Intro to eravas 1: How I think the elven gods screwed over everyone

Oh, some really interesting ideas there.

I wish I had access to my game, at the moment, but my wife is sleeping, and I play in the bedroom. Sigh. I have the feeling nearly everyone and everything is going to be tied together by the events involving Elvhenan's fall. We know Solas was the prime mover, there, leading an uprising against the Evanuris and ultimately creating the Veil. There are a lot of other pieces that have yet to be put into place.

We know that the Evanuris, elves or not, were mages, not gods. Solas had been elevated to their ranks, but took exception to their excesses and chose to turn against them. We also know that the Forgotten Ones were the rival "gods" of the Evanuris. Seeing a note ascribed to Geldauren reaffirms to me that the Forgotten Ones were also elves, or no more divine than the Evanuris. I believe that Solas sought to expose the Evanuris as false gods and began teaching their magic to his own pupils. I believe that the Forgotten Ones likely arose from within the ranks of Fen'Harel's "freedom fighter" students. This would explain why he was reckoned as part of both groups, as he'd indeed been part of each group of mages, once.

Whether they were actually as bad as Dalish legend paints them remains to be seen. (Solas' descriptions of Falon'din and Andruil seem pretty horrific.) It's been revealed that much of Fen'Harel's reputation is based upon Evanuris propaganda, tinged with a sad bit of truth in that he did inadvertently destroy the old elvhen world. Either way, when the war threatened the world itself, Solas acted to wipe both groups from the board.

The really intriguing bits come in when Tevinter invades Arlathan with the aid of "demons and dragons". One source says no one is sure what exactly provoked the Tevinters to invade Arlathan. I'm betting the elves provoked the Vints, just as they provoked their own. As to the Tevinter forces, the demons are easy enough to explain; but the dragons are rather curious, especially given the Tevene predilection for dragon gods. The histories paint the Tevinters as commanding this force, but what if it was an alliance? Or, what if the dragons were calling the shots?

I suspect, as PapaCharlie9 was speculating, that the elves had created a great number of enemies. I can't connect all of the dots, yet, and it's beautiful and maddening. We know that they were killing Titans in their quest to subjugate the earth. A lot of bad is implied in the little text we have been given from that era and topic. I believe they gravely wronged the dwarves. They clearly have some tie to the Old Gods, and likely the Blights, but I can't say what. That is potentially a damning connection, though. (Could the Blight corruption be linked to the slaughter of the Titans? Hard to say.)

I suspect that Tevinter, the symbol of all of humanity's ills, could also be proven justified in its initial war upon the elves. At the very least, they were equal partners in aggression, I imagine. The elves were, after all, a people whom Solas himself took action to stop, or rather their rulers were. Whatever the elves were doing threatened the world. It would not at all be shocking to learn that the dragons, men, and dwarves united against them, striking when they were finally vulnerable.


I'm curious to learn what the Scaled Ones' links are to Tevinter, if any. Do they have some link to the dragon cults of ancient Tevinter? We've heard that Reavers can be altered simply by drinking dragon's blood. Are the Scaled Ones a true species, or ancient dragon worshippers? What were they doing in the Deep Roads? Seeking a way to free the Old Gods, perhaps? They could be linked to the Old Gods without being Tevene, naturally.

For that matter, what about the Kossith and the Qunari? What do the Kossith look like now, and who are they? Any link to the Scaled Ones in the ancient past? Did they turn the Qunari into what they are now? (I know that the current understanding is that the Kossith are also horned giants, and the source of ogre darkspawn.) The Qunari having dragon's blood has been strongly hinted, but what's their origin? How interesting if they have ancient links to Tevinter, the nation they are determined to convert by force.

Who are "those from across the sea"? Are these the Kossith? The humans from which come all thedosians? Neither? So many questions.

I have to admit that after what we experienced in the Arbor Wilds, I think the Tevinter were telling the truth when they said they were provoked into action. According to the story in World of Thedas, as the Imperium started to spread they encountered elves in the forest of Arlathan but these elves apparently attacked everyone on sight. The Magisterium then sent representatives to negotiate with the elves, which was likely genuine as this is exactly what Darinius did with the dwarves. Except that the elves weren't interested in any sort of peaceful co-existence and every emissary sent was slaughtered. That sounds exactly what happened when anyone approached the Temple of Mythal. Even when the elves controlled the Dales they were unable to approach the ruins in the Arbor Wilds and anyone who did, never returned.

What seems odd about the Tevinter reaction is that they seemed so loath to move against the elves. This was meant to be the Imperium at its most powerful and yet they delayed 10 years, with the elves becoming increasingly more violent towards anyone who went near the forest, until the Magisterium and Archon finally responded to their citizen's demands to take action. It makes me wonder if the ruling elite knew more than they let on about what they knew about the city in the forest. Then after six years of concerted effort, there was still deadlock and the Imperium was suffering through being engaged in that way, so needed a quick end and it would seem sinking the city into the ground through a powerful blood magic spell by the Archon and leading Magisters working together (not dragons as claimed by the elves) was their only way of finishing it.

It makes one think, the Imperium at the height of its power couldn't actually defeat the elven enclave by conventional forces or magic. I also wonder if it wasn't the Tevinter spell that really sank the city but an enraged Titan, awoken by the magic. It also seems strange how so many elves apparently survived the sinking of the city that they formed the bulk of their new slave workforce. If you sink a city, then surely the majority of the inhabitants would have gone with it? Then we also learn that survivors fled through the deep roads to the sanctuary of Cad'halash Thaig, who took them in, so it would seem the dwarves must have known about the elves in advance or why would the elves have fled there?

Some things still need explaining. I had so many more questions than Solas was prepared to answer.