Honestly, I wonder how much of Solas’s rejection of godhood boils down to his own personal issues with the title, and all the baggage that comes with it. Because despite his suspiciously frequent insistences that the Creators weren’t gods, he… kinda does shit all to disprove the accusation.

Let’s tally it up, shall we? Inconceivable, world rending power? Check. A deep, unshakeable sense of responsibility for the state of the world? Check. Cataclysmic plans to reshape reality into a form that fits his ideals, at the cost of untold lives? Check, check, and check.

Solas can stamp his feet and shout all he wants about the attribution, but the fact is, he’s practically a textbook definition of a minor god.

And I get it. I really do. Solas considers himself fallible. In spite of his hatred of the evanuris (or likely because of it), Solas has a very high standard for whatever he thinks a “true” god is. And he - unequivocally, and by his own estimation - does not meet this standard.

He’s made mistakes in the past, he makes mistakes over the course of the game, and he will continue to make mistakes in the future. He’s not perfect, and at times, he doesn’t even come across as good. Which is why he can’t be a god. Gods don’t falter. Gods don’t doubt themselves or the necessity of their cause. Gods don’t manipulate their allies, or kill their friends, or break a world that they treasure above all else. Gods don’t mourn, or love, or lust, or regret. He is not a god.

But the thing about gods, especially in a setting like the DA-verse, is that the powerful and the divine are often not so easily dichotomized. The true gods of Thedas (if present at all) are suspiciously silent, and in their absence people will inevitably, out of necessity or distress or desperation, end up creating their own. Just look at Corypheus. 

And in cases such as this, the perception of the masses can be as vital in shaping legend as the power that legend carries itself. If they think you are divine, well, there’s nothing and no one out there who’s going to contradict them. And if, like Solas, you’ve got the power to back up those claims, any arguments you make to the contrary are going to look pretty weak.

From his perspective, and the perspective of the player, his feelings, his decisions and his actions all have entirely mundane explanations. But that doesn’t change the fact we’ve got a super powerful, effectively immortal being, who not only has Plans™ for Thedas, but feels that these goals supersede the desires of those who live in the world now.

Basically, if the shoe fits…

What I’m getting at here, is that whatever Solas says regarding his supposed divinity is inconsequential in the face of his abilities and intentions. You can’t look at the world and, finding it wanting, decide that it’s your place to fix it, only to step back and say “Oh, but I’m not actually a god. I just want to alter the very fabric of reality and recreate the world to my specifications. Again. But I’m not a god.”

I mean, where exactly does he draw the line? After a certain point, how does one distinguish a god from a grief stricken, displaced, disassociated man with the ability to split reality in two like a melon?

I think that’s one of the most tragic aspects of his character. He has classified his goals as immutable, unavoidable responsibilities, so that he can’t stop and consider whether he truly has the right to make this decision. The way he sees it, is that it isn’t murder if he genuinely doesn’t have a choice. It’s not monstrous if the world is already broken. This way, he’s not playing with people’s lives - he’s doing a terrible thing, because there’s no other alternative.

Because if he calls it duty, then he’s not a god. He’s not the evanuris. And if he keeps telling himself that, maybe someday he’ll finally believe it.