I do it for the Elven Glory

Some say we fall in love with the people who reflect us most clearly, because love begins with being seen - and these two truly see each other and are similar in many ways. Their romance scenes have evocative silent moments of them just staring into each other's eyes. Their romance dialogue is filled with themes of seeing and being seen:

Lavellan: You’re an admirable man. Not many people know who they are the way you do. Solas: Thank you. Both for saying that and… for seeing that. Few in this world can see me. Solas: I’m so sorry for causing you pain. It was selfish of me. I look at you, and I see what you truly are. Lavellan: I know you told me because you wanted to help, but the vallaslin is part of who I am. I hope you can see past- Solas: Stop. You are perfect exactly as you are.

Solas: You saw more than most.

This really is apparent in the atonement ending to me. Doe-eyed has been a not-so charitable description used for Lavellan in that ending - but I remember being so captivated by Lavellan's eyes and always saw the symbolism of their themes of seeing and being seen continuing here. How adamant Lavellan was to keep looking at Solas, trying to hold his gaze except he's the one who continuously looks away. He still has a terrible duty to complete, and seeing himself through her eyes threatens that emotional distance he needs in order to do it. I felt that every time he met Lavellan's gaze, he couldn't look too long. He eventually turns his back to Lavellan, almost as though he can't risk another look at her.

I think it's also why he can't look Mythal in the eyes. It's a similar, yet different reflection. Where Lavellan might reflect back to him who Solas is and wants to be again, Mythal, with their ancient life together, fragmented before him, reflects back a fragmented being, in addition to "all the things that I have done" and us being left to our imagination of what all those things Solas has done over his ancient life.

And then after all that, we have Solas and Lavellan just staring at each other. And I just loved the focus on their eyes, Lavellan's eyes so big and bright - Solas' eyes, haunted and hurting but so soft upon her - each filled with such emotion. There's no monster in Lavellan's eyes and he doesn't look away.

Introduction:

Embroidery is a craft that uses thread to decorate fabric (and other materials). It’s a great way to spruce up a garment, customise objects, and to hide mends you’ve made!

Embroidery is usually done with embroidery floss, but depending on the base material you’re working on, you could also use yarn, ribbons, or plain old sewing thread. Don’t be afraid to experiment!

Embroidery is easier to do on taut fabric than limp fabric. That’s why most people use embroidery hoops. While not strictly necessary, a hoop will make your life so much easier.

Using the right needle will help, too. Use a crewel needle if you’re working with embroidery floss, a chenille needle if you’re working with ribbon or yarn, or a tapestry needle if you’re doing cross-stitch embroidery on open-weave fabrics.

While there are many types of embroidery from all over the world, this post will focus on some basic stitches you can use in your own work.

Basic embroidery stitches:

For a more thorough overview of embroidery stitches, check out these embroidery tutorials by Mary Corbet’s Needle ‘n Thread.

The following images show some of the most basic stitches:

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The 16 stitches in the images above can be combined into any shape or form you want. You might recognise some from my hand sewing post: embroidery is a type of hand sewing, after all.

You don’t need to know all of these to be able to make beautiful things. Even just one of these is a great start for a project.

This sampler by Sew Nancy shows how these basic stitches can be used to outline shapes or form flowers, for example.

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Fiorelila used a combination of the stem stitch, satin stitch, lazy daisy, and french knots to spruce up this sweater:

(Image source)

And this person used lazy daisies to add some flair to their jeans:

(Image source)

Embroidery for visible mending:

Embroidery is a useful tool to hide mends you’ve made, or to even accentuate them if that’s your style. This is called visible mending. While this is a topic that deserves a post on its own, here are some quick examples:

Like this fix by Redditor Takemythyme who embroidered a rose over a hole in a knit fabric:

(Image source)

Or like how this person has spruced up their jeans repairs with embroidery:

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In this example, The Woolery Guy chose to use flower embroidery to make a hole in a knit fabric look like it was there by design:

(Image source)

For more examples, check out Pinterest or VisibleMending.com.

Conclusion:

Embroidery is a useful skill to give new life to your wardrobe. You can use it to give some flair to items you’ve grown bored off, or even to mend your clothes.

Once you’ve got a few basic stitches under your belt, the possibilities are endless. Be creative and have fun with it!

"After they overheard that ICE was at the courthouse to arrest someone, they improperly accessed court databases to determine who was not born in the United States," a DOJ detention filing says. "They then snuck every suspected illegal alien who was at the courthouse out a back door, where ICE, who was waiting in the parking lot for their target to leave the building, could not see them."

This single line - exclusively said by a romanced Lavellan to Solas - does something surprising - it creates a canonical path of the journey this Lavellan has undertaken.

The line carries the sense of a difficult path. I'm not saying other Inquisitors haven't experience suffering, but this is the only dialogue that directly acknowledges the nature of the road traveled by Lavellan specifically. And what is the nature of that road?

There is very little information about the din’anshiral in canon other than it being a journey of death - but death of what? Solas’ own words imply that walking this path is a dangerous one and will transform the person:

“I walk the dinan'shiral. There is only death on this journey. I would not have you see what I become.”

Will this involve a spiritual or metaphysical death? Will this be an erosion of the self, of losing identity, morality? Is it a physical change? However one interprets this sentence, the words are implying that journeying on the din'anshiral is painful, destructive and altering. And it's the path Lavellan walks.

All of this to ask the question to fellow Solavellans: