The Gift of Hindsight: Solas on the Brink

Hey, sweetie... let's catch up before we go observe some playful wyverns in their natural environments...

SOLAS: With luck, some of the past may yet survive.

I've been inching along on Solas's romance analysis, and hey, we're almost there! And here we are, with our unsuspecting Lavellan alone with Solas in the Rotunda after the events of the Temple of Mythal, and on the precipice of that pivotal, terrible, lovely, Last Date.

But before they go off ambling amongst the wyverns, they take the time to talk in his office. And for me, it's a big deal, this moment. There's something genuinely electric and strange going on in this scene for me—something that feels (as with so much to do with Solas) hidden in plain sight. The brief conversations that precede that last fateful date can seem innocuous, yet they are actually among the most crucial in the Solas-Inquisitor game relationship (especially if romanced).

Which is the reason for this blog post, and why I keep finding more to say before the actual date itself—which, I swear, will be my next post. NO REALLY. 

Yet as we reach this vital point in Solas's romance, I feel like it's important, given what follows, to take a look at where Solas is at this specific moment, in terms of his state of mind. For me, we can't fully appreciate what happens later on in Crestwood, if we don't take assessment his position right now, from a story and character point of view. So (with your patience) I'm gonna pause, and take some time to address the details—to take a few deep breaths before we move forward into all the lingering looks, intense close-ups, and regretful butt-grabs to come.

So here, ir abelas, let's take a brief look at Solas's situation before the break—at the changes he has undergone emotionally during the past year or more, and at who he is in this specific moment.

We have the gift of hindsight. So let's rewind, observe... and assess.

The Precipice (Beyond the Past, Before the Future)

At this point, as the Lavellan Inquisitor protagonist romancing Solas, we've achieved so much at this point in the storyline ourselves. (And it does feel, as always, like it's "us," doesn't it? Thanks to BioWare's superb handling of point of view. So that when the next major thing happens, on the date, it's... actually, personally, painful, for many players. Me included.)

But meanwhile, hey, we've stepped up. Been brave. Built the Inquisition. Closed rifts. Conquered masses, even while possibly losing every single member of our family and clan to a brutal massacre. We've also fought countless battles. Assembled a remarkable group of companions and advisors. We've played the Great Game and created alliances with Orlais at Halamshiral with charm and guile. We've further consolidated forces and achieved tangible military victories in the Arbor Wilds, and outraced Corypants through the eluvian to safety. 

We also may very well have drunk from the sacred Well of Sorrows, accepting the geas that lay upon it (eternally bound to the will of Mythal herself) for the sake of knowledge and power. And in this very Rotunda, just moments before, had that last big debate with Solas after the fights, mysteries and discoveries of the Temple of Mythal, and that crucial conversation about choice, freedom, and what Lavellan might do with all that power if she drank from the well. Where, for better or for worse, most of our choices there seemed to convince Solas that his path is a righteous one.

In addition across that past year or so, of course, we've also managed to embark on an intense romance with—unknown to us—an ancient elven god (or the closest thing to it). 

Now let's continue briefly on from the Well discussion, as Solas gives himself a mental shake, and moves forward in the moment, while I analyze every single tiny aspect. (Hey, it's what I do. Even though I know, somewhere, that those past and present Dragon Age writers who are kind enough to visit my blog are also surely shaking their heads and laughing over some of my conclusions and assumptions. I also occasionally imagine facepalm GIFs. Maybe some especially expressive eyeroll emojis too.)

I appreciate the metaphor that Lavellan is talking with Solas just before her date while facing his fresco of the obliteration of the Conclave. The symmetry is painful but accurate.

The Pause Before the Storm

SOLAS: Forgive my melancholy. Corypheus has cost us much. The Temple of Mythal did not deserve such a fate. The orb he carries, and its stolen power… that, at least, we may still recover. With luck, some of the past may yet survive. 

As always, there are so many double meanings to much of what Solas tells Lavellan here, even in this relatively brief statement. Examining each aspect of this line of dialogue—the Temple, the orb, its power, the recovery of the past... each element is vital to understanding Solas both now and in the future.

First, his comment about the Temple is intriguing. Sure, the Temple didn't deserve its fate—not recently—or millennia back, either. When Solas talks about what was 'deserved' at the Temple, isn't he speaking in layers again, and very likely also thinking of poor Abelas and his fellow ancient sentinel elves? The brief expression of regret is appropriate if they were in fact killed by the choice of the Inquisitor, but it's also similarly so in a quieter way even if they survived.

I've never seen this addressed (possibly because I am just that weird) but I always find it subtly sad that Mythal's Temple is now empty after the events at the Well of Sorrows. Now it's just one more elven ruin among many.

The Silent Temple

Despite its damage, the Temple of Mythal had managed to hold onto its ancient holiness and secrets, so that its sentinels lived still beyond all expectation, millennia later, protecting the holy waters of knowledge and sorrow in the name of Mythal herself. Whether through combat with the Inquisitor, or with the drinking from the Well, either way, that holiness is gone now. 

It is a sad and beautiful idea, to think of the Temple of Mythal in this moment with Solas. The Temple itself has been pithed; it is empty and hollow now. No longer will proud ancient elven sentinels walk its shadowed corridors and protect its secrets. The Well of Sorrows is dry, and the flowers and trees that surrounded it will go untended, as well its gardens surrounding those lovely magical pathways. The eluvian is dead and dull. The whole place will simply fall gently into the surrounding jungles—what's one more elven ruin in a world filled with them, after all?

The idea reminds me a little of a key moment in Mary Stewart's beautiful novel The Hollow Hills (the second book in her marvelous Merlin trilogy, which I cannot recommend enough), when Merlin enters an ancient shrine as a young man, years after encountering its holiness in his youth, and realizes with grief that the holiness is now gone, the god that was honored there now fled and silent.

But what of those who served Mythal? What do they do now?

Surely this hunk of ancient elven magnificence deserves to go forth and find love and happiness in the living world after a service of millennia, right?

His Watch is Ended

I have to think, if Abelas survived, that despite the palpable sadness of Abelas's departure from the Temple as the sacred well was emptied, Solas may even be happy for Abelas on some complex level, perhaps even envious—after all, Abelas's job is done. He owes nothing further to anyone... not even to Mythal herself.

Solas may even see there an echo of his own freedom (at last) from his long watch over Thedas from the Fade. And just as Solas had traumas galore to recover from at that emergence, so, too, must Abelas. 

What comes after duty? Is Abelas now free, at long last, to imagine living a flesh-and-blood life? (I mean, hey, judging by the fandom, I know there are hundreds or even thousands out there who would be happy to take Abelas out for the amusing meal and house wine...)

Me, I'm also wondering if Solas is thinking of the proud former Temple guardian and considering the fact that, years after he killed Felassan, hey, he does really need a new first lieutenant. Hmm...

That Orb? Stolen. So, so stolen. Seriously. It's a crime that nobody caught Corypants, you know, in the act of stealing it. Is it hot in here? It's hot in here, right? Ouch. SO STUFFY IN HERE!

The Open Falsehood

As far as the Orb? Let's face it, Solas is openly lying about the Orb as a "stolen" power, since we'll find out later on that he himself caused the Orb to reach Corypants, hoping that his tinkering would both unlock the Orb and kill him (a definite win-win for Solas).

And yet this realization is, paradoxically, why I do have sympathy for Solas when it comes to the devastation of the Breach, despite his own complicity and recklessness in handing over an ancient Orb of incredible power to our favorite grumpy, stripey-stockinged Darkspawn Magister. As with his long-ago raising of the Veil, which resulted inadvertently in the enslavement and devastation of the very people he was trying to save, I believe that Solas had no idea Cory would actually succeed with the Orb, much less create the Breach, rifts and untold horrors—or that, because of that moment, hundreds of thousands across Thedas would die.

I've seen a lot of Solavellan fans argue that Solas never lies, that his mistruths are more the product of avoidance and slippery wordplay. But I can't agree. As he does about the Orb here, Solas lies to our faces several times throughout the story of Inquisition (most notably, when directly queried about the Orb, the Conclave, or Skyhold). It's not something I'm angry with him for—I've found it really interesting, in fact, to try to imagine when Solas was most tempted to speak up and tell the truth, finding always that he was unable to do so.

Of course, we already know one major moment of temptation lies just moments ahead for him. But I think there have been others, too (I'd imagine the Fade Kiss was another one).

Solas also suffers from another flaw that only the immortal being can truly assimilate: He has grown used to tragedy. Large-scale apocalypses may bum him out, but they are, for him, not that unusual at this point.

Awakening Dread

While the impending Last Date ends badly for us Lavellans, I think there's real agony and breakage in that ending on both sides. And I also believe that it's not there, but here in the Rotunda, where Solas begins to crack. I mentioned previously that I perceive the scene here as one in which Solas seems a little unstable (and I think Gareth David-Lloyd leans into this subtly in his performance)—Solas is by turns enraged, scared, arrogant, worried, and... perhaps most unsettling of all, euphoric. There are little potential moments in this conversation where he comes across, well, like a cult disciple who's just been served a brand-new dose of tasty Kool-Aid. (Oh, dear.)

Let's face it, Solas is a brilliant tactician and strategist, one who successfully defied the gods that once ruled multiple worlds, from the Fade to the layered kingdoms of Arlathan. He's a superb mage, with talents I believe he has kept tamped down and carefully hidden, once he began to regain his strength over the past year to eighteen months (Like, come on! He has to be able to shapeshift into a Dread Wolf. In my head it's already true, darn it). But he's also a flawed and sometimes arrogant man who cannot admit what he doesn't know, and he's blind in ways that are believable and self-perpetuating. Solas may have survived for millennia, but he did so with every one of his formidable flaws intact, as well as his equally formidable gifts. He also suffers from another flaw that only the immortal can assimilate: He has grown used to tragedy. Large-scale apocalypses may bum him out, but they are, for him, not that unusual at this point.

What writer Patrick Weekes has done with this situation in a literary sense is both tricky and subtle; they've let Solas's own failings sink and mark him, so that when Solas awakened from the Fade, all his careful plans fell to pieces like a house of cards, because everything had changed, because this world was alive after all. He might have emerged cold and certain, focused only on bringing it all back, the past he had doomed, but, well, one assumes that it wasn't as easy to kill up close, out of the dream-reality of the Fade.

I think this is an important detail. It was one thing, the dialogue implies, for Solas to plan for his actions from within the Fade. Even when those actions were cruel, he would allow them as necessary and regretful. He would take responsibility, feel grief, and yet continue forward. Better that, than to live with his own failure. At first, it may even have seemed easy—after all, it's apparent in hindsight that Solas for the longest time can't accept the current world state he finds, can't accept these other beings as people. It's "In Hushed Whispers" all over again. Everything must go. Nothing matters but that promise of restoration.

And for awhile he's managed himself mercilessly to stay on-path. The sad Fade-execution of Felassan at the end of The Masked Empire is notable both for its swiftness and for its implacability. Felassan knows before he meets Solas that he is already doomed. He already knows there is nothing he can say that Solas will hear... yet.

Until Solas stumbles into the living Thedas and finds within a few short months that, oh shit, Felassan was right. And he's sorry. He's really, really sorry.

For Solas, the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition are, at most, a few chapters in a story spanning millennia.

A Different Story

One of my favorite writing tricks when it comes to character is to remind myself that every single character thinks that they are the center of the story. From Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to Fredegar Bolger, Smeagol, Morrigan, Taryon Darrington, Squidward, E. B. Farnum, and beyond, when it comes to point of view, there are no bit players. We're all the heroes of our own stories. This is doubly (and literally) true for Solas, who not only understands far more than anyone else in DAI about what's really going on, he has to live with the fact that he was also the architect of several of those events.

For our Inquisitor, and for most characters we encounter, Inquisition is a story with a beginning, middle and even (thanks to "Trespasser") an ending of sorts. For Solas however, alone among our companions, the DAI story is merely an interlude, a chapter and diversion. He is living and reacting to an entirely different, hidden story.

There's a reason Solas bonds so closely with Cole in friendship, and it's not just because he loves Cole for his spirit-self (and may feel kinship there). I think it's also because, like Cole, Solas is a dead man walking—a vengeful, wounded ghost among the living. 

Inquisition presents us with companions and advisors whose futures and fates each depend on a choice in a crucial moment. What's different with Solas's character arc is that his choice was made thousands of years ago, and he's been dealing with the aftermath ever since. Nothing we say or do can change that choice or threaten his goals. 

Unless we get him to forget, for a little while. Unless he falls in love.

The Gift of Hindsight

As players, we get to be gods too, though. We see more clearly than those around Solas.

So when we replay the game, things get understandably more complex. We can see what Solas is trying for, what he's working towards. We can see the bitterness and self-judgment and guilt of his past actions. We can taste the loss of his own past even as he helps a Tal-Vashoth Bull find new hope. We hear his anguish (and envy) even as he provides friendship and family to Cole. We see him find peace with his past warrior-self with everyone from Varric, to Blackwall, to Cassandra as he accepts and befriends them and supports that with the right cause, a pen, a sword, a shield, can be noble.

And of course, we see him fall fatally, hopelessly in love. Not just with the Inquisitor. With Thedas. And all at once, this awful muffled world he hated before is now filled with light and color. He is alive again, and whole. He can still feel. 

But. As with everything to do with Solas, this outcome must be measured, of course, against the potential chaos which might result from his own self-admitted, larger plans to tear down the Veil. He may not have intended this exact catastrophe, but at the moment he passes along that Orb, he's still taking concrete steps to remove the Veil and bring back the past, whether or not lives are lost in the process. So there's all this other emotional stuff going on with Solas, too—in every bantered conversation with companions, in every interaction, and (especially) in every scene in his romance. He's not just a humble mage, nor is he an ancient elven princeling, god, wolf, or trickster. He's a walking shadow filled with shame, guilt, sorrow, grief, self-hatred, trauma, and (unfortunately) certainty. But that's a post for another day, and I'll examine that complex ethical puzzle later on, in "Trespasser."

I also think there was another emotion when the Conclave exploded: relief. His plans were stalled. There was nothing he could do in the immediate moment. He was given a period of grace in which to watch, wait, acclimate, and... atone.

Lingering Questions

I've noted here before that I think that, emerging from the Fade and out of his "dark and dreaming sleep" into reality, Solas was concentrating on one step at a time, following a series of actions that would enable him to power-up back to his formidable evanuris-level skills. However, as always, the outcome far exceeded his expectations—or nightmares.

I also wonder, at this point, if Solas simply thought Corypants would use magic to try to unlock the Orb, or if he was aware that the unlocking would involve the ritual sacrifice of the Divine herself (I can't quite call Divine Justinia 'innocent,' since she was a Pope with her own spy network and lead assassin). If so, he implies fairly often in the banters with Blackwall and Sera later on that he would have accepted his culpability there, even while grieving the loss of life.

That's all assuming he's unshakably on-mission. Yet... my question, after the Breach, and for a long time is... but is he still?

I don't think so. 

As we pause here in the Rotunda... I think for most of that 18-plus month period Solas spends with the Inquisition, that from the moment of the explosion at the Conclave and his meeting with the Inquisitor (especially a romanced Inky), that he was so off-balance, so traumatized, guilt-stricken, and confused, that for awhile he just let everything go. He knew he would need power. He also knew that he would have to help the Inquisition through this terrible interlude and try to fix his latest mistake. So he allowed himself to do that. And by doing so, he dropped his guard. He got seduced—by emotion, by empathy, by friendship and love, and by the beauty of this damaged yet still recognizable world.

Enough so that he's allowed himself kisses in the Fade, and dreamed up sensual walking tours of dramatic, wyvern-filled jungles with the woman he loves.

Until he can't anymore. Until he wakes up, again.

Part of Solas's tragedy is his own age and perspective: To someone who has lived millennia, his companions and even the woman he loves are fireflies at best and ghosts at worst; already gone.

On the Brink

Thanks for letting me ramble! I wanted to take this pause, to do this analysis, because I wanted to both hold Solas accountable (most notably, for the Orb situation) and to express my conflicting feelings about his situation. I fear for what he plans to do, but I also think there's so much room for interpretation here that I can't judge him going forward until he acts. For now, I'm cautiously on the side of "antihero" versus "villain, so we'll see how it goes (I'll address his truly heroic acts in "Trespasser" later on, as well).

As a writer, I love and deeply enjoy the rich paradox of Solas as a character. In the beginning, he surprised me with his capacity for fire and feeling. Just as, in the end, he surprised me equally with his capacity for coldness. The fact that both opposing character elements are completely believable is a testament to the talents of the Dragon Age writing team, especially Weekes.

It's called Solavellan Hell for a reason, right? It's not fun examining this stuff. Because at this point in our story, we've walked with Solas and watched his reawakening from trauma, his slow realization that there is beauty, and courage, and worth, in this world, however stifling he had initially found it to be. I truly believe Solas loves Lavellan and at least some of her friends, that he has found real friendship, admiration and intimacy with his companions.

And then the last hurdle falls, and he feels admiration for the simple people of Thedas, for their courage. He feels this and accepts the shame that goes with it, because if his plans succeed, that courage won't matter, and many of those brave people may die or face a vastly different universe. When he makes that comment that he will remember their courage, he is talking about people he may already see as dead and gone. This past year has changed him, but what is a year or two among thousands? To someone who has lived millennia, everyone Solas meets are fireflies at best and ghosts at worst; already gone. Which is why his beautiful frescoes may be as much of an epitaph to Lavellan and the Inquisition as they are a gift or an homage to her story.

And that's why Solas's position in the story is so brilliant. Because that epilogue and its revelation about his true identity and true goals is a gut-punch. It hurts. And it should. Betrayal always does. Finding out you've been lied to always does. It's something Lavellan is about to experience firsthand.

The irony is that we can see, with our omniscient-player view of future and past alike, how Solas at this moment is poised on the brink, balanced between his past heroics and sins and his future potential apocalypses. Based on comments by Weekes about Solas's state of mind in Crestwood, I think Solas isn't planning on stomping on his beloved's vhenan at all. Right this second, he's feeling wonderful, victorious, and in love. He wants to take her to a place where magic prickles on the skin like electricity in thanks for what she has given him, and then further gift her with the truth. So that he can finally reveal himself and be honest, so that he can reveal the wolf who has walked beside her even when she was unaware. And to finally, I'm assuming, consummate their romance.

"Come with me, vhenan."

That's what's so perfect and terrible about this moment in the torchlight of Solas's tower room. He looks... happy. We should have known how terribly things were about to go. 

Unfortunately, blessed with hindsight as we are, we already know that Solas's joys, like his victories, never last.

Love, Lies and Kisses in the Fade: Solas's Romance, Part 3

I find it enormously telling and important that Solas kisses the Inquisitor not just in the Fade, but in the past... in a place and time that no longer exists. In a subtle way, he's showing her the emotion he lives each and every day.

Solas smiles, as Lavellan looks around, momentarily confused.

SOLAS: Where did you think we were?
INQUISITOR: ...this isn’t real...
SOLAS (teasing): That’s a matter of debate… probably best discussed after you wake up.

Where does Solas's romance truly begin?

With a simple kiss... upon a dream.

The scene where Solas takes the Inquisitor to the Fade is a charming and important moment if the Inquisitor is a high-approval friend of Solas's. But it's an incredibly vital dramatic beat if he's romanced, and it's both telling and interesting that this is where his romantic relationship with the Inquisitor truly begins. I'd say it's a great first date, except for the intriguing clear implication (to me, at least) that Solas takes the Inquisitor to the Fade all the time for in-depth talks and discussions about her fears and hopes, about what is important to her (and in my interpretation, she clearly remembers and acknowledges this in their dialogue as the scene begins). I've talked about this before, so I'll address it in a different way farther down.

Meanwhile, what I suspect (at least, in my imaginary headcanon, which is pretty much always in overdrive, as this blog certainly demonstrates) is that while they may have spent time in the Fade, even if Solas were beginning to have feelings for the Inquisitor, and vice versa, he would still, I think—to that point—have kept them to himself. So those Fade visits might have been important and intimate, but they would not have been openly romantic... until the kiss.

But of course, the kiss is just the inevitable outcome of a linked series of events that conspire to tip Solas off-balance and make him more vulnerable than he's been since his long-past youth.

Crossing Boundaries

If you analyze Solas's behavior across DAI, he's pretty formidable in terms of his ability to compartmentalize, and I'd put that ability right up near the capacity of Bull or Leliana (near, but not quite—Solas isn't an especially good liar). I think, however, that early events in Inquisition nevertheless set him off-balance, and he's therefore never quite able to regain that equilibrium when it comes to both the Inquisitor and the Inquisition (I'd even argue that he's still not 100% even as of "Trespasser," given the lengths he goes to in order to both give her the truth about himself and to save her life).

So let's conjecture and wonder a bit... 

It's certainly implied that Solas has no trouble staying on-mission before the events at the Temple of Sacred Ashes. He's quite able to be cold and dispassionate when operating Felassan as his agent from the Fade, as well as in meting out punishment later. Even upon awakening, wandering Thedas (planting those elven artifacts, by any chance?) in the year or so before the Conclave, he certainly seems to be able to keep his emotions at bay. However, this is also when everything once again seems on-track, and going according to plan.

Then the Temple explodes, the sky is a livid, apocalyptic green, and his Orb is now in the hands of a mad ancient magister who's also half-Darkspawn, and who's using it to do terrible things across Thedas.

And then there's the woman—the one who's suspected, who was Marked by a magical transference from his own artifact, and who has already been mocked, imprisoned and nearly executed. Remember, Solas has joined the Inquisition just days or even hours before he meets the Inquisitor. He knows that he is responsible for the Breach and for her Mark and is, I believe, truly horrified at both. He is also fully aware that the Inquisitor has been captured, imprisoned, and accused for something he had a hand in creating... and he alone knows right away that she is 100% innocent of any of the charges against her. So I think even there, she gets past his boundaries a bit because he feels genuine remorse (as he darned well should). 

And then he begins to feel again, something beyond rage and powerlessness. Allegiance. Indebtedness. Admiration. She handles her impossible situation bravely. She attempts to meet the challenge. She may accept or reject a divine influence. She may question him on dreams, on spirits, and the Fade. He may even be moved enough to allow himself to compliment her on her grace, strength or indomitable focus (words that are, ahem, seared on my brain). And he may admit his own recent bitterness and rejection—which she may counter by sticking up for her people, respectfully asking him to reconsider his anger against the Dalish. She may call him 'hahren,' and try to connect with him in Haven on their shared elvishness, to give him the companionship he so desperately desires and fears after his long loneliness and isolation.

He is cast adrift. He is in danger—not from fire and wrath, but from the possibility of love... and he knows it. 

Solas sees Lavellan more clearly than she sees herself; she's a hero because he's the villain in the story, even if
she doesn't know it yet. 

"What Kind of Hero You'll Be..."

Either way, it's no wonder that he calls her "a hero" in one of their first conversations—because he already knows she is one, and he's judging her through eyes that have watched the passage of millennia, by her reactions to almost impossible circumstances that she herself doesn't even understand. At this point, Solas sees Lavellan more clearly than she sees herself; she's a hero because he's the villain in the story, even if she doesn't know it yet. Solas already knows who he is. He believes, through his own regretted and yet open-eyed choices, that he is doomed. But he also believes that she is not (or at least, not yet). 

Tentatively, he begins to try to connect with her, to help, to spare her the little agonies. To be there—not as a lover, but as a part of her fellowship, in the everyday cameraderie and companionship of war... and in doing so, he dooms himself. A door opens upon his emotions, not just to her, but to all the companions. He starts to care. And when it comes to Lavellan, he feels guilty, vulnerable. He  feels genuine liking. He feels respect and admiration, and perhaps more than that. 

In other words, he feels. It is Lavellan's first gift to him; one of which she is not even aware.

Whether he's romancing the Inquisitor or not (but especially if he is), Solas begins to feel an obligation to her, that he owes her something. He can't take back the Mark. He can't give her the truth, but there are things he can provide... a castle (a new home)... and a respite.

So he takes her into a dream. It's safe. It's lovely and ephemeral. It's not those seeping, frightening corners of the Fade we encounter physically either in the prologue or after the siege at Adamant. This is Solas, after all, and this is his kingdom. So instead, he takes her to a Fade location that he can build for her wall by shining wall, down to the smallest soothing molecule. An escape to the past, to where she once briefly felt at home.

Conversations in the Fade

To me, Solas taking Lavellan to the Fade is a really lovely and irresistible idea—Solas is a man who has reshaped the very warp and woof of the physical world with his power. Still, that's nothing compared to what he can do in the Fade.

And yet what does he do when he takes Lavellan to the Fade, when he can take her almost anywhere imaginable in the swirling mists of time and space? Does he take her to those intoxicating ancient days of his youth, to glory in the heights of power, enchantment and knowledge? Does she travel with him to visit those twining spires of crystal, to witness the shimmer of magic as breathable and accessible as air in the splendor of lost Arlathan?

Nope. 

He takes her instead to something simple, homely and devastating, to bright regret and loss... but in a way that's quiet and healing. He takes her back, in other words, to just a few weeks prior, to a place that has been wiped out of existence, and shows her just how much your heart can break when the home you loved now exists in memory alone. 

Solas knows this emotion well. He's lived it for millennia at this point, after all.

Going Home

To me, it's bittersweet to realize that what Solas does here is exactly what he does in his final excursion with Lavellan later on in their story at a crucial juncture: He takes her to a place where he can quite literally show her what she means to him.

Then, once within the perfection of his magically recreated Haven, Solas relives their relationship from its earliest moments for her, narrating in parallel storylines, with Lavellan as witness and shared participant, her story—and his. He tells her of his emotions and concerns for what the Inquisitor suffered (and manages not to make it All About Him), as well as revealing what he himself was also feeling for her at the same time. He reveals his frustration and confusion, that he was worried for her, that, even then... he felt something. That she had already become special to him. That she had, in fact, changed his world. 

Sometimes words are not enough. And this seems to be a theme with Solas. Despite his obvious eloquence and poetry, and despite his intelligence, I believe he sometimes dislikes words in moments that matter. Perhaps because he has had to lie so often since he awakened in this world. I think this is why, over and over again, he attempts to demonstrate his feelings at key moments in other ways — with a kiss or physical gesture, with a painting on a wall, with a revealing bit of magic, with the removal of the vallaslin. He has lied enough, been poisoned by them irrevocably. All he wants now is something real.

So of course he has to stage that moment in a place that is unreal. That's Solas. He's never one to do things the easy way.

Lavellan is a firefly when you compare her brief life to Solas's many millennia, but she is also bright, brave, and (the biggest relief of all) something genuinely new to Solas. It's no wonder, then, that he finally gives in to his feelings.

A Kiss in the Past

Meanwhile, here we are where it all begins.

And it's interesting, isn't it, that Solas kisses the Inquisitor in the past? In a place that no longer exists? It's a beautiful way for him to subtly reveal the secret of his own situation, his own conflict. He takes her back to a place she loved, to a place that is now obliterated, and he walks there with her as if to salute the fact that even if it no longer exists, he knows that she will always love it.

And although Lavellan doesn't know it at the time, of course, Solas is revealing something about himself, as well—showing her what he himself is literally feeling all the time. The constant regret and nostalgia. The longing for what has been lost.

It's a beautiful and subtle revelation. It is also a gift that, due to Solas's unique powers and circumstances, no one else could give her.

And I really think this is meant to be the whole gift he wants to give Lavellan here—that glimpse of brightness and mourning. He's not dreaming of kisses. 

But hey, dreams are where all things are permissible, after all. And despite thousands of years of life, he doesn't anticipate what Lavellan does next. 

Whoops. You go, girl.

The Lead-Up

And so there are the little moments of banter, of teasing, as Solas and the Inquisitor walk through this shiny new Haven. It's all really charming, as is the flirtation of a confident Lavellan with a suddenly awkward, uncertain Solas.

By the way, I absolutely love the way this scene is presented—especially the physicality of Solas and his discomfort and slight nervousness in the presence of Lavellan's ease and relaxed charm. For instance, when Solas turns away in sudden awkwardness here, he does so stiffly, with his whole body, as if his head doesn't move on his neck, and it's absolutely this thing someone would do in real life if uncomfortable and trying really hard to cover for that. Just so real and funny and beautifully rendered (he does it again later on, after "I never said it was a good plan"). Nothing to see here, everything's fine. As if he can't remember how to move naturally—kudos to the BioWare team. And then there's Gareth David-Lloyd's sneaky-funny vocal performance here—especially the way he laughs when the Inquisitor notes that "Cassandra's like that with everyone"—he gives this weird little awkward "Ha," like a bark! 

Anyway, awkward or not, the moment arrives, and they kiss... and it's great, and just beautifully directed and rendered by the team who brought it to life. And kudos to Solas (and to the Dragon Age team that created him) on the fact that he doesn't make the first move, which is respectful and ensures that there aren't any consent issues. He's the one, after all, who understands that this is all taking place in a dream. So I really like that it is Lavellan who acts first with the kiss.

The kiss itself comes across as being emotional and cinematic, in the best way. It's also genuinely hot (for me Solas's are easily the best kisses in the game, although Dorian's are a solid second)—especially since Solas finds himself unable to resist turning back to prolong the kiss, not once, but twice (after the original smooch). It's such a terrific externalization of his inner self, of who I think Solas actually is—not just because he's a fiery and passionate person beneath that cool exterior, but also because he genuinely loses control here, in desperation, in desire, in loneliness, and well, because it's allowable.

It's the Fade, after all.

Vulnerability is permissible in the Fade, where Solas can explore passions he may not be able to admit to in waking life.

"Not Even Here..."

Solas then says something fascinating in this scene, once the kiss is broken, and I think it's something that may tend to be overlooked. Let's take a look at the scene, below:

INQUISITOR (flirting like crazy): Felt the whole world change?
SOLAS (adorably awkward): A figure of speech.
INQUISITOR: I’m aware of the metaphor. I’m more interested in “felt.”
SOLAS: You change… everything.
INQUISITOR: Sweet talker.

She kisses him. He allows it, then steps back... and then returns to the kiss. And again. Then at last, with an effort, he stops the kiss a final time, and pulls away.

SOLAS: We shouldn’t. It isn’t right. Not even here.
INQUISITOR: What do you mean... "even here?"

Let's examine that odd little comment: "We shouldn't. It isn't right. Not even here."

The details are telling. To me, it's the opposite of what's expected—not "We shouldn't. It isn't right. Not here," but rather, "We shouldn't. It isn't right. Not even here."

The implication that's so fascinating, in other words, is that he's not saying it's wrong to kiss in a dream; he's saying the dream may be the only place it's actually allowable. Solas has just revealed that the Fade is where this kind of moment is actually okay with him (even if nowhere else). The Fade is, in other words, where vulnerability is permissible, where he can explore passions he may not be able to admit to in waking life.

And where he doesn't have to admit that he is playing an incredibly dangerous and hurtful game. It's the Fade, right? His place. His safe place.

And yet, he allows that it may not actually be a safe place for the Inquisitor. And that's intriguing.

Echoes of Felassan

If you've read The Masked Empire, the superb Dragon Age novel by Patrick Weekes about Briala, Celene, Gaspard, and Michel, then you've already met Felassan, who is one of my favorite characters across the entire world of Dragon Age.

Named for the 'slow arrow' from the brutal Dalish legend of Fen'Harel, Felassan is the mysterious and powerful elemental Dalish mage apostate who wanders the world and seems to belong to no clan, and who serves as Briala's friend and protector through the years even as he also secretly serves Fen'Harel in his dreams. Felassan is smart, charming and witty, and his humor can be as ruthless as his magic. Like Solas, Felassan begins by holding himself apart from the events around him, watching from the shadows, quick to amusement and yet carrying nevertheless an air of hidden power and detachment.

But in the end, Felassan succumbs to the beauty of the world, and to his respect and affection for his friend and student, gently refusing the gift of the eluvian access even when she offers it to him outright. As a Dreamer, he enters the Fade via a trance to lie about the situation with the password to his leader (whom we now know to be Fen'Harel... Solas). As the story ends, he begs the unknown leader to give the elven people their chance... and to no avail. The blow falls and he is killed. (Years later, Cole tells us in "Trespasser" that Solas regretted this action ("The Slow Arrow breaks in the sad Wolf's jaws.")

Yet while Felassan may be dead, his words live on, and they are echoed subtly more than once throughout DAI. Solas hears them when he kisses the Inquisitor. When he sees the goodness and beauty even in the muffled, maddening demon-haunted world in which he has found himself. When he realizes that the people are... "courageous" in their fight to survive. Cole sees it happening, and confides in the Inquisitor, after Solas has so cruelly and abruptly ended their relationship, "You're real, and it means everyone could be real," referencing once again the idea that Solas has fought for so long... the idea that this world is happening, is real, is full of light and life that will be destroyed, or at least forever changed, if Solas completes his plans.

Felassan was right. But Felassan can't be right. Or everything Solas is doing is monstrous.

Lavellan's just a girl. Standing on the desk of a boy. Asking him to love her.

"Yes, but They're People..."

For instance, there's another prickly little flirtation that I love, early on, where Solas and the Inquisitor talk about whether spirits are people. Again hearkening back to Felassan, the subtext of the conversation is wonderfully complex because, remember, we're first off listening to a man who may once have been a spirit himself, and because this man, still traumatized by the pain and sudden awareness that he doomed his own people, does not, actually, quite see the Inquisitor as a person herself, either. In other words, she may not quite believe that spirits are sentient beings worthy of respect, and Solas, we learn later, feels the exact same way about the companions around him, at least in the earliest days:

INQUISITOR: You trust these spirits not to possess you the first time you accidentally make a wish?
SOLAS: Do you trust your friends not to turn on you?
INQUISITOR: Well, yes, but they’re people.
SOLAS: Ah. Of course.
INQUISITOR: You know what I mean.
SOLAS: Are people only 'people' because they are flesh and blood?

Funny that Solas is speaking a lesson above that he himself has not really learned in a real or visceral way. Here, he's still just parroting words loftily from on high. But Felassan casts a long shadow, and it falls across the entire romance between Solas and the Inquisitor he comes to love—as it should. Felassan is the memory he cannot escape; another regret at the end of a very long list of them. He's ultimately both the echo of who Solas once was, and the presentiment of the person he will become as the world seduces him in spite of himself.

And yet unlike Felassan, it appears that Solas will not give them their chance. Not even when he realizes how wrong he was, and that yes, she's real, the world is real, everything he's planning to do will hurt or irrevocably change them, and there is no way out for him, and no one to whom he can speak about his predicament. Solas allows himself to dream as long as he can, and then he must awaken, losing himself in the kisses and moments, hoarding them like gems, because he knows they will have to end and that he will be left alone with only a memory.

It's what always happens to Solas, after all. There's fire and blood and chaos, he tries to do what he feels is right, the world falls down, and Solas is alone. It's the way of his world. Always.

And it's the only way the words of his friend can come back and haunt him with a vengeance. Solas did not understand the words before. Yet as the events of DAI wind down, oh, how well he comes to understand them. And they are bitter on his tongue.

Solas is utterly, fatally lonely—and that loneliness is beautifully externalized even in his surroundings.

The Lonely God

While each of our Dragon Age: Inquisition companions embodies diverse and fascinating character traits, the one thing I always associate with Solas is isolation, and of course, it's even hidden within his name itself.

As a character, Solas is so utterly, deeply lonely that it's almost a physically palpable thing—and that loneliness is beautifully externalized in both his surroundings, his character design, and even in his physical movement and expressions in the story's scenes and cutscenes. He is always, always alone, and in the lovely, lonely golden glow of his Rotunda, Solas is a figure that glows pale against the tower room's shadows and frescoes as he paints, works or paces in thought. As if he is already a ghost.

This is where we most often encounter Solas throughout the game story, but one of the cleverest things Dragon Age: Inquisition accomplishes is that our romance (or friendship) with Solas actually pulls him out of this space and into other areas of both Skyhold and Thedas. If you don't befriend Solas, unless it's for mission purposes, he almost never leaves his Rotunda (and it's even more true if you do not do Cole's loyalty mission, either).

It takes the Inquisitor, and his high regard or love for her, to coax him out of his self-created prison.

Visits to the Fade

Now let's go back to the moment I began with, and that I think is so vital to his romance.

We're back with Solas, in a Haven that no longer exists, so that he can share our story with us from a new angle, and because he understands perhaps better than anyone else that we're still quietly in mourning for what was lost there. "Haven is familiar; it will always be important to you," he notes, even as the Inquisitor answers, in slight confusion and irritation, "We talked about that already."

Have we, though? We didn't see it. We've never once heard even an echo of this idea from the Inquisitor, to Solas or to anyone. So the implication is clear to me that (as I explored a little bit previously here) not only has Solas talked to the Inquisitor in the Fade before, but that they have, as I implied earlier, spoken about the things that matter to her. What she loves, what she fears, and even perhaps how she was traumatized by the loss of Haven, and I really love how economically and subtly this is conveyed. It's one small, single comment from the Inquisitor, but it provides the potential for added richness and story immersion for those who seek it. And that's so much fun!

But there's more to it. Look at it from a character standpoint—Solas has brought the woman he loves to the one place he adores above all others. It's not an accident. He's sharing something truly private with her here, but he's also giving her strength and affirmation, a gift of approbation and acknowledgment. The entire story he tells her in Haven, after all, can be distilled down to, "You are brave. A survivor. You are unique... and I care what happens to you."

Even in his safe place, his kingdom of the Fade, Solas can only lie to himself for so long. At some point, he must awaken.

Myths, Signs and Symbols

That's why, for me, this scene in the Fade at Haven with Solas is especially important, and for reasons that go beyond the kiss, as delightful as that moment is. I actually think it's one of the most important sequences in the entire game story, for those truly want to know who Solas is. As with the final devastating scene in Crestwood (which bookends this one), this scene, too, is about Solas giving a hidden gift to the Inquisitor—the gift of truth—so every moment within is rich with a certain degree of subtext and symbolism.

Let's revisit with them. He walks her through Haven in the snow, on a beautiful winter's day, in the soft and gentle touch of snowflakes. Around them is the brilliance of the little village at its height, framed by the bright and bravely waving pennants.

He has given her back Haven, here. But he also wants to show her who he is, and the cage in which he himself is trapped. So when she pauses, briefly and tentatively as they arrive, he walks faster and leads her where he wants to go. And then in the darkness he says what he brought her there to say.

SOLAS: I sat beside you while you slept, studying the Anchor.
INQUISITOR (among the options): How long can it take to look at a mark on my hand?
SOLAS: A magical mark of unknown origin, tied to a unique breach in the Veil? Longer than you might think.

He pauses, remembering.

SOLAS: I ran every test I could imagine—searched the Fade, yet found nothing. Cassandra suspected duplicity. She threatened to have me executed as an apostate if I didn’t produce results.
INQUISITOR (among the options): Cassandra’s like that with everyone.
SOLAS: Ha. Yes. 

He laughs briefly, then turns away from her again.

SOLAS: You were never going to wake up. How could you? A mortal, sent physically through the Fade? I was frustrated, frightened. The spirits I might have consulted had been driven away by the Breach. Although I wished to help, I had no faith in Cassandra… or she in me. I was ready to flee.
INQUISITOR (among the options): The Breach threatened the whole world. Where did you plan to go?
SOLAS: Someplace far away, where I might research a way to repair the Breach before its effects reached me. 

He glances at her, then chuckles slightly.

SOLAS: I never said it was a good plan.

He turns away from her (once again in that wonderful, odd whole-body Solas-way), looking back to the Breach, still visible in the sky in this moment at Haven.

SOLAS: I told myself: One more attempt to seal the rifts! I tried, and failed. No ordinary magic would affect them. I watched the rifts expand and grow, resigned myself to flee, and then... 

A flash to the moment when Solas held the Inquisitor's hand skyward to seal the rift.

SOLAS: It seems you hold the key to our salvation.

What he doesn't say, and leaves unspoken, hanging in the air like old incense and prayers? Is the fact that she also holds the key to his.

And Solas says this as if it is the culmination of the story; as if it is the culmination of his story. And then of course there's the flirtage and smoochies I described earlier. 

But as lovely as all of that is, there's more to this dialogue than mere flirtation. The entire sequence is full of revelation and nuance, on levels that are both symbolic as well as mythological, with Solas retracing his steps as he leads Lavellan down into the grim, dark dungeons (the "Underworld") where he admits his uncertainty and fear to her in the shadows for the first time, before they return to light and life, and to the white brilliance of the winter day. 

The Hidden Gift

It's a striking and even amusing scene, as when he talks about Cassandra's threats and the Inquisitor may respond humorously that "[she's] like that with everyone" (an answer option I absolutely have to take every time, because come on, it's SO CASSANDRA). But what's most noteworthy of all here is the way that Solas is willing to reveal his own insecurity and fear, his doubt and weakness, in ways that are rare and even uncharacteristic for him in daily life. And yet he does so, because the scene has (I believe) been crafted by Weekes so that Solas is attempting, however awkwardly, to give Lavellan something—something real and honest, even if she doesn't understand it at the time. Every word he says to her in this exchange is therefore carefully chosen as the genuine truth—truth that is, for him (living a daily lie and hating it) the highest and best gift he can give her. 

But of course, he's not just telling her the story there, is he? There's somebody else he's talking to in this sequence, as there is throughout several moments in their early romance: himself.

The conversations between Solas and the Inquisitor feature some of the most beautiful and complex dialogue across the Dragon Age story, not only because both are eloquent and share the connection of heritage and loss. Their conversations are rich and evocative, in addition, because that poetry is what she brings out in him... but that's not everything. There's also the fact that Solas is not just talking to the Inquisitor, he is rationalizing to himself the inevitability of his own actions and feelings (and, given his plan for the Veil, it's safe to say that Solas is a master at rationalization)—even while already dreading the inevitable aftermath.

Because what Solas touches, dies. And what he saves, he inadvertently destroys.

He must not do this. And yet he does.

This is why the hidden poetry and syntax of sex, love and grief that Weekes weaves into the dialogue, with its lyrical touch of Leonard Cohen, is so important. Solas is the only person I can think of who could fall in love with a woman and mourn her loss at the exact same time. It's as if the entire romance is being experienced by him, in some terrible and quiet way, from a future in which everything has already been lost, and he is once again alone, and grieving.

I've talked about the fact that Solas isn't a consistently great liar, but that's not always true: He's superb, after all, at lying to himself. Which is why, in his relationship with the Inquisitor, Solas is able to convince himself for a short span of months that he can live a normal life, that he can allow himself passion, desire and love for a woman whose life is, in comparison to his, as brief and bright and fragile as a firefly's. A woman who would, by his own admission, be doomed anyway by her own mortality, even if she weren't destroyed by his secret plans and obligations (as she almost certainly will be). If of course he allowed that to happen. 

But—as "Trespasser" shows us later on—Solas is not one to allow the course of natural events to get in his way. It's something both to admire and to fear.

But none of that has to matter. Not now, at least—not now, not here, and not yet. They're in the Fade, and everything is safe, and sweet, and permissible. For now, it's all just part of the dream.

As long as he doesn't wake up.

The Dragon Age Timeline Part 5: The Dragon Age Tale of Years

Be afraid, be very afraid! My first attempt at the Dragon Age "Tale of Years" is now complete!

So... (gulp... drumroll... faint shriek...)

Here's what I've been leading up to with all my timeline research for my attempt at creating a cohesive, "ultimate" Dragon Age Timeline: The Dragon Age!

This is the product of a solid 6-8 weeks of serious work, and it's really exciting to get here. Of course, this is the Age that has taken me the most work and assembly, but it's also been so much fun, and so exciting! In assembling this information, I used the following sources and resources:

World of Thedas, Volume 1
World of Thedas, Volume 2
The Dragon Age Wiki
Dragon Age: Origins Codices
Dragon Age II Codices
Dragon Age: Inquisition Codices
Dawn of the Seeker
The Stolen Throne
The Calling
Asunder
The Masked Empire
Last Flight
The Silent Grove
Those Who Speak
Until We Sleep
Dragon Age: MageKiller (Series)
BioWare blog posts
BioWare conversations with writers and editors

Plus: a variety of links and websites by some terrifically knowledgeable and dedicated Dragon Age fans across Tumblr and Reddit, as I noted in my first timeline post here. 

So, in all of the above, I went through every single page, biography, and codex to try to nail down important births and deaths, as well as major milestones and events beyond what we know instantly in the games (oh hush, I have no life). Piecing together Cassandra's was fun, for instance, because I had plenty of hard facts, but a handful of important moments that aren't specified (I suspect I'm going to have to adjust her activities during and after Dawn of the Seeker considerably in the future). 

And don't even get me started on the challenges of characters like Merrill, or Bull, or Sera and others... characters who live off the grid in the game (and behind it!).

With this in mind, I not only used specific dates of reference, but I attempted to incorporate implied/estimated elements and information as well—sometimes from tweets (for instance, Patrick Weekes once tweeted that Briala is 2-3 years younger than Celene, which gave me a wealth of plot points), and sometimes from game dialogue and Codices. All of the writers have tweeted similarly useful and pivotal information, from David Gaider, to Mary Kirby, Jennifer Hepler, and so many others, as always reminding me of how passionate, supportive and accessible the Dragon Age team continues to be for us fans. Given the increasing toxicity of gaming and pop culture these days, I really want to call out my thanks to them for their kindness to myself and so many other fans.

For another example—we know Bull is in Seheron for 8 years. We know he breaks down and is then lightly reeducated, then sent to Orlais, where he spends approximately 10 years (first with another mercenary band, then founding the Chargers on his own).

I had to guess at things like Krem's age when he left Tevinter... which means I'll probably have to further update this several times in the future!

Refinements and Guesswork

Which also means that each of these birth dates and milestones is also a potential house of cards. Bull's age is approximate, and has been referenced casually by some Dragon Age writers on social media. By the same token, if I estimate when Krem was born (I posit that he's about 28 during events of Dragon Age: Inquisition in 9:40), I could then attempt to at least generally define when he became a soldier, when he fled Tevinter, when he was rescued by Bull, etc. 

Yet all of those will have to be adjusted if I get further confirmation of Krem's actual age, etc. (for this and many other "estimated" elements). But that's going to be fun, too, and I'm looking forward to doing whatever I can so that this is as accurate and comprehensive as possible.

Discovering the Confluences...

So that's the scoop! I know the "estimated" stuff isn't necessarily canon or verifiable, but I think it's useful and helps to flesh out the picture of this world as a whole. And it does, ultimately, what I wanted it to do—it provides a "big picture," a look at the confluence of events across Thedas that can add richness to our understanding of its world. There is something poignant to me about knowing that Morrigan and Zevran were born in the same year, as were Nathaniel and Varric, or Alistair and Cullen. Or that the year Anders was hauled off to Kinloch Tower in chains, Dorian was born (and who knew Dagna and Dorian were the same ages?!). 

Please note that I am using Bioware canon where necessary, so Alistair becomes King as a baseline. I do try to include some multiple outcomes dependent on choice (potential companion deaths during game events and via allusion or action in "Trespasser"), but it gets pretty messy here and there. Still—I've made the attempt.

How Wrong Am I??

Meanwhile, I'll look forward to your thoughts, comments and feedback, as always! This is a living work—it will evolve and no doubt require a ton of correction, so let me know what I got wrong, or what I missed. What's your most surprising revelation here? For me, it was realizing that Gaspard is in his mid-60s when he tries to bring down Celene, and the little other realizations of character ages. I also love when multiple events overlap, so we see how Hawke's family's adventures actually take place across many years, and how they went on to affect Thedas...

Stop looking at me like that, Flemeth, I did the best I could. Also, wanna have lunch? Let's do lunch!

Previous Timeline Installments

And as before, if you're still catching up on these, please don't miss my previous timeline entries in the series (with the posting of the Dragon Age, I will next post the timeline in its entirety in a single entry for ease of reference, as well):

The Dragon Age Timeline and Tale of Years: Part 1 (Ancient Age)
The Dragon Age Timeline: Part 2: From the Divine Age to the Towers Age
The Dragon Age Timeline Part 3: From the Black Age Through the Steel Age
The Dragon Age Timeline, Part 4: The Blessed Age

The Dragon Age:

• 9:00 Dragon - Prince Maric defeats Orlais occupying force with the help of Loghain Mac Tir. In a duel at Fort Drakon, he kills usurper King Meghren. 
• 9:01 Dragon - ~(Estimated) Birth of Isabela.
  ▪ Birth of Nathaniel Howe.
  ▪ Birth of Varric Tethras.
  ▪ Marriage of King Maric to Rowan.
• 9:02 Dragon - Chivalry Threnhold becomes Viscount of Kirkwall.
  ▪ "Three-Queens Era" begins in Antiva.
  ▪ Aneirin is assigned to Wynne's tutelage in the Circle of Magi at Kinloch Hold.
  ▪ Birth of Rhys (son of Wynne, and possibly, of Knight-Commander Greagoir), who is taken to a Chantry orphanage in the monastery at Lydes.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) Birth of Leliana.
• 9:03 Dragon - Maric Theirin crowned as King of Ferelden.
  ▪ Oisine and an infant Leliana accompany Lady Cecilie back to Orlais.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) birth of Sebastian Vael.

• 9:04 Dragon - ~(Estimated) Birth of Ashkaari/Hissrad/The Iron Bull.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) Birth of Cassandra Allegra Portia Calogera Filomena Pentaghast in a carriage, to Lord Mathias and Lady Tigana Pentaghast.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) birth of Sigrun.
  ▪ Shale the Golem is deactivated and frozen in place.
  ▪ Birth of Celene Valmont.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) Birth of Michel de Chevin.
  ▪ Death of Leliana's mother, Oisine. She is adopted by Lady Cecilie.
• 9:05 Dragon - Birth of Fenris.
  ▪ Death of Zevran Aranai's father.
  ▪ Birth of Cailan Theirin to Maric and Queen Rowan.
  ▪ Knight-Captain Greagoir named Knight-Commander of the Circle Tower at Kinloch Hold.
• 9:06 Dragon - ~(Estimated) Birth of Aveline du Lac to Chevalier Benoit du Lac.
  ▪ Birth of Zevran Arainai. Death of Zevran Aranai's mother.
  ▪ Birth of Morrigan.
  ▪ Galen Vedas, Starkhaven ambassador to Nevarra, notes the practices of the Mortalitasi at the Nevarran court.
  ▪ Malcolm and Leandra flee Kirkwall for Ferelden.
• 9:07 Dragon - Birth of Hawke.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) birth of Tallis.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) birth of Briala.
• 9:08 Dragon - Death of Queen Rowan of Ferelden.
• 9:10 Dragon - Branka is made Paragon for inventing smokeless coal.
  ▪ The Architect attempts to kill all remaining Old Gods and bring the Taint to the surface of Thedas. He is stopped by King Maric and Grey Wardens. Maric subsequently allows the Grey Wardens to return to Ferelden after 200 years of exile.
  ▪ Execution of Lord Mathias and Lady Tigana, parents of Cassandra and Anthony Pentaghast by King Markus Pentaghast. Adoption of Cassandra and Anthony by Vestalus and relocation to the Grand Necropolis of Nevarra.
  ▪ Birth of Alistair Theirin.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) Birth of Cullen Rutherford.
• 9:11 Dragon - Birth of Dorian Pavus.
  ▪ Anders's magic manifests, and his father reports it. He is taken from his home in chains and transferred to the Mage Circle at Kinloch Hold in Ferelden.
  ▪ Birth of Dagna.
• 9:12 Dragon - ~(Estimated) birth of Merrill, to the Alerion Clan.
  ▪ Gordon Blackwall volunteers for the Grey Wardens.
  ▪ Rediscovery of Kal-Sharok beneath the Hunterhorn mountains.
  ▪ The Kathaban of the Qunari navy attack Tevinter and are defeated.

• 9:13 Dragon - Birth of Josephine Montilyet, to Yves Montilyet and his wife.
  ▪ The fortress of Bownammar falls to Darkspawn.
  ▪ Rhys's magic manifests and he is taken to the Circle of Magi at The White Spire, where he is apprenticed to Arvin.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) Birth of Cremisius Aclassi (Krem).
• 9:14 Dragon - Perrin Threnhold becomes Viscount of Kirkwall.
  ▪ Briala becomes a child handmaiden to princess Celene.
  ▪ Michel is saved from a street brawl by Comte Brevin de Chalons, who then adopts him for training with his family's guards.
• 9:15 Dragon - Arvin is transferred to the consulate in Teraevyn, Tevinter, and brings Rhys with him as well.
• 9:16 Dragon - Vivienne is transferred to the Circle of Magi at Montsimmard.
  ▪ Anthony Pentaghast is murdered by blood mages. Cassandra begins training with the Seekers of Truth and is apprenticed to Seeker Byron.
  ▪ As the third child in her clan with magic, Merrill is traded during the Arlathvenn to Marethari of the Sabrae clan as its future First.
  ▪ Hissrad/The Iron Bull is assigned to early training under the Ben-Hassrath.
  ▪ Vivienne attends the Imperial Wintersend Ball and meets Duke Bastien de Ghislain, and the two immediately fall in love. By summer she has a suite of rooms in his house.
• 9:17 Dragon - Gordon Blackwall recruited into the Grey Wardens from the city of Cumberland.
  ▪ Comte Brevin de Chalons pays an expert in heraldry and legal documents to create a title for Michel, who becomes Ser Michel de Chevin, a "distant cousin" to the de Chevins.
  ~(Estimated) Awakening of Felassan, a mysterious Dreamer mage (and potential ancient elven companion) by Solas (a/k/a "Fen'Harel" or "The Dread Wolf") from within the Fade, from uthenera, to act as his spy and agent in the waking world.
• 9:18 Dragon - Morrigan's magical abilities manifest.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) Birth of Sera.
  ▪ Varric Tethras publishes his first book, The Dasher's Men.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) Thom Rainier wins the melee of the Grand Tourney, thanks in part to Chevalier Ser Geoffroy de Bordelon.
  ▪ Cullen Rutherford declares his intention to become a Templar.
  ▪ Rhys is sent back to the White Spire after being beaten by three magister's apprentices.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) Michel de Chevin attends the Academie des Chevaliers.

• 9:19 Dragon - Alistair takes his vows as a Templar.
  ▪ Cassandra undergoes her vigil in a remote castle in the Blasted Hills of Orlais (the youngest Seeker to successfully do so).
  ▪ ~(Estimated) adoption of Sera from the Denerim Elven Alienage by Lady Taraline Emmald.
  ▪ Leliana meets and befriends Marjolaine, who begins training her as a bard at her Val Royeaux estate.
  ▪ Death of Emperor Florian, most likely at the hands of his former lover, Lady Mantillon.
• 9:20 Dragon - Isabela marries Luis.
  ▪ Morrigan spies on the Avvar.
  ▪ Death of Celene Valmont's mother in a hunting accident at the hands of Calienne (wife of Grand Duke Gaspard) and father, Prince Reynaud (via poisoned dagger) after he killed Calienne in vengeance.
  ▪ Assassination of the entire Valmont household and its servants, including Briala's parents, at the direction of Celene and Lady Mantillon. Celene helps Briala to escape and flee to the Dalish without disclosing her own hand in the massacre.
  ▪ Felassan saves Briala from bandits on the road past Halamshiral and becomes her teacher. He convinces her to return to Celene, but maintains regular contact with her over the years.
  ▪ Michel de Chevin completes his final trial at the University by slaughtering city elves.
  ▪ Ferelden and Orlais make peace after the coronation of Celene Valmont.
  ▪ Celene chooses Vivienne as Enchanter to the Imperial Court of Orlais.
  ▪ Malcolm and Leandra Hawke settle in Lothering.
  ▪ Alistair is sent to the Bournshire Monastery.
  ▪ Nevarra invades Orlais. Grand Duke Gaspard de Chalons drives them out.
  ▪ Dorian is apprenticed to the Circle of Magi in Carastes.
  ▪ Varric publishes Darktown's Deal.
• 9:21 Dragon - Zevran Aranai kills Luis. Isabela goes to sea.
  ▪ Viscount Perrin Threnhold is arrested and executed, and Marlowe Dumar is appointed Viscount of Kirkwall. Meredith Stannard is rewarded for her part in Threnhold's arrest with a promotion to Knight-Commander of Kirkwall by Grand Cleric Elthina.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) birth of Yvette Montilyet, sister to Josephine.
  ▪ Marjolaine attempts to frame Leliana. Death of Tug.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) Michel de Chevin begins service with Celene.

• 9:22 Dragon - Blood mages, working with a rogue Orlesian Grand Cleric, conspire to assassinate Divine Beatrix III. Cassandra Pentaghast foils the conspiracy, with help from Regalyan D'Marcall, and is named Hero of Orlais and the Right Hand of the Divine.
  ▪ The Sun Gates to Val Royeaux are ordered closed when dragons attack the city.
• 9:23 Dragon - Vaea is born.
  ▪ Cullen Rutherford begins training with the Templar Order.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) Hissrad/The Iron Bull is sent to keep the peace in Seheron.
  ▪ Varric publishes The Viper's Nest.
• 9:25 Dragon - Aveline du Lac meets and later marries Ser Wesley Vallen.
  ▪ King Maric of Ferelden is assumed to be lost at sea, but is imprisoned by Antivan Crows in Velabanchel.
  ▪ Maric's son Cailan inherits the throne of Ferelden, and a month later, marries Anora, daughter of Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir.
  ▪ The Tamassrans promote a new Arishok after the death of the previous one on Seheron.
  ▪ The Grey Wardens sense the approach of a new Blight.
  ▪ Leliana escapes Marjolaine's plots with the help of Dorothea (who becomes Justinia V).
• 9:26 Dragon - Death of Varric Tethras's mother. To comfort her during her illness, he wrote The Mercenary's Price, which he read aloud to her during her illness. Upon her death, he burned the book without publishing it.
• 9:27 Dragon - Malcolm Hawke dies in Lothering.
  ▪ Magister Urian Nihalias and his followers depose the ruling Black Divine, setting Nihalias as the new Black Divine.
• 9:28 Dragon - Paragon Branka takes her house into the Deep Roads to pursue the Anvil of the Void, leaving her husband Oghren.
  ▪ Rhys publishes A Comprehensive Study on Denizens of the Fade.
  ▪ Fenris escapes from his master Danarius and heads south.
  ▪ Leliana ends up in Lothering and joins the Chantry there, reaffirming her deep faith in the Maker.
  ▪ Warden-Constable Alisse Fontaine becomes Commander of the Grey in Orlais. Gordon Blackwall succeeds her as Warden-Constable in Val Chevin upon her promotion.
  ▪ Cullen becomes a Templar and is assigned to the Circle Tower at Kinloch Hold, under Knight-Commander Greagoir.
• 9:29 Dragon - Alistair is recruited into the Grey Warden order by Warden-Commander Duncan of Ferelden.
• 9:30 Dragon - The Fifth Blight begins in the Korcari Wilds and southern Ferelden when the Architect attempts to perform a modified Joining ritual on Urthemiel in the hopes of freeing the darkspawn from the call of the Old Gods. Instead, Urthemiel is corrupted into an Archdemon.
  ▪ Loss of Tamlen of Clan Sabrae in the Old Elven ruins, despite the efforts of Merrill and Keeper Marethari. Merrill meets the imprisoned demon Audacity in a cave above Sundermount, and the demon offers her knowledge on how to repair the eluvian.
  ▪ Warden-Constable Gordon Blackwall receives Silverite Wings of Valor for rescuing seven Wardens when a tunnel collapses.

• 9:30-31 Dragon - Arl Rendon Howe murders Teyrn Bryce Cousland and Teyrna Eleanor Cousland in a surprise attack on Highever after their son, Fergus Cousland, had already led most of the Teyrn's soldiers to Ostagar to join King Cailan's forces.
  ▪ The Sabrae clan of the Dalish elves finds a tainted Eluvian in the wilds of Ferelden and loses two of their number to it. To escape the taint and the coming Blight, the clan crosses the Waking Sea to the Free Marches and sets up camp on Sundermount. Companion Merrill is among them on the journey.
  ▪ Crown Prince Trian Aeducan of Orzammar is murdered and his middle sibling is banished to the Deep Roads for the deed due to the machinations of their youngest brother, Bhelen. King Endrin Aeducan falls ill in his grief.
  ▪ The Hero of Ferelden is inducted into the Grey Wardens.
  ▪ Ferelden is defeated at the Battle of Ostagar by the darkspawn; the battle is lost when Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir deserts, resulting in the destruction of the Fereldan army, the near-destruction and exile of the Grey Warden order, and the deaths of King Cailan Theirin and Warden Commander Duncan.
  ▪ The Hero of Ferelden and Alistair are saved from the Tower of Ishal following the Battle of Ostagar by Flemeth.
  ▪ Sten is attacked and robbed in Lothering, and (awakening in trauma) murders the farming family that sheltered him, thinking they are his attackers. He realizes his error and accepts sentencing to a slow death by public imprisonment. Depending on the Warden's choice, Sten is either rescued for redemption or he dies in the cage to atone for his crime.
  ▪ Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir returns to Denerim and declares himself Regent, triggering the "Fereldan Civil War" between Ferelden's nobility. Bodahn and Sandal Feddic join the Warden's traveling party and appear regularly thereafter at camp.
  ▪ Abomination of several mages at the Circle Tower at Kinloch Hold, who massacre mages and templars alike. Cullen is imprisoned, then rescued by the Hero of Ferelden. Potential death of Wynne.
  ▪ Lothering is destroyed by the darkspawn, and the Hawke family (along with Aveline and Ser Wesley Vallen) flees to Kirkwall with the aid of Flemeth. Death of Ser Wesley Vallen. Potential death of either Carver Hawke or Bethany at the hands of an ogre.
  ▪ Potential death of Leliana if left to the Blight. Potential death of Sten if left to Blight or starvation.
  ▪ Flemeth is potentially killed at the request of Morrigan, her daughter, and defeated in high dragon form.
  ▪ On the 8th day of the fifth month (Bloomingtide), the dam in Crestwood is broken in order to flood the invading darkspawn.
  ▪ Shale the Golem is reawakened.
  ▪ Marjolaine sends assassins to murder Leliana and is unsuccessful.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) Krem becomes a soldier in the Tevinter army.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) Michel de Chevin becomes the Champion of Celene Valmont.
  ▪ Potential death of Zevran Aranai in a failed attempt to assassinate the Hero of Ferelden at the order of Loghain Mac Tir (later revealed to be a deliberate attempt at suicide by Zevran). Potential deaths of Wynne and Leliana at the Temple of Sacred Ashes at the hands of the Warden. Potential destruction of Shale in the Deep Roads.

• 9:31 Dragon - The Landsmeet. Potential death of Loghain Mac Tir or Alistair.
  ▪ Arrival of the remaining Hawke family with Aveline in Kirkwall. The Hawkes take up residence with Gamlen Hawke.
  ▪ End of the Fifth Blight. Death of Urthemiel at the Battle of Denerim. The Warden becomes the "Hero of Ferelden," and Ferelden now has a true ruler in either Alistair or Anora (BioWare canon is Alistair). Potential death of Alistair, Loghain, or the Hero of Ferelden in the killing of the Archdemon if the Dark Ritual was not chosen.
  ▪ At Flemeth's request, Hawke delivers an amulet to Dalish Keeper Marethari in exchange for safe passage, leading to Flemeth's resurrection (with Merrill's accompaniment) as Flemeth had hidden a part of herself within the amulet.
  ▪ Orlesian Grey Wardens are dispatched to Ferelden to help disperse the darkspawn that failed to return to the Deep Roads after the Archdemon was slain. They are put under the command of Lieutenant Gable of Vigil's Keep.
  ▪ Grey Warden Kristoff is killed by the minions of an intelligent brood mother known as "the Mother: while investigating the Blackmarsh.
  ▪ In Seheron, Hissrad/The Iron Bull loses his entire unit, witnesses the mass killing of a school full of children, and goes on to wreak violent retribution on all involved before breaking down and turning himself in as unfit for duty. He is submitted to the Ben-Hassrath reeducators, then released and sent to Orlais to act as a spy.
  ▪ The "Darkspawn Civil War" begins. Remaining darkspawn in Ferelden are purged by the Warden-Commander and the replenished Fereldan Wardens. The Darkspawn Civil War ends.
  ▪ The dwarves of Orzammar are able to reclaim the great thaig of Kal'Hirol.
  ▪ Amgarrak Thaig is overrun by harvesters after failed attempts to re-create Caridin's golem research. The Warden-Commander of Ferelden slays one of them and destroys the research.
  ▪ The Circle of Magi in Starkhaven burns to the ground and surviving mages are relocated to Kirkwall, making the Gallows the largest Circle within the Free Marches.
  ▪ Anders escapes the Circle of Magi at Kinloch Hold for the final time.
  ▪ Qunari set out to meet Orlesian forces who agreed to return the Tome of Koslun to them. However, the book is intercepted by a Rivaini pirate, Isabela. Following a storm, both ships founder off the coast of Kirkwall. The Arishok and his surviving army take up residence in the Qunari Compound, a section of the docks set aside for them by the Viscount, until they can reclaim the Tome of Koslun.
  ▪ The Grey Wardens force Anders to give up Ser Pounce-a-lot.
  ▪ Anders joins with the spirit of Justice and massacres a contingent of Grey Wardens following his trail.
  ▪ "The Mother" is defeated by the Hero of Ferelden, now the Warden-Commander, or (if the HoF died defeating the Archdemon) by the Orlesian Warden.
  ▪ Anders, Fenris, Isabela, Varric and Merrill join Hawke for a series of adventures and jobs in Kirkwall. Merrill continues her efforts with the reconstruction of the eluvian.
  ▪ A shipwrecked Qunari mage is imprisoned underneath Kirkwall by the Chantry after causing the destruction of an entire village. The Saarebas uses a Dalish artifact in an attempt to tear the Veil. A Qunari agent, Tallis, is sent to retrieve him.
  ▪ Hawke helps to fund an expedition to the Deep Roads with Bartrand Tethras and Varric Tethras. They discover an ancient, pre-First Blight Primeval Thaig, and an ancient lyrium idol contained within. Potential death of Bethany or Carver in the Deep Roads, or if they survive, they join the Grey Wardens.
  ▪ Cullen is promoted to Knight-Captain of the Gallows, directly answering to Knight-Commander Meredith.
  ▪ Wynne travels to the White Spire to introduce herself to Rhys.
  ▪ ~(Estimated) Dorian flees school and is found in a house of ill repute by Magister Gereon Alexius, who is impressed enough with his intelligence to offer him an apprenticeship.
  ▪ With tension mounting over her insistence in continuing to repair the eluvian, Merrill is confronted by Keeper Marethari, who casts her out on behalf of the Sabrae clan. Merrill moves into the alienage in Kirkwall and joins Hawke's group of adventurers while continuing her work.
• 9:31-37 Dragon - Orlesian noble Prosper de Montfort strikes a deal with a Tal-Vashoth named Salit to purchase a list of Qunari sleeper agents. He is killed by Hawke.

• 9:32 Dragon - The Iron Bull joins the mercenary company Fisher's Bleeders.
  ▪ Entrance/physical birth of Cole at The White Spire Mage Circle.
  ▪ The Warden-Commander of Ferelden confronts Morrigan in the Dragonbone Wastes; she leaves through an Eluvian.
  ▪ The elves of Edgehall Alienage revolt against their Arl and many elves are killed.
• 9:32-9:37 Dragon - Varric Tethras publishes Swords and Shields, a romance series about the adventures of a female Guard Captain and a Templar Knight-Captain. While not a success, the series gains a passionate cult following.
• 9:33 Dragon - ~(Estimated) Krem is threatened with exposure by a military doctor and flees Tevinter. He is caught and attacked near the border, and rescued by The Iron Bull in a tavern brawl that results in the loss of an eye when he takes a blow from a flail meant for Krem. Bull invites Krem to join the Chargers, where he quickly ascends to second in command.
  ▪ Morrigan, potentially with newborn son Kieran, is rumored to join Empress Celene's court.
  ▪ Rhys becomes a senior enchanter.
  ▪ Varric publishes Hard in Hightown.
• 9:34-9:41 Dragon - The Iron Bull takes the best of the men from Fisher's Bleeders to form his own mercenary company, The Bull's Chargers. While publicly acting as the head of his own high-demand mercenary troupe, Bull continues to act on behalf of orders from the Ben-Hassrath, accepting contracts from Orlesian nobles and contacts and then relaying them back to Par Vollen.
  ▪ The Chargers swell to a large and popular mercenary resource of under fifty members, specializing in spycraft, shock troops and skirmishers. They become well-known in Orlais, Nevarra, The Free Marches, and in Ferelden, eventually becoming one of the most popular and prestigious mercenary companies across Thedas.

• 9:34 Dragon - Depending on her choices, Aveline may end up marrying Donnic Hendyr.
  ▪ Beatrix III suffers a stroke after nearly 50 years as Divine.
  ▪ Revered Mother Dorothea ascends as Divine of The Chantry, taking the name Justinia V after her predecessor Beatrix succumbs to old age after long suffering from dementia.
  ▪ Leliana answers a summons from Divine Justinia V and agrees to become her Left Hand and Spymaster.
  ▪ Justinia invites Cassandra to serve as her official Right Hand, and Cassandra accepts.
  ▪ Dorian becomes a fully-ranked Enchanter in the Minrathous Circle.
  ▪ Merrill engages Hawke's help to call upon Marethari of the Sabrae Clan to receive the Arulin'Holm, the dagger she needs to move forward with her work on the eluvian, and calling upon the sacred Dalish vir sulevanan. Marethari refuses, then asks Merrill to kill a nearby varterral first, to help protect the clan. Merrill, Hawke and their companions do so, and encounter Pol, who has run to the caves in fear of Merrill at Marethari's words. He runs from Merrill and is killed by the varterral. The varterral is defeated by Hawke, Merrill and their companions. Marethari requests for Merrill to return to the Clan and Merrill refuses. Marethari does not honor her promise and instead gives the dagger to Hawke for safekeeping on Merrill's behalf. Hawke may either pass it along or refuse.
• 9:35 Dragon - Murder of Leandra Hawke at the hands of Quentin. Death of Quentin at the hands of Hawke.
  ▪ The Arishok decides to overthrow Kirkwall's rulers to impose order on the city, starting the First Battle of Kirkwall. Marlowe Dumar is killed by the Qunari. Potential imprisonment of Isabela by the Qunari if Hawke turns her over to the Arishok, resulting in cessation of hostilities by the Arishok and Qunari, who depart for Par Vollen.
  ▪ If Isabela is not handed over to Qunari custody, the Arishok is defeated and killed by Hawke, who repels the Qunari invaders and is named "Champion of Kirkwall" by Kirkwall's Knight-Commander, Meredith Stannard. Meredith takes over the Viscount's seat and stewardship of Kirkwall. She imposes tighter sanctions on the Kirkwall Circle of Magi and increasing regulations across the city for martial law.
  ▪ Merrill enlists the help of Hawke and her companions to go to the cave above Sundermount for further guidance from the demon Audacity. Upon arrival, it is discovered that Keeper Marethari released the demon and allowed herself to be possessed, in a misguided attempt to protect Merrill. Death of the possessed Marethari at the hands of Hawke and company. Upon confrontation after the fact by the Sabrae Clan, if blame is placed on Merrill, the Clan allows the companions to leave unharmed. If any other explanation is attempted for Marethari's death, the Clan attacks. Potential death of the entire remaining Sabrae Clan. Depending on outcome, Merrill may shatter the eluvian or be inspired to continue her efforts.
  ▪ Lord Vincent Callier and his family are ambushed by Thom Rainier's soldiers on their way to their summer residence at Lake Celestine. None of the lord's servants or family survive, including his four children, all of whom are under the age of 15. Rainier is later revealed to have been hired by Ser Robert Chapuis, an ally of Grand Duke Gaspard's, to carry out the assassination in exchange for, according to Leliana, "a great deal of coin." Shortly after, when it becomes clear he is under suspicion, Rainier flees, leaving his soldiers to face justice and execution alone.
  ▪ As Felix is making the trip back to Hossberg from the university for the winter holidays with his parents, their party is attacked by hurlocks. His mother Livia Arida is killed in the attack and Felix is infected with Blight sickness. Dorian moves into the estate to assist Alexius in seeking a cure for Felix.
  ▪ Sten of the Beresaad becomes the new Arishok of the Qunari people.
• 9:36 Dragon - Warden-Constable Gordon Blackwall journeys to Montsimmard to confer with Fontaine. Thom Rainier helps to save a barmaid from harassment by a patron, an act witnessed by Blackwall, who recruits Thom Rainier to the Wardens. Shortly after, Blackwall is killed by darkspawn at an entrance to the Deep Roads by the Storm Coast while Rainier is diverted, killing a darkspawn for its blood for use in the Joining ritual. Thom Rainier adopts the persona of Blackwall in penance and tribute.
  ▪ Varric Tethras's Hard in Hightown becomes the bestselling book in five nations (outselling Brother Genitivi's Travels of a Chantry Scholar). Varric begins work on a sequel, Hard in Hightown 2: Siege Harder.
• 9:36-37 Dragon - The elves of Edgehall rebel against their Arl once again. After heavy elven casualties, Ser Aaron steps in and resolves the issue. King Alistair decrees that the Arl of Edgehall cannot touch the elves' sacred tree, Vhenadahl.
  ▪ Corypheus awakens in his prison and is defeated by Hawke.

• 9:37 Dragon - Danarius arrives in Kirkwall, and is either killed by Hawke, or given custody of Fenris after his escape attempt. Potential death of Varania.
  ▪ If Fenris is betrayed into custody by Hawke, Danarius later writes that Fenris is his "usual compliant self" following his latest memory wipe.
  ▪ Sandal and Bodahn Feddic are invited to join Empress Celene's court. Sandal prophesies the rise of a mysterious entity (who may be Solas) and the return of magic to Thedas.
  ▪ Activists of the conspiracy set up by Thrask kidnap either Carver, Bethany, or Hawke's current love interest (with the exception of Sebastian) will be held as hostage until Hawke arrives.
  ▪ Meredith calls for the Right of Annulment and is opposed by Hawke and Orsino. Anders destroys the Kirkwall Chantry, sparking the Kirkwall Rebellion. Merrill argues against his summary execution. Death of Elthina. Death of Orsino. Death of Meredith. (Possible) deaths of Anders, Carver/Bethany, Fenris, Merrill, and more. Hawke flees Kirkwall.
  ▪ In the household of Erasthenes, Marius and Calpernia become lovers and successfully hide their affair. Erasthenes sells Marius to Nenealeus.
  ▪ Fiona is elected Grand Enchanter. At the Conclave, Fiona calls for a vote on whether to remove the Circle of Magi from Chantry oversight. Wynne argues against her and Fiona's effort fails.
  ▪ Morrigan is officially appointed as "Arcane Advisor" to Empress Celene I.
  ▪ Dorian leaves the Alexius estate for three months, then returns to find Alexius and Felix gone. He falls back into debauchery and, discovered in bed with another young man, is abducted by his father from the home of Lord Ulio Abrexius and brought back to Qarinus by ship. He is imprisoned on the Pavus estate for several months, then escapes.
  ▪ Varric publishes The Tale of the Champion, about Hawke's adventures during the Kirkwall Rebellion.
• 9:38 Dragon - The Templars disband the College of Enchanters.
  ▪ Calpernia leaves Erasthenes and joins Corypheus. Corypheus imprisons Erasthenes in the Shrine of Dumat.
  ▪ King Alistair of Ferelden, with the help of Isabela and Varric Tethras, travels to Antiva City looking for clues regarding King Maric's ultimate fate and confront Prince Claudio Valisti. They infiltrate Velabanchel prison, but are pursued by the Crows and flee into the Tellari swamps, where they are confronted by Yavana (a Witch of the Wilds and daughter to Flemeth) and a high dragon.
  ▪ Yavana aids Varric and Isabela, who rescue Alistair, then they continue their quest to Qarinus, meeting up with magister Maevaris Tilani, who helps them by disguising the registry of Isabela's ship.
  ▪ Alistair, Varric and Isabela attempt to sail to Seheron to find Titus, and are captured and briefly imprisoned by the new Arishok (formerly known as Hero of Ferelden companion Sten).
  ▪ Alistair duels Sten, but doesn't kill him, and Sten joins their mission, bringing Qunari forces to assault the Tevinter fortress of Ath Velanis in Seheron with King Alistair in order to stop Aurelian Titus' exploitation of King Maric and the Magrallen.
  ▪ Death of Yavana at the hands of Alistair. (Editorial note: I'm still not okay about this.)
  ▪ Halward Pavus steps down as consiliare to the Archon.
  ▪ Maevaris Tilani is imprisoned by Titus, and is freed by Varric, Alistair, and Isabela at Ath Velanis. Maric is discovered imprisoned and feeding the Magrallen. Alistair destroys the Magrallen, resulting in the death of Maric.
  ▪ A new Conclave is ordered on behalf of Divine Justinia V to investigate the abuse of the Rite of Tranquility and to broker peace.
• 9:38–9:39 Dragon - Unrest brews in Orlais as Grand Duke Gaspard de Chalons stirs dissent against reigning Empress Celene, eventually starting the War of the Lions.
  ▪ Solas (a/k/a Fen'Harel a/k/a The Dread Wolf) awakens after millennia of slumber and begins to lay his plans for tearing down the Veil. He activates his spies, most notably, Felassan, on a mission to gain the keystone and control of the eluvian network. 
• 9:39 Dragon - Cassandra Pentaghast, one of the few Seekers of Truth still loyal to the Chantry, and Leliana, Divine Justinia V's spymaster, set out to restore the Inquisition. Initially they seek out the Warden-Commander to lead the new Inquisition, but they are unable to find them. Their search for the Champion of Kirkwall as a potential Inquisitor leads them to capture and interrogate Varric Tethras, one of Hawke's former companions, before releasing him.
  ▪ Cassandra receives further orders from Divine Justinia, and accompanied by Cullen and Leliana, travels across the Waking Sea from Kirkwall to Ferelden for the formation of the Inquisition, accompanied by Varric, who is once again her prisoner.
  ▪ Dorian goes to Ferelden to try to uncover Alexius's activities and discovers that he is experimenting with time magic.
  ▪ Lord Seeker Lambert labels the Conclave as treason. Fiona is captured along with several other mages, who are later freed, and at Andoral's Reach, Fiona calls for another vote for separation. The mages agree. The Mage/Templar war begins in earnest.
  ▪ Scout Lace Harding is recruited to the Inquisition by Charter in Redcliffe.

• 9:40 Dragon Age - The Nevarran Accord is nullified.
  ▪ Grand Duke Gaspard challenges Empress Celene for the throne of Orlais. Celene is called out of Val Royeaux after news of an elven rebellion in Halamshiral. The move is thought to have been orchestrated by Gaspard. Celene's absence fuels rumors of her death or capture. Anticipating unrest, the Sun Gates to Val Royeaux are ordered closed for the first time since 9:22 Dragon.
  ▪ Leliana as the representative of Divine Justinia meets with Celene at the University of Orlais to discuss ending the war between the mages and Templars. Leliana provides the terms--that Celene must end the elven revolt at Halamshiral.
  ▪ Gaspard de Chalons returns to Val Chevin to resume the civil war; Empress Celene reappears at the Winter Palace near Halamshiral and begins to marshal her own forces.
  ▪ Massacre of the elves at Celene's direction at Halamshiral.
  ▪ Celene, Briala, Felassan and Michel flee to the Dalish, Clan Virnehn, which captures them. Michel eventually kills several elves to free Celene, but spares the clan's First, Mihris. Michel then tricks  the demon Imshael and obtains the keystone to the eluvians for Celene. Imshael massacres the rest of the Dalish clan, who are left to their fates by the Orlesians and Felassan.
  ▪ Briala, Celene, Felassan, and Michel then enter the eluvian network, fleeing from pursuit to the central chamber. Michel duels Gaspard, but Briala uses the favor Michel owes her to keep him from killing Gaspard, and to yield instead, deposing Celene by doing so.
  ▪ Briala steals the keystone from Celene and declares the eluvians for the elves. Briala confronts Celene for her role in murdering her parents, and sends Celene back to Halamshiral, and transports Michel and Gaspard outside of Val Chevin. Michel decides to dedicate the rest of his life to pursuing and defeating Imshael in penance.
  ▪ Death of Felassan at the hands of Solas, for refusing to complete his mission to gain access to the eluvians.
  ▪ A violent uprising at the White Spire leaves many senior mages dead. The uprising is apparently supported by the Divine through her agents, including Sister Nightingale.
  Following the conflict at the White Spire, Lord Seeker Lambert van Reeves cancels the Nevarran Accord, severing ties between the Seekers and the Chantry. Allegiances between amongst the Seekers of Truth and Templars are split. Some still support the Divine.
  ▪ The Circle of Dairsmuid in Rivain, a more liberal and easygoing circle than most, is annulled by the Chantry. The mages fight back but are defeated. Among the mages killed is the Circle's First Enchanter Rivella, daughter of Captain Revaud of the Felicisima Armada.
  ▪ The College of Enchanters votes to separate from the Chantry.
  ▪ Lord Seeker Lambert declares the Circle of Magi to no longer exist.
  ▪ Rhys accompanies Wynne to the western wastelands to rescue Pharamond, who has discovered a way to reverse the Rite of Tranquility. He, Pharamond, Cole, Wynne and Evangeline survive the events at Adamant and attempt to support Divine Justinia in an attempt at peace, with Rhys and Evangeline now romantically involved. A violent uprising at the White Spire. Death of Pharamond. Death of Wynne, who gives her life to save Evangeline's.
  ▪ Death of Lord Seeker Lambert at the hands of Cole.
  ▪ Lucius Corin becomes the next Lord Seeker.
  ▪ Divine Justinia V calls for a Divine Conclave between the mages and Templars at the Temple of Sacred Ashes to negotiate an end to the Mage-Templar War.
  ▪ Marius becomes an assassin-for-hire and mage-killer under the training of Nenealeus. Marius kills Corinnia Crallius and Paulus Nimian. He confronts his third target only to realize it is Calpernia his former lover. He refuses to kill Calpernia, who helps him to flee with Tessa to the Frostback Mountains.
  ▪ Solas leaves the Fade and presents himself as a modern elven apostate. He approaches the Dalish but is turned away.
  ▪ Bitter and frustrated by his failure, Solas manipulates the Orb of Fen'Harel to Corypheus.

• 9:41-9:44 Dragon - Varric publishes Tales of the Inquisition's Agents
• 9:41 Dragon - Several mages from the Hossberg Circle of Magi join the Grey Wardens and begin researching records from the Fourth Blight. Elven mage and Grey Warden Recruit Valya discovers the diary of a Grey Warden named Isseya, the sister of Garahel, one of the last griffon riders during the Fourth Blight.
  ▪ The Conclave is destroyed when Corypheus activates the Orb of Fen'Harel in a ritual involving the sacrifice of Justinia V. The Inquisitor interrupts the ritual and the Temple of Sacred Ashes explodes. The resulting Breach destroys the temple and kills the assembled leaders of the mages, Templars, and Chantry. Death of Justinia V. Death of Regalyan D'Marcall.
  ▪ The Iron Bull and his Chargers emerge from a skirmish with Tevinter zealots just in time to witness the appearance of the Breach. Krem urges Bull to go to the Inquisition and offer their services, and Bull agrees, notifying Par Vollen of his decision.
  ▪ Surviving the explosion thanks to Justinia V, the Inquisitor is captured and interrogated, then accepted into the Inquisition. After it is discovered that the Mark/Anchor on the Inquisitor's hand can control the Breach and close the rifts, the survivor is hailed as the Herald of Andraste.
  The Inquisition, based out of Haven, is reborn, and seeks to seal the Breach and restore order to Thedas.
  ▪ Par Vollen sends Bull new orders: to investigate the Breach, to aid the Inquisition against Corypheus and the rifts, to insinuate himself into the inner circle of the Inquisition, and (if possible) to seduce the Inquisitor. Krem shows up in Haven and offers the services of Bull and the Chargers to the Inquisition.
  ▪ The Mage-Templar War ends as the Inquisition recruits either the rebel mages or Templars to their cause. The remaining faction is corrupted by Corypheus into the Venatori or the Red Templars, respectively.
  ▪ The Herald seals the Breach with the help of Solas and the mages or Templars. Corypheus leads his army in a surprise assault on the Inquisition to reclaim the Anchor. The Herald stays behind so that the townspeople can escape, and destroys Haven. Potential death of Seggrit, Flissa, Adan, Minaeve, Lysette, and Threnn. Death of Roderick. Potential death of Fiona or Knight-Captain Denam.
  ▪ Corypheus escapes with his dragon. The Inquisitor rejoins the townspeople in the wilderness, and Solas then leads them all to the mountain fortress of Skyhold.
  ▪ The Herald is officially named Inquisitor, the leader of the Inquisition.
  ▪ The Grey Wardens in Orlais begin to hear a false Calling and are scared into desperation to end all Blights before their perceived end. They join forces with the Venatori and blood sacrifice their own warriors to raise a demon army, ostensibly to march into the Deep Roads and kill the remaining Old Gods.
  ▪ The Inquisition learns that they are being manipulated and lays siege to their base at Adamant Fortress, putting an end to their machinations. After defeating the Nightmare demon that was controlling the Grey Warden mages, the Inquisitor decides to either ally with the surviving Grey Wardens or exile them from Orlais. Potential abandonment of Hawke, Alistair, Loghain or Stroud in the Fade. Alternatively, Hawke, if surviving the encounter, journeys to Weishaupt, implying future reunion with (if surviving) Anders, Merrill, Isabela, or Fenris, if romanced.
  ▪ Potential rescue of Rhys and Evangeline from Red Templars by Inquisition troops.
  ▪ Potential massacre of Clan Lavellan in Wycome.
  ▪ Potential meeting between Halward Pavus and Dorian Pavus at The Gull and Lantern in Redcliffe, in which Halward apologizes for his actions.
  ▪ Death of Duke Bastien de Ghislain.
  ▪ The Inquisitor attends a ball held by Empress Celene I at her winter palace in Halamshiral after learning of an assassination plot against her. The Inquisitor's actions resolve the Orlesian Civil War and decide who holds the throne of Orlais. Potential death of Celene Valmont, Grand Duke Gaspard, or Florianne. While at the ball, an eluvian identical to Merrill's completed eluvian may be glimpsed in a nook just off Empress Celene's library (perhaps utilized by Briala while she had control of the eluvian network). At Celene's request, Morrigan joins the Inquisition.

• 9:42 Dragon Age - The Inquisition pursues Corypheus to the Temple of Mythal in the Arbor Wilds, where he attempts to gain the knowledge to use the eluvian network and so reenter the Black City. The Inquisitor meets Abelas, an ancient Sentinel elf. Potential massacre of the Sentinel elves. The Inquisitor may or may not end up drinking from the Well of Sorrows, which immediately binds the drinker to the service of Mythal. Alternatively, Morrigan may drink from the Well. Departure of Abelas from the Temple of Mythal (or potential death of Abelas at Morrigan's hands).
  ▪ After the Inquisitor foils his plans, in desperation Corypheus retreats to the Temple of Sacred Ashes to reopen the Breach.
  ▪ Morrigan demonstrates the usefulness of her eluvian at Skyhold to the Inquisitor and takes them to the Crossroads. While in the Crossroads, Merrill's completed eluvian may be glimpsed.
  ▪ Following a message from Professor Bram Kenric of the University of Orlais about new discoveries relating to the disappearance of the last Inquisitor, Ameridan, the Inquisition goes to the Frostback Basin to investigate. New alliances are forged with the Avvar people. Ameridan awakens for a few moments, then dies, and his body disappears. Hakkon arises in dragon form and is defeated. Judgment of Storvacker, who may become an agent of the Inquisition.
  ▪ Josephine Montilyet is potentially engaged (without her knowledge) by her parents to Lord Adorno Ciel Otranto of Antiva. If in a relationship with Josephine, the Inquisitor will duel Lord Adorno, who releases Josephine from the engagement.
  ▪ The Qunari reach out for a potential alliance against the Venatori. If the Qunari are supported, death of Krem and the Bull's Chargers at the hands of the Venatori.
  ▪ If the Qunari are not supported, The Iron Bull goes Tal-Vashoth and the Dreadnought is destroyed by the Venatori, killing all Qunari on board.
  ▪ Thom Rainier leaves the Inquisition to prevent the execution of Mornay in Val Royeaux. He admits his identity and is imprisoned at Val Royeaux. He may then be judged, freed, pardoned, or sentenced to continue his deception.
  ▪ The Inquisitor investigates mysterious earthquakes in the Deep Roads, accompanied by dwarf Shaper Valta and Renn, a Lieutenant of the Legion of the Dead. Death of Renn. Discovery of further links between lyrium, the dwarves, and the ancient elves. Discovery of the Sha-Brytol, the guardians of a mysterious area/presence that turns out to be a living Titan. Transformation of Valta, who attains magical powers.
  ▪ Flemeth confronts Morrigan, reveals her Mythal identity, takes the Old God soul from Kieran (if present), and provides a potential tool against Corypheus.
  ▪ The Inquisitor finally defeats Corypheus and reseals the Breach. The Orb of Fen'Harel is shattered.
  ▪ Divine Victoria is elected to lead the Chantry. Depending on choices, candidates include Leliana, Cassandra, or Vivienne.
  ▪ Solas leaves the Inquisition. Flemeth puts a wisp into the eluvian then meets with Solas in an elven temple. Solas absorbs her energy and she appears to die.
  ▪ Morrigan (and potentially Kieran) depart the Inquisition.
  ▪ At Red Bride's Grave in the Anderfels, Grey Warden-Recruits Valya, Reimas, Sekah and Caronel find and save the last nest of 13 magically protected griffon eggs hidden by Isseya. Death of Sekah, who is killed by an Ash Wraith. The eggs, out of suspension, quickly hatch into live baby griffons (including one who is already a doppelganger of Crookytail).
  ▪ Varric becomes Viscount of Kirkwall.

• 9:44 Dragon - The Inquisition attends a new Exalted Council in Halamshiral to discuss the organization's future.
  ▪ Death of Halward Pavus.
  ▪ Events at the Exalted Council are interrupted by treachery and death that are eventually shown to be part of a Qunari plot called "Dragon's Breath" that would destroy all of southern Thedas' nobility simultaneously. Leliana reports that sentinel elves are active in The Tirashan (Forest).
  ▪ The plot is stopped by the Inquisition thanks to clues and assistance from Solas. At the same time, the Inquisitor's Anchor begins to malfunction on an almost constant basis, endangering the life of the Inquisitor.
  ▪ Solas draws the Inquisitor to him through the eluvian network. The Inquisitor and companions take down the Qunari forces led by the Viddasala. If the Chargers are dead or if he is still otherwise Qun-Loyal, death of The Iron Bull on the final run through the Darvaarad, when he follows the Viddasala's orders and attacks the Inquisitor and their party.
  ▪ Solas speaks to the Inquisitor and reveals his true identity as Fen'Harel, as well as his plans to tear down the Veil. He then takes the Anchor from the Inquisitor before it kills them. The process also magically removes the Inquisitor's left forearm.
  ▪ The Inquisitor returns to the Exalted Council, throws down the book, and declares that the Inquisition either downsizes drastically and enters Divine Victoria's service, or disbands entirely, with its core members continuing to act independently with no legal standing.
  ▪ Varric reveals the publication of his book All This Shit is Weird, based on the Inquisition's antics during the Breach.
  ▪ Core Inquisition leaders regroup secretly in the dungeons of Haven to plot their next move. The Inquisitor either vows to redeem or kill Solas.
  ▪ Elves from across Thedas, ranging from servants, to Dalish, to sworn members of the Inquisition, abandon their positions to follow Solas.

• 9:44-46 Dragon - If he had chosen to become more spirit, Cole returns to the Fade, saying he will be needed in the future. Krem and Maryden remain together and romanced. If more human, Cole departs with Maryden to wander the world and make people happy through music.
  ▪ If the Inquisition is disbanded, the Inquisitor may have joined Sera and the Red Jennies in their antics against those in power (if romanced, as Sera's wife). If unromanced, Sera returns for occasional visits to Dagna, her "Widdle."
  ▪ Return of Varric to Kirkwall, where he rules as Viscount and continues to rebuild the city.
  ▪ Bull and his Chargers (if surviving) return to peacekeeping and mercenary work across Orlais and Ferelden, while Bull also continues to fight demons and Venatori. If romanced, Bull will return periodically to trysts with the Inquisitor.
  ▪ If Bull died at the Darvaarad and remained Qun-loyal, a romanced Inquisitor is mocked for their blindness in tavern songs and Orlesian plays across Thedas for years to come.
  ▪ Potential retirement of Cullen to a quiet life of peace (and mabari, and if romanced, with the Inquisitor as his wife). Alternatively, he may remain active in a peacekeeping role, while also offering support and expansion to the Chantry's treatment for Templars affected by the long-term use of lyrium.
  ▪ Death of Blackwall if still a Grey Warden. If not made a Grey Warden, Blackwall wanders the world to assist the condemned and forgotten in penance (if romanced, with the Inquisitor by his side).
  ▪ If Leliana is Divine, the restoration of the Canticle of Shartan to the Chant of Light. If she romanced the Warden, she will reportedly take time to be with the Warden at a villa on the Waking Sea.
  ▪ Disappearance of Leliana in a flurry of raven wings, and she is revealed to be a lyrium ghost if killed in Dragon Age: Origins.
  ▪ Josephine returns to Antiva and her family, where she is visited by the Inquisitor if romanced.
  ▪ Yvette Montilyet is captured by Rivaini pirates and rescued before she can elope with their Captain.
  ▪ Dorian Pavus returns to Tevinter to try to change his country for the better, taking his father's place in the Magisterium.
  ▪ Cassandra Pentaghast may attempt to rebuild the Seekers of Truth from the Hunterhorn Mountains North of Orlais. In this case, or if she is Divine, she will still reportedly be visited by a romanced Inquisitor.
  ▪ If not named Divine, Vivienne may unite her mage followers under a new Circle system, with herself as Grand Enchanter, in direct competition with the College of Enchanters. Depending on a variety of outcomes for Divine, the two organizations may rival one another for years to come.

• 9:48 Dragon - ~(Estimated) Dorian Pavus, if in a relationship with The Iron Bull, meets him occasionally in a secret location on the border between Orlais and Tevinter. Bull later rescues him from a Venatori ambush in the nick of time. If in a relationship with the Inquisitor, meanwhile, Dorian meets him on occasion in Minrathous, in secret.