Wulfram wrote...
So which humans are they supposed to ally with? All humans treat elves much the same - well, actually it appears that Fereldan is a relatively good place for Elves to live, since they did in fact fight for it's independence from Orlais.
Perhaps some might be tempted to side with the rebel mages now that there are such thing, but that certainly would be regarded as conspiring against humanity. And, win or lose, would result in the elves getting massacred.
Politics makes strange bedfellows. Allies can be found in the strangest places and times. I wasn't even thinking about the mages. It comes down to having a common enemy, and history as shown that even normal enemies can be persuaded temporarily cease hostilities and join to fight a common threat, or achieve a common, necessary goal.
Yes, there's nothing wrong with hit and run. But that isn't an option for the city elves. All they can do is hit and get hit back 10 time harder
Sure it is. They just need to be more careful about how they hit and when. And then get rid of the evidence so it can't be directly traced back to you.
Fighting a dying empire allied with a powerful army is one thing.
Fighting without allies, with no training, no real weapons and heavily outnumbered is just stupid.
Which is why I said they need leadership and allies. As far as weapons go, there are many ways and fronts on which people can wage warfare or conflict, and several of them do not involve direct physical confrontation and violence. Wars and rebellions are more than just about fighting of two armies. Economic warfare, social warfare, ect, would all be tools the elves could utilize if they had the right leadership and unity.
Mostly, they get massacred when they try to fight. There are repeated references to riots, which is basically the only way they can resist, but they're entirely useless. I would tend to assume that the purges are responses to unrest caused by declining conditions in the Alienage through over population, rather than the humans just deciding that there's too many elves around and killing them.
I'd say its more both, given the attitudes and comments of various humans in both games. Rioting happens because they have no leadership or focus to channel their anger and hopelessness into more constructive purposes. Instead, the riot and burn down their own neighborhoods, which is stupid, and will keep them in a perpetual state of poverty, not to mention destroy the fruits of their labors.
Whereas if you keep your head down, you can have a decent family life, maybe pick up a decent job - Nelaros, the city elf's intended husband was an apprentice smith, which is a pretty high status career really.
A decent family life and a decent job? Surely you jest. Elves can't get much beyond menial, servile labor, and that's about all they can hope for their kids in the current climate. It's like saying a Mexican immigrant, if he keeps his head down, can get a decent life picking tomatoes for 5 bucks a day. Sure, back in Mexico, 5 bucks a day might be alot. However, it is not a job or situation one would be content to inflict on their kids. One of the most important things for a people's cultural and social well being, is having hope for a better future, if not for themselves, but their kids. A mexican immigrant might be willing to take a job picking tomatoes, but he or she can do so in the hopes that their kids will go to school and have a better life than them. That's the universal hope of almost any parent, and I don't see how elves would be any different. Yet in keeping their heads down and accepting a "good" job, they sure as hell are doing nothing for their kids future.
And since I mentioned Mexican people, there's an example of a people, who were once relgated to crappy, menial jobs and servitude, often shoved into smaller communities away from the mainstream. Often, they were harrassed and treated like garbage. Yet eventually, the Mexicans decided they were every bit as entitled to the same things everyone else had,, and that their children should have the opportunity for more than just a life of farm labor. They had Ceasar Chavez, a strong leader who united them, and forced the issue. And they didn't even go about it with guns or open warfare (though there were violent, radical elements in the movement). They aggressively attacked through social and political warfare, and there were many who were jailed, harrassed, or otherwise persecuted for "stepping out of their place". But that just strengthened resistance, and ended up helping the movement more than anything. And they succeeded. Though many Mexican immigrants still work labor jobs, that is no longer all they can ever expect to work. Now, they at least have opportunities for themselves and their children that would not have existed if they quietly took the shyte that was being dished out on them. They refused to remain oppressed victims.
The city elves, if not for themselves, should rise up for their kids. Like I said, uprisings don't always have to involve physical warfare of violence. There are many ways to resist.
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