just curious, why do you seem to love elves in TES but not in DA?
I only really like the Dunmer from The Elder Scrolls because I find the content around them and their lore to be infinitely interesting. I could happily spend hours just reading about the drama involving the first council and that's only one tiny sliver of Dunmer lore. I think Dunmer are honestly one of the most nuanced fantasy races I've ever encountered. You can't even say "Dunmer culture" because "Dunmer culture" is going to be wildly different depending on where you are and what faction you're interacting with. They're complex, they have problematic customs but they aren't unsympathetic. They have a depth that makes them feel like a real people.
That's why my boy Ralen, despite being a Dunmer himself, has such a culture shock when he arrives in Vvardenfell because being raised in Cyrodiil he knew next to nothing about the Great Houses that make up the core political powers on the island.
I do not feel that way about the Dalish. At all, for a group that is at the forefront of the series I find them to be kind of typical of fantasy elves and the fact that I can't tell different clans apart most of the time doesn't help. They're all nomadic, woodsy, clannish, don't get along well with humans due to humans being their oppressors and none of that is really given any kind of depth. I also hate the trope that they're a fallen race who are but a mere shadow of their former greatness. They're largely white and delicate and have a very druidish aesthetic. You know something pretty enough that Jessica can make a non-human oc that doesn't force her to deviate from than her usual slender, milk-white, eyes like limpid pools, no-older-than-25 protag.
I just feel like I've seen these kinds of elves before, like they've shown up in books and movies and other media I've consumed. They're basically humans but with pointy ears and yet they were/are more beautiful/powerful/advanced than humans could ever be until they fell or were conquered. Heard it, sick of it, didn't like it when it was fresh.
Unlike dunmer who are these really weird looking grey people who live on a volcanic island full of giant bugs. Like I don't think there's a single mammal on Vvardenfell aside from rats. It's so alien and unique to anything I've ever seen and the lore is so dense and detailed it could fill several books. Every Great House has its own culture and the Ashlanders are again a totally different group of people. Some factions are trying to hang on to the old ways while others are trying to assimilate into the Empire. There's just so much and....
I mean just look at these guys.
They look as strange and harsh as their setting. I love it. I also hate what Skyrim did to them in terms of lore but that's a whole other thing.
