Dalish Clans Can Only Have 3 Mages
Another explanation for the âDalish clans can only have 3 magesâ â other than it being another piece of chantry propaganda to make the elves look bad/justify their own mistreatment of mages â is that this is a lie Dalish tell non-Dalish to keep the Templars off their back, bc you know that if the Chantry heard that Dalish clans have 10+ mages theyâd be lighting that shit up big time.
Alternatively, itâs half true in that they have 3 official mages â the Keeper and their First and Second in line â and everyone else is just another dude who happens to have magic. Case in point: when you side with the werewolves against Zathrianâs clan, a bunch of randos start coming at you with magic. Thereâs no reason you canât have magic and contribute to your clan without being a wizard all the time.
In regards to Minaeveâs clan, we already know that the Dalish are not homogenous. Itâs perfectly likely that for some reason or another, theyâre just like that. Maybe they got attacked by Templars recently and decided to overcorrect in response, maybe something got lost in translation and they thought every clan was doing that now, or maybe theyâre just assholes and donât care what the other clans are doing. Just bc Minaeveâs clan is like that doesnât mean the rest of the Dalish are the same.
Furthermore, maybe thatâs where the misinformation comes from in the first place? One Dalish clan kicks out their mages, who end up as apostates or taken in by the Circles, and bc theyâre the only Dalish mage representation most non-Dalish ever meet, they end up heavily misinformed about common Dalish practices. When talking to Minaeve as Lavellan, you can sound pretty surprised that itâs even a thing, like youâd never heard of it before bc itâs not commonly done.












