I was having trouble with some of the Dalish Tattoos, and may have gone overboard trying to sort it all out. So, because I did some work, if this helps anyone out, I am sharing it.
Mythal has different colors because that tattoo is a fustercluck, and I needed to break down the pieces. Sylaise has different colors because there’s the solid color (red,) the middle color (green,) and the ‘no’ color (blue.)
Honestly, the teaser is just further increasing my belief and hope that we will be playing as our Inquisitors again in DA4. Like, first of all, with the final choices you make in DAI’s Trespasser, there is a very hard emotional and story thread between the Inquisitor and Solas, regardless of him being romanced or not. Second, we do have the line from Solas in the teaser, echoing what he said to the Inquisitor at the end of Trespasser. Both of these parts here, the emotional investment in both of them, as well as how we have seen the efforts of the Inquisiton at the forefront of the stories in the lasted comics of Magekiller, Knight-Errant, and Deception, really don’t leave much room open for a new protagonist going up against Solas.
By that I mean a new protagonist would not allow for the continued emotional depth and trauma and investment of the story. Yeah they could let us take over the reigns of playing as our Inquisitors again at the final confrontation with Solas, but it still wouldn’t be the same. A new character won’t know who Solas is or have the same connection to him that our Inquisitors have. They’re not going to have the same investment in trying to save Solas from himself if that’s what you chose to do. A new protagonist is going to be more concerned about stopping the apocalypse from being caused by this weird wolf-elf. But by taking a page out of the Mass Effect playbook, by allowing us to return to a protagonist, DA4 would allow us to keep the emotional investments of the Inquisitor-Solas relationship, and with the game near absolutely taking place in Tevinter, there’s no real risk of being recognized AS the Inquisitor by the majority of people there.
It just makes more narrative sense to let us play as our Inquisitors again.
Yes please.
Gosh I won’t make speculations, and I feel like it’s still unlikely. But a girl can dream. Imagine for non-Solasmancers to have their LI along, and for the opportunity to deepen and complicate an existing relationship rather than starting all over from scratch, or for all Inquisitors to have the opportunity to start a new relationship with a new companion if they so please.
I’m imagining my Lavellan beginning a tortured relationship with someone new, and how the struggle with Solas would make it near impossible. And then her choice—does she go back to Solas or make things work with her new lover? Oh the tortured souls I could write into my fan fiction.
Like I said, chances are low to none. But I can dream 😭
You would risk everything you have in the hope that the future is better? What if it isn’t? What if you wake up to find that the future you shaped is worse than what was?
the reason why Solas is facing Fen’Harel in that artwork could be because there are two different versions of Solas as a character in canon, now. There’s High Approval Solas and Low Approval Solas, and they are complete opposites. Precisely the same way the depiction of him changes depending on what tarot card you draw at the end of the game, both depicting the same thing (a mage with a staff, who is also a wolf). The only difference between the cards is the dominance of either figure based on his character development:
I think these murals are usually a depiction of his inner turmoil, and it works on that level. But I think the new artwork may be much less an indication that he will be self-sabotaging and more of an indication of how the Low Approval and High Approval characters might go about the same task differently, depending on which you’ve earned in your game. You could see it as the two fighting each other, but you could easily see it as them reaching for the same thing in tandem. The tree of the Lovers card is burning, and he’s turned his back on it; he is still a man walking the same land, though he’s exchanged gold for sackcloth, and traded the innocent love of the Fool for the mantle of the Magician. The Great Wolf remains a maddened beast beyond all reason.
But even his romance card changes to The Tower after he leaves.
I’m much more inclined to think Solas is battling inner demons, or even his outward perception. He may even be battling the blight itself, represented by the wolf. Everything about and surrounding the wolf calls to mind red lyrium and the taint: the red eyes (and Solas’s red eyes, is he tainted?), the red cracks between the wolf’s head and the protective circle, the way the party of the circle right next to it is cracking as if the red lyrium is trying to get in.
Solas seems like he’s already tainted (but for how long?). The black splatter from the wolf runs throughout the lower part of the mural, but it isn’t in the red circle of Solas’s magic. Almost like he’s pushing it out or fighting against it. I strongly believe The Dread Wolf is the party of himself that’s already blighted, or the blight itself.
“But even his romance card changes to The Tower after he leaves.”
nope, it doesn’t. I just opened my game just to take this screenshot for you:
So in my game, you could say he moved from the romance card straight to the left depiction of him on this new mural.
What’s interesting is (if we continue with my interpretation) that even if the Dread Wolf is Tainted in the new mural (the next game), there’s no indication that the version of elf Solas (who has experienced love/friendship) is Tainted. Say the popular speculation is true, and he’s using Red Lyrium. If that’s true, the mural looks like it’s saying that the Low Approval version will have turned to Red Lyrium because he’s given up on all hope of outside help, and therefore is willing to burn every bridge, even his own life. Whereas, the high approval version who has heard your vow to save him, he doesn’t use lyrium because he’s still holding even the smallest bit of hope. He is also making a gesture that could mean several different things, indicating how torn he is. But I don’t think they’re fighting each other… it’s probably more to indicate a difference in heart – Solas has always had the same goal, and it’s never changed. I believe it’s showing the two different versions of him.
serenbach86 