168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dragon Age's Elves aren't the usual fantasy kind established by J.R.R T🐭olkien's The Lord of the Rings, where Elves are an undying race with special magical t🅠alents and an established, sprawling society. The elves in Dragon Age could have been described this way, once upon a time, but have fallen far and hit rock bottom.
The Elven kingdom was destroyed by the Chantry years before the start of the games, leaving the surviving Elves with two choices: submit to Chantry laws and live in human cities, or survive on the fringes of society in nomadic Dalish clans. As Dragon Age: 4 looms in the back of fans' minds 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:and Elves promise to have a huge role, here's a quick refresh on the differences betwee💙n Da🀅lish and City Elves.
Updated August 18, 2021, by Gabrielle Huston: In honour of TheGamer's Dragon Age Week, we've updated this article with new entries about the differences between Dalish elves and City elves, as well as details for every entry about where this cultural marker is seen in canon Dragon Age content.
14 Dalish: Nomadic ಞ 🦂
with large wagons called Aravels. They never get very close to any major human settlement, preferring the remote forests and regions where most races don't dare tread.
Since they seldom meet humans, the Dalish rely heavily on hunting and foraging,😼 as well as the milk produced by Halla (a kind of strꦜong, white deer that pull the Aravels). This nomadic lifestyle leads to Elves who are strongly community-minded and fearful of outsiders.
Where Can We See This?
- by choosing the Dalish Elf Origin in Dragon Age: Origins
- visiting Merrill's clan in Dragon Age 2
- in the Exalted Plains in Dragon Age: Inquisition
13 🍒 City: Live 🧸in Alienages
The City Elves live in major human cities like Denerim or Val Royeaux. The slums where they live are called Alienages. These neighbourhoods are notoriously poor, dismal, and falling apart.
The Alienages were established by a previous Divine after the Exalted March on the Dales so that Elves who submitted to their power would have a place to live among the people. Humans like to feel good about themselves since Elves haven't been formally enslaved in hundreds of years, but the current state of the Alienages is undoubtedly a form of financial enslavement.
Where Can We See This?
- the Denerim Alienage during the City Elf origin and at the end of Dragon Age: Origins
- the Kirkwall alienage in Dragon Age 2, which Merrill moves into
- the Edgehall alienage in the comic series Dragon Age: Knight Errant
12 Dalish: Still🐈 Worship The Elven Gods
The Dalish worship a pantheon of five gods and four goddesses known as "the Creators." The leaders of the pantheon are the goddess of motherhood and justice, Mythal, and the god of fatherhood and ven🐎geance, Elgar'nan.
The fifth god, Fen'Harel (the Dread Wolf), was thought to be different fr🐎om the rest of the pantheon since he could travel between the Creators and their enemies, called "the Forgotten Ones." During Dragon Age: Inquisition and its DLC, fans learned that these gods were not actually divine, but simply extraordinarily powerful mages who rose to power above their peers.
Where Can We See This?
- Dalish in Dragon Age: Inquisition wearing vallaslin to represent particular gods
- the Dalish clan during Nature of the Beast quest, who worship the pantheon
- talking to Merrill and her clanmates in Dragon Age 2
11 City: Adopted 🉐the Faith of Andraste and the Maker 💃
When the first city Elves submitted to human rule, they were forced to accept many human traditions - especially the worship of the Maker and his bride, Andraste. The way Elves in alienages worship is notably꧑ different from the usual human form, but they worship the Maker all the same.
Markers of the Elven culture, such as the tree in the centre of every alienage, and certain facial tattoos, are attempts by Elves to retain their identity (despite the Chantry's best efforts).✅ Some Elves simply pretend to worship the Maker and secretly worship the pantheon instead.
Where Can We See This?
- Andrastian wedding during City Elf Origin in Dragon Age: Origins
- the elves bow to the Keeper upon her arrival in the Alienage during Dragon Age 2
10 Dalish: Train Mages Within The Clan 💝 ܫ
The lore in Dragon Age is 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:infa♋mously unclear about how mages are treated among the Dalish. Dalish clans are run by a mage because they're the best equipped to carry forward the old Elven c꧑ulture when all Elves used to be mages. This mage is called the Keeper, and the Keeper's "First" is the title given to the young Elven mage being trained to inherit the Keeper's role.
Many sources agree that Dalish clans share mages, and send young people to other clans where a mage hasn't been born naturaꦦlly. However, they disagree about what the Dalish do if another clan can't be found. Some people say that clans will have a "First", a "Second", a "Third", and so forth as necessary. Others claim that clans b🅠elieve having too many mages in a clan is a recipe for disaster, so young mages are abandoned or killed.
Where Can We See This?
- Minaeve, a young elven woman in Dragon Age: Inquisition who was abandoned by her clan
- multiple mages are found in Zathrian's unnamed clan in Nature of the Beast during Dragon Age: Origins
- Merrill discusses how mages will be moved between clans in Dragon Age 2
- Notable Clan Firsts include the elven mage Inquisitor in Dragon Age: Inquisition, Merrill in Dragon Age 2 and the Dalish Elf Origin in Dragon Age: Origins, and Lanaya of the unnamed clan in Nature of the Beast during Dragon Age: Origins
9 City: Mages Are Sent To The Ci🍒rcle ꦦ
Young Elves in the Alienage who start to exhibit magical abilities are eventually identified by a Templar and are forcefullyജ taken to the local Circle. This wa🥂s the case for Fiona, Alistair's mother and a Grey Warden mage.
The Circle was one of the human traditions that the city Elves had to adopt when they submitted during the Exalted March. It h⛄ad a more sinister mꦫotive, however. If magical Elves were allowed to stay with their community, the culture would have stayed more intact, which humans couldn't allow.
Where Can We See This?
- if you choose to play a Mage in Dragon Age: Origins, you are sent to the Circle regardless of race
- Fiona, who appears in Dragon Age: Inquisition, is an elf who was a circle mage before becoming a Grey Warden
8 𝐆 Dalish: Vallaslin
The Dalish coming-of-age ritual is when they are tattooed with Vallaslin (tr🍌anslated into Common as 'Blood Writing) on their face. The ceremony has no assigned age - it is performed when the young man or wo🦩man is mature enough. They have to be able to complete the process in total silence; crying out in pain is an indication that the Elf is not yet mature enough to handle it.
Each design represents a particular god or goddess from the Elven pantheon. The Vallaslin 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:appeared as early as Dragon Age: Orig🃏ins, but it wasn't clarified which style correlated to which God until Dragon A🍷ge: Inquisition.
Where Can We See This?
- Dalish characters have Vallaslin in every Dragon Age game - for example, Merrill in Dragon Age 2, Zathrian in Dragon Age: Origins, and Hawen in Dragon Age: Inquisition
- young clan members are shown not to have tattoos, like Minaeve in Dragon Age: Inquisition, who was abandoned by her clan at a young age
7 🌱 🐓 City: Tattoos, But Not Religious
In 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dragon Age: Origins, gamers who chose to play a city Elf could tattoo their character with all the same face tattoos as the Dalish Elf character could. It was later clar🤡ified (retconned) that the city Elves don't wear Vallaslin. If they are tattooed, it's through normal human methods with ink, and not nec🐻essarily religious.
The process of "blood writing" may have been magical, removing Elven mages from the community might have stunted the practice especially. The NPCs that the Warden meets in the city Elf introduction, or later during the Landsmeet quest, are generally bare-faced.
Where Can We See This?
- elves who live in the Denerim and Kirkwall Alienages do not have tattoos on their faces
- a City Elf Origin Warden has the option of choosing from a variety of tattoos
6 Dalish: Recovering Cultural Artifacts Keeps The Culture Alive ✱
The Dalish are deadly serious about preserving their culture. The average clan members use a number of Elven words in day-to-day conversation, and the clan's Keeper and First are expected𒆙 to be fluent in the language.
Due to their nomadic lifestyle, Dalish Elves can travel to ruins that were previously forgotten or lost and attempt to recover parts of their culture that were scattered throug🐲hout Thedas after the Exalted March. The Dalish Elf origin story in Dragon Age: Origins follows two young Dalish hunters who stumble upon a lost Elven artifact.
Where Can We See This?
- the Dalish Origin in Dragon Age: Origins features the player and a companion discovering an Eluvian, a very old Elven artifact that they want to bring back to their tribe for its cultural significance
- during Dragon Age: Inquisition its discussed how the Dalish believe all cultural artifacts belong to all Dalish, and will trade them between tribes
- in the book Dragon Age: The World of Thedas, Volume 2, it's discussed how Dalish elves have no written history - it's entirely passed down orally, meaning that artifacts are all they have for proof
5 City: V🐷henadah🌜l Keeps The Culture Alive
One of the last connections that the city Elves have to their racial heritage is the Vhenadahl, a huge tree that grows in the centre of every Elven Alienage. Each alienage has diff💖erဣent traditions surrounding the Vhenadahl.
In the DLC "The Darkspawn Chronicles", the Ar𝕴chdemons particularly emphasizes the destruction of Denerim's Vhenadahl. It's not clear whether this is due to t𒅌he impact it would have on their morale, or some potential magical power it could have, but its importance is clear either way.
Where Can We See This?
- as mentioned, the Archdemon emphasizes the destruction of the Vhenadahl
- a Vhenadahl appears in both the Kirkwall and Denerim Alienages in Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Origins
- Sera discusses how the elves in Denerim would "pray" at the Vhenadahl
- the wood of a Vhenadahl is sometimes used for as a very special material for weapons; in Dragon Age: Awakening, the wood of the Vhenadahl is a Tier 8 material