Dragon Age's Dalish elves are a long-persecuted and misunderstood race that has been playable since the first game. A proud nomadic people, the Dalish strive to recover all that was lost to them with the fall of Arlathan, but more than anything, they long to find a home they can call their own.
Much of the Dalish's history was lost to the Tevinter Imperium, who enslaved the elves after Arlathan's fall. Their language and lore are but a fraction of what they once were. Though they strive to practice the old ways, the purity of their culture has been stained by centuries of hardship, wanderlust and woe.
The Elvhen have a long, bloody relationship with the Tevinter Imperium. The two of them were been constantly at war as Tevinter expanded into territories that historically belonged to the elves. In time, Tevinter resorted to blood magic to sink the city of Arlathan into the earth. As the elves fled the destruction of their city, Tevinter rounded them up and enslaved them.
For centuries, the elves remained slaves to Tevinter until an elven warrior named Shartan banded with Andraste to overthrow the magisters who held them down for so long. Shartan and Andraste were both killed, but in the years following the war, Andraste's sons granted the elves the Dales as compensation for their participation in the war.
Freed at last from enslavement, the elves began their journey to the Dales, which at that time lay on the outskirts of Tevinter. It was a vast and sparcely populated land, and the journey to their new home became known as "The Long Walk." Many of them had little more than the clothes on their backs and the shoes on their feet, and there were plenty who didn't even have that.
As they arrived in the Dales, the elves vowed that no human would ever lay foot on their land, and their warriors swore to uphold that promise. For three centuries, the Dales were free, and the elves rebuilt, trying to reclaim what was lost to them. The warriors who watched over the land were known as the Emerald Knights, and they stood as proud protectors, empowered by what they believed to be the blessing of their gods.
When the Chantry rose to power, they pressed hard against the edges of the Dales, sending missionaries in to try and convert the elves to their new Andrastian religion. Elvhen refusal to fall in line with the Chantry caused tensions, and the elves began to isolate themselves as the Orlesian Empire rose to power. They cut themselves off so much that accounts of the Second Blight claim the elves remained neutral and completely unhelpful in the defeat of the Darkspawn, another act that only served to increase animosity among the humans.
What happened in the Dales remains something of a mystery, with both sides making claims that have little factual evidence to support them. After the elves refused to help during the blight, Orlais began spreading rumors about them, claiming they not only worshiped old and dangerous gods, but that they were ritual practitioners of blood magic and human sacrifice.
In the end, a bloody battle at Red Crossing occurred after an elven Emerald Knight named Eladrin fell in love with a human girl from the town of Red Crossing. Their forbidden love confused the elves, who believed Eladrin had defected to Orlais. When they sought to bring him back, they mistakenly shot his lover, believing her to be hostile. The humans killed Eladrin, then attacked the elves who had come to claim him, resulting in a bloody battle that drove the elves from the Dales. The Orlesians rooted out the elves, forbidding worship of their gods and establishing alienages where they were free to live so long as they followed Chantry laws and human governance.
Some stayed, but those who refused became known as the Dalish. With nowhere to call their own, they wandered. The Dalish became nomadic tribes traveling from one end of Thedas to the other in their halla-led caravans (known as aravels), making camp, living off the land, hunting and keeping their distance from the humans who had brought them nothing but trouble since before the fall of Arlathan.
The Dalish strive to return to the old ways and to recover their lost heritage, culture, language and power. They continue to worship the old gods and plant stone statues of the Dread Wolf outside their camps to scare off any who might threaten them. Their Keepers lead and guide them, and their storytellers gather the people around their fires at night to share stories of ages lost and all but forgotten.
Their mistrust for humans keeps them far from the outskirts of major cities, but that does not stop them from keeping hope alive that one day they will find a land they can call their own. They will settle there and live as they once did, growing strong and thriving as they were meant to thrive. "We are the last Elvhen," the Dalish say. "Never again shall we submit."
The Dalish elves have played a role in every Dragon Age game since the launch of the franchise. With rumors claiming Dragon Age 4 will bring players to the Tevinter Imperium and the Dread Wolf seeking to tear down the veil, it is more than likely fans will see the Dalish in ways they've never seen them before. It'll be interesting to see how their culture evolves and if they can finally reach that land they've sought after for so long.