dracona's story and her romance with solas
dracona tends to be sarcastic as a way to deflect, but she really cares deeply about her friends, her culture, and the elven people.
meeting solas, a witty fellow elven mage who had so much knowledge about the fade and ancient elves intrigued her, and she took every chance she could to ask him questions.
at first she was offended by his condescending attitude towards the dalish, and couldn't understand why he would speak so ill of their people, especially as someone who seemed to know so much. they would frequently butt heads about his attitude and belittling of the dalish while they discussed the stories and beliefs of "their" people.
at some point she began to enjoy debating ancient elvhen lore with him, comparing stories of the dalish to stories he had picked up from his travels in the fade. she was fascinated with his connection to the fade and to spirits, learning from him how to connect to the fade deeper, which lead to secretly exploring it with him each night as they would rest under the stars all across southern thedas. in dreams, they were able to find solace (hehe) from the weight of duty.
while he seemed to know a great deal and be all too eager to correct her knowledge, when she pushed further about his methods, the typically confident, assertive elf would clam up and change the subject. this behaviour gave her pause, making her slightly suspicious in the earlier days of their time together. she often wondered what he would hide and why, especially from her, knowing how much their culture meant to her.
and as dracona learned more of the ancient elves and gods while exploring the exalted plains and the temple of mythal, she became frustrated that a human witch could know more of her history than her. unable to keep up with solas and morrigan's debates, she chose to drink from the well of sorrows. a selfish attempt to reunite with her culture through the knowledge of the well.
"it's MY heritage!"
her desperation lead her to forego not only her own intuition as a mage, but also the warnings of solas and the ancient sentinel abelas. she (sort of) unknowingly accepted the will of mythal as she drank from the pool of water, unaware of the cost to her autonomy.
another heated argument following the temple mission lead dracona to ask solas to remove her vallaslin. painfully accepting the fact that the dalish have been mislead from their true history, she finally understood why solas thought of the dalish so pitifully. she couldn't help but be offended, though. if he knew so much this whole time, why didn't he help their people? help her?
"is there anything in this world that you won't tear down just to prove how smart you are?"
she took the truth hard, and solas dumping her immediately after such a vulnerable moment was like acid in the wound and she lashed out at him. she tried to argue with him for the sake of their relationship, confused and hurt by his sudden distancing from her.
"banal'abelas. banal'vhenan."
roughly translated: "you were never sorry. you were never my heart."
dracona didn't want to let go of him. she stubbornly pushed forward. even when she needed him the most, she could not find him in her dreams. she tried to confront him in skyhold to no avail, he would simply deflect to corypheus and completing the inquisition's mission. on their travels he would continue to distance himself, leading to some awkward tension between the party. varric and cassandra would frequently exchange grimaces as they tried to keep the peace between the two elves.
they had each others backs while fighting against corypheus, of course. but after their victory, as soon as everyone swarmed dracona to celebrate, solas quietly slipped away from the inquisition. from dracona, taking a piece of her heart with him.
years later, tormented by memories of his voice, his touch, his presence in her dreams, the inqusition stumbled upon the qunari "dragon's breath" plot, spun between the elvhen eluvians and crossroads she had learnt of through morrigan.
dracona and her party investigated the qunari, finding scraps of information and notes along the way which confirmed fen'harel's connection to the current events. they chased not only the qunari, but fen'harel and his agents, too. as they got closer, uncovering the truth about the dread wolf, about solas, dracona became desperate to get to him before the qunari did.
she needed to see him. to talk to him.
their final conversation during trespasser on youtube: click
she couldn't really believe it was true. everything she had known, as a dalish elf, as a mage, and as solas's lover, was wrong. she finally believed solas, and knew the entire truth. she learned of solas's past and the choices he had made which caused the tevinter magisters to become corrupted, blight the world, and now his plan to tear down the veil... she was barely managing to contain her confusion and anger as the anchor burst through her palm. he took it from her, saving her life, but once again leaving her behind.
after recovering from losing her arm, she returned to the winter palace to formally disband the inquisition, allowing them the freedom to act independently without the pressure of the public (and political) eye.
she vowed to find solas and find a way to stop him, knowing deep down that she had come to know and love the true solas, not fen'harel, not the dread wolf.
"now if you'll excuse me, i have a world to save. again."
17th november - update
heyo, just popping in to update that i finished inquisition and trespasser a few days ago and i've started playing veilguard now! i'll slowly be migrating my thoughts, reactions and screenshots from dai below.
in the meantime, i'm going to start a new blog post for veilguard click (warning: spoilers inside) to post to instead of spamming bluesky or my friends in discord LOL
thanks for checking this out!
original posts from bluesky/discord
september 19 2024
bluesky:
started inquisition on my character dracona lavellan who i intended to romance solas with but never got that far nvm finished it... played thru the opening with my partner mitch and it might end up on youtube at some point 🤪
[screenshots: 3 screenshots of dracona and 1 of an npc during conversation]
october 31 2024
bluesky:
i did not successfully speedrun the solavellan romance before veilguard comes out 😭
i started this playthru streaming in discord to my partner but we like to parallel play video games so he is never fully paying attention to the game as much as i am, so i've been playing it on my own now!
discord:
my character is a dalish elf, basically trying to keep the ancient elven culture alive. solas is literally an elven god who caused the fall of the ancient elven empire a long time ago.
i'm talking to him about elven culture and they're arguing because he is calling her people childish and getting the stories wrong, she's like "so you know the truth huh?" and he's just like "uhhh" (can't be too honest)
dracona: i wonder what the ancient elven city was like
solas: oh it was so cool, i mean... it MUST'VE BEEN so cool 😏
dracona: 🤨
november 1 2024
quote: "is cassandra defined by her cheekbones and not her faith? varric by his chest hair and not his wit?" -solas
i just finished my first major main story quest and they want me to go back to work 😭 [screenshot: dialogue text option that says "there goes my nap."]
ahhh its nice to play dai fully for the first time in like 9 years. playing it almost all day but this time with more responsibilities lol
november 3 2024
bluesky:
i do NOT miss having to fucking crank those trebuchets lmfao
the dawn WILL come 😩🙏
skyhold is so clutch ahahah
i miss them showing the personality behind the dialogue options in dai, i don't know how i managed to miss the fact that there's still green/purple/red options and my inquisitor keeps saying so much snarky stuff because they don't always literally say what the dialogue option says 😭
dialogue option with cole says: you.. what are you?
my inquisitor: solas tried to explain what you might be but honestly i stopped listening after a while
me: WHAT THE FUCK! she wouldnt say that 😭😱
i got the first solavellan kiss scene ... OMG IT WAS A DREAM AHAHAH
"my people" huh? 🤔 [screenshot: solas in skyhold talking to the inquisitor about corypheus and his ability to control what might be an archdemon. he says "indirectly, one assumes. nothing in any lore connects my people to the old god dragons who became archdemons."]
interesting to hear solas talk about gods 🤔🤔 [screenshot one: talking to solas in dragon age inquisition about corypheus. solas says: "the key is understanding this: no real god need prove himself. anyone who tries is mad or lying."] [screenshot two: continuing the conversation talking to solas about corypheus. he continues by saying: "his deceptions will undo him, as it has done countless fools before."]
november 5 2024
bluesky:
seeing your hawke in inquisition: 👼💕
knowing what happens later in the game and the choice you have to make: 🧍💀
[screenshot one: my hawke player character from dragon age two appearing in the third game. she is a white woman with blue eyes and a red pixie cut hairstyle and lots of freckles over her face. she has a smear of red across her nose bridge and cheeks.]
[screenshot two: varric introducing my hawke named lucille to my inquisitor dracona lavellan.]
stopping for tonight after almost finishing the main fade rift questline in crestwood and getting enough power to go to the western approach with hawke and stroud. in this world state alistair is king so he is safe, i'm probably gonna sacrifice stroud to the nightmare if it means keeping lucille 😅
november 6 2024
discord:
hahaha [screenshot of a war table mission letter from king alistair theirin asking for help with the venatori. most of the message is normal, but towards the end the text reads "something something grateful something. wait... did you just write that? you scribes do this on purpose, don't you?"]
bluesky:
from the vault, here is a sketch i made of lucille with fenris in 2016 and one i did last night of what i imagine she would look like in inquisition (her hair is really unique, i didn't want to give her an ugly hairstyle in dai so in game she has a straight hair pixie cut)
[screenshot one: a drawing of fenris from dragon age: 2 laying on his back on a pillow shirtless with my player character lucille hawke, a short white woman with red hair with dark brown/black roots resting her head on his torso. they both have their eyes closed while sleeping but fenris has a smile on his face and lucille has a neutral expression in deep sleep.]
[screenshot two: sketch of my dragon age two player character lucille hawke, a white woman with pale heavily freckled skin, blue eyes, strong eyebrows, eyebags, a smear of red blood across her nose bridge. her hair is a curly bob of dark red hair, with some grey hairs peeking through her short and choppy fringe.]
lucille hawke 🤝 me
gray hairs popping up in our mid twenties due to stress
i JUST logged back into my game where i'm at a camp in crestwood and as soon as i went to start walking a lightning bolt hit right in front of me and scared me so bad omg i'm helping the town and getting out asap
we got the official solasmance starting wooohooooo
november 7 2024
bluesky:
morrigannnn 🗣🗣🗣🗣🗣
she is so funny 🥺💕
[screenshot: morrigan in dragon age: inquisition during the winter palace main quest. after my inquisitor told her that she came outside for some air, morrigan says "i had no wish to interrupt your breathing, only to bring news".]
awww you get to dance with solas 🥺
this is so silly omg
[screenshot: my inquisitor sitting judgement for duchess florianne after the winter palace. dracona lavellan is smugly leaning back in her inquisitor's throne smiling while steepling her fingers, one leg crossed over the other. she says to florianne: "out of your element, florianne. welcome to the inquisition. my party"]
i never did cassandra's war table mission to go find seeker lucius and confront him about everything, and i only found out about the rite of tranquility stuff that's in asunder because i was on cole's wiki page 😅🧍🤯
discord:
[screenshot talking to the iron bull in the herald's rest tavern at skyhold. he says "at least under the Qun, you don't get everyone tripping on each other's dicks while the country goes to crap."]
i'm getting stared at [screenshot of the game while talking to an npc, and solas is standing facing directly into the camera.]
bro stop staring! [screenshot of the game again while talking to a different npc, but solas is once again standing facing the camera.]
november 8 2024 - "woke"guard rant
discord:
i saw a tiktok about someone playing veilguard and someone replied "i hated wokeguard" ... begone fake fan 🤨
they actually made all romanceable companions "pansexual" this time instead of having specific sexual orientations for characters in dai (straight/gay/lesbian/bi/pan)
so its like "anyone can be romanced now regardless of your character's gender!" instead of "characters have their own specific sexual/romantic orientation and their story/interactions will reflect that" and that feels LESS woke to me
and its always had themes around discrimination (racism, classism, slavery, genocide) and had POC and queer people because queer people helped to literally make the games and world lol
its just so annoying but i can weed out the people who are actually da fans and who are just fake AAA chasing gamers who are like maybe this will be call of duty but fantasy and its like no begone
november 9 2024
bluesky:
okayyy we're doing it... here lies the abyss! i'm bringing cassandra, solas and cole with me.
discord:
bro is in the fetal position [screenshot: erimond in the fetal position]
i'm trying to have a conversation and this guy is tap dancing
[gif, embedded below: the party stands in the fade talking to divine justinia, warden stroud's model is stuck on a ledge and his character is walking on loop]
his worst fear 🥺 [screenshot: solas's grave in the nightmare fade. it reads: dying alone]
bluesky:
finished... thank you for your sacrifice stroud 🧍️
i exiled the wardens this time and blackwall appears and is like "me too? 🥺" and because dracona has barely spoken to him at all besides to recruit him so she's like "he's a grey warden too, and a pretty useless one" she banished him too 😂😂
november 10 2024
bluesky:
not me finding this codex entry while solas is standing behind me sweating 😂 full codex entry link
[screenshots: the "fen'harel: the dread wolf" codex entry found in the exalted plains in a cave]
im playing thru the arbor wilds and i almost made it to the temple just for my game to crash 🧍
wahhhh i have a lot to think about and say about the temple of mythal dialogue between a dalish elf inquisitor + solas + morrigan 🤯
[screenshot one: talking to morrigan in the opening area of mythal's temple. she says "so one assumes. what is a god but a being of immense power?"]
[screenshot two: morrigan commenting on who mythal might've been. she says: "perhaps mythal was a powerful elf, a ruler among her kind. history often plays storyteller with facts."]
[screenshot three: solas making a snide comment to morrigan after her dialogue about mythal. he says "you admit lack of knowledge, and yet dismiss her so readily?"]
this was a nice dialogue too
[screenshot: morrigan talking about a fen'harel aka the dread wolf statue and shrine in mythal's temple. she says "setting fen'harel in mythal's greatest sanctum is as blasphemous as painting andraste naked in the chantry."]
the closer i get to finishing inquisition the closer i get to spending an hour or so in the veilguard character creator 🥺
solas: your people yet linger
abelas: elvhen such as you?
solas: yes, such as i 😅
dracona: 🤔
BRUHHH THE HARDEST CHOICE EVER IS WHO GETS TO DRINK
i know solas will be mad, and i know its because of the control mythal will have over dracona, and i know what happens when i get my next cutscene with him.... i think dracona would want to drink. she told morrigan "it's MY heritage!" time to gulp
gulp! [screenshot: my inquisitor dracona lavellan standing in the well of sorrows and drinking from her cupped hands.]
"the truth... your face" 😅 solas is so awkward
take it away egg boy [screenshots of the conversation between lavellan and solas up to choosing to remove her vallaslin or tattoos]
[screenshot one: dracona arguing with solas about her vallaslin or tattoos on her face, which in her case are to the goddess sylaise. solas just told her that dalish vallaslin are slave markings to the elvhen gods, and she yells at him: "is there anything in this world you won't tear down just to prove how smart you are?"]
[screenshot two: dracona saying "these marks have been part of me for so long, i don't know if..." after solas mentions that he knows a spell to remove the tattoos.]
[screenshot three: solas says "i'm so sorry for causing you pain. it was selfish of me. i look at you, and i see what you truly are..."]
[screenshot four: solas continues: "and you deserve better than what those cruel marks represent." there is a large decision wheel to choose between keeping the vallaslin or removing them.]
oh... she's going to be mad.
[screenshot one: solas with his hand by the side of dracona's head after taking away her vallaslin]
[screenshot two: solas talking to dracona after her vallaslin is removed. he says "ar lasa mala revas. you are free".]
[screenshot three: dracona and solas facing each other after solas has just broken up with her after removing her vallaslin. he said "i'm sorry. i never wanted to hurt you." the dialogue wheel for dracona has the options "you did." and "great job." but i'm highlighting the option that says "your loss, asshole!" with the angry emote.]
hmm i basically picked the one option where he basically has no response... "see you at skyhold.." she says something to him along the lines of "you never loved me, you don't have a heart" kind of
talking to cole about binding him or not with solas on the other side of the convo after they've already broken up......... woof
sighhhh it's so rough for him to call it off right as it was getting really serious, but it makes so much sense. but now her mind is distracted when she needs it to be clearest 😭😭 she's gotta plan for the final fight against corypheus and all she can think about is that bald egg head
i should be able to finish the main story and even trespasser tomorrow. i can't believe i've finished inquisition in basically a week and a half, i haven't played it in about 9 years!! 🤯
november 11 2024
bluesky:
omgggg i love this dialogue
[screenshot: flemeth talking to my inquisitor and morrigan about mythal. she yells "mythal clawed and crawled her way through the ages to me, and i will see her avenged!"]
IT WAS SO CLOSE took me two tries on only level 15 omg PHEW .... idk how i will cope with the Final Dragon Fight
[screenshot one: dracona my inquisitor talking while standing at an altar to mythal before summoning the guardian of mythal dragon. she says "this was where the elves called to her. spoke to her."]
[screenshot two: dracona continuing: "then one day she disappeared, and they had no one to speak to."]
you wanted into the fade? (rocks fall on me) I DID IT FIRST TRY WAHOOOOOOOO
[screenshot: dracona taking the elvhen orb back from corypheus as he falls after the final battle]
dragon age: inquisition main game complete! time for trespasser 🥺
[screenshot one: talking to varric after the end of the game about writing a book about the events of this game. he says: "right now i'm thinking: this shit is weird: the inquisitor lavellan story."]
[screenshot two: talking to sera and saying that the team are like family. she laughs and says "shut it, you. i cry, and i'm punching everyone."]
[screenshot three: talking to cassandra at the end. she says: "are you are my friend. how did that happen, i wonder?"]
[screenshot four: my inquisitor dracona lavellan at her bedroom balcony staring off at the frostpeaks during sunset]
november 12 2024 - trespasser
bluesky:
interesting lore drop during a convo distracting the iron bull lmfao
[screenshot: dracona talking to the iron bull, trying to distract him with conversation by talking about the veil. she says: "you might think otherwise, but the veil isn't technically a physcal barrier. it's more like a magical vibration that repels the Fade."]
"you.. found a dog?" omg
quote: "everything changes, people most of all." -dracona
i'm laying here in my underwear, cheese wheels on my eyes and she has the gall to bring up my ex egg boy
[screenshot: dracona laying back at a spa with tiny cheese wheels on her eyes. vivienne just started talking about solas and says: "i know you were cruelly disappointed when solas left."]
no cullen my boy we actually can't .... veilguard is 9 years after this 😂😂
[screenshot: cullen talking amongst the inquisition war council at halamshiral during trespasser. he says "first the blight, then mages and templars, then corypheus, and now this. can't we go ten years without the world falling to pieces?"]
i backtracked to the elven ruins part of the crossroads to get the first codex entry that unlocks special dialogue with solas at the end 😈
wow... it's so wild seeing him talk and be himself finally. i'm recording the whole conversation 🥺
dracona: there's still the matter of the anchor. it's getting worse.
solas, in his most emotionally projected line ever: i know, vhenan.
me: WAAAAAHHHH 😭😭
november 13 2024
bluesky:
quote: "now if you'll excuse me, i have a world to save. again" -dracona
i sobbed thru this whole thing lmfao this got me.... trespasser and da:i complete !!! 🥺😔😵😫😬🤪
[screenshot of lavellan's epilogue story. it says: "still she searched, and dreamed, and waited, for a way to change the dread wolf's heart."]
thank you so much for reading these if you made it all the way to the end!