On City Elves, the Problem With Fantastic Racism in Dragon Age
This writing will mainly be focused on the ways in which elves are used as metaphors for racial discrimination in Dragon Age as a video game franchise. Books and other various media related to the franchise will be excluded for the sake of brevity and out of respect for the medium.
Dragon Age, a multimedia empire, with its fourth game in development, is a dark fantasy created by BioWare. The games are set in the fictional world of Thedas and over the course of the series you move from Ferelden to the City of Kirkwall and then the greater continent including Orlais.
The games themselves draw a number of inspirations from the real world. Ferelden is, for all intents and purposes, England. The Maker, the god of the franchise is analogous to the Christian God with Andraste taking a similar role and function to Jesus.
Dragon Age as a franchise has never shied away from the topic of race. It is more than willing to show how horrible people in power can be and how gruesome and monstrous things can be for marginalized groups. But, with that all in mind the games, don’t seem to grasp the weight of some of the narrative decisions.
Origins
In the first Dragon Age, you are able to play as an origin character that is a City Elf but you’re also able to at least learn of what happens to the City Elves throughout your playthrough. Elves in the world of Dragon Age, were slaves, considered to be subhuman after being decimated by the empire of Humans. But far before the plot begins, the Elves rose up and broke their chains. Some fled to the Wilds, and became known as Dalish. Others stayed in community with humans and became known as City Elves. While the Dalish are similar in a number of ways to Wood Elves as seen in many works that separate the category of Elf, City Elves don’t really map onto any prior fantasy racial category. As portrayed in Dragon Age Elves are Elves and the only time times we encounter something dissimilar is when encountering the evil species, the Darkspawn. There are no true Dark Elves in the classic Dungeons and Dragons sense of the term. The closest creature to a dark elf in Dragon Age would be the Darkspawn creature known as Shriek(s) but they’re less elf and more Darkspawn. Darkspawn as a species, are corruptions of other species. For example instead of having Orcs and Goblins as “evil races” All races can be corrupted into Darkspawn. For Humans they become Hurlocks, for Dwarves they become Genlocks, Qunari become Orcs. The element of import about these species however is they’re of a hivemind. They work in unity despite their species of origin. In other universes, there are rivalries between Goblins and Orcs. Dragon Age defies that.
Back on to City Elves though, City Elves are ghettoized elves drawing parallels to any number of oppressed peoples. From Jewish people in Germany or the Romani people or colonized people within any number of Western civilizations. As former slaves, City Elves can be seen as analogous to African Americans and other Indigenous peoples. They are sexualized by their human oppressors and are routinely taken advantage of. They have rights, on paper but those rights are quite often violated to little or no consequence.
Addressing racism was a point of pride for BioWare as per Kotaku, they stated,
“Here’s an example of elves being different in Dragon Age: Elves were enslaved by the humans at one point in Dragon Age, so they hate humans, they despise them. Humans in turn have a lot of disrespect towards elves. […] That’s something that hasn’t really been done before is introducing a lot of racial tension and back story and intrigue behind the scenes that’s sort of totally optional, but it makes the world feel that much richer and real.”
There’s still some semblance of pride within the culture as we can see the Elder of the city elves in Denerim as having enough pride to stand his ground when the Humans come and interrupt a marriage.
Within the plot of Dragon Age: Origins, the player can no matter their racial background explore the various ways that Elves have been oppressed and depending on how you played could seek to alleviate the suffering of the Dalish and City Elves or eliminate the Dalish and ignore the City Elves, even selling some to the slavers of Tevinter.
Allowing the player to explore the various backgrounds and moralities is one of the best elements of Origins, but when one focuses on the Elves, the things that were focused on show that the Elves are quite justified in their behaviors towards Humans, are basically no character aside from the player really cares about the Elves but the Elves. The City Elves can’t relate to the Dalish nor can the Dalish relate to them despite their shared ethnicity.
It’s a moving element of the story that the various groups of Elves have been able to persevere in the face of seemingly perpetual human oppression and clung to their communities despite the hardships they faced.
On Kirkwall (Dragon Age 2)
Elves in Dragon Age 2 become more developed in some areas but not necessarily focal in a lot of ways. Elves in Kirkwall are still oppressed but less so than in Dragon Age: Origins. There are few stories for them as they don’t do anything distinct enough to be distinct in comparison to the backdrop of the Templar-Mage oppression, outside of the case of the kids who escape from Kirkwall to become Qunari.
There is one big difference seen in the City elf companion, Fenris is a slave from Tevinter. He is a wrathful individual, justifiably so. But is vehemently anti-Mage which leaves room for exploration that is unfortunately not explored. He has been harmed by magic, harmed by human mages, and condemns the practice itself. This puts him in conflict with the other elf companion who is Dalish. Merrill, to her credit, is a sweetheart but a bit too stubborn and reckless in chasing her ancestors. But at the same time can she really be blamed for wanting better for her people?
As she sees it, she’s chasing their lost history, something stolen from her people by their bondage and there is a lot of room for discussion of that within the game, but it is left hanging.
The nature of City elves in Dragon Age 2 is that of “Oh this is just a fantasy story and we needed to have something other than humans so here are some dwarves here are some Elves leave us alone”
The narrative is more interested in the Mage – Templar conflict which despite the best efforts of the writers is not very nuanced when one takes a second to think about what is said and done in the lore of the franchise. Mages are a marginalized class, targeted by the church for state oppression. They typically only lash out because of that oppression and nothing the game does to try to muddy that fact does so.
There is a lot of overlap with mages and Elves in the franchise, but because of that, it seems that neither was given proper development.
Inquisition
Dragon Age 3 however chooses a very interesting City elf companion for you named Sera. Sera is an anti-elf City elf. She is mentally colonized. She accepts the Maker. She does not like anything elven in nature. In her own words and actions, she is fully committed to the ideology of her oppressors.
Sera as a character is quite interesting to think about because she’s meant to be a rebel she is Red Jenny. She is a criminal. She serves the underclass, but she has a view of Anti-Authoritarianism not too dissimilar to the talking points of a Twitter anarchist. You would think that somebody who knows that the big wigs and the rich are not necessarily the best Shepherds of people would also have the mindset that maybe others who are similar to me would be sympathetic to our plights but no.
This is the part of the article where it must be stressed that this is fiction and so it must dealt with as fiction but there are parallels to reality that are so overt, so crystaline they can’t go without commentary.
There are unfortunately Black Africans throughout the diaspora who accept the white supremacist framing of Africa as a whole as being a nation without. There is no history of civilization within Africa. There are no Nations. There are no cultures. There is only Darkness.
This false narrative has led to some Africans in the diaspora to have a negative view not just of themselves but of Africa. This mindset has led to Indigenous people having a negative view of self from viewing themselves through the lens of the oppressor which makes Sera such an interesting character to be written into the story she is an elf who knows that she is an elf and despises Elvish things.
Of the characters in the franchise, Sera is the most vehement in opposition to anything “Elfy”. More than any dwarf, any mage, any Qunari. She has an internalized racism that could make Candace Owens blush. And that would be fine as a point if she learned to love her people or was challenged meaningfully on the topic but instead, the writers say, she’s right to be anti-Elf.
It is explicitly stated that city elves don’t like Dalish and many Dalish do not like City elves and the City Elves are vindicated when they say that Dalish elves are crazy because Dragon Age 3 goes out of its way to say “Yeah they’re wrong they don’t know what they’re talking about they’re misguided.”
It’s revealed in DreadWolf, the DLC campaign of DA:I where it’s shown that the elven gods are actually just slavers. That the tattoos the Dalish wore with pride are but marks of slavery by their former captors. It’s a story that outright states, everything, every single thing the Elven people who didn’t surrender to Human domination believed in was a lie.
It is a story that reeks of ideology. It’s a story that reeks of people writing without knowing what they are writing because what they write is a defense of colonization and cultural destruction. It is a defence of the destruction of Elven culture. The Humans are no better than the Darkspawn but they are vindicated in the fact that their God is stronger than all of the others.
Erasure in Veilguard?
The much-maligned Dragon Age Veilguard finds itself abstracted from its history. Far away from allegations of “wokeness” Veilguard is bereft of much of anything of substance with regards to lore or allegory.
By the time of this game, many would argue the rough edges of race have been completely sanded away. The history of the slave empire of Tevinter is of little note. The Veiljumpers seemingly have little to worry about in the former oppressor state. The open racism of Dragon Age: Origins has long been wiped away and its place, an absence. An Elven Rook faces none of the pushback of previous Elven protagonists but an argument can be made as to whether that was a good thing with regards to the story as the main villains are Elven gods.
Doubling down on the flawed story of the Elves being a people of almost perpetual victimhood, having so much of the Elven lore basically erased and replaced with nothing while steadfastly barreling toward the conclusion of their gods actual being villains is a perplexing decision, to say the least, that said there is some glory in perseverance and it’s here that a racial allegory gets a bit harder to square.
Rarely do descendants of slavery get to return violence to their oppressors, and so while Veilguard does choose to remove some of the overt racial animus, it also deals with a bit more of the substance of the oppression and the history of it within the world of Thedas.
In the end, maybe that’s for the best. The franchise has been struggling with race and commitment to the theme of race from the beginning, seemingly running away from saying anything, committing to anything, and appealing to a vague nuance that indicts everyone but doesn’t condemn. History is forgotten or unacknowledged. The people and places are shown but stripped of their meaning.
It’s a game series of contradictions. A story, a narrative, seemingly willing to speak about a very important topic, but too afraid to say anything and many times pivoting to saying regrettably worse things but stripped of their impact because nothing really matters.
Works Cited
Betz, Stephanie. “‘Elf Lives Matter’? The Racial Dynamics of Participatory Politics …” SageJournals, SAGE Publications, 13 July 2021, journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/13678779211028866.
Coleman, Jack. “Dragon Age: The Veilguard Forgets the Series’ Lore.” TheGamer, Valnet Publishing Group, 9 Nov. 2024, www.thegamer.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-forgets-series-lore-qunari-antaam-dalish/.
Coleman, Jack. “Dragon Age: The Veilguard Has Discarded Nuance.” TheGamer, Valnet Publishing Group, 7 Nov. 2024, www.thegamer.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-discarded-nuance-weak-characters/.
Glasser, AJ. “BioWare Tackles Elf Racism in Dragon Age: Origins.” Kotaku, Kotaku, 27 Mar. 2009, kotaku.com/bioware-tackles-elf-racism-in-dragon-age-origins-5186500.
Moore, Alisa. “‘Hope You’re Not Too Elfy.’” Medium, Medium, 20 Feb. 2019, medium.com/@alisamariemoore/hope-youre-not-too-elfy-74dda3085a4b.
Stalberg, Allison. “How Dragon Age: Inquisition’s Racism towards Elves Simulates Real-Life Hardships.” Game Rant, Valnet Publishing Group, 15 Oct. 2021, gamerant.com/dragon-age-inquisition-racism-elves-real-life-similar-whitewashing-colonization/.
What do you think? Leave a comment.
It was a pleasure editing this! I like how you addressed the topic as well, and it really gave me a lot to think about how things are portrayed in similar RPGs. Looking forward to what you write next!
Working on the difficulty in games article project.
Awesome! I’ll definitely keep an eye out for it!
Anything that involves racism should not be promoted
Should not be promoted? Even if it’s a condemnation?
I think the biggest issue with Dragon Age’s take on racism is how it constantly frames oppression as something individual rather than systemic.
Hear. The games love to put in “good” humans to show that “not all people are bad,” but they rarely interrogate the structures that allow oppression to exist.
Kinda wild how the games present the Chantry as a clear stand-in for the Catholic Church but never really reckon with its role in oppressing elves.
The games refuses to let elves have a meaningful culture.
Exactly. The Dalish are the only ones who seem to care about their past, but the game constantly undercuts them by making them either naïve, foolish, or straight up wrong.
Fenris is a missed opportunity.
Now I understand why the dalish hate humans
Jesus.. dragon age origins was something else.
For me, Leliana’s racism got over my head the first time I played. Now after playing all 3 games and just recently starting a new playtru, I can see she really was racist in her own way.
You know, I could never get over the fact that Leliana essentially speaks and behaves like a Female Tommy Wiseau.
Ack the human elf conflict. It’s definitely racism, but it’s been brewing for Ages. Ever since humans first showed up in Thedas. That’s why I think Dragon Age handles it well. It’s not just random hatred; it’s a long, complicated history shaping how both sides see each other today.
I always thought the DA games did a pretty good job showing prejudice.
I agree. It’s just a part of life for some people, more than others. It ranges from violent bigotry (like in the city elf origin) to casual disrespect, or even benevolent bias (like from your companions, like Leliana).
There’s a lot of history behind the conflicts, and I liked that it wasn’t all about preachy moments where someone steps up to lecture on why bigotry is wrong. I especially appreciated that they didn’t just swap out racism against nonhumans with racism among humans, like some other fantasy stories do.
Humans can be just as terrible to each other.
There’s a lot of nationalism and xenophobia among different groups. Humans direct a lot of it toward Tevinter, dwarves have tensions between Orzammar and surfacer dwarves (and vice versa), Qunari look down on Vashoth and Tal-Vashoth, city elves and Dalish elves have their own conflicts, and ancient elves tend to see all modern elves as lesser.
Ancient elves looking down on modern elves?
Solas clearly dismisses the Dalish, and Abelas flat out says you’re not one of his people if you play as a Lavellan.
Real world racism is based on constructed differences, but in Thedas, elves live longer, have different magic, and literally have a different biology. Doesn’t that just reinforce the idea that racism happens because differences are “real” instead of socially created?
Kirkwall, Ferelden, Orlais (or however you spell it), and the Tevinter Imperium all have issues with foreigners, even if they’re human. I don’t think it played a huge role in Dragon Age: Inquisition since you were leading a massive army, but you can still see hints of it when it comes to less powerful people.
The main racism I remember is between elves and humans, but it’s not like they’re throwing it in your face… it’s just a big part of the lore. Since it’s the first look at the world, they need to introduce you to these historical concepts that shape Thedas.
As for being edgy Origins was always meant to be a darker spin on classic fantasy. (The other games do this too, but Origins was where it all started. Heh.) It’s just part of the story.
There was definitely that Dalish vs City elves thing, and I thought it was done pretty well. It’s kind of like how some Black people in America might look down on others who live a lifestyle that’s too similar to middle-class white folks.
One thing that always bugged me about Sera is that the game treats her self-hating attitude as just a quirk rather than a tragedy.
Internalized racism is a real thing, and it doesn’t come out of nowhere.
Yea the game just plays it for laughs or treats her as if she has a point.
The racism in Origins was actually pretty mild. Outside of the City Elf origin, most NPCs barely reacted to your race. When they did, it was usually just a quick comment when they greeted you, and then they’d treat you like anyone else.
The writers just cherry picked different forms of oppression without fully thinking through what that means for the worldbuilding.
I never liked how the games make racism something that only elves care about. Human characters rarely acknowledge it unless prompted, and even then, they brush it off.
The game is telling us that racism isn’t a systemic issue.
Dalish FTW!!!
Racism in the Dragon Age universe is mostly about different races hating each other out of suspicion or ignorance.
But discrimination within the same race doesn’t show up as much except for the ancient elf guardians, who clearly look down on modern elves.
Well so do the Dalish towards non-Dalish. Or at the very least, they had no problem calling my Surana a ‘flat-ear.’
BioWare really goes for that Aesop-like feel with their take on racism in fantasy. I like it! it gives me those warm, fuzzy vibes and makes it seem like the company genuinely wants to spread a positive message. Not everything has to be dark and edgy all the time. You can have complex plots and worlds and still recognize simple truths, like racism being bad.
The biggest case of racism in DA is definitely between humans and elves. Beyond that there’s not much. Qunari and dwarves seem to get along fine with other races aside from, you know, when the Qunari start wars. And humans don’t really have strong prejudices against each other, aside from judging people based on their country, which is more about nationality than race.
The most frustrating things about the racial allegory is that it doesn’t actually challenge the player.
True. You can do a full playthrough ignoring elven oppression, and the game won’t punish you for it.
The Darkspawn are such a weird choice for the game’s “ultimate evil” because they erase any racial nuance.
In a world supposedly about oppression and prejudice, the biggest threat is something that turns all races into faceless monsters?
Not even an allegory, just a horde of chaos and death. Like, I know we’re talking about systemic racism, but also,Death Dragon of Doom so… ya know bigger picture.
The way this franchise handles elves reminds me a lot of how X-Men comics handle mutants: oppressed, but with inherent powers that make them dangerous. It kind of muddies the message. Real-life oppressed people don’t have built-in superpowers, so it creates this weird justification where people’s fear is “rational” rather than constructed.
That’s actually closer to mages.
The way the games slowly erases racism is a common trend in media…. The first game has overt oppression, the second moves it to the background, and by the third, it’s almost gone.
It’s like they’re afraid of actually committing to these themes!
the reveal about the Elven gods being slavers felt like a slap in the face haha
It’s all about the classic colonial narrative:
“You lost your land because of your own failures, not because we took it.”
I have not play this game yet but yeah its look interesting
I know the author stated they wanted to keep this topic short. But, because they tried to cover every game in the series, their writing came across as shallow. No one game got really enough attention or evidence to prove that that series is being lazy in it’s depiction of the Elves culture/race. I find this ironic, since this whole article is about how Bioware doesn’t grasp the impact of racism and its lasting effects on people. Honestly this article should have just focused on one game, as opposed to all four. I would have went with Inquisition, just because it’s the more fleshed out of the games. (Even with it’s retcons to DA lore.) Origins is the first game so it’s just setting up of the series. Dragon Age 2 also would’ve been a good choice since you have Merrill and Fenris who drastically contrast one another. I wouldn’t have used Veil guard just because it has a different writer and largely moved away from David Gaider’s ideas. Personally, I can’t agree with this article’s takes on Elves and their place in Dragon Age. The interaction between Solas and Varic work as a deep criticism of Solas and the Dalish. Varric can’t help but see how these particular group of Elves are making the same mistake the Dwarves are making. How their need to cling to the old ways is shackling them to the past and preventing them from moving forward. Varric says to criticism how Solas is constantly seeking to relieve the glory days of the Elves. This is something Flemeth will criticizes Fenris about if you bring him when you deliver her Amulet when recruiting Merrill and honoring your agreement to Flemeth. It makes no mention how many Elves have since moved on and found new purpose in the Qun. I could write a whole article just on the nuances of the Elves in DA2 or DA:I. Some minor corrections to the lore that this Article got wrong. Andraste is not supposed to be a stand in for Jesus. She’s a stand in for Joan of Arc. Orlais is supposed to be France. Her fight to free Orlais from Teventer mirrors Joan of Arc fought to free France from the English. The only thing she has in common with Jesus is their both prophet’s. If you wanted to connect her to religious figure it would probably be the Virgin Mary. (Despite Andraste having a husband.) By the that metric you could just as easily say she’s a stand in for the prophet Muhammad. Also Sera is not Red Jenny. She’s a member of the Friends of Red Jenny. It’s never confirmed if Red Jenny was a real person. (The name Red Jenny predates the organization.) There’s more that bothers me, but I’ll leave it at this. I highly recommend people give the games a try. While, I they certainly have flaws the games, it’s lore is far more nuanced than this article would lead people to believe.
Hey Blackcat, long time no see.
“No one game got really enough attention or evidence to prove that that series is being lazy in it’s depiction of the Elves culture/race.”
Who called anyone lazy? I said there were some unfortunate conclusions that could be drawn from their writing, I never claimed they were lazy.
I’ve always seen Andraste discussed and interpreted as a Jesus analogue since the games came out, but I see the Joan of Arc parallels as well. You’re a bit too dismissive of her similarities to Jesus, and your claim that she’s not “supposed” to be a Jesus analogue seems a bit limited in scope. I’d say maybe your own interpretation isn’t the most accurate.
Sera is the leader of the organization “Friends of Red Jenny”, but “Red Jenny” doesn’t exist. My interpretation of that has always been she’s “Red Jenny”, but anyone could be.
And I definitely think people should play the games, I love Dragon Age.
My mistake with the “lazy” comment. Even So, I’m still left wanting for more evidence regarding the problematic implications of racism in this series narrative. While, I may not agree with all the characters I can somewhat empathize with their views. I don’t accept all of them, but I can see how they came to that conclusion. The series also does a decent job of showing the benefits and consequences of these decisions as well. I do agree with you that Veil Guard just ignoring this part is what made it a bad. Not the “wokeness” part. The series was building up many of these plot threads just for the new writers to completely abandon them.
I’m not being dismissive of of the parallel. The reason I say the Prophet Adraste is not a Jesus Allegory, but either one of Joan of Arc or the Virgin Mary, is because The Herald of Andraste/PC for Inquisition is a better example of for being Jesus allegory. (Plus the prophet Andraste dies the same way Joan of Arc did and war between Teventer)The player regardless of what Gender is believed by the public to be sent as a divine miracle by the Prophet Andraste to atone for the recent sins. (Those sins being the mages leaving the circle and the Templars abandoning the chantry.)
Also, the idea you’re putting forward about Sera being the leader or becoming the new Red Jenny is an idea she actively disagrees with in game. This conversation you and I are having on this topic, is the same conversation she has with Varric in game. He can’t understand how her organization functions without a clear leadership. She’s explains that The Friends of Red Jenny simple operate on the idea of a favor for a favor.
The the example you used in your article describing her as a twitter anarchist is a fairly accurate description of her. I personally would say she’s more of Twitter social justice warrior. At times she may simply prank you or just straight up murder you. The only reason I would make this distinction is because after recruiting her and asking her why’d she join, she makes it clear the chaos from the Templars, Mages, and the rip in the veil is hurting the lower class. It seems she’s more against the abuse of power, not order or hierarchy. It’s part the reason why I think she gets along with Cassandra, but can’t stand Vivienne. As Cassandra believes its her responsibility to help others. This is something Sera say’s makes her one of the good one (though she warns Cassandra about getting a big head.) But, she hates Vivienne because Vivienne thinks she’s better than everyone else and carries herself with a sense of entitlement.