Thinking about the Inquisitor in the war room, listening in silence as the others strategize about how to bind Solas to the Veil. Unlike anyone else present, the Inquisitor is the one who truly understands what that means.
No matter the Inquisitor - regardless of approval level, or history - they always advocate for another way in that war room. That moment is hard-coded into the narrative and after reflecting, I think we can relate it to being about the lived experience the Inquisitor has with the Anchor.
They uniquely know what it feels like to be affected by the Veil.
Spirit of Justinia (Here Lies the Abyss): “It is the needle that passes through the Veil, as little else can. You are the thread. And it is the key that locks or unlocks a door to the Fade… It is part of you now, and cannot be removed without your death.”
That spirit named the truth the Inquisitor carried for years. The Anchor stitched them into the Veil and shaped them in a way no one else in that war room can fully comprehend. They know what it feels like to be entangled with the Fade and the Veil, to be consumed by something so powerful and to lose agency because of it.
In Solas’ binding he releases a sharp cry of pain. The Veil chains him by the wrists, the ankles, the neck - pulling him. The Inquisitor, with their own sharp cries of pain and torment can intuit the physical and metaphysical cost the parasitical effects of the Veil will have on Solas, because they have felt it themselves.
So if players mock the Inquisitor for suggesting Solas can be reasoned with - calling it weak, out of character, or “not my Inquisitor” - what may be overlooked is that this moment is grounded in lived experience. The Inquisitor has earned the right to speak, because of their direct contact with the Veil, the Fade, and the pain that came with it - and by the fact that, in the end, it was Solas who saved their life.
That survival creates a strange kind of intimacy between them. Solas doesn’t kill the Inquisitor, even knowing they could become his greatest threat (which goes against his usual pattern). Instead, he tells them the truth, making them a witness to his burden and his plans. What he later calls his “moment of weakness” (The Dread Wolf Take You) draws the Inquisitor into the heart of it all.
So even the most betrayed Inquisitor might understand on some level, based on their own experience, that Solas has weaknesses - and that he once chose to save their life. Perhaps that’s why, in that war room, they always speak up - at least once.
The endings do a good job of reflecting the different Inquisitors. For those who carry the pain and anger of the Anchor, the loss of their arm, and the loss of agency, forcibly binding Solas can feel like justice. Having him chained, crying out in pain, becomes a mirror of what they once endured.
But for the Inquisitor who believes he can still be saved - who chooses compassion over retribution - the ending shifts. They are there at the end, reaching out. And when Solas does see reason and chooses to bind himself, there are no Veil chains, no cries or struggle. The Veil only waits for him to step forward.
But there is one more ending worth looking through - where we see Inquisitor Lavellan make a different kind of decision.
It’s the choice of someone who carries an additional experience no one else in the room can claim: the experience of Solas through love.
Combine that love with the fact that she survived a fate not unlike the one they now intend to force onto him and we can see what may have influenced her decision. She knows what it means to be forcibly bound to something that nearly destroyed her.
For this Lavellan, she won’t let him face it alone. She’ll help carry the burden with him, as best she can.
Thanks to Cage for the Inquisitor screenshots! Solas ones are mine.
