Solas (Dragon Age)
Solas is a fictional character in BioWare's Dragon Age franchise. The character made his debut in 2014's , where he serves as a party member. He is an elven outlaw mage operating outside of the edicts of the Chantry, the dominant religious organization in Thedas, the world setting of Dragon Age. His primary interest is in the Fade, a metaphysical realm that is tied to Thedas which is normally accessible only through dreaming.
Solas sought out and joined the Inquisition shortly after a massive explosion at a peace conference killed everyone present, except for the protagonist, who was discovered emerging from a dimensional rift. This is followed by the opening of the Breach, a massive dimensional tear in the sky that allows multitudes of demonic spirits to pass through into the physical world. Solas sets himself up as the Inquisition's expert on the Fade and its denizens; his knowledge and expertise proving instrumental in aiding the organisation's struggle to close the Breach and defend the world from invaders coming through Fade rifts.
Solas vanishes shortly after the defeat of Corypheus; Inquisition's post-credit scene reveals his true identity. Trespasser, the final DLC pack released for Inquisition, provides further insight into his backstory and motives, as well as his involvement in the current world state of Thedas.
Solas has been positively received as a complex and well-written character. He is voiced by Welsh actor Gareth David-Lloyd.
Character overview
Solas presents himself as a self-taught hedge mage who wields powers developed outside of conventional teaching and who has no affiliation with the Chantry-sanctioned Circle of Magi or any Dalish clan. He spends much of his time dreaming in ancient ruins and learning all there is to learn about what lies beyond the Veil, a metaphysical barrier which normally prevents direct physical access between the physical Thedas and the Fade. Solas believes in cause and effect, wisdom as its own reward and the inherent right of all free willed people to exist. Solas concludes that the many current conflicts in Thedas, such as the Mage-Templar War or the racial tensions between elves and humans, are little more than the black-and-white reductionist dichotomies which have led to the many tragedies of history.Solas sometimes speaks in iambic pentameter, and the Inquisitor will gain approval when replying in kind. This is a deliberate design choice, given his characterization and personality.
Conception and creation
Solas was written by Patrick Weekes, with heavy input from lead writer David Gaider, although the character was originally conceived and named prior to Weekes joining the project. In an interview, Weekes said that Solas was initially based on David Tennant's Doctor Who performance to capture his humanity and ancient nature. Weekes noted that writing a character with hidden depths like Solas provided a great deal of both difficulty and opportunity. The character is depicted within an in-game cutscene as disdaining tea. Besides the fact that tea, particularly caffeinated tea, is a stimulant which may hinder Solas from crossing into the Fade during sleep, the character's dislike of tea also reflects Weekes' personal dislike of tea.Originally, Solas was not available as a romance option in Inquisition; according to Mike Laidlaw, BioWare redesigned him as a potential love interest for a female elven Inquisitor when they extended the game's development for a year. Weekes noted that this was an opportunity to increase the basic sadness of the character. Solas will initiate the breakup of his relationship with the Inquisitor at the conclusion of the romance subplot, regardless of the player's choices.
In a video uploaded on BioWare's official YouTube channel titled "What Makes a Good Character?", Weekes used Harry Potter as a metaphor to explain how Solas perceives himself as the hero of the story; he feels he is "this luckless, unfortunate person who by an unpleasant destiny and the simple fact that no one else has the ability to do it, that it has to be him and that someone else would get it wrong".
During a session at the Phoenix Fan Fest 2015, Gareth David-Lloyd revealed that he recorded voice work for Solas over a period of two and a half years. He was provided with a simple outline and some lines on a screen to work with in lieu of a comprehensive backstory for Solas; he eventually developed a stronger idea of who the character is about three or four months after he started.
Visual design
Solas is envisioned by Weekes to be a middle-aged man in his early to mid-forties. His appearance is reflective of a wandering nomad's lifestyle, who journeys from place to place without a set destination. BioWare's designers intended Solas to appear as if he is wearing all that he owns, and that his items of clothing are meant to look like homemade improvisations born from necessity.Concept art displayed in The Art of Dragon Age Inquisition book shows the creative process for Solas as the team develops his look after many renditions to match the ideas provided by other creative teams. After exploring many different hairstyles, the final decision was made to design Solas with a bold, bald head. This is intended to evoke a sense of ageless wisdom required by his character. His visage is subsequently associated with that of an egg by Dragon Age fandom, and he has been referred to as an egghead.
Appearances
''Inquisition''
Solas is encountered at the beginning of the game, fighting demons alongside Varric Tethras and a few Inquisition personnel. It is revealed that right after the calamity began where the Breach opened, Solas approached the fledgling Inquisition's leadership. He claimed that he might be able to help the sole survivor of the Divine Conclave's explosion and the suspiciously glowing mark on their hand, and that he would not stand idly by when his knowledge of the arcane could mean the difference between salvation and utter destruction. He was granted permission to study the survivor and one of the smaller rifts, in hopes of finding a way to seal the Breach and help the prisoner. Solas claims that he managed to use healing magic and minor wards to prevent the mark on the survivor's hand from growing and save their life.He helps the Inquisitor seal a small rift shortly after their meeting, and then follows them to the Temple itself to close the first and largest rift, which he theorizes would stabilize the Breach. After the Inquisitor successfully enlists the help of either the mages or the templars, Solas assists the Inquisitor with closing the Breach itself. Following the destruction of the Inquisition's base in Haven by the Elder One, now revealed as an ancient darkspawn and formerly human magister known as Corypheus, Solas explains that the orb that he wields as a weapon is of elven origin. It is in fact one of the foci used by the elves to channel ancient magics. He worries that if the orb's origin were to be revealed, it may have negative consequences for the reputation of the elven people. He then guides the Inquisitor to Skyhold, a disused fortress located in the Frostback Mountains that the Inquisition could claim as its new headquarters.
When the Inquisitor finally defeats Corypheus and stops him from opening another rift, with the orb being damaged permanently in the process, Solas seems distraught and laments the destruction of the orb as the loss of yet another elven artifact. He disappears shortly afterwards, his whereabouts are completely untraceable by the Inquisition's agents. In the post-credits scene it is revealed that Solas is Fen'Harel, an ancient being who is a member of the elven pantheon of gods, and a recurring trickster figure in Dragon Age lore. The elven orb actually belonged to him; he intended to use Corypheus to unlock the orb's power, which is something he could not accomplish on his own as he had awakened from millennia of slumber in the Fade and was too weak as a result.
''Trespasser''
In the midst of investigating a Qunari plot to invade Thedas, two years after the defeat of Corypheus, the Inquisitor encounters several elven ruins and learns that the elven pantheon of deities, the Evanuris were in fact extremely powerful mages as to opposed to divine beings. The Inquisitor eventually encounters the Viddasala, the Qunari leader in charge of "Dragon's Breath", a plot that involves Qunari sleeper agents within the Inquisition smuggling barrels of "gaatlock" into seats of power across southern Thedas, with the intention of wiping out its leadership and facilitating an invasion. She claims that the Qunari instigated it to prevent incidents like the Breach from being repeated. The Inquisitor also learn that agents supposedly working for Fen'Harel have been disrupting the Qunari plot; concurrently, the Inquisitor is losing control of the Anchor, threatening their life. The Inquisitor foils the plot and follows the Viddasala into the Eluvian network to confront Solas, despite the Anchor growing increasingly out of control.After petrifying the Viddasala, Solas calms the Anchor to explain himself to the Inquisitor. He confesses to being Fen'Harel, who led a rebellion against the Evanuris after they became corrupt and abused their power. He created the Veil to seal away the Evanuris after they murdered Mythal, sundering the physical world and the Fade permanently, and in doing so dooming the civilization of the ancient elves to collapse due to its dependency on magic. Remorseful over his direct role in the downfall of his people, Solas now plans to unmake the Veil he created millennia ago and restore the ancient elven world by reuniting the physical world and the Fade, being fully aware that this act may potentially destroy the world in its present state and killing countless lives in the process. He also admits to engineering the events which led to the Breach, albeit inadvertently; he had initially arranged for Corypheus to obtain his orb, anticipating that the ancient darkspawn would unlock it and destroy himself in the subsequent explosion. Solas would then retrieve the orb and use the Anchor to achieve his goal. Realizing later that Corypheus survived the orb's destructive power, he joined the Inquisition to guide the organization into defeating him and his forces. Solas also reveals that he allowed the Qunari's Dragon's Breath plot to be discovered so that the Inquisitor may thwart it, and that he has double agents working within the Inquisition, before ultimately amputating the Inquisitor's arm to prevent the Anchor from killing them and leaving. The Inquisitor may resolve to either stop Solas by any means necessary or attempt to convince him to abandon his plan.
Upon returning to the Winter Palace in Orlais, the Inquisitor either disbands the Inquisition or reforms the organization into a smaller peacekeeping force to serve directly under Divine Victoria, risking weaker efforts against Solas or further infiltration in their ranks respectively. An epilogue reveals that, following the failure of the Viddasala's plot, the Qunari disavowed her actions and resumed their war with Tevinter, and that many elven individuals across Thedas have disappeared. Regardless, the Inquisitor resolves to follow through with their vow to Solas, noting his familiarity with the workings of the Inquisition and planning to recruit new allies from Tevinter.
Other appearances
Fen'Harel's sobriquet, The Dread Wolf, and associated imagery is referenced by a promotional trailer released by BioWare during the 5th annual The Game Awards show in December 2018.Reception
Solas has been mostly positively received. Patricia Hernandez of Kotaku was fascinated by the plot twist in the post-credit scene of Inquisition which reveals his true identity. She observed that the reveal was a subject of intense discussion by Dragon Age fandom on social media at the time. She concludes that "the ending is a cliffhanger, and a damn good one at that". Alison Stalberg from TheGamer.com rated Solas highly for his intellect, saying "Not only did he outsmart all the characters, he created the Fade. He imprisoned the elf gods. We still do not know what else he has in store."Gita Jackson from Kotaku dislikes the character on a personal level. The opening paragraph of her opinion piece reads: "Solas is one of the best-written characters in video games. It’s hard for me to think of a character whose loathsome worldview is so well developed, who, even when he’s on your side, manages to be a complete piece of shit about everything. He is a such a great character that I want to strangle that dude with my bare hands". In her opinion piece published in response to Jackson's article about Solas, Angela D. Mitchell finds the character too complex, too trapped, and too tragic for her to despise. She noted that BioWare's Dragon Age universe "inspires so many deep emotions because of the rich, complex characters that fans passionately love and hate." She further noted that nowhere is "this level of emotional response more visible, however, than with the character of Solas, the Dragon Age: Inquisition companion who is ultimately revealed to be the elven god Fen'Harel and our unexpected adversary".
Alison Bell from Videogamer.com believed that the potential romantic relationship between Solas and the Inquisitor is the best written romance in a video game so far, although she compared it to that of a Shakespearean tragedy: "histrionic, ruinous, and, in the long term, one or both of you is probably going to die."
Analyzing the sixty-second trailer for the upcoming fourth installment of the Dragon Age series released in December 2018, Kat Brewster from IGN said "...In true BioWare trickery, The Dread Wolf had been hiding in tapestries and lore all since ". She called Solas "the dear elven pal we love to hate and hate to love". Since then, the character has been the focus for much of the media coverage pertaining to information released by BioWare about the upcoming fourth main entry of the Dragon Age franchise.