Aversion of Our Elves are Better

The elves in my series are intended to be an aversion of Our Elves Are Better. Other than pointy ears, a slightly different (but mostly human looking) phenotype; they're basically 'humans'. They happen to be more likely to have magical ability, but that's due to the fact they're less likely to intermarry with non-magical individuals.

• The only problem there could be with this is the potential for the elves to seem 'exactly the same' as the 'human passing race' and mages. They do differ in many ways, but it's mostly in cultural aspects. Anyone see any potential problems with this or have any advice? Thanks.

Depending on how much insight you're giving your elf characters, one way to avert this trope is to simply have neither the elves nor non-elves view them as culturally superior despite being culturally different. Alternatively, have individuals (as opposed to an entire race as a collective) from both sides be envious/prefer/appreciate the cultural/racial attributes of the other (for example, a human loves elven food while an elf adores human music). This way, the elves don't come off as a case of Our Elves Are Better while at the same time not being indistinguishable from humans either.

Basically, this trope is less about the attributes themselves and more about the value your characters or you, as the writer, impart on them. For instance, being a race that is universally endowed with magic powers doesn't make them 'better' if the world at large are prejudiced against magic users and get by without it.

edited 8th Mar '13 4:15:25 AM by peasant

So they're not much more different from a Caucasian human than a Chinese or African human is?

I've read a hist-fic where "elves" were a race of humans in the same way that Chinese, Africans etc are - instead of different skin colour or an epicanthic fold on their eyes, they had distinctly "pointed" ears (not as comically oversized as most modern depictions) and tended to slight builds and narrow faces.

The big differences between elves and everyone else was cultural and that "everyone else" feared them as they were mysterious and dangerous - most of which was based on their predilection for camouflage, guerilla warfare tactics and the use of poisons.

When the "others" (Celtic tribes and, later, Romans) came to the British Isles, the "elves" who had lived there previously, retreated into the forests and waged asymmetric warfare on the invaders and formed the basis of the legends.

They made the woods dangerous (because they'd kill stragglers or casual wanderers), their food was dangerous to eat (because they were experts on herbal poisons) their arrows could cause madness or death from an apparently non-lethal wound (herbal toxins again), they tainted wells and granaries, ran hit and run attacks on remote farms and stole "human" children (the elves were viewed as "non-human" for the same reasons Africans were once viewed as "non-human" - they were different in culture and phenotype).

You could have elves as a human phenotype no better or worse than any other humans but with a distinct culture and heritage.

One way to do it is to go the 'game balance' route: 'Our elves are better...at some things, and worse at others.'

A fairly extreme case of this is used in the german RPG The Dark Eye. Elves in that setting tend to be physically superior to humans (agile, good-looking, eternally young...the usual) and deeply in touch with nature and magic. They are also pretty damn alien in their mindset and outlook and are strictly limited outside of their core areas of competence. An elven Fighter (the classic bow-wielding elven ranger archetype) would be extremely good at what he does...but have crippling penalties trying to learn social or knowledge skills. An elven Spellweaver focuses on mastery of a specific set of elven magics, but will never achieve much outside of that set. Meanwhile, a human mage may never be as good with elven spells as the spellweaver, but he can learn them and achieve a decent level of competence there.

Basically, elves in The Dark Eye are extreme specialists, which hurts them far more than it helps, while still fitting a lot of classic fantasy elf clichés.

Yeah, the Elven culture isn't shown as being superior to any of the other cultures. This always wasn't the case in this setting, but in general (during the 'present'), the elves get along with a majority of the magical-folk. There is some examples of Fantastic Racism at points, but it comes from both sides.

Its better to simply avoid using the name "elves" altogether and simply craft a new race with the traits you have planned but a whole new name.

The name "elves" carries with it a stigma that evokes a "toklien clone" kind of feeling (Even if its completely different from Tolkien) that will alienate low fantasy readers before they get past the back cover paragraph even if they are fine with overlooking other high fantasy trimmings like wizards and dragons. And when you use the term "elf" your subconcious will strive to match your writing with the archetype that exists in your head.

Its also distracting to the reader if you make unusual elves that, say (hypothetically), have bodies amde of dry autumn leaves. The reader will be continuously pulled out of the story immersion because they cant get over the thought "these are some weird elves." If you named the hypothetical leaf people the Fleneche or something, the reader will learn to accept it as "reality" much faster.

Maybe this is just me projecting my pet peeves or something, but I find its better to simply avoid fantasy races alltogether and craft your own, even if the new ones fall into the same niches the "public domain" races would have anyway.

My story averts the whole Five Races thing. The only 'magical beings' in it are the 'elves' and mages. (The mages themselves are essentially biologically identical to the 'Muggles' of the story. There's no dragons, unicorns, or any other magical beasts present. The elves aren't introduced immediately either. They're Tokinesque in the way that they're not short, little people who bake cookies or make toys for Santa Clause. But in general, most of them aren't Bishōnen, vegetarians who do nothing but practice archery, hug trees and constantly point out how cultured and peaceful they are.

edited 11th Mar '13 3:27:27 PM by TheMuse

When I read/hear "elf", I think of pointy-eared people with bestial and/or elemental magics. When I read/hear "demon", I think of weird-eyed people that eat human souls and hate angels. When I read/hear "vampire". I think of fangs and bloodlust coupled with nocturnal habits. Since my monsters are a little of all these things, I constantly vacillate between the three terms, but the race is always the same. I've recently considered calling them jinn, asuras, or Lilim.

Physically, they are better than humans as far as being long-lived and beautiful, but they are also sterile life drinkers lacking souls. Magically, they are better than humans as far as being shapeshifters with preternatural powers, but they are also painfully allergic to sunlight. Mentally, they are better than humans as far as being less emotional and more logical, but they are complete monsters (except to their sires). Socially, they are better than humans as far as being totally accepting of diverse lifestyles, but they are also cold-hearted merchants that will happily sell their daughters into slavery in order to cement alliances.

edited 12th Mar '13 1:33:05 AM by nekomoon14

So, to boil it down, if I write elves as simply another race,like you might Latino or Asian, and don't include most of the 'traditional' traits usually attributed to them, is there a good chance people will put off by it or do I have little to worry about?

Hey, I have a few questions about this trope.

If I write a story with elves, would my elves need to be better (pretty, mystical, etc.) or do they just need to see themselves as being better (even if they're clearly not) or both to follow this trope?

In a story I got going, there's a species of fish people that have five races. The main fish-people race (basically, the "humans" of fish people) are called sharks who are a violent by nature and are a fascist empire (but they aren't evil). Then there's the dolphins who are neutral anarchist who are all peaceful, relatively attractive, self-righteous and worship nature. Would that be considered an aversion to "elves are better"? Or a subversion? Or doesn't it not count at all since they aren't call elves or look like elves?

Finally, if I were to make a story about elves with no humans or dwarves or whatever and they have all the standard traits of elves, would that be an aversion of "elves are better" since there isn't any race to say that they are better than?

I'd question the need for them to be considered a different species, if they're basically only pointy humans with a few cultural differences.

You could always just call back to the original source of most Elf tropes- Tolkien.

Sure, Elves are wise and beautiful and magical.. but.. their time in the world has passed. They're dying out. No more of their kind are born into the world, so with each passing life they are forever diminished.

Fate itself is starting to shove them to the sides of history. No longer are the movers and shakers of the world Elves. Humans or their equivalents are the heroes and heroines.. Elves have become background characters. Mentors and donors. Eventually, they will fade into myth and legend.

Basically, an aura of sad grandeur would seem more interesting to me, personally, as a reader than simply making them slightly different humans- or just making them sub-human assholes. Both of those subversion have been done enough for me to expect them.

edited 14th Mar '13 3:47:02 AM by Matues

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=13558826320A38992400&page=1

In this thread, I posit that elves aren't even slightly different humans - they're just an isolated tribe of Native Americans from the far north with some odd, but hardly significant, common phenotypes, such as pointed ears, unusually pale skin, and a thin stature, and some unique culture/mysticism. Of course, though, this was designed as a variation on Santa's elves, not Tolkien's, so it's probably not applicable to this thread.

Which works fine.

It just strikes me as strange when someone writes elves as slightly different humans, while simultaneously claiming some significant difference.

Agreed, if you're going to have "elves" as being just a human phenotype, then everything they do should be within the bounds of human capability.

In Sword at Sunset, Rosemary Sutcliff has her elves as being experts in guerilla tactics and camouflage and knowledgeable in plant lore (especially toxins) - all within the bounds of human capacity but terrifying to outsiders who don't know how the tricks are done.

Consequently, there's a lot of fear, superstition and folklore surrounding them but when it boils down to it they're nothing more or less than a bunch of humans with a distinctly identifiable phenotype and a desire to survive any way they can with their territories over-run by invaders.

Their "magic" is nothing new to any modern sniper or guerilla fighter or anyone with a working knowledge of what plants should not be eaten.

In Sword at Sunset, which strives to give the Arthurian legends a grounding in reality, they side with Arthur against the Saxons - to the consternation of his own men but providing him/them with useful intel and seasoned fighters who can turn any given bit of bushland into a Place of No Return.