Elvhen language really is just Spirit language, isn't it?
Considering Elvhen is a language where feeling, rhythm, and context matter, it fits spirits perfectly. What are spirits, really, if not beings made up of essence and emotion? They’re vibrational in nature, so it makes sense they’d have a language that matches the way they exist.
It also makes sense to me that the first elves who manifested would just keep speaking the language they already knew as spirits - but that also it would evolve over time.
And Solas’ title of Spirit-Speaker reads a bit differently with this in mind. Out of all the Evanuris, he seems to be the one who retained the language the most. He speaks to spirits, yes - but literally, he still "speaks in spirit".
Solas Ar dirthan'as ir elgara, ma'sula e'var vhenan.
Sera: Pppbbthh!
Solas: Excuse me?
Sera: Excuse yourself - whatever you said and what I did, same difference to me.
Solas: I'd hoped... well, our people can sometimes feel the rhythm of the language despite lacking the vocabulary.
I went looking for how people have interpreted “Ar dirthan'as ir elgara, ma'sula e'var vhenan" and I think Dumped, Drunk & Dalish broke it down really well: I speak in/from the very spirit-place, the song of our heart OR I speak to you from the Fade, in the language of our home.
Spirit language.
The conversation between Solas and his Wisdom friend is entirely "spirit speak". Solas speaks to Abelas in Elvhen when talking about finding a new name. Names are tied to essence and purpose - he is speaking to Abelas spirit to spirit.
His argument with Elgar’nan becomes really fascinating in this context. Solas mocks him for using the common tongue so on the surface it’s like a sarcastic dig. But now it feels like it could be disgust or disappointment (mourning?) at how disconnected ("out of tune"/out of essence) the Evanuris had become from their spirit nature.
Mythal is fascinating in this context too. In VG, she never once speaks to Solas in Elvhen. These two are supposed to share one of the deepest spiritual connections in the series, and yet they never speak to each other in the language of spirits, not in Solas’ memories nor the atonement ending. Interpret that how you will.
For me, it’s why I’ve always viewed Solas and Mythal’s relationship through a lens of decay and disconnection. Solas constantly acts like someone trying to preserve his connection to Wisdom, while Mythal became increasingly worldly over thousands of years. One part of her remained trapped in the Crossroads for centuries isolated, while the other passed from host to host, evolving. After all that fragmentation it makes sense she may no longer identify with spirit language.
So when she “releases” Solas in the common tongue, she's no longer a spirit speaking to her companion spirit. This is two ancient beings standing at the end of a relationship that spiritually died a long time ago.
And honestly, I think that’s the real release Mythal gives him in that ending. Not just freedom from service or obligation, but the severing of the last spiritual tie between them. Because as former companion spirits, Elvhen should theoretically be the most natural way they communicate. But that deeper resonance is gone. They no longer “speak the same language,” spiritually, literally, or metaphorically.
Which of course leads to the only character in the series written to speak to Solas in Elvhen - Lavellan. The relationship is heavily defined by Solas being drawn to Lavellan’s spirit. Lavellan makes Solas’ own spirit sing. But it also says a great deal that Lavellan speaks Elvhen back to Solas. What exactly that means is up to each individual lover of their relationship to define.
I’ve always interpreted Solas as a character trying to remain connected to what he originally was:
Solas: I apologize for disturbing you, Cole. I am not a spirit, and sometimes it is hard to remember such simple truths.
But I see through a new lens as well. I don’t think Solas speaking Elvhen is just about clinging to his past out of desperation. I think it shows that part of him is still genuinely connected to what he once was and that his time in DAI helped in that. If Elvhen is Spirit language, then the fact it still comes naturally to him says a lot.
Okay, what the Dalish were able to preserve is even more remarkable given that the overwhelming majority of the texts that survived the creation of the Veil seem to be inscriptions. In actual stone, or plastered into walls, and there don't seem to be a lot of these.
The majority of the knowledge (and language, both written and spoken in my opinion) in Elvhenan seems to have been tied intrinsically to the Fade, as evidenced by the Vir Dirthara, and much of that was shattered during the creation of the Veil. So now you have a people who have suffered a major cataclysmic event, and now have to figure out how to live without it.
There are fragments that Rook can find in Arlathan Forest, but the first of these is a fragment of a verse preserved in textiles (likely embroidery, but possibly dyed or woven). The others seem to be from a book destroyed in the sack of Arlathan, and that, to me seems to be likely of a later date, after the surviving elvhen had tried to preserve their remaining knowledge in physical books.
My guess is that the written word in Ancient Elvhenan was used primarily in decorative applications, wall hangings, inscriptions, etc, and was likely a significant art form on its own. (And the script seems to have changed over time, because what was written on the walls at the Temple of Mythal can't be read without drinking from it. I would posit that this change was an attempt at standardization, simplification, or both, or perhaps the script used at Mythal was so ornate that it couldn't be read except by a trained calligrapher.)
The veilfire glyphs, such as the ones that can be found in the Temple of Dirthamen seem to have been a more common? practical? form of preserving knowledge than writing it in the elvhen script. Why wouldn't it be, to a people who were intrinsically tied to the Fade and could never have conceived of a world where this wouldn't have been the case?
And most of the elves that had been able to survive the creation of the Veil likely weren't one of Solas' rebels. Solas had to leave notes in his hideouts to inform freed slaves he wasn't a god. The propaganda on that was clearly widespread, because the Evanuris needed him to be a god. Gods shouldn't be getting their eyes blackened by just some guy, after all. If he'd been winning, or had greater numbers, he probably wouldn't have needed to do something so desperate as raise the Veil in the first place. And Elgar'nan says that he was an irritation (which could be a jab, but also seems likely to me.)
And then, after all that, Arlathan was sacked by Tevinter, and what little the elves had been able to preserve was lost again except what could be preserved through oral tradition, probably passed down in whispers and coded in stories by slaves . (And why were they sacked? Because the Evanuris were whispering in the ears of the Tevinter Dreamers, probably because Elgar'nan is a sore loser, and wanted to punish the surviving elves for failing him, or because he thought Solas had won, and he wouldn't be able to gain a foothold. (Or both.) He had time, and the humans seemed like a better option.)
Anyway, my point is, the Dalish did very well under the circumstances,
just gonna put this out there, as a reminder, since Dragon Age is getting a surge in popularity due to veilguard:
1. My language project is a fan conlang. I did not "figure out" the laguage. I merely made a fanmade conlang because bioware confirmed that their version of the language is a cipher and not an actual language.
2. The above fact about it being a cipher was confirmed back in 2014 by Gaider himself (see this post ). Since Gaider is no longer at bioware and it has been some time since that post was made, it is entirely possible that Elvhen may no longer be a cipher (I doubt it though).
3. I am not an authority on Elvhen or Elvhen culture, please don't treat me as such. My posts are here as a resource, not to be used as doctrine. Use them however you wish, but please don't treat me as if my conlang is the only valuable resource on the subject. Since I started this project many people all over the internet have done their own fan things with the language, some of which are wildly different than mine.
4. No I am no longer working on the project and I do not currently have any plans to pick up work on it again. I lost most of my notes and work on it when my computer died, so if I did change my mind it would take quite a while to build up all my work again. So I won't say never, but it's unlikely that I will ever do more work on it.
5. No I won't help you create your character's name. Please use the resources on my page or in my AO3 docs. "But are there any rules to creating Elvhen names?" nope. Not as far as I've seen. Go wild. Be creative.
6. You can find said AO3 here.
7. "Can I use your resources in x?" Yes. Please do. It's why they're there. I appreciate it if you credit me if you use *only* my resources, but it's not required.
I have some Elvhen translations if anyone is interested. I could try my hand at more if anyone wants a bespoke word or phrase.
I never got to finish my fic, maybe I'll pick it up again, but here are phrases from my Inquisition fic under cut (including some qunlat):
Fic: Keepers of the Dead
“Malas elgaren sulatish.”
May your souls find peace.
“Andaran atish’an haren. Ma’amelin Solas.”
Enter safely in this place, elder. My name is Solas.
“Andaran atish’an, ma’enelvhenan. Himenan eth te Mythal ghilanama!”
Enter safely in this place, my blessed people. Be blessed with safety and let Mythal guide you!”
“Dirth vir ma?”
Do you know the way?
“Lasa ghilanara viran ma sasen?”
Will you guide us to the entrance?
“Ah’n”
Yes
*Made up
“Hissost” (qunlat)
Desire/Thought?
What do you think? What is your desire?
“Ebsaam atal asaam.”
Our trust is found in friends
Enaralas
Return-Earth-Journey
*Earth the element, not Thedas the world
“Ena eth menaran! Viran halani ma, Abelas, viran lasa mala ethasan.”
Come be safe with us! We (will) help you, Abelas, let us grant you a place of safety.
Mythal’amivhen
Mythal’s Soldiers
Malethanavir
The way to my heart / people
*Lethanavir us another name for Falon’din.
“Fen harelin na bora ma nehn!”
Wolf bastard you threw (away) my joy!
*Harel has an interesting etymology because in Dragon Age Dalish it means dread but in Ancient Thedosean it means rebel and at times harel can be used as a curse, in the way “bastard” is technically a child out of wedlock but used as an insult in a culture where marriage is essential, thus rebellion is an insult in a culture of conformity. Fen harelin Can also be “dread wolf’s underling” in this context. For funsies.
Fenevhen
Wolf-heart, Wolf-person
A curse
Kat Hiss (qunlat)
Don’t know / No thoughts.
Mythal’enaste
Mythal's blessings
“Ar las na… Ghinu?”
I give you… animal-water?
I give you… go-water? (urine)
*Ghi / Ghin / Ghil for me means go but I like Katie's translation as animal, especially when English animal just means “breathing” / “a thing that breaths” so it makes sense that a Dalish word for animal is “a thing that goes” (or perhaps even "moves")
“Ma- ma abelasan, ma elvhedirannar din…”
My, my apologies. My ancient Elvhen language not...
Vhenu
heart-water, water of the heart, water of the people/soul
Soup
“Ah ma, ir abelas!”
Oh my! I’m sorry!
*Ah is made up.
“Ahm. Vira Abelas?”
Um. Where is Abelas?
*Ahm is made up.
“Ahn. Abelas vira tar in durgen’dahlan.”
Yes/Sure. Abelas is up in the stone-tree (tower)
*Tar means sky, by I figured it could be used to denote location. We’re working with limitations here.
*Ahn is made up. I figured it’s a good sound opposite of “Din” (To me, Adin is No)
“Na ama Mythal enaste te dirthen.”
You have Mythal’s blessing and knowledge.
*Te is made up.
Have been going around in circles with the (incredible) FenxShiral resources on Ao3 for days to try to get some Elvhen locked down for a Solavellan fic… I think the more progress I make the longer it’s going to take me. Such is shipping! Energy self-generating fr fr 💃
