Sooooo /leans over/ I’m thinking about writing Solas in a fic bc I find him SUPER INTERESTING and I was wondering if you had any tips to like. Not fuck that up royally. I don’t really understand him but I WANT to bc he’s so well written even if he is a dick and a half

elvensemi:

(Note: this is me giving requested advice, so while I don’t mind people spreading this as much as they’d like, if you’d like to rebutt/add your own meta, please do so on your own blog since I don’t really have the energy to fight about this atm.) 

Well, first, if you’re going to try to write him well, you have to throw that preconceived notion about “dick and a half” out the window. You have to be able to separate any dislike you may have for a character out completely in order to write them well. (I had to do this with Sera tbh. I had to get the fuck over myself before I could write her accurately.) If you have a trait of theirs that annoys you, the readers WILL be able to tell because it WILL be over-emphasized. Even some of the good writers in fandom have that quirk and a skilled reader will spot it in a heartbeat. 

I study my Solas voice by listening to every ounce of dialogue the man has, but I understand that 1) not everyone has time for that and 2) that doesn’t work for everyone. So, I’ll just touch on a few of the baselines that I see people fuck up the most when writing him. 

• Solas is proud, but not arrogant. He is proud in the sense that he is confident, confident in his own skills and that he knows what he’s doing. But he’s very, very far from arrogant or cocky… he actually loathes himself quite a lot and is often self-flaggelating over his failures. 
• Solas does not hate the Dalish. In order to get the characterization of Solas re: the Dalish correct, I recommend listening to the dialogue in his first quest where he speaks to the Dalish first who calls him “flat ear,” as well as, of course, any dialogue he has with an elven Inquisitor exclusively. Also a lot of his dialogue with Sera is good for this, as well as area comments around the Dalish camp. What he has for them is a lot of frustration and irritation, but not hatred. He sacrificed everything for the elves to survive, and the only ones that did are the descendents of the slaves trained to hate and fear him. Their culture and customs are night and day different from his, but they claim to be “more like the Elvhen” than anyone. I believe you can understand, if you think about it, how this might be both incredibly painful and incredibly frustrating to Solas. And even then, when you go to the Dalish encampment, he’s nothing but polite, and his area dialogue is actually slightly praising. “The Dalish remember more than most.” If you make him too overzealous in his dislike of the Dalish, the characterization will fall flat. 
• Solas is honest by nature, therefore the lies he tells are often simple. He prefers to simply omit things, and when he does, it’s always for his own safety or the safety of his people and plan to restore them. Note, in Trespasser, he even straight up says “yeah, I’m just not going to tell you that, sorry” rather than lying. He is clever and tricky, but it’s not in his nature to craft elaborate lies. 
• Solas has trouble relating and speaking to other people, especially in this new modern age. This can lead to him coming off as a bit distant, lofty, or even rude. Keep in mind, this is a man who, among a list of books about magic and the Fade, has a book on how to understand and relate to other people. Solas reads a self help book, okay. 
• The prejudices Solas has are against the modern world. When he speaks about thinking people crude, backwards, or cruel, he is speaking not of a race, but of modern civilization itself. If he is in a world where he makes friends and is shown kindness and understanding, this opinion will change. If not, it won’t. On that note…
• How he acts later in the game and especially into Trespasser changes extremely based on whether he is befriended or antagonized in your world. Just keep that in mind as you go forward. 

I could go on forever, but I tried to keep this concise and focused on the flaws that irritate me the most when I see them in a fic. There are a lot more, but y’know. Only hard work and study will make a perfect character voice. I can’t do that for you, I can only try to point you in the right direction. ❤ Good luck!