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thekingofwinterblog · 8 months

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You know what the most annoying thing about the Twists regarding the Elves in Inquisition was?

That all the twists, if taken on their own, would make for a really good story.

The reveals about Solas backstory and how him and his fellow God Kings rose, became decadent, warred with each other and fell, setting the stage for their transformation into the Old Gods is frankly speaking, some of the best lore that Dragon Age ever had, and lines up really well with how the world is structured while explaining how the Old Gods came to be, how the elves fell, and so on.

That the tevinter imperium when it conquered the nation of Arlathan was not the great imperial state lead by mighty mages their descendants liked to think they were, but instead a bunch of weaklings that needed years and years to take on one, measly city-state that had utterly obliterated itself in civil war.

There is so much great stuff here.

So where did it all go wrong?

The answer, is of course execution.

Inquisition overall is a great game... But man did it drop the ball so hard with the Elves that it's pretty much hard to believe that they will be able to tell a nuanced story about them in Dread Wolf.

Everything from the companions, to the world itself as the game presents , to retcons regarding mages that's there, not to tell a story about the elves, but to try and make the Templar vs mage conflict grey.

Starting with the companions, we have a great example of coming so, so close to greatness... and then falling right on it's face.

The game has two Elf companions, solas and Sera... and the contrast between them really illustrates the big picture with how incapable Inquisition is with trying to tell a nuanced picture with the elves.

Solas as a character is perfect. Love him or hate him, he is a fully fleshed out character with very clear, defined, understandable motives that makes sense to him.

And most importantly of all, his way of viewing the world is WRONG. The game acknowledges that he is wrong.

The entire story of where dragon age 4 is heading, is all about how the Dread wolf, for all his knowledge and intelligence and genuine virtues, is at the end of the day, a monster, who is willing to see the world burn to restore the Elves magic and immortality.

He is a racist, he is bigoted, and ultimately misguided. Despite all his development with the inquisitor, he does not manage to grow enough as a person that he manages to abandon his genocidal goals. And the game does not pretend othervise.

That is what makes the story of Solas rise to become the big villain of the sequel great.

There is no disconnect between the story, the characters, or the way the game wants us to view solas.

Solas is far, far more bigoted and close-minded than any of the dalish he so despises, and the game ultimately does not pretend othervise.

Which brings us to the opposite end of the elf spectrum with Sera.

Sera is a very disliked character by a lot of people, but by dalish and elf players/fans more than most.

Just like Solas, she is bigoted, racist, and ultimately misguided in her hatred of her fellow elves, whether they be city elves, or Dalish, or ancient elves.

And that frankly, would not be a problem if the game acknowledged that fact. If her character arc was about it, and either how she could not overcome her own issues, or actually managed to grow beyond them, she could have been a great character.

The problem is the fact that the game is not willing to handle this fact head on. Its not willing to come out and portray Sera as just as bigoted against her own kind as Solas is, and to treat this as a flaw.

Instead the game treats her as if her biggest flaw is that she's annoying, and not the fact that in a game that is in many ways about setting up the rise of the dread wolf, she is just as bad as Solas, just from a different origin point.

Sera should have been a mirror to Solas, both from a story point, as well as a thematic one, but unfortunately she is not.

Hell, she doesn't really overcome her racism either. The closest she comes to doing so, is basically burning out on hating the dalish and other elves in trespasser, not admitting she was actually wrong to hate them so much in the first place.

The game does not treat Sera's disdain for other elves and their culture as a problem, and it does not give a dalish inquisitor the option to tell her to go fuck herself on the topic that you are given with Solas if you really desire to do so.

You are given the option of kicking her out of the inquisition, but not actually stand up for the dalish or even city elves the way the player could against Morrigan's flemeth raised cruelty in origins, anders and Fenris obsessions with, and hatred for templars/mages in da2, or solas ideals in inquisition.

And thats a problem that really illustrates the bigger issue with the way Inquisition took what could have been a great story about the Elves and the reveals about their anceators, and frankly ruined it.

The dalish and city elvea were very thouroughly fleshed in both Origins, Awakening and DA2.

However, city elves largely managed to avoid being utterly destroyed by the narrative the way the Dalish were, for the simple reason that outside briala, we don't get much if any interaction with them at all, making them essentially a non show foe the game for the most part. They don't get a city elf inquisitor, and so we have no point of view to look at them from a pc perspective.

They got off much better than the dalish though.

Starting off with the arguably single worst thing in all of DAI is the retcon that Dalish clans, if there is more than two mages in a clan, sends off the third one alone in the wilderness to fend for themselves. This goes against absolutely everything that has ever been established about the Dalish, and worst of all, wasn't even an addition meant to demonize the dalish, instead being an addition to handwave away the obvious fact that the Dalish had a much better system than the human circles when it came to magic... Which in turn was made irrelevant by the fact the Avvar was later shown to have a much better and more effective solution to the possession question anyway.

It was, in essence, a pointless retcon, that overall only made the dalish look bad, and has now opened the door for the idea that most dalish clans acts like this, and will be portrayed so in future games.

Its bad, but unfortunately it was only the start.

The game goes out of its way to portray absolutely every single person who critices the dalish as having a point, that they brought on their own downfalls, even as they are being the most imperialistic, racist assholes imaginable, while the dalish inquisitor can only offer a token of defence for his people, a far cry from way origins allowed you to handle the same situation wheter your main ethnicity was ferelden, mage, city elf, dalish, casteless or dwarven noble.

But nowhere is it worse than the way the game handles the fall of the dales.

Now the actual lore you learn about it, is not bad. At all. I know some complain that the reveals that ameridan(and presumably other elves) worshipped both the creators and the maker, as well as the fact that the dalish unfortunately did have a bad relationahip with the rest of the world, in particular orlais, is bad storytelling, but i firmly disagree.

No the problem is the execution.

Ameridan is not wrong when he says that The Dales should not have distanced itself from the rest of the world, especially not in the face of a blight... But the Dales of his era were in turn not wrong when they argued that the Orlesians were little better than the imperium, and they would be completely right.

This is not a grey issue, its a grey and black issue.

Orlais was, and still is an evil, expansionist empire with 99% of its population living as serfs, that can be raped and beaten at will, little better than slaves.

The dales were the morally right side of the exalted march on the dales. No amount of new lore we learned in inquisition has changed that fact. We simply get the details fleshed out a bit more to add context.

Orlais was going to invade and enslave the elves anyway, as they proved through their actions against all their other, very much fellow Adrastian neighbors.

The problem is that you are not allowed to express this kind of point of view and stick to it like steel.

The characters you meet having the bigoted opinion that the dales ultimately brought on their own fate is NOT a bad thing in and out of itself... the problem is that you are not allowed to challenge that opinion the way you could challenge Lelliana's view of the dalish in origins, or the way you could tell both Anders and fenris to go fuck themselves on their extremist opinions all through da2, and ending that fuck you by killing them in the endgame.

And thats a real shame, because just looking at characters like cassandra's character development through Inquisition, you could easily have made a really compelling narrative put of a dalish inquisitor who stuck by his or her principles, and actually challenged the people they met's racist views on the dalish the way you could in origins, just with a more fleshed out and(unfortunately something way too many people just cannot emote to a character withouth) an actual voice to raise those arguments with.

I do genuinely like Inquisition, and i think it's overall a much better game than DA2... but man did they drop the ball with the elves so hard.

I feel so sorry for anyone who really got invested in the elves as their favorites factions, and i honestly don't think the elves will be handled particularly well in Dread wolf, especially as the only Dalish we are likely to see fleshed out will be the villains fighting for Solas.

#dragon age #dragon age origins #dragon age inquisition #elvhen #elves #dalish #the dales #city elves #solas #sera #meta #dread wolf

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dragonageconfessions · 5 months

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CONFESSION:

My unpopular confession. I prefer city elves to the Dalish and was so disappointed we couldn't play one in Inquisition, that I roleplayed mine as progressive and open minded. Since the beginning, I always related to the city elves more than I ever did for the Dalish. And honestly, Inquisition and those DLCS made me dislike them. They perpetually play the victim and in Inquisition we discover the Dalish are not perfect and made mistakes and half of the fandom think the writers did that out of spite. And lets not forget the Dalish that constantly look down on the city elves. City elves have it far worse than the Dalish, yet they formed their own culture. City elves don't dwell in the past and I know my city elves would not want to be assimilated back to the Dalish. I just want to play a kick ass non dalish elf in the next game.

#Dragon Age Confessions #Dragon Age Inquisition #city elves #Dalish critical #dragon age dreadwolf #da fandom critical

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anneapocalypse · 2 years

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I really like the Clan Lavellan war table op line in Inquisition.

I do agree with the criticisms about no one reacting to the outcomes (to either one, actually, though I mostly see people talk about that in the case of the clan being killed). But I love the quest line itself, the story of it, and the incredible show of solidarity and cooperation that is possible if it succeeds.

It is an incredibly precarious situation, for a variety of reasons that make perfect sense in-universe. From the perspective of Clan Lavellan, one of their own is in the hands of a militant organization they have every reason not to trust, and their clan is under attack. They have no desire to start trouble with anyone, but thanks to their position and their history, for their own survival they must assume the worst about any show of force directed at them by an outside group. The humans of Wycome are suffering under some sort of affliction they do not understand; people are sick and dying and frightened, and with enough provocation they will be quick to blame a historically scapegoated group within reach. The Inquisition is observing the situation from afar, trying to make decisions with limited information, where one misstep could have disastrous results.

Much of the op line is about listening carefully to the information given by your sources, evaluating it, and choosing who to trust. Can a ruling noble be relied upon to care about protecting a Dalish clan camped near his city? (Absolutely not.) Can Dalish elves, city elves, and human commoners be persuaded to see their common interests and work together? (Yes, actually.) When is the right time to send troops, and when will an overt show of force make everything worse?

The outcome if you succeed is truly remarkable. With some assistance from Inquisition spies, you have a Dalish clan, the alienage elves, and a coalition of human merchants banding together to not only save themselves and their city, but overthrow the corrupt Duke and end aristocratic rule in Wycome altogether with the formation of a City Council on which the elves both city and Dalish are represented. This new system is protected first by the Inquisition and later by an alliance with Kirkwall under the new Viscount, Varric Tethras.

This is incredible! This is unprecendented! In my opinion, it's up there with getting Briala a title and disbanding the Templar order as one of the most revolutionary things an Inquisitor can do—exclusive to an elven Inquisitor because of their clan connections, and hidden within this little line of optional war table operations.

I just think it's really neat.

#lavellan #clan lavellan #inquisitor lavellan #dragon age meta #dragon age inquisition #wycome #duke antoine #dragon age #dalish #dalish elves #city elves

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heniareth · 6 months

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Genres of popular Alienage songs, some specific to Denerim (many of these and especially the last one are courtesy of @bumblewarden ):

We Have To Work Tomorrow, Let's Get Drunk

We Have Finished Working For The Day, Let's Get Drunk

That Bastard Drank Away All The Money, Hope It's Nice To Sleep On The Street You Utter Moron

Love I Am Sorry For Drinking Away All The Money - The Hell You Are! Now Go Away (a soprano-barritone speak and answer duet)

Damn I Hope Work Finishes Soon

I Want To Kill My Boss (with metaphors)

I Want To Kill The Tax Collactor (with metaphors)

I Want To Kill The Local Lord (so many metaphors)

Ailill Got Into A Fight And Escaped The Guard

Ailill Got Into A Fight And Got Hanged For It

Little Lilan Killed A Rat

I Am A Woman And Violence Has Been Done Unto Me

I Am A Woman And Violence Has Been Done Unto Me, So I Am Poisoning Them

My Child Is Leaving For Their Wedding

I Am Leaving For My Wedding And I Can't Wait To Get Out Of Here

I Am Leaving For My Wedding And I Really Really Don't Want To Leave

Aw Fuck I Don't Like My Spouse

Holy Shit I Really Like My Spouse!?

Holy Shit I Really Like My Neighbor's Spouse (with metaphors)

Hey I Saw You Kissing Your Neighbor's Spouse (no metaphors)

Beware The Sea It's Full Of Monsters (in which the monsters are metaphors for slavers)

Garahel Killed The Archdemon

Garahel Killed The Archdemon And Still They Treat Us Like Shit

Hey Loghain We Fought With You Where's Our Reward (with some metaphors)

The Exploits Of The Hero Of Ferelden (with metaphors)

Alidda Killed The Chevaliers (so many metaphors)

The Exploits Of The Dark Wolf (ALL OF THE METAPHORS WHAT ARE YOU A SNITCH!?)

#dragon age #dao #da2 #dai #dragon age origins #dragon age 2 #dragon age inquisition #city elves #the alienage #alienage #the denerim alienage #dragon age headcanon

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dalishious · 11 months

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I may have this all wrong, but is it just me or does there seem to be this trend in the (Dalish positive spaces of) fandom, where city elves' culture is seen as "less" of a culture than the Dalish's and less connected to the Dales (Not helped by the source material)? As an example, recently some people were talking about how an elf PC would feel about Orlais being so huge because they took over the Dales and the only ones anybody brought up were Mahariel and Lavellan, as if Tabris and Surana would somehow have less of a connection to the Dales, which idk feels a little odd, given how clearly inspired the city elves are from the Jewish and Romani peoples.

Obviously the Dalish do have more information about a lot of things! And I'm not denying that! But there's this lingering implication that happens when people talk about city/circle elves that, as an example, none of them could believe in the Elvhen gods without being Dalish because otherwise it would be cultural appropriation somehow despite it being just as much their culture as the Dalish's?

I could be reading into this incorrectly, (social cues and reading between the lines is not my forte) hence why I wanted to run it by someone else, but it sits with me very uncomfortably given their real life counterparts

A few thinks to unpack here...

While it's true that city elves and Dalish elves have developed individual aspects of culture based on their surroundings, they are still all of the same people. This opinion in-game is argued between different characters, but I firmly stand on the side of those who favour a unified elven identity. And if someone were to argue that because their cultures are different, well, the same could be said of individual Dalish clans--and yet no one argues that the Dalish are not grouped together because of that.

Subsequently, city elves have just as much a right to claim their ancestors of the Dales as the Dalish do.

The only reason most city elves are Andrastian is because it's illegal for them to worship the Elven Pantheon, at least publicly. But this doesn't stop some elves from doing so! For example, the quest "Flowers for Senna" in DA:I has you place flowers on the grave of a deceased partner for a widowed elf who recites "may your ashes be gathered by Falon'Din," and says to Lavellan, "You are Dalish? My Senna and I, we kept to the old ways as we could, though I know we are as children to you." This is not cultural appropriation because you cannot appropriate your own culture, and I reiterate: city or Dalish, they are all elves and they all have the same ancestors.

#ask #city elves

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lgvalenzuela · 11 months

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I thought about how a rol reversal would look with my DA main characters, here's the concepts for Rune🖤

Champion!Rune never went to the Circle because she was better at hiding her magic (not like Canon!Rune who has lived all her life in the Circle and doesn't know anything else) I'm guessing her family moved to Kirkwall just because a lot of refugees seemed to, and stablished themselves at the Alianage, but Rune grew a reputation the same way, being extremely resourceful and very powerful. I have fun picturing her with a family since Canon!Rune doesn't know anything about her past. She would get along really well with Anders but they don't have the same close brother/sister relationship they have in my canon. And she would adore Merrill, she's fascinated by Dalish culture because Rune is and always will be a nerd. I think she would romance Fenris which is really funny cause he's the only character I haven't romanced in canon (besides Sebastian)

Inquisitor!Rune is the First of her Clan, just like Lavellan, she mantains her serious and cold personality, with a goofy side nobody sees coming. And extremely against everything about the Inquisition especially them trying to deny her heritage so she'd be really agressive about that. Like the Champion version I had fun envisioning a universe where she knows her biological family and her Clan. She gets along mostly with other mages because like I said she's a nerd and she loves studying, especially Solas. But she would be fascinated by Sera and Cole. In this case I don't know who she would romance, I don't think any of them are her type.

#mine doodles #dragon age #dragon age origins #dragon age 2 #dragon age inquisition #rune surana #rol reversal au #champion!rune #inquisitor!rune #city elves #dalish #city elf #surana #warden surana #the warden #my art #digital art #character design

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cool-kink-sis · 7 months

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I love the idea that city, dalish and ancient elves all look different. Like the difference between city and dalish are kinda small; different eye shapes as in the dalish have the biggest eyes, biggest ears and they're taller. They have evolved over the generations of having to be constantly aware.

City elves' eyes, ears and stature are smaller.

All this to lead to the fact that I really like the idea that any modern day elf looks at Solas and has the uncanny valley feel from him. His eyes are small, his shoulders broad, he's taller than any Dalish (5'7 is average height for the Dalish), long fingers, a very angular face.

People thinking he's half but his ears are as pointed as any of theirs.

Also love the idea that Sera calling him droopy ears is because Solas (for an ancient elf) actually has bigger than normal ears. Right size for the Dalish but not for an ancient elf. Maybe he got some comments back then too 😂

Just elves nowadays giving him a glance and freezing like "Wow, he's weird looking! No, don't point at him, he might come over." Has a little shiver. "Creepy."

Solas is a skin walker to modern day elves.

#ancient elves #dalish elves #city elves #solas #dragon age inquisition

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elvhenfaer · 11 months

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Soooo, I’m writing through Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts (one of my readers has never played the game and another one was really excited about the ball and I must appease my fans or else I’d just skip that shit altogether) and I have come to a realization.

I want a War Table operation SPECIFIC to the ending in which you force all three players to work for you in which you return the Dales to the elves. Why is that not a thing? Especially for a Lavellan but there’s no reason other Inkys couldn’t do this.

The Second Exalted March was trash. “We’re just gonna redact everything having to do with Shartan and take the homeland the elves have now been occupying for 300 years in an expansionist religious war” was a literal Orslesian crusade.

If I were the Inquisitor and forced all those politicians to be beholden to me the first thing I would do would be to fix that. You could legit be like “I am the voice of Andraste and she’s pissed that you forswore your oath to her bestie Shartan so we have to make her happy, right?”

#dragon age #dragon age inquisition #herald of andraste #Andrastianism #lavellan #Dalish #dalish culture #city elves #dai

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warpedlegacywrites · 4 months

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Chapter 9: "The Keeper and the Dreamer"

Rosalie is feeling listless and without purpose. During an outing with Cullen in search of a carpenter, she finds an answer in an unexpected place. Cullen finds a ghost from his past.

“I’ve got to go into town today.” Cullen nods toward the newly-created stack of kindling. “Most of this has to be completely replaced, so I’ll need a reliable carpenter. Why don’t you come with me?” Rosie glares at him. “Are you humouring me?” “No.” Liar . “I have no gift for negotiation – Tess usually handles that. And she told me you’re the reason we get our milk delivered for three coppers less than our neighbours.” “That’s just ‘cause the milkmaid’s sweet on me.” He glances up at her, uncertain. “Are you serious?” She rolls her eyes. “No.” Yes .

He laughs it off nervously, not looking entirely convinced, and says to meet her downstairs in a half hour so he can clean and change. She takes the time to find something more flattering than her plain house dress, deciding on the red tunic with green embroidery around the hem. It complements her rounded figure nicely, emphasising her ample curves without being ostentatious. A pair of loose-fitting trousers will allow airflow and prevent chafing from the heat. Her hair, she combs with her fingers and pulls into a messy bun. It probably won’t matter – she’ll be a sweaty mess before they even reach the market square – but at least it elongates her neck and keeps it off her back. She also takes stock of items the kitchen still needs. If they’re going to market, she can probably scan the potters for some good baking dishes, and they could use a few more spices for variety. Then she waits down in the vestibule, now mostly empty of boxes, admiring how the skylight’s angled glass panes cast a refracted pattern of light across the marble floor. Boot heels sound, and she turns to see Cullen enter from the grand staircase, dressed simply in brown cotton trousers, a sleeveless leather jerkin, and white linen undershirt, the sleeves rolled up his forearms. “Ready?” Rosie nods, but her eyes catch the sword hilt protruding prominently from his waist, and she stops. He notices, and smiles reassuringly. “Not to worry. It’s mostly just a deterrent.” She’s sure he means that to be comforting, but can’t help fretting over “mostly”.

DAFF Tag List: @rakshadow, @rosella-writes, @effelants, @bluewren, @breninarthur, @ar-lath-ma-cully, @dreadfutures, @ir0n-angel, @inquisimer, @crackinglamb, @theluckywizard, @nirikeehan, @oxygenforthewicked, @exalted-dawn-drabbles, @melisusthewee, @blarrghe, @agentkatie, @delicatefade

#my writing #the black city #while time remains #tbc: wtr #theresa trevelyan #cullen rutherford #rosalie rutherford #merrill #feynriel #kirkwall #alienage #city elves

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