#what would solas do?

[sky--phantom]

Believe me, we're all surprised here.

[apostaterevolutionary]

Okay can I be a bitter Anders fan for like. Just 2 minutes here lmao

Cause bioware released some game stats for veilguard and apparently 72% of players redeemed Solas which is like. Okay yeah the game kinda pushes you towards that. But when I think of all the shit I used to have to put up with just for enjoying Anders like at all and…

(This is not me being anti-Solas, I do not care if you love or hate him, but I am gonna say what he’s done is like. Objectively worse than literally every other companion so lmao. And that’s fine! You can still enjoy him! I’m not saying you can’t and it’s important to me that people understand that! I’m just saying he did in fact do objectively morally worse things in game than Anders did and I don’t think that’s really debatable. And I can’t really make my point here without saying that but I do want to make it clear this is not some moral condemnation of Solas enjoyers cause it’s not)

Getting anon hate on the regular, being told “oh you’re allowed to like Anders as long as you regularly talk about how much he sucks”, people gleefully describing how much fun they have killing him ON your posts about the fact that you like him, the devs making jokes about shitty fates for him when fans asked innocent questions about him, the absolute audacity of his writer to say half the shit she did in interviews (about bisexuality and mental illness, most critically), and then being beaten over the head again in inquisition about how Anders is the worst character to ever exist and there’s no redemption for terrorists who lie to you one time in the entire game and he deserves death or worse and that’s it

And now… 72% of people are down to redeem the guy who lies to you for 2 games straight and who did a lot of questionable things that includes creating the fucking blight and. Like. I guess I’m glad that Solas fans can live in a world where they aren’t constantly harassed and can give their ship like. A pretty damn good ending all things considered. And that the devs love Solas and actually give the option for that happy ending and have characters go to bat for Solas throughout the game and the most annoying thing they have to see are people making scrambled egg memes. I would not wish anyone to have to deal with the shit Anders fans had to put up with back then cause it sucked. It really sucked. And I’m glad it’s not being repeated with a different character, if nothing else

But like. Man there really is a difference when the writers actually like the character who does the thing, huh

[lafaiette]

When Solas says

"I was trying to determine some way to show you what you mean to me."

and

"For now, the best gift I can offer is the truth."

it makes me cry SO MUCH because that "for now" really implies he was planning ahead, that he was hoping Lavellan would accept his full identity, and they would stay together.

That "for now" means he already had more gifts in mind, more ways to show her what she meant to him. In that moment, in that glade, under those circumstances, he could only give her the truth she deserved - so words, knowledge, love and respect in the form of a spoken revelation -, but what about later? What was his next gift to her going to be? Something tangible, like a love memento, something precious to wear and show everyone? More knowledge and wisdom to share with her? Memories and scenes from his old life?

Weekes said Solas was ready to tell her the truth, forget about his duty, and lose himself in Lavellan, but chickened out at the last second. So I'm really curious to know what kind of future he envisioned in those blissful last moments before he lost his courage - what other presents and displays of love he was ready to give to her.

[citrusai]

taash said "they were doing it" and people ran with the interpretation of an npc that doesn't know solas or the history of the elvhenan even when bellara interjected and said, no, that's not right. that's not how it was for the elvhenan. they formed bonds before they had physical bodies. and people ran to doompost or create weird anti-solavellan shit even though mythal & solas refer to each other as old friends and when she releases him there is no tenderness or love in it. it is the act of unchaining a dog from his post, the stepping down of a general. but to each their own ig.

[mageofquandrix]

me: I wish there was an option for 'you dated Solas but it's been 10 years and you've moved on.' @postcardsfromheapside : put her with Pete Davidson

[lizzybeeee]

Solas addressing current day Thedas about his plans to bring down the Veil:

[heliomanteia]

I do appreciate how Solas' writing is still heavily tied to the concept of reflection on the player's character and how the final opinion on Solas you end up with relies on what version of the story you believe/how you interpret his words. Ultimately, Solas' character denies being placed within extremes (hero or villain) but seeking the middle ground is purposefully difficult both in DA:I and DA:TV, in my opinion.

Varric was so right about his "clever half-truths" because no I don't think Solas lies in DA:TV. My favorite example is his stance on blood magic — and his ability to sneak between definitive statements.

"I abhor the use of blood magic" sounds like a deliberate lie, especially with further context of the game, but he does abhor it, which does not mean he won't use their tenuous connection to Rook when it's offered. He's not lying, he's just answering to the implication with an emotive stance instead of practical. Someone can hate something and still utilize it, especially when they did not directly force it to occur (for all we know Rook's bleeding was an accidental consequence of a deliberate attack).

Solas is the same way within the base game of DA:I, actually. He says he "does not use blood magic" when approached by Cole with a request to bind him but he approves of the Inquisitor's open-minded approach to blood magic as a concept in a conversation in Haven. Which are a bit further apart as statements than his actions vs. words in DA:TV but they're still not cancelling each other out.

He's made of "contradictions" that are actually just nuanced approaches to aspects of a bigger topic: "blood magic is interesting and those who blindly deny its intriguing nature (as a topic) betray their close-minded approach to the unknown and the taboo (disapproves) whereas those who are eager about learning its theoretical boundaries are a delight as it shows their curious spirit (approves); however, do not assume the use of it of me (for it comes with moral judgement and assumption of my nature) or that bestowing it upon another is an approach chosen by me on purpose (but using it if offered, with no other choice in sight, is, while abhorrent, not something to deny)".

[baejax-the-great]

Thinking about all those elvhen tombs we found in DAI and how interesting it would have been if reviving their occupants from uthenera was a choice in the game, one that Bellara in particular would have extremely strong feelings about. More help against the gods, an eventual problem when it came to Solas, and another link back to history and elves who weren't gods or monsters but just people who dreamed of a better future and trusted the Dread Wolf--just feels like a missed opportunity

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

i just think it would have been neat if if you don't use The Ultimate Salvation of Felassan rune in the boss battle against Elgar'nan. what if you could instead use it to summon a temporary wisp of him a la the Mythal fragment to talk down Solas instead of just relying on Mythal's. there was more than one modern death he regretted is all i'm saying you know. more than one possibly-dead-possibly-not ancient spirit elf he still had ties to who was an integral part of his past and played more of a role in his healing than his harm hmmmmmmmmmmm

[vaguely-concerned]

just for fun this time during 'sea of blood' I counted out all the venatori corpses I think we can be pretty sure were lucanis' handiwork before we show up (not including the ones he kills in his initial cutscene, and with an assumption that he's been at work mainly up and down in the areas we move through until we find him, not behind the locked door -- I think that's mostly the work of rampaging undead and other venatori-hoisted-by-their-own-petard suchlikes). can thus happily inform you lucanis has killed at least 32 venatori before rook and company get there. at least one of them he's impaled on their own weird crystal spike things the venatori mages cast as an AOE attack and that they're trying to keep him contained with when we find him. so he's clearly been keeping busy lol. that's my boy dispensing poetic justice and claiming some enrichment in his enclosure while he's at it good for him!

[turbo-virgins]

I think the problem is I wanted to bring a “fuck around and find out” energy into Veilguard that the narrative really didn’t want me to explore :/

[mourn-and-watch]

so if solas sees himself in the inquisitor because of how they were made a leader, a prophet and a symbol by people who followed them, just as fen'harel had been made a leader and a saviour for by the freed elven slaves, will he see himself in rook because they're left alone against the threat they can't possibly defeat without singlehandedly making decisions that will impact the world in unknown ways, just as fen'harel had been left alone against evanuris with no other option but to create the veil

[rin-hanarin]

I got very excited about the recent Dragon Age news and made my future Antivan Crow Rook (name TBA.) and some memes.

He's a city(?) elf rogue and a bit of a dumbass, but hey, if we don't get Zevran in this game, at least I'll have a cringefail assassin at home, and it's not gonna be the "no bullshit 9-5 office man assassin" Lucanis.

[mythalism]

realizing how the reason i love the idea of solas healing the blight in the black city is so much is probably because of my own fmab bias where i imagine it like him talking to each of the titans severed spirits and preserving their identity the way hohenheim talks to all 536,329 xerxian souls inside of him to preserve their humanity and one day they repay his kindness by sacrificing themselves for the modern amestrians. bioware would never pull off something this brilliant but this is how it is in my head

[vir-tanadahl]

I kind of want to make a "Book of Spirits" to talk about all of the spirits in DA. Obviously, we only know so much, so most of it will be a Fanon, but I think it would just be so much fun to make

[lavellaned]

So with everything that was revealed in veilguard, do you think that Solas ever took lyrium potions in inquisition when his power was at regular shmegular mage levels? Do you think because he’s more or less made from lyrium that it would affect him differently?