YES! That's what I always try to explain to people who refuse to acknowledge the problem with having a very long-lived species living alongside humans.
We literally can't understand what it is like to live for, for example, 5000 years. Our brains are not capable of really rationalising that experience and how it affects the way someone experiences life. We can imagine, of course. There's so much written about thousands of imaginary beings that live that much longer than we but they way authors deal with the problem can be vastly different. From our standpoint, we tend to think that the longer the lifespan is, the more meaningful the existence. And it doesn't really matter how much someone claims that all life is sacred and meaningful and all that stuff, if there's a choice between saving a human or a hamster, even a sentient one, absolute most would still save a human. Everyone just gets indignant because the ones with the lesser lifespan are us.
I think Marvel portrays that kind of thinking perfectly. They almost never extrapolate on the problem of Human-Aesir relationships beside "I'll get you an Apple" and "Aesir are jerks how dare they treat us like that!" But imagine the reverse situation? In MCU Aesir live about 5000 years (it's a very off-handed remark by Loki but it's all we have) and average human lifespan is, let's say, 80 years. 5000:80=62.5. 80:62.5=1.28. Just imagine it: somewhere nearby there' a species that look mostly like us, that are sentient but they live and die in span of 1 year 3 months and are so weak, they can't lift your average bag of groceries. In terms of lifespan it's worse than a dog or a cat. It's even less than a freaking hamster! I really don't think those species would be treated like anything even remotely close to equality at any level :/
Yeah, I've got a lot of feels regarding that topic
I'm glad my analogy struck a good chord for you. =)
Like you said, it's hard for most people to conceptualize because humanity is the only sapient species that we know of, and we're the longest lived of all mammals. (Though there are some species of bird, turtle/tortoise, and jellyfish that live longer.) We can guess what it would be like being the shorter lived and/or less technologically advanced species of another living right beside us, but ultimately we'll never know.
You know, I read a Dragon Age fic once, I think it was Tabris/Alistair, that ended with them eventually breaking up by mutual and friendly agreement (Tabris fell in love with... Zevran or Anders or something, I dunno, it's been a while.). One of the main obstacles to their relationship, and the thing that really stuck with me about the fic, was how it pointed out that the whole "battlefield romance" trope is a terrible basis for a relationship. Oh, it's sweet and romantic and apparently leads to some really great sex, but once that adrenaline runs out, once pleasure and comfort become second to stability, once you have to put down the shield and actually live with your lover, in peaceful domesticity... things don't always work out so well, especially if the relationship relied primarily on that.
Not saying that that means all relationships forged in battle are doomed to fail, or that Solavellan (Or any of the other relationships in the games) are screwed. It just struck me as an interesting idea, and a potential flaw in the "relationships forged in war are stronger than normal ones." That affection and gratitude you get for watching someone's back, and knowing they'll watch yours - it could be the springboard for a good relationship... or it could mask irreconcilable differences.
That's really interesting. I thoroughly approve of this speculation.
In fact, that actually mirrors how I headcanon that my Tabris' and Alistair's relationship more or less fell apart after the main game. She set out to help her people, then fell in love with Alistair, so she didn't force him to become king because he didn't want to, and so they could remain together. When Anora cracked down on the alienage, she was devastated; then slowly fell into deeper and deeper depression when her attempts to help her people kept getting stone-walled by Queen Anora and the other nobles at court.
On top of that, while Alistair is a sweet guy, he's still an unassertive follower. While this was okay when she needed him to support her choices as they were trying to stop the Blight, in the long run I imagine she got exasperated with it. It's like, "I need you to be a freaking adult and make decisions for once in your life. You can't keep putting the burden of making decisions on me. I need an equal partner in this."
Not to mention that she was very passionate about elven rights, issues, and culture. Alistair... isn't. (I mean, he's a half-elf, but he doesn't know that.) Again, this wasn't an issue when they were working toward a common goal of stopping the Blight. But after the Blight was over, when it was time to put down their weapons and actually live in peaceful domesticity; with her not wanting to live anywhere besides the alienage and him wanting to stay with the Wardens. Can you imagine? She was home among her people, and had a human lover. (This would get her family and neighbors' tongues wagging, which would get to her eventually.) I imagine Alistair often felt alienated because all she cared about was the alienage, and she was less invested because he was still passionately devoted to the Grey Wardens (which she only ever saw as a stepping stone to advancing elven rights).
I headcanon that part of the reason she keeps going off on reckless, semi-suicidal missions, like hunting for Morrigan and hunting for a cure to the Calling, is because she's semi-suicidally depressed, and part of her kind of hopes to fade away or die in the attempt. (While they're still together as of Inquisition, Warden Alistair sounding rather world-weary, even as he talks about their relationship, almost supports this headcanon.)
Anyway, interesting stuff. As for Solas and Lavellan falling fast and hard: I personally hand-wave it by headcanoning that my girl is young and thus likely to give her heart too quickly and easily. ("Young people like, and even love, on impulse," wrote Le Fanu.) As for Solas, well... as he himself says, "It's been a long time."
"An ancient-elfy thing"? Maybe I'm a freak, but I kind of thought that was normal--occasionally being able to see/sense things about people after knowing them only a short time. That is what allows people to sometimes form attachments quickly, to make fast friends with "kindred spirits" and so forth. [snip]
Yeah, based on how Solas describes things in Trespasser (and Felassan's unspoken conversation with his mysterious boss, whose emotions and reactions he seemed to already know before he did them), I always figured ancient elves had mild empathic and telepathic abilities; being able to "sense" each other's thoughts and emotions in a similar but less potent way that Cole can.
I think this is also part of why Solas sees modern Thedas as "Tranquil." He's from a time and place where ancient elves and spirits could easily sense each other's basic thoughts and emotions (at least on the surface level), so you knew who you were compatible with or not based on what you could sense. Then watching centuries of Fade memories reenacting idiot mortals blundering blindly around making the same mistakes over and over, and then waking up to a world where he couldn't sense the thoughts or emotions of anyone, made him think no one had any complex emotions or thoughts worth having.
It's amazing how often in Inquisition he's surprised by the complex emotions and noble actions of various companions. He's surprised by Cassandra's inherent nobility and altruism, surprised by Varric's rather wise view of the world, surprised to learn the seemingly noble Blackwall is actually a former war criminal.
Most of all, he's surprised to learn that an Inquisitor he befriends or (especially) falls for is capable of feeling complex emotions, deep intelligence, foresight, wisdom, etc. We behind the screen are like, "Duh, you would have known that if you took the time to talk to me and got to know me." But to Solas that's still a very foreign concept. He's so used to the idea that you should be able to sense another person's emotions and thoughts, that he's having a hard time letting it go.
On a vaguely tangential note, when Solas first ragged on the Dalish for being like "children enacting traditions they don't remember," while he had "gone directly to the Fade and seen for myself," I totally headcanoned that my girl retorted something like, "That's not fair. You were lucky to figure out how to safely travel through the Fade, but we didn't know. You can't expect us to magically figure out how to do something we've never been taught. We aren't born knowing these things."
Given what we've learned in Trespasser, I now imagine that when she said that, Solas thought, "No, but if you were born before the Veil, you would have been."
Goddamn it, Solas.
I saw 2 episodes back then, then dropped the ball, not for lack of awesomeness of the anime. 
Retour en haut
I think it is very difficult to learn a language only through a class. And as there are not many possibilities to listen to swiss german you get lost. Learning the german "german" is easyer as there exist movies and radio shows that you can watch and listen to.
)
But, there you have it. Things are easier for Solas in the Fade. 
