The Inquisitor and Solas - Agents of Change
These are the slides after DAI, before Trespasser. The Inquisitor was seen as "a leader of a changing world order" with the "power to shake kingdoms".
And the message is clear - anyone who becomes capable of changing the existing order is treated as a threat by the institutions that benefit from that order.
Whether you disband the Inquisition or place it under the Divine, the independent power disappears - an independent force capable of reshaping the landscape can't be allowed to remain independent.
Whether it was intentional or not, the parallels with Solas continue strongly even in this.
Solas stood against the established order of his age. He challenged the Evanuris and inspired rebellion. History remembers him through propaganda and he becomes a monster, a liar, the Dread Wolf.
The Inquisitor experiences a version of that same process. Once their influence grows large enough to threaten the status quo, they too become someone whose power must be limited and whose legacy is rewritten by those in authority. In Callback (but starting in Trespasser), the established powers don't see the Inquisitor as a hero anymore. They see someone with too much influence. Skyhold is taken away and the Inquisitor is spoken about as though they're a dangerous, charismatic figure whose power must be contained.
Which makes me think of Rook, and specifically how I view my Rook.
While I would have loved the Inquisitor to play a much bigger role in VG, looking at it this way makes their absence make more sense to me. By this point, the Inquisitor has been deliberately diminished by the existing powers. They can't set foot in Minrathous without the Venatori trying to assassinate them, and the Grey Wardens don't trust them. The Inquisitor isn't free to move through the world as they once did because they have become too influential and too dangerous to the established order (like Solas). They are indeed too powerful because once again it is the Inquisitor who naturally assumes leadership in the defence of the south with people rallying around them.
What's interesting is that this pattern even extends to Dorian. His desire to reform Tevinter grows out of his time with the Inquisitor and with Solas. Inspired by what he experienced there, he returns home and co-founds the Lucerni to push for meaningful political change.
And what happens? Once more, the movement of change becomes a threat to the established order. Maevaris is framed for treason, the Lucerni is dissolved, and the work continues underground as the Shadow Dragons. It's just another reminder of the Inquisition's influence and how dangerous it was. It inspired people across Thedas to challenge the systems they had always accepted. Just as Solas' rebellion was dangerous and inspired in others the same. And this makes sense why both Solas and the Inquisitor have become figures that many people want removed from the board.
Unlike Solas and the Inquisitor, Rook doesn't challenge the existing order or try to build a new one. Instead, Rook brings people together - coalition building. They convince factions with very different interests to work toward a common goal because, with Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain threatening the entire world, there really isn't another choice.
I could argue that Rook succeeds because they aren't carrying centuries or years of history and political baggage (yes, they challenge their own faction, I'm not talking about that, they are a relative unknown compared to the Inquisitor). The factions can rally behind Rook because they aren't a threat of a changing world order in the way Solas and the Inquisitor had become in their times. They're simply someone everyone can work with against a common enemy.
And it's interesting to me that Rook can respond to Solas and the Inquisitor in very similar ways, seeing them primarily through the roles they have played in the world rather than simply as people. Solas is blamed for creating the current crisis, while Rook can accuse the Inquisitor of having to clean up their mess. In different ways, Rook places the burden of the world's current state on both of their shoulders.
Even the help Rook asks of them reflects the same parallel. Rook asks the Inquisitor to use their influence to gather armies and information, yet the Inquisitor can't. Solas faces a different limitation. Trapped within the prison of regret, all he can really offer is his knowledge and guidance. Both are reduced to supporting roles, not because they have nothing left to give, but because circumstances have left them unable to lead the way they once did.
If the Inquisitor had tried to lead the same charge as Rook, I imagine many would have viewed them with suspicion. They're a political or religious figure whose motives are constantly open to interpretation (like Solas). I'm sure many would assume they had their own agenda, especially an Inquisitor Lavellan who romanced Solas. In a world already filled with rumours and propaganda surrounding both of them, it isn't difficult to imagine those stories being weaponized to undermine the Inquisitor's leadership.
And yet, despite it all, Solas and the Inquisitor are still doing what they've always done, just in the background. The Inquisitor leads the defence of the South, while Solas spends those few weeks fighting alongside the Shadow Dragons. Neither has stopped acting according to what seems to be their nature. Whatever their larger goals or whatever the world chooses to believe about them, both continue trying to prevent unnecessary suffering and protect others wherever they can.
And as always, I welcome any new insights or things I might be wrong on. This is only my perspective.
Addition: My post was actually to showcase why the Inquisitor couldn't have been the protagonist because of the baggage they've carried for years and how they were viewed by powers that be - they are far too similarly viewed as Solas was viewed in his time - a hero to some, a monster to others. I'm also just very enthusiastic about the Inquisitor and Solas mirrors.
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