In Case You Want Confirmation On Whether Solas Starts Sobbing After Lavellan Says “There Is No Fate

the wisdom to find a better way and the perseverance to see it through

Vhenan

Sorry, but I just don’t buy the whole “actually Mythal decided after centuries of wandering Thedas as Flemeth that modern people deserve a chance” thing. Because the fragment of Mythal we’re talking about is the jaded old swamp witch who

-Inhabited the body of a woman betrayed by her lover(s) because they found common ground in their suffering and the injustices done to them. (“Once I was but a woman, crying out in the lonely darkness for justice.” - DAI)

-Resents that betrayal to the point she views men as disposable playthings that she can lure back to her hut, have her way with, and then… murder? I think? (Based on Morrigan’s own account in DAO)

-Abused her daughter under the guise of tough love in an attempt to prepare her for a cruel uncaring world. (Again, Morrigan’s account, DAO)

-Says during her appearance in Inquisition that she will have her reckoning.

-Spent centuries consolidating her power as well as cycling through different human women’s bodies via questionable means for the sake of bringing about said reckoning. (“I have carried Mythal through the ages ever since, seeking the justice denied to her.” and about the Inquisitor: “A Herald indeed. Shouting to the heavens, harbinger of a new age.” - DAI)

-During her scene with Solas at the end of Inquisition does NOT say ANYTHING about disagreeing with Solas’s plans, just that she considers him and old friend and is sorry things are going the way they are. (Seriously, is the dialogue in that regret scene in Veilguard supposed to be from a mental connection they had? Because that dialogue just isn’t in the Inquisition scene.)

And I’m supposed to believe that in her last moments, Flemythal backed off and went “actually I think we need to maintain the status quo”????

None of this paints a picture of someone who has gone soft over time. At least not to the degree that is presented in that regret scene in Veilguard. Sure Flemeth wasn’t all bad, she had some tenderness to her. She shows some genuine care for Morrigan and Kieran (if present) and seems hurt when Morrigan implies she was trying not to be the kind of mother Flemeth was to her.

At the end of Inquisition, we can’t tell for certain to what degree she approves of Solas’s methods. But it seems like a step in said methods was to absorb her power and doom her, an embodiment of Justice, to take a passive role once more. And we know what happens when a spirit is denied its purpose. Justice denied its purpose could turn to Vengeance. Which, to me, feels like it would better echo the themes of Solas’s pride/wisdom duality, inquisition’s themes around what it means to become a god-like force of nature, DA2’s question of whether violence is necessary for revolution (which literally has the Justice/Vengeance duality in it with Anders), and DAO’s theme of sacrifice for the greater good.

Kicking the hornet's nest (possibly) by saying I don't really like Manfred's portrayal as a cute gimmicky spirit that is a "research assistant" but all he does is hiss and pour tea and play rock paper scissors. Not when we had Cole and a real agonizing decision of whether to remain a spirit of compassion or become a human. Not when Cole was a fully actualized character and had a REAL storyline and real banter and was trying to figure out himself and his purpose. But most of all, he wanted to help.

Its a huge step backwards in the portrayal of spirits in this game. I mean I have said lots about the status quo and the Veil but this game is just so intellectually incurious tbh. There's no thinking involved or agonizing decision to make where I remember looking up guides on past DA decisions and scum reloading since I wasn't happy with the first decision I made lol.

Would a spirit of curiosity not potentially be the most annoying spirit? I feel like they would be asking 10923482 questions constantly and would've added to a lot of world building and lore instead of comic relief or being sacrificed to another character's storyline.

felassan things that kept me awake last night:

the 4,000 year time span between the veil and the masked empire during which felassan could only ever have spoken to solas in dreams when at all.

the years solas spent in the lighthouse with all those fucking notes from felassan around. "don't cause too much trouble before i get there."

the only time anyone says felassan's name out loud in the video games is when solas says it in an ancient arlathan memory

solas not painting felassan a mural in the lighthouse and only referring to him as "my agent," once, but still regretting what happened with him so much that it's one of the three big revenants powered by his regret, after the titans and mythal???? sir your repression

the ambiguity of "the betrayal of felassan" as the name of that revenant. whose betrayal of whom.

the heart of corruption/revenant dragon residing in the same place felassan used to go to get away from everything.

felassan calling it "our rebellion."

felassan being aware that he would die if he reported back to solas, seeing a plausible way he could run instead, and reporting back anyway.

the tone he takes during his death scene being so friendly and nonchalant, "what's the harm really" and "i suspect you'll hate this," like he's still trying to talk to solas like they are friends and equals even while he is aware solas is about to kill him.

felassan isn't even his real/original name and in one of his veilguard notes he refers to being felassan at all as being "solas's friend felassan" like that identity is inextricably tied to his friendship with solas, he cannot be felassan without also being solas's friend.

"and you are the slow arrow?" / "i hope so."

in conclusion,

this whole idea in both the fandom and the games themselves that being a people attached to their past & a lost civilization is a failing whereas a celebration of the present is something to strive for wrt elven & dwarven culture is something that reads as fundamentally western & liberal to me.

Solas & Lavellan at the end of DAI, Trespasser and DAV

Congrats to them for finally having an ending together!

(you know, there's something to say about how in every other one, they are separated from each other, but in their end slide they are reunited, embracing and not letting go)

Fear, like every emotion, is a powerful thing.