History Fanfic / WalkingInCircles

* InnocentCohabitation: For two years after they escaped from Ostwicks, Solas and Evelyn live together but due to her being [[spoiler: a Tranquil]], nothing affectionate or sexual happens despite them being lovers before. Solas also forces himself to only touch her when he needs to take care of her.

* AdultFear: If a mage in a Circle gives birth, her child will be taken away immediately, most of the time she won't even be allowed to hold it before that happens.
** Templars who actually care about their offspring with the mages could face the possibility that their child may also be a mage, and might not survive their own Harrowing. [[spoiler: Ser Ralston's daughter was one of those cases]]
** The older Circle mages who take care of the younger ones often lost them to Harrowing, or unable to protect them from templars' harassment.

* DidYouJustRomanceCthulhu: Evelyn, a human mage and Solas, an Elven God. Solas fears the day she knows who and what he is but has tried to accept the fact that she may leave him. [[spoiler: She doesn’t care, in fact, it just makes her more worry for him, not of him]].

* NotSoDifferent: Solas after spending over a year in the Ostwick Circle realizes that the people in this world are real and not so different from his people thousand years before.

-> “Do you have anything that you wish to keep?”
-> “You.”

Solas wakes up earlier than he did in canon, but instead of having ample time to prepare for his plan, his unfamiliarity with the current world causes him to be caught by the Templars. He is imprisoned in the Circle of Otswick where he meets Evelyn Trevelyan. Solas, being who and what he is, is dead set on escaping but freedom won’t come so easily, not for himself or Evelyn, or any other mages. Meanwhile, the Kirkwall Rebellion and the mage uprising is brewing…

* AdultFear: If a mage in a Circle gives birth, her child will be taken away immediately, most of the time she won’t even be allowed to hold it before that happens.
** Templars who actually care about their offspring with the mages could face the possibility that their child may also be a mage, and might not survive their own Harrowing. [[spoiler: Ser Ralston’s daughter was one of those cases]]
** The older Circle mages who take care of the younger ones often lost them to Harrowing, or unable to protect them from templars’ harassment.

** Kinnaird calls Evelyn “Evie.”
** Evelyn and Danforth trade affectionately snarky nicknames: she calls him “Old Man,” and he refers to her as “girl.”
** Solas calls Evelyn “vhenan” [[spoiler: after she is made tranquil and continues to do so from that point on]].
* AntiVillain: Solas is a bigot who looks down on modern elves, he also intends to destroy the Veil and this world as people know it, but at the same time, he isn’t afraid to stand up to help people, even those who he considers beneath him.
** Evelyn later also turns into this trope at least in her intention, she’s still the same compassionate woman as before but the trauma she suffered has given her a reason to [[spoiler: follow Solas’s goal of taking down the Veil]], willingly accepts the fact that it’d kill a lot of people.
* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: Evelyn to Solas when their Circle’s Annulment happens and she knows that he’ll leave without her, so she just wants to get it out before going to do her own part in the rebellion.

* TheAtoner: Solas toward Evelyn. He’s extremely protective and considerate toward her both out of love and guilt because, as he puts it, most of her ordeals and traumas were partially his fault.
** [[spoiler: Ser Ralston]] is also one. In his younger days, he had a dalliance with a mage as perk of the job, said relationship produced a child who was taken away but he kept an eye on her. But eventually, his child turned out to be a mage and didn’t survive her Harrowing. He now spends the rest of his life atoning for his sin by helping and protecting mages whenever he can.

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: Solas cares and befriends Evelyn in the first place because she constantly goes out of her way to help or rescue him, even when she must suffer for it while he didn’t think much of her in the beginning.
** Solas also often notes that no matter how many things about himself that he’s ashamed of are revealed to Evelyn, she always accepts him without any hesitation.

** If you value your life, don’t hurt anyone Solas cares about.

* BewareTheQuietOnes: Signy is a quiet girl who rarely talks even to her friends, but she [[spoiler: is also a blood mage who doesn’t hesitate to kill or control when the time comes]].
* BodyHorror: Evelyn sees what happens to red templars as the lyrium takes them over. Some of them don’t even have eyes, just red crystal.

* BrickJoke: Fennel, a kitchen cat appears once in one of the first chapters later became Solas and Evelyn’s pet when they leave Ostwick.
** Solas’s pickpocketing talent is used to get the key to the Knight Commander’s study. Later, he uses it again to out-mug a thief.
* BrokenBird: Evelyn by the time she gets the Mark. The trauma during the uprising plus her two years [[spoiler: as a Tranquil]] has made her into a much more cynical and ruthless person to the point that she actually [[spoiler: supports Solas’s goal]]. Yet at the same time, she still retains her kind and caring attitude.
* BrotherSisterTeam: The twins [[MasculineGirlFeminineBoy Keldra and Kinnaird]]. Keldra takes care of the fighting part while Kinnaird is the healer. It doesn’t make him a pushover, though.
* BrutalHonesty: One of Evelyn’s main traits is her honesty. She isn’t afraid to call you out if you’re wrong or did something stupid. A trait in which Solas has been the main target several times thanks to his prejudice and bigotry.

* ChastityCouple: Solas and Evelyn after they escape from the Ostwick Circle. During the first two years, it’s because she is [[spoiler: a Tranquil who can’t give consent]] and Solas will only touch her when he needs to guide or take care of her. They don’t do it for months after she got the mark, as the act of sex reminds Evelyn of her trauma during the uprising and her being afraid to give up control to someone else.

* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Evelyn very first EstablishingCharacterMoment in the first chapter is her risking to be beaten by a Templar just to protect Solas’s wolf jaw pendant for him. She also uses her family's noble status to protect other mages from being harassed by Templars, even though it weakens her own self-protection. In fact, this trait is what made Solas notices and falls in love with her in the first place.
** It’s deconstructed as while her personality endears her to many people, it also brings her foes who target both her and her friends. Not to mention, seeing too much suffering and yet can’t do anything to change it is what finally pushes her to become a WellIntentionedExtremist who [[spoiler: supports Solas’s plan]].

** Later, he’s also revealed to had almost been made Tranquil before due to suspicions that he killed a Templar. He didn’t, since if he was the one that did it, according to Danforth himself, that Templar would have died a slower and far more painful death.

* DeadpanSnarker: Solas, Evelyn, Danforth, Fitz, even Signy when she decides to talk. it’s easier to count the ones that aren’t this trope.
* {{Determinator}}: Fitz, no matter how many times they caught him, he just won’t give up. [[spoiler: In the end, only death can stop him]].
* DidYouJustRomanceCthulhu: Evelyn, a human mage and Solas, an Elven God. Solas fears the day she knows who and what he is but has tried to accept the fact that she may leave him. [[spoiler: She doesn’t care, in fact, it just makes her more worry for him, not of him]].
* DirtyCoward: Monette whose first concern is always to look out for herself first, even if she has to look away when injustices happen to innocent people. She’s one of Evelyn constant reminders about what’s wrong with the Circles, thus giving her one more reason to see them gone.
* DoWrongRight: When Evelyn and Solas get caught while they’re having a tryst (it’s just a cover for Solas’s failed escape), she gets a scolding from Monette but it’s mainly about Evelyn’s choice in partner and places to do it rather than her having a lover in the first place. As Monette puts it, if Evelyn has a lover, it’s better to be someone with influence (like a Templar) rather than [[DramaticIrony an apostate elf with no name or influence]].

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Grieves cares enough about his family that he actually backs down when Evelyn, to stop him from sexually harassing mages, threatened to use her family’s influence to destroy their livelihood. It doesn’t stop him from hitting or threatening her, though.

** It’s deconstructed later, when her love for children and seeing the younger mages being slaughtered or made Tranquil is what pushes her [[spoiler: to side with Solas]].
* FriendsWithBenefits: Solas and Evelyn try to pretend that their relationship is this but it’s obvious from the first time they have sex that they feel something much more than that.
* GildedCage: Basically, how life is inside a Circle. You will be fed, clothed and given education, if you climb up the ranks high enough, you can even enjoy a luxurious lifestyle. But you can’t leave your tower without permission, all of your works belong to the Chantry, any children you have will be taken away, and any chance of acting out of line can result in you being beaten, imprisoned, make Tranquil or killed. And even if you act within your line, you can still be abused by the Templars if you don’t have your family backing you.

* GrammarNazi: When they finally get to Skyhold, Evelyn tries to persuade Solas to forget about “preserving her reputation” and just move in with her by talking in Elvish which she learned from hearing him speaking for two years. He’s definitely moved by it and agrees, but still tries pointing out she used the wrong verb.
* GuiltComplex: Solas isn’t a stranger to guilt considered his past, but he still holds an enormous one toward Evelyn, considered himself to be the sources of most of her problems instead of saving her like he promised, and that she could have a simpler life without him. Even when she repeatedly telling him to stop doing so and explains that it’s her choice to remain with him, he still lapses into this trope here and there.
** Deconstructed when Solas’s guilt complex actually causes Evelyn sometimes to have doubts that he’s with her out of guilt, not love.
* HeadPet: Fennel the cat was often seen sitting on Solas or Evelyn’s shoulder.

** Evelyn has one when she heard about Anselm’s death, another one when she discovered Orla has been made Tranquil and then Malorel killed herself.
* HeroicSacrifice: When their escape plan is discovered by the Knight Commander walks in on Evelyn, she orders Solas to run back to his dorm, letting people think there’s only her and Fitz in the plan. She doesn’t get killed for it but the isolated imprisonment certainly does a number on her.

* HiddenDepths: Signy was a quiet girl who mostly kept things to herself, but she often the first person who comes for Evelyn and helps her. [[spoiler: She’s also a powerful blood mage who practicing her arts by using her monthly blood instead of just cutting herself and risked being discovered like regular blood mages do]]. Her being a shy, meek, gloomy girl is also mostly an act to avoid drawing attention to herself, as Solas notice that after they left the tower, Signy stands straighter, hair pulled back, and meets everyone’s gaze directly, she talks more too.
** Kinnaird may look like a selfish guy at first glance but it’s because he has to look out for his sister, as she’ll be the one to be punished if he does something wrong. he’s also a healer, despite his appearance suggests otherwise.
** Danforth used to be a healer who secretly helped female mages dealing with the result of their rapes, but he was almost made Tranquil and transferred to his current position when he was suspected to be a blood mage who killed a Templar. He didn’t but he does wish to be the one who did it, in a much slower and more painful way.
** Evelyn herself lampshades this trope when she calls Solas out on his bigotry and condescending attitude. She points out that the reason he sees her as strong, kind, wise and more special than anyone is because he spends most of his times with her while deliberately avoiding all other mages. Had he tried to know others more, he’d have seen that they also have their own lives and stories to tell, how they also try to rebel against their oppressors in their own ways.
* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The new Knight-Commander Clayborne obviously believes what’s she doing is good and that all mages are monsters that need to be contained or killed. But by the time Ostwick Circle’s Annulment happens, she’s very much become a monster that had no qualms killing defenceless mage children.

** Evelyn takes Solas’s hand at the Winter Palace, knowing it will send the court into a gossip frenzy.
* HoneyTrap: At one point, Solas accuses Evelyn to be this, thinking that she’s trying to offer herself to him to make him give up on trying to escape Ostwick Circle. She doesn’t, and immediately chews him out for that accusation.

* InsecureLoveInterest: Evelyn and Solas toward each other. For Evelyn, once the canon events start and they’re officially together, she often displays doubt about herself due to her experience as [[spoiler: a Tranquil]], her not being able to control her emotions or use her magic. She also sees herself as physically unattractive, having only skin and bones due not being able to take care of her health properly for two years. Solas always quickly assure her that he still finds her very desirable, though, and that any hesitation on his part are only out of concern that he may hurt her.
** Solas, at least in the beginning, often tell her that she should run away to find a quiet and safe place to live and let him deal with everything as he doesn’t want her to suffer for his mistakes. Even when they’re together and he’s accepted that she’s not going anywhere or leaves him alone, Solas still believe that Evelyn could have a better and simpler life without him.

* KeepingSecretsSucks: Solas definitely isn’t very happy about the fact that he has to lie about his identity or his goal to Evelyn; at the same times, he’s afraid of her reaction upon finding out the truth. Turns out she not only doesn’t mind but also [[spoiler: supporting his plan]].

* LastNameBasis: For the first few weeks while he’s at the tower, Solas consistently refers to Evelyn as Trevelyan. He only begins calling her by her first name [[spoiler:after his first failed escape attempt]].

* LoveHurts: At first, Solas doesn’t dare to reveal his feeling to Evelyn as he thinks it as a betrayal to his people to fall in love with a shemlen, not to mention he’s also afraid of Evelyn’s reaction if she knows who he is and what he’s planning. Only when she [[spoiler: becomes Tranquil]] that he finds to courage to confess but it’s already too late, and he spends the next two years regretting everything.
** Evelyn, meanwhile, thinks that she’d never be able to leave her Circle while Solas values freedom more than anything so she can’t reveal her love as it would tie him down.

* MeaningfulEcho: The first time Evelyn talked to Solas, she asks “Do you have anything that you wish to keep?” His answer was “My pendant.” Much later, when he remembers that question again, his answer this time is “You (Evelyn).”
* MeaningfulName: Ser Grieves. With that kind of name, he couldn’t be a safe person to be around.

* TheMole: After escaping Otswick, [[spoiler: Evelyn]] becomes Solas’s mole as Tranquil are always overlooked or ignored by other people and thus being perfect for spying duty. It should be noted that he didn’t force her to do so and it was her suggestion in the first place since Tranquil hate, as much as they can, being idle.

* MundaneLuxury: Being imprisoned from a young age has made Evelyn enjoys and fascinated by things most people won’t think much about like travelling, flowers, having your own private space, snow storms, etc.

* NoteToSelf: Redcliffe future!Solas gives Evelyn a note to deliver it to himself in the present. Most of it concerns future events such as Celene’s assassination, the eluvians’ locations and such, but the last line is to remind himself not to give Evelyn any red wine since it triggers her trauma.
* NoMoreLies: Solas finally tells Evelyn who he actually is after they escaped from Ostwick Circle. At the time, he does so because with her condition, there’s no harm in telling her the truth.
** After she recovered, Evelyn directly asks him if he’d ever lie to her again and his answer is no.

* ParentalAbandonment: Evelyn’s parents gave her away immediately after they discovered she’s a mage. She’s actually somewhat grateful for that because by giving her away when she was too young to get attached to her family, Evelyn has time to adjust and get used to her ordeal instead of fighting against it and causing more dangers to herself later.

--> [[spoiler: “My heart, please. Come back to me.”]]
* ThePowerOfLove: Solas attempts to use this [[spoiler:when Evelyn is forcibly made tranquil. It doesn’t work]].

** He dug a tunnel from the kitchen to outside the tower wall by hands only for several months without any magic to avoid detection. It results in the outside wall’s foundation being reinforced with rocks.
** He stole a templar’s armor during a high-up’s visit and walked out from the front door. After that, no templar can leave the place without showing their face first.

* RapeAsDrama: Circle mages are regular victims of this, either by force or coercion. One of Evelyn’s friends was raped by a templar which resulted in a child that was taken away from her and gave her severe depression. This happens less often with noble-born mages like Evelyn but the threat is still there.
** Ser Grieves was transferred to Ostwick because he framed and turned a mage into a Tranquil after she refused his advances; she couldn’t say no afterward.

* RunningGag: Solas’s little feud with his and Evelyn’s cat, Fennel. The cat makes it his life mission to take Solas’s food and bed, and generally annoy the hell out of the elf.

* SamaritanRelationshipStarter: Solas and Evelyn’s first interactions is her willing to be hit to keep his pendant safe. But it takes him to see her protecting an elven child and, once again, risking herself to keep him safe from his own mistake that he truly notices and develops affection for her, and much longer than that for him to actually see her as a true person with full emotional capability.
* SecondLove: Solas’s actually this to Evelyn. Her first love was Anselm, a mage who had been transferred to Kirkwall Circle due to his connection with a blood mage.
* SecretRelationship: When Solas and Evelyn are (not officially) in a relationship while they still in Ostwick, they keep it a secret to prevent it being used against them (and to not acknowledge that they really are in love). Once canon kicks in, their relationship is more like a semi-open secret, most of the main cast know that they’re together but to everyone else, it’s just a rumor.
** Defied by Evelyn once they get to Skyhold. She asks Solas to move into her room, but he’s reluctant to do so because it may damage her reputation which in turn can affect her position in the Game. Evelyn, of course, has none of that.
* SenseFreak: [[spoiler: Tranquil cannot feel as normal people do, so after two years of tranquility, Evelyn has trouble adjusting.]] She can’t control her emotions, and her senses have become painfully sharp. Food tastes stronger, smells linger and a shift in temperature can make her recoil.

** Solas mentioned that in the past, he often did this to empty his mind when the pressures were too much. That’s why he understands that Evelyn needs something more than that after she was released.

* SignatureScent: Solas always smells of herbs and old books to the point that even without looking and being surrounded by blood, Evelyn can still know that he’s there with her. When she meets Solas/Fen'Harel in the bad future, one of the things that make her realizes how wrong things have become is that he smells of old blood and armor instead.

* ShippingTorpedo: Keldra, Evelyn’s best friend openly and constantly opposes to the idea of Evelyn and Solas being together or even acquaintance, believing that Solas being too old will prevent him from adjusting to a life in a Circle, and thus will bring dangers to himself and Evelyn.

* TranquilFury: Solas after he found Evelyn [[spoiler: has been made Tranquil]]. So much that Ser Clacher found them, the elf just silently walked forward and gave him a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown with a sword instead of using his magic, finally killed him after confirming that the man didn’t force himself on Evelyn.
** It was so terrifying that later, when Evelyn realizes that he’s pointing the same look at Cassandra who demands Evelyn to hand herself over, she immediately begs him to calm down before anything bad can happen.
** He showed the same face again in the BadFuture when he talked about how he got Alexius’s amulet.

* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: Evelyn hasn’t actually had a chance to give someone a beating for harming Solas due to all previous events demand her to not be violent, but she always protect him with everything she’s got, either from his own mistakes or from others. Her willingness to give him protection, even when he thinks he doesn’t deserve it is actually one of the things that he loves and loathes about her
** Solas is also a gender-inverted case. After several times being protected by Evelyn, he’s also developed an urge to protect her even at the cost of himself; often in the form of wanting to kill whoever trying to harm her, be it Templars, Seekers or Corypheus.

* WellIntentionedExtremist: Solas and later Evelyn. Even Solas’s taken surprised by her decision and he grieves for her loss of innocence.

* WouldHurtAChild: When the Ostwick circle’s annulment happens, it’s obvious that many of the Templars aren’t afraid to kill children in their sleep (or while they wake up for that matter).
* WouldntHurtAChild: At the same times, there’re other Templars who refuse to do so, either letting the mages go or even join the fight against their own comrades to protect them.
* WrongGenreSavvy: Vivienne tries to persuade Evelyn to join her cause by appeal to the latter’s background as a noble-born mage and her youth’s naivety. But apparently, she didn’t do enough research to know that noble or not, Evelyn has seen and suffered enough during the uprising to find the idea of continuing the Circle system to be absolutely appalling.
* YouAreACreditToYourRace: At one point, Solas praises Evelyn by saying that he can’t understand how can someone as wise and compassionate as her could exist while her “kind” are nothing like that. This, of course, pisses her off and she instantly calls him out on that.

* FlowerInHerHair: Evelyn at one point tucks the flower Solas gave her into her hair and keeping it for the whole chapter. It’s actually less about demonstrating her femininity and more about symbolizing her strength underneath her unassuming appearance as that small flower is actually poisonous.

* BiTheWay: Kinnaird who had a one-time tryst with Evelyn and is also in love with Fitz.

* Merlin and Nimue: Evelyn is the Nimue to Solas's Merlin. He's even started to groom her into becoming his replacement to lead Fen'Harel's organization in the case something happens to him.

You can find it [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/5725846/chapters/13192810 here]] on ArchiveOfOurOwn. For other extra and deleted scenes, go [[https://archiveofourown.org/series/465379 here]].

* ActionDressRip: The ballgown Evelyn wears in the Winter Palace is specifically design so its outer layer could be ripped away into a BattleBallgown [[KickingAssInAllHerFinery suitable for fighting]].

You can find it [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/5725846/chapters/13192810 here]] on ArchiveOfOurOwn.

* DeletedScene: The author has posted deleted and extra scenes as small snippets, in addition to the main story. They include what Solas did in the Bad Future and what happened to Felassan.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Evelyn loves mints, especially for tea. She also often keeps fresh mint sprigs around because cats enjoy that and she enjoys their presence. Her love for the herb is so strong that even when she [['s a Tranquil]], she still tries to make mint tea despite not truly know why.

* FridgeHorror:
** [[spoiler: Signy is a blood mage. And there was a templar who died of a bleed in his brain... his killer was never found.]]
*** [[spoiler: It gets even worse when you consider that Anselm’s mentor was discovered to be a blood mage, and the templars thought that the mentor must have taught Anselm blood magic. While Anselm was not a blood mage, what if the mentor did pass on this knowledge? What if they were the one to teach Signy?]]
** What happens to Evelyn in the dungeon is terrible, but what if Solas had never come for her? She would have been [[spoiler: tranquil, injured, and her clothes are torn after [[{{attempted rape}} her encounter with Grieves.]] What would the templars have done with her?]]

** He dug a tunnel from the kitchen to outside the tower wall by hands only for several months without any mafic to avoid detection. It results in the outside wall’s foundation being reinforced with rocks.

* ThePowerofLove: Solas attempts to use this [[spoiler:when Evelyn is forcibly made tranquil. It doesn’t work]].

* ThereIsOnlyOneBed: Plays for drama when [[spoiler: Evelyn and Solas]] share a room after their escape from Ostwick. [[spoiler: Evelyn]] is a Tranquil so she doesn't see the act of sharing a bed as anything special despite her partner's protests, but at the same time, even with her state there's still enough of her in there to want to comfort him to the point that she mimic her old self's habit of holding his hand. After that experience, [[spoiler: Solas]] avoids sleeping next to her and only touches her when he needs to since the pain of seeing her like that is just too much.

* ClaimedbytheSupernatural: When he is planning to leave the tower, Solas gives Evelyn his jawbone necklace. [[spoiler:After she is made tranquil, the necklace becomes a visible claim to the other elves working with Solas. Despite being scornful of a human in their midst, they will not harm or belittle her.]]

* Felassan is still alive because Evelyn suggested to Solas that killing him would be a waste. Instead, the elf was sent away to work somewhere else where his torn loyalty would not be tested again.

[[caption-width-right:350:Art by Kauri [[https://kauriart.tumblr.com/post/157137803920/walking-in-circles-so-ive-been-fangirling]]]]