Then leave. Leave and never return. Dalish may not trust the city elves, but they do give them chance to become a part of their family. It won't be easy, but it will be better than living in society which doesn't give you any rights just because you have pointy ears
Move into the (bandit/monster/darkspawn-infested) woods and join up with a bunch of "savages" whom you share little in common with culturally? Super! My family is sure to get something out of that.
Then leave. Leave and never return. Dalish may not trust the city elves, but they do give them chance to become a part of their family. It won't be easy, but it will be better than living in society which doesn't give you any rights just because you have pointy ears
That's why the thousands of African's subjected to racial subjugation/genocide are in the wrong... they should all move away... is basically what you are saying. People grow up somewhere and grow accustomed to living there, they don't want to move somewhere else where, for all they know, nothing will improve and they will be considered outsiders.
Also only some Dalish clans even accept refugees, many turn them away outright, seeing them as impure, corrupted by humans and irredeemable.
Really, Elves are no better than Humans. The only difference is that they lost the war.@Chari,
I'm guessing you didn't read Masked Empire. It quite clearly shows the differences between Dalish and City elves, and gives coherent reasons why the city elves don't (and shouldn't) mass migrate to the Dalish.
As for your earlier posts about all elves being equal(ish) - here is one of my favorite quotes: "Then tell me, da'len, who scrubbed the floors?"
The Warden earns respect. But as a Warden. Not as an elf. once you're Warden, your past does not matter anymore
Yes, and that's a problem.
The Warden is still and elf. The Warden proves what elves are capable of...proves that they are valuable to society. No one cares 'bout that.
Besides, the Blight touched only slightly Fereldan. Most countries didn't even know about it until it was stopped
The Blight threatens all of Thedas if it is not stopped. Luckily it was by the Warden.
Yes, and that's a problem.
The Warden is still and elf. The Warden proves what elves are capable of...proves that they are valuable to society. No one cares.
I was excited with the premise of my elf championing the desires of his people. Then I realized that the hero of the Fourth Blight was an Elf (Garahel?) and things barely got any better for them.
At least the Dalish PC got land for his people... oh wait, so did Shartan.
Really, Elves are no better than Humans. The only difference is that they lost the war.
I'd imagine that some humans would use that as justification. "They'd do the same to us!"
Move into the (bandit/monster/darkspawn-infested) woods and join up with a bunch of "savages" whom you share little in common with culturally? Super! My family is sure to get something out of that.
Sure, you can live with people who rob you, murder and rape your people just because they want to. Take your pick :3
That's why the thousands of African's subjected to racial subjugation/genocide are in the wrong... they should all move away... is basically what you are saying. People grow up somewhere and grow accustomed to living there, they don't want to move somewhere else where, for all they know, nothing will improve and they will be considered outsiders.
Also only some Dalish clans even accept refugees, many turn them away outright, seeing them as impure, corrupted by humans and irredeemable.
As I said before - Thedas is not in 21th century. They're ages and ages away from the whole concept of civil rights and equality, like many medieval worlds are
Proof? So far we have Pol and Lanaya as a proof of the opposite
I'm guessing you didn't read Masked Empire. It quite clearly shows the differences between Dalish and City elves, and gives coherent reasons why the city elves don't (and shouldn't) mass migrate to the Dalish.
As for your earlier posts about all elves being equal(ish) - here is one of my favorite quotes: "Then tell me, da'len, who scrubbed the floors?"
A pretty nice joke IMHO. Especially if it was about human/elven relationship
Yes, and that's a problem.
The Warden is still and elf. The Warden proves what elves are capable of...proves that they are valuable to society. No one cares 'bout that.
The Blight threatens all of Thedas if it is not stopped. Luckily it was by the Warden.
And people don't care. They don't want to change things just because some elf in some Fereldan (land of barbarians and dog lords) claims he/she defeated the Archdemon
As that templars said: "Well, and I have documents which prove that I am the Queen of Orlais. Don't question royalty!"
I'd imagine that some humans would use that as justification. "They'd do the same to us!"
Which is even true. Elves did to elves during the time of Arlathan what humans currently do to elves (maybe with a little less casual violence), so why wouldn't they have done that to humans, given the opportunity?
There are no saints in Thedas.
Which is even true. Elves did to elves during the time of Arlathan what humans currently do to elves (maybe with a little less casual violence), so why wouldn't they have done that to humans, given the opportunity?
There are no saints in Thedas.
Same could be said for Earth. Doesn't mean we can't call out injustice and general dick-ishness when warranted.
Sure, you can live with people who rob you, murder and rape your people just because they want to. Take your pick :3
So a life where things can probably get less terrible if you're careful or a life you know little about other than a few fancy promises?
Then don't say Dalish are bad for living a better life. They earned it through hard work and lots of losses
No one spit in no one's face. In Dalish eyes city elves bow to humans. And that's exactly what happens. Dalish elves' ancestors also were slaves whose home was destroyed. But they chose to fight rather than submit. They chose freedom over servitude
Hah. It seems to me that Pol and Lanaya fare just fine. A bit of distrust natural to anyone who deals with unknown and voila - Lanaya is the Keeper and Pol is... Dead. Mostly due to his own fault
Oh, it's so easy to judge the situation is while living in the 21th century. Let's go to humans and tell them of civil right equality and... Lol, seriously? If you think that one can get everything easily, then you're mistaken. No one will respect you for being you. No one owns you anything. If you live in a society you have duties, if you don't do them you become but a burden. Regardless of the society: human, elven, dwarven or qunari. No one wants to deal with someone who is incapable of taking care of themselves
You gotta prove yourself before anyone start taking you seriously
C'est la vie
Why are you suddenly bringing RL issues into this? That doesn't fare well for anyone.
Lanaya isn't a CE, wasn't she just born on the road and continued travel there?
Pol's death is his own fault?
You got to earn the respect of strangers who look down on you for being in a situation you can't even control?
So a life where things can probably get less terrible if you're careful or a life you know little about other than a few fancy promises?
In the second case it's their own ignorance and lack of knowledge. Since the dalish live pretty well. Not perfectly but better than the city elves
Lanaya isn't a CE, wasn't she just born on the road and continued travel there?
Her parents were. She was adopted by Zatharian
Pol's death is his own fault?
If you see a foolish elven girl, I don't recommend running right into a rampaging monster. Like, your choice, bro, who is scarier
You got to earn the respect of strangers who look down on you for being in a situation you can't even control?
They got to waste their resources on people who treat them like savages and do not want to do anything useful?
Chari's a pretty excellent example of why most City Elves wouldn't want to be within 10 miles of a Dalish
In the second case it's their own ignorance and lack of knowledge. Since the dalish live pretty well. Not perfectly but better than the city elves.
Because they're accustomed to that lifestyle. Compare that to a bunch of elves who are closer to the humans.
Ironically, TE would be considered better since they enslave everybody except the Dwarves. And that's only because they have lyrium.Which is even true. Elves did to elves during the time of Arlathan what humans currently do to elves (maybe with a little less casual violence), so why wouldn't they have done that to humans, given the opportunity?
There are no saints in Thedas.
Because they're accustomed to that lifestyle. Compare that to a bunch of elves who are closer to the humans.
If Pol could adapt, they also can. Hunting is hard, but not impossible. cleaning dishes and aravels as well, tending the cattle too
Basic stuff in such age
Chari's a pretty excellent example of why most City Elves wouldn't want to be within 10 miles of a Dalish
If you think that taking care of oneself and being a responsible clanmate a terrible thing then... well, I'm glad to be 10 miles away from you
In the second case it's their own ignorance and lack of knowledge. Since the dalish live pretty well. Not perfectly but better than the city elves
Her parents were. She was adopted by Zatharian
If you see a foolish elven girl, I don't recommend running right into a rampaging monster. Like, your choice, bro, who is scarier
They got to waste their resources on people who treat them like savages and do not want to do anything useful?
When did Dalish even make an effort to "waste resources"? 
What, for maybe five CE who join them? Not the Entire starving, sick alienage. And they earn five people to work with then, not a loss.
I think you don't understand the story if you think Pol ran into the cave just because of Merrill.
It says her parents owned a caravan attacked by bandits, CE lives in the slums of a city, not with a travelling caravan?
And people don't care. They don't want to change things just because some elf in some Fereldan (land of barbarians and dog lords) claims he/she defeated the Archdemon
As that templars said: "Well, and I have documents which prove that I am the Queen of Orlais. Don't question royalty!"
You said the CE just simply need to prove themselves in order to be taken seriously.
I say they have (with an extreme example using the CE Warden) but yet they haven't earned respect.
Is this the fault of the city elves or others? What else needs to be done if 'ending the Blight' isn't good enough?
When did Dalish even make an effort to "waste resources"?
I think you don't understand the story if you think Pol ran into the cave just because of Merrill.
It says her parents owned a caravan attacked by bandits, CE lives in the slums of a city, not with a travelling caravan?
And they would and do quite often. It's city elves who aren't really keen on going outside and living in the wild
Oh, I quite understand it 
Unless you involve your headcanons, but headcanons are worthless anyway
They are still city elves. City elves do travel sometimes
Because they're accustomed to that lifestyle. Compare that to a bunch of elves who are closer to the humans.
They're not just accustomed; they're pretty darn content with themselves. Unlike the City elves who seem to be in constant struggle getting their **** together.
That said, I actually kind of like this discrepancy between the two elven races myself. Two interestingly different perspectives. (Though I never played as a City elf since I find the Dalish to be more appealing lore-wise.)
You said the CE just simply need to prove themselves in order to be taken seriously.
I say they have (with an extreme example using the CE Warden) but yet they haven't earned respect.
Is this the fault of the city elves or others? What else needs to be done if 'ending the Blight' isn't good enough?
You misunderstood my words. I'm not talking about stuff like that. I mean going to Dalish, proving that you can hunt, or tend the cattle, clean, cook or do smithing. In general - be helpful to the clan, which has to survive in the wild forests and deserts. Respect their culture and do not bow to the human culture. That's it
As for the whole Thedas. Well, there you do need at least a good rebellion
And they would and do quite often. It's city elves who aren't really keen on going outside and living in the wild
Oh, I quite understand it
They are still city elves. City elves do travel sometimes
Maybe, I always associated CE with people living in an Alienage, but yeah, I guess that does open doors to other Elves. Sorry for my misunderstanding.
Lanaya did fine but what about her Keeper? The amazing xenophobic Dalish man who put his whole clan in danger because of petty vengeance? For the people you see as so kind and tolerant of others he sure seems a bad example.
CE aren't keen on going out in the wilds for a reason. Barely any of them can arm themselves, there are darkspawn and animals and bandits out there, to prove themselves you want them to plunge through all that just to go to the Dalish? Eh.
You misunderstood my words. I'm not talking about stuff like that. I mean going to Dalish, proving that you can hunt, or tend the cattle, clean, cook or do smithing. In general - be helpful to the clan, which has to survive in the wild forests and deserts. Respect their culture and do not bow to the human culture. That's it
As for the whole Thedas. Well, there you do need at least a good rebellion
This was the context of the original statement you made about proving worth:
Oh, it's so easy to judge the situation is while living in the 21th century. Let's go to humans and tell them of civil right equality and... Lol, seriously? If you think that one can get everything easily, then you're mistaken. No one will respect you for being you. No one owns you anything. If you live in a society you have duties, if you don't do them you become but a burden. Regardless of the society: human, elven, dwarven or qunari. No one wants to deal with someone who is incapable of taking care of themselves
You gotta prove yourself before anyone start taking you seriously
C'est la vie
In the second case it's their own ignorance and lack of knowledge. Since the dalish live pretty well. Not perfectly but better than the city elves
Debatable,
***Maybe Minor Spoiler, but not really a spoiler, don't read if you don't want to hear a single word related in anyway to Masked Empire***
in Masked Empire Gaspard states that he attempted several times to gather a small army to hunt Dalish, but was blocked by Celene. What this means is that under every other emperor/empress hunting Dalish clans for no particular reason other than they were there is fairly common. CE at least have some rights (very limited and circumstantial I'll admit, but nobles don't run through Alienages killing willy-nilly as that leads to costly and short lived rebellions), whereas Dalish can be attacked by nations who don't want them (everyone except Rivain and maybe Ferelden) and Templars (who quite thoroughly dislike mages outside their control) and bandits (although I'd guess that bandits don't fare so well against trained elves).
Also, if you care to look at real world examples of nomadic peoples (hungarian tribes, Romani, Early Slavic cultures) they rarely faired well once so-called 'civilization' made its way to them. If you think about it, the Orlesians dislike having a few hundred (maybe a very few thousand) Dalish wandering through unused territory in the periphery of their empire. Imagine if thousands (even tens-of-thousands) of City Elves left the cities and joined the Dalish? Having that many people wandering unchecked through their borders and oweing no loyalty to Orlais would be a serious cause for concern. If the CE did migrate out of cities I'm absolutely certain that the Orlesians would march on them and force them back to the cities (while making numerous examples of them).
One last point - Living off the land, as the Dalish do, without agriculture has a very high cost on the land. There is a reason why there were so few native Americans in America (per square mile) as compared to the population of New England just prior to the revolutionary war. The land can only support so many people, agriculture can support a whole lot more (even basic agriculture like Thedas would have), so having more than a handful of CE leave would be impractical and would simply result in hundreds and potentially thousands of death due to starvation.
Maybe, I always associated CE with people living in an Alienage, but yeah, I guess that does open doors to other Elves. Sorry for my misunderstanding.
Lanaya did fine but what about her Keeper? The amazing xenophobic Dalish man who put his whole clan in danger because of petty vengeance? For the people you see as so kind and tolerant of others he sure seems a bad example.
CE aren't keen on going out in the wilds for a reason. Barely any of them can arm themselves, there are darkspawn and animals and bandits out there, to prove themselves you want them to plunge through all that just to go to the Dalish? Eh.
Petty rebenge? His daughter was raped and his son was murdered. Petty revenge?
Yes, in the end it bit him back. But in the beginning and in the middle he had every reason to be angry
Well, tough luck, I guess
This was the context of the original statement you made about proving worth:
And when did I say it would be easy? I always said life with the dalish is not easy. It's not meant to be. But it is free
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