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

I'm quite sure he was talking about more than just himself.

What I find interesting with 'regeneration' is that I think it tells us something about how he thinks about what he's doing. 

Like, I remember when some people were speculating how he e.g. effectively wants to go back in time and rewind it, so everything that happened form a certain point is just erased. And that's like, the opposite of regeneration - regeneration means growing something back after it's been lost or damaged, as well as bringing something new that would breathe in new life into something that's been dead or stagnant - so, it's not just returning to how things were. Not just replacing. It seems to be more like stimulating the environment so it starts to grow anew, in order to replace what it had lost.

Oh, I know.  And I like to pretend I'm ready for it.  But just straight pain and suffering without some sort of pay-off, well, that just sucks. So I have to think we'll get something resembling a happy ending. In at least one path, anyway. Copium, perhaps, but that's what I'm sticking with. 

Well, if there's any consolation, over years Patrick Weeks appears to be quite sympathetic to Sollavelans' plight, and - if I recall correctly - he once or twice made a comment that basically suggested that good things come to those that are so patient

TBH I'm not that afraid about Solas and Lavellan having a shot at some sort OK ending, but that Weekes is going to squeeze a zillion of tears of anguish from us before we get the final happy(ish) scene 

Whilst discussing the Brecillian Forest ruins on the Crazy Theory thread I stumbled upon a codex entry that I had totally forgotten concerning the Black Vials. Back in ancient times they used a blood magic ritual to bind six revenents in various places to prevent them doing any further harm. The ritual involved using the blood of a relative of the host for the demon, who would apparently seem to have voluntarily teamed up with the spirit, and also the host's true name to make it work. Could this be relevant to why Rasaan was searching for Solas' true name, so they could perform a similar ritual on him in order to imprison him permanently? Is the true name more important than whose blood is used? Or do the Qun already know and have access to the blood of a relative?

I wonder whether elves like Solas - those that we suspect may have been brought from the Fade - even have blood-relatives? It's kinda interesting to think what ancient elves would consider as kin.

Perhaps to ancient elves there are other types of familial bonds, like kinship of spirit?

Well, we do know that Mythal was known as Mother, that some Evanuris are considered children of her and Elgar’nan and that her mosaic in DAI has depicted her with a pregnant belly - so pregnancy surely was a thing back then, but then again the imagery surrounding Mythal may as well be symbolic in a sense that she’s the motherly protector who considers her people her children.

Then again, it could be that she knows of ways how to birth children that is entirely irrespective of biology, but still - effectively - bonds entities into some form of family.

Corypheus told his slave that the reason he needed elves for his blood sacrifice was that "the elves of old were tied to the Fade" and to do the will of Dumat he "would need to call on the magic that lives in our blood". Apparently there was still something special about the elves' blood even after the Veil had cut them off from their tie to the Fade. Solas seemed to acknowledge this when he is trying to connect with something in Sera's subconscious by talking to her in elvish. I am not clear why he thinks that Lavellan would die when he removes the Veil but if Charter is not an ancient elf then his words to her suggest that perhaps some modern elves would survive. Anyway, according to Corypheus, who got much of his information from the orb, there is something special about the blood of the elves not found in the other races. Therefore, presumably perhaps all elves would qualify as blood relatives of one another.

Regardless, of the blood relative aspect, I still think Rasaan looking for his true name may turn out to be significant, likely after we have dealt with the problem of the other gods. I think we will still need the Dread Wolf for that, which the trailer all but confirmed (unless that was a vision of the past).

Yet we got a blood magic amulet, the Talisman of the Saarebas from Ketojan in DA2, which seems strange. Perhaps like the elves there is something special about their blood which the qunari mages draw upon naturally, without having to actually physically cut themselves.

Also, we are told the Qunari fear mages which is why they call them a "Dangerous Thing", yet the Viddasala was not only researching magic but trying to power up Saarebas with lyrium deliberately in order to further her experiments to "strengthen" the Veil. Whatever she was up to I think it spooked Solas because he has had the Qunari Daarvarad on his radar ever since. They put it on a floating base in the hope of avoiding its invasion and destruction a second time but he found a way to circumvent that. Charter also said the Ben'Hassrath probably knew more about his movements than anyone, so I think Rasaan researching his true name was probably a little more than just routine reconnaissance.

Whilst Gatt was still communicating with Varric in Half Up Front and sent people wanting to help in the mission against him to Kirkwall, clearly the Qun were wary about divulging too much to the Inquisition because of the way he had infiltrated it before (as they had done) and so they decline Charter's invitation in Dread Wolf Take You. As it turned out, that was probably wise (had they been warned it had been compromised?) because only Charter survived that meeting. Of course, the Executor seemed to suggest that the Qun might be afraid of them. Solas also warned against the Executors. So, that makes two groups that were suggested to be of importance in Tevinter Nights, the Executors and the Ben'Hassrath, that have been totally absent from any of the latest marketing for the game. Other than the elven gods and their associated darkspawn, the only real antagonists shown are the Venatori. I cannot believe they have omitted the other two whether as (temporary) allies or enemies, so there is a lot more to come in the game that has not been anticipated in the recent trailers.

Don't forget that Taash can now breathe fire! We have yet to be told why she can do this, although it was hinted at in DG's comic series. I wonder if it is just Taash or the Antaam are suddenly a bunch of flame throwing warriors? The Missing was meant to be a lead in to the game and that had the Antaam camped outside Vyrantium. We don't know for certain we are going there but the comic did leave Teia and Viago in that city. I always found it odd that they were there when Antiva was already under attack, so I thought it would be more important for them to be helping lead the resistance there. Clearly, something important must have caused them to go to Vyrantium at such a difficult time for their home nation.

Now we definitely do know we are going to Antiva and the short story in 2022 had Antiva already under attack. It is interesting it was called As We Fly considering Lucanis now has wings. It always seemed odd that the Antaam should split their forces and break the Llomerryn Accord, thus bringing all the southern nations into the war, without good reason. The blurb attached to the 2023 art issued in conjunction with the trailer said that something was amiss in Antiva and the Crows were trying to uncover the source. That sounds like something other than the invasion because it was pretty obvious what was amiss there, so perhaps it had more to do with those strange magical vibes around the fairy tale castle. Then the latest trailer seemed to show Ghil had got that far but, again, that is a fairly evident "something amiss". Still, if the Qunari were in partial occupation of Antiva when the elven gods showed up, that could be very interesting. I just hope it doesn't turn out that Ghil can control Qunari because she created them.

I'm really excited to think how much lore may be revealed in this game. Harding getting magical powers should have us exploring more of the dwarven history and their relationship to the Titans (Solas can definitely help there) and then there is Taash getting draconic magic (no doubt Solas could give us some insights into that too) but the whole return of the elven gods means that without doubt I am playing an elf again first run. It is so relevant to the story, even more than Lavellan was in some ways, although that was pretty significant.

I must admit that when Solas first told me of the connection between the anchor and the elves my mind was immediately blown by it. Then we had the Well of Sorrows and meeting Flemeth/Mythal before finally discovering who Solas really was. This is why my Solasmancer Lavellan was struggling to cope at the end of Trespasser and just handed over the organisation to Divine Cassandra so she could have a quiet breakdown. Given the amount of time that has passed since then, I figure she will have recovered her equilibrium to a fair extent, even with Solas continuing to haunt her dreams. I wonder if she will just get a message from either Varric or Harding about developments or whether Solas will just contact her from the Fade? He was able to occupy the dreams of any race in Inquisition so presumably could make contact with them again but for a romanced Lavellan it should definitely be possible.

I just listened to that this morning while getting ready for work!