Schmooples' Den! The DA News Discussion Thread

Yep. 

Rucka wouldn't 'weld' anything if Bioware didn't say OK to it. Book or comic writers can't just take existing story and do with it as they please, especially that what's in auxiliary material is basically canon.

I dispute the notion that auxiliary material is basically canon since Bio has shied away from doing that even with the games and they do often make references to events that could be different via player choice. Like Wynne being alive in Asunder.

Actually, they did not. Mark Darrah and Patrick Weekes have relatively recently made comments that confirm that what is in the comics and in books is basically canon. And it's not just them - there's a direct confirmation of this in subsequent storyline: Asunder has happened, because Cole exists and his story before Inquisition is one from the book. Varric tells us in banter that he has met Sten/the new Arishok - which is something that happened only in the comic book. And so on and so forth.

If I remember correctly, Darrah/Weekes' instruction for when auxilary material's content is at odds with someone's world-state is to imagine that the major events in those side stories have still happened - events may have played out differently, but concluded somewhat similarly.

Wynne IS dead, because she let her Spirit heal Evangeline.

Actually reading through that particular scene again, something particular struck me about one of Felassan's statements which I would be interested to have your opinion on:

"Once my people walked this land as gods. We worked magic that would blind you with its beauty. Now we lurk in the deep forests and prepare for the next time you shemlen do something that upsets the balance of this world."

There are a number of aspects to this statement that are curious in the light of what we now know. Obviously the first statement is true as no one denies that Felassan was an ancient elf from the time of the Evanuris. The second sentence simply shares the same sentiments as Solas, his leader/friend from that time. Now by the end of Masked Empire I was fully convinced that Felassan whilst not necessary an ancient elf who had survived to the present, might definitely be from an enclave of elves that had never been conquered/captured by humans who were the descendents of the ancient elves, although there were a lot of clues that possibly he was an ancient elf who had survived to the present. It was the reason why I never thought that Solas was a simple apostate but that he was likely from the same group of elves as Felassan, who "lurk in the deep forests", just as those in the Temple of Mythal and the Tirashan do.

However, the part that strikes me as curious is the bit I have highlighted. At the time of Masked Empire the accepted version of history (the Chantry one) was that Tevinter were to blame for the Blight through trying to enter the Eternal City. This statement would suggest that Felassan also feels that humans are responsible for whatever evils are currently in the world. Yet in fact, as we discover subsequently, whilst Corypheus and Co might have been guilty of releasing the Blight, they were not responsible for its creation/presence in the world and the one big event that occurred in the past that truly upset the balance of the world was Fen'Harel raising the Veil, which Solas readily admits to. Also the way Solas talks it is this altered reality he wishes to reverse because of the effect it had on his people.

So why does Felassan talk as though the purpose of his people who lurk in the forests is to combat the effects of what humans do in the future? Does that mean he was not aware of what Solas intended to do? Remember at the time of Masked Empire, Corypheus had not caused the Breach and so far as Solas was concerned, once his orb had been activated he was going to enter the Fade, tear down the Veil and restore the world of the elves, with any humans not likely even to survive but if they did they certainly would not be in a position to upset the balance in the future. It seems odd that Felassan should indulge a bit of empty rhetoric simply to antagonise Michel so why was he peddling what is essentially the Chantry version of history to a man who wasn't particularly religious?

Orrrr... you know - Felassan refers to something that we don't know yet and thus fan assumptions are incomplete and thus wrong. 

Not saying that this is the case in this regard, but there were many things in previous books or games that only made sense in context of revelations in subsequent story parts. And given that the book is part of a storyline that ain't yet over, it may be too early to judge.

But to address the relevant part:
A. Corypheus may not have been responsible for the Breach, but he WAS responsible for releasing the Blight from the Golden/Black City - the precedent existed to assume that things of similar caliber may happen again, even if not necessarily directly tied to Corypheus himself.

B. Felassan may be referring to either events we don't yet know about or events that are as consequential from ancient elf perspective. Keep in mind that there are many things about the world, ancient elves or their secret plans (or knowledge of what will exactly happen after Solas realizes his plan) that we don't really know about yet.

Wow.. that site really hates my vpn.

Awesome tea set tho.

Almost without exception in these books I totally hate all the protagonists and people we are supposed to sympathize with and at least understand those painted as the bad guys.

The protags for the most part are selfish traitors.

Shemlen just means "quick-children" or mortal in elvish, and Briala is mortal, as are the other races under the Veil. The modern elves use it as a slur, but most of them don't know its original meaning, or that it applies to them too as mortals (which, once you do know, is supposed to provoke irony).

Solas was perfectly willing to use "Child of the Stone" on Varric, a direct translation of durgen'len. The only reason Solas wouldn't use "shemlen" on any particular mortal is likely that the word is commonly misused as a slur, and it annoys him when the elves get things "wrong", not to mention if he used it correctly he'd be calling himself out as an immortal. He definitely says that the city elves might as well be human, and does not believe the modern elves are his people. Felassan specifically cites Michel as part of his impetus for opposing Solas, so it's not just elves.