History Main / ChristmasElves

* In the 1880s, Margaret T. Canby speculated that Santa got his elves one year when so many children had been good that he just couldn't do everything himself. They normally lived underground in winter and mined for treasure like Tolkien dwarves, but this group was getting bored with that and wanted to see the world. This is in ''Birdie and his Fairy Friends''.

* Santa's Elves are small green PointyEars aliens working for Santa Claus in ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlack''.

* The ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'' episode "Operation: N.A.U.G.H.T.Y." featured elf versions of the Franchise/XMen, complete with a Wolverine CaptainErsatz with candy cane claws.

* The ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9954253/1/Knows-if-You-ve-Been-Naughty Knows if You've Been Naughty]]'' strongly implies that all of Santa's elves are [[KarmicTransformation naughty children who have been transformed and brainwashed in order to serve for the aid of nicer children]] [[spoiler: as this is what happens to Gaz.]]

** They also do a Christmas special where Grim takes them to the North Pole to prove Santa's real. It turns out he's been turned into vampires by [[spoiler: Mrs. Claus, who just wanted a break]]. They are short, cute and make toys, but mostly stay in the background...until they are transformed into batlike {{Mook}}s.

[[folder: Puppet Shows]]

They usually dress in bright green and other festive colors and wear pointed shoes and hats. Despite living in one of the coldest parts of the world, they seem very poorly dressed and are hardly ever seen with coats. Contrast this with [[SantaClaus their boss]], who is hardly ever seen without his large red coat and boots. JustifiedTrope: Santa works outside, in the cold night air; elves work inside, in the warm toy-factory. Although Santa is sometimes described as a "Jolly Old Elf" or implied to have elven blood.

* The ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9954253/1/Knows-if-You-ve-Been-Naughty Knows if You've Been Naughty]]'' strongly implies that all of Santa's elves are [[KarmicTransformation naughty children who have transformed and brainwashed in order to serve for the aid of nicer children]] [[spoiler: as this is what happens to Gaz.]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* ''ComicBook/ElfQuest'' had a [[BonusMaterial bonus]] sketch of Santa offering tools to Skywise and Cutter, who respond with "You want us to do what?"
** Santa's elves (wearing the traditional Santa Elf gear) are in the background, working happily under a sign that says, 'A Busy Elf is a Happy Elf.'
* In a ''Magazine/{{MAD}} Magazine'' satire of "'Twas The Night Before Christmas", one of the woes Santa faces in the modern day is that his elves form a union and go on strike, forcing himself and Mrs. Claus to build the toys themselves.

* Creator/JRRTolkien wrote ''Literature/TheFatherChristmasLetters'' each Christmas to his children, which included some letters from Santa's elven secretary, Ilbreth, using Tolkien's own elven script and language. And given that Literature/MiddleEarth is supposed to be mythic past of our Earth, it means that the only surviving Firstborn are now living around the North Pole.
** It makes more sense in the context of his contemporary version of ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' (''Literature/TheBookOfLostTales'') in which the little fairies of popular legend were inspired by the wasted remnant spirits of Elves who had been left behind (not by choice) and diminished over time due to the rule of Men.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'', the flashbacks in "[[Recap/DuckTales2017S3E18HowSantaStoleChristmas How Santa Stole Christmas]] features a village of short, green-clad people, who decide they prefer Santa's plan of delivering toys for free to Scrooge's plan to deliver coal for a reasonable profit, and then reveal their pointy ears.

* The ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime used the humanlike Jynx Pokemon to substitute for elves in the Christmas episode (likely influenced by "Black Pete", the traditionally-blackface helper of Dutch Santa Claus). Nowadays the place could be filled by Delibird, the penguins inspired directly by Santa Claus.

* The tie-in storybook based on ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' called ''Mater Saves Christmas'' features elf microcars.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheNightmareBeforeChristmas'' naturally has some elves in Christmas Town. Hilariously, many fans consider the elves [[UncannyValley freakier]] that the six-foot-tall skeleton running around. Or anyone in HalloweenTown, for that matter.

* ''Anime/GhostSweeperMikami'' revealed in its second Christmas issue that yes, Santa has elves. Thing is... well...

* The ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' anime used the humanlike Jynx Pokemon to substitute for elves in the Christmas episode (likely influenced by "Black Pete", the traditionally-blackface helper of Dutch Santa Claus). Nowadays the place could be filled by Delibird, the [[EverythingsBetterWithPenguins penguins]] inspired directly by Santa Claus.

* Subverted in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'': [[BadSanta Robot Santa]] has his headquarters on the polar ice caps of Neptune, and has enslaved the Neptunians, forcing them to work in his weapons factory. They are malnourished, thus their growth is stunted -- making them LittlePeople compared to the human-sized Neptunians seen elsewhere in the series. They are not happy at all, they live in horrible conditions, and they hate Robot Santa as much as everybody else does. They also all [[AmbiguouslyGay seem to be gay]] for no specific reason.

* ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'': In "The Night Before Critmas" one-shot, all the player characters play a ragtag group of Santa's elves, the only ones not to get sick on Christmas Eve, who are forced to save Santa after he gets kidnapped. [[spoiler: Has elements of SantasSweatshop since Chetney, one of the elder elves, resents the change from wooden toys to electronics so much that he stabs Santa when given the chance. Thankfully, Santa survives.]]

* In one particularly funny ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' strip, we see the Head Elf from ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer'' scolding "Herbie" the elf (actually, it's ''Hermey'', but Bill Amend's not the first to make that mistake) about acting like a proper elf. "Elves don't do dentistry! Now hurry it up and get to Rivendell! Elrond's assembling a council!" The last panel shows the Fox living room with the TV announcer saying, "Rudolph's Lord Of The Rings Christmas" will continue after these messages," and Peter, who's been watching, calling Jason in to see: "Hey, Jason! They used your idea!"

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSmurfs'' themselves fulfill this role in a Christmas special.

* Averted in ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow''. In keeping with their Christmas Special's numerous ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' references, Santa's elves are more of the [[OurElvesAreDifferent High-Fantasy]] variety, being generally tall, lanky, gaunt, and in the case of the special's villain Quillgin, quite arrogant and full of himself.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'' Christmas special 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas' focused mostly on the girls' journey to the North Pole. But toward the beginning, when Princess originally breaks into Santa's workshop to see whether she's on the naughty or nice list, she has to evade the elves to prevent being discovered. They are short and wear bright colors, but act more like people than mindless Christmas spirits. Two even have a water-cooler conversation about whittling.

[[caption-width-right:350:Not pictured: [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Legolas.]]]].