Solas' army.

His stunning gaze...

Well he certainly has agents/spys, the one in trespasser was a city elf, (or i suppose they could have been a dalish with their vallaslin removed, but he doesn't seem to get on terribly well with the dalish) which makes sense since city elves have access to pretty much every where to spy. But whether they'll also be used to fight is in question. If they are it may be more as assassin's and insurgents rather than fighting in armies.

Since Solas seems to be acting in the shadows, can turn small armies of qunari to stone, and has access to a system of rapid travel across great distances, he might not have any need of a standing army.

Where is it said they have a small population?

I suspect with Solas’s forces it will be more clandestine than open war. I imagine that kind of combat will be more for the Qun-Tevinter War.

Velanna says there aren't many elves, which makes every each of them precious.

Talking to her when she is idle inside the keep.

It is possible she was only referring to the Dalish when she said this. Their numbers are small. This point was emphasised in the Masked Empire. Celene was surprised to discover how small the numbers were in the Dalish clan she encountered (around 50) and how the Dalish as a whole were not the threat the Orlesian nobility had assumed them to be. It was also mentioned how few children were in the clan. So it is possible that at least some of the Dalish are experiencing fertility problems. It is worth pointing out that Sabrae clan could not have been very large either, considering Hawke's small party was capable of wiping them out. If the clans united against a common foe, as they did in Ferelden in the 5th Blight, then that might make them a force to be reckoned with but I am not sure how many Dalish would be willing to commit to following Fen'Harel and might only do so on the promise that he was going to release their gods. Which means they might then instantly turn on him once the gods were free. Somehow I don't think he would want his potential enemies to be too knowledgeable about his plans and he had a consistent contempt for the Dalish throughout the time we knew him (with the exception of Lavellan), so I think it is unlikely he would use them in any numbers. Those of his followers we see with vallaslin might well be like Felassan, pretending to be Dalish in order not to arouse suspicion and infiltrate them.

He would definitely seem to be using city elves. Not only is there evidence of this in game (unless his follower in Trespasser was another ancient elf passing themselves off as modern) but also in the latest comic Deception, where he had recruited a former slave to work for him (or one of his followers had). I would imagine he could have a great number of followers among the slaves of Tevinter. Not only would he be able to preach a message of liberation that would appeal to them but those working for the nobility of Tevinter are also in a position to access any artefacts that ancient Tevinter scavenged from the elven empire and that could be useful to him.

We were told in DAO that there are 10,000 elves in the Val Royeaux alienage alone. In other cities across southern Thedas the numbers would be smaller than this but combined would constitute a sizeable army. The number of elven slaves would likely even outnumber those in southern Thedas. Since the population of Minrathous is said to number 1 million and a fair sized proportion are going to be slaves, even taking into account that the elven percentage of the slave population is only around 50%, I'd say that would still put the number of elves in Minrathous alone into 6 figures. That means potentially a huge army across Tevinter as a whole. Of course the Qun have also been making inroads into the slave population in order to use them to undermine their enemy but Solas has the advantage of being of the same race as the elven slaves, which probably would make them more likely to trust him over the Qun.

However, initially Solas is more likely to be working through agents and keeping his presence low key whilst he moves his pieces into place on his chessboard. Only then will he reveal what he sees as his winning move. So we are less likely to encounter elves as an army rather than individuals or small groups unless or until it comes to a final showdown. How many modern elves he has supporting him may well then depend on the actions and decisions of our PC up to then.

Incidentally, I do not relish having to kill large numbers of elves either, particularly if they are former slaves who have been led astray by the Dread Wolf, so there had better be an option for saving them from such a fate.   However, this sentiment also applies if they have been beguiled by the Qun. 

Thinking it over, it's actually not at all unlikely that we'll be facing a full-on Elven uprising even just as a byproduct of Solas' actions. If he has an extensive network of spies in place and starts peddling the right rhetoric... I can think of ten ways to sell screwing over the big man and regaining their immortality to populations of frustrated young elves with no real hope of ever making anything of themselves anyway.

In that sense we're very much talking about a radicalized terrorist faction, and unlike with the Venatori there are Alienages all over Thedas... Imagine if Solas had been there during the City Elf origin? There wouldn't have been much of the Arl of Denerim's estate left standing, and a sizable chunk of the Alienage would have marched right off with him in indignation afterwards.

That said, Tevinter is probably the country with the smallest Elven population, and I don't get the sense that Solas is going to make much of an effort attacking or destroying civilized authority in a conventional sense. Seems to me he would be entirely focused on whatever artifacts or rituals are going to allow him to tear down the veil, rather than waste time getting tangled up in a power struggle with anyone.

And meh, we'd be killing them because of their destructive intentions rather than because of their species. No genocide. More of a... purge.


One that was promptly absorbed by another mage-goddess, who was then promptly absorbed by Solas, for his purposes. Yup. I suddenly feel less ambiguous about having converted my tower into a Templar installation, or pressed the rebel mages into servitude.

Realistically speaking, it wouldn't surprise me for all the shit in these games to ultimately result in a double crackdown on mages and elves for the next several millennia, if not complete genocide of both. In the average Thedasian's shoes, I would just about have had enough by now. And if Solas doesn't turn out to have some great reasons my next playthough  of the series is going to be vehemently anti-mage. Which will hurt, because I love Morrigan too.

Solas doesn't want to start a war, he wants to eliminate the Veil – and he thinks, because the caused chaos (the Fade will merge with the mortal world) a part of the mortal world will be destroyed, when the whole world transformes to something else.

He need some people to help in it, not an army for attack countries. The elves will join to him, to build their new world. The destruction not his goal, but the possible (likely) consequence.

But perhaps it's just me.

Ofc it's going to be elves. And it probably won't be an 'army' but more like an army of agents/spies that'll be functionally indistinguishable from an army in the number of them we'll be killing as throwaway mooks, but still not a standing army as such I don't think. We saw with Briala that the unparalleled mobility the mirrors enable allows for an entirely different method of engagement where numbers aren't thaaaat important. The path of whatever said he'd be embarking on at the end of Trespasser makes me think he's ready willing and able to manipulate and sacrifice whoever he needs to achieve his goals. So for the city elves I imagine he'll market himself as a Briala-like figure, rise up against the status quo and etc. For the Dalish he'll leverage their understanding of their history, maybe after a bit of reeducation for the actual role of Fen'Harel since that seemed to hurt his feelings in DAI, I think this history will be more accurate but still not entirely truthful. For the ancient elves the appeal would be a return to how things 'should' be, I think Solas will be the most honest with these guys and they'll compromise his inner circle.

I can also think of entirely reasonable motivations for each of these to tell Solas to go screw so it won't quite be genocide via the insatiable maw of player & party.

Also, I think Solas will gain decent traction with elves in the Qun too. I think quite a few joined them cause of the combo of 1) lack of purpose 2) societal racism in Thedas and Solas represents an answer for both and has the bonus of being 'one of them.'

Based on the replies, it seems there is little point in keeping the Inquisition since military power won't be all that important.

Solas won't necessarily be the only threat in the immediate future, though. The Qunari are gearing up to make their move too, and it's not obvious to me that the mage/templar situation is entirely stable by Trespasser, or that they'll stay that way depending on what reforms you start enacting throughout the game.

And while a standing army may be a bit overkill, spies and diplomats are a lot more effective when backed up by soldiers who can handle themselves in a skirmish, escort prisoners and agents and people of import through dangerous territory, resolve minor conflicts without alerting other factions and enforce the Inquisition's will among civilians.

Not to mention that without a big hole in the sky to remind everyone why they should keep donating money, someone needs to bankroll the whole operation. There are bribes to pay and safe houses to rent, and Skyhold needs soap and thread, fresh paper, flour and corn enough to supply a small army regardless. If the Chantry wants to foot the bills in exchange for asking us to focus on outside threats, and you haven't been silly enough to install someone completely untrustworthy or unstable at the top, then that may well be worth it. Would have been nice to keep our independence, but you can't have everything in life.

I don't really picture Solas having a large army at his beck and call. More like a relatively small strike force of highly trained individuals. Considering how long Solas has been around, he likely understands the underpinnings of many societies, and would be much more targeted in his approach to create instability; rather than having a large army walking up on someones doorstep. Plus, if Tevinter and the Qunari are going to war, he could just as easily manipulate them in order to start a war that envelopes Thedas; using the instability to his advantage. There's also the fact that there's signs of another Blight on the horizon. Lastly, and correct me if I'm wrong on this, but doesn't he have the ability - at this point - to open or manipulate blight rifts? If this becomes the case, he wouldn't need to risk sacrificing many elves, as he could let Demons fight for him.