#solas is a boiled egg

[watermelonfaerie]

Solas is Jealous of The Inquisitor

Lemme explain- after a discussion with @dirthavhen I've produced a theory: They were in the same position- same problem- made different choices and everyone loved Lavellan and in Solas' position? he was villified and hated.

When faced with a world they found unsavory: Lavellan going back in time and seeing a world that "isnt real" to them because they were going to undo it

Lavellan saved people and was celebrated.

Solas has been villified for trying to do what he thinks is right and constantly told hes wrong.

He's jealous. and what color is jealousy commonly associated with? Green.

[hawkeshep]

pov you are the veil

[silverteresa]

0.001 seconds after seeing Solas again:

@verynonyideas

[hyperfixations-dump]

DAV brain rot has led me to the conclusion that The Blade - Aurora is very Rook and Solas coded

[ir-abelas-vhenan]

Losing My Mind Over Veilguard 6/?? Aka the Dread Wolf Double Bind

These posts are getting up here in number (yes ma'am that is 1 2 3 4 5 instances of me not being able to get my shit together and coming back again for more)

and quite frankly there's nothing I can do about it until the "we've been treated and tormented by this game" demon has been exorcised from my body, so here we go again.

Today I give to you:

(Modeled after Inquisition Solas and his sad, bald-ass basset hound mage bum glory becuase I think it's important that newcomers know exactly who his fans fell in love with/who inspired his enemies to conduct speed-runs to punch him. Yassified Solas ran only because this mangled membranous man crawled first)

Part of what's making me lose my mind here, I've discovered, is a strange sort of survivor's guilt where everything I really like or really hate about Veilguard can be traced back to Solas and I don't know how to deal with it because we've never had such a divide before between one character getting ALL the content and everyone else from their game being left in the absolute dust.

Disclaimer: Yeah, no one from Origins has had more screen time across games than Morrigan at this point, and therefore no one has gotten more robbed of the substance of their character, but even the damage done to her wasn't the kind that warped an entire game. No, the devs saved that all for the Dread Wolf in the Room.

Even putting it down on paper and comparing the two in-game versions of him, it took me a second to work through why I'm so conflicted, but I think I've finally settled on a few key points.

Concern #1: Solas Haters Were Robbed.

Part of the allure of Solas is that if you want to punch that man in the face, you're gonna get the chance to punch him in the face. Is that my personal preference? No. But in a game where your companions are built to make you think instead of letting you turn your brain off, you're bound to have personalities that clash against yours. To have such a non-descript-looking iambic-pentameter-talking apostate be able to inspire strong emotions across the whole spectrum of players was part of his appeal. Now, as far as I understand it, you have four options at the end of Veilguard.

1. Solas lives and he might actually not hate himself some day.

2. Solas lives and he's absolutely going to write a diary entry a night about why he hates himself.

3. Solas lives and he's going to write a diary entry a night about why he hates YOU.

4. Solas lives and you better hope he never again figures out how to live in your general vicinity

Do you see my concern here? I, shamelessly, can admit that I would do unspeakable fictional things to get that man his happy ending (within reason...mostly...), but I feel like the game took the opportunity away from the players who threw that knife in their map at the end of Trespasser and vowed to take a bitch down for stealing their best armor and waxing poetic about the Grey Wardens while seemingly sitting on his ass and having no inclination to stop the blight (help). This, then, leads me into my second issue.

Concern #2: The Game Refuses to Give Solas room outside of its own agenda

In the near-decade it took for Solas to slip back into his trickster god persona, he seems to have forgotten why he began his quest to tear down the veil in the first place. I like that Rook gets to experience the version of our favorite hard boiled egg that near-singlehandedly tore down several empires by being an absolute terror to those with bigger egos. I like that new players are going to hear Solas tell them that they've earned his respect and actually believe it until they inevitably get their first taste of ancient elven betrayal. What I don't like? When a nuanced yearning for a world in which three majorly mistreated groups (spirits, elves, mages) would be free from many of the constraints that enabled their oppression suddenly becomes "I am doing this because if I don't I have betrayed my friend. Which friend you ask? Oh, the one that was on board with my plan until it no longer suited the story."

The combo of few characters from previous games and a sanitized near-blank slate for the setting of this game was deadly to one of its best-written characters. Because of it, Solas is forced to abandon his double-speak, the joy he takes in giving you scraps of an answer that, by the time you get it, you will already have missed the chance to piece it together from separate clues that he ALSO dropped. He's not going to get to show you the loyal followers the epilogue of Inquisition made clear that he has, because the game wants to usher you into the new future of the series. You're not going to get to ask him (or any NPCs for that matter) a bunch of questions so that you can form your own opinion of him, because all that matters is that he isn't Elgar'nan or Ghilan'nain so let's move along, shall we?

Because the game needs exposition and a foil to its two other baddies, and needs it FAST, the mythic Dread Wolf becomes a plot device designed to get you where you need to go when you need to be there. It doesn't work purely for that reason alone, at least in my opinion, but it gets so much worse when a game that promises you that it's going to work for players new and old relies on someone experienced players want a personal reckoning with to guide every Rook through the game only to realize that those questions of morality regarding whether the veil is torturous for a subjugated few or the only thing preserving most of life as we know it are going to have to remain questions.

You don't get a choice of whether Solas is in your party or not, and you can't advance in the game without talking to him. You don't get to choose not to impress him. You don't get to choose whether you're going to work with him in the final battle, and as previously mentioned, your only real choice in how his story ends is one of four options in which he lives every time in varying states of self-loathing. You're still going to love him or hate him, but just how strongly you're able to show those feelings towards him is severely curtailed. And that's an absolute shame for a character that commanded such fierce attention.

And that's where, ultimately, I find myself with a weird amount of survivor's guilt.

When I finished my Veilguard playthrough, I had barely a moment to fully contemplate the amount of whiplash and disappointment I felt going from a Solas that I had spent almost a decade knowing to a One Dimensional Fen'Harel who threw out his core values and goals like they were chilling in a cup of tea before. Why? Because I very quickly felt guilty. And then I got angry for feeling guilty!

The game's failure to adequately represent its other characters and lore has created a world in which I don't like the Solas we've been given, but I can't live without him either. Who am I to complain that his most complex and compelling features are gone when other players are mourning the fact that the last they may ever hear of their favorite character is reduced to a scrap in the codex? How can I be frustrated at how the Lavellan reunion scene goes down when other players would kill for the chance to have their Inquisitor seemingly give any sort of shit about being in the game aside from being told it was mandatory to earn participation points? How can I lament the fact that his storyline seems to share all the wrong lessons to be learned from a toxic friendship rooted in a never-equalized power imbalance when someone else is watching Morrigan pull a complete 180 and wondering why the fuck they spent so much time researching whether or not her accepting her mother's choices as her own was what she truly wanted? At least Solas still loves Lavellan, even though we needed to ask Trick Weekes several follow up questions just to double check. At least Solas gets more in the epilogue than one empty "we remember the heroes that came before" platitude.

And to suddenly fear any appearances of past characters from a studio that used to make me stay up theorizing about how a character might grow and evolve and continue to impact the world I helped shape? It's depressing as hell, and it's why I was too scared to get attached to any of the new companions once I finally got past the writing and lack of complexity.

The people that hate Solas, deserved better.

The people that valued what he brought to their Inquisitor's small but strong group of friends deserved better.

The people that love Solas more than Sera loved pissing him off deserved better.

And new players, who had a chance to engage with one of the most powerful storylines in the game and instead got a heaping dose of Deus Ex Machina Lite, deserved better.

If taking a character that had the potential and power needed to shape an entire continent and banishing him one of four different ways to Fade jail so that the book could quickly be closed on a years-long legacy is what the studio is calling a return to their roots, I'll stick with the efforts of fans to create art and theories that aren't afraid to double down into what actually keeps people coming back for more.

[redlyriumidol]

A post about Solas just reminded me that I had boiling eggs on the stove. This is how video games can help us to navigate real-world situations

[leastdatablebracket]

FINAL ROUND

Propaganda under the cut!

Solas

He believes all mortal beings deserve to die. He is bald but in a very unsexy way. He exudes zero chemistry and talking to him about romance is like talking to a boiled egg. 

Described by major media as "elf hitler," he dumps you to destroy the world

He is a smelly know it all, and that's before you find out he is a deity in disguise who caused the rift you spend the game trying to fix in the first place and he betrayed you and chopped off your hand

Breaks up with you, disappears without saying anything, plans to destroy the world

Look. I’ll admit I have not personally romanced solas. I am baffled that anyone would WANT to romance solas. I know we all love a waify little elf wizard with questionable motivations but jfc look at him like im trying not to say anything demeaning about bald dudes but he does not wear it well. Also iirc you can only romance him if you’re also an elf and then he’s weirdly rude and dismissive if your character is Into Elf Culture. Look im a huge lesbian but Iron Bull is RIGHT FUCKING THERE why would you do this.

Peter King

Oh I could go ON AND ON but here’s a list: He’s a stalker, he showed up late to a date HE REQUESTED, he killed either your landlord, roommate, or coworker (depending on route) and stuck them in a freezer, lied to the police about it, followed by a car ride either consisting of traumadumping about his family (valid tbh) or him talking about how much he wants to fuck your brains out, then you finding a bloody knife in his glove compartment, asking about it, and him smashing your head into the window to shut you up while he takes you to his house. He is The Worse Datable, as well as The Only Datable because well…he killed the others…and kidnapped you….

FUCK THIS DUDE!!! Country Human looking-ass bitch, I want him dead and obliterated

Many violence, Yandere behavior, cut your leg off in a semi-canon series of illustrations, smashed your head into the passenger side window of his creepy van, chloroformed you in your own house, brought you flowers that were probably tainted with his own blood, given context from another route. Generally a terrible person. Also just very strange to look at :/

He knows what he did….😒

He broke into Y/N’s house and chloroformed them. Generally a really creepy and perverted guy. TK is better :/

Send that man to Worst Datable Hell! Put him in the trash file (he’s a pseudo-sentient AI, similar to Monika, so this threat is valid)! He sometimes looks like a kicked puppy when talking to you, but with your small contributions, we can make him look even more like a kicked puppy! Vote Peter King for Worst Datable Datable Character today! Bonus: Funny canon facts about him! - He can’t swim - He’s allergic to peanuts - He has to wear glasses, but usually wears contacts - He had an emo/goth phase in high school - He’s a YouTuber; he does product reviews - He has very strong mother issues (understandably) - He will respond to and greatly enjoy the nickname “Cockbite” (there are many other names he enjoys, but this one’s the funniest to me)

[shinondraws]

I had a sudden urge to draw solas' face on my eggs from now on

So i could boil it and then smash it

[apathyislikeawoundedsoul]

So my roommates and I have a running gag currently where we hide an egg I drew Solas' face on around the apartment. So far he's been:

On the laptop

In a coffee mug

In the microwave

In the toaster

In the bathroom sink

In a pringle can

In my bed

In my roommate's bed

In the freezer

And the thing is, this is a real hard boiled egg and obviously he'll need to be thrown out asp so I need to draw him again on a fake egg to keep this going, but first I need more ideas on where to put him, so please let me know what you think of!

[ididitforthedogs]

Thoughts on veilguard below- this got long

So i think my ranking of dragon age games remains the order in which they were released. Origins is just... It's special to me. It has its faults, but it was the first rpg I've played, and there is an atmosphere about it that I remember from my first playthrough, and I've never had it again since.

I romanced Bellara (because she reminded me of Merrill) and like... The romance content was severely lacking imo. I had basically no scenes with her. Idk if this was a glitch or a feature at this point. I feel like the writers had favorites and she definitely was not one of them.

I miss the approval bars for companions!!!! Origins and DA2 let me see exactly where I stood with them and gave me concrete numbers about how much they approved or disapproved!! In DA2, if you don't give Merrill the arulinholm and you're her friend, you get the opposite in rivalry- like, if you're her friend +50 and you don't give it to her, you get rivalry +100 so that you end up +50 but the other way around. You can't get that kind of thing unless you give us the numbers!!!! I was hoping that they would bring it back after inquisition, but no.

I still don't like the combat. I don't like having to aim and I really don't like only having 3 abilities. The point of levelling up is to get more abilities!! What is the point if you can only use 3 of them? That being said, I did really like the non-linear method of levelling up.

It hurt me when Morrigan showed up looking like Flemeth. (But I still maintain that origins!flemeth is the better design)

There was exactly one (1) Merrill mention, and it was an offhand comment by Isabela at the proving grounds. One comment about Merrill, who cleansed an eluvian from scratch, who ABSOLUTELY would have loved the veil jumpers (finding out more about history? uh, yeah.). I know they wouldn't put Merrill and Bellara in a room together because Bellara is basically Merrill with longer hair, but the conversations that they would have... About Tamlen, about Cyrian, about remembering, rambling about eluvians and ancient magic...... Merrill could have been her mentor. By all rights, she should have been. Even if we didn't see her, Bellara could have at least mentioned her.

~~

I think my biggest problems with veilguard boil down to this: I don't buy into the premise and I absolutely hate that only 3 decisions from previous games matter.

I don't like how they made the elven gods real and evil but the maker? Oh well we'll never tell about that, pseudo-christianity gets doubt. I don't understand why it was just elgarnan and ghilanain and not the others. I still hate Solas and hate how I had to talk to him after missions and check in with how he's doing and do we want to redeem him because actually, I really don't care. I didn't want to see my Inquisitor again because I knew they would butcher it, and they did. I don't want a DA protagonist to carry through to multiple games. I finished that chapter, now let me start a new one. Small Easter eggs or codex entries are all the references I really want, because as soon as you take the PC out of player control, you're inevitably going to mess it up for someone.

The whole Varric death thing is... Interesting. But it's hard to feel that attached to the relationship between rook and Varric because we never actually see it build! It's just one scene and then just being told about how you're close and whatever. It's relying on the user to have a connection, not the PC, and that's not a very strong narrative choice. I do like his redesign, though I'm glad he's done with- I never connected with him, so I'm kind of happy that I don't have to worry about seeing him in another game again.

I don't like the davrin/harding choice. The fact that its inescapable that one of them will die, and while it's something that you pick, you don't even know that you're picking it at the time. It's a weird place for a death too- close to the end but not completely there, but also not a midpoint plot twist. Also doesn't make sense why it's one or the other.

~~

To be clear, though, there was a decent amount that they did well. The maps are much smaller and more contained than inquisition, which I prefer. I like being able to pick different skins for armor so that you can equip the best stuff but still look good. Solas is holding up the veil, which means I never have to see him again. Plus because I fought him at the end, he pulled the same "I am a god" bullshit as Elgarnan while getting sucked into space, which was satisfying (even though I had to spend most of the game trusting the literal trickster god). I really liked breaking boxes. The auto shimmer around chests was good. The text was actually readable. The companions felt real.

~~

Anyway, if you read this far, this is a checkpoint. Set down your phone or computer, take a drink, and do something other than scroll on Tumblr.

[eueclid]

" heeeeeey solas, how are we feeling today? are we feeling a bit fried? oooor kinda scrambled? oooor a little over boiled?" ~ from jester

“ Jester, I see you've been hanging out with the Iron Bull. He hasn't been short of egg jokes either. ” Cue a completely unamused face. “ Let me guess — now you'll ask me about my hair routine? Varric beat you to the punch on that one. ”

[vampcubus]

Its okay I love hard boiled men too

solas from dragon age inquisition is my favorite egg

[milesmentis]

OC Questions: Hallapan Lavellan: 35. Do they believe in fate or do they believe they are in charge of their own destiny?

Ah, Hallapan... my beloved existential crisis girl. If anyone is trapped in their narrative, it's her! She doesn't believe in fate/being chosen and after meeting Ameridan she doubles down on that because she REFUSES to believe that there's nothing she can do to not end up like him. With the reveals in Trespasser, she sees all of Solas' half-truths and warnings about legacy as a cruel joke on her ... and something of a relief. Because it turns out it wasn't some cosmic force manipulating her life ... it was THAT BOILED EGG IN THE ROTUNDA

[mantaberrygamingtart]

Solas enjoyers wound me. They have such good composition. Amazing lighting. Incredible grasp of color.

And they use it on a boiled egg.

I will not be swayed from my Solas hate by masterful artwork, regardless of how good a case it may be making.

Please paint in a way that suits my sensibilities.

[clairedelune-13]

If you were to equate each DA companion with a food, what food would they be?

Example: Josie is LITERALLY a cinnamon roll. And Solas is a salted, hard-boiled egg. 🤣