Marlene Writes

I'm about to generalize a little bit here, and I'm not attacking anyone's decisions: design, and write whatever makes you happy, but I feel like the more palatable the romanceable Inquisitor is to Solas, the less he is challenged. This is typically attached with the angle of the elves not having forgotten as much as Solas originally thought, sometimes by way of having Clan Lavellan be the most accurate to the old ways, with a possible bonus of special nature magic. (If that's the version you wanna write, go ahead, I encourage you to do it, it is simply not my preferred version of it.)

I've also seen the Inquisitor secretly be another immortal elf from Arlathan, which can bring about some interesting possibilities, but it can also help Solas bury his head in the sand of seeing these new modern people as people. The Immortal Inquisitor being special can be 'explained away' by virtue of the fact that they are from the time before. Or a mortal elven Inquisitor may still be 'a shell of what their people once were,' but there are still remnants there.

The Inquisitor connecting with him as an immortal or even as a regular Dalish elf, I feel, does not push Solas's world views as much as it does when you put him with a non-elven Inquisitor.

Quick Disclaimer: I despise 90% of the lore created by Veilguard, so just view this from a purely Inquisition lens, as I will be ignoring what was revealed, but you could add it into your own ideas if you want.

Let's imagine Solas with a Cadash Inquisitor. This is a being who can never wield magic and can never dream. Before VG came out, if Solas were to magically tear down the Veil and restore the elves' immortality and magic to Thedas with NO CASUALTIES, I always imagined the dwarves would still be without magic/dreams. But imagine Cadash still approaching our favorite Fade nerd with questions about the Fade. This is a place completely foreign to them, so I imagine the questions would be very unique coming from a dwarf.

In-game, when you share a dream with Solas, a dwarf Inquisitor NEVER COMMENTS ON IT! HUGE OVERSIGHT! Imagine Cadash coming down the next morning like "WTF was that?!" Regardless of whether or not they kissed in the Fade. I imagine the Anchor allows Cadash to dream. But picture Solas helping this dwarf navigate dreams. This is something completely new to them. They have no preconceived notions about the Fade (though they may understandably be very nervous at first because they never dreamed before this, let alone dreamed like Solas), but Solas could show Cadash something he truly loves and share it with someone who has never experienced it before. Them going on so many Fade explorations (dates) and them growing closer. Just because Cadash is cut off from the Fade does not mean they cannot be interested in it.

Thick as Thieves is an amazing Solas x Cadash fic, and I highly recommend it!

Now what about an Adaar Inquisitor? Solas has a lot to say about the Qun, as we all know, along with the Qunari. A savage people who steal the freedom of all those beneath them. How they treat their mages, especially, is reprehensible. Bound and leashed, only allowed out to tear apart enemies of the Qun like rabid attack dogs. But imagine him with a mage Adaar!

Adaar, who grew up outside of the Qun as Tal Vashoth, but heard stories of how their mages were treated. Who was quite possibly trained by a mage who escaped the Qun. Who weilds their magic not only as a weapon but as an extension of themselves. Who delights in the wonders they can create.

Imagine Solas and Adaar practicing magic together. Not even just sparring, but like, tossing a colorful, glowing ball of light back and forth. Imagine these two experimenting together. Maybe having Solas paint Adaar's viataar or help with horn care. Adaar carrying off an injured Solas or just grabbing him and booking it from those damned Hinterland Bears. Solas and Adaar are bonding through magic, helping him see a gentle, curious side to the people he once thought of as savage.

Afraid I have not found a long fic for Adaar x Solas, but I do enjoy this one-shot.

Now imagine Solas with a Trevelyan Inquisitor. Yes, Solas is responsible for the fall of the elves, but humans feasted on the remains and enslaved the survivors. They helped erase elvhen culture from the world. Imagine Solas meeting a human who wants to learn about elvhen culture and is respectful of it.

Imagine Solas and Trevelyan walking through elvhen ruins, Solas showing the Inquisitor how to translate texts and the Inquisitor theorizing out loud. They may not have experience with the culture, but they can use context clues and logic to make educated hypotheses about whatever they are doing. Imagine Trevelyan seeing Solas's frescoes and, once hearing it is an ancient elvhen technique, they become even more interested. They are genuinely interested in the culture and history of the elves and are coming from a place of respect, and this culture sharing draws them closer together.

Shameless plug of my Solas x Trevelyan fic So Far Away.

I hope I'm explaining my point well. I am well aware you can do all this stuff with a Lavellan Inquisitor and that I am doing a ton of generalizing. I just love the idea of Solas ending up with someone who has a worse starting position to get into his good graces, as it were, compared to a fellow elf. Yes, Solas has issues with the Dalish and does not view the modern elves as his People, but he does view them more like people than the others, or at least that was my read on the situation.

Solavellan is an amazing relationship that I won't spend time going over because there are so many posts that do that in so much detail, I don't feel like I need to get into it. But I haven't seen a lot of posts that go into the interesting facets of Soladash, Soladaar, or Solavelyan.