A Philosophical Typology of Elves (Thread #6000)

[The Perilous Dreamer]

For thread #6000 on the forum, I wanted to look at this post over at the Monsters and Manuals blog.
A Philosophical Typology of Elves

Bland modern fantasy elves tend to be depicted merely as living for a bit longer than humans and being a bit sexier. The history of the genre gives us many other, more interesting, archetypes. Let's see if we can catalogue them.

He breaks elves into these groups:
1. The optimistic elf
2. The decadent elf
3. The megalomaniac elf
4. The senile elf
5. The pessimistic elf
6. The Vulcan elf
7. The dark triad elf

Give it a read and then let me know what you think. Also do you have any other kinds of elves? I will be composing my owns thoughts about this.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

In the comments Anonymous said:

Amoral Trickster elves, as depicted in The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Lyonesse by Jack Vance. They're bored unless they're playing tricks on hapless humans.

So:
8. Amoral Trickster Elf

[hengest]

Feb 12, 2022 0:33:07 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

For thread #6000 on the forum, I wanted to look at this post over at the Monsters and Manuals blog.
A Philosophical Typology of Elves

Bland modern fantasy elves tend to be depicted merely as living for a bit longer than humans and being a bit sexier. The history of the genre gives us many other, more interesting, archetypes. Let's see if we can catalogue them.

He breaks elves into these groups:
1. The optimistic elf
2. The decadent elf
3. The megalomaniac elf
4. The senile elf
5. The pessimistic elf
6. The Vulcan elf
7. The dark triad elf

Give it a read and then let me know what you think. Also do you have any other kinds of elves? I will be composing my owns thoughts about this.

Cool post. I'm not sure how much I have to add...

Although I think of Tolkien's elves as kind of "standard," they are his own creation. So I might try to find a place for the truly "other" elf on the list, elves that exist in some parallel culture or world, almost but not quite outside of regular time. Obviously not suitable as PCs. I guess I would go for this because with only these other elf types, they lose their fairy element and become just another "juiced" human-like race. Nice to remember the connection to Faerie!

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Feb 12, 2022 9:25:41 GMT -5 hengest said:

Feb 12, 2022 0:33:07 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

For thread #6000 on the forum, I wanted to look at this post over at the Monsters and Manuals blog.
A Philosophical Typology of Elves
He breaks elves into these groups:
1. The optimistic elf
2. The decadent elf
3. The megalomaniac elf
4. The senile elf
5. The pessimistic elf
6. The Vulcan elf
7. The dark triad elf

Give it a read and then let me know what you think. Also do you have any other kinds of elves? I will be composing my owns thoughts about this.

Cool post. I'm not sure how much I have to add...

Although I think of Tolkien's elves as kind of "standard," they are his own creation. So I might try to find a place for the truly "other" elf on the list, elves that exist in some parallel culture or world, almost but not quite outside of regular time. Obviously not suitable as PCs. I guess I would go for this because with only these other elf types, they lose their fairy element and become just another "juiced" human-like race. Nice to remember the connection to Faerie!

I don't know if you have read these books, but this depiction is very Faerie in terms of a lot of the older elf tropes:

Feb 12, 2022 0:54:20 GMT -5 The Perilous Dreamer said:

In the comments Anonymous said:

Amoral Trickster elves, as depicted in The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Lyonesse by Jack Vance. They're bored unless they're playing tricks on hapless humans.

So:

8. Amoral Trickster Elf

[hengest]

Of course, with what I suggest above, you really can't define them too much , or they DO become "just another elf." So maybe I was a little hasty to try to add them to the list of defined and playable elves!

[The Perilous Dreamer]

On that topic (Faerie):

Elf Tropes

The Ageless: Elves who can't die from old age but can still be killed through other means.
Alien Fair Folk: Elves turning out to be aliens, are confused for aliens, or pass themselves off as aliens.
Can't Argue with Elves: Elves are always, always right.
Changeling Tale: Elves kidnapping human children and replacing them with elven children.
Christmas Elves: Elves who work up at the North Pole with Santa Claus.
Cold Iron: Elves, especially dark elves, are sometimes weak to this.
Cultural Posturing: Elves believing their culture is superior to others.
Elfeminate: Male elves who look feminine.
Elves Versus Dwarves: Elves fighting dwarves.
Elvish Presley: A stock pun combining elves with Elvis Presley.
Enslaved Elves: Elves forced into squalor and servitude.
Fairy Ring: A circle/ring of mushrooms that may or may not be magical.
Garden Garment: Elves wearing clothes fashioned from flowers and/or leaves.
Hidden Elf Village: A secret location inhabited by isolationist elves.
Immortality: Elves sometimes just straight up live forever.
Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Elves often possess beauty far beyond that of humans.
Long-Lived: Elves commonly have immense lifespans.
Nature Spirit: Elves are occasionally portrayed as this.
Our Elves Are Different: The different depictions of elves in fiction.
Pointy Ears: An almost universal trait among elves.
Precursors: When elven culture comes before that of humans.
Proud Warrior Race: Elves are commonly depicted as such.
Really 700 Years Old: Extraordinarily ancient elves who look much younger. Elves tend to fall into this quite a bit in modern fantasy in part because their Beauty Is Never Tarnished.
Screw You, Elves!: Telling elves off.
Space Elves: Elves or elfin beings in outer space.
Standard Fantasy Races: Elves are one of the primary recurring races.
The Wild Hunt: Elves hunting humans.

Fairy Tropes

Tropes about fairies, elves, leprechauns, and their ilk.

The Ageless: Fairies who can't die of old age but can still be killed using other methods.
Alchemic Elementals: Fairies, pixies, and sprites are occasionally portrayed as air/wind elementals and gnomes as earth elementals.
Alien Fair Folk: Mythological creatures turning out to be aliens, are confused for aliens, or pass themselves off as aliens.
All Trolls Are Different: The diverse, and sometimes clashing, iterations of trolls.
Amazing Technicolor Population: Fairies with abnormal skin colors/tones.
Can't Argue with Elves: A race that's always, always right.
Changeling Tale: Fairies kidnapping human children and replacing them with fairy children.
Christmas Elves: Elves who work for Santa Claus up at the North Pole.
Cold Iron: A traditional weakness of fairies.
Cultural Posturing: Elves or fairies believing their culture is better than another's.
Elfeminate: Feminine-looking male elves.
Elves Versus Dwarves: Elves fighting dwarves.
Elvish Presley: A stock pun combining elves with Elvis Presley.
Enslaved Elves: A once proud and powerful race forced into squalor and servitude.
Exposition Fairy: A fairy sidekick who dispenses exposition.
Faerie Court: Fairy nobility or royalty.
Faeries Don't Believe in Humans, Either: Mythical creatures doubting the existence of humans.
The Fair Folk: Cruel, wicked fairies.
Fairy Companion: A fairy sidekick.
Fairy Devilmother: An evil Fairy Godmother.
Fairy Dragons: Small dragons with fairy wings.
Fairy Godmother: A character, often female, who magically helps the protagonist.
Fairy in a Bottle: Fairies captured in bottles or jars.
Fairy Ring: A circle/ring of mushrooms that may or may not be magical.
Fairy Sexy: Attractive fairies.
Fairy Trickster: A fairy or pixie who's a notorious trickster.
Fauns and Satyrs: Humanoids with the lower halves of deer or goats.
Food Chains: When eating food from a strange realm has serious, negative consequences.
Garden Garment: Elves or fairies wearing clothes fashioned from flowers or leaves.
Good Wings, Evil Wings: Sometimes used to distinguish good winged fairies from evil ones.
Great Gazoo: An eccentric, possibly immature fey with incredible powers.
Griping About Gremlins: Diminutive beings who tamper with electronics and machinery.
Have I Mentioned I Am a Dwarf Today?: Bragging about and being proud of belonging to a proud warrior race.
Hidden Elf Village: A secret location inhabited by isolationists who may or may not be elves or fairies.
Hobbits: A race of short, simple folk who often act as an Audience Surrogate for modern-day humans.
House Fey: A fairy who lives with and helps take care of a human family.
Immortality: Sometimes, fairies are portrayed as living forever.
The Imp: A small, antagonistic creature who's more annoying than outright evil or malicious.
Inhumanly Beautiful Race: Elves and fairies are often beautiful far beyond normal human standards.
Land of Faerie: A dimension, plane, or realm primarily inhabited by fairies.
Leprechaun: Irish fairies who often dress in green and have pots of gold.
Little Bit Beastly: Fairies with animal features, with insect antennae and wings being the most common
Long-Lived: It's common for fairies to have long lifespans.
Nature Spirit: An Anthropomorphic Personification of the forces of nature.
Our Banshees Are Louder: The different depictions of banshees, Celtic portents of doom in the form of a crying woman who started out as a kind of fairy, in fiction.
Our Dwarves Are All the Same: Little to no variation among portrayals of dwarves.
Our Elves Are Different: The different depictions of elves.
Our Gnomes Are Weirder: The differing depictions of gnomes.
Our Goblins Are Different: All the varieties of goblins.
Our Kobolds Are Different: Originally a common name for German fairy beings, kobolds may still be linked to fairies.
Our Nymphs Are Different: Female nature spirits originating from Classical Mythology.
Our Ogres Are Hungrier: The varying portrayals of ogres.
Our Orcs Are Different: The different varieties of orcs.
Our Pixies Are Different: The varying portrayals of pixies.
Peeve Goblins: Beings or creatures that exist to inconvenience others.
Pointy Ears: Elves and fairies often have these.
Power Gives You Wings: Powerful fairies with wings.
Precursors: When elf or fairy culture comes before humans'.
Proud Warrior Race: It's common for certain fey to be portrayed as such.
Really 700 Years Old: When ancient fairies don't look their age.
Screw You, Elves!: Telling off a Superior Species.
Sidekick Creature Nuisance: A fairy sidekick who gets on everyone's nerves.
Sinister Schnoz: Big, long, pointy noses are a common feature among some kinds of fair folk.
Space Elves: Alien elves.
Spark Fairy: Fairies depicted as simple balls of light.
Standard Fantasy Races: Stock races of sapient beings frequently found in fantasy works. Fairies are one of the recurring non-central races.
Tooth Fairy: A fairy who collects children's teeth and replaces said teeth with money.
Unusual Ears: Non-standard ears for elves and fairies.
The Wild Hunt: Supernatural beings, creatures, or entities hunting humans.
Will-o'-the-Wisp: A magical or supernatural light that leads unsuspecting travelers into danger.
Winged Humanoid: Modern fairies are often depicted as this.
Year Inside, Hour Outside: Time passing more quickly in the fantasy world than in the real one.
Year Outside, Hour Inside: Time passing more quickly in the real world than in a fantasy one.
You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Fairies with unnatural hair colors.

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Our Elves Are Different


Genie Tropes

[hengest]

No, The Perilous Dreamer, I have not read those books although I am basically familiar with A Midsummer Night's Dream. I suppose I read it for high school but understood little, so it hardly counts! You are right, though, that the depiction there is more like what I mean. I wish I could see a late 16th-century production of that. 

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Elves in fiction

[The Perilous Dreamer]

Elves... but not elves (and other ways of combating tropes)

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

Don't forget one of the most widely known elves have been overlooked.

9. Santa's Elves 

<Attempting to dodge a ban.> 

Seriously, this is a good idea for discussion.  There should be many different types of elves from all over the world. There are physical differences between them and some have a nasty disposition.  I will see if I can find some of the examples I have seen from my past exploration.

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

WOW!  Some good replies came in while I was typing my comedy reply.  

[Vladimir, The Dark Prince]

I liked the Great Gazoo, from one of the posts above!