History Main / ScrewYouElves

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[[folder:Fan Works]]
* The ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' and ''Anime/SailorMoon'' crossover fiction ''Fanfic/NoChanceForFate'' has, as one of its main goals, to subvert and deconstruct standard FukuFic, Ranma, and Sailor Moon fandom tropes. One of which is Amazonian invincibility, which are so vaunted and bragged about that though amazons are human, the Amazons are practically elves themselves. One Amazonian tradition, the Kiss of Death/Marriage, is a major plot point. If you're a woman and you beat an Amazon, you get the Kiss. This means you have to run, as the Amazon who gave it will chase you to the ends of the earth to kill you. If you're a man and you beat an Amazon, you receive a kiss and are then married. In this fanfiction, an Amazon was bested by the wife of a weak-looking man, so the Amazon killed the woman and kicked the man out of the village. It turned out that the man was fairly high up in the Chinese Communist party, and came back with the Chinese army. Martial Arts does not stand up well against modern weaponry. Furthermore, the army let modern ideas sneak into the village, meaning that the formerly second-class men are now leaving or shaking up the social order. Shampoo states that the village was almost in a state of gender war when she left.
* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has this several times, sometimes on a very meta level.
** First, the mixed depictions of elves.
*** On the one hand, you have the pleasant, wise, [[DeadpanSnarker and dry-witted]] adviser, Algrim, and the 'Light Elves' of Alfheim, who serve as TheLancer to Asgard and maintain the benevolent High Elf stereotypes.
*** On the other hand, you have the 'Dark Elves' of Svartalfheim, a different tribe/faction of Alfar (the relationship is compared to that of the Aesir and Vanir). They believed that they were a SuperiorSpecies--even to [[PhysicalGod Asgardians]]--and they should be running the Nine Realms. Led by Malekith, wielding the Reality Stone, they put this into practise, first by purging their own people of those who opposed Malekith (the survivors fled to Alfheim and Faerie), then by trying to conquer the rest of the Nine Realms. As a result, all the other realms united to beat the crap out of them--though only after the Dark Elves came very close to succeeding, thanks to the Reality Stone (and only failed because of its instability), pounding Svartalfheim into a DeathWorld from orbit.
*** Additionally, the Light Elves have their own dirty secrets. [[BigBadEnsemble One of the main antagonists]] of the first book, Gravemoss, is a Light Elf exile who happens to be a [[{{Sadist}} sadistic]] [[CompleteMonster monster]], a {{Necromancer}} (which is what got him banished in the first place) and an OmnicidalManiac, who dreams of ruling over a universe of the dead. And this is ''before'' he gets his hands on the Darkhold. Even his allies (the similarly deranged Doctor Zola aside) find him deeply disturbing, while everyone else's attitude to him is less 'screw you', more 'DIE!'
** [[TheFairFolk The Fae in general - the Sidhe especially - ]] are derived from the ''Literature/DresdenFiles'' version, and it is made abundantly clear that a) they see humanity as beneath them (seriously, even the nice ones), b) a lot of them are absolutely horrifying. In the case of the Winter Court, they're sort of NecessarilyEvil (as in, many of their more predatory, ruthless, and cruel aspects are necessary to be best able to fight at the Outer Gates against {{Eldritch Abomination}}s), but all of them operate on BlueAndOrangeMorality.
** The Wanded Wizarding World gets a repeated kicking as well, for its oblivious arrogance towards the muggle world, attitudes towards muggles that vary from benevolent condescension to a desire for Nazi-like extermination (Lucius Malfoy's attitude is compared to that of a Dalek), and generally being ridiculously far behind the curve. While its positive aspects are also noted and (unusually) Albus Dumbledore is portrayed very positively, the society as a whole is pretty screwed up. The attitude of the heroes is perhaps best summed by Thor (formerly incarnated as James Potter) responding to Fudge's demand for Sirius' return with a short note that quite literally says, "Fuck off and die." [[CaptainObvious He was channelling his James side at that point]].
*** It reaches the point where most of the good guys don't particularly ''care'' that by the sequel, the blatantly [[SociopathicHero sociopathic]] Director Peter Wisdom of [=MI13=] (who is himself [[BoomerangBigot a Wanded Wizard]] [[spoiler: (specifically, Regulus Black)]]) is set to supplant the Ministry with his own agency. Or at least, when they do care, it's because of Wisdom himself, rather than the idea in principle. Admittedly, they have bigger problems to deal with, but...
** Actually, in general, the supernatural world (or at least, those parts that refuse to adjust) gets a kicking in favour of MugglePower and {{Magitek}}.
* ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1769554/1/Aftermath_A_Story_of_Blended_Cliches Aftermath: A Story of Blended Cliches]]'' which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, a Ranma, Sailor Moon and Tenchi crossover which hits on as many tropes and cliches as possible. In the very first chapter after returning home after a number of years, the first thing Cologne tries to do is force Ranma to come to the village. Not only does Ranma refuse but she goes on to insult the entire Amazon way of life. She then gives Shampoo a [[ArmorPiercingQuestion wake up call]] by making her realize that the amazons aren't feared or respected the world over and like she was taught, but that the world barely knows they even exist and look down on them as primitive and backwards.
* Many {{deconstruction|Fic}}s of ''FanFic/TheConversionBureau'' are all about saying a big "screw you" to [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic the ponies]]. In particular:
** ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/4189/1/The-Conversion-Bureau%3A-Ten-Minutes/Ten-Minutes Ten Minutes]]'' ends with [[spoiler:Celestia, along with thousands of ponies, are lured into the blast radius of a {{nuke|Em}}]].
** In ''Fanfic/TheConversionBureauNotAlone'', humanity is not at all flattered by the ponies' self-righteous posturing and [[ThisMeansWar declares war on Equestria]] after the Barrier expands to destroy half of South Africa. [[MugglesDoItBetter Humanity soundly defeats the Equestrian forces]], forcing them to retreat. And by the end of the story, it's revealed the other species on Equus are similarly not happy to hear about what the ponies tried to do to the humans, and it closes on Celestia reading a letter from the queen of the griffons declaring her OmniscientMoralityLicense has been revoked.
** ''Fanfic/TheMLPLoops'': One early Bureau loop has Twilight doing this to herself--or a version of her, anyway. Looping Twilight finds herself Awakening as a human in a world that is being invaded by Equestria, and she has to watch on international television as [=unAwake=] versions of herself and all her friends argue about how much better ponies are and how the world will be at peace with just a bit of cultural genocide. Human!Twilight and human!Celestia end up getting ''completely'' plastered, and when they wake up they find they stole the Elements of Harmony and banished the entirety of Equestria to the moon.
--->'''Twilight:''' Hey, where'd we get the other Elements from? I can only summon Magic, the others I have to get from the Loop if they're there...\\
'''Celestia:''' I believe we mugged your friends' counterparts for them. ''[winces]'' Wow, Applejack has a mean right hook. I'm going to have a nasty black eye for a while...
* ''Fanfic/NoHoper'' has a case of "Screw You, Vampyres!" [[Manga/DeathNote Light]] gleefully does this when he gets sick of [[Literature/TheHouseOfNight Nepheret's]] CulturalPosturing.
* ''Literature/TheHobbit'' fanfic ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8869552/1/Snowmaiden Snowmaiden]]'' starts with the protagonist calling some elves out on their nasty habit of mocking mortals. She is an elderly lady, and, as she points out, being mortal isn't exactly fun to her.
* Another ''Literature/HarryPotter'' fanfic example occurs in the AlternateUniverseFic, ''[[http://archiveofourown.org/works/495672/chapters/867718 The Perils of Innocence]]''. The Wizarding World, most especially Pureblooded society, is called to task on its complete ignorance of the Muggle world and its accomplishments (at one point, Draco Malfoy accuses Dean of lying when he references the Moon Landing). Their attitudes towards the Muggleborns that come in are even worse - at best, they're condescending and insensitive; at worst, they're outright bigoted and have no desire whatsoever to really understand their feelings of CultureClash. And the Purebloods' treatment of [[MuggleBornOfMages the Squibs]] is another unsavory can of worms. The arguments used to uphold the {{Masquerade}} is that normal humans would want magic to "solve every little problem", ignoring that Wizard society runs entirely on magic, and is helpless without it.
* ''Fanfic/ThousandShinji'': [[spoiler:After putting up with [[TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} the arrogant Eldar Gods, the Emperor of Mankind]]]] says what humans think about the [[SpaceElves Eldar]].
-->The Emperor looked at the Laughing God and summed up humanity’s view on the Eldar, “Fuck the Eldar.”
* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13701065/1/Metagaming Metagaming?]]'' brings this up repeatedly as a minor theme. The Night Elves are one of the oldest races on Azeroth and once ruled most of the known world on top of being biologically immortal. However, their longevity makes them extremely slow to change or progress as a society. Harry notes their capital city has the population of a small town at best and Adrastia quickly deduced that they're one major disaster away from extinction. When creating new bodies for himself and Luna, Harry bases them off trolls, citing that they're the most biologically advanced race, being even older then night elves while having mortal lifespans. By contrast, the night elves are at most twenty generations old and, according to Harry, haven't even evolved a proper racial survival instinct yet.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Film/TheWildHunt'', a belligerent [=LARPer=] taunts the elf faction by shouting, "Elves are gay!"
* Happens twice in ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', from the humans to the Asgardians. Firstly when Thor sees fit to abscond with Loki so he can face Asgardian justice: Iron Man and Captain America are having ''none'' of that and one brief duel later he's agreed to let them take Loki to S.H.I.E.L.D. instead. Secondly when Loki tries to pull his AGodAmI antics on ''The Hulk''. One [[CurbStompBattle completely one-sided supreme Hulk-flavored ass-beating later]] and he's left on the floor, physically and mentally in shock.
-->'''Hulk:''' Puny "god"...

* Although ''Film/Plan9FromOuterSpace'' probably did intend its viewers to think that the alien characters were [[BenevolentAlienInvasion ultimately right]], they come across as [[JerkassHasAPoint extremely rude]] and [[VillainBall unnecessarily combative]]. It's oddly satisfying to see [[TheHero Jeff]] finally lose his patience with the constant belittling remarks from Eros ("Because all you of Earth are idiots") and finally smack him in his smug mouth.
-->'''Eros''': You see? Your stupid minds! Stupid! ''[[BigStupidDoodooHead Stu]]''pid!\\
'''Jeff''': That's all I'm takin' from you!

* ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'':
** This is effectively the attitude of the last Númenórean kings, especially [[TheCaligula Ar-Pharazôn the Golden]]. This is coupled with RageAgainstTheHeavens, since his plan for getting what the Elves have, namely immortality, involves invading the home of the Valar, who are effectively the gods of the fantasy world.[[note]]Eru, the supreme god, does not interfere with his creation, and generally lets the Valar do their thing.[[/note]] [[CurbStompBattle The war situation developed not quite to his advantage]], and the plan wouldn't have worked anyway even if they somehow ''had'' succeeded in their conquest, but that's what you get when you take advice from [[BigBad Sauron]].
** Frodo himself (from ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''), shortly after meeting elves, gets exasperated at Gildor's CrypticallyUnhelpfulAnswer. Frodo: "And it is also said, "Go not to the elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes." An early InvertedTrope, Gildor was not offended and found Frodo's response truly funny; and clarified saying he was still making a decision and didn't want to say anything concrete yet.
* Peter F. Hamilton's Silfen from the ''Starflyer'' sequence and ''Literature/VoidTrilogy'' are basically alien Elves with sandworm maws for mouths. They go the whole hog, magic-style tech, capricious personalities, unintelligible riddles, the lot. Ozzie Fernandez Isaacs has many encounters with the Silfen, and always gets at the very least annoyed with them for being so bloody obtuse.
* Glen Cook's Garrett of his ''Literature/GarrettPI'' series snarks right back when snarked at by anyone, including his [[VitriolicBestBuds best friend]] Morley Dotes (who is actually a half-elf, but let's not get technical...) and his regular adviser the Dead Man (who isn't an elf at all, but is a member of long-lived (sort of) race with a superiority complex definitely fits the bill).
* Creator/MercedesLackey and Creator/AndreNorton approach this trope in ''Literature/TheHalfbloodChronicles''.
* In Lisa Papademetriou's ''Literature/TheWizardTheWitchAndTwoGirlsFromJersey'', the main characters are annoyed by the snooty Sylvan elves and their ridiculously long-winded poetry. By contrast, the Kiblar elves (basically {{Hobbits}} who are the Sylvan elves' servants) are humble and down-to-earth. The protagonists shame the Sylvan elves into helping them by asking if they're not as brave as the Kiblar elf who is on their quest.
* Justified and averted in Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Literature/LordsAndLadies''. The elves cast a glamour to make people think they're wonderful, but if someone [[GlamourFailure breaks through that]] then they're usually downright pissed off. [[ShutUpHannibal Granny Weatherwax at one point tells the Queen of the Elves what she can do with with herself:]]
-->" Go back. You call yourself some kind of goddess, and you know nothing, madam, nothing. What don't die can't live. What don't live can't change. What don't change can't learn. The smallest creature that dies in the grass knows more than you. You're right. I'm older. You've lived longer than me, but I'm older than you. And better 'n' you. And madam, that ain't hard."
* The Darhel in Creator/JohnRingo's ''Literature/LegacyOfTheAldenata'' initially fall into CantArgueWithElves, being {{Corrupt Corporate Executive}}s, however they are later argued with in an exceedingly violent manner.

* In Andrzej Sapkowski's ''Literature/TheWitcher'' stories, Geralt mocks the leader of a band of elves [[spoiler:that have tied him up and are about to execute him to keep him from talking. Eventually the elf sets him free and concedes that he is right, after the local goddess condemns him. This is shortly after he breaks the nose of a particularly belligerent elf woman by headbutting her]]. In fact, all human-elf relations are built on this trope. No one gives a damn how elves were bright, educated, sophisticated and great, because, well, they ''were'' and now they are almost extinct. The elves themselves came into conflict with human settlers, but gave ground to the humans, thinking that they would just be content with some territory. Instead, the humans became stronger and kept expanding, and when the elves finally went to full-scale war with the humans, [[HumansAreWarriors the humans crushed them]] and sent them fleeing. By the time of the main storyline in the books, the elves have been reduced to hiding in barren mountains with little food, or became brutal guerilla fighters known as "Scoai'tael" who are little better than bandits. They do manage to carve out their own kingdom of Dol'Blathanna... but only by allying with the human Empire of Nilfgaard, who conquered and granted them the land, and to whom they are now vassals.
** Humans tend to be bastards, but there is still a fair amount of neutral and even decent ones. There is not a single elf in any of shorts stories nor five books long saga that isn't a decadent jerk or just plain monster.
** Cue the parallel world, ruled over by the [[TheFairFolk Aen Elle elves]] who form TheWildHunt, where they rule and treat humans as disposable slaves, along with exploring and conquering other worlds around the multiverse with superior magic and technology. Unlike the humans they didn't outbreed the local population for dominance, they likely killed off all of it, before kidnapping humans from the world of the Aen Seidhe to be their slaves. Unlike the Aen Seidhe who interbred with the humans and lost their lands in the process in conflicts, taught the humans magic, the Aen Elle simply slaughtered all of their enemies and remained powerful, the dominant force of their world and thriving for doing so.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'':
** Karen Traviss' Jedi are supremely overconfident, incompetent, and get killed really, really easily and without a qualm, mostly by Mandalorians, who are superior in every way imaginable. Most of the Jedi who appear in the ''Republic Commando'' series are pointed out as extremely capable, if overreliant upon their powers and bound up by their philosophy. Those Jedi who ARE killed are either 1. betrayed, 2. unarmed and otherwise trapped, or 3. if fought head-on, put up a huge fight and are only taken down with difficulty.
*** HilariousInHindsight as Traviss' portrayal of the Mandalorians quickly began to resemble 'elves' even more so than the Jedi as the series progressed, namely through the use of CantArgueWithElves and turning Mandalore into a MarySuetopia. Then it becomes even more confusing when Maze, one of the less psychotic characters, [[AuthorsSavingThrow calls out]] the Mandalorians for being a bunch of brainwashed psychopaths. Amusingly, in a bit of TakeThat, Troy Denning has Darth Caedus kick their ass easily.
** Now the Mandalorians are subject to this in ''Literature/FateOfTheJedi''. The Jedi [[CurbStompBattle easily curbstomp]] Mandalorian efforts to break into the Temple, and events in the series have essentially shown the galaxy that Mandalorians are evil.
** There is a ''lot'' of anti-Jedi sentiment. Even when Luke is popular, the Jedi are seen as a CorruptChurch and he's seen as unable to keep the Jedi under his control. Given that this is likely the result of Palpatine's smear campaign, this also counts as HeroWithBadPublicity. It's also likely because the Jedi tend to be a lot more forgiving of war crimes when they're perpetrated by other Force Users. Luke gives "Darth Vader was a nice guy at heart" lectures to his students, and later offers similar defenses on behalf of a student who also destroys an entire inhabited planet. Even some of his other students disagree, leading to some impressive examples of an Elf calling out the chief Elf.

-->'''Lt. Gilmuriel:''' You don't like elves, do you, orc - I mean, Gunnery Sergeant?
-->'''Gunnery Sergeant Dakashnit:''' Me? Man, I'' love ''elf. Nothing beats roast and basted elf haunch. Unless it's breast of elf with chile peppers. %%it's spelt chile intentionally%%

* Creator/RobertAHeinlein does this [[RecycledInSpace IN SPACE]] in ''Literature/StarmanJones'', with centaurs standing in for elves. The entire second half of the novel is a massive TakeThat to the "horse people" part of ''Literature/GulliversTravels'': the characters encounter a horse-man tribe while lost on a distant planet, and it turns out the horse-people see themselves as much more technologically and morally advanced than the humans. They're in tune with the land, they have a complicated hierarchical court system, and they won't have the filthy humans settle on their paradise planet. In true Heinlein fashion, the main characters slaughter them and ''somehow'' come out as moral victors.
** The centaurs enslave the first humans they meet and beat an old member of the herd to death. The conflict quickly turns violent, though off camera, as the centaurs (it's implied) attempted to enslave the whole shipload of humans. Heinlein usually has his planets inhabited, often by intelligent life. And the odds are good that they'll be smarter than humans.
** It could be argued that seeing the horse people as a "take that" of the Houyhnhnms is a bit off the mark, as they were themselves a satire of the stereotypically "perfect" culture.
** By the time Heinlein wrote his stories, a lot of readers and literary critics often missed the satire part which was the point of ''Gulliver's Travels''. Many still do, since most do not understand the 18th century cultural context it was painted in.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** Harry Dresden tends to be fairly direct in telling arrogant fae (and anyone else) [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu what he thinks of them]]. Then he blows something up or sets something on fire, generally. This is probably done just to throw them off guard ([[SadClown and take his mind off of the fact that he generally knows exactly how horrible they could make his life, or the end of same]]) as much as anything else, though he just can't seem to help himself sometimes (there are only so many times you can hear the 'what you don't know' speech before you snap).
-->"I DON'T BELIEVE IN FAIRIES!"
** Part of the reason why Harry's bluntness hasn't gotten him killed yet is something known as a Death Curse. If a wizard has the presence of mind to concentrate for a few seconds before he dies, he can pack together all of his magic, including his life force (because why not, he's going to die anyway), and drop a big ol' "SeeYouInHell"-style megaspell on his murderer's head. It's incredibly powerful and almost unstoppable, able to at the very least permanently cripple even a HumanoidAbomination.
** In ''Literature/SkinGame'', Harry flippantly points out to yet another supernatural psychopath that claims to not be afraid of Chicago PD's 13,000 manpower, the hypocrisy of that statement when he admitted to hiding under a veil while going around the city. Really, Mr Butcher's whole series can be seen as this to the supernatural world in general, whenever he points out the pains they go through to hide from humanity as a whole since we've come a long way from having crossbows and longswords--which is proven conclusively in an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome in ''Literature/BattleGround2020'': [[spoiler:Southside Chicagoans crush an entire wing of the Fomorian army ''by themselves'' and Army National Guard helicopters massacre the surviving Fomorians at daybreak]].
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
** The Andalites get quite a bit of this after it turns out they're not quite the benevolent saviors they first appeared to be, especially after it turns out [[spoiler:their big plan regarding the Yeerk invasion of Earth is to let as many Yeerks as possible crowd onto the planet before frying the whole thing.]] And every time the kids came into contact with the Andalites, they would beg for help. The whole time, the Andalites believed that the Animorphs were lying, in order to get special treatment. Naturally, Jake tells the Andalite generals to go stick it up their asses [[DoubleSpeak in the most polite way possible]].
** From #38
--> '''Jake:''' Andalites are very fast, those snakes are faster. One move from your boys and they will die... Now we stop playing games, you're not the Andalite fleet, and I'm not going to snap a salute and say 'Yes Sir!' We deal as equals. Which, to be honest, is generous of us under the circumstances.
-->'''Gonrod:''' I command here. Am I clear on that?
-->'''Jake:''' No, sir. This is Earth. This is a human planet. We are not the Hork-Bajir, we know [[DestructiveSavior how you 'rescued' them]]. As long as you're on Earth, you'll get along with us. Am I clear on ''that?''
** In #40, Ax shows his species' ugly [[BullyingTheDisabled ableism]] when they meet disabled Andalites. The human Animorphs call him out on it, though he points out that [[{{Hypocrite}} humans are no better most of the time]].
* ''Literature/{{Dune}}'':
** At the final confrontation against the Bene Gesserit, a centuries old order claiming to have the moral high ground even as they ruthlessly manipulate people through multiple generations of eugenics, when TheChosenOne they've been trying to create actually arrives they're caught quite off guard when he's disgusted by them and refuses to follow their script.
** The Bene Gesserit consider anyone who cannot pass their test of humanness to be an animal. As this test is "the death-alternative test of human awareness" anyone who takes it and fails is a DEAD animal. They don't use it to decide who's suitable breeding stock (Feyd-Rautha was intended to be the mate of the girl who was supposed to be born in Paul's place, and he's no human by their standards), they use it to decide who's suitable to teach any of their skills to. (Since the test is administered only by Reverend Mothers, who have the whole range of skills, that means that anyone giving the test knows ''precisely'' what they're putting the subject through and does it anyway. This is only the beginning of what they have done in their quest to produce TheChosenOne.)
** Since the Gesserit were blindsided mostly because they actually screwed up the eugenics program (the savior arrived a generation earlier and one branch over from where it was predicted) the backlash is close to universal, since the savior is living proof of their fallibility in addition to some of his superiority resulting from [[spoiler: partially rejecting the Bene Gesserit skills and training, and training as a Mentat instead]].

* Both Silvanesti and Qualinesti elves are called out on their bad things in the ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' novel ''Dragons of the Winter Night''. Too bad they refuse to accept that.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'':
** Some Elven [=NPCs=] have the unfortunate tendency to come off as snobbish wankers, and the player (or, in his place, many of your party members) does indeed get the option of telling them where to stick it. The game does not punish you for this.
** [[spoiler:Irenicus]] actively refers to humans as ''vermin''. The proper way to say "screw you" to that (should you be playing a human) is to stave in his skull with Crom Faeyr. And when you find out just how much the elves screwed up, you and some of your party members get to tell them where to stick it.
** Despite being an elf himself, Xan is happy (or not) to remind other elves of how doomed they are. Of course, he has [[TheEeyore this attitude]] towards everyone and everything...
* This has already happened in ''Franchise/DragonAge''.
** Elves were formerly slaves and are still heavily discriminated against. The trope is basically inverted, since Elves are treated as the "low men" and humans as the "high men" of the setting. Playing an elf gives you numerous dialogue options on the lines of "Screw You, Human!"
** The Dalish elves of Thedas refused to convert to the Chantry and submit to human rule, becoming vilified by Andrastian society and criminals under Chantry law due to their religious beliefs. As a result, there are often harsh "Screw You, Dalish!" burns and a general "Screw You, Dalish!" attitude in the series directed toward the Dalish for not being part of the status quo. Anders condescendingly acts as if Merrill's elven upbringing is simply wrong in a few conversations and tries to persuade her to adopt Andrastian views in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'':
--->'''Anders:''' Maybe you don't really understand the difference between spirits and demons.
--->'''Merrill:''' Did I ask you?
--->'''Anders:''' Spirits were the first children of the Maker, but He turned his back on them to dote on His mortal creations. The ones who resented this became demons, driven to take everything mortals had and gain back the Maker's favor.
--->'''Merrill:''' Your "Maker" is a story you humans use to explain the world. We have our own stories. I ''don't'' need to borrow yours.
** There's also an example of Screw You, ''Dwarves''; the Dwarven capital of Orzammar has strict FantasticCasteSystem and looks down on those outside it... despite it being the biggest reason they're dying out. Surface dwarves often express bewilderment that Ozammar dwarves can be so smug despite living in a dank hole in the ground that's constantly under attack by darkspawn. Casteless dwarves (which technically includes all Surface dwarves) tend to agree.
---> '''Varric''': You know what Orzammar is? It's cramped tunnels, filled with nug-shit and body-odour. And every person there thinks he's better than you because his great-great-great grandfather made a ''water-clock'' or something.
** In ''Videogame/DragonAgeInquisition'' this sentiment is expressed by Solas. (Not just towards Elves--any hidebound traditionalist culture that restricts the freedom of its people is fair game.) Also by Sera, who detests elven culture (especially [[RacialRemnant Dalish]], even though she gives no indication she's met any Dalish elves before meeting the Dalish Inquisitor) and any elf she thinks acts "too elfy." Probably best summed up in this exchange:
--->'''Solas:''' It is a shame, Sera, that you were denied an elven life. Even one as [[RacialRemnant patchwork]] as the [[IgnorantOfTheirOwnIgnorance Dalish interpretation]].\\
'''Sera:''' Who said I was?\\
'''Solas:''' Were you not orphaned young and raised by humans?\\
'''Sera:''' ''(Groans)'' You think the only reason I'm not "elfy" is because I have no choice? Poor me, right? Well, I've seen. I know. "Elven life" is ''backwards'' and ''boring.''
** The Inquisitor can choose to say "screw you" to the Qun if he or she decides [[spoiler: saving Iron Bull's mercenary company is more important than the Qun alliance]].
** Overall, perhaps the biggest ''Screw You!'' to the elves was done [[spoiler: by ''their own people.'' As it turns out, the ancient empire of the elves was just as corrupt and oppressive as the modern Tevinter Empire, with only the rich and powerful possessing the coveted immortality while the rest were treated as second class citizens at best, ''slaves'' at worst. It only stopped when the nobles got trapped in the [[DreamLand Fade]] after they murdered one of their own in their lust for power]]. Oh, and the gods that the Dalish worship? The ones that they pray to for protection and blessings, and whom they dedicate their traditional facial tattoos to, and whom were genrally believed to have been sealed away by a trickster god? [[spoiler:''They were the aforementioned nobles.'' The tattoos were ''slave markings'' meant to identify which "god" (noble) the slave belonged to, and the "trickster god" sealed them away to keep them from destroying the world. It just goes to show that humans and elves weren't so different after all.]]
** In fact, ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' seems to have a ''hard-on'' for this trope. The [[PlayerCharacter Elven Inquisitor]] can [[ButThouMust only be Dalish]], and pretty much ''every'' named Elven Companion and [=NPC=] gets a dig at the [[CantArgueWithElves Dalish's supposed haughty superiority]] at least once, and [[FantasticRacism several non-elven characters]] too. The Inquisitor's only two elven companions [[BoomerangBigot Solas]] and [[InternalizedCategorism Sera]] both ''despise'' the Dalish, and never fail to let the Inquisitor know it. In fact, if they're romanced by a Dalish Inquisitor, they often pepper their praise with [[BackhandedCompliment backhanded comments]] against her people, and make it clear they still think her people are trash but she's okay because she's [[YouAreACreditToYourRace not like other Dalish]].
* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress''. [[TheScrappy Nobody likes the elves]]. [[ElvesVersusDwarves Especially not the dwarves]], due to their strongly differing views on various ethical topics like making trophies from kills and [[ImAHumanitarian eating sentients]]; sometimes they'll end up on friendly terms during world generation, but war is pretty typical in most cases. Players do not like elves because said elves are often condescending or even rude ("A hairy drunkard has come hither to once more disrespect the sanctity of life, I see"), order dwarves to limit their tree-cutting (depending on the fortress' industries and climate, this can be anywhere from easily obeyed to utterly unreasonable), and generally bring subpar goods -- occasionally mixed with something useful, like [[MightyGlacier elephants]] and {{bears|AreBadNews}}. Dwarves in worldgen say "screw you" by slaughtering elves in combat a hundred to one ([[CurbStompBattle elven armor and weapons are wooden, dwarves have steel]]), while players get [[DeathTrap very]] [[KillItWithFire brutally]] [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential creative]] in their methods. It's brought to its extreme by [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch Cacame Awemedinade Monípalóthi]], who became the only Elf King of the Dwarves to avenge his wife. As the story goes, a fellow elf [[ImAHumanitarian literally ate his wife]]. In a deep rage he joined the Dwarven Military and rose to the station of King through sheer hatred of his own species. According to his nickname, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Immortal Onslaught]], he succeeded.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' provides a ''ton'' of [[FantasticRacism antipathy]] between the [[OurElvesAreDifferent the races of Mer (Elves)]] and the races of Men throughout the series and in the backstory. In fact, much of Tamriellic history can be summed up as "Elves and Men fighting," with "Men" winning more often than not, leading to this trope. To note:
** Several of the series' {{Big Bad}}s have been Elves of one type or another. Dagoth Ur from ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', [[spoiler:Almalexia]] in the ''Tribunal'' expansion, Mankar Camoran in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', and Umaril the Unfeathered in the ''Knights of the Nine'' expansion. Jagar Tharn, the BigBad EvilSorcerer in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsArena Arena]]'' is later revealed to [[HalfHumanHybrid have Dunmer ancestry]]. While ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall Daggerfall]]'' is mostly GrayAndGreyMorality, one of the most "villainous" characters who can receive the totem in the game's MultipleEndings is Mannimarco ("the King of Worms") who is an Altmer-turned-Lich.
** The backstory provides numerous examples of massive conflicts between the races of Men and Elves. The earliest such conflict took place in the 1st Era between the Atmorans (ancestors of the [[HornyVikings Nords]]) and the Falmer (Snow Elves) in Skyrim. An event known as the "Night of Tears" (which each side blames the other for) saw the Falmer slaughter and burn the Atmoran/Nord city of Saarthal. In revenge, [[FounderOfTheKingdom Ysgramor]] recruited [[BadassArmy an army of 500 Atmorans]] and invaded Skyrim, nearly driving the Falmer to extinction.
** The Alessian Revolt, later in the 1st Era, was an uprising of Cyrodiil's native human population which had been enslaved and brutally tortured by the Ayleids (Wild Elves). With her freed slave army, the support of the Nordic Empire, several [[TokenHeroicOrc rebel Ayleid lords]], and a few of the ''[[HumansAreSpecial gods themselves]]'', St. Alessia drove the Ayleids into virtual extinction. She would become the founder of the first empire of men in Cyrodiil in the process. Alessia's champion, the [[PhysicalGod divine warrior]] Pelinal Whitestrake, was perhaps the living embodiment of this trope. He was sent by the Divines to answer a prayer from Alessia. Decked out in a full suit of platemail armor (which only the Dwemer could craft at the time, and everyone else had bronze armor at best), he was a bloodthirsty (specifically Elf blood) [[TheBerserker Berserker]] of the highest order. He first wandered into Alessia's camp [[BloodSplatteredWarrior drenched in Ayleid blood]] and would fly into such {{Berserker Rage}}s that he ''permanently damaged the lands themselves'' while fighting Ayleids. He was in fact so AxCrazy that he even butchered thousands of [[CatFolk Khajiit]] under the assumption they were another breed of elf before realizing his mistake. Countless scores of Ayleids fell in his wake, to the point where the Divines had to send in rains to [[PaintTheTownRed cleanse Ayleids forts and villages of Ayleids blood]] before they could be used by Alessia's forces, and he even defeated (but could not kill) the immortal Ayleid leader, Umaril the Unfeathered, before he was cut into pieces by Umaril's servants. (In ''Oblivion'''s ''Knights of the Nine'' expansion, the PlayerCharacter is granted the title Pelinal Reborn, seeking to defeat a resurrected and vengence-filled Umaril.)
** The Battle of Red Mountain in the 1st Era was a rare victory for the elves. After centuries of domination and expansion out of Skyrim, the Nord army, led by the Tongues (masters of the [[MakeMeWannaShout Thu'um]]), was annihilated at Red Mountain in Morrowind by [[EnemyMine a coalition]] of [[OurDwarvesAreDifferent Dwemer]] and Chimer forces. This marked the farthest expanse of the Nordic Empire and led to a drop-off in the use of the Thu'um as a weapon after Jurgen Windcaller, one of the defeated Tongues, [[HeelFaithTurn created the Way of the Voice to use the Thu'um only to honor the gods]]. The victory would only be a temporary one however, as the Dwemer and Chimer would split apart due to significant religious conflicts, with the entire Dwemer race [[RiddleForTheAges disappearing without a trace]] and the Chimer becoming cursed into the modern Dunmer.
** The Tiber Wars were a series of wars fought in the late 2nd Era as part of Tiber Septim's campaign to conquer all of Tamriel. Septim had conquered all but Morrowind (protected by their {{Physical God}}s and the Summerset Isles (protected by their powerful magics), the only two provinces the last empire out of Cyrodiil, led by the Reman Dynasty, had failed to conquer. Unknown to Septim, the Dunmer demi-gods of Morrowind, known as the Tribunal, had been cut off from their divine power source by their ancient enemy, Dagoth Ur. Septim's legions easily sacked Mournhold, the capital of Morrowind. Without their gods to protect them, the rest of Morrowind would have been devastated in a protracted war with Septim's legions. Knowing this, Vivec, one of these gods, met with Septim and forged an Armistice. Morrowind would join the empire as a VoluntaryVassal, sparing his people from war. In addition, Vivec offered the Dwemer-crafted {{Reality Warp|er}}ing HumongousMecha - The Numidium - to Septim in exchange for special privileges for Morrowind. (Specifically, continued Great House rule, free worship of the Tribunal, and the right to continue practicing slavery which was outlawed elsewhere in the empire.) Septim then used the Numidium to [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomp]] the Altmer of the Summerset Isles (devastating their army and sacking their capital in ''less than hour''), bringing them under the rule of men for the first time in history.
** The [[LizardFolk Argonians]], a long time SlaveRace to the Dunmer, got to do this to the Dunmer in between the events of ''Oblivion'' and ''Skyrim''. The Dunmer [[TraumaCongaLine were subjected to]] the [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind loss of their]] {{Physical God}}s, the [[LegionsOfHell Oblivion Crisis]], being [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness abandoned by the Empire]], a [[ColonyDrop moon crashing into their province]], and the [[ChekhovsVolcano eruption of Red Mountain]]. Then the Argonians [[TheDogBitesBack invaded]] and captured the still-habitable parts of mainland Morrowind, along with the rich [[FantasyMetals ebony deposits]] therein. The 4th Era Dunmer are now a [[BreakTheHaughty broken]] and scattered race, in search of their place in the world (both literally and figuratively).
** The [[CatFolk Khajiit]] pulled this on their long-time rivals, the Bosmer, during the Five Year War. After getting rid of their Nord advisors, whose fighting style was too different for the Khajiit to successfully adopt, the Khajiit proceeded to brutalize the Bosmer, capturing territory and raiding deep into Valenwood. The Bosmer had to [[GodzillaThreshold invoke the Wild Hunt]] in order to finally bring the war to an end.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
*** The [[TheEmpire Aldmeri Dominion]], governed by the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]], has taken over Summerset Isles, Valenwood, Elsweyr, is in a stalemate in Hammerfell, and has a tenuous peace (with lots of strings they got to attach) with the remnants of the Empire (it's not really a lasting peace, everyone knows it's only an interbellum). You will feel the strong urge to kill off Thalmor goon squads roving the roads in Skyrim because of their supreme hubris and arrogance. Even several Empire players, Imperial Legion characters (who are supposedly allied with them), other elven races, and [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch even many of their own race]], the High Elves, have a strong antipathy towards them.
*** Killing any NPC in any hold who didn't provoke the attack will slap you with a rather large one thousand septim bounty for murder. Any NPC, that is, save for Thalmor. You'll still get the forty septim bounty for assault, but killing a Thalmor NPC incurs '''zero''' bounty. You can even get around this by first provoking the Thalmor into attacking you, which prompts any nearby city guards into attacking ''them''. That's right, brutally murdering half a dozen elves in front of the city guard gets you little more than a slap on the wrist (''[[ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections and even that can be tossed out if you're a thane]]''). That goes to show just how much the Thalmor are hated in Skyrim.
*** Kill Ondolemar, the Thalmor leader in Markarth and pay the 40 Septim bounty. Upon exiting the prison you'll receive 100 gold Septims (tax deductible) and a letter of Inheritance from the Jarl, which really feels like he's thanking you for getting rid of the asshole.
*** You may occasionally come across several Thalmor Justiciars escorting a prisoner, you can give the prisoner weapons and free him. And of course, you can [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill overdo your job]] by shoving his pockets with dozens of MagicStaff and let him [[DoWithHimAsYouWill slaughter the Thalmor on his own]].
*** The stalemate between Hammerfell and the Dominion that existed just after the Great War was ended when the Redguards removed the Dominion by use of guerrilla warfare, thus giving the Redguards of Hammerfell their own Screw You, Elves! moment.
*** Likewise, the Argonians, as mentioned above, have been less than enthused at the idea of returning to the days of Elves lording over them, besides Hammerfell, Black Marsh and the occupied Morrowind, as of current time the game takes place in is the only other one able to stop and repel the Thalmor's conquest.
*** The main reason Ulfric started the Stormcloaks was so he and the [[HornyVikings Nords]] could do this, because the Empire was, in his mind, too weak and scared to do so. Of course, he probably takes it [[FantasticRacism a little]] [[EnslavedElves bit far]].
*** Even the game developers endorse this. The late concept artist Adam Adamowicz comments on an "Elf Grinder" trap he devised for Skyrim:
--->'''Adamowicz''': It's kind of like a Cuisinart or a disposal in a sink, specifically for grinding up elves into a fine, purple, glittery powder. 'Cause they deserve it.
*** Ysgramor, the legendary Atmoran warrior who lead the RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the Snow Elves during the Merethic Era, firmly believed this. Tellingly, his battle-axe ''Wuuthrad'' was enchanted to cause considerable damage against (most) Elven races and adorned with the image of a elf screaming in terror.
*** Also, of course, there's a Whiterun quest and a section of the main quest line that specifically involves you messing up Thalmor bases of operation.
*** And to top it all off, the current page image for this quote is three of the Thalmor being brutally slain by the PlayerCharacter.
*** Playing as an elf or using elven weapons and armour will get you a few mocking comments by the Nord guards. Do both, and you will likely get ''a lot'' of mocking comments.
*** First Emissary Elenwen is a Thalmor official who shows up repeatedly in the main story. Her role and attitude make most people [[HateSink strongly dislike her at best]]. Unfortunately, she's extremely important to the main story, so you can't kill her. Right? [[spoiler:Wrong! Advance far enough in the main quest and Elenwen ''loses her essential tag'', meaning that she's now fair game for murder. Yes, the devs went out of their way to make it possible to kill Elenwen specifically because she's so obnoxious.]]
* Interestingly, while ''Franchise/MassEffect'' provides a quote, the game as a whole averts this. True, some of the aliens are jerks. The face of the turian Councilor comes to mind, usually accompanied by a strong urge to punch it,[[note]]And even he redeems himself in the third game, being the first one to offer support for Earth, and being annoyed at the salarian Dalaress' FantasticRacism against krogans[[/note]] but there are also plenty examples of really nice ones, such as the asari Liara and the quarian Tali (even [[TheSnarkKnight Joker]] and [[FantasticRacism Navigator Pressly]] like [[WrenchWench her]]). Like Kaidan said, the aliens are actually quite human once you know them. Even [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy the krogans]].
** The asari kinda-sorta fit the trope, due to their immense age and wisdom, and are held in very high regard by virtually every other species ([[BoldlyComing for a couple of reasons...]]). As the quote page shows, however, they're not perfect.
** One of the biggest Screw You, Elves! comments about the asari comes from one of their own: Matriarch Aethyta, aka the bartender at Illium's Eternity lounge. She had great advice, which could have kept [[HumanityIsSuperior humans from becoming the most powerful race in the galaxy]], and they "laughed the blue off [her] ass." So now she serves drinks behind a bar. She's a little bitter.
** The biggest Screw You, Elves! moment with the asari comes when it's revealed [[spoiler: that reason they are the most advanced race in the galaxy is due to the Protheans having nurtured their early civilisation, manipulated their genetics to bestow "natural" biotic abilities, as well as leaving an intact Prothean Beacon to aid in their technological development. The Protheans intended them to become the dominant power in the next Cycle and have enough of a technological head-start to defeat the Reapers. However, it failed because the asari became technologically stagnant, as they relied on data-mining the Beacon to keep themselves ahead, allowing them to lord their superiority over the other races. When the next Cycle came, the asari retreated to their homeworld and buried their heads in the sand, and quickly got curbstomped by the Reapers]].
** This trope of course gets brought up against the Reapers, especially with the one on Rannoch where Shepard can call it out for how the Reapers keep dodging any questions about the motives behind their genocidal wars and yet still claim their actions are for the best. [[spoiler: Javik provides another case after the Leviathan DLC. After TheReveal about the Leviathans and their creation of the Reapers and their former dominance of the galaxy, he makes clear his hatred of the Leviathans and that they [[AssholeVictim deserved their fate at the hands (so to speak) of the Reapers]] after they felt everything in the galaxy was theirs to do with as they pleased. Even the Catalyst has this opinion of them, saying they were "part of the problem" with chaos in the galaxy.]]
* Jim Raynor from ''VideoGame/StarCraft'' doesn't hesitate to get up in the face of Protoss [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Judicator Aldaris]], who's mocking his offer of help in the face of a Zerg invasion, pal.
** Although that was slightly a case of ImStandingRightHere.
** Other Terrans generally respond by shooting them on sight or dropping tactical nuclear weapons on their heads. They're totally justified though: [[spoiler:the initial response of the Protoss to the Zerg onslaught was to [[EarthShatteringKaboom torch Terran planets]] without warning]]. The manual states that [[spoiler: the Protoss had hated the way Terrans lived and wanted to torch them already, only to be held back by their [[AlienNonInterferenceClause non-interference policies]]. Then when the Zerg arrived, they'd intentionally wait until the only way to remove them was to burn the entire world, so they could exterminate the Terrans with a semi-clean conscience]]. Only Tassadar seemed to have a serious problem with this course of action.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Suikoden}}'', the elves have the worst relations with other races precisely because people react the way real-life people would to their constant condescension. This comes back to bite them in the first game, where their lack of allies results in them finding out the hard way that they are definitely not [[OurElvesAreDifferent better]], especially not when a [[HiddenElfVillage small elven settlement]] is being attacked by an entire [[TheEmpire empire]], and [[TooDumbToLive doesn't accept outside help]].
** It's amazing how little superior magic, culture, and physical perfection will help when you live in a forest and someone has a giant mirror that can use the power of the sun to set things on fire from hundreds of miles away.
** ''VideoGame/SuikodenIV'' brings more of the same with its own group of elves, who are constantly on the verge of war with the neighboring human village, mainly because of their own pretentious posturing. The only elf in the game who's not an arrogant prick is the one who was born outside the village due to her mother being exiled for an unspecified offense (which probably involved not being obnoxious enough to the humans).
** ''VideoGame/SuikodenV'' has the elves of Alseid be very vocal about disliking the "barbarous humans", which is a shame since you can't even go there. There are instances, however, that show that they also fear the humans, like in the FuroScene where Urda seems very intimidated by Cathari's gun.
** Every game has at least one elf who either went to live among humans or at least has an open mind about them. Kirkis in Suikoden I was the only one among his tribe who figured out allying with the Liberation Army was the only way to prevent their impending fiery deaths, Paula in IV is noticeable as an elf just because of her ears, otherwise behaving as a perfectly normal if slightly solemn girl, and Isato of V serves the human Oracle partly in order to preserve his lands, and partly just out of pure loyalty. In general, the subplots involving elves always result in one of them calling out their own kin on the stupidity of their attitude.
** On whole averted in ''VideoGame/SuikodenIII'' where the elves you found, Roland and Nei, are perfectly sociable around humans and doesn't bother with any silly prejudices. Roland is even one of Chris' honored knights.
* A memorable moment in ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia'' happens somewhat toward the end. The uppity elves have finally agreed to accept humans in their HiddenElfVillage, but not [[HalfHumanHybrid half-elves]], because they still blamed them for the debacle with the Mana Cannon a bit over a century ago.[[note]]And, probably, the Cruxis/Desian problem 4,000 years before that.[[/note]] The elves claimed that the halfbreeds could not be trusted, since they possessed the power of elven magic but lacked the elven values to employ it responsibly. Cless then kindly tells them to shove it, as the whole reason halfbreeds had human values was that the elves kicked them out in the first place and they had no choice but to live among humans.
** Interestingly enough, in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', after Lloyd calls out the elves for their racism towards half-elves giving rise to Cruxis, the elder will, if you talk to him after [[spoiler:the party evacuates Heimdall]], admit that perhaps the elves are the most to blame for what happened.
** ''Symphonia'' provides another odd case of this during its WhamEpisode. [[spoiler: [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Lord Remiel]] when he shows his true colors, shows the egotism usually associated with this trope and asks Kratos for aid, and Kratos mocks him for being an angel asking for help against humans (technically two humans and two half elves). The line is made odd by Kratos being an angel himself.]]
** The half-elf Desians also treat humans as cattle [[spoiler: including Kratos's late wife]]. Kratos is [[ExtremeMeleeRevenge less than happy about this]].
-->'''Kvar:''' "Kratos, you pathetic inferior being!"
-->'''Kratos:''' "Feel the pain, [[PunctuatedPounding *slash*]] of those inferior beings [[PunctuatedPounding *slash*]] as you burn in hell!"
* A recurring theme in the ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'' games. Elves, being one of the "[[DesignatedHero good]]" races serve as {{hero antagonist}}s to your EvilOverlord. They're usually not all that much better than humans, serving mostly as a target of mockery for EvilChancellor Gnarl and are usually screwed over royally throughout the games. The first game has them being enslaved by the Dwarves (with an option to ensure their extinction by choosing to save a sack of gold over the last Elven women) and the second one has most of them being enslaved by TheEmpire, with the remaining free elves all a bunch of annoying hippies and you later commit a MoralEventHorizon towards them by [[spoiler:poisoning the soul of [[TheHighQueen Queen]] [[BigGood Fay]] with your dark power, driving her insane and making her a FallenHero]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}: Cataclysm'' the protagonist captain viciously scolds the Bentusi, an ancient alien race, for an attempt to run away from a galactic threat instead of helping the Kushans to fight it. Note that he did it ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome while they were decimating his fleet for hampering their escape]]''. Admittedly, Bentusi were generally nice guys, not at all arrogant or condescending to Kushans. They were just VERY afraid of said galactic threat and the fear embittered them.
* The Dragon Campaign in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'', in which humans waged war against the Winglies who ruled over them, was essentially this.
* [[http://yaoi.y-gallery.net/view/476858/ This]] ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' comic.
** There's also a sword that does this to the Blood Elves in the game. To elaborate, there is a rare drop in the Icecrown Citadel instances that starts a long quest chain to reforge an old weapon given to the High Elves by the dragons. At one point you have to take the sword and submerge it in the sunwell, the Blood Elves' power source. After you do so, they assume you are returning the sword to them. Their leader tries to take it off you. Except the sword decides it likes you better and sends him flying. They're furious, even more so if you're a member of the Alliance. It doesn't play out this way if you're a Blood Elf, of course, in which case they're eager to assist you. Then again, one Blood Elf also points out that the leader's "foolish" attempt to seize the sword is to blame for his injuries.
** ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'', [=WoW=]'s RTS predecessor, has several campaigns where you take the fight to the elves and shove their superiority up their asses.
*** First was the Undead campaign's assault on the Sunwell Plateau, which saw the player cruise through High Elf bases with zombie hordes, sweeping aside all the tricks and defenses of the High Elves and their Ranger General, Sylvanas Windrunner. Then you beat her, and to cap it all off, you raise her as an undead monstrosity and defile their precious Sunwell just to resurrect a high level Undead wizard as a powerful Lich.\\
Then there's the fight between the Orcs and the Night Elves, with the Warsong chieftain Grom Hellscream slaughtering his way through the forest, killing many Night Elf warriors and razing their forests and bases for lumber, and when the Night Elf demigod Cenarius interferes, Grom drinks from a demonic fountain of power and uses that power to wipe out Cenarius.
*** Their luck in the expansion, The Frozen Throne, doesn't improve. The Night Elves get embroiled in a war against one of their former heroes and the fish-like Naga, which all proves fruitless when all the Naga's leader wanted to do was destroy the Undead capital of Icecrown.\\
Then the High Elves get rejected by the Human Alliance leader and get imprisoned, only to flee to the protection of a demon, the same man who led the Naga, who has the High Elves assault a demon capital for their new home.....only to be forced by the demons' leader, Kil'jaeden, to hunt down and destroy the Undead capital of Icecrown once and for all.......a task they end up failing miserably.
** The Blood Elves, the High Elves focused on in the expansion, are an odd case where this trope turns them into a WoobieSpecies. The loss of the Sunwell makes them realize they'd been addicted to mana all along but never noticed it, and they begin allying with ever more objectionable people to sate their hunger.
** Taken to extremes in ''Literature/TheWarOfTheAncients'' novel trilogy against the Night Elf Highborne 10,000 years in the past. The leader of the [[TheAlliance coalition]] against the [[OmnicidalManiac Burning]] [[OurDemonsAreDifferent Legion]] is against the use of accepting aid from the dwarves and tauren because he's an UpperClassTwit, and even the other Night Elves consider this [[FantasticRacism racist attitude]] in the face of an enemy threatening to wipe out all life on the planet idiotic.
** Next to the Elves are the Draenei, who are even older as a race than elves, appear to be more technologically and culturally advanced, are very tall, have very powerful magic, and have supposedly great wisdom. However, they are as a whole running from the Burning Legion, who seek to destroy them, and are partially composed of [[DefectorFromDecadence corrupted members]] of their own race. Though unlike most of the examples, they are fully aware of this, and make no pretensions otherwise.
* With all the crap that elves of ''VideoGame/{{Shadowbane}}'' are responsible for (they made pacts with demons, worshiped the Beast Lords, and even waged war against the All-Father, slew the Archon of Peace with Shadowbane (when ended very badly for them), created the art of Necromancy, bread minotaurs from human slaves) it's pretty easy to understand why the Temple of the Cleansing Flame wants to burn them at the stake.
* Deconstructed in ''VideoGame/AgeOfWonders''. In the first game, the elves are invaded by the humans for no real reason, and are chased out of their homelands. It takes the entire second game for them to redeem themselves. In the third game, TheEmpire, run by humans, accuses the elves of being responsible for the alien invasion, and initiates a genocide. As if that was not enough, whenever you play as the elves, you can expect human enemies to invoke this trope, every now and then.
* All over ''VideoGame/KingdomsOfAmalurReckoning''. Specifically, there are the literal elves, and there are {{the Fa|irFolk}}e who better embody the trope the elves of most settings fill, they are immortal in only so much as they are always reborn to replay their unchanging role within the world where as mortals stay dead, thus with the surgance of mortals into the world an entire court of fae has gone crazy and tried to wipe all mortals out to [[StatusQuoIsGod bring things back to normalcy for themselves.]] The game is all about TheUnchosenOne being brought back to life and literally giving [[ScrewDestiny fate the middle finger]], as you kill the shit out of the evil court of fae, and on one side quest early on, can even subvert the other court of fae's natural cycle of history just [[ForTheEvulz for the lulz.]]
* In ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'', the plot of ''[[Manga/TouhouBougetsushou Silent Sinner in Blue and Cage in Lunatic Runagate]]'' could be summed up as "Screw You, [[SpaceElves Lunarians]]!".
** Earlier on, the back-story of''Imperishable Night'' implies that the Lunarians suffered this at the hand of the Americans in an incident involving the Apollo Missions, largely resulting from the former having [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent not fought an actual war for over a thousand years]].
* Throughout the ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' series, GodAndSatanAreBothJerks (GodIsEvil and Lucifer doesn't really give a crap about humanity so much as he wants things his way). And boy, do they like to lord their moral and intellectual superiority over man. As such, the Neutral path in most games invokes this trope - the main character tells both sides to shut the hell up, defeats them, and creates a world free from outside influence for humanity to live in peace.
* This is the rallying cry of the Transcended from ''[[VideoGame/NexusWar Nexus Clash]]'' whenever fighting [[OurAngelsAreDifferent Angels]].
* Fallen Empires in ''VideoGame/{{Stellaris}}'' are remnants of {{Precursor|s}} empires. Their techs are millennia ahead of standard empires, they know this, and they will demand you submit to their requests lest you... ''[[AnOfferYouCantRefuse displease]]'' them. But they had become complacent, they produce nothing and their ships are irreplaceable, so they're not invincible and you ''can'' ([[MoneySpider and encouraged to]]) defeat them. They will not take kindly that these upstart empires have defeated them, and boy it will feel good. [[AwakeningTheSleepingGiant Just be careful not to actually make them feel threatened]] before you're ready to deliver the deathblow though... This does vary depending on which Fallen Empire it is and what your own Empire is, though; in some combinations their attituded is more "proud and protective parents".
* Pre-release versions of ''Videogame/{{Starbound}}'' tended to give this treatment to the Hylotl, massively playing up their arrogance and snobbery while having most of the other races mock them for it. Post-release, much of the content was rewritten to allow them to have at least basic dignity and respect. (The other races might not understand or agree with their culture, but they're not openly making fun of it. Even the Florans, their racial enemies, have a few nice things to say about them.
[[/folder]]

** The Dwarfs had their moment four thousand years ago with the War of Vengeance (''[[InsistentTerminology not]]'' the War of [[SillyReasonForWar the Beard]]) against the High Elves, resulting in the death of the elven king, the capture of the Phoenix Crown, and the elves' retreat from their Old World colonies. Shame the conflict also left the dwarfs with a VestigialEmpire...

** ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'', [=WoW=]'s RTS predecessor, has several campaigns where you take the fight to the elves and shove their superiority up their asses. First was the Undead campaign's assault on the Sunwell Plateau, which saw the player cruise through High Elf bases with zombie hordes, sweeping aside all the tricks and defenses of the High Elves and their Ranger General, Sylvanas Windrunner. Then you beat her, and to cap it all off, you raise her as an undead monstrosity and defile their precious Sunwell just to resurrect a high level Undead wizard as a powerful Lich. Then there's the fight between the Orcs and the Night Elves, with the Warsong chieftain Grom Hellscream slaughtering his way through the forest, killing many Night Elf warriors and razing their forests and bases for lumber, and when the Night Elf demigod Cenarius interferes, Grom drinks from a demonic fountain of power and uses that power to wipe out Cenarius. Their luck in the expansion, The Frozen Throne, doesn't improve. The Night Elves get embroiled in a war against one of their former heroes and the fish-like Naga, which all proves fruitless when all the Naga's leader wanted to do was destroy the Undead capital of Icecrown. Then the High Elves get rejected by the Human Alliance leader and get imprisoned, only to flee to the protection of a demon, the same man who led the Naga, who has the High Elves assault a demon capital for their new home.....only to be forced by the demons' leader, Kil'jaeden, to hunt down and destroy the Undead capital of Icecrown once and for all.......a task they end up failing miserably.
** The Blood Elves, the High Elves focused on in the expansion, are an odd case where this trope turns them into a WoobieSpecies.

* HumanityIsSuperior, the elves not only lack superiority, they are actually ''inferior''.

* ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'': Guts frequently tells off Apostles who think they're a superior species just because they're powerful demons that can prey on humans with impunity. If he defeats one he will rub this in as much as possible, such as when he tortured the Baron of Koka Castle and the Slug Baron while telling them they should experience the same pain as their victims. Perhaps the example that fits best is his fight with Rosine, a teenage Apostle with moth wings who inhabits the Misty Valley and rules over a swarm of children whom she abducted and turned into elves (which in this setting look more like what are usually called fairies). Rosine was an abused child and grew up loving fairy tales about elves, which became such an escapist fantasy for her that she sacrificed her parents in order to become one and create a utopia where grown-ups and humans were unwelcome. She claims that HumansAreTheRealMonsters, and demonstrates MoralMyopia by having her children kill humans for her amusement but getting outraged when Guts shows up and starts killing her fake elves in return. Guts, of course, tells exactly where she can shove her sense of superiority.

--->'''Dark Elf:''' But what I find most surprising is that you think I could ever help one of my father's murderers!\\
'''Dark Elf:''' Why shouldn't I tip off the other Light Warriors now? Or rally the Dark Warriors against you?\\

** Surface Dwarves often express this towards the Dwarves of Orzammar, bewildered how anyone can have a smug sense of superiority and entitlement, whilst living in a dank hole in the ground, seconds away from being overwhelmed by the Darkspawn horde. Similarly, the Casteless Dwarves who are treated as less than vermin by the upper classes in Orzammar, tend to wonder the same thing.

** Cue the parallel world, ruled over by the elves who form TheWildHunt, where they rule and treat humans as disposable slaves, while still pretending in open hypocrisy to be ''oh so better''. And they didn't outbreed local population for dominance. They killed off most of it.

** And come out and said as much (well, ''[[IntentionalEngrishForfunny tried to, anyway]]'') in [[http://www.errantstory.com/2009-10-09/4479 this strip]].

--->'''Sara:''' [[http://www.errantstory.com/2009-11-23/4534 Give me that power and I swear, I'll kill every last elf in the world myself.]]
** Protip for any elven ambassadors to Tsuiruaku: Leave the superiority act at home, and when you're meeting with [[PapaWolf Councilman Hinadori]], if you ''have'' to talk about his granddaughter, avoid using words like [[FantasticSlurs "Errant" or]] "'''[[FantasticSlurs it]]'''". [[http://www.errantstory.com/2010-03-19/4687 Diplomatic immunity isn't much help against a fireball to the face.]]

* In ''LightNovel/TheDeathMageWhoDoesntWantAFourthTime'', it's mentioned that [[FantasticRacism a lot of people hate elves]] because they often go for high-ranking positions and then [[TheAgeless never leave, spending thousands of years]] as dukes and viscounts while humans only get a few decades if any. Imagine applying for a job with two years' experience, only to get screwed over by a guy with ''two hundred''.

'''Dark Elf:''' Damn. That's practically defending him under elf law.

** The Alessian Revolt, later in the 1st Era, was an uprising of Cyrodiil's native human population which had been enslaved and brutally tortured by the Ayleids (Wild Elves). With her freed slave army, the support of the Nordic Empire, several [[TokenHeroicOrc rebel Ayleid lords]], and a few of the ''[[HumansAreSpecial gods themselves]]'', St. Alessia drove the Ayleids into virtual extinction. She would become the founder of the first empire of men in Cyrodiil in the process. Alessia's champion, the [[PhysicalGod divine warrior]] Pelinal Whitestrake, was perhaps the living embodiment of this trope. He was sent by the Divines to answer a prayer from Alessia. Decked out in a full suit of platemail armor (which only the Dwemer could craft at the time, and everyone else had bronze armor at best), he was a bloodthirsty (specifically Elf blood) [[TheBerserker Berserker]] of the highest order. He first wandered into Alessia's camp [[BloodSplatteredWarrior drenched in Ayleid blood]] and would fly into such {{Berserker Rage}}s that he ''permanently damaged the lands themselves'' while fighting Ayleids. Countless scores of Ayleids fell in his wake, to the point where the Divines had to send in rains to [[PaintTheTownRed cleanse Ayleids forts and villages of Ayleids blood]] before they could be used by Alessia's forces, and he even defeated (but could not kill) the immortal Ayleid leader, Umaril the Unfeathered, before he was cut into pieces by Umaril's servants. (In ''Oblivion'''s ''Knights of the Nine'' expansion, the PlayerCharacter is Pelinal Reborn, seeking to defeat a resurrected and vengence-filled Umaril.)

*** It reaches the point where they don't particularly ''care'' that by the sequel, the blatantly [[SociopathicHero sociopathic]] Director Peter Wisdom of [=MI13=] (who is himself a wizard [[spoiler: (specifically, Regulus Black)]]) is set to supplant the Ministry with his own agency. Or at least, when they do care, it's because of Wisdom himself, rather than the idea in principle. Admittedly, they have bigger problems to deal with, but...

* The ''WebOriginal/ElfslayerChronicles'': What happens when a DM beats players over the head with [[OurElvesAreDifferent beautiful]], [[CantArgueWithElves perfect]] elves ([[YaoiGuys who have lots of gay sex]]) and [[HumansAreBastards evil, xenophobic, warlike humans]]? One player [[OffTheRails derails the whole thing]] by murdering a missing human prince, framing his elven lover, and getting away with it by being that damn good. In the archived discussion, not only does "Elfslayer" compare the DM's elves to the [[Film/{{Avatar}} Na'avi]] and Creator/ChristopherPaolini's elves, but another poster references this exact trope page. When the DM (and the only player who actually liked the setting) complained, "Elfslayer" pointed out that an "evil, xenophobic, warlike human" like himself would never tolerate his prince shacking up with an elf; on top of that, his mission was to serve the kingdom to the best of his ability, and the relationship becoming public knowledge would damage the kingdom's reputation, so in that case MurderIsTheBestSolution.

** The Tiber Wars were a series of wars fought in the late 2nd Era as part of Tiber Septim's campaign to conquer all of Tamriel. Septim had conquered all but Morrowind (protected by their {{Physical God}}s and the Summerset Isles (protected by their [[WitchSpecies powerful magics]]), the only two provinces the last empire out of Cyrodiil, led by the Reman Dynasty, had failed to conquer. Unknown to Septim, the Dunmer demi-gods of Morrowind, known as the Tribunal, had been cut off from their divine power source by their ancient enemy, Dagoth Ur. Septim's legions easily sacked Mournhold, the capital of Morrowind. Without their gods to protect them, the rest of Morrowind would have been devastated in a protracted war with Septim's legions. Knowing this, Vivec, one of these gods, met with Septim and forged an Armistice. Morrowind would join the empire as a VoluntaryVassal, sparing his people from war. In addition, Vivec offered the Dwemer-crafted {{Reality Warp|er}}ing HumongousMecha - The Numidium - to Septim in exchange for special privileges for Morrowind. (Specifically, continued Great House rule, free worship of the Tribunal, and the right to continue practicing slavery which was outlawed elsewhere in the empire.) Septim then used the Numidium to [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomp]] the Altmer of the Summerset Isles (devastating their army and sacking their capital in ''less than hour''), bringing them under the rule of men for the first time in history.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

'''Dark Elf:''' Why shouldn't I tip off the other Light Warriors now? Or rally the Dark Warriors against you?

* Interestingly, while ''Franchise/MassEffect'' provides a quote, the game as a whole averts this. True, some of the aliens are jerks. The face of the Turian Councilor comes to mind, usually accompanied by a strong urge to punch it,[[note]]And even he redeems himself in the third game, being the first one to offer support for Earth, and being annoyed at the Salarian Dalaress' FantasticRacism against Krogans[[/note]] but there are also plenty examples of really nice ones, such as the Asari Liara and the Quarian Tali (even [[TheSnarkKnight Joker]] and [[FantasticRacism Navigator Pressly]] like [[WrenchWench her]]). Like Kaidan said, the aliens are actually quite human once you know them. Even [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy the Krogans]].
** The Asari kinda-sorta fit the trope, due to their immense age and wisdom, and are held in very high regard by virtually every other species ([[BoldlyComing for a couple of reasons...]]). As the quote page shows, however, they're not perfect.
** The biggest Screw You, Elves! comments about the Asari comes from one of their own: Matriarch Aethyta, aka the bartender at Illium's Eternity lounge. She had great advice, which could have kept [[HumanityIsSuperior humans from becoming the most powerful race in the galaxy]], and they "laughed the blue off [her] ass." So now she serves drinks behind a bar. She's a little bitter.
** The biggest Screw You, Elves! moment with the Asari comes when it's revealed [[spoiler: that reason they are the most advanced race in the galaxy is due to the Protheans having nurtured their early civilisation, manipulated their genetics to bestow "natural" biotic abilities, as well as leaving an intact Prothean Beacon to aid in their technological development. The Protheans intended them to become the dominant power in the next Cycle and have enough of a technological head-start to defeat the Reapers. However, it failed because the Asari became technologically stagnant, as they relied on data-mining the Beacon to keep themselves ahead, allowing them to lord their superiority over the other races. When the next Cycle came, the Asari retreated to their homeworld and buried their heads in the sand, and quickly got curbstomped by the Reapers]].

** Overall, perhaps the biggest ''Screw You!'' to the elves was done [[spoiler: by ''their own people.'' As it turns out, the ancient empire of the elves was just as corrupt and oppressive as the modern Tevinter Empire, with only the rich and powerful possessing the coveted immortality while the rest were treated as second class citizens at best, ''slaves'' at worst. It only stopped when the nobles got trapped in the [[DreamWorld Fade]] after they murdered one of their own in their lust for power]]. Oh, and the gods that the Dalish worship? The ones that they pray to for protection and blessings, and whom they dedicate their traditional facial tattoos to, and whom were genrally believed to have been sealed away by a trickster god? [[spoiler:''They were the aforementioned nobles.'' The tattoos were ''slave markings'' meant to identify which "god" (noble) the slave belonged to, and the "trickster god" sealed them away to keep them from destroying the world. It just goes to show that humans and elves weren't so different after all.]]

--->'''Dark Elf:''' How could you think I'd possibly work with the killer of my father?\\
'''Thief:''' Technically speaking I may only have stood back and allowed my allies to kill him, then took credit for the kill only when it was politically convenient.\\
'''Dark Elf:''' ... damn, that's practically ''defending'' him under elf law.

-->'''Jake:''' No, sir. This is Earth. This is a human planet. We are not the Hork-Bajir, we know how you 'rescued' them. As long as you're on Earth, you'll get along with us. Am I clear on ''that?''

** Overall, perhaps the biggest ''Screw You!'' to the elves was done [[spoiler: by ''their own people.'' As it turns out, the ancient empire of the elves was just as corrupt and oppressive as the modern Tevinter Empire, with only the rich and powerful possessing the coveted immortality while the rest were treated as second class citizens at best, ''slaves'' at worst. It only stopped when the nobles got trapped in the [[DreamWorld Fade]] after they murdered one of their own in their lust for power]]. Oh, and the gods that the Dalish worship? The ones that they pray to for protection and blessings, and whom they dedicate their traditional facial tattoos to, and whom were genrally believed to have been sealed away by a trickster god? [[spoiler:''They were the aforementioned nobles.'' The tattoos were ''slave markings'' meant to identify which "god" (noble) the slave belonged to, and the "trickster god" sealed them away to keep them from destroying the world. It just goes to show that humans and elves were NotSoDifferent after all.]]

[[caption-width-right:350:The Thalmor came to prove the supremacy of Mer over Man. The [[PlayerCharacter Dragonborn]] had a few [[MakeMeWannaShout strong words]] for them.]]

*** On the other hand, you have the 'Dark Elves' of Svartalfheim, a different tribe/faction of Alfar (the relationship is compared to that of the Aesir and Vanir). They believed that they were a SuperiorSpecies - even to ''[[PhysicalGod Asgardians]]'', and they should be running the Nine Realms. Led by Malekith, wielding the Reality Stone, they put this into practise, first by purging their own people of those who opposed Malekith (the survivors fled to Alfheim and Faerie), then by trying to conquer the rest of the Nine Realms. The result is a resounding Screw You! with all the other realms uniting to beat the crap out of them - though only after the Dark Elves came very close to succeeding, thanks to the Reality Stone (and only failed because of its instability), pounding Svartalfheim into a DeathWorld from orbit. It's notable that they were bad enough that they made ''[[ZeroPercentApprovalRating Bor]]'' look good.

** Sometimes this attitude backfires on the non-elves though. In the Storm of Chaos campaign, the Empire were getting wrecked by a huge army of Chaos daemons, when enters Loremaster Teclis[[note]]Arguably the greatest wizard in the world outside of Nagash and a few Slaan[[/note]] who ''[[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome wipes out the entire Chaos daemon army with a single spell]]''. To thank him, the Grand Theogonist thanks him by calling him a DirtyCoward [[InsaneTrollLogic for using magic]]. Teclis at this point gets annoyed and decides to show humans why you [[DoNotTauntCthulhu shouldn't taunt Cthulhu]] by pissing off and letting the ungrateful humans beat the daemons the old-fashioned and hard way, with steel and gunpowder (he knew they would win but wanted to teach them a lesson).

** In ''Skin Games'', Harry flippantly points out to yet another supernatural psychopath that claims to not be afraid of Chicago PD's 13,000 manpower, the hypocrisy of that statement when he admitted to hiding under a veil while going around the city. Really, Mr Butcher's whole series can be seen as this to the supernatural world in general, whenever he points out the pains they go through to hide from humanity as a whole since we've come a long way from having crossbows and longswords.

* ''VideoGame/DwarfFortress''. [[TheScrappy Nobody likes the elves]]. [[ElvesVersusDwarves Especially not the dwarves]], due to their strongly differing views on various ethical topics like making trophies from kills and [[ImAHumanitarian eating sentients]]; sometimes they'll end up on friendly terms during world generation, but war is pretty typical in most cases. Players do not like elves because said elves are often condescending or even rude ("A hairy drunkard has come hither to once more disrespect the sanctity of life, I see"), order dwarves to limit their tree-cutting (depending on the fortress' industries and climate, this can be anywhere from easily obeyed to utterly unreasonable), and generally bring subpar goods -- occasionally mixed with something useful, like [[MightyGlacier elephants]] and {{bears|AreBadNews}}. Dwarves in worldgen say "screw you" by slaughtering elves in combat a hundred to one ([[CurbStompBattle elven armor and weapons are wooden, dwarves have steel]]), while players get [[DeathTrap very]] [[KillItWithFire brutally]] [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential creative]] in their methods. It's brought to its extreme by [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch Cacame Awemedinade Monípalóthi]], who became the only Elf King of the Dwarves to avenge his wife. As the story goes, a fellow elf [[ImAHumanitarian literally ate his wife]] and Cacame killed the murderer. In a deep rage he joined the Dwarven Military and rose to the station of King through sheer hatred of his own species. According to his nickname, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Immortal Onslaught]], he succeeded.

** Earlier on, the back-story ''Imperishable Night'' of implies that the Lunarians suffered this at the hand of the Americans in an incident involving the Apollo Missions, largely resulting from the former having [[WeHaveBecomeComplacent not fought an actual war for over a thousand years]].

* ''In the Company of Ogres'', has an elf side character who's attractive, adept with conjuring magic--and very overweight, though this doesn't stop her from getting men. The real "screw you" comes with the rank-and-file elves among the platoon, who are basically hothouse flowers who can't remotely compare to other races in matters of physical effort. Their greatest contribution to the final fight comes from the fact that demons love tasty, '''tasty''' elf meat and many get killed when they break off fighting and start eating elf corpses.

*** Even the game developers endorse this. [[AuthorExistenceFailure Dearly departed]] concept artist Adam Adamowicz comments on an "Elf Grinder" trap he devised for Skyrim: