CONFESSION:
I like Ameridan far more than Solas. I loved hearing him speak. I loved how his companions were a diverse group and he respected them all. I loved how his love for Telana never faded. And I respected how he honored both the Elven gods and the Maker by building a shrine for them. And I was sad when he died.
CONFESSION:
My first play through of Inquisition was as a qunari, and I really liked Solas, I thought he was so cool and wise…until I got his high approval scene, you know, the one where he disses your entire race and acts like that’s a compliment. That pretty much turned me off of him forever.
CONFESSION:
While I can see and often feel Solas’s guilt with the way he is written, its infuriating to see some of his hardcore fans try to absolve him of all responsibility, because he deserves the criticism just as much as any of the other characters in the entire series. As someone who plays primarily elves I always grit my teeth when I hear people spout that he’s only thinking of a better future for his people. That is GRADE A Bullshit. And I am saying this as someone who absolutely loved my Lavellan playthrough. And I do love Solas. But he is evil.
If Solas truly cared he would have sucked it up and made the effort to help the actual MODERN elves rather instead of deciding to commit freaking genocide on the whole world. Just because you love a character does not mean you can choose to erase a part of his lore and then blatantly lie about it. Any sort of discussion/discourse about an extremely well written and complicated character that refuses to acknowledge the problematic aspects of said character does the character a complete disservice. I think he is a complex, extremely well written character but I am sorry I’m not going to build a shrine to him and I am not going to follow the section fandom who think he’s going to save the elves. And I truly hope there are some elves in the next game that ARE NOT WILLING TO DIE for Solas.
Lavellan: Ma banal las halamshir var vhen. (“You do nothing to further our people” or “Your empty ambition abandons our people”)
Solas: I have done no such thing. I simply see no way to help the elves, oppressed as they are now.
Lavellan: Ma halani! Lasa ghilan! (“You could help us! You could guide us!”)
Solas: How many Dalish would listen? Most care little about improving their lives. They already consider themselves perfect, the sole keepers of elven lore. I might reach a few, at most.
Solas: But… You are right. That is more than I reach doing nothing. I suppose I am just tired of fighting.
Lavellan: What do you mean, you’re tired of fighting? Fighting what?
Solas: Did you think I honed my magical skills to impress spirits? I have joined my share of causes. But when I offered lessons learned in the Fade, I was derided by my enemies - and sometimes my allies. Liar. Fool. Madman. There are endless ways to say someone isn’t worth listening to. Over time, it grinds away at you.
Lavellan: If you stop fighting, they win.
Solas: You do not win a war by fighting to the death in every battle. Pick the fights you can win, remember your goals, and do nothing that does not further them.
(This is not intended to be a Solas-critical post. This is just to show a side of him that many ride or die Solas fans won’t see in their playthroughs.)
I actually really enjoy the fact that low-approval Solas ends up inadvertently - or perhaps passive aggressively - telling you way more of the truth than high approval Solas does.
I also love how he flat out tells you exactly what he intends to do in this conversation, depending on the dialogue you choose:
Inquisitor: Are you ever concerned that you’ve turned your back on your people? Solas: I have done no such thing. I simply see no way to help the elves, oppressed as they are now. Inquisitor: The man who has lived half his life in the Fade has no ideas? Solas: Not unless we collapse the Veil and bring the Fade here so I can casually reshape reality, no.
My personal explanation for why Solas reveals more if you go through the low-approval route is because you’ve given him absolutely no reason to question himself. The low-approval Inquisitor has done nothing but reinforce the perspective he had upon waking - the same perspective that justifies what he’s planning to do. He is so confident that his path is inevitable that it almost doesn’t matter what he says to you. What does he stand to lose? It’s not as if you’ll manage to suss out his meaning and somehow learn of his true intentions. And what if you did? Would you, a mortal who he doesn’t even really recognize as something real and fully formed, stop him? How, precisely? Because so far, you have not impressed him. You have only shown yourself to be exactly what he expected of you - and those expectations were pretty damn low.
It’s one of the reasons I really love comparing low-approval and high-approval Solas. I feel like his high-approval arc (especially when romanced) focuses his growth on his willingness to broaden his perspective and admit that he was wrong about a number of his preconceived notions. And he does, on multiple occasions, admit fault in his previously held views. He feels he cannot allow it to change what must be done, but he fully understands what the true cost of his actions will be. Low-approval Solas has a startling lack of personal growth. The war against Corypheus is a regrettable setback. He does have some level of respect, perhaps even empathy, for the people and their willingness to band together and fight back against the tide of destruction that threatens them, but his level of emotional connection is significantly lacking in this scenario.
The amount of positive influence the Inquisitor can have over the course of one year on a being who has lived for thousands of years and is considered a god is really mind-boggling to consider.
I’ve never ran a play-through with low-approval Solas. This is life-changing information. Thank you thank you thank you.
CONFESSION:
I CANNOT romance Solas, I’ve tried, I really have. He’s a great character and his romance makes his story all the more interesting but I CANNOT. FUCKING. STAND HIM.
His racist comments towards my Adaar’s and Cadash’s always struck a nerve with me. How shamelessly he berates a proud Dalish inquisitor, as of course he’ll only fall in love with you if “your a real elf”. Alongside the fact YOUR the fucking idiot if “thE fAdE” isn’t enough evidence for you to abandon your entire religion and way of life. It’s mostly that last scene with him in Tresspasser that gets me, great scene but solidifies why I despise him. Its not JUST his refusal to see how badly he fucks shit up. It’s how he openly admits to have made the world as it is. How I’ve had to listen to him preach to my Dalish inquisitor how her entire people are idiots and she’s not a “real elf”. How the Qun is pure evil and Gat’s wrong for siding with them over the racists who enslaved him. How the Grey Wardens don’t understand the blight when they’ve saved the world he fucked up five times over. How he’s spent all this time with us just to clean up his own damn mess then to start another one but of course he is.
He wrinkles his nose on his high horse disgusted by how no one understands anything. How we’re not actually people. When it’s his fault, and he can share all this shit with us anytime but just CHOOSES not to. That pisses me off. He’s brought this on himself so if I’ve gotta kill him I’ll feel satisfaction more than anything else. If the eggs gotta go I won’t have any pity, I won’t let him fuck up Thedas again cause now he “feels bad about it”.
CONFESSION:
I chose to kill Solas. Not out of contempt of “I would’ve done better!”-it’s because he’s going to go through with it. If guilt, the murder of the best friend he destroyed the world for, the love of his life, or the friends he’s made cannot stop him now. I doubt it will in the future. Solas has made his choice without hesitation. So I won’t I’m making mine.
CONFESSION:
I’m pretty sure Solas is too far gone, even with all my empathy for the man I honestly can’t let him do it. Everything and everyone my Warden died for Is rendered worthless, and all of my Hawke’s efforts to do right would be spat in the face on a catastrophic scale. And if love, friendship, guilt, nor fact stop him now I doubt any plea would. The man can’t walk away and he wont walk away. As far as I’m concerned Silas has made his choice. And I will make mine, he’ll die if he has to.
I’ll save Thedas and I’ll save Hawke, Fenris, Merrill, Cassandra, Cullen, Lilliana, Alistair, Sera, Blackwall, Fiona, Varric, Aveline, Lace Harding, Iron Bull, Cole, and of Solas has to die so they can be safe SO BE IT. I’m more then prepared to make that choice.
