The Blanketfort (crying and throwing up) - The Official Solas Thread [Spoilers]

So, lore tells us nothing ? / :
Even with the fear of the fade and demons, you would think that there are some other  "Merills" out there, or the Dalish Inquisitor could be the one to try and communicate with spirits, especially if you're close to Solas and have the same beliefs. I hope Bioware will give the answer, because to me it seems like an obvious thing to do.

I wonder what it tells about Solas, the fact that he just can't move on from Lavellan.
I don't know how to interpret his actions. 
You would think that after he broke up, left, and did what he did to Flemeth, he would be entirely focused on his plans. But no, he shows that he still loves Lavellan, and visit her in dreams after he stated that they can't be together. I find that pretty cruel.

While doing his romance I felt like he always wanted to be in control, or be the "dominant" one. But in the end, he has no control.

The only answer I have to explain his behavior is that he is weak emotionally. I don't like this answer.

I think the implication is that even though there are some Fade explorers, overall there is simply too few of them to register as even statistical noise.
Well, Solas did state that not getting involved with Lavellan would be 'kinder in the long run', for both of them. But I don't think he acts out of cruelty - he can't move on, because he does seem to genuinely love her.

As for him 'visiting her in dreams'... we don't really know whether he really visits her, or whether they dream of one another and manage to connect somehow on distant planes of the dreaming. I mean, it is established that feelings and thoughts can reach across the Fade and connect people who have some sort of emotional bond with one another

SPOILER: Click to show

Cole: "Tama, how will I follow the Qun?" Her hands, strong but gentle, ruffles stubs where the horns will be.
Cole: "You are strong, and your mind is sharp. You will solve problems others cannot." She smiles, but sadly.
Iron Bull: Looks like my old Tamassran was wrong. Bet she's pissed one of her kids went Tal-Vashoth.
Cole: Agents with hushed tones. Eyes stinging, forms to fill out, course corrections, reduce risk of similar losses.
Cole: I remember the little boy, too wise, eager to help. Words break in small secret spaces. He got away. He got away.
Iron Bull: How could you know that? You've never even met her.
Cole: Your hurt touches hers.
Iron Bull: Well, that's, uh, creepy. But... thanks.

... plus, we do know that Inquisitor is the first one who visited Solas (and did so unconsciously) in a dream. In Skyhold, just before they go to visit Fade Haven.
According to Solas, not even mage Inquisitor should've been able to reach him that far in the Fade, yet they managed to do so, demonstrating their nascent Dreamer power (and we know from him that everyone who can dream has the potential...) enhanced by the Anchor and probably not lost after its removal. So it's possible that the reason Solas blips on Lavellan's dream radar is because she's managed to find him, not necessarily he her.

I mean, nevermind that the excerpt states that Lavellan does try to reach him, and keeps searching and dreaming and waiting for a way to change Dread Wolf's heart. So it's not like it's a one-sided thing, especially that this scenario only happens if we decide to declare her love for him at the end of Trespasser (and that's with all the outs they gave us to end the romance throughout main game and DLC).
In what way Solas tried to be dominant? Because he had a flirt with a mage that included word 'dominated' in it? I never really felt that Solas wanted control in the relationship (if anything, he tried to stay away from it) - nothing that ever happens (aside from dumping, of course) is there without Lavellan actively pursuing him. She's the one who initiates most romantic encounters.

If this was about his dominance, then it's hard to explain why Solas enjoyed Lavellan declaring that she'll protect him at the very first flirting opportunity in the game.
Well, if that is 'weakness' then I'd prefer for Solas to be weak that way. That he's still capable of love, hope, passion and kindness after all the crap he's went through instead of being a hardened, disillusioned, cynical shell of a former self too determined to be stopped in doing something he himself is demonstrably unsure of? That's not a weakness, IMO.

I'm not sure I'd say 'weakness' for Solas. I would say 'reckless' for sure, and even 'selfish'. People in love can try to justify a lot of things to themselves, and I think that's what he was doing. I'm sure he told himself he would break it off and then he could move on. But obviously, he can't. So he did lie to himself and possibly he's lying to himself still in thinking that he can actually pull off the Veil tear down.

I have to agree with midnight tea - I only saw equality in the Solas and Lavellan romance. That balcony scene, especially - for me that was NOT Lavellan "presenting herself sexually" to Solas. It was her meeting him proudly as his match. Which isn't to say that that blogger's point of view (and yours, Faust) is invalid, but maybe that the Solavellan romance is actually quite subjective.

It's a perfectly valid way to play the game. Fen'Harel does seem to threaten the current state of affairs on a global level.

But I wouldn't be surprised if it was about more than that. I mean... if Solas's actions are there not just to 'restore world of elves', but say... try and prevent even higher threat with his actions? Doesn't that make him a Machiavellan character, in many ways no different than a protagonist played that way? And, as protagonists, will we be at moments when we'd have to cross the line even further? WAS the line crossed already when we chose to harden our friends or already made specific choices? What could be the price for it in the long run?

Those are interesting questions which a character like Solas can provide in the narrative, which is why it's years after the game's released and some of us still choose to speculate and ponder in their spare time

I'm not sure I follow. In what sense did he say nothing to Inquisitor and in what way you deduced from this that he won't be around when new threat arrives?
What if it turns out that your interest or that of the current world would require you to do what Solas does, or something no less drastic or destructive?
I do, and the answer is not anything new (though there's still a lot we can learn about it): it's probably something related to the Blight.
Either way, Solas seems to know something he doesn't want to tell us that seems to go beyond his plan to change the world - same thing with Flemeth.
She keeps same goals and dialogues - but she's lost her principles; and methods to achieve those goals change from fairly peaceful and resolute to bloody and ruthless. You could say that she turned to Marjolane (in fact, that's what game devs said hardening Leliana does). Or... the Dread Wolf. Given that in Inquisition's Leliana basically mirrors his arc, it's entirely fair to say.

And since we're working to stop the Dread Wolf because we disagree with his methods, while not necessarily with his goals... 
The fact that Solas let Inquisitor live and enabled him an opportunity to stop him likely has a lot to do with what I said before - that Solas views Inquisitor as his equal. And thus his counterpart who has any chance to stop him. He does tell Inky that he knows that he/she will try. He also tells befriended Inquisitor who wants to redeem him (by proving Solas that he doesn't have to destroy the world) that he's genuinely looking forward to it ("I will treasure the chance to be wrong once again, my friend").

So no, I don't think he just wants to let people die as close to comfort as possible. He likely wants to give them a fighting chance - and that fighting chance requires them NOT suffer another unexpected punch from hostile power, plus an organization/leader who has a chance to stop him that is neither exploded by Qunari nor malfunctioning Anchor.

Connected to it, yet entirely speculative, is another reason to sparing Inky: Solas has some sort of plan that involves them, and that involvement apparently means that Solas grooms Inquisitor as his successor. Successor to power? Successor to fight? Successor to be forced to make a crappy decision?

Hard to tell now, but - aside form all the parallels - he's already willingly handed Inquisitor his seat. And given that Skyhold is a place of no small significance (probably the spot where the Veil was initiated) it's a deeply symbolic gesture.

Then there's Weekes, the lead writer - when asked what else he could tell us anything more about post-credit Solas/Flemeth meeting, he's made a strange point. He told us to watch their encounter and compare it to encounter has with Inquisitor at the end of Trespasser, and see what resonates. And sure enough, there are moments the scenes are mirrored shot-by-shot, specifically the approach at the start. Only in Trespasser Solas is in place of Mythal and Inquisitor in place of Solas. Huh...

That's like saying that Solas not telling Inquisitor anything about him being the Dread Wolf in the main game meant that he/she wouldn't be around in Trespasser to witness the revelation. In other words - Solas not telling Inquisitor something (...yet) doesn't mean that they won't be around to either do something, or witness the threat. We don't know what Solas knows and whether he thinks we're ready to hear it.

At this point it's important that he wants us - specifically us - to chase after him.
I can think of a few things. Personally I'd prefer for world to be destroyed if it means avoiding endless hell with only pain and suffering in it. Kinda like in future Redcliffe? The world that we have technically destroyed by not letting it come to pass?

Besides, the destruction of the world isn't his end goal. Solas even says a couple of times that the world MAY be destroyed, not that it most definitely will. His goal is restoration - either of the elves, or of 'world of the elves' (which basically means Veilless) or restoration of conscious connection to the Fade of most people.
Because magic of Thedas depends a lot on memory and will. That means that, in many respects, knowledge in Thedas means power in a very literal sense of the word.

And we already have enough information to safely assume that ancient elves believed that one of the worst things to happen to someone, or one of the harshest punishments, is forgetting or being forgotten.

Hence the Forgotten Ones. Hence the temple of Solasan inscription saying "hidden from mortal eyes, death lies within" - with 'hidden from mortal eyes' basically meaning that whoever was sentenced there for their transgression has been sentenced to be forgotten by everyone. Even Solas's greatest fear is to 'die alone' - which basically means not cared about by anyone and therefore forgotten in the long run.

Stealing memories was also a mean to deal with threats - there are quite a few excerpts and dialogues (mostly from Cole) suggesting that the hinted war between elves and Titans may have ended when elves basically made the Titans forget how to wake up.

There's also an old Dalish myth about Andruil and how she went mad from entering the Void too much or how she 'howled things meant to be forgotten', only for Mythal to deal with that affliction by stealing Andruil's knowledge of how to enter the Void.

Well... we know that later Mythal was murdered. And according to Solas, it was because other Evanuris wanted more power. We don't know how accurate the Dalish myth is, but it's possible that Mythal held some sort of knowledge that she didn't share, because she's deemed it as too dangerous.

If the above is true then it'd make sense if Mythal or Solas held some sort of knowledge they'd want the world to forget after whatever end awaits them. If the knowledge is forgotten the threat resulting from having that knowledge may never endanger the world again. It also may be a reason why Solas ain't telling us much about it and merely warns us vividly about how toying with Blight or trying to kill remaining Old Gods is utter madness.
You may have forgotten about the epilogue from main game:

Hardened: "Her response is as swift as it is deadly, unity is maintained, but blood runs through the halls of the Grand Cathedral"

Inspired: "She meets with their leaders, urging unity. Miraculously her words take root, and - for now - the Chantry remains strong."
Well yeah, but if you define the whole fight like that it means there is really no ethical argument to be made here. There's no 'right' team. Merely one concerned with winning in preserving/restoring their way of life at the end.
Most of my Inquisitors are, yes. And personally I am very much a '2nd chance (or 3rd or 4th) person', with that not being limited to just Solas, or just Dragon Age.
Plus, I like interesting plot twists and things that may make us think about things.
We didn't have anybody potentially as powerful as Corypheus was in the main game with us. Yet he was defeated, mostly because we managed to unravel his schemes and stop him when it was necessary.

And we had years to gather knowledge, gain allies and open opportunities, plus - we are the only organization in the world that knows anything about Solas and with its leader (whether befriended or romanced) compromising Solas on emotional level.

Plus - we don't know who are we going to ally with in DA4. In fact I suspect that we will find some powerful entity, and that we may potentially be offered an alliance or solution that may stop Solas, but the price for it may be steep.
We actually don't know why the elves have disappeared and who did they join. The epilogue card is unclear about it. It may have been Solas - but it may as well be someone else. We can't expect that Solas and Inquisitor are the only players in this multi-dimensional chess, especially that we got hints that they aren't.

We know, for example, that after Temple Of Mythal, yet before the defeat of Corypheus (and thus Solas leaving and absorbing Flemythal's powers), there's an elf in Val Royeaux who confesses to his master that he has vivid dreams about a person who calls herself Mythal. Why does he have this dreams and is this really Mythal, or is this something else? Then there are strange elves looking like Sentinels from ToM who sport red Vallaslins (Weekes said Fen'Harel doesn't have one, given that he was the guy freeing people from it) who have been spotted in Tirashan - and we know from Last Court that there are strange things happening in that forest, plus they've been mentioned in Trespasser.
Treating someone an equal doesn't mean that one wants or even can protect someone from prospect of hard decision or fate - he couldn't shield Inquisitor from Anchor going bonkers or revelation that he's Fen'Harel, regardless how he felt it must've hurt his friend/lover.

So yes - potentially appointing someone as being responsible for, say, making decisions that are very consequential for the world does feel like something Solas would only trust to someone he views as an equal. Especially considering his trust issues or his life history.

He may not want to do it. He says pretty explicitly that he wants to shield people from burden he carries ("This fate is mine alone. Indeed, I would not wish it on an enemy, much less someone that I once cared for") - but he also doesn't want to possibly destroy the world. Yet he still thinks he has to continue his mission, even if only awful choices remain on the board. One of that awful choices may be either appointing someone he's not fond of (but still assessed as willful and determined at the end of main game in dialogue after ToM), or his dear friend/beloved in a position if grueling responsibility (I mean, he kinda did already in Trespasser).

...Or it may be a contingency of some sort. Given that Solas has left the window of opportunity to prove him wrong open, it's possible that he's planning for more than one eventuality.
And why shouldn't I? Why would my lack of knowledge prevent me from looking for a better option? If anything, it motivates me even more - because I still don't have anywhere close to the full picture (and both Inquisition and Trespasser have amply proven my characters how little they yet know) and thus may make a grave mistake if I just rush to end Solas.

Plus - if we know the guy well enough - we know he's reasonable, receptive and sensitive to plight of people, regardless of their background and thus he's capable of changing his mind. It's possible that the world Solas seeks is unobtainable either way. That doesn't change the fact that he remains the repository of power and knowledge that can still push the world to a better era, even if the process itself would last centuries.

Pope the Murder I That'd certainly be a first. Well... when it comes to name at least ;P

If he had good reasons to hide that he's a Dread Wolf before, he may have good reasons to not tell us of the threat - not necessarily the same, but still reasons he likely deems important. So why discount that?
While I play characters who don't give up on world easily, I recognize that this isn't always true. Sometimes the odds are just too much or things are just too broken. There are situations where the best thing is destruction and perhaps making way for something brand new.
It doesn't exist either way, so the result is the same. We didn't give a chance to those who were alive then to change things, didn't we?
Would be good if you actually brought the full exchange, because there's a crucial data point there.

"You must understand. I awoke in a world where the Veil has blocked most people's conscious connection to the Fade. It was like walking through a world of Tranquil."

Inquisitor's 'we're not even people to you' and him responding in kind means that he actually means ALL people by that. Not just elves.

Needless to say that we don't even know what exactly he says when he states things like 'the return of my people means the end of mine'. And yes, there's more than one ways to read this than "I just want elves back on top" - because he doesn't recognize modern elves as 'his people' and treats Dalish Inquisitor to the same dialogue. The elves have survived, demonstrably so, yet his people still 'ended'.

So the end doesn't necessarily means literal destruction (plus, in dialogue right after ball in Winter Palace he does state that he doesn't think he has much to do with elves - when we ask him who are his people then he answers that with 'a good question', and if we choose a different response instead of elves he starts associating himself with mages. No race, just mages.).

All in all, we're talking about the guy who is one of the staunchest advocates of freedom of choice. And he's on a mission that will ultimately impose his will on people, regardless whether it will actually destroy him or not. He's bound to feel iffy about the whole debacle regardless of how it ends. I mean... nevermind that we know that he is open to the possibility of being wrong about destruction, thus demonstrably proving that destruction is not guaranteed.
But it did take root. Besides - that's just unreliable epilogue narrator using the word 'miracle' (I mean... we are talking about a leader of a religious institution), while we know that this is simply the effectiveness of inspired Leliana using means different than shivving people left and right. We know that, because Pope Leliana the quest of whom we didn't complete can't stop the Chantry from fracturing.
The fact that things will go wrong again is sort of a given. Without things going wrong again we won't have a story. But that doesn't mean that the trouble may spring from the same source, especially if we do something that will either eliminate or minimize the risk - or at least do enough to be better prepared for it next time. Or, at least guarantee the world's survival to fight other odds by saving it from threat that posed risk of total annihilation.

I mean... that's probably what Solas did with the Veil. Yes, it brought its own big problems. But creating it guaranteed that the world has survived whatever the Evanuris wanted to unleash and ultimately couldn't, because Solas struck first.
Unless they do something I think is a possible scenario for DA4 or further, it's possible that we won't be ever able to 'fail' in a big way, because - so long as they want to continue the story - they can't make the narrative have too many branches. But I guess it also depends what we mean as 'failure'. It may be that the story will end the same way in DA4 - with us winning - but means to end the story would be diverse enough that some of the world-states will allow for scenario where we achieve Phyrric victory, or fail in some other way.
Cory lost against Hawke back when he was merely woken up, with no schemes he's been setting up for years, no Venatori or others backing him and no orb in his possession. Besides - Hawke has at best "killed" him, but did nothing to defeat him the first time, which is why everything in Inquisition happened.
I wouldn't be surprised if he or other FO showed up somewhere and had major role in events. Right now all eyes are turned on Evanuris, but Forgotten ones are supposed to be their rivals/counterparts and thus can't be written off as insignificant. Especially that Geldauran's Claim suggests that he's hidden somewhere and waits for his opportunity to strike.
There are situations in which people do. Multiple DA companions across all games manipulate the PC, despite their genuine friendship and/or love for them.
Is he killing people left and right for the slightest offense? The guy thinks even killing hardcore Venatori is tragic.

...Or did he only rush at those mages after they killed his oldest friend and showed no remorse or even understanding of what they did?
(never mind that they just summoned a huge demon and clearly had no idea what they were doing in the first place, thus posing risk for themselves and everyone else in the area)

I mean, nevermind that Inquisitor only has to utter his name to stop Solas. It shows how much Solas respects Quizzy that a mere soft word can break him out of his willingness to avenge one of the few friends he had left and watched her suffer and die only moments before.

We need to come up with a way to work "dear conal blep mlem mlem" into a Q&A conversation with Hallelujah cadence. For science.

(You think Conal knows the last words on the official forum were to him? Should we tweet him and ask? lol I assume its Conal Pierce. I don't remember the community guy's last name, specifically, but I don't remember any other Conals?)

Can you believe that was 1,5 year ago?