darkfantasyenthusiast888:

Solas makes no sense as a villain

What makes Solas difficult for me to read as a villain is that he not only has noble, concrete ideals, but that they are consistently enacted rather than abstract.

He values free will and choice above all, as well as wisdom and compassion. He cares about actual people, and he carries personal guilt for the deaths he caused. His actions are framed, even by himself, as attempts to correct a catastrophic mistake, one he blames exclusively himself for, rather than efforts to gain power or domination.

His real hubris isn’t cruelty, it’s isolation. He insists on making world altering decisions alone, refuses to recognise equals, and consistently underestimates his oversights. The result isn’t malice, but devastatingly bad planning.

From a systems perspective, his core mistake is planning as if the world were a closed system. He designs solutions that don’t account for unknowns, second and third order effects, or the limits of individual foresight. In a reality as complex as Thedas, that isn’t wisdom, it’s misplaced certainty driven by emotion.

That combination, real care, real guilt, and solitary decision making, reads as profoundly human to me, not villainous. I can’t hate someone like that.

If anything, my Lavellan is furious at how incoherently the narrative tries to flatten this into a simple antagonist arc—and is almost certainly plotting something about it.

Receipts:

A ) Values over doctrine (dialogue with Cassandra)

• Cassandra: Solas, if you do not mind me asking, what do you believe in?
• Solas: Cause and effect. Wisdom as its own reward, and the inherent right of all free willed people to exist.
• Cassandra: That is not what I meant.
• Solas: I know. I believe the elven gods existed, as did the old gods of Tevinter. But I do not think any of them were gods, unless you expand the definition of the word to the point of absurdity. I appreciate the idea of your Maker, a god that does not need to prove his power. I wish more such gods felt the same.
• Cassandra: You have seen much sadness in your journeys, Solas. Following the Maker might offer some hope.
• Solas: I have people, Seeker. The greatest triumphs and tragedies this world has known can all be traced to people.

B) Guilt and motive (dialogue with Cole)

• Cole: You don’t need to envy me, Solas. You can find happiness in your own way.
• Solas: I apologise for disturbing you, Cole. I am not a spirit, and sometimes it is hard to remember such simple truths.
• Cole: They are not gone so long as you remember them.
• Solas: I know.
• Cole: But you could let them go.
• Solas: I know that as well.
• Cole: You didn’t do it to be right. You did it to save them.
• Inquisitor: Solas, what is Cole talking about?
• Solas: A mistake. One of many made by a much younger elf who was certain he knew everything.
• Cole: You weren’t wrong, though.
• Solas: Thank you, Cole.

C) Hubris and denial of risk (dialogue with Viviene)

• Vivienne: I’m sure you know exactly what you’re doing, Solas, but a word of advice?
• Solas: Oh, I look forward to this. Go ahead, Enchanter.
• Vivienne: You set your coattails on fire with that last spell.
• Solas: Perhaps what you perceived was merely a figment of the Fade.
• Vivienne: (Laughter) I would not claim your familiarity with the Fade, but I recognize fire when I see it, darling.
• Solas: It did go out eventually. It was not worth mentioning.
• Vivienne: Not for you, perhaps.

lavellaned:

SPEAKING of the the art book this fuckign concept art of what looks like the crestwood scene has had me by the throat for longer than im willing to admit

bringing lavellan to this place to tell her you’re fen’harel while standing UNDER A GIANT STATUE OF YOYRSELF IM GOING INSAANNNNEE

(via spiritbladed)

brambeag:

idkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

junaart:

(Too) Close.

(via boomturkey)

featherfangart:

9:41 - The First Tones

refrainee:

Story explanation

Read the comic [here]

This is the explanation section and it will be a long post. I’m not a writer, so forgive me if there’s a grammatical error or confusing explanation or anything that doesn’t make sense at all.

This comic actually has a title: “Nadir”, which i attached the meaning below:

Let’s talk about the base foundation of the story first. it’s an Important part for determining the storyline, building conflicts, and conclusion of the story:

So, have you ever felt like you are in deep despair and felt like whatever you do it won’t progress further or it won’t change anything? It’s what Lavellan experienced in the beginning of the story. 

What if she just stops and gives up everything? 10 years chasing him must be very tiring while carrying the burden of being a leader as Inquisitor. (Though I never considered this a canon or something because i don’t think the Inquisitor would give up stopping Solas)

Of course Solas won’t let her stop, he’s too selfish to let her go (Solas u pathetic, still visits her in dream) but he is too prideful to stop on his quest tearing down the veil.

We know that to him Lavellan is not only his hope for a better future, she’s also a reminder of his true self “Solas”. However, Solas can’t be with her when his pasts still haunt him, but he also can’t lose her either if it means it would make him lose himself. 

Also, I always thought that maybe one of Solas biggest fear beside “dying alone” is “losing himself”, hence why he never refers to himself as “a god”, that he’s just a man that could make mistakes (that one ending in VG is one example of Solas truly losing himself)

(but please take all i’ve said with a grain of salt, i’m not really good with the lore, i might interpret everything wrong. Solas is so complicated and i love that about him)

I also borrowed some of Solavellan romance dialogue to spark a sense of familiarity (oh the thought of Solas echoing Lavellan’s words).

Next, this is actually my fav page (because i can draw Solas underwater haha). In this scene, Solas is in panic. He knows the Inquisitor can’t swim; he’s willing to jump for her. Whether he can swim or not, he can just use magic to stay afloat.

Move on to next scene, they are in a cave, Solas light up a bonfire, and one of the reasons I draw them shirtless is for symbolism, both of them being vulnerable, their feelings laid bare in front of each other aside I’m too lazy to draw clothes and I don’t want them to catch a cold because of the wet clothes.

Solas might have sounded angry here, but he’s actually scared and worried for her. Lavellan provoked him because she is frustrated and angry with him.

When Solas prideful nature shows up, Lavellan is the one finally who got provoked by him and thus the arguments are unavoidable. 

(By the way the “Elvhen” debate is under assumption if tearing down the veil would wake every ancient elf in Uthenera.)

The whole arguing section is actually when they’re expressing their own frustration. When their argument reached its climax, Solas finally had enough and broke down in tears, he couldn’t keep up with the arguments anymore. Lavellan is taken aback when Solas yelled at her which he rarely does.

And finally everything has made Solas say what he has been bottling up deep inside his heart; he doesn’t want to lose her, he just wants to be with her.

Lavellan couldn’t bear to see him in such a broken state. She cried when he told her how much she meant to him. It feels like a dam has finally burst, all their feelings are overflowing.

Their argument is not for proving who has a better point and who’s not, but for expressing what they’ve been feeling, their frustration; Solas couldn’t stay with her even though he really wanted to and Lavellan felt despair because she couldn’t even stop Solas after years of searching and chasing him. And sometimes arguments don’t result in an answer.

Solas is aware of this. He finally gives her hope for the future, so she can keep going.

Finally the story reached its conclusion. Lavellan knew Solas was right; many people still depended on her and cared about her. She cannot stop now for them. Solas watched her from afar, making sure she’s safe with her people and then he finally left.

As for the answer Solas mentioned in the story, we already got it from VG solavellan ending; Solas tied himself to the veil and went to the fade with his vhenan, an answer for him, Lavellan, and Thedas.

What I want to emphasize in this story is; Solas is pride but he is also wisdom. The Inquisitor is a leader, but she’s also just an ordinary person who has flaws. Both have two sides, and each have their own moments of strength and weakness.

However, I also understand that everyone’s definition of strength and weakness differs, depends on each individual. The way they view things is based on the environment they live in and how they were raised.

But hey, no need to think hard, this is just a solavellan angst comic, we all are here to enjoy the angst :D

That’s all from me, It feels weird describing my own thoughts lol, I am brewing my brain while writing this. I’m not good with words but I hope people understand what I want to explain between these jumbled sentences and explanations. Thank you for reading, Have a good day!

willgrahamscock:

KILL AI AND REBLOG AND CREATE ART IN 2026

(via awaari)

gothiccharmschool:

memorizingthedigitsofpi:

vibraph0ny:

Everyone’s all “ohhh 2026 bring back physical media” until I start talking illuminated manuscripts and then suddenly we’re not on the same page anymore

I made an illuminated manuscript skin for AO3? So im doing my part!

Of course I switched my Ao3 skins to this.

(via 13threbagel)

where-was-there-was:

xenthosss:

cloud–atlas:

actualdraccus:

unluckyxse7en:

moondane-lovers:

TO ANYONE WHO USES DISCORD- FOUR AI SCRAPING BOTS HAVE BEEN SECRETLY ADDED TO YOUR SERVERS WITHOUT YOUR CONSENT

Saw this going around and tested it myself, and I can confirm that this is unfortunately legit. Four hidden bots have been placed in any existing or newly created Discord server that are harvesting data, images, and most concerningly, one seems to be a face swap bot.

Due to them being invisible, banning them from your servers isn’t possible without their ID’s, which I’ve typed out for easy access.

1153984868804468756
1288638725869535283
1090660574196674713
1104973139257081909

Banning is done with the /ban command with each string pasted in one at a time. Four ban commands in total.

Image proof below and further information. This was in my PERSONAL server that has existed for +5 years. Discord is harvesting your shit without your consent, fight back.

Hey so in case you’re like me and wondered: Can you ban members without them being in the server?

The answer is yes, you absolutely can! It’ll look like this - the numbers you paste will be what’s “banned”

However my sibling tried this in her servers and found that One of them was NOT a string of numbers, like so:

And for clarity it isn’t a difference in user or device, this is what she got elsewhere:

So if you ban these numbers and the message shows the actual username? Pretty sure that means they were in there.

Very unpleasant way to check the veracity of this post but hopefully this is a helpful tip for anyone who was concerned - my sib would have No Reason to add these in herself and didn’t have any clue it was in there.

Personally, I’d say even if you are still worried about misinfo/fearmongering/etc from this post, think of it this way - worst case scenario is you’re banning a bot you’ll never use or need. Not a person, a bot. There’s no real damage done playing it safe and running the ban commands through, aside from maybe losing some time doing so.

Best of luck everyone.

Wishing I’d seen this more quickly - Had to take these things out of a lot of creative spaces just now. I’m not convinced that the username only shows up if they were in there, but I do think it’s better safe than sorry, especially when peoples’ art is involved.

@quidnunc-life @inkvoices @alistrawrites

@returnsnull7404 hey this is VERY much real I just took all of them off my discord

what the actual fuck

one of them was on my personal server and ALL OF THEM were on our writing server

(via trashcatsnark)