#clan sabrae

[proffbon]

CLAN SABRAE MENTIONED

(But not the fact that the Hero of Ferelden is from that clan because fuck you and your worldstate)

[certifiedbundleofsticks-art]

"They played with the animals, whispered to the trees, and bathed in the lakes and streams. Their days were filled with bliss, and they did not know sorrow." — From The Story of Falon'Din and Dirthamen, as told by Gisharel, Keeper of the Ralaferin clan of the Dalish elves

[ghostwise]

Of course. You know I'd do anything for you.

You cannot make me serve against my will.

Every important undertaking carries with it some level of risk.

It's a keeper's job to remember.

and here they are together <3 doodled portraits of the Sabrae kids

[aldruiel-scribbles]

With how important Clan Sabrae became to the story of DAO and DA2 (and how much information we gain of Elvhenan through small details), I think it would've been amazing for the elven inquisitor to be from this clan instead of lavellan. Specially with a certain egg, the eluvians, and the Temple of Mythal. It could've added more weight to their background story.

[elf-luthiel]

Mahariel’s Letter To Lavellan:

To Their Worship, Inquisitor Lavellan: I appreciate your warning regarding Corypheus. Fortunately, my own search has taken me out of the area where the supposed magister is operating, and while I have encountered challenges of my own, they have not involved any weakness related to my Grey Warden abilities. As I have little useful information to offer, please accept the accompanying gifts instead. If, in my quest, I find anything that may be of use to you in your fight against Corypheus, I will send it to you immediately. I have also included a note of a personal nature for Warden Alistair. Please take care of him. Like me, he was instrumental in ending the last Blight. I trust his compassion and his strength above any other's, and I would not go though such effort to overcome our Callings only to lose him to your Inquisition. In closing, I wish you luck. This world of the shemlen is a difficult one for our kind, and I can only imagine the pressure of leading the Inquisition, an organization dedicated to the Chantry, while staying true to the Way of the Three Trees. May Mythal protect you in your quest, and Andruil bless your hunt. Yours, Warden-Commander Mahariel of Ferelden

[gobs-archive]

I had the honor of participating in the @arlathanxchange this year, and I got @/cartographicalspine on AO3

I chose to do a Merrill/Tamlen fanfic for them, featuring an AU where Tamlen survives and becomes a Grey Warden. I also drew an accompanying sketch for them.

Please check it out on my AO3 account

Fanfic: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47283478

Art: https://archiveofourown.org/works/47283844

[patissonthepumpkin]

Oh, yes, thank you, someone explored it. Haven't seen anyone talking about it.

Also, some buggy thought of mine as of late: when I first discovered this piece of lore about dalish and attitude towards spirits (generally cautious) the whole ordeal with freeing Feynriel in 'Night Terrors', the method proposed by Marethari herself, mind you, feels shifty. There are layers to this whole situation ofc with him being somniari (rare huge magic talent too good to let slip) and half-human. But you know, when you realise that spirits and fade are not usually the first places where dalish traditionally search for answers, everything Marethari does feels off. Heck, that was why they alienated Merril in the first place. Except what Merril did was the last resort to not-very-dalish method for a very-dalish problem, and everything Marethari did was...nothing like that.

I want to talk a little bit about the narrative function of Clan Sabrae attacking Merrill during in A New Path plays within Merrill’s story as a whole, because I’m not sure people realise it’s foreshadowed during Merrill’s introductory quest, Long Way Home. It’s a very easy juxtaposition, in truth, but I’ll start with a disclaimer.

What this post is not about #1: This post is not about the validity of A New Path’s portrayal of genocide. In a game series that both lore internally and lore externally (in its appropriation of the genocide of indigenous peoples in the Americas and Australia) acknowledges the function of the Chantry, racial supremacy, and settler colonialism on the Dalish, it is disingenuous and tasteless to narratively portray the eradication of entire clans as the fault of werewolves, demons, internal conflict, freak accidents, and mistakes on the part of the player character, instead of as a deliberate campaign. Other people closer to the issues have talked about this in more detail, and I am not going to here. This post is about what the quest as it exists is meant to represent narratively, and not meant as a justification for its larger context within Thedas or our world.

Long Way Home

Hawke: Can’t demons possess Dalish mages?

Merrill: It can happen, and when it does, the clan must hunt and kill their own Keeper.

All the way in Act 1, we have Merrill relaying to us some basic the ins-and-outs of Dalish society. This dialogue is the result of an optional question Hawke may ask, but within a mandatory conversation and not excluded by other dialogue choices, so it’s hard to miss. Pretty much immediately upon meeting Merrill, we discover that she is a mage, and we discover how the Dalish traditionally deal with the threat of demonic possession among their mages. If a mage is possessed, the rest of the clan (presumably the hunters specifically) will hunt and execute the possessed mage.

What this post is not about #2: This post is not about the validity of this practice. It is not about the validity of the death penalty, peer enforced punishment, or the stigma that exists around possessed mages. Obviously between Wynne & Faith, Anders & Justice, the Avvar, and Rivaini Seers, the danger a possessed mage poses may vary, and there are other ways to deal with it culturally. This post isn’t about any of that. It’s about the fact that the Dalish *do* have a tradition and protocol for handling possessed mages, and it is execution.

And Merrill is very dedicated to tradition.

A New Path

Merrill: I’ve called to the spirit, but he doesn’t seem to hear. He was sealed in an artifact on Sundermount. I have to look for him there.

Merrill: But… if things go wrong… if he possesses me. I need you to strike me down.

Merrill calls upon the practice at the beginning of A New Path. She’s had quite the falling out with her clan over the course of the game, but she is still dedicated to the Dalish tradition, and asks Hawke to fulfill the role of her clansmen for her. If I get possessed, you hunt me down and kill me.

This is obviously not what happens during A New Path. Marethari is the one that is possessed. The other members of the clan are nowhere to be seen. Merrill carries out what she sees as her duty as part of the clan and kills the possessed Keeper. And it’s at this point the hunting party arrives.

Hawke: The Keeper turned into a demon. We had no choice.

Ineria: There would have been no demon if it weren’t for this flat-eared bitch!

Feneral: We’ve suffered enough because of this traitor. It ends now!

And then they attack.

So this final act in A New Path becomes a bastardisation of Dalish tradition. There is a possessed mage in the clan, Marethari, but the clan doesn’t gather to hunt and execute her. Instead they turn on the mage who is not possessed. And ultimately that failure to stick to tradition becomes their downfall.

Which is what Merrill has been arguing about with her clan the whole game: they’re turning away from their heritage when they discard the Eluvian, they lack appropriate leadership, they’re willfully ignorant and unwilling to let historical context inform their current actions and, if that doesn’t change, all of it will be their downfall. And, when they attack her during A New Path, she’s finally proven right. Just not in the way she ever wanted.

[vigilskept]

i have to say it’s really fucking funny replaying dai as lavellan because you’ve just gotten used to datv “people pleaser” harding only to see her again, 10 years younger, and have her say directly to your face: “it's odd for a dalish elf to care what happens to anyone else”

[dalish-rogue]

Happy Dragon Age Day from my current worldstate!

💙 Warden Nelya Mahariel (archer rogue, Zevran romance) ❤️ Champion Garrett Hawke (primal/force mage, Anders romance) 💚 Inquisitor Herah Adaar (two-handed warrior, Blackwall romance) 💜 Rook Faye Mercar (veil ranger rogue, Lucanis romance)

[rivilu]

''One night she.. simply walked into the moonlight and never returned''

I've been thinking about my Mahariel's mother a lot lately.

And my personal headcannons about those events in general. Particularly the concept of ''Mahariel is only alive because Marethari as the new keeper used blood magic to heal(?) their mother after she and their father were attacked''.

[I dont put that level of hypocrisy above her. After all, she herself is not above having shady dealings with dangerous powers, despite ousting and ostracizing her own for lesser offenses in that area. And given actions such as 'using the old magic to heal you'.. of the blight? Which you're then sufficiently recovered from until you make it to Ostagar on foot, the phrasing of 'your mother held on to life long enough to give birth to you'.. It presents a rather haunting image even when looking at it through a charitable lens. It's not like Marethari HAS NOT shown a pattern of counting certain lives as more valuable than others. And not wincing at the blood price of 'helping' them.]

In any case, in terms of Mahariel's mother.. the clan failed her. From the very start when no-one stepped in to stop the keeper getting involved with a young woman whose clan disapproved, to the very end when no-one stopped her walking off into the moonlight.

I just have this picture in my mind of her as the lone survivor, questionably alive even, rose tinted glasses shattered and reckoning with the horrors of her situation she hadn't fully recognized until that point.

The differences in age, in power. The reasons why her elders did not approve the match. Yet there's nothing to be done now.

He's dead, she's with child.

She can't go home, but the idea of staying is a nightmare.

No happy ending could ever come of this.

[proffbon]

Clan Sabrae roadtrips live rent free in my head

[certifiedbundleofsticks-art]

merrill doodle

i headcanon her with heterochromia because I like her with the blue in origins and the green in 2

face is wonky but eh. just doodling. also the saturation is fine and rich on my PC but it looks kind of cold and desaturated on my phone so i have no idea what it looks like lmao

[heroinesofthedas]

Assuming Lutare isn't Bellara's clan name*, do we ever learn of Bellara and Davrin's clan names?

*(I know Mahariel's clan name was Sabrae, which is obviously different from well, Mahariel so last name isn't indictive of clan for the Dalish depsite a Lavellan Inquisitor being introduced as being "from Clan Lavellan" during their game).

[watcher1ngellvar]

Y'all, Veilguard beat the allegations! No opportunity to needlessly slaughter a whole Dalish clan! Woo!

[a-gay-bloodmage]

Day 12: Remote 

(Morrigan x Orest Mahariel)

As Orest Mahariel and Morrigan look for the best place for her to give birth, they talk about how they’re going to raise their baby. Even if the child will look human, Orest doesn’t want to deny the child a chance to grow up with a connection to elven culture.

[theheartmold]

again learning anything about how the chantry and mages interact from alistair, in a mahariel origin, who has presumably had limited interactions with humans (dialogue in the intro indicates you did not go to the village for trading with shems) is insane. "what's a templar" and alistair describes them specifically as hunting and killing mages. that the chantry wants to control them because they're dangerous. so far things are not boding well for nomaris.