#and rooks is the lyrium dagger

[covertleathers]

They're two sides of the same coin.

[frecklef0x]

emma ir abelas / souver'inan isala hamin / vhenan him dor'felas / in uthenera na revas

[bas-taard]

now wait a second

[larkoneironaut]

Noita de Riva🪻🌩️🌌

[redwyvernan]

might be kinda dumb of me but today i realized that in the scene in the prologue where rook gets their shit rocked you can actually see the lyrium dagger next to them

which i thought was great because it’s a small detail but it shows clear gaps in rook’s memory because solas fucked with their mind but it’s really hard to catch

idk i just love this game man

[juneiper-art]

Holiday Pay What You Can Dragon Age piece for @moonshaunted of her Rook! Thank you!!

(more info on my holiday pay what you can dragon age pieces is in my pinned post, they're still open but will probably close soon!)

[smitten-miqitten]

Thinking about the little Crossroads adventures during Solas's rebellion and also about the Lyrium Dagger, and sort of mulling over timelines and what happens why and when:

I think they can be a bit hard to place, timeline-wise, which is understandable given that the rebellion took place over the span of at least a thousand years or whatever . The Ghilan'nain one is obviously near the early stages of the rebellion, Pre-Ghilly Godhood and thus Pre-Mythal Murder.

The Disruption Spirit/Citadel Assault one though is interesting because I think it's after Mythal's murder. And though it isn't stated outright, I'm pretty sure the relic Solas is trying to retrieve is the Lyrium Dagger. He says it has the power to imprison a god, and that the Evanuris "overreached", so I think it's meant to be implied that it's the dagger. Solas is also especially vicious here, which could just be depicting his descent into being an overly pragmatic leader but I also think it's plausibly him acting rashly and cruelly out of recent grief. It's interesting too how shocked Felassan is, so if this is near the tail end of the rebellion then Solas was more noble in his actions for longer than I initially expected.

The timeline/ownership of the dagger I'm pretty sure is roughly:

Mythal tasks Solas with making it ->

Mythal + the other Evanuris or Mythal + Solas use the dagger to dice the Titans dreams (I know Solas creates it but I'm unsure if it specifies who actually physically uses it to do the deed. I kinda assume the Evanuris+Mythal, since they have it after to mercc her with.) ->

The dagger remains in the possession of the Evanuris and/or Mythal (I would assume the other Evanuris, given what it does next) ->

The Evanuris murder Mythal with the dagger when she confronts them about the Blight ->

Solas assaults Elgar'nan's Citadel with Disruption Spirits while his sneaky peeps steal the dagger back ->

Solas takes the fragment of Mythal that clung to the dagger from it, and squirrels her away in a section of the Crossroads ->

Solas uses the dagger in the ritual he devised to seal away the Evanuris ->

???? Lyrium Idol ->

Veilguard and stuff

It's interesting to me to think that for most of his rebellion, which seems to have also been a fair portion of his pre-veil, body-having life given how quickly (relatively) the Evanuris decide to call themselves Gods, he actually doesn't seem to have been in possession of the Lyrium Dagger. It's the "Wolf's Fang", but between making it and using it to imprison the Evanuris it doesn't sound like he actually owned it. I wonder how long a time span it was between reacquiring it and the Veil ritual, for it to gain that moniker 🤔

Also the fact that nobody seems to be calling for this extremely powerful and dangerous artifact, which like its creator has done basically nothing but cause problems since it was brought into being, to be destroyed or locked away at the end of Veilguard is wild to me. The genocide knife is a menace.

[loredrinker]

Weapon of Grief: Solas' Lyrium Dagger

In reading a fanfic from @blackcatsnest recently, their chapter on the war with the Titans (chapter 6 of Echoes Through Eternity) made me realise during the entirety of Dragon Age: Inquisition, Solas does not have the lyrium dagger. 

And the dagger really does feel symbolic of Solas’s most soul-crushing choices - doesn't it? It is a grim reminder of every violent act in his life. It is the blade that continues to carve sorrow, grief, and pain into his immortal soul. A physical manifestation of the destruction, betrayal, and failure he has wrought. 

It is his One Ring. 

Like Frodo’s Ring, the longer it is borne, the more it corrodes its bearer’s sense of self. By the end of Frodo’s journey, he cannot destroy the Ring on his own, despite his initial resolve. The Ring’s power reshapes and consumes him, a force too great to overcome alone. Similarly, the dagger’s weight on Solas is physical and spiritual. It is a haunting reminder of his darkest choices and the anguish they have caused. 

This symbolism becomes even more intriguing when considering the power of lyrium and the fan theory that the dagger holds the souls of everyone killed by it. Regardless if you subscribe to that or not, the dagger does embody the collective suffering of those whose lives were ended by its blade (the dagger brings madness wherever it goes). Carrying it would mean bearing the weight of countless voices, each one echoing the pain and destruction Solas has wrought, deepening the dagger’s role as a symbol of unending torment. 

The Daggers Absence 

The absence is symbolic as well. Without the dagger during Inquisition, this allows Solas to exist, for a time, without its ‘influence’. Almost as though the physical separation creates emotional and psychological distance, giving him space to reconnect with who he was before the dagger (and his worst choices) came to define him. 

In this time, Solas steps into the roles of advisor, confidant, guide, and companion. While he hides that he is Fen’Harel, he does not hide that he is Solas. For a time, he exists unburdened by the dark presence of the weapon that embodies his violence and destruction. This reprieve doesn’t erase who he is or what he has done, but symbolically it allows him to exist outside the physical representation of his worst mistakes and deepest guilt. 

The absence of the dagger could also symbolize Solas’s state of being during Inquisition as this time apart seems to be a period of reflection for Solas, where he begins to see the mortal people of modern Thedas as real. It offers him an opportunity to build relationships, to reconnect to his freedom fighting revolutionary days, and perhaps even to fall in love.

The dagger wasn’t even his first choice of tool to achieve his goals. He had originally intended to enter the Fade and bring down the Veil with his orb. But with the orb destroyed, he had no choice but to turn back to that dark object.  

And as with the Ring, the dagger’s return is inevitable, and with it, the unbearable weight of its power. 

The Return of the Dagger 

In Veilguard, Solas wields once again this weapon of misery, a weapon that kills Varric, that traps Rook.  Yet...the moments in the game when he is without it? In Fade prison? We get a glimpse of the Solas of Inquisition once more - the advisor, the guide, the imparter of knowledge and wisdom as he works with Rook. 

But like Gollum obsessively pursuing the Ring, Solas is fixated on the dagger. He waits for the chance to snatch it from Rook’s hands and continue on his path. When he does, he leaves Rook behind. The dagger, a chain that binds him as tightly as his past. 

And yet, all is not lost. Perhaps Rook is like Sam Gamgee, a steadfast ally who carries Solas as far as they can, working with him to challenge his destructive path. And it takes others, another force that breaks those chains and helps him let go of the dagger’s hold. 

Sam was not enough to help Frodo let go of the Ring - he could only bring Frodo so far. It took another force, an act beyond Sam’s support, to release Frodo from that chain.  

In the atonement ending, we see Solas holding the dagger up to Mythal as if surrendering it to her. As Mythal acknowledges her role in Solas’s pain, accepting her part in the burden they share, Solas’s arms rise, lifting the dagger, holding it between them. The weight of that chain begins to lift. His posture holding the dagger seems to cry out: Take this wretched thing away from me. I cannot carry it anymore. 

It’s an act of relinquishment; he cannot bear this symbol of his misery and destruction if he is to be free.  

Instead, the dagger passes to Rook - a symbolic transition. Rook wielded the dagger to defeat the gods and protect Thedas, in contrast to Solas, who used it as a tool of destruction. 

Rook transforms the dagger. By passing it on, Solas symbolically relinquishes not only the weapon but also his role as destroyer. He cannot carry the embodiment of his misery and ruin while seeking atonement. In Rook’s hands (and with their team) the dagger now becomes a symbol of protection, its alchemical state altered by this transition and Solas' blood, its purpose renewed in the hands of new guardians. 

Freed from its weight, Solas enters the Fade, seeking atonement and beginning his own journey of healing. Just as Frodo couldn’t stay in Middle-earth, the pain of carrying his burden was too great, leaving scars that could never fully heal. He had to leave, traveling with the company of Elves and Bilbo to find healing. 

This parallel deepens my belief that atonement and salvation cannot happen in isolation. Community and connection are essential as some burdens are simply too great to bear alone. (And why I find a Lavellan joining Solas highly symbolic for other reasons, in addition to this.)

I’ve seen this truth reflected in my own life and community. It’s why I believe so deeply in the possibility of atonement and redemption for those who seek it (my own brother is going through it right now). Healing flourishes when shared with those who care. 

Dragon Age Veilguard continues to reveal such beautiful layers of symbolism for those who choose to look for them. 

[murdasblog]

[gyrovagi]

love saying 'and then they fuck about it' in posts about solas and caden as if it's a foregone conclusion and not an extremely intricate logic puzzle to get them into circumstances where it's even a glimmer of a possibility. Like it is also a foregone conclusion, if two guys are stuck in the fade together long enough and killing each other is removed as an option, then obviously they have to fuck about it. however both of them are incredibly resistant to this very clear truth

[bugbittenflowers]

Why do I feel like I haven't heard anything about the end of absolution?? Meredith being teased and then ???

[boufsy]

My Rook’s coffer gets here today. I’ll be sure not to rip open the veil with my lyrium dagger.

[slightlyleft]

[frankenbuggee]

I have begun to slowly buy pieces to put my mourn watch! Room cosplay together and it has started with an Edwardian blouse/jacket 👀

I gotta buy some bug brooches and funky jewellery for it all toooo!

[lavelans]

yes i’m a solavellan through and through but i’m also absolutely obsessed with the solas/rook dynamic in a worst ending/everyone dies scenario actually.

interesting that his best case scenario (in the case of a romanced inquisitor) involves walking off into the fade prison with lavellan, and the worst case scenario involves both him and rook being violently pulled into the fade prison together. idk what it means but it’s soo interesting. to me

[squidaped-oyt]

Can't find the OP again for the life of me but someone said that Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain don't actually escape until after Solas stabs Varric with the lyrium dagger, and since I played the intro again looking for it ... yeah, that's what it looks like to me lmao