History Main / OurDarkElvesAreDifferent

* ''VideoGame/Dota2'': The Drow in the game's setting appear more like trolls than proper elves, with their diminutive stature and ugly features but still live in forests and underground caverns while valuing silence, stealth, and subtlety. Traxex, the Drow Ranger, is an interesting exception, as while she was raised by the Drow after they found her as child in a ambushed caravan, she clearly looks nothing like them and she appears to be AmbiguouslyHuman with her dark blue skin, making her look like a stereotypical dark elf at first glance.

* ''VideoGame/Dota2'': The Drow in the game's setting appear more like trolls than proper elves, with their diminutive stature and ugly features but still live in forests and underground caverns while valuing silence, stealth, and subtlety. Traxex, the Drow Ranger, is a notable exception, as while she was raised by the Drow after surviving a caravan ambush as a child, she clealrly looks nothing like them and she appears to be AmbiguouslyHuman with her dark blue skin, making her look like a stereotypical dark elf at first glance.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': Drow were once standard elves who took shelter underground during [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt "Earthfall"]] (rather than [[HomeworldEvacuation abscond to Sovyrian]] like the rest of the Elves in Avistan did) and transformed over the ages into their current state, and they normally worship various demon lords. The ''Second Darkness'' Adventure Path reveals that this was not a one-time occurrence: ''any'' elf can still become a drow, though the conditions are more complex than merely being evil. When the game adopted the new Open RPG Creative License after the January 2023 [[MediaNotes/D20System Open Game License]] controversy, the drow were retconned out of existence, with the implication that everything known about drow was essentially (in-universe) fiction written by an author racist against elves. In the drow's place, the ayindilar (cavern elves) were introduced, an elf lineage that also lives underground, but otherwise doesn't have much in common with drow and primarily fulfills a non-villainous role.

* ''VideoGame/RuphandAnApothecarysAdventure'': Tathaln is the only known Dark Elf that comes from a "faraway land", but if Mistlings, who look like apparently regular Elves are any comparison, then Dark Elves have grey skin in contrast to the commonly known peach-skinned ones.

* ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}'': With the Protoss being elves InSpace, they also have a dark elf counterpart; The Nerazim. Notably, while Khalai ("light" protoss) propaganda paint them as heretical and evil, the difference is really just a religious schism. While the Khalai embraced the Khala, a sort of HiveMind, the Nerazim believed that it would rob them of individuality, and rejected it. Compared to the Khalai, the Nerazim draw power from the Void, and have a cultural emphasis on stealth and secrecy, but are kind people who welcome their Khalai brethren as refugees when their homeworld is destroyed.

* ''TabletopGame/GURPSBanestorm'':In this setting, "dark elves" are an aggressively paranoid cult within elf society that wants to magically expel all non-elven life from Yrth; the titular [[NegativeSpaceWedgie Banestorm]] was the fault of a group of dark elf mages trying to banish all the orcs. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero They ''summoned'' humanity and a bunch of other races instead.]]

* While traditional elves are pale, dark elves are an [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation unnatural shade of black, blue, or purple]] that might be a curse or mark. Due to the unfortunate implications of DarkIsEvil, more modern adaptations tend to avoid making them black.

* ''Series/StarTrek'': The Romulans and Vulcans are two branches of the same species of SpaceElves; the Romulans are the descendants of a group of rebel Vulcans who disagreed with the [[PassionIsEvil Vulcan creed of stoicism]] and left their home planet to settle in a distant system and built up a [[TheEmpire massive space empire]] from there. Interestingly, they turned ''another'' species of Dark Elves, the Remans, into their slaves as the Romulans colonized the twin planets of Romulus and Remus. While the Vulcans and Romulans look mostly human with the exception of their PointyEars, the Remans [[LooksLikeOrlok Look Like Orlok]] and are allergic to light. All these Space Elves and Dark Space Elves also have low-key psychic abilities, in addition to being more LongLived than humans.

* ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'': {{Subverted|Trope}}. "Dark Elves" are Elves that were banished from elven society, whether for turning away from the Gods of Good or for falling in love with people above their station. One of the famous Dark Elves in the setting, Dalamar the Dark, was branded one for pledging himself to Nuitari, the God of Evil Arcane Magic.

** {{Subverted|Trope}} by the Moriquendi, the Elves of Darkness. Those are all the Elves that never reached Valinor (the domain of the Valar in the West), whether because they refused to go there altogether (the Avari, "Unwilling") or did not complete the journey (the Nandor, "Those Who Go Back"; and Sindar, "Grey People"). Their name refers to the fact that they did not see the light of the Two Trees of Valinor, and so lived in darkness until the creation of the Sun and Moon.
** {{Subverted|Trope}} by Eol the Dark Elf. He was a Sindarin Elf, and his epithet comes from his aversion to the light of the Sun, rather than his morality (though he was no paragon, what with having kidnapped his wife, among other things) or the shade of his skin.

* ''Series/StarTrek'': The Romulans count as this, considering Vulcans are SpaceElves and Romulans are their more aggressive counterparts. They're the same species: the Romulans are the descendants of a group of rebel Vulcans who disagreed with the [[PassionIsEvil Vulcan creed of stoicism]] and left their home planet to settle in a distant system and built up a [[TheEmpire massive space empire]] from there. Interestingly, they turned ''another'' species of Dark Elves, the Remans, into their slaves as the Romulans colonized the twin planets of Romulus and Remus. While the Vulcans and Romulans look mostly human with the exception of their PointyEars, the Remans [[LooksLikeOrlok Look Like Orlok]] and are allergic to light. All these Space Elves and Dark Space Elves also have low-key psychic abilities, in addition to being more LongLived than humans.

* ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'': Dark elves are mentioned, but never appear. A [[{{Omake}} comic]] on the mangaka's blog states that they don't actually exist: the elven kingdom spreads a lot of propaganda about how [[CantArgueWithElves kind and benevolent they are]], so when people met elves who were neither, this led to rumors about evil "dark elves" springing up to explain the discrepancy. Notably, the queen of the elves has a drow-like combination of dark gray skin, red eyes, and white hair. Additional supplementary material states that these features are extremely rare and said to be the sign of royal blood.

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrolls'': The Dunmer[[note]]literally "dark elves", a portmanteau of ''dun'' ("dark") + ''mer'' (the in-universe word for elves)[[/note]] are a race of elves defined by their dark grey skin and blood-red eyes. They were originally part of the golden-skinned Chimer, but their appearance was changed by the goddess Azura as DivinePunishment for their leaders' attempt at usurping godhood. Their economy is fueled by slave labor, they have a legal assassins guild to carry out blood feuds, and the gods they worship consider cruelty and betrayal to be virtues.

* ''Series/StarTrek'': The Romulans count as this, considering Vulcans are SpaceElves and Romulans are their more aggressive counterparts.

* ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'': Dark elves are mentioned, but never appear. A [[{{Omake}} comic]] on the mangaka's blog states that they don't actually exist: the elven kingdom spreads a lot propaganda about how [[CantArgueWithElves kind and benevolent they are]], so when people met elves who were neither, this led to rumors about evil "dark elves" springing up to explain the discrepancy. Notably, the queen of the elves has a drow-like combination of dark gray skin, red eyes, and white hair. Additional supplementary material states that these features are extremely rare and said to be the sign of royal blood.

* ''ComicBook/LandsOfArran'': Dark Elves are all naturally violent and murderous [[ProfessionalKiller assassins]] with ConsummateProfessional at best. They're also skilled necromancers. They all start as members of different kinds of elves born with murderous tendencies and as they grow older their skin tuns dark and hair white, [[spoiler:slowly getting even madder over time and degenerate into a ravening monster whose sole goal is to eat people, and only a daily intake of potion made from a priceless flower will slow the process.]] The Assassins from the fortress of Slurce scout the world in search of children that potentially can turn into Dark Elves. It's a known fate among other Elves that accept and let them take them away. [[spoiler:It's eventually discovered that the Dark Elves have a dark spirit chained to their soul called a Murth'n Thun, which is tied to the Dark Elves. They react badly to holy powers, as [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Sizra]] discovers, and there is a ritual that allows a Dark Elf to purge the Murth'n Thun out of themselves by FightingFromTheInside and through ThePowerOfLove.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Arcanum}}'': Dark elves are physically identical to typical elves, but differ from them philosophically -- mainstream elven philosophy states that every living thing deserves to find its own place in the world, while dark elves believe in their own inherent superioriority over all other lifeforms and their right to rule over the "lesser races" and kill those who do not recognise elven supremacy. Dark elves also revere Arronax, the SatanicArchetype of the Panarii religion, and seek to free him from [[SealedEvilInACan his "banishment" to the Void]]. [[spoiler:Unbeknownst to them, Arronax himself no longer shares their views and wants to become TheAtoner.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Clockwise from top-left: ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'', ''Literature/Overlord2012'', ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld'', ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'']]