Summary
- The Veilguard continues the Solavellan romance, but some people aren’t happy with the portrayal.
- The relationship is even more one-sided than in Inquisition.
- The final reunion lacks emotional weight.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard reintroduces the popular ‘Solavellan’ (Solas & Lavellan) ship that blossomed in Dragon Age: Inquisition. In the character creator, you can select a few key choices for the Inquisitor, who appears in the game. These choices include who the Inquisitor romanced, and also background choices like race, gender and appearance. If one were to choose a Lavellan Inquisitor (female elf) who romanced Solas, then they’d be able to witness the continuation of the relationship in The Veilguard.
Solavellan was a last-minute addition to Dragon Age: Inquisition, but quickly became one of the most-talked-about ships online. Although we know that Cassandra was “by far” the most popular romance in Inquisition, fans of Solavellan were certainly the most vocal. With the reappearance of Solas in The Veilguard in an antagonistic role, BioWare decided to continue this story for fans of the ship.
A Toxic Relationship
However, a section of the community has gathered in a Reddit thread by user29673 to lament the worsening of the relationship in the series’ latest instalment. As the original poster puts it, “First, the relationship was already underdeveloped in Inquisition. We do get a few romance scenes, but I feel like we never saw Solas and the Inquisitor genuinely build a connection—it jumped straight to kissing Solas, only for him to pull back. This dynamic continues throughout the game, with Solas eventually breaking up with the Inquisitor completely.”
“In The Veilguard, the relationship feels even more one-sided. At the end, the Inquisitor doesn’t even manage to convince Solas to stop the ritual—Morrigan and Mythal do. Yet somehow, the Inquisitor still ignores the fact that Solas was fully prepared to betray her again and willingly follows him into the Veil,” the post continues.
The poster’s assessment is spot on, Solas and Lavellan already had a tenuous relationship full of deception and lies in Inquisition. It’s understandable that Lavellan would have fallen for the mysterious Dread Wolf, but to see her still willing to pursue the relationship in The Veilguard is sort of disheartening. As tiasea comments, “All I wanted was some hints that Solas actually loves Lavellan and she’s special for him. I’m not saying he has to pine for her the whole game, but like give me something? [Dragon Age: The Veilguard] makes this whole relationship borderline one-sided and frankly Lavellan comes off as a pathetic woman with no self-respect.”
The final reunion of Solas and Lavellan has attracted criticism for the lack of emotional weight to the scene. Solas does acknowledge her presence, but there’s no drama to the scene. In my personal playthrough, I had Rook tell Lavellan not to pursue the relationship. This results in her just standing around awkwardly while Solas self-righteously addresses Rook and then disappears into the Veil.
“At first I was happy that we at least got an ending,” writes PartyPickle251. “But the more I thought about it, the more it pissed me off. It felt extremely one-sided. Lavellan leaves everything behind for a man who keeps betraying her and shows no sign of remorse in the last ten years, and she doesn’t even manage to convince him [to stop the ritual] in the end. I’m not saying Solas doesn’t love her, but I literally felt like they made the Inquisitor so pathetic with that ending.”
It was never going to be a straightforward conclusion to a complicated relationship, but you get the feeling that Solavellan shippers expected more fireworks at the end.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the long-awaited fourth game in the fantasy RPG series from BioWare formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. A direct sequel to Inquisition, it focuses on red lyrium and Solas, the aforementioned Dread Wolf.