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[ComedicSociopathy]

Dragon Age Inquisition aka Cleaning up Solas's Screwup

[durengo]

maybe solas hide a dark secret.could be that he isn't  the one we think to know.

maybe he used cory.maybe solas is a villian.

 

or mythal used solas..to make sure that cory get the orb.

could be that solas or mythal have a interest that the divine would be killed?

maybe they chosen cory as the killer.

 

is corys defeat a part of a bigger plan?

[robertmarilyn]

This entire mess makes Solas seem dumb. The best I can do is play knowing my character doesn't know what happened so that he/she doesn't have to wonder about the dumbness of it. But still, "I" know what Solas did and it was dumb. There had better be a good explanation...although I know there really won't be. 

[Heimdall]

I think Corypheus was just the only being he could find with enough power to open the thing.  He likely planned to steal it, or didn't think Corypheus could actually wield its power.  Or he expected the act of opening it to kill him.  That's the only thing that makes any sense.

[megageeklizzy]

Fen'Harel, knowing that his people were to be defeated and that he would not be able to stop it, ingeniously locked them away just before the magisters entered the Golden City.  As there were no Elvhen to watch over him as he rested in Uthenera, he knew that he would need to resort to placing his power in a less mortal vessel eventually. However, his somnaborium was sill fully charged at this time, and could sustain him for a thousand years.  Thus, he survived away from other people for nearly one thousand years, probably in a 'small village to the North' of where Haven would one day be built.

 

About seven hundred years later, Fen'Harel has learned much of how the world is changing after the fall of Arlathan.  Unfortunately, his power is beginning to wane, and one of the chambers in which he had hidden his people was found by the dark creatures that resulted from his last failure - the darkspawn.  Knowing that he could not help fight this threat living as a hermit, he began to travel toward the descendants of his people.  He did not reach them until after the Blight had ended, and decided to help the elves gain freedom while waiting for a sign that Mythal had not been slain along with her vessel, Dumat. 

 

Shortly after the first blight, Dumat's soul, freed from the taint by the Grey Wardens who killed the archdemon, seeks out a willing subject to assist it with it's vengeance.  A young Andraste, angry and afraid of the men who antagonize her, has much in common with the spirit, who has also suffered betrayal and seeks vengeance.  Andraste gains immortality, in a sense - she is able to survive the death of her body.  In return, Mythal gains a means to influence the world.  Both gain power to achieve their common goal - seeking vengeance against the Tevinter Imperium.

Meanwhile, Fen'Harel has gained the trust of the elven slaves by taking the identity of an elven slave named Shartan, and is leading a movement to end slavery. Upon hearing about Andraste's Exalted March, Shartan sees an opportunity to form an alliance against a common enemy.  He and the elves join Andraste and her followers in the fight against Tevinter.  In battle, his cunning proved invaluable, and he became the strategist for their forces.   Mythal is willing to work with Fen'Harel because she now realizes that he trapped her for her own safety, as well as because she had need of his skills.  Thus, Mythal and Fen'Harel, the only remaining Elvhen gods, manage to help their people.

Andraste had two daughters, one of whom is believed to have a long line of descendants, all of whom are female.  It is to this daughter that Mythal fled when Andraste was burned.  Fen'Harel, I believe, escaped to his somnaborium, which he willed into Corypheus' possession at some point before Shartan was burned.  He didn't think that Corypheus would be able to unlock the orb, and needed the orb to be in the presence of a powerful mage in order to recharge, as its power was mostly drained over the past thousand years.  He knew that Corypheus would unquestioningly take the orb out of greed, and this made him the ideal candidate.  He did not consider, however, that the Blight that woke Mythal would give Corypheus the ability to unlock the somnaborium.

 

Another thousand years later, Solas wakes abruptly when his somnaborium is used to open a hole in the veil, ejecting him forcefully from the orb.  He instantly realizes that he has made a terrible mistake, and once again seeks to save the world from the horrors he has caused.  He joins forces with the Inquisition, once again forming an alliance to combat a common enemy.  He tries to learn more about what happened while he slept by entering the Fade and asking spirits for information, but when he finally meets a spirit of wisdom who has information, it is corrupted and dies before it can tell him anything.  Until the very end of the game, he hopes to get the orb back so that he can regain his power.  When he sees that it is destroyed, he must turn to his 'old friend', Flemeth, to find another way.  She allows him to take her soul, but passes her immortality to Morrigan so that Fen'Harel can be fought if he proves to be untrustworthy.

[Hurbster]

I asked in elf who knew Solas and she said it was because of 'pbbbbbbtttttthhhhhhhh'.

 

I hope that clears it up for everyone.

 

And I appear to have lost my breeches.

[Teophne]

The trickster god has many tricks up his sleeve. I'm sure we're bound to see more of them in the form of new DA game or DAI DLC, which will explain this behavior and leave us with few more to ponder.

[Captmorgan72]

He didn't think Cory would live past opening the orb. He thought Cory would blow himself up whilst opening it.

 

Pretty big mistake he made.

Yup, exactly this. Solas was counting on Corypheus being destroyed in the process of unlocking the orb. I'm assuming that Solas knew how to unlock it without destroying himself in the process but lacked the power to do so. He had no idea that Corypheus could resurrect himself using the taint. I imagine that he searched high and low for someone with the power to unlock the orb and found Corypheus and offered him a chance to use the power of the orb to once again enter the Golden City. 

[Emilie217]

Fen'Harel, knowing that his people were to be defeated and that he would not be able to stop it, ingeniously locked them away just before the magisters entered the Golden City.  As there were no Elvhen to watch over him as he rested in Uthenera, he knew that he would need to resort to placing his power in a less mortal vessel eventually. However, his somnaborium was sill fully charged at this time, and could sustain him for a thousand years.  Thus, he survived away from other people for nearly one thousand years, probably in a 'small village to the North' of where Haven would one day be built.

 

About seven hundred years later, Fen'Harel has learned much of how the world is changing after the fall of Arlathan.  Unfortunately, his power is beginning to wane, and one of the chambers in which he had hidden his people was found by the dark creatures that resulted from his last failure - the darkspawn.  Knowing that he could not help fight this threat living as a hermit, he began to travel toward the descendants of his people.  He did not reach them until after the Blight had ended, and decided to help the elves gain freedom while waiting for a sign that Mythal had not been slain along with her vessel, Dumat. 

 

Shortly after the first blight, Dumat's soul, freed from the taint by the Grey Wardens who killed the archdemon, seeks out a willing subject to assist it with it's vengeance.  A young Andraste, angry and afraid of the men who antagonize her, has much in common with the spirit, who has also suffered betrayal and seeks vengeance.  Andraste gains immortality, in a sense - she is able to survive the death of her body.  In return, Mythal gains a means to influence the world.  Both gain power to achieve their common goal - seeking vengeance against the Tevinter Imperium.

Meanwhile, Fen'Harel has gained the trust of the elven slaves by taking the identity of an elven slave named Shartan, and is leading a movement to end slavery. Upon hearing about Andraste's Exalted March, Shartan sees an opportunity to form an alliance against a common enemy.  He and the elves join Andraste and her followers in the fight against Tevinter.  In battle, his cunning proved invaluable, and he became the strategist for their forces.   Mythal is willing to work with Fen'Harel because she now realizes that he trapped her for her own safety, as well as because she had need of his skills.  Thus, Mythal and Fen'Harel, the only remaining Elvhen gods, manage to help their people.

Andraste had two daughters, one of whom is believed to have a long line of descendants, all of whom are female.  It is to this daughter that Mythal fled when Andraste was burned.  Fen'Harel, I believe, escaped to his somnaborium, which he willed into Corypheus' possession at some point before Shartan was burned.  He didn't think that Corypheus would be able to unlock the orb, and needed the orb to be in the presence of a powerful mage in order to recharge, as its power was mostly drained over the past thousand years.  He knew that Corypheus would unquestioningly take the orb out of greed, and this made him the ideal candidate.  He did not consider, however, that the Blight that woke Mythal would give Corypheus the ability to unlock the somnaborium.

 

Another thousand years later, Solas wakes abruptly when his somnaborium is used to open a hole in the veil, ejecting him forcefully from the orb.  He instantly realizes that he has made a terrible mistake, and once again seeks to save the world from the horrors he has caused.  He joins forces with the Inquisition, once again forming an alliance to combat a common enemy.  He tries to learn more about what happened while he slept by entering the Fade and asking spirits for information, but when he finally meets a spirit of wisdom who has information, it is corrupted and dies before it can tell him anything.  Until the very end of the game, he hopes to get the orb back so that he can regain his power.  When he sees that it is destroyed, he must turn to his 'old friend', Flemeth, to find another way.  She allows him to take her soul, but passes her immortality to Morrigan so that Fen'Harel can be fought if he proves to be untrustworthy.

 

More or less what I was thinking

Thank you for this!

[Balek-Vriege]

Like others have said, I believe that Solas thought Corypheus was the only entity with enough power to charge the orb.

 

That Corypheus could and would act as a battery charger, but not have the knowledge and knowhow to truly unlock it's power.  Solas was wrong.  Instead, the ancient Magister using the knowledge given by Dumat, crafted an anchor and used a powerful blood ritual to bind it to himself and unlock the orb. It worked except a certain interloper picked up the orb right before the brainwashed Wardens finished the ritual, granting a nobody the anchor and full access/control.  If that hadn't been the case Corypheus would have likely been sent to the Fade instead with the orb in hand.

 

Solas was probably waiting for Corypheus to blow himself up trying to activate the orb (that did and didn't happen) and collect it thereafter during the chaos, fully charged.  That's why Solas was mysteriously close the Temple of Sacred Ashes with no real reason to be there, but not "too close."  It appears he was ignorant of Cory's revive power too.  The Temple of Sacred Ashed blows up, Cory revives from a blasted Warden corpse and flees with the Orb, all while the anchor is attached to a nobody in the Fade.  When the nobody exits the fade and is taken in, Solas volunteers his knowledge to help "research" the mark.

 

We now know he was just trying to remove the anchor for himself while the Herald slept but to no avail.  Sort of funny because his actions raised the suspicions of Cassandra who thought he was complicit the events and he actually was.  In desperation he later stuffs the Herald's hand into a rift, it works and he then decides to use the Herald to get the orb back.  The plan works up until the end when the falling ruins crush it.

 

Of course there's a lot more to this than meets the eye still which leads to many more questions:

 

-  Why was the Divine so important to warrant sacrifice?  Was it because Cory wanted to make a religious/political statement with his ascension? Did the fact that Justinia was a central figure to the faith of millions possibly make her blood as potent as sacrificing a huge portion of ancient Tevinter's slave population?  Was it both?

 

-  Was Solas/Fen'Harel missing something important like the Old Gods being the Elven Gods?  Unknown to Solas, did the Old Gods give ancient Magisters (and by extension Corypheus) exactly what they needed to unlock orbs?  Was the original blood ritual to breach the Golden City a "workaround" by imprisoned elven Gods not having access to their own orbs?

 

(The chantry tells of a Breach-like rift, an anchor/mark and mass blood sacrifice with no mention of an orb.  Also there's a lot of evidence in DAI that points to Elven and Old Gods being one in same like codices etc.  Something Solas rejects dismissively at one point when suggested, by stating something like:  "There's no records or evidence to suggest the elven gods are linked to the Old Gods in any way!" ...hmmm.  Or he knows and that's why he hates Grey Wardens so much, but underestimated the knowledge they passed on to Cory or thought he would blow himself up once unlocking it anyways.)

 

-  Was the original breach of the Golden City a failed "Plan B" or "C" and that's why it went so wrong?  Was the invasion of Arlathan by Tevinter ages after Elvhenan had already fallen the "Plan A?" An attempt by Elven Gods to free themselves using Humans as pawns?  Is Arlathan the Golden City after it disappeared and whatever was there (The Golden Throne) was the key to their freedom in both cases?  Is Solas the one who may have moved Arlathan to the Fade and protected the Golden City's secrets from Magisters?  Did one side or another, or use of the Golden Throne itself, accidently cause the darkspawn corruption and the blights?

 

-  If Solas was at the Golden City, is Solas/Fen'Harel actually Shartan as well?  Were the actions of Shartan and even the Maker just Fen'Harel using his god powers, dreams-speak and two alter egos to manipulate a charismatic Andraste into becoming an divinely unstoppable and charismatic rebel figure?  Was Andraste not manipulated but another player being Mythal?

 

(Fen'Harel is suggested to be the God of Rebellion instead of trickery in DAI after all.  Although the rebellion ended abruptly with Andraste's death, the Blight and the Exalted March resulted in a converted and shattered Tevinter devoid of Old God influence, the freeing of Elves and the rise of a new Elven Empire, and a new faith based on a god that doesn't exist and can't control or answer the prayers of mortals.  That fits Fen'Harel's anti-deity and pro-elf stances).

[Gold Dragon]

The Deaths of the Divine, Celene, and the Monarch of Ferelden (Alistair/Anora And/or HoF) would send the entirety of Southern Thedas into complete Chaos.

 

And with his (planned) armies of Templars, Mages, Demons and perhaps even Wardens and Darkspawn, it's a very simple matter indeed for Corypheus to become ruler over Southern Thedas, and eventually ALL Thedas and the Imperium.

 

Seriously, it's the same over-used tripe of world domination.

[Fireheart]

Man, this is frustrating. I hope this gets answered in a dlc. I can't wait 3 years for the next game just to figure out why Solas gave Corypheus his orb... Such a simple question, yet no answers.

But thinking on it again, someone said why would Solas trust a blighted person? Now I'm thinking maybe Solas was in on the whole thing. I mean, weren't some of Corypheus' followers following him WILLINGLY? Like Florianne? And Samson. I don't think they were being controlled with blood magic or something. They followed Corypheus because he promised he could give them something they wanted when he became a god. Maybe it's the same for Solas; They were working together, maybe Corypheus even said he would help Solas restore the Elves, but Cory betrays him and takes the orb to the conclave, and fast forward to present day... But at the same time, Solas was planning on double crossing Cory first. The orb was supposed to make it so that one could walk the Fade physically(right?), maybe Solas wanted in on that(since he likes the Fade, and wishes the spirit and human works could mix)? So Solas told Cory he would help with his plot, while probably knowing the orb would cause an explosion and Cory most likely would die, so then he'd have his orb back, and access to the Fade...

Ugh, this is making my head hurt. I'm gonna go lie down. :/

[Precursor Meta]

Why are people confused as to why Fen gave Cory the orb its simple:

Fen gave Cory the orb because he's is weak and Cory is strong. They both want to get ride of the veil but Cory was planned to die in the explosion which he didn't.

[Nefla]

I imagine it went something like this:

 

Corypheus: Hey, can I have that magical orb for my nefarious deeds?

Solas: What? No way, I need this to help my people!

Corypherus: I'll be your friend...

*Solas eagerly gives up the orb*

[megageeklizzy]

I'm really interested in how the whole thing is a mistake.  There are too many times where people make it sound like fate got screwed up to be a coincidence.

"It was not supposed to happen this way."

"You are a mistake!"

"You should never have existed."

etc.

Clearly something went wrong, but what?  Corypheus unlocking the orb?  Or something bigger?

[Shahadem]

Yup, exactly this. Solas was counting on Corypheus being destroyed in the process of unlocking the orb. I'm assuming that Solas knew how to unlock it without destroying himself in the process but lacked the power to do so. He had no idea that Corypheus could resurrect himself using the taint. I imagine that he searched high and low for someone with the power to unlock the orb and found Corypheus and offered him a chance to use the power of the orb to once again enter the Golden City. 

 

Because asking Hawke to do it was just too much trouble I guess. And quite frankly Cory isn't presented as actually being any stronger than any other mage you encounter. He's just older and gets to cheat because games are horrible at making bosses that obey the laws of the world.

[Shahadem]

I imagine it went something like this:

 

Corypheus: Hey, can I have that magical orb for my nefarious deeds?

Solas: What? No way, I need this to help my people!

Corypherus: I'll be your friend...

*Solas eagerly gives up the orb*

 

That sounds about right.

[Richiesdisplayname]

Fen'Harel, knowing that his people were to be defeated and that he would not be able to stop it, ingeniously locked them away just before the magisters entered the Golden City.  As there were no Elvhen to watch over him as he rested in Uthenera, he knew that he would need to resort to placing his power in a less mortal vessel eventually. However, his somnaborium was sill fully charged at this time, and could sustain him for a thousand years.  Thus, he survived away from other people for nearly one thousand years, probably in a 'small village to the North' of where Haven would one day be built.

 

About seven hundred years later, Fen'Harel has learned much of how the world is changing after the fall of Arlathan.  Unfortunately, his power is beginning to wane, and one of the chambers in which he had hidden his people was found by the dark creatures that resulted from his last failure - the darkspawn.  Knowing that he could not help fight this threat living as a hermit, he began to travel toward the descendants of his people.  He did not reach them until after the Blight had ended, and decided to help the elves gain freedom while waiting for a sign that Mythal had not been slain along with her vessel, Dumat. 

 

Shortly after the first blight, Dumat's soul, freed from the taint by the Grey Wardens who killed the archdemon, seeks out a willing subject to assist it with it's vengeance.  A young Andraste, angry and afraid of the men who antagonize her, has much in common with the spirit, who has also suffered betrayal and seeks vengeance.  Andraste gains immortality, in a sense - she is able to survive the death of her body.  In return, Mythal gains a means to influence the world.  Both gain power to achieve their common goal - seeking vengeance against the Tevinter Imperium.

Meanwhile, Fen'Harel has gained the trust of the elven slaves by taking the identity of an elven slave named Shartan, and is leading a movement to end slavery. Upon hearing about Andraste's Exalted March, Shartan sees an opportunity to form an alliance against a common enemy.  He and the elves join Andraste and her followers in the fight against Tevinter.  In battle, his cunning proved invaluable, and he became the strategist for their forces.   Mythal is willing to work with Fen'Harel because she now realizes that he trapped her for her own safety, as well as because she had need of his skills.  Thus, Mythal and Fen'Harel, the only remaining Elvhen gods, manage to help their people.

Andraste had two daughters, one of whom is believed to have a long line of descendants, all of whom are female.  It is to this daughter that Mythal fled when Andraste was burned.  Fen'Harel, I believe, escaped to his somnaborium, which he willed into Corypheus' possession at some point before Shartan was burned.  He didn't think that Corypheus would be able to unlock the orb, and needed the orb to be in the presence of a powerful mage in order to recharge, as its power was mostly drained over the past thousand years.  He knew that Corypheus would unquestioningly take the orb out of greed, and this made him the ideal candidate.  He did not consider, however, that the Blight that woke Mythal would give Corypheus the ability to unlock the somnaborium.

 

Another thousand years later, Solas wakes abruptly when his somnaborium is used to open a hole in the veil, ejecting him forcefully from the orb.  He instantly realizes that he has made a terrible mistake, and once again seeks to save the world from the horrors he has caused.  He joins forces with the Inquisition, once again forming an alliance to combat a common enemy.  He tries to learn more about what happened while he slept by entering the Fade and asking spirits for information, but when he finally meets a spirit of wisdom who has information, it is corrupted and dies before it can tell him anything.  Until the very end of the game, he hopes to get the orb back so that he can regain his power.  When he sees that it is destroyed, he must turn to his 'old friend', Flemeth, to find another way.  She allows him to take her soul, but passes her immortality to Morrigan so that Fen'Harel can be fought if he proves to be untrustworthy.

This would be great if it were the magisters who destroyed the old elves, but it was the old elves themselves, remember? Also, I have a hard time thinking the elven gods (their nobility, basically) were the same Old Gods the Tevinter worshipped, since those gods were dragons. Buuuut, on the other hand, Flemythal CAN become a dragon as we see in DA:O and DA2, and if you keep it right and Morrigan drinks from the fountain, Morrigan becomes a dragon at the end of Inquisition, so it is entirely possible. It is also entirely possible that the original 7 magisters weren't exactly "evil" when they went to the golden city (The Architect seems actually more altruistic yet cold and worried more about results than collateral damage than evil--also, Dorian says something to the effect that breaching the Golden City was /supposed/ to be a triumph of magic; ie, showing how wonderful Tevinter had become, maybe to show they were just as powerful as the elves had been), perhaps they were unwitting pawns - evil or not. And if sending them there was a plan by the imprisoned elven gods that could fit. Could the Golden City be the prison in the beyond that Fen'Harel trapped them in? And if that's so, then Fen'Harel giving Corypheus the orb could be his finally admitting he was wrong and continuing the plan of the rest of his kind - with the only magister left in the world (to his knowledge).

[Richiesdisplayname]

Also, if that all were the case, it would give a big connection between The Maker/Andraste and the Elven gods, and having them be wholly connected or even the same thing seems like a reveal that could happen in DA. It would also give a little more credence to the "Flemeth is connected to Andraste" people. Dunno about that one, but this explanation is BY FAR the likeliest so far.

 

Well, except for the one with the sleeping bag.

[Richiesdisplayname]

Also, I just thought about this... this is making more and more sense to me. Mythal, Fen'Harel, the old god soul inside of Kieran, (possible Sandal too - if you're big on Sandal conspiracy/prophecy theories,) all have something in common with Arch Demons/Old Gods and Corypheus. Their essense can go into another person. Yet another reason it's very possible the Old Gods are the Elven pantheon.

[Bayonet Hipshot]

Uhh, maybe... Corypheus in Larius or Janeka's body met Solas and they became acquaintances. Then Larius told Solas about a possible way to get the orb to unlock: there would need to be a blood sacrifice. Solas cares little for the loss of one life and so agrees, not knowing who Larius really is. They part ways, but make plans to reunite at a later date.
Larius gathers his grey warden allies for an important mission at the conclave, not telling them the real reason they're there (like Thom Rainier). Then mind controls the grey wardens once they're in the conclave, and forces them to hold the Divine against her will. Larius finally gets rid of his human form and takes back on his true form, Corypheus. He chose to use the Divine as a sacrifice because in a way she is viewed as a god, her word is law, everyone respects what she says etc, so he has to remove her and the hope she represents.
The explosion happens and Solas knows only his orb could've caused that, so he suspects Larius to be behind it, and goes to retrieve his orb but there is no trace of it. He sticks with the Inquisition in hopes of tracking down Larius to retrieve the orb. Later, in game, it seems Solas is just as surprised as everyone else when the identity of the Elder One is revealed, because he only knew Cory in his Larius form.

Something like that, I guess. I find it weird that Solas says he woke up from a slumber at the end of the game, but in convo with him, he says how he grew up in a mountain village or someplace? What a liar. Then I thought, what if he is like Flemythal, and only had a piece of Dread Wolf? But that wouldn't make sense either, because then he would've been at full power. But still, for an Elven "god" he is pretty weak, he shouldn't use uthenera as an excuse. If he is even a challenge if/when we fight him, it will only be because he stole Mythal's powers. He's a weakling himself.

 

This seems to be the most rational explanation for the Fen'Harel & Corypheus link. It might also explain part of Solas' dislike towards Grey Wardens, I mean at Adamant, he really disliked them.

 

Perhaps this is one of the contributing reason ? Corypheus came to him under the guise of Larius or Janeka and did what Fireheart outlined here ? 

[DanteYoda]

Everyone focuses on the Orb, i think it goes way further back than the orb.

[SerJoryTheCourageous]

From what I gathered, through dialogue hints, and what happened in game, Solas either had Corypheus "find" the Orb, or gave it to him, and was banking on the unlocked orbs explosion to kill the guy. Solas had no idea Corypheus could jump bodies like an Archdemon.

[Rocknife]

Uhh, maybe... Corypheus in Larius or Janeka's body met Solas and they became acquaintances. Then Larius told Solas about a possible way to get the orb to unlock: there would need to be a blood sacrifice. Solas cares little for the loss of one life and so agrees, not knowing who Larius really is. They part ways, but make plans to reunite at a later date.
Larius gathers his grey warden allies for an important mission at the conclave, not telling them the real reason they're there (like Thom Rainier). Then mind controls the grey wardens once they're in the conclave, and forces them to hold the Divine against her will. Larius finally gets rid of his human form and takes back on his true form, Corypheus. He chose to use the Divine as a sacrifice because in a way she is viewed as a god, her word is law, everyone respects what she says etc, so he has to remove her and the hope she represents.
The explosion happens and Solas knows only his orb could've caused that, so he suspects Larius to be behind it, and goes to retrieve his orb but there is no trace of it. He sticks with the Inquisition in hopes of tracking down Larius to retrieve the orb. Later, in game, it seems Solas is just as surprised as everyone else when the identity of the Elder One is revealed, because he only knew Cory in his Larius form.

Something like that, I guess. I find it weird that Solas says he woke up from a slumber at the end of the game, but in convo with him, he says how he grew up in a mountain village or someplace? What a liar. Then I thought, what if he is like Flemythal, and only had a piece of Dread Wolf? But that wouldn't make sense either, because then he would've been at full power. But still, for an Elven "god" he is pretty weak, he shouldn't use uthenera as an excuse. If he is even a challenge if/when we fight him, it will only be because he stole Mythal's powers. He's a weakling himself.

 

I think that is an excellent theory. Solas is weak because he failed to defeat/seal some elven god(s) before and as a result Mythal was murdered and Solas had to go back to his slumber to not die and this slumber of his left him awfully weakened. Because of his defeat and long slumber, he was too weak to unlock the orb's power so he gave it to Corypheus. I think he wouldn't even mind allying with Corypheus knowing he is an ancient tevinter magister.

 

Flemeth says "there is power in choices and there is power in lies as well" and we know that thoughts and dreams can shape/change Fade. All the Andrastians see the Divine as a holy figure so she is the most suitable person to sacrifice to unlock the orb.

 

And I don't think Solas stole/absorbed Mythal's soul from Flemeth. Flemeth was seen transferring a soul to Fade through an Eluvian and after the game ends, someone in Val Royeux says in his dream he saw a woman claiming she was Mythal. People see Fade when they're dreaming so Mythal is probably in Fade. It must be Flemeth's her own soul that Solas absorbed so Solas still doesn't have the power he needs. That might be why he went to west, to gain power or a powerful ally. What's in the west? Probably another ancient tevinter magister. The Architect maybe? Or, a very powerful warden. HoF or the Orlesian Warden-Commander from Awakening. They both went to west. I don't think Solas would try to ally with another tevinter magister so he might be looking for the warden. If the warden can end the calling and possibly awaken the power of the taint Avernus mentioned, he will be the only one that can help Solas against Mythal. We know that he is powerful enough to defeat a true Archdemon and even defeat Flemeth herself in her dragon form. Flemeth could kill many great templars and heroes who wandered in Korcari Wilds effortlessly even in her human form. And the Warden was able to defeat the Architect in Amaranthine as well. Unless Garahel himself comes back to life, HoF's power is unmatched by any other mortal. So he would be the most suitable ally for Solas. Especially if he ends the calling. Or maybe Solas aims to help the Warden end the calling and in return he will ask the Warden to help him. But I think both Solas and HoF/Warden-Commander going to west might be related.

[Farangbaa]

I doubt he trusted him, I think he underestimated Cory and expected him to die powering up the orb or just be unable to actually use it.  That wouldn't be out of character for Solas.
 
I still have no idea why Cory had to kill the Divine to do his thing with orb though.

Ritual probably needed a sacrifice, in other words: blood magic.

The Divine was probably taken from dramatic effect, while at the same time blowing up the peace talks between mages and templars, which is obviously in Cory's favor.

As for why Solas gave the orb: I'll get back to that after DLC/DA4