Many stories will have animosity between a beautiful, highly advanced race or civilization, and a much more gritty, industrial-like force. This theme of HarmonyVersusDiscipline is very common, regardless of the genre. Authors often tend to [[AuthorAppeal have preferences.]]

In many fantasy fictions these roles are filled by [[OurElvesAreBetter Elves]] and [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Dwarves]]. Elves are tall and slender, Dwarves are short and stout. Elves use [[SwordFight swords]] and [[StraightArrow bows]], weapons requiring flexibility and grace, representations of elegance as a power. Dwarves use [[AnAxeToGrind axes]] and [[DropTheHammer hammers]], which are primarily about direct application of force. Sometimes, they will use [[FantasyGunControl muskets]] or revolver-style pistols and various {{Steampunk}} machines and tanks, all representations of industrial might. Elves will focus on magic and spirituality instead and evidence disdain for material things, or to be [[AwesomeButImpractical more interested in their elegance than their utility]].

Elves live in [[GhibliHills pristine woods]] or elegant castles, Dwarves live in great halls and impregnable fortresses that are [[ElaborateUndergroundBase usually underground]]. 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 grill of an oncoming semi.

[[SlobsVersusSnobs These differences]] result in distrust, hatred, and quite often, all-out War. If the star of the Elves and Dwarves is [[VestigialEmpire fading]], there's a good chance that somewhere further up the timeline there was a war between the two that helped the decline along.

The Elves may feel the Dwarves are wasteful barbarians, while the Dwarves believe the Elves are stuck-up, arrogant, vain jerks holding them back from their destiny.

Other stories without Elves and/or Dwarves will have Aristocrats versus Barbarians. Science Fiction will have some variation on [[TheTimeMachine Eloi and Morlocks]], or a CrystalSpiresAndTogas race versus Humans. In the world of business, it is [[{{Dilbert}} Marketeers versus Engineers]].

In a setting with established Good Guys and [[AlwaysChaoticEvil Bad Guys]], both the Elves and the Dwarves are usually on the side of Good, or at the least have yet to choose a side. In these cases the two will often manage to [[TeethClenchedTeamwork put aside their differences]] long enough to [[EnemyMine combat the greater threat]], even if their conflict was the very thing that allowed that threat to become so great in the first place.

Compare with {{Ninja}} vs. {{Pirate}}- although the latter is a recent MemeticMutation while this trope is OlderThanRadio. Likewise the horror-oriented [[FurAgainstFang Werewolves Vs. Vampires]]. Sometimes manifests as a form of FantasticRacism.
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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* The classic silent film ''Metropolis'' has a leisure class living above ground in luxury, while workers both live and work below ground.

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[[folder: Literature ]]

* H.G. Wells' ''TheTimeMachine'' features the Morlocks (below ground) and the Eloi (above ground), two subspecies of humanity, in the year 802701, making this OlderThanRadio. Unlike the more common form of this trope, however, the Eloi are neither highly advanced nor highly intelligent.
* 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 ''LordOfTheRings''. 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.
** Not helped by the effect of the seven rings of power that Sauron provided the Dwarves... whilst they didn't turn them into wraiths, they did tend towards greed and mistrust.
*** It's a lot more blatant in ''TheHobbit''. The Dwarves refuse to trust the Elves of Mirkwood with details of their mission, and so the Elves hold the Dwarves prisoner until Bilbo breaks them out. Remembering this, Thorin later refuses to negotiate with the men of Laketown in the presence of the Elves, leading to his reclaimed kingdom being besieged. Fortunately, when the goblins attack, [[EnemyMine all this animosity is]] [[strike:[[EnemyMine forgotten]]]] [[EnemyMine put on hold]]. This doesn't stop Gloin, who was one of the dwarves, from bringing it up again at the Council of Elrond. (Of course, both elves and dwarves [[FantasticRacism are known]] to have long-lasting friendships...and similarly long-lasting grudges.)
*** It's kind of explained in ''TheSilmarillion'', where Vala (~archangel) Aule created the Dwarves before Iluvatar's (~God) Elves had awoken. Ilúvatar allowed the dwarves to live and 'adopted' them, but said "often strife will arise between the children of my adoption and the children of my choice."
*** Perhaps more importantly, ''The Silmarillion'' also states that the first dwarves the Elves met were the "Petty-Dwarves," and that the elves did not recognize them as a form of intelligent life. They thus hunted these bothersome two legged animals for food, and just sport. By the time the elves realized what these dwarves were and stopped the bloodsport, too few petty dwarves survided to sustain the race and so it went extinct with the death of Mim. Although it seems the petty dwarves may have had some earlier falling out with their larger cousins, the other dwarves probably still didn't take too kindly to a race that had had committed genocide and cannibalism against their kin.
*** Another story in ''The Silmarillion'' is the story of a Dark Elf Eol, a great smith, who lived among the dwarves and is a greater smith than they. Eol is later killed by the elves of Gondolin, which led to more mistrust between the dwarves and the elves.
*** This is probably a reference to the concept of the Nephilim, a mythical race of giants who were the children of fallen angels, thus coming before Adam and Eve, in some versions. ("There were giants in the earth in those days...")
** Interestingly, some of Tolkien's Elves actually display traditionally Dwarvish qualities, underground dwellings (Menegroth, Nargothrond, the halls of the Elvenking) for instance. They are also very good craftsmen, smiths in particular - the Noldor are particularly notable for this. Collaboration between the two races also gave birth to some of the most wonderful places and objects in the books.
*** It's pretty obvious that when elves and dwarves team up, nothing can stop them. The Fellowships's own representatives, Legolas and Gimli, [[BashBrothers drive the point home]], and become [[VitriolicBestBuds the best of friends]], to the point where Gimli eventualy becomes the only Dwarf ever to [[AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence travel to the Grey Havens]].
* 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 HalfHumanHybrid). Any antipathy the Westfolk have to the dwarves is mostly a reaction to this attitude.
* Justified in TerryPratchett's ''{{Discworld}}'' novels, where dwarfs are more aware than humans that TheFairFolk are sociopathic monsters. Used straight, however, with the dwarves and the ''trolls''. In this case, the explanation is that dwarves like to cut apart rocks to get at precious minerals, and trolls ''are'' rocks with precious minerals inside. And many of them stay stationary most of the day. An alternate explanation is that they fight because they've ''always'' fought, and most of them don't like to let go of a perfectly good grudge, like any tradition--millions of dead people can't be ''wrong'', can they?
**This was finally addressed in ''Thud!'' - the oft-cited iconic Battle of Koom Valley between Dwarves and Trolls (where both sides are said to have ambushed the other) was revealed to [[spoiler:have been a misunderstanding - both sides were actually there to make peace and their fossilised remains were discovered playing the game together.]]
* The ''Jigsaw Prophecy'' series has the Rawulf and the Felpurr. While they are not ''always'' fighting, their natural evolution from dogs and cats has resulted in a rather edgy relationship between the two species, and characters of these species are also more likely to find petty, species-based reasons to be enemies. The Rawulves have a highly social pack mind, and their bodies are strength-based, while the Felpurr are highly individual, generally more intelligent, far more violent and incredibly graceful in battle.
* Averted in [=~Raymond E. Feist~=]'s ''[[TheRiftwarCycle Riftwar Cycle]]'', where Dwarves and Elves are on the whole pretty good friends. They even get along fairly well with humans, and both races have a HonouredEnemy thing going with the Dark Elves.
* In the Timothy Zahn book ''The Green And The Gray'' the two races, Greens and Grays are basically Elves and Dwarves respectively and yes, they've been at war for centuries.
* Subverted in Terry Brooks' {{Shannara}} series, where of the [[FiveRaces five major races]], Elves and Dwarves are the two that get along the best with each other.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

* The ''{{Star Trek}}'' episode "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.
* In the ''StarTrek'' episode "Journey to Babel", Vulcans and Tellarites have a classic elf-dwarf relationship, with Sarek of Vulcan a rather witty Legolas and Gav the Tellarite a doomed variant of Gimli.
* Cardassians and Bajorans have a sort of dark elf/drow and dark dwarf enmity going on as well. The Bajoran slaves were even used as miners.
** Most of the primary ''StarTrek'' races map over to ''DungeonsAndDragons'' FiveRaces: Vulcans are elder brother [[OurElvesAreBetter high elves]] (especially Sarek and Spock), Tellarites are dwarves, Klingons are [[OurOrcsAreDifferent orcs]] (with Worf the classic half-orc), Romulans are drow, Andorians are wood elves, Betazoids are gnomes (including the love of elaborate rituals which serve no real purpose other than providing larger-than-life ''divertissement''), and Humans are either humans or halflings.
** Many of the enemies do that too: Changelings are morphs, Borg are undead (strong but slow, immune to bullets etc) Jem'Hadar are a typical summoned race and so on.

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[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* Played absolutely straight in the ''{{Warhammer}}'' fantasy battle game. The Elves and Dwarves carry residual hatred from the "War of the Beard" 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).
* It's Eldar Vs ''Humans'' on a galactic, genocidal scale in ''{{Warhammer 40000}}'', with the Imperium of Man squarely filling the dwarves' shoes. Though in this case, it's less about swords and bows vs axes and hammers than it is starcannons and hovertanks vs battle cannons and heavy, tracked monstrosities.
*Averted slightly in ''Mage Knight''. Dwarves and Elves ([[OurElvesAreBetter all 3 types]]) are played pretty straight, but aren't specifically antagonistic. The Dwarves' main enemies are the [[TheEmpire humans who enslaved them]] while each branch of the Elves has a different agenda and basically ignore any Dwarf that isn't in their way.
* Since both dwarves and elves are standard hero races in ''DungeonsAndDragons'', 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.
* In the IronKingdoms 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 [[TheFairFolk rabid xenophobes]] who hate ''everyone'', and the dwarves, while isolationist, are on generally friendly terms with all the other races.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* In ''TheElderScrolls III: Morrowind'', the dark elves of the series, Dunmer, are described as a traditionalistic, religious, racist, proud bunch. Some of them were also quite backstabbing, vicious, and nomadic, though that dependent on which house or tribe they belonged. They lived either out in the fields in tents for the tribes or preferred lavish houses grown via magic from super-mutated mushrooms and vines. The race of technology-minded "dwarves", the Dwemer, had all suffered a CriticalExistenceFailure after messing around with a CosmicKeystone long before even the first game in the series so we know little about their nature directly, but their method of lifestyle is well-documented in subterranean SteamPunk cities that repair themselves via a continuous automaton skeleton crew and security (which, notably, is a combination of both science and magic).
** Amusingly subverted: according to TheElderScrolls lore, any race that has "-mer" in its official name is descended from an ancient Elvish race called the Aldmer.
** Also, the Dwemer weren't that short...
*** The ghostly Dwemer you occasionally find haunting the ruins look quite like other Elven races, if a little more Babylonian in style. [[spoiler:The SoleSurvivor looks short and fat and Dwarven, but this is mostly because he's been very unpleasantly mutated by TheVirus but remains otherwise quite sane and sound.]]
** The Elder Scrolls case is more of a subversion. The "dwarves", while seemingly atheist, they were a very spiritual people - so much that the aforementioned CriticalExistenceFailure happened in [[spoiler:an attempt to become gods themselves.]] Both of them also base their technology on magic - the Dwemer even more so than their neighbours.
* In ''DwarfFortress'', the Elves are not antagonistic, but they are condescending and snotty, and will refuse to trade if you accidentally offer them wood or wood byproducts. The latest versions have turned their ability to besiege you back on. Disrespect the local trees or offend their merchants and diplomats, and they send armies rather than trade caravans.
** Just to throw rock-salt onto a siege wound, if an Elf kills one of your Dwarves, the elf will then eat it. That's right. Elves are cannibals.
*** The creator of Dwarf Fortress is transitioning from species-based hate to belief-based hate, with the result that ''everyone'' now hates elves for their habit of snacking on corpses.
** The fandom also despises elves for their tendency to get posessive over an important resource and their habit of suddenly not bringing anything to trade other than cloth and maybe some berries. This troper takes great pleasure in making sure no elf leaves his fortress as anything other than carved bone trade goods sold to the other races.
** Justified, because dwarven industry (unless you embarked on a magma pipe; magma can power forges) often involves massive deforestation campaigns to fuel the metalworks.
*** Because it's just so unfair for Dwarves to want to survive in a world of goblins, dragons and carp, and to have no choice but to fight in order to do so.
* In the game ''ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'', this is mildly subverted. Dwarves and Elves don't particularly understand each other, but they aren't enemies...[[spoiler: except that this misunderstanding was exploited by the Dark Elves, who got the Dwarves to banish one of their own clans for the humans' destruction of an "elven" forest.]]
** Not enemies in the "kill each other on sight" sense, but they're certainly philosophical opponents, and they have no qualms about trading ethnic slurs back and forth.
* The elves and dwarves (and gnomes) of ''{{Majesty}}'' won't settle in your kingdom if any of the other races are present. While the dwarves here are depicted as typical 'gruff engineers' the elves are far from mystical, magical, or wise, but are instead a bunch of hedonistic layabouts who bring vice to your city in the form of gambling halls and elven lounges.
* ''Stonekeep'' features dwarves who are prejudiced against elves. And goblins. And trolls. And fairies. And various other green-skinned races. And dwarves who have been dishonored. Despite all this, the dwarves are not unlikable, probably because they have no problems with humans whatsoever. Dwarves make up the majority of your traveling companions early in the game, and one does nothing to hide his intolerance of party members from the above races.
* The story of the NES game ''Faxanadu'' revolved around Elves vs. Dwarves, although it's because the dwarves had gone psycho and turned into demons.
* In ''{{Overlord}}'', it turns out that - a short while before your [[SealedEvilInACan Awakening]] - the Dwarves and Elves fought a war of extinction. The Dwarves won, carting away the most valued treasure of the Elves, as well as several cartloads of elven slaves to work in their mines, and leaving the Elvish forest of Evernight to the mournful whispers of the ghosts. If you are so inclined, you can help the Elves regain their freedom, and their treasure... or you could [[VillainProtagonist kill them all and keep the treasure to yourself.]] Canonically the Overlord saves the Elves from extinction since they're still around in the sequel while the Dwarves are presumably devastated by the magical Cataclysm that turned the lands of the first game into a magical wasteland.
** The prequel ''Overlord: Dark Legend'' has Lord Gromgard, the previous Overlord instigate a war between the Elves and Dwarves by killing their leaders and framing the other side for it.
*Averted in ''TheLegendOfZelda''. You'd think the dwarf-like Gorons and Elf-like Zoras would hate each other, but they are actually extremely close. Both species are generally on good terms with the long-eared humans called Hylians, too.
** Seemingly played straight first in ''TwilightPrincess'', when the Gorons seem to hate the Hylians, but this latter turns out to be a subversion: The Gorons were just ashamed for having problems with an evil curse on their leader, which is why they kept the Hylians away from their terretory.
*** Not played too straight even then, as if you "listen" to some of the Gorons standing guard while in wolf form, you'll hear them grumbling about how the Hylians are their friends, and shouldn't the Gorons be asking them for help?
* The Dwarves and Elfs in TheWitcher WERE like this, until the decided to join against the [[HumansAreBastards humans]] who treat both races as 2nd class citizens.
* Mostly averted in the ''{{Warcraft}}'' universe. In the RTS series, high elves and dwarves are on the same side and the other kinds of elves are never shown to have any kind of specific ire with them short folks. In WorldOfWarcraft, the blood elves, though not in TheAlliance with the dwarves, specifically hate humans.
** For that matter, it's the ''dwarves'' who are more diplomatic, while the elves of Azeroth are generally somewhat reluctant to get involved in the outside world on anyone else's terms.
** Outright subverted with the Wildhammer dwarf clan and the High Elves, who are very close allies.
* In ''ClassOfHeroes'', Elves and Dwarves don't get along with each other, thus making it harder for them to gain [[RelationshipValues affinity points]] when characters of both races are in the same party.
* Averted in ''AgeOfWonders''. The dwarves and elves are ancient and steadfast allies, especially against the human invasion.

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[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* In ''[[EightBitTheater 8-bit Theater]]'', 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 eachother.
* In ''DominicDeegan'', they have the [[{{Hobbits}} Halflings]] and the Dwarves going at it, with the pretty Halflings having fruited beers while the ugly Dwarves have more generic beers. That is what's presented at the nature of their conflicts, at least in the modern day.
* ''OrderOfTheStick'' features rather few elves and dwarves long enough for the two to meet- except for the party members. Durkon, a proudly stereotypical dwarf cleric, and Vaarsivuus, TheSpock and InsufferableGenius wizard, constantly bicker but respect each others' abilities nonetheless, both being powerful spellcasters. [[spoiler:Until #599, when V accused Durkon of distracting him/her and leaving the group. Consequences aren't clear yet.]]
** Although the New and Improved Vaarsuvius mocked Durkon's clerical abilities as 'not real magic.' But that's not because Durkon's a dwarf, it's because V thinks if it a wizard can't do it, it's not magic.
** [[spoiler: Consequences: V leases possession of his soul to three denizens of the Lower Planes in exchange for magical power, while Durkon is resurrecting Roy when we last left the (now reunited) party.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Web Original ]]

* In ''LeDonjonDeNaheulbeuk'' (''Dungeon of Naheulbeuk'')), a French audio AffectionateParody of tabletop [=RPGs=] and particularly ''DungeonsAndDragons'', elves and dwarves famously can't get along. Each race takes its defining characteristics far, far beyond its limits, making the following more or less the norm:
-->'''The Elf''' [who has fallen in a hole]: Help me, I'm stuck!
-->'''The Dwarf''': She says we can leave her behind.
-->'''The Elf''': Get me out of here, it's slimy!
-->'''The Dwarf''': She says she wants us to make rocks fall on her to put her out of her misery.
* In ''TalesOfMU'', a [[http://www.talesofmu.com/story/bonus-stories/on-elves-and-dwarves gnomish folk tale]] depicts elves and dwarves are the descendants of quarreling twin brothers, who grew into their current forms by attempting to emphasize their imagined differences.
* 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.

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In an episode of ''{{The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy}}'', the plot revolves around a war between tree-dwelling Elves (a parody of the Keebler Elves) and Dwarves over who gets what rights to sell food; the Elves, of course, got cookies, while the Dwarves get mushrooms, and have regretted it ever since. In the end, they compromise and make mushroom cookies. This episode famously featured R. Lee Ermey [[HeyItsThatVoice narrating]] the RelaxOVision.

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[[folder: Truth In Television ]]

* The North/South divide in the UK between the (now) poorer industrialised North and the richer South. With northerners seen as plain-spoken, down to earth and working class (or Northern Bastards) and southerners seen as posh, intelligent, educated, and generally upper or middle class (or Soft Southern Nancies). It is no conincidence that in many fantasy adaptations the Elves have posh, southern English accents, whilst those for Dwarves tends to be either northern (usually Yorkshire) or Scottish.
** A similar geographic divide can be seen in the US, although the roles are reversed and it is slowly fading. Southerners see Northerners as urban elitists and socialists, and Northerners see Southerners as rural, overly-religous hicks. This dates back to the creation of the cotton gin in the south, industrialization and gradual abolition in northern states--the North relied on factories and cities built around factories ("cultured"), while the South relied on slaves and plantations, inhibiting cities. This lead to the Civil War.
*** As a matter of fact, most white Southerners are descended from inhabitants of Britain's "Celtic Fringe".
* Anthropological studies have shown that every culture, including modern humans, seems to be wired to categorize competing races into ElvesVsDwarves, whether it be aliens (TheGreys vs. LittleGreenMen), folklore (ElvesVsDwarves, or alternately, [[AllTrollsAreDifferent Big Trolls vs. Little Trolls]]), pop archaeology (just like early humans thought dinosaur skeletons were dragons, and elephant skeletons were cyclops, they may have assumed that deformed or Neanderthal skeletons were descendants of some mythical race.) However, the fact that both aliens and ''foreigners'' are often categorized as ElvesVsDwarves in most societies (Elves = "slender, [[MagicalNativeAmerican mythical Aborigines who are tied to the land]]"; Dwarves = "hairy, dirty immigrants who wander from place to place and have lots of children") and the fact that the racist "dwarves" stereotype is applied to each new immigrant group, suggests that it is something hard-wired, probably descended from competition between our Cro-Magnon ancestors and their larger and shorter cousins.

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