TL;DR: It’s all a part of victim-blaming, which I have spoken about before and will just direct you to another ask, listing a few posts on it.
Morrigan is a human “expert" on elven culture. I put that in quotations because it is just not possible for her to be an expert on a culture that is not her own. It bothers me for the same reason it bothers me that there is a workshop on Mi’kmaq spirituality in healthcare at work... led by a Christian white woman. It’s not that Morrigan doesn’t know a lot from extensive research. But she does not have that inner perspective. She cannot. And she should accept that, instead of telling a Lavellan that the well’s knowledge will go to waste with them drinking it instead of her. To add to this, Morrigan got much of her knowledge by stealing it from the Dalish. (We know this from the Witch Hunt DLC.) If they did not want to share something with her, she had no right to just take it. Morrigan also had no knowledge that Flemeth has Mythal’s spirit inside her. I am calling bullshit that she knows more about Mythal than the people who revere her.
As for Solas and Abelas... They are ancient elves. Thanks to years and years of slavery and assimilation, most of their culture was lost to time. The elves of this time did not ask for that. They did not choose it. But they made do; the Dalish have very much evolved into their own culture that Solas and Abelas do not understand. And there’s nothing wrong with that! It’d be no different than IRL anyone from ancient times coming to now and probably being downright shocked with how things are done today. It’s also why I have a problem with BioWare’s narrative going in the direction of, “Their ancestors were wrong, so everything they’ve suffered is totally justified. Grey Morality™!” Because that’s just not true. And again, with an IRL comparison... Should Europeans be colonized, killed and enslaved because Back In The Day that was just how things where? Of course not. Also, Solas kind of wants to destroy the world. I wouldn’t hold his personal opinions on the current time too high.
It is also not at all fair to compare the Chantry’s situation to the Dalish. The Chantry is a massive dominating organization with the highest power in Thedas. They can literally snap their fingers and call for genocide in the name of Andraste. There is no way you can possibly draw a connection between them and small groups of elves living outside of mainstream society, trying to preserve what little remains of their history, culture, and spirituality they have, while constantly being hunted by chevaliers for sport, terrorized by templars, and chased from one place to the next by neighbouring towns, simply for existing.
...The thing is, I don’t just like the Dalish. I feel a connection to them. And all this goes beyond me just disliking BioWare’s poor writing choices. On some level, I feel a little insulted that they chose to take inspirations from various minorities (including myself) for their fictional race, and proceed to tear it the fuck down in order to “balance” everything terrible that’s happened to them... Something that has also been repeatedly done to the peoples they’ve taken from IRL. I don’t know if they’re even conscious of this or not, to be honest. If that’s the case, they should be. And let me ask you this, too: Name one noteworthy native protagonist in a video game (that’s not a giant stereotype or caricature) other than my beautiful son Ratonhnhaké:ton from AC3. ...Put’s some perspective on why even the smallest amount of representation, even through inspiration, is worth me grasping for.
At least, that’s why I dislike BioWare shitting on the Dalish.
