"These are characters who can challenge you, support you, fall in love with you, and maybe even betray you over the course of hundreds of hours of playing." [x]
.............. cOME ON IT'S HIM ISN'T IT IT'S SOLAS ISN'T IT
Updates on fenharell's and my theory regarding The Elder One:
So I was skimming my copy of TME again and i just realized: when the main character says she's going to use the eluvians to fight for elven rebellion, she says:
"I think Fen'Harel would have approved," Briala said, and saw Felassan give a startled laugh. "He might have," her teacher said, "though I very much doubt it."
HE LAUGHED BECAUSE HE KNOWS FEN'HAREL AND WORKS FOR FEN'HAREL AND FEN'HAREL WANTS THE ELUVIANS FOR HIMSELF. FUCKING FUCK.
Also, since the first time I wrote out this draft I forgot that Felassan was actually in the fade when he was communicating with Fen'Harel, since he was killed there....
He's probably not dead.
He's probably tranquil, and now we know there's a way to reverse tranquility.
Plus, oddly enough, there was a strange hooded Dalish man in the trailer for the Elder One, that gives off an oddly Felassan kind of impression.
Well, this potential!Felassan actually has his eyes glow for a bit (as we know people possessed by a spirit of the fade have their eyes glow, e.g. Anders and Justice)....
And it looks like Morrigan is standing behind him....?? And there seems to be the fade-like black shadows surrounding them? MAYBE HE IS BEING CURED???
Basically, I'm more convinced than EVER that Fen'Harel is the Elder One, and we might even get to meet Felassan if we're really lucky. Which would be a dream come true.
ILL JUST KEEP SPAMMING U the mask of Fen'harel was powerful enough to tear the veil, something that is kind of the whole deal with Inquisition. A qunari saarebas also adressed the dread wolf which could be proof that Fen'harel is an actual god/spirit/whatever and not just folklore.
h o l y s h i t
i never got into redemption but guys that shit is too on point
Okay, so here's the deal. A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, Linda (aka fenharell) and I (aka dorianpavus) developed a crack theory about the plot and characters of DAI.
We wrote it in a crazed, post-Masked Empire haze of speculation and excitement, and...
WE ACTUALLY THINK WE'RE RIGHT.*
*at least partially
So, here's what we think, in the shorthand:
The main villain of the game will be Fen'Harel, the Dread Wolf.
Fen'Harel works through agents (like Felassan, from the Masked Empire).
Solas is one of those agents, and MIGHT be an ancient elf of Arlathan who's been woken up to do Fen'Harel's bidding.
Solas will betray the Inquisition.
Speculation and reasoning under the cut.
PART ONE: THE MASKED EMPIRE
Okay, let me start at the beginning -- major spoilers for the Masked Empire follow, but they're suuuuper important to this theory, so:
In the Masked Empire (TME), there is an elven character with vallaslin named Felassan.
Like Solas and Feynriel, he's a somniari, a dreamer mage.
He is also an apostate.
One of the main characters, a "privileged" elf from Val Royeaux secretly fighting for elven freedom, uses Felassan as her contact with the Dalish.
The problem is, Felassan specifically says that he is actually not Dalish, in a particularly cryptic way -- and repeats this sentiment later on (darkly: "you wouldn't want to meet my clan" -- because they're not a dalish clan).
He's definitely not Dalish, but he's not a city elf, either.
So... what is he?
See, Felassan also knows an UNFATHOMABLE amount of trivia, history, and lore about ancient elves. He knows about the fade, he knows about Elvhenan, he knows WAY, WAY more than any keeper seems to, and the keepers are supposedly the last remaining elvhen scholars, tasked with remembering.
Maybe this is because he's a somniari and he's seen the memories and histories of places in the fade.
... But he kind of talks about Elvhenan as if he's BEEN THERE.
"Take the richest district in Val Royeaux, and add the magic that was part of our everyday life. Every statue fountain could speak through the water that poured from her mouth. Every column glowed with runes the fools in Tevinter copied by rote like children tracing letters. When night fell, the roads were lit by stones like these, bright enough to find your way safely, but soft enough that you could still see the stars."
There's even a point where he says:
"Once, my people walked this land as gods. We worked magic that would blind you with its beauty. Now, we lurk in the deep forests and prepare for the next time you shemlen do something that upsets the balance of this world. Do you know what I was in my time, boy?"
He also talks a LOT about Fen'Harel. Like, a lot. And compares the main character TO him. Explicitly. Often.
And at the end of the novel, the VERY LAST SCENE is Felassan entering the fade (via his somniari abilities) and communicating with this ~mysterious figure~, for whom he was supposedly acting as a secret agent in the physical world.
... but unfortunately, in helping the main character, he's "failed" this ~mysterious figure~.
So Felassan tells the Big Bad about the main character, saying "she reminded me of -- " (and it seems like he's about to say "you", but before he can, THE MYSTERIOUS FIGURE KILLS HIM!!!)
If the main character reminds him of Fen'Harel, and he was going to say "you"... his killer = Fen'Harel?
AHH. END BOOK.
Okay, so... I know you're thinking that was a LOT of information about this character from the Masked Empire. Too much information, maybe?
BUT MAYBE NOT, BECAUSE IT'S HELLA IMPORTANT. Hold that thought, friends.
PART TWO: ARLATHAN, UTHENERA, & ANCIENT ELVES
Guess what else is important to us? ANCIENT ELVES WAKING UP.
So you guys remember Uthenera, right?
It's the ancient elven rite (dating from when the elves were still immortal in Elvhenan, prior to the quickening brought on by contact with humans) where an elder would WILLINGLY enter into a kind of semi-eternal slumber.
During this time, their bodies would be laid to rest, and their spirits would wander the fade.
Usually, their bodies would eventually waste away, and they'd die. Sad.
HOWEVER!!:
We learn in Masked Empire that SOME of these ancient elves were able to reach "perfection" and "draw sustenance from the fade rather than dying in their sleep."
So, basically, their bodies would NOT ACTUALLY DIE.
AND SOME MIGHT STILL BE ALIVE.
But, okay, Katie and Linda, just because some might still be alive doesn't mean that this is remotely relevant?
Well, the official Dragon Age facebook page actually posted this picture of DA3 concept art, about ~ARLATHAN~, with the caption: “And thus was mighty Arlathan cast down, its people swallowed by darkness—never to rise again.”
Oooh, so maybe we'd get to explore some ancient elven ruins, right? What once used to be Arlathan?? THAT'S SO COOL.
BUT WAIT:
The official Dragon age twitter account posted the SAME image, but with a different caption: “Here lies the abyss, the well of all souls. From these emerald waters doth life begin anew."
Life... begin... anew? From Arlathan?
Well, fuck.
Not to mention there's SANDAL'S PROPHECY from the end of DA2:
"One day the magic will come back. All of it. Everyone will be just like they were. The shadows will part and the skies will open wide. When he rises, everyone will see."
So.... everyone will be just like they were, will they???????? All the ancient magic will be coming back????
Ancient elves are definitely back. Bruh. BRUH
Seriously, if there's all these ancient dreamers (that were specifically described in hella detail in Masked Empire) that could still be alive, and life is stirring in old ancient ruins, probably an old part of Arlathan, and when the sky rips open (hello, the fade tearing open in DA3) everyone will be "just like they were" and ancient magic will come flooding back????
D U D E.
WE'RE GONNA MEET ONE, AREN'T WE? A R E N ' T W E????
And Felassan, this mysterious, cryptic figure, who's neither dalish nor a city elf, has no home, works as an agent for the Big Bad, knows eeeeverything about ancient elves, their histories, the fade... maybe he was one of them.
PART THREE: SOLAS, THE MYSTERIOUS APOSTATE
So this madness all started when Linda and I read this post, concerning what we could decipher about Solas from his appearance. At this point, back in the day, we knew little to nothing about his personality or story, so we were grasping at what little we did have access to -- namely, like, one screenshot.
I recommend reading the post, because it's hella interesting. But basically:
Solas is bald.
That's interesting for lots of reasons (really, read the post), but what struck Linda and I was that...
There are two other bald elves in the games:
Shartan (as a "spirit" in the Gauntlet), and Zathrian.
What do we know about both of Shartan and Zathrian?
THEY ARE OLD AS FUCK.
Felassan was described as wearing a hood all the time, so we don't know if he has hair or not, but...
Still....
Fine, okay, that's not that interesting, is it? The baldness is probably a coincidence.
But, it did get us thinking....
Solas and Felassan have a LOT in common.
THEY ARE BOTH SOMNIARI, DREAMERS
They are apostates... who've never been in the Circle before.
They are neither dalish nor city elves. !!!!????
They care a lot about elven rights (and rites).
They are both mysterious, lone figures.
Okay, okay, maybe that's just... a lot of really weird coincidences..... but also:
Felassan approaches the main character in TME, offering his help. He was doing this because he was an agent of the mysterious Big Bad.
Solas approaches the Inquisitor, offering his help. He MIGHT be doing this because he's an agent of the mysterious Big Bad.
I mean, after all: there's all kinds of references to DAI having overt, intentional religious themes and undertones.
Your inquisitor will meet people who think they're a messianic Chosen One.
And in a VERY VERY OBVIOUSLY "last supper"-y shot, Solas is standing in Judas' position.
We also know, like, nothing about Solas? His origins? HE'S SUPER MYSTERIOUS.
During Solas' interview, in fact, Patrick Weeks was super vague and weird about divulging information about him.
[PW]: He’s pretty straightforward, honestly. Just your average elven apostate who voluntarily joins the Inquisition in the middle of the mage rebellion to lend his expertise with the Fade.
[DA]: “Average,” huh?
[PW]: I like to keep it simple.
.... Sure. Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure.
I mean, also, just saying -- Patrick Weekes wrote Felassan as the author of the Masked Empire, and he's ALSO writing Solas. Just saying.
Okay, so that's a LOT of similarities, and because this was an intentionally written storyline (TME being the events directly leading up to DA3 -- and Felassan's death marking the "cliffhanger", arguably the most important scene in the book for its implications about DA3)...
Maybe there's something there?
PART FOUR: FEN'HAREL, THE ELDER ONE
So, here's the thing.
As I said before, Felassan (the secret agent of the Big Bad) talks about Fen'Harel all the time in TME.
His name actually means "slow arrow" in elvhen, which is a direct reference to Fen'Harel.
He spends the whole book saying how the main character reminds him of Fen'Harel... and at the end, when he starts to say that, just before he says either "you" or "Fen'Harel"... he gets killed.
But if Fen'Harel is the main villain of DA3... how? Why? Logistics?
We know that the Big Bad from TME wanted access to the eluvians.
He killed Felassan because Felassan gave the main character access to them, instead of the Big Bad.
So, if Fen'Harel is in the fade, and wants the eluvians, and is messing around... maybe that's what caused the dramatic fade rip at the start of DAI?
We also know that Fen'Harel is the trickster god, someone likely to use agents and subterfuge to achieve his ends.
In fact, Fen'Harel tricked both the dalish gods and "the forgotten ones", so neither of them could ever again "walk among the People."
Which might mean he's the only one really left standing?
And that would also make him... very old. Old enough to be an elder one, potentially?
We also know that The Elder One really likes chaos, and Fen'Harel is the trickster god who appreciates fucking people over for the sake of fucking them over.
PART FIVE: CONCLUSION, or tl;dr
So, that's that.
We've developed other particularly interesting theories from this (like, the potential class difference between an ancient!Felassan and an ancient!Solas), but this is.... the gist of it.
The Masked Empire was written for a reason. Its plot, its storyline, was written for a reason.
Fen'Harel and Felassan, his agent, a somniari, were a vital part of this book.
The final scene of this book was about them -- the last events before DA3 takes place.
Felassan's death is still shrouded in mystery, so DA3 must at least clear up who killed him, and he was 99.999% likely killed by the Big Bad of DAI.
But he was also probably killed by Fen'Harel.
Fen'Harel is probably the Big Bad, or the Elder One.
With Felassan dead, Fen'Harel will need at least one more agent.
Felassan and Solas are eerily similar, and their approaches to both their causes are eerily similar.
The devs are being particularly tight-lipped about Solas.
Felassan is most likely an ancient elf woken up from Uthenera.
Something "stirs" (as if, from SLEEP) in Arlathan.
If Solas and Felassan share the same past and purpose, Solas is very likely also an ancient elf, having no ties to anything or anyone in this world.
EVEN IF Solas isn't an ancient elf, just a hedge mage somniari who stumbles into Fen'Harel in the fade.. at the very least, it seems like he's a serious parallel for Felassan.
Felassan was supposed to betray the main character of TME for the Big Bad.
When he refused to, he got killed.
Solas, positioned as Judas, serving the same purpose as Felassan, might also betray the Inquisitor for the Big Bad.
..... so, who else is excited for DA3?
(Phew, that was... long. Very long. If you read all that, WE LOVE YOU SO MUCH. YOU ARE GREAT. YOU ARE AWESOME. Please speculate with us, we love everything about this game. Kisses~)
Fun bonus: also, what if Solas is the mage you can make Tranquil for "crimes against the Inquisition"? HA HA HA. Oh no.
PART SIX: UPDATES, OR THINGS THOUGHT OF LATER:
I just made another post with just... more evidence and proof and conjecture about Fen'Harel and Felassan (and the potential for Felassan to be in DA3 as a tranquil -- and the potential for us to cure him). Read more here!
Gareth David Lloyd, the voice actor for Solas, also apparently said (off the record): "Solas was 'guarded, very moral, has a dry sense of humor and hidden agendas'". HIDDEN AGENDAS. !!!
Linda also made this great post about how Fen'Harel may not only be the Elder One, but a ~demon~, and it's great. You can read that here.
This is just a brief shoutout to bittersiha who aptly pointed out Sandal's prophecy!! I actually forgot to add that to the original post (I'm sorry I KNOW) and went back and included it under Part 2, if you want to read it.
Also, regarding a Solas romance or betrayal: I feel I should also clarify that I don't think that Solas working for Fen'Harel means that he's evil, or a bad guy, or going to enjoy toying with the Inquisitor. I think there's any number of reasons he could be working for Fen'Harel (being forced to, elf/mage rights, curiosity, etc). I think how his narrative plays out is going to be affected by lots of things, like approval, romance status, etc. Like, who knows?? Maybe Solas will kind of do what Felassan did for Briala and stick it to Fen'Harel. Basically, I've just seen a lot of people taking this to mean that Solas is going to be evil or 100% positively cruelly betray the Inquisitor for fun and... I really don't think that's going to happen. I think it'll be way more complicated than that, and a Solas in love with the Inquisitor will be in love with the Inquisitor.
Also, I don't have a source for this (someone who I do not believe knew anything about this theory mentioned it on the BSN), so it may not be 100% true but I don't see why not: apparently, after a panel, the "design guys" said that Solas's pendant is from a wolf. A wolf. THE DREAD WOLF = FEN'HAREL.
helloooo!! 1) does ava bite her nails? 2) was she proud of getting her vallaslin? 3) what's her favourite color? 4) if she met egg what would be the first thing she'd say to her? 5) does egg get sunburnt easily? 6) this is not a question but they're both really really pretty. ♥
Hi :D
1) I’ve never thought about it but I think she might, I could also see her picking at her nails and the skin around them a lot too, either way she definitely doesn’t have long nails at all, I don’t think she’d like it…
2) She was very proud, yes, but I think she was almost more relieved than proud? It took her a very long time to get there and she interrupted the ritual twice by crying out, so her vallaslin went unfinished for over a year. She’s felt a lot of shame and frustration around the whole thing and even after she finally got it I think it would take her a while to feel unabashed pride, even with her friends and family standing behind her. She eventually puts the frustration behind her though and realises she definitely earned it and worked harder to earn it than most, and it’s not like anyone else is really giving her a hard time either, it’s just herself. I still have a lot of thinking to do around this (such as what her vallaslin means to her and why she got that particular one etc) but yeah :3
3) Blue! I said before that I tend to think of yellow when I think about Ava but her favourite colour is definitely blue, all shades of it, it represents the sky and the sea (which has always fascinated her even though she hasn’t seen it many times) and the night, and she loves the uniqueness of it :D
4) hmmm I don’t know, I don’t think Ava would be starstruck or anything (also that would just make Egg really uncomfortable) and I’m not sure how much Ava would have heard of Egg beforehand? Since the Blight was contained to Ferelden and Ava’s clan has been wandering the Free Marches for the most part it might not even be that big if a deal, though they would have heard about it, definitely (also since it’s been ten years there’s been a meeting of the clans in the meantime so everyone would definitely be aware of the fact that a Dalish elf is the Hero of Ferelden and where she’s from and everything). Anyway, I’m thinking probably something along the lines of “yes I’ve heard about you! :D”, maybe? XD
5) yes she does XD I mean living outside her entire life has probably helped but her skin doesn’t really tan much, it just gets red and she tends to cover up as much as she’s comfortable doing to prevent her skin getting burned. Not that shade is hard to come by either but you know :3
fenharell replied to your post “[[MOR] when people say that they think solas won’t be romanceable”
but how can he be romanceable!!!!!!! he BALD!!!!!!! he's not PRETTY!!!!!! h o w do you romance characters with no hair, where do you put hands while kissing, it's a problem
