rocky41_7

! Dragon Age Veilguard Spoilers Below !

I'm sure other people have already said this and will continue to say so in more eloquent ways going forward, but the inquisitor really is a far better foil to Solas than Rook, whether friended, romanced, rivaled, or none of the above. The inquisitor is someone pushed into a difficult position, who chose to take on a leadership role they maybe weren't ready for because they felt they needed to for the greater good, and was then hit with decision after world-altering decision. Side with the mages or the templars in an ongoing war. Choose whether to let them join you as allies or forced conscripts. Decide what happens to the Grey Wardens, an organization centuries old and possibly critical to Thedas' defense but also possibly incurably corrupt. Pass judgement on Blackwall, on Florianne, on Erimond, on Warden Ruth. Are you going to claim the mantle of the Herald of Andraste or not? Too bad, the people around you have already decided that's what you are, what they need you to be. Prioritize: Saving a group of people close to one of your friends (possibly your lover), or saving an alliance with a world power who may help you save the world. Sit in your castle and manage these hundreds or thousands of troops who are now ardently devoted to your cause, willing and even eager to kill and die in your name. Inquisitor would you--? Inquisitor, what do you think about--? Inquisitor, we need--! 

And people will be angry with you about these decisions! They all have opinions about how the world should be and if you act in opposition to those they will not hesitate to express their displeasure. You cannot make a decision on the Grey Wardens that both Blackwall and Solas will approve of. 

The inquisitor little by little is forced into leadership beyond what they likely ever intended, and the consequences of their actions will ring across southern Thedas for years, possibly generations, and they will have to live with choices they made in the throes of a desperate war for survival, and so will everyone else.

By contrast, Rook primarily deals only with their small circle of friends and rarely makes any significant decisions outside of saving Minrathous or Treviso (which was not much of a choice--obviously they can't be in two places at once, so one city is going down no matter what) and there are no real consequences to any of their choices, besides the first one--disrupting Solas' ritual and unleashing Elgar'nan and Ghilain'nain, something no one ever blames them for. They complete their entire quest to stop Solas without ever commanding or being responsible for more than seven people and are never pressed into having to make a truly difficult or unwinnable choice. Rook doesn't know what it's like to even be in the inquisitor's position, let alone Solas'.