Elf
- For other meanings, see Elf (disambiguation).
Elves are mythical creatures of Germanic mythology that have survived in northern European folklore. Originally a race of minor gods of nature and fertility, they are often pictured as small, youthful-seeming men and women of great beauty living in forests and other natural places, underground, or in wells and springs. They have been imagined to be long-lived or immortal and magical powers have been attributed to them. Something associated with elves or the qualities of elves is described by the adjectives elfin, elven, elfish, or elvish. Elves are staple characters in modern fantasy. They are also called: addler (Great Britain), Alfa and Alfa-folk (Iceland), Elle (Scandinavia), Ellyll (plural: Ellyllon)(Welsh), Y Dynon Bach Têg (Welsh). In Sweden, an "älv" is a river, a word to be distinguished from "alv" (Elf), "alf" (Elf) and "älva" (female Elf or fairy). They are etymologically related.
Characteristics of mythological elves
Norse mythology
Scandinavian mythology knows of light-elves (Liosálfar) who dwell in the third space in heaven, dark-elves (Döckálfar) and black-elves (Svartalfar). The black-elves were skilled smiths and have been confused with the dwarfs of this north Germanic mythology. In general elves and dwarfs are distinguished in surviving Norse literature. The best known elven smiths are the Nibelungs, who were said to be the descendants of Ivalde, the father of Idun and Völund.
The elves (light elves) are often mentioned along with the Aesir, instead of the Vanir (a race of gods). The names Vanir and Alfar (light elves) may have been either synonymous, since the expression "Aesir and Alfar" meant "all the gods", or designating a difference in status between the major fertility gods, the Vanir, and the minor ones, the elves. The Van Freyr was the lord of Álfheim, the home of the light-elves (meaning elvenhome), and he had two elves as servants, Byggvir and Beyla. Like the Vanir the elves were associated with fertility and in late fall, the "alfablot" (elven sacrifice) was celebrated by drinking beer. Milk and butter could also be sacrificed in bowl-shaped pits on flat rocks and on raised stones, which were called elven querns.
The Scandinavian elves were of human size. In Hrólf Kraki's saga, the Danish king Helgi finds an elf-woman on an island and rapes her. Famous men could be elevated to the rank of elves after death, and in one such case, the full-sized smith hero Völund (see Weyland) is called an elf.
The dwarfs and Svartalfar live in Svartalfheim.
Scandinavian folklore
In Scandinavian folklore, which is a later development from Norse mythology that blends in elements of Christian mythology, there are several groups of human-like nature spirits than are akin to "elves" in a modern sense, called tomtar, vittror, and älvor. These are all group under the general name of vättar (compare 'wights').
The elves of Norse mythology have survived mainly as females. The älvor (Swedish, singular älva) were stunningly beautiful girls who lived in the forest with an elven king. They were long-lived and light-hearted in nature. They could be seen at night dancing over meadows. The circles they left were called älvdanser (elf dances) or älvringar (elf circles). If a human watched their dance, he would discover that even though only a few hours seemed to have passed, many years had passed in the real world (this time phenomenon is retold in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings when the fellowship of the Ring discovers that time seems to have run more slowly in elven Lothlórien).
In Denmark the elves seem to have merged with the Huldra and are beautiful females who can dance a man to death. If you see them from the back, they are hollow.
German folklore
What remained of the belief in Elves in German folklore was that they were mischievous pranksters that could cause disease to cattle and people, and bring bad dreams to sleepers by sitting on them. The german word for nightmare Albtraum is Elf dream. The archaic form Albdruck is Elf pressure, it was believed that nightmares are a result of an elf sitting on the dreamers chest.
The Brothers Grimm fairy tale The Shoemaker & the Elves is probably the most famous original elf tale. The elves are only 1 foot tall in this story, naked, and like to work on shoes, like leprechauns. When the shoemaker rewards their work with little clothes, the elves are so delighted, that they run away and are never seen again.
English folklore
Elves were imported into Britain with the Anglo-Saxons.
English folktales of the early modern period typically portray elves as small, elusive people with mischievous personalities (see illustration). They are not evil but might annoy humans or interfere in their affairs. They are sometimes said to be invisible. In this tradition, elves became more or less synonymous with fairies, which originate from Celtic mythology.
Elf, fairy, and other terms for nature spirits like pwcca, hobgoblin, Robin Goodfellow, the Scots brownie, and so forth are no longer clearly distinguished in popular English folklore, nor are similar terms in other European languages.
Before they became diminutive and whimsical, elves were probably akin to powerful pre-Christian forest spirits like the woodwose, the Green Man, and the drusi in the mythology of the Gauls—beings to be respected and even feared. A trace of the former importance of elves in Germanic culture exists in names like Alfred (in Old English, Ælfræd, "elf-counsel") and Alvin (in Old English, Ælfwine, "elf-friend").
The term ælfsciene 'elf-shining' is used in the Old English poem Judith referring to elven beauty. On the other hand oaf is simply a variant of the word elf, presumably originally referring to a changeling or to someone stupefied by elvish enchantment.
Unfortunately we have little documentation of English rustic beliefs and terminology before the nineteenth century, but it seems that the term elf was used, at least on some occasions or in some places, for various kinds of uncanny wights, either human-sized or smaller. But other terms were also used.
However, in Elizabethan England, Shakespeare imagined elves as little people. He apparently considered elves and fairies to be the same. In Henry IV, Part 1, i. 4, he has Falstaff call Prince Henry: "you starveling, you elfskin!" and in his Midsummer Night's Dream, his elves are almost as small as insects. On the other hand, Edmund Spenser applies elf to full-sized beings in Fairie Queene.
Elf-shot was the name use for found neolithic flint arrow-heads, imagined as created and used by the elvish folk, and sudden paralysis was sometimes attributed to elf-stroke.
"There every herd by sad experience knows, How winged with fate their elf-shot arrows fly; When the sick ewe her summer-food foregoes, Or stretched on earth, the heart-smit heifers lie." -- Collins, The Fairy Mythology [1870]
Some fairy tales with elves in them: Addlers & Menters, Ainsel & Puck, Childe Rowland, The Elf Maiden, Elfin Woman & Birth of Skuld, Elle-Maids, Elle-Maid near Ebeltoft, Hedley Kow, Luck of Eden Hall, Sir Olof in Elve-Dance, Wild Edric, The Young Swain and the Elves, The Shoemaker & the Elves
Some elves of myth : Helfrat (Elf father of Sigurd, Volsung Saga), Argante (Elven Queen of Avalon), Summer (Queen of the Elves of Light, in Algonquian myth)
Elves in Victorian English literature
The influence of Shakespeare and Michael Drayton influenced the use of elf and fairy for very small beings to become the norm. In Victorian literature, elves usually appeared in illustrations as tiny men with pointed ears and stocking caps. There were exceptions, such as the full-sized elves who appear in Lord Dunsany's The King of Elfland's Daughter.
Elves at Christmas
The modern children's folklore of Santa Claus (USA, Canada, and Britain) typically includes diminutive, green-clad elves as Santa's assistants. They wrap Christmas gifts and make toys in a workshop located in the Arctic. In this portrayal, elves slightly resemble nimble and delicate versions of the dwarfs of Norse mythology. However, the elf legends are in fact, even older than Saint Nicholas, the bishop whom Santa Claus was originally based on.
In the Nordic countries where elves have since become associated with Christmas, elves are clad all in red and have long beards and black boots. On Christmas Eve, one must give the elves a bowl of porridge to keep them from playing pranks on you. In Iceland, 13 elves called the Yule lads, from december 12 till Christmas eve, visits homes, a lad each day, for the 13 days, and plays tricks on, as well as leaves presents for the children.
Modern fantasy elves
Modern fantasy literature has revived the elves as a race distinct from fairies. Fantasy elves are different from Norse elves, but are more akin to that older mythology than to folktale elves.
In 1954, Poul Anderson introduced grim Norse-style elves in his fantasy novel The Broken Sword and made them full-sized.
This alignment with the Elves of Norse mythology was also preferred by the mid-twentieth-century philologist and fantasy writer J. R. R. Tolkien. He conceived a race of beings similar to humans but fairer, with greater spiritual powers, keener senses, and a closer linkage to nature. They are great smiths and fierce warriors on the side of good. Tolkien's Elves of Middle-earth (capitalized) are not deathless and can be killed by injury, but they are immortal insofar as they do not grow old and die of age like humans. Tolkien had little use for Shakepearean fairy protrayals or for Victorian diminutive fairy prettiness and whimsy. He rather aligned his Elves with the god-like and human-sized Elves of Norse mythology, the ljosalfar.
Tolkien is responsible for reviving the older and less-used terms elves, elven, and elvish rather than Edmund Spenser's invented elfs, elfin, and elfish. He probably preferred the word elf over fairy because elf is of Anglo-Saxon origin while fairy entered English from French.
Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, published in 1954, became astoundingly popular and was much imitated. In the 1960s and beyond, elves similar to those in Tolkien's novels became staple non-human characters in high fantasy works and in fantasy gaming.
This view is shared by Christopher Paolini "Eragon" who also believed in the Norse elves and has written about elves in his book.
Post-Tolkien literary elves (popularised by the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game) tend to be human-sized or only slightly smaller than humans, and tend also to be capable warriors, especially skilled in archery. They are unlikely to sneak in at night and help a cobbler mend his shoes. Terms like hob or brownie or other genuine regional folklore terms are likely to be used of such creatures if they are written about. Tolkien's Elves were enemies of the Goblins/Orcs and had a longstanding quarrel with the Dwarves; these motifs also often reappear in Tolkien-inspired works.
There are also dark elves popularized by TSR as drow.
Wendy and Richard Pini's long-running comic book Elfquest attempts to avoid the usual Tolkienesque elven clichés by placing their elves in a setting inspired by Native American rather than European mythology. It later turns out that they are actually the descendants of a shape-shifting alien race rather than mythological beings.
The Harry Potter book series by J. K. Rowling features House-elves, which resemble brownies or goblins more than modern high-fantasy elves.
The Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett feature extradimensional creatures called elves, that go back to the old myths of cradle-robbing fairies. The book Lords and Ladies is about an encounter with "the fair folk".
Towards the end of the 20th century, a number of people have begun to describe themselves as elves, usually more of the Tolkien than the Santa type. Many of these people can be found in the Otherkin subculture.