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How two seemingly diametrically opposed characters are alike, and why they've become my favorites
Disclaimer: Major spoilers for Dragon Age: Inquisition, and minor spoilers for Dragon Age: The Veilguard are contained in this article.
When you first meet Blackwall and Solas, the men seem so unassuming. Blackwall is a humble Grey Warden, fighting with his sword and shield to keep the blight and darkspawn at bay. He is confident, selfless, down-to-earth, and morally upstanding - always sure to tell you what the right thing to do is, and ready to scold you if you don't do it.
Solas, by contrast, gives off airs of wisdom, compassion, and worldliness - all while reminding you he is but a humble apostate mage. Solas is a repository of knowledge, frequently regaling you with stories of his time in the fade, and will try to guide you down the right path – informed by history itself.
Of course, we now know that (almost) all of this is a lie.
What Blackwall did
Blackwall is not a Grey Warden at all. Instead, he is a war criminal named Thom Rainier. As a captain in the Orlesian military primarily concerned with his own advancement, Rainier took a job from a supporter of Grand Duke Gaspard and ordered his unwitting men to kill innocent civilians. Eventually, Rainier would have his troops attack a family of nobles, including children, which would lead to his actions being disavowed by Gaspard. From this point, Rainier and his men became criminals, with many being executed for the act.
Rainier returns to mercenary work and meets the real Warden-Constable Blackwall, who recruits Rainier for the Grey Wardens. Rainier, seeing this as his chance for redemption, accepts and travels with Blackwall to begin his new life. Unfortunately, Blackwall dies and Rainier, fearing for his life, takes up Blackwall's identity. In an effort to do good, honor Blackwall's memory, and protect himself, he becomes Blackwall.
Blackwall eventually joins the Inquisition under this guise and keeps up the façade for some time before finally giving in to his shame and offering himself up for execution as Thom Rainier. It is here the player has the option to free Rainier and decide his fate at Skyhold or keep him imprisoned in Orlais for his crimes. At Skyhold, the inquisitor can set him free, send him to the wardens after Corypheus is stopped, or force him to continue the masquerade. He continues to go by Blackwall both due to familiarity and out of reverence for the man who saved him, likening it to a title.
What Solas did
Solas, on the other hand, remains a bit of an enigma, but what we know is much different than what he initially portrays. He is, after all, Fen'Harel, the elven god of trickery, betrayal, and rebellion - all of which he enacts on you and the Inquisition. In the ‘halcyon’ days of the Evanuris’ rule, the gods would own and abuse elven slaves, bitterly fight, and use their power for their own advancement. Eventually, Mythal, one of the Evanuris, would be betrayed and murdered. This event, plus the Evanuris’ general abuses, spurred Solas into action. He would create the veil, banishing the gods to the beyond, as he dreamt in the fade.
These actions had unforeseen consequences: elves lost their immortality and much of their magic, civilizations crumbled, and humanity rose and inflicted horrors on the other races across the world. Solas awoke to a new world – one he did not like – and decided the best course of action was to give a powerful weapon of mass destruction (the anchor) to a group of evil, conniving mages who work for the very gods he initially imprisoned. He had hoped they would unlock its power, but die in the process, so that he could then use it to tear down the veil in his weakened state. Tearing down the veil would unmake the world as we know it, with everyone in it likely dying.
When Corypheus survived the orb of destruction being unlocked, he unleashes horrors beyond comprehension upon the world, leaving swathes of people dead or otherwise displaced. Solas seeing this then makes inroads with the Inquisition, in order to help stop Corypheus and manipulate the Inquisitor for his own purposes. He is successful. He lies, obfuscates, and controls the course of the Inquisition from inside, eventually regaining possession of both the Orb of Destruction and The Anchor – a mark that plagued the Inquisitor throughout the game. With both items in his possession, Solas now has (at least part of) what he needs to enact his eradication of the peoples of Thedas.
If you play as a Female elf character who romances him, this betrayal is even more foul. Solas gaslights, abuses, and otherwise manipulates the player into a romantic relationship. If romanced, Solas will express some remorse over the betrayal, but it ultimately has no effect on his decision to continue his genocidal plans.
Inverted paths and remorse
With the actions of the two men in focus, we can see their paths are nearly perfectly inverted. Blackwall committed horrific crimes willingly for selfish gain, but due to guilt and remorse seeks to be redeemed by doing good. Blackwall is willing to submit himself to justice over his crimes, or to spend his days in service of greater good, unwilling to let others die for his mistakes. Solas did what he believed to be an act of good for altruistic reasons but feels the need to make up for past mistakes by committing increasingly horrific atrocities. He cuts a path of death, destruction, and abuse to get what he wants, not even saving his friends from the fallout (see Mythal and The Inquisitor).
Solas believes "guilt is a distraction," or something that only serves to stop him from accomplishing his goals, where for Blackwall guilt is his primary motivator. Solas is motivated by the results of his actions in the aggregate, he does not have time to think about the cost of lives along the way. To him, the people of Thedas are not really people just shades of a lost civilization.
Despite outwardly saying he doesn’t have time for guilt, Solas is hurting inside. Cole gives us insight into his thought process, saying “He hurts, an old pain from before, when everything sang the same. You're real, and it means everyone could be real. It changes everything, but it can't. They sleep, masked in a mirror, hiding, hurting, and to wake them...”
The differences don’t end there- they even lie differently! Blackwall’s lies are plain: he is saying he is someone who he is not. Blackwall’s forthright disposition even comes through when he is lying to you – expressing the falsehood in a straightforward manner. Solas mostly leans on lies by omission, feeding into his reputation as a trickster god – although he does slip up with the occasional bald-faced lie. For all of the wisdom Solas holds, he is prone to self-aggrandizing once the mask is lifted, claiming only he can make things right. His name means pride after all.
This dichotomy manifests in gameplay as well. Blackwall is the heavy tank; all of his specialization abilities and core competencies revolve around being a defender of others. He will take the hits so others may live. No matter how much it hurts, he will hold the line for others. He does not stand because he can, he stands because he must. It is his penance.
Solas, however, has a heavy focus on control. Pushing and pulling enemies where he wants them to go, knocking them down so they can’t get close, siphoning their magic, and weakening them so they cannot harm him. He’s the master manipulator, and they are the puppets. It’s actually a phenomenal way to express who these characters are.
Relationship with each other
Solas and Blackwall have a complicated relationship throughout the game. Prior to any reveals, they're quite friendly with one another. In Blackwall, Solas sees a man who has had to deal with the harsh realities of war and the death and destruction that it entails. He sees himself. For Blackwall, he sees a comrade-in-arms and a friend, even if he has some issues with mages and Solas' views on their freedoms.
Once the Blackwall reveal happens, Solas is initially quite angry, stating "There is little to say. I assumed we were alike. We'd seen war, knew its terrible costs, but understood that it was necessary. But there was nothing necessary in what you did. You did not survive death and destruction. You sowed them. To feed your own desires."
Despite the harshness toward Blackwall, I actually think Solas is partially talking about himself here. He's being hypocritical, as his current goals are entirely selfish - bringing down the veil will only harm the people living, and he does not know what remains of his people in the fade. He is upset that the world he created is not the place he called home, and he wishes to restore it to how it was.
Eventually, Solas apologizes and comes to accept the reformed Blackwall:
"My people had a saying long ago - "The healer has the bloodiest hands." You cannot treat a wound without knowing how deep it goes. You cannot heal pain by hiding it. You must accept. Accept the blood to make things better. You have taken the first step. That is the hardest part."
Retribution and Repentance
So, what should become of these characters? Both have committed heinous acts in service of their own goals, being directly behind the death of innocents and friends.
For Blackwall, the player has an opportunity to make this decision in-game. You’re given all of the information and options in a straight manner. What are we willing to forgive? Does his repentance and willingness to offer himself up change the way we should view his previous actions? Thom Rainier is dead, whether he’s executed in-game or not. Only Blackwall remains now.
Solas, however, continues to cause harm, with no end in sight. Can he be redeemed? The scale of harm he is responsible for outweighs even the most wicked villains the series has seen so far. Even if his initial intentions were good, does that exclude him from being brought to justice? Dragon Age: Inquisition gives us a moment to ponder this at the end of the last DLC, but we never have the chance to affect Solas’ fate in-game. Perhaps Dragon Age: The Veilguard will have some method of redeeming or punishing Solas, but that’s not certain yet.
For Solas, another question lingers – Can someone without true regret for their actions ever actually be redeemed? Even if he feels sad about what he’s doing, he continues to do it. Where does the onus lie on changing his mind? What, exactly, is the threshold of wrongdoing we can stomach? This is obviously personal for everyone, and I’m not here to tell you one way or another for either character.
And what about the people of this world? Would they ever forgive the actions of Solas and Blackwall? Should they? It's hard to judge them for holding grudges - these men destroyed lives, families, and homes - and as an outside perspective, we don't have to deal with the pain of loss that comes with being wronged in this way.
Foils are great reflectors
A foil character generally serves to be a contrast with another character, and these two certainly fit that with one another, but a foil can also reflect like a mirror.
For Solas and Blackwall, they remain the same at their core – they are broken men driven by their past mistakes. While the methods and outcomes are wildly different, both characters are attempting to rectify their missteps. Both are deeply committed to their new purpose, and both struggle to come to peace with who they are at first, but reconcile it in their minds by the end of their journey.
I deeply love each of these characters. Blackwall for his desire for redemption and moral compass. His compassion and earnest personality, combined with his complicated past, make him a great take on the “straight-laced warrior” archetype. He just wants to do what’s right, even if it costs him.
Solas is, to me, a really great example of a truly complex villain. His motivations start from somewhere good, or out of altruism, but as things get along, the methods get more perverse. Do the ends always justify the means? Solas seeks to restore what he destroyed, but he doesn’t seem to care what it costs others. There’s also an air of mystery still surrounding him, as not all questions were answered about his past and goals.
What happens next?
With the release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard right around the corner, some questions remain about where these characters will land.
For Blackwall - his story is done. As a quantum character, he will likely never appear in any meaningful capacity in a Dragon Age game again. I find this unfortunate, as he remains deeply interesting as a figure (much like Loghain Mac Tir of DAO), but I understand why both narratively and from a development standpoint. You can take any ending slides with Blackwall in Inquisition as gospel.
Solas is obviously a major character in the upcoming DATV, prominently featured in all of the marketing surrounding the game. I am interested to see what we learn about Solas in the next installment, and what his ultimate fate may be. Will he become a forever NPC, like Morrigan? Or will we be putting a cap on his story as well?
Only time will tell where the series and these characters go, but I am so excited to find out more.