#dalish vows

[beetnik-jay]

Let’s all collectively agree the inquisition wedding dress was not what it was

[scribeofmorpheus]

Trsl of the "vows":

Solas: "Ar ghilas vir banal" Lavellan: "Tel banal ar ama. Vir shiral ma lasa, bellanaris"

Dalish vows: “Sylaise enaste var aravel. Lama, ara las mir lath. Bellanaris.”

Okkkayyy, let's get to translating the solavellan "vows" from elvhen more literally! (It is so fun decoding elvhen!)

To make a blueprint for structure, I worked backwards with a phrase we know well:

Ar lasa mala revas

You are free

Ar | lasa | mala | revas

broken down:

Ar: from "ara" which means "my" or "journey" (from ara'vel which means "journey" +"ship") signifies it's singular, so: "me"/"my"/"I". We know it's not "my" because of "ma" or "mir" (ma vhen'an). And "me" makes little grammatical sense. Ar = I

Lasa: means to "to allow" or "to give" (which might come from "las" (hope) + siffix 'a (to be); lasa is the hope of coming to be -- to allow something.

mala: apparently means "now" (thank you project elvhen!)

revas: free/freedom (e.g: fort revasan : revas + an = place of freedom)

Which directly translates to: "I allow now to be free" but contextually is more poetically trsl to:

"I give you now freedom" / "You are free"

Dalish vows

Sylaise enaste var aravel. Lama, ara las mir lath. Bellanaris

Sylaise enaste: (possibly more accurately written as Sylaise'enaste, like Mythal'enaste) "By the grace of Sylaise" / "Sylaise's favour" (beseechment)

var aravel: "our aravel"

Sylaise enaste var aravel: "May Sylaise show favour on our aravel"

Lama: not clear on this one, too close to "nulama" which means "regret". According to project elvhen: "Ama" also means "to keep"/"to take". So "Lama" I read as "I promise" (like "I vow" or "I swear").

ara: my / journey

las: hope

mir: my

lath: love

Bellanaris: "Eternity" (from the "Var Bellanaris" codex in Inquisition).

Lama, ara las mir lath. Bellanaris: "[This] I vow, to hope, my love: Eternity." Possibly: "I vow to journey with hope my love. Forever."

Solavellan vows

Solas: "Ar ghilas vir banal"

Journey | (to the) place | path to | nothing / barren / oblivion OR: "I take the path to a place of oblivion"

Lavellan: "Tel banal ar ama. Vir shiral ma lasa, bellanaris"

(Tel'abelas means: I reject [your] sorrow/sorry)

Tel banal ar ama: "I reject" | "nothing"/"oblivion" | "I" | "to keep"/"to take"/"to protect"

So roughly: "I reject [that] nothing/oblivion, I protect" OR: "I will protect/keep you, [there will be] no oblivion".

Vir: "Path to"/ "way to"

shiral: according to project elvhen, shiral means "a great journey"

ma: "my"

lasa: "allow"

Vir shiral ma lasa, Bellanaris: path to a great journey, [my] allow. For eternity. OR: "Allow me to be on the path to this great journey, for eternity".

WHEW! yeah I see why the subtitles just condensed the meaning!

Tags: @protomun

I love translating the elvhen language, and I really want to translate what the final solavellan dialogue actually translates to.

And if anyone has screencaps of Solas and Elgar'nan speech fighting, feel free to hand them over, I desperately want to translate those!

Give me any elvish you're curious about from dav and I'll try my best to translate!

[andrewknightley]

i love to see Davrin talking dalish stuff!! but i dont know if im looking into it too much but "that "their" at the end... "my kind" and "their camps" oh he really is more Warden than dalish, and he left his clan of course... im really looking forward to see that story

or maybe is just "they" in arlathan ause he is not from there MMMM

[aqun-athlok]

i am Very excited about davrin's reaction to nadia mentioning the dread wolf, mostly because it establishes that he will still be connected to dalish culture, but also i'm thrilled about potential conflict that comes up in veilguard over it.

[winchesternova-k]

this week’s vows and vengeance was so good. davrin is super charming and im so glad he came across as self assured instead of arrogant

[niofo]

i took notice when bellara said that she lost someone bcos she was tinkering with a dangerous artifact, or sth like this, and it really sounds kinda similar to mahariel and tamlen story. i'm of two minds about this personally. like they could make it into some parallel with how merrill eventually manage to fix the eluvian and that it was worth preserving. but also they might as well go into the "dumb dalish messing with technology they don't understand and getting hurt" route that they also kinda tried to show with merrill? (despite merrill being 100% right, it's marethari who fucked up.) and yk, i really hope it's this first instance and bellara is a positive example of someone passionate about history and old technology, but sometimes bioware does bioware.

[randomnonsensedragonage]

Listening to the latest episode of Vows and Vengeance, all I can think is how much Bellara and Aylwen would instantly LOVE each other if they got to interact

Like this:

[kissingwookiees]

now that you've seen this

they have to kill you

[ice-feast]

It wasn't one Dalish clan. It was every Dalish clan.

(Note: this is not uncritical Solas defence. I do think Solas is a fascinating character, but I am not at all interested in defending his shittiness.)

The story goes: the Dread Wolf imprisoned the gods and ran to the Fade to revel in his glee, and all elves are warned that he continually stalks them in their dreams. Listen not the Dread Wolf. He will trick you with his lies.

Solas, we learn, woke up about a year before the events in Inquisition, after millennia of slumber. All his stories about traveling the length and breadth of Thedas, of what he saw in the Fade: he saw because he was in the Fade. The entire history of Thedas seen through others' impressions in their dreams, acted out by spirits.

(it's kind of like using tumblr as your only source of news.)

He probably did reach out to those he met in dreams. But why would they listen? The Dread Wolf lies.

It's implied that the surviving elves are largely descendants of the ancient slave case. Everyone upper-class was either murdered, or died when their floating homes crashed. The academics? Largely gone with the libraries. It's the slaves on the ground who lived, and passed on stories about the man who ruined everything. Fen'harel, the one who got rid of the gods and made our existence bad.

And then? At night, when you dream - now the only means of accessing the Beyond - you meet the Dread Wolf. He tries to explain what he did, his motivations, why the Evanuris were the villains, actually. Why would you listen? He's the bad! He's the one who took away magic! He's the reason you are now at the mercy of the humans from the north!

So you tell your descendants: beware the Dread Wolf. He stalks our dreams. Be vigilant. He is our eternal enemy.

And from Solas' point of view, several thousand years of this gets old fast. Why should he bother explaining anything to these elves? They refuse to listen. When the Dales were created perhaps he reached out, tried to help, tried to instruct and aid as the elves pieced together their history and their culture - but they spurned him. They prefer to cling to the half-remembered lies of the Evanuris, the stories they have passed on from parent to child. So why should Solas bother? They only ever reject his words.

Consider: Dalish clans call their leader their Keeper. In the Temple of Dirthamen, they call him - their god, their master - their Keeper. Half-remembered vocabulary, facial tattoos, bits and pieces clung to taken and spun into culture: the elves are building themselves back up from nothing. And then some bald guy turns up in your dreams and tells you you're wrong? These things you have turned into pride are actually marks of shame? Fuck off, you bald weirdo! Ah wait shit it was the Dread Wolf, well that explains why he said that stuff. The Dread Wolf lies!

So Solas gave up.

And there's something genuinely tragic in that. The people Solas dedicated himself to helping, now the subject of his bitterness, because they didn't listen the way he wanted them to. He dismisses them out of turn. He has abandoned the descendants of the very people he took up arms for.

every so often i think about whatever dalish elf clan gave solas such a bad impression. whatever happened i bet they had a really weird day or two that they still talk about

[thedas-elf-lover]

A slightly deranged review from a long time Dragon Age fan.

What this game promised to be in terms of a Dragon Age game: - Most romantic - Offer a few key world state choices that would have great plot impact, which emphasis on wanting to give players choices that have a visual impact, not just codex. - The most complex, deep companions yet. - Choices that matter.

What I got: [SPOILERS] - The shortest, chastest romances I've ever seen, where the end goal is quite literally sex. The final romance scene is the sex scene, after you've been locked in for some time. No sex before marriage, lol. Even the shortest romance in DAI is longer than the longest romance in this game. It's probably the least sex positive game out of them all. - The only choice that has visual impact is the Solas option, and even that doesn't really give anything major. Solas has maybe one unique line? Otherwise, there is no major change. The other two choices (Did you disband the Inquisition? Did you vow to save or stop Solas?) have no difference, either. It's a matter of do you want your Inquisitor to say "comrade" or "friend." The Inquisition doesn't matter. The South gets nuked off-screen anyway. In codex. So two of the three world state choices we get are mostly represented in codexes anyway. - I have nothing against the companions in Veilguard, but to call them the most complex is somewhat... false. Solas is a complex character. Thom Ranier is complex. Vivienne de Fer is complex. Fenris, Anders, Merrill, Isabela, Morrigan, and Sten are complex characters. They are characters who contain complexities that are not easily swept away. ALL the Veilguard companions are your next door neighbors. They're normal. There's nothing wrong about that, but they don't challenge you. There's nothing to think about. Lucanis isn't going to make you seriously consider your morality, despite being the "prince" of the Crows - hired killers. Neve's standing and possible privilege as a human mage in a magocracy is never commented on. These are just two examples, but the same applies for the rest of the companions. None of them are HIDING anything. I will reiterate that there's not anything necessarily WRONG with that, but it does mean they lack the flare of drama that previous companions had that made them brain-scratchers. - Choices don't matter. No matter what Rook does or says, you're railroaded into a scrappy, heroic person who is always right. The worst thing you can do in this game is just NOT do the companion quests. - Despite being a RPG, there is no roleplaying. It's more action/adventure. But it gets a little slow in places for an action/adventure. And it doesn't have enough roleplay value to be a satisfying RPG. - Pretty much the only reason I can see replaying this game is to see the opposite city routes. You don't have to finish the game to get the full romance, either. - No lore continuity. Elves, qunari, dwarves, and humans just living in peace in Tevinter. Some fantasy where poor communities aren't racist doesn't explain this away. - Orientalism in Rivain? - Reducing what was originally a story about slave liberation and rebellion to "love and murder" over Solas' ex situationship. - The game can understand gender that exists outside a binary but somehow can't understand multiculturalism. - Why does Bellara, a Dalish elf, have white guilt?

Some disorganized additions:

- Tonal whiplash. You go from losing a supposedly beloved companion to the final romance scene (the sex scene) in the space of 5 second. - You can't speak to your companions outside cutscenes. However, you can go around the Lighthouse snooping on your companions having nice conversations amongst themselves. - Not a SINGLE companion bothers to check in on the PC even once. You played as a Grey Warden who lost Weisshaupt? No one cares. Emmrich will check in on Davrin but not you. The only point in the game where they show even a smidgeon of care for you is after the Regret Prison, but they don't actually show it. You're pulled out and it immediately cuts to a war table scene. No emotional reunions. - This is Found Family - but only for the companions. Bellara has the opportunity to see Neve as a sister figure, but not you. This could roll into the lack of roleplay value in this game, but it really adds to the lonely element of this game. - "Okay guys, we lost the big game. Let's all take a step back and do some self-care exercises." But the game is Weisshaupt and the South is getting nuked. - Characters often feel like caricatures of themselves. Oftentimes this game feels like a fanfiction of the story and characters it's representing. Some of the things the characters say are not things that normal people would say. Because Rook never builds more than an entirely superficial relationship with their coworkers, it's entirely believable that the most moving thing Rook can think to say, whenever the obligatory Sad Moment happens to a companion, is "[Insert Name Here], I'm so sorry." - You could replace the Inquisitior with a cardboard cut out and it would have more life. - We already had a story about a disapproving parent who is hurtful to their queer child with Dorian. There was a missed opportunity with Shathann to explore the Qunari's view on gender, but only the Tevinter characters are allowed to talk to Taash about different gender identities. When Shathann talks about qunari gender identity, it's oppression. This game's handle on cultural identity is awful. And then they fridged Shathann. - Did you know Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain, the ancient elven gods (we won't say Evanuris even though that's shorter and more believable to Andrastians who might balk at the idea of ELVEN gods), have escaped from their prison and are blighting the world? The elven gods escaped and they're blighting the world, because they're blighted and escaped prison and are elven gods and are blighting the world, Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain, those gods, who are elven, and escaped and are blighting the world. - This game is Young Adult. This game is YA with all the darker, grittier elements from the previous game filed away, presented as "politically correct" with "ethical piracy" with no continuity in characterization because Isabela Dragon Age 2 would NOT say any of that. It's if Genshin Impact was a Dragon Age game, complete with the canned body language (cross arms). - The villains are one-dimensional. Aelia's "Minrathous dark truth" AKA Batman villain, Butcher dies after 1 moment of glory, the Dragon King is nothing sauce, if Elgar'nan was just a little bit more intelligent he'd have just smashed that moon into Thedas and called it a day, Illario's speech is ripped right from the Lion King. Gone are the days where antagonists had complex reasons for their actions. Gone are the days where characters were put into situations were there was NO good choice for them to make and we could judge them with the nuance they deserved. - Also did you know: Whatever it takes?

On the bright side, the CC is great.

[lavellaned]

I need a solavellan reunion, yes, but I also need solavellan meeting each other for the first time again.

It’s been an entire decade.

Give me solavellan not meeting each other as elvhen apostate and dalish hostage but as the Dread Wolf and the Inquisitor.

Give me solavellan meeting each other again on the other sides of their own apotheosis, free of pretense and masks.

Give me, “Is he still the man who hates tea, the curious man who wonders at the mundane beauties of life, the gentle man who supported a grieving spirit, the silly man who set his own coattails on fire, the loving man who called me his heart?”

Give me, “Is she still woman who surprised me at every turn, the strong woman who faced a would-be god so that others would be spared, the cunning woman who made an entire empire dance to her tune, the compassionate woman who would go out of her way to help the hurting, the open-minded woman who hadn’t scorned an outside view, the loving woman who vowed time and time again to protect me, the woman who changed everything?”

Give me solavellan meeting each other the first time again after 10 years and realize that, yes, you are still my vhenan.

[rosieofcorona]

i love the idea of solas and lavellan getting married over and over throughout their eternity together. sometimes it happens with a plan in mind, and others just when the mood strikes. sometimes they wed in quiet seclusion, with only the wisps and the spirits to witness, or sometimes with loved ones, when they're craving excitement and a brief visit home. occasionally there is tradition. more often there is not.

i can see it becoming part of their myth over centuries: clans marking the end of the final blight with a yearly party that looks quite a bit like a dalish wedding. it's not uncommon for couples to say their vows throughout the celebration, or to cloak each other in wolf pelts, or give carved trinkets in the shape of a hand.

and though it is difficult to substantiate through time and history, some clans claim to have seen them amongst their own revelers: the dread wolf and his bride, come to celebrate with the people, laughing and dancing and gone by morning, back to the fade.

[sammakesart]

Dalish wedding vows end with the word “bellanaris” meaning forever/always/eternity. The last word Lavellan says to Solas as they’re holding hands is “bellanaris”. They’re married now.

[dreamdragonkadia]

One of my favorite romance routes in Inquisition is the relationship between the Inquisitor Lavellan and Commander Cullen, especially if Lavellan is a mage. There's just something so compelling about their dynamic—two people from vastly different worlds, with so much potential for conflict, yet they come together with genuine love and respect.

One of the best moments in their romance is if you choose for them to marry. Lavellan being Dalish, naturally wants to honor her heritage by reciting Dalish vows during the ceremony. She’s anxious, though—afraid that Cullen, with his human background and history in the Chantry, might not understand or might even disapprove. But instead, Cullen surprises her by being not only supportive but wholly accepting of her choice. He doesn’t just tolerate her traditions; he embraces them because they’re a part of her.

The fact that Cullen—a man who’s faced his own struggles with identity and faith—supports Lavellan’s culture and wants her to stay true to herself makes my heart scream every time. It’s such a beautiful example of love that isn’t about erasing differences but cherishing them.

[ar-ghilas-vir-banal]

Like many others, Veilguard made me restart DAI. I’ve never completed it and I want to. One thing I’ve noticed is that a lot of fics show Lavellan as not having much of a grasp of Elven. Which while she may not be fluent, she absolutely can speak it.

One of the first interactions you can have with Solas in Haven is in Elven. It’s a little testy, he’s insulted the Dalish, of whom Lavellan is very proud. But she masters her offense, and address him as hahren, deferring to his wisdom and knowledge. Entirely in Elven.

Solas responds warmly to this. Calls her Da’len and defers right back to her, gallantly and quite charmingly. They address each other in this language many times afterward as a sign of not only mutual respect and sincerity, but also I think it becomes the main form of intimacy between them. Solas is careful with his physicality, except toward the end of their relationship.

At Hilamshiral, when he finds her on the balcony, he very gently lays a hand on her arm to console her if things didn’t go perfectly. And then draws her into his arms for a dance.

A DANCE!!

Let’s not discard him calling her Vhenan almost solely after that. Even after he’s “broken up” with her. And I say that because to be broken up, man you were in her dreams as often as you could be, weren’t you? You carved the regret that is Lavellan into your very soul. You can’t even talk coherently about her; you’re all pregnant pauses and glazed eyes when you try.

And she is the same with you.

Flip to Veilguard and their entire interaction is nearly in Elven. They speak a few words that the others will understand… but then their words stop being about anyone else but each other.

Solas may never see her again, at all, after this. He needs her to know he MEANS every. single. word. He needs her to know that he has never wanted to hurt her. And this time, it’s all truth and yet his face, his voice, begs for her.

And she replies in step with him. If her understanding of Elven was indeed lacking, it isn’t now. She lets that vow to join him roll off her tongue proudly and pulls him to her. You’ve never stopped loving her, man, she suspected it this entire time and she has never stopped loving you. Her faith wasn’t in what you’d do or not do, but Lavellan did absolutely hold a little hope in her heart that you did love her still. And she was right.

You’ve both done your waiting.

No more of this aching distance. Never again.

[invinciblerodent]

While I'm on the topic of being hopelessly in my feelings about these characters, I just finished the last part of the Gloom Howler quest, and I'm thinking about Davrin and names at the moment.

I really, really love how, once we learn the truth about her, Davrin seems to make a point of always referring to Isseya by her name (mostly on its own, but sometimes in conjunction with calling her "The Gloom Howler" when necessary), and even correcting others who would refer to her only by the latter name. (Which, honestly, both Solas and the Inquisitor could also talk at length about a title that all but replaces your name- it definitely feels significant that Davrin would pointedly reject the thought of doing that to someone, but I digress.)

And that reminded me of how I previously made an idle, kind of shitposty little post about how nice I found that during his recruitment mission, Davrin calls out the specific names of each griffon if you interact with their cages, and he attempts to comfort them like that- by reminding them who they are, that he's there, and promising that he'll be back for them.

In retrospect, I think that's so interesting, how his core story seems to boil in part down to... well, in part to the burden of duty, the questioning of tradition and authority (he questions both Dalish- and Warden traditions from very early on, one by joining the Wardens and the other by joining Rook) and, yes, living past what one thought to be their purpose, but also... to these moments, that invite some contrasting of his elven-, and his Grey Warden identities.

Isseya being an elven Warden is a very direct parallel, and a very clear image- it, I think, is meant to show what happens when authority goes unquestioned, and one side (the Warden) triumphs over the other (the person). His uncle then acts as a counterpoint and a thread of connection to the past- he shows what happens when tradition goes unquestioned, and while peaceful, how that existence is not one Davrin wishes for himself.

This all comes to a head in the final choice concerning the griffons... which, I can't say what a "correct" choice is, but I find it really cool how one option embraces a more rigid tradition and acts as a vow for reforms within them, honoring them, while the other embraces a different tradition, one born of fluidity, choice, and change- a more personal freedom.

Purpose and nature, respect for the past and hope for the future, all strain against each other sometimes (in multiple companions' stories, I feel), and it's often a name that represents the complicated harmony between two halves.

Be that Assan, noble descendant of a hero Warden's griffon wearing an Elvish name, Isseya, the monster and mage brought to peace, the idea of "turlum", harmony and understanding forged between vastly different minds, or just... Davrin, the Dalish Grey Warden, who is not more one than the other.

Maybe that's why calling people (and animals, and feelings) by their proper names seems so casually important to him. Because if you give something complex, messy, and muddled up a name, it's easier to just live it.

(.......... and yeah, that makes it a bit ironic how so far he's been calling Rook, "Rook", but, yknow, technological limitations. I've a feeling I've at least one important scene to go still, but honestly, the name "Rook" does also kind of represent a similarly complex matrix of ideas condensed into a person. It could be that "Rook" feels more accurate than any "friend", or "love", or "boss", or even "vhenan", for what they are to him, or it could be that he's still looking for the right name, but either way, I'm looking forward to seeing how it all ends.)