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seeing many posts about solas is like. free my boy. he did other stuff but didn't do that crime specifically... your honour my client IS guilty, but not for this. mistrial.

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You likely don't remember me, but I'm the anon who asked you a few weeks ago, "why would anyone think Solas would choose Lavellan over Mythal." Thank you for replying to it the way you did. It actually inspired me to play DAI, seeing how passionate you were about Solavellan.

I finished Trespasser last Friday, and I must say I FUCKING GET IT NOW. I ABSOLUTELY DO. That bald bitch has crawled his way into my brain and pussy.

I was mildly irritated by him in Veilguard. I sneered at Lavellan's lovey-dovey "let me join you in your prison." I didn't know their lore, indeed. You were absolutely right, the tastiest parts happen outside of the three kissing scenes they had in DAI. His personal quest? Blew my fucking mind. What he says during Cole's quest? I'm on my knees. ("We cannot change our nature by wishing," Solas says and looks straight at Lavellan. Or his reply to Varric's "He could have been a person." is, "Would that have made him happier, child of the Stone?")

Everything about how Solavellan was written in DAI resonates. Her first flirt with him is "I will protect you." His passionate speech on spirits? (The youtube compilation I watched didn’t have it, so it was such a treat to see it for the first time and finally be able to enter discourse on this!) I loved how the flirt is "I look forward to help you make new friend wink-wink," which makes him FLUSTERED. YET he approves way more if you actually consider his point of view and say spirits (and by extension him) are real people!

I had no idea how protective and private he was over romance with the Inquisitor in DAI (he shuts down Sera and Cassandra right away). So while I would absolutely have liked him to speak more on Lavellan in Veilguard, especially after experiencing the romance for myself, I do also see now why he would be quite unwilling to open up to Rook of all people. (When I heard his "There are few regrets sharper than watching fools squander what you sacrificed to achieve," I thought of Rook right away, lol. Oh, what irony.)

The Temple of Mythal quest and the conversation with him afterwards made me dizzy. What do you mean Mythal has a bunch of elves chained to her will, doing her bidding for millennia, and she never visits?? What do you mean she used whoever drank from the Well as her puppet?? What do you mean she wants a reckoning that will shake the heavens?? How on earth are NONE of those things referenced in the direct sequel??? Why is she portrayed as a noble martyr, when she was clearly part of the issue? (Vallaslin are SLAVE MARKINGS, and I may be dumb, but I never heard that in Veilguard for some reason?? And Solas HAD HERS on his FACE???? I only now understand the "I release you from my service" bit.)

His "I begged you not to drink from the Well" hit me. (I made my Lavellan do it, btw. At that point I thought, ofc nothing bad will come of this decision, I know Mythal to be a spirit of benevolence and kindness. LOL!!!! Then Flemeth overrides my Inquisitor's will for something as minor as chastising her daughter. And that was a kinder version of Mythal, who lived among mortals for centuries, apparently? xD) As did his "Everything you do, whether you know it or not, will be for her." And "I know that mistake well enough to carve the angles of her face from memory."

Mind-blowing. And everything about Trespasser obliterated the remains of my brain. Companion comments on Solas leaving?? What Cole said about him??? Lavellan's words after witnessing the mural of him removing vallaslin from slaves?? He had agents??? He had plans???? Elves joined him???? He visited her dreams, looking like a sad wet puppy???

Trespasser was such a fantastic setup. It had everything. I genuinely have never experienced a drama and romantic tragedy in a video game the way I did with Solavellan in that DLC. AND I knew Veilguard would have them reunited. I can only imagine how it was for people who played it on release, not knowing. The wait? The theorizing? The heartbreak?

It is a superior ship, no doubt about it. "I look at you and I see what you truly are" (DING DING, memory of Duet codex was actually inspired by what he said to Lavellan??) "You are unique. In all Thedas I never expected to find someone who can DRAW MY ATTENTION FROM THE FADE" (now I fucking see why she is singular and special to him!). "Ar lasa mala revas. You are free." Var lath vir suledin???????????!!!!!!!!

Fuuuuuuuuuck. lights a cigarette On the flipside, now I clearly see what a wet disgrace Veilguard's writing was. Absolute assassination of the meatiest plot points (the Well? Mythal’s reckoning?? Solas's entire drive to save his people??). Also, it was dumb not to utilize his romance with Lavellan more. Like—have people hate her for this! Hello? Your Chantry Herald had a lover who wants to destroy the world. Any comments, everyone?

Sorry for so much rambling. I'm still processing my emotions. What a game. What a weirdly hot, soul-crushing, heartbreaking love story. And they are together in the Fade now, for eternity...*SIGH*

i hope you know i was cackling with glee as i read this message. i am so so so so glad you played inquisition and trespasser and had such a wonderful time. it is so fun to witness the brain worm overtaking someone in real time. welcome to hell and please feel free to come share your thoughts and continue to process any time <3

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Veilguard did not ‘ruin’ Mythal insofar as it made her seem abusive. She always was, as both the goddess and part of Flemeth. If anything, Veilguard glossed over it.

The Mythal of DAO, DA2, and DAI is not benevolent. She is justice turned vengeance. She seeks a reckoning that will shake the very heavens in vengeance for the injustices she suffered. She uses people, especially the people closest to her, to set that board in her favor.

All of Flemythal’s ‘help’ in the first three games is as transactional as the greatest of spirits we meet. Everything she says is to give fate a little nudge in the ‘right’ direction - her direction. Everything she does demands a price in return - In Origins, it’s to send Morrigan with the Wardens in order to better shape her as Flemeth’s new host and get the old god soul. In DA2, it’s to preserve her immortality. In Inquisition, it’s the Well and thus Morrigan/the Inquisitor’s servitude, Kieran, and the fact that her only aid against Corypheus is binding yet another free-willed creature in the dragon. 

All of the advice she gives each protagonist is double-edged. She sows the seeds of the old god soul in Origins. She plants the idea of ‘here lies the abyss’ in Hawke. She makes the Inquisitor an unknowing pawn in Inquisition. The throughline for all of these is Mythal’s reckoning, her vengeance, and her doom upon all the world.

Nowhere is this more blatantly obvious than with Morrigan. Morrigan’s entire story with Flemeth is one abuse piled on another. Physical, mental, verbal, emotional - you name it, Morrigan received it. Flemeth created an environment so toxic that Morrigan can’t even fully see just how terrible it was. It is cruelty without purpose, save for Flemeth’s own ends.

That ‘a soul is not forced on the unwilling’ is not the measure of benevolence she makes it seem. There are endless ways to break someone’s will, as demonstrated by Flemythal in both Origins and Inquisition: Flemeth fashioned for Morrigan a ‘welcome home present’, ‘designed to sap Morrigan’s will and ease the ancient sorceress’ possession of her daughter.’ Mythal created the Well of Sorrows, a ‘reward’ for her most faithful servants that saps their will, replacing it with a compulsion that lets Mythal control their actions. Those who drank are not noble warriors who swore an oath - they are ‘bound,’ to quote Abelas. 

Mythal’s abusive and manipulative nature is not unique to Veilguard. Veilguard waters her down. The bones of Flemythal’s true character are still present if we read into datv’s overbroad and shallow lines. Even Morrigan’s ‘the regret of a mother’ could follow Flemythal’s characterization if it was presented as insidious and terrible as it truly is. It’s pure emotional manipulation - which the first three games established as Flemythal’s MO. Morrigan wears Mythal’s crown, she bears the staff Mythal does in her judgment fresco, she plays Mythal’s game. The Morrigan who spent a decade hiding and protecting Kieran from Flemeth’s machinations, and who spent a lifetime suffering her abuse. Where is her ‘self’ in Veilguard? Subsumed and corrupted by Mythal. Just like the sentinels, the geased, and to a lesser extent, Solas.

You can’t blame it all on Flemeth’s influence, either. There’s a reason Mythal chose Flemeth, and why they remained symbiotic for all these years. Dalish legends paint Mythal in much the same way as Flemeth, and since their legends grew from Evanuris propaganda, they’re not talking about anything Mythal did since her murder, and they’re certainly not talking about Flemeth -

Morrigan: In most stories, Mythal rights wrongs while exercising motherly kindness: let fly your voice to Mythal, deliverer of justice, protector of sun and earth alike. Other paint her as dark, vengeful: pray to Mythal, and she would smite your enemies, leaving them in agony. Solas: The oldest accounts say Mythal was both of these, and neither. She was the Mother, protective and fierce.

This gross emotional manipulation is simply expanded in Veilguard to include everyone closest to her. It’s how Mythal coaxed Solas from the Fade and manhandled him into doing her bidding. It’s how she directed her servants to worship her in the Trials of the Gods, and how she deals with Rook asking for her help to save the world. There is nothing benevolent in requesting her aid - it is a hardline of justice and arrogance, and every answer Rook gives to appeal to her emotions or that the world deserves her atonement is met with a harsh dismissal.

It’s not so different from the Petitioner’s Path in the Temple of Mythal - using that logic is an easy way to win her favor in Veilguard. Instead of speaking truth, Rook has to bend over backwards to make her feel good about herself to the point that she’ll deign to help save the world - from Solas, who ‘betrayed’ her by refusing to submit, and not the crimes of the Evanuris or the blight.

There is nothing ‘good’ about Mythal’s role in the atonement ending. It is a tragedy, and one Mythal escapes entirely. She superficially admits her culpability, she doesn’t apologize, and she doesn’t love. All she did was ‘release Solas from her service.’ And as always, that ‘kindness’ is transactional - he receives that catharsis if he binds himself to the thing that broke the world, and the very thing that ensures his people, both elves and spirits, are never truly free. She suffers nothing from this ending. Her culpability isn’t punished by words or any other consequence. It’s Solas who’s condemned to suffer the weight of both of their crimes. It would almost have been kinder if she hadn’t made her admission at all, because now he knows and accepts her equal role, and still he alone is punished for it all, forever, in eternal servitude.

At the end of all of these stories and manipulations, it’s not the world that suffers most from Mythal’s abuse. It’s the people closest to her. If ‘everyone is a pawn’ to Solas, what does that make Mythal’s worshippers, her daughters, and whatever Solas was to her? Her love was never free and without terrible price. Mythal took that which Solas and Morrigan value above all else - their freedom. The ‘best of them’ demanded everything from Solas, her daughters, and her people. Their wills, their freedom, and their very selves. All for the promise of a benevolence and unconditional love that she is incapable of giving.

Veilguard did not invent her abuse. It softened it. 

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“I miss when Lavellan had a back bone”

I hate people who try to reduce strong women to the masculine ideal of strength. If she’s not gutted her empathy and steeled her heart to the world and everyone in it, then she’s still perceived as spineless.

Wisdom and compassion take more strength than most people are willing to muster and that is why finding it in this world is so rare. We would rather give into wrath than demonstrate mercy because it is easier…so why then do we believe it makes us stronger? Hate comes so effortlessly that vengeance seems the most natural response to hurt. But it is forgiveness that will demand a great show of you…because it is the only thing that will grant you lasting peace.

So few understand the vigilance it takes to hold onto your gentleness through the violence you face. So few are even willing to see the value in it because then they would have to admit that they have chosen to be worthless…just one heartless bastard among many.

It would mean having to overcome pride.

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something very delicious to me about the idea that almost nobody on the inquisition side knows the extent of lavellan's relationship with solas until she disappears into the fade with him!, while absolutely all of the dread wolf's agents know how very fucking down bad he is for the herald of andraste

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may the dread wolf take you on this @unofficialdragonageday

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I'm glad we all agree that post-Veilguard, Solas and Lavellan are having a crazy amount of sex. Because, yeah, it's been 10 years of yearning (if they ever did in the first place). But do they talk things out first, or are they both so pent up that they just immediately jump each other's bones and try to make up for lost time? Do they spend like 10 hours going at it before they finally talk about everything that has happened?

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dreams

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The Things We Leave Behind -

Chapter 1 : Where Silence Settles

Solas x Lavellan | Canon-Compliant | Post-Inquisition, Pre-Trespasser

The world is healing, but not all wounds are visible. In the hush that follows war, silence settles where love once lived. Far from Skyhold, a figure lingers in the shadows of the past—haunted by what was, and what still lingers unspoken. As echoes of memory stir beneath ancient trees and even older magic, something impossible begins to take root... and changes everything.

Full chapter below:

Chapter 1 - Where Silence Settles

Two months had passed since Skyhold’s walls last echoed with the thunder of war. The Inquisition, once ablaze with purpose and shouted orders, had settled into a strange quiet—like a great beast sleeping with one eye open. There were no more dragons circling above, no more rifts tearing apart the sky. But not all wounds had healed. Some wounds lingered in the quiet—not in screams or scars, but in the absence of her.

Far from Skyhold’s quiet battlements and the hopeful murmurs of a world learning to heal, another story unfolded in the still places forgotten by time. Though the Inquisition's banner no longer flew over battlefields, its shadows stretched long. And in that hush, beneath ancient trees and even older regrets, Solas waited—watching, listening, grieving, as silence settled into something perilously close to peace.

He stood within the heart of one of his long-abandoned strongholds, hidden deep in the Arbor Wilds, where dense jungle swallowed sound and time alike. The once formidable fortress had been half-reduced to ruin—its once proud arches collapsed beneath the weight of time, the once imposing statues lay toppled and shattered upon the damp floor, visages worn smooth by countless centuries of rain. Crumbling staircases twisted like broken spines, some leading to collapsed rooms overtaken by vine, others spiraling into shadow. Trees pierced broken ceilings, their roots fracturing tile and wall as if reclaiming what had always belonged to them. Ferns clung to damp crevices, and the air was thick with the scent of loam, of old magic and even older memory. Yet the most important room—the heart of his fortress, the secret Eluvian chamber—remained untouched, sealed beneath layers of ancient magic that Solas himself had woven into the very stone. Time could not breach it, nor vine nor rain; it had waited, inviolate, for his return.

But the room around him had faded into silence, unnoticed. His gaze was fixated on the parchment in his hand. The report had come from one of his most trusted spies—meticulous, precise, and as unflinching as ever. It bore no embellishment, no speculation, only cold observation delivered with the detachment of someone trained to see without being seen. He had not meant to read it more than once.

But he had. Again. And again.

> "The Inquisitor is with child. Three months along, by midwife's reckoning. Divine Victoria has declared the pregnancy to be an immaculate conception—‘A gift from the Maker and His Bride to the Herald of Andraste for delivering the people from certain destruction.’ A festival will be held in her honor in two weeks’ time at Skyhold."

Solas’ fingers curled tighter around the parchment, the crumpled edges whispering protest beneath his grip. He stared at the inked lines, reading them once more—then again—each pass slower than the last, as if the truth might change under the weight of enough attention. As if his refusal to look away might undo what was already done.

A child.

He had gone over the timeline in his mind a hundred times—then a hundred more. At first with disbelief, then the slow, dawning gravity of truth. No matter how he turned it over in his mind, how he tried to doubt or dismiss it, the path always led him back. Back to a night thick with starlight and the scent of wildflowers, in a place where the had Fade stretched thin and Elvhen words turned sacred in the hush of heartbeats. Of touch that trembled on the edge of worship, of lips pressed to skin as she breathed his true name into the hollow of his throat like a vow never meant to be broken. The night before Crestwood. The night before he had shattered the fragile joy they’d built—torn love from love with trembling hands and hollow words.

Everything aligned. Every measure of time. Every subtle shift in the Fade that had followed. Every cryptic whisper from the spirits.

There was no other answer.

It was his child.

Not a gift from gods long silent. Not a symbol crafted for the masses. But something real. Theirs. A child born of something rare—love, quiet as snowfall and just as impossible to hold. A love that never needed grand declarations, only the hush of twilight and the stillness beneath heartbeats. It had lived in glances, in the brush of lips beneath ancient boughs, in breath shared beneath stars, in the lingering touch of a hand that always hesitated to let go.

Yet knowing the truth brought only deeper sorrow. It settled into his bones like winter, numbing yet sharp. He had told himself he could endure the distance, the silence—that it was necessary. But now… To know she carried his child, to know their love had taken root in the world—it clawed at his restraint, his resolve. He wanted—gods, how he wanted—to see her again. To look upon her face, to hear her laugh, to press his palm against the gentle curve of her belly and feel the echo of their love beneath his fingertips.

But that yearning was dangerous—a quiet undoing wrapped in hope. It threatened to unravel everything he had planned, everything he had sacrificed beneath the weight of purpose. It could make him foolish. Reckless. It could make him choose her again. And to choose her… would be to turn his back on the world he was meant to restore. On everything he had once believed was worth losing her for.

Yet that knowledge did not quiet his desire. His yearning was not some fleeting indulgence—it was a pull, steady and insidious, unraveling him thread by careful thread. It lived beneath his skin, threading itself into every thought, every heartbeat. He told himself it would pass, that if he strengthened his resolve that it would dull. He recited his justifications like a litany, hoping they might forge armor around the heart in his chest. He told himself no. Again. And again.

But longing is a cruel thing, persistent and merciless. It is immune to reason. It ignores what must be done. It slips through the cracks of resolve like water through stone. And in the end, it won.

[To be continued...]

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The Inquisitor - The Thread and Key - and Something Else?

A thread runs from Inquisition to Veilguard that makes it hard to believe the Inquisitor walked away from the Anchor unchanged. The evidence suggests a transformation - not just symbolic or emotional, but something metaphysical. Possibly even physiological.

One of the clearest insights into the nature of the Anchor comes during Here Lies the Abyss, from the Justinia spirit/entity: “It is the needle that passes through the Veil, as little else can. You are the thread. And it is the key that locks or unlocks a door to the Fade. It lets you walk in the Fade physically and survive. Without it, Corypheus must find another way to the Black City. It is part of you now, and cannot be removed without your death.”

There are some interesting implications here. The Inquisitor doesn’t just use the Anchor - they are the thread. And threads don’t just pass through - they bind, they weave, implying the Inquisitor is stitched into the Veil itself.

But it’s the spirit’s warning that carries the most interest for me: “It is part of you now, and cannot be removed without your death.” This reads as though the Anchor is too woven into the Inquisitor's being to be severed without fatal consequences. According to this denizen of the Fade, the removal should be impossible.

And while it’s not framed as a prophecy in the traditional sense, the spirit’s words seem to carry truth as only a being of the Fade can speak it. It's a statement of what is - yet, what is doesn't come to pass.

Because the Inquisitor does live after its removal. 

That act of Solas removing the Anchor points to an extraordinary understanding and mastery of magic. If the Inquisitor is the thread, then Solas would have had to have found a way to unstitch and restitch them back together.

Which leads to a lingering question: How has this affected the Inquisitor?

The Thread in Veilguard

In Veilguard, the “thread and key” metaphor returns - but now it’s a statuette, not the Anchor.

When Harding asks where they found it, the Inquisitor responds: “I found it right around the time Solas’ ritual failed, when he was pulled into the Fade. We’ve examined the magic. And it’s tied to the Veil. To him. Somehow.”

That “somehow” feels like something is still there. The Anchor is gone, but how do they know the tie is there? Is the Inquisitor still threaded into the Veil - still connected to the Fade?

And the statuette is significant. No matter how many of them Rook finds, the sequence can’t be completed without the Inquisitor’s, implying they are still the thread that completes the weave, the key that opens the door to Solas.

Morrigan says, “The Inquisitor brought something no one else could.” And it’s not just that they had the final piece - it’s that no one else could have had it. The magic inside it feels personal, like it’s bound to something only the Inquisitor possesses. Maybe it’s the lingering imprint of the Anchor.

Solas’ Unique Magic

Morrigan says: “Solas is ancient, and his magic is part of him in a way far beyond that of mortals.” Solas doesn’t wield magic like a mortal mage. He is magic.

The Anchor was born of Solas’ magic - so when his Orb exploded and marked the Inquisitor, like the statuette infused with his essence, the Anchor forged a connection between Solas and the Inquisitor. Which means the Inquisitor potentially carries a trace of Solas' essence.

Which brings us back to the wolf statuette - why was it meant for the Inquisitor? Perhaps it was reacting to that lingering essence of Solas. Drawn to it. Resonating with it.

The Inquisitor - the Key to Solas

Throughout the games and extended stories, the Inquisitor is consistently positioned as the thread and key - bridging Southern and Northern Thedas, the Fade and the waking world, Solas and those who are looking for him.

And that may not be purely symbolic. The Inquisitor carried the Anchor, manipulated the Fade, physically walked through it more than once, and survived an act that should have killed them. They now stand apart from ordinary mortal experience - threaded into the Fade, impacted by ancient magic. Perhaps even transformed into something new - a liminal being. That may be why a romanced Lavellan shows no fear in following Solas into the Fade at the end: they alone are equipped - physically, metaphysically - to walk that path beside him.

It’s narratively fitting, then, that their story with Solas begins in front of a tear in the Veil, where he says, “It seems you hold the key to our salvation.” Everything that follows gives the line a deeper, almost prophetic meaning because by the end of Veilguard, they stand before another rift. And while this time it's Solas who closes the rift - the Inquisitor’s presence remains essential.

Without the Inquisitor, you can’t access Solas’ regrets. You can’t uncover what haunts him. You can’t walk the path to gain Mythal’s essence - and without Mythal’s essence you can’t unlock the final choice: atonement. The game makes it clear - Solas’ path to redemption is unlocked through the Inquisitor.

He said they were the key.

And they were.

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You know all those beautiful posts about the solavellan legends that will live after datv?

What they would be like?

> Something inspiring for the elves. Something to help them turn the page and leave all the false stories behind. A new beginning.

The Dreadwolf and his Heart. Fen'Harel is not the god of lies anymore, now he's the god of atonement and endurance. And the mortal soul who fearlessly stepped into the abyss became his goddess of love, hope and forgiveness.

The word "god" would change itself too. Now it's not some powerful beings to kneel before. Now they are wise advisers and keepers of life; someone who doesn't demand sacrifices or begging but gives their blessing freely to anyone who's in need.

Ask Fen'Harel to guide you through the dark woods and protect you from the nightmares - and he will grant you strength to endure. Ask Heart of the Wolf to bless you - and she will gently touch your heart to grant you hope.

(What her new name would be is an absolute headcanon so it's on you)

Beautiful legend to tell around a campfire in dalish camps.

But not for everyone.

> People who weren't there at the time, people who were fighting with darkspawn in the south or the people far beyond the sea - they would see the story another way.

For them it's the story about betrayal. The one who was their shield against darkness; the one who protected the world when the sky ripped apart - betrayed them.

Inquisitor betrayed Thedas.

She joined the Dreadwolf tempted by promises of power and immortality, or was simply fooled by him. Killed by him.

It would be a grim story about cruel gods and weak mortals who aren't strong enough to win.

> It would be another kind of story for the Chantry too. Andrastian faith was built on the stories about resignation and sacrifices. Religious cage made of the bones of those who went through baptism by fire.

«The Herald of Andraste sacrificed herself. She gave her life in exchange for peace for those who can't stand for themselves. Dreadwolf's heart was made of darkness, it never felt a soft touch of a divine light. Blessed Herald knew it, and she knew what had to be done. She was led by faith and has no fear before the blighted monster. Dreadwolf ripped her faithful heart; he wanted to kill the divine light and leave the world blind in the darkness. Maker's Bride, our divine Andraste, didn't let him. She shielded her blessed Herald, and the golden light blinded Dreadwolf. His blighted soul burned to ashes in that light. Herald of Andraste gave her life but saved the world»

It would be a propaganda story, a new canticle in Chant of Light. Canticle of Sacrifice?

> And only for those who were there; for those who know - it would be a story about mistakes, struggling, hope and atonement. An understandable story. No true gods, no religious symbolism, no Deus ex machina.

A love story.

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crying over an egg again

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I've been thinking, and I've come to the conclusion that one of the reasons why Veilguard feels so hollow is because it makes an attempt to reckon with Solas’s fatal flaw, but completely fails at actually doing so.

This may be a controversial opinion, but I don't think pride is Solas’s fatal flaw. It's a symptom, not the origin point. Solas’s fatal flaw is his inability to trust others. It's a threadline all the way through Inquisition, from the things he says to you (I know that mistake well enough to carve the angles of her face from memory) to the very structure of his personal quest (which does not trigger if you're on low approval with him). He's tragic (in the literary sense) because even in the case of a high approval Inquisitor, the person most likely to listen to him and capable of acting upon it, he doesn't ask them for help. Hell, we know he was planning to tell a romancing Inquisitor, but chickened out at literally the last possible second, that's how deep it runs. That's why it's Tragic.

And I think Veilguard tries to contrast this with the Team™. Which is fine, I guess, until you realise that Solas’s original Team was the Evanuris. None of Rook’s Team™ can betray them. If they don't do the companions personal quests they die, rather than become disloyal in some way. They're all 100% in accord about their politics and what is Right, without real argument. Which is nice, but if your advice to someone with severe trust issues is 'skill issue' that's...unhelpful.

And yeah, Solas did have his rebellion, but he had the rebellion in the sense that the Inquisitor had the Inquisition, not in the sense that Rook has the Team™. And as he says, any powerful organisation inevitably falls to betrayal and corruption.

And he had Felassan, but Felassan also betrayed him (with good reason, but he did actively undermine an operation he was on on behalf of Solas. That is a betrayal), which can only have cemented the inherent trust issues.

But, thinking about it, there is actually a paralell with some of the companions having experienced some kind of betrayal. Lucanis and Illario, Bellara and Cyrion, Davrin and Isseya/the Wardens, Taash and Shathann. And pretty much all of these experience a last minute change of heart, or otherwise come to the companion's POV if allowed to. Is this what they were going for with Mythal in the Atonement ending? I can kind of see the logic.

The problem is, I don't really see why this suddenly turns Solas around. He doesn't overcome his fatal flaw in order to avoid his tragedy. It always comes down to the fact that Solas’s actual reasons for bringing down the Veil are never truly addressed, and likely changed at some point in production between Trespasser and Veilguard. The political and systemic issues of the setting are pushed aside by Veilguard's narrative for individual and personal issues, even well established issues like systemic racism and slavery. It's incoherent to say 'Solas was destroying the Veil because he couldn't trust people, so fixing the trust means he doesn't want the veil to come down', when the issue was 'Solas can't trust anyone else to help solve the harm caused by the Veil because of the betrayal'. The harm doesn't go away because the betrayal did, you know what I mean? And Rook, and by extention the entire narrative, never displays willingness to even acknowledge those issues as existing in the first place, let alone needing addressing in some way. Rook interrupts Solas when he tries to talk about the suffering of the Spirits. So why does he suddenly hand over the dagger, symbolically handing the matter over to Rook?

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Matt Rhodes uploaded old official concept art of Solas and Lavellan in Trespasser DLC, titled “ComeWithMe.jpg”

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Thinking about that kiss between Solas and Lavellan in Tresspasser.

How it's Solas drawing Lavellan to him, his magic and power on full display, eyes glowing, ablaze in magic. How he's kissing Lavellan in wholeness, no more secrets - taking Lavellan's mouth with his as Fen'Harel - as the Dread Wolf.

And how Lavellan just meets that kiss full on - never flinching.

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The Grayson household was in shambles.

Clothes, broken furniture, and empty cereal boxes littered the living room floor. On the couch, nine versions of Mark Grayson, each from a twisted alternate dimension, lounged around in various states of boredom, guilt, and mild insanity.

Mohawk Mark, his hair gelled to perfection and boots still stained with blood from the Invincible War, leaned against the wall, chewing gum and watching the static on the TV like it owed him money.

Full Mask Mark sat cross-legged on the floor. Beside him, Maskless Mask tapped his fingers against his knee, restless.

In the kitchen, Prisoner Mark stirred a bowl of cereal with quiet intensity. His eye twitched every time the spoon clinked.

Meanwhile, Sinister Mark casually flipped through a Better Homes & Gardensmagazine, smiling at interior design tips with the same face that had once vaporized a small continent.

Omni-Mark, who wore a cape twice the size of his ego, hovered above the floor, arms crossed, glaring at the rest of them like a disappointed father.

Target Mark leaned near the window, watching the outside world with twitchy paranoia.

Viltrumite Mark stood silently in the corner, arms folded, tension radiating off him like heat from a dying star.

And then there was No Goggles Mark—wide-eyed, smile too big, giggling at his phone. “Guys, guys! Look at this cat! It’s stuck in a shoebox and it meows like—like a trumpet!”

He held up the phone for someone—anyone—to look.

Viltrumite Mark stepped forward and smacked the phone out of his hands. It clattered to the ground, the cat video still playing faintly.

“You idiot,” Viltrumite Mark growled. “We’re war criminals hiding in a suburban hellhole and you’re watching cats?”

No Goggles Mark pouted, crouching down to rescue his cracked phone. “That was uncalled for…”

“Don’t touch my stuff,” Viltrumite Mark snapped.

“Then don’t touch my cat videos,” No Goggles muttered.

Suddenly, the static on the TV fizzled and changed.

A news alert blared on screen: "BREAKING: Conquest sighted in downtown Chicago. Invincible is down—repeat, Invincible is down—"

The room went quiet.

On-screen, the real Mark—the one from this dimension Mark—was getting pummeled by Conquest. Blood sprayed across skyscrapers. Civilians ran in terror. Mark barely managed to lift his arms in defense.

Full Mask Mark whispered, “We should stay out of this. After what we did, they’ll vaporize us on sight.”

“Agreed,” Sinister Mark added, still flipping his magazine. “We’re not exactly on good terms with reality.”

“No one wants us back out there,” Target Mark said with a scoff. “Least of all him.”

Omni-Mark floated higher, sneering at the screen. “He’s weak. He’ll survive. Or he won’t.”

But then Prisoner Mark stood up, spoon clattering into the empty bowl. “He’s still us.”

No Goggles Mark looked up from the floor, eyes wide. “We can help…”

“You can barely tie your shoes,” Viltrumite Mark said.

“Shut up,” No Goggles Mark snapped, surprising everyone. “He’s still us. And he’s dying.”

For a beat, silence.

Then Mohawk Mark pushed off the wall, flexed his fists, and cracked his knuckles with a grin. “Well, I am bored.”

He turned to the rest of them, his smirk lopsided and his eyes gleaming. “Let’s rock and roll, guys.”

He raised his fist behind him.

Omni-Mark, with a faint, reluctant scoff, lifted his own.

The air around them shimmered with kinetic tension.

“Ugh,” Sinister Mark sighed, standing up and tossing his magazine aside. “Fine. But I’m not saving anyone unless I get to punch Conquest at least once.”

“You’ll have to get in line,” Target Mark muttered.

Maskless Mask grinned. “I call ripping his arms off.”

“Let’s go save our pathetic better self,” Prisoner Mark muttered, already heading for the door.

As they soared into the sky, a trail of chaos followed behind them, like a pack of wolves dressed like superheroes.

The Invincible War might’ve been over—but the Invincible Wrecking Crew was just getting started.

[randomreblogs1]

I've been thinking a lot today about how easily people condemn Solas for making the choices he did or for so regularly refusing the help and love his friends or a romanced Lavellan extended to him and how that's a very easy thing to do from behind a screen in a fictional game where you are able to (with very few exceptions) curate a world in which your allies are loyal and your decisions will go the way you'd like them to.

And yeah, it's a game and that's kind of the point, but if I were to look at it a little more deeply (and who am I kidding, I got back on this website exclusively to process the aftermath of Veilguard) I'd say that there's so much to be found in wondering if the protagonists in any of the other games would have fared better in similar conditions.

Apparently I can't stop making long posts, so buckle in.

What would Morrigan have become in a world where the Warden never stumbled upon her cottage with Flemeth, if she never got the chance to see more of the world and decide what she wanted out of it? With just her mother (who, coincidentally in this Solas-y discussion is also kind of Mythal) and no support, who is to say what she would have unleashed upon the Korcari Wilds one day when the confines of her cage became too much?

What about Leliana? She, too, suffered at the hands of a very controlling abuser who tried to convince her that one lifestyle was all that her future held. What do we think she would have become if not for a chance meeting in Lothering with someone who could help her face down the woman that molded her?

Fenris, a character MANY people are just fine with was incredibly ready to kill a mage on sight if need be, no questions asked. Where do we think his story goes if he doesn't have someone in his corner early on enough in the game? If he doesn't get caught by Danarius, he's almost certainly going to end up on a murder spree, and he doesn't even have Justice whispering in his head to do it.

Cullen. Just all of him. It's an absolute miracle he hasn't snapped by the time you encounter him in Inquistion, and even then you get the benefit of intervening at a critical point in his story several times over.

Almost every other character could face this analysis and I think we'd reach a result that suggests perhaps the only thing keeping them lovable is your playable character's investment in their well-being.

Enter Solas. We don't meet him when he's twenty to thirty something and on the precipice of falling down a dark path. He's been there for literal millennia already, and with the exception of one close friend he's been alone. And not even Felassan is enough because of the years Mythal had prior to that friendship to make Solas exactly who she needed him to be.

I've had shit friends before that aren't just good at isolating people, they're naturals. I barely made it through high school with my mental health in place (in fact, looking back, it almost certainly wasn't). When you think you've got a true friend and they need something of you, it's so easy to blindly follow them because you think your love is enough to mark someone's soul as trustworthy. Solas doesn't learn that lesson until it's too late, and even when he does he can't turn back: the spirit that was once Wisdom has been exposed to several of the worst ancient elves to ever exist and now he has to stand his ground rather than let it all fall, because that is what Pride would dictate. Admitting that the person you gave your love and labor and time to is a monster is hard. And he was alone.

Give me Morrigan after centuries with her mother. Show me Leliana after the years have become a blur and the only voice whispering in her ear is Marjolaine's. Show me the innocent mages that don't make it through if all Fenris has for years and years and years are the scars Danaris left him and the means to make more. Show me Cullen if he stays in a chain of command under a Knight Commander who knows exactly what he fears and holds it over his head for so long he forgets what it was like to be an excited kid begging the templars for training because he just wants to keep people safe.

We get companions in these games who are broken by the time they're twenty. Solas has spent thousands of years in servitude to a cause of a woman he believed to be his only friend. He doesn't know who he is without her influence, anymore, only exists physically in the first place because she asked it of him and then asked again and again and again. He doesn't have a witty band of merry fools to pull him out of that cycle. He has Felassan, but he has him during war after war after war in the hopes of freeing others from the very situation that torments him.

Trauma from war affects everyone touched by it, nevermind the fact that Solas is actively responsible for saving the lives of thousands and feels each life like a weight around his neck because maybe he can save them like he cannot save himself. We should always be worried about the people trying to do the most good. Who is looking out for them? Why are they so determined to help others? Could it be that it's something they wish others had done for them?

Solas certainly feels comradery with Felassan from working together to free slaves from the very people he helped put in power because Mythal told him it would be okay only to leave him with the pieces, but even the Solas that Felassan knows has been turned into an attack dog shying away from the touch of the very person it desires to be near above all others by the time their relationship forms.

The fact that Solas is able to try and show the Inquisitor who he is at all is a miracle as far as I'm concerned, a sign of a peaceful spirit of Wisdom who loves knowledge for the sake of it finally sensing that there might be a chance to embrace its nature again.

Yeah, if you give him what he has come to expect from people with power, if you let near-absolute power over the masses corrupt you, he's going to bristle and try to shut your inquisitor down.

But if you show him even the smallest bit of kindness? If you treat him like the starving wolf he talks about and feed him instead of fighting him? God, it shatters his entire existence.

It's called a cycle of abuse for a reason. Finding friendship, finding the love of your long-ass life can be the first step in realizing there's better out there. But the time it takes to learn that? When you're too weary to even reach out for help in the first place and afraid of every kind word or gesture because you've never known such tenderness (on a platonic OR romantic level, both matter so so much) before?

Part of the compelling tragedy of Solas is that it's almost Orpheus-like how he knows what he has been made into and still cannot stop himself from yearning for more, from turning around to see if just this once something has changed. You can't convince me that he hasn't spent years hoping that someone will hear the legend of the Dread Wolf and see it for what it is, a leash the Evanuris created for Mythal's whipping boy to ensure that even if he ever escapes them, the people he fought to save will hate him. And I cannot blame him for the shock and terror that consumes him when he realizes someone finally has.

You give me any of dragon age companions after the amount of time Solas spent under Mythal's thumb without your character's intervention and you tell me how that looks.

You tell me if they're able to change at the first sign of something that feels too good to be true.

And then, I want you to tell me they're any less worthy of trying to save, especially when you know how good their best can be.

Solas might be hard for some fans to love, but it's only because he serves as the perfect representation of the beast we are all capable of becoming when the love that sustains us, assuming we receive any at all, is laced with poison.

The journey out of that place, out of a literal prison of regret, is brutal, and I'm thrilled that even with the many things about Veilguard I'm still struggling with, we have the chance to let Solas try again with the help of those who love him not because he never fell down, but because they believe in the beauty of a future where he gets back up again.