Solavellan sounds like a horror movie to me to be honest. Especially if Lavellan agrees to having her vallaslin removed
Like this young woman in a relationship with a man who continuously belittles her culture at every opportunity, expresses distaste every time she acts like sheâs proud of it, encourages her to distance herself from her peoples culture and then tells her that one of the most important cultural rituals her people have is actually a really horrible thing that used to mark you as someone elseâs property and encourages her to let him remove it.
And then when heâs removed it, removed the thing that signifies her kinship with her people, removes the thing that is a mark of adulthood within her people, he breaks up with her. So now she has been distanced from her culture, and had the markings on her face that signified her place in that culture removed. She would struggle to return and be taken seriously, even if her clan is nice about it they would certainly find it odd. And she doesnât even have the relationship she did it for
Or alternatively, when she refuses to change this thing about herself, refuses to let this man who has repeatedly belittled her culture cross that line, he breaks up with her. And sheâs left feeling like sticking to her culture, who this man has repeatedly belittled at every opportunity, has caused this breakup.
And then instead of being allowed to get over him, she continues to pine. First for three years, at which point she discovers that this man has lied to her about everything, is several thousand years old, is one of the GODS from her pantheon (holy mother of power imbalances), and not only did he not consider her a real person whoâs life had value and meaning for the entirety of their relationship but the reason he broke up with her was because that realisation made him feel bad about his plans to kill most people in the world. And instead of like. Changing those plans. He chose to ignore that knowledge and kill everyone anyway
And then TEN years later, never having spoken to him again, not being allowed to move on, most likely not being allowed to reconnect with her family and culture because sheâs been distanced from it by a man who lied to her and abandoned her to kill everyone, most likely facing ridicule for being in a relationship with the man whoâs trying to destroy the world, she abandons her home and her duty and traps herself in the fade with him for eternity.
Thatâs not romantic. Take away the magic and the elfiness of the situation, if you heard about that happening to someone youâd consider it emotional abuse and manipulation. It makes me super uncomfortable to even think about.
Why has she not been allowed to move on? Why has she not been allowed to recover from this betrayal? From this man who belittled and controlled her? Why is it that 13 years later, having not even spoken to him for a decade, she is throwing herself into the fade with him for eternity? Where are her family? Where are her friends? What is her life outside of Solas? Does she have one? Is she allowed to have one? Why is nobody able to save her?