Our Elves Are Better: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Elves are many different things to many different people, but it's important to remember the one thing elves always are: [[Superior Species|better]].

* '''[[Space Elves]]:''' A newer variation, Space Elves can be a [[Serial Numbers Filed Off|straight up copy]] or [[Archetypal Character|analogue]] of any aforementioned variants, but '''<small>[[Recycled in Space|In SPACE!]]</small>''' They will usually be a [[Proud Scholar Race Guy]] to distinguish them from the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|stout, bearded]] aliens in the setting. Usually, they are also notable because their technology is either [[Organic Technology|organic]], [[Crystal Spires and Togas|crystalline]], or otherwise very pretty and completely renewable/in tune with nature (and can probably blow ''your'' ships right out of space [[Lensman Arms Race|before you can even see them]]). And of course, replace a bow with a laser gun (or better yet, ''[[Frickin' Laser Beams|laser bows]]!)'' and you're in business.

* '''[[Elvish Presley|Rock Elves]]:''' They play guitars.

 

'''All elves usually share the following traits:'''

** They're still the [[Space Elves]] in all other aspects except one: they're ''hiring''.

* ''[[Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari]]'' has the Dark Elves of Shurifon. Despite their name and appearance, they are more akin to Wood Elves since they live in a huge forest and are at peace with nature. Overall they are physically more capable than anyone else on the planet {{spoiler|barring a short period of time in the day when they are as weak as newborn kittens due to being a transplanted species from another world}}. The main character Kenshi is the only one who is stronger {{spoiler|and he isn't exactly a normal human either.}}

* The Ralgon Empire from ''[[Irresponsible Captain Tylor]]'' is a clear example of [[Space Elves]] (with a hint of Persian decor), although the occasional beard is seen.

* In the ''[[Record of Lodoss War]]'' [[OAV]], there is the following exchange between an Dark Elven bodyguard to a Dark Elven noblewoman, and a drunken human soldier, both in a [[Mooks]] army:

* The Wood Elf variant appears in ''[[Slayers]]''; in general Elves live longer and have better magical skills, but they usually hide away and scorn humans. This is emphasized in certain cases because Elves generally align themselves with [[God|Ciefeed]] and his servants, the Dragons - the Dragons can have as much scorn towards humans, if not more.

* In ''[[Magical X Miracle]]'', elves are [[Inconsistent Dub|alternately called]] Hahaze and Onburu. They have an unusually high resistance to magical spells {{spoiler|, resulting in them being used as bodyguards for important people in the Kingdom of Viegald}}. They have long, pointy ears and [[Cute Little Fangs]], and have super speed when they need it. Fern, the resident Hahaze, takes to his Elvish smugness in the form of being the [[Snarky Non-Human Sidekick]]. They live in a [[Hidden Elf Village]] in the woods where they hunt. They seem to have some Celtic influences.

 

== Comic Books ==

* Suitably enough, ''[[Poison Elves]]'' subverts most of the prevailing Elf tropes. Sure, the elves are haughty and self important, but [[Justified Trope]] in that they did avert [[The End of the World as We Know It]]...back in [[What Have You Done for Me Lately?|pre-history]]. By the time of the events of the comics, the Elves have become just as urbanized, lazy, indolent, and outright bastards as the [[Humans Are the Real Monsters]]. [[Sociopathic Hero|The protagonist]] doesn't much help anyone's opinion of the elves, but the author never presents any serious evidence to the contrary. Even the elves who live in enclaves are a far cry from the "Wood Elves" above, and only seem to be [[Planet of Hats|humans with ''really'' pointy ears]].

* In ''[[Amulet]]'' elves are [[Complete Monster]]s and also [[The Empire]], and they're not particularly good-looking either, since they have [[More Teeth Than the Osmond Family]] and vertically-slitted eyes. They're still tall and skinny, with long hair, though.

 

== Fan Works ==

** Possibly a subversion, since the Elves in Dragonlance are widely regarded as dicks. [[Can't Argue with Elves|However, the gods of the Good Pantheon never called the elves on their shit.]]

** Are the Qualinesti really wood elves? From what I remember, Qualinesti civilization is rather urban and civilized. I think the Qualinesti are just supposed to be less stratified than the Silvanesti.

** The Silvanesti are extremely stratified, isolationist High Elves. The Qualinesti are (slightly) more open in both senses but they are fully as civilized as the Silvanesti so they probably fall under High Elf too, just less extreme. Also for all their supposed 'betterness' the Elves sure seem to the collective [[Butt Monkey]] of the ''Dragonlance'' setting: Qualinesti was invaded twice inside thirty years, occupied for forty years and then destroyed by a green dragon. Silvanesti was turned into a nightmare realm by a (different) green dragon, was 'protected' by a magical shield that turned out to be sucking out the liveforces of all the Elves and was then invaded and colonised by the minotaurs. Currently both Elven kingdoms are in exile led (in a satisfying bit of irony) by the part human son of the despised Tanis.

*** Don't forget the Sea Elves who lived in the ruins of Istar—they combine all the sueness of normal elves with merfolk!

**** And they can [[Animorphism|turn into dolphins]], too. Sueness all around.

* Pointed out as it would be on this wiki in ''[[The Tough Guide to Fantasyland]]''.

* The Elves of James Clemens' ''[[The Banned and the Banished]]'' fit most closely into the High Elf motif. But they live in a flying city supported by the Air based magic of all the people. They fly to war in similarly supported flying ships. The captains of which must be strongly magically talented to provide the lift.

*** In whole, the Minbari seem something of a [[Deconstruction]] of the trope at times, showing themselves capable of extreme hypocrisy, and willingness to endanger the future of the galactic civilizations for their skewed sense of honour. The benign and sensible Minbari protagonists actually appear to be atypical members of their species. Moreover, the Minbari obsession with tradition and ceremony is regularly played for laughs during Sheridan and Delenn's courtship.

* Vulcans in ''[[Star Trek]]'' are also rather elf-y. Pointy ears, long-lived, super strong, spiritual, and mildly telepathic, with names that make liberal use of the [[Decorative Apostrophe]]. The whole [[The Stoic|stoic]] persona is a bit unelfy, but their vegetarianism does make them pretty green. (Or perhaps that's just the [[Bizarre Alien Biology|copper-based blood]]. Which might be [[Blue Blood|symbolic color-wise]].)

** In the [[Star Trek (film)|2009 film]] {{spoiler|the Vulcans are on the edge of extinction}}. And many of them are plenty disdainful of humans.

** In ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series]]'', Vulcans have plenty of posturing and arrogance to go around; enough that Spock, while rationalizing it quite a bit, seems to very much ''not'' like that aspect of it. Also, Spock knows how to construct a bow.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** If elves are arrogant, then drow (evil elves banished underground) are elves squared: They regard ''every'' other race with contempt, and use arranged breeding, eugenics and infanticide to weed out any drow that is "defective" or plain not handsome enough.

*** Interestingly, at one point this was not true. The elite Drow leaders were usually cruel and barbaric, but most Drow were semi-slaves tending towards Neutral. They could be quite helpful to the party who at that time was largely assumed to be good.

** Pre-4th Edition ''D&D'' splits the high elf archetype into two separate subraces: The noble but friendly high elves, who have a bit of wood elf flavor as well, and the regal yet arrogant gray elves, who fit the trope to a T. Both names are taken from Tolkien, though their descriptions were switched around a bit. The wood elf archetype was also split into the wood elves proper (civilized but rustic, and stronger than the average human) and the wild elves (perilous savages).

** Pleasantly, the Elves in [[Eberron]] come in three cultures: the corporate ones, who are generally considered to be [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|all-around backstabbing scum]] with a minor trade war going on between two of the houses; the arcane ones, who play this pretty much straight but are shoved aside onto their own island so it's easy to exclude them, and the [[Badass]] [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]] elves, who may not be ethically better than you, but will gladly split you in half with a [[Impossibly Cool Weapon|double-bladed scimitar]] [[Can't Argue with Elves|if you point this out]].

** Elves in ''[[Mystara]]'' mostly fall under the Wood Elf variant, although they make a lot more use of magic, owing to the Basic/Expert/etc system having given ''all'' elves spellcasting ability. The dark elf trope is partially averted, in that the subterranean shadow elves aren't black-skinned or [[Exclusively Evil]], and are actually pretty naive if you get to know them. Too bad they're pissed at the surface elves for not telling them that the planet had recovered from a nuclear war thousands of years ago, never mind how the surface elves had no idea the shadow elves were still down there. Several elven populations on Mystara are actually well-integrated with their non-elven neighbors, particularly in Graakhalia (elves and ''gnolls'' as buds!) and on the Savage Coast.

*** At least under the Basic/Expert/etc system, half-elves don't exist on Mystara. Human/elf pairs aren't very fertile, and their descendents are either humans or elves, depending on which parent is male and which is female. Oddly, Mystaran elves and ''ogres'' have proven genetically compatible, giving rise to a hybrid race of Giant Ugly Half-Elves.

** The ''[[Ravenloft]]'' setting has High Elves in Darkon and Sithicus. The latter are more snobbish than the former, having a country of their own; the fact that the Land of Mists has only existed for ~400 years, and Sithicus for a fraction of that, means that their claims of "ancient heritage" tend to fall flat for the [[Genre Savvy]].

** Elven lifespan seems to have been shrinking monotonically with edition, from 900–1500 years (depending on variety) in the old days to 200-300 in 4e.

** Elves of the plane ''Lorwyn'' [[Deconstructed Trope]] this. They have ram-like horns, though they can't really be compared to humanity, as Lorwyn has no humans. However, they do [[Incredibly Lame Pun|look down on]] the kithkin (i.e., [[hobbits]]). In addition, their entire society is [[The Beautiful Elite|based on physical beauty]], with the [[Bishonen|most beautiful]] among them being worshiped as gods. In contrast to the typical nature-loving elf, they take it upon themselves to "improve" upon nature to make it more beautiful. [[Master Race|Beings that are not beautiful -- mostly other races and disfigured elves -- are labeled "Eyeblights" and routinely exterminated.]]

** But in Lorwyn's [[Evil Twin]] plane, Shadowmoor, the elves are pretty much the only race that isn't [[Exclusively Evil]]. In Lorwyn, the elves believed themselves to be the stewards of beauty and perfection... and in the [[Crapsack World]] of Shadowmoor, they ''are''.

** The "better" part of the trope is, however, up for debate as the Eldar are pretty much genocidal pricks willing to instigate wars (from behind the scenes, of course) in which billions of humans can die to save a few thousand Eldar. The Second and Third Armageddon Wars are a perfect example of this, an Eldar farseer engineered the rise of an Ork Warboss who went on to start the two wars which claimed billions of human and ork lives because he had foreseen that if he did not then ten thousand Eldar would die. He later looked back on the act and stated that it was completely worth it. The "up for debate" part, however, is because this isn't particularly out of the ordinary for ''any'' of the factions in 40k. Doubtless the Imperium of Man would do the exact same thing if the roles were reversed, to say nothing for the unquestionably more evil sides.

*** To be fair, all of the above is mostly Ulthwe's doing. Other Craftworlds have been rather more cooperative when confronting a greater threat, although they will not hesitate to act if they feel threatened in any way.

* The elves of Yrth in ''[[GURPS]]: Banestorm'' were evidently better than humans at some point but their civilization seems to have fallen to the point that most of them live in tiny villages far from major cities. The oldest elves are all brilliant but seem to have no real ambition.

** It's worth nothing that the titular [[Negative Space Wedgie|Banestorm]] was the fault of a group of elf mages trying to [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|banish all the orcs]].

* The elves in ''[[Burning Wheel]]'' go back to their [[The Lord of the Rings|Tolkien]] roots, with the split wood elves—high elves being primarily reflected in the Wilderlands—Citadel/Etharch settings (it is not that difficult to move between the settings, though—an elf born in the Wilderlands could easily grow up in the Citadel setting). On the whole, however, they are simply better than the other stocks (Men, Dwarves, Orcs); they can't use Sorcery, though, and instead have a system of spell (and skill) songs that represent their closeness to nature and the world as a whole.

** The game does avert most of the tropes associated with dark elves, who are described in the ''Paths of Spite'' supplement and are just like normal elves except the mystical Grief the normal elves suffer from has been transmuted to Spite.

* The Fair Folk of ''[[Exalted]]'' are closer to [[Eldritch Abomination|Cthulhu]] than anything else. They want to [[Omnicidal Maniac|destroy Creation]], [[Emotion Eater|feed on dreams and emotions]], and [[Blue and Orange Morality|don't really understand why everyone hates them so much]]. Otherwise, pointy ears, called [[The Fair Folk]], and enjoy flighty natures makes them a perfect fit for this trope.

** This trope's name is literally true of the Fair Folk, at least as compared to [[Muggles]]. It's enforced by actual game mechanics: every other character (including [[Physical God|Exalted]]) start with a minimum of one dot in each Attribute, before character creation begins. Fair Folk nobles, however, start with a minimum of three dots in each Attribute, so even in their worst area of physical, mental, or social ability, they will be better than is average for humans. Plus, they receive enough dots during character creation that they will begin play with multiple Attribute ratings of six dots or more, which is both superhuman and better than even Exalted can start with. And just to rub it in, they have a special Charm, "Imposition of Law," which allows them to become so expert at any one skill that they receive an automatic success on every roll with it (which only fails to apply when they go up against another being with Charms or attempt to do something that is actually physically impossible). The Fair Folk are better than you. It's the rules.

* In the german p&p ''[[The Dark Eye]]'' the four main elf races are "Auelf", "Woodelf", "Steppenelf" and "Firnelf". They all share a very nature bound behaviour and are naturally talented with magic, their warrior class is actually a mageknight, and even if you choose other classes they get the trait "quarter mage" allowing them to cast a few spells intuitive, for example as mercenary fighter.

** Both Auelf and Woodelf are basically the classic woodelves, the main difference is the Woodelves acutally live in a mountainous area, the auelves in riparian forests. Though the woodelves are somewhat xenophobic and but still stay true to the archetype, while the Auelves are more open toward humans. Some of those elves are happen to behave like highelves, they are called "badoc" by their brethren (somewhat the ingame elven term for "crazy"). They appear quite often in the mage guilds or rarely even in clergy (though elves in general think the gods should not be prayed too, as they are just some superhuman beings and not gods... actually the elves think they are better than the gods).

**** If you compare Night Elf males with their human counterparts, you'll notice they're actually ''relatively'' slender. It's just that the men in practically every species in the game appear to be built out of barrels. Still, the overall effect does leave Night Elves rather resembling the local trolls in shape.

* The ''[[Warlords]]'' strategy game series literally have [[Enforced Trope|three factions of Elves named]]: High Elves, Wood Elves and Dark Elves. The [[Backstory]] of the setting explains that they all used to be High Elves, before a Prince named [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Mordaine]] dabbled in <s>Demon</s> [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Daemon]] Magic. When he brought his discoveries to his people, they were promptly rejected, despite him honestly just trying to help his people. As you probably can imagine, the whole thing escalated in a rather nasty civil war, ending with the Year of the Seven Fleets, a time when they simply built seven fleets and split up, forming new colonies around the world. Most of them still exist, but one of the Dark Elf ones blew up when the [[Horsemen of the Apocalypse]] entered the world. I guess dabbling in <s>Demon</s> [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Daemon]] summoning really was a dumb idea. And if you read through that entire [[Info Dump]], then go get yourself a [[wikipedia:Muffin|Muffin]], you've earned it.

** Although the really arrogant ones tend to be [[Knight Templar]] types who give a lot of grief to the extremely humble <s>Jesus</s> [[Messianic Archetype|Tassadar]].

* ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' features variations on the Tolkienian Elf archetypes. Starting with a Precursor race called the Aldmer, they broke of into groups known as the Falmer (snow Elves), the Chimer ("changed ones"), the Altmer (High Elves), the Orsimer ("pariah folk"), the Dwemer (Dwarves), the Bosmer (Wood Elves), and the Ayleid ("Heartland Wild Elves"). The Falmer were supposedly killed by the Nords; all but one Dwemer was killed off by mass absorbicide (yeah...it's never really explained) and the Chimer changed into the Dunmer (Dark Elves); and, the Ayleid either slaughtered by humans or assimilated into other elf cultures. Exiles from Altmer society are the Maormer (tropical Elves); the Orsimer were changed into Orcs by the Daedric Prince Boethiah; some breeds of Khajiit are difficult to distinguish from Bosmer; last but not least are the Bretons, who are Man and Mer hybrids.

** Feir'Dal: Wood Elves: Descendants of the original elven race created by the God of Nature, Tunare. They live in the treetop city of Kelethin in the Greater Faydark forest. Naturally (no pun intended), they are more in tune with nature, with a society consisting mainly of Druids, Rangers, Rogues (who work for the city itself,) Bards, and Warriors. They have a very friendly position towards outsiders, and get along well with Humans. They stand 5 feet tall and have a tan complexion and hair colors running the normal human gambit between black, brown, blond, and red. They typically live to be about 650–700 years old.

** Koada'Dal: High Elves: Cousins to the Wood Elves, the High Elves live in the nearby city of Felwithe (anagram for White Elf) in the Greater Faydark forest. They stand a foot taller than the Wood Elves, have incredibly pale skin, a fair complexion, and usually have white hair, but can have shades of red or blonde as well. They are especially skilled in the magical arts, but also are devout clerics and paladins to their goddess, Tunare. They are generally good natured towards others, but are usually very arrogant towards others and think highly of themselves because of their intelligence. Only the [[Human Aliens|Erudites]] surpass them in intellect (and even look down on the High Elves in terms of arrogance because of this fact.) They typically live to be about 800 years old.

**** Going even further, the immortal vampire Mayong Mistmoore has taken an interest in the Renda'Dal. Using some of them as subjects for experimentation in the catacombs under his own castle, another race was created. Most of the experiments resulted in the hideous disfigurement of the test subject, turning them into troglodyte creatures akin to the [[The Time Machine|Morlocks]]. These rejected test subjects were thrown out and forced to live in the lower caves of the catacombs. Enough of them have gathered together to form their own primitive society of sorts. They wish to only be left alone and attack anyone who comes near. They have been branded as the "Myr'Dal", or "Cave Elf."

** Teir'Dal: Dark Elves: Innoruuk, the God of Hate, was jealous of Tunare's creations, so he stole away the first king and queen of the original good natured elven race and warped and twisted them into the Dark Elves. Standing 5 feet tall, have dark blue skin, white hair, and share the same aesthetic qualities as the Wood Elves [[Green-Skinned Space Babe|(Blue is sexy)]]. They live in the underground city of Neriak and are faithfully devoted to Innoruuk. They are adept in the practice of magic, which also includes Necromancy. Other professions include warriors, assassins, and shadowknights. Despite being evil for the most part, there are some Dark Elves who have proven that they are not inherently evil by nature and work for the forces of good. Dark Elves typically live about 600 years old.

** Ayr'Dal: Half Elves: Always the offspring of a human and one of the three elven races, the Half Elves can be good or evil, depending on who raised them. Standing 5 feet tall, Half Elves have more human features, including slightly rounded earss, facial hair, and a skin complexion ranging from any of the three parent elven races (except they're never nearly as blue as Dark Elves naturally are.) The Half Elves call themselves "Ayr'Dal", literally meaning "Outcast Elf", brought on by the fact that they have no racial culture or heritage to call their own. They've actually taken this lack of culture and used it as their own. They usually have a appearance to reflect their nonconformity towards society, including Mohawks, facial piercings, and a general rebellious teenager attitude towards others.

*** Living within the Sul'Dal's city of Akhet Aken are also the Rin'Dal and Ara'Dal, who are believed to be social classes in their society rather than individual races.

* Lampshaded in ''[[Global Agenda]]'', where they have an entire forum based on this trope. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxFKDzW0qdg There's also a trailer.]

* In ''[[Dragon Quest VIII]]'' Elves are mentioned as one of the races (along with humans and monsters) inhabiting Trian Gully. However, only one elf, Rajah is shown: she has green skin, red hair, big boobs and pointy ears.

* ''[[Touhou|Touhou Project]]'' has Elven [[Expy|expies]] in the ''Tengu'', down to their [[Fanon Discontinuity|pointy ears]], their long lifespans, (though all ''youkai'' share that trait), reputation for being condescending braggarts, and their highly secluded insular society (they have troops on 24-hour watch defending Youkai Mountain, but from whom?). The only Tengu we know are reporters and a member of the aforementioned mountain defense.

 

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

** Lampshaded in [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2006/04/04/episode-681-of-civilizations/ this strip]

* ''[[Dreamcatcher (webcomic)|Dreamcatcher]]'' actually doesn't have this. The only thing Elves are better at is hearing because of their pointy ears. No large lifespan, height or anything. As far as we know.

* ''[[Tales of the Questor]]'' have elves with a ''very'' serious problem. In their past, the race had lifespans that were marginally longer than humans and one Elf monarch wanted to stop his people from aging. So, he made a deal with a magic giant salamander for a spell that would ensure Elves never got old, which unfortunately was done by limiting Elf lifespans to 20 years (Half-Elves live a bit longer). The King tried to fix this catastrophic problem by getting a magic goblet that could give immortality to any elf drinking, which worked until it was stolen/destroyed/? (nobody remembers). As a result, Elf society totally collapsed with a population unable to get enough maturity and the race degenerated to a bunch of petty thieves and vagrants with nothing to live for. Naturally, when Quentyn the Questor learns of this from his new elf companion, Samantha, you can bet he'll keep an eye out for that goblet in his quest.

* The elves of ''[[Inverloch]]'' play the haughty aloof part of this trope straight. When some of their kind are born without magic or immortality, they are banished.

* ''[[Drowtales]]'': simultaneously played straight and deconstructed, since the various elven races are similar in power and demeanor to [[Jerkass Gods|Greek and Norse gods]] in comparison to the goblin species who can't manipulate mana. And towards each other.

** For clarification, the elves are pretty much [[Jerkass Gods|immortal humans]] with magic powers and a culture vaguely reminiscent of a matriarchal version of the ancient Rome. They ''are'' arrogant enough to consider humans as dumb animals, enslave them, and [[I'm a Humanitarian|use them for food.]]

* ''[[Haru-Sari]]'' has an interesting twist on elves: They are born from human mothers or genetically engineered, and have the power of magic. They are stuck in prepubescent bodies for their entire life, and they are treated as dangerous second class citizens by the society around them. And they only live for about 30 years before their affinity for magic kills them off.

* ''[http://www.well-of-souls.com/outsider/ Outsider]'' features a [[Fish Out of Water|lone human's]] contact with the Loroi, who are [[Green-Skinned Space Babe|Blue-Skinned]] [[Space Elves|Space Elf]] [[Fan Service|Hotties]], who happen to be locked in a genocidal war with [[Big Creepy-Crawlies|Bugs]], and have no problems with [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|glassing planets]] that get in the way.

** The drow (dark elves) are apparently played straight, although the abundance of [[Wangst]]y no-I'm-the-non-Evil-exception drow in games and game-books is poked fun at.

* It had to happen ... we now have confirmed in ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' how elves work. Apparently, if you're the child of a human and an immortal, you're an elf. And, to some, an abomination. Still, since immortals seem to have rigid 'hands off' rules, the elf that does show up laments about his limited career choices with regards to fighting. And then, once negotiations break down, attacks with a sword and exploding magic crows.

** And promptly gets his ass pounded by a human wizard (who is by reputation a complete dumbfuck).

* ''[[Linburger]]'' the Cyll. They were once powerful and long lived, but once Gotterdamerung hit, they became short lived as humans, and live in slums. They kept their pointed ears though.

* ''[[Guilded Age]]'' has Sky elves, Winter elves, Shit elves (which may just be a colloquial name), and Wood elves, so far.

** Wood Elves are apparently [[Plant Aliens|part plant]].

* Parodied in ''WIGU'' when Wigu and Hugo encounter retarded Hillbilly Elves in the woods, who still believe themselves [http://wigucomics.com/adventures/index.php?comic=547 superior to humans] in every way except [[Weaksauce Weakness|one.]]

* ''[[The Dreamland Chronicles]]'' has pleasant enough elves, except when Nastajia is being [[The Woman Wearing the Queenly Mask]] (and that trope would explain her attitude).

* A number of types of elves exist, naturally, in ''[[Elf Blood]]'':

** The High Elves, or just plain ol' Elves, are not nature loving technophobes but more along the lines of the Holy Roman Empire with Magic. Makes sense when their ancestral home, Alfheim, is supposedly hidden somewhere in central Europe. Though the modern elves lack it, historically they retained the 'aloof' aspect of ordinary elves.

* ''[[My Roommate Is an Elf]]'' features an elf named Griswold interested in human culture, and living with a human in an apartment. Griswold is capable of magic and has a [[Healing Factor]], and apparently a long life as his roommate, Harold, will likely be long dead by the time Griswold develops his first wrinkle.

* In ''Doodle Diaries'', Elves are apparently [http://doodlediaries.comicgenesis.com/d/20110711.html drunken frat bros]

 

== Web Original ==

{{quote|'''Professor Hart:''' Good? Good? Ms. La Belle, elves aren't 'good'... they are better. These people can run twice as fast as you can without making a sound. They can see to the farthest horizon on a starless night and they can hear the heart beat of a mouse. They don't sweat. If they fart, you'll never hear about it. They can go into a human town and ''fuck'' everybody's wives, sons, and daughters for fifteen hours straight, they are going to live ''forever''... and can you imagine what would happen if the brand-new emperor had stood before his people and said, 'Hey, these are the people who are going to be in charge of you.' Do you think the people who had just thrown off one tyrant would have just rolled over and accepted that?}}

** Verging on a [[Deconstruction]] at this point, with the revelation that Elves don't even need to '''breathe''', but if they don't engage in mortal behavior, they start losing their connection to the world and become [[The Fair Folk|something else entirely]].

* [[Limyaael's Fantasy Rants|Limyaaels Fantasy Rants]] suggests any potential writers [http://limyaael.livejournal.com/136885.html think up reasons] for the clichés.

* Plain avoided in ''[[Warlock Games]]''. The elf is ''useless''.

* In [[The Dragon Wars Saga]], the Haltia (it's Finnish for Elves) are grouped by affinity powers and this affects their appearance. It's also been implied that while they are very long lived they aren't immortal.

* ''[[The Questport Chronicles]]'' has elven heroes [[Master Swordsman|Gawain]] and [[Career Killers|Ato]] among the members of [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits|The Fellowship]].

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Our Monsters Are Different]]

[[Category:Our Tropes Are Different]]