9 réponses à ce sujet

[MisterJB]

Now, here is something that I haven't seen discussed before. Here is an excert from the Chant of Light.

 

"And so Rajmael in the heathen temple recanted.
"Speak only the Word; sing only the Chant.
Then the Golden City is thine," spoke Andraste."

 

And here is the description of the axe Veshialle

 

"Although the elves of the Dales fought bravely against the Exalted March, defeat became obvious. The great elven general Rajmael hurled this axe at the enemy before leaping to his death over Forlorn Falls."

 

The first verse can be intrepreted in two ways. Perhaps Rajmael renounced to the worship of the Maker and took up instead heathen ways which I assume to be the worship of the Creators; or maybe he renounced heathen ways to follow Andraste.

However, it's the next ones that are interesting. Depending upon the way you interpret them, they could even be an implication that Rajmael knew Andraste when she was alive. And yet, he is also said to have participated in the Orlesian-Dales War which happened 390 years after Andraste's death.

 

Of course, there are other explanations.

The second verse are there to show how Andraste taught that only the Maker should be worshipped and that thus, Rajmael was going against Andraste's teaching.
The problem with this is that the Chant, oficially, was written 200 years before the Fall of the Dales.

 

Or maybe Rajmael is just a common elvish name.

[Pierce Miller]

well it's not entirely unfeasible I mean we have seen a good few characters live far longer than expected

[Jazzpha]

Or maybe the "Andraste" in the first verse is something like a vision of Andraste that Rajmael sees, that speaks to him?

 

Also, yeah, could be two elves with the same name. Maybe from the same clan/family, perhaps?

[Daerog]

Maybe the elves reincarnate like Glorfindel.

 

Seriously, though, I think they are just two different guys. Maybe not all the elves in the Dales worshipped the Creators, maybe some liked the Maker and named their kid after the convert in the Chant.

[Pahldus]

Elves were at one time immortal, according to their legends anyway, perhaps some of them did indeed live very long lifespans.

[Wulfram]

I'm not sure which way Rajmael is converting in the first verse, actually.  Could be read either way I think.

 

Anyway, the topic of Dalish lifespans is confusing

 

David Gaider said...

Dalish tend to live longer. We're not talking into Tolkienesque numbers of years here. The longer they've stayed away and their parents have stayed away from humanity, the longer they seem to live. There are exceptional individuals among them as well, Zathrian had lived for almost three hundred years. It's going to vary but for the city elves, the elves that live inside human cities, they don't have exceptional lifespans at all.

 

more recently

Mary Kirby wrote...

"All the races have approximately the same life-span. But Qunari have sanitation and medicine, and so on average tend to live the longest. Dalish do not live any longer than city elves. The only Dalish to "reclaim" any immortality was Zathrian, and he was using a blood magic curse."

[LobselVith8]

Or maybe the "Andraste" in the first verse is something like a vision of Andraste that Rajmael sees, that speaks to him?

 

Also, yeah, could be two elves with the same name. Maybe from the same clan/family, perhaps?

 

The Chantry may have meant the passage about Andraste metaphorically, as the human historical version may have Rajmael recanting the elven pantheon for the Maker, while the weapon he wielded could address that he actually fought Chantry forces and chose death over submission.

[Gervaise]

It could be just a common name.   Then again the Chantry have be known to tinker with the Chant of Light.   So its possible that at the time of the Exalted March, if the name of the principle elven general was known to them, the Divine changed the name of the person who recanted to his name to make it clear that the elves of the Dales had renounced the faith of the Maker, having previously been adherents, rather than never actually having worshipped him.

 

However, if you look at the words, it doesn't say he recanted faith in the Maker.    It says that in the heathen temple he recanted.   That could be of worship in the temple itself and actually referred to worship of the old gods.  So you simply have a worshipper of the old gods who recants his faith and is instructed by Andraste to worship the Maker instead.    If Rajmael was actually an elven mage, who turned against Tevinter and joined Andraste's crusade, later becoming one of the founders of the Dales, it is possible he could have prolonged his life.    As for the axe, well in DAO mages could use weapons other than a staff, particularly if they took the elven specialisation of arcane warrior.

 

I would point out though that names crop up with likely no connection whatsoever.    There is a place in Tevinter called Solas but I doubt it has anything to do with our companion other than its meaning.

[Jedi Master of Orion]

My guess would be that it is a different Rajmael, if they lived two centuries apart and supposedly were on different sides of an issue.