Elves Versus Dwarves: Difference between revisions
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* Elves are often portrayed as being masters of diplomacy, small talk and ''doubletalk'', able to go on for hours without giving a straight answer. Dwarves are typically as straightforward as the grille of an oncoming semi.
* Elves dress fancily, sing elaborate songs and are embodiments of beauty and style. Dwarves are often unkempt, sport long beards and hairs, and dress in either simple leather, undyed wool - or steel, and write prose on runes.
* ''However'', one thing they ''do'' often have in common is that both are an arrogant, aloof, and stubborn folk, often a big reason these conflicts start in the first place.
We've given a lot of information here about the specific races, Elves and Dwarves, but the core of this trope is not about them. It is about how that plays out in ''lots'' of stories that have no Elves or Dwarves in them at all. In historical fictions/fantasies you will find Aristocrats versus Barbarians, for example, which could be exchanged for Elves and Dwarves quite easily. Science Fiction will have some variation on [[The Time Machine|Eloi and Morlocks]], or a [[Crystal Spires and Togas]] race versus Humans, [[Avatar (film)|or a primitive but nature-oriented race versus Humans]]. In a contemporary business setting, it will be [[Dilbert|Marketeers versus Engineers]]. A lot of the modern retellings of the classic [[Cowboys and Indians]] western sagas have been presented as this sort of "spiritual barbarian vs. industrialized civilization" meme.
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Compare with [[ninja]]s vs. [[pirate]]s—although the latter is a recent [[Memetic Mutation]] while this trope is [[Older Than Radio]]. Likewise the horror-oriented [[Fur Against Fang|werewolves vs. vampires]]. Comedy will show this one as [[Slobs Versus Snobs]], [[Big Guy, Little Guy]], or [[Fat and Skinny]]. It can sometimes manifest as a form of [[Fantastic Racism]]. Don't expect to see a dwarf/elf [[Hybrid Monster|hybrid]] due to [[Hybrid Overkill Avoidance]] and both sides being ''very'' [[squick]]ed at the prospect.
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==▼
▲== [[Anime]] ==
* ''[[Record of Lodoss War]]'' makes good use of this trope in playing up the initial dislike between the aged, bitter dwarf Ghim and the flighty elven princess Deedlit. [[Character Development]] leads them both to understand the other better.
* Averted really ''hard'' in ''[[Queen's Blade]]'' with Ymir, the dwarf princess, with the elves, who befriends a lot with them, as long she doesn't try to sell steel weapons to them, since it's implied to be forbidden for them to use those weapons.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* The elves and trolls in ''[[Elf Quest]]'' closely fit this dynamic - although those particular elf tribes are not particularly cultured, and the two groups aren't above [[Enemy Mine|cooperating against a common enemy]]. The trolls of [[Elf Quest]] are [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|little different]] from standard fantasy dwarves.
== [[Film]] ==
* The classic silent film ''[[Metropolis]]'' has a leisure class living above ground in luxury, while workers both live and work below ground.
* In James Cameron's ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'', the Na'vi are amazing natural archers, have a deep empathy for their environment, are not ones to really mess around, and are tall, slender, and lacking in body hair. The Humans are incredibly skilled at craftsmanship, construction, and engineering, utilize big guns, mining machines, and high impact weaponry, live in dark multi-layered cities with lots of technology and little vegetation and natural light, mostly lack a spiritual connection with their world, and are rather gung-ho and upfront, not to mention short, stocky and hairy, when compared to the Na'vi.
* Elwood in the ''[[Dungeons & Dragons (film)|Dungeons & Dragons]]'' movie is a dwarf who hates elves because... [[Politically Incorrect Hero| well, because he's a dwarf]]. That's the only explanation for it, which is actually ''far'' from the worst thing about the script.
== [[Gamebook]]s ==▼
* Both played straight and subverted in the ''[[Fighting Fantasy]]'' gamebooks, depending on where exactly you go in the world of Titan. It's noted that many dwarves and elves really don't get along, but it tends to be more due to misunderstanding rather than outright antipathy. The subversion comes when canon also notes that there have been several notable adventuring team-ups between elves and dwarves, and both races have a certain respect for the love the other has for nature/the earth. The ''Zagor Chronicles'' series of standalone novels further fleshes out this trope when the dwarf Kagand explains to the dwarf Stubble (who comes from another world) that, while dwarves and elves have slain enough of each other in wars over the centuries, they actually live in harmony in places like Darkwood. This is a mild form of [[Culture Shock]] to Stubble, as the dwarves and elves on his own world have a deep-rooted dislike that goes back centuries.▼
== [[Literature]] ==
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** Not to mention that the Eloi may be nothing more than the Morlocks's humanoid cattle.
* Stanislaw Lem's ''[[His Master's Voice]]'' has the [[Hard on Soft Science]] conflict between the "dwarfs" (mathematicians, engineers) and the "elves" (psychologists, mostly).
* Although they hadn't come to blows in a long time, Elves and Dwarves seemed to have a lot of distrust towards each other in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]].'' It stemmed at least partially from an ancient war between a particular dwarven city and the Elves of Doriath, one which eventually contributed to the downfall of both areas, and also between a general severing of ties between all the races that made them much more mystic and thus suspicious to each other. [[Character Development]] subverts this in the case of the elven Legolas and the dwarven Gimli, who both come to understand each other better and become [[Friendly Rival]]s, then [[Heterosexual Life Partners]].
** Tolkien's ''The Lord of the Rings'' is also likely the source for this trope. Tolkien set many standards which have made their way into modern fantasy especially after being further popularized by other pop culture phenomenon such as Dungeons and Dragons. Prior to Tolkien's work elves and dwarves were not usually seen as being distinctly separate kinds of beings in most mythology. Often they were synonymous with other fey creatures who inhabited either the woods or the water or mountains. Tolkien created different categories for these beings and made them more humanoid than they were previously in mythology.
* In Katherine Kerr's ''[[Deverry]]'' novels, many of the Mountain Folk (dwarves) believe the Westfolk (elves) are all thieves, and enchant their weaponry to glow when they come into contact with elves (this is how it's revealed the main character is a [[Half-Human Hybrid]]). Any antipathy the Westfolk have to the dwarves is mostly a reaction to this attitude.
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* Randy Waterhouse in ''[[Cryptonomicon]]'' by Neil Stephenson divides the world into Elves (ingenious, calculating and highly motivated people, like his business partner Avi), Dwarves (hard-working "plodders," like himself), and Men (everyone else outside the realm of nerds that he inhabits).
* Subversion of this in R.A. Salvatore's ''[[The Cleric Quintet]]'' and some of his later Drizzt novels, which feature Pikel, a rather eccentric dwarf (he dyes his beard bright ''green'') whose ambition in life is to become a druid (to the sheer horror of both the elven monks he goes to for training and his brother Ivan, who is the epitome of everything blunt, earthy, and dwarvish). However, Pikel's affinity for nature and his druidic abilities eventually end up creating quite a rapport between certain dwarven and elven settlements.
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** In
**
** Dwarves and trolls are hereditary enemies. Dwarves mine, which involves smashing rocks to get valuable minerals out of them, and trolls are basically animate rocks with valuable minerals in. This despite the fact that ''both'' races are Stout.
* This runs all through the ''[[Green-Sky Trilogy]]'', despite the fact that the Kindar (willowy, overly-diplomatic, tree-dwelling [[Veganopia|vegetarians]]) and Erdlings (stocky, plain-spoken, underground-dwelling hunters) are simply two separate human cultures.
* In ''[[Star Ways]]'' by [[Poul Anderson]], humans and alori are like that. Alori are edenic and nature-loving. They are also xenophobic and will go to almost any length to preserve their [[Hidden Elf Village]]. Humans are restless, domineering and ambitious, and technically dependent. On the other hand, they never intended to attack the alori; the alori consider the humans a threat [[Fantastic Racism|for existing]] because their machine based culture seems hostile to nature(the Alori are rather like the Naavi from ''[[Avatar]]'' in some ways). There are two main human cultures shown, the Union which emphasizes rationality and individualism and the Nomads which are clannish and honor-bound. These two have tense relations but not irreconcilable.
== [[Live
* ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'':
** "The Cloud Minders" had graceful and scholarly humanoids living in a literal [[Floating Continent|flying city]], while brutish and mentally limited miners dug tunnels with simple hand tools underground. It's later revealed that the two are actually the same species, but the miners are exposed to a mineral that affects the brain.
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** Cardassians and Bajorans have a sort of dark elf/drow and dark dwarf enmity going on. The Bajoran slaves were even
** The long-standing rivalry between the haughty, arrogant but unfailingly cautious Romulans and the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] Klingons.
* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', the Centauri and the Narn have a mutually genocidal rage against each other with the Centauri being more dandyish and the Narn more down to Earth.
**Humans and Minbari are closer to this though there are a few more ambiguities. Humans are more mechanical like Dwarves, and Minbari are very definitely elf like. However, though they had a recent war before the series, and many are racist toward one another human and Minbari can get along and many like each other's company.
== [[Oral Tradition|Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends]] ==
* The relationship between [[The Fair Folk|fairies]] and mortals is sometimes portrayed as a [[Magic Versus Technology]] fight with fairies despite all their magic being afraid of [[Cold Iron]]. In some ways they are [[Not So Different]] and regularly kidnap each other, abuse each other's weaknesses, and occasionally fall in love with each other. Rather like two tribes, cities, or nations of humans who happen to border each other.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* Played absolutely straight in the ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' fantasy battle game. The Elves and Dwarves carry residual hatred from the <s>War of the Beard</s> [[Insistent Terminology|War of Vengeance]] that they fought long ago. The Elves are magic-wielding Imperialists, while the Dwarves miner-industrialists with relatively advanced technology (including firearms, cannons, and steam-punk helicopters). The conflict resulted because of the Dark Elves framing the elves for attacking a dwarven caravan, and the High Elven king at the time being a complete moron who had the dwarven emissary shaved, a dire insult to dwarves. So in a world where the forces of darkness constantly threaten to overcome the world, naturally they went to war against each other. At the end of the war, several thousand on both sides were dead, the elven king was killed by the dwarves... The elves won't forgive the dwarves because they won't return his crown, and the dwarves won't forgive the elves because dwarves keep a great big book where they write down every act anyone's ever done to annoy them, just to make sure they don't stop being mad about it.
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** Since both dwarves and elves are standard hero races, they tend to be on decent terms, though usually not seeing eye to eye on much (typically more like eye to groin). The 3rd edition rulebook mentions that while dwarves and elves don't always get along, if one gets attacked the other will be the first to help them. Much like brothers. This was less the case in the 1st Edition, where the table for racial relations explicitly noted that dwarves and elves had a noted antipathy towards one another. Humans generally tended to be regarded neutrally by all the demihuman races.
** ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' elves and dwarves usually distrust and dislike each other, unless they are raised in places where elves and dwarves are allied (like The Fallen Kingdom and its remnants or Myth Drannor) or are very worldly (many adventurers and merchants). Of course, the Southern Gold Dwarves can be just as haughty and pretentious as the stereotypical insular elves, while adventurers mostly come from wandering Shield Dwarves already dealing with others all the time, and/or those who wanted to get away from clanhold rules.
*** Dwarves of High Shanatar and the elves of Tethir and Darthiir Wood had an alliance against encroaching humans and giants, but apparently didn't learn to coordinate well in four centuries it lasted, so eventually their relations soured. Per ''Drizzt Do'Urden's Guide To The Underdark'' and ''Lands of Intrigue'', it ended in dwarves losing one whole clan to a feud. Dwarves carried on and managed to purge the giant tribes, but lost territory to human kingdom.
** ''[[Eberron]]'' has a really weird version of this between the halflings of the Talenta Plains and the elves of Valenar. Thing is, it's the halflings standing in for the elves in this trope - primitive, spiritual, attuned to nature, and generally cleaving to the [[Magical Native American]] idea, only they ride [[Everything's Better with Dinosaurs|dinosaurs]]. The Valenar elves, in turn, stand in for the ''dwarves'', being accurately described as land-based Vikings. The actual dwarves of the setting are geographically removed from both races and thus are neutral towards both.▼
{{quote|During the Clash at Earthrift (what is now the Gorge of the Fallen Idol), two elven princes were accidentally killed when a dwarven-instigated rock slide buried over 20 giants and began to turn the battle. The elven war leader, whose sons were killed, withdrew the support of the Tethir elves, leading to the battle's loss. Furthermore, the elves began a feud against the dwarven clan Gemcrypt that led to the clan's eventual extinction from the western Starspire Mountains. Within the next century, the other elven allies of Shanatar broke with the dwarves, leaving them to stand alone against giants and humans alike.}}
▲
:* ¨Shards of the Day¨, a module from ''[[Dungeon (magazine)|Dungeon Adventures]]'', has the players searching the Underdark for the eponymous [[Dismantled MacGuffin]], which was built via a joint effort between elves and dwarves centuries before the rivalry between them began. At least symbolically, it represents a time before such pointless conflicts. The [[Quest Giver]] is a wealthy dwarf philanthopist who hopes recovering it will quell the feud between the two races.
* In the [[Iron Kingdoms]] setting (where ''WARMACHINE'' and ''HORDES'' are set), the highly-industrialized titular Iron Kingdoms (the WARMACHINE factions) often find themselves at odds with the much more naturalistic Primal Powers (the HORDES factions). Of course, there's plenty of infighting among the Iron Kingdoms and the Primal Powers as well. Notably, this trait is actually averted by the setting's ''actual'' elves and dwarves, as the elves are [[The Fair Folk|rabid xenophobes]] who hate ''everyone'', and the dwarves, while isolationist, are on generally friendly terms with all the other races.
* The [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|Jadeborn]] (with a hint of [[Our Elves Are Better|elfish traits]]) and [[the Fair Folk]] in ''[[Exalted]]'' don't exactly meet often enough to develop this, but their very natures are inimical to each other - the Jadeborn being about as close as you can get to being a representation of Creation and Order without being an Earth elemental, and the Fair Folk being a tiny piece of Chaos that for whatever reason decided to develop sentience.
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* Played straight in ''[[Palladium Fantasy Role Playing Game]]'', with the Elven and Dwarven Empires having recently fought a war that lasted ''over 10 thousand years''. As a consequence of the war humans now dominate the world and [[Our Dwarves Are All the Same|Dwarves swore off magic]].
* In [[Traveller]] the Darrians and the Sword Worlders could fit as elves and dwarves respectively.
* In [[Banestorm]]: Dwarves and Elves both have a pantheistic religion but Dwarves relate to it through craftsmanship and Elves through nature. They don't have regular wars and feuds as a ''tradition''(though they might have occasional tangles according to how events play out) but they do have differing philosophies and social structures.
▲=== [[Gamebook]]s ===
▲* Both played straight and subverted in the ''[[Fighting Fantasy]]'' gamebooks, depending on where exactly you go in the world of Titan. It's noted that many dwarves and elves really don't get along, but it tends to be more due to misunderstanding rather than outright antipathy. The subversion comes when canon also notes that there have been several notable adventuring team-ups between elves and dwarves, and both races have a certain respect for the love the other has for nature/the earth. The ''Zagor Chronicles'' series of standalone novels further fleshes out this trope when the dwarf Kagand explains to the dwarf Stubble (who comes from another world) that, while dwarves and elves have slain enough of each other in wars over the centuries, they actually live in harmony in places like Darkwood. This is a mild form of [[Culture Shock]] to Stubble, as the dwarves and elves on his own world have a deep-rooted dislike that goes back centuries.
== [[Theater]] ==
* The people in Belle Reve (Elves) and New Orleans (Dwarves) in [[A Streetcar Named Desire]].
== [[Video Games]] ==
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* ''[[Master of Magic]]'' has this, it's [[All There in the Manual]] - racial [http://masterofmagic.wikia.com/wiki/Races#Racial_Unrest relationships table] shows that Dwarves have maximal unrest penalty for Trolls, with High Elves, Dark Elves and Orcs sharing the second worst place in their hearts, while High Elves dislike Dark Elves most, but Dwarves are on the second place with Trolls - i.e. they dislike even Orcs less. For that matter, their rows and columns (because feelings are mutual) and Dark Elves vs. Trolls are the only cases of such high hostility.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
** The grudge is mostly explained as elves ''really, really'' disliking all the beards. Or, [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/10/09/episode-340-the-next-quest/ to be more specific], both races believe they rightfully own the Earth Orb. Notably ''not'' present in the game it's based on, however, which portrays the dwarves and elves as being friendly with each other.
** Keeping with the tone of the comic, the rivalry is turned [[Up to Eleven]] with both sides gladly committing genocide on the other. The two biggest [[Sociopathic Hero]]-protagonists [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2003/11/13/episode-353-last-one-i-swear/ do their part] since Thief is an Elf and Black Mage... just enjoys destruction.
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'''Ohforf''': How nice! The drawing is a tree that represents the elves' love for nature, right?
'''Tacobell''': Oh, no, darling! It's a [[Everything Makes a Mushroom|mushroom cloud]]. A souvenir of when we nuked the Dwarven capital city, at the end of beta! *giggles* }}
== [[Web Original]] ==
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* The debate continues even onto [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNrLMob39qI YouTube] in a segment of D&D PHB PSA. Elves, for those not in the know, cause cancer, and have tiny penises. Especially the women.
* In ''[[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]]'', it was [[Fantastic Racism]] in era of previous demon lords. Elves consider humans, dwarves and any monsters to be lowly creatures and loathe to make contact with them, so they rarely get far from their [[Hidden Elf Village]]. Dwarves feel insulted by this attitude and hate them back. Today, when many of elves and dwarves are [[Horny Devils|succubi]], they still tend to snipe at each other and fight over men. For some reason, succubi elves and dwarves usually target same men. Fortunatly, their "fighting" consist mostly of...[[A Threesome Is Hot|snuggle up against the man, pinching him between them]].
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* In an episode of ''[[The Grim Adventures of Billy
** "They taste like my cat!"
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* Cats are seen as [[Cats Are Snarkers|graceful, aloof, pretentious, and clever]] (Elves). Dogs are seen as strong, tough, loyal, hard-working, and finally: they dig (Dwarves).
* The [[Mars and Venus Gender Contrast]] relies on something like this, with [[The Unfair Sex|men being stereotyped as boorish oafs]] who love power tools (Dwarves) and women as [[Women Are Wiser|smart, sophisticated and bookish]] (Elves). This is subverted more often than not with stereotypes like the [[Dumb Blonde]].
* The [[Eagle Land|United States of America]] and the [[Glorious Mother Russia|Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]]. The Americans won [[The Space Race]],<ref>Debatable - the Soviets had ''all'' of the firsts (first object in orbit, first man in orbit, first woman in space, first probe to reach the Moon, etc.) except for "first man on the Moon", but that was the photogenic one so it's the one that everybody remembers.</ref> had [[Yanks With Tanks|a high-tech volunteer army]] that relied heavily on precision weaponry (smart bombs, et al.), had the dominant pop culture which they used to spread their ideals far and wide, had a consumer culture that was the envy of the world, and were stereotyped as rich, vain and decadent (Elves). The Soviets had [[From Russia With Nukes|much bigger nuclear weapons]] (to destroy more area in one blow and make up for inaccuracy) and a [[Reds With Rockets|much larger standing army]], would probably have overrun Western Europe (before the nukes came out, at least) through overwhelming force had [[World War III]] broken out, followed an ideology that extolled the working classes, and were stereotyped as poor and oppressed, but hard-working (Dwarves). On a smaller scale, see Korea (North is Dwarves, South is Elves).
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