#solas meta

[ephemeralinstance]

It must have been very amusing for everyone else in the Inquisition when the serious, scholarly hedge mage suddenly developed an obvious crush on Lavellan.

Like, I imagine he thought he was being subtle but I am sure everyone knew. They saw the blushes. The longing glances. Dorian looked over the balcony and saw him sketching her. Varric caught him looking up love poetry in the library. It was an open secret maybe even before Lavellan herself knew.

They were definitely all gossiping about it. Cass pretended to disapprove but secretly found it romantic. Dorian thought he had no chance of landing her. Varric tried taking Solas aside to give romantic advice. Sera was continually making fun of him.

Then one day all of a sudden Solas and Lavellan are both quietly glowing and can't stop smiling at each other. Everyone else just gives each other knowing looks, and Varric collects money from everyone who bet against it. They all comment on how they've never seen Lavellan look so happy; and after all Solas may be odd but he's clearly devoted to her, so they all feel confident he'd never ever hurt her.

[crimsonphantasmagoria]

Yeah, the problem with the idea that the appeal of the Solas romance is that he's a god etc is that I romanced him on release of Inquisition before I knew anything about that. I romanced him because he talked to me about esoteric magic in a smooth Welsh accent and then decided to kiss my Lavellan like she was a feast and he was a starving man. Honestly the god stuff was fun, but it's not the thing I originally found appealing.

[rosieofcorona]

well to ME solas dragon age speaks exclusively in elvhen when he’s getting it on. you’re telling me this man, fully blissed out, would have the wherewithal to speak anything besides his native language? you’re telling me he would be speaking the trade, nay, the common tongue? while he’s giving uncommon tongue?? no

[vhen-harel]

Thinking about the Inquisitor in the war room, listening in silence as the others strategize about how to bind Solas to the Veil. Unlike anyone else present, the Inquisitor is the one who knows what it feels like to be bound to the Veil.

No matter the Inquisitor - regardless of approval level, or history - they always advocate for another way in that war room before the final battle. That moment is hard-coded into the narrative and after reflecting, I think we can relate it to being about the lived experience the Inquisitor has with the Anchor.

They uniquely know what it feels like to be affected by the Veil.

Spirit of Justinia (Here Lies the Abyss): “It is the needle that passes through the Veil, as little else can. You are the thread. And it is the key that locks or unlocks a door to the Fade… It is part of you now, and cannot be removed without your death.”

The Anchor stitched them into the Veil and shaped them in a way no one else in that war room can fully comprehend. They know what it feels like to be entangled with the Fade and the Veil, to be consumed by something so powerful and to lose agency because of it.

In Solas' binding he releases a sharp cry of pain. The Veil chains him by the wrists, the ankles, the neck - pulling him. The Inquisitor, with their own sharp cries of pain and torment can intuit the physical and metaphysical cost the parasitical effects of the Veil will have on Solas, because they have felt and lived it themselves.

In this scene I believe the Inquisitor has earned the right to speak, because of their direct contact with the Veil, the Fade, and the pain that came with it - and by the fact that, in the end, it was Solas who saved their life. (Their entire journey leading up to Solas is them believing they are going to die, so imagine what's going through their head when Solas actually saves their life.)

That survival creates a strange kind of intimacy between them. Solas doesn’t kill the Inquisitor, even knowing they could become his greatest threat (which goes against his usual pattern). Instead, he tells them the truth, making them a witness to his burden and his plans. What he later calls his “moment of weakness” (The Dread Wolf Take You) draws the Inquisitor into the heart of it all.

Perhaps that’s why, in that war room, they always speak up - at least once.

The endings seem to reflect the different Inquisitors. For those who carry the pain and anger of the Anchor, the loss of their arm, and the loss of agency, forcibly binding Solas can feel like justice. Having him chained, crying out in pain, becomes a mirror of what they once endured.

But for the Inquisitor who believes he can still be saved - who chooses compassion over retribution - the ending shifts. They are there at the end, reaching out. And when Solas does see reason and chooses to bind himself, there are no Veil chains, no cries or struggle. The Veil only waits for him to step forward.

(Though, based on what we know of the Inquistor dealing with the Anchor, there is definitely a parasitic relationship that Solas is now dealing with.)

[blightbright]

friendly reminder that solas' goofy hat in halamshiral is the helm of the drasca, the hats an anti-imperial rebel group wore fighting against tevinter and against the orlesian empire AND possibly modified it to make his elf ears stick out too

because even if nobody catches the reference, the Rebel Wolf is committed to saying fuck you to empire

[simpforsolas]

Do you ever think about how In Hushed Whispers, we wake up in this dystopian future and our immediate goal is to use magic to find a way back to the world as we knew it? We came across companions who had lived and suffered in this timeline for a year; indeed, it was their reality. Yet while we could relate to them and have compassion for them, and seek to help and comfort them as best we could, when they died it wasn't heartbreaking because to us, they weren't real. To us, it was nothing more than a nightmare of a world that had manifested in the blink of an eye.

Do you ever think about how modern Thedas is no more real to Solas than the alternate, dystopian future was to us? He woke up after thousands of years to find an unrecognizable world filled with oppression and magical imbalance, where the elves he sought to liberate now inhabit the lowest position in society as either slaves, servants, or in poverty. It isn't simply that the world isn't valuable as it is. It's that the world does not feel real. The people in it are disconnected from the fade and so to him, they feel like tranquil. And yet despite this world seeming no more real than a bad dream, Solas still cares about the people in it. He always approves of taking time to help out strangers, and enjoys discussing with the other companions to learn their perspectives and even encourages them during particularly difficult times (such as Cassandra's loyalty crisis with the seekers or Iron Bull abandoning the Qun). He dislikes violence and decisions that take away peoples' freedom. Even though this world isn't fully real to him, he still feels compassion for the people living in it.

And if the inquisitor comes to see him as a true friend or, Maker forbid, falls in love with him, the illusion snaps. The present is no longer a nightmarish dream world. It is real, and the people in it are real. But... so is the world he came from. The memories of that time are still fresh, no more than a couple years in the past to him. They are closer to him than memories of the COVID pandemic are to us. He can surely still remember vividly the taste of foods long gone, the beauty of magic-imbued cities, and the vibrant life of a civilization that was never separated from the fade--which is the way the world was natural designed to be.

This beautiful world that has become lost to time, that exists only his memory, fell because of him. Only he has the power to fix what he broke. But how can he make that choice, when the once dystopian dreamworld becomes just as real as the world he feels duty-bound to restore?

[fadedsweater]

Last reblog I ran out of tags lmao but like... Solas is very Himself in Inquisition. He doesn't have to wear the mantle of Fen'Harel. In all of the downtime allowed by the Inquisition's functions, he gets to be a scholar, a mage, an artist. In many ways he gets to be more like Wisdom than he's had in a very, very long time. He gets to interact with the world not as a war general or a soldier or a rebellion leader but as a person. He gets to make friends and camp in the wilderness and paint huge frescoes and read books and argue about philosophy and politics and teach people about magic. And yes, throughout all of this he is hiding very important truths about himself, but...a lot is said in the things he doesn't say, a lot can be inferred in the gaps and the quirks, and, fundamentally, the truth about his idenitiy doesn't change that much about who he is, what he's like, etc. He's still the same person after the big reveal, just with a lot of added context. He actually, in-game, lies about very little.

Despite the obfuscation, the essence of his past is there for anyone discerning to see. He was once betrayed and it ruined his ability to trust. He has a home but cannot return to it. He has experienced horrible loss and grief that he cannot bear to talk about. He has experienced violence and war and tragedy. "The man on the island" story he tells Varric is presented as a hypothetical but is incredibly transparently about himself. He is not honest about the facts of these truths, but he is plainly emotionally honest about them. His lies about who he is fall apart pretty quickly, but I think it makes sense for a sympathetic Lavellan not to pry. If I had made a friend who was this clearly traumatized by something in their past, I wouldn't pry, either.

His lies about who he is and how he knows what he knows fall apart pretty easily. Vivienne calls him out as suspicious right from the jump! It is entirely possible Lavellan beleives that he truly learned everything he knows from his explorations in the Fade. It's also possible that a very discerning Lavellan could start putting some big pieces together after meeting Abelas and the other ancient elves at Mythal's temple, because that revelation would hand Lavellan a pretty big potential puzzle piece: ancient elves exist! they've survived, they are out there, and they seemed to have a peculiar relationship with Solas in particular.

But that all aside, there's plenty of personality for Lavellan to connect to outside of the stuff Solas is lying about. He enjoys philosophical and rhetorical debate. He likes exploring ancient ruins so he can learn their histories. He makes friends with spirits and explores the Fade in his sleep. He enjoys talking about magic, about politics, about the state of the world as it is now. He enjoys frilly cakes and Wicked Grace and plays literal mental chess with Bull. He enjoys traveling, and painting, and he reads Varric's books. He knows a spell to cast to protect his bald head from sunburn. He likes court intrigue and political drama. He cracks jokes. He kneels beside a group of refugees in the Hinterlands to offer them aid. He cares about helping people. He's kind of an ass (maybe an understatement, lmao) but is willing to learn, very often, if you push against his beliefs, and usually apologizes when he's wrong. He's a skilled mage. He set his coattails on fire casting a spell. He's a man of contradictions. He's both distant and passionate. He's proud. He gets embarassed. He's romantic. He's stubborn but enjoys learning and teaching.

He doesn't say to the Inquisitor, "I am a spirit of Wisdom who took a body and corrupted itself by turning against its purpose," but that doesn't matter because he IS one and he ACTS like one: the emotional truth of it is there.

In my own headcanons, he and Lavellan enjoy sharing books back and forth. He leaves little notes about how he feels about prose/poetry, about plot, or about the validity of an author's claims. Lavellan is drawn to him because she sees the kindness hiding beneath all the bluster and because he apologizes to her when he's wrong, and because she can tell he's a puzzle of a person and she likes puzzles. She enjoys his stories about the Fade and she figures out pretty quickly that he's hiding some stuff about his past, but there's a hole in the sky and the world is ending and she misses her home, and Solas understands both what it means to miss your home and how it feels to have a title thrust upon you unwillingly. She likes debating with him about politics and philosophy, and learns pretty quickly that he has some weird esoteric opinions even if she doesn't know it's because he's from literal Arlathan. They talk about the world, about their duties, about their fellow companions. She tells him about her own past without too much expectation he'll reveal much of his, because she knows that it must be painful for him. The world is ending. They find plenty to talk about.

After their kiss in the Fade, Solas tells her "But I am reasonably certain we are awake now, and if you wish to discuss anything, I would enjoy talking."

I don't know. For me, so much of their relationship is inextricably tied to the world they are in, the stakes that exist, and the fantastical circumstances. Their circumstances would not and cannot exist in the real world. And despite that, there is a lot of real emotion to sink your teeth into. Maybe it's about two lonely people finding common ground in unlikely circumstances. Maybe it's about two people learning how to be people again, about having responsibilities and roles thrust upon you in horrible situations. Solas’s story can't exist in the real world: there is no magical veil, there is no immortality, there is no hole in the sky, no magic orb. But there is betrayal, there is grief and homesickness and apocalyptic circumstances, there is loneliness and suprising connection that can sprout up between two people in times of uncertainty. Solas, as a narrative device, is made up of abstract themes that are relatable and not horribly uncommon: grief, loneliess, self-loathing, betrayal.

Solas makes friends with people in the Inquisition because under all the fantastical circumstances, he is still a person with a personality. That's why players connect with him, too! And despite not revealing who exactly he is, Solas can't hide the kind of person he is underneath the fantastical title, and, maybe just as importantly, the kind of person he desperately wants to be.

[fenharels-chewtoy]

I get being a fan of Solas but you gotta appreciate Lavellan herself too. She’s the other half of the ship and part of what makes Solavellan so fascinating to me. Sure, you can play Cadash or Addar or Trevelyan and get something interesting but there’s something so compelling about Lavellan as the Inquisitor.

All Inquisitors can be kind, caring, compassionate, but it takes a special level of strength to be kind after losing everything. Lavellan is taken from her old life, turned into a religious symbol for her oppressors, and stripped of her identity and culture. There is an undeniable alienation she experiences, both from the shemlen, and then from her own beliefs (and her People/Clan) as she goes through the events of the game; she learns that the history she worked so hard to study and preserve was built on the backs of slaves, that her gods were tyrants and slavers, and that Fen’Harel’s name was ruined through millennia of propaganda and perpetuated lies. She is changed from her time as the Inquisitor and from falling in love with Solas—mentally, physically, and spiritually. She fell in love with the god, with the monster, her people were taught fear, and as the stories go, Fen’Harel’s touch leaves you forever marked.

The Dread Wolf’s name is not worshipped in reverence; it is invoked in fear, in anger—it is a curse, reviled, and spit like the most corrosive of poisons.

But that isn’t who Lavellan falls in love with. Just like the Inquisitor, Fen’Harel is a title and mask worn by a broken man forced into a role he didn’t want.

She was taken, twisted, turned into something she didn’t want, but she did not let it break her. The world had taken so much from her time and time again, yet they continued to demand. She gave up her home, her life, eventually her friends, and even the very organization she dedicated everything to. Forced to make decisions that shed as much blood as it saved. The rest of her life was spent in pursuit of a man looking to end the world, long after she’s already saved it once before. She holds her head high and bears the weight of the world like she was Atlas himself. The Inquisitor bends and bows, but never does she break. Despite this, despite it all, she still remains kind. And Solas? Sweet, gentle Solas. His heart is still so kind but he’s hardened it.

A romanced Lavellan wants to help Solas, to save him from himself. She sees the mask for what it is and knows the man—the spirit—hiding behind it all. Wisdom, taken from his home, turned into a weapon and then a symbol—a god. Forced to fight for what is just, Fen’Harel breaks under the trauma wrought upon him and by him.

He is weighed down by duty and service—to Mythal and to his People. The world was broken by his actions, and he seeks to rend another to restore what was sundered.

Wisdom was lost, turned to Pride. It hides under the guise of Fen’Harel because he believes it is not what the world needs.

The Evanuris claim that Fen’Harel is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, when he was a weapon forged by their own hand.

Lavellan chooses to walk the Dinan’shiral with Solas. Maybe for some, it is because they, too, believe the Veil must come down, and the world restored to its natural state. But, as loredrinker said in their fantastic post, it may be because of connection. They see that Solas is suffering; that he’s been alone. This path would break what was left of the gentle Wisdom underneath it all. The Path of Death, he called it.

She said so herself: “I will save you.”

She walks the Dinan’shiral, not as Solas does, but parallel to him. She does not walk it expecting to reap death, but to stop it. They’ve both experienced loss—lived through horrors no being should ever experience. Leaders, symbols—burdens taken on by shoulders that shouldn’t bear them alone.

And Lavellan will not allow Solas to bear this alone. As she had done with her friends in the Inquisition, she is offering him connection. She will ease his burden if he would let her. Despite the isolation she no doubt feels, she makes sure none of her friends ever feel alone. She supports each of them, gives them a shoulder to lean on, and takes their pain as her own because that’s just who she is.

I will bear this weight with you. You are my heart. We walk this path together. Pain, terror, a terrible future, but you do not have to go alone.

And in the end, the wolf finally takes it. And oh, what a relief it must be after all this time. Millennia, suffering. Alone, lonely, on a path he set for himself, believed to end in eternal isolation. After all, Solas’ worst fear is dying alone.

But no. This is not your fate, vhenan. Ar lath ma.