Oh I've been pondering this for a while, hope you don't mind the add on! I'm of the same mind that Solas isn't puppeting or speaking as Varric for a few reasons.
And Iâm also not trying to poopoo anyoneâs headcanons or lore people have built for their world state or anything like that - imagine away! But I never could see Solas taking the risk of acting as Varric. Solas is a master of disguise but that's when he's disguising as strangers (The Dread Wolf Take You), I just can't see Solas taking a chance in acting as Varric and potentially causing Rook to become suspicious.
I also think Solas is severely limited not just by magic, but by his own regret.
âOn a Cage of Regret.â
In that codex that a friend pointed out to me awhile ago, Emmrich says the regret at the heart of the prison - Varricâs death - wasn't only Rookâs but Solasâ too. That Solas ârecognized the impact of Varricâs fate on you because he felt it as well,â and I can see why some people read that as Solas feeling what Rook feels so therefore, he must have that power of Rook's mind - but to me it reads like Solas understands Rookâs regret because he shares it. Rook's grieving and denying Varricâs death. Solas is grieving and denying that he killed Varric so it's easier for him to want to block it.
The codex also says, â... the initial denial - for your mind to retreat from the shock of the moment - no one could fault you for that.â I read this as the first denial isn't something Solas creates from nothing. Rookâs mind protects itself from the trauma, Solas discovers it and then capitalizes on it in that split moment, throwing a wall in front of it to keep it from surfacing.
When I think about everything Varric says to Rook in the Lighthouse, his words feel very Varric like. They're filled with encouragement, about keeping going, about moving forward - and that's just not Solas. If Solas were consciously speaking as Varric and creating all those words himself, it stands to reason that Solas understood those lessons and therefore should be capable of applying it to himself and move forward. But the prison holds him because he doesn't do that. As Emmrich says: An immortal life founded in denial risks becoming an endless collection of loss. A god might regret but cannot accept. Ah Solas - king of denial and pushing things away.
As OP mentioned, the game kept repeating that the connection was âtenuous.â And I think the game kind of had to repeat that to drive home the point that the most powerful Dreamer and the most powerful being in Thedas, canât do more to affect Rook.
âHad I the power to control you, I would have used it.â
Solas abhors blood magic, so I can't see him using something he abhors just for a tenuous connection. I think he full on tried to exert total control over Rook in his desperation but realized he couldnât - not enough blood and because of the regret prison.
Considering how desperate I believe Solas was, if Rook was his only connection to the outside world, and if he had all this power to speak as Varric and act as Varric in Rook's mind (or to see through Rook's eyes) - why would his only plan be to pretend to be Varric and then stay silent the rest of the time? I can't see that from the wolf who chews off his own leg to escape a trap. The moment Solas can speak in Rook's mind he does - but that seems to be affected by Elgar'nan's magic and a thin veil.
Lastly, Varric in regret prison says it was Rook the whole time. And I don't know, for Rook (at least for my Rook) I feel like that's a really emotional story beat. Rook only sees Varric in the Lighthouse - isn't that the place, along with the Caretaker, that provides the person what they need most? If Solas threw the wall in front Rook's memory of Varric's death, then for me the Lighthouse and it's magic, countereffects Solas' wall and at least allows Rook to connect with what Rook needs most - Varric. And that makes me cry.
