Elf

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[[File:Ängsälvor - Nils Blommér 1850.jpg|thumb|right|165px|Meadow elves as depicted by Nils Blommér (1850). Keep ear plugs at hand.]]
﻿{{folklore}}
An '''elf''' is a member of a race of [[Mythology|mythical]] creatures 
except on [[Iceland]], where elves exist
 noticeable for their heavy use of [[magic]], 
having no well-defined [[gender]] (suggesting that they are [[hermaphrodite]]s)
, and their strong ties with nature. The precise characteristics of elves are subject to change depending on the 
writer
 individuals we're dealing with, and especially their uncanny ability to change their looks as [[history]] passes by, being one of the best proofs of [[Evolution|evolutionary theory]] as they adapt to changes in human culture, thus explaining why [[Fundamentalism|fundies]] will often consider them as [[demons]]. 

Elves are typically presented as being suspiciously similar to the [[Fun:Fairies|fair folk]], including being vulnerable like fairies to "cold iron", which has made some suggest that we're dealing with the same creatures. Either that, or they can mutate quickly into other beings, which makes them even more disliked by fundamentalists.

While it isn't universal, elves tend to be described as very beautiful and slender, in contrast with stocky, ugly [[Dwarf|dwarves]] (ewww!). Some think that this caused the famous enmity between the two races. Also, unlike dwarves who imbue the objects they make with magic, elves can operate with magic directly by casting flashy spells, even if they can also create neat magic toys.

[[File:Elf markwoman by Kitty.png|thumb|right|165px|A modern depiction of a female elf. Do not throw litter on her forest or you'll regret it]]

==Mythology and popular culture==
Elves in the popular imagination have either changed the way they appear over time, mimicking human perception, or have radiated into a whole lot of [[species]] similar to the [[Cambrian explosion]] in [[Reality|real life]]. Elves first appeared in [[Norse mythology]] and other northern European mythologies. They lived in forests near a [[king]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Schön|first=Ebbe|year=1986|title=Älvor, vättar och andra väsen|isbn=978-91-29-57688-7|chapter=De fagra flickorna på ängen}}</ref> being mostly female<ref name="He-1">{{cite book|last=Hellström |first=Anne Marie |year=1990|title=En Krönika om Åsbro|isbn=978-91-7194-726-0 |page=36}}</ref> and dancing in patterns that left behind a circular ring, that if broken could bring trouble (as with fairies you did not want to mess or have dealings with them even if not all of them were mischievous).<ref name="He-1" /> It could also be trouble if one danced with them (read: time working in funny ways or even killing the human who partook of said dance), invited or not.<ref name=dance>{{cite thesis|ref=harv|type=Ph. D.|last=Taylor |first=Lynda |authorlink=<!--Lynda Taylor--> |title=The Cultural Significance of Elves in Northern European Balladry |publisher=University of Leeds |year=2014 |url=http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/8759/}}</ref> Elves could cause havoc in various ways:
*Becoming invisible (something suggested to be the result of a confusion with demons)<ref name=harv>{{cite book|last=Jolly|first=Karen Louise |title=Elves in the Psalms? The Experience of Evil from a Cosmic Perspective |editor-last=Ferreiro  |editor-first=Alberto |work=The Devil, Heresy and Witchcraft in the Middle Ages: Essays in Honor of Jeffrey B. Russell |place=Leiden |publisher=Brill |year=1998 |series=Cultures, Beliefs and Traditions 6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UyNi3V1NKy0C&pg=PA19&lpg=PA19 |pages=19–44 |isbn=978-9-0041-0610-9}}</ref>
*Causing illnesses,<ref>Hall (2007), pp. 88–89, 141</ref> often peppering the human with arrows (like the former now thought to be the result of mixing them with similar [[Christian]] themes)<ref name="harv" />.
*Taking [[human]] form<ref>''{{wpa|Elvehøj}}''</ref>
*Luring the human to their lands ({{wpa|Alfheim}})<ref>{{wpl|Elveskud}}</ref>
*Exchanging their babies with human ones ({{wpl|Changeling|changeling}})<ref name=changeling>{{cite book|ref=harv|last=Green |first=Richard Firth |title=Elf Queens and Holy Friars: Fairy Beliefs and the Medieval Church |place=Philadelphia |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |year=2016 |url= |pages=}}</ref>

In the above cases, Christian imagery and themes were often mixed in with the original legends, including not only identifications of them with demons as described above and elsewhere<ref>Hall (2007), pp. 69–74, 106 n. 48 and 122 on English evidence</ref> but also considering them the result of [[Cain]] murdering [[Abel]],<ref>Hall (2007), pp. 69–74.</ref> as [[angel]]s banished by [[God]] not to [[Hell]] but to [[Earth]] instead, or like [[Eve]]'s lost children.<ref>Hall (2007), p. 75</ref> Other times, they lived outside Christian cosmology,<ref>e.g. Hall (2007), pp. 172–75.</ref> or paralleling the way angels and demons live were split into "light elves", living in the heavens, and "dark elves", living underground.<ref name="ReferenceA">Shippey, pp=180–81, Hall, pp=23–26, Gunnellm pp=127–28, Tolley, '''I''', p. 220</ref>

Later on, in the [[Middle Ages]], they became even nastier: those living in the area of modern-day [[Germany]] being considered a [[demonic possession|demonic]] influence that (as mentioned above) would cause illnesses, with [[prayer]]s to protect oneself from them,<ref>Hall (2007), pp. 125–26.</ref> as well as deceitful, bewildering people.<ref>(Stallybrass tr.)</ref><ref name=grimm>{{cite book|ref=harv|last=Grimm|translator=James Steven Stallybrass |title=Teutonic mythology|volume=3|year=1883|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c8AoAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1246|pages=1246ff}}</ref>

In Elizabethan England, thanks to the works of people like [[William Shakespeare]], things began to change when they became indistinguishable from fairies, being small, ethereal, creatures,<ref name="kluge-elf-de">"Die aufnahme des Wortes knüpft an Wielands Übersetzung von Shakespeares Sommernachtstraum 1764 und and Herders Voklslieder 1774 (Werke 25, 42) an"; {{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uL8GAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA93|title=Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache|last=Kluge|first=Friedrich|publisher=K. J. Trübner|year=1899|edition=6th improved and expanded|place=Strassbourg|page=93}}</ref> who as centuries went by would later grew insect wings.

However, it was during the 19<sup>th</sup> and 20<sup>th</sup> centuries when their varieties exploded. Some became workers for [[Santa Claus]]'s 
[[sweatshop]]s
 workshops making toys for the children of the world up there in the North Pole.<ref>{{cite journal|ref=harv|last=Belk |first=Russell W. |title=A Child's Christmas in America: Santa Claus as Deity, Consumption as Religion |journal=The Journal of American Culture |volume=10 |number=1 |date=Spring 1987 |url= |pages=87–100 (p. 89)}}</ref> Tolkien's works (mainly ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings'') inspired the modern trope of pointy-eared, slender, beautiful, and nimble people living in the deepest forest who have long lives, up to the point of being [[Immortality|immortal]], with keener senses than a human, and who typically excel at archery and magic. In this latter case, it has been thanks to [[Dungeons and Dragons]] and too many to count [[video game]]s and fantasy novels that their speciation has reached a maximum (moon elves, sun elves, star elves, high elves, wild elves, wood elves, night elves,<ref group=note>Famous for their disproportionately long ears, claimed by some to be an adaption to hold the female during sexual intercourse. This does not explain why males have also them, however.</ref> deep elves, snow elves, desert elves, underground elves,<ref group=note>Sometimes also confused with the drow, and except those who love to dance [[naked|skyclad]] under the moonlight the latter being ''very'' nasty.</ref> aquatic elves, light and dark elves,<ref group=note>Not related with the above light elves and dark elves</ref> [[Fun:God|space elves]]… basically, name an ecosystem and it will have an elf species<ref>[https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Category:Elf_Subtype Just in D&D]</ref>), and this without including hybridization with humans and with even other fantastic creatures.

==See also==
* [[Dwarf]], as they tend to have a strained relationship with elves.
* [[Fun:Fairies|Fairies]]. Maybe the same, maybe not.
* [[Otherkin|People who think they're elves]]

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=note}}

==References==
{{reflist|2}}

[[Category:Christmas]]
[[Category:Folklore]]
[[Category:Norse mythology]]

Categories: Christmas, Folklore, Norse mythology