My reasoning: What I think is key about this scene is that the truth is THE freedom. My interpretation is that he gives this to you so you can make this decision with full clarity and understanding of its history. It’s ironic since he doesn’t tell you the truth of who he is and ends your relationship on it, but the vallaslin is an important truth nevertheless. I’m actually quite sad that not every Lavellan gets this; m/f, Solas-mance/no. It’s important consideration. One that had quite an emotional impact on my game-play outside of the romance. eumolpus-fabulator dug up some interesting thoughts on maori tattoos - which is an interesting analogue. It’s likely buried in the bowels of BSN and her tumblarg but there was a quote about an older Maori woman who had a lost quite a lot during various wars and she said something like, “They can take my house, my family, my possessions but I will carry these tattoos into death”. Powerful stuff and it sort of neatly summed up how I felt about my Lavellan’s vallaslin. I may make different decisions in other play-throughs with my Lavellan, but in every universe she will keep her vallaslin. That’s how important they are to me for her. So I think Solas is due thanks for allowing me to get all emo about my gal’s face tattoos.
Then here is @Giton - Follow Up which puts it into better context:
Adding to kissiebear‘s thoughts: I think it is worth thinking deeply about the context of the ritual. I imagine it must have been deeply, deeply meaningful in ways it may be hard to imagine. I think the Maori conversation is worth considering, not to draw unambiguous analogues between real, lived experience and a fictional culture, but to consider the implications of vallaslin with empathy and sensitivity.
Selected excerpts:
“You may lose your most valuable property through misfortune in various ways… your house, your weaponry, your spouse, and other treasures. You may be robbed of all that you cherish. But of your moko [your Maori facial tattoos], you cannot be deprived, except by death. It will be your ornament and your companion until your final day.
Netana Whakaari of Waimana, 1921
An excerpt of the chant performed during the moko ritual, i.e. the tattooing ritual:
“Release yourself to me
To be gouged
By the chisel of Mataora.
Incised, you give yourself
To your lover,
Your skin glistens,
Joyful, gleaming
For I adorned you …”
Also, a partipant recounting their experience in 2003:
“I remembered my breathing. Catching it–the rhythm. Every chisel strike, biting my skin. Tasting it. Breaking through. I remember smelling the color of blood, my blood. Chanting. Breathing. Each strike, my breath. In, out. Every cut, a heart beat, every cut, a breath. In, out. Beyond the chanting, beyond the pain, just the smell, the taste, the rhythm. My blood. My heartbeat. … When I came back, I looked in the mirror. And I saw someone else.”
One more:
“Your body, grown so tall, so magnificent
I gently turn over; I gaze
At your finely patterned skin,
At your face incised exquisitely;
Ah, losing you will devestate the people.”
Source: “Mata Ora: Chiseling the Living Face–Dimensions of Maori Tattoo,” Ngahuia Te Awekotuku,121-22, 126.
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