Line #8 WMG/Elf - TV Tropes


1	[[WMG:Miles Finch actually was an elf.]]
2	He is the antithesis of Buddy - an elf who was raised by humans but doesn't know it. This explains all of his wealth, why he is so mean, and why he was so very offended about being called an elf.
3	* "He must be a South Pole elf."
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5	[[WMG:Buddy isn't really a man-child.]]
6	...Well, at least not to an elf. Elves seem to age half as quickly as humans or even slower, so Buddy might actually be just as far along mentally and emotionally as actual elves his age. Unfortunately, at some point, Buddy got too big and/or old-looking and was forced to work with much older elves, which is why they treat him like a child.
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8	[[WMG:Buddy really is insane]]
9	All the scenes with Santa or at the North Pole are in his head. His mother wasn't really dead but had [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned Buddy in a mental institution as a teenager when she realized how crazy her son was.]] [[OnlyKnownByHisNickname The doctors in the institution didn't know his name because they had found him in the lobby alone so they called him Buddy, and his childlike mind took that as his name.]] Santa was really the head doctor, and the elves were his assistants. His mother had left the picture of her and Walter in the bag that she left with Buddy, so he'd remember her. The doctors, to spare his pain, had taken the picture from him, but one day the janitor Buddy had befriended (Papa Elf) let slip that he had a mother, and decided to say that she was dead so Buddy didn't realize that she had abandoned him. He gave Buddy the picture and told him about his father, who the institution knew because the administrator had gone to college with him. Buddy, being strong, was able to break out and steals an elf suit from a drunk leaving a Christmas party. [[AWizardDidIt His skills at creative building]] [[HollywoodAutism are explained by autism.]] After his father yells at him, he does go to the bridge, but instead of [[HappyEnding seeing Santa]] he [[DownerEnding falls off the bridge to his death.]]
10	** Don't mean to burst your bubble, but there is absolutely no way Buddy has autism. He spent the entire movie INTERACTING with people. An autistic person would spend way more time by themself.
11	*** Extroverted autistics are a thing. Autism is about a lack of social skills, not necessarily a lack of inclination to be social. Buddy is socially awkward, but that's mainly thanks to his sheltered upbringing and out-of-sync maturity levels. I'd attribute his creative skills to being raised in a society that teaches and prioritizes them, plus a possible natural talent; you don't have to be an autistic savant to be talented or skilled.
12	** FridgeBrilliance: It is believed that the changeling stories may have been inspired by autistic children who manifested in a period before autism was recognized as A Thing, leading their parents to believe their child had been swapped out for an inhuman duplicate. Taken at face value, ''Elf'' is a changeling tale (albeit in the other direction), and by this theory, Buddy could still be neurodivergent.
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14	[[WMG:Buddy is actually on a mission.]]
15	The world is split between South Pole Elves, who try and spread evil, and North Pole Elves who spread joy. Buddy was spending his time in New York converting those who had been touched by evil (e.g., The guys in the mailroom, Walter, and to a lesser extent, his girlfriend) and managed to end up converting all of New York, or at least defeating the darkness (Miles).
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17	[[WMG:''Elf'' takes place in the same universe as the original version of ''Film/MiracleOnThirtyFourthStreet''.]]
18	First of all, Santa speaks of having been to New York as if he spent time on the ground, not just passing through to deliver presents. Second, this explains why Gimbels is still around in 2003, rather than having been bought out and eventually liquidated as it was in reality: the events of the film caused the owners of the two stores to become friends so that when Gimbels ran into the financial trouble that resulted in it being bought out by BATUS and eventually dismantled in reality, Macy's generously helped bail them out.
19	* One quibble with this is that Santa in ''Elf'' is much less jolly than the one played by Edmund Gwenn, although the near-total decline of Christmas Spirit between 1947 and 2003 probably explains that.
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21	[[WMG:''Elf'' takes place in the same universe as ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer''.]]
22	This explains the similarities in terms of the elf uniforms and the scenery at the North Pole (including the presence of a talking snowman). It would also explain why none of the elves appear to have bad teeth despite their diet, as Hermey has evidently become a very effective and successful dentist. Papa Elf's costume is the same as that of Boss Elf, so they're either in a similar position in the elf hierarchy ... or related.
23	* Taking this a stage further, Papa Elf ''is'' an older, wiser Boss Elf. His anger management issues were caused by persistent toothache and his not really being suited to overseeing toy-making and elf choir practice. This proved to be a turn-off as far as the lady elves were concerned, hence why he never got to start a family of his own. Once Hermey fixed his teeth and Santa reassigned him to sleigh maintenance, he mellowed and became a nicer elf, following which he volunteered to raise Buddy.
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25	[[WMG:The Santa in this movie is the Santa from ''WesternAnimation/SantaClausIsCominToTown''.]]
26	He kept Buddy because being raised by a bunch of toy makers worked out so well for him.
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28	[[WMG:Buddy accidentally caused Santa's sleigh to crash at the climax of the film]]
29	Okay, think about it for a minute. Buddy starts yelling "He's a fake" after ripping off Fake Santa's beard in front of the children. Said children likely misinterpreted this as Santa himself not being real, and stopped believing in him, which caused him to crash in NYC.
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31	[[WMG:Buddy has diabetes.]]
32	Because there's no way someone could [[SweetTooth eat so much sugar]] and leave the pancreas intact. He believes the four food groups are candy, candy canes, candy corns, and syrup; so the elves clearly didn't give him a more human diet. Honestly, it's a Christmas miracle he's alive.
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34	[[WMG:Buddy isn't completely human.]]
35	Ain't no way a regular human could survive with only 40 minutes of sleep a day and a diet as sugar-filled as Buddy's.
36	* Hrm...what if: his mother was an elf (or was part elf) living in the regular world. That would explain why he has some elven talents like building things and making/throwing snowballs at blinding speeds, and can handle high sugar intake better than any human.
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38	[[WMG:Miles Finch is Mr. Greenway's sidekick and roommate.]]
39	I mean, even if they've never even interacted with each other at any point in the movie, but little do we know, seeing Greenway is the boss of the company and Finch is just a famous children's book author they hire, it could be hinted and guessed that they live in the same apartment room with each other and sharing similar motives with one another, since they're the only two (if not the first) who refuse to participate in the singing of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town".
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41	[[WMG: Buddy was imbued with a few magical enhancements, enough to allow him to live with the elves. However, because he would eventually leave for the human world, they are temporary.]]
42	The other elves might have some trouble with the concept but Santa's no fool - he'd know a human would never be able to survive as an elf. So he, or maybe someone in his staff, arranged for Buddy to get a few magical enhancements to allow him to fit in. The main one is his diet and sleep schedule. Buddy, a human, is physically capable of subsists on a sugar-heavy elf diet, live on 40 minutes of sleep a night, and survive in the cold of the North Pole. While impossibly fast with his hands by human standards, for an elf he's painfully slow (though he's able to compensate if the environment lets him), and there's no reason to limit him like that unless there's a reason.
43	* They're ''enhancements'' and not full transmutation, and that's so he could go and live in the human world should the opportunity arise. They never really made any changes to the North Pole for Buddy when he was growing up, which would be extremely remiss for someone as big-hearted as Santa unless it was always meant to be a temporary-ish thing.
44	* The kicker is that Papa Elf's home doesn't seem to have been modified to accommodate Buddy's size, beyond some superficial things. This was deliberate, to get him to realize on his own that he's human.
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46	[[WMG: Buddy is actually a star snowballer amongst the elves.]]
47	His height would've been an advantage, because his opponents would have to spend time compensating for or building in defenses against his higher angle of attack and field of vision. His longer arms and human physiology also give him a mechanical advantage; him throwing from his elbow would be equivalent to the average elf throwing from their shoulder. So that's not an elfin snowballer technique he shows off in the movie - that's ''his'' unique throwing style, and it's as impressive and destructive in the North Pole as it is in Central Park.
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Context WMG / Elf