51 réponses à ce sujet

[Petrikles]

Solas. He knows an awful lot. He does sometimes weird comments. Unfortunately I have let myself spoiled from youtube videos before I started the game myself. I do not regret it, since it helped me choose my personal "best" story without having to replay the game and finally stumbling upon it.

 

For my female Dalish Keeper, I like to roleplay that she gets to suspect over time that Solas knows quite more than he could/should as a simple apostate mage. When he finally cries about the Orb after the Endfight and his good-bye-style "everything between us has been real" is for her the final confirmation that Solas harbors some deep secret connected to the Elven pantheon. But I wonder, is there something which could make her conclude that he could be what he truly is and hides from you?

 

So here my question to those who were not spoiled:

 

Did you ever get suspicious that Solas is more or knows more than he lets the Inquisitor know?

 

For those spoiled: Do you think there are good RP reasons esp. for a Dalish Keeper to suspect something about Solas?

 

 

Some possible points for raising suspicion imo:

 

- The knowledge about the Orb after the "after-Haven" scene is already an awful lot, but still thinkable, kind of Morrigan-level knowledge.

 

- Him taking you into a fade-Haven in a dream.

 

- Some banter between Solas and Cole.

 

- The fear demon in the fade talking to Solas.

 

- His talks in the temple of Mythal.

 

My roleplay problem is a bit: All makes sense in hindsight if you see the after-credit scene, but none of it is glaring obvious for the Inquisitor. Great work from the Bioware storytellers! And I would so much love to continue the story between Solas and my Lavellan!!! Maybe in a DLC?

 

Edit: Want to add that the love-split up scene with Solas is one of my best game experiences since the come together scene with Liara in Mass Effect 1!

[M-Taylor]

Sure it's suspicious but I think it's abit of a stretch to automatically assume that he's related to your own (if Dalish) very divine pantheon. My elf thought he may have been an original immortal elf, but divine association is a very sketchy matter. Part of what makes Divine, Divine is their absence and it seems almost heretical to assume that he would be part of that.

 

Dalish knew about Flemeth for example and never suspected she was anything other than a woman of many years. I imagine my own Dalish thought of Solas in the same way, just a man of many years but a man nonetheless.

[Navasha]

I was never 'spoiled' by outside media on him.    I grew somewhat suspicious of his knowledge and origin after his spirit friend wanted him to help her pass on.   To me that was very reminiscent of Falon'Din's tale.   I suspected he was more than he appeared, never thought him to be the dread wolf though, that took me by surprise.

[zeypher]

This is a bioware game meaning your PC cannot have any development and he has a IQ of 50 so he cannot inquire and piece together stuff himself. 

[Antergaton]

I wasn't spoiled and feel my first playthrough was so far the best one. I didn't know nor did I grow suspicious for one reason, Solas is selfish. He disagreed with a fair few of my decisions and wasn't a friend so never got extra missions from him to work anything out. His disregard for wanting Cole to become more human showed he also doesn't care.

 

In the end he really was just there for himself and not to help you.

[Melyanna]

I was never "spoiled" as I do my best to avoid any spoiler in my first playthrough: I though Solas might be something more than he said at some point, but I expected him to be more like Cole, so nothing *that* big.

Blackwall on the other hand got me *really* suspicious during the wardens quests.

 

I believe that the game was very well written in terms of dropping hints, but also taking playes by surprise.

[Petrikles]

...

In the end he really was just there for himself and not to help you.

 

This is indeed a nagging suspicion for any more weak willed female, I think. You have to play very strongwilled and independent to get over this peronality issue of him. Yes, he was here for his own reasons, so much is clear for her in the end. But he also did fall in love and changed some points of view because you made him so. A key dialogue for me is the one where he asks you what you would do, restore the past, free the mages or build something completely new. He scolds at you but then he accepts your wisdom as being higher than his. This is what makes the romance even more special for me; very similar to the best ones ever from Baldur´s Gate 2: You actually have to go through some disputes with your love interest. Both are not perfect and can do and see things wrong, but it need not affect your relationship if you work through it. Things like this makes a love much more firm and deep IMO.

 

Edit: Keeping the vallaslin makes completely sense in a strong relationship approach, and his reaction is wonderful. It is only this reaction which would have made my Lavellan accept the removal, but sadly the game does not allow it then anymore.

[ThreeF]

 

- The fear demon in the fade talking to Solas.

 

 

If you are roleplaying then it's not very telling, but from storytelling perspective/mechanic it's a dead give away that something is off (same with the first artifact encounter).  I also found the disapproval you get in Haven when you say that you are willing to sacrifice yourself odd, he comes off as a pragmatist and I was reasoning that this is the most pragmatic choice giving the facts (i still sometimes catch myself  regressing into the same reaction).

 

After playing once you can catch up many little things, like for instance, his line if you ask him at the very beginning  what will he do when this is over.

 

To me his "Dying alone" made a completely different sense after the end.

[MiyuEmi]

I was never spoiled by anything as I didn't watch any walkthroughs before I completed the game myself.  Was I surprised, no.  There is something very unique about his character.  His obsession with the Fade is one, his love of elves, yet seeming disdain of the Dalish.  He is the only Elf that you encounter in the game who does not have the blood tattoos (sorry don't remember how it's spelled).  He has knowledge he shouldn't have and the final biggest clue ever for me...the elvish dialogue section which are not translated while in the Fade (Nightmare).  The Nightmare speaks specifically to Solas in elvish.  If Sera is in your party, he does not speak to her in elvish.  I figured from that point that there was something in that dialogue that they didn't want us to immediately understand.  Other than that, just the ambiguity the resoluteness in his decision making process made me question him, as well as the fact that he knew where Skyhold was, an ancient elven fortress.  I loved his character, my favourite of the bunch and as a somewhat older gamer, it's really nice to encounter characters that seem to clearly have been written with the older gamer in mind.  Don't know if that makes any sense!

 

Oh, and because I'm an elven nut, I immediately questioned the jawbone around his neck so that made me suspicious of him from the minute I saw him out of battle at Haven.

[Antergaton]

This is indeed a nagging suspicion for any more weak willed female, I think. You have to play very strongwilled and independent to get over this peronality issue of him. Yes, he was here for his own reasons, so much is clear for her in the end. But he also did fall in love and changed some points of view because you made him so. A key dialogue for me is the one where he asks you what you would do, restore the past, free the mages or build something completely new. He scolds at you but then he accepts your wisdom as being higher than his. This is what makes the romance even more special for me; very similar to the best ones ever from Baldur´s Gate 2: You actually have to go through some disputes with your love interest. Both are not perfect and can do and see things wrong, but it need not affect your relationship if you work through it. Things like this makes a love much more firm and deep IMO.

 

Edit: Keeping the vallaslin makes completely sense in a strong relationship approach, and his reaction is wonderful. It is only this reaction which would have made my Lavellan accept the removal, but sadly the game does not allow it then anymore.

 

My first character was strong willed but had their own viewpoint (was an elf female). But it's hard to 'fall in love' when he literally doesn't talk to you. Go up to him, he says "Hello." with 2 options on the dialog wheel "What do you know of Corypheous?" which we all know he's been lying about this entire time, and 'Goodbye'.

 

I'm never going to romance him in game, no matter the benefits to his character. My view has already been made up.

[Petrikles]

...

 

I'm never going to romance him in game, no matter the benefits to his character. My view has already been made up.

 

At some point in the game I felt very similar and considered abandoning any thoughts about relationship. He started to be fascinating because of his rather harmonic view on the fade and especially spirits; this imo resonates very well with a pure hearted Dalish Keeper personality. And for me there were quite some talks, stories which would be fascinating for a Keeper who is intend to learn. And with those stories, his knowledge, wisdom and thoughfulness started to shine.

 

The biggest crisis was for me when he killed the mages and ran away in anger/sorrow. I felt bad to not have restrained him, but also felt that those mages had deserved punishment (they basically failed their second Harrowing with this incident). It was just a bit of sadness in her pure elven heart that Solas would actually take life out of mere anger and revenge; basically another black stain on his personality for her. Basically the only reason why she continued the fledging relationship was my knowledge that sometimes there are such things and it is your job in a relationship to guide your love through.

 

Redemption of the romance came for me with his true hearted acknowledgement in the love scene. He states the she has "a sort of fair wisdom which did not exist since the old elven days" (dont have the exact quote), so he basically accepts that he is a dick sometimes and admires her for being somewhat better; i.e. wants to become a bit like her. This is basically also why the "valasslin-offer" is so critical; on one hand he accepts her as of fair wisdom, on the other hand he wants to determine how she should look in his opinion.

 

Yes, Solas is definitely not an easy relationship and I would not be sure if I would like a personality like his IRL.

 

To come back to my OP, this moment is the RP moment for my Lavellan to realize that there is something more behind his knowledge of ancient elven, because it seems to be a very personal stake for him, as if he had really been there (not just observed this from the fade), as is seemed so very important to him that you be free of those old symbols of slavery. It is more female intuition than actual knowledge, but I think realisation of a kind of intuitive truth could be definitely in reach in this one RP moment (kind of a "Joe Black" moment).

[Petrikles]

..

 

Oh, and because I'm an elven nut, I immediately questioned the jawbone around his neck so that made me suspicious of him from the minute I saw him out of battle at Haven.

 

Can you explain why? I wondered about the jawbone too and regretted that the game did not give you the opportunity to question.

[MiyuEmi]

Kailord - Sorry I can't directly quote from my office PC as for some reason it doesn't work!  Because I considered the jawbone symbolism.  If it was part of a full skull belt etc I wouldn't have thought anything, but it wasn't part of his armour and his clothing was very non-descript, yet he had this jawbone.  He was an elf, so I thought it might have been deity symbolism just like Flemeth's sudden coif change in DA2 to make her hair look like dragon horns.  Hard to pin it down actually but the jawbone made me consider he was more than he appeared to be.

[Melyanna]

Kailord - Sorry I can't directly quote from my office PC as for some reason it doesn't work!  Because I considered the jawbone symbolism.  If it was part of a full skull belt etc I wouldn't have thought anything, but it wasn't part of his armour and his clothing was very non-descript, yet he had this jawbone.  He was an elf, so I thought it might have been deity symbolism just like Flemeth's sudden coif change in DA2 to make her hair look like dragon horns.  Hard to pin it down actually but the jawbone made me consider he was more than he appeared to be.

 

That jawbone basically screams "Look at me". It's the only detail in an extremely non-descript outfit.

[Anvos]

Personally the closest I got was suspecting that he might be like, Wynne being a mage with a spirit keeping him alive. 

 

Otherwise I largely didn't go far beyond he was up to something, but didn't really care since I never planned on giving him the orb.

[Zepheera]

I deliberately kept away from as many spoilers as possible for Inquisition during development, right up to avoiding the Bioware forums entirely for nearly a year (Talk about torture).  When the game was released, the companions were entirely unknown to me.

 

I was playing a human mage during my first run through, and as the game progressed, I never suspected that Solas was part of the elven pantheon, though it was glaringly obvious that he was withholding something important.  I actually thought that he was a dreamer from Tevinter during the first act, and would end up being revealed as the big bad.

 

In hindsight, the clue are a lot more obvious.

[Joe_S]

There are lots of hints that Solas is more than he appears -- the biggest for me was reading his codex entry at one point and seeing a report from Leliana that they went looking for the village he said he grew up in and they found centuries-old ruins.  But only after one play-through did I really start paying attention to him, and noticing he has a lot of knowledge that a "normal" elf mage shouldn't/wouldn't have.  But while there are clues, i don't think it's ever outright obvious who he really is through the course of the game.

[Meer]

I came into the game completely unspoiled and chose Solas on a whim for my Lavellan. Well, I say a whim; he is actually an exceptionally charming character and it surprised me what a compelling love interest he made. But to answer your question, no. There was never any suspicion for me that Solas was part of any pantheon. He did come across as suspicious in other ways; like other posters, I felt as though he might be an ancient elf, or a mage whose life was being propped up by a spirit. This second idea intensified over the course of the game, especially with his reluctance to continue the relationship and deep interest in the Fade and spirits.

 

The seeds of the epilogue reveal are easy to notice in a second play through, sure. However, I don't think it makes sense for a character to suspect anything God-related, particularly if you've romanced him. A romanced Lavellan strikes me as even more in the dark than a friendly male elf, for example. You miss out on important questions in order to hit the all-important flirt options. Other interactions change, becoming more personal and less searching. One specific instance comes to mind: whereas a non-romanced character will ask Solas if he's about to run off before fighting Corypheus after the conversation about The Well of Sorrows, a romanced Lavellan wonders why he sounds like he might not -survive.-  I'd go as far as to say an Inquisitor that loves him is quite blinded by that love.

[blauwvis]

I never suspected that Solas was part of the elven pantheon, though it was glaringly obvious that he was withholding something important.  I actually thought that he was a dreamer from Tevinter

After the Haven dream sequence, I also began to wonder whether he might not be a dreamer.

For me, his most suspicious moments were when he led us to Skyhold ("So you just happened to know about this giant fortress?") and what he said after the Orlesian ball.

"I've really missed being at Court."
"When were you at Court?"
"Oh... hah, I mean.. watching Courts...in the Fade, of course!" <shifty eyes>

and

"Something something Briala something.."
"Yes, she's going to help your people, right?"
"My people? Oh, you mean elves!"

I could understand him not identifying all that strongly with elves. Sera doesn't, but at least she understands being compared to other elves. Solas reacted as though it had never crossed his mind that he might even be an elf. At this point I began to wonder whether he was a spirit-made-flesh, a la Cole.

[Innsmouth Dweller]

i had no idea. i mean, the guy is a bit weird and knows a lot, but that's expected from a person who finds the Fade more interesting than the real world.

i remember being baffled when he approved marking Fen'Harel shrine in Exalted Plains (he didn't react to others), that was a bit strange but i didn't think much of it at the time. besides, his abilities didn't exactly scream 'ancient and powerful elf' or 'god' or anything. now, 2nd PT it's so obvious

[Arvaarad]

I got spoiled, but I was suspicious of him before then due to stuff that happens in Masked Empire. Didn't think he was Fen'harel, but I knew that there was some shady elfy stuff going on.

Felassan's *wink wink nudge nudge crazy stuff is coming* moment with Imshael in TME, combined with his knowledge of the ancient elves... yeah, that put me on high alert.

Pretty sure my first inquisitor was clueless, though. He and Solas bonded over magic and the Fade, and he was satisfied with that. It didn't help that Adaar was a mage and he was banging Dorian, so he didn't hear much banter from Solas.

[Kriztofer]

Having not been spoiled I had no idea on my first playthrough, but, on my second playthrough I noticed lots of hints.

If you ask Vivienne about your friends the line about Solas is "I don't know what to make of Solas, so much knowledge and so little personal history, I find that peculiar, don't you?" so it's not like no-one suspects Solas of being something different and I imagine if you played a female elf, romanced Solas and took him everywhere with you there would be even more hints for your Inquisitor to pick up on.

[ReiKokoFuuu]

i'm ashamed to admit that i can be quite a gullible person at times, so i took most things that solas said at face value.  i simply believed that he attained most of his wisdom and knowledge from interacting with spirits and learning from them.  it wasn't until i was watching my husband finish the battle with corypheus (his copy arrived days before mine did so he had quite a headstart on me) and solas was acting strangely when he picked up the orb that red flags went off for me (i'm so slow xD).  my jaw dropped in the post-credits scene but since my husband knew next to nothing about DA lore, the significance of the plot twist was completely and utterly lost on him.

[Melyanna]

i'm ashamed to admit that i can be quite a gullible person at times, so i took most things that solas said at face value.  i simply believed that he attained most of his wisdom and knowledge from interacting with spirits and learning from them.  it wasn't until i was watching my husband finish the battle with corypheus (his copy arrived days before mine did so he had quite a headstart on me) and solas was acting strangely when he picked up the orb that red flags went off for me (i'm so slow xD).  my jaw dropped in the post-credits scene but since my husband knew next to nothing about DA lore, the significance of the plot twist was completely and utterly lost on him.

 

If that is of any conosolation to you, while I did think Solas was suspicious, it only occurred to me days after I finished the game that when he says "I visit things in my sleep", he actually means "I have visted this and that during the long amount of time I spent in uthenera, sleeping as Fen'Harel"...

[LadyJaneGrey]

I went into my Lavellan play-through completely unspoiled, and I definitely got the sense that Solas knew more than he let on about basically *everything.*  My Dalish is fairly agnostic so she didn't immediately go "oh, look, it's the Dread Wolf," but I did feel like she wasn't completely gullible or clueless.

 

If you play your Inquisitor as very blunt or confrontational, I don't think their suspecting Solas would work, but it definitely did for mine. She's a more reserved, circumspect character who argued with Solas a good bit while still offering opportunities for trust and friendship and hoped he would accept it and decide to tell her more. I felt what wasn't being said between them as keenly as what was.

 

And I love that the game gives you those role-playing options.  The "OMG - Solas, you are so awesome, let's be together forever" choices are there if you want them, but it also lets you skip half the flirt lines and tell him point-blank his attitude on city elves stinks and not to murder the idiot mages.

 

So, yes, it can work.