Witchyseasees

wolf boy😋

What if Solas never visited it because when last he did, this prickly fragment of Mythal wanted to kill him?

What if when the Mythal fragment says Solas likes to cultivate his own memories, she's doing the same in that moment, cultivating her own. This broken fragment says she loves him still, but what if, at that point its so warped in how she sees it because this spirit fragment has been so alone for so long stewing in bitterness.

Morrigan doesn't go with Rook to meet this fragrmented Mythal (the fragment that is the most like the actual Mythal) and it's because it will attack her on sight if she goes with Rook. Because of the sister fragment Morrigan carries. Morrigan is afraid of it - on behalf of herself? Or the fragment within her? Or both - let's face it, Morrigan in previous games did NOT want that fate of her own mother.

In the war room before the final battle when the topic of Mythal is brought up Morrigan immediately looks concerned and says that is a great power not to be used lightly. She doesn't say no, but something always made me wonder if there was a reason she was afraid of this fragment.

And what if that fear from Morrigan is not wanting to be possessed by yet another fragment and that bringing the two fragments together fuses them?

What if, by Morrigan calling forth Mythal's essence, she fuses the two fragments into one and it ends up possessing her? The exact fate she never wanted.

And what if that's another reason why Solas kept that fragment locked away, it was always looking for a way out and perhaps tried to possess him as well and he stayed away, locked it away.

He always offers to brush and braid your hair.

He always keeps you warm, since he’s a walking space heater.

He always reminds you that you are a gift from nature and that you were sculpted by the Gods and Goddesses alike.

He carves you all sorts of things, ducks, trinkets for the house, ornaments for your hair, he’s just the sweetest thing.

He tries to get you to dance with him, he’s a terrible dancer but the both of you end up laughing and just swaying around like old people do.

He’s ALWAYS the big the spoon no matter what, he loves holding you.

He’d take you on walks through the forest near your home and point out flowers, herbs and fungi and tell you all he knew about them.

He tends to pick you and carry you around, a lot. He tells you that such beauty shouldn’t strain themselves trying to get from place to place, such a dorky elf.

He’d also offer piggy back rides if your feet were getting tired on your walks together.

He brings you flowers every morning from his walks in the forest, your house smells like a florist shop and you don’t mind it.

He gives the best massages when you say you’ve had a stressful day, he doesn’t hesitate to rub your shoulders for what seems like hours to help you relax.

He gives the BEST hugs, he squishes you into his body and you literally melt into him.

He smells like pine needles and tree bark with a hint of his natural musk, his smell is addicting and you want to bury yourself in him and never leave.

He’s always flirting with you, always trying to make you blush.

He’s loves your domestic side, seeing you do things around the house, cook meals, mending his clothes that split at the sleeves or at the thigh, stirs his loins and he just wants to take you whenever you are doing such things.

He always runs you a bath after your intimate time together, the two of you relax in the hot bath together and enjoy each other’s company.

He’s loud in bed, grunting, moaning panting, growling, praising, you name it.

Yet, if you look at everything that follows Trespasser, the Inquisitor is exactly the kind of person that interpretation says he should have killed. Across the comics, short stories, and supplementary material, the Inquisitor never stops pursuing him. They direct others to follow every lead, determined to either "stop" Solas or "save" him from himself.

And Solas knows this. He knows exactly who the Inquisitor is. He knows they will never stop looking for him because they don't. Varric's confrontation with Solas happens because he's carrying out the Inquisitor's mission given to him through Charter (who he also never kills).

Yet after Felassan, after killing Flemeth, after killing others, he never goes after the Inquisitor.

If the interpretation is that Solas believes the ends justify the means and would kill anyone who stood in the way of his goals, then the Inquisitor should have been the first person he removed from the board. Instead, he spared them - and every move against him that followed began with that choice.

So, in the atonement ending we get Solas in a position where he's about to say something on the spirits and then the conversation gets cut off.

Solas: It is not just people. The spirits- Rook: Will be destroyed when you do this too. Won't they?

I get stuck on dialogue sometimes because this exchange makes it sound like all spirits will be destroyed, but we have precedent. Spirits survived the Veil going up, so it's highly likely many would survive Veilfall as well.

In-universe, Solas is the single most informed person alive on the subject of spirits. Emmrich wishes they had more time to discuss them, that he's surprised to hear how much the spirits respect the Dread Wolf. Across the games and supplementary material, Dragon Age repeatedly establishes the connection between Solas and spirits. He is called Spirit Speaker, Cole gives great insight into Solas' relationship with spirits, spirits fight alongside Solas willingly (Tevinter Nights), they respect him, trust him, call out to him for help.

We're also told that spirits were willing to help Solas minimize the damage of Veilfall numerous times. To me, that's a massive narrative beat (I've said it before, I believe Solas in this).

So if spirits were willing to help try and control things in Veilfall, the question is why?

And no, I don't believe Solas bound them - he only ever frees spirits and despises enslavement, nor do I believe he withheld information from them. Spirits may be simpler in some respects than mortals, and there might be that one memory showing him withholding info from the spirits, but they are still intelligent beings. They would be just as capable of grasping the risks of Veilfall as the people of Thedas. Many of them would remember the Veil going up in the first place and we know many want to be one with the world again. I'm certain many feel the loss of the connection.

If spirits willingly agreed to help mitigate the damage of Veilfall, then for me the implication is that at least some spirits also want the veil gone (I'm sure there are some spirits who don't trust the Dread Wolf). Some remember when the Fade was one with the world and long for it. Others may be scared of the constant threat of corruption (why spirits fled the breach in DAI), and some may be suffering. I think of his Wisdom friend specifically who got pulled through and bound and tormented - who cried to him in his dreams for help. As I posted before - how many cries of help has Solas heard over the course of time when the veil went up that would be a part of his obsession to tear the veil down?

That doesn't mean Veilfall would have been clean. But it suggests there are perspectives on the veil - particularly from spirits - that I'm curious in exploring. And considering Solas is the only character in Thedas most qualified to speak on the subject of spirits, I'm sad that the one conversation that seemed poised to address it gets cut short. And since this dialogue is only in the atonement ending, my assumption here is that players choosing this option, actually want to hear Solas out.

The spirits what Solas? WHAAAT?

I don’t think he was going to claim that spirits wouldn’t be harmed, or that none would be destroyed. Solas isn’t naive - he knows spirits will suffer, just as many people will, and he never denies that. But maybe he was about to argue that leaving the veil intact is causing ongoing harm to spirits, harm that most people in Thedas don't see because their treatment of spirits has become so normalized. Or maybe he was going to say that the spirits want this as much as he does and use them as a reason to do it (amongst other reasons).

Going to gather pictures of Veilguard Solas without edits to the facial features, just the face textures, then pictures with the facial features too, to see the difference.

UPDATE

solas is one of the companions who dislikes killing/slavery the most, argues against even having to kill bandits in self-defense and thinks of it as a tragedy, and will keep approving of every single minor helpful side quest you do. this has nothing to do with his goals, and it's not like he's manipulating the inquisitor into doing anything there, it's just his genuine moral stance.

and then he gets SO mad about the wisdom spirit or cole being bound or corrupted, and gets upset if a friendly inquisitor drinks from the well. and then you learn that he used to be a spirit, and that he was bound to mythal in a way that he would describe as slavery. so that's why he gets unusually heated about these topics, bc he's taking it personally! and yet... he still describes mythal as the best of the evanuris and his friend, and seemed to hold a level of reverence for her regardless. even as he gets very scared on the well-drinking inq's behalf - which turns out to be valid, since flemythal mind controls them immediately.

so it's like, wow! fascinating! this is such an interesting trait, in that he has strong principles about other people's autonomy and well-being, but, has somehow achieved levels of compartmentalization unfathomable to mere mortals, and is like "well, mythal was my friend though 🥚👍" about whatever he had going on. he was determined enough to try and topple this whole society for ethical reasons, but somehow loopholed himself into believing his own case was unique and better than everyone else's? unreliable narration! cool! let's see how/if he finally gets out of it and recognizes what happened in a more objective way!

and then weekes is like. no actually <3. the only good way to effect change in a horrible slavery-riddled empire, is through Incremental Internal Change of the government - the same government that profits off the slavery. and so to that end, every single character will go out of their way to describe solas' rebellion as failed or unnecessary, or get mad at him for.... doing stuff like "killing a blighted person out of mercy to prevent a slower death" or "soldiers dying in battle" HDSJDGHS. and then making jokey implications that solas and mythal were sexually involved - even as he's shown to be a servant at best, and she's repeatedly telling him to override his morals on her behalf. which is extremely unethical, and if taken seriously, should not be comedy material at all.

and the Heartwarming Conclusion to all this is.... mythal tells him they did all their wrongs together (not really, since he was a servant, and she had tons of her own wrongs outside him, such as her mind control well) and then says she releases him from her service... so that he can go to jail eternally, by himself. for the wrongs that they both did together. yay <3

so the only conclusion there is... we are genuinely supposed to take the Benevolence™ thing at face value, and mythal WAS supposed to be right all along, and it was in fact solas' fault for uh. rebelling against... the slavery...?