The voice actor for Solas in the Dragon Age series, Gareth David-Lloyd, recently spoke about his experience working on the series and playing the games: Including his favourite romance option.
It's himself. I mean, you have to respect the honesty.
Talking at York Comic Con, and filmed by streamer LadyCrazyDragon (thanks, The Gamer), it sounds like David-Lloyd did at least try a few other options first. "First time I romanced Josephine [Montilyet]," begins David-Lloyd. "Lovely performance, rubbish romance. And then the second time was Cassandra [Pentaghast]. Yes, that was a good one.
"And the last... the last time I played a female character and romanced myself, which is the best—the best."
David-Lloyd is obviously having a bit of fun with it, but the character's fans think he's just talking sense. "Solas would romance himself," points out Andi in the TikTok comments, while Binabees admires "the conviction" behind how he declares himself "the best" (and clearly agrees). Others are just amused he calls the character "myself" rather than Solas, which is pretty funny.
Anyway: Not bad for a character that could fairly be described as an egg.
At the same event, David-Lloyd talked about being cast in the game, and the weird experience of voice acting a character that the makers won't tell you much about.
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"All I knew about the character, because [BioWare is] so cagey about spoilers and giving things away, was that he was an elf and that he was magic," said David-Lloyd.
"Then you go in, and they haven't given you any scripts, and there's a TV screen on the wall and the lines come out with a brief description on how to say the line with a tiny bit of context but not much. It was quite nerve-wracking."
When Inquisition came out, David-Lloyd decided to play it and got hooked, "really, really addicted", playing through multiple times and clocking up 500 hours. When it came time to perform in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, David-Lloyd said the magic elf had become more like an "old friend."
There is definitely an onanistic streak in voice acting, and David-Lloyd is not alone in romancing his virtual self. The Baldur's Gate 3 lot were positively feral about it: Shadowheart actor Jennifer English played with herself, and Lae'zel actor Devora Wilde couldn't stop doing it. And yes, Astarion actor Neil Newbon was at it, too. I mean, of course Astarion is gonna choose Astarion: As Newborn said, "Why would you not?"
