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"ir abelas vhenan" "my heart" "my love" "i will never forget you"
Trespasser Solas did not have to show sm affection to lavellan in that moment as it was easier for him to be distant (like he was during their relationship). He finally had a reason to behave like that, be cold and distant. Let her know "my mask is off. I was distant cuz xyz reason. Now you know it too. Hope everything makes sense now. Bye." But no. Also, being distant would have helped him with his ultimate plan, helped him focus on his main goal, so to speak. But instead, as soon as she gives him an olive branch, he is desperate for her to know that he always loved her, that he is a very affectionate man (quite literally pathetic for her if given chance lol), that she did infact changed everything for him.
I genuinely do not think Solas is capable of lying (at least believably). Any of the times the man tries to lie outright, he flubs it spectacularly (looking at you, drunk Halamshiral Solas). Heâs a master at omitting critical details and speaking around the truth, as well as deflection tactics.
But outright lying? Nah. Not even remotely. He canât help it. And I personally donât think itâs a moral thing; my head-canon is itâs a limitation of him being more of a spirit than he is a modern person.
Solas doesnât think or perceive the world as a modern humanoid does. He is otherworldly. He might not want to be a god, but the truth of him is closer to divinity and at the very minimum most certainly supernatural. Maybe he looks at a concept like deception and isnât so much disgusted by it as he is confused. Heâs learned its value and necessity with time, but given how old he is, there was a time of his life when things just were. At that point of his life, there was nothing but truth.
It might also be his way of grasping at this new reality. He literally cannot believe the world he accidentally made exists. He sundered reality. Maybe it matters deeply to him that he restore the truth of things. And maybe one of his ways of doing so is to always tell the truth (or at least his truth) himself.
His circumstances certainly demand he bend the rules to his favor. But I do so enjoy the idea that his abject failure at duplicity is inherent rather than some sort of objectively counterintuitive choice.
Anyway, Iâve rambled a bit. TLDR: my favorite aspect of Solas is his absolute inability to be truly dishonest, and it probably pisses him off more to be referred to as the God of Lies above any other title heâs been given.
A big thing about me and RPGs is that I do not need or even want the game to constantly reassure me that my player character is the specialest and most important person who ever lived. Yes, they are the hero and most of the time the main character, and the power fantasy that comes with being level 100 in a video game and eating monsters for breakfast is fun. But for me that power fantasy needs to be balanced with the verisimilitude of a world that doesn't feel like it revolves around one character 100% of the time. I want NPCs that are rude to my OC. I want NPCs who don't like them. I want NPCs who don't know who the fuck they are and don't care. I want to feel like they can lose sometimes, not because they found the One Other Character who is as badass as they are but just because they are a person and sometimes people lose. I want them to sometimes participate in stories that are about other people. Because for me, if they are too special and too perfect and too powerful, it's not just the character that stops feeling believable and engaging; the entire world stops feeling real and inhabited, and starts to feel like just a flattened tableau to pose in front of. And that's not what I want out of a game. I want a world to play in that feels vaster and fuller than one character could ever know. And it's infinitely possible to make a world feel like that if you just make parts of the world indifferent to and even casually hostile to the player character without being villains. They aren't your archnemesis. They just don't know you. Ma'am, this is Fantasy Wendy's. It is good worldbuilding for a world to not fawn over your player character all the time and this is a hill I will die on.
My analysis and revamp of Dragon Age's magic system.
Dialectic Magic System (Fade/Spirits and Titan Magic)
To start, the magic system in Dragon Age appears to be a binary between the magic of the Fade and the magic of the Titans. We know these magic sources are different; lyrium somehow manages to bridge the gap through the Veil (created by Solas), between the Waking World and the Fade itself. Pre-Veil, though, these magic sources are inextricably linked. Instead of a binary, either/or conceptualization of magic, we ought to consider magic existing dialectically.
(long ass essay below the cut. you've been warned.)
When using the term 'dialectic,' I work from Marx/Engels and Lenin's understanding. This is not an essay about that, though, so in sum: dialectics "the science of the general laws of motion, both of the external world and human thought" (Frederick Engels, Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy). Dialectics is the method of reasoning which aims to understand things concretely in all their movement, change and interconnection, with their opposite and contradictory sides in unity. AKA, we need to think of Titan/Fade magic of being two sides of the same coin. Both/and, not either/or.
Fade magic and Titan magic exist as a dialectic. For me, Fade magic is similar to idealism whereas Titan magic is materialism. By this, I mean that the magic from the Fade is based on intangible concepts, such as ideals, dreams, and memories. This kind of magic is potentiality. It breaks the rules of reality. It is chaos. It is the magic of energy, force, and becoming.
On the other hand, Titan's magic is material; it makes reality. The Titans are the "Pillars of the Earth" (Codex entry: Veilfire Runes in the Deep Roads). They sing into the stone, shaping it. It follows the rules and is order. It is the magic of song, substance, and being. In its raw form, lyrium emits a singing/humming melody (more on lyrium in a moment).
Pre-Veil, I believe that metaphysical and physical magic were mutually constitutive. Rather than the spirits of the Fade, or the Fade itself, merely "reflecting" the world, it imagined what could be. The Titans made the world what it is, as their magic follows the rules of reality. I imagine they had a much more symbiotic relationship: spirits created (intangible and impermanent) imaginings of reality, and the Titans shaped reality based on those dreams (and/or their own dreams). In support of this is a note Leliana leaves the Warden in DAO if she was killed in the Temple of Sacred Ashes: "The lyrium sang thought into being. Now time is stale, and the melody is called elsewhere. Until I am needed, I am free."
Post-Veil, we know that lyrium exists in the Waking World (material plane) and in the Fade (metaphysical/dream plane), and it bridges the gap between material/ideal (possibly serving as the synthesis of that dialectic, but I am uncertain; perhaps instead the Titan's magic is so real it can materialize in the unreality that is the Fade). Lyrium is the blood of Titans (confirmed by Valta in The Descent DLC). The Chantry claims that lyrium is a remnant from the birth of the world, when the Maker created the land and the skies; we know it is Titan's blood, and thus could be the essence of all (physical) creation. Lyrium may also be the "emerald waters" of the Fade. In codex entry: Here Lies the Abyss, we see the following text: "It is possible--even likely--that the 'emerald waters' Andraste refers to are the substance of the Fade, which began as an 'ocean of dreams' (Threnodies 1:1)." Now, if the Fade is immaterial, it should not have substance; lyrium provides substance to it. I believe the interaction between the Fade and lyrium is mutually constitutive. The Fade idealizes the material; it can do 'unnatural' things to material by reality's standards. The Fade cannot create material but it can manipulate it, but it isn't permanent. Lyrium, though, can shape the material; it can make a dream real, within the parameters/confines of how reality works. Again, this supports the theory that Titan magic is material/corporeal and bridges the gap between the material and immaterial planes.
Mages use lyrium to boost their mana and connection to the Fade post-Veil. Circle Enchanter Wenselus explains that mana is the "potential that dwells within a person but does not always manifest itself. All men are connected to the Fade; we go there to dream. But only those with this potential may draw upon its power. Mana is, then, a measurement of oneâs ability to draw power from the Fade, and it is this power that is expended in magic" (World of Thedas, Vol. 1). Lyrium is physically used to augment that potential, i.e., to make a mage stronger and able to pull more magic through the Veil. In my reading, lyrium cannot create potential but can capture it and anchor it.
However, lyrium can also cut off one's connection to the Fade. Tranquility uses a lyrium brand to cut a mage off from the Fade. They are no longer able to dream while tranquilized. I believe that using lyrium is the original form of blood magic. Lyrium is the captured potentiality of the world of dreams (AKA, materialized magic). Human blood functions similarly, but on a smaller scale.
For example, First Enchanter Josephus writes: "Although lyrium will allow a mage to send his conscious mind to the Fade, blood would allow him to find the sleeping minds of others, view their dreams, and even influence or dominate their thoughts. Just as treacherous, blood magic allows the Veil to be opened completely so that demons may physically pass through it into our world" (WOT, Vol. 1). Corypheus and the Magisters Sidereal sacrificed countless slaves to use their blood (alongside 2/3 of Tevinter's total lyrium supply) to open the Veil and enter the Fade in physical form.
However, Solas comments: "Unfortunately, using blood magic seems to make it more difficult to enter the Fade." This could be a blanket claim, an outright lie, or he is referring to his own experience. I think, though, that it could be true. If lyrium can strengthen or cut off one's connection to the Fade, ostensibly blood magic could as well. (Or, if you follow the theory that the ancient elves/spirits mined lyrium to create their bodies, you can theorize this as a potential side effect of lyrium. I do not subscribe to this lore reveal personally, because of reasons. I'll talk about it in my tinfoil theories about elves in part ? [will update with link later].)
What's important to note about all blood magic is its basis of capturing the immaterial, or literally 'realizing' potential. Non-lyrium blood magic specifically is predicated on influencing, if not outright controlling, someone's life force (one could argue that a life force is both material and immaterial, to which I would remind everyone--including me!--that we have to think of this as a dialectical process that is mutually constitutive). This focus on control adheres the the recurring theme of blood magic as a weapon of binding, of using one's willpower to bind another.
Willpower and purpose, and their corruption, are important mechanics to the magic system of Thedas. This will be discussed in part 2.
The final thing to address is what has been absent from this theory/analysis, and that is absence itself, or the Void. In Dragon Age: Until We Sleep, chapter 3, Aurelian Titus says that "there are void places, gaps between dreams" referring to the raw Fade. Similarly, a memory in Vir Dirthara (codex entry in Trespasser DLC) mentions "an island floating in a void." Is the Void physical or metaphysical? I believe it's another "both/and" situation. For example, consider the inscription found on the Staff of the Void in DAI: "There is strength in absence. Absence of weakness, and of limitation. Absence of caution, and of mercy. The Void has always been within."
Some theorize that the Void is the source of the Blight, to which I would agree; however, I would not conflate the Void with the Blight. I think that the Blight is produced in the corruption of life, and that act of corruption (death) is contact with the Void, which is the antithesis of life--it is nothingness. The Void is also the absence of the song, which I believe is a metaphor for life. In DAI party banter, Cole notes that, at one unspecified time in the past, "everything sang the same" (w/ Solas) but then "the song was sundered" (w/ Varric).
Again, this ties into the mechanics of magic/life (i.e., willpower and purpose), and its corruption, or deviation, from that purpose. As mentioned, more on these themes will be continued in part 2.
In sum:
The Fade is a mirror of the material world; the material world reflects the Fade.
Material magic: lyrium/blood, order, being/remembering â> driven toward harmony & resolution (the song; the signifier)
Ideal magic: the Fade/dreams, chaos, potentials, becoming/imagining â> driven toward dissonance & experimentation (the signified)
Synthesis of material/ideal = source of life in Thedas (inextricably connected as the sign, via the wellspring of all life/souls; each component has its own song [according to Coleâs party banter]; each melody in a harmony = life itself)
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The writing of Tevinter - DAV investigative journalism
Welcome back to the investigative journalism. Today's topic to analyse and criticise are Tevinter's politics.
Now this fine man in the picture above, that is Ashur Vesperian, the imperial Divine, a fact that is implied by several lines:
The Venatori found it "fitting" to execute him in the Temple of Andraste, a holy building that the Divine is closely linked to. After all, Andrastianism is the state religion in Tevinter too
A note right next to him during that quest points at the Vesperian heir being groomed to be Divine...coincidence? I think not.
I think that evidence should suffice already, as the picture is quite clear. So Ashur is the imperial Divine, quite the important position, no? Well no. In the Veilguard, the Chantry plays absolutely no role, despite its apparent leader heading an abolitionist movement.
The Chantry
When the leader of the abolitionist movement is the Black Divine, the leader of the imperial Chantry, one would expect the Chantry to work in tandem with that goal, meaning anti-establishment messaging (not too obvious but still), helping the poor with charity, helping freed slaves find safe jobs, housing etc. All of the work to support the movement as every movement will require institutional backing at some point, especially in a society that is as deeply conservative as Tevinter.
But no, we see nothing of the Chantry in that regard. We visit one (well, the courtyard of one) but we never see the institution at work. We never see their policies, their version of the faith, their interactions with the faithful (and there will be many faithful among the lower classes too)...only a mourning ritual of Neve reactivating a light, which is actually the deepest look we get into the Chantry of Tevinter. To reactivate a light (or activate it in the first place) you require a mage, which is expensive and near unaffordable for the commoners of Tevinter.
So we can infer that charity is not too high on the Chantry's list. But that's also it. We do not learn more about the imperial faith itself or the institution in the Veilguard. We do in Inquisition from Dorian but that is not the point of this post. So the density of the information provided in Veilguard remains very scarce and near non-existent.
2. The Evanuris, The Venatori, Fascism
One might wonder why I bring them up in a post dedicated to Tevinter politics now. Well it is quite simple, the Evanuris are elven "Gods", which would inevitably lead to a steep increase in racial prejudice and even violence against the elves, as it is their "Gods" that are blighting the world right now. It would be a tool to unite the rest of Tevinter against the scapegoat, which is not a novelty in Thedas.
Tevinter is going through it already by the time we start the game. The Venatori are rising and with this scapegoat they would rise hard. I will illustrate it as best as I can. Imagine that the Venatori are popular with 20% of Minrathous, with the Evanuris running amok that would shoot up hard as the Venatori would position themselves as the once to tackle the threat, to reign in the problem and protect Tevinter.
Epler wanted an analogy to fascism? Well, the tools to do it better were right there. But instead they were reduced to cartoon villains, despite history and all showing us that fascists are not just the cackling evil kind but also intelligent and charismatic people who can rally the masses, who can sell a utopic vision that can be realised once the scapegoat is dealt with (very very simplified but you get it. I trust my audience here lol, unlike Weekes and Epler).
The writing could have and should have leaned into that. Right now the Venatori don't just feel flattened compared to the depth Calpernia brought to them in DAI, by joining to end slavery and all - a dream that was sold to her - they feel unrealistic as a faction. They do not make sense in the setting the way Veilguard writes them.
The Venatori, notorious nationalists and Tevinter supremacists with a love for blood magic and slavery, would not follow the Evanuris. At least not like that. The writing is too simplistic there. Elgar'nan too is not stupid, so he would have had to work in far more subtle ways to hijack them like that. And even then it would be nonsensical still. The Venatori would not work for the Evanuris, plain and simple. Some few perhaps, who would see the Old Gods there and would thus follow them for religious reason and some for power. But by far not the majority. By far not. 10% max.
The Venatori would do sympathetic appearances, especially in Dock Town among the poor and downtrodden. They have been neglected by the establishment, so the Venatori should use that. Gain their supporters there by selling them a dream, hope etc. They would not use Dock Town as their playground immediately. They need backing and they get it by exploiting desperation. That is how it would work, not in their cartoon villain way that DAV decided on.
With these changes, especially the second bullet point, the rise of the Venatori would feel so much more natural as we have already seen these strategies working. Calpernia is the key example for that once again. She is a woman who fundamentally believed in a restoration and reformation of Tevinter but in a far more idealised fashion. The Venatori (Corypheus) played to her desires in a skillful manner, turning her loyal in the process. And with such tactics being employed in Dock Town, it would make sense that the Venatori reach the power they do in Veilguard and thus also that they are able to conduct their coup to take charge of the Tevinter Empire.
Now what would they do next? They would most likely crush the opposition first as fascist governments do not let those exist. The newspapers (that make no sense in their existence in Dock Town) would be gone from the map and replaced with carefully curated propaganda - one source of information that the state controls. We would see executions of the oppositions still with the Venatori framing it as necessary for the good of Tevinter. Yet they would also oppose the Evanuris as they are the biggest threats to them, the state and everything the Venatori stand for.
Additionally, we would see state sanctioned purges against the elves. History taught us that this can very well happen, destroy the scapegoated group. And as I said earlier, those scapegoats would be the elves thanks to the Evanuris. So the Shadow Dragon questline would and should involve us helping the elves, us saving slaves etc, which the Venatori would take more, not less.
And yes, I think that the Venatori should always take control of Tevinter, if we stick with the canon that the Lucerni got shattered already. They were the only real opposition to that, the rest of the non-Venatori establishment played the center there and we have also historically seen that they might enable such a government for a variety of reasons.
Not to mention the war against the Qunari that the current government (the current Archon and his loyalists) are unable to win. They are being pushed back, the Antaam are advancing further and further, while at the same time the Evanuris also threaten Tevinter's borders. There can barely be any better socio-political realities for the Venatori to really rise. It would be unavoidable that they take over in that state, so I would focus the SD questline on getting them out of government again by working with Maevaris, Dorian, the Viper etc. You would have to make uncomfortable alliances, you would have to play the political game well and you would have to really lead a rebellion there. Both in the literal sense on the street (freeing slaves, pushing back against the Venatori influences) but also in politics. Rook is supposed to be a Solas parallel? Well this state would have really explored that as Rook would be doing a similar job then.
Solas had to make a lot of uncomfortable decisions in his rebellion against the Evanuris, a lot of morally grey stuff. Rook would have had to do this too in this rebellion. It would have turned the mirror from a joke into reality and thus not only improved Tevinter but also Rook as a protagonist.
Unfortunately Veilguard does none of that, choosing to stick to the very surface level of writing. And I will say, what I wrote here is not the full extend of complexity and depth either. There is so much more potential to take this even deeper. Tevinter is the richest nation when it comes to the potential of writing interesting politics and none of it was used...it is a damn shame.
3. The Archon choice
What did they do to Dorian...he looks dreadful. Anyway, that is not the topic though it would surely make for an entertaining post.
The Archon choice is another important piece of writing to analyse when talking about the writing of Tevinter politics in the Veilguard.
First the setup:
Rook, We heard the wonderful news coming out of Arlathan. Your doing, we're told. The Venatori are still reeling from their failure, and Dorian's caught wind of some of their most recent plans. Drop by the Shop when you can. âMaevaris
Well those plans are to blight the city...which is fucking stupid writing for a variety of reasons and also bc it makes no sense for the Venatori agenda. No sense at all. But we will roll with it now as I already explained the issues with the Venatori writing in the previous subsection.
So, Knight-Commander Lenos plans to blight the city for whatever nonsensical reasoning he has and we go to stop him as Dorian figured him out just in time.
We do so and get a list of names of Venatori Magisters that Mae wants to use for some exposition to show the people who was corrupt etc and then reform the Empire...which is somehow the entire plan. But the best part still comes: Maevaris Tilani, one of the most seasoned Magisters, is offended by Dorian wanting to play the game the way it has to be played in places like Tevinter in Orzammar - ruthlessly. She decries it as southern influences bc she is stupid, ngl.
Like, the entire setup for this Archon choice is bad already but the choice is harmed even more by this bad portrayal of Maevaris. She knows that you cannot reform Tevinter democratically. You really need to kick the system where it counts and play ruthless, as the establishment will play just as ruthless. Not that VG Maevaris gets that bc she somehow lost her teeth just as much as Bioware's writing did.
And if we look at all of that, this really dogshit foundation that one cannot work with. Mischaracterised characters, a failure to portray Tevinter politics and systemic issues properly, a really bad writing of the Venatori and the downright nonsensical plan of the Knight-Commander...well it becomes clear why the choice is so poorly done. You cannot execute it well with such a foundation, you simply cannot. It fails to recognise Tevinter for what it is and instead treats it like the US (as Weekes either stated outright or implied strongly).
And to be very very clear. The US is not Tevinter. I don't live there but it is not Tevinter.
I took the RPG map of Ferelden, which had a scale on it, and overlaid it on top of the world map from Inquisition, resizing it until everything matched up (and I left the eastern bit of Ferelden on there since the Inquisition world map cuts it off). Then I just measured the distance from each location (via the major roads on the map and possible routes I added in myselfâthe green-ish tinted pathways) and used the scale to figure out how far away everything was from each other and these are the approximate travel times I came up with:
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they're making the omelas child go to therapy so it can learn about interpersonal accountability and realize the impact that its confusing and antisocial behavior has on the people around it
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The Inquisitor can get put on this pedestal - a shining beacon of hope, a divine symbol of victory, calm in the chaos. And you can absolutely play a very compassionate, open-minded Inquisitor who's kind - a positive example of leadership.
But what always gets me is the scale of the decisions and judgments theyâre forced to make and the horrifying consequences. Choose the mages or the templars, and one of those groups is left to suffer in horrific ways - torment, torture, death, madness, mutilation. Thousands are left to violence inflicted on them, force-fed blight. Then there are the consequences that ripple out from those choices too - villages enslaved, people forced into manual labour, innocent people killed, ordinary lives ruined because of decisions made from a war table by the Inquisitor.
Those are the choices the Inquisitor has to live with. Every time they look into the eyes of a blighted templar or a blighted mage before cutting them down, theyâre killing someone they left to their fate. Someone who might have been saved, if the Inquisitor had chosen differently.
What does Solas say? "Sometimes terrible choices are all that remain."
And imagine the people whoâd hate them for that.
Then the Inquisitor has to sit in judgment on a throne and decide the fate of individuals. And in the words of Josie, lives should never be used as currency. But in war - in a supernatural war - they are and the Inquisitor can use them as such. Do you use those lives for your own needs? Do you cut them down in vengeance, or give them a punishment that fits the crime?
And better yet - what if theyâre good at the Game?
My own Inquisitor chooses Briala. Itâs one of the few moments in the story where I let my Dalish Inquisitor make a selfish decision, one thatâs meant to benefit her people. But that decision results in the death of the Empress, and while that isnât what she wanted, it happened, and now that's another person's blood that stains her hands.
So now you have an Inquisitor who isnât just making battlefield decisions. Theyâre wheeling and dealing in secrets, spying, blackmailing, and exchanging information through the shadows. Whether they love the Game or hate it doesnât really matter - they still sought out the secrets and manipulated powerful people - they pulled the strings of a massive political and military dynasty.
The War Table missions throw in even more consequences depending on what choices you make in succession. Maybe they don't feel as tense as we only read of the consequences, we don't see them with our own eyes. There are a series of Grey Warden missions that if you choose poorly, can push them almost to extinction. And how many agents and assassins did the Inquisitor have at their fingertips to deploy at will? It continued on even past Trespasser - that pesky Inquisitor, getting involved in Nevarran business - who do they thing they are?
And whether you have an Inquisitor who revels in the role or rejects it, the Inquisitor still enacted judgment. They still made those choices and caused irrevocable harm to other people. They were always destroying a world that belonged to someone else. They were always making people living comfortably, very uncomfortable. Solas has dialogue in Veilguard about how his own rebellion made comfortable people, uncomfortable - it would seem if anyone knows what the Inquisitor faces best, it's him.
I imagine some people being delighted to see the great Eye and Sword emblem of the Inquisitor marching into town - while others feared it, or hated it.
And what will the propaganda say about our beloved Inquisitor two hundred years from now, especially considering what was erased about Ameridan? Considering how history changed the tales of the Fen'Harel - the Dread Wolf?
Dorian seemed almost downright prophetic when he said Magister Pavus couldnât come to Skyhold and be seen with the âdread Inquisitor.â Imagine a servant in that inn, working quietly in the back, overhearing this conversation. They catch that one title - the dread Inquisitor - and whisper it to someone else. Then that person whispers it to someone else, and before you know it:
The Dread Inquisitor, indeed.
So, how does all this weigh on a person?
How does your own Inquisitor live with their decisions?
Big Time Headcanon/Theory: Mythal was the Original Big Bad
Okay I have THOUGHTS about this post, especially after re-reading my Mythal post yesterday.
So, my very own personal headcanon/pet-theory is that Flemythal knew were Solas was sleeping - or at the very least she found out sometime during DAO and DA2. And not only that. I believe she got herself killed on purpose back in Elvhenan to provoke Solas into attempting the impossible: locking away the other Evanuris.
She controlled everything from the very beginning, and SHE should have been the final antagonist/villain of the whole series so far.
Dragon Age: Origins
During DAO she sends Morrigan, her next vessel, away with the HoF. Why? To teach her a lesson? To let her experience "the real world"? To harden her through war like she did with Solas? Because she needs her next vessel in a good position geo-politically (recognized as a hero)? Maybe she always knew (because 5D chess is kind of her thing) that Morrigan would attempt the "Dark Ritual" and get June's(?) soul back into a body, which she, Flemythal, can then absorb for power when she eventually takes over Morrigan's body? (That's even one of the contents of her Grimoire that she "doesn't want Morrigan to have" - ergo: she makes the party fight for it/pretends to be scared of a fight so Morrigan won't suspect that she's acting according to Flemythal's plan in trying to obtain the Grimoire)
Who tf can say, they're all on brand for her. BUT sending Morrigan away, for whatever reason, definitely gives her a lot of time to do secret shit without her nosy, sharply intelligent protegĂŠ watching.
I'm not 100% on whether Flemythal getting "killed" in her dragon form in DAO is "canon" for the subsequent games but it doesn't really matter whether she "dies" or "flees". As Solas says: "The first of my people do not die so easily." She could have had all kinds of fail-safes in place. (Like the amulet in DA2) How they work? Again, who tf knows. We'll never get answers on how embodied spirits ACTUALLY work re: fragmentation, reincarnation, soul vs. spirit, etc.
What I do think though, is that she was slowly starting to prepare her glorious return as god-queen of this new world. Because there were only two more potential Blights left after the 5th, and I think she wanted all those souls/fragments to add to her own power.
Dragon Age 2
OR: She wants to take down the Veil, free Elgar'nan, and kill him herself. ("I will see her avenged", "A reckoning that will shake the very heavens")
In DA2 she actually gives a ton of cryptic lore hints, but one of the most important ones is the line about "having an appointment to keep".
I think this is about Solas.
Minor headcanon tangent: I think Solas performed the actual ritual to create the Veil in Skyhold (Tarasyl'an te'las - "The place where the sky was held back") but I don't think he/his body slept there. He probably took precautions and somehow managed to get away. Or he had someone, an agent, on standby to do it for him (not Felassan, he would have talked him out of it - someone who would have been obedient and loyal but not personally close to him). I think he somehow ended up in/near Arlathan. Which is north of the Waking Sea. Which is where Flemythal is headed in DA2.
The ritual being performed in the place where Skyhold now stands also makes sense with these codex entries. They mention how, while there are endless signs of elven civilization through the centuries, there is no ruin, no building (nothing beyond Fereldan ones, anyway). They mention how the natural spire/the mountaintop was "flattened". I think it was blown clean off during the ritual. (or Solas flattened it to have a large space for the setup of his ritual and everything involved was disintegrated.)
What does she want from Solas?
So, anyway, I think that during DAO Flemythal found out where Solas hid himself/his sleeping body, and she's about to wake him up to make him work with (let's be real: for) her again. And that's what she does after she leaves Kirkwall in DA2.
a) He contained the Blight twice already - he can do it again. And hopefully more skillfully this time.
b) She needs a confidant, a right hand, and Solas is so emotionally enmeshed with her (see post credits scene in DAI and the VG ending), just seeing her alive will pull him right back in. He may have rebelled - but never truly against HER. (She always took great care to make it seem like she was actually on his side and just "playing the game" "for the benefit of the People" against the other Evanuris.)
c) A second powerful being on her side who also & especially has the ear of the entire Fade? Very useful if/when the Veil comes down and she's leading armies of spirits.
d) Clout among those ancient Elvhen who were against the Evanuris - they might not follow her, but they WILL follow their former rebel leader (maybe with some coaxing).
e) Maybe it was even her plan all along to free Elgar'nan (and Ghilan'nain) when the Veil is taken down so she could kill him/them herself - in which case Solas' power and combat experience would obviously also come in handy. (Plus, from where Flemythal is at, Solas might still have unresolved stuff with Ghilan'nain - an additional motivator.)
I think DA2!Flemythal and DAI!Flemythal really aren't as on board with this new "tranquil" world as VG would have us believe. Both iterations of her still want ONE thing: Revenge. ("Mythal clawed her way through the ages to me, AND I WILL SEE HER AVENGED!") And "For a reckoning that will shake the very heavens."
Ultimately, I think Flemythal (this Flemythal) wants the Veil down and (subsequently) Elgar'nan dead. She wants to see herself restored to her former status as god-queen (who now, conveniently, rules alone), and she wants the elves - old and new - to be the predominant civilization of Thedas again. (Although, maybe she really doesn't care at this point - they're all servants and slaves to her anyway, no matter the shape of their ears.)
Dragon Age: Inquisition
Why? Why does anyone want to rule: power, ego, self-satisfaction, a warped understanding of "to rule is to protect", greed, and, in her case, "I showed them!" "My ex-husband can eat shit!"
Anyway. She wakes Solas up and gives him new orders: He needs to unlock his orb - either for her to eventually take/steal his power or just so he can match her (when she eventually gets "the Old God Soul"/June's power) and actually DO shit.
So Solas, feeling incredibly guilty over "having let Mythal die" (we'll get to that) and "ruining the world", gets to work. Mother Mythal knows best, after all.
He seeks out Felassan, tries to leverage his relationship with Briala into reclaiming the Eluvian network (very useful to Mythal and himself), which fails miserably because Solas severely underestimated how much time passed and how deeply connected Felassan has become to this new state of things. And he kills Felassan (/makes him tranquil), justifying his actions through his loyalty to Mythal (as always).
With the Eluvians a bust (for now), he strategically places his orb in the path of the Venatori and Corypheus, figuring that while HE wouldn't do large-scale blood magic to unlock it, these people definitely have no scruples whatsoever. And he's not even 100% on whether humans are people yet, so who cares? (I'm being a bit facetious.)
However, that plan, as we know, also fails and he is pulled into the events of DAI and probably(?) unable to contact Mythal - or she abandons him for a while (not out of character for her, imo). Maybe they also speak in dreams sometimes? But there's so many templars around, maybe Solas is too careful to try (often).
During his time with the Inquisition, I think Solas still understands himself as acting on Mythal's orders, whether they're actually in contact or not. (We all know what happens during DAI, I'm not repeating all that.)
The big Flemythal lore drop comes when the Inquisitor actually meets her. This is where we get the "For a reckoning that will shake the very heavens" and the "and I will see her avenged!" lines. The way Flemythal behaves here, and going by what she says and how, I'm pretty convinced that everything is still going to plan for her. With Corypheus out of the way (which she will help with, of course, ever the benevolent problem-solver - so long as it suits her), Solas will be able to reclaim his orb and THEY will be able to enter the Fade/tear down the Veil and take revenge on Elgar'nan.
The big one
Slight tangent: She also masterfully manages to somewhat placate Morrigan during this exchange. In preparation for Flemythal taking over her body, she makes her believe that she regrets her emotional distance and neglect, and that she does care for Morrigan, deep down. Pretty obvious emotional manipulation, imo. Morrigan then, predictably, behaves like any abused eldest daughter being offered even just a scrap of a quasi-apology: she self-abandons again and lets Mythal's fragment possess her during/before VG. (Which Morrigan says is not "possession" in the classical sense - but Flemeth's personality also eventually mixed with Mythal - "no more separate than your heart from your chest" - so, in time, it will probably happen to Morrigan too, she's just in denial (or the writers forgot their own lore lol).)
The post credits scene of DAI where Solas and Flemythal meet (again).
And he doesn't seem THE LEAST BIT surprised to see her.
You'd think that his DEAD former lover/groomer/master/abuser/mother figure popping up in the Crossroads would warrant SOME kind of reaction from him. But nope. He approaches her completely naturally, as if he's RETURNING to her (tail between his legs, as it were). And they talk as if they both know about everything: the orb, the plan connected to it, why they needed it, etc.
(Also just LOOK at his posture: Head down, shoulders hunched, his expression pained - that's an agent returning from a failed mission, not a gleeful murderer facing his next victim.)
She softly chastises him ("You should not have given your orb to Corypheus, Dread Wolf") and they share what LOOKS like an intimate moment but is, in my opinion, actually a show of deep (performative-on-purpose) disappointment on Flemythal's part.
(Look at them! Those two are not equals! Everything in this exchange screams master-slave: her armored claws on his neck; the way he curls into her, holding on to her gauntlet and not her neck, shoulder or face; she's in full regalia, he's in simple, soft clothing;)
This is not a surprising meeting for either of them. The events of DAI have wrapped up, the orb is lost, Flemythal's plans are (for now) dashed.
I think Flemythal always had a plan B.
OR ARE THEY?
Just in case Solas would fail - because he has miscalculated before and she's known him for literally thousands of years. One could say she raised him (like Morrigan).
And that plan B is: Play the sacrifice. (Again.)
She puts her essence/fragment/power/whatever into the Eluvian (to seek out Morrigan) BEFORE Solas arrives. He doesn't know she has another fail-safe in place.
She lets him believe he killed her "for the good of the people" to further motivate him to really see his mission through to the end: take down the Veil, restore Elvhenan, and, with it, her (then in Morrigan's body) as its god-queen, enabling her to take her revenge on Elgar'nan.
Like, he killed his oldest friend, mentor, lover, mother over this goal - he absolutely cannot let it go now. Felassan was already huge, but making Solas believe he killed the most important, most influential person in his whole life with his own hands, that's the final nail in the coffin Dinan'shiral.
The Origin
So, a desperate, regretful, guilty, sad, heartbroken, emotionally fragile, cptsd-suffering former rebel leader does exactly what Flemythal expected: He severs all his nascent personal ties to this world and puts his all into fulfilling her last order: restoring Elvhenan, restoring "the People". "For her". Because she cared so much for them uwu. (and of course taking care of Elgar'nan because obviously it's all his fault and Mythal needed to be avenged.)
So this is DEEP headcanon/theory land but I think that with all this background it makes total sense to assume that Mythal planned all/most of this from as far back as her last meeting with Solas in Elvhenan (the "secret meeting" memory in the Lighthouse).
What was the situation?
The Blight exists. It's uncontrollable and it's making the other Evanuris basically unstoppable and invincible. It will eventually destroy the world. And I do think Mythal cared for "the world", at the very least as her own personal playground. She sees her husband and "children" slowly lose their minds as they grasp for more and more power. Political instability and unrest sweep the empire, ultimately also threatening her own position (because if she doesn't use the Blight, she'll eventually be toppled by the others).
Mythal is smart. She's been a double agent for centuries - keeping Solas and his expertise close, minimizing the impact of his rebellion on her own power (she's "one of the goods ones"), while also profiting from her seat at the table with the Evanuris.
She pretends to not believe Solas at first and goes to "confront" the other Evanuris. Just so the emotional impact on Solas will be greater, since he will believe it's his fault for burdening her with the knowledge of the Blight and "making" her seek proof by herself.
She gets herself killed. It probably didn't take much at all at that point to make Elgar'nan do it. She knows how the dagger works. She's seen other/former Evanuris (there were way more than just Elgar'nan et al.) die. She's taken precautions.
But most of all, she knows Solas: Solas is actually careful, almost timid, by nature (compare his voice lines as a spirit or sometimes during DAI when he's closer to "being Solas" to the way he speaks later/during VG). He didn't want to manifest, he didn't want to make the dagger, he's generally (at his original emotional core) against drastic action unless he's left with no other options. She's had millennia to observe him under emotional distress - in war(s), while he murdered in her service, during his rebellion. She knows his triggers.
And she knows that she is one of them. Likely because she set it up that way from the very beginning, grooming and molding him into something she could use. Their emotional enmeshment, his co-dependency, completely calculated on her part. (And we see her do it again with Morrigan, which is why Morrigan and Solas can't stand each other: they experienced the same trauma by the same mother figure - people hate seeing their own weaknesses reflected back at them in others.)
Solas may not have been ready to do anything really drastic before - centuries of rebellion and the Evanuris were still exactly where they wanted to be. They viewed him as an annoying, yappy dog who was kept in check by Mythal - but he sure as hell would be if Elgar'nan killed the ONE person Solas hung his entire personality and raison d'ĂŞtre on.
So. In order to get rid of the other Evanuris and the Blight (ergo: all competition & uncontrollable variables) in one fell swoop, Mythal had to trigger Solas into finally "embracing his potential" against all better knowledge. Against his actual, original nature: Wisdom.
Mythal's death finally and fully pushed him over the edge into corruption: Pride.
So Mythal dies. Solas is desperately distraught, not only because she's dead, but because it's "his fault" (he "let her go", he "gave her the knowledge", he "didn't try hard enough to convince her to join him", etc.). And in this fraught, volatile emotional state, grieving and angry and vengeful - like she knew he would be - he finally comes up with a plan on the same scale as the sundering of the Titans: the sundering of an entire area of the physical world from the Fade and its use as a prison for Mythal's murderer(s).
The problem: Solas is smart. But he's also arrogant (and not thinking as clearly as he could - a trade-off between Pride and Wisdom). The ritual he devises works, but it works "too well".
And instead of being brought back (maybe through the Well of Sorrows, maybe possessing a servant, maybe her plan was even to possess Solas himself) "right after" the imprisonment of the Evanuris and the Blight, both Mythal and Solas are incapacitated for millennia.
In the end, Mythal won, actually.
Which doesn't stop her from scheming, of course. She has nothing but time. She finds a way to still influence the physical world (like the corrupted spirit she is), until we finally end up with Flemythal and Morrigan in DAO.
When we look at Veilguard, Mythal actually gets basically everything she wanted:
Elgar'nan dies a miserable death (and she helped!), her vengeance finally achieved.
She has a new, powerful vessel with political pull (Morrigan).
She is, once again/still "the good guy".
Solas, the only one who could potentially uncover the truth about her and her plans (if he ever tried to look beyond his conditioning and enmeshment), is banished to the Fade.
The Blight is being taken care of by Solas (who she successfully blamed for causing it in the first place).
The Veil may be up - but that can change. She has time. And influence. And nobody will stop her if/when she decides she wants more power.
And if Kieran exists, she even has a new vessel already lined up (this time even a willing one from the get-go because "I will not be the mother you were to me").
We may see the sun rise over Minrathous in a "woohoo, the good guys saved the day" kind of way - but actually, the true villain, the one who pushed Solas into a body, coerced him into making a weapon of mass destruction, coaxed him into taking part in a genocide that would ultimately lead to the Blight, which is the reason for every single subsequent tragedy - MYTHAL, is the true winner. Even as the status quo is seemingly upheld.
She got exactly what she wanted, the same way she always has: scheming. plotting. ruthless pragmatism. manipulation.
I don't care for Veilguard's sanded-down, sanitized version of Flemythal/Mythal AT ALL. Everything we've seen of her in the three preceding games fits much better with this interpretation, and that's the hill I will personally die on.
In my idealized version of Veilguard, we actually fight against MYTHAL. And we can influence Solas to either finally side against her an recognize her as the monster she is, or we lose him and face him at her side as her loyal attack dog. THAT would have been an absolute banger.
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Disclaimer:
a) All this does NOT mean I think Mythal is a "bad character" or that people who like Mythal or interpret her differently are "wrong" or "bad people". I'm simply arguing for my point of view on the basis of what the text of the games provides. And my perspective is inherently biased because Solas is my favorite character of all time, and in my opinion, Solavellan is THE romance of all time. Please don't view my personal headcanon/theories as an invalidation of your own. Fandom lives through its multitude of perspectives and I appreciate other people's opinions even when I don't share them <3
b) All this does NOT mean that I hate Veilguard. I've said again and again that I enjoyed Veilguard for what it was, especially for the closure it gave me after 10 years of unresolved Solavellan angst. It is possible to critical of a thing you like/enjoy.
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Thank you for reading this far, I hope you had fun(?) - I certainly did <3
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