Art Blog

• Solavellan • • Dragon Age • • Mass Effect • • Baldur's Gate 3 • • Tomb Raider •

[celesenova]

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My OC's:

DAI: Leilah Lavellan | Nydhalen Lavellan | DATV: Asaren Thorne 'Rook' | DAO: Salysa Surana | DA2: Lucia Hawke | FFXI/FFXIV: Luciana Corso

I mostly post about Dragon Age because it's my obsession but I'm human and my interests are bound to flop around. Though probably not for the foreseeable future.

Dividers: saradika

[celesenova]

Finished day 2 😮‍💨

[rosieofcorona]

pov ur alistair theirin and u catch feelings at the end of the world :/

(wip)

[rosieofcorona]

[celesenova]

Honestly....Cole is way too low on everyones list of favorite dragon age companions and I think you all need to go into time out

[amoaliquis]

For the Domesticity Questions~

For whichever of your OC's you feel like answering for/or all of them. Whatever you want~ 💚

• Who flirts more?

• What do they do when they’re away from each other?

• What would they do if the other one was hurt?

Aha! I just got on my laptop and saw this.

MUWAHAHAHAHA. (I hope that came across as appropriately unhinged and devious.)

I really appreciate that you gave me the "go ahead, little gremlin, pick your ship" vibes. Especially knowing I never (or very rarely) talk about Asena. You did that for me, and I genuinely recognized the thought and personal consideration behind it. Seriously, thank you.

Now, I swear I'll answer for these two because I seldom get the chance to talk about them.

• Who flirts more?

Can they just play the "No, she did it!" "No, he did it!" blame game?

Solas started it over a decade ago. /laughs.

These days, though, it's entirely mutual, just expressed in their own wonderfully strange, poetic, intensely sincere ways. Sometimes they don't even need words; a lingering glance or the brush of a hand says everything.

...Unless they make it to the bedroom. Then all that beautiful, lyrical Elvhen gets very graphic.

• What do they do when they're away from each other?

Asena isn't very good at staying idle.

She's always had something to do ever since she was a child. (Trying to prove your Clan is, for lack of a better word, narrow-minded and fundamentally wrong takes a lot of work.) Then came saving Ferelden. Then leading the Inquisition.

She doesn't really know how to just... be.

So now that she finally has the time, she's devoted herself to understanding how her magic has changed. First after receiving the Anchor, and now once again after entering the Fade permanently. Every new discovery raises another question, and she's more than happy to chase every last one.

She also keeps in touch with Dorian and, through him, Iron Bull; the two people she grew closest to during her years as Inquisitor.

As for Solas? He's finally allowing himself to heal.

He's working on his own mental well-being, learning to understand the Fade and the Veil as they exist now rather than as they once were, exploring what his connection to them has become, and trying to forge a less antagonistic relationship with the Titans.

The dwarves deserve better.

Beyond that, both he and Asena spend much of their time exploring the Fade, sometimes together and sometimes apart, searching for answers on how best to soothe the Titans' anger. Asena is equally determined to understand how the Blight itself has changed and to ensure that the Grey Wardens no longer face shortened lifespans. This is fostered in no small part by her friendships with the HoF, Odessa Surana, and Alistair, as well as her connection to Fiona.

It is possible.

And with her and Solas working in tandem?

It's only a matter of time.

They'll also receive a future visit from one Senka de Riva, who eventually seeks out Emmrich's help reaching the Fade. (She's no mage, after all.)

Her motivation? She remembers Solas's offer to Lucanis. [HERE]

Who better to learn what she needs from than the man she reluctantly respects and who was, in fact, a spirit himself?

Ah, unintentional and slightly adversarial friends, thy names be Solas and Senka. /grins.

• What would they do if the other one was hurt?

Asena remembers the days of the Inquisition all too clearly.

On the rare occasions Solas fell in battle, panic would seize her before she even realized it. Her throat tightened. Her heartbeat seemed to stop. For the briefest instant, terror froze every thought in her mind.

Then her will shattered through that paralysis.

Determination.

No one falls.

She would gladly lay down her own life before letting him die.

Solas remembers something different.

The sharp curses that spilled from his lips in effortless Elvhen. The flash of white-hot fury whenever he saw the Inquisitor take a devastating blow.

Focus.

"You're not leaving me. Not like this."

Both instinctively reach for magic.

Solas, of course, possesses an almost unfathomable well of it to draw upon. Asena's healing, by comparison, was something she had to learn. She'd always favored protective wards and barriers over restorative magic.

But will is a powerful thing where magic is concerned.

The first time she healed him after a particularly brutal battle, the spell succeeded...

...and she promptly collapsed.

She had woven far too much of herself into the magic, exhausting her mana and nearly draining herself unconscious in the process.

Solas was not pleased.

If he couldn't stop her from worrying over him, and he knew he couldn't, then he would at least ensure she learned to heal without sacrificing herself each time she did it.

So he taught her.

How to close wounds efficiently. How to stop bleeding. How to stabilize someone before attempting anything more ambitious. Most importantly, how to gauge the limits of her mana instead of pouring every ounce of herself into a single spell.

After all, saving his life wasn't much comfort if it cost him hers.

[luzial]

WIP Wednesday

thank you for the tag @celesenova!! (and thanks also to @gefionne, @rattyhorrorpictureshow, @theriothag, @eight-of-pentacles, @quantumphoenixblue, @virshiral, @fadedsweater for recent-ish tags that i missed while i was neglecting tumblr. consider yourselves tagged back!)

i am hard at work on the next chapter of evergreen, but i've also been playing with a second project that suddenly forced itself to the front of my mind. a few of you have already seen this, but for the rest:

Summer was golden in The Dales, when the wheat fields swayed and shone in the late afternoon sun. The gold on Ellana's finger was duller — determined, it seemed, not to catch the light. She swallowed nervously as she stared at it, as she made a fist and dragged her thumbnail over the metal. Her husband of approximately one hour sat beside her in the small carriage. Like the family that owned it, the vehicle was in a state of decline — threadbare seats, loose strings at the seams, worn upholstery lining the interior. Through the narrow, forward-facing window, she studied a large patch that had been sewn into the back of the coachman's coat. The color of the fabric was a near match and the needlework tidy enough, but a servant of a house of this stature should have better. Servants in her house always did. Shabby, Ellana thought irritably. The white-gloved hand flexed suddenly against the knee where it rested, almost as if its owner had heard her complaint.

more to come, hopefully very soon :)

[rosieofcorona]

blood of calenhad

(frank dicksee study, 2026)

[celesenova]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you for thinking of me and for tagging me @mogwaei @pooyaaaaan & @crimsonphantasmagoria @rhoxxia 💚

Gently and no pressure tagging: @luzial @annahenriart @galacticsparkles @rosieofcorona

I've been working on DA Kiss Week so I've been a bit MIA, sorry. 🥲 I need to catch up with all the posts I've missed over the last few days.

Here's a sneak peak of Day 1 and Day 2. I'm hoping I can finish them in time. 🤞

[rhoxxia]

WIP WEDNESDAY

Whee! Thanks for the tag @mogwaei

Gonna tag @pooyaaaaan @celesenova @lanolynn @topaz-carbuncle

Here's a snippet from DA Kiss week Day 1 Camp

Solas nearly starts when he realizes he has walked to her in his unhurried watching and now stands only a foot away. He feels the dewy breeze across the tips of his cool ears and watches her hair flutter like dancing butterflies across the flesh of her neck. He envies it. 

“Well?” Elora asks and he blinks, forcing his eyes from the place where her pulse beats steadily in her throat- his lips tingling with the urge to press there and suck. Their eyes meet then and a smirk pulls one corner of her mouth higher than the other. Everything about her in the moment is relaxed and it aches him to know it is he who makes her feel this way. “Where is my morning kiss?”

[crimsonphantasmagoria]

WIP Wednesday

Tagged by @fadetouchedlurker and @eight-of-pentacles. Sadly I’m a bit writing blocked right now, but I’ve mostly been focusing on my DA Kiss Week art anyway, so here’s an update on that.

Looks weird with flat colour. Best get to rendering.

Tagging @haezelnut @galacticsparkles and @celesenova

[mogwaei]

WIPPI WEDNESDAY AGAIN?!!

jk thank you SO much for the tag @vhen-harel!!

tagging forward (either for today or next wednesday!) - @celesenova, @mooreaux, @endellyon-art, @rhoxxia, and ANYONE ELSE!!! tag me if you share, I WANNA SEEEE!! 💚

Dropping everything below the cut!

One of my new fav Solas(s) I've drawn :3

This Varric crack-ship I'll never post anywhere except on my patreon :')

I just posted two massive chapters (38k total💀) for Ouroboros and need a minute to catch my breath so here are some sillies from Resonance:

Bull saw him immediately and his grin widened, as if his night had just improved by his entry. Oh, no, not this. "Professor Solas," Bull purred. "Perfect." He set down his cup and turned to face Solas fully, assuming an expression of sensual intensity. "Has anyone ever told you that you have the kind of focus that makes a man want to be the only thing in the room?" Solas poured himself a glass of water. "No." "What about: you remind me of a fine whiskey. Takes time to appreciate, but once you do, you never want anything else." "Also no." Bull gestured expansively. "I've been working on him for two years," he said to Zjinn. "Two years. The man is immovable. Like trying to flirt with a wall." He looked at Solas with something approaching genuine admiration. "You're a masterpiece of deflection." "Thank you," Solas said. "'Course your smug ass would take that as a compliment." Bull turned back to Zjinn, bumping her hip, nearly knocking her over. "You should give it a try. Maybe you'll have better luck."

[pooyaaaaan]

WIP EVERYTHING

Thanks for tagging me, @kcwriter-blog 💚

Here’s today’s drawing—gonna finish it up fast so I can go play some games 🎮

Passing the tag on to @celesenova , @crimsonphantasmagoria , @exia-1 , @miraabellee and @rhoxxia ! No pressure, of course 💚

[vhen-harel]

Let me just lob the questions right back at you for Solas and Saethre! I don't think I know anything about your Rook? That'd be interesting af! <3

What does your Lavellan understand about Solas that makes forgiveness possible without excusing what he’s done?

Is there something your Lavellan fundamentally misunderstands about Solas, and that Solas fundamentally misunderstands about your Lavellan? What finally allows them to understand each other more clearly and how does that understanding come?

What is the dynamic between your Lavellan and your Rook?

If your Rook comes to know Solas primarily as an adversary, while your Lavellan’s experience is coloured by their love and history together, where do their interpretations of him overlap - and where do they differ?

Thank you Fox! I also got @eight-of-pentacles, @fadetouchedlurker and @celesenova asking me back so here we go! It's a long read because I have chosen to indulge. 😂

1.

What makes forgiveness possible for Saethre is that she understands why Solas made his choices and continues to make them.

First, I believe the Inquisitor has a far clearer picture of Solas by the time of VG than some people think. You don’t spend years hunting someone down only to sit back and ignore the details. To me, Lavellan and Solas are like Eve and Villanelle in Killing Eve - mutual obsession (Solas keeps appearing wherever the Inquisition is involved, and Saethre never stops hunting him.)

The conversation she has with Rook at the Cobbled Swan reveals why Saethre can forgive Solas. He isn’t choosing to destroy Thedas for its own sake. He’s choosing to save his people (including spirits), even though restoring them destroys everyone else. Saethre holds that distinction very clearly in her mind. She can also forgive him on a personal level because she knows he still loves her and understands those choices too (as painful as they were - hindsight is a wonderful thing).

Solas' response to the question about killing others back in Trespasser - "Wouldn’t you, to save your own?" is a question she's spent years thinking about. Perhaps she’d have a different answer if her clan had survived, but they didn’t. They were killed because of her decisions or maybe for who she was and represented. She'll never know for certain, but she’ll always carry the responsibility for it. So if she could change what happened, would she? If saving her clan and her fellow elves from continued oppression meant destroying others, would she do it? She actually had answered that question a long while back - when she put Briala into a position of power. She used her own power, her influence, blackmail to get her people into a place of advantage, even if that meant others might hate her or condemn her for it.

So the answer to Solas' question in her deepest, secret heart is yes. She would. And she has. Her time as Inquisitor proved to her that she will kill others in order to protect others.

It’s also tied to what she experienced when she travelled through time with Dorian. She saw that blighted future and lived through its horrors. She was able to return, but the people trapped in that timeline had still experienced hell. She was Solas in that moment, waking up to a horrific future because she'd failed. And now she sees that same kind of world coming to fruition after all. No, she'd do anything to stop that suffering from becoming real, especially if it meant protecting her own people and those she loves.

She’s also painfully aware of the decisions she's made as Inquisitor. She’s no saint. If she turns her back on Solas, calls him a monster, points a finger at him, and decides he deserves to die, then she has to accept that someone else will make the same judgement about her.

We reap what we sow, and Saethre isn’t certain she’s always sown the most innocent or fertile of seeds.

2.

Saethre doesn't quite understand Solas' immortality and how that shapes him. The spirit side she understands. She’s spent years seeking out spirits, speaking with them and trying to understand how they experience the world. But she has no real context for what it means to have lived for centuries upon centuries or how an immortal experiences time or relationships.

She loves this man, but she doesn't know how someone who's lived that long would experience a brief mortal life like hers, or whether she truly had an impact on him. It's a question she struggled with for a while. Did he truly love her? She believes he did, has faith in it, but she sometimes wonders what that love meant. Did he love her as a man or as an ancient immortal who was so lost and lonely? She knows who Solas is, she just can't always grasp the scale on which he exists, or what her mortal life could mean within it (not until they get to regret prison at least).

Solas misunderstands Saethre’s relentless curiosity. He sees her hunger for knowledge, but he doesn’t realize how it’s tied to her need for control. The more she knows, the more prepared she feels, and the less likely she is to be blindsided by another disaster she couldn’t prevent. He took that curiosity for granted.

When Solas told her he walked the din’anshiral, he should have known how completely her mind would latch on that word. She did everything she could to learn what it meant and where that path might lead because, if he's walking it, she sure as hell is walking it too. You do not give Saethre a piece of information and not expect her to run with it. When she finally understood it as the path of death, she realized with some humour that she’d already been walking it for most of her life.

I suppose the other thing Solas misunderstands about Saethre is that she's ok with death. She doesn’t want to die, but she’s survived so many physical and spiritual deaths that she no longer sees death as something to fear. She’s lost her clan, her vallaslin, her arm, the Inquisition, her personhood - nearly every version of herself she once believed she had to be.

It's the difference between mortal and immortal. Saethre's always known death will come, so it has a natural place in the order of things. For years she even mistakenly believed she was a bringer of death. Solas, on the other hand, has lived so long and made such epic, awful choices that death has become tied to failure for him. He has experience with others dying around him for so very long, but he's not emotionally at peace with it, especially because he's the reason elves lost their immortality. Especially when it comes to Saethre dying.

He can't understand that Saethre is okay to die because he doesn't want her to. Of all the people he's sacrificed or killed, she's one person he will protect. He needs her to survive for a couple reasons - one is that he believes in her leadership and the world will need people like her once the Veil comes down. But mostly because somewhere in his mind, keeping her alive means he hasn't destroyed absolutely everything he loves.

So you bet your ass Solas has spirits ready to protect Saethre. If he dies, so be it. Knowing she's alive though would bring him some peace.

It's funny because they're both so obsessed with control. It's the understanding they eventually come to in the Fade together. They realize they're more alike than not - both of them have been trying to control the world, just on very different scales.

3.

Oh Dozer and Saethre. There's definitely tension between them. In another life, they probably would have made a great team, but they'll never be friends. Mutual respect is as far as they get.

The tension comes from Solas and Varric. Dozer knows Saethre loves Solas and thinks she sees him through rose-coloured glasses. Saethre thinks Dozer can only see Solas as a god and nothing more.

She understands why, but she's also fiercely protective over her own experience with Solas. No one gets to tell her what she shared with Solas wasn't real. She also sees all of this as her responsibility in which she'd get no argument from Dozer. Dozer partly blames her for what happened to Varric and it takes Varric telling him to let it go - after that experience in regret prison Dozer finally stops holding her responsible.

Over time, they come to respect that neither of them is entirely wrong. That said, Saeathre isn't above trying to steer Dozer to the outcome she wants. I love Dozer accusing Saethre of this being her mess he's cleaning up - yes it is. She accepts it and she's going to clean up her own mess thank you very much. She's got Harding, Morrigan, Dorian and Maevaris helping her pull the strings from behind the scenes. It's a good balance between Dozer making his own choice and leading, but he's surrounded by people with loyalty to Saethre - so how much of it is his choice vs how much he's influenced by others? Well, he won't necessarily ever know.

4.

Where Dozer and Saethre's interpretations of Solas overlap is they see a highly intelligent man, probably too intelligent for his own good. They both understand he's proud and is very good at twisting truth.

Where it differs is that Rook sees Solas as a god and Saethre sees him as a man. (I mean, look at Rook here - the instinct to take a praying posture is fascinting. I always thought Rook had trouble getting a read on Solas and this solidified it for me).

Saethre's determined to make Dozer see Solas beyond the Dread Wolf. Dozer wants her to see him through his eyes. But she kind of already has. She's lost bodily autonomy, her personhood, her arm, spent years cleaning up Solas' mess, had her heart broken by him and saw the rawness of his rage when he wanted to kill those mages. She knows what Solas is capable of. Neither of them believe the other is seeing Solas clearly.

I also think Rook is at a disadvantage because the Inquisitor knows far more about Rook than Rook does the Inquisitor. Saethre's been getting reports form Harding and Varric, Morrigan too, so by the time they meet, Saethre has the advantage of knowing far more about Dozer than he does of her - Saethre is a mystery to him amidst a lot of mysteries.

And the more mysterious or otherworldly something is, the more out of depth Dozer feels and so the tighter his blinders become. He moves in straight lines and tends to ram through whatever's in front of him instead of stopping to consider whether there might be another way around. Dozer's a young dwarf (26 yrs old) who's whole life has been rough, unstable and largely without structure until the Grey Wardens (and then Varric) gave him some.

Saethre's history with Solas gives her an advantage because for all Dozer's anger towards Solas, she can see how similar they are. They're both stubborn and think their path is the correct one, just get it done - whatever it takes right?

In a way, Solas and Saethre are playing a game of chess over Dozer. Every manipulation and cruel decision Solas makes pushes Dozer closer to seeing him as nothing but a ruthless, cruel god. Saethre's making moves in the opposite direction, trying to pull Dozer out of his own anger and get him to see Solas as more than what he's done to him - getting him to see the larger picture and to make a choice with everyone in mind. And that includes Solas.

Anyway, when I think of Dozer and Saethre - this look between them always comes to mind.

[haezelnut]

For the Domesticity questions! 🥹💚

24. Who remembers things?

37. Do they celebrate birthdays, valentine’s day, anniversaries?

47. How do they make up after a fight?

Thank you for these lovely Qs! <3

From Big Fat Domesticity Questions Meme

24. Technically, Solas does, 'cause he's got... magic memory. There's eons of information in there. But something funny happens when people live together for a long time, they start borrowing each other's brain power. Therefore, sometimes, Solstice remembers things he doesn't.

37. They don't celebrate as in doing anything special about it, but they do remember their first kiss every year. They acknowledge that's when both of them got irrevocably pulled into this relationship. Solas also pampers her at midsummer, because he knows she used to celebrate her name day with her clan, and she misses them.

47. They apologize, first and foremost. They don't have huge fights, rather, disagreements. But they do try to see each other's point of view and clarify as much as necessary until the misunderstanding is finally cleared out. They act as a team, their relationship is a common goal. Extra hugs and kisses in case it got emotional and the issue unearthed some repressed trauma, because sometimes a misunderstanding arises from unexpected corners.

[nixscriptum]

[celesenova]

𝓜𝔂 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮, 𝓶𝔂 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰.

𝓜𝔂 𝓛𝓮𝓲𝓵𝓪𝓱, 𝓐𝓻 𝓵𝓪𝓽𝓱 𝓶𝓪.

[vhen-harel]

Some Solavellan thoughts - mainly on the distance Solas has to keep from Lavellan. The Trespasser dream slides indicate that Solas and Lavellan met in dreams - how often over time is up to the player and how one might interpret Solas. But those slides highlight Solas keeping his distance. In VG He writes a letter because it's safer to express how he feels while maintaining that distance. In talking to Rook about Lavellan we see that distance yet again - he can't talk too personally on Lavellan, it's too dangerous for Solas. So, that distance can be viewed in a lot of different ways but one way in particular that I keep thinking on is Solas keeping that distance in order to keep himself as the monster/villain. The moment he looks into Lavellan's eyes, he'll see himself, his true self, within them. He can’t allow himself that reminder - not when he has to walk the din'anshiral.

Some say we fall in love with the people who reflect us most clearly, because love begins with being seen - and these two truly see each other and are similar in many ways. Their romance scenes have evocative silent moments of them just staring into each other's eyes. Their romance dialogue is filled with themes of seeing and being seen:

Lavellan: You’re an admirable man. Not many people know who they are the way you do. Solas: Thank you. Both for saying that and… for seeing that. Few in this world can see me. Solas: I’m so sorry for causing you pain. It was selfish of me. I look at you, and I see what you truly are. Lavellan: I know you told me because you wanted to help, but the vallaslin is part of who I am. I hope you can see past- Solas: Stop. You are perfect exactly as you are.

Solas: You saw more than most.

This really is apparent in the atonement ending to me. Doe-eyed has been a not-so charitable description used for Lavellan in that ending - but I remember being so captivated by Lavellan's eyes and always saw the symbolism of their themes of seeing and being seen continuing here. How adamant Lavellan was to keep looking at Solas, trying to hold his gaze except he's the one who continuously looks away. He still has a terrible duty to complete, and seeing himself through her eyes threatens that emotional distance he needs in order to do it. I felt that every time he met Lavellan's gaze, he couldn't look too long. He eventually turns his back to Lavellan, almost as though he can't risk another look at her.

I think it's also why he can't look Mythal in the eyes. It's a similar, yet different reflection. Where Lavellan might reflect back to him who Solas is and wants to be again, Mythal, with their ancient life together, fragmented before him, reflects back a fragmented being, in addition to "all the things that I have done" and us being left to our imagination of what all those things Solas has done over his ancient life.

And then after all that, we have Solas and Lavellan just staring at each other. And I just loved the focus on their eyes, Lavellan's eyes so big and bright - Solas' eyes, haunted and hurting but so soft upon her - each filled with such emotion. There's no monster in Lavellan's eyes and he doesn't look away.

I don't know, was just having some Solavellan thoughts over my morning cup of coffee.