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[Ghost Gal]

Because their leaders have shown themselves to be total dumbasses over time?

 

I played a game as a female dalish and wanted nothing to do with as Sera so well puts it 'Elfy elves'

 

Some of them have, but then name any culture that hasn't had a leader that's been shown to be a total ****** from time to time.

 

Loghain nearly let the darkspawn take Ferelden for fear of Orlais, Anora's really bad at putting her nation's well-being before her own desire to rule it, most Orzammar kings have upheld stagnant traditions that are allowing Orzammar to slowly continue to crumble and rot under the weight and taint of their forever war with the darkspawn, Meredith was a batsh*t insane tyrant, the previous Lord Seeker Lambert and current Lord Seeker Luscious made already bad situations worse, Orlais' civil war broke out because Celene and Gaspard are both greedy assh*les who can't get their act together, etc.

 

And that still begs the question: If your anti-elf hated 'Elfy elves' so much, why live with the Dalish for so long? Keeper Lavellan mentions in her letter that Clan Lavellan trades a good deal with humans, so it's not like your anti-elf didn't have plenty of opportunity to run away and go live with them before the Conclave.

 

Some of the first Christians were black.

 

It's a 2000 year old religion, dude. It didn't start in Kansas.

 

I think the person was more asking about modern African and Native American folks, not ancient ones. The ones who were introduced to Christianity by being colonized, enslaved, subjugated, and forcibly converted by European Christians post-Age of Exploration.

 

I can't speak for PoC taking on the religion of their oppressors, but... ya know, some people in the peanut gallery wonder "why would you want to keep the religion of your oppressors?" Back in the day, African slaves and Native American missionary slaves (and other people of colonized nations, like the Vietnamese to French Catholics) didn't exactly have a choice in converting, but some people kind of wonder, "You don't have to anymore, so why keep it?"

 

Again, I can't speak for people in that position, but I think that was what that person was getting at.

 

Applied to this fictional world of fictional races: humans have never been good to elves. Furthermore, humans claim they had their Old Gods and their Maker on their side when they conquered and subjugated elves, which ideally means their gods want elves to be enslaved/subjugated by humans, which kind of makes one wonder, "Why would you want to suck up to the god(s) that thinks you deserve to scrub boots just for being an elf?" (And it's not like converting gave city elves higher standing in human society; the deal was "you convert, and we won't kill you on sight.")

 

I have no answers, but there it is.

[Gervaise]

It is possible to draw a distinction between belief in the Maker as the Creator of the world, who seems rather disillusioned with his creations but doesn't interfere because that would deny them free will, and the Chantry, which seems to alter the Chant to suit politics of the day or the Divine at that moment, and doesn't seem to insist upon the faithful adhering to the morality of the Chant at all, certainly not the nobility anyway.      There is also a distinction between believing in the Maker and believing that you are the Herald of Andraste.    I always find it rather odd that the Chant specifically teaches that the Maker turned his back on the world again after the death of Andraste and yet everyone of the Andrastrians in the Inquisition seems to think you are the genuine article when it comes to being Herald, not matter how many times you insist you aren't.  The insistence of Mother Giselle and others that we don't tell people the truth about the episode in the Fade (the figure definitely wasn't Andraste) meant that any possibility of genuine conversion to the Chantry went right out of the window for all my Dalish Inquisitors but my "cynical" believer was less unhappy about going along with the deception.   My non-believer just thought it confirmed the view he already had of the Chantry from what he was taught in the clan and also from seeing all those irritating references to the war with the Dalish in the Exalted Plains.   He really wanted to drag Mother Giselle out there and ask her if she still wanted to maintain that it wasn't an Exalted March.

[Mistic]

Applied to this fictional world of fictional races: humans have never been good to elves. Furthermore, humans claim they had their Old Gods and their Maker on their side when they conquered and subjugated elves, which ideally means their gods want elves to be enslaved/subjugated by humans, which kind of makes one wonder, "Why would you want to suck up to the god(s) that thinks you deserve to scrub boots just for being an elf?" (And it's not like converting gave city elves higher standing in human society; the deal was "you convert, and we won't kill you on sight.")

 

I have no answers, but there it is.

 

There are several possible answers. For starters, that humans have been good to elves sometimes, with Andraste herself being the most triumphant example. It was her Exalted March against Tevinter that allowed lots of elves to finally find freedom. Also, it was Maferath who gave them the Dales in his distribution of the conquered lands. In fact, we know from Orlesian history that the elves got a better deal than allied tribes who were subjected to Alamarri rule.

 

Also, the trope "my god is greater than yours". Elven gods weren't of much help when Arlathan and the Dales fell; switching to apparently more successful gods happened in real life history too. Then add that Andrastian faith officially considers every believer equal and the Maker has a soft spot for those who suffer, which doesn't sound bad when you try to find some consolation in faith.

 

Finally, when you can't even read the very few ancient texts you have, keeping religious practices alive is more difficult against a widely spread religion that surrounds you and has intact holy texts you can at least understand. And that's without counting the fear of punishment. City elves outnumber Dalish by a great margin, not everyone can go to live in the woods or want to die as martyrs for a religion. After a couple of generations, you'll have elves for whom the Evanuris are as meaningful as Asgardian deities for modern-day Swedes.

[Gervaise]

I used to think the Maferath was giving away something that didn't really belong to him in offering the elves the Dales but then I read that Brona, Andraste's mother, was in fact an important Ciriane that he married to secure relations with a number of small tribes in what is now Orlais, so it is likely that Andraste herself inherited lands from her mother and it may well have been these that were given to the elves and became known as the Dales.   Given the number of elven ruins and statues there are in the area, which clearly date from earlier times (that enormous wolf statue on top of the mountain could not have been put there by the Dalish), no doubt Andraste or Maferath thought it was only appropriate to let them have it.   Also Brona had the sword Glandivalis, the meaning of its name being unknown, but likely an ancient relic that had been found by her tribe in the area.   Brona gave the sword to her daughter and she in turn passed it on to Shartan.