Your opinions on the way that dark elves are written in fantasy novels

[OP1000]

Hello!!!!

What do you think about the way that dark elves are written in fantasy novels? What are the most common ways that dark elves are written in such stories? What is your ideal portrayal for dark elves?

Edit: I would also like to ask about what types of abilities they are typically shown using (most of the works that I have read that feature them are mostly distinguishing them based on their skin tone compared to elves with the same abilities as elves).

 

[Thraben]

Depends on the connections or lack thereof to Drow elves in D&D.

If connected: As long as you have an explanation for why the distinction between dark elf and elf matters beyond 'racism', it's good.

If unconnected: An explanation is required for why Dark Elves are called elves at all and not like, a completely distinct separate species.

 

[Tempokai]

They're elves. And they have brown or darker skin. Authors then either make an excuse on why they're different, be it curse, location they lived in, or different race altogether from elves. Powers wise, like elves but shadowy, stealth/black magic aspect. And booba. Big booba is must, there is no dark elves with small booba.

 

[Zinless]

They are almost always the silent/cold type, a bubbly Dark Elf girl would be quite cute imo. Also, I rarely see male Dark Elves, maybe I'm just looking at the wrong places.

 

[Jerynboe]

I’m actually writing a story about a guy who was isekaied into the body of a young drow sorcerer in the pathfinder setting. In that setting, Drow are a subset of a certain kind of elves (cave elves) that hid from a big disaster on the surface by burrowing deep, deep underground. Unfortunately, the planet golarion is actually the prison for an evil god and they got close enough for Rovagug to start influencing them. They also have a very weird thing with non-drow turning into drow if they are evil enough, but I decided to actively not engage with that because it’s weird.
MC was kidnapped by surface people and press ganged into service on a ship, but there is an arc somewhere in his future in which extremely cruel women are trying to reclaim their property. If I was into extreme femdom it would be an ideal time to indulge in that kink, instead it’ll probably take more inspiration from less sexy forms of domestic abuse. Gaslighting, restricting movements, unpredictable emotions, physical abuse, demanding certain surface level emotional reactions and punishing failure to comply, etc.
Not all drow are *that* bad, and in a community as close to the surface as the one that the MC’s drow body hails from some are not influenced by Rovagug at all and are just normal cave elves. Of course, being corrupted as all hell makes you a Drow Noble, which are a deliberately OP race variant with a bunch of extra powers. Emrys was a full Drow, and his wife (the one who has custody over him) is a Drow noble.
Emrys, the drow that MC is possessing, still sometimes surfaces and influences the MC. It’s a minor running joke that Emrys is afraid of women and doesn’t approve of MC’s harem seeking. I intend for Curtis to feel bad about making fun of Emrys once he has full context.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Gyaru dark elves. Please, someone, make it happen!

Anybody ever thought about how normal elves are just vegan vampires? Lives long enough they might be immortal, have pale skin, and a hikki-neet lifestyle.

 

[PancakesWitch]

Gyaru dark elves. Please, someone, make it happen!

Anybody ever thought about how normal elves are just vegan vampires? Lives long enough they might be immortal, have pale skin, and a hikki-neet lifestyle.

Theyre fairies or nature spirits, nothing to do woth vampires. Their long lives is because spiritual beings simply have no lifespan or because theyre like trees.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Theyre fairies or nature spirits, nothing to do woth vampires. Their long lives is because spiritual beings simply have no lifespan or because theyre like trees.

Akshully!
As both Elves and Vampires are fictional beings with enough common traits, there would be no discrepancy to create an in-lore reason for authors as to why elves are vegan vampires or how vampires evolved from carnivorous elves. And if we go by etymological definitions vampires would just be coffin-bound zombies and not the blood-drinking nobles of the night they're commonly portrayed as.


Anyway, I like the idea of dark elves just being tanned elves and the pale tree huggers just being arrogant assholes as usual for the different race explanation xD

 

[Placeholder]

> What is your ideal portrayal for dark elves?

Ed Greenwood: ...

> And if we go by etymological definitions vampires

?‍=??

 

[LesserCodex]

I have some issues towards the concept of a brown elf being labelled a dark elf and then attributed with dark magic, for fantasy racial reasons, instead a fresh take I have never seen and will implement in my story is a dark elf who is white! *Gasp* Instead elves would be labelled as wood, dark, light, or sun depending on the diety and religion they fucking follow, so none of that is a dark elf because her skin is brown bullshit.

I can't stress enough how much it Irks me. But then again I've read stories with dark elves as brown elves and shit so I don't care, it's only when you take the time to think about the concept in more detail do you realise some flaws.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

Elves with the wrong skin color. We already have anti-elves in the form of orcs. Simple.

 

[Jerynboe]

I have some issues towards the concept of a brown elf being labelled a dark elf and then attributed with dark magic, for fantasy racial reasons, instead a fresh take I have never seen and will implement in my story is a dark elf who is white! *Gasp* Instead elves would be labelled as wood, dark, light, or sun depending on the diety and religion they fucking follow, so none of that is a dark elf because her skin is brown bullshit.

I can't stress enough how much it Irks me. But then again I've read stories with dark elves as brown elves and shit so I don't care, it's only when you take the time to think about the concept in more detail do you realise some flaws.

So… Warhammer Fantasy Druchii? Who are basically indistinguishable from Asur elves but split off due to a major political schism and got much more “evil” due to the machinations of a handful of very prominent political, religious, and scholarly figures?

We also have the Asrai, or Wood Elves, who are isolationists who left the giant Elf Homeland Island and made deals with nature spirits that they would defend certain primeval magical forests. They also look almost exactly the same except they occasionally have antlers and such.

Just warning you to not get too hung up on the originality of this idea.

 

[LesserCodex]

So… Warhammer Fantasy Druchii? Who are basically indistinguishable from Asur elves but split off due to a major political schism and got much more “evil” due to the machinations of a handful of very prominent political, religious, and scholarly figures?

We also have the Asrai, or Wood Elves, who are isolationists who left the giant Elf Homeland Island and made deals with nature spirits that they would defend certain primeval magical forests. They also look almost exactly the same except they occasionally have antlers and such.

Just warning you to not get too hung up on the originality of this idea.

I will be honest I have never gotten into the Warhammer, so I didn't know they already had this, and now I feel slightly better.

 

[Jerynboe]

I will be honest I have never gotten into the Warhammer, so I didn't know they already had this, and now I feel slightly better.

Yeah Warhammer Fantasy, much like 40k, has several decades of lore stacked up. The three main elf factions are separated primarily based on their religion and culture, with some very old divisions making the high and dark elves especially very not ok with one another.

 

[Cipiteca396]

My glossary entry:

Elves with an exceptional affinity for darkness mana, and high talents for most other magics as well. Due to their affinity and ancestry, they often seek dark places to practice their craft. The depths of the earth, the far corners of the world where the sun never rises; such places often shroud gothic manors guarded by fiends, elementals and worse. They are even more whimsical than the rest of their kin, taking extreme actions in response to relatively minor events or boredom.

They appear as a 150 to 200 centimeter tall humanoid with elegant, lean features. Their coloration ranges from pale grey to purplish-black, with many shades in between depending on local genetics.

I really like the purple ones the most.

Gyaru dark elves. Please, someone, make it happen!

These are some old ones I made back during the AI contests.

 

[PancakesWitch]

Akshully!
As both Elves and Vampires are fictional beings with enough common traits, there would be no discrepancy to create an in-lore reason for authors as to why elves are vegan vampires or how vampires evolved from carnivorous elves. And if we go by etymological definitions vampires would just be coffin-bound zombies and not the blood-drinking nobles of the night they're commonly portrayed as.


Anyway, I like the idea of dark elves just being tanned elves and the pale tree huggers just being arrogant assholes as usual for the different race explanation xD

elves are fictional but also mythological and also from folklore, closely related with Fae and nature. For example in norse mytholgy the dwarves we known today were known as dark elves

 

[BearlyAlive]

elves are fictional but also mythological and also from folklore, closely related with Fae and nature. For example in norse mytholgy the dwarves we known today were known as dark elves

I get the slow feeling we're talking on different tangents. The "vegan vampire" thing was meant to be both a joke and an authorial in-universe idea, nothing factual. The distinction between nature = elves and dark elves as either unnatural or antagonistic to nature is pretty much a modern thing, since before Tolkien all those nature spirits were their own thing like fey, dryads, nymphs. Nowadays most that remains is fairies and elves.

And the norse elves weren't strictly "elves", tho, but rather just inhabitants of Alfheimr (or however you write it) and the dark elves being dwarfs thing is kinda only mentioned in the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, which was written in the 13th century and is said to have some christian influences sprinkled in, and is still discussed to this day.

Fun vampire fact, tho: they started out as slavic fey, more akin to poltergeists than anything else before they went zombie and then bloodsucker, so my vampires = elves jest is etymological truer than even I suspected

 

[aattss]

I think I've seen stories with this trope where dark elves are influenced by, I dunno, some evil/ruthless god, and may or may not be matriarchical/live underground/be backstabbing/whatever.

But you can do whatever. If you just want elves with purple skin who get +1 to stealth instead of to magic and aren't rying to make something distinct world-building-wise, then sure, go for it.

 

[3guanoff]

They're elves. And they have brown or darker skin. Authors then either make an excuse on why they're different, be it curse, location they lived in, or different race altogether from elves. Powers wise, like elves but shadowy, stealth/black magic aspect. And booba. Big booba is must, there is no dark elves with small booba.

I have some issues towards the concept of a brown elf being labelled a dark elf and then attributed with dark magic, for fantasy racial reasons, instead a fresh take I have never seen and will implement in my story is a dark elf who is white! *Gasp* Instead elves would be labelled as wood, dark, light, or sun depending on the diety and religion they fucking follow, so none of that is a dark elf because her skin is brown bullshit.

I can't stress enough how much it Irks me. But then again I've read stories with dark elves as brown elves and shit so I don't care, it's only when you take the time to think about the concept in more detail do you realise some flaws.

I've read a story like that on a private "reader's adventure" website. The elves are split based on magic and religion, so the dark elves who use soul magic are white because they live in dark caves. The elves who live in the forest range from tanned to dark.

Couldn't find an image of the dark elves, but here's a pic of dark skinnrd regular elves from their comic,

There are many shades of brown, and binary thinking is stupid. I think any skin color flies as long as there is some evolutionary reason for it.

 

[beast_regards]

No one could agree on the dark elves, so I re-imagined them. Behold, the dark elf!