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

Seriously, though...my Inky was so effing fed up with Thedas' shit, fade jail is a vacation.

It was probably much easier for me because I honestly couldn't give less of a damn about Rook if I tried.   I just...can't connect with them as a protagonist at all.  And I was over Varric after Inquisition.  Him in Veilguard was just overstaying his welcome for me, so the whole 'tricked into fade jail and btw you pal is dead' thing was completely wasted on me.  Lavellan's opinion was the only one that mattered to me.

Solas' story in Veilguard isn't really about him changing so much throughout that story - we're mostly learning (and experiencing!) why he is the way he is, through exploration of the past and paralells between actions of Solas and Rook. Naturally, those who played DAI know more, but that's nothing new; we always got more context if we played previous games, etc; these are not standalone stories that need to be reiterated fully in every chapter.

And, as in DAI and Trespasser, Solas remains a conflicted individual who is at the very end of the path he's too broken to step away from on his own. He quite literally can't stop acting the way he does, as he's lost too much over millenia to see a way out - because of that, he either condemns himself to become the thing he hates, or we're willing to see that there's enough of actual Solas left in the Dread Wolf to offer him a chance at redemption (and, as it turns out, if we have strong enough intervention commitee: there is).

And I personally never had a problem with justifying that path - I mean, aside from being a redemption arc trash and usually picking a redemptive path to most characters that can be ofered it, after Veilguard I actually feel a little bit validated, because it turns out my speculations about his character were quite spot on: his guilt and damage isn't really about the Veil, or just about the Veil (or even Mythal, who - like the Veil - is in many ways a symbolic representation of guilt) - while it remains a thing he desperately wants to fix for what it does to the world, it's more about things in his past that have led to Veil's creation, that he's either facilitated or was helpless to stop, despite centuries of efforts.

As it turns out, the fate of his spirit friend in DAI closely mirrors his own fate - he got pulled out from the Fade, and everything that happened shortly after twisted him against his original purpose - although the fact that he's effectively did this out of affection and loyalty only makes this more tragic (and also sheds more light on his actions in Crestwood or not allowing Lavellan to follow him - following someone out of love and loyalty ended in tragedy for him and, eventually, the world)

From my standpoint it's hard to not feel sympathetic.

In the letters between him and Elgar'nan, it says Elgar'nan 'woke at the dawn of the elves', which I assume means he was one of the first spirits to gain sentience.  And Solas states he 'is no younger'.  So they're both old as dirt. 

As for the convo between Solas and Cole, we are thinking it's about Mythal?  Sounds about right.

Solas seems to have a fair bit of Stockholm syndrome where she's concerned, and it makes me feel like crap for the Mythal vallaslin my Inky had.  A daily reminder of his abuser can't have been easy.  No wonder he was so relieved when she let him take it away.