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[RebbyWriter]

Still catching up to the thread but I'd like to answer this.

 

 

For me, in a fantasy setting, I find it rather boring to play as a human. For some people, they play a human because it's easier to relate to them, but I was always more interested in playing elves as they generally have more interesting backgrounds. And I'd like to have a disconnect from the fact that I am a human in real life. In almost all fantasy RPGs/MMORPGs I've played (Elder Scrolls, Dragon Age, Kingdoms of Amalur, Tera Online) I would always play an elf (or non-humans like the Sylvari in Guild Wars 2 if there are no elves). 

 

For DA:O, I rolled a Dalish elf warrior for my canon (I've always had a thing for the more "woodsy" type elves, plus I love their vallaslin). I was so disappointed when I found out that in DA2 you could only play as a human. I had to make Hawke a mage to make her a bit more interesting for me to play.

 

You could imagine how elated I was to find out that DA:I allowed people to choose a race again. I thought I would be playing a dwarf rogue (since my Warden was an elf warrior and my Hawke was a human mage) but the urge to play an elf again was too strong, so I rolled an archer Lavellan. I had no regrets leaving behind the thought of playing a dwarf (no offence to those who like playing dwarves, I just love playing elves more).

 

*sigh* I really wish I could say I chose to play an elf to romance Solas but unfortunately, that wasn't the case when I first played DA:I. xD

 

(Also... it's my birthday today *coughcough*)

 

HAPPY BERFDAY!!!!!!

 

Mine is tomorrow. heehee.

[DragonRacer]

Happy birthday, Capricorn! My Mom was a Capricorn (I ended up a passionate but hot-headed Aries).

 

To answer the earlier question about why I chose to play an elf... it tends to be a race I lean towards for various reasons. This time was to continue what I started in DAO, where my first Warden was a Dalish duel-wielding rogue and my second was a City Elf duel-wielding rogue (so, no large surprise when my first Lavellan was a duel-wielding rogue). I actually preferred City Elf because I like the underdog-rising-up stories.

 

Like someone else mentioned, I'm human, so I find that boring. If I play human, I usually roll a male first since I am not male, so that gives me something unfamiliar to play with. But I'll generally play anything but human. In Elder Scrolls, I always start with a Khajiit, then go to Argonian, then maybe Dunmer Elf. I pretty much never play an Imperial or Bosmer.

 

Additionally, elves traditionally tend to be big nature lovers and I relate to that by a large margin.

 

Finally - and it may be the silliest and most personal reason of all - but my husband has admitted many times that if we lived in a fantasy world like Dragon Age or Lord of the Rings, he'd be a dwarf and I'd be an elf and we'd be the oddest couple ever but everyone would be jealous of our love. LOL But it's pretty true. I've actually compared him to Varric before because he's shorter than me (by several inches, actually), stout, can captivate a room with a story, doesn't like beards but can sport scruff like a cutie, doesn't much get along with his family (especially his older brother), and he could easily go from swigging an ale in the tavern to ready to do battle at a moment's notice. Meanwhile, he looks over at me being all tall, skinny, barefoot-everywhere-I-can-go-that-way, nature-loving, animal-adoring sort of hippy. 

 

Elves feel pretty personal to me. And dwarves naturally have a very special place in my heart as well as far as companions go. 

[HurricaneGinger]

 

[Disgusted Noise] Cassandra and her insensitive disregard of a Lavellan's faith. Asking if there's room in their religion for one more god, see the Maker. Sure Cass, the Dalish would totally disregard all the ills brought upon them by the Maker! They'll totally see to a seat for him on the pantheon against all their efforts to maintain separation from the Chantry! Solidarity, individuality, etc.!

 

Ahem, excuse me. I've gotten rather good at understanding the value of various and independent religions at some point.

 

I assume the conversation was on Solas.

 

I was also a little irked when Josephine asks about your clan and what they thought of you being the Herald, and you can respond with: "yeah, they won't like it." And Josephine says "surely they understand you move in different circles now."

 

I was just like

 

 

Josie, I love you, but it's not about moving in different circles. Far from it. Sure you learn more about the religion but learning about it doesn't mean you are automatically a part of it. 

 

I think as Cass and Josie see it, you're the Herald of Andraste and you must embody everything about it immediately. And it's like...no. XD

 

Leliana's like: "pffft lucky." XD

[Gwyvian]

Well...yeah.  I think the issue is that some people have, some people seem to be taking the 'god' aspect and going BANANAS with it.  Like Solas/Fen'Harel are the same person - like Blackwall/Ranier - we get it. But what ends up happening is that he - Solas -  gets boiled down - by the fandom -  to to just Fen'Harel and then the characterization ends up getting gummed up by it.  "Oh, he's a god. Let's imbue with every ridiculous superpower known to man and place him at every major point in history".  Forgetting that lessens the impact of the characters that were actually there, the impact of the actual event because now you've got a Godhand in play, and making him look like a bit of a fool because he's that powerful but keeps ****** up.  Or that he's got all this swagger but none of the actual positive qualities that made people actually come to this forum in the first place. They're kind of shoving aside the man he is now - Solas - for Fen'Harel. His 'godhood' is so ancillary - it could have been Solas/oops I gave the orb to Corypheus because I'm a dumdum mage or Solas/immortal non-god elf.  The fact that he's Fen'Harel does not make him tragic.

 

The true tragedy of Solas lies in this:  Does he tell Lavellan the truth and all the baggage that comes with it? Or does he just forget and move on?  He realizes in those 2 seconds after that kiss that no matter what he does HE can't walk away from who was despite the man he has become.  That's why it's a kick in the gut.  He's punishing himself and he has no reason to.

 

This just makes me want to weep all over again. But I agree - I'd like to think more dynamically about all this god-possession thing anyway, that they have added to one another's essences, not simply A or B. Fen'Harel is no longer *just* Fen'Harel, as Solas is no longer *just* Solas. It wasn't *just* either one of them that Lavellan falls in love with, it's the someone who is both. A true merging would mean that to me, it has consequences and implications on so many more levels, i.e. his godhood is not a given, meaning all the powers that come with that, he has become something more and yet that is less than what one would expect from a god because part of him is not a god, and the god part of him is not a god of strength with the power of a people's attention infused in him.

 

To me, I began to suspect something more along the lines of him being an ancient, immortal elf, and even after the revelation I think that we know much too little about the elven gods of old to say he's not just that, an immortal elf in a special way. After seeing Abelas especially, a lot of illusions about elves dissipated, it made the elves of old more real and tangible, less a colossal concept to idolize. (Which is what makes all this doubly heartbreaking as, at least for my Lavellan, all her pillars of strength that come from her people are gradually reduced to rubble. And then Solas does this without even a proper explanation to her face.)

[Eivuwan]

I played as an elf because I always try to play an elven mage as my first playthrough. I just like magic and I like elves because they are smaller than the average human. I am on the shorter and smaller side, so it's easier for me to get into the role-play. Also, I am human so playing as a human is kind of boring.

[Eivuwan]

Well...yeah.  I think the issue is that some people have is that some other people seem to be taking the 'god' aspect and going BANANAS with it.  Like Solas/Fen'Harel are the same person - like Blackwall/Ranier - we get it. But what ends up happening is that he - Solas -  gets boiled down - by the fandom -  to to just Fen'Harel and then the characterization ends up getting gummed up by it.  "Oh, he's a god. Let's imbue with every ridiculous superpower known to man and place him at every major point in history".  Forgetting that lessens the impact of the characters that were actually there, the impact of the actual event because now you've got a Godhand in play, and making him look like a bit of a fool because he's that powerful but keeps ****** up.  Or that he's got all this swagger but none of the actual positive qualities that made people actually come to this forum in the first place. They're kind of shoving aside the man he is now - Solas - for Fen'Harel. His 'godhood' is so ancillary - it could have been Solas/oops I gave the orb to Corypheus because I'm a dumdum mage or Solas/immortal non-god elf.  The fact that he's Fen'Harel does not make him tragic.

 

The true tragedy of Solas lies in this:  Does he tell Lavellan the truth and all the baggage that comes with it? Or does he just forget and move on?  He realizes in those 2 seconds after that kiss that no matter what he does HE can't walk away from who was despite the man he has become.  That's why it's a kick in the gut.  He's punishing himself and he has no reason to.

 

Well, I guess some fans are doing that. But when I read the most popular fanfics and read the discussion here, I don't get the sense that the fandom as a whole have forgotten who Solas is. He's a cutey pajama elf.

 

Edit: And I'm just going to once again fangirl over the "Crystal White" story by Brelakor. The way the author imagined Solas/Fen'harel's past makes his seemingly dumb decisions make sense. Hindsight is 20/20. Solas' decisions likely make a lot of sense for him at the moment.

[Addai]

It makes sense why Solas would be broody after Haven. He saw the orb in Corypheus' hands, presumably, being wielded by him like he owned it. He saw more death and destruction unleashed by it. And then he gets serious about finding the solution, as evidenced by all those books.

I imagine the painting is his way of meditating on it all so that he can see the patterns.

I was thinking about what he says about elven magic, that it could take decades to cast a spell, and that the old magic would harmonize with new magic to create something different. Corypheus tells you that you interrupted a ritual years in the making. What if Corypheus was only completing a spell that Solas began, but he's changed with what he learned from Dumat or whoever else was talking to him? That's why Solas is shocked to see what he's able to do.

In case the thread hits 2000 overnight, have a chuckle in anticipatory celebration.



It could be more of a chortle...

[Avejajed]

Someone make a decision for me: in your heart shall burn or spend more time stalking the hinterlands? I'm anxious to get to skyhold and make out with my boyfriend Solas but trying to drag it out. What do you guys usually do before finishing up at Haven?

[electricfish]

 

 

 

I was also a little irked when Josephine asks about your clan and what they thought of you being the Herald, and you can respond with: "yeah, they won't like it." And Josephine says "surely they understand you move in different circles now."

 

I was just like

 

Josie, I love you, but it's not about moving in different circles. Far from it. Sure you learn more about the religion but learning about it doesn't mean you are automatically a part of it. 

 

I think as Cass and Josie see it, you're the Herald of Andraste and you must embody everything about it immediately. And it's like...no. XD

 

Leliana's like: "pffft lucky." XD

 

 

I tend to give Josephine a pass because she is legit ignorant of anything to do with elvish/Dalish culture. Her specialty is human nobles, merchants, and commoners to a lesser extent. To her, a big life change is a family rising or falling in station in regards to the nobility. She's honestly surprised/perplexed that having food so easily available to be delivered is an extraordinary thing to a Dalish elf.  She's a bit like Dorian with slavery. She knows there are different people, but it's hard to see how different until she gets face-to-face with it.

[_Lucinia]

@Kissiebear

 

That's why I love that fanfic by Brekalor "Crystal White".  It's AU Arlathan that has Fen'Harel, but he's characterized like the Solas we know.

[Avejajed]

Also for later Meta purposes: does Solas disapprove if you let Celene die? I'm anxious for a Gaspard rule but won't do it if he's all angsty about it.

Also I realized today I'm basically half fluent in all the known Elvish. Lol. I didn't have to look up meanings today on things that Solas said.

[Eivuwan]

@Kissiebear

 

That's why I love that fanfic by Brekalor "Crystal White".  It's AU Arlathan that has Fen'Harel, but he's characterized like the Solas we know.

 

I knowww, so sweet and gentle. So full of guilt and sadness. Ahh, I love that fanfic.

[Rabbitonfire]

May I ask what your guys reason was to play as an elf?

Most people seem to like human PCs better, so what made you roll a Lavellan?

Lore and immersion.

 

1. I was told by devs a character is romance gated for lore reasons. Ok, I like reading lore so I really want need those secrets. I was not disappointed.
2. The breach is about the fade. Solas is an expert of fades. I assumed you learn more if you romanced the weird elf. 
3. Good old fashioned fantasy racism. I like my fantasy world to have some correlation to real world problems. In this case, inner conflict. This is why I like elder scrolls, you N'wah. 
4. Humans have it too easy. Once I found out human inquisitors are nobles, I knew there wouldn't be any problem with npcs. Almost everyone is human, you have connections and money, and you integrate well with the dominate culture. 

[Hattress]

Also for later Meta purposes: does Solas disapprove if you let Celene die? I'm anxious for a Gaspard rule but won't do it if he's all angsty about it.

Also I realized today I'm basically half fluent in all the known Elvish. Lol. I didn't have to look up meanings today on things that Solas said.

Solas greatly approve if you have florianne arrested, and approves if you support briala, and there's no disapprove option for him at this decision point

[jellobell]

So I think I figured out who the mysterious hooded figure gushing blood in Flemeth's Fade area is.

 

Just finished Citadelle de Corbeau this playthrough, and I ran across this:

 

Spoiler

 

More about Citadelle de Corbeau.

 

Spoiler

 

Looks like all of those hooded statues, both here, in the Fade, and at Watcher's Reach, represent Dirthamen.

[Moirin]

Also for later Meta purposes: does Solas disapprove if you let Celene die? I'm anxious for a Gaspard rule but won't do it if he's all angsty about it.

Also I realized today I'm basically half fluent in all the known Elvish. Lol. I didn't have to look up meanings today on things that Solas said.

 

If you have Briala controlling him I believe he approves, it's what I do and I haven't lost approval.

[Rabbitonfire]

Also for later Meta purposes: does Solas disapprove if you let Celene die? I'm anxious for a Gaspard rule but won't do it if he's all angsty about it.

Also I realized today I'm basically half fluent in all the known Elvish. Lol. I didn't have to look up meanings today on things that Solas said.

I only know some elven words and I'm already shock that I remembered them without reference. I counted it as a sign that I like dragon age too much. I never cared to memorize a fantasy language until this game. It's not even a complete, structure language, more like a... decoder?

[Eivuwan]

Ohh so Dirthamen got killed too?! O_O

[tsunamitigerdragon]

.

[DragonRacer]

I knowww, so sweet and gentle. So full of guilt and sadness. Ahh, I love that fanfic.

 

Can someone kindly drop a link?

[Meeres]

Figure I'll hop on the bandwagon of why I played an elf.

I have this horrendous problem with making five characters, playing them a bit, deleting them, making more, deleting those, before finally settling on something. I first made an Adaar, which is fun, but tested an elf and got hooked because I've loved the elves - the Dalish in particular - since Origins. In general, elves in any fantasy genre have just... really called to me, in a way. Even in Skyrim where you barely get any characterisation at all and I ended up playing a dual-wielding sneaky ninja tank, I was immediately drawn to the Bosmer. Maybe it's because I'm drawn to races that are closer to nature and trees and things. I go to college in the mountains and I always have this intense, deeply felt feeling of serenity when I can just look up and feel totally surrounded by trees and air.

Class wise, I typically enjoy rogues. It's always seemed a fast, elegant class to me but I end up beefing up offensive skills so much that I rarely use skills like Sneak, bahaha. This time however I finally settled on an elven mage, because I liked the story of being the Keeper's First and using that training to be a leader and protector to... well, lead and protect in the context of the Inquisition.

[tsunamitigerdragon]

. 

[CapricornSun]

Happy Birthday!

 

 

HAPPY BERFDAY!!!!!!

 

Mine is tomorrow. heehee.

 

 

Happy birthday, Capricorn! My Mom was a Capricorn (I ended up a passionate but hot-headed Aries).

 

 

Thanks everyone! 

-----

On the topic of playing elves and not humans, etc... Strangely for me, in Dragon Age games, I always play a human male for my second playthrough. It was male Cousland for my second PT of DA:O; for DA2 it's a given since you only play as a human; and now I'm playing a male Trevelyan for my second PT of DA:I. I don't know why that is. 

 

 

@Kissiebear

 

That's why I love that fanfic by Brekalor "Crystal White".  It's AU Arlathan that has Fen'Harel, but he's characterized like the Solas we know.

 

I really need to read that fanfic someday. I keep hearing good things about it. 

 

Random thought: I never in my Dragon Age-loving life would have ever expected that Fen'Harel, the Dread Wolf, would turn out to be some woobie, charming, bald elf Fade nerd who would break your heart (if you romanced him that is). I'm just thinking back to when I first played DA:O and DA2 and the image I had of Fen'Harel was so different (evil trickster wolf god deity thing). It's just funny how things turned out looking back.