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And how blindingly she shone upon him: a pearly melon-green glare, which swept through the murky space between dreams and lit everything in its wake, so that pale anemones and soft moss and wild blueberries grew in the traces it had warmed, marking a trail for him to follow. She was difficult to miss, and he was loath to deny her even if he could. XVIII. The Moon

I wanted to practice drawing kissing and it kind of got out of hand? I love them too much haha <3

(some day I'll actually write the one-shot of why anemones are important I promise)

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Trespasser Dream Slides - Fade Dreaming and Continued Connection

The Trespasser dream slides for a romanced Lavellan mark a subtle but interesting divergence in the story of Lavellan and Solas, in that not every player who romanced these two gets these slides - depending on choices.

If Lavellan ends their relationship with anger or finality, vowing to stop Solas no matter the cost, even if it means killing him - these dreams never appear. And I think that detail is brilliant. The story is using the absence of these dreams as a narrative device, one that, to me, actually reflects how the Fade responds to emotions. So when Lavellan emotionally disconnects from Solas, when she severs the bond and chooses to carry nothing of him forward, the Fade has nothing to echo and Solas never appears, honouring her choice. The absence of these dreams in this path becomes the story’s way of saying this connection no longer exists.

But for the Lavellan who holds hope, who vows to save him from himself and his own destruction, who has expressed her love clearly to Solas - the dreams do come. This narrative path reflects the choices of a player who's decided that their bond endures.

And through these dreams, the game shows how these two people continue to affect each other, be drawn to each other even across distance and years.

The Dreams 

What keeps drawing my attention to these slides is they never confirm whose dreams they are.

“Lavellan sometimes came awake from dreams in which her lover watched her sadly from across an endless distance”

It doesn’t say her dreams, or that she dreamed of Solas, nor does it deny they may be his. And I appreciate how that ambiguity again mirrors the nature of the Fade, leaving open the possibility that these dreams belong to either of them, or to both.

The dreams could originate with Lavellan, stirred by hope and belief, with Solas drawn into them by her emotional presence in the Fade. They could originate with Solas subconsciously pulling her into his dreams, revealing his own hidden ache for her. Or it could be a mutual convergence - neither initiating, but both arriving, called into the same dreamscape by the strength of their bond. These slides allow for all of these possibilities in it's refusal to define the source.

What's interesting is that Solas is always withdrawing from them. When Lavellan reaches for him he doesn’t speak, doesn’t approach - he vanishes. It suggests that he’s not drawn to her to control or watch her possessively in dreams, but allows himself to be near her, pulling back before any contact is made.

Remember, Solas himself confessed to Lavellan she draws him away from the Fade. It's logical to assume then that she draws him in the Fade as well. Because Inquisitor Lavellan is still Fade Walking.

Lavellan - Fade Walker

What we know for certain is that the Inquisitor has demonstrated the ability to find Solas in the Fade before. In the Haven dream sequence, the Inquisitor locates him while sleeping. After they wake, Solas expresses surprise that they were able to find him and that he changed the setting to Haven once they did. At the time, it’s assumed that the Anchor is what allows the Inquisitor to remain conscious and lucid within the Fade. But that may not be entirely true, the Trespasser dream slides complicate that assumption because at that point in the story, the Anchor is gone and yet:

“Still she searched, and dreamed, and waited, for a way to change the Dread Wolf’s heart.”

The way “dreamed” is used here - alongside verbs like searched and waited - positions it as an act in itself. It implies that Lavellan isn't just sleeping, but actively entering the Fade to dream and seek. Here, dreamed carries intention, movement and purpose.

Whether she communes with spirits, follows the traces he’s left behind, or navigates the remnants of memories, we aren’t told. But the phrasing highly suggests that Lavellan is looking for answers, information, ways to change the Dread Wolf's heart while in the Fade. (Which continues to support my theory that the Inquisitor has been forever altered by the Anchor.)

Do the Dreams Continue?

We’re never told that the dreams end - and the use of the plural dreams reinforces the sense that the tension between Lavellan and Solas remains unresolved. It suggests an ongoing, quiet pull that continues to draw them to one another. Perhaps unconsciously, they return to that shared space again and again, a connection that spills forward into Veilguard.

Maybe that ongoing pull is why Lavellan receives the wolf statuette, why she can tell Rook she still loves Solas, and why Solas, close to his goal of reshaping the world, stops to write her a letter. It even colours the way he speaks of her to Rook - “She is a good woman.” Not was, not someone I once knew: she exists for him in the present because their dreams keep finding their way to each other.

For the story, eight years separate Trespasser and Veilguard. For us as players, that’s a long time - but for them, if their dreams still connect them, still reach across the Fade? That distance may not be felt at all. Time moves differently in memory, and even more so in the Fade. Their last shared dream with each other could have come the night before the ritual, close enough to stir old feelings and sharpen Solas’ need to send those final words to his vhenan.

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The Rise of Arlathan

Elvhenan was the name of the empire, and Arlathan it’s greatest city. It rose to prominence with the help of the first Evanuris: Elgar’nan and Mythal. Both born in Arlathan, both ageless and powerful, they came together as King and Queen, their rise born from the enemies Elgar’nan had fought back, and the reconstruction Mythal had orchestrated. They ruled together and for a time, were content with their lands. 

But then, through Fen’Harel, they met Falon’Din and Dirthamen, and the two city-states of Arlathan and Effíriemmo came together as allies, even as their leaders did. They traded goods and stories. Dirthamen shared secrets from his brother, and Falon’Din and Elgar’nan devised war tactics and defenses to keep their peoples safe. Mythal gave her wisdom freely to both cities and all under the allied leadership prospered. 

The surrounding people of the other city-states saw the benefits of an alliance and soon many were agreeing to the same. Sylaise was the first to ally her city of Estirin with them,  Gelduran and Daern’thal soon after. It was another two hundred years before Andruil joined the alliance. Then, finally, June joined. Out of pressure from the other city-states, rather than out of any true desire to be a part.  Other leaders, beyond the immediate sphere of Arlathan’s influence, avoided the alliance - these leaders history knows by other names.

These ten ruled together in joint stewardship of the expanding empire, each bringing their unique talents to strengthen the whole. 

Elgar’nan: All-father and King Commander of the armies, who was the first to step forward, to take the blows aimed at the People, first to defend.

Mythal: All-mother and protector of the lands, who gathered the meek together, granted them succor, provided rest and healing

Falon’Din: greatest of Elgar’nan’s generals, with a brilliant tactical mind eclipsed only by his love for Dirthamen.

Dirthamen: Spymaster and Keeper of Secrets, who soon abandoned the secrets given to him by Fen’Harel, in favor of the ones gathered by his own agents. The only one who knew all of him, was his lover - his vhenan.

Andruil: Queen of the Hunt and steward of the land itself, keeping its bounty safe for the People.

Sylaise: The most skilled craftsman and builder the empire ever saw; it was she who hung the temples in the sky, designed the impossible gardens, built the culture of the People.

June: Elgar’nan’s most skilled blacksmith, who could craft weapons out of starlight and wielded not weapons, but words. 

Ghilan’nain: who rose from within the empire itself, raised to rule for her accomplishments with natural science and alchemy. 

Daern’thal: land broken, full of fear and so obsessed with inspiring fear himself - he had the greatest well of power of them all.

Gelduran: the Sun. Who’s skill was matched only by his partner, the Moon. But she stood on the other side of the divide, siding with those who wished freedom, rather than unity. Theirs is a tale of loss across the sky. I have not the heart to tell it now. 

~A tale by Solas the Wanderer, as told to Jonah, in the moments after… Well. After.

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Falon'Din: Lord of the Dead and Dirthamen: Keeper of Secrets

Dirthamen was the older brother of Fen’Harel, drawn into the world by his younger sibling’s wanderlust. Fen’Harel, God of Magic and Spirits, shared tales of the wonders he discovered in the fade, secrets and treasures he unearthed. Dirthamen used these secrets to better the lives of the people. He took the truths offered by the Wolf and wielded them as weapons against tyrants and despots, to force their capitulation, to bring them to heel. 

Once, they were wandering together towards a mad king who brutalized his subjects, armed with secrets dredged from the fade - they would kill or depose him, it mattered not which. But when they arrived, it was to find the mad king already dead, and a celebration taking place. He had already been defeated by a beautiful stranger that neither Dirthamen nor Fen’Harel had ever met before. The man went by the name of Falon’Din and the people of the city worshiped him as their savior for freeing them from the mad king. They would put him on the now-empty throne.

Dirthamen was instantly smitten, for Falon’Din’s hair was dark as night and his smile both wicked and kind. When Falon’Din held out his hand to Dirthamen, the God of Secrets went willingly to his side, cleaving together into one rapturous whole. Fen’Harel stayed with them for a time, learning this man who had stolen his brother’s heart. 

Falon’Din was the God of Death, and was at turns both malicious and benevolent, as is the nature of death. He was indiscriminate, but merciful, taking everyone in time. Many feared him, but Dirthamen alone loved him - and in so doing, earned Death’s Embrace. Dirthamen presented Fen’Harel’s secrets to Falon’Din as gifts, helping their kingdom grow and prosper. The two ruled together, always at each other’s side; a source of strength that could never be sundered for they were vhenan, and each held a part of the other within their chests. Eventually, the two would meet Elgar’nan and Mythal, the two pairs forming fast friendships. This would be the start of Arlathan’s slow expansion into the Empire it would eventually become. 

But that is another tale. 

~A story by Solas the Wanderer, as told to Jonah upon their expulsion from clan Alamen.

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In this link there is definitely not a folder with every Dragon Age eBook, numbered in order of reading plus the two Encyclopedias about the world. Please do not use the link, there are not free books in there.

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To Walk in the Moonlight

After Feynriel was saved, after Leliana's distraction was put into motion, after the inquisitor returned from her trip with Vivienne…after.

Solas approached Ellana with a secret tucked carefully into his shirt.

She was with Josephine, discussing some visitors from Val Royeaux that were due to arrive within the next few days.

“I've put them in the rooms over the gardens,” Josephine was explaining. “Duke Kian is a devout Andrastian who will appreciate the closeness to our little shrine. And Lady Camilla is fond of flowers and will appreciate the chance to see the crystal grace you are growing close up.”

The Inquisitor sighed, “just don't let her touch them, please? They are delicate and take a long time to grow. It was difficult to convince them to flower and I really need the pollen for our potions.”

“Of course, Inquisitor.”

Ellana shot Solas a glance where he stood patiently waiting at a small distance and looked back at Josephine. “Anything else I should know?”

“Not at the moment, your grace. I believe your evening is free.”

Ellana turned away, “thank you, Ambassador, though I rather hope you are wrong.”

She walked up to Solas, who fell into step with her as they left the Ambassador's room. He stopped them before they could enter the great hall, and instead led them down the steps into the subterranean gallery.

“I really have no idea what to use this room for,” Ellana admitted as they paused in the middle of it. “It isn't really big enough for a true gallery, too out of the way for a meeting room, and it leads to the kitchen, of all places. It almost feels like storage, but it's too big for that.”

“You have good instincts,” Solas said with a smile, leading her to the big portrait of some noble that had been hung against the far wall.

“Oh? Am I to get a new secret?” Ellana asked in excitement.

“Quite.” Solas reached up and pulled the portrait down, setting it off to the side and out of the way. He reached out with his left hand, brushed it gently along the wall, and it rippled.

“An eluvian!” Ellana enthused, clapping her hands together once in delight. “Where does this one go?”

Solas stepped back to stand next to her, crooked his arm and offered her his elbow. “Would my lady like to go for a stroll?”

Ellana giggled and slipped her arm through his, leaning over to give him a lingering kiss on the cheek. “Your lady would indeed.”

Arm in arm, they stepped forward, through the eluvian and out the other side. Ellana gasped in wonder as they emerged. This eluvian lead to a destination across the continent. Where in Orlais, the sun was only just beginning to set, it was fully dark here; and it was magical.

The eluvian brought them out into a ruin so crumbled with age and wear that it seemed not to be a building at all. Other than a pillar here, a tumbled corner there, nearly the whole thing had collapsed, leaving nature to take over. And it had.

Night blooming jasmine curled up the remaining walls, their white and yellow flowers opened delicate petals to the moons. Honeysuckle, closed for the night, nevertheless offered their sweet scent to the scene. Fireflies danced in the air, twinkling as they called for partners under the cover of the trees.

And the trees.

They were the biggest and oldest Ellana had ever seen. So tall were they that she could barely see where their branches began high up above, hidden as they were by night and shadow. Their bark was a curious silver color that instantly put her in mind of the dream Fen'Harel had shared with her of Arlathan and the trees that had supported its splendor. From their branches were hung innumerable twinkling lights, jewels of magic hung on invisible strands, twisting gently in the sweet summer breeze.

Solas lead them into the forest, the ground carpeted with soft moss that hushed their footsteps. As she looked around, Ellana could see that the lights were hung with meticulous care. Every step took them to a new location and changed her perspective of them. Here, they were grouped to form the image of leaping Halla, their horns made up of the tree branches themselves.

Another step and the lights to the left resolved themselves as a group of arravels, even as the halla image dispersed when the lights no longer lined up. Another, and a galaxy formed right in front of them, spinning gently as the wind rustled through the trees.

“Solas. This is amazing! How…” She trailed off, unable to even think of the words.

Solas hummed in contentment, his right hand coming up to pet the fingers she had nestled in the crook of his arm. “I am glad you approve. It is not quite what I had hoped, but time is not the luxury it once was.”

“You did this? You wanted to do more than this?” Ellana turned sparkling eyes on him. “Solas…” she trailed off, love in her voice.

He squeezed her hand gently, resumed his soft petting, and led them along the slow path through the woods he had designed to delight her.

“These are the adhal trees I spoke of before,” he offered in an intimate tone.

“I remember,” she answered, voice just as soft. “Is this where they grow natively?”

He hummed again, a small happy sound that slid like a honeyed blade directly into her heart. It hurt only because she knew how rare it was.

“Not originally. That land is blighted now, I fear. But I found this in my wanderings - before.”

She knew he meant before the Conclave.

“I thought they had all died out, lost to time and pestilence. But then I found this area, a hidden grove between two mountains; a sheltered valley protected by geography and subtle magic. Once it was an arbory, for growing the saplings that would eventually become the bedrock of Arlathan. Now, it is this.” He pulled his right hand free to wave around the area in a broad gesture, but promptly brought his hand back, stroked her fingers in a loving, absent gesture.

He brought them forward some more, and Ellana saw the lights align again and again into images, each as fantastical as the last. Wolves howling to the moon, dancers spinning to silent music, flowers made of magic and memory.

“How did you manage this?” Ellana was moved to ask, studying a tiny grouping of crystal that looked like nothing so much as the comb she used in her hair in Halamshiral. The dalish design a small snub to their Orlesian frippery. She hadn't realized he had studied its every detail.

“Magic, if you will forgive the obvious answer,” Solas said with a smile in his voice. “This is the spellwork I miss most from the Age of the Empire. It exists for beauty's sake alone. To inspire wonder. It has no practical use, does not feed the body or cloth the skin.”

“Perhaps not physically,” Ellana objected softly, “but it does nourish the soul.”

“Ah,” he said, and it was such a small embarrassed sound that she had to turn and look at him.

His ears were pink, but his face was pleased, a satisfied smile fluttering around the corners of his mouth.

“Yes, there is that,” he agreed with a small tilt of his head.

Ellana leaned forward and kissed that smile.

“I have a gift for you,” he said, once she had pulled back.

“A gift?” she asked, incredulous. “This is not the gift?” She looked around with awed eyes before focusing on him again. “What else could there be?”

His smile turned mysterious and he brought his hand up to his chest, sliding his fingers under the collar of his shirt. He paused then, turning mischievous. “Close your eyes,” he instructed.

Delighted, Ellana did so; anticipation swelling.

She heard a soft tingle, like glass on metal.

“Ah, no,” he chided, correctly guessing she had been about to open her eyes.

He released her hand out of his elbow, instead claiming her wrist gently. He brought it up to his chest, splaying her fingers against him. She smiled and applied slight pressure, enjoying the freedom to touch she now possessed. She could feel him move, though could not determine what he was doing then -

Cold metal around her wrist and her eyes flew open, “oh!”

Solas tutted, but kept working, trying to block her gaze with his hands. Once done, he dropped them, giving her a clear view of what he had fastened around her wrist.

It was a bracelet made of moonbeams. Stars were caught in a delicate web of metal threads so thin they might not exist at all. They swirled around her arm in a constellation of subtle color, each jem possessed a hue so faint she could not determine which each individual one might be, but when taken together, became a nebula of wonder.

She opened her mouth, but no sound came out as she turned her arm back and forth, watching the light glint and sparkle. When she looked up, still struck silent, it was to see Solas looking at her with a smile gentle and full of love.

“It would have been a courting gift, before,” he offered into the quiet. “I would like it to be so now, as well.”

“Solas…” it seemed his name was all she could manage.

Somehow, that fact made him smile more widely, an edge of his usual pride creeping in. “They are unique creations, made and offered to one's beloved, in hopes of forming stronger ties.”

“I don't know that I can love you more than I already do, vhenan,” she offered in a hushed whisper.

“Nor I, you,” he returned, bringing her free hand up to his lips and bestowing small kisses to the tips of her fingers. “But you deserve all the gentle and beautiful things I can manage. Tonight, I offer this grove, this gift, and myself. I offer my heart to you anew, now that you know all of me. Would you allow my courtship, vhenan? May I return the affections you have so patiently offered these last months? May I love you?”

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Anaris: God of Trickery

In ages past, Anaris of the Forgotten Ones was known as the God of Trickery. Fen’Harel, beloved of the spirits, was the God of Magic. The two rarely spoke, for Anaris always sought to use the spirits to his own ends, and Fen’Harel valued them in their own right. But one day, Anaris approached Fen’Harel with humility in his hands, if not in his heart; for Fen’Harel had managed a feat none of the other gods had yet claimed: he had shifted his physical form.

The tales varied across the telling but all agreed that Fen’Harel had learned to shift into a wolf. The size and shape of it changed: some claimed it was huge, with six snarling red eyes, coat black as pitch. Others claimed it smaller, fluffy white with ice blue eyes, hart-sized and suitable to ride, should one dare. And still more said it was just a normal wolf, mottled brown indistinguishable from the pack. But all agreed that it was Fen’Harel who took the form, who had somehow learned to keep his mind while altering his body. Anaris craved the knowledge - what mischief he could get up to if he had this power! And so he approached Fen’Harel, envy in his heart.

“Tell me, Great One, of how you came into this wondrous magic,” Anaris pleaded, knowing Fen’Harel loved to teach.

“It is of the fade,” Fen’Harel returned, never suspecting. “You must use its malleable nature to shape your own, then you may be whatever you wish.”

Anaris snapped and snarled, for he had not the connection to the fade that Fen’Harel had, and could not shape it as a Dreamer. “You tell me lies, lead me astray!” Anaris accused, searching for some other path to his desire.

“I tell you the truth,” Fen’Harel objected. “It is how it is managed. But, I will help you find another way, if you wish to join me on four paws.”

Anaris took advantage of the Wolf and his generous nature. He learned from the Wolf how to study the creatures of the world, to learn their bones and sinew. To think and dream and imagine themselves as that creature, until walking upright was strange and having limbs was foreign. The two worked together for a time, the Wolf lending all his efforts in devising a way for Anaris to join him. Until the day Anaris succeeded and shifted - not into the wolf as Fen’Harel had supposed. But as a serpent; sly in the grass, with venom and cunning.

When Fen’Harel discovered what he had done, he stumbled away from Anaris in shock and dismay. And that was when Anaris struck. Mouth open, fangs deep, he bit the Wolf and sunk his poison into his veins. So doing, Anaris slithered away, sure that the Dread Wolf would die and the secret of shape-shifting would be his alone.

But Fen’Harel was Beloved of the Spirits, and they came to him as he lay dying. They drew the poison from his veins, poured strength into his soul. And so the Dread Wolf survived his first betrayal.

~A tale told by Solas the Wanderer, to the dalish clan of Alamen, upon his return to them.

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Cut dialogue from Elgar'nan and Solas's verbal fight during Blood of Arlathan

Note: these lines are marked as unimplemented in the game files, and I've confirmed with a few friends that they didn't hear this dialogue in the game, just like I didn't, so I'm considering this cut content.

Solas: Our ancient army used to gleam like a field of diamonds in the sun. Solas: But as for your forces now… petty cultists and grunting darkspawn? Solas: Little wonder you prefer the shadows.

Solas: You know what surprises me most, though? I never thought to see you so eager to serve. Elgar'nan: I do not serve. I have never served. Solas: Do you not see how the blight has leashed you? You think its thoughts. You curry its favor. Solas: You wear its very corruption upon your face like vallaslin.

My DAVG Extracted Audio Masterlist

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Prayers for the Evanuris

Solas kept his head purposefully up as they approached the statue of the wolf. This was nowhere near the first statue of the sort he had seen since he had awoken and it most certainly would not be the last. There were hundreds of the damn things scattered about, of varying sizes of absurd, and every last one of them had that same rune carved into its chest. He would not give it any more attention than he had given any of the others he had encountered. He would not avoid it, he would not honor it. It was, to him, to be nothing more than a roadside curiosity, easily acknowledged and easily forgotten.

He wasn’t counting on the Herald.

“Hold on a moment,” she called to Cassandra and Varric where they were walking ahead, still bickering.

“What’s that then, Herald?” Varric called, back slowing to a stop.

Cassandra continued to steam ahead, only coming to a stop when she realized she was the only one doing so. “What are you doing?” She called back. “We don’t have time for this. There is a rift just over there.”

“I know,” the Herald said, ripping embrium out of the ground, roots and all. “This will only take a moment.”

Solas stood to the side, watching in curiosity as she twisted the length of herb into a rough loop, knotting the roots around the stem. Then she dropped it between the wolf’s paws, reached out with her left hand, and delicately touched the closest paw with the tips of her fingers. He felt her magic swell in undirected magic, knew the hidden rune caught it and responded.

Solas knew she was talking - praying - he could see her jaw move, though he was too far away to hear the words. An offering and a prayer to the Dread Wolf. Why had only the terrible things remained?

She was done in moments, then the four of them were back on the road.

“What was that?” Varric asked, dropping back to walk with the Herald.

Cassandra continued on ahead. Solas chose a point close enough to eavsedrop without being so near as to be drawn into the conversation.

“That’s a statue of Fen’Harel,” Lavellan offered casually. “I was offering a prayer.”

“Oh,” Varric said in recognition. “Daisy mentioned him a few times. One of your gods?”

“Of lies and betrayal, yes. He’s the only one we have left.”

Solas closed his eyes briefly. Of all the things to get right.

“And you pray to him?” Varric asked. “I don’t remember Daisy doing something like that. Is it specific to your clan?”

“Not just us, no. I think prayers to Fen’Harel are the only things each clan has in common, actually. A lot of things are varied and different between us - drift over the years as each clan finds different things in ruins, focuses on different aspects of our worship. The only thing we really all do the same is how we handle Fen’Harel. It’s the one topic that is always brought up and agreed upon in the arlathvhens we hold every ten years.”

“What’s that thing?” Varric clarified. “Daisy never mentioned any of this.”

“Daisy is not a dalish name, another of your nicknames, I supposed?” Lavellan asked in bemusement.

“Ah, yeah. Sorry. Her name is Merrill.”

Lavellan looked shocked. “Of clan Sabrae?”

“...yeah.” Varric said, suddenly seeming upset. “You’ve heard of her, then.”

“You…could say that,” Lavellan said, seeming to choke on her words. “She was the topic of much conversation in our last arlathvhen, for what happened to her clan.” Lavellan paused, as if unsure of how much to say. “The envoy’s brought news of the clan to the arlathvhen so all would know of the clan’s fate. It was the first time in a hundred years that a clan sent someone who wasn’t a Keeper or First to the meeting.” She looked at Varric, saw how Cassandra had dropped back to listen, shot a glance at Solas, and sighed. “Fine. The arlathvhen is a meeting between all clans every ten years. Sometimes it’s the only time we get to see old family or friends. Its location is secret, and changes so we never meet in the same place twice. There is a discussion between the clan leaders - the Keepers and their Firsts - to go over decisions that affect the dalish as a whole. That’s where I heard of Merril and clan Sabrae.”

“Not great news,” Varric ventured.

“Great?” Lavellan barked sarcastically. “The Hero of Ferelden came from clan Sabrae. Then Merrill goes and gets her Keeper killed by practicing blood magic. To say the clan has had a tumultuous history is an understatement of the ages!”

Solas dropped back more, unwilling to hear more of the conversation. He did not want to know what had happened to yet another clan. What terrible fate had befallen yet more of these remnants. Wisdom kept insisting that there was value to them, but all he saw were children bumbling about without the insights or complexity they used to hold.

Then, he felt it. A spirit of purpose settled on his shoulder, separated from him by the veil, but still undeniably there as it pressed close to whisper to him.

Solas dropped back even more, moving beyond easy hearing range. It would not do to let his new companions know how close the spirits truly were. That this one came close was incredibly unusual. The breach was far, but it’s effects were still felt in the hinterlands, the smaller tears in the veil driving the more complex spirits away in fear, and turning the younger ones to demons before they had a chance to develop into something more.

“Fen’Harel,” the spirit whispered, and he had to strain to hear it through the interference caused by the nearby rift.

“I am here,” he whispered under his breath.

“Prayers for you from one known as Lavellan. From your altar in the hinterlands, but a few minutes walk down the road from where you are.”

Solas’s heart sank into his shoes, and his feet dragged nearly to a stop from the weight of it. No. This could not be. Surely they weren’t still…how had he not had this happen before? He’d been awake for years, the spirits had been told he was. But this was the first prayer delivered to his ears since he had awoken.

“Lavellan prays for your protection and guidance. There is a great hole in the sky she seeks to close, but does not know how. She is surrounded by enemies who once would have docked her ears, but now call her the Herald of Andraste. She prays you lend her your trickery, to keep them from killing her.”

Solas closed his eyes in grief, but kept walking. He could only hope that his companions would not notice. The spirit would continue until it had delivered the whole prayer, and he could not stop it without risking that he might twist it from its purpose. But oh, how he wished that he dared. It was not to blame for the message it delivered in kindness.

“Lavellan goes now to convince a priestess of the Maker that she is to be trusted. She prays you guide her tongue so she can be convincing. In sacrifice for her prayers, Lavellan will hunt a druffalo and offer it in whole to you.”

Solas stumbled down the road, unable to respond. Thankfully, he didn’t need to. The spirit, message delivered and purpose fulfilled, slipped away and went back to settle around the statue it inhabited, to wait for the next supplicant that would deliver prayers. Prayers it would then deliver to Solas’s ears, as it had for thousands of years before he entered uthenera.

What a practice he had initiated, what a thing he had done. What had meant to be a quick way of him hearing when people needed him, had turned into a method of worship. Worse, he had enabled the same for Mythal and the others. Each altar and temple constructed had been inhabited by a spirit of purpose, coaxed there by Solas himself ages ago. To help the guardians of the empire hear more quickly when the People had needed them. But in the end, had turned into yet another reason for the People to see the evanuris as gods. For weren’t their prayers heard no matter where they were made? Did the gods not hear and reply? Grant the wishes of the faithful, smite those who were too proud to properly genuflect?

[exia1-blog]

Castles in the Fade, or What Was the Point of the Veil Anyway

Something that will now haunt me until the end of time is why was the concept of the Veil ever introduced into this series.

We’ve been hearing about it since the very first game. There’s a codex entry about tears in the Veil in Origins. Tamlen mentions a thin spot in the Veil if you play a Dalish elf. Sandal has a prophecy in Dragon Age 2: “One day the magic will come back—all of it. Everyone will be just like they were. The shadows will part and the skies will open wide. When he rises, everyone will see.” Admittedly, this is just one line said by a character who often says odd things, but it hinted to the fact they were planning to do something with the Veil from the very beginning. The state of the Veil is repeatedly brought up. It all had to mean something! Or so I thought. 

When I saw “The Dread Wolf Rises” quest in Veilguard, I said, “Oh, here we go!” The Veil is coming down, magic is coming back, and it’s going to set up such an interesting story for the next game. 

Alas, no. 

I hadn’t really enjoyed my time playing Veilguard up until this point. It felt like the game was ducking and dodging every bit of world building and lore that could possibly bring nuance or complexity to the story. Every returning character or faction was a cardboard cutout of themself. They shoved Solas is a time-out box and gave him nothing to do. They refused to let him have any impact or influence on the story when he had been set up to be our main antagonist back in Trespasser. This game used to be called Dreadwolf! And while we learn about his past… we never talk to him about it. In the present, he’s in stasis.

Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain are our villains. And they are your typical evil for evil’s sake villains. They are mad, bad, and only as dangerous as the narrative will allow as to not give Rook and co too much trouble. They are surprisingly patient while Rook fixes all their companions’ problems… until Elgar’nan moves the moon to cause an eclipse. A vital component in making his own lyrium dagger. For some reason. This guy can move a satellite!? And he just let Rook walk away in previous encounters… twice. Ok. Sure.

The Evil Duo need their own dagger ostensibly to tear down the Veil, because they want to unleash the full force of the Blight onto the world. Because they are evil. And they were thwarted last time they tried to Blight the entire world. Why do they think Blighting the world is a good idea? What’s the point of ruling a world if everyone is dead? I guess they haven’t thought that through, because of the madness and the evilness.

Ok, I thought. Perhaps the gods will be the one to tear down the Veil. Or maybe we’ll have a choice to let Solas do it his way before they can, which will be less chaotic and less full of Blight. Because the Veil has to be coming down one way or another? Why introduce the concept of the Veil, especially a Veil that has been thinning and failing since the series began, if it’s just going to… stay.

There is a principle in storytelling called Chekov’s gun. If something is mentioned in a story, it must have a purpose. If you keeping mentioning that gun hanging on the wall over the fireplace, it’s because at some point in the story, someone is going to take it down and use it. The Veil felt like Chekov’s gun to me. Chekov’s Veil, if you will. It’s been here from the beginning of our tale, the spectre hanging over our protagonists’ heads for multiple games.

The Veil has been a character unto itself. It was the central focus of the third game, and its dissolution was set up to be the core conflict of the fourth game. We learn everything we thought we knew about the Veil was a lie. It was not created by the Maker to separate the Fade from this world because of jealous spirits, it was created by a guy named Solas to trap the elven gods and the Blight from destroying the world. Also, the elven gods were never gods, and they are also evil.

This reveal will surely throw the Andrastian religion into chaos! This puts the very existence of the Maker into question! The Evanuris are a lie; it’s only fair Catholicism—oh, I mean—the Chantry is a lie too. We briefly touch on that in Veilguard… then it is quietly discarded. Religious crisis averted.

But I digress.

When the title of the fourth game was changed from Dreadwolf to Veilguard, I started to see the writing on the wall. Still, I held out hope the Veil would have some greater purpose in the story. That its introduction as a concept was for a reason. That something in this world would change.

Instead, from the get-go, the question of the Veil is no question at all. We only get Solas and Varric making oblique or catastrophizing statements about it. Solas says little beyond he has a plan. If I ever wanted to hear a villain monologue about their plan, it was now! Varric, on the other hand, decries Solas’s plan. He warns that should the Veil fall, it will destroy the world and drown it in demons. And that’s that.

We never really learn why Solas wants to tear the Veil down, or why he thinks it will help anyone. “The Veil is a wound inflicted upon this world. It must be healed,” he says. And that’s basically all he says about it in Veilguard. In Inquisition and Trespasser, we learn it took the immortality from the elves. It cut most of magic off from the world. Spirits are trapped and are being corrupted into demons, and most of what we know about spirits and demons is wrong. There are ancient elves possibly asleep? That part is left vague, but ancient elves are still about. We meet some in Mythal’s temple. There seems to have been some merit in bringing it down, because elves were flocking to Solas’s cause at the end of Trespasser. He had agents working for him already. What do they know that we don’t know?

Apparently nothing, because by the time Veilguard rolls around, there are no mention of agents. He is working alone. His only motivation now seems to be he’s too deep in his sunk-cost fallacy. The Veil is unnatural, so it must be removed—consequences be damned. We are never given any reason to think Solas has a leg to stand on in his pursuit of tearing down the Veil. We never hear any kind of counter argument from anyone, not even Solas, as to why the Veil should come down. We are only told it will destroy the world. It will drown the world in demons. This is all Solas’s fault.

There is no nuance. No complexity. No moral quandary to mull over. The game gives us vague warnings with no explanation as to what exactly is so world-annihilating about the Veil coming down. We must take Varric’s word at face value. We’re the heroes; Solas is the villain. Stop him.

It makes me wonder why Solas was ever a companion in Inquisition, let alone a romance option. Solas was presented to us as a complicated character in Inquisition. We had the potential throughout the game to make him see the value of this world, to help him realize he was wrong about it. “We aren’t even people to you,” the Inquisitor says in Trespasser. Solas replies, “Not at first. You showed me that I was wrong...again.” He began the third game viewing the world as tranquil, seeing the people in it as nothing more than figments in a nightmare, just as we saw our companions in the In Hushed Whispers quest. He ends the game having made friends, having recognized he was mistaken. He might have even fallen in love. (Or he may still seen no merit in this world if the Inquisitor antagonized him the entirety of their time together.) But something makes him continue with his plan to tear down the Veil, despite recognizing this world is real. He must know something we don’t. Something we’ll learn about in the next game.

We’ve been hearing about the Veil for three games now. We’ve set up our complex antivillain for the next installment, and he’s going to tear the Veil down. We swear to stop him or save him. But it has to be more complex than that. It can’t be so straightforward. Uncomplicated. Simple. Boring. Right? Right?

Nope. He really is just the villain, mustache-twirling and all. He apparently had no greater motivation, no as of yet unrevealed knowledge that would put this whole Veil thing into a new context. It was really as simple as the Veil falling will destroy the world, so Solas must be stopped. There is no new information that is revealed which makes us question what we are doing. Solas is never given any nuance or complexity to his actions. Nuance and complexity have actively been taken away. Both him and the Veil are looking like they are the worst things to be in a story: pointless. Why introduce the Veil if it’s just going to remain unchanged? Why introduce a character like Solas, bother humanizing him (for lack of a better term), giving us his backstory, setting him up as a cunning antagonist, only to make him look stupid, then put him on a shelf until the last ten minutes of your game?

Solas was the trickster archetype of this tale. He was our version of Loki from Norse mythology. What is the role of the trickster archetype? To challenge the status quo. To bring about events of extreme change, like say, the tearing down of a Veil that holds back all of magic. Loki is a huge contributing factor in Ragnarök. Through his manipulation, he causes the death of the beloved god, Baldr. This ushers in a long winter, which signifies the beginning of the end. Loki is imprisoned for this crime. When the final battle between gods and giants begins, the sun and moon are swallowed, plunging the earth into darkness. The earth shakes and Loki is freed to fight on the side of the giants. The world burns in raw chaos, falls beneath the sea, and is reborn. The world is remade, and a new realm of the gods and a new, better earth is formed.

It really felt like this was the setup they were going for. Solas causes the death of Mythal, and this is his catalyst for creating the Veil, which ushers in a world without magic. This could be seen as equivalent to the long winter. Solas falls asleep, trapped in dreams. He wakes and sets in motion bringing about the apocalypse. It’s not a perfect one to one, but it’s there if you squint. We have a war against the gods in Veilguard. I was expecting a few remaining Titans to wake and join the fight. But we don’t get any of that. There is a final battle, but it does not end in the end of the world. Or a better world. It just ends, and everything is the same.

It seems our trickster god caused his apocalypse thousands of years before our story started, when he created the Veil. His role in this tale was over before ours began, and he really is just some relic from a long-past age. He has no role, no purpose in this story. He is here to be thwarted. He is no Loki at all.

If you can’t tell, I wanted the Veil to come down. Did I think the Veil coming down would be painless? Have no negative consequences? No. Of course not. But keeping it up has negative consequences too. And it made for an interesting story. Or at least it could have. But we never explore that. The game presents no counter argument to having the Veil stay up, which, again, begs the question: what was the point of introducing the concept of the Veil at all?

Did I think the Veil coming down was actually the best solution to help Thedas become a better place? I don’t know, and I never will, because the game never argues for it one way or another. It just tells you to want it in place and to stop asking questions. In real life, a catastrophic event is not the best way to solve any of the world’s problems. But this is the realm of fiction. We have gods and monsters, magic and myth. We have introduced the status quo of Thedas, recognized it needs to change, then our trickster god appears ready to fulfill his role in the narrative. 

Instead, it all comes to nothing.

I got to the end of Veilguard… and everything was more or less the same as it was at the start of Origins. Veilguard actually tries its hardest to pretend any previously mentioned problems don’t exist, so of course the Veil coming down has no merit. There are no problems to solve in this world, apparently. Solas is just stuck in the past and can’t get with the times. Silly Solas.

The Veil isn’t even a permanent solution. It wasn’t to begin with. It was some duct tape wrapped around a broken pipe, and we’ve just slapped an extra piece of tape on it. It’s still leaking. It is still unnatural, and will fall eventually one way or another. Large amounts of bloodshed weaken it, so I guess Thedas better achieve world peace real quick to avoid any battles. There were seven super-powered mages holding it together… now there is just one. Ironically, the Veil was going to fall after two more Blights anyway. The Wardens were doing Solas’s work for him! It would also have released the full force of the Blight at that time… which Solas was trying to avoid, I presume.

It feels like keeping the Veil up just pushed a big problem onto Thedas’ future generations. We’ll keep slapping bandaids on it until it all falls apart. Someone else can deal with the fallout, but we’ll be dead by then, so who cares.

Primarily, I wanted the Veil to come down from a storytelling perspective. The Veil was an interesting concept and I wanted the story to do something interesting with it. Conflict is what makes stories stories and the Veil coming down could create so much compelling and complex conflict. And the Fade is weird, and I like weird. Stories are also about change, and I wanted to see Thedas change. Yet, Veilguard is over, and barely anything has changed. Instead of magic coming back being a conflict for the next game, they went with Fantasy Illuminati. Oh.

The Veil turned out to be a nothing-burger, and no problems in this world are even close to being solved. Slavery is still rampant in Tevinter. The elven people are still oppressed everywhere. Mages have no more rights in the South than they did in Origins. Spirits are still trapped and being corrupted. The Calling still exists, though might be different somehow now? They don’t really get into that. The Chantry’s validity is still not allowed to be questioned. The Blight still exists in some form, but again it’s vague. Oh, and we learn the dwarves have been gravely wronged, and the Titans are still tranquil. At least if you redeem Solas and a romanced Lavellan joins him, they can work together on healing the Blight and helping the Titans. Oh, good. One problem is being acknowledged and some action will be taken. Offscreen. Hurray? Solas doesn’t have a really great track record of fixing problems, so Lavellan is definitely going to need to be there to make sure he doesn’t fuck it up.

For some reason, this game seemed terrified of letting us think about anything for more than two seconds. It shied away from complexity or nuance at every turn. The game is called The Veilguard—ironically, that word is never uttered in the game—but we are given no real motive for guarding the Veil. We’re unquestionably the hero. The villains are uncomplicatedly evil. Save the world… never wonder what you are doing or why.

I wanted the game to make me question if the Veil staying up or coming down was the right choice. I needed to be given a real counter argument. Convince me the alternative would actually be better or worse, because as I mentioned… things suck quite a bit in Thedas already for a lot of people right now. Let the Veil’s fate be a difficult choice to make. If the conflict cannot be what to do about the Veil, it should be am I doing the right thing about the Veil. If the heart of your game is so thin on motive, everything else falls apart around it.

I hoped they were setting up a complex, Thedas-sized existential conflict for this game in Trespasser, but no. I wanted something to happen, but nothing did. 

I want to feel challenged and changed by a story, not left feeling empty. I’m tired of superficial entertainment. I want to sink my teeth into a narrative that doesn’t paint the world in broad strokes of black and white, good and evil, heroes and villains.

Ultimately, I think my issue is why even introduce a concept like The Veil if you’re not going to do anything interesting with it. Or anything at all. What I thought was Chekov’s Veil turned out to just be a MacGuffin. And that’s disappointing.

[exia1-blog]

#yeah totally agree

Solas: “I have joined my share of causes. But when I offered lessons learned in the Fade, I was derided by my enemies… and sometimes by my allies. Liar. Fool. Madman. There are endless ways to say someone isn’t worth listening to. Over time, it grinds away at you.”  

Solas the revolutionary. Solas the freedom fighter. Solas the rebel war general. Solas, the Dread Wolf.

Revolutionaries are agents of transformation - painful, disruptive transformation. Solas led this upheaval for centuries, driving the change that reshaped the ancient world.

I want to know him - not as the figure judged through the veiled world’s narrow lens, but as the man who existed before his most controversial act.

I want to understand the Solas driven by a vision of justice, freedom, and resistance against the oppressive rule of the Evanuris. The Solas who sought to dismantle the entire system. How did he decide when to fall back, when to push forward? Who to ally with, who to trust? What victories came at what cost? What bonds were forged, and what betrayals endured?

I want to know the Solas who could no longer endure the rejection of those he was implored to serve - the ones who sought his guidance yet turned away when his truths became inconvenient. To see his hard-won insights, born of wisdom and experience, dismissed as deceit or madness simply because they threatened the foundations of their power.

I want to understand how he came to accept that he was once a part of the very system he sought to destroy - that his place within it gave him the unique insight to recognize its corruption and the resolve to tear it down.

I want to know the moment Solas realized even Mythal was part of that system - and that he could no longer walk the same path as her.

I want to know this Solas - the rebel who faced not only the overwhelming power of the Evanuris but also the resistance and skepticism of those he sought to free. “Liar. Fool. Madman.” Words hurled at him by enemies and allies alike. Some unwilling to believe in his cause, some unwilling to fight, others too afraid to break from the status quo.

I want to know more about the moment Solas first made the decision to sacrifice others for the greater goal - how he grappled with that choice and bore the weight of those lives lost for the sake of freedom.

I want to know about the day he accepted the mantle of the Dread Wolf, letting others shape him into a symbol of fear and rebellion. How it changed the perceptions of those who knew him, those who had followed him, and those who whispered his name in hatred or hope.

And I want to know about the first elf who had their vallaslin removed by Fen’Harel. The moment Solas spoke the words, “Ar lasa mala revas,” and what it meant to give freedom back to one soul after centuries of chains.

[exia1-blog]

things i learned today:

solas could've avoided this whole mess and probably had enough free time to take lavellan on a nice little date if he just took up archdemon hunting instead of all the rituals and the other dastardly deeds

lucanis won't romance rook if they go to minrathous but will romance neve because despite saying he's cool, he's not cool

everyone's nice and no one has slaves or anything because *checks forearm* the blight

all your companions get along with you and each other because also the blight

even though he's like, really manipulative and uses people all the time, solas accumulated but then gave up an entire army's worth of spies and agents because he decided he wasn't ready for a management position

red lyrium isn't really around because—and you are not gonna believe this—the blight

solas just lies. all the time, outright, to everyone. so I guess he was actually only super careful to not ever actively lie in Inquisition as like a fun little challenge to himself

tying the veil to his life force (you know, the guy who couldn't even take down an archdemon on his own and actually just got his ass beat so is not in great shape in the best ending) fully repaired the veil! \o/ don't ask how you wouldn't understand it it's not a big—

everyone near minrathous is cured of the blight! but @ everyone else you may be entitled to compensation 🥀

the only ritual solas has ever gotten or will ever get right is cleansing the idol into the ritual dagger. good thing too bc it was way more dangerous than this one. other than that, wrong about everything ever

elven magic is like not that big a deal, dude

the griffons are, unfortunately, long-term fucked

the elves don't see the crossroads differently anymore because uh.. because....... war

spite does not get involved in rookanis sexytimes. so perhaps him spreading his wings was actually just in preparation to leave bc ew they're kissing gross

NO ONE cares about the goddamn spirits

[exia1-blog]

#holy shit

Solas in Hades style 😊 I love making these!

A speedpaint video of this will be available at my Patreon soon!

[exia1-blog]

Why the hell do I see sponsored Christian posts on my blog? Excuse me? I belong to The Satanic Temple. Get your holy christ god is good bullshit out of here.

[exia1-blog]

Description: [A video of a woman riding a galloping horse bareback while holding a large rainbow flag.]

[exia1-blog]

#pride #be proud of yourself #thats what it means

[exia1-blog]

Solas : Pride; to stand tall.

Happy Pride month from your favourite (and fabulous) apostate hobo !

✨🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️✨

You deserve to be loved, safe and celebrated.