Dragon Age: The Missing (Comic Miniseries)

Going straight to your enemy's lair is not even close to "basic reconnaissance, which is defined as the process of gathering information about enemy forces or positions by sending out small groups of soldiers or using aircraft, etc. It's like saying going straight into Minrathous to' Archon's throne room to see if he's there is just reconnaissance. No, you're sending people right into the enemy leader's lair; if you're sending people there, don't waste time scouting; instead, send assassins or a hit squad because:



1) By the time, even if by a miracle, you succeed without getting yourself killed, your target may be long gone after back up arrives.



2) You will have to successfully send a second group of people there to ensure they carry out the hit, which further increases the odds of screwing up.



3) Your whole scouting party gets slaughtered by enemy forces because they actually engaged deep into enemy territory and were drastically unprepared for that encounter. In this case, you lose Kirkwall's viscount and leading scout of the Inquisition on "mere reconnaissance."



If there is a significant prospect of bumping into the enemy main force by going into the heart of enemy territory, then you won't be doing simple reconnaissance; you will be trying to infiltrate enemy forces; otherwise, you will be pretty much sending your scouts to their deaths. Needless to say, infiltration/espionage is not an option here, and mere reconnaissance, as in going into an enemy's lair, is stupid, especially considering who they sent. If you're going into the enemy leader's lair, you should send hit squads, and the ideal scenario is the death of said leader (which, in this scenario, is acknowledged by all parties involved except perhaps Harding, which makes it even worse), with a scout or courier to get away prior to or during engagement and inform the leaders. We could talk if their job was to keep their distance (which is unlikely given those are deep roads with very limited visibility and enclosed space) without entering the enemy's main military camp, but as I've said, the team knowingly entered what was an enemy hideout, so the risk of running into Solas was high.



Varric is literally the Viscount of Kirkwall, so I doubt he has a shortage of resources, and considering that Solas is trying to blow up the world, finding wealthy patrons willing to share resources with guys that saved the world recently from another guy that would destroy the world to recruit more adequate people to fight that guy wouldn't be much of an issue.



There is nothing really to suggest that a group of Templars or seekers would be ineffective against Solas (at least as far I know); in fact, their job is to fight against the type of opponent (i.e., mage/abominations) that would have a significant advantage in power over a normal fighter, and they have means to nullify magic, drain mana, and resist magic. Solas is currently being vastly overestimated based on the information we have about his ability. People act as if turning people into stone is an unprecedented amount of power, but that's not even true, as we already have statues, including talking statues that post-veil mages created. Solas was essentially going up against regular soldiers that have no special abilities against mages or resistance to magic, the same soldiers The Inquisitor was slaughtering left and right.Even assuming that's true, that's even more incentive to send a squad of templars with a courier or two, as that team will have still greater chances of killing him, and if something goes wrong, they can withhold enemy information while the courier gets any potential information to their higher in command. You can't even make an argument here that the purpose was to keep distance from engaging Solas, as I've mentioned, as they literally entered his hideout, which dissolves the argument of mere non-engagement and just scouting. If that is the case, they will find traces of Solas; send a courier and request backup; otherwise, you should send a hit squad that is capable or has the best chance of taking down the enemy's leader.



I wouldn't call those deep-stalkers giants either, given that we were dealing with three dwarves and an elf who were barely taller than them in the comic. In Dragon Age Origins, average deep stalkers seem to be about equal in terms of height to a dwarf (I think reaching to the shoulders of a dwarf) and larger in terms of length, and if those deep stalkers were an anomaly in terms of size, it would be noted that Varric already was on the deep road and even encountered them. in terms of height. In fact, there are shots of just the head of an ogre, not counting the horns, which are the size of an elf, making the ogre larger than in Dao. As a result, the comic's depictions of size were not exactly accurate to the source.None of the characters indicate any size abnormality.So if this is supposed to be a significant abnormality in the story, characters would note it and express surprise.



Perhaps, but your explanation is Doylist is not really Watsonian. In the universe, characters had this discussion not because the author wanted to set up some narrative for readers, but because Varric believed it was a real possibility that they would run into Solas, and given that they willingly entered, they were willing to expose themselves to significant risk of confronting the enemy.If this is supposed to be mere reconnaissance, they would be calling up more qualified specialists.

I've been feeling that way ever since they gave us the option of "Redeem" Solas. When someone tells you they intend on proceeding with their plans even if it means everyone you know and the world they occupy must die the only appropriate response is "not on my watch". It is just conceivably possible that a romanced Lavellan is so deluded that they think they can somehow change his mind, although the preceding conversation with him would suggest otherwise, but even for them the priority should be to stop him. Nevertheless, whatever you decide to do to solve the problem in terms of what you intend doing to Solas when you catch up with him, everyone on the team should have a clear plan of action when they do.

The current comic series would seem to suggest that nothing has been discussed in this respect. The strategy does not go beyond "find Solas", with apparently no one having the intelligence to ask "then what?" Now it is entirely possible that in game some sort strategy will be discussed, based on our choice regarding Trespasser (even people who didn't play it can use the Keep to record their preferred option) and that is why it has been left vague in this series. Which begs the question: why have a comic series that is intended to act as a set up for the game if it destroys any logical story telling as a result?

Based off the blurb introducing each of the issues, it does seem the characters are going to be involved in a prolonged treasure hunt, following clues from one location to another without achieving a great deal. By the end they will have met a few other characters that may appear in game, it will have showcased a new specialism, Veil Jumper, given information about an artifact, the Crucious Stone, which may or may not be crucial (pun intended) to the plot of the game and that will be about it. It is also hinted that at the end they are faced with a choice of action. It is implied this could be important but I wouldn't be surprised if it is just along similar lines to the "Redeem" or "Destroy" choice in Trespasser and that as a result, the Varric and Harding take different paths, the former being on the "destroy" path whilst Harding represents "redeem" and that will be reflected in the game at some point.  In that respect it will be similar to Asunder in giving the background to the different approaches.