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Dragon Age Veilguard: Love, Wisdom and Pride

A very long Dragon Age post!

Warnings for: Veilguard Spoilers, Solavellan spoilers.

Dragon Age Veilguard: Love, Wisdom And Pride

Okay, so I will preface this by saying that this ‘analysis’ primarily focuses on Solas’ arc; both romanced and unromanced. It isn’t intended to be a romanticised analysis, though it is very much enamoured with how a romanced Solas and his relationship with Lavellan foils (and informs my reading/reception of) that of Solas and Mythal’s relationship in Veilguard. There is a relationship I will address that I feel does parallel Solas and Mythal! Scroll down to “Reading Between the Lines” if you wanna skip my little intro below. Spoilers follow.

Truth be told, I wasn’t ever expecting much in terms of actually getting a sequel to Inquisition. The game dev market went through a tumultuous reshuffle before the remake madness breathed life back into many studios. Bioware game sequels (Mass Effect Andromeda) were underwhelming and not as fleshed out since the EA acquisition. I absolutely believe Bioware would have been shunted had Mass Effect Legendary Edition not been so successful. EA’s reputation was always lacklustre and underhanded, but laying off or losing several head writers attached to Bioware with almost two decades of work under their belts was the biggest red flag. Trevor Morris not being asked to return in exchange for a ‘bigger name’ was also a grave warning that returning to the atmosphere, ambience and world of Thedas that we knew was getting further and further away from a plausible reality. And on top of that, there’s the fact Solas was never intended as a romance interest during early development of Inquisition.

Solavellan seemed doomed!

Despite this, I still held out hope for a sequel, but I feared we’d always be in permanent Solavellan/developmental hell. Heck, I’m still waiting for a Beyond Good and Evil sequel—the game released in 2003! So, actually witnessing people play Veilguard, seeing reactions to it, seeing memes and gifs and essay pieces (like this one), it’s like my community has awoken again, and I never thought I’d see the day. Yet I am not blind to the fact we were robbed of so much potential. I knew thing’s wouldn’t live up to re-emerging expectations when Dragon Age: Dreadwolf was rebranded to Veilguard—the shift seemed to imply less of a primary focus on Solas (and apparently, according to the artbook, the early concept art proves this implication correct).

Things seemed even more dire when the devs revealed there was no tapestry mechanic. I had only one hope: that with the Inquisitor’s confirmed return, we’d get at least some form of catharsis for our Inquisitors (Lavellans and otherwise), if we couldn’t get the conclusions to so many storylines present in each of our worldstates. My main fear was that they’d go the clichéd Ultimate Sacrifice route (which happens anyway, but in a way that makes thematic sense given the stakes and heavily blighted worldstate).

Suffice it to say, there was a lot of evidence that Veilguard would disappoint me in the end. But it hasn’t. It hasn’t lived up to the many expectations and marks of excellence that the Dragon Age world built itself into with the first three entries, that’s for sure, but I am also just so deprived of conclusions, of endings (whether it be because TV doesn’t exist in a sustainable format anymore or that comicbook movies are made with a sequel in mind, never letting anything just “Exit Stage Left” gracefully; or the fact we live in a regurgitating content cycle with late-stage-capitalism where anything remotely profitable gets turned into a caricature of itself: Squid Game, Star Wars, etc.). The cycle is so exhaustive that I am actually at a point where I can say I am content with the ending we were given (on a Solas/Solavellan front), Veilguard gave me relief, and beautiful, achy pain to boot. Though I would absolutely be disappointed by both the "non-romanced Solas" endings, given that Solas winds up either "dying alone, forever" or turns to Tyranny.

Now onto the actual review of that Solavellan ending, Mythal and themes of Love!

Note: I have only gotten the ‘best’ ending in my first playthrough, but I also thought the consequences of not maxing factions would be more… dire? Another note, pls, if your romanced Inky swore to stop Solas, how does that ending differ, if at all? Let me know, I’m dying here!

Sidenote: I’m working on writing another review about my views on the ‘sanitised’ worldstate, the new companions (and why I think Varric was the wrong choice to have as an advisor in the game, given that the Inquisitor or Morrigan would have been more impactful; and not to mention that Cole or Briala should have been companions), removal of the tapestry and what it means for the future of stories in Thedas (The Story We Lost is such a poignant compilation of the sheer volumes of lost lore and depth that I honestly think I won’t go as in-depth on that review as this one), and why I think Veilguard is my final entry into Dragon Age.

Reading Between the Lines: What Pride Hath Wrought

One thing is for sure, Trick Weekes flourishes when writing within the ambiguities and complexities of meaning. This makes every word uttered by Solas so great to dissect, he's a god of lies not because he 'lies' but because he's so careful with how he phrases things, what he holds back, and what he reveals.

For instance, the famous Trespasser exchange where Solas mocks his own follies with sarcasm by saying:

“What is the old Dalish curse? May the Dread Wolf Take you.”

Then a softer, more saddened and beaten-down Lavellan replies:

“And so he did.”

This irks him. Because he then realises in that moment that he absolutely did take advantage, but for some reason he frames it around sex rather than power because that’s easier to address than the latter. And he rejects the notion, even though he brought up the expression he knows to mean nothing close to a sexual inuendo for being ‘taken’, and yet he has the gall to try and derail the conversation by pivoting and saying:

“I would not lay with you under false pretences.”

When I first had this dialogue exchange, I was baffled, because did this mean that there was another meaning to ‘Dread Wolf take you’ that Dalish clans lost through the years, or was it more of a self-deprecating joke Solas had with himself because he, the Dread Wolf, romanced (took) a Dalish Inquisitor (away from her people’s beliefs, histories, past), and he found irony in the saying?

On the surface, “wouldn’t lay with you under false pretences” could simply mean “we didn’t sleep together” or “we did sleep together, but I wasn’t taking advantage as the Dread Wolf, I was simply Solas in your presence”. But I have recently thought of a more… ambiguous reading. Lay could have been used in a milder, more vulnerable way; to mean to be at peace, to be completely vulnerable, as if to sleep. In that sense, the phrasing becomes: “I could not be at peace with you because I was living a half-truth”.

I absolutely think the moment he feels he is truly beyond hope is when we see his expression of abject horror as Lavellan shouts: “I would have had you trust me!”. He realises then that he did fuck up, he did take the choice away from her because he thought he knew better, him and his pride led to a decision that hurt someone close to him, and he could finally see how wrong he was, how alike the entire situation became to Mythal’s treatment of him. Especially if Lavellan asks to go with him. Because he can see that despite the hurt, the lies and the betrayal on his part, Lavellan still wishing to join him draws too close to his first regret: following Mythal.

Whether he likes it or not, Solas’ love which could burn like a bonfire was directed at a powerful woman—a Herald, an Inquisitor—and inspite of her greatness of character, it still shaped her into someone willing to follow him on his dinanshiral out of love, much like he left the Fade and took physical form for Mythal. So now whenever I hear Lavellan shout “Var lath vir suledin”, Solas replying with “I wish it could, Vhenan,” changes drastically with the Mythal reveal, knowing he always walks away from the Inquisitor in Trespasser.

“I wish it could, Vhenan” sounds heavily like: “You would regret me, as I regret Mythal, and I cannot bear for that to happen us.” More poetically, it could read as: “I wish our love could overcome a duty that has lasted an incomprehensible amount of time, I wish I could change my nature, but then I’d be twisted into a demon, like the spirit of Wisdom in the Dales; and yet again, I would become your regret.” These two readings are very, very romantic. Realistically, given what we know of his kinship with Felassan, and how they were comrades and friends for centuries (“A story unfinished. His back turned!”), and given what we know of the complexity of Mythal’s will that presides over the creation of his very being, and yet he was still able to muster the strength to kill a fragment of her to fulfil his mission, “I wish it could” was most probably a lament: “Do not ask me to hurt one of the two women I’ve loved on this journey, because if it ever came to it…” he would.

Knowing what I know of Solas, of how he was able to convince himself that Varric’s death (avoidable as it was) was just another necessary step, that it was just another sacrifice, another loss that would be worth something only if he completed his ritual, I have no doubt that Solas would also be able to rationalise hurting Lavellan (which is why in his mind, turning away from her, breaking her heart, leaving with no explanation and aiding her in Trespasser so she could live whatever few years remained in “relative peace” is actually an act of preserving that love). I partially think the reason he reveals the truth in Trespasser (especially for a romanced Lavellan) is in the hopes his ‘truths’ will push her away. But on a deeper note, I think he also thinks of it as some twisted form of repaying her for loving him to the point that he could have almost forgotten what it was to be the Dread Wolf, to just be with her as Solas, that night at Crestwood. Maybe his harsh truths would push her to the point where she’d give up her love for Solas, now that she knew he was the Dread Wolf, freeing her from the shackles of their love. He’s very self-flagellating, all about self-sacrifice for the ultimate goal, the ends always justify the means, he will endure any pain and punishment as long as Arlathan returns in the end.

What is his love of a mortal compared to the despair and loss of an entire empire? Solas views himself as selfish for falling for her, and that nearly broke him, if he was selfish enough to leave the dream of Arlathan behind for her, what would that do to his spirit then?

In his way of thinking, perhaps telling the Inquisitor the truth is a way out, a rationale they can use to justify stopping him or to make it easier to hate him as the Dread Wolf rather than love him as Solas (someone he hasn’t been in so long).

‘Masking’ as the Dread Wolf

During Trespasser, the Inquisitor has every right to despise Solas after all they’ve learned, and I think he half reveals the truth as a tactic so the Inquisitor can have an excuse to hate him, to be driven to anger and have less pull over his choices, once they learn the truth. Solas is particularly skilled at making other’s play the role that makes his own choices seem inevitable, he orchestrates a lot of events to play out in a manner where it's easier for him to talk himself into bringing down the veil.

He goads Elgar’nan to anger easily. He inspires the spirits to fight for him to the death as a necessary distraction during the war. He absolutely allows the Inquisitor to speak to him one last time so he can offer insight, yes, but also so he can easily frame his actions as just and inevitable. But, Oh boy does he get in for a shock if the Inquisitor shows empathy towards him, it scares him because he’s become accustomed to being seen only as the Dread Wolf. To be understood? That gives way to remorse. And remorse gives way to doubt. And he cannot doubt his purpose, twisted as it is, it is all he has left of his former self. Without it he would most likely change into something different. Someone he doesn’t recognise.

This fear intensifies more so if a romanced Lavellan asks to go with him, and in that case, he takes command and distances himself away (rejecting the help of someone close to him; the chance for a possible betrayal; the chance at another Felassan or Mythal [x]; the chance to twist Lavellan outside of her purpose, in this case, the purpose would be love/empathy) but not without showing remorse at having sacrificed yet another relationship for his crusade.

“Ir abelas.”

Sorrow for what cannot be is at the heart of why the Solavellan romance is so powerful, especially because even though both Solas and Lavellan love each other passionately, love alone cannot be enough when faced with regrets. Love would ultimately be stifled. Corrupted into something else over time. And so, for Solas, having loved and lost tragically is better than having loved and corrupted.

He will not do to Lavellan what was done to him, even if it is her choice, because she knows so little, her naivete cannot close the distance of a millenia’s old sea, and it would hurt him immensely to take advantage of her kind heart [x].

By leaving, he keeps her heart pure. And the yearning! Knowing the love is there, but on its own it cannot be invulnerable to corruption, so it is better to lose it than twist it. Ugh! Him leaving Lavellan is the ultimate show of love! IT IS A WISE DECISION. A rare glimpse into pure wisdom. Which is why he kneels beside Lavellan in Trespasser, he does not “Stand Tall” in the face of Wisdom’s heart. He kneels beside her. And when he stands tall again, he is Solas once more, filled with regret, and once through the eluvian, he returns to masking as the Dread Wolf.

Sidenote: It’s especially confounding that Veilguard allows Rook to push the Inquisitor to save or stop him after you’ve reached act 2 despite your world state choice (I think this was done in case they feared the Inquisitor wouldn’t stand by Solas after everything he was revealed to be responsible for in Veilguard, however it doesn’t work because the Inquisitor wasn’t an advisor, Rook never told them what they learned from the wolf statues, so having a stranger hold the ability to make Lavellan keep her promise or not rings hollow). Personally, I wish the Inquisitor’s presence had more weight in the non-Solavellan endings, too. I wish the Inquisitor could end up being the last friend/former love that Solas destroys (if you don’t collect the wolf statues) which then prompts Rook to fight him because Solas’ last tie to empathy failed to redeem him, that the Inquisitor falling is the last straw and Solas snaps, choosing to be a villain in the hopes of being stopped because he can’t stop himself, and not the ‘I am a God’ ending they gave us. Same for if your Inquisitor vows to stop him. I also wish the Inquisitor was the one to do the wolf statue missions. Would have been a nice secondary protagonist mission like the switching perspectives between Kratos and Atreus in GOW: Ragnarök (the old guard and the new; Inquisitor and Rook). I would have loved if they dedicated more dialogue to Inquisition days too, which is why I think Cole should have been a companion (if he wasn’t recruited, he could simply be a compassion spirit that ‘follows’ the greatest pain in the Fade that yearns to be healed, giving a compassionate viewpoint to Solas’ folly; recruited Spirit Cole could have a greater connection to Solas than even Varric, seeing as Cole was most likely a literal representation of Solas rewriting his own history by preventing a spirit from becoming too ‘real’; Human Cole would have a deeper connection to the world of Thedas, and could have been a great tool to prove how change was inevitable, not always a bad thing, and inevitably out of even Solas’ control. But alas, we live with what we are given! Even Imshael could have served in this role! Spirit/Demon of choice and it wasn’t incorporated into the game that supposedly asks you to make the greatest world-changing choice ever; redeem the Dread Wolf or end the age of the Evanuris entirely?!

Now onto the next segment: I want to talk about Solas’ regrets and how I read the ‘love story’ between Solas and Mythal, and why Lavellan (and what she represented) wasn’t enough to get through to him (and that’s a very believable thing, that’s what makes their love both tragic and epic!).

The High Price of Redemption

A romanced Lavellan has the most agency to see through his guises, if she resolves to save him, but even she cannot undo the shackles that still bind him to Mythal—the binds that twisted Wisdom so far from its purpose it became Pride, even when he burned (Mythal) from his face. (Likewise, A close friend Inquisitor who promises to save him is most likely a parallel to Felassan, again, they cannot undo the shackles of regret either.) I fully believe the vallaslin had a deeper magic than simply marking one as being committed/devoted to an Evanuris, I think it linked them magically, and since Solas was the first to burn the vallaslin away, he probably wasn’t as good at severing the link on himself as he was for other elvhen, so maybe a part of Mythal’s will still lingers in him, twisting him to Pride still.

In Veilguard’s final confrontation, I love the intention of showing how Lavellan approaches Solas slowly, as she doesn’t know who she’ll be faced with up those steps, Dread Wolf or Solas. But when she speaks to him, trying to get him to change his mind yet again, forgiving him for his wrongs, we are reassured that Wisdom hasn’t been completely consumed by Pride despite everything we’ve witnessed in the game because he bows his head at her in reverence as he apologises.

He shows humility towards her. He elevates her and her enduring love as worthy of his respect, but he does not consider himself worthy of hers. Thus, Lavellan pries open the door to acceptance but his heart is still not enough. Which is why love alone cannot turn the tide. He’s too broken to accept it. He doesn’t think he deserves it, so the only way out is through; to continue the ritual, to prove he was right. The shackles persist. Varric’s death weighs on his conscience now more than ever. Possibly members of Rook’s team too if they died on his crusade. But he is vulnerable enough for Morrigan to approach, and now Rook can use Mythal’s essence to make the final push. The only way he could be with Lavellan, the only way he could atone for the past and shed the weight of his armour (his crushing duty to the Elvhenan) is as Wisdom, fully restored, unbound by mistakes.

“Ar lasa mala revas.” He could only find absolution once Mythal (the angered and more brash essence of Mythal, the one unchanged by Flemeth and all the human women’s lives she’s been shaped by, but the closest iteration to that of Mythal in Arlathan, the version that he perceives as having every right to be angry at him for turning his back on her, for not going that last final stretch with her and subsequently, not being by her side when she died) severed the final connection: facing his regrets, showing humility and apologizing, while not taking away the blame but sharing it.

What is Benevolence without Wisdom if not Hubris?

We know Elgar’nan was twisted to Tyranny during the war, and I saw a post somewhere where someone wondered what led to his corruption, and what he was before (leadership/command). Likewise, Mythal was not above corruption.

So far, I’ve seen a lot of takes on Solas’ ties to Mythal, the power dynamic of being a student/disciple enamoured (could be romantic) with the benevolence of Mythal, but not how Mythal’s purpose was possibly also twisted towards hubris the moment she asked Wisdom to turn physical and build weapons from its knowledge, twisting it to Pride. Without Elgar’nan’s tyranny to rally against after the war with the Titans, Mythal would most likely turn a similar route, seeing her ruling as “necessary” for the people: “If not me then who?”. And that is a very short stop and quick drop to “I am your all-powerful ruler, I liberated you, and only I can guide the way”. Benevolence twisted by hubris can easily turn to Tyranny too, only one more subtle, a kind of cultish indoctrination compared to violent subjugation. If Solas had not turned his back on Mythal when she chose to be Evanuris (a god over her people) then they most likely would have made the worst (best) pair in the Evanuris. Pride is the Seventh Deadliest Sin. But imagine Pride next to Godhood?! That is frightening. So, when Solas burns the vallaslin, walks away and works against the Evanuris, I believe that he also inadvertently stops Mythal from becoming a corrupted version of herself. The sorrow at having lost her closest confidant and “love” grounds her, keeps her saintly in Solas’ mind, and in some ways, perhaps saves the Elvhen empire from a worse fate than him erecting the veil to begin with. But neither of them ever consider this. And I think that sort of self-blindness perfectly encapsulates how flawed both Mythal and Solas are. Now onto love.

Solas and Mythal – a Love too complex to simply classify as mortal ‘Love’.

There’s no doubt Mythal and Solas shared a deep bond, one that definitely had love in it, when we hear Mythal calling him ‘love’, without the possessive ‘my’ in front of it, it’s easy to misconstrue what type of love they share. A small nitpick, but like a thorn, it applies sometimes just enough pressure to change a perspective. Not calling Solas “My love” but instead choosing to simply use “love” works within those wonderful ambiguities/complexities that Weekes thrives in.

If one started out as a spirit, it’s safe to say concepts like familial bonds, romantic bonds, and blood ties mean little to nothing. There is no one type of love and there is every kind of love all at once. It is only once physical bodies are introduced, that physical touch, the ability to stab someone in the back, to kiss out of affection, to hug out of empathy, to strike out of anger, that love now becomes this twisted thing too. There are no spirits of love because spirits always possessed love, but there are demons of Desire (Gluttony) and of Rage (love denied).

I believe, from DGL’s acting skills, his soft whisper, his almost submissive smallness in the breadth of Mythal’s already soft voice, that Solas was in love with Mythal, devoted as a student, beguiled by her benevolence, content even in her shadow, and possibly star-struck. He was in love with someone who doesn’t have the possibility to love him back the same, it is not in her nature to love those beneath her in the same intensity that those who look up to her do. It’s like a priest being in love with God. The priest can devote themselves, sacrifice everything, but a God will always love their flock equally, but they can still play favourites.

Benevolence cannot be enamoured with Wisdom because to be truly benevolent they must possess Wisdom but there is also Pride to be had in walking beside benevolence, but they can never be on equal footing. Likewise, Solas’ love is not reciprocated entirely by Mythal, but she does love him back in her own way. While Mythal is definetly Solas’ first love, layered and complex, it is also strangled by regrets and twisted by uneven scales of power. It would never be a nurturing love, only a consuming kind.

When he speaks of Mythal during the Solavellan ending, he calls her his “oldest friend”, much like what Mythal says, (paraphrasing) “would you have me be angry at my oldest companion whose experienced so much with me”. Because friendship is perhaps the easiest way to describe their companionship. They went through many iterations, one certainly holding romantic tensions (specifically from younger Solas), but ultimately, with that much time shared, kinship/friendship becomes the easiest to surmise. You can love your friends, fall in love with them, fall out of love with them, only to love them again, be disappointed in them, etc.

Media today is flushed with romance as a linchpin for driving a hero to make dire choices, and that has warped our perception of how a platonic/non-romance-based relationship can be all-consuming, and sometimes more impassioned than strict romance. But, to make it easier for people to understand Solas’ motivations, it's easier to see their love in the light Taash sees it (an unreliable, somewhat “still juvenile” narrator, in that they are still growing into themselves and their culture and the world): “They were doing it”.

However, Bellara, a companion whose entire companion story is linked to her strong, deeply character-driving relationship with her brother (platonic love) refutes that reading by saying (paraphrasing here): “We don’t know if their ‘love’ is the same type of love we tend to think of in a masculine and feminine relationship.”

Felassan’s letter after the Mythal Dragon fight alludes to Solas having been in love with Mythal, but nothing about how she felt. This is why I consider the Solas/Mythal relationship to be more of a one-sided romantic love, but a requited ‘love’ relationship for them both.

A parallel I find so compelling: Solas and Mythal vs Briala and Celene. Solas and Briala both hold deep emotions for people in great power with the ability to end a tyrannical cycle of subjugation, enslavement and classism, yet for both of these ruler’s charisma and well-meaning intent, they often are swayed to side with tyranny. For Mythal, that was Elgarnan, the Evanuris who made all the other’s worse tyrants; as well as her own hubris for believing her presence alone could dampen the ravenous hunger for power that the rest of the Evanuris held at the small prospect of leading the Elvhen in a time of confusion (being a North Star is hard when all the other lights around you aim to blind the flock into submission). For Celene, this is more about the nuances of retaining favour, pull and power over other noble families, their backing (be it financial, political or simply cut-throat), and their support so she can be the ‘lesser of two evils’ compared to Gaspard’s warmongering personality and Florianne simply being a puppet with no backbone. Both Briala and Solas are turned to pawns despite their immense strength and compassion for their respective elven plights; Briala is rendered a fangless lion (for lack of a better metaphor) if she is reunited with Celene, whereas if she is chosen to puppet Gaspard, there’s every likelihood her story could parallel a ‘power-mad’ Solas if he’d been tethered to Rage (at betrayal) and not Regret (at having not rejected Mythal when she asked him to take a physical body) throughout his tenure as the Dread Wolf.

Solas and Lavellan – a Heart that was never intended to be Given/Taken

Now I will compare the lack of possessives in front of Mythal’s “love” to Solas declaring Lavellan as ‘Vhenan’ and then ‘Ar lath, ma Vhenan’ vs ‘Ar lath ma vhenan'; again, the coma is the thorn, the pause that shapes the quiet unsaid things we can deduce. In the Trespasser cutscene DGL puts the pause after “Ar lath”, even though the subtitles construct the sentence with Vhenan as a proper noun since it’s a nickname often used by Solas: “Ar lath ma, Vhenan”. But I believe Solas actually says “Ar lath, ma Vhenan”.

With “Ar lath, ma Vhenan” the stressor is after the pause, so the line reads: “I love [you], my heart.” And with “Ar lath ma, Vhenan” it makes even less structural sense but can be inferred to mean: “I love you, Heart”.

The possessiveness of “My” is what definitively differentiates the love Solas feels for Lavellan as one more of the romantic side, it is a love of yearning and desire and a wish to have one last good thing that is pure and incorruptible. The one thing he had left to give. His heart. But that does not mean his heart is enough! The rest of him is still bound to the love of Mythal that was twisted through the ages. That changed him. And given how Pride often comes before a fall, I absolutely understand why Solas is actually very brash and ill-considering when he’s romancing Lavellan (“The kiss was ill-considered”/”It would be kinder in the long run”/”I wanted to show you what you mean to me”). He's on a precarious cliff during Inquisition. His first plan failed. He's allowed ancient elvhen magic to fall into a blighted Tevinter magister's hands. Literally everything the Inquisition did could have been for nought if the Mark had fallen to the wrong person. Things could have easily fallen apart for Solas too, so why not indulge in something trifling and fleeting? Execpt it wasn't trifling. Nor was it fleeting. And when he saw that the fall could potentially not happen, that the Inquisitor could do it, save Thedas and retrieve the orb, he was struck by the gravity of his brashness, of letting impulses control him instead of acting according to a plan. But it was too late. They'd both fallen for each other.

Solas didn’t expect to form entanglements within the Inquisition. He was committed. He was angry at the world, “walking through a sea of tranquil”, called flat-ear by the Dalish that later chased him from their village when he proved he was the Dread Wolf. He was despised by people who looked like him. Spirits were constantly being abused and turned into demons. People erected monuments to heroes who slew demons. Mages were caged. Elves were subjugated. The empire fell. Humans razed the lands with their wars and petty squabbles of succession. The darkspawn tainted the land. The dwarves would never dream. Solas awoke to the worst possible fate; in his eyes, it was all his fault.

So when he kisses Lavellan in the Fade, impulsively, he isn’t kissing her there because it is less ‘real’ than if they kissed while she was awake, it makes it so much more real. He’s kissing her in the space where he is most himself. Where he can shed the body he was forced to build and trap himself within, the body of Pride. He is acting on the impulses of an enlivened Wisdom spirit that does not consider tomorrow, for the first time in a long time. It isn’t a long game with Lavellan, like so much of his life has been about always thinking to the future, always considering the outcome, machinating, scheming, the wiles and woes of every trickster god in mythology. It’s being in the moment with her that is all-consuming. It lowers his guard, leaves him vulnerable, and when she enquires about the Fade or spirits or histories, he gets to be useful as pure Wisdom again.

Lavellan challenging him when he first shows animosity or irritation towards the Dalish (a prideful act), and then him being taken aback when she explains that maybe the Dalish could be shown another way (making him consider her words, being given a morsel of wisdom back, reminding him of his old self), these are all small moments where Solas can begin to see springs of hope in the broken world. And that’s terrifying. It means he’s destroying not just himself, but the memory of Mythal and Arlathan too, all for the love of a woman who fell for an apostate.

The best, most genuine unmasking of Solas for me is during Wicked Hearts, when he’s tipsy on wine, has no inhibitions, and revels in the intrigue, the gossip, the dancing, the music (something we now know is important enough to have an entire music room in the Lighthouse), the sex! He is at his most relaxed, and then he asks Lavellan to dance, not caring about how it would look for the “Inquisitor’s serving man, Solas” to be intimate in a fucking Orlesian palace with the Herald of Andraste, right after stopping an assassination attempt! He finds comfort in the world of Thedas at that moment. Something he rarely shows so outright.

When he takes Lavellan to Crestwood to confess, I believe removing her vallaslin wasn’t entirely just for her, it wasn’t just to free her from slave markings or to simply reveal a form of a truth he wanted to tell her, it was to resolve himself of what his first purpose was supposed to be, what she distracted him from. Removing the vallaslin had been something he’d done for the slaves of Arlathan, it was what earned him the mantle of Dread Wolf. When he removes Lavellan’s vallaslin, he resets.

Thedas cannot allow Wisdom to truly exist without fear of corruption to Pride, Thedas the world he was responsible for shaping, literally the Maker of the Veil, and he falls for a woman Heralded as Andraste’s Chosen One, Mythal’s incarnation in the South. The irony. The cruel, cruel irony. The Inquisition is tied to his past, every Andrastian he meets, every Dalish person with vallaslin on their face, every slave or city elf. Tevinter worshiping the dragons that still have the essences of the Old Gods. His heart alone cannot withstand all of the punishing, gruelling, oppressive weight that is Thedas. Even for Lavellan. So he frames their romance as this tragic, short-lived tale that was beautiful but ultimately destined to end. He expects it to pass for her, she’s mortal after all. But he also leaves his heart with her, literally giving her power over the last uncorrupted part of himself. Think Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann at the end of World’s End, but metaphorically. He gives her his heart to safe keep as he goes on a journey that could corrupt a heart, turn it cold and bitter, destroy it.

Ar lasa mala revas. You are free.

He frees his heart.

Lets it go.

Twice!

So only once he is relinquished of his regrets, once Mythal does the same for him, only then is there “Nothing left except their love”. Because Lavellan still held his heart there was still something left after. Something beyond despair and regret and loss. He had given his heart to her to safekeep. And she did. Lavellan returns his heart to him when he is freed. What Mythal had to break so Solas could heal right again (like a bone), Lavellan casts a splint around so it can be set and heal properly. This is the difference between Mythal’s love and Lavellan’s. Both Mythal’s love and forgiveness broke him, but Lavellan’s love gives him the strength to Stand Tall one last time.

Solas, before Pride alone, as Wisdom (perhaps Solas always meant both Standing Tall and Wisdom, for Wisdom can grant one pride to stand tall for what they believe in), finds contentment with the rare and marvellous spirit that endured (his Vhenan). Wisdom endured because of humanity, something benevolence is beyond.

Bellanaris

When Lavellan offers to go with him, to continue on the dinanshiral that she already considers herself a part of, Solas is legitimately taken aback. His expression is soft yet full of disbelief and awe. He actually stops walking a few frames before Lavellan says this, as if hoping Lavellan would say something to him!

And then she basically proposes to him! “Bellanaris!” I absolutely adore the fact that Lavellan promises them eternity. A vow as sacred as a death right, as protected as an ancient, elvhen, undisturbed burial ground in the face of Orlesian colonialisation. They endured and now they will have an eternity. For once, we have an elvish tale that is not a curse, it is a love story with reunion at its core, where both elves reclaim something precious that was denied them.

Lastly, i am absolutely frothing at the mouth that Solas and Lavellan primarily speak in elvish! And even more feral at the fact Solas does not try to talk her out of joining him (because this sweet talker very well could!). He simply tells her where he is going is terrible. And she shuts that shit down immediately. No repeat of Trespasser. She's standing beside him, the South has all but fallen, whatever ties yet survive are strained, and she has fought the good fight for 8 years. I think the Inquisitor was about ready to leave Thedas behind.

The last decisions Solas makes are of his own volition. Entering the Fade for atonement. Stepping into the Fade with Lavellan (It was confirmed by Weekes that Lavellan’s presence in the Fade prison would fundamentally change it in a way we haven’t seen!). Thanking Rook for giving him one last shot at getting happiness. All his own!

This is the look of a man finally reunited with his wife! So much emotion in ONE frame. God! There’s never been a character like him. A love story like theirs! I’m so happy I got to see this ending. Full circle!

P.S. If you read this far, woah nelly! That’s crayyzeee, so here are some more great pieces: Why it was important for Lavellan to kneel for Solas as he knelt for her in Trespasser in the Solavellan ending [x], and here’s a great deep-dive on Solas as a spirit of Wisdom [x].

562 notes View Post

arlathmavhenanara

6 months ago

A black banner with the image of various dishes of food to the left, to the right the words: Foods of Thedas

Updated: 2023/12

I originally posted this on my old blog. Since posting that, I've found other foods, drinks and ingredients. As of now this list is updated with everything found in media released as of Oct 2023.

Like the original, this is still a very long post that contains all canonical desserts, dishes, drinks, ingredients, and sauces. Unlike the original, I could not list canonically suggested food and ingredients, nor every codex, item, letter, ect in the sources. Because it was too long. I did add them to the individual post.

Like in the individual posts, the list has the country of origins next to each item and any relevant information. Such as ingredients, use, notes, or trivia. For the canonically suggested foods and drinks I list what their real world uses are for your reference as to what they might be used for in Thedas.

For Shorter Food Posts

Dishes, Sauces, and Sides

Drinks

Raw Ingredients

Prepared Ingredients

Canonically Possible Foods and Drinks

Disclaimer

Though real life plants may be listed here as edible it is for fictional use only. This is not intended to be used as a reference nor guide for what plants are edible or safe to eat. Please do not use it as such.

Dishes

Breads

Bark Bread

Biscuit

Whole Grain Biscuit - Commonly made in Chantry cloisters. A staple in their simple diets.

Black Bread

Braided Honey and Date Bread (Anderfels)

Brown Bread

Buns

Butter Puff - Bread made by folding butter into the dough allowing it to become puffy and softer than usual bread. (Orlais)

Crumpet

Dark Bread

Dried Bread

Flat Bread - A no-rise bread. Served with dip, brushed in oil, and/or as a side. (Nevarra)

Honey Loaf

Lichen Bread - Bread that is made using lichen. (Orzammar)

Black Lichen Bread

Peasant Bread - Comprised of wheat, grease, and salt in equal measure, made by Dalish and city elves in Orlais. They top it with butter, jam, and sometimes sugar. (Elves - Orlais)

Pumpkin bread - A favorite of Dorian Pavus (Tevinter)

Raider Queen’s Bread of Many Tongues - Created by the Raider Queen, this bread calls for flour, baking powder, salt, butter, brown sugar, molasses, eggs, bananas. The creator calls for Par Vollen bananas but another version of the recipe says Rivaini bananas are an acceptable replacement. (Rivain)

Rolls

Bread Roll

Sweet Rolls

Ryott Bread - Made of a protein rich grain called ryott. (Ferelden, Chasind)

Sweet Bread

Thin Bread - A thin bread used to make wraps in Seheron.

Whole Grain Bread - Another staple made in Chantry cloisters.

Wraps - Described as "soft" bread.

Appetizers, Starters, and Refreshments

Blood Orange Salad - a salad of bitter greens with blood orange slices served on top. (Nevarra)

Canapé - a type of hors d'œuvre.

Couscous Salad - A salad comprised of couscous with many varieties, one such variety includes red bell peppers and mint. (Rivain)

Crab Cakes - a classic dish in Kirkwall. (Kirkwall)

Dried Bread and Fruit

Eggs à la Val Foret - An egg dish served with a cream sauce. (Orlais)

Fluffy Mackerel Pudding - Celery, pepper, mackerel, diced onion, mustard, salt, Antivan pepper, ground mace, cardamom seed, eggs. Also known as Feast Day Fish (Ferelden)

Fried Crab Legs - A subsitute for the Orzammar dish of fried young giant spiders.

Fried young giant spiders - A common food in Orzammar, usually served with an alcohol-based sauce that varies with every establishment. (Orzammar)

Roasted Cave Beetles - Roasted whole and eaten out of the shell. (Orzammar)

Roasted Prawns - A substitute to cave beetles, said to have the same taste and texture.

Shredded Dried Meat and Cheese - A dish that is commonly used as a spread by the dwarves and used for lunches. (Orzammar)

Snails Dressed in Butter and Oil (Avvar)

Snails and Watercress Salad - A non-traditional dish inspired by Avvar cuisine featuring snails and watercress to appeal to lowlander pallets.

Stuffed Deep Mushrooms - A dish derived from various Orzammar deep mushroom delicacy. This Fereldan creation is stuffed with cheese and spinach. (Ferelden)

Rations, Tavern Fare, and Travel Food

Beer Nuts (Kirkwall)

Bread and Cheese

Chicken Wings - Sold in The Rusted Horn as ‘Wyvern Wings.’ (Ferelden)

Crow Feed (Antiva)

Dried Foods

Dried Fruit

Dried Meats

Fereldan Hearty Scones - a scone filled with bacon and cheese, careful, a mabari might snag it. (Ferelden)

Fish Pockets - A meal of fish, crisp vegetables, spices, and a soft wrap.(Seheron)

Fish Wrap - Fish wrapped in thin bread (Seheron)

Grey Warden Pastry Pockets - A hand pie filled with meat and other foods. Olesian Grey Wardens put their own twist using Olesian puff pastry.

The Hanged Man's Stew - The tavern’s featured dish, made with a different mystery meat every morning. (Kirkwall)

Jerky

Jerky Ball

Spiced Jerky

Meat Skewers - A portable snack. A known Orlesian version of this snack is primarily eaten by nobles while out on hunts and are not interested in the hunt, made of meat, cheese, and wine-soaked fruit.

Pickled Eggs - Eggs, sugar, salt, vinegar, and various spices and seasoning of the cooks preference. Favored in Ferelden and seen as a cure all. Served in nearly every Fereldan tavern. (Ferelden)

Pig Oat Mash - A constant dish on The Hanged Man menu, a popular hangover cure if washed down with brandy spiked cider. This warming porridge contains apples, dried salt pork or smoked bacon, dried rolled oats, berries, ale or water (Kirkwall)

Poison Stings - "Poison stings" is the colloquial name. Orange peels coated in chocolate, a crunchy yet chew texture that is both sweet and sour. A favored snack of Dorian Pavus when traveling from Tevinter to Ferelden. (Tevinter)

Provisions and Rations - Typically consist of dried meat, nuts, and a variety of other simple foodstuffs.

Dry Ration

Hardtack

Qunari Ration

Stuffed Vine Leaves - Common tavern food in Tevinter, stuffed with rice, herbs, and sometimes minced meat. Can be topped with lemon juice or tzatziki sauce.

Treviso Energy Balls - Made of peanut butter, oats, and dried fruit, it is a famine food invented during the occupation of Treviso in the Qunari Wars/The New Exalted Marches.

Unidentified Meat - Despite it's ominous name, it's simply chicken legs. Sometimes served with Nevarran flat bread. (Tevinter)

Dips, Glazes, Gravy, and Sauces

Apples Stewed in Brandy Sauce

Applesauce

Cherry Sauce

Cheese Sauce

Cream Sauce

Deep Mushroom Flavored Cream Sauce - Commonly served with seared nug. (Orzammar)

Dragon’s Blood Sauce (Nevarran)

Gravy

Honey-glaze - A sauce used to glaze various foods, particularly meats.

Hot Sauce

Llomerryn Red Sauce - A sauce that goes on almost everything, contains pulped tomatoes, onions, red pepper, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar, mustard powder, hot pepper powder, salt, cinnamon stick, allspice, cloves, fennel seeds, dill seeds, mustard seeds, black peppercorns, bay, garlic. (Rivain)

Mushrooms cooked in ale - One recommendation for this sauce is to be served over roasted nug.

Mushroom Sauce

Nesting Roast Gravy - Gravy made from the pan juices of a nesting roast. Meant to be served with the roast. (Orlais)

Plum Sauce

Red Wine Marinade

River-herring Gravy - a gravy as white as apple blossoms. (Orlais)

Special Sauce - A sauce infused with the essence of fifty-two herbs, prized for the ability to help with “inadequacy”. (Kirkwall)

Spider Leg Sauce - a variety of alcohol-based sauces unique to each Orzammar establishment, meant to be paired with fried young giant spider legs.

Tzatziki Sauce - Served with stuffed vine leaves. (Tevinter)

Wild Flower Glaze - A honeyed glaze made of wild flowers, it is recommended to use flowers plucked at dawn and the lowest blossoms. (Anderfels)

Yogurt Dip - Often served with flat bread (Nevarra)

Soups and Stews

Barley Soup

Blood Soup - Merrill is credited with the creation of this creamy beetroot soup, it is topped with roasted chickpeas. (Dalish)

Butter Soup - A simple, inexpensive, and easy soup. Made as midmorning meals or midday refresher for field workers. It is commonly fed to children and convalescents due to its nutritious nature. Ingredients include water, potatoes, cinnamon, star anise, clove, bay, peppercorns, salt, noodles, cream, butter (Orlais)

Cabbage Stew (Ferelden)

Deepstalker Stew - A stew of deepstalker is made when rations run low. (Legion of the Dead)

Denerim-rabbit Stew - Made with rat (City Elf)

Enchantment Soup - Made by Sandal, edibility unknown.

Fereldan Potato and Leek Soup

Fereldan Turnip and Barley Stew - White beans, oil, onion, carrots, celery, garlic, stock, turnips, turnip greens, sausage, barley, cumin, dried basil, oregano, salt, pepper, herbed wine vinegar

First Day Festival Stew (Orzammar)

Fish Chowder (Antiva)

Fish Stew

Lamb and Pea Stew - Alistair has his own version of this soup. (Ferelden)

Lentil Soup - A universal soup, with lentils being common in every Thedosian pantry.

Nettle Soup

Norbotten Fruit Stew - This dish is used to rehydrate dried fruits: dried apricots, pitted prunes, raisins, mixed dried fruits (cherries, apples, cranberries, etc), lemon or orange, cinnamon, cloves, water, sugar or honey, brandy. (Anderfels)

Pea Soup

Ram Stew (Ferelden)

Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup (Ferelden)

Turnip Stew (Ferelden)

Turnip-Goat Stew (Ferelden)

Wild Rabbit Stew

Main Course

Alamarri Pickled Krone - Krone, Brine, (optional) pine pitch and druffalo dung.

Baked Fish - An Avvar cooking method where they wrap fish in pungent leaves and clay before cooking it in banked coals. (Avvar)

Baked Krone with Honey - The honey is typically used as a side sauce for dipping. (Fereldan)

Beans and Bread

Boiled Roots

Braised Nug with Elfroot (Dwarven)

Braised Ram with all the Trimmings (Ferelden)

Broiled Boar Head (Fereldan)

Cacio e pepe - A dish of three ingredients; spaghetti, pepper, and pecorino romano. (Antiva)

Dalish Deep Forest Comfort - String squashes, halla butter, garlic, mushrooms, elfroot or spinach, diced tomatoes or beetles, hot red pepper, rock salt, halla cheese or goat cheese, edible wildflowers (borage, chicory, etc), pine nuts. (Dalish, Southern Orlais)

First Day Chicken - a dish served during First Day in some parts of Orlais. (Orlais)

Fish in Salt Crust - Cooked much liked the baked fish, instead of using clay, the fish is covered in salt and wrapped in pungent leaves before being cooked in banked coals. (Avvar)

Fresh Oyster - Noted to go well with Llomerryn red sauce.

Fried Fish

Fried Mush (Orzammar)

Glazed Krone (Ferelden)

Gilded Swan with River-herring Gravy - An eastern spice, flour, gold leaf, river herring, swan, yolk. (Orlais)

Gnocchi (Antiva)

Goat Custard - A broiled goat head, not to be confused with the dessert. (Ferelden)

Grilled Poussin - Grilled chicken, typically a younger chicken. (Chasind)

Ham

Anderfels Smoked Ham - It tastes of despair

Avvar Ham

Ham Stuck with Cloves

The Jade Ham - Honeyed with wild flowers (especially those picked at dawn), masterfully seasoned, and spiral-cut. Not considered edible but better used as a weapon. (Anderfels)

Orlesian Ham

Smoked Ham

Herbed Chicken and Biscuits (Ferelden)

Jellied Meats

Jellied Pigs Feet - A delicacy in the Free Marches and originally a popular commoner food that has risen to the tables of nobility. Pigs feet and/or pork hocks, salt, onions, garlic, allspice, peppercorns, bay. (Free Marches)

Veal Galentine (Orlais)

Liver

Lutefisk

Nesting Roast - This dish is classically made with a quail stuffed in a pheasant stuffed in a swan. Served with gravy made from the pan juices. (Orlais)

Mad Burnard’s Gift of Flesh - A nesting roast unlike any other, involving a whole wyvern, stuffed with a whole gurn, stuffed with a horse, stuffed with a large halla (horns and all), stuffed with a swan, stuffed with a duck, stuffed with a quail, stuffed with a bunting that choked on a gold piece. (Orlais)

Nug Steak (Orzammar)

Nug-gets (Orzammar)

Nug-loaf (Orzammar)

Nug-Nug - A dish meant to resemble a nug peeking from its burrow; made of ground meat (beef preferred), parsley, egg, salt, crushed cumin or mustard seeds, black pepper, cooked rice, tomatoes, onions, chives (Orlais)

Paella - Made with rice, saffron, and a variety of seafood; such as shrimp, cuttlefish, and mussels. (Antiva)

Pancake - The breakfast food and savory dishes.

Crepes - A very thin pancake that can be filled with sweet or savory ingredients. (Orlais)

Hearth Cakes - Described as a common fare where they are baked on an iron griddle. They are made with halla butter (can be subbed for goat or cow butter), flour, hardwood ash (can be replaced with baking powder), cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, sugar, mixed dried fruit (like cranberries, raisins, and currants), an egg, and milk. Described as baeing crispy and flaky on the outside, but remains moist on the inside. They are grilled on one side and then are flipped over, ensuring they are all crisp and bown. (Dalish)

Nug Pancakes - A savory pancake made with nug. A favorite among dwarven children. (Orzammar)

Porridge

Bland Porridge

Deer Porridge - A savory porridge served with deer.

Porridge with Raisins

Savory Porridge - Served with meat, vegatables, or spices.

Pudding - A sweet or savory, steamed dish that can be topped with gravy or chocolate.

Rack of Ribs (Ferelden)

Ram Chops (Ferelden)

Ram Cutlet (Ferelden)

Rice and Boiled Vegetables (Tevinter)

Roast

Gurgut Roast with Lowlander Spices and Mushroom Sauce (Avvar)

Roast Boar - One cooking method involves the boar being stuffed with apples (Ferelden and Orlais). Another has it served with a side of candied yams.

Roast Chicken

Roast Duck

Roast Hog

Roast Lamb

Roast Turkey - Common in the Free Marches, especially among Starkhaven nobility, as well as the Chasind.

Roast Wyvern - Common with the Avvar and Orlais.

Roasted Cave Beetle (Dwarven)

Roasted Giant Spider (Dwarven)

Roasted Nug (Orzammar)

Roasted Phoenix - One of the most infamous meals in Thedas, it is served with sweet red wine.

Roasted Rabbit

Roasted Venison with Wild Greens - The venison is seasoned with mint and pepper, served with wild greens and sweet pastries. Paired with wine to drink. (Ferelden)

Slow-roasted Nug-let (Orzammar)

Spit-roasted Deepstalker (Dwarven)

Spit-roasted Nug with Hot Sauce (Orzammar)

Sandwich

Ham Sandwich

Sausage - There are about twelve different kinds of sausage unnamed mentioned in Last Court.

Black Pudding - A type of blood sausage made from pork or beef blood, pork fat or beef sue, and a type of cereal. (Orlais)

Smoked Sausage

Spiced Sausage

Savory Pies

Dove Pie - A pie made with live doves, for the theater of the meal. (Orlais)

Nug Bacon and Egg Pie (Ferelden)

Pigeon Pie

Pork Pie

Starkhaven Fish and Egg Pie - Fish from the Minanter River (carp, trout, or others), wine, onion, carrot, thyme, bay, sea salt, dried currants, sliced almonds, boiled sliced eggs, butter, flour, fish broth, milk, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cream, fried whitebait or other small fish. (Starkhaven)

Turnip and Mutton Pie (Ferelden)

Unmentionable Pie - It is a meat pie that uses the typically undesirable parts of an animal. (Ferelden)

Venison Pasty - A hand pie filled with venison. In Serault, it is served with curls of goat cheese. (Orlais)

Seared Nug - Usually served with a deep mushroom cream sauce. (Orzammar)

Simmering Partridge - Cooked with sweet onions and pale beans (Orlais)

Smoked Meat

Smoked Boar

Smoked Fish

Smoked Rabbit

Smoked Venison

Spiced Nug

Stuffed Cabbage - A seasoned cabbage head stuffed with meat.

Venison with Apples Stewed in Brandy Sauce

Wandering Hills - A delicacy made from large creatures of the same name. (Anderfels)

Wyvern Steak

Sides

Antivan Olives - Soaked in vinegar and stuffed with capers.

Boiled Turnip (Ferelden)

Brandy Soaked Cherries (Orzammar)

Candied Yams

Croutons

Fried Potatoes - Recommended to be served with Llomerryn red sauce.

Hard-boiled Egg

Honey Carrots - Most common in Orlais where it is traditionally sweeter compared to other places due to the use of honey.

Jarred Olives (Tevinter)

Jellied Eels (Ferelden)

Mashed Turnip (Ferelden)

Peeled Grapes (Tevinter)

Picked Foods

Pickled Apples

The Pickled Apples of Arlathan - Apples said to be from the time of Arlathan. The taste is described to be one of fresh apples, with the same crispness.

Pickled Fish

Pickled Lamprey

Pickled Nug

Pickled Ox Tongue

Pickled Vegetables

Pickles

Roasted Chestnuts (Nevarra)

Roasted Figs (Rivain)

Roasted Potatoes - Recommended to be served with Llomerryn red sauce.

Roasted Turnip (Ferelden)

Sera’s Yummy Corn

Smoked Bacon

Steamed Beans

Steamed Turnips (Ferelden)

Stir-fried Turnips (Ferelden)

Toast

Toasted Bread - Used for dipping in stews.

Toasted Chickpeas - Used as a topping for soups and salads, sometimes as a replacement for croutons.

Wine Soaked Fruit

Baked Goods, Desserts, and Sweets

Bread Pudding - Made with stale bread, eggs, milk or cream, and other ingredients varied by if it is savory or sweet (Ferelden)

Cake

Cake with Apples

Cake with Nutmeg

Chocolate Cake

Cupcakes

Cherry Cupcakes - Historically a common method used to poison people, often served in the theater. (Tevinter)

The Exquisite Misery - A little cake topped with a dusting of anise, deep mushrooms, and gold dust. (Orlais)

Found Cake - A chocolate cream cake topped with white frosting and strawberries (Ferelden)

Hearth Cake - A pan-made cake; made of flour, hardwood ash or baking powder, halla butter, sugar, mixed dried fruit (currants, cranberries, etc), egg, milk. (Dalish)

Honey Cake (Orlais)

Lamprey Cake - contains no actual lampreys, it is modeled after the appearance of lamprey.

Lemon Cake

Petit Fours (Orlais)

Pound Cake

Round Cake - Often topped with poppyseed and honey. In Serault, they will sometimes have the antlers baked into the crust. (Orlais)

Sponge Cake (Orlais)

Sugar Cake - One version is made with strawberries and sugar-cream icing dressed on a pound cake. (Ferelden) Another version is made with a "humble cake" and is dressed with butter, sugar, and almonds. Both are seen as great gifts and good pick-me-ups after long days of traveling, and are often served by merchants.

Sugar-drizzled Lemon Cake - A type of lemon cake that was used in Antivan Crow history to assassinate templars.

Sugarcake - A dense cake usually topped with powdered sugar.

Sweet Cake

Wedding Cake

Candy

Black Licorice Candy - Can be salted. (Tevinter)

Bon-bons

Candied Almonds

Candied Fruit

Candy Apple (Ferelden)

Candied Dates (Tevinter)

Candy Cane

Carastian Candy - A candied chocolate. (Tevinter)

Peppermints

Spun Sugar (Ferelden)

Sweetmeat - A confectionery treat, sometimes candy coated fruit.

Toffee

Unnamed Candied Nuts with Spice - A candy that is sweet until swallowed, then they leave a spicy aftertaste. (Orlais)

Cobbler

Dalish Forest Fruit Cobbler

Strawberry and Rhubarb Cobbler (Ferelden)

Biscuit - A hard, flat, and unleavened baked treat that can be sweet or savory.

Butter and Sugar Cookie - This cookie isn’t specified as it is only described by these ingredients.

Raisin Cookies

Shortbread

Tea Biscuits

Wafers

Custard

Goat Custard - Differing from the Fereldan savory counterpart. This custard is made throughout Thedas with goat milk and has numerous varieties. On pairs it with roast fig. A Rivain variation uses milk of the Ayesleigh gulabi goats specifically for its sweeter milk.

Donuts

Ice Cream

Orlesian Guimauves - Another name for marshmallows.

Pastries

Antivan Apple Grenade

Cinnamon Rolls - one of Varric's favorite pastries.

Croissant - Vivienne starts every morning with one. (Orlais)

Honey and Nut Pastry (Tevinter)

Macaroon

Marie du Lac Erre’s Sweet Ruin - One version of this pastry with a dramatic history, the recipe contains; butter, powdered sugar, chocolate, vanilla extract, flour, orange or mint extract, baking powder, and milk. (Orlais)

Tarts

Unnamed Blueberry Pastry - A light, sticky pastry with blueberries. (Possibly Nevarra)

Varric's Favorite Pastry - A pastry spread created by Devon, a Fereldan cook, after consulting with Varric Tethras on his favorite pastry.

Pie

Apple Pie

The Blessed Apple - A pie made by a small cloister of Chantry sisters tending to the orchard, they use the windfall apples and share the pies freely; as well as the apples. The ingredients are flour, salt, butter, water, apples (golden apples from Lady’s Orchard preferred but others are acceptable substitutions), brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. (Orlesian)

Minced Pie - filled with finely chopped fruit and sweet things.

Pudding

Blancmange - A white pudding made of milk or heavy cream, its name is Orlesian for "white eating". Because of the mild, sweet taste it can have a variety of toppings such as toasted almonds, ribbons of fresh mangos, red grape compote, cherry saus, or Vivienne's preferred plating of white chocolate curls with whole jasmine flowers. (Orlais)

Caramel Pudding

Dessert Pudding

Rice Pudding

Scones

Sour Cherries in Cream (Orlais)

Sticky Figs Rolled in Nuts (Tevinter)

Sticky Jellies (Orlais)

Drinks

Absinthe

Absence - One of the bottles of Thedas you find in Inquisition.

Absinthe - also referred to la fée verte - “little green fairy”

Petite Absinthe - Made from a certain type of wormwood.

Ale, Beer, Drafts, Lagers, Malts, and Stouts

The Tapster’s Tavern in Orzammar serves 52 types of ale, some are listed.

Ale

Ander Stout - This stout is stored in oak casts. (Anderfels)

Barley Wine - Despite its name, this is an ale.

Beer

Brakien Brew (Orzammar)

Brown Ale

Coconut Draft (Orzammar)

Fereldan Beer

Fereldan Lager - A pale ale.

Lichen Ale (Orzammar)

Lichen-malt (Orzammar)

Oghren’s Homebrew - An amber coloured ale with a slightly sweet, nutty flavor and described to have a hint of toastiness, and is spiced with cloves. (Dwarven)

Qunari Ale

Ryott Ale (Ferelden)

Ryott Beer (Ferelden)

Valenta’s Red (Orzammar)

Watered Beer - While watered beer is served to reduce the price of beer and stretch it along, it is also served as a provision. In Serault, the peasantry drink watered beer to stave off the summer heat.

Watered-down Ale

Wildwine - An ale made from ryott. (Chasind)

Wilhelm’s Special Brew - This dark-colored ale gives off a thick, oaky smell. When swirled in its tankard, it takes on an unexpected glow. (Ferelden)

Brandy

Ammazzacaffe - A drink taken after coffee to dull the taste or effects. Though it can be a small glass of any liqueur, it is usually brandy. (Antiva)

Aged Antivan Brandy

Antivan Brandy

Antivan Plum Brandy

Apple Brandy (Orlais)

Orlesian Brandy

Plum Brandy

West Hill Brandy (Ferelden)

Cider

Brandy-spiked-cider

Cider

Serault Cider (Orlais)

Winter Cider (Wycome)

Cocktails

Benediction - Made of Prophet's Larel gin, served with a wedge of lime, and a thimble of Golden Scythe.

Elfroot mixed with Dandelion Wine - A restorative draft. (City Elves of Orlais)

The Emerald Valley - A spirit distilled of over seventy different herbs and flowers by the Chantry sister in Lydes, it is topped with egg-white foam and dusted with nutmeg. Described as having a varied and complex flavour, fresh like a lush green valley. (Orlais)

Dragon’s Piss - The name is probably figurative, but no one knows for sure. BioWare gives the “recipe” for Dragon Piss as “1 oz light rum, 1 oz dark rum, filled with iced tea”. "Dragon's Breath" is offered as an alternative name for this drink as it is served while lit on fire in the glass and burns on the way down.

The Golden Nug - Made with a base of effervescent white Seleney wine, sweetened with a dash of West Hill brandy and a splash of pomegranate juice. Muddled with raspberries and garnished with a sprig of Royal Elfroot. The goal is to imitate the soft pink colour of a nug.

The Heart of Spring - A “restorative” drink from Verchiel made with violets. (Orlais)

The Hissing Drake - Mix of cinnamon-infused whiskey, darl Llomerryn rum, and Hirol's Lava Burst.

Ice Cream and Beer

A Night of Shame - Antivan port with a dash of chocolate bitters and a twist of orange, served in a flute of chilled Serault glass. (Orlais)

Orichalcum mixed with wine - Considered to have aphrodisiac properties.

Posset - A drink made of hot milk curdled with ale, wine, or other liquor and typically flavored with spices. Can be drunk as a delicacy or as a cold remedy.

The Randy Dowager - Rumored to be created by the editor of the periodical, it is a tall glass of Abyssal Peach liquor and fresh cream, garnished with sugared rose petals and served on a silk handkerchief with a scandalous rhyming couplet inked by the bartender. (Orlais)

To Cure a Cold - a folk remedy that requires boiling whiskey and adding lemon juice and crushed garlic.

Gin

Prophet’s Laurel Gin (Orlais)

Grey Warden Liquor

These are bottles unique to members of the order, as each warden will combine half-full bottles in order to save space. No bottle is ever fully emptied or cleaned. In order to preserve the base flavor. They are called Grey Whiskey, Ritewine, or Conscription Ale, each vintage is named after a warden with a small note.

Vintage: Warden Anras - Bottled whimsy.

Vintage: Warden Bethany Hawke - Princess piss.

Vintage: Warden Carver Hawke - Toast them all.

Vintage: Warden Daedalam - Extra red.

Vintage: Warden Eval’lal - Griffon Wing Ale

Vintage: Warden Gibbins - Don’t frigging touch! I spit in this! I mean it!

Vintage: Warden Jairn - Smash when dead.

Vintage: Warden Korenic - Notes of fruit and anger.

Vintage: Warden Riordan - Serve yourself.

Vintage: Warden Steed - Joining juice.

Vintage: Warden Tontiv - Home.

Mead

The Tapster’s Tavern in Orzammar serves 17 types of mead, some are listed. Honeywine is another name for mead.

Avvar Mead

Chasind Sack Mead

Lady Odette Guillory’s Family Honey Wine (Orlais)

Mead

Orlesian Honeywine

Port A sweet, fortified red wine, typically served with dessert.

Antivan Port

Tevinter Port

Rum Boot Screech is another name for rum.

Alvarado’s Bathtub Boot Screech

Blackwater Rum (Wycome)

Dark Llomerryn Rum

Tea and Other Drinks

Coffee (Antiva)

Cocoa/Hot Chocolate

Juice

Fermented Fruit Juice

Pickle Juice

Pomegranate Juice

Prune Juice

Punch

Spicy Punch

Tea

Almond Tea (Orlais)

Bitter Tea - An unspecified tea so bitter it is astringent. Served during the Fourth Blight.

Black Tea

Black Tea with Juniper

Fires of Change Tea (Orlais)

Herbal Tea

Iced Tea

Lattenfluss Tea (Anderfels)

Mint Tea

Anderfels Mint Tea

Nameless Tevinter Tea

Rivaini Spice Tea Blend - Blend of cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. One of the teas from Rivain known for its healing properties. Empress Celene commonly uses this tea to stave off headaches.

Rivaini Tea

Rivaini Tea Blend - A blend of licorice root, oregano, lemon verbena, and peppermint. One of the teas from Rivain known for its healing properties. Rumored to be favored by Empress Celene to stave off headaches.

Rosehips Tea (Orlais)

Spiced Tea (Nevarra)

Stripweed Tea (Tevinter)

Unsweetened Tea

Verimensis Tea (Tevinter)

Whiskey

Cinnamon-infused Whiskey

Ferelden Whisky

Legacy White Shear

Mackay’s Epic Single Malt

Wine

The Tapster’s Tavern in Orzammar serves 12 types of imported wines, some are listed.

Agreggio Pavali (Tevinter)

Alyons Black (Orlais)

Amaranthine Red (Ferelden)

Anderfels Red

Antivan Red

Bitter Black Wine (Orlais)

Bottled Scar 5:34 Exalted - A rare collaboration between human and elf vintners.

Celestine Black Wine (Orlais)

Dalish Wine

Dandelion Wine (City Elves of Orlais)

Elderberry Wine (Ferelden)

Finale by Massaad (Orlais)

Flames of Our Lady (Orlais)

Flat Wine

Ghislain Red (Orlais)

Iced Wine - Mentioned in both Tevinter and Orlais.

Montsimmard White (Orlais)

Mosswine (Orzammar)

Mulsum (Tevinter)

Orlesian Red

Plum Wine

Red Wine

Serault Yellow Wine (Orlais)

Serault White (Orlais)

Silent Plains Piquette (Tevinter)

Southern Black Wine

Spiced Wine

Sweetened and Spiced Yellow Wine

Val Chevin Red Wine (Orlais)

Vint-9 Rowan’s Rose (Tevinter)

Watered Wine

White Seleny Wine (Antiva)

White Wine

Yellow Wine

Additional Spirits

Abyssal Peach

Antivan Sip-Sip

Aqua Magus

Aquae Lucidius - A potent liquor made of wyvern venom; a rare drink known for its hallucinogenic properties.

Bottle of Rotgut - Rotgut is slang for cheap whiskey.

Butterbile :84

Carnal 8:69 Blessed (Orlais)

Dwarven Ale - Not actually an ale, but a black liquid reputedly made from fungus with a reputation as being almost undrinkable for anyone not a dwarf.

Garblog’s Backcountry Reserve

Golden Scythe 9:40 Black

Hirol’s Lava Burst (Kal'Hirol)

Maraas-Lok (Qunari)

Moonshine

Potent Moonshine

Sun Blonde Vint-1 (Tevinter)

Raw Ingredients of Thedas

Fruits, Mushrooms, Nuts, and Vegetables

Edible Plants

Bark

Fern Fiddlehead (Avvar)

Hops

Lichen (Dwarves)

Black Lichen - Toxic unless properly cooked.

Moss (Dwarves)

Nettle

Pungent Leaves - Unspecified leaves. (Avvar)

Rose (Orlais)

Rose Petals

Rosehips

Stripweed (Tevinter)

Sugar Cane (Orlais, Tevinter, Rivain)

Vine Leaves (Tevinter)

Watercress (Avvar)

Wildflowers

Borage

Chicory

Dandelion

Honeysuckle

Jasmine

Violet

Fruits and Nuts

Apple

Applewood Apples (Orlais)

Golden Apples (Orlais)

Green Apples

Le Pomme Vie et Morte - Apples that grow by the gallows in Val Royeaux. (Orlais)

Red Apples

Windfall Apples

Apricot

Banana

Par Vollen Banana

Rivain Banana

Berry

Blackberry (Ferelden)

Blueberry

Cranberry

Currant

Black Currant

Elderberry (Ferelden)

Raspberry

Strawberry (Ferelden)

Caper (Antiva)

Cherry

Black Cherry

Sour Cherry - unspecified variety(ies)

Sweet Cherry - unspecified variety(ies)

Cocoa/Chocolate (Donarks)

Coconut

Coffee (Antiva)

Date - A purple and red fruit with a pit, it has a sweetness and tangy taste. (Tevinter)

Fig (Tevinter)

Grape

Red Grape (Orlais)

Lemon

Lime

Mango

Nuts

Almond

Chestnut

Pine Nut

Olive

Antivan Olive

Orange (Antiva, Orlais, Tevinter)

Blood Orange (Nevarra)

Passion Fruit (Antiva)

Peach

Pear

Plum

Pomegranate (Tevinter)

Pomegranate Seeds

Grain

Barley

Fereldan Barley

Pot Barley

Oats

Rolled Oats

Rice (Antiva, Rivain)

Ryott (Ferelden)

Wheat

Durum Wheat (Rivain)

Whole Grains

Mushrooms

Deep Mushroom

Field Mushroom

Unspecified Fungus - Used to brew Dwarven ale.

Truffle

Unnamed Glowing Fungus

Wild Mushroom

Vegetables and Legumes

Beans

Bush Beans (Free Marches)

Green Beans (Orlais)

Pale Beans (Orlais)

White Beans (Orlais)

Beet

Cabbage

Carrot

Purple Carrot (Orlais)

White Carrot (Orlais)

Celery

Chickpea (Rivain)

Chive

Corn

Checkered Corn

Golden Corn (Orlais)

Yellow Corn

Cucumber

Eggplant (Antiva, Ferelden)

Fennel (Orlais)

Leek

Lentils

Lettuce

Mustard

Onion

Red Onion (Orlais)

Sweet Onion (Orlais)

White Onion

Pea

Peanut (Antiva, Seheron)

Pepper

Antivan Pepper

Green Pepper

Hot Pepper

Hot Red Pepper

Red Bell Pepper (Rivain)

Sweet Pepper (Orlais)

Potato

Radish

Daikon Radish (Ferelden)

Rhubarb (Ferelden)

Spinach

Squash

Marrow Squash

Pumpkin

String Squash

Tomato

Turnip - aka navet

Turnip Greens

Wild Greens

Yams (Ferelden)

Animal Products

Dairy

Cream

Heavy Cream

Milk

Cow Milk

Goat Milk

Halla Milk

Ram Milk

Soured Milk

Eggs

Caviar

Chicken Egg

Fish and Seafood

Carp

Cod

Crab

Cuttlefish

Eel

Krone

Lamprey

Mackerel

Mussel

Oyster

Prawn

River Herring

Shrimp

Sunfish

Trout

Whitebait

Insects

Cave Beetle (Dwarven)

Giant Spider (Dwarven)

Scorpion

Snail (Avvar)

Wood-burrowing beetle larvae (Dalish)

Meats

Beef

Ox-tongue

Veal

Boar

Bronto (Orzammar)

Cat - mentioned to be eaten in Orlesian alienages by those most desperate (City Elves of Orlais).

Dog - mentioned to be eaten in Orlesian alienages by those most desperate (City Elves of Orlais).

Druffalo

Giant (Tevinter)

Goat

Gurn

Halla

Hare

Hart

Horse

Liver - General name given, animal isn’t specified.

Nug

Pork

Pig’s Feet

Pork Hocks

Pork Saddle

Rabbit

Ram

Rat - mentioned to be eaten in alienages by those most desperate (City Elves of Anderfels, Ferelden)

Sheep

Lamb

Mutton

Venison

Wandering Hills (Anderfels)

Poultry and Reptiles

Bunting

Chicken

Poussin (Chasind)

Deepstalker (Dwarven)

Dove

Dracolisk (Tevinter)

Dragon (Nevarra, Orlais)

Duck

Gurgut (Avvar)

Lurker (Avvar)

Partridge

Pheasant

Phoenix

Pigeon

Quail

Quillback

Swan

Turkey

Varghest

Wyvern (Avvar and Orlais)

Misc.

Dragon Blood (Nevarra)

Druffalo Dung

Honey

Honeycomb

Miscellaneous Ingredients

Baking Ingredients

Ash

Elfroot Ash

Hardwood Ash (Dalish)

Baking Powder

Yeast Cake

Salts

Fine-ground Salt

Rock Salt

Salt

Sea Salt

Others

Brine

Clay (Avvar)

Pine Pitch (Alamarri)

Herbs and Spices

Herbs

Basil - Mentioned to be grown in Serault, Orlais.

Dried Basil

Bay Leaf

Catsbane

Elfroot

Elfroot Leaves

Royal Elfroot

Lavender (Orlais)

Mint

Anderfels’s Mint

Foxmint

Peppermint

Oregano

Dried Oregano

Parsley

Prophet’s Laurel

Rosemary

Spindleweed

Verdant Spindleweed

Thyme

Spices

Allspice

Anise

Antivan Cord-seed

Cardamom

Cinnamon (Rivain, Seheron)

Clove

Cumin

Cumin Seed

Deep Mushroom Powder (Orlais and Orzammar)

Dill

Dill Seeds

Eastern Spice - Unnamed

Fennel

Fennel Seeds

Garlic

Ginger

Dried Ginger

Hot Pepper Powder

Hot Red Pepper, Crushed

Juniper

Licorice

Mace

Mustard

Mustard Powder

Mustard Seeds

Nutmeg (Seheron)

Grated Nutmeg

Ground Nutmeg

Pepper

Black Pepper

Peppercorn

Black Peppercorn

Poppyseed

Saffron

Spice Ball - A variety of mixed spices wrapped in a cheesecloth

Star Anise

Vanilla (Rivain)

Prepared Ingredients

Basic Ingredients

Alcohol

Brandy

Cinnamon-infused whiskey

Dark Llomerryn Rum

Hirol’s Lava Burst

Prophet’s Laurel Gin

Red Wine

Watered Down Ale

Whiskey

White Seleney Wine

Broth

Deepstalker Broth

Fish Broth

Butters - Non-dairy butters

Peanut Butter

Caramel

Cocoa Products

Chocolate (Orlais, Tevint)

Chocolate Bitters

Cocoa Butter - used to make white chocolate (Orlais)

Cocoa Powder - difficult to procure

White Chocolate (Orlais)

Compote - Fresh or dried fruit that is cut into chunks and stewed in a syrup of sugar and other flavours.

Red Grape Compote (Orlais)

Croutons

Custard

Dough

Pie Dough

Puff Pastry Dough (Orlais)

Extract

Mint Extract

Orange Extract

Vanilla Extract

Flour

Ryott Flour (Chasind, Ferelden)

Semolina Flour (Rivain)

Wheat Flour

Whole Grain Flour

Frosting

Buttercream

Chocolate Cream

White Frosting

Gold

Edible Gold Leaf

Gold Dust

Jam

Plum Jam

Raspberry Jam

Mulled Fruit

Mulled Raspberry

Oil

Cod Liver Oil

Orange Essence

Pasta

Antivan Pasta

Couscous (Rivain)

Gnocchi (Antiva)

Grain-based Noodle

Noodle

Pound Cake

Stock

Brown Stock

Sugar

Brown Sugar

Molasses

Powdered Sugar

Sugar-cream Icing

Sugar Flowers

Sugared Rose Petals

Syrup

Sugar Syrup

Tea Biscuit

Toffee

Wafer

Vinegar

Apple Cider Vinegar

Herbed Wine Vinegar

Dairy and Eggs

Butter

Cow Butter

Goat Butter

Halla Butter

Herbed Butter

Nug Butter

Cheese

Antivan Smoked Cheese

Blue-veined Cheese (Orlais)

Brie Cheese

Brined Goat Cheese

“Dalish” Cheese - An ill described item as it is unclear if it is actually cheese. One thing is for sure it isn’t Dalish.

Dry Cheese - Unspecified cheese used in cacio e pepe(Antiva)

Feisty Cheese (Orlais)

Goat Cheese

Halla Cheese (Dalish)

Ram Cheese (Ferelden)

Cream

Spiced Cream

Thickened Cream

Whipped Cream

Egg

Hard Boiled Egg

Yogurt

Dried and Cured Foods

Dried Fruits, Vegetables, and Fungi

Dried Apple

Dried Apricot

Dried Beans

Dried Cherry

Dried Cranberry

Dried Currant

Dried Mushroom

Dried Peas

Prunes

Pitted Prunes

Raisin

Cured Meats

Bacon

Nug Bacon

Smoked Bacon

Cold Cuts

Dried Meats

Dried Mackerel

Lutefisk

Jerky

Spiced jerky

Salted Meat

Dried Salt Pork

Salt Pork

Salted Beef

Salted Dragon Meat

Salted Fish

Salted Goat Meat

Sausage

Blood Sausage

Smoked Sausage

Spiced and Salted Sausage

Smoked

Smoked Beef

Smoked Fish

Smoked Goat Meat

Pickled Foods

Pickled Apples

The Pickled Apples of Arlathan - Apples said to be from the time of Arlathan. The taste is described to be one of fresh apples, with the same crispness.

Pickled Fish

Pickled Lamprey

Pickled Nug

Pickled Ox Tongue

Pickled Vegetables

Pickles

Prepared Animal Products

Gelatine

Grease

Ground Meat

Ground Beef

Ground Nug

Lard

Spiced Meat

Miscellaneous

Lyrium

Soup Bone

Wyvern Venom - There are 47 ways to distill wyvern venom to be safe for consumption.

Sources:

(If you want to find the direct links or page numbers, check out the Wiki's Food and Ingredients page.)

Primary Sources: Dragon Age: Origins (Base and DLCs) Dragon Age: Awakening Dragon Age 2 (Base and DLCs) Dragon Age: The Last Court Dragon Age: Inquisition (DLCs + Multiplayer)

Books: Dragon Age Tabletop RPG Core Rulebook Dragon Age Tabletop RPG: Blood in Ferelden Dragon Age Tabletop RPG: Game Master’s Kit: Buried Past World of Thedas Vol. 1 World of Thedas Vol. 2 Dragon Age Official Cookbook: Tastes of Thedas Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne Dragon Age: The Calling Dragon Age: The Masked Empire Dragon Age: Asunder Dragon Age: Last Flight Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights Short Story: Paper and Steel Short Story: Paying the Ferryman Short Story: Riddle in Truth Short Story: As We Fly

Comics: Silent Grove Mage Killer Knight Errant Deception

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50 notes View Post

arlathmavhenanara

7 months ago

SOLAS in DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD

1K notes View Post

arlathmavhenanara

6 months ago

i feel like astarion and fenris would have a lot to talk about

6K notes View Post

arlathmavhenanara

6 months ago

Personally I don't see this at all. I wonder if part of it is that people enjoy the animosity. People love a good enemies to lovers. And you can absolutely play solavellan that way based on his dislike of the dalish. I personally disagreed with solas much as lavellan. People might also be projecting because they are enjoying Solas on the new style as much as the rest of us iykwim

did they intend to give solas and rook three times the chemistry they gave solas and lavellan in the base inqusition game or am i witnessing the funniest possible thing bioware could've done

7K notes View Post