Careful what you wish for, Sera.
There is a line that Vivienne says to Solas that I was like "If you only knew...." when I heard it on my second playthrough.
- Vivienne: So, apostate. If the Circle is such a failure, what would be your solution? Would you have your fellow mages live among the people, unguarded, unwatched?
- Solas: Yes.
- Vivienne: And when they became possessed, or use their power to harm?
- Solas: I would kill them. Magic is more elegant than a blade or a bow, but a murderer remains a murderer.
- Vivienne: So you alone would pass judgment, repay murder with murder, or do we open this up to mobs and vigilantes? If you're going to dispense judgment upon violent mages yourself, you'll need eternal life and omniscience. If only there were individuals dedicated to finding and eliminating such criminals. Perhaps they might help?
- Solas: I am certain they would. Until black and white distinctions perverted their simple minds.
While Solas may not have total omniscience.....I'm sure he does in comparison to all the mere mortals around him lol.
*gasps* Now I have a very good reason to take Vivienne and Solas with me in the same team. I admit I left her cooling her heels more than not, but in one of the dozens of new PT's I have I will find a slot for this companion combination.
Random complaint time!
Has anyone seen my Muse? 
I'm pretty sure she's lurking on this thread instead of paying attention to what I'm working on. This is highly inconvenient. Arrrgh Solas, it isn't fair to steal my wits. Not at all fair! I'm forced to reallocate Witcher-playing concentration to finish a single scene and this is not a good balance, since I am forced to focus on side quests lest I stay up too long and I end up staying up waaay too long without any meaningful progression in the story which is just ridiculous.
End random complaint time.
Next episode: how the core story elements in Macbeth can be remolded into Dragon Age and analyzed using various interpretations of the play in the theater and in movie versions. (Yes, I am luring out my Muse. It's a trap. Don't tip her off, please.) I am particularly interested in the various approaches to the supernatural influence and how this may be symbolically interpreted as a kind of "excuse" to explain Macbeth's actions - this minds me of how the Chantry approaches the power of mages and how a character such as Vivienne would justify their treatment, particularly insightful if one takes into consideration the Great Chain of Being and its ultimate failure as a long-term societal model (also reminiscent of the Qunari, I might add).
I'm also interested in the historical evolution of the Fade as a place full of dangers; in Macbeth, it is very interesting to observe a similar stance in the form of the witches evolving over the various adaptations from hideous and surreal to more "ordinary" seductive sirens, thus the suggestion of who is actually to blame (supernatural forces or our own conscience) is all open to the interpretation of the age. It leads me to believe that one of the core issues with Vivienne is that she is unwilling to look beyond the face of things as they are and have been for quite some time, she does not grasp that this axis of danger she sees in mages being free versus being locked up (figuratively, in her imagination, which is all she has known) because she has never witnessed any mage who is able to function outside of expectations. Since Solas has a similar issue with expectations, this collision of beliefs is quite an interesting one, yet this last comment of his alone would lead me to believe that he definitely has the capacity and willingness to keep a dynamic view of morality that is defined by both shouldering responsibility and by having a regulated system of supervision that is always correcting itself to keep from falling into preconceived ideals of justice.
Back to self-fulfilling prophecy. In this day and age, it is relevant to consider that most mages have grown up knowing only this axis of existence, there is no room for different interpretations, ergo Solas' idea would not work, at least at first, yet that does not mean that the idea should not be pursued. Plus there is the sheltered existence factor - Vivienne herself is a prime example of that. So, in essence, the problem with Vivienne's viewpoint is that she is omitting the possibility of mages taking responsibility for themselves and for their actions, i.e. mages have been largely raised to remain children in the eyes of the world and they cannot help but act like it in many instances. This issue prevents the natural evolution of recapturing lost magic and of finding the right balance between magical folk and non-mages. Of course, there is Tevinter as the cautionary tale - yet that also is on the same axis as the Chantry of the rest of Thedas and this is the true plight of mages. They are all stuck in their place in the Great Chain of Being and neither they nor the non-mages can truly grasp what the burdens of actual freedom are. See how awesome Macbeth is? Yes.
I realize probably none of that made sense. But I really like analyzing Macbeth. And Dragon Age.
Now! Can I move on to finishing that scene....? It is epic! With a great struggle of truth and lies, filled with major plot revelations that make the enemy a friend, yet still an enemy for belonging (unwillingly) to a faction who is both friend and enemy depending on interpretation............
....you see where I'm going with this, right? Right?
It's such a lovely scene! All I need is the right dramatic musical backdrop to channel the right amount of dark "oh, no!" and and and... I'm not in denial about writer's block, I'M NOT. It's perfectly under control. I can do this.
I CAN.
Sorry. I lost my mind a bit. Maybe more coffee will help. 
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