halam'shivanas: the sweet sacrifice of duty
It implies the loss of something personal for duty’s sake
How tragically ironic would it be if Solas, the rebel god and breaker of slave chains, is in fact bound to Mythal’s will, much like Abelas or the drinker of the well of sorrows is?
We can assume his duty was to advise/protect Mythal, as based on the imagery and statues that depict him. Mythal’s murder would have meant he completely failed at his duty, meaning he is still bound to her even after banishing the false gods and creating the veil.
This is why he cannot be swayed on his path. He walks the dinan’shiral because he is bound by his duty to the people, and to Mythal. He can’t just walk away like Abelas can at the well. He can’t even tell the Inquisitor the truth even if he wants to because his duty to Mythal always comes first.
We all know Bioware love their tragic characters and this would just be the icing on the already delicious cake that is Thedas lore.
Note: Assumptions and theories ahead are based on speculation and theorising only- this is simply a potential take on Solas’ motivations.
Firstly, why would Solas even agree to serve Mythal?
Fen’Harel statues are often seen as a symbol of guardianship. In the Temple of Mythal he is depicted as a guard dog. Guard dogs infer protection and servitude to its owner. That’s the impression I get from his statues - that he guarded Mythal willingly and with great pride.
The only reason he came to be remembered as a god at all is because he takes the form of a powerful wolf beast, and walks amongst all factions freely as a rebel leader against slavery.
If Mythal is “the best” of the evanuris (and remember, the evanuris are self proclaimed gods who all owned slaves in some sense), how could Solas lead a slave rebellion while he was still on good terms with Mythal?
It can be assumed from clues throughout the game that Solas used to be a pure spirit in some sense before manifesting as a material elf. He refers to a person’s essence through their “spirit”, and it seems like he very much misses being a pure spirit himself.
Cole: You don’t need to envy me, Solas. You can find happiness in your own way.
Solas: I apologize for disturbing you, Cole. I am not a spirit, and sometimes it is hard to remember such simple truths.
Cole: They are not gone so long as you remember them.
Solas: I know.
Cole: But you could let them go.
Solas: I know that as well.
Cole: You didn’t do it to be right. You did it to save them.
Inquisitor: Solas, what is Cole talking about?
Solas: A mistake. One of many made by a much younger elf who was certain he knew everything.
Cole: You weren’t wrong, though.
Solas: Thank you, Cole.
(if Cole becomes more human)
Solas: How do you feel, Cole, now that you dealt with the Templar?
Cole: I don’t know. He hurt me… hurt the real Cole. I’m angry at him.
Cole: I can’t let that go. I have to become more, let it make me real.
Solas: You may well become fully human, after all. I never thought to see it.
Cole: When did you see it before?
Solas: I did not say that I had.
Cole: No, you didn’t. It’s harder to hear, sometimes. Sorry.
Solas: Good luck, Cole. You have taken a difficult road.
Could Solas have been a pure spirit of wisdom before he took on a physical form to be at Mythal’s side? Did the ancient elves use spirits to do their bidding, and those with greater power used physical bodies to transcend singular character traits to gain the full complexity and spectrum of emotions and actions? Perhaps that seemed appealing to Solas at the time - to become more than he currently was?
To gain wisdom you have to actively seek it. That means travelling and learning, a trait that Solas embodies. He elaborates on more of his travels if you ask him at Haven.
“The Fade reflects the world around it. Unless I travelled I would never find anything new.”
“The Fade reflects and is limited by our imaginations. To find interesting areas, one must be interesting.”
I have explored the Fade more than anyone alive, but even I can only visit in dreams.
Then in Trespasser, Cole cryptically reveals more snippets of his past (presumed).
Cole: He did not want a body. But she asked him to come. He left a scar when he burned her off his face.
Cole: He wants to give wisdom, not orders.
So, why would Solas willingly serve Mythal if he is so against slavery and servitude?
I presume it is because he actively sought more wisdom and inadvertently fell into Mythal’s will to attain more knowledge. Whether or not he deliberately became Mythal’s servant/advisor is up for debate. His circumstances could mirror his personal quest in DAI, where Mythal summoned him as a spirit to be her advisor, turning him from wisdom to pride. Or, this could just be a red herring.
Abelas sheds a bit of light on what serving Mythal actually entails:
“Brave it if you must. But know you this, you shall be bound forever to the will of Mythal….Bound as we are bound. The choice is yours.”
I personally think Solas could very well have chosen to attain more wisdom at the cost of serving Mythal- becoming her personal guard dog if you will. He was after all, cocky and thought he knew everything.
In any case, in forming a physical self, he inadvertently came into great power, becoming Fen’Harel, deified in his own right.
And once you have power, you always want more. It’s what forms a part of being human- he touches on this a lot in banter and dialogue throughout the game. To a wisdom spirit who simply sought more wisdom in the world, it makes sense he would always want to learn more and know more and be more.
To gain more wisdom, he had to constantly seek out greater things, and being in a position of great power as Mythal’s right hand man allowed him to collect this wisdom he so desired.
Solas traded wisdom for a physical body, thus he lost his spirit form permanently. He traded the simplicity of being a spirit of wisdom, for the complexity of being a mortal elf with all the emotions tied to it. He traded the very essence of his being to become one of Mythal’s own trusted advisors.
That was the cost of him gaining more knowledge through Mythal’s position of power- without this sacrifice of self, he would never have seen more, or known more, or been more than the singular trait of wisdom.
This is perhaps why he feels so lonely and betrayed and like he can’t trust anyone- because as a spirit, life was simple, he simply collected knowledge and passed it on. As a physical being, he learnt the brutality of war and the cost of betrayal. These events define his overall perception of physical beings, which is why he doesn’t view people as people. He simply views them as pawns to be used, like a game of chess. “He wants to give wisdom, not orders.“
It could also explain why he disdains physicality and envies Cole - he simply wishes everything were that simple, but it can’t because he is now a material being. When he realises his love for the Inquisitor is real, and that the companions in the Inquisition are real, it shakes the entirety of his core beliefs about what makes people, people. He only falls back to his sense of duty because he has to. He failed Mythal when she was killed, and she wants revenge. To achieve vengeance, she needs her guard dog to do her bidding.
As the ancient elves warred between themselves, Mythal would have needed advisors and trusted friends. She would have relied on Solas heavily, because he was a willing servant full of wisdom and advice, and his wisdom would be invaluable during a civil war. What Solas was to the Inquisition, he was probably even more so to Mythal.
This may be the reason why Mythal actually uplifted Solas as the dread wolf, helping him shape the image of fear and rebellion. She allowed him to be free of his vallaslin and create his rebellion- it was all subterfuge and part of her master plan to create chaos amongst her rivals and their slaves.
The side benefit was Solas took the fall for her in almost every respect- she came to be remembered as Mythal, the patron of motherhood and justice, while Solas came to be remembered as the trickster “god”, the dread wolf who sabotaged Mythal’s enemies while freeing slaves at the same time.
It was a symbiotic relationship for both of them as their actions aligned with each other’s motivations. It wasn’t out of love that Solas served Mythal, but his bonds of duty, personal desire for wisdom, and eventually his personal quest to end cruelty and slavery. He says himself he did not lead a rebellion without getting his hands bloody. Solas is not a saint and it’s easy to forget that- he was part of the institution as well.
Solas’ is a mortal mage whose weakness is pride
Solas isn’t infallible and he knows this. He makes so many mistakes out of arrogance it would be funny if it wasn’t sad. I mean, he gave his orb to Corypheus…what possessed him to think that was a good idea?
His pride is his weakness and he severely underestimates the complexity of human emotions and motivations. Where once he simply desired more wisdom, now, he thinks he knows better than anyone else because of his pride. He thinks modern Thedas is full of “tranquil” because he is so arrogant to believe that his past was better than the future he helped create, even though ancient elvhenan was chock full of slavery and cruelty.
In fact, his position of power was enabled through the evanuris, and Mythal herself, who was at the top of the pecking order.
Somewhere along the way, Mythal used him as a general or commander in the war. That is when I think Solas changed from an advisor to one that embodied pride. In doing so he took on the form of a reptilian wolf / dragon hybrid. “I would not have you see what I become…”
If you drink from the well, and have high approval with him, he will be very upset after the fact:
“You gave yourself into the service of an ancient elven god!…You are Mythal’s creature now. Everything you do, whether you know it or not, will be for her. You have given up a part of yourself.”
Solas knows what the Inquisitor has given up because perhaps he also gave up a part of himself for her.
At the end of DAI, Flemeth specifically says to Solas “I knew you would come”
When he says “I am so sorry” to Flemeth, she responds in kind. “I am sorry as well…old friend”.
It’s not a “I’m sorry you failed” sorry. It’s a “I’m sorry for what I’m about to get you to do” sorry. It’s hard to be certain at this point exactly what power Mythal bestows upon Solas, but I think the fact remains, Solas isn’t simply Solas anymore. Through his bonds of duty to Mythal, his actions will be for her whether or not he knows it.
With the essence of Mythal’s power, the things he will do in the name of saving the elven people will likely also form a part of her master plan for vengeance against the other evanuris.
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