#~{I WILL RESET THE GAME IF MY LAVELLAN DIES}~

[dreadwxlf]

@wepepe-draws​

~{He’d cry as he did it....His last words to her: “Ar lath ma, vhenan.” And then her death would send him over the breaking point...}~

[liaragaming]

I just want to clear some things up about Solas

I’ve seen a lot of comments like, “Why can’t Solas just let the past go?”

And “If Lavellan isn’t enough of a reason to not destroy this world, then what’s the point?”

The short answer is it’s not about the lost empire of the elves, and it’s not about Lavellan.

Put yourself in Solas’ shoes for a second.

We know Arlathan was just about as bad a Tevinter, and the elven gods were a very power hungry (and in some cases blood thirsty) group. Solas seeks to free his people from them by freeing the salves and leading a rebellion against them.

Now, something happened to that rebellion. Something didn’t work out. I have a theory that Mythal played a part in it (and that’s why she and Fen’Harel are depicted together in places), and that’s why the evanuris killed her. Whatever the case, something fell through, and Solas needed a new plan.

(Or they killed Mythal for some other reason and Solas got so pissed he said, “Screw this! New plan!” That works too, I guess.)

So he decides to create the veil and trap the evanuris behind it. Can you imagine the amount of power that required? Solas sleeps for ages after creating the veil and tells the Inquisitor he awoke still weak a year before the events at Haven. He’s so weak he can’t even unlock his own foci.

Holy hell. What kind of magic knocks you out for thousands of years?

And then Solas wakes up, and not only is everything he had hoped to save utterly destroyed but the world is completely changed. He admits to the Inquisitor that the people of Thedas weren’t even people to him at first. It was like walking through a world of tranquil.

Now, we as players have spent years in the world of Thedas. And our natural response is, “Psh, Solas. Get over yourself.” But put yourself in Solas’ shoes and consider that this world of Thedas that we know and love to Solas is more akin to a post-apocalyptic world.

Solas caused the freaking apocalypse.

I would encourage you to imagine the worst post-apocalyptic world you can think of where human beings are still alive but barely making due to the point that you wouldn’t recognize them as people at first. That’s how Solas sees Thedas.

But then Solas spends some time in that world, and gets to meet and know the people, even falls in love with one of them.

That’s the moment that changes everything, and then changes nothing.

Solas realizes he was misguided in his initial judgement of the people of this new world. But it doesn’t change his goal. Because his goal was never about making this world stable to support genuine life again. He just believed it wasn’t stable at all, and that made his goal a lot easier thinking the loss of these strange people wouldn’t amount to anything.

But now he knows it will. He knows ripping down the veil will cause the end of countless lives, and their blood will be on his hands. And it will likely include the blood of the people he cares about, maybe even loves.

It changes everything, but it can’t.

You’d think this would be enough for Solas to revise his plans. But he doesn’t because he can’t. This is stressed over and over again in game.

When you think about it, Solas’ plan really doesn’t make that much sense. How is killing everyone and effectively resetting the world restoring the elves? Because it’s not. Yes, magic will come back, but at worse everyone will be reset to hunter/gatherer status and he’s just hoping after so many eons, the elves will eventually regain the empire.

Which sounds like quite the stretch, to be honest.

On top of that, this extremely thin chance to “restore” the elves will likely end in his death (possibly because tearing down the veil will also require an enormous amount of power and he’s not as strong as he was). He says this in Trespasser to a Lavellan who asks to join him.

That’s a hell of risk for such a slim chance, and then consider that Solas doesn’t even really want to do this. The whole game, he’s all about helping people and approves when you as a player do it. Even in Trespasser, banter from Cole reveals that Solas doesn’t want to hurt anyone (this coming from the spirit who has no qualms killing people who want to kill other people and yet still holds Solas dear).

Why continue down this path if (a) he’ll likely die doing it, (b) it doesn’t really restore what was lost, and ( c) he’s really not that into it?

Because he can’t.

Solas carries a lot of guilt and self-loathing.

This can be easy to overlook if you’re not paying attention and you don’t choose the right dialogue options.

I strongly suggest revisiting Trespasser and listening to the weight of his voice as he talks. Even for a low-approval Inquisitor, you can hear how hard it is for him to explain he’s Fen’Harel. He’s not happy or proud to be back in this role. He liked being just Solas. It was much simpler.

If you choose the “You fought for freedom / I know you’re not evil / My people were wrong” thumbs up option, he’ll reject the notion, saying that he doesn’t deserve the credit.

It’s also worth listening to his explanation of what happened to the elves (as he walks with the Inquisitor over to the ruins). He’s particularly weighty during that part (before you have the chance to ask questions). And he specifically tells you, he destroyed the elves.

After he explains his plan to tear down the veil and destroy the world, if you choose the “truly?” option, the Inquisitor will say that they never thought of Solas as someone who would do such a thing. His composure breaks for a moment and he says a soft, “Thank you.”

He knows what he’s done and what he’s capable of, and he doesn’t like that part of himself. And he doesn’t forgive himself for it either.

Saving Solas from himself

At the end of Trespasser, an Inquisitor set on redeeming Solas vows to “save our friend from himself.” That hit me as odd the first time because I’d gotten so caught up in the revelations and hadn’t explored the “correct” dialogue options to realize what was going on.

“Solas is determined to help the elves, right? Sounds like a pretty solid plan. What’s this save him from himself about?”

tl;dr Solas’ ultimate plan isn’t to restore the elves, but to fix his mistake. Everything Solas fought to save by creating the veil was effectively destroyed by it. The guilt of that weighs on him to the point that he can’t let it go. He will rectify his mistake by tearing the veil down, even if it means his death, even if it doesn’t actually restore the elves, even if everyone he cares about dies along with countless innocents. He is the reason the elves fell, and he cannot live with that on his conscience. He has to try.

Resorting Arlathan isn’t the point.

Finding value in this world isn’t the point.

Falling in love with Lavellan isn’t the point.

His guilt is. And it’s strong enough to take him and the rest of the world down with him.

And that’s why he needs saving from himself.

Bonus - More Guilt!

Didn’t fit above, but worth pointing out:

(1) Solas put up the veil, which took magic from everyone. And then traveling with you, he gets to see first hand the after effects of the Mage Templar War - people driven from their homes, cold and starving; families torn apart; people killing each other over fear and hatred.

I have no doubt the irony isn’t lost on Solas that this war never would have happened if the veil hadn’t been created and made magic scarce enough for people to fear it.

(2) Lavellan romance. Solas states repeatedly that his interest in the relationship is “selfish.” He says he’s “furious” with himself after breaking the relationship off. And at least once he tells her she deserves better (special mention goes to the “I’m not giving up on you” break up option where his response is “you truly should”). And even though he refuses to discuss it, that’s still weighing on him to the point that he feels he has to give her some kind of an explanation at the end game before he disappears. I’m not even going to get into how it’s still weighing on him in Trespasser.

(3) Mythal. He killed his best friend. I mean, damn. Not to mention, it’s the very act he doomed the evanuris to an eternity of punishment for and believed they - and now himself - deserve. Double damn.

(4) Solas’ biggest fear is of dying alone. He knows the path he walks is hard, that his choices create enemies. He expects to be alone at the end, with no one to mourn him.

(5) Let’s face it, there’s probably lots more, including stuff we don’t know about.

Do people realize the amount of guilt this guy is carrying around? Is this starting to make sense now? AM I SCREAMING INTO THE ABYSS?!?!

Believe it or not, I told myself this morning I was NOT going to write an essay on what’s going on inside Solas’ head.

EDITS:

(6) Thanks to @bearlytolerable​ for pointing this out, but freaking spirits! They used to exist in conjunction with reality. And now, with the creation of the veil, the shock of passing into reality is enough to turn many of them into demons. Solas’ responsibility for this isn’t lost on him.