The Basics:
Casper Lavellan is a nonbinary dalish elf. They're short for an elf, under 5 feet, and thin but muscular in the rogue-ish sort of way. They are technically a mage, but spend about half of the story of Inquisition refusing to accept it while doubling down on their rogue related skillsets. They start out with a slightly modified version of June's Vallaslin, but lose it later in the campaign post Crestwood. Casper is in their mid to late 30s in Inquisition, and closing in on their 50's in Veilguard. Casper initially, canonically, vowed to stop Solas, but their tune changed with time and the emergence of more information. They're firmly in the camp of saving him by the end of veilguard. You'll find some spoilered veilguard info at the end that might be important if you plan to create end game content.
Casper:
General: Inquisition Casper is a bit like an agitated hornet. They're resentful, combative, and feeling cornered at the start of the campaign, and that comes out clearly in how they push others away and act recklessly in battle. Over the course of things, those feelings become more of an undercurrent, though they never fully lose their knack for exasperating the people around them. They become more confident and decisive, a bit more secure within their relationships, and they even start to sort of accept their role as the Inquisitor. They get a start to managing their lightning magic, with Solas' help (though by the end of trespasser, they're still only okay at it at best, and still prone to the occasional magical fit). What happens at Crestwood stalls a lot of their momentum, and Solas' disappearance at the end of Inquisition reverses it entirely. They carried out the rest of their perceived responsibilities for the Inquisition and then retreated from the pain of it. The events of trespasser only serve as a springboard to launch Casper right back into a self-destructive, resentful obsession with closure. They disband the inquisition, burn as many bridges as they can, and curtail into an attempt to make a name for themself so formidable that even the Dread Wolf can't ignore it. One that he had no hand in manipulating the course of.
Veilguard Casper has had ten years to work through their feelings. They've self destructed, acquired found family, spent a lot of time healing, and even, in a sense come to terms with the fact that Solas would never give them the closure they needed. They've matured significantly in that time (though they've never lost their flair for irritating others or their sarcastic sense of humor), and by the time things take a turn in Veilguard, they've already fogiven Solas for their own sake. There is a lot they're angry over. A lot they wish they could say. But that sense of betrayal kind of bled away years ago, and that they choose to help the pull Solas out of his own hole now, is for Solas' sake, not their own. Though, they do love him, of course, and it's hard for those feelings not to reemerge in some form.
Together:
In Inquisition, Casper and Solas balanced each other out in a lot of ways. They challenged each others views and behaviours and vexed each other quite a bit, but also showed an unexpected propensity toward supporting one another. Of course, In Solas' case, at least at the start, he had ulterior motive forcing him him to tolerate Casper's prickliness in order to find common ground. But what he found on the other side was a similarly prideful person who was also mired in regret, and who was desperately afraid of loneliness. Casper just wanted to feel seen, so, he offered that, in his typical fashion, which wasn't always necessarily kind or free from motive. Fortunately for him, Casper didn't need or want kind initially. They needed someone who was willing to actually hear them. Eventually tension gave way to genuine respect, and then unexpected moments of openness or care, and finally a gentle camaraderie that seemed to run much deeper than their companions could fully comprehend. It wasn't fast, but it was intense, and it was the steadiness of Solas' approach that coaxed Casper to open a part of themself to him they had allowed few others to see.
In Veilgaurd, they don't have much to go off of beyond those years. They met once, five years after Inquisition, where Casper angrily declared that they would love him to spite him, and that every effort he made to the contrary would be in vain. Solas left them unsatisfied in that encounter, but his words do become the catalyst for Casper changing themself. Perhaps what you need to know, is that Casper is angry with Solas' choices, but willing to be reunited with him.
Several comics (finished and unfinished) that illustrate a bit of their interactions
Written References:
Several comics (finished and unfinished) that illustrate a bit of their interactions
Visual references:
Extra, non essential, biographical info:
(There is still potentially important spoiler info at the bottom of this page. If you've finished the game, and want to do something ending related, give it a look.)
- Casper found themself in haven, not because they wanted to be there, but as a byproduct of inter-clan politics and their begrudging cassification as a mage forcing them into preparation to become clan Lavellan's second. Both the move from their own clan to clan Lavellan at a young age, and the pressure put on Casper to adhere made them dig their feet in further, outright refusing to learn control, and sabbotaging the attempts their clan made to help them. That said, their feelings about their own culture, the clans they're associated with, and how they relate to all of it are complex. They weren't born a part of clan Lavellan, but they keep its name. They don't ascribe to a belief in the dalish gods, and at the start of inquisition still reject a lot of dalish custom and cultural norms, but they will still firmly defend it. Leaving was, in some ways, a relief to them, but it is also a decision they feel guilt and grief over, and while they have no personal desire to return permanently, a part of them will always be nostalgic for the places they hailed from.
Spoilers:
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- When Casper met Solas in between Trespasser and Veilguard, Solas' response to learning how single-minded and obsessive Casper's pursuit of him was acts as a foil to the same release from service that Mythal offers Solas in the end of veilguard. Solas offers Casper the recognition of their struggle and freedom to let go that he desperately needs himself. But that isn't what Casper needs, and Casper becomes angrier, ultimately ending the encounter dissatisfied. What his words did do was mobilise Casper. It makes them realise that Solas simply cannot soothe the anger, betrayal, and guilt they're feeling, because it isn't Solas they need to forgive or derive worth from. It's themself and the people that show them overt, enthusiastic care.
- In the end game, when Mythal's essence is channeled to release Solas, it is in part because Casper recognises that Solas has always spoken and acted in a way that betrayed his own hopes and needs, and that what was a clumsy attempt to give Casper closure at one time, was also essentially him offering them the freedom he couldn't give himself the way he would need it offered. Specifically acknowledgement and the okay to lay his crusade to rest by the only person who could possibly understand the depths of his pain.
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