#rookmeta

his regrets, of course, but also him. the way he behaves, the way he betrays them, and betrays them, and betrays them again-

like ofc the inky sees this too. but what they see of solas is so much gentler, barring the route where he hates them. and they know him for so much longer than rook does, see so many different sides to him, have him by their side in battle, rely on his wisdom

he betrays them, too. he's lied to them the whole time. he's manipulated them and the world. but i think it's somewhat easier for the inky to find something in him that is worth pursuing, to try and stop him without trying to destroy him

but rook? he shows his worst face to rook. he is cruel, dismissive, condescending. he's brutal. and at the same time, they're seeing under the armor, they're seeing the deepest regrets of a man who is fundamentally shaped by his regrets

i just think a rook who chooses him after all that - in whatever way - is so compelling

now, of course he's not just shitty to/around rook. they see moments of vulnerability, and he does work to help them. a rook who chooses certain dialogue options implies that they wanted to trust him and be trusted by him, that they valued the time they worked together, that they wanted to earn his respect

and as much as an inky pursuing him romantically after Everything would shock him, i think a rook pursuing him romantically would shock him even more. he wouldn't trust it. couldn't trust it. until he does, and he realizes that someone who saw the worst of him still chose him, not out of ignorance, not out of naivete, but because they saw something worthwhile in him despite everything

General Dynamics/Solrook

it's the end. the way solas strokes their hand. the way he begs them to stand down, to let it happen

it's the way he is so, so desperate to not kill them

and, well. most of u probably know my feelings re: the canonicity of supplementary materials (books, comics, etc.), so as with all that supplementary canon i hold this in a kinda... quantum state of true-and-false simultaneously, but... felassan

solas and felassan were so close

and solas kills him

so, rook. why does he not kill rook? it would be so easy

but there's an element of this that cannot, in my opinion, be overstated. to disregard its impact is to miss a huge amount of solas' emotional state in this game: rook means so much to solas

rook is his ONLY connection to the outside world for the entire time he's imprisoned. for a game that is about hope in so many ways, rook is notably solas' only hope - and it is a brutal kind of hope, using them, manipulating them. but it is still worth pointing out that, for solas, while he is existing in the regret prison, rook is his symbol of hope

as well as his hope, rook is his only connection to reality, his only reprieve from regret and memory. when rook is not talking to him, he's being drowned in his deepest regrets again and again and again. relentlessly. because he is brutal, when he feels he needs to be. thus, the prison would be brutal, unyielding, and exacting

now, ppl talk about solas in that prison as though it did nothing for him. but i don't think that's true at all. i think it's a factor - one of many - that allows him to set aside his long-standing goals (other crucial factors include: the inquisitor; rook; varric; mythal; and a significant change in circumstances with all the evanuris now dead)

he has always been steeped in his regrets, we know that. but he has also set them aside. whether the murals were a way to bury his regrets, to imbue them in art and apart from himself, to feel them less, is iirc implied but still uncertain, bc dragon age as a series has long been predicated on narrative uncertainty. but either way, he is able to avoid dwelling on his regrets overmuch - whether through ridding himself of them, or through focusing on action, goals, etc.

but in the prison, he cannot avoid them. and upon his escape, i think he does not want another regret. he cannot avoid the weight of them any longer, and they are heavy

he does not want to kill rook, because he does not want to regret killing rook. is this selfish? of course! a part of it IS about him wanting to spare his own feelings. but another part is that he knows that rook is a person, and he's never wanted to kill anybody...

he also does not want to regret tearing down the veil. he does not want to regret the deaths that will follow. he also does not want to cause death: both these things can exist simultaneously

but that is viewing rook in a sort of... abstract, generalized way. while that is an aspect - rook is a person; solas does not want to kill people; ergo, solas does not want to kill rook - it is more important to consider the relationship between solas and rook

solas is suffering in that prison. rook's visits are, would have to be, bright spots amidst that suffering. to me, this is just basic: repeatedly, solas' only relief comes in the form of rook's visits. they're complex in their own way, of course, but it is the only interaction he gets outside of his own worst memories being replayed endlessly

so, in the end, solas is being confronted by the inquisitor, mythal, and rook, all of whom are asking him to stop

confronted by mortality. by immortality

confronted by people he has misled, used, manipulated

and he is seen by them. all of them see him

-a shared moment of understanding; seeing completely, and being wholly seen. Memory of a Duet (codex)

while the above is about mythal - the codex entry is shown with her tarot card, after all - it also points to a deep desire of solas'. he wants to be seen. to be known. and to be accepted

mythal knows who he was, and much of who he is

the inquisitor knows who he pretended to be, but i think there was significant truth in that pretense: it was who he wanted to be, who he could have been. it was a mask, yes, but not a complete falsehood by any means

and rook knows him from his regrets, from his actions, and from the way others speak about him. knows him from varric's accounts as they traveled together to stop solas. knows him from the inquisitor's accounts. knows what he is willing to do, how far he is willing to go, because he does so with rook

to have these three see him, know him, and accept him...? to have them ask him to stop, to tell him that everything can still be forgiven...?

it must have felt so surreal. i am sure part of his time in the regret prison was each of them calling him a monster. saying they wished they'd never met him. telling him to his face that he ruined everything, ruined them

that is the fear

and this is the reality

and i just... i cannot imagine what all is going through his mind. it's little wonder he breaks down

god i just love him so fucking much. but, to speak on the solrook of it all... he does care about rook. i don't think there's any real room for interpretation on that. if he didn't, he'd have killed them. he's killed other people who he cares for (note: i'm not necessarily arguing that he cares more about rook than he did about felassan - i don't want to compare relationships like that - but i think it is fair to say that he has changed since that time)

and rook is the one who has the final choice. the one who can choose to return the dagger to the god of lies. the one who can show such utter vulnerability and, yes, hope, their own hope, their hope for solas, in that final moment

please do not add hate to this post, bring up the art book, or bring up the books/comics. thank you!

in the beginning:

solas, in arlathan, seeks to free the slaves. he tries to convince the evanuris with words and with letters. when that fails, he begins a rebellion. given what we see in the memories, this rebellion appears to have started with the cultivation of close interpersonal dynamics

rook seeks to stop solas' ritual. varric tries to convince him with words. when that fails, varric attacks and solas kills him. when the ritual is disrupted, when the evanuris are freed, rook begins… what is, essentially, a rebellion. this rebellion is based around the cultivation of close interpersonal dynamics

in the end:

solas, in arlathan, realizes that the evanuris are seeking the full power of the blight and reaches out to mythal. when she confronts them, they kill her. solas imprisons them

"They killed Mythal. (Chuckles.) A crime for which an eternity of torment is the only fitting punishment."

note: in this situation, I truly don't think there was any viable alternative. the evanuris were already blighted and empowered by their dragon thralls; impossible to kill, too far gone to save, too corrupted to sway, although he tried, countless times

rook, in minrathous, chooses what to do with the dagger. essentially, they free him or imprison him, specifically in a prison that is designed to torment its prisoners—something rook is intimately aware of, having been trapped in that prison

parallels:

while veilguard is, of course, its own unique narrative, it also allows us to follow in solas' thematic footsteps. the situation has changed—pointedly, he is now the enemy, but there are many other changes as well—but the underlying structure remains similar. an attempt to sway peacefully. failing that, the start of a rebellion; the beginnings of which are strongly idealistic and oriented towards people, the latter stages of which are far more rooted in practicality than morality. at the end of that, the opportunity to imprison the enemy

rook is different than solas. and solas is different from the other evanuris. but solas in the beginning was different than he was in the end. and rook is traveling that same path. the more brutal choices they must make, the more they must weigh life and death, the more they travel the path that so damaged solas, the more they become willing to use his exact same methods

noting the inquisitor : dread wolf parallels:

worth mentioning, although not the main point of this meta, is how these two also have substantial parallels. the title that usurps their true name and identity; the ascension to something akin to/related to divinity; and the bad magic future timeline in DAI that so directly parallels what solas' awakening to the modern world would have been like (discussed in more detail here!), one which the inquisitor resets, erasing everything that happened in that year; not out of malice for the people currently alive, but because of a conviction that this was the only option

conclusions:

through the narrative of both inquisition and veilguard, we as players essentially walk solas' entire path. we walk the dinan'shiral… and we don't know until the end that we are walking it!

the inquisitor resetting the timeline feels justified, inevitable, right… which is exactly how solas felt and feels about his ritual, except he, unlike the inquisitor, lives in the modern era for long enough to recognize that it has its own inherent value

rook begins a rebellion against the tyranny of the evanuris—exactly as solas did, so long ago—and can end that rebellion the same way he did: with punitive justice. rook can walk solas' path to the point of, in many ways, becoming him… or rook can step free of his path at the last. can offer the dagger. offer their trust. offer their faith. they can be vulnerable

it's not the safest option. it is not the wisest. it is not the most guaranteed. and that is where they can diverge from solas' path; not by being foolish or naive, but by choosing to re-embody the emphasis on people

Solas was so dedicated to his course. But Mythal, the Inquisitor, and Rook were the keys to turning him from that course, each for their own reason and because of their unique dynamic with Solas.

Mythal:

With Mythal, they love each other. She says, explicitly, in-game, that she still loves him. and so much of what he is doing, he is doing for her - but it is, notably and importantly, not something she wants. This is one of multiple ways his grief, guilt, and regret are coloring his perception. Because he feels at fault for her death. Her first death, I mean, at the hands of the Evanuris; he obviously is responsible for Flemythal's death/"death" .

And I am not adding this as a justification, but as a fact; a death that Flemythal 100% permitted. She had all the power in that moment. I think this is an important part of their overall dynamic that can sometimes get glossed over; he killed her, and that is horrible, but she could have stopped him so easily and chose not to. To me, this reads as an obvious inversion of his taking form being so traumatic and harmful to who/what he was, a sort of death of Wisdom, but he did it for her; and she let him kill her for her power, and she did it for him.

The Inquisitor:

Now, the Inquisitor. They are a direct victim of Solas', and he knows it, even if for a long time they do not. And they are a victim in a unique way... what he did to them - unintentional, but still caused by him, as was the case with Mythal's first death - was not to kill or destroy them, but to force them to take on the burden of leadership. This is a pain he knows deeply. He knows how it wears on a person. He knows how leaders are transformed into something both more and less than what and who they really are. He knows what it is to be seen as a figurehead, to be worshipped, to be associated with godhood/seen as part of gods.

I hella ship it but that's not even important for what I'm gonna say: I think that solas absolutely cares about rook. I think he would prefer not to, but he does. just like how he cares about varric, and sera, and dorian, and blackwall

not "just like" as in "identically to," but solas, despite it all, is a man given to caring deeply. he values people. and it would be so much easier if he did not, and he tries to cling to the idea that they are lesser, shadows of what they ought to be, but...

he does care about them. and barring a hatred path, he cares about the inquisitor as well

so, yeah, I think he absolutely cares about rook. someone he knows varric cares about. someone he has researched on his own, finding at least one part of their personal history admirable

and, of course, the only person he gets to talk to for as long as he's in the prison