153429 réponses à ce sujet

[Miss This or That]

I agree that he is racist and lacks large-scale empathy, but I think in his mind he is working towards a better future. Something was lost and restoring it will make things better. I don't think he actually wants to return things to exactly the way they were before, more that he felt he went too far with whatever he did last time and needs to try to get somewhere in between. While he might miss his friends/the creators, he never talks fondly of them or how they ruled. He doesn't say anything like, "the Dalish would be better off under firm leadership," or anything I'd expect of someone that saw that past system of government as being positive. I think his goals - whatever they are - have more to do with the metaphysical side of things than the governance (for lack of a better word) side of it.

 

I'd really like to see him be kind-of right. Maybe it's violent and horrible, and maybe something goes wrong so it's not all sunshine and rainbows. But the results tilt towards better-than-before. As arrogant and single-minded as he is, he's not dumb. I want to trust in him a little. ^{Wish he trusted in Lavellan to help him gru}

 

Though I do have a hard time thinking of how they would write a world where the Veil is gone without ending the series. Presumably the dwarves would have magic? The elves might be immortal? It'd be a bit weird.

 

I have to headcanon that she thought he was just taking some time alone and would come back. Like when he leaves following the companion quest but the cutscene of his return happens as soon as you go back to Skyhold. She knows he likes to deal with all his feels alone, and they're not technically together so there's only so much she can/should do.

 

Still, it's a bit BS that she's not even like "hey let me check to see if Solas is here." Or she doesn't ask why he sounds so final in the "what we had was real," when he promised her that "everything would be made clear" about the two of them and it is not. Maybe that's not everyone's number one concern after surviving the end of the world, but it was a bit bizarre that she was so seemingly nonchalant about him being so upset and talking in a way that implied he was about to peace out.

 

Ah, maybe I should have worded that better. I do believe that he wants to work towards a better future - but that future can't be achieved by the people of modern Thedas, at least in his mind. He's trying to bring back something from the past. I don't think he wants to return to it, at least not 100%, but I still believe that he thinks the current population can't achieve his goal of a better world - even if they tried. He believes that he knows what is better for the world itself, but he completely misses the point about making the world a better place for its current population. He's obviously changing throughout the game and I do think that he saw that the people of Thedas still deem it worthy of saving. They fight for their world - and that alone confuses him a bit. There are countless hardships in the lives of everyone and the situation itself is pretty effed up. But hey, despite all of that the one thing that unifies (almost) everyone is Coryworry threathening to destroy/reshape the world.

 

His intentions are tenfold better than Cory's, but what he's trying to do isn't better at all. It might lead to a better outcome, but he still decides for every single living person that their world sucks and he has to get the old order back - whatever that old order really is. The people of Thedas' are just a huge mass of children that do not possess the ability to change their world for the better. Nope, Solas has to do that on his own - because he's Solas.

[zambixi]

I am super excited! I really like the dark spin on the elven gods. I am very curious to find out if they were corrupted by the forgotten ones, or if perhaps the idea of being gods went to their heads and sent them down the path. Solas does say something about all groups eventually becoming corrupt, and only individuals were able to walk away from it.

 

Its possible there were some passive gods, so maybe Sylvaise and June fell into that. It seemed like Falon'Din and Mythal were the top dogs, Fen'Harel was the interloper, and everyone else fell into rank. 

 

The forgotten ones are another interesting predicament. We really don't know anything about them. You'd think there would be at least one temple or shrine devoted to them. Surely they had followers, if even the axe-crazy elven gods were able to amass them. /ponder 

 

The only story we have of a Forgotten One is  Fen'Harel and the Tree right? Anaris shows up in that one. It does make you wonder though: if the elven gods were so batshit crazy, what were the Forgotten Ones like?

 

Spoiler

So new theory competing with my old theory. Felassan was killed by one of the Forgotten Ones and not Falon'Din or a different creator. According to the wiki the FOs can grant great power to the elves despite being locked away somewhere (whereas the Creators seem to be silent). Though Felassan was a good kind of guy so it's hard for me to see him serving pestilence or disease...

[kalasaurus]

Off topic, but I was thinking back to the vallaslin in Origins.  Does anyone else miss this style?  There's one that's kind of close in Inquisition (with out the cheek markings), but I always thought this one made my Mahariel look like a BAMF:

 

[Aviena]

Solas violently needs this, he is someone who feels to a dangerous high of emotion, I think. 

 

What a great summation. Definitely agree.

 

Okay, this image got me started on another crackpot theory.

 

What if Lavellan is reincarnated Ghilan'nain and she and Fen'Harel had a thing back in the day?  The story goes that Ghilan'nain was a mortal who was lifted to godhood, and her totem is the halla.

 

Then again, male mage Lavellan also has a stag card.

 

There's actually a prompt on the kmeme like this (that I may be working on...  ), just with Andruil instead of Ghilan'nain.

 

We don't want to be Ghilan'nain if what Solas said about her is true. Essentially, she made numerous creatures with her magic in order to impress the gods, but killed all of them except the halla. She was just as blood crazy as the other gods. 

 

Although I do personally see my Lavellan's totem as the halla! In fact, I am very sad they changed her markings.

 

As far as a poll goes...I think its pretty clear most people want a happy ending, or at least the option for it. That does not mean bioware is obligated to deliver, even if there's an overwhelming majority. They clearly have plans for Solas, and I doubt they have completely disregarded his romance when factoring them all in. But people should still expect that there's the possibility that things may not end ideally. That's just part of the mystery. 

 

I'm reminded of Aginor from The Wheel of Time - the Forsaken that created the Shadowspawn. There's a theory floating around about the Qunari (EDIT: ugh, I mean kossith) having been *created* from Elves using dragon blood (based on the final fight comment from Corypheus, where he talks about their race being a "mistake"). Perhaps Ghilan'nain created them in some experiment. *shrug*

Modifié par Aviena, 13 décembre 2014 - 04:00 .

[Tielis]

Off topic, but I was thinking back to the vallaslin in Origins.  Does anyone else miss this style?  There's one that's kind of close in Inquisition (with out the cheek markings), but I always thought this one made my Mahariel look like a BAMF:

 

 

I do very much miss that style.  

[nightwolf667]

I know I do. At least we had a chart for the old ones, I don't really have any idea which god I dedicated my Lavellan to and the chart I did find is wrong apparently.   

[Tielis]

I'm reminded of Aginor from The Wheel of Time - the Forsaken that created the Shadowspawn. There's a theory floating around about the Qunari having been *created* from Elves using dragon blood (based on the final fight comment from Corypheus, where he talks about their race being a "mistake"). Perhaps Ghilan'nain created them in some experiment. *shrug*

 

That was my thought as well.  

[Mims]

The only story we have of a Forgotten One is  Fen'Harel and the Tree right? Anaris shows up in that one. It does make you wonder though: if the elven gods were so batshit crazy, what were the Forgotten Ones like?

 

Spoiler

So new theory competing with my old theory. Felassan was killed by one of the Forgotten Ones and not Falon'Din or a different creator. According to the wiki the FOs can grant great power to the elves despite being locked away somewhere (whereas the Creators seem to be silent). Though Felassan was a good kind of guy so it's hard for me to see him serving pestilence or disease...

 

Spoiler

I think there's a possibility that Felassan had no choice in the matter of who he served. If he was truly an ancient-ancient elf, maybe he had pledged himself to an elven god/forgotten one. [Similiar to how Mythal can control if you drink from the well.]

 

He didn't seem to want Briala to have anything to do with who he might have been, and it didn't really come across as being sneaky so much as...protecting her, I guess? I felt very much like he had come to love her in a sort of fatherly way, and eventually he chose her over his master with the knowledge that it would kill him. 

[Eivuwan]

Make a poll.  I'd like to see the results as well, but I don't want to clutter up the thread.

 

hmm I was thinking of that, but I am not sure how to do one and where's the best place to put it?

[Renmiri1]

Regardless of romance or not, if you speak to Cole, he'll mention a 'last' conversation that he had with Cole, where he made Cole forget about him. It's possible he made everyone else forget too. Acknowledgement would've been nice though....

I don't think he made Cole forget about all of it. He just made Cole forget what Cole's gifts perceived above and beyond what the rest of the group noticed (that he is Fen'Harel for instance).

 

In my yet unwritten fan fic, Lavellan is at her bedroom's balcony where the second kiss took place, and he shows up. Instead of jumping in his arms she reaches for her staff and doesn't want him to touch her, lest Solas makes Lavellan forget their relationship:

 

"Don't touch me. Get away from me. I don't want to forget like Cole did. I don't want you to take "us" away from me. It hurts like hell but that is all I have left and wouldn't lose it for the world"

 

Of course that wasn't the reason he was back and he gets very guilty that she now doesn't trust his intentions...

 

[Cosmia]

I wish my exam on Monday was just an indepth analysis of this game. :/ I'd ace that. 

[scintilla]

I'd really like to see him be kind-of right. Maybe it's violent and horrible, and maybe something goes wrong so it's not all sunshine and rainbows. But the results tilt towards better-than-before. As arrogant and single-minded as he is, he's not dumb. I want to trust in him a little. ^{Wish he trusted in Lavellan to help him gru}

 

Though I do have a hard time thinking of how they would write a world where the Veil is gone without ending the series. Presumably the dwarves would have magic? The elves might be immortal? It'd be a bit weird.

 

I think if he's going to remain on the side of good, as it were, that he can't be right. He has to be wrong so he can grow away from the flaws (arrogance, lack of large scale empathy, quite possibly lack of patience) that led to all this happening in the first place and then led to him making a second huge mistake of giving Corypheus the orb.

 

If he's right, he's not going to see why or how he needs to change. I feel bad that he keeps messing up but he doesn't seem to be learning what he needs to learn.

 

Oh definitely. The racism and the condescension are huge parts of his character. He's so busy trying to tell the other companions how they should live that he doesn't stop to ask why they live the way they do. Half the time I feel like he just wants to release the Elven gods is because he wants to go back to a time when people appreciated him. Like any good dreamer, he's good at big ideas (concepts, dreams) but terrible when it comes to actually executing them (hard work, slow burn, little reward). He has so much to offer and is frustrated when no one listens to him, but he never asks why. He doesn't try to understand. This nightmare is going to be over quickly, right? It all went to plan until that pesky Lavellan gave him feelings and he realized that they were real. Oh, Solas... you really are blind in that way only mostly intelligent people can be.

 

He judges whole cultures so quickly. He never tries to understand Sera, even though she's the one he most wants to change. In the end, he sort of just gives up on her. Everything he takes Vivienne to task for are flaws that he himself shares and hasn't gotten over yet. He can be so hypocritical. Like his conversation with Blackwall where he's upset that Blackwall misrepresented himself and lied. I don't know whether it's because Blackwall fooled him or failed him, but either way it's telling. I think there's a place for him in this world if he wants it, he could certainly find it if he wanted. It's not what he wants though.

 

That's our Solas though. Throwing the baby out with the bath water. If it's not right, burn the whole thing down.

 

I think on one level he's right. Maybe the wonder in the world is gone, but is it really worth all the people it would hurt to get it back?

 

I agree with a lot of this but am out of likes. Have a heart instead: 

 

He doesn't completely lack understanding though. He thinks about his response to Blackwall and he apologizes to him. He's capable of changing his mind and his point of view but I think doing it on a large scale is too much for him at the moment. He needs time and he isn't giving himself that.

 

I think it's very, very hard for Solas to accept that there's a place for him in the present. Him not wanting to may play some part in it but I think he has so many other issues that it isn't as simple as him just refusing to have a place in the world. I think it was Brass_buckles who said he's depressed, lonely, and desperate. He also has his trust issues preventing him from letting himself trust these people.

 

He's... he's really kind of broken and there's no quick fix.

 

Edit: I see the same problem with getting too frustrated with Solas not being able to trust as I do with Solas just magically making the world better, for the record. What I'd like to see Solas do, is settle down with Lavellan and Cole and start working through his issues before trying to fix the world again. There's no story in that though. Not any more than there's a story in Solas walking in, fixing everything, dropping the mic, and walking out.

 

Well, there is a story in Solas working through his trauma but it isn't a dark fantasy adventure story so it isn't going to happen.

[Eivuwan]

I love everyone's theories. Ok what if the qunari were actually created by the ancient elves as soldiers and protectors?

[Renmiri1]

 

I think it will always be hard to define what is him and what isn’t, but not just because of his nature. It’s in the end a very old question of human nature. We all project ourselves differently in various social situations and is any of them what we truly are? Doesn’t it matter that we chose to act this way, our choice of what we consider masks? 

 

He lied about who he was, and most of his lies can be traced to that one lie. Even If he was toning down certain parts of himself, I highly doubt we were just seeing a façade. First, in terms of writing a story, devoting all that time to a fake personality would be a waste of effort; second, the way he acts to a romanced Lavellan is almost like he begs her to actually see him. He insists that she saw more than most, he insists that what they had was real, he can’t even bring himself to lie about not caring; it’s important to him (I mean, just consider how what he wants most in life is to not feel alone) that she knows who he is behind all that is myth or covers. Solas violently needs this, he is someone who feels to a dangerous high of emotion, I think. 

 

Dammit, out of likes. Have a heart 

[Aviena]

If they did, it's oddly poetic that the Qunari are at war with Tevinter.

[CapricornSun]

Off topic, but I was thinking back to the vallaslin in Origins.  Does anyone else miss this style?  There's one that's kind of close in Inquisition (with out the cheek markings), but I always thought this one made my Mahariel look like a BAMF:

 

I miss that style too. That vallaslin was what my Mahariel wore as well, except she wore the simpler design. The one in DA:I is pretty too but I like the DA:O one better.  

[NeverlandHunter]

A couple people have theorized that the elven gods and the old gods are one and the same, but wouldn't it make more sense for the forgotten ones and the old gods to be the same? I don't really have anything to support the idea XD just some thoughts.

[nightwolf667]

I think if he's going to remain on the side of good, as it were, that he can't be right. He has to be wrong so he can grow away from the flaws (arrogance, lack of large scale empathy, quite possibly lack of patience) that led to all this happening in the first place and then led to him making a second huge mistake of giving Corypheus the orb.

 

If he's right, he's not going to see why or how he needs to change. I feel bad that he keeps messing up but he doesn't seem to be learning what he needs to learn.

 

 

I agree with a lot of this but am out of likes. Have a heart instead: 

 

He doesn't completely lack understanding though. He thinks about his response to Blackwall and he apologizes to him. He's capable of changing his mind and his point of view but I think doing it on a large scale is too much for him at the moment. He needs time and he isn't giving himself that.

 

I think it's very, very hard for Solas to accept that there's a place for him in the present. Him not wanting to may play some part in it but I think he has so many other issues that it isn't as simple as him just refusing to have a place in the world. I think it was Brass_buckles who said he's depressed, lonely, and desperate. He also has his trust issues preventing him from letting himself trust these people.

 

He's... he's really kind of broken and there's no quick fix.

 

He really is, isn't he?

 

I think he's so afraid of being disappointed in them that he doesn't want to let them in. He wants to keep everyone at arms length, but yeah, he is desperately lonely. He's completely out of place and he doesn't know what to do about it so he ends up making incredibly selfish choices. He's carrying around all the guilt of his part in the destruction of Arlathan. Sera as a character represents his worst fear realized. The Dalish are obstinately wrong and don't seem to want anything to do with him (though they are a vastly diverse people, so...), they are the closest to what he can recognize as his people and I think that's really why he's so angry at them, or disappointed in them, or both. On some level, I think he's just sitting there going "I gave up my world and my people for this?"

 

You're right, there's no quick fix. He's so wrapped up in his desire to pay penance, his survivor's guilt, I think he doesn't know what to do with himself. On the one hand, there are the people of the Inquisition who are more than he expected but at the same time they are so painfully limited and they don't even know.

[zambixi]

Ah, maybe I should have worded that better. I do believe that he wants to work towards a better future - but that future can't be achieved by the people of modern Thedas, at least in his mind. He's trying to bring back something from the past. I don't think he wants to return to it, at least not 100%, but I still believe that he thinks the current population can't achieve his goal of a better world - even if they tried. He believes that he knows what is better for the world itself, but he completely misses the point about making the world a better place for its current population. He's obviously changing throughout the game and I do think that he saw that the people of Thedas still deem it worthy of saving. They fight for their world - and that alone confuses him a bit. There are countless hardships in the lives of everyone and the situation itself is pretty effed up. But hey, despite all of that the one thing that unifies (almost) everyone is Coryworry threathening to destroy/reshape the world.

 

His intentions are tenfold better than Cory's, but what he's trying to do isn't better at all. It might lead to a better outcome, but he still decides for every single living person that their world sucks and he has to get the old order back - whatever that old order really is. The people of Thedas' are just a huge mass of children that do not possess the ability to change their world for the better. Nope, Solas has to do that on his own - because he's Solas.

 

Solas why don't you trust even Lavellan? I sympathize with him a lot though. The more you take the opinions of others into account the less you're actually able to do. 99% of the time that is great - it prevents needless change and makes those in power accountable to those without power. 1% of the time it works better if power and the ability to make decisions is concentrated in the hands of one person or a small group (real world example: China). Problem is that everyone thinks they are part of the 1% and it's impossible to know if you're not until everything blows up.

 

 

I think if he's going to remain on the side of good, as it were, that he can't be right. He has to be wrong so he can grow away from the flaws (arrogance, lack of large scale empathy, quite possibly lack of patience) that led to all this happening in the first place and then led to him making a second huge mistake of giving Corypheus the orb.

 

If he's right, he's not going to see why or how he needs to change. I feel bad that he keeps messing up but he doesn't seem to be learning what he needs to learn.

 

I don't want him to be 100% right, just a little right. When he's the guy-that-gets-****-wrong-all-the-time it's pretty easy to dismiss his finer qualities as a hostile PC. From that perspective he's the racist elf, bent on doing more racist elf things that always blow up and cause problems for everyone. The guy that thinks he's smart but isn't. From that perspective he's not a sympathetic character right now. So I feel like he needs to be correct about something Big.

 

But I see your point and I agree with it. Something needs to happen for him to grow. I don't think being wrong again will do it though (especially since he's been wrong so many times and that hasn't made him avoid Big Changes). Maybe a high personal cost? Dunno.

 

 

I love everyone's theories. Ok what if the qunari were actually created by the ancient elves as soldiers and protectors?

 

As cool as it would be if the elves created the Qunari, I don't think it's true. They're not even in Thedas until the First Blight - well after the fall of Elvhenan. They were doing something over across the Amaranthine Ocean.

 

I think they're a mistake because they are a corruption of or creation of the Kossith, whoever they were. I like to think it's not too related so that BW has other plot hooks to go off of once this elven arc is somewhat resolved.

 

Re: Vallaslin

 

Anyone have a guess for the vallaslin in DA:I besides Mythal's and June's? I know someone made a chart somewhere on the internet but I can't find it now.

[lapsi4ka]

Re: Vallaslin

 

Anyone have a guess for the vallaslin in DA:I besides Mythal's and June's? I know someone made a chart somewhere on the internet but I can't find it now.

 

you can find here : http://www.glitterdust.me/gaming/vallaslin-lore/

[NeverlandHunter]

Vallaslin comments:
I have had some guesses regarding the Vallaslin. If someone puts up the images we can all throw in our two cents/opinions on which gods they represent. Or should we not do that on this thread :-/?
I like the new Vallaslins but I reaaaaallly wish they would of kept the old ones too. I was trying to recreate my Mahariel when I realized her tattoo was gone. It made me sad :c. It's the same with the hair. I like some of the new ones but why couldn't we keep the old hairs too? I loved some of the DA2 hair styles! *huff* I don't know much (anything) about game design but adding more vallaslins doesn't seem like it would be difficult. The hair I can see as more trouble than it's worth (I miss my pretty Hawke hair) but face tattoos? Not just for the Dalish either. It was embarrassing when my Hawke's "permanent" tattoo is gone from the face options.
Also, one of the reasons I miss the cutscene dialogue is the chance to look at the Dalish tattoo and other people's face tattoo designs.

[scintilla]

He really is, isn't he?

 

I think he's so afraid of being disappointed in them that he doesn't want to let them in. He wants to keep everyone at arms length, but yeah, he is desperately lonely. He's completely out of place and he doesn't know what to do about it so he ends up making incredibly selfish choices. He's carrying around all the guilt of his part in the destruction of Arlathan. Sera as a character represents his worst fear realized. The Dalish are obstinately wrong and don't seem to want anything to do with him (though they are a vastly diverse people, so...), they are the closest to what he can recognize as his people and I think that's really why he's so angry at them, or disappointed in them, or both. On some level, I think he's just sitting there going "I gave up my world and my people for this?"

 

You're right, there's no quick fix. He's so wrapped up in his desire to pay penance, his survivor's guilt, I think he doesn't know what to do with himself. On the one hand, there are the people of the Inquisition who are more than he expected but at the same time they are so painfully limited and they don't even know.

 

He was betrayed too. If you say you'll rely on your friends after the Temple of Mythal he talks about what a huge mistake that is and how the Inquisitor shouldn't share their power. Even if this new group of people is nothing like the one that betrayed him, it isn't going to be easy for him to believe they won't.

 

I think it's worth saying that when he tried to fix things, he also gave up everything he loved about his culture. It's not just that things didn't turn out right, it's that he lost so very much in the attempt. He's definitely saying that.

 

I don't want him to be 100% right, just a little right. When he's the guy-that-gets-****-wrong-all-the-time it's pretty easy to dismiss his finer qualities as a hostile PC. From that perspective he's the racist elf, bent on doing more racist elf things that always blow up and cause problems for everyone. The guy that thinks he's smart but isn't. From that perspective he's not a sympathetic character right now. So I feel like he needs to be correct about something Big.

 

But I see your point and I agree with it. Something needs to happen for him to grow. I don't think being wrong again will do it though (especially since he's been wrong so many times and that hasn't made him avoid Big Changes). Maybe a high personal cost? Dunno.

 

You're right about that. Unfortunately, I think people inclined to see him that way are going to see him that way no matter what. Still, it wouldn't hurt if his story couldn't be reduced to "that racist elf who ruined everything."

 

You're also right that being wrong hasn't stopped him yet. I just don't see how being right is going to make him grow either. Maybe a good "what the hell, hero" talking to but I have no idea if that would actually help. As far as personal cost goes, I'm not sure what he has left to lose besides Lavellan and not even that with a different Inquisitor. His spirit friends maybe? His magic? (I still don't want to see how he'd respond to that.)

[Arahnea]

The only story we have of a Forgotten One is  Fen'Harel and the Tree right? Anaris shows up in that one. It does make you wonder though: if the elven gods were so batshit crazy, what were the Forgotten Ones like?

 

Spoiler

So new theory competing with my old theory. Felassan was killed by one of the Forgotten Ones and not Falon'Din or a different creator. According to the wiki the FOs can grant great power to the elves despite being locked away somewhere (whereas the Creators seem to be silent). Though Felassan was a good kind of guy so it's hard for me to see him serving pestilence or disease...

Spoiler

Perhaps Felassan was in a situation similar to that of the inquisitor when they drink from the Well. He has all this knowledge but would be forced to serve someone else, eventually finding a way to betray his master and serve Fen'Harel in the end. 

 

edit; spoiler tag

[Renmiri1]

I never understood why the Inquisitor is just like "Yup, guess he's gone, eh?" at the end of the game. And everyone else - even Cole - is just fine with going back to Skyhold. They literally do not care in the slightest that the elven apostate that was so interesting for them earlier simply "Poofed!" himself away. And then, at the end of it all, you have the option to tell Leliana that he never even said goodbye. Well...no one tried to stop him from walking away in the first place...

I think no one said anything to avoid making Lavellan hurt even more.

 

And Lavellan herself is trying to put on a mask and pretend she isn't heartbroken.

[Birdy]

Just curious but does anyone know if there are any fanfics yet where the orb doesn't get destroyed in the end? Where Solas goes through with whatever his original plan was?  I'd love to read some fan theories on what he would have said/done once he got his hands on it. Run away? Reveal himself?

>.> I'm gonna steal this for a prompt.