Pinned
𝐅𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀. a place a wolf might dream. an independent, highly selective and semi headcanon based roleplaying blog for 𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐒 / 𝐅𝐄𝐍'𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐋 of dragon age studied and loved by harrow. multiverse, multiship, and mutuals only. mature themes will be present (21+); please read my rules before following or interacting. this is a dragon age and solas critical blog. banner art credit.
traveling with ( in no particular order ): @katabasiiis, @incitesin, @haludh, @keepslore, @felledarrow, @samahla
methinks i shall spend some time on the multimuse this night. it needs some tlc
quick thing, i want to thank everyone who reached out to me personally or for supporting me in any way, you're all very sweet and dear to me and i was Not expecting that at all - i'm truly okay! it's honestly funny, in a way.
but on a more important note: i don't own solas. i've never claimed to. never even made overtures in that direction. in fact, i've always said some iteration of "and this is just my take on him" or "people might have other opinions," and that isn't in judgement. it's in celebration. but when it comes down to it i do put a lot of thought and pieces of myself into studying him, writing him, what have you, and i'm not going to stop doing that. i'm proud of that. and i'm too old to think of things as competition, so please don't involve me in whichever one you've started.
NOW! back to business as usual [read: slowblinking at my drafts]
if you have a problem with me bringing up the very real issue of devs / writers - from any source of media - cherry picking culturally significant concepts and then misaligning them to suit their own narrative ... your first problem is with yourself. plain and simple. i'm not getting "points." i'm doing what i'm supposed to do as a human being that gives a shit.
“Why should I apologize for being a monster? Has anyone ever apologized for turning me into one?”
— Juuzou Suzuya (via sam2119931)
one day i will theorize about the beyond - before the veil goes up - as it relates to animism and the veil going up is actually much more cataclysmic for how it partially severs or blunts a very real spiritual connection between all things … but that is for a day when i’ve had more sleep beforehand.
this is really random but I thought about it and wanted to ask. comparative to the evanuris, do you have any thoughts on how the maker falls into things? I've always vaguely suspected that the maker might have been solas and andraste as mythal, but I'm not sure if that tracks anywhere else
unprompted and i love you for it
Quill i could kiss you for this question because oh yes i do. Allow me to get theological in here.
There have been so many correlations between Andraste and Mythal that honestly it warrants a longer post that I'll make one day; if it isn't taken as canon, it's pretty damn close considering they're indisputably identical in their idols, not to mention both Flemeth and Andraste are linked to early alamarri tribes. It's not a big leap to think that if Mythal could be held by Flemeth, she could be held by Andraste. We also know that the Evanuris, namely Elgar'nan, were reaching out to anyone willing to listen through the Fade to try and be set free. And we know Andraste heard voices early on and could have been a dreamer ( like Solas ) ... food for thought.
So, belief in the Maker certainly could have originated from Andraste misinterpreting Elgar'nan's whispers. That's one theory among hundreds, and I do think that's pretty likely since Andraste is pretty 1:1 with Joan of Arc. But with Solas, I think it's a little more complicated. Mostly because of this:
Cassandra: You believe in the Maker? Solas: I am always open to new ideas.
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.
To me, this says: the Maker isn't real. Or if he is, he's not what people think. We know for a fact that elven gods existed; we know the old gods of Tevinter existed, because they are one and the same. But Solas is very careful about what he says - if the Maker were real to him, I think he would have said something like what he said about the Evanuris. Though a lot of theories align Solas with the Maker because of the correlation between "making the fade," which is completely fair and valid.
What I personally think ( and again this is just my opinion! ) is that the Maker is the Fade. The waking world and the Fade were once inseparable. Solas goofed that up, oopsies. But it was all one Thing before, and before people ever populated the earth, it was populated with things Of The Fade like spirits, ( and to my belief ) dragons, titans, etc. Kind of like how the ether is this amorphous, life-giving substance beyond comprehension, or how the life stream in final fantasy connects all things and flows throughout, the "beyond" ( the Fade ) gave life and connected everything together. everything was magic before. everything was one whole before. Solas and the ancient elves have no reason to believe in it because they came from it - it just is.
Honestly, the Maker is more alike to Eru in tolkien works to me. He just is the nature of the universe that created it all, but isn't necessarily a corporeal being for worship. I think that, as with the later religions created in DA, the "Maker" as he's known in Andrastian faith is more or less an analog to make sense of what happened to the world post the veil going up. The Veil exists, so it must be there for a reason, kind of thing.
tldr; I think there's a TON of valid connections in the Chant that directly correlate with the Evanuris, especially Mythal, but i think the "Maker" is just the Fade itself, which is why Solas thinks it's all a bit much.
Referring to a canon character as "my oc" because I put more work into them than the author
i laid down and then i sat right back up because the relationship between @katabasiiis olivia and solas as both father / daughter or mentor / mentee has me chewing my walls. within that verse, there’s an added depth and desperation to his actions and his guilt considering olivia is a child carrying the anchor, and that certainly was the last thing he ever wanted to happen. i don’t write solas as being particularly fatherly - i think it would take him a while to feel that sort of connection. but the responsibility for endangering her? oh he feels that to the bone, and it’s one of the prime reasons why he argues so hard against olivia helping him post-trespasser. he’s already done enough.
i spoke about it with katie at one point but it should be a post honestly, considering how important the regret prison actually is as an entity.
i'll dig into more on it in a bigger post but the rundown on how solas perceives the prison is through his own personal horrors that rook cannot see. rook is not the prisoner, here. when they are, that's of course when they witness their own set of regrets and failures, as we see with whomever they canonically lost. but for the length of time that rook isn't a prisoner, i don't think they see what solas sees. perhaps another spirit could, if they were a little more connected with the fade, but he is its sole captive. it will do as it was built to do. the statues from the ritual site are still present for him, but they do a lot more than just hover in the background. sometimes they speak. sometimes they shapeshift into something else. sometimes he watches mythal burst apart and reassemble, over and over and over again. it depends on the day, really, and his emotional fortitude at the moment.
@keepslore asked: why are you being sweet? what do you want? // from rook!dhavi u3u
"What do I want?" Solas' voice echoes across the empty way, threaded by the stone hands that leech over the prison's rocks and ruin. His own remain ever empty, and his fingers twitch around that indefinite lack. For her, he splays them in faux innocence, arms out to address the wealth of nothing, and all the nothing he could fill it with. A victim of his own thoroughness. "I want for nothing, clearly." He turns on his heel, and points to the space between a chunk of June, and a splinter of Sylaise. "In this corner, I have a plush chair, a warm fire to rest by." He turns again. The prison shimmers like heat in the desert, and where one listing statue had been a constant for however many days, another takes its place, shorter and stockier and more painfully familiar than Solas would so openly address. Dhavi could not see it, a small amount of grace he was grateful for.
He smiles through the haunting, facing her once more. "In that corner, a window to an open, sunlit field." His arms fall heavily at his sides and in a single breath, the prison reworks itself into new theatrics of his failures, and on and on it shall go. "Perhaps you simply caught me in a good mood," Solas ends flatly.
@incitesin / for fenris / x.
"Glowering at me from this distance will not close the gap any faster." He should know, as often as Solas tried; but it was anyone's guess how long he's actually been here on the unchanging chasm's edge, with nothing but the prison's myriad taunts and Fenris' visits to keep him occupied.
The guilt alone at tethering Fenris to him at all was a particular feast for the prison's purpose. Every so often, Ghilan'nain's effigy would soften to the girl he knew before their rising, before She laid any claim. Still so idealistic and determined, with all their talks on how they could best serve their people, to any end. The cutting disappointment Solas sees now is only a cruel illusion in the stone, but it sticks.
The disappointment from Fenris cuts deeper, for much of the same reason - and for others. Solas watches him approach his share of the divide and has to catch himself before he can mourn their ... partnership, lying prone and dead in its depths. All the loose stones he's kicked over the edge, an improper cairn. "The faster you stop Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain, the faster you can hit me. Or at least try." For once, his teasing has no real sharpness to it, his voice softer over the distance.
"Friends outside of Minnesota please read. I'm sharing a post written by a personal friend and medical doctor: Friends outside MN, you need to know what is happening here. Everyone knows that ICE shot and killed a woman here on Wednesday. But that’s not the only thing that’s going on:
From Mpls St. Pauls
Unidos MN has a thorough “know your rights” resource walking through a number of situations, i.e. if ICE shows up at your home or workplace, if you’re detained by the police, what documents to carry, etc.
The Star Tribune has compiled a great resource detailing what, exactly, ICE agents can and can’t do, and what rights legal observers have during encounters.
If you are trying to find someone who has been detained by ICE, here’s a link to the Online Detainee Locator System.
Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC) of Minnesota's January workplace know-your-rights training for restaurant workers has now passed, but keep an eye on Instagram for potential upcoming trainings or other resources.
Neighborhood House in St. Paul's West Side neighborhood, just across the way from El Burrito Mercado, offers a range of services: two food shelves, family service centers, housing stability, and more.
Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee has continued its food card fundraiser to help get groceries and necessities to families forced into hiding, parents kept away from work and kids from school. You can donate here.
It's been amazing to see the support for Renee Good's family in the week since her death at the hands of ICE agent Jonathan Ross. But if you have the resources, there's also a huge need for mutual aid for the families of the now reported thousands of people across the metro who have been detained by ICE. They can be hard to track down by search, but I'll continue to list what I find here: for the Ponce family, for Sing and family, for a Minnesota family of nine, for Christian Rivera and family, for Donaldo's family, for Zurzya Sanchez's family, for Karla Lopez's family, and for Josefina and Gabriel.
Pow Wow Grounds is currently open and accepting donations to meet community needs; you can find a list of desired items here, or Venmo directly at @powwowgrounds.
Joyce Uptown Foodshelf is hosting its second emergency food drive on January 14 to meet “skyrocketing demand for emergency bags” for families who aren’t able to leave their homes. You can find details via their Facebook.
Over in St. Paul, Zion Community Commons, Open Market MN, and the Twin Cities Vegan Chef Collective are working together to assemble “Shelter in Place” packs for families unable to leave their homes. You can find more information via Instagram.
Both neighbors in southwest Minneapolis and in the Longfellow neighborhood are fundraising to support their neighbors with rental assistance, food delivery, healthcare access and services, transportation, and legal support services.
Lowry Hill East Neighborhood Association (The Wedge) has an ongoing food share.
Northern Coffeeworks is supporting a mutual aid request from a neighbor supporting 10 immigrant families with weekly food deliveries and basic essentials.
Dios Habla Hoy church on Cedar Avenue in Minneapolis is doing both a food drive and a rent support fundraiser; you can find links to both via their Facebook page.
Beyond Beurre Blanc, AKA local independent food critic Kirstie Kimball, is also an excellent resource for information on how to continue supporting local families as 1) ICE operations continue and 2) food stamps and other hunger relief programs are yet again frozen in Minnesota. Stay tuned for updates via Instagram.
These restaurants, cafes, and businesses are currently drop-off sites for donations to various food drives:
One of the most-asked questions I’ve seen circulating on social media is: What businesses have been hit hardest by ICE’s presence, so we can support them? In short, the answer is: immigrant-owned restaurants who have large immigrant customer bases. I can’t draft up an exact and comprehensive list, much as I wish I could, but I can give you a place to start based on some of my favorites: Go for lunch at Mercado Central and get pupusas at Rincón Salvadoreño and apple turnovers from ground-floor bakery Panaderia El Mexicana; pick up a pressure cooker that’ll likely knock the socks off your Instant Pot. For sweets: My favorites are rice pudding-filled doughnuts from Panaderia San Miguel; conchas and apricot-glazed hilos from Papá Chuy’s; halwo and vanilla cake from Albi Kitchen (also the sambusas here are great); malawax (sweet crepes) from Karmel Mall (yes, Hamdi is excellent, but if you wander around the ground floor you’ll find a number of other stalls selling their own equally delicious versions). For dinner: salmon and spaghetti at Mama Safia’s; smoky pozole from Habanero Tacos Street on Lake Street; Homi Restaurant’s entire caldos menu over in St. Paul; 18-inch, pastor-filled machetes from Taco Libre; fried tilapia and pilaf rice at Wiilo Restaurant & Bakery in Karmel Mall; pork belly gorditas at El Taco Torro in Midtown Global Market. For tacos: True Jalisco-style quesabirria at Taco Taxi; tacos de canasta at Las Charolas on the ground floor of Plaza Mexico and barbacoa de chivo at El Chivo Crazy just upstairs; tacos al pastor at Taqueria La Hacienda. If you’re feeding a crowd, Tacos El Primo does amazing catering-sized meals.
A key note, though. As you’re visiting and eating, please don’t take photos—given the very scary and inflammatory nature of the moment, doing so could potentially make staff or customers feel unsafe.
Unfortunately, ICE’s presence throughout the metro has caused a number of restaurants and businesses to temporarily close to prioritize the safety and well-being of their employees. We’re keeping track of them here, but things change fast, so it’s wise to check your favorite spot’s socials before you head out for a meal or a cup of coffee. The MOST important takeaway is that even a few days of lost business can be a significant hit for a restaurant. The best way to support these places is to show up and eat there as soon as they reopen.
A number of grocery stores around the metro are offering free food delivery given that many of their immigrant customers—including those who are citizens or are documented—are afraid to venture out in public due to ICE’s presence throughout the Cities. Their customer bases have also taken a hit, so they’re great businesses to support if you’re able.
As of January 9, 10 percent of all sales at Mothership Pizza Paradise will go toward a fund supporting restaurant staff, and the restaurant has created a Venmo account where you can donate directly toward staff who are unable to work right now due to ICE’s presence in their neighborhood.
The Gnome is serving free barbecue, no questions asked, on January 14 from noon to 4 p.m.
There's never been a better time to order a cold brew (no ice) from Workhorse Coffee Bar. A portion of proceeds will be donated to Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee.
Sweet Lou’s Meats is using $5 gift cards to fundraise for MIRAC’s current food card drive.
Wrecktangle’s pizza fundraiser is over, but kudos to the team for distributing 600 (!!!) frozen pizzas, plus non-perishables and toiletries, to families in need.
On January 14 and 15, 15 percent of every check at Surly Brewing's Beer Hall and Pizza Upstairs will be donated directly to Keystone Community Services, which is bringing food directly to neighbors through their Foodmobile and grocery delivery programs.
i wanna make it unequivocally clear that there are no time limits when it comes to rping with me. idc if you're scrolling through your drafts and you find a thread of ours from two years ago+ and you wanna continue it... but you're afraid i'll be upset with you bc it's been so long...
babes, i am holding your face so gently when i say this: do the thing. i promise, the only thing i'mma be when i see that notif is excited
