1599 réponses à ce sujet

[LobselVith8]

Given that this is an elven thread, I was thinking about the prospect of the elves gaining a soverign homeland. If you take certain actions, Marquise Briala of the Dales takes measures to give the elves land and rights, and I imagine that the Dales could a beacon for a myriad of Andrastian elves who may want a better life for themselves (and perhaps their families as well) given the despair they may face with the status quo (we did witness Kirkwall elves convert to the Qun for the slim chance at a better life for themselves, so I think that it's entirely plausible others would reach out for the opportunities that the Dales provides under Briala).

 

I could also see Dalish clans heading to southern Dales to converge around a heroic Lavellan in Skyhold who has massed support among the human kingdoms and commands formidable armies all over (there also seems to be a Dalish presence in Skyhold if you ally with the Dalish) after the crisis of the Breach has been brought to an end. The Dalish could finally have a chance at building a real future for themselves, without having to be on the move just to survive. Someone who drank from the Well of Sorrows (possessing the knowledge to answer questions that have been unanswered for centuries) and commanded Mythal's Dragon could be seen as quite a figure among the People.

[Bayonet Hipshot]

No. We have this debate every time. I think anyone who advocates for a moral duty to breed a certain way to preserve racial purity is a racist, because they're obviously doing it for racist reasons. This is quite literally what white supremacists believe IRL - that the white "race" is being diluted. Every elf has the right to determine - for themselves - whether they think the identity of being an elf, culturally or racially, has any value worth preserving in the future. Anyone who advocates for a moral duty to interbreed is just advocating for racism. 

 

There's no Dalish view on this as far as I know - it would certainly be racist if they thought that elves had a moral imperative to breed more elves, but there's no evidence they believe that sort of nonsense (see e.g. Merrill). The only time you and I talked about this as far as I can recall is in the context of the Dales closing their border to maintain a racially pure utopia, which is obviously racist. 

 

I will have to disagree with you on this. White people IRL are not Theodosian Elves. If Whites reproduce with people of other races and skin color, the resulting offspring is still Human and their skin color depends on the gene sets they inherited from their parents which gets expressed.

 

However, Theodosian Elves are not like this. If Theodosian Elves reproduce with Humans, the resulting offspring is a Human, not an Elf. In essence, the Theodosian Elves are being diminished and if the trend continues, given enough time, they would be wiped out due to the reproductive choices they made.

 

Furthermore, the differences within Whites and non-White IRL is down to skin color and other differences such as physical fitness or IQ levels, both of which can be improved by genetic engineering, steroids, proper diet and healthy lifestyle. Otherwise, the body parts are all the same.

 

By contrast, you cannot make the Human child that is born from a Theodosian Human - Elven union, Elfy. You cannot make the child have Elf ears, you cannot make the child have eyes that can see exceptionally well in the dark, you cannot give them hardy feet that allow them to traverse grounds without the need for proper footwear, you cannot make them specially in-tune with the Fade and you cannot make them respond well to things such as the Crossroads. No amount of diet or healthy lifestyle will allow for any of this and as we know, Thedas does not have access to genetic engineering.

 

My point is that Theodosian Human - Elven reproduction mechanics is biased in favor of Humans and this would naturally make said Theodosian Elves be antagonistic towards Humans on some level and it should not be surprising if Elven communities such as the Dalish push forward that notion that Elves should not breed with non-Elves because if they do, they will be, as a species, eventually wiped out.

 

On the other hand, people IRL, regardless of their skin color and minor differences in athletic capabilities or IQ levels, are all Humans. We are all H*mo Sapiens Sapiens. If we were to classify Theodosian Humans and Theodosian Elves, scientifically, we would not classify them under one name. Theodosian Humans and Theodosian Elves are more akin to H*mo Neanderthalensis and H*mo Sapiens Sapiens.

 

Additionally, I would also not be surprised if you espouse the exact view Lobsel espouses if, say, Thedosian Humans breed with Qunari, the offspring of that union will always be Qunari. Theodosian Humans would respond to this by labeling the Qunari with foul names and heavily ostracizing Humans that get involved with a Qunari.

 

FFS Bioware, why the hell is the word H*mo censored ?! Pathetic politically correct Canadians.

[IHaveReturned1999]

The elves of the South could retake their lost lands with Qunari support. Since southern Thedas is so prejudiced against the elves, surely the Qun would provide them a fairer life than what the Orlesians offer, in the event that Briala's rebellion failed.

Hell I ally with the Qunari to make human nations think twice if they **** with elves.

[The Ascendant]

It is kind of funny. Thanks to Solas, we're seeing an Elven army for the first time in centuries, with Elves from all walks of life joining the Dread Wolf. A sleeping giant has been awakened.

[Gervaise]

"When the slightest unite, then a giant will rise."   The song in Trespasser says it all.   It also begins "Mercy for the elves."    There is a definite foreshadowing there that the humans are going to regret their treatment of the elves both in the past and in current Thedas.   Even if the Dalish were to reject Solas en mass, he would still be a beacon to the majority of city elves.    The Qun has such success in recruiting them as agents because their life in the alienage doesn't give them hope for anything better, so even the restrictions of the Qun seem an improvement because at least everyone is treated the same.   

 

It's part of the reason I am so disappointed that Solas is going to be the big danger in the future and we are likely going to end up killing a load of elves simply for wanting a better life.    He could have been a unifying force, a leader to get something better for them in this current world, if nothing else by using the eluvians to transport them to somewhere more congenial.   After all there doesn't seem anyone occupying the numerous areas we run through in Trespasser, the majority of which are outside of the Crossroads in the real world.  Instead we are simply being given Corypheus with nobs on and instead of the Tevinter supremist Venatori, slaves and city elves who just want out of the unjust world they are forced to live in.

 

It has never been made clear just how much the Qunari tell their agents in southern Thedas of their doctrine anyway, any more than we know exactly what Solas says to recruit them.    May be next game this will be demonstrated a bit more clearly.   Perhaps there will be an example of a recruiter from the Qun going around among the slums of Tevinter or an agent of Solas among the elves, not all of whom are slaves but do live in slums that are probably much the same as the alienages of the south.

[Gervaise]

On the subject of the war that brought the Evanuis to godhood, I think it is likely it was the war against the Titans.   The Dalish myth talks of a war between the gods, but that is much later, at the time that Fen'Harel entrapped them.    Based off the timeline, there seems to have been a period when the elves were building up their civilisation and it developed very much along the lines of subsequent ones, with nobles and servants/slaves.    Each Creator at least seemed to have a particular sphere of influence but was not considered considerably above the rest.    Then as they expanded, their magic disturbed the Titans, whose earthquakes started to destroy what the elves had built.    So Creators banded together to lead the elves in a war against the Titans.   Having either killed or subdued them, their followers celebrated them as great generals and it went from there, particularly as in the course of the war they would have discovered lyrium, which greatly augmented the powers of those who used it and likely the Evanuris kept for themselves.   Mythal seems to have been in charge of mining it with the help of newly liberated dwarves.  

 

Now it would seem that the Forbidden Ones at least were banished as a result of not helping in this war.     It seems as though the Forgotten Ones may have been the same or possibly they left voluntarily as they resented the powers that the Evanuris were appropriating to themselves.    They went in search of an alternative power source to lyrium and found it in the Void.   The thing is that even Solas admits the Evanuris weren't always corrupt god/kings, so if their war was with the Forgotten Ones prior to their battle with the Titans, then the majority of the time of the elves was under the rule of the gods.    Whereas if the discovery of the dwarves was connected with the war with the Titans, then there is the period of some 4,000 years when they weren't gods, a war with the Titans, and then their appropriation of godhood that ultimately led to Solas taking action against them some 1,800 years later.    If pretty much all their history was under the governance of the god/kings, it seems strange he would remember a time when they weren't.  

 

The problem for me at the moment is that with the exception of one reference in Jaws of Hakkon, the Forgotten Ones have been all but forgotten about (irony).   I'm pretty sure their war with the Evanuris had to have something to do with the death of Mythal because of where it stands in Dalish myth and the fact that the views of Gelduran seem very similar to those of Solas, in that he denies their godhood.     Of course the resentment may be long standing and trace back to the founding of Arlathan but it seems to me to be much closer in time.  More likely they are another faction who tried to fight back against the gods and had to retreat into the Void to escape them.    All the content in the Descent and Trespasser seems to be linked to the Deep Roads, Titans and lyrium having had some major significance in the rise and fall of the Evanuris.

[Qun00]

White supremacists are morons with a misguided concern.

But the danger of extinction is very real when it comes to human x elf breeding. It is something that ideally shouldn't be done too often.

[LobselVith8]

Additionally, I would also not be surprised if you espouse the exact view Lobsel espouses if, say, Thedosian Humans breed with Qunari, the offspring of that union will always be Qunari. Theodosian Humans would respond to this by labeling the Qunari with foul names and heavily ostracizing Humans that get involved with a Qunari.

 

To elaborate, I've only addressed that the children of humans and elves are human; that's pretty much it. It's a world-building decision by the developers, and not a matter for debate. My Surana Warden romanced Morrigan and had a child with her, and my apostate Hawke was in a romantic relationship with Merrill until his untimely demise in the Beyond to sacrifice himself against Corypheus' ally Nightmare. Morrigan's son is human, as were all the other "elven-blooded humans" (as the developers term it) who we have encountered or read about.

[Gervaise]

The problem with Briala being the opportunity for better days for the elves is that it is made clear in the epilogue it is only working because of her support by the Inquisitor and the Inquisition, particularly if the Inquisitor is an elf.   Even if you don't disband the Inquisition, your power is greatly diminished and thus the nobility will take the opportunity to move against Briala and her puppet Gaspard.   Of course if the nobility of Orlais had any sense they wouldn't do this because it would be in their best interests not to harm the status quo, since the elves will be more kindly disposed towards them.    However, the nobility in Thedas rarely seem to show such common sense and prefer to pretend that threats such as Qun agents do not exit.    This was the case in DA2 when Hawke tried to warn them, so it is probably no different after the events of Trespasser.   In any case, it is not clear just how much they are informed about Solas' plans.    It comments how elves are disappearing to join Solas, suggesting that my assumptions about Briala are true and so the elves think they are better off leaving, but it says that people wonder what he has planned.   Well, the Inquisitor knew full well what he had planned, he wants to restore the world of the elves by dropping the Veil.    How he intends achieving this is what we don't know and  why he is gathering so many elves to him when he didn't bother before when he was planning on simply recovering his orb and then using it.   I do worry about what he intends doing with all those elves.    

[Qun00]

What Solas intends to do with them is clear to me.

The modern elves looking for him are nothing more than expendable tools that have no place in his new world.

[LobselVith8]

The problem with Briala being the opportunity for better days for the elves is that it is made clear in the epilogue it is only working because of her support by the Inquisitor and the Inquisition, particularly if the Inquisitor is an elf.   Even if you don't disband the Inquisition, your power is greatly diminished and thus the nobility will take the opportunity to move against Briala and her puppet Gaspard.   Of course if the nobility of Orlais had any sense they wouldn't do this because it would be in their best interests not to harm the status quo, since the elves will be more kindly disposed towards them.    However, the nobility in Thedas rarely seem to show such common sense and prefer to pretend that threats such as Qun agents do not exit.    This was the case in DA2 when Hawke tried to warn them, so it is probably no different after the events of Trespasser.   In any case, it is not clear just how much they are informed about Solas' plans.    It comments how elves are disappearing to join Solas, suggesting that my assumptions about Briala are true and so the elves think they are better off leaving, but it says that people wonder what he has planned.   Well, the Inquisitor knew full well what he had planned, he wants to restore the world of the elves by dropping the Veil.    How he intends achieving this is what we don't know and  why he is gathering so many elves to him when he didn't bother before when he was planning on simply recovering his orb and then using it.   I do worry about what he intends doing with all those elves.    

 

That seems rather bleak for anyone who supported Briala, particularly when you consider what was done to the outcomes for the City Elf as the Elven Bann or the Dalish Boon to acquire the Hinterlands as a homeland for the People. I'm not saying you're wrong (and it's quite likely that the developers will do exactly that to justify why Andrastian elves would follow Solas instead of heading to the Dales under Briala), but it would feel like the actions of anyone who wanted to help the elves was rather pointless if they simply restored the status quo.

 

Maybe Lavellan should have simply taken the Dalish clans through the Eluvian and called it a day if nothing is going to change in Thedas (it seemed like Morrigan, the Warden, and their son could sustain themselves just fine in that other "world" she briefly described).

[Qun00]

Maybe Lavellan should have simply taken the Dalish clans through the Eluvian and called it a day if nothing is going to change in Thedas (it seemed like Morrigan, the Warden, and their son could sustain themselves just fine in that other "world" she briefly described).

Unlikely. Morrigan says there are limits to how long one can stay there.

[LobselVith8]

Unlikely. Morrigan says there are limits to how long one can stay there.

The Crossroads negatively impacts non-elves, but elves are fine. That could easily protect the elves if intruders arrived to try and harm them, since elves move faster and thrive in the Crossroads.

Morrigan did reference living with the Warden and their son "far from this world" and Alistair seemed to interpret it as another world. Morrigan says they only needed one world and that they lived there (with their son) for a time.

[Gervaise]

Before Trespasser I had the idea that Lavellan would persuade Briala to let him use the eluvians to help elves over a wider area, even as far afield as Tevinter.   Slaves could be rescued via the eluvians and the slave hunters would have no way of following them.  

 

Naturally that was a loose end that they couldn't allow to continue because it was such an advantage to anyone, so the one thing that might have kept Briala in power, the eluvians, was taken from her.     In fact the way Solas talked about her it sounded almost as if she was already dead or at the very least I was not aware she had ever been in control of the eluvians, yet there had been a war table mission about this on recruiting Michel.  

 

The whole business of the eluvians seemed odd.   Someone shut them down, it is not clear when since Morrigan says it was during the elven civil war and Imshael says the last time was at the fall of Halamshiral.    Whichever was the case, they remained shut down as a network but various individuals are able to activate single eluvians.   Then Briala gets control allegedly over the whole network but apparently not, since Morrigan's was still under her control and the Qun controlled another section.    Each eluvian or at least section of eluvians has apparently a different key.   Finally Solas overrides the magic and takes control of them all.    

 

If it was that easy, why did he feel compelled to kill Felassan?    He gave a perfectly reasonable answer as to why he was giving Briala a chance to use them and apparently it didn't matter whether Solas had the password or not.    Not only that but Felassan knew that was the likely outcome of their encounter, which makes the Dread Wolf a far darker character than he likes to appear to a friendly Inquisitor.   And Cole says the crime for which he was killed was not the failure to recover the eluvians  or even simple betrayal but seeing Briala and others as people.

 

Which is why I tend to alternate between thinking "if this guy thinks the Evanuris were bad, they must have been really bad", and "if this guy labels them as bad, how can I believe him?"    After all, Flemeth/Mythal sees modern elves as People.     Is that why he destroyed her?

[Steelcan]

Hell I ally with the Qunari to make human nations think twice if they **** with elves.

that alliance applies to the Inquisition and not the elves as a people, in the even of the dissolution of the Inquisition the Qunari say that it applies to the Chantry now.

[The Ascendant]

The Qunari are just stalling for time, focusing on the immediate threat of Tevinter. Their philosophy puts them in direct opposition to all of Thedas. I trust them like I trust a Darkspawn not to kill me, a Demon to not possess me and a Dragon to not eat me.

[Jedi Master of Orion]

Geldauran's claim doesn't strike me as someone who is preparing to rebel. It sounds like someone who already lost against them and is planning vengeance in the future. My guess is that those elves who became the Forgotten Ones were not made "forgotten" until they had already lost against the Evanuris.

 

That said, we have no hard evidence as to when then Forgotten Ones acted against the Evanuris.

 

It strikes me as someone planning to rebel. Especially since it almost sounds like the root of Geldauran's defiance of the is a rejection of their godhood. I think if Geldauran was on the losing end of a war with the Evanruis he would never again be in a position to threaten them.

 

 

That's not exactly true. Mother Gisele confirms that it's Chantry doctrine elves are further from the Maker than humans. She admits it is not necessarily principled but it is doctrine unless Leliana takes over.

 

 

World of Thedas explains that the doctrine of the other races being further from the Maker is more a belief (true or not, I should add) about how in the overall population of dwarves, elves and Qunari have yet to embrace the Maker as often as humans. It's not a suggestion that humankind has some inborn superiority. It even says this doctrine makes the Chantry believe they are "all the more worth saving."

 

That particular facet of The Chantry ideology isn't about encouraging human mobs to burn down the homes of the alienage elves as punishment for not being faithful enough, it's more about a desire to further proselytize the word of the Maker to those people who haven't accepted him yet. 

[phoray]

Hey all. You all are super fans of Elves.

 

I've played all three games, read most of the books, including WoT 1 and 2. So, it's not like I'm ignorant of most of the information about elves. But man, am I having a hard time role playing one.

 

My first time roleplaying one in Inquisition was pretty terrible and all over the place. I was shooting for some sort of non traditional Dalish Elf Quiz to romance Solas. I gave up on her, and now I'm forming a second attempt, except this time I figured I'd let her be Traditional. But apparently I got it in my head that traditional means racist and hates all humans. I don't really want to play that kind of Elf either. I'm also disappointed in myself that I can't seem to form anything but watered down human with pointy ears or racist angry elf. I've played exactly one City Elf Warden rather successfully/happily, why do I fail so hard at the Dalish? Is there some reading material I'm missing? Maybe some of you can tell me about your Dalish Elf Quizes so I can see more forms of them?

[Vit246]

*shrug* I don't think traditional has to mean racist and hates all humans. I don't really remember that being in DAI. Its been a while since I played.

 

Defend your people and culture from the slander. Take pride. Tell Minaeve clans don't do that. Tell Vivienne off for her limited preconceptions about Dalish mages. Tell Cassandra you don't need her Maker. Tell Solas you consider him to be your people. Tell Solas he's wrong about the Dalish and that the Dalish are the reason why Solas finds your Dalish Quiz to be defying his expectations. Don't remove your vallaslin like a crybaby defeatist and tell him you chose it for you and it means something positive to your people. Tell Morrigan the Well is your people's legacy.

Modifié par Vit246, 07 juillet 2016 - 06:08 .

[Gervaise]

Different people you encounter throughout all 3 games have different views of the Dalish and we are told how there is no typical Dalish clan.    The one depicted in Masked Empire was at one extreme of the spectrum; ultra bigoted and isolationist in their views, with extreme hatred of humans.    However, not one clan we have encountered in game has been as bad as that and to my mind PW depicted them in such an unsympathetic way in order not to make Briala and the others look bad for abandoning them to be ripped apart by Imshael.   

 

People say that Lavellan's clan was at the opposite extreme but I don't feel that is the case.   The Keeper actually says in her first letter to you that they won't be trying to join you because she fears that it might lead to tensions between the hunters in the clan and the human soldiers.    There is a prejudice there but it is not without reason.   Leaving aside who was to blame for the fall of the Dales, the fact is that elven history has shown a long series of subjugation by their human neighbours.   It was the Tevinter Imperium that originally forbade them their language and culture in order to keep them under their thumb.  Then the Chantry did the same to those elves who surrendered.  Yes, some of those elves may have already been worshipers of the Maker but they weren't really given any choice.  There is antagonism from humans and clan Lavellan had a deliberate policy of skirting the border of various city states to play one off against the other to avoid being attacked.   So it is perfectly in order for a Dalish to feel a degree of mistrust.      It is not simple hatred or racism; it is a necessary element in order to survive.  

 

There are different opinions in the clans.   Mahariel's father was recommending that the clans be more open to ideas from outside and study humans to see if they could learn from them.   His wife's clan clearly did not approve of these sentiments but that is not to say everyone disagreed.    Gisharel believed that by sharing his culture with human scholars they might come to respect it.    Again some clans condemned him for this view but others probably supported it.   All these things were discussed at the Arlathaven, so Lavellan might well have heard discussions about these ideas even if they weren't present at the actual gathering they were brought up.   The very fact that the Keeper wants to send them hundreds of miles to some human gathering in order to spy on proceedings shows that she is advocating taking more interest in human affairs, even if only to keep her clan safer.  

 

Not all clans view city elves like the one in Masked Empire did.    Most clans seem only too willing to take in city elves, not just because they want to boost numbers but it is obvious that they have taken the first step on being Dalish, no longer wanting to submit to human rules.   Sabrae, Zathrian's clan and the one that Zevran ran away to as a youngster, were all apparently willing to take in city elves.    Zevran only returned to the crows because he didn't like the life of the clan, compared with his gilded cage, not because they were unwelcoming.   In the City Elf origin we are told about former alienage elves running away to join the Dalish.    The reason that the Dalish seem contemptuous of city elves is that so long as they remain in the alienages they are submitting to human rule and thus are spiritually not Dalish.    "We are the last of the elvhen and never again will we submit."   The determination to die rather than surrender your autonomy and beliefs is what drives the Dalish.   Notice that the reason that Lavellan's clan is in danger in the War Table mission is that the Keeper refuses to abandon the city elves of Wycome to face the wrath of the humans.   That is diametrically opposed to the attitude shown in Masked Empire.

 

My favourite Lavellan was a proud member of his clan, wholly devoted to keeping them safe.   If that meant playing along with the humans while he gathered the information that he had been sent to find, so be it.   He was only too happy to defend his culture and beliefs to anyone else who asked.   However, he was a compassionate person and also saw the benefits that might accrue from helping people.    Even so, he was pretty cynical about their lasting thanks, which as it turned out he was entirely correct in his assumptions.    He started the game with deeply held prejudices against the human rulers (particularly in Orlais), the Chantry and Tevinter and to be honest not a lot occurred to change that opinion.    However, on an individual basis he realised that humans could be just as honourable, trustworthy, noble and worthy of respect as any Dalish.    The biggest shock to his outlook was when he realised he was falling in love with a human, not just any human but one from Tevinter.   That was probably more momentous for him personally than any of the revelations about his gods.      To have moved from totally mistrusting him at the beginning simply because he was from Tevinter to a situation where he was prepared to sacrifice his relations with his own people for Dorian's sake was a tremendous shift in outlook.    By the end he still hasn't surrendered his culture, since he feels it is valid having been developed by the Dalish and thus part of their heritage.   His experiences have just made him more open minded and want to build a better future for his people than constantly trying to recover a past that doesn't recognise them as its own.

[sniper_arrow]

Before Trespasser I had the idea that Lavellan would persuade Briala to let him use the eluvians to help elves over a wider area, even as far afield as Tevinter.   Slaves could be rescued via the eluvians and the slave hunters would have no way of following them.  

 

Naturally that was a loose end that they couldn't allow to continue because it was such an advantage to anyone, so the one thing that might have kept Briala in power, the eluvians, was taken from her.     In fact the way Solas talked about her it sounded almost as if she was already dead or at the very least I was not aware she had ever been in control of the eluvians, yet there had been a war table mission about this on recruiting Michel.  

 

The whole business of the eluvians seemed odd.   Someone shut them down, it is not clear when since Morrigan says it was during the elven civil war and Imshael says the last time was at the fall of Halamshiral.    Whichever was the case, they remained shut down as a network but various individuals are able to activate single eluvians.   Then Briala gets control allegedly over the whole network but apparently not, since Morrigan's was still under her control and the Qun controlled another section.    Each eluvian or at least section of eluvians has apparently a different key.   Finally Solas overrides the magic and takes control of them all.    

 

If it was that easy, why did he feel compelled to kill Felassan?    He gave a perfectly reasonable answer as to why he was giving Briala a chance to use them and apparently it didn't matter whether Solas had the password or not.    Not only that but Felassan knew that was the likely outcome of their encounter, which makes the Dread Wolf a far darker character than he likes to appear to a friendly Inquisitor.   And Cole says the crime for which he was killed was not the failure to recover the eluvians  or even simple betrayal but seeing Briala and others as people.

 

Which is why I tend to alternate between thinking "if this guy thinks the Evanuris were bad, they must have been really bad", and "if this guy labels them as bad, how can I believe him?"    After all, Flemeth/Mythal sees modern elves as People.     Is that why he destroyed her?

 

There have been theories that Solas was a spirit first before he became an elf thanks to Mythal. I think he really wants to return to his spirit form (whether that will work or not is another story). He views the others as nothing and that he's much closer to spirits (Cole and Wisdom(am I correct on this one?)).

 

Remember Cole's quest. Solas explained Cole's uniqueness as something that was not meant to be tampered with and opposed Varric's view of Cole wanting to be human. Also, most likely he killed Felassan because the latter doesn't share his views anymore. Same thing goes with Flemythal. So much for maintaining friendships. 

 

I wouldn't be surprised if the revelation that Solas wants to be a spirit again. That's why he wanted to bring down the Veil.   

[LobselVith8]

Hey all. You all are super fans of Elves.

 

I've played all three games, read most of the books, including WoT 1 and 2. So, it's not like I'm ignorant of most of the information about elves. But man, am I having a hard time role playing one.

 

My first time roleplaying one in Inquisition was pretty terrible and all over the place. I was shooting for some sort of non traditional Dalish Elf Quiz to romance Solas. I gave up on her, and now I'm forming a second attempt, except this time I figured I'd let her be Traditional. But apparently I got it in my head that traditional means racist and hates all humans. I don't really want to play that kind of Elf either. I'm also disappointed in myself that I can't seem to form anything but watered down human with pointy ears or racist angry elf. I've played exactly one City Elf Warden rather successfully/happily, why do I fail so hard at the Dalish? Is there some reading material I'm missing? Maybe some of you can tell me about your Dalish Elf Quizes so I can see more forms of them?

 

Being traditional doesn't mean you have to hate humans. Look at Merrill: she believes in the Creators, she has vallaslin, she views magic as a "gift of the Creators", but she cares about humans as well. She also views Andrastian elves as elves (she calls them "our people" in dialogue with Fenris). You also hear from some Dalish how, when they get a hypothetical homeland, they want to live there with the city elves, and how the two can learn things from one another.

 

You also have the historical Aveline, who was adopted by a Dalish clan, or Hall, who was taken in by a modern Dalish clan when he was found abandoned in the wilderness. There's also Feynriel, who is taken in by Keeper Marethari despite the fact that he's technically human. There's also an entire semi-permanent colony of Dalish living in peace with the Rivaini who follow the Natural Order (the Dalish settlement is outside the city of Llomerryn).

 

Some people seem to confuse the apprehension that the Dalish show towards outsiders with racism, but you have to keep in mind that the Dalish face dangers every day: there are templars (Ariane defended her clan from a templar at least once) and there are human lords or lynch mobs who attack the Dalish if they stay too long in one place (Clan Sabrae also mention how some Andrastians threatened them with violence to convert to the Andrasrian faith). Clan Lavellan travels the Free Marches because they travel between the territorial boundaries, and that makes humans less likely to attack them for fear of provoking one of the other Marcher city-states by trespassing into their territory.

 

My Dalish, Revas, told Solas that he was one of "our people" when they met, he cared about the Dalish, he viewed magic as a gift of the Creators, he was happy when he helped Briala because he felt (as he told Solas) that he helped our people in Orlais (because he cared about the city elves), and he refused to give up his heritage or his beliefs despite how Andrastians kept pushing their religious views on him (similar to Anders doing the same to Merrill because she didn't believe in Chantry teachings).

[Qun00]

Even sweet Merrill's prejudice can surface when pushed. If Hawke refuses to give her the arulin'holm, she says "You're just a shemlen like all the others!"

[Xilizhra]

Even sweet Merrill's prejudice can surface when pushed. If Hawke refuses to give her the arulin'holm, she says "You're just a shemlen like all the others!"

Replace "pushed" with "betrayed" and replace "prejudice" with "flailing attempt to emotionally retaliate," and you'll be correct.

[Qun00]

Ahh, so if I am ever wronged by a black man it would be perfectly reasonable to call him a ******.