Give him what-for, Cee! Especially since poor Solana is going off to the Temple of Mythal tonight. After which, Solas will promptly break her heart. She's a tough one, but that's going to be a hard night.
I learned if you don't tell him you love him, you can't even talk about the relationship the next day.
If the prophecy is right and about Solas then I don't know if he'd be ruling it - after all the voice is clear: his chosen are to rule.
I don't get it. He doesn't like organizations, but he doesn't like power being too concentrated either. What does that leave but anarchy?
If somebody does Solas in in DA4 and absorbs his powers, it should totally be Scout Harding. Nobody else in DA deserves to be a god as much as she does.
I knew it! Kenric does like Scout Harding!
"He's innocent and naive, generally speaking, and may have a slight crush on Scout Harding (who he calls "Lady Harding")."
..And I totally have a crush on Professor Kenric.
I don't get it. He doesn't like organizations, but he doesn't like power being too concentrated either. What does that leave but anarchy?
Pieces are definitely missing. Unless he favors some sort of disjointed, cycling sort of system. Or if he's trying to return/unrestrain spirits, then spirits don't have the agendas and will just do what they do and not require rulers.
I don't get it. He doesn't like organizations, but he doesn't like power being too concentrated either. What does that leave but anarchy?
I don't think he things anarchy works as well. We can hear that when he schools Sera.
IMO? I think he plans to basically reset the world, have his chosen guide it - while he himself will probably be either too corrupted or too broken to taint the world with his presence. He may indeed banish himself to the farthest recesses of the Void, perhaps in attempt to protect people from any threats, like power-hungry immortal mage-kings.
So he'll technically 'die' for that world, but at the same time he'll be forever alone in a place nobody wishes to go 
In a way, DA's writer are telling us violence (unless it's fighting darkspawns
) isn't the answer to Thedas' woes. It's a message that resonnates with me. Change, real change, only comes with time and effort, not violence. I'd love the elves going into non-violent protest, personally
Pieces are definitely missing. Unless he favors some sort of disjointed, cycling sort of system. Or if he's trying to return/unrestrain spirits, then spirits don't have the agendas and will just do what they do and not require rulers.
Why do I get a feeling history will only repeat and no mistakes will be learned if he just lets everyone do what they want? He's only going to make the cycle continue. He's not even thinking this out and being awake for only a year does not give him the right to judge. Mythal was around longer and she sees things he never has yet. He's so consumed by guilt he can't even see what he's doing at times. In the future Redcliffe when he says what's happened will not change his plans, I was just so close to choking my monitor.
I don't get it. He doesn't like organizations, but he doesn't like power being too concentrated either. What does that leave but anarchy?
I think his views on organizations are complicated. It's not that he doesn't think they should exist, it's that he thinks inevitably in the developement of any organization of significance, corruption will happen. I think he accepts that and probably expects that will happen in his new world as well, he doesn't think he's destroying the veil to create a utopia, just to restore the elves, or to restore the connection to the Fade, depending on different theories on the thread.
As for his own organization, those Flower Crown Prophecy lines and TME make me think he's a merciless boss, who would eliminate an agent for the slightest hint of disagreement, because he's been betrayed in the past, and he won't let that happen again. Also, his tactics are more akin to guerrilla warfare than to an organized army.
I don't think he things anarchy works as well. We can hear that when he schools Sera.
IMO? I think he plans to basically reset the world, have his chosen guide it - while he himself will probably be either too corrupted or too broken to taint the world with his presence. He may indeed banish himself to the farthest recesses of the Void, perhaps in attempt to protect people from any threats, like power-hungry immortal mage-kings.
So he'll technically 'die' for that world, but at the same time he'll be forever alone in a place nobody wishes to go
Haven't thought of the possibility for a situation like this before. It's okay, let's increase the sadness potential. I don't mind. Nope.
... Can you imagine how blind-sighted people who didn't play DAI will be? I have my doubts that we'd be building the same kind of relationship with him throughout DA4 (assuming it will be focused on Solas, though I don't see the reason why it shouldn't) - heck, it's pretty much impossible. The wolf's out of the sheep's skin.
Now we can only move forward, with the threat to the world Solas poses - and I suspect Bioware will do little to dissuade people from thinking that he's a relatively straightforward threat to fight... and if they do, it will not happen in an overt kind of way. This series seems to be all about nuance and additional information - heck, some of it is even in additional materials, or comics, or books or in past games. They aren't shy of making us dig for information. It adds to replayability and sells all the additional stuff, so it's actually not that silly of a strategy, even from financial perspective
Somewhat unrelated but - Oh my god, I'd love some expanded universe stuff on Solas. I haven't felt much interest in any of the EU material, but I'd love to get my hands on any theoretical comic or novel about Pre-Veil Solas, when he was leading his rebellion or just coming into it. It'd be fascinating to see how he's changed, how he hasn't, just... unf. Please. Please BioWare. Fenris gets a novel! Alistair got three comic books! Cassandra got an entire anime! And none of them had backstories as deep or interesting as Solas!
The unexpected anomaly seems to be Solas himself
He IS supposed to be the antagonist of the next game. We aren't supposed to feel TOO sympathetic - it would miss the point if we sympathized with Solas outright, or didn't intend to stop him
I also don't see us as unexpected anomalies - unless we're as unexpected anomalies as people who actually finish the game. Most people don't even do that. If I remember statistics correctly 20-30% reach the endgame, and that's not just massive RPGs, with the rate of those reaching the finish line being even lower. Majority of people then don't even bother to sink their teeth in the story, much less think about nuances of it. I assume therefore that the rate of those who kill Solas in DA4 (5?) will be much higher than those who'd save him... At least at first?
Eeeehhhh, I imagine any conclusion with Solas will be buried deep in whatever game deals with it. So anyone who didn't care for the probably will drop out before they get to that point.
My main fear about being the odd ones out on liking Solas, though, is that... well, sometimes I think BioWare listens a little too well to their fans, to the point where they'll tailor the game to majority opinion... without much regard for the minority. I mean, look at Mass Effect. Tali and Garrus get brought back as romances because of their massive fan popularity. The Jacob romance gets an abrupt, unsatisfying end because most people didn't bother with it and didn't care for him. And say what you want but I still feel like we would've had a chance for a happy ending to the Thane romance if he weren't so surpassed by Garrus in popularity (Me? BItter? What could ever make you say that? 
)
I can't help but think that's one of the reasons everyone in game seemed to universally disapprove of what Anders did. Granted, reception to Solas seems to be more nuanced and positive than it was for Anders.
Yeah, sadly that's the thing - there are people... dunno how many of them there are, but they can be very vocal, who'd just deem him villain without ever looking at his motivations, just because he can't be easily categorized. Thinking in black-and-white categories is just so much simpler...
I mean, many people apparently wanted to lop his head off after post-credit reveal, when we didn't yet know his full motivations with any sort of certainty (though Trespasser basically confirmed what I thought is happening), but simply for lying to the player about the whole ancient elfy/Dread Wolf thing. If they wanted to punish him for that, then there's no wonder that they compare him to Hitler and the plague.
Though some of us do suspect that it has more to do with the wounded player's ego - he hid his motives and alias, he infiltrated Inquisition (though ironically that actually saved the South from the Qunari invasion) and basically played us like a pawn on a chess-board. So I suspect a lot of people want him dead not because they're motivated by concern for Thedas, but because Solas slighted them.
Yeah, I hear that. People accuse me of being some blind fangirl who can't see past her rose-tinted glasses, when some of the things his haters say make me go "And people think I'm the one with the problem?" How can you pull up so much hatred for a fictional character? I may get a little weird about Solas, but at least I don't share fantasies of brutally torturing and murdering him on a public forum. That just - can't be healthy.
I just don't understand it. I thought it was really cool, how extensively and expertly he manipulates you! Like, okay, yeah, probably not the hallmark of a great friend - but jeez, it's something you just have to sit back and appreciate in it's ingenuity. He managed to keep his identity from a Ben-Hassrath, an expert Game player, and one of the foremost spymasters in Thedas. For months - years maybe. And apparently he was running a decently extensive spy network all the while that's just - dude. It's incredible. And... kinda hot.
Is my evil genius fetish showing yet?
I don't get it. He doesn't like organizations, but he doesn't like power being too concentrated either. What does that leave but anarchy?
Democracy?
That's... Isn't this exactly what Solas thinks?
Shhhh. I'm wary of some parts of dear Egg - but the belief that you have to do something, because only you will do it right, and someone else will probably just betray you - yeah, that's something I understand and sympathize with pretty well.
Haven't thought of the possibility for a situation like this before. It's okay, let's increase the sadness potential. I don't mind. Nope.
I'm out of likes but I always have fade hugs left. Have one!
Solas
Why do I get a feeling history will only repeat and no mistakes with be learned if he just lets everyone do what they want? He's only going to make the cycle continue. He's not even thinking this out and being awake for only a year does not give him the right to judge. Mythal was around longer and she sees things he never has yet. He's so consumed by guilt he can't even see what he's doing at times. In the future Redcliffe when he says what's happened will not change his plans, I was just so close to choking my monitor.
I personally don't trust Flemythal either. And I love it. I'm so hoping they don't have her swoop in as the big hero in the end because that's boring.
To me, it just seems like Solas wants things reset in a way. Maybe it won't be perfect, I don't think he thinks it will be utopia or anything close to it, but everyone's connection to magic and the Fade will return and that's already much better than the modern world. The people he thought gone can live again. That might be all he wants at this point. A world he perceives as better, without the Evanuris and with the hope that similar people won't arise again.
The point to which Solas thought this out is hard to say. It's easy for us to say he's just doing this willy nilly but he probably isn't. There may be many reasons he decided this was the best course of action besides resigning himself to take a shot in the dark. As others predict, it's possible everyone is running on borrowed time right now anyways. Whether or not he thought it out doesn't make it the right course of action, though.
I don't get it. He doesn't like organizations, but he doesn't like power being too concentrated either. What does that leave but anarchy?
Somewhat unrelated but - Oh my god, I'd love some expanded universe stuff on Solas. I haven't felt much interest in any of the EU material, but I'd love to get my hands on any theoretical comic or novel about Pre-Veil Solas, when he was leading his rebellion or just coming into it. It'd be fascinating to see how he's changed, how he hasn't, just... unf. Please. Please BioWare. Fenris gets a novel! Alistair got three comic books! Cassandra got an entire anime! And none of them had backstories as deep or interesting as Solas!
I can't help but think that's one of the reasons everyone in game seemed to universally disapprove of what Anders did. Granted, reception to Solas seems to be more nuanced and positive than it was for Anders.
I'd love a ton of backstory material on Solas. However, there's zero chance we'd get that until we completed his story and all the elven mysteries are revealed. Otherwise that book would just be one giant spoiler. So basically it'd be years before we got it.
And yes on the Anders thing. I think the fan reaction caused the writers to shun him too in later comments and in-universe things. Which is a shame. They didn't present him as a straight up villain in DA2, but they certainly treat him like one now. I can't think of another reason they'd do that.
I personally don't trust Flemythal either. And I love it. I'm so hoping they don't have her swoop in as the big hero in the end because that's boring.
To me, it just seems like Solas wants things reset in a way. Maybe it won't be perfect, I don't think he thinks it will be utopia or anything close to it, but everyone's connection to magic and the Fade will return and that's already much better than the modern world. The people he thought gone can live again. That might be all he wants at this point. A world he perceives as better, without the Evanuris and with the hope that similar people won't arise again.
The point to which Solas thought this out is hard to say. It's easy for us to say he's just doing this willy nilly but he probably isn't. There may be many reasons he decided this was the best course of action besides resigning himself to take a shot in the dark. As others predict, it's possible everyone is running on borrowed time right now anyways. Whether or not he thought it out doesn't make it the right course of action, though.
I suspect she wants to stop him, but she also has plans to get vengeance of her own, but she wants to go about it in a less obvious way. To me she's the mother, wise with age and knows when to sit and wait and when to take action. Solas is the teen/young adult who is so stubborn and trying to get results quick and by means he is sure are the only way to succeed. And we always get schooled by our elders. Mother's always right lol He's going to fail in everything but the Veil being removed.
I will say one thing for Mythal, she's got a good heart. Her and Flemeth. Her expression when Morrigan says she will never be the mother she was, then let's her son go and if you ask her if you are now her servant, she looks said and asks if that's really what you feel, leads me to believe she has the same intentions as Solas but won't kill everyone like he intends to do.
I think he knew he would remove the Veil once he woke, but this world has been around for so long, he needs to stop and think. I agree everyone's on borrowed time. The Crossroads are too. I think the Veil will soon fall on its own, but he plans to do it in a way that won't make spirits go crazy.
Reforms present their own own challenges, however. They can be halted and erased by bureaucracy. They can also be violently crushed if reactionary forces have a strong enough presence. A peaceful protest is rather helpless in the face of a firing squad.
Perhaps this is cruel or cynical of me to say, but if it comes to it, I'd rather seize power violently than insist on non-violence and end up getting slaughtered. After all, the reason I'd be motivated to such actions would likely be because of rampant injustice caused by the despotic authority in the first place (people don't protest over nothing), I'm not going to shed that many tears if they meet an unhappy end.
I personally think we should just be pragmatic and keep an open mind. Whatever method works.
Unfortunately, violent revolution rarely has the intended resolution, as seen in the real world (a few managed, but most get highjack or crushed in the end). And no amount of trying to control how everyone will react from the top will make everyone do so.
With that, I'll leave the last word to Hawke (quoting from memory) : That's what happens when you try to change things; things change. You can't always control how.
I don't think it's quite that dark. The description under Briala wasn't quite as strongly-worded as to say she's only ever looking for herself. But, she has her weaknesses and is described as quite human. Also, I don't think stopping a bad plan means bringing back the status quo (although I see where that thought comes from as it's often the case in narrative like for example many superhero comics where they are pretty much fighting to keep the established order). There are ways to move forward and to change. Our choices in Halamshiral offered that, be it with Briala puppeteering Gaspard or working with Celene. Same with what we did for the mages to use another example. It's only that, up until now, we've not seen violent change doing much other than create chaos, so other solutions need to be found.
I didn't say Briala was "only ever looking out for herself," I said she was only one of two characters who gave a nug's rump about elves, but like the other it seems her efforts to help them will just end up hurting them more in the long run (just like Solas). Considering the file said that she wants power "for herself and her people... or at least herself" and Sera's line about "I wonder how long before she forgets her poor elves," I'm starting to wonder if her helpfulness to elves is meant to have an expiration date. In the short term it's great because she enacts so much change, in the long run it won't.
In a way, DA's writer are telling us violence (unless it's fighting darkspawns
In a game where 90% of decisions are made by the player character defeating enemies in combat.
But that's okay. Using violence to keep the Chantry and Orlesian Empire from crumbling? (Even though they freaking brought it upon themselves?), that's fine. Using violence to help the oppressed like mages and elves, who stay oppressed by Templars and humans pulling swords on them? Well now! Suddenly "violence isn't the right way to solve our problems!" I do so love games where the other kid's allowed to hit you as often as they want but you're never allowed to hit back. (I loved that game as a kid.)
But that's not it then. As someone pointed out above, those character outlines were from early on and characters and their arcs can change over time. Maybe Briala isn't that way now. Maybe she's really not going to make things worse. We won't know until the next game. Also we don't know that putting up the Veil was the worst option - it may have been the least suckiest option Solas had at the time. We also don't know that bringing down the Veil is the worst idea either. I *hope* we can come up with a compromise between "kill everyone/lots of people" and "leave everything exactly the way it is" with Solas. But, as with everything with this game, we just don't have enough information to conclude that everyone is bad and should feel bad or that everyone who tries to help screws things up instead.
And yet Sera's line "I wonder how long before she [Briala] forgets her 'poor elves'" survived the finished product of the game.
You know that Briala's going to run into some controversy with her pupeteering of Gaspard (to be expected), but they'll probably make it so if she has to decide between maintaining her power and helping the elves, she'll do the former, with some heavy-handed, peachy, moralizing lesson about how "Those in power always become corrupted by it," only this time no one's going to step in to help the elves after she steps down (or has to be forcibly put down) because... this is Thedas. Why would they?
And the player character won't be able to do anything because our job is to maintain the corrupt organizations already in power (the monarchies, the Chantry, the Orlesian Empire), but we're not supposed to actually enact changes for people without power. We're just elect a candidate for a powerful group that we think will help people and hope they actually succeed. And if they don't succeed (for example, if Briala ends up hurting instead of helping in the long run)... oh well. Life sucks for everyone except for those already in power.
I didn't say Briala was "only ever looking out for herself," I said she was only one of two characters who gave a nug's rump about elves, but like the other it seems her efforts to help them will just end up hurting them more in the long run (just like Solas). Considering the file said that she wants power "for herself and her people... or at least herself" and Sera's line about "I wonder how long before she forgets her poor elves," I'm starting to wonder if her helpfulness to elves is meant to have an expiration date. In the short term it's great because she enacts so much change, in the long run it won't.
In a game where 90% of decisions are made by the player character defeating enemies in combat.
But that's okay. Using violence to keep the Chantry and Orlesian Empire from crumbling? (Even though they freaking brought it upon themselves?), that's fine. Using violence to help the oppressed like mages and elves, who stay oppressed by Templars and humans pulling swords on them? Well now! Suddenly "violence isn't the right way to solve our problems!" I do so love games where the other kid's allowed to hit you as often as they want but you're never allowed to hit back. (I loved that game as a kid.)
And yet Sera's line "I wonder how long before she [Briala] forgets her 'poor elves'" survived the finished product of the game.
You know that Briala's going to run into some controversy with her pupeteering of Gaspard (to be expected), but they'll probably make it so if she has to decide between maintaining her power and helping the elves, she'll do the former, with some heavy-handed, peachy, moralizing lesson about how "Those in power always become corrupted by it," only this time no one's going to step in to help the elves after she steps down (or has to be forcibly put down) because... this is Thedas. Why would they?
And the player character won't be able to do anything because our job is to maintain the corrupt organizations already in power (the monarchies, the Chantry, the Orlesian Empire), but we're not supposed to actually enact changes for people without power. We're just elect a candidate for a powerful group that we think will help people and hope they actually succeed. And if they don't succeed (for example, if Briala ends up hurting instead of helping in the long run)... oh well. Life sucks for everyone except for those already in power.
I guess I'm just not seeing the game in such a hopeless light. But it's late and my brain is fuzzy and I just can't argue it right this moment. I'm sorry.
Edit : Pehaps a kitty hug instead?
I'm out of likes but I always have fade hugs left. Have one!
Solas
I've been hit by the feels but maybe I can do something with them.
I didn't say Briala was "only ever looking out for herself," I said she was only one of two characters who gave a nug's rump about elves, but like the other it seems her efforts to help them will just end up hurting them more in the long run (just like Solas). Considering the file said that she wants power "for herself and her people... or at least herself" and Sera's line about "I wonder how long before she forgets her poor elves," I'm starting to wonder if her helpfulness to elves is meant to have an expiration date. In the short term it's great because she enacts so much change, in the long run it won't.
In a game where 90% of decisions are made by the player character defeating enemies in combat.
But that's okay. Using violence to keep the Chantry and Orlesian Empire from crumbling? (Even though they freaking brought it upon themselves?), that's fine. Using violence to help the oppressed like mages and elves, who stay oppressed by Templars and humans pulling swords on them? Well now! Suddenly "violence isn't the right way to solve our problems!" I do so love games where the other kid's allowed to hit you as often as they want but you're never allowed to hit back. (I loved that game as a kid.)
And yet Sera's line "I wonder how long before she [Briala] forgets her 'poor elves'" survived the finished product of the game.
You know that Briala's going to run into some controversy with her pupeteering of Gaspard (to be expected), but they'll probably make it so if she has to decide between maintaining her power and helping the elves, she'll do the former, with some heavy-handed, peachy, moralizing lesson about how "Those in power always become corrupted by it," only this time no one's going to step in to help the elves after she steps down (or has to be forcibly put down) because... this is Thedas. Why would they?
And the player character won't be able to do anything because our job is to maintain the corrupt organizations already in power (the monarchies, the Chantry, the Orlesian Empire), but we're not supposed to actually enact changes for people without power. We're just elect a candidate for a powerful group that we think will help people and hope they actually succeed. And if they don't succeed (for example, if Briala ends up hurting instead of helping in the long run)... oh well. Life sucks for everyone except for those already in power.
One line making it into the game does not indicate a set path for anyone. And Sera doesn't like anyone in power. She also doesn't like elves. Sometimes you have to take what she says with a grain of salt.
Also, puppeteering Gaspard is not always Briala's role. You can put her into power by herself - which I don't see lasting long tbh, not with most likely the entire nobility against her. You can reconcile her with Celene. You can have all 3 try to work together. How any one of these will affect her going forward, we don't know.
And sadly, we maintain the status quo because we kind of have to. If we could wildly change things, BioWare would have to take all of those changes into account going forward into the next game. At some point the worldstates would be so divergent BioWare would almost have to make entirely separate games just to deal with them. Which they can't do. So until the end of the series, the status quo kind of has to stay the same or close to it. I know we all want to make truly world changing decisions but it's just not possible within a series like this where we expect our choices to be reflected in future games.
Is my evil genius fetish showing yet?
The low-approval Solas dialogue is extremely hot.And the player character won't be able to do anything because our job is to maintain the corrupt organizations already in power (the monarchies, the Chantry, the Orlesian Empire), but we're not supposed to actually enact changes for people without power. We're just elect a candidate for a powerful group that we think will help people and hope they actually succeed. And if they don't succeed (for example, if Briala ends up hurting instead of helping in the long run)... oh well. Life sucks for everyone except for those already in power.
I've been hit by the feels but maybe I can do something with them.
OK, for some reason when I read this, I imagined a Feels rogue specialization, and you teaching it, and explaining to the Inquisitor, "Feels rogues are empathetic and sensitive, and learn to draw power from their feels to stab people more effectively." Don't mind me it's late.
But good luck with the writing. I'm still working on my rivalmance, I have a spreadsheet now to organize some semblance of a plot 
But good luck with the writing. I'm still working on my rivalmance, I have a spreadsheet now to organize some semblance of a plot
Cole would be the perfect Feels rogue, don't you think?
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