12 réponses à ce sujet

[tiberius_adamantine]

Am I the only one bothered that they don't exist? Honestly I would find their non-existence to be very improbable and here's why: It is unlikely that human genetics would completely override elven genetics. Every race has unique identifying traits that marks it as a seperate race beyond the purely physical. What makes a dwarf different from say a midget human is the difference in constitution, the racial ability to resist magic, and the fact that they don't dream ant thus avoid the fade. Elves also differ in more than physical ways in that they have a greater racial affinity for magic, regardless of if the individual can use it. The greater magical affinity in itself is an advantage over human counterparts because, regardless of the fact that human can use it, becomes more potent in an elf and the ability to use magic makes one greater than those who can't. This is not to support Teventer's view on the subject but just stating the obvious. The ability to use magic isn't strictly limited to ancestery but it goes flow smoothly among bloodlines. So the human's slightly greater physical form, if even that, shouldn't be the greater factor when elves have this kind of genetic. It seems bioware was trying to do what they can to show how human society was dominating the elven but I think they went too far in establishing a "superiority complex" that was unnecessary. They already had elves as second-class citizen's because of their continued defeat by humans so it wasn't necessary to but elves down by using genetics to "justify" the human's claims. Afterall, a dwarf and a human produce a "half-dwarf", which I think something else called a "mul", which combines the racial traits of two similar, but very different race. This process should also occur with elves and not have elves just become dominated by every aspect of another race. Half-elves also happen to be very good in combining desireable traits from both races and would be a contributing factor in changing the established superiority thought. Feynriel seems to show somewhat unusual traits but not enough to be considered a true hybrid. He may be able to produce on if he added more elven blood to his offspring but achieving it this way would mean completely depleting the elves before having a viable population. I hope some consideration is given to this and hope to hear other options, just lets keep things civil.

[CulturalGeekGirl]

This is my the best theory I have come up with:

There are some physical traits that are only expressed in response to certain stimuli... say the presence or absence of a given nutrient, or a change in season. A flamingo won't be pink unless it eats certain foods, and some rabbits change their coats to white in the winter.

Expression of the trait of "being elven" requires either pure elven blood or presence of a high percentage of magic in the environment. There is significantly less magic around right now, and so only those with full elven blood express those traits. If magic ever returns to the concentration it was at when all the elves were immortal mages, then everyone with elven blood will start expressing these elven traits.

I'm bothered by it too, but that's the most sensical thing I can come up with.

It's also been suggested that it's a god thing... if the elven gods came back, elven genes might become dominant. I'm a bit iffier on that, but it's interesting to think about.

[ipgd]

Two things:

1. It's magic.

2. Paragraphs

[tiberius_adamantine]

sorry about the spacing. also I'm not sure about there being less magic. the note given in the tranquil solution seemed to indicate that magic was increasing as the number of mages is rising.

[GavrielKay]

It's pretty much impossible to have a rational discussion about genetics in a world where magic exists. The most likely "real world" outcome of a mating between human and elf is nothing. They should have enough differences that they are separate species and cannot produce offspring.

If BioWare can create a fantasy world where elves and humans do in fact produce fertile offspring, then they may as well set the rules as to what the appearance of said offspring would be. It fits with their story and gives the elves even more reasons to dislike and distrust humans. They must remain segregated in their pairings in order to preserve their species.

David Gaider addressed the issue of "half-dwarfs" by saying it would be extremely rare and so they just don't put it in the story. Since dwarves aren't very fertile anyway, he says, they could hardly be expected to produce many mixed offspring in the rare cases they take up with a human.

[tiberius_adamantine]

but the whole reproduction issue wasn't necessary to establish the racial bias and therefore I feel only works against the story. mixed children would already be a somewhat rare occasion but that doesn't mean that it shouldn't happen at all.

[Wulfram]

The distinction between elf-blooded and half-elf seems mostly semantic to me, really. Feynriel seems to have inherited multiple elvish traits, including perhaps his magical abilities - I see no reason he could not be referred to as half-elvish.

[tiberius_adamantine]

his magic may have improved as a result of his mixed-blood type but his features are only unusual and still seem to drastically favor the human physical type. A true half-elf would have a more noticable blend of both racial traits.

Modifié par tiberius_adamantine, 06 juillet 2011 - 07:24 .

[GavrielKay]

It really doesn't bother me at all that the lore of Thedas says that a child of elf and human will appear human. I don't see that it would lend anything to the story to have one or two NPCs walk around with elongated but not quite elven ears or larger than human but not quite elvish eyes. They fully explain the lore here and that's more than can be said for a number of other story issues.

[tiberius_adamantine]

the state it, they don't explain it. like I said before it establishes a "superiority complex" by the humans to which they can use this to justify their claims. the reason you don't seem to think much of the idea is because you are considering it on a smaller scale. if you think of things as a whole then this prospect has better potential, especially with the hope of true change. i think that the story would be helped by not supporting racial bias on account of genetics. not to mention that half-elves are just awesome.

[GavrielKay]

Sounds you've got a pro half-elf bias. The "reality" is that it is more likely genetically speaking that a mixed breed would get a hodgepodge of good and bad traits and be sterile to boot. Half breeds are rarely accepted by either parent's society and not necessarily likely to bring about any change.

It is only fantasy writing and imaginings of its fans that make this any kind of topic at all. If you think BioWare missed an opportunity to have an interesting group of people populating its world, then that's fine. But they do explain the topic as humans being genetically dominant when crossed with elves and it adds a bit of color to the world in terms of human - elven relations.

[Rifneno]

tiberius_adamantine wrote...

the state it, they don't explain it. like I said before it establishes a "superiority complex" by the humans to which they can use this to justify their claims. the reason you don't seem to think much of the idea is because you are considering it on a smaller scale. if you think of things as a whole then this prospect has better potential, especially with the hope of true change. i think that the story would be helped by not supporting racial bias on account of genetics. not to mention that half-elves are just awesome.

You want them to explain how genetics works and hereditary DNA traits in a world where a weapon of mass destruction is a really nice bow?

[tiberius_adamantine]

no, i don't need them to explain genetics. I disagree that the mixture would be sterile and I don't think that it adds complexity to the relationship between the two races. There is already enough to justify the tension that exist between them without this and the posibility of joining the races, just not being commonly accepted, would add a different complexity to the story without taking away from it. I do in fact favor the possibility of hybrids but am also opposed to racism. Even though it makes sense for this to exist in the world and is a very hard thing to remove from a people who have it ingrained into their society, I don't feel that this should be "validated" by having humans completely dominate another race. There simply isn't a justification for this. The change that a hybrid could bring out is that it gives people a new chance to reconsider racial stereotypes with new people being able to try and overcome this.

Modifié par tiberius_adamantine, 06 juillet 2011 - 08:35 .