dalishious:

I finally started Last Flight and oh my god, I was not expecting Valya to be so young? Why haven’t I seen any talk about how young this baby mage is, joining the Grey Wardens because the other option is a likely death???

There were four of them besides Valya—an extraordinary number of recruits to be taken at once, she’d been told. They ranged in age from sixteen to nineteen, except for Senior Enchanter Eilfas, whose scraggly beard was more white than brown. All of them were mages, which was another extraordinary thing. By tradition, the Wardens took only one recruit from each Circle of Magi in Thedas.
But that tradition had been broken. Violently.
Beginning in Kirkwall and spreading swiftly through Orlais, the mages of Thedas had found themselves hunted and hounded on all sides. The Templar Order, supposedly their protector and defender, had turned against them. How and why it had happened, Valya wasn’t sure; she’d been only an apprentice until a few weeks ago, so no one had told her much of anything, and the rumours were impossibly confusing.
What she did know was that Weisshaupt, and the Grey Wardens, represented sanctuary.
Elsewhere in Thedas, the world might have gone mad. Elsewhere, she’d heard, entire Circles of Magi had been destroyed. Their towers had been pulled to the ground, and every mage and apprentice inside had been slaughtered—even the little children—for no crime beyond being born with the gift of magic. Other Circles were said to have risen up in rebellion and joined an army of mages massing somewhere around Andoral’s Reach.
But that was elsewhere. Not here. Here in the Anderfels, men and women remembered the true dangers of the world, and they did not waste precious lives fighting one another. When the first rumours reached their Circle, the Senior Enchanter had sent a swift message to Weisshaupt, and within days the Wardens’ reply had come back. Any mage who wished to join the Grey Wardens was welcome. No such mage was to be troubled by the templars. The Wardens’ Right of Conscription was inviolate—and that meant its promise of sanctuary was too.

accidentalapostate:

Why Does Solas Hate the Grey Wardens?

After a stimulating conversation with some of my favorites this morning (shout out!), I started thinking more about my opinion on this matter. I know there are probably dozens of better theories out there, but you know me, always here with a soap box and two cents.

Solas’ vague disdain about the Wardens was jarring and confusing to me because he is SO angry about their actions during Inquisition, yet he offers no substantial reason. Typically when something enrages Solas (i.e the perversion of Wisdom, drinking from the well, etc.) he at least has a reason of some sort other then “I just don’t *harrumph*”. So why then, does he not explain his fury toward an organization that he really should be more neutral about than anything? I believe it is because his reason is entirely too telling about his identity and his motivations.

The behavior of the Wardens in DA:I is eerily similar to an incident in Elvhen lore in which certain members of the Evanuris found and killed Dwarven Titans, harvesting their blood (Lyrium) to make them stronger. It is presumed that they eventually encountered a corrupted/blighted Titan and by coming into contact with that Lyrium, the elves too became corrupt.

In their corruption, members of the Evanuris murdered Mythal. Then, in his grief and rage at Mythal’s death Solas/Fen’Harel threw up the Veil. This was not in revenge, but it was to protect his people from whatever great corrupting threat had led to Mythal’s death at the hands of those she trusted.

It seems to me that the Wardens killing the Old Gods and using their blood to become more powerful, corrupting their minds and bodies would strike a nerve with Solas. Particularly when you consider how the Wardens tamper with other things they do not understand, such as demon-binding, and the result is the death of Divine Justinia. At the hands of people she likely trusted. People who have influence. Not to mention the very act of demon-binding reeks of the binding of the Elvhen servants to their Gods.

Solas doesn’t just hate the Wardens because they’re meddling into what they do not understand. He hates them because they are a direct parallel to the events of his past. They remind him of a painful moment in his life, one that led to great suffering.