You ever think about how Cole, a literal spirit of compassion, seems to care so much for Solas? Yes, he tries to connect with others and help them as well, but what they have is not the trust and affection he holds for Solas. Cole stands up for Solas on various occasions:
Vivienne: You should not encourage that thing.
Cole: Solas is not a thing.
or
Cole: Solas doesn’t want to hurt people! He’s not that kind of wolf!
or
Cole: You didn’t do it to be right. You did it to save them.
Inquisitor: Solas, what is he 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.
Or how about the fact that after Solas left, Cole went looking for him in the fade out of compassion, and Solas had to tell him to forget?
Cole's entire being is based around a single attribute: compassion. Because of this, he's drawn to a) people with pain for him to heal and b) people who are kind. He can sense that Solas has much hurt to heal, though Solas is able to conceal it from Cole in ways others cannot, but I think he also cares for Solas because he understands who he is at his core. He understands that despite what Solas has done or plans to do, he doesn't want to hurt people. He doesn't care about being right, he cares about helping. In truth, analyzing Cole and Solas's relationship is extremely revealing of who Solas really is. If the spirit of compassion who can read minds and emotions has so much affection for Solas and sees his motivations as coming from a place of goodness, that seems much more honest and true to me than someone making a judgment of him based outward factors.
The more I play inquisition, the more I use Cole as a moral compass. He may not understand the world, but one thing he understands is compassion, and every decision he makes is rooted in love for others. So if Cole cares for Solas and doesn't see him as a monster, then I believe that no matter what he ends up doing, this is proof that Solas is someone worth caring for. Someone with good within him.
Maybe someone can help me understand the lore better. PLEASE, I can't stop thinking about this.
So. Solas used to be Wisdom, until Mythal convinced (coerced?) him into taking a physical body. He tells us he was Solas first, before Fen'Harel. The name Solas means Pride, and it is pretty hard to argue that would be a coincidence. His name isn't random. It must have been the name he took (or was given) as soon as he took physical form. So.. was it the act of becoming a physical being that broke him?
And another question. Do spirits exist as a two sided coin, so to speak? Wisdom-Pride, Purpose-Desire, etc. Or do both aspects exist in them at the same time? Are the aspects that we consider "bad" actually bad? One could argue that the Fear demon in the Fade in Inquisition was doing something good before it was corrupted, taking people's fear to ease it. Likewise with Cole, releasing those who were suffering to death. He considered himself a demon/bad for his actions at that time. Not every aspect of Pride or Desire are bad either. Only when they are the only thing in control. Clearly Solas is not driven only by Pride. Is that because of his physical body?
Anyone else deck out Skyhold overwhelmingly with Chantry and Orlesian custumisations when playing a Lavellan, to really drive home the theme of them being swallowed up by this organisation and the narrative of the Herald? Or am I being problematic?
Not like we get a Dalish throne or decor anyway. Wonder why that is.. And since we don't actually get to influence the Inquisition in any way towards a more Dalish take on what is happening, no matter what we learn in WPHW even, and our own identity as a believer in the Dalish gods gets just brushed aside all the time and in CotJ a noble even gets to make flippant quips about the Exalted March against the Dales to you as if he's talking about the weather, and all of this is kind of the point of the narrative even... idk, I feel like this little customisation choice can really drive these constant slights and erasures home.
Lavellan gets to pick the curtains maybe and the bed in their own room, but the throne room will be whatever makes the Inquisition most pallatable to the Andrastian hegemony. Cause this isn't about them.
A comic in which Solas and a Qunari Inquisitor discuss his views on the Qunari people is making the rounds. Per usual, it is sparking conversations and arguments about whether Solas is a racist piece of shit or not. I don’t think people’s opinions can be swayed one way or another at this point, so I’m not going to try.
What I want to talk about is the diffculty Weekes would have had writing this scene, the contradictory nature of the balcony conversation with banter, and the fact that Solas may not be entirely wrong (although he shouldn’t have said it that way).
The writing. I’m going to use the Qunari balcony conversation because it’s the most egregious, but all conversations Solas has with an Inquisitor of any race are problematic. I don’t think the intention was to cast Solas as a racist. I could be proven wrong in The Veilguard, of course, but for now, let’s say that was not the intention.
Weekes had the Herculean task of writing the “loyalty” conversation that happens after every companion quest is successfully completed. That isn’t an easy thing to do when the character is hiding the kind of secrets Solas is and who might not be feeling particularly loyal at the time.
The writer must show that Solas has doubts about his plan based on his observations of a single person – the Inquisitor. Weekes must show that Solas is looking for anything he can cling to, to justify his plans. They must show Solas’ growing admiration for the Inquisitor – in some cases against his better judgement. They must show that Solas is only just beginning to realize these people are real and destroying them would make him a monster. They must do it all without giving away the stinger. Not easy and very open to misinterpretation.
I love Weekes as a writer but even they can miss the mark. Solas has a tendency to say whatever is on his mind in the most socially awkward way possible. Probably because he spent 4,000 years conversing only with spirits. I love Cole but imagine spending that long in a place where everyone talks like that. Also Solas' first language is Elvhen, a conceptual language that is much more fluid than the common tongue. He's trying to express complicated thoughts in a language that isn't his. Again the writer has not and probably can't give us this context.
What Solas says on the balcony contradicts his banter. This could be because of the way banter triggers. It’s possible that banter was meant to trigger after the balcony conversation to show the growth of the character. But let’s look at it.
In an exchange with Bull Solas defends Tal Voshoth. Bull calls them savages and says they are sick. Solas says they aren’t. They are victims of a sociopolitical system that denies them agency so when they gain it, they don’t know what to do with it.
If you save the Chargers, Solas is the person that helps Bull through his concerns that without the Qun he will turn into a mindless beast. My family has dealt with enough racism to know that a racist would never do that. Basically, if Solas was a racist, he would absolutely believe Bull is right and he will eventually turn into an animal.
Solas’ problem- as has been stated multiple times - is with the Qun and the fact that most Qunari don’t question the regime they live under. The Qun removes agency from the people. That is anathema to Solas. The problem with the balcony conversation is that this isn’t expressed. Solas seems to be saying he believes that without the Qun all Qunari are savage brutes when he clearly defended all Qunari who have rejected the Qun.
It’s poor writing because it isn’t made clear that this is Solas’ problem with the Qunari. When he says the Inquisitor is different he means that they question the world around them. They don’t take things for granted or mindlessly follow whatever their society dictates. Again, poor writing choices don’t make this clear.
And Solas isn’t entirely wrong. The Qunari aren’t savages but they can be brutal. Most of us have played all three games. We have learned a lot about the Qunari and it isn’t all good.
Their goal is for everyone to live under the Qun. The entire second act of DA2 explores what your average Qunari believes. We must fight through Kirkwall because the Qunari have decided the city would be better off under the Qun. We know that the Qunari treat their mages even worse than humans treat mages. Circles are bad but the Qunari cut out the tongues of their mages, sew their mouths shut and give them personal minders. They are fed a chemical that keeps them pliable (a chemical they feed anyone who is judged to be a problem child as Fenris tells Isabella).
The Qunari don’t have names. They have numbers. Their “names” are just their job descriptions. They can have all the sex they want but when it comes to children there is a breeding program. They are told what jobs they will do. If they don’t do what they are told, they can be made Tal Vashoth or killed. In DA2 we free a Qunari mage who doesn’t want to be free and self-immolates because he feels that’s what he must do under the dictates of the Qun. Most Qunari, even Bull, would rather turn themselves over to re-educators than become Tal Vashoth because they have been told they will turn into savages without the Qun to guide them.
As of Tevinter Nights we know that a subset of the Qunari decided to take the “Path of Blades” to forcibly get other races to submit to the Qun.
Solas would see all of this and hate it. He doesn’t hate the Qunari people - which is an aspect of racism - only what they have become because of the system they live under. The Inquisitor is different, not because they are a special snowflake (they are because they are the hero of the story) but because they don’t believe in the Qun.
The fact that Qunari can throw off what he perceives to be their shackles confuses him and makes him believe that they and possibly Bull aren’t the only ones capable of doing this. That’s not good for his plan. That’s why he wants to know if the Anchor has affected them. He wants to believe they are special because of the Anchor so he can carry out his plan with a clear conscious.
I think this is true of the other conversations with other Inquisitors. The solution to the problem would have been for the Inquisitor to be able to strongly push back against Solas’ comments. Weekes could have then provided some clarity. As it is we get no clarity and people are left with misconceptions.
it honestly sucks that the things that would make an avvar inquisitor so good are probably also the things that stopped them from considering an avvar origin
the avvar are basically completely outside chantry influence. theres no negative reactions to being a mage, a dwarf, an elf or a qunari. we know they have a close relationship with the dwarves, that they treat magic with respect and without fear, and that their founder had an elven lover. thane svarah sun-hair mentions that their people have had few dealings with qunari, but that it's nice to not have to look down when they talk. so if an avvar became inquisitor, the whole 'choose between templars or mages' just... wouldn't be a thing? imo, an avvar would look at the breach and be like oh yeah we clearly need mages. people would warn them about magic being dangerous because mages can't be trusted and they'd be like um?? we trust our mages and it's fine?? we literally practice spirit possession for our mages so they can be taught etc and it's?? fine?? we talk to spirits on the regular? what do you mean mages can't be trusted? the advisors would be like oh we need influence to talk to the mages and meanwhile the avvar inquisitor has gone straight to redcliffe to talk to fiona about the breach and how um yeah ur right that mages shouldn't be locked up ur chantry is whack. if they weren't let in they climbed the walls.
they go to val royeaux to talk to the chantry begrudgingly because they don't like the chantry and that revered mother is all the maker would send no barbarian in our hour of need!! and the avvar inquisitor is all?? I mean I don't believe in ur maker but wasn't ur prophet u know. a barbarian? queue outraged french gasps. cassandra slightly disapproves. seras cackling on a balcony.
the avvar inquisitor doesn't want to be called the herald, and gets their beliefs disrespected a lot, but is also probably happy with their role because they're healing the tears in the sky, and thus helping the lady of the skies. there'd be an actual connection for them outside andraste, who despite not accepting as their prophet, they probably have some respect for. the avvar are pretty outspoken about their gods and beliefs from the few interactions we've had with them (probably because they're not oppressed under the chantry) so maybe they're more insistent on being called something to do with the lady of the skies. like the lady's herald or something.
interactions with companions would also be very different. solas tries to do his whole I saw it in the fade thing and the avvar inquisitor, especially if they're a mage, starts to get really suspicious because of their understanding of spirits etc. they love talking to iron bull because he's one of the few non chantry companions and their neck doesn't get sore talking to him. sera reacts to a female avvar the same way she does with a female qunari. they can help sera understand that spirits and magic aren't all demons and things to be scared of, and as a consequence her crisis of faith after the temple of mythal goes very differently. dorian and vivienne are at first both kind of wary of the way an avvar inquisitor talks about magic, but if they become friends they both begin to understand that there are ways of being taught how to resist demons. this is especially impactful for vivienne, who grew up in the circle being told she was a ticking time bomb, and if an avvar inquisitor is friends with her there's the chance to teach her their ways. they're much less weirded out by cole, and since they're so familiar with spirits, maybe they work out he's not simply a spirit earlier on. they probably get close with varric quickly because of the avvars close relationship with dwarves, and they're the one to tell varric stories. blackwall is really interested in hearing about their culture and they sit together around the fire and whittle little animals together. they probably struggle the most with cassandra honestly just because of how pro chantry she is, and after learning about how seekers become seekers they probably call her out on how hypocritical it is of her to be critical of the way their mages are taught by spirits when she herself was possessed by one. they probably start looking into a tranquil cure much earlier, because of their understanding of spirits and possession.
also a lot of avvar seem to have animal companions. I'm just saying an avvar inquisitor could have a pet.
also... dude... Inquisition did the darkspawn dirty
they’re just lazy sleepy skeletal annoyances easily struck down in Inquisition but holy shit they’re not just scary in Origins they’re downright disturbing
like... not just visually (which dai also dropped the ball on imo) but the fact that they eat their victims and not just kill them, drag them underground (Morrigan says she doesn’t know what for but like the implications are kind of teriffyingly clear), and that they string up and place bodyparts around like frickin decor
Firstly let’s just get out of the way that I don’t like when war table missions are used in companion quests since it feels like that stuff done in those should have been done by the player and would be more interesting than a lot of the side quests within the game.
But now onto what brothers me about Cole’s quest, which honestly sucks that I don’t like since Cole is my fav companion out of all of them (To the point of being the one I want a plush of the most). But I think his quest brings all the worst parts of his writing, so let me break it down.
1. Cole isn’t the main voice in the quest line
So in most of the personal quests you hear a lot about what the companion thinks of things or learn something new about them from them. But this isn’t the case in Cole’s quest, the main voices and Soals’s and Varric’s, with Cole more reacting to them than them reacting to him. I noticed this when I was grabbing screen caps of Cole in this quest just how much these two show up vs how little Cole does.
Shouldn’t a questline about his identity have him being the main voice on the topic? I mean think of what it’d be like if in Iron Bull’s quest it was mostly Dorian and Krem talking about what would be best for Bull without actually asking him or taking into acount his past actions and instead just based it off him being a Quneri or their gut feeling on the matter? Yeah that’s what goes on in Cole’s questline where Solas even tells Cole off for voicing what he wants at the start.
2. The conflict is rather short and isn’t remotely up to Cole how it ends.
Honestly this is a issue I have with all the side quests where it’s mostly “Go to a place, kill a few randos and then tell your companion which route you are taking them on.” but it’s really bad in Cole’s case where the only thing you can really do is support (or not support) one of the two guy arguing about what Cole should do and then watch Cole do whatever the one you sent ahead tells him to do. It’s like no has free will and the fact that it takes more time to do things like recruit random people to work as agents is really annoying.
3. Solas is honestly acting like a autistic parent (TM)
For those that don’t know what I mean by “autistic parent (TM)“, I mean a parent that is very controlling of their child and how they act and thinks the way they act on their own isn’t their “Real” self, in the case of a irl autistic parent (TM) they think that “autism took their child” or things like that. But in Solas’s case it’s not the fact that Cole acts “weird” that brothers him, it’s that Cole isn’t acting like what Solas (who within canon is not known as a spirit, that’s a theory) thinks a spirit.
The whole story frames Cole becoming more human as him changing but the thing is that what goes down in the human route is what Cole would have done if we hadn’t been there, or well closer, he very well might have actually killed the guy and could became a demon but that’s a topic for another day.
What I’m getting at is that Cole wanted to kill the guy, he wanted to be bound to Solas to protect himself but in both cases Solas tells him that he knows Cole better than Cole does, he says that it’d be abusing Cole to use a bound to protect him, even if Cole, a spirit who likely knows the risks asks him. And then when Cole wishes to kill the man that killed the og Cole, something well within what Cole has been known to do, Solas says that this isn’t really him, that this isn’t something that Compassion would do, ignoring that Cole has been killing those that harmed mages for longer than he has known Solas and that he choice to become Cole and has full free will on this matter, it’s not like Varric is egging him on for murder, he is saying to let Cole decide.
Within the spirit route changes a lot more than he does as a human, sure he talks the same way but how he deals with things, his view on himself, his desire to kill the person that hurt the og Cole and by the end his own identity change, he acts like a very different character and as a whole takes care of himself less .
Meanwhile again the Human route is a lot closer to what would have happened had the group decided to send Cole to deal with the problem on his own, had Solas not been there it would be no question to Cole (the guy who already kills a lot, to the point of being a serial killer) to at least try to kill the dude and end up more human.
4. It’s a part of a bigger issue.
Cole is treated by the writing like both someone can’t really do any harm and as someone who can’t make his own choices, like a child which is a bigger issue for autistic character wrote by people that aren’t autistic.
Cole was based on the writers nephew who is autistic and that view of autism as a young boy thing is pretty clear in Cole’s character whom despite being the same age as Alister in dao is treated a lot younger and has a lot less say in his story where instead of getting to side with him on something or directly tell him what you think it comes down to which of his father like figures gets their way.
