Remake his people's history... To make himself a hatred pariah and to make elves wear slave markings on their face that he detests? I HIGHLY doubt that was his plan, that wood be super-omega dumb.
Er, I said nothing about Solas being Gisharel? 
I was talking about Gisharel being a Keeper with a grudge against Solas, whether he knew him personally or just as a convenient religious scapegoat.
Er, I said nothing about Solas being Gisharel?
I was talking about Gisharel being a Keeper with a grudge against Solas, whether he knew him personally or just as a convenient religious scapegoat.
Wait, I thought you was referring to Solas. You weren't? I'm tired...
Just a random thought...
In that interview with Patrick and Karin Weekes that Tulip posted a few pages back.. Patrick commented on how all the codex entries were written as So and So said this happened.. nothing is a fact. Just because some famous scholar said it happened doesn't mean it really did.
People really need to remember this more. I've seen a few people complain that WOT2 was biased against Anders but if you read between the lines in his entry then it's not. It's written from the perspective of a Chantry scholar. Of course it's going to take the 'demon' view.
*historian sulk*
Yeah, that Gisharel has very little historical evidence to back up his claims (and even to prove his own existence), it seems really suspicious that the sole font of Dalish lore wouldn't even pass up to wikipedia's scrutiny, since nearly everything we have is a case of "Citation needed".
I take the view that Gisharel wasn't actually real. The writings attributed to her (him?) are actually from a human. There's presedant for this in the real world - I can't remember the details but there was a guy who wrote about being a Native American (apologies if that isn't the right term to use) but he'd just made everything up. I think it was made into a movie with Pierce Brosan and that's everything I can remember.
Reread my post again if you want, assuming this was about my post. I edited in a few sentences here and there. I have a bad habit of continuing to edit for 10 minutes after I made the post, and then people read it while it's a work in progress. Got to stop doing that...
You're not the only one.
Whacky theory time- When Solas says Skyhold is his/hers he means it, old elven magic in the foundations mean Skyhold will not let the Inquisitor be physically harmed within its walls. Jump from anywhere and always land safely, assassination attempts will always fail, the Inquisitor could be trampled by a nuggalope and walk away with only a few bruises.
And a certain wolf is the one who reactivated the warding spells.
Also... this is not Solas but someone commissioned the amazing needapotion for an artwork of their Avvar Inquisitor OC.
I'll be honest, I would've gladly played an Avvar Inquisitor! 
(I'm just sick of the human PCs of Dragon Age games having noble origins...)
And here I thought I wanted an Avvar PC before...
I just got a learning experience about how badly I want to play an Avvar.
Iirc in origins early development there was an avvar origin but it was dropped.
Re dales government they had at least one lord, hassandriel, so there was some form of nobility along with high priests and elders. Hassandriel is the author of a codex entry http://dragonage.wik...entry:_Uthenerawhere he's presented as " -From What Has Passed, by Hassandriel, Lord of Halamshiral, 2:7 Glory".
We also know that many of today's Keepers are or claim to be descended from the "nobility who governed the Dales".
DA Wiki also says "It was in essence based on an aristocratic/oligarchic model rather than simply a monarchy." and cites it with "As implied by the book Morrigan takes from Ariane's clan."
The Wolf at Heaven's Door was so bittersweet. A fitting end and very poetic.
Thank you very much for the kind words, to Alyka also 
I really appreciate it
Er, I said nothing about Solas being Gisharel?
I was talking about Gisharel being a Keeper with a grudge against Solas, whether he knew him personally or just as a convenient religious scapegoat.
People really need to remember this more. I've seen a few people complain that WOT2 was biased against Anders but if you read between the lines in his entry then it's not. It's written from the perspective of a Chantry scholar. Of course it's going to take the 'demon' view.
*historian sulk*
I take the view that Gisharel wasn't actually real. The writings attributed to her (him?) are actually from a human. There's presedant for this in the real world - I can't remember the details but there was a guy who wrote about being a Native American (apologies if that isn't the right term to use) but he'd just made everything up. I think it was made into a movie with Pierce Brosan and that's everything I can remember.
You're not the only one.
What if Gisharel is the pen name a group of people who did have a grudge for whatever reason against Solas? And the pen name is some sort of mockery of the name Fen'harel in elvish?
And what if this is the lovely betrayal that Solas alludes to in conversation? And this same group also happens to be the fools he watched squander away everything he had worked so hard to achieve?
That's assuming these supposed things that happened to Solas happened during the founding/early history of the Dales, not Arlathan.
We need more content.
Just a piece......a small piece. That's all we need. Actually several small pieces but you ge tme.
And here I thought I wanted an Avvar PC before...
I just got a learning experience about how badly I want to play an Avvar.
I would like to play as an Ander Anderfellian someone from the Anderfells in the next game. If I remeber correctly from Last Flight they have their own tribal clan people too.
HEY! A new video for you guys. Hope you like it. It's just a preview for now. Read the describtion.
(I'm just sick of the human PCs of Dragon Age games having noble origins...)
This was why I chose to play an elf this time. I saw noble origins again and switched over on impulse.
A fateful decision 
Whacky theory time- When Solas says Skyhold is his/hers he means it, old elven magic in the foundations mean Skyhold will not let the Inquisitor be physically harmed within its walls. Jump from anywhere and always land safely, assassination attempts will always fail, the Inquisitor could be trampled by a nuggalope and walk away with only a few bruises.
And a certain wolf is the one who reactivated the warding spells.
I would say it's special. The writers would be remiss not use it in some way. We've been told by multiple NPC's in game that it's ancient and very magical. It may be that yes, noone can die there, or whatever. Regardless, it seems to be a Chekov's gun and hopefully we see it used to greater effect later instead of just a base.
This was why I chose to play an elf this time. I saw noble origins again and switched over on impulse.
A fateful decision
I like Noble Origins actually. In truth, I had a lot more fun creating a backstory for my Lady Trev than I did my Lavellan. Her family, her duty, honor, Ostwick - all feel more alive to me than my Lavellan. But to be fair to my Lavellan - I got super burnt out on herdue to the forum and the fandom at large. So right now my backstory for her is - she's a badass. The End.
I would also like to see it fully repaired. I thought that would happen over time during my first playthrough but no.
Also who would leave those cobwebs in the basement for so long?
I like Noble Origins actually. In truth, I had a lot more fun creating a backstory for my Lady Trev than I did my Lavellan. Her family, her duty, honor, Ostwick - all feel more alive to me than my Lavellan. But to be fair to my Lavellan - I got super burnt out on herdue to the forum and the fandom at large. So right now my backstory for her is - she's a badass. The End.
I don't mind it, I was just tired of humans with noble origins. My Warden, and I love her, is a Cousland. Hawke is Hawke. So I went off in a completely other direction and it was probably the best decision because of the character I was feeling to play. The circumstances, the strangeness, the culture and beliefs, all laid the groundwork for something that turned out to work really well. Especially how this all works within the story, and secondarily, with the Solas romance, but none of that applied when choosing.
I like Noble Origins actually. In truth, I had a lot more fun creating a backstory for my Lady Trev than I did my Lavellan. Her family, her duty, honor, Ostwick - all feel more alive to me than my Lavellan. But to be fair to my Lavellan - I got super burnt out on herdue to the forum and the fandom at large. So right now my backstory for her is - she's a badass. The End.
I have the opposite problem. While I did have fun playing the Human Noble origin (I played a Male Cousland on my second DA:O playthrough) and I do enjoy playing my male Trev, I noticed I seem to have a problem creating backstories for them. Same with my Hawke. I'm not sure if it's because I generally enjoy playing elves way more than playing humans but my Mahariel and my Lavellan have more colorful backstories than my human PCs.
Stuff like how their childhood went, who their friends were, if they had many lovers, what their fears are, etc. I never developed these for any of my human PCs. Not even my canon Hawke.
I guess in short, for me, Human PCs with noble origins are not my cup of tea.
But an Avvar PC... I would love that! *grabby hands*
I have the opposite problem. While I did have fun playing the Human Noble origin (I played a Male Cousland on my second DA:O playthrough) and I do enjoy playing my male Trev, I noticed I seem to have a problem creating backstories for them. Same with my Hawke. I'm not sure if it's because I generally enjoy playing elves way more than playing humans but my Mahariel and my Lavellan have more colorful backstories than my human PCs.
I guess in short, for me, Human PCs with noble origins are not my cup of tea.
But an Avvar PC... I would love that!
I liked the noble origin in origins, probably because we got to see the family and the lands they ruled, and we got the family sword and shield etc. With Trevelyan we don't get any of that, there isn't really anything to cling onto. It doesn't help that the marchers are probably the most boring and bland people on Thedas.
Dwarf noble is best noble though, House Aeducan for life.
Iirc in origins early development there was an avvar origin but it was dropped.
Re dales government they had at least one lord, hassandriel, so there was some form of nobility along with high priests and elders. Hassandriel is the author of a codex entry http://dragonage.wik...entry:_Uthenerawhere he's presented as " -From What Has Passed, by Hassandriel, Lord of Halamshiral, 2:7 Glory".
We also know that many of today's Keepers are or claim to be descended from the "nobility who governed the Dales".
DA Wiki also says "It was in essence based on an aristocratic/oligarchic model rather than simply a monarchy." and cites it with "As implied by the book Morrigan takes from Ariane's clan."
There was also a commoner origin. A lot of the Redcliffe content tied into that one, with the dwarf warrior you can recuit for the defense of the villiage being the arc villian of it.
I would like to play as an
AnderAnderfelliansomeone from the Anderfells in the next game. If I remeber correctly from Last Flight they have their own tribal clan people too.
An Ander.
I would also like to see it fully repaired.
Also who would leave those cobwebs in the basement for so long?
Fenris was hired to do the cleaning.
I liked the noble origin in origins, probably because we got to see the family and the lands they ruled, and we got the family sword and shield etc. With Trevelyan we don't get any of that, there isn't really anything to cling onto. It doesn't help that the marchers are probably the most boring and bland people on Thedas.
Dwarf is best though, Brosca for life.
Fixed it for you
Gisharel is a real person and was around in recent history. He is mentioned in WoT2 in the biography of Neria, an Inquisition agent from the Dalish (I presume you encounter in multiplayer). Apparently the more conservative, isolationist Dalish criticised Gisharel and had little respect for the Ralaferin clan because of him sharing Dalish lore and culture with human scholars. He was the Keeper of the Ralaferin clan immediately prior to the current Keeper.
Now my take on it is that he wanted to correct the view of the Chantry scholars that Shartan wasn't a real person. In another part of WoT2 the preface to the Canticle of Shartan says that people think it could have been an honorific given to any rebel leader among the elves and that there were several slave rebellions at the time of Andraste. So the idea is that if he was just symbolic or a conglomeration of more than one leader, then Andraste didn't owe him such a personal debt. However, the canticle of Shartan makes it clear that she did. It was his timely intervention, getting his archers to use fire arrows against an ice wall, that allowed troops to reach Andraste when she had been cut off. Now Sister Petrine, a somewhat controversial Chantry scholar for going against the party line, is the one who particularly highlights the part that Shartan played in Andraste's war. I wonder if this is because she had spoken with Gisharel. It is Gisharel who says of the Chantry "They forgot that Andraste called Shartan "brother"."
An interesting bit to the preface to the Canticle of Shartan is that it states there was an old elvish folktale that spoke of "a rebellion against tyrants led by a trickster warrior" (my italics). It seems to me that in the years of slavery the story of Fen'Harel got split between the folktale, probably remembered fondly by his followers but with the name omitted because not everyone felt the same way, and the tale of his betrayal of the gods, likely remembered by their followers, in particular their priests. I'm pretty sure the folktale does relate to Fen'Harel and what is more it acknowledges both his role as a rebel but also a trickster. Hence the two ways of interpreting his name.
The other thing I found interesting actually in the Canticle of Shartan is that it refers to the People, so must have been originally recounted by elves and that when a group of rebel slaves were fleeing their masters, they stopped by a hill called "The Lonely One" by the Tevinter. There they started to regret their actions and wonder whether they would not do better throwing themselves on the mercy of their pursuers. At which point "Shartan heard them", almost as if he hadn't been part of their group but had been somewhere nearby. Then "Shartan stood on the hilltop" and rallied them against the idea. Almost like he had been on the hilltop all the time and that is how he came to hear them. He helps them overcome their pursuers by stealth (trickery) before going on behalf of the People to check out Andraste's camp so only he will be harmed if they prove to be hostile. The picture that accompanies the text that is meant to show the elves ambushing the legion (of Tevinter) is actually one of wolves falling on some sort of horned beast.
I think this is a pretty clear pointer (along with the stained glass window of Shartan looking like Solas' tarot) that Shartan was a real person but he was a manifestation of Fen'Harel, the trickster rebel.
My Inquisitor was the most difficult for me to come up with a backstory for. Not because she is an elf but becasue the way we are dropped into the story, in the middle of things. And to be honest I'm still kinda working on it. For my first play through I just tried to draw inspiration from other Dalish characters in the games. So in my head she was a little bit like Merrill at first, since she was the Dalish character I knew best.I have the opposite problem. While I did have fun playing the Human Noble origin (I played a Male Cousland on my second DA:O playthrough) and I do enjoy playing my male Trev, I noticed I seem to have a problem creating backstories for them. Same with my Hawke. I'm not sure if it's because I generally enjoy playing elves way more than playing humans but my Mahariel and my Lavellan have more colorful backstories than my human PCs.
Stuff like how their childhood went, who their friends were, if they had many lovers, what their fears are, etc. I never developed these for any of my human PCs. Not even my canon Hawke.
I guess in short, for me, Human PCs with noble origins are not my cup of tea.
But an Avvar PC... I would love that! *grabby hands*
I liked the noble origin in origins, probably because we got to see the family and the lands they ruled, and we got the family sword and shield etc. With Trevelyan we don't get any of that, there isn't really anything to cling onto. It doesn't help that the marchers are probably the most boring and bland people on Thedas.
Dwarf noble is best noble though, House Aeducan for life.
I should do a full playthrough of the dwarf origins someday. I did create a Lady Aeducan back in the day but she only got as far as Ostagar then I stopped. But from what I've seen the Dwarf Noble origin is very intriguing. (And I heard great things about the Dwarf Commoner origin as well.)
My Inquisitor was the most difficult for me to come up with a backstory for. Not because she is an elf but becasue the way we are dropped into the story, in the middle of things. And to be honest I'm still kinda working on it. For my first play through I just tried to draw inspiration from other Dalish characters in the games. So in my head she was a little bit like Merrill at first, since she was the Dalish character I knew best.
Hawke was easy, since he/she has an established family already. The Warden got the origin stories...so that was a bit more vague for me at first, but took shape before long.
I was planning a human mage actually (both Hawke and the Warden were human mages so I wanted to keep the trend with a full pro mage worldstate), but couldn't decide who I wanted to romance. So I just said, screw it, the female elf has the most options. But it's definitely my favorite now.
I would love to play an Avvar PC. Or just any kind of human who doesn't have the standard noble or Chantry background. That would be interesting.
I think one reason why it's so easy for me to create a backstory for my Lavellan is because I'm used to playing games like The Elder Scrolls series (Oblivion, Skyrim, etc.), where your PCs, funnily enough, are just dropped into the story in the middle of things with little to no backstory and thus you're free to create your own scenarios on how your PC got into that situation in the first place. For me, that's pretty fun.
I think one reason why it's so easy for me to create a backstory for my Lavellan is because I'm used to playing games like The Elder Scrolls series (Oblivion, Skyrim, etc.), where your PCs, funnily enough, are just dropped into the story in the middle of things with little to no backstory and thus you're free to create your own scenarios on how your PC got into that situation in the first place. For me, that's pretty fun.
I'm of two minds on this. On one hand, the relative lack of backstory gives such incredible freedom, like you said, and my Skyrim character probably has one of my favorite backstories and character arcs of all my PCs as a result. On the other hand, I also like something more established a la Hawke's backstory, or Adam Jensen, or TNO...restraint also breeds creativity, just of a different sort. Instead of the question being "What happened?" the question becomes, "How did it affect you?"
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