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Back in the Solas thread, someone pointed out this tumblr post, which rather irked me.
adjectivebear: In which Dorian understands Bioware’s issue with elves better then Bioware.
elyhumanoid: …Except Bioware wrote Dorian, which means they understand completely.
This isn’t something that they just overlooked or forgot about, guys. The tragedy of the elves themselves knowing so incredibly little about their own history has been a huge plot point since Origins.
An elven Warden can (and Velanna does) lament the fact that elven children don’t know any stories about elven heroes. It is explicitly stated that the Dalish pepper their speech with as many Elvish words as they can because they are desperately trying to keep hold of their language, a language even their Keepers know precious little of.
So, while it would be awfully nice if Thedas were the sort of place where a past Dalish companion could take the place of Morrigan in Inquisition, or where a Dalish Inquisitor can “show Morrigan what’s what” at the Temple of Mythal (not counting the “Who is this Mythal?” dialogue glitch, which they have acknowledged as, in fact, a glitch), it isn’t. You know why? Because the Dalish have no way of knowing what Morrigan knows. All they know of their own history is what’s been passed down through the ages, which, as we learn from Solas and Abelas–people who were actually there at the time–is woefully inaccurate.
Except that BioWare wrote the Dalish the same way they wrote Dorian.
They could have written it so that at least some elven character/s, through some special circumstances, were able to learn the things that Morrigan learns. But they didn't. They chose to portray modern elves (particularly the Dalish) as being somehow so woefully incapable (through culture, circumstance, and even personal gumption) of discovering anything significant about their past, while human characters like Morrigan are somehow able to search for and learn more about elven lore and technology better than any elves can.
Don't believe me? Keep reading.
Morrigan, on the other hand, was raised by Mythal. She learned this stuff from the source, and evenshe still doesn’t know everything, just more than the Dalish possibly could. And since Asha’bellanar seems pretty tight with the Dalish in DA2 and The Stolen Throne, one can only assume Mythal was playing that **** close to the vest for a reason.
“But why couldn’t Mythal have picked an elven vessel?” you ask. Good question: why didn’t she? Was Flemeth the living being she felt the strongest connection to? Did she have some reason to actively avoid choosing an elven vessel? She was murdered, after all–did her own people turn on her for some reason? The only thing you can be certain of is that the answer damn sure isn’t “Bioware hates elves.”
Except that BioWare keeps putting human characters in situations where they learn more about and utilize ancient elven knowledge, magic, and technology better than the elves do.
Not just an elven goddess choosing a human host with human daughters rather than elven ones (though that does irk me), but in fairly average human characters portrayed as being able to reconstruct elven lore, language, and technology much more quickly and easily than modern elven characters in similar situations. (Not counting Solas or Abelas, since they're ancient elves who lived it.)
In the Witch Hunt DLC, the Warden learns that Morrigan has stolen a Dalish book on the Eluvian. Ariane is a Dalish warrior sent to reclaim the book, but doesn't know what Eluvian means, and so can't guess what Morrigan would use it for. So, she suggests going to the Circle where the book was stolen by a runaway elf who joined the Dalish.
There, we meet Finn, a human Circle mage who has read the book and is able to quickly guess that eluvian is an ancient elvish word that means "mirror," much to the shock of a flabbergasted Ariane. What's more, he quickly figures out how they can find the Eluvian that Morrigan is activating, and leads the way while Ariane merely follows along and donates her blood once they get there.
Apparently a sheltered Andrastian human mage is able to reconstruct the elven language and utilize elven lore and technology more quickly, easily, and effortlessly than the elven character, despite her people having dedicated their whole culture to learning such things for centuries.
And don't even get me started on how the construction of said Eluvian is treated:
When human mage Morrigan reconstructs an Eluvian, she is treated as knowing exactly what she's doing.
When elven mage Merrill tries to reconstruct an Eluvian, she is treated as messing with powers too great for her to understand. (And needing Mighty Whitey Human Hawke to talk her down and save her from herself; to keep the poor simple native from activating technology too power for her to control, despite how it is her people's technology, and she has done her research, and she should know what she's doing better than a human character who knows next to nothing about ancient elven or Dalish lore.)
For God’s sake, an elven god has been guiding the player characters’ steps since day one, a second elven god appears to have some world-changing plans in the works, and Inquisition largely revolves around the player discovering more about elven history than we’ve been shown in the past. Elves are, in fact, turning out to be the most important race in the series.
Yeah, and the elven god chose a human host (Flemeth) rather than an elven one, chose a human daughter to pass her spark of godhood onto rather than an elven daughter (and Creators only know how many more before her, if the bodies Flemeth inhabit were indeed other daughters like Morrigan claims), said human daughter knows more about elven history than any modern elves do (not counting ancient elves who were there like Solas and Abelas), is shown to activate ancient elven technology without a hitch whereas an elven character that tried to do the same thing in DA2 (Merrill) was treated as messing with powers too great for her to understand, and--oh yeah, the "player character's steps" she "has been guiding since day one" were all written with HUMAN protagonists in mind!
The whole thing reeks of the Mighty Whitey Trope, since Dragon Age's Andrastian humans are "coded" European Christians and Elven characters are "coded" indigenous/minority people (Jews, Gypsies, Afro-Native Americans, etc). The whole thing plays out as coded European Christian characters quickly learning more about and mastering coded indigenous/minority knowledge, technology, etc better than they can. An elven goddess prefers a human host and daughters, one of said human daughters quickly masters elven lore and technology better than any modern elven characters do, and the protagonists they help along (who each also learn more about elven technology than most elven characters do) were all written to be human in mind.
Elves may turn out to be "the most important race in the series," but if human characters consistently figure out, snap up, and use elven knowledge and technology better than elves can, while the elves' fate are passively moved around by the human players and have little to no agency over their own history, culture, legacy, and future, then it is indeed depowering and problematic.
Bring on the White Man's Burden! Apparently elves need human characters to figure out their history, lore, and technology for them, and to save them from their woes because apparently they aren't smart or capable enough to learn their own lore, utilize their own technology, or influence their own future without human assistance. The way things have been written so far, apparently humans are so superior that they can master not only their own knowledge and technology, but also the elves' culture, knowledge, and technology better than the elves can.
And that is why I believe that Dorian indeed understands BioWare's issues with elves better than BioWare does. (Paying lip service to acknowledging the issue doesn't erase the issue.)
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