Does Solas ever mention anything about lyrium? He seems pretty ignorant about dwarves in general, going by his conversations with Varric. And that's really weird. You'd think a society built on magic would be choking on lyrium. Maybe... lyrium didn't exist before the veil was put in place? The elves relied purely on their mana and blood before that?
Argh I don't even know.
I'm really scared Bioware won't be able to live up to the reunion I have in mind at this point. But they've done a really good job with Solas so far, and I trust Weekes. So. Fingers crossed.
That's pretty much what I am thinking. It's all tied together somehow. Solas had a conversation with Varric last night where he referred to the Dwarves as having an arm cutoff... and there was something Cole said at some point relating to it that made me think along these lines.
He doesn't disapprove that strongly. He gets kinda huffy and crosses his arms, but he'll concede there's not much harm done and let it go.
For what it's worth, I spared the Wardens, which Solas disapproved of far more, and that didn't hurt my standing with him that much either. In fact, I spared the Wardens, prevented him from killing the mages that hurt his friend, and made Cole more human (hypocritical, I know), but I managed to make up those approval points in enough conversations, quest decisions, and elven artifact activations elsewhere that all of them combined did nothing to hurt my standing as his One True Love.
EDIT: Also, don't be afraid to stand up to or disagree with your beloved! Couples don't have to agree on everything to be happy and healthy in love! (Heck, come to think of it, I earned disapproval in a lot of quests and conversations. Usually minor "Solas slightly disapproves" when discussing the Dalish or something, but I managed to make it up elsewhere.)
I've managed to romance Fenris on the friendship path as a pro-mage apostate.
I find Solas approval and disapproval to be very interesting. It gives a great deal of insight into his character (and has made me a firm believer in 'Solas is a good person')
EDIT: A correction: I always romance Fenris as a pro mage apostate. I just don't like his rivalmance...
jellobell, coldwetn0se et dragondreamer aiment ceci
I understand where you're coming from, honestly. But it's really odd to talk about whether it's "necessary" to make Solas more than Fen'Harel- as if we (the goofy theory people) have any control over that at all.
Solas is what Gaider made him, and that can't be changed. He also left a careful trail of breadcrumbs toward that identity for anyone willing to follow to see where it led. You certainly don't have to take the path now, but if even if you choose not to, the game will push you along eventually, whether you want to go that way or not.
...erk. That sounds a bit strident, and I don't mean it that way. I just can't think of a gentler way to put it. Solas is what he is, and the full scope of his identity is accessible using canon gameplay as evidence. You just have to find the pieces and put them together yourself, or the game will eventually do it for you.
I have to say, I'm not so sure about the writers leving a trail of breadcrumbs... Quite to the contrary, I feel they're still hiding crucial information from us. I mean, I don't recall anyone predicting that Flemeth was Mythal... Well, there's so many prediction that someone might have guessed right but we knew so little about her... Even now that we know, how many things can you find in her appearance in books and games that clearly led to think that she was an elven goddes?
While I want to believe that Solas is Fen'Harel and Solas is just the totally-not-subtle name of self-loathing he takes after awakening and trying to fix his mess... there IS something odd about his interactions with Cole.
When Cole begins interacting with Solas, Solas goes out of his way to ask Cole to remember the things that pain him or weigh on his mind, "could you.. could you do it as I would?" In doing so, Cole changes his syntax and sentence structure. It's no longer a disjointed garble of verbs, but instead complete sentences that have a subject. Him. In third person. No longer the first person in-the-moment-experiences he has with the other companions.
This separation, or personal distance if you will, could lead credence to the concept of Fen'Harel possessing Solas at some point. Who knows? That possession could have even been before the fall of Arlathan and Solas could still be the ancient Elvhen Abelas recognizes him to be.
Moreover, in Cole's descriptions of Solas' past there is a moment in which he describes a death scene:
Cole: It sees him ready to jump pain pulsing. A life of frustration can finally fall, to freeze.
Solas: Ah, yes.
Cole: It holds him high, shows the hole where everything falls without him. He never needs to leave. He matters here.
Solas: That is one interpretation, yes.
Cole: You think it is different?
Solas: I think he fell and it held him as he died. Leaving him with images that told him his life was worth while.
Cole: That's much sadder, but yes, calm comfort as the cold takes him away. They can only return to the maker if they become real. Why can't they be forgiven as they are?
Solas: People say the lack the ability to learn or grow.
Cole: Yes?
Solas: But the more contact you have with this world the more ability you gain.
Fascinating. Why would Solas have the memory of a dead man, the sensation and thoughts he felt as he died? Moreover, their conversation flits straight to a conversation about being "real" (seriously, that's going to be my next wall of text break down - that word bothers me to no end because of its ambiguity), the necessity of becoming or interacting with the physical in order to grow, to change, to experience. It's odd.
I don't think that's from Solas' past. The two of them have a lot of banters in which they discuss the Fade, spirits and things Cole has read in people.
Unexpected to see someone mention EQ here! I was planning my mage Lavellan for next playthrough to be a Shenshen look alike. At least as much as I can manage with our unfortunate hair selection. She's always been one of my favorite characters.
Gotta gush a little. Because nostalgia. I remember waiting forever for our county library system to cycle the copies of the large EQ graphic novels they had around to my local branch because my parents were too broke to buy them for me. The books were falling apart and bent and battered, but there was nothing like arriving at the library and seeing that logo on the reserved shelf with my name on it. I had discovered the series when I was like, seven years old and I found my cousin's stash of comics. He had a handful of the Marvel issued original quest tucked in there. I've been a fan ever since.
I'm following the progress of the Final Quest right now. Got the first one, but I haven't read it yet. I want a good pile of them to be released and in my hands before I start so I can marathon through them. Can't read just one.
I was about 10 when I started reading them; about the same time my brother started getting into XMen and Marvel. I've been known to joke that, growing up, Cutter was my Superman.
For Final Quest, I'm doing something similar to you. I read the first few, but the pacing was killing me, so I decided to wait a whole year to let them pile up and read them all at once.
I couldn't help but think of EQ when the conversation is about wolves and elves.
Solas is what Gaider made him, and that can't be changed. He also left a careful trail of breadcrumbs toward that identity for anyone willing to follow to see where it led. You certainly don't have to take the path now, but if even if you choose not to, the game will push you along eventually, whether you want to go that way or not.
...erk. That sounds a bit strident, and I don't mean it that way. I just can't think of a gentler way to put it. Solas is what he is, and the full scope of his identity is accessible using canon gameplay as evidence. You just have to find the pieces and put them together yourself, or the game will eventually do it for you.
While this is absolutely true, our ability to decipher all these pieces is limited. No matter how clear cut a theory is- until it is stated, it is not fact. Everyone is capable of looking at a pile of puzzle pieces and putting it together in a combination that makes the most sense to our brain. I look at scraps of evidence from the game, and I recognize immediately the place that my mind is taking me. But this 'direction' is bias by my own perception of events.
For example- an innate bias most of us have is to look for reasons to justify Solas's actions, or to view him in a more sympathetic light.
That is not to say we are wrong in doing so. In fact I believe rather strongly that it is not. But it doesn't change the fact that my perception of the character is at least partially bias. The writer's perception of the character is also bias. They are directing the story in the direction that they see, influenced not only by the text but the direction they intend the game and the narrative to go into.
What I mean to say with all of this rambling is that no theory that we have discussed, even some which can be supported by mounds of evidence, should be considered the correct path just yet. I don't think it is fair to suggest that someone just 'hasn't seen all the pieces', and that eventually the game will make it all clear. Sure, perhaps it will. But there's an equally likely chance that it won't, and that goes for every theory that has ever been concocted here.
By all means, speculate! I love reading all the theories. [For me it is actually about as interesting as playing the game.] I just don't think anyone should be suggesting they've found the correct path.
Brass_Buckles, Missy_MI, BoscoBread et 10 autres aiment ceci
Two days? I thought it was a week. All that travelling just to meet up for a weekend what a waste.
I can't remember which codex entry it was but in one a hunter states that the clans probably don't meet up more often because of the arguments the Keepers get into. I can well imagine it's like scholars meeting up each trying to have their say and prove their theory right.
Keeper1: Sex! When Andruil captured Fen'Harel, to spend a year and a day in her bed, it's an innuendo for sex!
Keeper2: You sick fucker, that's bestiality! He's there to lay at the end of the bed to warm her feet!
Keeper1: Have you've been to the Arlathan forest? You'll sweat your balls right off!
Keeper2: Not if it happened near the coasts. The sea air makes the nights chilly.
Keeper 3: Calm yourselves, Falons. Have you considered that the tale was about the shipping between Anaris and Fen'Harel?
jellobell, Ossifer, Brass_Buckles et 13 autres aiment ceci
Sometimes in life, diplomacy is a futile thing and best abandoned early when red flags rise.
I somehow managed to keep my clan alive and well despite not having any spoilage on the right steps/advisors. Just went with my gut after carefully reading the situation each time and carefully looking at each advisors' proposal.
The first step is reassuring your clan that you're all right and not a prisoner. Sending a spy or an army seems like the total opposite of "reassurance", so that was the one and only time I picked Josie.
After that, bandits were attacking. Logically, I sicced Cullen's troops on them.
Then we got a disturbing letter from a noble. Several points of it were italicized for emphasis. A clear message for "read between the lines"... something was very, very wrong but she could do no more but hint to us and hope we got the "real" message, probably because the Venatori spies were monitoring all correspondence and obviously had bewitched the duke. My LOTR senses were tingling and it seemed like Eowyn seeking help for Theodin King afflicted by Wormtongue. Trying to be diplomatic with what seemed like (to me) a clear hostage situation would go nowhere and raise suspicions. Sending an army would be overkill and alert them far before the army could even enter the city. Sending assassins to quietly take care of the spies and, then, later, the corrupted duke seemed most logical.
Final step was Marchers gathering to try and wage a war against the city. Obviously, at this point, troops are needed, so I called upon Cullen one last time. Go. Go save my clan and their newfound allies.
Everything ended happily.
SleepyBird, Prince of Keys, scintilla et 3 autres aiment ceci
Keeper1: Sex! When Andruil captured Fen'Harel, to spend a year and a day in her bed, it's an innuendo for sex!
Keeper2: You sick fucker, that's bestiality! He's there to lay at the end of the bed to warm her feet!
Keeper1: Have you've been to the Arlathan forest? You'll sweat your balls right off!
Keeper2: Not if it happened near the coasts. The sea air makes the nights chilly.
Keeper 3: Calm yourselves, Falons. Have you considered that the tale was about the shipping between Anaris and Fen'Harel?
To quote Tumblr -
"there is literally no difference between academic scholars discussing their interpretations of a text and a bunch of people yelling YOUR HEADCANON IS WRONG at each other"
jellobell, dragondreamer, laurelinvanyar et 2 autres aiment ceci
I have to say, I'm not so sure about the writers leving a trail of breadcrumbs... Quite to the contrary, I feel they're still hiding crucial information from us. I mean, I don't recall anyone predicting that Flemeth was Mythal... Well, there's so many prediction that someone might have guessed right but we knew so little about her... Even now that we know, how many things can you find in her appearance in books and games that clearly led to think that she was an elven goddes?
People did theorize that Flemeth was Mythal way before Inquisition was released I believe it was the fact that her amulet was takento Mythal's alter at Sundermount that led people to connecting those two.
People did theorize that Flemeth was Mythal way before Inquisition was released I believe it was the fact that her amulet was takento Mythal's alter at Sundermount that led people to connecting those two.
Oh, my bad then The most poplar theory always seemed to me that she was the formless one.
I still think they're probably hiding crucial information, though, even if my example was so terrible
GAH so sorry I'm only replying now, was backreading (and I've finally caught up, WOOHOO! happy very belated 2k pages Solas thread!).
To answer your question, no you aren't missing any Solas content. I just took the breakup's aftermath as an argument of sorts, because my Lavellan picked the bewildered option where she sort of spat, "and we're done?". So, really, that's all there is to it. I'm sorry if I raised your hopes futilely in any way.
Spoiler
I've been pondering this ever since my first playthrough ended too. What is Solas planning? From the posts I've read, most people seem to be thinking that he's moving to free the other Elven gods, or maybe tear down the Veil. But like you, I don't think that's the case. Because it just doesn't add up.
With regards to the Elven gods, even thousands of years later, he doesn't have a lot of nice things to say about them. Especially Falon'din. The only ones he seems to like is Mythal (and that didn't stop him from doing whatever he did post-credits, which may not be a bad thing but then why did he apologize beforehand?), and he acts kind of sad in Dirthamen's temple (I remember him saying something after we killed the High Priest, something about how low Dirthamen's sunk in this pretty sad tone, but I can't remember the exact words).
Anyway, aside from dislike, just imagine what would happen if he sets the trapped Elven gods free.They'll probably kill him for imprisoning them in the first place. And while he may not care about that much, since he says to Flemeth himself that he deserves to be punished, what about after that? The gods will probably take over again, enslaving the elves through religious fervor just as they did before. Considering Solas values free will above all else, I really don't see why he'll go for this option, even if it means elves regaining their magic and all that. And that regaining thing is an IF. The Elven gods must be pretty weak now, maybe even weaker than Solas is, if they can't break out of the prison he made for them.
As to tearing the Veil apart, yes as you've pointed out, he does everything he can throughout the game to keep it maintained. He does have an exasperated moment where he says, paraphrased, "Unless I can bring the Fade here and craft everything to my will, then no you can't expect me to change everything" to an Inquisitor he dislikes who asks him why he isn't helping elves. But there it is, it's just a moment of exasperation, and probably a call back to how things were before the Veil. But that was before, and to have the Veil torn now would equate to demons pouring out of the rifts, because that's what modern people expect to see, and so that's what colors the Fade. The Breach is a mini-version of a destroyed Veil, and look how well that turned out. So unless he launches a continent-wide series of lessons on "Sprits can be your friends" before destroying the Veil, then no, I don't see how he thinks this option can help everybody.
What, then, is he planning to do?
It's obviously still got something to do with the past, and something being restored. It's not like he knows much about anything else aside from the ancient elven empire after all.
So I'm going to go out on a limb here and say, maybe, what he's trying to do is recover whatever artifact or magic or whatever it was the Pantheon had so that they could become gods. As others have already pointed out, it's weird that there are even gods in the first place in an empire where everyone has magic and so has the potential to be gods as well. So why only these few elves at the top? Because they had something the other elves did not, and it's whatever that is that Solas is seeking.
But what is it? I can't be sure, but I think it's got something to do with one of those ancient writings we find in Mythal's temple, the one that talks about someone taking a winged form (most likely a dragon) reserved for the gods without permission and getting punished for it. Maybe it's the dragon form itself that gives the Elven gods power, or whatever it is that enables the dragon form, and if that's the case maybe the Forgotten Ones/Old Gods took it for themselves and hid with it in the Void. And now Solas has to venture into the Void to recover it.
Idw, still pretty wobbly, but that's how I'm seeing it right now.
OH, and as for Abelas calling him Elvhen. It never struck me as Abelas acknowledging Solas as an ancient elf, much less Fen'Harel. It seemed more of like a jab really. Solas says "There are other places friend, other duties. Your people yet linger."
Then Abelas says, "Elvhen such as you?" which I thought was said in a pretty deriding tone like, "Yeah right, with "elves" such as you? Elves who aren't elves as we were at all?", so he doesn't see Solas as one of their own.
I went off on a bit of theorycrafting yesterday on reddit after listening to sashimi_taco’s cleaned up audio from the Well of Sorrow and have more ideas on everything.
So, what I mostly heard in the hidden audio was:
"Mythal speaks the calling. The call speaks from the blood. …Bound to the same, travel far. … She speaks the truth. She saw the lost. Go to the Warden.”
I think that Mythal was infected and killed by the Blight.
During the time she was infected, she asked her friend Fen’Harel to lock away all the Gods as a quarantine measure. Maybe she asked this of him as a trusted friend, or because he was the most trusted on both sides of the pantheon. Did she finally succumb to the Blight while plotting these measures with Fen’Harel, and thus the belief that he was responsible for her death? Or, perhaps Mythal even asked him for a mercy kill because she could no longer control the corruption. (Recalling the scene with Ser Wesley, Flemeth at least knows this is one way to deal with the corruption).
It’s starting to make sense to me that the other gods may also have been infected and locking them away in uthenera was the only way to slow the effects of the corruption. Which leads me to believe that the Elven Gods are the Old Gods. The corruption in their blood is calling to the darkspawn from uthenera to set them free.
[edit: ALSO, Thinking on how Flemeth saves the Warden in DAO and pushes Morrigan to join them (armed with the knowledge of the Dark Ritual which will preserve the Old God soul). Wardens are considered the experts in Thedas on darkspawn and the Calling. Flemeth needs the Wardens as a means to help her cure the Gods, and as a means to prevent the death of another one]
The elven artifacts you activate for Solas are actually locks to the prison where the Gods sleep. In the Lost Temple of Dirthamen, one of these same artifacts is already activated when you arrive but then when you deactivate it, The Highest One is released. The Highest One had wanted to lock away his followers in a prison but they turned the tables on him instead. When you open the lock to his prison, he is set free. A prison strong enough to lock away Gods would need to have many locks.
So for all of this, Solas doesn’t want the Gods to be freed, at least not just yet. He needs to help them by finding a cure to their corruption. We still don’t know who created the corruption, but my first guess is The Maker. Could it be that simple? “The Maker of the Blight”. The first action of a victor would be to erase any signs of your predecessor(s); make it heresy and treason to worship those old gods.
Whatever the case, I believe it’s all going to come back around to the Blight.
Modifié par Sylvanfeather, 09 janvier 2015 - 04:05 .
Missy_MI, CapricornSun, nranola et 16 autres aiment ceci
Thanks for that catch! Any idea who it could be attributed to?
I don't know. I get the feeling with those banters that we're only getting a fragment of whatever it is they've been discussing. Other companions will often join in with these chats, but normally to say how freaked out they are (except Dorian. He think they're both fascinating to listen to). Viv gets the best interjection:
Cole: <says something really weird>
Solas: <replies with something weird>
Vivienne: You shouldn't encourage that thing.
Cole: Solas isn't a thing!
Solas: Well said.
slmisfit, NightSymphony, Mims et 4 autres aiment ceci
Whatever the case, I believe it’s all going to come back around to the Blight.
I was talking to a friend recently who bemoaned the lack of darkspawn and the blight in the past two games. But more and more, I am getting the sense that it isn't that the writers are backtracking from the danger of the blight. But that the blight is actually significantly larger and has the potential to be even more devastating than we realized.
The fact that even 'gods' [and if they aren't truly gods, assuredly some of the strongest beings on Thedas], can contract the red lyrium corruption...how do you stand against that? That is seriously ominous.
Edit: Not to mention- we started out with one red lyium idol and a couple of ore deposits in DA2. Now in DA:I, we have entire zones like emprise du lion being overrun with the stuff. Surely it will slow down in growth without the templars to cultivate it...but its still there. Just a massive amount of blighted crystals waiting to latch onto something.
Sylvanfeather, scintilla, Vhenan In Fen'Harel et 1 autre aiment ceci
Sometimes in life, diplomacy is a futile thing and best abandoned early when red flags rise.
I somehow managed to keep my clan alive and well despite not having any spoilage on the right steps/advisors. Just went with my gut after carefully reading the situation each time and carefully looking at each advisors' proposal.
[snip]
Everything ended happily.
I lucked into saving my clan on my first playthrough for the exact same reasons at pretty much every step. Oh gods I stressed over that last mission sending in the troops. It was a 20 hour mission and I spent the whole next day at work worried I might have started a war. SUCH a relief when it all worked out allright.
Madrar's Nutbag Theory of Magic, the Triad, and What Solas Plans To Do Next
Sticking this madness under spoiler tags to keep it easy to skip for the uninterested. ^w^
Spoiler
Before we start, a quick explanation that everything that follows uses “Sun” and “Earth” as convenient Dalish references for the two primordial, draconic beings whose collaboration seems to have created the DA:I universe.
Spoiler
(…or at least this part of it. The “seraphim” = “fiery serpents” = “dragons” connection raises a strong possibility that there is an even more primordial Maker who crafted them in turn. Theoretical existence aside, the Sun and Earth seem to be the creators of Thedas as we know it.)
Do they still exist?
Yes. The available evidence suggests that the being generally referred to as Mythal was the primordial Earth entity. The Sun is known by no other name by the mortals of Thedas, since it was imprisoned before mortal recorded history in the Void: a localized pocket of space-time accessible by eluvian, most likely located in the Dark City. His blood has been fundamentally twisted by Elgar’nan since his imprisonment, sundering the original Song into what we know as Blight.
ANYWAY. ON TO THE THEORY.
Magic in the DA universe has three distinct sources: the fade, blood, and blight. These are Corpyheus' “three wine glasses”, if you remember Solas’ banter with Vivienne. Two are “natural” in that they are connected to the original state of Creation, the last is “poisoned” and connected to the Sundered Song. They’re actually interrelated in the actual practice of magic, as we’ll see shortly.
Without rehashing too much primordial history, the fade-shadows of the original elves (created by the splitting of their being when the veil was raised) are innate conduits to the Fade, allowing ancient elves to pull a measure of its fundamental indeterminate “stuff” into the physical world. A common in-game metaphor conceives of the fade as water, with the will of the mage shaping the glass. The size of the glass is determined by how much fade you’re able to draw. This is spirit, the contribution of the Earth to mortal magic.
The other half of magic is the will that defines the glass, the part that forces the water to take a desired shape. This will is the individual Song that lives in all mortal blood. In a way, blood is a bit like carrying around your own tiny Maker. It’s the physical side of magic, the contribution of the Sun to mortal existence. Its power to force a given state on indeterminate fadestuff or to change existing reality is related both to the amount and quality that sings the same Song. (In other words, how “loud” the Song is.)
Aside: this is true of the larger world as well. When spirits are forced into the physical world, they are assaulted by the Song that is reality, most driven mad by its volume and twisted to demons. It’s also worth noting that while blood may be the physical embodiment of will, there’s evidence that the Song is present in non-physical entities as well- it’s just much, much softer. As we see with Cole, spirits can develop a limited sense of self that can decide, that can shape- but it’s incredibly fragile and weak compared to mortals and must be strengthened considerably to sustain a true, individual ‘self’ on this side of the veil.
So how does lyrium fit in? Judging from its effect and use by the Templar, lyrium acts like a solid, physical form of Song – greatly increasing the effect of the user’s will, allowing him to hold reality in place. Conversely, it seems to amplify both aspects of magic when wielded by mages: how much fade can be drawn as well as how great a change the mage is able to effect with it. If this observational assumption is accurate, this implies heavily that the blood of the Sun and of the Earth are fundamentally the same material. Or at least they were once, before the Sun’s blood was twisted to blight and the Song sundered.
In summary, magic in Thedas is the interplay of possibility and will, represented respectively as the Fade and the Song. (Or to get Bioware-meta, Options and Choice.) The interaction of these two halves, one drawn from each Creator of the mortal world, is the essence of how magic works in the DA universe and what gives mages the ability to shape the world around them.
I hope that makes sense. I feel a bit like Dagna here, awkwardly trying to wrap words around something my brain is pretty sure it understands but is totally stumbling trying to get it out right.
Magic and the Eternal Triad
This concept of magic is deeply woven into the fabric of the DA universe. This gets a little bumpy, but stay with me, here. Cyclical rebellion to restore the balance of Order and Chaos is the beating heart of Thedas, and in every successful revolution we find the same triad at its center: the Wife, the Husband, and the Lover.
These three roles are sometimes metaphorical, sometimes literal, but always, always present. The triad pops up elsewhere as well, but their relation to the idea of overthrowing established Order is deeply connected, and the Earth – Mythal – forms the center, the critical pivot point, in each and every instance.
She must, because Change is a process that reflects the very nature of magic itself.
As the Earth, she represents the Fade- the realm of Possibility and Option. The Husband and the Lover are competing Wills, or Songs, thus when she abandons one and joins with the other, change is enacted on the world.
I know I’m kind of channeling Dagna again, but hold on to that thought. It’s exactly like casting a spell, but with lives. Like the universe itself casting a spell. A different kind of magic, yet still fundamentally the same and explosively effective. There is a commensurate cost, however, and that price is always the sacrifice of the Wife.
The three critical revolutions of Thedas’ history are as follows:
The First Revolution (The Loss of ‘Eden’)
Wife: the Earth (Mythal)
Husband: the Sun
Lover: Elgar’nan
The Second Revolution (the Fall of Arlathan)
Wife: Mythal (the Earth)
Husband: Elgar’nan
Lover: Falon’Din-Dirthamen (Solas)
The Third Revloution (the Andrastean Rebellion)
Wife: Andraste (Mythal)
Husband: Maferath (Likely just a human mage, but one whose dreams and actions were twisted by Elgar’nan)
Lover: Shartan (Solas)
The events of DA:I may be the first stirrings of a Fourth Revolution. It’s a tempting thought, but I’m not sure how I feel about that yet. The blight threatens the return of tyrannical Order in terms of the sundered Song, but it’s still just a threat, not the actual practice yet- there’s no existing tyrannical rule to be directly challenged. (The mage Circle business barely registers as a social blip compared to the three above.)
That said, it seems very likely that Solas is making preparations for another (final?) showdown with Order in the form of Elgar’nan, no matter what his specific intentions are.
Knowing what we do about the state of the world, the safest bet would be to assume his immediate goal is gaining access to the Void. Unfortunately, it’s almost certain that the only eluvian that would provide that access is in the Dark City, meaning he’ll have to get there first.
If the ‘key’ to open that particular path isn’t physical, then it’s likely that he knows it. After all, Falon’Din stripped the knowledge of how to access the Void from Andruil’s mind to secure his release and restoration to the Pantheon. This is not entirely certain, however, since we can’t say for sure how Dirthamen’s secret-taking powers actually work: whether he takes the secret into himself or simply washes it away as Cole does pain. My personal hunch is that the knowledge is absorbed, and that he now knows what Andruil knew: both the path to the Void, and exactly where the Sun is imprisoned inside it.
I believe his most likely goal is the release of the Forgotten Ones. They are literally his People (just as the Chargers are Bull’s) old allies, former members of the Pantheon who joined with him during the failed rebellion that preceded his successful second attempt, the Fall of Arlathan. When that rebellion failed, the Forgotten Ones were likely tried for treason just as he was, imprisoned as he was, but were never released. Their names and existence was almost entirely wiped from record by Elgar’nan and his alliance of Order- the faintest shadow left as a pointed warning to others of what the faction could and would do to any who opposed it.
As for the less-likely alternatives:
It’s possible he wants to access the Void to attempt to stop the threat of the blight at its source, but that’s so unlikely it’s hard to wrap my mind around the how and why. First, as much as I love Solas, that particular task seems waaay beyond his power. He and Mythal have been aware of the blight’s true source and nature since the time of ancient Arlathan, well before the first darkspawn was ever spotted on the surface of Thedas, and he’s in a much weaker position to do anything about it now than he has been in the past. (Aside from having an advantage over Elgar’nan in being fully conscious and out in the world, but even that’s not much, since he’d need to wake him to have any hope of forcing him to undo what was done to the Song… assuming reversal is even possible in the first place.)
Bringing down the veil is another potential objective that I’m not convinced lies within his power. Also, given what I think I know now about his overarching goals and interests within the DA universe, that seems like the absolute last thing he’d choose to do. Returning to “Eden” would be the ultimate admission of defeat, and I’m not sure he’s that broken. Not yet. The fire may be guttering, but it’s still there. I think he’ll fight.
I was talking to a friend recently who bemoaned the lack of darkspawn and the blight in the past two games. But more and more, I am getting the sense that it isn't that the writers are backtracking from the danger of the blight. But that the blight is actually significantly larger and has the potential to be even more devastating than we realized.
The fact that even 'gods' [and if they aren't truly gods, assuredly some of the strongest beings on Thedas], can contract the red lyrium corruption...how do you stand against that? That is seriously ominous.
Agreed. That line of Flemeth's all the way back into DA:O has sort of stayed with me through the last 3 games - when Flemeth is warning Morrigan the dangers of the blight and how it will consume her and drops into a more normal and serious tone for the first time - "Yes. Even I." and Morrigan is taken aback. And Solas is practically un-hinged with the Warden quest. I never talked to him after the ritual tower in the Western Approach, but did this last playthrough. HE IS FREAKING OUT. You also get a flirt option. I don't think he knows EXACTLY what happens if the Wardens carry out their plan, but he knows it's something terrible.
EDIT: I hope the Architect comes back - I didn't kill him. He was such an interesting character.
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but we knew so little about her... Even now that we know, how many things can you find in her appearance in books and games that clearly led to think that she was an elven goddes?
I believe it was the fact that her amulet was takento Mythal's alter at Sundermount that led people to connecting those two.
