*insert Dragon Age reference here*

CONFESSION:

like we see him get big mad a couple times throughout inquisition and his interaction with low approval inquisitor is a Gift but

We see an incredible range of emotions when Solas loses Wisdom. He is vulnerable and worried when he tells Inky about his dream and asks for help to rescue his friend. If you choose to say, “I thought you didn’t have any friends”, he says openly, guilelessly, “I don’t.”

Then we see naked fear and horror when you come upon the scene where the mages have bound Wisdom. Solas rushes ahead a few steps, crying out, “My friend!”

Solas keeps rage icy and barely in check, out of deference to the Inquisitor’s decision when talking to the mages. His voice when he utters, “Shut. Up.” Sends chills down me.

Then comes his profound sorrow when he guides Wisdom into death. He focuses solely on giving his dear friend what they have asked of him. He is devoted. But when Wisdom is truly gone, he delays but a moment to listen to the Inquisitor before he unleashes fire on the hapless mages, then retreats to grieve alone.

Solas is not someone to fuck with. And you may definitely not fuck with his people. He sundered the world with the Veil and banished the Evanuris for abusing his people. He incinerated the mages who destroyed his friend. He keeps himself in check, is reserved and calm, right up until he ends you.

"Duncan, my mentor, he spoke of you"

Cullen: A what?

Blackwall: A quickie.

Cullen, flustered: Excuse me?

Blackwall: A quickie, one of those Orlesian pastry things.

The idea of Cassandra and Dorian being trashy romance novel buddies delights me to no end. 

I've never romanced him, so I can't speak to that. Otherwise... honestly, it's a good arc. They somehow made it kind of... boring, but the plot itself is pretty good. I mean, a man does something horrific largely by accident (he didn't mean to kill children; it was kind of fucked up just in general but the kids dying was not part of his plan) and plans to spend his entire life making up for it to the point of going back and admitting to his true identity when one of his men was going to be executed even though a) he was fine and would've avoided all consequences if he'd just stayed away and b) even going back he as a "Warden" could've invoked the Right of Conscription and protected the guy without revealing his identity! He willingly chooses to take on the consequences of his actions, even if it means his death! That's a powerful storyline, especially in a game like Inquisition where so much of the cast just... gets away with horrible shit that they've done, took part in or allowed.

Honestly it kind of makes the rest of the cast look bad comparatively (compare Cullen hastily disavowing all knowledge of the things Meredith was doing right in front of him and at least some of the time with his input and getting away with a massive promotion even though the Knight-Captain of the Gallows was quite possibly the worst person to put in charge of the military branch of an organization that was supposedly neutral in the mage-Templar conflict with Blackwall here willingly submitting himself to justice after getting away with what he did and accepting even execution as a fair punishment), but in isolation it's a very good character arc and I wish they'd done more of that sort of thing. It's good for your characters to face consequences and have to make up for the awful things they did rather than just brushing it under the rug and hoping nobody notices! The way Blackwall tries to do the latter but in the end can't go through with it is very good for his character and as an arc in its own right, but also causes problems for the "sympathetic" characters who successfully cover up their misdeeds and don't have that crisis of conscience that forces them to own up to what they did or were part of.