#corypheus isn't even his foil he just IS corypheus

[monabee-draws]

Solas' real fatal flaw is that he is blind to his own bias and lack of information.

He is so buried in the worldview of the ancient elves and it is coloured heavily by his love for Mythal. Mythal's vallaslin originated from the past same as each of the others, which implies that she too had slaves (the practice of keeping them being something Solas abhors) but was 'benevolent and kind' to them and also 'wise enough' to lead them to a better path. The altercation at the Well is proof of Mythal's association with careful thought and information - the Well itself stores memories passed through generations. Many of her myths show her as a masterful judge of situations, able to see both sides of a conflict and determine a path with least bloodshed.

It is Mythal's wisdom (and the loss thereof leading to his own haste and the downfall of the elves) that likely influences Solas' attachment to knowledge, but it also blinds him to nuance. He respects wise leadership greatly, and faults those who act on false information (the wardens.) But what he fails to understand is that he doesn't actually understand or have all the answers about the world in its present state, at least not to the level where he can claim his wisdom leads him to the best possible path forward (if such a thing can actually exist.)

Solas knows one kind of world and exactly how it worked before the Veil destroyed it. The dwarves existed before the fall of Elvhenan, but that society's persistence through the Veil and subsequent destruction to some other catastrophe (the Blight) millenia later does not make him stop and recall that All Empires Eventually Fall. He does not take the time to understand qunari culture and existence. Nor to understand who the elves are now in the fullness of their circumstances, cultural shifts and new and layered practices. Because it is not Familiar it is not Correct. He does not understand how anyone can live Like That, and experience both sorrow and joy. Some of this is of course because of the large timeskip between his world ending and him waking up in the Thedosian present (this world feels like a dream) but instead of actually doing what makes people wise - that is, collecting both information AND experience on the ground, he assumes he already knows enough, knows BETTER, and that if everyone else did too, then of course they would choose his path/agree with him.

I think this is made most obvious in his scene with a romanced Lavellan where he tells of her the markings original meanings and in her shocked moment before she can process things offers to remove them. But Solas... its been 5000 years??? If not more?????? Symbols change! People in Thedas don't live forever anymore! Their lives are short, and the meanings assigned to things WILL change naturally over time. Language, for example, progress in Thedas: Dorian can no more read ancient Tevene than the elven inquisitors can read ancient elven. This is not an indictment of the knowledge held by those in the present, it is merely the nature of the progression of time.

It's unfortunate that the best analogue for Solas in the game is in fact Corypheus. As Dorian says, "the Imperium he remembers doesn't exist anymore" and it is the same for the rest of Thedas. The Veil may have accelerated the shift, but realistically, Arlathan took another 1000 years to fall to the humans. The elves might have lost power in some other way even if all he'd done was kill the Evanuris and freed everyone else. But, because he believes he has knowledge above all others, and that his knowledge is more complete than anyone else, he cannot possibly entertain the idea that he is wrong. His name being 'Pride' suits him well.

i can 100% understand loving solas for the complex character he is but i just cannot understand i CANNOT understand people seeing him go "hmmmm... dwarves are just severed limbs imitating life without a purpose... hmmm... qunari are savage barbarians... hmmmm... the modern elf might as well be stupid uneducated tranquils... and that's why i justify genociding them!!"

and be like

"omg you guys what if solas is right??? food for thought teehee."

think about what you are sayiinnngggggg.

[himluv]

DA Review Series: DAI Short Stories

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Title: DAI Short Stories Author: Joanna Berry Year Published: 2015 In-World Year: ~9:40 Dragon Verdict: These were all interesting forays into the pasts and minds of some of Inquisition's antagonists. I wouldn't say that any of them were particularly strong enough to stand on their own feet without the added context of the game, but I enjoyed myself nonetheless. Only really necessary if you want more background for Samson, Calpernia, or Florianne de Chalons.

The first story is "Paper & Steel", which shows us Samson in his element as General of the Red Templars. We learn more about how Samson left the Templar Order, which isn't entirely new if you spoke to him in DA2, but we do get more details and context. We also get to meet Maddox, the Tranquil who Samson was trying to help when he was booted from the Order. We see their connect, the kindness and even fondness Samson feels for Maddox.

I found this story very humanizing for Samson. I understood how he came to be where he was and how, to him, his actions feel not only justified, but righteous. If you look close, Samson might just be a better person than Cullen, he just makes bad decisions. Which really makes him a tragic figure and a great foil for Cullen in Inquisition.

The next story is "Paying the Ferryman", which shows us Calpernia's backstory. I didn't really know anything about her, yet I found this story a littleˆ slow but compelling. Again, the author shows the relatable and human side of these characters players might otherwise think of as villains.

Calpernia was a slave, until Corypheus freed her and brought her to his side. She has a vision for Tevinter that is hard to argue with, freeing slaves and restoring the country to glory. Again, it seems that Calpernia is a good person making the best decisions she can with the knowledge she has. Sadly, she just doesn't have much sense of the scope of Corypheus's plans.

The final story in this series is "The Riddle of Truth", which doesn't quite tell us it's from Florianne de Chalons's point of view. This story is much voicey-er, told in a strange conditional tense in first person. It makes Florianne come across as very calculating, where everything she thinks and says depends on whatever reply her friend *might* make.

It is the only story where I felt the main character was a threat, that they are someone with bad intentions. It doesn't strive to humanize Florianne much at all, except when you stop to consider how many times she compares herself to her brother. And how often his comparisons are seen as the honorable, noble, and heroic options, as compared to Florianne's more shadowy metaphors.

I got the sense that she chafes in Gaspard's shadow. That she sees Corypheus as her chance to finally step into the light and seize power for herself. She offers this to her dear friend, but she is misunderstood, or perhaps rebuffed. And she resigns herself to stepping back behind her mask and into the shadows once again. At least for the time being.

These stories are all interesting and were a fun little jaunt into some blank spaces in Inquisition's lore, but I didn't find them particularly vital to the wider world of Thedas. They do make me want to finally do Therinfal Redoubt, though...