The Blanketfort (crying and throwing up) - The Official Solas Thread [Spoilers]

Well, I know only what Patrick Weekes said:





It's far more recent than that post, he said half-elf is a legal distinction and no genetics were in play.
David Gaiders' post is from 2010, its' been 6 years, a lot of things have changed.

If what Gaider wrote is still valid then perhaps humans are elves + dwarves, though the human race in Thedas is a big one, you'd have to have lots of dwarves bumping bits with lots of elves for that to happen .

ladyiolanthe mentioned that the elves and dwarves traded in the distant past, so it could be possible, but I still doubt the haughty elves would want anything to do with "witless, soulless" dwarves.

I mined that old BSN thread for more info, and in the interest of accuracy, here's another screen capture!This one elaborates on the earlier one, and actually states that the child of an elf and a dwarf looks fully like a dwarf. Not a taller dwarf or a short human. So, perhaps that puts my speculations about humans being elf/dwarf offspring to rest.



ETA: Top of the page, so I need to post a Solas pic. Since it's Thursday, let's make it a throwback Thursday! One of the early companion reveal photos of Solas, with no shirt flaps. I remember thinking he looked a bit like Leonard Nimoy's Spock in the 1960s Star Trek original series (and liking the fact that he did!)

Art post

Gorgeous artwork of painter Solas by needapotion.
Source: needapotion.tumblr.com/post/149149189226/only-because-i-missed-him

Solas with his shiny head.
Source: tfwshems.tumblr.com/post/149150765234/style-experimentation-with-solas

Solas placing a blanket over a tired Lavellan sleeping on his desk.
Source: currently-nostalgic.tumblr.com/post/149155732853/i-drew-some-solavellan-trashophelia-and-solas

Elves definitely had contact with sha-brytol and even if more modern like dwarves existed, they didn't realise it. Or this codex is pure propaganda to paint enemy as more animalistic, which is more likely. I don't think it's about darkspawn.

As for elven reproduction we have to consider two models of inheritance of elven traits:

1. Elves are just humans when we remove their super magic genes (or humans are elves without elven traits) and only this one trait of elfyness is not inherited when they have offspring with other races. The elfyness is modificator of their other traits. Makes their eyes bigger, their frame more lithe and gives them pointy ears, and is responsible for their connection to the fade. But their height (unmodified by elfiness genes), color of hair, eyes and skin, face features can be easily inherited by their offspring. The Feynriel is perfect example of this - his father is brown haired, green eyed human and his mother is blonde, yellow eyed elf. Feynriel is human but he has light hair and yellow eyes and his face features resemble those of his mother.

2. Elves mostly don't give their offspring their traits when they mate with other races . The reproduction is possible, but their children resemble much more their other parent. The elfyness is not responsible for modification of some traits but is the basic state of their features (elves not being humans with pointy ears but something completely different). Examples for this theory are Alistair and Michael de Chevin. Alistair looks nothing like Fiona, they don't share any similar feature in their appearance. Michael de Chevin looks completely human, while Feynriel has some resemblance to his elven ancestors (strange shape of nose, long face).

Personally I think that the first theory is true. If we add the facial features to traits heavily modified by elfyness magic genes and look at Feynriel more like a oddity than rule, we can simply explain all cases of elf-blooded humans. The half dwarves would look like they were described, because they would inherit some genes responsible for human like height from elf parent, but look more like humans because lack of the elfyness.

Apparently Feynriel is a mistake

Wow, you mean I was actually right about that?  I'm not usually right about stuff like this lol.

I'm kinda hoping we will lead a secret slave uprising so we can have HQ in some mysterious hidden location, perhaps pulling out a book to open a door or something else equally cliché.

*Sigh*

Sometimes I wonder if the BioWare art team is all kept in a cave, communicated only with one of those soup-can wire phones, with the wire being periodically chewed on by mice. Occasionally someone comes around to drop off food and collect the art tithe, before they are all locked once more in the dark and the cycle begins anew.

It's Friday!

Screenshot Time!
Hey...its gives me reasons to share - sneaks back off to tavern.

I think that what makes elves elves aren't genetics as well, I mean, I'm pretty sure that's what PW means in this tweet:




The only option you are left with is magic.

It's kind of interesting once you think about it, the elves of Thedas, while very different from their ancestors, are still elves. If elves are elves because of magic that would mean that once the Veil is removed they might undergo some serious changes and become more like the ancient elves.
If I had to guess I'd say the reason the current elves are so small (both shorter and skinnier than humans) is because they are magically malnourished. Like a child that doesn't get eat well won't grow up well, an elf that isn't connected to the Fade won't reach full growth potential. I'm guessing that elven children born after the sundering of Veil would be as big as ancient elves.

I don't think we should necessarily not look at this from scientific point of view - thing is that Thedosian science is different than ours. Therefore applying OUR genetics to Thedas is a mistake, especially that the writers have explicitly stated that elves *do not* work in terms of genetics.

We know that there's an entire realm of magic that cannot be classified as either 'physical' or 'genetic'. Therefore there's no point trying to cram it all into genetics, especially that we pretty much know that Thedosians consists of body AND spirits, and the spiritual and immaterial has an effect on physical world through means different than what we know on Earth. Spirits are beings who exist entirely outside of gene pools and so on, and yet they can still influence living things. 
In fact in balcony scene Solas can state that Inqusitor may not be different from anyone in terms of body but implies heavily that they're different in terms of spirit, which - who knows - perhaps makes them uniquely predisposed to, say, survive and wield the Anchor in a way not even Solas could predict. 

In fact many notable characters have it pointed out that they shine brighter in the Fade or have greater power than others (all PCs in every game, Calpernia, Wynne, and so on), and we know that elves have deeper connection to the Fade than other races (and after Trespasser we know that they're likely directly related to spirits; call them 'brethren of the air' and one of the codices suggests hat the spirit is basically an elf that has yet not manifested from the Fade).

IMO the basic idea for inheritance in Thedas is that not only GENES are important - MEMES are as well (not that of the internet variety, but what the word has been initially been created for: a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition and replication in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes).

I don't really think we have to worry about 'believable travel times' now that the eluvian network is open, and Trespasser suggests that Dorian will be trying to create his own... I wouldn't however be surprised if Inquisition used Montilyets' new fleet to move larger cargo or whatever.