History Main / OurElvesAreDifferent

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* ''Art/DancingFairies'' (Älvalek in Swedish) is a Romantic painting by August Malmström depicting a group of elves dancing hand-in-hand over a river at twilight. It portrays them as garland-wearing etheral beings that can be mistaken for a wispy morning mist over the natural landscape.Â
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* ''Film/Underworld2003'': The Nordic Coven is a vampire bloodline with elf-like characteristics. They live in a [[HiddenElfVillage secluded fortress]], strongly resemble elves physically and have straight-up magical powers unlike anything normal vampires possess. They do avert having [[InhumanlyBeautifulRace unnatural beauty]] (while most members have MysticalWhiteHair, their leader is a plain-looking CoolOldGuy) and [[CantArgueWithElves lack elves' arrogance]]. In fact, they are extremely [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire kind and friendly in contrast to most vampires]], but with that said BewareTheNiceOnes also happens to be their hat, since while pacifistic, they can kill [[FlashStep you in a blink of an eye]].Â

* ''Literature/{{Jerlayne}}'' by Lynn Abbey: Elves are mainly {{Heinz Hybrid}}s of human and goblin (goblins look like a traditional Dark Elf, so it's easy for them to get game). They were deliberately birthed by the goblin queen to be labour (and occasionally livestock). Elves are encouraged by their goblin masters to breed so the local ecosystem can get something to fill a niche (an elf mating with an elf leads to random creatures). Elves go into our world to scavenge junk (only Elves can handle raw iron and only female Elves can render iron inert for safe handling by other races of that dimension), this is more dangerous in the 20th century due to the increased number of muggers. Female elves also come over occasionally to mate with humans (elves can only be consistently born when an elf mates with a human who has some elven ancestry). Elven immortality is only a side-effect of living in another dimension, and a human living there gets the same effect.Â

* ''ComicBook/ElfesEtNains'' depicts five races of stereotypical Elves. The High Elves, Blue Elves, and Wood Elves are more moral and wise than Humans because they are closer to the world of Arran, whom they consider a god in itself. However, the Wood Elves are highly xenophobic toward Humans. The Dark Elves are an immoral, murderous kind, with the BigBad of the series being a Dark Elf herself. Lastly, the Half-Elves take from their human heritage and more or less act like any Human would.Â

* Myth/CelticMythology:Â
** According to one older theory, the {{Precursors}} of Celts in Britain and Ireland were {{flanderiz|ation}}ed as TheFairFolk in [[TropeCodifier Celtic mythology]], who lived underground and were stewards of nature. (Something extremely similar happened to aboriginal cultures in Africa and elsewhere and their treatment in folktales after they got invaded, BTW). Celtic ideas eventually cross-pollinated with the Nordic version; it could be that ''all of them'' were prehistoric references to earlier Neanderthal, aboriginal, or Basque inhabitants that had been [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters killed off]]. Some people [[AncientAstronauts have other theories]] [[TheGreys about Elves]]...Â
** The above is less widely regarded than it used to be, however. Celtic faerie traditions match closely with other stories from around the world, so while there may be elements of the supposedly conquered precursors, there is definitely an animist tradition at work, as well. It helps that the Celts weren't the only culture that thought of TheFairFolk as chthonic: compare modern Icelandic beliefs about elves inhabiting rock formations, the Oreads and Lampades of Hellenic belief, and the South American Native tales of underworld spirits, amongst many, many other traditions.Â

* ''WebOriginal/LoomingGaia'': Elves can naturally communicate with animals, with the exception of red elves, who instead have resistance to fire and [[ColdIron iron]]. Drau (based on drow/dark elves) aren't elves, but monsters created by the divine Titania.Â

* ''Literature/TheToughGuideToFantasyland'' {{discusse|dTrope}}s this trope alongside other fantasy staples. Elves are, as usual, immortal (and [[ImmortalityBeginsAtTwenty youthful]]), and wiser, more ethereal, more magical, better-looking and just generally better than humans. They have been in decline since humans turned up, and now most of them are passing West -- which here means they have been moving to the American Southwest, where they [[Creator/MercedesLackey wear punk clothing and ride motorcycles]].Â

In modern fantasy fiction, it's exceedingly common for elves to come in multiple breeds. This probably comes from real folklore, where [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classifications_of_fairies nearly every culture had its own division]] for fairies. Scottish folklore gave us the Seelie and Unseelie Courts[[note]]"Seelie" is etymologically related to "silly", and in this context means "happy" -- "seelie" fairies are generally friendly or at least not hostile, whereas "unseelie" ones bring misfortune and malice[[/note]] (nowadays often associated with summer and winter). Creator/WBYeats divided Irish fairies into "Trooping" and "Solitary" fairies.[[note]]"Trooping" fairies are the Aos Sí, the classic "High Elf" type whose leaders actually come from Ireland's pre-Christian pantheon, like the Dagda. The name refers to folktales of people witnessing their courtly procession through the country. "Solitary" fairies covers the small fairies that meddle, play tricks or help around houses, like leprechauns and clurichauns.[[/note]] And Scandinavian fairies were broken into Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar, "dark" and "light" fairies respectively -- the former were "blacker than pitch" and lived under the ground, while the latter were "fairer than the sun to look at" and lived in Álfheimr. Scandinavia also gave us Svartálfar, "black" elves, which might be the same as "dark" elves and/or actually be [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarfs]]. In the modern era, Creator/JRRTolkien re-codified Elves slightly into "High" and "Wood" elves. When TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons added its underground "dark elves", modelled after the Prose Edda's Svartálfar and a heavy dose of the Black Martians from the ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'' novels, and renamed "drow"[[note]]Etymologically derived from the same root as "troll", and in folklore records also spelled "trow".[[/note]], the archetypal trinity was complete. Â
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* Magical in one way or another, either from being [[ReligionIsMagic highly spiritual]], [[MageSpecies innately magical]] or producers of {{magitek}}. Said magic may often be related with [[LightEmUp light]] and related concepts, due to its connection with the Norse Ljósalfar (light elves). Â

* ' ''Literature/TheGodsOfMars'' provides the blueprint for most Dark Elves (most specifically, ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''' drow elves) with the Black Martians, or "First-Born of Mars", a race of dark-skinned pirates who live in an UndergroundCity at their planet's south pole, where they worship an evil goddess, Issus, who demands mass sacrifice from Mars' other races. One First-Born officer, [[DefectorFromDecadence Xodar]], begins to suspect that [[PathOfInspiration Issus is a fraud]], and teams up with the heroes to bring her down, which means that yes, there have been [[FountainOfExpies Drizzt clones]] before [[Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt there was a Drizzt]].Â

* Elves in ''WebOriginal/LoomingGaia'' can naturally communicate with animals, with the exception of red elves, who instead have resistance to fire and [[ColdIron iron]]. Drau (based on drow/dark elves) aren't elves, but monsters created by the divine Titania.Â

** [[RoyalRapier Rapiers]], [[ArcherArchetype bows]], and [[BladeOnAStick spears]] are favored weapons for their ground forces, with the option of sleek scimitars in settings where rapiers are too modern, and their warriors typically [[WeakButSkilled prioritize technique and skill over raw power]]. If these guys have any weakness at all, it will usually be that they are [[FragileSpeedster slimmer and more delicate physically]] than both the other types of elves and humans and dwarves, which means that while they're nearly always better magicians than humans, they are not always going to win a physical fight (just as often, however, they'll be [[MasterOfAll stronger than humans on average]]).Â

* ''Webcomic/TheDreamlandChronicles'' has pleasant enough elves, except when Nastajia is being TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask (and that trope would explain her attitude).Â

* Halkara in ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesFor300YearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'', apart from being a competent businesswoman and ditzy alcoholic, has no combat or magical skills usually associated with Elves. She carries no bow and would probably shoot herself in the foot if she tried to use one, and her only ability that can be said as elven is her [[KnowYourVines ability to recognize plants and make medicine]]. Halkara is also [[BuxomBeautyStandard the curviest, largest breasted character in the main party]], contrary to the usual image of elves as slender and androgynous. Later, when Azusa and her FamilyOfChoice visit the Elven homeland, the Elves are found to live in built-up, almost urban areas with a highly developed mass transit system. Elves work at everyday jobs and seem to have very few threats or reasons to be armed and adventurous. (And Halkara's mom turns out to have even larger breasts).Â

* ''The Relic Guild'' by Edward Cox: The Aelfir are a bit different than most depictions of elves. They lack many of the usual elven advantages including the longevity and, outside of being typically better at magic and having pointy ears, larger eyes and triangular faces, the Aelfir are much like humans (they have the same lifespan, there are fat and large Aelfir, etc.) What makes the Aelfir superior to humans in the series is that they don't have the usual Elf disadvantages either. In the series' background, there are one million humans but scattered through 100 dimensional kingdoms -- there are billions of Aelfir. Barring a few kingdoms that stick to the old ways, Aelfir also don't suffer from MedievalStasis, and keep advancing their {{Magitek}} through laboratories and scientific research -- humans actually pay top dollar to steal Aelfir trinkets. To top it off, humanity is stuck being the gate keepers to a giant labyrinth which is both a LandOfOneCity and a CosmicKeystone, the place has no capacity for agriculture and for the past forty years humanity only survives because of weekly food donations from an unknown Aelfir House.Â

* Halkara in ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesFor300YearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'', apart from being a competent businesswoman and ditzy alcoholic, has no combat or magical skills usually associated with Elves. She carries no bow and would probably shoot herself in the foot if she tried to use one, and her only ability that can be said as elven is her [[KnowYourVines ability to recognize plants and make medicine]]. Halkara is also [[BuxomBeautyStandard the curviest, largest breasted character in the main party]], contrary to the usual image of elves as slender and androgynous. Later, when Azusa and her FamilyOfChoice visit the Elven homeland, the Elves are found to live in built-up, almost urban areas with a highly developed mass transit system. Elves work at everyday jobs and seem to have very few threats or reasons to be armed and adventurous. (And Halkara's mom turns out to have even larger breasts.)Â

* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'': The elves are vegetarian, atheist, and possess superhuman physical strength and speed that allows them to best the most well-trained humans. [[CantArgueWithElves They are every bit as arrogant and elitist as expected]], view humans as too corruptible to be trusted with power and the dwarves as misguided zealots who, because they believe in gods, must surely be idiots who ignore all reason and logic. They're also masters of deception, and while they [[CannotTellALie never actually lie]], they are known for [[MetaphoricallyTrue never revealing the whole truth, or saying something but meaning something different.]] Eragon briefly adopts their vegetarian lifestyle, but relents on it in the next book, and rejects their notions of atheism altogether. In the third book, a being that may have been one of the dwarf gods appears, implying that the elves may be wrong about that particular belief. They also consider humans primitive and brutish, while they rely on innate (read: primitively instinctual) magic to beat the humans' siege engines, crossbows, and superior forging (the elf weapons are only "better" because they are imbued with spells and such.)Â

** According to one older theory, the {{Precursors}} of Celts in Britain and Ireland were {{flanderiz|ation}}ed as TheFairFolk in [[TropeCodifier Celtic mythology]], who lived underground and were stewards of nature. (Something extremely similar happened to aboriginal cultures in Africa and elsewhere and their treatment in folktales after they got invaded, BTW.) Celtic ideas eventually cross-pollinated with the Nordic version; it could be that ''all of them'' were prehistoric references to earlier Neanderthal, aboriginal, or Basque inhabitants that had been [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters killed off]]. Some people [[AncientAstronauts have other theories]] [[TheGreys about Elves]]...Â

* ''Art/DancingFairies'' (Älvalek in Swedish) is a Romantic painting by August Malmström depicting a a group of elves dancing hand-in-hand over a river at twilight. It portrays them as garland-wearing etheral beings that can be mistaken with a wispy morning mist over the natural landscape.Â

* ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'': The nine races of Alfheim Online are essentially many flavors of elves (the name even ''means'' "Elf Home"). Plays with the superior race thing, since Alfhiem Online IS a VR Game and everyone is, in the end, just a bunch of gamers. However, there is still a lot of racial tension due to the game set up...at least, until the rebooted version after the events of the Fairy Dance arc, which makes it practically disappear since the differences are now just essentially gaming style. See [[http://swordartonline.wikia.com/wiki/Races_of_ALfheim_Online here]] for a quick breakdown of the different races and links to further info.Â

*** The "Light Elves" of Alfheim are Asgard's most loyal allies. They're particularly Tolkien-esque -- InUniverse, their Prince, Faradei, was the inspiration for Legolas. One of them, Algrim (who's purple due to a rather strange skin disorder) is Odin's Chamberlain and one of his best Advisers, who helped raise Thor and Loki and now advises them too. However, they're not all good: Gravemoss, arguably the vilest member of the first book's BigBadEnsemble, was banished for necromancy and being a CompleteMonster. He's functionally a HumanoidAbomination and permanent resident of the UncannyValley who regards life as being wasted on the living, and dreams of ruling over a universe of the dead.Â

* ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'': Due to the story's LowFantasy elements, the depiction of elves is more mundane compared to how they are usually depicted. Putting the PointyEars and the [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld immensely long lifespan]] aside, elves are hardly any different than humans. Notably, the [[CantArgueWithElves "smugness"]] factor is absent, and not every elf is depicted as in tune with magic[[note]]e.g., Grace, who becomes an ActionSurvivor at one point; and Chloe, who uses daggers and archery[[/note]]. Variety-wise, dark elves as a whole are more intertwined with the plot than the other two groups (high elves and half-elves). At first glance, these elves live in Garan, a {{Mordor}} located in the GrimUpNorth. They are also more fluent in the sibilant tongue of Garan, which sounds like "the whisperings of a murderer at the bedside of a dead man" (in other words, a BlackSpeech -esque language). Closer inspection reveals that dark elves tend to get the short end of the stick. For centuries, they have faced enslavement by human slavers, as well as orc attacks from chieftains (all the more ironic when the dark elves and the orcs are [[TeethClenchedTeamwork teamed]] together). The former part serves as the catalyst for the ForeverWar between the South and the North, with Olga the Dark Elf Queen as a core belligerent. Alas, this only caused the dark elves to be seen more negatively, worsening the FantasticRacism between dark elves and humanity. Really puts the "contemporary" depiction of dark elves (e.g. the GrimDark elements) in a different light.Â

* ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'': Due to the story's LowFantasy elements, the depiction of elves is more mundane compared to how they are usually depicted. Putting the PointyEars and the [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld immensely long lifespan]] aside, elves are hardly any different than humans. Notably, the [[CantArgueWithElves "smugness"]] factor is absent, and not every elf is depicted as in tune with magic (e.g. [[ActionSurvivor Grace]] and Chloe). Variety-wise, dark elves as a whole are more intertwined with the plot than the other two groups (high elves and half-elves). At first glance, these elves live in Garan, a [[GrimUpNorth northern]] {{Mordor}}. They are also more fluent in the sibilant tongue of Garan, which sounds like "the whisperings of a murderer at the bedside of a dead man" (in other words, a BlackSpeech -esque language). Closer inspection reveals that dark elves tend to get the short end of the stick. For centuries, they have faced enslavement by human slavers, as well as orc attacks from chieftains (all the more ironic when the dark elves and the orcs are [[TeethClenchedTeamwork teamed]] together). The former part serves as the catalyst for the ForeverWar between the South and the North, with Olga the Dark Elf Queen as a core belligerent. Alas, this only caused the dark elves to be seen more negatively, worsening the FantasticRacism between dark elves and humanity. Really puts the "contemporary" depiction of dark elves (e.g. the GrimDark elements) in a different light.Â

* Halkara in ''LightNovel/IveBeenKillingSlimesFor300YearsAndMaxedOutMyLevel'', apart from being a competent businesswoman and ditzy alcoholic, has no combat or magical skills usually associated with Elves. She carries no bow and would probably shoot herself in the foot if she tried to use one, and her only ability that can be said as elven is her [[KnowYourVines ability to recognize plants and make medicine]]. Halkara is also [[BuxomIsBetter the curviest, largest breasted character in the main party]], contrary to the usual image of elves as slender and androgynous. Later, when Azusa and her FamilyOfChoice visit the Elven homeland, the Elves are found to live in built-up, almost urban areas with a highly developed mass transit system. Elves work at everyday jobs and seem to have very few threats or reasons to be armed and adventurous. (And Halkara's mom turns out to have even larger breasts.)Â

* ''Literature/AgeOfFire'': The elves are one of the least explored races, but the ones seen mostly fall into the "wood elf" category. The biggest difference between them and other races is that they seem to have some form of plant life that gathers on their heads.Â

* ''The Elven Ways'' series by Jenna Rhodes : The Vaelinar (the elves of the series) are largely of the High Elf variety. The Vaelinar are members of two opposing armies of an alien race that arrived on the world of Kerith, after being hit with a magical weapon known as "The Hammer of War". These alien elves have all the physical characteristics of the High Elf sort (though they appear to be physically stronger than humans) and many possess innate magical talents. The elves have carved a prominent place in the world for several reasons -- they have a monopoly on magic when the gods of Kerith removed it from the native races, they were more advanced technologically, and due to the alienness of their nature -- the elves can use summon magic to coerce the gods of Kerith (something the gods of their old world were almost immune to). The only reasons they haven't conquered Kerith is their small infertile population and their desire to return their original dimension. Elven superiority goes up a notch in the final 2 books, it turns out that the Elven gods are all previously mortal elves who were powerful enough to achieve apotheosis and are more than a match for any Kerith god. This leads to a race against time to prevent an invasion by the Elves of the original Vaelinar homeworld. Â

-->''"There are many magnificient dwellings. One is there called Álfheimr. There dwell the folk that are called light-elves; but the dark-elves dwell down in the earth, and they are unlike the light-elves in appearance, but much more so in deeds. The light-elves are fairer than the sun to look upon, but the dark-elves are blacker than pitch."''Â

** They were more magically gifted, long lived/immortal, and very beautiful. The [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarves]], in Norse the ''dvergar'', were a subrace of elves, and commonly called ''svartálfar'' or ''dökkálfar'' (black/dark elves), who aren't believed to have been a separate race from dwarves. They even mated with humans to create [[HalfHumanHybrid Half-Human Hybrids]]. There were some things which didn't make it into modern times: they could also [[{{Intangibility}} phase through walls]], they lived on [[AnotherDimension their own plane]] called Álfheimr, and they had facial hair. Â

Elves originated in Germanic mythology as a common type of [[OurFairiesAreDifferent fairy folk]], the term sometimes being simply synonymous with "fairy". In the British isles, Anglo-Saxon elf myths eventually mingled with those Celtic supernatural beings. Later on, elves and fairies (largely synonymous by this point) were sanitized into diminutive woodland humanoids prone to tricks and teasing but ultimately benevolent. This image is where the modern-day concept of tiny, helpful elves in green clothes and/or pointy hats, such as [[ChristmasElves Santa's helpers]], ultimately comes from. In short, the definition and characteristics of elves considerably varied in space and time. Â
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In modern fantasy fiction, it's exceedingly common for elves to come in multiple breeds. This probably comes from real folklore, where [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classifications_of_fairies nearly every culture had its own division]] for fairies. Scottish folklore gave us the Seelie and Unseelie Courts[[note]]"Seelie" is etymologically related to "silly", and in this context means "happy" -- "seelie" fairies are generally friendly or at least not hostile, whereas "unseelie" ones bring misfortune and malice[[/note]] (nowadays often associated with summer and winter). Creator/WBYeats divided Irish fairies into "Trooping" and "Solitary" fairies.[[note]]"Trooping" fairies are the Aos Sí, the classic "High Elf" type whose leaders actually come from Ireland's pre-Christian pantheon, like the Dagda. The name refers to folktales of people witnessing their courtly procession through the country. "Solitary" fairies covers the small fairies that meddle, play tricks or help around houses, like leprechauns and clurichauns.[[/note]] And Scandinavian fairies were broken into Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar, "dark" and "light" fairies -- the former were "blacker than pitch" and lived under the ground, while the latter were "fairer than the sun to look at" and lived in Álfheimr. Scandinavia also gave us Svartálfar, "black" elves, which might be the same as "dark" elves and/or actually be [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarfs]]. In the modern era, Creator/JRRTolkien re-codified Elves slightly into "High" and "Wood" elves. When TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons added its underground "dark elves", modelled after the Prose Edda's Svartálfar and a heavy dose of the Black Martians from the ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'' novels, and renamed "drow"[[note]]Etymologically derived from the same root as "troll", and in folklore records also spelled "trow".[[/note]], the archetypal trinity was complete. Â
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Elves originated in Germanic mythology as a common type of [[OurFairiesAreDifferent fairy folk]], the term sometimes being simply synonymous with "fairy". In the British isles, Anglo-Saxon elf myths eventually mingled with those Celtic supernatural beings. Later on, elves and fairies (largely synonymous by this point) were sanitized into diminutive woodland humanoids prone to tricks and teasing but ultimately benevolent. This image is where the modern-day concept of tiny, helpful elves in green clothes and/or pointy hats, such as [[ChristmasElves Santa's helpers]], ultimately comes from.Â
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In modern fantasy fiction, it's exceedingly common for elves to come in multiple breeds. This probably comes from real folklore, where [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classifications_of_fairies nearly every culture had its own division]] for fairies. Scottish folklore gave us the Seelie and Unseelie Courts[[note]]"Seelie" is etymologically related to "silly", and in this context means "happy" -- "seelie" fairies are generally friendly or at least not hostile, whereas "unseelie" ones bring misfortune and malice[[/note]] (nowadays often associated with summer and winter). Creator/WBYeats divided Irish fairies into "Trooping" and "Solitary" fairies.[[note]]"Trooping" fairies are the Aos Sí, the classic "High Elf" type whose leaders actually come from Ireland's pre-Christian pantheon, like the Dagda. The name refers to folktales of people witnessing their courtly procession through the country. "Solitary" fairies covers the small fairies that meddle, play tricks or help around houses, like leprechauns and clurichauns.[[/note]] And Scandinavian fairies were broken into Dökkálfar and Ljósálfar, "dark" and "light" fairies. Scandinavia also gave us Svartálfar, "black" elves, which might be the same as "dark" elves and/or actually be [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame dwarfs]]. In the modern era, Creator/JRRTolkien re-codified Elves slightly into "High" and "Wood" elves. When TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons added its underground "dark elves", modelled after the Prose Edda's Svartálfar and a heavy dose of the Black Martians from the ''Literature/JohnCarterOfMars'' novels, and renamed "drow"[[note]]Etymologically derived from the same root as "troll", and in folklore records also spelled "trow".[[/note]], the archetypal trinity was complete. Â
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