I probably should make this clear here, bear in mind that I'm at the bottom of chapter six right now. When I first posted on this subject I think I was somewhere in the middle of chapter four (And the whole rant was started because Haninan just came in and I figured that - what with his popularity - he would be the first character to actually call Lavellan on her crap. Needless to say, when he turns out to just reinforce her beliefs, I was... a bit fed up). Just to give you an idea of where I am.
1. I acknowledged that a lot of Lavellan's bitterness came from the fact that she's comparing this world to the home that was sacrificed to achieve it, and of course she's going to find it lacking. But again, it doesn't do much to blunt how annoying she is to me. I perfectly understand her motivations and feelings - but they're still irrational. They're hypocritical and warped, and by definition, illogical. And it's not just towards the ancient elves, it's her attitude to Solas, too. How she accuses him of childishness and petulance when she's just as bad if not worse. (Something which has continued, by the way. She pulled that glitter trick on him again in the tavern, and I'm just sitting here like - "No Lavellan, it's not cute, it's not funny, you look like twice the child you accuse him of being.") Stuff like that.
And I haven't really seen her come to any epiphany of how she must save this future and the elves. For the most part, it's been mocking their culture as overwrought and useless and pining for home. Just recently in chapter six, she contemplated leaving Arlathan and abandoning them all to their fate because the Evanuris' discussion was taking too long - that doesn't sound like someone commited to saving them.
2. Elvhenan did have it's darker aspects, and i'm glad Feynite's not shying away from them. But the way this story tells it, it has nothing but dark aspects. The people are jerks who don't see her as people. The architecture's overwrought and pointless and structurally unsound. They apparently don't even understand the concept of other languages? Like Lavellan literally has to explain to them that the dwarves just don't speak the same language as them - seriously? The elves never figured that out for themselves? The elves, who are immortal, and live in a society thousands of years old, that arose from warring tribes so they can't be unfamiliar with the idea of cultural diversity - they didn't even stop to think that the dwarves have some method of communication? That just strikes me as such an obvious attempt to play the elves off as superficial and self-obsessed so Lavellan can look better in comparison.
And even the undeniably good parts we see of Elvhenan - they can regrow limbs! They can construct organic automatons! They can build these marvels of engineering! Solas can fly goddamit! - are either completely ignored or somehow warped into being awful by Lavellan's perspective. Even the characters themselves, the only good ones - Curiosity, Compassion, Haninan - are the ones who don't challenge Lavellan on what she thinks. Solas - who you'd think would be the voice urging to see value in this world, just as she was for him in her's - does nothing to defend his home. He seems to only be counted among the good ones (And only tentatively) because he's coming around to her side.
(And I'll admit, my view of LG is at least a little tainted by Dread Wolf's Heart, which had the same problem for me - to a smaller degree, yes, but with even less justification.)
3. This wasn't - I'm not actually that upset about this. It's a minor annoyance at best, and since it has yet to show up as regularly as my other criticisms, I don't... really care that much about it. I'm just surprised that an otherwise quite polished author managed to miss such a massive red flag.
Retour en haut
) vaulting off a cliff. No wonder Solas kept casting Barrier on Lavellan, even though she's an archer and miles from the fray.
They're so fun.
)
