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

Oh, excellent! Thanks so much! Now...if I think about how the term "executor" is used, it's usually in the context of a will. So now I'm really so curious about whose will they are executing and why. Who is running this show? Hmmm....

Could they have been Flemythal's back-up plan? I think it's obvious that she has multiple plans for getting what she wants. My gut tells me the Executors have been in place for awhile, perhaps centuries? They seem to know what they're seeing even before the Inquisition.

I suspect something Evanuris-related, but not necessarily Mythal-related. But something tells me they may represent faction we don't know much about yet (Parladians? Maybe one of the Magisters Sidereal?), or they may be independent of anyone - perhaps people who have somehow discovered the truth? Or half-truth? Or what they think is the truth?

Thousands of years have passed, who knows what else is lurking in the shadows.

I find him interesting as a character and compelling as a potential adversary. I like the themes he brought to the table like, in a narrative sense, and the areas he ended up making the storybeats focus on.

I'm rather hoping they are these people. That would mean Thedosians have been aware of them up north in the Boeric Ocean for some time but the Parladians have been the ones who have not wanted to associate with the rest and have successfully turned away any potential intruders with their magic. That means that they have to be more powerful than Tevinter and the Qun. One sailor described their magic as similar to Rivaini seers and I have wonder if they could be a remnant of the Neromenians who occupied Seheron and Par Vollen, before Tevinter and the Qun conquered them respectively. I realise that doesn't make sense if their southern outposts were conquered but in each of those cases, may be they were taken in by initial friendly overtures and that is why Par Ladi now simply turn outsiders away. I think there are definitely similarities between the magic employed by the Fog Dancers and the strange magic that shrouds Par Ladi. They probably sent agents south seeking information when the breach appeared in the sky. Then whilst that threat was dealt with, they discovered an even bigger one had arisen.

These people clearly do possess powerful magic, which on its own might be reason enough for Solas to be wary of them. However, if they are related in any way to the former civilisation of the northern isles, then that would make their culture very ancient indeed. The Fog Dancers claim their ancestors learned at "the feet of the elves". The pyramids on Par Vollen seem evidence of a civilisation that worshipped the Sun and it is speculated that its inhabitants saw the Qunari as a legend come to life because of the horned figures depicted in their ancient murals. So it is possible that Par Ladi would have access to ancient magic unknown to the modern races and may even have something in their own legends that could throw light on how to stop Solas.

I've also mentioned on another thread about how in Mark of the Assassin the means to de-petrify a group of sailors was with an item called the Dagger of the Four Winds. The Fog Dancers have a legend they call the "March of the Four Winds". So if nothing else may be somewhere up north is the knowledge to make a protection against petrification, which would certainly be a start if intending to confront Solas.

The theory isn't elves = spirits,  the theory is elves *were* spirits ... and I think that's an important distinction.  Whatever they were before they're not spirits now; binding themselves to a physical form changes them and you can see it in the way that Cole changes depending on how you have him go.

I would say more but don't have time.  Not sure why I decided to post 2 minutes before I had to get ready for work lol.

So do you believe that Solas is like a spirit who hasn't lost its nature? I'm not sure that I think he's so highly influenced by those around him that he changes his nature according to who he is with. We all put on faces. We have a home face, a friends face and work face. We can surely be influenced by those around us, but hopefully not so much that we are turning on a dime according to who we are with. At least, I hope not. I'm not saying you are wrong, because obviously I don't know, but I hope you are. Because if you are right, Solas is likely unredeemable by the time he rises to his full power.

Physical appearance is irrelevant, since you can choose to look however you wish, but physical form is not. It is that which distinguishes the ancient elves from true spirits and is a key factor here. Study this memory from the Library in Trespasser about a lecture being given to a group of elves by what I assume is a Spirit of Wisdom:

"The unchanging world is delicate: spells of power invite disaster and annihilation. The unchanging world is stubborn: the pull of the earth fiercely resists making fire run like water or stone rise like mist. The unchanging world rings with its own harmony. Listen with fearless hearts, and great works will unfold.

Epiphany requires a mind smooth as mirror glass, still as stone. Put aside ten years for practice, and the next hundred for searching. What others have learned will ease your journey. Those who never manifested outside the Fade will find it easier to find its stillest roots, but it is rare the compulsion overtakes our brethren of the air."

Form is something that binds the spirit closer with the Unchanging World. It makes it less subject to change. Also, the spirit speaks of those who have never "manifested" outside the Fade as "our brethren of the air", who find it easier to perform magic, presumably because they are in direct contact with its source and have nothing getting in the way of their concentration. In ancient times the air and sky are associated with the Fade, the earth with the Unchanging World.

Spirits were different then. They were not affected by emotions so much as the environment they were in. In their natural environment, the Fade, they were able to think clearly. However, they lacked the motivation to do anything. (Something that is alluded to in the early verses of the Chant of Light). Crossing over to the unchanging world gave them the incentive to do works but the environment itself limited what they could do. Moreover, I think it highly likely that eventually too much magical activity on the surface of the earth caused its natural inhabitants, the Titans, to be awakened from their semi-sentient state, causing the earthquakes that the elves retaliated to with violence. This is what is remembered in the Dalish creation legend. I think the reason they remember the Evanuris (leaders) as the Creators is that is precisely what they were, the First of their people, who started the creation of the elven civilisation, leading the way for others to follow. It is also my belief that they may originally have been nature spirits that took on Form, each identifying with a different aspect of nature: Sun/Light(Elgar'nan - Firstborn of the Sun) ; Water/Birth (Mythal); Fire (Sylaise); Earth/Trees (Andruil); Air/Fade/Death (Dirthamen/Falon'Din).

These last two could well have been one spirit that split in two, one staying as a "brethren of the air", whilst the other crossed over into the Unchanging World. The words of the spirit lecturer would fit with one being able to discover secret depths through being in the Fade and then transmitting this knowledge to its twin outside. It is noticeable that in the legend Falon'Din is said to guide the spirit of a deer into the Fade after its death, so that may well have been his original function.

June is actually said to have "Created himself", so may be a manifestation of the spirit of creativity.

Then events started to change the nature of the spirits. First there was the war that Solas spoke of. This had a profound effect on the attributes of the Creators. Elgar'nan, as his name suggests, became a Spirit of Vengeance; Mythal became his counterpart dispensing Justice; Andruil became the spirit of the hunt; Falon'Din - Spirit of the Dead was not longer content with natural death but promoted violent death as well. Finally came the Veil that profoundly changed the spirits within the Fade as well. No longer able to interact freely with the Unchanging World, they latched onto whatever could still connect them to it and thus started identifying with the emotions and thoughts of the living that were particularly evident in their dreams. Solas seems to allude to this in one of his earlier conversations with the Inquisitor about spirits, when he says that a demon is just a longing of the spirit gone wrong.

So by the very nature of their form outside the Fade, the elves were no longer so malleable as they would have been within it but they were affected by events and people around them, just as we all are.

I totally agree here, but something still seems to allude me. It sounds contradictory that spirits have no motivations (not just because we normally think of the soul as the motive force to the physical body) but that the titans are 'woken' by the spirits meddling with the earth or psychical reality. Now I'm really confused as to what spirits are and how they distinct from physical form (and that's not just because I know that physical characteristics of matter are just effects of electromagnetic nuclear forces). I would think that if spirits lacked motive force the titans would already have it and by shaping themselves like the titan they gain it. But this doesn't seem to be the case. Why are the titans inanimate until the sprites interact with them? So is it really that spirits lacked direction, or that they had no desires left to fill? Supposedly the fade is infinite, any spirit could create anything within infinite skies; easy peasy, just find some place really far away from anyone else and do your thing. I don't really know where I'm going with this anymore but thinking on it just leaves me with more questions than I care to ask.
And what of the spirits as emotions in all this? How does this all relate to a time when there was only spirits and titans? While we are at it is all of the world one titan, or its multiple smashed together? Like how big are they? Are they just the lyrium? And since we see plants inside the titan does that mean plants were around before spirits took physical form?


Well...yeah, I gotta concede this 'cause this is what Solas meant by the Dalish aren't his people. But maybe what I mean is that the elves' spirit nature is still within them even if it's so far removed; I think back to when Solas tries to bring out Serah's elfy side as an example. And since Solas is more like the first of his peoples, he is more in tune with his spiritual past and is more afflicted by the desires of others.


I think that's a stretch but only because it could be any spirit of wisdom; that is to say its not out side the realm of probability. If it were would there be any other hints to that is was Solas? I don't know if its safe to assume any think about a spirit of wisdom is Solas unless he was like the primeval archetype of knowledge because then wouldn't we have to then assume anything else about elves in the library could be Solas? But it is interesting that the spirit talks of traveling the fade, one of Solas's favorite pastimes. Mixing that with the other quote and the notion that Solas wants to be free from the physical and return to fade do make it all line up... I want to believe...

Im replaying Solavellan (nope, those waterfall dialogues havent changed) and it got me wondering two things

Now that Solas has a link to 'present Thedas' could he ever enjoy the world he plans to bring back? He knows he 'has' to do it and that the cost in hurt will be terrible. Could his hubris at this point prevent him for seeing that his victory would taste like ash ? Would he want to remain in this new Old World he'd created and endure, or would he plan to sacrifice himself in the process so his 'mistake' is fixed but he pays the price?

The convo with an Inquisitor who drank from the Well makes feel its the former, but Trespasser almost feels like a setup to make sure someone puts him out of his misery (after he accomplishes his purpose). Even haunting romanced Lavellan dreams may be a way to make sure she goes after him.

The other things is lets say down the line Solas is still kicking, I guess Lavellan would have earned herself an iambic memory (his greatest profession of love seems to be 'I will remember you' which isnt nothing from a god/immortal being)... So what would yours be ? ''There was once a formidable woman who once fell for a god, and even tho that god could not return her loyalty, each night they would chase each other in dream.... something something. My English isnt strong enough to write a good one, but im sure Solas could create something bittersweet and beautiful to tell a mortal who would catch his attention a thousand years from then (provided he lives and doesnt get all warped from his own doing).