Slow Arrow

She/her 34 solavellan side blog | I make art, it’s tagged with #my art

[amaryllislavellan]

Var lath Vir Suledin....!! And so it did, vhenan -- I just imagine that at some point laughter returns to the two of them as the weight of their lives becomes easier to shoulder together.

[vhen-harel]

Solas is told by his Wisdom friend that he must now endure.

Solas was Solas first. Fen'Harel came later. A badge of pride - pride because it was meant to be an insult but he proudly took it and reclaimed it and instead it became a name of rebellion.

Yes Solas, we have to play up the Dread Wolf.

Wisdom is a weapon. Wisdom creates weapons. Wisdom is warring. There is blood on Wisdom's hands.

We can ill afford to lose even one of the rarer spirits.

You must endure.

The Dread Wolf is evil.

Fen'Harel is a false god.

You lied.

Only by omission. (You saw more than most.)

No one has ever drawn my attention away from the Fade. The Fade. Where I can endure.

Ar lath ma, Vhenan.

Wisdom, you must endure.

I cannot.

I walk the din'anshiral, there is only death on this journey and I will not have you see what I become. (It will be the end of Wisdom.)

Endure.

Death death. Destroy one world save the other. Save one world destroy the other.

Wisdom must endure - there must be another, better option.

I pulled you from the Fade - I used your wisdom as a weapon - and it broke you.

Endure.

The things that I have done.

Don't go.

It would be kinder in the long run. But losing you...

You saw more than most - I was Solas first (I prefer to be known as Wisdom.)

Losing you would...

Be losing the truth of who I am.

Losing you would...

Be losing myself.

To die alone...

I walk the din'anshiral.

Harden your heart to a cutting edge.

You must endure.

I cannot.

A host of spirits will be there to minimize the damage.

Perhaps by the time you read this letter and see the old world, you will understand why I did what I did...

If I am there...

If I have endured...

And you wish to see me again.

Solas, I cannot bear to think of you alone

I walk the din'anshiral.

It is my punishment to be alone.

No, that is not our fate.

Bellanaris.

I will endure.

Vhenan.

[lathbora-virann]

Once again genuinely confused by people who claim Solas is obsessed with empire and elven glory and restoring Arlathan the way it was??

[huldine]

I was originally going to put this in the tags, but then realized that I had about 3 pages worth of frustrated, pent-up emotions that were pouring out... and I might as well just add it to the post!

I feel so confused by the insanely pervasive headcanons that exist about Solas in fan spaces, and are repeated as if they're fact or canon in game-- whether to degrade his character or try to defend him!

I've played this game for almost a decade now and one thing that I always remembered and knew about Solas, was that he had an incredible amount of banter and conversation pertaining to ALL peoples-- whether dwarven, human, qunari, elven, etc. that talked about UNIVERSALS.

The Qunari baker who presses a single pinch of sugar in each loaf of bread as she starts her day? He speaks with such OPEN admiration of her, because he FAMOUSLY admires that resistance no matter who it comes from!! He admires and is interested in UNIVERSALS, despite his resentment and regrets about his own actions that reshaped the entire world.

He discusses faith with Cassandra, and admires the strength of her spirit and convictions-- even if he has disagreements with the Chantry itself, or the Andrastian faith and it's frequent attacks against dissent (especially towards elven communities).

He doesn't want to "bring back the old world" because he thinks that the ELVES are the best, or that he wants to kill every other race-- he wants to REVERSE the action that he made which fundamentally changed the world forever, and for the worse (in his eyes).

I truly believe that this (in my opinion) mischaracterization happens because of his race-locked romance, which gives this really strange habit of discourse claiming that "only lavellan opens his mind to the idea that modern people are actually people" despite him having a similar if not IDENTICAL conversation every other befriended Inquisitor! And you can believe that the conversation is condescending or offensive, but the fundamentals of it are the same for every race-- he grows to admire you as a representation of what the modern world (that he incidentally created) has wrought.

Solas is at his core a NUANCED individual, and that's exactly what makes his character so interesting and able to spark all of these discussions and discourses about his intentions, beliefs, and motivations. It is such a huge disservice to morph him into this simplistic individual that hates other people when he is genuinely a curious person, who sees connections of the universals between all people.

P.S (i ran out of space in the tags again...): If he actually hated other races or more specifically in this example QUNARI then we would not hate the Qun as much as he does. It is BECAUSE he dislikes the Qun because of it's (in his belief) repressive and controlling nature over the individuality of the soul, that we can understand that he 1) DOES see qunari (as a race) as people that have the same universals as himself and 2) ADMIRES the resistance that he can recognize within his own nature shared among people such as the Baker.

^^^ and this is NOT targeted against people that critique his interactions with qunari or beliefs about the Qun, because trust me as an arab I understand the parallels between this and a lot of anti-Islam rhetoric which parades right-wing and racist rhetoric beneath claims of "compassion."

This is specifically for people who reduce his character down to a simplistic headcanon that fits into a neat little box of "he just likes elves da most," ignoring the most fundamental aspects of his world view which are again based in UNIVERSALS, his own sense of morality and ethics, and most especially RESISTANCE against injustice.

[westlywheatly-deactivated202512]

Ancient elven god falls in love bc local woman snores louder than the voices in head telling him not too

[sky-blue-siha]

2 Different Eggs, who will you eat?

[dayntee]

[drinkyourfuckingmilk]

some ridiculous Dragon Age 4 Thoughts comics I drew ages ago. The last one was inspired by this blessed post with Jeff Goldblum as the Black Divine.

[rederiswrites]

It is the middle of the night and I cannot sleep and am once again thinking about what Veilguard could have been.

Do you ever think about the fact that there's not a single abomination in the whole game? Doesn't happen. Not even to Venatori. No, Lucanis does not count. He genuinely is not actually an abomination. It's just that most of the cultures of Thedas don't have any other term for spirit possession. I just think it's interesting that in the game where your whole and unquestioned job is to keep the Veil up, there's not a single example of this well established tragic consequence of the Veil.

Not a single living ancient elf. Solas had agents. There were unequivocally still ancient elves around. We see none. No one who could attest to what the world once was. No one who might dare agree with Solas. And what of the spirits who were waiting to help? Not a one in Solas's own crossroads? None. The spirits there are silent. They have no voice.

Is there a single mention of uthenera? I don't remember one. The unknown number of elves who might still live, cut off from their bodies. Don't worry about it! Don't you worry.

We roam the halls of Arlathan itself. Not a single veilfire rune with visions of a time before death, when magic was as easy as breathing. Not a glimpse into the world that existed before the Veil. Not a moment of wonder over what once was.

It's been scrubbed.

[roguescorner]

bellanaris | wisdom + determination

[lavellaned]

Visit Original Link

I'm reminded of Cole's comment about how it's harder to read inky because of the mark, that it's like "counting birds against the sun", and that he can only read people when they need him (compassion).

Cole is sensing Solas's pain first and foremost, which allows him to connect to Lavellan's.

So whenever I get this banter all I can think about is how not only Lavellan is hurting so bad that Cole is able to pick up on it, but that Solas is also still so distraught that his mental barriers are down until he manages to shut Cole out.

It's also worth noting the amount of time it required him to do so, Cole just about ruined this man's whole career by starting to blurt out Solas's biggest secret.

[sky-blue-siha]

He just loves his other half so much Bonus:

[krems-chair]

I cannot emphasize enough that after a series of hideous personal reckonings today has shaken me to my core, if your favorite romanced/deeply-connected-with character in a work of media is:

-unattainable

-mysterious

-only softens for one person

-generally distrusted by most (and even wanted dead by some)

-causes pain (sometimes hospitalization-worthy) but just needs to be reminded what love feels like

-so beautiful it hurts

then you owe a horse girl an apology because that's it that's the prodigal Horse Girl plotline right there they've been telling you for years about the power of loving the Broken Beautiful Thing back to its full potential and you didn't listen but whooo buddy your subconscious sure did

[amaryllislavellan]

As a horse girl I completely agree with this and I am losing my mind over how predictable I am.

It’s not about making them better for everyone, it’s about living in harmony and knowing you can trust each other even when previous interactions have damaged that trust

[holepsi]

don’t trust the apostate 2: reborn

[houndvoice]

Y’all seen these videos

[baejax-the-great]

Varric: People are dying!!

Solas, who invented people being able to die and is currently trying to uninvent that: Yeah, man. Glad we can agree on this.

[baejax-the-great]

Massive Veilguard spoilers ahead, but this post I made in June now just... baffles me.

It's a reference to the start of the game where Varric points out correctly that people are dying, and Solas says, "That's what they do."

And I assumed, along with, oh, around 5k people on tumblr i guess, that this was Solas's doublespeak. He is tearing down the Veil because people are dying--he lost them their immortality thousands of years ago and he is trying to restore it. People dying right now is an ongoing crisis that he is trying to solve, but ultimately unimportant to the end result of people being immortal again, when they will stop dying.

Except... we get to the end of the game, and that isn't his motivation anymore. Doesn't even mention it. Doesn't mention any of the benefits of getting rid of the Veil. Just says the world is wrong and it's not how it was when Mythal was alive.

So this brilliant doublespeak at the beginning of the game laying out his motivation that we know from Trespasser is... not that. It's nothing. Were the writers misleading us about what this game was going to be? Did they forget they retconned the shit out of Solas and forgot to make this line make sense? Is Solas just supposed to be a callous murderous asshole now?

????????

[herearedragons]

Cole: Don't worry. I'm fast enough to be where you need me.

(if Iron Bull is in the party)

Cole: You can send the Bull further in. He knows where the archers are.

Iron Bull: (grunts) What is it this time?

(if Cassandra is in the party)

Cole: She can kill four of them. But she'll get hurt, too.

Cassandra: Why are you looking at me?

(if Blackwall is in the party)

Cole: You should send someone with Blackwall. Then it's just like the tourney.

Blackwall: What in the world is he talking about?

(if Solas is in the party)

Cole: Solas can't stay there. He needs to see you.

Solas: I need a line of sight to cast a barrier, yes. What are we discussing, exactly?

(if Vivienne is in the party)

Cole: Vivienne is strong. She can hold the front line, but then she can't see what's behind her.

Vivienne: Leave me out of your games, demon.

(if Dorian is in the party)

Cole: Don't let them surround Dorian. He doesn't have enough fire for all of them.

Dorian: Yes, do not let them surround Dorian. What are we talking about, again?

(if Varric is in the party)

Cole: Varric is too far from the others. He shouldn't be alone.

Varric: (uneasy laugh) What's this about, Kid?

(if Sera is in the party)

Cole: Sera has fire and lightning, like you. They'll think that you're mages if you make it bright enough.

Sera: What? No! Don't want any of — whatever that is.

Cole: It's us, but smaller. He's moving us in his mind, trying to make us not die. I'm trying to help.

Aqun: I — were you hearing all of it?

Cole: Just the parts where you were afraid.

[westlywheatly-deactivated202512]

Ancient Arlathan Solavellan Au

Vallyn is June’s champion and Solas is still Solas lmao. They meet while he is trying to copy June’s notes/transcripts on eluvians to make his own.

[sky-blue-siha]

Professor AU memes. Rook totally fucks with Solas so much.

[amaryllislavellan]

The help meme makes my whole life