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And where do we suggest that they claim that their culture is "a pure, perfect, complete representation of true Elvhen culture" or that they think they have all the answers?
His problem isn't that they have a culture - is that they think their culture is his culture
Problems start when Dalish believe themselves to know more than anyone else, hold their view is the right one and use it to decide what is really Elvhen and what not
Keep up.
Like I said, I've never seen any of this. I've never seen the Dalish claim that their culture is ancient elven culture, or that they alone know what's "really Elvhen and what [is] not." I think that they think that their culture is closer to the ancients than non-elven cultures or city elf culture, which is fairly accurate. I think that they think they're better authorities than most other modern cultures on what's ancient elven and what's not, which also not an unreasonable assumption. Except for sleeping ancient elves like Abelas, which no one, including the Dalish, knew were around, the Dalish do know more about ancient elfy stuff than other modern races and cultures since they spend a lot of time studying it. It's an entire culture of archaeologists and historians.
Not only shouldn't that be a good enough reason to be condescending, given that even they have to admit their knowledge is limited, but now we know a lot of that knowledge is wrong, starting from their gods. In an ironic twist, they were right about immortality but wrong about their loss of it. That last mistake is actually used to support a racist view of history and human-elven relations.
1) Thedas lore has established that every culture is condescending. The Qunari think all non-Qunari are literally "things" that need to be made people by being forced to the Qun. Andrastians believe everyone is blind and dumb but they alone have found The Truth from The Chant of Light, which is the only way to make savage, amoral heathens (which is everyone but them) good and enlightened. Both have launched religious wars over it. Orzammar believes they're better than all surfacers, automatically brand dwarves who leave for the surface "casteless" and won't let them back in the gates unless they wear a casteless brand. City elves even look down on the Dalish as "heathens and barbarians." Meanwhile, most Dalish don't try to bother or convert anyone, and most will come to the aid of a city elf they see in peril and/or take them in when city elves ask to join.
Being mildly haughty while still mostly keeping to themselves (with a few exceptions, as each clan is different), and while usually helping and taking in people of their race but not of their culture is a hell of a lot better than how most Orzammar dwarves treat surface dwarves, Qunari treat Tal-Vashoth, and Andrastian humans treat non-Andrastian humans.
2) Again, the Dalish don't claim that their knowledge is infallible. Most admit "this is all we've found" or "this is our best guess so far, but we're still looking for more," which means they're open to discovering more, and open to the possibility that knew knowledge could disprove or replace what they have now. That's part of learning, and the Dalish value learning.
3) The immortality thing was an honest mistake. It's not like humans ever let them back up and learn by testing their theory that it's incorrect. I also think the "racist view of history and human-elven relations" comes from humans--you know--chasing down, conquering, enslaving, and suppressing them twice. A history of slavery and subjugation from one people to another points to the oppressors making themselves look bad, not the oppressed being unreasonable for resenting being oppressed.
However, that hasn't stopped the Dalish from considering themselves "the last of the Elvhenan" (from DA:O's Dalish origin onwards), despite not being that at all. They are not the last, and their culture doesn't have much to do with actual Elvhenan. For someone like Solas, it must be as mortifying as it was for the Byzantines to see the Holy Roman Empire usurping their title of "Empire of the Romans".
I always interpreted the line "we are the last of the Elvhenan" to be what they strive to be, not what they think they already are.
Again, I think most of the gaps in the Dalish's knowledge come from honest mistakes, not willful ignorance. They honestly didn't know ancient elves were still around. They honestly didn't know exploring the Fade is a good way to learn about the past. They honestly didn't know that the danger of spirits comes from mortals' own negative expectations and emotions. By contrast, at least one group of ancient elves (Abelas) know about the Dalish, but they're not interested in making themselves known. Abelas' "I've seen your kind around. Shadows wearing vallaslin, you are not my people." Well, isn't that just special? You know they're getting it wrong, don't offer to share, then scorn them for not knowing. It's like someone with a light sneering at someone fumbling around with the dark, not sharing the light, and then sneer at them for fumbling around without light.
From where I'm sitting, they're doing the best they can with the limited information and resources they have, and the few people in a position to help either don't or try like once, and then look down on them for not knowing more.
Actually, if you are polite with him, he apologizes to the Dalish Inquisitor in the very first conversation regarding that issue ("You are right, of course. The fault is mine for expecting what the Dalish could never truly accomplish").
Also, that conversation and the one in the first mission with a Dalish Inquisitor mention that his contacts with the Dalish haven't been very good, to say the least. From Dalish "feeling differently" on the subject of all elves being the same people to mocking his stories and him as a "flat-ear", it's pretty evident that if knowledge-sharing was lacking, it wasn't precisely because Solas wasn't willing ("At least you are asking. That is something. I will answer as I can").
Yes, and Solas' apology in that first conversation is back-handed and condescending. "The fault is mine for expecting what the Dalish could never truly accomplish." He might as well say "the fault is mine for expecting poor stupid monkeys to learn algebra. I should have known they're too stupid and incapable of learning such complex concepts such as myself."
If that was his bedside manner for past attempts at teaching others, small wonder they didn't listen.
A Dalish Inqusitor can even call him out for not bothering to help elves but then look down on them for not knowing as much as him. I remember at one point when Solas gets in on his "If I'd try to teach them, they wouldn't listen," spiel, but the Inquisitor can basically tell him that he's "already decided their reaction for them." He approached a few in the past, it didn't work out, therefore he's decided that they all wouldn't listen, they'd all reject him, therefore he shouldn't bother reaching out.
(Although his huge elven spy network and massive amount of of followers after Trespasser shows that this is either a lie or incorrect. The elves do want to listen and accept help.)
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