Role of Inquisitor and Inquisition in DA4

I feel this is the crux of the matter with Solas. Even in DAI there were times I would have liked to ask certain questions but these were never options offered me, although I have since discovered that had I been more antagonistic towards him, thus garnering sufficient negative approval, he might have answered those questions without me needing to ask them. Solas is often more revealing of himself and his true feelings when you poke him a little.

In Trespasser the questions I was permitted to ask were presumably set by the writers because there were things they didn't want revealed yet. When Solas said he moved against the Evanuris because they killed Mythal, I wanted to know why they did that when everything previously had pointed to the other gods looking to Mythal for judgement and arbitration in disputes and accepting her decisions. So what changed? I also would have liked to know exactly how this was accomplished, since he admits himself that he didn't feel he could do the same to any of them. Of course, it is understandable why he would not voluntarily bring that up since it might give you a clue how to deal with him. Nevertheless, there is something of a contradiction there. He says he opted for imprisonment because of how difficult the gods are to kill and offers Mythal as proof of this, yet if he knew Mythal wasn't really dead, then technically they hadn't murdered her, simply reduced her in power. So surely the answer would be to find a way to restore that power to her. Or was the Veil really her idea? She was a spirit in the Fade after all and where does Solas prefer to spend his time?

The other thing I would love to know is how did he manage to imprison them all? The Dalish have a suggestion for this but was that based on a vague memory or simply made up? To my mind it would be easier to bump off the gods one by one, even if it was only temporary, than to outwit and entrap all of them simultaneously (and it is not clear if Evanuris his term for just the Creators or the Forgotten Ones as well). I get that the Veil was the lock on their prison but how did he get them inside of it? Bearing in mind that both the warning of the gods and by his own admission, he was in outright rebellion against them and thus they did not trust him, the Dalish idea that he tricked them because they saw him as an ally doesn't work for either faction.

Yes and that didn't work out as he intended either.

Not so good at anticipating potential problems though.

This makes me wonder if some part of himself was trapped along with the rest, so the bait that led them into the trap was him.

Now in Merrill's version of the legend this is exactly what happened. He dropped a hint of the location of a weapon that would allow them to win the war (which he could well have done via an intermediary) and it would make sense that they would all go to find it, since none of them would have trusted the others with it. So I wonder if this version of the story was actually passed down by his followers because they knew the truth of it.

However, there is also the problem of those memories in the Vir Dirthara, where some of them were definitely aware that he was responsible for the destruction they were caught up in. I suppose it is possible that the followers of his enemies simply assumed he must be the culprit but it sounded as though it wasn't just conjecture but the person knew who to blame. Possibly it was one of his own followers who was in the network when it started to fall apart and not entirely happy about it. It still seems strange though that they would automatically equate the destruction with Fen'Harel bearing in mind he admits that was not his intent in creating the Veil. The loss of magic and destruction of the elven world was a by-product of that act that he hadn't anticipated.

Another problem I have with the Veil is that it didn't just shut off the Eternal City (which is what the elves called it) from the Waking World but the entirety of the Fade.   Why couldn't his magical lock just affect the City if that is where they are imprisoned, or any other location that he chose to trap them within?   Why did it require the entirety of the Fade to be included and why were the gods not just trapped in the Fade rather than the specific location within it.    Also, the magic is still strong within the Fade, it is the Waking World that had a reduction of it, so did raising the Veil between the Fade and the Waking World concentrate the magic within, making it stronger, as that was needed in order for his lock on his trap to be strong enough not to be broken from within?

Further problem.   Why did the Crossroads survive apparently in its original form and yet not structures like the Vir Dirthara?  Why did the Vir Dirthara seemingly act like a location in the Fade, with upside down structures, etc, and yet it fell apart through being sundered from it?

It made sense he might turn up for that "secret" meeting that Charter arranged to check what the Inquisition was doing and who was involved with them. However, if his ritual can't be stopped, why would he be bothered? Clearly there must be a weakness in his plans that could be exploited if you had the right information.

It is possible he wanted the Inquisition to be the primary organisation working against simply because he does have such a good insight into how they operate. Hence him knowing about the meeting. I suspect he does view the Executors as a threat, which is why he silenced their representative before they could say anything useful (to the Inquisition). He knocked out the other participants probably to send a message to the rest of their respective organisations and presumably he allowed Charter to live not just because she begged it of him but also because he wanted her to convey his message back to the Inquisitor. Even a reduced sized Inquisition would still be large enough to regard as a faction and let's face it, the evidence of both Tevinter Nights and the comic series suggests that it made little difference whether you disbanded it or not in terms of how they are continuing to involve themselves in the affairs of Thedas.

Clearly, in terms of the new hero, the fact the voice over declared they would be someone they would never see coming is the key. Although, really for that to work they need to be one step removed from the Inquisition at all times or Solas is going to notice them.

Noticeably large, but not too large. Just enough to be annoying and ruin the organization for the fans of it.

Since we won’t be playing that organization, I doubt it will matter at all.

I dislike the inquisitor and the inquisition so I definitely hope we aren’t made to play as their poodle.

I expect it to make as much difference as the Council choice from ME1>ME2, i.e. a line of dialogue or two.

Well it seems to have been pretty heavily hinted the new Protagonist is not going to be the Inquisitor, which helps the writers avoid these problems to some extent. New players will not be aware of any of the organisations and factions in Thedas so will need some explanation why the Inquisition is important, even if only by codex. When I role play my protagonist, I work out what they could reasonably know and then leave it up to the game to tell them the rest. So, the origin they give to them could determine how much they know about the Inquisition. For example, there is little reason why any Tevinter slave, apart from those specifically linked to Maevaris or Dorian, would be aware of the Inquisition, except perhaps the odd bit of gossip about something that had occurred in the south. Strangely enough, if news of the Dragon's Breath plot became more widely known, then the Inquisitor thwarting it might actually raise their profile in Tevinter. Remember how Hawke became a cult hero there for defeating the Arishok. Nevertheless, I can see the Magisterium playing down the importance of any organisation with such close links to the southern Chantry. They were in favour of it being disbanded.

Which makes me wonder. If the Inquisition has continued as a shadow organisation, whether under the direct control of the Divine or not, would they actually be regarded as an outlawed faction? Dorian and Maevaris have continued to operate as leaders of the Lucerni and their crusade against the Venatori does have the tacit backing of the Archon and the Magisterium, even if some Magisters actually support the organisation in secret, but I do not recall anywhere in Tevinter Nights where Inquisition agents are acknowledged within the Imperium. There doesn't seem any evidence of the Inquisition operating openly in Tevinter in the comics either, their agents in the comic pretty much operating outside of official approval locally, whether in Tevinter or the Freemarches.

So our new hero, if approached by an agent of the Inquisition, may not automatically regard them as the "good guys" they should be working for regardless of their political affiliations. Still, I assume that would allow for an explanation of their origins and current purpose that would be equally relevant whether you are a new player, a player who ended with DAI or someone who is familiar with Trespasser. I also hope that they allow for some skepticism in the listener about the identity of Solas or what he is capable of, as would be the case with an individual who is totally unfamiliar with what has gone before and comes from a completely different part of the world from where previous events took place.

Of course, the alternative would be to start us off as actually an agent of the Inquisition in the north but I really hope that is not the case.

He does if they are on friendly terms with him.  I'm not sure what happens if you are not on good terms with him at the end of DAI but I would imagine you would have to work really hard to turn him against you. Much of the time your words/actions would leave him neutral at worse. Specific actions to garner significant negative approval are:

Failing to intervene when Cassandra is beating him up and siding with her against him.

That is literally it. Most others instances are only "slight disapproval" and some require you to have reached a certain level of positive approval before the conversation will trigger, so a small disapproval is not going to impact on the overall positive rating. There are in fact far more instances of conversations where you can garner approval rather than disapproval that even if you side with Cassandra, the rating may still even out overall.

Thus I assume that in the majority of cases the Inquisitor does end up with land and a title in Kirkwall. Therefore, when Gatt, for example, directs people to a certain dwarf in Kirkwall to help with the effort against Solas, you can assume that Varric is acting as the front man on behalf of the Inquisitor there. How that stops Solas knowing what is going on is beyond me. Solas knows Varric and his connection with the Inquisitor. Hell, he knew enough about the way things work in Kirkwall that he worked through intermediaries over recovering the idol, although he may regret that particularly decision.

This is what doesn't make sense to me. Sure, Varric is the contact in Kirkwall, but the action is moving north, plus Varric and anyone connected with him is going to be on Solas' radar, so will be people he will be keeping a watch on. If the new hero is genuinely going to be someone "they never see coming", then, particularly in the case of Solas, they need to be totally separate from the Inquisition and anyone with a history with the organisation. So if Varric is truly going to "have their back", essentially the hero should be unaware of that fact, rather like Merrill was when Varric was watching her back in Kirkwall. Otherwise, if they have any direct contact, Solas will immediately be on to them.

I imagine that contact will either be via intermediaries or possibly written instructions at drop points and rewards when we return there after successful completion of a mission. Possibly a bit like the factions we worked for in DAO and DA2. So there is the front of shop or inn keeper but they mention that if you are interested in work there is a ledger on the table in the backroom or something similar. If you complete a certain number of missions, new higher level ones appear, which may reveal useful information to you as much as anyone else, until finally, someone significant makes contact with you.

If we have to go the "MacGuffin" route, then instead of some bullshit that just makes the hero immune to Solas' magic, I think it would be better for Solas to LOSE something, and in so doing create an opportunity for his opponents. The best candidate for such an item, in my opinion, would be the keystone (or whatever the fuck it is) for the Eluvian network. Solas relies on it to watch his opponents and transport his forces. Losing it could effectively blind him and significantly hinder his movement also.

The game could even open with the protagonist stumbling across a rebel agent (or perhaps a trusted lieutenant of Solas who grew a conscience?) dying in an alleyway, who passes the keystone onto them and urges them to get it to Person X. And thus our protagonist finds themselves on the run from Solas' various agents, with the early part of the game focussed on finding Person X and learning what this artifact is and why it matters.

It's a nice, trope-y beginning, so everyone else in here should love it, and it's EXTREMELY easy to segue from there into the standard "go around and tell the various allied factions it's time to get their shit together" formula that BioWare loves so fucking much, and it works just as well either way for a scenario where the Inquisotor/Inquisition is active or one where they are long dead.

I could actually go into way more specific detail about how I envision it working, but we both know you're all just gonna write off any idea that doesn't make the Inquisitor the star, so why bother?

Alright then.

So I feel this scenario works just as well in a close-following sequel with the Inquisition still active or with a sequel set say a decade or more later with Solas already victorious and the Veil dismantled (or perhaps partially dismantled, with the Inquisitor having sacrificed themselves to stop Solas's plan from coming to complete fruition, perhaps in a... *ugh*... playable prologue). I would prefer the latter, with magic having flooded back into the world, society dramatically altered, and Solas ruling from on high in the flying castle we've seen in concept art, so I'm gonna be working from that, but it's easily modified.

Regardless of class, the protag starts out as a nobody, a member of a smalltime street gang, doing whatever they can to eke out a living on the mean streets of Minrathous: merc jobs, petty crime, etc. The tutorial mission could be a job they were pulling, and could vary based on the chosen class.

One night, out celebrating after a job well done, our protag and their two friends (class dependant on protag's chosen class) stumble across an elf dressed as one of Solas' adherents/honor guard, dying of extensive injuries in a darkened back alley. The elf forces a mysterious gem into their hands and says "take this to [codename TBD] and tell them [codephrase TBD, but something like "the Dread Wolf has been blinded"].

Before there's much chance to ask for further details, more of Solas' agents appear around the corner and our gang is forced to fight them off and run for it. At their regular hideout, they go over options. Protag can express a desire to aid the resistance or that there might be money in doing the job, and the opening act broadly is about using their underworld connections to get access to Codename, which is complicated by Solas' forces ramping up their presence in Minrathous and blocking routes in and out of the city.

Perhaps at this point a Rogue party member is enlisted who helps them get out of Minrathous by secret means, and to the hideout of the resistance. Here is where, if the Inquisitor is alive, we could meet them. The Inquistor elucidates on the nature of the keystone and its importance to the conflict, and has it given to a mage with knowledge of keystones and the Eluvian network, who will also join the party (my personal preference would be a now-adult Kieran, who has joined the resistance after Morrigan mysteriously disappeared roughly the same time that Solas came to power).

Resistance mage/Kieran works on the keystone, hoping to 1) stop Solas from accessing the network and 2) get access to the network themselves. This partially works, but the process is interrupted when it is revealed that the resistance has been betrayed from within, and Solas himself shows up. There is panic and chaos, people are being turned to stone left and right, one or both of protag's intro party members fall victim to this. If the Inquisitor is still alive, then they take it on themselves to buy time for the others by facing Solas 1-on-1. There's some cliche banter "I showed you mercy before, clearly that was a mistake, etc". They fight. Solas assumes his Dread Wolf form and straight up devours the Inquisitor. The remnants of the party (protag, rogue and Kieran) only narrowly escape, with the keystone.

It seems all is lost, but Kieran says otherwise: with the keystone, they can now access the pathways Solas has used to stymie and outwit the resistance previously. Only one catch: first they will need to find an eluvian (this ties to the gameplay, eluvians are scattered about the regions of the world and finding one adds it to the list of fast travel points). Once this is acheived, party establishes a base within the realm of the pathways between the Eluvians, where they can hide and plan when not actively questing.

And then we segue into approaching the allied factions: The Circle of Magi, driven underground since Solas came to power, have been researching possible counters to his powerful magic (particularly the whole TURNING PEOPLE TO STONE thing), a sympathetic Dalish clan have been looking for the Ghilainen pools where he creates his terrifying monsters, really anything can go in this space. Naturally various party members are recruited and sidequests are completed along the way. Something something dwarves something something titans. At some point, we find a place of personal significance to Solas and learn more about who he used to be.

Finally, the forces are gathered and it is time to secure a way to get airborne and assault Solas' hideout. This could be griffons, elven flying vehicles, Kieran turning into a dragon, all those things, doesn't matter. A vanguard assaults the castle from without while our core party sneaks in to find where Solas keeps his Eluvians so the rest of the forces can take the hold from within.

This leads to the semi-final conflict with Solas in his throne room. With his forces depleted and his most relied-upon abilities nullified, Solas has grown panicky and angry. He can't believe that these lesser beings, these insects, have laid waste to years of meticulous planning. The protagonist has the opportunity here to say that they know who Solas used to be, a rebel who fought for the freedom of his people. The protag can point out that Solas has become everything he once hated: a slaver, a torturer, and a tyrant. Solas can counter that, to him, it is not the same: he was saving *people*, while those he has conquered are merely dumb beasts.

The final phase of the boss fight has the protag use the keystone to bait Solas into the pathways between the Eluvians. Here they fight, 1-on-1. Solas begins to get the upper hand and, in desperation, the protag destroys the keystone ("Maybe I can't win, but you can still lose"). Solas screams in rage and becomes the Dread Wolf, as the pathways between the Eluvians begin to crumble and collapse in on themselves.

From outside the pathways, people see Eluvians shining alarmingly, and their mirror surfaces beginning to crack. Within the pathways, the protag can choose to either make a run for it, or face the Dread Wolf.

If the first, then protag makes it out just in time, with the Dread Wolf attempting to follow, only for the Eluvian to explode before his snapping maw can close on the protag's leg. We celebrate, but the post-game slideshow narrator points out that nobody knows for sure that Solas is dead, and the resistance remains vigilant.

If the second, then the protag never emerges and the Eluvians are destroyed. A memorial service is held. The slideshow narrator notes that those closest to the protag are still searching, still hoping.

The End.