I have always loved this scene. Their body language is a tome of history - every touch, every look, a record of what has passed between them that we did not see in the game.Â
Walking hand in hand, their bodies leaning into, brushing against each other, in sync - not just walking together, but drawn toward one another. This is not the tentative, careful touch of new lovers, nor is it driven by hunger. It is intuitive, grounding. A connection they settle into, a rhythm as natural as breath. Their touch does not seek, it is already there, it is familiar.Â
Each glance is a quiet recognition, a moment of shared awareness. His hand lifts slightly with hers, a subtle motion, his gaze shifting to where their fingers intertwine. It is as though he is drawn, not by desire, but by the quiet certainty of her presence. There is no urgency, no need to hold tighter. She is here, beside him - real.Â
Bringing her to this place, where the Veil is thin, an act of offering. Solas shares a part of himself here, letting her step into a world few have touched. And she, bearing the weight of duty, does not have to hold anything in this moment. She simply exists beside him, while Solas allows himself to do the same - physically affectionate, indulging in love.Â
Their scene speaks of times passed. How many times have they walked like this, fingers intertwined, drifting away from prying eyes? How often have they stolen moments like this - quiet, unhurried, lost in the pleasure of simply being together? This scene is why I believe they have been intimate. Their bodies move with the quiet confidence of lovers who have already learned each otherâs rhythms, already traced the paths of hands and mouths. Â
And I wonder - what came before this moment? Did they emerge from tangled bedding and slow kisses, reluctant to part? Did they linger by the fire, speaking in low voices of dreams and future paths? Did he take her into the Fade, guiding her through dreamscapes only he could show her? We do not know. But the way they move with each other tells us everything.Â
And that is the brilliance of this scene. It speaks of time stolen and savored, of love that has unfolded in the spaces between moments unseen in the game.Â
The game never needed to show us everything. We felt it in this moment alone. And so when the tearing comes - when their hands slip apart, when their bodies, once so entwined, are severed - it is shattering. Beautiful. And devastating.
I was recently extremely fortunate enough to win an art giveaway from @rosenrotxiiiâ and I asked for a scene from my fic Stolen Moments.
What I received was more than I ever imagined. I donât think Iâll ever recover. A million, million, million thank yous. Please go check out their work at rosenrotXIII here on tumblr, twitter, ko-fi, and redbubble; itâll be the best thing you do all day.
Music has such an immersive power... Listening to a playlist Iâve put together over the years made me realize how strong my personal connection is to Solas, Lavellan and their beautifully written love story. This certainly has to do with the fact that Solas is one of the most complex and multilayered characters I have ever come across in a video game. But my Lavellan also holds a special place in my heart, similar to how I feel about my favourite characters in books. You know, those fictional entities that can feel as familiar and dear as a real friend.
So I thought I might share this (very long) playlist. with all of you, my fellow Solasmancers.Â
The stories you tell, the art you create, and the ideas you share are also what made this journey so wonderful. Thank you!
So, my fellow Solavellans, what are your top 3 Solavellan songs?Â
You can't pick "Hallelujah" because it's "canon." The same goes for the music from the film "Once." (I think âFalling Slowlyâ and âIf You Want Meâ stand out.) For reference, check out this article
My picks:
âNo Light, No Lightâ by Florence and The Machine after Trespasser
âOrpheusâ by Sara Bareilles after Veilguard. Itâs hauntingly beautiful and so perfectly fitting both for the solavellan ending and their story as a whole.
âMy Love Will Never Dieâ by by AG and Claire Wyndham everywhere in between
No, I donât ever think about the fact that Solas is the last of his kind and singing an ancient song alone until Lavellan reunites with him and shows him she learned to sing as he does so he has his duet partner after thousands of years alone.
Definitely donât turn it over in my head constantly. đĽš
I agree with you on the Solavellan ending. I love the angst and tragedy and I'm eating the idea of Solas and Lavellan having a lot to unpack once in the fade. Dramatic confrontations, tears, breakdowns and a slow road to forgiveness,. Delicious food. But I'm really annoyed with a portion of the fandom that seems to just gloss over the fact that Solas killed Varric, someone who was always kind to Lavellan and was even her friend. And even if you don't like Varric personally he is in canon a relatively decent person who tried to reach out to Solas on a compassionate level. Then he used a blood magic puppet of him to manipulate Rook...
IDK the way that seems to mean little to nothing to a lot of Solavellans kind of bothers me. I'm not here to tell anyone how they can or can't play but the takes have been so bad. The infantilization, excuses and woobification of our boy are so egregious. Solas is complex and morally gray. Why would we be going through the effort of redeeming him if he wasn't doing things that would require redemption in the first place? I've felt really disconnected from the rest of the fandom because of all of the softening of his character people have been doing and it's refreshing to hear a take from someone who loves Solas but doesn't want to defang him.
Thanks for this thoughtful reply to this post! Sorry this took awhile, but I've been thinking of what I wanted to say. Long and spoiler-riddled reply below, and I don't even know how relevant it is to your reply, Nonny. Sorry!
I think A Lot of folks have spent the last 10 years rotating him in their heads like one throws a clay pot, molding him into something he could be based on what we knew about him. But, we didn't necessarily account for the other forms he could take. And some folks are very resistant to who he's canonically become by Veilguard. Because it's not a good form, he got Worse⢠in his decade away from friends and love (shocker!), and it's hard to reconcile this version of him with the ones we may have made.
I get all of that. But I also LOVE that. It means he could still surprise me, and I got to experience this weird duality of love/hate I didn't expect to feel toward him. I got to see his lies in real time, know he was lying because I KNOW HIM, and go, "oh, you little shit (affectionate)". Like, that's just FUN! Which, last time I checked was in fact the point of video games.
I love that he is unpredictable and dangerous in this game. That we finally see him go all out, and use every skill and trick he has. That is THRILLING, especially because he's more dangerous and lethal and ruthless than I personally expected. Which... Is my fault. I should have expected it, because look what he did to Felassan. Look how he so easily killed all those Qunari in Trespasser. Look what he did with those spirits of chaos and disruption. Look what he did to the Titans! I should have known better, the games and books showed me time and again what he was capable of. I just didn't want to believe it.
I've seen some posts talking about how Lavellan approaches Solas at the very last confrontation. How carefully she goes up the stairs towards him. I've seen several interpretations of it, but there's one I haven't seen (which could be because I'm not hanging out in the Solavellan tag much these days).
She takes those stairs slowly, as if approaching a spooked horse, because the last time someone climbed a set of stairs to talk him down from his ritual, he killed them. And I don't think for one second Lavellan believes, if she handles this poorly, he won't do the same to her.
And I think she is 100% right. He would, perhaps on "accident" as he claims to Neve was the case with Varric (debatable - seemed pretty intentional if maybe a bit impulsive from here). But I firmly believe there is a world where Solas would stab his vhenan if he had to and certain conditions hadn't been met (and yes that would utterly destroy him).
She walks up those stairs to him, her vhenan, knowing this is it. Their final stand. She will save him from himself, whatever it takes, and she is prepared to die at his hands if it comes to that. And it so easily COULD HAVE.
I don't know. I just think that Veilguard gave us SO MUCH more insight into Solas and there's so much there to chew on. I think we're going to be able to go back through all the games and codices and so many little details are going to fit together and complete a puzzle we didn't even know we were making.
After all of this, I still have so much to think on đ. I'm going to be living in Thedas for another decade at this rate!
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