Epler: “It’s Really Fucked Up That You Have The Option To Kill A Clan Of Dalish Elves In Every Game!”

she would love solas even as a spirit worm :,)

elves fleeing the ruined city of arlathan and being welcomed with open arms into cad'halash thaig. the very spirits that stole the lyrium from their gods and used their newfound bodies to tranquilize them, and yet the dwarves said "come to us, we will shelter you". dwarves and elves alike being destroyed by kal-sharok so as to not jeopardize their alliance with the tevinter imperium. somewhere in cad'halash thaig a dwarf and an elf were holding one another when they died. ir sa tel'nal. isatunoll.

also painted young Mythal last night

dao thru dai: the world is built by unreliable narrators. everyone has a vastly different opinion on things that colors their perception of life and the state of living. there is no one real answer

datv: the veil cant come down because thats bad

As with every group of whispers, they often are thrown in as background noise and reversed. So I took the liberty to reverse the Well of Sorrows whispers and clean up the audio. A mantra of whispers going in circles, sung by a Well.

Some of the Whispers Heard:

Go to the Dirth Mythal speaks for the elves Travel Far She speaks for the elves She’s abelas Mythal She speaks for them both

Also, as a pleasant add on to this oh, so not creepy audio. The Dirth is another name for The Exalted Plains, as a Dalish elf there will tell you. The Exalted Plains/The Dirthavaren (The Promise) was were the last of elven nation fell.

Far more people saved Solas than pet Assan, by the way. LMFAO everyone playing knew who the REAL magical mythical puppy was

this whole idea in both the fandom and the games themselves that being a people attached to their past & a lost civilization is a failing whereas a celebration of the present is something to strive for wrt elven & dwarven culture is something that reads as fundamentally western & liberal to me.

there are so many moments in veilguard where they Almost hit on something really good but then it's never touched again. like. harding has an entire religious crisis that is never touched on outside of that one scene. bellara asks how the dalish culture can continue; what do they keep, and what do they leave behind? the question isn't discussed again. neve thinks it's nbd that mythal chose to side with elgar'nan and remain in power after the war? can we interrogate that? discuss whether or not you can change something from within - and if you should even try?

he knows of the brands. in their journey to crestwood, he asks about hers. he is curious, and they have built a rapport he has come to enjoy. she's a surface dwarf, born far from orzammar, so, why?

she surprisingly admits to him a lyrium deal gone wrong. caught by the guards, and before they tried to take her hands, they held her down and burned it onto her face. she also mentions a daring escape, a furious mother, and a lashing. she laughs at it now, but he can see in her eyes the ancient, unhealed fear.

this is not what he came here for. he had meant to regale her with knowledge of the titans--carefully curated, of course--to give her something to chew on. to keep her focus away from him, where it seems to remain steadfastly these days. but he looks at her and sees the brand and he cannot help himself. "if you like, i know a spell."

she is unfamiliar with magic. could not comprehend that something like this is not possible for any normal hedge mage--that he could take it away. the mistake. restore her. make it all as it once was. she is bewildered, excited. she should not be.

but, foolishly, he allows it to embolden him. takes the naked trust in her eyes that look at him too closely and lets it carry his hands up to her face with a practiced ease. the light from his palm is gentle, flowing like water, and when it is over, she is new. she touches her skin in awe, like the thousands he has helped before her, and what was once a cold place inside him suddenly feels...warm.

ar lasa mala revas. you are free.

she stares, waiting for him to be the mirror through which she sees herself.

the words spill forth, honest and true. "you are so beautiful."

...and so, so unwise.