Yes, that woman looks plenty muscular (I would be completely satisfied with human or elf women like that), too bad none of the women in DA are built like that. The only race I'd like to see bigger and more stylized than that are the Qunari because that's how the Qunari men are.
I too would be VERY happy with that frame for a human or elf woman. But, as Nefla said, not a single woman in game comes close.
I agree with OP. The super-skinny elf model is very disturbing. And the way Skyhold pyjamas emphasize the problem is even worse.
I want to play healthy looking female characters. There's a major difference between petite/delicate and malnourished/ill-looking. And it's not just about aesthetics - even if it would be more comfortable to think so. It's about how the female body is portrayed in entertainment.
Oh. Oh god. On the one hand, I want to see, on the other, I'm horrified. XD
Sate your curiosity, and know true horror:
This is normal:
And this is the ruin that magic has wrought:
Obviously I don't use that arm guard pattern.
So that's the Thedas version of the spirit (mage) fingers.And this is the ruin that magic has wrought:
I love play elves, and my female elf is my preferred character. But their body model fell two feet from anorexia with boobs (because of course those can't not be here... 
muscle in the arms can disappear, but oh, never the booobs!)
I think the problem is more about not having the audacity to give the female model actual muscle, for the fear that man player would not like them. I can already see the "urgh!!! she looks like a maaaaan"
just imagine the reaction of the guy seeing the female Qunari's arms like those of a professional boxer (thing I would love)
When I thought a muscular and strong but lithe character, I have always Grece Jones in mind
She is thin, but you can see the muscle too. The female elf is thin, but haven't muscle. (and of course the PJ in Skyhold doesn't help)
Wave a thick stick around all day like the DA mages do and see if you don't develop any muscles after a few years of that...I mean I can understand the warriors having muscle but to me it doesn't make sence for a mage.
I don't get the muscle love especially for the female mages I really like the female elf and was so relieved that they hadn't made the female qunari to muscular "sigh" but that's just me I mean I can understand the warriors having muscle but to me it doesn't make sence for a mage.
Well, I don't care about muscle that much. But a body model that looks healthy instead of starved would be a start.
They're only skinny if you compare them to humans. This is about a reasonable thing to do as looking at a qunari and a human and complaining that the human looks like they've been starved because the qunari is really built. By human body standards, Qunari are unhealthily muscularised, but they are different species races, so that's unreasonable.
Besides, it's probably a little of the old magic that lets them perform such athletic tasks.
Well, I don't care about muscle that much. But a body model that looks healthy instead of starved would be a start.
They're not starved, please don't exaggerate. If they were starved, you'd be able to see their really prominent ribs through their clothes and there'd a be a large cave in just under their rib cage OR they'd have huge bellies from the kwashiorkor. Thinly built =/= starved. They look healthy enough for a non-human race. They're not even that thin, the male elf has enough fat to cover the ribs that you don't see individual ones and he has rather prominent pecs/breasts.
They're not starved, please don't exaggerate. If they were starved, you'd be able to see their really prominent ribs through their clothes and there'd a be a large cave in just under their rib cage OR they'd have huge bellies from the kwashiorkor. Thinly built =/= starved. They look healthy enough for a non-human race. They're not even that thin, the male elf has enough fat to cover the ribs that you don't see individual ones and he has rather prominent pecs/breasts.
Well, I'm sorry but in my opinion the arms of the female elf model look thin enough to be starved. I really cringed during the scene when my character lifted a heavy sword in the air. I think the arms are too thin to look natural or healthy at all. Not for an elf either.
I'm a petite female person and my arms looked a little bit like that when I was young and very unhealthily underweighed.
Well, I'm sorry but in my opinion the arms of the female elf model look thin enough to be starved. I really cringed during the scene when my character lifted a heavy sword in the air. I think the arms are too thin to look natural or healthy at all. Not for an elf either.
That execution sword is almost big enough to weigh as much as the female elf inquisitor, I'm surprised she doesn't go toppling over it when she chops peoples heads off. Also, I was playing an Assassin Rogue at the time, so all I thought was "Can't I just murder-knife them, it would be a lot easier than using this thing."
The noodle arms freak me the hell out. I was really looking forward to rolling a dalish char, i keep trying, but the min shes out of the starting armour i get freaked out and have to reroll. I mean i know bioware tend to be bad for noodle arms for female chars generally (though im not too sure why), but now i've discovered the horror of noodle legs too. To be honest it wouldnt be so bad if we had a basic body slider (like in swkotor), but being stuck with super thin...... eh maybe ill get over it in a few months time, though i doubt it. 
The elves were much better proportioned in origins.
They're only skinny if you compare them to humans. This is about a reasonable thing to do as looking at a qunari and a human and complaining that the human looks like they've been starved because the qunari is really built. By human body standards, Qunari are unhealthily muscularised, but they are different
speciesraces, so that's unreasonable.
Besides, it's probably a little of the old magic that lets them perform such athletic tasks.
They're not starved, please don't exaggerate. If they were starved, you'd be able to see their really prominent ribs through their clothes and there'd a be a large cave in just under their rib cage OR they'd have huge bellies from the kwashiorkor. Thinly built =/= starved. They look healthy enough for a non-human race. They're not even that thin, the male elf has enough fat to cover the ribs that you don't see individual ones and he has rather prominent pecs/breasts.
This is what I was trying to say. We shouldn't be trying to apply human health standards to elves. Different race, different frames, different body types. Probably different metabolisms.
Clearly we're in the minority, though.
They're so close to human looks that the irregularities only end up looking like errors to many of us, and it's in the realm of uncanny valley (creepy). They're so thin that if they were human you'd be able to see their bones yet you don't so there's one feeling of "wrongness" and they have comparatively big butts and breasts which someone with almost no body fat wouldn't have which gives another "wrongness" reaction. They aren't nearly stylized enough to get away with saying "but they don't follow human anatomy." The more realistic style and normal looking faces of DA:I also contribute to the creepiness when paired with such a wrongly proportioned body. In DA2 the elves were weird but the face and body were both stylized and the whole style of the game was much more cartoonish so they could get away with more.
I'm a size 00 (completely unsubtle humblebrag) and even I think the female elves are weirdly proportioned. The human females are too stacked for my taste as well. WIsh we had a more neutral body option like in Skyrim. It's super weird that our options are either cartoonishly thin or crazy buxon.
Elfs and females need to hit the weights.
I'm a size 00 (completely unsubtle humblebrag) and even I think the female elves are weirdly proportioned. The human females are too stacked for my taste as well. WIsh we had a more neutral body option like in Skyrim. It's super weird that our options are either cartoonishly thin or crazy buxon.
I just wish that each race had a distinct body type. (the males do, but not the females) As it is, Dwarves are humans with shortened limbs and torso, elves are humans scaled narrower and Qunari are humans scaled wider and taller. I wish that dwarves were chubby and super buxom, elves were lithe, dainty, and mostly flat chested, humans could stay as-is and Qunari could be very toned and muscular like the males.
I'm pretty sure for elves they took the human female body and just went like this:
I don't get the muscle love especially for the female mages I really like the female elf and was so relieved that they hadn't made the female qunari to muscular "sigh" but that's just me I mean I can understand the warriors having muscle but to me it doesn't make sence for a mage.
I wouldn't expect scholar mages to be muscular, but my character spends her time running cross country carrying a large stick that she waves about in combat. I'd like her not to be extremely muscular, but to look like someone who could do those things.
I also agree with those who've commented that the clothing accentuates her thinness. If her sleeves and polyester pantsuit were looser, I'd be less likely to notice just how she's shaped--or to think that her head's a little large for her body.
Elves looks like a good punch could break their arms.
And I thought that f!Shepard's arms looked like sticks.
Elves of both genders have looked somewhat odd since DA2. The weird thing is that they've purposely made Sera slightly bigger, probably in an attempt at making her more aesthetically pleasing, while leaving elf player characters looking too thin.
Compare Sera's arms to the images of elven Inquisitors posted in the first page:
Why not have all elves look more like Sera in the next game? She's thin without looking like she's starving.
Sera is not an elf shes "people" that why she can wear Human only armor because shes "people"Elves of both genders have looked somewhat odd since DA2. The weird thing is that they've purposely made Sera slightly bigger, probably in an attempt at making her more aesthetically pleasing, while leaving elf player characters looking too thin.
Compare Sera's arms to the images of elven Inquisitors posted in the first page:
Why not have all elves look more like Sera in the next game? She's thin without looking like she's starving.
Elves of both genders have looked somewhat odd since DA2. The weird thing is that they've purposely made Sera slightly bigger, probably in an attempt at making her more aesthetically pleasing, while leaving elf player characters looking too thin.
Compare Sera's arms to the images of elven Inquisitors posted in the first page:
Why not have all elves look more like Sera in the next game? She's thin without looking like she's starving.
Sera was raised in Denerim on bread. The Dalish live in and on the forest. They don't have the same carbohydrate intake. Once again, they are not starved. They look exactly like how hunter gatherers ought to. If you gave the Dalish the carbs a city-dweller lives on, they'd probably fatten up a bit and by city standards be considered healthy.
Look at the Maasai. There are humans who are naturally built like the Dalish elves.
Sera is given the exact copy of human body in DAI. So when you ask for other elves look like her, that's effectively asking for the elves to be turned into humans, proportions- and size-wise.Why not have all elves look more like Sera in the next game? She's thin without looking like she's starving.
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