- 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.
Characteristics of mythological elves
Norse mythology
Norse 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 dwarves of Norse mythology. In general elves and dwarfs are distinguished in surviving Norse literature. The
most known elven smiths are the Nibelungs who were said to be the descendants of Ivalde, the father of Idun och 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,
the elves. The Vanir Freyr, was the lord Alfheim, 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 late at 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, that
were called elven querns.
The Scandinavian elves were of human size. In Rolf Krake's saga, the Danish king Helge, 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 dwarves 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 had run a different course in elven Lothlorien).
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.
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 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 stupified 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.
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.
Santa Claus
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 dwarves of Norse mythology.
Modern fantasy elves
Modern fantasy literature has revived the elves as a distinct folk 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 alignement 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 Shakepearian 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. He revived the older and less-used elven rather than Edmund Spenser's invented
elfin as the corresponding adjective. 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.
Post-Tolkien literary elves tend to be human-sized or only slightly smaller than humans and 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.
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.
See also
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