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[Renmiri1]

Anyone here a fan of David Bowie ?

 

He was my second crush after Solas 

 

Made myself a Bowie Lavelan profile. If I get a lot of patience I might make it a mod too

 

[Brass_Buckles]

I have a thought.

 

What if the birth of Humanity was due to the Veil ? What if the slow reduction of magic and the sundering of the Fade caused Humans to exist ?

 

The records we have say that the first humans quite late into Thedas, far after Solas has created the Veil. The first Elves to encounter them were the remnants of the destruction of the Elvhen empire. We do not have any indications or hints of humans or proto-humans existing before the Veil.

 

In a way, doesn't this make Solas the creator of humanity ? Not directly but indirectly since the sundering of the Fade and the real world was his doing ?

 

I know the Maker either doesn't exist or is a powerful Spirit of Faith or the Sun God from ancient Elven legends but technically speaking, shouldn't Solas be the Maker since his actions resulted in the creation, spread and domination of humanity ?

 

What do you think ?

 

I think humans existed pre-Veil.

 

Solas talks about the market in Val Royeaux as it was in his time.  Of course, we also were told he's slept for a thousand years.  This may have been more in the time of Andraste, and less in the time of Arlathan.  But does he not comment about it being muddy and filthy and the frilly cakes are an improvement by far?  And it sounds like the market belonged to humans then, too.

 

So... either this was something Solas encountered pre-Veil, or it was something he encountered sometime after creating the Veil but still long before modern Thedas existed.

 

Either way it seems to me that there's a little bit of evidence indicating humans arrived pre-Veil; history would also seem to indicate that humans, like qunari believe themselves to be, were not native to Thedas.

 

Of course I know there are lots of theories about where the qunari come from and that they might not have come from overseas at all.  (But what if they did and made convenient not-people experimental subjects for elves like Mad Mage Ghilan'ain?)

 

But as I said before, you could get evidence to point to just about anything.  Even though I don't believe it's true, I pointed out in a post not too long ago that you could piece together some of the in-game dialogue and codex entries and come up with the conclusion that Solas used to be Elgar'nan or a fragment thereof.  It's probably not true, but if you dig and are persistent, you can prove a whole lot of ideas about the game lore that probably aren't true.  So although I think humans came from overseas and were around either pre-Veil or sometime close to the creation of the Veil, it's entirely possible that the creation of the Veil resulted in the existence of human beings.

[FernRain]

I had the divine in the fade say this to me as a Dwarf:

 

 

I can't remember if she says that to other races? It would fit a Dwarf well.. In "both" is interesting though; Dwarves moving mountains in the fade as well as the world (with the titans).

 

Edit: Apparently she says it to everyone ._. ..

Modifié par FernRain, 22 janvier 2016 - 11:47 .

[dawnstone]

I think humans existed pre-Veil.

 

Solas talks about the market in Val Royeaux as it was in his time.  Of course, we also were told he's slept for a thousand years.  This may have been more in the time of Andraste, and less in the time of Arlathan.  But does he not comment about it being muddy and filthy and the frilly cakes are an improvement by far?  And it sounds like the market belonged to humans then, too.

 

So... either this was something Solas encountered pre-Veil, or it was something he encountered sometime after creating the Veil but still long before modern Thedas existed.

 

Either way it seems to me that there's a little bit of evidence indicating humans arrived pre-Veil; history would also seem to indicate that humans, like qunari believe themselves to be, were not native to Thedas.

 

Of course I know there are lots of theories about where the qunari come from and that they might not have come from overseas at all.  (But what if they did and made convenient not-people experimental subjects for elves like Mad Mage Ghilan'ain?)

 

But as I said before, you could get evidence to point to just about anything.  Even though I don't believe it's true, I pointed out in a post not too long ago that you could piece together some of the in-game dialogue and codex entries and come up with the conclusion that Solas used to be Elgar'nan or a fragment thereof.  It's probably not true, but if you dig and are persistent, you can prove a whole lot of ideas about the game lore that probably aren't true.  So although I think humans came from overseas and were around either pre-Veil or sometime close to the creation of the Veil, it's entirely possible that the creation of the Veil resulted in the existence of human beings.

I also believe humans existed Pre-Veil. I'm pretty sure Solas said that he visited primitive/early Val Royeux in a dream, which he could have done in the past year if he happened to visit there. He mentions going to places just to dream there and see what happened in their past history.

[Flemmy]

Ok, so, umm, these gifs by kiwi-xeet on Tumblr are NSFW so I'm putting them behind a couple of spoiler tags.

 

Many pages back in this thread, we were discussing how Solas' sexy saunter may actually be accomplished by him having the female walk cycle. In these gifs, though, we can see both a female Inquisitor and Solas walking. He definitely has a different, slower, more saunter-like gait than her. I think that maybe he (and Abelas, actually) got extra special walk cycles to make us all swoon.

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

Hee hee Varric. And poor Cassandra looks so weary.

 

It looks cold.

[Cee]

Just saw this. Wow.

 

 

 

 

David Gaider ‏@davidgaider

Some news: I must sadly announce that, after 17 years, today is my last day at BioWare. I'll miss my team, and wish everyone here the best.

 

 

I wonder what this means for new IP and I suppose that DA novel he was working on will be his last.

[CapricornSun]

Just saw this. Wow.

 

 

 

 

David Gaider ‏@davidgaider

Some news: I must sadly announce that, after 17 years, today is my last day at BioWare. I'll miss my team, and wish everyone here the best.

 

 

I wonder what this means for new IP and I suppose that DA novel he was working on will be his last.

 

Noooooo!

[lynroy]

Cameron Lee tweeted that work on the new IP continues unabated, don't know about the novel. I'm really gonna miss David Gaider.

[Cee]

I did see Cameron Lee's timeline after. Still, I will also miss David Gaider's work and impact. I am curious about that novel now. Especially since we're heading in the direction of Tevinter and he was writing Fenris.

 

Still, we'll see what happens. I still have a lot of faith in DA to deliver, but Gaider's work has been meaningful.

[Uirebhiril]

Wow. That's a sudden punch in the gut. Why? Where? How? ....sigh.

[TheyCallMeBunny]

I'm speechless... What happened? 

[CapricornSun]

Art post. (Hopefully these would cheer this thread up a bit after that news about Gaider leaving. )

 

Fluffity Fluff Solavellan by umabbas. 

Spoiler

Source: http://umabbas.tumbl...luff-solavellan

 

 

Modern AU Solas making pancakes for Lavellan at a breakfast place called Egghead.

Spoiler

Source: http://harellanart.t...ing-pancakes-at

 

 

Sexy Solas and Lavellan. Solas of course, grabbing that butt. (NSFW-ish because Lavellan is partially nekkid.)

Spoiler

Source: http://bw2gold.tumbl...nanananananablr

 

 

"Say 'aah'". Lavellan feeding Solas. 

Spoiler

Source: http://solavellangar...5779920/say-aah

 

 

Blushy Solas and Lavellan.

Spoiler

Source: http://duermasemiamo...the-cut-just-in

 

 

May the Dread Wolf Take You. Adorable little male Cadash and Solas. (Wow! Their shadows!)

Spoiler

Source: http://kelukana.tumb...d-wolf-take-you

 

 

And the sketch version of the above.

Spoiler

Source: http://kelukana.tumb...d-wolf-take-you

 

 

Some Solas practice drawings.

Spoiler

Source: http://fenharelmaghi...wing-for-comics

 

[ladyiolanthe]

I'm speechless... What happened? 

 

He wanted new challenges and it was an amicable departure.  Check out the polygon article: http://www.polygon.c...e-gay-character

[TheyCallMeBunny]

He wanted new challenges and it was an amicable departure.  Check out the polygon article: http://www.polygon.c...e-gay-character

 

Yeah, I realized it probably was something like that. I was just shocked, I follow his twitter everyday and never saw any indication that he was leaving. I wonder who will take over as lead writer for the new IP?

[ladyiolanthe]

I'm sure BioWare will make that announcement in the next few weeks. They probably want the buzz about Mr. Gaider's departure to die down a little first, though.

[Ardent Blossom]

Hey, I wanted to thank you all for the insights on writing fan fiction over the last few days. I felt pretty stupid after posting my concerns here to begin with. I WAS having a bad day. My blood sugar was low most of the day.  Yay, diabetic emotional roller coaster! Time to fixate on my failings as a writer! Anyway, you guys did help me see my main problem was *hoping* the fan fiction community could work as a work-shopping tool. Most readers aren't as interested in helping people to improve as I am. I wish I had friends to help me out, but I'm afraid I'm quite the hermit. All my friends are in the Fade.   I ought to try community college creative writing course or something. I've been reluctant because I never got much constructive criticism from peer reviews back in my university days. I'd mark people's papers all up and cram the margins with notes. Then I'd get my papers back with a typo or two corrected. How helpful? Still, if I want my work torn apart a course like that might be a great place to start. I don't mean to churn this topic up again; I just wanted to say thank you for all your thoughts on the matter.

 

I also believe humans existed Pre-Veil. I'm pretty sure Solas said that he visited primitive/early Val Royeux in a dream, which he could have done in the past year if he happened to visit there. He mentions going to places just to dream there and see what happened in their past history.

 

I recently played through the Dalish orgin story in DAO for kicks and giggles. At one point Tamlen says that the architecture in the cave ruins looks human and that perhaps the ancient elves and humans once lived together. Well, I'd completely forgotten about that! I wonder where that would fit into the timeline. The ruins also could also date from the post-Veil period, perhaps around the time of Ameridan. Solas only says the humans didn't cause the elves' aging. He doesn't say anything about their having any contact Pre-Veil. If humans existed on the same "plane" as elves pre-Veil, then ugh...you guys can make more sense of it than I can, I'm sure.

 

He wanted new challenges and it was an amicable departure.  Check out the polygon article: http://www.polygon.c...e-gay-character

 

Well, that's a relief. I started to wonder if he was leaving for "personal" reasons. I'm glad he's not sick or anything and that the company is not having some sort of crisis.

[Zaerath]

Hello there, fellow Solasmancers!
I've been lurking here for about 3 weeks and I'm finally kind of caught up. and when I say "caught up", it means "I read a month worth of post, was happy that I almost caught up then realised that it's January 2016 NOT 2015 so I jumped to December 1st and spent 2 more weeks trying to wade through all those delicious posts" So yeah, go me :/
 
I'm not a native English speaker and I tend to lean towards deadpan and sarcasm so, please, if it seems that I'm being rude or anything like that, let me know. And I'm sorry in advance
 
Usually, I'm not much of a forum dweller but I fell into DA:I hard and fast and had nowhere to turn to share ALL THE ****** FEELS so I registered specifically for the blanketfort :3 I actually kind of spoiled the main Solas reveal but I didn't realise the full significance of that because I never played Dragon Age before. So I didn't escape the Hellspiral either. It hit me and hit me HARD. Solas, you magnificent bastard, you!
Hold me, somebody ;A;
 
I've clocked 222 hours of gameplay in 4 playthroughs, 214 of which are for my Lavellan and 8 for the 3 other infant PTs. And it may be even more as I'm judging by saves and I don't think the go-backs are acconted there. The problem for me in games such as DA:I is that I'm a completionist with a mild case of OCD so getting through more than 1 PT is always a challenge because MUST DO EVERYTHING. Well, my plan is: finish my current Lavellan PT (I'm in the middle of Hissing wastes with the Frostback basin, 2/3 of Deep Roads, the final battle and Tresspaser still ahead of me [man, I'll probably clock 300-350hrs before I finish this]), then play 2 PTs for DAO and DA2 each and THEN play DA:I again, now with mods and a flycam. And maybe I won't die before DA4 finally comes out.
 
I have a bit of a difficulty with shipping in DA. It's my first Bioware fandom so the concept of shipping main characters with universal-but-unique player character is novel to me. Unfortunately, I found that I cannot really ship that in an I WILL DIE FOR THIS SHIP sense because, despite everything, most fanfiction and a lot of variety of appearances seem a bit self-incert-y to me. Of course, there ARE magnificent fics that I'll happily read 100k of but there are less of them than I'd like. Maybe it'll pass (I sure as hell hope it will) but as of now I ship DA pairings that don't include Inqui more then those that do.

Spoiler

I am actually more of a slasher and Solas and Dorian are my fandom bicycles. Femdom, poly, all kinds of LGBTQA things - anything that is not same old standardised straight relationship - I dig it all. Kink meme and AO3 are my saving grace. I got an impression that most of the fandom doesn't feel that way *hides*

It's a bit easier with Lavellan 'cause at least race and gender are consistent but a lot of authors still tend to not flesh out her character AT ALL so most often than not I get a strong vibe of reader-insert
I kind of got a feeling that it's not a case for most of you?
 
I have some questions, if you don't mind:
- Can I swear? I really like the word ****... (edit: oh hey there, little stars)
- How the hell do I put stuff into My Media?
- Any tips for embedding pictures?
- Also, what's up with that top Solas picture?
 
Anyway, I have a shitton of things I'd like to post and discuss but for the sake of us all I'll try to contain myself
 
I suddenly realised that I can take screenshots when I was in Western Approach already. Seriously, FML >_< That is another reason why I'll remake my Lavellan exactly as she is later on. I mean, I don't have screenshots of her in the intro sequence. That's practically sacrilege!
 
For now, I'd like to introduce you my Lavellan:
Inquisitor A'Zaelyth Lavellan or simply Zae


 
more about her under the spoiler
BEWARE IMAGE-HEAVY

Spoiler

Zae is a lightning/spirit/rift mage. I estimate her to be around 25. She's half-meta because most of her opinions and ideals are my own but at the same time I've made some decisions I wouldn't do because I needed a particular outcome or didn't want to make someone Greatly Disapprove. But, you know, about a hundred hours in I realised that she does have a character of her own. In the beginning I was hesitant and kinda scared of Cass and Leli and all the people that wanted to kill me so I used teary-eyed and confused options a lot. Then, as time went by and Haven became as familiar to Zae as her clan's aravels, she became more confident and allowed herself to be more playful and sarcastic. She also used stoic choice a lot because all the politics hurt her head and that was the only way she could deal with everything and remain diplomatic. Though she enjoyed calling people out on their bullshit from time to time.

• Zae allied with the mages and is very much against circles and templars as they are. She doesn't believe in the Maker/Andraste and sure as hell isn't anyone's Herald. 
• Grey Wardens got a second chance but most of them kind of got killed while completing that chain of war table missions in the mountains of South Orlais (whoops?)
• Celene reconciled with both Briala and Gaspard though by that point Zae wanted to throttle all three of them, put Vivienne on the throne and be done with that.
• Most of the time in judgements, either recruited (if possible) or exiled the judged. The only one who got a sword to the neck (and wasn't that strange seeing my mage with a giant two-handed sword) was Erimond.
• Removed the vallaslin because I never believed in things like "reclaiming symbols". You don't freaking reclaim a symbol of slavery. Also, possible geas. Yuk!
• Didn't drink from the well even though was highly suspicious of Morrigan. Zae needs no compulsions from ancient elvhen, no thank you.
• Made Cole more spirit because there's nothing bad with being a spirit, spirits of Compassion are rare and should treasured and because Solas.
• Saved the Chargers because how the hell can you not?
• Got her heart broken by the resident hobo-trikster-apostate-egg-mage-god
• Has the best relationship with Dorian, Solas, Cullen, Bull and Cole. Frequently bashed heads with Vivienne and Sera.

So far Zae has these regrets:

• saving only one person during attack on Haven due to inability to find them and not realising there was a time limit
• making Dorian reconcile with his father (the sheer whatthefuckness of the situation wasn't properly realised until after a copious amount of Dorian-centric fanfiction and tumblr posts)
• making a ruling triumvirate (should've probably made a lesbian power-couple or put Briala behind Gaspard to make elves' life better but I felt sorry for Gaspard and didn't want to kill Celena so it is how it is)
• accidentally killing off the rest of Grey Wardens
• never giving a chance to Sutherland's Company (I had no idea it was a thing before Keep)

I spent a truly ridiculous amount of time trying to pick a name that was just right. Eventually, I chose A'Zaelyth 'cause it sounds pretty and is sufficiently complicated as to sound "elven". Aaand then I met actual elves and they all had simple names. I felt kinda weird but then I learned about the Evanuris and it fit right in x)

Only after playing through a couple of cut-scenes I realised that Zae has somewhat of a weak chin but eh, we all have some flaws, don't we?
I'll also give her a proper "elven" nose-bridge next time. I love elven noses!
When I made her, I didn't know anything about the vallaslin so I chose Mythal's based on pure aesthetic. Now I don't know how to feel about it because she could be either the least bad or the worst of the Evanuris. Though it would still be hard to beat Andruil *shudders*
She also had a really awful blush that revealed itself only upon the emerging into the game so I had to visit Black Emporium and fix that **** ASAP.
 
Zae has a scar on the brow and one across the lips. Cullen and her are scar-buddies.
Am I the only one who thinks that lipstick-less kind of chapped lips look very sexy?
 

 
She has some nice moles near her mouth :3 There's also a nick on her right ear.
I don't know if that's possible but that scar on her brow makes it kind of perpetually raised. Is that a thing that can happen in DA:I?
 


Love her eyes



Zae makes the best faces
 

 
Zae has the silliest smile. What a dork.
 

 
Angry Zae
 


 
Sad Zae
 

 
Determined Zae
 

 
Smitten Zae
 

 
Smug Zae
 

 
Magic Zae

 
Her "SPIDERS" face (mine too btw)
 

 
Her "well, ****" face
 

 
I don't know how I managed that but before removing the vallaslin I never realised WHAT A FREAKING BABYFACE SHE IS. LOOK AT THAT FACE. SHE LOOKS 15.
 


 
Aaand she glows a bit in the wrong lightning
 

 
Zae Is Not Impressed
 

 
Love her lopsided smirk
 

 
This should be a definition of the word "snerk"
 

 
Inquisitor A'Zaelyth in all her Elven Glory
 

 
Aaand to finish this, have some Lavellan butt
(yes, it's enchanter armor, no, I don't know where the hell did all the flaps go, this is Fade bro)
 

Here, a pretty elf from Tevinter tales of dancing in the moonlight and making flowers bloom with their song
dat choker tho

[Zaerath]

Edit: oh, first top of the page, yeah

Have you got any mods installed? Particularly on eyelashes?
My Solas' eyelashes almost always look kinda chopped and sunken into the eyes

[Ardent Blossom]

Have you got any mods installed? Particularly on eyelashes?
My Solas' eyelashes almost always look kinda chopped and sunken into the eyes

You know...those lashes do look extra long and dark. There is a fuller eyelash mod. I've seen people on this thread talking about it. It might be something like this. I don't mind his lashes as is though.

[paramitch]

Welcome, Zaerath!  This is such a nice place.

 

It's weird. I'm freelance writer/reviewer and heard rumblings about Gaider last year -- nothing bad, just that he was preparing to move on -- and simply thought maybe he just needed a break and a change to do some writing. Regardless, I think he did wonderful work on DA, and I wish him all the best in whatever he does next. And it's great to have his DA novels on my Kindle to cherish.

 

 

I love this! It makes my inner musician happy. The cello is my favorite instrument after the piano and Solas looks niiiiiiiiiiiiice playing it.

 

I so agree! On a personal note, I've played the cello as an amateur since college, when I gave up pursuing a voice major and switched to writing/media (totally the right choice), then immediately began cello lessons just to fill the gap (and I'd always loved the cello so much, so it was a wonderful fit).

 

I've played the cello ever since, although I'm nothing amazing -- I'm pretty mediocre and can do about half of the Bach Unaccompanieds, but did play one year with a symphony in South Florida for the experience of it (and I cried when we had to play Tchaikovsky's wonderful warhorse, the "1812 Overture" because of the tenor clef and the truly alarming number of sharps. But everyone was very sweet and talked me out of the bathroom and back into playing). Sigh. I'm such a goober.

 

New DA items in the BioWare store. Sera and Cassandra busts.

 

The email also highlights the dragon tooth necklace, as well as the Dorian and Bull busts and Battle Nug.

 

Where is the Solas love?

 

Actually, no, please continue to postpone the Solas love until I'm no longer completely broke.

 

Gah! I'm totally with you on this! So excited to see new stuff but... oh, God, I just need a few more clients at the moment. Dammit. I can't wait until I'm filthy rich. IT WILL HAPPEN.

 

 

 

Still... we do have some tenuous evidence that the human race may be older than the Veil - there are strange pyramids on Par Vollen that are commonly linked to humans living there thousands of years ago. Then there are Brecillian Ruins in DAO that are suggested to be the first hub of elvhen civilization long before the rise of Arlathan, and we find humans and elves living together... with humans even speaking elvhen and apparently enjoying uthenera (the ghost child and woman we meet are humans). Question is how long ago that happened - is it really something from times prior to Arlathan, or was it some sort of enclave where early Tevenes and elves lived for some time in harmony?

 

It could also be that whether someone was human or elf-looking back in times where apparently shapeshifting was common wasn't of any significant consequence at that time - or perhaps it was more connected to some sot of allegiance to some ruler or force? Perhaps the creation of the Veil has "locked" the people in a form they've occupied at that time?

 

I definitely feel it's been pretty well established that humans were present before the Veil. Solas has implied it several times, as have the varying (if wildly differing) historical accounts. In almost every case, humans are either partially blamed, are present but helpless, or are present but misinterpret the major events. I do think humans existed prior to the Veil. Which is why it's so ironic that they are blamed for the Quickening and the shortening of elven lives -- when it was inadvertently due to Solas all along.

 

I doubt that because of the nature of the timeline. See, Solas' creation of the Veil and the subsequent sundering of the Fade weakened the Elvhen empire and the city of Arlathan but it did not destroy it. So imagine Arlathan post-Veil as an empire in severe decline. Not dead, but in decline.

 

I definitely agree that the elves were already in decline when Tevinter marched on Arlathan. But I'm not sure I agree with the rest of the theory. For me it feels rather like Arlathan was (luckily or unluckily) simply one of the surviving pockets after the creation of the Veil (not that the humans couldn't find the others). I think Solas inadvertently took care of those with the Veil (however horrified he might have been at the outcome).

 

Is anyone else here a LOTR nerd? Arlathan always reminds me a bit of the Elves' lost city of Gondolin.

 

Personally I beleive that Flemythal would actually have to be dead dead for the geas to transfer, if the geas even can transfer. This is the woman who said "Bodies can be so limiting" and has resurrected herself multiple times. Even if I hadn't seen her put that little ball of light, or wisp, into the Eluvian, and send it away from Solas, I'd still have doubts whether she was really gone.

 

Even if we hadn't basically gotten confirmation in Val Royeux in that post-DAI completion scene that Mythal is once again speaking to people in their dreams (so: not dead), I definitely think Mythal is still alive and will return. Which is great because I adore her. And because it does feel like she and Solas have unfinished business (not in a malevolent sense, I'd just love to see a few more conversations there). 

[Zaerath]

It's interesting to hear the banter translated from another language! I wonder if we could figure out any hints by that alone, because surely they would have to run it by the Bioware team to make sure it were a correct translation? I had thought to play with Spanish subtitles (I like to try keep up with what I learnt).

This is a great idea! We would probably find some new clues that way or at least new interpretation possibilities!
So where do we start?
Opening a new thread if there are more interessted people?

 

I won't play an adapted game but I could comb through Russian wiki, quotes, videos etc.? But, studying to be a translator, I'd say that there will be less interpretation possibilities and more simple mistakes. Sometimes it's scary and frustrating seeing mistakes people that are paid to do their job make :/

 

Honestly I am quite sure the original english text is the closest you can get. I watched a make of video for the german voice over and they really have the problem that they don't have enough information about context and so on to work with. And this will likely affect translation as well.

 

I agree. Most Russian translations suffer a great deal when confronted with complex lore (and don't even let me start on such terms as Fade, Darkspawn, Blight, Nug, Thaig, Chantry etc.)

 

Still, I think it is a great idea

[ChuChu]

Humans existing Pre-Veil:
One argument people use to claim humans existed pre-Veil is that Solas talks about them in the past tense -- as in a memory. Let's remember that Solas was kept up to date on the current events of the past millenia thanks to his spies as well as his 'data mining' of the Fade. So the existance of humans is something we can't really be sure of and seems to be up in the air. However, if they did exist beforehand, I align my opinion with others in that they came from across the sea from some other place.

My theory is that they were, in the beginning, a very rudimentary species that evolved thanks to the influence of the Forgotten Ones after they fled (or else puppeted by some similar spiritual/elven entity). Either way, these two possibilities likely imply human advancement only after the conflict amongst the elves and the mess with the Pantheon. This theory assumes that Neromenian tribes were operating at a very stone-age type level of advancement, and were speeding up their process thanks to their newly discovered control of magic... which we are led to believe was thanks to whispers in dreams ala the Old Gods.

In order, chronologically I think appearances in history might so far be like this:
1. Elves
2. Dwarves
3. Humans
4. Kossith (These guys arrived in history books not 30 years before the Magisters walked in to the Fade)
5. Darkspawn
6. Qunari

[Ellawynn]

I've been reluctant because I never got much constructive criticism from peer reviews back in my university days. I'd mark people's papers all up and cram the margins with notes. Then I'd get my papers back with a typo or two corrected. How helpful? Still, if I want my work torn apart a course like that might be a great place to start. 

 

Ugh, I know what you mean. I feel like I rarely got very good commentary back on mine either - mostly because two types of people ended up in my CW courses: 1) People who wrote the bare minimum, either because they just wanted their own work looked at or because they were just lazy in general, and 2) People who ere insanely nitpicky over things like grammar and tenses and didn't have a word to say on plot or characters or the like. There were only, like, one or two people in a class of 20+ who consistently gave good commentary. And the professors were all pretty good about it too. 

 

If it helps, I can try giving you some feedback. Not like I have anything to do this weekend. Can't promise I'll be nice though - the snark just... won't rest in me.

 

I kind of got a feeling that it's not a case for most of you?

 

I think the issue is that a lot of Lavellans don't get a whole lot of development because... well, no one's really there for Lavellan. Or at least, no one's really there for someone else's Lavellan. If you take it slow and gradually develop your Lavellan, you can get readers who genuinely like her on her own and will read solely for her... but primarily people will seek out Solavellan fic for, well, Solas, and being overly focused on Lavellan, especially in the beginning, will tend to lose people. 

 

(And sometimes I wonder if my issue with some fanfics doesn't stem from this, because I've noticed that even the more fleshed-out Lavellans tends to be these... generic hero types, who make friends with everyone and always do the impossible with few true mistakes. Meh, maybe it's just me and my well-documented love for villains and anti-heroes, who don't seem to make for popular fanfic protagonists.)

 

I wouldn't call the tendency self-inserty, really. I've seen blatant self-inserts (in fan fiction and original works both) and they tend to be pretty... well, blatant. Most fics with Lavellan sort of out-of-focus, or off to the side, typically are less about self-insertion and more about putting the focus on Solas. And, even if a fic is about self-insertion but is sufficiently covert about it, then the simple solution would be to... not insert yourself. *Shrug* S'what I do. I mean, if that's how other readers enjoy the work, I'd just let them.Self-insertion's a really weird and uncomfortable way for me to read anything (Which is why I struggle so much getting through anything written in second-person.) but I fail to see how it's inherently bad. 

 

The same goes for my Lavellan too, actually. I know a lot of people go with... subdued... Lavellans so that anyone can paste theirs in there, but that's never really worked for me. I (tried to) play my Lavellan as sort of surly and stoic, racist against Solas in particular in the beginning (because flatear. Worse, one who acts like he knows elven heritage better than the Dalish do), reeling from culture shock, and quiet enough to give Sten a run for his monosyllabic money. (And God, Trespasser screwed her up to Hell and back.)

 

But, that's not the sort of thing a lot of fanfics support, you know? Blank slate Lavellans tend to have very "normal" responses to everything, which means any situation where your character would have an abnormal response will snap them right out. Even the game itself didn't do the best job of letting me roleplay that sort of character, nevermind the fics that follow it. So, self-insertion, of me or my Lavellan, has never been something I'm really able to do. But if that's how other people enjoy the work, what's wrong with it?

 

(also don't worry about coming off as snarky. I'm a native English speaker and I probably come off like a jerkwad all the time.)

[FernRain]

I'm speechless... What happened? 

 

It's fair enough really, he'd been working there for so long. It's natural to want new experiences in life.

[Cerulione]

Hullo everyone, sorry to bother again... So Feynites in tumblr wrote this Young Solas/Beauty and the Beast AU fic... I ensure you that I did question my life choices.

 

 

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