#and solas's name means pride...........

[friedesgreatscythe]

bioware uglies can stay in their moral equivocation discourse, i'll be over here with the smarties poring over the tiniest solas-adjacent detail as we dig through themes and foreshadowing lmao

[yarpharp]

I think one of the key things to consider when discussing Solas as a character is that his life is heavily... Conceptual?

The Elvhen Empire had a language where meaning was extremely interpretive based on every set conversation. They lived side by side with Spirits and Demons, so they reflected an equally fluid yet painfully rigid world. Solas bears a name that means Pride, with plenty of referenced or hinted at evidence that he was once a Spirit of Wisdom turned from his purpose. Specifically by Mythal, in fact.

But the thing is about this... What if naming him Pride was actually far more complex? Pride in what, exactly? Pride in having a body, pride in knowledge and skill, pride to the point of actionable hubris? Maybe that is part of it.

Yet what is Pride for someone who never was allowed Personal Pride? Or more specifically, embodied pride in service? He HAD been tattooed with vallaslin like the rest of Mythal 's slaves. He had been drawn to form a tangible body to serve her. He must have accomplished so many things for her, in wars, advising, political ploys. Was he named Pride for being so proud to serve the one whom he viewed as "the best" of the Gods?

Ironically, it still suits him even when he decides to reject it. He burns off the vallaslin and slightly scars his face, but isn't he truly proud now? Proud and clean-faced, an individual who serves no one now but himself?

Idk I'm just ruminating on that simple little name of his. It makes him such a conceptual fellow. It leaves me endlessly contemplating the layers.

[jayykesley]

also i don’t think solas will die at the end of veilguard. i think he’ll be fully ready and willing to die in some big fantastical way, but instead he’ll have to humble himself. his sacrifice will be having to lower himself to the same level as the present-day elves he so eagerly wants to separate himself from

[inkedfictionista]

A Stroke of Jealousy

https://archiveofourown.org/works/58425217

I wanted jealous Solas so I wrote jealous Solas. A little short story from the early days of their romance during the inquisition days.

[icharchivist]

like there's just something about characters who get their identity STOLEN from them you know? Like specifically losing your sense of identity because people have given you a new name, have twisted who you were supposed to be, it convinced you you were the person they wanted you to be. And when you finally learn the truth the old identity is like a ghost that is haunting you. It's not even a true self anymore because you've grown so much into this new identity that was forced on you -- but it's a ghost of all the what if, of all that could have been if they hadn't pushed you this far to the point you forgot yourself and embraced the harm that they convinced you was good for you.

they killed the old me and faked my new life and now i am staring at my own corpse with no way to return. i am poisoned by what they made me. i'll never be my true self ever again - i was never truly mine to begin with.

who are you if not the shell of who you used to be filled with what they wanted you to become to the point of betraying yourself. a ghost that never even had the time to ever be alive. you'll never be alive again.

the loss of identity and the ghost of who you will never be able to ever be again

[thebookworm0001]

I am the biggest ‘love will save everyone’ proponent out there

But he killed Mythal

The woman he destroyed the world for

He gives you a whole 10 minute monologue about how killing Mythal was The Most Evil Thing Ever

And then he killed her when he decided his goal was important than her life

Mythal

[lilac-sweet]

My interpretation of all the Solas endings:

I have been wanting to write about this topic for a while, since I’ve seen a lot of criticisms about Solas being out-of-character. IMO all the Solas endings are brilliantly written, and here’s why:

Solas breaks in 3 different ways:

1: Breaks his wisdom (Becomes Pride)

2: Breaks his pride (Becomes Wisdom)

3: Breaks his leash/conviction (Becomes more human)

1: Breaks his wisdom:

Solas has always walked the line between pride and wisdom: unlike pure spirits, he is able to fluctuate between them - just like Mythal with benevolence and retribution. This makes him more “human” and complex: he even instructs Cole in how being a “demon” and being a “spirit” essentially comes down to a choice we make ourselves.

So Solas is clearly aware of his own failings (just look at his name), but his greatest flaw is not changing in accordance with his own awareness. Due to his wisdom, he knows he is prideful, so he constantly asserts that he is NOT a god: this is as much to make others not worship him as the dread wolf, AND as a mantra to himself to keep him from becoming another Elgar’nan.

However, the limelight is an intoxicating thing, and with him choosing to carry the cross as the dread wolf, he invites that prideful corruption into his heart. It is difficult to truly believe you are not more special than everyone else when everyone else keep telling you how you totally are. As a spirit made man, he is still in danger of becoming what others view him as: he mirrors how you treat him in inquisiton, and he took the name of fen’harel (probably uttered by Elgar’nan) as a badge of pride.

We are told he treats everyone as disposable pawns in order to reach his goals, and we also see the truth of this in his memories. Some people argue that this is out of character for him, since he cares deeply for the elven people and their freedom. I don’t think these things are mutually exclusive: he simply rationalizes everything in order to reach his goal of helping the elves: even if that means sacrificing people

The thing that is so chilling about his character is that he was never meant to lead - he never WANTED to lead either: Mythal was the judge, he her advisor. Without her caring heart to guide his brilliant mind, he becomes callous and makes decisions based only on how best to “win”. This is not to say he does not have a heart, but that he believes he has to set it aside for the greater good: which is exactly where his reasons for leading the rebellion/ tearing down the veil and his methods for doing so contradict each other

He ends up losing sight of his initial reasons because the war makes him so calloused. I believe he shuts down emotionally and can not feel anything but apathy towards everyone when he puts on the mask of the dread wolf - as seen in how he treats the inquisitor vs Rook.

By making so many decisions with such dire consequences and not letting himself feel the weight of that (it would break him) he becomes separated from the “pawns” he uses and stops thinking of them as people. The world becomes a chessboard and a game to him, and that is exactly how a god would think.

That is also the reason he becomes so angry at Rook for saying he views himself as a god: he is so afraid of becoming that conceited, but at this point, the thing keeping him sane and keeping the dam of his pride sealed is the mantra: “I am not a god”. He KNOWS the truth of that mantra, but as this point he doesn’t FEEL it, because he has denied himself to feel anything for anyone in order to be able to get rid of them if logic dictates it.

Through his wisdom he understands why it is detrimental to believe yourself a god, and because of this he is in denial of his own feelings on the matter: he acts like a god, feels like a god, yet knows that he would become what he hates most by acknowledging it - that’s why he uses the mantra: it’s his last effort to stay somewhat grounded.

This brings me to the “I AM A GOD” ending. This is where the dam breaks: he finally allows himself to fully embody his mask; his pride; his demonic side.

By losing to Rook and co through force he is forced to admit to himself that he sees Rook and the world as inferior - he is the only one who can make it right and they are all children, who do not understand him (they shunned understanding when they used brutish force) because compared to them he is a GOD. He accepts pride and abandons the wisdom of staying grounded with the people - the people abandoned him so he abandons the people. He becomes what he has feared most becoming (it is also interesting that his biggest fear is to be alone - and a god stands alone in their arrogance).

He is truly lost to his demonic aspect in this ending and the dark colours of the ending picture reflect this. It is not difficult to argue this is the most tragic ending.

2: Breaks his pride:

Most schadenfreude ending in terms of outsmarting Fen’harel: proving to the world AND to Solas he is not a god and that he is not immune to be outsmarted by a mortal

It breaks Solas’ ego to be outsmarted, since his cleverness is his pride. It sets him free from his pride as it was the proof he so desperately needed: the people inhabiting this world are capable of being his equal and besting him at his own game. He is not better than them, or better put: his cleverness is not infallible. You could argue that a romanced Lavellan/ friendly inquisitor has already proven to be his equal in terms of wisdom, but then again, he has never truly been their adversary.

There is a maddening clarity to him when he finally says “and I am a fool”. I find the break of his pride to be heartbreaking: even though we are told it is a demon version of wisdom, we have seen Solas balancing both aspects - and his name also reflects how big a part of him it is. You could argue he becomes less of a person in both the Pride and Wisdom ending, but more demon/spirit. It is a loss of human complexity and he finally returns to the Fade more alike himself before he took on physical form.

Perhaps it can be argued this ending is the best one from Solas’ P.o.V without a romanced Lavellan: after all, she was the only thing that could “steal his attention from the Fade” or in other words: the only reason he would consider willingly taking physical form without being asked to.

3. Breaks his leash:

The third one is more complex (so bear with me here), because accepting your mistakes and growing in order to not repeat them requires human complexity. A thing Solas has avoided his entire physical existence. He is stuck in regret, yet would repeat all his mistakes again given the chance.

His avoidance of humanity is best seen in the contradiction of his disregard for lives and his conviction of freedom for the elves. His nature compels him to stand against tyranny and enslavement - to be a champion of freedom of choice and thought. Yet as a leader and a strategist he refuses to acknowledge that people matter in more ways than being pawns. He will grieve them later, yes, but his love for a person will never waver his decision if he deems their sacrifice the best course of action in the war - he will not even ask their consent (as seen with the Disruption spirit in the Fade memories).

He does not acknowledge that people are an intrinsic part of war and their lives matter in that equation. He struggles with his mistakes and the lives lost but he can not stop to think he might be going about it all wrong, because I imagine he fears if he factors in the emotional weight of his choices, it would impede his end goal, or worse: break him into indecision.

The emotional weight of the war and the lives lost, his mistakes and his position as a leader - not an advisor, are so against his spirit nature that he suppresses these issues instead of dealing with them like a person. He becomes prideful because he shuts other options out. His way is the only way.

He sees everything fall apart: everything he does: disaster is sure to follow: The blight, trapping the elven gods, the murder of Mythal (x2) - yet he can not stop. He does not know how. He is desperate for a way out - a way out of regret and feeling the weight of his mistakes - he pushes on because that is his only option lest he truly faces what he has done and the pointlessness of it all. All the lives he has sacrificed need to mean something - that is what he sacrificed them for. How can he face that he killed them and not have an excuse for doing so?

In the last ending he is forced to talk about these things: the Inquisitor tells him he is forgiven if he just stops. Yet this is not enough - he has sacrificed Mythal (and in ways himself) to reach his goal and it can not have been in vain. Here Mythal jumps in and helps him carry the weight of it all by shouldering it beside him. He finally lets himself feel the weight of it all and it breaks his conviction. Mythal releases him from her service: the leash of service to not only Mythal, but to her dreams and visions for the elven people; the very reason he was made manifest in the physical world, and so their very long and increasingly painful relationship comes to an end. He gets closure. He allows himself to grow and so he sets out to undo his mistakes: to sit with them (the blight) and truly do the best he can to heal what can be healed. It is the most difficult ending - a true apology: he has to pull a Bharv.

It is also the ending which was foreshadowed if you chose to let Varric help Cole in inquisition. I might get into this more in another post, but essentially he becomes more human by dealing with his shit and growing. It is a warm thought that the best ending is the ending Varric helped make way for.

It wraps up the story nicely as well: he enters the Fade a human, just like he entered the physical world a spirit, underlining the complexity of his character arc.

This is also the only ending in which he can end up with Lavellan: I think it is poetic that she can only join him if he becomes more human, less spirit; a mix of both Wisdom and Pride. He has to accept his humanity and the weight of a human heart - metaphorically, he has to make the choice to finally enter the physical world and all of its complexities of his own volition: and there he finds her waiting.

[sky--phantom]

Times other people discussed Solavellan + Times Solas and Lavellan talked about each other (dav)

"I've seen how you look at him. You're in it" - Sera

"Is it my imagination, dear, or have certain... lingering looks passed between you and our Solas?" - Vivienne

"You're real, and it means everyone could be real. It changes everything, but it can't" - Cole

"The two of you were close. Perhaps he had no choice? He might return at any moment" - Leliana

"How have you been? It seems ages since we've spoken. I know you were cruely disappointed when Solas left" - Vivienne

"Are you hoping for word on Solas? I'm sorry, Inquisitor. I'm afraid I have nothing" - Leliana

"I've been meaning to ask... Solas hasn't come back? Sent word? Anything?" - Thom

"Oh, and Inquisitor? Feels weird, but I'm sorry Solas never came back. Well, no, I'm not, but... I'm sorry he left you." - Sera

"I am not a god, Charter. I am prideful, hotheaded, and foolish, and I am doing what I must. When you report back to the Inquisitor…. Say that I am sorry.” - Solas

"Maybe it's gullible of me, but I know the Inquisitor feels the same: Solas isn't too far gone to bring back" - Varric

"Solas was... important to me. If this statuette helps you understand him, if it uncovers something that... Honestly, I don't know. I wish I did. But this feels like a part of him, and whatever he and I once were... I think... I-I hope... it might help you" - Lavellan

"And when I served the Inquisition, I tried to avoid entanglements" - Solas

"Except for Inquisitor Lavellan" - Rook

"I said that I resolved to do so, not that I succeeded. She's a good woman. Growing close to her was... selfish of me" - Solas

"Do you regret it?" - Rook

"I live with countless regrets. Some of them I have grown to cherish more than my victories" - Solas

"Solas took this path because he thinks he has no choice. But the Inquisitor believes there is another way for him. For them. She could save him, if he would just let her" - Harding

"God of Lies, Dread Wolf, Fen'Harel. They're titles he earned from enemies, followers and fractured history. He and I shared another name: Vhenan" - Lavellan

"You've spoken to him in your dreams. You've felt the power of that mind. His love could burn against me like a bonfire. He seemed so kind, and wise, and sad, and looked at me as if I somehow mattered more than anything around us. For a time... I thought I would have followed anywhere he asked me to" - Lavellan

"Or maybe I'm the prideful one, imagining his broken heart so that I never have to face my folly. That I loved someone who made such grave mistakes. That I might love him still" - Lavellan

"He really made you happy?" - Rook

"Yes, he really did" - Lavellan

"Harding... I am sorry" - Solas

"For what, Solas? Betraying the Inquisitor and breaking her heart?" - Harding

"Is there any chance - any chance at all - that he would listen to reason?" - Lavellan

"Speaking from the heart, Inquisitor?" - Morrigan

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

[treviso-nights]

solas telling emmrich he is a manifested spirit of "wisdom" instead of "pride" has me in an absolute fucking chokehold. what do you mean you want your old name back despite not being a spirit anymore? what do you mean the name you took, 'solas' (pride), doesn't apply any longer? what do you mean you still think you are Wisdom™️ The Thing when you walked away from the finest, most understanding woman in the entire world? what do you MEAN you're REBRANDING after causing the first apocalypse and trying your damndest to start another? what!! do!! you!! mean!!!!!!!!!!

[mrs-gauche]

On a more serious note regarding the "Solas is like the devil on your shoulder constantly trying to make you make bad decisions".. I think @corseque made a good point, in that Fen'Harel in Dalish legends is known for giving cunning advice that, in true trickster fashion, may lead to a helpful outcome, but always at a cost or in a twisted way. We talked about how Solas might try to prevent Rook from trusting their companions because of his own issues/experiences with betrayal or that he might try to use Rook as a piece on his own "chess board".

But I think this also goes back to the mage origin in DAO and you being tested by Mouse, a pride demon, and how the greatest danger of the Fade is, after all, careless trust. I'm also thinking back to this banter between Solas and Vivienne, in which she literally said that he "sounds like a pride demon" trying to tempt you to "leave the path". Or Cullen saying that no demon will ever possess him because he is "too much like they are". Given that Solas literally translates to Pride and the Dread Wolf itself being described as a pride demon, this "devil on our shoulder" might end up being like one big test for us to pass throughout the story, much like the Harrowing in Origins. And building on that, there's also still this crucial piece of dialogue from Solas himself, talking about the perception of spirits and demons:

"The Fade reflects the minds of the living. If you expect a spirit of wisdom to be a pride demon, it will adapt. And if your mind is free of corrupting influences, if you understand the nature of the spirit, they can be fast friends."

In DAI, Solas was already a reflection of how you treat him. If it's true that, what the devs seem to be hinting at, we actually get to learn and see what happened in the ancient past and who Solas was before he "called himself Pride" (keeping in mind that Rook doesn't know anything about Solas as a person at the start of DA4), and we come to "understand his true nature"/original purpose/true name, then the above quote might be an analogy for how the relationship between Rook and Solas can develop and how we can influence Solas' character arc (on top of the relationship between him and the Inquisitor already having a huge impact on him?).

And if you think about it, it's so brilliant how they seem to put a spin on the whole thing now, by having the "pride demon" be the one who needs to trust the one who dreams. Or rather, expecting the pride demon to be a spirit of wisdom, and not the other way around.

The idea that Rook challenging/rivaling Solas by going against his "devil on our shoulder" advice/proving him wrong/"pass the test" and not expecting him to be that pride demon after Rook comes to understand his true nature/original purpose, could lead to him being more likely to "adapt", open up and learn how to trust again is so beautiful to me, but that could also mean a challenge for us Solas fans if we have to (at least in the beginning) bump heads with him in order to see that development. 🥲😂 Either way, Solas is truly in for the most intense kind of therapy session.

[clairedelune-13]

Saw someone on Reddit say Solas doesn’t truly love Lavellan cuz he didn’t stop for her and her alone and I’m just…

Did you really want a “Power of True Love” ending?

That would’ve been dumb as fuck.

Some people really do just think in black and white, don’t they?

Also, how can you see this and tell me that this man does not love her????

If anything, his problem is that he thinks he doesn’t deserve her.

The man whose name literally means “Pride”, and for all his bravado, still believes he’s not good enough.

He’s not, but bitch don’t tell me what to do. Marry me, egghead.

[samsincerely]

Who thought it was ok to give solas such plush perfect lips? Was that his idea? Damn no wonder his name means pride I mean have you seen what he came up with???? He be poppin out of the evanuris character creator with those kissable lips like ‘yeah I am that bitch’

[blackcatsnest]

The meaning of "Solas" and its influences

While researching lore for my solavellan fanfic (if you are interest, see here), I came across something intriguing that I haven’t seen much discussion about in the fandom. Solas once said, “I was Solas first. Fen’Harel came later. An insult I took as a badge of pride.” This implies that Solas was his original and "only" name before he chose to rebel against his kins.

This raises an interesting question: do spirits even use names? From what I remember (and correct me if I am wrong), in the game spirits are typically referred to by their nature—Spirit of Justice is Justice, Demon of Spite is Spite, and so on. The only exception is Cole, but he gained his name by assuming the identity of the real Cole. This suggests that spirits don’t have the same sense of individualism as mortals. However, if they embody or manifest in a physical form, they might adopt a name that reflects their nature or experiences. This leads to an interesting possibility: Solas might not have had a name until Mythal crafted him a body. But why would Solas, a spirit of wisdom, choose a name associated with pride? (And it can also mean 'stand tall,' which carries a more positive aspect while still hinting at pridefulness—thanks for the reminder from @smoggyfogbottom )Here are two potential theories:

Theory 1: The trauma of becoming physical twisted his essence into pride.

The process of taking on a body is said to be very traumatic, maybe that altered Solas at his core, leading him to identify himself as pride rather than wisdom. However, I find this theory unconvincing. At the beginning of their creation, the Evanuris were still performing good deeds, and Solas served Mythal and her people as an advisor. This indicates that the spiritual purpose of the Evanuris wasn’t significantly altered right away. While the act of taking on a body may have been distressing, it likely wasn’t as severe as the transformation spirits undergo when crossing the Veil and becoming demons instantly. Thus, there’s little reason for Solas to call himself "pride" immediately after gaining a body.

Theory 2: The name originally meant wisdom, but the meaning changed over time.

It’s possible that the word Solas initially conveyed the idea of wisdom or something closely related, but its meaning was later distorted to represent pride. This wouldn’t be the first instance of a name or term being twisted over time. For example, the meaning of Fen’Harel has been confirmed to have changed. According to the Codex, Fen’Harel does not mean “God of Deception” or “Trickster,” but rather “God of Rebellion” or even “God of Noble Struggle.”

----

Codex entry: The Rebel God The Dalish use "Harellan" to mean "traitor to one's kin," but the word does not appear in any elven text before the Towers Age. The ancient root-word is related to "harillen," or opposition, and "hellathen," or noble struggle. The Dalish call Fen'Harel a god of deception, but I posit a far more accurate translation would be "god of rebellion." What he rebelled against is a story lost to time. In Dalish legends, Fen'Harel seals away the other deities out of love of trickery. If we understood more ancient elven, we might find earlier versions of the Dread Wolf's story give him a more nuanced motivation beyond spite.

-From A Treaty on the Pagan and Heretical Customs of the Elven, by Senallen Tavernier of the University of Orlais, commissioned by Empress Celene.

---

If this distortion of meaning could happen with Fen’Harel, it’s plausible that the name Solas experienced a similar fate. The question then becomes: when did this shift in meaning occur?

The Codex notes that the word Harellan—first appeared in the Towers Age. This suggests that the meaning of the root of the word, Fen’Harel, and the related terms Solas, were changed much earlier, potentially as soon as Solas led the rebellion. The Evanuris likely employed highly effective propaganda to paint their enemy in a negative light, which endured for thousands of years.

But where were Solas’s supporters and allies in all this? After the Veil was created and its devastating consequences unfolded, many likely turned against him, resenting him for the chaos and suffering that followed. Others may have felt betrayed or abandoned. Over time, they may have forgotten that it was Solas who freed them from slavery, focusing instead on the cost of his actions.

An additional point of interest lies in the timing of the word Harellan’s emergence in the Towers Age. This coincides with the birth of Flemeth and her eventual possession by Mythal. The Codex containing this information is found in the Temple of Mythal, which seems too significant to dismiss as mere coincidence. Could Flemeth/Mythal have influenced the Towers Age Dalish to create Harellan and deepen the misrepresentation of Fen’Harel’s true nature?

If so, what was Mythal/Flemeth’s motivation? We know that Mythal and Solas’s relationship was never a healthy one—there were certainly elements of manipulation involved, and many people even believe Mythal was abusive towards him. Perhaps she still harbored grudges against him? Having a trusted subordinate rebel against you would have been both humiliating and deeply personal. In some ways, Solas’s actions may have even contributed to her death. So she seeks revenge, even after all these years? We have no way to be certain. But her action did denied Solas further from his legacy as a liberator. Now he is reduced to a villain in the eyes of future generations completely.

This is why I think Mythal is definitely not the noble and innocent figure Solas would like us to believe, and why their relationship may not have been a romantic one. I imagine their dynamic to be more like a superior and subordinate, or perhaps a mother and son, mixed with thousands of years of friendship. In one word—complicated. I also believe there’s more to the story of Andraste, who is implied to have been possessed by Mythal at some point. Morrigan once remarked that Andraste “runs off and falls in love with a wild man,” suggesting that she and Maferath had a genuine emotional bond. If there is no Maker, as Solas claims, why then would Maferath become jealous and betray Andraste? Could it be that Mythal sought to destroy the Tevinter Imperium to restore Elven glory, but the war dragged on for too long? Perhaps Maferath saw no end in sight and felt it was all spiraling out of control. This would be an interesting topic to explore further.

But back to our current discussion: the impact of these shifts in meaning is significant. Imagine waking up with the hope of seeing a better future, only to find that everyone now calls you a traitor. While Dragon Age lore doesn’t specifically state that names influence people directly, it’s common sense that names represent how others perceive you—and this perception undoubtedly affects self-image. Over time, even Solas begins to acknowledge himself as the God of Lies, believing deception is inherent to his nature, even though he uses lies only as tactics.

And let’s be honest—he’s a terrible liar! He leaves hints everywhere, unable to fully conceal the truth. Moreover, spirits reflect people’s thoughts and emotions, and at his core, Solas is still a spirit. Can we blame him for struggling under the weight of these misinterpretations and the world’s expectations?

It seems Lavellan understood his nature better than most. She said, “Lies of the heart? No.” That simple statement cuts to the truth of who he is.

[thedinanshiral]

On Solas, again.

After The Veilguard i think this post deserves an expansion.

This one will be long and full of spoilers.

Veilguard gave us a more complete version of his tragic backstory, his memories, his regrets, and showed us a different side of his character.

Here's the thing: Solas is not perfect, he never was. He's been broken for a large portion of his exceedingly long life.

He started as a spirit, presumably a spirit of Wisdom, but he was always called Solas which is heavily implying Solas may be the elvhen word for Wisdom we've been lacking all this time. How did it come to mean Pride? Evanuris propaganda, most likely. Would you listen to and follow someone who is wise or someone who's just full of themselves? Would you, as an elf in ancient Elvhenan, follow another elf resisting the oppression, or a lying, manipulating big bad wolf bent on destroying the world you know by opposing your gods? Who would you listen to, really? The Evanuris high on the blight couldn't allow Solas' name to be a positive for him, so they likely resignified his name with a negative connotation, and just as Solas ran with the Fen'Harel/Dread Wolf narrative because it scared his enemies, he probably didn't give much thought about this either. He was Solas, and whatever his name meant to them wasn't important, what mattered was the cause.

He was a calm flying, glowing nervous system with wings going about his existence in the Fade, minding his own business bothering no one until Mythal asked him to join her in the physical world, with a physical body. He was pure, fully a spirit, and a former spirit who was a friend was almost begging for his help, how could he say no? Even when he knew there would be unfortunate consequences, how could he abandon a dear friend? So he accepted, and became a man. We don't know why Mythal would turn to him for help, of all spirits of the Fade, why him? For his wisdom only, his guidance? In elvhen lore first came the sun and the earth, and Elgar'nan was the firstborn, followed by Mythal, the two of them are in their mythology the first beings to exist. Veilguard, however offers a few codices which are as interesting as they're amusing: evanuris correspondence. Letters from Solas addresed to Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain and their replies. In his letter to Elgar'nan Solas addresses him with his titles but also presents himself with his own, including "second to Mythal", and after addressing Elgar'nan as "first among the Evanuris (...) who woke at the dawn of the elves" Solas refers to himself as "who is no younger". He's "no younger" than Elgar'nan who is, as Elgar'nan's Bloodbound Desmal says on the reply, "First of the Firstborn". And he was already a spirit of considerable power if Mythal turned to him for help so Solas is even more ancient than previously thought, and possibly on equal standing with all of them. This would explain why he walked amongst Evanuris and Forgotten ones alike as if he were one of them, as the stories go. His official rank may not have been too high but they all knew who he was and at least initially they respected him.

The Blight is what changed the game, he refused to participate in it like the others, he refused to join them in their systems of oppression, so maybe the difference was never in power but in logistics. Solas' own words explain it, he was a thorn on their side, drove them to take on more of the Blight to get back at him, implying his rebellion was winning. His efforts were succeeding and in their desperation to stop him for good the evanuris relied more and more on the Blight.

When in Trespasser Solas claims he "was Solas first" i'm inclined to take his word literally. If the instance that changed him into Pride as Morrigan implies in Veilguard was when the world didn't match his expectations, that would have been after the Titans were slained, once he decided to burn Mythal's vallaslin off his face, when he decided to rebel against them. But in his memories at the Lighthouse we can see he was called Solas before all that, the name change came after the war, when the Evanuris decided being powerful general mages of the people wasn't enough, that they should be gods; it's then when Elgar'nan refers to him as a lapdog, and i think that's were the "Dread Wolf" name came from, later on. He was a dog when he was begging them to stop, and became a wolf when he actively tried to make them stop, no longer a beggar but a threat.

In his memories in the Crossroads we see a different side of him, we see him leading, plotting, making difficult choices he thought himself obligated to make because of the dire circumstances; we saw him worried, scared, desperate. His rebellion was something he did out of a necessity, not senseless pride, he had nothing to prove of himself to the Evanuris, but the people deserved better and their "gods" were not going to give them anything but pain. Solas has always made unfortunate decisions guided by his own guilt. He joined Mythal so as to not abandon a dear friend in need, he rebelled out of guilt because it was his contibution to ending the war with the titans what generated the Blight the evanuris became addicted to and took it out on the people. He's been desperately trying to fix his mistakes since he first had a foot to set on the earth. The war with the titans had already started, that's why Mythal called on him, and his first mistake was accepting her request, knowing what it meant, and he hasn't stopped feeling guilt and shame for his choices ever since.

So during his rebellion we see him gather his forces comprised of other spirits, with Felassan as his second in command. It's interesting how the spirits he relied on for their battles had names that today we would interpret as demons, like Chaos and Disruption. There's a codex in Veilguard that touches on how demons are spirits too, just different, and it's people who collectively decided to clasify and treat spirits of unpleasant feelings and concepts as "demons". This may be why Solas, at the final stretch of Act 3 and if Lucanis is in the party, immediatly recognizes Spite as a spirit of Determination; he's always seen spirits for what they are and not what people make them to be, because he's a spirit himself.

I'm of the idea that Solas doens't mean Pride, that if he was twisted from his purpose then he turned into something else, just as there are many kinds of wisdom there should be many other things Wisdom can be twisted into. Taking into consideration when and what for Mythal called for him, and how he tends to always have a plan for everything, i'd say his brand of wisdom may have been in strategy, analysing and planning ahead. They needed to win the war, makes sense they'd need someone capable of devising a way of achieving that. But strategy is a lot about foresight, measured risk, collateral damage, what is or isn't acceptable to sacrifice considering what is to gain or lose, and it's clear in the war with the titans the end justified the means and we see Solas taking a similar approach in his memories when he sacrifices countless spirits in a move meant simply to distract. I think if he turned into something he wasn't meant to be it was Pragmatism, in the sense that he put his ideals on hold and did what he thought would yield concrete results towards his ultimate goal, even if those actions demanded sacrifices he terribly regreted. In his letter to Ghilan'nain he urges her to change, but understands she's where she's at because of her relationship with Andruil and tells her she wouldn't be the first one to throw away their morals for love. Solas does this thing where he tells on himself without realizing it, he sometimes speaks from personal experience and in that line he was surely thinking of his own choice to support Mythal even when what was required of him went against his very nature and ideals.

After everything was said and done, Solas was mostly full of guilt, regret, shame. He made plans but every plan he made backfired, either he hadn't considered outside factors or miscalculated the severity of the consequences. Even if his plans had contingency plans and even though as an elvhen he perceived time and magic differently i get the impression he improvised on the go, he saw a problem, devised a plan to fix it, but in the urgency to get it in motion he was blind to the ramifications, and even when he considered those he was blind to the ramifications of the ramifications because as powerful as he may have been or is still, he's not an omniscient god. He's just a spirit turned man who did it all to help a friend and it all exploded in everyone's faces.

The thing is, when you screw up so badly by trying to do what you think is right in the way you've convinced yourself is the only or best way available, you enter a vicious cycle that's very difficult to get out of. Again, i don't think Solas was Pride, if anything once he entered this phase in his character development i'd say he was closer to Arrogance. Only he could fix what he broke, so only he could make a plan and only he could execute it and for him to succeed he had to be correct. There was no other way. But ultimately all this was driven by a degree of guilt and regret we can't fully imagine. And that guilt and regret, and the despair that came with it, hit harder than ever when he woke from uthenera to find a world fragmented, the Elvhenan empire destroyed and forgotten, and the elvhen people gone, an imperfect, minuscule version of it in their place, in an insufferable infancy and willfully ignorant of their own history. He had saved the world but the consequence was the destruction of the world he knew, the cost too heavy to process. So he stayed in that vicious cycle, he's the only one who remembers, he's the only one who knows what must be done, he's the only one willing to make the sacrifices needed to see it through. It all falls on him. During his time with the Inquisition he's still plotting, still trying to move the threads around him to get things in motion towards his goal but it was also a time of serious reflection, of revelations coming both from external elements and from within. A befriended Inquisitor, and specially a romanced one, makes him question himself and his plans, and that vicious cycle begins to crack. It's the destruction of his orb what pushes him towards a more drastic plan B, and even before that -if romanced- it's his guilt still dragging him towards his self-imposed dinan'shiral, that guilt that he probably perceives as a final duty to his people. But he had considered stopping and staying with Lavellan, and that's a small yet major crack in that cycle he's trapped himself in. He began to doubt.

Off he went on his own for almost ten years, to set the many phases of his plan in motion, sometimes doing things himself, often times relying on his agents or others unknowingly working for him. Because as a strategist, and a pragmatic one, in order for all this to work he had to detach himself emotionally from everyone involved, he had to see them as pieces on the board for him to move accordingly to what the plan demanded in order to achieve the desired results. So yes, Solas uses people, he's been using people for thousands of years, he used countless spirits during his rebellion, he used Felassan when he couldn't yet wake up, he used Corypheus, he used the Inquisition but got emotionally involved and walked out so he could continue using whatever means necessary to reach what he considered had to be the only acceptable outcome. But he was also willing to sacrifice himself, he was always ready to die if if he had to while at the same time trying to preserve his life at least long enough to do what he must. Solas has always been a creature of contrasts, from that very first moment when he was a spirit, and then he became a man.

He is, as trickster figures often are, a liminal creature. Neither here nor there yet somehow all over the place at the same time. So while he was willing to sacrifice others for his own goal, he was also willing to sacrifice himself to save others. By the end in Veilguard, in a Redeem ending, he makes that sacrifice, not by giving away his life but something he perhaps considers more precious, his freedom.

I'll be writing about his relationship with Mythal, Lavellan and that ending at length in a different post, for now suffice it to say i think it's the best ending in part because it allows a different part of him to come to light and i just love his character dearly, all sides of it.

[reagan-the-saunders]

Wait a second. Wait a god damn second.

(huge datv spoilers)

So, in inquisition, Solas' personal quest involves us going to save his friend, who is a spirit of wisdom, summoned, bound, and forced to fight, which turned it into a pride demon.

Okay, and from there;

we learn in the veilguard that ancient elves once were spirits, and long ago Mythal needed Solas' wisdom and had him take physical form, using his wisdom as a weapon, as she put it, which, and I quote "broke him". And his name literally means "pride" (which was likely his name in spirit form, too, but regardless.) UNTIL MYTHAL FREES HIM FROM HER SERVICE IN A GOOD VEILGUARD ENDING.

She also said that she "pulled him away from the fade which he loved" and solas said (in inquisition) that his spirit friend was "dwelling quite happily in the fade". IT DIDN'T WANT TO LEAVE.

ANOTHER REASON WHY HE IS SO FUCKING PISSED ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS SPIRIT FRIEND, ON TOP OF EVERYTHING ELSE.

IT HITS HIM LIKE A TON OF BRICKS BECAUSE HE'S WATCHING WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM HAPPEN TO AN OLD FRIEND.

And of course, pride demons have a few traits that are similar to what the dread wolf form has. Notably, the eyes.

So, I suppose, Solas used to be a spirit of wisdom himself, but Mythal twisted him into like THE demon of pride. And, on top of that, demon of regret. And I don't just mean that because he regrets a ton of the things he's done, like he projects it, too. The prison of regret, even some of the wolf statuettes you collect for the regret memories, your rook will literally say "just being near it makes me feel... regret."

I am not okay-

[krems-chair]

I enjoy a good Solas analysis as much as the next person, and I like exploring all the ways in which the trauma he experiences may have influenced the many terrible decisions he makes.

At the same time, I hope we remember that it's okay to not be able to explain everything away. Solas has done terrible things, and we can't tie every single one back to an explanation that justifies it in a way that keeps him "pure".

Let him be murky. Let him have felt full-throatedly that the acts he committed in Mythal's name were necessary to make his creation of a physical body and subsequent service worth it. Let him fail to fully appreciate what he did to the dwarves/titans. It's only by viewing his flaws and harms in their entirety that the most exciting parts of his arc (at least to me) can be contemplated.

How far is too far? At one point do the wrongs you've scarred the world with become impossible to assuage through better intentions at other points in your journey? Can you learn through your friends and loved ones lessons you refused to be taught earlier, that caused you to hurt the one who tried to teach it to you? Can you make him see that it's not just the spirits and the elves that deserve restoration, but the dwarves? (We didn't get the opportunity to really dig into this particular avenue in Veilguard, but I think the fanfiction potential is ripe). What does he become when every possible method to reach him fails? How does Pride doom himself and leave no other choice but to put him down like the dog Elgar'nan declared him to be?

Idk. I have concerns that occasionally there's a binary standard applied where he's either wholly Solas or wholly Fen'harel with the implication being that he's either all good and every action actually stemmed from that place or singularly bad. When in fact, the coolest place for me to dwell in is the one where we have the moments where Solas raises his voice or plays a cruel trick because he's so exasperated, or where Fen'harel may have stopped to pet a halla on his journeys if for no reason other than to feel soft fur against his fingers.

He is at his most interesting when he is at his most complex, and when I say complex all I actually mean by that is when we let him be real, permit him to breathe within his own story and not just the ones we rewrite to make him more palatable, we do him more justice. Give him room not just to grow and evolve, but to dig in his heels and become the monster he never wanted to become. At the very least, he has near-absolute power in a world that by comparison feels very powerless. He's going to be just a little bit corrupted by the weight of wielding that power. The story will only get richer and more compelling if we let it exist in its entirety.