She Would Love Solas Even As A Spirit Worm :,)

BioWare posted this dreadpuppy sticker in their Discord and I had to rush to draw the dreadpuppy

Slay The Wolf

You are on a path in the woods. And at the end of that path is a cabin. And in the basement of that cabin is a wolf. You're here to slay him. If you don't, it will be the end of the world.

...I wanted to make three of these but I got tired of seeing this in my drafts

using background art by Abby Howard

The Team

DA:TV Solas-themed narrative sketches and captions by Nick Thornborrow, under a cut due to spoilers and length:

[caption is for images below] Nick Thornborrow: "These sketches were tools of pre-production where we were exploring possibilities and challenging assumptions about the story of Veilguard without the constraints of production, or the birds eye view afforded by new iterations."

Nick Thornborrow: "I only say that because I've picked up on discourse lamenting cut content derived from concept and narrative art that isn't reflected in final game. Emphatically, I want to state it's not cut content. Pre-production is where ideas are weighed for going into production."

Nick Thornborrow: "When cuts are made, it's typically at a more advanced stage of production that involves multiple disciplines, Whereas scruffy sketches like these are useful in pre-production to see what resonates because they're quick to draw and the emotional toll of throwing them out is minimal."

[source thread]

Art by Nick Thornborrow.

Look how into this kiss that man is. It’s like she is AIR and he is drowning. He can only have a single breath, because there’s no way this is real and there’s absolutely no way she’s coming too, but he’s in that breath.

Solas just had one of those cries and then he’s about to kiss his wife and that man looks like he’s about to die of sheer passion and they haven’t even kissed yet. Then in the other still, the way he’s just ever so softly lingering his lips against hers. Allowing a little space, savoring this. Like he’s drawing every single little millisecond into his mind. His soul.

favorite pose, i’m telling you for sure

Just thinking about the scene with Solas and Lavellan where she tells him he doesn’t have to go alone, and he replies where he is going is terrible.

Yes, it’s a warning. But it is also disbelief she could want to follow him somewhere terrible. That she would still want to be with him, despite where he must go. Why would she choose freely to go somewhere terrible? For him? The concept is foreign to him.

The last time he loved someone, Mythal, he asked her to leave everything she knew behind to join him, and she refused. He did that very thing for her, but she would not do the same for him. He made her a place for her to be comfortable, and she never saw it.

Solas has nothing to offer Lavellan. No castle to gift her, no place for her to be comfortable. He is at his lowest. He is going somewhere terrible. He only has empty, bloody hands to give.

I’m reminded of that scene from Little Women (1994) when Professor Bhaer tells Jo, “But I have nothing to give you. My hands are empty.” Jo takes his hands in hers and says, “Not empty now.”

Lavellan does much the same. She reaches for his hands, bloody as they are. She tells him it won’t be terrible if he is with her. They make this journey together, always. She doesn’t need anything else. He is enough. Their love is enough. There is no fate but the love they share.

Why would she choose freely to go somewhere terrible? Because she loves him. It’s True Love. The kind that only can exist in stories. Good thing we’re in one.

Evanuris' theater masks

solas, elven apostate, fen'harel, dreadwolf