Before the fall of Arlathan, even before Arlathan itself, the civilization of the elves stretched across all of Thedas like a great, indolent cat.
Elvhenan, meaning "place of our people" in the elven language, was the civilization of the elves, or elvhen, in the time when elves were reportedly still immortal and the dominant race on the surface of Thedas. Elvhenan covered most of Thedas; particularly Ferelden, Orlais, and lands west of Orlais.[2]
Background
- We hear stories of them living in trees and imagine wooden ramps and Dalish aravels. Imagine instead spires of crystal twining through the branches, palaces floating among the clouds. Imagine beings who lived forever, for whom magic was as natural as breathing. That is what was lost."
- -Solas about Arlathan
Elvhenan's political, economic and cultural centre was the great city of Arlathan, or ar lath’an, meaning "this place of love". Arlathan was located in a great forest in the north of Thedas, not far from where the Tevinter Imperium first emerged. The Imperium is said to be the cause of its downfall, leading to centuries of slavery for the elves, during which time much of the lore and history of ancient Elvhenan was lost. What little remains is mainly in the memories of the Keepers of the Dalish elves, who hold the responsibility of gathering, remembering and teaching the lost lore, passing it down from generation to generation through the oral tradition rather than through written media.
Culture
Before the ages were named or numbered, our people were glorious and eternal and never-changing. They felt no need to rush when life was endless. They worshipped their gods for months at a time. Decisions came after decades of debate, and an introduction could last for years. From time to time, our ancestors would drift into centuries-long slumber, but this was not death, for we know they wandered the Fade in dreams.
- "Take the richest district in Val Royeaux, and add the magic that was part of our everyday life. Every statue fountain could speak through the water that poured from her mouth. Every column glowed with runes the fools in Tevinter copied by rote like children tracing letters. When night fell, the roads were lit by stones like these, bright enough to find your way safely, but soft enough that you could still see the stars."
- -Felassan[3]
Ruins of a once-magnificent bath in the Exalted Plains
The life of the ancient elves was leisurely: the immortal have no need to hurry. Elven settlements included galleries and amphitheaters in which elves could while away some of the endless time they had at their disposal. They had crystal fortresses interwoven with trees and palaces floating among the clouds. And through it all, magic wove harmoniously through seemingly every aspect of the lives of the ancient elves.[4]
At the center of the ancient elven world stood the great city of Arlathan, a place of knowledge and debate, where the best of the ancient elves would go to trade knowledge, greet old friends, and settle disputes that had gone on for millennia[5].
Elvhenan had, however, a far more complex--and sometimes troubled--society than may be imagined from the outside. As an empire, Elvhenan relied on a class system, one that often elevated its nobility at the expense of its servant class; little different than the societies and cultures (and even, potentially, Slavery) of any other race on Thedas.[6] Indeed, the lower classes of elves were treated little different by their fellow elves than City elves are treated by human nobility in modern-day Orlais.[7]
As mortality began to touch the elven people, the dead would traditionally be brought with great ceremony to burial chambers and placed in luxurious beds with satin sheets and soft pillows. Their bodies would be cleaned and the inner tissue would also be burned away by the mages, to preserve it in eternity.[8]
It appears possible as well that Dreamer mages comprised the top of ancient elven society, and that this may have created some resentment among the lower classes, particular as the empire fell and Dreamers were perhaps seen as failing to help. Some Dreamers have been discovered to have been murdered while in Uthenera. [9]
Ancient elven architecture
Temples to the individual gods were overseen by High Keepers[10] and priests who would become known as "Sentinel elves."
Uthenera
- Main article: Uthenera
While the ancient elves did not die, the oldest of the elves were said to be weary of life. Memories became too much to bear, and rather than fade into complacency, they voluntarily stood aside to let newer generations guide their people. This practice was known as uthenera, or "the endless dream".
History
“And thus was mighty Arlathan cast down, its people swallowed by darkness—never to rise again.[11]”
Presumably elves had already existed on Thedas for some time, but the elven calendar dates events from the founding of Arlathan 8,400 years before the Dragon Age.[12] The start of Elvhenan's fall can probably be dated to the crowning of the first Archon of the Tevinter Imperium nearly six and a half millennia later in what came to be known as 1 TE.[12]
Elven lore holds that the humans first arrived from Par Vollen to the north. They are thought to have arrived around 4,500 years after the founding of Arlathan, and nearly 2000 years before the official foundation of the Tevinter Imperium. For some time, humans and elves interacted and traded peaceably. The elves named the humans shemlen, or "quicklings", because, in comparison to the immortal elves, their lives blinked by in an instant. To the elves, humans appeared brash, warlike and impatient. Even worse, the elves proved susceptible to human diseases, and for the first time in history, elves died of natural causes. Furthermore, elves who spent time with humans found themselves aging. The ancient elves moved to close Elvhenan off from the humans, for fear that this quickening effect would crumble their civilization.[5]
However, the elves' attempted retreat into isolation only facilitated the expansion of the Tevinter Imperium and it continued to gain territory, enslaving any captured elves as it did so. The first “dreamers” learned the use of lyrium to enter the Fade from elven captives, and these dreamers later became the first of the Imperium’s ruling magisters.[12]
At first the early Tevinter empire hardly believed the elves existed at all, not crediting the existence of another people in a forest which was more likely simply haunted. Settlers began to report seeing elven scouts, however, and legionnaires reported spotting strange beings with pointed ears who wielded magic, and humanity began to realize it was not alone.[13]
This realization did not bring peace, however. Outlying Tevinter settlements began to disappear. Emissaries never returned from attempts to make contact in the forest. When the people demanded a war against their neighbors, Tevinter forces marched into the Arlathan forest and laid siege against the city for six years. To make an end of it, the then-Archon Thalasian along with the Magisterium worked a powerful Blood magic spell to sink the city.[14] According to elven lore, the Tevinter magisters used their great destructive power (aided, it is said, by Demons and dragon thralls) to force the very ground to swallow Arlathan whole, destroying eons of collected knowledge, culture, and art as a final insult.[15]
Despite this, little is really known about how or why the Tevinter Imperium came to conquer the great city of Arlathan, but elven lore tells that, rather than fight, the elves chose to flee. As the Tevinter Imperium continued to spread over Thedas, Elvhenan fell and the elves were enslaved, however, losing their lore and supposedly losing their immortality. It was to be centuries before the elves were freed by Shartan and Andraste and found a new homeland in the Dales. Of the elves taken as slaves, their magical ability--thought a sign of the Old Gods' favor in Tevinter rather than being something anyone might be capable of--was never acknowledged by the Imperium out of a sense of snubbed pride.[16]
Relics of the ancients remain, some still guarded by powerful magic
Language
- Main article: Elven language
Along with their lore, much of the language of the ancient elves was lost with the fall of Elvhenan and the long enslavement of the elves by the Tevinter Imperium. Some words survive, however, and are used by modern day elves, primarily the Dalish.
Religion
In ancient Arlathan, statues like this honored the creators.[18] This particular example was found in ruins that probably post-date Elvhenan.
- Main article: Elven pantheon
Ancient elves worshipped a pantheon of five gods and four goddesses. Their religion also mentions another set of gods called the "Forgotten Ones", the enemies of the elven pantheon. Only Fen'Harel, the trickster god of the elven pantheon, was able to walk freely between both groups. Elven legend attributes the failure of their gods to intervene in the fall of Elvhenan to Fen'Harel, who, it is claimed, deceived both the elven pantheon and the Forgotten Ones, trapping the former away in heaven and the latter in the abyss, where they could no longer influence events in the mortal world.[15]
Trivia
- During the Dalish Elf Origin, Paivel will recite another poem about uthenera.
- During their campaign, the Warden can discover two Elven Ruins (one only in the Dalish Elf Origin) with architecture and decoration that mixes human and elven styles, implying that, in some places, elements of the culture of Elvhenan survived beyond the human conquest.
- When you first meet Merrill in the quest Long Way Home and comment on her magic abilities after the first battle, she mentions that all elves had the "gift"(magic) in the days of Arlathan. However like their immortality, it's only known in stories instead of in records or other evidence.
- Relics and tombs of the ancient elven empire lie just beneath the surface of the many present-day nations where it once reigned, particularly in Orlais.[19]
- Ancient elvhen architecture is characterized by the copious use of Ogee arches, a feature of English Gothic architecture in the later thirteenth century.[20]
Gallery
Codex entries
Codex entry: Arlathan: Part One
Codex entry: Arlathan: Part Two
Codex entry: The Pickled Apples of Arlathan
Codex entry: Girdle of the Elders
Codex entry: Where Willows Wail
See also
References
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