Solas: villain or friend?
It has been well established that Solas is indeed Fen’Harel the Dread Wolf, the ancient god of rebellion and deception.
[inset clip of flemeth saying “dread wolf”]
However it is still up to debate what type of man he is and what his exact intentions are. Is he evil, or is he good? Did he ever really want to help? DID HE EVER REALLY CARE ABOUT LAVELLAN!? [scene of her wrecked face]
I think he might be a lot more complicated than both.
Fen’harel was an Elvehn God (well super powerful mage that was called a god or whatever), known as “lord of the tricksters” and the great betrayer. His nature can be described as deceptive and cunning.
Solas often demonstrates both. He gives approval when the inquisitor shows a thirst for knowledge, which proves his appreciation for intellect.
However it is his deceptive nature that is much more difficult to point out and prove. He never actually outright lies about anything, but his tact at misdirection and omitting the truth is extremely effective.
Example: Temple of mythal clip.
It is clear at the temple of mythal that Abelas and Solas recognize each other. Abelas was alive at the time of Mythals death, and Mythal and Solas were friends back then. Abelas and Solas have a few exchanges, one of them is this.
[solas talking in elvish to abelas]
Solas did not say that he hopes Abelas to find a new name. He said “the one blood is done, abelas”. Abelas has Vallaslin, blood writing, which has been revealed to be a form of marking a slave. What solas is really saying is that Abelas’ slavery, or blood oath, is over.
Yes, technically solas did tell you what he said. But he excluded a lot of the truth. He deceived you.
But is he a bad person for having a deceptive nature?
I think not.
Solas (Fen’Harel) is accused of locking away the Elvehn gods, causing the downfall of the Elvehn empire. His name is now associated with betrayal. However the following codex entry says that history could be remembered wrong.
[codex on the rebel god]
In truth, it is more likely that Solas locked away his fellow god leveled Elvehn to stop a war centered around narcissism and to end slavery in the empire. Not as a way to simply play tricks. But that is not to say he does not do horrible things when faced with impossible tasks.
[Story on the slow Arrow]
Fen’Harel was clearly outmatched, and instead of putting his life on the line and probably dying, he used his cunning to out match the beast. However this was at the cost of many other people’s lives. In the end he saved the most precious and innocent set of Elvehn, the children, but at a terrible cost to others.
There seems to be a theme in his actions, possibly one we can translate to his actions in the events of Dragon Age Inquisition. His end goals are always to save the people, but with what he considers acceptable losses. However his plan probably did not go as well as he thought it would, and he accepts the guilt and responsibility for it.
“it was not supposed to happen this way. It is not your fault”.
But instead of learning from his previous TWO regretted mistakes,
[what if one day you wake up and find that everything is even worse]
he continues on to try and fix things in his morally ambiguous way. Killing his oldest friend, for the greater good. His motivations are clarified in these developer notes discovered by redditor BLAH:
[dev notes about his motivations]
So in the end, he always wants to help. He does it very cleverly, and with the long game in mind. But he seems to focus on the goal much more than the losses. Which is a terrifying thought to have when you feel you are his friend or lover. That maybe one day he will see you as an acceptable loss for the greater good. But on the other hand….wolf god sex.
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