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

If he drops out of major events at the end of things, he could travel and actually be the wandering, anonymous sage he only wore as a mask when he first met us. He doesn't *have* to fulfill the "redemption through death" trope.

I think it some ways returning to the Fade for Solas is his natural state of existence. From that point of view, everyday outside it is exile for him. He can still go there in his mind but he is bodily still stuck this side of the Veil.

As for the afterlife, the main view is the Chantry one but I wouldn't place much store by anything taught by them now. I prefer to look to the older cultures such as the Avvar. Whilst they believe that the majority of people depart to be reunited with their kin in the afterlife, they also believe that some favoured souls will be reborn. They also believe that one of their spirit gods, if its mortal body is slain, will return to the Fade to eventually reform and be restored to them. This is what happened with Hakkon. In fact we were told that by killing the dragon to which the Hakkonites had bound him, we were actually freeing the spirit to return to his natural domain.

All of the above seems to tie in rather well with what we know of Flemeth/Mythal. One thing that does stick out from Chantry belief is the idea that you only go to a peaceful rest if you deserve it and the wicked will be left endlessly wandering the Fade and this does seem a very ancient belief, since the section of the Chant where it is stated, describes the place of wandering not as the Fade but as the Beyond, a Dalish/elven term for the Fade. So it seems to hint at a case of most souls returning to the primordial Fade where they are recycled, with no memory of their identity in the previous life (like Solas' friend) but some individuals, either through the faith of their followers or their own strength of will, retain their identity and are either reborn or join with someone outside the Fade. May be the ultimate aim is to achieve a sort of Nirvana, where you are no longer caught up in the endless cycle but can actually transcend it in some way.

Also if you are "bound" in some way then you definitely cannot escape your destiny to continue to exist in that form. I think Solas is bound by some sort of oath or compulsion to remain in his current state and cannot return permanently to the Fade until his task is done.

Welcome back!  Wish we could give you some news about DA4 but ... got nuthin' really.  

The only "news" I can think of is that when Bioware congratulated Sony Santa Monica for the launch of the new God of War game, they jokingly asked whether Kratos would be willing to "take care of an old elven god" for them.

Any bets for who'd win that Death Battle?

He didn't even have to look at the Viddasala.  He turned her to stone with his back to her. 

Ooooh ... that's a tough one.  I'll have to think about this.

Hmm, I can't quite tell where the Viddasala's eyes were looking... Its up in the air. :poker:

On a more serious note - there's a piece of Trespasser dialogue that's been bouncing in my head for some time now: namely the "I never thought of you as someone who would do that, Solas" and him subsequently thanking us for it.

Here's a question.... you think he'd actually do that, if he had an opportunity to continue his original plan? Because not only now we're wondering whether he's going to follow through with whatever he has planned in near future, that piece of dialogue is basically a different way of saying "Yeah dude... you just wouldn't do that".

Not to say that it can't be read both ways, but I think that the dialogue, coupled with its initial description ("Truly?"), makes it sound more like Inquisitor is questioning Solas's determination to do the awful thing (even before effectively softening him), rather than just establishing that they thought of him as a good person prior to revelations. It's also in tune with character's arc, which is basically a soul-splitting internal conflict about his own actions. His mission IS important, clearly, but I don't think it's more important than simply doing the right thing - which is why he goes out of his way to save Inquisitor or tell them that he'd be happy if it turned out that he's wrong.

That's not to say that we don't know that Solas ain't capable of doing stuff of monumental consequences - one of reasons I think he's so set on being the one who does the awful thing (or why he's a legitimate threat in the first place) is because... well... he's already done it once. Still, we don't yet know the whole set of reasons that drive him now and how much they overlap with what he's done before.

I think a possible result of "finding a way to change the Dread Wolf's heart" is going to be Solas getting to the moment where he can enact his plan and... he just can't do it. Its entirely possible that we won't be able to stop him in an actual fight. He can turn people to stone, after all. I think in the end that the only way Solas is gonna stop is if his conscience gets the better of him and he finds he just can't go through with it. (Either that or we ally with someone/absorb power equal to his and then manage to kill him.)

THIS 

I really hope that PW won't see this movie. There were too many scenes with delicious angst to inspire him.