 | Elves in fantasy fiction and games: Encyclopedia II - Elves in fantasy fiction and games - Elves in role-playing games
Elves in fantasy fiction and games - Elves in role-playing games
Post-Tolkien fantasy elves (popularized by the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game) tend to be beautiful, fair, slender, and close in size to humans. A hallmark of fantasy elves is also their long and pointed ears. In gaming, and to some extent fantasy literature, elves as a rule have a greater depth of knowledge (especially regarding magic) than their human counterparts, due to a racial inclination as well as their extreme age. Typically, they are also capable warriors, especially skilled in archery, following Legolas, arguably Tolkien's most well-known elf. The canonical role-playing style elf is represented by Deedlit, a major character of the anime series Record of Lodoss War.
As in the Norse lore, elven-human unions and offspring were possible in Tolkien's saga (a notable example being Elrond, the lord of Rivendell), and in many RPG's, half-elven is a possible race for player characters. Fantasy elves frequently divide up into subraces, such as the High Elves, Wood Elves and Dark Elves found in the Warhammer Fantasy game setting. Especially dark elves (popularized by TSR as drow) are a common theme in many other fantasy games and to some extent literature. Apart from malice, drow or dark elves tend to be characterized by a dark or blue skin color, and by an underground abode.
In the modern treatment of elves in Dungeons & Dragons, they are divided up into subraces that include Aquatic Elves, Gray Elves, High Elves, Wood Elves, and drow. The Forgotten Realms campaign setting's elves (or Tel'Quessir as they call themselves) differ still, replacing the High Elves and Gray Elves with Moon or Silver Elves and Sun or Gold Elves, and adding Wild or Green Elves, Star or Mithral Elves and avariel (Winged Elves) to the Aquatic (Sea) Elves, Wood (Copper) Elves, and Drow (Dark Elves).
In the Warhammer Fantasy game setting, the first civilized people of the world were the High Elves from the Atlantis-like (though unsunken) island realm of Ulthuan. Early on, the High Elves colonized large parts of the Warhammer world, but following the rise of the Druchii (called Dark Elves by others than themselves), a fascistoid movement of corsairs and slavers, the High Elves were plunged into civil war and their power greatly faded. The elves who decided to stay in the colonies were forced to hide in the deep forests, and with time became known as Wood Elves.
Warhammer is also unique in the aspect that Warhammer 40,000, the science fantasy version of the game, feature space faring elves under the name of Eldar (a term borrowed from Tolkien) -- ancient rulers of the galaxy who vigorously oppose their fallen kindred, the Dark Eldar.
Azeroth, the fantasy world of the Warcraft computer game series originally featured elves similar to the Warhammer High or Wood Elves. Starting with Warcraft III, the elves (now re-dubbed High Elves) face the destruction of their kingdom and its capital Quel'Thalas, and the survivors are thereafter known as Blood Elves. The series instead introduces the naturalistic purple-skinned Night Elves as the main elven element.
The Elder Scrolls game series has a rather different look at Elves, with three different races, all of which are distinctively physically different. The High Elves are tall, proud (almost arrogant) golden-skinned people, the wood-elves are wily and cunning short elves with slightly brownish coloured skin. The final race, Dark Elves (featured prominently in Morrowind) are a very spiritual, untrusting blue-skinned elf whose average height close to that of the game's humans. The term 'dark elf' is a reference to their coloured skin, not as a reference to being 'evil'.
The game Final Fantasy XI even adds another addition to elves. Elvaan are the tall, long-lived elves of the game. They are adept to strong fighting skills but not magic.
Other related archives1954, 1958, 1960s, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Aldryami, Anglo-Saxon, Artemis Fowl, Atlantis, Azeroth, Blood Elves, Dark Eldar, Dark Elves, Dark elf, Discworld, Discworld elves, Drow, Druchii, Dungeons & Dragons, Dungeons & Dragons creatures, Edmund Spenser, Eldar, Eldar (Warhammer 40, 000), Elenari, Elf, Elfquest, Elftor, Elrond, Elvaan, Elves (Elfquest), Elves (Middle-earth), Elves of Middle-earth, Elvish language, Eragon, European, Fey'ri, Fictional elves, Final Fantasy XI, Forgotten Realms, French, Harry Potter, Heinzelmännchen, High Elves, High Elves (Warcraft), High Elves (Warhammer), High elf, Holly Short, House-elf, Hylian, J. K. Rowling, J. R. R. Tolkien, Julius Root, Legolas, Link, Lord Dunsany, Lords and Ladies, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, Morrowind, Native American, Night Elves, Night elf, Norse mythology, Poul Anderson, Radiata Stories, Record of Lodoss War, Rivendell, Ruin Mist, Scandinavian, Sithi, TSR, Tad Williams, Terry Pratchett, The Elder Scrolls, The Kingdoms and the Elves, The Legend of Zelda series, The Lord of the Rings, The Shoemaker & the Elves, The Wee Free Men, Tolkien's Letters, Ulthuan, Victorian era, Warcraft, Warcraft III, Warhammer 40, 000, Warhammer Fantasy, Wendy and Richard Pini, William Shakespeare, Wood Elves, Wood elf, alien, anime, archery, brownies, campaign setting, civil war, colonized, comic books, copper, corsairs, dark elves, drow, dwarves, ears, fairies, fairy tales, fantasy, fascistoid, folklore, gnome, goblins, good, half-elven, high fantasy, house-elves, humanoid, immortal, iron, magic, orcs, original sin, philologist, player characters, race, role-playing game, role-playing games, science fantasy, skin color, slavers, subraces, their elves, traditional elves, twentieth-century, unfallen, video games, webcomic, álfar
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Elves in role-playing games", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
