emet-selch is a very very very similar character to solas dragonage, except way farther along on the timeline of what the character does. like the ffxiv expansion shadowbringers was (imo) the equivalent of both inquisition + dragon age 4, and now tomorrow the expansion “endwalker” is dropping, which will be sort of like playing dragon age 5 and maybe 6 put together, and so being that spoiled with actually getting to know what happens to that sort of character much much further down the storyline has been very fun. I’ve said this whole year that getting to play FFXIV actually gave me closure about Dragon Age that I might never actually get (just because.... forget about DA4′s release, the problem is who can say when that series is actually going to end. 20 more years?) anyway FFXIV ends tomorrow, the end of emet’s character story will be in endwalker. and it will be written by a woman who adores the character she made, who knows how to make endings feel fulfilling and emotional. I love dragon age but trying to think about actively waiting for it when I could just be playing FFXIV that has a similar character who is written along such similar lines.... like yeah there’s no contest right now. I’m still like “wow 2 cakes! yum” and will enjoy both if da4 ever comes out, but it’s been almost a decade since inquisition came out and emet-selch has luscious tits and thematically coherent writing that makes you gasp and cry, AND it’s like 3 games later compared to where we left solas

anyway I’m going offline until I’m done playing the end of that game, and this is what I was thinking about

I was wondering if I could ask you about Solas? See, I've never really understood his appeal as a character, let alone a LI. And in the past, I'd usually say something brash an insensitive about a character I didn't like, or more mortifying I'd do them a serious injustice in my writing. I was hoping you could tell me more about him. He's always seemed so harsh, so judgemental, and I personally hate how he ends his relationship with the inquisitor, but maybe I haven't given him a fair shake?

See, a year ago I would have been in complete agreement with you.  All I knew about him was what I’d seen or heard from fandom sources.  Then I started writing Maker Damned Fools for the Fluff-uary prompts and he was a side character.  So I started to do some research.  He’s a conflicted Boomer, a rebellious mage god and quite possibly the most complex character I’ve ever run across in a video game.  And you’re about to get an essay, so I’ll put it under a cut.

Solas has woken to a world he is responsible for creating and to his eyes initially, it’s horrible.  And in typical fashion, he thinks he can fix it by doing it over.  Rather like the way the Inquisitor who sides with the mages prevents the red future from happening at Redcliffe.  I am by no means excusing his attitude or plans.  They’re terrible and lack critical information and perspective, imo.  But I can understand why he wants to fix what he thinks he did wrong. 

He has a reputation for being a liar, but aside from a single instance, he never actually says something untrue.  He bends the truth until it squeaks and allows the listener to come to their own conclusion, whether it’s the right one or not.  He’s been reviled by generations of elves as a traitor to the gods, but he was actually rebelling against what constituted a government that would ruin the world and everything in it.  This isn’t to say he didn’t do terrible things, he absolutely did.  He threw down those in power and imprisoned them.  He made the Veil, which in turn reduced his people to a shadow of themselves.  They were conquered and enslaved.  He wore himself out so thoroughly he took a several millennia long depression nap and was powerless to stop everything he did from falling apart.  I can fully understand why he would want to fix that upon waking.

Solas exists in a Schrodinger’s paradox state.  Gaining his high approval (which is remarkably easy, even without romance) makes him understand that modern Thedas is beautiful in its own right and that if he goes ahead with his plans, he will destroy that.  However, low approval confirms all his worst fears and he is even more determined to fix what went ‘wrong’.  He is the only companion whose attitude is completely dependent on how the Inky treats the world and himself.  It always makes me laugh when people say Solas is an asshole, because in order for that to happen, one has to deliberately make him that way.  He is forming his opinion of this new world that’s utterly foreign to him by how he’s treated in it, which is completely natural.

I went into my first playthrough having all the spoilers.  I didn’t hold out much hope for him as a character, and didn’t get why he has such a popular standing as a romance option.  I get it now.

Solas approves of anything you do that is compassionate and kind.  He likes it when you ask questions, even if you disagree with him.  There's always a way to get him to see another perspective (if you’re a Dalish Inky anyway) and salvage the conversation to a good place.  He approves of treating all thinking beings, including spirits, as people and with respect.  He abhors violence for its own sake, willful destruction (which is ironic, yes), and giving power to the ambitious, such as siding with the Templars and allowing the Grey Wardens to stay in Orlais.  He dislikes the Qun and Tevinter because he absolutely detests slavery of any kind.  His friendships with the rest of the companions often start off rocky, but grow to be healthy and respectful (for the most part, he never gets on with Vivienne and his relationship with Blackwall turns...self-projecting).

He doesn’t sound like much of a monster, does he?

You mentioned romance.  Part of what makes it delicious is that it’s doomed.  He’s gonna break Inky’s heart and his own.  It’s awful.  It’s a goddamned Shakespearean level tragedy.  It’s slow and hesitant and fragile.  It has nine separate ways to end.  It’s deliberately ambiguous in terms of whether or not it’s a physical relationship.  It’s the only one without a repeatable scene.  It is frustratingly genuine, full of doubt and worry and honest emotion that terrifies him, I think.

You take an immortal near god and plunk him into chaos of his own making and he potentially comes to care for a person who was in the wrong place at the right time and got sucked into his machinations through no fault of their own.  And they change...everything.  At least as far as his emotions are concerned.  He feels that what he’s doing is his duty, either because he’s that stuck in it or because he’s under the thrall of Mythal (there’s some debate).  And it’s heart wrenching for him to continue even just friendship, which is why he leaves.  He feels like he can’t tell Inky the truth about himself or his plans, because how could anyone still care about him after that?  There’s some serious self-loathing going on there.  And I imagine at least a few of those players who romance him are doing it from a need to show that a character like that is still worthy of being loved.

Bioware has a lot of problems, I don’t think anyone would disagree.  But something they do very right is the morally gray area.  Solas/Fen’Harel is the epitome of that moral grayness.  Is he a literal demon monster, self absorbed and determined to destroy everything for some idealistic greater good?  Is he a man with a decent, soft heart who has a duty he hates?  Yes, he’s both.

Hope that helps, and thanks for the ask.