q. WHO INVENTED ELVES.

luka

Well-known member
I WANT TO KNOW FOR A PROJECT I AM DOING. I AM BREEDING ELVES WITH HUMAN SLAVES.
 

luka

Well-known member
i mean i think elves was general name for floaty spirit things. so who invented elves as tall skinny pale archers with high intelligence and possibly magical abilities?
 

luka

Well-known member
was it tolkein or does the origin of elves lie further back, back in the dawn of time?
 

luka

Well-known member
did tolkein invent fantasy? where do these tropes come from? elves in particular. who invented elves?
 

luka

Well-known member
THE ELF SALVE
Make a salve against the race of elves and against spirits walking about at night and against women with whom the devil has sexual intercourse.
Take the female hop plant, wormwood, bishop's wort, lupine, vervain, henbane, harewort, viper's bugloss, sprouts of heathberry, leek, garlic, seeds of cleavers, cockle and fennel. Put the herbs in a vessel, set them under the alter, sing masses over them, boil them in butter, and in sheep's fat, add a good quantity of holy salt, strain them through a cloth, throw the herbs into running water. If a man has any evil temptations, or is troubled by elves or nocturnal spirits, smear his face with this salve, and put something on his eyes and where his body may be painful. And smoke him with incense and frequently make the sign of the cross on him. His condition will soon be better.

from 'The Leechbook'
 

luka

Well-known member
In case a man is insane. Take the skin of a porpoise, make a whip of it, and beat the man with it. He will soon be better.
 

viktorvaughn

Well-known member
In films/computer games they are always tall, slim and wicked with a bow and arrow but less good with massive hammers and suits of armour (dwarf territory).
 
D

droid

Guest
Elves were small little wood people in ancient nordic and germanic mythology afaik. I think they got mixed up with faeries sometime in the 1800's... Tolkien wasn't far off I reckon.

They've been around for millennia. Wights too.
 

luka

Well-known member
yeah, i know, why?
oliver craner of wales, i hav started smoking and drinking but at a moderate rate and i am in no way intoxicated. it is 11.19pm and my condition does no diservice to my dignity.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies ties together pretty well the proto-elves in Irish myth (Sidh, Tuatha de Danann), mediaeval/Renaissance fairies or 'faeries' a la Shakespeare and elves in the modern (post-)Tolkienian sense. They're very powerful and kinda nasty, or at least amoral.
 

luka

Well-known member
I say tolkein and if the answer is tolkein then tolkein invented fantasy. i have never read tolkein although my dad read me the hobbit when i was very young and i liked it. all the stock charactrs of fantasy come from him?
 

yyaldrin

in je ogen waait de wind
did tolkein invent fantasy? where do these tropes come from? elves in particular. who invented elves?

it's a good question. i have often wondered why fantasy is so boring, in fact it's one of the most predictable genre's there is. elves, orcs and dwarfs, that's about it.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I say tolkein and if the answer is tolkein then tolkein invented fantasy. i have never read tolkein although my dad read me the hobbit when i was very young and i liked it. all the stock charactrs of fantasy come from him?

I should think it's uncontroversial to say he had more influence on it than any other author, yes. If it hadn't been for him the genre would probably not exist as we know it.
 
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