Myrkálfar

* The Last Dark Elf

**Svartálfar** (O.N. "black elves", "swarthy elves", sing. **svartálfr**), also called **Myrkálfar** ("dark elves", "dusky elves", "murky elves", sing. **myrkálfr**), are a race of dark elves who originated from Svartalfheim (Svartálf[a]heimr, "home of the black-elves") and interdimensional ancestors to Manbavaran clan in *Little Witch Academia: Witches of Midgard* series.

## Description and Characteristics

The cousin race of Dökkalfar, dark elves of Alfheim, Myrkálfar originally lived in harmony with dvergar at Nidavellir, the greatest empire of Svartálfheim until a cataclysmic event known as Ragnarök put everything they built to the ground. Whereas dvergar stayed in the ruined Svartálfheim so they can rebuilt, Myrkálfar survivors opted to set out for Midgard (Earth) in hopes of restoring their former glory. During their journey there, these dark elves stumbled upon the militaristic neopagan cult Naglfar who offered to save their race from extinction in exchange of helping the cult winning the oncoming war against Thapoli and entire magic community. As tempting as it may be, there were disagreements among Myrkálfar survivors because of the cult's allegiance to Jötnar who were responsible for much of the desolation of their civilization through their war against the Gods of Asgard in the past. As a result, Myrkálfar survivors split into two groups who went on separate ways.

Unfortunately for those who joined Naglfar's cause, they ended up fight a losing battle against the alliance of Warband of Thapoli, Valkyrie Corps., Obsidian Dragons, and Sword of Laeradr. This group of Myrkálfar were ultimately wiped out by Blood Squirrel throughout Thapoli-Naglfar War. Up until the discovery of Manbavaran clan, Myrkálfar race were painted as cunning and treacherous savages in the eye of people of magic community for their participation in the war.

Myrkálfar group who avoid conflict on the other hand, fared much better. Having come into terms of their waning days, they chose to live a peaceful life upon arriving at Mamba Island. There, they met a magical family who welcomed them as one of their own, intrigued by foreigners' culture and magic and feeling sympathetic towards their plight as the lasts of their kind. The union between said family and Myrkálfar survivors, both in culture and blood, resulted the magical family to grow into a powerful clan that became known as Manbavarans.

In stark contrast of their Alfheimr cousins, myrkálfar are more human-like in appearance and physiology akin to elves in high fantasy works, possessing distinct pointy ears, red eyes, gray skin, and shark-like teeth. They also noted for their great creativity when it comes about machinery and potion brewing. Though pale in comparison to Storm Weasels, Pomokai Holoholonas, and high-tier demigods, they possess better bodily structure than that of humans, thus granted with prodigious mobility, senses, healing factor which also provided great longevity, strength, and durability. They also displayed great aptitude in magic, though they prefer to harness magic energies from Niflheim instead of Ley Lines, the same type of magic energy which fuel their magic-mechanical constructs.

#### Skills & Abilities

Having mastered the use of Niflheim magic-infused obsidian rocks as their source into becoming one of greatest civilizations in Nine Worlds, the Myrkálfar's technology was very advanced, matched only by Thapoli in present era. They also famed for being accomplished potion and poison brewers who discovered uses of various ingredients found in their home realm and beyond. Unfortunately, much of the knowledge pertaining their obsidian-based magic-mechanical equipment and other constructs as well as potions and poisons they developed were lost in Ragnarök, and both Naglfar and Myrkálfar's descendants Manbavaran clan struggle to rediscover them all to the day. Although Naglfar managed to reverse-engineer and even improved Myrkálfar's obsidian-based designs for their war against both Thapoli and Magic community, the cult is still yet to fully understand how they worked. Sucy remarked that had Naglfar was more successful in it during Thapoli-Naglfar War, the conflict would likely last longer with most of its battles ended in stalemate at the very least.

Another accomplishment the dark elves of Svalftalfheim made was the means to cultivate edible mushrooms that can grow in very little light along with cave trees, stringy lichen to create cloth and rope, and trees that can thrive underground. Such techniques were originally developed to improve means for them and dvergar race to survive harsh environment of their home world Svalftalfheim. Much of the realm is dominated by desert wasteland and some volcanoes with life thrived better underground, a condition which worsened after the Ragnarök. Unlike Myrkálfar, dvergar cannot survive prolonged exposure to sunlight without painfully turned into stone, which doesn't help by the fact that they need to gather wood out of trees that growing on the surface every night. The cultivation of cave trees which quality comparable to their surface counterparts thanks to Myrkálfar solved this issue. This essential aspect of Myrkálfar's culture was preserved well by Naglfar, dvergar, and Manbavaran clan.

## Myrkálf-Human Hybrid

Since the end of Golden Magic Age, only one pure-blooded myrkálf remained, for the race had since survived by their hybrid descendants. Appearance-wise, Myrkálf-Human Hybrids varied somewhat as shown in members of Manbavaran clan; some such as Sucy, Garie, and Sabi much closer to myrkálf albeit with less pointy ears while Marito more human-like by contrast. Regardless, they inherited their myrkálfar parents/ancestors' physical and magical attributes apart from susceptibility to iron thanks to their human genes.

## Magic Items and Magic-Mechanical Equipment Developed

* Blackstone Armor
* Runegreipr
* Obsidian Behemoth
* Obsidian Scythe
* Obsidian Eye
* Blackstone Crossbow

## Creation & Conception

The idea about dark elves of Svarftalfheim was originally proposed by Ron PRL, a fellow FANDOM user and former associate of BSoulstone. In his proposal, the dark elves initially presented themselves as allies to Luna Nova against a great threat (which later revealed to be Surtr the fire demon/Eldthur) only backstab the academy before proceeded to take over entire Midgard when they least expected it. To compound the issue, Sucy was revealed to be a dark elf spy who supplied her people vital information pertaining Luna Nova and Akko's gang which led to their initial success and that the dark elves were intending to sacrifice the whole World of Men in a bid to destroy Surtr. Even so, Sucy eventually realized what her people were doing was wrong and chose to betray them for the sake of her friends and entire Luna Nova, culminating to the dark elves defeated and scattered. BSoulstone initially found such idea rather absurd owing to genuine friendship Sucy made with her fellow Luna Nova students (Akko in particular) in canon franchise, but eventually decided to explore it in the light of *Northgard* game's Ragnarok update which introduced dark elves as a neutral faction (the real-time strategy Viking game was among inspirations for *Little Witch Academia: Witches of Midgard* series) along with confirmation of the proposal being inspired by *Justice League* series' three-part finale "Starcrossed" and portrayal of dark elves of Svarftalfheim being based on their iteration in Marvel Cinematic Universe series.

Fortunately for BSoulstone, he managed to conceive a better scenario and lore for the dark elves as well as Sucy revealing her dark elf heritage without involving betrayal after watching "The Blade of Marmora", the season 2 episode of *Voltron: Legendary Defender* which tells about how Team Voltron enlists an alliance with the titular secretive faction of Galran rebels. The Blade of Marmora faction consists of Galrans (purebred and half-breed alike) who sought to redeem their people after Emperor Zarkon turned their once peaceful empire into aggressive invaders. Their success comes with a plot twist where one of their own, Keith, is revealed to be a half-Galran. Subsequently, this gave him an idea to establish the dark elves of Svarftalfheim in the fic series as both posthumous antagonists and protagonists through some of their own who perished assisting Naglfar in Thapoli-Naglfar War and gave the cult their advanced technology just as their more pacifistic brethren intermingled with magic community in Mamba Islands and formed Manbavaran clan.

## Notes and Trivia

* In addition of beings of the same name in Norse Mythology as well as their iteration in Norse mythology-inspired strategy game *Northgard* and Sucy's association with poison and potion, some elements of Myrkálfar race were inspired by dark elves from Marvel Cinematic Universe's *Thor: The Dark World* (as a technologically advanced ancient race) and Avernites from *Exile*/*Avernum* series (for altering plants and mushroom to improve life standards of inhabitants of eponymous underground land).
	+ The decision to establish Myrkafar extensively used magic-infused obsidian as the source of their advanced technology was partly to allude Ark and Harrows, two series of dark-colored ships utilized by dark elves in *Thor: The Dark World.*
* According to Erik the Ageless, Myrkálfar race were skillful in genetic manipulation via. magical means as much as with obsidian-based enchanted machinery, which explained their success in breeding edible mushrooms as well as cave trees to improve the lives of their neighbors Dvergar race. They even discovered DNA long before humanity does (though Myrkálfar refer DNA as "scrolls").

## Articles & References

1. ↑ **Ron PRL's Proposal: Dark Elves** - The Dark Elves were the main antagonists of the second season and first portion in the third season of Witches of Midgard. They appear to be allies to the Witches of Midgard but revealed their true colors when they took over Midgard with help from Sucy Manbavaran who is actually a Dark Elf and undercover spy so that they could sacrifice the middle realm to defeat Surtr, the Fire Demon. However, Sucy betrayed her people to save her friends and the Dark Elves were scattered.