#solas and varric…….. free them…..

[icharchivist]

it still makes me genuinely offended that DAVG opens on Varric narrating about Solas and going "Solas is very against slavery, one of the only thing we agree on", because i've seen people say "well yeah i hope so it's the bare minimum" and like

Literally half the cast of DAI for example, yknow, the game Solas and Varric met on, were pro-slavery in one shape or form. The one thing DAVG doesn't tell you is what Solas considers to be Slavery to start with, because it is how some companions will tell you "yeah i'm against slavery" and then will talk about somehow removing someone's freedom completely in one shape or form. Look at DAI's Solas' banters with Dorian (who's in DAVG and is a slavery abolitionist SPECIFICALLY, as said in the books, because Solas changed his mind in DAI) or with Iron Bull and you'll learn a lot.

"the one thing we agreed on" is super fucking funny from the character who has always famously been a Centrist, who genuinely didn't want to listen to Anders in da2 when Anders was talking about the inherent slavery of the Circles, and, if Hawke sides with the System rather than the oppressed in da2, Varric will disapprove of Mage Freedom in DAI, which is one of the type of slavery Solas is fighting against for example. Just because the game doesn't allow you to import Varric's past doesn't erase that Varric is a centrist as fuck.

Like sorry it's not our fault DAVG have the most innoffensive companion cast in the whole franchise that you don't know how it's like to have companions with actual offensive opinions that exists to challenge your point of view but that doesn't mean you know exactly how DA companions usually work and why it's an important part of Solas' character.

And sorry also that the game talks so little about Slavery and the multiple ways it manifest in Thedas but that doesn't mean you should just take that at face value.

"gngngn Solas being anti-slavery is the bare minimum" tell that to Varric the Centrist for fuck's sake you DONT KNOW HIM.

[pinacoladamatata]

Thoughts about where Varric might be, in no particular order (these are not meant to be serious I am spitballing here)

1. Dead 😞

2. He bounced while Rook was still unconscious and went to get the Inquisitor ✌️

3. Trapped in the fade with Solas

4. Ghilly and Elgar took him 😔

5. He merged with Harding or Rook or Solas, Flemythal style

6. He's at the lighthouse, wounded/recovering and the article doesn't mention him because they're trying to make us think he's dead

7. He bounced while Rook was out and went to get Bianca so she could make Bianca 2.0

Anyone else have ideas? I feel like #5 is... ridiculous let's be real that would be, so messy to write that would not happen😂

But like, what else could possibly happen to him?

[vaguely-concerned]

first of all rye 'hello fellow kids' ingellvar there is nothing in this world or any other I wouldn't do for you. second of all, considering where this story ends... I'm going to die. this conversation -- and how much he genuinely believes what he's saying at this point -- held up against the fact that in a couple of months max he's going to get her killed (well. that's how he feels anyway) and then go against everything she believed in and stood for as a person in the end and have to live forever with knowing that's how he honoured her sacrifice. (and live with how easy it is to live with, the way he doesn't regret what he did at all. she'll haunt him from time to time, that's fine, he's a watcher he's loved many a ghost before and will again. but that won't.) 'no one is beyond help? oh lace I'm so so sorry, wherever you are now please forgive me for who I am, but after what he pulled and by the time I'm done with him on my watcher's oath he will be beyond help. I'll hold every hand in this world that reaches back but his'. and she'll still be gone.

'or none of this matters'. im so fucking sad I feel sick *through tears* this is great I love fiction I love this game (embarrassingly genuine as is my wont)

[beetlethebug]

something about the salvation you reach for being the thing that damns you in the end

[cacturne]

while stork and varric were just friendly co-workers rook and varric had that mentor/mentee thing going on much more

Like this

[dragon-age-here]

Think my first Rook is just gonna be what I usually do for first playthroughs of lore-heavy RPGs when I don’t know the lore (or do but not as well as I maybe should)-

Self insert chaotic disaster making choices that hindsight will haunt me with!

Did it for Inquisition, and again for this! Might lean into my more chaotic and impulsive nature this time since I’m not watching 70+ hours of content to spoil the game before I play.

Just gonna pretend the start of the game sends an isekai!Me into Thedas full MGIT style so I can be giddy about griffons and magic secret bases and fighting dragons.

[tokyopewpew]

writing my Rook's background out I'm finding the one true thread that connects all my protagonists together... the glue behind every hero Thedas has ever had...

This absolute Queen. My one true Maker

[pausegame]

Yeah all the companions look great but how is the Paragon of Manliness Varric of House Tethras doing and why can't I still tell him I love him 😭 break my heart BioWare. Break it a thousand times if you'd like 😭💔

[100jewels-between-teeth]

A semi-comprehensive list of every pre-established lore inaccuracy in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Please note, this isnt me saying you cannot enjoy the game for what it is. This is not me saying you shouldnt play the game. But as a long time Dragon Age fan (started with Origins, has consumed all extra media including books/shows/novellas/etc..) the way Veilguard has fumbled the lore is, to someone who cares, infuriating. I shall keep the list under a read more to avoid spoilers for Veilguard. This will also be added to with more points that are given for people who wish to add

But without further adieu;

Bioware Kind of Forgot...

Bioware kind of forgot...

That Solas, after you choose to drink from the Well of Mythal (whom in Veilguard is confirmed either a lover/mother figure) is fucking pissed

That Solas was not bringing down the Veil to move the Evenuris and put them somewhere else, but to establish the ancient elves once more

The fucking orbs

That the elves were currently, at the end of inquisition, beginning the elf uprising and following Solas

the Elvhen Language

Solas having an extensive spy network that never gets brought up

That most of the Elves would be on board with Solas's plan

Brialla and how she controls Eluvians too

That in Inquisition, it is stated that barely any working Eluvians exist and that the one in Skyhold and the one in the temple of Mythal are extremely rare

The Valaslin and how if all of what happened is common knowledge, that the elves arent currently freaking the fuck out that they are wearing slave markings

Solas does not abhor the use of Blood Magic

That the Evanuris were trapped/locked in the Black City specifically and not the fade in general, so Solas would have to open the Veil either at the doors of the Black City or travel. The gods would not be wandering around the Fade

Using the lore/logic confirmed in Veilguard, the ancient elves being spirits that, with the help of lyrium, were made into elven form, that Cole should technically be one of the most powerful creatures known to man since they gave themselves a human body without the assistance of Lyrium. Bioware kind of forgot...

Slavery in Tevinter (really now there are no slaves shown in Minrathous?)

Varric hates the deeproads/dwarves so why is he so okay with Harding's magic

Hawke in general

Varric is a world famous author so someone would have mentioned his death at some point?????

how the fucking Blight works (seriously the entire party is infected with the Blight)

How spirits work

Morrigan never wanted to become a vessel for Mythal and despises the thought

The Antivan crows bought/tortured child slaves and children from brothels, to be trained as crows, basically nullifying all of the trauma Zevran had gone through

Fenris freeing slaves, still

In the final battle they refer to the head of the Imperial chantry as the "Divine" when it should be the "Black Divine"

That Thedas has two moons

More shall be added with discovery

[hyperions-light]

Varric's Second: Defining Rook's Narrative Role

"That's why you're my second in command."

Is one of the first things Varric says to Rook in the entire story, and it seems innocuous, on its face; a piece of exposition, nothing more. However, it will define Rook's narrative role far more than may be initially obvious, and tells us some key facts about Rook immediately.

A second, especially in a situation where one may get in a fight (i.e., a duel) is someone who stands for one of the primary participants. They negotiate on their behalf, organize the details, and, in some cases, take over for them should they be unable to continue. They must be someone that the primary has absolute confidence in to represent them.

Now, you know Varric. Liar, Author, Handsomest Dwarf in Thedas. You know what kind of person he is, what he values. What kind of person do you think he'd choose to represent him directly?

There have been many complaints about how nice Rook is, but I submit to you that by placing Rook as Varric's second at the beginning of this story, Veilguard is giving you prerequisites for the sort of person they are.

Bioware has always done this; no matter what else they are, the Warden has to be someone who will accept the responsibility of ending the Blight. Hawke must be someone who tries to take care of their family. The Inquisitor must be someone who, when thrust into a position of power against their will, will step up and take the reins. These qualities are immutable; it maybe that Hawke, the Warden, and the Inquisitor are the kind of people who can save the world relatively alone. Veilguard is telling you Rook is not that kind of person.

On an external level, the reason for this is that if you are going to invest heavily into making the companions lifelike and narratively significant, you have to justify the expense. As many people as possible have to see that content, or the studio is going to call it a waste of resources. If Rook can dismiss them they cannot have major plot arcs, because that's a waste of money.

But diagetically, this problem is solved by Varric's introduction. Does anyone seriously believe that Varric would choose someone to DIRECTLY represent him-- stand in for him morally, physically, and philosophically-- that would abandon their friends? VARRIC TETHRAS, the man who bribed the Templars to stay away from Anders' clinic for years, the man who supports Merrill in her quest to summon a demon, the man who stands by Hawke no matter what-- does anyone think THAT MAN would pick someone to stand in for him who doesn't care about their companions? I think implying he would would have been a gross mischaracterization.

Rook is not the kind of character that would want to save the world alone, even if they could, because Varric wouldn't choose that. They are Varric's second, and that one assertion tells you an enormous amount about them.

This feels like a good place to end for now, and makes this post relatively spoiler-free. I want to talk about Varric vs Solas throughout the narrative in future, so watch this space for links to that.

[dalishious]

Everything Known about Shadow Dragon Rook

A collection of canon information about Rook, when choosing the Shadow Dragon faction/background.

(I will add more if more comes up.)

Rook was adopted by a military commander, who found them as a baby on a battlefield near Ventus, after a skirmish. If Rook is non-human, they were kept home a lot growing up.

Varric asked the Shadow Dragons for help freeing an old friend - a dignitary who was captured by Venatori - in the city of Nessus. Rook believed the safe plan created by the Shadow Dragons would not work, and decided to go off the book and stage a rescue attempt themself, with the help of Varric. Rook successfully led an armed rebellion of freed slaves and rescued the dignitary too. However, the magisters cracked down hard in retaliation, and the Shadow Dragons decided it was best for Rook to stay underground for a while.

About six months prior to the game, The Viper reached out to Rook via letter, suggesting that an alliance with Varric would be beneficial to the Shadow Dragons.

Rook has worked with Tarquin and the Viper before. Additionally, Neve knew of Rook's work in Nessus, though prior to the game they never formally met.

Rook watched Maevaris Tilani argue against slavery in the Magisterium prior to Mae's removal.

Rook is wanted by the authorities for numerous offences, including theft, murder, and destruction of property.

Rook's father is likely Legatus Charon Mercar. [X]

-----

SOURCES:

Character creation faction description

Dialogue with Rook unpacking their belongings

Dialogue with Varric about why he recruited Rook

Dialogue with Solas about why he should work with Rook

Dialogue with Maevaris about her past as a Magister

Dialogue with the First Warden about Rook's reputation

Codex entry: A Letter Dated Six Months Ago

Codex entry: The Soporati

[fangsandfeels]

Playing Veilguard and making it everyone's problem

I am going to rant, and I will rant a lot, and there will be spoilers, so if you're not afraid of them and the game criticism, buckle up.

Elves and their gods

I am absolutely fucking livid about how Veilguard handles the Dalish and elves in general. The events of Trespasser made it clear that the elves started flocking over to Solas, including the elves working for the Inquisition:

After the events at the Winter Palace, elves left the Inquisition under mysterious circumstances, as did elven servants across Thedas. None could say where they went, but those who believed the Inquisitor's story about Fen'Harel wondered just how large the Dread Wolf's forces were... and what the ancient elven rebel had planned.

Solas had multiple spies working for him during Trespasser, and If I remember correctly, there was even a note, left by one of the elves - they were anticipating the great change and the return of the elven glory. Anyways, the established fact is that: elves learned that the stories about their gods were true and one of them now was going to restore the world as it used to be. At least, this is how they interpreted it (maybe, this is the version Solas didn't debunk) and so they started following him.

You might think, the Inquisitor and their allies are going to have a huge problem with breaking it to elves that their chosen leader isn't going to make things better and that their gods don't love them. Especially, if the Inquisitor is a human or anyone who isn't an elf. You'd imagine any attempts will end in failure because of course elves aren't going to listen to outsiders trying to explain their own culture and gods to them. You'd imagine that their trauma caused by centuries of oppression and discrimination will make it impossible for the Inquisitor and anyone else to make them see the truth.

You'd assume anyone who tries to find and stop Solas will be sabotaged every step of the way, feeling themselves horrible for having to clash with people desperate for a chance of a life without injustice - even if it means burning the rest of the world down.

You'd imagine that they will only change their mind if/when they see the harm done by Solas' actions and get to witness their gods true intentions by themselves - which would lead to a massive crisis of faith and schisms happening between elven tribes and groups.

You'd imagine will get all this incredible drama in the Veilguard, with elves initially resisting the group's attempts to stop Solas, then trying to pull themselves together after the revelation. You'd assume there will be zealous groups doubting Solas (because the Dreadwolf is a liar and a deceiver) and intending to use him to actually free the elven gods. You'd think this is how actually some of them get out.

But, NOPE. Not only Solas ends up working alone, with none of his followers throwing themselves at Rook and the party to buy him time, but also all elves now hate Solas because...Varric said so?

You meet a group of Veil Jumpers (elves devoted to exploring their ancient culture and history, learning more about their gods and reclaiming their heritage) and their leader instantly calls Solas an asshole. Based on WHAT?

I get it, Varric had met them before and told them that Solas was Fen'Harel...

(needless to say if you expect players to find and read other media in order to make sense of the events in the game, you are doing something wrong)

...but why were they so fucking calm about it, instantly eating up the "yep, he's bad" version? Even if the Dread Wolf is vilified in the Dalish mythology, wouldn't they be curious about what that means? Wouldn't they have gotten tempted or excited by the implication that other gods exist too? They weren't told the full story - why the fuck did they instantly accept the "Solas is an asshole" narrative? Especially when Solas comes with a promise of a world for the elves like it was meant to be?

WHY?

The Veilguard has no response for that. I guess, Dalish never cared about their history and traditions, and city elves were dandy about Alienages and oppression, so they easily believed some randos over a literal god promising a new, better world.

I don't even play Dalish, but I love their plotline and arcs - and I was bracing myself for some downright painful choices and conflicts during the next Dragon Age. But it felt like the writers couldn't be bothered with developing such a nuanced narrative, so they just waved it all down with "Nah, elves are chill now and they never really cared about their gods in the first place".

[grandwitchbird]

Dragon Age has been doing a really clever thing with its protagonists and the heroic power fantasy that only fully comes together when you look at the series as a whole, so let’s do another ramble. Under a cut to save your dash.

Origins is a traditional RPG power fantasy. It likes to tell you that it’s not by gesturing at Loghain and alluding to unreliable narratives, but what it shows is the power fantasy. No matter what your warden does, they’re the hero. Are you a casual genocide enthusiast? No problem you can still ride off into the sunset looking for a cure. Also hey you have a critical weakness/flaw (the calling) that kind of dooms you or gives you cause to vaguely ride of into the sunset. Very heroic indeed. There’s a layer of textual interest added by the presence of unreliable narratives, but ultimately it’s the hero’s choices that shape and determine the world and story, right down to very gamified relationships. The origins system itself, the fact that your warden could have been anyone, is the actual textual proof that this isn’t all that’s going on. It just only really gets paid off by later games, and that’s pretty important given where this franchise ended up.

—

Enter DA2. Hawke is a champion, not a hero. Hawke fights for those who can’t fight themselves. Hawke can’t save the world. They can’t even save their family or city. It’s a battle of attrition that sees them somehow worse off no matter what. The still-gamified but now more nuanced and challenging relationships become the focus because they’re really all Hawke has. Now the power fantasy is still lurking around the edges. It’s just challenged at every turn. You can free Kirkwall, but Anders is always going to blow up a church.

—

Which brings us to Inquisition. Somehow, you’re both as much of a nobody as Hawke and you’re responsible for more than the Warden. And it’s miserable. The power fantasy is constantly undermined. No matter who your inquisitor was, by the end of the game they’ve been completely subsumed by their role: turns out power has teeth.

In a move that delivers on the unreliable narrative throughline that Origins established and DA2 strengthened, the Inquisitor must play the hero and save the world. It doesn’t matter if your Inquisitor is a kind person doing their best or a racist power-hungry asshole, and that is now a systemic issue within the world itself. The erosion of your character’s personhood is explicit within the text as characters struggle to see you as more than your role and you’re asked to shape the faith of an entire world even if you don’t share that faith. The cost of this erosion is made incredibly literal with Ameridan’s story and then in Trespasser, where the anchor, both cause and symbol of the Inquisitor’s role and power, is killing them. Relationships become somewhat less gamified but more importantly, you’re given an explicit textual mirror in Solas. He’s there to reflect your behavior but also your loss of personhood to a role. It’s essential that he’s the one to save your life at the end of Trespasser. Even if you’ve never shown him a moment’s grace, here is your mirror to see you as a person one last time.

—

And then there’s Rook. Now we play a mirror to Solas, a character who has been the hero, Mythal’s champion, and a man subsumed by his role/s. He’s really the narrative gift that keeps giving.

We walk the dreadwolf’s path this time, and the dreadwolf is a classic tragic hero. He’s stuck in a story where he must save the world and where a critical flaw will always be his downfall. We’re Varric’s second who must step up to champion his cause after the events of the introduction. And we’re barely keeping ourselves together under the burden of leadership. And here is where Veilguard finally delivers everything this franchise ever promised. Because under all that we’re truly just some guy. Just like Solas is just a guy who got stuck in situations he never wanted. His response was to become the hero or play the villain (depending on the story) because that’s easier. But if Rook can truly choose the ‘hard truth’ that the world is never going to “stay fixed” (oh hi Inquisitor… and Hawke… and Warden) and that other people can have better ideas and make hard calls and their own choices? If we don’t have to ‘win’? Rook can reconcile the inevitable tragedies of this kind of story with their very human needs and escape the story altogether. The cost, of course, is the power fantasy.

[strawberry-halla]

something so amazing about solas is that he is very good at predicting his enemies and his allies moves. he’s always thinking 5 steps ahead, even varric says this. (long post incoming!)

but when it comes to lavellan, he could never predict her. when he first meets her, solas thinks she’s just another dalish elf that is unwilling to listen to his advice. nope turns out she can be willing and not only that but asks him about what he knows so she can better understand the fade/spirits/ancient elves.

and then the haven dream kiss! she’s the one who initiates and solas is once again thrown off guard because he never expected that. and then he just gives into it with so much passion and fade tongue.

in all new, faded for her, solas is once again surprised lavellan agrees with his plan to free his friend, the spirit of wisdom. because nobody in the entire inquisition (except cole) would be down for this?? like all the world knows about spirits is that they don’t ever come in contact with people unless very rarely. they’re an enigma, something to be feared even because they can become demons. but nah lavellan is like ‘yep sounds good let’s go save your friend!’

and solas after this tries to rationalize lavellan’s bizarre behavior as something the anchor changed about her. because he has always known how to read people. he can’t understand her. he thinks her ‘spirit’ has changed due to magic’s influence.

but no, lavellan surprises once again by pointing out that her choices are her own or that if the anchor did change her, wouldn’t she notice? like no wonder solas is so fucking down bad. lavellan subverts everything he thought about the modern people, not just exclusively elves. she’s constantly showing him new points of view and challenging his whole mission. and so the cracks start to form.

“you show a wisdom i haven’t seen since…*pause* my deepest journeys into the ancient memories of the fade.”

“your mind, your morals, your… *pause* spirit.”

“it would be kinder in the long run. but losing you would- *cuts himself off*”

and then if lavellan drinks from the well, this conversation and the previous quest itself (what pride had wrought) just cracks solas wide open (even if she didn’t drink). he’s visibly upset because he’s afraid the well will change lavellan and he knows first hand what it’s like to do everything for someone who made the wrong choices! so solas asks what she would do with the power of the well and he’s ONCE AGAIN thrown off guard by her answer. i really like the “help the world move forward” option because it almost aligns with solas’s plan but it doesn’t.

s: “you would risk everything you have in the hope the future is better? what if it isn’t? what if you wake up to find the future you shaped is worse than what it was?”

l: “i’ll take a breath, see where things went wrong, and then try again.”

s: “just like that?”

l: “if we don’t keep trying, we’ll never get it right.”

you’d think this would be an affirmation that solas’s plan is right, but it’s not. lavellan is wanting to fix things now and shape a better future with the well’s power. it’s eerily similar, but once again a path solas didn’t consider. she surprises once more. using the wisdom from the well to help, rather than command. sound familiar? this conversation just solidifies solas’s want. to be himself and to be solas, not fen’harel, with lavellan.

so he takes her to crestwood. somewhere intimate and quiet just for the two of them. a place where the veil is thinnest because it’s easy for spirits to cross and be comfortable. solas is going to tell lavellan the truth. he’s going to abandon his plan. but then solas gets in his own head. he fights with the possibility of her rejecting him because why wouldn’t she? he’s the very god in her culture that ruined everything. what if lavellan sees him for the monster history painted him? and then he realizes why he even wanted to tear down the veil. to avenge his oldest friend and right the wrongs he did to the elves. and it all comes crashing down in not even a second.

“then what i must tell you… *pause* …the truth.”

solas backpedals so fucking hard. the reality of everything just hits him. so he quickly redirects to the vallaslin topic because it’s familiar as he looks down at lavellan’s face and sees the markings of the very gods he locked away.

remove the vallaslin or not solas still loves her no matter what. and the sad option is still my favorite here because once again solas is slipping.

s: “you have a rare and marvelous spirit. in another world-“

l: “why not this one?”

and then at the end of veilguard, lavellan does one more thing solas doesn’t expect. after hurting her, betraying her, leaving her alone without any answers, killing one of her friends, and almost succeeding in his plan, she forgives him. lavellan abandons thedas and everything she knew to be with him. to the very end, she is subverting his tragic expectations.

“this journey is not yours alone. we make it together, always.”

[edenaziraphale]

There's a lot to be said about the weaknesses and strengths of the writing in Dragon Age games, but for me there's nothing that trumps the way the writers' implicit biases shine through in their treatment of various characters. Anders and Solas showcase the very worst of this. Functionally Anders and Solas could (and I would go so far as to say should) operate as foils to one another. Anders is a victim of decades of abuse at the hands of both individuals and a system that demonized him from a very young age. We are given information about his childhood and time spent in the circle that makes it explicitly clear that Circles are an unjust and abusive system that traumatized him so much that he fled multiple times regardless of the fact that he knew the abuse would escalate each time he escaped. In the end, he chooses to chance death and lifelong struggle via conscription because it is his only shot at escaping his current reality. After that, in DA2, it's made clear that Kirkwall's circle is even worse. Karl is made tranquil, the templars are mad with power, and it's heavily implied that the tranquil are utilized as sex slaves and that some templars may even be selecting mages for tranquility based on their desire for them alone. In the light of all of that, Anders makes a very desperate and destructive choice. Regardless of how players feel about his actions, it's not really up for debate that the context surrounding them creates mitigating circumstances and a sympathetic backing. He was attempting to affect positive change for a group of people facing fates that the game makes clear are worse than death. Despite this, the game's writing treats him as an unsympathetic villain whose actions are not only reprehensible, but completely beyond the realm of human understanding. That dynamic at the end of DA2 carries into DAI. Solas, on the other hand, is on a quest to undo his own actions. His initial construction of the Veil and the problems that it caused can be viewed with (some) similarity to Anders circumstances in that Solas was attempting to right a wrong done by someone else, but the key difference is that, unlike Anders, who was a powerless victim attempting to free other powerless victims, Solas was on a revenge quest to avenge the death of his friend and had an incredible amount of power within the system that he existed as a part of.

His actions had horrific consequences that birthed what is essentially an entirely new existence for everyone in Thedas eons before the start of any of the games. He finds the outcome of his own actions intolerable, and seeks to reverse them. He harms friends and allies to do so, and makes it explicitly clear that he does not care who he harms or what the consequences are to Thedas or the people who live there in his quest to bring back the version of the world that he liked better. Functionally, Solas makes an excellent villain. He stands out from Anders (who operates in his narrative as a symbol of the rage and disenfranchisement of the powerless) as a representation of power and ego unchecked and the damage that they can cause.

Unfortunately, the writing of the game treats him as though he is the tragically complex victim of forces outside of his control when he is in fact the over-powered puppeteer. He is very much the master of his own destiny and he intends to be the master of everyone else's destiny as well by ripping apart the fabric of reality. No character in the series better demonstrates the writer's biases than Varric, who, as a narrator for DA2, essentially acts as the moral arbiter telling players how they should and should not feel about events, explaining what is and is not moral. His reactions to Anders stand out in sharp relief against what we see of his reaction to Solas in the Veilguard releases so far.

To be clear, I don't hate Solas as a character. I think as a villain, he works very well. His complete and total disregard for the wellbeing of others paired with his affect of wise and gentle mage are compelling to witness. His motivations are understandable from the selfish and self-centered core of us as people. He's a fantastic reminder of what happens when we decide that we know what's best with no input from others, when we pursue our desires above all else beneath the veneer of wisdom. He's fun, well rounded, and interesting. He is not, however, a tragic and morally justified sadboi victim of circumstance, and I resent that the writers treated him as though he was.

[rederiswrites]

Okay so I'm giving @corseque 's super-important audio of all Solas' comments about the Blight a second (or fifteenth, whatever) listen and taking notes as I go.

Solas doesn't think for a second that once the archdemons are gone the Blight will be gone. Which really makes sense because it's the Blight that makes them an archdemon, not the other way around. Supposedly, they're blighted when the darkspawn reach and corrupt them. But of course that begs the question of why it's only darkspawn (and uh, honorary darkspawn like the Wardens) that hear their call. Anyway, the way he says it, it sounds more like the archdemons are a limiting factor than a driving factor.

Varric: "What's so confusing about endless darkspawn?" Solas: "A great deal!" So yeah, whatever the plan was, he didn't foresee darkspawn as a consequence. So did he not foresee them existing at all, or not foresee them being free to cause problems? Worth noting that it's really clear both in general and in Descent that dwarves as a whole were a huge blind spot for him.

He is really really surprised that the Western Approach ever recovered from the Blight. Pretty clear he didn't think that was possible.

He thinks that everything the Wardens have done up til now is a deeply misguided effort that's served (mostly accidentally) as a delaying tactic. Gotta say, with the information we have at hand, this point pairs about as well with the last as a nice dry red with spicy pickles. If the Wardens shouldn't have done what they've done, but he didn't think recovery from the Blight was possible, I'd love to hear what he thought the alternative was.

Same dialogue as above, but when Solas talks about stopping the Blight and when Blackwall and Varric talk about it, one gets the distinct impression that they're talking at cross purposes, because Varric and Blackwall are talking about the experience of Blights, as in, periodic events, whereas I think Solas is talking about THE Blight, that is, its true nature, which is yet untouched.

He thinks Erimond is dumb as shit, which is fair and valid. "That's madness! For all we know, killing the Old Gods could make things even worse!" he says. Well, he knows a lot more than "we" know, but it's entirely possible that he doesn't for sure know this. Increasingly clear that he thinks it, though.

I'd forgotten just how pissed off he was about the Grey Warden plan to kill the Old Gods before they were corrupted. It really doesn't give "hey you're killing my relatives" energy. It really gives "wow that would fuck us all" vibes.

Of course, with a side of my remembering that Solas' besetting flaw was always thinking people should know better even though they don't have access to the knowledge he has. That flaw I WILL grant. He displays it repeatedly--you could even say the writers went out of their way to make the point.

"The Blight is the real problem"

"The fools who first unleashed the Blight on this world thought they were unlocking ultimate power." Anyway yeah those are the absolute core of everything here. The Blight is the real problem and the Blight was deliberate. Deliberately made or deliberately freed.

Even during the events of Inquisition, Solas obviously sees Corypheus as secondary to the Blight as a danger.

Cassandra suggests that the archdemons were really just dragons--"Pets to those who no longer exist", by which she probably means the Old Gods, not specifically the gods of Elvhen, just because of her cultural background. Solas finds this suggestion amusingly wrong--a quiet snort, and "I would not go so far as that."

Last notes: he doesn't sound like he thinks the Blight can be stopped, and he's adamant that it can't be controlled. Which is presumably why he broke the world in an attempt to contain it, assuming I'm right that that was the underlying reason for the Veil. That it didn't quite work the way he'd hoped is also pretty evident, though I wanna be clear that I assume he was working from a place of desperation, and that not knowing every possible outcome of an action is not a condemnation of having taken it.