If the Veil is the reason that the elves “quickened” and became mortal, how come the Elvhen like Abelas and Solas have not also become mortal? Aren’t they as cut off from the magic of the Fade as today’s elves?
Spoilers for Dragon Age – Abelas and Solas are immortal because they are Dreamer Mages and spent the past however many thousand years in uthenera. The Visual Dictionary talks about how Solas barely eats anything – inuthenera, you sleep and go to the Fade, and you don’t even need to eat, you take your food from the land of dreams. Elves sleeping in uthenera are literally not of this world. Their bodies might be in Thedas, but their minds are living in the Fade where time doesn’t exist.
This is sort of speculation, but I think it has to do with the spiritual makeup of elves - that elves are literally pure spirits/strong concepts/immortal feelings who eventually took on physical bodies (stole the earth from the dwarves). When an elf goes into uthenera, it’s like they reverse that process, abandoning those bodies in sleep and returning to the world of spirit where they were born (and truly belong).
Abelas and Solas are actually still immortal because they’re Dreamer Magesand can enter the Fade at will. The Veil tears the elves apart from their true natures as spirits and traps them in a land that is slowly, inexorably killing them. It’s yet to be seen if being in Thedas is actually aging Solas and Abelas for the time that they are awake, or if taking their food from the Fade is keeping them immortal – it’s one of the questions I’m curious about.
