History Main / Elfeminate

* Elves in ''Literature/QuantumGravity'' tend to be thin and delicate-looking. Do not mistake this for weak. Elves still fulfill the archer [[IncrediblyLamePun archetype]] fairly often, and the author does recognize how much strength it takes to draw a decent-to-large-sized bow.

* Played with by Creator/JRRTolkien. While his elven women are [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman quite feminine]], his elven men are stated to be manly. They are handsome but they are also mighty warriors and kings. The fact that he frequently describes male elves as "beautiful" may impart a more feminine image in the modern reader's mind than intended. (Orcs use the phrase "Flowers in the blood" when referring to elves.) The FilmOfTheBook makes the male elves (particularly Legolas) look somewhat androgynous. This gets {{Lampshaded}} in the extended cut of ''Film/TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney'', where Kíli mistakes a male elf for a maiden. ''Literature/TheHistoryOfMiddleEarth'' does state, however, that Elves aren't strongly sexually dimorphic beyond what differences are needed for reproduction, suggesting that the men and women do look broadly the same.

* Elves in ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'' are almost perfectly androgynous, but this doesn’t cause any problems for anyone except the [[ViewerGenderConfusion reader.]] A number of important characters, including the BigBad, had to be regarded in English with AmbiguousGender (leading to mistakes such as the official translation calling that BigBad female) until someone finally used an unambiguously gendered pronoun to refer to them, often many chapters later. This is highlighted in a one-page GenderSwap WhatIf {{omake}} the author drew, in which everyone saw significant changes to their face shape and hairstyles except the elf Marcille, who looked exactly the same.

* Blood elves and high elves (but not night elves) in ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''. Joked about at length, including the blood elf male flirt, "don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me?", and Johnny Awesome being mistaken for a girl and called "Jenny" by a character in Hillsbrad. To be fair, though, male blood elves only look effeminate in comparison to the other mostly hypermasculine males in the game, especially their allies in the Horde. They were more so in the beta for ''Burning Crusade''.

* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress''. On one hand, elves are nothing but a lowercase 'e' on the screen due to the game's AsciiArt graphics, so they don't really look very effeminate. On the other hand, their leadership positions are titled "queen" and "princess"... even when the elves in those positions are male.

** This trope is played completely straight by community fan work, though. As shown in the page image, fan artists have a habit of portraying all elves as [[ScrewYouElves girly, tree-hugging, pansy hippies]], albeit with one ''[[https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Cacame_Awemedinade MAJOR]]'' exception.

* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress''. On one hand, elves are nothing but a lowercase 'e' on the screen due to the games AsciiArt graphics, so there's no way for them to look effeminate, but on the other hand, their leadership positions are titled "queen" and "princess"... even when the elves in those positions are male.

* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress''. On one hand, elves are nothing but a lowercase 'e' on the screen due to the games AsciiArt graphics, so they can't really look effeminate. On the other hand, their leadership positions are titled "queen" and "princess"... even when the elves in those positions are male.
** Played completely straight community fan work, though. As shown in the page image, fan artists have a habit of portraying all elves as [[ScrewYouElves girly, tree-hugging, pansy hippies]], albeit with one ''[[https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Cacame_Awemedinade MAJOR]]'' exception.

* Mostly averted in ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress'' by virtue of elves being nothing but a lowercase 'e' on the screen. However, their leadership positions are titled "queen" and "princess"... even when the elves in those positions are male.
** This trope is played straight by the community, though. As shown in the page image, they have a habit of portraying all elves as [[ScrewYouElves girly, tree-hugging, pansy hippies]], albeit with one ''[[https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Cacame_Awemedinade MAJOR]]'' exception.

* Averted in ''Webcomic/DubiousCompany'', the sex of the elves in the series are easily distinguishable, except for [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers Elly]]. He is mistaken as a girl at least once by everyone, and [[SelectiveObliviousness consistently]] by [[AbhorrentAdmirer Marty]]. Tiren [[GirlishPigtails cursing]] him didn't help matters either.

* ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'': Played with, where it's {{averted}} and seemingly {{exaggerated}} at once. The male [[OurElvesAreDifferent Drow]] are masculine, larger than humans, and typically [[PrettyBoy fairly attractive]]. They seem somewhat effeminate when compared to the Drow ladies, however, who are typically [[AmazonianBeauty larger and stronger than the males]], although still [[CuteMonsterGirl blatantly feminine]].

* Played with by Creator/JRRTolkien. While his elven women are [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman quite feminine]], his elven men are stated to be manly. They are handsome but they are also mighty warriors and kings. The fact that he frequently describes male elves as "beautiful" may impart a more feminine image in the modern reader's mind than intended. (Orcs use the phrase "Flowers in the blood" when referring to elves.) The FilmOfTheBook makes the male elves (particularly Legolas) look somewhat androgynous. This gets {{Lampshaded}} in the extended cut of ''Film/TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney'', where Kíli mistakes a male elf for a maiden.

This is a subtrope of AlienGenderConfusion.

* Elves in ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'' are almost perfectly androgynous, but this doesn’t cause any problems for anyone except the [[ViewerGenderConfusion reader.]] A number of important characters, including the BigBad, had to be regarded in English with AmbiguousGender (leading to mistakes such as the official translation calling that BigBad female) until someone finally used an unambiguously gendered pronoun to refer to them, often many chapters later. This is highlighted in a one-page GenderSwap WhatIf {{omake}} the author drew, in which everyone saw major changes to their face shape and hairstyles except the elf Marcille, who looked exactly the same (and was already wearing fairly unisex clothing).

* Elves in Manga/DeliciousInDungeon are almost perfectly androgynous, but this doesn’t cause any problems for anyone except the [[ViewerGenderConfusion reader.]] A number of important characters, including the BigBad, had to be regarded in English with AmbiguousGender (leading to mistakes such as the official translation calling that BigBad female) until someone finally used an unambiguously gendered pronoun to refer to them, often many chapters later. This is highlighted in a one-page GenderSwap WhatIf {{omake}} the author drew, in which everyone saw major changes to their face shape and hairstyles except the elf Marcille, who looked exactly the same (and was already wearing fairly unisex clothing).

* Elves in Manga/DeliciousInDungeon are almost perfectly androgynous, but this doesn’t cause any problems for anyone except the [[ViewerGenderConfusion reader.]] A number of important characters, including the BigBad, had to be regarded in English with AmbiguousGender (leading to mistakes such as the official translation calling that BigBad female) until someone finally used an unambiguously gendered pronoun to refer to them. This is highlighted in a one-page GenderSwap WhatIf {{omake}} the author drew, in which the elf Marcille looked exactly the same as a man when everyone else saw major changes to their face shapes and hairstyles.

* Elven deities in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' are often noted to be "androgynous" in looks; the artist responsible for the picture of chief elf god Corellon Larethian from the ''Deities and Demigods'' sourcebook took this to its logical conclusion with [[http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/dd_gallery/dd1/Corellon_p63.jpg a totally FABULOUS rendition]] (two words: ''rainbow eyeliner''). Which is justifiable, as original lore for Corellon is that they are [[GenderBender literally gender-fluid]], able to appear as masculine, feminine, androgynous, hermaphroditic or anything else they envision -- a trait that other members of the Seldarine (the elfin gods) may share, depending on edition and setting.
** Like most things D&D-related, this depends heavily on subrace, setting and edition. In 4th edition, a "design preview" book on races and classes from the developers stated that they wanted to deliberately avoid this trope, going for slender and graceful but still masculine male elves. In 5th edition, a minority of elves have "Corellon's Blessing"; the ability to [[SexShifter voluntarily shift genders at will]].
** The somewhat ambiguously-canon [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent Vedalken]], a migrant from ''WebVideo/AcquisitionsIncorporated'' who appeared as a PC race in a 5e {{sourcebook}}, also tend to be very hard to place on the gender scale. This is because one of the more consistent side-effects of their chaos-touched heritage is a tendency to spontaneously shift genders at least once in their lifetime, which has basically caused them to give up on gender as a social construct, and also results in their genders tending to look pretty similar.

* ''Literature/TalesOfMU'' subverts this in the case of half-elf Steff, who is genderqueer and dresses as a female. To humans and most other non-elves, she comes off as beautiful and feminine. To elves, she looks awkwardly masculine, like a bad drag queen.

* ''Anime/ADestructiveGodSitsNextToMe'': Basically all the boys, but especially Koyuki, and the self-proclaimed demon in the next seat.

* PlayedWith in ''Literature/{{Touch}},'' where it's [[OurGoblinsAreDifferent goblins]] who look like weirdly androgynous humans, to the point where the main characters can never figure their genders out. It's eventually revealed that they're an offshoot race of elves who have NoBiologicalSex, while the actual elves do. (In fact, the elvish {{Arc Villain}}s are [[NoNameGiven known simply as]] "the male" and "the female.")

** As shown in the page image, the community has a habit of portraying all elves as [[ScrewYouElves girly, tree-hugging, pansy hippies]]. Albeit with one ''[[https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Cacame_Awemedinade MAJOR]]'' exception.

** As shown in the page image, the community has a habit of portraying all elves as [[ScrewYouElves girly, tree-hugging, pansy hippies]] (with one ''[[https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/Cacame_Awemedinade MAJOR]]'' exception).

** As shown in the page image, the community has a habit of portraying all elves as [[ScrewYouElves girly, tree-hugging, pansy hippies.]]

** Most minor elf characters follow suit, though we know of one male [[HalfHumanHybrid half-elf]], Pompey, and two female elves, Lirian and Veldrina.