2121 réponses à ce sujet

[JudgeOverdose]

Uh..the humans turn on them as soon as they try and not segregate themselves as well. They aren't segregating themselves from others by choice.

 

From the Codex on alienages: "We don't have to live here, you know. Sometimes a family gets a good break, and they buy a house in the docks, or the outskirts of town. If they're lucky, they come back to the alienage after the looters have burned their house down. The unlucky ones just go to the paupers' field."

 

When they try and de-segregate humans burn their houses down and kill them.

 

Whether it be by choice or by consequence, it seems that alienages are not doing much to help progress the station of the elven people. As I stated previously, a new settlement that is started by people of the different races that are happy to coexist might be a viable solution. No one can guarantee the success of such an idea, but keeping elves in alienages leaves them to press on as a downtrodden people with no hope of advancement; true progress demands change.

[dragonflight288]

Whether it be by choice or by consequence, it seems that alienages are not doing much to help progress the station of the elven people. As I stated previously, a new settlement that is started by people of the different races that are happy to coexist might be a viable solution. No one can guarantee the success of such an idea, but keeping elves in alienages leaves them to press on as a downtrodden people with no hope of advancement; true progress demands change.

 

The hardest part, I think, would be getting humans to live in such a community without any of them thinking of the elves as inferior or meant to be their servants.

 

Elves have been second class citizens and slaves for so long to humans that most humans find the idea of elves being equal to them as abhorrent. 

[BronzTrooper]

Whether it be by choice or by consequence, it seems that alienages are not doing much to help progress the station of the elven people. As I stated previously, a new settlement that is started by people of the different races that are happy to coexist might be a viable solution. No one can guarantee the success of such an idea, but keeping elves in alienages leaves them to press on as a downtrodden people with no hope of advancement; true progress demands change.

 

Hmm... what you're describing sounds more like a utopia, which is an impossible ideal to reach.  Besides, the Qunari have no racism in their society, since everyone is considered equal.  Despite this, imo, Qunari society counts as more of a dystopia to me, considering the use of Qamek and the Ben-Hassrath's role.

[dragonflight288]

Hmm... what you're describing sounds more like a utopia, which is an impossible ideal to reach.  Besides, the Qunari have no racism in their society, since everyone is considered equal.  Despite this, imo, Qunari society counts as more of a dystopia to me, considering the use of Qamek and the Ben-Hassrath's role.

 

To add on, it's actually pretty cool. The word 'utopia' in and of itself actually means "no-place." Or, in its original form before the novel "Utopia" came out, was used to describe something that is something that does not, or cannot exist. 

 

Then the book came out, the author was really clever, making this fantastical land where all seems perfect, and named it after a word that means 'no-place' and had the narrator's name mean something along the lines of 'Merchant of Deceit,' meaning an unreliable narrator. 

[JudgeOverdose]

Hmm... what you're describing sounds more like a utopia, which is an impossible ideal to reach.  Besides, the Qunari have no racism in their society, since everyone is considered equal.  Despite this, imo, Qunari society counts as more of a dystopia to me, considering the use of Qamek and the Ben-Hassrath's role.

 

To clarify: what I am describing is not a utopia, but merely a small, experimental settlement (or series of settlements) where humans and elves (and any other willing races) who choose to live together in harmony can do so. Not all humans are awful people that are dominated by prejudice and cannot overcome it. Book spoilers ahead:

Spoiler

For example: Maric, the human King of Ferelden, finds love in the arms of Katriel, and later Fiona -- both elves. And so, not every human can be painted with the same brush -- especially with regard to their attitude toward elves.

 

I would also love a situation to present itself where the elves would be afforded a homeland, as well, and any elf willing to join them would (hopefully) be welcomed.

 

I am not suggesting that everyone should agree with me. This, however, is how I feel about elves and their situation. I realize that not every change is a good one, but given the opportunity to help, these are ways I would like to assist them. 

[Eveangaline]

Whether it be by choice or by consequence, it seems that alienages are not doing much to help progress the station of the elven people. As I stated previously, a new settlement that is started by people of the different races that are happy to coexist might be a viable solution. No one can guarantee the success of such an idea, but keeping elves in alienages leaves them to press on as a downtrodden people with no hope of advancement; true progress demands change.

 

 

I'm just saying if elves try and create that kind of area, 1, they're going to have to get land, which largely belongs to humans, and they can't really afford to buy a townsworth of land even if they pool together, second...it's probably just going to get burned down and looted by humans immediately after creation. They would need the promise of protection from a large nearbye group, either the government, the nearbye nobility, or mercenary groups which would again, probably take much more money than they could afford. Not to mention they'd be abandoning their crappy but at least semi-safe life for a completely unknown area that will be a huge target for human bandits, or human law officials.

 

Yes progress demands change but they're not the ones keeping things from changing, it's the humans who try to **** em up when they try and change and have better lives. Elves just don't have the resources to enact this plan without most likely just getting killed straight off.

 

Also I somehow doubt in their world they'll find lots of humans who want to pay money to move to some new settlement in order to be equal to a race they're raised to think is below them.

[BronzTrooper]

To clarify: what I am describing is not a utopia, but merely a small, experimental settlement (or series of settlements) where humans and elves (and any other willing races) who choose to live together in harmony can do so. Not all humans are awful people that are dominated by prejudice and cannot overcome it. Book spoilers ahead:

Spoiler

For example: Maric, the human King of Ferelden, finds love in the arms of Katriel, and later Fiona -- both elves. And so, not every human can be painted with the same brush -- especially with regard to their attitude toward elves.

 

I would also love a situation to present itself where the elves would be afforded a homeland, as well, and any elf willing to join them would (hopefully) be welcomed.

 

I am not suggesting that everyone should agree with me. This, however, is how I feel about elves and their situation. I realize that not every change is a good one, but given the opportunity to help, these are ways I would like to assist them. 

 

I see, but as Eveangaline said, such a place would need protection from groups that would seek to prevent such a thing from forming.  Plus, there was a time where humans and elves coexisted peacefully with each other in the days before the fall of Arlathan.  We know that the ancient Imperium eventually sank Arlathan and enslaved the elves, but there were other human factions around at the same time.  While it proves that such a place has existed before, whether or not it's possible in present-day Thedas is a matter for debate.  imo, it's not possible with serious effort on both sides.  It's similar to the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s.  Until the city elves unite and demand change, things are going to stay the way they are.

[Gervaise]

I've been running a few theories about the elves over in my head based on various hints we have received since DAO.    The first one concerns the enslavement by Tevinter Imperium.   Now in DAO it is pretty much implied that even though the elves fled in the face of human aggression, they were eventually run to ground and enslaved.   DA2 states that Sundermount was the site of the elves last stand.    Yet World of Thedas has an interesting line where it says that after the fall of Arlathan, the elves were either enslaved by Tevinter or fled to the farthest reaches of the continent.   This seems to suggest that there were some ancient elves who remained free and thus presumably did not lose their culture, language, etc, even if they had lost their immortality (if they ever really had it).    If they fled south to the Frostback Mountains or even to the southern most part of the area now known as the Dales, they could have remained hidden.   After all we are led to believe that the village of Haven remained isolated and largely unknown from the time of Andraste, so why not an isolated settlement of elves as well?    This could explain the origins of Felassan, who seemed to know an awful lot about what Elvhanen was really like.    He also seemed rather contemptuous of the Dalish, which wouldn't be surprising if you were a real descendant of the ancient elves; individual members of the clan being sent out to see what progress their freed brethren are making in the world.  Which led me to wonder if it was merely chance that made Maferath give the Dales to the elves or whether they had asked for it without ever really knowing why (because they had been influenced through their dreams).

 

The other thing that I have been considering is the location of Halamshiral.   Now if the elves had really wanted to isolate themselves from their human neighbours, why on earth did they build their capital city on the main east/west trading route?      I could understand an early settlement forming there when elves arrived from around Thedas and it acting as a sort of staging post from which they could continue on into the main body of the Dales.  However, making such a settlement the basis for your capital city suggests to me that the elves originally were quite happy to do business with their neighbours.      When this situation changed, again, why did they not remove themselves further south into the heart of the Dales?    A location in the foothills of the Frostbacks or in the forests of the south, would be far easier to defend.      If the Emerald Knights started turning people back at the borders, they were interfering with a very ancient routeway.   Whether the Chantry missionaries wanted to convert the elves or not, if they wanted to take the Chant further east to the Frostbacks and Ferelden, they had to pass through the Dales.    If pilgrims from the east wanted to visit Val Royeaux, they would have to do the same.   Not everyone wants or is able to go by sea.  Then there are merchant caravans, not just from Ferelden but more importantly from Orzammar.   It is hardly surprising that the humans would resent this and even if they had been willing for elves to follow their own religion, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have tolerated blocking the trading route.

 

The last thing on my list for the present is the fact that the Tevinter were able to conquer the elves at all, let alone with such apparent ease.    We are told that the elves had magic that the Tevinter have never been able to replicate.    Some evidence of this is demonstrated not just by the eluvians but by those strange connecting paths.    Celene, Gaspard and Briala all acknowledge the incredible strategic benefit of the eluvian system for a defending army.   Even if humans got access to it they are made to feel physically sick, move slower and would be at considerable disadvantage to any elves within the system.     This makes me wonder if the folklore about the 2 sets of gods, plus Fen'Harel actually reflects a historical situation where there were 3 factions within the elven community, with differing attitudes to the humans, hence evidence of some elves living harmoniously with them, and that Fen'Harel's betrayal relates to the eluvian network; his faction were responsible for closing it down, or at least taking control of it for themselves, and thus placing the elves and humans on a more equal footing, allowing the Tevinter to gain the upper hand.    Meanwhile it was these followers of Fen'Harel that used the network to flee to the farthest reaches of the Continent and this accounts for the artwork showing elven statues in front of a huge wolf head. 

 

Any thoughts on these ideas?

[Reznore57]

About the Eluvian , there's something strange in the book  Imshael says the last time the eluvian network was used was during the days of Halamshiral.(page 228 "(...) the eluvians have been sleeping ever since your lads took Halamshiral (...)")

 

I'm not sure what's going on with this ?Is this an error ?Is the demon trolling?

[Gervaise]

I picked up on this too.   The demon isn't trolling because it definitely draws the distinction between the time of Arlathan when the eluvians were created and the time when they were last used, during the fall of the Dales.    So if this isn't a mistake on the part of the author, there is something odd in this.    Who was controlling them at that time?   Why was the knowledge lost?    In fact how come a demon knows how to activate them when the elves don't?    

 

Even stranger is the fact that in Witch Hunt Morrigan steals a book from a Dalish clan that apparently has sufficient information in it that she is able to activate an eluvian.  They were meant to have had it from the time of Arlathan.   So why the heck haven't they used it?  Or shared that information with other clans?    The Sabrae clan certainly seemed in total ignorance, not even fully understanding what the eluvian they found was meant to do.

[Reznore57]

I picked up on this too.   The demon isn't trolling because it definitely draws the distinction between the time of Arlathan when the eluvians were created and the time when they were last used, during the fall of the Dales.    So if this isn't a mistake on the part of the author, there is something odd in this.    Who was controlling them at that time?   Why was the knowledge lost?    In fact how come a demon knows how to activate them when the elves don't?    

 

Even stranger is the fact that in Witch Hunt Morrigan steals a book from a Dalish clan that apparently has sufficient information in it that she is able to activate an eluvian.  They were meant to have had it from the time of Arlathan.   So why the heck haven't they used it?  Or shared that information with other clans?    The Sabrae clan certainly seemed in total ignorance, not even fully understanding what the eluvian they found was meant to do.

 

IMHO there's something fishy about the Eluvian.

It's such a great tool in theory , I mean how can the elves lost so much about their culture when they had the perfect storage place?

 

Also I agree about the ancient elves , I mean it's the perfect storage and perfect escape plan...so what happened?

And why something in the fade wants the network anyway?

 

Also yep possible the whole Fen Harel things is related to something the elves did.

My memory is somewhat bad when it comes to details but I think we have :

The elves worshipping their best somniari , building great tombs for them and asking them for advice etc..

Felassan not giving a damn about Dalish and Dalish gods.He talks a lot about the dread wolf but doesn't seem to worship them.

The Fall of Arlathan , the story is the dread wolf locked up the "gods" , they went silent and things went sour .

 

My brain melts a little because in WOT it says the elves believes Fen harel trapped the gods in the Golden City.

And he patrols the Fade , eating souls or something...

 

Anyway in the Masked Empire it seems most of the network resolve around important Somniari resting places.Those elves didn't really needed the Eluvian as a network unless they wanted to have their sleeping bodies hidden and hard to reach.

Possible it was a very controlled tool , and only an elite and their servant could use them , and I assume only an handful of elves knew how to activate them.

About Imshael knowing so much , well Felassan was so "Yop buddy , how you're doing?" ...the ancient elves probably worked with spirits and demons at one point.

[Tevinter Rose]

I've been running a few theories about the elves over in my head based on various hints we have received since DAO.    The first one concerns the enslavement by Tevinter Imperium.   Now in DAO it is pretty much implied that even though the elves fled in the face of human aggression, they were eventually run to ground and enslaved.   DA2 states that Sundermount was the site of the elves last stand.    Yet World of Thedas has an interesting line where it says that after the fall of Arlathan, the elves were either enslaved by Tevinter or fled to the farthest reaches of the continent.   This seems to suggest that there were some ancient elves who remained free and thus presumably did not lose their culture, language, etc, even if they had lost their immortality (if they ever really had it).    If they fled south to the Frostback Mountains or even to the southern most part of the area now known as the Dales, they could have remained hidden.   After all we are led to believe that the village of Haven remained isolated and largely unknown from the time of Andraste, so why not an isolated settlement of elves as well?    This could explain the origins of Felassan, who seemed to know an awful lot about what Elvhanen was really like.    He also seemed rather contemptuous of the Dalish, which wouldn't be surprising if you were a real descendant of the ancient elves; individual members of the clan being sent out to see what progress their freed brethren are making in the world.  Which led me to wonder if it was merely chance that made Maferath give the Dales to the elves or whether they had asked for it without ever really knowing why (because they had been influenced through their dreams).

 

The other thing that I have been considering is the location of Halamshiral.   Now if the elves had really wanted to isolate themselves from their human neighbours, why on earth did they build their capital city on the main east/west trading route?      I could understand an early settlement forming there when elves arrived from around Thedas and it acting as a sort of staging post from which they could continue on into the main body of the Dales.  However, making such a settlement the basis for your capital city suggests to me that the elves originally were quite happy to do business with their neighbours.      When this situation changed, again, why did they not remove themselves further south into the heart of the Dales?    A location in the foothills of the Frostbacks or in the forests of the south, would be far easier to defend.      If the Emerald Knights started turning people back at the borders, they were interfering with a very ancient routeway.   Whether the Chantry missionaries wanted to convert the elves or not, if they wanted to take the Chant further east to the Frostbacks and Ferelden, they had to pass through the Dales.    If pilgrims from the east wanted to visit Val Royeaux, they would have to do the same.   Not everyone wants or is able to go by sea.  Then there are merchant caravans, not just from Ferelden but more importantly from Orzammar.   It is hardly surprising that the humans would resent this and even if they had been willing for elves to follow their own religion, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have tolerated blocking the trading route.

 

The last thing on my list for the present is the fact that the Tevinter were able to conquer the elves at all, let alone with such apparent ease.    We are told that the elves had magic that the Tevinter have never been able to replicate.    Some evidence of this is demonstrated not just by the eluvians but by those strange connecting paths.    Celene, Gaspard and Briala all acknowledge the incredible strategic benefit of the eluvian system for a defending army.   Even if humans got access to it they are made to feel physically sick, move slower and would be at considerable disadvantage to any elves within the system.     This makes me wonder if the folklore about the 2 sets of gods, plus Fen'Harel actually reflects a historical situation where there were 3 factions within the elven community, with differing attitudes to the humans, hence evidence of some elves living harmoniously with them, and that Fen'Harel's betrayal relates to the eluvian network; his faction were responsible for closing it down, or at least taking control of it for themselves, and thus placing the elves and humans on a more equal footing, allowing the Tevinter to gain the upper hand.    Meanwhile it was these followers of Fen'Harel that used the network to flee to the farthest reaches of the Continent and this accounts for the artwork showing elven statues in front of a huge wolf head. 

 

Any thoughts on these ideas?

 

You brought up a lot of good points, very well said. The gods representing factions is an interesting theory. I do think the location of Halamshiral is strange and I've always wondered when the elves started to get harassed by humans why didn't they just move further away. Why did they wait around for the resentment to grow. I think there very well might be a group of elves that fled after Arlathan fell and made their own isolated community far away from humans.

[Master Warder Z_]

The mirrors are a gateway to hell in all likelihood in so far as its plain to see what their origin is.

 

Seems to require a demon every time someone even wants to bother looking at one of them.

[I SOLD MY SOUL TO BIOWARE]

Since this is an elf thread.... What ever happened to the Night Elves? They were badass enough to scare the ****** out of the chevaliers.

Disbanded and grew old I guess.

Always headcanoned the City Elf Warden's mother was one of them...

[Evindell]

Hello, I don't want to derail any discussion currently going on, but I reasoned that since this is the Elven Support Thread, you folks may know a bit more about elven lore than I could reasonably find anywhere else

 

The Dalish origin was my favorite. She was a "good" person--always made the "paragon" choices--but I never passed up the chance to throw snark at the humans. If the Creators are generous, my Inquisitor will be the same.

 

But, on to the real issue: the vallaslin I gave my Dalish Warden was, obviously my favorite, however, I don't want to give my Inquisitor the same tattoo. I was wondering if there was any sort of consensus/educated guessing going on with which vallaslin is associated with which Creator. I found this picture:

 

Spoiler

 

I got it from hyperbali on tumblr (at least, I hope it belongs to her. Sometimes it's hard to tell on tumblr). I'm leaning toward what she has listed as the vallaslin for Falon'Din, and not necessarily because that's the Creator "associated" with that tattoo. But I was wondering what other people thought, and if they had any ideas about the vallaslin designs and the Creators.

 

[TK514]

IMHO there's something fishy about the Eluvian.
It's such a great tool in theory , I mean how can the elves lost so much about their culture when they had the perfect storage place?
 
Also I agree about the ancient elves , I mean it's the perfect storage and perfect escape plan...so what happened?
And why something in the fade wants the network anyway?
 
Also yep possible the whole Fen Harel things is related to something the elves did.
My memory is somewhat bad when it comes to details but I think we have :
The elves worshipping their best somniari , building great tombs for them and asking them for advice etc..
Felassan not giving a damn about Dalish and Dalish gods.He talks a lot about the dread wolf but doesn't seem to worship them.
The Fall of Arlathan , the story is the dread wolf locked up the "gods" , they went silent and things went sour .
 
My brain melts a little because in WOT it says the elves believes Fen harel trapped the gods in the Golden City.
And he patrols the Fade , eating souls or something...
 
Anyway in the Masked Empire it seems most of the network resolve around important Somniari resting places.Those elves didn't really needed the Eluvian as a network unless they wanted to have their sleeping bodies hidden and hard to reach.
Possible it was a very controlled tool , and only an elite and their servant could use them , and I assume only an handful of elves knew how to activate them.
About Imshael knowing so much , well Felassan was so "Yop buddy , how you're doing?" ...the ancient elves probably worked with spirits and demons at one point.

It is my suspicion that the network was originally created with the help and advice of Fade entities, and that, ultimately, it turned out to be a poisoned apple and had to be shut down. That would explain why demons seem to know so much about it, including having the ability to make keys that reset the password, and why it proved less effective in stopping Tevinter than we would have expected.

[HiroVoid]

Hello, I don't want to derail any discussion currently going on, but I reasoned that since this is the Elven Support Thread, you folks may know a bit more about elven lore than I could reasonably find anywhere else
 
The Dalish origin was my favorite. She was a "good" person--always made the "paragon" choices--but I never passed up the chance to throw snark at the humans. If the Creators are generous, my Inquisitor will be the same.
 
But, on to the real issue: the vallaslin I gave my Dalish Warden was, obviously my favorite, however, I don't want to give my Inquisitor the same tattoo. I was wondering if there was any sort of consensus/educated guessing going on with which vallaslin is associated with which Creator. I found this picture:
 

Spoiler

 
I got it from hyperbali on tumblr (at least, I hope it belongs to her. Sometimes it's hard to tell on tumblr). I'm leaning toward what she has listed as the vallaslin for Falon'Din, and not necessarily because that's the Creator "associated" with that tattoo. But I was wondering what other people thought, and if they had any ideas about the vallaslin designs and the Creators.
 

I generally followed this list from a while back. http://forum.bioware...sh-elf-tattoos/
 

Well i wondered this too, so I read all the codex's of the Dalish god/godess, then looked at all the Dalish tattoos, i made a guess to which tattoo is which.

As most of you will know, the Dalish tattoos have 2 forms per tattoo, one "basic" and the other with more details, I'm numbering each not by each click of the slider, but each tattoo pair (the basic and the detailed one both count as the same number) and I'm not counting the 'no tattoo' as one.

1) Ghilan'nain: Mother of the Halla
Why? Because the Frist pair is of a 'grove' of trees, making it seem safe, and about nature. Which the Halla have a big part in.

2) Elgar'nan: God of Vengeance
     It's Said that Elgar'nan was created by the earth and the sun comming close together, the tattoo pair is of two diffrent colors comming together (your skin color and the tattoo's) a yin and yan sort of thing.

3) Falon'Din: Friend of the Dead
Falon'Din is the Dalish god, who is said to lead spirts to the beyond, (or the fade) after their eathly body dies. The tattoo pair is of trees also, but if you look at the branch of the forhead for the more detailed tattoo, it looks more like a house, or a door/gateway of somekind.

4) Mythal: The Great Protector
On the more basic tattoo of the pair, it lookes more like a sheld, but in the more detailed of the two, theres 'sprouts' added too it, it's said because of Mythal she clamed down Elgar'nan and helped bring the earth back to life.

5) Sylaise: Hearth Keeper
Sylaise is known to be the ones to show elves fire, and to keep them safe from the cold. This tattoo pair has a flame in the middle of the forehead, and the more details make it look like it also has bricks, and smoke.

6) Dirthamen: Keeper of Secrets
Dirthamen is the twin brother of Falon'Din, who will never stay willingly apart from eachother. This is how the old elves how entered 'the waking sleep' and came back, gained new knowledge. The Tattoo pair has a sort of book shape covering the forehead, like a book hidden with secrets.

7) Andruil: Godess of the Hunt
Andruil tought the elves how to feed themselfs, and the way of the bow. This Tattoo pair swirls like how the shadows of the trees might cover you, and the more detailed verson covers the place below the eyes, to help keep the sun from refelting into your eyes.

8) June: God Of Craft
      June is known to have shown the elves how to make things, helping them simaly like Sylaise. And All the lines on the tattoo had to be created somehow!

You may have noticed there is'nt one for Fen'harel: the Dread Wolf, It's said he fooled the old elven gods, and the "unnamed evil" ones and sealing them in their own realms. He then got the name of "the great betrayer" So i would think that no one would want to honnor the one who locked their gods' away thus, Fen'harel dosent have a tattoo.

*Note:
            These are all guesses on my part, and as fair as I know this is neither proven nor disproven in the game. This also has no real impact on the game play, only how your charater looks, if your the kinda person that just whats one that looks good, go ahead and use it! No one will care

[Gervaise]

I'd not heard about the Night Elves before, having not read Stolen Throne, but I've just been over on the Wiki looking them up.   It has left me even more gobsmacked about the law against defending elves in Ferelden considering what they did for the rebellion but even more so Loghain's actions in authorising selling the Denerim elves into slavery to fund his civil war.    After Return to Ostagar I was able to see why he betrayed Cailan, even if it seemed a bit excessive sacrificing the Ash Warrior and Grey Wardens as well, when a simple assassination would have done the trick.   However, his attitude to the city elves makes him seem an absolute hypocrite.   How is he any better than an Orlesian Chevalier when he was prepared to sell them out in that way and be so contemptuous about their living conditions when he and his precious daughter could have done something about it?

 

I am so glad that none of my original elf Wardens ever spared him regardless of where they came from, Dalish, Alienage or Circle.   However, it's made me have second thoughts about using my latest Warden, an elven Circle mage, who did spare him largely because of the evidence of Ostagar.   So I think I'll be transferring my first run back to either my first Warden (Dalish) or my third (City) who sounds very much like she would have made an excellent Night Elf the way I played her and took great satisfaction in taking down the mighty Loghain herself.

[Steelcan]

It is my suspicion that the network was originally created with the help and advice of Fade entities, and that, ultimately, it turned out to be a poisoned apple and had to be shut down. That would explain why demons seem to know so much about it, including having the ability to make keys that reset the password, and why it proved less effective in stopping Tevinter than we would have expected.

also, trying to out-demon Tevinter seems like a losing proposition from the outset

[Patchwork]

also, trying to out-demon Tevinter seems like a losing proposition from the outset

 

Who knows maybe Tevinter learned from the elves by example if not directly taught. I've always been a bit suspicious of the eternal life thing the only people we've seen manage that have tied their life force to spirits somehow. Zathrian to Whitefang, Avernus to various demons at Soliders Peek. Coming of age in Arlathan could have involved binding yourself to a Fade creature. 

 

Tevinter mages found a way to take advantage of that bond and it gave them totally victory over the elves. 

[Jedi Master of Orion]

I thought the book (and all the other lore actually) implied it was deactivated as a direct result of the Fall of Arlathan.

[Gervaise]

Well they may have been deactivated as a result of the Fall of Arlathan but in that case someone reactivated them at the time of the Dales, only for them to be deactivated again at the fall of Halamshiral.     The reason I was questioning exactly when they were shut down at the time of Arlathan was because of the advantage it would have given the elves over the Tevinter, which made me wonder if one set of elves betrayed another by shutting down the network before Arlathan fell.    Mind you the Dalish history does say the elves initially fled rather than confronted the Tevinter, so may be this was through the network of the eluvians, after which they were shut down to prevent the Tevinter following them.    The thing is when they had a network of escape routes they could access, you'd think they'd have used them to avoid being rounded up.   Then WoT says that some elves fled to the farthest reaches of the Continent (and by implication were never enslaved) and I start to think that may be it was the group who controlled the eluvians.    When they reached their destination, they shut them down, which would account for the commoners trapped within the system feeling somewhat aggrieved and taking it out on the Somniari.    Everything that has been hinted of late points to the history of the elves is a lot more complicated than we had previously been led to believe and they were certainly not one big happy family when the Tevinter emerged on the scene.

 

I'd also agree that the magic that went into their creation was probably a bit dodgy since Imshael says it is "a lot of old dangerous magic, and some texts you'd probably just burn".   Since he is talking to someone whom he assumes is a follower of Chantry teaching, this would suggest that blood magic and the assistance of demons was an integral part of the process, hence as a poster above has suggested, the reason demons seem to know so much about their operation.     I suspect that the old elven dreamers were in some way "possessed" by spirits, may be in a fashion akin to the Rivani wise women, and this is why they appeared to be immortal, being sustained by their spirit partner.    Felassan says that when in Uthenara ultimately they drew their sustenance directly from the Fade, which also points to a strong connection to a spirit or spirits.

[BloodKaiden]

So just saw the two elves created by the DAI CC, if the Elven race didn't have my 100% support before they do now. They were so beautiful and a massive improvement from DA II elves.