EVANURIS | THE CREATORS

They are just like me forreal

every time I see film of a platypus I am struck again by how small they are

nearly every male party member in dai took one look at cole and asked “is anyone going to parent this kid?” and didn’t wait for an answer

Save me solavellan marriage, save me

“Never Trust Half an Elf:” The Treatment of Multiracial Elves in Dragon Age is Pretty Hurtful

Well this turned out to be quite lengthy, as I realized I had even more to say than I first thought when working on it…

This post has been a long time coming. I’ve certainly not withheld from sharing my opinion on the treatment of characters who are partially elven in Dragon Age before, but it’s about time I go all in. 

All sources of information can be found at the end of the post.

Real Life Connections

It is important to keep in mind when reading this post that the elves of Dragon Age are canonically inspired by Indigenous, Jewish, and Roma peoples. This changes the circumstances to everything. Elves are no longer just a fantasy race with no real life connections; they are heavily coded as oppressed minorities, and any racial/ethnic minority can certainly draw comparisons for that matter.

Terminology and #MagicGenetics

Lets start with the most basic of basics: Children of an elf and another race are referred to as “elf-blooded humans,” “elf-blooded dwarves,” or most commonly just “elf blooded” for short. As someone who is biracial, I don’t walk around saying that I’m a “native blooded white person.” I don’t know a single multiracial person who does that! I say I am Mi’kmaw and white. Because that is what I am. I am just as much one as the other. But here, the very terminology given to elves who have other ancestry places the default on said other ancestry.

In the same conversation that Gaider explained this on the dead forums, he also said that he could see “half-elf” being used as slander… then proceeds to call dwarves who are multiracial “half-dwarves.” BioWare is creating a fantasy world that they control. Why did they decide one is slander and the other not? Because half-dwarves are less common? What does that have to do with terminology? And what about children who are dwarven and elven? Why would a child who is dwarven and elven be an “elf-blooded dwarf” but a child who is dwarven and human a “half-dwarf?” I don’t understand.

I draw the assumption that when saying this, Gaider had the term “half-breed” in mind, which yes, is derogatory. (The only people I can think of who in today’s age I have seen use it to describe themselves are shitheads like Kaya Jones who can fuck right off.) But again, if that is the line of thinking, why do things not add up per race?

What also doesn’t add up per race is just how half elves appear. (Bare with me while I try to reiterate the explanation for this. No, it does not make sense.) 

In The Calling, Fiona says that “The children of humans and elves are human. If we interbred, we would die out,” when Maric notes that Alistair’s ears are perfectly round. (I will expand on this greatly below, don’t you worry.) On the dead forums, Gaider goes onto confirm that children of an elf and any other race only inherit traits from the other race. This is not the case with dwarves, or humans, (and qunari are unknown); elves just have special “adaptive” genes, as he puts it, supernatural in nature. And that even if an ‘elf-blooded human’ and an elf were to have a child, and that child to have a child with an elf, and that child to have a child with an elf… they would still look 100% human, as far as known. (Weekes elaborated on this via Twitter as well, repeating the same thing.)

In attempting to weave together a reason for why they couldn’t have characters with both human and elven physical attributes, (though yay for mods,) it feels like the writers have dug themselves into a hole. A kind of hole that now puts limitations on what can be done, (without retcons, and we all like those kept to a minimal… Though I admit I would certainly make an exception in this case, but that’s getting a little off track.)

For the purpose of brevity, in this post I will be referring to multiracial elves as just that, or as “half elves,” which is the case for most other fantasy worlds with as far as I know, no created negative intent.

I have also wracked my brain trying to come up with the most clear and straightforward way of organizing this post, and decided the best thing to do will be on a character basis: As in, I will go through all the known half elven characters individually to discuss their writing, coming together to form the treatment of multiracial elves as a whole.

And you know I gotta start with my boy, Alistair.

Keep reading

reminder to worldbuilders: don't get caught up in things that aren't important to the story you're writing, like plot and characters! instead, try to focus on what readers actually care about: detailed plate tectonics

@dragonpyre any chance you could elaborate on this

I grew up learning about land formations. Seeing fictional maps that don’t follow the logic and science of them makes me upset

What are the most common sins you’ve seen relating to this? I wanna know

Mordor.

Why is the mountain range square. How did the mountain range form. Why is there one singular volcano in the center. Why does it act like a composite volcano but have magma that acts like it’s from a shield. If it’s hotspot based volcanic activity why is there only one volcano.

And then the misty mountains!!!! Why isn’t there a rain shadow!! And why is there a FOREST where the rain shadow should be!!!!!!!!

So what is a rain shadow?

Wind blows clouds in from the sea, but mountains are so tall the clouds can't get past 'em, so you get deserts on the windward side of mountain ranges because clouds can't get there to water the land, or do so only very rarely.

Oh yeah nothing is more annoying than fantasy maps that can't get mountains, rivers and rain shadows right.

May I recommend my new favorite tool: Mapgen4. You start with a random seed and then add mountains, valleys, shallow water, or oceans as you like. You can adjust the wind direction to make wind shadows off the mountains fall where you want. You can adjust overall raininess to make the rivers larger or smaller, or have more or fewer tributaries. It works best for small, isolated landmasses (think islands more than continents) but as there’s no scale bar and it’s all slightly abstracted anyway you can do whatever you want with it. I’ve only just started playing with it but it’s SO FUN.

more memes

Tales of the Empire: The Battle of Dathomir

We are so back

Your daily reminder

There’s NOTHING wrong with still living with your parent(s). Whether you’re in school, dropped out or graduated. Please take your time, especially if you’re not being pressured to move out. This is your time to really build a solid plan, save money and be sure you won’t have to return once you’re ready to move out. Do not let anyone pressure you because you’re in your 20s and still at home. It’s no joke out here. Believe me. Take your time baby.

i know everyone says 'thats a symptom of adhd' to everything on the internet but fr. thats an underactive dopamine response.

i know everyone says 'thats a symptom of adhd' to everything on the internet but fr. thats an underactive dopamine response.

"Ryder...there is intelligence in its eyes..."

felt inspired by the boops

Can I say something that blows my mind about Varric and Solas’ relationship? Imo Varric was THIS close to actually convincing Solas. we all talk about romanced Lavellan almost getting him to admit everything and possibly give up his plans, but we neeeeddddd to give Varric props like this man was really about to convince a whole ass god (literally named Pride) that he is wrong, that going through with some self destructive attempt at rectifying ur mistakes by destroying the world is Not the proper way to process ur grief, and Varric doesn’t even know he’s doing it. Varric really is the party bard fr the charisma score on this man………..

yes I’m talking about the man on the island banter. Every time I hear it I tear my hair out because VARRIC you almost HAD HIM he was CRUMBLING I just KNOW IT