I always thought the elves in Styx: Master of Shadows were a cool subversion of elven tropes. They're very dark and otherworldly looking, almost vampiric.
otherwordly and vampiric is how the elves in Discworld[0] are portrayed, with the "obvious" explanation that people now remember them differently as words have changed meaning over time.
> Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder. Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels. Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies. Elves are glamorous. They project glamour. Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment. Elves are terrific. They beget terror. The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning. No one ever said elves are nice. Elves are bad.
In the recent past, it was a generic term for any spirit. Under a Christian view of the world, elves were pagan spirits and therefore evil. You can check out the lyrics to the song "seven hundred elves", involving a farmer defending himself from forest spirits by hanging crosses around his house.
(Note that apparently this song uses "elves" to translate a Danish reference to "trolls".)
But this usage is known not to be the original view of elves. When the word originated, it didn't refer to something bad, as we can tell by the fact that so many Germanic names include an "elf" element: Alfric ("king of the elves"), Alvin ("friend of the elves"), Alfred ("advised by the elves"), etc.
Old elf mythology appears to have thought of them as human-like spirits, who might be conventionally or sexually dangerous, but who weren't evil.
riffraff|6 years ago
> Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder. Elves are marvellous. They cause marvels. Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies. Elves are glamorous. They project glamour. Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment. Elves are terrific. They beget terror. The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning. No one ever said elves are nice. Elves are bad.
[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elves_(Discworld)
swiley|6 years ago
thaumasiotes|6 years ago
In the recent past, it was a generic term for any spirit. Under a Christian view of the world, elves were pagan spirits and therefore evil. You can check out the lyrics to the song "seven hundred elves", involving a farmer defending himself from forest spirits by hanging crosses around his house.
https://mainlynorfolk.info/steeleye.span/songs/sevenhundrede...
(Note that apparently this song uses "elves" to translate a Danish reference to "trolls".)
But this usage is known not to be the original view of elves. When the word originated, it didn't refer to something bad, as we can tell by the fact that so many Germanic names include an "elf" element: Alfric ("king of the elves"), Alvin ("friend of the elves"), Alfred ("advised by the elves"), etc.
Old elf mythology appears to have thought of them as human-like spirits, who might be conventionally or sexually dangerous, but who weren't evil.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elf