Clockwise from the top left, an Altmer (high elf), Bosmer (wood elf), Dunmer (dark elf) and Orsimer (orc). Not pictured: Ayleids (Wild Elves), Dwemer (dwarves — yes, dwarves are an elf subrace), Falmer (snow elves), and Maormer (Sea Elves)
- Age of Wonders has both the Wood and Dark Elf variants, both of which tend to have their share of attention over the series despite the existence of up to 13 other races (as of Shadow Magic). Wood Elves are good and like Light Magic, Dark Elves are evil and like Death magic. Go figure. The "High Elves" and "Space Elves" roles are filled by the High Men/Archons and Syrons, respectively. Perhaps. In Age of Wonders 3, however, the Wood Elves and Dark Elves reunified and rechristened as High Elves, acquiring both of the races' traits. Meanwhile, the Archons disappeared and the dead begin rising as the Archon Revenants.
- Arcanum: Of Steamworks & Magick Obscura features typically haughty Tolkienian Elves that are long-lived, good with magic, live in trees and consider all other races "lesser". However, facing the vast expansion in the power of the humans following their industrial revolution, they have either retreated into their treetop towns or integrated into Human urban society. Since they consider themselves the oldest race in the world, some are rather annoyed at fossil finds that suggest Humans evolved first and that the Elves branched off from them later due to the influence of magic. Half-Elves are also a playable race. Unlike most depictions, they're basically liked and admired by everybody (except Half-Orcs) as they're seen as lacking typical elvish arrogance.
- Arkistas Ring: Christine, the man character, is an elf that goes to fight the Shogun's armies of minions and retrieve the titular artifact by her lonesome. She's still a Fragile Speedster, so she needs a lot of health and armor to remotely survive the later levels.
- Armageddon (MUD) plays with this trope.
- Desert Elves are Armageddon's take on Wood Elves. Where humans reign in Zalanthas' city-states, elves are the primary force in the wastes, their physiques and fiercely tribal ways allowing them to survive better than other races do. Due to Zalanthas' desert nature, its elves aren't bound to forest regions at all, neither are they more 'in tune with nature' than other people are. Despite that, they thrive in their wide open environment, and tend to be fiercely distrustful of any and all humans, as well as elves foreign to them.
- City Elves don't apply to this trope very well at all. Humans rule in the cities they live in, and elves tend to be excluded from service in the militia, as well as being restricted from cushy jobs with wealthy nobles or merchant houses. Due to the societal exclusion, their fondness for thieving, and the xenophobia of anyone in Zalanthas, elves have developed a reputation for smuggling, thievery, and con artistry.
- Armies of Exigo:
- The Wood Elves are allied with the human Empire, providing archers, druidic Dryads, Eagle-mounted Valkyries, and long-range support.
- The Deep Elves, on the other hand, are necromancers who live underground, have an alliance with the Voidwalkers and a whole host of Big Creepy-Crawlies, and are bent on reclaiming their place on the surface.
- Azur Lane: HMS Centaur is a World War II-era aircraft carrier given humanoid form by Imported Alien Phlebotinum, but her design
◊ evokes the image of a Tolkienesque elf. - According to Baileys in Coffee Talk Episode 2: Hibiscus and Butterfly, it's a common misconception that elves never get sick, because while they're immune to mild infections such as colds, they can still get sick from major diseases and die from them. However, elven society believes that living the right life will let them die peacefully in bed, so they just pretend that everything is fine until the last moment. This was why Baileys' family shut his great-great-aunt away during her final few weeks.
- Divinity: Original Sin II: The elves physically match the high elf status, being tall, willowy, long-lived, but are more culturally based on the wood elves. They're incredibly in tune with nature (though they do eat both meat and plantsnote ), long lived, highly intelligent, and have powerful seers capable of seeing the future. On the other hand, they're cannibals (though they only eat the dead, and only to honor them and gain their memories. Still, it doesn't prevent a lot of in-universe discrimination over the issue) and their homeland was recently destroyed. They also don't look down on other races, interestingly. That's part of the Lizard Folk's hat, instead.
- Dragon Age:
- Elves were enslaved by humanity and are now regarded as second-class citizens. They also lost their immortality (according to legend, just being around humans made them age).
- The Dalish elves combine the High and Wood elf types, both living in the forest and being rather proud of themselves as the only followers of (their patchwork version of) true elvish tradition. Whether or not they are an example or subversion is a matter of debate. While many of them act hostile and superior to outsiders, they are not portrayed as being morally superior or enlightened.
- The backstory has elves very near to the Tolkien standard, with a large empire, powerful magic spread throughout the population, and near immortality. Then stuff happened. The Dalish remnants are given a homeland by Andraste after rebelling against the Tevinter Imperium... which is wiped out again when the Chantry orders an all-out holy war when the elves refused to convert from their own pantheon.
- In The Masked Empire, Briala discovers that the ancient elven empire was just as corrupt as the present day human empires of Tevinter and Orlais. Only the elven nobility possessed immortality, and they treated lower class elves as slaves.
- The Awful Truth revealed near the end of Dragon Age: Inquisition is that the elven empire was not destroyed by the Tevinter Imperium. It was destroyed by the elves themselves in a civil war. If anything, the enslavement of the survivors was simply opportunism. The Trespasser DLC twists it even further: The waking world and the Fade used to be one and the same, and the empire of ancient Elves — called the Elvhen — ruled it all. However, their so-called "gods", the Evanuris, were actually just very powerful mages and leaders who bickered among themselves as much as they ruled over the Elvhen Empire with an iron fist (see the entry for Masked Empire above). The only one keeping them in check was Mythal, who was not only the most benevolent but arguably the most powerful of the Evanuris as well, and she would often use her stabilizing influence to keep things from getting out of hand. This all changed when Mythal was murdered by the others, and one of her closest friends, both to punish the Evanuris and to prevent them from destroying the world in their greed for power, sealed the Evanuris away in the Fade and separated it from the waking world. Since the Elvhen Empire was literally built both in the Fade and the Waking World, the separation of the two had disastrous consequences, and the empire subsequently crumbled, both literally and figuratively.
- 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.
- Drakengard: Elves here have barely pointed ears, making them indistinguishable from a good looking human. They're also rather fertile and age at the same rate as a human until they stop. The main elf character, Arioch is especially different from your usual elf type. She's a serial killer who loves eating children.
- Dwarf Fortress: Elves are described as "medium-sized creatures dedicated to ruthless protection of nature." What this tends to mean in practice is that cutting down trees is an utterly horrific crime to elves (on par with how dwarves view slavery and cannibalism), and they will attempt to stop others from doing so- violently, if need be, which causes most wars between elf nations and other entities (player forts included). They can be decent trade partners if their customs are respected (i.e. the player limits tree-cutting and doesn't try to trade them anything made from wood), because they live in harmony with nature and as such are exceptional animal trainers who might bring trained war bears for trading. They also practice a sort of cannibalism; while they won't butcher sapient creatures, they're perfectly happy eating their kills even if the deceased was sapient (this is the second-most likely thing, after plants, to get Elves into wars).
- The biggest difference between these elves and stock Tolkien-esque ones (aside from their insane devotion to trees) is that that do not breed slowly and are not magically or technologically advanced. Instead they're a Neolithic people without metalworking and breed as fast as humans... while still living much longer on average. The result is that elves often win by Zerg Rush. DF's elves are famous for outnumbering their enemies "83 to one"◊, and still sometimes losing. To make things worse, they eat their enemies' corpses.
- The elves' cannibalism combined with their tendency to kill for minor offenses such as chopping down a tree often leads to a vicious circle that results in the elves getting out of world generation in the middle of multi-century long wars with every race they've ever come across.
- There have been reports of badass elves killing demons (demons are leaders of goblins) and eating their corpses!
- Some elves can also leave their own nations to live among humans and dwarves, adopting their customs in the process. For example.
- A few mods feature elves with metal (normally bronze or even steel). Most often this means that you end with extremely small human/dwarf/goblin civs, with a couple of gigantic elven empires dominating everything.
- The biggest difference between these elves and stock Tolkien-esque ones (aside from their insane devotion to trees) is that that do not breed slowly and are not magically or technologically advanced. Instead they're a Neolithic people without metalworking and breed as fast as humans... while still living much longer on average. The result is that elves often win by Zerg Rush. DF's elves are famous for outnumbering their enemies "83 to one"
- The Elder Scrolls: The elves are also known as the races of Mer. All descend from a Precursor race known as the Aldmer (Old or First Elves) who are said to have come to Tamriel from the lost continent of Aldmeris. The Aldmer split apart into distinct sub-races during the earliest eras of Tamriellic history, typically over religious differences. All of the races of Mer are generally humanoid in shape and appearance, but all have traits outside the normal range for humans, including unusual skin tones, Pointy Ears, mildly elongated skulls, and angular facial features. Most are known to be long-lived in comparison to the races of Men, with average lifespans lasting several centuries and extreme examples lasting 1000 years or more (though most of these examples have used magic to extend their lives). They also have an Immortal Procreation Clause, typically producing fewer offspring than the races of Men, and it is implied that there is a maximum number of children that any Mer woman can bear, with few having more than three. Each race of Mer believes themselves to be a Superior Species to the other races of Mer, and ALL believe themselves to be superior to the races of Men, leading to much Cultural Posturing. Additionally, each race of Mer has traits, beliefs, and practices which come across as very alien to a human observer. Ranges from being played completely straight to Downplayed, but is extant within almost every race. Below is a summary of each race of Mer arranged alphabetically, and additional details can be found in the "Races of Mer" section on the The Elder Scrolls Races of Mer sub-page.
- The Altmer, or High Elves, hail from the Summerset Isles in the southwest of Tamriel. They are tall with golden skin and lean frames, and are the primary descendants of the Aldmer, the first race of Mer. As such, determining when Aldmer history ended and where Altmer history began is nigh impossible. Though non-Altmer scholars are loathe to admit, the truth is that Tamriel owes much of its art, science, philosophy, language and religion to the Altmer, who are also the most magically-gifted of all races. However, they are often viewed as haughty and snobbish, looking down on the other races of Mer as "degenerates" and believing the races of Men to be even worse. For centuries, they led a mighty empire known as the Aldmeri Dominion. In the late 2nd Era, their empire was crushed in a Curb-Stomp Battle by Tiber Septim and the Numidium, forcing them to join an Empire of Men by conquest for the first time in history. During the reign of the Septim Empire, they quietly bode their time and rebuilt their shattered nation. When the Septim Dynasty ended as a result of the Oblivion Crisis, the Dominion rose once again, this time led by the Thalmor of the Aldmeri Dominion. Altmer who aren't part of the Thalmor take pains to reassure outsiders that the Thalmor do not represent the beliefs of all Altmer.
- The Ayleids, or Wild Elves, of Cyrodiil were close relatives of the Altmer. The broke away from the Aedra-worshiping leadership of the Summerset Isles to found their own kingdom in which they could worship other entities, primarily the Daedra. This led their mighty nation down dark paths, which included the enslavement and vile torture of the Nedes, Precursors to most of the later races of Men. When these slaves rose up in the Alessian Revolt in the 1st Era, the Ayleid kingdom was devastated. A few Ayleid lords who sided with the revolting slaves were permitted to keep their lands, but about a century later, even they were decimated when a rabidly anti-elven religious doctrine took over the Alessian Empire. What few Ayleids remained mixed into the other races of Mer, while their cultural identity, relics, and writings were destroyed wherever they could be found. The Ayleids are now considered extinct as a unique race, although unconfirmed sightings in the remote wilderness areas of Tamriel continued to occur into the 3rd Era. Like the Altmer, they had tall but lean frames with elongated skulls and angular facial features. They had a grayish skin tone darker than that of the Altmer, but still much lighter than that of the Dunmer.
- The Bosmer, or Wood Elves, of Valenwood are the shortest race in Tamriel and possess darker reddish/brown skin than their Altmeri cousins. They are nimble and quick as a race, making for excellent scouts, thieves, and hunters. The Bosmer are considered the finest archers in all Tamriel, with it even being said that they were inventors of the bow. Their ancestors rejected the formal traditions of Aldmeri culture, splitting off to live simple lives more in tune with nature. They struck an agreement with Y'ffre, the Forest God of Valenwood and the first et'Ada to transform into the Ehlnofey, known as the Green Pact; in exchange for Y'ffre's patronage, they have sworn never to harm any plantlife in Valenwood (though they can import timber from other regions of Tamriel when necessary), and must live on an almost exclusively carnivorous diet (with a few loopholes. They have been assimilated or subjugated by every incarnation of the Aldmeri Dominion, in which they are treated as second-class citizens (at best) to the Altmer. They are led by the "Silvenar", who is a literal representation of the Bosmer people, changing in both body and mind to match the current state of the Bosmeri people.
- The Dunmer, or Dark Elves, of Morrowind were originally the Chimer, close relatives of the Altmer with pale gold skin, but were led by the prophet Veloth to become the Velothi people and worship their ancestors and Daedra rather than the Divines. They were later unified under Nerevar to create the nation of Resdayn and become known as the Chimer. Early in the First Era, their alliance with the Dwemer (originally formed to defeat the invading Nords) fell apart when the Chimer learned that the Dwemer had found the Heart of Lorkhan (the dead creator god) and were planning to tap into it's power. Seeing this as blasphemy toward their gods (the Daedra), the Chimer attacked the Dwemer stronghold at Red Mountain. Exactly what happened next is recounted differently by all those involved, but the Dwemer vanished, three of Nerevar's closest allies (as well as a former ally turned enemy) became demi-gods, Nerevar died, and the Chimer became ash-skinned with glowing red eyes, and Azura (one of the Daedra they worshiped) told them that it was their fault (or Vivec's fault). Thusly, they became the Dunmer people. Most rallied around the new demi-gods, the Tribunal (Vivec, Almalexia, and Sotha Sil). Several tribes clung to the old ways in the ashy barrens of Vvardenfell and became known as the Ashlanders. For 4000 years, this was the way of life for the Dunmer. When Tiber Septim came to conquer Morrowind, Vivec allowed Morrowind to become a Voluntary Vassal and traded to the Emperor the (Dwemer-crafted, Dunmer-seized) Numidium in exchange for special privileges (such as continuing to allow slavery). After the Oblivion Crisis, in a series of events known as the "Red Year", the Ministry of Truth crashed down and Red Mountain erupted. The Argonians, a former Slave Race of the Dunmer, then came to conquer what was left of South Morrowind. Now, the Dunmer people are scattered, with many of them settling in Solstheim and Skyrim. The Dunmer possess both strong physiques and keen intellects, which make them highly adaptable and equally skilled as warriors, sorcerers, or rogues, but Dunmer tend to be grim, aloof and disdainful of other races.
- The Dwemer, "Dwarves" or Deep Elves, of all of North Tamriel, whose civilization ("Dwemereth") once spanned from Hammerfell across Skyrim to Morrowind, where the epicenter of their culture was built in and around Red Mountain. Unlike the other races of Mer, there is no known record of their disassociation with the Aldmer, which is believed to have happened in very early Tamrielic history. They were an industrious, highly intelligent, and extremely technologically advanced people, but were also known to be cruel, arrogant, and dogmatic. Contemporary accounts describe them as "unfathomable" and "unknowable", with truly alien belief systems unlike anyone else in Tamriel. While they mostly wanted to be left alone, they came into conflict with every other race that encountered them, usually over religious differences (the Dwemer were known to be extreme atheists, refuting that any known "divine" beings were truly "gods" worth worshiping). The entire race mysteriously vanished during the 1st Era, around the time of the Battle of Red Mountain. Only the ruins of their civilization remain, though these are still protected by deadly traps and mechanical guardians, making them very dangerous places to visit. Their male fashion also appears to have included glorious beards.
- The Falmer, or Snow Elves, had a Merethic Era empire which spanned throughout Skyrim and Solstheim, and who once had a civilization rivaling that of the Altmer. Unlike the other races of Mer elsewhere in Tamriel, they lived peacefully along side the races of Men for at least several centuries. However, an event known as the "Night of Tears" saw them slaughter and burn the Atmoran/Nord city of Saarthal. In revenge, Ysgramor recruited an army of 500 Atmorans and invaded Skyrim, nearly driving the Falmer to extinction. The survivors were taken in by their Dwemeri cousins, who enslaved and mutated them into blind, debased, and feral creatures little better than Goblins who dwell underground. A small population of unmutated Snow Elves managed to survive at a remote chantry in Skyrim, but by the 4th Era, only one unmutated (or otherwise corrupted) Snow Elf yet lives. Physically, the pre-mutation Falmer resembled the Altmer, being tall with lean frames, angular facial features, and elongated skulls. However, they had pale white skin and hair. Following the mutation, the Falmer appear as hunched-over grayish-skinned humanoids without noses (instead having long nostril slits) and skin having grown over their blind eyes.
- The Left-Handed Elves, or Sinistral Mer, were the Elven inhabitants of Yokuda, a continent far to the west of Tamriel. They fought a devastating war against the Yokudans (ancestors of the Redguards) that rendered them extinct. Due to being Unpersoned by the Redguards, the only unique trait still known about them is that their entire race was left-handed.
- The Maormer, or Sea Elves, hail from Pyandonea, a jungle continent to the south of Tamriel. Legend holds that they split off from the Aldmer before the Aldmer even left Aldmeris, with the Maormer banished from and forbidden to return to Aldmeris after they attempted a rebellion. There is said to be a literal veil of mist that they cannot penetrate surrounding their former home. They have blank eyes and chameleon-like skin, can tame sea serpents, and are lead by an undying wizard named Orgnum. Throughout the 1st and 2nd Eras, they raided the coastal towns of their ancient Arch-Enemy, the Altmer.
- The Orsimer, Orcs or Pariah Folk, hail from the Wrothgarian and Dragontail mountains on the border of High Rock and Hammerfell. The first Orcs were created when the Daedric Prince Boethiah devoured and later excreted the Aldmeri spirit Trinimac. Trinimac's remains became the Daedric Prince Malacath, while his Aldmeri followers were transformed into the Orcs. Malacath is the central figure and patron deity in Orcish religion. Most outsiders see Orcs as savages; that their lives are short and filled with violence and misery. Several times, they've attempted to form their own city/state, Orsinium, literally "Orc Town". However, Orsinium has been razed and rebuilt several times — having been razed once again in the 4th Era — leaving many Orcs to eke out a living in destitute, dilapidated "strongholds" on the edges of society. They possess strong, muscular builds and green skin. They are known for their ferocity and courage in battle, as well as their skill as armorers and smiths (especially with the rare metal Orichalcum), making them some of the finest heavy infantry on all of Nirn.
- The Bretons, while technically a human population, are descended from the Manmer of the Merethic Era, when the Direnni conquered the Nedes in High Rock, but modern Bretons tend to be more Man than elf. Their ancestry, however, makes modern-day Bretons much more magically gifted than other human groups. They also retrain some subtle physical Elven traits, such as more pronounced cheekbones, leaner and nimbler bodies in general, and even occasionally slight points to their ears (something which has been noted to be specially common amongst Breton nobility).
- Endless Frontier: Due to limited character interaction, normal elves (armed with machine guns) are mere random encounters. However, the dark elf Dorothy is the scientist who developed bullets that can break Einst crystals. She also sells the game's best accessories (...which are also the most expensive).
- Endless Legend: The Wild Walkers are close to wood elves; prior to the start of the game, they lived in the forests, practiced the "sharing", and made heavy use of bows. On the other hand, their males have impressive beards and they have twi'lek-esque protrusions on their head above their ears. Their leader realized their world is dying from increasingly lengthy and brutal winters, and began to expand out of the forests, turning the pastoral civilization into a nation of townsbuilders of staggering industrial capacity. They still remain close to their spiritual origins, and utilize golems, physical incarnations of the power of the forest.
- EverQuest plays this trope straight and helped fortify it for more modern standards when the game was released in 1999. The Elven word for "Elf" is "Dal", and the species are broken into various types found all across Norrath:
- 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 Erudites surpass them in intellect (and look down on the High Elves in terms of arrogance because of this fact.) They typically live to be about 800 years old.
- In EverQuest II (which takes place 500 years in the future and in an alternate timeline,) the city of Felwithe had undergone significant changes as a result of their own king being assassinated during a war with the Dark Elves. This lead the ruling council to declare that the High Elves must revert back to the original elven race they once used to be. Through the use of magic and inbreeding, the High Elves turned themselves into the Renda'Dal, or "New Elf". They grew slightly shorter and have more prominent elvish features such as longer ears and thinner faces, and shortened their lifespan to about 150 years (in order to ensure their racial survival by enforcing the need to procreate more often). They have also shunned all outside contact with other races. Even other High Elves who lived outside of the city were no longer welcome. Everyone who entered "New Tunaria" were treated as hostile.
- 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 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 (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, most commonly Wood Elves. 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 ears, 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", 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.
- Although not a playable race, EverQuest II introduces the Sul'Dal. A long forgotten race of Elves who shied away from worshipping Tunare, and turned to Anashti Sul, the (now former) Goddess of Health. Anashti wished to give the gift of Eternal Life to Norrath in order to "Cure Death", and unintentionally released the undead on the planet (which the other gods did not take kindly to, and banished her to the Void as a punishment.) The Sul'Dal were granted eternal life by becoming undead. Some among the community believe that "Sul'Dal" translates into "Sand Elf", but given the connection to Anashti Sul, it is more widely believed that "Sul'Dal" translates into "Eternal Elf". 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.
- Fae Farm: Elves live in the Fae Realm. They have pointy ears and various unusual skin colours. Most of them have fairy wings, but humans (such as the player) can gain those as well.
- Fate/stay night: Caster almost fits the High Elf example of this trope perfectly. Pointed ears, extremely proficient in magic, originally from a ancient kingdom, and she wears mostly purple. She also wears a somewhat tight fitting dress beneath the hood and cloak she is usually seen in. That said, this is only outwardly. As a Servant, she is significantly weaker than the others both by virtue of being a Caster and by some of the most powerful players being able to mitigate or straight-up No-Sell her attacks. Her Noble Phantasm, Rule Breaker, is also incredibly strong, but is a dagger and requires her to be at a disadvantageous range, meaning it's worthless most of the time. She is fully aware of this and both turtles in a nearly impregnable location and cheats by summoning Assassin (a Servant is not supposed to be able to summon another one) as a gatekeeper to deter others from trying to attack her. The only times she leaves are when everyone else has already picked each other off and there's only one other (known) Servant remaining, or when she sees an opportunity to great to pass up.
- Final Fantasy:
- Final Fantasy was essentially a loose adaptation of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition and as such had the standard High Elves living in the kingdom of Elfheim, as well as the Dark Elves which were loosely based on D&D's Drow and resembled tall goblins along with being Always Chaotic Evil. Another Dark Elf serves as a boss in Final Fantasy IV but no normal ones are present.
- Final Fantasy X: The Guado fit the "Wood Elf" archetype fairly well. They tend to be agile and slender, possessing long limbs and claw-like fingers and styling their hair in a manner that resembles plants and roots. Their capital Guadosalam sits in an underground cavern beneath the Moonflow and contains an entrance to the Farplane, a place where the living can interact with the souls of the dead. Guado have a reputation for being arrogant but are usually generous and welcoming to guests.
- Final Fantasy XI: The Elvaan race certainly may look the part of a classic elf race, with long bodies and pointed ears, but the resemblance ends there. They have a martial society where all the men (and presumably most of the women) are expected to have combat skills. They have little skill in magic, shown both by a lack of spellcasters amongst NPCs (in fact, the magic store acts surprised to get customers) and by the fact that their MP and INT are lower than average although they have good MND... they are more devout to Altana than any other race, and the few mages they do have are usually White Mages or Red Mages. They have little appreciation for art, with the city designed prioritizing function over form (although the palace has a fairly perfunctory opulence). But one thing they maintain to a tee is the arrogance. They view the other races (and all foreigners regardless of race) with derision, tolerating them only because of the global threat of the beastmen. That hardly prevents them from espousing their xenophobic beliefs on people. If you're not from San d'Oria, NPCs will insult your player character, claiming they don't have what it takes to stand with the Elvaan, even if you're an Elvaan yourself.
- Final Fantasy XII, on the other hand, clearly took the basic idea of elves and hammered it into the Rule of Sexy mold as fiercely as possible: the Viera are a race of magical, nigh-immortal, mostly-female, dark-skinned blondes with bunny ears who wear lingerie all the time. The result is a race of Ms. Fanservices.
- Final Fantasy XIV: The Elezen play this a bit straighter. However, it's only the Duskwight Elezen (basically Dark Elves) who can use offensive magic effectively, and they were actually the original Elezen race, having lived under caves for hundreds of years. The Wildwood Elezen are generally not as xenophobic, having in fact integrated with the human equivalent, but they are racist towards Duskwight Elezen, seeing them as traitors who would not fight and eventually ally with the Hyur when the time came. The Elezen of the First, where all of the races are known by different names, are outright called Elves.
- Gems of War: There are the elves of the Forest of Thorns, who are close to nature and suchlike. They're antagonists in the relevant quest-line, since they want to end the villain's threat by killing him rather than curing him (as the quest-giver wants).
- God of War (PS4): Ljósálfar (light elves) and Svartálfar (dark elves) from Norse myths appear when Kratos and Atreus explore Alfheim. In contrast to the typical "humans but with pointy ears" portrayal, the Ljósálfar are depicted as floating ethereal angelic beings in white robes, more akin to elves in paintings such as Dancing Fairies, while the Svartálfar are dark humanoids with insect wings and power over darkness. The Svartálfar have in fact conquered the light of Alfheim and are seen killing helpless civilians, but Kratos warns Atreus to not be too quick to think the Ljósálfar are entirely innocent in this affair, since they don't know anything about what started the conflict and only saw its ending. According to Mimir, both races are more related than it seems, and they've been fighting for the light of Alfheim for many centuries.
- The elves have more of their past revealed in God of War Ragnarök — when the protagonists have to return to Alfheim, the roles have been reversed and the Light Elves are the ones attacking the Dark Elves and acting as enemies after having reconquered the light in the previous installment. It is explained both races of elves have a common ancestor and were once ruled together by the Vanir god Freyr, but they got separated once the Light Elves learned to harness the light of Alfheim for their own means at the cost of damaging the rest of the realm, provoking the endless war. The Light Elf Byggvir and the Dark Elf Beyla, however, protested against their respective leaderships and left the war, getting into a relationship with each other and joining their ruler Freyr in Vanaheim.
- Granblue Fantasy has Erunes. All of them possess furry ears atop their heads (and no regular human ears). They are noted to be magically gifted, are often scholarly and also rather fond of living in small villages close to nature (though it's become more and more common to see them in large towns as well). Many of the recruitable Erune characters rely on magic and finesse to do damage rather than raw strenght. Unlike the archetype, Erunes seem to live normal human lifespans.
- Guild Wars 2:
- While the game does not use actual elves, developers have confirmed that humans fill the narrative niche usually reserved for elves. They are beautiful, magical, highly civilized, have an ancient civilization, are very loud about those facts, and are in severe decline as the younger, more energetic races begin to dominate the world.
- The Sylvari are a weird version of this, in that they're inherently magical nature heroes... but they're also straight-up Plant People, and the youngest of the Standard Fantasy Races, having only started existing in the 250 year Time Skip between games.
- The Last Sovereign: The elves used to kingdom spread through out the continent of Arclent alongside humans, dwarves and the like. However, the coming of the Incubus King revealed something about elves that no one saw coming, they are abhorrently susceptible to Lust Magic, making them easy prey for succubi and orcs. Not only that, but background lore reveals that the have the second shortest lifespan after the succubi.note
- In Kameo: Elements of Power, the elves have retractable fairy-like wings which allow them to fly.
- Kingdom Of Drakkar: Despite not getting much in the way of a racial backstory, the forest dwellers and woodland dwellers both qualify as elves (wood elves and half elves, respectively). However, it's subverted by the fact that most players prefer to play City Dwellers (humans), due to their better stat dice.
- Kingdom of Loathing: Crimbo elves are some of the weakest mooks, and can lethally overdose on sugar buffs, while the Pork Elves were mystical precursors who left the world long ago."Your brain is full of the mannerisms and customs of the ancient Pork Elves. When you walk, your hips gyrate like those of a moxious elf. When you talk, your lips curl in a sneer like that of a mighty elf. When you think, your thoughts are as mystic as the Pork Elves' favorite food, the fried peanut-butter-and-banana sandwich (renowned for its mystic nature)."
- King of Dragon Pass: Elves are physically far from the average elf, what with being plants, but are nonetheless long-lived, attuned to nature and good with a projectile weapon.
- Knights of Pen and Paper 2: Have Pointy Ears, better Senses than Humans and Dwarfs, and are Lithe.
- The Legend of Zelda:
- Link's original design looked rather elf-like due to his fairy-like clothes and Pointy Ears. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, this came from Peter Pan. All subsequent games show Link is a Hylian, who despite their pointy ears aren't actually elf-like, but are for the most part mundane humans; the Legend of Zelda Enyclopedia even describes the round eared Hytopian humans as being more magical than Hylians. Occasionally the elf confusion slips into advertising, as a UK advert for Link's Awakening described Link as a "medieval elf".
- The Zelda series does have races that are actually similar to elves, though. Ocarina of Time has the Kokiri, who seem to be rather traditional examples of wood elves, complete with nature-based deity and seemingly eternal childhood. The Sheikah can have lifespans of centuries and are one of the oldest races in Hyrule. They exhibit great magical prowess, as well as amazing fighting skill, spiritual knowledge, and, in Breath of the Wild, an innate proficiency with Magitek. However, they do physically age like any other human race in the series, with the oldest of them looking no better than a dried-up corpse.
- While they don't look like it, being Fish People and all, the Zora otherwise hit every other beat of your typical fantasy high elf: long-lived, beautiful/elegant, reclusive, and haughty.
- Majesty has an unusual take on elves. While they are primarily archers and known for being light on their feet, they are also highly prone to drinking, gambling and general debauchery. Their main benefit to the kingdom is an economic one, as they significantly boost the gold output of your Marketplaces and raise revenue when they perform as bards. And they're quite androgynous-looking. Their "otherworldliness" comes from the fact that they aren’t actually native to the setting of Ardania, but came to its eastern shores from across the sea, burned their boats, and refuse to tell anyone where they came from, only saying that Ardania is an improvement.
- Might and Magic has different variations, with Enroth (the setting of Might & Magic VI to VIII and Heroes of Might and Magic I to III) the most:
- Vori/Snow Elves, the oldest known of the elven civilizations. Isolationists who lived in on an island that was only visited in one game (which represented them simply by the Rampart town that otherwise has the elves directly below), little is known of them, but supplementary material indicated the other elven civilizations on Enroth to be off-shoots, and a half-Vori elf (half-human) suggested their skin is (literally) white.
- Elves/Wood Elves/Grand Elves (all three terms were used at different points and in different contexts), a mix of the standard Wood and High Elves, but without the classic elven superiority (both in morality and in attitude), being pretty much human in those respects. Notably not subject to Perma-Shave.
- Dark Elves, quite possibly the least Dark Elf-like dark elves in a video game ever (as a civilization), aside from a liking of dark colours for their clothes and not being subject to Perma-Shave. Their hostility with their Light Elf kin (the context does not indicate if Light Elves is an alternate name for Snow or Wood Elves, or yet another group) is long in the past, and nowadays they are a surface-dwelling Proud Merchant Race and by-and-large one of the most ethical groups on the continent they've settled down on.
- Heroes of Might and Magic V has Wood Elves (Sylvan) and Dark Elves (Dungeon). They used to be one, until a demon deception split them, forcing the latter to go underground. They are polar opposites, though they both have relatively powerful, but low growth creatures and have dragons as their tier 7 units.
- Warriors of Might and Magic: Elves have dark skin, (not black), Air element and rush at you with strange battlecries when you approach. Their boss gives you a sidequest, but eventually backstabs you.
- Mabinogi: Although Elves fit the typically gracile, agile, archery and magic using stereotype; they're differentiated by being a tribal, desert culture, that shares a collective consciousness.
- Mother 3: The Magypsies are a group of immortals with powerful magic and the friendship of the beasts of the forest. They live away from human civilization, caring little for our brief lives, and are named for the seven modular scales in musical theory. They look like hairy men in garish drag, wave their limp wrists, shake their bums, and stretch their bass voices falsetto as they call people "dahling" or "snookums". They can teach you how to use your psychic powers too. Sadly, you might not want to know how.
- Northgard: The "aggressive and cunning" Myrkalfar race of dark elves are based on the svartálfar/myrkálfar of Norse mythology. They raid your settlements from their camps to steal your resources. They can be killed, but if befriended, they attack other players instead.
- Oubliette: Elves are the only race that has an unlimited life span. This is important because a character ages every time they rest and if they reach half their maximum life span, there's a chance that their stats may drop whenever they rest. The closer you are to your race's life-span limit, the bigger the chance of losing stat points. Because Oubliette runs on Vancian magic, a party is going to have to rest alot in order to keep up their spells and hitpoints. For Oubliette, it's not surprisingly to eventually form your party into an all elf party, as you slowly retire characters from other races and bring in elf replacements.
- Overlord: Parodied. Elves are arrogant, self-absorbed dimwits who believe themselves to be the sole source of beauty in the world, despite having no discernible talent or ability at anything. They've been driven almost to extinction by the dwarves before the game starts, and you have the option to send them the rest of the way (though the Overlord canonically saves their pathetic hides). Their Ironic Hell in the Raising Hell Expansion Pack forces them to watch and act in a terrible play that mocks them and their Mother Goddess while celebrating their downfall. Overlord II shifts gears in its parody, and instead portrays elves as dimwitted, permanently stoned-seeming hippies protective of "nature" without really understanding anything deeper than "animals are cute". They're part of an organization that parodies Greenpeace and PETA. They are still the main Hero Antagonists of the story, even though the Big Bad is an Elf with a God Complex in the guise of the ruler of The Empire.
- Phantasy Star: The Newmen of the post-Algol series are genetically-engineered elves created by humans to create a more intelligent race. Unlike other Space Elves, they're more Wutai (as revealed in Universe) than nature-loving or medieval, and they use the same kinds of weapons everyone else uses. They do, however, have their own flavor of haughtiness in Universe. Their lifespan is also completely random — in the Gamecube version of Phantasy Star Online, one Newman NPC (evidently having been dwelling on this for some time, since it's not even remotely related to the mission you're on) says that she could live for another century or spontaneously die tomorrow, and there is no possible way to predict this.
- Pillars of Eternity has two elf subraces. Wood Elves are long-lived, but share their culture with humans. Pale Elves live in southern polar regions and primarily worship Rymrgand, the god of entropy.
- Radiata Stories: The Light Elves are mostly the Wood Elf type, except they have the arrogance of the High Elf type. They're also physically between elves and fairies (they get fairy wings and flight). The Dark Elves in that game aren't much like typical Dark Elf types, and are generally less arrogant, but they are also half-elves, and half-human.
- Ravenmark: Scourge of Estellion has the Cardani elves named so for the swamp where they live. No one outside the Cardani swamp is aware of their existence. They are smaller than humans, although not as small as Jackdaws, with long ears. Unlike a typical depiction of elves, these are always hungry for more... whatever. It can be living space, food, glory, etc. This constant search for more is called "fukuyoka", although no human quite understands what the concept means (and the developers don't do the best job explaining). Some parts of their culture indicate that they may be a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of Japan. Some of their commanders wear samurai armor and wear tengu masks, their blade weapons look very similar to katanas and naginatas (although they're called swordstaffs), their homes also are vaguely reminiscent of Japanese architecture. On the other hands, their warriors are called Braves, which is what Native Americans called their warriors, and some of their priests look like they're wearing voodoo priest clothes and their ranged units use blowguns (this, at least, can be justified by the fact that trees don't grow in the Cardani swamp, so they have to make do with reeds). This fits the overall tendency of the game world cultures not being counterparts of just one Real Life culture. None of the other cultures, by the way, calls them "elves". Instead, they're almost universaly referred to as "rat-men". Unlike the "civilized" cultures, they don't fight in daggers (small units that can be joined with like daggers to form deuces and trines) but in swarms, so many of their tactics rely on We Have Reserves.
- Rift has the more-or-less classic high elves Guardian-side and the wiry, gray-skinned, tribal Kelari Defiant-side.
- RuneScape: Elves are an enigmatic and old race, their civilization predating all records about humans. They have crystal-based technology and a clan-based society. Their empire used to encompass half of the known map, but since evil Iorwerth clan seized power centuries ago, elves have been at civil war and humans conquered their territory. Now some humans don't even believe they exist. Iorwerths' ultimate plan is to conquer the human city of Ardougne and release the Dark Lord that has been entombed there for ages.
- Ruphand: An Apothecary's Adventure: The Elf at the at the foot of Tathaln looks swarthy and if Mistlings, who look like apparently regular Elves are any comparison, the there's peach-skinned elves too.
- Sam & Max: Freelance Police: Bosco's Reality 2.0 character is a half-elf. Vertically.
- Slash'EM Extended allows all elves to take on any role and alignment, which was impossible in NetHack. It also has an Elf role that can be paired with a non-Elven race, enabling human, orcish or even alien or insectoid elves. Pairing the Elf role with the Elf race will grant a big multishot bonus for bows, too.
- Spellforce: Elves are Wood Elves, with something rather unusual — mages focusing on ice powers. Oh, and they have unusual accents that may or may not be the result of extremely bad voice acting.
- Stardew Valley has a few references that say elves once existed but they're now extinct, they're described as "nimble and skilled craftsmen", and a few artifacts can be found that say they're elvish in origin, but no elves' remains have ever been found.
- In the Game Mod Ridgeside Village, it turns out that elves are Not So Extinct, they have pointed ears, and longer lifespans than humans, and it features Jio, a Ninja elf who is also a potential love interest, and there's also a storyline involving a little elf girl who turns out to be the lost princess of an elven kingdom.
- Suikoden: Elves have the arrogant, condescending attitude turned up to eleven, but never really do anything to back up their claims of superiority. Indeed, most of the elven characters available for recruitment are rather sub-par in comparison to the human characters, and with the better ones there's no compelling reason to use them over another character. In Suikoden, this is shown in the storyline, as well, when the elves' arrogant assumption of superiority and refusal to accept outside help results in their getting wiped out by the Scarlet Moon forces. Neutrally, they also mostly avert the Really 700 Years Old trope unlike the rest; most of the elves found may be Older Than They Look, but none of them reach even 50 years old by the time they're in their game.
- Played with in Suikoden IV. The elves are not so different from the human natives of Na-Nal: both groups are self-absorbed Jerkasses convinced that they are the ones who 'own' the island while the others are just intruders. This eventually has horrific consequences: the elves manipulate the Kooluk occupying forces into slaughtering the humans while staying safe in their Hidden Elf Village. One elf helps the heroes stop the massacre, and is promptly exiled for her trouble, while the rest of her kind pull a Karma Houdini, in sharp contrast to the original game.
- The series non-jerk elves are a rarity overall, but it's rarer to see jerk elves that has a name and is a Star of Destiny. To wit:
- I & II: Kirkis has enough common sense to actually know that humans are just same as them, and eventually went to become what could be 'the first non-jackass elven leader'. Sylvina wasn't exactly flaunting the elves superiority, but still too scared to trust humans or other races. She eventually tried to trust humans for the sake of her love Kirkis, and she did. Stallion is a big braggart about his speed, but he's still willing to help others and rarely flaunts on how much better elves are (speed, on the other hand...). Rubi is an odd case, he was actually exiled from the above jackass elves because Even Jackassery Has Standards, but he still remains a standoffish asshole that bemeans the weak, until he joins and got better.
- III: Roland just instantly joins humans on get-go and was a steadfast, loyal ally to Chris until the end. Nei was raised by humans (and is a Game-Breaker with the right setup). They're both possible couples.
- IV: The IV example above is named Selma.
- V: Isato is a decent, good hearted elf that serves Haswar loyally without prejudices. However, his fellow elf Urda is extremely xenophobic and hates humans like every other nameless jackass elves out there.
- Sunset Overdrive: The Headwear "Elf Ears" are Pointy Ears that stick out at an angle from the head.
- Tales Series:
- Tales of Symphonia: The Elves are fairly standard Wood Elves, complete with a Hidden Elf Village and a smug (albeit fairly toned-down) feeling of superiority to humans and half-elves. especially half-elves. Oh, and they're aliens.
- Tales of Vesperia: The Kritya are High Elves who live in a city of Crystal Spires and Togas and can talk with the Entelexia via Telepathy. They aren't better though; aside from all being, to some extent, Cloud Cuckoo Landers, they are just as apt to making mistakes with both the problems of the ancient past and the more recent problems coming from Krityans having made blastia. They also are incapable of fighting due to their mindsets; except Judith.
- Tears to Tiara: Elves are one of the three precursor races. Members from powerful lineages, like Ashtarte in Tears to Tiara 2 once went around the world teaching humans knowledge and offering wisdom and guidance.
- Touhou: Touhou Project has Elven expies in the Tengu, down to their 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.
- The Lunarians are an even better example, being a concealed civilisation (on the Moon) of ungodly-powerfulnote "eternal beings", who look down on any inhabitant of Earth as "impure". For bonus points they have insanely advanced technology (developing something similar to an Infinite Improbability Drive in the Stone Age), and claim to have invented magic and created youkai.
- Ironically, the character who looks most like an archetypal elf, Parsee Mizuhashi, is a hashihime, the vengeful spirit of a cheated human housewife. Her Pointy Ears appear to be the result of a drawing error.
- A Very Long Rope to the Top of the Sky: There's "Elven [X]" equipment whose Flavor Text references elves:
- Elven Sword: "Elves favor magic over physical prowess; SPI 60."
- Elven Bow: "The arrows have been blessed by elven mages; SPI 75."
- Warcraft: The elven races have a long and convoluted lineage. According to Word of God, they originated from a specific tribe of trolls, evolved by the magic of the Well of Eternity into the first night elves(or Highborne, as they called themselves then). At their pinnacle, their civilization surpassed the widespread troll tribes through mastery of both arcane and natural magic, putting them square in the middle of High and Wood Elf archetypes. Then their queen desired even more power and tried to strike a bargain with demons, which was barely thwarted at the cost of a World Sundering. The survivors split into several factions:
- The modern night elves, or kaldorei ("children of the stars"), largely gave up on arcane magic because of fear of yet another catastrophe and decided to live in harmony with nature and study druidism from the demigod Cenarius. Their Wood Elven tendencies were shown with their giant Treant allies and heavy reliance on animals. While supposedly humble, their confidence in their chosen path became a major source of arrogance of its own over time, not helped by their immortality. Their allegiance to nature makes them a bit aloof to worldly matters; also, many Night Elves are thousands of years old and, because of their extreme age and conservatism, tend to be perceived as "haughty" by other races, and many players. Their former leader Fandral Staghelm played the arrogance card actively, but once he was ousted from power, the race has certainly mellowed out a lot and became more integrated into the Alliance. Realizing that being around Alliance sorcerers caused little harm, they even accepted back their own exiled mages, and they've lost their immortality due to the destruction of the World Tree that provided it.
- High elves (quel'dorei, "children of noble birth"), on the other hand, were aptly named. They descend from the ancient highborne upper classes who, after the Sundering, refused to let go of arcane practices and sailed to the eastern continent, where they founded a flourishing kingdom. Unfortunately, they became dependent on a source of magical power known as the Sunwell; it was eventually corrupted by the Scourge, causing them more casualties than any other race. While some still remained high elves, many of the survivors named themselves "blood elves" (sin'dorei, "children of blood"), declared a policy of ruthless pragmatism, and even aligned themselves with the Horde when their former Alliance allies failed to come to their aid. While a few true high elves still remain here and there, they've largely vanished as a major race.
- The nightborne from the Legion expansion, or shal'dorei, are Dark Elves played straight: an extremely isolationist race descended from an old highborne population that shielded itself from the consequences of the Sundering in the magically protected city of Suramar. Much like Dungeons & Dragons drow, they are dark-skinned, mistrusting, and Stripperiffic (even moreso than the other elves). They also have a bond with spiders; some of them are transformed into spider-like creatures as a result of Valewalker Farodin's failed attempt to grow an arcan'dor tree. Much like High Elves, they are also dependent on their own magical source, the Nightwell, to the point that a civil war over the rights to access it broke out. During the war, however, one faction discovered a less addictive mana source, and for the most part abandoned the Nightwell. Upset with the haughty attitude of the Night Elves when they helped liberate Suramar, they decided that they connected better with the Blood Elves(their respective leaders even later married each other) and when War flared up, threw their lot in with the Horde.
- Void elves or ren'dorei ("children of the void"), introduced in the space between Legion and Battle for Azeroth, are another Dark Elven race. The first technical void elf seen in-game is Alleria Windrunner, a high elf who absorbed the power of a fallen naaru, giving her the ability to change into a form with white hair and star-patterned skin. The later, playable void elves are blood and high elves who studied the Void, which led to the former group being exiled from Silvermoon, and were nearly enslaved by ethereals, but their transformation was stopped halfway through and they became blue-skinned elves (later given options for more natural tones) with shadowy, stylized energy "wings", slender tentacles in their hair, and newfound power from being Touched by Vorlons. As the blood elf members had already been exiled for their experiments, they side with the Alliance.
- Felbloods, harpies, satyr and naga are all elven derivatives mutated through exposure to wild, demonic, or Old God magic. The naga are admitted to be based on drow, with their leader Azshara taking inspiration from Lolth, although the males no longer look the part.
- The Wretched and Withered are high elves or nightborne denied access to their ambient sources of magic. They are frail and gangly, and more often than not tend to go irrevocably insane. Night elves, interestingly enough, seem to be largely immune to this kind of fate; then again, they seem to construct Moonwells wherever they go rather than relying on a single concentrated source of magical energy.
- Also trolls (ancestors of the aforementioned elves) to some extent. They're physically rather unlike, but have the long ears and have been cast as the Horde counterparts to elves since Warcraft II. One thing the elves have inherited from their troll ancestors is their genetic malleability. It really seems like elves can't so much as walk past a Place of Power without changing their skin color within a few generations.
- It's been argued that World of Warcraft's revamp of the draenei count as "Space Elves", what with being a Proud Scholar Race from another world and all — but they don't physically fit the elf stereotype much. (They have pointy ears, true... but they also have tails, horns, and hooves. And while the females are certainly lithe, their brothers are built like bank vaults... and are permitted not only facial hair, but catfish whiskers.)
- The same thing is true of the night elves. The males especially are built like four brick shithouses stacked together and have often quite bushy facial hair. The females are much more slender, but still quite muscular, like Olympic athletes. High elves have also been seen with beards, just not with as bushy ones.
- 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, which makes sense as they're related.
- Word of God has also confirmed that the reason troll males stoop over is actually out of respect for the smaller females, not because they are unable to stand up straight. This also explains why the Zandalari don't do it, since the male Zandalari aren't dramatically taller than the females: unlike every other tribe of trolls. All troll and elf cultures have mildly privileged females over males, although this trait is most pronounced with the Shal'dorei and Kaldorei (whose political leaders are always female). Even among those groups which allow male political leaders, a female is going to be offered more sympathy than a male for the same actions. For example: Lor'themar Theron lets Alleria Windrunner visit the Sunwell despite knowing she has experimented with void magic, the same thing that Dar'khan Drathir was permanently exiled for. He only kicks her out of Quel'thalas after she accidentally infects the Sunwell with her void magic, and he's pretty apologetic about it. The human and dwarf socieities in the game are traditionally strongly patriarchal: although they have been forced to moderate this stance by practicalities, the humans much moreso than the dwarves. Interestingly though this privileging of females has bled into the Forsaken, although most of the members of that race were formerly humans (but led by Sylvanas Windrunner and the Dark Rangers who are former High Elves).
- Warlords has three factions of Elves, the High Elves, Wood Elves and Dark Elves. The setting's backstory explains that they all used to be High Elves, before a Prince named Mordaine dabbled in
DemonDaemon 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. Presumably, dabbling in Daemon summoning really was a dumb idea. And if you read through that entire Info Dump, then go get yourself a Muffin, you've earned it. - The Rehda of Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim only closely resemble classic fantasy elves through their pointed ears, though it's implied a skill in archery is another, but only one named character is shown being adept at it. Other than that, the Rehda look no different than humans, aside from having tails, nor do they have a gift for magic. In fact, their overall appearance and attire are more akin to Aboriginals/Native Americans.
- ZanZarah: The Hidden Portal: The elves in Zanzarah are short humanoids with Pointy Ears whose village Endeva and city Tiralin are located right next to the enchanted forest. They are peaceful nature-lovers who rarely venture outside their home, though they do show some prejudice against dwarves, goblins, and humans.
