Lady Red

Big Veilguard spoilers from here onward, obviously.

We all know the trick dagger ending is lazy and horribly executed. It's just a mcguffin you don't have to earn in any meaningful way and relies on the player not thinking past surface level about the viability or implications of it.

Of course Solas wouldn't ever fall for a random fake dagger made by a regular mage when he seemed to be the only one capable of crafting his own, which is made of pure lyrium (from Elvhenan), and has his own magical imprint.

But since I don't like to complain without offering my opinion on how a flawed concept can be improved, here's how I think the trick ending could've been satisfying and better earned. You would have to work hard for the chance to trick the trickster God.

The process should involve at least a couple of missions involving the process, until it's viable. And I believe the dagger should only be viable if it was made out of the fragment of Mythal they give you a chance to earn anyway.

You might get a choice to make the dagger out of lyrium, more easily, or out of her essence, with more difficulty. But in the end only one is viable because only one has ancient elven magic infused in it. Something like that.

The lyrium replica wouldn't work and would backfire on Rook at the end, so maybe you get an ending like the 'failing to fight Solas' one, where you're both trapped in the fade. Your overconfidence in believing Solas too easy to fool bites you in the ass. While the Mythal dagger allows you to successfully trick Fen'Harel. Of course, since you chose not to have faith in his ability to grow and redeem himself, and that is a flaw of your character, you're locked out of the choice to even attempt the 'good/redemption ending' this way. You win some, you lose some.