Removing vallaslin was such a profound choice for my character. I loved how organic it felt in the spur of a moment but also taking into consideration what she has learned about her culture and about herself throughout the story. It is such a beautiful roleplaying moment that always leaves me teary eyed. My Lavellan also has removed her vallaslin and it was a very painful experience. To see her so vulnerable, man, so many feels. Part of the reason she did that was that she lost her clan (I suck at war table apparently, though I managed to keep them alive for most of the missions... it actually sucks even more in retrospective), which in turn brought her closer to her companions (especially to Solas), then she's dumped by her bf, laughed at by her bestie (love you Sera but grrr), still grieving her clan, losing her culture piece by piece. Even if she kept her vallaslin she would still feels as outsider after all she went through.
I guess her story resonates with me so much since I also felt uprooted when I moved from my home country and I never expected it to be such a painful experience. It kinda creeps up on you when you're in the most fragile state. Massive identity issues but also a beautiful space for major changes. Btw lovely piece of writing there.
Ahh thank you ^////^
Wow, thanks for sharing that... I can see how both situations share the same issue of losing and attempting to reclaim or recast one's identity. There's a middle period of extreme vulnerability there. In case of a Lavellan without vallaslin, it really was a spur of the moment decision, but then it's something that Lavellan has to deal with for the rest of their life. My Lavellan just trusted and admired Solas way too much, and though he was devastated to learn the truth, in a sense he wanted to please Solas and show how tough and brave and "above it all" he could be, so he chose to let Solas remove it. It doesn't help that Solas constantly shows how much dislike he has for the Dalish, so I think simply being Dalish and in a relationship with such a person can be identity-shaking. How can you be expected to constantly defend your identity to the person you love? Again, I can see how this could be related to immigration issues, too...
eta: actually, "no way around it" is a bit harsh - now that the rules of magic in this universe have gone completely balls up, they could always use time travel or turn Barris into a lyrium ghost if they really really wanted him back.
omg.... this is... SO TRUE!!!! I hadn't even thought of that! Now that time travel is CANON literally anyone can be brought back! Wow the writers wrote themselves a lovely loop hole there, didn't they!
Speaking of slave revolts and potential leaders of one in Tevinter...maybe an elf kidnapped and sold from the Denerim alienage during the Fifth blight? Would be particularly ironic in light of Andraste's story...
Ohh that would be cool, and nice little connection to DAO. Possible feisty elven love interest, too.... ![]()





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