…Except Bioware wrote Dorian, which means they understand completely.
This isn’t something that they just overlooked or forgot about, guys. The tragedy of the elves themselves knowing so incredibly little about their own history has been a huge plot point since Origins.
An elven Warden can (and Velanna does) lament the fact that elven children don’t know any stories about elven heroes. It is explicitly stated that the Dalish pepper their speech with as many Elvish words as they can because they are desperately trying to keep hold of their language, a language even their Keepers know precious little of.
So, while it would be awfully nice if Thedas were the sort of place where a past Dalish companion could take the place of Morrigan in Inquisition, or where a Dalish Inquisitor can “show Morrigan what’s what” at the Temple of Mythal (not counting the “Who is this Mythal?” dialogue glitch, which they have acknowledged as, in fact, a glitch), it isn’t. You know why? Because the Dalish have no way of knowing what Morrigan knows. All they know of their own history is what’s been passed down through the ages, which, as we learn from Solas and Abelas–people who were actually there at the time–is woefully inaccurate.
Morrigan, on the other hand, was raised by Mythal. She learned this stuff from the source, and even she still doesn’t know everything, just more than the Dalish possibly could. And since Asha’bellanar seems pretty tight with the Dalish in DA2 and The Stolen Throne, one can only assume Mythal was playing that shit close to the vest for a reason.
“But why couldn’t Mythal have picked an elven vessel?” you ask. Good question: why didn’t she? Was Flemeth the living being she felt the strongest connection to? Did she have some reason to actively avoid choosing an elven vessel? She was murdered, after all–did her own people turn on her for some reason? The only thing you can be certain of is that the answer damn sure isn’t “Bioware hates elves.” For God’s sake, an elven god has been guiding the player characters’ steps since day one, a second elven god appears to have some world-changing plans in the works, and Inquisition largely revolves around the player discovering more about elven history than we’ve been shown in the past. Elves are, in fact, turning out to be the most important race in the series.
So, no. Bioware actually understands perfectly.
