geeky-jez:

bdafic:

the-emerald-halla:

Low-Approval Solas: “You Have Abandoned the Elves”

Lavellan: Ma banal las halamshir var vhen. (“You do nothing to further our people” or “Your empty ambition abandons our people”)

Solas: I have done no such thing. I simply see no way to help the elves, oppressed as they are now.

Lavellan: Ma halani! Lasa ghilan! (“You could help us! You could guide us!”)

Solas: How many Dalish would listen? Most care little about improving their lives. They already consider themselves perfect, the sole keepers of elven lore. I might reach a few, at most.

Solas: But… You are right. That is more than I reach doing nothing. I suppose I am just tired of fighting.

Lavellan: What do you mean, you’re tired of fighting? Fighting what?

Solas: Did you think I honed my magical skills to impress spirits? I have joined my share of causes. But when I offered lessons learned in the Fade, I was derided by my enemies – and sometimes my allies. Liar. Fool. Madman. There are endless ways to say someone isn’t worth listening to. Over time, it grinds away at you.

Lavellan: If you stop fighting, they win.

Solas: You do not win a war by fighting to the death in every battle. Pick the fights you can win, remember your goals, and do nothing that does not further them.

---

(This is not intended to be a Solas-critical post. This is just to show a side of him that many ride or die Solas fans won’t see in their playthroughs.)

I actually really enjoy the fact that low-approval Solas ends up inadvertently – or perhaps passive aggressively – telling you way more of the truth than high approval Solas does.

I also love how he flat out tells you exactly what he intends to do in this conversation, depending on the dialogue you choose:

Inquisitor: Are you ever concerned that you’ve turned your back on your people?
Solas: I have done no such thing. I simply see no way to help the elves, oppressed as they are now.
Inquisitor: The man who has lived half his life in the Fade has no ideas?
Solas: Not unless we collapse the Veil and bring the Fade here so I can casually reshape reality, no.

My personal explanation for why Solas reveals more if you go through the low-approval route is because you’ve given him absolutely no reason to question himself. The low-approval Inquisitor has done nothing but reinforce the perspective he had upon waking – the same perspective that justifies what he’s planning to do. He is so confident that his path is inevitable that it almost doesn’t matter what he says to you. What does he stand to lose? It’s not as if you’ll manage to suss out his meaning and somehow learn of his true intentions. And what if you did? Would you, a mortal who he doesn’t even really recognize as something real and fully formed, stop him? How, precisely? Because so far, you have not impressed him. You have only shown yourself to be exactly what he expected of you – and those expectations were pretty damn low.

It’s one of the reasons I really love comparing low-approval and high-approval Solas. I feel like his high-approval arc (especially when romanced) focuses his growth on his willingness to broaden his perspective and admit that he was wrong about a number of his preconceived notions. And he does, on multiple occasions, admit fault in his previously held views. He feels he cannot allow it to change what must be done, but he fully understands what the true cost of his actions will be. Low-approval Solas has a startling lack of personal growth. The war against Corypheus is a regrettable setback. He does have some level of respect, perhaps even empathy, for the people and their willingness to band together and fight back against the tide of destruction that threatens them, but his level of emotional connection is significantly lacking in this scenario.

The amount of positive influence the Inquisitor can have over the course of one year on a being who has lived for thousands of years and is considered a god is really mind-boggling to consider.