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Lingering Questions Post-Veilguard

I've now played three runs to completion, an elf warden, a qunari mourn watch, and a dwarven crow, and the first time I rolled a solavellan. I'm in a human shadow dragon run currently. I’ve played almost every dialogue option atp save like, the dialogue wheel about being andrastian or not which has 6 options. But I still am uh. Really wondering some things. Mostly these lingering questions are about Solas or his motivations, the blight, his plans for the Veil/blight to begin with, lots of questions about Mythal, and a few other things. If either you know the answer from in game or out of game sources, or just have other lingering questions of your own, feel free to add that info here 😔😔😔

I'll put this under a read more for the sake of spoilers, bc this obviously will be discussing the entirety of the game and the ending and all that jazz 👍🏼

A list of 40ish questions, separated into sections on logistical, elfy, blight or veil related, and miscellaneous things:

Logistical stuff

1a. Why does Inquisitor meet Rook in Minrathous? “They need the anonymity only a city can provide?” then clears out the Cobbled Swan as if that’s completely inconspicuous? And what’s the point? Why not go to them? They have to use an eluvian to get there anyways, so if they’re 1 busy and 2 unwelcome, uh, just meet in the Lighthouse or the Crossroads or have Rook go to Inquisitor.

1b. And in this vein: frankly, why does no one ever come to the Lighthouse or Crossroads? There’s a random faction rep in the market as you progress but I’m talking like, people that need refuge, or leaders that can coordinate from a more convenient location. It’s just wild to me. Not only does Solas get stripped of all his forces and their presence in the Crossroads, but your character also does literally nothing with it...ever. ? Why does no one actually utilize this incredibly helpful space? The Lighthouse just creates the rooms it needs, Inquisitor could use it to shelter southern refugees but I suppose things like this might make you wonder why Inquisitor has no place in the plot when they obviously should :/

2. To begin with: why does the eluvian at the ritual site in Arlathan go from bringing them in from Minrathous to taking them to the Vi’Revas in the Lighthouse? Because they seem to imply they used the same one, and in game they literally ask this very question on how it did it, but they of course have no answer and no one cares to ask Solas cause apparently Bellara can just flip a switch or something and now every eluvian is hers idk lol. Is every eluvian connected to the Vi’Revas overwritten to take you to the Lighthouse? Is this something Solas did that Bellara has to alter or is it just how they work, idk

3. Solas claims his tenuous connection to Rook is possible bc they “spilled some blood at the ritual site,” but so does either Neve or Harding. Does he never accidentally try entering their minds? How does he know Rook specifically, unless this is something he already did beforehand? Rook doesn’t bleed until Solas is vacuumed into the tear behind him, when he’s already gone, though your companion actually does earlier when they both get knocked into a railing. And what exactly is the blood magic he is performing? I know we see Elgar’nan just enter everyone’s mind later on in the blood of Arlathan quest, but Bellara just calls that “old magic” and I’m not certain it’s necessarily blood magic (though he is, yes, obviously an incredibly powerful blood mage). When we’ve seen Jowan or Merrill use blood magic, we see them making contact with blood and doing something with it. Hell, when you see Elgar’nan later use it in blood sacrifice, or Aelia in Neve’s quests, or Zara in the beginning of Lucanis’, in every case you *see* blood being physically used and acted on with magic, even in just random encounters with Venatori when one asshole goes “hey you’re going to help me now” to some other one, you SEE the blood trail on the screen. Solas just stands there at the top of the stairs, cutting into a tear in the Veil, then talks to Varric, then he stabs Varric, he cries, he gets sucked into the tear. He is never once depicted making contact with Rook’s blood, nor is he depicted *doing* anything. Did he already have this done? Or is this just a big handwave of “well it happened”?

4. And later on, how does he actually leave? He is depicted cutting a tear again, and he gets pulled through it, but that dagger he takes from us isn’t actually, physically there because Rook isn’t actually, physically there. You aren’t disappearing into the Fade every time like in Here Lies the Abyss. Rook speaks to Solas in their mind. And I know Solas has big boy dreamer powers, but does that include turning a fake thing real even when it’s someone else’s? Is it “always real” because it’s super special raw lyrium that Solas did something magical to? Is Rook in the material world being mind controlled or something and unknowingly cutting the tear with the dagger themselves (and Solas has to perfectly catch you mid-swapping through the air at the speed of plot in order to actually swipe the dagger back from you in time)? We get basically no information about how this happens, and it’s only even the one specific case of Bellara’s romance path that you even learn Rook was in that prison for weeks. Does Solas just appear exactly where you were and then he just silently stares at the squad before he fucks off and leaves? Taash tells us that Elgar’nan shows up once Ghilan’nain is killed and absolutely razes the place, so if Solas is around, I personally would like to know what happens please :)

5. Rook leaves the prison...questionably.

5a. a tear is never needed to be cut, it just, is there?, and the squad is there on the other side of it (wherever it actually is, who cares apparently), and are able to literally just PULL Rook out by their arms like literally for real just pull that mf out, bc apparently they went to the right spot where the veil is perfectly thin but not too thin there’s demons or anything no it’s just perfectly aligned with this regret prison… and you can just… reach in and pull someone out… from the Fade… but solas was stuck and couldn’t have said “just go to this spot where the veil is thin and bring your buffest friends lol”

5b. the meat of my concern: how the hell does it work? It seems to only manifest, well, I would want to call them “the horrors” ya know, the nasty things you have to be confronted with and hear all the worst things you could conceive of from both yourself or others in regards to them (ya know like that little jaunt into lucanis’ mind and caterina and illario and neve are his versions of them that say what he thinks they think of him), but the reality is actually very different. The mage does sort of chastise you for picking her but your response is “yeah but it was your choice lol, #notmyproblem” and maybe a sorry or maybe not depending on which you pick, but the second team lead is actually quite kind to you… the dialogue for both harding and davrin is like “you taught me, whatever it takes. You keep going, so I will too. You did this, for us, and I will live up to you!!” like it isn’t “you sent me to my death, you suck, etc, cold shoulder, maybe even mean, anything slightly negative or something” and Rook is just like yep, miss ya buddy, but u knew it just like I do, whatever it takes!!!! So what I’m getting at: this place doesn’t manifest anything you don’t feel. You don’t even regret the inciting backstory incident, no mention. It’s JUST mage, team lead, varric. Rook doesn’t regret anything, apparently.

(cont., line break for ur eyes) And it uh seems like it’s trying to help Rook move on? Not hold them down? Like, why else are these characters being so polite and pushing you towards forgiveness of the self? They’re all going “I made this choice, so feel free of your regrets because I had none” and like I’m sorry but uh. The tea is, is that Solas genuinely can be a good listener and is willing to shift his beliefs when pressed, and if *he* were gently presented by, say, figments of Mythal that held only his nicest thoughts of her, and of Felassan, and of Inquisitor, even also of Varric, and anyone else he feels he’s wronged, all saying, persistently for weeks until he gets it, “I made my choices and you should not bear responsibility for them, be free” etc, I don’t think it’s impossible that eventually it could also work for him, too. Now if they’re all coming from a nasty, spiteful, bitter place? Probably not, but that’s the thing! We don’t see that happen! Varric literally tells Rook the moral of the story! He is being so helpful here he even guides them through the first two regrets. I truly just don’t get it. I don’t get “eternity of torment” from world’s most helpful dead friends guiding you gently through letting them go. I don’t understand why Rook is not dealing with incredibly vicious avatars, like genuinely being tested. If they aren’t then why would Solas? If Rook doesn’t have to endure an uncharacteristically harsh and malicious Bellara, Neve, Harding, Davrin or Varric, why would Solas have to endure an uncharacteristically harsh and malicious Felassan, Inquisitor or Varric? Is the argument he cannot possibly have any incremental progress, he simply MUST only have epiphany when Mythal releases him? :/

(cont.) And anyways, what would this place even do to elgar’nan? I doubt he feels much remorse or regret, frankly. And Solas in conversation seems to suggest that because of that, g&e would be stuck in the prison forever, for his “eternity of torment” (unless you’re rook then it’s actually pretty chill and the regrets of others that you manifest are actually super nice to you). But Rook having no regrets leaves the prison. If Elgar’nan FEELS no regret, without there being some outside omniscient judge figure that is determining regrets and like cataloging morality on behalf of others (like, god lol), then how will this place harm him? How will it manifest something he does not feel? Does he simply get insta spit out? And if there IS that omniscient judge figure, then how the hell does Rook not regret anything else??? for real? So like, yes, I definitely believe that Solas thought too hard and yet not enough and he made a hell specifically for himself, because he is deeply introspective but highly avoidant, so a place that manifests all the regrets he walks just a few paces ahead of would be an eternity of torment to him… But it becomes a very flimsy concept for me once we put Rook in there.

6. Bc we cannot forget this crucial piece: Solas comments that he has to mold Rook into A God in order to put them in the prison to begin with, because it cannot be contained otherwise. Inquisitor, I can understand, that is a character that is a literal holy figure in the world and has had to deal with a cult forming around themselves, they hold a great deal of power in the world (apparently they are the most important person in all southern thedas lol) and have a host of individuals who are sworn to their service… Rook? Is just some guy. Would you call Hawke after the prologue god adjacent? After the one year time skip? After the Act 1 timeskip?! MAYBE after Act 2????!!? Hawke, like Rook, is *just some guy*, they aren’t a Chosen One. Rook does not, in any way, NEED to interact with the faction leads or their companions. They can end the game without doing any side quests at all, in which case, who the hell believes in this character? How in the hell are they “A God?” They can have Solas SAY he does anything for you but he doesn’t lol, Rook never faces a conundrum that is not solved with a fight. Every single time, you fight your way in, you fight your way out, you may even face the big bad guy and, guess what, you kill him. Solas has no interaction with that, whatsoever. He does no molding of any kind, transfers no power, the character does nothing to be seen in the world as godly, and can even actively ignore people in plight. I do not understand this line and I cannot fathom what it means. Rook is a god, how? For being a cockroach? Isn’t that their whole thing, I never give up so I’m a hero? So even if you never help anyone ever so therefore no one ever believes in you or has faith in you, if you just say the words I won’t quit, you’re now considered a god????? Lol.

7. How do we get mind warped into Lucanis’ head by Spite? Why does this only happen with him, and never anyone else (like oh idk, Anders? The equally traumatized mage who also had a spirit possessing him?)???? Legit, what is going on here? How are we just in this guy’s mind palace? In Champions of the Just, we are experiencing Envy attempting to possess Inquisitor so we are experiencing a few instances of Envy basically creating scenes in order to learn about us… But here, we see Lucanis stuck inside the Ossuary, in his mind. If he’s been stuck in there since Zara put Spite in him to begin with, how is he doing anything? When Envy attempts the possession, everything that happens occurs rapid fire in your head and then you push it out and are able to regain consciousness in the waking world… but here, Lucanis is still in the world while he also is stuck in his mind? And then Spite just brings us in there with him, the way he or Cole could enter by themselves?? I just wish I knew wtf was going on here lol

8. Also: why does he order a drink for the demon possessing his own body lol like is he just that rich and also polite that he doesn’t care about the money and is trying to make him feel included? Or does he honestly expect spite to be able to, himself, outside lucanis’ body, take a sip? In which case, how? Would that be possible? I assumed when we saw them visually as two people that was for convenience and not because it was legitimately possible… im just gonna assume lucanis is too rich to care. For my sanity

9. What’s up with the portal Hezenkoss makes? It’s directly into the Fade, unless I’m mistaken. Physically, I mean. Which requires a massive amount of blood sacrifice from the magisters sidereal to do, and later when Corypheus makes the breach on his own, he needs Solas’ foci to do it. Solas himself as well as Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain needs his pure lyrium dagger, and bc they lack his, they make one out of red lyrium. Hezenkoss sacrifices spirits and mortals both, but we aren’t told how many. I don’t think we know how long the portal’s been there, either? And like, what about that? The breach has demons pouring out of it, but she makes some perfectly tiny and stable two-way portal that nothing else even attempts to interact with? The magic that unleashes when Corypheus unlocks Solas’ foci is so massive and explosive that the Conclave explosion happens which completely obliterates the Temple of Sacred Ashes. But this portal is in a manor that does not seem to have experienced any foundational decay. So like, does it or does it not take an incredible amount of power to open the Fade? The building being in tact seems to indicate that it didn’t in fact take much, and it does not pose any structural threat with it open. Are we not actually entering the Fade physically? Then wtf is going here if not? But if we are, why does no one react to that? It is a BIG deal in DAI, it’s part of the reason the cult forms around you to begin with! But no one cares in this game it’s like, well, whatever, yeah people just open up portals to the fade physically all the time and yeah people just sometimes go through those portals, it’s no big deal, no one fears unleashing blight this time guys bc don’t worry we all just kinda innately know the big story now :)b And to leave, Hezenkoss just snaps her fingers and a portal appears next to her ?! The gloaming lantern at this point doesn’t have enough power for her to power that massive skeleton yet, but she’s got the power to make portals in and out of the fade like it’s nothing??!?

10. watching the scene again, to me at least, it doesn’t seem like Solas’ ritual actually goes ass up until he stabs and kills Varric (which produces the same reaction of idk it just looks windy to me lol but I guess it’s supposed to be energy being released or something, which happens when the dagger is used to kill ghilan’nain, which I thought was strange bc uh he isn’t a god lol he just varric – does this just always happen when it’s used to kill?). When the statue is knocked over, Solas launches it to the side and it shatters but he seems to just go back to his work? Which Varric notices, so he directly interferes and grabs Solas’ arms to try to physically stop him which is why Solas turns around and stabs him… but Solas had been going back to what he was doing, so would he have been able to finish it if Varric hadn’t interfered? It kinda feels that way to me. And if that’s the case, why stop? Why does Solas just leave the dagger he needs to either finish his work or cut in and out of the fade, in varric’s body? Not pookie’s best trait okay but he has actually murdered his friends before, I’m not certain “shock” is enough of a justification for me here. Even if he does want to get caught here while e&g are on the loose and fighting other people, why would he not keep his dagger? It isn’t needed to kill their archdemons, and I don’t see a reason why Solas would feel the need to give you his dagger now before he’s even certain he can manipulate you when instead he can just hold onto it and keep going the exact same way things already unfold but instead, he could leave whenever he wanted to, and once the archdemons are out of the picture, he can either do what he already does and hand you the dagger in the hopes of doing what he wants or he could hold onto it and lurk and find the right moment for him. Imo he just doesn’t have a reason to give you his tools rather than keep them for himself, aside from the Plot Demands It reasoning of him needing to build Rook up to “be a god” (lol)

Elf stuff

11. I might be misremembering but I don’t think I am… but I could be lol. Iirc we only hear the story about Andruil and the armour of the Void in DAI’s temple of Mythal, and not earlier in the series. But in the second mural conversation, Bellara and Davrin talk about it as if they’ve been hearing it their whole lives alongside all the other stories of the Creators. They weren’t kids 10 years ago, right? So how would they have this information? This is NOT information that the Dalish held onto… I didn’t read whatever it is, the missing I think?, so frankly I don’t even really understand why all the elves we meet know everything I the player know anyways, bc none of that is in the game, it is all taken for granted that every dalish now knows every single awful thing the evanuris ever did lol. Creators who, idk her. Mythal’enaste though!! we know everyone was evil but we still call solas a bastard and we still revere mythal because we are picking and choosing here tee hee

12. Flemythal’s reckoning? “She was betrayed, as I was betrayed, as the world was betrayed, and I will see them avenged!” ? What happened with that? I thought the world was in reference to the veil, if not, what was it? And why was she using Yavanna to bring the dragons back? Dragons are important in terms of keeping magic in the world and iirc they’re the dreamers that power the Fade, but if Mythal wants the Veil up so damn badly, why is she focusing on bringing back the old world??? Is this about “the devouring storm” bc if it is, it’s pretty annoying that she’d say absolutely nothing about it before fucking off into the void. From where I’m sitting tho, it seems like they just dropped this thread in favour of Mythal being made totally toothless and to simplify the narrative down into “solas feels bad over nothing apparently bc mythal doesn’t even want what he wants and he’s only doing what’s he’s doing bc he says it’s what she would’ve wanted” which is frankly a shit read on either of them imo

13. In the final (sixth) mural, we see Solas take Mythal’s power from Flemythal. But what we actually hear is not even remotely what was said in the cutscene that we experience after DAI’s credits. I’ll transcribe them here:

DAI:

Flemeth: I knew you would come. You should not have given your orb to Corypheus, Dread Wolf.

Solas: I was too weak to unlock it after my slumber. The failure was mine… I should pay the price. But the people, they need me.

Flemeth: (caressing him with a fucking CLAWED GAUNTLET bc she is just like that)

Solas: (leaning into her) I am so sorry.

Flemth: I am sorry as well, old friend. (stares)

Solas: (stares) (absorbs) (holds her like in the mural as she Dies? Is petrified? Dramatically exits the narrative)

DAV:

Mythal (kate mulgrew I miss you so much): I knew that you would find me soon enough. You need the power of a god, the strength that I alone still carry.

Solas: the blighted evanuris will soon break free from their prison. I must make a stronger one that can contain them.

Mythal: while the prison is important, it is not the only goal you seek.

Solas: why should I not tear down the Veil, and bring back immortality to all the elven people? They deserve it.

Mythal: the elven people of today do not deserve to see the world they love be torn apart to salve your conscience.

Solas: I must fix what I have broken. I am sorry.

Mythal: as am I, old friend.

You can see how to the two are VASTLY different. All she said last time was “i’ve been waiting. You done goofed. (holds him tenderly) I am sorry old friend” and now she’s depicted saying “i’ve been waiting. You’re here to steal me. You are being duplicitous. ThE eLvEn PeOpLe Of ToDaY dO nOt DeSeRvE tO sEe ThE wOrLd ThEy LoVe Be ToRn ApArT tO sAlVe YoUr CoNsCiEnCe (A PSA from the lady who stole a body from the titans and then tore apart their world and the world of the dwarves bc she wanted to). (doesn’t actually say sorry just says Me Too) old friend”. Now here’s the thing. I think this is obviously, easily and readily explained by this in fact being Solas’ warped recollection of events, and it makes sense to me considering his shame that he would make her both more condescending while also more morally righteous.

(cont., another break for ur pretty eyes) But my issue is this: no one in game suggests such a thing. In all these mural talks no one ever thinks “hey wait maybe Solas is especially hard on himself bc that is the sort of man he is and perhaps these events did not take place exactly as depicted?” like im sorry but just bc Varric is dead now yall don’t understand the concept of an unreliable narrator? Ultimately, the gist of his mural memories gets across, it isn’t a huge deal. But it bothers me that now I’m unsure on whether or not the writers actually want me to believe that the conversation I saw ten years ago didn’t happen? Am I actually supposed to believe the retcon is real??? It feeds into and fits the newer, cleaner image of mythal they’ve conjured up here this go around but uh. Babe I SAW the footage. She literally cradles him and GIVES her power away. “I. Will. See. Them. Avenged.” LOL no you wont you don’t even care baby!!! old build ok old build. We have moved on. Also don’t worry about that comment solas makes about returning immortality to the elven people, yeah, it’ll never once come up in the game ever and no you do not ever hear from the voices of actual elves on how they think

14. What is the deal with the Crossroads Mythal? Solas never interacts with her? He just locks her in there, into a place he has sealed off? Huh? What’s the actual timeline here? Bc there’s a letter from Felassan in her big ol dragon’s nest, and how he got it there and left when he writes that the place is sealed off is beyond me, but he writes that during the war (and idk if that’s meant to mean with the titans or against the evanuris but I think the latter probably) Solas creates this space for her and she never comes. So… They fight the titans, sever their dreams which brings out the blight, the evanuris ascend themselves and at this point Solas asks Mythal to instead run off with him, she refuses (or does this happen before they ascend?), Solas rebels, he urges Mythal to do something about the blight and eventually she does, she is killed for this, after her death he extracts what’s left of her in the dagger and returns her to the nest he seals off by his lighthouse, at some point after he erects the Veil and then goes big sleepy for millennia. … Does he stick her in there when it’s already been sealed and doesn’t unseal it for her and ends up asleep soon after? I don’t really understand why he would not make an attempt to contact her. Unless he’s responsible for her death in any way the first time, and I really don’t get that impression even remotely, like, I know Solas’ grief is very private and he’s very repressed but, he goes through the trouble of extracting something from the dagger and then safely tucking her away in his crossroads not far from his personal eluvian that is attached to his lighthouse… would he really never try to speak to her at all? I’m not saying it’s impossible, it is, but idk, if so much of his motivation now is just For Mythal then I don’t get it. He wasn’t shy about seeking her out prior to her death so idk why he would be now?

(cont., but a break for ur beautiful eyes) like if the situation is: Mythal finally takes Solas' side and says to the evanuris hey stop using the blight, then they kill her for that, then he pulls her from her murder weapon, even then, we can't consider him ever trying to contact her? And in the present, is her power never something he considers accessing? Just, like, what exactly are Solas' thoughts about the ancient Mythal that's literally right fuckin there... Obviously with more time, he is less likely to go to her. But idk. Not ever? Not when he pulls her from the dagger? And sticks her in the place he made for her? Just popping her in there, aware she is very much not dead, and keeping it sealed so she can't ever leave seems a little cruel lol like I get the man might be bitter she never chooses him, but she *did* finally agree with him in the end and they kill her for it.... Is that really enough for him to decide he is like, idk, unworthy of conversation? So he doesn't care she's SEALED in there???? Forever?? Alone ???????? <_< like am I delusional or does that seem harsh?? In the second mural convo our peanut gallery, mostly taash, presumes that Solas' "crime" here is that he had more to say to her, but she died before he could tell her. Well. That's funny, bc apparently, even when he brings her back, he doesn't care about telling her shit lol. When you confront Mythal she says that he hasn't visited her since he awoke from his slumber, which was one year before dai starts...but that doesn't give me any info about the ancient past when he literally put her here...I'm just confused lol. Like is he punishing her or what??? would’ve been so crazy to have ever learned how he was feeling about all this very complicated stuff!!

15. frankly, why can Morrigan, who only has Mythal's memories and none of her power, unseal the place Mythal is in? yet the ancient Mythal inside, who might not have much power but at least has some (enough even that she can still shapeshift into a dragon to fight the blighted revenant dragon...), cannot? Can any mage open it? Since Morrigan can but Mythal can’t, is it sealed only from the inside and must be unsealed from the outside? I’m trying to understand just what exactly is going on here like what is the point, how cruel do they want me to read Solas as? Or is it just dumb? Bc like, how is this protecting her? Sure, conveniently no one has had access to his network and entered his branch of the crossroads here bc no one around knew about it but the ancients but solas has also known that the various trappings he has stuck his enemies into are not universally permanent and foolproof in perpetuity. How is she protected, if anyone with power can undo the seal? Why would he not simply either do the opposite so that SHE is the one unsealing it if/when she is ready and able, or if he’s punishing her, then make it untouchable to anyone other than himself? Is he not capable of such a thing? Then having no extra precautions seems absurd, bc again, he doesn’t expect that no one that’s ever hated his guts could possibly come back to fuck with him… and mythal, RIGHT beside his Vi’Revas, into his lighthouse… like that’s a prime target babes. I am to expect he wouldn’t ever consider that maybe some random ass mage can just undo it? Apparently? Bc you really can’t say that Morrigan can do it because she’s got Mythal… bc fucking inside Mythal can’t do shit, and she’s the only one of the two with any actual “god power” lol so wtf is going on here

16. Why did Flemythal take Urthemiel from Kieran? For her to amass power, or to get power to give Solas? The devnotes for DAI are clear that it’s the latter and she takes that power knowing that she will give it to Solas along with her own, willingly. But that seems to be retconned, bc she is persistently treated as Solas’ murder victim and it is never suggested otherwise. But I’m still curious over a few things: If Solas takes Urthemiel as well as Mythal, has Urthemiel been split into energy/personality like she had been or does Solas also have Urthemiel in his head? Who is Urthemiel (the old god of beauty, so my guess is probably June since he’s the crafter)? Can the evanuris just keep adding themselves to one another without consequence? And uhhhh… why didn’t Morrigan care about preserving Razikale or Lusacan? Oh is it because they’re pure evil but idk, Andruil, mother of fucking slavery, that one was worthy of preservation? Or is it because we don’t need to care about this plot thread anymore so we just Forgot that she wanted to preserve the old world? That’s just about Mythal now, nothing else matters? What’s the deal

17. Speaking of Mythal: she gets killed by the lyrium dagger (and why do the evanuris have Solas’ dagger? Guess he just misplaced that one while he was rebelling against them for using it), and doing so preserves a part of her essence that’s lodged into the dagger until Solas extracts it, because she is both spirit-born and had been very powerful. Well… that’s also true for Elgar’nan. And maybe Ghilan’nain as well? I know she isn’t one of the first-born but she might also be spirit-born? Idk tbh. Dalish legend is that she’s a mortal that’s raised to godhood but like, idk. Either way, elgar’nan very much is spirit-born, and more powerful than mythal. He is also killed by the same dagger. Yet? No one thinks that possibly the same could be true for them lol. When mythal is killed, she *also* is disconnected from form, and a separate wisp of Mythal wanders the ages, waiting for a host. And g&e??? they can’t do this, why? Are we saying none of that could happen for them, but it COULD for mythal, because the evanuris didn’t bother to kill her dragon? The dragon that they all knew they bound to themselves so that they could maintain immortality? … what a convenient thing for them to forget to do when they all went and stabbed caesar so effectively…

18. in the third Solas mural, we see him erecting the veil. the ghilannain he depicts has only two arms (and her uh tendrily leg situation let’s say). and in the crossroads, listening in to that one tree with the dagger, I wanna say it's the second? maybe third time you listen in, she says they slumbered for untold years or something, so I *assume* they were all asleep the entire time. but she comes out here with four arms.... what did she do? did she absorb someone else, graft andruil literally into her body or something? if so, how? like was she asleep or was she not. what happened to her lol

19. I can reluctantly accept the handwave of “they’re powerful,” but how exactly is it that elgar'nan knows that Solas took power from Mythal like how does he even know that that's Mythal let alone that Solas came around and killed her??? Are they just aware of Everything that's been happening? In which case would they not know all about the inquisition and would they not know all about Cole, Cass, Josie apparently lol, Bull, fuckin Inquisitor like ... imo they're definitely Twist the Knife kinda people. Elgar'nan knowing Solas has befriended or even loved a handful of mortals who are still in powerful positions in the world that are easy to find and access??? and he does nothing ? Lol. What do they know? How? Because if they just know everything, then why don't they bother behaving especially cruel with all the information they should be privy to...it's not like they see Fen'Harel as out of the picture, they are very aware we are his patsy here. But I guess just sitting around while they collect venatori and antaam and darkspawn pure evil bad guy redshirts for their army can be like. Compelling stuff. To somebody, probably. I understand he sees fenharel as a pest who is beneath him, but isn’t cruelty the point with elgarnan a lot of the time? Theres that codex about the guy just mind beaming torture of the sun into people’s heads bc like, he can and he wants to cause pain, but I guess we’ll settle for like three lines of him laughing at solas and saying you suck lol

20. what exactly is the deal w the wolf statuettes? I can accept the handwave of "fade magic magically compressed his memories into form" (though them magically restoring murals seems odd if he didn't do it intentionally...) but like. why does the Inquisitor get one to begin with? Solas just sends one from fade prison?? I buy him wanting to seem sympathetic but he is also a deeply private person, so it's honestly kinda difficult for me to believe he rly wants to send out his most private feelings and recollections about the things he would never even tell friend/lover Inquisitor.....like girl that's his self worm portrait.... that's his breakup portrait...... And attached you're hearing the words he's been telling himself about it all? Alongside the murals he clearly destroyed? I just struggle with intentionality 😭 bc like if he does make them on purpose, he just puts them out in the crossroads?? to be found? By anyone??? and if it isn't him doing it on purpose then like… wtf is going on...who/what sent that? How? who/what made them and how? Inquisitor is obviously a specific person. There's just a lot of "well it just happens" in this game 😭😭😭

21. Why does Solas have no one fighting on his behalf? A point is made in trespasser to tell you that elves have been trickling towards his cause, even your own inquisition forces. In the epilogue it is made explicitly clear that elves are now flocking to his cause. And he personally feels more connected to the ancient elves like Abelas, people he would obviously make an attempt to reach out towards if he is looking for competent agents. Not to mention all the spirits that rally to him, and in tevinter nights it again is reinforced that spirits of justice and valour are flocking to his cause. This game walks a very strange line where Solas is both god but not god, he’s god because he’s prideful enough to think himself such, NOT because other people have raised him onto a pedestal… he does not have followers, no one supports him as their god, he is simply so arrogant and alone and above the world, that THAT is how he is god. … sure. Okay . I “believe” you. That’s definitely the same tone from trespasser. Where you are shown over and over again that, like you the inquisitor, his is a story of denying godhood where others would put it on his shoulders, because he is willing to take action and people want to follow him. -_- and like, I can only really buy he’s Totally Alone if his plan was to be caught and have the ritual disrupted...but willingly releasing g&e to blight the world? Really doesn’t make much sense to me. Feels half baked, at best

22a. Two things regarding the Veil and the god binding: firstly, if your plan is to first kill Elgar’nan and then ask Solas to bind himself to the Veil, why not simply NOT kill elgarnan and ask Solas to rebind him? It is NOT clear why we can just sit around waiting to bind Solas, and this gap really irks me. If you are making the case to rebind Elgar’nan, your argument for doing so can be based on whatever reasons you need to manufacture about how the Veil being up is Good Actually, but instead, with Solas as the ONLY option left bc you *willingly* killed the last string tying the Veil down and you did that *knowing* that that was what Solas wanted, Rook’s argument is, “you need to make it up to the world. You are bad and need to cleanse your sins” and for me this reads incredibly poorly.

(also, side note, why does killing lusacan not return that power to elgar’nan? I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be razikale or just blight that returns to ghilannain, tbh. But even without the power inside lusacan, elgarnan is more powerful than solas and thus a more stable security source to begin with… but solas as the only source is actually fine apparently…)

22b. The whammy for me: secondly, WHY is there never a plan made to bind Solas beforehand? Why would your character, even a mage, have any reason to believe the Veil won’t Explode And Die in catastrophe the second you take out Elgar’nan? Why in the world would you not ensure there is another source holding the Veil up before you kill the only one left if your *entire* game dialogue has been about how Oh My GoD wE nEeD tO sAvE tHe vEiL sOlaS iS sO eViL fOr TrYiNg To BrInG iT dOwN .....and then they proceed to do nothing to ensure its safety and without the convenience of Plot Allowing It To Work Out they would've done the exact opposite. lol. okie dokie 👍🏼

as a reminder, when Solas is simply MOVING Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain, and they are both still very much alive as well as their archdemons, fade tears are appearing not just in Arlathan where he's doing the ritual, but also in Minrathous (again, maybe everywhere in Thedas ? I don't know lol) and they're spewing out so many demons that thing that one codex implies could be June's shield that Elgar'nan turned into a cannon in the archon's palace (I think that's what we see in the prologue , idr lol) is straight up firing upon the city. like, he moved them, he wasn't even at the point of cutting down the Veil. now, all four sources of strength holding up the Veil are dead. and we can sit there staring at Solas for hours and hours until a decision finally gets made, there genuinely is no possibile fail state. there is zero threat of the Veil coming down, after Rook literally kills the people bound to it, at all.

(rook says they GUESS once elg is dead Solas will PROBABLY need to do something...but 1 you have no way of actually knowing this 2 you have no way of knowing how much time you have.... If you care SO !!!!!!! SOOOOOOO!!! much....then why would you ever even chance it. Like solas is collapsed on the ground in the fight, but you don’t wanna go over and violate his bodily autonomy yet? No? We waiting a couple mins we have no way of knowing we actually have? Is that to pretend this is a choice or what? Like let’s remember that apparently your whole squad is RIGHT THERE just not participating in the fight bc they INSTANTLY mob him when you pick fight. So uh. What are we doing here ladies?)

Blight and Veil stuff

23. Why is the archdemon death different? Why does it not kill the grey warden (especially if the “old god” doesn’t return to either ghil or elg)? Why can Solas kill one? Why is the “old god soul” not traveling to another, like we had always known to be the case? Both Razikale and Lusacan have been twisted here and blighted… I’m pretty sure they’re legit archdemons when Rook & co fight them so, assuming that’s true, I don’t understand why the mechanics are different and they don’t travel to the nearest blighted thing (or, again, maybe just going back into the original evanuris they came from but… we don’t see that happen to lusacan, so I guess the goop that goes back to ghil is just blight?)

24. is this related???? Why actually are the only evanuris left ghil and elg… Is this why it’s different? Am i meant to believe the archdemons before, that thing that clashed with ultimate sacrifice wardens/urthemiel that goes into kieran…IS the evanuris in entirety? Bc i had assumed the dragons had a PART of them, and destroying them made the evanuris mortal… so i guess maybe the others die in fade prison bc theyve got mortal bodies and will die? But? This is unexplained afaik (also are they all asleep the entire time? if not I would honestly expect mfs like e&g to like, absorb the rest of em tbh) (I also don't really understand why when Corypheus goes into a warden, the warden is subsumed rather than the death clash that happens with the archdemons....my only thought is that Corypheus is blighted while the OGS maybe isn't and blight to blight is fine but blight to clean = both die? But Morrigan does the ritual saying like....that the OGS seeks out the blighted person 😭 no clue 🤷🏼‍♀️ or if his bound dragon is dead, maybe he would die??? he is the evanuris of the situation not the archdemon so maybe if a warden killed his dragon, that part of him that’s in it would clash w the warden and they’d both die like how it happens in the blights?? that sounds right but idk!)

25. I have a LOT of questions about Solas and the Veil and the blight and the evanuris and how they all fit together and what it means for his ritual… my main question is like, does he get caught on purpose? And what is his plan for the blight?

a. First, Solas needs Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain dead for the Veil to come down. That being the case, is it his plan to be interrupted so they are out in the world, exposed, while he is trapped and safe? Solas tells you he knows you and that you’ve been looking for him for a year (which makes it real hilarious that Varric needed to get “people he doesn’t expect” like. So that meant nothing lol) and that makes me feel like this is his actual plan… And if it isn’t, if he wanted to move the evanuris and then tear down the Veil, like, it’s tied to their lives so why go through the trouble of creating a bubble in the Fade if he just needs to axe them to get what he wants? Or is there some way he can unbind their lives and keep them in hell forever while tearing down the Veil separately? and why have a huge Fuck You ritual to do it that, apparently is in arlathan but bc he has a mirror in minrathous that takes you to arlathan it also affects minrathous, like VERY VISIBLY affects the place to such an extent that it is OBVIOUS there is some magical bs going on somewhere (or is it all of thedas? Idr people mentioning tears appearing, just that arlathan has been weird for awhile but that’s like to be expected there...), so like, obviously the people he is aware of that are *in minrathous looking for him and have been a year* are going to beeline towards him and the huge Fuck You ritual that literally every single person in the city can tell is happening rn. if it is not possible under any circumstances, adequate time to prepare or not, for this to be done WITHOUT a huge fuck you ritual, then w h y _ i s _ h e _ a l o n e _ w i t h _ z e r o _ w a r d s .

b. that aside, WHAT exactly was his plan for the blight? That’s in the black city already trapped? Without the Veil, what happens to it? Also even with the dumb new status quo, what is the deal? The blight didn’t get moved into his prison of regrets… is it just chilling? Bc this "prison" was failing (and actually iirc after the gameplay reveal they were even asked, in the discord q&a maybe?, about like why is Solas all alone in this Clearly Interruptible location with a ritual that's extremely flimsy and Clearly Interruptible, and they were like, well bc the prison holding the evanuris is URGENTLY failing [not that that’s ever mentioned in game, really – not indepth anyways, it’s in that final mural and he MAYBE says it once in a fade talk early on? idr] like so urgently that Solas whipped this up with no time at all.. so if that's true, hello?? is it magically not anymore or what? The veil I suppose *is* this “prison” so now that it’s tied to solas it’s fine but when it was getting down to only being maintained by e&g it was failing… … right…)

(cont.) In Trespasser you can be like Solas if you tear down the veil then what about the evanuris!!!! And he's like, I had plans. Well this is the plan, moving them. Also apparently killing them. Bc that’s how the veil exists. But the pressing question and at least as far as I can tell, unanswered question, is wtf he meant to do with the blight? Bc I'm sorry but he doesn't just lock away the evanuris bc he's just oh so bitter about Mythal being killed. This is the catalyst that gets him to act, but he is doing this because of the blight... I need him to explain his plan for what he would do about the blight, bc I'm down for the veil being gone but this doesn't seem to be addressed or explained bc there's no chance they're letting the veil drop. But please explain. Especially bc, I need to know...if Solas' plan is to be interrupted, then he is willfully blighting the world bc like of COURSE that's what ghil is gonna do... And that seems.. not like him and antithetical to his motivations... But if he isn't planning on being interrupted, then what did he want to do with the blight to begin with?!?! I need NEED an answer

{c?!? all right as if it wasn't obvious that I am adding to this over time and collecting my thoughts as I go: I just had the first meditation convo with him again and he keeps saying that e&g got a tiny fragment of what is behind the prison and that the blight could otherwise be much worse so........i mean, he is a utilitarian calculus kinda guy, if he RLY believes that what they use while they're fighting you (which they are bound to end up doing....like...it's a guarantee....) is somehow less of a threat/less damaging then like....man....pookie did u kill Ferelden 😔😔😔😔😔 he ALSO says that the evanuris will need to pierce the veil to get to the blight’s prison so I guess it actually looks something like black city encapsulated in this blight prison and then OUTSIDE of that is the veil, which is bound to the evanuris inside the blight prison? Would love a diagram from the writers lol}

26. the Veil has been getting dramatically weaker over time. Even when ghilan’nain gets killed, Morrigan says that she feels the Veil weaken. So why are we so sure that Solas alone, Solas, whose only “god” essence came from Mythal’s wisp that was NOT at full power in Flemeth (plus or minus Urthemiel, but we’ll never get that information back into the canon lol), can hold it up all alone just fine?

27. this one really gets me also tbh lol, okay so re: Solas being the only thing holding up the Veil. Look, unless you appeal to him… there’s no way he’s doing this. Solas might be prideful in the "only I can trust myself to do what I know to be the correct course of action" way....but that isn't exclusive with like, an overwhelming need to exist in the world. yeah he knows your plan in in hushed whispers is to go back in time but he can't exactly know that it's going to work....yet he readily, pretty immediately actually, is like "yeah I'll die for you and the chance the save the people"... Considering they made him such a brick wall now I even just find it difficult to believe that he has plans for an "after" it falls, nothing beyond being a watchdog as he has been anyways, so idk, if all that's standing between him and His Plans....the thing he has been desperate for years to do....to correct what he considers to be one of his greatest mistakes in 10s of thousands of years of life....is his own life ....... ..... ..... ..... ..... ..... Uh. sister I think he's gonna kill himself. There is only death on this journey. He clearly has nothing to live for but THIS duty, THIS responsibility to the people, and he does not have other mistakes he feels need correcting on this scale, in this way. He will absolutely die to finish the task at hand.

(cont., but a break for ur still very beautiful eyes) Rook gives him what I assumed was the fake dagger in the two shit endings that I’ve seen other people say is the real one. Idk and idc bc im never watching that shit ever again lol. But either way, it’s a dagger. He can kill himself. There is no reason that he wouldn’t aside from Plot Said So, like, if he is at his LOWEST, and he definitely is if you’ve written him saying “I am a god,” babe….. please. He is KILLING himself. Wallowing in hell forever alone? He would do this, yes. But you don’t give him a reason to, and your only possible justification is “he’s too prideful” but that’s such bullshit lol, no, he ain’t so prideful that he will put his OWN life above the entirety of elvenkind and spiritkind, the two groups of people he HAD been doing everything for but now it’s just “for mythal uwu”. I know im a solas girlie but im also right. He would end his own life to tear down the Veil. He literally assumes it is going to happen anyways. Dinanshiral doesn’t mean “journey that goes on forever because im too obsessed with myself to end it” lol. FINAL journey, or journey of DEATH, is pretty um. Straight forward. But then you wouldn’t “win” against him soooooooooo. We’re all illiterate now <3

28. there is a lighthouse banter with emmrich and davrin where he asks davrin why does the blight kill most people yet infuses some people with immortality like isseya and davrin is just like idk. What’s the deal there? I just figured, after we saw all those blighted wardens down in fake weisshaupt, that this was just what happens to them? That is, that if a warden doesn’t kill themselves, die from darkspawn, or in the awful event of committing the crime of being a woman maybe being turned into a broodmother, then they seem to become like these people that are highly blighted though not technically darkspawn (though maybe if you’ve been around centuries like isseya that line looks extraordinarily thin)? Isseya is a warden from four centuries back so she didn’t get twisted up like that from ghilan’nain’s whatever the hell she’s been doing… idk what’s the deal there tbh. Is it actually true that there’s just a random change for anyone blighted, warden ritual done or otherwise, that it won’t kill them?

Miscellaneous stuff

29. What the hell is red lyrium? Why does Harding say “oh THIS is just angry”? So there’s blue lyrium, but it turns red when the titan is angry, but that’s not dangerous? Or different? Only lyrium + blight, which is also red lyrium? And in horrors of hormak in tevinter nights isn’t there a new yellowgreen lyrium too? Not that we did anything with that… I was shocked the only ghil lab we went into is the one from solas’ ancient memory… so idk how much that lyrium matters atp

30. What’s the deal with Varric? On bluesky trick seemed to imply that it's less that Solas is speaking and more that Solas' magic is what allows rook to manifest a version of Varric in their head that they can keep seeing/talking to. But Varric makes specific references to things in his past that I really don't see why Rook would know... It feels bad either way tbh bc Solas wouldn't (not that he doesn’t use subterfuge as a tactic but playing pretend as someone else for the purpose of saying nice things about himself? Then why don’t we ever see this behaviour elsewhere? I would expect him to use puppets more often – like in TDWTY short story – if this is something he is willing to do, but he never does, bc it just is not his particular style and he is, ultimately, not a very good liar), but rook like, doesn't know Varric, or at least, you don't give me any reason to believe they really do. Varric is still saying shit to us in the prologue in a way that sounds like we just fuckin met a week ago, yet apparently we been traveling a year together?? Idk. But I doubt rook knows him well enough to make a meaningful duplicate of him in their mind. Which I guess, maybe that's it. Maybe that's why he felt so whack lol bc rook is just that lame and turned him into therapist camp counselor dad guy who says obvious shit with his toes out all game. But before you pick up Davrin, you have to speak with Varric and he goes "hey wait that dagger is familiar lol that's the idol we took out of the deep roads!" um why the fuck would rook know that?

(for specificity: the question on bluesky was “was solas controlling the memory of varric for rook or was rook controlling the memory of varric (such as when getting a pep talk from him?)” and trick’s response was “closer to the latter. Varric never told rook anything that rook didn’t already know” ... it isn't a yes or no in either direction but i think that's because the latter is not technically accurate either... rook isn't "controlling" the memory, per se, but they are manifesting the memory and the words he says are neither solas' nor rook's, technically, but a fake varric's...technically. but rook is manifesting this fake varric they have made up in their own mind because of some kinda blood magic suggestion magic/spell/whatever from solas. but it's rook's fake varric, NOT solas'. in conclusion: i find this to be an extremely poorly written part of the game lol)

31. speaking of that conversation lol, after it gets brought up rook literally asks the question, if this is the red lyrium idol, then how did Solas cleanse it of the blight? And ofc Varric can't know so the answer is idk… and then it never gets asked again, or answered. … … Was it just "angry" red lyrium and he didn't cleanse the blight 🙄 orrrrrr what.… bc it is red up until, idk what it is, the missing comics or something?, when he gets it again. Or maybe it isn’t blue until tevinter nights? I dont remember. But we LITERALLY have the question invoked, and then just, not answered. This happens with multiple things on this list LOL. Drives me absolutely nuts.

32. Harding’s magic. Does Solas stabbing a dwarf have anything to do with why Harding has magic back? Like, it charged it or something? I guess I should believe it was bc of the power of the ritual or something? Is this just random? iirc the little summary blurb for Harding says that it's contact with the dagger that gives her magic.... So..... Why not another dwarf? I finished my run as a dwarf to completion, and uh, not one single time could I ever ask the question “why you and not me?” legitimately not once did it EVER come up, not in conversation with Harding, not in conversation with Solas. I admit that I only did the faction specific stuff for the crows on this character bc I was one and it was playthrough 3 so like im not doing everything every single time anymore, but I highly doubt it ever comes up in anything I didn’t do. I was GAGGED there was virtually no responsive reactivity to being a dwarf in Harding’s questline like virtually none. You can already know about Kal-Sharok and titans, by name only, but that was all I remember. Never ever got to have my character curious as to why they could wield the magical dagger basically nonstop for weeks if not months and use it constantly but have no interaction with it like Harding did. Absolutely bonkers

33. did we never actually learn what was the big powerful thing under Minrathous? or am I just to assume it's like, the archdemons or evanuris prison or something.... I thought they were setting something up but unless I wasn't paying attention to the answer, I didn't see this addressed.. ?

34. whose dragon is the one we fight in the crossroads, that has been "feeding on the blight"? that we need to defeat the manifestations of Solas' guilt over the deaths of the titans, Felassan, and Flemythal in order to open a path to? there's a memento for Andruil on the way in....? is it hers? Mythal's? is this legit some random ass dragon that's been sealed in here directly next to Solas' eluvian into his lighthouse? by level/stats alone, this is the strongest enemy in the entire game as a level 50 dragon, but uh....who is she lol. The totally never annoying after action quest report says "the team came face to face with a blighted dragon sent by the gods to capture the crossroads" ... ... I mean if they can send and seal a whole ass dragon right next to his lighthouse like what are we even doing here ladies, why seal it instead of like idk having her rampage the place and idk idk idk maybe um shatter his vast network of eluvians or idk like. Literally anything? She's waiting… sealed behind a gate (as well as all three of the revenants to begin with)...for what?? The forces e&g are fighting against to get ...stronger???? 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

35. I would also like to know wtf that skeleton is that Hezenkoss is tryna get into like what lol

36. also, I'm just curious here, but we learn that basically, the titans are made tranquil, right? they have their dreams severed. the art book uses the actual word tranquil. but we also learn in inquisition that contact with spirits cures this disconnection, so is there a reason this is never discussed? In I mean I guess it’s gottta be the fifth mural conversation cause that’s the one about the blight but that’s off the top of my head lol, it ends with Emmrich saying something about how theoretically this could be addressed and though the words aren’t said I assume he means in this way? But Davrin comments that they need to be healed first bc they aren’t just tranquil they’re blighted and like that also makes sense it’s just. Idk. I would’ve liked this to have been delved into more, bc we have the titan’s severed dreams being invoked multiple times as being a terrible awful thing but then the people invoking it never bother to mention that it could be addressed...bc then we might need to actually say that wait a second maybe rampaging titans is a bad thing actually and we can’t possibly act grateful for this crime lol. Idk. Idk how I would fix this tbh, it’s somewhat of a written into a corner kinda deal, but it just feels strange to me that the nuance that is so clearly there is just, not addressed. Do not look do not ask etc etc, many such cases in DA4

37. I just can’t get it over it okay. rook getting out of the regret prison is kind of a joke sorry 😭 like, your squad is just there on the other side of a fade rift....... u telling me if I just thin the veil in the right spot I coulda got pookie out ?!?! and then they just ...make a fake dagger 😭 we don’t know who made it, or how, with what resources (bc these daggers are made of pure, raw lyrium…….) … and you want me to believe that solas can’t recognise the fuckin prop version of his own creation that lacks the same magical enchantments he personally wrote into the original, I just can’t it’s too silly for me

38. this should be somewhere else but i literally just thought of it editing this post and i don't wanna edit all the numbers: what actually is the whole thing with the prison? it's maintained by solas, believeable, but then it's maintained for WEEKS by rook? uh who has literally no godly power whatsoever. i can understand that apparently he never really meant to use this place bc he needs e&g dead. so maybe it doesn't require much "power" to persist. what is its relation to the veil? has it BECOME the veil? otherwise, why did we need it? was it just meant to be the temporary place e&g get sent to while solas moves the blight (i ASSUME bc we never get to KNOW sigh), then tears down the veil and thus it no longer needs to exist bc he needs e&g dead? and what's going on with the veil, the place that's holding in the blight in the black city? i am not sure what is happening w the veil, bc for a time, literally no one is trapped that is bound to it. it is still tethered by g&e being alive, i guess. it's not clear to me if the magic in the world is getting bonkers, especially once you're out of the prison, BECAUSE no one is trapped? or because elgarnan is fucking around? if it isn't the former then i'm just kind of wondering like. what is the point even? could it be true that someone could be bound to the veil but not within it? can it be maintained while those bound to it walk out in the world?

39. lest i forget: the executors. lol. they've already had to clarify that apparently no they weren't trying to say that these executors have been The Ultimate Bads the whole time pulling all the strings but like... you literally.. have them pulling all the strings LOL. you cant just say "IT'S ABOUT CHOICES!" when you're talking about characters that are being lied to and whispered at by viziers and The Shady Eunuchs Beside Them like coercion is a thing. manipulation is a thing. but i mean, what else could i expect? it's the same thing w solas and mythal. they're like "he made his choices" ok sure, he did, but speaking as a victim of abuse myself, i don't think you can quantify the harm they both did as being on the same level. i'm not erasing solas' crimes, he DID choose to do what he did. but you can't just say that like, it was innate. he'd have done it anyways. that being told by an important figure, to him, that he NEEDED to act lest further irreparable damage be done without his input, doesn't have some meaningful effect. and i assume in the cases of these power-hungry yet desperate people like meredith or loghain or corypheus, a person like an executor who may or may not be some forgotten one with godlike powers, becomes an important figure.

(cont.) You have now changed the game and said that actually, these executors have been pushing the story forwards. so now i have to ask: without their little whispers, would anything have happened? what did they tell loghain to make him turn his forces around? because if the choice is only made with information given BY the executors... like, there is a level of responsibility there. to me. and it's like, a glaring double standard. bc let's talk about the solas memory segments we play through, when we're spirits of disruption or chaos or whatever else. THOSE characters don't get to have Made A Choice. they didn't get to choose to fight for a cause, even to the death. they were instead sacrificed by solas, and they were totally unwilling, this is what our cast of Hero Characters concludes. so which is it. are people responsible for the actions they alone take? do the people encouraging them to make those decisions take responsibility for their actions in any way? or is that just when it's solas. because he's evil. ... … Solas is responsible for his actions even though they would not have occurred without Mythal’s input, it was a choice HE alone purely made. Loghain/Bartrand/Corypheus/Meredith/Orsino/Whoever else is responsible for their actions even though they may not have occurred without the Executor’s input, it was a choice THEY alone purely made. Alone. -_- just don’t sit with me. I’m not saying the actor in question is not in any way responsible for their actions, of course they are. But to deny that the whispering voice of a powerful figure has sway, and to deny that sway as having any effect on the ability to choose, freely and of your own volition? Alone? You lost me buddy

(epler has added a LOT of additional yapping after the fact about this and I think quite possibly he and I just do not see eye to eye on this issue. He brings up a case from the 80s with a false positive reading of a missile strike, and how if one particular person hadn’t been there to calmly double check the information, things would be different. And we are responsible for our actions, no matter what they are. But like. Im sorry. You can’t just say, you need to do your due diligence when you’re talking about abuse tactics and coercion. It isn’t that simple. He says there is no coercion there is guidance. And to me that’s a matter of perspective. I’m just gonna have to see how they take this I guess…….but yeah, idk, I think it’s legit just one of those cases of two fundamentally different worldviews, so he is never gonna see this narrative choice as something that interferes with the autonomy of the characters in the world, and I *will* see it that way)

40a. anyways this one isn't me bitching it's me being confused again: where do the circles even come from? bc there's one in the necropolis w the formless one, and there's another sealed away w the revenant dragon. these places are sealed, but i suppose that's just nothing to these guys. bc theyre super ultra mega powerful and we simply MUST up the stakes like we are in freaking dragon ball z. or was that revenant dragon’s spot not sealed up until the evanuris put the dragon there? In which case there would just be an executor circle literally right beside solas’ vi’revas/lighthouse……… …….. if he’s been awake now 13 (or is it 11? I still don’t know if this game is set 10 years after inquisition or 10 years after trespasser lol) years uh, how and why? He is wary of the executors so like. Please explain. If it ISN’T old and it IS recent, as recent as the dragon, then HOW did it get there? When? Who? Is he completely unaware?

40b. specifically, the line ????? says is "the storm, quelled (ghil portrait goes dark). the sun, dimmed (elg portrait goes dark). the wolf, defanged (dw portrait goes dark)." and we keep hearing about the devouring storm... so... aside from making creatures all ghil does is use the blight, so are you saying that's the "storm"? is that the SAME storm? bc there's references in this game to another song or singer in the blight and ghil alludes in a letter that she's been changed and wonders if it's bc she's just been blighted so long she's adapted or if something else was happening... But we also hear her say something in a tree talk about the storm across the sea don't we? Maybe it's the people across the sea....idr and that's not an easy thing to find in my playthrough footage lol. I'm just curious what's happening here bc you spend a significant amount of time in this game establishing the blight as the result of the titans being made tranquil, and the resulting madness is "a blight," but if there's ALSO something else? happening? idk I just don't think that's necessary and also I am now becoming lost in the literal sauce. is this storm something that predates the blight or joined in afterwards? or is it just the one thing.

40c. "And soon, the poisoned fruit ripens (portraits of Corypheus, flemythal, and the breach go dark in the same manner as before, but are replaced with images of, presumably, executors - it's either a fucked up helmet or a fucked up face)". ?????? ??????? Like, literally? Bc Corypheus, we don't know. Inquisitor just yanks away Solas' foci and then just Shoves His Ass Into The Fade by like, crushing him into a fade rift or something.... It truly is not clear what exactly is happening there but you don't necessarily kill him. Flemythal gave Mythal away and then got petrified but idk if that necessarily is killing her either (even though I had to hear it over and over in this game lol). But what? I mean obviously you can't make the breach into a person lol. RIGHT? I assume that alludes to like ya know....opening up the fade, yet again, and coming through. Because we haven't covered this topic yet extensively enough!!!! And we have conveniently removed our trickster god figure away, and the Veil holding the old magic back persists. Tee hee. Don't you wanna keep going with the exact same storyline about shitty elves but without the same cast? won't that be even more fun ?!?!!?!? -_-

I’m gonna reblog with some final thoughts to keep the list of questions relatively “clean” lol

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