Considering both him and Flemeth think it was mistake, I'd say it was. Whatever end game he had, it obviously went arwy and what Cory was doing with the orb was *not* part of his plan.
I don't know if what Cory intended with the orb was or wasn't part of Solas' plan because even Cory's plan to use the orb went awry when the Inquisitor walked in on Cory and Justinia and took the mark for themselves. Yes it went awry somewhere along the line. Murphy's Law happened.
Yeah I don't like the approval system in DA:I. For one, you have no ability to explain your reasoning for a "large" choice ex: you choose templars not because you hate mages and think they should all be hunted down and locked up and made tranquil and blah blah blah but because there are demons everywhere pouring out of the sky. Mages are known to be pretty easily tempted and possessed by demons, templars are made and trained to kill demons and abominations. This is seemingly the most efficient solution to the problem at hand. It's nothing personal Solas, holy crap.
I actually liked the approval system in Inquisition better, for a couple of reasons. From an RP standpoint, it felt more realistic to me that people can disagree on even fairly significant issues and remain friends, or at least be able to work together to defeat a major common threat. From a meta standpoint, it gives the player a lot more freedom of choice if we don't have to worry that we'll screw up an important NPC relationship if we don't make their preferred choice instead of our own.
That said, I do agree with the rest of this. My Inquisitor had fairly serious issues with both Templars and Mages-running-amok. She also felt that both "sides" in these situations were deserving of her help, and that saving either from the threat they were facing would be the right thing. RP-wise (though as player I knew game mechanics wouldn't allow it) she was planning to save both, and only lost the other side due to running out of time.
She chose to have the Templars help with the Breach not because they were morally better, but because of the two plans the Templar plan sounded the safest. She felt they had equally likely chances of failure, but that a Templar failure would result in less damage. (She figured siphoning magic out of the Breach would likely do nothing if it didn't work, whereas adding magic could make things a lot worse if it didn't go as planned.) It was a purely practical decision based on her perception of the risks.
There was absolutely no way to indicate that in game, though. All the companions just seemed to assume it was ideological. I wish there had been more opportunity to talk over those decisions if there was approval to be gained or lost.
Interesting, I've saved the Templars on a number of occasions and had them join the Inquisition without any big outbursts from Solas. He's at his most annoying regarding the Wardens and their scheme to bind demons to go after the old gods which always causes an emotional response from him. The dialog post Wicked Eyes is always designed to ellicit the "Briala and the elves don't matter to me" response from Solas.
Otherwise, the relationship is always friendly regardless of what class I'm in.
I actually liked the approval system in Inquisition better, for a couple of reasons. From an RP standpoint, it felt more realistic to me that people can disagree on even fairly significant issues and remain friends, or at least be able to work together to defeat a major common threat. From a meta standpoint, it gives the player a lot more freedom of choice if we don't have to worry that we'll screw up an important NPC relationship if we don't make their preferred choice instead of our own.
That said, I do agree with the rest of this. My Inquisitor had fairly serious issues with both Templars and Mages-running-amok. She also felt that both "sides" in these situations were deserving of her help, and that saving either from the threat they were facing would be the right thing. RP-wise (though as player I knew game mechanics wouldn't allow it) she was planning to save both, and only lost the other side due to running out of time.
She chose to have the Templars help with the Breach not because they were morally better, but because of the two plans the Templar plan sounded the safest. She felt they had equally likely chances of failure, but that a Templar failure would result in less damage. (She figured siphoning magic out of the Breach would likely do nothing if it didn't work, whereas adding magic could make things a lot worse if it didn't go as planned.) It was a purely practical decision based on her perception of the risks.
There was absolutely no way to indicate that in game, though. All the companions just seemed to assume it was ideological. I wish there had been more opportunity to talk over those decisions if there was approval to be gained or lost.
The thing is DA games have never allowed you to explain your choices. At Redcliffe: you can't explain to Sten or Morrigan why it's sensible to make an ally out of Teagan even if you're entirely amoral and you certainly can't have a frank discussion with Alistair that maybe not abandoning Redcliffe to go to the Circle saved lives rather than risked them.
You are right of course. How dare he not lick your feet after you walked all over his ideals and what he represents?
Nice. I was hoping that this thread would start a discussion. I see that there are plenty of Solas fans here, but some are in my camp. Every time I play a new game now, I just keep thinking that this judgmental a-hole is the whole reason the Inquisition had to be formed. Solas's actions have caused the death and destruction of so many innocent lives. He did it to his own people too. He is the reason that the elves have lost their immortality and their fall from glory. Even his own hate him. The stories of The Dread Wolf depict him as an evil god. He betrayed his brothers and sisters in the "heavens." It seems that the only person that Solas truly likes is himself. Then we find out that he has a real friend and what does he do to her? Steals what is not his.
His actions gave Corypheus the chance to do what he did. Solas did not "intend" this outcome and is not responsible for it, Corypheus is. It is your interpretation that Solas is responsible for all the evil you ascribe to him. I am not aware the game portraits this since my perception is totally different.
From his point of view I find it logical he is not perticular warm to you. With all your tangible hate towards him and not being shy of venting those beliefs I would be wary too.
Lavellan:Whats going on here?
Solas:You know nothing,Lethallan. 
For some reason Solas's seeming betrayal does not irk me as much as Blackwell's betrayal. Can barely talk to that guy.
I don't hate Solas but I did find his romance to be incredibly underwhelming and I've been reading that this could mainly be due to it being tacked in a rush on at the end of development. This is a shame because after finding out who he is (I as the player did, my character still has no clue which annoys me as well because he lied and said everything would be made clear once Corypheus was dead), he deserved something more substantial.
There are three scenes total with him and the last he says he wants to show you how much you mean to him by rearranging your face and then breaking it off. Wha?? If there had been more meaningful interaction prior to that, it would have been carried it much better but as it stood, it just fell flat for me. Solas deserved something a lot more epic than that, IMO.
I also have a really hard time believing that an ancient diety could be so stupid to give a magister darkspawn something as powerful as that orb, regardless of whether or not he just woke up. Also, the whole Vallaslin thing doesn't really sit well with me either. The Dalish have always been nomadic so why are they the ones with the slave markings??? Wouldn't it make a lot more sense for the city dwelling elves to have the markings since they originated from when noble elves marked the lesser classes? That it would be the Dalish left to unwittingly continue to mark themselves as slaves comes across as really disjointed to me at least at this point in time.
(to Shadeling) The city elves actually supposedly originates from elves who agreed to a treaty put forth by the Chantry which dictacted that the elves had to live in alienages and adopt andrastian culture and religion as their own. This occured during or after the Exalted March of the Dales. The elves who did not agree to the treaty became the Dalish, with probable exceptions, who tried to rediscover and preserve their culture and religion with... mixed success. (Dales - Dragon Age Wikipedia)
This is likely why the Dalish adopted the vallaslin without knowing its original meaning since the Tevinter Imperium would be unlikely to have marked the elves they enslaved with markings that honored the elven pantheon or marked the slave's owner as a worshipper of said pantheon. The Dalish learned about the markings but or a selective version was passed down to the elves over time so they only caught on the part that said the markings were honoring the gods.
I don't hate Solas but I did find his romance to be incredibly underwhelming and I've been reading that this could mainly be due to it being tacked in a rush on at the end of development. This is a shame because after finding out who he is (I as the player did, my character still has no clue which annoys me as well because he lied and said everything would be made clear once Corypheus was dead), he deserved something more substantial.
There are three scenes total with him and the last he says he wants to show you how much you mean to him by rearranging your face and then breaking it off. Wha?? If there had been more meaningful interaction prior to that, it would have been carried it much better but as it stood, it just fell flat for me. Solas deserved something a lot more epic than that, IMO.
I also have a really hard time believing that an ancient diety could be so stupid to give a magister darkspawn something as powerful as that orb, regardless of whether or not he just woke up. Also, the whole Vallaslin thing doesn't really sit well with me either. The Dalish have always been nomadic so why are they the ones with the slave markings??? Wouldn't it make a lot more sense for the city dwelling elves to have the markings since they originated from when noble elves marked the lesser classes? That it would be the Dalish left to unwittingly continue to mark themselves as slaves comes across as really disjointed to me at least at this point in time.
Technically, Solas never lies when he says everything will be made clear after Corypheus is gone... it's just that the reveal of who he is and what his real plans were, have yet to occur for Lavellan and hopefully are setting up for something later down the line?
As for the scene where with the Vallaslin, Word of Weekes is that Solas wanted to tell Lavellan about who he was and his unwitting association with Corypheus by giving him the Orb, but he lost his nerve at the last moment and decided to tell her the truth about the Vallasslin instead.
The Vallaslin as slave markings thing kinda makes sense as we know that they cobble together their history from bits and pieces, so the level of knowledge varies from clan to clan. The idea that perhaps they saw depictions of ancient elves or their oral history spoke of their people having markings once, might have inspired them to wear them once more to differentiate themselves from City Elves, unaware of what the actual meaning behind those markings actually was, aside being a representation of their Gods?
It's not like that doesn't happen, how many people get chinese characters tattooed without understanding what those symbols actually mean since they don't speak the language, only to realise later that what they thought meant "courage" actually says "chicken soup"...?
(Although as The Big Bang Theory joked, it takes a degree of courage to show that much love for chicken soup) 
It's not their fault that they are so ignorant of this part of their history, the fall of their Empire did happen over 2000 years ago?
@Shechinah - Thanks! That helps shed a little more light on it for me.
@Sifr - Well, no, I think it's still technically a lie. I mean, he disappears and then the last message conveyed is via Cole to whom he says he'd never wish his fate upon someone he used to care about (more wah wah wah for the Solas romance) and then he makes Cole forget him. Regardless of what may be in the works right now for future content, I don't have much hope it'll get much better because in my experience, romance content doesn't really continue into Bioware's expansions for Dragon Age. I've read that comment from Weekes before as well but behind the scenes information doesn't really matter much to me. If that is what it takes to make sense of a scene in game, then there was a failure of design in there some where because that shouldn't be necessary.
Good point about the Chinese tattoos, btw, hehe.
I really like Solas as a character, but IC as my canon inquisitor i hate his guts, so it´s a mixed feeling of "I like your personality" but "shut up already rabbit". Makes me want to make a female dalish inquisitor so i can see him from other perspective.
This is not a "message via Cole", this is a remnant of talk WITH Cole before he erased memory of their last encounter after battle with Corypheus. Nothing in it indicates there's a message for Lavellan there - how some people read it as such keeps confounding me.
And they definitely set it up so it will eventually become clear for our characters as well. Not only he promises that 'everything will be made clear' after Cory crisis is over, if Lavellan picks "I'm not giving up on you/Whatever we need we'll find together" after vallaslin scene, he says that she'll see why they can't be together, in one way or another.
I also have little to no problem with the romance being "underwhelming", because from those three scenes (technically there were four, with the end cutscene in Winter Palace) it's pretty apparent that he's seriously conflicted about getting into relationship with her - it's only natural then that it's a romance that would be more subdued than to others.
Some *could* say that it was different with Blackwall, who had a somewhat similar arc (Blackwall's first romance scene in Skyhold has dialogue parts that sound almost identical to what Solas said to Lavellan after he broke up with her), but Blackwall's story - as well as optional romance arc - got its resolution prior to Corypheus defeat. It's fairly obvious that it's different with Fen'Harel.
As for vallaslin and the Dalish... well NO, the Dalish weren't always nomadic - they became nomads after the destruction of the Dales, and even before that their culture was crushed and destroyed by Tevinter (and, according to Abelas said, it seems that their culture has been in decline long before Tevinter destroyed Arlathan). The fact that they've misinterpreted something form their past is not only NOT surprising - it's pretty much expected.
@midnight_tea - You have your interpretation, I have mine. And by saying 'message via Cole' I didn't mean it was meant FOR Lavellan, I meant it was the last message heard from Solas. I was very much aware of the fact that it wasn't being said to her and that she basically happened upon a conversation that had included her. That doesn't change anything at all.
I'm totally ok with the fact that others might be fine with the Solas romance being underwhelming, I'm just expressing why I felt it was kind of a let down when it all came together in the end.
Whose interpretation is more logical though?
And no - the conversation "didn't include her". Solas wasn't talking about Lavellan when he mentioned a person "he used to care about" - it was strictly talk between him and Cole.
Riiight. We'll just have to agree to disagree.
Your choice. For me, such interpretation just makes no sense - at best, it indicates he wants to keep anyone he ever cared about at bay, not just Lavellan.
And, if anything, it makes no sense for me to interpret it as if it's over for either romance or friendship or any sort of interaction between Solas and Inquisitors - even if Solas, in his mind, is convinced that he now has to do something drastic and unavoidable, that will eventually doom him to some sort of terrible fate. Whether Inquisition can do anything to change his mind/fate is yet to be revealed.
I've decided I always liked Solas...
Riiight. We'll just have to agree to disagree.
I believe that was actually confirmed at some point. I'm drawing a blank on whether it was at a panel or on Twitter though.
I believe that was actually confirmed at some point. I'm drawing a blank on whether it was at a panel or on Twitter though.
It was confirmed that the last Cole/Solas conversation wasn't about Lavellan? Who else would it have been about then? For Solas to say that in regards to someone he used to care about is confusing otherwise because it has no context to draw from.
Who else would it have been about then?
Cole, obviously. He cared about him - in a sense that he considered him a friend. 'Caring about someone' doesn't imply romantic feelings and there's no reason to assume Lavellan was the only person he cared about (especially if you listen to banter), even if the elven Inquisitor was someone he cared about the most.
So much, in fact, that even though he has an ability to erase person's memory - which would presumably make things easier for both of them - not only he left hers intact, but left assuring her that their love was real (if the player picks a non-angry response, at least).
(to midnight_tea) I cannot help but wonder if his ability to do this is restricted to spirits although I do not believe he would have touched Lavellan's memory even if it wasn't.
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