solas are most consistently the only times you can actually let your character get really angry in the game (vs just annoyed or resigned). So I was partial to those as a player because I felt it gave a bit more emotional depth, and as a result she & Solas were doing quite a bit of hard-truth-insult trading lol. She doesn't trust him. She doesn't like him. But once Solas helps them escape Elgar'nan's mini Fade-dungeon as they're trying to rescue the Dalish clan, she begrudgingly accepts that he has reasons to be working alongside her & the others, for now. She fully expects him to turn on her eventually but the timing is still far earlier than she expects, catching her off guard. Her preference would be to fight/trick him at the end of the game, but more for the memory of Varric than anything lets the Inquisitor try to talk him down first (though what a stressful mirror to the opening sequence that must seem), and is genuinely kind of surprised when this works out after all.