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[Patchwork]

Would knowing Arlathan was the proto Tevinter really change things for the elves? It's just another facet of their ancient history that they didn't know before. The truth about how the elven empire fell is more a blow to Tevinter's ego than the dalish's. The elves can take a weird sort of pride from the fact that the humans could only conquer them because of the chaos that happened when the Creators were locked away.  

 

And I'm not sure how wrong they are about vallaslin yes the nobles put them on their slaves but they did it as an act of dedication to their patron god. The dalish got it both wrong and right because it's difficult to learn the full picture thousands of years after the fact. It's much the same with Fen'Harel sealing away the other gods, he did it but there was more to it than mustache twirling villainy.   

 

My Lavellan was more hurt by Abelas' rejection of modern elves than the history revelation especially as it was closely followed by Solas dumping her because she wouldn't remove her vallaslin and meeting Flemythal. 

[Lorien19]

Would knowing Arlathan was the proto Tevinter really change things for the elves? It's just another facet of their ancient history that they didn't know before. The truth about how the elven empire fell is more a blow to Tevinter's ego than the dalish's. The elves can take a weird sort of pride from the fact that the humans could only conquer them because of the chaos that happened when the Creators were locked away.

And I'm not sure how wrong they are about vallaslin yes the nobles put them on their slaves but they did it as an act of dedication to their patron god. The dalish got it both wrong and right because it's difficult to learn the full picture thousands of years after the fact. It's much the same with Fen'Harel sealing away the other gods, he did it but there was more to it than mustache twirling villainy.

My Lavellan was more hurt by Abelas' rejection of modern elves than the history revelation especially as it was closely followed by Solas dumping her because she wouldn't remove her vallaslin and meeting Flemythal.

My first Lavellan was angry by Abelas' rejection.She also couldn't understand why Sera and Solas would like to point out that they were not the same people.She thought that all elves no matter how and where they lived were her people.
My second Lavellan however,accepts the fact that her people are divided and is less insulted by the fact that the sentinels don't consider here's one of their and more insulted about them dismissing her people and herself as shadows wearing vallaslin.

[Elfyoth]

Mainly, what did you think about the revelation that the humans and Teventer did not destroy the elves, but instead the elves destroyed one another and that the facial markings were actually slave markings?

 

If you played Dalish Wardens/Inquisitors, how would they react? 

It wasent a big suprise, every huge empire have Slaves in ancient times have Slaves and Corruption, not saying that it is good, but the Suprise was that they destroyed them selves. 

[Fireheart]

That if they knew the truth, especially about the slave markings, they'd think they were really stupid. May be a bit harsh... Isn't there some kind of expression about people with egg on their face?

[Reznore57]

My Dalish Inquisitor doesn't know about the slaves marking , he didn't romance Solas , so he didn't get the whole reveal.

But Coryphinoob told him about it in the last fight , but I don't think my character would listen to Cory .Lunatic darkspawn.

 

The temple of Mythal and Flemeth reveal was another thing.

I imagine my Inquisitor has a cupboard in his brain for all the things he doesn't want to think about too much.

Still it was all kind of sad , the whole our gods and our ancestors don't care about us , and some of them were even cruel.

 

Anyway my Inquisitor used to be your average hunter who likes woods and err...hunting stuff.

He doesn't give much of a damn about rebuilding an empire , or magic .

The gods stuff suck though , I guess my Dalish is going to end up drunk in a karaoke bar singing "Losing My Religion".

[Godeskian]

I thought pretty much the same as before the temple. Bunch of humorless jackasses

[Gervaise]

To be honest the reveal about elven history reflects far more badly on the ancient elves than the Dalish.   They were trying to recover their culture from bits and pieces they could gather and a vague collective memory of folk tales.   They are trying to retain a sense of pride about themselves in that they are still free and retaining an individual identity.   The reason my hunter Dalish is so angry about what he has been taught to believe is that the ancient elves themselves don't care about their efforts.    They disparage them  and reject them as kin.   They have a resource in the Well of Sorrows that could have been of use to them but instead kept it hidden.     Essentially they are representing their gods in the fact that the modern day elves have suffered two millennia of enslavement by the scavengers of Arlathen and assault by Orlais when they re-established a new homeland only just to the north of the Arbor Wilds, and no one did anything to help.   Even Mythal isn't much better, since she could have let them know who she really was and didn't, though it has to be said she did seem to be keeping an eye on them.     My hunter no longer feels any allegiance to the old gods and is still sceptical about the Maker, so I think you could describe him as a Thedas agnostic.   

[Bad King]

Mainly, what did you think about the revelation that the humans and Teventer did not destroy the elves, but instead the elves destroyed one another and that the facial markings were actually slave markings?

 

I interpreted Abelas's statement as implying that the elves weakened themselves through infighting which led to their downfall at the hands of Tevinter. It reminded me somewhat of Gildas's account of the collapse of post-Roman Britain - he blames moral depravity and infighting amongst the Romano-British kings as the reason for their downfall at the hands of Pictish, Germanic and Gaelic tribes.

 

So in short, my character still blamed Tevinter but acknowledged the need for unity amongst contemporary elven populations to ensure that the same thing wouldn't happen again should an elven nation be reconstructed. Regarding the facial markings, it didn't bother my character as they have acquired new meaning amongst the Dalish who are egalitarian - why worry about what a long dead group of people think about your face tattoos?

 

 

I think the concept that the blood marking being widely revealed to be slave markings and that elven society in fact wasn't much different from Tevinter would likely similar to what happened to the Aiel when rand revealed their past to them. It will make them either stronger or break them and some of the dalish might still break from the revelation even if the society as a whole doesn't break, not to mention how it might affect their already complex relations with the city elves.

 

I don't see why it could 'break' the Dalish - regardless of what some people say about them they are a flexible, adaptive and self-critical group who, although believing themselves the heirs of elven culture, acknowledge how much they've lost. This codex entry from DA:O on Aravels even implies that the Dalish already know a little about the social stratification intrinsic to ancient elven society, and this particular elf abhors it:

 

The keeper says that one day the Dalish will find a home that we can call our own. But why? Why should we tie ourselves to stone constructions like the humans and the dwarves? What is wrong with the life we have now? We owe nothing to anyone, we have no master but ourselves, and we go where the halla and the gods take us. There is nothing more wonderful than sitting on an aravel as it flies through the forest, pulled by our halla. We are truly free, for the first time in our people's history. Why should we change this?

 

--From the journal of Taniel, clan hunter.

 

Regardless, despite its large flaws, Ancient Elven society sounds a lot better and a lot more wondrous than the Tevinter Imperium which seems to have been far more blind and ignorant in its [mis]use of magic.

[Steelcan]

 

Regardless, despite its large flaws, Ancient Elven society sounds a lot better and a lot more wondrous than the Tevinter Imperium which seems to have been far more blind and ignorant in its [mis]use of magic.

 

I'm sure the slaves bound eternally to an immortal master appreciated it

[Bad King]

I'm sure the slaves bound eternally to an immortal master appreciated it

 

Beats being a Broodmother.

[Unpleasant Implications]

Still assholes, but they make me laugh harder.

[llandwynwyn]

Hmm weird that some think the dalish so foolish, if anything DAI proved they actually preserved a lot of their history and got many things right.

 

It's curious as well that some claim that BioWare blamed them for their falling in this game. Them who? As we found out, their society was hierarchized and even so, all were victims when Tevinter seized power.

[Beomer]

First time I heard Abelas talking about the Dalish, the walking shadows in the forest, all I thought was 'what an *******'. He does not feel absolutely any sympathy for them or their cause. If Abelas had a morality scale her would certainly be deep on the renegade side.

All of it just made me pity the Dalish. How tightly they cling to their ways sacrificing so much to preserve what they think is important, while one of the people whose ways they are actually trying to preserve has no regard for them, at all.

[TheJediSaint]

I'm sure the slaves bound eternally to an immortal master appreciated it

Someone has to sweep the floors.

[TheJediSaint]

I'm sure the slaves bound eternally to an immortal master appreciated it

Someone has to sweep the floors.

[Shahadem]

Mainly, what did you think about the revelation that the humans and Teventer did not destroy the elves, but instead the elves destroyed one another and that the facial markings were actually slave markings?

 

If you played Dalish Wardens/Inquisitors, how would they react? 

 

Did you really believe that drivel? They destroyed each other? How? Why?

 

And what happened in the past really doesn't matter. What matters right now is that many of the elves are being completely mistreated by being forced to live in the slums, being forced into slavery, or forced to wander around as they have no ability to create a nation that they will govern by themselves.

[Shahadem]

Beats being a Broodmother.

 

I think being a Broodmother is probably much better than being a slave who gets beaten and raped all the time since Broodmothers get to control the Darkspawn.

 

It's only the process of being turned into a Broodmother that really sucks.

[AresKeith]

The elves need a leader to guide them to the right path:

 

[Poison_Berrie]

The thing is it is not just the longing for a romanticised past that has held them back but in trying to recover it they very likely put themselves into a position whereby they lost the homeland they are named after.   Because they blamed the humans for the loss of Arlathan, their magical ability and their immortality, their priests (who became the Keepers) were teaching them they should cut themselves off from human contact and follow the ways of the old gods in order to hasten their return.   This last part never made much sense to me since either they were locked away or they weren't.   Still that was the basis for remembering the old ways.

Did they really hold the idea of a romanticised past in Arlathan, or did hold to the idea that once they held great power and where considered as such.

 

There are various elves that admit their knowledge of the past, certainly of the ancient times, is little more than story and legend. And I certainly don't think they were striving for a carbon copy of that time they never knew.

I think it's more the significance of being a their own nation and supposed power their ancient counterparts apparently held that they long for.
 

The Dalish wouldn't accept the true history found in the temple, they'd continue to blame all their present problems on the "evil humans who destroyed their homeland twice" & i doubt Tevinter would accept being reduced to opportunistic scavengers either

I don't know about that. They could probably take some solace from the fact that the humans didn't completely overpower them, but could probably only do it when they had done much of the damage themselves.

 

Plus that kind of thinking implies that either the Dalish elves are some sort of hiveminded unified race or your generalizing what has been established in universe as a quite diverse band of nomads.

We could probably do the same for every "tribe" in Thedas.

[Dieb]

I wrote this somewhere else already, but I actually liked them better after the revelation.

 

Turns out they went through the same as any other people: rages to riches to ruins, internal conflicts & bloodshed, plenty of stupidity, stuff that gets forgotten, stuff that's remembered, misinterpreting trivial or even negative aspects of their culture as something grand; all because they need some aspect of passed greatness to cling to.

 

That sounds relatably amicable to me. It's like when you realized your classmate is just as unprepared for a test in school as you are. Finally the last of races got thrown into the ring in which noone can rightfully point a finger at the other. That's usually when true compromises start.

 

"They are saints and assholes, just like us." -Ser Alenko, 1186 Age of Mass

[The Hierophant]

The elves need a leader to guide them to the right path:

I doubt he'd have the patience to deal with the Dalish. He'd might go WWH on them after someone calls Aragorn a shem, and Arwen a sellout.

[BraveVesperia]

I felt pretty sad for them. It's not surprising that Arlathan had a sharp class imbalance - what society doesn't? I never figured the elves were perfect. But knowing that things they're really proud of, like vallaslin, their gods, their history is all stories and misunderstandings is pretty sad. They'd be better off trying to move on rather than clinging to a past they don't know anything about.

[Precursor Meta]

I find it funny. I mean the elves always lose. And the Dalish are so stuck up, clinging to the little history they know with suck pride, and its all wrong! lol that's just funny, sad but still very funny.

And worst of all, there's solas. The guy who F'ed up everything for the elves in the first place now thinks he can fix everything. Which I highly doubt will end well for him.

The story of the elves in Dragon Age seem to be that of a sad tragedy.

[TK514]

The elves need a leader to guide them to the right path:

 

 

In Dragon Age he'd be a human.

[Nimlowyn]

I was a tad indifferent before. After playing DAI I found them a lot more interesting, enough to roll one for my second playthrough. I really love my Lavellan, she'll probably be my canon Inquisitor.