So, despite being a hardcore Cullen romancer, I have a tendency to be in love with most people who I form an emotional attachment to and after the Trespasser DLC and finding out more about Solas, his character just gripped me. I love reading what other people are writing about him and generally, the incredible fanfic in this fandom brings me so much joy. Since I have done quite a bit of reading now – I thought I’d share since other people’s recs list always bring me some gems! Also, I seem to only read lengthy nearly novel-length fics, I hope that is your cup of tea also.
Incomplete/Ongoing Fics That Are Still REALLY Worth Your Time
flower/ink – Solas/Lavellan – a flower shop/tattoo artist AU which is sweet and fun and has some lovely character development. I am a sucker for modern-era AUs when done well. While this fic is incomplete, it ends at a point that feels sort of finished.
The Half-Life of Element Zero – Solas/Inquisitor, Cullen/Inquisitor – a Mass Effect/Dragon Age Crossover that is beautifully mingled, the blending of the two worlds work perfectly the way the author does it and the character development is spot on. Essentially Helen Trevelyan is Alliance military, finds herself in Thedas and has to deal with everything. The story has multiple POVs that works really well, great characterisations and feels super believable. It is an on-going fic, but I am hooked.
Message Sent – Solas/Lavellan – Modern AU – this is on all the rec lists, for good reason. An accidental text message leads to the two strangers connecting. This is another fun read that can also really tug at your heartstrings. It is sexy, sweet and fun. It hasn’t been updated in a VERY long time but was still great to read.
Walking in Circles – Solas/Trevelyan – oh god. THIS FIC. A gorgeous AU where Solas ends up in a Circle and there meets Evelyn Trevelyan. This writing is gorgeous, believable and has some of the best character development I’ve read. I am totally in love with this Solas and it is the first time I have felt truly on board with what he means to do. If you pick any fic from this list, pick this one.
Finished Fics
As The World Falls Down – Cullen/Trevelyan – Cinderella theme sexy fic with hidden identities, wonderful sex scenes, lovely characterisations and a healthy dose of fun.
The Dread Wolf’s Heart – Solas/Lavellan– a time-travel, fix-it masterpiece of a fic that really delves into Solas’ past. It is a beautifully told story that will tug at your heart strings.
A Mouth Full of White Lies – Solas/Trevelyan – this writer is just…amazing. The Inquisitor fakes her own death after Corypheus is defeated and it is about how Solas deals with this, and how they re-find one another. Brilliant characterisation and pacing and plot and just…yeah. Please read it.
Found in a damaged house east of Fort Connor in the Hinterlands along with a shard and a mosaic piece in Dragon Age: Inquisition
Within the Diamond Quarter of Orzammar lies the Shaperate, a branch of dwarven
society so ancient that the dwarves themselves do not know when or
where it began. They are the keepers of history for a people who have
never known the sun or seasons, and who track time by the lives and
deaths of kings. But they are not mere historians. They are craftsmen. For the living history of the dwarves is not written, but forged. “The Memories,” as the dwarves call their records, are runes painstakingly crafted from lyrium which contain the actual thoughts of the Shapers who made them.
The making of runes is not restricted solely to the Shapers. The most commonly useful kind are crafted by many members of the Smith Caste from lyrium and other magically reactive metals and can imbue a variety of fascinating new properties to an item when properly applied, just as the runes of Tevinter
design do. But runes are found everywhere in dwarven artwork and not
all serve a practical purpose – at least, not one that’s known. They are
carved onto houses and store fronts. They are embroidered on garments.
Etched in glassware. Even painted on chamber pots.
The meanings of the symbols themselves are sacred knowledge kept
by the Shaperate. They are not, as many surface-folk believe, the written language
of the modern dwarves, but rather are remnants of a lost language that
predates Orzammar, the dwarven kingdom, and even the tens of thousands
of years of history recorded in the Memories. The Shaperate recognizes
the meanings of a few dozen dwarven runes. “Memory,” obviously, is used
for their record keeping. Many have not so much been translated as
inferred. Runes which decorate both armor and load-bearing architecture
might very well mean “Strength” or “Endurance.” New symbols are
unearthed now and then in the fallen thaigs, brought back by the Legion of the Dead
and jealously hoarded by the Shapers who struggle to find their uses
and origins. Were these symbols an earlier version of the written
dwarven tongue? A language that fell into disuse, replaced by the modern
King’s Tongue? It is hard to guess, and the Memories offer us no wisdom.
—From In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of A Chantry Scholar by Brother Genitivi
*the above image is sourced from the Dragon Age wiki*
Ok, so this used to be a response to another post, but I felt like
bringing it back and it’s long as hell so I thought it deserved its own post.
In this I’ll be addressing a few of the accusations Vivienne gets from
fandom that I think are unfounded; just a series of thoughts and conclusions I
draw from her dialogue, banter and actions. 😊
I’m not too sure about Haven/Skyhold or Kirkwall specifically. However, there are several examples of baths and bathing in Thedas. So far in the form of water basins to bath houses.
Water Basins Water Basins are relatively common throughout Thedas; most people have a water basin across all races and classes. These are small and not really for bathing, but more for quick wash of hands or a dip of a rag for face washing. The medieval equivalent was also called slop basins. This would likely be the most accessible form of washing for place like Ferelden.
For a full-bodied alternative, aka an actual bathtub, a good example is in the moonshiner’s den from Awakening. A metal or more common wood tub would be filled with buckets, usually from a well for bathing. This seems to be staple for middle-class folks, while more intricate bathtubs and even those built into the stone floors and walls of manors or castles are reserved for the upper class. The latter having been unexplored in actual Dragon Age media and is more of an assumption based on it having a medieval equivalent.
Bath House
Tevinter, so far, is one of only two places we’ve seen the appearance of bath houses. These are communal areas, used for public bathing. The one in Magekiller (pictured above) was also shown to have a massage and/or sauna area within. This one, in particular, seems more reminiscent of the Ancient Greek or Roman public baths, which makes sense given its influences. The other location we’ve seen this is the Ancient Elven Baths, a set of ruins found in the Exalted Plains. Which once more makes sense given that Tevinter has pulled many cultural aspects of the elves, into their own culture.
I imagine Skyhold has either one of these in its confines. A public bathing area could be expected, given its elven origins (perhaps somewhere beneath the Keep). While individual bathtubs could have been brought or delivered to the location as the Inquisition moved in. Haven would most likely have had the individual tubs, while Kirkwall could have also sported both (given the Tevinter occupation).
Overall, Tevinter is known for its bathhouses and most other modern humans have been shown using bathtubs. City elves would probably use tubs or public bathing where available, while Dalish with their travel might have portable tubs or just find bodies of water to bath. Qunari and Dwarves are more of a mystery, but Dwarves possess a knack for industrial building so pipes are not out of the question; especially since they do have cisterns within their thaigs.
I think it has to be something like that, or he wouldn’t get so worked up. But I’m not convinced the Archdemons are imprisoning the Evanuris in particular, cause the Evanuris’ prison is the Veil itself, and Solas wants to take down the Veil – he seems to agree that tearing down the Veil would free the Evanuris, but says he ‘has plans’ for dealing with that. Whereas he gets very upset at the idea of killing the Old Gods and freeing whatever they’re holding back.
Solas had been fighting the Evanuris for a while before he finally put up the Veil, so there was a tipping point, and it wasn’t just Mythal’s murder. So what else could killing the Old Gods possibly unleash? I’m reminded again of the scene description I found in the game files of a particular hard-to-find ruin in Trespasser:
Other details too:
“Hail Mythal, adjudicator and savior! She has struck down the pillars of the earth and rendered their demesne unto the People! Praise her name forever!“
For a moment, the scent of blood fills the air, and there is a vivid image of green vines growing and enveloping a sphere of fire.
The vision grows dark. An aeon seems to pass. Then the runes crackle, as if filled with an angry energy. A new vision appears: elves collapsing caverns, sealing the Deep Roads with stone and magic.
Terror, heart-pounding, ice-cold, as the last of the spells is cast.
A voice whispers: “What the Evanuris in their greed could unleash would end us all. Let this place be forgotten. Let no one wake its anger. The People must rise before their false gods destroy them all.“’ (x)
“The runes say the Evanuris fought the Titans. They mined their bodies for lyrium and… something else. It’s not clear.”
”-each time she entered the Void, Andruil suffered longer and longer periods of madness after returning. Andruil put on armor made of the Void, and all forgot her true face. She made weapons of darkness, and plague ate her lands. She howled things meant to be forgotten, and the other gods became fearful Andruil would hunt them in turn.“ (x)
“The fools who first unleashed the Blight upon this world thought they were unlocking ultimate power.”
“Had I not created the Veil, the Evanuris would have destroyed the entire world.”
"He broke the dreams to stop the old dreams from waking. The wolf chews its leg off to escape the trap.”
“They made bodies from the earth. And the earth was afraid. It fought back. But they made it forget.”
It’s not the Evanuris themselves, it’s what the Evanuris were doing. Something so bad that Elvhenan had to be destroyed (and the world cut off from the Fade) to stop the Evanuris from unleashing it. Something that Solas never even hints at in passing lest it be discovered. “Every alternative was worse.”
We’ve seen two different illustrations of what exactly the Seven Seals (presumably the archdemons) are holding back. I think both the many-eyed thing and the lyrium idol are representing the same thing. At this point, I’m taking the red lyrium idol to be a symbol and not what is actually locked away.
So what could it be? What are the ‘old dreams?’ What is sleeping that would be angry if they woke up? It could honestly be anything – the impossibly large sleeping Titans waking up/becoming blighted and striding the land, destroying everything with earthquakes, a Blight beyond reckoning that is only barely being held back, the Forbidden/Forgotten ones, or, yeah, I guess it could be the Evanuris themselves, Blighted beyond recognition. Or it could be something else we haven’t seen – they’re still introducing new concepts.
But whatever it is, Solas is worried af about it, but he hasn’t talked openly about it.
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