My aplogies if you've already spoken about it but I was just wondering as to what Miriel's motivations were for the removal of the vallasin and how these impact her beliefs and viewpoint?
No problem! I love talking about Miriel and her decisions.
So this is a very emotion filled decision for her. She’s just finished the temple of Mythal where she was very unceremoniously mocked and a lot of what she knew and understood about the elves was revealed to be wrong. She had to practically bat Morrigan away from using the Well and Miriel used it for herself. It’s still more her history to her at that point than it is to Morrigan.
Morrigan, Solas, Abelas, even Cassandra all were dismissive during the Temple of Mythal towards her about her faith and culture. She is repeatedly told that the gods were not gods, they were demons or something, but definitely not like the precious Maker. She also spoke to her other companions before Solas because I headcanon that she was mad at him for his treatment of her during the Temple.
So when she gets to the waterfall scene, Miriel is exhausted. Her faith has been trampled on considerably for the past few days in addition to people still insisting she’s the Herald, past when she’s said she’s not, past when she’s said she doesn’t worship the Maker, past when the truth is revealed at Adamant. She is worn down and learning about the Vallaslin is just one more thing to hit her.
In time, she grows to resent Solas for telling her this. What good does this knowledge do? Unless the Vallaslin is binding the Dalish to the whims of the Evanuris and it needs to be rectified, there is little point to him telling her this other than him wanting to see the marks gone.
She lets him take the Vallaslin because it is a moment of weakness on her part. Her mind is confused and full with the Well, her heart is aching from the disrespect she has been given, and she just wants some sort of approval at this point instead of mocking vitriol and condescension.
She regrets the decision quickly and eventually gets little tattoos above her ears to honor Mythal and Andruil (she wore Andruil’s Vallaslin). It’s not Vallaslin, but she doesn’t feel quite so bare now.
Over time, her faith in the gods waiver and by Trespasser, it falls apart. But her faith in her people, her love for her people, the Dalish, only grows. She knows that they face adversity everywhere they stride no matter where, and they persevere, they are the ones enduring not the ancient elves, not Solas or Mythal. The Dalish have remained strong and defiant despite a world that would rather see them dead. So her faith shifts from gods to people.
Thank you for the ask!
